PNE

What an evening at the PNE! The very first thing we did when we got there was to grab some grub! As Jas and Nadine had not eaten much all day cos they were holding off for the PNE junk food! Jas went straight over to Jimmy's burger stand while Nadine and I headed over to grab our grease from the Fish & Chips stand - wow, I had forgotten how expensive it was to eat at the fair!! Halibut and chips were $13!! Once the food was gobbled down, we picked up a very sugary virgin margarita to help wash down the grease. It was 7pm and Ruth mentioned she wanted us to catch the pig races so we walked over to the animal farm to watch those little piggies run and boy can they run! Apparently, it is a must see and now that I've seen it once, I don't think I need to do it again. Forgotten how stinky it was to be in a barn. After the race, we headed over to the Those Little Donuts stand cos I must have mini donuts when I'm at the PNE. Only $2.50 / bag of 13, how can one pass on that deal? I think this would be one of the least expensive food item at the fair. Plus so filling, after finishing off those donuts, I was done with the food which is pretty good cos I usually can eat. Usually, I have a BBQ chicken as well but I skipped it cos I knew than to stuff myself esp since I've done so well in losing a couple of inches and I worked really hard to lose them. After donuts, we headed over to the Marketplace to do some shopping! I did pretty good and didn't buy much except for Nellie's All Natural Laundry Soda (2 large tins - 120 loads each for $20!! That's a PNE price!!) I had been debating about purchasing this product (like that's it's eco friendly and all natural product) but it's pretty costly at LD so I never did buy it. We do use a natural and eco friendly liquid laundry detergent from Costco and it works great! We don't get the perfumey smell and the laundry room does not have a chemical fume plus our clothes come out smelling clean and fresh, we love it. It's also quite large and we don't need much so we are going to be using this for a while! Now we are competely stocked for laundry soap!! At Nellie's, they were also selling organic bamboo towels (which I have been looking at and wanting to purchase) and sheets, gosh, the sheets were $120! But silky soft and eco-friendly as bamboo is a renewable source. I know of Shoo-foo in Vancouver which sells bamboo products including towels so I will have to head over there to pick up some towels when my current cotton ones are worn out and they are getting close to it. Once we were done in the marketplace, my cousin Nadine did pretty good - she got lots of great things, we lined up for the PNE show home. It wasn't too busy as it was getting close to the end of the night but none of us were impressed with it this year plus it's all the way out in Kelowna so if you win it, it's def a summer home. By 9.45pm we decided to call it a nite cos it was late and we were all getting super tired. It was such a fun evening and we must get together more often, it's always so much fun hanging out with my cousins Nadine and Ruth!

Update: I just found a mini donut article by CTV BC and I didn't realize there were THREE mini donut stands! I must try Mr. Ken's Donut Factory (apparently many flavours of mini donuts) and Fundunkers (a PNE stand). I would love to try the chocolate, honey and coconut donuts at Mr. Ken's Donut Factory! Mmmm..... donuts, must head back to the PNE one more time ($5 admission after 9pm) for another taste of donuts!!!

BBQ'd Bacon

OHMYGOSH, I bbq'd bacon for our Sunday brunch and it was AMAZING! First off, there is NO SMELL in my suite (yeah!!), the bacon cooked SO MUCH faster on the BBQ, the bacon was less greasy as the fat dripped off the grill and the bacon is CRISPY CRUNCHIE .... mmmmm.... this is how bacon should be one! Now if cleaning was only that quick :(

