Five cool things to do this week (February 1 to 7)

1. Visit winter festivals

Canadians aren’t letting the below-zero temperatures keep them indoors and with good reason. Anyone interested in a night-time dip at an outdoor spa? Or a moonlit dance party at an ice palace? The Carnaval de Québec (Feb 1 to 17) has it all. Meanwhile, the nation’s capital hosts the 35th Winterlude (Feb 1 to 18) with the world’s largest skating rink, ice sculpture competitions and a series of musical performances in an outdoor art gallery.

2. See hot female vocalists

From coast to coast, female vocalists are dominating the music scene. Our picks? Indie pop-starlet Ellie Goulding (Feb 5) graces Vancouver's shores, and the sweet sounds of Hannah Georgas (Feb 2) ring out in a church as part of the eagerly anticipated bluegrass and folk line up at Guelph's Hillside Festival. And Montrealers can enjoy a veggie supper, while Julie Doiron serves up some east-coast folk rock (Feb 2).

3. Catch the game

Whether you’re watching because you actually like football, or you prefer shaking your booty to Beyonce at halftime, there are a number of parties happening on this side of the border on Feb 3rd to celebrate the Super Bowl XLVII championship between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers. Get involved!

Commodore Ballroom - Vancouver, BC

Stade Uniprix - Montreal, QC

Sound Academy - Toronto, ON

Available for purchase from Ticketmaster.ca.

4. Shop antiques markets

That perfect owl trinket or cross-stitch wall hanging might be just around the corner with huge antiques fairs happening this week. Cabin Fever, Kingston's Winter Antiques Show, features 50 of the best dealers from Ontario and Quebec (Feb 2 to 3), and Maple Creek (Feb 2 to 3) and Port Perry (Feb 2) offer up an Aladdin’s cave of treasures from fine china, folk art, jewelry and collectibles.

5. Read Data, A Love Story

At 30, journalist and digital-strategy consultant Amy Webb realized being single, with no prospects, wasn’t part of her life plan. With the hopes of changing her reality, she joined the other 40 million people in the online dating community. Data, A Love Story (in stores Feb 5) is a personal account of how she “gamed” the world of online dating and eventually met her husband. We smell a movie deal…