Minus 1 in Vancouver...

Day 222

...so I put the detachable fur piece back on my new parka... I felt silly walking around with it on when it was 10 degrees, but now its legitimately cold in Vancouver! I don't know how I will survive Manhattan in the winter!

Dear self, take an extra 5 minutes each morning to thoroughly dry your hair! Having a cold scalp every day is starting to get really old!

Homemade cards

Day 221 (a day late!)

Didn't blog last night because I forgot/was lazy/didn't want to (pick your own excuse!), so I am blogging today about why I have been making many trips to Michael's lately! I have decided to make my own Christmas cards this year (and birthday cards for those who were born near the holiday season).

I bought some white blank cards (7$ minus 40% off!), and then three packs of coloured paper (50 sheets a pack for 5$ minus 50% off), and a ton of stickers (various prices, all at 50% off). I am determined to never buy a card ever again. Making cards is fun/therapeutic... who knew I could be somewhat creative?

Anyway, here are the first four cards I've made: a birthday card for each of my parents, a Christmas card for my 4 year old niece (who is also celebrating her 5th birthday on boxing day, so when you open the card, it is actually a birthday card as well - will try to remember to post a pic of this), and a Christmas card for my cousin and his wife.

A cheese grater for the giants!

Day 220

Another giant find at the Winner's on Cambie and West 8th! I would like to meet the person who has a cheese block large enough that will require this grater for grating....

Anyway, refer to this post for my first giant find at Winner's: http://missmiigo.blogspot.ca/2013/09/for-those-extra-large-family-get.html (For those interested, the giant pot is still for sale!!) ;)

My little snuggle-a-paguses

Day 219

Every morning before I leave for work, I check on the hedgies to:

1. Make sure Chaos didn't freeze her tiny ass off overnight

2. Check on Kiwi's bump on her forehead (which looks to be shrinking.. YEAH!)

Today, I found the two tiny terrors sleeping like this... That is Chaos' teeny tiny bum sticking out of the hut this time ;)

Fun times at the aquarium

Day 218

Bobby and I went to the aquarium today:

I promise that this sea otter is very much alive... He is just having a lazy Sunday! 

Bobby and the penguins!

Bobby and the penguin!

We hopped on the bus to the aquarium. On the way back, we stopped in downtown to hit up the downtown Michael's and the Victoria's Secret. I found this lovely butt bin on the corner of Robson and Burrard. Dear Vancouverites, if you insist on smoking, please dump the butts you are finished here instead of littering all over the ground!!

On the way home we hit up Starbucks. It's two for one holiday drinks between 2pm-5pm (offer ends today). Also needed an ice water - we were getting hot from all of the walking ;)

I got a tall skinny peppermint mocha and Bobby got a tall gingerbread latte... mmmm...

Dentist, etc

Day 217

I had my biyearly dentist visit this morning at 9:30am. Last time I went to the dentist was in May and I had to get four micro cavities filled because my fissure sealant had worn out... I had 5 needles go into my mouth which meant I was numb for the longest time ever, I accidentally bit my tongue while numb (it hurt so bad once the freezing wore off), and the visit cost 1200$ which turned into the biggest dental billing nightmare ever (thank goodness for extended health care!!). (You can read more about my experience here: http://missmiigo.blogspot.ca/2013/05/ko-by-dentist.html)
Anyway, no cavities for me this time around! Woo hoo!

I went home after to check up on Kiwi. She has a lump on her forehead which is stressing me out. I'm really hoping it is nothing serious. She's behaving as she normally does (fiesty, yet sweet) which helps ease my mind, but I'm still worried about her. Unfortunately, I could not find a vet in the Vancouver area who will see hedgehogs, but I have her booked to see a vet in Coquitlam in early December. I'm still trying to find a vet who can see her sooner... but in the mean time, I hope her lump goes away and I hope she gets better soon... :(

I gave Kiwi and Chaos cheeries when I got home. This is typical eating habits for these two.. I gave them each two cheerios. Chaos wolfed her down super quickly and Kiwi showed no interest for the longest time.. she did eventually eat them though :)

I spent the rest of the morning cleaning my apartment. Then I went for a bikini wax and eye brow threading.. also hit up Michael's for MORE art supplies!! I'm becoming a Michael's regular. I seriously want one of everything they are selling!

