today was a special day.....

......and not just because i managed to FINALLY post some pictures from vegas :-) check'em out!

today was Administrative Professionals Day. every year us administrative-types are recognized (in some companies) for our continuing efforts of keeping our peeps organized, getting reports out the door to clients, planning special events, coordinating schedules, etc. etc. etc. so today renee, derek, erin, sue and i headed over to the hilton for the International Association of Administrative Professionals breakfast info-session. i was there for the prizes :-) but of course, i didn't actually win anything. boo.

it's this time of year when i realize how valued my work is to my company, and how much i'm appreciated by my peers. every year all administrative staff receive a floral arrangement along with 2 hours of paid time off (comes in handy on a sunny friday afternoon!). in addition to that, my team leader also gave me a box of godiva truffles. yum-yum! i've decided to have them with the bottle of wine one of my consultants gave me along with 2 riedel "O" tumbers. i'm very fortunate to work for such a great team in this large international organization :-) i have to admit that today i was touched by the nice words these two ladies had to say on the thank-you cards. it's little things like this that make me want to step up and be a better person.

with all the pressures of meeting billable hours, adhering to SOX, maintaining ethical standards, and all that other random stuff that makes a company function, it's nice to know that at least once a year the company worldwide celebrates all administrative employees. i'm lucky because our vancouver office is somewhat smaller compared to other locations, and i know my work is appreciated every day of the week. working with the right ppl is so important - it can motivate you to strive further and challenge yourself in new ways. i can't imagine working in a place where i didn't get along with everyone!

besides, tomorrow is the BC Children's Hospital Jeans Day. two great days in a row! what more could a girl ask for? hmmmm, isn't the super 7 at $30 million?!?!

i'm a tax virgin!

so every year we all have to file our taxes. every year i hand over all my paperwork to my dad. every year he enters my numbers onto the computer. every year i blindly sign on the bottom line, just long enuf to see how much my refund is. every year i trudge over to canada post and mail my tax return to surrey.



this year, i made a change. after 28 years of my dad taking care of everything for me, i decided that as a married young woman with property in my own name, that it was time to stand on my own two feet. well, sort of. i managed to print out the T1 form (yes, i'm doing my taxes on paper, not computer), instruction manual, gathered all my random papers, and then i got line 1 right - my income. game over. i struggled for several hours on what boxed numbers corresponded to what lined numbers, threw around all sorts of schedules, and got myself completely in a knot. chris wasn't much help either because he's never actually done his taxes either - i guess that's what happens when you have a family business w/your own accountant!

so with the april 30 deadline looming, and i was just assuming i had a refund coming my way, i started to get panicky.......what if i don't get it done on time? what if i actually OWE money? what if i don't have all the right forms? what if i don't have all my receipts? what if i can't figure out the mathematical equations? what if...... and on i went.

so last night, we had dinner at my parents' house, and i took all my tax stuff over with me. my dad confirmed that i indeed had line 1 right - my income. and from there onwards, he rambled off all the lines to fill in, forms to complete, etc. etc. 30 minutes later i was finished. it was incredible! well, i still have to white-out a few spaces where i incorrectly put information, but not a big deal. hopefully i'll retain everything i learned last night, and successfully complete my taxes next year all by myself.

words, words, words - no more words

again i have to say it.....all good things must come to an end. i went for my usual morning starbucks latte, and found that the "akeelah and the bee" sleeves have been discontinued. i might try a different location tomorrow...... for the past 3 weeks i have been enjoying the various words that have been on the sleeves and on the coasters. here is my collection........

eudaemonic - producing happiness and well-being

elucubrate - to produce (a written work) by working long and diligently

foulard - 1) a lightweight twill or plain-woven fabric of silk or silk and cotton, usually having a small printed design; 2) an article of clothing, especially a necktie or scarf, made of this fabric

autochthonous - 1) native to the place inhabited, indigenous; 2) originating in the place where found. used of a disease originating in the part of the body where found, or of a disease acquired in the place where the patient is

shalloon - a lightweight wool or worsted twill fabric, used chiefly for coat linings

argillaceous - containing, made of, or resmbling clay

lyceum - 1) a hall for public lectures or discussions; 2) an association providing public lectures, concerts and entertainment

pococurante - indifferent; apathetic

pastiche - a dramatic, literary, or musical piece openly imitating the previous works of other artists, often with satirical intent

appoggiatura - an embellishing note, usually one step above or below the note it precedes

pulchritude - great physical beuaty and appeal

"i was feeling stifled in my shalloon coat and foulard scarf at the argillaceous lyceum, sitting through a pastiche, when a normally pulchritude appoggiatura sounded pococurante today."

anyone else want to try making a sentence w/these words? i dare ya!

it's all about the eats!

