Best B'day Gift EVER!!!

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

Caribbean Festival & Robson Street

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

Fireworks!

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

Mexican Fiesta!

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

A-team & Kay's 1st Summer Party

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

Granville Island, DT Shopping, Swimming & Dinner!

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

1st BBQ of the Summer

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

EAT Vancouver & Prince of Persia

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

Happy 16th Birthday Kay!

HAPPY 16TH BIRTHDAY KAY!!

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

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

BFF back!

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

Azia Restaurant

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

Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

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

The Boathouse English Bay & Olympic Store

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

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

Blue Water Cafe + Raw Bar & Dessert

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

Weekend of Fun!

Wow, what a weekend I had! But I can't believe it's almost over ...

Friday nite was a birthday dinner with one of Rhoda's really good friends. We had dinner plans at Spaghetti Factory in Richmond, I've never been to SF and IMO the food is alright for a chain restaurant but I don't think I'd go back unless it was another dinner party. After dinner plans were laser light bowling next door but it was so busy and we were put on a waiting list. I've never done the laser light bowling and can see why it's so busy, it looks like a lot of fun but it was getting late and I had a very long week at work so I was ready to crash and quickly.

Saturday, Kay and I headed over to the dentist office for her last tooth extraction and thank gawd that's all done cos I was getting a bit pissed that she had to do it THREE times. Just thinking that every time she goes into the dental office it costs me extra $$. But thankfully, we had no issues removing this last tooth and she didn't even seem like she was in that much pain. After the dentist, we were going to stop at Cupcakes for a cupcake but it was getting late and Pablo was waiting for her at the park. He planned to take her to Richmond and downtown for the afternoon and spoil her so she'd be in a happier mood. At home, I had a bit of a small late lunch before getting ready for the party tonite. Yes another party but not a birthday party! A company kick off party with Rhoda, I was helping her with this party as she tends to throw this party alone or with little help. The party was being held at at Steamworks in Gastown and they were going get their own private area for the party. A couple of years ago, they held it there too but it the upstairs area and it was so much fun. It's nice to get your own private room to hold a party altho at times, other people in the bar/restaurant will walk in and "pretend" to be looking for someone or something. I was a bouncer a few times, having to stop people from walking into the party. It was a fun nite as always and I didn't get wasted at all this year, thankfully I had to drive so I stayed sober :) The nite ended with a freaking parking ticket but the company is covering it and I drove Rhoda's boss and her co-worker/friend home cos her boss was way too drunk to go home on his own and her co-worker/friend's ride left the party early which meant she was gonna taxi it all the way to Richmond, Stevenston area, I wasn't gonna let that happen! I wish I had remember my camera but I didn't so I don't have any photos! But Rhoda / Jes 's cameras should have some, I will post some when I get them :)

Sunday - In the afternoon, I drove Kay to Tinseltown for her second interview at McDonald's. She had her first interview last week and it went well. This interview, she was meeting up with the higher managers and I'm pretty sure she got the job right on the spot last week but due to procedures, she had to have a second interview. I waited for her in Daiso, OMG, I can buy so many items in that place but I didn't. I only picked up a few items for the kitchen and fridge which costs me just a bit over $20. Pretty good considering I could spend well over $40 in the Richmond Daiso! After Tinseltown, we headed over to Superstore to pick up some groceries. We didn't find everything we needed of course but enough to make it thru the week. After Superstore, we headed over to HonHon's place to check his mail and see what / how we could clean up and organize his place so we could live in it. I'm thinking it might be time to move out of the basement suite and pay no rent so I can start saving $$ and live a little bit easier since Kay's braces are gonna cost me $300 a month! We decided to stop by Bubble World to pick up a bbt to go before heading home. Instead of cooking dinner, I treated Kay to Taiwanese beef noodle soup at Kalvin's Restaurant on Victoria Street cos they have the best beef noodle soup! We wanted to eat in but it was super packed (as it is always on a Sunday) and there would be at least a 30 minute wait for a table for two! So we decided to go with take out and the next time we decide to eat there, we'll make reservations! It was so yummy....mmmm.... a great way to end the weekend!

