Baby gifts!

Baby gifts for other people of course.  :oP

My pastor back home, his lovely wife (who did the girls' hair for our wedding), and our flower girl Haley (who's like way bigger now!) just had a new baby boy!  So my latest project was this!

I thought about it and in hindsight realized a football (since the dad loves football) would've been more appropriate with the "jersey" onesie than ducky, but... ducky was what I had.  (And ducky seems child friendly!  :oP)

Can you see where our inspiration came from?  :-D

It was all just a blank onesie and some iron-on transfer sheets.  Much like the totes I made my bridesmaids.  :]  Design.  Print.  Cut.  Iron "canvas" (in this case, a little green onesie).  Iron.  And voilà!  :D  (If it's a shirt, make sure you wash and dry your it first so it's pre-shrunk.)

Remember not to use steam!

With the iron-on transfers!  Let cool before you peel off.

Ta-da!!  :]

I've been working on a few more designs that may make their debut with whoever has a child next.  GO!  :oP

            

                                                      

Black Heels to Tractor Wheels

Late last summer I discovered the wonders of the Pioneer Woman. The site is pretty cool since it has recipes, photography tips, home & garden stuff, homeschooling, her ramblings/thoughts, etc. Last fall I posted about one of her recipes I tried making and also in very small font about her story in which she documents how she met her husband, the Marlboro Man. She started sharing the story chapter by chapter on her blog, and then it turned into a book. :] The online version (scroll down to the bottom for chapter 1) goes up until the wedding and the book, The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels--A Love Story, which I just finished reading last night, goes through to the birth of their first child.

It was a fun, sweet read so I definitely recommend it.  :]  I actually particularly enjoyed it since it made me think of when I met Tim (ok, maybe fast forward to when I liked him, haha) and our journey from then to now.  :]  Through time, relationships change and people often transition out of that "honeymoon phase" of needing to inhale each other all the time to a comfortable existence.  I think that's when the marriage part really kicks in of putting effort into the relationship to keep it new and interesting.

I think Tim and I are sort of riding both, which I think is a great place to be.  :]  Some days are still shiny and new, and others are more comfortable where we sort of do our own things.  I think these days people get bored when the shiny and new part tapers off, when the thrill and excitment of dating wears off a bit --- they want out or sadly, try looking for that thrill elsewhere.  :(

That's why date nights are so important!  Don't get too comfortable, try new things!  There have been many date nights when we go out that I kinda just go out in whatever I'm wearing for the day.  :oP  I don't think Tim actually minds but when I think about it, wouldn't it be more fun if I put in a little more effort and got dressed up a little?  It's so easy to think of how the other person doesn't do things for you anymore (how come he doesn't bring me flowers anymore?  how come he doesn't leave me little notes or send me emails telling me he misses me as often like when we were dating?) and not realize how we've become lazy as well.  I understand that when a relationship matures, we can't always expect the attentive-dating-actions, but from time to time... WHY NOT?  :D

It makes those thoughtful moments extra sweet, and don't you love to see really old couples, like grandmas and grandpas who still look at each other like they're in love?  (This may be rare in old Asian couples.  haha)
                  

Just a Dream

Today I discovered another YouTube sensation, Sam Tsui... actually through Tyler Ward! Tyler mentioned something about a collaboration and of course, seeing an Asian name I googled who Sam was.

I think is one of his latest songs and I LOVE IT. You can also download the instrumental track for free (under description). Which I'm pretty sure I'll be playing on my next commute!

Doesn't he look mixed to you?  There isn't too much information on him out there (that I could find, and my Google skills aren't too shabby.  Especially for the purposes of stalking finding information) but I'm pretty sure he's not all Chinese --- though Wikipedia says he's Chinese American.

I'm sure the collab between Tyler and Sam will be amazing, so I'll post that when it comes out.  :oP
                        

A weekend in Ithaca

What a busy summer!  We had about a week to be normal after our out of town friendsies left before our trip up to Ithaca!  Whoo old stomping grounds.  :oP  Joe & Kelly got married and we got to see some old friends!

