it's all about me :-)

after what seemed like an endless celebration of other ppl's 30th birthdays in 2007, it was finally my turn :-) even though i had to work on the 28th, it didn't dampen my bday spirits at all.

i have to say i was definitely well-fed this year! one of my colleagues, laura, took me (and nugget) out to lunch at saltlik where i enjoyed the beef dip w/skinny fries...yummy! for dinner, my parents took us out for dinner at the hart house, where i demolished the crab cakes, sablefish, and vanilla bean creme brulee. as if that wasn't filling enough, we went back to their house for more dessert...cherry tarts and frozen lemon mousse! crikey that was a lot of eating!

unfortunately when i woke up on the 29th, i had caught a cold :P however, i wasn't letting that stop me from my birthday celebrations w/my nearest and dearest friends! we had dinner at the transcontinental where i enjoyed the calamari and then the halibut burger w/fries. mmm, grease! for dessert, we headed back home for ice cream...this time i made vanilla ice cream w/mint chocolate girl guide cookies and a lemon raspberry sorbet.

i think the best part of the evening though was playing rock band :-) i love the drums, and i can't wait till we get our hands on it for the ps3! poor nugget went into hiding for a bit...i'm thinking he wasn't a fan of the singing...i wonder why, mike?!?! hahaha!

all-in-all, it was definitely a fantastic 30th birthday!

merry (?) christmas!

hmmm, i'm still not really in the christmas spirit. i'm not sure why though...we've been at metrotown 3 times this past week doing all of our shopping (that's enuf to turn anyone into the grinch!). we had our office party at the beginning of december. the chocolates have been arriving on a (almost) daily basis for the office. we had our cookie exchange, and i baked more goodies last night, with more to come later today. christmas eve dinner, and christmas lunch and dinner are all lined up.

oh well, i have a few more hours of work to get through today and then hopefully i'll be in the spirit of the holiday season. right now i'm actually feeling that sense of dread...it's similar to packing up for a big trip...like i've forgotten something important. as far as i know, i've bought all the presents i needed to buy, i've got treats to take to chris' aunt's house and my parents. i'm not sure what i could've forgotten! i guess there's not much i can do about it now!

merry christmas everyone!

gifts, gifts, gifts

if you're looking for a last-minute stocking stuffer, or a gift for someone that you just don't know what to buy, i have the perfect gift!


"change the world for ten bucks" is a great book full of 50 ideas on how to make your life better, including ways to help the environment. it's not a "preach-y" type book that's all up in your face and telling you how horrible you are for using plastic bags (i'm guilty!)...instead, it gently suggests alternatives to current habits. (at least when i go to superstore, i re-use the plastic bags i already have at home!) not only that, but it has funny little anecdotes to lighten the mood/subject. for $10 (or $9.50 if you have an irewards card), it makes a great gift. i've already given 3 away! the only reason i discovered this great book is because i received it as a gift yesterday :-)

in addition to receiving this book, i've been bombarded with starbucks gift cards. i'm doing my part, and will be buying a travel mug so i can help reduce cup wastage.

and this christmas i bought myself a present :-) knee-high boots! i've been looking for boots (leather, pointy toe, skinny low heel) for years and years, and just when i'd almost given up i went to feet first at metrotown. i was crushed when i encountered the usual problem...i can't zip'em up past my calves. however, this store was different...the salesgirl told me that the leather can be stretched by their leather-stretching machine! what?! that's the first time any store has offered to do that as i face this problem repeatedly. so i left my boots for a couple days and voila! i have knee-high boots that i can zip up! it's gonna be a merry christmas after all!

meet frankie!

for 1 week, nugget and frankie were on a puppyswap. PADS tries to swap the dogs into completely different environments - nugget went to live in a house w/an older couple who don't work and have 2 cats, while frankie came to live in our petless condo, commute on skytrain and accompany me to work. i have to admit i wasn't looking forward to my first swap, but after we brought frankie home we realized that he and nugget were like twins from different mothers! they both love to cuddle on the floor, they both sleep a lot, and they're both super-mellow (nugget's a bit more excite-able). all-in-all, it was a great swap and us raisers were happy to have our little boys back.

perhaps

it's been a pretty busy week...attended the office holiday party, took my family out for dinner, attended the PADS volunteer christmas party, 2 trips to the doggy park, celebrated sandra's birthday, attended the canucks vs. pittsburgh game, dinner at blue water cafe...yet nothing has really inspired me to write anything. i even have a lot to look forward to this coming week...class at metrotown and the puppyswap, dinner w/bal & sati, cookie exchange, debbie's bday, canucks vs. new jersey.

...perhaps it's the anticipation that we're sending nugget to another puppyraiser tonight, and getting frankie in return. i hope my boy behaves himself, and i really hope frankie doesn't get too stressed out w/us!!

...perhaps it's the realization that christmas is 2 weeks away and i still have 90% of my shopping to do! at least i've got my mom's present taken care of...she's the most difficult to shop for :P

...perhaps it's knowing that every day we're getting one day closer to saying goodbye to nugget forever. in less than 2 months he'll be back at pads being assessed to determine his future. in a way it still seems far off, but thinking how fast the past 4 months have gone by, it'll be over in a blink.

