Look at those Vintage Beauties
Was so glad Tasha and Scott asked me to help them out in today's scavenger hunt for the Edmonton Classic Sports Car Club. My job was to sit on a bench near the entrance to Telus Science Centre and wait for men to pull up in vintage British cars asking if i was the lady mentioned in their clue. If they try to pronounce my name and get it right (for bonus points) i'll give them a token item to prove that they made it to my checkpoint. 
It was a lil chilly at the beginning of my wait but i had 3 lil squirrels running around amusing me. I tried to snap a few shots of the squirrels but they were just too fast for me. When the cars started pulling into the Telus Science Centre, I busied myself by taking shots of the flora and sights around the front entrance or looked as though i was waiting for someone to come pick me up. *grin* Hey, their job was to figure out who i was. 
I had fun observing how they would pull up and try and figure out who this person they were supposed to look for. It almost felt like i was on Amazing Race. You know the people the contestant has to look for to get their clue.
The scavenger hunt was also covered by iNews880.
Definitely thankful that Tasha asked me to help them out for this Scanvenger Hunt, it got me out of the house for such nice weather. In addition, they treated me to High Tea at this quaint little Tea House at Morinville that served me the most delicious tea i have tasted in a while - Cream Earl Grey!
#yegcupcake @ Flirt Cupcakes
Well, it was about time we followed up #yegcake tweetup with a #yegcupcake tweetup. Although, i kinda selfishly planned it for a date that coincides with my first year being in Edmonton. *grin*
There are two cupcake outlets along Whyte Ave - Fuss and Flirt. I've tried cupcakes from both places and Flirt wins hands down. Personally, Fuss' cupcakes were a lil too sweet for my taste as the cupcake was not only the icing was sweet, the cupcake itself was sweet as well. With Flirt's cupcake, the icing is sweet but the richness without the sugary sweetness of cupcake even it out nicely. Just typing is making me want to go down to Flirt for another cupcake. *grin*
There was a lil confusion when Tasha thought we were going to meet at Fuss instead of Flirt. When she and Thea finally met up with us, Thea was not happy because she had spotted a penny on the pavement outside of Fuss but was not allowed to pick it up. So what did Tasha do to appease her lil one? When Thea wasn't looking, Tasha tossed a penny onto the floor and Thea happily picked it up. *grin*
Was happy to have caught up with friends that i've not seen in a while (@Wilmsy83, @Cokebear17 & @GuitarKat) as well as meeting new faces (@Wildsau with his wife and lil one). Thank you to all that came by and esp. the one who drove all the way from Spruce Grove during his 1hr lunch break.
PS : Colour scheme for this blog entry are the colours for Flirt's logo.
Chinese New Year (CNY) over here has been a quiet celebration. Am so used to having about these many people in a house celebrating CNY -
A. Paternal Relatives = 17 cousins, 12 uncles and aunts
B. Maternal Relatives = 17 cousins, 14 uncles and aunts
To many that may definitely be a daunting number of people to be crammed into a house, for me that is tradition and that is how CNY will always be like for me. Not having that many relatives around me for CNY doesn't feel like it was CNY. Which was why it was important for me that Hubbie be around for CNY cos he was the only close family i have over here.
CNY Reunion Dinner
I tried cooking some dishes for Reunion Dinner but the Lotus Root and Pork Ribs Soup with Peanut was a little too greasy because of the Pork Ribs. Will need to buy leaner pork ribs, but other than that it was quite tasty. I also tried my hands on making wontons on my own but they were very bland. Next time i make them, i will have to add more seasoning and spices. The last dish i tried making was stir fry cashew chicken. This was pretty tasty but would be better if i had added some vegetables to it. I was very disappointed that the dishes did not turn out as good as i had hoped they would be. However, it was my first try at cooking a meal for CNY Reunion Dinner, i will get better with more practice.
It was also a new experience to be going all over the city hunting for Chinese stores that sell some of the ingredients and food that reminds me of home.
CNY (First Day) & Valentine's Day
The first day of CNY also coincide with Valentine's Day. As with every year on the first day of CNY, i had my set of new clothing laid out the nite before. I had planned on going down to Chinatown to just soak in the atmosphere of the CNY celebration there. However, it just didn't feel the same without my family with me and afterall it was mainly the Lion Dance... so i decided to skip it and we ended up having brunch at Teddy's Restaurant. We had to meet A & V to go out to Rundle Park and have my first Tobogganing (aka Sledding) session.
