A spring time visit to Whyte Ave.

I think I got WAY too lazy to keep updating a blog. It's hard work. Especially to keep one going on that's themed and not just of personal ramblings.

Here's some Edmonton updates...

• The weather's been picking up and it's been quite beautiful except for the bit of rainy days we're getting. Lots of great weather for BBQs, parks, outdoor activities and just being outside!!! I see so many people out and about in Edmonton, it's like everyone came out of hiberation.

• The Farmers Market on 104 Street is all sorts of awesome!!! It's kind of what you expect from a typical farmer's market, but I love the handmade/crafty stuff they carry too, as well as the food.... popcorn, waffles, crepe sandwiches and more. <3 Summer time festivities just means eating your heart out! 

• I discovered a bunch of new shops on Whyte Ave! Or at least my friend Becky took me inside some new shops because I am not totally keen on venturing into new shops sometimes, especially ones that seem majorly expensive hahaha. My "new" discoveries: 
• Ten Thousand Villages
• What's there: fair-trade stuff, with a "hand made" appeal. Housewares, accessories, bat & body stuff, toys, and lots of rugs. 
• Best parts: prices are comparable to other shops on Whyte, free coffee/tea in the back!
• Go here if: you are looking for something for yourself or for a gift and don't want to go to the more typical gift shops, and you like designs that are more simple and functional with a earthy feel 
• Lucid Lifestyle
• What's there: mostly Canadian, eco-friend stuff (think bamboo leggings and soft skirts and dresses) and lots of yoga apparel that looks stylish and somehow manages to look different than a Lululemon-copycat. 
• Best parts: the sale section is decent and the wide variety of really comfortable clothing despite the shop being relatively small  
• Go here if: you like comfy clothes and you want to buy Canadian-made stuff at average retail prices 
• Colour Blind: 
• What's there: lots of seasonal clothing, so right now, beautiful summer dresses with nautical themes, flowy tops, flower motifs, etc. 
• Best parts: a really good variety of styles that I like -- I ended up with a top from "Against Nudity" that was good for work and play and fabulous Mavi shorts
• Go here if: you want clothes that are "trendy" pretty much... with a decent selection 

Well, that about sums it up. There were more shops for sure but these are the highlights I could remember. Next time I'll post something on the fabulous world of Goodwill, because it's seriously become a new addiction. Or maybe I should really just use Tumblr/Instagram. Meh! 

Joys of living downtown and free Edmonton Public Library cards

I've totally fallen off the radar! I guess between work getting busy last month, general life happenings, and my friend coming to visit (and checking out Banff/Jasper in the winter- what a beautiful experience - geez, this can be an entry in itself!) I haven't blogged. So much to catch up on! :(

Edmonton Public Library cards have been free sometime since March 2013. This...is...awesome! :) I admit I was holding out because of the $12 cost (when my hometown one was only $2, in a fairly large city). :P So I was super surprised when they offered it up for free.  I went there before to just do some work, but now I'm able to check out some awesome things they had.

To my surprise, they have a lot more than the usual library fare of books. awesome collection of magazines, and library programs. They even have video games, and a ton of e-content available, including e-books, and video streaming. Apparently, being part of the EPL system gives you access to indie films (film festival movies), theatre, operas, and a lot more other classics. I haven't had the time to dive into all these things but I think it'll complement my lack of good cable and other "media sources". The fact that a lot of those offerings are not easily downloadable makes it a good resource in my books. Sometimes you just don't know what you want to watch, so having a nice system that lets you "browse" is great.

And definitely one of the best parts is that whatever demographic my hometown consists of must be vastly different in Edmonton because I didn't actually have to wait for the video game and books I wanted. Although I am on a mile long wait list for HOW TO TELL IF YOUR CAT IS PLOTTING TO KILL YOU. (See: http://theoatmeal.com)

I'm really starting to like the downtown area around City Center, because it's so awesome...that mall, clearly catered to the downtown business folks, has some good surprises inside like Tea Fusion (bubbleteas and sandwiches and more), a really big Winners with nice stuff, some good work clothing stores, Indigo (where they do free in-store pickup!) and even an EB games, hahaha. And of course, the Don Wheaton YMCA and Stanley A. Milber library is just around the corner.

