Halloween 2014

I took today off, so the Halloween festivities started early for me.

The first stop of the scare tour started at Kia. Long story short, my left side view mirror is cracked. Its perfectly fine and functional.. but the plastic part (not sure how to describe this, but the plastic cover for the signals) is cracked. I took it in to get repaired... thinking it would cost you know, 100$ at most to fix this.. but nope, it costs 670$. WTF. Insert blood curling scream here. So I politely tell Kia, okay no thanks, bye!! I mean, seriously... What a rip off!

Anyway, so I went home to terrorize Kiwi. It's that time of the year where I get to bust out her tutu. She actually has more than one costume now (she has two tutus, three if I include Chaos' tutu, and a few other costumes Marco got her - a hot dog, a bumble bee and a dinosaur).

So cuuuuute!!!!

It has been raining pretty hard for the last few days, but I think the rain has finally let up! Woo hoo! Nice weather for the trick or treaters - we get to accompany some friends taking their son trick or treating :)

A weekend of gluttony

So Bobby's friend was in town and we literally ate, and ate and ate. There's lots of good food in Vancouver, what can I say?

First stop was Craft Beer Market (In Olympic Village) on Saturday night. This is one of the few places where: Bobby is impressed with their beer menu, and I am impressed with their food menu. (Usually bars have crappy food!). We got wings (my fave!), and poutine and nachos (all appies) and then Bobby and I shared pizza. I was designated driver that night so I had one beer (Stiegl Radler Zitrone, I would say go try it, your life is incomplete if you have not tried this beer, but it is exclusive to Craft Beer Market), so I had nothing else to do other than chat and eat (not like there is anything wrong with that, anyway :) )

Sunday's feast was on a whole other level. I mean, we ate, and we just did.not.stop. 

We had lunch at the Boathouse in Kits. The view from this restaurant is just amazing (Kits beach/Burrard Inlet/Downtown and West Van) and the food is also pretty good. We got oysters and calamari to share, and then I got fish and chips (which I ended up sharing with the guys). Then, immediately after (and I am talking 10 minutes after because that is the time it took us to walk to the car, drive to Parallel 49 in Kits, park and order) we had donuts and coffee... and we had the brilliant idea of order 6 donuts and a coffee each.

We got: goat cheese and blueberry (I think), s'more, grape, pumpkin, apple bacon and matcha

Holy F, I had half a s'more, and then a bite of the goatcheese and the grape donuts and I was going to burst. I ordered a large Americano (because I wanted it more watered down) and I did not have space to put it in. But we pressed on, and hit up Granville Island. We walked around a bit, then while the guys drank beer (I am not a huge beer fan, and I did not have any space whatsoever to put beer in at that point), I went to redeem my groupon for macarons! I recently tried macarons for the first time ever and I don't really know where to get them in Vancouver, so I bought a groupon and I figured I would try this place out. 

The macarons were pretty good. Here they are with Kiwi. I gave Kiwi a piece of the pumpkin donut. She didn't like it. I thought she was just being shy (Kiwi rarely eats in public) but when I tried to give her another piece today, she took a bite, then spat it out. Strangely enough, her mom Chaos LOVED pumpkin

After Granville Island, we took an eating intermission and walked around downtown. I showed the guys the creepy eye lash station at MAC (I mean, I guess its not creepy, but be careful, you might get pink eye ;) ) and we walked down Robson, etc. Then we went to Coal Harbour (more tourist stuff - Olympic torch, etc). At this point, our appetites were coming back (not really, but whatever), and we hit up Sushiholic for dinner. Ever since we moved, we have not really been back to Sushiholic. We ordered 5 rolls (the rolls at this restaurant are HUGE, and really, we ate so much during the day already) and ate it in like 15 minutes or something crazy like that.

Then we went home. I ate my macarons and Bobby ate the donuts (its like we didn't eat the entire day or something).

Needless to say, I am feeling blah to day!! ;) Also damaged the driver side view mirror of my car today... but on closer inspection, its not that bad... Thanks for not flipping out Bobby-Boob

And now I leave you with the third gluttinous resident of this apartment:

Kiwi is licking her lips because she is excited to eat her cereal!! #Saturdaytreats

Shopaholic to the Stars - a review

Book synopsis:

The Brandon family move to LA because Luke is doing PR for Sage Seymour (one of the hottest stars in Hollywood). Becky wants to get a job as a stylist to the stars because she wants fame (she already has fortune). 

