Chocolate Fest 2013

 

This year Brenna and I decided not to got lolita, but in twinsies since I had made two dresses out of the same material. She wore the short one, and I wore the long one.

We were trying to glare at each other but we kept dissolving into giggles.

JaCivas was giving out ganache samples out of giant chocolate cupcakes!

Sparkle chocolate!

After the festival we went out to lunch, and afterward walked down to Old Glory vintage. Awesome!

Kids Cooking Corner

 

 The dining room, once the kids have made dinner they set the table and we eat it. It's cute right?

Last summer I started volunteering for a local non-profit called The Kids Cooking Corner, I teach cooking courses once a week to kids who can be ages 3 and up, and occasionally volunteer over there for random reasons when I have the time. Like the weeks before Christmas when I found myself over there for 3 days in a row almost 24 hours preparing for a huge bake sale.

 Part of the KCC kitchen, there are 3 ovens and sometimes that's still not enough.

I've always liked volunteering, I think that's why I was originally drawn to a job at the Red Cross, (and why I stayed there way past my expiration date) there's something about helping others that for me, negates a lot of the drawbacks (like low pay, no benefits, and helicopter parents). When I got my new job I knew I needed this outlet again so I looked into a lot of volunteer options and KCC was the only place to contact me back. Too bad for those other suckers too because I am a dynamite volunteer.

This is the proprietor of the KCC Heidi, she is one tough, dedicated woman. I'm always super impressed by people with drive because I seem to have been born without any. She's always on top of things going on at the school (and is often 5 steps ahead) and is constantly rearranging and redecorating for the season, teaching classes, talking to sponsors... she's just always very busy. On top of all that she got some major health issues and 3 kids and a husband at home. She's a firm believer in the old adage that there are 24 usable hours in every day. I'm a firm believer in the much younger adage that there are 24 unstable hours in every day.

Sitting in the middle is Carly, if Heidi is the president then Carly is the Vice President. To the left is Carlys sister Melanie(?) and on the right her daughter Olivia who is AWESOME! She's very sassy and likes copying me when I say stuff in a weird accent. This day we were all putting 60+ gingerbread houses together for the winter Gingerbread Camps where kids would later decorate them.

I happened to be volunteering on the last day of the Gingerbread Camps when 2 people didn't show up to claim theirs so Heidi and I decorated them. The peppermint house is mine and the gumdrop one is Heidis. It was kind of the coolest volunteering perk ever! I think the last time I made a gingerbread house I was 19 and it was for Halloween.

Picnic with Brenna

 

Brenna and I both have very odd schedules, makes it difficult to get together for anything more then cursory makeup swatching. We had to plan this picnic 2 week ahead of time which maybe not the best thing because it was really cold and windy at the park.

We held up against the cold for a little while and ate our sandwiches and had some tea, but after about 20 minutes we were like, "yeah this isn't working."

Our tea wasn't even hot because it was supposed to be nice out....sad.

We headed back to Brennas place and set everything up again in the backyard, it was blocked from the wind and quite warm. Hummingbirds dive bombed my head.

• Fruit was Apples and Nectarines
• Tomatoes, Fresh Mozzarella, Basil for Caprese Salad
• Sea Salt and Balsalmic
• Salmon Lox and Cream Cheese Sandwiches
• Chocolate chip, Coconut, Oatmeal Cookies
• 3 Types of Tea
• Rosehip Juice

I made my dress for the day, you can't tell for this picture how cute it is, it's vintage 70's Holly Hobby fabric with really small strawberries. It's only half the outfit, I promise one day I'll get a full picture of everything put together. My head looks so big here cause Brenna is tall and I am short.

Package From Teal

It was a big surprise when I got this package in the mail, Teal actually phoned me about it like two days before it arrived, but it wasn't like a holiday, or my birthday, so still a big super awesome surprise.

Addresses have been covered, but you can see that cute details Teal included on the outside like the pink bow and my name was written with a calligraphy pen on some artwork of girls with robot hats!

Once I opened the box I was assaulted with scents, scents galore!

The card was a just this super beautiful 3D teapot and teacup with flowers and berries. And no you all do not get to read what it said, but Teal, I totally keep all the letters from you Maura, and Rose too, and there's no way I'm getting rid of something this cute anyway.

So what smells so good? Scentsy tart warmers! All cutely wrapped and labeled! Its hard to pick a favorite since they all kinda smell like each other right now, but when I eventually melt them I'll know which one is which, right now my vote is for White Tea and Cactus, it sounds fresh and watery.

TEA!!!! These are both fantastic, Teal sent me Celestial Temple Perks, and Budda's Cup. Celestial Temple I believe is Yunnan, and Budda's Cup I think is Yunnan blended with Assam. Yunnan is hands down my favorite type of tea, it's robust with hints of cocao and holds up nicely against milk.

