Monthly Archives: May 2012

Nope, Not Dead Yet

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Sorry for the absence, but we were off gallivanting in the Canadian sunshine and getting a sunburn from the snow!

Well, I did get a sunburn, but I was the only one who did.

Mr eHarmony, the kids, and I, spent 4 days up north this past weekend visiting my family in British Columbia.  I grew up in the greater Vancouver area, and try to do one big trip back there each year.  We all look forward to it, and this time was no exception as it was Mr eHarmony’s first time in Canada, so we had a ton of fun activities planned.

Fortunately for us, the kids were ferried around to my parents and my sister, so he and I were able to stay in a hotel and have a bit of relaxation.  It wasn’t long enough, but enough that we could re-charge as a couple and spend some good quality time together.

Friday morning, bright and early, we were up at 3.30AM and out the door at 6. Wait, 6:09. We had to turn around because I forgot something (can’t remember what it was!).  Then we had to stop on post so he could sign out, and stop at the shoppette for beef jerky.  We finally got “on the road” at 7:30, and pulled into my dad’s three hours later.  The day was a whirlwind, and I was feeling the effects of little sleep and a man who is super loud and noisy in the morning.  Seriously like a bull in a china shop!

On friday we were able to spend the morning with my dad and my step mom, went to visit my 84-year-old grandma, went to my favorite dutch store and loaded up on stroopwaffels and droopjes, took pictures at an old train bridge, had a Filipino dinner cooked by my Filipino step mom (OMG FANTASTIC!!), then went to a Canadian grocery store to stock up on other goodies that we only get once a year. cough *tons of smarties, sour keys, and ketchup chips* cough.

Saturday morning dawned bright and early again, and me with more tiredness as Mr eHarmony was again…loud.  I started off the day wearing the most amazing t-shirt ever, a Godzilla tee that I thieved from his closet a few days prior, but the heat increased, and I had to change into something more manageable for our trek up Grouse Mountain.  But before that happened, we picked up the kiddos, drove to my mom and step dad’s house a half hour away, and dropped off the kids again (mom took the kids overnight and we got a break).  We were having so much fun already and really enjoying our time as a couple.  My step mom had given us lunch, some rice and meat dish, and we ate it while we were driving to Vancouver.  Eating meaning, we frantically stopped at Tim Hortons for disposable cutlery and I fed it to Mr eHarmony as we were in stop and go traffic crossing the Port Mann Bridge.  Amazing.  Isn’t it incredible how the little things are the most memorable?

Since we were running behind schedule, we were discussing what to do that day.  I had three options for us, and was hoping to do all of them.  Lynn Canyon suspension Bridge, Grouse Mountain and Stanley Park.  Realistically,  we could have done all had my dad been on time, and my mom been home when we arrived.  But we decided on one excursion, and did Grouse.  It was so much fun! We took the Gondola up the mountain, and though we thought the views were spectacular from it, we were even more in awe when we got to the top.  It’s breathtakingly gorgeous up there! The views of English Bay and Vancouver are just stunning, even more so on a clear day like we had.  We took a walk around the top of the mountain, watched a lumber jack show, saw bears!, took tons of pictures, he drew our names in the snow with a heart in between them, and then we took the ski lift up to the very top.

That’s where it got scary for me.  Apparently I have an issue with heights.  I am pretty sure I had white knuckles actually, but fast enough we were at the top and had even more amazing views of the whole Vancouver area.  To our left, we even saw Mt Baker.  The ride down was much more enjoyable, and a LOT less bumpy and nerve-wracking.  I’d love to do it again sometime.

Saturday was such a packed day for us…

We left Grouse shortly before 4PM, and wanted to head to our hotel before we met my sister at her hair salon, where we had arranged for Mr eHarmony to get his hair cut.  But downtown Vancouver traffic is not one to be messed with, and it took us so long we decided to go meet my sister without stopping.  He had his hair cut, we went back to the hotel, quickly changed and I threw on some makeup, and then we were out the door again to go to her boyfriend’s apartment and out for dinner and drinks.

