The coffee shop-hop

1. HOLY CRAP it’s the middle of July. 2. WHERE is the summer Vancouver???

If I’ve taught myself anything over the past few years, it’s if you want something – you’ve got to go get it! No one is going to hand it to you and let’s be honest (without sounding too corny) the journey of reaching your goal is more beneficial than the actual goal.

My past few days have been chock full of inspiring occurrences – one was participating in a feel-good social movement called Operation Beautiful. The purpose of Operation Beautiful is to post inspiring and feel-good messages in public places so that others will read it and hopefully feel better about themselves no matter what is going on in their life.

Some people organized a facebook event called “Operation Beautiful Invades the World” which inspired people from all over the world to post notes throughout whichever city they live in, so I did my part:

And found some pretty amazing shops along the way! So much fashion inspiration :)

plus I enjoyed a little social interaction and self-reflection time to round off the weekend.

And of course, It wouldn’t have been a typical weekend without the coffee shop-hopping:

I think I visited 5 coffee shops in the past 2 days (7 if you count the ones I didn’t say in!).

So what am I going after you might ask? I’m thinking about being an (un-official) Vancouver coffee shop critique! I figure that I go to so many local coffee shops, have an overwhelming love for coffee (and baked goods!) so I might as well share my experiences – good and bad – so I can save others precious time and from bad coffee experiences!

 My first coffee shop critique will be of my favourite coffee shop of the weekend: Agro Café!

Faith and I decided to venture downtown to Yaletown to check out a cafe we had read reviews about online. It served organic coffee (+1 point), was locally owned (+ another point), had Wifi (+ 10 points), has a cute patio and was right in the heart of Yaletown! When we arrived my first reaction to the decor was excellent. They have a variety of comfy chairs (Faith’s favourite!) and tables with high bar-type stools (my favourite!) and it was very clean and modern.

Even though it passed all the major stipulations of what makes a “good-coffee-shop” the final most important area for the rating is how good the service is. Result? AMAZING. The young woman who was working here was so nice, made nice small talk and was so cheerful! a coffee shop can have everything, but if it’s employees aren’t happy and cheerful the entire coffee-shop experience is ruined.

Thank-you friendly barista for making this rating a 5/5!

Agro Café is my ideal coffee shop and I will definitely be back! Any suggestions for where I should go next?

Workout high

Fitness Update!

I just wanted to post about how I’m doing fitness wise. Sometimes I get wrapped up in the excitement of what new places I’ve explored in this amazing city I forget to post my workout routine/schedule!

In case you haven’t already assumed – I like love change and it’s no different when it comes to my workouts. When I first arrived in Vancouver I realized I lived two blocks from the Kitsilano Community Centre (how ironic that turned out to be huh?). I bought a month pass the second day I arrived and went all the time while adjusting to my surroundings. It was convenient but I decided to do Insanity: Round 2 so there was no point in buying another monthly pass because Insanity is purely home based! So once that ended at the end of May I’ve been bouncing around trying new things (yoga, running, strength training, kettlebell, biking, etc) and switching it up!

While all this is good and great… I want crave routine, goals and schedules. I decided that I’m going to get back into running – but not to the extent that it’s the only thing I do, I want to train right and hard… which means running and strength training. If I’m going to reach my goals I know it has to be a balance of both!

Therefore my plan is as follows:

• Buy a 6 month gym pass to the Kitsilano Community Centre (it might not be the best gym, but its close, local, community based and I work for the Park Board!).

Me outside the KCC during my Mark your Mark campaign

• Run 4 times a week until I feel ready to step it up and reassess (then it will be full on 1/2 marathon training… I’ve got a goal to achieve after all!)
• I’m still trying to sell my car and buy a bike! Know anyone who might want to buy a beautiful 2008 Mazda 3? :)

2008 – Mazda 3 – automatic – great condition – for sale

The good thing is I don’t have to worry about making myself workout… because if I don’t work out I know I’m letting myself down. I love how I feel during and after working out – I get this incredible workout high and feel it from my head to my toes. I know how to push myself and I’ve learned so much over the past few years that I feel confident that I just need to stay focused and keep at it!

If I can do it, so can you!

What’s the biggest obstacle standing in the way of you and your ideal fitness routine?

What would you like to see me post about fitness wise? Would you be interested in knowing the works I do all week in detail? Ideas or specific questions? Comment or message me!

Need some inspiration for success? Check out Dai Manuel’s blog post of Inspirational Success Quotes :)