A Game of Thrones

I wasn't planning on going to the PNE this year... until I heard that the Game of Thrones exhibit was in town!! We love that show and wouldn't pass up at opportunity to sit on the iron (plastic) throne... and (virtually) ascend the wall. So we went yesterday. We went for the Game of Thrones exhibit... but stayed for the food ;)

But first! Kiwi does the ice bucket challenge!! (Okay not really - I would never dump water on her. She HATES baths so I would never torture her like that. I put an ice cube on her spikes for the pic, then quickly took it off)

We got to the PNE early so we could get parking. The doors opened at 11.. and we got in line for GOT first. It was a pretty cool exhibit - they had original outfits and weapons out for viewing.. And of course, the throne as below:

I've decided to adopt Margery Tyrell's wedding dress as my own ;)

Hodor!!! Not so big!

After GOT, we had lunch... watched Super Dogs (Aleks' all time fave so we had to go for her) and then checked out the prize home. The prize home this year wasn't so great. Super giant house but only two bedrooms... really? Even my moderately sized apartment has THREE bedrooms!! ;)

After all of that, we went to see the lumberjack show. It was pretty awesome:

Just chopping wood with an axe metres up in the air... no big deal

These guys were awesome!!!

We left after the lumberjack show to enjoy the rest of our day. For those in the area, the Game of Thrones exhibit is worth the 12$ entrance fee! (Admission is actually 16$, I get a discount with work... and its 13$ online). Getting a chance to virtually climb the wall was pretty awesome!

Hole in my head

Please note: this following post falls under the category of TMI. Consider yourselves warned

Last Saturday, we had some lovely friends over to see our not so new anymore apartment. Najin baked us a delicious cake, Bobby made us crepes, Luca entertained us with his cuteness... and amidst all of the fun sitting around our hot apartment, I ended up with a giant zit on the side of my head. It was so giant it was definitely hormonal/due to clogged pores thanks to the heat wave we were in the middle of... Anyway, it bothered me so much. Every morning it would stare me down while getting ready. I would drown it in acne cream, scrub the hell out of it with my daily scrub... and it took a few days at least for this damn pimple to finally dry out.

Anyway, so on Tuesday night, while watching Orange is the New Black... I did the unthinkable. I picked at the pimple... therefore breaking the skin. I did something even more dumb next: I put acne cream on the broken skin. Now I am pretty sure that it specifically says DO NOT PUT ON BROKEN SKIN on the cream (PS: I use a Clinique acne spot treatment thing which I tried to look up but it looks like they no longer sell the one I have)... So I'm happily going on with my night... and Bobby is like, um, what's on the side of your head. Well duh, obviously my pimple... But then I looked in the mirror, and my the pimple cream had irritated the broken skin on my face (DUHHH!!). So I did my best to scrub it off while trying very hard not to further irritate my skin.. but alas it was too late.

Woke up on Wednesday morning to a scab on my face. The scab was seriously just slightly smaller than a dime. I was so mad at myself/feeling sorry for myself for being such a dumb-dumb... anyway, the scab was in its early stages so it was super easy to cover it up with make. (Shout out to this and this for helping me get through Wednesday).

Yesterday was another day though. The scab was more dry so it was definitely a lot harder to cover it up with make up. Bobby asked a lovely question "why does it look blue"? I don't know Bobby. So shut up. I had an eye appointment (yearly follow up after laser eye surgery) and the tech was such a dumbass. He really pissed me off (totally unrelated to the giant hole on the side of my head) so I went back to work feeling so ugh... Managed to get through my day. We ended up going for ice cream later that night so I felt a lot better :) Also, my scab came off leaving only a slightly red mark. Woo hoo!! 

I think I have learned my lesson to not mess with my skin (especially not the skin on my face!). 

I wish I took a pic of the scab. I meant to blog about this earlier but just got so busy over the past few days. I know that red mark looks like nothing, but seriously, the scab was VERY obvious. 

Anyway, Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!

