Geeking over the Games

To people that know me, this will not come as a surprise, but I am a total geek about the Olympics. I am so excited that they are less than 2 weeks away and I am beyond proud that they are going to be held in my home town, my home country, and even in my own neighborhood. I will wear all of my Olympic gear while attending the events, and spending time at the LiveCity sites.

I am not blind to the issues that surround these games; I understand the poverty and homelessness that is front and centre every day in the news. I have lost loved ones to addiction and mental illness and think that there is a lot more we could be doing to help our fellow man. But that’s not what this blog is about today. Instead it’s about the Olympic rings that I made. That’s right peeps, I made a 5ft tall version of the Olympic rings to display on my deck, and my wonderful boyfriend, Chad helped me install it.

Actually, I made the rings a couple of weeks ago from plastic piping from Canadian Tire and some good old fashioned duct tape. I was just going to tie them to the railing on my deck but Chad insisted that if I was going to do it, I was going to do it right, (with his help). So off to Home Depot we went to get some wood to build a frame. We spent the day measuring and cutting and screwing, (I couldn't resist).

Below are some pictures of the process and the final product. If you’re driving around in Yaletown, keeps your eyes open for them… my inner geekness is beaming right now!

Chad hard at work, sawing

Chad hard at work, setting

Me wearing my safety, (ski) goggles drinking a Timmy's

Chad hard at work, measuring

Me hard at work, zap strapping

The finished product!

The finished product, outside!

View from the ground

Glowbal and Growing up

The ladies at Glowbal

This past week at work was busy… Crazy Busy.

So I welcomed the chance to unwind with some girlfriends last night… Nothing crazy planned; just dinner and drinks at the “New” Glowbal Grill in Yaletown. I say new because although it’s been around since 2002, the just recently underwent a bit of a renovation. To be honest, visually, there wasn’t much of a difference, but it’s the menu where most of the changes occurred. Glowbal is now referred to as a Steak House, and as a serious carnivore, I have no problem with this.

We were sat right across from the meat locker, not the most appealing to some, but none of us seemed to have a problem with it. In fact, the manager Kyle asked before we were seated if we were ok with that table, (I guess some people have had an issue with it). After we were sat, Kyle informed us that the specialty that evening was real Kobe beef from Japan at twenty-two dollars an ounce, (minimum 6 ounces), and that a wife had just ordered a 10 ounce steak for her husband. Do the math… yep, that’s a $220 steak! Definitely a little too rich for my blood. I was curious what a $220 steak would taste like, but the girls didn’t go for my idea of us all sharing a 6oz steak for $22 each. Instead I ordered the Caprese Salad and the Ahi Tuna. Both were delicious and are something I would order again.

Ahi Tuna at Glowbal

$22oz Kobe Steak at Glowbal

There were six of us at dinner: myself, Missy, Veronica, Kat, Bahar, and Chenoa, (also my sister and mother to my nephews), and with the exception of Bahar, I have been roommates to each of them. Chenoa and Missy and I lived together from 1999-2002, and I lived with both Kat and Veronica in the past 2 years. When we all first met, we were single girls that liked to go out drinking and dancing and flirting at the local bars. Now Chenoa, Missy and Veronica are all married with kids and Kat and I are both in relationships.

Time flies… I remember when we all went to Las Vegas for Chenoa’s Bachelorette Party, (that’s a whole other blog that names might have to be changed for), and now here we all were sitting around talking about babies and how tired we were and how we never go out any more. In fact, if this had been just a few years ago, our Global dinner would have been just the beginning of the night. From there we would have ventured on to one of the many local bars or clubs in the area, had a lot to drink, gone home by 2am at the earliest, woken up with a nasty hangover and had lots of laughs recounting the night before. As it was, Global was our whole night. None of us had more than 3 drinks, (none for Missy since she is pregnant for the 3rd time), and we were home before 11. In fact, by the time I got home, I could barely keep my eyes open.

