noël in focus

Christmas is one of my most favourite times in the year. What I love most is spending time with my family and friends (the presents and all the eating are just bonuses). As a child, Christmas was always a busy time with many dinners and parties. It's odd, though, that if asked what I remembered most about Christmas during my childhood, memories of quiet Christmas nights spent staring at Christmas lights conjure up in my mind. I have vivid memories of me lying on the sofa in my living room by myself just staring at the changing lights on the Christmas tree. I always had this feeling that I could never quite put my finger on that popped up when I revisited that memory. Maybe it was happiness or maybe I was just sleepy and a bit delirious from all the eating. I still have trouble describing it with words, but I get it every Christmas.

I was an odd little one.

May your Christmas be merry and focused on the people and things that matter most!

(Unlike the picture Nathan took of me that focused on the ornament. Maybe he's hinting something at me...)

back in my own bed

I'm back from cruising with a million photos to go through and what I believe to be a very slight tan! Due to the sheer volume of pictures my brother and I snapped, I will probably have to dissect my cruise into bits and pieces to avoid photo overload. And seeing as how I am entering Christmas mode, my vacation updates will have to wait until the new year (since documenting Christmas festivities is a priority in my little snow globe world). Speaking of snow, where is it? I am disappointed Toronto...

note: we didn't cruise with Disney, though I wish I did...

à bientôt

 I am off to find sunshine and seashells and to eat until my belly can expand no more!

I hope that Toronto will be covered in a nice fluffy blanket of snow when I'm back

(none of that dirty slush nonsense)

:)

macarons and wine

macarons. macarons. blurry face. burgers at earls.

queen, men and strikers

I would like to think that I'm a good carrom player, but to be honest, I have absolutely no aim. I've played only one other time in my life and although I won both times, it was always by default. All those years spent learning geometry and physics and science-y things was for moot. If only my teachers stressed the importance of angles and forces in high school. If only they warned me about how useful and relevant these things would turn out to be in my life. I would be living a glamourous life as a professional carrom player right now. But instead, I have to find happiness in a simple life where playing a board game is exciting enough to warrant a blog post...

 Maybe it was a good thing I was never very studious in high school.

little dates

Although it's fun to dress up once in awhile, in my books, simple dates that don't require nice hair and makeup are the best. Nathan has learned that the way to my heart is through my stomach which is why most, if not all, of our dates revolve around food and usually in casual little places. This time he took me to one of my go-to restaurants when I'm in the mood for something warm that does not require a lot of chewing: Sogong-Dong Tofu House. Since I've only ever had sundubu jjigae (or "soon tofu" as I like to call it) at this one place, I really don't know if what I'm eating is actually good. But my taste buds seem to like it so why mess with a good thing, right? Sometimes it's best to leave these kinds of things alone. Finding the best of something out there will just make everything else dull in comparison. It's just like how my taste buds for sushi evolved. Now I can't eat a.y.c.e sushi at my local Japanese dive without a bit of a snooty attitude. Although, sometimes I do appreciate the sub-standard sushi, for nostalgia's sake.