I'm glad I found another good tea shop, though my favourite is definitely the one at 109A/101 Street. I'm not even sure if it's supposed to be called Tea Cottage, or Bubble T based on their banner, but they have the best bubbleteas ever if you can drive there as it's a bit north of Chinatown. They also have a location within the T&T at West Edmonton Mall (not Dream Tea, which is outside T&T). I've gone there enough now that I've filled up the stamp card! :D

Anyway, there's a bunch of stuff I want to do this spring/summer. If you can call this spring...it's something like 18 degrees in Toronto this week and it's still hovering over 0 here.

• Continue my work outs at the Y! (I'll draft up a review of all the classes once I get to check out a few more) and staying active in general. 
• Learn mandarin at the Confucius Institute of Edmonton (it's not too costly! Yay!)
• Explore the River Valley area more using the awesome River Valley Alliance App that tells you where all the hiking trails in the area are, complete with pictures/maps (see: http://www.rivervalley.ab.ca)

Anyway, signing out. Edmonton in spring time, can't wait to enjoy it all. 

Silver Skate Festival 2013!

WHAT AN AWESOME WINTER FESTIVAL!!!  How should I start describing this... the website  blurb! This is "yeg's longest running winter festival and an extravaganza of free art, culture, recreation and sports programming in Hawrelak Park in February". That about sums it up. Here are my favourite parts.

Skating!

Yeah, there's free outdoor skating whenever the pond's frozen enough, but in preparation for the activities that happen here (skating shows, speed skating, etc) they take zambonis and make the ice all nice! So unlike the bumpy pond I used to skate on in my chilldhood, this is almost an indoor rink quality, but WAY bigger, and in the beautiful outdoors. Thank God the weather was beautiful the entire time but not so warm that the ice melted.  I also like how the skate rental was $7/hr and they had nice skates andddd the one hour is just enough to let you go around the pond many many times and not get too sick of it. :)

the skating "rink" is MUCH bigger than you can see here! (one of the skating clubs performing)

TREATS!!

Not just poutine, tiny tim donuts and hot chocolate (which was given away for free!) ... but awesome treats like Maple Syrup that is poured over ice and you wrap it around a popsicle stick! And the chance to fire up your own bannock bread over an open fire.... ahh...whoever first thought of these ideas sure thought of everything. As you are waiting in line, you are covered in the smoke of the bannocks being made before you by others, and you can see some old school blacksmithin' action going on on the side. This does remind me, I'd love to check out Fort Edmonton sometime. :D

there was a hint of cinnamon to this!

ICE SLIDES

OH MAN. Going the night before the official day of the festival starting means it was quiet and there wasn't a giant line up of kids at the ice slide. Okay, there was huge slide made of ice, and I SIMPLY COULD NOT RESIST going on several times!! Sliding down on it on your coat makes you go 10x faster because the friction from your normal clothes slow you wayyyy down. I wish I had a picture! :P Oh well, a slide, made of ice. How hard is that to picture?

OTHER THINGS?!?!?!

Music, snow sculptures, seeing some blacksmithin' action, and a lot of other random things like a huge gigantic monument dedicated to Nightmare before xmas... here we go: I don't know what it was exactly since a lot of stuff wasn't ready on the first day when I went lol. The fairytale theme was also "Red Riding Hood", but the only fairytaley thing I saw was a snow sculpture gingerbread house with a legit scary looking witch infront. UGH, I'm so sure I took a pic of this actually, but it's not showing up in my photo stream. :[

Overall, this was a kick ass festival. And I can't believe I haven't even heard of William Hawrelak park before, because it's so big and so darn beautiful... I hope to go back again in the future for a stroll especially when the weather changes. I love seeing all these nooks and crannies of Edmonton because some bits can be quite a gem.

