Week 50: Best Friend Adventures (Anissa)- Sushi One, Christmas Tree, DIY Phone Case, Michael's Art Store

On Friday, I chilled with my best friend Anissa. I originally was suppose to have a work meeting from 9-12pm but that got cancelled (YEAH). Since it was pay day, why not get some good food and do a little shopping while catching up.

Yes, me and my bestie hangout quite often and chat probably every day or within 3 days, but its nice to have face to face interaction, especially if your talking about certain topics that are much easier to discuss in person than thru text or Facebook. Also, I needed some craft stuff to make my phone case that I'm designing and some other items, so having her there is a bonus.

We went to Sushi One at Sheppard & Yonge since its pretty much the only close Sushi place in that area that is "All You Can Eat". There is one literally one block from my house but seeing as we were going to do some shopping anyways, it seemed like a better option (since all the stores I needed to go to are literally 1 main intersection from each other).

The restaurant was pretty nice overall, though you wouldn't know that they have All You Can Eat since its not advertised properly. We had to ask the waiter after giving us the normal menu, if they had A.Y.C.E before they provided us with a totally different menu. I think that's their way to save money in a sense cause if your new to the restaurant and didn't do your research (which I noticed with many of the customers that entered) they would just order from the main menu.

Together, the cost was $40 dollars (14.99 each plus tip) but we got A LOT of food, compared to many of the dishes they were offering individually (hand roll for 6.99-8.99 etc)

Always start with some Miso Soup and Green Salad

Beef Teriyaki

Chicken Teriyaki

Whole bunch of Sushi!! Was honestly SO good

Salmon Pizza (Anissa recommendation): Yummy 

Dessert: Green Tea, Red Bean & Mango Ice-cream

The Sushi was AMAZING! You can tell that compared to other A.Y.C.E, the food is made properly and with delicacy. Though this place is busy, the food is made well and appearance is really good. Though it was difficult to get a server when we wanted to reorder, when bringing the food the male cooks were very respectful. They organized the food nicely as well which makes it even more appealing. It was way worth going to this restaurant and I wont hesitate to come back.

Once our belly's were full, we walked up to Michael's Art/Crafts Store. 

I ordered a flip case online from AliExpress and decided I wanted to decorate it myself. Ive always been one who loves glittery cases but it is almost impossible to find a FLIP hard cover case that is designed properly. All my bling out cases are plastic covers (front-back clip on). Also, with the flip cases (which I personally prefer since they have credit card slots which I need when I go to work since I don't like bringing my wallet) the ones online that have probably a LITTLE bit of design and diamonds on it (fake obviously) are totally OVER PRICED! I remember when I had my Iphone and went to Pacific Mall and spent $45 dollars to decorate my case. So far, this case with all the materials is about $25 bucks! 

My Phone Case
This is merely a General idea. Still waiting for remaining materials to come in

So, I realized, why don't I just make my own -__-? I ordered most of my materials from ebay for REAL cheap. MAX amount I paid for the gems were 2.99 but that was for a more stand out piece or a popular statement piece such as Hello Kitty. I needed to go to Michael's for some super glue and if they had any mini christmas trees.

In the end, I got a Christmas Tree, Lights, Ornaments, and even more Phone Decor for $50 bucks

Yes, I used paperclips to hold the Ornaments #dontjudgeme 

I'm in LOVE with my Christmas Tree! This is my first Christmas on my own, so having a little christmas tree to lighten up my room and mood is always exciting! Did I mention Michaels was doing 60% OFF!!!! Uh WHY NOT? So for example my tree normal price was $32 bucks but with the discount, I got it for $13 dollars! For that kinda tree, totally worth it.

I set it up before my night shift and I love staring at it whenever I attempt to sleep or nap. Its another nice edition to my desk.

Multi-Colour Lights were $2.50 >:D! Talk about Savings 

After our little shopping adventure, I just went to the bank to get some cash and that was the end of our chillage since I had a night shift and I need my nap time :3

Till Next Time...

