You’ll have to pry the iced tea from our cold, dead hands, because we aren’t ready to say goodbye to summer yet.

Denial is best steeped in an Eva Solo Iced Tea Maker ($99.95). Shaped like a milk bottle, the glass carafe comes with all the fittings for making homebrew, so you simply place your tea leaves in the filter, fill with hot water, let cool in the fridge then serve.

We suggest turning The Ô Dor citrus-bergamot rooibos blend Trahison Byzantine ($18/100ml) into the tasty tea sangria they serve up at The Urban Tea Merchant by adding white grape juice, a splash of fruit syrup and sliced fruits.

Sip it while shopping for fall sweaters to ease into the season that isn’t summer.

Tea and tea maker at Urban Tea Merchant, 1070 Georgia St., Vancouver, 604-692-0071, www.urbantea.com

See photos of our afternoon tea on today's Editors' Diary.

And if you are a walking collection of aches and pains like us, we suggest slipping into this spa for a Herbal Compress Massage. 

With a recipe more than 1,000 years old, a fragrant bundle of Thai herbs (like lemongrass, ginger, turmeric, kaffir lime and cumin) is steamed to 100 degrees, then used as a hot compress from the back of your neck to the balls of your feet.

Muscles melt, essential oils heal the skin, and everything from circulation to congestion is addressed.

Hmmmmm…I think we are overdue for a teeth cleaning.

Herbal Compress Massage, $104/60minutes, Sabai Thai Spa (downtown Vancouver and North Vancouver), www.thaispa.ca

If Coco Chanel was right when she declared, “a woman who doesn’t wear perfume has no future,” then perhaps it’s time we talked No. 5 year plans.

At Holt Renfrew’s new Chanel Olfactive Bar, trade fortune tellers for fragrance experts and sit in a tweed chair surrounded by black and white photographs of Mademoiselle. Instead of crystal balls, there are ceramic blotters so you can smell the fullness of each fragrance as the perfumer would, without the successive sprays.

The bar is also the exclusive carrier of Les Exclusifs de Chanel collection, from which we found our next scent (we’d tell you what it is, but some things in life should remain a mystery).

Chanel Olfactive Bar at Holt Renfrew, 737 Dunsmuir St., Vancouver, 604-681-3121 (call to book an appointment), www.holtrenfrew.com

Kits Pool is overcrowded and the same goes for Third Beach. What you really need is a rooftop watering hole only a hotel can offer.

While most hotel pools in Vancouver are guest-only, you don’t have to sneak in Samantha Jones-style. The Westin Grand downtown offers daily drop-in ($15) that lets locals access the outdoor pool, whirlpool and fitness facilities. Or make it a monthly membership ($60) and you also snag 20 per cent off food and beverage.

We’ll have our pomegranate martini poolside please.

The Westin Grand, 433 Robson St., Vancouver, 604-602-1999, www.westingrandvancouver.com

For more tips on hotel pools, read today’s vanvitamindaily tweets.

Coconut water is all the rage for its super, natural hydration (Madonna and Demi drink it) and coconut oil has long been praised as an antioxidant-rich moisturizer.

Vida Spa goes nuts with both in their new 30-minute Coconut Refresh Massage ($55) for summer. The treatment starts with a refreshing glass of coconut water to replace lost electrolytes and follows with a fragrant coconut oil massage to relieve tired muscles and protect the skin against sun damage.

In and out in under an hour, it’s the perfect afternoon delight.

Available until August 31 at Vida Spa Sutton Place, Sheraton Wall Centre and The Westin Bayshore locations, 604-682-VIDA, www.vidaspas.com

The Village People recently revealed that they wrote their 1978 hit “Y.M.C.A” in Vancouver, and after getting a private tour of the renovated downtown location, we think they should release a reprise singing its new praises. Herewith, ten reason to play at the new YMCA:

1. While the space retained its cool historical exterior, there’s nothing dated about the open, light-filled interior of windows and glass.

