CNTM

Ok, I didn't think I would get into watching CNTM but it's quite interesting to watch the Canadian girls strut their stuff and having FIVE of the 10 girls from BC! Plus Jay Manuel was on the show to give it a send off and he was the guest judge. I love HIM, he has such a great personality and such coolness about him....

Mmmm.... yummy!

My homemade Caesar salad with strawberry tomatoes, basil garlic dressing (my new one from the event), croutons, crushed garlic, freshly grated Parmesan cheese and chicken!! The best Caesar salad ever and only cost me about $15.99 $1.50........ mmmm... that was it, just enough for dinner :) I have been PMSing the last two days and today I do not feel like eating so I figured I could have something lighter ... can't wait for this week to be OVER....

Oooh...me BAD

Lookie Here

Baby Belen

Recent photo of Baby Belen, what a cutie she is!

Eat-Vancouver

Every year, the Eat-Vancouver event is held at BC Stadium for three tasty filled days! This year, they added a Pet section and BBQ section (outside). Jas, Kay and I headed out there around 3:00 pm because we wanted to catch Tojo and Rob Feenie on the celebrity stage. They both demostrated three recipes and did an excellent job. Rob Feenie is a bit of a diva, he was 45 minutes late for his show and he ran 10 minutes over his designated time (the chefs had 30 minute time slots). But worth every minute of it! He is a very charismatic person with a huge personality, he knows how to work his crowd. And he's an IRON CHEF :) Making Vancouver and BC proud :)

Every time I go to this show, I always pick up a lot of different kinds of sauces and yummy stuff. Sometimes, I can get stuff that is not even available in stores just yet. Also, it's amazing how much you save on all the items. I spent probably about 40 dollars yesterday and picked up some great stuff. I got the Green Tea for $1.00 / bottle, 3 Indian sauces for $5.00, Basil & Garlic dressing for $5.00, 3 bags of chips for $5.00, 100% pure kiwi juice for $5.00 (I think this is the best one yet! I can imagine how much it will cost at Choices), a hot sauce for $5.00 and East Indian package (includes all spices) for $5.00! I am now set to have dinner parties!! :) I really love the kiwi juice and the Green Tea with honey. It was a good day :)

Kaityln's Visit

Today, Erin and Kaitlyn came down to the office for a visit! It has been three weeks since Erin had little Kaityln and all the ladies were very excited about this long over due visit. It is so great to see both of them, I miss having Erin around the corner :( Life is a little lonely at my corner....

After showing Kaitlyn off to the office, we headed over to the Vancouver Art Gallery for lunch. A cafeteria setting with an outdoor patio which is really nice. I will have to suggest this place for lunch the next time I head out witht the girls. They served some good paninis! Mmmmm... paninis.....

These are just a few of my fave. photos from today but for all the cute photos, click HERE.

Interesting....

While surfing the web, I came across this.....

Vancouver Specials
"In the early 1970s, Vancouver Specials began sprouting like dandelions in the city's residential quarters. Designed for maximum floor space on a long and narrow footprint, its affordability and build-by-numbers construction made the Special the house of choice for legions of newcomers to Vancouver. But with its low-sloped roof, boring façade and cheap materials, it was soon considered an architectural eyesore."

From this to WOW, this.

Nelly Furtado - Promiscuous

I am looooooooooooooooooving this song!!! I love Nelly Furtado, she is lookin' so HOT!! Nice booty :) and she's Canadian! I can't wait for her album to hit the stores!!

Nelly Furtado - Promiscuous on You Tube.

Grandma's Birthday Dinner

(Chocolate Cake from Michele Cake Shop in Kerrisdale, my Grams Fave. Chinese Bakery)

Today is my Grandma's 87 70th Birthday! Grams, Mom, Kay, Warren and I went out for dinner at Victoria Chinese Restaurant in the Royal Centre Mall. It feels sorta funny to be so close to my workplace on a day off (my workplace is right next door). The food was pretty good, the Captain gave us some suggestions and the dishes turned out to be really yummy. I am thinking that I will have to look into this place for my own birthday dinner.

More Birthday Photos.

Finished a Craft Project

HERE.

