Let the party begin…

Guess what?!  It’s my last week of school (for the semester anyway)!!  All I have left is one presentation.  Yahoo!!  If you are a student, let’s rejoice together ;).  We survived once again.  It’s starting to look a lot like Christmas!

Now, I can focus on buying presents, writing cards, baking, cooking, socializing (hello my long lost friends.  I’m free again ;))…all the fun stuff awaits me.

This Saturday, Tim crossed off another burger from his bucket list.

I actually did not eat a burger.  That’s right.  I just sat there and watched Tim eat.  Impressive, eh?  That’s how much I was NOT in the mood to eat a burger.  However, being the sweet, perfect wife that I am, I couldn’t possibly fathom the idea of depriving the hubby of his once a week burger..esp when he appeared before me wearing this…

That’s right.  It’s Domo eating burgers.  Quite frankly, I don’t know what his obsession is with this bread-looking character with triangle teeth.  Anyway, he thought the burger had good flavor overall, but the meat was way overcooked.  Don’t worry.  As for me, I came home and basically cleaned out the refrigerator of all our leftovers.  I HATE throwing away food.

Now onto special occasions that required me to put on a dress and act like a lady.  First, one of my closest and favorite oppas got married!  “Oppa” (오빠) literally means “older brother” in Korean.  You see, in Korea, showing respect to anyone older than you is very important.  This is one of the ways to do so.  Personally, I think it’s pretty endearing, and I love saying it.  In addition, you call an older woman “unnie” (언니).  That’s just a quick Korean lesson for ya, in case you’re interested 😉 (of course this is from the female perspective; there are different words for the same people if you’re a guy, but let’s keep this simple shall we?).

Anyway, I’ve known this oppa for more than 10 years!  I first met him during my freshman year in high school.  He was basically my ride to…..EVERYWHERE!  He looked after me like a real brother would, and I really appreciated and loved that since I don’t have an older brother.  I have so, so many wonderful memories with him, and this day was another one to add to the collection ;).

I had ordered my dress from Rue La La about a month ago, and it came just in time!  Thank goodness it fit!  We went to Houston for a day so family time just didn’t happen.  We tried to spend some time with my nephew, Noah, but he was pretty infatuated with the remote control…apparently we weren’t quite as entertaining.

The wedding was absolutely beautiful!  The ceremony was at a gorgeous cathedral in downtown Houston, and the reception took place at a country club.  Out of all the years that I’ve known my oppa, he’s never seemed happier!!

On Sunday, Elia made her debut up on the stage.  And she sounded beautiful!  I was able to snap some pictures during practice time.

The song of the moment: “All I Have Is Christ.”  If you have not heard it yet, go here.  A powerful, powerful song.

Then in the evening, I went to our church’s annual women’s Christmas social.  I invited my dear and closest friend from school, Amanda, to be my date ;).  We were pretty busy doing our own things this semester (for her, defending and turning in her thesis!!) so it was nice to do something fun together finally!  Amanda is quite a special lady in my life.

There were 27 tables and about 280 women at the YMCA gym, which is where our church currently meets every Sunday.  It sure will be nice when we finally move to our very own building in a couple of years!!  In the meantime, I’m constantly amazed by the transformation that takes place every week thanks to a dedicated facilities team.

The men had the privilege of serving us ;).  And they did a marvelous job!  Tim waited on table 14, just one table away from mine.  However, he did come around every now and then to pour some coffee and to snap a couple of pictures at my command.

Here’s a picture of the ladies at my table.

And Karen!!  One compassionate, strong, courageous, and intelligent lady!  I cant wait to jog with her in the mornings this week!

I had a fun-packed, memorable weekend and am now ready to face another week.  No problem ;).