Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

To all the momma's out there, wishing you all a very Happy Momma's Day!

This afternoon, I worked on a garden for my mom (a gift to my mom for the day) cos she wanted to start a vegetable/herb garden. We had to dig out an area by the walkway to set up this garden. It was a nice and sunny day which was perfect for working on the garden. I know some people enjoy gardening but I don't think I am one of them cos it was such back breaking hard work! Ohmygosh! So HARD. After an hour or so of digging up the garden, we realized there was a lot more work involved then just digging the hole! There were many rocks and a couple of huge ones to dig out plus we were working with dirt clay (which is not good for gardening), we had to mix the garden dirt clay with all the "good" stuff (soil, manure and fertilizer) my mom had and naturally, they would be in different bags, large heavy bags! I had to mix the good soil dirt around with a rake and let me tell you this whole gardening business is BLOODY HARD!!! After we got the soil ready for planting, we finally did the FUN PART and planted the seeds and seedlings. First time for both of us in planting a vegetable/herb garden so we kinda winged it. Hopefully, it will not turn out to bad. After planting, it was time to clean up the yard and remove all the rocks and grass. Lucky for us, my brother arrived in time to help clean up and help my mom with her peas and pea fence which was a wired fence that we shaped. Plus we needed the strength cos we needed to drive the posts (for the fence) into the ground and he did that part for us. Plus he's a bit anal and wanted everything at the same distance and height, if it was either one of us, we wouldn't have cared. So now it looks a bit nicer that everything is laid out evenly. But the fence against the walkway is a bit ugly, my poor grandma, she is NOT GOING TO LIKE THAT. After all that hard work and clean up, I am really proud of what we accomplished in the afternoon and can't wait to see our garden grow! See photos for my first gardening experience.....

After gardening, it was time to clean up and get ready for dinner. Before heading out for dinner, I had an early (yes very early!) Christmas gift for my brother, I knew he was going on a couple of trips in the next couple of months so I wanted him to have it before Christmas. He loved the gift and was actually thinking about buying a digital camera tomorrow! Saved him a bit of money and bought one for him :) It was a really great sale, $100 off the regular price so I could not pass it up. We headed over to the Curry King on Cambie for dinner and we (me and my brother) could not believe that is what they choose for their Mother's Day dinner! My brother was hoping they would choose Peking Duck cos he really wanted to eat that. Dinner at CK was not that great (and wasn't expected to be so) and I actually came home with a tummy ache! After dinner, we wanted to go for crepes down the block but the cafe was closed early :( Oh well, mom had mango pudding in her kitchen and that is way less calories than crepes and ice cream! Once we got home, we gave them their gifts and both of them really liked the presents! Grandma received some really nice bubble bath (lavender and coconut vanilla) and for mom, I picked out a really pretty top for her cos she needs some new clothes! It was a great night and a lot of fun. Next weekend, we are celebrating grandma's 89th birthday and we are going for Peking Duck!

Saturday Shopping

What a long day! Today, Rhoda and I meet up to do some shopping and an open house in Burnaby (by Coquitlam). It was not a terrible day but a bit cloudy with bits of rain in some parts of the afternoon. I parked my car at her place so we could take one car and we drove out to the open house in Burnaby (Coquitlam border, gosh, we didn't realize how far we had to go!). The house was in reasonably good condition but we didn't like the style or the layout of the house, although the piece of property was HUGE. For $550,000 that isn't too bad, if I bought it, I would tear down the house and build a 4-plex on that piece of property and make some money!! After checking the OP, we decided since we were so close to Coquitlam Centre, we should stop by for a bit before heading over to IKEA and Superstore on Lougheed. I still hadn't been to the H&M in Coquitlam Centre and wanted to see what all the hype was. A bit of a disappointment cos it didn't really impress me that much. Yes, the store was huge and lots of inexpensive trendy items but the store was disorganized and very messy! I can't shop in messy stores and couldn't really find anything that stood out at me except for a very pretty detailed bikini which I purchased for $35! That was a great deal :) After H&M, we checked out Aritzia cos that was newly renovated but I didn't like the items they stocked cos it was targeted to the younger crowd. I decided I needed one more coffee to go before heading over to IKEA or Superstore cos I had a headache from the alcohol from last night. Gosh, it was pretty bad headache cos after many cups of coffee, the headache still wouldn't go away! Jess called Rhoda while I was in Starbucks picking up my 5th or 6th cup of coffee and she wanted to come with us to IKEA and Superstore. Since she had just started to eat her cooked noodles, we stuck around the shopping centre for another 30 minutes while we waited for her to finish up. We did a nice scenic route to IKEA (we entered the wrong exit! don't ask...) and we finally got to IKEA to meet Jess. She had already started shopping without us and we met downstairs where all the little items were stocked. We picked up a few items, I bought a compact retractable dish drainer and a couple of things for my mom. Jess picked up some much needed household items and then it was off to Superstore! I love the Superstore on Lougheed, it is so huge and so much nicer than ours! After our grocery shopping, we realized it was almost 9pm and gosh, was I ever hungry! We decided on Milestones on Lougheed in Burnaby, close by to Jess and Rhoda's and Rhoda still had a Milestones gift card to use up. After dinner, it was time to call it a night and gosh, was I ever tired! It was so much fun hanging out with Rhoda and Jess for the day! I think we should do more grocery shopping together, it's so much fun!

Happy Birthday Karen!

Happy Birthday Karen!

Tonight, we celebrated Karen's birthday, a week early cos Jess won't be here next week to celebrate it with us. Karen made dinner reservations at La Terrazza for 7.30pm in Yaletown and clubbing afterwards. Rhoda and I weren't going clubbing cos we are too old for that and it's Friday night! After a long work week, we are way too tired to club. It was a small group of us as she had more birthday plans next week so tonight for dinner, it was just me, Rhoda, Jess, Karen, Miwa (co-worker of theirs), Jeff (another co-worker) and Tony (one of her closest friends). It was a nice meal and she was really happy to have us celebrate it with her. She ordered shots for the table and her friend, Tony picked out a bottle of red wine but I didn't like the wine too much nor the shots. I was a bit surprised that she wanted to order shots at dinner since she was heading out clubbing afterwards but hey, it's Karen's birthday, she can have whatever she wants! After dinner, we opened presents and she loved all her gifts even the toothpicks, plastic forks and spoons that we picked up for her cos she is always stealing plastic forks and spoons at fast food restaurants! Rhoda and I picked out a pretty pink blinging ring for her and she loved it! Jess and Miwa picked out a pair of flip flops and a dress from Sky Clothing - really hot and sexy! Jeff gave her a pair of shiny black pumps (with the help of Jess) and Tony gave her a bottle of liquor (strong liquor, I can't remember what it's called). It was a fun night and it looks like she had a great time! (More photos on flickr and facebook!)