so it's been a while since my last post, because i've just been crazy busy. between vacationing in vegas, working in calgary, helping w/sunny & geoff's wedding in vancouver, getting roll-shades installed, watching non-stop tv on our new HDTV (sans HD), i need a break! hahahahaha! it's a rough life i lead :-)

anyhoo, on friday night i was supposed to have some workmates over for dinner, but due to unexpected circumstances our plans got postponed. so instead, we had vic over for dinner and enjoyed prawn & chorizo sausage penne in a tomato cream sauce with garlic bread. (the night before i had ordered rigatoni al porto from anton's!) talk about a carb-filled couple of days!

on saturday night, we went out for dinner w/stan @ nan-chu (i think i've spelled it wrong?) in richmond - it's on alexandra road with a million other restaurants. i can't remember everything we ate, but here goes......ebi mayo, pork/chive/shrimp gyoza, grilled rice balls, beef sashimi, chicken & green onion robata, beef robata, tuna sashimi on rice, green salad, seafood salad, and a whole lot more. everything was delish!

on sunday i went for a much needed paracure for the feet at eccotique. my feet went absolutely insane after walking around vegas, so for an hour, i lay back and relaxed while they got all cleaned up. i actually picked a bright pink colour for my toes......not sure what i was thinking because i don't actually have a lot that matches pink. i was feeling springy on sunday :P

we went out for dinner at the keg to celebrate my brother's birthday. i had my usual.....filet classic, medium rare - steak & bacon, how can you go wrong?. so yum! after dinner my family, including my grandma and one of my many aunts, came over to our place for coffee and dessert. the only reason we registered for a coffee maker was for occasions like this :-) i still haven't figured out how to use it! my grandma is really cute.....she's turning 96 in 3 months, is sharp as a nail, still doesn't speak very much english, and a bit hard of hearing, and sometimes her hair turns purple for no reason - now that's really funny! anyways, she was super impressed with our new wall-mounted tv. my aunt's trying to convince her they need one as well (it's been an on-going discussion since last year). so we showed her the full motion of a wall mount tv. i think it was a successful sale!

since i hadn't cooked on the weekend, i had to buy lunch yesterday, so i had gyoza, chicken karaage, ten musu, and tuna sushi combo from fujiya - this was one of my more expensive meals from there because of the tuna. then after work, ang called us out for dinner - she and ryan were heading to sushi garden. of course i said "count us in!" so i had a spicy tuna roll, alaska roll, smoked salmon nigiri sushi and gyoza. ah, so yummy! i think i've had my fill of japanese food for the week :) hopefully my mom doesn't cook anything too japanese-y for dinner tonight. it happens once in a while - when we go over, she tries to cook stuff i wouldn't normally make. a couple weeks ago we had tuna sashimi, fish eggs on seaweed, and a few other dishes i can't remember.

another plane trip - how bad could it be?

it couldn't be bad! that's because i got all the bad luck out on the vegas trip! so after the plane problems from the weekend, i thought i wouldn't be seeing a plane for a long time. but i was wrong! on monday, my boss asks if i would mind going to our calgary office for a few days to help out their support staff. "no problem!" i said. i quite enjoy travelling for work purposes :-) so i headed off to calgary at the crack of dawn on wednesday morning and returned on thursday night. this time i flew with someone reputable AND canadian.......westjet! and of course, it was an uneventful flight. this is the way all flights should be.

i didn't do anything exciting in calgary (outside of work), because i was just too tired from the weekend, and the 5 a.m. alarm. i downed a lot of coffee though just so i could make it through the day. i think i'm growing a dependence on this substance. is there a CA (coffee-aholics anonymous) group i can join? i used to drink short lattes, and now i'm doing the triple grande lattes in the a.m., followed by a grande iced latte in the p.m. how messed up is that? you think i had an expense account or something! i might be able to catch up on sleep this weekend.

i have to comment about sunterra. our calgary office is located downtown and it has a foodcourt on the ground floor. but across the street is sunterra......it's like a foodcourt, but a million times better. it's like having a buffet selection in front of you......they have a salad bar, dessert bar, pizzas & pastas, mexican food, indian food, everything you could imagine. i ended up getting the butter chicken on rice and a tomato basil pasta salad. this was an amazing meal for $7! and to top it all off, i was completely full! and the next best thing about this place is that from the office, you can still get to sunterra without having to walk outside, thanks to the +15 (it's a walkway that connects lots of buildings together - convenient when it's -20!). however, since it was a tropical 18 degrees, april (my co-worker) and i figured we could manage the outside walk :-)

and that was calgary.

las vegas: day 5 - the fun is over :-(

well, all good things must come to an end. i felt so ripped off from our first "night", and i really didn't want to leave vegas. i didn't do as much gambling as i had hoped i would do. i wanted to stay up for the 3 a.m. poker tournament, but it wasn't meant to be. apparently i need my sleep :P darn it!

