My trip to Portland was somewhat spontaneous like most of my trips are, and I'm super glad I went. Being in Vancouver so close to the United States border, you hear about cities like Seattle and Portland which are must sees when living here. I had been to Seattle a few months ago and I thought why not kick of 2016 with a trip to portland where everything was supposedly 'weird' and quirky'.
I landed myself a great couch surfing couple Emma and Jon who picked me up from the station downtown after the 8 hour ride from Vancouver. They were super nice from get go and immediately had me admiring the city as they pointed out sights on our way home.

On our first evening we headed out to the hip 'Albert St' where we popped into many quirky shops. Along the way I inhaled super unique vapour flavours in the vapour store (ie breakfast cereal flavour), went to the super trendy 'Townshends Teas' and had a Masala chai latte, tried heaps of quirky flavours of ice cream at Salt and Straw (featured on Bizarre foods America) ie pear and blue cheese, tried craft beers at a local pub and even went to karaoke that night with their friends.

The next few days I planned to explore the city by foot and hit up famous places like Vooddoo doughnuts, Lardos sandwiches, Blue Star Donuts, Powells bookstore (largest in the world), the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), Pearl/Oldtown/downtown/Chinatown, Mississippi street areas and much more.

Over four days I got to see all of these places, try the most unusual foods, eat from one of the hundreds of food trucks, meet and hang out with locals thanks to my hosts, play awesome board games, eat two famous sandwiches from Lardos, enjoy an awesome Ramen from Boxer Ramen (even if it was non veg), stroll in and out of unique stores, taste a wide array of salt/bitters/chocolate from The Meadow (also featured on bizarre foods America), finish a season of Americas worst cook with my hosts and even finish the trip off with a late night trip to Papa Haydns for some incredible takeaway deserts and drive by a view of the nighttime city lights.

Since last month I have taken on a new job working in a well known health food restaurant. It's one of the million jobs I've done here and I can definitely say I'm adding heaps of skills to my resume. I get to learn and prepare heaps of things in the kitchen, work alongside talented chefs and deal with really nice customers every day. I also have a sweet view of the snowy Rockies which is a bonus.

More recently I have had big news, in the form of a new up and coming job onboard a luxury cruise ship. I will be training in London and then working as a spa therapist on a ship of their choice starting in March! This means I'll be cutting my time in canada short but I get to go and visit home for a while before I go! It's a dream come true and I can't wait to keep you updated on my travels, although very different to my usual non luxurious travel style.

Xmas Day was so much fun, it involves lots of delicious food, great company and lots of laughs. I even saw a bit of snowfall downtown for a whole minute. I have had visitors from near and far- Billie Jean visited Vancouver for a week and we got to hang out and do heaps of fun things including give skating to a live Xmas band, and Braden/Tess came from Brisbane for a few days before going to spend a Xmas in the prairies. It was a lot of fun seeing familiar faces in another part of the world!

I feel as though the new job opportunity came at a time when I started to get itchy feet and although I love Vancouver and will extend my visa anyways to come back, it is time to move on and do something out of the ordinary! I'm also making a point of checking things off my bucket list before I go, for example taking a cheap trip to Portland, Oregon for a few days! I'm super excited for that! But for now that's all my news and I will blog once again when I'm back from Portland!

Ciao x

'You know, the older I get, the more I realise how much crazy stuff I've done in my life'- No this isn't something I'm quoting from myself but It's something I overheard an old man say to his friends as he passed by me at the beach today. This struck a chord with me in an instant and led me to write this blog post. You see, I too want to be able to say this to my elderly friends when I'm old and perhaps wiser (not likely). I want to continue creating crazy memories.
Lately I've been reviewing my choice of lifestyle, consumed by the fact that I should fall into the category that society sees most twenty-something year olds these days. Perhaps climbing the ladder in my career, being in a long term relationship, setting up a home, bearing a child, being engaged or even getting married... My entire body constricts when I think of these ideas and my non commitment to routine is reiterated to me. I wonder, is this normal? I look at my life and I compare myself to others I know, near or far wondering if I've been left behind somewhere along the way.

