Sunday Funday: January 04/15

Hi there! It's still so strange to me that it's already January, that it's already 2015. I think 2015 itself was a bit easier to swallow than realising that it was January for some strange reason. But like every year, every month, it'll wear off eventually.

Today is my last day and I'm sure lots of other people's last day of the winter break. It makes me really sad that it's over because I was sick for the vast majority of it and sicker than I've ever been (still sniffling here and there, actually) and I only got to truly enjoy a few days. I will do my damn best to make sure that my last Sunday will not be wasted, though. That would suck.

Today is also my parents' 18th anniversary, so we'll be heading out to celebrate that in a few hours (as you're reading this). Maybe I'll add a few photos in here after we've gone for the visuals to accompany what I'm sure will be an absolutely delicious Indian lunch buffet meal.

One thing that I'm really grateful for is how relaxed this week was. I don't quite remember what happened last Sunday or Monday - I think that baking banana bread from a makeshift recipe and forgotten eggs were mixed in there somewhere - but on Tuesday the 30th, the day right before New Year's Eve, we brought home little Nova, our golden retriever puppy.

I've talked about her before and I think I said that I was excited, but I'd never been an animal person or a baby person before, plus, I'd never met her before either when the rest of my family went to pick her up since I was at Spanish, so I wasn't that excited.

All that changed when the little girl handed me our puppy and set her in my arms. I immediately cooed and fell in love with her instantly. I've been asked whether I believe in love at first sight and I've always said that I didn't (I do, however, believe in lust at first sight), but I can safely say that when it comes to animals and children that are to be a part of your family, yes, yes, I do believe.

Attempting to potty train her has been an interesting process, but it's all a learning experience for my brother and I since my mom has had so many dogs and cats back when she lived in Vietnam. Feel free to ogle at my precious little baby below. :)

We rang in the New Year as usual by watching Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve (there are just a few too many apostrophes there, I'd say) except this time, the whole family actually joined me. It's usually just me upstairs with my mom somewhere on the bed, dozing off and waking up just in time to countdown the New Year, so I was glad for the company this time around.

It was fun singing along to the year's biggest hits and texting, Skyping, and Snapchatting my friends who were also anticipating 2015. Speaking of biggest hits, have you guys heard DJ Earworm's mashup of the year's hits? I think it's awesome and everyone's saying that 2009's so much better, but personally, I don't particularly agree, aha.

And speaking of Snapchat, I just got it on the 23rd, I think, and I've been hooked. I'm keeping my friend list rather personal and short (aka not overwhelming), but my score is getting alarmingly high considering that it's only been like 10 days or something. But whatever, it's fun. :P

Once 2015 came around (finally), I passed out in bed and woke up the next morning ready to tackle the blank canvas I'd been presented. I started getting into working out again which was a bit odd since I was still a bit sick and the nose situation on the treadmill wasn't the best. Well, the whole breathing situation wasn't that nice, but what can you do, really?

I didn't have the most productive start to 2015 and not to sound like a broken record, but I let myself off the hook since I've been sick. I've also allowed myself three days to mess up and to get my crap together, so I definitely took advantage of that.

The 2nd day was a heck of a lot better. I got some really important things done and hung out with W. We just walked outside for a solid hour (broken up into two), I think (it was really cold but hey, we're teenagers), went to Starbucks to escape the cold, randomly dropped by Sobeys. It was nice to catch up with him, for sure.

As I'm writing this on Saturday afternoon, I can easily say that it's been such a good one. While I ended up sleeping at around 1 am the night before because I just couldn't sleep which was so annoying, which made me wake up an hour later than I'd intended to, I managed to get a really good workout in there before breakfast. If anyone out there is looking for a simple and moderately challenging workout (I was kind of dying as I was completing my 100 tricep dips), definitely check out Blogilates's 1000 workout where you do 100 reps of 10 different moves.

I then finished up all my homework that I had to do over the break before lunch. To be honest, it was really even homework, but I did want to get ahead before the three weeks of intense studying for exams started.

After that I headed to IKEA with my dad to pick up some stuff. Since we ended up spending a bit longer than we had intended to, we just ate lunch there as well. He also let me drop by Chapters to pick up a copy of Paper Towns by John Green. While I didn't really like The Fault in Our Stars that much (I did really enjoy the movie, though), I discovered the vlogbrothers on YouTube on Friday which is the channel run by John and Hank Green and I was hooked. Their videos are not only fun and humourous but really informative about current events.

Anyway, I stumbled upon some of his more star-studded videos and a particular Q&A with Cara Delevingne who snagged the lead of Margo in the movie adaptation of Paper Towns and I knew that I just had to read the book. Well, I also listened to him read the prologue and was immediately incredibly curious.

I've still got a few things left on my to-do list for the day, for the week, but it's pretty darn great so far. Aha, it sounds like there are just that many hours left in  my day. I assure you, there are like five before I'm forcing myself to doze off. Until next time, friends.

Not to sound obnoxious, but isn't Nova adorable? How did you ring in the New Year? Have you read Paper Towns? Leave your comments and share your thoughts below!

Thank you so much for reading!

- J

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