Celebration of Light

If you’re like me, you still call it the Symphony of Fire, and still associate it with Benson & Hedges. The name may be different, it may now be sponsored by HSBC, but the Celebration of Light is still a fun thing to see.

Head to English Bay to watch the fireworks displays set to music. Have a look at www.celebration-of-light.com for the schedule. Canada is on tonight, Saturday will be the USA, then July 30 is China’s turn. My personal favourite is finale night, which will be on August 2^nd.

Fireworks start around 10:00pm and last approximately 20 minutes, but be sure to allow yourself plenty of travel time. If you want a spot on the beach, arrive several hours early. I, personally, have never actually gotten a spot on the beach, so I’m not really sure how early you would have to go.

As well, it’s going to take you ages to get home, especially if you take public transit, so allow plenty of time for that as well. If you’re taking kids, you’ll probably have to carry/drag them half way back to the nearest Skytrain station. Then the Skytrain will be full. Then your child will have to pee… it’s a vicious cycle really. The best solution is to leave the kiddies at home. Find a sitter who abhors crowds, that way they won’t have wanted to go to the fireworks anyways.

Viva Las Vegas!

Looking to take a vacation in August or September? Want to go somewhere that the daytime temperature could set you on fire? What if you were guaranteed to never have to go outside during daylight hours? Sounds good to me! Although, personally, I’ll take my chances of bursting into flames while I try to get a tan…

Lazy girls like to lie by the pool and drink frosty beverages from colourful cups… Las Vegas here I come!

WestJet has a few flight deals, where you can get hotel & flight from $500 (this includes taxes, people!). Check out www.westjet.com.

Lazy Girls Enjoying the World

No travel plans in the near future? You wanted to make some? Why not go check out LA! Flight Centre (www.flightcentre.ca) is advertising return tickets to LA or Las Vegas for $99. Seriously, that is worth checking out.

They’ve also got tickets to the big T.O. for only $199 (presumably that’s before you add the horrendous taxes, etc that get tagged onto tickets in Canada). But why go to Toronto for $199 when you can go to London for only $299? Really, what’s the point.

So I’ll see you in London on my week off…

Other Lazy Girls

I just had a go of trying to google my blog. You could call it vanity, but then on the other hand I’m pretty sure I’m still my only reader. I’m still figuring out this blogging deal, so that’s probably par for the course. Maybe one day I’ll have a loyal following and maybe even a fan club. The members could have laminated member cards with a picture of my face…

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I mean, I’ll have to become photogenic first. Maybe a makeover and some airbrushing.

At any rate, I’ve googled “lazy girl Vancouver” to see what comes up.

Apparently there are some lazy designers in Ohio. I’m not sure why they came up in my search, but they probably ship to Vancouver. They even make something called Bag-E-Bottoms. I got very excited thinking they would be hideous pants, but alas, they are plastic discs for making purses. I would just like to point out that lazy girls BUY their purses instead of MAKING them. www.lazygirldesigns.com

There is also a lazy girl’s guide to Pacific Rim national park (http://www.hereorthere.com/members/alexandra/experience/801). Which I didn’t make. I have been there, but I went surfing, so that disqualifies it from “lazy” in my mind.

Apparently there’s also a book, The Lazy Girl’s guide to Good Sex. I didn’t write that. Too lazy to do all the research and write the book. Well, just the book-writing part. I suppose the research would be pretty fun.

At any rate, I don’t think there are any other lazy girls writing about this city and filling you in on all the fun, lazy things to do. So I win for that category.

What's a Lazy Girl To Do This Summer?

We seem to have determined that I will not be spending my time this summer at any concerts. (Although it should be noted that if you would like to sponsor me to go to the Pemberton Festival I am still accepting offers at ms.michelle.mara@gmail.com).

So what should I do instead? I’m sure I can find some great things to do! The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Vancouver is here to help you if you’re in the same boat as me. Or if you just don’t like any of the bands that I listed in my last blog entry.