Awesome chai tea latte and chocolate courtesy of Caffe Citadella :)

Miracle Treat Day

Today is Miracle Treat Day - the one day of the year when Dairy Queen donates partial proceeds from blizzard purchases to your local Children's Miracle Treat hospital. So of course, I had to get a blizzard.. its for a good cause ;)

Unfortunately, my blizzard was all... soupy. Still good and happy to help the kids.. but ugh! #firstworldproblem

Fire and rain

So yesterday, while I was rushing through eating dinner, and then cleaning up so that I could go to Hot Hula (best dance class ever - more later!), a neighbour's smoke alarm went off. Now, we frequently set our SUPER SENSITIVE smoke alarms off as well, however, we very quickly fan it so that the alarm stops. After 15 minutes of the smoke alarm ringing, I stepped out on our balcony to see if anything more serious was going on. Bobby made me check our hallway to see if the alarm was in our building and it wasn't (the hallways were quiet) - the alarm was going off in the building across the little walkway from us. So we sat on our balcony to see if we could see which unit was in distress... then Bobby spotted smoke coming out of a third floor corner unit. We went outside to make sure it WAS smoke (and not random dryer smoke/heat) and as we got closer to the unit, it smelled like fire. Bobby called 911 (my hero!) and we tried to get someone from that building to pull their fire alarm to evacuate the building (note: this lovely lady had no idea what the fire alarm was, or where she could locate it #feelingsafeinmyneighbourhood).

Anyway, I had to run to dance class just as the fire truck was pulling in (totally missed the hot men). Bobby texted me updates. Looks like this family left a pot on their stove. It's so easy to call them out, but at the end of the day, mistakes happen and even the most careful forget. Luckily, the fire was contained/put out right away and I am guessing no major damage was done. 

It has been SO HOT and humid in Vancouver lately (I feel like I am in a Toronto summer). Seriously. It would 24 degrees "but feels like 30 degrees" at midnight. NO BUENO. Everyone's beauty sleep was seriously affected ;) 

It started raining today which makes me happy for two reasons:

1. Cooler weather is near! 

2. I finally got to bust our my "Rain Check?" umbrella which I got at Chapters. Looks like they are all sold out again though. Glad I snapped it up right away ;)

So Hot Hula is amazing! Great work out - you get really sweaty from the dance moves. I've signed myself up for one class/week, but I might up it to two classes per week because it's so awesome :)

And now, I leave you with a picture of Kiwi-Keys post bath. I gave her a bath on Monday night and she was pissed off for the rest of the night. You can't really tell, but she is biting down hard on that towel

PiYo, Despicable Me 2... and everything in between

I bought myself a couple of Social Shopper deals for a gym near my home, and signed up for two classes - PiYo and Hot Hula. I took the first PiYo class on Saturday and it was awesome! PiYo is a pilates/yoga infusion. I used to do pilates when I was younger and I dabbled in yoga a few years ago. I always enjoyed pilates but never really got into yoga. PiYo combines yoga poses with the repetitions of pilates therefore making a hardcore workout (eg, plank to downward dog to forward lunge to downward dog to upward dog... slowly at first... then with increasing speed... over and over again). I felt awesome afterward, you know, the feeling you get when you know your ask got kicked with an awesome work out? Looking forward to hot hula on Tuesday ;)

But first, here is my day yesterday in pictures:

I got up around 7:15 for the 10am class... not because the class is super far away (it's a 7 minute drive from home), but because Bobby had to drive his car in for maintenance, so then I had to go with so he could get a ride back. I decided to eat oatmeal and mangoes for breakfast - ps: mangoes are the most awesome fruit ever!

After PiYo, I had to pick up a package at UPS... then I went home and ate a salad.

Bobby went boating with the guys yesterday. I was supposed to meet up with a friend and her toddler, but her kid was feeling sick... so I stayed home because my legs felt like jelly... I seriously thought I would fall over in public had I gone out ;)

Anyway, after lunch, I was doing laundry/minding my own business... when my stupid shower rod collapses. Side note - I was hanging clothes to dry which is probably why it gave out. I was so pissed off because OF COURSE it decides to fall when my arms tired from working out in the first time in years! It took me 10 minutes at least to get this thing back up level. Because I am short, I could not even get it back up to the height its supposed to be at (there was no way one tired arm could extend that long, while the 2nd tired arm could extend that long AND screw the damn thing back into place). I decided to leave this as is... and wait for Bobby to remedy the situation...

Around 4:00ish, I started getting hungry again... I texted Bobby to see if he was going to eat dinner at home... turns out the guys ate after boating, so I picked up some wings at Polly Pokino's. Newly discovered gem of a wing place by our house. I got my fave - honey garlic.

After eating, Bobby got home. We then got ready to leave for Trout Lake. We made plans with friends to watch Despicable Me 2 at the outdoor theatres today. Bobby and I got there early for awesome parking and seating. The movie did not disappoint - I've seen it multiple times (Agnes is sooo cute!!)

Now its Sunday.. and I'm making breakfast - oatmeal and fruit again :)

Face masking

Quick five minute face mask tonight. Now my face feels so soft!!

I used the mask I picked up in Ulta while in Portland

Hedgehog lego!!!