My review (post contains spoilers!):

I would rate this book 3.0 stars out of 5.0. Like all of the previous books, it was a super easy read, but Becky Bloomwood has definitely fizzled.

I first got into the Shopaholics series about ten years ago (the first book came out even before then - 2001 to be exact), so in a sense, Becky was a character young women can relate to. She was young, a little ditzy but she had good intentions. She's also very obsessed with shopping, and she ends up putting herself into debt due to her shopping addiction. Even in the first books, Becky was a bit annoying. I mean, when you don't have money you don't just walk into a store and then buy a whole bunch of crap you don't need (eg: Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, she bought a whole bunch of greeting cards for specific situations/events she didn't need). But, again, because I was younger, it was very easy to relate with Becky. I think in the first book, Becky was in her early-mid twenties.

Now in the 6th book, Becky is married and she has a two year old daughter.... so it's really annoying to see her still acting like a vapid bonehead. 

So Becky, Luke and Minnie move to LA because Luke has taken on a new client. This time though, instead of representing a financial customer, Luke is representing super famous actress Sage Seymour. Becky is obsessed with becoming Sage's new bff, while simultaneously trying to become a stylist... and needless to say, Becky is dying to become Sage's new stylist/bff because if she becomes Sage's stylist, then everyone else would want her as their stylist as well. However, Sage is a complete bitch ("typical" Hollywood star) and she has zero interest in Becky until Becky lets out a secret about Sage's nemesis Lois (Becky saw Lois shoplifting and she tells Sage). However, it turns out that Sage and Lois aren't enemies - they've staged their entire fight as one gigantic ongoing publicity stunt. Becky finds this out one day when she sneaks into Lois' house after Lois apparently attempts suicide - she is surprised to find Sage and Lois just chilling out, planning their next move in this ongoing drama. 

In the meantime, Becky's best friend Suze, and her husband/first cousin (will never get over this fact, EVER), Tarquin, and their three kids also visit LA because Tarquin has been having a rough few days/weeks/months/years (whatever the length of time was). It turns out that Suze and Tarquin have a friend who invested in a movie, so they end up making connections/friends in LA and Suze gets herself and Becky small background acting roles (which of course Becky fucks up) in a movie. Suze and Becky of course get into a fight, not because Becky messes up the acting role, but because Becky is completely self-involved and does not care that/does not want to help Suze when Tarquin befriends this guy named Bryce who Suze thinks is brainwashing Tarquin. Becky is too busy with her morning show interviews/buying clothes for clients she doesn't have/preparing for red carpet events... so Suze turns to Alicia Bitch-Long-Legs... Yep, Alicia is back (I swear, this book had ALL the characters from all previous books in it... it was like the reunion no one wanted). Turns out that Alicia moved to LA and married some old man who owned this place called "Golden Peace", which is a place for meditating/yoga/retreats/rehab/cold pressed juice/coconut water, etc. So anyway, Bryce was previously employed by Golden Peace, and he and Tarquin become fast friends. Eventually, Bryce gets fired because Alicia and her husband suspect that he is brainwashing people (Suze was right) but Tarquin runs off with him (and Becky's dad - more later) and no one knows where they went. Okay, weird plot twist, right?!

Aaand, all in this mix, Becky's dad also takes off for LA because he has to "make something right" because some guy named Brent who he knew from the 70s, who he made Becky look up while she was in LA, was living in a trailer park, and that could not be right, so he had to fix everything. But then he ends up running off with Tarquin and Bryce. I mean, seriously, you cannot make this stuff up. 

One last plot twist, Elinor, Luke's estranged mother, also shows up (what did I say about all previous characters being present in this book?!?!) because Becky gets in touch with her (after finding out that Elinor needed surgery or something, and Becky started worrying that Luke and his mom should make amends before it was too late - the one sensible thought Becky had in this entire book) for an "intervention". Oddly enough, the intervention works - both Luke and Elinor are forgiving and want to start over... until Becky fucks it up: 

- by telling Luke that Elinor planned/funded the party for him in Mini Shopaholic, so Elinor gets pissed off and leaves (Elinor made Becky promise that she would never tell Luke this because Elinor did not want Luke to think she was buying his love)

- when Luke realizes that Minnie already knows her grandma (Becky had secretly been bringing Minnie to see Elinor behind Luke's back in Mini Shopaholic) and he feels betrayed that Becky would do that behind his back.

