I've got 2.5 weeks, let's see how this goes!

- catch up on my blog entries
- get my shoes topy-soled
- fix my laptop that crashed
- watch tons of movies!
- clean up my closet, donate my old clothes!
- pick up a new winter jacket
- wrap all Christmas gifts
- Make truffles
- Make a cheesecake
- Make cream puffs
- Host a party!
- Buy a new yoga mat
- Yoga at least 3x
- Take Andrew to try Basil Leaf
- Hit up Mikado for some tataki & dragon eyes
- Print vacation pictures
- Clean my room!!
- Catch up on all the shows I missed (Glee, HIMYM, House, CSI, Gossip Girl)
- Get my Jeans Hemmed
- Christmas Party with the Girls
- Hot Pot with Cherry & Jodi
- Mount TV on the wall

I will italicize everything I have done!

ETA January 10, 2011 .. I think I was pretty productive, don'tcha think? ;)

When Christmas comes along, you will find me in the kitchen, working away and baking goodies to give to friends and family! This year, I chose to make truffles for the very first time, to see how they would turn out.

I made two variations - one was a chocolate chip cheesecake truffle coated in shredded coconut, while the other was a oreo cookie truffle, covered in chocolate. Mmm, they both turned out to be so delicious, or so I thought! What I didn't think, however, was how messy it was to make truffles! My hands were COATED in cream cheese, I don't think I want to make these again for a while.. hah!

Contact me for the recipe if you are interested :)

Hope you're all enjoying the holiday season and spending it with family :)

As per family tradition, we usually open presents on the night of the 24th, right around midnight. I really am blessed to have my family and friends, I could live without presents! But I always do appreciate them, teehee!

I'll just post up some of what I got, thanks to everyone who got me something!

From Vince I got .. a bumblebee pillow pet, new headset & Bailey Button UGGs! Yay, I'll be keeping nice & warm for the rest of our cold winter!


From my baby sister I got .. a Philosophy Holiday Greetings gift set & Hello Kitty pj's! Looove the pjs, they're so soft!


From Lucy I got .. fondue chocolate, a heart shaped baking tin, cute note papers, a face mask pack, a card reader, shampoo hat & a costume for my hamster, LOL Thanks bb


Crystal got me lots of goodies for me to use when doing my nails! I'm excited to try them out :)


Belinda gifted me with a beautiful shirt, sheet masks, lip balm & hand sanitizer + a cute little coca cola ornament (not pictured cause I used them already HAHA). Thanks b!


Lisa got me another pillow pet!!! Ahh the duck is so cute & fat. Love it! :)


Lorraine picked up a brush set & body butter for me. Mmmm, funny thing is that I picked up the exact same body butter as part of her gift too, hehee

From me to you, Merry Christmas! Stay safe & have fun!

Yesterday, Vince, Andrew, Crystal, Ronald and I headed to Basil Leaf, hoping to have a delicious bowl of pho. But to our disappointment, they were closed! Since when do Asian restaurants close on Christmas Eve?? I swear the only time asian places close is on Chinese New Year! What the heck? It was so cold too! Such a disappointment...

Quickly, we logged onto Urbanspoon to try to find a replacement other than Pho Tau Bay (I'm not a fan like many people are!!). The closest restaurant with the highest rating was Nha Trang.

Is it really #1?

The place was relatively easy to find, located conveniently by the Glenrose Hospital, so I'm sure they get a large amount of traffic in the restaurant. When we walked in, we were greeted by a friendly Vietnamese lady, who promptly sat us at our table in the humble little restaurant.

Like most pho places in the city, Nha Trang offers two sizes of pho - regular & large. Most of the time, I find that there isn't a big difference in the amount of food you are receiving, but the large tends to be filled with lots of soup & a little extra noodle. Considering it was 1:30 pm and none of us had eaten yet, we were pretty hungry and ordered the different sizes for comparison.


My pho!

Basil and lemon slices were served atop ice to keep them fresh, while the bean sprouts arrived on their own in a huge pile.


Keepin' fresh!