eBay Addiction, HSG, Nite Market

Wow, what a great day! I received my Oliepops laptop bag, it is so pretty and fits my 17" perfectly and my Prada backpack which I have been eyeing to buy for some time. After work, I met Jas and we stopped by the Louis Vuitton boutique before meeting up with Ben for dinner cos I wanted to purchase my make up bag which I had on hold. I decided I do not want to spend $240 CDN for a hot pink Prada make up bag cos it only costs $170 at Holt Renfrew (altho the pink is no longer available) and to get one, I will need to order it thru Saks Fifth Avenue which will cost $50 more. I decided to forget the Prada and pick up a Damier Azur Mini Pochette Accessories priced at $250 instead cos I had a $50 gift card which means I paid a total of $230 which meas it's cheaper than the Prada! =) After LV, we headed over to Hamilton Street Grill with Ben to have a meal under $20. It's nice to see options for meals under $20 and we had a coupon for 1 dinner free so it ended up coming up to $20 each including dessert and tip. Once the food settled in, we decided to drive over to the Richmond nite market for dragon beard candy plus Ben and I hadn't done the nitemarket once this summer and it's our tradition to go and get dragon beard candy. I did pretty good and did not buy anything (esp junk) except for 2 Hello Kitty folders which are just too cute to pass up. An hour later and with the crowd becoming larger, we decided to call it a nite. It was a fun evening and good to catch up with Ben, we will do it again real soon (hopefully) on the next HSG special!

Dinner with Charly & Rosa

Tonite, we skipped the Grouse Grind cos we had dinner plans at Charly's as he had a business meeting with his partners for a near future venture and this was the only day they could it. But one of them ended up cancelling last minute which means we could have gone to the Grind :( This is the 2nd Thursday that Charly has cancelled on me, I am not too happy about all these cancellations and I had planned on cancelling our Tuesday's workout (cos there is a local jazz musician singing at Capones in Yaletown on Tues night) but tonite's dinner was a meal for 9 people not for 5! Rosa made a chicken cordon bleu, hearty vegetable soup (one bowl of this soup = 1 meal for me and Kay), nacho chips served with cheese, vegetable platter with sour cream dip and I brought a bottle of red (Malbec) plus Caesar Salad with my own dressing. Gosh, there was so much food and Rosa was shocked by how full we were from the soup, veggie platter and nachos. I told her we do not eat huge portions and we snack a lot during the day so we tend to eat smaller meals. Plus we do not normally eat such heavy meals like chicken cordon bleu (which I knew I wouldn't like but finished it cos I didn't want to be rude). This was her first attempt to make chicken cordon bleu and it wasn't that good, a bit dry plus it looked, tasted and the texture was like meat loaf blah! Well I guess A for effort but F in all other categories? After dinner, we started planning out our trip in October for the Okanagan Fall Wine Festival. We are getting excited about this and I am looking forward on getting away from the city, visiting the vineyards and tasting BC wine right from the winery!

Pants Fit =)

OMG, I finally fit into those pants I've been working so hard to get into!! I can't believe it :) All the Grouse Grinds and keeping track of how much I eat by measuring out my meals is really working and helping. Now if only I could have been more focused before Jes's wedding, I would have been able to have fit into the BJ dress but it's ok cos I do love the pink BCBG dress much more. After work, I decided if I could get into those pants, I should try on the R&Rs denim that Jes / KM bought me last year and have not worn them since March. Guess what, I manage to get into them and button them! But I could lose one more pound to be comfy in them, I am so excited and pleased with these results. I'm def. gonna treat myself to a mini cupcake tomorrow to celebrate!

Best Time

54 Mins

eBay Addiction

In one day, I manage to spend $125 on eBay but I purchased some really AWESOME items! I wanted to buy a Vinturi red wine aerator cos my cousin has one and she used it on the Don Miguel Gason Malbec that I picked up. Gosh, the aerator is amazing, we opened the wine and poured it thru the aerator making the red wine incredibly delicious! I had to have one but these are selling at $69.99 (Homewerx) and I was thinking no way I was going to pay that price when I knew I could get it off eBay cheaper ($40 including shipping!). I think every red wine lover should own one of these! Over the weekend, before purchasing the aerator, I had bought a very pretty laptop bag for $35.65 including S&H from Oliepops London. I finally gave up looking for a 17" laptop bag cos I was not able to find one at Best Buy, Future Shop, London Drugs or Winners! If I did find a 17" bag, it was ugly and heavy! I can't wait to get this pretty grey laptop bag! Now I'm looking at purchasing a Blackberry Curve 8900 on eBay cos I am watching one and it's only $406 USD!! 6 days left until this listing ends but $406 USD is still quite a bit of money, have to wait it out a bit longer I think.....