But alas, in the end, Luke (the most, forgiving guy on the planet) forgives Becky, and he and Becky (and Alicia) work together to help Suze find her husband (and Becky's dad). The book ends in a cliffhanger - the gang are headed for Vegas, y'all!!

Side note: Danny Kovitz was also in this book - he was doing some weird intense outdoor expedition because he had a crush on a guy who was also going... He ended up giving up because it was too much for him. 

In all, I think the story line was okay, but it just dragged on for so long.. and Becky was just unbearably self centred. Like I said earlier, had she not been a married mother of a toddler, who was a working professional, I think the story line would have made more sense. I dunno, this is just my opinion... but even if Becky's character has only aged five years, the readers (had they started reading these books when it first came out) have aged at least ten years, so Becky just seems so childish. Another random thing that bothered me: in the entire book, she would be out, and Luke would be working, and Suze would be looking for the ever missing Tarquin and I would just be thinking, um, who is watching all of their children?! (Apparently a babysitter, because you know, once you move across the Atlantic, and have lived in a new country for two whole days, you always trust strangers to watch your two year old). And cliffhanger ending? Now I have to buy ANOTHER book!!

Anyway, interested to know how others felt about this book. I've read some reviews online and peoples' opinions are mixed!

Shopaholic to the Stars

YES!!! Finally got my hands on this book. Its only been FOUR years since I last read about the antics of Becky Brandon née Bloomwood... to say I've missed this series is an understatement! I first heard about this book back in May and I pre-ordered it right away. I decided to get the traditional book (I can't believe e-books cost just as much as an actual book!). One last side track: I read Sophie Kinsella's latest non-shopaholic book "Wedding Night" and I really didn't like it at all. Even though the Shopaholic series is my favorite, she's had some pretty good stand alone novels too (Domestic Goddess and Twenties Girl!!). Anyway, so I quickly made dinner tonight, and cleaned up after, and then did a quick apartment clean up because Bobby has a friend staying over with us this weekend (can't let him think we live like slobs!! ;))... aaaand now I can finally relax and read my book. I have a feeling I will be up all night and finished by tomorrow!

Rain rain go away

The whole day, the weather forecast called for horrendous rain, but it never actually rained while I was at work. Not that I am complaining, but that means I can't give an update/report about whether the longchamp bag is waterproof or not ;)

Today's forecast

I think it's actually raining now... But I'm home so whatever ;)

So I caved - Longchamp Le Pliage first impressions

Last year, for my birthday and our anniversary, Bobby very kindly picked out I forced Bobby to buy me the Marc Jacob's Classic Q Hillier Hobo purse. Now I LOVE this purse. I even got a great deal on it - I bought it during the Saks Friends and Family Sale so I got it for 320 USD, tax free (this bag retails for about 458$ in Canada, plus tax). Anyway, so I love this purse and I use it EVERYDAY. Last year, I went and bought a tote bag because I didn't want to have to use my Marc Jacobs bag everyday (for fear of ruining it). I didn't want to get a Longchamp bag because EVERYONE and their neighbour has this bag. So I settled for a more subtle Kipling tote bag (Read more here). The Kipling bag is okay, its a little casual for me, so I stopped using it. I will probably use it only for traveling now... or I might just sell it on Craigslist. Haven't decided yet. So anyway, I have been using my Marc Jacobs bag daily... and recently, I got three pretty severe scratches on it. The three scratches taunted me daily and I decided to retire this bag from its daily use sentence since it cost so much money and I want it to last longer than a year and a half! I looked into getting some scratch resistant leather bags (Michael Kors and Kate Spade sell them), but I didn't want to drop another few hundred dollars on a bag. So... long story short: Longchamp Le Pliage it is. The bag is only 140$ at Holt Renfrew (cheaper if you live in the States.. normally, I would cheap out and buy it in the States, but the Canadian dollar is not so strong right now so it wouldn't make a difference). Also, the bag is water proof (allegedly, will let you know how truthful it is soon since we are expecting 35-45 mm of rain tomorrow... I would say FML but I get to bust out my favourite umbrella again :)) 

I got it in the "small" size which is still pretty large - it is large enough to fit my 11 x 8.5 inch agenda and a small make up bag, wallet, and other junk I feel is necessary to carry everywhere I go.