so on our last day in vegas, we started the day off right.......late breakfast at the little patisserie (is that what they're called?) in our hotel. the 3 of us each had a savoury and a sweet treat - i opted for the chicken and mushroom pastry pocket and a cherry flan. so yum! after filling our bellies, we headed back to caesars for some last minute shopping/exchanging. it took a lot of willpower on my part to NOT buy another coach item. that store is just pure evil :-) i spent the entire weekend in vegas ppl watching, in the hopes i would see someone famous, and i finally did. we saw cindy crawford & randy gerber in the forum shops! i only noticed her because she was darting (quickly) around ppl, and randy was trailing behind trying to keep up :-)

and finally, the time had come - ang and i said farewell to sunny (and geoff) at their terminal, and then we were off to our terminal. why do fun things always end so quickly, and horrible things drag on forever? it's not fair! anyhoo, we met up w/chris, ryan and andy at our terminal, and we were on our way to our departure gate. we were excited because our flight was leaving on time, and boarding started right on cue! whoo-hoo! america west has redeemed itself. or not........

so the 5 of us boot it onto the plane, so we can cram our oversized bags into the smallest overheads bins imaginable. it's ridiculous. chris and ang end up having to check their carry-ons. so, ppl are still boarding the plane, chris and i are settled in our row 1 seats, and then he points at the ppl standing outside the plane doorway (still in the walkway). hmmm, what's going on? why have they stopped boarding ppl? i then strain forward in my seat (to the point where i'm barely sitting - i might as well have walked right up to the flight crew and listened in :P) , and i hear random words......."substance", "vial", "security", "hazmat". yikes! words you don't want to hear. bottom line was this......a passenger in the back of the plane found a vial of pills/powder in an unlabelled bottle. since it was a safety issue, the flight crew had to give the substance to security, and they had to clear it. while all this cafuffle was going on, the crew were still chatting amongst each other and we heard them trying to decide if they should stop boarding passengers, whether we should be getting off the plane, and possible if we might be stuck in vegas for another night (well, that wouldn't have been so bad!).

so after about 1/2 hour, the substance was cleared as someone's prescription drugs (who carries around a prescription in an unlabelled bottle? are you stupid?!) and they allowed the remaining passengers onto the plane. who-hoo! we were almost ready to leave! or not. seriously, what else could go wrong? well, apparently seat 12a had been "soiled". we don't know what it was soiled with, but the announcement from the flight crew said there was an "inoperative" seat. since our flight was completely full, someone from the back of the plane volunteered to stay behind and catch another flight since his other friends were still in vegas (for his "inconvenience" he was given a roundtrip flight to anywhere in north america). i thought to myself "great, get him off the plane, and let's leave already!" unfortunately, this volunteer passenger had luggage with him stored in the plane. it took 10 minutes for the luggage crew to get permission to remove his luggage because we were on an international flight and there were safety risks. argh! who cares?!?! he wants to get OFF the plan, not ON! finally, finally, after a 45 minute delay on the plane, we were taking off for vancouver. good grief!

now, i have to admit that not everything was the airline's fault, however, when you have such a horrible experience with an airline, it tends to scar you for life. i will never ever ever fly on america west/us airways again. i wasn't impressed w/their customer service when we arrived in seattle after our first incident. whatever, live & learn, right?

at that was the end of my las vegas weekend. we were so glad to finally get into vancouver :)

las vegas: day 4 - poker & shopping

so sunny and i finally made it to the luxor poker tournament! it was a $30 buy-in with an additional chip buy-in for $3 (i believe we started with $350 in chips). since it was our first casino tournament, we weren't sure what to expect. the 1st hour was a limit game with the blinds raised every 15 minutes ($10/$15; $15/$25, and when it eventally hits $100/$200, the blinds double), and then after the 1st hour was over it became a no-limit game.

sunny and i were placed at different tables - there were only 3 tables w/11 players per table. when a player is eliminated from the tournament, there are alternates (ppl who have entered the tournament, but there weren't enough seats to start a 4th table) who come and take their seat (at my table we had a high turnover in seats 7 and 8).

i had some decent hands in the 1st hour, and i actually thought my game was over before we even got to the no-limit round. my goal was to stay in for at least an all-in hand, and i succeeded! i'm terrible at remembering what my cards are after i'm finished playing, but i remember in my final hand, i was down to my last $200 and i was chip loser, so i just called an all in w/my suited dolly parton's. i was hoping for a flush, but my river never came :P (winning hand was pair aces on the river). ah well, at least i finished in 5th place, so i won $46 (the top 7 players get paid out).

