Lenox Square

Spent the morning at dollar store. Ava bought a bunch of purple color stuff. She loves purple apparently.

We went to Lenox Square today. It's a mall at Buckhead. I used to go there before but this time, going back, I found the mall quite huge. We met Simon's old college friend there, Mae and her brother, sister in law, and daughter. Colin was a big hit with them.. :)
We sat at Panera Bread for a little bit and then said goodbyes so we can do a little bit of shopping. We didn't have too much time because it was dinner time again. I went into Pottery Barn Kids and OMG, I love that place. S0 did Ava.

Headed to Batavia Restaurant for dinner and then went home.

Zoo

Started of the morning at La Madeleine for breakfast. This was my favorite's french bakery and cafe when I was still living in Atlanta n-years ago.. :) We ordered some crepe, french toast, omellette, a potato gallete and a muffin for Ava. So yummy, esp the potato gallete. I forgot to take pictures again. :) Then, we continued on our trip to the zoo. I didn't want to sound like a stupid bimbo, but I think I will.. I went to the zoo in high heels.. served me right!!! That place was sooooo hilly.. I had to walk up and down the hill and man that hurt!!
Aside from my stupid dress code screwed up, we had such a good time, especially me watching Ava watching all the animals. She kept shouting out their names, zebra, giraffe, gorilla, rhino (she said hippo at first, then I corrected her.. ), etc.

After the long day at the zoo, we went home, rested for a little bit, and then continued on to meet with my old old friend from college, Mr. Keith Hamilton, with his family. Such beautiful family Keith has. We met at a Korean restaurant and Keith's wife, Sun Hee, ordered up food enough for the whole village.. :) But they were all soooo good. The restaurant owner then gave us 1 hour free at their Karaoke box. we sang for a little bit, and I must say.. I SUCKED!!! My score was so low that I wanted to bury my face to the ground.. hahaha... but it's all good times. :)

So glad to meet with Keith after so long, we'd been such good buddies during our college years, we're always talking about music. I learned so many great artist from my buddy, Keith.
Next time, Keith will have to go to Canada to visit us.. :)

American Highway

Simon and I had been discussing about the American way..
The American way is the Highway.. we're in Atlanta, and we're driving on a 6 lanes highway. That's a lot of lanes. American will never ever be able to go green. All these highways demand cars which in turn demand oil (gasoline). They are so addicted to gas they didn't even realize it.

Closet Baby

Per Sharon request on seeing the closet baby, here's some pictures.
You can see that we entered the master bedroom, where we have a bed and also a futon mattress on the floor. I slept on the bed (of course), Ava slept with Simon on the floor (her choice), and when she kinda woke up in the morning and didn't see Simon, she'll then climb up and sleep beside me (yeap, I'm 2nd choice). Then, opened door number 1, and you'll see the bathroom (sorry, we messed up the pretty bathroom by hanging a bunch of our towels everywhere). Then you can see door no.2 on the far left side.. and TADA!!! inside you'll find this smiley baby, who smiled really big when he saw me came in with a camera.. :)

Then, when I took him down for his milk, this was what his sister did to him. She took a handful of his hair in her hand, and then put her big-ass foot on his groin. Poor boy!!!

Bra-thought

I was thinking today.. since I got so many free time in my hands..
I have been having headaches quite often recently, for the past two days, I've had headaches and had to go to sleep with it. And I was pondering what could have caused the headaches..
A. Could it be being cooped up the whole day in the house? (mind you I usually go out and shop back in Richmond)
B. Could it be because of Ava being super difficult with her "no sleeping", "go home", "no, no, no" screaming at me?
C. Could it be this new bra I've been wearing? I felt that it's been getting tighter and tighter everyday (NO.. I refused to believe that I've gained weight since I got here). Maybe it's pinching a nerve somewhere and therefore causing the bloodflow NOT being able to move to my head, thus the headaches. I've been picturing myself with a pinched up bra that causing my head to get redder and redder and then exploded.. hahahaha Not a pretty picture!!!

