Merry Christmas! Long time no blog!

it's been 3 solid months sinced i've blogged. I think a lot of things have happened since september. I got myself a permanent job, I took a little trip to Cancun and I finally moved into our house,.. that we bought.. and we're in a lot of debt.

During my 4 month stint at head office, I applied for a position within the organization in june. Well september rolled around I finally got a call for the interview. A few weeks later, I got the position. That was the good part, the bad part was the commute. I can bitch and moan about the commute but I'm just glad I'm employed, full time and permanent.

My brother and sister in law got married in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. We were there for a week, it was beautiful but not as beautiful as our honeymoon in April. It was a lot cooler this time and the resort wasn't as great. Overall, it was satisfactory trip.

The same weekend we came back from Mexico, we decided to finally take the leap and move into the house we bought in June. Our brother and sister in law "P&S" went in with the purchase and they live in the basement while we took the top floor. They moved in September and have been occupying the house while renovations have been taking place. The move was quite rough but we managed. Its December 27th today and well, we moved in November 22nd and still haven't unpacked.

FYI: I also managed to sprain my right ankle by rushing down the steps and completely missing the last step. I really hate this house.

There have been quite a few things that have been going on but not enough to blog about. I've been keeping myself busying and reading other peoples food blogs from Vancouver.

I'll try my best to keep my blog updated in the new year.

Back from the grave

Its a dreary night here in Vancouver and I've caught a cold. I keep thinking about the past, like stuff from 10 years ago. I feel young but numerically, I'm a married cougar(good lord!).

Many thoughts through my mind, like hanging out a pool halls, ricers, eating at 24 hour chinese food joints, karaoking, bubble tea'ing, smoking marbs, drinking china white shooters, taiwanese food, pho, raves, Lesters, .. the list goes on.

Its not like I wanted to go back to doing those things but really I miss being young and free.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Looks like the last time I posted was the same time I started my 4 month stint at MV covering somebody's leave of absence. Well its been 4 months and I completed my stint.

Within those 4 months, I met some great coworkers and I'll probably miss them a lot. I thought I'd be out on the streets after my assignment ended but good news... I won a permanent position within MV. This is rare because I heard horror stories were people waited anywhere between 4-10 years to becoming permanent. Like they say, the only way to get a position at MV is if somebody retires or dies. true story.

Its been a busy 4 months.. hence coming back and updating my blog.

I'm not sure what's in store for me in the future but its pretty scary thinking about it. I'm off to LCOC for the next 4 days, then permanently going to SCFP and supporting the people out there.

My short-term goal at this point is trading in the Civic and getting myself a nice pickup truck and running over pedestrians. I've already gone back to my roots and highlighted my hair blonde(you can't tell by the pic tho). I might as well start fresh with a fresh new look..

scurred.

GM's Reinventation

I really love this commercial !

ah my chicken mcnugget is snuggling my pink elmo~ what life~

may 29th: writing my blog via my blackberry and wifi

So I ended up finishing my lakecity assignment today. Ill be sad to go but I'm off to head office next thursday to start the next. Its been rough cuz work's been starting at 7am :o anyhoo I got myself a new pair of glasses :)

Monday I'm going to BMC for an information interview. Tmr is jazz time!

$49 million lottery

Maybe if I win the lottery tonight, I can donate some and the rest I can adopt as many cats as I want and live a big mansion in Burnaby with 10 cars.

I don't think I'd give any to my family, maybe my friends tho.

El Mariachi Mexican Restaurant Hastings St Burnaby BC

El Mariachi Mexican Restaurant

We need a quick bite to eat so decided to try the newly opened mexican joint that previously was called El Mexico or something. I previously tried lunch at El Mexico last year and I found it mediocre so I was skeptical about the new owners.

Sad to say, I was disappointed. We arrived at 6.45 and waited 10 mins for our server to get our orders. Mind you there was 1 server and 1 mgr? and they kept walking back and forth from the tables to the cash area getting drinks. It was clear to us there was no experience here. It seems they went to a table, forget something came back to the cash, grabbed something, went back to the table, went to another table, went back to the cash and back and forth every minute. It was very annoying.

