hello, my sweet

it's been a long time.

a long time since i watched the last episode of your first season,
lo, those many months ago. it was actually in january.

i told rob that watching season 2 and season 2.5 would be permissable AFTER we finished the ladyhawk doc. it would be our reward.

but with my great news this week, i couldn't resist you.

in episode 1, you made me laugh with this line:
"the bitch took my ride"

in episode 2, you took my breath away with half a dozen "heart-in-my-throat" story developments.

in episode 3, you reminded me of your gorgeous cinematography.

in episode 4, holy shit! 8 cylons on BG?....you made me want to spend the entire weekend watching the rest of season 2 and all of 2.5.

oh how i missed you.

barbarella

when i saw V for my haircut last week at barbarella salon on main and 16th ave, i noticed a stylist working to my right whom i've never seen before.

for the first five minutes i couldn't really get a good look at her face without turning me head (not allowed by V) so i had to s t r e t c h with my eyeballs.

what i immediately noticed was her sleeve tattooes and the large butterfly tattoo on her back.

she was in her late 30s and had the beautifully soft blond hair that all asian girls covet. oh how i covet it.

she also had a petite face and very beautiful large blue eyes with the long eyelashes.

and i thought: holy shit, she looks like jane fonda in barbarella!!!

even if this isn't true, i want the reason that the salon is named barbarella is because the owner looks exactly like sex kitten jane fonda in barbarella.

and so it is. in my world.

. . . . . .
in other news, i did the happy dance twice in the past 24 hours.

summary

so, the cleanse is finally over. it lasted a couple of days longer simply because i forgot to take the cleanse pills and thereby extended the whole enterprise.

i celebrated tonight with corn on the cob, 2 pieces of toast, some almond butter and cooked eggs. that was a bad idea; my stomach protested immediately.

overall, i felt pretty good during the cleanse. i didn't experience those energy highs and lows throughout the day. plus, my mornings were way more alert even when i didn't get a lot of sleep.

now, i didn't lose a ton of weight but it still feels significant.

this cleanse was pretty easy for me since i didn't radically change my diet. i had already been avoiding sugar and dairy and, well, you know about my recent issues with chicken.

overall = 5 out of 5 stars
ease of cleanse = beginner level
cost of cleanse = low to medium priced (especially when it goes on sale)
the good = more energy, lost some weight
the bad = had a super intense headache/nausea the first day

chinalily is.......

for you late-adopters (and never-adopters) to the phenomenon that is facebook, here's some twitter-type updates i haven't put in FB but have been thinking about:

chinalily IS actually glad for the humidity.
chinalily IS happy her tomatoes continue to grow.
chinalily IS feeling thinner now than when she started the cleanse.
chinalily IS hoping for good news.
chinalily IS back from the commercial drive festival and feels lucky to live in such a diverse neighbourhood.
chinalily IS looking forward to eating chocolate after the cleanse.
chinalily IS lethargic from an after-work nap.
chinalily IS lost in her thoughts.
chinalily IS fortunate her condo doesn't face the garbage bin.

best japanese in town

this just in.........

zakkushi is the best japanese restaurant in town.
they have 2 locations:
on 4th and burrard, 1833 west 4th, 604-730-9844
on denman and robson, 823 denman, 604-685-1136

www.zakkushi.com (website still under construction)

they specialize in charcoal grilling of seafood and veggies with 3 sauces to choose from.

i went this past wednesday with Y. i had the zucchini and it came with a citrus-soy dip. so delicious. and since i was still on the cleanse, i had the salad with pork and a partially cooked egg. yummy.

Y had the steak, scallops grill, prawn grill, avacado & negitoro wrapped in rice paper, and more that i can't think of.

but the thing that blew me away was their almond pudding. it was only $1.90 and came in a thin wine glass but the flavour was strongly comforting. it wasn't anything close to jello pudding - banish that association right now. it was creamy and tasty without all the starch and sugar. they even put shaved almonds on top. i've been dreaming of the pudding ever since.

*** WARNING: make reservations ***

2 things

One: did anyone else notice that the rain falling in the north-eastern most part of vancouver around 4:40pm today felt particularly soft? even on my windshield, the droplets were round and content. none of that angry, beating you down with the harshest raindrops business. anyone? anyone?

Two: the lock mechanism on the passenger side has (for the past few days) taken to imitating the sound of a wookie. everytime i start the car, the locks engage and it's: hello, chewbacca.

as you were

dirty living

thanks for asking, here's the blow by blow details about my cleanse since i last posted.

day 3: thursday__________
i feel fine. normal.

day 4: friday_________
still feeling good

day 5: saturday_________
can't really count this a day 5 as i didn't take my cleanse pills and ate sugar. ahh, sweet sugar. how i missed you. rob and i went to the richmond night market saturday night. need i say more? well, how about what i ate that night: sago with coconut milk and shaved ice with chocolate and strawberries. so delicious and full of sugar.

i was telling people at work today that about 1 minute after eating that first bit of sugar, i actually felt dizzy. dizzy with sugar love!

day 5: sunday__________
so saturday didn't really count and so sunday is day 5. i didn't feel weird of anything. everything is normal. and i mean everything.

day 6: monday__________
i feel fine. nothing different.

