Tieing up the loose ends

What a crazy past few days it has been for the gorgeous city I live in.

How a city can go from having loving, hopeful and joyous citizens who are full of pride and positivity – to the utter chaos, brutality, destructive and pure hatred for the city we call home – all in the matter of a few hours still leaves me speechless. I do not want to go into detail because I think talking about what occurred after the Canuck’s lost the Stanley Cup final was unnecessary and disgustingly embarrassing for Vancouver. I can’t justify the happenings that occurred by a bunch of ignorant morons by talking about it more than this. I don’t understand how people can be so inhuman and live the privileged lives they do.

I love Vancouver, the people in it, the beauty it radiates and am so glad to be here every single day.

Moving forward life has been so busy I haven’t even had time to blog about it! I finally made a big decision today and I wanted to share my reasons (not that I need to explain myself) as to why I have quit one of my jobs. Over the past few months of living in Vancouver I’ve been determined and focused on landing a job that I could be passionate about, love the work that I’m doing and finally be able to get into a normal routine that allowed me to find that work-life-balance. As you all know, I did land a(n) great amazing, first professional job of my career – Communications Assistant for the Vancouver Park Board.

In order to get to this point I’ve had several wonderful opportunities that have allowed and helped me to get to where I am right now. One was working as a social media consultant for a company and serving at the Kits Boathouse. I finally felt it was right to say thank you for the opportunity, but I’m not happy serving and I quit my part-time job at the Boathouse. I don’t know why I feel so awful about quitting – it’s probably because I take pride in my work and appreciate all opportunities that I’m given – but I felt that it was the right choice. I moved to Vancouver to experience its beauty, hike it’s mountains, camp it’s wilderness, swim its beaches, and live the active and meaningful lifestyle that I dreamed of… and I won’t be able to do that serving on nights and weekends with money as my main priority.

Moving forward – I’m almost done week #2 at the Park Board! In this short time I’ve already learned a valuable lesson and have even completed a few small projects – talk about productivity and learning by mistakes! I’m so excited for the summer and for what is to come – and I’m even more excited to be working with the wonderful professionals who take pride in their work and do a damn good job whilst doing it.

I’m kind of in a temporary office spot right now – but I wanted to share a few cool things with you all! First of all they didn’t have a desk for me… so they literally dug deep and found a really old desk stored away and had it brought over from another location! Weird maybe, but it’s one of those hand-crafted secret desks! You have to open certain drawers before others because there is a lock system built into the back. I love it, it has such character and a hugeeee top to spread out all my ongoing projects on.

I finally just got my phone set up yesterday… So now I have a laptop, email address and a phone – wahoo! God I’m a loser when it comes to organization, but it is SO important for productivity! I must have separate files (paper, email and hard drive) for everything and know where everything is so I can get to it immediately when needed.

Can’t forget to mention I make to-do lists EVERYDAY and sometimes re-write them throughout the day to keep myself on task and productive!

I’m still struggling a bit to the huge change of routine… but things are finally starting to come together. I’m loving the simple things like getting up early and taking transit with all the other people on their way to work downtown. Getting coffee from my local coffee shop before hopping on the bus . Breathing in the morning air as I walk along the beach to my office. Checking my email and newspapers as soon as I get in… and most importantly feeling like I’m being productive! When it comes to food – I’ve started off pretty well I must say! I have breakfast at home every morning…. typically this:

 Or I take yogurt, berries and raw oats in a container if I’m running late. Followed by a snack of raw carrots and broccoli with a few tablespoons of hummus for a snack and a salad for lunch that looks a little like this:

Honestly, it’s having the nights to myself that I’m slowly adjusting to. Before I used to sleep in, workout, coffee shop hop for the afternoon and typically still be job searching or working into the night. Now, I don’t have to look for a job – or work from home – so I can start planning fun, active things into my schedule.. but what do I choose? Gym? Community class of some sort? Yoga? Running group? Crossfit? There are SO MANY options!

So along with trying to get this food preparation and planning down this weekend (Faith and I are already planning to dedicate Sunday to food prep day – stay tuned!) I am looking for my *extracurricular activity* if you will!

Any suggestions of a cool physical/active/fitness related something I can get involved with in Vancouver a few nights a week?

Fresh Start

Today was my very first Monday at my new job – and it was great! I don’t know about you, but when I say good – it means exciting, busy and very, very productive! The kind of day where you don’t stop working and the time literally flyssss by because you are SO busy you don’t ever have the change to look at the clock. Most people probably think I’m crazy – but I thrive off of this type of work atmosphere.

After work I flew across downtown to my friend’s place to watch Game 6 of the Stanley Cup playoffs… and as predicted – Vancouver LOST! Although it kind of sucks, we needed to bring it home for game 7 in order to take the series and win on home ice (knocking on wood as we speak)! The Canuck pride in this city is absolutely incredible and I CANNOT WAIT for Wednesday night’s game – ahhhhh! :)

Look what I spotted on my way to work this morning:

Last night as I was walking home from job #2 (the restaurant on the beach) and I read a tweet from a good friend stating “Lesson of the weekend = life is too short.” It really hit home because since starting this new job I’ve been continuing to do something I really don’t want to do… serve tables. If it weren’t because of the great people who work there or the fast money, I wouldn’t continue to do it; but I know that for the meantime I have to. I don’t know about you but I often struggle to “do things I don’t want to do” and question if the reasons for continuing to do them really out way the reasons for giving it up. The only reason I’m still there is because of money and that’s not a good enough reason for me anymore.

I moved here for a fresh start. The new routine and lifestyle that I craved so badly I left my old routine and lifestyle to set off to find. That being said, I’ve found a job and the potential for that routine I’ve been craving is possible! It’s time to work on the goals that mean the very most to me. So starting today I’m going to blog about my healthy lifestyle and am using my blog as a means of keeping myself accountable!

So what does this mean? It means I’m going to enjoy my summer in Vancouver the true vancouverite way: healthy, active and green!

Goal #1: Buy a bike (and sell my car back home). I don’t need nor want a car here in Vancouver. Honestly, there is no point for me to have a car! I live 20 minutes away from my work and once I get a bike I will kill two birds with one stone (proverbially speaking): green and active!

Goal #2: Eat clean. I need to start writing down everything I eat and start counting calories (not obsessive but have a good awareness of my food intake). I have an issue with convenience eating and portion control – and I know this. (Also… I’m not allowed to buy peanut butter because I will eat the entire jar in a week… or less.)

Goal #3: Start a new fitness routine. As you might have already realized – I get really bored with the same fitness routine. If there is a set goal (ie. Insanity) and length of time until the goal is finished I am really good with staying on track! I love cardio based things (running for example) but I know how important strength training is and have a weird obsession with wanting to go extreme. Give me the heaviest kettlebell to swing and the largest dumbbell and I will make sure to kick my butt!

So, I’m hoping with the purchase of a bike I will be able to also start using the gym at my work! It’s not a very big gym – but it has equipment and a few cardio machines. I’m allowed to use it whenever I want so I’m going to take advantage of that instead of buying a gym membership for the next few months at least :)

The Plan: My ultimate plan is as follows: 1. Bike to and from work everyday (and bike around the city)! 2. Go to work early so I can run and get a weight routine in before work. 3. Eat clean and start making a food plan. I know my biggest struggle is going to be taking the time to prepare meals – I struggle with this SO MUCH.

Any suggestions? How do you make time to prepare and plan your meals?

(Ps. I just want to make an open call for people following my blog! What would you like to see more of? Pictures of my food? Writing down all my meals and focus on calorie counting? Workout schedules and details? You let me know and I will focus on it!)