December 26, 2011

Birthday Bliss

For anyone who knows me, I love to make fancy affairs out of my birthdays. Though, every year, it’s the same cycle. I start off by saying, “I’m not going to do anything this year, let’s just do something low-key”. And lo and behold, by the time December rolls around, there’s a million ideas flying around in my head and it becomes anything but low-key. But with that, comes high expectations, and this year, I was completely blown away.

Thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes, or made the effort to be a part of the annual affair, with major thanks to some special somebodies for making it all happen and bringing it together  (you know who you are). All in all, I couldn’t have asked for or imagined a better birthday :)

Here are some of the highlights from the celebration …

Balloons a poppin’

Cheers to some bubbly

Let the photos begin!

Cutting the cake at Bravi Ristorante. Highly recommend the Butternut Squash Ravioli!

VIP booth at Pravda Vodka Bar which was a complete surprise!

Some of my girls @zhang_sophia, Ani, @sonyajain - welcome back Ani from NorCal!

Some of my boys @draganmilosav, Spiros & @dejanmilosav

More cake at Pravda

Friends from the ‘Loo – @ianchow, @zhang_sophia, @taimurmohammad & Rohit!

Everybody has a good time

<3 my girls

With my ride or die dancing partner – I appreciate you, always!

So great to see my Trip to China girls! @evayung22, @_aqq, miss bonbons, @andreakycheung, and @veeivee (not pictured here)

As for the actual birthday day coming up soon, looking forward to a quiet day with a family dinner as per usual, dining at my one of my fave restaurants in town. Feeling like having some peking duck this year, mm mm good!

Special thanks to my coworkers for helping me kick it off last week on my last day at work in the office at another one of my fave Italian restaurants – you guys are the sweetest!

PS. Feels nice to be back on my blog again :) Sorry for the long delay between posts! Been a wild few months. I’ve got a few posts lined up in my mind which I’ll be catching up on, including my recent trips to San Francisco and Los Angeles, Christmas festivities and a recap of 2011 and plans for 2012. Come back soon!

xo tine

March 6, 2011

Growing Up

How crazy is it that when I attended my 2 year old nephew’s birthday bash this weekend, my uncle showed me this image of me and my cousins from back in the day? Can you guess which one is me? To put it into perspective, it was for the birthday of my cousin’s baby boy (the happy girl in the back). Makes you stop for a minute to think about how fast time passes us by and I realize once again how thankful I am for my tight-knit family. Every time we get together, there’s always something new to gossip or talk about. Today in particular we were sharing some of our “fortunes” that were given as a few of our parents went to visit a “psychic”. I’m heavy on the air bunnies as I’m a non-believer, but when you hear things about yourself, you can’t help but be curious. I can certainly relate to a few of the things that were said, but some news was just absolutely ridiculous. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

In other recent news, it’s been a busy few weeks! Some of the highlights…

Seeing Adele LIVE at MTV Canada! Now that it’s passed, I can finally speak of it. MTV hosted a free concert and sent out an email blast asking people if they’d be interested in a mini-concert with Adele and a live interview. Uh, hello?! Before I even fully finished reading the email, I responded and lo and behold, waited an hour outside the doors to get let in and it was the best experience ever. Sucks to be me that day as I left my camera battery at home, but nothing can beat being in an intimate venue and seeing Adele up close. Such a fan! You can catch the show on TV on March 16th.

Kicking off Mon Sheong Trip to China 2011! So excited to be working with such a talented group of people for a really great initiative this year (few of the amazing people shown here). I’ll be co-chairing a Trip to China taking place later this year, bringing 20 Chinese Canadian citizens over to China to discover themselves through cultural experiences, build international connections with businesses and fellow students, and act upon the values of the Mon Sheong Foundation. I’ve never been to China and I’ve already been learning so much from the process of planning so far. Not to mention the team we are working with are an amazing group of people and I can’t wait to reap the final rewards once we’re in China and can enjoy the trip! I’ll be blogging and tweeting (#t2c2011) a lot more so stay tuned. For deets on how you can sign up to be one of the lucky 20, send me a note or leave a comment!

I had sashimi and I liked it… sorta

As one of my 2011 goals, I decided that I would tackle my fear of seafood once and for all. Proud to update that I’ve had the chance to try out the following (and fully swallow, without gagging):

  • lobster
  • fish
  • calamari
  • shrimp
  • crab (so difficult to eat!!!)
  • scallops
  • oyster
  • abalone
  • and of course, as depicted above, sashimi

What a world I’ve opened up myself to… :)

April 29, 2010

Sending My Love to Doggie Heaven

Dear Mimi,

This is the first year not celebrating your birthday with you. It’s been less than a year since you’ve gone on your way now but it feels like it’s been forever. I hope you’re happy wherever you are now, playing nice & making friends in doggie heaven. You should know we all miss you very much and Mom even sometimes thinks that you’re around saying good night to her. I think it’s just her dreaming but it shows how much she still misses you. You would’ve been 16 years old today and we would be coming home with some sort of new toy or some ridiculous clothing that we would stuff you in and take endless pictures. Oh, the things you had to put up with. I still miss your grumpy face; not so much the smelly ears though. I know even though you didn’t shower me with slobbery kisses everyday, you had your own way of showing you cared. Like sleeping in my room when I was in Waterloo, or playing hide and seek with me when we were younger. I miss you!

XOXO

<3 you always and forever