Ok so where do I begin?  Well how about with this:  the sun was out in Vancouver today!  And knowing how uncommon an occurance this is, I decided to take full advantage of the rarity by spending my last day in Vancouver, roaming around in the city's sun.  So I did.

After getting in an early morning gym session, followed by a swim in my hotel’s heated outdoor swimming pool, and dip in its neighboring hot tub (FYI: if you’re looking for somewhere to stay in Vancouver, I highly recommend the Westin Grande on Robson!), I got in gear, got my Starbucks, and strolled up Robson hoping to get a little Christmas shopping done, while I took in the Vancouver sun.  However, as I made my way up the street, my Christmas shopping was brought to an abrupt halt by a Christmas parade that had the prime shopping strip of Robson Street, completely blocked off! The nerve! And while the thought of shoving my way through the crowds of young children who anxiously anticipated Santa’s arrival did, for a moment cross my mind, the moment was brief and I instead decided that the less Grinch-like thing to do would be to…well, to not elbow the young children out of the way.   And as the old saying goes, “if you cant beat ‘em join ‘em,” and so that’s exactly what I did.  

I stood there among swarms of rosy-cheeked families, and with an unfulfilled shopping list in one hand, and a soy-chai latte in the other, I began to reflect on the long list of random things I’ve encountered (and in most cases become an involuntarily part of) since landing in Vancouver last Wednesday.  I giggled out loud to myself for a bit at the thought of the week gone by, and then it dawned on me: these are the blog-worthy days of my life.  And so here it is, and here you are reading my second blog post to date.

Ok, so right about now I know what you’re thinking: What do shopping and Santa Clause Parade’s have to do with Party Buses?!?!  And you’re also probably thinking, ‘If I’m not getting free stuff, or hearing about parties on busses, then why am I still reading?!’ But hang on, I’ll get to it!  Let’s just say that most of my Vancouver visit wasn’t quite so ‘sunshine and lollipops’ as today.  So let me backtrack a bit, and get down how it all began. 

And I’ll start by telling you how amazing Lifetime’s Fall 2009 Collection looks! (www.lifetimecollective.com.)  I know this because that’s what brought me to Vancouver in the first place.  Lifetime’s two-day sales meeting with the whole North American sales force.  But I wouldn’t expect the business of Lifetime to go down without a whole lot of pleasure, and this meeting was no exception! That said, I’ll spare you the details of our 9-hour days, and skip right to the story of our irresponsibly late nights… And yes, the long-anticipated Party Bus!

When meeting day one came to an end, the Lifetime team was given strict instructions to head back to our hotel, do what we had to do, and meet back at the new Nolimits headquarters (which, might I add, is a pretty big deal! www.nolimits.ca), for 7pm sharp.  Not really knowing what to expect, I hesitantly followed the orders of Lifetime's Nick Brown (the 3-hour Toronto-Vancouver time difference obviously effected my judgment), and punctually arrived at the designated meeting place with the rest of the Lifetime team, just in time to see a larger-then-life Coors Light party bus pulling in!  And there was no turning back from there. 

With empty stomachs, and blood-shot eyes, we loaded onto the bus one-by-one, greeted by a rather dapper driver sporting some finely tailored threads, and a spandexed Coors Light girl holding buckets full of silver in her hands…“Silver Bullets” of course.  Our good friend, Lifetime Collective artist and snow shredder, TJ Schneider, also joined us for the ride, showing up for the trip with a hand-carved cane by his side (but don’t worry, he says he was nursing a small injury, but I’m convinced he only bought it as a helpful gesture to the old lady selling them in front of Shopper’s Drug Mart.)  With everyone on board, the bus got moving, and the party picked up speed, as we headed for our first of three Party-Bus-escorted stops, The Afghan Horsemen, to fuel-up with some food for the long evening ahead.   

Now, partially because I don’t feel like writing anymore, and partially because my memory gets a little fuzzy from dinner time on (must be something I ate!), I’m going to let some photos do the rest of the talking.  As for my warning to “BACK AWAY FROM THE PARTY BUS,” while I won’t take responsibility for your actions, I’m not going to sit here and pretend that I wish I had taken my own advice.  Because I have to admit that party buses sure are fun! ...But when party buses are mixed with 2-day long sales meetings, well now, that’s a whole different story. 

Getting the business out of the way, at the Lifetime sales meeting, Fall 2009.

From business to pleasure!  All aboard the Party Bus, for some Lifetime party time!

What would a Coors Light Party Bus be, without a Coors Light Party Girl?!

Lifetime Boys!  

Lifetime's Nick & Shay.  They weren't looking quite so fresh-faced by the end of the night, trust me!

Who drinks beer with black leather gloves on?  Lifetime's Trevor Fleming drinks beer with black leather gloves on!  Yeah, he's kind of a big deal.  

TJ Schneider, puts his cane in the air, and waves it like he just don't care. 

They told me it was water.  I'm not sure it was.

They thought it might taste better through twelve straws. 

After dinner, we rolled on to our next destination.

We had a few more drinks.  I'll let Ange's eyes tell the story. 

We struck a few more poses.  Hmmm looks like these boys have been studying their Sears catalogues!

 And we eventually called it a night, only to wake up and do it all over again, the very next day!