2. You don’t have to be a member to enjoy the Licious café (which also offers nutritional counseling and food delivery) and quiet meditation room on the ground floor.

3. Five different change rooms, including one just for families, with card-access lockers large enough to fit your moped helmet and a machine to ring all the water out of your bathing suit in 10 seconds.

4. Its Membership Plus service, which offers separate adult-only change rooms with towel service, Aveda products, lounge with internet and TV, and private sauna and hot tub.

5. The 25-yard pool with a movable floor that is UV filtered (no green hair!) and kept warm using reclaimed heat from the building.

6. Fitness classes like yoga, spin, personal training and even stroller-baby boot camp for moms and tots to take together.

7. Two rooftop playgrounds for the wee ones with a view of the 1910 church building next door that the kids have already dubbed “Hogwarts.”  With licensed daycare and child-minding services, your muggle can play there while you work or workout.

8. An outfitted, open concept kitchen and meeting area upstairs that will offer cooking classes by Vancouver chefs or can be rented out for that family reunion you don’t have room for.

9. Full gymnasium, racquetball/squash courts and 70 cardio and strengthening machines.

10. The fact that one very affordable monthly fee (from $43) gets you access.

Robert Lee YMCA (opens Monday, May 3, 2010), 955 Burrard St., Vancouver, 604-689-9622, www.vanymca.org/centres/robertlee

We were never that interested in math. But this new furniture store really had us calculating.

Danish modern aesthetic + Thai materials + award winning designer = you’ve really got to check this out.

A surreal lamp made from white silkworm cocoons, indoor-outdoor rattan sofas, and low-profile stools and dining chairs are all begging to be bought.

Okay, so maybe we are good at addition.

Maai Living Furniture, 157 W. Hastings St., Vancouver, 604-282-6113, www.maailiving.ca

The Vancouver room boom just moved up another notch. Herewith, the cool things that have us considering long-term hotel living at the Fairmont Pacific Rim:

1. Stunning installation by UK artist Liam Gillick that spans 17 floors of the building’s exterior with the phrase “The clouds looked no nearer than when I was lying on the street.”

2. Marble-clad lobby lounge that serves up afternoon tea, cocktails and raw seafood.

3. Live entertainment  on a $225,000 hand-crafted white Fazioli piano with 18 carat hinges.

4. Astonishing 180-foot origami light sculpture by Vancouver’s Joseph Wu that extends the length of Oru, the hotel’s Pan-Asian bistro.

5. Granville Island Florist outpost located within that means never going without fresh roses.

6. Discovery Theatre, a private movie theatre with 18 plush leather seats you can book for slumber parties. Just don’t watch The Shining.

7. Expansive Willow Stream spa with women’s steam room and lounge, and an ocean-view terrace with and forthcoming Jacuzzis and meditation pods.

8. State-of-the-art 4,000 square foot gym with a studio for yoga and Pilates.

9. Serene, spacious rooms—many with balconies—that feature espresso makers and 100 square foot spa bathrooms with embedded mirror televisions.

10. A sixth floor rooftop pool, inspired by the Bel Air in Los Angeles, ready in time for spring.

For more information visit www.fairmont.com/pacificrim

When it comes to Canadian pride, our cup runneth over right now.

And in lieu of winning one of Canada’s 26 Olympic medals co-designed by Aboriginal artist Corrine Hunt, we’re awarding ourselves Imm Living’s totem cups. Designed by Torontonian Rod Southcott, the set of four stackable porcelain cups pays homage to the artistry of our First Nations’ totem carvings.

Our cup of Tim Hortons coffee has never been so culturally cool.

$69.99 at Homewerx, 1053 Davie St., Vancouver, 604-682-2204, www.homewerx.ca

With all the military-inspired fashion this season, it’s tempting to join the troops.

This tailored, studded flak jacket by Roxy gets wins for both a flattering fit and a perfect price point ($69). Four boxes of them just arrived at the store.

Soldier on!

At Quicksilver, 820 Granville St., Vancouver, 604-688-9030, www.quiksilver.com