Trish and Kay - Life in Vancity

BBQ in Richmond

2010-07-31T22:00:00.000-07:00

Tonite, I went over to a co-worker’s house in Richmond for a BBQ. This is an annual BBQ that he throws for his department but this year, he expanded his invite out to the rest of the division. I have heard many great things about his renovated home so I was very excited to see his place. I have seen photos of all his renos but it’s def not the same as seeing it in person. WOW!! His house is BEAUTIFUL, he did some really great renos esp the master bedroom and bathroom. He built a fireplace for his master and his master bath looks like a spa!! Very talented and very good at what he does cos he reno'd his entire home on his own time during weekends and evenings. He even decorated his place by himself which is amazing for bachelor, I would have thought he hired an interior decorator! He is def a very handy person to know and he gives out advice for FREE! He even rebuilt his classic Porsche as a “project”. I arrived fashionably late and missed out seeing a few people that I wasn’t too keen on spending my sat with so was that luck?!? I did get to speak to many of the guys I work with in a more casual environment and that is very different from seeing them in the office. It was an interesting nite and we didn’t leave empty handed, lotsa leftovers and he had take away containers for people!

Best B'day Gift EVER!!!

2010-07-30T16:30:00.000-07:00

Wow!! I'm going to Las Vegas!! After much debate and the last minute planning, I had decided not to go to Vegas even tho the deals were super cheap cos I really can't justify the budget this coming month for this trip. But Jas went ahead and booked my ticket as part of my birthday gift!! I couldn't believe it!! She's already bought my Lady Gaga ticket for my birthday!! WTF??!!?? She's a super awesome BFF, she knew how depressed I've been in the last few weeks and really insisted that we get away just cos I needed it and she needed it too. I'm super excited about this trip with the girls (it's T's first time so this will be really exciting for her!) and the get away just a few days without thinking about the issues at hand. It's only for 3 nights and 3 days but I think that is more than enough of Vegas I can handle esp in the upcoming month with the weather being super hot - yuck! Will be spending most of my time indoors since I'm allergic to the sun and SPF :( SO EXCITED, THANK YOU JAS, I HEART U....

Caribbean Festival & Robson Street

2010-07-25T22:17:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, we took Tash to the Caribbean Festival cos she's never been to the festival or the Seabus!!! Wow, never been on the Seabus??!!?? Gawsh, she is 16 years old and has lived in Vancouver her entire life and has never been on the Seabus??!!??? As we walked over to the Seabus terminal, we noticed the line up started way at the back and I could not believe how long the line up was!! I've never seen such a long line up for the Seabus even during this festival!! Wow, I guess this event is getting bigger every year. When we finally arrived to the festival, it was packed and there were lots to see! But we headed over to the food section to pick up some grub but the line ups were huge and I was getting hungry so I decided to check out the stands that had the least amount of people in line which turned out to be not such a good idea cos the food was alright and I was paying a premium! After finding a spot in the shade to eat our lunch, we decided to head back over to the other side to check out the stands and get a nice icy drink. After Jas picked up a couple of different types of icy drinks, Kay and I opted for the freshly squeezed lemonade and Tash went with a real fruit icy smoothie, we decided to take a couple of photos by the water on the seawall to commemorate this day. :) Then we decided to head back downtown to Robson Street for a "walk" but really, Jas wanted to see what else she could find at Plenty. After much walking around and finding nothing, we decided to call it a day cos it was very hot and we were really tired from all the walking! It was an awesome day to end the weekend, with best buds!

Inception & Plenty

2010-07-24T23:34:00.000-07:00

Today's weather was terribly hot and icky, I almost ended up staying home all day in my underwear but Jas sent me a text to see if I was up for dinner and a movie. I guess I could get into some clothes on and head out for some 'fresh' air :) Kay and I were lying on the couches when she arrived but we didn't leave right away. We decided to stay out of the sun so she and Kay caught up on life. After an hour or so, we decided to head over to Cactus Club for an icy drink, well I had a Bellini, mmmm.... great for a day like today. Since it was still early and we wanted to stay out of the sun, we decided to catch the 6.30 show for Inception. WOW, what an awesome movie! So awesome cos it's a mindfck and even tho Jas was a bit lost, I got every single detail cos my mine is pretty warped! Hahaha.... it's so awesome, I would pay to see it again! This is def a movie to see on the big screen but I'm def going to add it to my collection when it gets released on DVD. We purchased our tickets and had a bit of time before our movie started so we headed over to Plenty cos they were having their 50% off summer sale, gosh, we picked up some great stuff! I love the Plenty and their in-house labels, I got a pretty funky racer tank top with sparkles for $30 and a black slim skirt with pleats for $35. Perfect for summer and we still got a few weeks to go til this season ends! After our movie, we headed over to Thai House for dinner and Earls for dessert. It was still a very warm night but by 11pm, we decided to call it a night!

Fireworks!

2010-07-21T23:00:00.000-07:00

Tonite, I meet up with Charly cos he wanted to head over to see the fireworks and Rosa wasn't able to make it. We met up after work and we headed over to Kits to find parking. He got a pretty good spot, close to Vanier Park (where we were going to watch the fireworks) and close to West 4th (where we were going to eat). We walked along West 4th and found a place called Mr. Shawarma which serves chicken shawarma! It was inexpensive and very filling! We both ordered a platter which had a ton of food, very yummy and we had a dessert but I can't remember what its called. After our dinner, we headed over to Vanier Park to set ourselves up on the grass and close to the street so we could exit quickly! It was nice to catch up with Charly and we had a fun time! He's a great friend and I know he will be here for me always.

Finished :)

2010-07-18T17:30:00.000-07:00

Finally finished the colour on my tattoo! It was awesome to finally have it semi complete :) Mica was thinking about adding clouds to my piece but I didn’t think I could afford any more pain nor could my finances! I was already $300 over my budget and I would think the clouds would be at least another hour! In 2 hours, she coloured in my cherry blossoms and touched up a bit on my dragon. Hopefully, this time my tattoo will heal easier than the first time. Right now, my skin is getting dry and itchy but I think I’ll only use the ointment til this weekend before just applying a body lotion. Kay and Tash were suppose to keep me company but both girls didn’t get up til just before I left. By the time I finished and was back at the condo, they were still getting ready! Since the two of them were slightly hungry, we decided to head over to Crystal Mall for some si long bao :) Yummy and I picked up a fresh mango coconut tapioca drink from a little dessert place in the food fair, not as good as the one at the night market tho! It was a nice and relaxing Sunday before Kay and Tash ended up heading into Vancouver and Richmond.

Mexican Fiesta!

2010-07-17T21:00:00.000-07:00

Tonite, Jas, Kay and I headed over to Charly's house for a Mexican themed dinner cos Rosa and him were cooking a festive meal for their friends. It was nice to see everyone and the meal was very good, the Mexican dinner was almost authentic altho it isn't the same without Ivan :( Susan was in town for a visit for a few days and it was so nice to see her and catch up with her. I haven't seen her in over 2 years cos she lives out in Trail, BC with her hubby (also Charly's BFF). Susan and I had a chance to catch up before other guests starting arriving. It was nice to meet some of Rosa's friends and it was good that there were a few people that had accepted Charly in her life. It was a really nice time and I ended up staying late cos there were some good conversations but Jas and Kay had to leave early for other plans. After it was getting dark, I decided it was def time for me to go cos I was getting tired. It was nice to have the condo to myself since Kay was out til late.

Aritzia, Urban Behaviour, Richmond Nightmarket ... oh my!

2010-07-16T22:51:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a day! Yesterday, Kay and I went shopping after I dropped the car off at Bronco Glass to get the passenger window replaced. These guys are awesome, they make the claim for you with your insurance - GREAT! Less waiting time for me, plus a courtesy car and even tho the closing hour is 5pm, the owner of the shop told me he would wait for me until I arrived cos I wouldn't be able to make it til just after 5pm. Jas and I met up after work cos we were going to hit the Richmond nitemarket for the first time since it started. We were suppose to go with my friend, BQ a couple of weeks ago but due to my emergency, I had to cancel our plans :( After we picked up the car, we were trying to decide on where to eat for dinner, I wanted to have dessert at nitemarket not dinner :D Since we had to go over to Metrotown first cos yesterday, Kay had left her school books at Underground Clothing. She was so excited about buying her True Religions at the sale price that she didn't even realize she left the store without them! Once at UG, I showed her the 7 of all Mankind white super skinnies on sale in the store, Kay didn't like them on me yesterday said it made me look like I had sausage legs but Jas thought they looked really good! I didn't think they looked that bad either so I ended up buying them!! Half off and even cheaper than buying them in the states!! Since we were already at Metro, we decided to have dinner at The Boss cos we haven't been in there in ages!! After dinner, we stayed in the mall for the air conditioning and ended up in Aritzia cos Jas wanted to look at the sales again! I ended up buying a cute light blue lace tanky for only $24! I'm done with Aritzia, gawsh, I've picked up so many items from the sale! As we walked around the mall, we talked about what was going on in our lives and by the time we were done, it was time for the nitemarket. The first place we headed was to the food section cos there is always so many yummy things to eat! Jas picked up a icy drink and a deep fried cheesecake (Me - YUCK, Her - Oh not so bad!) and I ended up with a fresh mango tapioca coconut milk drink, mmmmmm so yummy! We walked around the entire nitemarket and gawsh I ended up with a lot of stuff which was unexpected cos for the past few years, I haven't been able to find anything useful at the market. I ended up with a huge Hello Kitty blanket (a very soft and comfy blanket), 8 pairs of tights (from Taiwan and Korea), and a Lotuswear short sleeve hoodie for only $20!! I think Lotuswear is closing their doors and all their items were marked 70% off, the hoodie was originally $50!! It was a great nite and an awesome way to end a long work week!

Promotion!

2010-07-14T23:30:00.000-07:00

Wow! Kay makes me so proud :) She got a promotion today with a new title, Crew Trainer and a small pay increase! I'm super happy for her even though I can see her spending every single cent on her paycheque within hours of her receiving it in her account. Since summer has started, she has been working a lot more and working long and hard hours, in hopes to get a promotion or a pay increase. So Proud of my Bebe :)

WTF??!!??

2010-07-14T17:00:00.000-07:00

Gawddamnit! My fckn car got broken into and all they stole were 2 mini bic lighters and my emergency bag which had a 12V air compressor to repair a flat tire, my first aid kit, bottle water and an emergency screw driver!! Now I need to replace those items and pay a deductible to fix my window! I don't have the time or do I need to add another expense that is uncalled for. Ugh, I am SO MAD! Stupid visitor's parking lot! This is the 2nd time my car has been broken into in this parking lot! There should be cameras or a gate for this covered lot, I'm sure it's either the addicts, the homeless or the stupid kids that broke into my car, it's really warm outside and this is the time of year when the cars get broken into! Just so many people hanging around the train station and the park. UGH. So Pissed.

Company BBQ

2010-07-10T15:00:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a day! Gawsh, I'm super tired, it takes a lot of work to set up a company BBQ and thankfully, C helped us out this year with the prep work for the BBQ. This year, we had less people at the BBQ but it still took so much work and we still had so much food left over :( We arrived early to help Val with the setting up of the tables and supplies. C and Phil started putting together the chicken and beef skewers for the grill. Kay had a job this year and she was our photographer cos SB couldn't make it this year (she did the photos last year). But Kay didn't show up until 12.30pm!! When she did show up, she did a great job at capturing the moments at our BBQ. After a couple hours of BBQ, we did the raffle draw for the prizes (which we didn't have as many as last year) and once that was over, we started packing up as people were starting to trickle out. It was a fun (but tiring) day and all the kids had a great time plus it was nice to talk to my co-workers outside of the office. Everyone seemed relaxed and enjoyed themselves which made it all worth while. Too bad for the few people who were going to come couldn't make it but overall, I think it was another successful BBQ. But next year, we are def going to have look over the menu and adjust the amounts on the food items being served cos there was way too much again!

Prep work for BBQ

2010-07-09T20:00:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a day, I'm soooo tired. It's been a long week and an even longer day. Yesterday, right after work, C and I went straight over to Costco and Superstore to pick up items for the BBQ. Gawsh, we had so much to do! We had to pick up the snacks, drinks, condiments, tomatoes, onions and fruit / veggie trays! But first, I had to move our stuff from mom's and from the storage unit back to the condo which took us about an hour, thank goodness for the 2nd set of hands, I don't know how I would have done it myself since Kay was working until 11pm! After the moving and shopping, we decided to head over to Nando's chicken for dinner cos I didn't defrost any meats or had any veggies in the fridge! Mmmmm, I forgot how yummy Nando's chicken is! I must consider eating there more often when I want to dine out, so yummy! After dinner, we headed back to condo to slice and chop the onions and tomatoes for the BBQ. Thankfully, C did most of the chopping cos I was trying to rearrange the condo back for Kay and I. After the prep work, C headed home and I decided it was time for a rest altho I realize halfway thru the rearranging that I left a few items at my mom's :( I decided to drive back over there to pick up the face wash cos I couldn't leave that behind! Plus I left my netbook over there, it was a nice stay at mom's cos we were "guests" and we got so many yummy dinners!

Asian Dragon with Cherry Blossoms Part 1

2010-07-07T17:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a session! Mica (an amazing and super talented artist) sketched a freestyle dragon with cherry blossoms on my back and at first, I wasn't sure about the sketch but as soon as she inked the outline, I was in love! I didn't realize how long this session would be since she had only drawn the outline and in hours 2 - 3, she started adding details like scales and shadowing on the design. After 4 hours in 30C temperatures (but I'm pretty sure it was 35 or 40 outside!) and with my period arriving the very same afternoon, I could no longer lie there finishing off the piece! I was hoping to do it in one session but with so many details, I could not go on and my face was starting to look pale as most of my blood had been removed from my body! It was an amazing experience and with the pain, I manage to breathe and concentrate on the beautiful painting in the room. Yoga has def helped me with this since I manage to block out and sit through the strenuous pain I was feeling as she added the scales on the dragon! I am very happy and grateful to have Kay with me during this experience as forever bonded us and made us stronger as a unit. She even pushed her shift 2 hours ahead so she could stay with me until I finished the session cos she wanted to be here for me. Also, wanted to make sure I got home alright. I love her to pieces and without her, I don't know how I would survive. I'm really happy to finally get this done (it's been a 10 year process) and I can't wait until Mica adds the colour and finishes off the little details! So Exciting!

Super Excited!

