Outrage!!!

Article from the ST:

Jul 6, 2010

Help for problem preschoolers

If you read the article, you realize that what this particular journalist is talking about is really preschoolers with learning difficulties, or developmental delays. Instead of calling them that, she refers to them several times as "problem kids". OMG!!!!!!!!!!

I am appalled.

59 days?!

I spent the last couple of days updating our wedding website, and now it is finally (almost) done! For those who are curious, it is at: http://www.weddingwire.com/MeijieandTroy

The "About Us" and "The Proposal" parts took me a couple of hours to write, but am pretty pleased with how it turned out. It's been quite a while since I've done any kind of creative writing, and I'm surprised by how much I still enjoy it! Sometimes I still fantasize about being a writer.. Could still happen I guess. ;)

I finally completed my Clinical Fellowship yesterday, so I'm now a certified speech-language therapist! YAY!!! Pending all the paperwork, I am excitedly looking forward to a raise!!! (I've been too paiseh to ask how much of a raise though :P) And actually, I think my job is getting better every day, as I get more experienced. An unfortunate side effect of my job is that I now don't feel like playing with kids outside of working hours! Playing with a kid now just seems like work, and I don't want to do it without being paid. Hah!

Oh, and I also started a group on Facebook to connect with Singaporeans in the MN. We had our first meeting last week, there's about 6 of us around here. It was fun, but hanging out with them also reminded me of all the reasons I left Singapore. My pet peeves:

1. People who think everything bad that happens to them is because the other person is "racist", e.g. "I didn't pass my driving test because the tester was racist." Erm, did you ever think that maybe your driving just sucks?! Or maybe so-and-so just doesn't like YOU as a person, and your race has nothing to do with it!

2. People who complain that Americans don't know where Singapore is. Erm, do YOU know where every single country in the world is???? Where is Trinidad and Tobago? Or Bahrain? In fact, most Singaporeans have not the slightest clue about USA geography. Most Singaporeans would not be able to pin Minneapolis on a map of USA. Bet they could not even pinpoint NYC, California, Florida or Texas. I have friends who ask me, hey I'll be going to the USA, want to meet up? Erm, Arizona is about 30 hours away from where I am. Or, I heard there's a school shooting, are you ok? Erm, considering its about 3 states away, I think I'm ok.

BTW, I'm not saying I expect Singaporeans to know US geography. I'm just saying that everyone knows the geography of their OWN country the best, so stop saying Americans are dumb just because they don't know where Singapore is.

So yeah, now you know my top 2 pet peeves. :P Think there's more but I'm too lazy to think of them now. I'm just going to watch tv and laze around. Heh.

Summer time

Hello summer is here! Official start of summer is June 21, which is my birthday, which was Monday. ;)

Had a little celebration with the man. Went to Olive Garden, which is one of my favorite Italian restaurants, then to the schnazzy new movie theater in St Louis Park to watch Karate Kid! Troy's been wanting to take me there since his friend told him about the BAR in the movie theater. Haha! Movie, popcorn, and boooze - perfect combo, no?

Anyway I can't decide which Karate Kid I like more. I thought Mr Miyagi was funnier than Jackie Chan, but I thought the portrayal of Beijing was pretty cool. Sure makes me want to go to China!

There were 20 - yes TWENTY - tornadoes in Minnesota last Thursday and it killed three people. :( None of them actually hit the Twin Cities, which is lucky because I'm sure the destruction and death toll would have been much higher.

My green card interview is scheduled for July 26! Think Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds in The Proposal. ;) Anyway my application has gone pretty smoothly so far, and really isn't taking too long at all. With any luck I'll be a permanent resident in 1-2 months - Woo!!

Friends for Asia

Read about Friends for Asia on CNN yesterday and have been thinking about it since. Its a program in Chiang Mai that plans and provides lodging for foreigners to volunteer for 2 weeks or longer, at orphanages, shelters, elephant camps(!), etc etc etc!!!!! HOW AWESOME IS THAT. I am really excited about elephant camp!

So anyway, we'd like to go some time in the next 2 years. Whenever we save up the money and have the time, I guess. Can't wait can't wait can't wait. I haven't had a real adventure in sooooooooo long. So glad my baby wants to come with! I love my man.

Happy Memorial Day!

Ok I know nobody who reads this blog celebrates Memorial Day, but you guys get a long weekend too for Vesak Day right? ;)

Sooo, if you have been following me on fb, you'd know that I've been spending every weekend GARAGE-SAILING!!!!! OMG! Can't believe I've been in the US almost 4 years and never discovered this before!!! Although quite possibly there just aren't as many garage sales in Indiana as there are in Minnesota.

My latest acquisition is the Who Wants to be a Millionaire board game for $2. Troy and I have been having fun with it. ;) Also a bunch of vases for the wedding for 25 cents. Woooo!!