After waiting 10 mins waiting, the waitress got our order and 5 mins later we got the compliementary chips. It was ok, the salsa and salsa verde were good. We ordered chicken fajitas, bbq pork and nachos as appy. I would expect an appy to come out usually 10mins from ordering. This wasn't the case, we got our nachos 25 mins later. We gobbled it up, and waited another 15-20 mins for our dishes. The BBQ pork in adobo sauce was basically vingery ketchup sauce poured on top of BBQ ribs. gross. My chicken fajitas looked like a chinese stir-fry with "red" sauce, bland, and full of water collected on the side of my dish. It came with beans which were nice and a dry cup of mexican rice. We had to ask for the tortillas as well.

Over an hour later, we were very disappointed, late and will never eat mexican food in a restaurant ever again. We have yet to try Dona Cata which I heard its ok.

I'll take Taco Del Mar anyday.

I didn't bother taking pics because I didn't want to waste space on my blackberry, plus you'd barf if you saw the food.

Retro plush dolls

Again my mom is on her menopausal rage and while I'm home not working, she's trying get out her frustrations by cleaning out this entire house. Today she started on the utility room, which means the room under the stairs.

She grabbed 3 bags of my plush dolls I've kept over the last 25 yrs. Here's a few I've kept around! I donated the rest~

(From left to right Theodore from Alvin and The Chipmunks(bought at Woolco), Smurfette, Twinkle from Rainbow Bright(bought at Woolco) and Papa Smurf. Above is Odie the Pound Puppy(probably brought at Sears) Also the Cabbage Patch Doll .. ugh.

13,500 karaoke to "Hey Jude" at Trafalgar Square

Love it !!

Chicken Fried Chicken

My cat is the most moodiest cat that ever lived. He is your typical cat where he doesn't remember what happened 5 seconds before. I usually call him something related to the poultry family because he is so chicken over everything. He's chicken and I love fried chicken so I usually call my cat the following names, Chicken Fried Chicken, Chicken McNuggets, Mister Fizzles, Furtastic, Furball, Flea, Turkey, Sheckie Shabass, Moomoo, Mister Murphy, Bad Kitteh, Bad Furball, Angry Kitteh, or I just shriek cause I love him so cute.

I don't know what I'll do if I lose him, I'll probably give him the most grandest funeral. He's the reason my parents are still together at this point. I love Angry Kitteh!

Family Guy & Lauren Conrad

Ahhh.. the best of both worlds. I love Family Guy(but not as much as I love The Simpsons), Seth McFarlane is a comic genius. I totally get family guy and its inside jokes.. you gotta be pretty up to date with anything mainstream to understand family guy.

I admit, I love The Hills. Yes its a total waste of time but really for me its a 30 minute oasis to get away from my own reality.

Lauren Conrad will be lending her voice to the next Family Guy episode on Fox May 3rd. Can't wait for it !!!

Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser

Another thing I cannot live without, my cetaphil cleanser. I have dry sensitive facial skin and finding a non-soap cleanser that cleans without drying the skin is difficult. I discovered Cetaphil just a few years ago and its been a staple of my skin regimen. I usually wet my face, slather it on and rinse off.

I only recommend this product for my dry skin friends out there that don't need the feeling of lather to be clean.

Oily skin friends, please stay away~

Garnier Fructis Leave-in Conditioning Cream Sleek & Shine

I bought this Fructis Leave-in conditioner at Shoppers Drug Mart when it was sale for $2.99. (I think its usually $4.99??). I cannot live without this hair product. It makes my dry and over-colored hair nice and soft afterwards. As soon I get out of the shower I take a quarter sized amount and put it in my hair. I think it smells like papaya and I love it, it always detangles my hair and never leaves a greasy feeling.

Recommended !!!

Garnier Nutritionist Regenerating Microbead Cream Scrub

The more I blog about my products, the more I notice wow.. I love Garnier~

This time is the Garnier Nutritionist Regenerating Microbead Cream. I bought this because I loved the Garnier green cleansing wipes. Somedays you feel like your cleanser isn't doing much(its more like you need to exfoliate your face) and thats when I pull out this scrub. Its a white pasty thick cream with tiny green and white bubbles to scrub your face. This scrub is never drying to my face and never irritating. I usually use it once a week or whenever I feel like my usually cleanser needs a kick. I usually use it in the shower while the conditioner is on.

