I am excited and proud to welcome the world to Vancouver and Whistler for the 2010 Olympics. It’s a truly magical time, as people come from all over the world, from all over our country and as Vancouverites come together to celebrate sports and the city.

For all the bad press that the Olympics has received recently and even since the bid, I still think that this is an amazing opportunity for our city and I think it’s going to do for us what Expo ‘86 did.  Although I have heard grumbling, the majority of the people I talk to wear broad smiles on their faces when they mention the Olympics. I can sense it’s starting to reach a fever pitch as people snap up tickets, make plans for parties and start to wear festive Olympic merchandise.

Myself, I could NOT be more excited about the Games. Although I did not get any tickets in any of the lotteries, I have purchased a number of tickets because I really feel that this is a once in a lifetime experience, and I don’t think I will ever get to experience an international event, or any Olympics for that matter as I can in my own home city. So, buckle your seat belts… here we go, it’s coming and it’s going to be AWESOME! Many of you have asked me what my plans are for the Olympics and so I thought I’d lay out our itinerary so far…

Thursday, February 11th: We have our dinner reservations at the Holland Heineken House and we’ll be checking out the venue and partying afterwards!

Sunday, February 14th: Attending the Valentine’s Day event at the House of Switzerland. Unfortunately we couldn’t make the media event for this Friday’s grand opening (definitely go see it if you can!), so we got our media passes for Valentine’s Day instead, and it’s going to be a sweet (har har) day of chocolate tasting, Lindt, chocolate competitions and more!

Tuesday, February 16th: We are watching the Canadian Men’s Hockey team play Norway at Canada Hockey Place (GM Place). We got pretty decent seats in the lower bowl so hopefully we’ll be able to see some great hits and the players up close and personal. I am most excited about this game… I didn’t want to let the Olympics pass me by without seeing our men play for our country! I’m pretty much frothing at the mouth to go and cheer on Luongo, Crosby, and our boys.

Wednesday, February 17th: We’ll be watching the Canadian Women’s Hockey team play Sweden at UBC Thunderbird Arena! Wohooo! We managed to score Row 1 tickets Centre Ice in the lower bowl, so we will be right beside the player’s bench. I’m extremely stoked to see the women play. This was Allan’s Valentine’s Day present… I mean, what red blooded male wouldn’t want to see the Canadian Women play the Swedish Women right?

Monday, February 22nd: We’ll be watching the CAN-USA Men’s Curling game (among other countries) with a couple of friends, and then we will be heading over to the Molson Canada Hockey House to watch the Canadian Women’s Semifinals, checking out the Triple Gold Club Celebration and partying it up all night.

Wohooo! And we’ll be all decked out in our Olympic gear for sure. And now for the contest…

2010 VANCOUVER OLYMPICS TICKET GIVEAWAY AND CONTEST

What you are playing for: 2 tickets to the Men’s Canada-USA Curling game on Monday, February 22nd from 9 AM to noon (same one we are going to). Also playing at the same time is France and Norway, Germany and China, and Switzerland and Sweden. These tickets are currently selling for over $300 so it’s a really sweet prize!
Seats: Category A tickets, Section 201 Row 11 Seats 5-6
Rules: You can be from anywhere in the world, but you must be available to go to this game. You will not be able to sell these tickets as I will be meeting the winners in person before the event since we are also going to this event. You may take whoever you like as your guest!
What you have to do: Simply leave a comment on this blog post before Wednesday, February 10th 2010 at 10:00 PM Pacific Standard Time (PST).

That’s it, good luck!

If you’ve been following the blog, you may remember that last year I spoke a lot about our bedroom makeover. Our apartment makeover is pretty much done now… you can see our sports room here, and our living room here… but the bedroom has always been close to my heart. I wanted it to be just perfect.

Here’s a shot of our old bedroom. Although it was at our old apartment, all the components were pretty much the same. The same mattress of the floor, wooden IKEA shelf and lots of boxes!

You may also remember the post I made about our bedroom concepts way back when last year. This was the concept I came up with after lots of brainstorming and soul-searching. The bedroom is really important to me — it’s the place you wake up in to start the day, and the place you rest your mind before going to sleep. It is important to me that it imparts a sense of peace. We wanted something clean that is not too girly, although I did ask that the bedroom could be a little more feminine since the rest of the apartment is quite masculine. I think it is a good compromise, and the green is quite a neutral-gender colour.

So here we go! This is the new bedroom with the makeover! I think we did a pretty good job of staying true to our concepts.

