A Day in the Vancouver Sun: Farmers Market & Beach!

Yesterday was insanely gorgeous here in Vancouver. Sunshine, ever so slight breeze, warmth, people out and enjoying the weather - it felt like summer! And I definitely made the most of it!

As luck would have it, the Kitsilano Farmers Market kicked off yesterday. On such a gorgeous day, I had no excuse not to go for a walk to check it out. First I went back to Viva Fine Foods & Bakery for a breakfast sandwich (that place is becoming my new favorite spot for breakfast pastries!), which I took down to Kits Beach to eat beside the water.

After nomming at the beach, I took a gorgeous stroll through Kitsilano on Larch St., which is an area that I've not walked in before. The neighborhoods, trees and gardens in this part of town were so freaking charming. It was probably the slowest walk of all time because I was in constant awe of the flowers and branches around me, and I even stopped in my tracks a few times to stare up at the sky or snap a random photo...

Eventually I did make it to the farmers market, which is located at Larch & 10th in Vancouver. What a bumpin' market! There were vendors for everything from produce to plants to breads to pastries to seafood.

Before long, I'd accumulated a few things from a couple local vendors - a small honey votive and jar of blueberry honey from Jane's Honey Bees, and a homemade Peppermint Spearmint soap from The Other Eden. Both of these ladies (and many other vendors at the Kitsilano Farmers Market) accept major cards right at their booths - super helpful for the not-prone-to-carrying-cash amongst us (such as myself).

Later in the afternoon, the sunshine was still not quitting, so I continued to take complete advantage of it. Armed with a blanket, a good book, a cold water bottle and a banana, I headed down to Kitsilano Beach where I spread out on the lush green lawn.

My book of choice this past week has been It's Easier Than You Think: The Buddhist Way to Happiness by Sylvia Boorstein. It's my favorite book, and one that is perfect for re-reading from time to time. I recommend that you read it because it's a quick read full of valuable Buddhist-inspired lessons, taught in a way that the layman can really understand.

After about 2 hours out on the Kits Beach lawn, I finally came back inside for some dinner. And obviously... I went back out again after dinner to get some gelato from my favorite Vietnamese sub shop - Paradiso Italian Gelato.

The evening wasn't complete till I watched Justin Timberlake's Master Class special on Oprah's OWN channel last night. In case you were wondering, I specifically changed around my cable package this weekend in order to include the OWN channel. (The JTim Force is strong with this one.)

Was the weather nice for you yesterday?
Have the farmers markets launched in your town yet?
Did you catch the Justin Timberlake special? I assume you did.

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My Favorite Sexxxxyyyyy Songs!

For no good reason whatsoever (it's not even my birthday), I was really inspired to put together a list of my favorite sexy songs. It might have been because I've been listening to JT's You Got It On almost everyday while tidying up the kitchen, and day-um is that a sexy song! You know, exactly the kind of thing that screams, "Yeah girl, scrub that sauce pan!"

So even though Valentine's Day is now a few weeks behind us, I hope you'll let this playlist continue to *ahem* inspire you. In no particular order, here are some of my favorite sexy songs!

Drunk In Love - Beyoncé

You Got It On - Justin Timberlake

Motivation - Kelly Rowland

I Get Lonely - Janet Jackson

Bed - J. Holiday

Lost Without U - Robin Thicke

Nobody - Keith Sweat

Promise - Ciara

Take Our Time - TLC

You Already Know - 112

Adorn - Miguel

Anytime, Anyplace - Janet Jackson

What are some of your favorite sexy songs? 

Did any of your favorites make the list?

Did this SUPER SEXY blog post offend your delicate sensibilities?  #HappyHumpDay ;)

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Recap of Justin Timberlake's Vancouver Concert

So as I HOPE YOU REMEMBER, I went to see Justin Timberlake perform in Vancouver on January 16...

...Where, oh, where do I even start?

Do I start by gushing about the incredible, high-energy, flawless vocal and dance performance?  Do I begin by telling you about the amazing setlist and light show? Do I launch into describing the energy in the entire arena that night?

OH I know. How about I begin this recap of Justin Timberlake's January 16th Vancouver show at Rogers Arena the same way that MY night began that evening - WITH A MASSIVE, MAGICAL, UNBELIEVABLE, "IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING?" SEAT UPGRADE. The upgrade to end all upgrades, guys. And I didn't do a single thing to deserve it.