Sunless Tanning, Metro and Green Basil

After work, Rhoda, Jess, Karen and I headed over to Suntopia Tanning Salon on Kingsway for a UV free spray sun tan provided by Mystic Tan. It's basically a 20 second spray, front and back with 3 levels of colour intensity to choose from. We all opted to go with the middle level, a no. 2 tan. Hopefully, we all won't get too dark or orange although I know Rhoda likes to be super dark, I mean "tanned". We all went with the clear coat application (there's also a bronzer application for instant results) and the tan takes about 24 hours before it takes on full effect of the colour but we should see a slight tan within 10 to 12 hours (although Rhoda thinks otherwise, she thinks after 12 hours we will be the colour we are). It was quite an experience, I'm not sure if I would do it again, you cannot breath in there (cos the smells are awful) which means you basically have to hold your breath for about 30 seconds. I only managed to hold it for 10 before turning around to do my back and taking another breath, ohmygosh, it was so GROSS!!! After our experience, we decided to hit Metro for a bit of shopping before heading over to Green Basil for dinner. We didn't plan on having the girls come with us but in the end, we all went together. At UB, I picked up a cute teal colour top for $9.99, another great deal! This top will go great with my teal pumps I got from A&N shoe sale. I love this colour, it's so pretty. I also ended up picking up a clearly sexy convertible bra at La Senza Express for $39.50 cos I don't really own any real bras with support since I've lost so much weight which means my boobs got much smaller. I've been wearing a couple of Calvin Klein bras but it's not really a bra cos they are seamless with no wires or support. These are super comfy and I love them! Although these two seem a bit too big on me as well. I decided it was probably time to get a new bra with support. This one is really nice and it pushes my boobs up so I look a bit bigger than I really am :) After shopping, we headed over to Green Basil and gosh was it ever busy! This surprised us since it was a week night! But we got a table within 20 minutes and the food was super yummy (also I was starving by this time), 3 dishes came up to $45 which makes it $11.25 a person, not bad for some good grub!

Happy Birthday Kay!

Happy Birthday Kay!

Today, she turned 14 years young! Wow, 14 years... I can't believe it's been 14 years.....

This morning, I had a couple of small surprises for her becos she wasn't going to get her big gifts until dinner time so I wanted to have a little something for her first thing in the morning. She opened her birthday bag which had her fave aerie underwear and in her handbag, she found a new lip gloss from MAC. I wanted to make her a birthday breakfast but both of us snoozed for 30 minutes this morning. I'll make her a big birthday breakfast on Saturday morning with heart shaped french toast and sausages or bacon, her fave! At school, she had a great time! She got tons of HB hugs/kisses (not from the boys!), her locker was decorated by her friends, and she felt really special. I'm so happy to hear that :) She deserves it!

After work, we met Rhoda and Jess at their place cos we had dinner reservations at Baci's for 6.30pm. Kay and Rhoda were all dressed up but Jess and I were a bit casual. I wanted to wear my R&Rs cos those are super comfy! Jess didn't realize we were suppose to dress up! Hehehe... but those two looked great :) Once we arrived to the restaurant, we all had to decide what we wanted to order. Kay was now a little lady and she had to start making decisions. I guess she wasn't really sure what to order cos the menu had used fancy words and I don't think she really understood it but finally, once she got it, she decided on something and it turned out to be a really good one! She ordered the Tortellini all Panna which is veal stuffed tortellini with a creamy garlic sauce, ohmygosh, so super yummy! I'm ordering that one next time :) I had the Ravioli del Cardinal which is meat stuffed ravioli with peas in a creamy tomato sauce, super yummy and light :) Dinner was scrumptious and Kay really enjoyed it, when they came by with the dessert menu, Kay was really excited to order dessert but she had no clue that Rhoda and I picked up a Cupcakes birthday cake for her and gosh was she ever surprised when they came out with the cake and started singing HB to her! :) We gave her birthday presents in between our appetizers, meals and cake. Gosh, did she ever get SPOILED! AND She totally deserves it. She expected and loved her new pink ipod, buds and clear hard plastic case for her ipod. She got those awesome speakers from Jess and Rhoda gave her the Juicy Couture sunglasses which she loved. Jess is a dahling and such an awesome person, she gave me three "Happy" gifts to open and Rhoda got one too! Apparently, she broke up my gift box cos she wanted to sneak it back through the border. We got a really cool Too Faced California Glamin' Extreme Lash and Bronzing Set from Sephora! It was such a nice surprise and it def made me really happy :) Love you Jess, you are too sweet and thoughtful! I love the mini retractable "teddy bear hair" brush, it's sooooo soft! After presents and cake, we all headed home, we dropped Jess off at B's and then we headed back to her place cos my car was parked there. It was such a great night and Kay had the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER! (those are her words) :) We love you Kay and you totally deserve it!

Enjoy birthday photos on my flickr!!

A Spring Bouquet

I work with some really nice people, a couple of co workers really made my day when I came back from lunch and there at my desk was a beautiful card with thoughtful words ("all dogs go to heaven" sweetest quote ever) and a beautiful bouquet of tulips in pink and red. This is a lovely gesture and it's brighten up my day and will def add a splash of colour in our empty, quiet living space.

Over the past couple of work days, many people have been sending their condolences and right now, it's just so hard to deal with the pain and the quietness and emptiness is devastating. I know it will take time and I'm going to try really hard not to feel guilty. Remember the great times we've shared with Ari and he was a huge part of our family.

RIP ARI, LOVE YOU, WILL NEVER FORGET YOU......

First Weekend of May

Gosh, what a busy first weekend. The past three days have been crazy busy and all this running around is really tiring me out!