Some random Edmonton things that've been happening

- Shopping at one of those health stores. So in Edmonton, I'd say the Whole Foods
Equivalent is a store called Planet Organic. It's expensive... for most things. But they have some interesting stuff that makes it worth it. Too bad there's no Trader Joes equivalent because that was an awesome Wholefood-like store but seemingly cheaper.

You don't really need organic stuff to make quinoa dishes or a sweet potato fake Mac and cheese, except for nutritional yeast, which is a new ingredient for me. Benefits over using cheese is that nutritional yeast simply has a longer shelf life and has many uses, and can work out to be cheaper than buying cheese on demand. Vegan food recipe blogs can be quite fun even for an omnivore like me. And I like I am buying new things!

- Consuming almond milk and spaghetti squash. I've been buying a ton of almond milk because the stupid Costcos in ALL of Alberta do not stock the cases of Natura soy milk. That stuff tastes great and can sit on a shelf unfridgetated. So I tried the non-fridge substitute of almond milk. It tastes so-so by itself but when mixed in with smoothies it's totally delicious (or non-distinguishable).

- Curling. So it's actually a legit high school sport here and I gave it a go last week with a fellowship group. It's both funner and harder than it looks on TV. I guess it's like golf in a sense, probably one of the most boring sports to watch. I fell down a lot and don't have the broom thing quite down but in the end my balance and throw got better lol.

- Apparently, this week's weather is warmer than Toronto!

That's about it. I'm still really hoping to check out some local music with a friend here (cheap or free) and there is also another festival coming up, this time on Whyte. Getting my mind off work is great.... My eyes and body hurt! :s here's to a fun and relaxing weekend.

DEEP FREEZE: a wild west byzantine winter festival

I recently attended my first Edmonton festival!! Now, Edmonton is supposed to be known as the festival city, but quite frankly until I got here I had never heard of that tag line. People I talk to aren't particularly gung-ho about it, but it's still something fun. And since a friend's boyfriend was in town, I apparently got to play hostess! Even though I'm a newbie. :D

Art by Leanne Schnierer. One of my favourites at the gallery.

Deep Freeze is very arts-themed. There was an art gallery showing, but being the poor non-art type I ended up finding a more "local" art gallery which had cool local artists making stuff like hand-made beauty products, screen prints, silk bags, and things like that.  I actually really liked the screen prints and realize I don't particularly love art that are pictures of people's faces. I don't know why. I like anonymity in art? Haha.

Good ol' photography rocks too. By Tom Picard. My favourite pieces always seem a bit desolate.

At a local coffee shop called The Carrot, there were live performers and I really liked the one group playing that had a cello-ist. I admit I am a totally lover of the cello, so that just made it 10x better. From the brochure the guy's name is Paul Cournoyer and he supposedly has a presence in the music scene...so maybe it's time to start browsing Vue Weekly and see when I can catch some nice cello-ing. Unfortunately, I don't know who the guitarist was. But together, they were showcasing francophone cultural music. So not all the music was French but some songs were half-half. :P

The place was bustling and the mismatched chairs and furniture made the volunteer-powered coffee shop feel like an awesome place to be. And any place serving london fogs is kind of already a win in my books...

Another highlight was the "clown" show...which turned out to be performing artists from Quebec -- a lady and guy duo called Bande Artistique that had a bit of singing, insane juggling, cool magical acts and course... laughter! I guess there's a French theme going on, that's because Jan 12 is Francophone Cultural Day! But whoever put the info page in the brochure only put it in French so I can't really type up more here, without having to resort to Google!

I can't remember if they had a chainsaw, but they definitely had juggling knives...yikes.

What's a winter festival without ye olde snow sculptures?