2010-07-03T21:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, Kay and I had a great day! We spent the afternoon together as she did not have any plans til tonite. First off, we headed over to my 12pm appointment at Monkey King on Kingsway to see Mica, a guest tattoo artist from Japan, - Detroit Diesel Tattoo Works) she's only here for 3 weeks to discuss my back tattoo and to look over her photos. Wow, she is super talented and does amazing work! I am so excited, I'm booked in for Wednesday at noon and I'm hoping to do it all in one sitting! It's possible to break it up to 2 sittings but I want it done all at once, I've been waiting 10 years to get this done! After our tatt appointment, we headed over to Coast Capital Insurance Services on Broadway / Cambie cos my auto insurance was due today!! Yikes, I'm cutting it pretty close! But I didn't want to wait til Monday to renew it cos I mite need to use my car tomorrow! As we sat down to speak to the insurance person, we realized that I only had basic cover and did not renew my liability insurance cos last year, I was suppose to go back to Coast Capital to renew it but I misunderstood and thought the other insurance company had done it for me! Apparently, the other insurance company could not sell me CC's insurance as they are not related to them therefore THIS ENTIRE YEAR, I've been driving around without liability!! How lucky am I that I did NOT cause any accidents! WOW! I am very shocked but not to worry, I made sure I had liability insurance before I left the building! Kay was getting very hungry cos she had not eaten before we left the house so we decided to try this japanese udon restaurant on Broadway. She said Tashna has eaten here before and it was pretty authentic and yummy. Wow, we ordered HOUSE MADE GYOZAS and they were SUPER GOOD, very light and full of flavours! The noodle soup came with a rice ball (japanese style fried rice wrapped with seaweed) and 3 pcs of gyozas! It was a lot of food but luckily I ordered a soba wheat soup noodle dish and it was much smaller than Kay's larger udon soup! Her soup base was pretty yummy and I think I will def have to try that one next time! Once lunch was finished, we decided we should walk off our lunch! Hahahaha.... we decided to check out the lulu store and Change cos I needed to get measured into the correct size bra. Wow, what great service and selection of bras! I've had so many women tell me to go to this store for my next bra plus there is a huge sale so I decided to get measured and to pick up some pretty (and to fit!) bras for myself. Wow, I couldn't believe how well these bras fit me and the very informative SAs were very helpful in explaining why the sizes in other stores did not fit as well as these ones did! I came out with 4 bras and a matching panty for only $110!! I'm set for a while now :) I've never had any "pretty" bras so it'll be nice to wear these under my tops and I know how pretty they are :) After bra shopping, I could tell Kay needed a nap cos she only had 4 hours sleep, chit chatting on the phone all night! We decided to head home so she could nap and mom and I headed out for some errands. After our errands, mom and grams cooked a lovely seafood meal with ling cod and geoduck from Alaska! So yummy! It's not bad staying over at my mom's :)

Sunday Food Feast

2010-06-27T23:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a day we had! Kay and I met up with Ed (my cousin's hubby) for a day of JUST EATING OUT. OHMYGAWD, we had so much food!!! First, we started off at Crystal Mall food fair cos apparently, they had the best Siu Long Bao in all of Vancouver, this place called Wang's Shanghai Cuisine, makes all their dumplings fresh! Three women standing right up the front preparing the fresh dough and meat, it was pretty cool and OHMYGAWD super busy!! But we didn't just order the dumplings, he ordered a whole load of stuff from there!! Plus we had to try the Taiwanese beef noodles which happened to be right next door cos for the price, it was pretty decent for a food fair meal! After finishing off our "lunch", we headed off to Starbucks for a coffee and chit chat. Once we were done coffee and chit chatting, we decided to head over to Metro to see if he could get any gift ideas for his wife's birthday next month. He still had a few weeks to go but his father in law stole his gift idea which was the newly released iPad, my cousin is a huge apple junkie. We didn't see anything she would like at Metro so we decided to head downtown to Pacific Centre but Kay needed to go home first to change cos she was dressed like a bum and she didn't want to risk the chance of seeing anyone dressed like that. Once were in downtown, we went straight to the Apple store and those 2 were there for almost 45 minutes cos they were playing with the iPad. I figured Ed would have taken one home but he didn't want to ruin my cousin's b'day gift but he and Kay tried to convince me to buy one. Yes it's pretty neat but it was not cool enough to spend $500 on it! He is trying to convince me to cross over and to buy an Apple from his friend who is selling a barely used MacBook for $300. I responded politely NO THANK YOU as I am not a huge Apple fan and I have recently purchased an awesome kick@ss Toshiba notebook. Besides, I'm not a MacBook user, if I were to purchase an Apple, it would be the top model of the Mac line like the MacBook Air or MacPro. After 45 minutes, I managed to get them BOTH out of the store (with a bit of annoyed whining) cos I was about to lose my patience with them and once out of the store, we headed straight into Browns. A huge shoe sale to clear out the summer stock, the D&G pumps I've been eyeing were priced down to $199 from $695 but not in the fuchsia :( only in the black and I didn't want another pair of black shoes plus the heart cut outs were not as distinct in the black versus the fuchsia. Over to Holt Renfrew, to my surprise HR was having their end of season sale plus the 2nd mark down was today so many beautiful clothes in my size and at such a great price but the few pieces I did pick out did not fit me too well :( which means I didn't end up purchasing anything :( Over in their shoe selection, a pair of Jimmy Choos in this beautiful turquoise colour and in my size, marked down from $1295 to $495 but I could not justify spending THAT MUCH money on a pair of shoes! Even tho they were so beautiful and looked great on my feet! Also many pairs of beautiful Louboutins on sale again in my size but still at the sale price, not within my shoe budget or maximum price range for me to purchase unless of course I won the Lotto Max then I wouldn't think TWICE! Not surprising, I found my SWs and Coach shoes but even with the 2nd mark down, it was still more expensive than what I had paid for them on sale at Zappos and Coach store! Oh well, nothing for me again! :( After HR, Kay was getting a bit hungry so we headed outside and onto Robson street for a crepe cos Kay was craving for a sweet crepe. I didn't want a crepe cos I was still full from lunch but I could use a drink and since the sun finally came out, we decided to head over to Yaletown to check out the new Keg cos I haven't been. Ed was shocked that I had no idea about all the places that he talked about or haven't been to or heard of it cos I'm such a foodie :P The new Keg in Yaletown had a really cool rooftop patio so we decided it would be a nice place to chill for drinks and appetizers. Wow it's a very different scene from the downstairs restaurant and if I lived closer to Yaletown, I would probably come up here for drinks more often! After a couple glasses of wine and a couple of appy's, I was craving for dessert so he insisted on taking us to Kits for the best banana parfait in Vancouver! OMG, never ending day of eating and drinking! Fuel on West 4th revamped itself and became reFuel, Ed and his eating buddy used to come here all the time for the calamari but they had taken it off the menu so he didn't come in for a while but when we arrived, another disappointment! It seems, the Banana Parfait Ed was talking about was also not on the menu any longer! He was so disappointed and felt so bad that it wasn't available since he had convinced us it was the best dessert in Vancouver! The executive chef suggested the chocolate brownie on the dessert menu cos he guaranteed us that it was the BEST decadent chocolate brownie dessert I'd ever have so I gave it a try since I love chocolate! Gawsh was it ever decadent and delicious! Super rich but so very yummy!! Ed also had another beer and tried pork dried ribs with the executive chef's own homemade BBQ sauce. OMG, the BBQ sauce was amazing and we both agreed that he should def bottle that stuff cos it would fly off the shelves if he did!!!! I will def have to go back there again, yes that's how amazing the BBQ sauce is!!! We were sitting at the bar cos Ed like sitting there so he could chat with the executive chef, Ed found out that this coming Wednesday would be a pig feast which meant for $50 a person, they would have 2 roasted pigs for the eating and 2 kegs of beer for the drinking. Now I would have totally wanted to do this but starting this week (Monday in fact), I'm going on a very strict diet of chicken breast and vegetables cos I could not button a pair of pants last week!! I've had way too much good food and have not done enough cardio or swimming! I have been meaning to hit the Grouse Grind as well but I haven't really been motivated to since I've heard the GG has newly added a staircase up the trail. Also, it now costs $10 to catch the tram back down the mountain! WTF?!?!?!?! Oh well, I will try to do it once or twice with Charly this summer. He's been going to the GG at least once a week I think, good for him! After reFuel, it was getting late and I still had things to do at the condo so we asked Ed if we could call it a nite. The chef convinced him the BEST chicken wings were at Campagnolo Restaurant on Main street and he really wanted to go to try them out, one last stop, but I could not eat anymore and even tho I was stuffed, if we had gone to Campagnolo's, I would not have been able to stop myself from eating the wings!!! So I had to decline :( He was good about it and I'm sure he and his wife will go there sometime this week to try them out :) Gawsh it was such a fun and entertaining day but we were pretty tired and ready to pass out! Wish I could go to the pig feast :( Oh well next time! I def learned a lot about food and the restaurants in Vancouver from Ed. I think he really should blog about his eating adventures!

Diving Board

2010-06-24T21:00:00.000-07:00

Even with all the drama going on in my life at this moment, I still made it to my last swimming class. I really needed it as well, it was a nice short break for me. I was a bit sad as this was my last class and hopefully, I'll be able to take Aqua Adult 2 in a couple of months but for now, I will practice my front and back crawl. Tonite, we practiced our front and back crawl in the shallow end and then we got to try on flippers, oh my that was super fun! Flippers magically turn you into a mermaid, you move so quickly and smoothly in the water and I was instantly comfortable in them. Altho some of the others were having a hard time using them, I really love them! I think I need to pick up a pair for myself! After swimming and practicing with the flippers, it was time to finish off the class in the deep end of the pool. We swam across, I did it very quickly while the others were having to do it on their back or with a flotation device. I did my front crawl all the way to the deep end and by half way thru, I was a bit shocked by the depth of the deep end but quickly regained myself to get to the end :) After everyone arrived, it was time to jump off the diving board! She did have a flotation device to assist but I went twice without it and it was such a RUSH! I am so excited, I can't wait to swim lengths across the pool!!! By the end of the class, she handed us a pamphlet on what we had learned and a guide to help us with our techniques. I asked her if I was ready for Aqua Adult 2 and she said yes but for the rest of the class not to worry about going back into Aqua Adult 1 since this class is 6 classes condensed into 1! I can't wait to do Aqua Adult 2 and I'm so proud of how quickly I accomplished this goal! I can't believe just a few weeks ago I was terrified to put my head into the water and now I can do the front and back crawl the right way!!!

Family Emergency

2010-06-22T23:59:00.000-07:00

Oh dear, we got some bad news tonite and I will have to call into work to take the rest of the week off..... hopefully, we will get it all sorted out by this weekend......

Front Crawl

2010-06-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

I officially learned the front crawl tonite! It was awesome, I'm so excited and I can't wait to actually go swimming in a pool!! Our instructor was not here today so we had a sub, she noticed how quickly I was swimming and taught me 2 new steps, well one is to prepare me for the "front" crawl :) I had an exercise where I bring my arm up from the water and brush my finger tips along the water, this is to let me know how it feels to have my elbows up in the air. After a few laps of this, she directed me to point my fingers and slant my arms like a curve as my hand hits the water to pull back, it feels like I'm scooping the water. No longer a straight arm crawl :) It was awesome, can't wait to use my new front crawl move in the pool!

Happy Father's Day!

2010-06-20T22:00:00.000-07:00

Tonite, we took my father out for Korean BBQ, Jang Mo Jib in Richmond, originally my father wanted us to stay at his place so he could cook dinner cos he didn't want us to spend any money but it doesn't feel right that my father cook on this only day that he doesn't have to! We were going to do take out Japanese but I decided it would not be good to do take out cos Kay and I were planning on heading over there earlier to spend some time with him. I managed to book a last minute reservation for 7.30pm at JMJ Korean Restaurant on Alexandra Road. We have never been there before but Kay gave it good reviews and I noticed that this Korean chain is all over Vancouver! I did some googling and it seems that they have pretty authentic and yummy dishes but the lack of customer service has turned some customers off. Well it was def not the best CS and we were very disappointed that we did not get our side dishes or rice or drinks until after the first dish arrived to our table. We had only ordered 4 dishes, 2 bbq meats (one being top quality ribs with a $15 extra charge for AAA+), a Korean noodle dish and their version of gyozas. Luckily they forgot our gyoza order as we were very full from the other 3 dishes! It was a nice evening with our dad and he looks like his disease isn't progressing too quickly but he still isn't in the best health. Must make an effort to go out and visit him more often. Happy Father's Day!

Great Uncle Daniel's Funeral

2010-06-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

This morning, I attended my Great Uncle Daniel's funeral at Ocean View with my mom and grandma. I'm really shocked and surprised he passed this week since we will be celebrating his 100th birthday this August. But the dinner party will still go on as the family has decided it will be a celebration of his life. The funeral was very touching esp when the eldest grandson gave his eulogy. After the service, followed a tea / coffee reception in the next room and I met up with so many family members that I haven't seen in many years plus I got to catch up with my cousin, Laurene and her new husband, Ed. It was really good to see all the family and how strong and close they all are. It was heartbreaking though to see my grandma cry and distraught over her brother's death. The siblings are very close and with so many of them, how could one not be heartbroken to see all the grandmas crying. I know it def runs on my grandma's side that they all live a very long life, my grandma just turned 91 this May and she is going to keep going for another 10 years I'm sure! Apparently, the secret of long life is to enjoy every minute of life and never think about your age or how old you are cos age is just a number. This man drank a beer with every meal and danced his entire life, he was a very happy, positive and generous man. He will be greatly missed but his spirit will continue you on as he watches over everyone in his family. R.I.P. Great Uncle Daniel.

Artizia, Megahair, IHOP

2010-06-19T22:25:00.001-07:00

Today, I had a hair appointment at Megahair Salon at Metrotown with Kelly, I've seen her work and she seems pretty good at what she does but I was still a bit afraid to get my hair cut after the last time but it's been 4 months which means it's time for a haircut as it's getting unmanageable. Kelly did a great job at keeping the length and giving my hair more volume and shape by add multiple layers in my hair. My hair is pretty thick and heavy so it was weighing down on my face esp the length. I was comfortable around her and I enjoyed talking to her about my hair and other things, I think overall she did a really great job and altho I am not used to having my hair so thinned out, I think I'll keep going to her plus I can't believe how reasonably priced her fees are! At $40 a wash, cut and dry, that's very reasonable and I can def maintain my hair at that price :) After my cut, we headed over to IHOP cos Kay was craving it and the last time I told her I'd take her but I ended up having to run errands with my mom. Gawsh, it was yummy and very filling but so worth it cos we don't do it often :) After brunch, we headed over to Shoppers Drug Mart cos Kay wanted to buy a box of colour for her hair. We decided to head over to Metrotown and we headed back into Aritzia cos the last time we were in there, we really didn't get a good look at the entire store as I was really just looking for my 3 specific items. While we were in there, we bumped into Jas and she was in there to check out the new store plus take another look at the boyfriend blazer in the dark grey which she has been eyeing for some time. Kay found a couple of more items to purchase, she picked up a white collar button top and a white tank top to go with her navy blue shorts while I was convinced by both Jas and Kay to pick up a black tank top cos it's suppose to be the most comfortable tanky ever. After our purchases, we decided it was time to go home cos I was getting really tired from the little sleep I got that nite cos the boys woke me up this morning at 9.30 when they left our place. I needed to go home and take a nap cos I was soooo sleepy. After my nap, Kay was getting pretty upset with her Blackberry Curve as the trackpad kept freezing up so we headed back into the mall to the Fido store for a sales assistant to take a look at it and see if they could fix the issue. It looks like this is a common problem amongst the Curves and she said it was best to call the CS line to ask for a replacement. She mentioned that I should tell CS that I had brought the phone in to a Fido store and the SA recommends replacing it cos she's taken a look over it and it's def something wrong with the trackpad. Kay is addicted and glued to her berry so she'll be pretty upset when we have to return it for a new one. Oh well back to her Samsung if she wants to stay in touch with her friends! Once we were finished with Fido, we headed home to make dinner and clean the condo a bit. We need to clean this place up before HonHon's next visit and we are hoping to see him at the end of July or the beginning of August. Maybe he can be here for my birthday, that will be a real treat! He would have made both of our birthdays this year and he hasn't made it our birthdays since he left Vancouver but if he's here for my birthday, I can't expect him to pay for the entire LV handbag cos I sorta made that the deal that he would have to pay the entire bag if he left a week before my birthday! :( Oh well.... guess we'll see when his next visit will be!

