V Day Update...

This is the view from our bar seats at Smitty's Oyster Bar in Gibson's Harbour this afternoon. (still haven't found my camera battery charger so you'll have be satisfied with G's B.berry pix)

Fresh, yummy oysters, sweet potato fries and absolutely delicious halibut fritters with a perfectly chilled bottle of Semillon Sauvignon. It must be love:)

Making TV and Making Merry

Georges' Barb and her hubby Al We spent about 3 hours yesterday morning filming at the store for a CBC program called Living Vancouver (I tried to post their link but it's not working at the moment). It will be a 3 1/2 minute segment to run in the second week of January. Barb, Bonnie and I modeled our clothes, and we got to talk a lot about our philosphy, loving your body, celebrating your curves, etc. I think it went extremely well. Funny how exhausting that can be. The "being on" and trying to say the right thing in the right way. At least they have plenty of material to work with. It's always nice when the reporters or media people 'get' our concept and help us get it across in the right way. Fun!
Last night was G's annual staff Christmas party at the Sequoia Grill in Stanley Park. Beautiful setting, fun night - too much wine! Will I ever learn? I think G. and I were feeling particularly celebratory with the new house and all!
Today was an all day pj day - movies, blog surfing, hanging out with my G. Also nice. Hope you're all having a great weekend! More pix here...

G. in his utilikilt!

A Weekend Rendezvous...

This past weekend, G. and I snuck away to Seattle for our annual pre-Christmas getaway. Lots of walking, talking, re-connecting, wine sampling and yummy food. It's funny, we choose to go on one of the biggest US shopping weekends of the year and then we avoid the crowds once we're there. In years past, we've watched the lighting of the tree, bands, parades, etc. but it seems, these days, we much prefer to go in the opposite direction of the hoards of people making merry. Here are some pix...

our room (comfy bed & soaker tub!)

wine tasting at The Tasting Room in Post Alley

we didn't ship any wine home but...a display at Anthropologie (I love that store!!!) The skirt is made out of wood

I bought this teacup for our new house!lunch at Maximillians - Pike Place

All in all, a fantastic little getaway. Lots of laughs, lots of dreaming about our future and lots of just walking hand in hand enjoying each other's company!
Oh yeah, we also did a bit of shopping;)
Will show you the other shoes tomorrow!

It's a slow blogging week...

sorry folks! My computer died and I'm now borrowing G's from work temporarily so no pix and not much time on here. Lots going on including a great one night getaway with our bootcamp group up at Whistler this past weekend! So much fun. We even squeezed (or is it squoze) in a workout before the craziness started. Big event at Bodacious this week so I'm trying to fight off this feeling that I might be catching something and focusing on having a successful event. Hope you can come:) and hope you had a fantastic weekend! My George was off again first thing this morning to Toronto so I'm missing him quite a bit. It certainly is making for lovely moments of reconnection tho';)

As big as a dinner plate!

Have you seen the dahlias growing out there? I swear some are as big as a dinner plate. They are so beautiful. I discovered these on my walk to work the other morning...
Did I ever mention that my world is full of virgos? It's true - George and Barb are actually exactly the same age (september babies) and there's several other friends and rellies whose births are honoured every year at this time. As much as some of you might think that I'm a party girl, the boring truth of it is that (as much as I do enjoy my wine), I rarely get a chance to play with my friends. Saturday night was the rare exception. (oh, I guess last weekend too;) Anyways, there was lots of laughing and dancing with the girls and a few boys as well at my friend, Bear's birthday party on Saturday night. Crazy silliness - so much fun! And I just had to walk across the street at the end of the night - perfect!
Sunday we celebrated my nephew, Trevor's 15th birthday - really??? 15 years??? I can hardly believe it. George and I were in Budapest, Hungary when he was born. I kept calling home from each stop on our trip (much to my sister-in-laws chagrin!) to see if my nephew had arrived yet. When I finally got the news, I told everyone on the streets of Budapest that I was now an aunt! They couldn't understand a word I was saying but I'm sure they could see by the big smile on my face that we were celebrating a very special event!!! Happy Birthday Trevor!

Boot Camp kicked my butt!!!