...perhaps i really do know the reason for my lack of inspiration. whoever said knowledge is power obviously didn't know as much as i know.

anyhoo...back to work. back to life. back to just plain old being me.

spice up your life!

oh my god...my ears are still muffled! last night i went to the spice girls concert with my workmate, taleen. i have to admit that i thoroughly enjoyed myself and it's the first concert that i actually stood through from start to finish. my poor feet were killing me in my stupid-old boots...darn crappy weather! the girls were looking in fantastic shape, and while they're not known for their stellar dance moves (except maybe scary spice!) , they still managed to do some booty-shaking. i didn't do a stroll down memory lane before i went to the concert and i actually surprised myself by still knowing most of the lyrics. and of course, who can forget the choreography to "Stop"?! i had a blast :-)

one ironic thing i noted...for a group who created "girl power", all their back-up dancers were boys (albeit, i think more than a few of them were gay), and from what i could tell, their band members were also of the male variety. interesting, no?

all-in-all, i got what i wanted, what i really really wanted :-)

nugget's bald spot

so i had a pretty rough weekend shopping in seattle (yah, right!), but on his mini-break nugget also had a rough time. when i picked him up on sunday, we noticed a patch of blood on his head. turns out he got bit by one of the other PADS dogs. they cleaned it up for him, and we headed (no pun intended!) home. well, as the evening progressed nugget's head started swelling, as did his left ear, and he was lethargic...i couldn't even entice him to play w/his new toys i got at target. that's when we knew something was wrong.

on monday afternoon i took nugget to the vet, where they indeed confirmed the bite on his head (duh!). and to be safe, they shaved the top of his head so the wound could be further checked out and disinfected. after a quick penicilin shot, a medicated cream for the hole, and some antibiotics we were on our way home.

nugget is pretty resilient, and he was almost back to his normal self on tuesday. he's still sensitive about his head, but at least he's playing with his new toy...which is actually almost destroyed :P so now everyone on our commute is inquiring about him...we travel at the same time every day, so we generally see the same people and now everyone's concerned for nugget. it's sweet, but also very annoying :P 'sides, nugget's a big bully so he probably deserved the bite on his head. ha!

black friday, sleepy saturday

what a weekend!

thursday night...after a 1.5 hour wait at the peace arch border, we arrived at our hotel in lynnwood. a short rest later, we were back on the road to the seattle premium outlets for midnight madness! the #1 store for us was banana republic, where the entire store was 40% off. i thought i was a lucky shopper when i found 5 different items to buy. considering how busy black friday is for retailers, it was surprising to find out that they accept exchanges/returns that day. so we decided to buy right away, and try on later in the day, and then do our returns (if any) afterwards. my #2 store was kenneth cole where everything was 30% off. i lucked out and found 2 great tops. thanks to coordination, pris was my line-up stand-in :-) after hitting a few more stores at the outlets, we headed back to our hotel at 2:30 a.m.

friday...we were up bright and early for target's opening. unfortunately, arriving at 6:30 a.m. was far too late...the line-up to pay was snaking up and down the aisles...we could've been there for 3 hours just in the line-up :P needless to say, van spared us the pain and we left right away. one of the great things about our hotel was that a hot buffet breakfast was included, so i got my fill of bacon, eggs and sausages. yum! after breakfast we headed out to alderwood mall. we fared a bit better at this mall...and we all walked away with purchases. even though there weren't too many sales, with the exchange rate on par, it was totally worth it. it was such a long day (and night before) that i was absolutely exhausted and went to sleep at 8 p.m....i just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer :-(

saturday...we went to university village, target, cascade mall, and the burlington outlets for more shopping! the US has so many amazing stores, we were just in heaven. we discovered "storables" and "the land of nod"...all 3 of us bought stuff at those 2 stores...so much fun! we managed to get a lot of shopping done at a variety of places over a 48 hours period.

here's what we've learned:

• the midnight madness deals may not be worth the trouble. none of us got doorcrasher deals that couldn't wait until "regular" hours.
• staying in lynnwood was a great idea, since we were travelling between tulalip and the university area.
• vanessa can estimate shopping time like nobody's business! thanks to her spreadsheet we managed to hit everywhere we wanted and we all got what we needed.
• for 3 girls, my car was just the right size after all our shopping was done. my trunk was completely stuffed! any more people, and we would've needed a minivan!

when we drove home on saturday night we were facing a minimum 1.5 hour wait at the border according to the traffic report. turns out they were extremely mistaken, and we were at the truck crossing for all of 30 seconds! the peace arch however was backed up almost to the last exit. crazy! fortunately for us we weren't pulled over after declaring most of our goods. totally makes the shopping worth every penny!

and now my mastercard is taking a much-needed break :-) well, at least until i can hit the malls for the rest of my christmas shopping!

black friday

oh my god. it's finally time...priscilla, vanessa and i are heading to seattle tonight after work for some serious shopping!! i'm so ridiculously excited, i might pee in my pants :P

nugget's mini-break has been arranged, the travel/shopping route is planned out, the hotel is booked, midnight madness sales are highlighted in yellow along with my shopping list...i don't think we've missed anything! well, except for some much-needed sleep :P i'm going to run on adrenaline for the next 2 days...i can crash on sunday night :-)

so much shopping to do in 48 hours...i can't wait! see ya sucka's!

nugget's a big boy now!

happy birthday to you!

happy birthday to you!

happy birthday dear nugget!

happy birthday to you!

my boy is growing up...today we celebrated his 1st birthday! he had a special pupcake for lunch, which funny enough, he licked off the icing first, then proceeded to eat the cake :-) his special treat was bought at big dog little dog bakery. the halloween cookie was a treat from a pads staff member last week, also from the bakery :-)

(i made the dog bone-shaped cookies...a little something for our office to enjoy!)

it's finally happened...

