Sweet and Casual (Sporadic) Wedding!

Tonight, one of my BFFs, Vincent got married! He is officially a grown up! hahaha... many many congrats to him and his new bride, Meryl. We love you both!

It was a small but sweet and casual wedding. The ceremony was held in a really cool looking building in Vancouver, I guess the owners of the building rent it out for whatever you need. Visually the building is pretty cool and funky, looks kind of like a small art museum with office space. It's so like those two to throw something like this together and with all the adventures they've been on together as a couple, it doesn't surprise me that they decided on Monday to get married, Tuesday to let family and close friends know about it and Friday, to hold the ceremony and reception.

Since this was a small gathering, only a few members of each side of the family and a few friends were joined for this very incredibly special event. Vincent can clean up pretty well in a suit! Hahaha, he knows I love him ;) And Meryl, OMG, GORGEOUS!! She had decided on wearing a black dress on her wedding day but thankfully her BFF convinced her to check out Main street and she found a beautiful WHITE dress with black accents. It was lovely, the ceremony was held in the "boardroom" and after the vows and many many photos, it was off to the Indonesia restaurant on Commercial Drive for the reception.

The food was so yummy and there were tons of it! I can't believe this little gem of a restaurant is in my neighborhood and I had no idea! The people who owned the restaurant were really nice and food, just like home made cooking. This is going to be added to our fave restaurant list! After the great food, great conversation and more photos, it was time to open the gift Jas and I bought for the two of them. We know it was a casual wedding and presents were a no no but we couldn't go this without a small gift! Our idea was dessert for two since the two of them threw this together so quickly, we knew they wouldn't have a wedding cake or dessert so we bought them strawberry covered chocolates and a box of chocolates from Godiva, cupcakes by Cupcakes and a bottle of red wine. Hmmm... we know what they will be up to on their wedding night! ;) After dinner, the two of them invited us all over but it was a late night (well late for me, it was 10 pm!) and Kay and I decided to head home.

It was a lovely evening and I am so happy to be apart of it. I love them both dearly and we know these two are great for each other. Now it's time to have some babies!!! :) Enjoy the photos!

So cute!

Ari thinks he's human sometimes.... this morning, I caught him sleeping on his back with his legs up in the air and I had to take photos of him, gosh isn't he so cute!!??!!

Promotion!

A few weeks ago, I received a promotion at work. I have been with the company for 3 years and there was a position opened to assist two business development management personnel. A few people recommended me and at first, I was not too keen on taking on this position as I knew the raise would be minimal and there would be a lot more work involved. But HR sent me to temporarily assist, against my own will, as they were in need of an assistant asap. I was a bit bitter at first cos I couldn't believe I was doing the extra work and not getting any extra pay. But in the end, I decided to apply for the position and the HR manager knew that I would need to be in the position before making a final decision on the position. The feedback from the two managers were they were quite happy with my work and enjoyed having me down there to assist them. I was officially promoted, through a letter and with a small increase in my salary. I also recieved a title change and am now on a different tier level on the administration ladder. I am learning quite a bit from these two managers and it was def. different from what I was doing before. Plus the position I was in, was slowly dying down as the major project I was hired to work on, finished completion in November 2007. My previous manager who was upstairs and I was still trying to assist him while I was on a different floor, decided that he missed me too much and moved into an empty office located right next to my desk! What a compliment! Now I work for three managers and I'm super busy! But the BEST PART of this whole experience is, I've finally got my own DIRECT LINE! For two years, I was trying to get my own direct line and then, today, my Office Services Coordinator called me and asked me to choose a number. I was like what? What's wrong with my extension? She told me, I was getting my own direct line AND I even get a choice in the number! How exciting, now it's official, I've been promoted! :)

Shopping Blog is BACK!

I know I've been terrible at updating my Trishaopholic blog and that's only cos I couldn't keep up with all my shopping!! But I'm going to try to blog about all the new items I purchase....

At lunch, Rhoda and I headed over to Kiehl's to pick up some new moisturizer for my face, I bought a small bottle in case it doesn't work out for me. We also hit Dynamite which I ended up buying a pair of inexpensive grey pants on sale even though the regular price wasn't too bad. Over to R&W but I didn't see anything that I loved or needed for the upcoming spring / summer season.

