Friday Girls' Night - Hotpot!

I've been meaning to blog for the past two days - don't want to lose the 30 Days Blogging Challenge blogging mojo, but it's just been so hectic! I knew going into the 30 Days Blogging Challenge that if I completed it, there'd be another big challenge awaiting me: maintaining my blogging through the month of June. June this year is ultra busy for me!! Mainly because my cousin is getting married on June 18, so there's a lot of things to get ready for. Family get-togethers, dinners, the wedding! I'm going to try my best to continue blogging regularly this month, but if you don't hear from me, you know why!

Tonight, I had an impromptu girls' night at home. My friend E had gum graft at the beginning of May and therefore has missed all the gatherings. Earlier this week, she had the stitches removed, so I jumped on the occasion to have dinner with her. However, she still needs to be careful and is preferable for the food to be soft. So I was wondering what to go eat... and thought hotpot would be a great option. So that's what we had!! And I finally got the portions right!

The upper right picture is friend E enjoying hotpot :) The bottom two is us before and after eating... Food coma!! LOL.

My sister's been doing a DIY project: coasters. This will be her little, personal gift for all the weddings she's attending this year :) First up is my cousin. Basically, she printed pictures and stuck them to tiles she bought. Here she is, applying resin to them so it'll protect the pictures like a varnish.

 

So far, the coasters look great! We're waiting for them to dry to see the final result. After, only one more step: stick felt under them... and voila!

That's it for me tonight! Hoping to do the New Releases post for June this week-end :)

Aspiring Green Thumb - not me!

I had planned to write a review today (no idea for which book though); however, I spent the day running around and am quite exhausted ^_^;  Instead, here is what I did today :)

First, for some reasons, I woke up insanely early ^_^; The worst is that I wasn't the only one as one of my chatrooms started to buzz with messages LOL. At least, I got to spend some time with my parents before we all went about our businesses.

I don't know if it's a new trend or craze, but in the past couple of years, I feel gardening has become really popular again. Or perhaps I have this feeling because more people around me are gardening and really enjoying it. First Ames, then V and XH and now my sister. Two years ago, my sister bought a basil plant... didn't survive really long LOL. Last year, she still bought basil and added a few other herbs... had more success with it. This year, she decided to start early and as a result, we went bright and early this morning to a seedling sale. She had told V about the seedling sale and it so happened we arrived at the same time. So I got to spend some time with V and my sister this morning :) We also went to Home Depot because they had a sale.

Let see, Emilie got lots of basil (one of the booths was giving it away free!) as well as thai basil, thyme, lavender, black prince tomatoes, golden zucchini, bell peppers, hot peppers and cucumber plants. We'll see how everything grows and if we're going to be able to harvest anything LOL. 

After parting ways with V, we went home to unload our loot and grab a bite to it. Then, went to pick up EmK to go shopping some more :) EmK was looking for shoes and now that I have a dress for the wedding, I kind of need some shoes to go with it. Sigh, it never stops LOL! Emilie finally got into the mood of trying dresses...

I thought it was nice, but she ended up not getting it. After dropping EmK at her place, we went home again. Ended the day with a work-out and sushi :)

How was your day? I had a good time today, but I'm kind of glad we still have Sunday to rest LOL.

Dress shopping

I have weddings in June, September and October to attend this year... as a result, I need something to wear, preferably a dress. A friend of mine has a ball to attend to in a few weeks and therefore, also needs a dress. We both, separately, asked K to go dress shopping with us, as she's the fashion guru of the gang. K has decided to kill two birds with one stone by shopping with the two of us at the same time... and well, this has turned out into a shopping adventure because all the other girls want to join :) So the gang is going shopping this afternoon!

Hopefully, later this evening, I'll update this post with what I bought today :)


UPDATE:

Mission accomplished!! EmK and I both found dresses! Yay!!

This was quite an intense shopping adventure. I swear, I must have tried on close to 25 dresses. For a girl who almost never wears one, it's a lot! Basically, I would go in the cabin to try one and the girls (EmK, K and my sister) would just keep bringing more. Because EmK was looking for something for a ball, her choices were more limited and therefore, had more time to look for me LOL.

Going to start with EmK's dress:

Since it was for a ball, we kept telling EmK to go for something a bit more daring or at least, colorful. She tried on a few dresses, but none that brought a smile on her face like this one :) Unfortunately, the curse of being short - she'll have to have the length altered. Hopefully, in time since her event is in 2 weeks.

And now, here is my dress:

This is not something I would have picked for myself... but that's why you go shopping with friends right? The print is not my style... and I guess I had something else in mind. But all my friends agree this was the nicest dress I tried on and the fit is really nice :)

However, what do you think: yay or nay for a wedding? My sister voiced her concerns that perhaps it's not chic enough for a hotel wedding reception...

After shopping, we went for a bite and just stayed at the food court for a couple of hours, talking. It's been a while since we've been together, so it was really nice. Just too bad one of us couldn't make it, but hopefully, soon ;)

RWA 2015 and NYC trip!

Hello everyone!

Yep, I'm alive! I survived RWA 2015 and my NYC trip! We drove back home on Monday and I've been settling back slowly into a routine :P I'm not going to do a day-by-day recap because that'd be too long for you and me... but I wanted to share some thoughts and pictures of the whole experience :P

RWA 2011 was such a great experience for me, that I knew I'd do it again. I chose this year, because it was once again held in NYC. Being able to drive to the conference is a definite plus because I get to save on airfare and can also bring back all the books I want :) Plus, I get to visit fellow bloggers Hilcia, Christine and Mariana :) Accompanying me this time around was my sister Emilie, my friend V and Ames. My sister and V have visited NYC many times, but always like to come back. As for Ames, NYC has always been a place she wanted to see... Plus, being there at the same time as some favorite authors and fellow bloggers, it was perfect timing.