PS: spotted in downtown: an ugly Christmas sweater pop up shop! Located the north east side of the Granville and West Georgia (right in front of the Bay)

Yay for ugly sweaters!

Friday, finally!

Day 216

I've been counting down to this Friday since last Friday.... Ironically, we actually had a three day weekend last weekend since this past Monday was Remembrance Day! I'm working unpaid today so that I can be paid for my big Orlando/New York trip next month!

Anyway, here is some Friday fabulousness/fierceness for ya'll:

These are like a slipper-kicks hybrid... covered in gold dust

 Also, because it is Friday, my day needs to start with a Starbucks latte!

Thursday pizza with two of my favourite ladies!

Day 215 a day late!

Last night, Aleks, Najin and I went for pizza and drinks at the Distillery (at least I think the place is called the Distillery... its pretty close to the Yaletown Brewpub and I think its actually owned by the same guy as well). It was such a nice place! Big comfy couch like booths, gorgeous brick walls... and an interesting co-ed bathroom. I wasn't very hungry so I took half of my pizza home. Bobby also ended up making himself pizza for dinner. Here are the leftover pizzas from last night ;)

I had the prosciutto, arugula and mozzarella deliciousness! Bobby's was pepperoni, spinach and feta... Mmmm

Hedgehog bath time

Day 214

Gave the tiny terrors a bath today. (For anyone interested, I use a soft toothbrush to scrub and Aveeno Baby soothing relief creamy wash to lather - you can find more info here: http://www.aveeno.com/product/aveeno-+baby+soothing+relief+creamy+wash+.do?sortby=ourPicks).

Chaos post bath

Kiwi post bath

I have to give these two devils a bath one at a time. Chaos was up first. In the middle of Kiwi's bath, Chaos managed to find my Trader Joe's popcorn! 

Bad Kay-Kay!!! This popcorn is not for you!

PS: It was an Annie's Mac and Cheese dinner with my pomme biere kind of night!

UPDATE:
Forgot to mention that because Chaos got into my Trader Joe's popcorn bag... she was a salty mess. So when she and Kiwi were back in their cage, Kiwi started to bite Chaos (likely because Kiwi thought Chaos tasted delicious!!!). Bobby got mad at Kiwi and threw her in hedgehog jail.

Waterproof

Day 213

Soo... I LOVE my new parka!!! It was drizzling pretty hard this morning when I was "commuting" (word in quotations because I only live 15 minutes away from work), so I was pretty excited to wear my new parka. When I was at Aritzia yesterday, the sales lady kept pointing things out about the jacket, and one of the things she mentioned is that the jacket is actually water PROOF (not just water resistant). Last night, I decided to test out the waterproof-ness of my jacket. This was a true science experiment with a hypothesis, method, conclusion, etc ;). I took my jacket and held it over my bathroom sink. I then dumped a glass full of water on one of the sleeves and was impressed with how the water just slipped right off of it... Upon touching the sleeve, I can confirm that the sleeve remained dry! Woo hoo! Today, when I wore the jacket in the rain, the rain drops stayed ON my jacket (as opposed to being absorbed by it) further confirming my findings! Bring on the rain, Vancouver! I am ready for you!!

Proof of raindrops remaining ON jacket! (No absorption here!)

Thank you Bobby for the most awesome Christmas present ever!!

PS: This is another PSA to check out Bobby's blog about his super cool projects: http://bobbobblogs.blogspot.com/

Good times in Suburbia

Day 212

Firstly, Happy Remembrance Day!! (Veteran's Day for our neighbours south of the border). Saluting each and every veteran out there. Thank you for our freedom!