I found out that Chapters is selling hedgehog lego... so of course I had to buy it! You can get your own pack here!

Lego Friends, targeted for the female population

Giant Bobby or teeny tiny hedgehog lego?

All built! It seriously only took 2 minutes....

Like Ikea packaging, I ended up with extra pieces... I even got an extra bow

Kiwi and her new (lego) hedgehog friend, Kiwi Junior

Ugh

On Friday, I went to bed at 130am. On Saturday I went to bed at 3am.

Its Tuesday and I'm still recovering from lack of sleep. Sooo tired at work and my head is going to explode.

This is 30, peeps

August long weekend

We've been having non-stop fun this long weekend!

Friday:

I went to work (Bobby worked from home)... I bought us tickets to "Guardians of the Galaxy". Unfortunately, the 7:30 show was pretty full (we wanted the Ultra AVX experience of course!), so we had to get tickets to the 10:45 show. I got home around 4:45, and we went for dinner at 5:30 because we were both starving (we went to Sushi Oyama, which is kind of like a Sushi Holic knock off). Then we went shopping/got coffee to wake us up before the movie. The movie was pretty good - Chris Pratt is so funny!!

Saturday:

Brad texted us and asked if we wanted to meet at Rocky Point park (uhh... yes please!). So we hit up Caffe Divano for caffeine and food, met them at the park and ate and played with Luca (new game - roll a small ball over Uncle Bobby while he is laying down!! that entertained Luca for at least 30 minutes!). After we had enough sun/heat, we hit up Yellow Dog brewery just across the street for some adult beverages. Pretty good new brewery - Bobby is excited to know they do growler refills!

Later in the night, we hit up Lawrence and Najin's bbq. More food!!! I was so full from eating the entire day, all I ate was corn, a grilled zucchini, and dessert. Anyway, so this was the last bbq at their current place because they will be moving soon.

Sunday:

Bobby and I went to downtown to view Hotel Georgia as a potential wedding venue. The venue is pretty nice, I need to work out some numbers with the Catering Sales Manager though (she was supposed to be the one showing us around, but then she got stuck in Pride Parade traffic, so someone else showed us around).

We were going to meet up with Brad-Ja-Luca for dinner (saw them twice this weekend already! How did we get so lucky?). We were going to eat wings (my favorite!!) at their house... so we bought dessert ;) I bought 6 different donuts for sampling at Lucky's donuts (I got glazed, peanut butter and jelly, french crueller, apple maple bacon, blackberry and coconut). ALL SOO GOOD.

Seriously, we made a pretty decent sized dent into the donuts!

Luca was pretty hyper after the donuts... sugar rush really exists!!

After he went to sleep, we watched Transcendence - good movie concept, weirdly played out!!

Got home early last night and Kiwi was running in her wheel. Whenever we interrupt her running on her wheel, she jumps off and hides. You can totally tell because her wheel will still be spinning (since Bobby pimped her wheel out)... and because Kiwi is a TERRIBLE hider. She thinks that as long as she can't see anything, you must also not be able to see her.. Except her bulbous butt will always be sticking out ;)

Side note - Kiwi is actually losing weight because the tutu I made her two years ago is too loose for her now. I guess that now that she can use the wheel whenever she wants (no more sharing with Mama!) she runs more often...

Has anyone seen Kiwi?

Now it's Sunday morning. We need to do grown up things (like grocery shopping), but still want to be able to enjoy outside. Having dinner with my family tonight... and already dreading going to work tomorrow...

Hope everyone had a fun and safe August long weekend! The countdown to Labour day is on now ;)

PS: For more on Kiwi-hiding-cuteness, click here

First attempt at vegan baking

I've been looking for a new recipe for banana bread muffins that's healthier than my current go-to one... and I stumbled upon this recipe. 

It looked simple enough - only 6 ingredients are required - also, it doesn't require butter. I picked up some coconut oil and maple syrup at Trader Joe's this weekend (the only two ingredients I didn't already have), pulled out 4 frozen bananas that have been waiting to be baked for weeks, and got down to work.

I substituted the whole wheat flour for white flour (I don't have whole wheat flour), and also himalayan pink salt for sea salt (also don't have himalayan pink salt - but memo to self, must try because it sounds amazing!). I added walnuts as well as about a tablespoon and a half of finely ground espresso (Parallel 49 grounds of course!).

I didn't take more pics because I didn't want to mess this up ;)

While these were baking, my apartment was filled with the yummy smell of banana bread, espresso and coconut!! A good sign that this is an awesome recipe ;)

Just pulled these out of the oven and my first bite impression: very yummy!!!

