weekend worship

 










Our long weekend has been full of wedding planning, making things, drinking ginger syrup cocktails and champagne, dog walks, and beach trips. This afternoon we took a little road trip to a place we'd never been before. It's hard to believe that this beach is basically right next to the airport and less than a half hour drive from our house. Iona Beach is maybe my new favourite Lower Mainland beach. The tide was way out and we could walk on the mudflats for a very long way. What an awesome, relaxing beautiful place. I wish that there was no such thing as short weekend. Three days is perfect.

elemental

A few more pictures of our amazing weekend to share with you. Nairn Falls is beautiful and apparently has a lot of tragic stories of people getting too close. It's pretty impressive as waterfalls go, though I still think this one in southern Ontario that Jeff and I went to was better. Probably because of the nearby floral clock, though. I'm sure many of you Canadians have camping trips planned this weekend and I'm also sure that a few of you Americans have some fireworks in your possession. It's kind of great that our big national holidays fall on the same long weekend. Jeff and Lola and I are going to try to get some Vancouver stuff done this weekend but we're also thinking about getting out of here for a bit. 

The truth of the matter is, I need to see some sun, and there is truly none in the forecast for Vancouver for the next few days. We have this new weather forecast here called "marine clouds," which I hate. It basically means a layer of thick, grey clouds with a bit of rain and zero actual sunlight. Time to head somewhere sunny! What are your plans for the long weekend?

fresh air: vancouver island

jamie and I looking for whales, coast mountains in the background

jamie and jeff

One thing that I love is getting out of the city. Visiting other cities is fun, too, and I've shared some photos with you trips to New York, Seattle, and Portland, but I really like spending time outside and in more remote places, too. In fact, every time I go away on an outdoors-y kind of vacation I remember that I probably like that kind of trip more. I like sleeping in, making delicious breakfasts, reading all day, going on hikes, and spending zero money on junk and zero time with technology. It just feels really refreshing, and that's absolutely what I needed right about now.

Luckily, Jeff and I have a very good friend who invited us to come along with him on an island adventure. These photos (and one video) are from our first part of the trip, the ferry from Horseshoe Bay in Vancouver to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. The last three photos are from the second ferry terminal and I'll share more of island number two tomorrow. It was so great getting away from the city for a few days that I know I'll be trying to do so again really soon. Please excuse all of my sunset photos, it was just so freakin' beautiful. For real, it really felt like a summer night on that ferry...windy though it was.

Do you have any camping trips or hikes planned this summer? Where do you go to get away from it all?

weekend worship: west van plus

I am basically a food tourist. When I go to new places, I go armed with a meticulously researched list of restaurants, bakeries, food kiosks, and maybe even vending machines I want to visit. Some of the them I will undoubtedly feel I must visit. Thankfully, Jeff is with me on this. We travel to eat new food, or, at least, that's how it seems most of the time. Of course, when we're in a place like the Netherlands, where the food is sorely lacking most of the time, we find other things to do, but I think we're both happiest when we're eating at an insanely good restaurant in a new city after a day of walking 50 kilometres or so to see all of the sights we can pack into one day.

The thing is, our life in Vancouver is not so different from this. I map neighbourhoods by getting to know eateries. In fact, today we visited two different cities (outside of Vancouver) and hit up two amazing places to eat. My mom has noticed that this is what we do. I can't help it! You know what's in the omelette? Grana padano cheese, sour cream, maple syrup and blueberries! Doesn't that sound amazing? And look at those doughnuts! Also amazing!

So, if you're ever coming to Vancouver and need some restaurant recommendations let me know, I'll definitely be able to hook you up. What are the best restaurants in your town or the best restaurants you've visited elsewhere? You know, just in case I'm planning any travels this spring...

Another photo of me in sunglasses. That's my mom with me on this insanely windy pier. And the Lion's Gate Bridge and Stanley Park in the background. What a beautiful day!

