Tox Out

Samanthgeesetha is almost full-grown!

These are both toddler geese. Don't they almost look like Momma goose? Especially Sammy Jr. on the right?

I'm on a shoptox until my birthday.... actually it's more of a buy-tox 'cause I can still shop (feel like I always gotta know what's out there).... but I'm limiting myself mucho - the only 2 things I'm allowing myself to buy besides food and drinks is a floral vintage dress (that is, IF I find one) or/and a skirt. 1 month man.... can I do it?! I realize I should save even more for any upcoming trips if I wanna go anywhere.

So yea - I removed those lists on the sides except for the classics so I'm not reminded of any "needs/wants".

Got my American Apparel shipment on Friday! Super happy with everything.

Bakery hired some new ppl (and a guy which is quite rare) which means everyone's shifts will be cut by a bit. I feel I should find another job. I need more money. I might even go for a very low key job to counter the busy busy bakery. Thank you Craigslist. I found 5 or 6 ones I'm interested in. To be honest, if I find a good job that's closer to home and pays more and all that, I might just work full time there instead. The bakery is making me pack on pounds and it's costing $73 for a bus pass/month too! We'll see... If I do, I should leave before I get really attached to any of my coworkers. It may already be a bit hard.

Today was officially the last day of Korean class @ UBC. We had a potluck breakfast + watched a Korean (romantic) comedy called "Too Beautiful To Lie" (Kim Ha-Neul, Kang Dong-Won). It was alright. Good looking characters, as shallow as this sounds, really make the movie so much better and well-rounded to me... and this one had none whatsoever. It takes a lot for these typical romantic comedies to be good once you watch a few.

Then to end Korean Day off, M, I and her friend Erin went to eat Korean @ our favourite restaurant: Dae Bak Bon Ga on Robson where we shared the always delicious japche + bulgogi. After that I head home to do errands while M and Erin went to the beach and watched a movie. Then at night we went to the Greek Fest which was unfortunately disappointing (food-wise) except for the Loukoumades.

M is gone to Victoria for 3 weeks! Cass is leaving to India on the 8th! They're leaving me here =( I wanna go to HK so badly! That reminds me - I bought 2 tickets for the raffle @ the Greek Fest to win 1. Trip to Greece, 2. Trip to Hawaii 3. Trip to Las Vegas. KissKiss hope I win!

Nice first waaarrrrmmmm day in a while! Shorts and tee weather. I finally got to air out my high-waisted AX shorts. Oh yea, I returned the Talula ones. Realized it's not a good investment now.

Some cell pics. My dad washed the van. My front yard looks pretty abundant from this angle.
Some of mommy's plants.
Next door neighbours hanging clothes. Good for them!
Need to start exercising again... slugs don't feel good.

Welcome To The Social

Random fact: I have a ton of cute, mini coil notebooks that have random lists that I start and rarely look back at or finish. It's not really a list, but I thought it was interesting I wrote:

Aneurism
1. Needle orange
2. Cut
3. Tweezrs
4. Drain
5. Connect using tweezers
6. Sew

Seemingly odd and random. It's the steps to complete the Aneurism (or Aneurysm) stage for Trauma Center for my brother's DS Lite a long time ago 'cause I had a hard time getting to the next level lol so I had to do this stage over and over again.

Anyway, I've been meaning to tell you about the many mail in-comings! I love packages - they're so much fun to receive! I took a few risks buying from ppl on Soompi but everything turned out A-OK.

1: Eyelite Double-Lash by Mavala (Switzerland): Strengthens, lengthens and thickens lashes. A nutritive treatment that lengthens and strengthens lashes, helps stimulate faster growth and protects them. The natural ingredients give brightness and thickness to lashes.
I was first introduced to this nutritive treatment by YouTube's very own Pursebuzz (whom everyone seems to love). I bought it off Ebay for about $10CDN. You basically just coat your eyelashes with it every night - when you put on your night cream. I've been very diligent at this ever since I got it around 2 weeks ago. You're supposed to see results after a month. My eyelashes aren't that short to begin with but it never hurts to thicken and lengthen! They definitely feel thicker and I've only noticed 2 lashes have fallen out since (which is great considering when I used to pull at them 2 or 3 would come out at a time). Some people use this as a mascara primer. I haven't tried that yet. So yea - when you wake up, you just rinse it off. I unfortunately didn't take a very good "before" picture so I have nothing to compare it w/, but it does look a tinch longer I guess - haven't really scrutinized yet. They curl nicer and I notice some baby ones growing.

2. Apple Mascara - 2 for $10 (I got Avocado and Mamey). Someone did a Soompi survey on these like I've mentioned before. They're from Mexico aha which is a bit sketchy but a lot of ppl who live close to the Southern border use it. They're definitely not dramatic mascara and they don't coat your lashes smoothly -- it's more for a natural everyday wear and it volumnizes your lashes. It also does not kill your curl at all (like I find Maybelline's Great Lash does) and it's not heavy... and doesn't smudge at all. It's apparently supposed to be nourishing for your eyelashes but I can never tell. The mascara itself is a bit dry looking which was a bit of a turn off when I first opened it but it applies pretty well. Another plus is that my eyelashes feel as if nothing is on them when I touch them (not hard like Great Lash). I've only used them 2 or 3 times - I give it 8.2/10 (whereas Great Lash is probably a 7/10) so far.

