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!

And now for something completely different…

Okay, so it’s not completely different, but it’s not Steamworks and mojitos!

Every once in a while, I feel like maybe I should get out and try something different. This worked out well on Monday, when Flare Magazine had their annual event at the Absolute Spa at the Century Hotel. I was alerted about this even via Flare’s e-mail list. Their e-mails also provide regular fashion tidbits, which are really helpful for someone like me who tries so hard to be fashionable and yet probably only achieves a 50% success rate.

As a side note, other e-mail lists that I’ve found particularly lovely are sweetspot.ca’s and Saks Fifth Avenue’s. I can’t afford anything from the Saks e-mail, but it makes me feel ambitions.

Back to the Flare event, we started out with a presentation from the editor which was well-delivered. She gave a fantastic presentation and seemed like a natural public speaker. I expected to be bored but I wasn’t for a moment.

After the presentation, I stopped at the appy table to get a bite before moving on to the spa. I was late for the presentation, but apparently most of the guests had hit up the snack table beforehand. It was a protein-based appetizer assortment: meat skewers (lamb, chicken, prawn and ahi tuna) and a cheese and cracker platter. Everything I tried was delicious (including blue cheese, which I regretted only because of the damage it did to my breath).

The wine (included!) was delightful and the servers were generous with their pouring. I tried the red, which I tried to remember the name of and then failed. But it was good!

After the wine & cheese, I shuffled upstairs to join all the other ladies waiting in lines to get free spa treatments. First I got a hand massage, which was heavenly! After that I waited for a little while in the foot massage line, but gave up quickly when I saw that there was no line to try out the oxygen facials. They just did the oxygen facial on my hands, but it was incredibly relaxing. After that I headed over to the neck and shoulder massage room, which was probably the most worthwhile ten minutes of my evening.

That was the end of the evening, and although none of the treatments lasted longer than ten minutes, I was thoroughly relaxed. The two glasses of wine may also have been heavy contributors to my relaxation.

By the time I made it home, I already had plans to return to the spa to get an hour of massage done. This is one event that I plan on telling all of my friends about so that they can head there next year!

Top O’ the Morning to You

Last Friday night, I was off for a delightful night of "drinking and debauchery." Sadly, I headed to the Blarneystone. Now, normally when I go out, I am not the quietest person in the crowd... but this is an exception at the Blarneystone. Maybe I wasn't the quietest person in there, but I always feel conservative when I head to this crazy Irish bar. Why? Well, I like to describe the Blarneystone as the "Roosters of the city." If you've ever been to Roosters (that crazy country bar in Pitt Meadows), then you know a little about this: this is a bar where there is a line at the door at 9:30pm, even though every other club in the city is empty until 11:00pm. And in case you’re wondering what happens at the Blarney at 11:00pm, 90% of the patrons are drunk. I don't mean that they've had one or two too many, I mean that they are frat-boy party drunk. Fall-down-the-stairs drunk. Look at that poor girl’s boyfriend having to carry her home-drunk. You get the point.

So if you’re ever wondering where you should go to get fall-down drunk, head to the Blarneystone!