Showing posts with label paddleboarding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paddleboarding. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

A Few Good Things

A couple weeks ago I went to dinner at the Cactus Club Cafe in English Bay with my friend Rose. This was our view of the Bay from our window at the restaurant...

Tankers and ships in English Bay, Vancouver
We finished dinner just in time to head outside to watch the sunset:

Vancouver sunset
Me and the sunset!

Me and the sunset!

July 1 was Canada Day, which means little to me other than "FIREWORKS!" Your girl loves fireworks, in case you weren't wise to that. We headed down to Kitsilano Beach to watch the 'works being set off from West Vancouver, across the Bay.





Walking along Vancouver's West End on my way home from a walk to Stanley Park, I had to stop and take a picture of this ivy-covered building:

Building covered in ivy, Vancouver, West End

Building covered in ivy, Vancouver, West End

And just for a dose of self-deprecation, here's a picture David took of me falling off my paddleboard last week:

Falling off my paddleboard in Vancouver's English Bay


What sorts of good things have you been capturing lately?

FACEBOOK
TWITTER
PINTEREST
INSTAGRAM
Follow on Bloglovin

{Linking with Finding Beauty}

Friday, July 11, 2014

Chambray, Pink and Polka Dot Nails (and Paddleboarding!)

Whoooo guys, is my body stiff today. Yesterday after work, for the first time ever, I went stand-up paddleboarding - a very popular thing to do around Vancouver's English Bay. Despite it being a breezy day with choppy waters, we rented paddleboards right from Kitsilano Beach (it was $22.50 each, for 1 hour) and headed out into the Bay!

Standing up on the paddleboard (or should I say, remaining standing on the paddleboard) was tricky, and I can only assume made trickier by the fact that the water was so wavy. That is to say, there was definitely more kneeling than standing going on - at least on my board. David somehow took to it like a freaking Hawaiian. It was like he'd done it a million times before! (He hadn't. Ever.)

Anyway, even from the kneeling position, paddleboarding was a great workout - both in the core and in the quads. And despite falling off the board many times (and probably accruing a handful of new bruises), it was still a lot of fun and I hope to do it again!

Paddleboarding in English Bay, Vancouver
.  look at me go!  .


So (unintentionally) following the aquatic theme, today's nails were inspired by an outfit I found while reading some blogs yesterday afternoon. Alison from Get Your Pretty On was wearing a delightfully summery pair of white shorts with a cute whale print, paired with a bubble gum pink top and a chambray button-up. Since I was on the hunt for something to inspire me for this week's nail polish post anyway, Alison's outfit jumped out at me as something to translate onto my nails.

... But as much as I would have loved to make a bunch of tiny whales on my accent nail, it was obvious after a few practice rounds on paper that it wasn't in the cards for me. A master nail artiste, I am not. A pretty good polka dotter, however... well that I am. #IfIDoSaySoMyself. (I even wrote a blog all about How to Make Perfect Polka Dots!)

Cue the polka dots! Maybe if I make them really good, you guys will forgive them for not being whales. But really though, when you think about it, we're supposed to be saving the whales. Not splashing them across our nails. So. I win.

Nail polish, blue, pink, blue polka dots

Chambray shirt, pink shirt, white shorts with blue whales, Alison from Get Your Pretty On
.  alison's original outfit  .
.  source  .

Nails inspired by an outfit

For polishes I used Milani - Tip Toe Pink, Sinful Colors - Snow Me White, Wet 'n Wild - Rain Check, and Love & Beauty - Navy.

Milani - Tip Toe Pink, Sinful Colors - Snow Me White, Wet 'n Wild - Rain Check, and Love & Beauty - Navy, nail polish


Blue and pink nails with polka dot accent nail

On my left hand I did 2 coats of Rain Check on my pinky, pointer and thumb nail; 2 coats of Tip Toe Pink on my middle finger; and 2 coats of Snow Me White on my ring finger. Then I used my dotting tool to add Navy polka dots to my ring.  On my right hand, I switched the colors a bit so that my pinky, pointer and thumb were pink and my middle finger was blue.

akaBailey, Blue and pink nails with polka dot accent nail

Blue nails with pink and polka dot accent nails

Whatcha got on your nails today?
Has anyone else tried paddleboarding?
What do YOU want to try for the firs time this summer?