Sunday, February 28, 2010

Doing it Drive-By Style

The last couple of days have been absolutely GOLDEN!













Vancouver 2010. The world came to visit. We owned the podium. Party in the streets. And I was there!

In one word? Amazing.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Live from the Olympics














Signing out from the USA-FIN game!!!!!!

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Olympic Bound

Hola bloggies!

Since we last spoke I've totally been keeping myself busy.




Yes there has been some work stuff involved but it hasn't been that bad. You see I work in the justice system and the courts, like a lot of things in British Columbia, have ground to a halt during the Olympics.




Which means I've had the opportunity to get in quite a good number of hikes!




I've also had the chance to enjoy some of my favourite places at a leisurely rate.




Kicking Horse Coffee? YES please!!!




The Fiance's schedule has been quite good as of late. Consequently he's joined me in some of my leisurely wanderings.




And yes - good meals have definitely been had! Nomnommomnom!




And to burn off some of those delicious meals I've begun a full cycle of P90X. I've also gone back to running. Feeling kind of proud of myself on both fronts!!




And what am I up to now? Funny you should ask! At this very moment we are on our way to Vancouver to take in the Olympics!!!!!




We have tickets to the men's hockey semifinal featuring the USA!!! I hope you bloggies will forgive me but I don't think I'll be able to cheer for my American friends (the arch rival thing gets in the way - lol).




As always, part of the fun is the journey. Which for us always includes loading up on goodies we can't easily acquire North of the Border.




$1 Luna bars! Fage! TCBY! Sometimes I love you to bits USA!!!




Armed Forces Recruitment Centres? Another thing we don't really have in Canada are Armed Forces Recruitment Centres. Which probably explains why the Fiance confused it with an Army & Navy store!!! He stopped just short of walking in and telling the guys inside he was just there to look around! Ahahaha - I would have died laughing!!




Some lovely views...




Yummy breaks...




And ethnic eats later...we're almost at our destination!




The only downside is that we had to leave the puppers at home. Still she's with a family that loves her to pieces! And that makes me a happy fur mommy!

Check you later - from the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver!!!!!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

You Gotta Be Here!!




Happy Olympic Eve Everyone!!!!!!!!

It's been over 20 years since Canada last had the pleasure of welcoming the World! This time around the 2010 Winter Olympics are being held in Vancouver, British Columbia. I may be a Toronto girl at heart but I've chosen to make B.C. my home.

I first came out for law school and soon discovered a corner of the world that ranks right up there with the most beautiful places I have ever seen! People originally from B.C. live under some misapprehension that the rest of Canada looks like this - it doesn't. Don't get me wrong - every Province has something wonderful but B.C. really is spectacular!!! Once I had seen the Ocean, mountains, lakes, rainforests . . . I knew it would be very hard to leave. And so I'm still here!

On this Olympic Eve I hope the World enjoys Supernatural B.C.! And I hope they love the wonderful warmth of Canadians! We may not be a flag waving nation (unless it comes to the patches on our backpacks when traveling in Europe) but we are proud of this place.

Come visit won't you? You gotta be here!!! :o)

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Power Up!

Morning bloggies:

In the recent past you've heard me rave about yoga. Now as big a fan as I am now, it wasn't always that way. In fact I daresay I used to have some misconceptions and misgivings about yoga that I've now moved past:


Misconception #1: How can you call that exercise!? It's only stretching!

Ahhh . . . but it's so much more than stretching. You hold poses (challenging your muscles) and move quickly (at least in the type of yoga that I like) between each pose as well! I dare you to do an hour of power yoga and claim it's only streching. In fact, I'd argue that the average power yoga session has you doing dozens of push ups. Trust me - your abs feel it in the next morning!


Misconception #2: Oh come on! But it's called a "practice!" You don't practice running or weight training. It's for sissies!

It really isn't for sissies.  In fact, it's my frank opinion that those that workout in other ways can greatly benefit from yoga. Anything that makes you stronger and more limber all at the same time is A1 in my book! As for why they call it a practice - I'm not really sure. But in the end it's all semantics.


Misconception #3: Isn't yoga an Eastern religious practice?  You can't participate if you're Christian!

I'll admit that this one was a big struggle for me. Yes, yoga is derived from physical and mental practices originating in India. And yes they are heavily associated with Hinduism. Having said that, there are many ways to practice yoga - including some that bear very little in common with the traditional Indian practices.

While some choose to practice yoga with yoginis that speak of the "third eye" or in quasi-religious retreats there are people like me who choose to practice yoga with very Western teachers whose emphasis is solely on physical conditioning and relaxation. You won't ever find me in the former kind of class. It's just not what I'm comfortable with - so I won't go there.


As for the type of yoga that I particularly heart!? Power Yoga with Rodney Yee - I feel awesome afterwards!



Have you ever tried yoga? What are your opinions on the practice - is it for sissies? Does it kick your butt? Are you curious?

Monday, February 8, 2010

The Red Mittens Found a Home!!!

Hola bloggies!

