The "Tea Me Tiny" Detox Review

I picked up the 2x14 day Tea Me Tiny Detox teas when they were having their BOGO clearance earlier this year.

The numbers break down:

Each 14 day pack is 29.94 CAD. I picked up 2 packs for 29.94, and with flat rate shipping (9.95$) and tax, I got two 14 day packs for just under 45$. (Actually, I bought this 2 for 1 deal twice, so I ended up with 4 x 14 day detox teas). The shipping was also really fast – I got my tea a few days after placing my orders… but I live in BC and Tea Me Tiny Detox is based out of Calgary. Geographically speaking, even Canada Post could not fuck this up.

Instructions:

Brew half a teaspoon of tea in one cup of boiling water for at least 10 minutes. Drink tea twice daily, 30 minutes before eating.

First impression:

I personally like the taste of this tea. It’s slightly minty and it’s similar to the teas they serve at spas. And since you let the tea steep for at least 10 minutes, it’s no longer piping hot by the time you drink it! The brewing process is simple enough, although I did use three different tea steepers I had at home before finding one that worked well. I don’t usually drink loose leaf tea (but I have a collection of tea steepers at home from tea pots/travel mugs) so I can’t really comment about whether or not the leaves are larger or smaller than normal… but I can say with certainty that this pincer did NOT work. I don’t know if the one we have is defective, and maybe the pincers just didn’t snap tightly enough, but when I used this, tea leaves would constantly escape making tea drinking a little less enjoyable J. What DID work for me is the tea steeper that came with my travel mug. Basically I would fill this with the tea leaves and I would place it in a large mug (the tea steeper has a flat bottom so it stands on its own). Then I would fill the mug with boiling water until it’s just at the top of the steeper. I was never exact with the 1 cup boiling water part… I would say, I drank approximately 1 cup of tea twice daily J

I drank this tea twice a day:

Once in the morning. I would brew the tea just after showering and I would drink it while getting ready.

Once in the evening – time varies more than in the morning. I would sometimes drink it right when I got home, before dinner, or while making dinner… Sometimes I would drink it AFTER dinner if I ended up going out for dinner, or I just forgot.

Review:

The following are my own personal reviews. I have been drinking this detox tea for just over three weeks now (24.5 days if you are counting) so I think I can make an honest enough review about it.

The following are results that are expected when drinking Tea Me Tiny:

1      Increased energy/overall metabolism

Yes, I agree that my energy levels have increased – especially in the morning. I don’t usually drink coffee, but I normally do when I am really tired. I have only had two coffees in the past three weeks (I used to have a lot more). Now, I don’t mean to be Debbie Downer, but the tea IS caffeinated… so that could also help with the energy increase.
No comment about the increase in metabolism (how does one even measure this?!)

2   Appetite Suppression

I    I definitely experienced appetite suppression – no longer am I starving on my way to work. I get to work around 8am (about 1.5 hours after drinking the tea) and I can casually eat breakfast (usually a granola bar or cereal) without the feeling of being super hungry/faint. I also find that I am less hungry on my home from work, but that could also be due to the lunch/snacks I’ve had throughout the day.

3   Weight Loss Promotion

I have lost about 5 pounds since starting this detox back in the beginning of February. My current weight fluctuates about 2 pounds daily (depending on what I eat?) but I am about 5 pounds lighter today than when I first started the tea.

     Improved Look of Skin/Nails/Hair

This would be a big fat no for me. Recently (months before detox), my skin breaks out one giant pimple pre period… Sadly this has continued even with the detox. My nails are healthier – but I’ve stopped painting them and am using a clear nail hardener. My hair is a mess (but I recently just dyed it so that is definitely a contributing factor). In Tea Me Tiny’s defense, I think 3 weeks is too short of a period to be able to measure this… maybe things get better after a month? 

Overall, I am happy with the results of the Tea Me Tiny detox. I’ve been looking for a healthy detox alternative (none of this only drink lemon water with cayenne pepper, or only drink juice for days straight nonsense). I didn’t actively seek one out that had weight loss benefits – that was just an added bonus for me! Honestly, I believe in “everything in moderation” diets, but not drastic ones. I’ve never tried juice cleanses, but the thought of just drinking juice is daunting.. isn’t this an act of starvation? I hate this saying, but it’s very true: you only live once. So why not enjoy what you eat? While doing this detox, it was recommended to cut dairy out of my diet… but did I? Nope. I mean I didn’t go out of my way to only eat ice cream… and I think I only had ice cream a few times (thanks to my brother and his billions ofmcflurries)… and yes I ate chips and I’m sure I also had fries. I’m happy to have done this detox (and the future ones with the tea packages I have yet to open) and I would definitely recommend this detox to others. It’s simple and it lets you detox on your terms. And, you can still EAT! :) 

VB for Nails Inc first impression

Okay so I first heard about Victoria Beckham's collaboration while browsing the interwebs late last week... And I was PUMPED. Firstly, I LOVE Victoria Beckham. Hands down, she is the best dressed celebrity out there. Secondly, I love nail polish!!! I tend to stick with the reds/pinks but I do have a few blue/green shades...