House of Dosas

South Indian Cuisine located at 1391 Kingsway (Kingsway & Knight Street, Vancouver)

What a Gem! I have heard many great things about this place and we finally got a chance to go. Mom, Grams, Auntie Ingrid, Kay and I headed over there for dinner tonight. Amazing dishes, we had to try a little bit of everything.

• Beef Palak Dosa - beef and spinach rolled into a very thin crepe served with coconut chutney (which was sooooo delicious!) and sambar
• Lamb Biryani - lamb in a fried rice but very spicy, not like Chinese Fried Rice (I didn't like this one because I don't like lamb)
• Prawn Devil - a Malaysian influenced dish, prawns coated in a spicy batter fried with veggies in a sauce (like a stew without the liquid...)
• Chicken Curry - this one is going to hit my fave. list because it was so yummy! just the right amount of spices and served with roti, rice and salad.

All the dishes were made to medium spiciness but boy it was still super spicy for us! But very good. Sadly, Kay only ate the roti because she does not like spice. After dinner we bought her some McDonald's. She was happy. I will def. be heading back to the House of Dosas again! Very delicious! I should have brought my camera so I could show you all the food!

The Dormitory Boys

They are baaaack with a new video!! Check out The Dormitory Boys aka Asian Backstreet Boys aka Two Chinese Boys, this is their newest video! It's hilarious! As always, a great performance! Give them a SHOUT OUT!

Kinky Boots

Tonight, Jas and I went to see Kinky Boots which is based on a true story. This movie has been on our "To See List" for quite some time now, we just hadn't gotten around to it. But Kay bailed on me tonight so I gave Jas a call to see if she was available. Yep she was! It is a really funny movie with a feel good storyline and a good mix of main characters. Def. catch the movie if you get the chance.

After the movie, we headed over to Ayden Gallery because as we passed by the storefront (on our way to the theatre), there was a sign "Sale 70% off". Uh NO WAY, how could I resist? AaaaHA, I did... sorta... there were a few items on the rack which I immediately fell in love with and really really wanted to buy them (at such ridiculous prices, how could I resist?) but I chose this one out of the three because I had already done some shopping on Robson earlier (on my lunch break) for myself and for Kay. It was still an early night so we decided to hit the Richmond Night Market. By the time we found parking and walked over there, we only had about an hour to walk through the market. Pretty much the same sorta tables they have every year. Didn't buy anything oh except a cute journal for myself. The crowd wasn't too bad even though Jas thought it was super busy. I explained in the summer months, you can barely walk through the nightmarket, it's a sea of people. We just HAD to pick up some "dragon beard candy" and there was a huge line up, we had to wait 20 minutes for it but well worth every minute. Mmmmmm.... candy and crushed peanuts..... it was really entertaining to watch the guy make the candy, Jas was mesmerized, I wish I had my camera to catch what this guy had to do to make this yummy stuff.

Richmond Night Market

The Richmond Night Market starts tonight! How exciting! I love the night market. You can pick up some inexpensive items from Asia and no taxes! So much shopping to do at the night market, there are over 400 vendors. Which means there are tons of stuff to chose from plus an asian food court where you can find some very yummy treats! I can't wait to go!! Most vendors take cash only so be sure to hit the ATM before heading out there!

Photo Collages

I cannot figure how to collage a bunch of photos onto one canvas in Adobe Photoshop 7.0 and it's driving me crazy! I have been behind on updating and posting on my blog but I have been so busy at work and home that when I get home, I just want to relax and not have to sit in front of a computer again. This week, I have been trying to update and load all my photos on my computer so I can update my blog. For one post (which hasn't been posted yet), I have a ton of really cool photos (from Kay's UBC Science Field Trip) but I don't want to post all the photos just as ONE HUGE COLLAGE. I have googled "collage with Photoshop" and came up with some helpful links but instructions on how to with other versions of Photoshop. Well I hope to one day finish the "Marsville" Photo Collage and Post so my blog can be current and to remove the "Draft" on the "Marsville" post.

(HELP...anyone??)

My New Toothbrush ...

