Baking

Recently, I started to bake, nothing too fancy but I had found a very yummy and easy Muffins cookbook on sale and I started to test the recipes coz I love home made muffins. I hadn't mentioned or posted photos coz I didn't want HonHon to get too excited and request that I bake while he is in town visiting!!! But I think I am getting pretty close at perfecting the chocolate chip muffin recipe from the book. This book is awesome, 40 easy and yummy recipes for very tasty muffins, I am excited to try a couple different ones this weekend, one being a "savoury muffin" ... mmmmm... savoury..... will def. post photos if they turn out!

Watermark on Kits

Tonight, Kay and I joined Rhoda and her friends for dinner at the Watermark Restaurant at Kits beach. Nat, Rhoda's niece, is leaving for England and it was one of her last dinners with us. We wanted to wish her a good trip back and we hope to see her again real soon. She is such a darling. I'm so glad I got a chance to meet her as we don't know when she'll be in town next, could be 4 years!

Rhoda came by to pick us up as it was silly to drive 2 seperate cars to Kits as it was HSBC Celebration of Lights tonight and we were sure it was going to be super busy on the roads and probably hard to find parking. Gosh, were we ever right! The roads were super busy plus the construction all over the city and Rhoda obviously does not like being stuck in traffic, she's a funny driver. Lots of ranting and raving to other drivers who piss her off. Hehehe, it's quite amusing actually, I am glad to know that I am not the only one who yells and talks to herself in the car while driving ;) Once we finally got to Kits, we could not enter the street where the parking lot to Kits beach/Watermark parking was, apparently, they had blocked off all the streets heading towards the beach. Crap! We starting driving around all over the neighborhood trying to find a parking spot, after 20 minutes of driving, I suggested we try parking on West 4th since there is meter parking on the street and maybe we'll luck out and find a spot. The parking gods were good to us, we got a spot right by Artbutus and West 4th, only had to pay $2.00 for an hour parking (pay parking until 8.00pm). It was somewhat of a long walk down but it was a nice evening and it was pretty warm. Once we got to the restaurant, we found AW, KH and Nat sitting at a corner table with an incredible view of the beach and waterfront with a nice bottle of ice cold white wine sitting on the table. Those three really know how to enjoy a good bottle of wine. After briefing through the menu, we decided to order appetizers to share and as the three of them ordered main courses, Rhoda and Kay did not (Kay already had dinner at home, Rhoda figured appetizers were enough) and I decided to have a little something, a Seafood Chowder which by the way was delish except Rhoda makes kick @ss chowders! As we were waiting for our appy's, everyone was chatting about what was happening in their lives, catching up with each other and common friends. We also congratulated AW and KH on their engagement, how exciting is that? Those two look adorable together and AW is worried about how to deal with KH moving in once they are married. We also spoke about a "5 year plan" which I hadn't really thought about except for buying a home with HonHon. Our appy's were delish and def. worth every bite, the main courses came and my soup arrived, very yummy but I think Rhoda makes soup way yummier. After dinner, we headed out and Nat was thinking about walking the beach front to catch the fireworks but all of us had to get up early and work the next day so she decided to hook up with another friend instead. Gosh, the walk back up was quite a walk, thank goodness we decided to wear flats! It was really nice night and I am grateful to have such good people surrounding us.

GG

55 MINS

BEST TIME EVER!!

Finally ...

.......there is SUN after almost 2 weeks of rain and autumn like weather. Thank goodness!

Update July 24 2007: Just read this morning that we had SEVEN straight days of RAIN.

