i'm a palindrome (22)!

After ten years of waiting in anticipation (okay, not really) I have reached the age where I am a palindrome again - I'm 22 today! The eve of my birthday was spent reminiscing about the amazing day with my friends on Sunday (more details in a future post), cooking myself pasta and making home-made bruschetta while watching the last episode of K-drama Coffee House (tear), blasting the Mumford & Sons CD and then ...

... looking through old photo albums. One of my biggest fears is to lose my memory which is why I seem to take a gazillion photos of just about everything - so that when I glance at these photos decades from now, memories will come flooding back to me. While I remember birthday celebrations from the last ten or so years, my birthdays from the toddler/early childhood era are somewhat of a misty haze in my mind. This is why I love cameras:

 Go shawty, it's your birthday! I got swagger on my 7th birthday, haha =P

Cuddling my teddy bear on my fifth birthday - look at that awesome casette player!

SURPRISE! Okay, not really birthday-related, but I've always loved this photo.

(especially the flashing-her-butt doll in the background, lolz)

Today's a bit of a mystery/surprise as I'm spending most of the day with The Boy, who has kept his lips tightly shut regarding any details of what we're actually doing. But either way, I can't wait to celebrate with him :)

But before I bury myself under the covers and have my first set of dreams as a twenty-two year old, here is a picture which shows how far I've come fashion-wise and the beginnings of my crazy facial expressions:

C'mon Barbie, let's go partay!

Hope you've been having a good week so far - 

it can only get better from here :)

the couple that gets fillings together...

Since I left the beloved west coast of Canada, I've plunged myself into a list of to-dos-but-don't-really-want-to-do, including going to the dentist. Once my baby teeth fell out it was sayonara cavities, and I was sure my teeth would forevermore be perfect (haha, wishful thinking). After a year or so of not going, my longtime dentist (who reminds me of Dan Aykroyd for some reason) happily informs me, "You have three cavities, possibly four." Imagine me, looking absolutely traumatized.

So I've spent most of this week with my mouth half-frozen and two people prodding around, drilling into my teeth. The Boy, whose dentist is frequently busy, decided to schedule his filling appointment at my dentist office on the same day, half an hour after my appointment. The couple that gets fillings together, stays together? :)

Apart from that, I've been spending some time with friends before the hecticness of September arrives. Lately it's been watching movies with The Boy (seeing The Expendables in the theatres, which was loaded with testosterone and the awesome Jason Statham as well as getting What Happens In Vegas on DVD courtesy of an early birthday giftcard), as well as catching up with a longtime childhood friend over coffee and mini-putt, and  now I'm making some plans for my birthday next week.

Mini-putt pro? :P

On the last day of August, I'll be twenty-two! I have officially passed the ages worth celebrating (sweet 16, turning 19 in Canada, being legal everywhere at 21) but since age ain't nothin' but a number, I'm still going to have a celebration with my close girlfriends a couple of days earlier :) Mainly I just want to take as many pictures as my memory card allows since it'll most likely be our last big hangout of summer '10.

Speaking of summer '10 ... 

what are your plans for the rest of it? 

Are you looking forward to Autumn?

I'm still being nostalgic about this summer coming to an end, so I'm going to be sharing more photos/memories from Vancouver from time to time, if you don't mind!

With my niece at the gorgeous fountain in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery!

Posing it up!

 Spying on my sister, tee-hee.

A grizzly bear on Grouse Mountain! This was after it charged some lady, hehe.

And food porn in the form of a baguette with pear, blue brie, prosciutto, roasted walnuts, oil & vinegar. Probably the most delicious and most filling sandwich I've had this year :)

Hope you have a great rest of the week :)

eat, pray, sisterly love

It's an odd feeling to be homesick for a place that's not even your home. The same thing happened when I left Poland - I met all my relatives for the first time, had difficulties constantly speaking in my native tongue, but by the end of it felt secure and at home. 

This time it was in Vancouver - as the train left the station and I blew kisses to my adorable niece and my amazing sister I realized I had made another home away from home on the west coast of Canada, two thousand miles away from my actual home. 

My first thoughts as the plane left B.C. soil were:

This trip went by way too fast. 

I'm so glad I got to see my sister.

I wish I could have stayed longer.

My niece is the most curious, smartest 4-year old I've ever met.

I can't wait to see The Boy.

But I don't want to leave Vancouver.

But he's picking me up from the airport and it'll be awesome.

But it would be even more awesome if he was here with you right now.

True say. Maybe next time.

There were two pieces inside of me, both of equal size that knew my life - for now - belongs in Onterrible, but mostly because the man I love is there. But that other equal part of me just wanted to live life on a whim and create something new, and maybe move the man I love out to British Columbia haha. I know that I'll definitely be coming back to take in more of the sights (gorgeous greenery, the oceans, the mountains that create a permanent background in any view), the sounds (the cruise ship noises, my niece laughing, me & my sister creating a new script while watching Eclipse that is full of the word 'llama') and lots of hugs from my sister and niece. 