I am in need of yoga wear as I am going to take up yoga in the next few weeks but I will not buy Lululemon just cos it's too over priced and everyone is wearing it as casual wear! It's YOGA CLOTHING, where it to yoga not to go shopping. So I did a bit of research and found some great Vancouver brands that I will be checking out.

Tonic - cute, fun, sleek and stylish yoga wear, love their items
Lotus Yoga Wear - simple, basic or classic yoga wear
Karma Athletics - same as above
Skyler - a little more simple and very basic
Kula - not sure about this one just yet

But as always, you need to go in and try them on to see how they fit and look on you. Hopefully, this weekend or the next!

Charlie bit me!

Awww so cute, love the accent!

Wii Fit

(click onto MarketNews to enlarge photo)

The Wii Fit is scheduled to be launched in North America, May 19 2008!! Priced between $79 to $99 and with new games and downloaded software. I am soooo excited and I can't wait to get one of these! No more gyms! :) More info on Wii, check out Wii Fit

Happy First Birthday Isabella!

Today, we celebrated Isabella's very first birthday and wow, I can't believe how fast she's grown! She is now officially one years old! How time flies.... the lucky birthday girl received so many gifts, gosh did she ever get spoiled. The whole living room was filled with so many great gifts and I felt that my little Roots t-shirt and lucky red envelope didn't seem like a lot. The food was excellent, lots of yummy food and homemade samosas which were super yummy. Lots of people and friends, many whom I didn't know and I wish I came with Rhoda and Nel but I didn't cos those two were coming from Ladner. I was on my own for about an hour (Kay didn't come, she had homework and plans with a friend) and I felt a bit awkward since I didn't know anyone there except for the birthday girl and mom. Grace is an awesome hostess and she tried to keep me in the gathering and I tried to mingle with the other guests. Before long, food was being served so I decided to grab a plate and sample all the yummy food. As I was finishing up, Trav, Lisa and little ones were just coming through the door. It was good to see them, Lisa looked great even though she was super tired and you can tell she was a bit worn out from taking care of two little ones. Since they just arrived, I held little Tristan so mom and dad could grab a bite. Gosh, is he ever tiny (just a bit over 8 pounds!) and I can't believe that Isabella was once that small! Rhoda and Nel arrived a bit after Trav and Lisa and about that time, my arms were getting super tired so Rhoda took over a bit. After a couple of hours, it was time for the birthday cake and presents. It was such a lovely time and so good to see everyone. Next small gathering, we are heading over to Trav and Lisa's place to have a dinner at home cos we know how hard it is for those two to come out since they've got a newborn with them. More photos on flickr.

After the party, I headed over to Metrotown to see if I could get my Hello Kitty alarm clock fixed cos this morning I accidentally knocked it over and the seconds ticker fell off. Lucky for me, Times Fashion (which has been there forever!) was able to fix it at a price of $6.00!! While I waited (30 or so minutes before it would be done), I headed over to T&T to pick up some milk and bread, right next door is Maxim's and I picked up some baked items for Kay. Then I walked over to the other side to Superstore as I was looking for a pastry cutter (to cut butter into a batter - I'm going to try a new scones recipe this coming w/e) but Superstore didn't have any which surprised me. I could have gone over to London Drugs to buy one but it's a bit expensive and more than what I was willing to pay. I don't want to spend more than $10 on one and lucky for me, I found one at Home Outfitters just under $10. I also looked around for a new swimming suit cos I am going to take up swimming soon but didn't find any that were cute or flattering. It's so hard to find a swimming suit to fit your body type. Also, I think most women don't like being in a swimming suit and I am one of those women. I find there are very few pieces that look decent on me. I think I will have to head over to West 4th this weekend and check out Blue Crush and/or outdoor shops (Comor etc.) for a swimming suit. A few years ago, I picked one up from West 4th but it was getting old and needed to be replaced so I finally threw it out. HonHon bought one for me a year ago (from La Vie en Rose Aqua) but it's way too big now since I've lost all this weight. The weather was super nice and warm, almost like a spring day! Sunshine and the temperature at a little above 10 degrees C which is quite warm I think. I hope this upcoming week will be nice and sunny! Oh yes, it's time to go shopping for new sunglasses!

