Fall to Winter 2010

And what a winter it's turning out to be!

• I've finished renovating my house in New Brunswick - and learned SO MUCH as I had help of friends and family to teach me how to screw drywall, mud, tape, sand, prime and paint; not to mention laying laminate hardwood flooring, replacing windows and installing a new bathroom (plumbing).
• I found some really sweet new hassel-free tennants who are happy with the fact that the inside of the house has recieved a lot of TLC, but are also patient with the fact that I won't be able to focus much on the outside of the house until the Spring months arrive. It's turning out to be a very cute house though!
• I've moved back to Toronto, with a great new job, close to a great man in my life and found a great new apartment that I'm going to be moving into very soon in a fabulous part of the city!
• I've landed a new job/career as an Online Media Strategist with a small advertising agency in Toronto. I'm working with some young, energetic and inspirational minds. My brain is being challenged once again and it feels good to be back in the saddle as far as work is concerned.

For Christmas this year I won't be with my family, which is a bummer but on the flip side I won't be lonely this year. In fact I'm going to meet my boyfriend's family for the first time ever on Xmas eve and Xmas day! Soooo exciting!

It's fast approaching that time again where I love to sit down and put together my TO-DO list for the upcoming year. It's worked really well for me over the past few years so I have no intentions to pause this tradition. What should I put on my list this year? Suggestions anyone??

Happy Holidays People!  xoxoxo

Summer to Fall 2010 - Oh How the Seasons Have Changed!

You'll notice that I took Pretty much most of July and then all of August off from blogging. There is a reason for everything. My July was spent packing up and saying goodbye to Toronto. I've made the nagging decision to move myself back to Moncton, New Brunswick for a few months in an attempt to save some money and get my life back on track. I feel strongly that now is the time for me to prepare for the next chapter in my life.

For me, 2010 has been a year FULL of tests, trials and tribulations. I know what I'm about to write is conceited in the eyes of most, but I have to say it anyway - I am so damn proud of myself for holding my head as high as I've been holding it throughout this all. :) At the end of the day, if there is one lesson I can teach anyone who may be going through a rough patch in life it's simple: STAY POSITIVE - ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING!!!! Positive people are drawn and attracted to more positive people, just as successful people are drawn to more successful people and so on. Yes, it works the other way around - depressed people love company too... Don't fool yourself into thinking that you deserve a pity party, no matter what you are going through. And that's my rah, rah, rah, cheer for the day. LOL

So what's new? Let's see:

Mega-focusing on my Health and Fitness.  I've finally completed ALL of my FIS training and passed my final practical. I am officially certified as a Fitness Instructor Specialist through Can-Fit-Pro.
 
Additional certifications that I've taken upon myself to earn include a "Flirtification" with Flirty Girl Fitness as a Flirty Girl Instructor to teach a class they call Booty Beat as well as a licensed Zumba Instructor.


For the next few months, my schedule looks as follows in terms of the classes I'm teaching:
Mondays, 7:30pm - Booty Beat, St. Pat's Family Center
Tuesdays, 7:30pm - Zumba, Goodlife Fitness
Wednesdays, 6:30pm - Cardio Groove, Goodlife Fitness
Thursdays, 8:15pm - Zumba, YMCA
Saturdays, 10:30am - Zumba, Goodlife Fitness

If you're reading this and are in Moncton, I hope to see you in one of my classes soon!

After little to no luck with the job market this summer in Toronto, I am now back in full swing of job-hunt mode on the East Coast.

I've had a TONN of weddings to attend in the past few months, including one that I was in as a Bridesmaid as well as an Master of Ceremonies and yet another one coming up in October which I am also MCing as a favor to a good friend. I love that there is so much love in my life and in the life of my friends right now! I hope it lasts :)

My tennants of a property that I own have chosen to move on to another place and so I am investing a lot of time and money into renovating this house and preparing to market it for new tennants in the very very near future.  It's been fun learning about how to do these renovations and working on my own or with a contractor helping...

Lastly, but certainly not least of all - I went out and got myself a boyfriend. Someone I trust and enjoy, who treats me like gold and I can't wait to spend more time with. Those who know me well know how out in left field this last one is for me. LOL

So in short, I'm dancing a LOT these days and having a blast with that while earning some extra cash for teaching, dumping cash into my investment property, looking for work and trying very hard to make time for a great man. Believe it or not, that really does not leave me with a lot of extra time in my life. 

My plan is to get a full time job so I can put some money away and start saving again, work part time teaching in the evenings and get some new tennants living in my house. I'd like to do this before the end of the year so it's been a busy summer but it's going to be an even busier winter for me.