Whew.

Some things I learned on Saturday….

  • Wear sunblock in the snow
  • It’s never fun to change from capris to jeans in the back of a Honda Pilot
  • Chocolate melts
  • Cinnamon flavored whiskey is AMAZING
  • People do yoga at the top of a mountain surrounded by snow.  Why?

I know this post is getting long…promise I’m almost done.

Sunday we had a great day planned with the kids and my sister, so we got up early…again.     I’m going to have to learn to deal with a man who is very loud in the mornings…it was painful to say the least.  Coffee became my friend this past weekend.  We went back to my mom and step dad’s, visited with them for a short while, and then headed back to Vancouver to my sister’s, and all 7 of us spent the afternoon at Science World.  This was one of my hilights because of the Da Vinci exhibit there.  It was very informative, and since I’m a total history buff, I loved it even more.  We did get to see some actual notebooks and codex that he himself used, plus some in-depth history about the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper paintings.  I really loved that.

I almost forgot one of the best parts of the day though! When we were in McDonald’s for lunch, Mr eHarmony proposed to me! haha, not that way…yet.  Are  you reading this Mr eHarmony? Notice the word YET. ;)

He took my hand, and proposed to me with a plastic green latern ring, asking me to be his sexy geek.  Of course I accepted :) (This morning he told me he didn’t have to ask because I already am his sexy geek….awwwwwww). I’ll post those pics tomorrow!

We dropped the kiddos off at my sister’s place about 6PM, and then drove around aimlessly trying to find a great indian restaurant.  We didn’t have much luck, and then I found this place called “Baba Sweets” something or other, and since it had takeout, we figured we’d take it back to the hotel with us.  This was actually my favorite part of the whole weekend, just sitting with him at the table in our room, eating really spicy indian food and using a wash cloth as a napkin.  I loved being able to sit across the table from him and see this newly bald man who I was so in love with, tearing my chicken off the bone for me so I didn’t have to dig through the sauce for it.

Did you know that when Indian food sauce from your hands and face is rubbed off on a white wash cloth, it comes out looking like a big ‘ol stinky baby shit mess? Ohhhhh yes.  It really does.  Add that to the fact that I accidentally spilled a bit of coffee on the duvet cover, and the indian food wash cloth in the tub, it looked like we had some horribly messy diarrhea mess. HAH!  Mr eHarmony and I both wished we could have been a fly on the wall when the maid came in.

We checked out of the hotel yesterday morning, picked up the kids from my sister, and we all went to Stanley Park to see the Totem Poles, have poutine for lunch (YUMMY!!), and then head home to Washington.  We didn’t get home till almost 7 last night though, thanks to 2 bathroom stops on the way, a long border wait, traffic around Seattle, and a 6-year-old who peed her pants while she was sleeping and required a wardrobe change at a rest area.

Oy.

I’ll try get some pictures up soon! Hope you enjoyed my fragmented, yet really long, mini-vacay re-cap.  The kids and I got back to normal today, while Mr eHarmony went back to his apartment.  After spending 5 days together, it really stinks being apart.  We miss each other a lot, but he’ll be back tomorrow! The kids got to spend some quality time with our family, and I got a bit of a break.  It was perfect for everyone.

Beauty Army, Month Two

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Last month I posted about joining Beauty Army and how I was super excited to try my first beauty sample box.

Well, I wasn’t all that impressed with Beauty Army.  I did receive 6 samples of my choosing, and I’ve tried 3 of them, and only used up 1.  The other three I haven’t been bothered to try yet, but I’ll get around to it eventually.  This is what I received last month

The samples are good, but not exactly what I can use.  I can’t fault them though, or myself, as this was the first month I was using this program and had no experience with any of the products.  However, I did really like the first sample by Control Corrective.  It did offer some redness relief, and since my skin does tend to get quite red, I liked that.

