Weekend in Vancouver 2010

Hi all! I just got back from a quick weekend trip to beautiful British Columbia, Canada. I had the privilege of teaching stamp classes for the Stamp Out Breast Cancer event (hosted by I'm Impressed). This is one of my favorite places to teach. The store is located on Granville Island, a mecca of shops, galleries, restaurants, a farmers/fish market, and so much more!

 This is me and Raya, owner of I'm Impressed. She is the heart and the brains behind the spectacular Stamp Out Breast Cancer event. She puts on a great weekend for a great cause, and between the shopping, stamping, and lovely location, there's no reason not to come! Watch for it next year!

The days leading up to the class were hectic, as I realized afresh how difficult it is to get things done with a 1-year-old toddling around (my older daughter is almost five, so it's been a while!). But it all came together and thanks to our local loving grandparents, my hubby and I turned my working weekend into a little getaway for just to two of us as well.

Hubby is not a fan of getting his picture taken.

 But he had to get over that pretty quickly. He took this one himself.

We enjoyed a lovely dinner together (thank you Steve and Val for the gift card!) after seeing Iron Man 2 (very fun). We decided to stay in an inexpensive hotel close to the border so the drive up the next morning would be easier. Very glad we did. It was a teeny room with a less-than-soft mattress, but it was so nice to be able to sleep in without kids waking us up I didn't even care.
 

This is us outside the hotel. Andre didn't want to ask anyone to take our picture, so he grudgingly offered to do it himself. I'm terrible at taking a self-portrait with my digital camera. I always aim too high or too low.

And here is the customary stop at the Duty Free store so my man can stock up on certain, er, essentials.

We made it to the hotel at Granville Island in Vancouver with plenty of time to spare, so we checked in (beautiful room! I neglected to take pictures, but you can visit the website and see better pictures, anyway) and had a bite to eat at the hotel restaurant. It was such a beautiful day with a gorgeous view.

This is the view from our room.

Another well-composed self-portrait photo by my honey. See, our heads aren't even cut off.

I had a great afternoon class with some wonderful ladies, a few of whom have taken DeNami classes with me before. It's so fun to stamp with these gals. We laugh at least as much as we stamp! I love seeing the little ways everyone makes their card their own, and chatting about life, family, and creative ideas. It is such a joyful way to spend the time, and makes all that class prep well worth it. If you want to see this season's DeNami Design classes, click here.

Here are just a few snapshots of some of the sweet and lovely ladies I got to hang out with this weekend. To my stampers: sorry if you don't see yourself here; some of the pictures were super blurry! You remain in my heart, though :-)

We had a lovely dinner out (we kind of spoiled ourselves this weekend). It was really hard to decide what to order.

 I had a hard time deciding on what to eat, but thoroughly enjoyed this AMAZING salad at The Keg. (By the way, I dedicate this food picture to Carolyn and Krista Nakamura, who post more pictures of food they eat than anyone else I know.)

We shared prime rib, and Andre loves his with horseradish (I prefer without).

This is the Horseradish Face. Cleared his sinuses right out.

I think he found his calling. Every time I tried to take a self-portrait, I chopped off our heads. Maybe it's his long arms.

 No room for dessert. Back to the hotel and to bed. Had to be ready for a full day of teaching tomorrow. The next day was pretty busy and went something like this: Set up. Teach. Clean up. Set up. Teach. Clean up. Pack up. Teaching card-making classes with creative and enthusiastic stampers is very energizing, so the day went very fast and I was sad when it was time to go home (seemed like i just got there!).

Before my classes began in the morning, though, I was able to go for a little walk to get me and my amazing hubby some coffee (cocoa for me!).

We were blessed with a beautiful weekend. There is a walking path and a pond nearby.

It's become a tradition of mine when I visit Granville Island to get coffee at a nearby coffee shop called Pedro's Organic Coffee House. I usually order hot chocolate with whipped cream. The whipped cream is so thick and creamy and sweet, it's almost like ice cream. YUM.

 I can almost taste it...

Closed! Darn. Fortunately, I had a Plan B.

 It's almost like I'm back home again! (For those who don't know, I'm from Seattle AKA Starbucks-land.)

Before I knew it, the car was packed up (ok, probably because my muscle man packed everything for me) and we were headed south. Before I wrap this up (it's already a little longer than I expected, sorry!), I had to share a yummy treat one of my thoughtful students shared. Maybe you've seen them before, but I hadn't.

 Candy-coated chocolate-covered sunflower seeds. How cute are they!? Almost too fun to eat. Almost.

Thanks to all who came and helped "stamp out breast cancer!" A big shout-out goes to my amazing husband who was a huge help and who was such a sport with all the stamping and giggly girls and picture-taking. I am so glad I married him. Now, back to real life!

It was nice to come home to hugs.

Have a great week, everyone!