What a perfect day to start boot camp. It was actually hot out there! Very fun tho'. So good to feel those muscles that have been on a bit of a summer vacation. I'll be going 3 mornings a week for 10 weeks so should see and feel some pretty positive results.
Fantastic weekend spent with friends/family. George and Barbie's birthday was on Friday so us two couples (including Superman) went out to Grub for some delicious food, drink and other shenanigans! The apres dinner prosecco meant a bit of a headache Saturday morning but...yumm!!!
Saturday night we went to celebrate another Virgo birthday. Our hostess with the mostess friend Kathleen prepared a fabulous Italian themed dinner and the loverly Dre did some very creative decorating. Who knew you could create a seaside escape with some blue outdoor lights, a trampoline and a chandelier? I'll have to get a copy of some of the pix. I'd never tried Osso Buco before but I certainly will again. Amazing!!! Creamy risotto, tomato and bocconcini salad - all so delicious! I paced myself this time with the drinking so no hangover the next day:) Besides, I was much too busy singing my heart out to some pretty crazy oldies. There was one couple at the dinner party who were kinda newbies (K's friend from the past) and I think they were a little overwhelmed by G's performance of Delilah (complete with props!) - as well as some other really crazy loud singing and dancing. Sooo much fun - my cheeks were sore from laughing so hard! Sunday brought more hot sunshine, some mellow reading on the back deck and then a trip out to the boat to give it a good scrub and then enjoy the waterfront views/reading/chatting/napping.
I feel truly blessed to have such wonderful people in my life, a home that I enjoy, a sailboat that I never dreamed I would own and the presence of mind to appreciate it all - every day! Thanks to all of you who are on this journey with me!

Catch up...

It's been yet another busy weekend filled with friends, cocktails, entertainment and good food. George was gone from Thursday - Saturday eve. visiting his family on the island so I had to fill the time.
Here's a snapshot...
Thursday night I met some friends at the Penny Lane Pub for dinner and a much needed cold beer (or two). It was extremely hot out there! It was also 35cent perogy night:)
Friday night I was invited to join in on a party at my cuz's apartment. She's already blogged about it, so go have a read if you like. Amazing food, entertainment and quality hosts.

I always shy away from these kinds of things but it turned out to be quite fun. The host assigned numbers to everyone in the group and then you had to find the other guests who had your number. Once everyone was matched up to about 4 in each group, we each got a bag of words to put together into sentences. They all had to do with the 'flamenco' theme of the evening. It ended up being quite fun and a great way to meet each other.
Saturday morning came much too early but I had booked myself in to do the BeautiControl training starting at 8:00 am in Metrotown!!! It was a long day learning about all of their products but I came away with a pretty strong interest in selling this line (not that I'm a total beauty product expert but I do really love a lot of their products - especially the instant manicure and the warming green tea mask).
Saturday late aft. and evening were a bit of a write-off. Soooo hot and tired, I just layed on the couch and cheered on our Canadian Olympic team, waiting for my George to come home.
We had hoped to do some sailing on Sunday but decided to hang around the house instead. George spent several hours mowing, weeding, raking, etc. while I did a much overdue grocery shop. Enjoyed playing the loving spouse and prepared a yummy picnic lunch on the front yard for my hard-working, sweaty man - along with some chilled rose.
Dined al fresco (and some yummy sausage kabobs) in the evening while watching the Olympics.
Oh yeah...G. came home Saturday night with a new Wii game which I never thought I'd ever be interested in playing but...SOOOO MUCH FUN!!! Played bowling, boxing, tennis, baseball and golf. A surprisingly great workout and also hilariously funny!
Last night we walked over to the Nat Bailey Stadium and watched our Vancouver Canadians baseball team win an amazing game against Boise - lots of action, a few homeruns and some really lame between-inning entertainment. Once again, see my cuz's blog for more info...

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend! What was the best part? I'd love to hear about it...

Happy First Day of Summer!

Well...I know you're all sitting by your computers, waiting to see what I decided to do yesterday so here you go:)
I went to see Sex and the City with George (who played the part of my gay boyfriend nicely - except for the gay part - haha). I loved the whole experience!!! It's been so long since I've been to a movie at the theatre, I just took it all in. Popcorn - check, monster-size pop - check, m&m's - check, centre seats, big screen, massive speaker system. The movie was nice - I loved the crazy and sometimes over-the-top fashion, friendship dialogue, gal travel to Mexico, and the sensitive and funny bits that made me laugh and cry. There were a couple of particulary funny scenes at the hotel in Mexico where I surprised myself by how loud I laughed but I won't give them away in case you haven't seen the movie yet. I'd definitely go again with some girlfriends just to be able to talk more about the fashion and enjoy the heavy focus on female friendships. And also to get another look at all of Carrie Bradshaw's shoes! I give it two well-manicured thumbs up.
After the movie - we decided to go and check out the new Burgoo restaurant on Main and it was really great. If you haven't already experienced Burgoo at one of the their other locations on West 10th or North Van, you'll need to check them out. It was only their second night open and they were very busy. We ended up sitting at the bar which I love (always a great opportunity to chat with the bartender!) Here's what we had...first, this delicious plate of Italian appies (tomatoes, bocconcini, artichokes, crustini) and then...







