Gold!

The view from B's Condo overlooking downtown Vancouver

Right now my pulse is beating alongside a nation that is celebrating.
What a game. What a night. What an ending to the first phase of a truly exceptional Olympic Games.

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Happy Snowy Saturday

The snow is falling outside as I sip a morning coffee, with no plans other then cheering on our curling team to gold. Happy Snowy Saturday!

I hope you are having a perfect start to the weekend.

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Olympics 2010 - Nadleh Whut'en Traditional Performers

One of the mandates set forth by VANOC in the planning of these Olympic Games was to achieve unprecedented Aboriginal participation in both the planning and presence of this event.
The relationships in need of nurturing and mending with Canada's aboriginal people are deep and not immediately remedied by a single event or apology, however as a spectator at these Olympic Games, it appeared to me that the amazing spirit presented by the Aboriginal people in Vancouver was one that had many people standing side by side as the sounds of drumming and singing echoed through the downtown streets.

On the day of our departure as I waited for Mr. S to wrap up some interviews, I stood on a sunny corner and was swept away by the pulse of song and drumming of the Nadleh Whut'en First Nations performers. The sway and bob of the dancers pulled people from the streets as the crowd surrounding the Dakelh (meaning "people who travel by water") doubled, tripled, and poured over barriers. It was the perfect last taste of an amazing few days in Vancouver.

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2010 Olympics - The Olympic Caldron

With winter finally deciding to make an appearance and the chill of its wind whistling through the frames of our drafty doors, I thought it would be a good day to post photos of the Olympic Caldron so you can cozy up to the warmth of its flame.

One of the nicest things about being out west was enjoying the games and the amazing hospitality Vancouver is offering to its thousands of house guests, free from the negative media that was and is apparently going around. It was not until we flew back home did we find out the extent to which observers had criticized the location and protective fencing around the caldron. The critic made me wonder if any of them actually stopped by for a visit, because when I was there it was beautifully visible, tucked safely behind a fence and proudly accenting the stunning Vancouver waterfront and the snow capped mountains in the background.

Tall and proud, flames glowing and the faces of people staring up at it glowing right back - the Olympic Caldron is truly stunning and pretty much impossible to miss, leading me to wonder if perhaps it is the caged ability to see good in those who want to report that bad that needs to be unfenced.

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Baby Birds

The super talented Rosalyn, who I had the pleasure of spending pretty much all day with at the Workroom, soaking up all of her energy and happy, drew these sweet little baby birds for her 365 project after taking suggestions for her blog readers (these were mine).
I love how you can actually feel their soft little baby bird feathers and hear their squawks for food. I am hoping she will be printing these soon...hint hint...Rosalyn...

Click here to see all the other little babes she has drawn. I think the otters may be my second favorite!

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2010 Olympics - A Sea of Red

Every person bumping past in the crowded streets and lining up for hours to see their event had us seeing red, a happy glowing patriotic red as all things Canadian have exploded onto Vancouver and transformed it into a sea of red set on the backdrop of blue skies and glowing mountains.

To base your outfit each day on what will most clearly distinguish you as Canadian and to then blend into the thousands of others who have made the same wardrobe choices offers such a fantastic feeling of inclusion and unity that can often missing in the day to day. And to look around and contrast with the patriotic colors of those who are here to represent their athletes and home, perhaps in smaller numbers but no less proudly, instills a hope that the lines often divide have been set aside for a few days.

We saw no clearer display for Canadian's love of its athletes and homeland then at the Canada vs. Norway Men's Hockey game we were so so lucky to attend. From the 2 hours it took to get through security and enter the arena doors, to the deafening cheers and spontaneous outbreaks of our National Anthem, we were engulfed in a sea of red the whole time and were able to live that true patriot love you can hear being sung all day long in the streets.

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Olympics 2010 - What a Dream

Until early last week, I was an Olympic skeptic. Excited for Mr. S to be a part of the festivities, but willing and content to hear his stories and watch it from the comfort of sweat pants and home. And then I decided to make the trip to Vancouver, and then I was actually there, and now I am in love.

In Love with the Olympics.

