It's Monday again already? Last week just flew by and I can't believe how exhausted I am! I'm currently in my clinical rotation for a two week time period, and I just don't seem to be getting enough sleep at all. The more sleep I get, the more tired I become. Anyone have tips for me? Maybe I should take a break from life.. haha

So I finally got my hands on the OPI Euro Centrale collection for Spring 2013, and there's a wide variety of shades with names inspired by the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania. Seems like they're really liking Europe hey? After all, we just had the Holland collection last year!

First in line to be shared is yet another Polish shade celebrating Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, Executive VP & Artistic Director. Suzi's Hungary AGAIN is a wannabe coral pink creme shade, similar to many of the pink polishes out there. There's nothing about it that screams unique, and I found the polish to be slightly thicker than usual, making it a little more difficult to apply. I experienced some dragging with the brush, so at two coats, the finish wasn't completely opaque (as seen above). However, the polish wore beautifully and chip free for up to four days, with minimal signs of wear on the fifth day. It's too bad there wasn't more that stood out to me about this shade, or I'd definitely like it more.

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have known I was given the opportunity to drive the new 2013 Escape for a week courtesy of Ford Canada. I definitely live up to the Asian stereotype and drive my Civic from day to day, so driving a non-Asian manufactured car was never really in my plans. It was a totally unexpected opportunity, but I was up for a change to ride around in an SUV! And to tell you the truth, as an avid Amazing Race fan, I knew that the Escape came with park assist and a hands free lift gate which I was beyond excited to try out.

Being a student and shopaholic, there's not too much I want out of my vehicle. I need it to get me from point A to B, have a smooth ride, be fuel efficient, and have a large enough capacity to carry my day to day needs and lots of shopping bags after a stressful day at school (I am totally serious). Aesthetics are a major bonus too - what? I'm so vain.

So let's start off with the looks and feel. The new design of the Escape is much sleeker than those of the past, and is equipped with headlights comprised with bright strips of LEDs. The vehicle itself didn't feel too big, but there was plenty of space in the interior for both the driver and passengers to be comfortably seated, with plenty of headroom to spare. The interior was lined with soft-touch plastic and glossy trim here and there, with seats covered in a smooth leather. The dark interior was contrasted with beautiful blue lighting (so pretty at night!), and the MyFord Touch system was integrated in the centre of the console.

The touchscreen system was easily accessible, and very easy to use. Synchronization with my phone to play music and make calls was quick, and the built in navigation system and dual climate control was pretty impressive. This vehicle utilizes a Sony system with amazing sound quality, so you can imagine I was blasting music everywhere I went. The only difficulty was that the Bluetooth synchronization with my phone wasn't always automatic, and I had to play around with disconnecting and reconnecting my phone more than twice during that week.

Being a top of the line vehicle, I would say the Escape was very technologically advanced. From quick heating seats to keyless entry and a push-start ignition, it was equipped with a rear view camera, front and rear sensors with audible alarms, blind spot sensors and cross-traffic sensors. Talk about awesome, as I didn't have to worry while driving this larger vehicle since it was looking out for my safety, too! I found the blind-spot monitoring system to be a little faulty, as it kept sensing the side of the bridge I was driving on as a vehicle.

I will admit to being a little (okay maybe more than a little) speed demon on the road, and I loved that the Escape was able to accelerate and keep up with my jam packed schedule when rushing from school, to work, and home. The 4WD provided great traction on the road in icy spots, and it felt really safe driving around corners and turning at higher speeds. After spending a week with the Escape, I’ve gotta say that I quite enjoy driving SUV’s. Being able to sit up higher allows for a better view of the road, and the smooth ride of this new vehicle really helped ease the frustrations driving over Edmonton’s pothole-d roads. Seriously, I think we are the pothole capital of Alberta.

One of the coolest features for me had to be the Active Park Assist, where the car completes parallel parking for you. I was worried having to parallel park a larger vehicle, but the programmed parking assistance was AWESOME! You control the speed, while the vehicle controls the turning of the wheel. The first time was a little frightening, seeing the wheel turn right before my eyes, and the car was parked tightly into a space I never would've attempting parallel parking into. So cool.

Another great feature was the hands-free power liftgate, where a simple wave of your foot under the trunk of the vehicle unlocks and opens it for you within seconds. When your hands are full of groceries or shopping bags, not having to juggle everything to fish for your keys out of your bag or pockets is so convenient. The trunk is also quite roomy, giving me enough space to stow my junk (backpack, purse, random shoes and clothes, textbooks) and even make a power trip to Costco - my family has weekly apocalypse shopping trips there, and the trunk space stood up to the test!

Being both a student and having a shopping problem pretty much means I need to see where I spend my money. As listed for the Escape, fuel consumption is 9.8L/100 km in the city, and 6.9L/100 km on the highway. This to me was amazing, considering my Civic performs just slightly better. However, for a week of city driving (and a little bit of my speedy habits), I had used up 3/4 of a tank of gas, putting my driving at about 13-14L/100km. While its not terrible, its good to keep in mind that the numbers don't exactly line up. There are many models of the Escape out there to choose from, and for the week I was driving around in the 2.0 L EcoBoost Titanium 4WD model. With all the extras included, the vehicle came out to just under $43 500 (excl. GST), which isn't exactly a price I would be willing to pay. However, most models start at $21 500, and the options added on top are up to you.