sunny and i were so pumped up from playing poker, that we wanted to play in the 3 a.m. tournament at paris, but we were too tired later on to stay awake :P anyhoo, we were on to the next task at hand.......more shopping! we were heading over to the premium outlets, just 6 minutes off the strip by taxi. as always, we started our experience with some lunch to get ourselves all pumped up. i finally, finally, finally found my coach bag at the outlet. funnily enough, it turned out to be a diaper bag (it has the changing mat), and no, this was not a hint to chris, nor was it an announcement of any kind. so simmer down everybody! it's a great multi-functional bag (as the salesperson told me), and it's true, i've already been using it for work (which was the purpose of the bag, as opposed to buying another purse). the 3 of us did more damage at a variety of stores in the outlet.......they had everything under the sun......coach, banana republic, shoes stores galore, designer labels (d & g, kenneth cole, armani exchange), sporting goods (nike, adidas, puma). ah, i was in shopping heaven. the only problem was i didn't find as much stuff as i thought i would. usually spring and summer are my best seasons, but nothing was jumping out at me on this trip. well, at least i got my coach bag and signature wristlet. hehehe, i can't wait until i get my coach coin pocket next month :-)

after our 5 (?) hour shopping excursion at the outlet, we headed back to our hotel and got ready for a nice dinner and clubbing at pure. we ate in the hotel at mon ami gabi......i just like saying the name......mon ami gabi. so flow-y :-) sunny started with a salad, while ang and i shared garlic potato crisps (or something like that)......personally i didn't really taste the garlic until i washed it down w/my martini - paris romance (amaretto, malibu and fruit juice). for entrees, sunny and ang both had the mussels & frites while i had the steake frites (medium rare of course!). all the food we ate (including the bread, butter, and carrot-like spread) was delish!

we headed over to pure just before 10 p.m. for more girly fun. unfortunately the clubbing fun never developed for us. after waiting and drinking (mmmmm, malibu & pineapple!) in line for 2.5 hours, we finally gave up.....we still had at least another 1/2 hour till we would have gotten inside, and then we would have had to pay $20 for cover, and then if we had gotten in, we were determined to stay for at least an hour. so we decided that it just wasn't worth it :P the 2.5 hours weren't a complete waste of time......the 3 of us had the best time in line......remember girls, WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS, STAYS IN VEGAS! i did throw $5 into a slot machine for a few minutes, and i was actually up to $35, but then i kept playing and lost it all. whatever, it was only $5!

so after a slightly disappointing night, we headed back to our hotel and ordered room service. there's something about those chicken wings on the 1st night that we just loved, so we had another 2 rounds. yum! i'll post a picture of our time-killing activity in the room.......we were having a good time :-)

las vegas: day 3 - lots of action today!

day 3 started off great......sunny and i headed over to luxor for our 10 a.m. tournament. except i got my weekdays/weekends confused, and the friday tournament wasn't until noon (it's at 10 a.m. on weekends), so we decided to play at the $2/$4 table for a while. we had a good time, and we both left with some extra money in our pockets. "money in my pocket, money in my pocket, money in my pocket!" (this is chris' favourite jingle.....i think it's from one of the credit unions or something.)

so with our winnings, we went back to our hotel to get ang and start on our shopping experience. but first, we needed to energize ourselves, so we headed to cheesecake factory for a very filling meal, complete with a banana cheesecake which we all shared. i love the restaurant because it has such an extensive menu (and the portions are huge!). i had the spicy buffalo chicken burger w/fries while ang and sunny shared a salad and they both had pastas for entrees. our server was absolutely fabulous! a meal is just THAT much better when you have a great server who you want to chat with, keeps your drinks filled, and just all-around entertains you :-)

after our filling meals, we were off! the stores were calling our names :-) i could just hear the coach bags teasing me from afar. we actually didn't make it out of the forum shops at caesars palace......in fact, i'm not sure we hit that many stores. i won't go into all the details, suffice it to say there was some damage done :-) we also made our way to wynn hotel just to see what vegas' newest hotel looked like - not bad! after that we crossed the street and entered another shopping haven......the fashion mall. unfortunately we didn't have a lot of time to wander around, but we were also pretty tired, so it was a quick adventure.

for dinner we made our way over to aladdin for the dinner buffet. for $24, we were tempted by alaskan king crab legs, shrimp w/cocktail sauce, salads, italian food, mexican food, chinese food, middle eastern food......everything under the sun! after my 2nd plateful of food, i was completely stuffed, but there's always room for creme brulee and a strawberry tart!

after dinner, we made our way to our evening entertainment.......Australia's Thunder From Down Under! it's almost as cheesy as it sounds :-) it's an entertainment show with partially nude hot men. when this show started, i realized how crazy women are.......you'd think they'd never seen a topless man before! i have to admit that it's nice to see a guy w/an 8-pack and nice butt cheeks that he can shake w/the music. but seriously girls, what's with all the screaming? the show is very interactive, and basically all the seats are good because the guys are running around the room, shaking their bon-bon and jumping on tables, gyrating their hips and thrusting their penis', i mean pelvis', in every direction. they brought several ladies up to the stage to participate in fake orgasms and kissing - apparently the grandma slipped one of the boys some tongue after she grabbed his butt and crotch - yikes! there was a lot of hands-on action! luckily the 3 of us managed to stay in our seats and avoid total embarrassment. however, during the water portion at the table in front of us, we did get sprayed while one of the guys flipped his (long - yuck!) wet hair & body everywhere. it was actually kind of gross, and it took a while for my sweater to actually dry again :P

the show was 1.5 hours, and at the end of it you can take a picture w/the guys from the show. well, we did it. we paid $15 each so we could sit on their laps and have a polaroid memory forever. again, i have to admit that i did enjoy that as well, even though they're kinda sweaty, but oh so hot! yum yum! i was sad when i had to get off my boyfriend's lap. boo-hoo! at least i have a photo to remind myself of him. i tried to find my boyfriend on the website, but cuz he has a shaved head i couldn't quite figure out which one he is, if he's on there at all.

