Vancouver has been the place to be for the last few weeks! People running through the streets of downtown with flags from all different countries, singing their anthems, cheering on their teams and ringing those COWBELLS!
The Olympics have created an energy in this city no one expected. I have NEVER experienced such a love letter to Canada. The Canadian ‘touques’ and those red mittens are everywhere; you can even get Canada gear for your dog. Stephen Colbert may have called us a bunch of “Syrup-Sucking Iceholes”, but we are PROUD! I think the best part for me was seeing people discovering the beauty of Vancouver for the first time. It really made me stop and look at things that I had gotten used to seeing every day- float planes landing on the water, the sculptures that decorate downtown, the steam clock in Gastown that had hundreds of people posing for pictures with it every day. I feel such pride at having lived in such a gorgeous city.
For a taste of the action, check out our Facebook Page (and become a fan if you’re not already!) for photos from outings with Kristin, Kendra, Me (Jen), Mari & Brit. And read through the blog for videos and pics from our Olympic adventures!
With all the excitement from the Olympics dying down, please don’t forget that the Paralympic Games start on March 12th! Which means more cheering for your country, and obviously, MORE COWBELL!!!

About Jen

Jen Pimm is the Editor for Girls By Design, a freelance graphic designer and writer who feels blessed to have found a way to turn her love for all things creative into a grown-up career. She wants to encourage self-expression and confidence in young women because, once upon a time, she was not so sure of herself. When she’s not working like a fool, she’s probably taking artsy pictures of stuff, watching Jeopardy, or snuggling with her pug Stella. She appreciates a quick wit and is currently planning her next travel adventure. And she’s on Twitter! At http://www.twitter.com/JenniferPimm

We Canadians have a unique way with words. Here’s a little sample of some of our “lingo” to help you decipher some Canadianisms:

Tuque It’s just a knitted winter hat! I didn’t even realize it was a “funny” name until I went traveling. You can get them with earflaps, pom-poms, with a moose knitted into it, whatever you like, really. And they keep you toasty on those oh-so-cold winter nights.

Loonie So we decided to ditch $1 bills and make a coin instead. And then they put a loon on it (presumably because the Common Loon is the provincial bird of Ontario), so it got nicknamed “The Loonie”. The end.

Toonie So then we decided “Who needs a $2 bill? Why not make our pockets and purses much heavier instead and have a $2 coin?”. And I’m assuming because it rhymes with Loonie (clever Canadians!), the Toonie was born. And it’s usually spelled “Toonie”, as opposed to “Twonie”, which I’ve only just now realized is a little strange.

Poutine A delicious, potentially heart-stopping dish of french fries topped with cheese curds and gravy. Soooo yummy. And a creation of French Canadians.

Double-Double Tim Horton’s is Canada’s pride and joy when it comes to coffee. When you want a coffee with two creams and two sugars, the quickest way to order it is to request a “Double-Double”.

Eh We get teased by everyone for this uniquely Canadian word, but the teasers rarely use it correctly. You see, we don’t just throw it out randomly. It is used to mark the end of a statement which we require an agreement or at least a response to. For example: “It’s a little chilly outside, eh?” Means you think it’s cold out, and you’re making conversation by adding “eh” and inviting a response as opposed to just expressing your opinion. Got it people???

Move over gold, silver and bronze, there’s a new colour in town!

It all began three years ago when The Vancouver Organizing Committee teamed up with the UN Environment Programme in an effort to make the 2010 Winter Olympic games the greenest Olympic games yet. Their main focus was on minimizing the games’ carbon impact by choosing clean technology. This has included such choices as expanding the city’s transport system and “green” construction for the Olympic venues.

Visitors and Vancouver natives are experiencing such environmentally-friendly features as low-flow toilets that use rainwater for flushing, energy-efficient grass-clad roofs and separate bins for biodegradable waste. Oh and let’s not forget about the medals. Those puppies are made from recycled gold, silver and copper taken from electronic equipment. The first medals ever to contain metals recovered from processing the circuit boards from electronic waste. They have set a standard for future medals, one that the rest of the world will hopefully live up to.

Vancouver is also the first Olympic host to track and report the carbon emissions of the games, and will be calculating the “carbon footprint” when the whole thing is over.

Will the attempts to go green win Vancouver a gold? Only time will tell.

If you’re interested in finding out more about their “green” efforts, check out:
Vancouver2010 Sustainability

Sarah “G”

Waaaazzzuuup?! Y’all already know my name(s) so I’ll just skip that part and move on. I’m the token Canadian girl, but not-so-token these days, because there is actually several Canadians around! Isn’t it amazing? It’s definitely amazing. Hmm… I’m also pretty accident prone and by ‘pretty accident prone’, I mean dangerously accident prone. It’s quite bad, but apparently entertaining at the same time. I’m a complete and utter history nerd, a big Canucks fan, a roller coaster junkie and I have a slight addiction to Snuggle fabric softener and I’m rambling; so I shall bid you all adieu.

You know you’re Canadian if :
1. You understand the sentence, “Could you please pass me a serviette, I just spilled my 
BOWL OF POUTINE” !
2. You call it going to “the washroom”, not “the bathroom” or “the toilet”.
3. You drink pop, not soda.
4. You can drink legally while still a teenager.
5. You’re not sure if the leader of your nation has EVER had sex and you don’t WANT to know if he has!
6. You drive on a highway, not a freeway.
7. You have Canadian Tire money in your kitchen drawers.
8. Your non-Canadian textbooks are missing ‘u’s from labor, honor, color. etc.
9. You know what a touque is, you own one and you often wear it.
10. If you live in some of the colder Canadian provinces, your car has a cord and plug sticking out of the grill … it’s a block heater for those sub-zero (Celsius) days.
11. You design your Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
12. Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled in with frozen snow and slush.
13. The local paper covers national and international headlines on 2 pages, but requires 6 pages for hockey.
14. You find -40C a little chilly.
15. You attend a formal event in your best clothes, your finest jewellery and your Sorels.
16. You know 4 seasons: Winter, Still Winter, almost Winter and Construction.
17. You carry jumper cables in your car.
18. You measure distance in hours. Not miles or kilometres.
19. You know people who have hit deer, elk, moose or cattle.
20. You often reply “you bet!” or “hell yes!”
21. You pronounce the last letter of the alphabet “zed” instead of “zee.”
ANNNDDDDD……..

22. You end some sentences with “eh,” … eh?