Preparing for the Holidays

For the last few weeks, I've been preparing the house for the holidays.  This year, instead of Jeff and I heading to Edmonton, the in-laws are coming to Ottawa for Christmas and New Year's.  It will be a change of scenery for them and a new experience for all.

This year, my mood is a bit sad.  Christmas is coming and things should be feeling great, right?  Well, not for me.  Since I moved to Ottawa, Christmas has been spent with Jeff's family and Chinese New Year is always spent with my family.  Although Christmas is not a big deal for my family (the way Chinese New Year is), this year, I wish I was with my family instead.

Ever since the number of nieces and nephews started to grow, I've longed to be with my family for Christmas.  I put a lot of thought and effort into buying my nieces and nephews presents and sometimes you want to be there to witness the look on their face when they open them.  Also, as my siblings and I get older, we've grown closer - our gifts to each other show how much we understand one another.  And as weird as this sounds, I miss the annual turkey dinner at my sister's place on Christmas day.  It isn't fancy or gourmet but I appreciate the effort and so much of it reminds me of my childhood.  The Hamilton Christmas dinner is great but just doesn't bring that same nostalgic feeling as my sister's dinner. 

With all of the preparation for my in-laws arrival, I have had less time to email or chat with my siblings.  When the in-laws are here, I'm sure there will be even less time.  I'd like to take this time to wish them a happy holidays.  I miss you guys and I'll see you at Chinese New Year in February.

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New Look for the New Season

Felt it was time for a bit of a change. I had some time on my hand so I changed the look of my blog to reflect the season.

Up until now, there has been no snow. But come Wednesday, there will be a generous amount of white stuff on the ground. Hope everyone has their snow tires on. Drive safely.

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Our Trip to Las Vegas

I mentioned a while back that Jeff and I were taking a long awaited trip to Vegas. Ever since we got married, we hardly had time for a vacation that was just the two of us. We love spending time with our families but we often put our "us" time on the back burner. So our Christmas present to each other for 2008 (yes, last year) was a trip to Vegas.

We took a 5 day trip to Vegas during the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. Instead of turkey and stuffing, it was gambling, shopping, and sightseeing. Since this was our main vacation of the year, we decided to stay at a nicer hotel - the Venetian. It's considered an older hotel on the strip but it's still looks pretty new.

Here are some highlights of our trip:
- We booked a tour to go to the Grand Canyon. It was Jeff's first time to the Grand Canyon. My 2nd time but it was still something to see. Took a lot of pictures but this is one case where photos just doesn't do it justice.

- I dragged Jeff to the outlet mall for 8 hrs of shopping. I don't shop that often in Ottawa (not exactly the fashion capital of the country) so when I do get a chance to shop, I go nuts.

- Jeff won at the Caribbean Poker table! Of course, that paid for the shopping from the previous day. :) Thanks baby.

- The red velvet cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory was so good. I might even have a picture for it. :)

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Happy Birthday Puff

Happy Birthday Puff .. Jeff. :)
It's 24-hrs of "Jeff Day". What is on the itinerary?
1. Lunch with the birthday boy
2. A romantic dinner of hot dogs and beer for two at Scotiabank Place
3. Edmonton Oilers vs. Ottawa Senators - I won't forget to wear my Oilers gear
4. Home for cake, champagne, and presents.

I'm such a good wife. ;-)

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Labour Day Weekend in Quebec City

Over the Labour day weekend, we went on a road trip to Quebec City. This was our first trip to Quebec City since our move to Ottawa. We left on the Friday morning around 11:30 am. We loaded up our brand new GPS and headed out. I know, I know .. do we really need a GPS just to go to QC? Let's just say that road trips can get pretty tense between me and Jeff. Why ruin a holiday weekend with silly arguments over why Jeff can't understand my map directions or why I can't read a map? :)


Anyway, the drive to QC was supposed to be 4.5 hours from Ottawa but the traffic in Montreal was crazy. I think we were stuck in Montreal traffic for about 2.5 hours! It was bumper to bumper - no accidents and nowhere to turn off. Poor Jeff drove the GTI so his legs and feet were so tired. Clutch, brake, gas .. all while moving 5 km/hr. Oh yeah, I should mention that Quebecers drive like maniacs. Usually you leave a car length of space between you and the car in front of you. In QC, this car length of space is an invitation for a small car to just slide in. Sigh.


The hotel we stayed at was really nice. It was located 20 mins outside of QC in the Sainte-Foy area. The location was great because in front of the hotel was a big mall and there were so many dining options within walking distance. My most memorable meal was the Brazil salad at Cosmos. Here are just a few pics of the meals and sights we saw during our weekend.

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Trip Planning

We finally booked something for vacation. Hurray! We have been trying to figure out a good time to schedule a vacation and we finally booked something for October. Back in April, we were both pretty burnt out from work. We really wanted to get away but we could never find a week that worked for both of us. Six months later, we found something that fit our vacation criteria. :)

It's been three years since our last real vacation together. We've taken one short driving trip to Montreal and plenty of trips to Toronto and/or Edmonton. Don't get me wrong, we enjoy seeing family on our trips .. but sometimes we want to shake things up and travel beyond our hometowns. Sooooo .....

Over the Labour Day weekend, we will be heading out to Quebec City. I am looking forward to spending some time sightseeing around the Quebec City area and the surrounding areas. I've been told that it's beautiful out there so hopefully I come back with some nice pictures.

In October, we are going to spend a few days in Las Vegas. The last time I was there was almost 10 years ago. Jeff has never been to the Grand Canyon so we are going to do an excursion out to see that. The excursion description said it was a 14 hr day trip. Whoa! It's still worth it to go and see it.

I know, it's not super exciting. But when you plan last minute, Vegas always works. There are lots of last minute deals for places like Cuba, Mexico, Dominican Republic, etc. But we weren't interested in going to a 'resort'. Most other vacation spots required a bit more planning than what we were willing to do. Vegas was pretty quick and easy. A former colleague once said that Vegas is like DisneyWorld for adults. :) So Vegas it is.

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July 2009

July is going by just as fast as June did. Feels like nothing has been done since I came back from Toronto. We had my sister Karen stay with us for a week. She joined us for badminton during the week and she kicked ass.

This week, my father in law is in town for the next two weeks. He is celebrating his 69th birthday on the 23rd. We rarely have visitors at our house so this is a treat for us.

I'm hoping that some time in August we will have time to celebrate our anniversary. We put it off last time because we were in Toronto and we said we'd celebrate in the near future. I'd also like to start planning a vacation. You know, when our two families don't live in the same city as we do, most of our vacation time is spent visiting family. We haven't had a real vacation since our honeymoon three years ago. I think we are due but we will see. Maybe Vegas?

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