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8 Pieces of Advice for the Generation “Me” Girl
You know those posts that start with: 10 Things I wish someone Had Told Me When? I never read those things. What’s the point? Sure, if someone had told me that some days, being a teenager was going to feel like climbing Everest with no shoes, on the coldest day, naked, maybe I would’ve been better prepared. But probably not. And besides, I wouldn’t be who I am today if someone had given me all the answers. There’s no manual for adolescence or early adulthood, it’s a damn free-for-all, a real life Hunger Game. Not even a compass would have helped me navigate the labyrinth of uncontrollable emotion, angst, fear, self-loathing, and unrealized…
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Feeling the Pride in Vancouver’s West End
We may be a few months out from Vancouver’s much anticipated Pride Weekend, but a quick stroll around my neighbourhood aptly demonstrates that Pride isn’t merely an event that occurs over a weekend in June, it’s a state of mind. Here, love and sexuality transcends economic status, ethnic background, and religion. In a country that boasts tolerance, Vancouver’s West End embraces acceptance. It isn’t merely good enough to allow the existence of another, especially when the message of those being tolerated is to love ones self, and celebrate and support the rights of others. “We join with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence around the world through our universal vows to promulgate universal joy, expiate stigmatic…
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A Little Culture About a Little Kimono
Did you know that the Kimono isn’t actually Japanese? The word kimono translates directly into ‘Thing to wear’ and was once worn by both women and men. Though the kimono is generally synonymous with Japanese culture, we need to pay homage to its original Chinese roots. The kimono was adopted by the Japanese in the early 5th century as far as anthropologists can tell, worn by the Han people and sometime in the late 7th or early 8th century, it was introduced to the Japanese through merchants and dignitaries visiting and conducting business with China. As the centuries wore on, the kimono became less formal, and women began to stylize it by lengthening…
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Saturdays at the West End Farmers Market
Deciding what to do in Vancouver on a beautiful sunny day is probably the best dilemma you could possibly ask for. You could head to the North Shore for a respectable hike, take a drive out to the Fraser Valley for some berry picking, or park yourself on the beaches of Spanish Banks for the day. For a West Ender like myself, after I’ve taken my Aussie Shepherd for his morning constitutional, I like to head over to the West End Farmers Market. I don’t really have a routine, I just like to bring a couple of empty cloth bags, wander from stall-to-stall with my camera, and see what amazing…
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How to Create Your Own Travel Photo Book
Once the afterglow of your dream vacation has worn off and the tan has faded into non-existence, if you’re like me, you’re probably left with hundreds of travel photos and no clue how to organize them. Once upon a time, scrapbooking was the way to go, but has quickly becoming a thing of the past, and thank goodness, because honestly, the average person doesn’t have all that extra time to be crafty. There are plenty of creative ways to display your travel photos, more if you peruse the Pinterest boards. But sometimes simple is better. What I do know is that if travel is anything, it’s a conversation starter, a universal endeavour amongst my friends, and a great…
