I am super excited to finally announce that I have been selected as the Club Bud Party Crasher! Wohoooo!

Club Bud is going to be hosting some of the most exclusive parties here in Vancouver during the Olympics so I am very pumped to be able to attend some of them. The other Party Crasher that has been selected is Chris Walts, so you can follow him and follow me on Twitter to get all the updates from the parties when we attend. I also understand that Miss604 is going to be attending some of the parties as well.

The Commodore Ballroom is going to be transformed into Club Bud, so it’s going to be an awesome venue. It’s about 19,000 square feet and they are expecting over 1,000 celebrities and athletes to attend the parties. It’s going to be seriously epic!

Here is the rundown of the Club Bud parties… I am going to be attending some of them… stayed tuned on my blog and Twitter for coverage:

Friday, February 19: The Burton party! This is SUCH a perfect fit for me as you know I’m a huge fan of Burton. They are saying Shaun White might attend!
Saturday, February 20: The NHL party. Chris and I will be attending this one!
Thursday, February 25: The famous Budweiser party. I’ll be at this one! Super excited.
Friday, February 26: Under Armour party… another Chris party!
Saturday, February 27: The Lululemon party… I’m going to this one!

I get to bring a guest to each event… so if you are interested in attending… just hit me up on Twitter or leave a comment on why I should bring you!

In other news, Allan and I got to attend the Team Canada vs. Sweden Women’s Hockey Game at UBC Thunderbird arena.

We had really amazing seats… Row 1 right beside the Canadian player’s bench!

The game was a bit of a blowout, but we had an amazing time cheering on our team and it was impressive to see the skill level of the Canadian team.

We ended up seeing tons of goals.

Meghan Agosta had an incredible game and ended up with a hat trick.

Hayley Wickenheiser is an icon, and I loved getting to see her get a goal and see her lead the team.

Megan Agosta and Jayna Hefford celebrate after a goal.

Donald Sutherland was spotted again at the game.

Here’s the coach going over a play with Agosta. I loved being able to see this!

Wickenheiser and Carla Macleod smile.

Here’s Marie-Philip Poulin giving us a wave and a smile.

Kim St. Pierre watches happily as the clock counts down to zero and Canada wins! Kim St. Pierre shut Sweden out for two periods, and then they let Charline Labonte play a period. Kim was such a sweetie on the bench… she smiled for photos and even made sure she wasn’t blocking our view during the game! Thanks Kim!

Here’s Team Canada celebrating.

This little girl and a couple other kids managed to get some sticks from the players. I thought it was awesome they took the time to throw their sticks over the glass.

Canada ended up winning 13-1. I am really happy that we got to experience women’s hockey at the Olympics and I can’t wait to see them progress throughout the tournament!

It sure is starting to look like Christmas here in Vancouver with a beautiful dusting of snow on the ground already. Like many of you, Christmas is my favourite holiday and it’s no secret that I love winter (although Fall is still my favourite season).

I’m so incredibly backed up on blog posts that I thought I’d give you a little mini preview of what is coming down the pipes on my blog this holiday season, complete with some seasonal photos!

VANCITYALLIE.COM HOLIDAY SEASON 2009 BLOG POST PREVIEW:

Many cooking and baking related blog posts (Christmas cookies hello!), especially as we get closer and closer to Christmas… including *gasp* a fateful attempt at making homemade croissants…

Winter wonderland photos of Vancouver and around our beautiful province…

A gear and gift guide for snowboarding just in time for last minute Christmas shopping… plus lots of snowboarding posts including our upcoming Sun Peaks and Mount Washington trips.

Family, friends, parties for Christmas and New Year’s related posts…

How Allan and I attempted making a 5-course fine dining meal for both our sets of parents when they met for the very first time…

And of course, our last blog post to highlight our time in Kicking Horse and Golden… plus the HD video of the trip!

Hope everyone is enjoying getting ready for Christmas and the holiday season! I know I am!

There’s no possible way to capture a party properly in photos, especially when you are trying to host one… but we’ll do our best here. Thanks to John Biehler for graciously taking some photos during the event… they turned out great! Below you’ll see a mix of my photos and John’s photos. Hope you enjoy!

Photo Credit: John Biehler

As mentioned before, this past Friday, November 13th was my birthday party (on my actual birthday) as well as our (Allan and I) housewarming party. A 2-in-1 party that was a lot of fun to prepare for and host.

I would say that it was a success! Allan and I sat down and did the numbers. Over 230 people attended… a 50L of Granville Island “Island Lager” (approximately 146 bottles of beer… thank you Matty and Granville Island Brewery!) completely tapped, an additional 150 bottles of beer consumed, 4 x 1.75L bottles of Grey Goose, 4 bottles of Zaya rum, 4 boxes of Patron tequila, 4 bottles of Giffard’s Manzana Verde, a bottle of Hennessey XO cognac, Jameson 18 Irish Whiskey, and Glenfiddich 18 Scotch whiskey… completely drained. Not to mention over 40 more full bottles of liquor completely consumed. Phew! I would say we had some heavy drinkers at the party

Not to mention over 100 bottles and cans of mixers drained…

A fridge full of food eaten…

20 portions of cheese…

Even more beer and liquor brought by friends consumed…

4 bushels of mint used in cocktails…

10 pounds of chocolate…

50 homemade chocolate creme brulees…

Hundreds of bamboo plates, cutlery and napkins…

Over 20 sliced french baguettes, served with double creme d’Affinois brie and an assortment of jellies and toppings…

One litre of bocconcini with roasted tomatoes, basil, and flat leaf parsely…

40 boxes of homemade noodles and chicken…

20 beef tenderloin steaks…

50 macaroni and cheese muffins…

Many, many bags of popcorn…

15 homemade pizzas served…

Photo Credit: John Biehler

Over 100 homemade cookies baked on the spot and eaten…

Dozens of petit fours (bought, not made)… and that’s a lot of food!