Yumoyori <3~

Week 50: Friend Adventures (Jen)- 31 Kitchen

December 8th, I had a quick dinner chillage with Jen Sempai :D!!!

Since we both live literally one block from one another, we decided to meet up again (its been like 3 months since out last chillage with Cyn), at 31 Kitchen.

Today, the restaurant wasn't busy (yet). We meet up around 1745 so it was quite empty. This restaurant (esp targeting the asian population) is busy at late night, usually around 2000-close. Since I was starving and was heading to the gym for Zumba anyways, I ordered a bigger meal than usual.

I ordered Taro Milk Tea with Tapioca. I normally order slush/smoothie, but due to the amount of sugar in these drinks already, milk tea is much better and doesn't take me a century to finish.

For the main dish, I ordered Pork Belly & Mui Choi with Rice. It was cheap ($7.99) and TOTALLY filling!!!!! I was impressed (Thanks Jen for showing me this option mwahaha). Though, Pork belly is SOOOO Fattening, I didn't mind as much since I knew I was gonna go burn it off by doing Zumba and doing another workout after. Plus, I hadn't eaten much the whole day so it was fine.

It was a nice chillage with Jen Sempai!! She always fun to hangout with, even in high school (with Fushi sempai, Cyn sempai and Julie sempai). I somehow always see her when I'm coming from my night shifts in the subway yet she never notices me T__T (Im wearing a neon orange jacket too haha). Its nice to keep in touch and they've always been inspirational so its a bonus to still be friends and catchup!

Thanks Jen for the quick hangout!!! Lets chill again real soon (lets get Fushi and Julie to come too hehe)

Till Next Time...

Yumoyori <3~

Week 49: Friend Adventures (Fenan)- Moxies

On December 5th, I got to chill with my friend Fenan! We decided we would go to Yorkdale Moxies Grill & Bar for lunch. This was my day off so I could take my sweet time walking around the mall and also catchup with my girl!

I've known Fenan since 2nd year of nursing. We got close during our Samba (or whatever its called lol) and African Dancing class that we took in summer to gain extra credits (so we would have a less course load during our final year in Nursing. Since than we try to keep in touch and still message one another every couple of months as a "pulse check" haha.

I usually only go to Moxies cause of their famous White Chocolate Brownie, which I LOVE. The service overall was okay (I think our sever was training another girl but they both kept checking on us to see if our meal was good etc). Food took a bit long as well but it was busy (there was a birthday party celebration right next to us with some 14 year olds so -3-).

I ordered a Strawberry Daiquiri (never tried Moxies drinks before) for starters as I viewed the main courses.

I normally order chicken wings (doesn't matter the restaurant), but decided to try something different and would be more filling to me. I ended up ordering the Lunch special which is a choice between the Broccoli and Cheese Soup or the Soup of the day, with Half Beef Dip Sandwich (consist of beef, swiss cheese, and mushrooms).

Of course for dessert, I got my White Chocolate Brownie! I should have mentioned that I wanted the mini version than the full size (now that Im working on my fitness and weight loss,), I had a bit of difficulty finishing it compared to few months back.

Overall, it was nice catching up with a good friend!

I'm a person who knows many people but Im pretty picky now a days with who I chill with and who I make time for. I guess it comes with age and experience, but I don't waste time on individuals who either give the "Im busy" excuse or who don't contact me for more than 2-3 months. I just don't see why I should make time for them with my busy schedule (I work on average 72-90 hours in 2 weeks and thats just "work". Doesn't include my workouts, etc). Also for those who always give the excuse that Im busy with work or school etc, as I stated above, I'm just as busy or more (I have a career not a part time job) but I balance my hangouts and try to fit anyone in my schedule

Anyways, thats my little rant about people LOL. Fenan is another awesome individual that I like to keep in my circle of friends. I love her character overall. She has a similar outlook as me in terms of people and it was just nice to catchup and update one another about our work/personal life and just talk about general girly stuff XD

Thanks Fenan for the chillage <3 ~

Till Next Time...

