Due to my augmented procrastination and urgent need to actually get out of bed and do some work, I present to you a short recap of my week! (But in adequate detail, I hope :))
Tues (12/21):
The second "real" day of my holiday break, I woke up at around 11am and left for a friend's house after a quick breakfast. From there, we went to the mall to meet up with two other friends (although one was with her boyfriend for the majority of the time since friend1 still needed to get a gift for her). I've actually never hung out with these girlies, but I love them to death and they have this contagious but eye-roll-able energy to them that is so fun. One of my bests commented on it being strange that I'm friends with them, since my personality is quite usually the opposite (a balance between very, very laid back and "slightly flustered," as reasonably described on a Christmas card I got this year, heh :)).
We beelined to A&F to find gifts after I picked up a few stuffed animals and packs of cards per my mom's request. I ended up buying nothing, but the two I was with bought me this beautiful yarn/plush scarf that I've had my eye on. I adore it; thought it was just a fancy of mine, but it really is one of my favorites. I love the fair isle print on it.
Nonetheless, I ended up finding well-priced ceramic bowls from Anthropologie from my mom, and didn't buy anything else except various drinks (ICEE, Starbucks Chai, McD's Sweet Tea...I know, random). This Christmas came as a total surprise to me, and I wrote cards as opposed to buying gifts :| a bit strange on my behalf, but I think the money was well saved and cards with time spent on them are worth more than gifts (to me, at least). Yet I still feel obliged to pick up gifts for a few of my friends who spent a particularly large effort on me, the aforementioned friends included. I have things in mind but can't locate the gifts I want to buy them in person, so everything is on hiatus now :(.
About the designated leave time, I realized that I could hitch a ride home from a group of other friends who were at the mall at the same time. I said bye to my first group and switched, and then proceeded to spend the next three hours doing absolutely nothing but trying gelato (!!!) and kvetching about leaving. Tactful, I know. In my defense, they were unnecessarily elongating their stay at the mall to annoy me, but I should have expected that in the first place.
After going home, I literally did nothing. <-- A trend for the rest of my winter break. I think I finished watching Chuck, although that might have happened on Monday? Hm...
Weds (12/22):
Rosie came over! We designated this day for a long-overdue food party with a focus on potatoes, but only the mashed potatoes really had to do with potatoes...ANYWAY:
We assembled a list of food we needed to buy and found other ingredients in my fridge (always unexpected. We did however end up buying two extra cartons of sour cream since I overlooked the fact that I already had a full one...), decided on Chocolate Cheesecake (recipe here!) and Grilled Chicken Sandwiches (chicken marinated by yours truly the night before...there's a first for everything) with a parsley/mayo dip and also a cauliflower/carrot dip.
After shopping at ACME (what is custard powder?!), we got home pretty late in the morning and began making everything at once. I'm pretty sure we used every single bowl my family owns, and the sink was piled full on both sides once we finished cooking the chicken and making the dip and potatoes. I really wanted to document the process via Canon, but my hands were so full and I've been on an unofficial photography hiatus which really needs to end...so you'll have to take my word that it was delicious. And perfect. Very healthy. I'll take photos next time :). I plan on making the same sandwich again in the future!
But we settled in the family room to wait for the cheesecake to bake while we were eating lunch, and happened to find The Office on Netflix Instant, the perfect coincidence. I always have this thing for catching up in TV shows during breaks, and this made things so much easier...but that's another story for another time. We watched a few episodes then switched to Inception despite having planned on Pan's Labyrinth earlier. Quite a head sore because I had watched it the night before (aha! I didn't do nothing after all! ...). After the movie ended, we took the cheesecake out of the fridge and tried some.
Absolute. Heaven.
To make a long story short, I have never ever ever baked something out of scratch like that (I think). It was so good. Our Jello custard whip thing was the perfect substitute for custard powder, and although I didn't have a circular pan, the regular cake tray-thing worked well and it was such an ambitious and successful day. Yum. Definitely making that cheesecake again. Rose took home half of it and my family quickly gobbled up the other half...so incredible.
