Sparkled Beauty

Sorry I was too busy to document details of the last few weeks of this vacation, but I do have some pics, starting with shaved ice, desert of the year to beat the heat.

Left: mango shaved ice (Japanese style), paired with some mochi. Right: watermelon shaved ice (Korean style).

Entertainment wise, we went to a 3D museum where special effect paint and lighting did their tricks to our eyes and minds. It was really cool and we took tons of pics.

On the left here was our favorite of the entire trip, looked like mom had all of us under her grip lol.

Below were situations where Squirt got herself in "danger" with a kitty and a little bridge that was falling apart under her feet. It was fun!

Some other highlights included:
- a more fancy-looking cat cafe (compared to the one we went to in week 1) with so many cute fury friends
- a trip back to the healing spa I told you in week 2 cause I could use some serious detoxing and relaxing
- taking the kids to a salt water pool with real white sand section (see pic)
- celebrating my dad's 69th birthday in person. I normally went back to Canada before new year in previous years, always missed his birthday
- had my hair dyed and added some curls to it. I have had straight hair for so long, I don't even know what to do with the curls :)

Christmas and New Year were too crowded everywhere so we didn't go out. But we are going to a buffet dinner at a rustic park tomorrow night and take some family photos, a nice way to end my trip home this year.

It has been a relaxing week, literally, starting with a short and quiet retreat at a B&B called La Maison de Campagne, just over an hour outside of town. This "country house" sure has its charm, day or night.

It was bliss not doing anything other than relaxing poolside, swimming/ soaking in the whirl pool and enjoying good food. Oh boy didn't we have good food!

Continuing the relaxing theme, we went to Golden Lotus, a Korean-styled healing spa. I fell in love with the near infrared Himalaya salt lemongrass-scented sauna (65C/ 149F) and went back in twice.

Also love the hot volcano rock sauna (awesome massage to my back and neck), the cold room (6C/ 43F) to cool down right after the sauna, shockingly hot whirlpool (41C/ 106F), infrared light cave. Yes, the temperature was quite extreme but bearable, and did my body some good.

The snacks and drinks served in the cafeteria were refreshing too. In short, I had a really nice experience, spent almost 3 hours there and felt so relaxed leaving the place. Just wish they had a closer location so we didn't have to make such a trek out.

Ending the day with a cool treat, also literally. Green tea shaved ice with red bean sauce at Ministry of Food (MoF), a Japanese-styled dessert cafe.

Apology to those in wintery weather. I didn't mean to brag, but it's so hot here that cold drinks, ice cream and the likes are a must, especially after shopping for a few hours. I'll post up a haul if I can get to it, but the point, for now, is we always try to get as much shaved ice as we can.

You can't really tell the size of it in the pic, but it was big enough for 2 and cost slightly over $4. And they even have the Christmas-themed round bowl that is probably bigger than this. And then there are gelato and nama chocolate (a delicate blend of high quality cacao and fresh cream, poured and set, dusted with cocoa powder and cut into squares) equally divine. We always have a blast there! Worth noting that their ramens aren't bad either :)

Have a great weekend! Kudos if you are all done with Christmas shopping already.

Hi guys, I am on vacation and won't have the flyer deal series up for a few weeks. Hope everyone is gearing up for the holiday.

I thought I would temporarily take Friday spots to post a few pictures to highlight my week instead, if you feel like looking :)

This week is a short one. We didn't do a whole lot as we lost a day to travel, plus half a day time difference, then jet lag after that. I thought it would be appropriate to start with a view at Tokyo Narita airport. We had a few hours there browsing duty free shops.

The first time we left the house after we arrived, we visited a cat cafe at Squirt's request (this little spotty cutie was the highlight of the place) and went shoe and phone case shopping today.

We did a lot of sleeping and eating at home but nothing worth reporting just yet :) Stay tuned next week!

How's everyone? It has been very quiet on the blog, so I take some time off the web too.

In the last day or too, I just relaxed and enjoyed. I went the spa with my sis to calm down my nerves (travelling stress, as I mentioned before). The family went to a really nice restaurant for dinner, and then an ice cream shop for dessert one night. Yep, the same place I went last time after hot pot, as I wanted to try more flavours. If we didn't get stuck in a horrible traffic jam down town that night, it'd be a totally perfect day :-) And last night we went to a place that was specialized in clam dishes. We had clam spicy noodle, clam salad and delicious drink of lime and mint ice. Desserts were fruits and light pastry. Love it all.

I got up early this morning to go the hair dresser to have my hair straightened.

I had nothing to complain about my hair, but wanted it to be straightened so it looks more shiny and sleek.

Here're the before and after pictures. What do you think?

The process was quite painful (I guess no pain no gain, lol), as it took about 4 hours with different stages. I love how it looked at the end, so it was worth it.

I also had one last mani pedi and nail paiting done before I leave. Very happy with it, but that'd be for another post. The rest of the day will be to finalize the luggage (weight check and rearranging, etc.). Then I'm flying out near midnight. I have a long transit wait in Tokyo, so I might be online to kill time, if I could connect.

A change of plan that I am really excited about: my bf's parents suggested me to stop by and stay with them for a few days before flying back to Halifax. That way, I won't have to celebrate New Year by myself but with Squirt, the bf and his family. Awesome huh? I'll only be about 2-hour drive from Toronto, lol.

Until next post, have awesome holidays ladies!

I love going to the beach, always do. Halifax is right next to the ocean, so I could see and feel it everyday. It's just that the water in Halifax is too cold, even in the summer, so I rarely go. But when I'm on vacation, I have to make sure I go to the beach at least once. And it happened last weekend. We took the train, stayed one night at the resort and came back the next day.

This was the view from the pool side, where we spent most of our free time. Far out, behind the coconut trees was the beach. The waves were quite high, not ideal for wave jumping - Squirt's favorite beach activity, so she enjoyed playing in the kiddy pool. Lots of people were out windsurfing or skiteboarding though.

Being concerned about the sun, we only jumped in the pool when the sun is down, with layers of sunscreen. But many people were sunbathing and swimming all day long. Scary, isn't it?

We were spoiling ourselves there, with fresh air, nice view, beautiful pool, and good seafood. I felt so refreshed, my mind was less tired and I could focus better. All thanked to the magic of the ocean.

The train ride home wasn't as fun, as we arrived an hour later than expected. As a result, I missed my junior high reunion, which sucked. I haven't met those guys and girls for so long, am always curious how they changed. The family stoped by a good restaurant before heading home, as we were all too tired to cook.

I realize, with this vacation, I have become a family girl. I appreciate the concept of family a lot more, eat at home more frequently and enjoy spending time with my parents. I had a great time with the trip, and believe my parents did too. I guess now that I have to manage taking care of my own family, I value my big family like never before. Now that my sis has her own family, everybody is still very close in the family. I'm blessed.

So, Christmas is just a few days away. Not much going on here, except many stores and restaurants had decoration on - fake snow and stuff, quite funny. Are you all ready for the holiday?

It's midnight here, I'm packing to head to the beach with my family tomorrow. It takes a few hours to get there, so we are staying over night and come back Sunday night.

I always try to go to the beach at least once everytime I come home, like a little getaway. The city is way too busy and intense, so it's nice to relax and enjoy the ocean. I don't mean to brag or anything, as believe it or not, being on vacation doesn't mean I don't have things to worry about. I do need to learn to let things go once in a while. And I'm already stressed out about coming back to the winter, without my bf (he'll be away for Christmas until mid January). Vacation while on vacation, sounds funny huh?

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. And be noted that my Balmshell giveaway ends today (Friday) at midnight ADT. It opens for everyone.