On Friday, I met up with Rhoda and Jess after work to do a bit of shopping. We headed over to Canadian Tire on SW Marine Drive in Burnaby to pick up some stuff for Jess, wow that new CT store is HUGE! I picked up a yoga mat on sale for $14.99, I have plans to start yoga to help relieve some tension and stress. After CT, we headed over to Walmart to see if they carried SunGuard detergent (it's sun protection - UPF - for your clothes), I really need this stuff cos I am allergic to SPF and I have sun sensitivity. But no such luck, the next time I am in the states, I will have to check out a Walmart, Walgreens or Safeway to find it. Before heading out of Walmart, we all decided to pick up some snacks (chips etc.) cos the prices are so low! Also, Rhoda and I were getting the munchies cos we were a bit hungry! We headed over to Lansdowne Mall in Richmond to check out Best Buy (ipod speakers for Kay), return an item I bought the week before at Home Sense, and grab some dinner at No. 9. First stop, BB to pick up some ipod speakers, Jess wanted to buy them for her because I had planned on buying cheap speakers but Jess said the more expensive ones are much better quality in sound. She picked up a really nice set from Logix and those were on sale for $99, regular priced at $180! On my lunch break, Rhoda and I had gone to MAC to look at make up, we picked up a new lipgloss for Kay and Future Shop for a pink ipod nano from me to Kay for her birthday. I can't believe she is turning 14 in just a couple of days! It seems like yesterday that she was just turning two! Gosh, how time flies so quickly. After BB and returning my item at Home Sense, we walked through the mall before hitting No. 9 for dinner. After dinner, we headed over to Parker Place to look for sunglasses for Kay cos that's what Rhoda wanted to buy for her birthday present. They know someone at an optical store in Parker and can get a good deal on sunglasses. I'll have to remember that when I can find and decide on a new pair of sunglasses. The person they know wasn't there and he is on vacation for the next couple of weeks but their mom knows another person who works there that can give them a good deal. We decided on a pair of Juicy Couture sunglasses that were soooo Kay. She's gonna love them :) After sunglass shopping, we decided to stop over at Rhoda's house to drop off stuff and pick up her briefcase with software programs cos she was coming over to help my mom with the downloading/burning/ movie problems on her computer. Thank goodness Rhoda can help my mom out cos my mom is always got problems and I have no idea how to fix any of them! I don't download movies off the internet. It was a great day and great evening! Thanks Rhoda and Jess!

On Saturday, we didn't do too much in the afternoon, Kay had to attend a birthday gathering at a friend's house so I drove her over there. I decided to head over to Safeway to pick up some grocery items before heading home. Safeway carries an organic line called O Organics and I wanted to see what kinds of salads they carried cos I've been eating out a bit more than usual and I need to clean my system out with all that take out! I found a really interesting one with fresh herbs in it so I'm very excited to try this one out! After Safeway, I headed home to take a rest before heading out again to meet Jas. We are planning to catch the movie Made of Honor with Patrick Dempsey, McDreamy oh yeah :) and dinner afterwards. We met up at the train station and headed over to Metro together and gosh was the theatres ever super busy! Lucky for us, we got good seats cos we were 30 minutes early! It was such a funny, entertaining movie, def. a great chick flick! I love this movie and it def made me laugh, distracting what was going on in my mind and life. After the movie, we headed over to Cactus Club for some dinner and a drink, I love their bellinis, super yummy! It was a great night and very thankful for such best friends who take care of me!

On Sunday afternoon, Kay and I headed over to Metrotown centre together so I could do a bit of shopping while she took off to hang out with her friends. That was a good thing cos I was doing a bit more birthday shopping for her! First stop was Best Buy to pick up a couple pairs of the Skullcandy pink smokin buds, one for myself and one for Kay's ipod. After BB, I headed over to Shamin Jewellers to check out their time piece selection, they have a small but nice Movado selection. Back inside Metro, I stopped off at a few stores before picking up my mom and grandma's mother's day gifts which I got at Winners for under $40! Picked up a Shea Body Butter from the Body Shop cos it's suppose to be great for extremely dry skin which is what I have and I am running out of body lotion. I picked up a few pairs of Aerie underwear for Kay cos she loves their underwear and I wanted to buy some make up but realized I have a MAC lip gloss for her. Rhoda and Jess are taking Kay out for a really nice Italian dinner on her birthday so we won't be opening her gifts until after dinner but I wanted to have something little for her to open on her birthday morning. After shopping, I was a bit worn out but I still needed to head over to HonHon's place to check his mail so I decided to give Kay a call to see if she wanted to come home with me or if she wanted to hang out with her friends a bit longer. She decided to stay a bit longer which was fine cos I remember being a teenager and all I wanted to do was hang out with my friends. After checking HonHon's mail, I headed home and decided to give my dad and brother a call to see if they wanted to have dinner. I realized that my father wouldn't get a chance to celebrate with Kay cos next weekend is Mother's Day so we won't be seeing him until another weekend. Dad and brother were free for dinner so I rang up Kay to let her know she should be heading home soon. Once she arrived, we headed over to Richmond and dad wanted to take Kay out for her birthday so she got to choose the restaurant. She wanted Italian of course! If she wasn't born Chinese, I swear she would be Italian! We made reservations at Italian Tomato for 7.45pm cos it's really yummy but very busy restaurant. A few times, we had to wait about 30 to 45 minutes for a table and I thought it would be a good idea just to make reservations. Of course Kay ordered her fave dish on the menu, meat ravioli with a creamy pesto sauce. My dad also decided to order a bottle of red wine for us to share (cheer Kay's 14th birthday) and she got an orange juice in a wine glass so she wouldn't be left out. Very cute. After dinner, the waitress brought over a slice of chocolate mousse cake for Kay and they sang her Happy Birthday. It was very nice of them and we truly appreciated it. After dinner, we headed back to dad's place and my brother gave her a huge birthday gift. He bought Guitar Hero for her Wii system and she was ecstatic! She had a great time and it was nice way to end off the weekend. (She's really spoiled this year!)

Photos will be posted later as Kay has not uploaded them into the PC.

