Celebrating My 30th Birthday at Oak Bay Beach Hotel

Last weekend my Mom and I took a trip down island for my birthday.

I think it hit her more than me that I'm thirty, hence the trip.

We stayed at the Oak Bay Beach hotel and had the most amazing time.

I wish we would've stopped to take pictures of the gorgeous seaside, but the roads were pretty busy.  Also the houses there are right up my alley, old Victorian beauties.

The hotel it's self is breath taking.

We, unfortunately, could only stay one night but I'm already planning my next trip back there.

When we stepped into our room we both instantly noticed the view (as seen above) and proceeded to take out our cameras and snap pictures of everything.

There was a card on the table along with two macarons.  The staff at this hotel really when above and beyond to make me feel special, and all it took was this card with a long handwritten note inside.

After stepping outside for some sea air, playing with the heated floors in the bathroom and discovering that the sliding doors to the bath tub and bedroom open and close so you can still see the view, we headed out for dinner.

We ate at our usual 'fancy' spot, Japanese Village, where they cook your food right in front of you.

We thought about trying somewhere new, but Japanese Village never disappoints.

By the time we were done it was almost eight o'clock and we headed back to the hotel to get into our robes and enjoy the Boathouse Spa and baths.

What's great about the baths is they're open until midnight and you can sit back and look up at the stars all while being warm in the nice cozy tub.

Monday morning we got up early and went for breakfast at Oak's Restaurant.  It is an older building, which I personally love, and it's right on the main road so you can do lots of people watching.

The breakfast was delicious and they supply you with ample amounts of coffee.

Eleven o'clock my Mom and I both had spa appointments.  She booked us each in for an hour massage and a thirty minute facial. 

I have never had a massage before, so I was incredibly nervous.

 When we went into the change room we quietly discussed what we were supposed to do, until we gave up being unsure and asked another girl that was in there with us.

She was so sweet and didn't act like we were weird and told us that we can go fully nude or keep on what ever we felt comfortable with.

Once we had a plan we went and sat in the lounge awaiting our appointments.

The girl who I had for my massage/facial was awesome.

I had a great experience for my first massage and already want another one.

They use the brand B.Kamins for their facials, I had never heard of it before but my skin definitely liked it.

After our pampered afternoon we wandered around the malls, but came out empty handed, before heading back home. 

Ten out of ten would go back, but will be booking more than just one night.

That Weekend We Did Whistler

So, we island folk recently headed to Whistler for the first time ever.
No it's not Winter, but neither of are into Winter sports anyways.

About five hundred plus dollars later and we have both decided Whistler is not for us.
But, we enjoyed the things we did in Whistler.

We originally traveled to Whistler for a concert, but more on that later.

Whistler in the Summer is good for mountain biking, site seeing and shopping.
Oh and Bachelorette parties, and I only say that because we witnessed about seven different ones going on.

We hit up the Brittania mines before doing anything in Whistler, and it was neat but I wouldn't go back.  Neat thing though, they were filming a movie there and upon doing my research I found that it stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Lily Collins!

After that we had a late lunch, people watched and then finally were able to check into our hotel.
So we relaxed for about an hour and a half, had a couple beers and then took the bus down to Whistler Village.
The concert wasn't set to start until seven thirty so we had an hour and a half to kill.  We decided to people watch some more and eat ice cream.

It was the most expensive single scoop I've ever had, but it was delicious.

Finally it was time for the show.
Are you dying to know which band we saw?

 The Strumbellas.

Nathan will tell you it was the best concert he's ever seen and he's been to a few.
I have been to a lot of concerts and I agree with him, it ranks pretty high up there with Florence & The Machine.
Their energy is amazing, and you can tell they just genuinely enjoy what they do, especially Dave (the guy in the hat).

We started off the day to a very rocky start, but I will spare you the details, and this band just made us forget every bad thing that happened.
I highly recommend seeing them in concert if you have the opportunity to.

We woke up early Sunday morning and enjoyed a very huge complimentary breakfast at our hotel.
After a pretty relaxing morning we headed to the gondolas.

 The pictures don't do it justice, but if you ever go to Whistler go on the Gondolas.

If you've ever been to Whistler let me know your thoughts below.

It's Spring!

It's the first weekend of Spring which means the herring are in and that also brings in the sea lions.
I have heard of it happening but have never been down to see it until this weekend.
The ocean was absolutely green from all the fish and other things happening. . .
It was very cool though and the seagulls were also going crazy fighting over all the fish.