. . . . .
i was warned to take only half the laxative pills as they're pretty strong but i've been taking the required amount and nothing "irregular" has been occurring, if you know what i mean.

. . . . .
also, i think i've let my toe nails grow a bit too long now. now i need to go to one of those nail places. someone told me about a place on granville street (downtown) that was good but i can't remember which one. if you told me this info, can you remind me the name of the place?

clean living

as i lay in bed monday night, i felt my stomach and thought: hmmmm, why is my stomach not lying down with me?

and thus the motivation for the cleanse program, which was purchased a year ago, was born.

my cleanse kit is the seemingly popular wild rose herbal detox. and i have the 12 day one. what was i thinking? 12 days? i can't even exercise for 12 days straight.


day 1: tuesday_________________
at 9am i take herbal pills. headache begins to build at 11am.

i have 2 vendor presentations to sit through until 4pm. by the time the last vendor leaves, my headache is in FULL ACTIVATION. we're talking borderline migraine territory plus i'm feeling slightly pukey.

i get home at 5:30pm and think i'll go grab a vegetarian dinner on the drive. but after walking just half a block away from my building, i turn around because the nausea is so intense i think i'm actually going to hurl.

i'm in complete misery and lie down.
i wake up at 9pm to the absence of headache and nausea. hooray!

i walk, without incident, to the vegetarian place to obtain the "chef's special." it is delicious.

i go to bed at 12pm and sleep extremely well.


day 2: today_________________
i wake up refreshed and energetic. go to work. take pills.
i feel totally fine all day.

i'm glad i made it to freaking day 2. what an achievement!!
only 10 more days......ugh

////////////...//////////////
in other news
1) can't tell, it's a secret. hehe.
2) rob and i will be catching david lynch's latest cinematic endeavour, inland empire, this thursday night at the vancity theatre.
3) we start working on the actual full length documentary this saturday with decisions on the structure.
4) bumped into my ex in the hallway on sunday and he informed me that he (and his woman and her daughter) are moving this week. he tells me that he's bought a townhouse in burnaby. YES, this means no more me pretending i don't know him whenever i bump into him and his woman. i'm not kidding.
5) uh, i'm sorry, have i been accidentally transported to calgary or toronto? how else can i explain today's freaking hot temperature?
6) monster tomato plant is finally on track with growing the actual tomatoes. hooray!!

mysteries

/ why does a 4 day work week feel just as long as a 5 day work week?
/ how come i'm not more stressed about revamping the wedding biz website?
/ how come i'm not losing weight even though i'm running again?
/ how is it that making dinner from scratch sometimes costs as much as going out for dinner?

what's not a mystery is that's TODAY IS FRIDAY and it's sunny and i just came back from a run with rob and i feel extremely lucky and happy with life.

the TO DO LIST for me this weekend include:
> find wood shelf brackets for potential new kitchen shelves
> decide that i shouldn't be wasting time on shelf brackets and instead be figuring out what to do for whole lower cabinet area
> find myself at restoration hardware looking at shelf brackets, decide it's way too expensive there and visit lee valley tools to see what they have
> half way to lvt, remember that it's cabinets i should be looking at and stop in on a few antique stores on main street
> get distracted by hip clothing stores: smoking lily, hum, front
> wander into the republic of text and lose track of time as i decide if i should use their stationery when sending the ladyhawk trailer to the record label
> go home, wonder where the day went, water the tomatoes, and remember i really need to decide on lower cabinets

**the still above is a shot of a cemetery on the hills of kelowna close to where rob's sister lives. this was taken in february**

summer to me

so my tomatoes plants are currently 6 feet tall. hence they are taller than me and i consider them monster tomatoes. alas, no tomatoes have actually grown. instead just many long limbered tomato branches that smell GREAT when you handle them.

i have this strong association to just the smell of tomato branches that directly connects me to the feeling of summer. sure, the actual tomato would help, too.

other things that mean summer to me include:
> fiona apple's tidal cd
> driving with all the windows open and my hand is sticking out the window surfing the wind
> the stillness of a summer afternoon with the background noise of children playing and the lack of any deadlines

. . . . . . . . .
in other news, rob and i have finalized the ladyhawk trailer and am now working on reducing some white noise. above is another still from the doc.

also, i've learned to curb my addiction to facebook and am glad for it.

additionally, i'm letting my toenails grow out in preparation for a pedicure.

please discuss amongst yourselves.

bits and bobs

rob showed what a great boyfriend he is when he, without complaint, came with me to ethan's bday party yesterday.

i had a lot of fun helping out a bit with the party and watching the kids go nuts. kids are cute and great when you don't have to take them home.

....................................

in other news, we caught the matinee showing of Paris Je T'aime at the Fifth Ave and was completely and utterly blown away. the film is a collection of shorts by world famous cinema directors about their love of Paris.

i was (suprisingly) very pleased with oliver assayas' short, however, was expectedly disappointed by christopher doyle's entry. the stories were, above all, extremely well acted and well written. the last one, by alexander payne, put the nail in the coffin for me and i just let the tears flow.

this is on our "must purchase" list.