...works awesome! It's not like my other electric toothbrush because this one is a sonic toothbrush and using this one to brush my teeth leaves me with a very clean feeling. Like coming from my dentist. Def. worth every penny....

Violin Concert

Tonight, Kay's school held a final violin concert for the year at Hamber High. It was a very interesting concert and to watch Kay go from first year to third is amazing. They are now performing pieces with more depth and difficulty. Really proud of her. But I forgot to take my camera to capture the moment, next time I guess. Although I'm not sure how I would have been able to control the camera because the auditorium we were seated in was unbelievablely stuffy and hot. There were no fans or air conditioning and even though they had all the doors opened, there was no breeze. Vancouver has been extremely warm (warmer than normal) and with no breeze, leaving doors opened did not cool down the room. I almost fainted in there, the concert was about 45 minutes but we had to be there an hour early which meant I was in the gym for an hour and forty five minutes. My body became overheated and I started to swell up, I had to remove my rings from my fingers because they were cutting off my circulation! But the performances were worth all it! I'm so proud of my little big girl.

PS Did I mention Kay has started to wear make up? Yep she has. I have been teaching her how to place eyeliner on her eyes so now she can do it herself. I don't really like the blue eyeliner but it looks pretty good on Kay (she's got a lot of blues and gray colours in her wardrobe). *sigh* she's not a little girl anymore....

My 1st eBay Purchase

How exciting! For quite some time now, I have been looking into purchasing a professional hair straightener but at retail, it is crazy expensive, there is no way I would spend $190 on a hair tool. A very good friend of mine told me how a friend of hers purchased a tool on eBay for a fraction of the cost. I decided, hmmm... that's interesting. I started researching it and I posted a bid on one and won it! I'm so excited, I can't wait to get it and use it!! Currently, it's on its way to me but as we all know, Canada Customs can be quite a pain so it could be stuck there for some time. Doesn't help that Canada Post is also not that reliable. Oh well. At the moment, I have a Revlon hair straightener at home and it works pretty good on Kay's hair (her hair is thinner) but it does nothing on my hair. That is why I am so excited about this new item! I can't wait to use my new straightening iron.....

I am thinking about selling some of my items on eBay, maybe I can make a little back from all the $$ I spent on clothes and shoes! ;-)

Oral B Sonic Toothbrush

Today right after work, I biked over to my dentist to pick up my new electric toothbrush. The New Oral B Sonic toothbrush which I have been debating over purchasing for some time now. But after seeing my dentist a couple of weeks ago, I decided to go for it. She did an amazing job on my teeth and I would like to keep them that way! I am also thinking about whitening my teeth as well but I had some car problems so I will have to hold off on my whitening until September. I have to charge this baby for at least 16 hours so I will post my review when I get the chance to use it!

Weekend

Saturday, May 13

Kay and I went to see Erin's baby girl and she is adorable! Erin & Geoff look so happy and are such great parents. There is a lot of love in the air. And their home is beautiful. I have never been inside and got a lovely little tour, it's been decorated and painted and renovated by them and it's absolutely BEAUTIFUL. I wish I had remembered my camera. Darn! Next time. On another note, I really miss having Erin around, it's not the same without her and her smile and positive attitude. But I can see she is getting quite comfortable with her time off and def. enjoying her mat leave :) I cannot believe I forgot my camera, yes I know, ME the one who carries her camera everywhere, but on my next visit, which I hope will be soon, I will be sure to have my camera ready for photos! After visiting baby Kaitlyn, Kay and I headed home to relax, it was very sunny and hot outside. We were planning on going biking but it was much too hot. We decided to stay at home for a bit to catch up on some stuff, make some crafts, and let the afternoon cool down before we went out. And we had a late lunch which meant we couldn't bike right afterwards anyways. Headed out around 5.45(ish)pm and biked for an hour or so (stopping at MEC and Best Buy) in our neighborhood. On our way home, we stopped off at Shiro (Japanese restaurant) to take out dinner. Kay ordered her usual, Beef Donburi (beef on rice) and I have been craving Katsudon (deep fried pork with egg on rice) for over a week now so that is what I ordered. Plus a side of salmon / hokkigai sashimi. Yummy!