After seeing Eat, Pray, Love earlier this week I realized I've done a lot of eating in Vancouver, errr a bit of praying (on the plane, mostly) and loved spending time with my sister, a woman I admire far more than I can probably put into words, and meeting Kym, too. And now I want to read the novel since the film was pretty good! I'll probably have more Vancouver recaps to come, but here's just a few pictures of moments that stand out:

 The breathtaking view atop of Blackcomb Mountain at Whistler.

KOOZA! This Cirque du Soleil show was amazing.

Exploring in Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden.

With my model-esque niece on Bowen Island.

The most Starbucks I've ever had in a two-week duration due to jet lag and overall addictedness.

Thanks to everyone who has kept commenting and sticking around here despite my absence; life is slowly returning to its normal routine so that means more blog entries and catching up hardcore on your blogs, too. Hope you've been having a great August so far, though :)

my first & second meeting with cats

It's been an amazing week-and-a-half so far with my fave blogger/sister, exploring different islands and areas of Vancouver ... and then, last Friday and just yesterday on Thursday I had the pleasure of meeting another amazing blogger/designer - Kym! It was my first ever blogger meet-up and it was comforting to know we both had pre-meeting jitters, but we had such a good time last week that we decided to meet up again! Here's a little recap of our meetings (Kym has all the video footage since I need to make room on my memory card).

Last week was hugs in front of the Vancouver Public Library, heading off for my first eating at Japadog which has amazing hot dogs, exchanging presents with Kym (I now have my first official herro hachi item of clothing and an adorable "I <3 Coffee" pencil case, thank you!), getting harrassed by a spa guy who called us "hot chicks", talking about how teenagers nowadays frighten us, and then heading off to Cafe Crepe for delicious Nutella crepes ... because Nutella is the stuff. And then we filmed our first shout-out video which featured my infamous beat-boxing skills - basically it's boots and cats really fast (I am now Boots and Kym is Cats). 

Backwards recap in pictures:

 Last photo from our first meeting - we asked so many random strangers to take photos of us :)

Nutella and strawberries with a hint of cognac crepe = yummy in my tummy.

Nom nom nom-ing on some Japadaog ... I love the stretching lady in the background, too!

The whole Japadogs seconds before we attempted to devour them but then got sidetracked by a guy asking us to purchase a spa package from him (oo-er).

My gift for her - a scarf from my/my mother's future scarf company!

Then came part two yesterday - meeting up in the Aberdeen Centre to go to Daiso, the BEST $2 store I have ever stepped foot in, complete with Engrish notebooks.  She then treated me to my first ever milk tea  before we headed out. As we got into her punch buggy Kym warned me, "I hope you don't get freaked out but I'm taking you to an empty parking lot." Immediately I fearetd being mobbed by some gang but fortunately she was just taking me out for food! (Food carts in random parking lots? A-okay by me!) We had Japanese fritters at Bakudanyaki and I had a chopstick fail (I'm Asian at heart, but not Asian with my skillz) but the food was scrumptious.

We then drove to Steveston (a quiant little fishing village) for a series of jump shots, walking on docks, holding our mouths closed to avoid swallowing flies, sitting on "make-out hill" and then transforming it to "scar-sharing hill" as we told each other about our various battle scars, and then indulged in some gelato before we *sniff* said our goodbyes. But not before we did some gangsta raps, did some air guitar/drums to "Summer of '69" and secretly yelled at people to get off our dock ... we are sane bloggers, indeed.

Wish you all could have been here!

Sketchy empty parking lots - thankfully not too sketchy in this meeting! And we're both repping the herro!

Delicious fritter - a surprise in every bite, literally :)

"Look ma, no hands!" teehee, just kidding ... she is an excellent driver :D

Jumping shots in Steveston! My camera had a timer fail so Kym has all the good ones - and looks like Buzz Lightyear in this photo haha.

Hanging out on a dock - we wanted to shoot a music video but it was too crowded (maybe in our part 3 meeting in the next few years?)

Couple photos by the water ... awwwww.

Would you like to be in our next photo? :D

All in all it was an amazing time meeting her and just added to the amazingness of this trip so far :) I'm heading to Cirque du Soleil tomorrow with my sister and then off to Whistler ... weird to think that by Tuesday my adventures in Vancouver will be coming to a close ... I've definitely fallen in love with the city and with the idea of seeing my niece and sister all the time. 

What have you been up to lately?

Sorry for the absence in commenting, I'll be back at it soon!

live from vancouver!

