happiness...inner peace...are you out there ???

May long weekend 2007

2007-05-22T12:32:00.000-07:00

As far as birthdays go, I think this year goes into my top 5. I did not really plan anything, just went with the flow. Those always turn out to be super fun and spontaneous.

I had booked Friday off cos our friends Phil and Cheryl were visiting from Regina, SK. Have not seen then since their wedding in Punta Cana, so we all had a nice 4-day long weekend:

Friday AM: Woke up around 9 to get ready to meet them at Metrotown. Cheryl's family came as well so there was a big group of us power shopping. My brother and his family came to meet us for a bit as well on their way downtown. Had lunch at TGIF. Their service was a bit better that normal, maybe cos I asked our server to put a rush on our food.

Quite a funny sight, 4 women dragging 4 men around the mall. Dave likes shopping himself, but the rest of the guys looked liked every minute of the experience was torture.

Friday PM: Said goodbye to Cher's parents Stan and Glenda, and the 6 of us went to my place to get ready for the boat cruise party. My dad was at home, and he looked on in amusement as the guys mixed drinks in the kitchen, and the girls did hair and make-up in the bathroom. We were all trying to iron our outfitS, drink, get dressed and gab at the same time. My bedroom and bathroom was covered in shopping bags, clothing tags, accessories, shoes, make-up, drink glasses, etc.

Drove downtown to a friend's apartment where we did more pre-drinking and getting ready. We eventually got to Granville Island, where the boat sailed at 8pm. By this time, we were starving and cursing ourselves for not getting something to eat. We did not drink much on the boat, as it was expensive plus we all still have to drive to Cheryl's parents house in Maple Ridge to spend the night. By the time the boat got back at midnight, we were starving but nothing was open, so we sped to the house and ate pepperoni and rice chips HAHA =D

Saturday AM: Me and Dave woke up to Belle licking our faces. They had 2 cute dogs. Belle was a chihuahua/Jack Russell, and Sunny a 4-month old yorkipoo. We all had breakfast, then me and Cheryl ran around town for our Starbucks fix, and to get appys and desert for bbq dinner party.

Saturday PM: Cheryl made broccoli salad while I baked 2 cakes. The boys were watching TV while the 2 doggies slept on Dave's lap. The guests started to arrive, there was about 30 of us, and Stan started to bbq the huge stack of T-bone steaks he had. We had steak, prawns, diff salads and appys, potatoes, and a WHOLE LOTTA BOOZE!

We decided to spend another night and go to Roosters to dance and drink since we did not really party the night before. We got there around 11, and by the time we left around 1:30, me and Dave were pretty hammered. I remember getting a bunch of free amaretto shooters, YUM! The best thing about arriving at a club late is most ppl are drunk by that time so strangers buy you free drinks Haha =D
Got back to the house and devoured some leftover cake, and passed out.

Sunday AM: Woke up around 10:30 to greetings of Happy Bday, and we all had breakfast of eggs and leftover steak from the night before. After agreeing to meet everyone again downtown, me and Dave drove home around noon to rest a bit and get ready as we were out of clothes from staying 2 nights. Saw my family again after 2 days, HAHA!

Sunday PM: Drove downtown to meet them all and do a bit of shopping at Robson and Pacific Center. Had a little snack at Cafe Crepes and Taco Time. Then said goodbye to everyone as we went to meet my family for my bday dinner at Daitung Chinese Retaurant. After, we all went home and played video games with the kids, who were waiting as we missed 2 nights of our nightly ritual of Gamecube.

Monday AM: Woke up and made breakfast of eggs and bacon, then we all piled into the rental van to go to the Greater Vancouver Zoo in Aldergrove. They had soooo many animals there, there were tigers and lions and a jaguar. Bears and wolves and birds of prey. We rode this bus that took us into the bear and wolves area, where 2 bears and 3 wolves came right up to the bus!

Monday PM: Stopped by McDonalds on the way home, and when we got home, I just had to nap as I was pooped from all the activities of the past 4 days. But I was able to wake up for chicken wings and suman =)

Tuesday: Now I'm back at work... YAWN ... !!!!

Stupid Rascist Bitch from EB Metrotown

2007-05-07T12:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday me, Dave, my brother, Annie and the kids went to Electronic Boutique at Metrotown to buy a few Gamecube and DS games. As we were browsing through the games, we witnessed a few verbal matches between one of the customer service reps and some customers. As we looked on, it became obvious that the rep was an ignorant bitch who woke up on the wrong side of the bed. She was needlessly rude and antagonistic to the customers. There was a mother who came in and asked her if she saw a young boy wearing army pants. Her cutting remark was: "There are lots of kids here running around with pants." with a very condescending tone like DUH! Who cares that you lost your kid?? The mother proceeds to stomp out the store cursing "Bitch!"

We continue watching on in horrified amusement as several other customers had a run-in with her. For some reason it never occured to me that we'd have our turn when my brother brings the 3 games to the counter. I asked if she could check if they had the DS game pre-played. She answers: "We prob don't have it. I did not check." So I wait for her to check but she just ignores me and starts to ring in the purchase. I think: "Hm...well are you gonna check? ISN'T THAT YOUR JOB???" I just didn't want to be around her anymore, so I let that slide.

The total came to a little over $110. So my brother gives her a hundred dollar bill and a $10 dollar bill. She took the hundred dollar bill but would not accept the $10 dollar bill as she claims it is counterfeit since it did not have the shiny stripe. I worked in retail for years so I knew she was making it up. The banks have issued newer bills that had the shiny stripe but the older bills are still legit.
She would not accept the $5 bills my brother had either as this too she claims is counterfeit. By this time, Dave walks over and tells her he works at a print shop and there has never been any memos issued by a bank that supports her statement. She shuts up at this point. My brother hands her an old $20 dollar bill WITHOUT the stripe and she says that that was fine. Hm...where's the logic in that? Plus any decent store would at least have a counterfeit pen or a scanner.

I regret not reaming her out. I was surprised my brother did not give her a tongue-lashing. The only thing that held us all back was we had to rush to get to a reservation for dimsum across town. So me and Dave just resorted to talking loudly about her as she finished up her transaction. Annie had come in to see what was happening so I loudly explained to her that the rep was full of shit and to just ignore her and let's just leave cos she was just being a horrible bitch.