Ok.. enough of my rambling, I guess being secluded from society can cause this kind of unnecessary rambling.. I rest my case... now I have to go find a picture of a bra.. hahahahaha

WonderFreaking Pets

Wonder pets, wonder pets, we're on our way..
to help an animal and save the day..
We're not too big and we're not too tough
but when we work together we got the right stuff..
Gooooo wonder pets yeay!!!!

There.. now this song is not going to be just in my head..
it'll be in all of yours!!!! wahahahahhahahahaha (evil laugh)

Bulgogi and Fried Eggs

As usual, woke up and then started to think of what to cook for lunch today. So, I decided on Bulgogi and fried eggs, with watercress soup. Ava was playing by herself building towers while I was cooking. Colin was drinking his formula and watching wonder pets

Darwin came home for lunch and we chatted a bit about old times. :)
My bro's so cute.. :) hm.. maybe i should say he's honest and funny and handsome. There!!

Update

Home again with the kids.. and working on updating my blog the whole morning and afternoon.
I cooked again today. I baked Salmon and then stir fry spinach. Darwin came home for lunch again today, and Colin was stuck to him like a sticky glue. Colin's a master manipulator and he can spot from a mile away who he can work his magic on. He found his victim here in my bro, his uncle. He'd fake crying and Darwin will pick him up. HAHA SUCKER!!!

It's so cute watching them together. The nephew wants attention and the uncle's eager to please. HAHAHA

Ava was unfazed(sp??) by the whole attention seeking scenario going on, and concentrating on her wonder pets DVD that we've pretty much watch for the n-th times now. It was playing nonstop on the TV.

Simon came back around 6pm then we headed to Chick-Fil-A. How I miss Chick-Fil-A's nuggets. They have a playground inside, so Ava went wild. Darwin joined us there from his work. Then, we went and shopped around Target for awhile. I got a bunch of clothes for the kids right away.. haha.. Ava's wearing her new PJ (which can be handed down to Colin since it's blue), and Colin's also sporting his new doggy pj. We also got a "bat and wiggle penguin" for them. At least they'll have something to play with besides watching wonder pets.

The usual routine at night, but Ava was so pumped up. She didn't want to sleep. I pretended to sleep beside her and guess what she did??? She pulled the blanket up so it covered my body, then patted my head, kissed me and said good night. I was so surprised and so happy when she did it. It showed that she's a caring little girl. But then, she repeated this 5 times.. and I was like, enough already, why don't you go to sleep instead. And, she didn't sleep.. even after Simon and I were sleeping, I could still hear her walking around, shuffling in the blanket, kissing me, pulling up blanket.. I didn't know what time she slept, but she did sleep.. after a long while....

First day in Atlanta

Woke up sooo late this morning. We woke up at 10am, which technically was 7am in Vancouver. Yeap.. we're jetlagged. I quickly cooked some lunch for myself and Ava. My bro, Darwin and Simon already left for work. So, it's just me and the kids. I cooked tofu and ground pork, and then cooked a radish soup. Stormed up to take a quick shower and then waited for Darwin to come home. Tried to connect to the internet and failed. So I guess my blog won't really be "updated" till tomorrow.

So, now I wanted to talk about my brother's house. It's a nice townhouse with 2 car garage. He obviously had cleaned the place before we came.. hahahaha, because when I walked in, I can smell glade.. :) The whole place was fairly tidy for a guy.. :) He worked really hard. We got the master bedroom because of the size of our troup.. :) And.. the honorary mention went to: HIS CLOSET!!! OMG.. it's HUGE!!!! I want this kind of closet. And, because of the hugeness, Colin got this room. HAHAHAHAHA. You got it. He's sleeping in the closet inside his pack n play (or playpen as I like to call it). I'm not kidding you. I stuck him inside there and cracked the closet door open.

Darwin came back for lunch (he actually already had lunch, but I asked him to eat some more because I cooked quite a lot). Being a good person that he is, he complied. After he left, I was left doing nothing again. So, after putting the kids to nap, I read. Luckily I brought a book with me. It's "Gum Thief" by Douglas Coupland. It's a pretty weird book, but any book is good right now. I fell asleep while reading because I was just so tired.

Darwin doesn't have a channel at all in his TV. To his credit, he has a DVD player, which has been playing wonder pets since this morning. Thank GOD I brought some DVDs with me.

