Ah, to be a weekend warrior. I’m so grateful to live in our beautiful province where getting away to the beach, the ocean, the lakes, the mountains is possible for a weekend trip. That being said, it sucks being a tourist for all the busy weekends. I’m still determined to make the most of it!

We’re off, headed to Tofino for the long weekend. Should be fun to do some car camping, lots of surfing, and hanging out with J and Trev. Of course, I’ll have to hit up all my faves… Shelter (best yam fries), Breakers (best everything), and Sobo (best key lime pie and pizzas!)… but we’ll be doing lots of cooking on the grill as well.

The swell forecast is looking pretty small now for the weekend, so I’m glad that we’re bringing out longboards. Should be a nice sunny weekend as well, and hopefully a little cooler than Vancouver! I really, REALLY, need some sleep and rest to get rid of this head-cold.

The goal this weekend… progression. Although the waves will probably be too small at most of the beaches, I’d really like to start learning some cutbacks. I’ve got my left and right bottom turns down and can pretty much catch any wave with my (small) 7″10″ longboard, but I’d really like to get a little fancier. Still — surfing will always be about just being out there… the peacefulness of the waves, the serenity, and not worrying too much about anything at all!

Can’t wait!

Ocean, sun, surf =  happiness.

See you all on Monday!

I have a secret interest. It’s in aquascapes.

Aquascapes are beautiful aquariums that are artistically arranged with plants, rocks, and driftwood to create an interesting display. Often, they can look like landscapes out of the real world.

I had an aquarium all throughout growing up, and fortunately Allan is very much into aquariums and I am lucky enough to be able to enjoy his stunning fish tank all day long! If you haven’t seen the timelapse of our fish tank yet, I highly recommend you check it out here on Vimeo:

Moving and Fish Tank Timelapse Photography – VancityAllie.com from VancityAllie on Vimeo.

I wanted to share with you some of my favourite aquascapes in the world.

One of the most famous masters of aquascapes is Takashi Amano from Japan. (All below photos credit to http://www.adana.co.kr)

As you can see, it takes a lot of time, effort and design strategy to build an amazing aquascape.

Another one of my favourite aquarium designers is the Aquarium Design Group. All below photos credit to ADG.

The first three photos are freshwater tanks, and the last one here is a “paludarium” which is a combination of a fish tank with some “on-surface” vegetation and sometimes creatures. If you look carefully you can see the chameleon.

Personally, I would LOVE to have a proper paludarium is our apartment, but it’s really difficult to do and expensive. And Allan loves the fish tanks so I don’t think it is going to happen

So we talked about it and I think we’re going to continue with the freshwater aquarium and start turning it into a proper aquascape. We used to have plants growing to the top of the plant, but some bad choices in fish led to all the plants being eaten. We’re now rid of those fish, but it’s a long slow road back to cultivating the plants again.

Allan bought himself a brand new light that will help with the plant growth. For those who know this stuff, it’s a Coralife Aqualight Strip Light 4 x 65 Watt. TONS of light! We’re planning on eventually scaping it like an Amano tank with the rocks and carpet of Riccia (the stuff that looks like grass). Very excited! 

Allan built a DIY CO2 reactor out of a plastic bottle and some tubing to encourage more plant growth. Pretty cool for only $5 worth of equipment. It bubbles out all day long, just with a little mixture of yeast, baking soda and water. Lasts for weeks.

Stay tuned! We’ll be sure to post some photos of our new aquarium aquascape when it starts looking cool!

What a fabulous weekend! On Saturday we headed up to NESTEA’s Chill on the Hill event at Whistler Blackcomb. Many thanks to NESTEA for sending Allan and I up there! It really was a great event. Also got to meet NetChick, GusF, and Jen! Very cool peeps! Be warned: This is a heavy photo and video post!

Check out the video. It is really fun. Includes highlights such as:
- Snowboarding in the middle of July in 35 degree Celcius weather
- Me falling on my butt on a box in the snowpark
- NESTEA girls
- Footage of The Stills performing at the event (and music)
- Full coverage of the NESTEA setup complete with volleyball court, rail jams, and blueberry mojitos!
- Whistler Blackcomb
- LIGHTNING AND THUNDERSTORMS from the weekend!

Make sure you watch till the end

Before we got started, Allan and I headed to (the best) breakfast in Whistler at Elements. We’ve been coming here for several years now and it really is awesome.

Their famous stuffed french toast… takes 20 minutes to make. This is the banana and caramelized pecans stuffed french toast. They also have ham and brie stuffed french toast! Mmmm…

The classic breakfast, bacon and eggs there. The potato tartlet and double smoked bacon are always highlights.

The hotel room that NESTEA put us up in was awesome! Hilton Whistler in a suite room! Loved the fireplace, and the fridge stocked with NESTEA, plus the welcome package!

Volleyball and microfiber towel!

