This is the Vancouver I love

Day 321

Today was a gorgeous day! 10 degrees in the afternoon and sunny! I really hope spring is near... especially after the three consecutive wet snow says we had last weekend!

It's a PBnB kinda morning

Day 320

Chaos, forever homeless

Day 319

Occasionally, I find chaos sleeping under their wheel. Today, I found her sleeping under the water bottle. Go home, kaykay, you're drunk!

First world problem

Day 318

So on Sunday, I brought my coffee mug (with coffee!!) to my brothers house since the gold medal game was so early. Well I accidentally left it there... and my brother is away this week.... So I am borrowing Bobby`s mug.

You think I would be grateful but because us first wordlings can always find something to complain about... I am annoyed that Bobby`s mug permanently smells and tastes like espresso. It's ruining my tea!! Bobby only drinks cold coffee so he ends up leaving his coffee in the mug for hours at a time... which is why it perpetually tastes like coffee. Ugh

Pasta gratin...

Day 317

...Which is just a fancier term for "baked macaroni" ;)

This used to be one of my favourite dishes my mom used to make when I was a kid. I tweaked the recipe a little bit (instead of using tomato paste, I used pasta sauce - Classico's Four Cheese to be exact - because tomato paste is quite sour).... I hope it tastes good because I am hungry!!!

Update: its so yummy!!!

Reminiscing about the gold medal game in 2010...

Day 316 (part 2)

This year, because the game started SO early, we decided not to go to a bar because while the bars either remained open from the night before, or decided to open really early, they were not serving alcohol thanks to BC's super strict liquor laws. We were going to stay home and watch it, but then decided to go to my brother's because its so much more fun to watch hockey with others!

Last winter Olympics, my cousin, a friend of mine and his friends hit up Yaletown Brewpub. My friend had gotten in line at 7am or so for their 9 or 10am opening. Thank you, Samer, for holding a spot in line for us. Needless to say, we had amazing seats!!

That gold medal game was a lot more intense (it went into OT after the Americans scored to tie the game late in the third). However, good ol' Sid scored into OT!!

Here is our receipt from that day:

47 lagers! Woo hoo!!

Go Canada go!!!

Day 316

And so it's the end of another Olympics. To be honest, I wasn't into this year's Olympics. Maybe it's cause the last winter Olympics were in Vancouver... Maybe it's because it was in Russia and it wasn't right to support a country who refused their own citizens basic human rights? But at the end of the day, all the athletes deserve our support for their lifetime of hardcore training for a chance to perform in their sport. Plus, let's face it, Canada won a bunch of medals to start and it was very hard to not get into it!!

The gold medal game was due to start at 4am. Last night around ten pm, we bought some beer (Molson Canadian) and then some some Timbits for our Canadian themed hockey party at my brothers. I hit the hay around 11 pm and my alarm was set for 3 am. We left our place around 3:50 and walked to my brothers carrying all of stuff in the (wet) snow.

Team Canada did not disappoint us! They won 3-0. The Olympics are a little hard to watch when it comes to hockey. Of course I am cheering for Canada 100% but since there are so many Canucks playing for other countries, you feel a little bad when they lose... in saying that, sorry Daniel Sedin and Alex Edler ;)

Early morning (or is it super late evening?) brew

Eenie meenie miney mo...

Day 315

The vault of gear from Olympics past has opened... the question remains: what should I wear for tomorrow's big game?

I actually got another red Canada shirt from this year's Olympic collection but I thought it would be fun to bring out the gear from Vancouver/Whistler 2010 :)

Left to right: "I heart hockey" shirt from Lululemon, "Canada" shirt from The Bay, "Canuck" shirt from The Bay.

Kiwi doesn't like to be exposed...

Day 314 (part 2)

...So I hid her under a tissue... she felt safe after ;)

Olympics recap part two

Day 314

Today is my day off... I woke up to the news that Men's Curling won gold (wooohooo!) AND Canada won gold AND silver and women's ski cross!! Yay!! Go Canada go!!!

