cost of a wedding

As the weather warms up, I guess we’re headed right into wedding season again. I haven’t got any wedding invites of late, whew! Not that I don’t like attending but wedding gifts can make quite a dent in my budget. Usually it’s an unexpected expense and I have to somehow make up for it in one way or another. From what I hear, weddings don’t come cheap these days. The cost of the reception, dinner, bridesmaid gifts and photography can add up pretty quickly.

impressive lion dances

We managed to catch the last lion dance performance last weekend before they wrap up for this Chinese New Year. It was really neat to see lively lions leaping at great heights to the fiesty beat of drums.

I’m very impressed at the skills of the lion dance performance. The lion head is very heavy and it’s not easy to balance on high poles. I mean, what do these guys eat to be that good??! Or are they fitted with Mopar performance parts that make them so fearless when leaping about at such heights?

city to ourselves

The roads are clear and the malls were half-deserted and we’ve got the entire city to ourselves. Most of the stores are closed and anyone who’s even looking to visit the drugstore may well have ended up resorting to home treatment for hemorrhoids and other minor problems instead.

We were there only to find a place to have a quick dinner. I cooked a big lunch and really wasn’t going to wear myself cooking dinner as well. So me and the kids decided, against our better judgement, to hit the malls on the eve of the festivities. Luckily there were a few restaurants still open!

Happy V-Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day! Frankly this year, with Chinese New Year falling on February 14, the idea of Valentine’s Day was completely pushed to the background for many of us who are celebrating CNY.

All I can say is that a double celebration calls for double the amount of good food and fun. I wouldn’t worry about the quick weight loss bit. Just eat, drink and be merry and when the festivities are over and the stress begins, your weight will work itself out .

no rush yet

Woo-hoo, the weekend is here and that officially makes it a couple of weeks to Chinese New Year. I still haven’t done any shopping to that end but I can sure see hordes of folks getting into the thick of decorating their homes with lanterns, buying discount rugs to lay across their doorways to welcome guests and hogging tins of cookies and festive delicacies in readiness for all the cooking and eating that’s customary this time of year. We typically celebrate on a small scale so there’s no rush yet .

my boxful of wedding favors

I’ve just attended the wedding of a cousin during the Christmas holidays and it looks like I’m set to attend a few more soon this month. Woo-hoo, if it’s the one thing I consider a real perk going to weddings, it’s the Wedding Favors that I receive.

I have quite a collection of them, you know, which I keep stashed away in a box. My daughters love going through those boxes and ooh-ing and aah-ing over the many cute favors I have collected. As for me, I look at them and I recall the wonderful memories of each one.

At the last wedding I went to on New Year’s Day this year, I got a vintage-style candle holder with twin hearts. They’re precious. I’m not kidding, it’s really much too pretty to use, so they’re going straight into my boxful of favors .

I’ve also got tons of photos that I still haven’t had a chance to sort through yet. The holidays have been so busy I’ve had to procrastinate on a lot of things that need to be done. It’s either that or I start the year stressing myself out which is something I don’t need.