Bobbi Brown Make Over

Tonight, Kay and I decided to have dinner at Spices Restaurant (Vietnamese Food) because I didn't want to cook and I had a make up appointment downtown at 7.00pm. Dinner was quick and yummy! After dinner, we headed to Holt Renfrew for my make over at the Bobbi Brown counter. I made an appointment a few weeks ago because I wanted to be sure that I would get the Stone Washed Nudes Palette. I thought the make over session would take about half an hour but it didn't! I was in the chair for almost an hour! Plus Chad, the make up artist, had used a lot of make up on my face, it looked great and I looked flawless but I don't usually wear this much make up and I am only looking for minimal coverage. I ended up purchasing the palette, a gentle skin exfoliating cleanser and a bronzer. After the make over, we walked around Holt Renfrew, it was there Now or Never sale and those cute metallic blue SW peep toe pumps were now only $149!! That is such a great price! But I passed it up as I had just purchased $140 worth of make up! We strolled around the Gucci and Louis Vuitton boutiques and I really really wanted to buy the LV Love silk Bandeau (priced at $130) but Kay thought it was ugly and she wanted me to buy the "That's Love" Bijou cellphone charm (priced at $185). I didn't like th cellphone charm because it was plastic!! I would rather have the bandeau! But I ended up walking out of the Louis Vuitton boutique with NOTHING. Yes, that is right, NOTHING. After HR, we stopped by Aritzia because they were having a bigger sale and Kay wanted to see if they had her TNA crown bag. A few months ago, I wanted to pick up one of their signature bags in the brown/beige colours but didn't want to pay $48 for it. Kay found her bag but it wasn't it the colour she wanted (pink) but she was happy to get one! Hers was a great price! On sale at $23.99 and mine was $30! After shopping, we took the bus home, we were planning on meeting Rhoda and friend at the Richmond night market but on our way home, we decided we did not want to go to the night market in the pouring rain!! Both of us agreed on calling it a night.

GG

56 MINS

BEST TIME EVER! I know I say that every time I get the "best time" ever! The weather was perfect and it was cooler than usual. Love it, let's hope next week I'll shave another 6 minutes! My goal is now to reach 50 minutes coz I don't think I can do it in 40 unless I jog up it!

Walking In The Rain

I am CRAZY! I think I am anyways.... I ended up walking home from work in THREE inch heels in the pouring rain! In non stop drenching (and windy) rain! The weather network / news has forecasted the entire week with rain and well into the weekend. That sucks, I guess we probably not going berry picking this Sunday.

I had decided to catch the number 15 bus instead of the easier route which is taking the train to Main and catching the 10 bus home. I walked to Seymour street, drenched by the rain and noticed that the traffic was terribly congested and buses and cars were bumper to bumper with no or little movement. I decided to take the chance and try to catch the bus on Cambie street so I walked another FOUR blocks in the rain. I waited about 5 minutes for the bus and it came by but passed our stop, not stopping to pick any passengers up, gosh, there was only 3 of us at the stop! I decided to walk home as I wasn't sure if there were any more 15s that made it through the congested traffic on Seymour! By the time I got to the bridge, I noticed another 15 had come by but it was stuck on the heavily congested bridge. The bus and I were at the same spot by the time I reached 12th Avenue which is only about 8 (long) blocks from where I live. I would rather be walking in the rain than being stuck in traffic on a stinky and wet bus! Plus it was BBQ day for the tenants in the office building I work at so I really needed to burn off the hamburger, smokie, double chocolate cookie and chips from lunch! Oh wait, I guess I might have cancelled that out with a medium milk chocolate mocha from Blenz, those are deadly but so very delicious! Best Mochas EVER!

Well at least I know I can walk home from downtown in 3 inch heels probably not wise to do so again!

Simpsons in Couture

(click photo to enlarge)

Simpsons in Couture

GG

60 MINS

Darn I hit the 60 minute mark! It was a cooler day and I wish I had more energy but I was feeling quite tired today and did not sleep well the night before. Oh well, I guess I should think about working towards a more achievable goal like 50 minutes instead of 40!

Internet Services

OMFG, I cannot access Facebook or any of my entertainment gossip blogs!!! What am I going to do now? I guess it means I will really have to find work! There are times like this where I don't have much to do and I enjoy catching up on the celebrity gossip or checking out what my friends are up to on Facebook. I can't even access my blogger account!! I have posted this as 8.00am but really I did not .... what am I going to do? Jeez... I guess I"ll have to find some work to do!