Yumoyori <3~

Week 49: Best Friend Adventures (Anissa): CNO, MAC & Gym Workout

FREE Makeover Time!!!

December 1st is such an awesome start to the month. Christmas songs start playing, everyone preparing for the new year approaching and cyber monday sales (which could have been better in terms of discount). I decided to chill with my bestie, Anissa to get a whole bunch of stuff done. Our hangout started a bit late since I overslept (came from a night shift). We ended up meeting around 3pm. We decided to go to CNO (college of nurses) first, head downtown to eaton centre and than go to the gym

College of Nurses (CNO) is where you have to go to register for your nursing licence which allows you to work as a registered nurse in Canada. Now that Anissa passed her exam, she has to show them the form and pay to get such registration. Initial fee around $300. We literally waited an hour to get serviced since the lady was honestly SO slow (4 people in line shouldn't take an hour). Since its still december, if my friend registered now, she would have to pay another $200 to renew her licence in January which makes no sense since she hasn't gotten a nursing job yet. So, we were able to indicate that we want the money to be processed in January so her membership would be valid for all of 2015.

Next was Eaton Centre! We first ate cause I was SOOO hungry! We had subway 6 inch sandwich and later had a nice crepe!!! Ive always seen the place at eaton centre but this was my first time actually buying something.

Once, our bellies were full we headed down to MAC Cosmetics cause we had an horrible experience on Black Friday, where this artist treated us pretty bad. To sum it up, I asked to know about foundation since Im pretty new in that department. She applied the foundation to only HALF of my face, instead of offering me a wipe to clean my face she got one for herself to clean her hands, asked me if I was going to purchase it. I refused since my intention was lipstick. She than said okay and I asked her to write down the product on a paper so when I want to purchase it, I'll know which one I want. Instead, she tells me to write it in my phone myself or take a picture. Uh...okay >3>. I than stated that I wanted to purchase the Heroine lipstick with the Be Spoken lip pencil. She stated "sure" and instead goes and serves another customer as we wait 3-5 minutes. Eventually, the manager came by to ask us if we were serviced and I stated that she said she was going to get us lipstick but didn't.

Anissa was more pissed off than me and I decided to call and tell a manager. When I called the same day, the same women who had ended up getting us the lipstick had answered the phone. Though she remembered me and apologized for such service, It didn't seem like she was taking it very seriously. So I decided to call the assistant store manager and she was shocked that I received such service. Due to such experience and I being a first time customer at MAC, she decided to offer me a complementary or FREE lipstick, lipgloss OR blush (AWESOME)

Once we reached there, I asked for the manager and a Artist Samora came by to ask us what we were interested in looking at. I pointed out that foundation is something I don't know anything about so would want to see a how it would look on ALL of my face compared to half. In the end, they gave me a FREE makeover literally from primer, eyeshadow, foundation, mascara, lipstick and lipgloss! I looked SOOO goood!

I ended getting the Lipgloss, since it complemented the Heroine lipstick/Bespoken lip pencil which she applied during the makeover!

I wrote probably half a page of the amazing service I received from Samora and talked to the manager personally about how wonderful she was. Throughout the whole makeover she explained all the products used, how to give myself a more natural look compared to the crazed "I look like a different human being" look. We discussed about our career and the CRNE exams that we had to take. She even wrote ALL the product she used during the makeover down for me so I could take my time to purchase everything!

Samora is Awesome

It was funny since the girl that was SO rude was present and throughout our whole time there, she kept on glaring at us, coming to the areas where we got out makeover to peak and hear our conversation. It was beyond funny. Anyways, Samora was awesome and defiantly going back JUST for her <3

After all that lovely interaction and talk about makeup, we headed to the gym (I know, do ur makeup and now you gotta sweat it all out T_T). So, we worked out and had a blast. It was a nice afternoon-night hangout on my day off. Always a pleasure hanging with the bestie <3

Till Next Time...

