It was quite a work out rolling Strida Mini around as we move from spot to spot LOL esp in the warm weather! :P I took Strida Mini out cos I want to see how both me and the bike flare in warm and crowded conditions :3

In the morning, the train is not crowded, and I was able to get a seat and have Strida Mini folded next to me :) I have also decided to hang the helmet on the bike when I am not using it.

Later I also found that I can prop the seat of the bike onto the seat, making the bike stand — take less room.

The meet on Sunday happened in Granville Island, I was glad I went as I think it took me out of a bit of my usual comfort zone, I’m rather bad with directions and have a huge fear of getting lost. But by going out to Granville Island by transit on my own, I realised it’s not as terrifying as I thought LOL

It was really crowded in Granville Island on a beautiful weather Sunday, so some point in time I was glad that my kind friend offered to let me put my bike in her car :P When we went to have lunch the table we sat at probably won’t have enough space to put the Strida ^^;

Below I took Strida Mini to a Ball jointed doll meet in QE park on Saturday by transit :P

Forgot to take more photos of Strida Mini ^^;

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1. Strida Mini

Ran out of milk today, and decided to go a different way to buy a small pack of milk. Testing out Strida Mini again :3

This little trip took about half an hour for both ways, including stopping to take pictures, unfolding the bike to get into the store and buy milk. Also included stopping for pedestrians etc.

It’s somewhat a bumpy-ish ride, and was a warm/sunny day. I got home sweaty (argh) and feeling my arms got a good work out :P

This plants are so pretty!

Learnt a new Strida “Kung Fu” from my Strida guru in Singapore, to partially unfold Strida Mini so it props itself up like a tripod :)

Really cool :D

Going to include a little documentation of last evening lol, some evil food photos at the bottom ^^; Went to watch a movie :3

Change of pace

All I can think of is crap LOL

Bright orange “joy ride” with a well worn harness ^^

The tag reads Rosemary ‘Barbecue’

Before Movie we went to have Vera’s Burger!

Ready?

…

..

.

Spicy wings… Not really my thing but I had a drumlette lol

poutineeeeeee omg so good ^^;

Really good BBQ beef burger :P

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Needed to run some errands today, and after that decided to take Strida Mini and my Dollfie Dream out for some quick snaps outdoors… Would prefer to go out when it’s a bit cloudy and slightly cooler, BUT the sky is quite magnificent on a sunny day!

This path, part way I have to share the road, I wasn’t very confident so sometimes I ride on the sandy and bumpy trail :P

Saw a lot more green by the water than expected…

The beach here we don’t see as much flat sandy surface ^^; It’s either rocks, logs, or shrubs lol

Discovered a mini fortress, didn’t go too close as there were some people there, maybe sunbathing? ^^;

Zoom in, too bad the wind was not strong enough to show the flag XD

So… it seems that I managed to go a bit closer to those purple flowers farm land…

Hmmm should have gone closer haha I didn’t want to be caught or yelled at for stepping into the farm tho ^^;;;

No poles to rest Strida Mini on, so I put her down on the grass :P

Hmmm I wonder if I can have a detachable seat for Dollfie Dream on my bike somehow :P

Hope you enjoyed my recent Strida Mini adventures :P

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1. Strida Mini

Sometimes while I wish I brought a doll out too, but I need to get used to riding Strida Mini a bit more before I carry more stuff with me when I am out and about ^^;

Last week was definitely a “Summer” type week in Vancouver, I was running low on certain colour fabric and materials so I used that as an excuse to make a trip to Fabricana with Strida Mini.

This is the 2nd time I took Strida out on a bus, the first time I did I went to Stanley Park with Mai chan ^o^ When I came home we got a ride back with my husband haha :P

As you can see Strida Mini is folded up, and I try not to take up  too much room… Luckily the bus was not too crowded at the time.

I used the elevator at the skytrain station… It’s quite slow haha later I actually just carried the bike down the stairs when I can.

Inside the skytrain.

Now instead of standing around waiting for the irregular buses, I can actually ride quickly under the shade. I don’t trust my skills nor the drivers in Richmond to ride on the road. ^^;

Took some small street lanes where I can ride on the bike without too much cars around me, and I reached Fabricana in about half the time compared to if I walked or took bus!