I'm thrilled with all the entries I received for the red mitten giveaway!

To choose the winner I numbered all the entries with the blog entries going first and then the tweets. I then numbered those entries from 1-33. I plugged those numbers into random.org - which revealed the winner to be number 15!!!! Congrats TMB @ Racing with Babes!!!! If you send me your addy, I'll happily send the red mittens to their new home.

And just before I sign off I thought I'd leave you with a picture of the puppy love of my life!




Buenas noches!

Friday, February 5, 2010

Of Lovely Paper Things - The Wedding Edition

Hola peeps!

So let's talk weddings . . . and specifically the lovely paper things that one associates with weddings! Invitations. I have to admit I haven't been a fan of most invitations out there. For the most part they are alright but just don't call to me.

Cue the wonderful Laurie of Designed by Yours Truly.  Laurie is our incredibly gifted wedding invitation designer! And we're so excited to be working with her!!! I first met Laurie when I was in law school and she was working/living in the same city. We were a pair of Toronto transplants who bonded over theme food nights every Wed. for our group ANTM gatherings (oh the snarky comments and yummy eats - how I miss those days!). Having been in her apartment I knew the girl had STYLE!

Some years later Laurie (a graphic artist) decided to design her own fantastic wedding invitations. Soon thereafter she joined forces with Jennifer (her sister-in-law and a fashion designer) to create Designed by Yours Truly. When it came time to design our invites I never considered going with anyone else.

The first thing Laurie asked us to do was to show her a sample of an invitation suite that we loved. The Fiance and I set off to find something and I won't lie. It was HARD. And then we found it . . . an invitation suite designed by the incomparable Ceci New York:



The suite combined some amazing elements that made us just giddy with delight: colourful tropical liners, bamboo paper, formality mixed with whimsy, and design touches that reflect the location of the wedding as well as the style of the couple. We had found our inspiration - finally an invitation that made us both happy and truly excited about the possibilities!!

While in Toronto over Christmas, we met with Laurie (she is Toronto based) and went through some preliminary paper choices. We also went through some invitation samples in an attempt to draw inspiration from those and combine it with the elements we love (!) from our inspiration invites.






Since our return we've been in constant communication with Laurie discussing design elements, paper choices, and fonts. I have to confess this has been a load of of fun and we find ourselves excited about PAPER!!!! Oh the lovely paper things that will result from this process - we (all three of us) are pouring a lot into this invite - in the end we are hopeful that they will truly reflect the essence of our wedding day!!!

Yaaaaaaaaay invitations! :o)

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Red Mittens Looking for a Home

Hola peeps!

It's been a while huh? Well the first month (approx) of work for me was crazy. Never in the office. Always in court. Always traveling. Running multiple trials a day. Glad that's over - and I can get back to blogging, amongst other things.

Now despite my crazy work I still think January was a good month. Balance Susan did a great "Lessons Learned in January List"

1) A non-pescatarian diet is good for me. Last summer I went pescatarian and although I felt lighter it soon caught up with me. By the end of the year I was severely anemic and suffering from low blood pressure. I still completely believe you can be a successful pescatarian but I wasn't doing so hot. In my
Doctor's advice I reincorporated other proteins into my life. While I'm not thrilled with eating meat I am beside myself happy at not feeling continually cruddy! It's a work in progress.

2) Power Yoga is my friend. I've recently reincorporated a yoga practice into my life and I feel awesome. My personal fave is Power Yoga with Rodney Yee. It allows me to feel limber and strong at the same time. And the next day my abs hurt!

3) Praying more often makes me feel centred. One of my New Year's resolutions was to pray more and I have been! In fact the Fiance has been praying with me. Those quiet moments really help to put everything in perspective.

4) Just because your work life is super busy doesn't mean you have to feel stressed out. Work is work. I do it to the best of my abilities. And then I come home. In the past I've really let myself get overwhelmed by how busy I am at work. Not anymore - this is a massive step forward!!!!

5) I NEED to run again. I crave it. I've been streching like a mad woman and being uber-kind to my knees. In fact I'm looking for a race. I want to feel that runner's high again.


Not bad for one month into the year! Hopefully February will be even better!


GIVEAWAY

You've seem them on TV! You've seen them on blogs! And in 8 days you'll see them everywhere!!!!




The oh so coveted Canadian Olympic red mittens!!! On one side they feature the Maple Leaf and on the other side the Olympic rings! Cute? Yes!! And they could be yours!!!

(BTW the picture above was taken while we waited for the torch to run by. The glowing coke bottle was given to us by the cheer squad.)

I have one pair of Red Mittens to give away in an adult size S/M! That makes them suitable for women and men incapable of palming a basketball! LOL

Since I want to get these puppies in your hands by the Olympics this contest will only be open until noon PST on Sunday!!!!

To get one entry comment down below. For another entry link back from your blog, and comment below with the URL. And for yet another entry tweet something along the lines of "I want to win Olympic red mittens from @torontogirlwest"

It's that simple!!! So get commenting, linking, and tweeting!!!

Good luck peeps!!


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