The amazing event that NESTEA set up. Check out the sand they trucked in from a local quarry for the volleyball courts.

The Chill on the Hill tent, with all the wonderful people who made it all happen! Notice the sexy Olympic snowboarders, and the Burton Custom X’s they were giving away for rail jam prizes.

The rail jam they set up for the event… they brought in ridiculous amounts of snow to set this up on Whistler. CRAZY!

Boarders lining up to hit the rails. Lots of great getups.

They were some awesome snowboarders out there.

Some neat tricks.

Also loved the blueberry mojitos made with NESTEA. We drank several of these thanks to the girls!

My Malolo dude says THUMBS UP to the event!

Free open bar from NESTEA was fabulous. They served up a VIP lunch in Steeps on Whistler, and the bartender there made some amazing drinks. I loved his gin fizz with fresh local Pemberton strawberries! Mmmm!

Protest the Hero performing for the crowd. They loved it.

Allan and I also took the Peak2Peak over to Blackcomb for the glacier, including the bus, and a chairlift to get up there.

It was rocky, but not too bad. Can’t complain about boarding in July

Got the fisheye out… what a great view.

Boarding without a helmet, not a great idea, but it was so freaking hot out.

Here I am looking incredibly classy swatting away a million horse flies and mosquitoes. It was BUGGY out there! I got a few nasty bites. If you’re wondering what the hell I am doing in my sequence in the video… well, now you know. I’m so coordinated.

The Stills lead singer.

The Stills performing at the end of the event… what a great set up. A concert on the top of the hill, with the gondolas going past, hot and sunny, with a gorgeous backdrop. Amazing.

After the event we quickly changed in the car and headed into the village to one of my favourite restaurants in the whole world, Araxi.

We’ve been coming here for a few years now, and each time the service is impeccable, the food is mouth-watering, and the drinks are luscious.

We tried a couple different appetizers. Here’s the Ahi Tuna. (I don’t eat sushi/raw food but Allan said it was great). I tried the saffron cauliflower and the fresh cherry tomatoes and they were great.

Here’s the Pemberton squash blossoms stuffed with ricotta with a red pepper sauce. SO. Good. And so creative! Chef James Walt is amazing.

The cheese souffle… delicate. Loved the almonds with the mushroom cream sauce.

This BC halibut was to die for. Flavourful herbs across the top, and a delicious sauce. I added a Qualicum scallop which was amazing. (If you’re looking to buy Qualicum scallops locally, you can get them at Granville Island.)

Allan got the Trio of Pork (from Paradise Valley) which had pulled pork ravioli (so good), pork tenderloin, and slow cooked pork belly with chanterelles.

We got some side dishes… the mushrooms were reaaally good, and the beans were fresh. Love how Chef Walt gets almost all his ingredients locally. He actually lives in Pemberton.

For dessert we had the lemon tart with goat cheese ice cream. Fresh local blueberries.

We also tried the ice cream sandwich which had a lovely chocolate hazelnut crust.

After dinner we headed back to Vancouver.. it was a photographers dream and nightmare, all at the same time. We had a golden sunset, TWO rainbows, and lightning. I swear just after I snapped this photo a lightning bolt struck right between the two rainbows. Would have been the most amazing photo. I was a bit heartbroken I didn’t luck out and capture it.

How can you not fall in love with the west coast? A golden sunset through streams of rain.

We managed to catch some lightning, but I didn’t get many good photos. Check out the end of the video above for some better shots of the lightning along the sea-to-sky highway.

Phew! That’s a lot of photos! Hope you enjoyed the post

On my last day in Tamarindo I did manage to get out to the ocean and get in the water. Boy did it feel good to surf again.

After the accident, I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about going back in the water… whether I was going to feel scared or uncomfortable… but it actually felt great.

Last time I was in Costa Rica, Allan and I just rented boards and did our own surf trips everywhere, which was great. This time, however, I decided to go with Witch’s Rock Surf Camp since I was by myself. It was going to be awesome — boat trips, trips to beaches I had never been before, and even a boat trip to a reef break.

So the first day, early in the morning I showed up at WRSC to select my board and meet the guides and the people I would be surfing with. Everyone was super nice and helpful. They loaded up the boards on top of the van and we headed out to Playa Grande.

What a beautiful beach! Allan and I surfed here before but it wasn’t as good as the day I had with WRSC. Although some of the guys were complaining that it was “too small”, it was just the right size for me to get my confidence back getting in the water again.

I stepped out onto the sandy shore and let the warm water hit my legs. The guide, Killian (who was also cute), assured me that everything was going to be okay, and pointed out a good spot for me to paddle out to.

I caught some of the best waves of my life that day! Some awesome lefts and rights, and about shoulder-high waves. Really nice clean beach break. Compared to Tofino at least!

There were some great surfers out there.

