Vacation over

Unfortunately, it is back to work tomorrow. Ughhh... It's hard enough having to get back to work mode after a regular weekend.. so it's especially hard to get back at it after a four day weekend...

Anyway, so last night we had my parents' joint birthday party. It has been soooo cold in Vancouver over the past few days (cold in Vancouver is -6 degrees) and it actually snowed (a whole centimetre!!) and it was icy everywhere... I hope it warms up soon!

Today, we had plans to meet a few friends at Craft Beer Market for a late lunch.

They didn't have the Stiegl Radler Zitrone :( I had to settle for a fruli.

After Craft, (and a quick pit stop at Legacy), we hit up Home Depot so Bobby could pick up a new table saw he needs for the project he is currently working on. Be sure to follow Bobby to get project updates!

Bobby's black Friday haul.

After Home Depot, we went home. Bobby went to our storage locker to get the rest of the Christmas decorations. I found Kiwi's mini stocking (Chaos has one also, and I plan to put both up!). I put a treat in it and Kiwi refused to get it.. she was kind of scared of the stocking! Maybe it smelled weird.. I dunno. I've been congested since Wednesday night - nothing beats being sick on your vacation by the way.

       

She finally got her treat after a while. Here's Kiwi looking weird while eating her treat!

I can't believe tomorrow is December already!! I have so many review blogs to post (Mac Matchmaster foundation and Mineralize lipglass... and of curse, the Longchamp Le Pliage bag) as well as a Black Friday haul post. I plan to get these all done in December before I go on vacation... again!! I'll try to blog everyday in December (blogmas - kind of like Youtubers' vlogmas videos) :)

Vacation Day 2

I hit up Chapters really early today to pick up a Christmas present for my cousin's daughter. Chapters opened at 8am today (for "Black Friday")... I wanted to go as early as possible because I also planned to prep for my performance evaluation at work on Monday today as well.

Anyway... so Chapters is having a 25% off toys deal today, and I picked this up. I've seen this toy a lot during my many trips to Chapters and I just think its really cool. It's fun because it lets the kid be creative (you can build your house any way you like), and its also educational - lots of engineering involved!! Electrical engineering since this actually lights up (the kids have to set the lights up!), mechanical engineering since there are "mobile parts" (windmills, etc) and civil engineering (since you have to create the house so that it is structurally sound). All in all, super cool toy, and at 25% off, what a deal :) I seriously can't wait to have my own kids so I can buy super cool toys AND be able to play with them ;)

Finally, we have a present to go under the tree!!

Side note: since we are going away, we are celebrating Christmas in Vancouver early this December (that is why I am buying and wrapping presents early ;) )

Vacation Day 1

We are officially on vacation staycation! 

The day started early today cause Bobby has to get some work done before we enjoy the day - note, nothing work related on my laptop, just a little RHOBH ;)

Hello hedgehog mug!

Technically, our 4 day weekend started last night! Bobby took me out to dinner to the Keg. Mmmm... steak!!! (Side note: I always get a Kiwi-tini when I go to the Keg... yesterday, Kiwi bit me for no reason. She must be catching on to my antics ;) )

Then, we went to the Mall to order a cake for my parents' joint birthday dinner this Saturday. Bobby wanted to see Santa, but when I informed him that you actually had to pay to see Santa. Bobby was unimpressed since Santa is "supposed to be generous" (that's a direct quote, friends!)... so I took a picture of him with Santa from afar ;)

Anyway... today, after Bobby gets his work done, we were just planning on chilling out. Going to hit up Metrotrown to try to get in on some Black Friday deals... Also going to go watch Horrible Bosses 2 (the first one was sooooo funny) and maybe go for some sushi.

Hope everyone has a great day!! :)

Heated floor is back

Ever since Little Miss Kiwi no longer had to share a wheel with another hedgehog, she's slimmed down A LOT. I guess I never realized how much Chaos hogged the wheel - no wonder Chaos was so much skinnier! Anyway, Kiwi has officially lost all her baby fat (it only took her two years haha). I actually miss her being a fatty.. but the bigger issue is that when the temperature drops, Kiwi starts to freeze her little butt off. 

So.. Bobby re-installed her heater under her hut. Bobby installed this heater last year for Chaos but we had some issues. This year, things seem to be working out fine - still monitoring Kiwi like a hawk, but she seems okay.

