crafty for the holiday

Unfortunately, I had to work on Christmas Eve, but at least it was only a half day. Spent the rest of the day having an early dinner with coworkers and friends at Craft Beer Market, a cool restaurant inside the historic Salt building in the Olympic Village on a friend's recommendation. Delicious juicy burgers, a huge selection of beers (domestic and international) and yummy salads in a gorgeous building. Needless to say, we will definitely be coming back to try more items from their menu.

Inside the historic Salt building. Love the high ceilings and exposed duct work. 

A friend ordered the BC beer flights to sample. 

You'll find at least one beer here that you'll like. 

We started off with appetizers and ordered the Fast Food Sushi (Cheeseburger and fries wrapped in bacon and presented sushi style) and poutine (Hand cut fries seasoned with beer salt, fresh cheese curds and rich gravy - shown below). The "sushi" was delicious but I have to say, I'm quite partial to poutine. Especially on a cold winter day. 

I ordered the classic hamburger (8oz burger, house made pickles, lettuce, tomato and onion) with a spinach salad with strawberry and feta cheese. I love a good spinach salad. 

The beer canisters next to our table behind a glass wall. Craft also brew their own beer, surprise, surprise. 

This was too cute. I feel like if I actually liked the taste of beer, I might enjoy this brand. 

In the centre of the Olympic Village are these art installations of these massive giant birds. 

Outside the Craft restaurant. 

And right across the restaurant is this lovely view of downtown Vancouver, the mountains and the False Creek. The glowing orb is Science World, which has been renovated and looks even cooler than when I remember it as a kid. 

pretty in pink

The launch of the Naked 3 palette at my local Sephora.

It has the same packaging as the Naked 2 palette, but a more textured design. 

From left - right: A matte ivory, a frosty icy pink, a rose satin shade and a matte rose 

Buzz is a rose shimmer, warm bronze, matte mauve and a taupe shimmer

Factory is a mid-tone brown satin, a browny taupe colour, Darkside is a dark grey purple and a black shadow with red shimmer.

The Urban Decay Naked 3 palette has finally hit the shelves at my Sephora and while I wasn't impressed with the colour palette when I saw the initial swatches online, I did end up toting this baby home with me.

This eyeshadow palette definitely leans to the more rosy side with a few hints of bronze, browns, taupes and greys to break up the pink hues. I do like the matte shades offered in this palette. I think they are a nice compliment to the rosy shimmer and satin shades. All the eyeshadows are pigmented but with the exception of Dust. There's not a lot of colour payoff, but you do get a lot of glitter in that eyeshadow.

I'm still loving my bronze and golden shades for the winter, but it'll be fun to experiment with this palette when it gets closer to spring...

ugly christmas sweaters... on cats!

It's the holiday season, so bring on the tinsel, the egg nog, mistletoe and the ugly Christmas sweaters! But, how about ugly sweaters on cats?! It makes it SO much more cuter, doesn't it? Don't be fooled, it wasn't easy getting the sweater on and you'll get the glare from your furry friends, but it's worth the trouble.

The sweater makes Sputz's butt look so much more... rotund. 

Snarf is so adorable... He's just waiting patiently for the sweater to be taken off...

Bobo was not too fond of the Christmas sweater. 

make some noise for the boys

Lucky me, I got a pair of tickets to the BC Lions game from a coworker and took a friend with me to watch our boys demolish the Edmonton Eskimos. It was my first time going to a football game, so we made it a night out, going to dinner at Five Guys Burgers and Fries downtown.

We met an alley creature along the way to dinner.

First time at Five Guys and Fries, and this is a small burger (?!) It's a delicious, and messy burger to eat and something you should only have once in a while.

The BC Lions playing the Edmonton Eskimos.

Cheerleaders providing some entertainment before the game starts.

Getting ready for a...

TOUCHDOWN!

Bif Naked performed during intermission!

