Journal Entry #009

February 18, 2019February 16, 2019 Claire @ Coffee with Claire10 Comments

Saturday, February 16th, 2019

I’m writing this journal with a tummy full of delicious sushi after our late Valentine’s Day dinner that we just returned from.

Can I just say… what a week! It went by tremendously fast and my wallet is begging me to stop spending. The fact that this week consisted of Dan’s birthday and Valentine’s Day didn’t help, and last week was UFC night (which I’ll blog about sometime this week!).

Last weekend, we dropped by Gelato Messina on Chapel Street after watching the Alita movie (which was somewhat decent… about a 7/10). It was recommended by Charlotte and Sophie at work and we were in Windsor so we mind as well check it out.

The gelato is probably the best I’ve had so far in Melbourne! The place is dark (like a nightclub to be honest) and there’s no lineup or ticketing system. It’s pretty much like ordering at the bar where you just have to catch the shop associate’s attention if you want to order.

Do you see Robert Brownie Jnr? Hilarious isn’t it?!

On Wednesday, it was Dan’s birthday! He turned the ripe ol’ age of 29… lol.

As a gift, I got him the Huawei P20 phone. He hasn’t owned a quality smartphone since his Galaxy Note died so I thought it would make a nice gift, especially since we’re travelling and he has mentioned a few times that he wished he had a better smartphone to take better pictures. I’m honestly blown away by how far phone cameras have come to be!

That day I also left work early to hit the CBD to pick up another surprise and his Valentine’s Day gift as well.

I picked up Uncle Tetsu (his favourite dessert) and a pack of Corona beers.

It turned out that his work finished at 3pm and they took him out for some drinks until 5:30pm so when he came back home, he was a little tipsy.

We ordered Chinese food as his birthday dinner and our Greek roommate poured him some very strong Greek vodka so, by the end of the night, he was a goner.

This drunken photo of Dan is going into our scrapbook because it’s the only photo I have of him on his birthday!

The next day was Valentine’s Day! Happy belated Valentine’s Day to all my readers!

This year, we decided to keep it super simple with a budget of $50. After work, we ordered mediocre sushi and watched some Parks and Rec.

I got him two of his favourite League of Legends Funko Pops. He has a third one back at home that his best friend got him for his birthday so it added well to his collection.

For my Valentine’s Day gift, Dan got me a gift card to a fancy salon to get my hair styled properly. Ever since I started growing out my pixie cut from the summer, I became very self-conscious because I believed the barber didn’t know how to cut and style pixies properly so it has left me with an ugly shape and blob. I have it scheduled for March 2nd so I’m super excited to get my hair fixed!

Also, while we’re on the topic of V-Day, please visit my blogging friend, Hunida’s post on 5 years of Valentine’s Day dates! It’s by far my favourite V-Day related post and it’s just soooooo adorable!

Today, we slept in until 11am and had a very late brunch, followed by a late gym session (my legs and glutes are soooo sore!). We decided to hit up our favourite sushi place again and while it’s supposed to be Dan’s late birthday dinner, he changed it to be our late Valentine’s Day dinner so that was very nice!

Since I got him those two Funko Pops, I caved and went back to EB Games to grab my two Golden Knight boys 😛

Anyways, it’s getting late so I’d end this post with a funny picture of our third roommate, Charlii.

Happy Birthday, Dan! 🎂

February 13, 2019February 15, 2019 Claire @ Coffee with Claire2 Comments

Happy birthday to my best friend, my partner in crime, my love ❤️

May your 29th bring you much more happiness, peace, good health and success!

Always looking forward to growing old with you 😘

My 25th Birthday

November 5, 2018November 15, 2018 Claire @ Coffee with Claire2 Comments

The Big two-five

Oh my gosh, is it even worth blogging about it if it’s well past my birthday already? Like seriously, haha. It’s already November and my birthday weekend was back on October 20th.

But, it’s my blog and I want to document this day and share it with anyone who bothers to stalk this blog. Also, it’ll be amusing to see anyone wishing me a happy birthday because at that point we both know you didn’t read this entry at all 😛

Friday, the day before my birthday, my fantastic colleagues decorated the office and took me out for lunch. We ended up going to this Vietnamese place where I ended up getting my usual vermicelli bowl with spring rolls. Oddly though, I like my vermicelli to be dry so I never pour the fish sauce that comes with it but this place dumps it in for you so by the time you reach the end of the bowl, the spring rolls are all soggy and the sauce overpowers everything.

