the island

June is a busy month for us with Father's Day and a few family birthdays including mine and Jin's in there as well. Gabe and May thought a picnic would be a low key, Eloise friendly activity to spend time together and to celebrate all these happy occasions the month of June contains for us. Plus, Gabe and May are the best when it comes to food and making sure we're well fed.

Last time, our big outing was to the beach and this time, we were a little more daring. We hopped on a ferry and went to the Toronto Islands for the picnic!

As we walked around to find the perfect spot to picnic, we noticed everything was covered in fluffy seeds from all the willow trees on the island. It was so beautiful. Gabe and May outdid themselves with the food! We ate under the puffs from the willow trees and our bellies were very full and happy.

After the lovely picnic, we walked around the small neighbourhood and dreamed of what life would be like on the island.

(happy birthday to my amazing Jinny, it is today! xo)

A Christmas Surprise

All I want for Christmas is a Mojo bouffant for me and a salt and pepper Mea beard for Jinny!

A little while ago, Jin and I commissioned Melinda & Chris to do collaborative cat portraits of Mea and Mojo with no rush of a timeline. We were surprised when they handed us two lovely packages in time for Christmas and were even more surprised when we opened them to find that they snuck Jin and I in the portraits too!!

Just imagine howls of laughter when the paintings were revealed to us! Jin and I were completely blown away! And for the cherry on top, Chris handmade the frames for the paintings! What an amazing Christmas surprise!

Happy holidays and Merry Christmas from Jinny, Mea, Mojo and I (and char siu bao is hiding in there!), courtesy of Melinda & Chris!! This year has been an amazing and eventful one for our growing little family and I am very much looking forward to spending time with our family and a few quiet days at home with Jinny and Mea and Mojo this week.

Now I must head back to our Christmas festivities (which translates to "eating all day")! Bye everyone!

(I replaced the images of the paintings with scans Melinda provided me. They are much more accurate to the real paintings!)

(Thank you Henry for taking the photo of Jinny and I!)

how I see it

Through my glasses, and through my lens,

this is what I see.

(And it's pretty great)

Family Time

Dinner at Jin's parent's place.

We had my favourite korean soup. Spicy lamb soup!
And Jin's parents made pancakes with chives.

We always eat so well when we visit.

Thank you for all your kind comments on my last post! It makes me even more excited for next year! (I didn't know that was possible!)

cotton anniversary

Today, we have been married for 2 years, and we celebrated by having a big ball of cotton candy! It is our cotton anniversary after all.

We took anniversary photos last year, and it was so much fun! Famapa gave us the brilliant idea to do it every year! We thought it would be fun to take it at the midway this year!

Jinny, I can't believe it has been 2 years already. I am thankful for so many things, like, how you always volunteer to do the not-so-pleasant things around the house (kitty litter, garbage etc.) so that I do not have to see it! And you always make tea for me on the weekends. And you always take me to bed whenever I fall asleep on the couch, or at my desk....what would I do without you? But the most important thing is, I am so thankful we always love eachother so well. Happy anniversary, Jinny!

These beautiful photos are taken by my brother, who is a very talented photographer! Thank you Henry!

dear jinny

If I had to pick a favourite part of your head, it would be the top of your head. Of course, I love your entire head, but if I absolutely had to pick, I would choose the top.

Why?

Because it fits perfectly in that spot in between my shoulder and my armpit, and when I hug it, it feels like an egg.

Today, we have been together for 6 happy years! Happy Anniversary honey!

packing, or playing?

Look what I found while I was packing.

A toy Jin has owned since he was a little pirate. I think it is safe to say that it is vintage.

Jin told me, that he begged his father for it. I am glad he still has it.

From what I understand, it is like a little electronics toy, and by following the instructions in this book, you can make different things. Like a radio, an alarm, some sort of sensor...

We made an amplifier, connected the microphone to it, and had a karaoke session with the cats.

dress up

For halloween, I was the paper bag princess, and Jin was the dragon.

We didn't plan this, but Jin and I made eachother's costumes! I had such a fun time making Jin's dragon! I got the instructions to make this costume here. They have other really cute ideas on this site too! I will probably come back to get more ideas for future halloweens!

And Jin did an amazing job on making my paper dress! He torched it and wrinkled it and reinforced it with clear tape! He is VERY thorough! I wish I had a better photo of my dress to show you!

We went out dancing with friends until the wee hours of the night, and at the end, we were so hungry, we went to eat at McDonalds. I know this sounds disgusting, but McDonalds tastes amazing at five in the morning.

This year was one of the best halloweens I've had!

Jin, the little pirate

When Jin came home with this photo, it put an instant smile on my face. He always tells me stories of all the trouble he caused his mother when he was a kid, and this photo is proof of it!

What happened to his eye??

He doesn’t remember! But I imagine he did it by doing something he wasn’t supposed to!

He looks so adorable with the eye patch! And I love the stroller his sister is sitting in!

The end of summer means.....

.....we have been married for a year!

Today, is our first year anniversary, and from now on, when summer comes to an end, we will have something wonderful to celebrate!

Happy 1 year anniversary Jinny! It has been such a wonderful year, full of love, laughter and growing together. With you, I feel like we could accomplish anything we dream! I love you!

Photos taken by autofotomoto.

coral polka-dotted scarf

Before we hopped in the car for our 3 day journey, Jin and I looked at each other, and I screamed! We were both wearing the same coral polka-dotted scarf around our neck! Jin’s parents recently came back from Korea, and they always have a bag of goodies for us upon their return. One of the items were 2 coral polka-dotted scarves.

We wore them almost every day on our holiday, and we got some stares. They probably thought we were part of a tour group, who lost the rest of the pack!

the party

It rained all day on Saturday, and I asked Jin if it would be crazy if we pulled a big tarp over our backyard. He said it was crazy, but it can be done. So, we did!

May and I filled up as many helium balloons as we could and they decorated our "tent". None of our guests got wet later on in the night when it continued to drizzle!

For the scavenger hunt, I sent everyone out to do some funny things around the neighbourhood, such as, pan handling money, getting piggy back rides from strangers, a photo sliding down the fire station pole, and some other funny things!
Each team had 10 balloons, and you had to try to pop and steal other team's balloons! It was so funny to see people walking around the neighbourhood with bunches of balloons!

After the scavenger hunt, we had a huge bbq under the "tent". More friends came by to celebrate Jin's birthday with him, and we all sang happy birthday to the birthday boy!
I was running around the entire night and I didn't get to take any photos :(. Thank god my friends had their cameras, and they let me steal their photos!

his special day

Today is Jinny's birthday, and I just wanted to say to him, Happy Birthday, and I love you so very much!

His party is tomorrow and the forecast calls for rain. But I still have high hopes that tomorrow will be as beautiful as it is today. (crossing my fingers!)

bits of red, and happiness.

I think I am unconsciously attracted to red. I really do like that colour. What is your favourite colour?

Some things that make me happy. Riding bikes with Jin, enjoying the garden with Jin, and seeing Jin smile.

Jin is away all weekend. Pooey. It is such a beautiful weekend too!
But I will be spending the weekend planning his big birthday party, which is happening next week. So thoughts of Jin will be quite present on my mind. I am planning a scavenger hunt & bbq party with all our friends! It should be fun!