I was against buying the Longchamp bag to begin with because it is just a "one large compartment" bag. Also, last year, I had my heart set on buying the "large" size bag (Likely because like I mentioned, I feel the need to carry all kinds of crap with me). I'm glad I settled for the small size though... and because it's "small" the one compartment issue doesn't really bother me (yet! I just picked up the bag today and am only going to start using it tomorrow). If it does start to bother me, I will invest in a purse organizer.

Side note: So I got this bag from Holt's and I had the lovely experience of having the sales lady stalk me throughout the store as I browsed for purses. I don't know if its because she wanted my commission, or she thought I was going to steal the bag because I am too poor to shop at Holts... #QuestionsIwillneverknowtheanswersto

Okay so those are my first impressions. A more detailed review to follow in a few months or so ;)

A necklace for the neck less

Yesterday morning, we got up bright and early to watch free movies courtesy of Cineplex Community Day. The movie tickets were free, and food at the concession was all 2$ each (all proceeds going to the Free the Children charity. They also sold bracelets for 2$, so I got one. Now I don't normally wear jewelry, but I wanted to support the charity (after all, the movie tickets were free!). I decided to let Kiwi wear it as a necklace. She hates it of course, but please do not be concerned - I gave her two treats after the picture and no hedgehogs were harmed for the photo.

Halloween convention

So today was Vancouver's (first annual?) Halloween Convention at the Sheraton Wall Centre in downtown. I bought us a couple of tickets on Groupon (2 tickets for 20$) - normally the tickets are 30$ each, so we saved a lot of money... But I think we are going to skip buying tickets next year, and just participate in the festivities outside! The indoor event itself was not too exciting, it was a lot of booths set up selling stuff. I don't know about you, but when you are already IN costume, why the heck would you need to buy MORE wigs, or masks, etc? And, since you are in costume, that likely means that you don't want to hold anything that you just recently purchased! But I digress, so, let's just recap the days events in pictures:

We left home around 10:45am and traffic in downtown was BRUTAL since the event also included a parade, so lots of road closures. We made it to the Sheraton and just parked at the hotel (parking was 17$ for 3.5 hours!!!) and hit up the indoor event. We hung out for like 5 minutes. Everyone wanted a pic with Bobby. The room was pretty small so we decided to go outside and check out the parade.

Bobby was a huuuuuge hit. Everyone wanted a picture of him, and with him! So everywhere we went we were our own party.

Spiderman and Dr. Octopus meet again.. This time in the heart of downtown (Nelson and Howe)

The parade went from east on Davie, then north on Granville, then west on Smithe and south on Howe. I think it circled a few times over a few hours. We hung out on Howe first (a little less busy), then ventured out to Granville (super busy!!)

Everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE, we went, someone wanted a picture. Each block we had to stop for at least 15-20 minutes while everyone got a picture of/with Bobby.

Super cute Spiderman and Superman!!!

After the parade was finished, we walked over to the Starbucks on Davie and Seymour. Bobby got hounded by more people wanting pics. I snuck inside and got us some coffee and food. Starbucks was packed so we sat at the park just next to it to eat and relax and wait for my brother to come meet us.

Caffeine break!

Even at the park, people were coming up to Bobby for pictures. One kid stopped by to chat. He and Bobby had a conversation for about 5 minutes. It was really cute, because after a while, the kid was like "I'm Sebastian by the way". Lol, so grown up and proper with the introduction. After a while, the kid left to go play, but on his way home, he stopped by again and said "Bye Bobby!!" Haha, so adorable. 

So my brother and his gf and the dog came to meet up with us. We walked on the Seawall:

It was actually really warm today (20 degrees) so we were starting to get hot from all the walking (especially Bobby since he had to carry an extra 4 arms and wear a heavy coat and gloves and a hat!). We we went back to the Sheraton Wall Centre and the party was going strong since the parade was over. So again, Bobby got hounded by EVERYONE:

Breaking news: newspaper is Dr. Octopus's kryptonite?

So Bobby was really friendly, always stopping to take pictures with everyone. Especially little kids in cute costumes. 

Not pictured: little kids in cute costumes

There was only one other person Bobby wanted to take a picture with, the Piranha from Super Mario. However, every time we tried to get to this guy, Bobby would get swarmed for pictures.... However, after 30 minutes or so, Mr. Piranha man made it to us because he wanted a picture with Bobby!! 