Dave and I (yup, definitely made Dave be my date) were just making our way into our section at the show when an usher who worked for the arena asked to see my tickets, evaluated them for a moment, took them from me, and handed me a new pair of tickets, saying, "You just got upgraded." I was all "Whaaa?" and my first instinct, of course, was to fight this guy over the fact that he just took my Justin Timberlake tickets out of my hand. I mean, clearly he didn't know who he was dealing with. One doesn't simply take my JTim tickets from me. Though I was slightly incredulous about this alleged "upgrade" we were receiving (in the back of my head I was hoping that that guy really was a Rogers Arena employee and not someone who had just stolen my tickets), we changed course and walked down a set of stairs to get to the lower level of the arena. From there we walked, and walked.... and walked.... goodness we were walking a long way from where our original seats were. What was going onnnn? We located our new section, an usher directed us to our new seats.... and THAT is when it sort of - sorrrrrt of - hit me:  Our new seats were almost on top of the stage.

There was actually a particular section of the stage that jutted out laterally into the crowd mere feet from where we were sitting. I wish I could have seen a video of my series of facial expressions as I fully realized where we were and that I was ACTUALLY going to see Justin Timberlake from about 6 feet away.

No, no... I can tell that you don't fully understand the weight of this situation, so let me repeat:

I was going to be within 6 feet of Justin Timberlake. Justin Timberlake whom I have been swooning over and obsessed with since I was 14. The performer who it seemed I was destined to never come into any real close contact with, having put in a solid 15 years of raging fandom and never so much as getting a front row ticket.

I was about to watch his show from nearly as close as could be... at eye level... with a section of the stage practically touching my face. 

Dave didn't really "get it" either. He was just sort of laughing at me as I breathlessly repeated, "JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE is going to be RIGHT. THERE."

 We were moved from section 316 to section 120:

Ok, so now you might "get" how incredible the seats were. But obviously, the location of our seats wasn't the highlight of the night - the SHOW was!

So remember that time that Justin Timberlake won the Video Vanguard Award at the 2013 VMAs, and he ended up putting on a performance at the award show that was literally 15 minutes long? Like, longer than anyone else has ever performed on an award show? And remember how everytime you thought he was wrapping up his set, he was really just gearing up to perform a million more songs?

WELL TAKE THAT FEELING AND STRETCH IT INTO 3 HOURS.

I was exhausted by the end of it!!!!

He sang soooooo many songsss - this is not the exact order of the setlist because there were too many for me to remember an order... but here's what he performed (um... don't read this if you're going to see his show in the future and don't want any spoilers, I guess?):

• Pusher Love
• Mirrors
• Strawberry Bubblegum
• My Love
• Love Stoned/I Think That She Knows
• Drink You Away
• Take Back the Night
• Sexy Back
• Like I Love You
• Señorita
• Rock Your Body
• Tunnel Vision
• Till the End of Time
• Cry Me A River
• FutureSex/LoveSounds
• What Goes Around
• Summer Love
• Don't Hold the Wall
• That Girl
• Let the Groove Get In
• Suit & Tie
• Gimme What I Don't Know (I Want)
• Not A Bad Thing
• True Blood
• Cabaret
• TKO
• Only When I Walk Away

"Bonus" songs included bits of all of the following:

• JT's opening verse/chorus from Holy Grail by Jay-Z
• Poison by Bell Biv DeVoe
• Pass the Dutchie by Musical Youth
• Human Nature by Michael Jackson
• Jungle Boogie by Kool and the Gang
• Heartbreak Hotel by Elvis

Other highlights of the show:

• The surprise moving section of the stage that was built upon an impressive hydraulics system. The stage actually lifted up and drove over the entire center floor section of the arena, towards the back of the arena... coincidentally ending up right around the place that my seats WOULD have been in if we hadn't been upgraded. 
• The dude in the row directly in front of me who seemed to think he was starring in some sort of feature film about hand-dancing. He was absolutely hysterical and semi-distracting to be seated behind because he was seriously singing/dancing/gesticulating as if he was being filmed for a music video. It was very dramatic, but made me giggle (much) more than once throughout the course of the evening. Just as an example, if Justin sang the word "you," this guy would point straight ahead at an imaginary person, as if to express "you" through hand motions. Or if Justin sang the word "stronger," this guy would make a muscle and point to his bicep. You get the picture. Imagine that happening for every word of every song. That fake sign language interpreter from the Nelson Mandela memorial had nothing on this guy.
• The number of guys in the audience who were definitely there because of their girlfriends... but who were definitely all having a great time nonetheless. JTim delivers, people. Everyone loves him. 
• The laser light show that popped up to say hello throughout the evening. I normally don't give a crap about the light show at concerts, but the lights/lasers at this show were actually pretty captivating and unique. 
• Justin played piano and guitar during a few different parts of the show... and of course it wouldn't be a JT show without at least a littttttle bit of beatboxing! (Anyone else remember the "Prepare yourself - it's the human beatbox!" part of 'NSync's old No Strings Attached tour??) (I DO.) (Maybe because I saw that show live three separate times, as well as owned the VHS of the Madison Square Garden concert that was taped for HBO? Maybe?)