A-team & Kay's 1st Summer Party

2010-06-19T01:00:00.000-07:00

Tonite, Kay and Tash held their first summer "end of school year" party with 4 of their friends. Since I did not want to be around 6 teenagers all nite, I decided to head out for a movie with Jas. We wanted to catch SATC2 but missed the early show and the next show was way too late for us so we ended up having dessert at Joey's before catching A-team at a more reasonable time slot. A-team was ok, a lot of action and I could have rented this one instead of watching it in the theatre but I really enjoyed watching Bradley Cooper on the big screen :) I have such a crush on him oh my! When I arrived home, I expected the kids to be gone and done with but that was not the case. Apparently a light weight, Klye, had passed out on my living room floor cos he couldn't take his alcohol (they were drinking SOHO and Sourpuss which IMO is not really that strong!) and Jessie stayed behind cos those 2 were going to go home together. But by midnite, Kyle was still passed out so I decided it would be safest for them to just stay the nite. There was no way J could carry Kyle home even tho J was a big white dude. At first, they just left him on the floor to sleep it off but I mentioned that the weakest person to pass out first and on the floor should get their face drawn on. Oops me bad. Not only did they draw all over his face, they gave him nightmares as he was sleeping by whispering "the clowns are out to get you" in his ear and he started running in his sleep on the floor! It was kinda funny but eventually I told them to leave him alone cos he's in a subconscious state and they might really screw him up! Poor guy is terrified of clowns! It's been a long day at work and I'm pooped so I left them be in the living room to sleep, altho I'm pretty sure they won't get that much sleep tonite!

Farmer's Market & Aritzia

2010-06-16T21:49:00.001-07:00

Wow what a great way to end a work day! Kay and I went over to Aritzia on Granville Street before hitting the Farmer's Market at Main Street. I had asked her to pick up the discount postcards that Aritzia sends for their summer sale and since we moved I forgotten to update our address so it has been sitting at my mom's place for almost a week! This year, I got a free towel - FINALLY! I've spent enough money in that store to get a free gift and to get the VIP discounts that start this week :) I didn't find anything at the Granville store so we headed off to the market and boy what a great market! There were so many veggies and I was super excited to head over to Fresh Off The Boat to pick up my spot prawns and sable fish :) I spent a $100 on fish / prawns! I also got a great big basket of local strawberries and a few different kinds of asian veggies which was surprising cos I didn't think I would find asian veggies at the market! After the market, we headed home to make a quick dinner and headed over to Metrotown's Aritzia to check out some of the items I was hoping to find so I could purchase them with my discount!! Wow, the newly renovated Aritzia is so huge and they had every item I wanted!! I found my Community sweater (mix of cashmere & silk), a very cute Community dress and I picked up another silk top by Central Park West in black cos I have one in purple and I love it! All 3 pieces for a total of $260! That's an awesome price since if I purchased all 3 without the discount, it would have costs me over $350! I also bought Kay her black TNA hoodie cos she's been eyeing mine for a while and I didn't want to share mine. After our purchases, we walked around and decided to head home but not without dessert :) We picked up a frozen yogurt each from Qoola :) Mmmm....frogurt! It was a great shopping day!! Now must stay away from Aritzia ......

Baby Kyle!

2010-06-13T17:00:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, Jas and I went to a party held by Fran & Ryan to meet their little guy, Kyle. Wow, he looks like a white baby boy and I don't see any asian in him but I'm sure as he gets older, he'll have some asian features. It was good to catch up with Fran and I saw people that I haven't seen in years. Altho I don't really have much in common with these people esp when it comes to their babies and kids, it was still good to see everyone. Thankfully, I don't have to do these sorta things too often. It's really strange to see Fran as a mom since I've always known her to be so career oriented and not so interested in raising a family. She still plans on heading back to work real soon and they will be getting a live-in nanny when she goes back to work. I also saw Bryan and his new family which is cool since I can't believe how grown up we all became. I remember the days of partying in Seattle and now all these guys are married and having babies! I think it was hard for Jas to be surrounded by kids and babies since she's not interested in having any. I also felt a bit uncomfortable since I've already had one and mine is a teenager! With all the kids running around, I def did not feel the baby bug and I think I'm done with having any more babies! Mine is almost out of the house! After the gathering, we were suppose to head out for dinner with Fran and family but it looked like everyone was leaving and Jas and I decided to take off as well. I'm sure Fran will have an awesome time raising her little boy and hopefully, she'll be able to juggle baby and career!

Granville Island, DT Shopping, Swimming & Dinner!

2010-06-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, what an awesome day!! Today was the first really warm and beautiful day in Vancouver so I headed over to Granville Island with Jas to pick up some fresh veggies and fruit. I missed the Trout Lake market as I didn't get up in time to make it out there. I forgotten how expensive the produce is at the market on Granville Island! I picked up a few items before we decided to head into downtown so I could look at the Louis Vuitton handbag that HonHon is going to buy for my birthday :) There were only 2 left in the LV boutique, I couldn't help myself, I had to charge it right there and then cos this one is not a displayed model and it was made in France!!! It's a nice casual over the body purse which is what I'm looking for and it will be good for traveling (once I start!) and it wasn't too expensive about $900 including taxes! Before purchasing the handbag, we had walked around downtown Robson street and went to Coach cos Jas got a Coach gift card for her birthday from her co-workers. She hadn't found anything in there and she was hoping she could find something this time but I ended up using her GC on a pair of cute Coach flats! What a great sale, 50% off and the total cost of the shoes? Only $70 and they didn't even look like Coach shoes. We decided after the shopping, it was time to call it a day and I still had to get home to meet Marlo cos she was going to help me with my front crawl. Once she arrived, we decided to swim first and then we would eat dinner since we'd burn off a lot of energy in the pool. Wow, she's an awesome tutor, she really helped me with my swimming and pointed out some things to me like relaxing my shoulder and blowing air out more evenly in the water. The next time we go swimming, we decided it would be very beneficial for Cece to come with us cos she could really help her out with her swimming. After our swimming, gosh were we surprised to be swimming for more than an hour, we decided it was time to head back upstairs for dinner. Dinner menu were sauteed fresh local veggies and steamed sable fish with a little bit of sea salt, black pepper and fresh lemon. Once we finished with dinner, we went off to rent a movie, Valentine's Day and pick up some bubble tea for dessert. We had a long night of chatting and she ended up staying the night since I didn't want her driving home at 3am!! When I woke up this morning, she had already left :( I was a bit saddened that we didn't get to say good bye but I knew she had to get back to her dog, Kanye and she had a date with Mr. D. It was an awesome night and I always have a great time with Marlo! She and I are so much alike it's crazy! She can even sense me when I'm thinking of her!!!

Aqua Riva

2010-06-11T22:00:00.000-07:00

A birthday dinner with KD at the Aqua Riva, Jas and I shared the Seafood Trio, omg so delicious! It was a good time for Jas and KD to catch up since they hadn't seen each other in over a year. All in all, the meal was decent altho the dessert was gross! And expensive :( Oh well, next time, no dessert! It was a great way to end the long work week.....

Frontcrawl & Backcrawl

2010-06-10T21:00:00.000-07:00

OHMYGAWSH! I finally managed the side float without a kick board! I'm so happy and proud of myself! At first, I was using it but trying not to grab it instead pushing the board away from me as I did the front crawl and barely touching it while on my side. I can't believe it, I'm so happy to finally not have to depend on the board. I think I will get a lot more practice on this move this coming Saturday. I was really happy with my improvement and the sub instructor noticed how advanced I was so she asked me to move from the shallow water over to the deeper end of the pool. What an improvement! I guess my arms are too long for the shallow end so I kept hitting my hands on the bottom of the pool which may have caused me to lose balance on my crawl. But after practicing in the deeper end, it really made the difference! We also learned a new item, the back crawl which is much harder than it sounds! Balancing on my back is one of my best skills but trying to move the arms back and forth in opposite directions is HARD! But I'm sure I will get this move in no time as long as I practice, I'm so excited!! I'm really learning to SWIM :)

Surprise!

2010-06-10T19:00:00.000-07:00

My bebe is the bestest! She is so thoughtful and picked up this mini Hello Kitty for me cos she knew I would just love it! And cos she's a sweetie and loves her mama :) Now my tanned Hello Kitty has a friend! Hehehe

Dinner with Lil Sis :)

2010-06-09T21:35:00.000-07:00

Tonite, T came by for dinner cos I haven't seen her in AGES!!! We had lots to catch up on so I suggested I'd make a nice healthy dinner and she can bring a healthy or non healthy dessert! She was going to bake but ended up picking up yummy brownies from Capers :) Dinner was baked wild salmon with fresh organic dill, local organic spinach quickly sauteed with organic garlic and brown basmati brown rice with organic cilantro. So delish! It was great catching up with T! We are going to try to do this more often :)

Summer Slingbacks!

2010-06-09T16:00:00.000-07:00

My new Stuart Weitzman slingback pumps, Stiltsslings are here!! I'm so excited and wish the sunshine would show up so I can wear them!! They are perfect for summer and will work very well with my summer wardrobe! Also, due to my shoe addiction, I'm a VIP member which means I get free NEXT DAY AIR shipping!! Sweet!!

Deep End!

2010-06-08T21:00:00.000-07:00

Tonite's swimming lesson ended with a BIG SPLASH in the deep end of the pool! We had a great class and we are starting to learn the front crawl which is very exciting! I am hoping to float on my side without the kick board altho I am having problems doing so right now. Also I am trying to blow the bubbles out of my mouth instead of my nose since I have to open my mouth when I do my side float to suck in fresh air before dunking my head back into the water. Right now I'm trying to get as much practice as I can, I realized in the previous class that I am tensing my shoulders and having too many things to think about as I'm doing the side float! Like blow, kick, arms moving forward, side turn, kick harder, BREATHE!!! Hahahaha, oh well it'll probably take me years of practice before I'm really comfortable and smooth but right now the goal is to manage the front crawl without sinking on my side! Before ending our class, the instructor made each one of us jump into the deep end as she wanted us to get comfortable with the idea of it. Of course, we all wore life jackets and there were a few of us that managed to jump in right away while others had to take their time and did not make quite a splash, another option to jumping in was to get in off the ledge. I was so excited in fact that I started to bounce up in down in my life jacket hoping to catch a glimpse of HOW DEEP the water was! My instructor was impressed that I was so excited to be in the deep end and let me tell you, it was super deep and a bit scary! But it's so much fun and I'm so glad that I decided to take swimming classes. I'm enjoying my classes and swimming so much more than hot yoga! Luckily, I have quite a couple of intense swimmer friends so if I ever feel lonely in my own pool, I can have a "swimming" gathering! :)

Purple!

2010-06-08T15:00:00.000-07:00

Monthly visit with the orthodontist! Purple which really stands out!! Wow, her teeth are looking pretty good and I can't wait to see them when they are completely done. I am now thinking about taking on a part time job so I can get braces too!

Happy Birthday Val!

2010-06-07T13:00:00.000-07:00

Today we celebrated Val's birthday at Coast Restaurant and it was yummy. I decided to try something different so I went with a mango California roll with real crab and 3 raw oysters. The roll wasn't as good as Irashai Grill on Alberni Street cos they have amazing sushi / rolls but not too bad for lunch and just enough to keep me full til dinner. Besides, I made red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing for Val's birthday but they didn't really turn out so I only brought a few to share esp one for the birthday girl. I hope she had a great birthday!

1st BBQ of the Summer

2010-06-05T23:00:00.000-07:00

Late this afternoon, I met up with Rhoda to catch up since we haven't seen each other in 2 weeks. Wow, what a change, she cut 13" off her hair and I was shocked how short it looked. She looks really good though and so much younger! Once she got her nails done, she was getting a manicure and pedicure at Brentwood, we weren't quite hungry yet so we decided to head over to Metrotown Centre to walk around while we decide where to go eat. We wandered through the mall and chatted about what's been going on before deciding that we would eat something close by cos she may have to go out clubbing with some out of town friends who were in town for the weekend. Before heading over to the restaurant, she got a bbm from her god-brother inviting us over for a (very last minute) BBQ and wanted to know if she wanted to swing by for food. Luckily for us, we had not left for the restaurant so we decided to head over there, who would turn down a BBQ?? Altho he was holding the BBQ, he was holding it at someone else's house! Cathy & Benson (old friends from high school) just moved into their newly renovated house and Rhoda missed out on their housewarming party the week before so it was the perfect opportunity to see their new place. Also, we wanted to see how much baby Chase has grown, oh my has he grown so much since the last we saw him! He is soooo cute and so chubby, perfect for kissing and hugging! The BBQ started late as it was a last minute but once the grill was set up and food was cooked, it was a great evening on catching up and visiting old friends. The inside of the house is beautiful and you wouldn't be able to tell from the outside what it looked like on the inside. An amazing job and I can't wait to see what they do on the outside! It's too bad that their neighbors don't take good care of their side (it's a duplex) cos it would be nice if they could repaint the entire house. Also, the next thing to be renovated is their patio, it's a bit old and feels unstable like it's going to fall down, luckily we didn't fall through! Altho he said as long as we didn't put too much weight, it should be ok :) Good times!

