BBQ in Richmond

Tonite, I went over to a co-worker’s house in Richmond for a BBQ. This is an annual BBQ that he throws for his department but this year, he expanded his invite out to the rest of the division. I have heard many great things about his renovated home so I was very excited to see his place. I have seen photos of all his renos but it’s def not the same as seeing it in person. WOW!! His house is BEAUTIFUL, he did some really great renos esp the master bedroom and bathroom. He built a fireplace for his master and his master bath looks like a spa!! Very talented and very good at what he does cos he reno'd his entire home on his own time during weekends and evenings. He even decorated his place by himself which is amazing for bachelor, I would have thought he hired an interior decorator! He is def a very handy person to know and he gives out advice for FREE! He even rebuilt his classic Porsche as a “project”. I arrived fashionably late and missed out seeing a few people that I wasn’t too keen on spending my sat with so was that luck?!? I did get to speak to many of the guys I work with in a more casual environment and that is very different from seeing them in the office. It was an interesting nite and we didn’t leave empty handed, lotsa leftovers and he had take away containers for people!

Promotion!

Wow! Kay makes me so proud :) She got a promotion today with a new title, Crew Trainer and a small pay increase! I'm super happy for her even though I can see her spending every single cent on her paycheque within hours of her receiving it in her account. Since summer has started, she has been working a lot more and working long and hard hours, in hopes to get a promotion or a pay increase. So Proud of my Bebe :)

Company BBQ

Wow! What a day! Gawsh, I'm super tired, it takes a lot of work to set up a company BBQ and thankfully, C helped us out this year with the prep work for the BBQ. This year, we had less people at the BBQ but it still took so much work and we still had so much food left over :( We arrived early to help Val with the setting up of the tables and supplies. C and Phil started putting together the chicken and beef skewers for the grill. Kay had a job this year and she was our photographer cos SB couldn't make it this year (she did the photos last year). But Kay didn't show up until 12.30pm!! When she did show up, she did a great job at capturing the moments at our BBQ. After a couple hours of BBQ, we did the raffle draw for the prizes (which we didn't have as many as last year) and once that was over, we started packing up as people were starting to trickle out. It was a fun (but tiring) day and all the kids had a great time plus it was nice to talk to my co-workers outside of the office. Everyone seemed relaxed and enjoyed themselves which made it all worth while. Too bad for the few people who were going to come couldn't make it but overall, I think it was another successful BBQ. But next year, we are def going to have look over the menu and adjust the amounts on the food items being served cos there was way too much again!

Prep work for BBQ

Wow! What a day, I'm soooo tired. It's been a long week and an even longer day. Yesterday, right after work, C and I went straight over to Costco and Superstore to pick up items for the BBQ. Gawsh, we had so much to do! We had to pick up the snacks, drinks, condiments, tomatoes, onions and fruit / veggie trays! But first, I had to move our stuff from mom's and from the storage unit back to the condo which took us about an hour, thank goodness for the 2nd set of hands, I don't know how I would have done it myself since Kay was working until 11pm! After the moving and shopping, we decided to head over to Nando's chicken for dinner cos I didn't defrost any meats or had any veggies in the fridge! Mmmmm, I forgot how yummy Nando's chicken is! I must consider eating there more often when I want to dine out, so yummy! After dinner, we headed back to condo to slice and chop the onions and tomatoes for the BBQ. Thankfully, C did most of the chopping cos I was trying to rearrange the condo back for Kay and I. After the prep work, C headed home and I decided it was time for a rest altho I realize halfway thru the rearranging that I left a few items at my mom's :( I decided to drive back over there to pick up the face wash cos I couldn't leave that behind! Plus I left my netbook over there, it was a nice stay at mom's cos we were "guests" and we got so many yummy dinners!

Happy Birthday Val!