You know you're in Vancouver when all the ads on the Internet keep talking about day trips to Whistler and Groupon tickets for Vancouver restaurants. Such smart advertising robots! I AM HERE AND ALIVE! And currently dealing with a problematic off-on Internet situation ...

... But on the plus side, I'm here with my sister and my niece (and my bro-in-law) in a beautiful city whose "humidity" feels like a soft breeze compared to my city. I've only been here for a couple of days and am just starting to get over my jetlag, a jetlag which means I'm up at the crack of dawn-ish (6:30am) every morning.

It's amazing looking down at the hustle and bustle of the city, the boats making their constant trips, the runners who work out at any time of the day, the other fellow camera-obsessers who have MUCH nicer cameras than I have, and relishing in the fact that I have yet to be carded here in Vancouver (which is also a relief because I kept forgetting to stow away my ID in my wristlet). There's so much to be explored still, and I am stoked to see it all.

But enough chit-chat for now: here are some pictures from my first couple of days in Vancouver. And today I'm meeting up with KYM! I'm so excited and by the sounds of some comments I'm getting, you're all going to seriously hurt me if I don't take lots of pictures with her haha. Never fear, my camera is with me wherever I go :)

Reunited and it feels so good :) And a mere twenty-four hours later, we may or may not have dyed our hair (it's what us sisters do!).

With my adorable niece (who always wants to hold my hand, cute thing) on a water taxi.

Eating scrumptious gelato next to an artsy-fartsy (and I mean that in the kindest way possible) building. I've come across tons of public art, much of which I don't understand, but it's refreshing to look at compared to my lack-of-public-art city.

Standing next to the Olympic torch! It wasn't lit but y'know, it only costs $3,000 to light it up on special occasions. And my birthday is the very last day of this month. Any donations? ;) 

In a nutshell my days have been full of gasping at the amount of Starbucks here, trying out new foods, singing B-B-BENNY AND JETS loudly on the patio at a restaurant because it's our song (ever since 27 Dresses) and trying to catch The Boy on MSN whenever I can. And now it's Friday - time to take care of my niece, meet up with Kym(!!!), and take in more of this place.

What are your plans for the weekend? :)

Hope you have a great one!

a piece of me in august

I have a feeling this is going to be one of those months where, at the end of it, you just think, "Huh ... where did that month just go?" I also have a feeling it's going to be an emotional next few weeks for me. But onto the little survey that I've tried (and failed) to do each month!

I like ... that I'm going to Vancouver tomorrow for a fortnight! My flight leaves in the afternoon (EDT) so wish me luck that I land safely -- twice actually, since I have a stopover in Calgary! I'm so excited to see my sister after almost a year apart. And I like that I'll be meeting Kym later on this week! :D I also like that my birthday is coming up (last day of August) even if turning older makes me feel a little err ... old.

I don't like ... that tomorrow will be my last day with Shadow. I'll miss you so much buddy. And I don't like that I'll be spending two weeks without seeing The Boy; times like these I'm grateful for things like MSN and telephones (sorry I can not hear you, I'm k-kinda busy)!

I want you to know ... how relieved I am to be finished work. As much as I love my co-workers, this was the worst month in that office at summer school due to the principal. In a nutshell, we compared the place to the situation in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, where the principal was Umbridge. Her parting gifts to us on the last day: a pack of gum, a blue pen (and I'm a black ink writer all the way), a chocolate bar, and a Tim Hortons' gift card (the only part I can appreciate). 

I've planned ... to stay strong during this month despite the ups and downs, the confusions regarding my future educational-wise and thinking about how much emptier my house will be without that loveable pup. Oh, and on a more positive note, I've planned to take A GAZILLION photos while I'm in Vancouver AND I'm bringing my laptop so that way I'll have more frequent blogs about my travels!

I want to say to someone special ... I'll miss you.

And now here's some pictures of my long weekend - Friday was spent celebrating the last day of work with a staff mass and a catered lunch, Saturday was spent having an awesome-food/what-the-eff-is-this-movie night (Memento = great, The Return = WHAT ON EARTH IS THIS MOVIE NEVER SEE IT), and then Sunday and today were spent having quality time with Shadow and with The Boy, exploring waterfalls and then having a barbeque. All in all, a good way to spend a weekend in Ontario before jetting off to British Columbia!

Signs like this kept us sane. Srsly. Dumbledore = old awesome principal. Umbridge = new crazy principal. McGonagull = our awesome vice principal. And me and my co-workers are Ron, Harry, and Hermione.

A group photo with my amazing girlfriends on our movie night :)

Two hikers in front of a waterfall :)

Now, I have to ask:

What do you have planned for August?

Me -- well, I've already explained above but in a nutshell it's to spend as much time with loved ones as possible, and to write a lot more blogs posts! Hope you all had a great weekend!