Thursday, December 23, 2010

A hike to celebrate winter solstice...


...on a perfect evening. I like! :)

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

In all seriousness...

I was at a Christmas party the other day and everyone was supposed to name one thing they were thankful for in the last year and a prayer request for the new year. I was particularly touched by the honesty and sensibility of some of the young ones. No, they did not ask for the latest Xbox game or a pretty doll to play with. Instead, they prayed for good health for their sick grandparents, ability to do well at school and for everyone in the family to be happy. Wow. I was truly humbled.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Mother Nature's Artwork

I finally got to see the lighthouse encased in ice on Lake Erie. Quite an amazing piece of work by Mother Nature, don't you think?

Friday, December 17, 2010

Dancing with Kinect


The console finally arrived yesterday! I had called DELL up the beginning of the week to find out the status of the delivery only to discover that they had cancelled the order because they had no stock! I was pretty upset at first but immediately found a deal for the Xbox console (the last one at walmart!) and the kinect sensor separately which turned out to be cheaper. So yay!
I'll be practising my moves this weekend (in between grocery shopping and a caroling session) and I'm so gonna beat hubby in the game! Woohoo!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Tea bag wisdom

"A woman is like a tea bag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water." -- Eleanor Roosevelt

Considering the amount of tea I drink, does that make me even stronger? Hmmm...;)

Monday, December 13, 2010

In all festivity...

It was Christmas carols overload last week. From the Cleveland orchestra's holiday concert to Neil Zaza's One silent night (Christmas carols rock guitar style at crazy decibels!) and not to forget the non-stop Christmas songs playing on most radio stations. I think I've heard enough for the season. Heh.
Winter is absolutely gorgeous. It has been nice and sunny after the first storm and I've made my first snow angel and trampled on whatever nice snow patch I could find. But the weather has made a turn for the worse again last evening and I'm convinced I will either get blown away or freeze to death if I step out of my apt today. So yeah, home is where I'll be today! :)

Thursday, December 09, 2010

All squishy and slushy

We had it bad in Cleveland yesterday - weather wise. Snow was pouring down on us for hours due to the lake effect and traffic was practically on a standstill everywhere just after noon. Hubs only came home past 11 pm after the traffic was decidedly better in our area. I was glad I get to stay home although I couldn't resist running out in the cold to snap a few pics. My friend and I had also paid for a historic warehouse tour in downtown last evening but there was no way we could have made it there. People were trapped in the traffic for hours at end going nowhere. Unfortunately, we were told that we'll not be getting a refund as it was also meant to be a fund raising event. But it is a good $60 and honestly, they might as well go rob someone! I am still hoping to get some money back. *fingers crossed*
Otherwise, weather is looking more promising today. A few flurries but nothing as bad as yesterday. I can finally make a trip to the supermarket today. My fridge is practically empty now!

Hope the weather is better on your side! Keep warm and drive carefully, everyone! :)

A sad day

Just received news from back home that a high school classmate of mine had jumped to her death. She had been suffering from post natal depression but had refused to seek medical help. She leaves behind her little baby daughter. :(

Monday, December 06, 2010

Beware, the mystery shopper!

I took my first assignment very seriously (ahem!) and began my observations the moment I entered the restaurant (hubs as alibi):
How long did the hostess take to attend to me? *checks time*  Did she give us an accurate waiting time? Is the server friendly and attentive to our needs? Must remember to check serving time between the appetizer and entrees. Wait, the server didn't check on us to make sure we are happy with our appetizer *makes a mental note* Takes note of presentation, temperature and taste of food served. Hmm...let me check the cleanliness of the restaurant. Now, where is that manager that I'm supposed to look out for? Oh, I need to make a trip to the toilet too! .....
 Ordinarily, I would have been quite happy to enjoy my meal without the server popping by ever so often with the obligatory "How are you finding everything so far?". However, I was required to take note of the server's attentiveness and couldn't help but notice that he was spending more time checking on our neighboring table than on us. So that was one less point for him! But overall, we were very satisfied with our meals and the highly recommended bread pudding was really yummy! We ended up spending $20 more than what would be reimbursed but it was still a pretty worthwhile meal and a fun experience. I will definitely be keeping an eye for more assignments like this in future! :)

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Tis the season to be jolly (or spending!)....

Ah..the first of Dec and what better way to kick off the day than with a blanket of white outside. Perfect day to simply curl up with a book and a nice cuppa hot chocolate! Will need to get myself out there for my first mystery shopper assignment this evening though. A $50 reimbursement for a nice dinner for 2 at a local pub & restaurant and in return I need to fill out a little survey about the restaurant. A pretty nice deal really.  I just hope the weather does not get too treacherous tonight!
In other news, I've been doing a lot of shopping lately. After the initial disappointment of seeing the Xbox 360 250GB console with Kinect sold out everywhere or at ridiculously marked up prices, we finally secured a set for ourselves at Dell online store yesterday. I have also ordered two additional games from amazon at $10 discount each. I'm not one to play games but the idea of being THE controller is way cool and right up my alley. I think we'll really enjoy this one and it will serve as our exercise for winter. Can't wait for the set to arrive!
I'm also done with my X'mas shopping and have stocked up on warm clothing for the both of us. Managed to purchase a Furla bag for my mum at an unbeatable price - I'm extremely pleased with the deal. As for myself, I've got my eyes on this leather satchel bag from ASOS. Am currently having an internal argument with myself on whether I really do need it but we'll see...;P

So how is your Christmas shopping coming along? :)