So it was Wednesday, on Wednesday, and what does Wednesday mean? It means its time to hang out with Claudia and Alicia. Because you know, we aren’t allowed to hang out any other day during the week.

We started off the evening with Alicia being highly racist. At least her tits look fabulous. Enjoy.

And we carried on the evening with Claudia wearing her sweater inside out. She did this all day.

We decided to go to Ikea because Claudia wanted to make some purchases and since she doesn’t have a car she needs someone to drive her. Plus the stuff she was looking at buying was heavy, and she is tiny. This is where we stepped in.

We decided to go to IKEA for dinner as well. Now I have eaten the hot dogs and the cinnamon buns, and I know they have a little restaurant upstairs but I’ve never been so I didn’t know what to expect. Alicia assured me it was a good idea.

Oh, I’m sorry, whats this? A bottle of Wine, Pasta, Garlic Bread, and Cake for $8. OMG!!! Greatest discovery of my LIFE!

Now, as an Italian, I am very particular about my pasta, but for 99 cents this stuff was damn good. The noodles were little al dente but the sauce was money.

We were in heaven. Everything was so cheap and looked so good.

Thank you Ikea, thank you.

Claudia was beyond giddy, and with the day we all had, a glass of wine was well deserved. I still can’t get over Ikea selling booze. Its that even legal???

I told Chad we are going to Ikea for our anniversary dinner next year. I want to go back right now.

I still can’t get over the food.

Oh hey guys, pose for me would you?

Table Dancing.

I don’t think Ikea is up to date on their fashions.

These two girls are trouble.

FACE

Mirror Delights

Is it just me or does my body look weird here? Like my stomach is sticking out or something?

Chad is insanely anal about the side of wine glasses we have. We bought 6 a long time ago from Ikea that are actually quite large. I enjoy drinking from them but he HATES them. He uses the medium size stemless glasses we have for dinner and the small stemless glasses for lunch. Anyways, gets annoyed when we have to serve wine in the GIANT glasses and wanted to buy a set of smaller ones (that we have no room for) so I was looking at the new ones Ikea carries, but they still weren’t right. Srsly. SO PICKY.

When my Dad lived on the farm they use to have a cowhide rug (naturally). It was so beautiful and I loved it. Who knows where it is now, but I so want one of my own. Ikea sells them for a friggin arm and a leg, but I guess we have no room for one. Maybe for the new house, just maybe, I will get Chad to buy me one. PLLLLEEEEEAAAASSSEEE.

Oh hey look. Chad.

The Epic Mission of Claudia Carrying the Carpet.

The thing is bigger then her.

Excellent shopping trip guys!

For 30 bucks I got…

• 2 rolls of Christmas Wrapping Paper
• 3 packs of Candle Sticks
• 2 Glass Bowls
• 1 pack of Napkins
• 1 pack of Bag Clips
• 1 Pant Hanger

Hahaha, such a great collection of random crap.

Well…that was by far the most exhausting trip I’ve ever been on. I really had no idea what I had gotten myself into, but 12 hours of shopping, and meeting with sales reps, and walking around, and driving from one part of the city to the next almost every day, was more then my little body could handle. I don’t know how Claudia and the boss do this 4 times a year. Though, I have a feeling that now that I’ve done it once, its going to be a regular occurrence. The boss is getting older and already has a calendar full of trips that she takes, so I’m sure she would be more then happy to hand off a few of those to a capable assistant. And since I’ve done it once, and am quite comfortable with the surroundings and situations, I would be happy to go again, even though I WILL complain about how exhausting it all is.

The only celebrity sighting of the trip was Jesse Metcalfe. Lame beyond lame. I’m also 98% sure that while dining at Chin Chin on Sunset, Steve Carell walked by in a plaid fedora and smiled at me as I stared at his face trying to figure out why he looked so familiar. The only reason I didn’t name him as a celebrity sighting was because I didn’t have Claudia to confirm the sighting so it could have just been all in my head. Though I’m 98% sure it was definitely him.

Thanks to Alicias keen eye and fashion skills, she informed us that Target was currently selling a pair of boots that looked exactly like those made by Frye but for only $50. Needless to say, Claudia and I made a stop and both made the purchase! Real leather boots, that look like $300 boots, for 50 bucks. It’s a no brainer.

I also went nuts in Forever 21 and blew my budget on jewellry.

I am also majorly obsessed with the leopard print quilted change purse I got at Marc by Marc Jacobs. Had it not been at the end of the trip and had I not run out of money, I would have bought the clutch too.

Koi was amazing. Clearly the best Sushi I have ever had. No celebrity sightings, but one of the most amazing experiences and meals I’ve ever had the pleasure of partaking in.

The only downside to the whole trip was yesterday.

As we are about to board the plane back to Vancouver, an airline employee happened to take a look at Claudia’s Canadian Residency Visa. While Claudia has lived in Canada for the majority of her life, she still has her Chilien passport and is a landed immigrant in Canada. I don’t really understand all the specifics but as it turned out, her Visa had expired. So there we are, about to board the plane, and Claudia gets taken away and I am left standing there not knowing what the hell is going on. I stand by the gate waiting for her to return, thinking she’ll be back shortly. The entire plane boards and there is no Claudia. I get asked to board the plane as ‘it is not likely my friend will make this flight’. I’m sorry…WHAT!?

I boarded the plane in shock. I had no idea what is going on and I was actually quite panicked. They called me up to the front of the plane, only to tell me that they didn’t know when Claudia would be able to fly back home, but I would have to pick up her luggage in Vancouver as it was already on the plane. Both Claudia’s phone and my phone were dead so we couldn’t even message each other. I was left with no other information. I felt so helpless.

Sitting in the seat, all by myself, extremely worried about Claudia, I realized that there was absolutely nothing I could do so there was no point getting all worked up. I was seconds away from bursting into tears because I had never been on a plane all by myself, and as much as I knew everything would be fine and it wouldn’t be that difficult, I was just so freaked out about everything that has just happened.

The flight was fine and I landed in Vancouver, picked up both our luggage, drove home and immediately phoned the boss. Claudia had left a message on her phone so she was a little bit more in the loop then I was, but not by much. The last she heard was that they were putting her on a plane to Seattle so that she could talk to the Canadian Consulate this morning. Other then that there was nothing anyone could do.

I was basically upset all last night. Here, Claudia and I had had this awesome experience in LA, we had lived together for 5 days and had bonded, and then all of a sudden she was ‘taken away’ with out knowing what was going on. I know that sounds dramatic but its exactly how I felt.

Anyways, I got a txt from her last night around 11 that she had made it home, after 3 flights and $200. I don’t know what happened to her, but I will have to find out this morning.

It was a very dramatic and stressful way to end the trip. Ugh.

There is a reason why school ends at 3pm. Because everyone wants to take a nap at 3pm and waste the rest of the afternoon. I hate 3pm because every day I sit here and yawn 15 times and wish I could go home. It also doesn’t help when your husband phones you to tell you hes sitting a top Burnaby Mountain sun tanning. Ugh.

Anyways, here is something you can be jealous about…

So…Dario, Pat, wanna go on an English Bay Sun Set Photo Walk soon???

Going to spend a quiet Friday night by myself. Mr. Ciavarro is going out with the boys and I am left to do laundry, organize Facebook photo albums (did you know you can now upload 200 pictures per album…I KNOW!) and thanks to some info from Miss Keira-Anna I am going to watch Blossom on TLC’s What Not To Wear!

Sounds absolutely perfect to me!

Girls in the Summer