Homemade Cinnamon Buns

Tonight, Kay and I tried a new (quick and easy) cinnamon bun recipe from Desert Candy. Gosh, was it every yummy! It was our first time making them and even though we had a few mishaps, it turned out super delish and yes, it was quick and easy. I love the smell of baking in the house and the baking smells travels all the way upstairs. We were invited to join Mom and Auntie I. for dinner but Kay and I declined as we didn't want to eat greasy chinese food. Plus we had leftover (homemade) pasta sauce and (also homemade) mac'n'cheese. Around 8ish, Kay and I were craving something sweet so we decided to pull out the recipe book and see what we had. I found the cinnamon bun recipe sitting on top and remember, this was one I really wanted to try. We are so glad we did cos it def. hit the spot! When Mom and Auntie Ingrid came back from dinner, they couldn't help but come downstairs to see what we were baking. Enjoy the photos and thank you Mercedes for the recipe! We can't wait to add this to our weekend brunch menu :) Enjoy the photos and YES they look as delicious as they taste!

Happy B'day!

Tonight, we celebrated my brother's birthday (early birthday cos it lands on Tuesday), it was just the four of us as grandma had mahjong plans the entire week. For his birthday dinner, he wanted Peking duck, that's one of his fave. dishes, so mom booked us a table at a Chinese restaurant on Granville/41st whom are famous for their Peking ducks. It was pretty yummy although the restaurant itself did not look too impressive. But the duck is def. delish! They also slice the duck skin for you right in front of you and that was pretty cool. We order a vegetable and a sweet and sour pork for my brother, the pork dish is also one of his favorites. After dinner, we headed back to my mom's place for the birthday cake another one of his fave, fresh mango cake from Michele's, gosh he's being spoiled. As a birthday gift, my mom gave my brother her 1989 Toyota Supra which is in immaculate condition. He has been asking for this car as long as I can remember and every year, it looks although she is going to give it up but she doesn't. As every year, he gets very disappointed but my mom finally gave in and decided to give it to him for his birthday this year. What a surprise! As a gift to my brother, I paid for the oil change and gave him $50 cash towards whatever he wanted. Even though he finally got his car, he couldn't take it home tonight cos he has to switch the car insurance over before he can drive it. Currently, the car is insured under my mother's name and she has a perfect driving record and awesome insurance therefore she does not want my brother to even take it for a few days with her insurance. I don't blame her, my brother has a terrible driving / accident record. After birthday cake, it was time to call it an early night as Kay and I had a long week with HonHon and I was still trying to get over my terrible cold/flu. Enjoy the photos! (more on my flickr account)

What A Week!

HonHon arrived on Friday, Feb. 8 and he brought back a ton of Hello Kitty goodies for me! All the HK items are so very cute and of course, I was spoiled yet again! Of all the items I received, my fave items are the bathrobe, the bathroom mats and the door curtain. His suitcase was super heavy but it wasn't all me! He also brought back some stuff that my mom had left behind in Hong Kong (jars of XO sauce) and my sister sent some cute outfits for Ari! He got a cute denim jacket and a cheongsam. We tried them on him and they are so cute! Need to get some photos of him in them :)

There was so much that we had done, I'm just gonna write all the highlights of the week:

• Gifts, gifts and more gifts! Apple Classic iPod for me and 5 or 6 Wii games for Kay
  
• Louis Vuitton - All in the Monogram Vernis line (my very fave!) in 3 different colours: Koala wallet in pomme d'amour (candy apple red), key and change holder with name plate in amarante (deep dark purple/black), and the agenda of course which I purchased earlier and oh yes, LV 2008 refills for my small agenda.
  
• V-day dinner at West on Granville which was lovely. I love dining at West, it's my fave restaurant in Vancouver, worth every dollar! We only go once or twice a year and it's a time where I get to dress up and feel like royalty. I ordered the smoked sablefish and HonHon ordered the tenderloin, both dishes were incredible!
  
