Coffee vs. Chai

I gave up coffee for Lent way back in March. Once Easter hit, my third stop off the day was Starbucks. In an attempt to be more frugal, I tried to stick with the cheaper tea options and didn't really have a pressing need to consume my regular pepermint white mocha. As the Canucks headed into overtime in game seven of the opening round against Chicago, I swore to the hockey gods that I would give up coffee for the rest of the playoffs if we could make it past the Hawks. Then Alex Burrows scored the goal that slayed the dragon and my playoff fate was sealed. Now that the playoffs are finished, I'm finding myself still choosing chai over coffee. Could this be a case of PSCPLD (Post Stanley Cup Playoff Loss Depression)? Quite possibly! Can you tell I'm distracted and couldn't think of anything substantial to write about tonight? Of course the lack of working Internet on my laptop didn't help tonight as I'm stuck typing this out on my iPhone so apologies for any typos I don't catch. Fingers crossed I come back tomorrow with something you guys would actually want to read!

VanCity Love

Vancouver turned 125 today and after a week of rain I can honestly say I don't think I've ever seen it look better!  Some people might think we're pretty full of ourselves out here on the West coast but here's a little list of things (in no particular order other than alphabetical!) that make Vancouver so freaking great...

Granville St during the Olympics

1. 2010 Winter Olympics
2. The Arts Scene (concerts, shows, galleries, etc.)
3. Bard on the Beach
4. BC Bud (so I've been told)
5. BC Lions
6. BC Place
7. BC Sports Hall of Fame
8. Belief in Comebacks (i.e the great Vancouver Fire of 1886 that wiped out the entire city!) 
9. Bike lanes
10. Bif Naked
11. Big Bus Tours

    

    Harbour Centre view from
    Canada Place

    
12. Brewery Tours (Granville Island, Yaletown)
13. Bright Nights & The Christmas Train (in Stanley Park)
14. Bryan Adams
15. Cambie Village
16. Canada Place
17. Capilano Suspension Bridge
18. Cherry Blossom Festival
19. Chinatown (2nd largest in the world behind San Fran!)
20. Chinese New Year Parade
21. Coal Harbour
22. Cobie Smulders (aka Robyn Scherbatsky on How I Met Your Mother)
23. Coffee on every block
24. Commercial Drive
25. Cypress Mountain
26. David Suzuki

    

    Just a typical rainy day in Gastown

    
27. Davie Street
28. Dine Out Vancouver
29. Diversity
30. Downtown Eastside Revitalization
31. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Gardens
32. Electronic Arts
33. English Bay
34. Expo '86
35. False Creek
36. Food!
37. Gastown



Snowy nigh on Grouse Mt.

38. Ghost Train (in Stanley Park)
39. Commitment to Going Green
40. The Commodore Ballroom
41. Granville Island 
42. Granville Street Downtown
43. Granville Street South
44. Greenpeace's Birthplace
45. Grouse Mountain
46. Harbour Centre
47. Harbour Cruises
48. Healthy Living
49. Helijet



Up close & personal in the plaza

50. Historic Buildings (i.e. the Marine Building)
51. Hollywood North
52. HootSuite's Birthplace
53. Hotels
54. HR Macmillan Space Centre
55. Jack Poole Plaza/Olympic Cauldron
56. Japa dog
57. Jazz Fest
58. Joshua Jackson
59. Kitsilano
60. La Casa Gelato



One of my fave VanCity Products

61. Lion's Gate Bridge
62. Livability Rating (we're #!1!)
63. Lonsdale Quay
64. Lululemon
65. Lynn Canyon
66. Main Street
67. Museum of Anthropology
68. Museum of Vancouver
69. Music (everywhere!)
70. Night Market
71. Nightlife
72. Non-Profit/Charity Organizations (Covenant House & Canuck Place just to name a couple)
73. The Orpheum
74. Pacific Spirit Regional Park



Best Playland ride!

75. Parade of Lost Souls (Commercial Drive Halloween Parade)
76. Playland
77. PNE
78. Ports of Vancouver
79. Pretty People (we're a pretty good looking town!)
80. Pride Parade
81. Punjabi Market
82. Queen Elizabeth Park
83. Real Estate (it costs an arm and a leg but most of the properties are amazing!)
84. Rob Feenie
85. Robson Square
86. Robson Street



Science World a glow

87. Rogers Arena
88. Ryan Reynolds
89. Sarah McLachlan
90. Science World
91. Sea Walls
92. Seth Rogan
93. Shopping
94. Social Media Junkies (i.e. all the awesome bloggers in town!)
95. Spanish Banks
96. Spas
97. Stanley Park
98. Steam Clock
99. The View

    

