New Address

we've moved!  well, not physically.  at least not yet.  but, we've moved sites.  with a heavy heart, we moved to wordpress.  main reason for the move was so that malcolm can access it over in shanghai without having to worry about the great firewall.  unfortunately, it's really hard to use and i haven't had time to really figure it out.  so maybe malcolm will figure it out while i study.  plus, it'll be a great format to catalog my move to china and everything that happens there.

SO.  without much further ado, please click here:  www.haeliandmalcolm.com

we'll see you on the other side!! =)

thoughts.

"and then my soul saw you and it kind of went, 'oh, there you are.  i've been looking for you.'"

-unknown.

hello. it's me. lamb.

A day in the life of lamb

our little Lamb is quite expressive.  her eyes are open now and she's exploring her new world.  at the tender age of 11 days old, Lamb likes to let us know exactly what she's thinking.


I love my new bed.

Chilling in dad's hand.

Aggggh!!!  i can't believe US lost to Ghana!!!

High five!

ooOOOooo!  TOES!!!

Mmmm...fingers!  nom nom nom

Sprouting

Lamb is growing so fast, she's practically sprouting!

An Apple a Day

Our little Lamb is growing so fast!


This was Lamb yesterday:

Today, she is conquering the apple!  

{via Malcolm's blurry iPhone}

If I was raised in Korea, this would be me. =D

 {via ffffound}

it's a girl!

we have news.  


Malcolm and I have a new kitten!!!  Her name is Lamb on Rice (long story) and she is now 7 days old.  She is a little orange and white tabby and is Chinese.  We call her Lamb or Little.  I told Bob about Lamb and he is absolutely over the moon about having a new little sister.  Maybe we should just call her Mei Mei.  


Malcolm and his cousin Connie found Lamb in front of one of the bakeries.  Connie picked up the little girl and showed her to Malcolm.  Sadly, they couldn't locate Lamb's biological mom or her siblings, but we are so happy that Lamb managed to find her way over to Malcolm!  Malcolm and Connie promptly took Lamb to the vet (yes, there are vets in China), who said that she was healthy, no fleas but really hungry.  Malcolm and Connie have been working around the clock to feed the little girl every 2 hours.  Her eyes aren't open yet but she is super active and meows a lot.  As the days go by, her meows seem to be getting louder.


So, without further delay, here is Lamb!

Isn't she absolutely darling?  This is what Bob jumping up and down looking thrilled when I told him about his new little sister:

He is so excited!  I hope they get along.  They would be so cute together. =)

With love, from China

There are many things I look forward to in my anticipated move to China.  A few of those things include:


1.  Living with my husband
2.  Living with my husband
3.  Living with my husband


Also, the new adventure of living in a totally new country, being only 2 hours away from my relatives in Korea, and learning a new language.  


But best of all, I get to experience this:


1.  Excessive public spitting

2.  Diaper-less babies

Aren't you excited for me?!?!

... and all i got was this lousy -

Post-wedding dim sum for Jeanne and Russ: the food leftover AFTER we ate!  (and Chris Carter's elbows).  The food was delicious, perfect, and obviously, plentiful!

Since the last post, I finished law school, started both BarBri and Chapman supplemental bar prep courses, graduated, saw my husband for 3 days, got my brother married, AND attended the slew of festivities for Jeanne and Russ' wedding.  Whew!  It's been a crazy few weeks!


With everything that's been going on, I was so super excited for this three-day Memorial Day weekend.  Honestly, with bar prep starting, I've never felt dumber.  I mean, am I supposed to remember that when you're walking by an apartment building and something falls on your head, you can only sue the landlord if the unit from which the thing fell out is not occupied by a tenant?  And the burden is on you, the injured person, to figure out which unit the thing fell out of to see if the unit was tenant occupied??  Really?!  What if you're walking by a 100-unit apartment?  Multiply this type of question by 300 and you only have one part of the bar exam!!  *sigh*


Stay tuned for future postings, as I have not had a chance to download pictures or get pictures from other people.  Seriously, with the 5 or so events I've had in the past 10 days, all I've got to show for them are these 2 lousy pictures!  I definitely need to be better about taking pics of important events.  Until then, congrats to the marrieds!!