Even long boarders! Haha. I’m a long boarder myself, so it definitely felt weird to be out there with a bunch of short boarders.

There were even a couple really cute surfer chicks! Nope, that’s not me. Sadly when you travel by yourself you don’t get any photos of yourself taken

The WRSC Guide Killian getting out of the water.

After a great session I headed back to my apartment to get ready for the next surf session of the day. Sadly, when I looked in the mirror I noticed the cut on my forehead had started to pull apart. Ugh! I couldn’t believe it. No more surfing for the rest of my trip. What. A. Total. Bummer. Decided to shorten up my trip and head back early since without surfing, well… there wasn’t much point being in Costa Rica.

For my last night there I decided to head into town (Tamarindo) and eat at Allan’s and my favourite Italian restaurant that we found last time, Bruno’s Pizzeria.

I ordered sparkling water. I love how all the labels in Costa Rica are in Spanish, and when you go to the grocery store it’s always quite a challenge to figure out what every thing is! A lot of people in Costa Rica are either locals (Spanish), come from the USA (know basic Spanish) or come from neighbouring countries (know a lot of Spanish). Soooo it’s hard getting by as a Canadian with no exposure to Spanish. I do my best, but it’s not good enough

Delicious pepperoni and pineapple pizza!

Spinach tortellini with cream sauce!

And yes, one of the most beautiful views in the city. Check out that sunset sky!

I love watching the sun set over Tamarindo.

Can’t beat the view at Bruno’s.

What a great way to spend my last night in Costa Rica. Beautiful!

Quick post on Costa Rica today. It’s strange writing back and remembering, even though it was only a couple days ago…

On my last day at Paradisus Playa Conchal, I booked a tee time on the Reserva Conchal golf course at 6:30 AM… yes, 6:30 AM. Too early.

The Reserva Conchal golf course is a beautiful course in Costa Rica designed by Robert Trent Jones II. It’s a challenging course, fairly tight fairways and some tough greens. It is really amazing to think that they can keep a golf course in good shape like that in the hot weather.

It was strange playing a golf course by myself. Some background on golf and I… I started playing golf about 4 years ago when I was dating someone in university who used to play golf a LOT. He actually taught kids camps, etc. I wasn’t very good at all, but I did go to the driving range quite a few times that summer. Flash forward several years, and I’m still not very good at golf. I did start going to the driving range a bit last summer, I bought a set of irons, and I played in the company golf tourney.  Now this year already, it’s almost the end of July and I’ve only gone to the driving range a couple times this summer. I really need to start going more.

It’s a love-hate relationship.

So imagine my surprise when I played the Reserva Conchal course with my rented clubs, and I pulled out a driver for the first time, and actually managed to hit it alright. That’s the first time I have ever hit a driver without it hitting someone else, popping straight into the air, or divebombed 2 yards in front of me. It was exciting!

So, when I got back to Vancouver I bought myself a new driver because I was so excited. Needless to say, I have not been able to replicate my success and continue being a hazard to all at the driving range with my driver. More on this later in the week.

There were some gorgeous views of the ocean from some of the holes.

There was tons of wildlife all around the golf course, including these cute birds all lined up along the side of one of the holes…

… and this gigantic iguana!

After playing the course, one of the guys I had made friends with at the Pro Shop, Mauricio, was kind enough to drive my luggage and I to Tamarindo where I would be staying in an apartment rental there. I can’t thank Mauricio enough!

I was staying at Villas Langosta, just outside of Tamarindo on Playa Langosta. I loved Playa Langosta last time I was in Costa Rica, but I have to say… really disappointed with the apartment rental. It was totally functional and definitely no-frills as I expected, but for the price ($110 USD a night), I’m not sure it was worth it compared to some of the other B&Bs or vacation rentals in the area.

There was a kitchen which was functional and had everything I needed to cook, but there were TONS of cobwebs everywhere, and huge HUGE spiders in all the cupboards. For those of you who know how scared of spiders I am, it wasn’t a pleasant experience to be cooking by myself there!

The living room was actually pretty big for an apartment rental, but I barely used it.

The bedroom was nice, and I appreciated the mosquito netting… too bad there were tons of ants that crawled in under the door all night!

Anyway, if you’ve been following my Twitter, you know that I ended up coming back to Vancouver early. I missed Allan, I was worried about the cut on my face softening up after surfing and needed to see my family doctor, and I didn’t feel safe in my apartment rental. (It’s not in the best area of town, and I actually heard someone creeping around in the bushes around my apartment, and someone tried to open my patio door)… so I decided to fly back early.

Coming up on the blog this week… I am looking forward to posting some of the surf pictures… as well as putting together a Costa Rica compilation video! Also, I’ll be at Chill on the Hill at Whistler on Saturday thanks to NESTEA and will be SNOWBOARDING in July! Woohoo! Can’t wait to pull out the Malolo.