a wonderful NYE :)

It required a little bit of a warm up. But I listened to my body. My body was tired from an impromptu 17km (split by an hour) jog yesterday. It needs rest, my joints are sore. So, instead of going out and partying, I decided to stay at home with my parents. Best. Decision. Ever. Who better to spend NYE with than those two who love me more than any words could describe! Their whole lives are based around me and my brothers. They have so much love to give! Of course, I get frustrated at many little things that they do, and I have the worst temper around them..but we found this lovely equilibrium between entertainment and bonding last night.

At first, the volume was a bit too loud on the telly, and mother simply wanted to watch Korean dramas. After I was a bit of a sook, they realised that my intention was to spend time with them and chat. We ended up YouTube-ing One Direction as Dad search for "best song". We watched Mr Bean which was wonderful because it brings back super memories of my childhood. We grew up on Mr Bean episodes. Learnt that there were actually 14 episodes made over a period of 7 years from 1989 until 1995 which is the year that I was born up until the year my youngest brother was born! Coincidence? :)

We looked through the http://www.gaginang.org/ website checking out some nursery rhymes, and reading up on some festivals. Learnt that Chaoshan encompasses a few areas including Chaozhou and Shantou. My maternal grandfather is therefore from Shantao (Puning), not Chaozhou as I have thought over the years. Most of the population of Chaoshan have a native dialect of Chaozhouhua, but a small proportion are Hakka. I'm not sure why my ancestry fascinates me so much, is it human nature to be interested in your own background? Where you come from? Is it a part of figuring out who you are?

My aunty, uncle, cousin, and middle brother ended up being home for the countdown. It was really lovely to be around such loving individuals who are so important in my life. It was a very relaxed atmosphere, and I feel it was quite profound even in it's simplicity. It just comes to show that my priorities have changed, as I am now much more focused on growing and cherishing my family relationships. There is too much love there to deny them the quality time and care, and I gain so much from being around them. There definitely is room for me to grow and mature as I learn to deal with the teenage angst that from time to time is triggered despite being 7 years adult now. But, I can't wait to see how far I will have come next new years!

It sort of resembles this, but it was just round, and full of Gu Chai. Mother and I ate some just as she was about to head off to bed...but her enjoyment from consuming this pink savoury snack that my aunty had made earlier, woke her up and she suggested we stay up for the midnight fireworks :)!

:)

last one for the year!

Part of growing up is making decisions. Learning how to make decisions. I feel as though I have become much more decisive, and now care about the more important things in life. I can almost say that I feel that I have matured greatly since 12 months ago. However, there is still plenty of room for growth.

The last week has been full of so much fun and goodness! Christmas Eve Party at one of my oldest friend's place was so lovely, meeting her family and learning about their lives. Watching my mother socialise with others; why is it so adorable? Helping out with the set up is always so much fun! Then Christmas Day, I was lucky to spend with so many people I love and care about. Had an adventurous trek out to Sydney Domestic Airport to meet a Dubbonian friend of mine, got stopped twice at the airport for carrying two knives..oops! A lovely girl downstairs was happy to hold onto it for me, so I gave her a packet of Rice Paper :).

Great conversations and activities, combined with plenty of laughter! I love watching my family laugh, it fills me with so much joy. We spoke about family dynamics, relaxing by doing things you're passionate about, interesting self help books, understanding the value of money, how to spend Christmas Day and caught up on each others' lives! I created a JibJab elf video that got my mum & cousin crying with laughter, my aunty lost her voice from laughing so much! Such amusement from placing photos of our heads onto the body of elves in a dance video! Getting my family to draw a name out of a hat and actually illustrate a portrait of that person was hilarious; very surprising results!

My brothers whipped up some super corn lunch, and my cousin & mumma whipped up some super dinner! 

Loving the silly season!

inspired!

So many ideas.

I was very fortunate to be surrounded by so many intermingling passionate brains over the past 4 days. These individuals really have a drive to make a difference, to better the health care of all Australians. It was refreshing to concentrate my thought processes in line with everyone else in formulating some solid plans for 2014.

While we are on the topic of planning...I have also been thinking about how to spend Christmas Day! I will firstly spend the morning with a lovely friend of mine at the airport for breakfast!

Then HOME time! I have decided to enforce upon my family that they must stay at home this Christmas. We have invited my brother's godmother, our grandmother, our cousin (almost sister) and her two children over.

My brothers will prepare lunch, whilst my cousin and I will prepare dinner. I have instructed mother to stay out of the kitchen (which will be very tough for her!), but it shall make for an interesting experience. We only once before forced her out of the kitchen when we went on a family beach house holiday to Currarong and that worked out splendidly (with a few kinks)!

The healthiness factor in these recipes inspire me:

Banana Oat Cookies - http://www.food.com/recipe/very-low-cal-banana-oat-cookies-229667

Poached Pear w/ Crunchy Oat Crumble - http://www.uncletobys.com.au/oats-recipe/crunchy-oat-crumble-with-poached-pears/

Blueberry Bran Muffins - http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Low_fat-Blueberry-Bran-Muffins-Allrecipes

Apple-Raisin Wheat Bran Muffins - http://www.foodnetwork.co.uk/recipes/super-low-fat-lower-carb-vegan-apple-raisin-wheat-bran-muffins-ru293033.html

Yep, I will be baking. The oven is so foreign to me, so wish me luck!! Other than that, I plan on making some Pumpkin Ginger soup :).