The Dark Knight Rises

Finally saw the latest Batman movie yesterday with my husband and youngest brother. Even if it's been showing for a while we still didn't get seats at our original time slot, had to go to the next theater and wait for the next one to begin. But it was alright, we got the best seats :)

I've always been a fan of Batman, more than any other superhero. And since Gotham City is set in New York City, it's just more relatable. Love the twists and cliffhangers of the movie and love how it ends. Truly very entertaining to watch, and since it's quite long you're sure to get your moneys worth :)

Changing Cars

We recently had to let go of our BMW 328xi coupe and exchange it for a bigger car. I was having a hard time with it coz it's too low and small and you can't really fit a baby in the back of a sports car so... My husband's not really happy letting go of this car but practicality wins.

So now we have a 2012 Honda CR-V. Looks exactly like the one in the picture below. It doesn't drive like a BMW but it's a great car so far. Definitely much more comfortable for us now that we're a growing family. We got it in the color "urban titanium metallic" which really is sorta brownish. My only requirement was safety and reliability, leather seats and bigger cargo space, so this was good enough. My husband wanted an AWD with better gas mileage. I talked him out of buying a luxury car because they're so high maintenance.
We're gonna do a long drive this weekend for camping (around 500 miles back and forth, maybe more). So relieved that we have much more space now for the things we need to bring.

Locksmith Experience

Last night our friends decided to hang out at our place after having a really long dinner at a pho place near our house. Unfortunately, a friend of mine accidentally locked her keys and her 1-year old baby boy in the car. What an agonizing 15 minutes that was waiting for a locksmith while the baby was crying strapped in his car seat! So traumatic! Finally the guy came and asked my friend where she thought her keys were. She was in panic mode at that time and didn't remember so she said, "I don't care about the keys! Just get my baby out!!!"

After a really long 10 minutes of trying to open the car through the trunk (apparently the later edition Hondas have advanced security systems that disable a car completely if someone tries to break in and steal it) the guy finally fished out the keys from my friend's bag in the front seat. Thank goodness it was a tote with no zippers! So we finally realized that was why the locksmith's first question was "Where are the car keys?" In less than a minute baby was reunited with mommy and everyone exhaled sighs of relief and tears of joy. And the locksmith charged us $180 for his services.

Lesson learned: Accidents happen so I'm gonna give my parents a set of house keys and car keys just in case since they only live a few blocks away. It's less expensive that way :)

O Canada!

We had a blast visiting our friends in Canada a few weeks ago. I have to say, it was a really relaxing vacation. We enjoyed ourselves immensely! Covered a big part of Canada - stop over for a few hours in Toronto then road trip from Saskatchewan to Alberta to British Columbia and back again! Whew! But with views like these, it was worth it :)

Snow capped mountains - lovely!
We saw a lot of wildlife, mostly deer and elk but also a couple of brown bears!
View from one of our rental cottages.
Breathtaking! I think this was in Radium.
Still in Radium.
The nicest Canadians you will ever meet :)
On our way to go somewhere.
Lake Louise was still frozen :(
On the Banff gondola. It still snowed there despite it being springtime already. I only brought one coat so most of my pictures look like I'm wearing the same outfit... Anyways, if you've noticed that I got a little rounder it's coz we are expecting a little one! We are so excited :) So my posts will probably be a bit more baby-centric when I do update my blog.

Longchamp Haul

Did a lot of shopping, clothes, shoes, etc. and since it's also our 2nd year anniversary today, my husband treated me to a little something...

Got a limited edition Statue of Liberty in white. Yikes! I know I have to be really careful with it but it's so pretty, I fell in love... Anyway, here's the damage...
This better be worth it...

Old Apartment Tour

I haven't had time to update my blog in a while because we moved to a bigger place and I've been busy with so many things. Anyway, I'm feeling a little sentimental even though I don't miss our old place that much, just wanted to remember it...

