YouAreLove

Christmas Bling, Family, and LOVE!

My Jaguar earrings... love.

Me and Troy

Char's new Ring!

Never too early for champagne!

Our family

Thought of You

This is beautiful... Merry Christmas

2010 in Five

A writing prompt from Reverb10
(http://www.reverb10.com/the-prompts/)

"Imagine you will completely lose your memory of 2010 in five minutes. Set an alarm for five minutes and capture the things you most want to remember"

5:00...

How much my Mom comes through when I need her. Maui and the yoga girls. How much Lauren makes me laugh when she does, well, basically anything. All of Tiana's crazy tales. Meeting Troy and falling in love. The sunset in Hawaii- drinking Coronas and eating ceviche on crackers. Boarding the plane with Troy to Australia-pure happiness. Meeting Jack Berry for the time. Celebrating Cairo's birthday. Leaving my bank job and starting something new. Seeing my sister in the airport after months away in Korea- seeing my Mom running to hug her. Reading in bed with my man next to me. The feeling of teaching yoga. All my crazy nights out... dancing at the Lamplighter. The inspiration I felt after watching the Ironman. Solo dinners with my Dad.

0:00...

Sometimes...

"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow."

"By compassion we make others' misery our own, and so, by relieving them, we relieve ourselves also"

I wanted to share this facebook inititative started by my friend Nita... she is working to collect warm clothes and blankets for the city's homeless- please let me know if you have anything to donate.

Her message below:

"Winter has arrived and our Vancouver streets are filled with homeless people, many of these people are forced to stay outside in these winter months. Homeless people are sleeping outside right now in freezing cold and snowy weather, while we are lucky to have warm beds, with warm blankets. If you could look in your house for a spare blanket that you do not use, or an old jacket, or even scarfs, mittens, or toques. If you do not have any of these items, but you still want to help you can make a small donation by going to a thrift store and buying something cozy to donate. You are not only keeping these people warm but you are saving their lives since many die each year from the cold and the snow. We hope you find it in your hearts to help us help them! We will be collecting all items until Dec 12 2010, which we will then be donating to a church to be distributed out to Vancouvers less fortunate"

FitnessJunkie

Check out my new blog:

http://fitnessjunkie-kate.blogspot.com/

The little things...

A couple of things I am loving right now:

This Book:

The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley. Funny and brilliant writing.

This Song:

The Ballad of Love and Hate by the Avett Brothers. Just beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7xUZkKd58c

This Blog:

The Sartorialist : http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/

This TV Show:

"Modern Family"

Some of the funniest stuff I have ever seen. Troy just bought the complete first season and we are both addicted.

What is catching your interest these days?

A kiss of Korea

Check out my sister's blog... A Kiss of Ginger xox

http://akissofginger.tumblr.com/

Jack Berry

On Friday I finally got to meet Carly and Steve's new baby Jack! Carly looks AMAZING and seems to have taken on this new role as "Mom" effortlessly... it blows me away. Jack is so sweet and perfectly content with just hanging out with the girls- no crying or fussing around (my kind of baby!)

A few pictures of our new little man:

"Hold the excuses. Stand by your heart."

I just read an article from Danielle Laporte's blog White Hot Truth that couldn't have reached me at a more appropriate time. The post is called "The Perils of Justifying Yourself".... something I know I have been doing since returning early from Australia. For despite my reasons that told me coming home was right, I can't help but feel like I need more than that- that without some concrete evidence I have simply given up. But what her article assures me of, is that when it's right, it's right... and what I know is that following my heart has always trumped listening to my head. So I stand here, home, in Vancouver- content in my decision.
I will let you read the article for yourself, because at the end of the day, we all do this...

The Perils of Justifying Yourself
Me, you, or someone you know:“I don’t want to do it anymore. I’m going to …”Fill in the blank: Quit, sell it, leave, cancel, give it away, walk, resign.
That practical voice inside your head, well-intentioned friends, your granny: “Now, why would you do that?! It’s … (fill in the blank) good money, a great opportunity, you’ve worked so hard, what will you do without it? Can’t you work it out?"
And you bite the hook. In fact, your psyche’s been hanging on it for quite sometime, gnawing on 101 good, practical, and perfectly reasonable reasons why you have the right to make the decision that you’re making. You know, rationalizing.