There are a few sleds out there for sale that you can get, the one that A & V had were flexible thick and sturdy flat pieces of plastic that you just sit on, hold on tight and away you gooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.......!
I can tell you that going down a hill that steep, sitting on just a piece of plastic was scary. Though, once you've gone down and safely made it to the bottom the thrill of the ride down the hill and the adrenaline rush are addictive. But this is one activity i wish i had done when i was a kid or at least much younger than i am now. Going up the hill is no small feat and requires loads of stamina.
CNY (7th Day)
Later on in the week, I invited some friends over for a CNY dinner where i cooked Fried Rice (Pork, Chinese Sausage, Mix Vege) with BBQ Pork and Roasted Pork meat that was bought from a small little restaurant run by a nice Cantonese couple. I also blanched some Bak Choy drizzled with Oyster Sauce and garlic. Hubbie made dessert ... actually he made 3 desserts - Black Forest Cake, Creme Brulee and homemade Sorbet IceCream. After dinner we played some games on the Wii, had a couple of drinks and called it a fun dinner party nite.
AGA Opening Celebration
For almost 11 months, there was this building sitting next to City Hall that was under construction and when asked i was told it would be the new building for the Art Gallery of Alberta. Or AGA as lovingly known by the locals in the city. The public had the opportunity to place their reservations on free half hourly allocated time slot tickets so i got myself some for yesterday morning.
Hubbie was supposed to out of camp to attend the opening celebration with me but a really nice lady who works with him in camp (and who is helping to arrange their work schedules) managed to get him to work till the 10th of Feb so that he could be here to celebrate Chinese New Year with me. Thank you, Stephanie! So instead, i invited Alex (@alexglee), Tasha (@Cokebear17) and Thea to join me.
I had gone to the opening celebration on Sunday as Alex had extra tickets. However, because of the overwhelming response on Sunday, the tour started later and it took a while for us to go through the various installations and exhibits. We left halfway thru because Alex had a volleyball match to go to and i was really starving by then. The Monday tour definitely felt less rushed, less hectic and the atmosphere had more of a calmness to it. Maybe its because the group that was in the Monday 10.30am time slot comprised mostly of people in their 60s and older.
My two favourite stops of the tour were Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller's The Murder of Crows and Karsh : Image Maker.
Murder of Crows is a sound installation that saw 98 speakers spread out around the space to give us a fascinating yet haunting sensation and enhances the story that was being told through a gramophone that sat in the middle of the room. I managed to catch the same part of the 30 minute piece twice but it was still good the second time around. I managed to pick out different aspect of the piece - first time round i was in awe of the surround sound and didn't pay attention to anything else. Second time round, i picked up more subtle parts, like how the crows flew across the room and the footsteps that stomped past you. You hear and feel them but you don't see them which adds to the eerily haunting feeling to the piece. Definitely have to come back to experience and enjoy the piece in its entirety. Also, props to lil Thea who was a lil scared but she was a trooper and even wandered around the room to experience the sounds coming from the speakers.
Karsh : Image Maker has a brilliant collection of portraits that just inspires me to want to practice and take portraits like he does. Heh..i probably won't be as good as him but i am definitely inspired. As Tasha and myself had observed, there is a certain sharpness that contrast the slight blur in other areas and gives it somewhat a 3D effect. Will be going back to do a slower walk-through without the pressure of moving through because of the crowd and holding anyone back.
Honestly, appreciating art is a very subjective matter. I go by the thought that if it speaks to you then you appreciate it more. However, if you don't get anything from it you can still appreciate the hard work and effort that went into the various pieces of art and sculpture. So onto the design of the spanking new AGA building... i felt like i was in the belly of a whale or that the curves that decorated the interior of the building reminded me of being inside a whale. Love love love the red room that held Karsh's portraits. Okay, i'm partial to anything red. *grin* Again, i have to go back for more visits because i notice different things with each visit. Here are some photos i took of the public areas of the building (no photography inside the exibition and installation rooms) ...
Is the End in Sight?
