Wedding Planning with Dangerous Dan

The memories of our wedding and the planning that came before it are no longer fresh in our minds, but I decided to chat with my lovely husband anyway to reflect on the wedding, the wedding planning process, and how married life is going! I originally wanted to post this as a sort of silly how-to guide for our newly engaged friends, but I take so long to write blog posts that all of my engaged friends are now married.

Anyway, without further ado, here is the interview!

THE ENGAGEMENT PERIOD 

(We were engaged for around 10 months!)

Describe wedding planning in five words.

Planning a really great party!

Describe your level of participation in the wedding planning process.

I was involved at the beginning, and then involved at the end. There was a lot of in-between stuff that you did, like the DIY and the decorations. The big stuff that you usually get out of the way at the beginning – like the venue and the food – I was involved there.

Where can you cheap out and where should you spend?

*Thinks for a while.* Where can you cheap out? … Depends on your priorities, I guess. The catering’s always the most expensive. If your venue allows, you can elect to not have an open bar and just do consumption. [Editor’s note: We knew we wouldn’t have that much drinking of alcohol at our wedding on account of the aging aunties and uncles in attendance. We had a consumption bar, which meant that  we paid a flat fee for non-alcoholic drinks (times the number of guests), and then we paid for whatever alcoholic drinks were consumed throughout the night. We paid the cost ahead of time, based on an estimate. Our guests didn’t drink as much as the event manager had estimated, so we got money back after the wedding! It was fantastic!] I feel like you can cheap out on decorations but I don’t think that really saves that much money.

What was the most challenging part of wedding planning? The most exciting part?

Just all the DIY. It seemed like the most challenging thing for the two of us, but not really for me. [Editor’s Note: This is because I did most of it since I was off on my summer break!] Invitations were challenging too, but as long as you have a very clear understanding of who you’re going to bring, then it shouldn’t be too difficult.

The tasting was the most exciting part.

THE WEDDING DAY

How would you describe our wedding in five words?

A really big Christian party.

What was the most exciting part of the day?

The ceremony, I guess. That was the only part where I didn’t feel like it was a big show.

What words of wisdom do you have for people who are about to be married?

If you don’t have the time, don’t DIY. Just buy a fake plant from Ikea or something as a centrepiece.

MARRIED LIFE

Do you like being married to me? If so, what do you like about it?

I like being married. *pause* To you. I like doing everything together.

 

And with that, he put his NHL PlayStation 4 whatever game away and started playing Mario Party with me! And that is how married life is going.

P.S. Here are some other Dangerous Dan interviews: Germany and New York!

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A Cardboard-Themed Wedding

Pinterest-inspired, do-it-yourself weddings have been all the rage for the past few years, and I hate to say it, but I am such a basic millennial that I too fell into the trap of trying to make my wedding more *~unique~*.

If I had to give my wedding a theme, any of the following names would be fitting:

• Brown Office Supplies
• Yarn and Card Stock
• Arts and Crafts (For the Elementary School-Age Child)
• Made by Michael’s

As you can tell from these “wedding themes”, the decorations were pretty basic and I made most of them myself, even with my limited arts and crafts skills. In any case, here is a quick DIY instruction guide for anyone out there who wants to make similar crafts!

A Fancy Window for a Fancy Ceremony

This was very easy! My friend had just replaced the windows in her house and so I had an almost limitless supply of old windows that I could write on!

I used two windows: one for the order of ceremony, and the other to introduce all the important people in the wedding! I used gold and silver markers to write directly on the windows, although upon reflection, sticking to one colour might have been better. We ended up having to lay an awkward brown tarp thing behind the window in order to make the words more visible.

As you can see (or maybe as you can’t), it’s very hard to read the writing on the windows. A darker marker would have been much more effective!

I used Craft Smart oil-based paint pens from Michael’s. They did a pretty good job; they just need a good shake before you start writing. Nail polish remover easily removed my several mistakes, but writing on the window after having applied the nail polish remover was a bit of a struggle (the marker wouldn’t stay on as nicely). So basically I couldn’t make any mistakes!

Place Cards: Where the Card Stock Shines (Figuratively Speaking)

This was the simplest decoration of all; even Dangerous Dan was able to help! Instead of having a seating chart, we laid out place cards in alphabetical order. Guests simply found their name, and then checked the back of the card to see which table they were at.

