There's nothing like home

I can't believe it's already been a month since I last blogged.  Sorry about that friends!

I have been so busy with the holidays and travelling.

Pictures to come.  For now, I'm just enjoying being at home.

Nap time my friends!

Fashion: H&M on Glee

Glee is one of my favorite TV shows and tonight, Lea Michele was wearing a blue dress from H&M that I own!  I'm not going to lie... as soon as I recognized the dress, I yelled aloud "oooh!  I own that dress!"

And while yes, a lot of episodes make fun of Lea Michele's character's lack of fashion... this was a cute dress that was in fact quite fashionable.  When I wear it to work, I always get compliments.

I tried to find a picture but haven't been successful.  It's the blue dress she's wearing at the end of the episode.  It's blue fabric with blue vertical stripes, cap-sleeved, v-neck, belted at the middle.  Cute!

Thanksgiving, the American Chinese Way

I just wanted to share a picture of all of the food (minus my pumpkin cheesecake pie) we had for Thanksgiving.  We had all of the normal "traditional" Thanksgiving foods plus what my family considers is necessary at family gatherings...

Yep, we had turkey (super juicy), stuffing (with venison sausage!), cranberry sauce (not from a can this year!), mashed potatoes, green bean casserole (with soup from a can), sweet potatoes, potato salad, tater tot casserole (in honor of Opie's BBQ and the craving Stasia's wedding created), stuffed mushrooms, deviled eggs, rolls, fruit salad, pumpkin cheesecake pie...

Then we also had sweet & sour chicken, pork loin, a noodle side dish whose name I only know in Chinese, and rice.  

Side note: My family believes rice should be eaten with practically every single meal.  Noodle dishes (like Italian) or pizza are pretty much the only exception.  Seriously, they eat cheese hamburgers without a bun and with a side of rice instead.  My plate and my cousin's wife's plate would be the ones without rice.  We allotted no room for a filler like rice! 

Gotta love Thanksgiving done my family's way!  It makes eating the leftovers a lot less boring, that's for sure!

Thankful

Growing up, Thanksgiving was never about sharing what we're thankful for.  It has always been about food, football, more food, and then more football.  It was enjoyed with the extended family but if you got in the way of food or football, you may as well have not been family.  Unconditional love did not cover getting in the way of food and football.  People fought over who got the dining room table seats that had the best view of the living room's TV.  I always lost...

I don't fault my family.  Daily, we ate home-cooked dinner together at the kitchen table (with no TV allowed) but conversation was never lively.  We just didn't (and still don't) discuss the little things of life, the details of our days.  Big events were discussed and as I got older, my dad and I can discuss current events and politics.  It's just the way we are and I can appreciate our peacefully silent yet still enjoyable meals.

This Thanksgiving, I would like to reflect on some of the things I am truly thankful for.  It's really good to take a step back and think positively rather than fret over all the little things.

I am thankful for my family who has always supported me no matter what, always forgives me after angry outbursts, has taught me the morals and values that shaped who I am today.  They may frustrate me but they love me and have done nothing but push me to be a better person.  

At Chichen Itza - Family Cruise 2010

I'm also thankful that my grandfather is temporarily living with my parents and has been here to celebrate my birthday and now Thanksgiving.  He's 97 and each day with him is a blessing.

At my cousin's birthday party - we love food!

I'm thankful for my wonderful boyfriend, Josh.  I'm so lucky to have found him.  He brightens my day and lifts my spirits.  He reminds me to be a little less serious and enjoy life.  He introduced me to the fun of costumes (as evidenced by the picture) and does want to talk about the details of my day.  His family welcomed me into their family with WIDE open arms.

At Texas Renaissance Festival - 1001 Dreams Themed Weekend

I'm thankful for my dog, Zoey.  She's a lover.  I wish I could spend 20 hours of the day lounging around on the bed/sleeping and then the other 4 hours of the day getting belly rubs, hugs and kisses, and treats.  She lives a good life - everyone spoils her and in return she rewards us with her unconditional love.  

At my parents' backyard - lab/spaniel mix (aka mutt)

And lastly, I'm thankful for my friends.  They pick me up when I'm down, they share the good (and bad) times with me, they make me smile and laugh, they're an extension of me that without I am not whole.

 At a UT football game with Amber

At Britt's wedding 

At Maggiano's - my birthday dinner

At Peaches' wedding

Friends who were not pictured, I am still thankful for you but we need to hang out more so I have pictures!

What are you thankful for?

Fashion Tip: Belts, Asymmetrical Necklaces, and Red

I'm a big fan of the lasting trend of wearing belts higher than the waist.  The dress was already an empire waist little black dress but I really wanted to add red accents so that I didn't look like I was attending a funeral.  And because I hate wearing smokin' hot red shoes without red accessories of some sort to balance everything out.

Here's the fashion tip - that is a red belt I'm wearing.  I turned it around so that the belt buckle is hiding in the back underneath my cardigan.  Doesn't it make it look like a part of my dress instead of a belt?  Genius isn't it?!

I only have 1 picture of the whole outfit - sorry.  

I really loved my outfit.  Smokin' hot red peep toe patent leather shoes, my current fave necklace in red (goes back to my obsession with flowers and asymmetry), red belt that looks like a part of the dress, and a simple red cardigan (with "diamonds" for the buttons!) because well it is November and a bit chilly.