I check in on Kiwi every morning to make sure she is okay - one time, I found her cold because she slept under her wheel (seriously, Kiwi?!?!?), but for the most part, she's been sleeping in her hut and keeping warm at night. This morning, she was actually out and about around 6:45am.

Hi Kiskis!!

One last random note: We have a weather sensor thing in our house which tells you the temperature inside the apartment and outside. There's a little sensor thing you are supposed to put outside. This thing was really useful because Bobby put it right next to the door so you could check to see how cold it was/will be, if it will rain, etc. Long story short, Bobby decided to put the sensor in Kiwi's cage so we could monitor her temperature (you can see the little sensor thing in front of Kiwi in the picture above). The funniest part of all is when it says there is a "13% chance of rain". Bad, Kiwi! You go relieve yourself elsewhere!! But to be honest, Kiwi actually has ignored the sensor and hasn't messed it up in any way, shape or form :)

Broken Glass

For dinner tonight, I made fish. I used an "anchor" glass bakeware dish I bought from Canadian Tire. Anyway, so after cooking three fish filets for 30 minutes at 300 degrees F, I put the dish in the sink to soak (this glass is a pain in the ass to clean)... And BAM... The glass cracked and exploded. I was wearing oven mitts since I just pulled the dish out of the oven so thankfully my hands didn't get lacerated. Bobby was standing in front of me on the other side of the counter and luckily (very luckily!!!) neither one of us got  a shard of glass in the eye or something. Seriously for the first few nanoseconds after this happened bobby and I just stared at each other in shock. Then I was  too terrified to move cause I thought for sure I got speared with shards of glass everywhere. Thankfully, most of the glass ended up in the sink. Some on the floor and counter. But none on us. 

Note to self: invest in more Le Creuset cookware pieces !!

Bobby's Nutella

For Bobby's birthday this past summer, I got him this giant tub of nutella.

Well, it took him just over 4 months to go through the entire tub. We had a crepe party with some friends so Bobby didn't eat the entire tub himself.. but I am pretty sure he ate 90% of the nutella in this 3kg tub ;)

For more about Bobby's birthday festivities, click here.

Christmas

I went to Michaels earlier this week to check out their Christmas stuff and I found this:

It's a mini felt wreath... so I bought it for Kiwi's door ;) 

Here's Kiwi running home... and then missing her door.. I mean seriously, she's not the smartest hedgie ever but she sure is cute!

In other decorating news, we got out tree a week or so ago! We got this 6 1/2 foot pre lit tree for 35$ at Target. I don't want a real tree because they are so messy, and they require so much work, and what the heck do you do with them after Christmas?!

No presents yet... just a bunch of boardgames

Starbucks ornament from years ago.. Bobby also got this crazy handyman ornament.

                   

 
            Even though we have a much larger apartment now... and we can get a full sized tree... The Charlie Brown tree lives on!

This year, it is chilling out on our dining table

MAC Haulage

I hit up the MAC at The Bay in downtown on my lunch break today to stock up on some make up. I've been really good, and aside from some much needed lip balm, and mascara, I have not bought any make up in at least half a year. Sooo, when The Bay sent me my VIP Rewards coupon for 20$ off 100$ worth of cosmetics, I said, yes please!

The thing I needed the most was foundation. I bought the Studio Sculpt foundation last time, but this time, the sales lady recommended the Matchmaster foundation. Apparently, it's better blending colour wise, and the whole "matchmaster" effect is that it "perfectly matches your skin colour - even in the summer when you are more tanned". Now, I am a woman of science, but this is not one science I am going to attempt to understand or explain.

I got it in shade 1.5

The thing I was really interested in buying was an Heirloom Collection Smoky Eye palette. I love the case - I'm not usually a sucker for opulence... but I like this. Now, this eye shadow set is 47.50$ which is a little pricey for my taste, so I might take it back and exchange it for something else.. .

And lastly, I got lip gloss.. because really, when can you have enough? I've been eyeing theMineralize Glass lipgloss. I tried it over the summer and loved it... but never got it. So I finally picked it up today. It's not too sticky, and it's really shiny.. the colour is very subtle... and apparently it is also very hydrating!