Road Trip & Hot Pot

OHMYGAWD..... Mission is SO FAR.... coming from the city and going to Mission is like a mini road trip! Gosh, I am such a city girl!! It's only about an hour away but really it is so far! This afternoon, Kay, Rhoda and I headed out to Mission to take a look at some Pomeranian pups that I saw online last week. One of these pups caught my eye cos it looked similar to Ari and I was in love with him. After speaking to the breeder and getting my credentials in order (yes I had to give her references and fill out a two page questionnaire, one serious breeder!), I realized I was in love with the wrong pup. She had not yet posted new photos of "Jasper" and in fact, I was in love with a female pup named Esme. Oh gosh, now I am not sure what to be expecting since I was in love with the beautiful pup I thought was Jasper and when we finally arrived, a few hours later (long story short, we needed to give her some time to prepare the pups for showing), he was def not WHAT I was expecting :( Esme was the adorable pup online and in the end I didn't end up buying any of them cos of many reasons, one being Esme's price $1500 (with NO PAPERWORK), er I don't think so! Going out there wasn't a big loss since now I know exactly what I want and do not want. Ari came from a particular breeder that breeds "teddy bear" Pomeranians and yes they do cost a bit more but their faces are much cuter cos they really do remind you of a teddy bear :) I've decided that when I'm in Taipei this fall, I will look and see if I can find a cute "teddy bear" Pomeranian pup (very popular in Asia and Ari was Taiwanese) :) Now I will continue to wait and hopefully, one day I will be able to bring home another Pomeranian or I could always adopt a small dog from a shelter, there are so many unwanted dogs out there :( After the long drive back, we basically spent the afternoon in Maple Ridge / Mission, we returned to my house so Kay could quickly get ready for a b'day dinner cos I had said I would drive her to her BFF's place so they could go together. But Rhoda and I had a hot pot dinner at her friend's house so we quickly rushed back into Burnaby and to my surprise, met up with an old friend back in high school days!! It was nice to see her again and everyone at the dinner was super nice. It was very relaxed and an entertaining nite! Now must catch up on some sleep......

Joey's, Sherlock Holmes, SIP

Tonite, I headed out with Jas for a long overdue get together cos we haven't seen each other in WEEKS! We decided to meet up at JOEY'S cos I had a gift card from the last time I ate there (my ahi tuna was overcooked and ruined my lunch!) so I wanted to see if they could redeem themselves this time around. I ordered the ahi tuna salad and asked them to give me a thicker slice not the "fillet" or "steak" cut and I wanted it RARE. It turned out really good this time around! We caught up on life and WOW so much has happened! I hope 2010 brings her lotsa happiness and prosperity cos she really could use it! It's been a tough year and the last couple years hasn't been too good to her :( After our meal, we decided to share the apple pie dessert, oh dear that is so yummy! Once we were done, we headed over to the theatre (30 minutes before the movie was to start) and couldn't believe how BUSY it was!! We didn't even get to sit up in the middle, we ended up in the bottom rows but it wasn't too bad cos we were in the 2nd row but still it was pretty close to the screen!!! Sherlock Holmes turned out to be a really exciting movie and I really enjoyed it! We both did! Also can't wait to see SH 2 cos we think there will be one with the way the movie ended it. I love Robert Downey Jr and he def has a smoking hot body in this movie. Plus I really like how they made Sherlock Holmes a bit of a bad boy :) Very well done! After the movie ended, it was still early around 9:20PM so we decided to have a drink and some appy's at SIP lounge, they have the best beer battered fries...mmm... oh dear, I def need to go on a diet starting MONDAY!! Too many dine outs and too much junk in my trunk! Ha! We sat there for an hour and a bit before calling it a nite, it was a bit loud in the loud, they had a DJ spinning but it wasn't that good. R, Jas's friend, ended up calling to see what she was up to and even tho they were gonna head out for some more, I was getting tired and needed to go home cos I would have to pick up Kay soon. It was a great nite catching up with Jas and now I have gotta start planning her birthday! Wow, how this year has already gone by so fast!!

Happy (early) Birthday Rhoda!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RHODA!!

We celebrated Rhoda's birthday with dinner at Nu Restaurant under the Granville Street bridge with a group of friends but our party was so large that we had our own room to dine in, this room is meant for small events and such, bonus is that it's complimentary. This turned out to be really nice and it was so awesome to see and catch up with everyone even though it was such a large group, I did find it a bit hard to mingle with everyone. The menu was simple and it was cool to see a number of 100 mile entrees. The food wasn't too bad but I def think brunch at Nu is much better than dinner. The service was not too bad altho by the end of the nite, we had some issues with our bills and it took them forever to get them organized and straightened out. Right before the end of the dinner, our friend, Tim picked up a 3 D Hello Kitty birthday cake for her and it was the coolest birthday cake ever but it was super sweet and the cake inside was just so so. After dinner, some of us headed into the downtown core.....