I've got 2 new business ideas that I'm going to start working on and get ready for launch in the new year, I need to study for my GMAT and finally take that damn test so I can pass the results on to grad schools I'm applying to for my MBA, and of course save money to be able to attend in the next year. Whew! What a mouthful! 

So now that you all know what's going on with me, please comment and let me know what's going on with you! I'll be sure to keep you all posted on my new venture ideas.  It's so important in life to have a TO-DO list at all times. Know what you're doing, know what you want, know what you need in order to succeed and go out and get it! Don't stop growing - when you stop growing, like all living things... you DIE.

Love! xoxo

Buyer Beware - My Apartment Hunting Pet Peeve Scam Experience

I've known for a long time now that come the end of July, I would have to find a new place to live.
I've been taking some time over the past few weeks to do some apartment hunting. I've found that using sites like

www.craigslist.ca
www.viewit.ca
www.rentersden.com

have been extremely helpful for me in this hunt. There's one site tho, that I have a love/hate relationship with and that's Craigslist. I'm sure we are all familiar with how Craigslist works - completely free, super easy and crazy popular (therefor a great spot to get attention for a sale). The problem with this site is because it is so easy to use, it's also super easy to create a SCAM with.

Here's an example of the scams I find on Craigslist quite often:
FOR RENT: BEAUTIFUL ONE BEDROOM APT, FULLY FURNISHED, PRIME LOCATION, blah, blah, blah... ridiculously cheap price! It's usually just cheap enough to catch my attention or raise my curiosity but not cheap enough to flag as a scam right away. So I write them an email:
"Hi there, I'm interested in learning more about your apartment for rent. Where exactly is it located? Are utilities included? Laundry? Parking? Internet? Pets? Fill me in... And let me know when a good time to stop by and take a look at the space is."
It's when the response to these emails come in that I first laugh out loud at how obvious of a scam this is... but then that laughter just turns to anger for wasting my damn time.  Here's a recently email response that I got to an apartment that I inquired about:


Thanks for writing regarding my apartment, before we proceed on this
rent I'd like to make a brief introduction about myself.. I am a
psychologist.I am 48 years, divorced with only daughter presently in
MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY in UNITED STATES studying poultry
science. The nature of my work has made me much of a traveler and has
really exposed me to different types of race.. My Family and i moved
down to UNITED STATES, and that is the reason why i need a responsible
person to rent my apartment. The apt is available immediately. It is
located at the below Address:  454 Rosewell Ave, Toronto, Ontario M4R
2H8.

 This unit is Available for immediate move in. Modern 1 bedroom & 1
bathroom, 1000sqft (square foot) apartment is strategically located in
a very cool and lovely environment e.g Casa Di Luce Avenue,Royal
Lighting, Shoppers Drug Mart,Havergal College,Lawrence Park Collegiate
Institute, Lawrence Park Cl,John Ross Robertson Child Centre e.t.c
with five (5) appliances including dish washer with in-suite laundry
room and plenty of storage space. Professional and mature neighbours ensure
peaceful living arrangements. Utilities such as heater, washer/dryer,
electricity, Internet are also included in the rent.

I am looking for a peaceful and responsible person to rent the apt and
help me look after the apartment. The rent per month for the apartment
is $700 and damage deposit is $400 including utilities like
hydro,water, internet, cable e.t.c,this damage deposit is refundable
after the leasing period (i.e at your last month) . I want you to know
that I am a kind and honest man and i also spent a lot on my property
that I want to give you for rent, so I will solicit for your absolute
maintenance of the apartment and I would want you to treat it as your
own, I would like you to keep it tidy all the time I also want you to
let me have trust in you as I always stand on my word. I will like you
to drive by to the building today to view the exterior of the building
for you to know where the apartment is located and get back to me if
you like it so that I can forward the full interior pictures for you
to view and have an idea how beautiful and spacious the inside looks
and then we can proceed.


What the hell man??  I didn't ask for all that! LOL  So if you'll notice please:

• A lot of the email screams TRUST ME, TRUST ME, TRUST ME
• There's always someone who lives far away, sometimes I've gotten responses about how they're in Africa but their wife is in the US
• They don't ask shit about me
• They don't respond or answer hardly any of my questions I asked in the first place (although I'll give this one credit, he did answer the where,
• Their English is usually not that great (in some cases terrible). 
• Their pictures of the apartment always lure you in cause they're the most beautiful apartments you've ever seen. LOL

In my experience, what usually comes next if I write back and re-ask my original questions which were not answered is something like (and this is the kicker right here):


"Well because I'm not there, I can't really show you the space. What I can suggest is that you send your deposit $$$ to my wife at this address in the US, and once she gets the $$ in the mail, then she can send you the keys to take a look. If you like it, great we can get the paperwork done, if you don't like it, you can return the keys and we will return the money."  


