Two in one room: Dining and Kitchen

I am so glad that Kelly's Korner decided to post the Show us your life for Fridays a day earlier :)

I can't actually take a picture of the Dining without the Kitchen... It is such a small space that I only got one picture to represent both areas.

It's not much, but this is it :)

I know the Dining set is not the most Kid Friendliest furniture around but I manage to teach my kids how to live with the furniture that we got and so far we manage to have two very active kids and zero major accidents :) (knock on wood...)

... Previous Show us your life features the

LIVING ROOM- A Sneak peek of our Living Room

MASTER's BEDROOM- Our Own Nirvana

Family Date @ Earl's

Last Weekend, We went to Earl's for lunch...

It is not the usual cuisine we usually go to but, 

It was a refreshing change from the usual

* The Earl's Menu

* I love the detachable back wine menu

* Prawn Dynamite Roll

(Wasn't expecting it to be so good...This is my favorite dish of the day!)

* Side Caesars Salad

* Mediterranean Pasta

* Daddy Karl and Karl's Jr.

* Mel and Mini Mel :)

* * * * *

Earl's Restaurant

1185 Robson St. Vancouver B.C.

Pushing the stroller...in style

Goodluck to me





The heel is not bad but I actually bought it 1 size bigger so it is padded to fit me better...I removed the tag before I realized the mistake.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

First step to driving...done!

I finally got the courage to take the knowledge test for driving after a year of making... ahem, excuses.




... and yes, I passed :)

but, it was really nerve wracking for me and had to go to the ladies room as soon as I arrived the center. I didn't tell anyone of my plan to take a test today. I just asked for a day out to study the driving book and went straight to the center to keep me from backing out. As fate was on my side...there was no one on the registration line and after a quick trip to the bathroom, I was up for the test! Eeeps! No time to review, or get scared. I figured that if I did fail, no one knows I took the test anyway he he! Despite the numerous sms messages from my hubby, asking me if I am already at the library (my original plan) that time when in fact I was already in number 20 of the questionaire and my heart was thumping so loud and fast, I will not be surprised if the lady beside me could hear my every heartbeat... It doesn't help at all when I heard a loud declaration from the counter stating that the lady beside me just failed and while in the middle of the test, someone called my name to take my picture. What?! a half time break?!!! Whatever it is, I am so happy that I don't need to go through that again ;)

Hmmm, I hope I can control my nerves on the road test. Know any good instructor here in Burnaby or near here?! Referrals please!

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FaMEALy Day

I used to remember giving my dad a hard time about eating together while I was younger. it would always start with my dad preparing our meal. Yes! it is my dad who does our cooking... then asking all of us to eat together. I always remember that I am always the one with numerous excuse and asks them not to wait on me, but my dad is very strict with his 'Eating together' rituals and I am missing that a lot now that I am far away...

I can finally see the importance of having something as simple as meal time to unite and bond as a family. Thanks dad! I am going to do this now that I have my own family.

I have heard about FaMEALy Day recently and am all for it.



Source: http://www.shoppamomma.info/2010/09/famealy-day/

Through the untiring efforts of Lucky Me!, the first National FaMEALy Day – Araw ng Pagkilala na Kainang Pamilya Mahalaga was launched in 2008. FaMEALy Day became a nationwide call to celebrate family dining every 4th Monday of September as supported through a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed between the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the National Committee for Filipino Families (NCFF). Last September 30, 2009, Presidential Proclamation 1895 was issued declaring the commemoration of the Filipino Family Day every 4 th Monday of September. Coincidentally, National FaMEALy Day coincides with the first day of DSWD’s National Family Week.
While Lucky Me! has embraced the advocacy as its own, through the annual celebration of National FaMEALy Day, it also envisions for the advocacy to have a “life of its own”, able to ground and spread itself more and more, even independently of the brand.

This year’s National FaMEALy Day will be on September 27, 2010. Mark your calendars now and pledge to eat dinner with the family!

... better yet! make each day a FaMEALY Day.

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Tukwila Hotel booked!

I am so excited for this week's weekend trip :)

Secured a hotel for us and what's great is that we used the Reward points and some Canadian dollars to pay for it,

just paid around $20 for a night'stay... Good deal huh!?

