Joy!!

So we just got back from Dubai last night.  

Although it is officially work-related visit, we got the chance to celebrate our 4th anniversary here and there as well: we had fantastic dinner at a fancy restaurant overlooking Hong Kong island during our transit.  We stayed in a lovely suite in a five stars hotel in Dubai, we went to a private beach in Jumeira, we got to the top of the world, or more like the 124th floor of Burj Khalifah.

It's a pretty cool celebration I must say.  

This noon in the office, Ming called me to the front lobby and told me that our order from Amazon has arrived.  They're supposed to arrived few days before our Dubai trip, but UPS screwed it up and I was pretty disappointed.  I ordered Stephen Colbert's I AM AMERICA, and had expected to read it during our trip.  

I had forgotten about it until Ming told me.  So it was a nice surprise for me that the book arrived today, along with other books that Ming ordered.  At the top of the box were his books and at the bottom was mine.  I love books.  Have I told you that?  anyway, still happy from finally getting my order, still flipping the pages and smelling that familiar scent of the sheets, Ming pulled the last book from the box.

It was this:

JOY!

I must say, this book, is the best gift from him.  If we hadn't been in the office, I would have kissed him right there on the spot.

You see, in addition to books, I LOVE everything related to interior decorating, the cottages, and so forth.  It's basically one method of therapy for me: browsing the internet for these sites.  I can spend hours looking through coolhouseplans.com, hookedonhouses.net, and sometimes I just type "cottages floor plans" on google search engine.

I love imagining what kind of small, two bedroom cottages we're going to have for our retirement, how I'm going to decorate it, what kind of sofa, furniture, how the country kitchen would look like, the fireplace, the carpet, and all of those things.  Every time there's a real estate fair, I'd stop by just to see their floor plans.  I always try to persuade Ming to stop by and check open houses though we absolutely have no immediate plan to purchase a house.  

So when he casually gave me this book and told me that it was supposed to be a surprise for me, you wouldn't believe how my heart leapt with joy.  Seriously.  My heart beats faster and I can't stop smiling and grinning and got SO excited.  I'm still giddy typing this.  I can't believe he'd do something SO sweet as that.  I still wonder how he managed to keep it a secret!  

I don't think even Ming realized how meaningful this book is for me.  

I have to say, while I appreciate the travelling, the fancy restaurant, the great hotel, THIS is the most wonderful anniversary gift.  I LOVE IT.  I can't wait to go home and read it.  I'm smiling even thinking about reading it...

This book brought joy more than the whole Dubai trip! it's the perfect ending of the entire week, and of our anniversary celebration! 

Does it make me weird?