As usual, we managed to squeeze in some outlet shopping... but the real focus of the trip was NYC and RWA 2015. One of the most memorable moments of the trip was the Jimmy Fallon Tonight Show taping. My sister is a big fan of Jimmy Fallon and we've been trying to go for years... but it never worked out. This time though, the stars aligned and not only was Jimmy Fallon taping while we were in town, but I managed to snag some tickets!! Wooohooo!!! There's a whole process to get tickets and even then, it's hard ^_^; We went to the taping with Ames and Rosie. I was a bit disappointed that we were in the last row, although we still had a good view. However, in the end, we were able to high-five Jimmy Fallon, so I guess those were actually good seats LOL. And bonus, not only we got to see the taping with guest stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Gad and James Bay, but at the end, they also taped scenes for a movie - Conner4Real - with Andy Samberg! So we got to see that as well :P If we're lucky, we will be in it!!

Last time I was attending RWA in NYC, I didn't really get to sightsee ^_^; The days during the conference start really early, even more so now that the keynote speakers are scheduled at breakfast instead of lunch. If you go to every publisher signings, it leaves you very little time to actually attend to workshops and panels... and then, you want to hang out with your friends. This time, I was hoping to do a bit more... So I managed to go to the High Line Park with my crew as well as Rosie and L.B. Gregg. Also managed to go to the Empire State building and do a night tour bus. Not bad, no?

 We also managed to go to a Broadway show: Finding Neverland. I'm not a fan of Peter Pan, but I actually really enjoyed this one. The stage was awesome and some of the scenes were just breathtaking. My only complaint though was the volume... I had difficulty catching every word during a song because the music seems to be too loud. Still, great show in my opinion.

So this was NYC for me. Ames, V and Emilie actually saw a lot more :P It's funny because Emilie and I are used to being on the go during trips. I guess we're also fast walkers. Ames and V were troopers!! But after a couple of intense sightseeing days, I think Emilie has broken Ames' feet :P

***

What about RWA? Overall, my experience was positive :) However, I do have some mixed feelings about it. I'll try to expand on those later...

For now, let's start with the Literacy Signing. It was crazy! LOL, but super well organized! There were close to 500 authors present for the Literacy signing, so you can imagine... I love how they did the queue this year. The Literacy Signing was on the 5th floor ballroom and we were directed to the 6th floor ballroom for the line-up. There were actual chairs so instead of standing, we could sit! That was really brilliant! We were also divided into section: A, B, C, etc. And when the signing started, they called one section at a time to make their way down the 5th floor ballroom. Everything was smooth and prompt. So, really big kudos to the organizers for thinking this up. I think each section was made up of approximately 100 persons and I know they started to fill section F. So 600+ people going to the signing to meet authors... Wowzer! I think this year, the Literacy Signing raised about 48000$ for charity, so that was awesome :)

Lining up for Literacy Signing

The Literacy Signing!

I managed to make it to all three breakfasts :) This year, the keynote speakers were Barbara Freethy, Julia Quinn and Nalini Singh. All three speeches were interesting... although I think Ms Freethy was the most enlightening. She talked about how she had to re-invent herself many times because of romance trends and why she decided to self-publish. Really interesting. Ms Quinn talked about how authors cannot please every reader and Ms Singh, about her first RWA experience and friendships in the industry.

The most disappointing thing for me this time around is I wasn't able to make it to many workshops/panels... mainly because I chose to go to the publishers signings. They were 12 publisher signings and for most of them, two were held at the same time... so technically, 7 seances. I was able to make it to a few, but I wished I could have gone to more.

Laura Griffin & Brenda Novak on RS

Robyn Carr chat and Sharon Sala chat

Alas, I missed the RITAs. It was a tough decision, but I elected to spend time with Ames and V and did the night bus tour. I was seriously tired anyway and so many of the books nominated, I haven't read.

So, RWA... Honestly, I feel I didn't enjoy RWA this time around as much as I did in 2011. However, I don't think it's the conference itself, but more me. RWA 2011 was a new experience and so it was awesome. This time not being my first rodeo, well, it changed things. Also, the circumstances are different. I'm still reading a lot of romance books, but am not as involved in my blog, am less plugged in the blogosphere. I went to RT and RWA and I prefer the atmosphere at RWA better because it's quieter, less chaotic because it is a professional conference. It's meant to be for people in the industry, but at the end of the day, I'm not part of the industry. I don't feel comfortable to run up to one of my favorite authors and gush to them in the lobby, elevator or hall. I think it'd be easier to do so if I was at RT where there's a lot of fans, but at RWA? Also, I'm a small blog and I like to stay away from all the drama and kerfuffles. I like having a little distance between me and authors... I write on my blog how much I love them and their books, but I seldom send mail... Most of them, I don't follow on FB or Twitter. As a result, I don't have much of a relationship or connection with authors and I think it makes it hard when I'm at RWA because nobody knows who I am. Don't get me wrong, everyone is very nice... but you can't help but wonder if you belong.

For now, I'm thinking I'd like to attend one more RWA that is not held in NYC... because the attendance is just sooo high in NYC. I'd like to see if it's different when it's being held elsewhere :P I'd also like to do another RT... and then, I think I'd be good :) Because there are just so many times you can meet your favorite authors before these meetings are no longer special... Speaking of meeting authors, I was so happy to get to see  Nora Roberts and Laura Florand!! Definitively one of my highlights of RWA 2015.

And of course, it's always nice to reconnect with friends :)