Sunday, May 14 - Momma's Day!

This morning, I made waffles (from scratch) for breakfast as a Mother's Day Breakfast for myself. I woke up 45 minutes before Kay and I didn't want to wake her up. I decided to make my own breakfast instead of waiting for her besides I would probably starve if I waited. Last week in the paper, I found a waffle recipe and I have been waiting to try it. It turned out really really yummy (except for the first couple of waffles, trying to figure out how much to put in my waffle maker) and the recipe included a strawberry and whipped topping sauce. Mmmmm...yum! I should have taken photos but I devoured them to quickly, next time! Kay finally woke up and looked at me with her sleepy eyes and said, Mom shouldn't I be making those for you? Hehehe... I said probably but I couldn't wake you up and I was hungry so maybe next time. She gave me a homemade Mother's Day Card with a coupon inside good for one free mocha! Nice :) After breakfast, we cleaned up and lounged on the couch catching up on pretaped TV shows. Around noon, Kay and I headed over to my Mom's for lunch. Kay had a ton of homework to do (or the excuse of it so she wouldn't have to come out with Grandma and I) so she ended up staying at my Mom's house while we went out to do some errands. After running errands, we (Mom, Grandma, Kay and I) headed over to the Korean BBQ house on Kingsway for dinner. Thank goodness for reservations because they were PACKED. Def. worth the wait though, it was soooo yummy! I love BBQ esp. Korean BBQ. Not so hot on the kimchee though, pickled veggies or whatever it is, er ... no thanks. Finishing off dinner early (earlier then our usual time), we headed back to Mom's and I helped my Grandma prune her rose bushes because she hadn't prune them in a couple of years. My Grandma doesn't have the strength as she once had so she hadn't pruned her roses in a very long time and the branches are getting quite thick. Boy, what a work out I had! The stalks were so thick that I had to use a mini saw to trim them off. But it made my Grandma really happy to have them pruned down so it was my gift to her for Grandma's Day :)

Now I have to think of something for her birthday....coming up this long weekend. Hmm....

Freaky @ss Weather!!

Today, I had to stay an extra half an hour at work to finish off some paperwork on my desk because I am taking Friday off. Instead of leaving at 4:30pm, I left at 5:00 and I got caught in some strange weather! It was downpouring RAIN, yes DOWNPOUR as in floods, and hailing like the end of the world, I swear! Yet the sun is brightly shining as it has been for the last couple of weeks (Vancouver has been seeing some abnormal warm temperatures this time of the year). Being as warm as it is, the rain and hail didn't feel like ice, thank goodness! For 15 minutes (that is about how long it takes for me to walk to my bus stop on a day like today, usually it takes about 7 - 10 minutes) I was caught in this strange storm without an umbrella. I was completely soaked and I ruined a really great pair of spring/summer shoes. What an afternoon! And of course when I stepped onto my bus, this strange weather disappeared ..... argh ....

Good Bye Chantal!

Our dear friend, Chantal is leaving the company. She found another job opportunity elsewhere for more money and less work. Good for her! Good Luck and Many Congrats Chantal, we are going to miss you a whole lot! Keep in touch!!

Us Girls... we are going to miss her! Chantal & Jana started at the same time....

A gift from all of us.... a company pen and thermos (can't let her forget where she came from!) AND a $75.00 gift certificate to Metrotown! (we know she likes her shopping)

Group Photos

Chantal & Franco (he missed out on lunch which is not like him, he attends any party that involves food!)

Speech....

A great shot of our office funny man, Ken-eeee :)

Birthday Party!

