i had a baby shower already with my friends before leaving chicago, and this weekend i was lucky enough to enjoy a second one! helen organized it with the help of louisa and angie (games-masters). we had beautiful and delicious food:

games:

wacky photos:

cake (caketoppers which i saved from my chicago baby shower!):

thank you everybody for my lovely gifts and a wonderful time!

we have been replenishing our chinese stomachs with food from both spectrums of fanciness. a couple of examples include:

a wonderful discovery my mom and i made at the yaohan food court. xi an style lamb noodle and buns stuffed with pork. it was so yummy, all for $13.

joe’s parents took my family out for dinner. a succulent scallop with vermicelli drenched in a garlicky sauce. beautiful and delicious.

we went out for a date on joe’s birthday a few days ago and had dinner at ‘burgoo’. warm stewy comfort food.

i liked the colours of this crab bisque.

happy birthday hubbie!

we were in need of some lighting, so i recycled one of my mom’s old lamps which i remember using as a kid growing up. the old lampshade actually still had the tacky plastic wrapping on it after 25 years, haha!

i found some pretty rice paper from paper-ya and ribbon which i glued onto the lampshade with spray adhesive and a glue gun.

the end result.

the last few weeks have been busy with catching up with vancouver friends.

first, visiting janet, chris and baby madeleine, along with gina who was in town from california:

hanging out with the wongs and the chens on a sunday afternoon. tayden and matia, all grown up!

spending a morning with louisa and ichiro at queen elizabeth park:

and having lunch with grace and baby natalie at granville island: