If you've just dropped by or random'ed into me, please leave a comment and say hello.

Let me know how you found me, where you're from, why you're here, a little about yourself, recommend a book, recommend a movie, tell me a secret, tell me something, ask me a question, etc. =)

Ad Astra,

The Bride of the First House.
bride (at) livejournal (dot) com

---

weather	:		sunny
outside	:		24°C
mood	:		content

Thus ends a nice holiday week. *bittersweet* =) W and I took the week off together. We didn't go anywhere, just caught up with errands and did random stuff that we wished we had more time to do during the week.

Girl: Finished Mansfield Park.

The fascinating thing about Jane Austen, I find, is that she's made the same plot tell six entirely different stories. They're all nearly the same, but you see very different themes and social commentary in each one.

It's like looking into several different bowls of water. They're all only slightly different bowls and, water is water. But you scry a different universal truth in every one.

---

Geek: I went scabbing as a hobo healer in Alterac Valley.

English: I played WoW.

At 64/m/shammy/cow, I can't do a whole lot. So, I don my Int gear and go heal the tank or any other DPS who has aggro. And I'm not overhealing as much anymore.

The Summer Solstice Festival is on in the WoW, so we're constantly ribbon dancing and doing the festival dailies. The torch catching is the bane of my existence. I have to get Husband Guy to do that one for me. =P The most infuriating thing is that I can see exactly what to do, but I still fail before I can do 10 in a row. I can even describe to someone how to do it and they succeeded with the first 4, but I get to about 6 or 7 and then wipe. Gaaaaaahhhhh...

We're quickly running out of alt character slots to make pack mules... =) Because I don't play nearly as many characters as W does, I have all the pack mule alts: one auction house alt and another food alt that's named after a large grocery store chain =D When the food alt ran out of bag space AND bank space AND bank BAG space, we had to form a guild to get the guild bank.

We have a whole tab of just seafood. XD

Geek: I also ran around as my own little party with my 25/f/lock/blood-elf, blueberry and netherwhelp out.

English: I played WoW some more.

It's fun to be my own party of three =) Although, it's annoying that your pet gets dismissed when you use public transportation.

I get questions about my Netherwhelp and where I got him (Limited Edition Burning Crusade) =D Sooooo looking forward to 40 when I get my felsteed and felpuppy.

Geek: On a different server, I started another character, 17/f/shammy/cow.

English: I played WoW... even more.

I'd been harrassed =) into starting a character on a different server where a co-worker is a 70 Priest. I swear, Husband Guy and I are only there to watch the guild drama scroll by in gchat XD LOL =)

It's been painful levelling with no Main to help with money, mats, bags or anything. When you're used to having your backpack with four 16-slot Netherweave bags right from level 1, having to scrimp and save and sell all the greys you get, then hemming and hawing at the Auction House for even that stupid 6-slotter, you realize how spoiled you were.

I've been all WHEN THE HELL DO I GET MY GHOST WOLF?!?!? for the last 10 levels now.

---

Girl: I got a professional French manicure.

I went to a spa so that someone could do it once while I watched. Square nails are not as good as oval nails for scratching itches.

As much of a hassle as it is to do my own French manicure, I bought a kit and re-did it myself because I'm just never really happy with the results _anywhere_. I tend to have a very fussy eye for detail and the reality is, I know my own nails better and I know how I want them done.

I also got nail jewels =) I don't put them on every nail, I just put the smallest pinky pattern on the two thumbs.

---

Geek: I learned to drive stick.

The Brother Boy taught The Husband and me to drive stick shift with his car.

I've always hated sitting in a standard. I could never stand the herky-jerky-ness and I've always attributed that to standard transmission cars. I found out in the last few years that it's actually the drivers, themselves, being buttheads.

So, the Brother Boy has grown up to be a huge car buff and instructed us both on how to start the car, drive, shift, and rev matching. Neither of us stalled although we made his car very unhappy a few times.

Driving standard is extraordinarily busy. There were so many other things to deal with. Clutch down. Make sure it's in Neutral. Put it in first gear. Let go of the clutch. BUT SLOWLY. And step on the gas pedal at the same time. Make sure the clutch isn't halfway up for too long. Don't hold the clutch down too long... aaaaiiiieeeeeeggghhh...

Several times, I forgot to signal and shoulder check. I know it's only because it was my first session. I'm sure it will get better with practice.

