Chocolates and flowers - two things abundant during this time of year. For some, it's a splendid affair, for others it's just a normal school or work day, as Valentine's fell on a Tuesday.

I've gotten my fair share of "normal" Valentine's day and I'm glad that it's now become a little extra special. I wasn't expecting much this year as we're actually headed down to California the day after V-day (hello from Cali!) and would be vacationing and eating out a lot while there. But we've made last minute plans to have our Valentine's dinner in Vancouver on the day itself as there actually won't be time for us to have diner by ourselves. We're only there with Nick's family for a few days so we figured it's better not to spend any time away from them.

week 6/52: a little parish

We've been experiencing heavy snowfall since last week, resulting in my house claiming me. I have become one with my house at the moment and refuse to leave its warmth and comfort. I'm a terrible driver in the snow, that much I'd admit, and deathly scared of black ice on the roads as I've experienced doing an unintentional donut. Not an experience I'd like to have again, thank you over much.

week 5/52: snow belles

The day after my cousin finally arrived in Canada, snow started pouring and we quickly became blanketed in white. Vancouver has become a winter wonderland. At least it does look like it in our parks. And though the city roads have become a huge parking lot of piled up crashed cars, snowboarders were quick to grab their boards out and actually board on the roads. So you lose some, and then you win some.

week 4/52: seoul soup

With winter comes the possibility of snow, even in rain-soaked Vancouver. We actually had a downpour of snow for days without letting up that roads have been closed, cars crashed, trains stopped working, and people just worked from homes. We clearly do not know how to function in snow.

week 3/52: tea in paris

As Nick was setting up his new laptop, Cortana showed him interesting places nearby and one of them was an afternoon tea place, Adorabelle Tea Room, just a short five-minute drive from us. I'm a lover of all things vintage and English (I have Downton Abbey on every time I'm doing my chores) so the British afternoon tea has always been a fancy of mine and was only glad to go.

week 2/52: all smiles

Ah, finally! An instant camera that can take decent self-portraits! Even with the mirror on the Mini 90, I clearly need to frame it better. I should've listened to Nick, he was actually telling me to move it more towards him but because it looked right centered on the mirror, I didn't listen. Note to self: listen to hubby!

week 1/52: pines and golds

The very first shot I took with my Fujifilm Instax Mini 90 is this macro shot. I've been frustrated with my Mini 8 for lacking the quality to take close up shots as it's really not built for that. My frustrations really just stem from me forgetting that I'm not using a DSLR camera when taking photos with the Mini 8.

So learning that among Mini 90's features include a macro mode, I was quite excited to test it out. It did not disappoint! For an instant camera to be able to capture such sharp shots in close range is nothing short of impressive.