I was able to roll the folded bike around with me in the store — I remember people actually push their strollers in Fabricana, so I figure I could do the same with my small bike, the staff did not say much (haha)!  But at the cashier, an elderly customer who was queuing up to pay asked me a little about Strida Mini. :P I told her that it’s kinda wobbly to ride, and she remarked she had an elderly friend who fell off the bike and broke something ^^;

Since I saved some time on transportation, I was able to shop a bit longer :P a bit dangerous to the wallet tho ^^;

If I did not stop and take photos, I probably would have left sooner.

If I didn’t stop for photos, I will probably reach the station in about 15 minutes… If I had waited for bus or walked, it would take me way longer!

On my way home, I was just about to get on a bus — which was about to leave the terminal station, the female bus driver told me I couldn’t bring the folded up bike up the bus… o_o?! I was a bit surprised, so I replied to her, “You want me to get off?” and so I did, didn’t make sense to argue with her :P I was a bit surprised, BUT I was kinda expecting this to happen some point in time — I saw that it happened on a part of a (rather long) youube video about Strida before :P

Lucky for me tho, the next bus came in 10 minutes, and it was not as full, also the bus driver didn’t even care!  It was awesome to be able to ride home quickly after too, I needed to use the washroom lol!

Pros:

• Way faster than walking whenever I can use it.
• Some exercise, I feel it especially on my arms ^^;
• Get to near by places quickly, see more interesting places/things in bike-able distance
• Can buy small stuff I need without having to bug husband to drive me out to do it…
• Quite easy to ride the skytrain.
• Managed to roll my folded bike in places I generally go to, not sure about into small cafes tho…

The Strida Mini has no suspension so riding on a rocky bumpy trail is not fun ^^;

Luckily did not take too long to get there ^^

Beautiful sight ^^

Almost forgot to take a obligatory Strida Mini in the background shot :P

One more shot before heading back.

I was able to find a smoother path to ride back home, and there was minimal traffic — perhaps most people were either having dinner or watching TV? Overall I am very pleased to be the owner of Strida Mini ^^ I look forward to using to expand my adventures :)

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Went on a bike date with Mai chan on a cloudy weekday たのしいかた！Despite how the weather looks kinda yucky, it turned out to be a perfect cycling weather in my opinion!  Thank you for coming out and teaching me the route!!! ^o^

I wish I was able to tie a camera to my head or something, I wanted to take pictures of everything! But I was already slow on the small bike haha! So it won’t work if I keep stopping everytime I wanted to XD Thanks Mai for being so patient >_<;!! Mai’s phone camera took some pretty neat photos I think!

I brought Mokotan and a couple little wandas along with me :P Mai brought a tiny budgerigar figure, kawaii! ^o^

This bike trip was to test how far I can take the Strida mini :P I would say it’s pretty good, I need more practice to gain better control tho ^^;

2nd stop…. toilet break for me LOL

This is not really a break, more like there was a path where we have to dismount :P so I took a chance to take a photo XD

I was in awe of how close we were to the Lion’s gate bridge!

Too bad I was on the wrong side lol

After this we ride a long some more beautiful scenary, but along the way almost to the destination… I fell LOL!!!

It was a stupid way to fall too, not because I was avoiding to crash with someone or whatever, but because there were 3 cyclist (tourists I think) they were stopping on the side, and all three were looking back — perhaps waiting for someone… and I got stressed out, went too fast and fell :P Luckily I only scraped my knee… Sorry to freak Mai out ^o^;;;; I think I felt more bad about that than my scrape LOL! I think Mai will forever see me falling in slow motion off my tiny bike for a long time ^^;

After rather long bike ride, we had to fill our belly :P Thanks for the bandaid Mai! ^^;/

The weather has been strange… the plants are confused ^^; The hydrangeas are blooming like it is spring time!

All in all, the ride was good (until I fell LOL) But I blame my bad skills for falling, the bike ride was generally smooth and fun.  I also learnt that I don’t have enough power to go up hill :P I was able to ride the transit, run errands — mailed a letter before I went to downtown… took the sky train… very little problems in those aspects :)

To see some more doll related pictures, you can check out the related doll blog entry :)

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1. Strida Mini

Had a fabulous birthday sometime last month :) secret cake was snuck into the house by husband after he came back from work lol

Yoshi being a guard cat?