It’s funny… back in our 20’s, we would look at women in their 30’s and think that they were so lame and boring. We assumed we would always want to be at a party and the thought of staying home on a Friday or Saturday night was dreadful and just wrong. I think back to that now and laugh… I don’t think I’m lame or boring and I enjoy staying in on a Saturday night; I just think we’ve grown up. I had a wonderful time last night catching up; the food, the wine, the venue, and especially the company was all fantastic. I look forward to doing it again; just not next weekend.

Me and 4 of my former roommates: Missy, Veronica, Chenoa and Kat

The same 5 ladies in Las Vegas, 2004

The 5 of us in 2001

Feeling the Flags

Below the Belt on Robson Street

I was born in Canada. I was born in Vancouver, even. (That’s something you don’t hear a lot from people that live here.) My Dad was born here too. I like to throw out the, “my Mom was an immigrant” card on occasion, but really… she emigrated from England with her family when she was a kid. It’s not like she had turmoil and hardship; she already knew the language and she wasn’t a visible minority.
My point is…. I AM CANADIAN! I am a very proud Canadian. I wore Canadian flags on my Backpack through Europe and, “A toque is a hat, a chesterfield is a couch, and it IS pronounced Zed, not Zee... ZED!! Canada is the 2nd largest land mass, the 1st nation of hockey, and the best part of North America.” (You know the rest). I will be cheering on the Maple Leaf along with the rest of the country during the 2010 Winter Olympics whilst wearing my official Team Canada gear from The Bay and waiving the flag.
That being said… There are approximately 80 other countries that will be here in Vancouver competing for Gold. And although I want Canada to win every event, I realize that is not going to happen, so it excites me to think that there are other people in this city that are cheering on nations that they are from, or their ancestors are from or have a flag that they think looks cool. Whatever the reason, residents and businesses are putting up flags all over the place. And it’s great to see that they are not just Canadian. On my walk to work today I counted over 25 different flags and it made me so proud to know that I live in a country where everyone has the right to cheer for whichever team they want. So let them cheer… everyone… I just might be cheering louder!

Flags at Roots on Robson Street

Flags at Joe Fortes on Robson Street

Joe Fortes on Robson

Roots on Robson

Love and Life

I’ve had a couple of extremely busy and stressful days at work. The Olympics are coming to town and everyone wants something from me last minute. I think I was about to have a breakdown at work today until I took a moment to relax and watch one of my favourite videos.
These are my nephews, Beckett & Nolan. They are the loves of my life and they always put a smile on my face. This video was taken just minutes after I’d received a phone call with some very tragic news: a friend had just lost her fight with cancer. I was sad and shocked but these two little guys took it all away for just a few minutes. Thanks boys… your Auntie T. loves you!

Street Scene

I walk to and from work every day. From Yaletown to Robson Street and back again. I’ve been doing it for almost 4 years and it’s usually about a 15 minute walk. The highlight of my walks is seeing all of the progress on the streets in preparation for the Winter Games. In the past couple of weeks, the streets have almost come alive with Olympic décor, lighting, banners, signage etc. and the people I’ve seen during my walks seem to have come alive with a huge sense of excitement and anticipation. It just makes it all seem so much more real. Here are some pictures I took to and from my work walks today.

New Welcome signs on Robson Street

Olympic Banners and Welcome sign on Robson

Olympic Banners and Welcome sign on Robson

Video screen at the Art Gallery

GE Ice Plaza at Robson Square

Granville Street facing The Bay

Granville Street facing The Bay

New light installations on Granville Street

Granville Street

New light installation on Hamilton in Yaletown

New Light installation on Mainland in Yaletown

Karma and Canucks

Yesterday I wrote as my Facebook status: Be a good person, do good things, and good things will happen to you. It really is that easy. And I meant it. I didn’t write it to actually get anything out of it, but that’s what happened.
On Sunday, I helped my friend Chelah with her Haiti Fundraiser and yesterday she called me and asked if I would like to go to the Canucks game with her! When you are doing someone a favour or helping out a charity, you should only do it because it needs to be done and because you want to do it, not for any selfish reasons. However, at times, you may be rewarded, and that’s always nice.
We won the hockey game btw; more good Karma!

