“You can work in your pyjamas all day!” is one of the excited responses I usually receive when someone asks about my home office. With the COVID-19 pandemic has come the cancellation of major events and social distancing being practiced out of an abundance of caution. Many companies are encouraging employees and team members to stay home from the office and telecommute.

“How do you stay motivated?” is another FAQ. While #PJsALLDAY sounds fun, it does take a bit of effort to stay motivated. Over the last 12 years, working on projects for sixty4media and of course Miss604.com, I have identified a few tips and tricks to stay productive in my home office:

How to Be Productive While Working from Home

Of course your company will hopefully get you setup with all of the technology and co-working tools you’ll need (shared project management apps like Slack, Asana, Basecamp, etc.) but here are some more personal self-care tips:

1. It starts with a fauxcommute. We live in the heart of Downtown Vancouver so John’s walk to work only takes 10 minutes. He’s on a schedule so I decided to follow his pattern. When he’s dressed and out the door by 9:00am, so am I. We walk to a coffee shop together for provisions and then part ways. He continues on to his office and I walk back home. Those 20 minutes get me up and about, and put me into a “work” mode.
   1. I shared this once with a fellow travel writer who said he literally gets on his bike, cycles around the block, and parks his bike at his laneway office to simulate a commute and get in the right mindset for work.
2. Separate home space from work space. One thing about working in your home and that work can BECOME your home, then there’s no escape. I have a designated area/room where I keep all of my work items (files, laptops, cameras, tech) and when John walks through the door at 6:00pm, I LEAVE that space. My work is done too and we can enjoy our evening together.
   1. For those other social media managers following along, I use Hootsuite to schedule my posts days in advance so the only work I do in the evenings is feed-monitoring from my phone here and there.
3. Make sure you still take a lunch break. One thing about working from home is the lack of distractions. like coffee breaks, meetings, lunch breaks. You’ll sit down at your desk, zone out with some tunes, starting clacking away on your keyboard and before you know it, it’s 2:00pm and you’ve completely lost steam. Stand up, walk around, have some water, get a coffee, refresh, stretch, then get back to it.
   1. Have a virtual work buddy. I chat online throughout the day with John, my sister, and various friends also working from their home offices. We take synchronized breaks – or John will send me a Skype message: “Have you eaten yet?” To drop the hint.
4. Please, mute your phone. Meetings still have to take place and when you have 5-20 people on a conference call now it’s important to mute your own mic when you’re not speaking. Clicks of a mouse, firetruck sirens, family members in the background, construction noise, all of that can disrupt what should be a productive session.
   1. Sync your wireless headphones or use your smartphone’s headphones so you can still be handsfree to take notes during the call.
   2. Update: Everyone is being very understanding about background noise at this time, so don’t stress about this one too much!
5. You don’t have to work for 8 hours straight. Break up your day. Cook a meal. As long as you get the work in, it doesn’t have to be in a 9-to-5 window. Offset your hours, stretch, and come back.
6. Enjoy your time alone. Put on some music (I discovered that Cut Copy helps me code better), sing your heart out or dance in your chair like no one is watching — because no one is. Discover something new about your work patterns and what really helps you concentrate on tasks. It can help you when you get back to the office – but maybe lose the dancing and singing unless everyone will be totally into that now and lip-dub videos will come back in style… but I digress.

Last but not least, be sure to clean your keyboard, mouse, and phone regularly, as well as your headphones and cables. If you’d like to chat during the day, or remind me to take my lunch break, find me on all social media @Miss604.

Locals know, that about now the Accolade cultivar is sprouting in the West End and at English Bay but it will take just a few more weeks for the Akebono puffs to pop. There are  54 different varieties of flowering cherry trees that can be found in Vancouver neighbourhoods, with over 43,000 individual trees, and the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival celebrates them all.

Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival 2020

When: April 2 to 26, 2020
Where: Various locations

The 14th annual Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (“VCBF”) presented by Coromandel Properties and Vancouver Board of Parks & Recreation officially launches April 2 to 26, 2020 to celebrate the arrival of spring. 

Haiku Invitational Contest (until June 1, 2020)

Submit up to two unpublished poems on the theme of cherry blossoms to the internationally acclaimed Haiku Invitational Contest presented by Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel.Participants have the chance for their haiku to be recognized as a Top Winner in six categories, Sakura Award or Honourable Mention. The contest will be judged by Beth Skala (Vancouver), Gary Hotham (USA), and Agnes Eva Savich (USA) and celebrated in creative ways! Over 10,000 entries from 40 countries have been submitted since 2006.

