happy bc day!

Out and about town, enjoying the weather, trying not to get a tan but still got one anyway and hanging out with friends and family. It doesn't get any better than this:

Saturday: Me and my little sister checked out the Powell Street Festival at Woodland Park. Browsed through the booths, saw girls dressed up in kimonos (even in this heat!), cute dogs, sushi plushies (who doesn't want a smiling rice ball to cuddle with?), and lots of jewellery! I dropped a lot of money on earrings, bracelets, necklaces and a few vintage items, too. I got my mom a vintage elephant brooch with rhinestones and a vintage necklace for myself. I saw a few funky items (a ring made from a Japanese compass), stuffed animals, sterling silver handcrafted jewellery, ceramics, toys, mango hand cream (that smelled divine) and cookbooks, so there was a little something for everyone.

Taiko drums (I think I spelt that right) start off the festival.

So cute!

I want a kimono. One day... when I go to Japan.

What is possibly be the cutest dog in the world.

More kimonos!

We managed to work up quite the appetite after weaving in and out and between the stalls, so it was off to the food court. There was okonomiyaki, sushi, udon, ramen, BBQ salmon, takoyaki (the line snaked up and down the street!) and traditional Japanese desserts. YUM!

Sunday: Went back to the Powell Street Festival, so my sister can look for a thank-you present. They had new booths! So there was more browsing and perusing, but I did manage to keep a better grip on my wallet and only bought inari for lunch (they were huge!) Hopped on a bus and headed downtown but we missed the Pride parade. That's the second year in a row that we've missed it! Oh well, there's always next year... Watching the aftermath of the parade (cleaning crews and police cars were still around to make sure everything got cleaned up before traffic was allowed), and did some shopping. I was good, so I only bought a belt from the GAP and this really cool bracelet that my sister picked out for me at Banana Republic:

Japanese choir singing in Japanese, duh.

People browsing through the booths for handcrafted, homemade things you can't get anywhere else.

The massive crowd at the food court.

The aftermath of the Pride parade.

I don't know if there was some cosplay event downtown, but I took this picture while the bus was turning a corner. Definitely not a great shot, but I like anyway.

Monday: despite some confusion (I was suppose to meet up with someone later in the afternoon but we thought the other person was going to phone and long story short, we didn't meet up), I had brunch with my friend Andy (aka Andrew, LOL!) and then we ended up walking all over town. Walked along 4th Ave, down to Kits beach to look for a bench dedicated to her boyfriend's father, back to the apartment for a rest stop and a glass of water before heading downtown to walk/shop around. After shopping along Robson and getting more tanned, we decided to listen to our sore feet and limped our way over to Joey for dinner. I had a delicious lobster grilled cheese sandwich (that's right, there was lobster in my grilled cheese sandwich) and Andy had the grilled chicken souvlaki. Good stuff right there.

Lobster grilled cheese sandwich with fries. There's ketchup and cocktail sauce for the sandwich. YUM.