Two days out...

It's up and running!  The Coca-Cola Pavilion is finished minus a couple of finishing touches.  We had on-site training this past weekend, as well as a fully-operational shift today tailored specifically towards media outlets of all kinds.  It was so fun!  I've gotten to see some of my good friends from the U.S. Olympic Committee here in Vancouver, both at our Coke Pavilion and at Home Depot.  The Home Depot run-in was bound to happen eventually, since I have been spending 90% of my life there seemingly!  With a recent influx in the number of Olympic-specific jackets worn around town, people have stopped confusing me for store employees and now sometimes get to the point where I feel like a celebrity!  Well, not celebrity, as in Brad Pitt, but celebrity, as in that Shamwow guy.  People love the fact that our entire uniform (minus the shoes) is made out of recycled Coke bottles.  And I do too!

My errands have shifted in scope from big, bulky items like wood, drill bits (I know those aren't bulky...just work with me!), and paint to aesthetic gems such as vases, stools, and plants.  Yes, I did say plants.  Without ruining the integrity of the Happiness House (which opens in two days, so expect more details in my next post), I would like to brag to you about these plants.  28 IKEA plants.  One Dodge Grand Caravan.  And one trip from Richmond to Vancouver (about a 20 minute drive).  Words can't do justice to this, so I took some pictures of the experience.

Needless to say, I was very relieved when all 28 of these plants looked vibrant and lively following their crowded journey to their new home.  I've also been putting the Organic Gardening tips I learned from Dr. James Brown at Auburn University to good use.  Equipped with simply the desire for a green thumb and the knowledge from a terrific semester course at Auburn, I hope my babies (the plants, that is) will look better February 28th than they do now.  And with a Coke red watering pot and a little bit of Miracle Grow, I wouldn't put it past them. 

Tomorrow, I will be attending the dress rehearsal for the Vancouver 2010 Opening Ceremony!  I'm not allowed to take pictures or even talk about (other than admitting I'll be going), but suffice it to say...I'm completely pumped to be going! 

One last quick note that takes us back to the weekend before last (an apology goes out specifically to Jeffrey for my lack of frequent blog posts...could some donuts in July possibly make up for that?!?)...there's an awesome Olympic exhibition on public transportation called the Olympic Line that a friend and I got to try out.  It's a streetcar that the city is borrowing from Brussels, Belgium to showcase the sustainability benefits of having such a system in place.  It is a being showcased in a sixty day window, but the city hopes to eventually create a full street car fleet that connects the different Skyrails (think subway meets train meets monorail...that's the Skyrail system) throughout downtown Vancouver.  Maybe I just love free things (the transit fare is free dollars and free cents to quote a friend), but it really did help put me in an Olympic state of mind!  (Though the picture below is not necessarily flattering of me, it does give a better shot of the streetcar than the "good shot," so enjoy my un-photogenicness!  And yes, I also know un-photogenicness is not a word...give me a break here...the Olympics are just days away...woo hoo!