I used four different colours of card stock: brown, white, pink, and grey. (You can tell I love colour!) Each colour represented the meal that the guest had chosen, so servers were able to quickly tell who had ordered what.

To make the cards a little bit more interesting, I used washi tape (also from Michael’s) and simply taped the bottom edge. Dangerous Dan and I figured out a whole system – he would measure out an 8.5 x 11 sheet of card stock in 6 equal rectangles, then tape the washi tape down along the lines that he’d drawn. Then I would fold the card and do the writing! Teammates for life! (Yikes, that was cheesy.)

Centrepieces: A Wooden Slab Can Elevate Anything

There were a few elements to our centrepieces: a bottle wrapped in twine with our table numbers (complete with fun facts!) simply plopped into the bottle, a jar with a candle to provide a little bit more light, and a pot full of flowers! All of this came together nicely on a circular slab of wood. (These wooden slabs were very popular around the time we got married; I think people have moved on now. After our wedding, I had like 3 different couples ask me for slabs of wood though!)

The fun fact at this table says, “The number of weddings we’ve attended together.” Jeepers that’s a lot of money.

I bought a bunch of “soda” bottles from Michael’s, buying one or two at a time to make use of the daily sales they have at that crazy store! (Seriously, I went to Michael’s almost every day during this decoration-making process.) Wrapping the bottles was fairly easy. I slathered the bottom edge of the jar in liquid white glue, then slowly and carefully wrapped some brown twine around the edge. I held it there until it dried, then made my way up the bottle, gluing and wrapping as I went along. The important thing here is to keep things tight! I kept pushing down on the twine so that there would be no random holes. At the top, I simply wrapped the twine until I couldn’t any longer, then cut off the remaining piece to make it nice and neat!

Inside the bottle was the table number and a fun fact! I took barbecue skewers from my parents’ kitchen and made them a little bit longer by taping about a third of another skewer to the existing skewer. (Did that make sense?!) I wrote and cut out the numbers on the same brown card stock that I’d used for some of the place cards. I taped the skewer to the number, then added a fun fact for good measure! It was hard to come up with fun facts for us – we had 20 tables! Some things I made up, like “number of visits to Ikea”. I (obviously) don’t have a firm number on that, so I let myself use that as a filler for numbers I was stuck on. I did the same thing with “number of times Claire went to Michael’s to get decorations for this wedding”.

Finally, we placed fake candles inside jars, and covered them with translucent gems, so that the jars emitted a bit of a yellowish glow. A little bow was tied around the jar as well. We had a friend design a little logo for us, so we put it on everything – the jars, our favours (tea leaves in tiny cork bottles!), the envelopes for our invitations … I had a stamp made, so we can stamp our faces on things for as long as we both shall live, but I also printed the logo out on sticker paper, which is what I placed on the jar lids and on our wedding favours. It was all very simple!

Well, I hope this was somewhat helpful for anyone out there who is hoping to make fun and easy decorations for whatever parties that are happening in their lives. It was quite a bit of work; I spent an entire summer (yay teacher life!) creating these silly decorations, but it was still really fun! My house was like a factory and making these decorations was pretty mindless, so I made my way through a bunch of TV shows while still feeling pretty productive!

Our anniversary is coming up real soon and we are celebrating with a sizzling plate steak from my favourite Hong Kong-style cafe! I’m so excited!

We Got Married!

(We’re going to take a quick break from our San Francisco posts to do something a little bit different!)

Dangerous Dan and I are coming up on our one year anniversary, so I thought I’d write a few posts in celebration! I’ll share some nice pictures in this post, and in future posts I’ll share the not-too-exciting DIY crafts that I made for the big day as well as a reflection on the whole planning process.

We got married on a fairly warm mid-October day. The rain held off for most of the day, and we didn’t mind the threat of precipitation too much since grey skies are supposed to be easier to work with for photographers! (Look at how pretty those grey skies are in the photos below!)

 

I had forgotten to set my alarm the night before because I had stayed up late (you’ll see why in the following paragraph!) … and at 7:00 AM (only 4 hours before the ceremony start time!), my mom knocked on my door and announced that my hair person had arrived already! Other than the excitement of waking up late, the morning was pretty chill and I was even able to have some yummy breakfast from my favourite Hong Kong style cafe.

