Christmas Eve Luncheon

The family - the in-laws, husband's bro's family, and us got together for a Christmas eve luncheon on the 24th at a Cantonese restaurant for dimsum. After that everyone came back to our place for an afternoon of fun (some played games on the pc, surfed the net on the other, played mahjong, or just plain chit-chatting and nibbling).

It was another good on all grounds family gathering. Mmmm... come to think of it, maybe my expectation of the family gathering is getting lower and lower or else why would I be so pleased by just a simple gathering?? Uhhh??


Anyway, just wanting to show off a pic of my toenails (painted specially for the holidays) taken by my husband as we're getting the car after a very satisfying luncheon. Yeap... that was his shadow!! =))

Kong's still the King!!

img src: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0360717/photogallery-ss-0

Went to the King Kong movie this afternoon ... had been wanting to go since its release but didn't really wanna sit in a room full of people. So ... we waited patiently, tried very hard to, for about ~ 2 wks to go to see Kong.

Anyway... let's talk about the movie, shall we? First, I wanna say "Salute', Peter Jackson". I mean, is he great or IS HE GREAT? Maybe I shouldn't be so full of myself, but somehow I feel very proud of my fellow New Zealander!! First LOTR (which shocked almost the whole world) and now KK?! Wooow!!

I've seen the original 1933 King Kong, but seeing this remake by PJ ... mannn... they've added more emotion, more life and humour to Kong. More importantly, what's different from the original is Kong's been humanized in this 2005 release. In our eyes (my husband & I), we saw a little kid in Kong ... how he played with Ann Darrow when he first captured her (and she tried to escape) but instead he annoyed her (as he shuffled her around; picked her up and dropped her on the ground, repeatedly) but still found it humourous.

And and and ... after he rescured Darrow and battled & killed the T-Rexes, as they're resting on a block facing the sunset (ie. the pic below), he pretended to be mad at her. All in all ... they've showed Kong's many personalities and sides of wild, love, tenderness, jealousy, anger, and protectiveness. In this movie, you'll see that Kong is no creature nor beast of the wild, he's more human than the human!!


img src: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0360717/photogallery-ss-0

Of course, there are these strings of awesome and spectacular actions - Kong's battles with the T-Rexes & GIGANTIC bats; people being chased and crushed by dinasours; creepy creatures and insects pryed on and killed human; how Kong was captured by the group led by Denham and Cpt Englehorn and... the famous fight scenes on the Empire State Building.

Ahhh... there are so many things that worth mentioning about KK 2005, you really just have to see the movie to see them all. It's an awesome awesome movie - - - it makes you laugh; it makes you cry; it makes you wonder why a wild creature could react like human, like you and me, if not more.

Christmas Day Stroll

*pic locale: Bayou between N and S Braeswood Blvd where we took the stroll. Look at the blue sky!!

Went to have a stroll along the bayou (not too far where we live) on Christmas day.
It was such a beautiful day - - - temperature was below 70F the whole morning ... making it a perfect stroll day for me. Quite surprisingly, we saw many families also out for a Christmas day stroll ... I thought we'd be one of the few people out there taking a stroll considering it was the day after a hard night of partying, drinking games and hangover, etc, you know. =))

The whole loop took a little over an hour (to and back) ... felt really refreshing! Later, I told my husband that I've decided for him and our future children that we'll make the Christmas day stroll our family ritual. Good that he didn't have second opinion about it and actually thought it's an excellent idea. Or else ... I might be taking the Christmas day stroll all by myself next year. =((

Lost & Found

Santa is all dressed up and ready to get into action!


The centerpiece: whitish, bold, and all lighted up

Christmas is clearly well over and behind us. But thought I'd share some pics taken at our local grocery store just before Christmas. I was really taken by the Christmas tree centerpiece. Somehow it looks to me like the tree was dancing: the branches were the hands, moving, waving, making swift moves...
Or... I could be imagining things; seeing things that don't exist. =}

There's a story behind these pictures ... as I was admiring the festivity decoration and the nice looking and warmth feeling gift baskets (there was this basket which has a bag of nut & chocies cookies and a vacuum packed ground coffee with a mug - mannn... I almost wanted to get it for myself). Anyway... let's get into the heart of the story ... as my husband was queuing up at the checkout, I told him I'm going to nose around and take pictures of the Christmas deco'.

The nosing around and picture taking took about 5 ~ 8mins, max. When I was done, I turned around and looked at the checkout counter where I left him ... but he wasn't there!! For a second I thought he was playing and hiding behind me ... so I turned around and around and around (getting dizzy there - - - just to make sure he wasn't there). But ... he truly wasn't there - behind my back!!!