Roadsworth: Crossing The Line

This looks like a really interesting documentary and would love to catch it if it ever showcases in Vancouver!

Check out the CBC article. Roadsworth documentary site. Roadsworth official site with photos. Amazing work and makes the concrete jungle a prettier place to live.

First BBQ of the Summer

Gosh, was I ever excited about throwing my first BBQ! We headed over to Canadian Tire to pick up a Centrol BBQ tool set (really nice looking stainless set on sale at half price plus it comes in it's own steel carrying case!) and a Coleman RoadTrip BBQ carrying case cos we will need it once we store the BBQ in the garage to avoid dust and cobwebs. Mmmm....BBQ'ing is so good and the grill makes everything taste BETTER! We grilled burgers, steak, corn, potatoes and I made a caesar salad with our homemade dressing. So much food but so worth it. The bbq'ing isn't that hard and it can be quite fun but the cleaning is not and with all the grease to be wiped off and food stuck on the grill, it's gonna take a little bit of muscle to clean the BBQ. It's worth it tho cos this is the best way to cook and eat your meal. I wanted to take photos but I was too busy managing the grill and the kitchen at the same time. Kay tried to help a bit by slicing the cheddar cheese but she had a headache from going to bed late and waking up early so she wasn't THAT much help. But it all turned out and was very yummy! We had lots of potatoes and corn leftover so we decided to drive out to Richmond to drop them off to my dad and also to visit cos we hadn't seen him since he came back from the Alaskan cruise. But when we arrived, my brother wanted to head over to Best Buy for some blu ray movies so we went with him, I picked up something for HonHon, The Simpsons, Season 12 with a limited edition case and the new Black Eyed Peas CD "The E.N.D." (The Energy Never Dies). Before heading back to the apartment, we stopped by Qoola in Aberdeen Centre to grab dessert, mmmm.... the frozen chocolate yogurt tastes like chocolate ice cream! It is so tasty! My two toppings were marionberry sauce with mango, a delish combination! We stayed with my dad for a few hours, chatting about his trip, looking over his photos and discussing his "maybe" upcoming trip to Hong Kong. It's always nice to just to chill with family plus what a treat to have spent the entire day with Kay :)

BBQ'ing!

OMG, I can't believe our BBQ works!! I am SO EXCITED!! We are going to have our very first BBQ here at our place with our very new (2 years old, never been used!) Coleman RoadTrip BBQ!! Off to Canadian Tire to pick up some BBQ tools, a storing cover (our BBQ had cobwebs and dust all over - ick!) and a nice juicy non medicated no hormones strip loin steak from at Famous Foods, mmm.... steak.... Thanks to R.E. for coming by and taking a look at my "broken" BBQ - it wasn't broken!! Dang it...

Earlier this afternoon, Kay and I headed over to the farmer's market at Trout Lake to pick up some amazing fruit and veggies. We picked up some really cool looking summer squashes called Patty Pans, can't wait to try those, KJ (friend at work) told me these were super yummy and sweet. Once cooked, no even need to season cos that's how tasty these squashes are! We forgot to bring our camera again and I really need to remember to bring it next Saturday. So many amazing vendors at Trout Lake, much bigger than the one at Main Street Station plus some of these vendors aren't even at the Main Street. KJ was hoping that fingerlings (small stubby potatoes) are still in season cos he did not see them at the market last Wednesday but there's a vendor at Trout Lake which sells potatoes only and she had a huge basket full of fingerlings! I might have to pick up some for him next Saturday.

Honey Sweet Dessert

Mmm... sweet dessert.....

