to the queen of birthdays ...

There's no one in the world quite like my Mom.

Isn't she lovely?

And on this, her birthday (it's the 25th of February in Hong Kong), I want her to know how much I absolutely, positively, completely, unequivocally love and adore her.

Have the happiest of birthdays, Mom. I wish I could be there to give you 58 hugs, kisses and smiles. Muah!

eat your heart out

Happy Valentine's Day!

XOXO, the Stewarts

By the way ...

We so used to serve heart-shaped pizzas at Brick Oven on Valentine's Day.

I so used to say "eat your heart out" every time I served one to a table.

And I so thought it was amusing — every darn time.

that's so random

This tag has been going around Facebook the last few days, but I decided to steal it for the blog. (Shhhhh. Don't tell Facebook.)

Here are 25 random things about yours truly.

1. I'm fairly certain I look strange in 99 percent of close-toed shoes.

2. Adam makes me laugh at least five times a day.

3. I love holiday-shaped Reese's Peanut Butter Cups way better than regular ones.

4. I have the raddest friends.

5. I got into journalism because I wanted to do the New York City internship program in the Communications department at BYU. When I applied for the major I remember thinking, "Sure, I could write." I fell in love with journalism shortly thereafter.

Thanks, New York City.

6. I can be a bit of a workaholic.

7. I'm really talented at napping.

8. Adam and I have a lot of weird coincidental connections. We were in the same ward a year before we met — and didn't know each other. He and his dad used to home teach my boss' family in Idaho Falls. And, strangest of all, one of my closest friends, Kel-Bel, married one of his closest friends, Salter — three years before we met. And we both attended their wedding in California! Craziness.

9. I'm slightly obsessed with combing my hair throughout the day. Marcia Brady and I would have gotten along swimmingly at sleepovers.

10. I loved me some "Troop Beverly Hills" growing up. ("Patches? We don't need no stinkin' patches.")

11. I might be the only girl in the world who doesn't like the "Twilight" books. But if you do heart "Twilight," I don't judge.

12. I like the idea of cooking way more than actual cooking.

13. I can be a little bit of a "gamer." I'm crazy awesome at SEGA Genesis (which I still own, btw), I'm pretty darn good at Mario Kart on the Wii, and I beat the first Halo game while Adam looked proudly on. (Did I just type that out loud?)

14. When I lived in Hawaii, I wore sweatshirts in 80-degree weather.

15. I really liked the TV show "Reba." Yeah, I said it.

I don't care what you say — Van and Cheyenne were hah-larious.

16. I think YouTube might be one of the best inventions ever.

17. I don't like shopping at places like TJ Maxx and Nordstrom Rack because I can't handle the clutter. It stresses me out.

18. I want to smack Bikini Girl on "American Idol" upside the head. Ughh.

19. There was a time when I thought Breezy was my middle name, because surely (surely!) my parents wouldn't have NOT given me a middle name. I even signed my diorama project "By Briana Breezy Hallstrom" in second grade. Mrs. Ching had to break the news to me gently.

20. My sisters are knitting wizards.

Sister Erin knit this for nephew Ryan. I know, right?

21. I'd love, love, love to be a columnist for a magazine someday.

22. I often lost shoes as a child, because I'd get to school, immediately kick off my sandals and run barefoot all the day long. I so didn't have haole feet.

23. I averaged four hours of sleep in college. I'm positive I'm still recovering from it.

24. I can't wait for the new Kelly Clarkson album. (Sometimes I have tween tendencies.)

25. I've never met a cupcake I didn't like.

Yum.

fancy

In case you didn't know, I have a really fancy job with a really fancy Web site and a really fancy staff picture and bio.

You can check out the fancy link here.

Oh, and I'm having a competition with the guys at work to see whose bio page gets the most views. If I win, I can mercilessly taunt them with my popularity, so help a sister out and click on the link, will ya?

face the music

A few of you already saw this on my mother's blog, but for those of you don't regularly read her words of wisdom and wit (seriously ... what are you waiting for?), here's the link to Adam and I singing "Baby, It's Cold Outside" for the senior missionary couples on our New Year's Rockin' Eve.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

By the way, I'm not kidding. That New Year's night with the senior couples was totally rockin'.

the farewell tour

All right. This is a long one, folks. But I tried to keep it peppy, so as to avoid blogging you to boredom.

