Family Festivities week 3 — Thrilled that Chinese New Year is finally here!

The workload was very heavy for the last two days — had to work overtime. Need I say more? My mind is currently filled with work engraved in my mind.

Lego Money Tree

My co-worker and I bonded over our HTML Tumblr days, personality types (I am an INFJ!), and ways to break into the tech industry. I felt a sense of belonging for the first time. You can read more about my personality type here.

Build my first lego set of the year — the Chinese new year money tree. Overall, I enjoyed building the tree. The tree was so cute and it was a perfect addition to my bedroom decor in time for new years! You can read more about my experience here.

Jan 20th: For the new year, we typically clean to wipe away all the bad stuff and start fresh for the new year. Hence, I finished preparing for Lunar New Year by cleaning my room.

In the morning, my family and I went to pick up some pork belly from the Asian grocery store but because it is Chinese new eve there was already a massive sea of people waiting for it. Unfortunately, there was an issue with one of the butcher's ovens, hence, we had to wait for over an hour; it was kind of a frustrating experience but it was not the butcher's and their staff's fault so I can only sympathize with them — hopefully, they had a good day today.

My sister and I went to the mall (Scarbrough Town Center) to attend the Lunar New Year special event. This event takes place from January 21st - February 5th, showcasing various lunar new year performances such as the dragon dance.

The Australia Postcard
My family and I invited a few people over for dinner. My mom prepared a whole feast! Typically during the Lunar New Year, some of the traditional food we have are dumplings, sweet sticky ice balls, sweet rice cakes, noodles, fried pork, etc.

Built my second lego set of the year — The Australia Postcard! So far I am enjoying Lego's postcard series and I am thrilled to try other collections they have to offer. You can read more about my experience here.

Uncle's Dog named Rice Rice
Woke up early to pay my uncle and grandma a visit to wish them both a happy new year. Got to play with my uncle's cute fluffy dogs!

Each year, my family and I visit the Cham Sang temple to say our blessings and prayers. The Cham Shan temple is a beautiful Buddhist temple located at 7254 Bayview Avenue Markham, ON. This year when we went it was packed with people. When we entered the temple, we paid our respect (our blessings and wishes) to each of the gods and goddesses by holding incense. My wish each year is pretty much the same wishing everyone a happy and healthy new year.

Ate brunch with my family — my mom made a lot of different types of nian gao, lotus-filled sesame balls, and tea.

Aunts and uncles came over to wish us a happy lunar new year; I received a lot of red pockets! For the first time in two years, I finally got to meet my niece who is now 2 years old! My family and I made her feel welcome by offering my shy niece a couple of chocolate, candies, and for her to play with a chocolate fudge train set; she is such a cutie and a smart cookie since she was able to put the detachable fudge train set back together all on her own! So proud of her!

Here are a couple of photos from my weekend:

Lunar New Year's Eve Feast

Lunar New Year Desert

Lunar New Year Red Pockets

Cham Shan Temple

I hope everyone had a great weekend and wish everyone a happy lunar new year! 🐇

elleventures