My brother normally does not take crap from anyone. His family's been through a lot the past 2 years, with my niece battling cancer. 2 years of chemo and surgeries, this is their first R&R vacation after a long haul. Since health care in the Philippines is privatized, my brother has had to battle it out with snotty doctors and hospital staff. But we all just left the store. Anyway, the receipt had her name on it.

Dave warned me that the store manager would probably just defend her, and I knew this too, but I could not resist calling the store today. The lady who answered the phone said her name was Heather. I asked for the manager, and she said she was the manager. So I told her about her employee Christianne, about how it was a horrible experience for my brother, who's a tourist here trying to relax after going thru a lot with his daughter being sick. I told her I was surprised I was the only one who has called to complain as she was making a big stinking scene with several customers.

Talking to Heather was like talking to a robot. Even her apology was very insincere, like she was reading off a script. She feigned shock when she said Christianne usually get glowing remarks, blah blah blah. I knew that it was either:

1. She was lying through her teeth. I had worked in customer service and retail for many years. Customers don't give you glowing remarks when you do a good job. They only contact you if they have a complaint. I'm doing the exact thing =)
I had worked at Crabtree and Evelyn before, and I had a coworker who gave outstanding customer service, and even she only got maybe 1 customer who bothered praising her to the manager in the many years she worked there. And that was cos we gave complimentary gift wrapping and basket arrangements, and she would go out of her way for every customer. She sometimes even delivered it to them.
So Heather prob knew that Christianne was horrible, she just chooses to ignore it as it's hard to find retail workers these days.

2. More than likely, Christianne was just rascist. As the mothers she antagonized was either Asian or Native. This just really Grinds My Gears (pardon the Family Guy phrase) Having worked in retail, and having friends from many different cultures, I just can't stand rascist ppl. HELLO?!!?! You live in Vancouver. If you wanna be rascist, move up North! Or if you're just plain miserable, work in a factory or something where you don't have to deal with ppl, so we won't have to look at your stick-stuck-up-your-ass-expression face either!

We're probably gonna have to go back to that stupid store as my brother plans to buy more games. And since their staff is useless, we're just gonna have to resort to handling it our way. If that bitch even looks at us wrong, she's gonna get the tongue-lashing of her life.

Edmonton

2007-05-04T15:45:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, I had to go to our head office in Edmonton for a conference. There were 3 of us from our branch here in Vancouver who had to go, so we left super early on Tuesday morning and came back Wednesday afternoon. Here are a few of my observations of Edmonton, our company, and travelling for work:

1. Edmonton is drab and brown.
At least what I saw of it. We stuck mainly in the industrial/West Ed Mall part of town. And what I saw was drab and brown.

2. Food just seems to taste better when you don't have to pay for it.
The CA team went to Red Lobster on Tuesday night, armed with one of the head honcho's credit card. Our pants were bursting by the time we left. If it wasn't so damn early the next morning, we would have made it for breakfast too.

3. Our outside sales reps are spoiled rotten.
They put us up at the Days Inn, and it was not bad. I was surrounded by 6 fluffy pillows when I went to sleep. The bathroom even had a nice ceiling heat lamp. Yet our sales reps would give us a lock of mock horror and sympathy when we tell them where we're staying. They're prob used to staying at 5-star hotels with their nice expense accounts.

4. Hotel TV seems to have better shows.
Not really, as it's the same channel listing as residential. Murphy's Law states that when you're bored at home there's nothing to watch on TV, yet when you need to go to sleep early you find something on TV that you just HAVE to watch.
I was flipping thru the channels in between breaks of the hockey game, when I saw they were showing back-to-back epidoes of The Surreal Life. I've never watched the show, but I found myself sucked in, until past midnight. I was hoping that Janice Dickinson would bitch-slap Amorosa, but of course, they left me hanging.

5. Walking the West Ed Mall when you're tired is pure torture.
They need to have those mini-trains like in Metrotown, but for adults.

6. Our company cars are old.
We got to use one while we were there. It had an ancient cassette deck.
I think there is some rule that company cars cannot have cd players, as the service trucks here are like that too.

7. Getting up at 5am for work is just too bloody early!!
Actually I shouldn't complain as Michelle and Bonnie had to wake up at 4am cos they were farther from the airport. They wanted to start the conference at 11am so we had to catch the first flight. We were dead tired by the end of the day. Next time, we have to demand that they fly us in the night before so we can sleep in.

Kid, Nira and Amy from The Beat 94.5

2007-05-04T09:42:00.000-07:00

I was driving to work yesterday morning, listening to The Kid Carson Show, like I do every morning. Their voices had a bit of an echoing sound, different from when they're in the studio, then I heard them say they were doing their show from the Toys R Us parking lot near my office. I called work and told Laurel to cover for me as I'd be late cos I HAD to drop by and meet them. They were doing Spiderman promo so Kid was high in the air lifted by a crane.

I approach their kiosk and wait while they put a song on, then I went and introduced myself and told them I was a big fan! Nira was so sweet, and cute as a button! She said I deserved a Spa Utopia gift certificate for being late to work just to drop by. I'm to pick it up from their office next week, Whohoo!!

I got a picture taken with Amy and Nira, and their crew was so nice as well! I got to meet Kid, and I love his Peach Fuzz, but I didn't get to take a pic with him as he was being lifted up the crane again.

This totally made my day! Getting to meet my fave DJs, all of them and their crew were soooo nice!

If I had known I was gonna take a pic with them, I would have at least put on some make-up!

Shopping Fever

2007-04-23T09:03:00.000-07:00

Me and Dave went on a little shopping spree on Saturday. It felt good, as it's been months since we've splurged a bit and gotten new things for ourselves. Spent about $800. It will probably be a while before we go on our next spree. Well, that excludes when I go to Lululemon. That's not really a spree but a necessity, since I've been so good about going to the gym regularly, will have to reward myself with a new outfit soon.

Dave got 2 pairs of shoes: nice brown leather and white Nike runners. He also got 2 pairs of jeans, 2 pairs of shorts, 4 shirts and a leather belt. I finally bought the complete Aveda facial skin care line I've been eyeing for some time now. Got some cute summer clothes: capri pants, tube and halter tops. Also got 2 pairs of shoes: cute brown velvet beady flipflops and some 3-inch stiletto- heel peep-toe. I wore it to church yesterday and I could barely walk! It's been a while since I've been on heels, so I'll have to practice a bit more.

Almost got this in white patent and pink fabric, but Dave convinced me this black patent grey fabric would go with all my clothes.