Anyway, so I've actually been seriously pondering what my nails will look like for our wedding. I'm thinking a light pink with glitter for my fingers and then blue for my toes (after all, I need a "something blue"). I'm also considering a bright red for toes since that is my "signature look"... But still pondering...

I was super pumped when I heard about VB's nail polish collab. And I was even more pumped when I read that she did a nude and a red polish! This could not be more perfect timing... So I headed to Sephora in Pacific Centre to check it out. 

Bamboo White Collection on left; Judo Red Collection on right (note: I am holding the Judo Red Collection bottle, the Bamboo White Collection bottle is black!!)

My first impressions (all opinions my own):

The Bamboo White is a little too beige for my liking. For nudes, I prefer if the polish is more on the white or even the pink side... when it's beige, it looks weird with my skin tone...

The Judo Red is a little too orange.... As previously mentioned, I like my reds to be RED. It's really difficult to find the perfect RED red, but if you are looking, I would suggest OPI's Big Apple Red. 

(Side note: in VB's defense, the Bamboo White is described as a white cream nude shade and the Judo Red is described as a red orange cream shade... so they definitely got their description 100% accurate ;) )

In terms of "coverage" the polish goes on smoothly and you get perfect non streaky coverage in just two coats. As for price... well, it's a little bit steep - not Christian Louboutin polish steep... but it's 28$ a bottle and each bottle is about 13ml. To be honest, if the colours were more to my liking, I would've been like, shut up and take my money!! But, since I am not into these two colours, I am happy to pass :)

Big boxes for small items

Last week, Origins had a 20% off anything, plus free shipping deal... so I got some moisturizer. I have been using their A Perfect World moisturizer... which is okay. I like that it has an SPF of 25.. it's a little bit greasy though so I make sure to use just a small amount. Anyway, when I went to check out, it asked me if I wanted "complimentary gift wrapping". I figured, sure why not?!?! Well, when I had to pick up my package at Purolator, I was a little bit surprised by the size of the box!! The moisturizer box is 1.5"x 1.5"x 1.5" and the box it got shipped in is much much larger!

But.. when I opened up the box a few minutes ago, I quickly learned why: the complimentary gift wrapping meant stuffing small items in a large gift box:

Tiny moisturizer in a giant box!

Guess Origins ran out of smaller gift boxes...? Or maybe people always place orders much larger than mine was??!

A man and his 'hog

Kiwi was cold last night so Bobby kept her warm while we were watching Nikita.

Kiwi suffers from a severe case of resting bitch face so she tends to look angry all the time... So don't be alarmed - no hedgies were harmed for this photo op :) 

My two loves!! <3

Happy Birthday, Cakey Cakes!!!

On Februrary 13th, 2012, Bobby bought a hedgehog... who we named Chaos (whose nicknames were Kay-Kay, Cakey-Cakes, etc). To keep things simple, we celebrated her "birthday/anniversary" on Valentine's Day. This year, we are definitely missing Chaos a lot so I wanted to share some of my favorite pics of her:

This is our first picture of Chaos. Bobby bought her from a family and he brought her home in a shoe box with some shavings and some cat food. She spent the night in a medium sized plastic box (no lid!!) with a towel and food and water. The next day, Bobby bought her a cage and the "wrong" kind of hedgehog food. Seriously, Chaos was not a picky eater - she eats EVERYTHING... but for whatever reason, she hated the first kind of hedgehog food Bobby bought her.. and she refused to eat it for two days! Bobby eventually got her the "right" hedgehog food and Chaos lived happily ever after :)

Chaos and her beloved cat food! 

Post birth - here's Chaos keeping watch of the outdoor world while keeping her three little babes warm

More food pics - Chaos LOVED mangoes!! 

Chaos (on left) and Kiwi enjoying patio time

Missing you lots Kay-Kay!! <3

Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Woke up to a card, chocolates (which Bobby ate most of) and candy yesterday! Woo hoo!!

Also just wanted to quickly share the card I made for Bobby. Here's where I got the design idea from - I found this card at London Drugs and I thought it was really cute... however... Bobby never eats toast with butter... 

