this bridezilla is organized

It's all about the wedding these days. and what system am I using to organize the wedding, you might be asking? I'm SO GLAD you asked!

About 2 months ago, I started looking at what the big wedding websites offered for free (i.e. martha stewart, the knot) and they were useful in terms of understanding the overall scope of coordinating a wedding. I did like how if you inputed your wedding date, you would see how far behind you are in making key decision like: selecting the photographer, selecting the demon child as ring bearer, etc. However, for actual task management, not so much.

I ended up looking at 3 task management applications instead.

I tried: asana.com, trello.com and do.com

asana.com
- One of the founders was one of the original developers for facebook and I quite liked the interface although the whole headers and subtasks interface felt more complex than it needed to be. All the task headings and tasks are on one long continuous page. It felt overwhelming.
- I was actually in the process of creating all my tasks on asana.com when Bill put me onto trello.com

trello.com
- I loved the interface right away. It was simple with a great drag and drop feel. So I abandoned asana.com and started inputting all the tasks. It was so much fun to do!
- I think the nomenclature needs a tweak (e.g. what looks like boards are actually lists and boards are actually projects) but overall, it's pretty powerful. I created 4 lists: Communication, Ceremony, Reception, Done. Each list is comprised of cards. The functionality of the cards are amazing! You can create multiple checklists. You can upload files. You can upload images that then show up in the activity feed for that card. AMAZING.
- I love creating checklists that I then get to CHECK OFF! Oh the satisfaction.
- Trello has an iphone app that I downloaded and the same slick interface was well implemented here.

do.com
- After playing with trello for a week, a co-worker recommended I try do.com since I had forced the developers to look at my wedding trello the week before as I gushed about it's usability.
- This one has promise but since 99% of the tasks are for Bill and I to complete, this app wasn't the exact fit for my needs
- BTW, you MUST WATCH THE PRODUCT VIDEO - a director who worships at the altar of Wes Anderson appears to have created this.


It's 2 months later and I still love trello. All the vendor information is there whenever I need to find it. I've even uploaded photos (via the iphone app) of table cloths and platters when I pick them up from Value Village.

The only thing trello can't help me with is my wedding dress indecision, unfortunately. And that story, dear friends, is for another day.

Annual Lunar New Year open house

A week ago today, Bill and I welcomed 50 friends and family into our abode in Gastown.

About 125 dumplings and 24 cups of congee were consumed. And a 1 year old was introduced to congee for the first time and loved it. It was a pretty good day.

Party photos are up on flickr

2011 in review

it was an eventful year. not that you would know by the dearth of posts on this blog.

so here's the shortlist

• passed the Project Management Professional exam
• started a new job
• travelled to San Francisco
• mourned the unexpected passing of Bill's dad
• accepted Bill's proposal to get hitched
• volunteered with the Vancouver Asian Film Festival as the web content administrator and programmer
• started an asian female filmmaker working group
• spent 5 restful days in Ucluelet
• filmed and edited 4 theatre performances

2011 has been a year of unbelievable sadness and satisfying achievement. i owe so much to my family and friends for supporting me each step of the way.

.....

in a year where i had two employers, i managed to create a year end montage for both companies. see below.

VIFF 2011

giddy up! the Vancouver International Film Festival is upon us and planning must commence!!

i just spent a lazy sunday afternoon going through VIFF's hefty catalog of their 2011 screenings.

this year's process for me looked like this:
STEP 1: read every single film description, mark those I want to watch. Also assign a numerical value to help me rank how much I want to view them. 1 = must watch, 2 = should watch, 3 = if time permits, watch
STEP 2: enter all films and their screening times into spreadsheet
STEP 3: fret, prioritize and cull

here's how it panned out for me this year
step 1/2 = 52 films
step 3 = 23 films

the list of the 23 films I'm hoping to watch:

1. Alps 
2. Andrew Bird: Fever Year 
3. Big Blue Lake 
4. Black Bread 
5. Buddha Mountain 
6. Elena 
7. Fatigue 
8. First Position 
9. Goodbye 
10. I Wish 
11. Las acacias 
12. Martha Marcy May Marlene 
13. My Little Princess 
14. Nana 
15. Nuit #1 
16. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia 
17. Planet Yoga 
18. Pure 
19. Somewhere Between 
20. The Loneliest Planet 
21. The Mirror Never Lies 
22. The Sword Identity 
23. The Turin Horse 

If you have time to watch 5 films, I highly recommend the following:

1. Elena which is by the same director who made the Russian drama, The Return. I consider The Return a perfect film.
2. Alps which is by the same director who made Dogtooth.
3. Goodbye which is by the same director who made The White Meadows
4. My Little Princess which stars Isabelle Huppert
5. The Loneliest Planet which is by the same director who made Day Night, Day Night and stars Gael García Bernal

I found the list of VIFF films this year really strong; I would even say, the strongest in the past 4 years. I told Bill that he won't be seeing much of me until Oct 15th.

If anyone wants recommendations, just ask me. And if you'd like to come along with me on these screenings, let me know!