Mini Family Reunion

2007-04-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

We've had a jam-packed weekend. Paul, Vangie and the kids are visiting from LA for 10 days.
So far this is what we've done:

FRIDAY PM: Dave, dad, Helen and Maryann pick them up from the airport, they arrive at home around midnight. We got them settled, then we went up to the kitchen to have siopao. By the time we finished eating, the kids were wide awake, having slept on the plane. They were running around the house and playing with the cats. It was around 3am by the time I went to sleep, and I could still hear the kids giggling and laughing in the next room.

SATURDAY AM: It was so hard for me to wake up at 6:30am, but I had to go to work. It sucked, the one Saturday out of the whole year that we had to work, I wanted to stay home so badly, but I could not get out of fiscal year end inventory. I felt like a zombie with only a couple hours sleep, but at least we got donuts and muffins =)

SATURDAY PM: I got home around 1pm. So we all had lunch, and Dave drove them to Avis to rent their car. I stayed home with Malia, and we played around in the garden a bit. Then I drew her a bath, and helped her wash her hair and scrub her back. I brushed and blow-dried her long, thick hair. She's very independent, picking her own clothes and dressing herself. We also had a lot of fun when I put nailpolish and rhinestone gems on her fingers and toes.

Then we all went to Kingford Chinese Restaurant for Vangie's bday dinner, where we had the traditional set menu course. Scrumptious Alaskan King Crab and Lobster, YUM!!
Maryann slept over, so the house was full and bustling again, and I just zonked out as soon as my head hit the pillow.

SUNDAY AM: I got out of bed around 9:30, and go up to see Vangie and the kids in the kitchen in their PJs. Malia the pink-clad monkey goes into our bedroom and pinches Dave awake. So the whole household line up to shower and get ready to go out. I had a make-up session with Malia where we both put make-up on. She liked playing with my make-up kit, chose and put her own eyeshadow and blusher on, and I helped even it out and put lipshimmer on her lips. Then we all go to Pink Pearl Restaurant for dimsum. Yummy! I've been eating so much on this visit, I'll have to make it up at the gym next week.

SUNDAY PM: After lunch, we all go to Granville Island to enjoy the bit of sunshine. Even Brody had fun chasing the ducks in the little pond area. Malia spent most of her time playing in the Adventure Zone at The Kids Market. After, we went to Helen and Max's place where we had take-out Stephos Greek food, again YUM! I love their roast lamb! The rest of the night was spent playing with the kids. We got home around 10pm, and the kids had fallen asleep in the car on the way. So they were just left sleeping in the car in the garage for a bit, while Paul and Vangie packed for their Whistler trip. After a while, they were brought in, and again I was out like a light as soon as I closed my eyes.

MONDAY AM: Again it was a bit hard waking up early this morning to come to work. And here I am right now, wishing I was at home =) It's pretty quiet here today, as not much to do after inventory weekend. Vangie and the gang, plus mom, are going up to Whistler today to stay for 3 nights. On Wednesday, me and Dave are taking the day off and driving up there for the day to meet up with them. Helen, Max and Kiana are also going there Wednesday to stay for one night.

I can't wait for my day off and the long weekend. Here are some of the pics taken so far:

Malia showing off side and back view of the braided hairstyle her nanny Teresa had done before they left for the airport

Piggyback ride while Dave wears Ian's glasses, Tigger is just coming in the bedroom door

With Malia the pink princess/monkey

Malia helps feed her cousin Kiana

7-month old Kiana is a good eater!

Dave and Kiana on top of the boat outside of Kids Market in Granville Island

Kids climbing on Dave

Whose turn is it for piggyback ride?

They sure like climbing all over him! =D

2007-03-30T10:46:00.000-07:00

Pussycat Doll's Search for the Next Doll

I'm rooting for Melissa R. She's Filipina, she can sing & dance, and she's only 17! I hope she wins.

Chelsea is my second choice. She doesn't have much dance training, but her voice is crystal clear.

2007-03-29T14:07:00.000-07:00

After reading Ailee's blog and comments about how expensive good quality make-up is, I couldn't resist looking at my kit. I love my make-up kit!

I can't believe how in high school we were forbidden to wear it. Actually, we were forbidden to do anything that would help us to express ourselves in any way. I remember them banning things like nail polish (even clear), shoes with any type of heel, cute socks (even though they were uniform-approved white), colored hair, dangling earrings(or more than 1 earring per ear), tattoos, piercings, etc. Haha! A lot of good that did me, as soon as I could, I went out and got all of those done =D But my most favorite of all is the fact that I can wear as much make-up as I want. I look back at my old high school pictures and laugh/cringe at the bushy-browed, shiny face smiling back at me. Thank God those days are over!

What have we been feeding our pets?

2007-03-25T20:40:00.000-07:00

So it's been confirmed that rat poison was behind the confirmed dealths of at least 16 pets in North America. They are still investigating as to how that poison got into the manufacturing plants, which led to the massive recall of about 100 different brands of cat and dog food. Among the list was Iams and Science Diet, both of which I used to feed my cats. I only fed them the packaged dry food, and the contamination was supposedly only for wet canned and the foil pouches. But I was still worried, so I decided to do some research on the net. I read some articles about pet food, and read pet owners' forums and discussions. What I learned has made me switch to organic, holistic cat food. These were what I found out:

Most pet food companies use meat by-products as one of their main ingredients. So basically, the parts that are swept off the floor of slaughterhouses. Whatever cannot be put into human food, they put into pet food. This includes hoofs, lips, hair, feathers, beaks, etc. I also read an article that said it may even contain roadkill, dead zoo animal carcasses, and fecal matter! YUCK!! What the hell have I been paying for???
I also read an article that said every year, the SPCA has to put down about 10,000 animals. A percentage of those dead animals are buried, another percentage is cremated, but 40% is sold to petfood companies, they are then put into a grinder and voila! another ingredient! WTH! First of all, they had to inject a lethal solution to put down those animals. Second of all, those animals would have diseases, tumors, etc. All those would ultimately land into the pet food!
Cats and dogs, are in fact, carnivores. They need a lot of meat protein. Their systems have a hard time digesting ingredients like corn, soy, wheat gluten, etc. I looked at the ingredients of most pet food and the main ingredients are these grains and fillers. So the food just passes through their digestive tract and results in a wet, stinky stool.
There is no quality control in the manufacturing of pet food. One writer wrote that he saw how those factories were operated. Workers don't even remove the meat from the styrofoam, they throw everything in the grinder, packaging and all!