...to a new club called Barcelona (previous known as Crush) night club. It was a bit difficult to find parking but Rhoda and I found a small and shady lot not too far (walking distance) from the club. The front entrance of the club was crazy packed and even tho we were on the guest list, we'd still have to wait in the VIP line up! OMG, I am too old to wait in line to get into a club!! Some of the girls "greased" the bouncers to get in first but I would never ever grease to get into a club! Luckily, Fel managed to track down a friend of hers and he managed to get 7 girls in but the guys had to wait and it was suppose to be only about a 15 or 20 minute wait time but they ended up waiting for almost an hour!! They were not pleased and left even tho they were the next ones to get in but it was a super freezing nite so I don't blame them for leaving :( Once inside the club, we manage to get free cover and it was time to party. Since I was in charge of the birthday girl, i did not drink one ounce of alcohol and kept a close eye on her, many people were buying her birthday shots, I even had a guy from Calgary buy her a birthday shot altho I manage to give it to one of the other girls cos by that time, Rhoda was too wasted to be drinking any more alcohol!! There was a guy who seemed to like Rhoda cos he was very protective over her :) It was a fun nite and I don't club very often which I know why cos girls don't know how to hold onto their glasses nor do these drunk asses have any manners!! The floors were disgustingly sticky and lots of broken glass all over the floor plus people kept spilling their drinks all over the place or people were just shovers!! Besides all that, it wasn't too bad of a nite and all that was important was Rhoda had a great time! She looked like she had an awesome time and everyone came out for her tonite and she totally deserved it! Every year, she looks younger - amazing!! I got her home at the end of the nite safely and almost into her bed :) Happy birthday and love you tons!!

Holt Renfrew & Burberry

Today I met up with Rhoda at lunch cos we went over to check out the new flagship store for Aritzia at Pacific Centre and gosh is it ever huge plus I love the modern decor, it's more suitable for the downtown crowd. It's nice that there is also a lot more store space which means there will be a lot more stock (hopefully!) and hoping the clothing will be more business casual or dressy and not so bummy. We just wanted to wander through to see the new store but since there was no promotion with the grand opening, we didn't purchase anything. After Aritzia, we headed over to Browns Shoes to check out the winter sale and I have been pretty good at avoiding all the winter shoe sales. It also helps that there isn't anything that has caught my eye and I recently picked up a pair of beautiful shoes by SW at Saks Fifth Avenue so I am all good :) We quickly strolled through Browns and Rhoda didn't find or see anything she liked so we headed over to Holt Renfrew to use her 25% discount card. I would finally be able to pick up my Burberry scarf and at a 25% discount!! Only with the HR American Express card though and it was for this weekend only, it's 25% off on all winter and fall items which means my Burberry scarf was included and at a really good price, less than $200!! It is so soft and pretty plus it matches my Burberry rain boots! This was the last one in the store, still quite a few trench small checkered skinny scarves and small check camel skinny scarves but that one did not match my rain boots. So thankful that Rhoda is such a great friend to me cos she let me charge it and pay for it next month (Xmas is here and budget is tight) plus I would have ended up going to the Burberry store to purchase this and it would have cost over $300 to match my boots! I would have picked up the larger scarf but I am good with this one, it will do the job and keep away the winter chills :) Thanks Rhoda, Love You Babe!

Breakfast at Pan Pacific

Taken with my BlackBerry that's why it's a bit fuzzy :)

This morning I met up with Rhoda and we headed over to the Pan Pacific Christmas Wish for the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau. This happens annually in December for the toy drive, you arrive with an unwrapped toy and PP serves you a wonderful hot breakfast. The breakfast buffet at the Pan Pacific is one of the best in the city and for as little as a $20 toy, you can have a lovely platter of freshly baked croissants, breakfast potatoes (ohmygosh, these were soooo good, it came with shredded sweet peppers to add colour and flavour!), grilled juicy thick sausages, and fluffy scrambled eggs served with orange juice and coffee!! Plus there was quite a number of entertainments happening all over the floor, lots of hunky firefighters, Santa Claus and more! Also Jack FM was broadcasting live at the event and I saw quite a few local celebrities (from the evening news). Christmas Spirit is all around! What a great way to start off the day!!

From their website:

Pan Pacific Christmas Wish Breakfast

Join thousands of friends for a complimentary hot breakfast. Bring a new, unwrapped toy for a child/ teenager and enjoy entertainment and the spirit of Christmas as Global TV and 96.9 Jack FM broadcast live from the lobby.December 9,2009. 6:00am – 9:00am