Chelah and I at last night's game. GO CANUCKS GO!!!

Help for Haiti

On January 12 of this year, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti and devastated the capital city Port-au-Prince. Although the exact number is unknown, it has been reported that more than 150,000 people were killed.
The entire country needs to be rebuilt and although donations continue to pour in, more is still needed. I did the initial $5 text donation and then a much larger donation during a radio telethon, but I still wanted to give more. Since my funds are not endless, I felt somewhat limited by what I could give. That is until last Tuesday. My friend Chelah posted as her Facebook status: Chelah needs a place to do a big Haiti Relief garage sale on Sunday. Any leads?? And then on Wednesday she posted: got a space for the fundraiser!!!! Yay for the Beaumont theatre!! Details to follow... From there, (in 4 days!) she planned a full on garage/bake sale fundraiser with 100% of the proceeds going to Haiti, (split 50/50 between Doctors without borders and the Red Cross) that took place yesterday.
As soon as I found out about the sale I was in! I didn’t really have anything to sell but I mentioned it to my roommate and she baked and donated some of her very yummy Skinny Bitch bars. I decided to donate my time.
The sale was from 12-4 so I went down at 11am to help set up. There was SO much stuff! People had really cleaned out their closets and cupboards for the sale… there were lots of home appliances and tons of clothes and accessories. There were kids toys and artwork and or course baking!
I ended up buying a couple of things, (my favourite being a fantastic new mirror for my front hall), and stayed until the very end to help clean up.
The venue was good, (it was free so it was great!), but it didn’t have a lot of walk-by traffic. I think most of the people that showed up read about it online. At the end of the day, there was still a lot of stuff left, (all will be donated to local charities), and we raised $1,079.87! The Canadian government is doubling that, so it’s actually $2,159.74 that is going to Haiti! Not bad for a day’s work. Chelah is thinking about holding another sale, (probably just a bake sale) in a more high traffic area… Stay tuned for details!

Trevor and Twenty-one day countdown

Trevor and I with Olympic Medal Ceromony tickets!

Friday marked the official 3 week mark until the Opening Ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics. It’s crazy to think that in less than 21 days, athletes representing at least 80 different countries will be marching into our very own BC Place. To celebrate this 3 week countdown, I went for a short Olympic walk in the downtown are with my friend Trevor. Trevor is the most Olympified (?) friend I have; he has attended the games in both Torino and Beijing and is lucky enough to be attending the Opening Ceremonies here on February 12th. Yes, I am very jealous.
It was a beautiful sunny day, (the kind of day I hope we have during the games… to showoff this amazing city), so we walked down to the Main Olympic Ticket Centre at Robson Square, (also the home of the GE Ice Plaza), pick up some Victory Ceremony tickets we had ordered.
It was so warm out that I actually saw a man wearing shorts! Ok, it wasn’t really warm enough for shorts, but he didn’t mind… I also saw a lot of people that weren’t wearing jackets. That seemed a bit more appropriate.
Trevor and I sat on the steps, soaked up some sun, watched the ice skaters and talked excitedly about what we want to do during the Olympics. We both agreed that we want to see and do as much as humanly possible. Of course, if price was no object, I would love to see all of the competitions that time would allow including of course the Gold Medal Hockey games. Since price is an object, and a huge one at that, we mostly discussed the LiveCity Sites. There are 2 official sites in the downtown area; one at Cambie & Georgia and one at David Lam Park in Yaletown and they both have free entertainment daily. There are lots of performances, but two that I don’t plan on missing are Aché Brasil on February 25th and Soulstream on February 27th. Both are acts that I’ve hired for events on Robson Street and they really get the crowd energized.
We had such a lovely time on Friday that we decided to go on an Olympic Walkabout, (a word and idea I borrowed from one of my current favourite bloggers, 2010vanfan), sometime next week. We’re going to check out the LiveCity venues and maybe even take the Canada Line out to Richmond to see the O Zone. Of course we’ll be wearing our official HBC Canada gear and will be sure to take lots of pictures. Keep you posted!

