9 years dude! I don't really know whether to high five you or cry. Celebrating these anniversaries are also reminders of how old we're getting....

I thought I would share the story of our first date, since that is what AFD (Anniversary of First Date) Day is based on. You know how it is when you start dating as an adult, the two parties can never decide when the seriousness actually started. Hence, AFD Day.

It's really a cautionary tale on how not to have a first date.

We had met about 4 years earlier when I was 18, and was completely uninterested and apathetic towards you. Yes, I know you like to tell the world it's because you were dating and I was jealous I couldn't have you.

Err no. I don't generally like blonde men and I think you had your funny white-fro hair back then.

We set up for a first date. I was working at a restaurant then. You were to pick me up at my work after my lunch shift.

You were late. By half an hour. And I was NOT impressed.

We then went to have a couple of drinks on Queen West and ended up at the Swan. Now, I had only made about $80 in tips that day, it had been a very slow shift and I had to save money to take a cab ride home (about $40). I was mentally calculating how much I could spend because I wasn't going to assume you were going to pay for the date.

You asked me to order wine, I ordered the second cheapest. Unfortunately the bartender at the time also knew me and declared,"You hate that wine" and so you picked the second most expensive wine and that blew my dinner budget. So I ordered a salad. Even though I was ravenous.

You had an appetizer, the pork special and dessert. You probably thought I was one of those girls who dieted all the time. (We now know how wrong that assumption is).

You then proceeded to talk about your mother and your ex-girlfriend for about half of our date. Two topics one should never bring up on a first date. AND to add injury to insult, you ended up paying for the dinner.

I am actually more bitter about not getting a good meal than about the other part. I just like to throw those other two things in to bug you.

I don't really know how we've made it to 9 years actually. I don't even know how we even had a second date considering our first date. But I really hope we make it for another 9 and more.

Because at the end, I don't really care how old I am getting. As long as it's with you.

Love,

Karen

...the East Coast & West Coast besties are discussing getting pictures of each other for their wallets. The picture above is my choice and of course, includes beloved goddaughter. Let's be honest, when there's a baby, it's kind of all about the baby from now on. Her choice is first picture from the post below.

I miss you, my West Coast family.

And as crazy as this may sound (as I do have a lot of pictures of me out there out there in the world wide web), I am actually profoundly shy about pictures of myself. The reason for the proliferation of pictures now is because there is an utter lack of photos in my teenage years and this is also an attempt of getting rid of this weird fear/uncomfortableness.

I am hoping that when I am 80, I will be grateful that I have so many of myself from this point in time of my life. Or at least, by then I will have grown comfortable in my own skin.

Stefan always says that I never really look like "me" and to some extent, I understand that. When I take photos of him, I can never capture the essence that is him.

But then again he is also a very bad picture taker. Hence the reason, why I have so many one handed shots of myself.

"The List" if you do not know what I am refering to, is a list of 10 (I set a limit to my list, after all, we cannot be whores) of celebrities/stars/unattainable people that you find sexually appealing.

The understanding with your partner is that, if someone is on your list and for some momentous, freak of nature moment, you have the opportunity to have relations with a person on the list, you are allowed to. No questions asked, your partner simply has to forgive and forget. The same applies to your partner and his/her list.

I have to say, I love to play "The List" game because most people's lists are always changing and it gives you a glipmse of their personal taste or crush of the moment. Stefan has had some bad choices on his ... Alyssa Milano? Blech.

So Bestie and I were discussing our list today and I mentioned them to Stefan. We were reaffirming rules of the list again when he said,"So...If I see them and bang them, you can't kill me? I am going to limit my list to actresses that live in Toronto like Rachel McAdams. At least it increases my chances..."

I've been travelling a little bit the last month so Stefan's task has been to help my parents paint their condo. He's been calling this period "slave or labour camp."

One Friday, en route home from the airport, I called to let him know that I had landed safely.

K: So, how's it going at your labour camp?