100 mile diet

Tonite, I made a dish that consisted of all locally produced organic vegetables! Even the teriyaki sauce (produced in Burnaby), organic fresh basil and black pepper with dried basil/garlic (Maison Cote) are all locally produced except for my brown rice which is from California. The dish was super delicious and I can't believe how fast summer is going, there are only a few more good weeks left of summer veggies. Tomorrow I am going to the Trout Lake FM and I am hoping to find summer squashes to try cos a friend from work suggested I pick up some cos they are super sweet and delicious plus you don't have to season it, just bake and eat! Mmm...squash....

Belated Birthday Dinner

Tonite, Kay and I met up with Jes for my belated birthday dinner cos she was not able to make my birthday dinner. She asked me to choose a place and since I was craving Thai, she suggested Chilli Thai Bistro or Wimaan Thai Restaurant on Broadway. I wanted to try Chilli Thai Bistro on Beach Avenue cos I had read good reviews and I've never been there for dinner. The food was pretty good and I tried a new dish (Jes suggested it cos she always orders this), a whole fish with a candle/fire to keep warm served with vermicelli/veggies and very spicy soup! We ordered a lot food and I ate more than I usually would but it's my birthday dinner so I figured it was alrite. Rhoda wasn't too impressed with the food tho and I think she had a bit of a tummy ache. After dinner, we headed over to Qoola for dessert (even tho we were stuffed and with a tummy ache) cos Kay and I hadn't tried it yet and it's suppose to be very delicious, Jes has been raving about this frozen yogurt so I had high expectations. I have to say, it was pretty yummy but I should have tried the chocolate frozen yogurt cos the plain one is just like Yogen Fruz. After Qoola, we stopped by Smiley's cos I saw the Hello Kitty sign in the window and I wanted to check out the store, I have never been it there even tho I have driven past it so many times! There was so much Hello Kitty items and so many cute little knick knacks too! Jes picked up a HK tape dispenser and stuffie sleeping in a sleeping bag / zippered pouch. So cute! It was a lovely evening with my girls and I'm so glad we got the chance to catch up! Next Wednesday, Jes wants us to take her to the Main Street Farmer's Market cos we kept talking about all the great stuff we got today!!

Weather in Vancouver

What does local smoke mean??!!??

Jes & B's Wedding Photos

Check out the link below to view wedding photos taken by my very talented teenager, Kay!

WOW, great shots Kay!! Enjoy!

J&B's Wedding

Grouse Grind

57 M 50 S

Overdue Dinner with Cousin

Tonite Kay and I headed over to my cousin, Nadine's for dinner cos I had not seen her new place and we have been talking about getting together for dinner for 2 years!! Their new home is right by Marine Drive and Elliot, it's in a very nice and hidden complex community setting. Apparently this place has been around for 20 years and it looks amazing! The entire complex is very well taken care of and def does not look or have a feel about being around for 20 years. The traffic noise is actually quite muffed and their unit is above all the larger units so they've got some amazing views (of Richmond, Fraser River and Mount Baker). This place was quite a bargain, 1100 sq feet at $320,000, 2 levels (master suite on the 2nd floor) with 2 balconies and lots of upgrades/renos. This new home is much more spacious and a better fit for both of them. It's good to see they have found such a beautiful home and a bit more permanent. It was really nice spending time with Nadine and Ruth and we hope to see more of them!

Toshiba Laptop

This afternoon, I headed over to Richmond to pick up my new Toshiba Satellite Pro laptop (RT908C) cos we need an upgrade plus I got it at a really GOOD DEAL, $750 my price retail $1899. Our PC had been dead for about a week, my mom's IT guy took a look at it and said it needed a new power supply plus he fixed the noisy fan which is great. The part and labour total cost was $80. But I decided I wanted an upgrade cos my Acer netbook was not that useful for me. I had picked up an Acer netbook thinking it would do what I needed it for which is surfing and email but I realize that I need it my PC for more than that and I wanted a laptop to fit my PC needs. This Toshiba is perfect! Kay is now getting the netbook for surfing and messaging and the desktop is for photo editing, school work or research and music. I think we might need to replace the speakers though cos our speakers are no longer working. Those speakers are about 13 years old so they've lasted quite a long time! Can't wait to use my Toshiba laptop!!!