Wow, can I just say - REDFLAG??!!  LOL
Once I even responded to this and told them how scammy this seemed and how there's no way I would send $$ to a perfect stranger. To which their response was: "After our communications, I don't think we are strangers anymore (I've even had one guy send me pictures of people he claimed were him and his wife!) and you have to understand that we've been burned in the past, given the keys to people and had the apartment trashed or copies were made and they stayed there without paying us anything...blah blah blah"..


Well holy shit if you're that dumb, and can't come up with an alternative solution then I don't want you as my landlord. Stop wasting my time. LOL As a landlord, you don't just give your keys to people... why wouldn't you have an arrangement with a neighbor or something? 


Anyway, I'm not going to go on and on about how crazy I think this whole setup is... but also how common it is.. the past 2 times I've been apartment hunting, I've came across stuff like this about 3 times. Different places and different stories but always the same ending - GIVE ME YOUR $$$ BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE.
Please people? I'm so curious to know - does this scam actually ever work? Are people really that dumb and send their $$ to people they don't know? I can only imagine that because there are stupid people in this world, this scam is probably quite profitable. Incredible I say... absolutely incredible.

Mid to Late 20's - The Weddings Era

Isn't it funny how there holds a period in everyone's life where it seems that everyone they know has decided to tie the knot.... AT THE SAME TIME?

Has this happened to you? One day you wake up and discover that all of your closest friends are not only not single anymore... but incandescently in love, which is a beautiful thing, until they all decide to celebrate it at the same time. :)  I'm kidding.

It's a beautiful thing regardless. What's even more beautiful is when they ask you to be a part of that celebration. I've been asked to be a part of a few weddings this summer; whether as a bridesmaid, a DJ, an MC or just a guest I feel privileged and blessed to have such beautiful people in my life who want to share such a beautiful moment in their lives in my presence.

So here I am in my mid-late 20's and I've got a whole lot of weddings penciled into my agenda. I was recently (last week to be exact) involved in the behind the scenes activity of my own brother's wedding. This is my only brother who I love dearly and even though I don't live very close to him and so cannot see him on the daily, I really am super excited and happy for him because he believes himself to be happy and that's all that matters. My brother has a heart of gold and he wears that heart on his sleeve everyday. I actually admire that at times. This particular wedding was filled with trials and tribulations, including a sick baby in the hospital, no sleep, no food for some of us, being locked out of our house causing a few hours delay for everything else, technical difficulties with a slide show, music selection issues... and more. But it all came together in the end and the bride and groom looked lovely and got to celebrate with their closest friends and family all at once. The food was good (so I heard), the speeches were moving, the colors/decorations and clothes looked amazing and the weather was beautiful. Couldn't ask for much more (except maybe a wedding planner to do all the worrying for us! hahaha).

In the next few months I look forward to attending another wedding in New Brunswick for my best friend as a bridesmaid and potential MC, a wedding in Halifax for a great friend of mine as a guest, and possibly another wedding in New Brunswick as a makeup artist and guest. Again, for any of these people reading this (you know who you are) - I love you for inviting me to share in your special days!


So because I have weddings on my mind, I've been talking with friends about friends getting married and the things we do for these friends. I swear, the conversations thus far have been entertaining enough to each produce their own movie script. One particular friend of mine who I will limit to referring to as RO here was telling me a story about what she did to make it to her friend's wedding and if I had any say in the matter, I'd say it was perfect material for the sequel to the film 27 dresses. We're talking last minute rush traveling for destination weddings, ripping, sewing and altering dresses in taxis on the way to the wedding, not showering, you name it.... we do what we have to in order to show our love...

Right ladies? Feel free to share your thoughts on the subject or tell me a really funny or crazy wedding story of your own in the comments below!

Bula Fiji ! (Part 3) - The Cleanse

Alright folks, I know I let the ball drop and built a teaser for this next post cause I said I'd write it a few days ago... So here it is, the rest of my stay in Fiji in a nutshell:

   

As mentioned previously, I was there participating in a detoxifying cleanse of the body; an event called Life Mastery hosted by Anthony Robbins Companies. It was the most intense cleansing experience I've ever had to date and yes, it was difficult at times but despite all that, yes I would certainly do it again (and probably will in about a year or so). In fact, they let us leave with all the recipes of the liquid diet and instructions on exactly how to do that cleanse so next time I choose to do so, I wont' necessarily need to go to Fiji (although if I can, I will and there's no doubt that this was not my last visit there hahaha).  Actually since I've been back and have been doing some homework, I've come to realize that this cleanse or at least cleanses like this are quite popular.