My left leg and my left butt cheek were super sore the next day. =D I'd like to be able to practice, but we can't afford an extra car. I think we'd have to get a fairly nice 2-3 year old standard for it to be a good practice car. Gas prices in the state that they are and insurance make it completely out of the question.

And I'm not sure if we'd be willing to switch to a standard entirely.

---

Girl: I tried on dresses.

There's another wedding in the family coming up. =) No, it will never end. =)

We're desparately trying to convince someone to forego the hullabaloo and go with a destination wedding. But no dice this time. *sigh*

"Dear Auntie 1, if you could please make sure Cousin #5 gets engaged to a someone from Italy, that would be cool beans. We'll all be there. Thanks!"

The dress I wanted wasn't actually in the store, I had to special order it. But I did try on the same size in a different style from the same designer. I told them I wanted it for this September, just so that I wouldn't have to wait.

The designer apparently won't start manufacturing the style that I want until this September. That means I may actually not get it until possibly October.

The store staff were all worried for me, but the ladies still cracked up when I said "well, if it's not here by September, I'll have to go to the wedding naked." I said I have a back-up plan and I still wanted this dress.

weather	:		mainly sunny
outside	:		12.2°C
mood	:		amused

I'm such a n00b that this year was my first Children's Week. I took pictures of us and the two boys we had with us... Grunth and Grunth =} It was great fun and a very endearing quest... I actually cried when I read the last quest text from Grunth as I was handing him back to the Matron.

The pics are all in this gallery =)

We picked up the kids from the orphanage in Orgrimmar from Orphan Matron Battlewail. I think I will refer to all children as "Non-Combat Pets" from now on. Let's see how many friends, family and cow-orkers I can offend with that one... XD

We hung around the orphanage for a while just to get acquainted with the boys. They wanted to show us something and took us over to the waterfall. It's A Secret™ so I can't tell you what it is. But it was REALLY COOL. =)

We brought the boys down to the docks at Ratchet to watch the boat come in. They were delighted to see the ship that goes from here to and from Booty Bay on the other continent. We would have brought them over there, but couldn't risk them getting hurt in a gank-fight.

There was another tourist there who couldn't get a clue and wound up in the foreground of our picture =P We had to be a good example for the boys, otherwise we would have pounded his ass so far into the ground.

We then took the boys to Crossroads on the way to Mor'shan Rampart. At Crossroads, we suitably annoyed the hell out of Apothecary Helbrim by using his tarp like a trampoline. The four of us were in a serious fit of giggles from climbing, running and jumping all over it.

From there, we walked with them to Mor'shan Rampart. They had to run to keep up with us and stumbled every once in a while. That was so cute =D They were very keen on learning about it being a strategic location defending against Alliance forces from Ashenvale to the North.

Then, it was off to see the Throne of Lordaeron. It took us a few tries to get a good picture. They're boys. They're not always going to look at the camera when you're taking the picture, they're not always going to be standing still for you. That's the way it goes =)

As a matter of Horde Pride, we had to tell them all about ousting the Alliance. And this throne was where the human king sat in his reign.

It was the most appropriate place to teach the boys how to do the Chicken Dance (cheep-cheep-cheep, flap-flap-flap, wiggle-wiggle-wiggle, clap-clap-clap). We taught them to make rude gestures and generally taunt their enemies. Because all warriors know that it's not how well you fight, it's the rudest gestures that win battles and wars.

They promised not to tell the Matron about this =)

The boys had never seen rocket racing, so we went out to the Mirage Raceway in Shimmering Flats. They were so cute with their wide eye, open mouthed gaping at the Goblins jetting down the path. One of them seemed to have an aptitude for engineering. I could tell by the way he looked at the race car parts strewn about.

But nothing made them happier than getting ice cream =D We took them to Brivelthwerp for strawberry ice cream.

Seeing Cairne Bloodhoof over in Thunderbluff was a little boring for them. I guess it was getting late and they were a bit tired after all that excitement, but they were still very respectful and being exceptionally good nonetheless. We didn't stay too long. Just long enough to get a picture, and a hoofprint, then headed back to the Orphanage at Orgrimmar. Here's a view on the Wind Rider just over Red Rocks with Husband Guy and Grunth in front. Grunth and I are behind them.

We got a few more pictures with Orphan Matron Battlewail before saying our final goodbyes. One of the other kids was running around and got in our way just as the picture was taken =D

We were given two pets as a Thank You - Speedy the turtle and Mr. Wiggles the piglet.

weather	:		mostly cloudy
outside	:		7.2°C
mood	:		...