RIP Ari

(Photos will enlarge in another window)

Ari passed away this morning from a cardiac arrest. I received the call at 2:06am and although I knew it was coming, it was still very hard to accept the fact that he will no longer be with us. The doctor allowed me to come to the hospital right away to see him but advised me not to drive on my own and to get someone to drive me there. My mom was kind enough to drive me as I had called Rhoda over and over but she must have been in a deep sleep. Once I arrived, the nurse brought Ari out to me, he was nicely cleaned and wrapped up and his body was still warm. He looked as though he was just sleeping and I couldn't believe he would never lick my face again. Although I am completely heartbroken and devastated, I know that his suffering has ended and no dog (or person) should ever have to go through what he had to. Thankfully, he was not in any pain because he was heavily sedated when he passed, I knew that the condition he was in, we would not have much time left with him but I could not bring myself to put him down. We loved him with both our hearts and soul, we miss him dearly, our lives will feel empty without him but we will never ever forget the happiness and joy he brought to our lives. The last 8 months with him have been wonderful, joyous, loving, and full of life. He was our best loyal friend and his life made our life. I would not have it any other way.

WE LOVE YOU ARI.

YOUR PAW PRINTS WILL BE ETCHED INTO OUR HEARTS FOREVER.

I never knew I could hurt like this
And everyday life goes on like
"I wish I could talk to you for awhile"
"I wish I could find a way try not to cry"
As time goes by
And soon as you reach a better place
Still I'll give the whole world to see your face
And I'm right here next to you
It feels like you gone too soon
The hardest thing to do is say bye bye

Bye Bye - Mariah Carey E=MC Squared

Ari

Ari is not doing too well, he seems to be under the weather and is def not himself. The spark is gone from his eyes but we are hoping he just has the flu......

Congrats!

Tonight, I missed out on the monthly dinner with Trav, Lisa, Grace, Rhoda and babies. I feel terrible that I did cos there was some good news to share! Grace and Sheldon are expecting! Yeah! Second baby on the way!! Plus Tristan has grown so much since the last time I saw him but then babies change weekly! So happy for them and there is now another baby in the group :)

Trout Lake Park

After dim sum, we headed home and while mom ran her errands, I managed to do a little bit of housework. It was a really nice sunny day (although it was hot and cold!) to be outside. Rhoda sent me a text earlier in the afternoon to see if I was interested in taking the dogs out for a walk, she had to run some errands first and would drop by right after. I thought that was a great idea and Trout Lake Park isn't that far from where we live. The walk is not too far or long and if Ari gets tired (which I know he can get pretty tired easily), I could just carry him home :) She arrived a little after 4pm and we went for our walk, I never realized how dog friend Trout Lake is! There is an off leash area and a leashed area on either side of the lake. Although, the park wasn't well kept probably due to all the dogs and dogwalkers, it was still a really nice park to take our little boys to. They quite enjoyed the walk and both were ready to pass out when we got home! Rhoda stayed for dinner and we went upstairs to eat cos mom and grandma had made dinner for us. Of course, we brought our own brown rice cos we don't eat white rice well we actually limit our white carb intake. I wasn't really that hungry at dinner cos we had so much at dim sum but everything on the dinner table was yummy and all our fave dishes! It was a great day with family and BFFs :)

Dim Sum at Imperial Restaurant

Grandma treated us to dim sum this afternoon cos I helped her with her yearly taxes and filed them online for her. I have been wanting to try out Imperial Restaurant for the longest time cos it is suppose to be the best Chinese restaurant in Vancouver. I didn't suggest it but grams remember that we had all wanted to try it so she wanted to take us there for dim sum. Although some critics (friends or friends of friends of mine) have stated that it is overrated, I found the dim sum was exceptionally good! What really impressed me was all the different kinds of steamed dumplings like tobiko scallop shrimp dumpling! Mmmm... that is now my fave one so far! Beats the har gau (shrimp dumpling) which has been my fave since the very first time I had dim sum. Also very yummy was the siu mai (pork dumpling topped with roe) and I usually don't like siu mai cos most restaurants don't make it very good. Kay and I were quite impressed with the tea cups cos the little tea cups had handles on them which I have never seen at any dim sum restaurant! Another really neat gesture is that all the dim sum were small porportions like how it's suppose to be. I know you are not getting as much for your money when the portions are small but dim sum is really about sharing small little plates. Most dim sum restaurants serve huge portions, to give you the money's worth but that usually means they use a lot of filler in the food which leads to not so good taste and how can you try every dish if every dish you order is large? Plus it is well know that dim sum may fill you up after you eat but all the grease and msg doesn't stay long in your system and you can get hungry soon after dim sum! Surprised but not completely is when the bill arrived! I couldn't believe how much all the little dishes came up to and it would have been much cheaper for my grandma to have paid for the tax software instead of taking us out to dim sum but I think she quite enjoy going to the restaurant and getting all dressed up for it. Before leaving for the restaurant, I went upstairs to check to see if we were all ready to go and noticed that grams and mom were all dressed up for dim sum so Kay and I quickly changed from our denim to some dress pants! It was a fun morning filled with small treats! Click the above photo to enlarge to see our treats!

Reunion

Today, I had lunch plans with some old highschool girlfriends whom I haven't seen since highschool! We all found each other on facebook and one of the ladies was in town visiting relatives so last month, she sent out a message to some of us and wanted to know if any of us would be interested in meeting for lunch for a mini reunion. We had messaged each other back and forth for a month or so and it seemed that it was tentative with everyone except one of the girls. I really wanted to see her and so I decided to take a chance to see if anyone would be there. Curry King on Kingsway is not the best place for little ones but I think it was somewhat in the middle for everyone and Curry King is right on the main road, Kingsway and easy to spot. When I arrived, Densie and Victoria were there with their little ones, gosh, how much has changed even though I thought they both look the same from highschool! It was so great to see them and I'm so glad I came out. Victoria could not stay too long cos it was nap time for her little girl plus her husband was waiting for her. She stayed a bit to chat and before she left, we all agreed to do this again the next time (hopefully, the weather will be nicer) and we should all meet somewhere like a park so the kids could run around while the adults caught up on each other. Perfect! Denise and I stayed to have lunch and catch up. Her little man is so handsome and her baby girl is so beautiful! Looks just like her mama! It was so great to catch up and we are going to try to do this again, we have been trying to meet up for the longest time since we found each other but as life gets busy (esp when you got two little ones) we never got the chance. It was such a lovely lunch and I'm so glad I got the chance to catch up with Denise. Enjoy more photos on my flickr account!