 

So.... I made one with toast and nutella (everyone on this planet who knows Bobby knows he LOVES nutella!!)

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day!!!

Kiwi the dachshund

Caught Kiwi mid stretch yesterday. Hedgies sleep balled up (probably to cover up all of their vulnerable non spiky areas) but even they do daily stretches :)

Kiwi is so stretched out she looks like a wiener dog!!! She's so cute because sometimes she actually uses her food bowl to stretch on. 

Photos of her with her dropcam are often grainy so I labeled which side her head is at ;)

The high heeled tape dispenser.. and the parking dilemma

If you are Canadian, you know that Target Canada is shutting down shop in our home and native land. Liquidation sales started last Thursday… so I hit up Target not once, but twice (!!!) this past weekend. The first trip, I got some nail polish remover and washi tape (a new obsession – although I am not sure where or even HOW to use this stuff) and some Swiffer refill stuff. I eyed a scotch tape dispenser for my desk at work… but decided against it.

We went to Target again yesterday… and I really, really, REALLY had to have this tape dispenser... So I got it. It was 10.49$, plus 20% off.

And so… here it is:

Not a red bottom... labeled so it does not get stolen at work!! (The things people steal at work!!)

Now, this is actually my second super awesome high heel tape dispenser. The first one I also got from Target over a year ago.. this lives on my desk at home J

Okay.. and now for more parking problems:

So I lived in downtown, Vancouver for over 4 years and not once did I ever get a parking ticket. I have lived in Coquitlam for less than a year and I have already gotten two tickets. TWO!!!

The first ticket was due to the West Coast Express parkingmishap. I spoke with Impark and they canceled this ticket for me, so I went on with my life, filing this ticket in the back of my mind… imagine my surprise when I received a lovely letter from Impark mid January telling me that since I have failed to pay for my parking ticket, my account would go into collections. I WAS SO PISSED OFF. I mean, seriously, WHAT TICKET?!?! I was told it was canceled. Since the car is registered under Bobby’s name, I paid the ticket off so that his credit would be unaffected. I tried to call Impark to dispute this “account going into collections” nonsense, but of course, their wait time is like 15+ minutes long… so I wrote them an angry letter and mailed it. I didn’t expect a response from Impark – I merely just wanted to let them know about their incompetence. And to be honest, if the car was registered under my name, I would’ve left the parking ticket unpaid (it was only Bobby’s credit I didn’t want to screw over, but if it were my own, I would’ve battled this out to the very end of time with Impark!). Anyway, I got an email late last week saying I would be refunded for the parking ticket. #winningfeelsawesome.

Anyway, so this morning, when I got to the train station, I had to buy a monthly parking pass and idiot me forgot to make note of my parking stall number before heading to the machines… so I had to run back to my car (in the rain), make note of the my stall number, and then run back to the machine. I almost missed the train.. ugh. All so that I would not risk getting ANOTHER parking ticket. My parking ticket budget of 0$ per year has already gone up by a LOT this year J

Kiwi's favourite place to hang?

Okay so this is the second time I've caught Kiwi on the roof of her hut... And I'm sure she's on there a lot more often!!!

Just another day in the life of Crazy Kiwi!!!

Family Day

So it's Family Day tomorrow so us BC'ers get a long weekend (The rest of Canada has their Family Day next week).

As previously mentioned, I took Friday off so I have an extra long weekend! My mom and I went wedding dress shopping... and I found a dress!! We bought it so I'm glad to have that crossed off my list. I previously bought a plain white dress from Anthropologie... which I am now going to return since I like my wedding dress so much more! :)

So today, we had my family over for Family Day. I made pulled pork (yesterday) and Bobby made pizza - these are our specialties! My mom brought Filipino food and my brother brought spinach dip and a million McDonald's McFlurries for dessert. Seriously, he showed up with NINE. He thought my cousin and his family were also coming, however, they were unable to come tonight because they already had plans... so we had extras:

Only five McFlurries got consumed tonight... which means we have 4 more... ugh!!!!

The first biggest highlight was Kiwi meeting Rupert (my brother's gf's dog). Kiwi was a little bit unsure of Rupert.. and she spiked out and hissed a lot... but she held her own! Rupert was pretty unsure of Kiwi too ;)

The second biggest highlight was getting my family to paint their tiles!!!

My dad painted this mango and hibiscus

My bro and his gf collaborated on the "Starry Night" spinoff at the top right, my mom did the "Bahay Kubo" on the bottom right

Here's the art wall now! We're thinking of adding another row at the top! I know there are still a lot of blank canvasses, but a lot of friends have not painted their tiles yet (we do live out in Suburbia!!)