To be a part of an event that brought you to tears at the most unexpected moments and was filled with so much energy and positivity was truly humbling. To walk down the streets packed with thousands of people and to be greeted with smiles, congratulations and a sea of patriotism - red, white, blue, yellow, orange - is something I hope never stops inspiring me. To watch someone who has invested their entire life for one moment while a world of eyes watches their every move is absolutely breathtaking.
I am still just waking up from our adventure and having a hard time believing that it was not all just a dream.

Leaving Vancouver this weekend was like having to go bed early as a kid while the adults stayed up late, knowing that despite it being time to go, there was so much good still left and so much you didn't want to miss.

We truly had the most amazing time and I can't wait to share it all with you!
Happy Monday.

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Love at the Olympics!

We have just arrived and thanks to the combination of Valentines Day and the amazing energy here in Vancouver, our hearts are just bursting!

Happy Valentines Day!

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Olympics 2010 - Party Decor - Centerpiece

Decorating for our Opening Ceremonies party tonight has been a lot of fun and easily inspired by the colour palette of the Olympic Rings. I wanted to do something for our table centerpiece that avoided the juvenile feel that can come from primary colors lined up side by side and these dollar store vases, white tulips and water dyed with food coloring seem to be doing the trick! I was hoping that over night the colors might bleed into the white petals, but alas my grade 6 science has failed me.

I love how their shadow casts a heart shaped glow - a perfect hint at this weekend's day of love.

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2010 Olympics - Let the Games Begin!

Today marks the start of the 2010 Olympic Games and Mr. S and I are getting very excited!
Knowing that I will be in the heart of the festivities in just a few days really has me in feeling the Olympic Spirit.
B (who you may remember is running the show over in Vancouver) saw a preview of the Opening Ceremonies last night and said it was amazing! I can't wait to see it live tonight and share the excitement with our friends!

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Vancouver 2010 Olympics - Opening Ceremonies Party

Our Opening Ceremonies Party Invite

Tomorrow marks the start of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, and we decided to celebrate by throwing a little opening ceremonies party!
You see, in addition to the whole the world getting together to compete in a friendly way, these Olympics have also given us a few other things to celebrate!

First, my good friend B is running the games, by herself!! Amazing, eh? Well... almost by herself...there are a few thousand people helping her...but as she is the only person I know working for VANOC and I think she is amazing and could probably run this by herself, so in my mind she is. Yeah B!!

Second, Mr. S's band is playing at the Olympics! He will be a part of the cultural olympiad Vancouver is running throughout the city and it is most exciting!

Third...after telling everyone for the last 6 months that I would rather watch the games from home, I gave my head a major shake and have decided to go! So I not only get to spend Valentines Day with Mr. S at the Olympics in Vancouver that my friend B is running and Mr. S is making music for, but we also get to see amazing athletes at their best doing what they love and representing their countries. amazing!

And because of all of this, we are throwing a party tomorrow night to celebrate.

Last night I put together one game I am going to make everyone play, Opening Ceremonies Bingo! I selected a bunch of people and things we might see while watching the show and mixed them up onto Bingo cards for our guests.
Luckily the food is taken care of as each of our guests is bringing a food from a Olympic Participant Country (yum!) so all that is left to do is to make some decorations!

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Message in a Cookie

This weekend I got a chance to test out my new Message-in-a-Cookie Cutter from William Sonoma for the Workroom's Love and Rummage Trunk Show!
The cookie kit comes with three cutters (heart, star and scalloped rectangle), seven premade words and a bunch of individual letters for free-stylin'.
It took some practice finding the correct amount of pressure to apply in order to get the letters to read clearly without going right through the cookie, and lots of flour to keep everything from sticking. In the end I think they turned out pretty sweet (with all that sugar, how could they not!)

I have big plans for this new toy especially with Valentines Day, the Olympics and a few birthday parties coming up!

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Gold Wellies

These gold wellies would be like walking on sunshine on a damp rainy day. Paired with tights and a sweet jumper... I think I would almost wish it to rain if these were waiting by the door!
Sigh...
Happy Monday!