I thoroughly enjoyed myself, even if it did take me awhile to get into the game, since I'm not familiar with the rules of the game. I finally got into the game during the second half of the game. Glad I was able to go and experience my first football game. Oh, and the BC Lions won :D

have a taste

It's the time of year for Taste of Yaletown, and me and my sister decided on Society. I love the pink chandeliers in this place, they're such a statement piece in the restaurant.

For my appetizer, I choose the ham hock and split pea soup with sesame bread stick. I'm actually not a fan of split pea, but I actually really enjoyed this soup.

Chicken potpie wellington with carrot purree and ricotta mushroom caps was my main dish and this was absolutely delicious! Definitely a comfort food dish and I didn't mind the carrot puree but it would have been AMAZING with mashed potatoes. But then, everything is good with mashed potatoes.

Triple decker s'more with peach puree.

While I enjoyed each dish of my meal, the dessert is what really made me crave for more. The right balance of sweet and tart and who doesn't like s'mores?! I'm never disappointed when I come to Society and tonight was no exception. Will definitely be coming back to try their spiked milkshakes and chow down on the mac n cheese sticks, a personal favourite.

burn baby burn

Sun is setting earlier, grey clouds are creeping in the horizon and there's a crispness in the air... Autumn is here! It's the perfect time to bring out my favouite candles from Voluspa, a line of candles sold at Chapters and small boutiques. The Mokara scent is my all-time favourite candle from their line; it's a fresh floral scent with notes of mokara orchid, white lily and spring moss.

The other two scents, French Cade & Lavender (calming notes of French cade wood, verbena and Bulgarian lavender) and French Bourbon Vanille (French bourbon vanilla beans ground and distilled for extract to produce a rich vanilla fragrance) are great scents for fall/autumn and the candles that I've been burning for the past couple of days.

If you're browsing in Chapters, I suggest you wander over to heir home decor section and take a whiff of these candles. There are so many different scents available, I'm sure you'll be able to find a favourite!

smelling good

It's time to switch out my summer scents for deeper, woodsy and musky perfumes for the upcoming cooler months. So, I'm putting away my favourites that have been in constant rotation during the warmer months: Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue, which I bought this past summer and have used up half the bottle and Jo Malone's Blackberry & Bay cologne, a lighter sweeter scent .

I

I have a lot of perfumes for fall/autumn. I feel like there are more options available because there are only so many summery, floral, fruity scents you can have before they start smelling very similar. I feel like designers and companies will provide more interesting combinations of notes and scents
during the fall/autumn season, hence the larger selection of deeper, muskier, woodsy scents in my perfume collection.

Left to right: Viktor&Rolf FlowerbombMarc Jacobs Dot and Vera Wang Look, which my friend gave me.

Bath and Body Works fragrance mist in Twilight Woods. An oldie but a goodie. I've had this for 2 years and I still love it.

Jo Malone in Assam & Grapefruit and Peony & Blush Suede colognes.

summer randomness

Lots of stuff happened in August:

I got a sample of the new Jo Malone perfume, peony & blush suede, in the mail and it smelled so wonderful that I ended up getting a (small) bottle.

"What's in the basket, ma'am?" Image on a barber shop window.

I made a mango peach smoothie and threw in some ice cubes in the shape of star fishes to jazz up my drink.

Watched N'SYNC perform at the MTV Music Awards and reverted back to my teenage years and I may have squealed just a little bit. I was disappointed that they didn't perform more songs though.

I happened to be downtown, doing errands, when the Victoria Secret opened their doors for their grand opening and the lineup went around the corner and down the block. It was insane. I'm glad I decided to wait two weeks before venturing into that store because by then, the excitement had died down and it was less crowded.

 

Breakfast of champions, made by moi: poached eggs with pesto, sautéed cherry tomatoes and spinach on toasted whole wheat English muffins, baked paprika potatoes, cubed watermelon, a bowl of peach yogurt and a glass of orange juice.

I found a Pikachu onesie at Topshop! Early Christmas present for that special someone?

Grilled cheese sandwich with chorizo sausages from Mom's Grilled Cheese food truck. There is always a lineup in front of this food truck, but I finally scored a sandwich! So much cheesy goodness!

Sputznik posing for me; he's my chubby boo :)