Well how about this rationale:
It doesn’t feel right.
Stay there for a few seconds. It’s a very powerful place to be. It’s elegant. It’s clear. Declared feelings have sonic reach.
And... it can be very uncomfortable. Like the truth can often be before it sets you free.
I recently left a gig because it just didn’t feel right. I struggled with all of the yes, no, make adjustments, suck it up, expand your perspective, get more creative kind of options. A few people thought I was nuts to walk away. Great exposure, cachet, extra money… All true. The “facts” usually are.
I made the tastiest Excuse Sandwich about why it didn’t work for me. I need to find a baby sitter, it interrupts my week, it’s not what I signed up for, I need a haircut, I don’t like so and so or such and such, I need to focus on … All absolutely true. And in the grand scheme, in the greater gestalt of what I'm capable of, totally lame and absolutely surmountable.
If something felt right, I’d drive all night in a push-up bra to get there. When it really feels right, you go out of your way. When something feels right, you put inconveniences in their place.

THE CORROSIVE EFFECTS OF OVER-JUSTIFYING YOUR FEELINGS

-automatically puts you on the defense. When you’re on the defense, you burn more energy. Rationalization can be incredibly inefficient.
- over-complicates things.
- perpetuates cleverness. Clever is not a good word in my personal dictionary. It rhymes with slick, manipulative, covert. When you’re trying to rationalize something that is very often amorphous and insular you’ll reach for smooth answers that you think people - or your subconscious - want to hear. And that makes you a salesman.
- depresses your essential self. The more you load rationale onto your feelings, the more padding you create between you and your most powerful, unlimited resource. If you make a habit of keeping your instincts at bay, that tend to stay at bay.
- makes you look and feel like a victim. In an effort to prove and protect, you make up reasons that appear to be more important than your refutable instinct. You whine. You nit pick the situation. You start sounding like the whimp you don’t want to be - instead of the hero that you essentially are. When the passion is there, so is the solution. No problem looks insurmountable when you’re turned on.

Of course, sometimes your greatness demands that you explain your reasons in no uncertain terms. Taking the time to explain yourself can be a fantastically creative act. If that’s what’s called for, then explain how you feel. Hold the excuses. Stand by your heart. Make it matter."

SYDNEY

When we first arrived in Sydney I was surprised by how great it felt to be back in a city. Our next hostel is basically at the train station, but really nice with tons of cool people from all over, including Barcelona, Germany, and Canada. A couple of nights ago we went to the backpacker bar down the street, Scubar… As per usual Troy and I were ready to party and so rounded up a group from our hostel and headed over the bar (we even got Ash to come!). Troy was the man of the hour when he started handing out shots and jugs of beer to all these young travelers… many of them were not in great shape the next day, but everyone had a great time.

We have also been responsible tourists and took the “Hop on Hop Off” bus all over the city to see the obligatory sights… Opera House, Bridge, Museum etc. A few of MANY pictures below.

YHA Railway

We really wanted to climb the bridge, but found out it was $200/person to do it... we did the $10 option instead and still got an amazing view.

Life in Byron Bay

Our last days in Byron Bay were filled with lots of sunshine, lazy beach days, and dinners at our new favourite restaurant, Mokhas. With the torrential downpour behind us the “Dark Days of Byron” were officially over and we took full advantage by getting outside as often as possible. Troy and I had a run route that we did everyday around sunset from our hostel up to the lighthouse and back. Keeping up with the Ironman was a challenge, but nothing I couldn’t handle, and given that the view was so incredible at the top, it was well worth the sweat to get up there.

We met two guys at our hostel, Joel and Yann, during an afternoon of cards at the YHA picnic tables and went out to some of the Byron hotspots at night: The Beachside Hotel for live music and Coco Mangas for Jam Jars as well as a dangerously sticky dance floor.

Troy's favourite accessory ;) Cheeky Dalts...

Me and Yann at YHA

Joel, June, and Yann

Mokha (we ate here a lot)

Troy and the guys at the Beachside Hotel

Although Byron Bay wasn’t actually what I expected the water and beach definitely made up for the overpricing of… well, everything. My idea of a friendly hippie town and lazy living was way off, and I think we were all ready to leave by the time that day came.
That said lazing around for 8 days with the June Bug and Troy was pretty “awesome”… so I definitely can’t complain.

Soaking it up at Cozy Corner on Tallow Beach

Lots of surfers and HUGE waves

Run route...

View from halfway

At the Lighthouse

...Next stop Sydney!