Photo Credit: On Secret Hunt
Friday, January 31, 2014
Happy Chinese New Year!
Wishing you many blessings and much joy in the new year!
Photo Credit: On Secret Hunt
Photo Credit: On Secret Hunt
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Something New
To continue with the same theme of new, part of my new year's resolutions for 2014 is to try more new things. By new things, I don't mean anything elaborate, drastically different from what I usually do, or anything earth-shattering, for that matter. What I have in mind is to just challenge and expand my comfort zone. Push the boundaries a bit, so to speak. So onward I go, and these are two new things I have tried so far this year:
Taking new routes
I have certain routes for places I go often, such as the grocery store and the post office. But one day, I tried a new road. This might come very easily for some people (Hubby is extraordinary with directions - and I am not exaggerating one bit), but for someone who is often directionally-challenged, this does not come to me naturally. Since I don't have a smart phone, I don't have a GPS at my disposal either. But I looked up directions in advance as much as I could and tried anyway, and it was quite fun! I got to see a part of town I did not see often so it was nice. I also found another new route yesterday, this time without having looked up directions ahead of time. I had to stop for a minute to figure out where I was, but the new route took me to a section of the road I had never gone before, so that was quite satisfying!
Doing a photo shoot (!)
That is something I had never thought too much about, and I had not had a photo shoot since our wedding day (for which I did not have to think twice about what to wear). But a dear friend of mine, who happened to be a photographer, gave me a photo shoot as my birthday present a few months ago, so off we went! As she gave me specific instructions on preparation, I was a little overwhelmed. I was not sure if I would embrace the idea of having a bunch of photos taken of me, and I had no idea how to pick out "colorful outfits" (how colorful is colorful?) and how many of those to bring with me. But as my friend coached me along the way, both before and during the photo shoot, I came to enjoy it very much, not because my pictures were being taken, but more so I could spend time with my friend as she did something she loved. We giggled, goofed around, and bounced ideas off of each other. Quite fun! And the weather was picture perfect too. It was sunny with blue sky and there was just enough wind to keep the air crisp. I have not seen all the photos yet, but from what my friend showed me from her camera, some of them turned out quite well. :)
How about you? Are you challenging yourself by trying something new this year?
Taking new routes
I have certain routes for places I go often, such as the grocery store and the post office. But one day, I tried a new road. This might come very easily for some people (Hubby is extraordinary with directions - and I am not exaggerating one bit), but for someone who is often directionally-challenged, this does not come to me naturally. Since I don't have a smart phone, I don't have a GPS at my disposal either. But I looked up directions in advance as much as I could and tried anyway, and it was quite fun! I got to see a part of town I did not see often so it was nice. I also found another new route yesterday, this time without having looked up directions ahead of time. I had to stop for a minute to figure out where I was, but the new route took me to a section of the road I had never gone before, so that was quite satisfying!
Doing a photo shoot (!)
That is something I had never thought too much about, and I had not had a photo shoot since our wedding day (for which I did not have to think twice about what to wear). But a dear friend of mine, who happened to be a photographer, gave me a photo shoot as my birthday present a few months ago, so off we went! As she gave me specific instructions on preparation, I was a little overwhelmed. I was not sure if I would embrace the idea of having a bunch of photos taken of me, and I had no idea how to pick out "colorful outfits" (how colorful is colorful?) and how many of those to bring with me. But as my friend coached me along the way, both before and during the photo shoot, I came to enjoy it very much, not because my pictures were being taken, but more so I could spend time with my friend as she did something she loved. We giggled, goofed around, and bounced ideas off of each other. Quite fun! And the weather was picture perfect too. It was sunny with blue sky and there was just enough wind to keep the air crisp. I have not seen all the photos yet, but from what my friend showed me from her camera, some of them turned out quite well. :)
How about you? Are you challenging yourself by trying something new this year?
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
New!
Since this is the first day of the 2014 (in my current time zone anyway), I thought I would pay some much needed attention to my blog. Here are some changes -
- A new layout!
- At long last, a link to my twitter account (to your right)! Come say hi!
- This second blog post of the year (I am already at 50% of the total of last year's posts).
- A new preview of my next Bible Study!
Catching up!
Happy New Year! May 2014 be a wonderful year for each of you!
It has been seven months (!) since my last blog post. I ended the last post with this -
The summer has already been quite busy, but hopefully I will be more diligent about posting in the next few months!
While the first part was true, the second part was an epic fail. However, here's a quick update on the second half of 2013 -
It has been seven months (!) since my last blog post. I ended the last post with this -
The summer has already been quite busy, but hopefully I will be more diligent about posting in the next few months!
While the first part was true, the second part was an epic fail. However, here's a quick update on the second half of 2013 -
- I went to Hong Kong, China, and San Francisco in the summer, and Chicago in the fall for work and research!
- I got to meet our new nephew for the first time over the summer!
- I had a busy but productive fall semester with teaching and exam preparation. Being able to teach students was quite a rewarding experience!
- Hubby made me a wonderful cake for my birthday!
- We participated in Operation Christmas Child once again this year. Our goal was 500 packed shoebox gifts, and our church and middle school packed 549 boxes!
- We hosted family and friends for Thanksgiving. Some of our family could not come so we missed them, but we had a great time with those who came. Weather was absolutely gorgeous!
- On another note, our family cat became very stressed out because of the big crowd during Thanksgiving. She developed an ulcer on her eye, which accelerated our decision to have her eye removed. It was the right decision because she did have early-stage cancer as we had suspected. After a very challenging recovery process, she is now doing much better!
- We went out of town for Christmas briefly (because we needed to take care of the kitty). It was a wonderful visit!
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