Today we celebrated Val's birthday at Coast Restaurant and it was yummy. I decided to try something different so I went with a mango California roll with real crab and 3 raw oysters. The roll wasn't as good as Irashai Grill on Alberni Street cos they have amazing sushi / rolls but not too bad for lunch and just enough to keep me full til dinner. Besides, I made red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing for Val's birthday but they didn't really turn out so I only brought a few to share esp one for the birthday girl. I hope she had a great birthday!

COAST

Today, I met up with Jen and Rae for a late birthday and postponed lunch at Coast on Alberni Street. I have been meaning to try this place for a long time but could never get a decent dinner reservation or didn't have a lunch occasion to dine there. I had heard they had some amazing lunch specials and gosh, the Coast "his" lunch box special did not disappoint! It's served with Manhattan clam chowder, fish and chips, wedge of salad - very delicious and I can't wait to go back! I'm hoping to go there with HonHon on this trip for dinner or for mother's day brunch and will probably ask Val to take me there for my b'day lunch! :)

5th Anniversary Gift

I finally picked out my gift from the company and even though I had a couple of items in mind, I decided to go with jewelery even though I do not wear anything that isn't WHITE GOLD. But I decided with a pair of earrings cos I will be moving in a couple months so I don't really need a Hamilton Beach grill or an IPOD alarm dock cos I have a BBQ and Kay's got IPOD speakers, really nice ones in fact. So I went with the smallest and easiest item to move, earrings! They aren't too bad looking and sorta in a way, pretty so hopefully, I'll get one or two wears out of them!

5 year recognition

Today I finally received my 5 year recognition email from head office! My start date at the company is Jan. 4 so this email is about 1 month late but better late than never! Yeah! This year, there are a few more gifts than last year and the 5 year recognition was recently created as the first milestone, it used to be 10 years. If I stayed with this company for another 15 years, for my 20th year, I would get a trip to Montreal for the weekend, put into a fancy hotel and attend a fancy dinner held by the head office, Montreal is where our head office is located. That is such a cool and sounds like a fun FREE trip to Montreal! I am looking forward to that if I ever make it that far! Now what I should I choose for my gift? Hmmm.... the choices....

Company Christmas Party

After work, our company Xmas party was being held at the Hotel Vancouver aka The Fairmount Vancouver in a beautiful decadent room on the second level. The company party is very low key and it's an after work function for the employees only, no spouses, usually the party is scheduled for about 3 hours with a huge raffle and prizes at the end but I didn't stay very long this time. There is no formal sit down dinner, more like a selection of hot appetizers, sushi, smoked and glazed salmon, choice of turkey or lamb, and a dessert buffet. There is an open bar but you do get your one free drink from the company - the bonus of the year. I ended up dumping my bonus down the drain as I received the wrong glass of red wine (a glass of Jackson Triggs Merlot instead of the Pinot Noir). I made sure I went at least 3 rounds at the appetizer tables, skipped the meat table but one large plate of chocolate dessert! I didn't want any turkey or lamb cos the line up was much too long (planned to stay 20 minutes only) and I had dinner plans with my brother and his girlfriend at 7pm. I think I managed to stay for about 30 minutes before calling it a night, making my way around the room to say good bye and wishing them a happy holiday.

Once I got home, Kay and I headed over to Superstore to pick up a couple of items and also a couple of toys for the Pan Pacific Christmas Wish breakfast. Kay and I found some great toys within a reasonable price and I don't know how I would have found or picked these ones without Kay cos she is a little kid at heart, she wouldn't let go of the Crayola bath toy :) We ended up staying longer than we anticipated but that's ok cos my brother didn't end up coming until almost 8pm (he said he'd be there around 7ish). It was a really freezing night and I swear my hair was freezing up while we were walking from the car to Superstore and so forth.... brrr.... freezing weather for the next couple of days! This dry weather is not good for my eczema! It's so dry!! Plus our hands and lips are becoming flaky due to this dry dry freezing air....

Happy Birthday E!

HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY E!

