virgin festival

Last weekend, Roger got us free one-day tickets for Virgin Festival at Deer Lake Park in Burnaby. Even though we had plans that night, we thought we'd head there in the afternoon to just check out some of the acts and have a picnic (I think that's the first concert I have been to where we were allowed to bring our own food and water!). Managed to see a few bands, including K-OS, then had to leave since we were already meeting up with my sister who was visiting from out of town. Turns out shortly after we left, it was the first thundershower of the summer... it began to dump rain and the final act had to be cancelled. Hmm... so I guess everything worked out for a reason.

heat wave

This past week has been killer... the heat wave has endured all week here in Vancouver with temperatures in the high 30s with humidity (high 90s if you are in fahrenheit). There is actually a fan shortage in the city – air con here is only commonplace in public and commercial buildings, which means most people's homes, including ours is an oven! I am sweating from just sitting still in front of my computer, that is how hot it is.

Last Saturday, we actually had our first thundershower of the summer too... it left for some pretty pink skies. There is also a great time elapsed video of the Vancouver storm someone else has posted here... it happened on the same night as the Celebration of Light fireworks show... so it was technically double the fireworks.

Happy long weekend to everyone in Canada... it is BC Day this coming Monday, so we are off for some rest and relaxation! Also, thanks to 2nd Coming for featuring Cabin + Cub yesterday... see the post here.

summer night market

Every year, there is a huge Summer Night Market (previously called Richmond Night Market) that happens each weekend from May to October. Located in an odd industrial part of town, the place is packed full of booths selling a vast array of goods - sunglasses, kawaii stationary (the weirder the character and worse the english translations the better), asian DVDs, ankle socks with japanese cartoon characters (can you beat 5 pairs for $10!), ninja swords (you never know when you might need one)... and the list goes on and on. The best part of the market though, are the food stalls... which is probably why they are always packed! We wolfed down some bbq lamb skewers, deep fried tofu, as well as some chinese dumplings (shown above with some hot chilli sauce)... and still had room for some bubble tea too! Yes, it was a bit of a gluttonous day... I did turn down the mini donuts though... so there was some will power that day. 

mixtape

I love mix tapes, and I love creating new illustrations... so, I excitedly entered a few entries into Social Designer's Mixtape t-shirt competition. A portion of the t-shirt sales of the chosen winning design will benefit the Chez Panisse Foundation. If you like some of my designs and want to see one on a lovely t-shirt, come and vote for them here, here, here, here (each link will take you to each illustration and its description). Thanks! I am crossing my fingers!!!

here comes the sun

If you don't already know, I am a huuuge fan of the video game Rock Band. Yes, that's right... I have my own red Vic Firth drum sticks and everything (still working on the drumstick twirl, btw). So when I heard that Rock Band will be releasing a Beatles edition this September (09.09.09), I squealed in giddy delight. Even if you aren't a video game fan, but love the Beatles, watch the amazing trailer... it's beautiful and really well done. Watch it here. Wooohoo... I can't wait to be Ringo!

it's a sloth, if you're wondering

We visited the Vancouver Aquarium recently to visit our old friend the tropical sloth (I don't think it has a name?). Took awhile to spot it, since it was hiding way up high among the tree blossoms. I tried to get the best photo I could... waited and waited, and then it occurred to me that.. oh yah, it's a sloth... it's going to take forever to move and turn to even face me. So short of poking it with a stick (which is not allowed of course), I would have had to wait a long long time in that tropical heat. So this is the resulting photo... a mysterious fur ball in some branches... I am not even sure which side is the head... I think the top?

collage: girl and balloons

Happy sunny day = balloon collage day! There is a bit of a heat wave going on in Vancouver right now, so it has been sunny and bright for the last little while with temperatures creeping higher and higher. I think all this extra vitamin D is making me a little giddy (I hope it's not actually sun stroke). All this good weather is almost making me forget it's a regular monday morning... I may actually forgo the coffee...