You know how they say that married folks need to do "Date Nights" every once in a while?

So, we decided to try it. We had a really great time. I put the pics up in the gallery.

Go take a look =)

I like taking pictures now. =D I think I'll take more pictures wherever we go. =D

weather	:		partly cloudy
outside	:		10.2°C
mood	:		...

Husband Guy and I made zucchini bread today. It turned out awesome. The birds are also nibbling on little pieces we gave them =) The recipe makes two loaves, but we only had one bread pan, so we used that and poured the rest into muffin tins. So, now, we have a loaf of zucchini bread and a dozen zucchini muffins. =)

Two things I've learned from the few times we've tried to follow other peoples' recipes:

1. People are generally pretty retarded about what constitutes "one step" in a procedure.

One step means one action. One verb in the sentence. One. Not seven. One. Do ONE thing and that is ONE step. Don't call it an "Easy Three Step Process" if I'm doing six things in each "step". This is actually a very common and widespread problem. Technical writers, software QA folks who write bug reports, recipe writers... All across the board, I see people consistently unable to correctly count to ONE. Boggle.

2. Baking recipes use WAY too much sugar than necessary.

I always halve the sugar in all baking recipes I get. The sugar content is too overpowering if I use the amount that is written. I find that the flavours of the other ingredients are actually stronger and have more depth if there is less sugar.

weather	:		clear
outside	:		5.5°C
mood	:		content

My Mother-In-Law has been back in Taiwan for the last month or so. Husband Guy and I have been holding our own since. It's good for her to take a nice long vacation with her sisters once in a while.

Sid was in the Animal ER last week for prolonged and extreme heavy panting and occasional wheezing. He gets himself stuck on something and gets worked up sometimes, but the heavy breathing continued for way too long, so we decided not to risk it.

He hasn't been allowed to fly since getting the collar last March, so the poor little guy hasn't had ANY exercise for almost a year now. His heart has weakened to the point that he now has heart disease. The x-rays and blood-work confirmed it last week.

He's on a round of anti-biotics at the moment. We're also giving him — and Skippy — as much leafy greens and veggies that he'll eat. I buy organic when I can, but I'm not a snob about it. I'm certainly happy with good quality vegetables no matter how they're labelled.

It's not a big undertaking at all to do this for him. The Husband and I are having plain steamed vegetables almost every night too. I've always really liked the clean, natural flavour of unseasoned, unaltered vegetables. Some things, I like better raw (white mushrooms and red/orange peppers); some things, I like better steamed for a few minutes (broccoli, spinach, brussel sprouts). They don't need salt, butter or dressing. I feel like I only need to lightly season meat.

We're eating out less too. We want to spend as much time at home with Sid as possible. He is at a very high risk of having a stroke right now. If anything happens, he needs to be back in the ER as fast as we can manage it.

But he hasn't shown any signs of problems since last weekend. He has even been climbing around on top of his cage and flying small distances. He's infinitely happier now without the collar. You can just see it in his body language. =) We still want as much time with him as possible before he leaves us for good.

We've been crock pot fiends in the last month. Our giant 6 quart slow cooker has been utterly indispensible. I will never understand how anyone can say that it's hard to cook for one or two.

The crock pot and the rice cooker are like wonderful and loyal staff in my household. =) If I want fresh food when I come home from work, the crock pot goes on in the morning. The rice cooker is timed to begin cooking the pre-washed rice so that it starts in the early evening and finishes just as I walk in the door. I come home on the bus, so I have the timing down pat =)

I bought sandwich-sized no-name brand plastic microwave/freezer containers at a dollar store for a buck each. We make a full 6 quarts of food. We eat what we want, then separate the rest into the containers and freeze them. We can make two large batches of stuff on Saturday and Sunday. Thaw and reheat, alternating dishes, throughout the week. Combined with rice and steamed vegetables, it makes for phenomenal meals.

We kept a close tab on the price of our meals done this way versus eating out. I expected it to be a lot cheaper, but I was very surprised that it was only $1.00 less per serving to make our own meals in bulk. Depending on what we make, it can end up being just a tad more to make it ourselves.

Maybe we just know how to pick'em, but we find eateries or somewhere that has large portions for under $10.00 and just get one entrée to share between the two of us.

