pretty rings

Inspired by the collection of beautiful rings in Michelle's post, I had gone riffling through the internet to see what style of ring I would like and what style of ring I would especially like to see on my left hand.  I am not much of a ring person - I find most rings make my fingers look chunky and wrinkly and even shorter than they are.  But these fashion rings (read: not-for-my-left-hand rings) surely caught my eyes:

???

The bruise lost its green tinge and got a bit lighter in color today but my knee hurts more than it did yesterday... What is going on?? I want to head back to the slopes!!

Blue Mountain

Awesome time at the Blue Mountain this weekend - in addition to snowboarding we also got to dine at the famous Oliver and Bonacini restaurant (located in the Westin Hotel) and shop at downtown Collingwood - only bummer being my major wipeout on my last run that got my bruised on my left hip and right knee.  I picked up both extra-strength advil and a topical analgesic but they don't seem to be able to completely banish the pain.  The doctor didn't keep me after taking my X-rays though, so it mustn't be anything serious - hopefully I'll recover in time for the Horseshoe Valley trip planned for this coming weekend! 

Pretty Nails

Broke all my nails snowboarding (mostly lacing up my boots I think) and it hurts when my fingertips brushed against anything, which happens quite a bit since I'm not the most careful person in the world - I decided to give faux nails another try.


These ones don't require glue as double-sided adhesive strips are provided, which is so much more convenient and less messy.









Too bad though I am not made for anything this fancy as they didn't even last an evening - they had all popped off by the time we finished cleaning up after dinner. It was pretty while it lasted, though.

Afternoon tea

Afternoon tea seems to be one of the British traditions that has taken deep roots and then flourished in Hong Kong and it's so ingrained in the minds of Hong Kong people that even after having spent the last decade here in Canada we still put on a pot of tea in the afternoon and gather round for a small meal whenever we get a chance.

Today we had a special treat - we were lured into the European deli right next to the supermarket and after much contemplation (trust me there were a whole lot to choose from) decided on this beauty:





The cake was not too sweet and not too heavy with strawberry jam and cream amidst thin cake layers, and the dark chocolate made a perfect topping. It was a heavenly accompaniment to the strong orange pekoe that we enjoy with a little bit of condensed milk.

These pastry and cakes are sold by the pound and you can ask them to cut out exactly how much you need. It's such a great idea because you can get small portions of a variety of pastries to sample or when you are entertaining on a short notice.

What a steal!!!

Wal-mart must be having a clear-out for their Rimmel make-up stock as they have marked down eye shadows and lip glosses to a shocking price of a dollar a piece!! Concealers were marked down to 3 bucks each but all the tubes there had been opened even though they weren't designated as testers. I wasn't crazy about the colors of what's left of the lip glosses neither, but I picked up these really nice eye shadow trios - for a dollar a pop it's perfect for experimenting with colors that I thought I would never be able to pull off - like the greens and gunmetal grey.

Happy New Year!!

We finally made it into the year of the rabbit!! The year of the tiger was quite brutal - but things should be looking better now that the angry tiger is gone!!





Hopefully we will all have good health, good luck in love and good luck in career this year :)

Radish Cake

A traditional staple food we enjoy on Chinese New Year is radish cake - and though the task was daunting, with my help Mom reluctantly agreed to make it again :)

This is a pictorial representation of what transpired in those several hours we laboured in kitchen:

Yum!!

Snow Day

Even though the storm didn't hit as hard as expected, we took advantage of the option to be "on call" - the office-politically-correct term for working from home. I have to admit, if it isn't for appearance sake I would stay home to work at any opportunity - slight chance of flurries, bad case of flu, anything remotely acceptable to be an excuse that would render me unable to leave the house. I mean, not to rub it in or anything - but there are just so many perks!

• No commute - no need to stress out about sharing roads with the vast majority of people who shouldn't even be on the road to begin with. Changing lanes without signalling, changing into a lane where there's less than a car's length and people behind have to hit hard brakes to avoid collisions, signalling to change lanes then swerving to the other lane and back - you name it, I've seen it since I've started to have to commute to work.
• Not having to change out of the more comfortable pajamas into the stiffer dress shirt and pants. And not having to worry about dressing warm enough for the freezing cold temperature in the office - somehow it seems the thermostat is always set to lower than comfortable, and most of my co-workers can be seen working in their jackets.
• Not having to worry about hair - who cares about a bed head if you don't have to smile and greet your co-workers?
• Also not having to worry about make-up - a nice break for the skin and a huge time-saver.
• Working from home means the kitchen is only steps away - how nice is it to enjoy a warm full breakfast other than instant oatmeal!
• The coffee at home is definitely much better than that unpalatable stuff at the office. And I can put on a pot of tea if I wanted - no need to rely on teabags for the sake of convenience.
• Snack galore!! I do have my stash at the office but working from home promotes healthier snacking because I can choose fruits and veggies without having to worry about the frequent trips to the kitchen (washing and prepping then garbage disposal).
• I get to play my music however loud I want rather than hopelessly trying to lock out the chatter and other noises at the office with ear buds. Actually, I may not even need to play music to begin with because there would be no noise I would need to try to cover.
• Working from home actually yields higher productivity - so much less time wasted on chit-chats and weather-talk, much more time left for the actual work. Nobody lingering around your cubicle trying to strike a conversation means less time spent nodding and smiling out of politeness.
• The increased productivity also extends to home chores since break times can easily be utilized as laundry time or cooking time.
• Think of the gas savings!! And savings on coffee and lunch. It's so much more economical to stay put. As Dad puts it, it's better than getting a raise - especially gas price is hitting an all-time high and doesn't look like it's gonna come down any time soon.