NYE

It's New Year's Eve, but no party for me tonight. Just going to chill at home, relax with a hot cup of cocoa, put on a movie and maybe count down with Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest (so cheesy, I know). Time to reflect back on the past year, leave behind the negative and take the positive with me into the New Year.

So here were the highlights of 2008:

• New York in February
  
• Mexico in May
• Buying my Marc Jacobs Airliner bag
• Competing in the Sun Run!
  
• Grand opening of the long awaited H&M store downtown
  
• Karl Lagerfield and being "demode" (hilarious interview)
  
• Sex and the City movie (crepes and cosmos with the girls)
  
• "Ding dong, the witch is gone!"
• My little "sister" giving birth to a beautiful baby girl, Fabiola!
  
• A summer raise at work
• People-watching from the patio while sipping on spiked lemonade
  
• Blueberry picking in Richmond
• Working on my photography skills
  
• Girlicious was in town for like, 5 minutes
  
• Seeing Ms. Jackson is concert in September
  
• Being present at my cousin's wedding as he vowed to clean the dishes (LOL!)
• Attending Shar's pARTy at Raw Canvas (what a great concept!)
  
• New Kids on the Block concert in November
  
• San Francisco in November
• Buying a gorgeous black bejewelled BCBG dress under the influence of alcohol
• Barack Obama is the first Black American president of the United States of America (FINALLY!)
  
• Tearing up the dance floor at the Christmas party
• Buying a royal purple BCBG for 50% without the influence of alcohol

The not-so-great moments of the year:

• New York in February is super cold. Like ass-frozen-solid-from-sitting-on-a-metal-seat-for-hours cold
• Family emergency
  
• Bathing suit shopping for Mexico <- so frustrating!
• Mexico is hot, which I was expecting and incredibly humid, which I was not expecting
• Dealing with drama while on vacation in sunny Mexico (really?!)
  
• Getting 13 mosquito bites in ONE weekend
• Dealing with religious INtolerance
  
• Not getting the iPhone that I coveted
• Stephen Harper/Conservatives win a minority government (Gee, I didn't see THAT coming)
  
• Gorging myself on cookies and chocolates this Christmas season
  
• Low expectations at work
• Tardiness is becoming a bad habit
• Waking up half an hour early to get to work so I can leave half an hour early
• Getting sick on New Year's Eve (blah!)
  

my credit card weeps tonight

After a whirlwind of shopping this Boxing Day, being thrifty will most likely be one of my New Year's resolution for 2009.

Stopped by the mall first, and checked H&M (buy one, get the second for free) and Holt Renfrew (50% designer wear), but didn't find anything that really caught my eye. I ended up buying a lot of sterling silver jewellery at Blue Ruby, which wasn't on my list of things to get, but then I really didn't have a list. It was just something I made up as I shopped along (I want this, and this, and this...). LOL!

It's a kitty cat under a star! So CUTE!

Great details on the owl necklace. It also has detailing on the back as well.

I like the unusual design on the star and the moon.

Cartoon stars!

I made a final stop at the GAP and found this lovely lavender silk 3/4 sleeve ruffle blouse on sale for $24.99:


Photo courtesy of the www.gap.com

happy holidays!

Merry Christmas to everyone out there in e-world! Here's to lots of presents under the tree, spiked eggnog by the fire, a big fat turkey full of stuffing and yummy goodies this Christmas day!

"Twas the weekend before Christmas...

when all through the city,
everyone was rushing
to spend their last penny!"

At least that's what it felt like at the mall this weekend. I even left a friend's dinner early Friday night just so I could get an early start on Christmas shopping the next day! Ugh, it was so crowded and hectic at the mall. I managed to return a few items (shirts were too big), but I still had 2 presents to buy, so it was back to the mall on Sunday (after we watched the movie, "Quantum of Solace," which was great) and I found one present. But, I wasn't done yet. I had to get something for my mom. So it was back to the mall AGAIN, after work today (I woke up half an hour early and trudged through a foot of snow to get to the bus stop this morning and I still arrived half an hour late!), and I finally got what I needed and made a beeline home.