So a typical day during the Life Mastery cleanse went something like this:

• 6AM Wake up -   You have to remember that Fiji is on the other side of the world for me, so to say that my biological clock was way off during this trip would be an understatement... truth be told however I felt the jet lag more after returning home than I did while I was there.. strange how that works. Anyway, I had no problems being out of bed by 6am even though the seminar stuff usually didn't begin until after 9am. If I were home, my usual routine is to work out in the mornings, however here they specifically asked us not to work out, as this was an opportunity for our bodies to rest and heal (I'll get into the negatives of that in a few moments).  So I would get up and roam around, do some stretching, maybe go for a long walk on the beach to visit some local Fijians who we met who had a house on the beach, or not too far from the property we were staying on, there was a beautiful walking trail which led to a waterfall.
  
  
  
  Laugh at me all you want but one of the best things about being in Fiji was the fact that there was no need for makeup, doing my hair etc... It was all about just relaxing and being myself. Hell I'm sure some people didn't even bother to shower if they were spending the morning swimming at the waterfall or on the beach. LOL  AAhhh paradise.There were other things you could have been doing in the mornings before the seminar began as well such as a morning massage at the spa or a morning cruise (which I will get into in a moment). 

• 8AM Breakfast - Now comes the exciting part... For a few days, breakfast for us consisted of one thing and one thing only... a shot of Wheat-grass... MMMmmm MMmmm Good. LOL  So you might think that we were crazy for having that and only that for breakfast and that we were starving ourselves etc... but in fact the opposite is true. We learned so much about wheat-grass and the positive effects it can have on our bodies while we were there that I recommend you do your homework before you jump to any conclusions. At first, there were some folks who had arrived and upon checking their body's PH balance (yes, this was a regular requirement as well) came to find that their bodies were super acidic. The unfortunate side effect of that is that while your body is acidic, your taste-buds are effected as a result and so that made the wheat-grass taste absolutely disgusting for them. Thank goodness for some of them that over the course of a few days, as their bodies became more alkalized, they found their taste buds changing, causing the wheat-grass to be more tolerable, and even sweet after a while in most cases. I was one of the lucky ones. I didn't mind the taste of wheat-grass at all; in fact there were some mornings where I was asking for seconds. :)

• 9AM Seminar begins - For anyone familiar with Anthony Robbins seminars, you know that naturally we would have to start the day with a bang. For example, they would refuse to open the doors to us if we weren't being loud and obnoxious enough. LOL  We all had to gather around the main doors and start yelling "WE WANT IN", while banging on the doors, jumping up and down or doing whatever we could to get their attention - the louder the better. Once the doors opened it was a
  
  
  
  mad-dash to the Rebounding area. This was an area set up in the back of the room which had about 1 rebounder (small trampoline) for each person, all grouped together. Here we were encouraged to bounce up and down, play with beach balls and just be kids again for about 15mins to get our Lymphatic system flowing. Yes folks, there are health reasons behind starting our days bouncing around like a bunch of children and if you're curious about this you can find more info here.  So after a few minutes of partying and bouncing with music blaring and everyone smiling, we'd either take our seats or gather in a circle to share some of the experiences we were going through and observations that were being made or discuss what topics were going to be covered that day. 

• 11AM(ish) First Juice of the Day - So let me be very clear, we were not being starved at all during this process. In fact a lot of the content and material we were covering while we were cleansing was material about what to expect during the cleanse, how it works and what precise effects it was having on our bodies at a very cellular (scientific) level. So after a few hours of "active" learning, they would start to pass around glasses of juice of some kind. Usually they were vegetable juices or vegetable broths (and in my opinion, usually they were quite gross haha), but occasionally we were surprised with a fruit juice or avocado and almond blend (which was my favorite). As I mentioned before, they gave us all the recipes and there are some I'm playing with at home now and some I'm choosing to stay away from. LOL Not long after our first juice, we were usually offered a shot of Udo's Oil. Although the Udo's oil doesn't always agree with me (especially on an empty stomach), I've since purchased some at home and make sure to have a few tablespoons a day. I've been getting compliments on my hair and skin lately so I'm certainly not going to stop now! For this cleanse tho, it was very effective at curving our appetites. 