...i've met a spa i didn't like. being the spa-junkie i am, i thought i'd never see this day :P

on november 3 (after much planning and discussing), vanessa, priscilla, dawn and i were spending the day together for our DOF (day of fun - aka, celebrating our 30th birthdays). we started off at 11 a.m. for brunch at elixir. the restaurant was very quiet, only a few other diners, and it was wonderful. i really enjoyed my smoked sablefish hash, and while it wasn't completely filling (and i appreciate the server warning me in advance), it did allow me room for cheesecake for dessert :-) mmmm!

since we were in yaletown we did a bit of window shopping before heading to south granville. this day was about trying different things, so we had appointments at miraj hammam, a middle eastern spa. as soon as we arrived, we were taken into the co-ed changing rooms (no men were present when we arrived), showered, and wrapped in our sarongs. the 4 of us hopped into our private steam room and steamed for (what seemed like) a really long time. it wasn't just your average steam room...no no no, this room was hotter than hot! and it was infused w/citrus-y fragrances. i'm very funny...i don't like heat, but i love to suntan; i don't like saunas but i love hot tubs. anyhoo, this steam room was so steamy you couldn't see more than a foot in front of your face, and it was incredibly hot. after about 10 minutes, my body had adjusted to the intense heat. one-by-one we were taken out of the steam room and had our exfoliation treatments. did i mention we were naked?! um yah. that was definitely different.

after the exfoliation, we were taken into private rooms for our massage or facial treatments. by this time, i had a headache...not a good sign :( the facialist was hoping that a temple massage might help, but alas it didn't. then i thought the sweet tea and cookie might make me feel better, but no such luck. i did manage to sneak in a quick little nap in the relaxation lounge! unfortunately my day came to an end shortly afterwards...i was feeling quite ill by then and headed home. good thing too, because i got sick shortly after :-( i was terribly upset because i missed out on dinner at sanafir.

stupid spa...made me sick. i'm never going there again. i even kept myself hydrated. i had exercised in the morning and had about 3 cups of water and then in the steam room i drank more water to keep myself cool. such a shame. the others were fine, so it was just me who suffered. so sad. well, at least i can say i tried something different, out of my usual comfort zone.

happy halloween!

nugget and i are all decked out in our football finest! we're definitely quite a pair :-) nugget won the best-dressed dog contest at class last night. whoo-hoo!

smells good!

i wish i could electronically store a smell. because then i would have posted it on my blog! 3 nights in a row i've cooked up a storm. i love my crabcakes from monday night, but tonight the kitchen smelled ridiculously good...meatloaf, cheesey scalloped potatoes and cauliflower. the combo of the meat and potatoes was incredible...i would make it again tomorrow just so i could smell it. i think it's mostly the garlic i was smelling :P

when i find a recipe i really like, with ingredients i can pronounce and easily find at the grocery store, cooking is just so much more enjoyable. it's been 3 nights in a row and i've even had leftovers for my lunch. i'm cheating tomorrow and buying bbq pork from chong-lee...but that's cuz i'm eating solo, and i have a tendency to cook for 5...i can't help it. i have no excuse not to cook this weekend, so i'm going to look up some more recipes...i might even try one from sparkpeople.

*confession time* after plugging in my meals from today, i had way more fat than i should have. the unfortunate thing with sparkpeople is that you have to select from the list of food entered into their system...the "canadian version" of food isn't available (i.e. sun-rype juice), so then i have to pick what i think is the equivalent (i.e. minute-maid juice). also, scalloped potatoes was generic...i couldn't really modify it to say i used 1% milk instead of homo milk and i would have to add cheese separately. also, the meatloaf was pretty generic i think...i couldn't modify it to say extra-lean ground beef. but i'm just using it as a guideline for now. i'm more interested in finding healthy in-between snacks anyways.

a new form of exercise

so, i've been the happy owner of the wii for over 10 months now. i've only just decided that it will be my new form of exercise. i guess the real motivator was when i bought dance dance revolution. it incorporates dancing w/your feet as well as using hand motions w/the remote and nunchuk. last night i really had my heartrate going as i accidentally selected a skill level that was slightly out of reach :P

today i took a break, and just played some wii sports. apparently i have the fitness level of a 74-year-old. definitely not a good sign. i'm going to work on my skills and hopefully bring myself down to a 29-year-old before my 30th birthday :-)

in another healthy step in the right direction, i created an account on sparkpeople.com. it basically allows you to track what you've been eating, and how good/bad it is for you. it also includes a menu planner to help you get all the nutrition you need per day. the fitness category shows how many calories you're burning each day, and you can select from a variety of activities. unfortunately the wii isn't one of them, so i have to estimate how much i've exercised. it also allows you to set short/long-term goals for yourself, and it customizes your plan automatically.

