Skiing at Cypress & celebrating

Today Shannan, Frank and I woke up early and headed up to the slopes on Cypress. It was a beautiful day to be outside. The sun was shining brightly, the mountain air was fresh and the view was breathtaking. Being one with nature always makes me feel so alive.

Each of us decided to take a lesson. The two snowboarders headed off and I joined the group of skiers. There were two instructors for our intermediate group. They watched our technique and eventually split us up into two groups of six to practice different skill sets.

I learned so much today! It was nice to have a private lesson. At the end, each person was given individual feedback. My take-aways are:

• Hold my hands out in front of me, instead of down at my sides
• Lean forwards, instead of backwards
• Turn with my feet first, instead of with my body
• To improve technique, practice moving up and down smoothly, between each turn

In the afternoon, we met up and practiced what we'd learned.

Note to self: Do not sit in the middle of two snowboarders on the lift chair :)

Why do they make the exits off the lift chairs so steep anyway? When Frank, Shannan and I got off the lift chair, we collided and I was sandwiched in the middle. All three of us were knocked off our feet and landed on our backs. My ski flew off and the back of my head hit the ground. I was stunned for a minute. The other two were struggling to get out from beneath me. Anyway, I have a nice black and purple bruise on my butt (from landing the edge of Frank's snowboard) and Shannan has a bruised lip, (from landing on my ski pole). We laughed it off. People are always wiping out exiting from the chairs.

We were famished after the workout. We stopped in at the South African store in North Vancouver and stocked up on biltong and dry wors, which took us back to our childhood. There are some things from your past that you always hold onto. Next stop was Stefos for calamari and lamb.

We shouldn't have eaten so much because Frank had a dine out in Vancouver event and I had plans to attend a birthday dinner.

Celebrating Chris' 30th

Chris' birthday was held at Shabusen. It was good to see everyone, since we weren't able to get together over the holidays. There was a lot of food and conversation.

The thirties are the beginning of a new decade. You have a better sense of who you are, who you love and you know what you want.

Dine out Vancouver

Cathy and I met up at 'Relish' to catch up and spend some quality time together.

The dine-out menu included:

Pan Seared Diver Scallops, warm bannock bread, mushroom cream sauce - or - Short Ribs wrapped in phyllo, garlic mash potatoes, red wine jus, sweet pea puree

Duck Leg Confit, honey-dill carrots, sweet potato hash, chili onion hash - or - Orange Rum Glazed Sockeye Salmon, savory crepe mashed potatoes, and seasonal vegetables

Chocolate Mousse Profiterolesmint creme anglais, chocolate sause - or - Chai Tea Cheesecake topped with caramel and a tuille flame

The dine-out menu was tucked inside the flap of the regular menu. When the waitress arrived to take our order. We pointed to the dine-out menu and said that we'd have everything on the menu.

After a while, we were wondering why our food was taking so long to arrive. We asked what the status of our order was. The waitress was embarrassed; She didn't realize that we were ordering from the dine-out menu, so she thought that we were joking when we said that we'd have "everything" -- she actually thought we were pointing to the main menu.

Oy Vey! It didn't ruin our mood though. It gave us a chance to catch up with news about Cathy's new HR recruiting business, Performance Personnel Inc., our careers, men, relationships and other woman's stuff -- all the while, enjoying our time together, building on our friendship and laughing a lot.

How money works

Nicole and I went to a workshop on 'how money works'.

This is what we learned:

Six steps to financial independence

1. Increase your cash flow
2. Manage debt
3. Create an emergency fund
4. Ensure proper protection
5. Build long-term asset accumulation
6. Preserve your estate

How to win financially

1. Be disciplined
2. Avoid procrastination
3. Money wisdom
4. Tax planning
5. Estate planning

Dim sum with the girls

For this month's dim sum, the girls headed out to Sun Sui Wah. It's always nice to catch up. So far there are lots of changes happening in the group from a break-up, to steady-relationships, an engagement, a wedding, three new home purchases, a second pregnancy and a soon-to-be mommy. My ownly gripe is that it's difficult to hear when restaurants are so noisy and the tables are...so round. I'll still have to read your blogs to catch up with some of you.

A shopping spree

Liyang treated me to a Greek lunch at Opa. I've been helping her out with a project, and it was her way of thanking me. Sigh, it's nice to feel appreciated.

Also, last night I confided in her and we had a really long girl's talk. But, today our goal was to shop till we dropped. It's always interesting shopping with someone who has a completely different sense of style than you. Anyway, she was quite candid with me, and there were a number of times when I was told that an item I was trying on made me look fat or old(er) or... :)
I'll stop there, but no offense was taken.

I helped her pick out a jacket, two sweaters, a Chanel-like handbag, and a tee. And, she picked a sleeveless silk top and camisole for me.

What fun, having your own personal shopper for a day!

An uncomfortable situation

Our company usually hosts Ministry of Fun events. This Friday, a few of us left work in the early afternoon to play basketball. The closest I've come to playing basketball is netball, where you have to stand still before passing the ball. We worked up a bit of sweat and I even managed to score a point for my team.

Afterwards a co-worker asked me if I wanted to watch a movie at the theatre across the street. I hadn't made any plans so I didn't mind hanging out. I was under the impression that other people were being invited, but it just landed up being me and him. He insisted on paying for the movie, so I brought nachos and some drinks.

It was messy eating nachos in the dark so I was holding onto a bunch of dirty napkins. My co-worker asked me if I wanted to throw them away. I was thinking, that's polite. After I gave him the napkins, he asked me to hold his hand...I said "No!" I was thinking, WHY did he just ask me that? He is married and I've met his wife and daughters. He asked me a second time to hold his hand...No! I rejected him flatly again. "I don't want to", I said firmly. What didn't he get the first time? I felt uncomfortable the rest of the movie. He wanted to walk me to my car. I declined. He called me and left a messaging thanking me for being a true friend. Creepy!

I was really upset on the drive home. I kept wondering what had I done to encourage his behaviour...After much reflection, I concluded that this was not something that I could have anticipated. We have spent time hanging out one-on-one, including lunches and a prior movie, and none of those activities resulted in any incidences. Our relationship has been professional. Thank goodness we do not work in the same department.

When I check my emails at home. He'd sent a message to make sure I made it home safely and the usual joke emails. I haven't returned his calls or emails, but I think that he is realizing that he crossed the line in our friendship.

I feel like he took advantage of me being nice to him.

I'm almost done with my melodrama; after all, there are worse things than asking someone to hold your hand. But next week at work, I'm going to tell him he crossed the line and that his behaviour was inappropriate. He made me feel uncomfortable and I want an apology.

End rant.

An unexpected evening

Tonight I went to Metrotown to return an item of clothing to Jacob. My plan was to head straight home and not be distracted by all of the sales in the mall. I'm a bargain shopper, so it always makes me happy when I find a good deal.

When I was in the store, I ran into a co-worker who I've been trying to catch up with since Christmas. What a coincidence. We'd been playing telephone tag and kept missing each other. With her new job downtown, I didn't expect her to be shopping at Metrotown...on a Thursday night.

We used to work in the same department and she recently took up a new job with an internet marketing company downtown (closer to home), leaving me holding the fort. I miss her because we made a great team.

She was with two friends and they invited me to join them for dinner. The four of us landed up at the Green Basil. The waiter recognized me from the week before so I got the royal VIP treatment, thanks to Kim. The waiter also gave me a package to return to Kim (it had been unknowingly left there). Lucky that I just happened to be dining there that night or who knows where the package could have ended up. To top off the evening, they gave us FREE ice-cream. That's better than any bargain!