Where on earth should you turn to find some fun activities in Vancouver? I have a few favourites:

First, check the Georgia Straight newspaper. It comes out weekly, on Thursdays, and seems to cover the city’s events pretty thoroughly. You can get a Georgia Straight on a street corner downtown, at Skytrain stations, and at most music stores. You can also check out their website at www.straight.com. Enjoy!

In Vancouver seems to have a fairly comprehensive list, as well, but it’s not quite as easy to read as some others: http://www.vancouver-bc.com/Events/.

Tourism Vancouver has an interactive event calendar on their website: http://www.tourismvancouver.com/visitors/events.php. This would probably be a good one to check out if you live here, too, because sometimes it’s nice to pretend to be a tourist in your own town. Often there are things to see that you’ve never seen (unless you had relatives in from out-of-town and took them to see). For example, I’ve never been to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. Could be fun!

If you’re into wine and wine-related events, you can check out LocalWineEvents.com: http://www.localwineevents.com/Greater-Vancouver--BC-Wine/.

Another one for wine fans is Wine and Dine BC News: http://www.wineanddinebcnews.ca/index.php?fid=eventcalendar. Do enjoy!

If you’ve got little ones, you can check out this website that will find you some fun family events. I won’t be at these, ever, because screaming brats terrify me, but if that’s your kind of thing you should embrace it: http://www.findfamilyfun.com/eventthismonth.htm.

If you can’t find something to do on the above sites, then you should either go to the beach or go have a drink on a patio. Otherwise, I really can’t help you. You even have to google those yourselves, I’m not here to help.

A Tribute to Canadian Music

I was inspired this morning, while I cleaned my apartment and blasted the Broken Social Scene and then the Arcade Fire (sorry, neighbours: I hope you’re fans!). I was thinking how strange it is that I am always drawn to Canadian Music. I’m a CanCon fan.

It’s not on purpose, I swear. I honestly hear the music first, fall in love with it, and then discover that it is yet another Canadian band.

It all started when I was in high school, I suppose, and Matthew Good was the local hero. Along with Moist, I Mother Earth, Econoline Crush, The Killjoys and others, this was the soundtrack in my formative years.

I moved on to others at later times: Broken Social Scene for mellow days, Metric when I had a little more energy. I moved on to the Arcade Fire at some point… they were a natural step after Broken Social Scene.

The Arcade Fire played in Deer Lake Park last summer, but I heard about it much too late and missed out. Then I tried to block their concert out of my mind and pretend it wasn’t going on. Until I read the review in the Georgia Straight. It brought tears to my eyes, apparently the concert had been amazing.

In the fall, I had the good fortune of attending a Hot Hot Heat concert at the Commodore: dream venue, dream band. For me, that was a dream: a night of high-energy, poppity rock in a great venue, with a gin & tonic in my hand.

I’m a little sad this evening, because I have to report that I will most likely be standing, teary eyed or not, at any amazing venues watching any of my favourite bands this summer. Apparently Ontario is the place to be, and although I have always dreamed of going to Toronto, it’s not going to happen in the next two months.

Matthew Good will be playing in Ontario in July and August, but not in Vancouver (http://www.matthewgood.org/shows/).

Sam Roberts band’s only date in BC is at the Pemberton Festival. You couldn’t pay me to go camp in a smelly field and go to this concert. Hmm… Actually, you could. Please e-mail me (ms.michelle.mara@gmail.com) if you would like to pay me to go to this concert). Sam Roberts band’s tour dates are at http://samrobertsband.com/tour/.

Broken Social Scene is not playing in Vancouver this summer, either. The closest they get is the Whistler Music Festival (http://www.arts-crafts.ca/bss/).

According to the Arcade Fire website, “There are currently no future shows planned.” Damn (http://www.arcadefire.net/tour/).

Metric will also be playing at the Pemberton Festival. Sigh… (http://www.myspace.com/metricband).

So, to sum it up: I will at this point NOT be seeing any music shows this summer because apparently nobody good is coming to Vancouver. I’ll be at home, with a spotless apartment, blasting my neighbours out of their places. I hope they’re fans!