I know we can eat really really well for about $3.00 per person, per meal, with a lot of choice and variety.

weather	:		clear
outside	:		2.5°C
mood	:		content

With this ring
I accept all that you are
And all that you will be

With open heart and open mind
I honor my love, loyalty and faith
In you as my husband

With my hand in yours
I walk this path
We create together
In brightest of days and darkest of nights

With all that I am
And all that I have
I pledge myself to you
In perfect love

weather	:		rainshower
outside	:		14.2°C
mood	:		...

Because the basis of any happy marriage is who wins, who loses and keeping score. XD =D

Merriam-Webster defines debacle as:

Function: noun
Etymology: French débâcle, from débâcler to clear, from Middle French desbacler, from des- de- + bacler to block, perhaps from Vulgar Latin *bacculare, from Latin baculum staff
1 : a tumultuous breakup of ice in a river
2 : a violent disruption (as of an army) : ROUT
3 a : a great disaster b : a complete failure : FIASCO

Poll #1064426 Debacle
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

How do you pronounce "debacle"?

Other?

Ticky-

weather	:		cloudy w/ showers
outside	:		12.9°C
mood	:		...

No, we have nothing better to fight about. XD

The Husband and I were on the way to work this morning. We drive by a car that is parked illegally. Slightly ticked because the car is also blocking our view of oncoming traffic, the Husband Guy says, "I should bring a bucket of yellow paint."

Poll #1059251 "I should bring a bucket of yellow paint."
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

What do you think he meant?

Vote first, then highlight the text below to read on:

Because _I_ replied, "Ooo, ooo, I'll help you dump the paint all over the car!!"

Clearly, any reasonable person would have thought he meant the same thing. =)

weather	:		clear
outside	:		19.1°C
mood	:		tired

I took Friday off and Monday was the Canada Day stat. So, naturally, the co-workers were all What did YOU do this weekend? on me on Tuesday.

The Husband Guy painted my toenails. And it took all weekend to fix it. XD

No, I'm kidding. =)

I'm quite proud of him. He did a pretty good job for a guy who's never touched a bottle of nailpolish before.

It's only a little gobby and uneven... in a few places... per toe.

I haven't talked about movies we've watched in a long time. That would be because we haven't actually watched any in a long time. Well, no, I think we have, but they've been so unmemorable that I haven't bothered.

We saw Pan's Labyrinth () and I thought it was an amazing movie. It was hilarious that when the fairies flew around and squeeped, our birds kept trying to "talk" to them by making almost the same squeeping sounds =)

In one nighttime scene, Ofelia and her mother were asleep. I made a comment about being confused at the temperature. I noticed Ofelia was wearing a sweater, but her mother was in a thin cotton sleeveless nightgown. The Husband says, "well, she _is_ pregnant..."

Wow. Progesterone levels are high during pregnancy and it does cause the body temperature to be elevated a little. I was downright impressed.

We also saw The Queen (). I'm one of the minority who didn't like this one at all.

Helen Mirren and James Cromwell totally win, hands down, at the Queen Elizabeth II & Prince Philip Look-alike Contest, but that was about all the entertainment value I got out of it. I'm positive that the entire cast are great actors because I've seen them in other movies doing a fantastic job — I loved Michael Sheen as an insane Nero and James Cromwell, from Farmer Hogget to Zefram Cochrane. I thought they all would have had better things to do than this little Royal/Tony Blair Publicity Thingie™. And it really was a waste of time. Both the Establishment and the people are so full of themselves.

weather	:		clear
outside	:		15.4°C
mood	:		*sigh*

Settle an argument for us.

Suppose you had a chain door fastener. From the side, the fastener looked like this:

Poll #993778 Chain Door Fastener Configuration
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

How would you fasten this door?

weather	:		light rain
outside	:		4.6°C
mood	:		cheerful

I've never been too comfortable travelling with my wedding rings. I know that it's an easily noticeable thing. People approach me about it from time to time. It sometimes makes me uncomfortable to think of how many people would be noticing it and not saying anything, especially in a foreign country.

Husband Guy and I have also wanted a pair of matching rings. Our wedding rings don't match. Not that they have to, but it's just kinda nice if they do.

