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Florida Part 1
Thursday, July 25, 2013 • 10:41 AM • 0 comments As promised, here's what's happening in Florida so far: Day 1: The Arrival
Our flight for Chicago was at 6 A.M. We had to get up at 3 A.M in order to get ready, leave at 4 A.M and arrive at the airport within thirty minutes. I honestly got about thirty minutes of sleep before leaving
 . We had to get there early since my dad needed to go back, drop off the car, and get a taxi to the airport. We arrived around 5 A.M. My cousin and bro had no sleep either, so we were all just dead tired bumming around the airport. After my father had come back, we had to go through an hour of security checks. Then we boarded the plane for two hours to Chicago. I tried my best to catch some sleep, but that flight wasn't enough time. I actually caught a cold the day before so the insufficient amount of sleep was no good for me. Once we got to Chicago I got some food and waited for our flight to Orlando. I kinda got a stomach ache on top of my cold, so it was a pain waiting for our flight  . My stomach ache got better but the cold was still there. The connecting plane there was much bigger and my cousin were lucky enough to switch our seats with someone and sit beside each other. The flight was three hours... then we landed in Sunshine State  !We waited for my uncle to pick us up and go to his house. My cousin was just about to go out to get her nails done, so I went with her and got my first mani pedi. It was pretty cool, but the people there were trying to constantly add on prices. I don't think I'll be doing mani/pedis for a long time since it seems to damage skin over time. Hopefully the shellac will make my nails last for a while. After that we went back to my cousins house, and we got to meet a bunch of other family members and I got to see Kristy again  !
My cousin had a Nial sticker on him the whole time... oh 1D fans
I got the seat with the window view for the first flight, woot!
 
French Mani-Pedi, yaay~
Day 2: Wedding Round 1 The next day was the Lao wedding. This wedding is the traditional wedding, where everyone dresses up in traditional clothing called "sin" and give the couple their blessing. They begin off with a ceremony; they have the groom walk into the building with a trail of people behind him and an umbrella over his head to denoting the respect he receives from the community. When he enters there are two people who hold a gold belt and deny his entrance. Not until he drinks enough and gives enough money, will he be able to enter. I was one of the belt holders, and man was it hectic  ! Everyone was crowding the place, so I wasn't even able to give him sass and hustle for money. Instead I got my foot stepped on and granted him access after a few pushing and shoving  . After he enters, there's another belt holder he must get through. Once he gets through them, he may meet his bride. This represents the "testing of his love". Afterwards we did this whole string tying and blessing ceremony, then it was food and dancing time. The whole place was really pretty and the dancing was fun. Our family is now twice as big, since we now have my cousin's bride's family joining ours  . I got to know some of them (since one of them had a liking for my cousin Khameron). We ended off the night cleaning up and getting ready for the next day.  
Food, food, food!
  
The whole place looked so antique.
Everyone looks so nice in their sin
Cousins~
Candle Jars, so cute!
Day 3: Wedding Round 2 So this day was your typical wedding. We got ready and went to the church in the morning. The ceremony was pretty quick, but the church was lovely and the bride was glowing. In fact the whole bridal party looked wonderful  . Once the ceremony was done, we headed over to the ballroom for dinner. It was downtown and half an hour away. Let me tell you, the ballroom was luxurious  . It had live piano music, waiters and waitresses, appetizers, the whole set. We entered the ballroom at six and sat in our according tables. After the bridal party were introduced by the awesome DJ, and the couple had there dance, we were served dinner. As expected, I found the table to be set with two forks, and two knives. Thanks to Dennis, I learnt how table manners the day before. For our first dish, which was salad, I used the outside silverware. And for the main course, I used the fork and knife closer to the dishes. The food was okay; some mashed potatoes, turkey, and beef. For desserts there was a chocolate fountain, which I really enjoyed  . I read that you should set your silverware pointed to the 11 o'clock position when you finish. I tried it out, and it really worked! A waiter came up to take my plates right away. We spent the rest of the evening dancing. When the event ended, we headed off to my cousins house for an after party, and my cousins and I decided to go over to the wedded cousin's house and take care of it (since he was staying over at a hotel with the rest of the bridal party). We walked and fed their dog and cats. The cats were really shy, except one Siamese cat that was really kind. It made me think about my cat at home, I miss Jupiter  ! While Kristy and I were playing with the cat, we saw two other cats pass but and Kristy realized there should only be two cats in the house. We freaked out about it and thought there was some stray cat that just walked in. We figured out it was our cousin's bride's old cat. 
The Church was so pretty. Too bad I didn't take picture of the interior.
 
