Dinner and a Movie

Tonight, I went out with Jas for a movie and dinner. We watched, I am Legend with Will Smith and we didn't know much about the movie but after 15 minutes, we realize it was similar to 28 days later (out in 2000?) and I do not do well with anything scary or horror. But as usual, it was a blockbuster movie and I love Will Smith but at the climax, I didn't even watch the screen cos I knew I would be very squeamish so I was texting my other best bud while the climax was playing. We had decided to have dinner after the movie and headed over to Sala Thai for dinner, it was still Dine Out so we decided to try the Dine Out menu. The dinner wasn't too bad considering this Sala Thai was not as good as the one on Cambie Street. But it was a pretty good price with good portions. It was a really freezing night but nice to be out and about with my best bud!

Zin Restaurant & Lounge

Tonight, I met up with my cousin for dinner as we haven't seen each other in about a year and we thought it was time to catch up on each other's lives. It's amazing how fast time flies when everyone is busy but hopefully, we will not leave our next outing until a year later! We decided to have a "Dine Out" at Zin Restaurant on Robson street, I made reservations for 5:30pm and when I went in, the restaurant was completely empty, I guess no one really starts dinner that early but I'm an early diner! My cousin and I both work downtown so we decided something within downtown would be easier. We ordered off the Dine Out Menu (which wasn't that impressive) and ordered a couple of drinks while we waited for the food. We caught up a bit on what's going on and my little cousin (her little sister) is engaged! Wow, I can't believe how grown up she is! To me, I still remember her being 12. That's exciting news. My cousin and her partner loves to travel so she was telling me about the trips they've made and it sounds like so much fun, altho I'm not much of a traveller. Our appy arrived first, she ordered the salad and I had the soup, the entire meal was not at all impressive, my soup was so small, about 5 tablespoons and her salad was tiny, just a few pieces of leaves and a walnut or two. The soup didn't really taste like apple squash, mostly squash and her salad, just like a salad that you can easily make at home. Our entrees arrived, we both ordered the risotto with halibut. Oh my gosh! Our risotto was uncooked and the halibut was tiny! It wasn't very flavourful and did not taste great. The desert, blah. Overall, it was a terrible Dine Out and I do not ever recommend Zin ever!

Shopping Steals

Gosh, I've got some great deals over the last week or so! Last Friday, I realized I needed a pair of beige pumps cos I was wearing a beige outfit and realized I don't own a pair of beige pumps so I wore my tri-brown coloured pumps which worked okay but not as great if I had beige pumps. At lunch, I headed out with Rhoda to look at some boots cos she needed some and when we arrived at the Aldo Outlet on Granville street, a shiny patent pair of beige pumps were staring right at me! They had my size and they were 50% off!!! These were SO meant to be!! After Aldo, we headed over to Jacob cos they were having a winter clearance sale, 60% off regular priced winter items and I picked up two long sleeve knit tops for under $15 each! One in beige and one in red so I can now wear my 3/4 crop jackets which I purchased in the fall. Today, I picked up a pair of Wilfred (Aritzia's luxe designer) capri pants for work for $39.99 regular price $130! Sheesh, that's such a great deal plus it was awesome to fit into a size 2! Yes a size 2!! I haven't been a size 2 since I was in my early 20s!! Damn, I've lost a lot of weight, hmmm... I wonder if I can fit into my burgundy pants, those are the only pants that I kept cos they were damn expensive! Must go to Richmond and look thru storage to see if I can find them.....

Happy Birthday Jasmine!

