Pretty good day so far

This was a pretty fantastic weekend, I must say. It was opening weekend for Portobello West—this art & fashion market that goes on during the summer here in Vancouver—so Ariana and Tami and I headed there in the afternoon to check it out. There was a lot of cool stuff, but we especially liked the silk screen artwork of Penelope Brown. Ariana really liked the Baboushka one:

While I was more partial to the peacock:

This is the part where I dream about having more wall space. There was also lots of cute things for people (hipsters) with kids and as much hand crafted jewelry as you could possibly want/afford. I picked up this cute, dainty little silver ring:

After we had made our way through the market we had just enough time left to hit up the Vancouver Flea Market which is down the street. Now, I’m not exactly a pro when it comes to the art of second hand shopping. I don’t usually have the patience for it, but the Vancouver Flea Market is just so crazy and packed wall to wall with insane things that just walking through becomes its own entertainment. Also if you are ever in the market for a pirate sword or some original Nintendo games, the Vancouver Flea Market is the place to go. I scored this sweet map of the City of Edmonton from 1956 for three dollars:

It hails from the era when Jasper Place was its own town. My parent’s house is not even on this map yet, neither is my high school. I plan on framing it and hanging it on my non-existent wall space.

So after the fruitful market shopping, you’d think that this day could not get any better right? Wrong. After that Ariana and I headed out to a friend’s birthday party which was a Choch/Jersey Shore themed costume soiree. We did not dress up but I think the guys at the party more than made up for us with hair gel, fake tattoos and fake (canned) spray tans. People might have a tough time finding bronzer in the City of Vancouver this week, because I think we used it all up. My personal favorites among the costumes were the guy who made sure to fake tan his face with his sunglasses on to leave a nice sunglass tan, and another slightly portly gentleman who wrote “The Situation” on his stomach with a sharpie. Ariana and I nearly bought this fantastic hat for a birthday present for our friend but decided on more practical gifts instead (read: something he’d actually use instead of a hat he’d never wear again).

For the past two months I’ve been on a mini-hiatus from playing in the worship band because of the Olympics and scheduling, etc. But this morning I got to play again and it was really great. Since I last played Westside has invested in an in-ear monitor system which makes it way better for me because I can crank up my piano and vocals really loud in my ears without bothering anyone. One of the curses of being the keyboard player in the band is that you’re always battling (and losing to) the guitars for volume so it was really, really nice to be able to hear myself. Plus I got to sing with some of my favorite boys, in three parts. On Palm Sunday! Hosanna! Is there anything better than singing praises to Jesus, really? No.

“And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!’ “