Today was awesome hanging out with family :)

Tomorrow, Bobby and I are heading into the city for a lunch date... some shopping... also need to return that dress from Anthropologie...

Hope everyone has a great long weekend!! :)

The Day Off

I took the day off today so that my mom and I can go wedding dress shopping. To be honest, I'm kind of dreading wedding dress shopping - I went last year with Najin.. and it's so overwhelming. The dresses are so heavy, random strangers are staring at you... etc. I consider myself a girly girl - I love pink, and wearing skirts and dresses, and polka dots... but I am not a GIRLY girl... and I have never been one to know exactly what kind of wedding/wedding dress I would have.

Anyway, since today is my day off, I decided to hit up Kim's 6:30am PiYo class! I know, its crazy waking up so early on your day off, but since I normally leave for work around 6:45am anyway, it's not like I had to get up any earlier or anything. Plus there was less getting ready to do this morning - no make up, no picking out something to wear. It was just, eat a light breakfast, tie hair up and head out. PiYo is definitely A LOT more challenging so early in the morning. PiYo is pretty difficult itself, but when it's so early and you are just waking up... yea, it's an ass kicker. But it felt great to work out so early :)

Headed home after and had a snack... watched some TV then took a short nap. Now I'm all showered, getting ready for my doctor's appointment and wedding dress shopping... all while hanging out with this 35 month old as of today:

35 months!!!! She's almost three!!

Happy Friday! Hope all my fellow Vancouverites stay dry out there!

A Sunday to Remember

Recently, I decided to try out PiYo at BeachYoga (a studio close to my house). I love the place I currently go to (the teacher is AWESOME) but I just crave more and more PiYo each week and it is only offered twice a week at my current studio... so I decided to branch out.

PiYo at Beach Yoga was okay - I sweat A LOT. The teacher said the room was not heated, but it was so hot in the room! The only thing I didn't like was the music - all the tracks were quite slow... so it didn't even get you pumped up. Kim (the instructor from the other studio) uses fun, fast tracks like this one (Side note - "Be Okay" by Oh Honey is my new happy song).

Anyway, so PiYo was at 9:30am so I was home by 10:40 ish or so... I chilled for a bit.. then showered so we could go out for lunch. After lunch, Bobby dropped me off at home because he was on the hunt for a tool chest... I had a lot of things I wanted to get done at home... and shopping for tool chests just didn't sound fun.. so off he went. He came back a couple of hours later with half of the tool chest because it obviously wouldn't all fit in the car (even though he took my car, the hatchback).

So Bobby came back with the lower half of the tool chest (this is the bigger piece of the two pieces). We managed to get it into the apartment just fine. Then Bobby went back to Costco to pick up the top half.

Now, allegedly 4 Costco employees helped Bobby load the car for the bottom part of the tool chest. The bottom piece is probably about 350 pounds (boxed). The top piece is 150 lbs (boxed). After both pieces were in the apartment, Bobby unboxes them... and then looks at me and say he needs help putting the top half on top. Hahahahaha is all I can say. I mean I am very short. I am only 5'3" and the bottom part is 3 and a half feet tall... and Bobby expects me to lift almost 150 lbs over 3.5 feet in the air?!?!?!?!? It was insanity. And the whole time I am panicking that we will drop this and someone will get injured!!

But.. since I am the only other person in the apartment, there was no one else Bobby got tag into this situation. So I put my big girl panties on and brainstormed the plan of how we could get this damn thing where it was supposed to go.

The first step was lifting it about a foot and a half onto our coffee table. Our coffee table is old and metal and I hate it... But its super durable (it used to be Bobby's "workbench" in our old apartment)... so I knew it would hold up. The next problem was getting another 2 feet in the air... At this point, my stress level was at 110. I mean, like wtf. Bobby kept saying, just lift it with your legs. But my legs are tired from PiYo and I didn't trust that they wouldn't buckle from all that pressure and weight!! I mean seriously... 150lb is clearly heavier than me!! Haha... So, I regrouped and devised another plan. We used our couch arm chair as leverage/a spotting location. We pushed the top half of the tool chest completely on the arm of the couch. Then Bobby, lifted one side all the way to the top of the bottom half, while I held the other side down (with lots and lots of spotting from my couch by the way). Then we traded spots. I then held the top of the tool chest in place while Bobby lifted the other side up... insert lots of fixing here... et voila:

All I can say is, I deserve some sort of medal for this.

Has anyone seen my treat??!

