Below you will find a quick, 10 question survey to help us gather important information about YOU, our readers.

It would mean a lot to us if you could find a few moments to take this quick and easy survey.

Simply FOLLOW THIS LINK and it will take you right to the survey!

The results are 100% anonymous, so we hope you will be honest and use this opportunity to let us know what we are doing right and where you’d like to see improvements. After all, we write Fraser Valley Pulse for the residents and visitors to the Fraser Valley… we want you to be happy with what we are providing to the community!

As always, thank you so very much for supporting our website and connecting with each of us. We appreciate you and look forward to an exciting Fall. We will be at several local shows and festivals this Fall and Winter – hope to see you out and about.

Best,
Kristi, Chrissy, Shannon, Kelly, Heidi and Cadi

Triple Flip is a Canadian retailer with seven locations across the nation. The store caters exclusively to pre-teen girls with clothes that are stylish, comfortable, age-appropriate, based on ‘real’ girl sizes (as opposed to women’s sizes). 

We love that Triple Flip uses local customers, girls of all shapes and sizes, as their models. They are conscious of this important stage in a pre-teen’s life; their clothing sizes don’t offer x-small or x-large, sizes that can negatively impact a girls’ body image.

Their Canadian entrepreneurial story is fantastic, too. Triple Flip was founded by Linda Maslechko and Mona Rae Peterson of Calgary after Linda’s daughter complained that every shopping trip was a disaster since there just weren’t any clothes suited for her age group. The duo won the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2009 for the niche store.

The store opens at 10AM on August 24th. The first 20 visitors between August 24-28, 2011 will receive a gift. Shoppers will be entered to win a $300 shopping spree and surprise gift cards valued $10-$100 will be given out.

Triple Flip
www.tripleflip.ca
105-15765 Croydon Drive, Surrey

In honour of 7-Eleven’s self-proclaimed birthday in Canada, the company is giving away more than 460,000 free 7.11 oz Slurpee drinks across Canada. This is one of the largest single-day product giveaways in our country!

by Majiscup – Gotta Take The Cup Tonight.

On Monday, July 11, 2011 each Fraser Valley 7-Eleven location will be giving away 1000 complimentary 7.11 ounce Slurpees throughout the day. Visit www.7-eleven.com to find the nearest store to you.

What’s your favourite Slurpee flavour?

Thank you all again for your sponsorship and support of this great night. We raised $8470 for Canuck Place Abbotsford during the event… yahoo!

This is a great video, Cognito Creative. Cheers!

www.FraserValley.Twestival.com

The second edition of Imagine is in production at the moment. The first Imagine book featured over 150 local children and it was stunning. Just look at some of these photos! Photos by Jason Brown.

If you would like to nominate your children, please contact Revival Arts Studio. Participation in the book is subject to a $75 per-family session fee. All proceeds from the book are being donated to Matthew’s House. Matthew’s House will offer long and short term respite care facilities to families with high needs children.

www.rastudio.ca

This annual event features three course meals for $15, $25 or $35 at 20 White Rock eateries. What a fantastic and affordable way to experience some of White Rock’s best restaurants, without breaking the bank!

Some of the $15 locations include Roxy’s By The Beach and Kuhana’s Fish & Chips; for $25 try out some of our faves such as Uli’s Restaurant or Cielo’s Tap and Oyster Bar and for $35 you can dine in style at Onyx Steakhouse, Shin Ji Ru Japanese or Giraffe Restaurant. Some of the restaurants such as Iguana’s Beach Grill and Slainte By The Pier have both $25 and $35 menus to choose from.

The Ocean Promenade Hotel is located on the main strip in White Rock and it’s got some great views of the beach. Book a room and enjoy a night or two away from home. No driving = more fun for you!

Bite of the Rock 2011
www.whiterockbia.com

Their book, Choosing to Smile, is a must-read. It is beautifully written, honest and so very inspiring. Their message to anyone facing diversity in their lifetime is simple: choose happiness above whatever life throws your way, choose to smile.

In late 2010 Julie’s health began to deteriorate and she is now in hospice. Through her struggles she has added something to her bucket list that each of us can help her out with: she wants to see Choosing To Smile become a Canadian Best Seller.

Since being published less than one year ago, Choosing To Smile has sold over 1500 copies. To become a Canadian Best Seller, they need to reach 5000 copies. You may purchase the book online, or at several locations throughout BC.

A committee has been formed to help Julie’s dream come true, by collecting funds to purchase the books for cancer survivors. Donations to this initiative can be made at any Envision Credit Union, to account #1455864.

Please help to complete Julie’s bucket list. The book is truly inspirational, and so are the stories of these three amazing local women. Bless you Julie, Glenda and Michelle.

www.ChoosingToSmile.com

Hopefully you all had a chance to relax, reflect, eat too much and plan ahead over the holiday season. Our team enjoyed lots of rest and relaxation, and now we’re 100% back at it for the new year!

In 2010 we connected with so many of you. You’re commenting on our posts (even when there’s no giveaway, yay, hee hee) and sending lots of feedback, which is SO great! In 2011 we want to continue that conversation. I invite you to please comment on our articles, our directory listings, tell us and other readers about your experiences. Please use this post, any post and our emails to contact us with tips, leads, comments, ideas – some of our best feature ideas have come from you amazing readers. Keep ‘em coming!

As always, thank you for reading. I was overwhelmed to see our readership statistics in December 2010. Where’d you all come from, anyways? Happy to have you and let’s all have the best year ever!

Kristi

2010 has been, in a word, amazing. As a community we enjoyed the 2010 Olympic Winter Games (wow, right?), and I personally had the honour of running with the Paralympic torch. It was something I will never forget. Summertime in the Fraser Valley was hot and we discovered lots of fun things to do in our communities and beyond. Too much fun! September brought us Fresh! Fraser Valley and the fall was busy with all kinds of trade shows. I was honoured to be invited back as the social media sponsor for the 10th Annual West Coast Women’s Show. This year’s show was fantastic and we met a lot of new people. One goal I had for this year was to take a lot of our online connections offline, and we did just that. We met so many of you this year! Finally, we closed off 2010 with the 1st Annual 12 Days of Christmas in the Fraser Valley. Over $3100 was raised for local charities. Yay!

Throughout 2010 I was blessed to meet some of the most talented and dedicated entrepreneurs, the reason I started FVP in the first place. Inspired Arts & Gifts, Paper Nation, Out of Line Designs, Aromatica, It’s Your Move, The Town Butcher, Freetoes, Campbell’s Gold, Wishes & Co and Clayburn Comforts were just a few of my discoveries this year. How lucky are we, that they chose to set up their businesses in the Fraser Valley? I was also extremely lucky to meet some talented local writers who have become regular contributors to FVP. They each add their own flair to the site and I’m so thankful for their creativity and also for their excitement about how fabulous our Fraser Valley is!

Our team is SO excited for what is to come in 2011. We are more committed than ever to uncovering the Fraser Valley’s gems, to keep you informed of the latest happenings, community events and entrepreneurial ventures. In 2011 FVP will turn two, an accomplishment that we’re both proud of and so very excited for!

For the next two weeks, the team and I are spreading out across Canada to enjoy the holidays with our families and friends. We will be back online on January 3rd, 2011. And, ooooh, do we have some special folks to introduce you to next year!

I wish you and your loved ones the happiest of holidays, the merriest Christmas, the best new year ahead that you can imagine. Thank you, to every one of you, for your support and awesomeness. Your comments, emails, phone calls and smiles are the fuel behind this blog. Couldn’t do it without you!

Cheers,
Kristi xoxo