whistler weekend

Some trip photos to share today! Roger surprised me with a fun trip to Whistler for the weekend to celebrate our 4th year wedding anniversary! We packed up the wee one (yes, we took him along too... his first Whistler trip!). Instead of posting pics of the village and us wining, dining and shopping, here are some pics of the Olympic sites (minus the snow, of course) that we thought was kind of neat to see. The ski jumps in the last photo seriously made me want to pee my pants!

orange you glad to see me?

Just outside one of the local skytrain stations here in Vancouver (basically our city subway system) sits a trio of giant day-glo orange bears. Pretty hard to miss them... they are pretty fluorescent. They somewhat remind me of fake cheese and macaroni, but in a good way of course. They are one of the many new public sculptures that have popped up around the city for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Check them out at the 49th Avenue Langara station, if you get a chance... they will make you smile and perhaps say "cheese" too.

oh canada!

Well, the day has finally come... yesterday was the last official day of the 2010 Olympic games. Oh and what a grand ending... hmmm... perhaps you may have heard that our little 'ol men's hockey team beat Team USA in overtime 3 - 2 to take the gold medal? Woooooooooohooooooooooooo! And yes, it is a huge deal since hockey is pretty such a religion in this country... seriously. We took to the streets after watching the game on TV and were surrounded by a sea of people in their Canadian red, cars honking and voices cheering... there was a fantastic spirit and energy pulsating through this city!

Anyhoo... just wanted to congratulate all the countries and medal winners... (Canada got 26!...14 of which are gold). Hooray! Ok, now I can take a break from watching any type of sporting event for the next year or so... I think I got my quota in for the entire year this past couple of weeks. ;)

going for gold!

Olympic fever is high today! Canada men's hockey team won over Russia yesterday 7 -3, our women's bobsled team snatched Gold and Silver, and our women's hockey team is playing for Gold today! Woop woop!

As you may have read on my previous posts, Olympic venue tickets were really pricey, and any cheaper ones were/are snatched up like wildfire. So when Roger came home from work on Tuesday and surprised me with tickets to that night's Victory Ceremony, I was doing a little giddy happy dance. Each night there is a ceremony at BC Place, where they present the medals to all of that current day's winners from all countries... oh yes, and there is also live music and entertainment followed by one headliner act at the end (that night it was Canada's Billy Talent). Lucky for us, Tuesday was a good medal day for Canada, since Ashleigh McIvor had just won Gold in Ladies' Ski Cross... so there was a lot of home town yelling, screaming and cheering. If you look real close at the first picture, you can see her standing on the middle podium... (yes, we are a bit in the nosebleeds).

I have my TV on in the other room while I work today, so I can catch all of today's events! Go Canada Go! (insert airhorn sound here).

sochi 2014

We have attempted to visit many of the pavilions dotted around the city during the winter Olympic games... there are so many ridiculously long lines though, it's beginning to feel a lot like Disneyland in the summer on a public holiday. One of the pavilions we were patient enough to get into was the Russian Sochi House - basically a showcase of the next city to host the 2014 winter games. Instead of showing you pics of the mass droves of people, or the corporate sponsor displays (which I might add, are very mediocre too look at), or the Russian singer that was wearing a silver lounge suit (I missed my opportunity to take that photo... too much glare from the suit, sorry) I thought I would show you a peek at their mascot.

To my surprise, they have adopted Cheburashka as their mascot! Ok, so you might be asking... who on earth is Cheburashka? Well, he is a cute little creature with big ears... the original stop motion animation was from 1971 (directed by Roman Kachanov)... um, and I know this because I have the cute little animated series on DVD... uh, as well as the doll... um, along with a few other collectibles too.

Disappointingly, they have made him blue, red and white for the Olympic games (the original is chocolate brown)... and the dolls they had in the gift shop were not very cute, since they had plastic faces. The one I have is much cuter (see pic below). But I can't complain too much... I am still super excited to see him as the mascot.

music and fireworks

On Tuesday night we ventured down to Yaletown, one of the sites that is part of LiveCity Vancouver to catch some of the free concert series going on. Every night for the entire run of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, there are free concerts and celebrations happening around town. There is a long list of great artists to check out including: Wilco, Alexisonfire, Sam Roberts Band, Wintersleep, Buck 65, and Blue Rodeo... just to name a few.

At the end of each show, there is a huge fireworks display too... very cool, exciting and romantic... well, except when we were there, and it was pouring rain and the two burly policemen standing in front of us kept sneaking into all the photos.

ps. don't forget to enter the february giveaway here!!!

come on baby, light my fire

The 2010 Olympic opening ceremony kicked off this past Friday... Roger was lucky enough to see part of the torch run that afternoon, when it traveled near his workplace on Granville Island (see bottom photo)... it made it's way across the water towards downtown via dragon boat. We ended up watching the opening at home on TV that night (tickets were around $1100! gulp!), but did head downtown this past weekend to see the large lit cauldron. And if you are wondering why we are so far away from it, well it's because there is this huge ugly chain link security fence around it... the top pic is taken between the fence holes. The middle photo is a pic of the crowd that was streaming the streets to catch a glimpse of the cauldron as well. Lot's of cool stuff happening around town, so I will post more of our olympiad adventures every couple of days! Go Canada Go!

