Babies and Weddings, Oh My!

Jake and I had quite an exciting weekend filled with visiting a new born baby girl and fighting our way through a wedding expo. 

We met Alexa, the latest edition to the Kim (Jake's cousin) and Alex household. Only a week old, but she has so much personality. While Jake was holding her, she would open just one eye to look at him, as if she was giving him the stink eye. Good girl Alexa, I give him that look most of the time too :) We learned a lot from Alex and Kim. We think they should write a book, "Questions that you'd never think to ask". It was a lot of fun, but I found it a bit nerve wracking. Don't get me wrong, I love kids. Heck, I basically raised my little brother, but it's been a long time since I got to hold a newborn or even take care of a baby, it's like I forgot how! Jake on the other and, is a natural at holding babies (and playing with kids). After visiting with Alexa, he got bit by the baby bug. We're going to figure out this wedding thing first, then work on the kid thing.  

Speaking of wedding thing, we went to our first wedding expo (and last). I wouldn't have even thought to go to one of these shindigs, but TheKnot spammed me with free tickets and promised free cake tasting. Hmmm, Free, free, and cake, DONE. We went with our newly engaged friends Natalie and Nelson. First stop was brunch at one of our favorite Boston restaurants, Aquitaine French Bistro. Their brioche french toast is hands down the best french toast on the planet. After brunch we made our way to The Great Bridal Expo at The Boston Park Plaza Hotel and Towers. Ok first of all, The Great Bridal Expo wasn't all that great. It was pretty darn small actually. I guess I knew it wasn't going to be that big since the list of vendors was short, but apparently I had high expectations of something grand. We followed the masses like cattle in a heard. Thank goodness for tips from a fellow bride. I had made labels with my name and contact information and was able to just stick my label on everything instead of having to write it out at each booth I stopped at. It was a mad house in there with so many people jammed packed and all stopping at the same booths. At some points, I felt like a Salmon trying to swim upstream but was caught in a really bad rapid. We didn't stay for the fashion show or the live band that was scheduled. Natalie and Nelson needed to head out for another engagement, Jake was sleepy (he hadn't fully woken up yet), and I was disgruntled with the lack of cake. They lied! There was no cake tasting. Perhaps there was after the fashion show, but whatever, I call false advertisement. The four of us called it a day and grabbed a picture just to say we were there and yes, we survived

  

We Survived! 

 

The loot

Our "VIP" stickers, or rather VIG and VIB.

Wedding Q and A

Q: Have you guys set a date yet?
A: Nope. All we know is that it'll be sometime in 2011. 

Q: Why 2011?
A: Why not? We had just literally moved in together when we got engaged. We wanted to take some time and focus on just the two of us, learn how to live with one another and to just enjoy being engaged. Plus, we've got 7 other weddings to attend in 2010. It'll be nice to have 2011 mostly to ourselves.

Q: Do you know what season?
A: Not really. We're looking at either late-Spring/early-Summer or late-Summer/early-Fall.

Q. Are you guys going to have a destination wedding?
A: Who are you kidding, you just want a reason for a vacation. As cool as it would be to get married on a tropical island, bare foot in the sand isn't our style.

Q: Will the wedding be in Oregon?
A: Nope. GASP! We'll be going against "tradition" and not having it anywhere near the bride's hometown. It's really important to us to be able to share our special day with Grandma and Grandpa Perkowski, so we will be sticking with New England.

Q: Have you looked at any venues?
A: Nope. I don't think we will be anytime soon. It is winter and any outdoor venue will be a frozen tundra covered in snow and ice for the next couple of months.

Q: What are you colors?
A: Red, black, and white. Red because a) it's Jake's favorite color and b) it is a traditional Chinese wedding color that symbolizes good luck, happiness, and joy.

Q: So you'll be incorporating Chinese traditions into your wedding?
A: We're not entirely sure at this point. We'll figure it out when the time comes closer. Right now we need to focus on finding the venue and setting the date.

Q: What are Chinese wedding traditions?
A: There are a bunch of them depending on how traditional one wants to be. There's the hair combing ceremony, 2 different tea ceremonies, grooms games, and the installation and blessing of the wedding bed just to name a few. Just wait until I tell you how many dress changes are involved in a Chinese wedding.

I'm sure you've got a ton more questions for us; just ask away.

Happy New Christgiving

So maybe that title isn' t the best emulsion of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, but it's more original than "Happy Holidays." We ended 2009 with a fairly laid back holiday season (just the way we like it).

Thanksgiving: This wasn't just any Thanksgiving, it was also [Jake's] Grandpa's 91st birthday!

Christmas: We made our way down to Jake's parent's house on Christmas Eve (just as we have the last two years). Christmas morning began with the tradition of monkey bread, YUM! I think this will be a tradition we pass on to our kids. After breakfast, we opened presents. Jake and I are pretty spoiled: we made out like bandits! Christmas is the only holiday that we go all out and decorate for. Each year Jake picks two colors and I go out and get the ornaments and figure out how to decorate the rest of the apartment in the same color scheme. This year Jake picked gold and silver, but once I got to the store, I change it up and went with gold and chocolate brown.

 

From the top: Limited edition handmade Christmas cards, our 8-foot tree, Christmas cards hanging in the window from ribbons, decorative hurricanes, "fireplace" **DISCLAIMER - the mini stocking does not mean that we're expecting a little one, it's just decoration.**, tissue paper pomanders, and Jake's winter window treatment.

I'm sure you noticed that we spent both Thanksgiving and Xmas with Jake's family. We don't play the juggling game and try to balance the holidays between our families. We do Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and etc. with Jake's parents. This makes it soooooooo much easier on us. You see, the Hung's don't celebrate Christmas GASP! That's right, we don't have a tree and we don't exchange presents. I didn't grow up eating turkey on Thanksgiving or ham on Christmas. Usually what we do is go out to Dim Sum with 3 other [Chinese] families. But over the years, we've realized that Dim Sum is a pain. Restaurants are over-crowded, the food isn't so great, and it's just plain expensive. It's easier just to stay home.

New Years Eve: We hosted our 3rd annual NYE party this year. Unlike our previous two parties, this one was super low key. We had our closest friends over for an intimate potluck dinner party. We took care of the main course (a fabulous prime rib) and put the others in charge of appetizers, side dishes, drinks, and dessert. I'd never cooked a prime rib in my entire life, but it came out AMAZING.

14 lb, prime rib roast seasoned with salt, pepper, crushed garlic, and rosemary sprigs.

2009: What a year! In February we spent a fabulous week in St. Lucia. August was an exciting month marked by us moving in together and our engagement! It's been an exciting year for our friends as well. Between the two of us, 13 of our friends also popped the question. So big congrats to: Matt and Abbey, George and Victoria, Jon and Ruby, Rusty and Gemma, Nema, James and Sara, Bo, Ben, Strickler, Chad, Vinh, Tini-Nini, and Val and Matt! 5 of our friends welcomed new additions to their family: congrats to the Dreyer's, Hanken's, Abueg's, Labonte's, and the Flannigan's. And finally, 5 of our friends/family tied the knot, congrats: Stoops and Fang-Fang, Adrienne and Chris, Kate and Matt, Kevin and Amy, and Adam and Allison! Appologies in advance if I forgot anyone.

2010: This year is going to be a busy year for us: weddings, weddings, weddings! We know of at least 7 that we're invited to across the country: 2 in upstate NY, one in MA, one in IN, 2 in CA, another somewhere in NY state. Of course, we'll be doing a lot of wedding planning and preparation of our own.

Here's to wishing you and your's a wonderful new year full of happiness and fun-filled adventures.