Saturday, November 29, 2008

Long Day

What a long day and it didn't help that it rained all day long while running around trying to get things done! I finally picked up a new cellphone (Nokia 3500 in pink) to replace the one that got stolen and it's not the best looking phone but it does what it needs to do. After picking up and getting my mobile back online, we headed over to CT to pick up some new locks for the doors. My keys and my mom's keys were on the same key chain so I had to replace all the locks on the doors, what a pain! It took us 4 hours to replace one lock cos there was some confusion with the locks! After replacing the locks, I realized I have to replace everything and it's gonna take me weeks to get all my stuff together. I am so depressed and can't sleep or eat ... not good ...

Friday, November 28, 2008

Purse Snatching!

OMFG, my handbag got stolen at Pacific Centre while I was in Browns trying on boots! I turned my back for a second and it was gone!!! I can't believe this happened to me, 1/3 of my LV collection was in that handbag!! The total cost in goods is 3+K and my entire life was in that handbag!!! I am so pissed! I can't believe this happened to me. Yes I realized that these items are just material things and can be replaced but it's the fact that it took me forever to get this collection. Plus there are things in my handbag that cannot be replaced like note cards from HonHon, photos of Kay and HonHon, my jade buddha from Hong Kong that my grandma bought for me, my Japanese Hello Kitty from Kay's friend Ty etc. The most devastating thing is that I had a bad feeling today and I didn't follow my gut instinct to leave my handbag at work while out at lunch. I feel so stupid, violated, victimized, angry, depressed, worried and lost....

Thursday, November 27, 2008

(almost) Brand New!

Tonight, BQ returned and put together my PC. Thank goodness we got it back, Kay and I were getting a little bit edgy without the computer. I can't believe how fast and smooth it's running, almost like a brand new computer! BQ is the BESTEST! He did mention that we had A LOT of stuff and I should really consider moving it onto a backup! I guess I'll have to pick up the WD 640 GB hard drive sometime soon and cut / paste all my stuff in there so we can have more space on the computer. After he fixed out system, it turns out that we had an extra 22 GB of hard disk space! Wow!

Hello Kitty Casio Digital Camera


Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Night off!

Tonight for dinner, Kay attempted to make spaghetti and meatballs. There was a lot of work involved with making the meatballs, she had to manually chop the onion (yes we have a food processor but I wanted her to learn to finely chop onions!) into fine (very fine) pieces and then mix the onions, garlic, seasonings and bread crumbs together with her hands. After the mixture was completely mixed, she had to roll the meat into little balls and pan fry them on medium heat for about 15 minutes. I didn't watch over her this time (which I should have) and her meatballs didn't turn out cos she didn't realize that these do not have to be continuously stirred in the pan and they fell apart! Oh well, no meatballs so it became just spaghetti and meat sauce! Still pretty yummy though :) Wonder what she will come up with next week.....

On another note, I finished the book "marley & me" by John Grogan. Very sweet book and if you are a dog lover, you must READ THIS BOOK. Very well written!

WD 640GB Hard Drive



Wow, look at this portable Western Digital HD, it's 640GB and it's very slick! Costco $119.99, I think I am going to pick this one up :) for my "back up" files.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Errands and such....

This afternoon was all about returning items and running errands. After BQ left with my PC, I went upstairs to grab some lunch (mom made perogies with green onions, sour cream and freshly grated cheddar cheese, 5000 calories!) and to see if she needed to run any errands for herself. She did have a few things to pick up so we decided to head over to Best Buy and Canadian Tire on Cambie street since BQ advised that I didn't actually need to upgrade my PC's hard drive to the 500GB cos what I had currently was more than enough for a home user. That was great to know, saves me a hundred dollars and now I can look for an external hard drive so I can back up all my important files in my PC just in case anything ever happened to it. It's quite concerning, how a little electronic device carries quite a bit of my life in there. Part of my life is in the hands (or gigabytes) of a PC.....hmm..... a bit scary actually......

