Jan-chan’s Tidbits

So I was lucky enough to be invited to two weddings that happened on the same day. Before I continue further I want to congratulates the two couples, Mr. & Mrs. Tam and Mr. & Mrs. Lee.

Anyways, the best part of these weddings is that the location is very unique. I attended a ceremony in the UBC Boathouse and a banquet at the Vancouver Art Gallery. I’ve wrote about the two venues on the wedding notebook so if you’re interested in how the venues look like head over to view the pictures.

I didn’t get a chance to take too many photos at the weddings but for my dear Kaya here are some photos of the triplets.

This is at the dock at the UBC Boathouse.

I love this picture!

Cheese!...with the Kan couple.

At the Vancouver Art Gallery (outside).

For Richter...with ♥~ lol

Two more weddings coming up in the Fall. I haven’t been to fall weddings yet. Hopefully it won’t be too cold.

Last weekend Al and I went up to Mt. Seymour on a snowshoeing & chocolate fondue tour. I haven’t been to snowshoeing since elementary school so I was really looking forward to it. We got up there well ahead of time so we got to walk around a bit and took some pictures.

Check out his ears *giggles*

Ok fine...I got them too...=p

At 7 our tour guide gathered our group around and lead us into the woods. He has a very cool backpack and special lantern for Valentine’s Day.

The area in the woods were too dark for me to take photos. We walked for about 45 mins into this area surrounded by trees. The area was also dug out to form an oval with a flat slab of snow in the centre like a table. Everyone sat around while our guide took out a number of items from his backpack: hand sanitizers, forks, napkins, plastic wine glasses, 2 bottles of sparkling apple juice, little plastic containers of fruits, equipments for 3 fondue sets and chocolate kept inside a thermos. I can’t believe he was carrying all those stuff while hiking with us the whole time.

We had a lot of fun standing around the eating chocolate fondue while sharing stories and playing games. There were a variety of fruits to dip into the chocolate, such as kiwi, banana, strawberry, pineapple, grapes, oranges….etc. The setting and the effort to set it up make it really special. After we polished off the fruits we each got a heart shape cookie before heading off to the lake for a beautiful view of the sky. Too bad it was cloudy or it would have been much prettier with stars above our heads.

At the lake, the guide told us the two type of birds found in the area: bald eagle and grey owl. He also told us that the grey owl’s mating call is “hoo hoo” (or was it “hoot hoot”?). He was making us try the mating call and to make it easier to remember, he made us say “who hoots for you” (try stretching the “o” sound … lol). We were all cracking up. Then he split the guys and the girls into 2 groups and told us to close our eyes. We then have to find our partners by identifying them from their “mating calls”.

At the end of the journey, when we are back at the lodge to return the snowshoes, each couple were given a little goodie bag with chocolates, a candle with a heart on top and a book of love (filled with coupons for favors). You can see more pictures from the tour on my Picasa Album.

Thanks Al for the trip and the kitty ears toque. Before I end here, let me show you this funny picture I took of us:

I think Al's head looks like the shadow for Cat Woman....

Happy Lunar New Year! Since we left HK our family haven’t really celebrated CNY like we used to. We’d still gather for dinner on New Year’s Eve and the first and second day. That’s about it. Over the years we don’t even put out the red box with the candied veggies and sweets because no one eats them anymore. Honestly I missed those, especially the candied winter melon and carrots.

This year I went to the Aberdeen Centre for the CNY Flower Marketing to get myself in the festive mood. Here are some pictures from my visit.

Here are some other photos I thought were interesting. There’s this one with a type of plant that I’ve never seen before.

There was also this one table that displayed clay crafts. Too bad I was not allowed to take photos. However I’m going to be taking the course to learn how to make a Chinese donut & soy milk cart (think of the wooden ones in HK from long long time ago). I’ll take photos of my finish project by the end of February.

I have recently found out that my friend Ying, her sister and her coworkers are be participating in The Ride to Conquer Cancer. This is a two day event where participants will be cycling from Vancouver to Seattle on June 20 – 21 . The money raised will go towards cancer research, treatment and services for the BC Cancer Foundation.

Did you know that:

On the basis of current incidence rates, 39% of Canadian women and 44% of men will develop cancer during their lifetimes.

On the basis of current mortality rates, 24% of women and 28% of men, or approximately 1 out of every 4 Canadians, will die from cancer.

Source.

That’s actually pretty scary consider that despite our technology and medical advances, the mortality rate of cancer is still pretty high. Interestingly, lung cancer still leads as the number one cause of cancer death in both men and women.

Visit The Ride to Conquer Cancer website if you want to find out more or to participate in the event. Please consider sponsoring Ying and her goal of raising $3,200. You can make a donation by visiting Ying’s personal page on the Ride to Conquer Cancer website.

Alright I know some of you are dying to look at how they turned out so without further delay (or some of you might hunt me down), here’re some of the photos Al and I’ve picked for our album (click to enlarge):

[That's Ah Bu, the photographers dog. He's so cute!]

[Taken at Hycroft Mansion. I really love that house.]

[Fixing my hair, or at least pretending to anyway.]

[Why hello there! That'd be my thought bubble for this picture. Taken in Gastown.]

Ok more pictures to come later. You’ll also find some posted at my wedding planning blog. Let me know what you guys think of these.