I had hoped to finish my Christmas shopping last Friday, when I attended the Yaletown Christmas Night, where stores around Yaletown were having special discount (20-70% off) for one night only. I bumped into Misch at Atomic Model where we sampled baked brie with sweet chili sauce and caramelized brown sugar on biscuits drilled with balsamic vinegar (YUMMY!). There were suppose to be Christmas carolers serenading us as we walked from store to store but me and Misch didn't see or hear any! Although, we nibbled on plenty of cookies and chocolates as we visited each store (and sipped on some spiked hot apple cider), looking for presents so we can start crossing off people from our Christmas list. While there were a lot of things that we wanted for ourselves, we were technically shopping for others. Unfortunately, we both came away from the event empty-handed (but with our stomachs full of alcohol and brie courtesy of Section 3). Oh well. At least we'll always have the brie!

winter dressing

It snowed over the weekend and the temperature dropped to a freezing -8 degrees overnight. Now in my part of the world, it rarely snows and when it does it's either immediately washed away by the ever-present rain or gradually melts, only to leave behinds bits of itself in the corners of the streets. So when it does snow and it stays around for a while, not only does a small part of peoples' brain shut down while driving (there were 4 reported accidents in the 45 minutes it took me to get home), but it also becomes a challenge to find something warm, yet fashionable to wear in this weather. I've turned to wearing layers upon layers of clothes, but this can get bulky and add pounds to your bootay (a big NO-NO!).

So, after a few hours of browsing the web, I came up with some outfit options, that if I had access to an unlimited trust fund/won the lottery/sugar daddy, would be hanging in my closet right now:

is there a 12-step program for shopaholics?

Not that I have a problem. I mean, the sweater was on sale at Club Monaco and BCBG was having a huge 50% sale on a great selection of dresses. I figure buy now, save later: save on time, save on money and save on effort. No worries about what to wear down the road (for weddings, birthday parties, posh dinners and special occasions) because I'll already have it in my closet. At least that's what I keep telling myself as I hide my purchases in the back of my closet so I won't get interrogated by my (little!) sister.

I like the shape of this dress, but I'm not so sure about the colours...

This was a very comfortable dress. I can see myself wearing this a lot during the warmer months.

By far, my absolute favourite. Love the colour and love the interesting neckline (you can't tell in this picture, but it's actually knotted). This was a no-brainer and now it's mine!

two glasses of white wine, half a bottle of beer and a shot of vodka later...

I woke up early (on a Saturday!) to have dim sum with Shar-shar binx at Kirin. Pricey, but delicious and worth every dollar. Then it was off to receive a lesson in littlebigplanet, which I'm totally clueless about but it was fun to play (despite the repeated b*tchslaps and smackdowns to my nerdy lion character). Watched a Korean youtube "celebrity" (I use the term loosely here), as he belts his little heart out to the likes of Mariah Carey and Beyonce. It's so BAD but so FUNNY at the same time. Check out his music videos here. You must watch the music video for Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together." It will crack you up. I hope he's not paying for studio time...

It was my company's Christmas party that night, so had to cut the entertainment short in order to make it home in time to get ready. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend the shopping event at Wink Beauty Lounge, but I heard you get false eyelashes in your goodie bag!

Dressed up in my gorgeous beaded LBD, stuck a feather in my hair and danced up a storm at the Christmas party. Kept getting pushed from behind by a coworker's so-called date. She kept telling everyone (every male under 35 years of age), that they were just "friends." Uh huh. Yeah, right. I mean, she hit on my friend's husband! Nearly collided with the skinny skank again on the dance floor and was ready to snap her in half until I remembered that it was MY company's Christmas party, so I was on my best behaviour. Somewhat.

a blubird sitting in a pear tree?

Tonight is another holiday shopathon party held at Blubird, a recently opened clothing boutique downtown that stocks the latest in brand names (Juicy Couture, Missoni, Marc by Marc Jacobs) and makeup (Stila!). I'll be taking the Enabled with me this time. Ha! She blames me for the amount of money she spends when shopping with me, but really, she loves it! This will be my first time there, but if they have Marc Jacobs, I'm going to be a very happy girl.