Jeanne and Russ' first dance!

Sending Off My Bro: Wedding Preparations

My brother is getting married in 5 days.  I volunteered to help my bro and C with wedding preparations and coordinate their wedding, not just because it's my only brother (*sniff sniff*) but because I myself had just gone through my own wedding, and I really wanted to do something great for them.  In addition, I offered to do their flowers (did I mention I've never made a bouquet before in my life??) and make their ring pillow ( I made my own for my wedding).  Despite all my very nice insistence that I help, I've realized that (a) I'm really no fun to work with because I yell and tantrum and be hypercritical all the time, (b) I forget that this is my bro and C's wedding, not an event where I'm showing off what an awesome planner I am (that is being said very tongue-in-cheek), (c)  my inner Nazi, who is super bossy, HATES people whose opinions differ from mine, and (d) I really need a nap.  Did I mention that I finished school 3 days ago and I'm graduating on Friday??  (Yes, it really is all about me).

All kidding aside (and most of that above was not kidding), I do really want the best wedding for my brother and C, and any bouts of anger and crazy demands are really out of that desire for them to have the best.  Every morning, I pray for forgiveness, patience and a smaller ego.  I really do.  *sigh*

Yesterday, I dragged my cousin S to the flower market in downtown LA to buy flowers to do a test run of the bridal bouquet, bridesmaid's bouquet, centerpiece and boutonnieres.  I didn't want to spend a ton of money on a test run, so I got about $50 worth of various flowers and spend about 3 hours doing it all.  I'm so glad I did a test run because now I have such a better sense of what I need to do, how much flowers to buy, and how long it will take.

Keeping in mind that their colors are orange and grey, here are some pictures of my test run:

So the bridal bouquet is made up of orange/yellow roses, red/yellow tulips and some baby's breath to brighten it up.  The actual bouquet will be composed of pink roses, pink ranunculas, calla lilies and maybe some orchids.  The bridesmaid's bouquet is made of baby's breath only, although today C added some freesia into the mix and it was absolutely gorgeous!  So the final product will include some freesia as well.  The boutonniere was so much easier to make than I thought!  I watched a lot of YouTube videos on how to make a boutonniere, and it definitely helped!  The boutonnieres for the wedding will be calla lilies for the women, and orchids for the men.

I also dragged S to Diamond Fabrics in mid-city in LA, and found a gorgeous fabric to make the ring pillow.  Since I don't have a sewing machine, I'm making it by hand.  I'm also trying to make it really clean, so I've had to use a ruler to measure everything out.  This is probably why I can never go to fashion school.  I'm just not that precise in these things!

The finished product!  I used my wedding band to show sizing.

Tomorrow, I will be playing around with some more centerpiece ideas.  Oh, did I mention I started bar prep??  I can't wait to memorize everything in these books!

C's Bridal Shower

Last Saturday afternoon, we threw a bridal shower for my future sister-in-law C!  With the cooperation of her bridesmaid Karianne, we planned a tea party with a few games and presents.  I was kind of worried because I didn't really know anyone, few guests cancelled last minute, and we had different groups of friends coming.  Luckily, everyone got along famously and it ended up being so much fun!  I hope everyone had fun and can't wait to see everyone at the wedding!

The blushing bride, C:

Bridesmaid Karianne, and friends Ngozi and Adrienne:

The spread, including cauliflower-carmelized onion tart, salad, grape salsa on crostini, cucumber and smoked salmon tea sandwiches, apple tart and strawberries with fresh whipped cream.  Also, various teas and drinks.  Thanks to my cousin S who helped me chop, chop, chop!

