The forgotten wallet

So I forgot my wallet today. Last night, Bobby and I had Polly Pokinos for dinner... and because I was too lazy to bring my entire bag to pick up the food, I just brought my wallet in my jacket pocket. 

This morning, I noticed my jacket still on the dining chair.. and I even mentally commented that there was "something heavy in the pocket" but I was too tired to care since it was 630am and I was on my way to work.... and since it was supposed to be 27 degrees today, I left my jacket (and wallet!!!!) at home. 

I didn't even notice until I got to Caffe Citadella. I ran out of yogurt and starwberries so I couldn't make myself a parfait for breakfast... so I was going to pick up a pastry... that was when I realized that my wallet was at home!!!! Despite all of this, I am thankful for two things:

1. The staff at Caffe Citadella are so kind. They let me have my pastry and told me to just "pay them next time". This day would've been shitty without breakfast (I easily get hangry) so I am so touched by their kind gesture... and let it be known, I will be there first thing tomorrow to pay my dues ;)

2. I have a great memory for remembering credit card numbers (online shopping really helps out!) so I memorized my credit card number... so I was able to load my starbucks gift card online which I could then access through the phone app.... and so I had a sandwich at Starbucks for lunch.

Work was so busy today, and for whatever reason, I woke up with a headache - not a full on migraine - one of those annoyingly mild headaches that lasts a long time. For whatever reason, I had no tylenol on me (this is so unlike me) and of course, I couldn't buy any and no one at work had any. #ugh

Oh and traffic was a nightmare on my way home... and I was paranoid about driving sans license.

But I made it home in one piece... and found that bank couriered a new PIN number for me for my new bank card... even though I received my bank card a week ago and my new PIN had already been sorted out #firstworldproblems

Okay... so we had left over Polly Pokinos for dinner... and are going out for ice cream. 

At least the day ended of nicely :)

Eating ice cream, for the kids

Okay, so yesterday was Miracle Treat Day - the day Dairy Queen donates a portion of blizzard sales to charity! Naturally, I had to get a blizzard. Side note: Not because I am an ice cream monster, but to help out kids in need ;)

mmmmmmm

At least this year's blizzard was not as soupy as last year's ;)

The Ginger Ale Drama

So today I learned that if you leave work early one day for a doctor's appointment... and then you drink a ginger ale in front of your coworkers the next day... they automatically think you are PREGNANT.

I mean seriously, I love ginger ale! And it was soooo hot and humid today and I really just wanted a cold, sugary beverage :(

The Bathroom Update

Ever since we moved into our apartment over a year ago, I've been fighting tooth and nail to win over some "Jenn only" space. Bobby has his own "man cave" (aka, the third bedroom), and even Marco has his own bedroom. The original plan was to have a kick ass walk in closet to myself... However, with the purchase of this apartment (and some furniture we never had living in tiny downtown Vancouver apartments), and with the wedding (and upcoming honeymoon), spending $1000+ on a custom closet isn't high on the priority list of things to buy.

So... I've decided to re-vamp my bathroom! Not a complete overall (eg: painting, etc), but more of an 'surface' touch up.

I wanted to achieve two things in this bathroom re-do:
1. I wanted my bathroom to be more "girly"
2. I wanted my bathroom to be more organized (see below)

Before: Ahhh clutter everywhere!

Before: We got this shower curtain as a Christmas present a few years back... its nice... but I am over it!

Before: Poor use of large space

We got a Winners/Homesense giftcard from my coworkers as a wedding present and I decided to use that towards this project.

The first thing I purchased was a smaller toilet paper storage (from Winners - its a 'stackable basket').

After: Better use of space... but I am still brainstorming ways to better utilize this space.

The biggest purchase I was going to make was a new shower curtain. I have been wanting a "ruffled" shower curtain ever since seeing one at Anthropologie, but their version was too expensive (over 100$) which to me is insane!! So I've been looking and looking and I found out that Bed Bath and Beyond sells one!! And it's all white, the way I want it!! :D I have a 20% off coupon at Bed Bath and Beyond too so this shower curtain would've cost just over 60$, which is still a bit expensive, but good enough. I was previously going to buy a similar shower curtain on Amazon.ca but I was hesitant because I was worried the quality would be terrible and I wouldn't be able to return it... So I went ahead and reserved the shower curtain at the North Van Bed Bath and Beyond location.