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After lunch, we also indulged in a delicious ice-cream cake from DQ! Ice cream cakes are my absolute favourite and I love how the team caters to the person’s interest rather than a generic cake. We had a new girl start with us and she’s from Ireland and never had an ice-cream cake before!

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IMG-20181019-WA0004 — I was told I’m holding the knife wrong… let me be, please.

On the 20th, Dan took me to see the Titanic Exhibition. I’ve been a Titanic fan for ages so finally being able to see a museum was a dream come true, considering I’ve missed several other ones when they were in town.

The exhibition boasts that you can touch the actual iceberg that hit Titanic buuut… I’m a little bit sceptical on that claim. I did touch it for the sake of it. No photography was allowed but it was an overall great experience to see artefacts and replicas from the ship. The only downfall was the tickets were $20 each and I honestly didn’t feel the museum was worth $20, to be honest.

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After a quick breakfast break, we started our drive up to Whistler Village. I hate to admit it but as someone that was born and raised in Vancouver, I’ve never been to Whistler. Dan surprised me on a trip up to Whistler because we were moving soon and it’d be great to see it at least once.

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We arrived in the village about 2 hours later. We didn’t plan anything so all we did was stroll around the village and checked out some shops. I did end up finding a cute bear shirt for Caelen which made me pretty happy! We also had some delicious ice cream from Moo.

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I felt we were lucky enough to head up on a sunny day in fall, but I’d love to come back to Whistler in the winter and plan some activities. It was so last minute, the drive up to the village was nicer than the actual village itself.

After parading around the village for some time, we eventually started heading back into the city for dinner at The Keg.

20181020_191611 — Ordered the sirloin oscar – steak with scallops and shrimps.

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To end the night off, I had a nice relaxing massage.

All in all, my 25th was very quiet and low key, which is exactly what I wanted. Is it selfish to want to spend your birthday with your boyfriend only and not with a group of friends? I just hate having to plan a group dinner and getting all dolled up for no special occasion!

So far, 25 has been good!

I'm 24!

October 25, 2017November 15, 2018 Claire @ Coffee with Claire2 Comments

It’s weird to consider myself “mid-20s” now. I have officially left the early 20s category and I miss it already.

Last Friday was my birthday. My manager gave me the day off and Dan insisted on making it my birthday (long) weekend… Who am I to complain tho?

But, in all seriousness, I’ve never had someone put so much thought and effort into my birthday and spoil me with thoughtful gifts. Each gift he gave me throughout the day was tied to something we’ve both shared or little remarks I’ve made here and there throughout the relationship.

To kick off my birthday long weekend, my colleagues at work decorated my desk and celebrated with a very yummy ice cream cake. Unfortunately, we had some construction guys working right above my desk on the 19th so I wasn’t able to fully enjoy my decorated desk until Monday.

After work, Dan and I also went to check out a local haunted house that was about ten minutes away from us. They’ve been operating for 18 years and this was their last year. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain (what’s new in Vancouver?) and we were standing in line for 45 minutes and barely moved in line. It was set to open at 7:30 pm and we arrived just in time, only to discover they were running late and opened at 8 pm. By then, they were letting only very small group of people in, and they won’t let another group in until the previous group finished the entire house… so you can imagine how long it can take just to get into the house. We ended up bailing because we were soaking wet and been outside in a line up for 45 minutes already… we really didn’t want to wait an hour just to move a few inches.

On Friday evening, Dan took me out to Cirque du Soleil and caught their Kurios show… and let me just tell you… it was AMAZING! This was my first ever Cirque show so I’m a little biased but this is Dan’s second Cirque show and he said it was much better than the first one he saw years ago. I absolutely loved how it was incorporated with humour, a storyline, and just the beautiful and amazing acrobatic performances. I’ve never seen anything like that before and it was just… beautiful and amazing! Very inspiring to watch these performs perform, and it’s so beautiful to see how they shine and live for the applause! He also took me out The Keg for a fancy steak dinner – I wish I was more adventurous with food because I got a plain steak while Dan’s dish was just tasty AF!