• IKEA for mattress shopping, we finally found an inexpensive queen size bed for HonHon's condo in Burnaby and what a day we had putting the pine bed frame together, apparently, the screws and brackets were misplaced!
• Trying out new restaurants and re-visiting old favorite ones! We must have eaten out every day at least once!
• Home-cooking twice, once HonHon made us dinner and I made homemade pizza for him.

It was nice to spend some quality time with him and Kay. I took the week off and Kay was allowed to take Friday off (every Friday is half a day) as HonHon's flight was tonight. Can't believe he's left already, it's very quiet and empty. But in a couple of days, we'll be over it. Usually, he leaves on a Sunday but China Air switched the times around and HonHon does not like these times. But overall, it was a great visit and it was so nice to see him, hug him, kiss him and spend some long overdue quality time together as a family (even though he did a lot of sleeping as you can see in the photos! I guess cos he's on vacation or jetlagged?!?!). The only thing I really regret is that we made a verbal deal about Louis Vuitton. No more Louis Vuittons until my birthday in August .... of 2010!! Yikes!! But I still love him even though we made the almost impossible deal. Well there are other luxury items that I love! :) It was such a great visit and we sure do miss him tons.... gosh did I mention that it feels quiet and something is missing.....

Good Bye and Good Luck!

Wishing all the very best to my dear friend, Franco! May the Year of the Rat bring you prosperity and happiness and love! We are all going to miss you but I think I'm going to miss you the most! Won't be the same without you!

On a happy note, you def. deserve more respect and you need to start working hard on your CGA! No more late nights and spending our weekends at the office!

Lavendar - Spring is Here!

Spring is finally here! Or close to it, a new colour has been introduced for the spring collection and now added to my addiction.....

CONGRATS!!!

The arrival of Tristan, he is such a beautiful newborn.....

Rhoda, Grace and I headed over to the hospital to see the newest addition to the Wou family. Lisa and Trav look super tired but both are doing well and planning on heading home later tonight. I didn't want to hold him cos I was afraid of many things like, not holding his neck correctly, giving him germs or the worse possible thing, wanting to have another baby! But he is super adorable and I can't wait until he's a few days older or a month (we only see them once a month!) and then I can't wait to hold him!

PS. I predicted the baby was going to arrive on Monday! :)

Dinner and a party

Tonight, I saw a dear friend whom I haven't seen in a couple of years cos she works in Hong Kong but she is in town for 10 days to visit with her family and soon to be husband. These two have been engaged for a while but it seems they have finally decided on a day (sometime in May) and a destination (Bali, Indonesia, on a beach). She of course, invited Jas and I to fly out there to join them for this wonderful and happy occasion. It would be so nice to fly out there to celebrate her wedding day with her on a hot and sunny beach but I can't afford to fly out there this year. I am trying to pay off a debt and save up for a trip to Haiwaii next year! We had Italian dinner cos that's what Frannie wanted to eat since she cannot have good Italian in HK so we headed over to Commercial Drive for pasta/pizza and appy's. After dinner, we decided to drive over to Kerrisdale to have dessert at this little hidden dessert place that serves such yummy desserts! Fran was trying to avoid a party thrown by her fiance's friends cos she doesn't really like them nor does she want to hang out with them. But we decided drive over there slowly so we could let our dinner settle in before having a rich dessert. We settled in and ordered dessert/tea and caught up some more. I always order the same thing even though there are so many choices. Chocolate Decadent Cake. After a little while, the place was getting a bit crowded and we decided we should probably head out but Kay had just called to say she was heading over to her friend's place from our place. I didn't want her and her friend bussing home this late so I asked Fran if it was ok if we picked them up and drove them over before heading over to the party. She didn't mind, we headed home and she got to see how grown up Kay has become and also visited with my mom. Once we dropped Kay and friend off, we drove through downtown Vancouver so Fran could see how much it had changed. Plus she hadn't seen the new Holt Renfrew store and boy was she in awe. She now has to come downtown at least once to see it before heading back to HK. As we were heading out of downtown, her fiance called to see where we were at and we were actually heading over there. It was somewhat of a boring party only cos I didn't really know anyone and after a little while, Jas and I decided to head home as it was getting late. We are not used to staying until 1.00am! It was a good night and I'm glad I got the chance to see Fran before she heads back cos I didn't get a chance to see her last time! Good Luck Fran!