 

All of our dresses were from David’s Bridal in Scarborough. As you can see, I wore FLATS on my wedding day. I wanted to have a good time!

We had our ceremony at the church where I grew up, which really felt like home for me! I’ve since moved churches and I love the community that I’m a part of now, but I’m still so thankful for the guidance and love that I received from the friends, aunties and uncles there. The ceremony was nice and I sobbed throughout worship. Dangerous Dan and I had both written our vows at 3:00 am the night before, but I remember feeling so touched by the thought behind his words and also being impressed by his eloquence! (He really does have a way with words!) I’m thinking we should reread our vows on our anniversary and be reminded of the promises we’ve made to each other because I really have forgotten what I said!

After the ceremony, we took pictures at Trillium Park, the new public park right by Ontario Place. The park had opened the summer before we got married and I couldn’t find any sort of photo-taking policy (probably since it was so new). I really liked how simple but still beautiful the park was, and the photos turned out so lovely!

 

We held our reception at 99 Sudbury, a glass factory-turned-event space in the Liberty Village area. We loved the white walls and clean space. We didn’t add too many decorations, just some vines twisting up the pillars, round white balloons, and string lights to brighten up the room a bit. The event manager at 99 Sudbury, Sarah, was kind, helpful, and detailed without being a micromanager. She responded to my several emails promptly and without complaint!

During cocktail hour, we held a tea ceremony for family members. We collected the gold and the money (woohoo!) and smiled for about 45 minutes straight. My face was frozen by the end. I also put on a fancy Chinese dress that’s been passed down a few generations – my sister, a couple of aunts, and a great-aunt all wore this same dress at their weddings! I’m excited to see who else will give it a spin in the future! (Wearing the Chinese dress was also a nice break from my wedding dress – it was loose and unfitted, so I was able to breathe for at least part of the day!) It was nice to see family members (especially those who had travelled from out of town) individually and have a chance to thank them face-to-face.

 

Check out my loose-fitting dress! A much needed break in the middle of the day.

Our food was catered by the Food Dudes, one of 99 Sudbury’s preferred caterers. The hors d’oeuvres were such a hit and it’s unfortunate that I only got one platter to share with the rest of the bridal party. If I had been a guest, I’d be attacking the servers, hanging around the kitchen door, and stuffing those little appetizers into my mouth! Seriously, the food was so good. (It’s unfortunate that my dress was so tight that it sort of ruined my appetite! I only ate our appetizer and a bit of the main dish. I did not touch our dessert at all. At least I’ll always have the original food tasting to look back on …)

Butter Chicken Balls! (I also loved those wooden slabs that the food was served on.)

Roasted Beet Salmon.

Sous Vide Short Rib – SO delicious!

The night was pretty relaxed and it was great catching up with friends and family and having them be with us on such an exciting and important day of our lives.

I can’t believe it’s almost been a year since our wedding! It’s been a pretty good year so far; nothing crazy has happened and Dangerous Dan and I are still getting along, all by the grace of God. Back when we were still in the engagement period, we told ourselves that through our marriage, we would learn to love God, each other, and others more. We’ve forgotten about this promise a couple of times, but hopefully our anniversary will give us a renewed energy and desire to see this promise through.

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:31-32)

All photos by Michael Chang, who is an awesome person!

Eating By the Bay

San Francisco’s touristy waterfront is full of fun and food, and since Dangerous Dan and I were in the city for an entire week, we were able to hit up multiple spots right on the water!

Fisherman’s Wharf is where all the tourists go – there’s food, gift shops, (giant) seagulls, and it’s where most of the cruise tours depart from. There are a whole bunch of restaurants at the wharf, all lined up in a row. It was hard to decide which one to eat at because they all served pretty similar foods at similar prices. We had no particular thought process; we ended up just choosing a restaurant at random!

We ate the classic clam chowder in a sourdough bowl at No. 9 Fishermen’s Grotto. We enjoyed our meal out on the patio, watching tourists run away from the vicious seagulls trying to snatch a bite of bread. I enjoyed the soup, although Dangerous Dan thinks it maybe comes from a can (preposterous!). The only thing I wasn’t a fan of was how soggy and wet the bread became at the end of our soup. It was yucky to touch and kind of cold!