Yumoyori <3~

Week 48: Friend Adventures (Kimberly & Friends) - Movie/Chatime/허가네

On Thursday, I decided to chill with my girls Kimberly, Scarlet and Olivia! I also got to meet their friend SooAh who was super nice!!!

We started our hangout with a movie, Horrible Bosses 2. I had to admit though the sequel was funny, it wasn't as great as the first one. However, it was still amusing and lots of funny jokes in between. Once the movie was done, we went to meet the others (Scarlet and SooAh) at Chatime Bubble Tea.

We talked about lots of stuff, school life (well for my friends), careers, and other personal stuff! I ordered for the first time Original Black Milk Tea, which was surprisingly really good! I normally a Taro or Chocolate fan, so it was nice to get something different for a change.

Me and Kimberly use to work together at Cineplex (coming up to being a year of friendship WOOT). I worked with her brother when I changed jobs to Hero Burger. Pretty much know the whole family (her older brother use to drive me home from those 3am shift- the struggle). She totally awesome person and one of the few people I still try and keep in touch with from that workplace. She also introduced me to Scarlet, Olivia and now SooAh as well, who are all amazing individuals who want to achieve and become someone in life which is always good to surround and interact with.

Im a Bubble tea fanatic as you can tell from all the stamp cards I have in my wallet. I really should invest in the VIP discount card.

Next, we went to Huh Ga Ne (허가네)  Korean Restaurant. This was my first time going to this restaurant. I usually go to Pyun Won House when I need my Korean Fix, but Kimberly said this place was SOO much better, so I decided to try it. She was correct it was really good and popular (esp at 12am)

It was a nice late night chillage with kind/hardworking people :D! Its good to surround yourself with positive individuals especially if you want to bring good karma towards yourself and lighten up the mood (especially when this life is always involving work, school and lots of stressful events)

Thanks Ladies for the Chillage <3~

Till Next Time...

Yumoyori <3~

Week 48: Best Friend Adventures (Anissa)- Chipotle, Shopping, HungerGames

On Monday, I chilled with my bestie Anissa. I was so exhausted in the morning (I guess due to my night shift) but I went to bed around 0940am and woke up literally at 2 exact (which was the time we were considering to meet one another). I stayed in bed literally till 430 when I forced myself up to shower, change, and leave my house =_=.  Once I met up with my girl, we made our way downtown to Toronto Eaton Centre!

Since I just woke up, we decided to buy our tickets for the movie, HungerGames-Mocking Jay Part I, and find something to eat. Since Anissa is also my lovely gym motivator, I originally wanted Jacks or Kenzo Ramen Noodles but my bestie was like "Nope, you gotta eat healthy!" So we made our way to Chipotle Mexican Grill.

Steak Bowl filled with everything I ordered (except for Guacamole) 

I've been to Chipotle Mexican Grill before with Noah, so I understood the ordering system. They're really popular and fast! When we got there, the line was pretty long (about 7 people ahead of us) but in 2 minutes, BAM were up to order. The place was pretty crowded too but we were able to get a place to sit after ordering. I got Steak Burrito, with like everything (tomatoes, black beans, brown rice, guacamole, chilli, sour cream and cheese). It was SOO DELICIOUS! I was actually surprised how amazing it taste. I didn't  bring water with me -3- so I got some lemonade bottle drink instead of getting pop. It was just so good! Defiantly going there again!!!

