New kids on the block had a bunch of hits…

I’m so sorry for my lack of updates over the past few weeks! I’m slowing starting to realize that a full-time job really is a full-time job and extra time at night has been dedicated to working out, visiting with friends and relaxing in the sunshine (can you blame me?)!

Faith and I are slowing starting to realize that the hottest time of the day in Vancouver is typically 4-6pm… whereas in Halifax it’s 12-2ish! It’s really weird that I can get off work at 4:30 and still have time to catch the end of the hottest time of the day. Not complaining :)

I’ve been crazy busy with work (which is what I LOVE) and it’s going great! I just moved into a new office space because the person who was there got a promotion (yay Barb!) and her desk has an incredible view of the back gardens at the Park Board.. birds and squirrels included!

This weekend Faith and I decided to let whatever happened yesterday happen. Go with what ever we felt at that time and set no expectations.. this is what conspired: Friday night drinks + movies + a lovely night out to talk about our week at work.

The Sylvia Hotel – my new favourite place for after work drinks! It’s literally 4 blocks from my work, right on the beach and is one of the oldest buildings in Vancouver.

Saturday was a beautiful day so we headed out on foot to see where our feet would take us! I can’t express how much I love Kits other than keep saying it. I feel so home here it’s amazing. Here are the beautiful hydrangea’s blooming in our front yard!

First stop was coffee for me at 49th Parallel (where else?) and Starbucks for Faith.

Onward to Granville Island Market I say! Along with the droves of tourists there were flowers, fresh bread, cheeses, chocolates, fresh pasta and seafood galore. If you don’t go to local farmers markets I highly suggest you get to one this weekend!

Cherries anyone?

How about we hop on the sea bus instead of taking the bus?

Sounds good to me! :)

After that we walked around downtown, read for a while at Chapters… I just finished Ann Brashares new book Sisterhood Everlasting. If you’ve even read the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book series (or watched the movies) this is her newest one:

The book takes place 10ish years after the other ones and it was nothing like I expected. It was both sad and exciting and I didn’t want to stop reading! I love the characters in this series and am so glad she wrote this final book. I highly suggest it!

Once we were done there we had a few options on our plate but decided to try to find some last-minute tickets to see New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys (NKOTBSB tour) just because they were in the city and why not! The concert was starting in less than 2 hours and it was a sold out show so we looked on Craigslist to see if there were any last-minute deals going on. I immediately saw a pair for a good price so we called the guy and before we knew it he was driving the tickets right to us!

If it wasn’t lucky enough that we even got the tickets that fast but even crazier was where the tickets were…. the penthouse box suite! We were blown away to say the very least and had an amazing time dancing in our own private section of the huge box (this included our on private bar, kitchen, seats and tables galore to choose from and our own bathroom)!

They are blurry but you get the idea of how far up we were!

Loving life.

Alllll the empty seats just for us!

Private bar.

Where we sat.

Faith loving life.

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It was one of those things that only happens in the movies… and then just to top it all off, I won two tickets to tonight’s show from a twitter contest! I don’t think anything could have been the time Faith and I had last night so I graciously turned them down so they could draw again and let someone else have a great time at the concert. Thanks @dgbars for choosing me!

What was your favourite band growing up who you’d do anything to see live in concert today?

Oh ya as far as workouts go I’ve been doing a little bit of everything lately… but most importantly I’m back into running! I use my Nike+ sports band for outdoor runs and I LOVE it! Do you use Nike+? Let’s be friends -> amanda_23 Add me as a friend if you use it too!

Three Month Anniversary

As of June 1st, I have officially been in Vancouver for THREE months! It is actually crazy how fast the time has flown by and what I’ve accomplished in a mere three months.

I’m finally starting to feel as though my life is about to regain some kind of order. It’s weird because I feel so adjusted to the job-searching-stress and excitement of it all – that I’m actually going to have to adjust to the routine I’ve been dying to have since I got here! It’s funny when you really think about it – we are all working towards something – a goal, a job, reaching that next step in your life – and yet we rarely take time to reflect on the good things we have in the life we are living right now… so my advice is to appreciate the good things in your life right now! :)

I’ve been working at the restaurant the past few days and it’s honestly completely drained me. I worked for over 8 hours yesterday and was completely exhausted by the time I came home to even workout! To top it all off my laptop got a virus and I cannot get it to even start! I’m pretty sure that my operating system has been completely wiped… so I have to take it somewhere tomorrow and pay to have it looked at (I’m not impressed).

Today started out rough, but quickly turned around when I headed outside into the wonderful sunshine! The Kitsilano Farmers Market is literally 2 blocks from my house – which makes me veryyyy happy!

It was so nice out – everyone was out with their children and dogs. There were vendors of all shapes and sizes selling everything from veggies, to chocolate, to soaps, to breads and baked good, to (my favorite) coffee! Sigh, it’s the little things that turn my days around :)

While I was walking around the market I got a lovely text from Leah (@leahevansnz <- follow her!) who starting following and tweeting with me on twitter a few days ago! Turns out she randomly found my blog, just moved to Vancouver from New Zealand and is in Public Relations! How crazy is that?

We totally hit it off and had a million things in common! I took her for a little tour around Kits for the afternoon with several notable stops.

Stop #1: 49th Parallel of course!

Leah saw how often I tweeted and blogged about being a coffee fanatic – and asked me to take her to my favourite place in Kits – this was a no brainer! We sat and chatted for what seemed like 30 mins but was actually over 2 hours! Time was just flyingggg by.

Stop #2: West 4th Ave. shops! It’s a must :)

Stop #3 – Kits beach! 

The beach was PACKED today. It’s insane how many people come out from around the city to enjoy this beautiful beach… and I live SO close to it!

Stop #4: Capers (Whole Foods).

I was telling Leah that because I read so many health and fitness food bloggers I have been dying to live in a city who actually has the Whole Foods chain of all organic foods – and the fact that there’s one a few blocks from my house was probably my favorite thing about moving here for the entire first month of living in Vancouver. It’s that exciting to me!

The entire afternoon literally FLEW by and before we knew it, it was almost 5 o’clock! So I headed Leah in the right direction for the bus back home and we made plans to bike the Seawall tomorrow (I’m SO EXCITED to finally do this)!

I came back home with the flowers I’d been carrying around all afternoon and put them in a vase for the entire house to enjoy :)

I’ve been neglecting yoga lately which is very unfortunate – so I decided I would go to a Bikram Yoga studio (a form of hot yoga) a few blocks from my house tonight. Sometimes we get busy and neglect ourselves, but honestly if you have never practiced yoga – you must give it a try. If you can take time to watch television or do things for others – you can also take time for yourself and your body. Needless to say, the class was amazing and I felt so much less stress about everything going on in my life after I left class tonight.

Since Insanity is over and I’m starting a brand new job I have to decide what my next fitness and life goals are going to be. I’m hoping my schedule will start to allow for a regular routine that gives me a good work-life-fitness balance. I’m still deciding on exactly what goals I’m going to set… but either way they are going to be hardcore results-oriented! I’m thinking of starting a running-yoga hybrid challenge… but I do love high intensity cardio and muscle sculpting workouts and crossfit seems like a great challenge. This is going to be a hard decision!

Any suggestions? What workout and food plan are you on currently?