this is not my first attempt at doing something good for my body, but hey, i'm into fads and we'll see how long this holds up for. i tracked everything i ate yesterday: calories - 94 over the limit; carbs - on the high end of the limit; fat - right in the middle; and protein - on the low end. this weekend i'll try to do some grocery shopping and stock up on some healthier snacks. i'm taking baby steps - i'm not going to cut anything from my eating habits yet, but i'm going to try to make healthier choices. i've bought the oatmeal-to-go cereal bars...in hindsight it's not the healthiest bfast choice, but far better than the date bar or caramel apple bars or coffee cakes that i've been buying.

wish me luck!

time to catch up!

i've been at a loss for words lately. it's been a very overwhelming 3 weeks, and i could never figure out how to start a blog entry. but now, for the most part, life is chugging along as it should.

it all started when my grandma was hospitalized for a week...she was having heart problems and had fluid around her lungs. it's not the first time it's happened, but at her age, a big big concern. after that my mother-in-law was hospitalized w/appendicitis...there were some complications that arose and the family rallied together. good news is that she's at home and recovering for the next 6 weeks. then we had to say farewell to keah :-( she was a good girl who lived a long happy life. i have lots of pictures and fond memories to look back on. and to top off the 3 weeks, my grandma is back in the hospital because she's having digestion problems now. we saw her today, and she's looking normal and happy, so hopefully she'll be discharged within the week. she's got a kick-ass view of downtown from her room, plus a tv and a phone! not that it helps her out since she can't watch the japanese channels ;-)

so needless to say, i really don't need to see any hospitals for a long long long time.

at least in-between all the chaos, chris and i got away to victoria for an overnight trip. i forgot that i had "won" a getaway to victoria at the benefits of caring fundraiser last year, so we quickly booked it before it expired on november 1. so the 3 of us hopped in the car and ferried our way to the island. nugget was an excellent dog on the trip - well-behaved on the ferry, he slept on his blanket in the hotel room, and he was well-mannered in the many restaurants we hit. while we were in victoria, we also bought nugget his halloween costume! he's going to be a football player :-) it was nice to get away and just forget about everything, even though it was only for 24 hours.

farewell keah, my puppy girl

i hope doggy heaven treats you well. none of my PADS puppies will ever replace you. i miss you keah-girl!

christmas 2002 - look at my presents! yup, that's my piggy :-)













moving day 2004 - don't leave me behind!










wedding day 2005 - our family together

"all in" for united way

here i am, stuck in the office on a beautiful friday afternoon right before the long weekend. it's just wrong! so, i'm gonna leave a bit early and take nuggers to the doggy park! fun times :-)

anyways, last week we had our annual united way fundraising campaign for united way. our 3rd annual poker tournament against our competitors was held last night. we had 40 people turn out for the event, and over $1,500 in pledges was raised for the united way. my 1st year playing in the tournament was nerve-racking...it was my first tournament. i missed the 2nd year due to a conflict. so last night i was all geared up and ready to win! but i didn't. i was the 2nd person kicked out at our table...only took 15 minutes :P my pocket queens got beat out by a girl w/ace nine off-suit...she ended up with 2 full houses. beesatch.

anyways, our firm was well-represented at the final table though and one of our own managed to win the tournament! yah! in her 1st "real" tournament, debbie came in 3rd place...not too shabby! and matt won the prize for most pledges collected :-) all-in-all, it was a fun evening, and everyone came out to support a great charity. i can't wait for next year's tournament...i think i need a bit more practice though.

happy thanksgiving everyone!

catching up, and why "it's all about ME"

i can't believe it's been so long since my last post. i'm not really sure what we've been up to that i don't have time for an entry. what's been going on...

• the start of regular dinner's w/chris' family
• angela's wine & cheese bridal shower, hosted by sandra, pauline, and amy
• dinner w/my family to celebrate our 2 year anniversary :-)
• dinner w/friends
• angela & ryan's wedding

so, i have to elaborate on my day yesterday. on friday night, nugget was picked up for a weekend away from home with a puppysitter. taking full advantage of my "freedom", i finally used my gift certificate for spa utopia...i booked myself the utopia signature facial (as usual, i fell asleep) and the exclusive utopia manicure - 2.5 hours of bliss for me :-) what could be better? due to some poor planning on my part, i'm actually having another facial in 2 weeks. it appears as though i let a few gift certificates slip through the crack, so i have to cram everything in before november 1!

