*♥* Le Téa Et Crêpes *♥*

I'm currently not listening to any music right now, but I wanted to make this quick post before I go to bed - I did promise a post, did I not? ;) I literally just got back home after spending a wonderful day with Taylor :) I also got to see a couple of friends of mine whom I'll introduce in a bit. (^-^)

I wanted to share with you all something that I've been meaning to post all week:

I have a newfound adoration for tea and crepes! :)

Tonight I want to quickly talk about a little cozy hole-in-the-wall place called Le Téa Et Crêpes. (In French, meaning "tea and crepes").

Now, if you hang out with me and Taylor a lot, you'd know that we are very adventurous eaters and both of us try to be on the lookout for new places to eat. (Tay is better at this than I am, though, heh heh) I go down the road where the cafe is located everyday when I drive to and from work. For a while, I've wanted to go there, especially since there was a display board inviting customers to try their fruit and savory crepes. I realized that this was the place where my high school friend Brandon works - actually, he's one of the chefs! I contacted him letting him know we were going there and we made our first visit last Saturday. :)

I did a little research about Le Téa Et Crêpe and learned that Brandon's mom, the proud owner, opened the cafe in 2008. The website (click here) has the menu and information about their teas too. :) The crepes are cooked to order and made with the freshest ingredients.They've received a lot of wonderful reviews, mostly highlighting the food, tea, and comfortable environment. One reviewer said that they were very impressed by the extensive knowledge and recommendations provided from the server about the various teas they offered. They've even received a Best at the Beach award in 2009 for Best Tea Rooms.



...the pictures above was not taken by me, but anyway... It's a calm cozy place to be! I adore the lighting - the green and orange ball lighting design simply rocks! For a more romantic atmosphere they have these cute little candles on the tables; I think it was a very nice thing that Tay and I came in for dinner. :)
I apologize in advance if I make you hungry, but here's the food that we had while we were there that night - and I know I made all my Tweeps jealous when I posted these on Twitter!:

Taylor's Crêpe de Saucisse - Beef or Sausage sautéed with mix Peppers and Onion, topped with white wine sauce. I tried a little bit of it and it was very delicious :)
My Crêpe de Fruit (since I wanted something fresh and light after my heavy late lunch that day) - Filled with seasonal fruit and topped with mango guava sauce. I love the fresh fruit and the mango guava sauce was just out of this world... Wow. Simply wow!
We tried 2 teas: Oolong with Goji Berry and Tieh Kuan Yin (or "Iron Buddha") with osmanthus and honeysuckle. Very yummy! (You will find information about each of the tea ingredients provided in the link above). Enjoying some tea here and being with Taylor just made the meal experience very relaxing and romantic xoxo
And for dessert: Caramel Apple Blossom - it was so warm and cinnamon-y and a great way to end the meal :)

We promised another visit soon, and that's where we went for lunch today :) This time for our tea we had white tea with rose bud and honeysuckle - it was sweet, light and floral... I think that's my favorite tea combination thus far! Tay had the Crêpe de Saucisse again while I had...

OMG, CHICKEN YAKISOBA! Light flavors, yet very delicious :) I really adore the cute carrot flower, by the way. I couldn't eat it. ...yes, it was that cute. (^-^;)
Brandon, along with his older brother Josh who also runs the cafe, suggested that we try a new dessert: panna cotta. I really liked this, especially the creaminess of the Italian cream. The texture reminded me of flan, so the best way for me to describe it is that it's like an Italian flan! I want to get this next time :)
I wasn't going to leave without getting a crepe, of course, so I had the Crêpe de Liqueur - Filled with nutella, strawberry and banana, topped with Berries and Crème de Cassis, Orange Curacao or Crème de Banana. Considering that there is alcoholic ingredients, you must be 21 to order this. I like the flavored liquers of banana and orange, but I thought Crème de Cassis would be an appropriate choice to tie in all of the ingredients together. ...and oh my it was :) Another favorite to add to my food list!

Well, there you have it you everyone! If you're in the Virginia Beach area, or are planning to be in the area sometime soon, please give this place a visit!

...or Brandon will come after you in your sleep. XD

Time for bed, so until next time (and by that, I mean tomorrow) - good night!

