onto 2010!

(original image from flickr)

2 hours left of 09, time for a little reflection?

Mm let's see, decent ending to grade 9, met a lot of new friends and kept most of the old ones. I thought it would be awkward to see people that you were really close with but that was just me being paranoid. Learned important lessons, such as not overthinking (lol janice) and seeing things from over people's perspectives. Good conclusion to something that I've let drag on for too long, tbh I should be very happy about how it turned out. Wonderful trip back to China, thank god I went back this year. Beginning of grade 10 was fine, life goes on haha.

My selective memory remembers mostly good things, but as for the bad... a few loses and almost loses in terms of family. First term wasn't as well (academically) as I expected, no super high marks to pull the rest up haha. Gotta turn that into motivation for the next term!

Onto the resolutions.
I know ones from last year got absolutely nowhere past the first few weeks, so I'm trying 6changes this year. (from the writer of Zen Habits, which I have on rss). My 6 changes for 10 are:
1. Sleep more
2. Move vigorously (eg. jogging) for 5 mins each day (pathetic I know)
3. Get higher on my average
4. Organize and keep track of my personal possessions. (esp. cloth)
5. Think less before I talk/express my feelings more (oh how much regret I have relating to this one)
6. Be more optimistic and have a positive attitude

wish me luck~

^_^

Hot pot was funnnnn. We way overdid the food (as always), had 2 packs of yam noodle, 3.5 packs of beef, half a cabbage and other little things leftover.

Also overdid the chips @ Nick's. We had like...10 bags? Only ate 2 xD Everyone was too focused on the video games to even eat. Mafia wasn't successful either, poor Gracie. All our parties can be simplified down to 2 activities: game & eat.

but guess what goodie I found when I got home:



(forgive the webcam quality and the fact that it's backwards...)
Nivea Creme! aka the poor (wo)men's la mer!
makeup alley review: 4.2
It came at a good time too, just running out of my Clinique DDML. Gonna be trying this as my winter time night cream, hopefully it does wonders for me too~

brunch: day after christmas

brunch: Leftover Omelet


(green pepper, frozen carrots, corn, pea and spaghetti).

This is like the ultimate fridge cleanup-er. Since I haven't been eating in during the past few days, all there left in the fridge were a few stray veggies and bunch of frozen ones. I wanted to press the spaghetti onto the bottom to form a crust, but that didn't go so well. It tastes pretty good though, and very filling.

dinner: butterflied steak with asparagus



First time making steak...overrrrcooked @_@" I followed Jamie Oliver's recipe which called for 4 mins with a flip every min, which was a tad long.

Rest was good though: juices were still in the meat and nicely seasoned. Not an utter failure :] (expects kevin to disagree)

christmas recap

24th aka Christmas Eve:
It's a tradition that my family always go over to our friend's place either on xmas eve or actual xmas. After saying hi to all the aunts and uncles (not literally, just how Chinese ppl say them blahblah aiyi, blah blah shushu), all the kiddies go upstairs to play wii or the computer.

We tried to play Mario Kart (woke up early to borrow controllers ;_;) but the disc was weird and won't load past the character selection. Switched to Wii Sports and pwned at 110m hurdles :] I suck at every other sport though, especially table tennis.

Food at family friend gatherings are always awesome, had this great roast beef *u* Only had 5 plates of food since I ate too much choco hazelnut pie before dinner. While eating, one of the adults gave us a math problem to work on (putting it up since he forgot to tell us the answer):

in triangle ABC, since AB =/= AC, prove that AB=AC.

Rest of the night was spent on more math problems (what a nerdy way to spend xmas eve haha). I'll forever love anyone that solves this: star puzzel.

25th aka Christmas Day:
Went to Donna's house for some hotpot :]
It tasted aweeeeeeeesome *u* Loved the seaweed, beef, and tofu! I feel bad that I kept hogging all the tofu @_@" Somehow finished 2 bottles of water and a cup of soy milk while eating, maybe the soup base was too salty?