After returning the hard drive and looking around (no sales or deals on an external hard drive at the moment), we went upstairs to CT to pick up a few items for Ginger. After CT, we decided to head over to Costco cos I needed to pick up a membership for myself cos it is handy to have one and I needed to pick up a couple of items from there. Mom also had a list of stuff they needed but she forgot her membership card and A/X. It didn't matter tho cos once you sign up and pay the fee, you can use your membership right away. Surprisingly, it wasn't that busy but we are not used to the set up of this Costco so we were a bit confused where everything was. After walking and locating our items, we headed over to the check out and it was pretty quick. We wanted to stop by the concession stand for a snack (Costco hot dogs ... mmmm... yumyum!) cos we still had to go to Superstore before heading home but the stand was super busy, the line up was out the door! We decided to go to McD's for drive thru, bad mistake cos my tummy didn't feel well after snacking on grease! At Superstore, we met up with Auntie Ing cos she wanted to go to Superstore with us, we walked around the store and picked up a few more items before calling it a night. I had the entire house to myself for a couple of hours cos mom, grams and auntie had gone out for dinner while Kay was at a movie with her friend. Super nice to have quietness and peacefulness, I remember at one time, it was pretty scary being alone in the house but now that we are used to it, it's quite a treat!

MIA

It seems that my PC has some serious problems and my IT friend, BQ who has been so kind to come by and look at my PC on his own time, cannot seem to find the problems no matter what he does. He has taken it home to backup all my stuff and will reload the Windows XP back and hopefully, this will fix all the problems! A nice thing about reloading Windows is that it will now be clean and all bugs and stuff will be out. Plus I have been having some major issues with my PC esp. the last Windows update, every since then, my PC has been difficult. BQ is the BESTEST! I owe him a couple of lunches for sure cos I know this is very time consuming and he's doing a huge favour for me.

Happy Birthday Andy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDY!

Tonight, we celebrated his birthday at a cool little restaurant called Abigail's Party. The food was alright but the company was def fun and entertaining! After some appetizers, wine and dinner, we headed over to Andy's place to drink and cheer his birthday! He lasted much longer this year than last, he made it past midnight! It was a bit of a long night but it was def fun, entertaining and everyone is so cool :) well except for the annoying drunk. He bonked me in the head with an empty plastic drink cup! That was NO FUN....

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Saturday Afternoon

This morning, Kay and I woke up early to hit the Winter's market a bit earlier than the last time cos we wanted to make sure we didn't miss out on the good stuff! Gosh, was it ever super busy today and with the sun out, I think people were more willing to come out! It was a great market, lots of great stuff and I'm happy that we arrived early, there were tons of farmers outside and much more inside with a lot of winter veggies on display. Kay and I picked up our apples (of course!), a winter squash, potatoes, mushrooms, onions and cauliflower. We also picked up some yummy Artichoke Pesto from Golda's and artisan all natural yogurt from Ridgecrest Dairy Ltd, a farm from Mission. To my surprise, the Hazelnut guy was there as well! I had fallen in love with the hazelnut oil that we brought back from Agassiz and could not locate this oil anywhere in Vancouver! He didn't have any hazelnut oil on display as he didn't have any available yet but he did have a new product, hazelnut butter (which I did end up buying one) and the sample was really yummy! He will be at the next Winter market and he will def have some hazelnut oil by that time. I am really excited about that cos this oil goes really well in any salad with a handful of his roasted hazelnuts! Very delish and yummy. After walking through and picking up our fruits/veggies for the next two weeks, we decided to check out Bosa Foods on Victoria since we were in the area and they are known to stock a lot of Italian goods. Wow, did it smell nice in there with all the freshly baked italian bread! Kay and I were quite excited to see the selection of pasta, dried cured meats, sauces and CHEESE. But we still have some cheese left from our last trip to the market so we didn't pick any up although we now know where we can get some good imported cheese for our pasta dishes! We did manage to leave the store with one item, an inexpensive bag of dried pasta :) Once we were finished, we headed home to drop off our items before heading over to Metrotown. I had to return the digital box I picked up from FS cos I need a new hard drive instead. I guess I will have to pick up the digital box next month as right now it's more important to fix and upgrade the PC. We headed over to FS to return the item and to see if FS would price match the Western Digital 500GB internal hard drive cos it was cheaper at Best Buy. But the aggressive sales person said he had to call BB to make sure it was in stock or else they would not price match it. I was like what? are you serious?!?! I know it's in stock cos I checked online before coming here! Since I didn't like the SP anyways, I decided to head over to BB instead and buy it there. Plus I have a BB rewards card altho (doh!) I forgot to bring it. Also, I like BB customer service, it is so much better and BB price matched an item for me yesterday without having to call FS to see if they had stock (which FS did not, of course!). Stupid FS, I hate that store and their sales staff. Maybe that's why FS has this policy cos their sales items are never in stock, it seems they sell out what little stock they have at the beginning of their sales. I think it's a conspiracy! After our purchase, we decided to walk around Shoppers Drug Mart and then over to Metrotown as we had about 45 minutes left on our parking ticket. Gosh, the mall is super packed which surprises me since it was such a beautiful and sunny day! I guess it's all about the holiday shopping! Wandering around the mall for a bit, we decided to call it an afternoon since we still had to go to HonHon's place to check his mail, I've been pretty lazy and hadn't checked his mail in three weeks! Yikes! Now it's time to get ready for Andy's birthday dinner and party!