I did really enjoy spending time driving the 2013 Ford Escape, and was pretty sad to have to give it back after a week. The smooth ride, integrated technology and aesthetic appeal really grew on me - test it out for yourself and see what you think.

Disclaimer: This vehicle was provided courtesy of Ford Canada. I was not expected to feature this vehicle on my blog, nor obligated to do so. This post is 100% my opinion, and as always, my priority is to you, the reader, to present an unbiased, thorough review.

A couple weeks ago while I was allowing the internet to entertain me, I came across an ad for a new Japanese restaurant opening up in Edmonton. Replacing the recently closed One One Eight was Japonais Bistro, promising modern Japanese cuisine & a sake bar. After that initial exposure to the ad, I saw it over & over. Their marketing worked really well in their favour and they hyped up the anticipation for their opening.

Japonais Bistro - 11806 Jasper Avenue - Edmonton AB

While their grand opening is slated for March 8th, I noticed that they were running a couple "pre-opening" nights of dinner service, so I found a friend willing to venture out to check out their menu. I never had a chance to visit One One Eight while they were around, but I have to say regardless of how much renovating was done, the interior of the restaurant is lovely. The dark furniture, rustic brick walls and large mirrors work really well with the dim lighting. The place is clean, and still smells like paint, but after being broken in, this is going to be a great location for a nice dinner date.

The menu was quite extensive, and intriguing to say the least. With lots of options, I probably stared at the menu for a good ten minutes, not really knowing what I wanted to eat, but wanting to try out a lot of dishes! If anything, they seem to be leaning towards rolls as their specialty, with 20 different options available. There are also lots of fun appetizers too, so there's definitely something for everyone. To start off the meal, we had Beef Tataki ($12.95): seared beef, fresh ground daikon, red onion, green onion, with ponzu & sesame dressing. The beef was thinly sliced, tender, and sitting in a delicious ponzu - not overly salty which was a great change compared to many other restaurants. I only wish there was more of it in the dish!

Those of you that have followed my food adventures long enough will know that I can't eat raw fish. Unless its Ahi tuna, in which case sign me right up. But if you tell me that a fish is going to be seared, that's a great option. Our second dish was the Jalapeno Yellowtail ($16.95): seared yellowtail with jalapeno, cilantro & ponzu sauce, served with tobiko atop the fresh jalapeno. Turns out the sashimi was seared only on one side, but I loved this dish. The fish was fresh and had a great mouth feel. The texture from the tobiko, heat from the jalapeno, and sweet & spicy ponzu sauce worked really well together. Huh? I ate raw fish? This was one of my favourites from the night!

Next up was something completely different - we decided on an interesting take on sushi pizza with the Spicy Tuna Pizza ($14.95): spicy tuna paste, shitake mushroom, red onion, jalapeno, garlic chips, sesame sauce & mozarella cheese. It sounded totally weird, and came out different from the rice crust I had expected! The spicy tuna paste had cooked into a layer of fish, while the toppings and cheese seemed to work well together. Only thing is that it was very spicy. So if you can't take the heat, stay away from this one!

The first sushi roll to arrive was the TNT ($13.95): shrimp tempura, tobiko, TNT sauce and sesame seeds on a california roll. The sushi rice used in the rolls was lovely - each grain had form and a soft texture, and seasoned perfectly enough to enhance the flavours of the roll without the need of soy sauce to complement it. That being said, after removing the tempura shrimp from the roll, it really is just a california roll beneath. A chunk of artificial crab meat and avocado sat inside some nori and rice, making it a little boring for me.

Next up was the Love Crunch roll ($17.95): baked california roll with salmon and spicy tuna, tempura bits, sweet soy & tobiko. First off, that huge pile of roe had me salivating, until I realized it was masago and not tobiko. A little misleading, but thats okay. I guess we hadn't realized we ordered another california roll with toppings on it, but this was a little different. The roll had been baked with the fish on the outside of the roll, then topped with panko and dressed with a sweet soy dressing. I liked the change in texture with the crisp crumbs, but in the end, it was still just a california roll on the inside. Note to self: read carefully :)

Last up was the New Style Roll ($17.95): chopped scallops & tobiko wrapped with soy sheet and topped with freshly sliced seafood, seared in our new style way with tobiko on top. What showed up on our table was quite different from the description, but this was definitely my favourite roll (or even favourite dish?) of the night. An array of different seafood was wrapped around the roll, and topped with a bit of fresh ginger. None of the seafood had been seared (gasp! I still liked it..), and all the pieces were drizzled with a light soy sauce, so there was no need to dip the rolls in any more. The fish was incredibly fresh, and tobiko added a nice contrasting crunch to the soft sashimi.

After a night of eating, I would say I was pretty happy with the meal here. The food is definitely on the expensive side - our bill came out to $90 pre tip for two people, but the fish is fresh and the presentation is there. If you're not a piglet like me, you may see yourself spending a bit less, and still getting to try a variety of items on the menu. I did notice they will be offering Omakase, which is a chef chosen tasting menu for $75/person with 24hrs of advanced notice. It'll definitely be an adventurous dining experience if they're successful in the execution. After our meal, a server came over for a quick chat for feedback on the menu, as they are doing the final tweaks on the dishes before the grand opening. This restaurant is so receptive to feedback, and I love how open they are to pleasing customers. And for the next little while, they're offering 10% off your bill to celebrate their arrival to the city. Seeing as the grand opening for Japonais Bistro is tomorrow, I feel like they're going to do well. With so much hype around the restaurant, make sure to make a reservation before heading down!