enough about me! in addition to yesterday being my dad's birthday, we were out witnessing and celebrating angela & ryan's marriage. i actually didn't take too many pictures cuz my battery started to die (argh!), plus, my camera is old and slow, so nothing really worked for me (guess i really do need to upgrade soon). also it appears as though several other friends took lots of pictures, so i'm sure they'll end up on facebook soon enuf ;-) the wedding took place at the fairmont hotel vancouver - what a beautiful setting for their wedding. everything was so elegant, from the colour scheme ang (and ryan) picked, the flowers (elizabeth tse does AMAZING work, and i'm honoured that my own wedding flowers made 2 appearances on her website), the banquet room, and of course, angela was a gorgeous bride!

and no wedding is complete without speeches! i swear, the only time i cry during weddings is when speeches are being made - it never fails - but i think this is the most i've cried at a wedding before. ryan and ang had me tearing up (that's when i discovered my mascara isn't very waterproof :P) and cracking up. i hope ryan's "oh shit!" remark gets edited out of the wedding video! also, i think this is one of the few weddings i've attended where both the bride and groom shed tears. i think that made me cry even more! next time, no mascara!

then came the drinking. and more drinking. it wasn't a pretty sight by the bar. but, it was all in good fun, and everyone enjoyed themselves and got home safely! and that's it for my 2007 weddings!


and now after a very busy week, it's time i resume cooking.

blimey! it's the never-ending week :(

sigh...it's been quite a week. i swear, the days go by slow and the nights just fly by.

it started out great on sunday with a visit from natasha. she came over to play with nugget...fortunately he had just been to the doggy park and was somewhat more laid back than usual.

monday night puppy-cuddling has temporarily resumed again, as 2 of the girls were taken from their puppyraisers and are waiting for new raisers. my girl cary is one of them :( she's so lovely, and i truly believe she remembers me. at least she has a playmate in grace...the 2 of them together are quite a pair! (i found out that one of the dogs gave birth on tuesday, so i'm looking forward to 8 new puppies at PADS in november!)

ah tuesday. what a day that was :P right before lunch the fire alarm went off (there was in fact a small fire that set off the alarms), and nugget and i had to evacuate the building along with everyone else. 19 flights of stairs w/me and the dog. well, of course a small disaster happened. the stairs were a bit slippery for my boy, so his paws didn't grip very well and he slipped, then i pulled him back so he wouldn't fall down the entire flight, and then sure enough i fell down myself. fortunately i only fell down 2 steps on my bum-bum, and i was even more thankful that i had some of my co-workers around me (god forbid anything bad should happen to me and nugget). the next 15 flights of stairs were fairly uneventul. of course, the pain kicked in later that day :( in the evening we took nuggers to class, where chris was in control cuz i was in too much pain by that point. i wouldn't have been able to control nugget w/his friends all around him.

it seems as though nugget is eating a lot of bark at the doggy park. it was only a matter of time before he suffered the consequences...yes, he threw up overnight :P twice. fortunately it wasn't as bad as the time we had fraser who peed, pood and barfed in one night. so on wednesday night after another trip to the doggy park, we threw nugget into our bathtub for a cleaning. boy, does he look young and handsome now!

onto a more "me" topic...i finally went to kin's tonight and i stocked up on fruit: green grapes, white peaches, organic bananas, and asian pears. tomorrow's going to be a kick-ass breakfast!

2 years of wedded bliss ;-)

hahaha! who am i kidding?! j/k!

it's hard to believe that it's been 2 years since chris and i got married. as i think back, a couple things haven't changed: the weather at 6 a.m. is the same as 2 years ago...wet and not really sure if the sun is going to make an appearance; and i'm sick...2 years ago i was just getting over a cold - i blamed that on wedding stress.

so, what has changed? not a whole heck of a lot i guess. chris and i are now responsible "parents", nugget's life lies in our hands whereas 2 years ago i owned fighting fish which died shortly after purchase :P i guess that's it. i don't feel any older, i don't look any older. well, sometimes i feel old...like when i go to bed at 11 p.m. on a friday night :P

ah well, happy 2nd anniversary to me & chris :-) to celebrate, we're doing absolutely nothing. well that's not entirely true...i'm going to play with the puppies tonight! then we're having nachos for dinner. maybe we'll dine by candlelight. on second thought...there's not enough room on the tv table for a candle :P

remedy for a cold

from what i can recall, this is my 4th cold of 2007. i haven't done anything differently from last year, so i'm not really sure why i'm always sick. at least this time round i haven't missed any work. yet.

we were talking about fruits and vegetables at work last week, and i realized i don't eat nearly as much as i should. so, starting tomorrow (or maybe tuesday depending if i get to the market tomorrow) i will try to eat at least 2 servings of fruits/vegetables a day (i guess i can't count the apple/custard danish from cobs as a serving? but do the green onions and tomatoes on the nachos count?). i'm not sure if my latte counts as a serving of dairy or not, so perhaps i'll increase my intake to a full cup of dairy a day (in addition to the cheese on the nachos). too much milk and i get "issues".

this is all in advance of my annual health test at work on tuesday morning. i did an online survey questionnaire, and my results weren't too good (as i well expected). but it's not like i do anything w/the results. it's just a good thing to know. at least i've been forewarned, right? ah well, 2008 is just around the corner. perhaps i'll consider starting something next year.

as if.

mochi....be damned!

