Think Of Me Babe, Whenever

First of all, please scroll down and read Frances' post first, since she is letting me borrow her day. Thanks, FV!

So Shan & I spent a lovely weekend in Vancouver... she is the coolest ever. Keith & Vince (and all) --> can ya believe it's been a year since Shan & I got married? It seems like just yesterday the Withholders played their first show and there was much booty-shakin' at the Lake Union Café.

Vancouver looms large in our romantic mythos: it's where we went after only a few months of dating, after which we decided to tell our friends we were an 'item' (early on, we took it slow and kept it d.l., but after Canada, it all changed). Canada's also where I proposed, as readers of Taste Life already know.

So it was the obvious choice for the 1-year. I surprised Shan by showing up at her work and whisking her away. Her boss and I had been in cahoots – Shannon's shifts at the boutique were 'somehow' already covered, I had packed for her (and as it turns out, did a fair job of packing what a girl wants, what a girl needs), and we headed North.

Vancouver is such a cool city. It's kinda like going to a neighbor's house who you don't know that well, but you still feel really comfortable right away. For Seattleites, there are many similarities: the weather, the architecture, the evergreen setting, lots of water. But to that, add: a city that stays open LATE - you NYC folks will laugh, but Seattle closes at EIGHT FREAKING P.M., so Vancouver's late nite city strolls were a thrill. Plus, what a great cosmopolitan feel! There were actual crowds of people all doing their own thing, and we heard at least 10 languages, including French, Spanish, Japanese, Russian, Arabic, Hindi, German, and others. Again, you 'megalopolis' people may scoff, but we of the wee burg of Seattle are impressed by.

It was also nice to get a dose of reality/sense of grounding in other ways: at least three people (waiters, hot dog vendors, etc.) heard our accents and said "Oh, Americans. We love Americans, but we hate George W. Bush!" We: "Us neither!" We felt like we were doing our part to let Canada know that not every US citizen loves Bush, hates the gays, rallies behind a botched military effort, wants to end abortion, etc.

I have more to say, including how I met Robbie Robertson, who really impressed me, at a work event (I know for a fact RR took some recent flak in the pages of Useful Noise so I want to provide an alternate view at some point. For now, I'll say that the Band CD/DVD box set is COMPLETELY AWESOME.) More on this later.