after such an entertaining evening, i fell asleep w/visions of hot guys dancing in my bed. i mean head, not bed. really.

las vegas: day 2 - we finally, finally arrive

3:30 a.m. - i wake up 1/2 hour before my alarm. pissed off. so tired.

3:50 a.m. - chris' alarm goes off. i get out of bed, and we all start getting ready to go back to sea-tac.

5:00 a.m. - we've checked out of the red lion and on the shuttle bus to the airport.

5:15 a.m. - disaster strikes!

we're waiting in the check-in line-up with other ppl from our original flight from vancouver......not everyone made the 6:40 a.m. flight (via reno). ang and ryan were lucky and got seats on that flight, but chris and i were stuck on the 11:25 a.m. flight (direct) to las vegas. we tried to find ppl to switch with us (several groups were split up as well), but to no avail. however, we overhead a lady putting up a bit of a stink at the check-in counter, and discovered she was being put on a 6 a.m. flight, so chris and i tried to do the same thing (the lady actually missed the flight because they'd just closed the airplane doors). we lucked out and got the last two seats on the 10:30 a.m. flight, so we were only a couple hours behind ang and ryan.

since we had so much time to kill, and only 3 hours of sleep, chris and i took turns napping in the food court. glamorous, i know! i waved goodbye to ang & ryan's plane when it took off :( meanwhile, we were given $10 in food vouchers for our troubles, so i went to starbucks and grabbed a coffee and apple fritter. this was the BEST apple fritter i've ever head in my life! i have to admit that Americans definitely know how to eat......this huge fritter was coated in icing, and drenched with fattening ingredients. i was in heaven! thank goodness i don't travel to the states very often......i would gain way too much weight!

our flight to las vegas was pretty uneventful, thank goodness! once we caught up with ang and ryan in vegas, we went to check in at our hotel (paris), and then promptly proceeded to the casino! after playing the slots for a bit, we headed for the table games. i was playing pai gow poker - this is the first game i learned how to play many many moons ago. it was looking pretty bleak for a while - i think i was down to my last $25 - and then i won a few huge hands, and i was back in the game. by the time we had to leave for dinner, i was only down $7. not bad!

the rest of day 2 was pretty uneventful......just chilled out and relaxed, since chris and i were still tired from day 1. finally, around 10 p.m., ang and i said farewell to chris and ryan for the weekend. our stag/stagettes were about to start! sunny arrived in vegas around 11:30 p.m., so we hit the only restaurant open in the hotel, and got caught up. this place had the best chicken wings......they were the perfect amount of sauce and spice! so yum :-) so, we all know that everything in the US is in extra-large size, and the chicken wings were no exception......steroid chicken!

anyhoo, after catching up, we were pretty tired, and sunny and i had to get up early the next morning for our poker tournament. we called it a night around 2 a.m. i think. i love vegas!

las vegas: day 1 - will we ever get there?

so, let's go back a few days now, since i've been away from a computer for awhile. day 1 = wednesday, april 12......i go to work as per usual, have a busy busy day, and it's just flying by! how great is that? so it's 4 p.m., and i'm off to the races. my dad picked me up, we picked up ang & ryan, then we picked up chris, and were at the airport by 5 p.m. whoo-hoo! exactly 2 hours to get us through security, customs and ready at our boarding gate. but wait! upon check-in, we found out our flight was delayed an hour. boo! none of us had the time or forsight to confirm the time :P so we had to kill an extra hour. whatever, we all had our magazines.

so our flight only ended up being about 40 minutes late for take-off. no big deal. vegas wasn't going anywhere! take-off. whoo-hoo! vegas, here i come! i already had the dollar signs lighting up my eyes :-) hmmmm, i wonder why we're not flying very high. i can still see the cars below, street lights, everything was crystal clear. then the announcement came. "ladies & gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. i don't want to alarm you, but we've experienced a problem with this aircraft. on take-off from vancouver, the front window cracked. this is not a serious problem, however, we cannot continue on to las vegas, and we will be making an unscheduled stop in seattle." blah, blah, blah.....i stopped listening for a sec, because the dollar signs were starting to fade from my eyes, and all of a sudden the jackpot seemed out of reach. well, they turned on all the cabin lights again, and then chris grabbed the emergency procedures pamphlet and started reading. we weren't allowed to return to vancouver because we had too much fuel still, so some of it had to be burned off, so onwards we went. seattle never seemed so far away :P

anyhoo, everyone's buzzing around on the plane trying to guess what's going to happen next. so our flight attendent gave us severe instructions regarding use of electronic items and devient behaviour, but i think it wasn't really needed, since everyone was already imagining the worst (well, at least i was!). anyways, 1/2 hour later, we were making our descent into seattle (i was relieved to hear the landing gear operating properly), and it really was obvious how emergency-like our situation was, because the fire trucks and ambulances were escorting us down the runway and to our gate. whoo-hoo! we landed safely!

