SPRING TIME IN VANCOUVER

Spring has finally arrived in Vancouver! I love seeing the cherry blossoms bloom during this time of year. It's a reminder that things are going to get better weather-wise. The photo above was taken on my street. It's so lovely to live on a street lined with these beautiful trees. 

I've been waiting for spring basically since winter started. It's so nice to walk outside and encounter these trees almost everywhere I go. They definitely bring good cheer. It's too bad that they don't last very long. But I'll be enjoying them for as long as they are around!

The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival is going on right now. Check out their website to see a map of all the different varieties of cherry trees that are currently in bloom around town.

WINTER FUN: SNOWSHOEING!

On Saturday we went up to the North Shore mountains with a small group of friends to go snowshoeing. It was incredibly fun and the scenery was stunningly beautiful! The Dude and I were both asking ourselves why we don't do this more often. It's been almost two years since our last snowshoeing expedition.

We arrived at Mt. Seymour mid-morning before it got too crowded. The first trail we went on was pristine - we were the first ones there. So we reveled in hopping around on fresh powdery snow. I really enjoyed the trails at Mt. Seymour. They weren't too hard and the surroundings were drop dead gorgeous. It was unreal. At times I felt like I was on a movie set because it just looked other-wordly.

I'm not a fan of Vancouver winters, and as someone who struggles with Seasonal Affective Disorder this is not a pleasant place to be at this time of year. But I realized that the best way to beat the winter blues is to go out there and enjoy the season by getting into snowsports. So I'm going to try making snowshoeing a regular activity to help pass the winter in a more fun way. I can't help but be amazed that in a mere 45 minutes you can be in the beautiful wilderness enjoying all that it offers.

Do you like or dislike winter? What do you do to enjoy the season?

MY FAVOURITE HOUSE

I am head over heels in love with this house. It's in the Kitsilano area in Vancouver.

It's total eye candy. I love the dark grey paint job (surprise, surprise). In spite of its super modern look, the wood accents really warm it up. I'm dying to see what it looks like inside but I'm too timid to get up close to it and snoop around. Also, I'm curious to know who lives in this house.


Even the Dude likes this house, which goes to show you how much I've corrupted his tastes. He's a country boy from rural New England who grew up surrounded by by old, quaint houses.

We'll never be able to afford a house like this in Vancouver. As long as we live in this city, we'll be renters for life. Speaking of which, we've been busy apartment hunting. We're planning to move at the end of January. Not sure whether we'll be moving to a 1-bedroom or 2-bedroom. It'll probably depend on what we find. I'm very tempted to move into a 2-bedroom, but I'm afraid of accumulating junk to fill the extra space. As a reformed pack-rat, I've come to enjoy living with as little as possible. Even with the weekly purgings, I still feel like we have too much stuff.

I WON I WON I WON!

If you follow me on Twitter, then you may already know that over the weekend I won a giveaway contest being hosted by Got Craft? Vancouver. My prize was a swag bag full of goodies from Got Craft? vendors. I was so excited that I won because I NEVER win anything. I rarely enter internet giveaways anyway, so this turn of luck came as a huge surprise to me.

I attended the Got Craft? show on Sunday and was blown away by the amazing stuff that people were selling. Seriously, I wanted to buy at least one thing from each vendor. Plus, I got to meet some Vancouverite Etsy sellers that up to this point I only interacted with virtually. It's so awesome that Vancouver has such a vibrant handmade community.


These are just a portion of my winnings. I picked my favourite ones to show off here.
From top left, clockwise :

 1. Thistle Town Studio
 2. Maked
 3. Banoo

 4. My Chocolate Tree

 5. Sadie Designs

 6. Owl + Pussycat

 7. Kukubee

 8. Abeego

 9. The Tiny Fig

10. The Pauhaus

11. Billy Would Designs

12. Hudsonny

13. Cynthia F

14. Mélanie Kimmett

Now I got to figure out what I'm going to do with all this stuff. I'm probably going to spread the love and give most of it away. 

