on the road: girly style

it was almost this time last year that peggy and i had a girly fun day away, so we were long overdue.

this time, we went south of the border. on one of the hottest days of the summer. without air conditioning in the car too.

but adventure calls and roadtrips beckon.



the wait at the pacific truck crossing border wasn't too bad-just over an hour, which gave us plenty of time to catch up with what's been going on with each other's lives, as we chowed down on drive-thru breakfast from micky d's. a girly fun day means a vacation day which means we can slum it in our eating junk food for that day. but as we don't normally slum it, mcdonalds = instant gratification = instant regret.

for the first stop, peggy and i headed down to the premium outlet mall just north of seattle. the sun was mercilessly scorching and unforgiving as we made our way around the outdoor mall. i made sure to hit adidas (uk adidas stores are so much better), converse, quiksilver, vans, zumiez and dickies, where i picked up the cutest "apartment" pants to lounge around in.


bamboos and panda bears. is there be a better combination for pajama bottoms? coupled with a white tank top?

surprisingly, peggy and i didn't go nuts with the outlet shopping and we headed back north after a couple of hours.

but of course, since we were on US soil, there were a couple stops that i just HAD to make.

jamba juice for one!



so just before we arrived in bellingham, we hit the jamba juice at burlington crossing. i just had to get peggy to try one since i've been talking it up forever. i got my new york regular, strawberry whirl and she got the matcha green tea. purr-fect for the humid afternoon.

as we walked back to the car, this truck drove past us and caught both our eyes. without an exchange of words, peggy and i looked at each other and simultaneously said, "we GOT to get a picture!" and we ran after the vehicle which was pulling into a gas station, like children chasing down an ice cream van on a hot summer day.

now if anyone knew peggy and i in the good ole days, aka our rave days, you'd understand why we would run after this truck and put japanese tourists with cameras to shame. this whole exterior of the truck was decorated with toys from sesame street, disney, looney tunes, merry melodies, hello kitty et al. a raver's dreamobile.






this photo courtesy of peggy

the driver told me that he glued all the figures last winter and that he did it because he wanted to spread good cheer and make people smile as he drove. road rage suppressant. we need more people like him on the road.



this fortuitous run-in was definitely the highlight of our day.

we headed to trader joe's in bellingham so that i could stockpile some favourite dry goods but to my surprise, TJ's discontinued carrying papadums in yoghurt and dill like 6 months ago! gah! that was the one thing that i wanted to buy. merde.

however, since i'm a fan of TJ's, i floated down the aisles and picked up a couple of things: tom yum flavoured cashews, sweet chili sauce and TJ's wild maine blueberry fruit sauce.

that's when weather turned freaky. afternoon was record breaking hot and humid and when we exited TJ's, lightning crackled the sky, thunder boomed and it started pouring as we drove to our last stop, bellis fair. not quite soaked to the bone but invariably wet, we spent the next couple of hours hitting bath and bodyworks (another US store that i ask aloud why we don't have in Canada), victoria's secret and target.

walking around bellis fair, i started feeling rather icky. like that burnt out feeling from heat exhaustion accompanied by a headache from all the temperature changes of walking in the sun and going in and out of air conditioned shops all day.

ever the sport, peggy who wasn't affected the same way i was, drove us back after bellis fair, skipping out on any casino action. in the car ride back to vancouver, the sunset sky was a gorgeous orange, pink and red. then the storm descended. it felt like we were stormchasers, watching the lightning/thunderstorm make its way into canada. the summer storm was the most fantastic thing i've seen in a long time. LOVE lightning. (hence my name)


i heard the lightning storm upstaged the celebration of fire fireworks down by english bay

we don't get nearly enough of them out here in the pacific northwest. not like in new york where it's a regular occurrence. oh how i miss watching mother nature's lightshow from my 29th floor apt down on the bowery.

still, the summer storm was the one thing to take my mind off the queasy-ness i was feeling. heat exhaustion causing the motion sickness do not make for a good combo. so happy when we crossed back onto canadian soil because i knew that if i hurled or needed to go to the hospital for fluids, i have medical.

however, it wasn't that dramatic although i did feel like lying face down on the wet sidewalk outside my building, happy because i get to go jump in the shower, get cleaned up, climb into bed and wait for my headache to go away and for the appetite to return. and sure enough, about 2 in the morning, i was back to myself and raiding the fridge.

good gosh, i wasn't even like this for new york summers with 75-80% humidity. i've reverted to being a temperate weather baby again.