Showing posts with label stanley park. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stanley park. Show all posts

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Farmer's Market, Picnic + My Workouts of the Week

The last 7 days have been good to me, I have to say. I've been keeping busy but also managing to take plenty of advantage of the gorgeous sunshine that we had all week long (aside from the last couple of days, which turned grey again). The gym is still very much a part of my routine, as you've seen, but I don't feel bad taking a day off from the gym and just taking a long walk out in the sun instead.  Here's what's been going on this week, in a nutshell:

Sunday: Walked to the Kitsilano Farmer's Market on 10th and Larch, where I bought some local kale, blueberries, and dark chocolate truffles.

Mixed berries from the Kitsilano Farmers Market in Vancouver

Fresh basil at Kitsilano Farmers Market in Vancouver

Monday: Went to the gym and relaxed on the beach after work, followed by a walk downtown before dinner.

Tuesday: Walked to Second Beach in Stanley Park for their Fresh Air Cinema series. Each Tuesday of the summer, they set up a big outdoor movie screen on the lawn, and you can come and picnic and watch the movie...

Fresh Air Cinema Stanley Park in Vancouver

... I put together a picnic dinner for us that included baby carrots, sandwiches, watermelon, chips, caprese skewers, and chocolate-dipped shortbread cookies. The picnic was delightful, and it was a warm and sunny evening. Unfortunately, the sunshine was such that the movie wouldn't be able to start till 9:40pm, which was really too late for us, so we packed up and headed home around 8pm.

Tomato basil mozzarella skewers

Wednesday: Gym and beach after work.

Thursday: I headed down to Robson St. with David so he could pick up a few goodies for his nieces and nephews. While we were down there, I popped into The Body Shop (for the first time) and picked up a new body butter and a hand creme. After that, we got Red Robin for dinner and finished our downtown trip with a stop into Chapters to find a good animal book to accompany the other gifts Dave was bringing to his nieces/nephews.

Friday: In the early morning hours (around 4am), I brought David to the Vancouver airport for his 6:00am flight to Massachusetts. He'll be there for the next week visiting with his family. Friday night after work I went to the gym, picked up a quinoa salad for dinner, and finally rented Frozen from Redbox. I was crying like a baby by the 11-minute mark, and cried several more times throughout the 90-minute movie. Don't judge me. I also managed to eat an entire bag of Jiffy Pop by myself. So.

Saturday: After a completely leisurely morning at home, I walked down to Robson St for what was marketed as "the Robson Street Summer Fest." Once there, I was confused and disappointed to realize that I didn't really see anything resembling a "summer fest" going on. Some of the shops had balloons out in front on their sidewalks, but that's about it. Nonetheless, I managed to spend money in both Lush and Forever21 while I was down there.

Yesterday evening I spent some time going through my makeup collection to try to weed out some of the more useless space-taker-uppers. I was definitely able to get rid of some products, but not as many as I would have really liked. Anyone else have trouble throwing away makeup products?

My night ended last night with a satisfying trip to Scoop for some raspberry frozen yogurt and a million chocolaty sweet toppings. Mmm. Which brings me to this important question:  How are there people in the world who don't like sweets?? What in god's name is going on inside your brain and mouth that you don't LIKE sweets? TELL ME.

Anyway, speaking of being on a path towards Type 2 Diabetes, here's what I did at the gym this week to try to counteract the effects of eating too much sugar:

7/13 (lower body)
5 mins biking
3x:  12 sumo squats, holding 20 lbs
3x:  40 calf raises, 20 lbs each hand
3x:  40 bridges

7/14 (core)
40 weighted v-sit twists, holding 15 lbs
40 alternating weighted side bends, 15 lbs each hand
40 crunches on exercise ball, holding 15 lbs
40 cobras

7/16 (upper body)
5 mins elliptical
3x:
   - 13 deltoid flys, 8 lbs each hand
   - 8 overhead press, 12.5 lbs each hand
   - 8 deltoid raises, 8 lbs each hand
   - 13 bent over rows each arm, with 20 lbs
3x: 20 alternating chest flys, 8 lbs each hand
3x: 13 chest press on exercise ball, 12.5 lbs each hand
3x: 10 tricep extensions on exercise ball, 8 lbs each hand

7/18 (lower body)
5 mins biking
3x:
   13 sumo squats, holding 30 lbs
   60 calf raises, 20 lbs each hand
   60 bridges

This afternoon I'm going out to do something rather fancy and fun - an afternoon tea service at The Urban Tea Merchant in downtown Vancouver. A fellow Vancouver blogging buddy, Whitney, posted a recap of a recent afternoon she spent at the UTM and it sounded so delightful that I rounded up a group of ladies to go there to try it out ourselves. Whitney is even coming, too! I can't wait. 

I hope you guys are all having a great weekend!

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Thursday, April 3, 2014

Springtime Around Vancouver - Tons of Pics!

It occurred to me over the last couple of weeks that I used to take a lot more long walks around the city than I have been in the last few months. I'm 90% sure that my lack of walking is contributing to a visible reduction in my ab muscles, and we CERTAINLY CAN'T HAVE THAT right on the verge of bathing suit season, now can we?? Nope.