S: Well. I have not been offered ANY food OR water. AND Papa Kang has been playing country music at full volume. I have a good mind to call the Geneva Convention and complain about the cruel and unusual punishment..

I could just hear my mother screeching in the background in indignant laughter saying she had offered him food and water.

And scenarios like this always make me smile. Because in my world, when you can tease each other in this happy kind of way, it means you love that person. And those two? They really, really love one another.

Perhaps that will be the next award winning documentary?

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K: Yo! So let's wish Mama a Happy Mother's Day...

Big K looks over and snorts. Sees that I've typed this in and smacks me on arm... It's not turning out to be as successful as I thought it would be.

K: Is there anything you would like to say about mum? Like how she's awesome sauce?

Looks over, sighs and rubs forehead...he obviously does not want to play my reindeer games

Big K: Mum is so wonderful wan-lah! Without her there would be no noodle soup!

K: Gee! That's all of you're going to say?

Big K: Oh and no stalking phone calls...

We both laugh...

BIg K: Also, I would be laid off as the postman...

(Big K is our family shipper and deliverer of online US shopping)

Big K: ... and no more gossiping and therapy sessions... for her...

K: You know I betcha mum gets down on her knees and thanks the B.J (Baby Jesus) every day that she finally got a considerate child her last try around...because her firstborn is obviously an example of what can go so wrong in child making and rearing....

Big K laughs...

Happy Mother's Day Mama! We both love you!

I just wanted to share some random thoughts that came up while I was reading the books and the post discussion at the office about them after. Don't read them if you're planning on reading the rest of the books as I give away some parts. These rhetorical questions are based on the idea of dating a vampire and why it's probably not the greatest idea.

Who wants a cold, slate marble hard boyfriend? Can you imagine how uncomfortable it is to lie next to something like that?

When he kisses you: is his tongue hard like stone as well? According to the books, they have no bodily fluids, so how weird would that be to kiss a cold, dry tongue?

If they have no bodily fluids, how does he get an erection, much less impregnate the character?

If they're attracted to humans, the scent of their blood, does that make a female particularly tasty attractive during their time of the month? (eew... by the way)

Vampires have acute senses: super hearing/super sense of smell etc. How AWKWARD do you think it would be if you just had a very bad case of food poisoning? You know I ask this because I am bashful about the whole bathroom around boys thing. I mean, would you need to tell your vampire boyfriend to be on the other side of town?

And you know, deep down inside, you were thinking these questions too. And you're thinking, the idea of Edward is not so hot afterall...

Oh goody, best friend is waxing lyrical in the middle of the day. Turns out she has been bitten by the "romance" of the Twilight series. I must say, I was slightly curious. During our vacation, almost every female under the age of 75 was reading some version of it. I wasn't sure what to expect.

Well, let's just say it's no Jane Austen but I get the appeal. Everyone wants a little of the exotic and the unattainable from time to time. Look at me, I did manage to snag the white unicorn that is Stefan, who is so magical, mystical and err, white...

As to my reply to best friend's IM:

K: No, I don't miss the tummy aches and bouts of diarrhea... does he love me? Will it be forever?

M: What are YOU talking about?

K: You know the butterflies that come with early courtship...

M: Why can't you just say butterflies? As usual TMI!

K: LOL

Seriously, she protests but the reason why she fell in love with me was because of my IM's (among other things).

With Mindy being so ill, she was very unfortunately (for us and her) using our carpeted basement as her own en suite bathroom. The carpets have since been steam cleaned, litter moved to another part of the house (she's back to using her litter once she got on her antibiotics) and she has been banned from the basement unless under supervision. The only issue was that we don't have a door that closes off the basement from the kitchen so thus began the search for a well designed baby gate.

Except, I kind of needed someone other than myself to make the darn thing. So the pestering of building the baby gate began.

S: What do you think of this gate?

K: hmmm...I like the home made one we saw best...

S: What about this one?

K: Nope, like the one we saw best. I love the lines of it.

S: Look, I don't know why you keep bugging me about building that gate for you. You're not a carpenter. I'm not a carpenter. Do you think Min-min's a carpenter? She does sand sometimes...