I watched the men's semi finals.. Canada vs. USA... Such a nail biting game! In the end, the better country won! Looks like I'll be up and at them very early on Sunday morning ;)

Going to venture out of the apartment now... Blog picture and post to come later!

Canadian women are amazing!!!!

Day 313 (part 2)

Today, Canada won TWO more gold medals: Women's Curling and Women's Ice Hockey! I didn't watch curling but I did catch the last 5 minutes of the hockey game... and HOLY HEART ATTACK INDUCING! Canada was actually losing 2-0 until about 4 minutes left, they scored... 2-1 with less than 4 minutes to go... Another goal to tie the game with less than a minute left in regulation.. And then they scored again in OT... So much excitement all around!

Way to go Team Canada! Sooo proud of all the Canadians participating in the Olympics and sooooo proud to be Canadian

Thursday Chai

Day 313

So last night after fat burger, we went for coffee (and by we, I meant the guys because I was so full I was going to throw up). I don't know what they got (we ended up at Starbucks because the caffe artigiano closed at 7 ~ soooo lame!!) But it was this chocolate chai coffee and it was so yummy.

I felt nostalgic because before I started drinking coffee (and by coffee I mean sugary lattes) I would only get a chai latte from Starbucks. So I got one today! It's way too sweet though.. Holy diabetes, Starbucks!

Fun fact:

I had my first chai latte at my cousin's (technically, my second cousin's) house in Honolulu. For her older son's 4th (or was it 5th?) birthday, my other cousin and I helped entertain/watch the kids and we were so wiped out at the end of the night that we ended up sleeping over. The next morning, my cousin made us Chai tea lattes and it was love at first sip for me ;)

Ready to burst

Day 312 (part 2)

I had a group on for fat burger (4 cheese burgers and fries)... problem is, there were only three of us (me, Bobby and his bro). Luckily the guys were hungry so they split the fourth burger... now we are so full though!!

Still comfy after the first few bites

Zoom zoom zoom

Day 312

Laundry time!

Day 311

Yesterday, I got home from our Whistler weekend around 5:15pm (after 8.5 hours at work). I ate dinner (left over pulled pork) and pretty much just relaxed for the rest of the night... then I passed out early (around 9:30am) because I was sooo tired from my long day.

Today, it was finally time to catch up on laundry... about 6 loads because I am a separatist when it comes to laundry... no socks shall be washed with my clothes... bobby's clothes are washed on their own.. etc. I've completed one load already (washed and put away), the second load is in the dryer and a third load is being washed right now. Fun times on Tuesday night!!

Laundry yet to be washed

And of course, because every day is waking up and playing with hedgehogs day:

My two little babies eating treats!

Kiwi and the striped socks

Day 310 (part two)

Missed this little hedgie and her mama! Since I went from whistler to work, I was really looking forward to seeing these two cuties

Whistler at 6:30 am...

Day 310

Is just you, the guy shoveling the snow into giant piles and some hardcore out of town skiers.

PS: Fun fact I learned staying in the village: these little bulldozers start shoveling away around 3 or 4am. Good times for all

Worst day in Whistler... ever!!!

Day 30 (a day late)

This blog is being written and posted late... because I have just gotten home from my whirlwind weekend.

Last Friday, Bobby and I both had the day off so I booked a viewing of a potential wedding venue. We checked it out at 10am (we wanted to see what the place looked like in the daytime for wedding photo potentials). We were at the venue for about 30 minutes.. then we went home to load the car up for our Whistler weekend.