I felt horrified by what I read. This is the result of commercialism and capitalism. I fell hook line sinker into the marketing strategy of Science Diet's Nature's Best. I remember paying top dollar for their cat food cos the packaging was so nice, it showed fresh meat, veggies and grains. Even the food itself looked so nice, each ingredient had a different shaped and colored little pellet. Brown tiny bone for chicken, red tiny fish for seafood, green heart shape for grains, etc. I looked at the ingredients, and it had the same fillers as the cheaper brands.

So I had several options now, based on the research I did. Technically, the best diet for cats and dogs is raw meat. There are a lot of people who buy meat by the bulk, grind them and freeze them as pet food. There's also a company called The Honest Kitchen, and they sold dehydrated raw food in big containers. To feed your pet, you would scoop a cup of this and mix it with water to re-hydrate. Both of those seem to be too much work, since most mornings I'm rushing just to get to work on time =) So I found a few brands that sold organic pet food. They were smaller companies, but they use human-grade meat as their main ingredient, usually free-range chicken and other poultry. No by-products, no preservatives. They are not sold in the supermarkets, or even big corporations like Petcetera, but through smaller, healthy pet supply stores. This goes to show that if you want better quality these days, you need to go to the smaller companies rather than the big chains and corporations.

Tisol Pet Nutrition & Supply, is pretty close to home, so I'll be going there from now on. I went there last Friday and got a pack of Felidae Dry Cat Formula. The ingredients right away list chicken, turkey, lamb and herring, rather than the crap filler stuff. I also got them some Greenie's Dental Treats in Tempting Tuna. It was so cute, the dog version of those dental treats were in the shape of small toothbrushes =) As soon as I got home, Tigger and Mittens started sniffing the bags, and they took to the new stuff right away. They're a bit more expensive, but totally worth it in the long run, if they can lead long, healthy lives. I might also try Solid Gold Katz-n-Flocken Cat Food, lamb is their main ingredient, and my sister's puppy Brody eats their line of dog food.

I'm pretty glad that I did all this research. I mean, I would not feed a child McDonald's crap everyday, so why would I feed crap to my cats? If it's not good enough for humans to consume, it ain't good enough for my babies.

2007-03-13T11:55:00.000-07:00

My parents are arriving from Manila in 4 days. They were gone for almost 6 months this time, so in that period, we sort of rearranged the house to how we liked it. But now that they're almost back, me and Dave have been spending the past several weekends getting the house cleaned and re-organized and ready for them. I don't think we've done this much work in... hmm ...I don't even remember!

My checklist is almost done, these are the things we've accomplished:

Moved our bed, dressers, bookshelf and small entertainment unit back into our bedroom. Thanks to my dad-in-law's truck, I can now watch TV/DVDs, or listen to nice CDs back in the comfort and privacy of our own room with lit scented candles setting the mood.
Moved the furniture that was in our room into various other rooms. My parents are old, which makes them crazy packrats. My sisters bring their older furniture and other stuff over and my parents can't bear to throw anything away. We had to use a bit of ingenuity to make everything fit. So a dresser and a side table went into the guest room, and this other spare room now has 2 mattresses on top of 2 boxprings on top of a bedframe. Yes, the whole silly thing comes up to about my chest!
Cleaned up the living area/TV room downstairs, as well as the guest room. Again this took a few hours of hard labour, due to rearranging of furniture, plus the fact that my parents like rugs. Big rugs, small rugs...this results in having to vaccuum the rugs AND the carpet underneath it.
Cleaned my parents bedroom. The furniture in their room is the worst for dust. Black and super smooth shiny surface. Dust loves it. Also, washed all their sheets and pillows and big thick comforters. Those could not fit into our washer, so we actually had to bring 4 big garbage bags of heavy comforters to my sister's cos she has a big front loading washer.
Cleaned all 3 bathrooms. This took about a whole day. Dave cleaned the toilets with bleach and was on his hands and knees cleaning the floor. Plus he cleaned all the bathtubs, tile and glass sliding doors. My parent's jacuzzi-type bathtub took more than an hour and 3 Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. Thank God Dave was well-trained to clean properly by his mom, cos there was no way in heck I could have done that. We also threw all the bathroom mats, toilet seat covers in the wash.
Degreased the kitchen floor, cupboards and area near the stove. Oil just gets everywhere when you cook! Were thinking of pulling out the fridge and stove and cleaning behind, but think we'll leave that for Spring Cleaning, as we just did it last spring.
Cleaned out the fridge. Actually took out each shelf and washed it with sponge and detergent. Threw out a bunch of old sauces, food, condiments, etc.
Re-arranged all closets so items are organized: medicine closet, non-perishable food pantry, linen closet, etc.
Cleaned and swept up the garage and area under the deck. Them spiders sure like to make cobwebs on the ceiling. Also, picked up garbage that had blown into our yard cos of the fallen wooden fence. Still have to fix that when it gets sunnier.
Brought the computer back to the computer room. We had to get the Cable guy to come and install cable internet as there was no cable outlet in that room, stupid duplex house layout! He had to drill through the ceiling of our room into the computer room's floor, and run a cable through our TV connection into the computer upstairs.
Cleaned my car. Actually, we cheated and just brought it to Oasis Car Wash. Good enough for now, for $12.95 they clean outside and inside, vacuummed the rugs and wiped the dashboard, windows and other surfaces. Not as clean as when we do it ourselves, but we were scrapped for time. When we clean my car, it's about 2 hours of detail cleaning, Dave actually cleans out each crevice with a toothbrush.
Went shopping at Costco and stocked up on bulk paper towels, TP, laundry detergent, 3M lint remover rollers, soap, duct tape. We use the last 2 products to remove cat hair from our clothes and bedcovers. Also went to the recycling center to get a blue newspaper bag and yellow mixed paper bag that some creepo must have stolen off our back alley.
Finished little maintennance things we've been procrastinating. Hammered on the double-lock for the back door, re-attached smoke alarm, replaced broken light bulbs, etc.

So now all that's left are a few last minute things we still have to do:

Today we're going to Home Depot and hopefully see some nice, reasonably-priced vertical wooden blinds for the living room. Ours has about 5 fabric blinds that's fallen to the ground, due to old age and the cats playing with it. We've tried to hold them up with string, duct tape, etc but they still keep falling =) Wooden ones should last longer.
Take the recyclables to the Recycling Depot. Will prob do this on Saturday morning before picking them up at the airport.
Go to the market and get my dad's Lactose-free milk.
Sort all my dad's mail and arrange them nicely on the table. File away the paid bills.
Water all of my mom's plants again so they look as lively as they could when she sees them.
Put tablecloths back on tables. Rugs and mats back on kitchen floor.
Clip the cats' nails.
Run all the dishes in the washer and put them away.
Vaccuum and dust the whole house again. We have to leave this til last as dust and hair build up so fast with 2 cats.