We drove up to Ithaca last Friday, and immediately joined some friends to watch, "As You Like It" at Shakespeare in the Plantations!  Then we went to a late dinner with Neela at Just a Taste, a tapas restaurant that was a must-go-to on our list this visit!  It's a bit spendy but it basically was Tim's favorite restaurant in Ithaca.  :]

On Saturday, some friends threw a pancake and morning breakfast for those from out of town (and local folks) so it was great seeing everyone!  Breakfast + friends = great combo!  Then Tim and I went to Target to get some wrapping paper and ran into the BRIDE!  haha.  She apparently ran out of make up and was grabbing some with her sister!  It was quite funny as she also had a book she borrowed from Tim like a year and half ago in her car, so Tim was able to get his book back.  On her wedding day.  Then we went back to our friend's apartment where we were crashing for the weekend to get ready for the wedding!

Congratulations Joe & Kelly!

She wore that smile from the moment those doors opened to the end of the night.

The receiption hall!  Cute little place called the Hathaway House.

Me and my Tim  :]

There was a two hour reception before the groom and bride arrived, and here's their first dance!  (A bit grainy since we were delegated to the "friends in the back" section.  :oP

Tim and me with the bride and groom!

Yay friends!!

On Sunday, Tim and I went to church and then go to chill out the rest of the day.  We went to Walmart (haha), Wegmans (yay Wegmans!!), and then hung out at Ithaca Falls for a little while since the weather was so nice!

Ithaca Falls

Game night!!  When we were in Ithaca we obviously hosted and attending a good many game nights.  :oP  So of course there had to be a game night!  This was right before we left so this is only like... 1/3 of the people that were there.

It then POURED for most of our drive back to Boston!  Especially when I was driving.  But sunshine peaked out near the end and we made it home safely!  It was fun but tiring as so many trips are.  :]  It was fun to see old friends and how... even though a few of us came "back" from new places in life, it more or less felt the same.  :]  Even with the new babies and significant others!
                                          

Best of Betty Crocker 2011!

It was only this past January I posted Best of Betty Crocker 2010 recipes, but now 2011 is out!  Well, at least summer and spring.  I guess fall and winter don't yield as many cute, colorful recipes!  (Or... just that fall and winter 2011 haven't happened yet.  :D)  I should probably be less of a slacker and share some recipes I've been using lately!  Especially the dessert stuff!

Pages 1-11

Pages 12-23

Hope you find THE RECIPES useful!

                                                            

The fire works

Hi!  I've been such a slacker with this blogging business.  I really should be cleaning the house instead at this very moment!  If I could just... download posts directly from my brain... to here... that would be great.  Someone work on that!  :oP

This past July 4th weekend was a fun and exciting one because we had out of town guests!  Yahoooo!  Tim's childhood friendsies (high school still counts as childhood?) Nathan and Joel spent the weekend here and we went on great adventures!

Breakfast at Henrietta's Kitchen!  The Shorts like breakfast so we ate breakfast a lot.  :oP

Sam Adams Brewery Tour!  I've been wanting to go for awhile!

Analyzing it.

At Fanueil Hall for a mock Town Hall meeting.  Don't they look special?  :oP

A galatic game of Twilight Imperium!  Oh my!  It's like a 6 hour board game.  The daddy of board games, I call it.  I played out of love.  AND I WON!!!  Yeeeah!

They were deep in strategizing thought even during break time.

Hot pot at Shabu-Ya!

We down to the MIT area/Charles River to see the fireworks!

There was other adventuring like frozen yogurt, cannolis, lots more eating, lots of walking, the Harvard Natural History Museum (free b/c of BofA's Museum on Us!), visting Copley Square and Fenway, etc!  I always try to find a few things to do with out-of-town guests that we ourselves haven't done before because downtown, the Freedom Trail, and Fanueil Hall are not very exciting the 8th time around. 

What did you do for the fourth of July?

                                                              

NKOTBSB!