Kwik-E-Mart

Oooooh lookey what we have in Vancouver, our very own Kwik-E-Mart! HonHon must be drooling with excitement seeing this, eh?

Playland & BBQ's

Thank you Jas for the day of fun in the sun! Jas invited us to her work function and it was a BBQ and play day at Playland. Normally, I would not go to Playland with the girls (Kay and friends) but Jas invited us and there was an all you can eat BBQ held by the company. Plus it's a great bonus to get the passes at a discount, a good discount! Although, I did not purchase an all day ride pass for myself as I am not one to ride the coasters and get myself freaked out on any of those crazy rides, Kay and her friend, Sel did have one and gosh, did they enjoy themselves! Those two must have gone on every single coaster and some. Jas and I did a lot of sitting and relaxing in the sun while the girls went off on their own to enjoy the rides. Eventually, Jas did end up on the Hellevator with the girls, I, happily stood on the side to watch them get thrown up in the air. Me, no thank you, terrified of heights and will probably end up having a heart attack once the ride shoots straight up! After a few hours, Jas had to leave for another BBQ and I allowed the girls stay for another hour (I was happily reading my novel and enjoying the sunshine). After Playland, we dropped Sel off at home and Kay and I headed over to Rhoda's place for another BBQ. Wow, 2 BBQs in a row, who's calorie counting? Not I for today. Her burgers were much better than Playland BBQ burgers (theirs were a bit dry and hard) and those homemade chicken wings, mmmm yum yum, I love BBQ! I am thinking about picking up one of these Coleman Portable BBQ for ourselves as we don't have a patio or balcony so it would be nice and easy to take this BBQ anywhere! It's a pretty good size for a small family and I love that it's easy to store and take around (it's has wheels). For only $249.99 that's not a bad price! At the BBQ, we had pretty much eaten most of the burgers, Jess had a couple of friends drop by with more burgers and chicken (which was A LOT, they bought in BULK!) but we couldn't have any more food and the freezer was not big enough to stock up on the rest of the meats, Rhoda ended up giving us some to take home. We couldn't believe it but it started to rain! We all ran inside the house and lucky for us, we had already finished our barbequing. While Rhoda, Jess and mom cleaned up and put away the food, Kay, Cathy and I sat around and talked while we waited. Our plans for the evening? Desserts! We all have sweet tooths and Cathy and Jess wanted to try a new dessert place called Sweet Obsession on West 16th Ave. Gosh, I would have never discovered this place and really happy to add it to my dessert place list. So yummy! I had a piece of the Bitter Sweet Chocolate Butter Cream cake. After dessert, it was getting late and we realized it was almost 11pm! Time to call it a night! Sweet dreams, dreaming of the chocolate cake......

GG

58 MINS

Best Time Ever! Great morning to hike it and it was much cooler than doing it in the afternoon.... maybe I should do it every Saturday at 9.00am!

Played Hooky and Went Sailing!