For a few years now, I've been looking around for a pair of matching rings, for travel purposes. This way, I don't have to haul around a photocopy of the papers for the diamond so that Canada Customs doesn't hassle me for importing (I'm surprised that I didn't get questions about it coming back from South Africa). And, this way, I also wouldn't have to spend my vacations fretting about losing my ring =P A more plain wedding band would mean my clothes don't get shredded by the prongs and I won't have to worry as much about hurting 甜蜜蜜, my Ex-Co-Worker's baby girl, when I go over to play D&D with The Ex-Co-Worker Buddies and inevitably play with the baby. =)

But all the rings I saw were either expensive, too girly, too ugly, too blah or some combination of negativeness that I didn't want. I wanted something simple and elegant, so that the husband could wear it without looking too frilly. But I wanted it to be interesting and cool at the same time. All the simpler designs I saw that were appropriate for men were just blah and nothing on women.

Today, we were wandering through the gift shop of the Steveston Guan Yin Temple and we got a pair of matching rings. They're inscribed with the Om Mani Padme Hom mantra. The outer layer has the words on it and it spins like a mani wheel. =)

It looks like this, except ours are entirely 18K white gold, not a combination yellow/white gold like the one in the picture. From far away, they look like plain wedding bands. It's not until you get closer that you see and understand them... just like the two of us. And up close, if you're not looking carefully, it kinda looks like The One Ring... which makes it all that much cooler =)

Our Om Mani Padme Hom rings are now consecrated and bound to us. They weren't expensive, they're tasteful, simple, elegant, yet very interesting and deeply meaningful to us.

Now we're trying to decide when to wear them. We were originally only wanting them as a travel set, but now we want to wear them regularly as well. But the rings we were originally married with are also special =]

weather	:		cloudy
outside	:		4.8°C
mood	:		hehehe... ooops...

My Husband and my Brother-In-Law sound very very similar on the phone. Other people who call our house get them mixed up all the time.

Even _I_ mistake one for another.

What usually happens is I call the Husband on his cell. He doesn't answer. I try his office. No answer. I call home and a male voice answers. Thinking that it's the husband, I'll start chatting. A good while into the conversation, he'll say something that makes me suddenly realize it's the Brother-In-Law... like "Did you want to talk to Will?"

And I'm in a mad panic trying to think if I've said something COMPLETELY RETARDED >_<

I should maybe warn the Brother-In-Law's girlfriend about this. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT GUY BEFORE YOU START BLATHERING.

weather	:		cloudy
outside	:		8.3°C
mood	:		...

We had a big storm that kicked up the water in the Capilano reservoir that services North Vancouver, Vancouver and Burnaby. We've been under a boil-water advisory. Tap water is not safe to drink for at least a few days, maybe up to a week or two. We have to boil it if we want to drink it. It's not just because of the turbidity levels, although that makes it icky too. But the bacteria and parasites might not be killed by the chlorine treatment in these conditions.

It's supposedly not going to be over for a while because we expect more storms and massive gusty winds around.

People have been snapping up bottled water like we were in the middle of a disaster or something. I haven't seen the need to do that. It's a low risk, precautionary advisory. We're SO not fighting over bottled water with the rest of the crazy, punchy, fighty people. Yeah, it's gotten to violence in some places. *roll eyes* I'd rather save my claws energy for a real disaster.

We just boiled up a big kettle of twice filtered water from the Brita and a smaller pot for the Brother-In-Law Dude. That's mostly for brushing our teeth. We use the boiled water for either cooking or making hot drinks - tea, coffee, hot chocolate and the like.

For cold drinks... well, it was nice and civilized at the Liquor Store =D My attitude has been, if I can't get water, we'll just drink Vodka instead. XD The Husband picked up some more Smirnoff Ice Grape to add to the collection of Mandarin and Watermelon that I got just before the storm. I got a 4-pack of Bacardi Breezers (Blood, Orange, Mango and Peach =)

Yeah, we've discovered that Husband Guy likes the flavoured Vodka drinks. He's never liked alcoholic beverages. I think he's tried Smirnoff Ice before but for some reason, he only remembers the yeasty taste of beer and just remembers that he hates it. Vodka is probably much cleaner tasting.

We'll get him to try a Gin & Tonic or something by the time the year's out.

weather	:		sunny
outside	:		17.8°C
mood	:		...

I'm trying to get Husband Guy to write in his journal more... *sigh* I HAVE been, for years.

Encouragement-bombing goes here: toturi. Every bit helps =)

I think he feels like he needs to write a technical blog and be super interesting, drawing a huge readership, like Raymond Chen. But a large part of the difficulty is that he can't say much about Work. He's very hesitant about writing technical stuff.