Friday, November 21, 2008

Burberry at the Shangri-La Hotel



A Burberry boutique has opened in Vancouver! Wow! I am so happy to FINALLY see a Burberry boutique in our city! I did notice the store front yesterday (co-workers were hinting at it) and when I looked to see, I noticed it was and SAs were busy stocking the shelves and setting up the store for the grand opening. Just in time for the holidays! After my lunch appointment with Val (we checked out Joe Fortes for our Xmas luncheon), we went over to the new Urban Fare (at the Shangri-la Hotel) to see what they had and to pick up lunch at the deli counter. I briefly strolled through the store on my way back to the office (it is directly across from my office! oh no! dangerous!) and was amazed to see the beautiful set up. It is def nice to have a Burberry here cos the only other place that carried Burberry is Holt Renfrew and HR is very limited to what they have in stock. This boutique carries the entire collection including men's and women's clothing, shoes, handbags/wallets and accessories! While browsing through the store, I noticed a couple of familiar faces, Peggy (previously with Dior, Holt Renfrew) and another SA (previously with Louis Vuitton, Hotel Vancouver), this reunion was quite funny and I'm happy to know that I will have a new SA at Burberry. It's always nice to have a SA that knows who you are and what you like which means they can give you better service and the right amount of attention. Plus she knows I love pink and showed me a cashmere pink scarf which I loved but wasn't looking for that colour. She did me find the "Trench" colour scarf I was looking for and I am happy to see there is a few in stock. HonHon is buying me a cashmere scarf (the above) for Xmas and I am SO EXCITED cos I have wanted one of these for a long time and it's going to match my rain boots! Can't wait to pick it up! :)

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Kay's Cooking






Tonight, Kay made dinner for the first time (with a bit of help!). I decided over the weekend that she should help out more with the household and start cooking dinner once a week. We agreed that Wednesday night would be a good night cos it's the middle of the week so tonight was her first attempt. Not bad for little experience, of course there was some guidance and a bit of cheating (used a Tresso Teriyaki sauce - which is the BEST teriyaki sauce ever!) to make the Teriyaki chicken stir fry with fresh veggies and udon noodles. I told her to start her prepping at 5.15 even though we eat dinner at 6pm cos I knew it would take her a bit to prepare. Good thing she did cos by the time she was at the stove, it was 5.45pm! I told her to be very careful with the knife and just do it slowly cos she's not used to using such a large chef knife. She did it on her own and she was quite proud :) I am so proud of her, I knew she could do it even though she was worried. After dinner, I cleaned up the huge mess and told her to start thinking about next week's dinner. We are NOT having the same thing! LOL... and I told her, she'll have to come up with something other than asian and stir fry! Enjoy the photos, more photos on my flickr account!