Shopping and Dinner

Tonight, I headed out with Rhoda and Jas for a bit of $2 (Daiso) shopping and dinner at a new Singaporean restaurant in Richmond. We decided to hit Richmond Centre first before Daiso or dinner cos those two weren't quite hungry yet and I wanted to go to Richmond Centre to pick something up. There is a cute brown capped sleeve jacket at Costa Blanca at a pretty reasonable price. I saw it a few weeks ago and was debating on whether I should buy it or not. I decided to pick it up cos I have a few items in my closet that would work with it and I have a pair of brown shoes to match the jacket! Lucky for me, it went on sale and I got an additional $5.00 off! It's already a pretty good price but hey, I'll never say no to a discounted item esp if it's something I've been eyeing for a while. I almost bought a 3/4 length black linen jacket but decided against it cos the jacket was 90% linen and 10% cotton which means it will wrinkle really easy! I hate wrinkles in my clothing! After walking around in the mall, we decided to head over to Daiso, I had a list of items that I needed but didn't find all of the items I wanted and ended up picking up extra items that I could use but didn't really need! I love that store, there is so many cute items in there! I think I drove Rhoda a bit crazy cos she could not put up with my browsing and taking my time to look at all the items in the store. The store has 2 floors and Daiso stocks so many cute items from housewares to food items. I think she got a little bit stressed from the 15 minutes she thought it would take to about an hour or so. After Daiso, we were all getting very hungry and decided to head over to the new Singaporean restaurant on No. 3 Road called Kelong. I had seen some pretty good reviews online and it was mentioned that this is truly Singaporean cuisine. I love trying to South Asian restaurants cos I am always trying to find a true to taste and authentic one! It was pretty good and reasonably priced. We choose 3 main dishes with an appetizer and it only came up to $15 each. It def tasted like homestyle Singaporean cuisine! After dinner, it was getting late and we decided it was time to head home. Wow, what a sight! It was snowing!! We could not believe it, it was a snow storm!!! It was also super cold and it felt like winter, snow and winter weather at the end of April? Can't believe it! What strange weather we are having in Vancouver!

Shoe Sale!!!

It's amazing what shoes can do to a woman.... every morning, it's really tough to get up when my alarm rings at 6.30am esp on the late nights like not getting to bed on time or staying up to watch a TV show or trying to prepare for the next day. But this morning, I got up at 5.30am on the dot with no problem even though I went to bed late the night before. This morning, I had to be out the door and at the train station by 6.30am cos Rhoda and Jess were invited to a pre-sale (before opened to the public) at the Army & Navy yearly designer shoe sale! How could I pass this invite up? The pre-sale was at 7.00am and we had to go through the back alley cos the store manager did not want us to be mugged by the hundreds of women in the line up. The store opens to the public at 8.00am so it was such a treat to be one of the very few inside the store an hour earlier to pick out your shoes. Wow, there were so many shoes and it seemed that an hour would not be enough time! Yesterday, I downloaded the pdf advertisement so I got a look at the shoes that were going to be there and I def knew what styles of shoes I was looking for. The one thing I couldn't find (in my size) were the evening sparkly sandals. It's really a hit and miss when it comes to this shoe sale, seemed to be no evening sandals in my size but tons of cute ones in the smaller sizes. I started off with probably 30 pairs of shoes in my basket and it came down to six pairs but I decided to let two go cos they were over my $39.99 budget per shoe. The Naughty Monkeys were so funky and would have been great with dark denim, also those Italian made flats with the gold would be perfect too but I knew the Steve Maddens would go better with my career wardrobe and those were the colours I wanted for this season. At the very last minute (as I was checking out and paying for my shoes), I found the SM open toes in Teal on the bottom shoe shelf in my size!! What luck! I had gone through my section quite a number of times and didn't find them but the staff continues to place shoes on the shelf as shoes get bought or picked out. We are thinking about heading back next week some time to see what else they will have. Plus Kay wants me to pick up a pair of cute flats for her cos her two pairs are falling apart! Only if they are $19.99, I will buy them for her. She's got so many pairs of shoes! It was def a treat and love those two for inviting me, thank you so much girls! Check out Trishaopholic for my new shoes :)

The Drive

The nice weather carried over from yesterday so Kay and I decided to take a walk down Commercial Drive. We needed to pick up some dog food for Ari and I had a coupon for Mr Pets on Commercial. It was such a nice walk and so much going on and so much to look at. We did a stop at COBS to pick up some bread cos I had a coupon for there as well! We picked up some dog food and new treats for Ari cos he's running low on treats. He is such a funny dog, he kept barking and chasing after the pedestrians on the sidewalk, I think after a little while he got used to all the people and decided to just walk. Hopefully, this week will be nice and sunny!

Granville Island and so much more!

Today was a great day to be outside! The weather was so warm and sunny, as high as 17 degrees in some areas! Vancouver has been pretty crazy with the weather, one week it feels like spring and the next week, it's fall with rain, hailstorms and low temperatures. But lucky for Val and I, it was finally a really warm and sunny spring day and we wanted to take Tracy (who's here from Nova Scotia, she's working with us for two months) to Granville Island. She's here for only a couple more weekends and we wanted to make sure she got all the tourist sites before she headed home. We met downtown at Tracy's apartment around 1:30pm and we walked down Hornby street to catch the aqua bus to Granville Island. It was a long but really nice walk with so much to see, we got to know a little more about Tracy cos it's kind of hard to get to know someone at work. Esp her job, she's super busy with documents! The aqua bus was quite a treat and thankfully, we were only on the water for a couple of minutes, I am terrified of the water and boats! We decided to have lunch at Sandbar and boy was it ever super yummy! I had ordered fish and chips, the fish was snapper, yum yum! The batter was light and the coleslaw and fries very refreshing! I also had it with a nice Rose wine, mmm....what a treat! We did a bit of walking all over the island and I ended up picking up a really cute top (on sale 50% off) for $21.50! After all the walking we did, it was time for some gelato (well I skipped the gelato since I had a very rich mocha before they hit the gelato stand). What a gret day for Gelato! Surprisingly, it was still quite warm on the island even though we were so close to the water. We expected the temperatures to drop a bit but it was still quite warm, inland was 17 degrees but it could have been warmer, it was so nice!! After the gelato, it was time to head back cos Val and I had dinner plans that evening. I was meeting up with Jas and we were going to catch a movie after dinner. She likes coming over for dinner which is really nice cos I like cooking for people and she always seems to enjoy any meal I make even when I throw it together last minute! There wasn't any good movies playing at the theatre so we decided to skip the movie and go for dessert instead. We wanted to try that new chocolate dessert place on Denman street called Koko Chocolate Creations which is located beside Cupcakes which by the way moved a block down the street, closer to the beach. We decided to take the train to Granville and walk down to the dessert place, gosh so much walking today! It was def worth the walk and the wait but I think I ate way too much chocolate! The night before, I had a lava cake at Joeys with Rhoda and boy did I feel a bit sick after the lava cake (and the side of french fries with it, sweet and salty!). But that doesn't stop me from having more dessert! After our dessert, we decided it was best to bus it back to the train station as we were all too full to walk back. We decided to take the Davie street bus instead of the Robson bus cos we knew it would take us twice as long to get there cos of all the traffic on Denman and Robson. It was a great day and night! Enjoy the photos, more photos on my flickr!

