Rummy

HO HO HO! Who just had Chinese food for Christmas dinner? Moi! It was très delicious. It also happened to be the only restaurant in town that was open. Heathens! Or not.

First off, it's Christmas! Wheee! We had stockings!





They were filled with nice things from conditioner to chocolate, from t-shirts to jewellery, and from magazine subscriptions to comic book gift certificates. Best of every world!

Oh! And look at the lovely gift I received from my boss at work.



Before we headed out for our adventure yesterday, Marty decided to finish up the Christmas dinner from the night before with my Aunt.



Since we are mostly family-less this Christmas the big M and I decided to head over to the 'Couv for the holiday. So we packed up, and headed out to Surrey to board the Skytrain to take us to our final destination, the Pan Pacific Hotel.



It was super-rainy, but we managed to make it from the train to the hotel without getting too soppy. Once we checked in, we were pleased to board the elevator and discover that today was Sunday.



As soon as we busted into the room, I was itching to open presents, so we did!



Some good stuff. I got Marty an iPod and some shirts and some chocolate and some Baileys, and he got me a Vivienne Westwood Scarf, some jewellery, some other things, and some Malibu Rum. In the aftermath of the goods, I decided to take some other pictures of our room and the vicinity.













So we had this master plan that we were going to go to Aqua Riva beside the hotel for dinner…well, the day before, I found it was going to be closed. No biggie, I thought. Well, I was wrong. DEAD wrong.



So, instead, we grabbed the umbrella, and wandered around downtown Vancouver until we were semi-soaked through, and finally stumbled upon this random restaurant called the Copper Chimney in the Le Soleil Hotel.







The steak was very delicious...mmm. It just seemed really random, but at least we were fed. We were going to maybe head over to the fancy-schmantzy buffet at our hotel, but it was a modest $105 per person. No big deal. We substantially saved with our $29 steaks.

Heading back to our hotel, we went exploring. We were going to go swimming, but there were these dimwits in the Jacuzzi that seemed to be clearly in a state of inebriation, so we decided to do more explorations.


Oooh, outdoor pool on Christmas! No big deal indeed!

We tried to peep in on the $105 buffet, but all I could manage was photos from across the lobby.





We wandered through the closed shops area…


(Ceiling)



...then we headed down to the Convention Centre level and found these little Christmas displays from the outside. There were tons of these really creepy elf characters, and I found one that looked like Mugatu!







Then it was back to the room for a little rest, relaxation, and comic book-reading…




…and a bit of rum drinking. (At least it was meant to be only a bit.)



Um…well, it all started out harmless enough, and, I mean, I didn't get drunk or anything, so…well, I mean, I was up a bit in the middle of the night feeling a little queasy, but I promise, no throwing up or anything. But, enough about that. Really. Okay! Moving on…

This morning seemed promising enough with a little bit of sun, but we checked out pretty early since we realized that if we wanted any food, we'd have to head home since everything would be closed. Unless, of course, we wanted bacon and eggs from the hotel for $18.





Which brings us to now. I'm trying in vain to get some reading done, but oh! So struggilicious. Anyways, I hope you all have had amazing Christmases, and all that jazziness. Be safe and be good.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Read more...

Don't Rain on My Parade

Bonjour mes amies! Or should I say, "Happy Erin's Birthday Boxing Day"! Yes, I call today my boxing day. It only makes sense, really, with all the gifts I got yesterday...something needs to be done with the boxes.

Since Christmas is only five days away, I decided to get into the spirt and post some shots of that major snow wingding we had at the beginning of December. It's all gone now, which is why I can enjoy the pictures now.









Whee! Wasn't that fun...now as long as that never comes around again, we will be happy campers.

On Sunday, we did some pre-birthday celebratories! My aunt had to work on my actual birthday, so we all piled into the car and headed out to Chilliwack for the day.





We went for a 6K stroll along the Chilliwack river, filled with delicious smells of rotting fish and poop.




This is a photo of the accused in question.








Your friend and mine, a baldie.





And, before I forget to mention, I did manage to also step into some horse poop which became evident upon re-entering the car and my aunt turning on the floor heating fan. Mmm! And I worked so hard to dodge the dang things.

After that, it was time to head off for din-din, which was at a Chilliwack restaurant called Jackson's.








(Someone in this photo looks a bit like death.)


This was my free birthday dessert. Or should I say, dessert of the night - number one.

The restaurant was decent, but the table was strangely narrow and they sat us right near the bathrooms. And our waiter was this little imp-ish man who was someone biting in his remarks. And they cut up my steak for me. Interesting.

After stuffing ourselves, we headed out to see the Minter Gardens light display which was, coincidentally, not at Minter Gardens! (And really, why would it be?) We drove to Minter Gardens only find it was closed for the season. No redirection to the appropriate spot, nothing. Nada. So we drove down some streets looking for light displays.





We ventured on, and eventually called someone who knew where the display was...it was at the OTHER Minter Gardens. Apparently there is two. Maybe everyone knows that. Maybe we just didn't.




This is supposed to be Dorothy and the yellow-brick road.


This excessively blurry shot is the scarecrow, the tin man and the lion.




Nessie!






Snow White...looking like a blow-up doll and not at all impressed by you.







After our very pretty ride throught the lights, we headed back to the 'Ford and my aunt dragged me to White Spot for more dessert.


Okay, maybe not dragged, but I sure could have done without it. Bleeeeech. After that I felt sick. I still kind of do, but that could also be all the crap I've eaten since. I'm not sure.

To mark the occasion of turning 24, I took a self-portrait to always commemorate these awkward transition days. I think it captures my best feature. (The blurriness is deliberate.)


Aren't those socks so, like, best?! I know. I bought them especially for Japan, but I just couldn't wait!

So that's it. Freakin' 24. Yesterday was the actual day, but I just went for dinner to Restaurant 62 and did some Winner's shopping. I'm still waiting for some more presents to come in (you know who you are) and then I'll be happy. Actually, I'm not waiting for any more presents. I, um, just wanted to sound greedy? Uh, I think it's time to go back to work and stop dawdling my lunch away. Plus, this commentary is no longer relevant. ANYWAY, pip pip, cheers to all, and have yourselves some holly jollies, mmmkay?

Read more...