Today, I played hooky (skipped work) and went sailing with some close friends. I figured I worked hard on this proposal all month and this is an opportunity I could not miss coz I don't know anyone who owns a sailboat (except from my boss but I don't think he would ever invite us onto his sailboat). Although, I am terrified of water (bad experience as a child), this was a chance to be on a beautiful new sailboat and it was hard to pass up esp. since my good friend had asked me if I wanted to go in front of my best friend and my daughter! Those two were so into the idea that they totally ignored the fact that I am terrified of water. But I figured this might be a good time to conquer my fear and have a relaxing day out on the water. My friend, CJ, picked us up early in the morning (7.30am) because we were suppose to meet his friends at the Point Roberts docks at 8.30am. We didn't have a chance to have breakfast coz it was so early and I usually eat breakfast around 8.30 or 9.00am so I was not hungry just yet (our mistake). As we drove into Point Roberts, I was a bit worried that Kay and I didn't have passports and they would not allow us to enter but we went in with no problems. We stopped by the super market to pick up some BBQ items and crab bait. After we picked up our items, we headed to the docks. His friend was running a bit late (almost 20 minutes late!) and Rhoda had just realized that she had left her Canadian passport in the women's washroom! Lucky for her, it was still there, phew that was close! Wished I had thought of having her pick up some snacks, all I had in my bag were four blueberry muffins. We got to their sailboat and I thought at first it looked kind of small and wondered how 6 adults and a child was going to fit on there. But I found out that it was in fact quite a good size boat and it is brand new, they had just purchased this boat in March. As we left the piers, I was getting a little bit nervous and boy was there every right to be! We had picked up some good wind (18 knots) and were sailing to our destination! The boat was tipped over on its side and we were traveling pretty fast! Rhoda and Kay both got a turn to sail the boat, boy did it ever look fun! Although it is a lot of work and can be quite demanding and knowing which way to catch the wind. We managed to sail most of the way to our destination and we did hit a bit of a rough current but our captain did a good job steering us through it. CJ wanted "scenery" which ended up not being too great for crabbing but it was beautiful and quiet. Sailing can be a bit boring though if you are waiting or if you are just sitting on the water. But we saw some beautiful scenery and we manage to find a capsized boat, apparently there was a story about in the local news and it's been there for a while. I got a couple shots of the boat and boy is it HUGE. We were floating around the area as we had thrown crab nets in the water and we had to wait at least 45 minutes before taking them out of the water to check for crabs.

We didn't get to eat until almost 3 pm and gosh were the girls ever slightly b*tchy. It seemed that the boys did have a bit of breakfast before getting onto the boat so they were holding out fine. CJ insisted on catching enough crab for everyone before starting the BBQ and we girls didn't understand why he could not start the other BBQ items that we had picked up in the store! We also had to wait for the water to boil on top of the BBQ which took a long time because the owner of the boat did not have the boat's stove hooked up! Gosh, it was quite an experience! I had never had to wait so long to eat and boy my tummy was not handling it too well. Once the water started to boil, the guys dropped them in and it was basically "cleaning" the crabs for frying (apparently, we just could not boil them and eat them, he had to fry them in the wok with oil and seasonings), CJ accidentally used dish washing liquid instead of cooking oil to fry up the first batch of crabs which were most of them!!! This meant we now had to wait even longer to eat!!! Can you feel our hunger pains?!?!

Now, Rhoda and Kay were not too pleased to find out that the crabs were ruined and CJ quickly fried the two remaining crabs and he also brought some shrimps to fry up for us. (Frozen prawns) When you are starving, any food is good food. Although I will say it wasn't too bad but Chinese cooks do seafood much differently than North Americans. After the prawns and the crab, I insisted he grilled the chicken breast that we picked up in the store as the prawns/crab were def. not enough for me. Kay and Rhoda had a bit and the rest of the chicken was distributed to the rest of the guys. We decided to call it a day, no more crabbing and we all were quite tired and it was getting a little bit chilly. We were a little disappointed that we did not get much sun although it seemed to have come out once we docked. Rhoda and Kay were hoping to get a tan and CJ's friend, C was hoping to jump into the water for a swim. Overall, it was quite an experience and def. conquered a bit of my fear for water. I think the next step is to get myself onto a yacht. I wonder if HonHon would buy us a yacht??? Those are beautiful and I would def. not mind being on the water if we had one of those.

Once we got home, I was ready to go to bed as the next day, I was off to work. We all def. felt pretty relaxed and enjoyed the day!

GG

1 HR 2 MINS

Wow, what a hike! It was incredibly hot, dry and stuffy on the Grind!! I drank a ton of water (like over 60 oz of water throughout the day) and that most def. helped me stay hydrate but boy did I ever sweat a ton! I am thinking I should start carrying and drinking Gatorade or the other power aid drink while hiking the GG so that all the nutrients that I lose while sweating will be added back into my body.

OT on Sunday

Overtime on a Sunday? Oh yes, I am doing overtime on the weekend for the same proposal that I worked on a month ago! The client is also taking FULL ADVANTAGE of some minor mistakes we had in the original proposal. Making up ridiculous items for us to do with the structure of the proposal documents. Well at least, I'll be getting a little bit more $$ on my next paycheque, that will help pay off some of my shopping debts!