On a separate day, we decided to have lunch at The Codmother Fish and Chips. The truth is, I only chose to ate at this place because of the name. I can’t resist a cheesy pun! We ate a classic fish and chips (and also shrimp!) at this food truck. There is a bit of seating, but the location is nestled between souvenir shops and doesn’t provide a nice view of Fisherman’s Wharf. If you’re not afraid of birds, I’d recommend taking the food out to the picnic tables that are closer to the water. Either way, The Codmother in the area and it’s pretty tasty, so it’s not a bad place to stop for a bite!

Down the street from Fisherman’s Wharf is Pier 39, an outdoor shopping centre with unique shops and sea lions! This was a fun place to visit – it had a carnival/fun fair-type feel to it, which I enjoyed! (I had to fight off my churro cravings and that was very difficult!)

Those famous seals!

Dangerous Dan and I enjoyed a fancy-ish dinner at Fog Harbor Fish House, which is on the second floor of Pier 39. Crab cakes, mussel fries, and a delicious mixed grill with salmon, shrimp, and Pacific cod. The mussel fries were soaked in a delicious garlic aioli that I wanted to drink straight from the bowl! (I’m a monster!) Dangerous Dan insisted on getting dessert, and when we asked for the dessert menu, our waiter greeted us with a huge platter covered in all the desserts available! We decided on an apple crumble and it was so tasty!

Finally, the Ferry Building is another short walk south from Pier 39. While exploring the area, we stumbled upon a little outdoor gallery which explained the history of the Embarcadero (which is what this section of the waterfront is known as). I learned that the Embarcadero used to be a highway that separated the Ferry Building from the rest of the city. Since no visitors were able to get to the building very easily, the Ferry Building fell into disarray and got divided up into boring little office spaces! A fortuitous earthquake caused the highway to crumble, and the Embarcadero was turned into a regular road, thus allowing San Francisco residents to enjoy the beautiful waterfront!

We enjoyed a fancy dinner at The Slanted Door, which serves delicious Vietnamese cuisine. Apparently the thing to get here is the beef, but it’s expensive and Dangerous Dan and I are poor newlyweds!

Instead, we had noodles with crab, amazing rolls with just a hint of mint, and some spicy corn! The food came surprisingly quickly, and we were able to finish our food in time to get ice cream from Humphry Slocombe next door in the Ferry Building, right before the store closed. We were the very last customers, and their Vietnamese Coffee flavour was totally worth speedwalking out of The Slanted Door and back into the Ferry Building!

Do you have any favourite spots in San Francisco? I probably won’t go back for a while, but there’s no harm in prematurely creating a list for my next visit!

San Francisco: FOOD

The food in San Francisco is fantastic! While planning the trip, I knew there was a huge food scene in the city, and so I scoured Instagram for yummy (and beautiful) food recommendations. Here were some of my faves!

FARMHOUSE KITCHEN THAI CUISINE / 710 Florida Street, San Francisco / website

I found this place on Instagram! We landed in San Francisco in mid-afternoon, so after dropping our things off at the hotel, we took the bus down to Farmhouse Kitchen, which is in the Mission District neighbourhood of the city.

Despite being in a quiet residential area, the restaurant is super busy, and we had to wait a while for a seat. Lyft cars (which have essentially rendered all San Francisco taxis obsolete) were constantly pulling up to the front door to drop customers off for a meal, and the restaurant was packed the entire time we were there. We ended up taking a seat at the bar because of how full the restaurant was! The whole atmosphere of the restaurant is really fun. Servers are dressed up and made up, and I think the whole feel of the restaurant is supposed to be reflective of Thai culture.

The food was amazing; I think it was Dangerous Dan’s favourite meal of the trip! We shared two dishes: Hat Yai Fried Chicken and some noodle dish that I can’t remember the name of. (I really should start taking note of the names of the items that I order …) Both were really tasty, but that fried chicken was just out of this world! The curry, the roti, the exciting BLUE RICE! It all just came together so beautifully.

CHUBBY NOODLE / 1310 Grant Avenue, San Francisco / website

I also found out about this place on Instagram. I saw a photo of those smooth, white baos and I knew I just had to come here! (My own pictures will not do the food justice, unfortunately.) We visited the North Beach location simply because we were already in the area, having just visited Coit Tower.