Over the weekend, we went out to Nanaimo, BC., but being on the west coast meant it was raining… again. Heavy rain. Our original plans for ruined so we ended up going to the Aquatic Center for a gym session and a soak in the hot tub, followed by a trip to Woodgrove and picked up a few things from the mall.

Oh, on an exciting personal note – I drove for the first time in Nanaimo! It was extremely dark and raining but overall wasn’t too bad. I get nervous when I’m in an unfamiliar place but I felt I did fairly well.

Heading back to the island means seeing the lovely, beautiful and chatty Alice again! I’m normally not a fan of cats because I’m afraid they’ll dig their claws in me for no reason, but Alice is just sooooo beautiful and chatty! She’s the only cat in this world that I get along with (for now).

That night, we also watched The Conjuring 2. If you don’t know, The Conjuring is was the scariest movie I’ve ever seen but The Conjuring 2? Oh man, I was in tears. It was so scary and right now, I still get creeped out by dark corners or shadows because my mind automatically thinks of the nun from that movie.

And, all good things must come to an end…

Sunday was greeted with very delicious chocolate pancakes for breakfast before catching the ferry back home. Nanaimo is such a peaceful, quiet and beautiful place that it makes it a nice place to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Of course, the two times I’ve been in Nanaimo, it’s been pissing rain so I still haven’t seen much of it but I’m hoping the third time is a charm and I’m greeted with sunshine on the island!

Downloaded an app that simulates a pretty accurate polaroid!

One of the gifts Dan got me was this beautiful 1000 pieces puzzle titled Spring on Park Avenue. We started it on Sunday evening and made very good progress thus far – almost half the puzzle is done!

All in all, my birthday long weekend was truly a blessing and by far, the best birthday ever. I’ve never had a partner that put so much care and attention on my special day. He went above and beyond to make my day as magical as ever and I absolutely loved every minute of it, and so grateful to have someone like Dan in my life!

So, cheers to my 24th year on Earth! I wonder what comes of this year….

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Happy 22nd Birthday, Arcy!

April 3, 2015November 25, 2018 Claire @ Coffee with ClaireLeave a comment

I can’t believe I’m celebrating this girl’s birthday for the 8th time! It’s insane to think that in two years, it would be a decade since I met this girl aka it’ll be ten years since I started high school!

On Friday we went to Fur Elise for high tea. I’ve never had high tea before so the experience was great! I always thought how can these little sandwiches and pastries fill someone up buuuuut… it does. It fills you up a lot! It was about $30 for our high tea set – was it worth it? The food was good but I don’t see myself casually stopping by for high tea anytime soon.

After high tea, a lot of the girls had to return to work (and I just got out of work!) so we went to catch Cinderella. I haven’t caught a movie with the girls in such a long time, I missed it! I learned that no matter what movie we watch, Arcy and I would always start laughing and commenting on every detail of the movie.

On Saturday, we all met up again to hit the club… and yes, we went back to Republic. I think everyone knows I’m a Republic girl now…

I got straight bangs earlier that day as well! I seriously can’t wait for my hair to grow out… ugh.

After camwhoring and pre drinking at Arcy’s house, the party bus finally arrived. I haven’t been in a party since my ex’s 18th birthday…. and that party bus lacked drinks! The bus driver was cool enough to let us drink on board even though it was technically “illegal”.

I was drunk already… see the Asian glow?

The driver stopped at Stanley Park and yes, the picture shows exactly what I did… LOL

All them squats paid off 😉

Oh yeah, somewhere between getting off the party bus and entering the club, I ended up borrowing’s EJ’s phone to call Sukh… and… let’s just say, men don’t like it when girls borrow phones to dial another man LOL. Oops…

Cheers to another year with an amaaaaaaaazing bomb ass girl!

A Week of Birthday Shenanigans

October 28, 2014November 15, 2018 Claire @ Coffee with Claire4 Comments

This year, I turned 21 last Monday! I’m officially legal worldwide, whoooo! I spent my birthday in Portland for a few days and came back to a week of celebrations with friends. I won’t explain much, but I’d let the pictures explain.