And either just before/during the busy period (forgot ^^;) , had the great pleasure to work with Danny  Choo on the Winter Uniform Design for Mirai Suenaga chan <3

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I had been eyeing the Strida Mini for a long time, since 2009!

Interestingly enough, when my husband was in Hong Kong for about 2 weeks, he mentioned that Strida was/is being promoted in Hong Kong and there’s much more choices, accessories and variety being pushed. I would have loved a pastel pink or blue Strida Mini :P But this Silver one is pretty neat too!

Check out my husband’s Hong Kong entries at here and here. (I did not go as I needed to take care of our Ginko and Yoshi)

Ironically the Strida Mini we bought seems to be the display model (and the only and last piece in the shop) — who knows maybe it was even the exact same one we test drove :P But I was happy that we didn’t have to pay the original price for it… ^^;

I also scored a cute helmet and some bike accessories at 10% off — got compliments for helmet when I rode the bike out to “break it in”… lol

The steering of this little bike is quite sensitive, so I gotta practice to get used to it, decided to do it on this gorgeous sunny/breezy day. Going to the Steveston village on a bike is definitely faster than walking! I saved at least 10 minutes each way if I didn’t stop time to time to take photos.

I’m hoping to be able to take Strida Mini out on the bus eventually — hope they’ll let me get on without too much fuss :P

Strida feels like a flat ground type bike, and good for short distances, I’m also hoping to try to do some small errands with it when I get more confident with handling the bike.

We’re lucky to live near a trail where I can take the bike on for practice. ^^

Strida Mini chan is a great model too no?

Below is how the bike looks folded up and resting on the carrier  – it can be folded up like this in 3 seconds! :3

My Strida Mini did not come with awesome accessories like bell or lights, mud guard, kickstand or frame protector.

I guess Strida Mini is possibly made for children (thus not fully equipped to be used on the roads) — I’m too short, so I cannot even ride the standard Strida with it’s set set to the lowest ^^; After the ride in the afternoon, I custom made the frame protector :3

Random: This fabric unfortunately seem to stain my bag (stained my dollfie before ) ^^;

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Managed to get husband to join me this time to take cosplayer photos :D

I had an interesting experience which I want to take note here lol I wore a Yukata this year (despite the heat) and when I was sitting around waiting for my friends to come out from the Ball Jointed Doll panel/meet, a lady approached me and asked if I could help her put on her Yukata, so I did! ^o^ It took a while to adjust the yukata so at first my friends thought I was kidnapped LOL!  But I thought I finished it quite quickly already, I felt happy to be able to help ^o^ Small picture below because my hair looks bad :P LOL

I was carrying a doll, 2 bags, camera and sometimes an umbrella… so I did not take many cosplayer photos ^^; It was really cool to recognise characters from anime we watched before tho! ^o^!

Atsuii x_x

We got a surprise when we asked to take a photo of them, they standing at ease and then suddenly jumped into this pose XD

This year I wore a Yukata despite knowing the heat– mainly because I took the trouble to iron it the day before and felt also there’s not much chance for me to wear it other than events like this lol! Photo below by Lightningsabre ^^;

Photo below by my husband ^^/ The very convincing TK from Angel Beats is cleartranqil ^o^! Good to see him (and a few other peeps) again! :3

For more doll related photos here :) (past related posts 1/2/3 )

Wow… I really did not take too many photos lol! But I hope I’ll increase my experience points for next time :)

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People were making their way in to attend the ceremony :) My friend looked fantastic and radiant but she’s kinda camera shy so I won’t post her photos publicly ;D

Live music was a touch of perfection :)

Wedding location and dinner was at Queen Elizabeth Park and dinner was at Seasons in the Park.

View from the restaurant was fantastic! It was a great view at night too, but was busy conversing with friends, forgot to take a photo later ^^;

Most delicious salad EVAR!

Assorted shell fish (I didn’t take picture of the other place ^^;)

Crab cake *drool* had to take an allergy pill to eat this since I am allergic to seafood ^^; but Om nom nom :P

Had a doll for a snack… JK :P I brought Precious along as she’s tiny, and also the Bride’s favorite of my petite blythe dolls :)

My friend on my right had fish,

husband and me had beef.

Dessert… could barely finish ^^; it went well with tea tho :)

Thanks again to our friend for inviting us to share your big day!!! :) We wish you all the best in your future with your husband ^O^!

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1. Summer heat completed!