Dangerous Dan and I shared some Korean Pork Tacos and Steamed Pork Buns. The couple beside us ordered a side of kimchi and the smell was too much for us; we immediately ordered a BBQ Pork Fried Rice with a side of kimchi! I was already kind of full after those first two dishes, so it was tough to finish the food but it really did taste very good. I was a little bit sad that we didn’t get any noodles at a place that has the word “noodle” in the name, but such is life!

MAMA’S / 1701 Stockton Street, San Francisco / website

My sister told me to come here! Apparently everybody else’s sister told them to come here also because there was a significant line when we arrived about an hour after the restaurant opened. (We knew the line would be long so we didn’t plan anything for the rest of the morning.) Mama’s is known for being a family-run, cozy brunch spot! We went on a cold and foggy (typical San Francisco) day. Servers came out with hot chocolate and coffee for people who were so cold, they paid for drinks before even entering the establishment! Dangerous Dan used this waiting time to catch Pokemon, and I read my book! We also took turns exploring Washington Square while the other person waited in line. I got a nice photo of some middle-aged Chinese ladies doing a dance!

Once inside the restaurant, there was another line to stand in – this time for ordering food! I used this time to admire the cooks working in the open kitchen. Several eggs were used in the making of the breakfasts.

I ordered one of the specials of the day, a French Toast Sampler. Dangerous Dan had a salmon omelette. We also shared a really tasty hot chocolate! It wasn’t too sweet, and that’s what made it better than so many other hot chocolates that I’ve had.

PPQ DUNGENESS ISLAND / 2332 Clement Street, San Francisco / website

People always seem to talk about dungeness crab in San Francisco. We’d made half-hearted attempts at eating crab throughout the trip – some crabby noodles here, a crab cake there – but we decided to go all out at PPQ Dungeness Island. We had the peppercorn crab accompanied by garlic noodles, and I enjoyed cracking the crab legs and really putting effort into getting my food! We are descendants of hunters and gatherers, after all!

THE FIRST SWENSEN’S ICE CREAM STORE / 1999 Hyde Street, San Francisco / website

Our original plan was to stop by Swensen’s and happily slurp our ice cream while walking down Lombard Street, the crookedest street in San Francisco and maybe the world! Despite how cold San Francisco can be, our ice cream melted at an alarmingly fast rate and we were forced to finish it on a random street before arriving at Crookedest Street. (Just for context, Crookedest Street is about a 5 minute walk from Swensen’s.) Regardless, the ice cream was delicious and it’s just cute to be in an old-fashioned ice cream shop!

MR HOLMES BAKEHOUSE / 1042 Larkin Street, San Francisco / website

Everyone talks about this place and how tasty and special its famous cruffins are! (That’s a croissant and a muffin put together!) All of the websites and blogs that I had read about this celebrated cruffin warned against long lines, and so Dangerous Dan and I woke up early to reserve a spot in line. But when we got there … the store was practically empty! We’d arrived about 40 minutes before the cruffins were meant to come out of the oven (9:00 AM), so we ordered a savoury pastrami croissant to satisfy our stomachs as we waited for the cruffins to finish baking. And then the next 40 minutes of my life were kind of embarrassing! We started the line for the cruffins, but no one really joined us until about 10 minutes before it was time. Basically, what I’m trying to say is if you visit Mr Holmes Bakehouse on a Thursday morning, you don’t need to go early in order to get a cruffin.

Our savoury pastrami croissant.

The cruffin of the day: chocolate cherry almond!

The cruffins only have one flavour each day, so if you don’t like the flavour of the day, then too bad for you! I was actually really nervous about this because I’m very picky when it comes to desserts. The flavour of our cruffin was chocolate cherry almond, and it was messy to eat but oh so delicious! The filling just oozed out of the croissant and it almost made me forget about my worthless 40 minute wait!

I have another San Francisco food post coming soon, but in the meantime, I hope you enjoyed drooling over my delicious foodie travel adventures! A lot of eating was done on this trip and it was all totally worth it.

Seven Days in San Francisco

Actually, it was more like eight days … but travel days don’t really count, right? (Also, alliterations are awesome!)

