Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day Everyone!

Hope you are all having a fabulous Thursday and are getting your green on! I actually forgot that it was today because Nelson is celebrating on Saturday. What's another two days of celebration , right? Is your town doing anything for Earth Week? In Nelson its actually a whole day and night affair. There is yoga and a run early in the morning, then they have vendors and info set up for the afternoon, and finally in the evening there are a bunch of local bands performing. Sounds like a lot of fun to me:)

As it is Mother Earth's spotlight day, I thought I would show you some picts from my favorite places that bring me joy and keep me appreciative of what this beautiful planet has to offer:)

But First I need to share with you some more Green Week Challenge entries.

1. I made my own laundry detergent. I've talked about this before and so head on over to my post here for a super duper simple recipe:) One cool cleaning trick that I heard from Ani Phyo is to save your lemon peels and place them in your half-filled tub and leave overnight. The next time the grime should be gone. I need to try this as I usually forget and compost my peels:) Which brings me to my next entry.

soap cheese?

3 ingredient laundry detergent, now that's what I'm talking about!

The mix ready to go! Super easy:)

2. I have a compost and I produce more compostable materials than I do garbage every week. I think everyone should strive for this because that means you are eating less processed foods and are going the whole foods way!

The bacteria feast..yumm!

3. I know I showed you earlier on, but when we go to Oso we always bring our own mugs for the java (or tea in my case:)

Dandelion tea latte with rice milk...my new obsession:)

Okay so now onto some picts! Hope you enjoy:)

HOME!- ahh the Okanagan in summer is my favorite place. Sun, beaches, wineries, and all around good times. I never realized what a beautiful place I got to grew up in..until I moved away. Now, I try to visit as much as I can in the summer. We try to go every other weekend as its only a 3.5 hour drive from us. Have you ever been to the Okanagan?

This is Okanagan lake. It stretches from Penticton and goes all the way to Kelowna:)

The tiny one is me:) I'm hanging with cool cousins at Skaha Lake.. Good Times!

My home town has a man-made channel running from one lake to the next (yes, there are two lakes in my town) and its a huge tourist attraction in the summer. You get your floatie and some beer (or lots with some crazy people) and off you go. It's fun, you get a tan, you chat, and you laugh for 4 hours straight (when the water is low it can take longer so usually people stop at the halfway point). It's a must try if you are visiting.



For two years I worked for viticulture (wine grape) researchers during the summers I was off from college. I've never had so much from at the workplace and obviously the scenery didn't help either:) We did a lot of research in Oliver and Osoyoos which are the wine capital regions of Canada. Some seriously good wine coming out of this region. Ever heard of Jackson Triggs, Nk'Mip Cellars, or Tinhorn Creek Vineyards? These are some of the biggies that reside in the area.


Camping around B.C - I absolutely love to camp! I always feel like I can never cram enough trips in the summer and fall months. This picture was taken near Lytton, BC. I took the hubby camping for his birthday and we went river rafting. I don't know why I chose this adventure as I'm pretty freaked out by water. I had a great time although there was a freaky moment when I was in the water riding some mini-waves and my "buddy" couldn't pull me up. The guide had to grab me and within seconds we were in some massive waves..what a rush I tell you!



Here is a huge rock that has a crazy current around it.It doesn't look that intimidating until you are eye to eye! Apparently its a very famous area for kayakers. The tour we did was called the Legiondary Thompson River. We went in September so the river was pretty low so if you are the brave at heart, go earlier on in the summer:)


This is a beautiful spot near Maple Ridge, BC and its free camping. Score! Its a government campsite that they no longer take care of. So, you have to bring your own tp and there's nobody to complain to if someone gets rowdy. Luckily we didn't have the latter problem.



Glorious Mexico!- We went to Playa Del Carmen for our honeymoon and I just loved it (even though I caught a cold on the way down..ya nothing more romantic than an abundance of Kleenexes...lol). The color of the water blew me away and it was so warm. I stayed in there as much as I could. I swear even the salt helped with the cold:)


Such a beautiful place. It was our first time there and I took in as much as my stuffy head would allow! Next place I would love to visit would be Costa Rica. I've heard its one of the most eco-friendly countries too!



Golden Ears Park - This park holds a special place in my heart as this is where Ry purposed..ahh! But I loved it before that (hence the reason he asked the question here:) It's stunning, it has a lot of trails, its got camping, and its only an hours drive to get there!





Sorry I couldn't resist! I'll tell you the whole proposal story another time but this is what greeted me when we made it to the top of the trail. Love it!



This past spring we hiked a different trail. We were told to turn around due to the trail still being buried by snow but we carried on. Every 10-15 feet there were sections that were completely melted so there was of descending and climbing back up that day. Yet, the end result was totally worth it!



Grouse Grind - This has become our little obsession over the past couple of years. There is even some competition between our friends to see who can climb up this crazy mountain in the least amount of time. It's a 2.9 km trail that is straight up Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver. I love it and its fun to see how fast you can get up! We usually finish up with a trip to our favorite restaurant, The Naam (24 vegetarian fare..ya, baby!)



Check out that view! This is from the top of the grind. That's part of the gondola in the picture that takes you back down the mountain.



Ahh..I love this place and its such fantastic food. If you ever come to Vancouver you must try this place!


The Chief - This is another mountain hike located in Squamish, BC ( near Whistler). This one is quite challenging as you need a rope/chain to pull yourself up in some parts.It took a lot of convincing on my part to get me to the very top (with the view) but I'm so glad I went:)

Stunning! This is a very popular mountain with climbers as it has a flat face:)

This was the hike that brought out the confidence in me as it was the most challenging hike I'd ever done. I can't wait to go again! That's the joy of hiking, I find, no matter how many times you take a trail, its always different...and you get to do more challenging hikes:)


I have a lot of other cool places that I love (including Nelson) but I'll leave that for another day. Hope you liked my fav places. Have a great Thursday!