3. I can't find a picture, but I bought this gadget from Angeland on Soompi. It was $5 including shipping and Paypal fees (well, she doesn't charge Paypal fees apparently). It's a tightly coiled metal spring that you curve and roll betwen your fingertips while keeping the vertex of the parabola (omg) against your face. The purpose of it is to remove hair on face - a lot like threading. hahaha and it doesn't hurt half as much as waxing does. I have a good pain tolerance anyway on my face so it doesn't hurt at all and it works pretty OK. You have to go over some spots over and over again, twisting the handles (which can be a bit of a pain) at different angles. If you're interested, I'll try to find it.

4. I got my Microsoft Zune MP3 in the mail today!! It was on my doorstep right when I was leaving the house to go for work so I opened it on the bus. Yay! Neat. I got black (was hoping for a Pink or Red). It came with premium headphones too and an AC adapter which you have to buy separately. I was actually really thinking of selling this one and buying a video zune so I could watch dramas or shows and actually read the subtitles. The screen on this one is too small. It's 8GB. I just charged it and now I'm downloading the software.

That's it so far. My American Apparel package from Ebay was supposed to come today. I've e-mailed them.

Apparently it's the long weekend this week? I don't even know. Good news! Next week I'm only working 2 days: Sunday and Wednesday!

I've got a pretty big list on my to-do list which includes:
- Korean homework (and review)
- bake Korean Class potluck (banana + chocolate chip muffins)
- Driving practice
- fabric store
- shop for room furniture
- but first, clean room REALLY WELL and get rid of junk! (too much, too hard)
- pay SFU $100 deposit
- research which courses to take
- Haircut
- Read
- Sewing projects
- Get new glasses
- Dentist appointment
- re-learn beginner Japanese :(

So muchie.

Addicted To Skirts

My Samanthgeesetha is growing up so fast!!

So my free days weren't exactly "me" days as I didn't spend much time at home having quiet time exercising or catching up on some reading sipping Chai. Instead on Tues, I met B downtown to the Vancouver Sun office to pick up my Wall-E tix, walked around downtown for a short while before B had to leave, I picked up a couple things from H-mart and saw some bboy dancing in front of the art gallery. I was much more entranced by what the girl in the oversized purple button up on the stairs was wearing. She looked great!
Then made my way by transit to M's house for a while (where I had the best greek salad ever, not like it's normally NOT good at her house but the tomatoes were absolutely amazing!). Then today I had a driving lesson in the morning where we practiced turning left in intersections about 15 times. I've controlled my heavy foot now (yay). Need some more practice turning smoothly. Met w/ Nad @ Metro and watched the mini performance of Cirque Du Soleil's Corteo. Very very cool! I can't wait to see my first actual in-tent performance (not anytime soon).

I bought quite a bit today -- wasn't planning to buy anything either! Always happens that way... I got a very thin and light navy peasant-style dress from Zara that has a purple paisley pattern (which is usually ew for me but this pattern is so ugliciously beautiful IMO) and it's floral so yea I loveee it but it's $60 so I'll have to see if I'll keep this splurge. I've got 30 days to decide; 2 for $20 Vees (V-neck tees) from Old Navy - one black one for work - they fit surprisingly well! My first Old Navy purchase in 4 years; 1 cheapy Club Monaco blue and white striped super baggy top (so comfy, couldn't resist); Garnier Nutrisse hair dye in medium golden brown + Garnier Daily Serum Cream.....; and Talula high-waisted navy blue shorts w/ gold buttons that was another splurge at $65 but I love them and think they're made for me (they fit perfectly). Nad had to go home 'cause she wasn't feeling well. Then I went to Tinseltown to meet my 5 year old cousin Erin 'cause I was gonna watch Wall-E w/ her. Beforehand, I wandered around the International Village, into this wonderful store called JBNY (which I think stands for Just Be Naturally Yourself) that's from China but they have 6 stores in Japan. Neat store! They have a lot of reasonably-priced clothes and it's organized by colour and every item on the sides are hung by individual wires from the ceiling. The lady said the clothes they sell in Japan (which are exactly the same ones in store) are sold 4.5x as much (whoooa). And when they get shipments, they get one of every piece in all 3 sizes. I was eying a few dresses (around $65 each) and a navy trench ($85). The quality isn't cheap-o China fabric either! It's actually quite good. I've got to go back on my next break. Anyway, the theatre was pacckedddd and we were probably in the last quarter and Erin wanted a seat in the back so we got the verrrry last seat + so she sat on my lap. The previews + the mini pre-movie Pixar clip about a hungry bunny + a magician was wonderfully hilarious! Once it comes out on YouTube I'll post it on here. Both kids and adults were laughing so much! Unfortunately, the film was too loud for Erin so we left about 45 minutes in. It was pretty cute so far. They're gonna rent it when it comes out and invite me over to finish it when it's not so loud haha. Then we had "coffee" (ie. juice) from Starbucks and chatted. It was very nice.