The cake tasting and the wedding registry (part 2)

So we were a little unhappy with the Crate and Barrel gift registry process (you cannot manage/change your wedding registry online, nor can your guests purchase gifts online) so we decided to switch over to The Bay (Canada's Gift Registry!!).

As previously mentioned, I used to work for The Bay, so I've seen first hand how awesome their wedding registry process is. Firstly, you have to make an appointment to scan items on your registry... and they give you this really awesome box which includes a catalog where you can scan items into your registry using their new app!! In the box, there is also a guideline list of things you "might need" (eg, a list of linens, a list of kitchen gadgets, etc) And you can manage your registry online. Crate and Barrel was a lot less formal - you can walk in at anytime to register. They don't give you a list of "guidelines" that can help you during your registry process... One last difference, The Bay gives you a year to complete your registry; Crate and Barrel only gives you 6 months. 

The box

However, Crate and Barrel has a few items that The Bay does not carry (eg: Bobby's beer/bar glasses) so we are going to keep both registries. To be honest, I am sure most of the items on both registries we will end up purchasing ourselves because who buys gifts for weddings anyway??! People usually just give cash these days!!

We spent a good hour and a half on the 5th floor of The Bay in downtown. I thought that registering would be a lot more fun, but its actually overwhelming. Its hard to decide which plates, or which glasses to register for... and it doesn't help that Bobby and I have polar opposite taste in everything!!

After scanning a million plates into our registry, we headed for the 2nd floor (my favorite floor!!!) to check out the shoes I want to get for the wedding. Originally, I wanted the red Valentino rock stud pumps, but 

1) they don't match my wedding dress 

2) they aren't leather so they aren't worth the 995$ plus tax

I really want shoes that are not classic wedding shoes - shoes that are different, yet match my style and shoes that I can wear again. These Alice and Olivia pair are amazing. They are a little high so I would need to practice wearing them (I wear flats all the time)... but they aren't pricey. 335$ before tax... I am waiting for The Bay VIP sale (25% off anything in the store - anything that is not licensed or in The Room at least). Also keeping my options open in case I find another pair of shoes I like :)

So after The Bay, we headed to Ganache Patisserie for a wedding cake consult and cake tasting. When we lived in downtown, we bought a lot of cakes at Ganache Patisserie. Their cake is AMAZING. So when it came time to consider where we should buy our wedding cake, there was no other option!! Peter from Ganache sat with us and helped us design our cake. We also tasted some cakes before going for a custom option. Can't wait to serve this to our guests ;)

We tasted 5 cakes and these were the leftovers we got to bring home

So after paying for the cake deposit.. and the cake consult.. we decided we did not spend enough money on cake today so we bought another cake for our friend Janice's birthday! It was her birthday a few days ago and we didn't know what to get her... so why not an awesome cake from our favorite bakery! We got her the mango chocolate mousse cake (or whatever it is called) and we dropped it off just after dinner. Luca got all hyped up on sugar. Mental note to not give him any sugar when we babysit next week ;)

And that was Saturday. I am honestly impressed that we are getting lots done for our wedding. I am constantly crossing things off my list!! Woo hoo!!

Kiwi the hedgehog eater

My mom gave us hedgehog chocolates a couple weeks ago and we finally busted the box open yesterday. I wanted to take a picture of Kiwi and the chocolate hedgehog together.... But I couldn't put the chocolate down without Kiwi wanting to eat it.

Kiwi does this really cute thing where she will reach a paw out for something she really wants (eg cat treats) and she was really reaching for the chocolate last night. So cute!!! Side note: normally, I let Kiwi have treats (even human treats) but chocolate is something she can't eat because it's really bad for her. Sorry, Kiwi!!

So to sum up: Kiwi will not eat kiwi (her fruit namesake) but she will eat hedgehogs. What a weirdo ;)

The wedding registry

So today yesterday, we did our wedding registry. I made a list of things we needed/wanted, headed to Crate and Barrel… and wandered somewhat aimlessly for over an hour.