PS - Everything Louder Than Everything Else had its Vancouver premier screening tonight as part of the OLIO Festival. The screening at the SFU Woodwards Theatre was just lovely with lots of family and friends coming out. What a fantastic day today was for me. Thank you, universe.

life has been pretty action packed lately

march - april: studying for the Project Management Certification exam

may: passing of the Project Management Certification exam. woohoo! + my mom's arrival for an 8 week visit + 2 spot prawn feasts

june: bill starting his new job in the ecommerce team of a large company known for its hardware and software + 24 hrs in Seattle to eat at the amazing Spinasse restaurant in celebration of said new job + watching a ton of films for VAFF

july: my last month with OpenRoad + more VAFF volunteering + 3 days in San Francisco (see flickr set)

with august comes exciting (and scary, if I'm honest) new adventures at my new job at Tyze which requires an actual commute! the excitement for the new is being tempered by the sadness of leaving a bunch of fantastic people at OpenRoad. i will never forget them, especially now that i have a google+ circle for them!

here are some of my favourite pictures from the past 5 months that didn't make it into flickr.


- st patrick's day celebration courtesy of @seafoam



- sarah letting me convince her to put on this hat and strike a cute pose



- june birthday celebration at OpenRoad



- @selmaz post laser operation



- spot prawn boil at Refuel




- spot prawn feast at Ken's Kitchen



- dimsum for Bill's going away lunch



- freshly made angel hair pasta w pork ragu at Spinasse. my lord it was good.



- bill at Save On Meats



- @CarolienD and @selmaz at The Diamond



- a fresh bite of delish from Bob Likes Thai



- bill at The Precidio in SFO

a jaunt to Seattle and Portland

Bill and I left work early last Thursday and spent an evening in Seattle then 2 nights in Portland. We had some delicious meals, had tasty drinks and bought a bag full of books.

HIGHLIGHT #1:

Thursday night dinner at Spinasse restaurant: Based on compelling urgings from friends Brian and Cheryl, we went to Spinasse and wow are we glad we listened to them. Our server was very knowledgeable about their list of wines and friendly without it being weird but the food, THE FOOD! OMG! OMG! OMG!

Between the 3 of us we ended up trying many dishes but the standouts for me were:
#1 poached egg 'under glass' with fonduta and local black truffles
#2 lamb ragu tagliatelle
#3 2008 Moscato d'Asti - "La Selvatica" Romano Dogliati

Once the poached egg was placed into my mouth, a flavour explosion happened that rendered me unable to say anything else but: OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!

I guarantee foodgasm if you try this dish which explains why I forgot to take a picture of it. I highly recommend Spinasse.


Spinasse: lamb ragu tagliatelle

HIGHLIGHT #2

Friday night dinner at Little Bird (their website seems to be down)

Little Bird is a french restaurant run by the same folks who also run Le Pigeon (website is also down) which Bill and I have eaten at the past 2 years and love.

We started with the escargot which was buttery and delicate and lip smacking good! For our entrees, Bill had Coq Au Vin and I had the lamb shank. It was really good but, I hate to say it, I've had better lamb shank. The lamb was almost fall off the bone but not quite although it had good flavour. The Coq Au Vin was perfection! Not too acidic at all. I still highly recommend Little Bird.

I also owe a lot to our server who gave us a great recommendation for a brunch place the next morning: Broder!


HIGHLIGHT #3

The server from Little Bird positioned Broder as Scandinavian via Wisconsin. Actually, I don't remember which state it was but the server really sold me on a smoked trout based breakfast.

I had the smoked trout hash with 2 eggs on top. They cooked the 2 eggs in a small square cast iron pan. How cute! Bill had fried eggs on apple fritters with a side of sausage. It was really delicious. And I loved how the cream that came with the coffee was actually hot.


Broder: fried eggs on apple fritters with a sign of sausage



HIGHLIGHT #4

Powell's book store is a big draw for us. We buy a lot of books. Ok, Bill buys a lot of books. The picture below makes me smile because it so aptly captures the spirit of Powell's.


Powell's


More good stuff

Poco Wine Bar in Seattle: we had pre-dinner drinks with a colleague and his wife who live in Tacoma. The bar's wine list had a strong focus on wines from the northwest along with a tapas menu. Our server was fantastic and the atmosphere was cosy.

Portland's food carts are legendary. Immediately upon checking into the Ace Hotel we made straight for the food carts which are only a block away from said hotel. I had curry chicken drumstick on egg noodles and lots of sauce. Bill had korean bbq tacos. Both were delicious but the korean bbq tacos were clearly the winner.

I love how the Seattle Ace Hotel offers complimentary waffles as part of the stay. Wish I had taken a picture. You make the waffles yourself within a common room/small eating area that also provide guests with tea, coffee, juice, toast and cereal. But it's the make your own waffles opportunity that you don't want to miss.

Teardrop Cocktail Lounge has some great bartenders. They make their own bitters and will make custom drinks for you. Unfortunately, the crowd that seems to come to this place seems to be a tad douchey and the music really sucks. But if you are lucky enough to snag a seat at their massive bar, you will be well taken care of.

Coava is a cafe in Portland that is housed in this massive warehouse and shares space with a custom bamboo manufacturer. It was a big space but there were, it felt like, almost a car length between the 5 gorgeous raw wood but solitary tables. The coffee was good, according to Bill.


Coava - coffee

The cabinets that wormhole aliens built

for those of you who, like me, weren't into DS9, see Star Trek reference here