Today is E's birthday but I am not at the office to help celebrate this milestone birthday! I can't wait to hear all about her big day!!

Cupcakes

Oooh yums! At lunch, Jana and I shared a Tiramisu cupcake by Cupcakes. Vanilla coffee marble cake with cream cheese frosting lightly dusted with cocoa powder and topped with a mocha bean. I really enjoyed the cream cheese frosting, it seemed lighter than the Koo Koo (altho I loooove the Koo Koo cupcake) and the vanilla coffee marble cake is very moist and scrumptious. I think Jana and I will have to do this again next week, we both agreed that having one cupcake is too much but a mini is not enough but sharing half of one is just enough! Next week, PB & J or Candy Apple, mmmm....cupcakes!

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

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!

Happy (early) Birthday Lunch

Thank you RaeRae for an early birthday lunch! We headed over to Tropika cos they have some good lunch specials plus I really like Lunch Combo C =) (white rice with curry beef, sambal egg and indonesian spring roll - yummy!). We celebrated early cos Rae is going on a trip to San Fran, she flies out tomorrow and won't back in the office until Monday, August 10. It was nice to finally have lunch cos we have been meaning to do this for a while but both have been busy. We caught up on each other's lives and what was going on. It was really nice! I don't see Rae as much any more cos she is on the 14th floor =( After lunch, we headed over to the Gap cos I had a 30% off coupon and I wanted to pick up some tank tops for this heat! Plus my fave tank top (Old Navy) is getting worn out and it needs to be replaced (well I don't know if I can get rid of it cos it's my FAVE!!) and I manage to get 2 solid colour tank tops for $17.50 (with the discount!). Nice! I think I will have to go over to Old Navy after the GG and before I head over to Rhoda's to see if I can find anything there as well. I'm happy to say the weather has finally cooled down a bit and hopefully it will not be too hot during the afternoon for Jes & B's wedding! Wow, only 1 more sleep!

Company BBQ Picnic & Sunday Dinner

Our division held a summer BBQ picnic this afternoon and I assume we will have one every summer! Poor Val, every year she will have to go thru the stress of throwing a BBQ for 100 people. A few of us pitched in to help with the picnic but Val and her hubby did most of the work, there was a lot of stress and tiredness endured. My small bit was to pick up the onions and tomatoes and slice and dice them for the burgers. I also picked up the drinks from Costco and gosh, my poor little VW bug, it was so heavy in the trunk, it felt like it weighed the car down and my poor car was chugging away. This year the picnic was held at 2nd beach in Stanley Park and it is a really pretty spot to throw a BBQ. There was a rooftop over the picnic tables and we were close to the beach, the pool and children's playground. We had a beautiful view of the beach and ocean, it was lovely! The picnic area wasn't as spacious as last year which is nice in a way cos we all had to mingle and talk to each other. Last year, there was too much food and drinks and of course, this year was the same but the water can be kept for next year. There were 2 boxes of burgers left, one of which Rhoda and I took to share and another took home for their family. Altho, I brought my camera, I didn't get a chance to take any photos cos I was too busy helping out with the BBQ'ing and making sure everyone was fed. Phew, lots of work but def had a blast! Many thank yous' to Val and our VP for holding this for us!

After the BBQ, I rested at home for a bit cos I was super tired from the BBQ and in a couple of hours I was to meet with Jas, Vince, Meryl and Shel for a dinner in Richmond. Vince and Meryl wanted to meet up cos we all hadn't seen each other as a group in a while and they wanted to take us to a recently discovered spicy chinese restaurant in Richmond. We all met at Shel's house cos he was centred and we all went in one car to Richmond. The restaurant was hidden away from No. 3 road but it can def stay hidden cos the food was not at all good! Gosh, those 2 have the strange taste buds!! After dinner, we decided to have BBT for dessert and drove over to Tapioca Express cos they have yummy boba! Too bad Kay didn't come, she loves BBT =)

Welcome Back To Vancity!