Gucci - Sukey Large Python Tote


OH MY! Beautiful Gucci Tote! Wish I could afford one cos they are a perfect match for my new Stewies! Exotic python leather, crafted with great detail yet simple and classic shape. Thank goodness Gucci went back to the classics cos I have no idea what they were thinking when they decided to bring THESE out....??!!??

Avail at Saks Fifth Avenue $3195 and due to popular demand, only 3 purchases per month!! Sheesh, wish I could even afford the ONE!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Perfect Domed Muffins!





Almost perfect! A bit over cooked, I think I didn't add enough "liquid" to the batter but my muffins are perfectly domed! With these shots, I couldn't choose the one to post so I posted them all! Enjoy and Yes, they are as yummy as they look :)

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Brunch



This morning, I decided I wanted to try and make a nice brunch for Kay and I. I try to make brunch every weekend but I usually only make waffles with sausages or bacon with an egg but this morning, I wanted to try breakfast potatoes. I wasn't sure how they were going to turn out but they actually turned out pretty great! Brunch is yummy, my fave meal of the day!

It's funny how Kay still wants her waffles cut up into pieces cos I've been doing that for her since she was a little girl. She says it's easier for her to dip the waffles into the syrup! Hahaha.... I'm sure it is. The homemade waffle recipe is super easy and every ingredient is organic! Plus since we've cut out milk, we've noticed these waffles taste much fluffier when it's made with soy milk. Super yummy!

Saturday, November 15, 2008

RIP Rudy

My mom's lovebird has passed tonight. He lived a very long life, almost 20 years. We are all very saddened by his loss and mom and I will bury him in the backyard tomorrow.

R.I.P. Rudy

Friday, November 14, 2008

Go Green, Live Rich


Just finished reading this book, Go Green, Live Rich (Canadian Edition) by David Bach with Hillary Rosner. I found it very easy to ready and there were many good ideas in going green in your every day life. Must read and own!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Sharp - Limited Edition



The AQUOS Limited Edition XS1 Series, in 65" and 52" screen sizes, sets a new standard for large-screen flat-panel LCD TVs. With Full HD 1080p resolution, dramatically enhanced black level and an elegant new ultra-thin design produce a breathtaking viewing experience that is second to none. The XS1 Series utilizes the next generation of Sharp’s proprietary 10-bit Advanced Super View/Black TFT Panel with Mega Dynamic Contrast Ratio in excess of 1,000,000:1 along with an ultra-high performance RGB-LED backlight for very deep black levels and an unprecedented 150% colour gamut. In addition, these models include the groundbreaking AQUOS Net feature for custom Web-based content through an Ethernet jack, as well as 120Hz Fine Motion Enhanced for the ultimate in fast-motion image processing. All XS1s are HDTVs with a separate AVC system with built-in ATSC / QAM / NTSC tuners and include 5 HDMI™ inputs and 2 HD 1080p component video inputs as well as RS-232C for control. This Series features a stunning silver cabinet, with detachable speakers. The AVC system connects to the monitor with an included HDMI™ cable and the XS1 features a stunning metallic cabinet that is less than 1” in thickness at its thinnest point.

Oooh I LOVE and WANT one!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

4 Day Weekend!

Woohoo 4 day weekend! Love those :) But so sad cos it went by so fast! I can't believe it's already over :( weekends seem to rush right by.....

Saturday
Kay and I headed over to Wise Hall for the first day of the Winter's Market! We were happy to see that our apple guy was still around and we picked up another bag of apples! $12 worth of apples cos they are so yummy! Most of the regular vendors were around altho many are now just stocking winter vegetables. I am not sure how to cook all these different types of winter vegetables so I guess I will have to google some recipes! Lucky for us, it wasn't raining too bad as it was earlier in the morning (Kay woke up late). The Winter's Market only happens every 2 weeks so I had to figure out what I could buy and what wouldn't spoil so quickly in the fridge. Kay and I always enjoy heading over to the farmer's market cos there are so many interesting stands and some many wonderful items to discover! After the market, we headed home and Kay started on her homework cos she was heading out on Sunday with friends while I gave Rhoda a call cos she wanted to do a bit of shopping.

