The Start of an Era

Today marks the end of Month 1 since I’ve been in Vancouver. I’ve already fallen in love with the beautiful city (sorry people, not coming back to the east coast in a longggg time!), felt like I was on vacation and came to the realization that it’s now time to get a job (<– more on that tomorrow when I will explain how I’m going to re-focus after this last whirl-wind of a week consisting of ups and downs)!

On a more positive note Faith is hereeeee! Today was one of the most exciting days I’ve had here since, well, I got here!

My day started out as normal with oatmeal + coffee shop and newspaper reading at Higher Grounds with a huge black coffee while I mapped out my trek to the airport! Yes, I take a picture of my oatmeal every morning ;)

It was so sunny here today! Just to put things in perspective, Vancouver’s rainy season is so intense that all Vancouverites talk about is HOW AMAZING THE SUMMER IS. It’s like when Maritimers talk about how the snow eventually goes away for three months… and then we get it again. I was reading an article today in the Straight (like the Coast for those of you who are Maritimers!) and apparently there has been “23 days with measurable rain, and the average for March is 17.” Surprisingly enough, I’m getting adjusted to the grey and rain quite well – no seasonal depression for this girl!

I got ready, grabbed my sunglasses and walked around Kits to find a nice cafe to try for lunch. I found this adorable place called Pane from Heaven on Cypress St. and 1st Ave. Had a tasty chicken and pesto panini and tried to read “What Color is Your Parachute” but I got too excited to wait any longer and headed to the airport! I don’t know about you, but there’s something I find exciting about airports! Happy reunions, exciting destinations, business as usual for the frequent flyers and you can always run into someone interesting to talk to! I was there about an hour early because I was that excited for her to arrive. Yeah, I’m a dork. Her flight was on-time too :)

We taxied back to our place (which luckily she loves as much as I do!) and we’ve been exploring, catching up and planning since then. I took her to the local spots I’ve come to love and we went to Capers (Whole Food’s to you American’s!) to have a quick and healthy dinner before walking to get groceries. I had a great combination plate of a broccoli and tofu salad, a kamut, squash and cranberry salad and a feta, pea, asparagus with barely!

It’s so great to have someone who knows you better than yourself around at all times. We’ve been best friends since 6th grade and I pretty much consider her my sister -her family is basically my family and vice versa. When I think about the people in my life I always sit back in awe at how lucky I truly am. The way I see it is if you want to lead the best life you can, positively and successfully, you have got to surround yourself with good people. These are the people who bring out the very best in you. (<– One of my little ‘secrets” to life.) I surround myself with those people who others only have positive things to say about, the ones who would help anyone out on the side of the road when their car was broken down in the middle of a rain storm and who have positively glowing personalities the radiates from them. These are the people I’ve chosen to hold close and I know that I’ve become the person I am because of these people; and I take the time to appreciate it everyday. 

I challenge you to tell someone who is like this (a completely incredible person with a stunning personality!) how much they inspire you to be who you are, today! :)

Now here I am sitting in our “living room” trying to pump out this post before heading to bed – but it’s taken SO. LONG. due to our constant “Hey, come look at this!” which is keeping me distracted. I love it.

By the way, I squeezed in Insanity 2.4 + had this snack between all of this! OSD still on track!

From this moment on we have so much to do, see and experience! This is going to be great. Watch out Vancouver – here we come!

 

Keeping On-Track

Thank-you to everyone who left comments on my Lululemon hire-me campaign post! I feel so loved, you are all far too kind!

I feel like everyday for the past while has been a complete blur! I meet new people who are willing to help me on my journey everyday – and most of the time they are people I meet at random! It’s amazing the people and connections you can make when you are positive and confident in what you want. I haven’t heard back from Lululemon thus far. However, I did speak to someone in the HR department who now has my resume and am in contact with another person who might be able to get my resume passed along! All I know is that I’m keeping up my positivity and keeping on track with my goals! (<– That’s my key to success people – If I can do it – so.can.you!)

I will keep you updated!

Operation Slim-Down (OSD) is still on track! Breakfast was the same-ol’-wonderful-same before packing up and heading to a new coffee shop to do some work. This place was Arbutus Coffee (circa early 1900’s I believe!) and was super cute and smelled AMAZING. I actually had to leave because I was going to give in and buy a baked good (which no doubt would have been incredible) and fail at self-control. I won myself over and moved onto the next lovely cafe! :)

I then went boot shopping! I know I should not be shopping for anything because I’m JOBLESS – but honestly my boots that I’ve been wearing now have holes in the sides and the bottoms now = unwearable. Thus the hunt was on – and I found some amazing deals. I got two pairs of boots (both walk-a-ble!) for $80 when full price they would have been $230! Is that a good find or what? 

By this time I was starving and was right next to Choices (or Whole Foods – same chain!) so I went in to get some lunch. I have to admit that the fact that this city has healthy options as take-out at local grocery stores basically makes me want to live here for that reason alone. Halifax needs to step it up! I’ve been following my favourite fitness and food bloggers who live in the USA for a long time now and was always jealous of the fact that they had access to an affordable health-foods grocery store – it makes me smile every time I walk into it knowing that I now can too!

They have this wonderful “hot foods bar” where you can literally put whatever you want in a container or a bowl (take-out or eat-in) and they simply weigh it and that’s how they figure out the cost! It’s amazing and I might become addicted to it… This was my combination today: bean and veggie medley, raw spinach, a spoonful of wheat berries, a few garlic artichokes, 5 cubes of feta, edamame, 5 cubes of sesame tofu and some kale on top! It was delicious and I was so full!

Since I was in the area – I obviously had to have a non-fat latte from 49th Parallel! (Follow them on Twitter – @49thParallel)  They have amazing coffee and it reminds me of TIBS, so for good reason it is my favourite place to get lattes! :)

I then spent the next few hours doing a lot of work trying to email contacts and reached the point that I had enough – it was time to go home! I had a snack and was going to do Insanity 2.3 and then try to make it to 8pm hot yoga but was so tired I had to have a nap. The nap turned into an hour and by the time I finished Cardio Power and Resistance it was past 8pm!

I have to admit that I found it painful to even walk today I am that sore from starting Insanity again. On that note I am going to re-adjust my goals to stick with Insanity first and foremost and incorporate running and yoga into my schedule once my body tells me it’s ready. The key to any fitness program is listening to what your body is telling you!

Late dinner consisted of a spinach salad with strawberries, goat cheese, a few walnuts for protein and a few drops of feta oregano dressing! Dessert consisted of an apple with a side of organic PB – YUM!

On an exciting note, my best friend and amazing photographer Faith Bowyer (<– check out her stuff!) is coming to stay with me tomorrow… because she’s MOVING HERE TOO! I’m so excited you have no idea. We’ve been dreaming of this point in our lives since we were in elementary school – watch out Vancouver you’ve got two very ambitious and passionate ladies in your mists!

What do you do to keep yourself on track with your goals?