Chinese New Year, Seattle Style

This post is dedicated to Adam Larson, who always likes to invite people to do things and keeps in touch with his Hong Kong mission roots. The Seattle Lunar New Year celebration to ring in the Year of the Rat will be on Saturday, February 9th. A group of us went last year and had fun watching some of the festivities and having dim sum. If you'd like to join us this year, leave a comment so we can all see who's going and arrange carpools. (Sorry for getting carried away last time trying to be carpool matchmaker! I'll leave us all to be grown-ups and figure it out on our own this time.) Feel free to invite anyone you'd like to come. I'm going to say that I'll try to be there around 11:30. Here's a map of the International District which shows Union Square and the many parking lots available.

If you'd like to brush up on your knowledge of Chinese New Year you can ask Adam or check this out. For anyone born in 1984, this is your year!

Catching Up

I don't know why I listen to the voices in my head telling me to blog (it's Mike Shin), but here I am. I'm just so amused by Mike's blog that I don't feel the need to update my own. I do have some pictures on my phone from recent events that I'll share, then I'll go back to using my blog to plan outings.

So this first picture is when we went to this FANTASTIC little Mexican restaurant in Ballard called La Carta de Oaxaca. Russ escorted Emily, Karrie and I there. We were warned about the wait by Russ and took a trip to the local Starbucks until our table was ready, and I assure you it was well worth the wait! This picture is of Karrie with our waiter.

Next up, fitting rooms. Some people are SO RUDE. I work part-time at Banana Republic and I love-love-love it there, but there are certain times when I wonder how some people live their lives with no manners. This was how a woman left the fitting room one day when I was working. Do you see what I see? At least 4 pairs of jeans on the floor?! Then there was the one pair hanging on the front of the door and one on the back of the door as well. In the privacy of your own home you do whatever you want with your own clothes, but it's just plain rude to go to a place of business and leave their merchandise laying all over the place!

I never thought I would be one of those girls who said this, but chivalry might actually be dead. Mike was on a roll that day, what with taking pictures of TJ after he passed out, and then after potluck he was picking up tables like a good little Priesthood holder. He asks me to hold the table, which I do, and then he leaves me holding it so he could mess with his phone. What else could I do but take a picture. I should add that as I was rolling it away to put in the side closet another guy did offer to take it for me, but I declined (I didn't want anyone else to bear Mike's burden).

And finally I'd like to give a shout out to Pam's spirit of competition. I've recently discovered that Pam cannot stand to lose at anything, including Connect Four. We were at Kerri's since Pam had a snow day from school and their friend Randall (that's just what they call her, now I can't remember her real name) came over to hang out. They have this love for Connect Four which I don't totally understand, but Pam got schooled not once, but TWICE. There was much yelling by Pam and Kerri clapping for Randall. Sorry Pam! Better luck next time. Although it's not so much luck as paying attention to the little pattern that could connect four tokens...

Richard G. Scott Fireside

Who's in for the Fireside on Friday? Since it's in Seattle I found a bus I can take there from work and get there early. It starts at 7pm but you know the place is going to be packed. Kerri mentioned getting some people together to carpool, so if you'd like to go, post a comment with where you're coming from and what time you'd be able to leave. I'll just be wanting a ride back from someone.

Response to my friends blog

My friend Adam posed a question on his blog. I'm going to make you go here to read it. My response was so long I lost it a couple times so I decided to put it on my own blog. Is that cheating? Oh well.

The First Presidency stated in 1976: “Family home evening is for everyone. It is for families with parents and children, for families with just one parent, and for parents who have no children at home. It is for home evening groups of single adults and for those who live alone or with roommates. …
“Regular participation in family home evening will develop increased personal worth, family unity, love for our fellowmen, and trust in our Father in heaven. It is our promise that great blessings will come to all who conscientiously plan and hold weekly family home evenings.”

A topical definition of FHE says, "Church leaders have instructed members to set aside Monday night as "family home evening." This is a time for families to study the gospel together and to do other activities that strengthen the family spiritually, create family memories, and increase unity and love."

Additionally, in a March 2003 First Presidency message President Hinckley was quoted as saying, "“You have to establish in your life some sense of prioritizing things, of giving emphasis to the important things and of laying aside the unimportant things that will lead to nothing. Establish a sense of justice, a sense of what is good and what is not good, what is important and is not important; and that can become a marvelous and wonderful blessing in your lives”.

I think it's wise to agree with the First Presidency and say that FHE is for everyone. In a family setting I imagine you would make decisions together about what FHE will be for you, and while we're single we have the responsibility to decide what that will mean for us individually. I know some people who have school on Monday nights and don't attend FHE. I have a friend who takes Monday nights as their own personal time to be settled at home and at times visits with her own family in the area. Since I can admit that I was one of those who left FHE after the lesson and went to Red Robin I should give a reason for that decision and say that yes, for one week I thought it was fine to leave early and have dinner with some friends I see regularly and some others I don’t know as well. If I hadn’t gone to dinner I still would have left early to go to the gym. (I know I traded out the gym for Red Robin, typical!) To make a long comment short, I think that while it's important to make efforts to participate in the prescribed YSA FHE plan, it can be just as beneficial at times to mix it up a bit or spend Monday nights doing something you feel is appropriate for your stage of life.

Sigh

I had a post on here describing the hacking of my friends, and just after I posted it was edited... again... So the moral of the story is don't ever save your passwords on a computer that is within reach of your friends. Or in reach of my friends anyway. And don't leave yourself logged in. And don't do a yoga tripod while playing the paper bag game in front of Mike.

Drunk blogging

That previous post was what you could call "drunk blogging". Hey, don't judge me. I pretty much hit the nail on the head though...

Boys Boys Boys

I love boys. Little boys, big boys, short boys, tall boys. It doesn't matter to me, I love them all. They seem to like me too. Clackety clack, don't talk back. I have a burning bosom. I like to flash people while they're playing guitar hero. My name is Lisa Low. I live a full life.