So the plan today was to meet my parents in Coquitlam for lunch. I woke up semi early to make pulled pork in the crock pot for tonight's dinner. I am loving my slow cooker! :)

Anyway, we were supposed to hit up Lee's Electronics on the way so that Bobby could exchange something, but Lee's is closed today... so we hit up Coquitlam Centre first so that I could hit up Target to buy some necessities (conditioner, shower curtain liner, electronic toothbrush head replacements.... and reindeer ears for Kiwi/Chaos). The reindeer ears Kiwi absolutely hates so it is likely going back... Anyway, so after the quick 20 minute power shopping trip at Target, Bobby and I met my parents at a new Japanese restaurant near Coquitlam Centre. The food was pretty good. I especially liked how they had specialty rolls similar to the ones in Sushiholic in Vancouver.

After lunch, Bobby and I went back to Coquitlam Centre so that I could pick up my Christmas present from Bobby. Bobby got me a new parka.. I'll be needing a new winter coat for here, but mostly for when we are in New York late next month. I got the Community Paradigm Parka in black from Aritzia. You can shop the blog here: http://aritzia.com/Community-PARADIGM-PARKA/22732,default,pd.html?dwvar_22732_color=1274#start=9 I

I absolutely love this parka... Bring on the rain, Vancouver... I'm ready for you ;)

After the second trip to the mall, we went to my parents' house for a bit to drop off my old desk that I am donating to them.We hung out for a bit but had to leave shortly. We still had a couple of things to do on our to-do list for today and I had to be back at my place at a certain time to check up on the pulled pork. Our next stop was the John B Pub in the west Coquitlam area so that I could pick up two beer advent calendars (one for Bobby and one for my brother). I bought them last year's edition and it was a hit with both of them so I figured I would get them this year's calendar as well. Last year it was craft beer from Europe, and this year it's from North America.... Merry Christmas and bottoms up, guys!

The trunk was pretty full from other things so we had to safely buckle these two giant boxes into the back seat!

My brother is away and I have his spare keys so that I can water his plants and pick up his mail... so we went to his place to drop his beer off. It'll be a nice surprise for when he gets home!

A close up of the 2013 North American Craft Beer advent calendar

Home now, enjoying the aroma of pulled pork slow cooking... watching Friends reruns while relaxing.

I hope everyone had a relaxing, fun, safe and reflective Remembrance Day long weekend!

Downtown Vancouver living means...

Day 211

...tight living quarters... which means this Charlie Brown tree is perfect every year!!

This Charlie Brown tree Bobby bought for us three years ago actually only came with one ornament (the red ball). But over the years, we've accumulated more: The starbucks one (from Starbucks - duh!) and the hedgehog one (from Chapters). There's actually a 4th ornament, you can barely see the snowman in the middle of the tree (gifted to me from a previous work Secret Santa).

Update:

So we had brunch/lunch with Brad, Ja and Luca at Craft in the Olympic Village. Good food and great beer! I had this amazing beer that was more champagne like than beer and it was so awesome! Anyway, great times hanging with them, and especially Luca who I only get to see once a month. Afterward, they helped Bobby with his school project (you can read about it on Bobby's blog: http://bobbobblogs.blogspot.ca) and then we went our separate ways. Bobby and I went home to relax.. We are watching Thor 2 tonight! 

Girl night in

Day 210

Emotional day today due to lady issues. I picked up this super sparkly nail polish today at Sephora and I am having a me time in tonight.... loving this colour! Will be perfect for this holiday season!

Facebook stalking made easy... for the middle aged and elderly!

Day 209

Spotted this fantastic book at Michaels today:

What a great stalking... I mean, stocking present for Christmas ;)

Another day, another deal

Day 208

In case it hasn't been obvious, I hate paying full price for things... especially things at Michael's. As previously mentioned, I just got back into scrap booking (an expensive pass time!)... This Christmas season, Bobby and I are going to Orlando to celebrate Christmas with his family, and then we are going to New York for New Years. I have been lurking around the scrap booking sticker aisles at my local Michael's for some New York and Orlando stickers. They are regularly 6.99$ a package which I think is ridiculous because they are STICKERS for crying out loud... Shouldn't they only cost a few dollars at most?? Anyway, every week Michael's has a 40% off coupon for regular priced items... but even with 40% off, the stickers are not worth it... Anyway, today, Michael's had a 60% off coupon for the total purchase of regular priced stickers so I bought TWO for less than the price of what one would've cost!! YAY ME! Sadly, because I bought these stickers at overpriced Michael's, they probably still made a 50% mark up even with the severe discount.