Thurs (12/23):
My dad came home early (unfortunate, since I had just woken up and was watching The Office on Netflix again when he came in...not the best impression at 2pm) and my brother and I decided to head out to the mall. Because of my participation in our church's annual Christmas program, I have to wear a red top, and have always borrowed one or nonchalantly wore white. This year, I decided that buying one would probably end up being a safe investment, as I really have no plain red shirts, and so we set off.
I thought it'd be a quick trip, but I was sidetracked and entered the relatively new H&M and UO at the mall for the first time. I like shopping by myself; I tried on quite a few things but ended up putting them all back. I think I'm getting thriftier. Or maybe it was in anticipation that the only place I'd find a long-sleeved red shirt was at A&F, where I had spotted one a few days prior...and I was right. A bit too pricy in my opinion, but sales work wonders and my mom ultimately approved :).
I also stopped by AE right before leaving to see if my decision in not buying a pair of pants the trip before was justified--it was! I actually found a sweater I've been coveting for a few weeks if not a month, and at a discounted + 30% off price. Parfait.
Went home, was sadly disappointed since the fam was supposed to reassemble and go to a quick Szechuan dinner before the Christmas program dress rehearsal, but ended up being unable to since my mom had to work late :(. I got dressed and left for the rehearsal, only to be greeted by dozens of people in casual wear...apparently I did not receive the memo that this year's dress rehearsal was actually a normal rehearsal. Yay.
Nevertheless, had fun time at church and got to see friends. The same best mentioned earlier invited me skiing (!) with her family over the end of the 25th-26th, which had me overly ecstatic because my parents had previously mentioned that I could go with her on a day trip...after a very short monologue of convincing, they decided it would be fine :). The only problem? It was to coincide with the bigs/littles program I had helped plan for the upcoming Sunday; however, my two littles were unable to make the program anyway, and it had a large chance of being postponed due to lack of availability, so I decided I had made the right choice :(.
Fri (12/24):
Christmas Eve! I woke up and the fam made up the previous night's missed dinner with lunch, followed by a quick trip to the bank/Talbots next to the bank. The bank was closed, but Mom picked up a nice green sweater for $1 after her dividend credit (I was only a bit irked that she had fickly told me the day before that I had to wear red to the program), definitely a good deal. I also eyed a few small statement necklaces (I love jewelry but never get any due to the lack of quality and chipping of gold paint on most that are reasonably priced), and mom bought me one in light of the fact that I didn't ask for anything for Christmas. This is an unnecessary detail, but it matched the AE sweater I had picked up the day before perfectly :).
The rest of the day was a frenzy of taking a long "break" and then realizing that I had to write cards, followed by skipping dinner and getting right to church to help with the little kids' worship program and then performing selections of Handel's Messiah on stage. It went very well, and the sanctuary was packed, which always brings a smile to my face.
Reception was nice, got to see a lot of friends who departed for college and never came back (sniff), but the evening ended too quickly and my family went home.
We started watching the illustrious Avatar when previously-mentioned Bestie proposed a change in plans involving leaving at 8am on Christmas day, so we could get on the slopes a day early. Eep. I went upstairs to start packing (have I ever mentioned how horrible I am with the whole packing thing? I used to require two-weeks head start, and now it's completely flipped) but ended up going to sleep out of frustration since I couldn't locate my goggles.
Sat (12/25):
Admittedly, I wasn't the happiest camper when I woke up at 6:30am to find my goggles and finish packing. However, I got it done and grudgingly left the house. My spirits rose after seeing my Bestie and sister...I did feel guilty about being not nearly enough grateful to my parents, though :(. It slipped my mind that it was Christmas...yet we left late, had a relatively uneventful ride there, got to Camelback, and saw lots of people we knew.
...
Anyway, fun day! I didn't eat at all, but the excitement was more than enough fuel. I hadn't strapped into a snowboard since Jan 1 (I only know this since my boarding jacket still had the tag on, whoops) and was sure I had forgotten everything, as I had never properly learned, but it came more naturally than the past (few) times and I had a friend help me. Even though we only had about 2.5 hours total since the lifts opened late and closed early due to Christmas, I think I made a lot of progress.