Neighbourhood Maps Show What’s Blooming Now

Report on the cherries! Help keep track of the bloom by tagging @vancherryblossomfest in your social media posts. Or, check out the online Neighbourhood Maps tool and What’s Blooming Now page to discover which favourite cherry blossom hotspots are in bloom.

Cherry Jam Downtown Concerts (Thursday April 2 & Friday April 3, 2020)

Extended two-day Cherry Jam Downtown c­­­oncerts presented by Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association at Burrard SkyTrain Station. The event is also sponsored by G&F Financial Group and made possible in partnership with TransLink. 

BC Blossom Photo Watch (April 2-26, 2020)

BC Blossom Photo Watch presented by TELUS wants to capture your best cherry blossom photos! Submit your favourite cherry blossom moments on social media using both #VCBFBCBW20 and #TELUS hashtags for a chance to win awesome prizes.

Tree Talks & Walks (April 2-26, 2020)

Tree Talks & Walks, a guided exploration of the blossoms at more than nine Vancouver parks and neighbourhoods.

The Big Picnic (April 11, 2020 from 12:00pm to 4:00pm)

The Big Picnic presented by TD Bank Group unites hundreds of cherry blossom fans under the highly Instagrammable blossom moments at Queen Elizabeth Park. A variety of food trucks will appeal to diverse palates and community vendors will have interactive kid-friendly activities for all ages. The event has been extended for an extra hour this year to bring more cherry blossom joy to everyone.  Cancelled due to COVID-19 outbreak and ban on events over 250 people.

Sakura Night (April 23, 2020 from 6:00pm to 9:00pm)

The 6th annual fundraiser returns on a weekday at Stanley Park Pavilion, and early bird tickets are on sale NOW until March 20th for $125 at vcbf.ca (regular tickets are $150). Enjoy culinary creations from chefs at The Victor at Parq Vancouver, Shangri-La Hotel Vancouver, Chef Will Lew (previously at Fairmont Pacific Rim and Vancouver) and Benkei Ramen. ARC Iberico Imports will also be sampling gourmet Spanish products. Alcohol partners include: Winemaker’s CUT, Salt Spring Wild Cider, Stanley Park Brewing, Central City Brewers + Distillers. The event promotes the work of our charitable non-profit society and to raise money to help fund our free, accessible events focused on “connecting our communities”. 

Sakura Days Japan Fair which was to take place April 18-19, 2020 at VanDusen Botanical Garden during the Cherry Blossom Festival will not take place in 2020. The volunteer organization which organizes the event, Japan Fair Association of Vancouver, has made the difficult decision to cancel this year’s event.

Follow the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for more info.

DanceHouse connects Vancouver and the local arts community to the international world of dance by presenting exceptional companies that are recognized for their excellence, innovation, and international reputation. This spring, they have two shows to delight audiences and I have a double DanceHouse Giveaway!

These events have been cancelled due to COVID-19 outbreak & band on events with over 250 attendees.

DanceHouse Presents RUBBERBAND’s Ever so Slightly

Where: Vancouver Playhouse (600 Hamilton St, Vancouver)
When: March 20 & 21, 2020 at 8:00pm
Tickets: Available online now from $35

DanceHouse presents the powerhouse Canadian company RUBBERBAND in Ever So Slightly. In their inaugural presentation with DanceHouse, the company kicks off with a roar. Melding the forces of two musicians and 10 extraordinary performers, choreographer Victor Quijada takes apart the mechanisms of compliance and control with surgical precision. One moment, the dancers look like inmates in an asylum, the next, street dance warriors in boiler-suited conformity. Balancing chaos and catharsis, Ever So Slightly carves a path towards genuine resistance and liberation.

DanceHouse Presents Compañía Rocio Molina, Fallen from Heaven

Where: SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts (149 W Hastings, Vancouver)
When: April 1–4, 2020 at 8:00pm and April 5, 2020 at 2:00pm
Tickets: Available online now from $35

DanceHouse and SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs, in partnership with Vancouver International Flamenco Festival, present the Vancouver premiere of Compañía Rocío Molina’s fearless work Fallen from Heaven (Caída del Cielo). Choreographed by Spain’s ‘enfant terrible of Flamenco’ Rocío Molina and choreographer Elena Córdoba, with co-artistic direction by Carlos Marquerie, Fallen from Heaven is a radical celebration of womanhood and its many nuanced gender roles. Performed to live musical accompaniment, the daring work infuses flamenco’s fiery passion with a contemporary feminist aesthetic, revolutionizing the traditional dance form for a new generation.