So we're almost all set. We've been working pretty hard these past few weekends. After this, on weekends I'll prob have that feeling: "hm...now what do I do today?" So I've decided that I'm gonna go to the gym on Saturday and Sunday mornings starting this weekend, for a few hours each time. Both mornings they have a step class at 9:30, and a Muscle Sculpt class at 10:45. This way, I'll be going to the gym Wednesday and Thursday evenings, and weekend mornings.
4 times a week. Perfect. By the time summer rolls around, I'll be ready to reward myself with a brand new bikini!

I got a new Lululemon outfit WHOHOO!!!

2007-03-07T14:25:00.000-08:00

I asked Dave if he would buy me something from my favorite store as an early birthday gift, so last night we went to the mall and he got me a complete outfit.

I got this tank top in the color emerald. I love the back view.

I got this Scuba Lulu hoodie in classic grey

This crop in plain black, so it goes with my other lulu tops.

And these socks =)

The total came up to about $250. It amazes me how this store has just swept across the country. Everyone is willing to spends big bucks to have that well-known logo on them. When I go to the gym, about half the girls are decked out in lulus. The reason I love it is cos I can wear it whether I do my yoga, pilates, weight training or step classes. Or even just for everyday. They're sooooo comfy, plus they make my assets look great =)

To complete my working out mood, I also got this protein shake from the Vitamin Store. Whey Gourmet is the only brand out there that carries yummy flavors like Smooth Peanut Butter Cholocate, Blueberry Burst , Arctic Cappuccino Frappe, Creamy Orangesicle Swirl, and Cookies and Cream Supreme, among others. This time I got Radical Raspberry Smoothie.

I'm all set for my step class tonight!

Phew!

2007-03-02T08:38:00.000-08:00

I've been late for more than a week now, so last night I finally bought a home pregnancy kit. This morning, I took it, and it showed negative. Thank God! =)

As much as I'd like a little one down the road, we're not ready for it now. The funny thing is, everytime I've been late, which does not happen often as my birth control pills have made me pretty regular, I start to imagine that there's something growing inside me. So when I find out I'm not, I feel a little let down inside. But usually it's covered up by the immense feeling of relief.

2007-03-01T10:41:00.000-08:00

Which lovely disney lady do you resemble most?

TINKERBELL FROM PETER PANPersonally, shes my favorite character. Shes full of spunk and attitidue and is always right by Peter. When it comes to making sure that Wendy backs off 'her man' she get very defensive (me: i think its funny) and shes very spiteful towards wendy.
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2007-02-09T09:53:00.000-08:00

I feel exhausted. Last night I kept tossing and turning until about 3am. I talked with my mom long distance, and both of us were crying on the phone. My 9-year old niece Annika has been fighting cancer for more than a year. We initially found out she had it mid-2005, and right away they pulled her from school and started treatment. She had osteosarcoma, a common bone cancer in kids, and her right upper arm bone was infected. She had 10 rounds of chemo, and a major operation on her arm and leg. They took out the bone that was infected and replaced it with her leg bone, a bone that only athletes used. That year was really hard as she was in and out of hospitals, and when she was not in the hospital, she had to be quarantined to the house to avoid infections. There were a couple of times when they had to rush her to the hospital cos she did catch infections and such. She also lost her hair, lost weight and had the normal side effects of chemo such as nausea and abdominal pains.

Her last round of chemo was late last year. And since then, she's been back to school. She's also gained weight, been eating a lot, super energetic, and she's pretty happy. She keeps saying: I don't have cancer anymore! She has friends in school, both ICA and Xavier has actually been really good to them. Both Annika and her older brother Tymon have full scholarships until they graduate high school. The free tuition is really good right now esp. since our family has been financially struggling with the massive hospital bills.

But now her chest scan shows tiny black spots in both lungs. They are too tiny for a biopsy tho. Her doctors have different opinions. Some of them think they should just wait to see if they get bigger. Some think they should be more aggressive, they say that her cancer is so strong that in less than 2 months after her last round of chemo, it has already metastasized to her lungs. They gave the option to do a major surgery, to cut her chest open and take out a big chunk of her left and right lungs. But after much tears, lots of talks and lots of prayers, they've decided not to go through with the surgery. It's a big deal to be cutting into her lungs, she's so young, who knows what will happen with her missing part of her lungs? Even my dad advised against it. And even if they did it and found out it was lung cancer, that just means more chemo. And this time the chemo will have to be twice as strong, with twice as many painful side effects. They don't want her to suffer anymore. She's happy now, with going to school and seeing her friends.
It's just unbearable to pull her out of school again and subject her to isolation in the hospital again.

The silver lining in all of this is now I'll get to see them again soon, my brother Boy, Annie, Tymon and Annika. My sisters all decided to get together and chip in and make sure Annika is as happy as she can be. Her happy memory before she got sick was being on vacation in Canada, when our whole family had a reunion, all 19 of us then. Since then Annika has kept asking if she can come back. It'll be pretty easy to arrange as they all still have their visas. So now they're fixing their schedules, etc. The kids will just have to be pulled from school. Hopefully they make it here in June, when my oldest sister and her family are also visiting from LA. It'll be nice if they spend 2 months here, June and July, the nicest time in the summer. We'll go camping and other outdoor stuff. We can't really wait that long, we have to move fast, as we don't know and have no control of what's gonna happen to her next. Too bad we can't also pull Matthew and Nicole from school, and have William and Diane join us too, so it'll really be a reunion. But Diane just got a huge contract providing 24/hr food service to a major call center, so they're super busy right now and can't get away. Since our last reunion, there's been 2 additions to the family. My husband Dave, and my sister Helen's baby girl Kiana.

So I'm really looking forward to seeing them. I'm so thankful that I have such an awesome family, and we really come together to help each other when times are rough. Living here for 5 years, I've seen so many families that just don't have the values Asian families have. They put their careers ahead of them, and don't even bother to try to get to know their kids. They don't even have meals together, they try to move as far away from each other as possible, and put up with having to see each other once a year, just on the holidays. I'm so happy I was born into my family, and we're as close as we are now. I was looking at pics of our reunion, and here are some nice pictures of Annika.

enjoying the snow with little cousin Nicole

with Annie

with me and Grandma

family portrait

sweet, sweet girl

Flea-free for 4 days and counting...