MY FAVOURITE PLACES TO EAT IN VANCOUVER

There are four restaurants in Vancouver that I love to go to regularly. The food is consistently good whenever I dine at any of these establishments.

 1. Bob Likes Thai Food. The best Thai restaurant in the city. I always order the chicken fried rice. It's one of my favourite comfort foods.

 2. Lin. The Shanghai juice pork dumplings are a must. Hands down the best Chinese restaurant in the westside. The wait staff is not very attentive, but the food is so damn good that I put up with the bad service.

 3. Salade de Fruits. When I had the pear tart for dessert, it was, ahem, an orgasmic experience (see photo above). The menu is all in French, but the servers are very helpful in translating and making recommendations. Warning: cash only.

 4. La Taqueria. Finally a joint that serves up decent tacos. And all their meat is free-range to boot. I'm so happy that they opened a second location on Cambie and Broadway, which is a lot more accessible for me.

My favourite summer festival started over the weekend: The Vancouver Jazz Festival!

We attended the free outdoor concerts that were happening in Gastown yesterday and enjoyed a fantastic, diverse line-up of local Vancouver musicians. The photo above features Company B. They perform swingin' old standards à la The Andrew Sisters.

This is the view from Six Acres, which is just behind the statue of Gassy Jack, where we were having dinner while listening to the concert. It's a great little joint. We dined there for the first time a couple weeks ago, and we were happy to come back. Great food and great booze. What more can you ask for? And I love the rutsic, vintage-inspired interior decor.

The Dude and I went out to downtown to watch Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. Here are some pictures I took before all hell broke loose.

A caged "Bruin bear" being paraded around.

This is Georgia Street at Seymour where the "fanzone" was located. This family hopefully fled before rioting began right on this street.

An empty whiskey bottle on Georgia Street. A portent of what was to come?

A Canucks fan getting the crowd to chant. They were sitting on top of Port-a-potties.

Check out the dude standing on top of the traffic light.

Fortunately, we were in Gastown watching the game so we hopped on the Canada Line when the game finished and were oblivious to all the rioting that was going on right above us. The violence and destruction really came as a surprise. Everybody seemed so good-natured when we were walking around during the game.

The riots got me so bummed out. The Canucks losing the Cup was sad enough, but the riots are very demoralizing. I feel sad, disappointed, angry, and embarrassed.

I need to come clean about my new addiction. I finally had to admit to myself that I'm a plantoholic. If I don't check this habit, our little apartment is going to be overrun with plants. Instead of crazy cat lady, I'll be immortalized as crazy plant lady if I don't deal with my problem soon.

I paid a visit recently to my favourite garden centre in Vancouver, KJM Country Gardens. I can spend hours there. You can even pick up fresh eggs hatched by the chickens running around the grounds! KJM has an excellent selection of succulents:

I wanted to take them all. But instead I restrained myself to these two:

I also went to Old Faithful (one of my ultimate favourite home decor stores in Vancouver) to get a couple of air plants (Tillandsia):

These guys are a bit more high maintenance than I anticipated. They need to be watered quite often. But they're sooooo cool. They don't need to be planted in soil and can chill just about anywhere. You can even hot glue them onto something else. The Dude thinks that they're freaky and that they're of the devil because of their unorthodox existence.

This past weekend I acquired even more plants even though I told the Dude that I would stop. They were crying out to me to take them home! How could I not? OMG, I seriously have a problem. Someone please help me.

We finally had a hot, sunny weekend. Hoorah! So the Dude and I did a lot of walking around town. One of the places we went to was the Love Vancouver Festival in the Olympic Village. It was the first time we visited the notorious condo development, and we encountered giant freaky birds there.

The truck behind the bird gives you a sense of how ginormous it is. And there's another gigantic bird close by as well. The bird sculptures were a surprising choice because I would have expected the more typical gigantic orca whale to be installed instead. A whale, or a beaver for that matter, would have been preferable to birds. Birds, especially really big ones, freak me out. Could you imagine what it would be like for that little boy if he got pooped on by a bird that size?