• 2PM Lunch - Usually around this time each day we were let out for a few hours to do as we pleased. We were told that lunch was waiting for us whenever we were ready but we all knew that lunch was  always nothing more than another shot of Wheatgrass and/or Udo's oil. LOL  This is usually where I would either take a nap, sit and talk with someone or lounge around by the pool with a book. There were a few days however when something interesting was going on during our lunch hours. For example, once they set up a small market just outside of where we were staying, giving the Fijians a chance to display some of their artesian crafts and jewelry etc...  And in case you're wondering, Yes I brought myself a ton of jewelry LOL. There were also times where some of the kids would set up a volleyball net and want to play with us or some of the local adults were teaching us how to do things like make coconut milk by hand (which was very cool).This was our
  
  
  chance to take some time off from being indoors learning to experience Fiji and learn more about their beautiful culture. 

• 4 or 5PM Seminar Continues - Back indoors, back to yelling, singing, dancing, bouncing, you name it; these are certainly not your average seminars and course material. We are all about learning in a Peak State meaning channeling our minds and our bodies to act as one and to actively put our thoughts and what we learn into our bodies. I believe I speak for all 75+ attendees when I say that the material and information that I believe every one of us took home from this experience really is priceless and I for one am a different person today than who I was when I first arrived to jump on those poles.
   
• 10PM Seminar Closes for the day - We wrap up any questions we had about what we learned that day, we keep ourselves in a peak state, clean up the room and head out to enjoy our evening probiotic pill and cup of vegetable broth (Take a pot of hot water, boil a bunch of veggies in it and then strain out the veggies and feed us the water), which actually was my tummy and taste buds best part of the day. LOL  It was so welcoming to have something tasty and warm going down for once as opposed to all the cold veggie and green drinks we were having throughout the day.  From there it was off to bed to start all over the next day.

A few more things that I need to make note of during this time of our Life Mastery cleanse which I feel is important not to leave out if you want a full appreciation of what exactly we went through: 

• Water and Hydration - If you're reading this, you know who you are. Thank you SO MUCH for taking on the roll of water-boy. LOL  Seriously, I wish I had someone yelling at me constantly throughout the day to drink more water. ;)  I'm doing much better with super-saturating my body than ever before because of the habits I created for myself in Fiji.  The organization of the water facilities were fantastic, offering us numerous options of water to choose from depending on what our individual bodies were telling us. For example, they had regular water, salt water and electrolyte water stations, all equipped with chopped up limes and Energy Greens to keep us content and hydrated throughout the day, which really helps us on our cleanse.
•  "Cruises" - known to the professional world as colon hydrotherapy; we were encouraged to participate in daily colonics during our cleanse (hence the importance of that pro-biotic pill and the electrolyte water). For anyone who has not yet tried this I will use the words of my beautiful roommate to describe how we all feel about it - "it's a humbling experience. You must do it."  You don't know till you try right? I guarantee it will open your eyes.  In fact I personally believe this was a huge contributing factor to the amount of weight that I lost on these few days in Fiji while on the cleanse... amazing.
• Interesting Detox Side Effects - This being a detox/cleanse, it was super interesting to watch how all the people around me were being affected in different ways. For example, some were vomiting, some had headaches, some were breaking out (skin) and some were not bothered in the least. I personally had a very interesting experience with my legs where the muscles in my legs were so unbelievably soar to the point where I had trouble walking up and down stairs. I thought it was so strange since working out and running is a part of my lifestyle now. As it turns out, the staff on hand believes that this was a direct result of my body being so acidic because I work out so much and with such high intensity that I rarely give it an opportunity to heal. Therefor, as a result, the lactic acid buildup in my body was beginning to release and that's probably what caused the soar and stiffness.  As bizarre as it was, it only lasted me 2-3 days.
• Fijians - I just don't know if I can emphasize enough how awesome these people are. Hanging with people like this really did contribute to our level of relaxation and peace during this cleanse. While on our cleanse, we all had the opportunity to experience a small mass at a local church in the village. Some of went more than once because what we experienced there was mesmerizing. I remember sitting there listening to them singing their hymns in their native language and thinking to myself that I didn't need to understand them at all to understand the beautiful music that my ears were picking up. Young, old, male, female - they could all sing... and I'm talking about beautiful 4-part harmonies!
  
  
  
  It just goes to show really the power of limiting beliefs. These people have no limiting beliefs about their voices and as a result - wow do they ever know how to use them.
  
  So that pretty much wraps up the cleansing and detoxifying experience of Life Mastery in Savusavu, Fiji.  If any of you participants have taken the time to read through my recap of events please feel free to leave any comments you wish about my experience or if you think I may have forgotten something important. You know as well as I do that it's hard to put into words all of our experiences but I think this gives a pretty basic idea of what our life was like in this very real world for those few days that went by too fast.  I know we each had our own personal experiences while we were there and some of had our own amazing breakthroughs and I will likely share more of mine at a later date.
  