I studied Beauty Therapy, a trade that can be used anywhere in the world, to work in five star hotels and fancy spas but yet it's not my passion. Travel is! For me, It seems that because I chose this area of studies (which I thoroughly enjoyed) it should be my entire career thus my entire life.

I came to Canada with the idea of finally setting down some roots to fulfill society's dream of having a stable career and having a place to call home. And yes of course, It goes that way for a few months and then wanderlust sets in. Wanderlust? It's not something that everyone can relate to, but to sum it up it is the 'complete and utter urge to travel'. It's not the urge to merely go on vacation or a lazy excuse not to work, for me it is the urge to be in unfamiliar places again, meeting more inspirational people, taking up random jobs and discovering new things thus adding more 'crazy' experiences to my life's resumé. This is literally a craving for me, so much so, that if a crazy opportunity arose I would hop on a plane to anywhere in the world and jump at the chance to do something new. But yes, money is the problem, the only problem.

I don't know if many people can relate to this, but the only way I can concentrate on working and saving, is to have travel plans set out in front of me once again.

This has been playing on my mind recently and since I've often heard that your gut feeling is never wrong, I decided that I will now, live by my gut feeling. I have veered away from the 'career path' and taken on two fun jobs instead. I plan to work my ass off for the next few months until I can set off again with a new travel plan in my back pocket.

It may seem crazy but it's my life and I need to realise that Im probably not the only one with these itchy feet and this damn travel bug. I've learned that comparing myself to anyone is not going to make me happy but to follow my heart wherever that may lead to (insert excitement here), is the only way to internal happiness.

So... On that note...

Who's with me?

It's been a while since my last blog post and I'm sorry. So much has happened in the passed month I don't even know where to start. Don't worry I won't bore you with the small details but I will give you and an idea of how much has changed in my life.
So right now as my life stands, I am in the same apartment, and happy, I am in a new job and happy and I am about to embark on a thanksgiving weekend in the country with the girls, and guess what... In happy.

This was how my last day of the detox went. Today I woke up and continued my routine of having a smoothie and some tea. I got myself ready and with a full stomach I safely went grocery shopping with no fear over 'overbuying'. I biked back with my groceries and made another smoothie whilst getting some stuff done at home. I had plans to meet a friend later so when the time came, I made a massive juice with celery, carrot, ginger and apple which I drank before leaving.

Whilst out and about me and my friend walked miles and miles exploring the city and I had one berry smoothie at the beginning and one mango/strawberry towards the end before going home. Today I didn't hardly drink enough water or herbal tea like I should have so I felt quite weak at some points and light headed. The good thing about this city is there are so many places to grab juices at any time of day so I sorted that out and I felt a million times better. I regretted not taking my water bottle out with me. Anyway I was so tempted to have a beer or some food, especially walking around gastown but it would have been a terrible idea and so I didn't. I headed home later on and went to bed, excited for breakfast time. I planned to have a small breakfast as to not overwhelm my body, so some eggs, rye bread and avocado.

It's Day 8 and you know what that means! The juice fast is over and I actually made it a whole week I can't believe it!

It's all in the mind and anyone can do it if you believe you can, just like anything else!

Moral of the story- never ever take food for granted, enjoy and savour every taste and smell and eat consciously not just to fill your stomach, but to be aware of the story behind food and what it went through to get to your plate. So thankful 😍

This morning I had some peppermint tea and made s move smoothie with blueberries, melon, ginger etc which was delicious. I drank a good sized glass to get some energy pre yoga class. I was due to teach at Robson St Yoga today and I was worried I wouldn't have the strength but I did. The class went very well.

Later on I headed off on my bike (more exercise I guess) to Kitsilano where I had a meeting. I then decided to bike to Granville Island Public Market which I hadn't been to since last time I was in Canada. It was probably the biggest test of willpower ever considering I was surrounded but smells of freshly baked bread, freshly brewed beer, fresh produce and much much more EVERYWHERE. I did a quick circle and opted to leave before I gave in. Which I was sure I wouldn't, but still. I biked back home and made s delicious fresh ginger, carrot and apple juice before meeting my friend Luke for some thrift shopping.