Here are some shots of the bedside tables and highboy under construction

The biggest part of the makeover (and the most time consuming) was the furniture. We bought some old dressers and side tables in French provincial style off Craigslist and completely re-did the hardware, stripped, sanded and painted for many many weeks. The paint is a white antique lacquer finish from Mohawk, and the handles were purchased from Lee Valley. We also painted the handles with metal paint and I think they look really cool and very similar to the design concept. I’m really proud of the beautiful curvy King-size bed that we custom designed and ordered from Vancouver custom woodworker KLK Woodworking. Kelly was really amazing and built the bed that we dreamed of! It has a French style but it is still whimsical to make the room look a bit more modern. To save money, we ordered the bed unpainted and it took several more weeks of sanding and painting to finish it.

The linens and bedding are where we really splurged though. We really pinched our pennies by buying used furniture and getting a custom bed, but the bedding was something I wanted to make sure was good quality and lasted. After months of looking around online and in stores, I FINALLY found the sheets we were looking for! We got our bedding from Terra Nova Interiors downtown. They are gorgeous Italian Sferra sheets… we purchased the “Alice” coverlet, 3 euro shams, and small green throw pillow in the front. The bed sheets underneath are from HomeSense and the two green throw pillows from the Bay.

I am absolutely in love with the scalloped edges and the texture of the linens!

The lighting is also an important part of any room, so it took me about 6 months to find the right lamps. We finally ordered these white Robert Abbey Piero lamps from Chintz and Co downtown. I like how they are modern (following the Oversize design trend this year), but they are still timeless with a classic design (I hope!) .

Here’s a better shot of the bedside tables we re-did and the base of the lamp. I also made the flower arrangements with silk flowers from Chintz, as well as the vase. Picture frame from HomeSense.

Here’s a shot of the view of the bedroom if you were laying on the bed. The tallboy dresser has a flower arrangement I did from Chintz, as well as two silver and glass candlesticks from them as well. The white shelf holding the candles is from IKEA, and the candles and glass holders are from Wal-Mart. It really sets a romantic mood in the dark with lots of light!

The other bedside table has two beautiful mirrored accessories from Nicole Jane Home. I was looking for something mirrored but couldn’t find what I was looking for from other stores. They are actually one of the few stores you can deliver interior design goodies to Canada (they are based in Vancouver!!) and they have a great selection. I literally just ordered the picture frame and jewelry box, so I haven’t even had a chance to change the default photo yet.

The last finishing touch to the room is of course the picture frame, which I had mentioned in the design concepts is an absolute key to the room. It’s an image from the drive to Tofino… a peaceful forest with a rushing stream. It really brings the room together in my opinion, and I love the green in it. I learned how to custom frame a photo myself at Opus Framing on Granville Island! It’s much cheaper than ordering a frame and it’s actually quite easy to do. Highly recommended for the photographers out there.

So that’s it! The room is finally done and I think it’s pretty similar to the design concepts. I am really happy with it, and Allan and I have been sleeping in it for the past 6 months now and we really love it!

What do you think of the makeover?

It’s time for a rant.

Every city has its own personality, culture, and social norms. Vancouver is a tricky one to define.

Vancouver has always been my home. Born and raised here, and lived here for the majority of my life. Still, I’ve had brief living stints in Sydney (Australia), London (Ontario), and Toronto (Ontario)… and spent extended vacations in LA and Seattle. And perhaps I am biased or have exposure to only certain groups of people in Vancouver… but I’ve noticed that there is a distinct lack of sincerity in Vancouver compared to other cities I have visited or lived in. Perhaps it is not even the city… perhaps it is a function of our generation or how we communicate through technology or even inherent Canadian behaviour. I’m not sure.

Here’s my problem in general: I’ve noticed a growing trend of people making promises or commitments without really meaning to keep them.

How many times have you heard the following?:

- Hey, let’s do lunch sometime.
- We should hang out!
- Oh, I’ll totally see you there.
- I’ll get back to you about that.
- I’ll shoot you an e-mail soon.

And the list goes on. Many of us are guilty of it — myself included — although in the past year I’ve really been trying to cut down on it.

So, People of Vancouver (and everywhere), here is what I propose: Let’s be sincere. Let’s do what we say we are going to do. And let’s say what we really mean.

SUGGESTIONS FOR BEING SINCERE

1. Learn to say ‘no’.
It seems simple, but it’s not. I feel like deep inside, us Canadians don’t really like to say ‘no’. We feel like it’s not nice to say no to other people. However, I’ve noticed that this is happening more and more: Person A invites Person B to an event. Person A is organizing the event, and needs to know how many people can go, for a number of various reasons (cost, headcount, reservations etc). Rather than tell Person A “No, I can’t go..”, Person B instead avoids Person A. Avoiding picking up the phone, texts, e-mails etc. So this is what I am telling all my friends: Just tell me NO. I won’t be offended if you can’t make it to something. I will still invite you to the next event. I won’t think you are a bad friend. All I am asking for, is for you to respect me enough to tell me the truth. And please, let me know as early as possible.