Shel and Kitty - Wedding and Banquet

What a beautiful day with such beautiful people! Weddings are so romantic, happy, full of love and it is so wonderful to be a part of such a beautiful celebration of loooooove :) It was a beautiful day with the sun shining it's approval on to the lovely couple!

The day started off with the wedding ceremony which I usually do not attend but I felt that Kay and I should be there for Shel and Kitty. Gosh, the wedding ceremony was long, I didn't realize that Kitty was Catholic and although we are very respectful to the religion, Kay and I did not go on our knees to pray nor did we go up for blessings. Apparently, we were lucky and it was a short wedding ceremony although I think an hour and half is quite a long time. It can get longer! Kay and I were a bit confused and we sat on the wrong side, we should have been sitting on Shel's side of the church but Kay and I ended up on Kitty's side! By the end of the ceremony, we were getting hungry and we both had to go to the washroom but did not dare go to the washroom at the church, fear of being flushed to hell! I am an atheist or a nonthesim and had denounced my religion, Anglican, many years ago which really pissed off my mother! But to be in all fairness, I do believe it is one's right to choose their religious beliefs and not be forced upon them. My mother baptized my brother and I when we were babies and we did not get a chance to explore our own religious beliefs. That's just my thoughts. I do believe there is something out there and I do believe in spirituality. Blogging off topic, back to wedding details! After the ceremony, Kay and I headed home for a bit of a break and for some food. We headed over to Oakridge to pick up a wedding card (yes me bad) and did a bit of shopping (lots of great summer stuff on sale! love sidewalk sales!). After Oakridge, we headed home to get ready for the reception which was being held at a Chinese restaurant in Richmond.

The wedding banquet was so much fun! There was so much food and lots of great speeches. We were surprised to sit so close to the wedding table (we were the second table from the front, sitting amongst family and family friends!) We had an awesome view of everything that was happening and we sat with some really cool family friends and the wedding photographers. We learned a lot about photography and boy are those professional cameras HEAVY! Weighing a ton but the shots, amazing, Kay and I got a sneak peek at some of the wedding photos taken that day! Can't wait to see the wedding album, they must have taken over 10,000 shots! Lucky Kay won the table centre pieces and each table had a couple of bottles of their own "branded" wine. By the end of the dinner, there was a really cool surprise, a dessert buffet with the most amazing desserts. Gosh, we were so stuffed but we could not help but try a piece of everything, my fave. is the chocolate cake, yum yum. After a long day and night, we called it a night, there was dancing and a live band playing but Kay and I were pooped, it was 11 o'clock and we really don't know how to ballroom dance :) It was a great night and we feel so lucky to have been part of such a beautiful thing. Thank you Shel and Kitty for letting us share this day with them!

GG

1 HR 2 MIN

Today I drank a TON of water (on the advice of a soccer coach) hoping it would hydrate my body so that I would not pass out or feel as tired as I did on Tuesday. It somewhat helped, didn't beat my time nor did I manage to do it in exactly an hour but maybe next week! Currently the fastest woman on the GG is 37 minutes!! This person probably runs up it! How am I going to do it in 40 minutes??!!?? More training! :)

GG

1 HR 3 MINS

With only 3 hours sleep the night before, a very busy stressful day at work and the weather was incredibly hot and sunny, I manage to do it in 1 hour which is pretty good except that I was able to do it in under an hour last week! My breathing never steadied and I was growing tired very quickly. It wasn't only me, the others also had problems coming up. I guess I should still be proud.

Happy Canada Day!

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

Wow, 3 day weekends go by super fast! I can't even remember what I did over the weekend!