Dangerous Dan and I got married back in October of last year, but what with school (and vacations with our families), we didn’t go on our honeymoon until August! It was also the first time we’d ever gone on vacation completely alone, which was very exciting!

Everyone said that a week in San Francisco was really long, and even the border patrol agent at the airport interrogated us as to what we’d be doing in the foggy city. Our trip ended up being really relaxing (still a bit of a novel concept to me, since my trips growing up were jam-packed with sightseeing and educational experiences), and we were able to see some more unique sights and attractions because of the long length of our stay.

Of course, eating great food is a necessity when going on vacation. We ate all over the city, but we obviously hit up the touristy spots too – mostly Fisherman’s Wharf and the surrounding area!

Speaking of touristy things, Dangerous Dan and I went on a bunch of guided tours, from Chinatown to AT&T Park.

We also ventured out to the bay to take a look at the beautiful bridges and interesting islands! (I am going strong with this alliterating!)

Finally, we did the really touristy thing and biked across the Golden Gate Bridge to the neighbouring town on Sausalito!

Not that this is a guide, but I did want to leave you with some tips for transportation. We bought the 7-Day Visitors’ Pass for MUNI (which takes care of all the buses, historic streetcars, and ridiculously expensive but super fun cable cars). It was really great to use public transit to get all over the city without a care in the world (i.e. without paying each ride). However, the different bus routes can sometimes share bus stops and things like that, so it’s important to wave the correct bus down just in case the driver thinks you’re waiting for other buses. Another thing to note is that the vehicles/drivers don’t like to consistently tell passengers which stops are coming up next, so you really have to follow along with a map. It would’ve been really difficult to navigate without Google Maps! (Our generation has it so easy!)

More detailed blog posts will be coming soon, if I can organize myself enough to write them within a reasonable time frame! Either way, they’re coming!

Reading My Travels: San Francisco

I’ve decided to do a fun thing where I read a book set in the destination that I am visiting during a holiday! (Wow, what a sentence that was!)

I recently went to San Francisco, and I brought along with me Sourdough by Robin Sloan. I’d read his first novel, Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore, and had really felt the city of San Francisco come alive in that book. I found out that he’d written a second book that was similar and so I went to the library the day before my flight and checked it out! (I know, I know – taking library books on vacation? I like to live on the edge.)

What’s the book about?

Sourdough tells the story of a tired robot, Lois, who leads a monotonous life in San Francisco. (She’s not actually a robot! She works with robots. But her life at the beginning of the book is so boring that she might as well be a robot. She even eats slush!) However, things change when she is gifted a mysterious sourdough starter from an even more mysterious pair of brothers. Lois starts to bake loaves and loaves of delicious bread, and eventually finds herself on the fringes of a food revolution, where food and technology come together and the things we eat start to have a mind of their own!

What did I think of the book?

I enjoyed it! The story was fantastical and interesting, and the descriptions of food were poetic and romantic. Sloan is a pretty talented writer, in that he was able to make me feel feelings – fear, wonder, affection, etc. – for a LUMP OF BACTERIA. (Yuck!) The story was exciting as well, with its twists and turns. The main protagonist Lois is pretty excited about her bread, and her excitement makes it easy for the reader to follow along for the ride!

How important is the setting?

Some authors choose an arbitrary setting for their books, while others use the setting as an essential element to the story.

In the wise words of Captain Ray Holt from Brooklyn Nine Nine, New York City is the essential fifth character in Sex and the City!

Sourdough needed to be set in San Francisco. Where else would the world of the technology/startup industry collide with the world of bread?! San Francisco has a love affair with sourdough bread – it’s the preferred medium for the city’s famous clam chowder bread bowls – so the important role of sourdough bread in the book really only made sense if the story was set in San Francisco!

Reading a book set in San Francisco while planning a trip to San Francisco actually had a tiny effect on my itinerary! There were some buildings and places that I wanted to visit after having read about them in the book, and I was constantly saying to Dangerous Dan, “This street was mentioned in the book! This is where that character did that thing!” It was probably very annoying for him. I probably wouldn’t have even noticed the prevalence of sourdough bread in the city without this novel. Overall, reading Sourdough while in San Francisco enriched my experience while there, and I’m so glad to have read it where I did!