MAC Cosmetics

2010-06-03T14:00:00.000-07:00

On my lunch hour, I went over to MAC Cosmetics to pick up a couple of gel liners (fluidline) in blacktrack (solid flat black) and dipdown (deep dark flat brown) and a new eyeshadow brush, #214 a short, rounded, double-chiselled brush with soft, natural bristles which can be used with shadow to line and smudge around the lash line and very effective for densely shading lids. I am so excited to try this new brush and I'm really excited to go back to the fluidline, I'm not liking the eye pencils for daily use as it's not as precise as using the fluidline! I heart shopping for makeup :)

Main Street Farmer's Market

2010-06-02T17:30:00.000-07:00

YEAH!! The first Main Street market started TODAY! Kay came by my work and we headed to the market together, this is something we do every Wednesday when the summer markets start. It's kinda tradition now and I really enjoy having her shop with me picking out our fruits and veggies plus getting to spend quality time together. I was super happy to see all the fresh local veggies and fruits but slightly disappointed with no berries since we haven't been having the best berry season so there were none :( But I did see familiar faces and fave stands like Kay @ The Other Eden (best handmade soaps ever!), Honey Stand with handmade honey chap stick (for Kay) and Fresh Off The Boat (best freshest frozen fish ever!). I think I spent half of our grocery budget on FISH! But so worth it and I plan on ordering 2 lbs of spot prawns (only in season for 2 months) to be picked up on her next Wednesday market. I am very excited to try those and I know they are going to be so delicious cos Spot Prawns are amazing, I was lucky enough to try some last summer at Hamilton Street Grill. It's also tradition for Kay to pick up a apple cider from the market stand and a sweet item before heading out. There was a new baked goods stand that were selling 2 kinds of yummy cinnamon buns, one with cranberries and one with nuts. Of course Kay picked the one with cranberries. It was an awesome first farmer's market!

EPiC Vancouver

2010-05-30T20:00:00.000-07:00

Today, I met up with my cousin and aunt at the EPiC exhibition being held in the Convention Centre, I usually spend the day (Sunday) with my mom so I asked if she wanted to come along and figured it would be nice for her to catch up with my aunt. Also, this way I won't feel so guilty about not spending the entire day with her if I went without her. Wow, EPiC was not what I thought (altho I have never been so I wasn't even sure what to expect) and I ended up buying a lot of great items, spending $200 or more which is surprising because I didn't think I would end up with much at all. I bought way more items from here than EAT and I usually pick up a lot of great stuff at EAT. I wasn't expecting to spend more than an hour there but ended up wandering and stopping at many stands for over 2 hours! I will def make this exhibition every year and I really enjoyed learning and picking up new products. I was very excited to find Hardbites at this exhibition cos I was disappointed there were not at EAT yesterday. With so many great products, I'm just going to list them in bullet form:

Amazing all natural BBQ sauce, Rufus Teague
100% organic and fair trade cotton face towels, fibrEthik
Soup mix, Glenlochar Kitchens from Victoria
Citrus Hand Sanitizer, Natureclean
Organic green tea powder and a bamboo whisk for mixing the tea, DOMATCHA
The most amazing and smoothest coffee I've ever had and couldn't believe these coffee beans are from Thailand! Doi Chaang
Pure wild blueberry juice and wine grapes but non-alcoholic, a super juice and 100% natural without sugar, PureBlue
Local Savings for Sustainable Living, GreenZebra - coupon book at half price

Also I picked up a lot of brochures and information on some great eco-friendly and / or sustainable products which I either ran out of cash (many stands did not take credit cards) or did not have the item to buy at the exhibition. Edible products like Winds of Change (imported by International Cellars) - BC's first fair trade wine and 100% organic and Denman Island Chocolate - organic dark chocolate. There was even a wedding section that featured local or recycled or sustainable items for your wedding, one designer named Caroline Calvert Couture caught my eye, she has options and started offering eco-friendly fabric choices! I also found some lovely home items like in Bed organics - offers great natural latex rubber pillows and organic wool comforters which are locally produced and 100% natural - I plan on purchasing one of these pillows in the near future; Living Wood Design - beautiful, practical and eco-friendly oak or pine furniture; Living Edge Design - amazingly beautiful reclaimed or refined furniture altho a bit more expensive, I would love to one day own a few pieces from their collection; Essentia - natural memory foam mattresses, petroleum-free foam with many unique benefits, I didn't get any prices on these mattresses but I'm sure it's worth every single dollar as it's biodegradable and 100% natural latex. One item that caught my eye as well is the Bokashicycle, a non smelly indoor compost, very cool.

EAT Vancouver & Prince of Persia

2010-05-29T20:15:00.000-07:00

Today I met up with Jas and we headed over to EAT Vancouver at the new Vancouver Convention Centre. Wow the new convention centre is so nice! Wish I remembered to bring my camera but I did not :( I figured the exhibition would be huge since it was held at the VCC but it was not. We were slightly disappointed with EAT Vancouver and it seemed much smaller than the years before. Maybe cos EPiC had the larger section, I don't know but I didn't know both events would be held the same weekend, maybe I will try to get to EPiC tomorrow. But of course at EAT, I did end up with some good products from EAT, I picked up 12 pairs - yes, 12 pairs of gloves from u-like gloves that have a velvety soft lining and are latex free, also reinforced fingertips which makes these gloves last 6 months or longer! Regular price $3.99/pair but at the exhibit, $1.99 a pair of 12 for $20! I also picked up 3 packs of Milsean Demerara Butter Crunch, 3 for $24! That's a great price and I'm so addicted to these! My project director's wife picked up a few of these bars for me a couple of Xmas's ago and when I googled them, I found out these are made right out of Aldergrove but you can only buy them at their store which made me very sad since I never go out to Aldergrove. I have been craving for these for a while and was so excited they were at EAT. I was so excited that I bought THREE bags to take home. The SA mentioned you can now purchase the butter crunch on their website so happy to hear that cos I'm sure I'll finish these in no time! After EAT, we were going to Robson Street to do some shopping but we ended up watching Prince of Persia instead cos Sex and The City 2 was sold out!! Prince of Persia was full of action and Jake Gyllenhaal was super HOT in the movie but the storyline was blah. After the movie, we decided to call it a day cos the weather was so crappy plus I still had errands to do like clean the washrooms and do the laundry.

Cool Tshirts

2010-05-27T14:30:00.000-07:00

Kay and I ordered a t-shirt each from Karmaloop cos the t-shirt she has been eyeing is finally on sale and there were only 3 left in her size. She somehow convinced me (not too hard when it comes to Hello Kitty) to let her use my credit card to order this t-shirt but I wasn't going to order it unless I could find something for myself. She directed me to the tokidoki for Hello Kitty t-shirts and I found the CUTEST t-shirt! We ordered it on Tuesday night and it arrived this afternoon! Wow so fast, thanks Karmaloop and DHL!!

Swimming Lessons!

2010-05-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

Tonite I started my first swimming lesson in Aqua Adult at Bonsor Community Centre. I was excited but nervous about this class but it turned out really great! I'm glad to know I am not the only adult out there who can't swim properly. It is also good to learn the basics all over again as in why we need to put our head in the water and how to balance our body in the water. Altho I am more advanced than the others in the class, it is good practice at fighting my fear and having my head into the water. It's a 45 minute class but it went by quickly, we learned two steps which is floating on our front and floating on our back with flotation devices of course, thank goodness for those kickboards! Altho by the middle of the class, I did not use them cos I am quite comfortable in floating on both sides. Can't wait to learn more and learn the front crawl, this will be a challenge!

Happy 91st Birthday Grandma!

2010-05-22T23:30:00.000-07:00

Tonite, we celebrated my grandma's 91st birthday at Shanghai River Restaurant in Richmond. The start of the dinner wasn't very good as they pushed our 7:30pm reservation to almost 8pm! We also came to this restaurant cos we wanted to eat crispy duck skin and mom had reserved a plate when she made our resos but apparently, they had sold out and didn't have a dish for us! Gosh, mom was super angry and wanted to leave the restaurant for another place. But we thought it was best to stay since we've already sat down which we had to wait 30 minutes for this table and it's a Saturday which means all the restaurants in the area would be super busy and we'd have to wait another 30 minutes for another table! But it was such a disappointment that we did not have the crispy duck skin since it was a birthday request. The manager seemed to be very apologetic altho mom didn't think so and he offered us a shredded duck dish served with lettuce wrap. This is kinda ironic since we did not want to eat this dish and was only going to go for the crispy skin. We ordered a few of the main dishes to share but we found the dishes very bland and such a disappointment. We will not be coming back to this place and we will try Northern Delicacy in Aberdeen the next time we want to eat Shanghainese cuisine or Xiao Long Baos (steamed pork dumplings). After dinner, we asked for our fresh mango cake to be served and the waitress looked confused. My goodness, the service is not great at all but can't expect much from an asian restaurant. I can't believe a year has past since my sister was here :( Makes me kinda sad but I'm sure I'll see her soon, hopefully next Spring!

Lunch with the Girls!

2010-05-22T17:00:00.000-07:00

Today, I met up with C and M for a long over due lunch and to catch up on gossip and girl talk. We haven't seen each other since M left but she has been super busy studying for her mid-term which she took this morning. I know she did kick@ss on this mid term cos she studied every single day for over a month! I can't wait to hear the scores but I am certain she aced the exam! C & M came by to pick me up and we headed over to Oliver Twist Pub on Edmonds street, this seems to be our thing, pub food for lunch :) Burger platters at the pubs are always the best, it's so much better than Milestones or Cactus Club and it costs less plus there's more food! I think this will be our official theme, pub food for lunch and take out for dinner! After our lunch, we headed over to Metrotown for some frozen yogurt and while we ate our yogurt, we sat in a lounge area to chat and people watch. We always have such a good time together and we can talk about EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING. No judgment, no criticism, no funny looks or worried thoughts about what words are coming out of your mouth or thoughts out of your brain. Plus I love how they can relate to my "lunatic" tendencies and even encourage or add to my ideas while others would find them strange. I heart these girls!

i heart u

2010-05-22T12:35:00.000-07:00

don't know if i could ever be
w/out u cause boy u complete me
and in time i know that we'll both see
that we're all we need

Cause your the apple to my pie
your the straw to my berry
your the smoke to my high
and your the one i wanna marry

Cause your the one for me for me (for me)
and i'm the one for you for u (for u)
u take the both of us of us (of us)
and were the perfect two

were the perfect two
were the perfect two
baby me and you
were the perfect two

Song by Auburn - Perfect Two (Remix)

Homemade Granola Bars

2010-05-17T22:00:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness! Homemade granola bars, a much yummier and healthier alternative than buying the crap in the supermarket! It's packed with organic oats, raw sugar, honey, butter, plenty of walnuts, dried fruits and seeds! I didn't have the dried apricot cos I didn't realize I ran out. I made these for Rhoda cos she's always going on about how I should pick up a granola bar when I'm hungry (cos I'm constantly needing a snack around 3pm)! I don't buy that crap in the stores so I decided to make some for work! So glad I did!!! Super good :)

Death in the Family

2010-05-16T11:49:00.000-07:00

R.I.P JOSH STECKLEY

I just found out some horrific news and I still cannot believe that it's true. I can't can't can't! I know it's not a lie but I just saw Josh a few weeks ago and I cannot believe he's dead. He's in Ecuador building homes for the less fortunate children in this country and I am assuming on his weekend break, he went water rafting with the others and there was an accident where the raft flipped over. Only 5 people of the 6 were saved, Josh got pulled under the current and they could not reach him. I am so saddened to hear this news and my condolences are with his family....RIP JOSH STECKLEY, YOU WILL BE GREATLY MISSED.....

Already, so soon?

2010-05-13T23:45:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's already that time where HonHon has to head back to Taipei! It doesn't feel like he's been here for a week and these visits feel like they get shorter and shorter each time he comes even tho we know it's not any less that he usually does. Well that's not always true, this trip was shortened by 3 days due to him booking around Kay's 16th birthday. But hopefully, he will be back at the end of June or beginning of July which is in no time! :) Miss you HonHon xoxo

Swimming Lessons

2010-05-11T20:00:00.000-07:00

I signed up for swimming lessons at Bonsor Community Centre tonite! I'm so excited to (re-learn) learn how to swim :) I had taken swimming lessons when I was younger but never made it to the end of the program. So I guess, I never really learned how to properly swim and I am excited to learn how to breathe, front stroke, and put my head into the water. Recently, I have taken up swimming again for fitness but I feel I'm not getting that much of a workout as I'm not really swimming correctly and my head is always above water. I would like to improve my swimming speed so I can get more swimming into a 20 minute workout :) So excited, I even picked up a one piece Nike swimming suit for the lessons! Woot Woot!

Instant Boost

2010-05-10T13:23:00.000-07:00

I know I have an amazing man in my life when he can make me feel better about myself in an instant!

Me: I am getting so huge, I can't get into my jeans!

HonHon: NO, you bought them too small!

I was trying to get into my Citizens of Humanity jeans this afternoon.....

Happy Mama's Day!

2010-05-09T18:13:00.000-07:00

Lobster Benedict - Mama's Day BrunchMini Muffins

HAPPY MAMA'S DAY!!!!

Kay and HonHon took me out for mama's day brunch at Coast restaurant in downtown, Vancouver. It was so yummy and the lobster benedict was sooo good, it was def worth the traffic to get into downtown for this meal! After brunch, we walked around downtown for a bit, stopping into the Louis Vuitton store to look at the LV Monogram Galleria PM as I am still looking for a traveling handbag. I really do like the shape and the roominess of this handbag, it might be a perfect traveling and every day handbag. But I'm not sure as yet cos I don't really like the LV monogram and I prefer the Passy GM in the Epi line but the cost is $1780! Yikes! That's a lot of money so I need to start saving up for it. After Louis Vuitton, we walked over to Pacific Centre to window shop before calling it an afternoon as Kay got a call for a shift this evening. She was going to miss dinner if she took this shift but she hasn't been getting any shifts so I said it would be ok since she's already spent the afternoon with me. Once we arrived home, HonHon needed to take a nap and I decided to walk over to Metrotown to pick up a box of chocolates for my grandma and a starbucks gift card for my mom instead of flowers cos flowers are expensive and they are not edible :) HonHon took a much longer than anticipated nap so we didn't end up visiting too long with my mom. We had dinner reservations at GUU in Aberdeen Centre and we were not at all impressed with the service or the noise levels or the decor of the restaurant! In the end , Kay did end up making it as McD's cut her shift short and it was a nice way to end the day with just my family. Hope everyone had a wonderful mama's day too!! :)

Day trip to Bellingham

2010-05-07T20:00:00.000-07:00

"Healthier" Double Down Sandwich (Grilled)

Original Double Down Sandwich

Hello Kitty NERD t-shirt

Tropical Hello Kitty

Today, HonHon and I took a mini road trip to Bellingham, WA cos we needed to pick up his package of K9 discs for his dog that I ordered for him last week and he wanted to eat the Double Down sandwich at KFC. We picked up his package before heading over to Bellis Fair to find the KFC but there is no KFC in the food fair! We walked around the mall a bit before hitting the road to find a KFC. I checked for 7 for all Mankinds at Macy's but this one does not carry the 7s. As we walked pass the Build A Bear, they were featuring a Tropical Hello Kitty which means she's tanned not white! OMG, so cute and I had to have one! There was also one Special Anniversary Hello Kitty left but HonHon would not let me buy that one :(, she looks exactly like my HK but came with a LE necklace, bow and heart patch on her body. I should have bought it and given it to Rhoda or Kay :( Oh well, I have so many Hello Kitty items! After BAB, we walked over to Target to see if they had any HK items cos I know they stock tons of HK stuff but nothing for me :( After that, we decided it was time to look for the closest KFC so he could have his DD sandwich as this was part of the reason we did the road trip. As we walked back to where the car was parked, we passed a store that sold all sorts of t-shirts and body jewelery and it was shocking to see a Hello Kitty stand in the middle of this store! Hello Kitty against body piercing and rock / goth items! Def caught my eye and I ended up with a Hello Kitty NERD shirt, omg, she is so cute! Two HK items in a span of 30 minutes, woohoo! Lucky me :) Since there was no KFC in Bellis Fair, we used my Poynt application on my Crackberry to locate the closest KFC which ended up taking us to a residential area past downtown Bellingham. The KFC was no longer there but it def looked like it once was one as the business that took over the building didn't get rid of the drive thru window! All was not lost, another 20 minutes away was the next KFC and it was pretty neat driving thru downtown Bellingham as I have never been. HonHon was so excited to see the KFC and it was interesting how KFC and A&W were connected! We ordered 2 DD, mine was the "healthier version" a grill DD and a side of A&W onion rings! But the onion rings are not as good as the ones in Vancouver. After our meal, we decided to call it day since I had to head back to Burnaby so I could help Rhoda move the wardrobe from downstairs into the new bedroom upstairs. It was a fun and entertaining day but I don't have any pics cos I didn't bring my camera :( Just the pics of my Crackberry :)

Happy 16th Birthday Kay!

