Yummyweb.com

I decided to be housebound today and not head into the city to hang with Ritchy (my usual Saturday). Got 12 hours of sleep in (must have needed it), have watched 2 episodes of 24, went to the gym, am currently doing some laundry and just had Chinese food for dinner. Ordered it through this website called YummyWeb.com. I have not ordered Chinese food in the 16 months I've lived here (ordered pizza once) but was really craving it. The whole thing worked like a charm although they did call me 3 times because the women at the restaurant wrote down my credit card information wrong. I even got a free order of vegetables and cashew using a coupon available at the site.

As a singleton the delivery sometimes works out well. For $40 I've had dinner and have another 4 meals now tucked away in containers as well as a serving of soup. This almost makes me not want to cook. Of course, soon I won't have to cook because I will be stopping in at Rachel's for dinner as often as possible. Just a block and half away from Richard...

keeping my eyes peeled

The big buzz in Vancouver right now is the drop in realestate prices. Some claim it is a myth but since I've been watching I can tell you it is happening.

For instance; I offered on a place last month that had been on the market since May. It was awesome, great location, loved the layout and the building is new. They rejected my offer that was 8% below asking. Now, there is the same condo on the market one floor higher and they have a list price 3k below the one the floor below that I made an offer on. Ha! And there is another condo in the building that has just come on the market as well. Fire sale! Well, maybe not yet but this bodes well for me to buy something in the spring.

Still pumped about moving into my rental at the end of November. Spending too much time thinking about the furnishings I need for the fabulous layout (see picture). Do I use the flex space as a den/storage or just storage? Should I put my desk in the den or use that space as a reading area with my chaise and a bookcase? I need to buy a bed, couch, TV, TV stand and some bar stools so I am going furniture window shopping this weekend to see what is out there. Will also be checking craigslist.

whose the big winner?

I got it! I am going in to sign the lease tomorrow. Moving in the last weekend in November. So pumped! Feel like I won the lottery. Which makes no sense when I am paying a significant amount of rent. I did, of course, comparison shop, and the other 1 bedrooms in the same building are being rented for $200 more.

Watch out Chris! I am now just two blocks away. Can you say three's company? I will walking down Richards to ask Ritchy if I can borrow some flour. Wait...I don't cook.

The amenities look great so it is like I am joining a new gym. Which is awesome because the current gym I belong to is a 40 minute walk from my new place.

In another 'I'm all grows up' move I am going to hire movers rather than risk friendships and backs to get my stuff from Burnaby to Downtown.

My house/apartment warming will have to be closer to Christmas.

5 apartments in 4 hours

I spent over 4 hours today viewing apartments. 5 apartments. Here is the run down on them.

#1
I almost missed this place because I was late leaving Burnaby. That would have been shame because it is my top pick. Only downside is that it has built in cabinets in the bedroom so the closet is outside the bedroom. Other than that it is perfect. Gas stove, movable granite counter top island that acts as a breakfast bar, great hardwood floors, balcony you can fit a bbq on, great layout, 16th floor, seemed relatively quiet and it had a view. When the owner found out where I work we bonded because he knows a colleague. He saw the list of places that I am looking at and asked me to email if I found something else. I think that means I am in the running!!!!!!!!!!!

#2
Brutal. At $1425 it is over priced for 588 sq ft with no balcony on the 5th floor. Old building. Old appliances. Crappy layout. Cheap laminates. The realtor showing me the place found out I was looking at 3 more today and wanted me to email or call and let him know if the place is over priced. It is. By like $300.

#3
The building is the one next to Rachel's' and it faces the alley so I could totally spy on her working out in the morning. It is a nice place on the 3rd floor overlooking the courtyard but over priced at $1600. The owners seemed nervous about renting it out and the place was packed to the gills their crap making it difficult to imagine living there. No gym or pool. They emailed me after saying they would sublet the parking spot for me and bring the rent down to $1500 but it is still over priced. It did have front loading laundry and a balcony that could hold a bbq but I have decided not to apply.