... Will post pics soon

* * * * *

Marriot Courtyard South Center

Seattle-Tacoma (SEA) , Washington USA

* * * * *

Seafood City,

here we come!

* Jollibee

* Red Ribbon

* Chowking

* Tokyo Tokyo

...where shall I start

I am excited to just see the logos from my Manila Fastfood favorites once again

but it would be better if there are no long lines so we can sample each of these restaurants too!

* * * * *

Seafood City Supermarket

North side of Westfield Southcenter

1368 Southcenter Mall #100, Tukwila, Wash

Pampers gifts to grow

I love freebies and we finally earned enough to get a potty...





Isn't it a bit ironic that we got potty from points collected from all those diapers.





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Radio Natin for ipad...etc

Found another gem of an application by accident... Kimi tinkering with the ipad does pay off sometimes. This application lets you listen to several Manila station live via wifi. Just $0.99 for this too!


I love reminiscing over the stations from college days. I was listening to the station during work and was pleasantly surprised to catch Chico and Delamar on air.... Sooo college days!



To more Philippine ipad apps... Cheers!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

When it's cold and raining...

I love a bowl of Goto or Arroz Caldo when it is cold outside...

So,

* Off we go with the two kiddos...

*The Menu

* The Little gal pretending to pore over the menu

* Goto

It was as fulfilling as ever...

* Longsilog

The Longganisa was tasty but we found the garlic rice lacking in taste

* * * * *

GOTO KING

5183 Joyce St
Vancouver, BC, Canada
(604) 451-4509

Happy Mooncake Festival

I was thinking of a Dice game when I realized that the Mooncake Festival is already over...

I miss the Group Dice game back in Manila....

Miss your Wifey Club!

(Former Girlfriend club and now Mommy club, Manila)

From the Chua Family

('.')* n ('.')

* * * * *

Our Own Nirvana...

The Second part of Show us your life from Kelly Korner's Blog

It's not much since we haven;t actually put anything beside the essentials into our bedroom. We focused on the nursery more than our own room... he he!

When I said essentials... It means bed and the rocking(?!) chair to put the baby to sleep. The chair is from Ikea while the Bed set is from Ashley. The side table consists of the player for the Itouch to be played in during sleeping time and it is used to charge the gadget during daytime. 

Would you believe that there are 4 people sleeping in this Queen Size bed? Yep! We sleep together and therefore moving is limited :) Think, Cans of sardines... 

We just enjoy it though while the kids still wants to sleep with us... :)

... Previous Show us your life features the LIVING ROOM

Haircut time again...

Invested on a razor so this is when the investment pays off....

little by little :)

* All Ready for the Haircut

* Don't move shoti...

* Kenzo has time to pose for a picture...

holding onto his toy distraction :)

* A snip here and a snip there...

* * * * *

CHUA HAIR DESIGN

Burnaby, B.C. 

Getting Complicated...

I love doing my baby's hair...

even if it means fixing the few strands that she has been gifted with

ha ha!

* Before...

* To a (little) more complicated do....

Glee with Charice...

I love Glee and I always watch it replays but for this coming season, I had to watch it on its airing because of the Filipina appearance by Sunshine Corazon or better known as Charice Pempengco...

I soooo love the episode, and every time Charice opened her mouth to say her lines, my breath stops in anticipation of her accent or anything that might go wrong....but everything was good :)





Love the audition part in this epsode but I kept getting distracted with all the hand movements throughout the song he he! ...and the Hello Kitty Backpack being carried by the director of Vocal Adrenaline was so cute.

Keep it up Charice, we are all here supporting you!!! BRAVO!

Yoshinoya in Vancouver?!

I was craving for Yoshinoya and Manila and mentioned it to my officemate. Much to my surprise, she told me that there was a Yoshinoya-like Restaurant in Downtown,Vancouver...

That got me really excited, then she told me the name of the restaurant

GYUDON-YA (Gyudon literally means Beef Bowl)

So on Saturday, off we go to try this out :)

* The Menu

Just the basic menu

* Trying to figure out what she wants...

* Haven't had coke in a bottle for awhile

* Gyudon Bowl (Beef bowl)...

