Thanksgiving in Vancity

Since moving to Toronto for school, the timing has never worked out for me to head back to the west coast for Thanksgiving. This year was different though. It just so happened that Thanksgiving fell during my fall reading week, so I jumped on the chance to head home for a family Thanksgiving meal (aka, FAMILY, FEED ME!) and escape from Toronto for a little bit. 

 I left TO bright and early and hung out in Air Canada's cool Maple Leaf Lounge

 Not too shabby! Such a great and relaxing atmosphere - complete with magazines, food and drinks.

*Side note - prior to making the trek out west, I hadn't actually told any of my friends that I was coming for a visit, so I had a couple surprises in store

 My friends had no idea, so it was nice to show up outta nowhere, like here at Starbucks.

 We went for bubble tea, obviously. And I had lychee green tea in case you were wondering. Ps, lychees are my favourite, so this was pretty heavenly, especially after a long day of traveling.

 I spent a lot of time in Gastown because a) it has such a cool vibe and b) it's so much better than Surrey. I went into a store called OAK + FORT and fell in love with everything there. I made the mistake of trying on a coat and not wanting to take it off.

Gastown, so pretty in the fall

 My dad and I bonded at the Canucks game on Saturday night. LEFT: Canucks alum Trevor Linden was doing signings for fans outside before the game. RIGHT: Inside the Rogers Arena.

The story behind this puck:

When my dad and I arrived at the arena, the warmups had just gotten started. We were sitting in our seats in section 114 and were just settling in. The next thing I knew, I turned to my dad and see him touching his head in confusion and he had blood on his hands. I freaked out and had no idea what just happened. Apparently a player's puck had made it over the netting and up high enough to get to our section, managing to hit my dad in the head. He got up to go to the washroom, but the host in our section told him to sit as she called first aid. Surprisingly, there wasn't a lot of blood, and my dad even joked around that it was because of his thick head of hair. A guy sitting a couple rows back happened to catch the puck and handed it over to us "at least you get a souvenir!" - pretty hilarious.

Once first aid arrived, they took us to the medical room and cleaned him up. They were going to send him to the hospital to get stitches but, being the huge hockey fan that he is, his response? "I'm not missing this game!" (they were playing Montreal). So my dad was a trooper and stayed for the entire game; he was totally fine. The folks at the Rogers Arena were super nice, even giving him a free T-shirt and buying us both a beer (of course, they asked to confirm that I was indeed over the age of 19, sighhh the life of a baby face). Anyways, that was an interesting night and a funny story my dad will be telling for quite some time.

 LEFT: My stylish little cousin. He's pretty much my favourite human being.
RIGHT: My incredibly tall 14-year-old sister who is often thought of as "the older sister"....no.

 We took some fun fall fashion photos! Why not? Side note - these black boots are a top-notch thrift store find. My mom is the queen of thrifting; she found these amazing Topshop beauties for less than $25. Thanks mom!

 On the morning of my last day in the city, my friends (and her dog Obi!) were kind enough to wake up early and meet up for breakfast. Yes, McDonald's obvs. 

I went to the airport super early to take advantage of the Maple Leaf Lounge once again, and to get some work done. I wish this is what my work set-up always looked like:

Anyways, it was such a nice visit home - next up: NYC!

- Christina
Follow my adventures on Twitter: @christinaaa28