Totally recommend it !

The Body Shop's Peppermint Cooling Foot Spray

Peppermint Foot Spray

I believe I have Grierson-Gopalan syndrome aka Burning Feet. It got so bad last summer I went to go see my family doctor and there is no cure for it. Every night I would go to bed and try to sleep with my burning feet. It just feels like the bottom of your foot is just so hot and it feels like its on fire but if you actually touch your feet its not hot at all. I heard its something that affects your nerves and not the actual temperature of your feet.

Its more a nuisance than anything else because you can't fall asleep easily because your feet just feel like they are on fire.

I checked out the peppermint foot spray and people, it does not work. Sure it keeps your feel smelling fresh but it doesn't cool. It smells like peppermint but doesn't have any menthol cooling action. Its mostly made out of alcohol which is fine because alcohol somewhat helps with cooling down your feet but days later you're stuck with dry peeling skin on your feet because of the alcohol.

I don't recommend this product but hey it takes away the stink from your feet.

Go Canucks Go !!

Ok, I'll be honest with you. I don't watch hockey, sure its tolerable to watch it but I don't follow it. Going to the home games is exciting but I really do need John Shorthouse talkin in my ear or its just pucks and sticks slapping for 2 hrs.

If the game is playing on TV, as soon as hubby goes to the washroom or isn't in the room I immediately turn the channel to MTV or the E! channel. I rather watch THS: The David Hasselhoff Story than watch 2 hours of hockey. Because I live in Vancouver I'm still about supporting the canucks but I ain't going to watch a full game unless there's alcohol and food flowing~

The next chapter in my life..

It's been really sinking into me lately that I'm actually married. I'm legally tied to my hubby @vancitycanuck. We are in a legal union together, we're in it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. We are now husband and wife. Its still hard calling J "my husband", I usually start coughing because I can't believe I'm saying the word Husband haha.

After the wedding, I started to realize a few things. I'm 30, and married. What the heck am I doing still chatting with immature people?

It hit me suddenly one day, somebody on my msn list sent me a link of something incredibly funny and incredibly immature. Sure, I found it funny for a second and after that second I found him/her and the joke very immature. A million throughts ran through my head, and I still thought about it everyday.. until I wanted to get it off my chest today and write about it on this blog. I realized this person is a source of immaturity and will always be until I stop communicating with him/her. From that day on, I just decided to avoid the immaturity and move on with my life and move on from those kinds of people.

This all ties into the question that gets asked me to time and time again after I got married.. "Do you feel any different now that you're married?"

The answer is Yes. Now that I'm married, I feel some topics and some people are more immature than others. I'm trying to put things very diplomatically here but I've had discussions with my married friends lately and I think being married brings on certain mature tendancies on how you view life. It's a different feeling. The funny thing is that after a few aquaintances of mine got married, they kinda turned "snobby" in my eyes. Now I can see where they were coming from. Once you get married, you do find certain persons lifestyles a bit immature. Its a feeling that you would rather not socialize with them sober.

Knowing that you're married and equally responsible now for somebody that is not your blood relative is very sobering. This also goes with having a baby, I would imagine having a baby is the more sobering experience in anybody's life and koodos to those who have kids(trust me, my biological clock is tickin right up there!).

A new chapter in my life.. another step in my adult life.

Webber Naturals Apple Cider Vinegar

This is a product I cannot live without. I've been taking Apple Cider Vinegar pills for the past 3 years and its probably prevented a lot of nasty nausea attacks.

My mom introduced me to apple cider when one day I came over for dinner and things felt a little too greasy in my innards. She told me to take these two horse pills that smelled awful. I took them and an hour or two later I was feeling fine. I have a big tendency to always feel nauseated when I eat anything and so I always need a cup of strong coffee, bubbly coke, a big cup of tea or something acidic to just cut the "grease" after every meal. Sometimes I can't have any of those so I take 2 Apple Cider vinegar pills during or right after my meal and things go smoothly~

I feel my fake internet research to see what apple cider exactly did. One said it was a fat burner... it is definitely NOT a fat burner. It definitely helps me digest my meals a bit better and thats why I use it.