Ice skaters at the GE Ice Plaza

View of a Samsung Olympic Mascot ad from our seats on the steps

Sherlock and Streetcars

I belong to a movie club. My boyfriend calls it the wine-drinking club. It consists only of 3 members: Myself, Dahn and Michael. Occasionally other are invited, sometimes only two of us are available. Lately, we haven’t been able to set a date for all 3 of us to meet up, so on this past Thursday when it looked like we all actually might be free, I was very excited. Unfortunately, my excitement was premature as Dahn wasn’t able to make it after all. Oh well… I hadn’t seen Michael in ages and was eager to visit with him. First, I stopped by his new loft that he just purchased, (it’s gorgeous, btw). When I got there, we checked the movie listings and decided to catch the Canada Line up to Oakridge to see Sherlock Holmes. Michael lives in Yaletown, (we all do actually), right across the street from the new Yaletown Station. We hopped on a train and were all the way up at 41st & Cambie in a matter of minutes. The movie was fantastic! Great entertainment, lots of popcorn and licorice, and Robert Downey Jr. is just soooo sexy!

The original Movie Club, Dahn, Michael and me!

After the movie and while on the train home, we discussed the new streetcar line, called the Olympic Line, that opened that day. Well maybe not discussed; debated is more like it. Michael swore that the streetcar had been running all summer and I stated that it was brand new. Anyway, to end the argument, we decided to get off the train at the Athletes Village station and check out this new streetcar. It was 10:30 at night, the place was pretty deserted and we weren’t even sure if it was still running. After waiting for maybe 5 minutes, we heard the familiar streetcar “ding” and there she was. Gorgeous was the first word I thought. Gorgeous and Big, and New and Clean. I was in love right away. We jumped on with at the most 4 other people. Apparently earlier in the day when the streetcars were making there debut, there was a ceremony with lots of keeners waiting in line, (I saw on the news that 1 guy actually had been waiting since 4:30am), and there was a wait to ride them. I learned that day that if you wait until 10:30 at night to take public transit, it’s usually not that busy. We rode the car to Granville Island, stayed on it, and rode it back to the Canada Line. Total time was about 7 minutes, but we laughed, (I would actually say giggled, but Michael might not think that sounds too manly) the whole way. There were other people on the train that were doing the exact same thing as us; laughing, taking pictures and just testing it out.
The street cars are on loan from Brussels, Belgium to the city, and are only supposed to run until the end of the Olympics, but it’s my understanding that if there’s enough interest, they could be kept running permanently, (maybe not those particular trains), and the route could even be expanded all the way to Stanley Park. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride on the Olympic Line and hope that the City decides to keep them on.

Me on the Olympic Line!

Michael on the Olympic Line!

My first post.

Post #1.

Since I'm just testing how this all works, I will use this post to put up my "about me" info: Post #1.
Me. About me. My Blog. Hmmmm… I’ve been writing stuff down for years now. Sometimes on paper, sometimes in emails, sometimes on Myspace, Facebook, or Twitter, (well only 140 characters on twitter), but I’ve finally decided to bring it all to one place. I’ve thought about blogging for sometime now, but I always thought my blogs should have a theme. I read food blogs, gossip blogs, fashion blogs, Olympic blogs, make-up blogs, travel blogs and more. This is why I hadn’t started one up until now; I have lots to say about lots of topics, but not a lot to say about one particular subject. I still haven’t decided on a set topic so for now I will write about what I know best: me! Well… not just me, but things that interest me. Things I see, read, experience, hear and so on… Since the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic games are less than 3 weeks away, I will probably be writing about them for the next little while. After that… who knows?

The sun'll come out Tomorrow, so ya gotta hang on 'til tomorrow Come What May…