Top Ten Things We've Learned About Vancouver in 2013

It's that time when we look back at the past year and reflect on the major events that have happened in this city of ours. Here's the top ten things we've learned about Vancouver in 2013:

10. Our mayor smokes better stuff than Toronto's mayor, Rob Ford. Let's just get that out of the way right now.

9. Secret's out: everyone now knows How To Be A Vancouverite, thanks to these guys.

8. It's still cheaper to buy a European castle than a Vancouver apartment.

7. The west coast is a hub of musical talent. Hey Ocean!, The Pack a.d., Hannah Georgas, Said The Whale, Carly Rae Jepsen, Five Alarm Funk, Marianas Trench, Madchild, Michael Buble, Victoria Duffield, Hedley, Shawn Hook, and Nickelback all saw JUNO Award nominations (and some wins), Tegan and Sara dominated international pop music charts, and The Peak Performance Project saw another year of showcasing homegrown talent.

6. Cristy Clark can win the provincial majority for the Liberals, but can't win her own Vancouver-Point Grey riding.

5. The proposed tarsands pipelines are still an important topic for locals, and many groups are chosing to defend our coast.

4. There is still nothing better than a Vancouver summer.

3. BC (and predominantly Vancouver) is the king of the craft brew scene! And Vancouver is slowly taking steps towards losing it's "no fun city" reputation.

2. Vancouverites have big hearts. Thanks to Cory Ashworth for leading the charge on A Good Book Drive, Marc Brand for all his work and advocacy for the DTES, and Hey Ocean's David Vertesi for Sing It Forward (tickets available for their Jan 9th concert, get some!).

1. Vancouverites love their city. We love running in our city - record numbers for the Seawheeze, Vancouver Sun Run, and BMO marathons are evident of that. We're proud of our communities - the Davie and Bute intersection is painted rainbow... perminantly. We're engaged - multiple TEDx and Pecha Kucha nights are held regularly thoughout the city and TED itself is coming in 2014. We want to make our city better - from undercover angels to mistletoe, to simply saying hello.

Vancouver, we love you.