Also, the Bestie's mom talked to customer service and got us the rental equipment free of charge the next day (we got to keep it overnight! No long lines) and lift tickets for a discounted price. Score.
We did, however, get extremely lost on the way to the resort/suite/townhouse/thing we were to stay at, but it ended up being a nice night. Watched Mythbusters with the Bestie's little brother and friend, learned that I still really want a Porsche (ha) and that if you drive them at 90mph in the rain with the convertible top down, you won't get wet.
And then to sleep.
Sun (12/26):
Woke up barely sore, which was nice, but quickly headed out to Camelback again after cleaning up the room (strange, since it was set up as a hotel-type room but you are charged otherwise? Not so sure how it worked, but there are no real maids so you have to take care of it yourself. Like renting a house).
Made more progress on the snow, I think. I'm convinced I want to get my own board this season, which I have been saying year after year but never really putting into action. Rental fees are a bit absurd if you go often, and if I want to stick with this, I'll be going often...nonetheless, had fun, hit up a green circle (lawl) three times at the end of the day, and have a reasonable grasp on linking turns. More than I've ever done in the past, at least. But surely progress!
We left around 5pm, in the middle of an expected snowstorm. The roads were supposedly horrible in Delaware, and with my parents volunteering at CMC (Chinese Missions Convention) in Valley Forge and the family I was with planning on going to said conference the next day, we decided to stop there for the night and save an hour of driving.
A bit awkward, since I had already told everyone I wasn't planning on going, but it was fun to see familiar faces, even though I ached all over and still had most of my snow gear on, haha. I almost starved to death at the end of the night, but thankfully a friend of my mom's had saved me food and I happily went to sleep on the floor of a room at the Radisson. I think that was actually the first time I've ever seen a king-sized bed, which I unfortunately didn't get to sleep in (although my parents rented the room, other families had also been stranded so we allowed the two other ladies we were sharing with sleep there. They deserved it, anyway)...but I slept more than soundly due to the exercise I had gotten that day :).
Mon (12/27):
Woke up unbelievably sore, but no time to waste! We checked out and left the hotel, getting home at about 9am. Abu was very impatient to be let out, and snow blanketed everything...though not as much as I would like :(. Anyway, the day was rather uneventful. I took a nap, watched more of The Office, but did however finish all my art supplement stuff for college applications!
And, simultaneously, discovered that I had messed up big-time with two of my college applications. One more so than the other...but God is in control, and ultimately it was the result of my carelessness (although I swear I took the utmost precautions in documenting every step and every deadline). On the plus side, I'm more than fairly certain that they will still review my applications, although there might be a negative edge to things because of what happened. Though again, God is in control, and that was a hard hit on the head concerning my causality when it comes to the important things...should have triple-checked, quadruple-checked, etc. Although I was positive that I had. Ah, well.
Mom and Dad made hotpot for dinner! And then I set off to finish a college essay in light of what had happened earlier in the day. I did get it done, but went to sleep late, however satisfied.
Tues (12/28):
I woke at a horrendous 12pm, at lunch, read some of my required school reading (A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich), which is actually interesting though it has a reputation of being a dud. I watched a few more episodes of The Office because I was positive I would be doing a buttload of work the rest of the day, until I went back upstairs and accidentally fell asleep again.
Until 5pm.
Which is when I got up.
Which is when I turned on my computer and decided to write this, so I could feel at least a bit productive (since finishing the 30-day challenge is something I want to do by January 1).
...
OKAY time for dinner (hot pot again, I think!) and then I'm determined to knock out either the rest of my book or another college essay or two. Or both. Or half of my book and one college essay and a bit of my homework. But I really want to finish all my college applications (minus the one due after January 1) by tomorrow...let's see if I can make this happen!
And now that I look at it, I did write in detail. So much for a recap. I tell myself that I'll do one thing and another happens. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.
A learning process, eh?
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