so, while we were on the flight we were told a bunch of stories......yes, we'll get your all on your way tonight. yes, you're all booked on another flights. yes, the airline knows your coming and you will be assisted right away. wrong! wrong! wrong! no one had any clue about us "distressed" passengers. so we were stuck in sea-tac for 2 hours while the airline tried to find us hotels (yes, we had to overnight in seattle) and connecting flights to our destinations (we had a 6:40 a.m. flight to vegas - more on this later). all i could imagine was while we were on a shuttle to the red lion sea-tac, was how we should have been in a taxi from mccarran airport to the mgm grand. and while we were checking in at the red lion, all i could picture was the lion in front of mgm grand. the irony!

so you would think that all the bad luck ended right there, right? wrong! the hotel had no idea what was going on and why 15 ppl (we were sent to different hotels in the area) suddenly showed up on their doorstep. whatever, i was so frustrated i told them to check their fax. voila! so ryan, ang, chris and i shared a room and ordered room service. "sorry, the restaurant closed 45 minutes ago, and we're only serving sandwiches for the distressed passengers." "oooh oooh, that's us", i said! so ryan and chris traipsed to the restaurant for our late night snack, when really, we should have been having hot dogs & fries at the mgm sports bar. 20 minutes later, they were back in the room, and we had our 3 sandwiches. or so we thought. we were given the wrong food order! bloody hell, can't anything go right? it was already after 11 by this point, and we were starving, so we just ate the damn food. then chris and ryan went back to the restaurant to get food for breakfast. turns out the lady realized her sandwich mistake after the fact, but because the room was in my name, she didn't know who to call, so the right food order was waiting for them upon their return. so they came back with more sandwiches, fries and a fruit cup as well as breakfast for the morning. so what did we do? oh hell yeah, we ate again! (see picture)

it was pretty amazing that we actually finished 90% of the food that night. especially considering we were going to bed right away. so finally around 12:30 a.m. we fell asleep, with our alarms set for a 4 a.m. wake-up call. i should have been sitting at a poker table by now. or at least at a slot machine. so not impressed. we contemplated suing the airline for lost income.

our vegas adventure didn't stop here! stay tuned for more posts!

argillaceous

definition: made of, or resembling clay

i forgot to save the 2nd word from my starbucks sleeve. oh well, next time.

see you monday! i'll have a full report of sin city then :-)

words of the day: pulchritude and shalloon

pulchritude: great physical beauty and appeal

shalloon: 1) this is where you'll find renee when she needs a drink :-) hahaha! 2) a lightweight wool or twill fabric, often used for coat lining

where did this come from you ask? well, today i dragged renee and dianne w/me to starbucks. while waiting for our drinks, we discovered little coasters with words on them (it's to promote a new spelling bee-type movie). so i grabbed the one i liked the most, and could somewhat pronouce without difficulty, and the other came with the sleeve on my coffee cup. watch for tomorrow's words of the day!

no shoes for you!

so tragedy struck at the end of last summer......i was vacuuming one day, and i got overzealous with the vacuum cleaner, and my vacuum ate the straps right off my shoes. since it was the end of summer, i didn't really need my strappy shoes anymore, so i didn't really worry about it. and now that spring has sprung, i need strappy sandals, and i'm hooped! i've gone all over town trying to find shoes in time for clubbing this weekend, and i've hit dead-ends everywhere!

can anyone recommend any shoe stores in the d/t area? i have a back-up pair of slides that i bought from a random shoe store in royal centre. they'll actually be pretty good for work, but not so exciting for clubbing :P i've been to 3 different malls and hit aldo, sterling, the bay, towne shoes, and joneve.

so i'm on a serious mission to find black strappy sandals w/a 1" heel in the next 24 hours. worst case scenario, i use the shoes i bought today, which aren't too-too bad, or maybe i'll find something in vegas! yeah, baby!

mmmm, i love breakfast!

well, i actually only like the breakfast i made for dinner tonight! i was ambitious and made hash browns, bacon strips and eggs benedict. it was a very long and slow process, and i probably wouldn't make the exact same meal again. i was also preparing soup for tomorrow's dinner, so i had all my pots and pans in use today!

last week when i was at superstore (of course!), i was desperate to find new recipes (my real simple magazine doesn't arrive until the june issue), so i bought "the newlyweds' cookbook". i figured it had our name written on the cover, so why not? i found several recipes i wanted to try, and i did two of them tonight (i think bacon strips are obviously cooked the same way universally).