  Bye for now!
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Bula Fiji ! (Part 2) - Arriving in Savusavu - The Poles

     So I've described (probably in too much detail) all about my journey to get to the beautiful town of Savusavu, Fiji in my last post. Let's now recap the details of my time in this picture perfect paradise. As I mentioned in the previous post, I was there for a cleansing retreat and health/life/wealth self-improvement seminar. If anyone is wondering about what seminar specifically, you can find all the details and more here. It's run by Anthony Robbins Co... and I recommend any of his seminars to anybody interested in self improvement and personal growth. Words can't describe how much these have changed my life. My eyes are open wider than ever before and I am much more self-aware than I have ever been in my past.

DAY 1

     I remember flying into Savusavu (which has an airport the size of my yard back home and a small one bedroom shed for an admin office) and being so relieved to have finally made it after so many hours of traveling, but so anxious and desperate for a shower and a nap. Those are the only 2 things I wanted in life at that moment. Did I get either? No chance... Because I was one of the last to arrive fashionably late and the seminar had technically started a few hours beforehand, I was rushed to registration and wasn't even able to drop off my bags or see my room before I was ushered off to "THE POLES"....

     Aaaahhh the Poles. So anyone who's attended one of Anthony Robbins events knows that his team likes to set up these physical challenges for us to defeat as a metaphor for life. For example, in his Unleash the Power Within (UPW) seminars (which are basically his intro seminars where people go to for the first time to get a sense of what he's all about) he makes us walk across a 14ft bed of hot burning coals barefoot.... that's right, you read that correctly - he turns all 2000+ participants in each seminar into FireWalkers. It sounds insane but it's actually a tonn of fun and I've personally done it many times now. LOL So for Life Mastery, the challenge was to climb up a 60 foot telephone pole that had pegs lined up each side.... climb up all the way to the top while focusing on the mantra "Look Up, What's Next, Breathe - Look Up, What's Next, Breathe...", which when you think about it is a great metaphor for life. Keep your head up, look forward, breath and go... What else is there to do really? LOL  So once you climb all the way to the top at a steady pace (we're all wearing helmets and are attached to a harness for safety with 2 big guys spotting us from below - as if we were wall climbing), you're left squatting in a froggy position at the very top of the pole 60 feet in the air, looking around at the beautiful beaches and palm trees surrounding you, with everyone below you cheering you on. The pole wobbles a bit and you breathe to stay balanced, then you reach up to hang onto the harness above you as you STAND UP, STEP UP so you're at the very top of the pole, arms stretched out like a bird... and then LEAP for your dreams!  It's quite incredible actually to watch all these people doing this exercise, young and old, men and women, doesn't matter - everyone does it!  They have a trapeze type swing at the top a few feet in front of the pole you're on and the idea is to jump out and see if you can catch the swing (not many people were able to successfully do this but everyone tried and did an amazing job). To say it was exhilarating and a push beyond your comfort zone and beyond your fears - well, that's an understatement. I didn't have my camera on me for this event but I am assured that I will get some pictures sent to me by my fellow seminar folks who jumped for their dreams with me and when I do, I will be sure to update this post.(update: got some pics of it!!)

So back to me.  I got off this plane, was ushered to the poles despite my exhaustion and within about 15mins of power moves, cheering others on and trying to get myself into a peak mental state, they were strapping me up before I knew what was going on. LOL  For anyone who knows me, you know that poles and I don't get along in general (aka - my pathetic attempts at pole dancing lessons as the gym didn't go very well hahaha).  The climb up this pole was a bit more physically challenging than I thought (the pegs were spread really far apart for someone short like myself to reach) but I made it to the top and after a bit of hesitation and trying to catch my breath, I wasn't able to stand upright but I jumped. I'm proud of myself either way. :) 

After about 3 hrs in the heat cheering everyone on at the poles, we were finally able to go back to our rooms, settle in, relax (I took a very much needed shower) for a bit before heading back to the main cabin to begin the information sessions of our seminar. That was about all the excitement for day 1 in Savusavu.

Stay tuned as I recap the next few days in my next post, which include an incredible liquid diet and detox plan that most people think I'm crazy for attempting, but man oh man did it work! 