Modo, the car co-op we belong to, was there showing off their new acquisition. And I couldn't resist getting up close and personal with the new Fiat, which is incredibly cute. Cannot wait to drive it once it becomes available.

Canucks fever is running high in Vancouver. I haven't been yet, but I hear that downtown is a gong-show when a game is on.

I also managed to get to some estate sales and picked up a few things for the shop.

Canucks fever is running high in Vancouver right now. The city's beloved hockey team is going to the Stanley Cup finals...finally. The last time they came this far was in 1994.

So I was inspired to make a Canucks themed felt garland. It features the team colours: blue, green, and white. It's on sale in my shop.

Go Canucks Go!

There was much going on in the world of retail this past weekend in Vancouver. I attended the grand opening of Anthropologie on Friday night. It was an estrogen-fest needless to say. Anthropologie is more of a source of inspiration for me rather than a place where I open my wallet. I'm glad it's finally here.

We also went to the Inform Warehouse Sale on Saturday. I've actually never been in the regular Inform store in Gastown. They have a collection of fabulous modern furniture that I'll never be able to afford. While browsing around, we discovered that perhaps a chaise lounge-y type of sofa may be the way to go for our living room. We mainly want a couch that we can lie down on to read and relax, which we really can't do with our current loveseat.

And then there was the 1 year anniversary party at Old Faithful, which I missed sadly. This is another go-to source for inspiration. So much rustic goodness there. I particularly love their gorgeous terrariums.

by Kyu Hwang

The Dude and I checked out the Eastside Culture Crawl this past weekend. We visited a handful of artists' studios, and we were both taken by Kyu Hwang. He's a Korean artist who works out the Parker building just west of Commercial Drive. His work consists mainly of illustrations that are weirdly whimsical. Above is an example. His drawings make you both smile and furrow your eyebrows. His flickr page is worth checking out.

This was the first time we've participated in the Eastside Culture Crawl. Every year I have intended to go but crappy weather usually dissuaded me. We did it for only two hours, but boy oh boy, we were pooped out by the end. It was yet another sign that we're getting old. Seriously, I sometimes feel like the oldest 30-year-old.

We had our first snow fall of the winter over the weekend (well, I guess it's technically still autumn). I don't like snow, especially when I have to go trudging about in it. But I have to admit that when I'm inside all cozy and looking out, it's not too bad.

We had a busy productive weekend. The Dude and I put up some glass wall shelves over the new desk. It looks so awesome. Then, we went to Home Depot and got a super great deal on a 16' long piece of cedar (only $10!). It got cut into four equal parts, which will become wall shelves above the loveseat. Not only do the cedar shelves look rustically beautiful, but they also make our apartment smell divine. It's as if we're deep in a forest. Now I have to find the right shelf brackets. The ones I love are too expensive so I'm looking for a more economical option.

I can't believe our office area is finally coming together. In its former state, it was making me so unhappy. But now it's well on its way to fabulous. It just needs a few more finishing touches and it'll be done.

Behold, the best croissants ever. EVER. I have searched high and low in Vancouver, and these are the best in flavour, texture, density, flakiness, and buttery goodness.

Baked by the chefs-in-training at PICA, which I pass by whenever I go into work at Granville Island.

A few nights ago the Dude and I went to the CBC studio to watch a friend compete in a radio game show about Canadian trivia. I learned that the province of Newfoundland (oh, excuse me, officially it's Newfoundland and Labrador) has weird town names that sound like sex toys. One of them is actually called Dildo. God, I love this country.

While on the topic of sex...I recently saw the infamous Paris Hilton sex tape. Yeah, it takes a me a while to catch up with pop culture. It was incredibly lame. It shouldn't even be really called a "sex tape" because there is no sex happening at all. It's just her half-naked, prancing around or rolling around in bed showing off her tits. Now I find her even more annoying than ever.