What a crazy day it's been! She had a great time although there were a few little mishaps. Last night, one of the girls decided not to come, actually she asked Kay to call her the following day to see if she was in the mood to come out. Uh No. I can't help but wonder what her parents are teaching her? My Mom would never allow me to get away with that and neither would Kay. Anyways not all was lost ($30 to be exact) because Kay was able to invite another person at the last moment. This morning, we headed over to Burnaby to pick up C and then headed over to Richmond to pick up L but guess what? L was not there. She was LATE. We were becoming late, I waited one minute and told Kay we had to go. She is the birthday girl and she can't be late for her own birthday party!! Kay left a message on L's cellphone explaining the detatils and address to her. We were a few minutes late for her birthday party. Planet Lazer didn't give me any clues on the how's and when's of this birthday party. I had to ask a million and one questions (ok, a little bit of an exaggeration!) about the party including when/how the kids were going to be set up with their lazer games, when pizza would arrive and what about the cake? All they did was show me to our party room. L was really really late, apparently her mom got lost and couldn't find us. When she finally arrived, she missed the first lazer game but did arrive on time for the pizza. We only had the room booked for two hours because weekends are their busiest days and boy were they swamped! Overall, Kay had a pretty good time and she got some pretty cool stuff. Gosh, I don't want to do this again!! Maybe she will outgrow birthday parties by next year? I hope so.

See photos for party fun.

More Birthday Photos HERE.

Birthday Dinner Part I

Tonight, Grandpa took Kayesha out for dinner at Dem Bones in Richmond. One of her fave. rib places, she actually wanted to go to Memphis Blues on Broadway but I told her it wasn't suitable place for a family of 5 to have dinner. Memphis Blues is a self serve, small (no, TINY) diner with 5 tables. It's crazy busy in there esp. on the weekends. We would probably have to wait until 10pm to eat. She really wanted some ribs. We ordered a half slab for Kayesha and she finished about half, very impressed. She's 12 now, y'know, a big girl.


*For more photos, see the next couple of posts. Blogger didn't allow me to post all the photos in one post.*

Birthday Dinner Part II

Family Photos
Kay got some silver bracelets from Grandpa as a birthday gift. Kay loved them, she is getting into jewelry now.

Birthday Dinner Part III

Kay and her Bib
Our Dinners - Wow HUGE ribs
Chowing down on our yummy ribs! Check out Kay, she's eating her ribs with her little fingers, very politely!
Wow, these are HER ribs, it's only half a slab!
She finished half of them :) Big Girl now...

The waitress gave Kay a slice of ice cream cake because she found out it was Kay's birthday. Well she didn't accidentally found out, Kay announced it to everyone and anyone who was listening to her.

Happy Birthday to Kay!

12 TODAY!

How time flies by...

Birthday lunch with Jasmine and Vince at Cactus Club by Metrotown Centre. This is where she wanted to have her birthday lunch. Jasmine came out with her birthday gifts and Kay really liked them. She got her very own MAC lipglass in a neutral colour and a silver heart pendant. I know I wasn't going to buy her anything but I could not help but to pick up this cute little Guess purse for her. It's so cute! Looks like a D&G but it's not! Very adorable and suits her quite well. After lunch, Kay and I headed over to Metrotown to check out the Dollar Store for her loot bags (yes I know how last minute but it's been a crazy and hectic week). The Dollar Store at Metro is closing down for renos so they had nothing in the store. We wandered around the mall for a little bit, I picked up two very cute tops from Mimi McQueen (each top under $15.00!!), I am loving this store. They carry a nice collection of clothes from LA. After wandering around for a little while, we realized we really needed to get going because we had dinner plans with Dad. Leaving the mall, we headed over to the Huge Dollar Store on Fraser street. We were able to pick up some really cool loot bag items for her friends. After the shopping, we headed home to rest and start the loot bags. We didn't get a chance to finish them because we had to meet Grandpa & family at Dem Bones for dinner.

Kay's First Couple of B'day Gifts

Uncle Warren came by to give Kay a haircut & birthday gift. Poor guy, he didn't get off work until 10:00pm and right after a long day, he came by to give her a much needed hair cut and her birthday gift. But her hair looks great and she's ready to parteeee...
Opening gift, very excited....

Oh wait is that a PSP? Noooo, he had her present in the box (she had to give him the box back)
Very happy with her gift as you can see from the HUGE SMILE on her face. Mario Kart DS, just what she wanted.

The Game that she will be religiously playing for the next three months....

She also received a Future Shop gift card from R & M. How cool is that? She is very excited as she still has some money left on her last Future Shop gift card. Tomorrow after her party on Sunday, we are going to head over to the store so she can pick up some stuff. She is SO LUCKY. :)