I took some videos during the show, as well as plenty of pictures. If you're a fan of him, perhaps you'll be interested to see those. If you're not a fan of him... well then I commend you for your dedication to reading this far into a blog about something you don't care about. Seriously.

Behold:

You'll notice that the video is shaky as shit, but please read on for my eventual thoughts on that topic.

.  oh hello, mr. timberlake  .

Sidebar - I realized during this show just how difficult it is to take a photo with a digital camera when one is being inundated by bright, flashing lights that are constantly changing the lighting situation. 

.  you lookin at me?  .

YUP:

The moving stage:

WHOOHOOO!

I don't really need to tell you that I was just pleased as punch about the entire evening. What an amazing birthday present! {Smushing David's cheeks!}

And just a note about my shaky videos... it was actually kind of a bummer trying to film instead of just enjoying it and dancing. I don't know how these kids do it these days. Or, more accurately, I don't know WHY these kids do it these days. Ironically - sometimes you can miss a lot while you're trying to capture everything. So basically that's why all of these videos are unabashedly shaky. Kiss my butt if you think I should have been more focused on "keeping him in the frame" than on STARING AT HIS SKIN IN THE FLESH!! ;)

Guys, if JTim is coming to a town near you - you've just blatantly got to go see his show. You'll have such a good time, I promise. Even if you don't get an amazing seat upgrade.

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I'M GOING TO SEE JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE TONIGHT.

GUYS.

Remember when I told you about how David got me Justin Timberlake tickets for my birthday back in November, but I lamented that I'd have to wait till January to see the show?

WULL IT'S JANUARY NOW. AND I'M SEEING THAT SHIT TONIGHT.

AHHHHHHH! I haven't seen Justin Timberlake in concert since the summer of 2003, when my hopes and dreams of getting front row tickets were dashed after not winning a radio contest that, by all accounts, I was supposed to win. (Please feel free to read about that heart-breaking moment about ⅔ of the way down this post.) Failing to score those front row seats that I WAS PLANNING ON getting for free meant that I had to concede defeat and buy some scalper's tickets outside the venue that night.

But not this time! #ThanksDave!

I'm not sure if I should be embarrassed about how many times Justin Timberlake comes up as a conversation point on my blog... But I mean... #TrueLifeImAJTimSuperFan. Sawry.

There is a part of me that's terrified that somehow something will happen to thwart this concert from happening tonight. I'm keeping my fingers crossed so hard that he doesn't pull a Kanye and cancel for some reason. I DON'T KNOW IF I'D BE ABLE TO TAKE THE DEVASTATION IF THAT HAPPENED.

But if all goes as planned, my evening is going to be better than yours. Sawry again.

In honor of this special occasion, I'm sharing my Top 10 Justin Timberlake Songs to help YOU ALL get into the same mood that I'm in right now! Hoozah!

My Top 10 Justin Timberlake Songs

10. Drink You Away (20/20 Experience Part 2)

9. Gimme What I Don't Know (I Want) (20/20 Experience Part 2)

8. Another Chance (All Over Again) (FutureSex/LoveSounds)

7. Summer Love (FutureSex/LoveSounds)

6. Pusher Love Girl (20/20 Experience Part 1)

5. My Love (FutureSex/LoveSounds)

4. You Got It On (20/20 Experience Part 2)

3. Love Stoned/ I Think She Knows (FutureSex/LoveSounds)

2. Like I Love You (Justified)

1. Cry Me A River (Justified)

It was really difficult for me to put those into a hierarchy, so take their exact order with a grain of salt. Several of these favorites are on his latest CD, which is kind of cool - he can take 6 years off of making albums and still come back with some goodies!

I hope you guys all have a great day, but, again, I'm sorry that it won't be as good as mine. Give it your best anyway! Tomorrow is Friday, after all! (That means nails tomorrow!)