This morning, before heading to North Van, I hit up the bank to pay off my Visa, and then Winners to return something. I decided to have a look around to see if I could find other things for the house... and I stumbled upon this gem:

After: New shower curtain!!

This shower curtain is by Cynthia Rowley and it only cost 25$ ("free" since I have a gift card)!!!! So crazy!!! And its such great quality!! I am obsessed ;)

Side note: Needless to say, I canceled the Bed Bath and Beyond Order!

After: Counter all clean - also still a work in process. Still brainstorming how to store my hair dryer and flat iron.

After: white tray to hold all the potions I use to keep my skin young/acne free ;)

So all in all, I've spent just over 60$ (the toilet paper basket was 16.99$, the shower curtain was 24.99$ and the white tray was 12.99$) - which is what I would've spent just on the shower curtain at Bed Bath and Beyond. And since I used my giftcard, all of this was free :D

I still have some money on the giftcard to help with storage issues... and maybe splurge on a super awesome bath mat!

So happy with how this project turned out! Can't wait to shower tomorrow ;)

The Bachelorette Randoms

So last night, I was cleaning out my closet so that I could sell off some no longer used possessions on Craigslist.

One of the items currently for sale (and sold in just 5 minutes - meeting the lady today) was my Lululemon backpack which I bought a few years ago and used for school. This backpack is awesome, but I have no need for it anymore. The last time I used it was for my bachelorette weekend in Whistler (and this was only because Bobby kept insisting that our carry on luggage was in the apartment, not the storage... and when it came time to pack, he was mistaken!!!). 

Anyway, so I was cleaning out the backpack since I did a shit job when I got home from Whistler... and I stumbled upon these pieces:

1. Cork from champagne bottle (for "memory" box - side note: buy memory box)
2. Sundial room key
3. Band-aids (Someone really needed band-aids that weekend!)
4. Veil for the night out

Such a great ladies weekend!! Can't believe it was almost two months ago!!

Tarte Amazonian Clay Foundation and Concealer Review

Finally have a second to review Tarte's Amazonian Clay 12 Hour Full Coverage SPF 15 Foundation and Tarte Amazonian Clay Waterproof 12 Hour Concealer.

Previously, I had been using MAC foundations/concealers... but I wanted to use something a little bit more organic. I picked these both up at Sephora back in April during their Beauty Insider sale and to be honest, I was no nervous switching foundations so close to my wedding (I was worried trying a new product would make me break out!) but happy to report that my skin agrees with these products!

I got the foundation in "medium light beige" and the concealer in "medium"

I love both of these products!!

The foundation goes on so smoothly and it blends really well. I find that the colour is matched perfectly with my skin tone so it gives me a really natural/no make up look (which is pretty much my go to look!).

The concealer is also great! It helps cover my acne scars and I love how it comes in a 'lipstick' format. Its super easy to put on (I previously used MAC's pro longwear concealer and I always had issue with pumping out too much product!!) and its not wasteful at all!

Definitely loving Tarte's products - currently looking into Tarte eyeshadow and lipstick/lipgloss...

The forgotten work bag

Bobby left his work bag at home today.... Luckily he put it next to Kiwi and I noticed it this morning when I did my daily Kiwi check in.

Here is his bag with a cold brew coffee and chocolate. FYI Bobby, I ate your chocolate as payment for bringing your work stuff and buying you a coffee!!

Bobby's 29th

It was Bobby's 29th birthday on the 10th... so naturally, we celebrated this entire weekend! 

Side note: because I am the crazy hedgehog lady, and not one post can go by without mentioning, Kiwi, the late Chaos, or hedgehogs in general.... I finally picked up this hedgehog doormat at Crate and Barrel!! 

Hedgehog on hedgehog!

Okay, so it was Bobby's birthday on Friday... and on Thursday, I bought him some beers to drink this weekend. It's increasingly difficult to buy beer for Bobby since he wants to try original craft beers... all I can say is, thank god for untappd!!!!

The first stop on the birthday tour was a romantic dinner for two at Orrange. However, because there was a pet store near the restaurant (and because I knew there are hedgehogs there)... this became our first stop.

Go away crazy humans!!

These hedgies are not socialized so they were really hard to pick up...

Such a little cutie!!!! This hedgie is very shy but it didn't bite!

Okay... so after we played with the hogs, we went next door for some food! Orrange is okay, decent food, decent prices.

Birthday boy with his guinness

After dinner, we went to Bobby's favorite store:

After Home Depot, we went home for affogato (on our super awesome espresso maker)....

