down a rabbit hole

... and into Wonderland! Today was the 15th Annual Alice in Wonderland Festival, and while the sun was playing hide and seek amongst the clouds, it turned out to be a nice (but windy) day to follow the White Rabbit down the hole.

I'm not sure what Humpty Dumpty was doing in Wonderland, but I didn't want to wake him up to find out.

Friendly jousting amidst the knights.

The Mad Hatter's tea party!

Follow the White Rabbit!

Oh noes! Alice has been captured by the Red Knight!

It's the White Knight to the rescue...

with a spray bottle?

Oh well, it worked.

The Chestershire cat came down the tree to say hello.

The Pink Flamingo

Queen Victoria made an appearance.

In case you need directions in Wonderland...

"Off with her head!"

Twiddledee and Twiddledum! Or was it Twiddledum and Twiddledee?

The Carnival band.

The White Knight taking a break before he goes off to slay imaginary dragons... or dung beetles.

People were encouraged to dress up as their favourite Alice in Wonderland character and there was no shortage of Alices: there was classical Alice, anime Alice, goth Alice, punk Alice...

Would the real Alice please stand up?

I've never heard of this festival until this year, and it's been around for 15 years! But better late than never, right? I loved the Alice costumes. There's something about the petticoats that just makes you want to twirl around endlessly. It's given me some ideas for Halloween...

like a kid in a candy store

Sephora is here! The grand opening was yesterday, and there was a private VIP party the day before (which unfortunately I couldn't attend as it was a friend's birthday), but I managed to make up for it by dropping $200 on cosmetics, skincare and beauty tools. What can I say, they have everything and anything a beauty hound needs/wants! For more info on this 7000+ sqft gem, clickity click click.

Here's a picture of my makeup haul. Damn, I bought a lot of lipgloss. Again. I need to stop. Seriously.

stop being so koi

Kinda wandered all around today: went downtown, then Chinatown and in between. Me and my sister went into Zara and checked out their summer sale (they had chunky sweaters for fall already!) and tried on floral dresses and beach clothes. Didn't find what I was looking for and the purple fan silk dress that my sister tried on had a hole in it, so that was a no. Sucks, 'cause it was a pretty dress. I should have taken a picture but I'm pretty sure the sales people wouldn't be happy with that idea. Afterward, we stopped by the Chinese Cultural Centre and said 'hello,' to the sea creatures that live in the pond:

Mama chick teaching baby chick how to dive for food.

This one kept dodging in and out of the water plants.

So pretty!

Looking for something to nibble on.

Mr. Tortoise is trying to get a tan.

"Hello, Mr. Turtle"

This was the biggest, fattest koi in the whole pond.

Turtles like the sunshine, too.

jurassic park in my hood

I just happened to be at the mall today for a spa treatment when I came upon this:

This is what a baby T-Rex looks like. It comes out of the womb looking ferocious. See that deranged look in its eyes? Yeah, it wants a piece of you. For dinner.

Not something you see everyday when you're shopping for t-shirts and underwear. The exhibition is free and features moving, roaring, life-sized animatronic models of dinosaurs. A young feathered Tyrannosaurus-Rex will be on display for the first time in Canada (pictured above). The exhibition will be from June 12 to September 20, 2009. For more info, just click.

happy 142nd birthday!

Off to take part in my country's birthday celebrations around town. Will post pictures!

First stop was Canada Place, where they were kicking the festivities off big time since it was also the grand opening of the new Convention Centre.

He's our star goalie on Team Canada. Watch out for him in the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Being interviewed by the media.

I wanted to give him a hug, but there was a big lineup, so I just waved and took a picture instead.

Circus performers stalking the grounds around Canada Place.

This picture was taken while I was inside the new Convention Centre and it just shows half the crowd that just congregated at Canada Place.

After a quick lunch, we headed off to Granville Island to check out the Canada Day events:

This kid was totally getting into the song and dancing along. He was quite the scene-stealer.

Honey bear!

So cute! And tasty...

*Drool*

The tomatoes are showing off their patriotic colours.

Street performers all over Granville Island, keeping the crowds entertained.