I got it in "Modern Romance"

 And that is my make up haul-age. Review for the foundation and lip glass soon :)

Sunday Fun-Day?

Today, I headed out to sell a jacket I bought a couple years ago. I bought this jacket and immediately regretted it. I had already worn it though so I couldn't return it. I wore it for one winter and I just didn't really like it. The part I didn't like was that it's "short". I like long-ish coats - more coverage for our rainy days ;)

Anyway, so I posted the jacket for sale on Craigslist and someone wanted to meet to buy it today. I had to go all the way to Vancouver though (ugh!), but getting some money for the jacket is better than it sitting in my closet.

Since I was already in the area, I decided to get Bobby and I some donuts. Every time I go to Lucky's Donuts/Parallel 49, they have different kinds of donuts now. They have their usual, apple maple bacon, french crueller, etc.. but they also have awesome seasonal flavoured ones.

I got a chocolate one (for me) and an orange pistachio one for Bobby (I called him before buying and this is the one he chose). In the end, we ended up switching because we liked each others' choices better

I gave Kiwi some of the orange pistachio donut... Kiwi is a little weirdo. She can't eat when she is exposed (unless its her cat treats, nothing gets in between her and cat treats)

So I put her on the couch, and hid her under a throw pillow... and she attacked the donut. Classic, Kiwi

I pretty much spent the entire day in Vancouver. The weather was nice - sunny and not too cold. It was also a nice escape because Bobby was at home working on another project. I got to escape the loud sanding he was doing today.

Happy Sunday :)

Remembrance Day

Happy Remembrance Day everyone!
Saluting each and every veteran out there for our freedom today and always!

We watched Interstellar today and it was pretty good. Nice story... it was just a little too long for me. The movie started at 3:30 and we didn't get out of the theater until 6:30!! I hurt my tailbone many many years ago snowboarding so sitting for long periods of time/being unable to move for long periods of time always cause discomfort.

Anyway... so we are home now. Glad to have a day off, kind of mid week :)

Bath time!!

Terrorized Kiwi with her monthly bath today. I will never understand why she hates baths so much... But she is finally squeaky clean and no longer smelly

Pre bath selfie

Getting scrubbed with an extra soft toothbrush

Post bath selfie

Hedgehogs are pretty temperature sensitive, especially when wet. I always wrap Kiwi up like a burrito to help dry her off.

Hello world!

The Christmas Beer Advent Calendar

So it's that time of the year again! When Bobby and I pick up not one, but TWO (one for Bobby, one for my brother), Craft Beer Advent Calendars. I first heard about these calendars two years ago, and I was almost too late to jump on board, but Bobby's coworker very kindly picked up two calendars at a liquor in Mission (for those not from the area, Mission is pretty much at the edge of the world, in the middle of nowhere). Ever since that mishap, I've liked their Facebook page so that I get notifications on when the calendars are available and in which liquor stores in the lower mainland.

This year, we picked it up at Roo's , which has kind of been Bobby's go-to liquor store since we no longer live close to Legacy. Anyway, we walked in, and they still had quite a few (so go NOW if you really want one!). They also have the 49th Parallel collaboration advent calendar. That one is only 94$ ("only"... shocking I know). The ones we got are 156$.. which is a steep price increase.. I remember them only being 110$ or so when I first got them! Oh well.. these are Christmas presents for Bobby and my brother :)

And now that we have a bigger apartment, we have a TON of space for these to just hang out at until Bobby can open it (and my brother comes to pick his up)

The 2014 edition is world-wide so Bobby is really excited. 2013 was "North American" and Bobby was pretty disappointed with a lot of the beers. 2012 was European and Bobby was pretty impressed ;)

Be sure to follow Bobby's blog. I'm sure he will be mentioning some beers while work on projects ;)

Wayne Brady

So we went to the Wayne Brady show last night at the River Rock Casino. A couple of birthdays ago, I received a Ticketmaster giftcard. We finally used it to buy tickets to a comedy show. The first show we bought tickets for... well the guy died (no joke!) so needless to say, that show was cancelled and we got our money back. So we bought tickets for the Wayne Brady show... which got rescheduled not once but twice! Well, the show finally happened last night!