Since I didn't get to use those controllers yesterday, I was determined not to let my waking up early efforts go to waste. OD was nice enough to bring his wii for a fun night of brawl. Got slightly better at using Ike, big muscle man jumps so little ;_; Teaming OD with Donna is hilarious, she edge guards but if he does come up I just fsmash him right back xD Played a little Mario Kart too, I'm still every bit as bad as I was. I can survive rainbow road only if I stop accelerating at the turns ;_;

26th aka Boxing Day:
Armed with my lack of sleep and unprinted plan of attack, my mom and I drove to Vaughan Mills at 9 in attempt to actually buy stuff. Saw many people that we knew in the first hour, most of them already have bags in their hands; wonder when they woke up @_@"

Most of the stores didn't have such bad line ups, with Tommy being an exception. The line stretched from the front of the store to the back and back to the front e_e. Dunno why I decided to line up for 40mins for only a shirt and a pair of pants. Training for wonderland? ;P

Anywhoo, where's my spoils of war (yes roy I am posting them):


leather boots & jacket~!<3 love love love. the boots are soooo comfy!


two hoodies, three co biglow lippies: 2 gloss and a balm, and that shirt from tommy @_@"

T'was an efficient day.

<<<|=

(it's sorta a christmas tree if you look sideways...)

sooo tried @_@
24th: family friend's house till 1
25th: friend's house till 11
26th: up at 7:30 for boxing day

It was satisfying though: ate good food, gotten a tad bit better at brawl, and shopped until my legs turned into tofu (40min wait in Tommy -o-)
In detail recap tmrw~

Happy Boxing Day and belated Christmas~

gingerbread yumminess

(gingersnaps are still better, but since no one builds houses out of those...)
all images and additional description (c) weburbanist.com








looks like an awesome site for a holiday party *u*


life size gingerbread house. Disney never fails to impress.

northbound from downsview

I'm a pro at gift wrapping now :]
Most useful tips that I learned was first hide the tape and second to make sure the corners are sharp. The 2 above actually makes a huge difference.

a slightly related video:


lego is awesome haha.

brunch: thai style pasta

Thai style pasta (not really haha) with snap peas, chicken, pineapple and peanut sauce.
(from Better Homes & Garden cook book)

Uhh...it was alright. mediocre in every aspect, a wee bit light on seasoning. Tastes a lot better with more soy sauce and a hint of chili oil.

step by step

The elevators stopped working today.
The main control board stopped working after a brief (false) fire alarm and the maintenance people can't come any time soon since it's a saturday.

Which meant that my mom and I had to take the stairs up, really steep stairs. Unfortunately, my mom decided to buy a watermelon, bag of milk, 2 cans of soy milk and other groceries. Up 22 (actually 20 since there's no floor 13, or 14) flights of stair is more exercise than I do in a month <_<"

On the bright side, it's prep for boxing day.

pina colada

got this baby today :]
on top of smelling great (I love the pina colada starburst too), it's 100% and 93% organice annnnd handmade in Canada. The latter is a rare sight. (kissmyface.com)

I feel complete with a lip balm with me.
Now to replace that c.o. biglow menthra lipgloss *u*

...
...
...

I will never attempt to saw maple wood again.
*after an hour of Laurie and I trying to saw this tiny piece of wood*
teacher: so hows it coming along?
me: it's not...
teacher: haha i'm not surprised, you got the hardest piece of wood in this shop
fml.

pigs and pepper

Alice's Adventures in (algebra) Wonderland

a very interesting view of the book.
very very interesting.

...
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...

a very relaxing last week of school.

