hello? is it me ...

... you're looking for? I have Lionel Richie on the brain. Okay, not really. Just wanted to give a brief explanation as to why I haven't been here lately in a nutshell: I've been sick (but am recovering!), attempting to survive the first week of my last term of classes (I've graduated but I'm just taking these extra ones for teachers college), and I'm tired of this layout so I'm slowly yet surely working on a new one! And that's a horrible run-on sentence.

Thanks to everyone who has stuck around, I promise I'll have a better update soon.
In the meantime, be happy :)

groundhog week

If there was one week I could choose to be my groundhound week (i.e., reliving it over and over), it would be the past week. And surprisingly the main reason is not because it was my birthday - thanks for all the birthday wishes, by the way! - but because I was able to spend so much time with the friends and the significant other whom I love.

With September comes the new - a new school year, going back to work, a new season - and everything seems to be scheduled which is why I covet my vacation time, where everything can be spontaneously planned. That's exactly what happened last week and I loved it to itty bitty pieces.

Sunday I had an early birthday celebration with my closest girlfriends - we went to a nearby park with a huge waterfall, ate the most delicious cake ever with banana bread and chocolate (it almost rivals my favourite tiramisu), played Partini (the best game), explored behind the waterfalls and then went off to an amazing dinner before spending some downtime at my one friend's house. 

 Corny slicing of the delicious birthday cake photo :)

About to climb behind the waterfall!

♥

Our "Dawson's Creek" photo, if the cast was all-female hehe.

Half classic pepperoni, half bacon & scallions = YUMMY.

Quick wardrobe change for dinner - it was a restaurant we've never been to before but I want to go to again and again :)

During our scrumptious dinner we made a little Bucket List of things we all want to accomplish - either together or personal dreams that we can root each other on for - I might share of my own personal things later this week :) Either way, it warms my heart to be connected to four incredible women and that no matter how busy we get, we make time for each other.

My actual birthday was spent greeted by my parents in the morning and then getting ready for a surprise from The Boy. We had only gone to the beach once before this summer, so he planned a full out road trip to Lake Erie, one of the great lakes of North America.  ROAD TRIP!

The Boy was counting on me to be the navigator with the directions and it was only about halfway into the road trip through that he realized I didn't have my glasses on and was kind of half-guessing the road signs - but we made it there after one detour to this amazingly sand-combed beach for some romantic times :)

Birthday pizza = nom nom nom :)

Making some sand castles without the tools - what an architect.

Cheesy sand shadow photo - a specialty of ours :D

After spending a good hour in the water and lounging on the sands, we headed back to get some ice cream where I discovered STRAWBERRY-KIWI ICE CREAM. It was like my birthday wish come true or something, it was heavenly. And then I tried my luck in getting a free Starbucks drink but apparently they send you a coupon in the mail or something once you register the giftcard? Phooey. Either way it was an amazing day :)

And then the boiling first of September was spent braving the heat with another close friend who I met at school and has made my uni experience infinitely better. She treated me to a day at the Toronto Zoo and it was loads of fun - our legs got a workout but it was well worth it! Her amazing parents treated us to a Mongolian grill all-you-can-eat afterwards and happy birthday in English & Chinese blasted over the PA, woot woot! 

 Posing tiger! (hidden dragon?)

Rockin' out on a hippo.

Little collage of moments - such incredible creatures.

Annnd my impersonation of a flamingo.

While the rest of the days were lowkey, those days stand out in my mind as days I'd love to relive. Ahh, fare thee well summer vacation ...

Is there a particular day you'd like to relive? annnnd...

What are you looking forward to most in September?

As weird as this sounds, I'm looking forward to more a routine when it comes to blogging - though I only have one full semester left of uni, I know I'll be filling up the breaks with writing! 

To those who celebrate it - happy Labour Day weekend!

/long post is long

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 :)