I've finally plugged my cell into my lappy so here's some pictures.
These are some of the goods from my bakery - not very nice shots though. It's actually pretty overwhelming and impressive - the amount of goods we have.
The dessert section... or just the brown stuff haha - the colourful tarts and mousses etc. are closer to the till and the cakes and other colourful tarts are on the left.
Some of the cookies that really looks like another brown sort.
Half of the bread. We slice too!
And this is from Playland's Family Night. B and Hewitt tried rock climbing but Hewitt didn't make it all the way. This is on his way down - everybody thought it was 'cause the crow came by so suddenly and did a weird dance that distracted him before it landed on that wire but apparently he didn't notice the bird at all.
Um some other things happened by I can't recall right now. My mom's going to some bead convention in the States on Friday and I really want to go but I have work so I'm desperately trying to get a favour from one of my coworkers... pleasepleaseplease!

I need a trip. I wanna go somewhere that's hustlin' and bustlin'. I have a huge craving to go to:

HK again [$1,845CDN incl. tax and fees @ Travelocity for flight and hotel for 5 nights in August!] - darn - I need more relatives there.
New York to watch a musical and shop [$1,346CDN incl. tax and fees @ Travelocity for flight and hotel for 5 nights in August!!]
or Japan [Only $2000 incl. tax and fees @ Travelocity for flight + 13 nights in Tokyo!!!!]

Oh forget THOSE places! I just saw one Loveboater's pictures from her recent trip to Egypt! It looked breath-takingly amazing!! I wanna go there!!!!!!!

I want to eat instant noodles with salmon sashimi.


I love summer!! 40 degrees soon apparently!
Tralallalalaaaaaa to bed I go.

Nice Weather?

Tralalalaaaa

+ Happy Birthday Mommy!!

Yesterday was my mom's big 5-0!! I worked until 3:30PM, came home but I forgot my key so M and I went to T&T and browsed (for some reason I'm addicted to Salad Rolls) and finally my mom came home. M and I made her dinner: Turkey (dad made gravy) and I bought cranberry sauce (of course), Pesto Olive Ciabatta (from work), Weeknight Caramelized Onion + Shrimp Risotto (recipe from KraftCanada.ca), and Pear, Toasted Walnuts and Gorgonzola (cheese) salad with Romaine, Arugula, and Endive salad leaves. A mature salad I call it. Everything turned out well! It's like thanksgiving all over again - the turkey was not overdone (basted every 10 minutes). Now I'll have to find countless ways to use the rest of this HUGE turkey for the next week. I bought her coffee beans from JJBean (Guatemalan), too. My work gave me a big tiramisu cake + 2 of my mom's favourite mini desserts (chocolate decadence + white chocolate mousse).

+ Sunday was my first day closing with me being the "leader". So soon! The other girl who closed w/ me (she's a Natacha) has been there 3 -4 months but has never closed before. I've only watched someone close the registers and debit machine once and now I had to do it myself! Eeek. Well apparently I did everything right xept I didn't have to do cash for one till. Yesterday was the first time I opened (at 7:30AM). I thought I only had to put out the breads and cookies so I was taking my sweet time ('cause my coworkers said you can put everything out slowly in the morning) and then 20 min before opening, Jonah, my supervisor baker coworker tells me I have 20 minutes to put 20 trays of mini desserts out!!! IMPOSSIBLE 'cause on every tray there's about 40-50 desserts.... and I have to lift the glass on the front and shove them, pushing the older ones back. Mousses are hard to push back so it's a lot of lift and place unlike tarts. Of course I didn't finish so I had to go behind the counter and replace that way. Anyway, I ruined 6-7 desserts (good ones too) so that's why I got to take them home.

+ Fifi Lapin is wearing a v. cute outfit today! I'd buy this. She's finally using a handbag and she has a cute flower in her hair!

+ American Apparel has chain jewelry now. Necklaces for $48 and Bracelets for $25.
They have a few new items! Here's one. Not available in Canada yet.
Stripe Pocket Frock [$41USD] - One Size. Also available in navy + white and red + white. V. cute I want but we'll have to see how stripes are. Boatneck w/ pockets!
I'm addicted to Sea Blue. I see they have a new model! Nice.
Sheer Rib Short Sleeve Tunique [$38CDN] - One size.

Thinking of getting the Navy Interlock Skirt [$40CDN] (I bought in the first place but exchanged for black).
+ Recieved a couple packages in the mail yesterday. Will post about them another time.

+ Oh yes - and got the $100 Carbon Tax cheque. What are you going to spend it on?

+ I love this Elizabeth and James Tulip Dress [$265 on ShopBop] + Some of the top S. Korean singers including WonderGirls, SG Wannabe, and mightymouth came together to record a project album titled "Cry With Us" to help starving children in North Korea.

Cry With Us
**

+ I won a double-pass advanced screening movie tix for Wall-E for this Wednesday @ Tinseltown courtesy of Dose.ca. Yay I've wanted to see this movie since April! Going to pick up tickets later today. I'm off today and tomorrow.