More often than not, when invited to something… whether it is a coffee date or a huge fundraiser… people know almost immediately whether or not they are likely to go. So just be honest. If you want to go, then say you can go and keep your word. But if you can’t go or even if you are on the fence, then just let me know the truth. Say, “You know, I’m probably not going to go so you should take me off the list. I’ll let you know if anything changes.”

2. Keep your word.
This one is actually simple. If you’ve committed yourself to something, then keep your word and go. Don’t extend fake commitments like “We should hang out!” unless you really want to, and are willing to go ahead and propose a date and time.

You will respect yourself much more for doing so, and so will your friends, acquaintances, coworkers, and family members. Plus, you won’t have to deal with the guilt when you flake out on something. Besides, it’ll be easier to keep your word since you will have less engagements after learning to say ‘no’, right?

3. Don’t burn yourself out.
My guess is the number one reason people flake out on each other, is because they are burnt out. Too much to do, too many appointments, too many parties or dates… your calendar just seems chock full. If you’re overwhelming yourself with things to do, you’re not getting enough “you” time. Time to sit on the couch, to meditate, to do yoga, or just to do the little things that you love to do… for yourself. If you can keep yourself balanced between your needs and your social network’s needs, then it goes a long way to both parties being very happy. Limit your engagements to the things you really want to do, and your friends and your body (and peace of mind) will thank you for it.

4. If you must use technology to communicate, then use it in a straightforward way.
With Facebook, Messenger, Twitter, online event sites, even e-mail… it’s easy to commit to things when you don’t really intend on going. It will make it easier on everyone if you use technology in a clear way. For example, on a Facebook invite… try to select “Attending” or “Not Attending” rather than “Maybe Attending”. “Maybe Attending” just confuses the person who is organizing the event, and really cheats yourself on being clear on whether it is going to be something you commit to, or not. Basically, it’s a cop-out. Just choose yes or no. Try not to instinctively commit to things over other electronic mediums like SMS, Messenger, Twitter, etc unless you are absolutely sure your schedule is clear and you really want to go. If you can, call your friend or talk to them in person to confirm so they know you are serious about going or not going.

5. Tell the truth.
Being really honest with each other is something that I’ve noticed a lack of in Vancouver. When people leave events early, they say things like “Oh, I have to work early tomorrow” but what they really mean is, “I’m tired and want to get home to watch the episode of Glee that I recorded on my PVR.” When people give excuses for not going on events, they say “I can’t get the time of work” or “I’m busy that weekend” rather than just saying, “You know, I can’t really afford this right now.” Some people even say, “I can’t really afford this right now” when what they mean is, “I don’t want to go.” I think that we all have the ability to be mature and are able to accept the real truth. So tell your friends the truth. Chances are, they won’t be offended and they will more likely understand why you can’t go or why you have to leave. You will gain a reputation for integrity, and sincerity. I always appreciate honesty, even if it isn’t what I want to hear.

So that’s it folks. 5 simple steps… do you think you can do it? I have been making the commitment to myself to be sincere over the past year, but writing this blog post solidifies even more to myself how I am going to be sincere.

I honestly think that if more people made the commitment to be sincere, the world would be a better place. We would have closer friends, our coworkers would respect us more, and our reputations would be intact. It would make life more fun, and lead to better events and organization… and you know what? At the end of the day I think we could look in the mirror and feel a lot better about ourselves.

Can you make the commitment to be sincere?

I’ve always been entrepreneurial. I’ve started and owned about 4 different companies, and sold 3 of them… sometimes by myself and sometimes with partners. I’ve always loved the idea of working for myself, and it’s part of the reason why I ended up going to business school in the first place. However, straight out of university I ended up working at a video game company.

I’ve been working in the video game industry in Vancouver for the past 4 years. In all honesty, I can’t imagine myself working in a different industry… at least not for a long, long time. Still, I often find myself thinking of new business ideas, thinking of new opportunities… and how to implement them. The strange thing is, out of all of the ideas… the one I want to do the most is the simplest one.

When I was growing up, I always wanted to open a bed and breakfast. In recent years, this dream and desire has intensified, and I am sure now that I would open it in Tofino. I’m so passionate about this idea that I find myself thinking about it almost every night.