Sweet fishie kissies,

~Reiko (^o^) zzzzz xoxo ♥

★☆ A Nice Day Off with Reiko :) ☆★

[Listening to 恋愛♥ライダー (Renai Rider) by J-pop band Buono! - if you like the anime Shugo Chara, you'd know this song! :) ]

Hello again everyone :) I hope you're doing well - I know I certainly am :)

Before I begin, just wanted to update you guys about the DSKJewelry contest:

As you guys know, 44 girls, including myself, entered to be the new model for the DSK Jewelry line. It's very impressive how Steph's work has reached many girls all over the place, and I'm very proud to have been one of the 44 :) I didn't make it, but a shoutout and a big congratulations to Kayleigh! You go, girl! :D

This was one of the best experiences of my life and I'll definitely be doing this again next year :Dv I'll always be supporting DSK Jewelry! Steph's website is here if you want to take a visit:

http://dskjewelry.blogspot.com

So, I had my day off today, and I decided it would be fun to take my camera with me and show you guys my favorite places to go and things to do :) I haven't made many videos since getting my new Samsung digital camera, so I decided try out something new and have fun with it :) I'll be editing later when I get home from work tomorrow, but I can't wait to try it out and share my day with you!

I was able to take some pictures along the way too, and they'll be posted here :)

Here's a few pics I took of me before I headed out the door :) I love the Beauty function on my camera!

I wear my DSK Jewelry proudly :)

I added one of the small crystals from the Strawberry Lemonade necklace for a fun and sweet look :)

My Earth crystal earrings - they're so beautiful and iridescent in the light :)

My Dainty Moonlight Heart bracelet - I love the tiny heart chain :)

I even straightened my hair a bit - I almost never do, but I was feeling good today. :)

The first place I had to stop by before anyplace else was the post office again to drop off the rest of my textbooks. I had two big boxes and one nicely sealed padded envelope. After a 10-minute wait, I was able to drop them off, but there was a problem with one of the boxes: The label was completely different from the ones that I delivered last week and didn't have a label for postage. This was how the label came after I processed the books online, which really sucked because I had to pay $6 extra for postage... Well, you get some and you lose some. =/ What matters now is that the textbooks are well on their way and I should be hearing back soon from the websites about payments for my books. The money will go toward me getting my new phone - I've decided to finally get an iPhone :) Whee!

I love going to libraries; I love being around books and I always find something new each time. It has been a while since I've checked something out so I decided to pay the Central Library a visit for a book inquiry and looking for new music CDs. It turns out that so long as my books are fairly recent (by a couple of years), I can donate them there. On Thursday morning, I'll pay them a visit again so that they can take a look at my books - they might be able to have good use of them :)

It didn't take me very long to find some new CDs to listen to. By the time I came downstairs, I already had 11 albums in my arms!

Jessie James - Jessie James

Ryan Cabrera - Take It All Away

Vanessa Hudgins - Identified

The Phantom of the Opera Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Josh Groban - Josh Groban Live at the Greek


Josh Groban - Josh Groban Awake Live

I stumbled upon a few albums by Japanese artist, Kitaro - apparently he's a Grammy Award-winning artist!

Kitaro - Thinking of You

Kitaro - Mandala

Kitaro - Best of Kitaro

Step Up 2 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Enrique Iglesias - Escape

I wished I was able to take pictures inside the library, but I didn't want to take the risk of getting yelled at...

I got hungry, so I went across the street to one my favorite places: Tropical Smoohtie Cafe :) I worked here a couple of years ago and I come back to visit when I can :)


This a really cool cookie bouquet! This was made by Cookies by Design - The Original Cookie Bouquet Company, just a couple of stores down from Tropical Smoothie Cafe :)

My late lunch! :) A Get Up and Goji smoothie and a Sesame Chicken salad - yummers!

After eating I headed off to my favorite hangout spot: Barnes and Noble! As I said, I love being around books! If I could, I would spend an entire day either at the library or at B&N :) My favorite sections to read are the cookbooks, manga, and New Age. :)


I posted on Twitter that I love being in the New Age section, looking at the Astrology books because I think it's really interesting and mysterious how it weaves into our lives. It's interesting to read about, but really, I think that we are the ones who have control of what we do in our lives - just got to have strength to believe in yourself! :)

Apparently I spent about 2 1/2 hours at B&N! I guess time really does fly when you're having fun and enjoying yourself!

I gave Sephora a visit since I'm running out of my concealer... I usually use Make Up Forever brand, but as much as I love it, I was looking for something that was still of great quality and easy on my budget. I was referred to the Sephora collection and got the concealer stick. I also got a couple of products from Philosophy that I'm going to try out later on tonight. I guess it's going to be another entry of "Does it Work?" for these products! They'll be shown in the pictures below.

...I got hungry again, so went to a really cute and yummy frozen yogurt shop called Swirls! They opened at the beginning of the summer in Lynnhaven Mall. Taylor and I have been here before and they have neat flavors for the yogurts; our current favorite was green tea :) They didn't have green tea today though, but I picked out the pineapple coconut and cookies and cream yogurts.

You can even top off your yogurt with fruit, cookie dough, candy, cookies, sprinkles and cereal!