well, i've met my match in the kitchen! after 2 disasters w/the mochi flour, i've run out of the stuff and i've given up. i don't care how much i loved nobu's mochi ice cream, the failed effort is just not worth it anymore. i give up, and i'm not gonna bother for awhile. sorry girls, you'll just have to fly to new york or las vegas or wherever and try it for yourselves.

plus i'm still sick, so i just don't give a damn anymore.

i'm sure my 3rd try will be better. after all, i did progress further on my 2nd try. maybe by the 5th try, i'll actually have a dessert put together. whatever. i don't give a hoot.

we screamed, we danced, we had a "sexy back" time

after months and months of waiting, sel and i finally went to the justin timberlake concert on wednesday night. after patiently sitting through good charlotte, his opening act, jt finally hit the stage at 9:15. from that point on it was absolute insanity! this guy deserves props. not only does he sing, but he's a musician (he played the guitar and piano) and a great dancer (which is a far cry from britney spears' performance on mtv last night)!

about an hour into the show, he took an "intermission" while timbaland (who i also love!) did a solo performance for about 15 minutes. his "performance" was a little different...a compilation of music from artists he's worked with (nelly furtado, aaliyah, missy elliott, etc. etc.) as well as a visual show on the curtain screens. very interesting. of course he performed "the way i are", which i love. then justin returned to the stage for more booty-shaking excitement! of course, he saved "sexy back" till the very end of his show, and everyone was singing and dancing along. the concert was ridiculously fun!

i have to say that i enjoyed this concert a lot more than christina aguilera's. it's probably because sel and i had lower bowl seats, so there were less high-pitched screaming young girls w/their mothers. perhaps it was because the stage was in the centre of gm place, and i could actually see jt up-close-and-personal. good times :-)

holiday weekend

Wow, what a crazy busy week we’ve had!

On Thursday afternoon, my team headed out on a colleague’s boat for a cruise to Snug Cove on Bowen Island. I can’t believe I’ve never been to that island before…it’s super cute! Nugget was a very polite guest…once we hoisted him onboard, he slept for the entire trip at the back of the boat. On the return trip he was a bit curious, so I brought him to the front of the boat to enjoy the view. He seemed to like the wind whipping through his fur :-)

As if a boat cruise wasn’t enough for my NuNu, Chris and I took him to the off-leash doggy park for the first time! There were about 8 other dogs of different sizes already in the enclosed area, and Nugget couldn’t wait to get his nose near them for a good’ol sniff! The park is his little doggy heaven :-) What a tired dog we had afterwards!

As the weekend approached, we just kept getting busier! On Friday, Sharon & Travis hosted a bbq at their place, and they were kind enough to let Nugget join the fun. Asides from poking Matt in the bumbum, our boy was very good. He’s adjusted very well to condo-living, and for a large dog he manages well in small spaces.

On Saturday, Sandra, Angela and I resumed our “cooking” group. This time we tackled Japanese food…miso soup w/wakame, tofu and enoki mushrooms, make-your-own-sushi (for fillers we had: egg, bacon, enoki mushrooms, salmon sashimi, tuna sashimi, cucumber, japanese pickles, avocado, and teriyaki beef), black cod in miso sauce (fujiya has marinated fish), and black sesame crème brulee for dessert. Yum yum! I’ve discovered I still have a lot to learn about kitchen “stuff”…apparently I bought the wrong type of fuel for my kitchen torch :P

After living in our condo for 1.5 years, we finally used our common room and bbq! We invited a bunch of friends over on Sunday for some good eats. I put my domestic skills to work and made spinach dip (always a favourite!), pasta salad w/a dill, olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette, Caesar salad (with the Earl’s secret recipe!), and an apple crisp w/homemade vanilla ice cream. Chris was the bbq-tionist, and he had the lamb chops, boerwors, and maui ribs grilled to perfection!

To end our busy holiday weekend, we joined Geoff & Sunny (and family) for a delicious hotpot dinner in Richmond. We were “cooking” up a storm…prawns, lamb, beef, enoki mushrooms, noodles, “balls”, wontons, assorted veggies! So, so yummy! Makes me want to do hotpot at home again…but I think I’ll wait a few more months.

wow, pne...twice in one summer!

what an eventful few days we've had! upon receiving nugget on saturday, we spent the weekend at the bay metrotown promoting PADS and showing off our trainees :-) we also went to earl's, superstore, save-on-foods, and we've been commuting on skytrain! tomorrow nugget gets to go on his first private boat ride :-) i'm hoping he won't jump overboard!

our most exciting event together was the puppy class field trip to the pne last night (great for training, socialization and assessing the dogs in public places). class was only an hour, but we ended up staying at the fair for 5 hours! i think everyone was out there last night...we saw chris' cousin natalie & grant with their daughter lula, rob & rachel and len & amy, and my co-worker kevin!

as for class...nugget was in doggy heaven! he was reunited with his sister, diamond, who he was staying with for the past 2 weeks. sisters - lucy and cary; siblings - magic, drake and spirit; and robo were all in attendance last night. we wandered through the barns to visit the farm animals (one puppy had a stand-off with a goat - i think the goat won), down the midway over to playland, and finished up in front of the haunted house ride. poor little lucy got scared right out of her fur by the scary monsters. i went over to say hi, and she just pressed right against my legs and tried to hide :-) so sweet! i don't think nugget wasn't too fazed by anything that happened, including the rollin' thunder performance at the end of the night. it was a long day for nugget, and we were all absolutely exhausted by the time we got home :-)

we're gonna be parents!?!?

