This Way To The Pool

In December each year, I have a birthday. Crazy, I know. Since it had been a while since my last one, Janelle and I decided to celebrate with a weekend out in the city, booking two nights at the deliciously-retro hotel, The Burrard. Now, my birthday didn’t fall on any of the actual days in the city, but we enjoyed ourselves like it did. It all began on a rainy Friday night.















At the time, we didn’t realize it would be a problem, but our hotel was situated across the street from a hospital…a pretty hospital all covered in Christmas lights!



We decided to take a hike and check out the south side of downtown Vancouver. Have I mentioned how much I love this city?











After a quick Skytrain trip into Richmond to pick up a pair of shoes I ordered from Browns (gotta love the Skytrain with all their massive Canuck posters everywhere), we ended up back in Yaletown for dinner.






The burritos were amazing.

We then hiked our way back up to Robson Street in search of karaoke. Finding none in a respectable price range, we headed to Moxies for a drink. After sampling what tasted like turpentine (thanks for the recommendation, waitress), then its replacement (yeah tropical paradise!), we headed back to the hotel to crash.



After only several ambulance siren awakenings, Saturday morning arrived – and so did our quest for food.




What a cutie.

After sushi, shopping, and Starbucks, we had to head back to the hotel so I could watch the hockey. Boo Hockey Night in Canada. Yay Canucks!






My big purchase of the day. Immediately after this picture was taken, I spilled red wine on it. I suck.

Since the Canucks were playing the Leafs, we, of course, went off to dinner the victors (5-3, suck it Toronto!) Dinner was at Society in Yaletown (notice a theme emerging?) courtesy of our sweet package deal booked with the hotel. Pink chandeliers? Yes please.





After dinner we headed back to the hotel before our final destination of the night, the Roxy. That was…well, Janelle will never set foot in the Roxy again. I probably won’t either. Imagine a warehouse-sized room, badly furnished, with a cover band playing music you’d never want to dance to. And then sprinkle in a large contingent of douche-bag types and some other “rock”-types with beards. Hah! I don’t think I’ve ever wrote such an accurate description. But there you have it. Best conversation of the night:
Janelle: “We are sisters.”
Guy: “But not real sisters, right? Like, friends-who-are-sisters?”
Janelle: “No, like sisters-with-the-same-parents sisters.”

Sunday morning was check-out, and after packing up, we headed to, where else? Yaletown.




Bye, cute little courtyard!

We did a bit of picking through the shops and got our drank on thanks to some little shop handing out champagne. What a great idea!


For Sis.

Upon the recommendation of the cashier at BeautyMark, we ate lunch at PHAT – Home of the Canucks. This is turning into a Canuck-filled weekend. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.







Stuffed full of hot dog and garlic fries, the next logical step was to go for coffee. What?



After a touch more shopping (what? We are pros.), we decided to call it a weekend and say goodbye to Vancouver. Until tomorrow. My actual birthday. I’m making my NHL debut, and it couldn’t come at a better time.