Weekend in the sun!

Hey Everyone!!

               How are you all? Did you have a blast on the weekend?

First off, I wanted to thank you for your support and kind words regarding my interview. You are all so sweet and really help to bring my thoughts back to more positive places and out of the "what if" black hole.  I had a moment of weakness where I thought of everything negative and really brought myself down but I took some deep breaths and continued on to enjoy my weekend!

It was absolutely beautiful here on Saturday and Sunday! I bet you the ski hills were packed:)

Here's a random fact about me: I live within driving distance of 5 great ski hills and I've never visited any of them in the winter to ski, snowboard, or any other activity that involves snow! This is a sad fact, people!! I hope to change this soon. One of the local mountains has these cool events where you snowshoe in to their little lodge. They will host a local band to play for a couple of hours and you can grab a beer, then you snowshoe back! Sounds like a blast to me:)

While everyone was enjoying the powder, I was enjoying the sun downtown by the ocean!!

 I love these chairs!! Although they were a bit too cold to sit in:)

Yes, people this is B.C in the winter! Welcome to the temperate rainforest!

I love the country but one in a while I NEED to come to the city to get my fill. I love the vibe, the scenery, the stores, and of course, the food!

I love how these townhomes are curved!

Then we headed to the heart of the downtown and walked around in the hustle and bustle! Including the beautiful Vancouver Art Gallery. Once I saw those lions I knew I wanted a photo shoot!

 I don't think Aslan would approve of my riding skills!

But hugs make everything better:)

After my visit with Aslan we saw this group..not really sure what there cause was. They also had harmonicas?? It will remain a mystery.

We were planning on taking a tour of the art gallery but the admission price was just too high ( in my opinion). They have a donation night on Tuesday's so we plan on coming back.

Love this building. Sorry for the brightness...no photoshop:(

Lots and lots of great shops on Granville Street! I was on one mission, and one mission only, to find a kettlebell. Unfortunately I failed at my mission. Every fitness store I went to was sold out!!

Listen to the message kids...you don't want to be in Ryan's shoes! Some good scare tactics in the parkade.

Bye Bye big city...until next time!!

As you probably noticed there are no food picts..my bad! We did have a fabulous lunch from Choices market (similar to Whole Foods). I had a Thai noodle salad and Ry had a vegan chili. I also treated myself to some Macasure chocolate and natural licorice. I also had a soy tea misto without the vanilla ( I added honey). Yum this was good! I haven't had one in a long time. PS Saturday was my rewards day so I ate all my faves:)

I'm trying a new technique to combating my sweet tooth that creeps up in the evenings. I'm avoiding the call for sugar for 6 days, then on the 7th day I eat whatever I want. I really like this approach so far and it has been working for me.

Do you designate reward meals or reward days? Or do you simply have a few treats here and there during the week? I find I eat too many sweets at night. I'm not one of those people who can just have one square of chocolate and leave the rest..at least not yet. Eating clean 6 days out of 7 also has a little bit of science behind it that I won't go into here. I'll give that it's own post!

I did cook up some great things this weekend too!

Mexican and Indian spices combine to give this dish super amazing flavor. I added in chili powder, cayenne, paprika, turmeric, and cumin for the spices. The veggies included frozen peas/beans/carrots, orange pepper, and onion. I added in some of my homemade salsa which made this one of the best tasting tofu scrambles yet!

Then for dinner last night I made a delicious acorn squash using the same spice blend as I did for the tofu!

Oh this was good!! I loved the flavor of the spice and squash too. I think that spice blend is a real winner!!

And for dessert on Saturday night it was Averie's Rice Krispie treats. These are so yummy!!

Here's for something different. At Choices Market we found this dairy alternative. It's really quite good. Nice and thick, very similar to the real thing. In fact, it's one of the closest alternatives I've tried so far! If you aren't a fan of coconut don't fret! The coconut flavor is not very strong in this milk at all. I actually would prefer more coconut flavor, but that's just me!

Have you tried it? What did you think?

On Sunday night I finally saw Black Swan. Fantastic movie!!  I love movies that can keep me guessing!! Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis were exceptional. The weight loss that both of these already-thin girls had to do for the film was pretty extreme. If you have seen the movie, you know what Natalie's back looked like and it's not pretty. I was never in dance so I don't know about the pressures in the ballet industry first hand. All I know is what I've read and seen in the media. Considering this I can only imagine the pressure to be thin is very high. Yet, there is another greater theme to the movie that I won't talk about right now as the movie is still in theatres and I don't want to spoil it for you:)

Have you seen the movie? What are your thoughts?

Have a great rest of your day!!

Tradeshow eats + random facts!

TGIF!!!

    How are you all? What did I miss? It was quite a different experience seeing customers face to face rather than over the phone or email. I think because we are so technology dependent, actually talking and making relationships in person is becoming harder to do. That's my 2 cents for this Friday anyways:)

I have to say, Mr. Sun has one the battle over Mr. Gloom this week..it's been stunning! I was sitting out in the sun for lunch at the trade show people watching. The area of Vancouver I was in is very popular for tourists and business people, alike.

I was lucky that there was a food court in a mall right across the street that had a restaurant with juices and a salad bar!