2010-05-06T23:00:00.000-07:00

HAPPY 16TH BIRTHDAY KAY!!

OMG, I can't believe she's finally 16! It's so crazy how quickly time has passed esp when you have kids. She can now get her DL and her very own passport! She looks so grown up and I can't believe my little girl is not so little anymore.

We had dinner reservations at Lux at the Caprice on Granville Street with just our best buds. It was really nice to have HonHon here to celebrate Kay's 16th birthday as well since he has missed most of her birthdays when he left for Taiwan. Altho the food wasn't that great, at least the decor was very chic and it was about spending a great evening with our besties! I let Kay pick out a birthday cake from Cupcakes or Cheesecake Etc. and she choose the Cupcake cake, there is plenty of leftovers and I'm sure I'll be eating a slice every day til it's finished, oh gawd, will be hard to dine out daily and eat sugary stuff while on vacation! I will probably get no exercise in at all this week that HonHon is in town! But in the end, it's all worth it (even the weight gain) cos we get to spend time with HonHon :)

Dine Out - Aqua Riva

2010-04-30T20:10:00.000-07:00

Tonite, Val and I dined at Aqua Riva for Dine Out Vancouver cos they had an amazing DO menu for only $28. We both ordered the Fire Grilled Prawns & Scallop with grilled endive risotto and basil vinaigrette appetizer, Val had the Seafood Linguini with clams, mussels, prawns & salmon and a pesto cream sauce and I ordered the Grilled Lemon Maple Glazed Wild Sockeye Salmon with basil polenta, cucumber salsa and ginger butter sauce and we both had Apple and Cranberry Crisp with vanilla ice cream for dessert!!! We ordered a glass of wine, well Val ordered a 2nd and we ended up staying there almost 2 1/2 hours!! We had an amazing view as I requested a seat by the window and it was hard to leave since we were having a great conversation with the view. Val is an amazing person to work with and I'm so lucky to have her as a coworker and friend. We always have a great time and she is an awesome person. It was an amazing nite and a great way to end the week. I think we must need to do it again and more often!

COAST

2010-04-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

Today, I met up with Jen and Rae for a late birthday and postponed lunch at Coast on Alberni Street. I have been meaning to try this place for a long time but could never get a decent dinner reservation or didn't have a lunch occasion to dine there. I had heard they had some amazing lunch specials and gosh, the Coast "his" lunch box special did not disappoint! It's served with Manhattan clam chowder, fish and chips, wedge of salad - very delicious and I can't wait to go back! I'm hoping to go there with HonHon on this trip for dinner or for mother's day brunch and will probably ask Val to take me there for my b'day lunch! :)

BFF back!

2010-04-27T22:00:00.000-07:00

Tonite, after my swim, we headed over to visit Rhoda cos she's back from HK after 5 weeks! Gosh, we miss her! She looks great altho she's pretty tired and a bit sick. Must be all those late nites! It was great catching up with her and wow, so many great changes are happening for her. She told us about her trip and how much she missed Hong Kong, she's only been back less than a day! Her future plans for HK is relocation in 20111 and there are a few opportunities she will take to get herself situated there. I am so proud of her and we are going to miss her when she leaves but we know she's got to do this right now at this moment cos she just needs to. She brought me back a few goodies like a purse charm, Starbucks mini coffee cups, Hello Kitty oven mitt and fresh pineapple cake from Taiwan! Pineapple cakes are for my mom and I to share, I'm saving them for Sunday cos I'm afraid if I eat them and they are really good, I'll end up eating them all before Sunday! It's so nice to have her back and so much to catch up on, altho I'm a bit sad that she really is leaving next year.....

Too Close to Metrotown

2010-04-25T21:02:00.000-07:00

OMFG, we are too close to Metrotown!!! Walking distance to the shopping mall..... before heading over to the mall and as I was waiting for Kay to get ready but she took forever so I left without her and went over to Blim Market at the heritage hall on Main Street cos I had pre-ordered cupcakes from Coco Cakes. Reba, an old friend of mine, kept insisting that I try these cupcakes as I love cupcakes and I am always posting whatever cupcake I am eating on FaceBook! She mentioned to me that I should try these cupcakes before her last market as she is off for the summer cos it's wedding season so I order 2 boxes of the sampler she had for this market. The following cupcakes are Coconut Dream (yummy coconut cake with vanilla creamcheese frosting and toasted coconut), Coco Cake Matcha (green tea buttered-topped vanilla buttermilk cupcakes), Coco Cake Vanilla (lovely vanilla cake topped with vanilla buttercream), and Coco Cake Chocolate (dark chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream with Belgian chocolate sprinkles)! These were so delicious, I'm def a fan of her cupcakes! So much so, I ate 2 right away and had 3 more this evening! Altho, they are a bit smaller than Cupcakes by Heather & Lori, Coco Cupcakes are much less sweeter and tastier! Eating 2 is not so guilty altho, eating 5 today is probably not the greatest idea either! But they are so yummy! I can't wait to order more from Lyndsay but she's super busy with the upcoming wedding season and I would need to order a minimum of 2 dozen with at least a month ahead. The only upcoming event I can think of is my birthday! I think I'll order them for my birthday and share it with my friends! :) What would be even more awesome is Hello Kitty cupcakes and birthday cake! After devouring 3 cupcakes, Kay and I headed over to Metrotown cos she wanted to get her 2nd piercing and I wanted to look at skinny jeans at Aritzia. I did not end up buying skinnies cos I am too paranoid about wearing them so I went with a pair of 7 for all mankind straight cut in a dark denim. So very pretty and slim looking, I can't wait to wear them! Dangerously living too close to Metrotown!!!

Time with Bebe & Charity Event

2010-04-24T22:00:00.000-07:00

Today, Kay and I spent a momma and baby day! She helped me with groceries, we were suppose to get up early for the last Winter's Market but she didn't get up til almost noon and the weather terrible, wet, rainy and freezing cold! We ended up heading over to Superstore and Save On Foods, I'm very disappointed with the limited selection of organics at both of these places! Yikes! I think I will need to check out the Pro Organics on Saturday, many years ago, this distributor opened their doors to the public on Saturday only from 9am to 2pm. I am also excited for the Vancouver Farmer's Market which will open for the season in 2 weeks!!! Wednesday at Main Street Skytrain and Saturday at Trout Lake Community Centre! I did some searching and there is a Burnaby Farmer's Market known as Artisan Farmers Market which starts on the first Saturday of May but I don't think this market will be as large as the Trout Lake Market but I will try to head over to the opening to see the selection of vendors and availability of my fave summer vegetables! Kay and I headed out to do some grocery shopping for our fruits, veggies and stuff for the week. Once we were done grocery shopping, we stopped by Bubble World to pick up a couple of BBTs to go as we were heading into Richmond Centre and we hadn't eaten lunch yet but we didn't want to be too full for the charity dinner. We had a bit of time before the dinner so we headed over to RC so I could finally pick up my TNA Canada wool intarsia sweater which finally arrived at Aritzia after I had been waiting for almost 2 months! I had to pre-order/pay for it in February cos it is a limited item and only available one time, I am excited and cannot wait to wear it! Esp when I travel cos it clearly shows "I. A.M. C.A.N.A.D.I.A.N" :) We met up Tashna and Laurie before the charity event cos we invited them to join us for dinner which was held at Legends. This charity event was being thrown by Josh for his Ecuador trip next month. All proceeds for this charity event go directly to the supply fund for the homes that the group will be building for the kids that need it. His group will be leaving in the first week of May and will be gone for 5 weeks which they will have to use their own money to pay for the trip expenses. We are so proud and will support all his charity events for this cause! I can't wait to hear and see the photos of his trip. What an awesome thing to do! After dinner, I headed home cos I was tired but Kay decided to head out with her friends for bubble tea (yea again!) before she called it a night.

Azia Restaurant

2010-04-22T20:00:00.000-07:00

Tonite I met up with Jas for dinner at Azia cos we had some catching up to do before her trip to Costa Rica for a week! I'm happy that she is finally getting some real holiday time cos her last trip to Asia was not really a vacation. She's going to go get some well deserved rest and sunshine! We talked about what was going on with life and work, her company has finally offered her a full time position but with no salary raise nor title change. She really was hoping for an increase in salary and a title change but I said it's not about your "title" altho she thinks otherwise. IMO, it's HOW HAPPY ARE YOU at your work place or environment??!!?? More money is nice too but if I'm not going to be happy with who I work with or where I'm working, why would I stay??? But she's got a couple of days to think about it and I wish her the best luck in making the right decision. We decided to try Azia cos I've been dying to try this place, I did some researching and found out that the owners of Azia is also the owner of Shanghai Bistro on Alberni Street. Knowing this makes me feel a little better knowing this is at least authentic chinese food and not fusion chinese food! I do love the Mongolian beef at Shanghai Bistro, it is one of my fave dishes! I don't get to eat at SB very often as the only way to enjoy a variety of dishes would be to go with a larger group for lunch. We ordered a few dishes to share and noticed that the dishes were def much smaller (def for the non asian crowd) than what you would find a SB but flavours very yummy with the bonus of the dishes being less salty or oily. We did enjoy the meal but I don't think we'd go there again unless someone wanted to. I would rather go to SB and pay the same amount of money to get larger portions and to take the leftovers home. After dinner, we headed over to The Bay before calling it a night. It was so nice to catch up with her before she left cos HonHon is in town in 2 weeks which means I'll probably won't get a chance to see her again until Kay's SIXTEENTH birthday! Woah, 16 years, where did the time go??!!??

Kay's added Grillz

2010-04-14T18:00:00.000-07:00

Kay had an orthodontist appointment this morning to have her monthly adjustment. But lucky (or unluckily) she got a couple new brackets added to her back teeth and a thicker wire has replaced the thinner one around her teeth. I can't wait when this process is complete and we get to see her remove the brackets / wires, she's going to have beautiful straight teeth! Although, I think she is already so beautiful, she really has felt very insecure about her teeth so it'll be an amazing moment, when they come off and it'll boost her confidence by 150%!!

Moved In

2010-04-10T21:07:00.000-07:00

Almost! We have a few things left to move from the suite in East Van and hopefully, we will have it out by tomorrow morning! The spacious suite is crammed with our boxes and some of our furniture but even with all the boxes, furniture and his parents stuff, we still have plenty of space to move around. With all this new space, we are really enjoying it and it's nice that when we are shouting at each other, we can barely hear ourselves! Also, it's nice that we both have our OWN BEDROOMS WITH DOORS and we now have a spacious kitchen to cook our meals in! I love baking and cooking so it's really nice to have so much counter and cupboard space, although I only have 2 cupboards in the kitchen. The downsides of moving to Burnaby? I have to pay for a 2 zone transit pass instead of a 1 which costs me $25 a month :( plus I don't have an underground parking space which means I'll have to alternate from parking on the street and the visitor's parking lot! But I think those downsides are worth moving into such a beautiful and spacious place! Plus I do enjoy living in Burnaby, it's a beautiful green city and we are so close to Metrotown! :)

The Disappeared

2010-03-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

The Disappeared by Kim Echlin

Wow, what a powerful story. Kim Echlin (Canadian author) wrote a love story about two people from different worlds, an age gap, culture clashes with distances in between and in time while the main character tries to find him. The story is written in a very poetic and magical, the story continues to draw me in with descriptions of people and places so visual that it's in my head as I read it. A lovely story this is a definite must read and an addition to your Canadian author collection!

Busy Busy Month End!

2010-03-27T20:48:00.000-07:00

What a month! It's been a crazy and hectic month of packing, moving, packing, more moving, giving away stuff, going through stuff, and I can't believe how much STUFF we do have! Hopefully, we will get all our stuff out by the end of the month but it's not looking like it. If Kay could hurry up and pack up her room, maybe we'd get some stuff done!

On another note, it will be a great relieve once we get everything into the Burnaby condo and out of the east side basement suite that is much too small for the both of us! Plus it'll be nice to have our own bedrooms, a real living room and nice sized kitchen and not to pay any rent!! Hopefully, these savings will help pay off my last owing credit card debt and save enough money for a near future trip to Asia! Wish us luck!