We used to live in this tiny one-bedroom apartment that we called home for 2 years. Very convenient location but we also had to sacrifice some things like ease of parking and the noise level. Anyway, this was the living area with a balcony overlooking New York City.
Continuing with out apartment tour... We painted our living room walls a light green color (we used Benjamin Moore paint all over our very colorful apartment). We got 14 small Malma mirrors from Ikea and just hung them over the couch to cover the blank wall. The beige sofa we got from Raymour & Flannigan. You could also spot our surround sound speakers which were a real eyesore for me but it was great sitting here watching movies...
This corner was quite useless - just an old side table from my parent's house, a lamp from Ikea, our wedding album and some other stuff.
I love this wall hanging I got from Bed, Bath & Beyond. We had a nice time one weekend assembling our wedding pictures in it and arranging everything. It says 'LIVE, LOVE, LAUGH'. My husband's recording gear and guitar are in the corner coz we didn't have anywhere else to put it. Our small entertainment center - Samsung screen and home entertainment system, Wii, and magic mike that we hardly ever use but because we're Filipino, you've gotta have one :) I just put a tray on top of an ottoman so we could put more stuff on top of it like scented candles, a plant, and a mirrored box to hold our wires and chargers.
I miss our tiny kitchen. It was small but very efficient. Got the decal on the wall from Target.
I'm glad we have a bigger sink and a nicer faucet now but I miss having a dishwasher. I have to wash dishes by hand again... I love those blue Scotch Brite sponges, those are my favorite, I stock up on them when they're on sale :) I also can't live without my trusty Brita filter for the best tasting water on earth.
On our other kitchen counter - rice cooker, bread toaster, my set of awesome Cutco knives, cooking utensils, a jar for storing oil that we're planning to reuse, bread, scented candle, some magazines for recycling. Standard kitchen stuff.
Love our dining area, got the wall hangings from The Container Store. The black looks striking against the light blue walls. We chose dark furniture for our first apartment, it's just easier to maintain. The dining set is also from Raymour & Flannigan.
My favorite room - the bathroom. It's bigger than most because it's disabled-accessible. The tabo is an eyesore, I know, but they're not big on bidets here in the States. I was going to put a little storage system on the wall above the toilet but just never gotten around to it.
Got this decal from Target also. Really miss my pink bathroom...
This was my vanity area, I had a love-hate relationship with it because I loved that everything was accessible but also hated how everything was in full view.

We had a pretty dark bedroom, lots of heavy curtains that blocked light and noise from the outside. We got the popular Malm bed frame from Ikea, I know of at lease 2 other people who have the same bed :) Sheets are DKNY and Ikea.
So that concludes our apartment tour. Will do one of our new place when we're done fixing it up.

Valentine's Surprise

Got a pleasant surprise from my husband today. He had to leave early for work so he called to wake me up around 7:30 and asked if I had gone out of the room yet. I hadn't but I was curious so I got up and here's what waited for me in our dining area...

A single stem red rose and a bottle of Chloé :) Anyway, I got a surprise for him too, hehe. Happy Valentine's Day to all!

Scented Candles

I had to get small gift tokens for a couple of people the other day and was going to give boxed chocolate but then I found these...

Scented candles from Scentsational. Such a cool name for a candle company. Love that they are already packaged and ready to give away. They are natural soy candles with nice smells like Green Tea, Jasmine, Southern Magnolia, Tropical Paradise, etc.
Also got a candle for myself, flavor is Mint Leaves & Lime but this is from another company. Burning this baby right now...

This Week's Make Up Haul

I've been trawling for drugstore make up this past week just looking to try different products. I have a really simple beauty routine and I already know what stuff works well for me but I was in an adventurous mood so...

This mascara I've already had before and really liked so I repurchased :) The eyebrow pencil, also from Maybelline, I was intrigued because it was mechanical (no need for sharpening) and had a comb at the end (perfect for traveling, I don't need to bring a separate brow comb). However, the line it draws is quite thin, I like my HG Sonia Kashuk eyebrow pencil much better.
I don't normally like to use liquid foundation because for me powder is much faster and easier to apply. I have to say though, I quite like Maybelline's Super Stay Foundation. It's supposed to be long-lasting too (haven't proved it yet though) and very affordable. Nice medium coverage and the consistency I like better than MAC's Studio Fix Fluid.

Found this compact, Boots No 7, and I thought it was pretty so I got it. Wanted to find out if I could replace my trusty MAC Studio Fix Powder Foundation. I was kinda disappointed. The powder settled into my fine lines and emphasized my pores :( It also had a weird fishy smell. Should have researched this one first before I bought. Good thing it wasn't that expensive.

I got this Milani eyeliner as I've heard a lot of good reviews about it. In summary it's like a cream eyeliner on a stick, so smooth to apply and the blackest black eyeliner I've ever tried. The downside is if you have oily lids it's definitely gonna run.

Lastly, I got a quad from Rimmel. I was gonna get two but decided to try this one first then purchase the other set of colors if I liked how this one turned out. It's ok, not very pigmented, a little shimmery and very powdery. It was also very inexpensive so I was not expecting much.

So that's it for my trial and error make up this week. Ahh, the beauty of being a woman... :)

The Body Shop Mini Haul

Passed by The Body Shop after work because I wanted to try their face sprays coz my MAC fix + ran out and I thought I'd try something new. Instead of getting just one thing I ended up with a few more purchases... Good thing they were on sale :)

These brushes are so soft and perfect for traveling! I got two of them. I really like that they don't shed, they're very dense and pick up a lot of product. I also love that it comes with its own travel pouch.
Got another lip product...
And finally, what I really set out to buy originally. I like the faint rose smell, it's really light. Works as well as MAC fix + when used as a setting spray, in my opinion.