January 2, 2008
Happy 2008 to you
Happy 2008! I hope your year is filled with good surprises, new challenges, and true blue friends.
I had a nice break from blogging which gave me time to sew like a woman possessed by a very crafty, hard driving creative boob, I mean muse. There was a lot of sewing. The good news is that more than half of my gift recipients got at least one handmade gift. Not perfect, no, but a good effort. I shall post some of them, but not all have arrived at their final destinations yet. Oh yeah, I didn't finish every little bit by Christmas either. In fact, 2 projects are still in the works. Well, 3 really.
I sewed. We got nervous and bought a few too many things at Toys or Bust 2 days before Christmas. We had Christmas Eve dinner. It was Christmas. We opened gifts for hours, taking long breaks to play with the new goods. K. got sick. I got sick. We laid around the house playing with things and moaning about being tired. I sewed a tiny bit. We watched Elf 4 gazillion more times. A short but good list of names for Pablo was drafted.* K. and I had the laziest New Year's Eve ever, watching poor Dick Clark for less than 5 minutes. And then the full realization that we are to meet Pablo very soon hit and I panicked.
Sadly the TA is not here. I know that some TAs arrived earlier this week but alas ours has not crossed the Pacific yet. My first instinct is to whine about it, but I know very well that I am lucky to be waiting to bring this fabulous boy home and I know the time will be here sooner rather than later and I am not inclined to whine on this fine (albeit freezing cold) day. Yesterday I spent more than 4 hours on paperwork and this morning we zipped around town and finally FedExed the Visa applications and the passports. [I really loathe sending my passport away. No better way to feel trapped in the burbs than to hand your beloved passport to some random person for some indefinite amount of time.] Patiently we wait.
Amuse me. If you have been to China (or overseas), what was the one thing you bought that if you were to go back to tomorrow would be the first thing you would seek out and acquire? In other words, your favorite loot? I know that both Beijing and Hohhot are going to be colder than cold and I think the sightseeing will be limited. It's all good, because that leaves more time for shopping.
A Brief Recap
Sewing.
Merry Christmas!
sinusheadacheblurry tiredpatheticallytiredtootiredtowhineaboutbeingtired
sew
Pablo might have a name!*
Happy New Year!
No TA Bummer Dude No Worries Talk to me next Monday Tra La La
Z. is the lucky recipient of a bag
with a licensed character made by moi,
although I did not in fact license
aforementioned licensed character for le bag
In other, slightly more comprehensible, words my kid enjoys playing with the goods created by vast marketing conglomerates from time to time and I participate. Sue me.**
*Dudes, the fact that some random, scary, insane Internet Stalker type precludes me from sharing my short list of names with you bums me out. I wish the spectre of the Random Scary Insane Internet Stalker would just. go. away. Takes some of the joie de vivre out of it, but adds a little zing of apprehension to keep things interesting.
**Pablo looks a bit more like a stoner than I had planned.
P.S.: April, we really, really, really, really, really hope that we will see you in Guangzhou. It becomes more unlikely as each day goes by. Still, I'm clinging to a perhaps pathetic belief that we will travel before CNY. I have also confirmed that if we travel before CNY we will be staying at Ye Olde Whyte Swan Hotel. Has anyone heard of it?
Posted by grrlTravels at January 2, 2008 9:33 PMOoohh-I was so hoping you got TA this week. Soon, surely.
Yeah, I can't decide about internet stalker. Hard to blog if I can't share. My only bad experience thus far was in a yahoogroup.
Good news soon~lmc
Oh good grief THERE you are! Thank goodness!
Happy New Year to all of you.
xx
Posted by: Jo at January 3, 2008 4:52 AMHey there,
Table runners. Beijing runneth over with them. Well, Silk Street Market anyway.*(20-25 kuai for certain ones.) They are ggggrreeeaat gifts! I also LOVE all the various kinds of pillow covers. wow! So pretty!(30-40 kuai for 2)
*serious bartering involved.
Congratulations on your new soon to be home little one!
Posted by: K at January 3, 2008 8:23 AMjust tell me who it is, I'll kick their virtual a**!!!!!
Also, can I say, AWSOME job on the un-liscenced caracter bag! she's a luck girl!!!
Oh bummer on the nutter. Stuff to buy? Well shoes of course and artwork, not that I've had anything framed that we did buy. Crazy Chinese hair tie/bobbly things. Vases, I thought the one I bought would break but it was so well wrapped it did fine. I got some lovely stamp sets at HK airport. Some of my favorite loot was just everyday items, like spoons, notepads, children's picture books cos they were all cool "look everybody I've been to China"ish.
Someone in our travel group bought home the most beautiful, most enourmous shallow bowl I've ever seen - fabulous but out of our price range.
Mostly, we didn't buy much (aside from shoes)even if we had the space and $$ to load up it would have made me feel like we were never coming back to visit. That's my logic and I'm sticking to it!
hmmmmm, am I rambling? So not like me!
Happy new year! I am glad you surfaced. I have missed you!
Stuff I bought huh? Hmm. Artwork. I even framed it and hung it in the house. The shoes I bought are all done for --worn out or grown out of. We liked them while they lasted and you can't beat the price. Same for cute kid clothes. I wish I had bought more tea cups, pots and of course tea. It would have made me happy to see a teapot that I bought from China every day. I, like Debberoo was worried about traveling with such things though and didn't try. Stupid of me not to try. I made it home with one lovely tea cup that I am saving for my eldest. I have a thing for painted snuff bottles and bought a really nice one with koi painted on it that I love to take out and look out now and then (I hide it from the kids). I also like the black pearls I got for both of my girls. I borrow them now and then. Oh! And the silk security blanket/quilt we bought our youngest has been the most loved and used item of the treasures we bought in China--even though we had to cut it up and resew it into smaller bits and it no longer looks like the quilt we bought. I bought one for my niece and my eldest as well. Come to think of it though you could probably sew one that is nicer. Just saying--that's what we got that we liked. Have fun shopping! I have shopped with you. You will find much better treasures than I was able to. I have faith. : )
Posted by: Tracie at January 3, 2008 10:43 AMSuch an exciting way to start the New Year!!! I mean being so close to meeting Pablo...not watching Dick Clark on the tube...
If/when we ever get back to China, my first shopping stop will be the Pearl Market in Beijing. I wish I had bought one of each of everything.
Posted by: Judy at January 3, 2008 1:31 PMTea and tea-jar (I can't think of what else to call it in my current sleep-deprived state - one of those double-layer glass insulated travel tea thingies with the floating strainer). I got both in Xi'an for good prices (the combination of being a city not yet overrun by tourists and knowing just enough Mandarin to ask 'how much' and count to 10 = significant discounts vs the official "government stores" tourist traps) and other than photos that'd be my choice for "unique local item" status.
Posted by: Kanuck at January 3, 2008 3:56 PMI was wondering how things were going over there. I was sure you had your TA by now and was busy packing.
As for the question, I would buy an empty suitcase over there and fill it with as many squeaky shoes as I could possibly cram in there. Seriously. The only place around here that sells them does so for $40/pair. $40!! Even if I sold them for $20/pair we would totally bank. Do it!
Posted by: ashley at January 3, 2008 5:20 PM