It was okay but the spice from Yoshinoya really makes the meal great for me

* Chicken Menu Set (with salad and miso soup)

* My Hubby and Little Princess, Kimi

It definitely looks like the bowls back home

the taste is ok but I love Yoshinoya's better...

* * * * *

Gyudonya

500 Robson Street

Vancouver, BC V6B2B7

Tel: (604) 569-0259

Aldo Sale Shop

I just love a good buy :)

...and this is no doubt a store to go to when you want the lowest price for Aldo Shoes 

Sale and an additional 30 to 50%!!!

* K got himself something...

and so did I :)

* The interior of the store

* Good stuff! :)

If you know a good store that sells good at slash price

please, please, please tell me :)

* * * * *

ALDO LIQUIDATION STORE

972-976 Granville Street
Vancouver
BC, CAN V6Z1K3
604.605.8939

Black, Shiny Tap Shoes @ Dance Box

Now that Kimi started her Pre-School Ballet tap classes, she needs tap shoes to wear for her Saturday class...

Walmart does carry tap shoes with really good price but they do come in big sizes so of we go to search for a store that does carry size 8 tap shoes for Kimi...

Voila!

* Kimi awaiting her shoes inside the fitting area

* Black and Shiny Tap shoes... 

* The bottom steel heel and front to make the clicking sounds...

There was a long line inside wherein we have to take a number near the door and wait to be served one by one. It was a bit crowded inside but even with the wait I was happy with the customer service given to us. The one who attended to our needs was really friendly and efficient. I was given 1 box, size 7.5 and 2 boxes, size 8 (1 labelled M and the other labelled W). We thought that M was for Men and W was for Women so we got the W and lined up to pay....Uhmmm, turns out that M was for Medium and W was for Wide.... Lesson learned, Don't guess... Good thing the lady who assisted us noticed it right away and asked us to double check before we pay.... 

* * * * *

DANCE BOX

Coquitlam, B.C.

Kenzo @ 9 months

Kenzo....how time really flies. You are such a big boy now. A little on the "too" active side at this stage. You have 2 lower teeth right now and still wearing a Size 3 diaper. You are now 22 lbs and is on the verge of trying to walk. Walking with support on anything vertical just to keep you on your toes and you walk so cute...sideways and on your  toes like a little ballerina....(oops!). 

You love to explore the house outside the crib and away from the confines of your exersaucer... you like going down the couch on you own. Of course, Mommy doesn't allow you to do that (yet), you are way too young to go down the couch, -HEAD FIRST! Such a daredevil or maybe your sense of danger hasn't developed yet.

* A Little Man on his striped polo and slacks...

* After a fishing trip with the family

You love rice a lot!...and gives a really big and cute grin whenever you got your rice wish.You love sweet flavored baby food like sweet potatoes, banana, apple.... and doesn't like the taste of chicken with vegetables, beef and turkeys although you do eat them when you are in a better mood.

* Trying to grab mommy's camera

* Are you trying to get something from the fridge too?!

When sleepy, you do a tantrum and wants a cuddle. When positioned for a sleeping cuddle, you love pinching mommy's neck until you fell asleep... (Ouch!). You also wake your sister Kimi every morning... As soon as you wake up, you crawl to Kimi's side and pulls her hair to wake her up. It's a good thing Kimi loves you a lot, she just smiles in spite of the painful morning wake up call from you. You are a snorer too! You can snore as if you had a very hard day at work ;)... You can finally sleep through the night too :) and drinks at around 7:30 or 9:30 am...Finally! A normal sleeping pattern....Double yey!

* I love to bite these little pudgy toes

You are now at the point wherein you look at Atchie (Older Sister in Chinese) Kimi adoringly. You always likes to copy whatever she does and likes whatever toys she is holding...I can feel a sibling rivalry soon, NAH!...

* Carter's Ahoy Pirate Set

* Ready for duty sir...Carter's Military Set

You are also such a sweet little guy. Slobbering kisses on anyone you want to turn your charm on...but, you always left some souvenir saliva as well (he he!). 

I hope that you will continue to be your sweet little charmer as you are now and grow up to be a really fine man. We love you Kenzo...