2007-01-05T13:13:00.000-08:00

As a New Year's gift, my cats decide to bring me home fleas. Yes. How thoughtful of them.

It was New Year's day, and Dave found an adult flea on the white part of Mittens' face. I'm actually glad that we saw it, so we can figure out how to get rid of them. I shudder to think how long my cats have had them. It now explains some mysteries we've been wondering about for some time now. We noticed tiny drops of blood in the sink where Tigger sometimes sleeps. At first we thought hm... could she be sneezing and spraying out blood? Or could she have injured her little paws? I would cuddle her with little soothing ooohs and aaaahs thinking she was somehow hurt.

So right away we stopped letting the cats out. Who would have thought that there would still be fleas outside when it's freezing cold out??? I thought fleas could not survive in winter. I researched the internet, and it said to first brush the cats with a flea brush, dropping the fleas into diluted bleach to kill them, then bathe the cats to get rid of the rest of them. Then clean the whole house, vaccuum, wash sheets, etc, and to give the cats anti-flea medicine.

So Tuesday after work, I prepare myself for the ordeal of bathing our cats. I've never bathed them, they're always licking and cleaning themselves. Both cats actually like water, but they don't like being held down, and would scratch and squirm to get away. But me and Dave ended up going to the vet and getting Adventage, a liquid medicine you put behind the cat's neck that kills fleas. We put them on both cats, and I had to chase them around to stop them from licking it off. Also, movement helps spread the medicine throughout their whole body, so I got a bit of exercise running after them. We vaccuumed and cleaned the house, but we held off on bathing the cats. The whole point of the medicine is the fleas have to be on the cat to die. It works by killing the fleas when they bite the cat, and we figured if we bathed them, the fleas would jump ship and end up biting us instead!!!

The next morning Dave saw 3 dead fleas in the sink. At least we know the stuff is working. It's supposed to kill all the fleas within 24 hours. But since then we haven't seen any. They're probably super small to see, been vaccuumed, or dead in our cats' fur. Ugh.

I think Mittens and Tigger sense something. I haven't carried them like babies like I usually do, and burrow my whole face in their furry bellies. Not for now anyway =) So they're extra sucky and affectionate, they've been sleeping and purring on our chests and tummies for the last couple of nights. We'll probably bathe them in about 3 weeks, just before we have to put on the medicine again, to clean off the dead fleas and poo.

But for now, (Thank God!) we haven't seen any more fleas. It's good to be flea-free. Flea-free makes for happy kitties.

2006-12-22T14:35:00.000-08:00

It's 3:15pm and we're all just waiting for the boss' green signal that we can go home already. Can't wait to get my 4-day weekend started!! Can't wait to sleep in til my cats start biting cos they're hungry. Can't wait to pig out on turkey and eggnog cakes and sugar cookies and all other calorie-filled goodies that only Christmas brings!!

Come on, boss, let us go already dammit!

2006-12-18T09:58:00.000-08:00

Finally! A semi-busy weekend. I was starting to get restless over the past couple weekends as I was mostly hibernating due to the cold, rainy weather. So I'm glad that this weekend I actually dragged my ass out to have a bit of fun.

Friday: The night before's storm knocked down a bunch of trees, damaged buildings, and caused a power outage for most of 3 cities plus their traffic lights. On my way to work, I could see that a lot of businesses had to close due to no power, including restaurants and gas stations. As I got near the office, left and right the buildings were dark, so I was getting my hopes up. It's been super slow at work lately, so it would be nice if we just got sent home rather than twiddle our thumbs for 8 hours! But our street actually had power! Of all the bad luck...!!! The whole city is out including just down the street but of course we had to continue working...grumble...

That day dragged on extra slow, and finally, when 4:30 rolled around, we all made a mad dash to go home, but traffic was horrible! Traffic lights were still out, so every intersection was a 4-way stop. The one good thing that came out of going to work was that the boss finally gave us our Christmas cards with the little gift inside. $200 Safeway gift card for each employee whohoo!!!

After that painfully slow work day, I just could not wait to get my weekend started. We went to Safeway and prompty made use of that card, filling our fridge with a shitload of groceries. Then I met up with some girlfriends for late dinner at Wings Tap n Grill. I have not seen Romela in almost a year, and we haven't seen Anna in almost 2 years, so it was awesome to catch up and reminisce about our hellish Bell call center days. The food was pretty good too, as well as their bellinis...yum!

Saturday: Daytime we just bummed around at home in our pajamas and ate chips and cookies while watching TV. Superstation usually showed older movies on the weekends. Groundhog Day was on, so I saw the bottom half of it. Funny I've never actually seen that whole movie from start to finish, just bits and pieces. It snowed the night before, but thank God it was only about 2 inches, so the roads are clear. Then for dinner we went to Stan and Glenda's house for dinner in Maple Ridge. It was the first time we've seen them since we left the resort. Glenda made honey ham and mashed potatoes...yum! The caesar salad was also good. Then we watched the hockey game, where we won against Minnesota YAY! I spent most of that night playing with their chihuahua Belle, while trying to prevent her from licking every inch of my face. I also tried to play with their 2 cats, but they seemed to escape my every attempt at capturing them.

Sunday: This was just relax and recover day. Cleaned the house a bit, took the garbage out, sorted the recyclables. Went to the library to borrow some books. It's gonna be a slow week at the office, so I'll just read to make the time go faster. Most of our suppliers and even our customers shut down operations during the holidays, so there is almost absolutely nothing to do. People usually just take it off as holidays, but I've already used up mine for the year.
There wasn't much on TV that night as most shows seem to be on hiatus til early next year. But CSI Miami marathon was on Spike TV Yes!!!

Mmmm...it's Monday now, and as I predicted, everyone here is bored and just waiting for the 4-day long weekend coming up. At least it's almost noon. I'm gonna start on 'The Golden Compass' on my lunchbreak.

Highlight pics of our trip

2006-12-06T15:02:00.000-08:00

Me, Cheryl and her mom, waiting for the little train to take us to the beach! We find out later that it's much faster to just walk there. Altho I miss that train, with the radio blasting Spanish songs, ay! yayayay! I'm pretty sure the singer was wasted while wailing out that chorus.