Photo Credit: John Biehler

We had the outside patio decorated with white lights, dozens of candles and lanterns, and a couple patio heaters to stay warm! Luckily it didn’t rain so we didn’t need to put up the tent!

Photo Credit: John Biehler

And then, there were the drinks…

Freshly made mojitos…

Whiskey sours and whiskey on the rocks…

My signature martini (watermelon, pomegranate juice, apple liqueur, Grey Goose, lime, lemon, and mint… all blended with ice)…

Photo Credit: John Biehler

Photo Credit: John Biehler

Many chocolate martinis served…

A “pom cosmo”…

Rum rita…

Irish coffee served with Jameson 18 whiskey, Italian Bodom-brewed coffee, freshly whipped cream, brown sugar, and topped with Butter vanilla and coffee marshmallows toasted with a torch…

Irish car bombs…

Dark chocolate creme brulees, torched…

The full drink list for the party… (needless to say I spent the entire time behind the bar)

The dress I wore to the party… a pink and purple silk party dress by Meghan Los Angeles. Yes, it’s totally over the top and ridiculous, and definitely a “It’s My Party and I’ll Cry if I Want To” dress… but I couldn’t resist.

Here’s the back of the dress… I really loved the bow and the low back on it!

Here’s the jewelry I wore… beautiful custom-made handcrafted silver crocheted pink Swarovski jewelry by Isabella Diamond here in Vancouver. The ring even lasted through all the drink mixing, haha.

Photo Credit: John Biehler

I also got to meet some fabulous bloggers in Vancouver for the first time… thanks to Raul, Liv, Greg, Mozy, Aidan, Kimm, Tyler, John, Jerk, Tawcan, and Josh for coming out!

Photo Credit: John Biehler

All in all the party was a lot of fun. We finally finished our apartment (pictures coming soon), and it was great to see all our friends out. Allan and I both had an amazing time. Thanks for reading this huge long post!

As promised, here are some of the Tofino pics I’ve been meaning to post from the last couple trips. Bear with me… there’s quite a few!

HD Video of Tofino is still on the way… I’ll probably have a chance to edit it this weekend. In the meantime, hope you like the photos! I’ve still got a few more somewhere that I’ll post soon.

The view from our campsite… the ocean, the trees, the sun! That’s why it’s my favourite spot to camp…

Our car just full of camping stuff… skim boards, cooking gear, coolers, food etc… yep… gotta admit food takes up the most space. Luxury “car camping”, as Tawcan would call it

A citronella candle in our campsite… I love to scatter these everywhere around the site. They look beautiful when it is dark out. Plus… a mosquito perimeter… a bonus for those who dislike bugs as much as I do

Making mojitos at the campsite…

Crista and Trev put together some yummy beer-braised ribs over the campfire…

Allan and I make up some mango-topped thai coconut Pacific halibut (caught in Tofino of course, by us)…

Tent City! And tarp city I love how camping is the perfect excuse to wear all sorts of silly non-matched things. Who cares! You’re camping!

I love the ripples in the sand.

SPLASH!

One of my fave restaurants in Tofino… Shelter. We always ask for the best spot in the whole restaurant… the couches right by the wood-burning fire that they stoke all night. Perfect.

Shelter’s yam fries (the best in my opinion), and some wings for appies.

We also like to eat at the Wildside Grill for Fish & Chips, grab a lime and mint slushie from the taco cart in the back, and grab a coffee or tea from the Tofitian. The very same plaza also has Live to Surf, which we always check out to see what new surfboards they have in… and try to avoid the mass craziness of people renting 9 ft easy-rider foamie or plastic longboards! Aahhhh!

Long Beach, on a good day.

Ready to surf! Yay for Burton snowboarding socks to keep the feet warm just before hitting the cold water.

Allan riding down the line… wheee… small summer waves.

Me riding a tiny wave… I look pretty lame here. I wish I had good surfing photos of myself! Of course, when the waves are big and the surf is epic, there’s no one to take pictures of you

Allan and I riding whitewash into the beach together, hurray! Haha.

A children’s toy shovel left on Long Beach…

Golfing at Long Beach Golf Course… 9 holes… lots of fun, with J, Trev, and Crista.

J decides to ride on the front of the golf cart…

Me chipping a ball…

Allan flying the trainer kite… blue, blue sky.

Me flying the trainer kite. Once upon a time we thought we were going to get into kite surfing, but then we realized how expensive the gear was, and that we wouldn’t have enough time to do kite surfing along with all the other sports we love. So it kind of fell by the wayside. Maybe one day we’ll get into it again… maybe kite snowboarding

Smoooooch! Allan and I in the water…

So fun! More photos coming soon

So I’m sitting in the airport, they’re already pre-boarding the flight. The real question is if I can publish my blog pots before the plane leaves

So here’s some photos from my Montreal trip… I had an hour yesterday to walk around, so sadly these are the only real photos I got from the trip!

Hope you enjoy

The entrance to my hotel…

The outside of my hotel..

Moody lights… seems to sum up the feeling in many parts of the city…

Beautiful church windows and doorways…

Old streets with character…

My hotel was right beside this famous church in Vieux-Montreal..

Beautiful masonry…

What a row of buildings!

Their Canada exists beside our Canada…

Street names in Vieux-Montreal…

Building face…

Bluebird sky…

Beautiful flowers by windows…