Last night I grabbed Keira-Anne and headed to the Red Cross Red Carpet Soiree. I held a contest on my site and I ran into the winner of my tickets, Lesley Chang, along with Karen from TinyBites, Paulo from istyleu, Melissa from FiveCorners604, Cathy Browne, and Chris Freimond of the IABC (where I gave my Twitter for Business talk).

Keira got her makeup touched up by The Beautyink Gallery and we enjoyed delicious canapes courtesy of our host, the Blue Water Care + Raw Bar. I was looking forward to another rosemary martini, like I had when I was a judge for the Grey Goose Arbiter of Cool competition but unfortunately no one there that night knew how to make it. Still, the wine from Mission Hill was flowing, the silent auction bids were rising, and the tunes from DJ Ocean were just right.

We celebrated the centennial of the Canadian Red Cross in style and were really happy to support this cause — and to see that the event was such a success.

Update: Some may have found chunks of Jane’s responses have been copied/pasted from the Green Party’s website. As my website stands for genuine and authentic content, I have contacted the Green Party about this issue and will update again shortly.

Update: May 8, 2009 – I had a telephone conversation with Jane Sterk and have updated her answers below.

Continuing my election coverage I have requested interviews with several of the candidates for Premier and they have all been gracious enough to supply answers to my questions. The following are the responses from Jane Sterk of the BC Green Party. Continue reading this post ⟩⟩

The Phoenix Coyotes have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie has put in a $212.5 million offer for the team, which is contingent on the team being moved to Southern Ontario.

You can see the dream. Bringing more of Canada’s sport back home. Shane Doan a captain in Canada. Wayne Gretzky coaching a team that likely won’t ever be aware that purses have strings, rather than one strung up by them, likely to be just a short drive from his hometown of Brantford, Ontario. [Kukla’s Korner]

However (before everyone gets too excited) a few more steps and processes need to play out including the acceptance of the Chapter 11 filing and purchase plan by a judge, and then there will be an auction. “…Overbidders must exceed Balsillie’s bid by at least $5 million and not have conditional franchising.” – CBC

I have a few questions about the whole deal and would love to know what people think as well. The Phoenix Coyotes were originally a relocation and renaming of the Winnipeg Jets — should Winnipeg get “first dibs” on something like this? Is there an interested buyer and/or is the city interested?

Also, I’m not sure how I feel about three hockey teams in Ontario. Sure, they have a large population and the most Tim Hortons per capita but I know my husband for one would love to see the midwest get another team or at least one of the Dakotas. Given that the Quad Cities AHL team is going to be moving out to Abbotsford, I’m also wondering if the team would have to be further North/West from that area for that idea to succeed. Many are also playing with the idea of franchise in the Pacific Northwest, which is currently a hotbed of WHL team talents.

Balsillie is truly sweetening the deal for the Coyotes though, even stating that if he’s able to move the team then he would build an arena and name it in Walter Gretzky’s honor – CTV.

If anything, Balsillie’s public statements and endeavours regarding his pursuit of franchises are an aspect of ownership that the League should be courting, the passionate, involved, dedicated owner, who seeks to continually put the best product on the ice for the fans, and does not look at the team as mere numbers and figures and profits to be maximized. That this potential franchise could soon find itself neighbour to the Leafs, with the oft-dehumanized ownership of the Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan, is no small irony. [Kukla’s Korner]

I get the sense (at least from Twitter) that many Canadians in general are excited about another team potentially coming back to our country and with MakeitSeven they’ve created an online petition to bring the team back to this side of the border. Ultimately, it comes down to the league and the buyer (and the courts in this case).

[poll id=”32″]

The second to last stop on my Circle Farm Tour last week in Harrison and Agassiz was The Back Porch.

We stopped by after breakfast to explore some of the antiques, the hand-made pottery, and sample the delicious roasted coffee (fired on-site in a 1919 flame coffee roaster).

Dan and Lynda have a lovely home on the property, a small barn filled with antiques and collectibles, and a walk-in studio with roasting house (for organic and estate beans). They also have Red Russian garlic (along with over 20 other varieties), chickens, and a family garden.

The Back Porch is a quick drive from Harrison and is right across from the golf course so it makes it an easy and enjoyable stop along the Circle Farm Tour. [Google Map]

They’re open to the public Wednesday to Sunday from 11:00am until 5:00pm and you can email backporch [at] shaw.ca for more information.

My friend Keira recently adopted a rescue dog and through her I’ve been able to learn a lot more about pet adoption and alternatives to retail stores for acquiring a furry animal friend.

As it turns out, May is also Adoption Month at the BC SPCA so I’ve received even more information about this movement and the 2nd annual Adoption Challenge.

“The BC SPCA’s branches, shelters and community animal centres across the province are competing in the second annual Great BC SPCA Adoption Challenge to find new, loving homes for as many animals as possible between May 1 and 31.” [BC SPCA]

BC SPCA locations will be hosting open houses, adoptathons, mobile adoptions and various other events throughout the month in order to find caring homes for animals.

People may think that getting a brand new dog from a pet store ensures their pedigree and health however many do not realize that some shops could be getting their animals from puppy mills. One of the main goals of the campaign is to educate about how many awesome animals and pets there are available out there – young and old – just waiting for a special person or loving family to take them in.

You can search for your pet online using the SPCA’s database or feel free to stop by your local centre this month to perhaps find a little buddy like Lucky (pictured above) who is currently up for adoption.

As a side note, this is my Kitty (above). We don’t know how old she is, but I have a photo of her with her kittens in 1991 so she must be at least 18 or 19 years old. We adopted her (unofficially) when I was young (my sister used to make fun of me for calling Kitty my best friend) and she’s still a part of our family, living at my mother’s house. We can’t have pets in our building but you can be assured that if we do move, John and I will make the choice to get a rescue animal to join our family.