Christmas, Present Shopping, and Ironman

Christmas at my house.

Christmas time is upon us! After Thanksgiving and the chaos of black Friday, we finally have the holiday spirit around us. We've put up our (fake) Christmas tree and stockings as evident in the picture above. My brothers also put up a giant inflatable Snoopy in our front yard along with some Christmas lights going up one of our palm trees. Ah, Christmas in Southern California.

I am so excited for this season. My aunt will be coming from Canada to visit us, I will get to go to Reno and finally meet Russell's dad's side of the family, and I get to see a bunch of relatives over at my house on Christmas day. There are so many festivities this month that I am getting excited and exhausted just thinking about them.

Since it is Christmas time, present shopping is an activity that has consumed much of my time. And here's what happens when I take Russell with me:

Russell becomes Ironman!

Ironman Christmas shopping.

One moment I'm browsing and the next moment Russell has disappeared. I turn around and he is in an Ironman mask. It was hard not to find it amusing.

As things begin to speed up, I will try to keep blogging since I have about three loyal readers (Hi Russell! And Jonathan! And Stephanie?). Three readers is a big deal since that is 300% more from the zero number of readers I get when I write in my diary. Happy holidays everyone!

Encouragement

Russell and I had dinner with an awesome family tonight. Kuya King and Ate Faye are such an encouraging and godly couple that I can't help but admire them. And their daughter River is just the cutest thing. The three of them will be moving abroad next year so Russ and I were lucky enough to be able to sit down and talk about life and church with them.

We talked about church. We talked about missions. We watched River eat her mac and cheese. We talked about how exciting marriage will be. Time went by fast. Like Ate Faye, I am already starting to grieve for their departure next year. Russell and I will be in Philippines and Singapore next year so hopefully we will be able to see them in Singapore or Malaysia.

I have been blessed with such a great community around me. From the parents who pick up their kids from the Sunday School I teach, from the people who attend Friday night service, and from the people who I get to share life with on Tuesday nights—I am so happy and thankful to be surrounded by people who invest and share their life with the community around them.

I can only hope one day that Russell and my relationship can also be a blessing to others also. Everyday I am learning what it means to be part of the body of Christ.

The Three Oddest Words by Wislawa Szymborska

When I pronounce the word Future,

the first syllable already belongs to the past.

When I pronounce the word Silence,
I destroy it.

When I pronounce the word Nothing,
I make something no non-being can hold.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

I made a mistake of only bringing one book during my family trip to Vancouver and Seattle. So when I finished the one book I brought, I spent two days waiting to get to a bookstore so I can get another novel. When in the airport in Seattle, I was able to buy a book from a small bookstore. I bought this book since I heard many good things about it.

Note to self: I must not read this in public. I find myself laughing out loud while reading this book. Mindy Kaling has a way with words that I will forever be jealous of.

Oh, and my favorite section is by far this one:

It is just so cleverly titled. Also, I relate to this chapter in a funny way. Though I was not bullied when I was little nor did I struggle with being chubby, I still forget nothing. Haha, this is not to say that I wish I didn't. 

One of my favorite passages from this section is when she talks about high school and directs it towards teenage girls. I agree and love this advice so much that I will put it on this blog in hopes that a teenage girl will stumble across this blog and take something away with it.

Sometimes teenage girls ask me for advice about what they should be doing if they want a career like mine one day. There are basically two ways to get where I am: (1) learn a provocative dance and put it on YouTube; (2) convince your parents to move to Orlando and homeschool you until you get cast on a kids' show, or do what I did, which is (3) stay in school and be a respectful and hardworking wallflower, and go to an accredited non-online university.

Teenage girls, please don't worry about being super popular in high school, or being the best actress in high school, or the best athlete. Not only do people not care about any of that the second you graduate, but when you get older, if you reference your successes in high school too much, it actually makes you look kind of pitiful, like some babbling old Tennessee Williams character with nothing else going on in her current life. What I've noticed is that almost no one who was a big star in high school is also a big star later in life. For us overlooked kids, it's so wonderfully fair.  