I stayed on the healthy side and added my favorite fruit :)
Did I forget to mention that I'm really liking this over gelato?? It's healthier for you and I got 10oz of this for about $4! Healthy for my body and my budget, lol!

From here I gave @SleeplessFish aka Taylor a visit; it was a very short visit, so no pictures >_< onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi09C3NMpFr5kjMtP4FntGlRvF7KVSF5Zr4qDQ79UdsV5mNNn8ixAT0_IIFakcFw5eaPJk58ynfmhBAVYiI-G09NFY-6M0keAFAlivXgjEydxjr6zu19fi2_ZYXMb_01CzuCFTkeHDed04/s1600/SAM_0745.JPG">

Philosophy's Purity One-Step Facial Cleanser - I've heard many good things about this and I can't wait to try it out :)

Philosophy's Hope in a Jar moisturizer

I've never owned anything by Dior before, so this is exciting! This is a sample of Dior's Multiperfection Cream; it's supposed to help lighten darkened complexions and wrinkles on your face.

The concealer stick from the Sephora Collection in Medium :)

It pays off to be a member! I got a free birthday gift!

Included was mascara, white eyeshadow and eye pencil :)

I can't wait to use them soon!

All right, time to rest my tired hands... Again ^-^ I hope you had fun reading :) I'll come back tomorrow with another fun entry for you~! I'll also be editing my videos so you can come along with me on this fun day :)

Until then, sweet beautiful dreams xoxo

~Reiko xoxo

☆ Fill Your Hearts With Love :) ☆

[Currently listening to "Vanilla Twilight" from Owl City's "Ocean Eyes" album - if you liked their song "Fireflies", I think you'll like this song as well as the rest of the album! ;) ]

Hi everyone :) I hope you all had a good week - tomorrow's Monday, thus the start of a new week for most of us. This past week has been very long, filled with busy hours, lessons learned, and hearts all around. Thankfully, I was given today off from work - I FINALLY got to catch up on the things I needed to do, especially my laundry (specifically my work uniforms ^^; ). There is still much to be done before today is through, but I'm taking some time from my busy schedule to write to all of you! Why? Because Reiko says YOU ROCK! ;)

First of all, I want to briefly tell you guys and gals about the place where I had the best she-crab soup... EVAR!! You're probably wondering where this place could be? Well, let me tell you: It's called Charlie's Seafood Restaurant!





This family-owned restaurant has been around since 1946, founded by Charlie and Mary Rehpelz (this is a picture of them back in the day!). In recent years, they've been awarded as the Best at the Beach not only for their specialty in seafood, but also for their customer service. I heard from Taylor and a few other people that this little restaurant is a nice place to go; even Tay said that it's so popular that it gets packed during the summer... o_O

So! ...was this popular little place really as many have claimed it to be? Well, this was my first time here, and I was about to find out.

Taylor and I got there around 4:30, a time when usually there isn't much business going on - perfect for a bit of a more quiet, comfortable first-time experience. Upon entering the restaurant, I immediately felt a comforting vibe: first from the handmade painting of ocean creatures on the walls, then to the restaurant itself. It isn't fancy, but it felt like home to me. We already knew that we were going to get she-crab soup, but along with that, Taylor got a shrimp basket and I got shrimp cocktail. I absolutely love shrimp, and the cocktail was delicious... But the she-crab soup topped it: it was so creamy, flavorful (full of crab and sherry) and there was a lot of crab meat! It was so good, it was no wonder the menu itself said that it was "A must for newcomers!" While we ate, I took a look around and... I can imagine how crowded it would be if we got there during the summer, so I'm glad we got to come at this time. I would definitely come back again, even if it was for another helping of that soup! :) If you want to see this restaurant for yourself, and you like seafood, check this place out! And if you do, or if you already have, let me know your thoughts on it (especially the soup!).

I know it's been a while since my last entry, and it's already past, but to those who gave up something for Lent, what did you give up? Let me know in the comments section! I gave up a couple of things; one I will not say due to personal reasons but one that has been very diffcult for me since Lent started was... video games. I knew it was going to be hard for me not to turn on my PSP, Wii and Nintendo DS, but I had to do it. :( I had to hide my hand-held games in a place where I wouldn't get them so easily... The sadness! But Lent is a time for spiritual good, so... No games for me. And I had just bought Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time for my DS... ;-; I dedicate a lot of time to my games, but for the next 36-35 days, I have to deal with it and try to do something else until Easter...

...which brings me to my next topic: I picked up my knitting needles again! It has been a while since I made something so I thought I'd try something new. Have you read my entry about knitting and crocheting? Go read it if you haven't, but if you already have (or if you're just lazy... ^^;) I mentioned that there was a HUGE crochet blanket that my mom and I made together a few years ago. ...and yes, we still have it - I'll have to take a picture for you all next time. ^-^ Anyhow, I thought that for this big project, I'll make a blanket all on my own!