hash browns
1.5 lbs baking potatoes, peeled and diced
4 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, finely chopped

cook the potatoes in a large saucepan of lightly salted, boiling water for 10 to 12 minutes, until almost cooked through. drain well and mash coarsely.

melt the butter in a large nonstick skillet, add the onion, and saute gently for 15 minutes until soft and golden. add the potatoes to the pan with salt and pepper to taste. cook, stirring and mashing the potatoes occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes until well-browned and crisp around the edges.

eggs benedict
4 large slices of prosciutto or country ham
1 tablespoon vinegar
4 eggs
4 english muffins
sea salt and cracked black pepper

hollandaise sauce
3 egg yolks
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 sticks unsalted butter (1 stick = 1/2 cup), melted

to make the hollandaise sauce, put the egg yolks, water and lemon juice in a blender and process until frothy. with the motor running, gradually pour in the melted butter in a steady stream until the sauce is thickened and glossy. transfer the sauce to a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of hot water. cover and keep the sauce warm.

broil or saute the slices of prosciutto until really crisp and keep them warm in a low oven. to poach the eggs, bring a saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil. add the vinegar and reduce the heat so the water simmers gently. swirl the water well with a fork and crack 2 eggs into the water. cook for 3 minutes, then remove with a slotted spoon. repeat with the remaining two eggs.

meanwhile, toast the muffins. top each one with a slice of crisp prosciutto, then a poached egg. spoon over the hollandaise sauce, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and serve at once.

the meal was a great success, however, the smell of bacon is lingering...... :P

apparently i'm an 8 out of 10

due to my neck pain from a week ago, and the fact that i didn't react well to my medication, i decided to try a 30 minute massage therapy session. upon arrival, graham and i chatted about my problems, and then he proceeded with the massage on my back, neck and shoulders. i always thought of myself as a pretty laid-back, relaxed person, but apparently my muscles tell a different story. graham informed me that on a "tightness" scale of 1 to 10 (10 is bad), i rated an 8. he told me to do more stretching exercises on a regular basis to loosen up, and further massage therapy as necessary. well, i made an appointment for monday :-)

so my "tightness" during the massage affected me in two different ways.....first, there was the pain and second, the sporadic giggling. i know that i'm a ticklish person, but i tried to imagine it as pain and not tickle. it worked at first, but after 3 minutes, i was just ready to die. i asked graham if he gets a lot of gigglers, but i think i was a new first. he was massaging the back of my neck and head, and i burst into hysterics. he felt sorry for my hair stylist :P normally, i'm fine w/my head being touched, but depending on how it's being done, i get really ticklish. i'm just messed up, i can't explain it.

so after my 30 minutes i was feeling pretty good, considering graham explained that he didn't get as "deep" as he wanted to due to my low tolerance for pain and high ticklish factor. i'll try some stretches over the weekend and then see how it goes on monday.

childhood memories can be comforting

when i went to daiso many many weeks ago, i had bought some stuff from the food section. one of the bags of okaki (rice crackers), i polished off right away. they were super yummy! but then i had put a different bag of goodies into my cupboard and completely forgot about it until this past week, when i was looking for something to munch on. what was this hidden treasure i found? well, it's chi-chi boro, of course!

when i was a baby/kid, this was the absolute best snack i could have received. this was something my grandparents and other relatives gave us whenever we would visit together. they're little melt-in-your-mouth ball-like snacks with a slightly sweet taste. we used to get them in the individual sized packages (approx. 1/2 cup), and there were always multiples in a package, so my mom would cut them apart so we couldn't eat them all at once :P the packages were awesome, because they used to have little twin stars, hello kitty, and other characters on them. but when i grew up i discovered you can actually buy them in a large size format (approx. 2 cups) with regular non-descript packaging!

today's package from daiso is called "happy bolo, refreshing nature to you". i'm not sure why it's supposed to be "refreshing nature", because it makes you thirsty after awhile, and the balls are actually made from potato starch. so, since it came from daiso, obviously it was only $2! fujiya also sells the chi-chi boro, but i forgot what the price tag was.

maybe this is why i don't feel like i'm 28 years old......memories of screaming for my chi-chi boro, and stuffing as many in my mouth at a time and waiting for them to melt on my tongue - it feels like it was yesterday. this is the one food item i remember from my childhood. good times :-)

onto another food item......does anyone remember the little jelly containers with lychee pieces in the middle? you could buy them by the bucketful at T & T. i would buy them for my grandma 3 times a year - mother's day, her birthday and christmas. it was a lot better than the same old scratch & wins! i used to freeze them and then eat them. now those were refreshing! of course, there's always someone out there who has to ruin the fun for everyone by choking on them. after it became a choking hazard, they were pulled from all stores. come on, my 90 year old grandma was sucking those back! i'm still terribly upset over it. i really miss those jellies!

husband-approved cookies :-)

so it was a crazy busy night, and i wasn't finished until midnight. this darn experimenting obsession of mine has got to stop sometime! i have discovered what my limitations are.....anything that requires a crust, i suck at! so i'm going to start buying crusts from now on. anyhoo, back on track to my chocolate chip cookies....... this was my first attempt at making cookies since i was a child. i forgot how yummy cookie dough can taste :) here's the recipe i worked with (from Baker's Secret ).......

