I'm finally back in Vancouver!
It feels like forever ago that I last posted.
For those of you that don't know, I recently went on a trip to Edmonton. I didn't get a chance to go during Christmas like I usually do, so went for end of January instead.
And I had such a good time. It was so nice to just relax and have some down time. Got to catch up with a lot of my friends that I barely get to see, and spend some quality time with the fam.
Being busy, I didn't take too many pictures (good ones at least) but did end up getting quite a few on my iPhone.
So I apologize for the poor quality or heavy filtering (blame Instagram!), but here's some clips and snippets of my week away.
An outfit I wore on one of the warmer days.
One of my best friends, Belinda recently just got engaged! So exciting :D she's the first one out of my close girlfriends to take this step, so we're all super excited and happy for her.
She has also invited me to be one of her bridesmaids for her special day! This will be my first time, and only the 2nd wedding I've ever even been to, so I'm a little nervous.. but mostly just excited. We're now officially on the lookout for pretty/appropriate bridesmaid dresses that will compliment B.
When we exchanged our belated Christmas gifts, she presented us all with a small package filled with goodies and homemade lemon drop cookies as a formal invitation. Inside was also a card with a personalized photo. How adorable!
We accompanied her to a couple boutiques around town to try out wedding dresses, and I must say; choosing just one dress is so hard! There's so many different styles/designers/cuts that it can be extremely overwhelming. But I'm sure that no matter what dress she chooses, Belinda will be a beautiful bride. :)
A quick lunch at Wing Chicx in between appointments.
Korean food is one of my favorites.
For my birthday, I decided to do dinner at MRKT. It's a wine bar downtown that serves sharing plates and tapas.
The food was great, and I loved the atmosphere. Even though we shared these plates between the 7 of us, we were all surprising very full.
It was a shame we couldn't take our time to enjoy our orders because we had to be at Set Nightclub before 11PM for my guest list.
This is the birthday dress I ended up wearing. It has the most beautiful and intricate beading work in the back. I instantly fell in love as soon as I saw it, as I don't own anything like it.
I had originally tried to have my bday dinner at Canteen, but they were booked solid for the whole week! So decided to go with some gf's to see what they had to offer for lunch instead.
My friend Tina had the Lamb Burger, which replaced the lamb chops for the day. She is a huge lamb enthusiast, and declared this Canteen version worthy.
The yam fries were crispy and coated in some kind of Parmesan mixture. Delicious.
I had the Sausage Stuffed Chicken with roast tomato vinaigrette, fennel salad and olive oil potatoes. The flavors were a bit mild, but complimented very well with the salad and vinaigrette.
My other friend Jen ordered the Almond Crusted Arctic Char with pork belly, carrot orange butter sauce, green beans and grilled escarole. I didn't get a picture, but this was a definite hit. The fish was very tender and flaky and had a great exterior texture. I don't usually go for fish, but this tasted amazing.
We decided to stop by Duchess Bake Shop for a sweet treat as it was only a couple blocks away. I love this place. Never been disappointed with their desserts, and they have such friendly and approachable staff.
My parents deal with home decor and furniture, so they often have interesting new pieces for me to discover whenever I visit.
I am currently obsessed with this vintage style telephone that is in the living room. So beautiful, and it actually works as a real phone too!
So overall, it was a great trip! It's so nice to reconnect with friends and have that time to just wind down once in a while.
If everything goes according to plan, I'll be going back for B's wedding in the fall.
Until then, it's back to Vancouver, work, and blogging!