Fast forward to the weekend. 32cm of new snow on Whistler overnight between Saturday night and Sunday morning... which meant that EVERYONE and their entire families headed up the mountain for powder and sunshine. It was INSANE. We had to check out of our hotel before 11am so we checked out before Bobby hit the slopes (I was in so much pain from snowboard camp I skipped Day 2) and the lift lines around 10am was already over an hour long. Anyway, Bobby met up with me around 4pm... and at that point it started to snow... HARD. We hurried back to the car to join the traffic line up to get out of Whistler... We were parked in the day lots at Whistler Village and it seriously took about an hour just to get back on to the Sea to Sky Highway (normally, this drive would be about 5 minutes with no traffic). Ughhh... All of the cars then all started to drive south back towards the city... it was snowing SOOO HARD so we were going really slow (except for the few assholes who thought it was still perfectly safe to drive really fast). It took us over 3 hours to get from Whistler Village to a point halfway between Whistler and Squamish (this drive would normally be about 30-45 minutes). When we got to the halfway point, traffic was at a standstill. No one was moving at all. We were listening to the news on the radio and there was a 6 car pileup ahead of us therefore preventing all of us from going home. My initial plan before hearing this was to drive to Squamish and spend the night. The Garibaldi Highlands area was expecting 5-10 cm that evening and an additional 5 cm overnight. It was not safe to drive that night, even if you had snow or chained tires. However, after one hour of sitting in the car, we decided to just head back to Whistler. There was no point in waiting for the traffic to be cleared because the weather was still really crappy. So we drove back north on the Sea to Sky. It took about an hour to get to Whistler. On the way back, I booked us a hotel online.. we pulled up into the hotel... and apparently we were incorrectly booked because they were sold out for the night.. As were the next 8 hotels we called for a room.... UGHHHH super stressed now. We finally got a room at the Sundial for the price of 840$. We had the sweetest room in the hotel but I was so annoyed about being forced to spend the night that I did not care. We got to the hotel around 9:30. We had dinner around 10pm.. then we were back in the hotel around 11. Bobby enjoyed the hot tub we had on our roof top patio but I was too busy sulking about the day's events indoors by one of our two fireplaces.

I woke up at 5:30 am this morning.. checked the road conditions online... woke Bobby up around 6am, headed to the Starbucks at the Village as soon as it opened (6:30am), got us some caffeine while Bobby checked out and loaded our car, then we left Whistler around 7am. I had to work today and I felt bad calling in sick because there were so many people booked off today. At the end of the day, I could have called in sick due to the circumstance, but either way, I just wanted to get the hell out of Whistler because it was STILL snowing there as we were leaving and I refused to have to be forced to stay another night!

We made good time on the drive back. There were only a few cars on the road, minimal traffic on the Lion's Gate Bridge and downtown and Bobby dropped me off at work. I got to work at 8:50am (only 20 minutes late). I have never been so happy to get to work ;)

I knew the day would be bad when someone at the Starbucks spelled my name Jenng on Sunday morning. REALLY, Jenny with a G at the end??

Snow, snow, everywhere!!

Bobby and the outdoor hot tub

Much deserved nachos post snowboard camp

Day 308

I survived snowboard camp today. I am soooo bruised up. But I am seeing obvious signs of progress!! I am taking the Arcteryx 2 day all women snowboard camp and basically they have a few instructors to divide the women into groups according to skill level. Well I have no skills so it was Jenn party of one with my super awesome instructor. Yay private lessons! I also got a free shirt and free snacks post day 1. The nachos were very much deserved ;)

Now we are back in our hotel chilling anf watching Just Go With It (I've seen this movie sooo many times. It is funny !! My favorite line is when Adam tells Kikidee /Maggie to say that she loves him and she yells "daddy my favourite adult!!!! ")

Whistler

Day 307

In Whistler for the weekend... sooo nervous about snowboard I can cry :(
I guess I have no choice but to put my best foot forward. Wish me luck!!!

PS: Happy love day!!

2 year anniversary!!

Day 306

With little miss chaos!!! Bobby bought her on Craiglist exactly two years ago. Thanks for two years of crazy Cakey-Cakes!! And for three adorable babies (Bowser, Kiwi!! And Purdy)

Valentine's Day Present!!

Day 305 (Part two)

I gave Bobby his Valentine's Day present... because I finished working on it and I could no longer keep the secret and I wanted him to see what I made for him.