A few months I saw this ad on the back of The Metro for a NKOTBSB concert and got really excited!  I was too young for New Kids on the Block (NKOTB) and the Backstreet Boys (BSB) were always slightly... less loved than *NSync and 98 Degrees.  (Sorry BSB, I still love you though!)  But regardless, this concert seemed like an awesome idea and look, it even says, "once in a lifetime."  Which is kinda true.. I mean, New Kids might be able to bust a move now... but in a few more years, they're hitting 50, man!

However, when I went to check ticket prices, the cheapest, nosebleed section tickets started at $100.  Hmm.  Remember how I said the love wasn't that much?  PLUS... I've only spent about $60 on my favoritest artists.  Spending $100 (or rather $200 since I wasn't going to go alone) would've been a bit more than I wanted to spend.  So I gave up on the notion of going.  :(

Fast forward to end of May.   At work, we had our fundraising gala and someone had donated two pairs of NKOTBSB @ Fenway tickets (plus two hotel rooms) for our live auction.  The winning bid was at $600!  That was still a relatively good deal since the tickets were valued at $137 each and there were two hotel rooms!  At the end of the evening, we realized there were TWO packets of the auction prize!!  Yes, a whole other set of 4 tickets!  Oh my!  Long story short, a co worker and I were going to split it... but then the boss wanted to try to sell it.  I won't go into that since... I think a pair of tickets went to waste and that makes my blood kind of boil me irritated.

ANYWAY.  I decided two days before the concert... I still wanted to go!  And I had recently discovered stubhub.com!  (Where fans buys and sell tickets -- so secondhand tickets, but everything goes through stubhub, you don't have to interact with the seller, and stubhub guarentees the tickets are real.)  I had been stalking the site for NKOTBSB tickets for a few days already.  I ended up buying from a different site but I got tickets in the same section as the auction prizes for $50/ticket!  Granted with the handling fee and overnight FedEx shipping it came out to be like $70/ticket but that's still cheaper than $137/ticket!

I was planning on going with Tim, of course, but I had somehow enticed Courtney, whom I've known since 6th grade (and basically grew up on boy bands with), to look into the concert.  (She was coincidentally in Rhode Island!)  But come Saturday (the day of the concert), she was having trouble finding someone to go with.  Since Tim would've been going with me out of love (for me and not BSB), he offered his spot to Courtney.  :]

I would've loved to go with Tim but it was fun going with someone who knew the songs too and screamed louder than you. :-D It was like 95% women at the concert!

Jordin Sparks opened

The boys hung out with the mayor earlier in the day

Mark Wahlberg introduced his brother and NKOTB!  (Found out they're from the Boston area!)

{{screeeeeam!!!!}}  They all came out in (sparkly) Red Sox jerseys.  :-D  And the Green Monster was NKOTBSB-afied.  :]

Joey!

HELLO BRIAN!!!  :-D  (He was my favorite BSB, if you didn't know)

Here's Nick

BSB

Hello Donnie!  Umm... so... NKOTB were the buffest 40-year old men I've seen.  :oP

As you can see... it started to rain.  HARD.  But all the guys were troopers and danced and sang through it.  They were even running and sliding down the extended stage!  Here they used various Boston symbols (sports team font, our transportation logo (T), etc)

Here's the guy from NKOTB that no one knows or remembers the name of sporting Celtic jerseys!

We booked it out of the park before they finished since 1) we didn't want to battle the crowd getting out and 2) it was raining really hard and I was basically.... all wet, cold, and getting pretty uncomfortable.  :(  But then when we were walking down the street, we saw a bunch of cops and then them leaving in these white vans!!!  I'm gonna say that's AJ you can sort of see in the window there.  :oP

It was definitely a lot of fun.  We had great floor seats for a steal and minus the pouring rain, it was a great time!  :]  It was pretty funny seeing who was there for the New Kids (the 30+ year olds) and the slightly younger crowd for BSB by who would dance and belt out songs for their favorite group.

I know I often post many of the same pictures on Facebook but it's more fun to tell the stories here.  :]  For the California folks, if anyone is interested, NKOTBSB are coming to San Jose beginning of July!

Is it terrible that I was listening to N'Sync while writing this post?  :oP