Portland haulage!

So we went to Portland (with a one night layover in Seattle) for Oregon's Brew Festival 2014. The beer fest was pretty organized. We got there right when it opened at noon (before actually), but we got in at a good time - it got really busy (and really HOT) by 3pm.

While in Portland (and en route at the Seattle Premium Outlets), we did a little haulage:

First stop was at the outlets, Bobby got two pairs of jeans and some shorts (all for under 100$! That shit is cray!). I got a hat to wear to the brew fest since I knew it would be 30 degrees that day.

In Portland, I hit up Victoria's Secret for undies (a woman can never have too much), and some moisturizer (I finally used the giftcard Aleks gave me for my birthday). The moisturizer I picked up was Origin's A Perfect World moisturizer, which I picked up at Sephora.

Floppy hat from Roxy at the Outlets, Victoria's Secret and Sephora in downtown Portland (tax free!!)

I hit up Ulta for the first time and its seriously such an awesome beauty store! I got the two giant bottles of shampoo and conditioner... and I also had to pick up the two smaller bottles because they were soooo cuuuuute (impractical reason) and because they would be awesome for traveling (practical reason). Aaand, I got a face mask (I've been dying to buy a face mask but Sephora's cheapest option I would consider buying is a single use mask for 8$!!). Anyway, I hauled all of this shampoo and mask for just under 22$. Seriously, Canada, go home, you are too expensive!!!

Lastly, I got some wellies at the Nordstrom Anniversary sale. I actually bought these online and picked them up at the Nordstrom in downtown Portland. These boots are awesome!!! Plus they were on sale, and tax free. I got the Hunter "Tall Moto" boots. I seriously can't wait for the rain to come.

The Nordstrom anniversary sale is awesome! I was good though and only bought the wellies (I had to really restrain myself from buying a new purse too... next year ;) )

Hello boots!

Here's some Bobby haulage: beer, beer and more beer. The peach beer is for me.

Beer from a super awesome liquor store called "Belmont Station" and a few from Trader Joes as well

We also hit up not one, but two Trader Joes to get everything we needed. We were smart and hit up the ones in Portland - they were less busy than the ones in Bellingham and plus we were able to drive straight from Portland (minus a lunch break, coffee break and gas break).

The border line up home was surprisingly quick (it was an hour wait, but it went by really fast because we kept moving). We got home just before 10:30pm... and today I have the day off so I am cleaning and unpacking and playing with my Kiwi-Keys, who was deprived of unwanted human attention for two days!

One last thing the mailman just dropped off this morning: I bought the Kate Spade Rain Check umbrella. I have been wanting this umbrella and it was finally in stock at Chapters. I bought the umbrella and rain boots online last week when it was pouring rain and cold in Vancouver. I decided to be proactive and be ready for fall ;)

Rainy day Saturday

As I write this blog, the rain has finally stopped! But this morning, it was pouring rain... but humid (making getting dressed awkwardly difficult).

I had a dentist appointment this morning... here was my morning view.

Rain, rain, go away

After getting my gums scrubbed to death, I went to Winners to return something, and then Save On to pick up some things for my lunch and for dinner, and then Costco for gas.

Bobby has to work today, so it was just me and my Kiwi-Keys today:

In between cleaning up the apartment, I painted my nails. I am loving this new nail polish I just bought this week. It's "Love's a Beach" by China Glaze. It's a neon pink with just a hint of shimmer - perfect for the summer. You can buy this polish here.

PMS blues

Yesterday,  I spilled tea all over my keyboard (luckily, its still functional!)

Today, I spilled tea on my label maker.

Soooo ... I decided it was time to sneak into someone's candy stash and help myself to a kitkat.

Kiwi's resting bitch face

Kiwi's got a serious case of resting bitch face - especially when she's next to her fluffly friend Prickles.

However, she also has the cuuuuutest face ever when she's sleeping... How can you not love Kiwi!?!?

Happy birthday Bobby!!!

A recap of Bobby's birthday festivities/Khatsalano Fest 2014

Bobby celebrated his big 2-8 last Thursday. I haven't bought his actual present yet (he needs a new watch, but the one he wants will not be available until the end of the summer). However, I wanted him to be able to open a present. Now if you know Bobby, you would know that nutella is his favorite food group (in Bobby's personalised food group chart) - he is constantly sticking his face in nutella... so I decided to buy him a tub that's actually big enough from him to stick his face in! I bought this 3kg tub at Ninja Bubble Tea for 40$ with tax. I told Bobby to be sure to keep note of when he opens this tub (July 12/14) and when he finishes it (likely two weeks or so away from that date ;) )

I also wanted Bobby to be able to blow out some birthday candles! Cake is a slice of the "chocolate explosion" cake from Whole Foods. I also picked up some super awesome candles (the flame is the same colour as the candle, which unfortunately is not obvious in this picture) from Michael's.