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They rolled out the pink carpet! I thought that was so cute. They had the same drinks and chocolate chip waffles that were served at Fine Finds, but I'm not going to complain because they are super yummy waffles! I grabbed two this time. Hee.

We were both ohhing and ahhing over a bright royal blue satin Botkier bag but it didn't compare to the white ceramic Hello Kitty watch from Victoria Couture, valued at $1,555. It's made out of the small material they use to make the Chanel watches. It was quite heavy, but it's gorgeous and who doesn't love Hello Kitty?!

We checked out the party dresses, giggled over a tinfoil dress (which was later showcased by a model wobbling around the room in 5-inch heels) and a disco ball of a dress and tried on super comfy hoodies that were a great deal at $49. Unfortunately, they didn't have the one I wanted (dark grey with dark pink lining), so I settled for a lovely deep purple soft Blubird scarf. Another addition to my ever-expanding scarf collection.

holiday shopathon begins tonight!

Hosted by The Style Spy and gloss event + design, it's a shopping event held at four shops (Fine Finds, Blubird, Wink Beauty Lounge and Orb) where you can enjoy great discounts, special gifts with purchase and goodie bags as well as complimentary bubbly, great music and yummy appetizers.

First up, is Fine Finds boutique at 5PM, then onto the RW&CO shopping party at 6PM and our last stop at the VIP party at the GAP downtown. I will be wearing flats tonight!

I thought that I could just wander into Fine Finds boutique, pick out a feathered headband for a friend and maybe purchase a bird necklace that I've been eying and that would be the end of it. But, of course, it's never that easy. Ended up dropping over $100 and there was no alcohol to blame this time.

Arrived at Fine Finds at exactly 5:01PM only to find that they were still setting up their sound system and the alcohol had yet to be open. No worries. We breezed on by and started checking out the goods. Silky satin beauty sleep eye masks, feathered headbands galore and lots of things to ohhh and ahhh over. So many cute things to buy, but I was trying to reign it in, remembering my mental check-list of things that need to be bought, wrapped and placed under the Christmas tree (which will be up this coming up weekend!). But I couldn't say no to a gorgeous dark black green feathered Miller headband by A Farmer's Daughter (I can wear it at Christmas parties! Weddings! Birthday parties! Clubbing!), the necklace that I wanted and a lovely Mae headband for Shar. I also won a free pair of sunnies! They had envelopes pinned to the wall and after filling out your contact information, you can grab an envelope, open it up and find additional discounts and prizes inside. I got a free pair of Mercury sunglasses and my friend got a 50% discount off bath items (which she generously gave to me to use to buy some sweet-smelling luxurious hand lotion). Then it was off to the RW&Co shopping party, but not before we picked up our goody bags filled with Vitamin water, gift certificates to Glowbal Restaurant, a sample of Vera Wang's Princess perfume and other little goodies.

RW&Co's shopping party was a bit lackluster, as there was a small crowd just milling around waiting for their name to be called in a draw to win prizes. I didn't find what I was looking for there (is it that hard to find a sweater dress that isn't black?), but I managed to get a free copy of the latest LOULOU magazine (they were sponsoring the event) and a bottle of RW&Co water.

Final stop at the GAP! And what an event! They had some steep discounts for the one night: when you buy one item, you get 50% off the second item (anything in the store), as well as an additional 20% off the first item and an extra 15% off the second item! At first, I thought this applied to clothes only, but I still got a discount on my hats! I bought the light grey herringbone bucket hat and a grey sweater knit beanie. Now, I'm covered for the holiday season (pun intended!).

Sweet white wine and delicious hors d'oeuvres (cubed watermelon with prosciutto anyone?) were being served as we gingerly maneuvered our way around the aisles to avoid dropping our wine glasses while shopping bags and clothes or items that we wanted to buy. After hours of shopping, it was time to call it a night and with our GAP goody bag in hand (hand cream and lipbalm), it was time to head home and study for an exam the following morning. Boo!