Before I get into the amazingness of shopping for things “for free”, I wanted to share a funny story about my experience with wedding registries from my days working as a Sales Associate at The Bay J

Back in… 2004-2007 (ish), I worked at The Bay Coquitlam as a cashier. The job in itself was kind of boring.. but as a student, I actually worked with lots of fellow UBC Science students, so it was kind of fun hanging out with people you knew.. outside of school… while making money. Anyway, so one Saturday morning in the summer, I checked in for work and before I could even get behind the cash desk, this gentleman came up to me asking where he could print a wedding registry list. So I walked with him to the wedding registry printer and helped him print his niece’s wedding registry out… and told him to have a look at the list to see what he wanted to purchase… and to find one of us Sales Associates if he needed help locating something. The lovely man looked at me and says “Okay, well I need help buying everything left on this list”. Immediately, I assume he is JOKING.. I mean, who the heck buys out the rest of someone’s registry??!?! Well, the man was NOT joking… His niece was getting married that morning and he wanted to complete her wedding registry. Now this is actually an extremely sweet gesture since no one usually ever completes their wedding registry… and its always the small things that get left behind (picture frames, oven mitts, etc) since people usually end up buying the “more expensive items” (blenders, toasters, bed sheets, etc).. However… since the man’s niece was getting married that morning, the man actually did not have time to do the shopping himself. Not only was he attending the wedding (duh), but he was also emcee for the reception, which meant that he had to leave the store ASAP to get ready for the wedding… and he couldn’t be back until right before the store closed… Which meant that I had the pleasure of running around the store looking for items left on his niece’s registry. I recruited a co-worker to help out and we even found some boxes to put the presents in so we could wrap everything up. We rang everything up on a cash register so that the total would be ready for when the man returned to pay for everything. He didn’t want to leave his credit card number – he only promised to return around 4pm (we were closing at 6pm). Well, 4pm rolls by and no man… 430… no man… I start to panic and think we got punked.. and that not only did I spend all morning looking for all of this crap.. I was also going to have to spend all afternoon putting it back!! We called the man and he kept saying he would be there soon … I think we were all starting to lose hope before the man walked back into the store (in his tux!) to pay for everything. I think the total was only a few hundred dollars but I’m sure his niece was touched at his extremely kind gesture J

Note: this is note a story shared with anticipation that we will also have a fairy god-uncle come and buy everything off of our list! I just had to share this story because it’s so random J

Anyway, back to our registry story:

I think we did okay. We didn't go TOO crazy - we did register for a LOT of glasses (Bobby had to have every single beer glass, and some moscow mule mugs... and then we also had some regular drinking glasses and wine glasses). I was going to go online to remove some glasses but we can't access our registry online (even though the Sales Associate at Crate and Barrel said that we could :( ). I also need to change the sheets we requested... and add some fancy dinner plates.

My most FAVORITE item we requested was this doormat. Okay seriously, I only requested one, but I think I should have requested every one they had in stock!!! ;) We can have a hedgehog door mat at every door in the apartment!!! The only downside is having a hedgehog mat means "stepping on Kiwi"... But the mat is so cute so I am okay with that!

I am strong

Okay so I've been working out since 2015 started. Mainly to get in shape for my wedding/get in shape overall. I go to PiYo twice a week (Monday's and Saturdays) and I go to another class (Abs, butt and thighs) at the community centre near my house on Wednesday's... And I bought some weights for some light weight training at home for the days in between. Now I know I've been getting stronger... But I didn't know I was THIS strong now:

I went to get hot water for my tea today and I broke the dispenser button right off. 

Buuut, unfortunately (fortunately?) I am no she-hulk. I went to tell my manager about the mishap and he informed me that the button actually broke a few weeks ago and so whoever replaced it must've done a shoddy job... So it broke easily :)

In other news since I haven't blogged in a while:

- We have a wedding venue and a wedding date!! So excited

- Kiwi's been a bit of a drama queen and she's been extra pissed off lately. Hopefully she's back to normal tonight!

- Lots of new and exciting things coming up at work :):)

Went a little nutso at Superstore today...

All of the Christmas decorations and wrapping stuff, etc at Superstore is 70% off... so I went a little crazy.

I got:
- 3 large gift bags
- 4 alcohol gift bags
- 2 small gift bags
- 6 packs of tissue paper
- Christmas cards

all for less than 10$ (it was 9.78$ or something)

INSANE!!

/shopaholic moment

In other news, we watched Gone Girl last night. Such a good movie. Rosamund Pike played such a great character. I am a little freaked out about the craziness/creepiness of it all though.

A little 2015 DIY project

Happy 2015!! I hope everyone had a great time celebrating the new year with friends, family and loved ones :)

January 1st started off with a Christmas decoration DIY project (a tip that I picked up from work). 