Simon came home around 6pm, followed by Darwin. We went out for dinner at Penang Restaurant. Then, we stopped by the dollar store because I needed to pick up some toys for Ava and a night light for the closet (hahaha). We went to the Farmers Market to pick up some vegetables and snacks. Then, Darwin took us to this Korean Market called "Super H Market". It's HUGE, and it has everything. So I bought a piece of Salmon, a pack of ground pork and a pack of sliced beef. I still have to cook for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

It was late by the time we got home and Colin was screaming again in the car. Put the kids to bed and then came down to chat with bro. We talked books, music and he'll leave his laptop for me so I can update my blog.. b/c my laptop can't seem to be able to connect with his internet connection. Darn.

A whole day trip

Simon and I woke up at 5:30am and started to check and pack the last couple of things into the bag. I still have to pack the bottles and formula for Colin. Had to wait till we woke them up, changed them, fed them and carried them up to the car before we can actually pack everything up. So, we did just that. Told Ava that we're going on a plane. She was really excited and kept repeating "go airplane, go airplane" (in chinese, zuo fei ji, zuo fei ji). Colin was pretty confused with the whole commotions.

Off we left the house around 6:30am. Luckily we didn't get stuck at the border. Everything went smoothly. We arrived at the park and ride (seatac parking lot) and then shuttled to the airport. It's very very troublesome to carry 2 huge luggages (one of them contained Colin's playpen and highchair), 2 carry-ons, 1 handbag, 1 backpack(Ava's), and 2 carseats. It was a nightmare. I was glad that Simon didn't complain. I won't be able to stand it if he did.

Arrived and checked-in. Another nightmare started again when we went thru the security checkpoints. We had to take everything out, took off our shoes, while holding the baby, trying to calm screaming Ava. Man... it was brutal. Then, the guard had to open my carry-on because I had those formula and also baby food in it. AARRGGHHH!!! (I hate US)

Got to food court and ordered food right away. Burger King it was. We found out that burger king tasted so good. In our new opinion, better than McD. So, we're switching to BK now. :)
Fed Colin and he calmed down a bit. Then, bought some muffins for the in-flight snacks.
Went to the washroom to change Colin and Ava and continued on to our gate. Our flight was delayed. It was supposed to leave on 12:49pm, now it's at 2:08pm. Damn them!!

Gave Colin his bottle and he tried to sleep, but to no avail. Ava slept on Simon's lap while I entertained the prince. Finally got into the plane. Then, we sat at the wrong seat after we buckled Ava's carseat onto the seat.. luckily the other people just changed seats with us instead of asking us to move. Ava was super excited and Colin was still not sleeping. Colin flirted with the people seating next to us. When finally the plane took off, Ava said she wanted to go home. man man man... she started to fuss, luckily I remembered the activity packs I set up for her. Out came the book and the color pencils. She was content for awhile, she was sleeping also afterwards. Colin slept finally. Not for long though... the fuss and the yelp started again and it went on and on and on until we landed.

What a long way from our gate to the baggage claim. Luckily Ava was being cute and smiley again. Colin was just grumpy sitting in Maclaren. I heard the occasional "oh, so cute", "she looks like a china doll", "such smiley baby", and I thought, you only see the surface.. wait till they get cranky and screaming their heads off.. i wonder if you'll still think she's cute and he's smiley.. HAHA

Picked up our rental car at Alamo. It was pretty late by the time the shuttle took us to the parking lot. They didn't have any more compact car by then, so we got an SUV instead (yoohooo.. one good thing out of the trip). We're riding in a white Toyota Rav4. Everyone in and next destination.. WAL-MART!!! yeap, coz i didn't pack too much of Colin's formula and food, so i have to buy now. I also need to get hair dryer, milk, hair gel (for simon), diapers. It was pouring like crazy.. looked like we've been hit by a tornado. Luckily I didn't have to drive the car.. b/c i can tell you right, we'd probably stand still in one spot if I drive b/c I won't be able to drive forward if I can't see where I'm going.

