where phallic cakes come from

Jenn and I had a super exhausting day that began at 10:30 and ended twelve hours later. We took the Skytrain downtown in hopes of finding penis paraphernalia for Kristi's bachelorette party. Not knowing exactly where all the sex shops are in Vancouver, we knew it was going to be an interesting day...

Minutes before Jenn picked me up, I had left Tommy a FB msg asking him which Starbucks he worked at downtown. I recall him mentioning it to me before, but couldn't find it in my emails or on my FB wall. So I left him a msg with minutes to go, knowing that I probably wouldn't find out in time to visit him anyway.

So Jenn and I took the bus (!) to the Skytrain, got on, sat down, and saw Tommy standing in front of us. It was pretty crazy. We got to catching up and chatting and he pointed us down Commercial Drive for this super-comprehensive sex shop that I had heard about a long time ago. We were supposed to head up Commercial for a "10-15 minute walk", but roughly 25 minutes later, I had to call Alex to find the directions because we still weren't there!! Finally when we got there, we realized that "Womyn's Wear" is what one might imagine as an "upscale" sex shop. You know, the type of store that has "empowerment" written all over it, and you can see that every toy/empowerment tool was carefully chosen for their store to maintain that image. Loosely translated, there was no way we were going to find penis straws, penis ice cube makers, etc. etc. at this lovely store.

However, the nice lady there got out a tourist map (!) and showed us Davie Street, at which point I recalled I saw a couple of "Love Nest"-y stores there the last time I went there for lunch with Allie P. So off we went running for the one bus that went down Commercial Drive that just happened to pass us then, and back on the Skytrain with literally a minute to spare before our passes expired. We got to Burrard, decided that we were ravenous then, and went into Kamei for some sushi. I had been craving Kamei since the previous day when I was downtown with Julia looking at laptops, so I was thrilled when they said there was no line! I had a delicious fancy roll and a nice cold beer, and Jenn had a huge Bento box before we were on our way again.

At last, when we approached Davie Street and saw the rainbow signs there, we breathed a sigh of relief. The first shop we went into, we were so happy to see all the sex toys and plastic lingerie hanging there that we gladly scooped up the penis straws in all five available colours. The straws, btw, are a new thing to me and I cannot imagine any drink that passes through those straws are allowed to taste good. There was also a wind-up penis that would jump around the table. After leaving the shop (they had a small selection because it's wedding season), we decided to check out another just in case. This one was much better stocked, so Jenn also picked up multi-coloured penis candles and something else. Then we were finally done.

But wait, we haven't even gotten to the best part - the cake!

We took the Skytrain back, got off in New Westminster to pick up an inebriated Brian amongst a couple dozen construction dudes at the bar (and his car) and drove home. Had to make a pit stop at T&T to pick up a jelly roll cake (chocolate with cream filling) for the, er, shaft, and Zellers for some more bachelorette party stuff.

After dinner, we got to work. We had to cut out the balls from loaf pans because we couldn't find little round cakes that were the perfect size. Then we compared the balls to the jelly roll and realized the proportions weren't working, so had to trim the jelly roll down. Then came the biggest debate of all - the head. How, what size, circumcision/not, etc. were all factored in, with our resident expert Brian at our aid. He had to draw us a couple of diagrams, too, to ensure that we really understood what he meant.

During this time, we also perfected the flesh colour with food colouring - 2 parts yellow and 1 part red should do the trick, with perhaps a bit more yellow if the red is too strong.

Finally, icing the cake took forever, because the jelly roll is a fairly moist cake in order to be rolled up without breaking. Also, the icing liked to slip off the cake because it was such a hot day. Once iced, we completed the look with chocolate shavings as the hairs, and a silver dragee at the tip. Sorry, I hope I haven't ruined chocolate shavings and fancy dragees for everyone reading this.

And that, took us until 10:30pm at night!

Mini-Trips

Now that I've been in Vancouver for a few days, I've successfully managed to drag my sister out of bed before 9 everyday so we can go out and do stuff.