And then in true Bobby fashion, he celebrated his birthday with some Scotch - he finally opened up the bottle of Laphroig I bought him for our anniversary months ago! And that wraps up Thursday night's festivities.

We have a whiteboard on our door where we can write notes (usually along the lines of "Bobby, don't forget your lunch"). Bobby is constantly writing himself "notes from me" though. 

Friday night: I planned to take Bobby to the Keg for his actual birthday dinner. Our friends Brad, Janice and their adorable son recently moved about 10 minutes away from us, so I invited them along. The Keg never disappoints! Steak is always awesome! :)

Whenever I go the Keg, I get a Kiwi-tini. Sorry Kiwi!!

How cute is the kid's menu?! Tinier steaks for tinier people :)

What I like about the Keg (in Coquitlam!) is that they always ask if you are celebrating an event once seated. The first time we visited this restaurant, it was our anniversary. When they find out we were celebrating our anniversary, they gave us dessert! Totally unexpected, but such a sweet gesture! This time, they asked us again, so we mentioned it was for Bobby's birthday. They were so kind, they brought our dessert a good 30 minutes after we finished eating because our server saw how we were all ready to explode!

Warm brownies with ice cream = best dessert idea ever!

Yesterday (Saturday): Bobby opened his tub of nutella. Here's the ceremonial first dip.

We hit up Khatsalano Fest 2014 in the afternoon. I went mainly for the food ;) It was soooo hot and there were lots and lots of people... but we managed to find some square footage in the sidelines where we got to enjoy our poutine, and beaverstails (and chips courtesy of Brad/Ja). We hit up a liquor store afterward to get some refreshing adult beverages... I picked up the Stiegl Radler Grapefruit (the zitrone one is better). We all settled into a park with this awesome view... and we took turns entertaining Luca while he entertained all of us. 

We all had dinner at "Topanga's" after. The food was amazing! We were pretty much sunned out at that point and went home.

Happy birthday Bobby! I love youuuu! Hope you got to enjoy your weekend of festivities :)

Serious wedding planning starts... Now

I bought an agenda from Chapters so that I can write down and track of all our appointments to view venues (etc) and also so that I can have a keepsake of planning.

Over the weekend, we made a rough guest list... And tonight, I finally wrote down our very first serious venue viewing appointment.

I can't wait to fill this agenda (and notebook!) up with appointments and ideas :)

The True North Strong and Free

Happy birthday, Canada!!!

I had a great time celebrating Canada Day at Buntzen Lake yesterday. I hadn't been to Buntzen Lake in years but we are like 15 minutes or so away from it now and it's a great lake! You can rent canoes or kayaks, there are hiking trails and there's even an enclosed dog beach area! Lots of picnic tables for bbqs (but you have to get there early!) and the lake is huuuge.

So we bbq'd with my family. Bobby and I also went canoeing and hiking. My body is a little sore, but a good kind of sore. It's the "I didn't sit around all day and I feel very accomplished kind of sore". It was really hot though. It was about 30 degrees, but it probably felt like 32/33 degrees. We were at the lake though, so we got the occasional breeze. Bobby and I went to the fireworks at Lafarge Lake at night, and wow, I am impressed with the soiree the City of Coquitlam put together. The fireworks were pretty impressive. Plus we were able to walk home.

Now, a little side note on why I love this country:

I moved to Canada as a 4 year old. My parents left our somewhat comfortable life (my dad had a job he loved, and my mom worked part time - she spent most of her time taking care of my brother and I, but she also worked part time with friends who my parents still keep in touch with today) in the Philippines and moved to Canada, this wonderful free country where dreams really do come true. We left pretty much everything behind. Everything. I remember being told I could not bring my tambourine on our move because it would not fit in any of our luggage. We moved to a country where I did not speak the language at all (my parents and my brother spoke English but not perfectly). My parents both had to start over career-wise, and they both took on whatever job they could to help provide for our family.

I never truly realized how lucky I was to live in this country until I went back to the Philippines in 2009. It was a real eye opener for me because when you grow up in a country where education is free, and the opportunities are seemingly endless, you tend to take things for granted. I am forever grateful that my parents made the decision to relocate our family. They seriously gave up so much for my brother and me that I am seriously getting teary eyed just writing this blog.

Happy 147th birthday, Canada!