Colin by this time has been screaming nonstop in the car. Simon was getting pretty irritated and I was trying to be super calm. In and out of Walmart and continued on to my brother's house. I can pretty much tell you that we won't be taking trips like this for awhile. (we won't be taking carseats with us this Oct, FOR SURE!!!).

bought steak n shake on the way and arrived at Nottley Dr, Marietta. Saw my long lost brother (hahaha not really, but feels like it) that I haven't seen for almost 7 years. So so so happy and gave him a hug right away. Ava was wary and didn't want to go into the house so Simon had to bring her in. She refused to call my brother and just kept saying she wanted to go home. ate our dinner, it's sooo good, gave the kids a bath, and put them to bed.. they we slumped into the bed right away.. today's trip had pretty much sucked the life out of us.... we fell and passed out.

Still scrambling....

Relaxed a little bit before continue to scramble.. :)

Last Minute Shopping

So, we're leaving on Monday, so we did a quick last min shopping. Ava got her backpack and she picked up a rainboots also along the way. She insisted on wearing them right away after we paid. Then, she basically strolled around the mall with her new backpack(with the tags still on), and her boots. She looked like DORA.. hahahahahaha

*scrambling.. scrambling.. cleaning.. mopping.. washing dishes..pack some more..*

Margarita

Call me the swifter lady, or Mrs. swifter. I was swifting the whole day today, downstairs and then upstairs. My floors are super clean now.. (until Ava decided to dump her food on the floor again).

I just got the wet swifter a couple of days ago. Finally, mopping without going down to hand and knees and scrubbing the floor by hands. I'm so happy I got the swifter. I don't know how green this is, but it beats having to do it by hands.

Did 2 loads of laundry and I have more to go. I was going about everything like usual, and then around 7:50pm gave Colin a bath and then put him to bed, but something's nagging me, like I have something else to do and OMG, I forgot Herjit's party at 7pm. I quickly changed and then called Herjit to see if I can still stop by. Evan picked up the phone and I could hear from the background the party's still going. He said come on over.. and I flew there.

I saw Herjit at first, then, I saw Terri, Christy (with Eric), Kathy (with Leighton), Lynda (& Jamie), Kristina, Andrea, Laurie, Sam and Becky. Everyone was having a good time. Evan made me a lime margarita, and it tasted so good. I was chatting away with everyone. So many discussions going all at once. I found out that Kathy's having a girl, Terri won't find out what she's having.
It was a perfect little gathering for Herjit's pre baby margarita party. CHEERS!!!!!!

Tummy Tuck anyone??? maybe we can get group discount.. haha

So, this morning I had my dermatologist appointment. I wanted to show my tummy to him and see what he thinks. First of all, my face were much better compared to the last time checkups. All the acnes were gone and now only left with the scarring. He said I can get rid of the scar with this treatment called Fraxel (each time 600 bucks and I need to do it 4 times.. that's 2400+gst... CRAZY!!!), then, when he looked at my tummy... after looking for awhile, he finally came out and said it. I need a TUMMY TUCK. Yeap.. that's what he said, he also said nothing else will work. He can be dishonest and told me that i can go to him for treatment, but he said he doesn't want to do that. He even recommended a doctor called Nick Carr. He said Dr. Carr did the most tummy tuck in Vancouver. I asked if he knows how much it'll cost to do that.. he said, he's not sure, but probably around 20K to 30K.. (in my mind, i said, there goes my tummy tuck dream). I mean seriously.. 20K-30K???? That money can be used towards Ava and Colin tuitions to Harvard or Yale or MIT.. hahahahahaha...

Now, my question is: do you think it's necessary? My tummy is pretty disgusting, if you can look at the picture that the assistant took and now forever stored in my doctor's computer. It's so disgustingly hanging and all scrunched up in the middle, not to mention my umblilical hernia sticking out. Not a pretty site my readers..

So after getting the shock about how my tummy will stay like this forever (bye bye bikini...), we went to Aberdeen Center for my prescription and Ava saw the "farm". So, she went in and petted the fake animals. She had so much fun though, especially with the chickens. She kept touching it and taking the "fake" eggs out. :)
A bit of a struggle when I tried to take her home. I had to carry her.. boy is she heavy!!!

