October 16, 2011
10/365 Swing Kings on Flickr.
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My brother came to visit me from VA Tech. He was doing Jammin’ on the James, this big swing event held in Richmond every year.
In my senior year of high school, all the AP Calculus students did an end-of-the-year project called “Just Because” where we all had to learn something new… just because (and also because we had finished AP testing and there was nothing left to learn in Calculus). I decided to learn swing dancing. When my brother was a senior in AP Calculus, he had to do the same project; he followed suit and learned swing dancing as well. The difference in our stories is that after high school, my brother kept up with swing dancing. He joined the VT Swing Club and attended a bunch of events and dances. I had joined the VCU Swing Club my freshman year, but VCU Dance Team took up a lot of time so I wasn’t able to keep up with swing during college.
So anyway, I went to the Late Night dance at Dance Space with my brother to work my lindy hoppin’ and jitterbuggin’ again. I was sooooo rusty! It literally had been 4yrs since I had done swing! But with each dance, my brother (the pro) kept telling me how I was exponentially improving, and that he was incredibly jealous of how easily I was able to pick up other leads’ stylings. I felt more and more at ease too throughout the night. In the beginning, my focus was all on technique and the stuff I learned 4yrs ago… but later on, I realized I was supposed to be having fun. This was a social dance, not a competition or performance!
And I had sooooooo much fun!
Serena and Justin swing too (Justin was on the VCU Swing Club board at some point). I’m definitely having a swing session at my wedding! And I’m gonna look damn good doing the jitterbug in my wedding dress!
October 17, 2011
11/365 Top Secret on Flickr.
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Today I assisted with a photo shoot. I also found out that the nature of the shoot is a secret, so all I’m able to provide you with for day 11 is a cameraphone snapshot of the photographer at work, and cowboy (I’m sorry, cowgirl) boots and a hat.
Maybe I’ll reveal what I was doing when the official photos are released. I’m excited though, because everything/everyone looked gorgeous! And the photographer is beast!
12/365 Dexter on Flickr.
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Since I had such a crazy weekend, and Ryan’s still sick (he has a hard time with colds—luckily, he only gets them once a year), we decided to have a relaxing evening which consisted of Chinese takeout and our favorite serial killer, Dexter Morgan.
October 18, 2011
13/365 Chocolate Things… on Flickr.
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Today is apparently National Chocolate Cupcake Day. I surprisingly didn’t got out buy a chocolate cupcake, but this morning I mixed hot cocoa powder into my coffee. It counts :p
October 20, 2011
14/365 Haaaave you met Ryan? on Flickr.
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This picture is really bad and blurry because it was taken last minute, after I had one too many glasses of wine. We spent all night watching How I Met Your Mother and ended the night with American Horror Story.
Have you ever wondered what mine and Ryan’s relationship is like? In HIMYM, each character has his/her own doppleganger. Lily and Marshall are our relationship dopplegangers! When we watch HIMYM, it’s like watching ourselves on TV! We’re alike, from our professions (kinda) to our random quirks. From Lily’s loud chewing, to Marshall’s ability to make a theme song to any situation. We even have an irresponsible Barney in our lives, aka Ryan’s best friend.
We do need a Ted and Robin though.
And we’re not going to have 15lb turkey-sized babies…
15/365 Wallow, wallow… on Flickr.
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Ryan found out that he has been moved to the evening shift at the airport. (He’s airport po-po. He’s the one giving you your parking tickets when you’re not looking!) That means he works 3pm-11pm. I work 9am-5pm. WE’RE NEVER GOING TO SEE EACH OTHER! EVER AGAIN! He’ll be on that shift until someone else is hired or if someone quits. Or he could be on that shift until the end of his contract with the airport, which is two years! We may be spending the first year of our marriage completely void of our spouse’s company!
But then I found out when my parents got married, my dad was away for 3 months doing diplomatic things (or killing terrorists as Ryan would interpret it… he’s convinced my dad is a secret agent). So it made me feel slightly better. At least I can see Ryan on his days off… and when I wake up in the middle of the night to pee, he’ll be there! He’ll be asleep and unconscious, but he’ll be there.
I wallowed a little with the help of my good friends chocolate cake, Purple Haze, Rex Goliath, and some nasty White Zinfandel.
Just kidding…
I ate all the cake though.
Oh yeah, and this is what I was helping out with on Sunday: https://www.facebook.com/LadyRaidersDanceTeam. Totally makes me feel great about the chocolate cake :p
October 22, 2011
16/365 NOVA Jam on Flickr.
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I spent more than an hour of my day sitting in traffic. Only in NOVA, would you find yourself stuck in dead-stop traffic at 11:30pm. I could’ve made it home in record time, but noooo, some genius decided it would be a great idea to shut down two lanes of traffic on I-95. WHYYYY?!
Visiting my parents up in Burke. Jolly good times :)
October 23, 2011
17/365 QiPao on Flickr.
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The qipao (旗袍, pronounced tsee-pao) is a one-piece Chinese dress that was worn in China during the 17th century. Now it’s worn for fancy occasions like birthday parties, pageants and weddings! I have decided to wear a qipao at some point during my wedding… you know, put some of my culture in there :)
So, my mom and I went to a seamstress up in NOVA who makes qipao. I only looked through her catalogue today. She told me to come back in a couple months to get my measurements, because as a bride, I will for sure want to lose some weight before the big day, and so my measurements would be off if I got them done today. I wanted to laugh and ask her how much weight she thinks I could lose before I become see-through, but refrained, because she’s a nice lady.
While I was perusing the catalogue, she shared stories about Asian brides who have come through her shop asking her to make traditional outfits for their American husbands-to-be! One Korean girl had a very traditional family, and while they wanted her to marry a Korean guy, she got engaged to a white guy instead. When they got married, they had a strictly Korean wedding… which meant the groom wore traditional Korean garb and everything! I busted out laughing, and pictured Ryan in traditional Chinese attire (think Christian Bale in his new movie: bit.ly/opt5EB). I won’t make Ryan wear anything he doesn’t want to wear though. Maybe something subtle… like tangzhuang (唐装): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangzhuang
18/365 Crate & Barrel on Flickr.
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I went shopping with Sarah and Jennifer today. (Well actually they went shopping first because I couldn’t escape from my parents’ house… my mom made me breakfast. I couldn’t refuse. I just couldn’t! Plus, I woke up later than I had planned because my old bed is ridiculously comfortable).
Ok, I joined Sarah and Jenn at the mall. Unfortunately, Jenn had to leave early so I only got to see her for a couple of minutes. After the three of us awkwardly emerged from one single dressing room at Victoria’s Secret and said goodbye to Jenn, Sarah and I hit up Crate & Barrel where the two of us played musical sofas, cracked pepper, and almost started up registries (hers for Christmas). Their registry system would have required running around the store with the scanner, so I decided to wait until a later time. I intend to put the entire store on that registry!
Being in Crate & Barrel also put us in an incredible Fall/pumpkiny mood… so we might go pumpkin picking next week. I also ended up buying a Pumpkin Spice Chai Tea, which I’m currently sipping, and it’s delicious!
