About Town

A rainy day is definitely not news worthy here. Usually I would spend a rainy day in my hotel room, but I decided as it's the last weekend I have in Vancouver, I needed to still explore. I've been to quite a few places in Vancouver now, so I figured to make a little shopping guide to the city.

Last night I went to probably the most trendy restaurant I've been to in Vancouver. It's off West Broadway, over in between artsy fartsy area and UBC. It's a sushi restaurant called The Eatery. The sushi is good, the decor is pretty crazy (creature of the blue lagoon along with other paper mache creatures hanging from the ceiling) and the atmosphere is super hip. The servers were a little more into checking their makeup than serving you, but the quality and variety of the menu definitely made up for it.

My first exposure to H&M was in London. It was the cheap alternative to Top Shop with just as much variety and up to date fashion. When it came to the states I was very excited. Then I went to the shop they have at the Mall of America and was so disappointed. The H&M in Vancouver is AWESOME. Great selection, wonderful styles, without the bargain bin chaotic atmosphere of the H&M in the states. There was a lot of professional wear as well as pretty fashion forward casuals. And I got this awesome hat:

I shopped around Winners (the equivalent of Marshall's) on Granville St. and then worked my way down Robson. I found the coolest store that a friend had told me about called Bang-On (also on Robson). You can chose from hundreds of pre-made designs or combine a few very simple designs to create your own, pick a shirt, and then they make it for you! They even do custom jobs. If I had more time to devote to the project, I would totally design something kick ass. But for the time being, this design made me laugh like crazy, so I had to get it:

It wasn't too expensive, and it's pretty darn cool to have something that customizable. The staff was fun and the American Apparel shirts are oh so soft!

My next stop was True Vintage (again on Robson), a basement shop full of vintage and some new overstock type clothes. There were plenty of wonderful dresses I would've loved to take home with me! It was actually moderately priced as well. Some pieces were expensive, but there were lots of sale items too! For the vintage shopper, I would definitely suggest this shop!

Further on Robson, I walked by Time Frame Gallery and was intrigued by a few prints. I ended up buying a small one by Angelina Wrona, a Canadian Artist. She has a funky style and an interesting glossy technique that I really like!

I then made my way to Tinseltown Movie Theatre to see An Education, which I've been dying to see. Great cast with top notch acting, wonderful music, costumes and writing (which, I wouldn't suggest anything less from writer Nick Hornby:writer of High Fidelity and About A Boy). Near the end I wanted a little less of a bow-tied ending and a little more information about certain characters, but over all it was a fantastic movie, and I'd definitely suggest seeing it!

On my walk back to the hotel along Pender Street, I saw two used condoms on the sidewalk...In more appropriate news, I passed by Macleod's Books soon after. It is the most ridiculously unorganized used book store I've ever seen. I was drawn in immediately. They had some cool stuff in piles all over the store. I had such an urge to apply and just spend my days cataloguing and alphabetizing these thousands of books. Yes, I know I'm a nerd, but such things give me joy. Let me swim in a pile of books and then sort them. : ) It's a really neat place though! Lots of variety and character!

There's lots of little places I would love to become a local at if I stayed here even longer...that's the cool thing about Vancouver, lots of variety and diversity to be had!