Originally I wanted to have my quilted blanket to be a mix of crochet and knit patterns, but I found that I'm actually more comfortable knitting this. And so, knitting it is! I started the challenge today and made the first square! This light teal yarn is one of the colors that I will be using for the squares; the others are 2 shades of brown, and the bright blue yarn that I originally had for my Rinoa duster cosplay (which I will save for a future project). There is a yarn by Red Heart that has a combination of the browns and light teal in it, and I'm debating if I should use that for a square pattern or for the borders... I'm sure I'll figure it out, but this is what I have as far as colors are concerned!

For the patterns though, you see this square that I'm holding? This one has a huge heart in the middle of it (and though you won't see it in this picture, I did make a mistake in one row ^^;); this pattern will be featured in some of the squares as well as a few more heart patterns that I have in mind. Yes, this is a heart-themed blanket, full of love and warmth! For each day that I work on this blanket, I'll be sure to update you all on my progress. And I'd be more than happy to share with you the patterns that I used for them. :)

There is much more that I would love to be able to share with you all for tonight, but I'll have to save that for next time. :( But on a good note, I wanted to also let you know that... I'm much better! :) I still have stuff going around in my nose, but that will go away in time. But the good news is that I'm not contagious and am feeling really good! It's a miracle what lots of rest and natural remedies can do. :)

I'll be back tomorrow for another fun entry for you all. Until then, good night and be well!

Much love,
~Reiko ☆*.

*Disclaimer: Pictures found for this entry is sourced via main website of the restaurant mentioned here; in other words, I'm claiming that I do NOT own them!

☆Update in the Life of Reiko :) ☆

[Currently listening to "Deux Tigres (feat. Inguenue)" from The Shanghai Restoration Project's "Zodiac" album. ]

Hi, everyone :) I know, it's been almost 2 weeks since my last blog update - just so you all know, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth yet! I've been really busy with school, work and...

...believe it or not, I actually got sick this past week so I've also been busy trying to recover! :( The common cold is to blame... I don't think I'll ever really know how I caught this, but we're not perfect and can't always be too careful. The bad news is that right now, I'm on (assumingly) Day 5 of having the cold... and my nose is still stuffy... But on the bright side, I'm slowly on the road to recovery, and am actually feeling much better than a few days ago. I thank sleep, prayers, and my Ginger Chicken Noodle Soup! I should be completely over this cold soon! :D ☆

I've received some e-mails from some fellow readers, and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your words of encouragement and wonderful ideas for this blog - this means a lot to me, and I really appreciate it!I know I've been meaning to update this blog sooner, but there's so much going on with me in real life. Rest assured, I'll be able to update my blog more often and bring you all more recipe tutorials, cool music finds, and talk about other cool things and places (and eventually, people!).


I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day/Chinese New Year yesterday - I know I did, even if I was still sick! I did my make-up inspired from the tiger from the Chinese zodiac; this is not a recent picture of the look, though... The picture that I'm showing you all for right now is my first trial of the tiger-eyes look (which I used to scare my brothers and, surprisingly, my dad). My boyfriend, Taylor, made these really yummy strawberry pastries - he knows how much I love strawberries! I wished I had my camera at the time so I could show you all how cute and yummy they were! The neatest thing about this was that not only were the paper towels stained in red and pink to make it look pretty, but also, Taylor shaped the strawberries into the shape of hearts! How cute is that?! :D

We had a late lunch and went to this cozy place called The Atlanta Bread Company. This was our first time here, and upon stepping inside, it had a very comforting vibe :) We took a look around, and saw that they also served these big portions of muffin tops and other pastries - the breads were the ones that really caught my eyes because I love freshly-baked breads :) Tay and I each enjoyed Italian Wedding Soup and Butternut Squash Soup in sourdough bowls. Both soups were very yummy and the bread...! I have tried butternut squash soup where I work, but the soup I had defintely topped it! It was rich and flavorful... I'd love to try making it sometime... Oh, but the best part? We got to sit at the table by the fire - how warm, comforting and romantic is that? :D

We finished off the day with watching When In Rome! We got the best seats in there, and if you go to movie theatres often, then you know where I'm talking about (and it's not on the front seats!). It was almost a full house, and I understood why - When In Rome is a very good romantic comedy! Since I'm crunching on time here, I will say that if you're up for some laughs, I think you'll like this movie, so go see it! :D

There is much more that I would have liked to have said in this entry, but I'm out of time for right now. I'll make an effort to make another entry tonight though, so be sure to look out for that!

Thank you everyone! Have a wonderful day and be well! :D I know I will be... soon! <3

Much love,
~Reiko ☆*.