{photo via www.stepback.ca}

My favouritest store in Vancouver, maybe even on this planet, is a vintage home decor store in Kitsilano. It's called Stepback and what I love about the store is how well curated it is. They display their merchandise in such a way that you want to live in the store among all the beautiful vintage things they sell. I bought a few items there for our wedding reception that I still dearly love to this day. Whenever I pass by the store I look into their window and salivate, longing for all that's inside. I dare not go in because it's so hard to resist from buying something. I seriously wish I could live in that store. It's like a brick and mortar version of a fabulous Etsy vintage shop.

And it's the store that inspired me to collect vintage and start an online shop selling what I find on Etsy. I asked one of the owners where they find all their fabulous things and he said that he goes out to the Fraser Valley. I don't have a car so I can't go that far to treasure hunt. But I'm glad that someone's rescuing all this fabulous vintage stuff that would otherwise be discarded. The people at Stepback are very good at cleaning it up and displaying it in such a way that restores it's worth and value, as a result making it desirable to someone who would take it to a good home. Doing this sort of work is both an art and an eco-friendly practice.

During the weekend the Dude and I checked out the Paralympic games. We saw wheelchair curling and ice sledge hockey. Wheelchair curling surprisingly was way more fun than I anticipated. I never really understood curling and watching a live game was a good opportunity to learn the game. However, I must say that I can't help but regard curling a game more than a sport. In any case, I think I'm a fan now. This is another indication that I'm becoming more and more Canadianized.

What a hectic three weeks it's been! From working at the ever chaotic la superboutique olympique to going on a 4-day road trip to Yakima, WA and meanwhile trying to run my online shop left me utterly exhausted. And I might add, we did a lot of standing in line to get into the different pavilions around town and catching the games in various pubs. Working in downtown allowed me to see the city come alive, and let me tell you, it was a party every night. And the Canada-USA hockey game yesterday was not only exhilirating, but the celebration that broke out everywhere after Canada's victory was even more fun to experience.

The Dude and I unexpectedly caught Olympic fever and we enjoyed the whole experience. Now we're hoping to actually go and catch some of the upcoming paralympic games live (tickets are quite affordable - yay). And we've thoroughly fallen head over heels for the Olympic mascots (particularly Quatchi and Mukmuk) to some chagrin because initially we deemed them really lame.

In all seriousness though, I must add that I was disappointed and a bit miffed that Celine Dion was not included in neither of the opening and closing ceremonies. I'm being serious. Did the producers decide to pass on her or did she decline to participate?

The Dude and I sadly didn't dress up for Halloween this year because we were too preoccupied with other things to plan ahead. But we did end up going to the Dunbar Haunted House on Halloween eve. It's been operating for several years now, but I only learned about it last week from someone who happened to be one of the actors whose job is to scare the crap out of visitors.

We waited for over an hour in pouring rain (it's wasn't your typical Vancouver drizzle) to get inside, and I think it was worth standing in the deluge. The scariest room was the one full of clowns, and three of them consecutively jumped out at me. I screamed my head off each time. It was great fun!

We were impressed by how well the house was decorated and all the details that were put into it. The Dunbar Haunted House is actually a private home that the owner decks out in glorious Halloween gore, hires actors to play scary monsters, and opens to the public. Admission is by donation only and all of it goes to various local charities. Pretty cool.

Wow, we've been blessed with extremely gorgeous sunny weather for a while now. We've been so spoiled that when it all goes away and the rains come it's really going to hurt. *sigh*

I ran out of primer this morning and had to dash over to Kerrisdale Lumber, a local building supply store. It's one of my favorite stores in Vancouver, and we live a mere three blocks away from it. I only discovered it this past spring. Now I try not to go there every week (because I end up spending way too much time browsing), but there's always some need to to go to pick up supplies for various projects. The quaint old-time feel of the place has won me over. It's probably the "prettiest" hardware store I've ever been in. Although I love Home Depot very much, Kerrisdale Lumber is fast stealing my heart. Besides, it feels good to support a non-big-box-store hardware retailer.