The SUPER COOL random history-of-a-neighbourhood part: Arts on the Ave is a community-themed initiative to make the 118th Avenue area (from 75 - 106 street)  a better place. Apparently it used to be quite a dump, with crime, drugs, and all sorts of problems. Now I see store fronts with signs saying "I believe in 118" and it just seems so real and genuine it warms your heart. (Of course there's an XXX store too, with a "please use back door" sign...it must be weird to live at the house adjacent to that.) 

I wish I had time for all the other stuff that was offered, because I know there were wagon rides, fireworks, curling/skating, Aboriginal dancing and more according to the snazzy brochure I nicked. Oh well. All in all...there are other cool avenues asides from Whyte! I probably would've not discovered the wonderful 118th (aka Alberta) Ave had it not been for Deep Freeze! (I also want to go back and browse for some local art.... hehe.)

Flying always brings out the crazies

Oh boy. It's been a while since I flew WestJet, but I now have $3 Westjet Dollars! Three whole Westjet dollars!! That can be used on handy things like paying for a second bag should the need ever arise, or for paying for advance seat selection. But why pay for that when you can just check in early online and choose a seat? Most people are cheap and as long as you're amongst the first to check in, I'm sure you can get a decent spot.*

Anyway, on my connection from Calgary to Edmonton, I'm sitting by the window seat and a really large man sits down beside me. Not obese or anything, just...big and tall and complaining the entire time about being stuck in the middle. As in sighing every 5 minutes, going "oh my god...", "are you seriousssss", etc. Seriously?

First, it's the holidays (flew on New Years :(). Of course flights are full. That's why you choose seats in advance. At least you have two ladies beside you, or you'd be really squished. There are, of course, other airlines. I'm pretty sure Air Canada's planes are slightly bigger, but I could be wrong. Or you can always bus it from Calgary to Edmonton with Red Arrow.

Second, it's a one hour flight. But this man managed to be more annoying than the babies that were on the four hour Toronto-Calgary flight. (I actually had a baby beside me, who was pretty quiet, but the other 3 or so babies weren't, haha. But if parents are doing whatever they can and aren't jerks, I don't blame them at all. A grown man-child however...) -- I can't even imagine him on an international flight.

Third...there is such a thing as deodorant. Yeah...

That said, the plane did take like an extra half hour or more to take off for some reason, which probably only make things worse. :P If they know delays are coming, I'd rather wait in the airport. Not like there really was much to see in Calgary International but still!

Merry Christmas. :)

I think I really have to remind myself to focus on the good things in life instead of all the unnecessary drama. There's so much stuff that I could care about, but it takes time away from the important stuff.  I just wish I wasn't bothered by stuff that I have no control over. -_-

Anyway... I got a chance to catch up with my dear friends and family which was nice. There's another family gathering soon, and before I know it, it's flying-home time!! Actually...it's in FIVE DAYS! :( I'm really sad thinking about that now!!! Chilling at home is so fun, this is definitely the best time of the year. I'm glad I took the extra week off from work though, it was definitely worth it.

I hope no one minded I was pretty much a zombie because I managed to get sick after I got home. Seems every year around this time I get hit with something though, usually due to the change in weather or something. (Hmm, in this case, it would be the sudden change from the frozen tundra to rainy Toronto....)

Tomorrow, I'm off to see Les Miserables. :D Along with Skyfall and Hobbit earlier in the month, this has been quite the movie month. O_O Maybe for once I won't make Pacific Mall my Christmas Day plans because it's pretty much one of the only nearby places that's open, though I was telling my brother I say that EVERY YEAR, and then I find myself there anyway. Bubbletea, froyo and fighting for parking spots in an Asian mall...how can you go wrong?!

Hmm... in other topics... I really need to get my ass to a gym when I get back to Edmonton. Apparently with all my "free time" after work, I should be going there instead of cozying up infront of the television where it's nice and warm. :P  I have a ready-made list of excuses of why it's hard for me to go...but yeah...I'll save that for now.