History test was soooo easy, despite saying that, I think I lost some marks because my answers aren't as specific as his standards (I don't think anyone...maybe except Sophia's is). SAP...good test mark and bad reflection mark, so I guess it evens out. Got an extension for English seminar prep and civics (well no, I just thought it was due earlier).

me happy (and therefore has emotions.)

brunch: udon with assortment of veggies

assortment of veggies include: mushroom, cabbage, tomato, seaweed, bamboo shoot with shrimp and egg.

last week's:

elbow pasta with italian sausage and sweet peppers.

whims

miaovergaard.com
I think I'm developing a cosmetic obsession @_@"

french toast apron

French Toast Full Apron for Women with Amy Butler and Moda Fabric
(pamwares @ esty)

I want that for christmas...
yes I want a apron <_< the fabric is soooo gorgeous! With this, I can finally wear my white shirts when cooking.

cinnamon sugar

Baked some of my JA cookies yesterday :]

To my surprise, it turned out GREAT. I thought they were just gonna be another mediocre sugar cookie mix, but dayum it tasted good. Props to Kate that found the recipe.

The cookies are really soft straight out of the oven, left to rest for a day and it'll turn into normal hard sugar cookie texture. I (well Janice did) added a bit more vanilla extract then required and it gave the cookies a wonderful fragrance. Sprinkle some cinnamon on top and you've got an epic win.

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To contrast, the first snow storm of this year is hell <_<" It's more of a rain&snow storm, which makes things much much worse.

For some reason, I decided not to wear boots today. One good thing that came out of that is my boots are still nice and dry, but that's about it. My socks, jeans, coat, backpack, hair, and face got soaked on the way to and from school. There's also really strong winds on top of all that.

Winter's finally showing it's fangs...

now.

I wish I could cross my arms and cross your mind
Cause I believe you'd unfold your paper heart and wear it on your sleeve
All my life I wish I broke mirrors instead of promises
Cause all I see is a shattered conscience staring right back at me
I wish I had covered all my tracks completely
Cause I'm so afraid, is that the light at the far end of the tunnel or just the train
Lift your arms, only heaven knows where the danger grows
And it's safe to say there's a bright light up ahead and help is on the way

I forget the last time I felt brave, I just recall insecurity
Cause it came down like a tidal wave and sorrow swept over me

Depression please cut to the chase and cut a long story short
Oh please be done, how much longer can this drama afford to run
Fate looks sharp, severs all my ties and breaks whatever doesn't bend
But sadly then, all my heavy hopes just pull me back down again

I forget the last time I felt brave, I just recall insecurity
Cause it came down like a tidal wave and sorrow swept over me
Then I was given grace and love
I was blind but now I can see
Cause I've found a new hope from above
And courage swept over me

It hurts just to wake up whenever you're wearing thin
Alone on the outside
So tired of looking in
The end is uncertain
And I've never been so afraid
But I don't need a telescope to see that there's hope
And that makes me feel brave

愛在某個角落

向左走 向右走
光良

我真的迷了路　在喧鬧人群中
有個我靜悄悄地走過

如果你是真的　想念就是真的
分兩頭　從每一條路到每一個錯過

一直走　也酗ㄙ器D往哪里走
我相信　夢就是輪廓
而我們圍繞著在尋找中　愛在某個角落

向左走還是向右走　幾天幾遍我一直走
晴天雨天沒有停過　你一定要等我

向左走還是向右走　我努力選擇　努力記得
不管世界有多遼闊　只要向著你走

向左走還是向右走　幾天幾遍我一直走
向左走還是向右走　我努力選擇　努力記得

*cold*

food is the ultimate comfort *u*

(didn't bother rotating photo)
My afternoon snack, though it's usually less elaborate. Warm milk mixed with honey, blackberry with natural yogurt and danish cookies to dip in the milk with :]
I need a tray, should make one in tech @_@ glass plate isn't the most safe serving platform.

@__@

forgot where I found the image @_@
but credits to whoever made it (not meeee)

flawless animation!

cookie kits~

hey lookie: my ja company's website isn't all that bad looking
it's just....really incomplete.

but our product is AWESOME.
it's the most awesomest cookie kit you will ever have.
for a mere price of $5, you can be the proud owner of a magical mix that will create 36 scrumptious sugar cookies. and a 100% recyclable and biodegradable box that you can reuse as a container for the uneaten cookies.

:]
(it's better than candy kebobs)