Saturday - On this day, I ran errands with my mom as usual. I hadn't seen her in a couple of weeks so I thought I better go over there and see how she was doing. Mom and I did our usual, grocery shopping at Superstore and chinese markets. Our first stop was Creo Bellus, we had to pick up jewellery from Tai and as mom finished up with Tai, I browsed through the consignment items at Madison and found a Talula Babaton light grey suit (similar to the one I picked up the day before) for $69.99! It is in practically brand new condition and I could not believe the price. I tried on the suit and it fits me beautifully, the same size as the suit I purchased yesterday! I can't return the other suit because it's on sale and Aritzia does not accept returns on sale items. But I really can't go wrong with a light grey suit and a black pinstripe suit so I guess it's ok. After Madison / Creo Bellus, we headed over to Superstore to pick up some grocery items and then headed back to mom's to drop off our items. Auntie Ingrid wanted to shop with us a the chinese market so we took her with us to the chinese market on Victoria street. We bought a few more items and headed home to pick up grandma for dinner. We went over to Koon Bo on Fraser street for dinner. It was getting pretty late and they were hoping we could get a table at this hour (7.30pm ish) without reservations. Apparently this place is very busy with long lineups, I do not know why as to me Chinese food is pretty much the same, lots of grease and msg! Lucky for us, we got a table within 10 minutes, if we were to arrive 5 or 10 minutes later, we would have either had to wait 30 - 40 minutes or leave and pick another restaurant. Mom ordered her fave. dishes and yes, I must say that the chicken dish was particularly yummy for chinese food.

Sunday - Kay and I met up with Jasmine in downtown, Vancouver to check out the Canada Day festivities and do a little bit of shopping! Jas picked up a cute summer top at Bedo and I found nothing. Yes nothing at Bedo but I did find something at Club Monaco and put the pants on hold for Monday or Tuesday, I need to try them on with heels. Since Kay hadn't been to the newly renovated Holt Renfrew, we decided to stop in and check out the summer sale. HR usually holds their famous spring/summer sale about this time and I found a really cute pair of Stuart Wieztman's shiny patent dark blue sling back peep toe pumps on sale from $319 to $239. Fit perfectly and were gorgeous but realized that is still too much for a pair of summer shoes. I love Stuart, his designs are somewhat affordable and built - designed to last forever. We decided to get out of the mall and enjoy the warm weather so we headed over to Canada Place to check out the Canada Day activities. It was so over crowded that we didn't end up moving any where near the festivities that we decided to head over to Robson instead. Of course, we stopped by a hot dog stand on Robson / Georgia to pick up an all beef dog, yummy! After walking a bit, we decided to go for a long walk and ended up walking all the way to the Cupcake store on Denman because Jas was craving cupcakes. We picked up a half dozen 1 day old cupcakes at a discount price, oh gosh, I know I am going to regret those cupcakes! So sugary and yummy, so many calories to burn! After our long walk on Robson and Denman, we decided to call it a day and we all took the transit home. (We never drive downtown unless absolutely necessary!) Once we arrived home, our neighbors, Rita & Megan, came knocking on our door with homemade cupcakes! OMG, we now have a dozen cupcakes!!! But I'm not going to complain, I love Rita's baking! Her baked items are the BEST!! Since we had a couple of cupcakes, dinner was out of the question and we decided to burn off some of the sugar / butter by walking to Rogers Video on Oak and 15th. Kay was in a great mood and decided to treat me (she has a gift card) with a couple of rental movie, Music & Lyrics starring Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant and Marie Antoinette starring Kirsten Dunst. We watched Music & Lyrics first and it was so sweet, romantic and funny. I love Drew Barrymore. That was the end of our night. Oh yes, I took some photos of the construction in front of my apartment.

Canada Day - Chilling and relaxing in the afternoon at home. Days like today, I wish we had a patio or balcony so we could have a BBQ as it was perfect weather! Instead I headed over to my mom's house for dinner because I had to bring back her boots. Earlier in the day, I had dropped off some items to Madison on Main for consignment and mom has a couple of pairs of boots (practically new) to consign. Jenny at Madisons is not consigning fall items at the moment but told me to let mom know she can bring them back at the end of July or beginning of August. Since I had to return those items back to my mom, I decided to stay for dinner since I was too lazy and tired to cook. After dinner, we headed back home to try to get to bed early although I am sure I won't manage to because of that neverENDing proposal that I am constantly working on. So stressed out about this proposal.

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