Awesome Pedicures

Pedicures time again. My nails were all chapped and my dead skins were thick. So needed the pedicure. Was so glad that Tracey needed one too, so we went to the "Awesome Nails" at Blundell and Garden City for pedicures. It was a really nice place. They have the massage chair and was pretty clean. The most desirable thing was .. we can get the flowers painted on for free. Some place charged 5 dollar each toe to be painted. The total for pedicure was only for 35 bucks. So I thought it was such a good deal.

The weather was pretty gloomy today. It was raining and cloudy. Not at all fun.
Was supposed to go to see a movie with Tracey and Terri, but I didn't feel secure to leave Simon by himself with 2 kids. He needs to bathe them and then put them to bed. If it's only 1 kid, I'd have left for the movie without thinking.. but with 2 kids.. hm..
Because usually, I'll take care of Colin and he'll take care of Ava. Then, while he waited for Ava in her "swimming" bucket, I will give Colin his bottle and wait till he fall asleep. Usually the whole thing will take at least 10-15 min. So, that's why I decided not to go. If I ever wanted to go to see a movie.. I might have to go to the later time. Maybe around 9 pm. (*sigh*)..
Too bad, b/c i really wanted to see "that" movie.. :)

Met with Sam, Ollie and lil Ava at the Alegria Cafe at Steveston. It was a really cute, warm and cozy coffee shop. I love it. Will definitely go back again. When I went in there, I was greeted by the most fragrance smell of food (I'm thinking soup). It whetted my appetite, but it was too early to eat (it was 9:30am). So, we opted for a Strawberry-chocolate chip muffin for Ava and a cup of mochaccino for me. Colin also got his first taste of muffin and loved it. He kept asking for more. hahahaha

Ava learned a new word today. It's "Knight". There's a knight by the door and Ollie kept wanting to touch the knight's helmet, so Sam took Ollie and Ava to the knight and let them touch it. :)
Lil Ava was soooooo good. She was sleeping the whole time we were there.. in her parked stroller. How many babies have you seen that can sleep in a parked stroller? usually the stroller has to be strolling. :)

I went to Aberdeen center after putting the kids down. I had to buy something for DQ at Daiso. I wanted to buy the door stopper also, but can't find one. I got sidetracked before I went to Daiso. I stopped at this lingerie store, thinking maybe I can find a girdle corset for my sticking out tummy. Instead, I got a whole body armor. It's so scary, but the result looks so good that I can't help it. HAHAHAHAHAHA. I hope I won't have to undress in front of anyone because my "body armor" will show.

I saw this exhibition at the ground floor. It looked like a petting zoo with a zoo full of "fake" animals. :) It's called the Aberdeen Center Farm. The exhibition will be there till Sept 1st. I think I'll take Ava there. Also, if you buy anything in Aberdeen Center at any store that's over 20 bucks, you'll get a can of grow a bean. It's so cute. I got 2 cans. I might bring one to US for DQ so he can grow one. :)

Pho or Pheww???

Playdate at Tracey's in the morning.
Things we found out:
1. Ava is really bad at sharing
2. Owen hates Ava now because she kept taking his toys and not sharing with him
3. Owen tries to squeeze Colin using his whole body (kinda funny.. haha)
4. Owen loves me because I tried to scare him
5. He faked laughing when I tickled him
6. Colin tasted all of Owen's toys there (ooppss)
7. I'm such a clumsy person that I had to spill coffee on my "new" dress. Luckily it's navy blue dress.
8. Tracey's so nice for having us there since Ava was just really no fun at all.

I transformed into my super-busy-woman after the kids napped. First, I started at the library. I went in to pick up 2 more of that James Cramer books for Simon. He's like obsessed with this guy. After that, I went to City Fresh supermarket to pick up ingredients for tonight's dinner: Rice Noodles, Beef Bones, Basil, Serrano peppers, beansprouts, and a small onion. Then, off to superstore. I had to get some diapers and foods for Colin and can't find the wet swifter so I went to zellers afterwards and got one. I left the house around 1:30pm and was done at 3:30pm. Pretty good timing.. back home for the kids. hahaha

I made pho (vietnamese noodle soup) for dinner. It was not as good. But Simon just LOVED it. He kept saying it's really really good. So I guess that means I'll have to make it again.
I was so busy making this dish that I forgot to take picture of the finished product. Dang it!!!