    The Art Gallery all dressed up

    
100. Tourism Vancouver
101. Transit
102. Trevor Linden (We adopted him once he was drafted!)
103. UBC
104. Vaisakhi Parade
105. Van Dusen Festival of Lights
106. Vancouver Aquarium
107. Vancouver Art Gallery
108. Vancouver Canadians
109. Vancouver Canucks
110. Vancouver City Hall



2011 President's Trophy Winners!

111. Vancouver Convention Centre West
112. Vancouver Fashion Week
113. Vancouver Food Carts
114. Vancouver Giants
115. Vancouver Grizzlies (even though they're gone the memory of Big Country lives on)
116. Vancouver International Film Fest
117. Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
118. Vancouver Whitecaps



Coming home to YVR

119. Water Taxis
120. West 4th Ave
121. West End
122. Whale Watching
123. Wreck Beach
124. Yaletown
125. YVR

Did I say little?  Really, this is just the tip of the iceberg so do me a favour - if you're from here, get out and show Vancouver some love!  And if you're from out of town, what are you waiting for?  Come see it for yourself  =)

Special thanks to the following sites used for inspiration:

Globosapiens | Things to do in Vancouver | Tourism Vancouver | VanCity Buzz | Vancouver is Awesome

Snow, Cookies, Jennifer Lopez & the Truth

Thank you to Shawn and my anonymous "friend...me???" for the tips on my post "Empty."  Sadly the office was bustling today which meant all work and no play.  I don't think I'll try taping my face (since no one would see it if I was alone) or switching the A and E keys on the keyboards since they're all fancy Mac keyboards that I'd be too scared to break.  Womanizer, while a worthy suggestion just seems a little much for our humble office...besides, I'm more of a BSB/Nsync fan when it comes to dance moves =)

It was actually the perfect day to head out on a long walk - half a dozen blocks South to the post office, another four or five blocks West to the bank, then back to the office for more sitting in front of my computer trying to make crazy schedules make sense.  There are two things to note before I return to the office.  One, we were supposed to get snow in Vancouver today.  Everyone was so worried that the streets and sidewalks were salted in preparation (see my image of the day on the left).  I'm all for safety and preparedness, but this was a bit ridiculous especially since there wasn't a flake to be seen in Vancouver (can't say the same for some of the other municipalities aka Burnaby and Surrey).


Ginger Molasses +
Peppermint White Mocha
= Bliss



My second observation is that I've noticed a resurgence of Ginger Molasses Cookies (GMCs) at Starbucks!  Easily the best cookie in the Starbucks collection, it's been surprisingly difficult to find in the stores I frequent over the past couple of years.  This of course meant that every time I saw one I just had to buy it.  Clearly this was a ploy developed by Starbucks to train my subconscious to look for and buy GMCs.  Once trained, they re-introduce GMCs in more stores, rendering me helpless as I try to resist their chewy goodness.  Thankfully, the Starbucks across the street from work is still GMC free...for now.



This is what I wanted to
be - headset and all! (The
Wedding Planner, 2001)



I realize that today's blog is pretty lame.  You can go ahead and admit it and I promise I won't be offended.  I thought of a bunch of topics during my walk today but they all seemed to abandon me as soon as I sat down to write.  One thing I do want to address (as if this post wasn't random enough for you) is the myth that we Event Coordinators/Planners lead exciting lives (see the start of The Wedding Planner, staring Jennifer Lopez).  The reality is that most coordinators and planners are so busy planning excitement for their clients that they don't really have much time to bring that fun into their own lives.  We are a group of workaholic, Type A personalities that suffer from shades of obsessive compulsive disorder.  The downside to being a fledgling planner is that I don't have very many connections in the industry yet so quite a few of my nights are spent relaxing at home with friends and family. 

You are reading the blog of a boring, work-junkie, homebody - now might be a good time to jump ship but I hope you won't.  Sometimes, the truth hurts but it always comes out in the end, and it always hurts more when you try to hide it.  So I'll take the lead in making fun of this post in the hope that you'll find my honesty endearing and believe me when I say you made it this far, nothing but good times ahead (hopefully!) =)

The Quicker Picker-Upper

Is it bad that I laughed
when I read "Pick-a-Size"
under the Brawny Guy?

So I've always wondered who actually uses paper towels to wash dishes or rub out stubborn spots like they do in the commercials.  It always seemed a little ridiculous to scrub dishes with a flimsy piece of paper towel when there's a perfectly good sponge in your kitchen.  This was before I had to clean out our dreaded coffee maker in the office today.  With all the little steamer pieces and internal cracks and crevices filled with mushy grounds, I decided to put the towels to the test.  While they are impressively durable, my one sheet was not up to the task.  I'd say it got about 2/3 of the job done though with is pretty impressive and way longer than I thought it would last for.  It'll never replace sponges and rags in my kitchen, but it's nice to know those silly commercials aren't a total lie.