I recommend Apple Cider Vinegar pills but please do your research and see if its right for you~

The Body Shop's Coconut Body Butter

As you all know, I have the driest skin on the planet. I received this butter as a bridal shower present from my sister-in-law Sandy(it was part of a gift with the scrub and shower creme). She said she loved the smell of coconut and thought I'll love it too.. well I do! I have the tendency to order the usually 3 types of gelato, one being Coconut, Green tea and/or durian mango or some southasian exotic fruit.

When I came back totally sunburnt from Mexico I was peeling like a banana and I think I used 5 different lotions and butters one me, this being one of them. I used the Olive body butter on @vancitycanuck and I used the Coconut body butter on myself.

I love this body butter! Its not too greasy(for me) and I smell like I'm vacation 24/7. It feels my elbows and knees moisturized all day. The gift box Sandy gave me came with the Coconut exfoliater and that.. I don't like so much. It smells good when you open it but as you rub it on your body, it turns into this weird chemical smell. ew. Stick with the body butter! Also it came with a shower creme and its heavenly!

I definitely recommend this body butter and the coconut shower creme, it moisturizes and it smells like vacation!

Duo Eyelash Adhesive & Ardell Fashion Lashes

So I have jumped on the eyelash bandwagon and I love to wear fake eyelashes. Yes.. I even wore them to the office without anybody noticing too much. Having fake nails and wearing fake eyelashes keeps a peppy step in my walk. Yes it sounds fake but ask any girl who wears them, they put a little luxe in your life~

I occasionally wore eyelashes here and there but seeing there is a big trend where girls all not just wearing them to club nite but to the office, I'd thought I invest in some good glue and glasses. I usually buy my synthetic lashes at the Daiso store in Aberdeen mall and they work great. The glue I have now is the one that dries into a gummy yellow color. I lost my previous one that turns dark so I bought the dark again. I also got the Ardell lashes made out of real hair and see how they work out. We'll see!

Neutrogena's All-in-One Make-up Removing Cleansing Wipes

Sale at London Drugs for $5.25

I ran out of makeup remover wipes so I had to get another batch. In the past I used Garnier's green cleansing wipes, Loreal's age-something or another cleansing wipes. This time I wanted under $10 dollars that didn't sting my eyes.

I was looking for wipes based on their price, sheets per package and its ability to remove makeup. I looked at Pond's which was 25 @ $8.99, Clean and Clear's new Makeup Remover line 25 @ $7.99, Garnier's 30 @ $9.99 then as I walked away I saw a itty bitty yellow sale sign near the Neutrogena area, 25 @ Sale!! $5.25. After walking up and down the aisle like a supermodel I finally decided I'd try out the Neutrogena wipes for the price point(and the fact I do not have a paycheque coming in).

As always I soon as I came home, I tried the wipe out and it was a great! It didn't sting my eyes, removed all my makeup, left a really fresh feeling on my face and never dried it out(as I have super dry skin). I might go back and buy another pack if its still on sale.. hehe Oh~ the original price for these babies were $10.23 or something.

Recommended!!!

Kingyo Izakaya Denman. St. Vancouver BC

(above are the 4 dishes out of 11 we had at Kingyo)

Tonight my hubby @vancitycanuck (on twitter) and I decided to go for our celebratory dinner. We were celebrating that it's been a month since we've gotten married, sold our condo at the same time, moved out by ourselves and moved in by ourselves, signed off all the papers etc. This has been a well deserved dinner and so picking where I wanted to eat was a big deal.

I was done eating white food since coming back from Mexico and I really wanted to get the bad taste left in my mouth since eating "sushi" in Mexico. The thoughts of tasteless lukewarm seabass sashimi left a very.. very sour taste in my month. Since coming back, I've been dreaming of izakaya and fresh Vancouver seafood. Tonight was the night..