Ps. The boots were spotted on one of my new favorite blogs - Mrs. Lilien

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Happy Saturday!

It is a crisp and sunny Saturday and I can't wait to get outside for a bundled up walk.
Today our only plans are to catch up on a few emails and things around the house, buy a new kettle and some tea to brew with it, and hold hands wandering the streets of our city.

And tomorrow we will be hosting friends for a Yahtzee/Superbowl party and making a stop at the Workroom's Love and Rummage Trunk Show! Boy oh boy, life is good.

Happy Saturday!

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Memphis - Beale Street and Diner Food

Happy Friday Friends!
Thank you for your patience while I run through all the events of my short trip to Memphis. I hate to bore you, but it makes me happy to have these memories written down somewhere to look back on.

The final roundup of photos is from downtown Memphis, Beale Street, which is lined with Blues Clubs, Restaurants and home to one of my favorite meals of the trip! I loved the weathered and worn out signs, faded colours and fantastic lettering - the street was just bursting with character, which transformed as night set in and the bright florescent lights took over from the muted daylight tones.

And once inside the Blues City Cafe, we dined...oh how we dined!
Mushroom caps, skillet cooked and stuffed with fresh lobster and crab meat. Texas toast, new potatoes steamed until they dissolved like butter and pan friend, cajun BBQ shrimp. And dessert, Baked apple wrapped in pastry seared with butter in an iron skillet, Drizzled with cinnamon sauce and served with vanilla ice cream.

It was a perfect weekend in Memphis, but as always, the best part is coming back home.
Happy Weekend!

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Memphis - Peabody Hotel

There were four things I had dreamed about doing on my trip to Memphis: Eating as much Diner food as possible, seeing Graceland, going to Beale Street and visiting the Peabody Hotel.

Wish number four, visiting the Peabody hotel, really just waddled into our laps as we were wandering downtown Memphis and came across the hotel.
You see, the Peabody Hotel has a tradition dating back to 1933 that started when the General Manager of the hotel, drunk on whisky and back from duck hunting, thought it would be a fun prank to put some of the live ducks he had right in the hotel lobby fountain. The guests enjoyed it so much, the ducks stayed and were soon trained to march from their 300 thousand dollar duck palace on the roof of the hotel, onto the elevator and up some red velvet steps into the fountain! These little ducks have quite a famous following and have been lead by honorary Duck Masters, including Patrick Swayze, Oprah Winfrey, and have even gone on the late night circuit with their act!

So you can imagine my excitement as we entered the doors of the hotel and heard someone announcing the departure of the ducks. I took off into a sprint, only to be passed by dad, and we ended up right at the end of the line where the ducks waddled their way into the elevator enroute back to their duck palace.

And then all of a sudden my dad disappeared...into the elevator...

Then a few seconds later I was being called by the duck master to join them and off we went, riding an elevator in the Peabody Hotel with the duck Master and 4 little ducks chatting at our feet.

When the elevator doors slid open the ducks lined up right on cue and made their way across a very icy roof and into the doors of their palace, flapping their wings to stop from slipping and quaking back at the Duck Master and he kindly encouraged them along.

We chatted for a while with the Duck Master who explained that they only have the ducks work this job for a couple of months because any longer they start acting out like a bunch of teenagers and he has to spend his day searching for them in the hotel lobby gift shop.

I felt so lucky to experience this little Memphis tradition and blissfully checked it off my dream list.

Next up...Diner Food and Beale Street!

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Memphis - Graceland - The Decor

Upon walking through the doors of Elvis's Graceland, there is a moment of re-orientation as you are quickly whisked back to a different time of luxury and where our current impressions of celebrity and wealth are replaced with a much more modest front.

You can see it all over the faces of Graceland visitors as they are confronted with the luxury they had imagined for The King and the reality of its over the top and occasionally obnoxious, but very deliberate style. Graceland is preserved forever in the graphic, velvet, green shag, dark wood paneling style of the late 70's - which was been made even more impressive by Elvis's love for Louis XIV style and Andre Breton surrealism.