Next, we went shopping around Eaton's. I love high class expensive stuff but man, CLOTHING IS EXPENSIVE! I'm more of a Handbag, Accessory, Shoe type of girl, so I don't focus on clothing for a number of factors but we decided to get a pair of pants that would be like motivation tool now that I've hopped back on the workout train. We stopped by Sport Chek since I need a GOOD sport bra for my gym workouts cause Walmart bras don't do shit (like literally). I have 3 different types and all of them don't do the primary job of HOLDING YOUR BOOBS IN PLACE! So frustrating! I tried on the underarmor bras since they're utterly amazing and if I buy one, I'll never need one for 1-2 years which is what many individuals state when they buy it (I use to work at Sport Chek). Now that I know my size, I'll probably pick it up on Friday before I start the gym on monday (SO EXCITED)

The Best recommend Sport Bra by UnderArmor 

We than made our way to jean shopping. So why would I possible go shopping for jeans that wont fit me? Well, there are many ways for someone to motivate themselves and I believe getting a pair of pants that "I hope" to fit in, within a certain period of time is a good motivator. So we went to Blue Notes, which have really nice jeans. However, $50 price tag was not very motivating, especially for the fact I wont be wearing these babies until I reach my goal which can be between 4-6 months. So, moved onto Old Navy. Their jeans were also expensive ($44.50) dollars for a pair BUT they were doing a 30% OFF sale, so I decided to take advantage of that and got them from $31.50 (so with tax $35). This was a good price for some nice regular jeans. I could have honestly waited till Friday, but since it Black Friday and I don't want to be murdered in crazy lines for 50% off, I decided to pick it up today.

My Motivation Jeans in Size 12

LOVING THIS WATCH

I had to choose between size 10-12 which was really difficult. My goal size is between size 6-10 (if I reach an 8, I'll probably be satisfied. A perfect size if I lose weight or gain) but decided to get a size 12 to start with. Anissa didn't want me to get 14 (which is the lowest I was able to get the last time I lost weight) since its a size I've achieved once before AND its a size that you can easily gain back to size 16-18 that I am now. So size 12 it is!!!! I have from December 2014- April 2015 to try and get down to this size! So hopefully with dedication, perseverance, and some sacrifices (SHE FORCING ME TO HAVE BUBBLE TEA ONLY TWICE A MONTH!!!!!!!!- ...World Ends....) hopefully it will be worth it! All my close friends (Lina and Noah) our encouraging me to eat better so Im excited to try and achieve this.

Weight loss has always been my goal but now I think I can achieve it. I've achieved all my other goals in the past, so this is the one main goal I have left. I also want my mom to come back from vacation and be like "What happened to my Daughter" hehehehe. Anyways, we watched our movie (was REALLY good, so excited for the final movie) and moment I got home, I worked out (at 2AM....). Felt really good about it.

It was a nice motivating day. I always feel motivated or inspired when I hangout with Anissa. She such a unique, hardworking individual which is hard to find now a days =D! Im excited and glad she helping me on this journey both physically and emotionally. Good to have friends that want you to succeed and don't judge you like the rest of society.

Till Next Time...

Yumoyori <3~ 

Week 47: Best Friend Adventures (Noah)- Distillery District, Food, Big Hero 6

On Monday, I and Noah decided to chill. I hadn't seen him since previous Saturday (we try to chill once a week or within two weeks when I get way to busy with work).

When I entered the car, Noah was like "Alright, pull out that GPS were going to lakeshore!" Im like WTF. SOOO Random but Hey, its my day off, I don't care where we go!! So we ventured off downtown on the DonValley highway, all the way down to Lakeshore. It was snowing so if we went by the lake it would be totally nice for pictures, but MOMENT we got there it started raining instead -_-.  Talk about bummer.

So we ended up at the Distillery District. There was a lot of construction going on since they're getting ready for Christmas. They did put up the christmas tree which is almost complete but still had lots of caution tape around and huge logs. I wonder what there making? We took a few pictures since we both never been in this area and walked around. Many of the shops were either closed or very empty. Also noticed the shops were pretty expensive. One clothing store we entered had mostly Canadian goose branded items, Nobis and other Fall/Winter gear, not the normal clothing you usually see at the malls, and WOW the prices were crazy. One jacket was $2,000, another plain sweater-> $300. We left pretty quickly (U-turned to the exit).