Let's hope it works! (And if it doesn't ... lie, people, lie!)

But without further ado, here's "the farewell tour" of our trip.

First up, The Peak, which is a hilltop view of the city.

Isn't this beautiful?
We dined with this (well, a version of this*) as the backdrop —
ooh and ahhing all the while.
*Confession: This fancy photo was NOT taken by yours truly.

But first, we had to ride a tram to the top,
which travels upward at 45 degrees.
Here are Mom, Dad and I waiting for the ride.

Next up was Ocean Park, which is an amusement park filled with rides, aquariums and ... (drum roll, please) ... pandas!

Is it just me, or is he smiling at me?

Unfortunately, Mr. Smiles was the only active panda in the bunch.
Meet the rest of his family: The Lazy McLazersons.

We got our inner-child on and posed with a man in a shark suit.
We rode cable cars to the other side of the park.
(Hong Kong is very hip when it comes to transportation.)

And we went to the Jelly Spectacular, which truly was spectacular.

Then, Adam finally got some "street food."

It wasn't his first choice of who-knows-where-that's-been-and-ew-what's-that-smell "street meat," but the sweet potato would have to do.
Pretty potatoes.

And finally, we saw Big Buddha, nestled in the mountains of Lantau.

To get there, we once again had to ride by cable car, which was completely ensconced in mist.
So we rode along, enjoying the misty memories, when suddenly the cable cars stopped dead in their ropes. Now, one of the cable cars (sans people) had infamously fallen to its demise during a test run a year or so ago. So when the cable cars stopped ...
... Adam did this.

... and I very calmly and rationally freaked out.
(Sadly, the above photo is not a dramatization.)

Luckily we made it (phew!), and we saw this beauty up close.
But not until we climbed 256 stairs to the top.
(Yeah, I counted.)

The good news is rather than admit we were tired, we just stopped for well-timed snapshots. Genius, eh?
Oh, and Adam took to Asia's tradition of flashing the
peace sign in Every. Single. Photo.

So long, Hong Kong.

happy hong kong

There's been a lot of "happy" during our first week in Hong Kong.

Here are just a few of the downright delightful details — thus far. (In no particular order.)

1. The skyline

Isn't this gorgeous? My parents live among these beautiful buildings, which overlook the Victoria Harbor.
Photo courtesy the fabulous Sister Garn.

2. The mother's touch

This photo doesn't do justice to the beautifully decorated tree in front of their stunningly circular window. My mom is magic.

Many of you already know about her famous table settings.
Here's just a snapshot of what we've enjoyed this Christmas.

3. The virtual Christmas

Most of our family is back home in Utah, so we had a Web Cam Christmas — complete with a talent show and testimony meeting. Here are Erin and Emma singing "Do You Hear What I Hear?"
In case you were wondering, Adam and I sang "Baby, It's Cold Outside" for the second year in a row — by request. Yes, we're that good at it.

We also had a virtual Sister's Night. We're basically the Jetsons.

4. The temple

We took in a session at the Hong Kong temple.
Beautiful temple.
Photo, once again, courtesy the fabulous Sister Garn.
Us looking fancy in front of the temple.

5. The shopping. Oh, the shopping.

Adam and I have made out like bandits.
The best part, though, is I've finally found a world where Adam likes to shop! It's a happy world.
This is Stanley Market, which has ah-ma-zing deals.
This is the Jade Market, where we got too many wonderful things to count. (Think jewelry and home decor.)

6. The yuck

Adam has been obsessed with getting some "street meat," seen here.
No, thank you.

7. The 'Happy Feet'

Adam, Dad, Mom and I all went to "Happy Feet," where we got a 50-minute foot massage. Afterward, Dad did a little jig in the elevator. His feet were that happy.

7. The sights

We walked up the famous Pottinger Street in Central.
We rode the longest continuous escalator in the world.
Yes, the world!
We waded through crowds and crowds and crowds of people — a Hong Kong standard.

And we posed with a Foo Dog in front of the Peninsula Hotel. Foo Dogs are thought to bring protection and happiness, so bring it on, 2009!

Well, Zai Jian for now.

Up next: The Peak, Big Buddha, Ocean Park and more.