Last but not least Teal sent me makeup, in a cute box too! Most of these are blues from Meows holiday collections. The full size is Meows Calories, Teal bought it specifically for me, it's pretty much the perfect orange shade for my skin-tone see here and here. Swatches well be coming shortly so watch out for them.

Smelly things, tea, and makeup. Does Teal know me or what?

Get Her to The Greek...Food

 When you're strange, no one remembers your name, when your strange!

Brenna got to choose dinner awhile back, she wanted Mediterranean, Greek, or something like that and I suggested A Touch of Athens a Greek restaurant in the heart of downtown Vancouver inside the historical landmark Hidden House. It took awhile to be seated, although there were plenty of seats available, but the house was working on a skeleton crew on a Friday night poor guys.

That's me up above with the owner in the background, a smoky voiced woman who sung in Greek later that evening. I'm not giving her the eye, I didn't even know she was behind me when this picture was taken.

Brenna has never had completely Greek food before, we ordered a bunch of appetizers as our dinner.

 

A plate with stuffed grape leaves, calamari, fetta and pita, with hummus and kalamata olives, and taziki dips. Brenna was so taken with the stuffed grape leaved covered in a delicate lemon sauce she bought an extra order of them to take home.

Lemon Potatoes, simple but tasty sprinkled with a dash of salt and I think rosemary.

Spanikopita! One of my favorite dishes ever, it's a spinach pie. Some recipes vary but almost all include spinach (of course), cheese, and egg. Mint Tea makes a version of it drizzled in olive oil and honey that is to die for. Touch of Athens version has more lemon to it for a wonderful tangy quality, though I'm not wild about it being served on top of a bed of wilted lettuce leaves.

Along with your food there was a Bouzouki player, belly dancing, and Greek music. I don't know if this is every night or just Fridays, but it was there and it was loud! It's a bit kitschy, and sometimes felt like the walls were closing in on me since the establishment was so small, but it's fun and the food is delicious and reasonable.

ILD: June 2012

As usual International Lolita Day June, was spent at the Starlight Parade. I pretty much gave up trying to take pictures of the parade itself, my camera just isn't up to the task, but I went with Brenna this year and we did a bit of a Food Cart crawl while we waited for the festivities to start.

Our first stop was to pick up some rosewater lemonade. I've been obsessed with finding good lemonade this summer and this one is at the top of my list so far.

Bulgogi tacos from Korean Twist, so delicious you have no idea.

Next stop was The Dump Truck which does dumplings!

 Aurg! I will eat you, carton and all.

We got several different types, they also serve dessert dumpling but they were out when we got there. Most of the dumplings I wasn't impressed with but they've got a bacon cheese burger dumpling that was pretty awesome.

On top of those we also got some hazelnut frozen yogurt with granola from Cool Harrys, and a crepe from Snow White Crepes. Later on when it got colder we also got some hot chocolate from Starbucks.

Brenna and I walked around before the parade started, going in stores and we bought some tea and strawberry sugar from The Spice and Tea Exchange, and taking pictures. We found some weird statues and I was like "BRENNA! Do that pose!"

And I did the same. Doesn't my purse make me look like I've got Micky Mouse feet? That's my new lolita skirt by the way, it's not finished yet, but I figured I'd wear it for the parade anyway.

Bonus!: No pictures of the parade, but here's a video of some Muppets in the Starlight Run.

Tulip Festival

Spring is here in the Pacific North West, Randall took me to the Tulip Festival, it was beautiful.

Me with some nice large Salmon Impression tulips.

Randall with the Orange Queens... we thought it was funny.

Golden Parade Tulips

Rococo Tulips, which I have to say are aptly named.

Salmon Parrot Tulips

Casablanca Tulips

Holland America Tulips, they are very tall and very red.

Orange Juice Tulips, it was a cute name.

Randall ducking down near some Holland America.

I can't remember what these are called, does anybody know?

Last picture, hope you liked them.

Random Pictures

Pictures from the last few months that didn't really feel like they went anywhere else.

An old coworker of mine went out of town for a few weeks, the rest of my coworkers proceed to take that days newspaper and wrap all of her stuff in it. This was about half way done.

Joelle with her lightsaber cookies. Super cute but they didn't hold together real well.

I was helping some friends move. Also I'm weird.

Rocking Evil Shades Just Like Candy Hardcore Lipgloss.

Grandmas cat Keizi in a box, eh I though it was funny.

Randall at Mint Tea.

Delicious dessert food cart Cake On A Hot Tin Roof.

I made a star shaped tart, this one had egg, cheese, and homemade smoked tuna.

I liked this outfit, it matches my awesome hat from Teal.

Awhile back I decided to watercolor something. I've come to accept that watercolor is something I'm never going to be amazing at, but it was nice enough to do.