Cutest idea I got from a wedding blog.  Aren't the mugs cute?  (They may mysteriously reappear at the wedding!)

Playing "how old is C in this picture?" (thanks Christina for the idea!)  My favorite comment while playing this game was, "hey, C's not even in this picture!"  hehe...pretty funny...

Playing the celebrity spouse game: We had to match up celebrities with their spouses.  It was harder than I thought it would be!  Great job, Karianne!

C got lots of pretty (and pretty scandalous) gifts!  Thanks, everyone!

I was so happy that everyone came and C had a great time.  =)  Even the little nazi in me was happy.  After almost everyone left, I realized that I forgot to give them their favors!  Sorry!!  Not sure what actually happened to the favors as I passed out and by the time I woke up, the kitchen was sparkling clean and everyone was gone!  Either I have really nice mice a la Cinderella, or C and her friends left me a clean kitchen!  Anyways, glad C had fun and it's over!  See you all at the wedding!

Last Finals EVER!!!

hi everyone.  i've been MIA for awhile but guess what?  i'm almost done with law school!!  Woo!!!  this essentially means that i've got loads and loads of work to do, but absolutely no motivation to do it!  ugh.  i have a paper due today, one final each tomorrow and wednesday, then 2 more papers.  and i'll be done forever!!!!*

on a side note, one of my papers that is due next week is actually a re-write from last semester.  why, you ask?  because my professor thought that with a re-write, i can submit it for publishing.  i thought that was a HUGE compliment, right?  but then he gave me a stupid B on the paper!!!  what is that?!  anyways...

because there are so many more fun things to do than studying, i threw a bridal shower for my soon-to-be sister-in-law C this past saturday.  it was so much fun!!  the nazi in me does love throwing parties!  ;)  i'll post the pictures from that soon.  not to mention, i have a i'm-in-denial-about-my-age day coming up, plus mother's day (must ship gift to china!  and order flowers for my mom in seattle!) and my brother's wedding to coordinate.  plus, my husband's coming back!  for a couple days, but still.  SO SO excited!

speaking of the hubs, i just got a package today.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!  HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO STUDY NOW?!?!?!  I have to go shopping for a new case!!!  I want to set it up NOW!!!  I'M SO EXCITED!!!  EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

okay, i need to go to school now.  concentration levels are home suck.  =)  thank you, baby meow!  this is AWESOME!!

* by forever, i meant law school.  doesn't refer to bar prep that starts before graduation and will continue until late july.  ugh.  but still, happy to be finally done with law school!

Jeanne's FAB Bachelorette!

This past weekend, I was invited to Jeanne's bachelorette party in Las Vegas.  I've got to say, it was amazingly fun!  Hosted by Jeanne's gorgeous bridesmaids Audrey, Anita, and Christina, everything was planned to a T.  I personally got in really late on Friday night/Saturday morning, to be followed shortly by the arrival of Jeanne's cousins, Kathy and Jennifer.

We spent Friday night hanging out with some slot machines.  Because I know nothing about gambling, I limited myself to $25, which I promptly lost to the Goldfish machine.  =(  Malcolm later asked me how much money I spent on gambling, and when I told him $25, he said, "Really?  Just $25?  And Anita was there??"  Hehehe...Yes, Anita was there but I did lose just $25.  Unlike Anita (who also played slots at the airport before getting on her flight!), I do not have a love affair with slots.

We spent Saturday morning hanging out at Tao Beach.  We had yummy sushi and had lots of fun watching the bachelorette accomplish her list of tasks for the weekend.  There's so much that happened that weekend, but there's also the binding agreement (punishable by death) between the girls that we would not talk about the weekend, so check out the pictures below!

Didn't it look like fun?! =)

There and Back in 4 days

Just in time for our 1 month anniversary (already!), I hopped on a plane on Thursday to go visit the Hubs in Shanghai.  Leaving on a Thursday, spending 14 hours on a plane, and arriving on Friday at 6 pm is a little bit disconcerting.  But the great thing about leaving on a random Thursday is that the plane was fairly empty!  I had 3 seats to myself!

