Slowly recovering from the weekend...

Isn't that what the work week is for? :-)

I had a great weekend, barely had a thought for the cool and rainy weather we had on Saturday. What's a little rain when you are having fun?

Saturday was spent partly with Dina, Steve, Ben and Naomi. We had lunch together on Granville Island and then went for a live show under the Burrard bridge. This was a production from Boca Del Lupo called Quasimodo. A little experimental for me, but entertaining nonetheless. We saw the show with Libby, Dan and Jonah, which was great. I hadn't seen these guys for a while. Here's a great picture of Dina and I at the restaurant, a picture of Libby and I chatting, and a picture of Naomi creatively using a blanket to keep me entertained for a few minutes. Saturday night was quiet, I had to get up early on Sunday so I rented a few episodes of House and tried to go to bed early (I failed, oh well).

I was awaken at 1:38 a.m. by pouring rain outside, and couldn't go back to sleep immediately as I kept on hoping that it wasn't going to rain like this in the morning. Fortunately, it didn't. It was a little wet early on Sunday, but the sun eventually came out.

I was meeting my colleague Troy, my friend Typhanie and Troy's friend Dave for a day of canoeing up Indian Arm. Troy picked up Typhanie and I at 8 around Broadway and Granville, and then drove us to Deep Cove where we were having our canoes delivered by the rental place. You can rent boats out of Deep Cove, but everything was already booked.

The trip out from Deep Cove was uneventful, but as we were getting close to lunch time and a bit tired, we noticed that the wind had picked up and the waves were much bigger. We went looking for a place to land the boats for a snack, but no such luck. We started paddling back and then realized it was A LOT harder than on the way out. Yikes.

Fortunately, we already had an amazing plan. Dave's parents were on their yacht in Indian Arm and we were invited aboard for lunch. We just had to find them and paddle up. Great timing, everyone was getting a bit frustrated with the waves by the time the boat aimed our way. We climbed aboard, lifted the canoes onto the back, and then spent the next two hours enjoying the luxurious ride. Dave's mom made us lunch, Dave's dad was showing us around Indian Arm, and we simply couldn't believe our luck. Here's a picture of frustrated paddlers, another one, a picture of Typhanie and I lounging on the yacht, and a picture of the boat. It doesn't look very big in the picture, but trust me, it was. The kitchen was bigger than my kitchen at home (well, OK, I have a very small kitchen, but still!).

We were dropped off close to the shore and paddled back, had our rental guy pick up the boats, and then headed over to Soraiya's place for drinks and snacks. Soraiya is a former colleague of mine who just finished her MBA at Cambridge and is now moving to London to start her new job. She was in Vancouver, visiting her family for a few weeks.

Needless to say, I slept like a baby last night and woke up really sore.

So much fun.

Return to work was better than expected

Five working days away from the project and only 75 e-mails waiting for me this morning. Not bad. Mind you, many coworkers waited until my return to send me stuff or chat about issues, knowing that I was away on vacation and wasn't going to respond. I have colleagues who will answer e-mails on their days off. I refuse to set this kind of expectation.

I just finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns from Khaled Hosseini, who also wrote The Kite Runner. Another impressive book, much harder to read however. Afghanistan is not a country that has been kind to its citizens, especially when those citizens happened to be women. I found it sad to read about girls being pulled from schools when the Taliban came to power, about women not being allowed to work, about segregation in hospitals, about the loss of freedom and individuality. Fortunately, Laila and Mariam, the two main characters in the book, are touching in their resilience and power to continue dreaming.

Summer is coming to an end, you can tell by the changes in daylight and temperature as soon as the sun sets. I was playing volleyball last night and on my way home, was happy that I thought about bringing a sweater. We played our last few games without sunglasses, something we couldn't have done even just last week. We have four weeks of volleyball remaining, I'm wondering if they are going to have us start earlier so we don't finishing playing in the dark. I don't think we have any lights in the current location.

I should get in touch with Sarah and see if she wants to start climbing again. I've decided to try blocking two evenings per week for this activity, in addition to a Sunday now and then. Last time we spoke, both Sarah and I agreed that it would be easier to buy a year pass, not cheap but well worth it if we climb often.

Wines, rainforest and desert

Mom and dad are on the plane now, on their way back to Montreal after spending a week in BC. They wanted to be here for my birthday, which was really nice. We spent two three days in and around Vancouver, then three days in the Okanagan for some wine country touring. Here are some of the highlights, and I posted pictures here.