Tick Tock....

Madonna's newest album, Hard Candy, is due to be released April 29. I'm so excited, her new single, 4 minutes is pretty cool and she's got a countdown site.

A Rolling Stone's review dated May 1 2008. 4 stars of 5.

Pin Up Moms Unleashed!

A friend of mine (Kat Laflamme) had an art exhibit launch of her newest work, Pin Up Moms. Jas and I decided to hit the Drive for some dinner before heading over to the opening. Since, it was a really nice and warm evening, we decided to meet at the train station and walk up the Drive. There are so many restaurants to choose from but we decided to stop in at Red Burrito on 1st Avenue to try out their menu. This place is always packed and I've heard good reviews on it. Boy was it ever delish! Truly Mexican as I could tell and the price is right for the amount you get, there is so much food packed into the one burrito! Yum yum! After the quick meal, we headed over to Libra Room which I didn't realize is a martini lounge with live jazz band after 8pm. We arrived around 6:30ish and decided to have a drink before heading home. The martini menu is so cute! They had a Pin Up Moms theme on the menus, very cute and I ordered a Leo (I am a Leo) and the ingredients were red alize, peach schnapps and lime. Also, a Leo is exuberant, colourful, proud, and vivacious which sounds exactly like me :) It was so yummy! Jas had a glass of the house red. After our drinks, we decided it was time to call it a night since we both had long day and it was a work night.

Saturday Night!

Wow what a crazy night! First of all, it was freaking SNOWING!! WTF? It's spring! We could NOT believe this crazy weather we are having. Tonight, Jas and I were invited to a couple of events. The first one being a costume dinner party at RL's apartment and clubbing at Crush with Rhoda and friends. Jas and I arrived to RL's dinner party (without costumes) a bit later than the invite since we didn't really know anyone at the party besides the two people we knew that would be super late (Vincent and Meryl). Tonight was Earth Hour and lights were out at 8:00pm which is the time we arrived. The lights were out and the candles were lit. Dinner was ready and being served but I couldn't eat right away cos I have a huge problem eating in the dark. Well it wasn't totally dark, there were candles but I need to see what I am eating. After a few hours, we decided it was time to hit the club and it was terrible (the scene not the friends)! The music wasn't really to my liking, the crowd, eh alright although it was kinda cool that we were invited into the VIP room cos the birthday girl's friend booked her a room in the club, we had a bouncer and a bar! Jas and I enjoyed that a bit :) I don't have any photos tonight cos I didn't bring my camera. But there are some photos from the group on facebook but I am not in any of them so I am not going to post them. After the nightclub, Jas and I decided to leave early, we decided to walk (we didn't have the patience for a cab) back to Granville skytrain to get home but before heading home, we shared a hot dog from a hot dog street vendor, those hot dogs are really good after the club. A very brisky and cold night and I think I am way too old to be doing this!

Workout

What a workout I had tonight! I wanted to only do 30 mins of cardio and that was it but Jess made me continue the workout with 4 reps of 25 squats and 15 minutes of weights for my arms! I am soooo tired!! We had a really light dinner, 2 rolls of sushi, a bit of fresh strawberries and a small piece of my pineapple cake. Jess is so silly! She realized as soon as we walked through the door of her condo that she had parked her car at Patterson skytrain! Oops! That was pretty funny! She texted Billy to come by and pick us up so she could drive me home and pick up the car. Just the other day, we were laughing at Rhoda for leaving her car keys at the office right before the stop that we had to get off to pick up her car!! How can you tell those two are related :) Funny girls! Since it was only the two of us, we decided to work out upstairs instead of the gym. Working on her machine in her 2nd bedroom was pretty intense, the machine is not as smooth so you are using more strength and the room is small so I was sweating pretty badly! 30 minutes on that machine is like 1 hour downstairs in the gym! It was a good workout though and nice to spend some time with Jess, she's like my little sis :)

Xmas Present 2008

Yes I know I am a bit early with this one but I need to do a little bit of research and check out the newest and latest styles when it comes to purchasing a new handbag for my collection. I do not have and really need a basic black handbag since I do not own one, well I do have a tiny black Fendi clutch but it's too small and I like my every day purses to be roomy. I was really excited about getting a Katherine Kwei black "Donna" lambskin tote but Holt Renfrew only carries a few items from her spring/summer 08 collection and this one is not available. I did send Katherine Kwei an email about this and she replied back that I could order one in from her to be shipped to HR but the mark up at HR is RIDICULOUSLY HIGH so no thank you.