Metrotown Shopping and Movie Night In

2010-03-13T18:10:00.000-08:00

This afternoon I headed over to HonHon's condo so I could move a few things back to his closet as he was worried his parents would be upset with me moving all his stuff to their closet *rolling eyes* I also cleaned up "the mess" I made while cleaning out his room. After finishing up at his place, I went over to Metrotown to pick up a few items. First stop, Sephora for their branded smoothing primer, this primer is awesome and I love it cos it keeps my eye make up on my lids all day long! Shopper Drug Mart for some eye make up remover and I wanted to buy my fave body lotion by Avalon Organics but they did not have mine in stock, must try another one tomorrow or Monday. I wandered over to Saje to pick up a couple of items, a serum for my face and an essential oil blend roll on for stress. Winners for Hello Kitty undies cos they are so cute and comfy! Old Navy to check out their new yoga / gym wear, my co-worker had mentioned she picked up some great stuff and at a reasonable price, I found a pair of black jogging pants for only $20! I didn't really check anything else out cos it is way too bright in that store, gives me a slight headache! I stopped by Qoola before hitting Future Shop cos Kay told me they now offer Self Serve Frozen yogurt and it was the yummiest frozen yogurt I've ever had! I love that I can add as much or less toppings as I wanted and there are so many frozen yogurt flavours like mango, country vanilla and green tea! Of course I had chocolate and country vanilla with frozen strawberries, raspberries and raspberry sauce! Sooooo good and only cost me $5.00! At FS, I picked up a couple of pairs of earbuds for Kay and I, heartbeats by lady gaga and I must say these are the BEST earbuds ever! Before heading home, I picked up a couple of movies at Blockbuster to watch for the weekend, Spread with Ashton Kutcher and Anne Heche and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past with Matthew McCongaughey and Jennifer Garner. Seems like a long day but not really, I still have boxes to pack!

heartbeats | lady gaga

2010-03-13T18:00:00.000-08:00

These are the BEST EARBUDS ever! They were a bit pricey (priced at $120) but these are so much better than the apple earbuds! Plus they are so pretty and RED :)

Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

2010-03-12T22:00:00.000-08:00

Tonite, I went out for dinner with Rhoda and Val, both whom I have not seen in ages! We headed to one of our fave and inexpensive places to dine, Lao Shan Dong in Burnaby for comfort food. It was great seeing both of them and catching up plus the noodle soup is so yummy! I can't believe how quickly the year, 2010 has gone by, it's already March and Rhoda is leaving for HK in less than 2 weeks! How exciting! As always, food was great and the company, the best! We must def do this more often and more so before Rhoda leaves for Hong Kong at the end of the year for good. It'll be really sad when she leaves but I'm happy to see how excited she is to start a new chapter in her life out there. There will be visits I'm sure on both sides :)

Bestest Daughter EVER!

2010-03-10T20:30:00.000-08:00

The past two days, Kay has come by to visit me at the office since she is on Spring Break and she didn't come to the office empty handed, she came with treats! She is the sweetest daughter ever and I was so happy to see her since she hasn't been home for the last two days! On Monday, she came by with a Starbucks and Tuesday, she picked up m fave donut from Timmy's, a double chocolate donut :) I love and adore her so much!

Moving

2010-03-09T09:00:00.000-08:00

This morning, I received some pretty disappointing news about my moving plans. Normally I would get very upset, freak out and be really pissed off but this yoga is def helping me cope and deal with issues that come up in my every day life. In fact, Kay and some of my friends have noticed how calm and relaxed I've become. Since I have started up yoga and adding an extra cost to my already stretched budget, I realize you cannot put a price on your sanity and well being. This is def worth the $99 plus taxes that get deducted off my credit card monthly! But back to my issue, I've found out that HonHon's parents are in town next week for at least a week and now I need to postpone my moving. I also need to move items back to where they were so it's not too obvious that I am about to move in! This means, I am now doing three times the moving cos I had already cleaned and cleared out a couple of closets and cupboards for myself and moved items to store but now I am need to put those items back to where I found them until his parents have left. HonHon has suggested that I try to live with as minimal as I can and go back and forth to my storage for items that I need as I need them. IMO, this would be a waste of time, money and gas! I am a little bit disappointed but I understand as he is not quite ready to tell them we are moving in. Now I must come up with a new plan and rethink my moving as I am going to lose an entire week of moving and my friend can only help me with my moving during this month as he is off to Europe for a month long vacation! Breathe, relax and rethink..... to be continued..... (thank goodness for yoga tonite!)

Bikram & Cobre Restaurant

2010-03-06T22:00:00.000-08:00

This afternoon, I decided to head over to Bikram yoga in Kits cos I wanted to check out the studio and my fave instructor would be teaching a 4pm class. I'm so glad I did cos I didn't realize how much larger the Kits studio is and the washrooms are so much bigger than the downtown location! I arrived a bit early so I walked around West 4th to check out the boutiques, luckily I did not have that much time so I did not end up buying anything! It was a great class and I do really have to say that he is def the best in the business! As he should be since he is the one who brought Bikram Yoga to Vancouver! After my class, I quickly headed home to take a shower and get ready for dinner with Charly. We were meeting up for dinner since we had not seen each other in such a long time plus he's my foodie buddie since he enjoys dining out as much as I plus he enjoys trying out new restaurants. I really wanted to try out Cobre Restaurant as I heard some interesting things about this place. The restaurant interior is rustic and warm with lots of dark woods and cream coloured walls. It looks as if the building was once a loft which has been converted into a restaurant; with 3 main levels, the bar and kitchen on the second level also ground level, a basement which looks like it's used for private parties and the top floor with a few more tables for dining, all open concept which made is look very spacious. We ordered a few dishes to share as the menu offered a selection of tapas and is meant to be shared. The dishes were very tasty with many lovely flavours throughout each dish that we ordered, the fusion of the south american flavours with north american dishes like BC sable fish with chili salsa and fry bread or the maple chipotle wild boar belly or the pulled duck charred scallion with garlic taqueria (also know as tacos) were very unique and flavourful. Great combination of tastes with the different types of meats and SA recipes. Although I found the dishes uniquely delicious, I would probably not go back for dinner unless I was with a larger party and we were coming back from drinks or lounging. The dishes were quite small and the two of us were still a bit hungry after our meal. Esp myself since I had finished a 90 minute hot yoga class and was starving. We ended up picking up a cupcake for dessert as we were in the neighborhood of my office to pick up more boxes for our move. It was really nice catching up with Charly and I hope he has a fabulous trip to Europe next month, lucky guy, he's gone for the entire April!

He's Just Not That Into You

2010-03-05T20:30:00.000-08:00

This is a really funny and cute movie! A must watch esp for all those women who are wondering WHY they are NOT that INTO you! LOL

Lululemon

2010-03-04T13:45:00.000-08:00

At lunch, I went over to Lululemon to purchase a larger yoga mat carrying bag as my smaller one does not fit all my yoga essentials! I have spent a bit over my budget this month on yoga items but I think it'll be worth it as I plan on taking this up for the long term. At least a year of Bikram yoga and maybe I will look into other types of yoga. Over this past week, my purchases have included 2 pairs of yoga shorts from One Tooth on Robson street ($30 each compared to Lulu's price at $45 - 60 each) and now this huge yoga bag for another $60. I would also like to purchase another Hot Class Tank from Lulu but it is sold out online and none available in the store. I find after trying a couple of different tanks that this is the best one to be in while in the hot yoga class altho I notice many of the women in the class tend to wear bra tops or something similar. I am way to shy to wear just a bra top and I need a bit more coverage so I am really glad that I found this tank, I think it's def the best and most comfortable tank top to be in. As soon as it is available, I'm def going to order another one!

Bikram's Yoga

2010-03-01T20:00:00.000-08:00

First Bikram yoga class and gosh was it ever tough! 90 minutes in a room set at a temperature of 40C plus a room full of sweaty people is not my idea of a workout but gawd, was it ever DAMN HARD. Even tho, it's stretching and low impact, it really makes a hard impact to your body. I didn't realize how stiff my body is and it's going to take many many classes to give my body more flexibility and probably years of practice to even to do all 26 intermediate poses. The goal for tonite was not to leave the room in the middle of the class, not to faint or to throw up and if I could manage more than 20 poses, it was great accomplishment. I did manage to try 24 poses and I had to lie down for 2 of the poses cos I felt a bit dizzy. After the class, my entire body felt like I hiked the Grouse Grind, it's an amazing feeling!!! I am looking forward to more yoga classes this week and I hope that I can make thru it! If I can, I will def look at signing on for long term commitment.

March of the Penguins

2010-02-27T23:00:00.000-08:00

This is the sweetest documentary I've ever watched! Last week, I was talking to my co-worker about how HonHon and I have this long distance relationship, what it's like and how we feel that we are bonded together forever even though there is this distance between us. She was fascinated and said Oh you two are like the Penguins, I was like what? She mentioned this documentary, March of the Penguins and told me we are like the emperor penguins. I hadn't watched it yet altho I remember seeing and hearing about it a few years ago. After watching the documentary and the extras on the DVD, I realized, yes we are def like the penguins! It's a very interesting life to be an emperor penguin and the conditions they must go thru to raise a family. I want to buy this DVD and pick up a cute female and male stuffed penguin for HonHong and I. He can take the female one and I can keep the male one cos we are just like the penguins. I told Kay this and she laughed and said Momma you are so cheesy but it's cute! Hehehe, if you haven't seen this movie yet, you must go out and rent it!

Day with Family

2010-02-27T20:00:00.000-08:00

This afternoon, Kay and I headed over to Richmond Centre cos she wanted to check out Aritzia's 50% off sale on the Park Life items (Olympic line). I didn't think I would find anything as I am not into the Olympic gear but I manage to find a grey poly cotton hoody for $57, marked down from $120! There is a very TINY Olympic logo on it which is good cos I wouldn't buy it if it was screaming Olympic memorabilia. Kay found the items she wanted and 3 items came under $130! She finally got paid last week and she really wanted to do some shopping plus she is out growing her hoodies so she needed to at least replace one of them. She's been very lucky to have Rhoda and Jes giving her their clothes but she's growing fast! After shopping, she had to catch the train to work and I headed over to my dad's place. I was meeting up with my brother, Tomina and my dad for lunch and then we were going to head downtown to the Louis Vuitton boutique at Hotel Vancouver. Of course, we ate lunch at my brother's fave viet restaurant, Lemongrass Grill and I dunno how he cannot get sick of eating the same thing EVERY weekend! After lunch, dad took his car back to his place and I went with them in their car to downtown. Traffic wasn't too bad so it didn't take us too long to get downtown and when we arrived in the core of downtown, we manage to get a good parking space on the street. I assume there's good street parking cos most people are taking transit into the downtown core for the events. First stop in downtown was Louis Vuitton so my brother could exchange his gift for the pair of sunglasses that he has beene eyeing for. I wanted to check the monogram Odeon bag as I am thinking about purchasing this for my trip to Asia. There was one in stock but it was scratched up on the back so I am on a waiting list for the next one to arrive. Hopefully, it'll be made in France like this one or I'll be very disappointed! After Louis Vuitton, we headed over to Gucci cos my brother is still debating on a white leather belt that he's been wanting to buy but it's white and that means it'll get stained very easily with his dark dark denim jeans. He didn't end up buying the Gucci belt so we decided to walk around Robson street since we put too much time in the metre. I ended up buying a yoga mat towel for Monday's yoga class at Lululemon for $40. We are to use a towel over the yoga mat and I could use just a regular bath towel but then it'd be so heavy to carry with all my stuff. This is lightweight and meant for yoga mats! After wandering around downtown, we decided to head over to Tinseltown to visit Kay at work! We were also getting quite thirsty from our lunch so we thought we'd drop by and pick up a drink for the ride back to Richmond. Wow, it was soooo busy at her McD's and her shift today was the drink runner!! After McDonald's, we headed back to Richmond and I stayed a bit longer to visit my dad before calling it a night. I decided to rent a couple movies, He's Just Not That Into You and March of the Penguins for the weekend.

Cleaning

2010-02-26T19:45:00.000-08:00

I took the day off cos I didn't want to fight the crowds downtown as it's the last weekend before the Olympics are over. I intended to spend most of the day at HonHon's so I could clean out his room but didn't end up going there til late in the afternoon cos there are too many good daytime shows during the weekdays! When I finally got there, I did about 3 hours of cleaning but it looked like I didn't do any at all! He has so much stuff, he's kept almost everything he's ever owned or received! I threw away 1 huge bag of garbage and there is soooo much more to do! UGH. I can't believe how much crap he's kept, it's like he never threw anything away! I found old credit card statements and receipts from 1999!!! OMG....there is soooo much more to tell but it would take me years to explain how much stuff he's got plus he's kept all his old clothes which he hasn't worn in 10 years or more! Aaaaahhhh.... I'll never be able to clean that room in time for us to move in on April 1st......

Still Alice

2010-02-25T20:00:00.000-08:00

Just finished this book, Still Alice, I have been on the waiting list for months! Sometimes I have to wait a long time when borrowing a book from the VPL. But it was worth the wait cos it's a really great story and I read it in FIVE days. It's a very interesting and well written story about a Harvard professor going through the nasty disease, Alzheimer's. You are getting the story through her eyes and seeing exactly how she feels and what she is doing. A very great book to pick up and read!

Hot Yoga Gear!

2010-02-25T13:30:00.000-08:00

My lululemon online order came in this morning, I ordered a hot class tank from lululemon's website the other day and luckily got it in black as this colour is no longer available. Since one is not enough, on my lunch break, I went over to Lulu on Robson to see what else they had and ended up buying a scoop neck tank in black too! I was thinking about picking up shorts but I'm not too comfortable with the idea of wearing short shorts so I'm just going to stick with my capri pants instead. I am very excited about this upcoming week with Tomina and I hope we will enjoy and continue to stick with it!

Bikram's Yoga

2010-02-23T19:00:00.000-08:00

Today, Tomina and I signed up for Bikram's yoga! We are very excited about this and I think this will be much more productive than the Monday night hip hop pussycat dance classes! The bonus is we will stay far away from all the crepes that we have been eating after our Monday night dance class. So excited, can't wait, now I just gotta find some hot yoga gear for the upcoming classes.

Zeal Hair Salon

2010-02-21T16:00:00.000-08:00

Shingo, master stylist at Zeal Hair salon on Robson street SAVED MY HAIR!!!! I didn't realize how BUTCHERED my hair was until I took a shower this morning and realized the girl really did butchered my hair!!! Guess you can't expect much for $20 at a viet salon!! OMG, I should have known better than to expect to have my hair cut, the girl basically chopped off 4 inches in 10 minutes!!! If I had known how she was going to "cut" my hair, I would have walked out and not let her touch it. With all my whining and crying this afternoon, Kay firmly said to calm down and we could fix it today. She dragged me to her salon downtown as she had an appointment right before her shift started. It was a good thing that she did cos I was pretty devastated and getting depressed about my hair. Luckily a master stylist was available to fix my hair, I didn't really want any more hair taken off altho I anticipated that I may need to cut it to my chin to fix this disaster but Shingo, master stylist, was awesome! He managed to save my length by making the layers more even altho the other girl did not give me "layers". He took an hour to cut my hair which is about the right amount of time as I'm normally booked in for an hour and half for my hair cos my hair is so thick. Thankfully, it looks so much better now and my hair's length is even. Kay and Shingo saved the day!

Happy Birthday!

2010-02-19T22:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Warren!!