Best winery - The award goes to Silver Sage Winery. While most wineries had one or two wines that rated above the others in terms of quality, all the wines we tasted at Silver Sage were exceptional. We also tasted their dessert wines and while I am not a fan of sweet alcohol, I enjoyed a few of them as well.

Biggest surprise - It rains in the Okanagan in the summer. My past visits were all under hot and sunny conditions, while this time, we met clouds and some rain. I can't complain about the cooler weather, lower 20s, but it would have been nice to see more sun.

Best food - This one's a close call, but I'd say that the Old Vines restaurant at Quail's Gate wins again. I've never been disappointed by the food there, their chef combines lots of local and seasonal ingredients to create fantastic dishes.

Great entertainment - Bard on the Beach is a true Vancouver experience I would recommend to anyone who is looking for something a little bit different. Skip the movies and spend an evening with Shakespeare. Most of the actors were quite young and a few of them, very talented. The text is original Shakespeare with a few modern variations / additions. Nothing that upsets the flow of the play.

Most impressive - Within 24 hours, we went from a West Coast rainforest environment (Lighthouse Park on the North shore) to a desert (Osoyoos, at the Southern tip of the Okanagan valley). All this, without leaving the country. We did see a black bear while driving East on Highway 3, but no rattlesnakes around the vineyards. Maybe that's a good thing ;)

Tell them you care

After writing my last post about my recent handbag purchase, I dropped Matt & Nat an e-mail about my concern with their choice of material. I received a prompt reply from their marketing department and here's some of what they had to say:

Thank you for contacting us to address your concerns.
The matt & nat policy of using 100% vegan materials was conceived in the interest of preventing cruelty to animals. We do use pvc, and when recent research brought to light some issues with the material, we began to test our pvc's and look into alternatives as well.

Matt & nat pvc contains neither lead nor Santicizer, which are the most prevalent pvc constituents that have been found to be problematic. We are also researching
recycled materials and linings to use in upcoming collections. The environment is important to us, and we are always seeking to ameliorate our methods to be
more earth-friendly.

If you have any other specific concerns that you would like to address, or any information resources that you would like to share, we would love to hear from you.

Thank you for choosing to make a difference.

And later on, after asking if they could add my name to their mailing list so I could be informed about their new collections:

Thank you for letting us know your thoughts on these very relevant issues. I am quite sure you will be pleasantly surprised by some of our
upcoming collections!

I can't imagine that they will change everything overnight and never use anything toxic. I will stick to my guns and won't buy another purse from them until they've made some serious improvements in their choice of material. I do however feel that if enough people also write to them about concerns with PVC, we might actually see some changes in the future.

Green my world: handbags

One book I recently purchased and am reading on a regular basis is Ecoholic, from Adria Vasil. In a world where more and more companies are "greening" their product to appeal to the public's increasing concern for the environment, Ecoholic is a wonderful reference that helps you distinguish the real green options from the green PR.

In the spirit of the book, I thought I would also share personal experiences with my daily attempts to green my world. Going green isn't instant, it takes baby steps to gradually eliminate waste and harm from your life. As much as possible, I'm looking for local alternatives, as having to ship a green product half-way across the world simply makes no sense to me.

Today, a topic that will likely interest all the ladies: handbags. I'm not a fashion victim, I don't buy handbags every season and do not follow the latest styles. However, I do carry a handbag everyday and when this faithful companion starts showing signs of distress, it's usually time to think of a replacement. My current handbag is probably over five years old, I had it when I moved to Vancouver. Lesson #1: greening your world also means buying less ;)

I didn't do my homework before buying a new handbag a few days ago. I had my eyes on a line of handbags made by Matt & Nat (in Montreal!!). Their bags are colorful, very well-designed. Their spring and summer line was too yellow for me, but their new fall line included red bags and I simply couldn't resist.

I proudly displayed my bag when I went out for dinner with Gerri at Chambar (yu-um, excellent restaurant). Gerri recognized the brand and told me that their bags were vegan. Vegan? What I had hanging on my shoulder looked like leather, but it seems like no animals were harmed in making my new bag.

This morning, I couldn't resist researching this vegan claim and visited the Matt & Nat site. Indeed, the company doesn't use leather to make their bags; instead, they use PVC. Hmm... you mean PVC, the most dangerous and toxic plastic? Yes, that plastic.