#4
This one left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Why? Because they guy offered a one year lease OR you can get a 2 year lease for $200 more per month and that way they WON'T kick you out so they can rent it out during the Games. The greed made me want to punch the guy. He justified a 5k rent increase over 2 years by saying it made up for what he was losing by renting it out to me over the Games period. I almost, almost went off on him and told him what a mistake he was making. It was a 700 sq ft open single level loft style apartment that is brand new. On the 2nd floor of a building on Hastings. Super loud! No amenities and the parking is some weird off-site thing that would be a hassle to sublet. The place was beautiful but the whole thing was tainted by his greed. I put in an application and I hope I get it so I can say no thank you and give him a piece of my mind.

#5
Almost out of my league. Almost...
This was by far the nicest. Wicked view. Brand new. Great layout. I know I would sleep well here since the den is off the bedroom meaning there are two walls between me and the outside world when I am sleeping. And at just two blocks from Rachel's I already know a neighbor. It is in a brand new building that is half hotel, half condos. Just waiting to hear about whether the locals get to use the amenities because it has a wicked pool. What makes this affordable is that I can sublet the parking spot for $100 or more per month. I think I will get beaten out in the application process as it is available right now even though the ad said December 1st. I don't want it enough to throw away a months rent paying for two places at once.

Fingers crossed for #1 and #5. I texted my roommate to give him advance warning that I am planning on moving out. My excuse for the non-personal touch is that we are rarely home at the same time. That, and the fact that he came home at 1am and was making a ton of noise in the kitchen.

grind your own beans (Make-do Sally would)

So I am getting a bit out of control on the coffee making at home. This is my counter coffee set up. Electric espresso maker (I ruined the stove top one and had bought this for work but brought it home), fresh coffee beans, syrup, milk frother, a thermos to take the espresso to work and now, the coffee bean grinder. It has three settings and you set a dial to let it know how many cups of coffee worth you need.

I am now also looking at buying this cool milk frother for $100. The Italians at work have one and swear by it. The reality is that to buy a good espresso machine would cost me $800. All together these smaller machines will end up costing me $200. A little bit of justification...

Must go to bed so I can wake up and make myself coffee!

friends in the city

The rowers descended on Vancouver this weekend. All my national team rowing friends (minus the two that are still rowing and chose to race at Head of Charles in Boston instead of catch up with the rest of us) came to town for the weekend. 2 arrived from Calgary, another 2 from Toronto and then there are the 3 of us in Vancouver/New West.

All of us hasbeens were hosted by Rachel. Drinks and excellent cooking nourished us while we traded stories about what we are up to now, and reminisced about the years we spent training together 3 x a day 6 days a week. We walked the seawall and the out of towners enjoyed the view of the city and the fall leaves. Saturday night 6 out of 7 made it out the door to a bar. 3 out of 7 stayed out long enough to hit the Roxy after midnight. I think I was asleep at that point.

Brunch this morning at Subeeze and then they headed for the airport. So great to spend a weekend with people that know you really well. It was so relaxing and my abs hurt from laughing for 2 days.

dora needs a new pair of shoes

For some reason I realised last night, after arriving home from the amazing turkey dinner at Chach and Dave's, that I need shoes. Solid shoes to wear to work int he winter. Right now I am tiptoeing around on kitten heels, showing toe cleavage and exposing that maple leaf to the world. And, surprisingly, my feet are cold. So I need shoes that support my feet and will keep them warm. I looked on eBay. No great deals and nothing I wanted. So I looked on zappos.com. I found some sale shoes that I liked and that miraculously came in size 12. They are all reasonably heeled, wearable with dress socks if needs be and best of all they were all 40-50% off. Sweet.

Now I know Rachel will not like them. She will tell me they are not cute or attractive and they look like they just might be for an older person who is wearing compression hose with them. I already have a similar pair to these ones on the right but in brown and I love wearing them. My feet are happy and as I enter my 30s/old age that is the most important thing. I have lots of 4 inch heels kicking around that I just can't wear without limping after an hour. I get nervous when I have to walk between buildings at work...I can feel my feet cringing just thinking about it. But these shoes are going to get me through the winter.

I think with duty and taxes I ended up paying around $260 for 3 pairs of shoes but to me...they're priceless.