Click on the photos to find out more. Have a great Saturday night! Now I must go eat some doughnuts!

weekend worship

Saturday was altogether awesome: supermoon, laser tag, pizza and ice cream cake and cupcake birthday party for my friend Becky, and a great thrift store run. I had no idea what to expect at laser tag. I though we would be running around in a dark warehouse with little kids and that I would be the worst at it. Well, that's pretty much what it was, except add in the fact that it's totally awesome, too. The space that you play in was pretty much a huge maze, with windows and walls, ramps, and lookout points.

Game one I did awful. I didn't even know how to shoot people and was getting hit from every freakin' direction. Had it not been for the brief stalking that I did of my friend Mark I may have finished with negative points. Garme two required a change of strategy. I teamed up with Jeff (that's him on the skateboard) and we started at a highpoint where we just picked off huge groups of people for maybe five minutes. At one point we noticed there were about 20 lasers scanning our area looking for us. We were unpopular but also shooting everyone!

We executed a pretty awesome raid (which failed, but was fun anyway) and I repeatedly hit a guy who later turned out to be at the same party as us, which was a bit awkward because I was sort of driving him crazy, I think. Anyway, you can see from the scoreboard below that I came in second overall. That's me, N. Scratt, a variation on my bowling name. Jeff is Dr. Dude. He had 3% accuracy, that might have been part of his problem. What a fun way to celebrate my friend Becky's birthday! I'm so glad she organized this for everyone!

On our way home Jeff and I stopped at a thrift store that we hadn't been to in years, like, maybe since the last time we lived in Vancouver 2002. We remembered the basement box land full of messed up junk and saw a sign that pointed us in the direction of the "bargain nook" or something to that extent. Downstairs we encountered the same scene we'd been faced with so many years ago: crazy people digging through even crazier stuff. We happened to be down there when a new load of boxes was added to the pile. Jeff said he saw a woman find a knife that she liked and start digging through everything with the knife! Woah! We scored some great stuff, which I'll share in a later post. Until then, I'll let this snowy owl magnet give you an idea of both the randomness and the awesomeness the brave will find in the bargain nook. See that horse bridle sitting on top of the pile? I'm pretty sure that went to a steampunk in a tophat.

Other things:

Destroyer - what an amazing show, go if they're coming to your town!

This Joan Didion Essay On Self-Respect (perfect Sunday reading)

A beautiful bracelet benefitting Japan's animals by Upper Metal Class

weekend worship: rabid raccoons and six-headed cats

My parents were in town this weekend and they stayed at a beautiful historic hotel across the street from English Bay. It rained through most of their visit, but luckily Sunday was gorgeous and we were able to get out for a little walk in Stanley Park, one of the best places to appreciate everything we have here in Vancouver. Which apparently includes a large population of rabid raccoons. In fact, my parents stayed on the third floor in the Sylvia and had raccoons outside their window every night except the one that I was there waiting to see them. Darn!

Not to upset Canadians living elsewhere or anything (just think of your cheap rent!) but yes, these pictures were taken at the end of January. You've gotta love it here. Flowers are popping up everywhere and spring is in the air...not to mention the fact that the sun has been making occasional appearances, too.

Below is a six-headed cat ring that I scored with my mom at a thrift store this weekend. It's sterling, too. Don't worry, I got a pretty good price. More apartment pictures to come tomorrow. 

weekend worship

My weekend has gone something like this so far:

Finally saw The King's Speech and Black Swan. I liked them both, but at the risk of sounding boring, I kind of liked The King's Speech better. It was just so much better than I expected and the wall behind the speech therapist's couch was gorgeous! I also rode my bike to the Vancouver Winter Farmer's Market with my friend Stephanie. I was surprised at how many vendors were there. Nothing like a bike ride in January to make you feel incredibly lucky that you live in Vancouver!

Yesterday Jeff and Lola and I went for a walk in Richmond, too. You can see the results of some of our explorations above. Did you know that Vancouver has a gigantic crow population and they all migrate east every night? In the afternoon and evening you can see them heading to their roost by the hundreds across the sky. 

Hope you are having a great Sunday! Thank you for all of your kind words about the one year anniversary of Sadie Designs.