All right, so my choice of a fashion accessory was a total failure (although the bag looks delicious), but what's a girl to do if she wants to avoid leather (processing and tanning the hides does require all kinds of nasty chemicals and hides are typically purchased from the factory farms, the same ones depicted so negatively by Fast Food Nation) and doesn't want to walk around clutching a hazardous cocktail of chemicals?

So I did my research, you know, for next time, and there are not that many options. Oh yeah, if I'm looking for a canvas bag or large tote, it's easy to find retailers selling bags made out of organic cotton. But if I'm looking for a purse, something I can carry to work and also when I go out, choices are very limited.

I did find one local designer, Ashley Watson, who makes purses from recycled leather. I wasn't a big fan of the style of her bags, but this might be seasonal and I will return to the site now and then to check out new models. If you want to have a really creative and unique handbag, check out Eco-Handbags. I have to warn you, it's not for everyone. They have bags made out of a variety of materials including chopsticks, candy wrappers, zippers, skateboards, old cigar boxes, plastic bottles, 35mm slides, and much, much more. I found one cute purse made from recycled movie billboard.

And, there's always the very environmentally-friendly option of buying a purse from a consignment store.

Watching, reading

The luxury... renting movies and reading novels. LOL! Doesn't take much, doesn't it?

A few nights ago, I rented an excellent movie, The Last King of Scotland. The movie is based on the book of the same name and tells the story of Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin, as seen by the fictional character of a young Scottish doctor who becomes Amin's personal physician. Forest Whitaker plays Amin and he does an amazing job of portraying an individual who is charismatic but scary, paranoid, hungry for power.

Last night, I rented Fast Food Nation, also based on a book. The movie would have probably been more interesting as a documentary (or shockumentary), but as a story, it made for a pretty thin plot and weak characters. I consider myself well-informed about the dubious practices of the factory farms in North America, so most of the movie showed me nothing new. The lessons could be extrapolated to the entire food industry. Mass production of cheap food means something's gotta give: nutritional value, manipulated food source (antibiotics, growth hormones in meat, GMOs), workers and producers who get paid close to nothing for their effort. Many, many reasons for switching to local, organic food instead.

I just finished a novel by Jodi Picoult called My Sister's Keeper and I would strongly recommend it as a summer read. This is the story of Anna, a thirteen-year old who grows up with a sick sister, Kate, who has a rare and aggressive form of leukemia. What is unique about Anna is that she was conceived with a little bit of help from science so she could be a perfect match as a donor for her sister. The book explores some of the ethical questions around genetic engineering and whether or not it is right for parents to expose one child to potentially dangerous medical procedures so another child can be saved. The story is told from the point of view of the mother, father, Anna, Kate, their brother Jesse, as well as a few other characters. Not great literature, but a touching story, right until the end.

Take good care of her

I feel much better today, after a very relaxing weekend. This girl needed some time off, let me tell you.

It finally feels like summer, the weather is gorgeous, the city is fairly quiet but that's to be expected when it's a long weekend. I've been enjoying life getting back to its normal self. I hadn't done any proper grocery shopping for weeks and had piles of paperwork, including unopened mail, in the dining room.

Lara's on her way back East today. Montreal, take good care of her and giver her lots of love. We spent most of the weekend together, we walked all over the city, chilled at home with a good book, rented a movie, had a wonderful BBQ dinner last night (mmmm... lamb chops!). On Saturday, we saw the fireworks with Gerri, it was amazing to see the number of people lined up along Kits beach and Vanier Park.

I'm off, need to shower and get ready, Sherri is coming to pick me up at 11:30. We're gonna pack a picnic and head to a park somewhere, lie down in the shade and read, or chit chat. I'd gladly take another week like this...

Bleeaahh!

Just my luck. Ten days of penicillin to start the summer. Crap!

What if I meet a nice boy that I want to kiss? Ah! Shouldn't be contagious after 24 hours on the meds. Good enough for me :-)

So much for the big exciting week...

I'm not surprised, this is something that happens when you push too hard. Except that it sucks to be sick when the semester is over, the weather is beautiful and there are so many things to do!

It's probably nothing big, I'm waiting for the result of a swab to find out if it's a strep throat or just a virus. I've been feeling kind of iffy since Sunday and I think the stress from the exam just pushed it over the edge. At least I'm glad school is over for a month.