Shoes by Chinese Laundry - purchased years ago - something similar

Necklace from New York & Co (comes in multiple colors) - here

Little black dress - purchased years ago - something similar

Belt - purchased years ago - something similar

Cardigan from New York & Co (comes in multiple colors) - here

When American wedding traditions merge with Asian traditions

To continue with the wedding posts... I enjoyed Stasia and Justin's wedding in Austin and then had to drive back to Dallas in time for Daigo and Nancy's wedding.  Who knew November would be so popular for weddings!

Daigo and Nancy had their ceremony outside at the Dallas Arboretum in the Women's Garden.  The forecast originally was rain for the entire weekend but it turned out to be gorgeous weather for both weddings - yay!

I've never seen Daigo happier.  He was grinning from ear to ear the entire time.

 Nancy couldn't stop grinning either.

She was absolutely stunning!  

Some wedding ceremonies are completely serious and intense and make me tear up.  This was definitely not one of those.  Daigo kept making silly little faces at Nancy; you couldn't help but smile and be happy for them.  And Sam, the minister, kept things light hearted and funny.  When he said, "you may now kiss the Bride," he prefaced it with "this is the moment that Daigo has been waiting for!"  And then Daigo didn't kiss Nancy normally... he peeked her on the left cheek, then the right, back to the left, etc. just to be goofy.  Everyone laughed.  It was sweet to see how fun and goofy they are together.

I **LOVED** these bridesmaid dresses.  I'm a huge fan of the one shoulder look, am currently on a flower obsession, and red is one of my favorite colors.  If my company holiday party were a formal affair, (sadly it is not) I'd so want to wear this dress to it.  THAT is how much I love it.

Red is the traditional Asian wedding color so I intentionally wore red to both weddings.  It was my way of providing them with some good luck from me.  And then I ended up coordinating with both weddings - oops!

The reception was a traditional Asian wedding reception held at Maxim's Chinese Restaurant.  There's really only two Chinese restaurants in the Dallas area that are big enough for wedding receptions and can do the typical 10-14 course smorgasbord of food.  Daigo and Nancy had 10 courses and we ate and ate and ate and ate until it hurt.  We also drank and drank and drank and drank.  So we were the rowdy table... so what?

The first course had animals carved out of carrot as decoration.  

Dog?  Rabbit?  We weren't sure either.  But whatever it was, it was cute!

I was too busy eating and drinking to take more pictures of the food.  Let's just say there was seafood soup, pickled jellyfish, LOBSTER, more meats, vegetables (but who needs that?), fried rice (definitely did not bother to save room for rice when there was LOBSTER), and much more.

Here's their cake.  It was delicious.  

The traditional Asian cake that is so light and airy it practically melts in your mouth.  And the icing just melts too.  YUM.  (I've yet to properly recreate this in my kitchen.)

They chose to play the "Beauty and the Beast" song from the movie while they cut the cake.  Since Disney FINALLY released this beloved, childhood all-time favorite of mine from the vault, Josh bought it for me for my birthday.  I watched it with him recently.  

I LOVE THIS SONG. 

I LOVE THIS MOVIE.  

I started tearing up.  Josh told me to get a grip on myself.  What can I say, alcohol makes me emotional.  And I'm already emotional on a daily basis.

It was perfect.  Nancy looked like a princess.  She found her prince charming.  They are so in love and so happy.  I love weddings!

An Intimate Vineyard Wedding

The last time I was in Austin, Brittany and Korey got married.  Fast forward seven months, and this past weekend I went to see Anastasia and Justin get married at Spicewood Vineyards.  It was a BEAUTIFUL wedding.  An intimate affair arranged beautifully with decorations made by Brittany and Stasia.

The lovely bridesmaids (Maggie, Caroline, Brittany).

The Bride and Groom - Look at how happy they look!  

At one point, Justin shed tears.  It was moving.

The ceremony was different in that it didn't have religion overtones, Bible verses, or traditional vows.  But I really liked it.  The officiant was serious but not boring and spoke from the heart about love and marriage.  I don't remember the actual vows but one funny part stuck out.  Justin appeared to stumble (possibly out of embarrassment?) when asked to repeat "lover" while Stasia appeared to yell/emphasis it.    

Mr. and Mrs. Teague!

I found it amusing that the officiant wore his sunglasses the entire ceremony.

I'm sorry I didn't take more pictures - I had too much fun just enjoying myself!  It was great to see everyone, drink some good wine, eat some delicious food (Opie's BBQ - I'm determined to recreate their tater tot casserole and Britt's working on their spicy corn and then we'll share!), and be a part of their special day!

A yummy and pretty cake from Lux Bakery!

They had a fantastic guestbook.  It was a time capsule and guests were asked to pick one or more dates (1, 5, 10, or 25 years from now) and write a message or prediction to the couple.  It could be anything we wanted and they provided examples like "where will they be living" and the more random one "how many robots will be living in their home."  It was a SUPER cute and fun idea.  I already told Stasia I'm definitely stealing that one from her!  (She did take my red color so we're even, right?!)

All in all, a fun weekend trip to Austin and a beautiful wedding!  I'm so grateful I was able to share in Stasia's special day and see her marry the man she loves.  Congrats Stasia and Justin!