Normal in my household

Day 207

I woke up really early today, so I made myself oatmeal. While poking around in my kitchen, I found a pair of Bobby's socks in a ziploc bag in the liquor cabinet.... um.... what?!

UPDATE: So I asked Bobby why he had socks (and a t-shirt, and a hunting knife and a bag of granola bars) hidden in the liqour cabinet... apparently he had emptied out his hiking back pack and shoved everything in this cabinet because "no one ever looks there". Well I certainly proved him wrong.... I SEE ALL, BOBBY!!!

Beouf avec Shoppers!!

Day 206

I went to Shoppers today on my lunch break because I needed to pick up some allergy medicine. I specifically went to Shoppers because I have 30$ worth of Optimum points that I wanted to use in lieu of my own money. So I picked up my Reactine and I handed over my coupon and I told the cashier that I wanted to redeem my points. Sooo, she redeems my points and then tells me that because I spent less than 30$, I would have to forfeit the balance (1.66$ which is negligible really) OR I could buy something else. I asked if I could get the balance on a gift card instead - apparently not, which is the most bizarre thing ever! I mean seriously! How hard is it to redeem my points onto a gift card, and then use my gift card for a purchase (LIKE ALL THE OTHER STORES WITH POINTS CARDS DO)? I don't know if the lady was just confused, lazy, stupid, whatever. In any case, I opted to wander the store some more in order to exceed 30$ for this purchase.. and because I am PMS-ing, I ended up buying Doritoes.... UGHHHH

PS, and now the whole world knows that my French is comparable to a that of a 2 year olds ;)

Heated floor no more

Day 205

A couple of months ago, Bobby bought a heating pad to help keep Chaos warm this winter. Chaos is a skinny ass. Seriously. I have tried so many ways to fatten her up (feeding her yummy cat treats, graham cracks, Vector cereal, etc) and she will not gain weight. It's alarming how thin she is able to keep herself. (She's half the size of Kiwi and half the size of when she was pregnant) However, she seems healthy enough... so I just leave her be... However, the problem is that when the temperature drops, Chaos gets REALLY cold from lack of body fat (the temperature dropping doesn't affect Fat Kiwi in any way) and she gets sleepy/sluggish and she appears like she is trying to hibernate, which she should never do because she would never survive :( This has happened a few times but she manages to wake up once I warm her up.. but its always such a stressful event.. so this year, Bobby bought a heating pad to put underneath Chaos' tiny hut. The heating pad worked. Kiwi especially likes it for whatever reason because she started sleeping ONLY in Chaos' hut (which therefore defeated the heating pads purpose... but I digress...). Anyway, so Kiwi started to monopolize the tiny hut... If only this story ended here... Alas it does not. So after a while, Kiwi started getting teeny tiny cuts between her upper arms (legs? damn quadrupedal animals always confusing me with their anatomical features). At first I thought Chaos was biting her, but it just didn't make any sense because the cuts were very superficial and because the cuts were in a place where it would have been near impossible for Chaos to attack without Kiwi balling up and protecting herself... Also, after one cut would heal, another would be fresh... And lets face it, Chaos is not a biter. Chaos has never ever once bitten me (Kiwi is another story, she's bitten me MANY MANY times! She is a naughty hedgie!!!) So what the heck was going on with my Kiwi-Keys?! Then it dawned on me: it looked like she was suffering from dermatitis (thanks Google!). I wasn't sure why though.. Until yesterday! I figured Kiwi's skin was drying from sleeping on the heating pad!!! LIGHT BULB!! I unplugged the heating pad.. and it looks like my Kiwi's skin is finally healing. All of her cuts are healing and no new fresh ones! YAY!

All better again!

I'm starting to think I should've gone to veterinary school! Remember this story: http://missmiigo.blogspot.ca/2013/04/dr-jenn-to-rescue.html?

In other totally unrelated news: The Starbucks red cups are back! Which means: yay holiday drinks!

One tall, no whip, peppermint mocha for yours truly!

