618. Blogmas Day 12 & 13 | Cactus & The Nutcracker

I am now fully into the Christmas spirit! Well maybe 90% there. I will be fully once I have the rest of my Christmas gifts and outfits sorted out..
Every year, for the past several years, I always buy a lot of Christmas things from Williams Sonoma and Nadege. Then all the wrapping supplies and extra stuff from Papyrus. I love the Christmas chocolate cards from Nadege as I think they make the best gifts..but I've never tried any myself. Last year I bought a few and gave them to random people I knew (that I would run into) as a nice surprise, as I would always carry one around. I might do it again this year/next week.
& I'm really excited to make this gingerbread train!

Last night I went out with my friend to Cactus Club for dinner then we sat and talked in our lobby for awhile. Tonight I went to watch The Nutcracker (possibly my 4th year in a row seeing it? lol) with my company as our annual Christmas event!









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609. Rockies Roadtrip | Day 19 - Return to Vancouver

On the second last day of our Rockies Roadtrip, we drove all the way back from Jasper to Vancouver. After so many days on the road we became more experienced with long drives (well, my friends did as I didn't drive at all lol) so we made it back to Vancouver in a good amount of time and earlier than expected. As we were all leaving the following day, we stayed at the River Rock Casino Resort near the airport. I wanted to try the casino but unfortunately didn't have time. There wasn't anything too special about our stay there..just the highlight was an unpleasant experience with our housekeeper "B" hahha. I realized now I don't have any photos from the hotel..I could've sworn I took some so maybe I accidentally deleted them all. Hmm. Anyways, after arriving and checking in, we went to return our rental Jeep.

Afterwards we decided to go to our favourite Cactus Club at Coal Harbour for a final dinner. As always we had a really nice time. I really miss my friends now! After so many days together it was hard to say goodbye. I probably mentioned in the very beginning but I went on this trip with two of my friends from Luxembourg. It was our first time travelling together (my first trip ever with friends actually) and it was a LOT of fun. So many funny memories I will always remember. I will definitely have to visit them in Luxembourg next year.. :)

During the time we were there, it was when BC had a lot of forest wildfires. We were able to see some of them on our drives. The final day was the worst. The air got really smoggy and for some parts we couldn't see far out the window. In this photo below I think it was a factory fire though which literally just started moments before we passed by (as we were able to see the actual flames)


& in this photo above, you can see the smokey air. We could actually smell it too. It was lucky that it only happened on our final day though as otherwise we would've missed a lot of the beautiful scenery. We had the best weather and clear skies on all the previous days though.









This will be my final Rockies Roadtrip post. I know it has stretched on long enough hahaha (since I came back to Toronto in August!) The final day/my flight back to Toronto is kind of a blur to me. I just remember having a nice long breakfast with my friends at the hotel then we all went to the airport and parted ways. This was an amazing trip though and I'm glad I got to explore (again) some more parts of my own country and Anouk and Dan were the best to travel with!

Next I still have to finish some of my Asia posts from last year. It feels like I didn't really do a lot of travelling this year. Well this was my only major trip this year but in the beginning of the year I was pretty busy with renovations. In the past a good or "bad" year (to be honest I never had any that was fully bad) was mostly based on how many trips I went on and how they were. This year was probably the best I've ever had in my life so far, based on a few other non-travel related events.

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600. Recent Life

I realized I have not done a recent life post since I returned from vacation (a month ago already!) so here is a huge one to sum up the past few weeks/the rest of my summer. I've been extremely busy with work and social events these days, especially this week. I have recently started working on a startup company on the side with someone I had done freelance work for before (who is now more like a friend to me). It's very exciting and I really hope it will be a success. I will reveal it once we launch. So I had a few meetings this week and today had my first experience being a Cantonese-English translator hahah. I can't believe I will now be essentially working three jobs..but I actually really like what I do. I am not the best at saving money so I feel I always have to find ways to earn more to support the lifestyle I want lol. I have the mentality that what I could be saving I rather find a new way to earn even more..well it's nice to have a balance.

Tonight I went with my sister to watch the new movie, "It". I have been so excited to watch this ever since I found out it was coming out. I never watch movies on their release dates, but for this one since I was super excited I got tickets in advance to watch it on opening night lol. I LOVE horror movies. I vaguely remember watching the old version when I was younger. This one was amazing and I highly recommend it.


I went to the CNE three times this year. It was so much fun. The first time we went, my friend and I went on several rides. In the past I only go on the Polar Express but this time I was pressured to go on a couple rollercoasters which I was initially terrified about lol. I'm glad I went though and made it off alive. On the final day we went to see a bit of the air show then the skating show then walked around a bit.

I realized the CNE expands and has more and more to see and do each year. Toronto in general seems to have a lot more events and attractions now though, and (after 8+ years of living downtown) I can definitely notice an increase of tourists coming year after year which is great.



Loved the nachos, but the rainbow grilled cheese was a huge mistake.




Vegan Poutine from Dutch Fries




This was the night after I got back from vacation..Canoe for my sister's birthday diner. I will make a separate post of this whole dinner next time.






















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