Brunch by the water

Today, I met up with Jas, Vince, Meryl, Shel and Kitty for brunch at NU restaurant by False Creek. Shel and Kitty could not make my birthday dinner last week and since it's been a while since everyone has gotten together, it was a great idea to gather for brunch. Altho, Charly and Rosa could not make it and I invited Rhoda but it was too early for her, I'm sure we'll do it again real soon. I loved the idea of brunch cos brunch is my fave meal of the day so I was pretty excited to try a new place for brunch. It was a perfect day to sit outside on the patio enjoying the sunshine and the views of False Creek, Granville Island and the water activity. I ordered a dungeness crab benedict and a side sausage, gosh was the crab ever yummy but the egg was too overdone so it wasn't runny. Overall, the meal was pretty good and I really enjoyed the patio seating even with the slight breeze. We have decided we should try to do this every month or other month. It was really nice catching up with everyone even most of us were pretty tired due to our late nites. After brunch, we decided to head into Yaletown for some real coffee cos the coffee served at Nu was crap. I think I had about 10 cups and still felt like I needed a shot of espresso! We chatted a bit more at the coffee shop before calling it a day cos everyone was tired. It was too bad that Rhoda, Charly and Rosa couldn't make it cos it was such a nice day to be in the company of such nice people!!

Drinks with Longtime Friends

Just got back from a really entertaining nite of drinking and chatting! I didn't drink much, only had one small glass of red wine cos I have to be up for brunch the next day and I was driving myself home. It was really nice to spend time with Lina on her last nite in Vancouver. I will def have to get together with her the next time I'm in Hong Kong cos she is good peeps and I am so going to miss the good times!! Just can't believe how quickly time has past, it only seems like she landed a few days ago! Gonna miss Lina xoxo

The Time Traveler's Wife

Tonite, I watched The Time Traveler's Wife with Jas at Tinseltown. Wow, it was a beautiful story and when I first read this book in 2003, I wondered if they could turn this into a movie and if so, how and who would play Clare and Henry. The movie was beautiful and I love the chemistry between Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana as Clare and Henry. The movie did not disappoint and even though the novel is so much better, this movie did a pretty good job within the 2 hour timeline. I also enjoyed how the movie ended, it is def a must see!! After the movie, we decided to hit Joey's for some food, the Joey's on Broadway/Granville was super busy like every other restaurant in Vancouver at that hour, so we sat in the lounge until our table was ready, lucky for us, it only took 10 minutes. The menu didn't seem all that interesting to me and I am kind of tired of their menu plus I didn't like that they did not offer a whole wheat substitute for their sandwiches/burgers (altho they just recently added brown rice as a sub). I will def have to reconsider heading over there the next time we think about Joey's. Of course, I ended up ordering a dessert which I shouldn't have but couldn't help cos Kay was not around to stop me. I didn't eat the entire apple pie saving 1/2 for Kay but since she is not home, it will probably end up in my tummy tomorrow afternoon. After our meal, we headed over to valet to pick up my car cos Jas insisted on valet as it only costs $5 which is pretty cheap plus we didn't want to drive around this busy area looking for parking, it would have been pretty difficult finding parking in this area. Joey's valet offered vacuuming and by gosh, it was awesome. He did a really great job and I told Jas to be sure to tip him good! Apparently, everyone gives that reaction, this is the best $5 we'd spent on cleaning the car!! Next time I need to vacuum the car, I'm def heading over to Joey's for lunch =) It was a great nite and I'm so glad Jas could come out so we could catch up!