Rhoda and I headed over to Baby's World and IKEA in Coquitlam and she bought a few items from each place. Superstore was next and I picked up a few grocery items plus a cute sweater for only $29.99! After all that shopping, we decided to call it a day so we headed back to her place to drop her stuff off, rest a bit and to pick up my car. After chilling a bit, we decided to head over to my place to have dinner. Lucky for us, my mom was home and she made us a yummy asian dinner with soy sauce pork, bean sprout dish and BBQ duck/pork take out. Everything was delish altho I found the take out a bit too salty and was super thirsty after dinner. Rhoda hanged out with us a bit more before calling it a night.

Sunday
On this rainy day, mom and I ran errands cos she didn't get much done yesterday. We headed over to a few places to pick up her groceries and off to LD to pick up some sale items that she needed. Mom ended up buying me my very own pasta maker, I am so EXCITED, can't wait to test this out! Kay and I have been debating if we should make our own pasta since we do not like boxed lasagna and now we can do it ourselves, just have to find some recipes. After our errands, it was getting late and we decided to go out to eat so we didn't have to cook. We decided on Miu Garden cos grandma likes the curry brisket and we have been meaning to pick some up for her. After dinner, I chilled and relaxed.







Monday

Shopping in the States with my BFFs :) with the exception of Kay. She had school today! Aw too bad so sad... we spent the entire day in the States and I did pretty good. Only spent $200 USD and I didn't have to pay duties when we crossed the border cos I only claimed $105! We ended up to the usual places and I was a bit disappointed that I didn't see anything at the Outlet! Nada. We headed over to a new shopping centre called University Village and it's an outdoor shopping centre right by University of Washington (thank you to the mini gps). It's a pretty nice place and of course, it's new to us so it was a bit more exciting. We ended up in a little boutique called Mercer that had Citizens of Humanity (and 7's) on sale for $84 USD in my size!!!! Vancouver has these designer denims but are priced over $200+ a pair so it was a great deal and I could not resist them. Plus I don't own a pair of Citizens so I managed to justify this purchase in my head. I picked up a few items from Sephora (which was my main reason for going to the States) and I ended up with a Shu Uemura 24kt Gold eyelash curler (only available at Sephora), a Too Face lash injection pin point mascara and I picked up a Kat Von D metallic purple liquid eye liner for Kay. I always end up picking up a little something for her and I felt sorta bad that she had school today!

After all our driving and shopping, we decided to head back to Vancouver making one last stop at Bellis Fair. As we were driving back, we ended up in a minor accident on the freeway, a lady rear ended us cos she didn't realized we all had stopped and she didn't have her eyes on the road cos she was looking at her baby in the back seat!! OMG... it was a bit scary actually cos I have never been in an accident outside of Vancouver, plus the freeway was jammed packed with cars as we were in the middle of rush hour. It is pretty scary standing on the side of the freeway with these cars zooming past you! But it's def. a first time I've ever stood on the freeway having a cigarette! I was a bit worried about getting back into traffic cos there never seemed a break in between the cars but Rhoda managed to get us back in. But we missed our exit (to I-5) and had to take a long route around (kinda like Lougheed Hwy) back to I-5. I was hoping to find a Hello Kitty t-shirt at Bellis Fair but did not manage to find anything :( After a brief walk around, we headed towards the border, the wait wasn't too long (thank goodness!) as we were getting a bit hungry (we decided to eat in Vancouver). Rhoda and Jas ended up paying taxes cos we declared $800 USD total. Lucky for me, I only declared $105 USD ($70 USD in make up was stashed in my make up bag) and I didn't have to pay taxes! Once we crossed the border, we went to Richmond to eat dinner, we all wanted something light and easy so it was beef brisket, wonton noodle soup for us! It was a fun but tiring day and we did some great shopping! Plus it was awesome to have my girls bond :) This was def. one of the best shopping trips ever!!!
Tuesday
Today was a bit of a rainy day and I stayed home to rest and bake. Mom had wanted me to help her rake up the leaves but she never called or came down and when I went outside in the afternoon, she had already finished raking most of the yard. I didn't think she was going to do it today as it was very wet and cold but she wanted to get it done before she left for Vegas. I am now thinking I am not so sure I want to live in a house, the yard work is HARD WORK! Since my mom didn't need my help, I decide to catch up on my house errands like cleaning the washroom, doing a couple of loads of laundry, baking my muffins and waffles etc. It was nice not to be running around and out in about. It was a nice just being at home, altho I did end up going for a walk after dinner in the rain, I love walking in the rain esp when it's coming down hard. Love the freshness and crispness in the air.

