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Showing posts with label Holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holidays. Show all posts

Monday, January 23, 2012

Places to visit 2012

Barbara made New Year's resolutions this year and so I decided I could do a fun version for myself...since I can say I will exercise more and eat better but talk is just talk when it comes to my motivations so...

Places I plan to visit in 2012:

New cities:

Tianjin, China
Shanghai, China
Hong Kong (hopefully…its expensive)


Yeah...I miss the sea
Beijing:
Forbidden City
Beijing Duck Restaurant
Temple of Heaven
Wangfujing (Snack street)

Saturday, January 21, 2012

One Year in China Part 2

So, more than 1 month later (my mantra of 2012 it seems) I am posting the second half of my first year in China.
Recap: Arrived: November 2012, after 1 night at the Marriott, lived in a rat trap for 2 weeks, then moved one step up for 3 months while we made some friends. Once I got a job we moved into Upper East Side


Now we live here and love it
We visited places like this
Chaoyang Park
Mutianyu Great Wall
The girls I went to the wall with...Great Wall of China trip with me and 3 girls from Japan
Thank you smog
Steep stairs that they did not want to walk up :)
The Summer Palace
1000% Humidity and no makeup...

We had our first wedding anniversary
Anniversary presents
Visited 798, the art distrct

And then...
In the beginning(ish) of our second year in China, we returned home to the USA for the first time for Christmas
My dad and me 
Father and son in law
And us
I hope that everyone has had a wonderful beginning to 2012!
On the 19th I had my 24th birthday and couldn't be happier with my life. I got to see my family and friends again, I have a wonderful husband, a great job and a wonderful future in front of me.
I found this great picture on a new blog about a really heartwarming family 

Better Late Than Never

For effort number two to write this post...my (insert ugly expletive) VPN bumped me off and now I am re-writing this post...Moving on

The topic of this post, my favorite subject, me and my wedding. Yes, that was almost 2 years ago. Nevertheless, the first time around, we planned our wedding in 3 weeks and because it was in June, a lot of people were not able to make it. We had a group of around 30 people at my parent's townhouse and had a great time. Yet, a lot of family and friends were not able to make it due to the short notice. So, my wonderful parents hosted yet another wedding reception in our honor. This time, invitations were sent out months in advance and we had a much larger tun out. Family friends and family members shipped registered gifts to us for months in advance and hubs and I had two Christmases this year. It was so nice to open wedding gifts so long after actually getting married. Wonderful time...I recommend celebrating your wedding as often as possible. 
Our stationary for the invites
The one downfall to having a separate wedding and wedding reception is that my mother thought it would be ridiculous for me to wear my wedding dress again. I am not a very well endowed girl...but my wedding dress did so much with so little. 
That dress
This dress...still nice, but you see my point
I loved my wedding dress so much. I tried on only 5 dresses before I found this gem and had to own it
Probably one of my favorite shots
A great picture of the dress...good thing hubs never reads my blog because he hates this picture...thinks he looks creepy
The back of the dress
Now, a photo dump from Wedding Reception Numero Dos
Two of my best friends...plus my uncle and family friend in the background
+1: Geoff
The always important and inevitably blurry bar area...
It makes total sense that the bar picture is blurry...the woman that ran the bar made some stiff drinks. I took my first sip and felt like someone had tossed a lit match down my throat. Thankfully, the same friend who took my wedding pictures was at this party also taking pictures:

This one makes me laugh...that look on his face
Me and the other wives of my husband's best friends
Sadly, one of two pictures where will and I make it into the same shot. Positive: This couple gave  us an awesome gift
Overall, the night was wonderful and we had a great time. Sorry it took me almost a month to post this, but after two bouts of food poisoning in 1 month, jet lag from returning to China, starting a new semester and going back to work....I've been busy. 

Chun Jie Kuai Le: Happy Chinese New Year