Coffee with Kate

Wow, talk about a blast from my past! This afternoon, I met up with Kate (back in the Seattle days....) for coffee in Richmond. Gosh, it's been 5 years since the last time I saw her (her wedding in 2004)! So much has changed like she's become a mom of 2 gorgeous boys and she's moved into Richmond. Wow, it's awesome who you can reconnect with on FaceBook. So many faces from the past. We talked about everything and everyone we knew from the Seattle days, we also agreed that we need to keep in touch and get together more often. Cos it's hard to find good people and friendships that can last over so many years. Hopefully, we all can get together for lunch and it would be so nice to see and catch up with Eliza. Jasmine will be excited to know that we are all going to get together and catch up!

Organic Nite In

Tonite, Ana and I had a lovely organic dinner served with an organic Malbec at her place. I hadn't seen Ana in ages cos she's a world traveller and she could not make it to my birthday dinner last week. It was so great to catch up with her and we had a great time talking about everything! She is such an intelligent and interesting person, full of life and stories with an amazing personality. We talked about her travels and her new career path (wine of course!) and I'm happy to hear she will be back for at least a year before she takes off to another part of the world for another year or as it seems. She has def inspired me to do more travelling so I think next year I will def have to do a trip or two! It's so nice to catch up with Ana, we must do it more often.

Market by Jean-Georges

For my birthday lunch, Val took me to Market by Jean-Georges and it was such an amazing experience and meal. The decor and the food were divine and at $28 / person (3 plates), it was def a great price for lunch downtown. I wish I had brought my camera cos the presentation of the dishes were so beautiful like pieces of art. I had such a lovely time and it is def one of my fave places to go for lunch!

Appetizer: Seared Scallops Caramelized Cauliflower Caper-Raisin Emulsion

Entree: Slowly Cooked Arctic Char Mashed Potatoes Sugar Snap Peas Truffle Vinaigrette

Dessert: Chocolate Pudding Softly Whipped Cream Crystallized Violets

Saturday Nite

Tonite, Kay and I went to my dad's place for dinner, a late birthday dinner, cos we didn't get a chance to celebrate my birthday the day before. Dad decided it would be a good idea to stay in for dinner cos my brother was not home and he wanted to make lasagna for dinner cos he did not have it in a long time. The Safeway lasagna was pretty yummy and for dessert, my dad picked up a fresh fruit birthday cake for me. Mmmm... cake! I didn't get cake yesterday so it is a perfect way to end my birthday. After dinner/cake, we stayed a bit longer before I dropped Kay off at her BFF's place so she could hang out with her and then I met up with my BFF and friends. Earlier in the afternoon, I stopped by the BC liquor store to pick up some white wine for everyone. It was really nice spending time with everyone esp Lina and Andy who are visiting Vancouver for another week. I also love hearing G spin so that was pretty cool. Everyone is so nice and cool to hang out with, I'm going to miss these moments but I'm sure the next time I'm visiting HK, I'll get to party with them again!

My 34th Birthday!

Today I celebrated my 34th birthday with my bestest buds! Even old friends from Hong Kong visiting Vancouver came out to celebrate with me tonite! I feel so very lucky and special to have such wonderful friends in my life! Dinner reservations were at Irashai Grill on Pender Street, I really wanted to try to this place cos I heard some really great reviews on it. Also, very coincidental that Lina (friend from HK) had gone here for a dinner a few days before cos her friend's friend had opened this restaurant. She also gave it a good review so I was excited to try all the different types of rolls being offered on the menu and not realizing this was Japanese fusion. Loved the decor, very modern and sleek. Presentation of the food was beautiful and def super yummy delish. It was a great dinner with everyone enjoying great conversations with good food and drinks. It was so nice to that G and Lina could make it cos Lina lives in HK and I never get to see her! After a couple of hours at the restaurant, Vince and Meryl invited us all over to their place to enjoy some wine and more chit chat. I appreciated the hospitality and it was a shame that Charly and Rosa couldn't make it cos we all had an awesome time! Andy came by to join us after his dinner and it was so cool to hang out with everyone. It was def one of the best birthdays ever! Thank you Kayesha, Rhoda, Jasmine, G, Lina, Charly, Rosa, Vince, Meryl and Andy!!