... and birthday cake (Chocolate Explosion and Tiramisu from Whole Foods)

Too distracted by the affogato/not realizing there is cake in front of him

Kiwi came out to wish Bobby a happy birthday beg for cake

Bobby and his Rogue Voo Doo Donut beer!!

Okay so that was Friday... the real "party" was Saturday at Port Moody Ribfest!!

Now, it has been uncharacteristically hot in Vancouver the entire month of June. It was 30+ degrees for a couple of weeks and there are 100s of forest fires all over BC due to the extremely hot and dry weather.... Basically, we have all be praying for rain... and while I am glad it rained, I wish it did not happen at Port Moody Ribfest while I was standing in line holding my uncovered half rack of ribs!! It seriously poured rain and all I could think was, should I wait in line for corn as well?!?!? But I digress...

Giant pack of baby wipes to help us get through this meal

The food at Ribfest was okay. Maybe the rain dampened the mood a little bit... but the craft beer was definitely underwhelming!!

Sebastian met up with us at Ribfest and then we met up with Brad-Ja-Luca for menchies!

I hope you had a great birthday weekend Bobby!!! Love you :D

The BBQ dilemma

Someone at work (let's just call him G) offered to buy a communal barbecue for our lunch room patio... such a sweet gesture to be honest... except for my poor coworker who got tasked with sourcing said barbecue!

So my very kind coworker went to Canadian Tire and Home Depot to bargain for a good deal with the sales associates at each store... and in the end, she got a great deal on a floor model barbecue... which is a bonus so we wouldn't have to put it together... and because we work so close to the store, they even wheeled it over for us (reluctantly!!).

This all went down yesterday afternoon. And on my way home from work, I saw a barbecue just outside of Cafe Citadella (super cute coffee shop in a heritage home) that someone was giving away. I seriously laughed so hard at all of the work my coworker had to go through to get our barbecue when one was up for grabs!

In the end, this free barbecue is a lot smaller/less nice than the one we got...and who knows if it's even functional... it was just funny due to the timing of these events ;)

Our Wedding!

So we tied the knot last weekend (June 27th)... after months and months of planning! I wasn't sure if I wanted to blog about our wedding.. but I wanted to give a huuuuge shout out to every single person involved in making our special day a reality.... so, here goes!!

We had our ceremony, reception, dinner and post dinner festivities at Shangri-La Vancouver. From the moment we got in touch with Stephanie (Events Manager) to plan our wedding to the second we checked out of the hotel the day after the wedding, the service we received was A+. Seriously, everyone was so accommodating and kind! We truly felt like royalty! Everything went smoothly (minus my brother almost arriving late for the ceremony!!!). The staff did such a wonderful job! The night before our wedding, they sent us some sparkly wine and chocolate covered strawberries to enjoy... and they included craft beer for Bobby (because they knew that Bobby does not just drink any beer!!). I would definitely recommend holding your event at Shangri-La Vancouver :)

Before walking down the aisle...

Back in January, the minute we secured our venue and paid our deposit, the first thing I did was book a hair and make up consult/appointment. I am so terrible at both of these things and knew I would need to recruit some professional help... a quick google search led me to Beauty Calls, a mobile hair and make up service. Here I met Alysia Hamilton (super sweet owner) and Lily Ling (super awesome hair and make up artist). Both Alysia and Lily are so sweet... and Lily is AMAZING!!!! She did such a wonderful job! I looked and felt so great at my wedding! :) Seriously, book Lily now for your hair and make up needs!!! You will not regret it.

Photo credit: Lily Ling

The second appointment I made was cake tasting! This was a no brainer. When we lived in Yaletown, we frequented Ganache Patisserie. We sat down with Peter and he helped us decide on a custom flavor and cake design. Our guests were impressed and there was no cake left at the end of the night!

Single tier hazelnut chocolate with mango filling... with strawberry macarons... mmm

We had a very small ceremony (15 guests total) and my plan was to wear a plain white dress. This upset my mother greatly and I realized that not taking her wedding dress shopping/wearing a "traditional" wedding dress was robbing her of her mother of the bride experience! So we went to The Bridal Gallery and Debbie helped me pick THE dress ;) Bobby custom made his suit from Indochino.