hahaha! how's that for a catchy title? :-)

well, it's true. chris and i are making a 6-month commitment to raise nugget, a 9 month old yellow labrador retriever. we've puppysat him a few times, most recently after he was neutered this summer. he's by far our most favourite dog of all :-)

sooo, beginning this saturday he'll be with us 24/7! there will be the occasional weekend we send him off to a puppysitter, but other than that, he'll be going everywhere with us. that includes tackling some asian restaurants :P i think the hardest challenge for us will be the training. we'll be at class every tuesday learning new skills. chris and i will both have to be very consistent and persistent with him. we also have to locate the nearest off-leash doggy parks, so he can burn off some energy.

in addition to having nugget, i'll still continue my weekly puppycuddling at PADS, and we're hoping that we can still bring home a young pup once in awhile. there are 4 or 5 litters arriving at PADS in september through november, so they're going to need lots of volunteers. our little condo could get just a little crowded! but, the joy we get from the dogs is a ridiculously awesome feeling :-)

sidenote: i know i blogged awhile ago about volunteering with big sisters. however, after more consideration, i've decided to focus my love on the puppies. volunteering more w/PADS is also fulfilling my selfish desire to be around puppies more :-)

this weekend could also be the end of our social life! we might be slightly restricted to some of the activities/places we go to in the next 6 months, but the satisfaction of seeing nugget progress in PADS more than compensates for it. we met nicole, a recipient of a PADS graduate (leroy) at the walk on sunday, and she is so grateful that she has leroy. he had an operation earlier this year and was out of commission for a month while he recovered, and she was just lost without him. it is so heartwarming to see such a great partnership between people and dogs :-)

stay tuned for updates on me, chris and nugget!

phew, what a weekend!

on my friday off, we started off fairly early and headed over to granville island. we hit the market, walked around and enjoyed a lunch outside. mid-afternoon we made our way to white rock. i can't believe i've never been there before. we managed to find our way to crescent beach for ice cream and then we found the boardwalk/pier area and did some more walking. we were very lucky on friday and the rain held off :-)

it was fun to be a tourist in my own 'hood! it was also really nice to have the day off!


sunday was a very hectic day...we hit central park for the PADS 5/2 km walk/run fundraising event, where we would spend the day w/cary, my black labrador friend. unfortunately the weather was kind of miserable and we were surrounded by wet dogs :(

also on sunday we headed over to pris & dave's for a farewell bbq to stan, who's heading off to toronto for more school :-( dave is quite the webber-bbq master...i was super impressed with the pulled pork sandwiches...i actually ate too much pork and didn't have room for the caribbean chicken, maui ribs or boerwors. the grilled bananas and ice cream for dessert were really yummy as well. i'm inspired...i think chris should try to make those recipes as well :-) after all, we do have the same webber book!

being fully satisfied, we were off to chris' parents house for yet another bbq! this one was in honour of andrew (chris' cousin), who was visiting for 2 weeks from south africa. coincidentally, he had just celebrated his birthday earlier in the week, happy 29th! andrew has now reluctantly left vancouver, but he hopes to return in the near future...hopefully w/his wife and son in tow :-) my fingers and toes are crossed...he really wants his son to grow up in a safer environment than johannesburg. ironically, an opportunity has risen that might see me make the trek out to SA for a couple weeks in november. it requires a lot more research and thought before i jump into anything! it's been a busy year for travel...big white, the maritimes/east coast, and las vegas.















oh well, lots to think about right now. tough decisions ahead!

damn this cold!

i'm tired of being sick. it's just sucked the life right outta me! i also just don't have time to be sick either. for the next 2 days i'm going to be a tourist in my own city. i offered to show chris' cousin from south africa around vancouver, so i'm trying to think of rainproof activities for us. i'm armed w/the tourism vancouver guidebook, my entertainment book, and my imagination. wish us luck!

well, the weekend is finally over

i've been pretty miserable all week due to a nasty cold i caught after being in vegas. i blame it on the hot weather and cold air conditioning. it had NOTHING at all to do w/the sleepless night of playing pai gow!




anyways, another crazy busy weekend is over. on friday after work, i spent a couple hours chillaxing at the spa getting my french manicure and pedicure. with an event-filled weekend, i had to have my nails looking good :-) afterwards, chris and i joined stan and pris at nanchu for dinner. we shared a bunch of dishes including: gyoza, fried rice balls, udon noodles, ebi mayo, yakitori, beef tataki, etc. etc. delish!

