First post of the year

A quick recap of the new year so far...

I finished my web development course, hooray! 

It totally blew past in a sort of exciting and painful way, but bring it on! Moar! More learning excitement though, maybe I'll feel a bit less pain eventually...

Kuma helping me with my work...not

My sister flew out to spend Christmas with us!

It's been years since we've been able to hang out, just the two of us, and even longer to enjoy Christmas together.

Kuma's first Christmas

We did some baking

Kuma tried to steal some cookies

We went out and had some tea with more sweets at the Ritz

We had a lot of fun cooking, eating, hanging out with the boys (Kuma and Boy), hiking, and even shopping! I'd like to announce I found her two awesome dresses that fit her perfectly (this is a big deal since our tastes are usually completely opposite). I actually went back to try them on in my size and it did not look on me. =(

We hiked Dragon's Back, which was gorgeous that day. How lucky were we to get (mostly) clear blue skies in Hong Kong? The answer is: very!

Jumping photo fail...or win?

Pretty views along the hike

Sisters 

She had to leave in just 8 days but I felt super lucky to have her here in the first place. As I get older, I've become way more appreciative of the fact that there is one other person who knows exactly what I'm like and where I came from. It's comforting to know that I'm not alone in that way.

New Year's Eve

Dinner and fireworks from our apartment with some friends. By far the most mellow NYE I've had abroad and that's not a bad thing. Well, maybe I felt a tad lazy this year, but seriously, these hills in Hong Kong are so not heel-friendly!

Tokyo and Niseko

We had a trip planned at the end of January to go snowboarding in Niseko so I stopped over in Tokyo for a quick couple nights on my way up. It was so good to go back, it's the first time since we moved almost 7 months ago. It felt weird knowing the area but not being able to go back to our apartment. I really do miss it.

Min and I flew up to Niseko together and were colorful little snow bunnies for the weekend.

Amazing views

Lots of pow

The Scare

During the weekend, we got a phone call that really scared us: our cat sitter had left the kitchen window open and Kuma went out. He fell 15 floors and landed on the 7th floor podium.

I was seriously having a meltdown in public. I was so angry because the communication was so poor; no one seemed to be able to tell us for the longest time whether he was even alive, or breathing, or had his eyes open, or what. While we wanted to try and save his life, our helper was trying to save her job and make excuses, saying that the window was too small for him to get out. Clearly, that was not true and therefore moot point, so now, focus on solving the problem at hand! Save Kuma first!!!

Anyways, long story short, we had our concierge help take him to an emergency clinic and have him looked after. Miraculously, he had no broken bones or fractures. He did have a crushed liver, was a bit scraped up in general, like around his face and mouth, bleeding from his nose and lips (probably from impact) and a few other things to keep an eye on.  All in all, extremely lucky and amazing he's alive and doing okay.

When we finally brought him home, he seemed super relieved and happy to be back. I was afraid he'd forgotten who we were, but it seemed like he was grateful to be brought back home and made a beeline for all his favorite areas, including his food bowl.

He was a bit anxious at first, walking around a lot and a little skittish, but still as sweet as ever. When he finally settled down, he seemed to drop into a dead sleep; the type of sleep you only get when you feel safe and secure.

It's been over a week now, and I think he's almost completely forgotten about the incident and is back to his own ways of stepping on his own poo (why!?!). We might also be over compensating and feeding him too much now, little fatty.

Engagement and Wedding Planning

It's not really new news, but we finally sent out an official announcement for our wedding in Bali this year. When I say official, I mean it was a private Facebook group. Don't judge, it's just easier this way. Realistically, there's no way I going to be able to collect everyone's physical addresses and mail out notices in time. I haven't even been able to figure out the post system here and I'm intimidated to find the right stationary.

So we're not the best at planning, obviously, but we've chosen our wedding planner, set the date (after some waffling - September 28th) and almost have the venue and photographer locked in (after some more waffling). Go us! I think our wedding planner is already going a bit nuts.

Oh, and the Dress!  I did do a couple trying sessions last year in California and even went to one shop with my sister when she visited, but I haven't found many realistic options here in Hong Kong. Instead, I'll be having it custom made to a design I've been thinking about, so that has been an interesting experience so far.

I will say that wedding planning and dress designing is definitely more fun with friends and family to gush and discuss with rather on my own (at least the dress, not so much the planning).



Okay! I think we're pretty much up to speed now and I am sleepy. Hope all is well around the world and that I have something fun to update with soon!

xx Kristen