I went with the beef & beef ball noodle soup, while the others tried out the pho dac biet. The verdict? The large DID have quite a bit more in the bowl, hurrah!!


regular size


large size

The beef broth was generally tasty, but a little too oily for my liking. Noodles were cooked al dente, but I found the beef was a little on the tougher side. I understand that beef will vary from time to time, but I feel that good restaurants will have consistency and good quality meat, no matter when you go and eat. Last of all - Vince's bowl of noodles was garnished with a long piece of hair on top - yummy!! The waitress was happy to take it back to the kitchen and prepare a new bowl though, all which took two minutes. Not bad.

I'd still say Basil Leaf is my go to place for pho in this city - but I still have yet to pursue them all.

For dessert, we headed over to Dream Tea House to grab some shaved ice. My winning combo includes condensed milk, green apple syrup, tapioca & mango jelly. Delish!


best shaved ice!

Nha Trang
10120 111 Avenue
Edmonton AB


Dream Tea House
7912 104 Street NW
Edmonton AB

Christmas is one of my favourite, if not my favourite holiday of the year. Everyone coming together, seeing old friends, and just chillin' by the fireplace is really just when I have the best time.

our little Christmas tree :)
After our lovely Lucy headed to Vancouver for school, us girls haven't been together as one for about 5 months! Once our lady was home, it was time to get together for some gift giving, catching up, and sleepover time. All four of us crashed on my bed - just like old times.


:)
xoxo love you ladies

For those of you that are a little out of the loop (don't worry, I was too! Sephora didn't do a very good job of letting everyone know about this fantastic collaboration!), Sephora will be launching a collection in collaboration with Sanrio to bring Hello Kitty into the spotlight.

After a collaboration with MAC a couple years back, it's nice to see Hello Kitty back in the makeup world. However, unlike MAC, this collection will be full of bling and colour, unlike the toned down, black packaging that was featured in the MAC collection.

Sephora is holding a two day private event for Beauty Insiders this weekend from December 18-19 on their website. It seems as though you need an email invite to preview and pre-purchase the items. As of right now, the only information I have is that the collection will be released officially in mid January, both online and in stores. The collection is limited edition, and I predict it will sell out fast, if the pre-sale is any indication at all.

The items range from shower caps to nail polish, to eyeshadows and makeup brushes. Below are some images of the items available on the website right now, available for purchase.

Makeup:

Happy Fun Say Hello Palette


Super Fun Say Hello Palette


Apple Cheeks Blush


Apple Balm


Sweet Gloss & Big Smile Gloss


Charmmy Kohl Eyeliner Set


Glittercute Eyeliner, Charmmy Eyeshadow Stick, Pen Pal Eyeliner


Liquid Nail Art


Nail Art Stickers

Accessories:


Hand Held Mirror


Compact Mirror


Bling Mirror


Blotting Papers


Shower Cap


Brush Set

Fragrance:


Fragrance Rollerball & Body Splash


Fragrance


I myself have picked up the fragrance rollerball, large fragrance, and the two palettes with eyeshadow and lipgloss. I will post them up & review when I receive them! I'm really hoping that the formulas will be good & that I'm not paying for packaging!

Just thought I'd make a nail polish post! Maybe I should do these more often.. I usually have my nails done with french tips, because one of my jobs requires me to do so, or have plain jane nails with no polish. Boooo!

When I have a week off work, I like to sit down and paint my 10 fingers with something unique. Since Christmas is just around the corner, I decided to do something festive with pink & gold.

The pink colour is 'Party in my Cabana' by OPI, and the gold flakes are from Sephora by OPI's top coat called 'Only Gold for Me'. The formula for both is fantastic - long wearing, chip resistant. The gold flakes in the top coat are a combination of hexagonal glitter and smaller circular pieces. All in all, a beautiful top coat over any colour!




Only thing I would complain about? The gold is IMPOSSIBLE to get off! Those things stick to you like they require your nails to live! Hope you have a lot of patience if you try this top coat out :)

This past week, Kiehl's sent me an invitation to head into the store to pick up a free Lip Balm #1 as a Christmas gift. I've always loved their lip balm in a tube, not because it's extremely moisturizing, but because it's clean! No need to dip my fingers into a little jar and spread my germs around :)

While I was there, I stocked up on a couple actually, because they had a promo where spending $30 would earn a $15 giftcard to use in January. Good deal, right? So naturally I picked up coconut, pear, and mango to add to my collection! They have the consistency of vaseline, and SPF 4, so you get moisture & sun protection all in one. Don't be surprised if you receive one from me this Christmas! These are the BOMB.