Basically, what this is is a large "decorative" box you can use to store your Christmas ornaments and decorations when its NOT Christmas... but during the holidays, you can put this lovely box under your tree (giving it the illusion that its one giant present). Maybe its because we don't have kids, but Bobby and I don't normally have a lot of presents under our tree anyway... and lets face it, presents get wrapped the night before or the morning of our family Christmas party, so there really isn't very much going on under our tree. In fact, since we currently don't have side tables (Bobby is working on these right now), our board games are the boxes that are hanging out under the tree ;)

Materials needed:

- One large box that has a lid that's separate from the bottom part of the box... size up to you, depending on how many decorations you own and/or how much space you want to take up under your tree (I used a printer paper box I got from work)

- Pretty but durable wrapping paper... I suggest buying craft paper because it's thicker than regular wrapping paper (I bought this red craft wrapping paper from Michael's. If you do end up going to Michael's, don't forget to use your coupons - 40% off every week or 50% off certain weeks)

- Fancy ribbon

- Scotch tape

- Glue gun or double sided tape (optional)

Okay, first thing's first - wrap the lid of the box and the actual box SEPARATELY with wrapping paper. This is actually easier said than done, especially if you are like me and you are not a present wrapping guru. Be sure to wrap both pieces separately so that you can open and close the box as you need (DUH, sorry for having to be Captain Obvious). Be extra careful around the corners because once you wrap the box with wrapping paper, it's more difficult to put the lid back on (since the box is "fatter"). I used scotch tape to reinforce the outside corners of the bottom part of the box and the inside corners of the lid (since these are the parts of the box that will be rubbing against each other when you start trying to shove the lid on)

Once you have the box wrapped up, use fancy ribbon to accent the box. My plan was to do the regular "criss/cross" ribbon design with a pretty bow on top... but I ran out of ribbon and very fortunately had exactly enough to just wrap around the box. As above, make sure you put the ribbon separately on the lid and the bottom part of the box. I suggest using tape to hold the ribbon in place while you line up the ribbon on the lid and bottom part of the box (I taped the ribbon on the inside of the box so that it doesn't ruin the wrapping paper when I have to adjust and readjust the wrapping paper while lining up the ribbon). Once you are satisfied with the positioning of the ribbon you can use double sided tape or hot glue to more permanently hold the ribbon in place). I have not done this part yet. I am planning on using hot glue because I don't have double sided tape. Will update you all to let you know if this is a good idea (I'm worried it might ruin the wrapping paper)....

Another optional step is to make a fancy bow to put on top of the box. As mentioned above, I ran out of ribbon so I didn't get this far. Also, I have absolutely now idea how to make a fancy bow with ribbon so I guess you can say I lucked out ;)

The final product should look something like this:

And this:

I finally had some time to work on this project... just in time for the time of the year when decorations need to be put back in the storage :)

Blogmas Day 31 - 2014 in review

Okay, another year has gone by. I know this is very cliche, but seriously, where the heck does time go?!?
Just this time last year, we were ringing in the New Year in Manhattan. This year, we are doing a much more low-key new years eve since we just got back from San Francisco (a trip that coincided with a terribly weak Canadian dollar)

So much has happened over 2014 so I thought I would mention some highlights:

January: We bought an apartment!

We were really lucky because we only looked at 8 apartments before moving forward with an offer for our current place. We only went apartment hunting twice. The first time it was probably early December 2013. We looked at 4 places - none of these places screamed "pick me, pick me pick me!!!!" so we decided to take a break until after we got back from Florida/New York. We went apartment hunting again in January - we looked at 4 more apartments (3 in the building we currently live in). To be honest, our current apartment was obviously the one we were going to buy since it has three bedrooms (all of the other apartments were only 2 bedroom apartments) and it was such a great deal! However, there was another apartment in the building that had the BIGGEST patio ever that we kind of considered buying as well.. but we decided to be realistic and get the apartment with the third bedroom. That way, Bobby could get his own space and we still had room to grow so that when we do have a kid, we wouldn't be forced to move. Plus, the third bedroom has been really awesome! Marco lived there for a few months, friends who have visited have stayed there.. and Kiwi is currently chilling in it with her heater on full blast...

February: Valentine's Day in Whistler turns into the most expensive stay anywhere for us!

We went to Whistler for some snowboarding fun on February 14th. Bobby got me lessons years back and I was finally going to use them that weekend. Everything was fine and dandy... except that it snowed a LOT overnight on Saturday.. so much so that everyone headed up to Whistler for some fresh powder on Sunday! Seriously.. it was crazy busy! When we finally left, it was snowing pretty hard. We were all driving 10 km an hour on the Sea to Sky highway. It seriously took forever to get half way to Squamish when we came to a dead stop. There was a multi-car accident just ahead which essentially shut down the highway. We finally decided to go back to Whistler for the night... and since it was Reading Break, the only room left was an 800$+/night suite. How great! The room was amazing. It had two fireplaces, a private balcony with a hot tub.. etc.. lovely things I did not care to enjoy at that time since I was so pissed off/stressed out about the day... and we had to get up REALLY early the next morning since I had to work. Luckily, I made it to work only 20 minutes late.. but it was no fun having to go straight to work from Whistler after that disaster!