 Those sails you see are part of a building called Canada Place. Isnt' the scenery just amazing! Tons of cameras were out! In fact, in the booth beside us was one of our suppliers. One of their sales people said you have such a stunning place to live in, you have no idea! It was his first time to Vancouver and he said he is coming back in January to go skiing:) Love it when people can enjoy Vancouver and other parts of the B.C. coast:)

 Salad from day 1. Oh so good! pickled beets, broccoli, rice, corn, romaine, peppers, mango, tofu, chickpeas, bean salad, and tomatoes. Not sure if that's a good combo...don't get made at me good food combiners:)

I had it along with a road runner...the juice variety:) This was carrot, beet, pineapple, celery, and some other goodness I can't remember.

 This is the building I was in:) It's the Vancouver Convention Center! It's so beautiful. I love buildings with lots of glass. Funny though where the trade show was at there were no window, only blaring fluorescent lights and stale air LOL! If you look up on the overlap of the roof  you will see tons of wood slates or boards. This  wood  is made from treees that were infected with a nasty pest called the Pine Beetle.  They do this to trees.....

We have had a huge problem in the Northwest as it doesn't get cold enough to kill them off. These little beetles basically eat away at the tree until it dies. So, once you cut down this dead tree the wood has holes all through it and businesses don't want to use that wood. Thankfully, the Olympic committees decided to use the wood in their construction projects and it looks beautiful. I hope more people will be willing to use this so-called "damaged" wood in their projects as the beetle is still causing major damage.

Juice from day 2! Different company this time as I was wanting some green goodness in my juice! This one was called Max Veg and it was from Jugo Juice. This was really good! It had celery, peppers, spinach, carrots, beets,and I think apple. Yum!

Salad from day 2! Same restaurant different toppings:) I went with a bed of baby greens, avocado, peppers, Soba noodles, pickled beets, tomatoes, corn, and chickpeas. Yum! But this gave me a huge stomach ache afterwards which I'm thinking was due to the noodles but who knows!

That funky looking thing in the middle of the picture is where they lit the torch for the winter Olympics...So wish I was there but it's still is cool to look at:)

This globe was inside the convention center and I thought it was so cool! I thought about one of my favorite quotes when I saw this:

BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD

                                                                  ~Gandhi

PS check out the wood on the ceiling:)

Skyscrapers galore!! Check out my random facts to learn why I like this area that is so full of hustle and bustle!

The trade show itself went well. Nothing too crazy happened, besides one of our consultants trying to do yoga in the booth HAHA! I ate way too many jelly belly's as that was the candy we were offering to all those attending the show:) I haven't had that much candy in a long time! My legs were killing me though as it's quite unnatural to stand still for 6 + hours. But it's done and it's Friday so it's all good:)

So now for some random fact...about moi!

1. I've never dyed my hair. I put highlights in once but that's about it. Dye scares me a lot. The smell and all those chemicals absorbing into my body gives me the shivers.

2. I can't eat cooked oatmeal. My mom tried for hours to try to get me to eat the sludge but I have this gag reflex that comes out every time. I come from a huge oatmeal-eating family and Ryan has oatmeal every day...still doesn't appetize me one bit. Yet, overnight oats has me intrigued....

3. I have 13 aunts and uncles and probably around 50 cousins and 2nd cousins that I see regularly:)

4. I have a special place in my heart for Africa. I have always felt a connection there and I cannot wait to visit and to help out where needed. I'm not saying I don't think other countries suffer, I do, it's just I feel I need to go there. I really want to honor those emotions and feelings one day. I feel like it will complete me somehow, yet, I don't know in which way which excites me:) I've told you about my new favorite song already..but check out the video. It makes me cry, it's so beautiful! Torri I'm sure thinks so too:)

5. I love the Spanish language! I think it is so incredibly beautiful and sexy. I want to learn the language and so I think I might take a class or get a program to learn more. Anyone recommend a good program or online class?

6. I want to learn to play the acoustic guitar. I think it's so incredibly intimate...no, sexy! When someone is just in the groove and is playing away. I have this dream of playing and singing a song to Ry on our 10th wedding anniversary:) I should start now as I'm sure I need the practice lol!

This picture connects #6 with #4

7. I used to be a huge scrabbooker but I haven't been able to fit it in lately. I love creating beautiful projects from paper, stickers, stamps, pins, button etc! Maybe I should start a group or something so that I actually use all my stuff...I've got a LOT of it!

8. I've wanted to to work in an area where I could wear a suit to work. I don't know what it is but I like the look!! I probably would change my viewpoint on it once I actually will have to wear one but maybe not. Do you have to wear a suit to work? Do you hate it or feel powerful in it?

That's enough randomness about me lol! Hope you have a wonderful weekend. I'm going to do a little yard work this afternoon as my u-pick hazelnut idea is out the door because they are sold out. I've got a back up though so all should work out well:) I'm trying to absorb all this fall sunshine as I'm sure it will disappear fast. I'm also headed to pick up Junior tomorrow so that's exciting. I'm sure I'll have another million pictures to share!! Then on Sunday I'm going to hang out with a guy I have barely seen lately...my hubby! This week was brutal as our schedules were so wacky. Hopefully Mr. Sun approves and we can go for a bike ride or maybe hit up the beach for some frisbee action.

Talk to you all on Monday! XOXO