Tag Archives: red

Reaching Out on Valentine’s Day

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For Valentine’s Day this year, Jessie, Maddie, and I, invited some friends over for flower arranging and some much needed spring-time festivities. It took a full two days to prepare for this get-together. The first day was spent traveling around 天津 looking for materials, buying flowers, and finalizing snack menu ideas. We then spent the actual morning of the party; cleaning a very cluttered house, assembling a cake (most of the hard work was done the night before), and arranging table settings. Of course my favorite part of the preparations, was to bake the Valentine’s cake…  second to that, I enjoyed setting out flowers (in preparation for the bouquets), as well as decorating the table with candy and anything rosie&pink.  

carnation

jennyabove

I loved watching the creativity flow throughout this flowery project. Watching the unique style of each individual was so enchanting- their personalities were expressed through such distinct and beautiful technique.

threecakeThe lesson I learned through this, was to host more than just one or two gatherings a year! Its not until I am in the midst of something like this, that I realize how much fun I am having. Spending time in fellowship with friends (outside of school and mandatory events) is more important than I often give credit.  Ask Jessie, Maddie, or Michael and you will know that I am terrible at hosting events and am often not willing to get out and socialize much. Seriously, I am such a home-body.

giraffe

pine

jennyside

onecake

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and let me just say that Jessie and Maddie are such pleasant people to collaborate with on these type of things…

I so didn’t deserve to be blessed with such precious sisters. Jessie inspires me to forget myself and dive into adventures with hard work and lots of prayer! She is honestly the hardest working person I have ever met… she will be a treasure to her future boss 😉 Maddie is completely un-phased by life’s troubles, she lets go and enjoys life… free to be herself. I wish I had her confidence and spirit! Hosting this party with these two was delightful.

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Irresistibly adorable group photo, I know.

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Cheers to friendships and creeping out of that ever clinging comfort zone.

Guilin Memories

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I am continuing my Memories Collection with one of my favorite places in China, Guilin. We went on a vacation to this scenic area in the South of China the first year our family lived in in the Middle Kingdom.

During our travels down the Li River, we stopped at small villages along the way. The locals in this semi-tropical area still lived in structures; some of which were hundreds of years old.

China’s token color is red, which we got a lot of throughout our trip to Guilin.

Another great part of the trip was the produce and food. Fresh berries and other fruit are produced in the area.

The historic legacy stretches into both culture and arts… below is a Chinese opera costume.

Lastly, known throughout China, the scenery in Guilin is, in itself, a compelling reason to visit this place. The sights are breathtaking and being able to traverse these karst mountains was a blast!

This post is part of my Memories Collection-revisiting places where Connecting Four really connected and explored the world together. See my Thailand Memories post here. See my Tianjin Memories here.