Undies, Classical Music, and Swimming

Underwear Affair
Last weekend Marc and I volunteered at the Underwear Affair as marshals at one of the water stations. It wasn't very hard work, and we had a lot of fun. In case you are unfamiliar, the run is a fund-raiser for cancers below the waist, and most participants dress up in their undies. I recommend getting involved if you can.

Vancouver 125
This year is Vancouver's 125th birthday, and there seems to be all sorts of activities happening throughout the year. We were lucky enough to take in some fun at a free festival in Stanley Park. We walked (5km) there, and while at the festival we got FREE chocolate milk, and bought some yummy kettle corn (I packed the rest of the lunch). I was really happy that we got to see the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra play - they were fantastic (and normally their concerts are pretty darn expensive). They played classical pieces that they knew the crowd would recognize like: William Tell Overture, Blue Danube Waltz, Ride of the Valkyries and so on. There were tons of people there, but it was pretty chill! It was a GREAT afternoon.

Swimming 

So I have been doing some swimming lately at a nearby pool. It takes me about 45mins to swim 12 lengths. "What the what?!", you think to yourself. Well, hang on a minute, cause this pool is gigantic!  I asked the lifeguard for a benchmark number of lengths to swim, and he said that if I swam 12 lengths it would be 1 mile of swimming. So that is what I did. I swam 12 lengths which is: 1800 yards, or 1644 metres. It's such a neat place to swim - and the best part is - it's just a few blocks from home. As you can see, it borders the ocean, and just to the left of the pool is the famous Kitsilano Beach. Also, it's a salt water heated pool - so even when it's raining outside, it's fairly warm for swimming.

This weekend Marc is at Camp, and I am doing some volunteering at the Vancouver Folk Festival - despite the rain, it has been pretty fun so far. Over and out for now! 

Cheese Head, Will & Kate, and a Waffle Iron

Whilst the purpose of most blogs might be to discuss a single issue - today I have three.

Cheese Head
Marc and I went to the USA for part of the Canada Day long weekend.  Perhaps that makes us un-patriotic, but we attended a really fun BBQ complete with great weather, pool, hot-tub, fire pit, and of course, other Canadians.  We went to the flagship REI (the American 'equivalent' to MEC) in Seattle, and more or less just enjoyed the first hot and sunny weekend since I got here. While south of the border, I was also called a Cheese Head for my plans to purchase cheap cheese to bring home back to Vancouver. (I had sort of forgotten this, but when I lived here before, I used to bring cheese from Ontario because the prices here in BC are ridiculously high!). I had never heard this term - but if you check out the Urban Dictionary you will see that while not a Green Bay Packer fan, nor someone from Wisconsin  - I am indeed a Cheese Head (definition # 16).  There are some other colourful meanings for the term can be found here.

Will and Kate 
I'm not sure if I'd call myself a full-fledged royalist...but I have been following Will and Kate's Canadian tour with interest and jealousy. Jealous in the sense that I was sad to miss them (when they were in Ottawa and I wasn't)...but CBC's coverage has been pretty awesome.

This is my fave pic

Waffle Iron
You might say that Craigslist is alive and well here in Vancouver in the sense that every day there are so many things that people are selling or giving away for free. It was through Craigslist that I got my GORM shelving unit featured in my previous post.  I also found an OLD waffle iron. Someone was giving it away for free because it was filthy and she didn't feel like cleaning it. She told me that she got it from her Granny, and she was right - it was filthy.  After lots of cleaning, I got this really old waffle maker looking good.

Unfortunately.... the actual waffle-making wasn't so successful. The waffle "split" and was stuck/cooked on to the two opposing surfaces -what a pain! After a bit of googling I learned how to season the surface with lard (and put the surfaces in the oven for hours)...and then the next time I tried: voila!

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