Birthday Lunch at Thai House

This morning I was surprised to see a beautiful bouquet of carnations with a pretty birthday card and a Cineplex Odean movie gift card on my desk from my dear friend, Erica!

For lunch, a few of the lovely ladies in the office wanted to go out for lunch and we decided on the Thai House on Robson street. At first, there were no plans for lunch cos Rae and Val had mentioned I was adamant about not celebrating or going out for lunch on my birthday! Even tho, I didn't want to make a big deal about my birthday, I still wanted to go out for lunch and we did! Thai House has some really great lunch specials for under $10 and it comes with a soup and spring roll. The service is efficient and food comes out quickly so after our lunch we still had 20 minutes to spare. We decided to end lunch with a sweet note, picking up a cupcake from Cupcakes by Lori and Heather on Thurlow street. I treated the ladies to a cupcake since they took me out for lunch (actually Erica treated us all to lunch, she is such a sweet lady). It was a nice way to start my birthday!

White Spot Early B'day Dinner

Tonite, Kay was craving for a white spot burger so we (mom, kay and I) headed over to WS after I got back from the Grouse Grind and after a shower! WS had a $9.99 special - burger, fries and a milkshake but to our surprise it was no longer available but they did have another good special, burger, ceasar salad and a fresh BC blueberry pie with real cream! Kay ordered that with fries and mom had it the way it was, both added a slice of real cheddar cheese of course. I decided to go with a chicken chevre pizza which was a thin crust pizza topped with WS house-made Arrabbiata sauce, roasted BC chicken, basil goat cheese, grilled and marinated sweet golden bell peppers and red onions and a special blend of cheeses. It was pretty large and the toppings were pretty yummy altho I still prefer my own pizza crust cos this one was a bit too soggy for my liking. My mom treated this meal cos it is my b'day tomorrow and I won't be home to celebrate with her and grams. A very thoughtful gesture and if I had known, I would have picked a nicer place to eat! =) After our dinner, we dropped Kay at home cos she has a unit test to study for and mom and I headed over to Superstore to pick up some items. Wow Superstore was super quiet so nice to shop there when it's so empty. We picked up a few things and headed home, in time to see my grams. She had won $7 at her mahjong game and was quite happy to have won and not lost another game! Both of them gave me lucky money and they really shouldn't have. My grams told me she was going to give me a big one and that I should buy something nice for myself. My grams is so sweet!!! =)

Grouse Grind

55 M

Main Street Farmer's Market

After work, Kay and I went over to pick up some local organic produce at the the Main Street Farmer's Market and was pleasantly surprised to see so many more farmers and vendors. Such a great selection of veggies and fruits that we wanted to pick up everything but could not carry it all home. We ended up with some sweet corn, romaine lettuce, lemon basil (super yummy and so fragrant), cucumber, strawberries and wow, the all sorts of tomatoes as it is in season. We must have had 6 or 7 kinds of tomatoes and we could not wait to put these in our salad for dinner. Before heading over to the market, Kay and I made a quick stop at Maxim's Bakery in Chinatown to pick up some buns to snack on cos she needs food to refuel. After the market, we headed home with our fresh veggies and I made a lovely salad with the romaine lettuce, different baby tomatoes and a homemade vinaigrette with the lemon basil herb. The vinaigrette was delish and even Kay enjoyed it! Wish I brought my camera to take some photos at the market.

