VICKI BURNS - Executive Director of the Winnipeg Humane Society
winnipeghumanesociety.com

Vicki Burns has been with the Winnipeg Humane Society for the past 14 years. With a true love for animals, Burns says she couldn’t ask for a better job. She shares with us how she’d spend her perfect summer Saturday in the city:

To start of the day, the first thing I’d do (after having breakfast), is go to a yoga class with my favourite instructor, Beth Martens. Yoga is a great way to start the day—you get your body moving, and your mind clear and ready for the day.

Next I’d go home and pick up my two dogs, and my husband, John Gosselin. We’d take the dogs for a nice long walk in Assiniboine Park. Jess is a yellow lab cross, who we adopted from the Humane Society after she was brought in very pregnant. We took her home and she had nine puppies. Not a single one looked like her! Eight of the puppies were adopted, and we kept one, who we named R.J. (Rover Junior—our son wanted to remember our old dog Rover). Our dogs are great pals, and we love them dearly. Going through the park is just lovely. There are all kinds of green space for the dogs to sniff and for us to enjoy.

After we finish our walk, we’ll have worked up quite an appetite, so John and I would drop off the dogs at home, and go to McNally Robinson Booksellers in Grant Park Shopping Centre (1120 Grant Ave.). John loves books and magazines, and I love to read novels. I always have one on the go, and I try to read something every day. So we would look at the books and then stop in at the Prairie Ink Restaurant. They have a delicious pear and blue cheese salad, or veggie pizza that is really tasty, but the really special thing there is their dessert. I’ll have a salad, so I can rationalize having dessert—a decadent fruit crisp.

After lunch, I’ll drop John off and go to some of my favourite shops. I absolutely love second hand clothing stores, and I usually check out my favorites at least once a month because I often find tremendous buys: The Closet Chick (938 Portage Ave.); Twice the Look (129 Marion St.); and Signatures by Ellen (127 Marion St.). I love clothes, but I really don’t love spending a lot on them, and this is a great way to be able to have a fair number of choices in your wardrobe. It also fits my environmental value of reusing and recycling. Plus like many Winnipeggers, I love a bargain!

At the end of the day, I’ll want to have a great meal for supper. We’ll take four of our closest friends out to Bellissimo (877 Waverly St.). It’s not too far from our home, and they have delicious food. I’ll definitely have the spinach and goat cheese salad, with a glass of my favorite red wine, Lindemans Shiraz. I have a love for sweets, so I’ll have their Turtle cheesecake for dessert.

After our meal we will head home, and John and I will take Jess and R.J. for another walk around the River Heights neighbourhood.