Monday, January 2, 2012

Ushering Out 2011 With A Meet Up & Welcoming In 2012 With New Year Food

Sorry that I've been so inactive with blogging these past few weeks. Working and dealing with the hustle and bustle of the holiday season left me feeling quite exhausted this year.  I do have quite a few catch up posts planned and hopefully can get it all organized and done soon.

The end of 2011 was a good one because I got to meet up with 2 bloggers at the same time. Liz aka Jamilla Camel of Makeup for Professional Asian Women and Tracie aka Wuzzy of Wuzzy Angel are the two bloggers that I got to meet. Coincidently, Tracie lives in Hawaii and quite nearby to me and we haven't ever met before this. We decided to meet at Ala Moana Shopping Center just outside of Nordstrom and then head over to Assagio Italian Restaurant for lunch.

Liz also brought along her husband who Liz described as a very tall English man. This conjured up all kinds of stereotypical images in my mind of English men. One stereotype is that they are loud and rowdy. The other being the perfect English gentleman. Her husband is indeed very tall and is a soft-spoken, genteel and perfect English gentleman. It was an honor for me to have been able to meet him too.

Liz, I have "met" via video webchat before and so it was great to actually see her in person. It is amazing how different people can look in person even though you've seen them through web chat. I have to say that Liz is even more beautiful in person, if that is even possible. She has the greatest personality too and is so easy to get along with. Unfortunately, she wasn't feeling very well so she couldn't enjoy eating a nice meal.

Traci is also a beautiful and easy going person. I've discovered that we have a few things in common besides our love for makeup. Traci, I think that we'll need to get together again and just fangirl over the Johnny idols.

We totally failed in remembering to take meet up pictures! We were having so much fun talking and eating that by the time I remembered that we needed to take pictures, the food was gone except for Traci's salad. This is the only picture that I took of Liz and Traci:


No blogger meet up is complete without goodies. From the lovely Liz, I received this bag:


And in the bag was wonderful goodies!


A packet of Victorian cutouts, a couple of eyeshadow palettes, a mask or two AND a Hello Kitty x Liberty Lipgloss Set! I already opened up and used the Victorian cutouts and that will be in an upcoming post. Thank you LIz!

From Traci, I received a wallet-sized zippered pouch which has a mirror inside and there was a bunch of sample packets that I can't wait to try. Also included was a nail polish and Bare Minerals powder.


It was actually all wrapped up in a package as well but I forgot to take a picture of it before I opened it up. Thank you Traci!

Thank you ladies! It was a wonderful way to end 2011.

As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, I've been quite exhausted and I actually fell asleep on New Year's Eve as soon as I got home from work. I got up a few times and posted a couple of tweets but went back to sleep until I finally got up at around 11:30 p.m. It was just in time to wish my family a Happy New Year at midnight. I then showered and went back to sleep. New Year's Day, I was still feeling tired and like I had a hangover so it was mainly spent just lying around and watching television.

I finally cooked my New Year's meal for dinner tonight. It isn't the new year until we eat soba and the traditional ozoni (mochi soup).

Soba:



Ozoni:


Teriyaki Furikake Salmon:


I couldn't find my sakura-shaped cutter so I had to use this other cutter for the carrots in the soup. I don't like cooked carrots so after I took the picture, the carrots went back into the pot.

To eveyone, Happy New Year and I hope that 2012 will be a good year for all.

*Kat*

16 comments:

Sheila said...

It looks like you had fun!! I hope you get lots of rest after this busy holiday season. Hope to chat with you more in 2012 =)

Also that food looks delish! My favourite food is Japanese, I can eat anything and everything Japanese =P

LOVE YOUUU <3

. said...

Happy New Year Kathy! :)

Glad you had a lovely time meeting up with Tracie and Liz! Ahahaha it's great to hear that Liz's husband is the gentlemanly type of English man, and not the football hooligan type, although i didn't really think he would be the latter! XD

Such lovely goodies that they gifted you with!

Your new year's meal looks delicious! We just ate kimchi nabe...nothing special!

Jamilla Camel said...

It was SO wonderful meeting up with you and Tracie! I'm really sorry I was so ill - Hubs was shocked that I was too sick to shop with you guys!!

I am so appreciative of the gifts that you and Tracie gave me - I'll be munching for months, lol!!

Vanity Fashionista said...

Aww sounds like you had a lovely day :) I've had to pleasure to meet Liz too, so lovely. And wonderful gifts! <3

Your meal looks yummy!!

galpal.hi said...

@Sheila--Happy New Year! Wish that you were here with Liz too. Have to plan a Blogger trip to Hawaii!

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

@Jian--Kimchee nabe sounds yummy! I haven't ever eaten that before although I do love kimchee.

LOL! Stereotypes are so dumb, aren't they? I know that there are all types of English men, just as there are Asian men, American men, etc. Men and women can fall into a certain category at any time depending on your mood.

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

@Jamilla--Next time we'll have to shop and make up for not being able to go this time. I'm just so glad that you were able to find out what was wrong AND be able to take care of it without getting dangerously more sick.

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

@Vicky--Thank you! Liz is definitely such a sweet person and generous too. As nervous as I am before I do a meet up, I'm always so glad that I do.

*Kat*

K said...

I am SOOO envious of your meet up! I've met Liz twice, and I've met both you and Wuzzy during my trip to Hawaii last year, and I had so much fun at each time!!!! So much laughing and chatting!! I can't wait to see you again!

caitlin said...

Sounds like you had a fun time! Your food looks so good... I think this is the first time I didn't eat my moms ozoni! Hopefully its still a good year for me :) hehehe!!

Anonymous said...

Happy new year Kathy! All the best for 2012!

I love ozoni! My m in law makes a mean one and I've been stuffing my face with mochi since the new year. Shame about catching the flu though haha

Your meet-up looked really fun- enjoy all the gifts!!

tiffyama said...

Happy New Year to you Kat! <3 I'm so happy to have met you during this past year on blogger. Hope to chat and tweet with you more during the upcoming year. It's in our hearts... ;]

Sounds like the meet up was a success! :D

And ahh~ traditional Japanese food. I haven't had ozoni in yearsss. Looks so yummy.

galpal.hi said...

@K--I can't wait to see you again. Sounds like this year might be feasible for you. So looking forward to it.

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

@caitlin--I hope that it's a good 2012 for you too. Sounds like you've been busy doing different things so 2012 will certainly be an interesting one. Good luck in your new endeavors.

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

@Nic Nic--Happy New Year! I love ozoni too but surprisingly my MIL doesn't make it. My mom did as I was growing up but she doesn't make it every new year either any more.

Thank you. The meet up was fun and would love to meet up with you again too.

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

@tiffyama--Happy New Year dear one! Let's make 2012 an awesome one for all of us.

*Kat*