Dilemmas, dilemmas….

So I have an invite to Loden’s Fashionista NYE 2009.  The event boasts canapes and world famous DJ’s to entice those who want a different more East Coast experience to ring in the New Year. Here is a link through a Vancouver original, Demicouture.ca’s site.

Then there is the “My mom is alone at home and I might need to hang with her” plan.  Unless she plans to pick my brother up form the airport at 11pm from his Maui flight which is with Westjet, which means it will be late and they’ll be ringing in the NYE at YVR.

Or there might be a  few hours parties, but I’ll be the only one there as a singleton and I fear I might throw myself off a balcony if I have too much champagne.

Or there is Vegas.  My BFF who is amazing and a sweetheart has invited me for NYE, but I would literally spend 24 hours in Vegas and have to be on a flight out at 7am on New Year’s Day. Yuck!

So any suggestions?

“This is the day you stare down every naysayer in your life who doesn’t get it yet.  Because you do.  Finally. And now you know faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Sarah Ban Breathnack.

This year was as ever exciting as the family gathered for the holidays. Mark went to Maui with his girlfriend’s family and Kristi and Geoff stayed in Singapore with Zach.  Mom, Dad and I had a small, quiet 24th and then our cousins came for a dinner on the 25th. I can’t believe how much food we consumed.  Seriously, I feel ill.  But overall, the festivities were great, I’m glad it’s over and I am ready to wrap this year up in a bow and send it off, give her a great big send off and welcome in the New Year that in my heart of hearts know IS my year.  Why?  Because years of hard work have started showing signs of payoff already and great people have come into my life and continue to show up to guide me when I most need them. Because events happened last year (as painful and hard as they were) that had to happen for me to arrive here. It had to happen, there is no other explanation except that I know it’s all part of that bigger plan. I am comfortable with it and I know that all is well.  Life is good.

Does anybody know if the strength of IC is the same as a cup of espresso?  I think I’m overdoesing a bit on this freeze-dried stuff.  Yumm-o!

I woke up this morning — early — because I’m working on a few articles for Western Living magazine and I am so excited that I seriously can’t sleep.  It’s a bit strange but I think when you find something that you love doing, it becomes part of your daily routine like showering or eating, it’s not work, it just is.  I am so glad that I’ve discovered that it’s storytelling that I’m good at and whether that comes in writing form, on television or radio presenting, it’s what I do best.  I think it’ll be interesting to see what people say when I tell them what I do for a living: I tell stories.

For WL, it’s a story about highly stylized and functional wine decanters and an intriguing and humorous look at the functionality of cheese.  I can’t give that one away (as I tend to give my ideas away often and people steal them), but you can all read about it in 2009.  Well, I guess having your ideas stolen means you have good ideas–as a  very positive friend would say–however I’d at least like to be recognized for them.

So as I am sitting here– with windows open and all– I realize that it is really freezing outside.  I mean, I have not been this cold or even remember having to wear a hat or gloves for years now during December. All the more reason to go shopping today for a new scarf, hat and gloves.

I went for a jog this afternoon before my flight to Maui and I was hit by a biker.  I’m okay, I managed to push her off with my hands.  She fell and I fell and I’m a bit sore now.  But what are the chances of being run over by a bike and then living to tell about it?  I’m boarding now so I will tell you all about my trip when I can.  I’m so excited.  I just talked to Caroline ans she said a friend of hers has a crush on me and that she is setting me up with a friend of her friend’s brother.

I recently wrote an article about Whistler for Travelmuse.com,  a new Travelocity sponsored social working website for travel planning.  As a gesture of gratitude, Tourism Whistler arranged a little weekend getaway and it happens to correspond with the WIFF, so I took to the hills and spent a day up here.  Right now, it’s morning and last night’s festivities are hanging over my head.  I am at the Nita Lake Lodge, a beautiful boutique resort lodge that sits on the Nita Lake.  It’s close to the village by car and they have shuttle service.  The hotel is brand new so I think the kinks are still being worked out, no gym, hot tub and such, but overall the property is wonderful.  My room is a giant, earthy abode with dark wood cabinets, plasma TV’s, a giant bathroom with that “Pretty Woman” bathtub( which by the way I totally had the best bath of my life in last night, foamy suds et al.) and a kitchen.  The basal rock fireplace and heated flooring is a nice touch. The lobby and restaurant both overlook the lake, I can see this being a summer destination I’ll want to revisit, for sure.

The drive up yesterday was easy, it only took me almost two hours.  There is no snow on the lower elevations and it’s relatively warm for this time of year.  I checked in at the media centre, got a “voucher” to see a movie that I had to pay for and went to a VIP lounge in the Adara Hotel.  Light snacks and tonic water for me, thanks. At about 8pm, I ventured into the village and had two drinks for dinner.  (It was a Ceasartini, so  that qualifies!)  Then I went over to the Araxi where Brightlights was hosting a huge party! Actors and producers galore, free bar all night long, decadent finger foods and good wine.  Yowser!

Interesting people I saw or met: Michele Shane producer of Catch Me If You Can and iRobot, Tom Green looking very scruffy and totally chatting uo some hot young blonde, that actor you always see in movies but don’t now who he is, the guy that started Lionsgate Films, Karen from Brighlight (I don’t know what she does, she said it was her party and seemed confident so I’m assuming she is someone important, and Ted Lee from the Post.   I like him.

Another interesting person I met at the big party? A hot guy in the line-up outside who is Richard and works for an accounting firm.  But that’s for a later post…

Brigitte, make it stop….she  is so annoying, but I can’t stop watching…..oaky-dokey.  You are totally cool.

I love Gwyneth Paltrow’s new site, called GOOP.  It’s a simple, elegantly designed website that allows us to look into her life, thoughts and goings-on for the day, week and month. I love her recipes and the fact that she gets her realy cool spiritual friends, like Deepak Chopra to guide us through life with their insightful advice.

Yey, Gwyneth. This is GOOD!

Why do we need to spend a bunch of money on people telling us that we want to feel good?  I mean we seek out help in times of need and end up spending our valuable time and money on an idea that really can be solved by just getting out a bit more, talking to people (and realizing they feel the same way) and then not over-thinking it.

Le Faux Bourgeois.  Jasmin covered this space for Sweetspot.ca last month.  Naturally, we had to go and try it — so we three-amigas ( and some cute chaps) set-out for the night. The crew included Nazanin, Doodee (James), Ron and Al.  The new little space off of Kingsway is on-trend and according to Andrew Morrison — part of the new-wave dining that Vancouverites — now get to ride.  I think he’s referring to the Vancouver dining scene finally getting a little more Euro-chic and getting on-board with how we should be eating.  In our city that really offers some of the most fresh, rare and locally produced foods to work with (add in a dash of imagination and creativity) it’s surprising it’s taken this long.  So we arrives at 8pm and sat by the front window.  The vibe was great — the room buzzed with conversation, the waiter was cute and the company was perfect.  After we were told that our dinners would take up to an hour, we settled on a few bottles of wine, pate avec cornichons and waited. To be continued…