BULA FIJI ! (Part 1) - Getting There and Time in Suva

     Aaaahhhh Fiji, how I love thee.  For those who may not know (although I've been going on and on about it for so long now that if you don't know it's because you seriously pay zero attention to me... and that's OK if you're not my friend...lol) I just got back last week from a PHENOMENAL getaway/seminar/cleaning retreat which took place in SavuSavu on the beautiful island of Vanua Levu.  I was away from April 27 till May 12 although unfortunately I had a few days of the trip shaved off due to an unfortunate incident with American Airlines which I won't go into too my detail about. The basics are simple - I should have left Toronto for LA California by a certain time on the 27th to catch a connecting flight to Fiji that same night... Unfortunately a "delay" (ie, the plane decided not to show up for 5 hrs) caused me to miss that connection. What was even more unfortunate was that the connection flight was not a daily flight and therefor I was forced to blow 2 days of my trip in LA. Anyway I won't go on about what that ended up costing me in total with flight changes etc... and the nasty emails that I've already written American Airlines regarding the incident and how I expect to be compensated. So instead of landing in Fiji on the 29th with a few pre-seminar days to spend relaxing and adjusting to the time difference, I landed where I needed to be on May 1st just as the seminar was starting. I love traveling, I really do but only once I'm at my destination... the getting to aspect of traveling (dealing with airlines, hotels, airports, layovers, baggage etc...) loses its novelty quick.

    On the way in, I had to fly into the city of Nadi (which for some reason the locals pronounce as "NANDI"...so there's an imaginary N), as all international flights do. From there I had to hop on a puddle jumper plane for an hour into the capital city of Suva and then from Suva, yet a smaller plane for another hour to Savusavu. I had a 6hr layover in Suva however so I decided to start my trip then and there. I walked out of the airport (which really wasn't bigger than the house I live in here in Toronto at the moment) and bargained with a taxi driver to take me for a drive into the city of Suva and show me some sights and nice Fijian things to take pictures of. Of course I found out after the fact when I was at the seminar that what I did was considered pretty dangerous and that Suva is a dangerous place with people who will take advantage of foreigners... That was all news to me cause I actually had a fabulous time with this taxi driver. For about $70 Fijian dollars (which is not a lot) the guy drove me around, talked to me about history, showed me some cool places, helped me take some cool pictures and was totally trustworthy with my things while I took a bathroom break now and again. I saw the government buildings, including where their president lives, university buildings, beaches, went into a Fijian museum for a while, stopped for lunch, went into the markets and even watched a rugby game.

A few immediate observations: 

• The Fijian men wear skirts all the time. Skirts on both men and women are part of their culture - as you can see this soldier gentleman guarding the government buildings area is sporting a skirt as part of his uniform. Airport security officials also wore skirts, as did men just hanging around in the streets.
• There is a very very very large population of Indian/Hindi folks in Fiji. In all local schools the children are taught up to 3 languages from a very young age - Fijian, Hindi and English.
• Rugby is the national sport of choice. Soccer would be number 2 in line. It was very cool to see how they made fields of whatever space they could find and they were quite passionate about it. Students who I would have thought should have been in a classroom during the hours I was there were out in teams playing and loving this brutal sport.
• Fijians LOVE tourists. It was very unlike other parts of the world I've visited in the past where I've always had to watch my back and keep an eye out for locals looking to rip me off as a tourist. Here in Fiji, not only did I leave my things with the taxi driver on more than one occasion with no worries but the people were so nice and almost overly friendly - lots of looks but always smiles and waves and more smiles. 

The 6 hours I had to wait in Suva were well spent in my opinion. I took some nice pictures and enjoyed the weather and got to know a very nice, and knowledgable taxi driver man who is a happy husband and father of 8. In tomorrow's post, I'll go from Suva to Savusavu, which is where I spent the majority of my days while in this beautiful part of the world.  Stay tuned!!

Copenhagen, Denmark - Better Late than Never!

Let me start this post by putting it out there straight up, if I had the opportunity to move and relocate  my life to Copenhagen, I totally would. I don't say that about too many places.. I LOVED Copenhagen. Clean, flat, lovely, coastal (close proximity to water), friendly and so on... are all words that come to mind when i remember my time in Copenhagen. I also need to emphasize the word BICYCLE. I couldn't quite believe the ratio of bikes to cars. The infrastructure of this place was more convenient for bikes than it was for cars. Traffic lights, wide streets for bikes and narrow roads for cars. Talk about a government promoting Green living!

So the reason I was in Copenhagen was for yet another conference immediately after the one in Budapest. I remember quite clearly that this conference was in my opinion the best of the two by far. Nothing against Budapest the city, but unfortunately the conference organizers performed quite under par for that one.

Anyway, as I always do at conferences, I schedule a few days extra before or after for  myself to do some sight-seeing in a new city. There was one spot in particular that I had my heart set on as soon as I found out that I was going to Copenhagen. For those of you who know me, you should know (and most of you do) that I am a huge Disney fanatic... Always have been. Both my mother and I still sit together to watch Disney movies when I visit home. LOL They're just such feel-good movies, timeless classics that never die for me. Well low and behold, Copenhagen is home to the original tale of the Little Mermaid.... so of course I had to see her!