Tonite, we celebrated my brother's 31st birthday at Vivacity in Richmond cos he didn't want to have a huge dinner but instead planned a night out (drinking at the club) with his buddies. Originally I figured he would want to have steak for dinner but his fave place is HSG and that is in the heart of Yaletown (aka Olympic Party Central) so we decided on his next fave meal being Peking Duck. I made reservations at Viviacity for 8pm so there was plenty of time for him and Tomina to get ready. I was to pick up Tomina before heading out to Richmond for dinner cos they were planning to take my brother's car tonite. Before picking up T, I headed over to Dairy Queen to get my brother a DQ ice cream cake cos you can't celebrate your birthday without a cake! I lucked out cos DQ had a golf themed ice cream cake! Tomina and I arrived right on time but of course, they were fashionably late, we didn't order anything but tea as I have no idea on how to order at these places. My dad went all out for my brother's dinner, as always he ordered way too many dishes again and one of the features of dinner was the lobster, mmmmm so yummy! The Peking duck was pretty good altho the duck meat dish with lettuce wrap was just ok. Poor T, she doesn't eat meat but will eat chicken occasionally so she didn't eat that much. Altho she did eat a little bit of the lobster and we did order a veggie dish consisting of snow pea shoots with dried scallops and mushrooms. She's going to be hungry later! Overall, the customer service at the restaurant was pretty awesome (think cos my dad was there earlier in the day for dim sum!) and the dishes were relatively good. More photos on my flickr account.

Hair Cut

2010-02-19T15:15:00.000-08:00

OHMYGAWD!! My hair has been thinned out and it feels so short!! I am not sure I will like this and as it sinks in, I know I will HATE it. But I was long overdue for a cut so I decided to try out T's girl but you do get what you pay for! At least my hair grows quickly but this feels so short and so thin :( I will see how long I can last with this cut, I might end up spending more money to fix this style. UGH!

Nuba - Authentic Lebanese Cuisine

2010-02-17T21:00:00.000-08:00

After work, I met up with my dear cousin, Nadine for a free wine tasting at the Sutton Place Wine Merchant to try out a local winery called Vista Dora in Langley, BC. We both ended up picking a bottle of wine but not from Vista Dora as he only had 2 types of wine in the store, one of which she already has. My cousin recommended a bottle of the Catena Malbec (2007) since I am really enjoying the Malbec wines at the moment so I picked up one for $30 (a bit more than I would usually spend but I know it'll be worth it!). After our wine tasting, we were planning on having a japadog but the line up at the japadog stand was 30 minutes long!! Oh my!! No way would I stand at the japadog stand in the FREEZING COLD for 30 minutes and wait another 15 minutes for a HOT DOG! We decided to go get a real dinner at Nuba which was quite a walk down but worth it cos it was one of the most amazing meals I've had for less than $30! I am so stuffed and it was SO GOOD! I am sure HonHon would love this place, authentic Lebanese cuisine cos he loves middle eastern cuisine and the food was so delicious! We decided to share "le grand feast" which included pita bread served with a large plate of hummus, baba ghanooj and taboulleh, main entrees included grilled lamb chops and roasted chicken with a GRAND size roasted potatoes, najib's special and mjadra! Phew! That's a lot of middle eastern words in one sentence! Check out their menu online for the descriptions but let me tell you the najib's special is amazing and I've never had that vegetable served up this way! Most of their ingredients are grown locally, organic or free range or hormone free which I love as Kay and I try to incorporate as much local organic vegetables and free range / hormone free meats into our own diets. It's refreshing to know that this restaurant uses as much local ingredients as they can to their menu. I am excited and can't wait to go back! Wish I had better photos but these were taken with my BlackBerry so they aren't that clear since the restaurant is underground and the restaurant's lighting is quite dim. The ambiance of the restaurant is really nice and the staff are friendly and attentive. I would def recommend everyone in Vancouver to try out this restaurant. They also have good vegeterian options which is nice for my vegetarian friends. The restaurant is a bit hidden so you really have to look for the DOOR as you wouldn't notice this place unless someone takes you there. A hidden gem in not exactly the best part of downtown right on the corner of Hastings and Cambie. Be sure to check it out, it is WORTH IT!!!

Louis Vuitton

2010-02-17T10:00:00.000-08:00

Since I am giving up my dream handbag from the Epi line, I've decided I will look for something less expensive and yet still practical for traveling. I've decided on the Monogram Odeon GM (altho I really like the new Artsy MM or GM) priced at $1100 US as it's a practical bag with an easy and comfortable fit for travelling. The bag has 2 handles and a removable strap that can fit comfortably across your body, it's slim and long plus it's the canvas material which means it won't be too heavy when I fit all my essentials while touring the city of Taipei or Las Vegas! It costs way less than the Epi handbag and even tho I am not a huge fan of the monogram print, this isn't my every day handbag only my travelling bag. Besides, now that I think about it, I don't really want to carry a shoulder purse or my current Epi purse while touring a city cos I don't want anyone to snatch it and I don't want my purse to get dirty! I love my Epi purse and it's a great purse to carry around the city. I would love to use my pink Dior handbag this spring/summer but need to clean it first and it's long overdue for a cleaning, I didn't even get the chance to use it last year!! I love my Dior, it's an incredibly beautiful and soft handbag!

Odéon GM Details:

A bag for the busy woman about town, the Odéon GM in Monogram canvas is a comfortable fit around the shoulder or across the body. Big enough to carry magazines and other items too.

Size: 13.8" x 14.5" x 3.5"

-Comfortable leather handles
-Zipper closure
-One inside patch pocket and one phone pocket
-One outside flat pocket
-Adjustable and removable leather strap

PRODUCT ID: M56388

$1100 USD

Pita Chips & Hummus

2010-02-16T21:55:00.001-08:00

Tonite was my first attempt in making my own pita chips and they turned out pretty yummy! I couldn't find pita chips at Urban Fare so I bought a package of pitas and made my own for my yummy basil hummus. Very very good! Much healthier version for a snack!

Sephora Order Arrived!

2010-02-15T13:15:00.000-08:00

My Sephora order FINALLY arrived! I ordered this on Jan. 29 but it didn't get shipped until Feb. 8 and finally arrived TODAY. But these were worth the wait! I do love Christian Dior's make up and these are even prettier in person! Sephora @ Pacific Centre did not have either of these products so I'm happy with the order altho it took so long to get them! I can't wait to use them!!!

Dior Dior Lace Illuminating Face Powder - Limited Edition $60 CDN5-Colour Designer All-In-One Artistry Palette - Amber Design $60 CDN

Giving up my Louis Vuitton Handbag

2010-02-15T07:58:00.000-08:00

I have been doing some serious thinking over the weekend and I've decided to give up my Louis Vuitton bag cos I want HonHon to use that money to pay off his BMO mastercard instead. I know that he would do whatever it takes to buy me something I want and I know he enjoys buying me these things to make me really happy but I'm going to be selfless and give up the bag. I don't really need another Louis Vuitton handbag in fact, I don't really need any more handbags! I do have a number of very beautiful handbags that I could use to travel with. HonHon was quite shocked when I mentioned this to him and he wanted to be sure that he was chatting with the right person! But it felt sooooo GREAT to pay off the HSBC Mastercard and I'd like him to do the same with his BMO. This CNY has inspired me to be more careful with my money and to start saving instead of spending it all. Even tho I do enjoy shopping and spending my money, there are other things in life that I could do with the money. Plus, he plans on buying my airplane ticket to Asia this October and he wants to go to Maldives next Spring, I think it would be a wonderful feeling if we could do it without worrying about our mounting credit card debts.

Gong Hay Fat Choy!

2010-02-14T22:00:00.000-08:00

Gong Hay Fat Choy - Sun Leen Fai Lok!

May the year of the tiger bring much happiness and prosperity to you and your family & friends!!

Tonite, we celebrated CNY with my mom and grandma, we managed to get 7:45pm reservations at the Fatty Cow Seafood Hot Pot last minute! We have been meaning to try out this new restaurant in our neighborhood but never had the chance or by the time we decided, it was too late or they were too busy! My grandma was going to be treating us all to dinner and it was suppose to be just grandma, mom, brother, Kay and myself but Pablo was invited last minute. He had picked her up from work cos she was so dead tired and he didn't want her to transit home. He is a really good BF and totally adores Kay. She also knows it and sometimes takes advantage of him but he accepts it with a smile and sometimes with a few pokes but in the end he will do whatever it takes to make her happy. Just like HonHon, altho he says he wasn't whipped that quickly in our relationship! HA! Whatever he thinks ~_^ Before we headed over to the restaurant for dinner, I helped my mom make "lo bak gow" a chinese turnip new year cake cos it's CNY! I shredded all the turnip (thank goodness I own a Kitchen Aid food processor!) while my mom chopped and cooked all the yummy toppings that get mixed into the shredded turnip! This is one of my fave dishes at CNY cos we love eating homemade "lo bak gow" cos the only other time you can eat it, is at dim sum but those are never as good as what my mom makes! After helping her with the CNY turnip cake, I went back downstairs to make my basil hummus cos I told Tomina I would bring her some on Monday cos it's so easy to make and she paid $4 for a bag of pita chips and small hummus! That is crazy!!!

We finally made it to dinner and on time but had to wait about 5 minutes for our table. I did check up on the reviews of this place before booking it and it did have some good reviews. I would have to say that it is a good price for all you can eat hot pot altho not everything on the menu is included in the "all you can eat", there were a few other items on the menu you could order but there would be a fee, the soup base is good and they did do a good job at keeping it full. But the service itself was not too good, typical of a chinese restaurant, the interior is nice as it was renovated before grand opening, and the menu itself had a good selection of dishes. Overall, we did enjoy the food and even tho I do not go to hot pot very often, I would recommend this one to friends. But they are really busy esp since they just opened so I'd def make reservations or wait until the hype of this new restaurant is over before going.

CNYE

2010-02-14T01:30:00.000-08:00

Tonite, I celebrated an early CNY with my dad cos my brother and I were planning on celebrating CNY with my mom and grandma this Sunday. Kay was suppose to attend this dinner with us but she did not read her schedule properly and ended up missing her afternoon shift! They wanted her to come in during the evening to cover the missed shift, right now they are super busy with the Olympics being in town so she had to go in. A bit disappointing but she did end up coming after work to spend some time with her gramps after a long and tiring shift. I had a few errands to do before heading over to my dad's, first I had to pick up some BBQ for dinner, chinese oranges for good luck and some coconut dessert, I picked up the BBQ items from Chong Lee Market on Renfrew Street cos they have the bestest BBQ! I walked over to T&T to pick up a basket of oranges, lucky red candy and Kay's fave coconut dessert. Thank goodness I did so cos T&T's parking lot was like rush hour, there are so many people picking up last minute items for CNY! Once I finished my errands, I headed home to rest a bit before getting ready to see my dad. Before heading over to my dad's place, I went upstairs to wish my mom and grandma an early HNY and giving them some of the lucky oranges I picked up at T&T. Driving into Richmond wasn't too bad but I made a quick stop at Future Shop to pick up CD I have been wanting, once at my dad's placed, I chilled out with Tomina most of the nite. She, ever so thoughtful, picked up a box of chocolates and gave Kay and I the cutest card for Valentine's Day! At dinner, there was so much food again (my dad always overcooks) but it was yummy! Lots of leftovers for Kay as well since she was coming by after her shift. I watched a movie with my dad and surfed the internet while we waited for Kay to arrive. Kay is so spoiled, her bf went into Tinseltown to pick her up so he could drop off her in Richmond! It took them 45 minutes cos of the Olympics in the area, CNY festivities at Tinseltown, and Richmond had an Olympic event so there was so much traffic! When she finally arrived, Tomina and I headed into Richmond Centre area to pick up a couple of BBTs and a crispy chicken for herself (as she doesn't eat beef or pork and that those were the main dishes at dinner). But before leaving for BBT, my dad's crazy neighbor downstairs came up to bitch as us about being disrespectful to our neighbors saying we were making too much noise and the heels on the floors were keeping her up! OMG, she IS CRAZY!! I was like WHATEVER, talk to the *insert swear word here* HAND! If she wasn't such a crazy b!tch about it, I would have been like sorry, I'll be more quiet, I'm pretty sure the noise were coming from my heels. But she came up kicking and screaming, looked like she was going try to hit us! F----d up people live in my dad's building and I wish he NEVER moved there! I do believe that the main reason he moved there is cos of the the lady & boy, too many people in his small condo in Burnaby! Oh well. After picking up our stuff and finishing our visit with dad, it was time to get home cos Kay had an early shift in the morning! We left his place around 1:15am and by the time Kay went to bed at 2am, she's gonna have very little sleep to be up at 6am for her 7am shift! Oh my!

The Boathouse English Bay & Olympic Store

2010-02-11T20:30:00.000-08:00

Tonite, I headed out for dinner with Jas cos I had a coupon for The Boathouse. The coupon was going to expire tomorrow but we could only use it from Monday to Thursday, go figure. It was a 3 course meal with a number of choices for each item and for the dessert, you could substitute a glass of white or red wine and the price? Only $24.99 per person limit 2. We both chose the soup to start, which was amazing, I chose the lobster ravioli and Jas chose the lobster/shrimp stuffed chicken breast with veggies and wild rice, and we both skipped the creme brulee and went with a glass of wine instead. The entrees were delicious but the wines were blah! Neither of us are big fans of Jackson Triggs so it was a bit disappointing. My brother and Tomina also had a coupon but their reservations were a bit later and she messaged me to let me know we really missed a good dessert! Oh well, I was pretty stuffed from the pasta but I did end up picking up a couple of cupcakes to go (Cupcakes on Denman is just a couple blocks from The Boathouse) after dinner. We got a nice table right by the window so we had a beautiful view of English Bay altho the weather was awful, it was still nice to look outside.

After dinner, we were on our way home but before doing so, Jas wanted to stop into the Olympic store at The Bay to pick out another Canada long sleeve shirt for the Olympics. Her office is allowing them to wear jeans and Olympic attire during the next 2 weeks so she needed a couple more pieces to mix up her wardrobe. She convinced me that once inside the store, I would become so engulfed with the patriotism that I myself would feel the need to buy a Canada shirt or at least one small item like the Canada red mitts (that EVERYONE has), she really thought she was going to see me buy a pair of those mitts. I told her once inside that she'd be disappointed that I would not feel the need nor the desire to do so. Once inside the store, it was chaotic, with crowds of people purchasing like crazy and the MESS in the boutique was enough to make feel the NEED OR URGE to run out of there as fast as I could! Instead I stuck around and helped her find the long sleeve shirt that she NEEDED but in the end she didn't buy it cos of my "humbug" attitude! As my thoughts of her buying another shirt was CRAZY on spending another $30 for what would only last 2 weeks and then become discarded with no use. She decided she would buy it tomorrow cos I seemed to MAKE SENSE. Hahahaha.... oh well.... I'm just NOT THAT INTO the Olympics! But GO CANADA GO!

Credit Card PAID OFF!!

2010-02-10T14:30:00.000-08:00

YIPPEEE!! My HSBC mastercard is officially paid off and cancelled!! It feels so good and to have such a weight lifted off my shoulders! Altho I have racked up my Capital One mastercard quite quickly in the last 2 months at least I know I'll be able to manage this card within the next 6 months! So it feels so good to be rid of one more credit card!!