In case you had forgotten, I told Bobby we could only spend 20$ on each other for Valentine's Day this year. (You can read about the "20$ challenge here).

Anyway, so this blog is going to be kind of long... so read on if interested:

The first step to this project was brainstorming on what to make. I turned to pinterest for help. After scouring many pinterest pages, I finally got the idea to make a book of our "abcs". (Eg: Normal abc books would go something like, a is for apple... but I could tailor the alphabet to be more Bobby and me related).

The second step was to make the book. I have a TON of this coloured card stock paper I stocked up on back in Christmas when I was slightly obsessed with making my own holiday cards. And because I already owned all of this stuff, it was "free"/not going against my 20$ budget ;)

I picked the colours I wanted and cut them down to size (I basically split the 8x11.5 inch paper in half width wise)

 The first thing I bought for this project was the alphabet stickers (4.99$ minus 40% off at Michaels)

I went with this pack because the font was colourful and fun.

I wasn't sure how to put the book together... So I took the easy way out: hole punched paper held together with these rings (not sure what they are called). I have a bunch of these left over from school (yay more free things for my project!)

So I put the book together...

Ta da!!

 Putting the book together was the easy part....

Here is my cover

Coming up with something for each letter was kind of challenging... However, the hardest part was obviously making each page. Some of the pages features some original art work from yours truly...

A is for americano with ice cubes (because that is how Bobby likes his coffee)

However, because I am not that great of a drawer, I spent about 7$ getting photos printed at London Drugs.

D is for do it yourself projects! (Bobby has lots of these)

And because I don't have photos of everything I wanted in the book, I looked to the internet and printed a few pictures too :)

G is for google (because Bobby doesn't like Apple)

I also have a bunch of stickers from scrapbooking, etc, which I was able to use for some pages (yay more free project stuff!)

N is for New York City

I actually gave this book to Bobby over the weekend. I was so excited and I wanted him to see all of the hard work I spent on it ;)

And of course, the card, the best part of any present!!! The paper is from the card stock pile mentioned above. I got this cuuuuuute hedgehog sun catcher thing from Michaels for 1.50$. The 'You are the best" cut out is part of a "thank you" package thing I bought at Michael's for 7.99$ minus 40%. I bought a million thank you cut outs because I wanted to make our realtor a thank you card.. and also because I will need to make a million thank you cards after our wedding.

Hello Bobby... You are the best!

So in the end, I spent pretty close to 20$, but only because I included the you are the best cut out. (I spent about 5.50$ for 36 cut outs.. so technically this one cut out only cost 15 cents.. therefore I only spent about 15$ ;))

Anyway, a very happy Valentine's Day to my valentine :)

Just hanging out

Day 305

Another steal at Michael's

Day 304

I've been in the market for three white frames for my new place. I've looked online and at Target and frames are so expensive!! Well today Michael's had a three for one sale (buy three frames for the price of one). I was seriously soooo excited about this find. I think I actually made a little victory squeak at the store. I got these three 8x10 with matting frames for 40$ (including tax). Woooo!!

Anyway, so its Tuesday night. Bobby's at school... and I am catching up on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. I'm on Team Vanderfabulous if you are asking ;)

Hedgie bath time

Day 303 (part two)

The hedgies got a bath today. Here's Kiwi not enjoying bath time

Breaking out the board

Day 303

Bought a stomp pad for my snowboard. Heading to whistler this weekend for snowboard camp.... going to give snowboarding another try. Already getting nervous about it :/

Free tablet.... or not

Day 302

So Bobby has his old tablet that he doesn't use anymore. He had put it away since he hasn't used it since last summer.... so I asked if him if I could use it. So he pulls it out of hiding and charges it and cleans it up for me...

But now he can't stop playing games on it. This reminds me of when parents want to donate toys their kids no longer play with... but the minute the kids hear about this those toys become their most favoritest toys ever and they start to play with those toys again :/

New jeans

Day 301 (a day late!)

Bobby needed new jeans so we hit the men's floor The Bay in downtown.