Thanks for stopping by!

My Birthday Weekend!

We spent my birthday weekend, actually just Saturday, in The City!

We got up at five thirty, yes in the morning, showered, had coffee and breakfast, got all dolled up and then headed to the float plane.
Typically we'd take the ferry to The City, but we got a deal on the float plane and it only takes 20 minutes versus and hour and a half. Plus I had never been on the float plane and Nathan was dying to go.

It was so much fun, definitely a highlight from the weekend.

When we arrived we walked a few blocks and sat at a Starbucks playing scrabble for an hour.

All the shops opened up at ten. So we wandered, looking at what stores I'd want to go into.
I had planned out all the clothes I wanted but when it came to it, I couldn't cough up the fifty dollars they wanted...per t-shirt. Ridiculous (I say this now, just you wait...)
First shop we went to was the Disney store (of course).  There were sales, so I bought a Minnie Mouse purse and Nathan got me a t-rex lunch kit from the movie "The Good Dinosaur". One day I'll have to explain this t-rex obsession.

We did hit up Victoria's Secret because I had a $15 off coupon (how could I resist?) plus Nathan gave me money to spend specifically at Victoria's Secret.
After hitting up Urban Outfitters and realizing how overpriced a plain tank top was we went to Japadog (picture above, except I kind of devoured it before realizing I didn't take a picture)

Japadog, a Japanese hot dog. I went for the beef hot dog with Japanese mayonnaise, the most delicious teriyaki sauce and seaweed. Oh my god, I can't wait until we go back in three weeks!

After lunch we headed over to Granville Island.
Except I lead us the wrong direction and we had to walk across The City (about 25 minutes).
It sounded like a great idea: go shopping at the market, get some fresh produce, sit in the brewery and get a little bit tipsy.
We hated it. It was far too busy.  We're talking shoulder to shoulder busy. I've done Comic-Con and that was busy but this was just rude busy.  No one cared, people said rude things to you to get you to move.

We won't go back.  The brewery there is the Granville Island Brewery, which makes my favorite beer the Winter Ale and the wait was over thirty minutes.
By this time we were hungry and irritated and wanted to sit down and eat bad for you food and have some beers.
We spent a whole hour there and decided to take the ferry back to The City and walk across town (again).


We ended up at Red Robin, a classic.
They were so great there, as usual, we ordered some kind of spicy fries to begin with and I could not eat anymore than 4, they were burning my mouth.  We explained the situation and they happily brought us onion rings instead.  We enjoyed our onion rings and some beer, which I wish I could remember the name of because it was so good.
I highly recommend going to Red Robin in Vancouver, I have never had a bad experience at any location actually.


So, after we were a little bit buzzed from our beers. . .actually quite a bit buzzed we started exploring again.
I was in a giggly mood and apparently in a shopping black out:

"We sell it in a kit with a brush that's made in Germany", she said "You'll save five dollars" she said.
A hundred and fifty dollars later. . .
Nathan picked up a pair of shoes there and nearly passed out.
Later I had an anxiety attack on the ferry home.
But I must say, the brush feels luxurious and the product lives up to the hype.  I have never had a good experience with carving out my cheekbones until now.
I am addicted.

I didn't buy much else except for a pair of jeans.
So I will be waiting until those t-shirts I want go on sale online.

All in all it was a fun weekend and I'm glad we went on a shopping/people watching trip.
See you in a few weeks for the car show Vancouver!

How To Spend A Weekend

I am quite enjoying our weekend adventures lately.
This past weekend we headed down island and wandered the capital.

On the way there we stopped at my favorite farmer's market and picked up five bags of coffee and a hot dog, made locally, for lunch.

Once we got to the capital we wandered into the most heavenly smelling place called Wannawafel.  We had already had waffles for breakfast but it just smelled too good to pass up, so we split a Liege waffle.  I didn't know what a Liege waffle was before this day but I would suggest trying one.

I'm always amazed when we walk past the Lululemon there how packed it is.
Eventually we met up with my parents, who were there having their own adventures, and wandered around with them.
We headed to Chinatown to check out a incredibly busy record store in Fan Tan Alley, then we were all getting peckish and stopped in a bakery.  I can't even remember the name of the bakery but it wasn't my favorite, the coffee was good though.

After visiting with my parents we headed to a tool store...
Then I got hungry and we picked up wings and potato wedges from the QF.
We got home and binged on our food while drinking mimosas.
It was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday!

What did you do on the weekend?