Family Day Long Weekend - Pt 5: Last Day

Great long weekends always feel short.  They just have to end.  Boo.

I started my "last day" staring at this around 10 am in the morning.

Sleepy boys

Can we say, lookalikes?!   Poor Roshi though.  He probably didn't have that much fun this weekend.  I barely mentioned him in any of the earlier parts because we were mostly out and he was trapped in his crate.  However, I know his tummy enjoyed his weekend in Calgary.  The grandparents kept feeding him treats.

B dropped me off to see Joni and  Hannah later in the morning.  They made pizza for me, and they were good.  Massive too.  Really, I don't know why and how they think I can eat that much?!   Yeah, I get hungry, and I eat.  Normal.  However, I don't think that's how they see me.

After the pizza, we had a tabletop campfire (made by Ms. Handy Hannah) and roasted marshmallows and made smores.  As ridiculous as it looks, it's a pretty cool idea.  Most of all, it works!  I think I will need to make one myself!  Haha.

Tabletop campfire

It was great to catch up.  I miss travelling with these girls.  Such great times.  Gotta do it again sometime (catching up and travelling together).

Happy Valentine's Day

Our first V-day as hubby and wife.  Celebratory dinner scheduled for tomorrow.

Doesn't the frame look like Roshi?

First Day Back at Work

After the holidays, it's tough to go back to work for 8+ hours.  Although I lost concentration at certain times, I was still somewhat productive, and got all my minute tasks done and almost finish a bigger task.  Tomorrow is another day.

On a good note, my 'after work' life was pretty good:

• Made two dinner entrees from scratch: vegetarian stir fry medley and teriyaki chicken drumsticks.  
• Got everything cleaned up by 8 o'clock.
• Read and finished three chapters for my course.
• Took Roshi out for a brisk walk around a few blocks (B came out too since it was dark out).
• Watched some tv (I managed to fit that in).
• And now blogging this.

The only thing I failed at is hoping to be in bed by 10:30 to start my relaxation routine and pass out by 11:30.  I guess I will have to shorten my relaxation to 20 minutes instead.

Good night!

Christmas 2012

This is our Christmas tree this year.  I know I should get a taller one, but I'm not ready to splurge on one yet.  This little 1' tall Christmas tree will suffice.  Tree and decorations all came from the dollar store and costed about $5 to $7.  B loved it and even helped decorate it.  Although it is a tabletop tree, I had to put it on the floor with the presents: 1. to be traditional, and 2. it just looks funny when all the presents were half the size of the tree.  The good thing about this tree is that I don't have to take it apart. It will just store right into a box and will be ready to be taken out next year.  Yay.

The Chou's Christmas Tree

B got me three Swarovski charms.  I just started collecting them since May 2012.  My favorite out of the three is the Hello Kitty.  However, the most practical one will probably be the owl.  It's blue.  It will match most of my outfits.  I pre-ordered The Game of Thrones Season 2 Blu-ray for B and a big box of Lindor and Ghirardelli chocolates.  I think he was drooling from every orifice in his head.  LOL.

Present(s) from my love

For B's parents, I made them a 12x12 layout framed in a 12x12 display box.  It contained a family photo of us (B and I, B's parents and siblings, and my parents) that was taking during the wedding in Hawaii.

Present for the in-laws

Since both B and I had to work during the holiday season (well, I only showed up to the the office for two half days), we decided to pay for two return bus tickets and bring my parents up for Christmas.  Although it was bitterly cold during most of their stay, I think they still enjoyed it.  Of course, mostly because of me!

I always buy myself a Christmas present every year.  Last year, I got myself the Cricut Expression 2.  Too bad it broke (kinda), but I got another one since it was still under warranty... Anyways, this year this time, I'm going through my boardgames craving.  I finally got Agricola, a game I've been eying since it came out a few years ago, and Legendary, a brand new deck building game with Marvel characters.  I got Legendary mostly because it's Marvel, and that in itself will encourage B to play with me.  He did, and liked it.  B gave Agricola a try and surprisingly, he didn't mind it!  In fact, he even played with me again.  However, he lost the second time and now claims he hates it.

My new boardgames

My dad left Edmonton earlier because he had to work, and so my mom stayed a bit longer.  With dad gone and B working, Boxing Week shopping for the ladies!  I bought new clothes, as I'm in desperate need for some! I got a new bright North Face jacket, since mine lost a lot of the feathers already.  I also got a new king size duvet and sheets for the bed.  New duvet, sheet set, and two duvet cover sets were $20 each. Come on, who can pass on that?  Even mom got some.  She also got a new North Face jacket and new clothes.  

My new North Face jacket

New sheets for the bed.  I think this is the prettiest bed I ever had.

Other than shopping, mom fed us well.  Before I had a tummy, now I have a muffin top... a tummy that hangs over.  Ulgh.  Roshi ate well too.  Mom complained whenever he was given dog food only.  "Give him some rice and chicken!", "Give him a some carrots/apples!"  Roshi followed mom around the house ... A LOT.  Yep, that's Christmas for me.  Great gifts, great spendings, great food, and most of all, great time with the ones I love.  

Although there wasn't much celebration of it around here, I do remember the reason for Christmas is Jesus.  Without His coming to this world, there wouldn't be the great gifts, spendings, food, and time with the ones I love.  And for that, I am truly thankful.  

Roshi's First Grooming

Roshi is scheduled to get neutered tomorrow (September 2). It was suggested to me that a haircut will be a good idea: easier to keep him and his wound clean. I thought it was a good time too:

1. He's getting way too shaggy. It's to a point he looked like he had dreadlocks.
2. He's matting like crazy.
3. His coat was collecting debris and hard to pick out.
4. I don't want him to go through puppyhood without a grooming. He might be nervous or scared later on.

So, last night I took a before picture with his shaggy look:

Before grooming - such a cute shaggy puppy

I told the groomer that I wanted his body and legs shaved down and trim around the face. She sure trimmed quite a bit. When I went to pick up my little Roshi, I didn't even recognize him. Half my dog was missing!

After grooming - he kind of looks emo...

Nonetheless, he is still cute in a different way. Plus, his shaved down coat makes him feel like a VERY soft stuff animal. I just couldn't stop touching him. Best of all, he smells awesome! The groomer also said he was an excellent puppy: a little nervous at first during the bath, but after some praises, he was giving kisses like crazy. Yep, that's my Roshi... lick lick lick!

Remnants of Roshi

I was on the phone with my mom in my bedroom. Roshi was outside in the hallway biting his rope toy. Hence, everything was going swell and I continued to talk to my mom and left Roshi semi unattended. After a few minutes, as a "mom" you just have this gut feeling that something is not right. I came out of the room and saw this:

Leave that little rascal alone for only a few minutes to himself, and it resulted me unrolled and shredded toilet paper (downstairs). I have to admit though, it's pretty funny.

Roshi's First TIme at the Park

Roshi turned four months old last week, which meant he also got his last set of shots. Now with all his shots, he can go anywhere dogs are allowed. Today was such a nice day, and it's a holiday, we went to our first dog park. However, because he's still a crazy excited little puppy, we didn't let him off leash. We did let go of it for a little bit so that he could chase us around. After 2 hours in the park, and 1 hour of pet store shopping, Roshi was dead tired. Tired puppy = good puppy.

Silly Bailey, only he could come up thinking that a dog can celebrate Canada day with canned food. So we bought Roshi a can of dog food, and of course, he loved it. I hope this will not make him picky and will continue to stick to the kibbles he already has.