I can totally understand that. I stay very skirty and vague about Work too, but even without talking about Work, there's fantastic journalling fodder in a lot of things he says to me. He has great stories to tell, really funny and interesting things that he says. And he's a really good writer.

I keep saying, "you SO should blog that!" and "see, that's the kind of thing you should be writing in your LJ." But he always says that I'm the only one who finds it funny/interesting/whatever.

I've even threatened to post his non-Work stories and funnies here in my journal, without his permission, for all the free world to see. I was trying to get him to write them up on his own so that I wouldn't mangle them beyond recognition.

But he's not biting. Maybe I should just make good on my threats.

>=)

weather	:		cloudy
outside	:		18.6°C
mood	:		...

On the way home from Tulalip, WA, the other weekend, we were having an almighty row in the car over how to drive on the highway.

He says that the left lane is for passing only and would passionately ream out the other drivers who stayed in the left lane (who weren't listening anyway).

I said, it doesn't matter. These cars were going 10+ mph over the speed limit and they could be considered "passing"... just passing very slowly. Afterall, there was another vehicle in the right lane a little ways ahead. The Husband just wanted to go faster. And I don't believe for a second that the No Hogging The Left Lane™ rule doesn't apply to him because he's "always passing"...

So, we're getting louder and crazier with it as we're going North up the I-5. My Mother-In-Law is all exasperated that the Husband Guy and I will argue over the tiniest, most insignificant issues.

We told her that it's because we don't have anything big to fight over, so we make up for that in volume. We take the smaller issues and holler at each other as loud as we possibly can instead.

If he weren't driving, it would have gone to fisticuffs XD

weather	:		cloudy
outside	:		12.7°C
mood	:		...

My Technical-Director-of-a-Software-Games-Dev-House Husband will be at E³ next week. He showed me his shiny new business cards the other day. It looked really cool... except that his title was spelled wrong and there was a huge colour screw up.

"Um, that's a very interesting juxtaposition of colours" =P

They've been in business for over 10 years and no one at the company has business cards. They've been extremely successful through word-of-mouth alone, so they've never needed them.

But, yeah, very proud wife over here =)

weather	:		partly cloudy
outside	:		5.9°C
mood	:		...

The Husband says to me, "Isn't Valentine's on February 13th?"

BWAHAHAHA!!! XD

After a long 13 year tradition of Completely Forgetting™, The ONE Year he remembered Valentine's Day, he remembered it wrong. =D But I think he made an effort because he realizes how lucky he is that he DOESN'T GET KILLED for not remembering.

Then he says we should go out for dinner and a movie. But there wasn't anything playing that we both really wanted to see, so we opted to rent something and have dinner at home.

And what movie did he pick for this romantic occasion?

DOOM (/)

Starring The Rock. And Eomer, as Skippy. I wonder why there was no mention of Dr. Carmack's partner, Dr. Romero... =D

The Husband finally did let me pick Sweet Home Alabama, but only after I threw a big loud tantrum in the video store. Kidding. XD

weather	:		cloudy
outside	:		6.2°C
mood	:		idiotic

In a momentary lapse of judgement, I let the Husband fast talk me into getting a pair of low rise jeans. USD$20; Tommy Hilfiger. It's spelled correctly too, which isn't as entertaining, but what the hey...

Let me get this straight. I paid a whole twenty dollars — USD — for the express privilege of continuously feeling like my pants are falling down. All day.

How do people put up with these things?

How long does it take for you to stop feeling the urge to yoik up your pants every three seconds in public, thereby giving yourself a humongous wedgie in public?

Of course, they are a bit loose and I could maybe use a belt. But they're a Size 2. I'd already been hopping in and out of the fitting room, trying on a 6, then a 4, then a 2. I didn't have it in me to try the Size 0...

Oh, and yes, I fell for the "could you please pick up that thing from the floor for me?" ploy once. *smirk*

weather	:		sunny
outside	:		3.3°C
mood	:		cheerful

The Husband's Company Christmas Party was last night at The Irish Heather in Gastown. There's a tiny building in behind the pub itself that takes bookings for parties of up to 50. A lot of the film crews have their wrap-up parties in there.