SOMA Chocolate Factory:

Noah encouraged me to enter this place since it really did look interesting, but I was hesitant to go in there since I didn't know what to really expect. When you walk in, your greeted with the smell of hot coco.  There's a lounge area with tables and high stool chairs for you to sit and enjoy coffee or treats you ordered. As you take a look around, you can see them making the chocolate and other baked goods which I thought was so cool but probably intimidating for the workers as well. You really have to be precautions with everything you do especially with cleanliness since eyes are watching you all the time.

Noah bought us some Chocolates to nibble on (Coconut/Almond Clusters), and we both ordered their Classic Hot Chocolate with Milk. It was HONESTLY SO GOOD. The temperature was perfect, not to hot that burns your tongue but not to cold. It was literally, perfect drinking temperature. Noah asked for it to go but I wanted to stay and drink it cause it was SO cold outside and we had all day, so why not sit and chat for a bit (was on my phone editing pictures half the time :p). This was my first time in real life seeing someone actually do a design with coffee and milk so I was really impressed (honestly, I sounded like a tourist -_-) but it was a nice design!!!! Probably some people would say its easy but I could never be able to do that so I give the guy high five (and he was cute -///-). We tried out the coconut clusters and it was delicious! From its appearance, you would assume its pretty hard but it was the complete opposite. Soft, chewy and the coconut flavour was a perfect match. Very addicting indeed. Total cost was $18.

Mill St Brewery:
After Soma, we went to grab something small to eat, since we would probably eat later on. We ended up at Mill St. Brewery Pub. The environment was nice and gave off the old cottage look. The bar was pretty popular, and had many different beer choices, as well as the option of you making your own beer. We ordered Calamari with original organic lager aioli with chipotle marinara ($12.00) and Pull-Pork Carnitas which included smoked pull pork, avocado, creme fraiche ($13.00). 

Pulled Pork Carnitas- SO GOOD

The service was pretty good. Calamari was a pretty good size too ,which is hard to come across so I was impressed. I've never tried Carnitas before so it was something new to me, but I enjoyed it and was pretty filling (I had two).  The only thing that was annoying was the roof was leaking from the booth we were sitting at. It was irritating when cold drops of water would hit our backs (wasn't wearing my jacket). Overall, I wouldn't mind going there again. Total cost with tip was $30.25

We continued to walk around and I bought a book and pack of pens so I can start writing stories again (another little hobby I do to pass time, especially during my night shifts). We decided that we would come back probably when its nicer out or when more events were going on. We than headed to Fairview.

When we reached Fairview, we picked up our tickets first for BigHero 6, which I kept on hearing was really good. I used my scene points since it wasn't a tuesday and the movie was in 3D (Now that I don't work at the movie theatre, I only spend scene points on certain people, since its pretty hard to stack those up but I dont want to spend $15 bucks/ticket cause its 3D). We walked around a bit, Noah bought some sexy dress pants from ZARA (so expensive, like $60 dollars but I guess thats common for a nice set of pants). Than Noah bought us Sushi ($10 thanks to the 'End of the Day Special'), and I got bubble tea from TenRen, Taro flavour (FREE- Thanks to my points card). We went to the food court to  have our little dinner and off to the theatre.

BigHero 6 was AMAZING! 10/10!

It was truthfully better than Frozen! Sure, Frozen was nice cause its a musical and had a good message (cant marry people you just met, and family is always important and will be there for you), but BH6 had MORE than just that! It really gives you a life lesson on so many topics. Family, Lost, Grief, Acceptance, Hatred. It was funny and almost made be shed tears. I now understand why its been so popular! I wouldn't mind watching it a second time around. It ended our hangout really nicely! Baymax is my FAVOURITE character! So cute!

Today hangout was just awesome! Had so much fun and a nice adventure. I don't go around toronto often but I want to explore my city more in the upcoming months.

Thanks again Noah for spoiling me <3 

Till Next Time...

Yumoyori <3~