I love hot chocolate. So when I saw Tourism Vancouver’s Last Call for the 2012 Hot Chocolate Festival blog post, I must admit, it got me out of bed pretty quickly.

There are 13 chocolateries participating this year, with a tantalizing line up of hot chocolate concoctions.

• Bel Cafe
• Bella Gelateria + It’s to Die For Banana Bread
• Beta5 Chocolates + The Juice Truck
• Chocolaterie de la Nouvelle France
• CocoaNymph
• French Made Baking
• Gem Chocolates
• Leonidas Chocolates
• Mink – A Chocolate Cafe
• Schokolade
• Terra Breads
• Thierry Chocolaterie Patisserie Cafe
• Thomas Haas

I called my friend and we settled on Thomas Haas in Kitsilano.

They had 3 flavors to choose from: Classic Hot Chocolate with Soft Caramel and Fleur De Sel, Extra Dark Chocolate with Fresh Vanilla and Hazelnut with Hazelnut wafers.

I ordered the classic hot chocolate and I loved every last drop of it. The chocolate was rich and frothy and you could feel the bubbles in your mouth. It almost had the same texture as Spanish hot chocolate, but obviously not as thick. If you’re wondering what “fleur de sel” means, it is actually the French word for sea salt. You could say the inspiration for this drink is the exquisitely sweet yet salty salted caramel. Bonus: Thomas Haas served this with their dense and chewy sparkle cookie.

My friend decided on the hazelnut hot chocolate (pictured above). I am not a fan of hazelnut infused chocolate. No not even Nutella, and yes I know I am alone in this. But if you do like hazelnut then you will like this drink.

The Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival ends this week. Be sure to make your way to Thomas Haas and try the drinks for yourself.

Glittery nail polish is a huge trend right now and almost all brands have been coming out with their own version.

What I’m wearing is part of China Glaze’s 3D glitter collection, so called because of the varying glitter sizes. I love that with just 2 coats my nails were completely opaque.

With plenty of glitter nail polish to choose from, it’s hard not to find something you like.

But if you’re still not sold on the idea – here’s a great peg I wish I saw before I had my nails done.

Love Maegan suggests painting your nails a nude color and then adding a stripe of glitter to one side of your nail. Isn’t it pretty?

On the Street: Mater from Pixar’s Cars movie is at Water and Alexander street, Gastown.

Very cute.

I didn’t bring my dslr last night so I did not even bother to take photos of the fireworks. I did find this post that had a timelapse of the fireworks, which you can see here.