Also, a thanks to Maite for featuring one of my collages on her blog Tamsy Trends, Alex for featuring one of my collages on Not Aa Stupid Blog, and Anna for featuring on of my love cards on her blog around the way girl! Many thanks!

ps. don't forget to enter the february giveaway here!!!

northern fuzzy friends

More Cultural Olympiad show-and-tell today... there are a series of pavilions and hospitality houses dotted around town, most of which are opening at the end of this week to coincide with the start of the Winter Games. One that was open early, however was the Northern House (featuring culture, art and performances from Canada's three northern territories)... oh yes, and also featuring some cute fuzzy northern animals (stuffed, of course). My favourite is the cute short chubby muskox... I mean just look at it... it's so darn fuzzy. Maybe I will nickname this one Musky (after it's species name and not smell... although I have never encountered a real one, so maybe they do smell?... hmm... will have to Wiki that).

While at the Northern House, we also discovered something really cool in the exhibition building... but I am keeping it a surprise until tomorrow's post, just to be suspenseful. Ooooh... what could it be?!! Curious aren't you?

ikons

More art talk to share with you today. With the approaching Winter Olympics, there has been no shortage of things to see and do in this city lately, thanks to the abundant offerings of the Cultural Olympiad. This past weekend, one of the coolest exhibitions we saw was a collaboration between visual artist Eric Metcalfe and experimental composer George Lewis called Ikons. When approaching each free standing colorful sculpture, visitors' motions trigger different audio compositions, so that no sequence of sounds is the same. Roger and I, literally were dodging and hiding between sculptures to see which one would emit the craziest sound... (yes, we are easily amused... and yes, at the time, we were the only two people there). Anyhoo, check it out if you get a chance... it is FREE!

I will post more Olympiad things that we see and encounter in the next few weeks... more art, more shows/concerts and visits to the many pavilions... basically our budget-friendly experience of the Olympics, since $400 Olympic hockey tickets were a bit out of the question for us.

lovely lanterns

Coming out one of the downtown local skytrains (which is Vancouver's subway system) the other day, I came across a very cool looking art display. 2010 paper lanterns decorated by children from Canada and Taiwan hang from a forest of tall wooden bamboo and steel trees. As part of the 2010 Cultural Olympiad for the coming Winter Olympics, the display also celebrates the upcoming Lunar New Year (the eve of which is on February 13th). I will definitely have to come back here at night to take some more pictures when they are all lit up... I passed by during a morning, so waiting... er, for about 12 hours to pass for it to get dark wasn't an option. Will promise to share pics of the next visit!

sport re-imagined

So many of you may have heard of this little thing called the Winter Olympic Games that are coming to Vancouver? Lot's of exciting events are happening around town, both official and non.official... so I thought I would share an art exhibition that my hubby Roger is participating in.

With over ten other artists, he will be showcasing some of his work at "Sport Re-Imagined" at the Leigh Square Community Arts Village in Port Coquitlam from January 21 - March 21. I will post some pics of his work when we snap some at the opening night in February... these are some pieces by some of the other artists that will be in the show. Hope you can check out the show!

A description of the show: "Sport Re-imagined is a group exhibition showcasing artists whose work challenges, re-imagines, and reinterprets sport and the paraphernalia and constructs that surround it. Artists ask the viewer to envision familiar objects with a new perspective: robots made of bicycle parts, skis transformed into furniture, tents and rugby shirts altered into couture dresses or skateboard decks that look like abstract paintings. Other works emphasize the physical and bodily exertion of sport; the potential energy in our bones and muscles."

January 21 - March 21

Opening Reception: Tuesday, February 16 7:00 - 9:00 pm

Leigh Square Community Arts Village, 2253 Leigh Square, Port Coquitlam
FREE ADMISSION.

ps. don't forget to enter the January giveaway... last day to enter is Sunday!

olympics are coming

If you haven't already heard the 2010 winter olympics are coming to Vancouver, in fact they are about one month away. We don't actually have tickets to see any of the events (they were a tad pricey... some upwards of $200/ticket per person for the more popular sports - i.e hockey and ice skating), so Roger and I will hopefully be checking out the other Olympic budget-friendly related festivities around town. This is a shot of one of the venues (I believe curling) as they prepare for the big event... ok, it is a shot of the fence, so you can't really see the venue... but now you are even more intrigued aren't you.

quatchi

I stumbled upon a pile of Olympic mascot dolls the other day while shopping and thought it would make for a funny photo. (The Winter Olympics are coming to Vancouver in 2010 in case you didn't know). There are actually three mascots, but this one is my favorite - his name is Quatchi and he is a Sasquatch from the forest, and yes, he is wearing earmuffs. How can you not love a big hairy sasquatch that wears baby blue earmuffs? See a video of all three mascots here.