Home made 'za

Day 204 part three

Apparently its a three blog kinda day today (four if you include my late entry from last night!)

Bobby made some pizza dough today so we feasted on spinach, feta and pepperoni (Bobby is a carnivore, and he would never have agreed to a spinach and feta only pizza) pizza for dinner... it was sooo yummy I had to share a picture!

First day back on PST (Pacific Standard Time)

Day 204 part two

After Bobby and I ate our poached egg sandwiches (and finally caught up with AHS - I can't wait until the next episode!!!), we cleaned up the place a bit, then hit the road to enjoy the sunshine! It's a brisk 8 degrees today and this is how Bobby got dressed:

I like to tease Bobby because Bobby is actually a Montreal export: He moved here three years ago... you would think 8 degrees is warm for him, but he's the first to cry when the temperature drops below 10 degrees ;)

Anyway, so our first stop was my brother's house. I am helping water his plans while he is away... Then we hit Pacific Centre for some light shopping. Bobby got a new snowboard jacket and new snowboard pants (SportChek is having a pretty sweet deal right now). I got some eye drops haha. Then we bought some alcohol and yogurt and fruit.. now I am home watching Dodgeball. Such a ridiculously funny movie: "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!!!!" Haha

When you've got almost a dozen eggs going bad within a week...

Day 204

...you go to the store (Choices, ugh!) and pick up the rest of the ingredients for poached eggs! I failed miserably at making hollandaise sauce, but everything else turn out perfectly!

Now we are full, and watching American Horror Story.... Its a beautiful sunny day today (albeit cold!!). Definitely planning on spending time outdoors today!!

PS: Enjoyed my extra hour of sleep last night thanks to the end of daylight savings! Woohoo!

Girl night out.. and night out with the guys!

Day 203 (a day late!)

The plan was to go out for drinks with Sebastian, etc, but then Najin texted me and asked if I wanted to hang out. I hadn't seen her in a while, so I said, hell yes! She came over around 8 and we went to Yaletown. Ended up at George and we were there for a couple of hours. We ended up meeting the guys at Tap and Barrel at Olympic Village. Such a fun night! We took turns using the drawing app on Najin's phone to draw each other...in between wining (beer for the men!) and eating wings and bacon chips!

Here's the one pic I took last night: blurry Seb, Najin and Lawrence!

Happy November!

Day 202

October 2013 has come to end... welcome, November: the month of poppies, beards and the countdown to Christmas!

Today Bobby and I both had days off from work. Its so nice to have some free time during the week. Our plan was to watch Ender's Game, which just came out last night. I first heard of Ender's Game some three years ago when Bobby and I first started dating. Bobby bought the book and he was reading it... and sometimes, I would take his book and read out loud to him (don't ask why, even I don't know why I did that haha). Anyway, I never actually completely read the book so I wasn't 100% sure what the story was about or how it ended, but Bobby really liked the book and he really wanted to watch the movie.. so we watched it. I thought it was very well done, and it was a pretty good story (for a sci fi book - I'm not really into sci fi). I was just happy to spend some time with my BobBob ;)

After the movie (we watched a matinee showing), we hit up IGA on Burrard to pick up a few things for tonight's dinner. Then we hit up Caffe Artigiano for some java (I seriously fell asleep for 10 minutes during the movie frome being so tired)... We just got home and I am just resting a bit before making dinner. 

I noticed that my Kiwi and Chaos had strange rooming arrangements when we got home:

My Kaykay was sleeping under their very disgusting wheel (apologies for the grossness of it) and Kiwi was passed out in the small hut..

 Meanwhile, the large hut remained unoccupied...!!!

I picked up my poppy today at 7/11. Bobby had to pick up a phone sim card for his project for his Manufacturing class. I hope I don't lose this one!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Day 201 a day late!

Yesterday was a day filled with candy and costumes!

My work was having a Halloween potluck. A few people dressed up. I wore a frilly dress with red tights and a red masquerade mask... some of my coworkers went all out though! We even had our very own rag doll. She was kinda creepy looking (dolls are creepy) but hands down, I think she won the best costume award ;). For lunch, a few coworkers transformed our kitchen into Halloween mode.. and people brought in food to share... so I had pizza, the best pulled pork tacos, cheese and crackers and veggies and dip. SO YUMMY!!!