The Sam Edelman Collection

Day 300

Firstly, wow, Day 300 already!?

Anyway, late last month, I bought some shoes for my wedding. We don't have a venue, therefore we don't know what day we are getting married, I don't have a dress... but its okay, because I know what shoes I will be wearing.

I am obsessed with Sam Edelman shoes... And although they aren't high end like Loubs, they don't come cheap either (especially not in Canada, where everything is always at least 30% more expensive than in the US). If you have been following this blog, you should know by now that I refuse to pay full price for things I know I can get cheaper elsewhere. Enter Amazon.com (yes, dot.com because dot.ca sells nothing but crap I don't need).

I bought the Sam Edelman Sophie wedge in White and Neutral.

I LOVE the buckle and I love that the heel/wedge is not so high because let's face it, I want to be comfy at my wedding. I don't want to be miserable!!

Anyway, so I am off today and I am sort of packing (we finally found a place and we are moving next month!). Sooo.. I decided to take a pic of the current Sam Edelman collection before I put them away because I likely won't be wearing any of these before my move.

Back Row L-R: Mallory Wedge, Sophie Wedge, Evan Pump
Front Row: Gigi thong sandals, Felicia Ballet Flats (destroyed/discoloured due to Vancouver rain) and flats (I don't remember which ones these are)

I'd like to point that the Mallory Wedge I got on clearance at the Aldo Sale Shop on Granville (they sell clearance items there all the time. If you look hard enough, you can get awesome deals on Hunter Boots... or Ugg Boots, etc). I bought the Sophie Wedge, Evan Pump and Felicia Ballet flats on Amazon.com (all were at least 60% off what I would have paid in Canada - eg: the flats were 40$ online, 130$ in store here, and the Evan Pump I got for 80$ online and they were 200$ in store!!). The black flats I bought on clearance when Sterling closed all of its downtown, Vancouver shops. The Gigi Flats I bought at the Bay downtown when they were having their friends and family sale... So yes.. I bought all of these on discount ;)

All boxed up and ready for the move

Last month of her first year

Day 299

Kiwi is 23 months old today!! 23 months ago, she came into our lives, one bite at a time

Brrrrr (part 2)

Day 298

It is minus 5 right now.... and it was minus 4 when I left for work around 8am this morning. I am sooo glad I bought these ear muffs!! I mainly bought them for New York, but I also have gotten some use out of them in Van City too thanks to some unusual freezing cold weather.

For brr part one, click here: 

Side note: I also wore these pink gloves in New York and while ice skating, James, the photographer from Paparazzi Proposals used them to help spot us in the sea of people because they are bright :)

Cold snap

Day 297

Okay so it is officially freezing cold in Vancouver again for the next few days. Yesterday's post can be disregarded!  Ahhh!!

Spring is near

Day 296

Just about to leave work and I love how it is no longer pitch black at 5pm. Hello sunshiney downtown

Chaos the garburator

Day 295 (part two,  a day late)

Last night, we had left over Filipino food for dinner (while watching Captain Phillips, which by the way is an AWESOME movie!!!!). We don't currently have a dining table so we eat on the coffee table. Kiwi and Chaos were also on the coffee table because their cage was being cleaned. Anyway,  of course teeny tiny Chaos came out sniffing because she's ALWAYS hungry. She's half the size of Kiwi but she seriously must eat twicr as much. I don't know how she stays so thin. She really needs to share her secret with me ;)

More Kate Spade haulage...

Day 295

We went to Coquitlam today to meet my parents + my brother and his girlfriend for lunch. We went to Kulinarya (a Filipino restaurant) for some grub. We went to my parents house after to pick up the presents they got us from LA. My mom got me a Kate Spade wallet which I love. I don't think she is even aware of my current Kate Spade obsession - she just must be a woman of great taste ;)

Anyway so the wallet is black pleather and very simple. I likey :)

For the other Kate Spade haul, click here

Saturday afternoon treat

Day 294

Its that time of the month so I needed something sweet. These are so yummy!