Personal and Goals – Page 20 – HIKES & HAMSTRINGS

I Didn’t Kill My Plant!

Well okay, I admit it: I may have left my plant for 3 weeks to fend for itself. However, I did saturate its soil with water before I left, and thanks to my good friend Jen, it had an ‘aqua bulb’. The bulb definitely helped, because even though there were some dead or dying parts of the plant, there’s still an overwhelming amount of green. It needs some more water though, fo’ sho’. Time to nourish this baby back to its glory!

Since I’m such a good and caring parent, I decided to get my plant a buddy. It’s a Dracaena, and apparently it’s fairly neglect-proof, so it’s perfect for a beginner like me. Let’s see how long I can care for the both of them…. 🙂

Insight, Just ‘Cause…

It’s Saturday afternoon, and I just feel like writing a short blog post. I have a ton of things to do this weekend, but alas, I’ve decided to take a break and make myself a nice cup of pomegranate raspberry green tea. Bliss :). Here are two photos that reveal a little something about me.

1) I spent my Thursday night organizing my shoes. Yes, I keep the shoe boxes, and I’m generally concerned about the carpet getting dirty. Since I’m all about organization in my life, this actually gave me great joy. In “The Happiness Project”, doesn’t Gretchen Rubin talk about cleaning closets and organizing and stuff? I also realized that I have more shoes that I thought I did, yet wear the same shoes every day. Hmm.

2) I’m currently sporting a book on Medical Statistics on my bedside table. It’s true- I’m a nerd at heart. And it’s fun to brush up on the fundamentals of biostatistics. I’m sure everyone agrees with me. Go Normal Distribution!

The moral of the story is: I highly recommend pomegranate raspberry green tea. It’s bliss :).

A Surprise Birthday Reunion!

Uh, do I know you?? Yeah- that’s how much time has passed.

So we all remember my awesome friend Jen, right? She is a great fine artist living in Ottawa (you can find her website here), and she was responsible for sending me the Double Rainbow shirt of awesomeness. Well, today is her birthday, and it’s a milestone day. Happy Birthday Jen!

A few months ago, her husband Jeremy contacted me. He wanted to do something big for Jen, and he asked me: “What’s the possibility of you being in the Southern Ontario region around the time of Jen’s birthday?”. He knows that Jen and I hadn’t seen each other in forever, and what a great surprise it would be if we could reunite. After discussing the details, it was decided that I would go to Ottawa directly for her birthday weekend and surprise her. There wasn’t much convincing needed- I love surprises, and this one would be epic! You see, I hadn’t seen Jen in about 7 or 8 years, so the trip would be a great surprise for both her and me. We went to the same elementary and high schools, and we both attended The University of Guelph. There would be much catching up to do, lots of hijinks, and many hours of reminiscing.

Hijinks: A Strange Woman offers you a cup of coffee. If you accept, turn to page 36. If you refuse, turn to page 47.

I arrived in Ottawa on Saturday morning and Jeremy was there to greet me. After a quick stop to pick up some flowers, we were off to their house where Jen was waiting. Seven years was definitely far too long. When she came around the corner and saw me standing in the foyer, we immediately hugged. And I’m not going to lie: it was an emotional scene with laughs, expressions of disbelief, many hugs, and happy tears. An epic weekend followed from there. We all talked into the wee hours of the night, shared some great meals and stories, and just enjoyed our time together.

YUM! Cheesy garlic bread… :P — YUM! Cheesy garlic bread… 😛

The thing is, Jen and I are different people now, and yet everything felt the same between us. We would talk for hours in elementary school, and we talked for hours this weekend. Sometimes time doesn’t change the fundamentals of who people are, but instead crystallizes them to who they’ve always been. A lot of time had passed. Jen and I are more mature and incredibly silly at the same time. We made similar kinds of jokes that were familiar to us, and found ourselves in shenanigans that we missed.

An ill-timed jump shot taken by a newb? Being crazy after humming “Crazy Clock” from our high school music class? Or just prancing around Parliament Hill?? All of the above I suppose :) — An ill-timed jump shot taken by a newb? Being crazy after humming “Crazy Clock” from our high school music class? Or just prancing around Parliament Hill?? All of the above I suppose 🙂

Thank you, Jeremy, for orchestrating such a wonderful surprise, and thanks for a fantastic weekend. Jen, you are one of my oldest and closest friends, and spending the time together was priceless. I miss you already! Let’s not wait another 7 years to see each other again, Mmkay? 🙂

Stylin’ in some garden crocs. Oh no I di’nt! But I did.

The Calgary Farmers’ Market

FarmersMarket1 — http://www.calgaryfarmersmarket.ca

Oh the Calgary Farmers’ Market (www.calgaryfarmersmarket.ca/). I’ve been wanting to go since arriving in Calgary over two years ago. So as usual, I just never went. In reviewing my 30 before 30 list, I thought about community-oriented activities that I want to do (…yes, it’s pretty open-ended). And since the Calgary Farmers’ Market (CFM) recently re-opened at its new Blackfoot Centre location, I knew this would be a place to support and visit. The CFM prides itself as a venue where Calgarians can get the best local food and products. Now, for convenience, I’m definitely one to go to Superstore and load up my entire selection of groceries. The fact is it can be quite expensive to buy all groceries from the market; nevertheless, I’m also all for supporting local farmers and vendors. So off to the Calgary Farmers’ Market I went.