And of course a truck load of toys. HAHA. Most of them are 25 cents to $1, and they're in GREAT condition!! My preschool kids just LOVED the airplane I bought last week. ;)

Anyway, we're driving up north today to spend 2 days with his family and friends. So, happy long weekend!!!

Almost June

Hello, only 100+ days to the wedding!

The engagement pictures turned out well, I'm pleased. We ended up going with the "cheap" photographer ($1000 plus tip), so I was a little worried. But out of the 104 pictures, about 65 are decent and there are about 10 I really really like. :) Also my photographer's really sweet and easy to get along with, and super fast with getting back to me with the pictures!

My MOH Johanna and her sister Andrea visited us in MN this week, and we had fun doing some wedding stuff together. We went cupcake tasting with my awesome baker - she's CHEAP ($15 per dozen cupcakes), gave us 12 free cupcakes to taste, and is sooooo fast with replying emails, and free delivery!!!

All my vendors are pretty darn awesome so far, keeping my fingers crossed.

GARAGE SALES have started!!!! My new hobby is going to garage sales every weekend and getting a bunch of great bargains!! Last week I bought the cutest vintage Campbells mug for a quarter (its selling on ebay for $5), 5 ice cream glasses ($1), 4 jar mugs ($1), and a bunch of other glassware for $5. I'm going to use them for wedding centerpieces. I also bought some Little People toys for $2, and also got a Disney princess playdough set for free!!! Oh and I bought the cutest vintage Kodak brownie camera for $3, worth about $15. Troy and I are thinking of having an ebay business selling all our steals but I've been too lazy so far. ;)

Sooooo, life is good. Almost too good - it makes me fear that some calamity is going to strike soon. I mean, there are all kinds of horrible disasters on the news every night, I try not to let my imagination run overtime. :P

It's May!

Wow, the year is almost half over. It'll be my birthday soon... TWENTY SEVEN! *gasp*

I am torn between feeling ooooold, but I'm also one of the youngest at work. And I'm still in my twenties. Soo.. I'm not really sure what I feel.

On the bright side, life is pretty much as I envisioned for 27. I've always wanted to get married at 26 or 27. Check. Got my Masters degree. Check. Job that I find meaningful and not too bad paying. Check.

Marrying my American white boy wasn't quite anticipated, but 人算不如天算, right? ;)

So, what lies ahead? We definitely want to buy a house as soon as possible since we'd like to stop renting and have our own home. It will be nice to not change addresses every other year. Also, Troy is absolutely dying to have a dog. I'm looking forward to the decorating and having an awesome kitchen. :)

I always planned to have 3 kids when I'm between the ages of 30-35. However, I am now kinda worried that the older I get, the harder the weight will be to lose, and pregnancy will be more complicated. Most American women have kids really young, and I REALLY don't want to be the old chubby mommy. I guess that goal is now revised to 29-34? Maybe we'll adopt some of our kids though so I don't have to worry too much about my biological clock tick-tocking away. Who knows??

Other news.. I filed my Permanent Resident papers yesterday. With any luck, the green card should arrive in my mailbox by the end of this year. I'm still planning on keeping my Singapore citizenship though, you know, just in case I want to apply for dual citizenship for the kids or if we move to Singapore. Both seem quite unlikely at this point, but again, 人算不如天算. IF (a very big if) we move to Singapore, it probably makes more sense to get PR.

Wedding planning is coming along fabulously, especially since I'm the only one planning it. :))) Life is so much easier sometimes without everyone giving you their unsolicited advice on what should be done. We are taking our engagement pictures next Monday and I'm excited!! I'm also getting my hair/makeup trial on the same day. Both my photographer and makeup artist seem awesome at this point, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Also, I am surprisingly allergy-free this Spring. I usually get hit BAAAAD for 2-3 days in April. Maybe I'm not allergic to the pollen in Minnesota. That's what I'm hoping anyway. Or maybe it just hasn't hit yet.....

Springtime!

The warm weather is here!! The weather has been just beautiful these last two weeks. :) I need to unpack my summer clothes.

Troy and I went to Red Wing last week to put the $1,100 deposit down for our Sept 5 wedding. :)) I also met with a photographer for $1,000 that we are very likely to go with. And we found a Chinese restaurant that will cater for $8.50 per person!!! Ok, obviously it won't be fancy schmancy food, but it'll have to do! We'll just have to get more booze to make up for it. ;)

Went to H&R Block today to have a "tax professional" file my taxes for me. I've done it myself in previous years, but 2009 is just too complicated - having lived in 4 states!!! Anyway, I had to pay him $320 (ouch!!!) to file my taxes for me, but I'm getting $900 back in federal returns, $330 back from the state of Minnesota, and I owe the state of Indiana $8. I got to claim some tax credit for my internship in California and moving expenses, which I am very pleased about!!