We ate our hearts out(especially my little heart).. We asked the waitress, which was so kind to us, how many dishes usually a couple ate, she said it averages around 5-6 dishes...

My hubby and I polished off 10 izakaya dishes, he had the sapporo and I had the asahi and took home the stewed pork belly "kakuni" and half of the japanese style calamari. Towards the end we were feeling quite full so I didn't order the almond tofu. damn! The waitress who took care of our bill was quite amazed and asked us for our opinion on the food.. at this point we were the only party other than a big group of japanese students left in the restaurant. I told her everything was delish! The service was great and the waitresses were terrrrific!!! Our bill came out to a mear $150 which was much less than expected~

I love izakaya and tried all the Guu's, Gyoza King, Nann Chu and now Kingyo.. Kingyo was definitely upper crust than Guu but in the end, I think I would go back to our old standby.. the Guu in gastown.

Our Honeymoon..

Its been a month since me and @vancitycanuck got married. It's also been a month since we've come back from our honeymoon in the Maya Riveria. We stayed at the Imperial Valentin Maya and its ranked #14 of the resort located in the Mayan according to TripAdvisor. There's a reason why its ranked #14 and not #67..

It was so beautiful there and the weather was fantastic! I recommend visiting any resort on the Mayan side of Mexico. The beach, the water.. was fabulous.

Our Wedding..

Gosh its almost been a month since we've gotten married.. Everybody asks the same question.. "Anything changed after you guys got married?"


No. Anybody's whose married can tell you that.

What da MAC?

The bad habits I've accumulated the past month.. But I'm not blaming myself, I ran out of makeup for the last 6 months so I decided to just buy everything !

The first girl sold me on their new Mineralize SatinFinish SPF 15 Foundation and powder. I don't usually wear a lot of makeup so this is a perfect line for me. Its quite sheer but makes your skin look pretty smooth. The only downside is that the foundation has that darn sparkle in it but its not too much. (Since coming back from the Mayan Riveria I haven't been able to use this makeup cause I got a shade too dark.. I'm keepin them around for the winter). I also bought their baked mineral eyeshadow, LOVE this eyeshadow.

Overall the MAC mineral makeup work pretty good, what I DO NOT recommend is the Baresenutals mineral powder they sell at Sephora. IT SUCKS although their brushes are great.

The second girl sold me on the Studio Fix(which I requested to buy from the first salesgirl but steered me towards the mineral). I've always loved the studio fix, it does a good job giving medium coverage and it has a mirror(a plus!). I also got the DazzleGlass in Steppin Out cause I feel fabulous in it haha

Side note, the 5 times I visited a MAC counter I only got service 2wice but those two times the MAC "makeup artist" aka salespersons were quite fun to deal with.

Cats, Nails and Cosmetics

Browsing through the internet, I'm finding that I fit into a certain category that typically blogs.. the typical blogger is female, loves cats, loves makeup, cosmetics, personalizing everything with cute stuff.

Japanese Nail Art April/May 2009

Once I came back from my mexican honeymoon, I found my nails were a bit flamboyant for everyday wear and decided to get them removed.. And to replace them I wanted fruity nails LOL!

Last week I actually went to a job interview. During the job interview I started talking with my hands and I guess the interviewer saw my nails and got taken back. Then I realized, oh... ok these nails are not going to land me a job. I got another interview on Monday but I will definitely keep my hands below the desk this time and not point. OOPS~

Japanese Nail Art for my Wedding

I don't know what I was doing in the past 3 years but I guess my head was under a rock all this time... because I have JUST recently discovered japanese nail art. If somebody told me about japanese nail art 3 years ago.. my life probably would of change. OK.. not really BUT I'd probably be a happier person.

Just before my wedding in March I decided to get my nails done which I have never done before. Being a daughter of immigrant parents, growing up your mom doesn't really tell you about the birds or the bees, or if you should get your nails done, your hair highlighted or your eyebrows waxed, probably because immigrant parents are working 99% of the time and we were all raised as latched key kids.