on saturday, my sister-in-law melanie married ivan. to prepare for the day so i was looking my best, i headed over to blo to get my hair straightened. i was somewhat disappointed by the experience. the "stylist" only straight-ironed the "top" of my hair, not my entire head as my stylist at statik normally does. also, she didn't use my product to keep my hair in check either. bottom line, i ended up waxing my hair at home and the final product looked like any other hair day for me. i think i would only go back to blo for a totally different hair experience, such as an up-do or curls, which won't happen for awhile given my short hair :P

anyways, right after my appointment i walked over to beautymark to buy a heated eyelash curler. now, this is the best $22 i've spent in a long time. well, it's the best thing i bought since my kate spade handbag last week in las vegas :-) i could blog about my handbag for awhile...i quite like it. anyways, back to the curler...i have a fear of the standard eyelash curler...i'm always afraid my eyelids are going to get pinched in them, so i always pull back and nothing gets accomplished. w/the heated curler, i just apply my mascara, and then use the curler and gently manipulate my lashes into the desired curl. easy peasy!

finally, it was wedding time. chris was running around doing errands all morning, and then we made our way to the celebration pavillion at queen elizabeth park. it was standing-room only for the 20 minute ceremony. the wedding party looked great, albeit a little nervous. it must be a lok family thing - they just can't repeat words after someone...when chris and i got married, he messed up the lines he had to repeat after the minister, and then melanie messed up the similar lines she was repeating after the justice of the peace. hopefully whenever clarisse gets married, she can break the "curse" :-)

in hindsight, the rest of yesterday went by pretty quickly...i'm just glad our wedding day is long over. the nervousness, the stress, the excitement...it was weird though because some of the relatives we saw last night, we hadn't seen since our wedding day nearly two years ago. i felt bad because as we were receiving the guests, i couldn't remember anyone's names :P oh well.

i have to admit that i had more fun than i thought i would. it was great to see some of chris' old friends...mostly ben...that guy cracks me up :-) he kept calling chris "stains" after chris spilled red wine all over himself. by the end of the night my feet were sore, i was super tired thanks to my cold, and i had a very sick husband thanks to the alcohol - so sick that his dad and cousin from SA had to escort us home and help him inside :P

after chris overindulged at the wedding, we were off to church! yup, my cousin was having her daughter baptized. red-eyed and still somewhat sleepy, chris and i survived the 30 minute ceremony. bethany is just a super cute baby...she slept almost the entire time and didn't cry. the only time she was caught crying was about 30 minutes after we got to my cousin's house and i couldn't find the baby. in fact no one had seen the baby inside the house! crazy enough, bethany did leave the church in a car with 4 adults, and yet no one remembered to bring her inside! silly parents! no harm done...she was safe in the van inside their carport.

and now, i'm feeling slightly refreshed after a short nap, and chris is still sleeping away. it's been a really long weekend :P

vegas all the time, party all the time, gamble all the time :-)

ah yes, what a weekend it was! exactly 1 week ago, we headed down south to sin city. i thought i loved new york, but las vegas has everything a girl could want! food! gambling! clubbing! shopping! so much to do and so little time :-)

(thanks for the picture pauline!)

thursday night...angela, sandra, sharon and i had dinner at daniel boulud @ the wynn hotel. i started with the tuna tartare - delish! and for an entree i had the moules frites! double-yum! how's that for an in-depth food review?! and to burn off some calories after our filling meals, we walked along the strip and saw 3 performances of bellagio's water fountains. later that evening, i was in a gambling sort of mood, so i took ang and sharon to the TI casino w/me. one by one, i sucked all of the girls into my pai gow poker fixation - luckily there was a $10 table...low enuf to suck you in, but still high enuf to turn anyone into a gambler :-) that night, it was all about the girls...we took over one of the pai gow tables, and had a blast! we finally called it a night around 4:30 a.m.

well, after hearing about our win on thursday night at the casino, the rest of the girls wanted to play some more :-) on friday, after a day of shopping and some dancing at tangerine, we were back at the $10 pai gow tables! this time i had my gambler in crime, sunny, along for the ride. lady luck was definitely on my side this night...i hit the fortune twice with a straight flush! the rush of the first straight flush was inspiring, but the second one sent me right over the edge. at that point, there was going to be no sleep for me or sunny! so, at the bright hour of 7 a.m., sunny and i sheepishly made our way back to our hotel room to freshen up for breakfast and a day at the premium outlets. at that point i was just so giddy from my big win, that i didn't need sleep! or so i thought. by mid-afternoon, i was falling asleep on store benches :P at least sunny and i were in the same boat together, so we took a late-afternoon nap :-)

saturday evening was jam-packed...buffet dinner at bellagio, chippendales (ang did some serious booty-shaking!), clubbing at pure (the big celebrity was mr. belding from saved by the bell...however, coolio was also at the club but we had already bounced out by the time he showed up). and of course, no evening is complete without some more pai gow poker :-) seriously, who'd of thunk i could've gotten any luckier? well, i did! my 3rd straight flush of the weekend, plus i got paid out more money when the guy beside me hit a royal flush! yah, baby! all in all, it was a great weekend for gambling, and then on monday it was a great day for shopping :-)

and of course, all good things must come to an end :-( sometimes it sucks to have such a good time on vacation...after it's over, what do you have left to look forward to? it seems a bunch of us are suffering - physically, mentally, and perhaps in the wallet... but a good time was had by all.

i'm already trying to figure out when i can take my next vegas vacation...any takers?!