I’d like to purchase a home in Tofino, and move out there when I am 40 or 50 to open it as a bed and breakfast. I’ve always known that I wanted to get out of the city and move to the Island when I am older, and it just seems like the perfect plan for Allan and I. Sure, we’d be old farts out there surfing… but we’d have our piece of land, a home, a business to get us by (cost of living is a lot lower out of Vancouver), and we’d get to surf whenever we wanted. And still be close by enough to do trips every once in a while to Mount Washington to get our snowboarding fix.

And of course, the next level to this idea is to also own a bed and breakfast on Mount Washington, or a small mountain town somewhere in BC. We’d work at the Tofino B&B in the summer, and the mountain B&B in the winter, and have a manager to run the operations in the low seasons.

It would definitely be a dream come true.

I feel like it is well-suited to our skills and interests as well. Both Allan and I love entertaining, we can cook and clean, and we love meeting new people. We’d have a social media strategy for the business, and we’d use our other interests like photography and filming to round out our offering. Allan is great at teaching surfing and snowboarding, so it could be a nice little package add-on with photography included. I could go on and on with more ideas we’ve thought up.

I’d love to think of new breakfast ideas to serve to our guests each morning. There would be numerous personal touches to surprise our guests at every turn, like freshly baked warm chocolate chip cookies with milk before bed on stormy nights.

The property would be west-coast style with vaulted ceilings and exposed wood beams, with a focus on earthy elements like wood, stone, and plants.

However, it would be warm and cozy in décor…  lots of lamps, comfy couches, flowers, and warm colours.

Ideally, we’d be living on the beach… or at least with a view of the ocean. The property would be heavily treed, so that guests feel like they are living on the ocean and in the forest at the same time. There would be wooden walkways around the garden where we grow our own produce, surrounded by flowering vines and foliage. The walkway would be lit with lanterns at night, leading to a secluded hot tub where you could gaze at the stars or at your loved one.

At one point, I even spent a few days creating the business plan and some spreadsheets. I crunched the numbers… I did the cashflows and investments required and even detailed licensing and legislature considerations. It looked good on paper. But paper is very different than reality.

I guess we’ll just have to see if the dream ever comes true…

What’s your dream?

For the first time in a long, LONG time… Allan and I did absolutely nothing for our vacation. It was absolutely fantastic. In the 25 years I have been alive, I can’t remember a time that I have done absolutely nothing. So… it was a nice change, and a welcome one after a very hectic year. And so, I don’t have very many posts from over the holidays… which were spent playing video games, baking, and cooking. We didn’t even get up the mountain to go snowboarding once! *gasp* ‘Twas quite shocking if I do say so myself. However, I do have a few posts with some recipes coming up though, so check back for those!

Christmas is my favourite holiday, and what I look forward to most every year is Christmas morning breakfast.

My mom and dad get in the kitchen together and make delicious homemade waffles. Ice cream, maple syrup, strawberry sauce made from our summer strawberries, blueberry sauce, and fresh fruit like papaya become our fuel for a busy day of family and celebrations. Mmmm… so good!

Of course, Christmas earrings are a must!

One thing I miss about living at home is missing out on putting up the Christmas tree decorations…

Christmas tree and presents…

Allan and I trade off on the Santa Hat wearing on Christmas Day. We were trying to take some photos for my Twitter profile photo, but unfortunately I never got around to using it… I don’t look very happy here for some reason, so maybe it’s for the best

My mom and dad always make Christmas dinner, so it’s nice to relax and not have to worry about any cooking. I took care of the place settings this year.

No such thing as being too gaudy on Christmas!

My mom made stuffed mushrooms and a soup/souffle for appetizers.

My mom’s panettone bread is so famous in our circle of family and friends, that no matter where she travels… she always has to bring a luggage full of panettone wrapped to satisfy the requests. It’s always  a treat.

Christmas dinner is always traditional. My dad brines the turkey overnight, and then roasts it all day before finishing it off by smoking it in the BBQ. So. Good. There’s also a beef roast, vegetables, potatoes, gravy, and stuffing.

Dessert this year was some bread pudding (made with my mom’s homemade brioche!) and my favourite… leche flan… a Filipino version of creme caramel.

After dinner it was time to open presents with my mom, dad, Allan, my brother Byron, our grandmother, and several of our cousins and relatives. There was definitely spoiling all around! I was happy to get a very useful step ladder (pictured in the background!), a martini kit, socks (so needed), and some memory cards.

Allan was shocked and happy to open his brand new Burton CO2 EST Bindings from all of us His bindings are several years old, and are not only broken… but don’t work as well with the new Burton EST Supermodel board he bought this year. I think it’s safe to say he’s stoked to ride them.

So, Merry Christmas everyone and Happy New Year! I hope you all have a fantastic 2010! What did you do for the holidays?