Travel Diary: Vancouver, My Home Town

For those you that don’t know, Vancouver happens to be my home town. It’s where I was born and raised, and this city has a special place in my heart. It’s a beautiful city surrounded by mountains and water, and a place where the grass is actually greener because it tends to rain a just little to much. Every year I make sure to visit Vancouver at least once, if not more. It’s amazing to have seen the city grow and change, throughout my life, and every time I go back I love seeing all the things that have remained the same while enjoying all the new developments and progress the city has made.

This trip was back to Vancouver was short, but sweet 4 days. Just barely enough time to see all my friends and family while enjoying the city. But I managed to squeeze in 2 birthdays, 3 dinners, a photoshoot, coffee date, IDS, and a bike ride on the Sea Wall before hopping back on a plane back to Toronto.

This visit to Vancouver was an extra special visit for me because it was my grandmother’s 100th birthday! She’s an amazing woman that’s live the most adventurous life and has the best life story to tell. Born in 1917, she was the first girl to have a perm in her village, turned down 3 arranged marriages, married the love of her life, ran a jewelry store, widowed at 45, raised 7 kids and 6 grand-kids, made the best meals, collected hundreds of happy meals for her grand kids, travelled the world, and still mowed the lawn and shovelled snow well into her 80’s. And that’s just the icing on the cake!

Another beautiful thing was meeting my best friend’s baby daughter who was a month old. I’ve had a few family members have children over the last few years, but she was the first of my was the first of my close circle of friends to have a child, so it really struck something in my heart. I’ve known her since I was 15, and part of me still feels that way, as a big kid myself. But seeing her with her darling baby girl was so amazing, like she was born for it.

I also manage to squeeze in a coffee date and photoshoot with a long time instagram friend BarbaraJun. I think we started following each other even before I initially left Vancouver. And I’ve been watching her life adventures through Instagram for the past 5 years. It’s amazing to finally meet her, she was every bit as wonderful as her feed. And just so happened to be a very talented photographer too. So I met her at the coffee shop to chat, and I was we did a shoot in Gastown, and these are the pics from it!

Another highlight of my trip was also going the IDS show, thanks for ObessedbyPortia who I won the tickets in an Instagram contest! I went with one of my good friends, which I met pretty much exactly a year ago through my old job. We worked in the same company, but in 2 different cities. So we only really get to see each other for a week out here and there when we got to travel to our sister offices. But it’s always a blast to see her, and we had so much fun checking out.

And one thing I always do when I’m back in Vancouver is bike the seawall.  If you’re from Vancouver, you’d think that it’s  such a cliche thing to do, but the truth is the very first time I did it was when I was just about to leave Vancouver to move to Toronto, and I can’t believe I had been missing out this entire time. The seawall is a walking/biking route that runs along the circumference of the entire downtown of Vancouver, you get water views, city views and mountain views the whole way around. And since I started biking around Toronto last year, I appreciate biking along the seawall so much more and do it every time I go back now.

Outfit Details:

Outerwear: Babaton trench by Aritzia
Shoes: Pointy toe pumps by Guess
Bag: Zac Posen Bag by Amazon
Jewelry: Long necklace from The Latest Scoop

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XOXO,