Well, got a letter from immigration today. I've been informed that there will be an interview that will be scheduled sometime in the future. I do not know when but was told in the letter that they will contact me with regards to the appointment date and time. Hubbie said it was good news. I'm going to go with that it is decent news. After all, it took us almost 10 months to get to this stage of the application. So i am being cautiously optimistic. My only concern now is with Hubbie's work schedule he is not going to be anywhere in the city for weeks at a time and he has to be there for the interview as well. Don't really want anymore delays in the application process, so i should look into giving them a call and informing them of how Hubbie's work schedule is like.
So yeah, that is my lil bit of info tidbit today on my immigration process.
Really would like to get out there, get a job even if it is temporary or part time for now. Afraid i might be getting used to sitting at home and not wanting to work. But no, need a job need to work, need to get the income in again if Hubbie and myself want to even think about getting a house and having kids. Feels like my life has been on standby mode for way too long and now am a lil nervous about getting out there to work. Though, will cross that bridge when i have to and take one step at a time. There's no need to rush right?
#yegcake @ Cheesecake Cafe
Had a good time hanging out with some fellow tweeples at the Cheesecake Cafe yesterday. Was nice to meet new faces and catch up with tweeple friends that i have met before. Was happy to have found out the the #113 stops right in front of Cheesecake Cafe, which was a definitely plus for me. We also had 3 little ones joining us on this occasion - Laura's (@LauraSem) two lil girls, Emily and Sarah, Tasha's (@Cokebear17) lil Thea. And i must say that they were very well-behaved young ladies too. They seemed to be engrossed with their colouring and doing fun activities on this kids newsletter thingie that the waitress had handed out to them. So i guess i don't have to feel bad for not talking to them more?
The cheesecakes were good, but have to agree with Will (@Wilmsy83) that when you get to the last bit of this huge slice of cheesecake you're going to struggle to finish the last few mouthfuls. It gets to a point where i had to tell myself that as good as the cheesecake is, if i force myself to finish the whole thing i am going to be sick. 
We definitely had a few laughs when Debra (@DebraWard) and Alex (@alexglee) started discussion about Yoga and Alex decides to demonstrate certain moves in plain sight of everyone in the restaurant. *grin* Also, i took out my Pook Toque and asked Tasha if she had gotten herself one, which prompted Alex to wear my Pook Toque and trying to figure how it works.
And as we were just about to walk out the door at the end of #yegcake, guess who walked in..... Jerry (@ZoomJer). Oopps....
So, next session's #yegcake at Flirt Cupcake?
Chocolate and Orange
I have been working on a project for the last couple of days. It was a colour challenge that a fellow tweeple @prairiepaperie had 'issued' on her blog. The challenge was to use Chocolate and Orange as the colours for our project (she also attached two photos to serve as inspiration). I rarely worked with just these two colours and i realised that when i am restricted to certain colours for a project i feel boxed it. But that is the challenge and i am taking it on.
I spent a couple of days going through my mind and my idea folder, hoping something would hit me and i would just whip it up just like that. Unfortunately, I had a couple of fail tries on the project. Was somewhat frustrating. I was debating between a card.. an ATC...a card.... back and forth, back and forth. Until i looked at one of the aerogram i had made back in October 2009. I looked at it and thought that by using Kraft paper and stamping with Versamark it would leave a shade of dark brown and i would use orange coloured marker to draw the lines on the inside of the aerogram. It would be simple, but aerograms aren't supposed to be heavy and elaborately designed or decorated.
Therefore, i present to you my submission to @prairiepaperie's colour challenge.
The stamps on the front of the aerogram are from the Colorbök - Friendly Forest and Close to My Heart - Grown with Love set. The stamps used for the inside of the aerogram are from the Close to My Heart - Treasures set. I really like how without using a brown colour ink pad, the designs turn out to be brown just by stamping with Versamark. Feel free to leave any thoughts and comments on the aerogram.
In the meantime, i've noticed that Dawn and Dusk are noticing Hubbie's absence in the condo. For one, Dusk is really cuddling up to me and everywhere i am sitting he is on my lap. He's also talking to me a lot more. Dawn on the other hand will follow me everywhere i go especially when i go to bed at night. Wonder if they think Hubbie has left them ... poor babies.
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