The cousins and I, aren't they adorbs?
Half an hour drive to downtown, where the ballroom is at!
 
Look how fancy shmancy the lounge is !
Ballroom time!
The dining table was set the way I expected it to be set!
Lovely bride and groom ~
Main course: Mash Potatoes, turkey, and some veggies.
Mmm, fondue !
We danced the night away
Day 4: Chill day My cousin drove Kristy and I back to the house I'm staying at and we chilled there for the rest of the day. My dad's friend form France came over and gave us a bunch of macarons  ! He told me if I want to make perfect macarons I should follow the recipe from Pierre Hermé. His books are pretty pricey, but I'll check him out some time!
So many flavours and I'm in love with every one of them.
Day 5: Beach day What's a trip to Florida without visiting the beach? We headed over to Daytona beach in the afternoon and arrived around 2. It was nice and sunny at first, but after walking around the pier and swimming for about 20 minutes, it began to storm . We had to evacuate the area quickly because sand was being blown everywhere and it hurt. We took shelter in our cars for about half an hour and decided to just head over to the closest mall instead. I normally don't really like Hollister or AF (only their jeans), but I found a nice knit cardigan and bought that. An hour later, some of us decided to go back to the beach and give it another try. It was still drizzling, but we still swam around. The water was really cold and salty but I enjoyed it. After swimming we went to this restaurant on the pier called "Joe's Crab Shack". We checked out the roof of the pier while waiting for our crab nachos. Sadly, I didn't bring my phone and my parents didn't leave me with the camera so I wasn't able to take pictures of our food or the view of the place. Eating nachos on the pier with an incredible view of the ocean... I really wished I took pictures  . When we finished, we sat in the car with our sandy butts and soaking swimsuits for an hour ride back.
Long blue shore line
Look at the storm approaching, eek! There's the crab shack there too.
Day 6: Shopping and Shooting Range We sent off the people from France and went shopping at this mall called Millennia, which has mainly high-end stores like Burberry and LV, so I didn't really get much except this fringe top and high waisted shorts from F21. We shopped for a bit and when I came back my uncle took us to a shooting range. They had live guns but I was kinda scared to shoot one, so I went to a virtual range and shot there. The virtual range has loaded CO2 so you get to feel a simulation of the recoil. It was pretty cool  .  
Look at us, bang bang !
Day 7: Bowling and Game Night My cousin, Emz, and her parents arrived in the morning. Their flight was delayed due to the storms in Ottawa, so they had to stay the night in New Ark. I felt pretty bad for them because it seemed like they also had a pretty bad flight  . My aunt took us out bowling. I've been to mini bowling before, but I don't remember going REAL bowling for a long time. The balls are much heavier and I don't think I threw it properly because I'm losing the feeling in my right hand  . When we came back we had pizza and a game night. We played Xbox kinect games like Just Dance and Sports, people also played foosball, cards, Jenga, and practiced golfing. At the end we played a game of catch phrase. It was boys vs girls, and whoever lost had to do 50 jumping jacks. Of course the boys lost  .
Take a close look at that score. Hmm... I wonder who Sassy is.
Listen: CHVRCHES - Gun xo Brenda |
Hello Lovely;
 Music ♪;
Message;
 Calendar;
♥ >> France!
date : 03/05/15
at: Evening
♥ >> Grenoble
date : 09/05/15
at: Morning
♥ >> Alps Retreat
date: 26/05/15
at: Morning
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