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!