Later that evening we watched a movie at mine and with the his eating candy and chocolate and me drinking green tea, it was anther sure sign that my willpower was growing strong and hanging in there. It's funny, they say that while detoxing you will most likely crave healthy foods which I actually agree with. Yes the smell of fresh pizza and baked goods are hard to resist but that's as far as it goes for me. Tomorrow I plan to go grocery shopping (after a hefty smoothie in my belly lol) and stock up on healthy whole foods, which I am in charge craving. It's even more hilarious to think that I reached for a jumbo carrot and some hummus from my fridge the other day convincing myself it was okay, when all of a sudden I put it down deciding that I was breaking the rules. It's a carrot for god sakes, you'd swear it was a box of donuts. Anyway it's funny how your mind works and I've noticed a lot of things about myself and my attitude to food over the past week.

I think it's pointless to go on s 7 day detox just to re-tox with unhealthy food. I am going to slowly introduce wholewheat baked bread, eggs, avocados, fresh oily fish etc back into my diet. And even though I'm most of the time vegetarian (like I have to justify it anyway right?), I had been given fresh salmon fillets from my friend Kim which I'm super excited about. Salmon is amazing in your diet and when it comes to health, its mportant to listen to your body, and obviously being aware of the fish is fresh and caught sustainably. Anyway tmro is the last I'll day and I'm excited and proud of myself. I'm going to go grocery shopping to prepare for the Thursday. 😀😀

This morning I made a delicious green superfood smoothie with oranges, ginger, cucumber, kale, spirulina, flax seeds and coconut water. I drank the majority of it over the morning time along with some green tea mixed with fresh ginger and lemon.

Later on I headed to the veggie shop down the street and got some more fruit and veg for the next two days. I went home and conjured up another smoothie this time mixed with almond milk which wasn't the nicest but was a good experiment. I drank all of it nevertheless and then had some tea before I headed out to do some biking.

Today I was feeling better than the past few days and better than I thought I would feel after 5 days with no food. I continued to drink tea and when I finished my trip I had s smoothie by the beach.

Later on, I headed home and drank some more peppermint tea before bed. Two more days, only two more days.

Today I woke up and made a fresh batch of juice with added melon and cucumber (the juiciest) and cabbage. It was delicious. I had a cup of ginger and green tea first thing in the morning and one kits after the juice before I went to work. I also took a flask of juice to work with me which was handy during treatments to sip on and give me energy.

After work, I met a friend for a juice and later on I met another friend for a juice/smoothie which I felt like was cheating but it was full of amazing veggies and even cauliflower which I never had in a smoothie before. Who says you have to meet people only for coffees lol. To be honest I feel like I will know all the best juice places by the end of this cleanse. I didn't say that was a bad thing though.

Overall today I felt a little weak and hungry obviously but after the smoothy and the juice in the afternoon I was full. I ended the evening with ginger/green tea before bed, leaving my fresh juice for tmro morning :)

I notice my senses heightening and I guess that's cos I'm smelling food everywhere and seeing bright colours and hearing people mention food from far distances. That's normal right? Anyway tmro is day 3 the last day of being weak before the energy kicks in! Let's go! :) :)

Today was Day 3 of the detox and I did the same as yesterday by making the container of juice for the day. I mixed a heap of veggies and fruit and had a peppermint tea to go with it in the morning! It was a nice morning so I sat on the balcony and funny enough didn't crave any food. I took a flask to work again and sipped throughout the day :)

I felt pretty good today considering I hadn't eaten in almost 3 days and was flooding my body with nutrients and vitamins. I wasn't tired but I was a tad weak. Whenever I would drink water or herbal tea though I felt fine. It's Saturday evening and I made a fresh flask of juice which I had in one go and later on I had two cups of peppermint tea.

Tmro will be Day 4 and I'm looking forward to exploring more juice options :)