splurge vs. steal

I woke up this morning with a plan in mind: grocery shopping, buy cleaning supplies and maybe buy a bathrobe. However, that didn't happen. I didn't even go near a grocery store. Instead, I ended up downtown, randomly ran into my sister on Robson Street and all of this happened:

Left to right: sweater + blouse from H&M, jeans + dress pants from the GAP

She had to go into H&M and I wasn't thinking about buying anything and BAM! I was holding 8 items in my arms and standing in line for the fitting room. Bad idea. Very bad idea. I ended up getting a sweater and a blouse.

But, let's take a moment and look at the coral and cream sweater that I got from H&M for $39.95:

It looks very similar to this sweater from See by Chloe that I saw on www.ssense.com. It's not exactly the same, but very similar in colours and design. The H&M sweater has a floral/wavy pattern versus the geometric design of the See by Chloe, but I actually prefer the floral design... and the price :)

See by Chloe red geometric patterned knit sweater, retails for $425 (but it's now on sale at ssense)

Studded and capped collared blouse in blush, also from H&M. I like to think of it as a cooler version of the cowboy shirt. 

Blood-orange dress pants from the GAP. 

Periwinkle skinny GAP jeans or, according to their website, "resolution blue." 

 Okay, now just take a LOOK at the price of the jeans and pants:

That's right; you don't need to check your eyesight, bring out the calculator or clean your computer screen. The jeans came to $9.09 and the dress pants was $6.98! The GAP is currently having a huge clearance sale and on top of that, an additional 30% off the sale price, which means I am SUPER happy with my items and so is my wallet :) So, the total amount, including taxes, for the two items... drum roll please...

 Oh yeah, EIGHTEEN dollars! YAAAAAAAAAY!

The shopping deals didn't stop there; I wandered into London Drugs to grab a bottle of water and noticed that N.Y.C makeup was 40% off so I bought myself a new mascara to try for under $5.00. The mascara wand looks very similar to the CoverGirl LashBlast volume blasting mascara that I love and if I can get a similar version for a lower price, I'm all over it. In my opinion, I don't think you need to spend a great deal of money on mascara and trust me, I've tried a few high-end/brand-name mascaras. So, if I can get a great quality mascara at the drugstore for a handful of change that is comparable to a high-end mascara, than that's the one that I want in my makeup bag.

snapshots from 2012

Dressed up as a kitty cat for Halloween. A sassy one too, if you can't tell from my face. 

Helping my friend move the cats between houses as the professional movers take care of the heavy stuff.  Poor Bobo stayed in his carrier the whole day, even after the movers left. He didn't even come out for sashimi. Finally came out in the middle of the night to jump in and out of the leftover, empty cardboard boxes, Maru-style.

Kinski was completely fearless; the minute her carrier door was open, she was exploring the house and looking for new hiding places. 

Owls everywhere!

Oops.

A stuffed rattle for my friend's daughter's first birthday. 

Wrestling with this pork shoulder to make pulled pork. 

This lady was carrying her pet goose around in a make-shift buggy and letting people take pictures for a dollar. 

Snarf Snarf sleeping under my friend's Christmas tree. The next morning, half of the ornaments were on the floor.  

My first Christmas tree!

And since it was my first Christmas in my new place, I also got a Grinch tree from Divine Vines in Yaletown. 

My friend woke up Sputnik from his nap to take this picture. He was not amused. 

This is what my sister got me for Christmas! I want the Batman figurine now...

Bobo looking dashing. 

merry christmas and happy holidays!

I hope everyone out there in the e-world has a wonderful Christmas and Santa was good to you this year. Looking forward to the New Year already. I have a few resolutions brewing in my noggin, but they don't mean anything until I've written them down or told someone so I'll keep them to myself for now. Before I head back to my Christmas movie marathon, I'll leave you with this little gem:

keep calm and carry on with life

Oh, will you look at that... the world didn't end after all.

run, run, as fast as you can...

But, can you spot the little gingerbread men? The Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Vancouver was having their annual gingerbread house contest and I couldn't help but oogle at the submissions because some of these pieces are AMAZING! The amount of time and effort it took to brainstorm ideas, bake and decorate these creations is just mind-boggling to me.

Candyland in gingerbread form. The candy cane trees are genius and so is the train. 

The Gingerbread Bakery was my absolute favourite submission in the whole contest. I mean, it's all in the DETAILS; the kitchen table covered in pastries, bakeware and trays on mini gingerbread men, the pastries cooling on the shelves in the background, the brickwork around the fireplace... and this is all made out of GINGERBREAD.  

I think this is like a treehouse growing out of the chimney or something, but whatever it is, it's just so cool!

The snow people going for a sleigh ride! And little Timmy has fallen and can't get up!

That is one fully stocked pantry in the background. Also, it looks like the gingerbread men are getting some help with the baking from the potato heads.

The Gingerbread Bakery even has a mailbox!

Santa's workshop! Obviously the elves are inside, hard at work: wrapping presents, packing up Santa's sled and keeping tabs on the reindeers, 'cuz you know, they'll just be playing reindeer games all day long if left unsupervised. 

Someone did a model of a section in Gastown! And there were actual lights inside too!

It's the house from the Disney/Pixar movie, UP!

A traditional version of the gingerbread house. Classy!