welcome!

“I love you. I’ll be seeing you.” – Noah

Whatever happened to secret admirers, candy grams, and those boxed superhero Valentine’s Day cards you find at local drugstores?  As we get older, the innocence and excitement of Valentine’s Day often gets replaced with the pressure to have someone to watch The Notebook with.  We miss the simple days of getting up in the morning, eating chocolate for breakfast and counting the cards in the shoebox that sat on your desk at school all day!  The true test of one’s popularity index could only be correctly measured on this day.

So we started thinking – every year, starting in November, we spend hours looking for the perfect Christmas cards…then even more time writing out personal notes to all of our friends.  And every year, without fail, we forget to actually SEND them!  Why the simple task of walking to the post office and depositing the cards is too much to handle, we’ll never quite figure out.

But this year, we have an idea to rectify this conundrum: we’re bringing back the cheesy goodness of Valentine’s Day!  If you’re looking for a cute idea, march to the nearest drugstore, pick up a boxed set of Valentine’s Day cards, and send them to all of your friends.  Cheap, cute…and the best part?  No lineups at the post office.

Does anyone have Jake Gyllenhaal’s home address?

Party Dresses and Reef Sharks – Oh My!

Before we delve into the beautiful resorts and adventurous swimming sessions of Koh Tao, we wanted to bring some awareness to a Vancouver charitable organization that we support yearly – The Cinderella Project.  

This organization provides underprivileged high school graduates throughout Greater Vancouver with formal attire so they can attend their graduation festivities with pride. Without assistance, these students could not afford to participate in celebrating this important milestone.

“The Cinderella Project works to remove social barriers and promote inclusiveness and diversity. It recognizes outstanding young people who have succeeded in the face of overwhelming odds and boosts their confidence and self esteem through respect and positive mentorship.”

So how can you help out, you ask?  Well, for the ladies – we’re sure you’ve all heard the saying, “Always a bridesmaid, never a bride”.  If that rings slightly true for you (which, personally, is SO not true!  We think it’s only because we are such good-looking additions to the bridal photographs! ha ha), then your closet might resemble the one from “27 Dresses”.   To make room for new 2010 purchases, go through those lovely dresses, pick out the gorgeous ones that you don’t intend to wear again, and donate them to The Cinderella Project.   For you, they may evoke memories of too much wine and a bridal toss gone bad, but for a graduating student, they will be a large part of memories that will last a lifetime.

For more information on where to donate your dresses or to find out other ways you can help out (guys, you may not have a dress to donate but they are also looking for suits and tuxes), please visit their website at:
http://thecinderellaproject.com/index.htm

Now that we’ve cleared out that closet, you may wish to fill it again with resort wear, because we’ve got one more post from the beaches of Thailand:

So I am back in Bangkok after spending just over a week at the beach. 4 nights in Koh Samui followed by 3 nights in Koh Tao.

While walking Chaweng Beach in Koh Samui, I came across the most incredible resort for a destination wedding. If it is up to me, this is where I will get married: www.thelibrary.co.th.   If you appreciate design, you will love this place.

After Samui, we headed to Koh Tao, definitely one of my favourite islands in Thailand. What is interesting about the island is that there really isn’t much of a beach. The whole island is comprised of hotels on cliffs and there is one main little town that has the most INCREDIBLE restaurant! I’ve said it before and I will say it again, if you go to Koh Tao, you have to go to Papas Tapas- some of the best food I have ever had.

The best part of the trip was the boat trip we took around the island. Amazing snorkeling and…. we got to swim with sharks! I almost backed out at the last minute but knew that opportunities like this don’t come up often so sucked it up and got in. They were reef sharks so only eat plankton but it was still a little scary!

All in all, an amazing trip. If anyone would like any other information on Thailand, don’t hesitate to send me an email or give me a call, I would be glad to help. 

I am wrapping things up here in Bangkok and will be home on Tuesday. For the first time ever, I am looking forward to coming back. With a job like I have, why wouldn’t I be excited to get back to it!  Besides, I can’t leave Robyn to do all the work forever.

See you soon Vancouver!

The Life of Kai (well, some of us, anyways!)

Warning to readers:  Before perusing this blog post, please ensure that you lock all credit cards safely out of harms way.  You may find yourself making a sudden visit to the Expedia website to purchase one-way tickets to Thailand.  

Actually, scratch that.  Where’s my wallet? 

As mentioned in last weeks post, one of our lovely partners, Amanda, is spending the holidays with her family in Thailand.  For the next couple of weeks, she will be blogging about her travels to the beach and back.  Just two days from Christmas, here is the first of a few jealousy-inducing posts:

So here I am back in the land of smiles for the holidays. For some people, Christmas is not Christmas without snow, a fireplace and eggnog. For others, the only Christmas they know includes a fake tree, incredibly tacky Christmas displays at the local malls and a Santa with an accent.   Even though the Thai’s may not be the greatest at window displays, Christmas at the beach has always been what I believe to be the only way to spend the holidays! 

Last night my sister flew in and joined me at home in Bangkok. We headed out to our favourite place in the city, Kao Sarn road. This road is unlike any other road one would experience. For those of you that have never been, Kao Sarn road (pronounced cow san) is every backpacker’s dream. It is one long strip of hostels, restaurants and shops, some of which you may recognize from scenes from The Beach.  At night, the road fills up with pop-up bars, plastic stools are brought out and suddenly, you are witnessing a full-scale dance party, no cover required!  Talk about an opportunity for some event planning!

In the 20 years that my family has been here, I am pleased to say that Kao Sarn road is one of the few places in the city that has hardly changed. And for that, I am grateful!

Off to the beach on the 26th. Can’t wait, will keep you posted!

The “New” Breakfast of Champions!

Starting on December 1st, if you’re anything like us, your breakfast, lunch and dinner suddenly consists of chocolate, candy, and cookies.  Eating an apple as a snack?  Forget it!  But we figure that if there’s ever a time that one can properly justify the sudden rise in blood sugar is the holiday season.  Our personal motto is: “There are no calories in anything that has sprinkles, icing, or is coloured red or green”.  We’re sure we read that in a health magazine somewhere….

One woman who probably has a similar motto is Dylan Lauren.  The daughter of Ralph, she passed up a career in fashion and chose one that would tempt even the models on her father’s catwalk.  Dylan’s dream of combining her love of candy with a passion for art lead to the opening of “Dylan’s Candy Bar” in 2001.  Highly successful, her stores have become a Mecca for sugar fiends all over the States. 

And lucky for us Vancouverites, although we may not have a store in our city (yet!), we can now get our hands on some of Dylan’s treats in Holt Renfrew.  Perfect as stocking stuffers or as a substitute for an egg-white omelette, we think we may have to submit ourselves to the Christmas havoc in the mall and make a trip there ourselves. 

To find a cure for your sugar deprivation, more information on Holt Renfrew’s stock of Dylan’s Candy Bar can be found at:

http://www.holtrenfrew.com/holts/en/holiday-gift-guide/64371/Delight-Full-Gifts-Landing/#/

And P.S. – You may wish to make that trip to Holt Renfrew sooner than later as one of our partner’s, Amanda Patterson, is currently in Thailand and will be blogging about her favourite beaches, restaurants, and anything else that conjures up the green-eyed monster.  We will need a LOT of chocolate to help us deal with our jealousy.