Saturday my mom and sister both had to work, so it wasn't super exciting for us. Sunday my sister worked while my mom and I cooked and cleaned so my uncle's family could come over for a visit. Needless to say, a lot of wine was drunk, although I think not quite enough. We could've been much more obnoxious.

Mini-Trip #1 - Steveston (Monday):
- One of my favourite places to just sit and eat ice cream. It's usually fairly quiet because it's so out of the way and I suspect not a lot of people know about it since it's not an "obvious" attraction. I love Timothy's (not the chain) there, where they have freshly made waffle cones for a huge selection of ice cream and sorbets. The flavours aren't fantastic and won't move you to tears, but the waffle cones themselves feel like such a simple luxury. When I got mine filled with white chocolate raspberry ice cream, the cone was still warm from being just off the iron. That's what I love about everything Steveston.

Mini-Trip #2 - Bellis Fair (Tuesday):
- Crappy American Mall that's literally 15 minutes away once we cross the border. Considering we live about 15 minutes away from the border, and the wait during the day is about 10 minutes or less, this mall ends up being closer than going downtown sometimes. I'm surprised that it hasn't attracted more American stores, because the parking lot there is full of BC license plates. Anyway, I was pleased to find that they had cleaned up Target (or is it because I've come to appreciate Target more as I've aged?) that it was fun to wander through there. Target has also stepped up in big ways in terms of products that it is fun to shop for stationery, gourmet foods, and makeup there amongst other random things.

Mini-Trip #3 - Granville Island (Wednesday):
- One of my favourite places. It feels tucked away from the world as it is under the Granville Bridge which connects Vancouver to Downtown Vancouver, and that area is generally pretty old-looking with quite a few auto-body shops etc. I love to wander into all the shops on the Island because for some reason, no matter how obscure the shops' services/products may be, they'll manage to survive. They'll make you smile when you walk in becuase you would never have believed that a shop selling only postcards, or only funky hats, or only paper, or only beads, would be there time and time again for your perusal. I love the paper store. The market is a plus because it's the only market in Vancouver that I know of that resembles St. Lawrence, but without some of the steep prices because hey, the produce selection in BC is actually better(!) and cheaper!!

I feel like I've built up a track record now to keep up. However, as I'm knocking off items on the to-go list, I'm also conscious of the things I need to do at home! We will be heading to Victoria for a day trip next week, as well as the Aquarium (another dearly beloved place o' mine). Since my mom works five days a week, I'm not sure where else we may end up!

Also on the to-do list is to visit Vanessa and to bake a phallic cake with Jenn for Kristi's bachelorette party!

Relief

As the plane was landing in Vancouver Int'l Airport, I caught a glimpse of the mountains outside. To my surprise, I felt my eyes well up. And that was when I knew I was finally home.

Home this time means so much to me. It's been six months since I took a break from work, and in the six months, we've launched/have worked towards launching two huge campaigns that involve moving pieces in all the communication channels. I know there are lots of people out there who work longer hours than me, but I think this is the first time I've felt stress from work. More specifically, this is the first time I've experienced this type of stress - the type where I actually do care a lot about the end result, and I'm not just stressed about not getting things done. I stress about not getting things done perfectly, not leveraging all the channels and vehicles available to me, not doing enough testing, and all kinds of "non-perfection" issues. I guess it comes with being so close to your job and actually enjoying the fruits of your labour.

Also, I know I joked about it a lot, but I actually do think there's been truth in my statement that our apartment is like our first-born. I don't have a choice but to love it unconditionally, and make it into the best that I know it can be. Since we've gotten the place, there's been so many kinks that we've had to smooth out along the way. We haven't gotten to the day when it's completely finished, tidy, and perfect, and we can just sit back and marvel and fall in love with it. I work hard to get to that day, but for now, it's been like my first-born that I lose sleep over.

So this time, home is where I want to recuperate. I want to "heal" - eat, relax, read (a lot - I have lots of missed months), and just be.

I can't wait.