1 cup butter (or margarine)
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. preheat oven to 350F (175C). grease cookie sheets.
2. in large bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar and white sugar until light and fluffy. add eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, then stir in vanilla. combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually stir into creamed mixture. fold in chocolate chips. drop by rounded spoonsfuls onto cookie sheets.
3. bake for 8 - 10 minutes, until light brown. allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

i'm learning, slowly but surely.......i think i made my cookie spoonfuls too big, so they took a bit longer to cook. i did, however, remember to leave lots of room between cookies so i wouldn't end up with a cookie rectangle :-) chris gave my cookies 2 enthusiastic thumbs up! i asked him what he would like me to make next, and he said he'd eat anything i make.....good husband! i think i'm going to turn him into a dessert lover soon - he usually doesn't like sweets, but i'm on a roll right now :-)

the cooking bug

so i spent yesterday at sandra & mike's, where sandra taught me all about cooking fish and making vanilla bean creme brulee. she'll be posting recipes, photos and all the details soon! whenever i try something new, i always feel so bold and experimental. like last week when i made the butter tarts......they turned out so well and then i went on to make the rice krispy squares, and they turned out so wrong! right now i'm on a high and feeling very adventurous.....i've even been surfing epicurious and google-ing all sorts of different recipes i'd like to try, i've started a shopping list of gadgets i need to buy for my kitchen, i'm trying to figure out when i can get to chapters and buy more cookbooks......it's a serious obsession right now (we'll see how long this lasts). hehehe, i can't wait until my first Real Simple magazine arrives in the mail :-)

after work today, i'm going to rush home, hit the grocery store, and buy a bunch of ingredients so i can make the chocolate chip cookie recipe that came with the cookie sheet i bought! i don't know how i'm going to manage grocery shopping, cooking dinner (curry shrimp, yum!), volunteering w/the puppies AND make cookies! hehehe, all that needs to be done before i can somehow simultaneously watch csi: miami and the apprentice! see, i'm obsessed with trying to fit in as much as i can tonight. two weeks ago, i would have been content to sit at home and watch tv for hours and hours.

so much to do, and so little time.......

ah yes, such exciting news!

i feel i must share this news with everyone! i was so excited when i found out, i didn't know what to do w/myself! are you ready for an announcement that brought such joy to my heart? ready? really, are you ready? here it comes........COACH IS OPENING A 2ND STORE IN VANCOUVER! yes, ppl, you read right. this fabulous handbag, wallet, luggage, everything-you-could-buy boutique is opening up in oakridge! it's taken the place of bombay company that was across from danier leather. unfortunately i don't know the exact opening date, but it's COMING SOON! needless to say, my young sister-in-law is equally excited about this news :-)

i really love oakridge now. i remember when i was a kid, my family used to go eat at this restaurant that was actually in the mall.....they had the best schnitzel :) back in the days, the "food court" consisted of a boston pizza (i think), a&w, and a deli-like place. the only reason we actually went to oakridge was because the bay was there. or maybe back in the day it was still woodwards. whatever.

now, oakridge has become a high-end mall catering to the west side demographic. these are the ppl who can actually afford the homes on the west side, along with the vehicles that should be parked in the (minimum) 3-car garages. yes, perhaps i am jealous and a bit cynical now that i'm in burnaby, and will never reside in vancouver again. what's not to love about a less than 1,000 sq. ft. condo? anyhoo, back to oakridge.....the lacoste store just opened recently, too, and tommy bahama is opening soon in the old club monaco location. i'm going to need more money so i can afford to keep up my shopping ways......ah well. life is good.

oakridge is one of the few places where you can shop and feel like a grown-up. i was at metrotown during the week, and i always have mixed feelings about going there. the mall tries to be higher-end by having stores like lululemon and banana republic, but whenever i walk around, all the teenagers-wanting-to-be-grown-ups creep me out. they walk around in their "skinnies" or hip-hugger pants, or short-short skirts, matched with their midriffs exposed, with dark make-up and bright lipstick. these are the young girls that shop at garage clothing and sirens :P i just don't understand teens anymore. when i was a teenager, i wore denim pants up to there with casual t-shirts. now, teens walk around with high-tech cell phones, pagers, blackberries, and compete for the best dressed (or trailer-trash).....i'm not sure anymore.

i'm not saying that i'm some fashionista and can judge everyone. far from that! i think ppl can flaunt their good qualities in a not-so-gross kind of way. perhaps it's because we're getting older and wiser, or perhaps it's because i shop for quality, and cheap just doesn't cut it. i'm not saying we all need to shop at coach and banana republic, but hey, would that be so bad?