One of the 3 pools they had. Close to here you can find a local who will climb up one of the coconut trees to get a fresh coconut, hack the outer husk away and top it off with a straw for you

Dave and Cheryl working on their tan. We slow-roasted like rotisserie!

Beach babes -- Amanda, Me and Cheryl

We miss those banana mamas! Now we want all our drinks to come with umbrellas!

Such a perfect day for a wedding! If we could do it again, we'd do it this way!

A Toast! To the newly married couple, Phil and Cheryl. Also, to many more vacations to come!

Cheryl and Me and at reception

Chillin by the poolside with Mirela and Kathrin, yes I have my drink with me wherever I go!

Yeah, this is the best vacation ever!The rest of our bajillion pics are here, don't forget to check them out!!!

I left my heart in Punta Cana

2006-12-06T12:11:00.000-08:00

Our trip to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic was AWESOME!!! It was 7 days of tropical paradise in an all-inclusive resort. This trip was for our friends' wedding, and also served as our belated honeymoon. It was my first time going on an all-inclusive package, and it was quite a wonderful experience. So far my travels before were a bit different. The itinerary would always be packed full, there would be a schedule of waking up early for breakfast, going sight-seeing, making sure we get on the bus on time for the tour of the day, etc. Exciting? Yes. But also a bit tiring, as when do we fit in the time to just sit back and chillax?

This time our itinerary, for the most part, was to wake up whenever we felt like it. Some days we were early enough to catch the breakfast buffet, some days not. Altho it wasn't a big priority as a big buffet lunch always awaited us at the International Restaurant just off the beach. We'd stroll along down to the beach, where we proceeded to alternate between rolling around in the waves and slow-cooking ourselves into our nice deep tans. It was a nice mix of ppl there, families, older couples, a lot of Canadians, not a whole lot of Americans, and a shitload of Europeans. Them and their speedos! I vote to ban the speedo!

When it got a bit too hot, we'd move to one of the 3 pools in the resort. We'd cool down by the shaded huts, or sit in the swim-up bar, and that would usually start our boozing for the day. An entertainment team would usually round up ppl at the pool for activities like water polo, water aerobics and latin dancing lessons. That was probably the extent of my exercising the whole time I was there. There was a gym in the resort somewhere, although I never saw the exterior or interior of it =)

Then usually we'd go shower and get ready for dinner. There were a bunch of ala carte restaurants around the resort: Italian, Chinese, Mexican, Spanish, Seafood, etc... if we felt like it we'd make our reservations to one of them, but most of the time we'd just end up at the buffet restaurant, where they had a little bit of everything. Yes, pigging out was the norm of our everyday there, food food food! Then we'd chill at the lobby where there would be a live band performing while we downed glass after glass of alcohol-filled drinks! Some nights we'd head over to the theater where the entertainment team had different shows like a horror show, magic show, and one time they had karaoke night. And after that, we'd walk to the disco (yes that's what they called it =) and dance and drink the night away. It felt weird at first to go up to the bartender for drinks and not have to dish out $7-10 per drink. Now it'll be strange going to clubs in Vancouver and HAVE to pay for drinks!

After the disco, we would usually go to the open 24/7 sports bar to chow on greasy food to absorb the alcohol. I miss their nachos!!! We'd play foozeball and pool for a little bit. Funny but everyone was bad at pool. Not sure if it was the alcohol or maybe their pool table is crooked? And depending on how ppl are feeling, sometimes we'd stumble to the beach and/or the pool and goof around til they closed the lights on us. Then we'd stumble back to our rooms.

The wedding itself was beautiful. It was on our 4th day of being there, so we'd had some time to unwind and get nice tans. There were about 30 of us there, family, relatives and friends of the bride and groom. It was right on the beach, and it got a bit cloudy and breezy, which worked better so we didn't melt in the scorching heat. The reception followed later on in one of the restaurants. It was fun riding in the little train to the reception, with the newly married couple and the whole group.

We walked to the end of the beach one day to the little shops, but that was kinda scary as the vendors there were super pushy, dragging us into their stores and making us buy their wares. Just got a couple souvenirs and quickly went back to the safety of our resort. The locals out there were also giving us dirty looks. That was when I came to the realization that the resort employees were super friendly, but the locals were quite hostile towards us. You'd think they'd be happy that tourists bring money into their country, but I guess their govt officials see and pocket that money, not the townsppl. So sad.

And one morning all the guys went deep-sea fishing. But an hour and a half into trolling on the high seas, half of the guys realized their love of land and starting puking their guts out the side of the fishing boat, so they had to be brought back via speedboat. Heehee =) But that was the extent of life outside the resort for me and Dave. Mostly we were just relaxing, recharging our batteries and partying it up inside the resort.

We were sad to leave on our last day. We definitely want to go somewhere warm now every winter. Also, the bar has been raised as far as all-inclusive resorts go. We were pretty spoiled and pampered, the employees went all-out, and service was top notch. Food was excellent and all the drinks were served with so much rum! I definitely recommend this place.

Blondes really do have more fun

2006-11-20T11:41:00.000-08:00

I got my hair done on the weekend =) The last time I saw my stylist was more than 6 months ago. So my hair was starting to have a mind of it's own, I had half a mind to shave it all off!!!

Before

After

Ahhhh...gotta love that fresh-cut feeling! Altho, with the amount of bleach that was used, my hair feels like straw! I have to put in countless hours of ironing (plant-tsa) down my dead hair!!

2006-11-16T12:11:00.000-08:00

Bahhh!!! No LOST last night! Turns out the show is on hiatus now. No new episodes til Feb!!

note to self: in the future just get the DVDs.

Josh Holloway, I'm a-comin' for ya!

2006-11-15T12:29:00.000-08:00

LOST is on channel 21 tonight YAY!! (victory dance) I haven't been hooked on a show like this since...hm... I can't even remember. I love love LOVE Sawyer! It's funny cos at the beginning of the first season, I couldn't stand him, and I was rooting for Sayid to torture him when they thought he was the one who stole their water supply. But after the episode where they show how and why he became a con-man, he's been my fave character. My heart goes a 'flutter every time he strolls down the beach shirtless. And the smooth Southern drawl...YUM! I love the dialogue that comes out of this mouth too.

"Hey muchaha, for dessert I'd like some french dip with a side order of freckles."