Grouse Grind

55 M 25 S - best time EVER!!!

Eminem - The Warning

From LaineyGossip.com

Eminem has pictures

Oh Mimi. BIG mistake.Mariah Carey keeps denying that she and Eminem hooked up. So he wrote a song about it on Relapse called Bagpipes from Baghdad and then Nick Cannon posted a rambling blog, challenging Em to a dick duel to defend his wife’s honour and Eminem, surprisingly, scaled back the rhetoric, and explained that his lyrics were misinterpreted – which is unusual for him. Normally you’d expect him to engage, to throw more fire on the feud. He decided to let it slide.But Mimi did not.The video for Obsessed. You’ve seen it right? Dressing up as Eminem, mocking Eminem, f-cking with Eminem.She and Nick weakly denied it had anything to do with Slim Shady.Doesn’t sound like he believes them.And he’s battling back the way he knows best – The Warning was leaked yesterday and this time, Slim isn’t so shy about revealing details about exactly what went down between them.In other words, Mimi got TOLD. I’m not summarising. You’ll just have to listen. It’s wicked.But even though he owned her ass, he’s actually STILL holding back. Em claims to have pictures, and recordings, and The Warning is to warn her to step the f-ck off… or else.You might be tempted to side with her, given the disgusting things he says, the degrading lyrics, and his track record, his history, but please don’t discount Eminem’s ability as a writer. And in this situation, what went down between the two of them, this brilliant line in The Warning pretty much sums it up:"But if I'm embarrassing me, I'm embarrassing you and don't you dare say it isn't true."Please. Mimi needs to answer. Mimi is angry. When she gets angry the butterflies start to glitter. And the animals run for the hills. And the amazingness will continue.

Wedding of the Century

WOW!! What a weekend!!! It was a crazy busy weekend and I can't believe Jess is NOW MARRIED!!

Saturday, the ceremony at Van Dusen went off without any problems and it was a beautiful (thankfully quick) ceremony. It was a really hot day and the guests were melting in the heat but the ceremony didn't take that long. It was a very beautiful event and Jess was gorgeous in her wedding gown. After the ceremony, Felicia and I had to stay behind to make sure everything was picked up or removed, we headed over to Corner 23 for a nice icy boba tea and lunch! Reception 1 at Floata Restaurant - WOW, the decor was gorgeous, it did not look like a chinese restaurant!! The decor was amazing and white fabric covered every corner of the restaurant, you could not see any reference of Floata. I had never been to Floata so I had no idea what the restaurant looked like but did see it at the end of the party, it was like the clock hit midnite (or in this case, 130am) and everything turned back into a pumpkin! The restaurant is UGLY and oh gosh, I can see why Jess had to redecorate the entire restaurant. The dinner party was so much fun and these people know how to party hard and have fun. It was awesome to hear G dj'ing even though he isn't a hip hop dj. After the reception, we headed over to Kingsway / Victoria to an after party cos B's sis, Jenny, had arranged a party after the dinner party! We stayed until about 3am before we all called it a nite.

Sunday - headed over to Metrotown to exchange some tank tops at Old Navy and walk thru the mall as I waited for Rhoda. She was meeting me at Metro cos she was going to give me a ride back to her house so I could pick my car (left it there last nite cos I was too tired to drive home from the after party). We met up at Shoppers Drug Mart but had an hour to walk thru the mall cos her cousin and aunt were enjoying the air conditioning, it was another super hot day in Vancouver. We headed over to Aritzia to see what was on sale and I ended up picking a Community denim jacket for $60!!! Once we were done, we headed back to her house and I picked up my car to go home cos it was too hot to do anything else!

Monday - Reception #2 at Kirin Restaurant on Cambie street, we didn't have to do too much at this restaurant cos it's not an ugly restaurant, we just decorated the signing table up front, the alter at the front of the restaurant, fixed up and place all the center pieces on the tables, decorated the cake table with feathers and made sure every single place had a wedding favour. It was a smooth night and much more relaxed and mellowed out from Saturday's reception. The food was super yummy and it was an early night, dinner finishing around 10pm. Kay and I sat at the table with Rhoda's friends in the back corner and it's too bad we were so far back cos we couldn't see anything that was happening at the head table. But it seemed like they had left a lot of things out cos Jess and B had already done those things like speeches and first dance at their first reception. There wasn't much room in the restaurant to do the first dance tho cos the restaurant was packed with 21 tables! It was a nice reception and good to catch up with everyone and the little boys!

More photos on my flickr account.