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Vancouver Canucks vs Phoenix Coyotes




Awesome Game! Of course, we won with only 1 goal but the 3rd quarter was pretty darn exciting! More photos on my flickr account!

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

If The World Could Vote?


Who would YOU vote for?? Cast your vote!

If the World could Vote?

First Game



I just won a pair of hockey tickets to see the Canucks on Thursday, Nov 6th!! Woohoo!!! How exciting!!!

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Dinner with Kitty and Shel






Tonight, Kay and I went to visit Kitty and Shel's new house! Gosh, what a beautiful job on the renos and the house is incredible. I love the custom kitchen cabinets and the spa like bathroom. A wonderful extension to the back of the house by using up half of the patio. It was such a lovely time and so nice to see them both, it seems like forever since we've last seen each other. AND I finally got to see the beautiful wedding photos gosh, so gorgeous and beautifully done, the photographer captured the moments perfectly! Thank you Shel for cooking and firing up the BBQ. It was so nice to sit down and catch up and somehow we managed to get invited back over for turkey dinner!! We love having turkey and would never turn down a turkey dinner with good peeps!!

Saturday, November 01, 2008

Saturday Shopping

Today, I went to run errands with my mom. I wanted to return an item at Zellers so we headed over to Brentwood Mall first, she walked around and found a cute baby boy set for only $5.00! Mom's friend, Cece from Alaska, daughter and son both had boys this year so she wanted to pick up a little something to give with the lucky red envelope she is sending. After Zellers we decided to grab a coffee a Starbucks cos it was really wet outside and having something warm would not make it seem so bad! After Brentwood, we headed down to Chinatown to a warehouse that sold rice and misc items, they have the best prices on soy sauce, cooking oil etc! Mom picked up multiple (heavy) items and sauces cos we hardly go to Chinatown now. I don't really cook Asian food so I didn't really need anything except I found some yummy strawberry Pocky and dry shredded pork and dry wild salmon for congee or rice or mmmm.. maybe salad??!!?? :) Chinatown is so quiet now, I remember a time when it was so busy that shopping in Chinatown was like shopping in the mall during a Boxing Day Sale! After Chinatown, we headed over to Tinseltown cos I noticed yesterday as Jas and I were going up the elevator to the theatre, there was a store that looked very similar to Daiso in Richmond and I wanted to check it out. It isn't called Daiso but it is def a Daiso. Yaka Yoyo 123 is what it's called and that is a very strange name for a $2 store! Crazy Japanese! It's much smaller than Daiso but carried the same items, all for a toonie or less! We both ended up with a few items before leaving the store and hopefully these items won't end up in the junk box! After Tinseltown, we headed over to Superstore to pick up a few more things and by the time we were finished, we were getting a bit hungry, this is a sign to head home and start thinking about dinner. Auntie Ingrid came over to visit so they decided on a restaurant for dinner. A place called Golden Sparkle Chinese Restaurant (WTF??) and I have never been but they apparently serve a really good seafood fried rice. It wasn't too bad altho, they were a bit cheap with the seafood and the fried noodle dish was way too greasy!! After dinner, mom had a few movies to select from but I opted to say downstairs and enjoy the quietness in the house before Kay came home. Nice and relaxing day of errands.

Ellie



I love these Ellie handbags, they are so beautifully designed and crafted in Italy. I think I have found my newest addition (and a much needed colour!), only $245 USD.