2006-11-14T16:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Remembrance Day stat holiday, so no work WHOPEE!! We were gonna just bum around at home, but then my dad-in-law called and asked if we wanted to deliver a sample calendar to one of his clients in Squamish (bout an hour drive away) So we jumped at the chance to do a mini-road trip, got some gas and snack money from good 'ole dad, and drove the scenic, winding mountain road.

When we got there, turns out the place to deliver it to was Gelato Carina, a quaint, family-owned cafe. They make home-made gelato YUM! But it was too cold for ice cream, so our eyes settled on some home-made mouth-watering pumpkin pie!

Yes, we deemed it necessary to have 3 pieces between the 2 of us

My self-control prevented me from asking for the whole can of whipped cream

I also have a pic of me stuffing my face, but after much thought, I decided not to post it. It's much too gruesome, the poor pie never stood a chance.

I want Food! I want Food! I want RE-AL FOOD!

2006-11-08T13:03:00.000-08:00

Last night we went to visit my friend's dad. Turns out he's started cooking big batches of curry lamb, chicken and beef in those huge metal pots. He even got the styrofoam containers and plastic cutlery. $5 gets you a big serving of your choice of curry on rice in a to-go container. Genuis! Can't beat that =)

YUM!!! There's nothing like a home-cooked meal after days and days of Arbys, McCrappers, and instant noodles. Like we used to sing in college: ...I want real food, with the rice and the viand... (how does that go again?)

I got all nostalgic. Reminds me of Manila, where you can go to the corner store to buy rice and ulam, and the rice comes in a clear plastic bag. You can sit on the wooden bench and eat, while Aling Nene makes 'paypay' with her fan over the ulam.

I guess I could start making home-cooked meals from scratch. For this, I would need to go to the market and get some lamb, cut it into small pieces, get all the spices like curry powder, basil.... OK this is too much work already!!! Why does RE-AL food have to come with RE-AL heavy labour?!??!!

Office = 1 Mousies = 0

2006-11-07T14:34:00.000-08:00

We have mice in the office. There's mice poo all over the place.

My co-worker Steve put mice traps in several places in the kitchen, and has put up a scoreboard for everyone to keep track.

So far 1 mouse has met the evil hand of fate under the deceitful disguise of muffin crumbs.

Deep down inside I am horrified by this act of animal cruelty. Yet I am oddly drawn to this game. I even donated some of my peanut butter to replace the now-stale muffin crumbs.
At least the last memory of the mousies will be yummy crunchy peanut butter.

Poor mousies.

Mommy the Frequent Flyer

2006-11-07T12:58:00.000-08:00

Mommy should have arrived safely in Manila by now. She left on the weekend, when it was nonstop pissing rain. It seemed only right that she should fly outta here when the weather was horrid, knowing that it was gonna be like this for the whole winter, and she'd be back just in time for spring. I miss her. I think I'll call her tomorrow night.

I wonder if she knew, when she had 6 kids, that she'd end up being a jetsetter in her late 60's, flying all over the place to help with her 7 grandchildren. This year alone, she flew to LA for a couple of months to help with Vangie's kids, somewhere in that time they all ended up going to Mexico for a week. Then she came back here to help Helen give birth and take care of the baby for 3 months. Now she's back in Manila to help with the kiddies there. They should make a show about her, called SuperGranny 911 !!!

Here's some pics of her and her youngest granddaughter, Kiana:

mommy is still very youthful-looking

with Helen(mom) and MaryAnn

Kiana has developed the feature that has cursed us all Uy women - the siopao face!

2006-11-01T14:49:00.000-08:00

Dave, have you been cheating on me with the cat? I smelled her scent on your collar and found her hair scattered all over your shirt.

I'm still a kid at heart...give me some candy!

2006-11-01T11:50:00.000-08:00

I still feel frozen from last night.

I don't understand why they had to make Halloween near November when it's below zero degrees outside. Why not June instead, when the nights are warm yet breezy?

So there I was, freezing my yoohoos off, watching Dave and our cousins play with fireworks. Instead of wearing my Cleopatra costume (which I wore for the party last Sat) I opted to dress like an eskimo instead. Actually it was not a costume just my winter clothes =) I'm watching them fire skyrockets at each other and I'm amazed that even thought provincial bylaw only permits fireworks this time of the year so of course people go crazy for it, the hospitals here don't get horded with assorted mishaps of missing fingers and limbs. In Manila, we only play with fireworks on New Year's Eve, and every year Magandang Gabi Bayan features those bloody accidents (haven't been there for years, I'm assuming it's still the case) So it got me to thinking, why this phenomena?

Is it cos the fireworks sold here are safer? But it seems like everything is made in China anyway, hell even all the stores that sell it here are run by Chinese ppl, so most likely all the fireworks sold around the world are made in sweat factories by 12-year olds (so sad) Or is it cos parents here teach their kids more about safety? I highly doubt that as most parents here don't even raise their kids, much less teach them anything. Kids here are raised by electronic babysitters. Hm...I guess it will stay a mystery as I have no clue what the answer is.

Yes all these thoughts raced thru my brain. I was willing my brain to process quick random thoughts hoping that would somehow get my brain to get my heart to pump blood thru me fast before I die of hypothermia. In the end I gave up and went inside to steal candy from the one cousin who was young enough to go trick-or-treatin earlier. I wonder if he knew that all his walking and workin' was to provide 4 adults with candy.

Why Can't Every Day Be Like This Day?

2006-10-31T11:54:00.000-08:00

Thinking about our honeymoon got me reminiscing, which led to me digging up some pics. This was us enroute to Queen Elizabeth Gardens...

It was such a perfect sunny beautiful day

It was hella hard for me to get up on those rocks with my stilletos

We threatened to throw each other into the lake

These kinda look like banana leaves...are we in Manila?

On the nice deck of the marriage commissioner

Hm... I think in a few years I'd like to do a renewal of vows with family and friends involved the second time around =)

Hump Day...Almost

2006-10-31T11:15:00.000-08:00

It's only Tuesday and I'm already slacking off here at work (what else is new?) I'm looking out my window and it's actually a pretty nice sunny day for October. It's been raining nonstop lately, and I was just about ready to scream my head off! Like most people who live in this wet city, I get depression during the winter months that seem to just drag on for so long. I can't wait to go on my honeymoon. Goodbye dank gloomy Vancouver.....Hello tropical beaches of Dominican Rep! I can't believe I've been married for more than 1 year and it took this long to go on our honeymoon.

heehee...I guess that's what I get for eloping behind my family's back...