George had this loverly dish called Zarzuela - a spanish seafood, tomato and saffron dish topped with ground almonds. I couldn't resist comparing my recent tastes of Beouf Bourguignon (apparently I've been spelling it wrong all along) in Paris to what they were offering up. DEElicious! Served with mashed potatoes, lots of carrots (as you can see) and a nice red wine gravy mopped up by the fresh home-made bread. The Hester Creek Cab-Merlot was the perfect choice to accompany our mains!

I shouldn't even tell you that we also had dessert but how could we resist the banana chocolate cake topped with ice-cream???

'nuff said!

2 more sleeps!!!

The countdown is now on. I'm not wearing my best underwear or socks - all is being saved to pack:) I'm very glad that G's parents are going to come and housesit while we're away so we don't have to worry so much about the security of our home. G booked us on a tour on Saturday (the day after we arrive in Paris) which will have us picked up by a Citroen car at our hotel and drive us around the city for about 1 1/2 hours and then take us to a wine tasting! That sounds pretty cool. I'm almost packed - Barb is coming tomorrow morning to help me do a final needs assessment and culling:) I'm going to try to keep it down to 3 or less pairs of shoes - wish me luck! (I have to leave room for any new shoe purchases)
If I don't get a chance to blog before I go, I will still check back for any comments so...hint, hint.

à bientôt

Monday, Monday...

Well...another successful sailing adventure under our belts! Saturday was such a beautiful day and we were out on the water for about 3 1/2 hours-feeling a little more comfortable with the tacking and jibing. No ferry incidents, a good amount of wind but not too scary and some cold pacifico (check out this pacifico ad campaign - so cool!) at the end of the day while cleaning off the boat. Had to rush home to attend our neighbours dinner party. The drive back home seems to be hit and miss traffic wise. Our neighbours - two doors down - invited us and a few other neighbours for an Armenian feast! Shish kakobs, tabouleh, rice pilaf with mushrooms, peas and chicken, salads and a semolina pudding dessert! Way too much food but oh so delicious. The homemade merlot was also outstanding. The only problem was that we were sitting outside and I was fr*@kin freezing!!! Had a nice warm bath before bed and all was well:) Yesterday was a mellow day. We have a new staff starting at the store so I went in for a few hours and then did very little else:) Clean sheets tho' which is always a perfect Sunday bonus.
The countdown is now on for Paris so I'm packing and re-packing. The challenge? Look pretty and stylish while trying to be practical at the same time. (we will be doing a LOT of walking!)
I bought a great pair of Skechers which are a bit prettier than running shoes and are oh-so-comfy (and are my favourite colour to boot)!
Watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding last night. I forgot what a cute movie that is. Made me laugh , made me cry.
Happy beginning of the week to you...

Monday, Monday...

I took a bunch of pictures of all of the gardening we did this weekend but my camera battery is dead and I can't find the charger so here's a pic from a couple of weeks ago. There's way more flower action now. Still nice, I think?
Had a pretty good weekend.
Went to the driving range early Saturday morning and then off to the Trout Lake Farmer's Market for the first time this year. What a beautiful market. If you haven't been, you should definitely check it out. There are so many plants - edible and beautiful - that are so inexpensive compared to the gardening centres. We bought 4 tomato plants, more petunias, nasturtiums, salvias and an air plant. I could have bought so much more! There's also great organic veg, baking, mushrooms, meats...It's a great way to kick start your Saturday and support local!
We watched two french movies over the weekend in preparation for our upcoming trip to Paris. Paris, Je T'Aime and Amelie. Definitely starting to get excited about visiting this beautiful city!
Yesterday Barb invited George and I to Eat! Vancouver at BC Place. Wow! So many foods, so many people, so yummy:) We sampled Mexican, Indian, Westcoast, Okanagan wines and local cheeses. Everywhere you turn, someone has some kind of fig jelly on a cracker or muskoxe jerky ready for you to try. It was pretty cool. We sat through a wine and cheese pairing put on by the Wine Diva which was yummy and I learned a few things too. OMG, that white cheddar was delicious!
I'd say one of the highlights of the weekend was just enjoying our back deck which we finally got cleaned up and comfie. I love it back there - it's usually quite calm and peaceful (except when we get invaded by the neighbours and all the kids:).
Happy Monday everyone!