From Vancouver to New York!!! Shopping, food and more!

Only 4 more sleeps and I'm off to NY with my sister! How exciting! Two Vancouver sisters taking on Manhattan! I've been a few times already, but it's my sister's first time and let's just say that she wants to see "Everything!!" We'll be going to a lot of the usual touristy spots plus mixing in some shopping too. I know our feet will be burning everyday!! Our plans include going to the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the Empire State Building, the Metropolitan Museum, the MOMA, the Guggenheim, Museum of Natural History, the NY Public Library, Wall Street, Chinatown, Little Italy, the Brooklyn Bridge, Times Square, SOHO, Tribeca, Greenwich Village, Chelsea, 5th Avenue shopping, Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Barney's, Saks Fifth Avenue, Century 21, Loehmann's, and so on...you ge the picture!

We have our itinerary all ready for our six day trip. It's action packed and we plan to get the most out of it while on a budget. First of all, we plan to walk a lot and then we're also planning to buy the Metro card for unlimited rides on the subways and buses for seven days which is only $25. The other plan is to enjoy all of the fabulous street food that NY has to offer. I've researched numerous sites as to where the best food carts are and there are tons, so we definitely won't go hungry. I can't wait to try out the highly regarded 53rd and 6th cart which boasts long line-ups into the wee hours of the morning. I've already mentioned to my sister that to make the most out of it, we're going to get food for takeout and also share smaller portions, so we'll be able to sample a lot more of what NY has to offer. I'm a curry fanatic and I'm so excited to know that the apartment we rented in Murray Hill is surrounded by lots of Indian restaurants and smaller take out places. That's the plan for our first night...check in, pick up some quick supplies at the grocery store, then "curry time!"

The Citypass is another great deal that we plan to take advantage of too. It gives us six major NY attractions for $74, so we save $60 from the normal value of $134. We'll bargain and haggle in Chinatown for our souvenirs to bring back home to our families. I think we'll probably end up with a few "Coach", "Gucci"or "Pradas" from some of the vendors down in Chinatown too. That in itself is quite the experience! Imagine being guided up six flights of stairs into a little factory area..or down the stairs towards the subway only to be guided into a little store with a tight little hidden room on the side...these are only two samples of some of the interesting places I've been to just in the name of high fashion. It has been worth it though for all of the compliments I've received back home. We don't have access to the same quality of goods back here in Vancouver, so I guess I'll need to stock up again when I'm there. Sigh, what torture....NOT!!!!!

Power shopping is the key to our trip. With so many sights to see, I intend to power shop any and every chance that I get! My favourite places to get great deals are: Century 21, Strawberry, Loehmann's, Macy's and Daffy's. It's easy to spend hours and hours in the Century 21 store. I'm just glad they open super early at 7:45am, so that I can get more shopping in before the store gets super crowded as the day goes on. Make sure to check out their extra clearance racks. I got a Krizia denim jacket for only $19.99 and the regular price was well over $160. There are great deals at many of these discount stores. Another example is that on my last trip, I found a Nicole Miller sample wool coat from Daffy's for only $59.99. What a steal! I intend to find more great deals this time, but I'll have to be quick about it as there is just so much sightseeing to fit in.

A vist to NY is not complete without going to some Broadway shows too! We're excited to watch "Wicked" and "Young Frankenstein"...both should be a blast! Times Square is so alive, so it's hard not to like unless of course, you just don't like crowds. There is so much going on there and most of the shops are open super late too which is an extra bonus for those who love shopping...like me!

So, four more sleeps and off to the magical city of NY...I can't wait!!!

Review on "Mirrors" Movie starring Keifer Sutherland

On Friday night, my hubby and I decided to go and check out this latest Keifer Sutherland flick. We're big fans of "24", so we thought it would be fun to watch a scary movie starring one of our favourite prime time actors. It was actually better than we had expected it to be. The main premise of the movie is that Keifer's character is a detective on a leave for having shot a fellow police officer to death by accident. He is separated from his wife and currently living with his younger sister. To pay the bills, he takes a job as a security guard for an old department store that had suffered a big fire five years earlier. The store is still boarded up and going through a legal battle with the insurance company, so his job is just to watch it during the night shift. He starts seeing things in the mirrors and soon becomes involved in a mystery surrounding the old store. I don't want to give away too much, so I won't go into too many other details. The movie was quite chilling and spooky in some areas and it's definitely worth catching if you like to be entertained in this way. We both rate it a 7 out of 10.

Air Supply at the Vancouver PNE!

Last night it poured in typical Vancouver fashion, but we didn't let it dampen our spirits. Air Supply was due to play at 7:30pm and at least I was super excited about it. It was my first time to see them live and it was free with my PNE admission. What a deal! We got there around 5:30pm and it was already busy. We set our chairs down on the lawn and basically took turns walking around the fair before getting settled back into our seats. I took off with my hubby to look at the prize home and the C Lovers fish and chips were calling our name on the way back, so of course we had to get some! Yum!! By the time we got back to our seats, the entire lawn was packed...it was still pouring, so basically we were surrounded by a sea of umbrellas.