Then it clicked to me, ahhh... he must have done at the checkout. But but but ... how could it be that he didn't see me???!!! I was right there at the merchandise where he has to walk pass to get out. So... with all the puzzle in me, I decided to find him at the front and guess who I saw looking conpuzzled (confused & puzzled) and kinda worried and was looking high and low for something that he'd lost. That was my husband!! =) For some reason I found it real funny with his worried and conpuzzled face ... I called out and ran to him .... and said "You lost me, sweetie!! You lost me!" He was smiling but I can't stop laughing seeing his face admitting what I just said - he actually thought that he really did lose me there!!

Mannn... I was hysterical all the way walking up to the car. =))

This is a picture of my husband ('s forehead =)) tried to duck away from my camera.

Interesting Metaphors

Had dinner with the in-laws on Saturday ... it was a last minute thing so we decided to go to a buffet place - quick & easy (foodwise) plus it's only 5mins drive from where they live.

As usual, my father-in-law was quiet and minding his own business; while my mother-in-law was very energetic. It was a typical get-together dinner - - - eating and chatting. It's when I eavesdropped, unintentional of course, on what was said at the table across us that made the evening interesting. Judging from their conversation, the couple was clearly a son and his mother.

Listen (or... ummmm... read) to their conversation below:
(S = the son; M = the mother)


S: So ... how's everything lately?
M: Mmm... you know same old same old.
S: Do you and dad go out much?
M: Yeah ... I do when I have my activities to attend to. While ... your dad, ah, hopeless.
S: How so?
M: He just stays at home and glues himself to the computer.
S: Well... that's the way he prefers to spend his time, getting news and info from the net.
M: NONSENSE!! Those news or info that he got from the internet or printed media are useless and outdated.
It's readily written, printed, and distributed ... it's old, it's dead!
While those that I got are lively, hot from the oven info from the mouth of such and such.

There I was, only a few feet away, listening to the conversation and felt absolutely rediculed. I remember I had something in my mouth - a bite of chicken or fish or something, and I tried soooo hard not to burst out laughing at what's being said about lively vs dead news; printed media/internet vs hear say. My husband clearly had heard the conversation too, as when we looked at each other he had a BIG "Huhhh? You gotta be kidding me" written on his face.

Color of Autumn

Ahhh ... it's nice to have some color for a change!

Christmas Pressies

My oh my ... am I prepared or what?! I've had all the Christmas pressies to be sent overseas sorted, wrapped, and individualled labelled. All that's left to do is to print the mailing label and postage and wait for the USPS guy to come and pick it up.

The ONLY thing I forgot to do was taking pics of the goodies ... so there will be no pics to post for "what I bought for whom".



13 more days to Christmas eve!!!

Just Being Christmasie

I saw that this has been going around in the blog community ... being as festive as I can be, so why not?!

*The Holiday Ten*

Instructions: Copy & paste the questions to your blog with YOUR OWN answers.

1. What is your favorite holiday movie?
The Ghost from Christmas Past.

2. What is your favorite holiday song (title and artist)?
Silent Night.

3. What’s the best holiday gift you were ever given, and why?
Mmmm... I don't think I ever have a so called "The best holiday gift". Everyday is a gift!!

4. Do you have a special someone to kiss at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s?
Certainly!!!

5. Name of your favorite reindeer?
Comet - - - it sounds magical!!

6. Favorite Holiday food?
All the desserts that I can eat.

7. Snow day — cuddle by the fire, or hand me a snowball?
Cuddle by the fire first, then snowball for a bit, then cuddle by the fire! =))
Shame it doesn't snow the part of the country where we live!! =((

8. What was your New Year’s resolution for this year? Did you stick to it?
Didn't have one.

9. Is there really a Santa Claus?
Sure, or else where could all the presents come from all these years?

10. Present, or stocking stuffer?
Present!!! Present!!! Present!!!

Can you smell it?

Went to our niece and nephew's annual Christmas piano recital last Saturday afternoon. Gosh ... I was really impressed! About 1/2 of the kids who were performing were under the age of 10 and they played beautifully (much better than I do, =} )!!



After about an hour of beautiful music, we were invited to another room for some refreshments and catching up. There were lotz of snacks - - - cookies, chips & dip ... yummy yummy yum yum.



After last week, I think I can truly smell the holiday - roll on Christmas & New Year!!

Good on all grounds

Well well well... it's already the last month of year 2005.

Had a pretty good (better than expected in all grounds) ThanksGiving gathering with my husband's family. Originally, we're gonna have the dinner at our place on the 24th (I even had the full menu thought up, 3wks in advance!!) ... but on VERY last notice (due to a rather silly reason, both my husband and I thought so) was decided to have the gathering at my in-laws'.

Considering and judging on previous experiences and everything else, it was a pretty good gathering on all grounds!! My husband and I were very impressed. The only downer was I had a head-splitting headache 1/4 way thru' the gathering. But hey, I still managed to squeeze thru' a few gamecube games with my niece and nephew. heeeheeeheee...

Excused ourselves and went home at around 10pm for I can no longer take any of the torturing headache.