So in an effort to get my groove abs back, I'm making a conscious effort to take more long, brisk walks wherein I force myself to engage my abs while walking. Sounds like ya grandmothah's workout, but seriously if you engage and employ the right muscles, you can turn a regular walk into a Walk+ (please note I've just coined Walk+ as a thing. Tell ya friends. And ya grandmothah.)

Anyway - all this to say that I've been going on walks lately, and naturally that means my camera has come with me! Here are some of my recent snaps from around Vancouver...

Greens in Vancouver
I just admired the way these colors lined up against each other...

Green house, turquoise house, beige fence

Greens in a brick planter


Pink flowers in front of a wooden door

There are cherry blossoms just about everywhere here in Vancouver...

Cherry blossom tree in Vancouver

Cherry blossom tree in Vancouver

Purple springtime flowers

Purple springtime flowers

Tons of little white flowers

Sometimes I'm fascinated when curbs and flowers meet...

Purple flowers against a curb

Purple flowers against a curb

Dandelions against a white picket fence

A rainy railing...

Rainy railings

Rainy railings

Ducks playing in puddles in Stanley Park... 

Ducks in puddles in Vancouver's Stanley Park

Flowers in front of Beaver Pond in Stanley Park in Vancouver

Flowers in front of Beaver Pond in Stanley Park in Vancouver


Green and tree-lined trails in Stanley Park in Vancouver
Trails in Stanley Park, surrounded by enormous greens covered in moss...






Thanks for checking out my Vancouver pictures! Did you have any favorites?

Is anyone else getting down low with their cameras and right up in the face of some pretty flowers lately? Do you tend to bring a camera with you when you go out for a walk?

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Wednesday, December 25, 2013

A Few Good (Winter) Things

Like most people, my life has been a bit busier the last month or two. I've taken lots of pictures and done some fun things... but haven't had the time to blog about them! Consider this particular Few Good Things post a bit of a photo dump, and take a peek into my recent life in pictures. Also... it's more like "a TON of good things" than just a few, so... brace yaself.

I spotted some pretty colors and flora while out for a late-November walk...

Late fall scene, berry bush beside a green shrub in Vancouver

Tree and seagrass in Vancouver

Trees against a green hedge in Vancouver, early winter

The Lights of Hope in front of St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver:

The Lights of Hope in front of St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver
.  lights of hope is an annual fundraiser  .

I walked down to the waterfront to see the Vancouver tree lighting ceremony on December 6...

Vancouver Christmas tree lighting ceremony, 2013

This year I wrapped all of my family's presents in brown parcel paper, 
tied with hemp cord and red sparkly string:

Presents wrapped in brown parcel paper, tied with hemp cord and red string

A few random shots of our Christmas tree...

Close up of Christmas tree with white lights

Christmas tree with white lights

Presents under a tree, wrapped in brown parcel paper
.  you might have seen me share this picture on my facebook page!  .

On December 8, Dave and I took a walk along the Seaside Bike Path...

Boat capsized along the Seaside Bike Path in Vancouver
.  this boat didn't appear to be doing well...  .

Ships in the English Bay, Vancouver
.  view of the tankers out in english bay  .

Blue Vancouver skies in December
.  sunny december skies  .

It snowed a bit on December 9, and we took a walk through the quiet snow that evening...

Kitsilano Beach under a layer of snow, and ships in the English Bay
.  kitsilano beach under a thin layer of snow  .

Bald eagles in a tree in Vancouver
.  my buddies, the two bald eagles near my apartment, hanging out in the quiet snowy night  .

I found Smarties flavored candy canes at The Candy Aisle in Vancouver...

Smarties flavored candy canes from the Candy Aisle in Vancouver
.  in canada, "smarties" are a totally different candy than the smarties in america - this was an import item!  .

On December 15, Dave and I took a nice long walk to Stanley Park...

Bright red tree in front of a bright green tree in Vancouver
.  pretty colors!  .

Bright red tree in front of a bright green tree in Vancouver, Stanley Park

Hummingbird in Stanley Park, Vancouver
.  i spotted a hummingbird in the park  .

Huge tree in Vancouver's Stanley Park
.  some of the trees in stanley park are huuuuuuuuuge  .
.  sorry, i couldn't resist putting this BIG picture in here!  .

Sun coming through the trees in Stanley Park in Vancouver
.  sun rays through the woods in stanley park  .

On December 20 it snowed. On my palm tree. JUXTAPOSITION.

A palm tree in Vancouver covered in winter snow.
.  the palm tree on our porch, covered in snow  .







So that's just a random smattering of the things we've been doing around here lately. As I mentioned earlier this week, we went up to Whistler, BC for the 2 days leading up to Christmas. We did some hiking/snowshoeing on Monday and then enjoyed Whistler Village on Monday night and Tuesday morning before heading back to Vancouver. I'll share some pictures from our trip soon!

Did you do anything special on Christmas Eve? We ate grilled cheeses and rented Fred Claus last night - not a bad evening, if you ask me. Today we each FaceTime/Skyped with our families back on the east coast while our nieces/nephews opened presents. I love that the technology exists to let us all see each other, even when we're an entire country apart!

I hope you all had a merry Christmas and that Santa brought you everything that you wanted. Now, who is with me on leaving up the Christmas trees and decorations until January 25th?

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