 — Mindy Kaling, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)

Family Vacation

Recently, my family and I took a week vacation to Vancouver, Canada and Seattle, Washington. In Vancouver, we stayed with my aunt and uncle's family. We were there for about five days and were able to enjoy tourist sites as well as Tim Horton's coffee.

Here's probably my favorite picture while we were in Canada:

Spiderman poses.

Below are some more pictures from Vancouver, Canada.

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird by Wallace Stevens

V
   I do not know which to prefer,
   The beauty of inflections,
   Or the beauty of innuendos,
   The blackbird whistling
   Or just after.

Read the whole poem: Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

Writing

It's too bad that when life gets busy, I put writing on the back burner. It's also too bad that I cling onto this blog so tightly. My poor diary hasn't been written in in months; blogging has become a primary way for me to record days/dates/moments. And it's also too bad that people actually read this. The whole thing about grammar and spelling and the pressure of being an English major deters me from typing my days out. Oh, the pressure! That, and life. Life is speeding by faster than I can ever write. I gave up trying to record everything in my diary since I'll always be a couple pages behind. The very act of writing gets in the way of even more writing. It's sentence after sentence after sentence while life simultaneously ticks by.

Tick tock.

I guess I'm writing this because I am getting defensive--against myself--for the guilt trip I've been having since I can't find the time to write stuff. Then I think about all my favorite authors who write in their blogs and always emphasize Write! Write! Write! and I feel even more ashamed. Like right now, I was supposed to write about something profound (maybe) but here I am. Phew, I'm tired. Enough writing.

Weekend Fun

This weekend, Russell and I got to see our friends Nick and Heather! They were in town for a quick short weekend but we were lucky enough to grab boba drinks with them Saturday night then lunch at Guppies on Sunday afternoon. This picture shows Nick and Heather laughing about something but more importantly--the awesome TWO coconut brick toasts we ordered for dessert.

Mmm.

I guess I should mention that when Nick was interning at WCC, he was probably the first one to tease Russell and I about dating and to make it awkward. A long time ago, when I had just met Russell, a group of us were at Guppies (good ol' Guppies). At one point in the conversation we were having then (it was in 2009 I believe),  Nick turns to me and goes "You know, Russell is single" then followed it up with a long awkward silence. I remember wiggling in my chair and Russ being just as awkward. A lot of people teased Russell and I during our "courting" stage but Nick was the first. Because of that, Nick and Heather will always hold a special place in me and Russell's dating story, haha.

Anyways, it was great to catch up with them. Lots of food was consumed and many stories and laughter were shared. Can't wait to see them again!

Blessings

I've written a post already about how good wedding planning has been. Since that post, even more amazing things have happened!

1. Russell and I got our Save-the-Dates! We got them printed by the company downstairs from Russell's work. I guess Russell has known some of the people there for awhile so we decided to get our postcards printed there. When Russell went to pick up the Save-the-Dates on Wednesday, the lady told him to consider it as a wedding present and we got them for free! AHHH! Everyone is being so nice and we are so overwhelmed by everyone's generosity.
   
   Here's a picture of me and Russ on the day we took the pictures. The Save-the-Dates look similar...but not. Better than this picture, haha. Anyways, they look amazing and I can't wait for people to start getting them in the mail.
   
                        
   
   Save the Date!
2. Russell and I bought our first new car together! It's a Prius C!
   
                        
   
   It's so pretty.
   
   

   We've been looking to buy a car that has better milage than his Jeep and what better car to get than a Toyota Prius? I should mention that since the Toyota Prius came out years ago, my dream car has always been a Prius. I've told my parents and Russell that when I have a proper job, I would love to buy a Prius. Well, I was able to sell Russell on my dream car so now we both get to enjoy driving around my our dream car! 

Everything has been so exciting. I get to start my new job on Monday, and I'm actually looking forward to challenging myself in this new job, learning new skills and whatnot. Russell is playing hockey again since his shoulder is better. It has just been one blessing after another and we praise God for all of it.

Photo

Here's a picture of the lights at LACMA. This past Sunday, Russell and I had a giant date day where we went through a corn maze, a modern art museum, and ate at an Italian restaurant. 

For more photos, here's a flickr album of that day: Date Day