But first, the recap of the day. So Bobby and I actually work on opposite ends of Cambie (he's on South Cambie, closer to Richmond, and I am on North Cambie, closer to downtown). The Wayne Brady show was in Richmond (closer to Bobby's work), so I told Bobby that I would carpool to work with him and then take the sky train from his job site to my work so that we wouldn't be stuck with two cars that night. Bobby starts at 7 (I start at 8) so I had to get up REALLY early, and I got to work at 7:20 haha. Whatever, no biggie. Anyway, so after work, I told him that we should meet at Oakridge Mall and just hang out and kill time since the show was at 8pm. So I get to Oakridge around 4:15, and Bobby didn't bring normal shoes (he wears construction boots on the job site) so, we ended up going home so he could change! So technically, I could've slept in, drove myself to work, and then just met up with Bobby at home!! Thanks, Bobby... THANKS!!! ;)

The show itself was funny. Some parts were less funny than others, but all in all, good times :)

Okay, Starbucks, you got me again!!!

About a couple of weeks ago, I redeemed the rest of my aeroplan miles for 3 50$ giftcards. I had almost 70,000 miles saved up over the last two or three years and I used most of it on our flights to San Francisco this Christmas, and I had just under 19,000 miles left. I debated saving up again to get a Holt Renfrew giftcard, but decided against it, because I plan on getting rid of my Aeroplan visa. Anyway... so I got a 50$ Starbucks giftcard, a 50$ Cineplex gift card (mostly used up because Bobby and I are seeing Interstellar and Mockingjay Part 1 later this month) and a 50$ iTunes giftcard (because I pay for my music!!!).

This morning, I decided to get myself a coffee from Starbucks. I had a rough night last night. I was really nauseous and had a terrible headache. I had a somewhat restless sleep so I was really tired this morning. So I head into my usual Starbucks (Cambie and 7th) when I notice Starbucks' Dot Collection. Now, I am a SUCKER for Starbucks mugs/glasses - I have 8... and so I knew I had to have one of these.

I gravitated towards the "Face" one, but I walked away without buying it. I was super busy and kinda nauseous at work today so I didn't venture out during my lunch break. Also, it was pouring rain... buuuuut I could not stop thinking about this damn mug. I had to have it! HAD TO!! This is my shopaholic moment. So, I hit up a Starbucks close to my home and picked it up. Luckily the Starbucks was busy so I had time to seriously think about which mug I wanted to buy. Now I was using my free gift card mentioned above, but at 22$ a mug, there was no way in hell I was paying for two. I decided to go with my initial choice and happily went home with this one:

However, when I got home, I made Bobby validate that I made the right choice. Lol. I made him sit with me and check out all of the other mugs online to make sure this is the right one #crazywomanproblems

In the end, Bobby agreed with me, but likely so that I would shut the f up about these damn mugs

/Blog

For the full collection, go here:
http://store.starbucks.ca/drinkware/starbucks-dot-collection,en_CA,sc.html?cm_sp=HPA2CA-_-dot_collection-_-110114

For a look at the other mugs I own:
New York mug from NYC
Alice and Olivia for Starbucks
Glass tumbler

Weekend wrap up

We finally gave Luca his birthday presents and I gotta say, it was a hit with Luca (and Bobby and Brad). It was hours of fun after trick or treating on Halloween!

 

I should point out that that's only one third of the tracks included in the Hot Wheels sets we bought Luca. The guys wanted to make the cars spin around forever using the car launcher/speeder thing. 

Anyway, so that was Friday. Yesterday, I finally went to PiYo after taking a few weeks off (there was one Saturday my teacher cancelled, and then general laziness got to me). I am a little bit sore today, but I fully intend on going to tomorrow's class too. 

Bobby had to work yesterday, but after, we kinda just chilled around. We went to a coffee shop in Port Moody, then we got  some groceries. Finally had a chance to hit up Pier 1 (I heard they sold hedgehog mugs). 

So cute!!

Bobby chilling while I bought my mug. 

By the way, I am soon glad we got an extra hour of sleep today... But that means that it gets darker sooner now.. Ugh!!

Today we cleaned our oven. So gross. Next time, I am hiring a cleaner... Or getting a new oven! After slaving away, a face mask was much deserved:

This one is a que Bella refreshing mask I got for 2$ at target. I've never tried it before so hopefully it's good and it doesn't give me acne!!

Happy Sunday!! :)