This time I flew on United.  The thing I like about United is that (1) flight attendants speak English, (2) seats are wider than China Eastern (to make seating accessible to the obese Americans), and (3) the flight attendants speak English.  The things I dislike extremely about United is that (1) the average age of flight attendants is 65, (2) flight attendants who are 65 are extremely rude, (3) food sucks, and (4) 65-year-old flight attendants are really racist.  For example, while I was boarding, the family in front of me were Chinese with the last name Rong.  So the 65-year-old flight attendant looks at their tickets and says, "2 Rongs make a right! HAHAHA!!  Get it??"  I kid you not.  SO freaking RACIST.  I really wanted to say something.  But considering I would be on a flight for 14 hours at racist stewardess' mercy, I decided to hold my tongue.  But it was hard.  Very hard.

Another thing I don't like about flying to China, which might be totally racist so I apologize in advance and like to state for the record that I love my Chinese husband very much, is that Chinese natives are extremely in a rush.  To clarify, my racist statements only applies to people who are born, raised, and currently residing in China.  In China, no one stands in line, everyone angles for an advantage, and there's a whole lot of pushing going on.  I get it.  But, must they do that on a plane??  The plane doesn't go any faster by pushing.  It drives me nuts!!  There's never quiet sitting or patiently waiting in line.  It's always push push push SHOVE!  Arg!!  For instance, while I was in the aisle waiting to get to my seat, the lady behind me was pushing her LV luggage into my knees.  I turned around to glare at her, but she kept shoving!  Nevermind that there were 50 people in front of me, who were all not moving!  She just kept shoving and shoving!  Keep your pants on, woman!  Grrrr....anyways.....

It was great to see the Hubs after a month-long separation.  Because we only had 2.5 days, we didn't get to  do many things, but just spending time together was really nice.

One of my favorite things about Shanghai is that they have sorted trash bins, which are also clearly labeled.  How great is it that you have regular trash, recyclables, and dog poop?  Totally efficient!

Because Malcolm is now General Manager of the bakeries, we did a lot of market research.  Just to clarify, market research = eating lots of pastries at many different bakeries.  We found this adorable French cafe nearby his mom's house that is run by French people and totally packed with French tourists.  Laurent, the server who helped us, spoke Mandarin, French and English!  Funnily enough, Laurent grew up in France, and went to high school in Rancho Cucamonga.  He said after traveling all over the world after college, his last stop was a 1 week trip in Shanghai, and he never left!  The boulangerie, aptly named Boulangerie, had delicious pastries and the best cafe au lait I've had in a really long time.  Bon appetite!

Malcolm ordered the vanilla eclair, made from vanilla beans imported from Madagascar.  Mmmm!  I had the Napoleon.  Both very delicious!

Because sharing is caring:

And then we went to Ikea!  Nothing but the best for me!  =)  Actually, I've been wanting to go to Ikea in Shanghai for awhile because of an article I read about Ikea Beijing.  Apparently, mall shopping is still relatively new for the Chinese, and furniture stores are a whole other worldly experience.  The article mentioned that many Chinese take trips to Ikea for the purpose of relaxing...kind of like a resort experience.  So to see if that article was accurate, we went to check it out.

There were sooooo many people inside!  It felt like that herding of masses when there's a fire drill and everyone is being herded out of the building.  I felt like a cow.  Just massive wall of bodies.

That article was dead on.  People lounged on the couches like it was their living room.  As you can see, people were reading books on the couches for hours.

Malcolm and I trying to fit in with the locals.

A mother feeding her child in the dining room section of Ikea.  And she was definitely not the only mother to be doing this.  There was a family who were eating meals on the tables.

It was a short trip but a good one.  Happy I went.  I miss my husband.