Dr. O in front of the fountain

Creepy witch lady

After a very long time of pictures, we sat down at the bar for drinks. Even Dr. O gets thirsty after all!

Mandatory elevator picture

The costume Bobby-less

All in all, we had a great time today! The kids were so adorable! And lots of people put lots of effort into their costumes!

Thanksgiving 2014

We had our family Thanksgiving at our apartment today. No turkey this year. Bobby made his specialty (pizza) and I made mine (pulled pork). My parents and my cousin and his family all brought other dishes and dessert. We managed to squeeze in 8 people around our table meant for 6, and we dined and laughed and dined some more. 

My super easy pulled pork recipe:

Pork shoulder, seasoning salt and barbecue sauce. Placed in the crock pot and cook on low until tender (usually 8 hours for a 1.5kg+ shoulder). 

Since smelly Kiwi was expecting company... I gave her a bath today. After her bath she was so pissed off she sat like this for a while. Normally, she runs home when given the chance, but not earlier today!!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving with their family and friends. Only one more day off until back to work ;)

Adventures in babysitting

So we babysat our friends' toddler on Wednesday night... and I finally have a moment to blog about it today! Bobby and I both took the day off today, since Monday is (Canadian) Thanksgiving. Woo hoo 4 day weekend :)

Okay, so the adventure in babysitting started on Monday. We went to the daycare to "learn the ropes". Picking up toddlers is a process! First, you check their diaper changing chart (mostly to see if your kid has pooped - if they did that likely means no smelly diapers at night!), then you pick up their lunch bag and water bottle... and then you get the kid... and change them out of their indoor shoes and into their outdoor shoes... Then you say goodbye and leave. After all of that, I was already pooped! Just kidding.. Also, we had one of Luca's car seats installed in my car so that we could pick him up.

So on Wednesday, we went to get Luca around 5:30pm (that's what time his dad normally picks him up). Luca knows us since we've hung out many many times (and he LOVES uncle bobby), which made it easier since he recognized us and willingly went home with us (also, I'm sure his parents reminded him many times that we were picking him up). It was cute because as soon as he saw us, he started to take his indoor shoes off

After we left daycare, we went to go pick up pizza for dinner. I bought myself this cuuute hedgehog bowl (which is for kids) which Luca ate out of. Bobby cut up Luca's pizza and we ate, and ate and ate... Then Luca fed Kiwi... Then we coloured... Then we watched Leap Frog on Netflix... Then we played with all the stuffed animals in the house... Then we coloured some more... Then we played catch with the hedgehog that Luca's mom knit for me... And then we repeated all of the above.

Luca's parents came around 10... so Luca was exhausted... And so was Bobby since he had been up late the night before at school. But seriously, we had a blast with Luca. He's so awesome to be around because his personality is adorable!! And he's so smart!! He is the smartest almost 2 year old I know!

Thank you Luca for pooping at daycare! Also, we accidentally stole another kid's sweater from daycare. Bobby thought it was Luca's sweater so we put it on him before we left. When his parents came home, they were like, yea... that's not his.. But they were going to take it back the next day.. aaand, at least we got the right kid, right?? ;)

Anyway, so today we both have the day off. I went shopping for Thanksgiving dinner (we are hosting my family dinner at our place)... Bobby is working on his costume... and we are watching a movie tonight. 

Happy Friday! :)

Presents for an almost two year old

Last night, we went to Target to buy Luca his birthday presents. We went to to Toys R Us on Friday and we couldn't find anything that we liked (shocking I know). His parents approved hot wheels race tracks for his many cars and for whatever reason, Toys R Us had a terrible selection!!

 

So we settled on the big race track with two loops... And decided to buy a smaller third loop that can be added to the track. Hope Luca likes it! If anything, it will be a hit with his dad ;)

This morning, I spent some time making Luca a card as well (Bobbys been working on his Halloween costume and his creativity has left me inspired):

Supplies are out and ready to be assembled !!

Final product. 

Can't wait to give Luca his presents :)

Kiwi and the rock

Kiwi has an assortment of rocks that Bobby has collected for her through our travels (there's even a rock from when we went caving). Bobby used to always get kiwi a rock when we went on vacation.. But now she has so many so he stopped. Anyway, kiwi LOVES flipping rocks over with her snout.

Today, I found kiwi spooning one of her rocks. So cute!!!