Photo Credit: John Miguel
Dress: Mori Lee 6794
Flowers and pineapple boutonniere: V&J Plantshop

And last, but most certainly not least, photography was done by Dora and Alex from 21 Mpix Photography and they did such a great job! We've only seen a few pictures and cannot wait to see the rest! Random story: I met Dora through Lily (my hair and make up artist!! You can read more about our meeting here). Make sure to contact Dora if you need a photographer for your upcoming event!

Huuuuge thanks to all for making our wedding a reality! Special shout out to Peter and his crew at V&J Plantshop for custom making Bobby's pineapple boutonniere :)

Kiwi's Blog

Hello! My human mommy is neglecting this blog so I decided to hi-jack it and share some pictures from my photo shoot!

A little back story: 

In May, my mommy had her wedding hair and make up consult with Lily from Beauty Calls. Lily took a picture of me and my mommy and posted it on her Instagram account. One of Lily's friends commented on a photograph about how she has been wanting to do a photo shoot with hedgies so Lily put her and mommy in contact with each other... and voila! Dora from 21 Mpix Photography came to visit me at Lafarge Lake on Monday June 8th and she took so many amazing pictures. Seriously, I have never looked so good ;) 

Below are just a few shots Dora took. Please be sure to request permission before sharing any of these photos… and don’t forget to give Dora credit for all of her amazing work. You can find more pics on Dora’s facebook page

Instagram: @dora_korz

Facebook: www.facebook.com/21mpixphotography

www.21mpixphotography.com

Hanging on a log... this was not my favorite part

Pondering about life.. while on a rock

Eating flowers! My humans did not know that I liked to eat flowers

Obligatory shot with my humans

Hello!

I was really well behaved for the hour long photo shoot. I didn't even poop once even though I don't like being exposed. I kept trying to hide underneath grass but I was too big. Thank you to everyone who stopped by to say hello while I was having my pictures taken... and of course, a huuuuge thank you to Dora for coming out all of the way to take my pictures!

Please follow me on my instagram account: @kiwithehog

- Kiwi

Victoria Day long weekend

We got a three day weekend this weekend thanks to her (former?) Royal Highness, Queen Victoria. It was sunny and 25 degrees all three days so we made sure to enjoy the sunshine!

Saturday:

The first stop was breakfast. Ever since moving to the suburbs, we haven't really found a go to breakfast place. There's a Cora's nearby, but honestly, I am not a fan of that restaurant. The food is only okay... and it's always so busy! So I urbanspooned another place... Bobby was impressed with his food, I wanted to throw up after eating mine. Haha.. 

I will spare ya'll the details and move on to our next stop: the pet store. We want to bring Kiwi around on walks so she can enjoy the sunshine and fresh air (two of her most hated things by the way) so Bobby got her a carrier. Kiwi is a very suspicious hedgehog.. she refused to go in the carrier. I had to force her in the carrier and it took 10 tries to get this blurry pic. Anyway, needless to say, Kiwi hates the carrier.

So after the pet store, we made a quick stop at Walmart/Canadian Tire... and we came home to take Kiwi on a walk. When we lived in downtown, one of our friends always offered to watch Kiwi (and Chaos!) whenever we went on vacation. Our friend lived in New West and Kiwi would ALWAYS get carsick during the 30 minute drive over. We are talking vomiting here. It was always so sad to see because I couldn't do anything to help her :( We stopped taking her on car rides (the last car ride was during our move last year)... I packed her in her new carrier with a towel and a toy and we slowly walked to the lake (10 minutes away) and when I took her out there was vomit all over her towel. Ahhh Kiwi!! But she was fine. I put her on the grass and she had a blast (or probably not) sniffing around.

After she got enough outdoor fun, I put her back in her carrier (where she peacefully napped!) and we sat near the lake while Bobby took pictures of the fountain.

Hello world! I hate this carrier

After the traumatizing experience for Kiwi, we went home.

Sunday:

This day was reserved for a people hike. No hedgehogs allowed. Mainly because the forest we are hiking in has bears and cougars. I mean seriously, this forest should also be no Jennys allowed because I was so stressed out the entire hike. Now, we've done this hike before, and its a really easy hike. It takes about 40 minutes to get to the end where there's an awesome waterfall. So anyway, we did this hike last year... I'm all la-di-da-ing on my way back when a family interrupted us to let us know they spotted a black bear about 10 minutes away. AHHHH. Anyway, so Bobby wanted to go again so he could try something on the new camera.. and we got there and saw that not only were there bears spotted, but there were also cougars spotted. Now, I am not an animal expert, but bears (black bears at least) will likely stay back and not attack unless they are hungry... but cougars!?!?!? They stalk their prey and they are so damn scary in general. I guess I should explain that this "forest" is a part of Coquitlam Mountain... which pretty much connects to Whistler mountain.. so there are tons hungry wildlife!! Anyway... we continued on (even after seeing a sign taped up by hikers saying that "a black bear has been charging at hikers near the waterfall")... I mean honestly... we must be idiots or something ;)