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What's In My DailyLook Bag + My Birthday Surprise

It dawned on me last week that I have hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise in my DailyLook.com shopping bag that I've not pulled the trigger on buying. Probably because in my world, when one has "hundreds of dollars" just lying around, it should be put towards a plane ticket to Massachusetts, and not on cotton-based fancies. Le sigh.

Anyway, it made me a bit sad to think that these goodies would never seen the light of my closet day, so I thought I'd feature them here as a mini wish list. Here are the "I wants" that are currently just chilling in my DailyLook shopping bag:

This Desert Morning Cardigan is actually sold out now on the site, which is a real shame because I reeeeally, really like this sweater. And at $39.99, it's probably one of the most affordable things on their site! I love the hi-lo hem, the fringe, and the close-fit sleeves. I've also been a litttttle head over heels for mint for the last few years, so this plays into that obsession nicely.

These One Teaspoon Awesome Denim Baggies need to be on my legs. I really like rocking a pair of baggier jeans every once in awhile, and these ones look perfect. The outfit on that model on the left is also amazing, even though I would never have anywhere to actually wear that outfit in real life. Am I right? I mean, that outfit is part "beach day," part "I'm just heading to the grocery store," and part "there may be a motorcycle ride and a nightclub in my future." Anyway, it's no mystery why I haven't purchased these jeans yet - they cost $150. That price definitely has more digits than I'd ever pay for jeans, myself.  Especially for a pair with all those holes in them... as my dad would say. #DADS.

OK, ignore the weird bunny-beanie hat thing that this model is wearing, and just focus on her cozy looking Mixed Knit Hoodie.  Hoodies are my homeboys - I freaking love them. Most of the ones I own are big and baggy, not cute and fitted, so a more stylish design like this one would be a welcome addition to my closet. Plus I've always loved the clean and classic color combination of white and grey.

ERmergerd, guys, this coat.  This COAT! Look at how warm and snug she looks in that freaking thing! Look at that collar!! And THE OMBRE. I mean, no longer will you have to lament over the question, "Do I wear my grey jacket or my black jacket tonight?" Best of both worlds, y'all!!! And it's got a hood, to boot! This BB Dakota Joyce Ombre Coat would run me $129.99, which isn't too bad for a stunning wool blend jacket. My only hesitation is that buying a jacket online without being able to try it on first is pretty risky, especiallllllly when DailyLook shipping costs are so high when shipping to Canada. I don't want to tack an additional $20-$30 onto my cost if I end up having to send it back for any reason. And so it stays in my cart mocking me. Please let me know in the comments if you've seen anything similar to this in an actual store, because I will go hunt it down!

Lastly, here's a pair of boots I've been pondering for the last couple of weeks. Remember how I put "buy new boots" on my Fall To-Do List? These $85 Dirty Laundry Raeven Boots mayyyy be sort of (sorrrrt of) like the kind of boot I've been looking for.  I need boots that are both rain- and fashion-friendly, and obviously these faux-leather boots are not rain-friendly... yet. But you can spray boots with water-resistant coating or something, right? I guess I've never owned a pair of boots I needed to do that to, but I hear it's a thing that adults do when they don't want their fancy boots to get destroyed. Again, please feel free to weigh-in via the comments and teach me a thing or two about water-proofing fancy boots. Yes, I know I could Google it myself. But it always sounds so much better coming directly from you guys. Humor me.

Are you a member of DailyLook.com? It's an "outfit of the day" website where you can also purchase the items that the models are wearing each day. It's also just a great way to get outfit ideas and inspiration, even if you're not buying anything. If you want to sign up for free via my sign up link, then I'll get LookPoints if ever you buy anything. And with enough LookPoints, they start giving you cash to spend on the site. So basically.... #AlmsForThePoor. Sign up for DailyLook.com IFYOUWANNA!

Anddddd, one last thing - because this one is too good to keep to myself...  My birthday was on Friday, and David did good, guys. He'd been nearly bursting at the seams all week long, telling me he had a surprise for me and asking if he could spill the beans yet. I told him he had to contain himself until my actual birthday, which he managed to do...

HEYOOOO!!!!!

Obviously, this is a huge present for me. HUGE. I told Dave that I hadn't held JTim tickets in my hand in a decade. And then I gave him a ton of kisses even though he had just walked in the door from the gym and was a sweaty mess. That's how happy I was.

So, if you noticed on the tickets, the concert isn't until January. Oy! The anticipation! But seriously, it's awesome to have something like this to look forward to... I'm filled with emotion just thinking about it. Good god, I sound like my teenage self again. Fingers crossed he performs at least one verse from an 'NSync song at his show... Eek!!!!

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