I have not used the top two (middle and right), as I just keep forgetting about them.  The top right one though, I am afraid to use as it has benzoyl peroxide in it, and that ingredient does NOT mesh well with my skin at all.  I’ve used Clinique’s 3 step acne program in the past, and I had an allergic reaction almost to the benzoyl peroxide.  So I will probably toss that one.

I did use the foundation, by MyFace, and the color was spot on with my skin.  The coverage was not.  This is a very light coverage, and I need a medium to full coverage.  However, it might suit me in the summer when I don’t want to wear anything as heavy as my Lorac foundation (which I LOVE).  So I’ll keep it around.

And of the last two samples, I tried the BeFine moisturizer, but found it was not moisturizing enough for me at all.  I won’t use it at all.  I haven’t tried the Indi Lee lavender moisturizing oil yet, but will get around to it eventually.

So all in all, I wasn’t too impressed with the samples I was allowed to pick in April.  But this month? WOW! May’s selection is amazing for me, and I picked mine first thing this morning.  Here’s what I am getting:

Doesn’t that all look awesome? I’m so excited to get it.  The control corrective isn’t the same moisturizer I received before, but is a redness serum, so it should work the same. The pink sugar perfume I actually JUST bought at Sephora a few weeks back, so this will be nice to have for travel so I don’t have to take my big bottle with me (and we are going on a getaway Memorial Day weekend).  The dude shower gel is for Mr eHarmony, obviously.  And then the makeup remover cloth I’ll be able to use as well.  But the holy grail in this was the eye candy soothing eye coolers.  How great are those? They’re little gel packs to relieve swollen eyes, puffiness, allergies etc.  I snatched those up in a second, and good thing too, because guess what the retail value is? $12.  And Beauty Army costs $12 a month.  So the extra samples are just bonus on top of that.

Have you joined any beauty sample programs? What do you think of them?

 

*expect a birchbox review sometime next month. I just received my gossip girl box, and I’m not too sure I will stay with them yet, but I will give them a couple months.

Mr eHarmony, The Texting Noob

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Wow has this blog been depressing lately, sorry about that folks! I’ll try to do a bit better in that department, but honestly…wow, being a single mom and an only parent on top of that makes my life that much harder and more stressful.  It really sucks some days.  We have had some wonderful times though recently, and Mr eHarmony and I celebrated our 7 month anniversary this past Tuesday.  We’re both remarking on how fast it has gone, and it seems like just yesterday that we met.  I jokingly tease him that we’ll be at a year before he knows it, and since we have talked about moving in together later this year, also remind him that his lease will be up a mere 6 weeks after our 1 year anniversary. *insert mischievious laugh*

Speaking of mischievous laughs…I have a funny quip to tell you about.  Early on in our dating history, probably a month or less in, we were texting each other like mad.  We don’t text as much anymore, we’ve really settled into a pattern that suits us both.  Anyway, I was saying something funny to Mr eHarmony and ended the text with “insert mischievous laugh”.  I wrote just that.  He responded with:

I don’t have that emoticon :(

And I laughed and laughed and laughed.  I tried to explain to him it was just a saying, and not an emoticon.  I think he got it eventually, but he hadn’t really got to know the real Joanna yet either, and her sarcastic silly side either.  He just had to learn how to text properly.  But with that, comes instances like this…what I received this morning:

And I responded with “Oooh a rainbow! I wish it was a double rainbow”.  Truth be told, I’ve never seen that whole YouTube phenomenon about the double rainbow, I only know about it.  So Mr eHarmony may have learned to text properly, but now he over uses clip art, ha ha.  It’s all in jest though, I tease him because I love him.

While writing this post, I went back through my iPhone and found you all this:

I’ve saved gems like this, for future posterity.  I love looking back at them and reading what we used to write to each other. Even though it has been only 7 months, it feels like a lot longer than that.  I guess that’s what happens when you really are in love with your best friend.