For more information, follow DanceHouse on Instagram, Facebook, and a Twitter. Since 2008, DanceHouse has presented vibrant and inspiring companies from Canada and around the world. In addition to the performances on stage, DanceHouse offers a suite of engagement opportunities and a chance for the general public and local artistic community to engage with the presented artists and their work.

Double DanceHouse Giveaway

I have a pair of tickets to give away to Ever So Slightly on opening night March 20th AND to opening night of Compañía Rocio Molina on April 1st. Here’s how you can enter to win this date night ticket pack:

Here’s how you can enter to win:

• Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
• Click below to post an entry on Twitter

I will draw one contest winner at random from all entries at 9:00am on Wednesday, March 18, 2020.

On March 12, 2010, the spirit of the Olympics was amplified when the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Games opened in front of 60,000 people at BC Place and featured amazing acts like Luca “Lazylegz” Patuelli. The theme was “one inspires many” and it was certainly off to the right start.

Ten years ago I wrote the following about the opening of the Paralympics in Vancouver:

Miss604.com on March 12, 2010
I had a familiar feeling this morning as the Paralympic flame looped its way around the downtown core during its 24 hour relay. Pedestrian thoroughfares, tents, displays, torchbearers, and cheerful passersby wearing red mittens. The Vancouver 2010 Paralympics Games kick off tonight with the Opening Ceremony at BC Place and the excitement among the Canadian Paralympic Committee members and their athletes is palpable.

“The hype has taken our athletes by storm,” said Chef de Mission, Blair McIntosh. The athletes were welcomed at the airport, honoured at a pep rally in Whistler, and now they’ll get to march into BC Place Stadium as representative of excellence in sport for their country.

“The team is the strongest and biggest ever,” McIntosh added saying that the Canadian Paralympic Committee is projecting that Canada will finish within the top 3 countries in medal standings.

He was right! Canada finished third in the medal count with 19. I got to witness history in Whistler on March 18, 2010 during the ParaAlpine events. I saw Viviane Forest win gold (after her silver earlier in the week), and Josh Dueck win silver. Over in the Callaghan Valley Brian McKeever got his 9th Paralympics medal. As McKeever and his guide skied down the final stretch, the announcer proclaimed to the enthusiastic crowd at Whistler Paralympic Park that they were witnessing the greatest cross-country skier of all time.

Relive and celebrate some of that magic on Thursday, March 12th as the cauldron is re-lit in the afternoon.

10th Anniversary of Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Games

What: Lighting of the cauldron
Where: Jack Poole Plaza
When: Thursday, March 12, 2020 from 2:30pm to 3:15pm
Details: Special guests include The Honourable Lisa Beare, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture; The Honourable Shane Simpson, Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction; Ian Aikenhead, Q.C., Chair, PavCo; Gail Hamamoto, Vice President, Canadian Paralympic Committee; Nate Riech, Professional Athlete, Team Canada; Elizabeth Irving, performing ‘O Canada’ and ‘I Believe’

This event has been postponed.

Browsing the City of Vancouver Archives is an always an adventure, like the other day when I was looking up the Haywood Bandstand and stumbled across photos of bison in Stanley Park. Bison? I had to investigate further:

Bison in Stanley Park

The last time I saw a bison was during a Badlands Tour in Southern Alberta and at Elk Island near Edmonton. The last time bison were naturally grazing around Southwest British Columbia was about 12,000 years ago. So, where did this photo of Bison in Stanley Park come from? You may have already guessed, they were in the Stanley Park Zoo.

“We had the park, we had Sunset Beach, we had English Bay, we had Second Beach, we had Third Beach, we had Lumberman’s Arch, we had Brockton Oval, we had a herd of bison in Stanley Park…” – Ann Frost, recalling growing up in the West End in the 1940s

[Vancouver Heritage Foundation]

According to the Stanley Park Ecology Society, in the 1890s the Bison Ranch was located where the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club is now.

The latest photo I found was from 1939, submitted to the archives by Major Matthews.

I couldn’t find any information about when the bison were removed from the park, but hopefully they were there are a part of conservation efforts. [Update] A Facebook follower just confirmed she remembers seeing them in the late 1960s!

To learn more about what Canada is doing for the bison population, Parks Canada has some insights here.