5th Anniversary Gift

2010-02-09T12:30:00.000-08:00

I finally picked out my gift from the company and even though I had a couple of items in mind, I decided to go with jewelery even though I do not wear anything that isn't WHITE GOLD. But I decided with a pair of earrings cos I will be moving in a couple months so I don't really need a Hamilton Beach grill or an IPOD alarm dock cos I have a BBQ and Kay's got IPOD speakers, really nice ones in fact. So I went with the smallest and easiest item to move, earrings! They aren't too bad looking and sorta in a way, pretty so hopefully, I'll get one or two wears out of them!

Blinged Out & Exciting Changes!

2010-02-08T21:30:00.000-08:00

This morning, Kay had her orthodontist appointment at 9am to get the wires attached or glued to her teeth, I went with her cos I needed to sign the documents and make payment arrangements with the office. Her appointment was slotted for 1 1/2 hours so I was not sticking around to see the finished product but when she arrived home from her shift, I was so excited to see what her teeth looked like! Wow, it's kinda neat and now I'm really wanted to get a set of my own braces!! She said that at first, the brackets and wires did not hurt going on but after a few hours, it really started to hurt and now she's in a bit of discomfort but not in pain. She has a bit of a headache when she arrived home due to the late nite before with only a few hours of sleep, braces in the morning, and training for a few hours after school so I knew she wouldn't feel too good by the end of the day. But in the end she is really happy to FINALLY get them on :)

There are so many changes happening this year that it will be a very exciting year for us. I would also love to get my own set of braces but I think this will have to wait until the end of the year or beginning of next year. With plans to move into HonHon's condo so I can stop paying rent, it will def help relieve some of my outstanding debts and give my fiances a little bit of room. Also, with the upcoming travel plans which I have started a savings account for, it will def be good for me to venture out and see the world. Las Vegas (maybe) to visit Aria the new resort with the huge Louis Vuitton boutique this Spring or Summer, Taipei, Taiwan in the Fall and Maldives next Spring, it will be exciting even tho I do not enjoy flying or sitting on a plane for so many hours. I just can't wait to see what else 2010 will bring for us......

Blue Water Cafe + Raw Bar & Dessert

2010-02-06T22:00:00.000-08:00

Tonite, I headed over to Blue Water Cafe + Raw Bar for dinner with good people for some great conversation and good times, I haven't seen these guys in a while. Also, it was partly to celebrate Jas's birthday except no one knew but me. I picked up Jas first and I wanted to give her the b'day gifts without making a big deal about it at dinner cos we didn't want anyone at dinner feeling uncomfortable about not knowing it was her birthday. I had picked up a pair of pretty earrings at Blue Rudy and I'm so happy that she loved her gift! It took me a while to go thru the store to find her something but I didn't want to just give her a GC as Kay had pointed out to me that it's a tradition that both of us pick out Holt Renfrew GCs for each other's birthday! But she's rite, it's def becoming a b'day tradition! But I wanted to pick up an extra something for her since she brought me back some Burberry items from her trip to Palm Springs in November but wouldn't let me pay for them!!! Once we were done with the gifts, we decided to head out a bit earlier for Yaletown and I'm glad we did cos it took us 30 minutes to get into Yaletown which is normally a 7 minute drive from her place. OMG, all these road closures are a pain in the @ss! But once we arrived, there were tons of street parking probably cos it was still early being 6pm. At Blue Water Cafe, there was a buzz in the air with such a lively bar scene but we soon realized a wedding reception was being held there! What a nice place to hold a small wedding reception, the party at the bar ended up being moved into a private room behind the main restaurant area. I think it would def be nice to hold your reception here if you had a small party as I do love the restaurant, the food and the ambiance of the restaurant. Plus you can take your wedding photos right outside in the heart of Yaletown! How very convenient :) Shel, Kitty, Charly and Rosa soon arrived after we sat down and once we all caught up a bit on each other's lives while ordering drinks, it was time to decide on the food, I was happy to hear that everyone was excited and interested in sharing the Seafood Tower! This was one of the main reasons I choose to meet up for dinner cos the last time I was here with , I saw a table next to us order this tower. You can't really share it unless you have at least 6 people and lucky for us, there were 6 of us and just the perfect amount to share! The fresh seafood and oysters did not disappoint and the presentation of this tower was pretty but not as pretty as Coast as per Shel & Kitty. I couldn't believe they were able to get into Coast! Apparently, Shel knows one of the managers and he never has a problem getting a reservation, I told him how hard it is to get in at dinner time and I was hoping to get a reservation within a reasonable time with HonHon cos we really wanted to go. Thank goodness for hookups! Shel said he'd be happy to get us a reservation next time he's in town, I said hey maybe we could all get together again at Coast and everyone can reacquaint themselves with HonHon, altho I'm not so sure HonHon will be too thrilled with the idea of a large gathering! He's so shy and quiet! Until of course the conversation starts to get going or the conversation turns into the topic of cars, Simpsons or business! Shel & Kitty both agreed that if I loved Blue Water than I would def love and enjoy Coast, so now I am SO EXCITED and can't wait to hit Coast Restaurant! After all the delicious food and great conversations, we didn't want it to end so soon so we continued our nite by heading out for dessert, we decided on Sweet Obsession since Rosa and Charly had not been there before. It was a great way to end the nite and the next time we get together will be either a BBQ fest at Shel's place or a roast pig on a spit at Charly's! Good Times!!!

Re-Organzing HonHon's Condo

2010-02-06T15:00:00.000-08:00

This afternoon, Kay and I headed over to HonHon's condo to start reorganizing and cleaning up the condo so we could move into it. Gosh, i can't believe how much crap they have and how many of the SAME ITEMS they have! We spent about 2 hours cleaning and reorganizing only to come out with 2 free cupboards in the kitchen, a space in the main closet for our shoes and re-arranging the front entrance so it flows better. OMG, so much crap and so much dust! I can't wait til we move into that suite, I'll be saving so much $ on rent and hopefully, living more comfortably altho with the new extra costs of Kay's braces, I think I'll JUST be living more comfortably. Oh well, she's worth it..... :) Now if I could only work up the courage to tell my mom about our plans. I still have a few weeks as I plan on moving into his place April 1.

TNA hoodie

2010-02-04T13:30:00.000-08:00

It turned out to be a lovely afternoon! With the sunshine out which we hadn't seen in days, I decided to head over to Robson Street and check out Lululemon and Aritzia for a hoodie. I've been meaning to find a thicker hoodie for my workout clothes. I have a Hello Kitty one but it's not that thick and I do have a Roots faux fur-lined hoodie but that one I leave at work cos our office can get pretty cold esp with the summer months cos the air con is blasting. I am not a huge fan of Lulu's hoodie but I thought I would check them out anyways since I still had a paypal credit but I ended up not liking any of the colours nor do I like the style of the hoodie, so off to Aritzia which they carried a few types of hoodies. Tomina had bought one there last week and she said it was $77 with taxes but she bought the classic fit and the material was a bit lighter (similar to my Hello Kitty). I ended up finding a slim fit heavy weight fleece for $85 (not including tax) and I really liked the way it looked and it's so comfy so I ended up picking one up in a dark grey colour. So happy with my purchase, can't wait to wear it on Monday, we are gonna be matching bum buddies!! Hahahaha....

5 year recognition

2010-02-03T10:00:00.000-08:00

Today I finally received my 5 year recognition email from head office! My start date at the company is Jan. 4 so this email is about 1 month late but better late than never! Yeah! This year, there are a few more gifts than last year and the 5 year recognition was recently created as the first milestone, it used to be 10 years. If I stayed with this company for another 15 years, for my 20th year, I would get a trip to Montreal for the weekend, put into a fancy hotel and attend a fancy dinner held by the head office, Montreal is where our head office is located. That is such a cool and sounds like a fun FREE trip to Montreal! I am looking forward to that if I ever make it that far! Now what I should I choose for my gift? Hmmm.... the choices....

GIANT COOKIE

2010-02-02T20:35:00.000-08:00

OMG, my friend Ben drove up to Whistler, BC over the weekend to pick up these FAMOUS HUGE COOKIES and he dropped one by for me tonite! They are HUGE but apparently the chocolate chip ones are BIGGER! This one is an apple cinnamon cookie and it smells and tastes like apple pie! Mmmmm.... so yummy!!! But I ate half and feeling really stuffed.....

Update: I did some googling and I think I located the coffee shop that sells these giant cookies: Moguls Coffee House in Whistler, BC - must go next time I'm in Whistler!

Dance Class and Crepes with Tomina!

2010-02-01T20:00:00.000-08:00

Tonite, I had pussycat hip hop dance class with Tomina but I was not looking forward to dance class as I had a very late nite but I was very excited to go for crepes after dance class! T & I are just now making fun and fools of ourselves in dance class, the dance instructor is now rapidly moving into a new routine and we are just not getting it so we've decided to make up our own moves in the dance class! We are having a hoot in class altho I don't think our dance instructor is appreciating the new moves we incorprate into her dance routine nor that we are enjoying the face that we are making fools of ourselves! Plus I'm sure she does not appreciate us leaving class 5 minutes before the class is over! Oh well, after quickly escaping from our horrible dance class, we headed over to crepes on Robson and ordered dinner! Mmmmm.... I love crepes so good! Next time tho, we are gonna order a french sub and spilt it so we can order a sweet crepe! We haven't tried a sweet crepe cos the regular crepes are so filling! I'm starting to enjoy Mondays as I look forward to hanging out with Tomina and going for crepes! Next month, we are thinking about taking an aerobics class or pilates! That will be fun!Kay also had her first McD shift tonite, it was only a training shift but it's still quite exciting. I can't wait til she gets a real shift cos I'll be one of her first customers! Tonite, she tried on her uniform and she got a special polo shirt for the Olympic weeks. It's so cute!

Sunday Dinner - Double Date?

2010-01-31T22:00:00.000-08:00

Tonite, my mom and I headed out for dinner cos I offered the nite before but she already had plans. This was a step towards making amends since we had not spoken in 3 weeks cos we are both stubborn and didn't want to take the first step. I did try to speak to her a couple of weeks ago but she was still seemed annoyed with me so I didn't try again. I think she also tried to take the next step by picking up a pineapple juice for us cos she knows how much we love it. That was kinda funny since both Kay and I couldn't figure out if we had picked up too many or if we had forgotten that we had an one in the fridge already!! My mom had caught a cold a few days before and wasn't feel too well so we decided to go to Congee House on Broadway cos I was to pick up Kay from Pablo's place. Since the restaurant was in the same neighborhood, I figured we could head over there right after dinner. But to our surprise, Kay and Pablo were also at the congee house! We ended up joining their table and even tho I think Kay was a bit embarrassed by us but Pablo insisted that we sit with them! Mom and I ordered a congee and rice noodle dish to share while those two had already ordered their own dinner, I know that Pablo was gonna pay for their dinner but when the bill came, I insisted that I pay the entire meal. After dinner, we drove Pablo back to his place before heading over to Cheesecake etc cos my mom wanted to pick up a cheesecake. Gosh that cheesecake is not cheap but it is sooooo good and so worth it! Total cost of dinner $41, total cost of dessert $33 cost, to have a meal with Kay and Pablo? Priceless :)

Dim sum yum yum!

2010-01-31T13:55:00.000-08:00

Today at lunch, I met up with Robyn and Ingrid at Kirin Seafood Restaurant in Richmond Centre. This is one of my fave places to go for dim sum cos they have this glutinous sticky rice dish THAT IS THE BEST THERE. I love that dish! But Kirin does not serve it as a small dish, it's a regular dish that you have to order so I ordered it to go for later and for Kay's lunch. It was nice to catch up with Robyn and Ingrid since I hadn't seen them both in at least 2 years! Since Robyn moved out of the Cambie Area back in 2007, Ingrid left the downtown insurance company (in the same building as I) and moved into a government job in Richmond. We caught up on all sorts of things, I can't believe that Robyn's daughter Jessa is now 18!!! Wow, how time flies! Her little Leo is getting so big too, I can't believe he's almost 4!! Wow!! It was so good to see them and both are doing pretty good. We made a promise to meet up with each other again, very soon not letting 2 years pass. I wish I had taken photos of all my pretty and yummy dim sum but I was so hungry and we were talking so much that I didn't even think about taking photos! Next time! Yum yum Dim Sum!

HSG / Sala Thai

2010-01-30T20:00:00.000-08:00

Last nite, I met up with Ben and we headed over to Hamilton Street Grill for their steak special of $20.10!! What a price! We had a choice of soup or salad, we both chose the cream leak and potato soup and a sirloin steak with mash or french fries served with a side of seasonal vegetables. Oh it was so good! We also made room to share our most fave dessert, ginger bread pudding with ginger and pumpkin ice cream! Mmmmm.... so good and so filling! Also, it was so nice to catch up with Ben since I hadn't seen him in ages! We caught up on life and he told me about this gigantic cookie that he is driving back to Whistler for! I told him to pick up one for me cos I can't believe how HUGE this cookie is! Great way to end a long and tiring week, I hope to catch up with Ben more often cos I think the last time I saw him, it was almost 5 months ago!!

Tonite, Jas and I headed over to Sala Thai on Cambie street for dinner cos we hadn't gone for Thai in so long and we had lots to catch up since she's been away on business for two weeks! She's super tired and needs a break so she is thinking about flying to Beijing and London in March for a mini break. I think it's a good idea for her and even tho I wouldn't fly all the way out there to visit Beijing, I think it's good for her to get out of this city. It has been a pretty long and tiring year for her so she def deserves a long overdue holiday. It would be good for her to get out of this city too since this recent business trip doesn't count! I do wish and hope her company will finally sign her on as a full time employee so she can have a more steady and stable future at this place. She's been on a contract for a few years and I think she's ready to sign or move on to something new. But I know she would rather stay with her current employer, crossing my fingers! Can't wait for dinner next weekend, we are going to Blue Water Cafe + Raw Bar to sssshhh celebrate Jas's birthday and to catch up with everyone! It will be so nice to see everyone as we hadn't seen each other in sooooo long! (Sorry no pics of food!)

I love Sephora!

2010-01-29T20:00:00.000-08:00

Last week, I had picked up a few items at Sephora cos I had received a 10% discount and I wanted to use this on some really nice and expensive items. I picked up a powder foundation by Smashbox called Halo Hydrating Perfecting Powder and Brush set, Makeup Forever Lift Concealer and trio eyeshadow (which I ended up returning cos I want to buy the Dior Palette instead!). I just love Sephora! I def will have to order the Christian Dior palette online since it seems that the PC Sephora is always out of the products I want!! I received quite a number of compliments on my face so I know this Halo powder is def working and I usually can't wear powder cos my skin is so sensitive but this one doesn't seem to irritate it as the others. It's a bit expensive but def worth it :) Hopefully, this will last at least 3 months then I can justify spending that kind of money on it!