The show started promptly at 7:30pm and it was awesome! I have to applaude my brother and my sister too...my brother had a tripod set up to record the concert, but because everyone stood up for the concert with their umbrellas, it was hard to see the stage. He had to lift the tripod up into the air over the umbrellas for the entire concert that lasted 90 minutes! My sister was getting her workout for the night as she basically held up an umbrella over the camera for the entire concert too. They sang their greatest hits and even had a new number to share with us as well too from a new CD that will be released soon. It was so nice to sing along with "All Out of Love", "Even the Nights are Better", "Two Less Lonely People in the World" and much much more. Even after so many years, Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock have still got what it takes to entertain a huge crowd. We loved every minute and it was only when the concert ended that I realized how cold I was from the rain. All of us were soaked! Oh well, it was worth every minute to me! We left happy and I just know I'll be humming Air Supply tunes for the next little while.

Sisters watching "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2"

I just got back from watching this movie which I'm sure you've all heard about recently. I'm not really the target market as I'm 39, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I guess I'm a sucker for a chick flick. Especially one where Lena wears all of these lovely summer dresses. I know the story is about the "pants", but boy did the dresses shine through! Can you tell I'm loving the dresses?!! It's just a fun movie showcasing the relationships and problems these young woman are facing during their summer holidays. The other scene stealer is Santorini. I've never made it to Greece yet, but it's definitely in the works for the next couple of years. I won't waste your time by going into the other details of this movie. Just watch it and enjoy all of the emotions that are conjured up!

My sister managed to get us free passes to this movie, so "free" is always good to me! My 16 year old neice and her best friend also joined us, so it was definitely a girl's night out. In fact, the whole theatre was girls only. My sister is seven years older than I am...we fight lots, laugh lots and truly are great friends too, but don't tell her I said that...ha ha... We all enjoyed the movie and had a great time, so that's all that's important for now......

Free concerts at the PNE!

Talk about "Blasts from the Past" appearing at the 2008 PNE this year in Vancouver! I bought a season's pass this year and boy is it paying off. Where else can you go and enjoy free concerts for a fraction of what normal concert tickets are going for these days?!!?

The line-up this year for the free concerts is amazing...too bad there just isn't enough time to go to everything. My first concert was the Bacon Brothers and that was great fun...who knew Kevin Bacon could sing? I like his movies, but he did a great job with his big bro to entertain the crowd. My fave so far was definitely Sheena Easton. I was a teen in the 80's, so it was just so much fun to listen to all of her big hits again. She dazzled the crowd with her witty humour and boppy hits. It made me feel like a kid again. I also saw Sass Jordan just the other day and she really knows how to rock it out. I've enjoyed seeing her on Canadian Idol over the past years, so it was neat to actually see her practice what she preaches on the show. You can tell that she puts a lot of heart into her performances and it really does pay off.

Two more sleeps to go and then it's Air Supply on Tuesday night. I'm very excited about that. I know I'll be singing along with all of those love songs for sure. I'll keep you posted on this last week at the fair...it looks like a good one despite the rain!

How I became "The Eye"

For as long as I can remember, my friends have been calling me "the eye". I can't remember exactly when it started, but it probably did sometime back in our late teens when we finally had more money to actually spend on shopping. I remember our obsession with the Abby Kanak boutique and all of the lovely dresses in there. We couldn't afford the regular prices on the clothing in there, but boy did we go crazy in there once the sales were on. I think most of our paycheques went to the Abby Kanak fashion empire back in those days. We didn't make a lot of money and boy did we know how to spend it!

I've always had a thing for fashion and the ability to find things not only for myself, but for my friends too. I was dubbed "the eye" and I've been going strong ever since. I've studied fashion design and really enjoyed doing that, but now that I'm older, I realize that my true passion is shopping and finding awesome deals. I never like to pay regular price for anything, so I like to scour the sale racks and sniff out those deals. I haven't shopped much over the last few days as I'm saving up for my upcoming New York trip. That is definitely a shopper's paradise! Usually I'm at the mall at least twice a week, but as NY is only two weeks away, I think I'll survive until then. More on NY and the food and fashion there to come.......

The quest for the ultimate curry recipe!

Searching for all curry makers out there!

I love curries...all types..Indian, Thai, Malaysian, Jamaican, and the list goes on....my only issue is that it seems to be really hard to duplicate an authentic Indian curry at home. I've tried a few recipes here and there, but they never taste like my favourite curry at the Indian restaurant that we frequent. I've browned the onions first in oil, then added my garlic and ginger...then spices, but I must be doing something wrong as I can't seem to get that really intense flavour that I enjoy so much when I'm eating out. That rich red curry with the delightful flavours of cumin and coriander...please help me! Please share your authentic recipes with me and I would be eternally grateful!

I must admit that my favourite curries tend to be the Indian ones, but in truth, I've never met a curry that I didn't like. Please share any curry recipes that you may have, so that we can hopefully come up with the ultimate curry recipe.

I guess I should stock up now on all of my spices and pastes now in anticipation of the yummie eats to come! Thanks in advance everyone!