Tonight, we celebrated Jasmine's birthday at the Aqua Riva for Dine Out Vancouver. Every year, her birthday celebration falls during this time and we have made it a tradition to have dinner at one of the many Dine Out Vancouver restaurants. With such a great price and choices, how could anyone resist not attending at least one Dine Out every year?? This year, West did not participate so we decided to head back over to Aqua Riva which is where we celebrated my birthday last year. As always, the food was super yummy and I opted for New York steak instead of the salmon (had basa on my birthday) and the dessert, cheesecake was to die for. It was such a splendid dinner and so nice to see them all since we do not really get a chance to go out, enjoy good food and each other's company. After dinner, we decided to head over to Vince and Meryl's condo cos we haven't been there in a while as they were redecorating the entire suite. It was almost done with a few odd pieces to pick up but ready to show off. But before heading over there, we decided to stop off at Rogers Video to pick up a movie. They decided on Waitress starring Keri Russell and in the end, we wished we hadn't rented it cos it was a terrible. Although, we all had heard rave reviews on the movie (and RottenTomatoes.com gave it 89%), we didn't really enjoy the movie and to me, the story dragged on and on and on. Before starting the movie, we got a tour of the new place and gosh does it ever look different! They decided to go with a contemporary minimal style and chose a lot of contemporary furniture pieces, spending most of their budget on their beautiful couch (from LivingSpace) at a whooping $15,000!! I almost fell on my @ss when I heard that! But I love their new place, it's gorgeous! The bedroom, a totally different room and the repainted walls, incredible. Looks like a showroom for a loft. Well done! Also love the brand new (upgrade!) TV and he took it off the wall and put it on a TV stand! Vince wanted to show us the game he worked on all year (he works at EA) and gosh, NHL 2008 looks great! The hockey players look so real! Like you are really watching a hockey game, amazing! Meryl being the sweetest hostess ever, made up a veggie platter for us and made up Jas's birthday cake with her candles, the chocolate cake was so delish! I had two pieces which wasn't a good idea cos I was already starting to feel a bit bloated from the dinner / dessert plus more dessert? But it was too good not to have the second piece! After the movie, we chatted a bit longer and decided to call it a night. Jas had a really great time and that's all that mattered! Life is great when you have great friends to share it with! More photos on my flickr account.

Vera's Burger Shack

FINALLY! I have officially tried burgers at Vera's Burger Shack! The burger was nothing spectacular but still very delish esp. since I haven't had red meat or a burger in quite some time! Charly and I were suppose to do our workout but his friend (whom he does meat runs for as a favour) called a bit earlier than expected and we decided to skip the workout (both of us being way too tired) to help deliver the meat. I finally met his friend, Emando, a student or something from Mexico who has stayed with him as a homestay student last year. He wanted to set him up with a mutal friend of ours and even though Emando is very cute and charming, he is not our friend's type whatsoever. Plus he's a starving visitor with no or little money and we know for a fact that money is a must when dating our dearest friend. After the looooong drive to UBC and back, we decided to have burgers at Vera's and boy was it ever yummy esp. when you are hungry! I can say now that I have finally tried it as I have been wanting to try it since last summer, heard good reviews on the place. Next burger stop, Fat Burger on Denman!

Xmas/Kick Off Party

Best Party Ever! What I remember of it ..... More Photos Here

Dinner with a measurement

Tonight, Rhoda and I had dinner plans with Charly cos we are going to help him get back into shape! Over the summer, we all did the Grind together and it really helped us get into shape! But then, Charly went on vacation to Europe for about a month and a bit and those 5 weeks caught up to him! He now needs to lose a bit of weight and get back into shape so his new goal is to fit into his 36" pants. Rhoda, being a fitness freak or fitness trainer as she calls herself, decided to give us each a targeted workout schedule to help us both reach our goals. My goals are to tone up and get my butt back. Charly's is just to get back into shape. Rhoda is also putting him on a strict diet cos he needs it, he doesn't seem to know a whole lot about proportion sizes and calorie counting. Gosh, that man can also eat! Tonight, we were all getting together to discuss the schedule and take measurements.

After discussion and dinner, we watched the hockey game and Rhoda helped Charly install some programs into his brand new laptop. It was a fun and entertaining night, we decided we would get together to workout on Mondays and Wednesday and he should go on his own one more night probably Friday cos Rhoda and I are planning to swim on Fridays. I don't really need to hit the gym more than twice a week cos I've already hit my targeted weight and all I really want to do is tone up. But I think Charly needs to start off with a lot of cardio cos he needs to drop his body fat down. We'll see how it goes!

Shu Uemura

I have heard that every Asian woman should own an eyelash curler from Shu Uemura so today at lunch, Rhoda and I headed over to Holt Renfrew's Shu Uemura counter to take a look at it. The SA tried it out on my eyelashes and I couldn't believe the difference! I decided, I def. needed one and used my GC to pick one up for my makeup bag :)

Movie and a burger

I haven't been out for a while nor have I seen a movie in a theatre for quite some time so tonight, Jas and I went to see Juno at Silvercity Metropolis. Gosh, I love this movie! It's such a funny and sweet movie, you must go see it. Ellen Page is a great actor and as I watched her perform on the screen, I realized I had seen her somewhere else before and now I remember! She was the girl in Hard Candy, that movie was excellent and you should def. catch that one too!