It shares the courtyard with The Mews at 12 Water Street. One of my Ex-Works also shared that same courtyard so it was very fond memories going back there. The building we were in last night was built entirely out of brick that was scavenged from a sunken Irish transport ship off the West Coast somewhere. This ship apparently had an entirely brick ballast. =D

It was one of the only buildings left standing after Vancouver's Great Fire of 1886.

It used to be the coach house for the Mayor and Constable General of Vancouver. It was also Vancouver's first jail. Apparently, the washrooms that were over in the Irish Heather main building was their one jail cell XD

And the courtyard in between is where all the hangings took place. It's supposed to be haunted. Just for that element of fun. But keep the tap going and you'll be nice and protected. XD

I had a glass of Smithwick's (authentic Irish ale).

Holy. Shit. Best. Beer. EVAR.

I haven't been to Europe yet, so I'm talking about this side of the water, of course =) But WOW. Jeez.

The food was pretty amazing too. FANTASTIC artichoke heart fritters (=O =D), pickled asparagus wrapped in a cold-cut ham, shrimp with deathly excellent sauce (I didn't hear what it actually was), there was another chicken skewer thing that was really really wonderful.

They have several choices of entrées for dinner — Beef/Guinness Pot Pie, a Corned Beef & Mash and a chicken dish that neither the Husband nor I got. Dessert wasn't too bad either, but I was just trying to keep up the breathing, sipping the Port Ellen.

*sip*

*COUGH*

Ow.

Repeat.

Good times =)

weather	:		rain
outside	:		8.6°C
mood	:		satisfied

Thanks for all the Hippo Birdies! =)

Work got me a humongous sheet of mocha cake on Friday. Thank you, Work! =) Everyone gets cake for their birthday. The most hilarious thing at Work is that the Birthday Person has to cut and serve the cake =D I think that "tradition" started because the Birthday Person usually makes the first cut, then hands it over to someone else who finishes the job. But someone went full-steam ahead with it and the rest of us were not going to argue with a person wielding a big knife.

Anyway, someone mentions candles and I gave the standard, "that would be a fire hazard because I'd have too many candles". And I'm within earshot of a jab about "these twenty-somethings always make it a big deal". =)

They think I'm twenty-something. HAHA! I haven't been a twenty-something in a looooong time XD

I didn't do too badly at cutting cake even though I hadn't done it too many times before Friday. I'm not really a cake person, but I discovered I'm a real cake cutting snob. =D Because I'm sure you people want to hear about my neuroses:

On the rectangular sheet cake, I cut down the middle, then split each half into quarters, then each quarter into twelfths. And I did the same in the other dimension. I have an unfounded neurotic need for every single piece to be perfectly the same size.

On a round cake, I'm even worse. =) I abhor long skinny wedges. Assuming a 9" round, I'll cut a circle in the middle of the cake (half radius or a little less than half radius works best). Then cut the outer ring into 8 pieces and the inner circle into quarters for 12 nice evenly proportioned chunks.

But. Birthday. Me. Yes.

It was a four-day social gauntlet. >K}

The Mother-in-Law Woman brought us and the Brother-in-Law out Thursday night because the Brother-in-Law was going to be out of town this weekend. I got cake from Work on Friday. My parents took me out for lunch Saturday. And Husband Guy and I went out tonight.

He and I were joking earlier this week that because we went to the most expensive restaurant on the planet last year, we have to watch our budget and balance it out. This year, I get a small cup of fries. Bought with a coupon. For dessert, he's taking me to Baskin-Robbins at the mall for a free taster spoon. I get to pick the flavour (how magnanimous is that?). XD

Just kidding. I got an e-mail invite from OpenTable.com saying that I would be "picked up at 7:15pm" by toturi. ... Haha, yeah, he's going to toddle upstairs and yell at me to get going =D

We went to West. It used to be spelled "Ouest", pronounced "West". But people kept either thinking it was "Quest" or because of the name, they expected French cuisine, which, if you look at their menu, is only slightly French inspired. They Anglicized the spelling three years ago because the French caused way too much stress. I understand the decision, but I thought "Ouest" was more interesting... "West" is all normal and boring. =P

The Husband started with a nice cheesy pumpkin soup and I, a fantastic artichoke heart stuffed with foie gras. He got the baked Queen Charlotte halibut. It had really great butternut squash in it! I saw rabbit on the menu and I had to try it. It was very very good — sort of like a chicken-flavoured ham — with a pine nut risotto on the side. And we shared the fully loaded, severely stacked pumpkin tart.