March: We say goodbye to life in downtown and move to suburbia

After our offer was accepted in January, we decided to move in mid March to give our former landlord two months notice to find new awesome tenants. With the help of friends, we packed everything up and moved 45 minutes away... and it was seriously the easiest move ever. Our apartment is still a work in progress but it's definitely feeling more cozy and like home every day! We definitely enjoy having a lot more space (I mean, come on! Even Kiwi our HEDGEHOG has her own bedroom ;)) and we live in such a nice area (we are close to parks, hiking trails and shops!).

Another March event was the sudden loss of Chaos, our first hedgehog/Kiwi's mama. We still miss Chaos very much. We even created a geocache last summer, but some stupid punks stole it :( We are re-grouping and thinking of a better and more permanent way to honour her memory.

April: I turn 30

I was 100% okay with saying goodbye to my twenties and turning 30... until it was a few days until my birthday. I got depressed and panicky for no reason... It was the "turning 30 jitters". However, Bobby threw me the most awesome birthday party with all of my closest friends present. Bobby even hired a magician to come by and wow the crowd :)

May: Bobby and I celebrated 4 happy years together

Okay, not every single day of those 4 years was happy because obviously we have had our disagreements and fights.. but we love each other and I can honestly say that Bobby makes me a better person. He helps me achieve my dreams and is so supportive of my decisions (except impulse buying, he hates those ;) ) Also.. he just gets me... I know I can be super annoying and am border line cray cray at times, but Bobby loves me for me :) (well, at least I think he does :P)

June: Najin and Lawrence get married

This seriously was the most awesome friends weekend away ever! Not only did we get to see some awesome friends walk down the aisle and promise to spend the rest of their lives together, but it was such an awesome gathering/party of all of our close friends. Not once have we all gone away for a weekend so it was nice to have everyone there :)
We all stayed at Nita Lake Lodge (highly recommend this as a weekend getaway spot - only downside is that it is quite far from Whistler Village) so no worrying about drinking and driving, especially since the wedding had an open bar!

July: Celebrating Bobby's day of birth

It's Bobby's birthday! Someone bring out the beer.. and nutella... Lots and lots of nutella ;)

August: Lots and lots of summer fun!

As previously mentioned, we created a geocache for Chaos (which lasted for a few days before getting stolen). We also really got to enjoy summer in our new 'hood. Lots of visits to Lafarge Lake and Rocky Point.

September: Whistler Craft Beer Weekend

Need I say more?!

October: Halloween, Bobby's main holiday of the year

Every year, Bobby slaves away making his Halloween costume. Most people buy costumes off the rack at Target, or Value Village.. But not Bobby. His costume has to be 100% custom made... and he also has to go to Home Depot 23 times during the costume making process.. and he also has to buy at least 4 new tools... wait, what are we talking about again? Oh yea, so this year, we joined in on the Halloweeen Convention festivities in downtown. Hands down, Bobby had the best costume there. Everyone wanted to take a picture of him. Everywhere we went, we had to stop for at least 15-20 minutes so that people could take pics... Here are some bonus pics of Kiwi in her costume.

November: Fun times decorating our much larger apartment for Christmas

In our old apartment in downtown, we had ZERO space for a Christmas tree... so much so that Bobby got the Charlie Brown tree (the one branch, one red ornament kind) for us... but even then, we had no space to put THAT tree on. Well, not anymore at this apartment! As soon as it was "okay" to put up a tree (eg: not too early - Bobby needs time to unwind post Halloween fun), we went to Target to pick one out. In the US, I guess most families put their decorations up after Thanksgiving... well our Thanksgiving is in October... and the only holiday we have in November is Remembrance Day... so I have started using the day after Remembrance Day as the day it is okay to start decorating! Must also mention, November is when we start counting down to Christmas... and Bobby starts counting down to when he can open his advent calendar

December: Family vacation in San Francisco

I had so much fun spending Christmas with both my family and Bobby's family. It was also the first time our parents have met... happy to report they got along... now everyone is excited about our wedding... which means the pressure is on my to plan, plan, plan!!

I have so much to look forward to in 2015 (a wedding and honeymoon!!) and I feel so blessed to be where I am in life today. Wishing everyone a very Happy and safe New Year's Eve!! All the best for an even better 2015!!

Merry 2015 from Bobby, Kiwi and me