The basement TV room, painted with Elvis's signature "TCB" and lightening bolt, as the bold yellow and blue colors bounce off the mirrored walls of the bar area and three tvs, installed after hearing that President Lyndon Johnson had three sets to keep up with all the major network newscasts at the same time, constantly flicker.

And across the hall, the billiards room, adorned with 365 meters of matching fabric covering the walls and the furniture.

Then back upstairs to the Jungle room where you could see the most emotion creep across visitors' faces as they digest the space themed after Elvis' travels to the Hawaiian islands, complete with water-fall, green shag carpeting, and carved wood monkey chair.

The most luxurious part of Graceland is its modesty and the feeling that a property purchased in the 1950's by a 22 year old Elvis was made to be exactly what he described to have wanted; a home. Amongst the bright colors, ornate fixtures and heavy textiles they is a surprising comfort and bizarre calm about the place... or maybe I was just high from all the late nights and parties that I can only imagine are still hanging in the air!

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Memphis - Graceland - The King

On Day 2 of my Memphis trip, we woke up bright and early to squeeze in a visit to the home of the King; Graceland.

I naively expected us to be about the only ones touring through the home of Elvis as it was early on a Sunday morning, right after an ice storm that seemed to have stopped the city in its tracks. Boy was I wrong. By the time we pulled into the parking lot, which blared Elvis tunes through the crisp early morning air, we were amongst hundreds of fans all rushing to take a peak inside Lisa Marie's plane, purchase all the Elvis themed goods they could get there hands on and line up to catch the shuttle across the street and through the gates into Graceland.

There is a line in Paul Simon's Graceland that says "I'm going to Graceland, for reasons I cannot explain. There's some part of me wants to see Graceland" and that was how I felt, not knowing why this was a must-see during my short trip. After being there though I think it is the curiosity of wanting to see the living of someone larger then life that pulls you in.

I totally underestimated how touching it would be to wander through the home of a legend; shuffling through his living space, looking at his family photos and feeding off the energy of the other visitors who were gasping to take it all in. People cried silently and said very little as they imagined a legend going about the day to day with his family and friends. For a life that I understand was not without struggle, the home had an amazingly positive vibe and the sadness of his loss was contagious.

I am so glad that I went to see "Graceland, Graceland in Memphis, TN".

More to come...Graceland - The Decor....oh, that 50's shag run, floor to ceiling fabric decor...

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Memphis - A Warm Hearted, Icy Cold City

I arrived back home from Memphis last night after a delicious and exhausting few days away.
A day prior to our arrival, Memphis was covered in about 2 inches of freezing rain, transforming the city into an sparkling ice sculpture; frozen in its tracks.

Sadly my luggage was not interested in hanging out in the icey air and decided to hang back in Chicago, so when I arrived at the hotel without luggage the lady at the desk immediately noticed and exclaimed in the more sincere and sweetest southern voice "OH, you poor dear" and started putting together a bag of toiletries for me, complete with a WARM COOKIE!! Then she proceeded to upgrade me to a nicer room and I am pretty sure would have carried me up there if I had asked.

This was our first taste of a kindness I have never experienced before - a deep tradition of thoughtfulness and sincerity that seemed to run through the veins of the people we met in Memphis.

After settling into the hotel we decided on a quick trip to the mall (oh how American stores make me giddy) to get some emergency clothes, which was hugely successful until it was time to come home. I take for granted the fact that on every corner of my city there is a cab or 10 waiting to pick you up. I believe there may be only one cab driver in all of Memphis.
After calling two cabs and waiting in the cold for about an hour, I called the hotel in a bit of a panic, explaining that I could not figure out how to get home and I think I may have just lost a toe. In less then 10 mins one of the hotel staff came to rescue, picking us up in the 15 person hotel van!

The rest of the trip was packed full of this kindness - gentle waitresses who call you dear and place a hand on your shoulder while you order, strangers who stopped to drive us back to the hotel on another chilly night, a greeting fit for an old friend from someone I have only know through work and email. Despite its icy chill, this is one of the warmest places I have ever visited.

More to come - Diners, Beale Street, Duck Masters and the home of the King, Graceland!

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