I was sooooo paranoid the entire hike... but we made it to the waterfall... Bobby got his pics... and we headed back and made it out alive! ;)

After the hike, we came home to change and then we headed out again to watch Mad Max. PS: Mad Max is an epic movie if you are into high speed car chases and violence!

Monday:

Today was a day reserved for a pedicure! I went to a salon that offers reasonably priced pedicures about 5 minutes away... Had an excellent time being pampered ;)

My parents are home from their European vacay.. and they brought back presents!

Kiwi and some chocolate from Amsterdam (no there is no weed in it ;))

I hope everyone had a lovely three day weekend! This is our last vacation until our wedding next month.... so it will be all work errday until June 25th for me!

PS: I finally got Kiwi an instagram account so send her some love and follow her :)

Caught in the rain - Monday edition

I check the weather forecast religiously while getting ready for work every morning. How silly of me to believe the forecast!! It predicted sunshine all day, and since it was 25 degrees and humid on Saturday and Sunday, I had no reason to doubt it...

So I was a little bit surprised when the rain started around 7am... While I was waiting for the train.... Umbrella-less

Happy Monday ya'll! Have a great week :)

Hedgehogs!!!! And other Saturday randoms

Yesterday was a day filled with sunshine! First we went to Starbucks for caffeine. Bobby is not a Starbucks fan... but they are now serving cold brew coffee!!! Unfortunately, the store we went to did NOT serve cold brew coffee so we got stuck with frappes.

After Starbucks, we went to Chapters to get Mother's Day cards for our mommies. Found this gem of a card on their shelves:

Now, if you have watched Mean Girls 2920394209734 times like me, you would know that this line is from Mean Girls ;)

After Chapters, we went to Home Depot so Bobby could stock up on supplies. He is finally finished our side table and he ran out of screws and such.... So off to Home Depot we went... PS: Go check out Bobby's blog to read all about it!

We hit up a liquor store after so I could get Bobby some beers for our anniversary.... and right next to the liquor store was a pet store... so we had to go inside..

SOOOO CUUTE!!! I used to have Chinese Dwarf hamsters when I was a kid. These are Russian Dwarf hamsters and they are soooo tiny!

Somebunny loves Bobby!

HEDGEHOGS!! OMG I almost had to have these. There are three female hedgehogs for sale... and I swear one is pregnant (she was as huge as Chaos when Chaos was knocked up!!!). These hedgehogs were REALLY shy and hard to pick up

After all that fun, we went home and walked to the park near our house... Bobby got a new camera he wanted to try out/learn how to properly use. From the park, we walked to the ice cream store... then Best Buy... then we walked home. Now we live on a hill so we got some great exercise in post ice cream :)

Bobby practicing his photography skills

Patio sangria... For one

In a pinch to make sangria... so I grabbed a large (1L) mason jar, cut up some strawberries and added (equal parts) ginger ale and white wine.

Ps: how cuuuuute are these ginger ale bottles I found at IGA? 

A whole lotta mangoes and one kiwano melon

Firstly: Hello! It's been a while ;)

Secondly: I am addicted to mangoes - yellow mangoes if you want to be specific. I found out that Whole Foods had these on special (5 for 5$ for one day... then 4 for 5$) so I went and bought 17 (over a course of three days) and it cost 20$... and it was worth every penny.

While at Whole Foods, Bobby spotted a Kiwano Melon. Now Bobby is all about "experiences" and "trying new things". So somehow, we ended up with this strange prickly fruit in our basket... and it cost 5.99$ (To think, 5.99$ could have bought 5 more mangoes!!!)

Which one doesn't belong?

The Kiwano Melon is very seedy...and it's not sweet at all. I'm pretty sure Bobby wasn't very impressed with it either.

Anyway, nothing new to report here... got some new makeup/beauty products from Sephora that I will be posting reviews on... The PiYo craze has kind of died down a lot (mainly due to low energy levels/nausea from my anemia)... And just like that, we are at the end of April!