I entered the CFM at around 3:30 pm, and I hadn’t even had my coffee for the day. So it was great to see Fratello Analog Cafe near the entrance. According to the website (www.fratellocoffee.com), Fratello Coffee Roasters is a second-generation boutique coffee roaster with experience sourcing beans chosen for their desirable taste profiles. Their coffee is consciously chosen, responsibly purchased, and carefully roasted. Sounds good to me! The staff was incredibly friendly, and though it was quite busy, I received my coffee in a timely manner. I ended up ordering a 12oz cup of Sumatra Aceh. This blend has a sweet clove aroma with a syrupy body and flavours of milk chocolate and roasted almonds. Sounds good to me. I’m a huge Starbucks fan, but I definitely enjoyed this fantastic blend much more!

After wandering with my coffee, I stopped at Simple Simon Pies (www.simplesimonpies.com). Simple Simon Pies is a locally owned and operated company that’s been producing pies for more than 20 years. They make 4″ individual serving pies which are all made by hand using the freshest ingredients. After taste-testing a chicken dijon pie, I was sold, and so I bought a chicken shepherd’s pie. Yum! I didn’t feel like cooking dinner Saturday night, so this made a great treat to myself.

My last stop was Gull Valley Greenhouses (www.gullvalley.ca). I was told by a colleague that their tomatoes are to die for. The tomatoes there are picked fully ripened, and handled only at the picking and selling stages. All of the produce is grown without the use of pesticides and herbicides. Sounds good to me! I still had many tomatoes in my fridge, so I opted to get Three Amigo Bruschetta to eat with some nachos I had at home. The bruschetta is now half gone. It’s really good.

After I bought the bruschetta, I headed out of the Farmers’ Market quite content with my purchases. I had a great cup of coffee, supported a local company by buying a pie for dinner, and now had some bruschetta made from local produce. I’ll definitely be going back to the market again. (To my breakfast buddy- If you’re reading this, we must go here! The coffee and food options are awesome!!). Does this mean I can now cross #26 off of my list? For the sake of the list, yes I will, but doing community-oriented activities doesn’t end with just one :)…

In an unrelated but much more important note, it is Mother’s Day today! Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mothers out there. And a special shout out to my Mummy! Thank you for everything, and I love you!!!

OMG! I’m Almost 30 and There’s a List!

It’s a true story. I’m almost 30. I’m by no means dreading turning this age- aren’t the 30’s the new 20’s like Pink is the new Black or something like that? I’m actually quite excited about what my 30’s will bring. I hope for as much adventure, self-discovery, and ups and downs as the last decade, and I’ll embrace and cherish whatever comes my way.

The reason for the mini-freak out is that I have a list of 30 things to do before 30, and I realize I need to get moving on it! I can use every excuse there is- it is eternally winter in Calgary… I got super busy with work… or I just got lazy with it. Either way, I have a renewed sense of focus. I do, however, fully acknowledge that I may not complete everything on the list in the next 3 months. The whole purpose of my list was to motivate me to keep living, learning and experiencing. Goal-setting and me work well together. I’ve had some great experiences lately, like hiking in the Grand Canyon in early April, and hiking up Prairie Mountain last weekend. I think these are pretty list-worthy.

And since I made the list, I think I’m allowed to change it. For example, I have now made the following update:

Go ~~Skiing~~ Snowshoeing in the Rockies

I wanted to go skiing just to do some kind of activity during the winter months. My feelings for winter are comparable to my feelings on high-fives or all things Charlie Sheen- I just don’t like. But since winter is a long season in Calgary, I figured I should do something. Though I do enjoy skiing, I’ve had a few skiing experiences where I felt I almost broke my legs. So I do have some fear and apprehension when it comes to skiing. Excuse? Maybe… because I think it’s sheer laziness that kept me from going to the mountains, and I know I’ll get back on the horse at some point. But then during an awesome Easter weekend away in Revelstoke BC with some great nerds, I was able to go snowshoeing. That’s definitely a winter activity. So I’ve now swapped skiing with snowshoeing. Just ’cause I can.

What else can I write about regarding my list? I will say it right now: I will fail to read The Kite Runner (#15). I just won’t do it. However, I am still working away on The Comfort Trap (remember, I’m all over the self-help books as revealed in a previous posting), and The Thief of Always, by Clive Barker. I remember reading this latter book in elementary school and decided to re-read it now as an adult. It’s scary stuff for a kid! According to the Miami Herald- “Menacing demons, wondrous miracles, sinister magic, and vivid characters… A compulsive, lightning-paced tale that almost begs to be read aloud.” Agreed Miami Herald. Agreed.

For #6, Buy Myself some Expensive Jeans, I just don’t think I’ll do this one right now. Maybe sometime down the road I’ll walk into Harry Rosen, throw down a wad of cash, and say “Dress Me!”, but at the moment, financially, I cannot justify this action. There are also many other things on which I could spend a wad of cash… you know, groceries and consumables. And lastly, it will not be possible to complete 5 rounds of P90X by the time I’m 30 (#22). The number of days left are just not there. I’m on the verge of completing Week 7 of Round 4 though. Just gotta keep bringing it! Damn you Tony Horton and your addictive exercise DVDs!

Overall, I’m content with the progress I’ve made on completing the List, but clearly it’s time to step it up!! Thirty is just around the corner….