After work, Rae and I met up with Karli at Cactus Club on Burrard Street cos she was in town for a couple weeks for work. I didn't get a chance to see her last time so it was really nice to sit down and catch up with her. It seems that she will be coming back into the city more often for work and her company has a Vancouver office. After a couple of drinks and hours later, it was time to call it a night - it's terrible how tired I can get during the work week! But it was nice to see and catch up with Karli!

Happy 50th Birthday Val!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VAL!

Today, I surprised Val with a present, lunch and cake! It took some planning and being a bit sneaky but I manage to do it all last week. Altho I promised I would not make a big fuss on her birthday, keeping it to just me and her (crossing my fingers and toes); I had in fact, arranged a surprise lunch with her closest friends at the office to help celebrate this milestone birthday! I made reservations at Joe Fortes cos they offer a very good lunch selection at reasonable prices and it's something different than the usual Cactus Club or Milestones, I booked a cake for her from Saint Germain's and picked up a pair of beautiful earrings from Swarovski. Over the weekend, our lovely JW came in on Sunday to decorate Val's desk with Happy 50th Birthday banners and balloons. Gosh was Val ever surprised when she came in, altho I think we could have done more and made it bigger, we all know how conservative Val is and the decorations were def not over the top. Once I arrived to the office, I went upstairs to give her the birthday gift right away and I was a bit worried that she might not have liked it or it may not be suitable but she loved the gift and she almost broke into tears! I did warn her that next year, don't be expecting anything this elaborate and I wanted to splurge a bit more this year cos it's a milestone birthday. At noon, I was a bit worried that she was going to cancel as she was having a very busy morning, I could see a look of panic on her face when I went to pick her up for lunch. But she decided to come out cos it's her birthday and it would be a nice break from the busy office. Phew! That's a close call! As we walked towards Robson Street to Tropika (that's where she thought I was taking her), I quickly grabbed her arm and walked her up to Joe Fortes and said, CHANGE OF PLANS!! She was really shocked, surprised and elated to see her friends at the table! Again, she nearly broke into tears and I think this was one of the best 50th birthday parties she's ever been too!

Happy 30th Birthday!

Happy 30th Birthday RaeRae!

Today, we celebrated Rae's 30th birthday by taking her to Milestone's for lunch and a surprise "mini" birthday party with cake in the afternoon. It was a lovely lunch and she was really surprised by the Cupcakes cake! It took a bit of planning and we wanted her to have her pink "princess" party with the pink table cloth, pink forks, princess plates and even pink ring party favours! Her face was priceless! I hope it was the best 30th birthday party ever!! (At the request of Rae, I have removed the Surprise Video due to this blog being in a public domain .... just a note: there are over 200 billion blogs online and estimated 1 blog is created every 2 seconds so the likeness of many strangers seeing this post is pretty low)

Xmas Dinner at Hotel Vancouver, Fairmount

Tonite, we had our company's Xmas party at the Fairmount Hotel and I had heard great reviews about the food from our party last year (missed it due to a parent/teacher meeting). Was not disappointed in the food, it was so delicious! The party started at 4.30pm (right after work), it is a nice way to end the night and nice to mingle with people that I don't work with but am friends with. When the Xmas party is here, it means we are almost at our Xmas break :) Yes, we get a Xmas break cos our offices are closed from noon on December 24 until January 5, 2009!

Xmas Lunch

Today, we had our division's Xmas lunch at Joe Fortes. I have never been to this restaurant before and was quite excited about having lunch there and I probably should not have hyped it up so much. As it turns out, the food and the service was a bit disappointing. I am not sure if it was cos they could not handle a group of 90 or if this is the way it always is. I was esp disappointed with the choices I made from the set menu cos my steak was not blood rare instead it was cooked (blah!!) and the cheesecake I chose for dessert was not as yummy as I am used to. Oh well, I still appreciated the lunch (Thanks to our VP!) and getting a 2 hour lunch break with all the people I work with.