I got off work at 5 and Bobby came and got me for round two of Halloween fun!

The plan was to go to Bobby's coworker Patricks' house to hand out candy while he and his wife took their two kids (and their friends!) out trick or treating. They live in this super awesome gigantic complex which was so perfect for trick or treating! We handed out candy for an hour and a half or so... lots of kids came by!! Saw lots of costumes.. oh yea, people were pretty impressed with our Portal costumes (mainly the guns). I was pretty impressed that a lot of kids knew the video game since Portal is actually a strategy game where you have to solve puzzles in order to move on in the game (laymen's terms: the game can be pretty hard). Our first fan was a kid who looked like he was 5 or 6 years old. His jaw literally dropped when he saw the guns. We ran into him AGAIN and his jaw dropped... AGAIN. Super cute!!!

Bobby had fun scaring the kids with his portal gun

We left Patrick's house, around 8:15 (our parking was expiring... damn you non free parking Vancouver!). We got home around 8:30 and we chilled for a bit. I put Kiwi and Chaos in their costumes and it was their turn for treats!

My pretty in pink and purple ballerinas enjoying cat treats!!!

We headed out again around 9:30 to a bar on Granville for adult Halloween fun. I was pretty exhausted by this time. We went to a lower key bar and had a few drinks and wings...

All in all, super great fun! Looks like Halloween 2013 was a great success! Huge thank you to Patrick, Jenn and their kids for letting us overtake their domain ;) Only 364 days left for Bobby to complete his 2014 Halloween costume masterpieces!

My now toothless pumpkin!

Hardcore flasks for those hardcore tasks?

Day 200

Spotted at London Drugs earlier on today:

Anyway.. I can't believe 200 days of blogging has already gone by! 

I got an email last week about half off of improv tonight. I bought Bobby and I tickets (it was 28$ for two tickets and two drinks) and so we went to improv... We usually go a few times a year and we hadn't gone in a while.. It's always a great time going. Good laughs :)

Just got home now and relaxing a bit before I get my costume ready for tomorrow! I have two costumes: one for my work Halloween party and the portal one that Bobby built for going out.

Christmas shoebox presents time!

Day 199 part two

Nothing much going on today... Bobby has school on Tuesday evenings, so usually it's just Kiwi, Chaos and me hanging out ;)

Earlier today, I finally bought the last present for my Christmas shoebox kid. Growing up, my mom and I used to fill up a few boxes for Christmas. My mom would always fill up her boxes for girls, so I would end up filling my box for boys to even things out (boys usually have fewer boxes to begin with). However, this year, I decided to fill up my box for a girl... So exciting to shop for girls!

My box includes:
1 Minnie Mouse colouring book (1$ from Michaels)
2 Hilroy exercise books (1.29$ each from Staples)
1 pink t-shirt (3.50$ from Michaels)
1 box of Hilroy pencil crayons (2.50$ from London Drugs)
1 pack of pencils (1.69$ from London Drugs)
1 pack of erasers (99 cents from London Drugs)
1 pencil sharpener (1.69$ from London Drugs)
1 toothbrush (free from my dentist! I get a toothbrush per dental visit and I don't use them because I use an electric toothbrush)
1 pencil bag (1.25 from a dollar store)
1 ball (2$ from a dollar store)
1 green frog stuffy (3$ from a dollar store)
1 pack of hair clips (1.50$ from a dollar store)
1 pack of hair ties (1.50 from a dollar store)
4 sheets of stickers (50 cents each from a dollar store)

So for a total of under 30$ (40$ with shipping), a little girl with have a slightly merrier Christmas!! :)

The box barely closes!

Happy birthday, grandpa... I miss you

Day 199

Today would've been my grandpa's birthday. He passed away a few years ago.. and I miss him!! Love you always, Lolo

Hello, hello, baby you called I can't hear a thing...

Day 198

Spotted phone booth at the plaza at my work... um... doesn't everyone have a cell phone these days?!