After the movie, it was still a bit early and we both had a craving for burger and fries. At one point in the movie, Juno had a huge burger with fries and both of us were starting to feel a bit hungry after that scene. When catching a 7.00pm show, it's too early to eat out and yet after the movie, too late for a full dinner esp. a burger and fries platter! We decided to stop in at TGIF below Silvercity and share a burger platter, just enough to settle our stomachs and cravings but not too much to make us feel guilty and super full! It was super yummy and def. filled our cravings! It was so nice to be out of the house on a Saturday night :)

Shopping Addiction

Today, I was very very bad.... I picked up a new wool crop jacket and cute top from Aritzia. These items were at such a good price, I couldn't resist! I wasn't suppose to go to the mall but Kay and Ty never made it out there and both of them had to return a couple of items at Metrotown. Kay had invited her friends over and they were suppose to head out to the mall but apparently all 2 of them had decided to stay in our tiny basement suite the entire afternoon. That means there was 4 teenagers in our tiny suite, poor Ari, he was so stressed out and very very tired! Since those two had a few things to return, I decided I would drive them to Metro so they didn't have to take the train (it was super cold!) and we would go to The Boss at Metropolis for dinner since I haven't had The Boss in such a long time. While Kay returned her shoes at Stoneridge, I told them I would wait for them at Aritzia to see what they had left in the store. I tried on a few more pairs of R&Rs but the ones that looked really nice on me were no longer on sale :( but I did find a cute wool jacket by Talula Babaton and a top by Wilfred at a really great price! Kay also found a cute TNA bag that she wanted and it was on sale. Ty needed to head over to AE to return a shirt and buy another one, Kay and I picked out a really nice men's shirt (long sleeved, collared and buttons) for Ty. After our shopping, we decided to head over to The Boss for dinner and after dinner, we stopped by London Drugs to pick up a bus pass for Kay and those two headed over to Bubble World for bubble tea. I'm not so sure that was the best way to end the night, bubble tea with tons of sugar in two teenagers!

Joy - the MOST expensive perfume in the world

I just bought my grandma the perfume that she has been obessed with since the day she tried it on! Many many years ago, my aunt gave her a dab of JOY by Jean Patou and my grandma fell in love with the fragance but could not bring herself to buy one for herself. For Christmas, my brother and I picked up a Sennheiser wireless/cordless headphones for her as per my mother's instructions and even though I knew she wouldn't like them, I just figured I'd do what my momma says. Guess what? Grams didn't like them and after trying them out for one night, she discreetly told my mother that she wouldn't use them and I should return them and keep the money. My mom told me this and I realized I should not have listen to her and picked up the perfume in the first place. At first, I was thinking about buying grams the signature fragrance she uses which is Chanel No. 5 but decided my grams deserved to be spoiled. Joy it was and the salesperson at HBC had a heavy accent so at first I thought the 75 ml eau de parfum was priced at a reasonably $119 but once the perfume rang through the register, it came up to $192 plus tax! Sheesh! Def. realized the mistake but went ahead with the purchase. On the savings side, GST went down 1% so I saved myself an extra 1%.............. can't wait to see my grams (re)opening her gift! Priceless!!

Happy New Year!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Tonight, Vince, Meryl, Ari, and I headed over to Jas's place to ring in the new year. I guess as you get older, you don't really want to spend a ton of money to go clubbing or partying. We decided on a nice quiet night with good friends and Jas offered to host us at her place with dinner and some wine. I have to say, it's nice spending quality time with my buds esp. since I don't see Vince and Meryl that often with their busy lives. Our dinner plans were Vince and Meryl bringing over home made curry while I brought over a veggie dip platter and dessert, a chocolate rum cake and Jas supplied the wine, rice and appy's. Vince and Meryl always come late, never early or on time and when they finally arrived, they didn't bring curry (Jas and I were so looking forward to it!) but brought over BBQ pork/duck and a tofu/fish dish from a takeout. Those two had a late night, like every night, and so busy running around with Meryl's little sister, they did not have time to cook. But that's ok, BBQ and tofu dish were pretty yummy!

While waiting for the countdown, we all caught up on each other's lives and shared many laughs! Since time was ticking by slowly, we decided to put together Jas's IKEA shelf which had been sitting in the box in the living room for months! Jas didn't have a toolbox which meant we had to be creative and use a Nine West pump as a hammer! What a hoot! Got some fun photos and it was def. a fun way to ring in the year! After the countdown, we stayed a bit longer to chat and decided to call it an early night. Originally, we had plans to head out for a drink (coffee or something) but the ladies were tired and poor Meryl, super tired from all the shopping and packing.

Hope everyone had a great New Year's!