Happy Lunar New Year + Happy Valentine's Day

Whew, that was a GREAT dinner last night! My aunt and uncle hosted about 20 people for the Lunar New Year's Eve dinner. Since y'all couldn't be there, I took some pictures of my favorite items on the menu so you can enjoy the food visually. My aunt cooked up this new bean salad (yum), bought sticky rice stuffed duck from a local restaurant (this needs to be special ordered a few days in advance because it's so popular), and of course, desserts (DESSERTS!- as said by Lilo from "Lilo and Stitch"). My favorite was Aunt Irene's chocolate cake. :) Funny line from last night: "We have a dog. She's part basset hound, part beagle, so we call her a bagel."

On the way home, the road was blocked by construction equipment, the kind with the big shovels. Ah, snow removal knights to the rescue. The sides of the streets were piled up with snow, eliminating 1 or 2 lanes. The machines scooped up the snow and piled it up even higher. It was pretty impressive to see the men maneuver the machines so well. When we saw them, it was about 11 PM, and they were probably working throughout the night, probably haven't seen their families very much the last few days, and probably are a little sleep deprived. I know that many citizens have complained that the plows have yet to come to their neighborhoods (as heard on the radio), but the plows that have come through our neighborhood have been prompt considering the circumstances, and for that, we are thankful. The machines came back this morning with dump trucks to haul away the snow. I wonder where it all goes. Meg mentioned something about an old parking lot behind a hospital in DC, but I'd think it's near full by now!This morning started out with a 1 hour spin class. I was determined to go because of all the food that I ate last night. Heh. Then after a shower and some food, I went to the local craft stores in search of my sister's birthday presents and of course, maybe some stuff for myself. :D I had some money to spend because my uncle gave me a red envelope (it's a Lunar New Year thing). I'm not going to share what I got for my sister since I know she reads this blog, but I will tell you what I got for myself. I justified getting the following because I had many coupons or the item was on sale:

• Long acrylic block for clear border stamps- the ones I had at home aren't long enough and the stamps hang off the edge (used a 40% off coupon for this).
• A Colorbox chalk ink queue in Primary Elements (original price $9.99, clearance $5.00)
• Clear rhinestones (I actually used all mine up...need to refill. On sale, 30% off)

My goal tonight was to make a masculine thank you card. My first attempt was the card on the left, but my beta tester wasn't a fan. So I decided to take a different direction and create the card on the right. That's the one that I'm going to use. I'll find some other use for the original card. I dunno what was up with my stamping skills tonight. I was having trouble getting a nice image or getting my corner punch to cut cleanly. Oh well. If at first you don't succeed, roll your eyes and try again (and again and again).

Card Specs (dots):
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blue Lagoon, StazOn in Jet Black
Stamps: Fiskars- Thank You (dots and sentiment)
Punch: Fiskars Twist & Flip 2-in-1 corner punch
Buttons: Favorite Findings in Ocean

Card Specs (lizard):
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blue Lagoon and Chestnut Roan, StazOn in Olive Green
Stamps: The Paper Company Studio- Jungle (lizard and vine), Fiskars- Thank You (sentiment)
Punch: Fiskars Twist & Flip 2-in-1 corner punch

Random thing: Have you guys seen this website? Super funny. Clients from Hell.

Song of the day: "Haven't Met You Yet"- Michael Bublé. What an appropriate Valentine's Day song for this single girl :) Hope you all had a good weekend!