I decided a week before I would go on craigslist vancouver to find some deals in their beauty section. Lo and behold, I found a lady named Grace from Gbeauty nails that does these wonderful nail art. I booked an appt the day before the wedding, and 2 hrs and 45 mins later, my nails were the talk of the day! I took the same nails with me to mexico, and through sun, the saltiest ocean water, sand, heat.. whatever mexico is,.. they survived.

Definitely recommend Gbeauty nails!

Garnier Skin Naturals Fresh Invigorating Toner

I love using toner before putting on moisturizer, it just makes me feel like the moisturizer is going to stick to my skin better. I decided to try out this bottle because I love the Garnier line, including their Fructis products. I found this toner a bit too watered down. It does smell fresh and soft but it just feels like I'm putting on a watered down toner. I only like using this toner during the summer when I'm feeling a bit oily otherwise.. I haven't really touched the bottle.

Marcelle Gentle Make-Up Remover for Sensitive Eyes

Marcelle is Canadian brand, made in Montreal. It is a dual action(oil and remover) formula that you shake before you put it to remove your makeup. I find this is a good and cheaper alternative to the famous Lancome's Effacil remover. I wear contact lenses and I do need to remove my lenses before I use this makeup remover as the oil sticks to the lenses. It does a great job and it is very cooling on your skin. I recommend leaving using a cotton pad and soaking it on your eyelid for a good 10 seconds before wiping away. Would I recommend this product? Yes. Side note: I do not recommend using any Sephora Eye Makeup Removers as it stings your eyes badly.

Garnier Fructis Style Curl Relaxing Creme Curls & Shine

"Curls & Shine Frizz Control, Silky Finish Strong Hold"
Retails for $4.99 at London Drugs

I have really wavey hair and I am always trying to find the next best thing to make my waves look their shiniest, moist'iest(? haha), softness and all that good stuff. Fructis is one of my favorite and preferred brands for haircare. I have psoriasis on my scalp and I find something about the Fructis, Dove and Head and Shoulders brands that do not irritate my psoriasis, must be those fruit waxes!

I bought this styling creme to hold down my waves so they don't get frizzy and my ends don't get nasty. I usually use 3-5 products on my hair after I get out of the shower just to tame those ends. This creme has a lotion-type texture and is very slick feeling(but not oily at all). I use this creme when I don't feel like putting so much product in my hair and it controls my waves with a very light and soft hold(I know it says strong but its much better than goopy gel). One thing is that you definitely need to wash it out the next day because it gets gummy after you've slept on your hair.

Would I recommend this product? Yes.

Jergens Natural Glow Daily Moisturizer

Retails for $7.99 at London Drugs 150 ml

"creates a healthy, summer glow all year long just by moisturizing - Designed for Medium/Tan Skin Tones"

I bought this thinking I'd look dark and luscious like Nicole Sherzinger but of course I didn't. And the moisturizer had those darn sparkles in it. RANT ALERT! A pet peeve of mine is putting sparkles in cosmetics, this reminds me being in grade 3 buying my first bonnebell lipsmacker with sparkles and glitter in it. I find it childish when cosmetic companies put sparkle and glitter in their moisturizers or other things that you shouldn't be putting all over you face.

Back to my critic. I just came back from Mexico 2 weeks ago and found this might be a good product to save my beautiful burnt tan. No. The lotion smells bad, it has sparkles in it(which makes you look like a glitter queen) and it just doesn't absorb nicely. As my skin was peeling off, I found the lotion contains some dark coloring and just absorbs into your skin to create the "tan" look.

Would I buy this product again? No.
Would I recommend it? No.
Will I keep using it? Yes.

Aveeno Ultra-Calming Daily Moisturizer SPF 15

Aveeno Ultra Calming Daily Moisturizer retails for $19.99 at London Drugs 120ml .

I bought this lotion figuring it would be a cheaper alternative from using my usual Shiseido White Lucent lotion(retails for $65 at The Bay 75ml). I believe this moisturizer is a good alternative for people who have oily to combination skin but not dry skin. I have dry skin and I had to use another moisturizer ontop of the Aveeno.

Considering my dry skin, would I buy the Aveeno as an alternative from my Shiseido? No.

If I had oily to combination skin would this be a good alternative? Yes.