I do love the Dior handbags so I am considering one of the following two:





Ethnic Croc-Stamped Patent Bag
$1,390.00 USD on eluxury.com

Croc-embossed patent leather and Dior logo jacquard
Antiqued silver metal hardware
Braided patent shoulder strap with flat patent handle; 12" drop
Patent tassel and heart patch with studs and logo embossing dangle from shoulder strap
Whipstitched detail down front and back
Open top with magnetic snap closure
Nylon lining
Interior cell phone pocket, patch pocket, and zipped pocket
Flat Dior logo jacquard bottom
14"x 15"x 6.5"
Made in Italy






Soft Lady Dior Large Hobo
$1,375.00 USD on eluxury.com

Soft lambskin with signature cannage pattern embroidery
Polished silver metal hardware
Oversized link chain strap with leather handle; 12.5" drop
Dangling "Dior" letter charms at side
Slouchy open top with magnetic closure
Sumptuous suede lining
Interior zipped pocket and leather cell phone pocket
14.5"x 14.5" (at sides)x 4"
Made in Italy

What do you think?? Any thoughts or comments??

Pizza Pizza!

Before

After

Tonight, Kay and I felt like pizza pizza! I decided to make a pesto chicken yellow pepper pizza. Mmmm... it was pretty yummy except that we burnt the crust cos I don't think I added enough olive oil around the dough when baking it the first time. Also, I made it a lot thinner than usual or maybe I didn't add enough flour? Although, we couldn't eat the crust, the rest of the pizza was pretty delish! I googled "freezing pizza dough" and have decided I will have to try freezing it so we can have it during the work week! Enjoy the photos!

PS. What is the order of the toppings? How do you do it?!?! Kay and I disagreed on when the cheese goes on! Her way: pesto sauce, cheese, chicken, skip the peppers (as you can see she lost this one!), cheese. My way: pesto sauce, chicken, pile on the peppers, cheese! Who's right?!?!

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Mmmmmm.....yummy! Although we didn't have any pineapple rings (mom gave us a can of pineapple chunks!), it still turned out pretty yummy. We are always craving dessert over the weekend and since I don't mind baking for dessert, we decided to try out the Pineapple Upside Down cake recipe we got from Rhoda. We cut the sugars in half and I used raw sugar instead of granulated sugar (I am trying to cut out white sugar from our diet) which turned out pretty yummy. Hmmm... I wonder how it would taste with whole wheat flour??!!?? Maybe we'll try again next weekend! But we'll be sure to pick up some pineapple rings from the grocery store. The cake did not have enough pineapples in it! Grandma loved the cake and we let mom (who's on a diet) to sample a small piece. Mmmm... delish!

Good Friday

Today, I hung out with my BFF for the day. Rhoda had to go to the mall to pick up a bridal gift and we found a beautiful necklace and bracelet at Piccini. She wanted to pick up something from Swarovski but didn't want to pay full retail price for it when she can get it at a member's discount. We hit many of our favorite stores and I was such a good girl, I didn't buy anything! Even though there were a few items I wanted to buy but realized no, I should not use my credit cards since I am trying to pay them off! I did buy Ari a box of dog treats cos they were inexpensive and he doesn't have many treats left at home. We were planning on taking the dogs to the dog park but we ended up staying in the mall for 3 hours!! We decided to chill at her place while she worked on her puzzle, she's a huge puzzle freak and we wanted let the dogs play since they were in their dog bags with us at the mall for so long! Gosh, those two play so cute!! Next time, I have to bring my camera so I can catch them playing wrestling. So cute! After a couple of hours, we decided to eat zong for dinner since Rhoda's mom didn't want us to join her and Jess for dinner. We had hoped that we could eat whatever Rhoda's mom was cooking but no such luck, apparently those two were going to have a "talk". We assume the talk went well since both came back from dinner with smiles. After our dinner, we googled Matt & Nat on Jess's ibook and talked about owning one of these handbags, very vegan friendly. Today, Rhoda was a bad girl and ended up buying (another!) a Matt & Nat handbag from the spring collection. Although I saw a really nice white one online that I liked (style and colour) I'm not so sure how long I would use it if I bought one. So I am going to hold off for now cos I'm eyeing a new black Dior handbag. I love my pink Dior handbag which I haven't had a chance to use cos of the rain but once spring/summer is here, I'm sure I'll be using it daily. After a little bit, Rhoda and I were ready for dessert since I had a very bad lava cake last night, I didn't want anything with chocolate so we headed over to Cheesecake etc on Granville street so she could have chocolate cheesecake and I could have a plain cheesecake with strawberry topping. Mmmm.... so yummy! After that, we headed home and decided to call it a night! It was a great day cos it's always great company and great times with my BFF.

Simply Thai and Urban Fare

Yeah it's a long weekend! Tonight, Jas and I decided to head out for dinner cos she felt like Asian. We decided to grab Thai food in Yaletown cos there really isn't anything in downtown and I did not want to eat at Tropika. I just had lunch at Tropika with Jen and Rae, Jen's last lunch with us. Plus I am not a huge fan of Tropika, chinese food disguised as malay. Simply Thai in Yaletown is where I made reservations at and it's a new Thai place since neither of us have ever been. Before heading over to the restaurant, we headed over to Beautymark to check out beauty supplies. It's quite a nice store with a lot of different brands that are not carried anywhere else. It's weird how Jas wanted to check out Beautymark cos I wanted to check it out too! I had just received an email from them about an item I was interested in. Bliss is a spa line from New York which carries spa products and an item I am very interested in is called Bliss Naked Body Butter and gosh, I didn't realize it was so expensive! I didn't pick it up since I have so many body lotions left from Bath & Bodyworks. Our reservations were at 6.30 but we were arrived at 6.00 and it wasn't super busy so we were seated right by the window. The dinner was pretty good but a little bit pricey for me since I knew I could get really great Thai food for a better price and larger portions. After dinner, we walked over to Urban Fare cos we felt like Cupcakes but Denman was way too far for us to go just for a cupcake or two. We couldn't believe our luck when we noticed Cupcakes were available at Urban Fare! Although we noticed these cupcakes are not as perfect as the ones at the store, it helped our craving! While waiting in line to pay for our dessert (I picked up two cupcakes and a lava cake from the bakery), I noticed that there were Christian Lacroix Evian water bottles available and on sale! $7.99 to $3.49! What a great price, I had to pick up one for myself! I wanted to buy a couple more but I was taking the train home and didn't want to carry all those bottles. Late last year, I had read in one of my fashion magazines about how Christian Lacroix had designed a bottle for Evian but didn't think it was available in our area. Maybe I'll head back over there to pick up a few more! Great housewarming gifts, non? At the checkout, the cashier didn't see the sku for my cupcakes cos it got rubbed off while I was carrying it around the store (the girl at the bakery wrote the sku on the plastic window of the cupcake box) so the cashier had to guess the prices and he rang it through as $1.99 a cupcake but it is actually $2.99 a cupcake! Hehehe, I get the BEST deals ever! After we paid for our grocery items, we sat outside to enjoy our cupcakes, it was a bit chilly as it was getting dark but we were craving sweets!! All worth it, mmmmm....cupcakes. After our cupcakes, we decided to call it a night and headed towards the skytrain. Jas decided to go over to Safeway at Broadway station to pick up some fruits and veggies and I headed home. After a few hours, I couldn't help myself and ate half of the lava cake, blah! It was gross!! Never again, will I pick up a lava cake from the bakery! But I know I'll be paying for all this sugar, I bet I won't be able to sleep until really really late!

Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More

My newest cookbook has arrived! Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More by Carole Walter. This book has so many tantalizing and mouth watering recipes and the one I am most excited about is the one on the cover! Those sticky buns look so delish! I am so looking forward to trying those...mmmmm....sticky buns......

Shopping Weekend

Gosh, what a weekend! These weekends go by so fast and it never seems like I have enough time over the weekend to do everything! On Sunday, I ran errands with mom and we headed over to New Westminster Toyota to pick up a few items but Saturdays are the busiest days for the dealership and we waited around for almost 40 minutes just to see my mom's sales guy! After Toyota, we were pretty close to Walmart so we headed over there cos my mom has never been to the Canadian Walmart and even though there are a ton of great deals, it doesn't seem likely that we would drive all the way out there just to hit Walmart. We didn't end up buying too much and only picked up a few things. After Walmart, we headed over to the new commercial area of Marine Drive in Burnaby. It's pretty developed now with the Price Smart foods, London Drugs, Canadian Tire etc. We headed over to PetSmart cos I need to pick up a few items for Ari and over to the Shoe Warehouse which my mom ended up buying a pair of really cute and comfy sandals. There was a Winners and Home Sense right next door so we had to go there cos we love Winners. Wow, this Winners is HUGE and with so many shoes and clothes, one hour before closing was def. not enough time! I ended up picking up a cute top for only $16.99 and mom bought me a Calvin Klein trench coat which I saw downtown but not in my size:( for my birthday cos this Winners had a few XS and yes, the XS def. fit me so much better than the S. Mom also bought two pairs of cute flats by Anne Klein which are really comfy and it's about time she bought herself some shoes! She can't wear heels anymore and she has a ton of shoes in the shoe cupboard that need to be given away! I found a pair of really cute heels for Spring but remember that I shouldn't be buying any more shoes and if I am going to buy a pair, I really want those cute little heels from HR by Michael Kors. Cute little heels in a gold tone. After Winners, we headed over to Superstore to pick up a few items cos my mom is officially on a diet starting Monday. She needs to lose about 20 lbs and she is finally going to follow my advice to drop the weight.

Sunday was another shopping day only with Rhoda (my BFF) and Jess (little sis) cos Jess has nothing in the condo! When I mean nothing, I mean not much in the kitchen. She doesn't have a can opener! Who's kitchen doesn't have a can opener?!?! I headed over to Rhoda's place and Jess picked us both up and back to where I was yesterday, shopping at Winners/Home Sense (found another great pair of shoes by Ralph Lauren but didn't buy them!), London Drugs for more home items, Price Smart Foods (a division of Save On Foods) for grocery items. After our shopping expedition, we headed back to Rhoda's to drop off some stuff and pick up the dogs to head over to Jess's place where she was going to try out her new kitchen gadgets and cook us a dinner. Wow, very impressive, she did a pretty good job! It was a lovely day with my girls.

Welcome Home Jen!

It was so great to see Jen tonight, she's in Vancouver for two weeks and Rae and I got to spend some time with her just one on one to catch up on life. Wow, so much has gone on and the travelling bug def. bit her! She's been all over the place and she'll be back in Vancouver in September but off to Australia for another year to work and travel. Lucky girl and she is so independent since she has no fear about being on her own and living in a totally different country. I could never do that, I like it here in Vancouver, home is home. After work, we headed over for dinner at Oysi Oysi and spent almost 3 hours there just talking. It was lovely and of course, such a silly girl, she brought over gifts from London and Egypt. She hadn't changed at all and it was so good to spend some time with Jen. Hopefully, we can catch her one more time before she heads back to London. We miss you tons Jen!!

Lifestyles

Look what Kay got at school today! Part of sex education! She is soooo embarrassed but it's good that they are trying to get these kids prepared and aware of safe sex. Although I hope she won't have to use the condom until she's mature enough to make THAT decision. Gosh, I can't believe she's a teenager and soon I'll have to deal with SEX......

Swimming

Tonight, I finally tested out my new swimming suit in the new pool. It's a very nice and complimenting swimming suit. Although I think I need to get another one so I can alternate the suits, don't want to wear this one out too fast! Gosh, swimming 6 laps is hard work, I haven't gone swimming in a long time and I can't believe how tired I am. But it def. beats going to the gym! I hate the gym. I hate working out with weights and those machines, umm.... BORING. After the swim, Jess and I were ready to eat, we were starving, well Jess was starving, I was just getting slightly hungry as I am always sure to have a snack before leaving the office cos I know I won't be eating until 6! Charly couldn't stay for dinner cos his mom was heading over to his place so he left us with the chicken breast that he made. I made a spinach strawberry salad with goat cheese and a raspberry balsamic vinaigrette. Mmmm.... it was so yummy! Jess had some homemade soup leftover and that is all we had, very yummy and light. It was a nice way to end the evening, just the two of us and we talked a lot about everything. We had lots to catch up as I've missed out so much in the last 10 years!! It was a great swim / workout and I am very excited to continue the swimming with Rhoda and Jess cos it's way better than hitting the gym!!

Congrats!

Jess got engaged this morning!!! Congrats!!! She is no longer a wittle girl anymore...... I've known her since she was 13 or 14 (about Kay's age) and in my mind, she's always my cute little sister.... gosh, I knew it was going to happen and I knew it was going to happen soon! We are so happy for her. Love you Jess!

Homemade Scones!

For brunch....mmmm.....scones.... with cheese.... with jam....