Anyway, despite us both being employed now, we are still very poor. Boooooooooo. And we have to pay Uncle Sam $1,500 for my green card - oww oww ouchh!!! Will be VERY GLAD when this wedding is over and we'll actually have money for some other things.. like furniture! And fun stuff. I haven't bought clothes or had a haircut in almost a year??!

Oh, and I can't wait till we have a house! I am quite into watching Home Buyers and Moving Up and all the other homebuying shows on TLC. ;))) I'm dreeeeeaminggg....

It's almost the end of Feb... whaaaaat????

It's hard to believe February is almost over. But that means spring is a-coming!!!!

After 5 months of living here.. I declare that I really do like MN. Minnesotan winters really aren't as bad as everyone claims. The in-laws and coworkers all tried to freak me out by telling me I needed to heated jackets and long johns and snowpants... but pffffft. The only new things I got this winter are my boots and a warmer pair of gloves. Some people are just pussies. Ha!

I'm kidding. The cold doesn't bother me that much because I typically only spend 10 minutes outside a day, just long enough to run from the parking lot into heated buildings. On sunny days though, I spend up to a half hour playing out in the snow with the kids (and catching up on my lost childhood ;)). IT IS SUPER FUN. Now I understand what Troy means about MN having enough snow to do snow things, because in Indiana we get a couple of inches and its not enough to do fun snow things like go snowmobiling, make snowmen, snowangels, snowballs...

Not that I actually make snow angels of course. I worry too much about getting my clothes dirty and wet. I just watch the kids do it -- oh to be a happy carefree kid! ;))

Life is going very well. :)))) The fiance is recently employed - WHEEEEEE!!!!! We went out to Fridays to celebrate yesterday. As a special treat we got a full 3-course meal each, I got a tropical mojito, he got a white russian, and I even let him get a cherry coke! HAHA. Anyway, either the fiance is extremely talented or he somehow voodooed the interviewer, because he went to JUST ONE interview, got called back to a 2nd interview two days later, and the day after that got offered the job! I am impressed.

Soooo he's starting work soon and I am saaaaaad. No more hanging out on weekends and him doing the chores! He works loooong days Wed-Sat as a house manager for a home for disabled adults. Its not his dream job but it does give him some nice managerial experience, and given this economy, can't really be too picky! And of course its nice to have the extra income. :)

We are going to a CNY potluck at a Chinese church tonight. I am making a fried egg, tomatoes, and cucumber thing from my recipe book and I hope it turns out well! It looked the easiest to make. ;) Troy and I went to the service last week and there were these families coming in all dressed up in their traditional costumes and it was sooooooo cute. We'll get one tailored for him when we go back to Singapore. HAHA.

More wedding updates

We now have our absolutely adorable ringbearer and flower girl!!!

Avery's always been very very special in my heart, since I spent soooo much time babysitting him when I was at Purdue, and I've really watched him grow up. I've been there for (almost) half his life! He will be 6 in March.

I asked Shelby his mom if he could be my ringbearer, and she was so touched she cried! Awwwwwwwwwwwww.
And here is a picture of Bekah, the daughter of one of Troy's best men, Jesse. As you can tell, she's 5 and a sassy little redhead. ;) Watch out Avery!!
So far I have my maid of honor (Johanna) and one bridesmaid (Dianamari), and am looking to add 1-2 more bridesmaids. Troy has his two best men Jesse and Thor.

Oh and I found an amazing florist that was highly recommended to me by my coworker Sara. I've just been emailing her but I am very pleased so far. I asked if it was possible for her to do my flowers for $300+ (which is quite unheard of since most places start at $500 for silk flowers and $700 for fresh!), and she sent me quotes that came in BELOW budget - OMG!!!!

Sooooo, it looks like I will have gerbera daisies and roses mix, which I love and are cheap to boot. :))))) Our wedding colors are red, pink, and white.

I haven't ordered it yet but I'm getting this cuuuuuute customized cake topper for our cake. :)

We going to meet with photographers soon. I found two, one who is charging $1,600 and another for $2,500. Right now I am STRONGLY leaning towards the $2,500 one because I just LOVE her pictures. I mean, the pictures are going to last a lifetime so obviously I need to find a photographer who will make everyone look gorgeous, right? Right?

Oh oh oh, and also our wedding venue is just 12 miles away from the Treasure Island casino, and they have free transportation there, SOOOOOO thats where we're having our (optional) after-party. Everyone we've told so far has been super excited. :))) And they have a bowling alley and live bands there for non-gamblers. It will be FUUUUUNNNNN.

Ok gotta go watch the Super Bowl. I really don't know who I'm rooting for. I'm still bummed because the Vikings should be there!!!!! Pffffft.