(I know, our conversations are so off the wall. I often wonder if people could bug our house, whether they would think we were certifiable....)

So lately, whenever I suggest building something, like a new porch or a new backyard fence, Mr. Wise Ass will simply reply,"hmmm... let me check on Mindy's carpentry schedule. I am sure she's busy though..."

Pfft! Where are his priorities?

To be fair, I only just gave him my ideas for the redesign quite recently. But surely, these are the benefits of having an in-house technical support? One should be able to hand over scribbly bits of sketches, colour choices and BAM! New site! But he says that is not how it works.

So here's a brief catch up on my life since last:

Retard vacation, aka all inclusive vacation, in the Dominican was a success. I recommend having a retard vacation once every two years. Especially with good friends.

House is coming along (pictures to follow at some point, I swear).

I have a new project brewing (this is also contingent on CTO's co-operation).

Mindy has been very ill but, hopefully, on the mend (I love that darn cat!).

Had dental cleaning today, teeth and gums in excellent condition. Damn, I got good teeth genes unlike other people I know (ahem! Stefan).

If you really need to know what I've been up to from day to day, you can follow me here. And yes, I pride myself in maxing out my 140 characters.

There, now my dentist will be happy. Says he's been forlorn without my snippets of wisdom and rapier wit.

The really nice thing about everything is that we're really starting to enjoy our neighbourhood and neighbours. It helps that the new neighbourhood also consists of friends who already are or have recently moved into the area.

Funny things you don't realize about having a house after living in an apartment after all these years are the most basic things like - having a rake and a shovel for snow. We had our first snowfall a month ago and Stefan asked whether we had a shovel. "Hmmm.... of course we do! We only lived on the 5th floor of a loft for almost 7 years." He can be so silly that boy!

We have so much to do to make it ours and of course, I always want instant gratification. It's hard to have caviar taste on a craigslist budget.... so we've decided to take it one room at a time. This weekend, we're finally going to look at some major things like lighting and a new sofa. I hope to share more soon....

It was at the time before the area was really developed and there were still a lot of old NY style lofts around. Friends who were not familiar to the area found it weird that we were going to be staying at a somewhat "dodgy" area, but I had a great feeling about the potential and vibe of the neighbourhood. It has since been transformed to one of the most sought after neighbourhoods for the young and hip. This is also one of the reasons why we wanted to move out; as the party scene is no longer really our vibe any more.

I remember so vividly seeing the raw space and Stefan and I envisioning the space that could be. We proceeded to update the loft quite a bit with our own expense. Even though it was a rental, we were willing to commit to the space as we felt we would be here for awhile. We built walls, storage, added fixtures to bathroom, ceiling fans, we even had to provide our own fridge and stove! It really was that bare.

I hope the new tenants realize how much we have added to the comfort of their space but at the same time, they're going to be a little shocked as we need to take some of the lighting and fixtures with us to the new place.

There are so many things I love about this whole thing.

I am such a bibliophile and love to collect books. On the very far left are vintage children's books (old Enid Blyton books) that I have collected over the years through auctions and also new children's books that I have discovered since buying Ryo her presents. It's a reflection of my early love of books and also to my very first job, which was working for a children's bookstore. I am actually not sure whether I am willing to share my collection of books with any of my possible future progeny. We all know I am so bad at sharing...

I actually re-read a lot of my books, so it's hard for me to give any of these books up (although I have edited the collection a little bit for the move). People are often shocked that the books are read at all. I tend to be anal about handling my books and not bending the spine etc.

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I also love the random tiny collectible things I have been given/collected over the years such as my vintage letterpress letters of my name, the chick from Bitter With Baggage books given to me by Marie...

The thing I absolutely love the most is the ever revolving pictures of the people I love the most in the world - my family, friends & Mindy.

We will be reconfiguring this again in our new space but I am not sure whether it will have as much impact without the high ceilings.

So au revoir beloved book case in old space! You have given me many years of utter joy!