From where I was staying, it was quite the walk (a few hrs), but I didn't care - I was on a mission... and just look how beautiful she is! LOL Oh and I even found her father (although he had legs...hhmmm):

So then I continued my walk and came across more breathtaking statues and monuments and important buildings to see etc.... I remember falling in love with the waterfront properties, smiling, healthy looking people on their bikes or walking/jogging, They also had amazing super long pedestrian only streets which served as shopping markets all along the way...loved the hustle and bustle of so many people...I got such a great vibe in that city.

I'm not going to dwell much more on that except to say that I absolutely loved it there, would totally live there and look forward to returning some day!

Budapest Hungary - Better Late than Never!

Alright so in continuing with my tradition of documenting my trips around the world, even though it's been months now since I've been back from this particular trip, I still want to share with you the good, bad and interesting about these places. I'm grouping the two places together (even though they were drastically different experiences) because I visited them both back to back within a 2 week period (without returning to Canada in between) in October 2009.

Let's start with Budapest
I learned a lot about this place as I was there (didn't really have much time for a lot of research before leaving) and was pleasantly surprised by what I found. It's a beautiful place with a LOT of history, split in half by the Danube river - one side being referred to as "Buda" and the other side referred to as "Pest" (pronounced pesht).  In fact one of the funniest memories I have of this trip was of a boat ride that I took with a friend on the Danube.  It was a tourist boat ride complete with a tour guide who was supposed to be detailing the history behind what we were seeing on each side of the river banks. Instead however, about 75% of his content had to do with details about the hotels in the vicinity. For example, "to the right ladies and gentlemen, we have the X hotel... approx,. Y square feet in size, with Z number of floors, it offers blah blah blah...."  I couldn't stop laughing at how funny all of this was to me cause they certainly were not trying to hide the fact that the ride was being sponsored by these hotels. As a tourist however, it was not the hotels that I was interested in... so to say that the tour fell below my expectations is probably an understatement... lol  Oh well, I still took some nice pictures.

Even found some nice graffiti of my name along the river banks :)

The main Government Building there was quite impressive.

This is a picture of their Palace. Unfortunately I wasn't able to tour it.

I was in Budapest for a gaming affiliate conference and of course took some time to myself on a few off-days to walk around and enjoy the sights.

I noticed that there was something about small elephants and Budapest - not sure exactly what that relationship is (if anyone reading knows and wants to fill me in, feel free to leave a comment!) but I found these little guys everywhere, some colored and decorated, some not...

Crossing the bridge at night into Pest from Buda (I think):

Then of course, as is true with any Affiliate conference - there were the parties... Oh the parties! SOOOO fun... TOOOOO fun!  lol   Here are some pics of places where we partied and the nightlife. In fact, one place we found had a group of about 5 bars which were all open 24hrs (at least that's what it seemed when the party was still alive and kickin when I stumbled out into a cab at about 4:30am...LOL)

And yes, these are upside down people hanging from the ceiling at one of the bars we were at... LOL

Ok so to finish about Budapest, here are a few more notes and things that stood out to me:

• The Service - was HORRIBLE. LOL  At restaurants, we practically had to walk over and grab our waiter by the arm to bring him to our table to take our orders. This happened over and over again and still can't seem to understand it. One time I stood at a bar waiting to be served and was staring at the bartender who had looked at me numerous times. After about 20minutes I started waving and saying HELLOOOOO? and she finally looked up at me with a dirty look and said "the bar is closed, you have to go to the other one in the back of the room for a drink.  WTF?? You made me stand there for 20mins and looked at me over and over before saying that?  Woah....
• The People - seemed to be quiet, somber and almost depressing by nature. I don't know enough about the history of this place to really understand why this might be but I remember noticing that it was rare to see a smile in the streets. Thank god for the super great company I was in keeping me smiling and laughing at all times! (Thanks Mike and Steve! You guys are the best!!)
• The Spas - I didn't realize until the day before I arrived there that Budapest was famous for their spas. I was walking around one day and stumbled quite accidentally on a large group of about a hundred naked people (men and women) in the streets in one area and realized that it was an open spa... well THAT was certainly an interesting sight for an unsuspecting Canadian to stumble on... LOL
• The Churches - apparently there is quite a large jewish population in Hungary. I wasn't aware of this until I saw lots and lots of synagogues. Beautiful buildings...  

Overall Budapest was a fantastic city and I had a fantastic time and I would certainly do it again...