I know I’ve Mentioned how great my last trip to Costa Rica was but was the first real vacation I’ve taken in a while. I’m feeling inspired and I’ve got a fresh perspective on life. I wrote about the experience on The Co. by Jones Media and it’s on the front page today! Read it here!
Today I’m picking up a little Ford Fiesta and cruising home to spend some time with mum. Tomorrow I’m speaking to the grade 6-8 kids at her school about bullying and following your dreams. I wish i had someone like me come and tell me everything will be ok, it’s cool to be weird, and that the job I’d be doing didn’t exist yet.
Still eating healthy since my trip and exercising daily. About to go for a run! ? It’s truly amazing what a good getaway will do, staying at Anamaya Resort is a magical experience. Here’s to a wonderful day!
Before vacay I joined a bunch of blogger buds at Sport Chek to test out the new FitBit Alta. Remember, with companies like PromoCodeWatch that offer discounts on Fitbit products, make sure you use this when before you hit the checkout button! I’m sure you would like to save as much money as possible on something as cool as a Fitbit. Since receiving the device, I’ve become obsessed with making my 10K steps each day. It wasn’t hard to surpass my daily goal in Costa Rica, I was so active! I forgot to pack my charger so after about 5 days, it died. I was super impressed it lasted that long tho, if only an iPhone could do that! Here’s a couple snaps by George Pimentel from our workout with celebrity trainer Harley Pasternack.
We were set to train outside but it was pouring down with rain, hence the raincoat, but we picked out head to toe New Balance gear and set up our devices for an indoor workout. I am seriously loving the leggings, they’ve got a drawstring and are super soft, comfortable.
Ready to hit the road! We took a brisk walk through the PATH underground walkway then arrived at the Toronto Athletic Club to sweat it out.
I’m home. The last week has been so wonderful. I wrote down some thoughts about my Anamaya Resort/Costa Rica experience last night and it’s hard to explain it all in words, but I’m gonna try. Working on an article about my first real digital detox (SPOILER: it was awesome!), and posts about staying at Anamaya Resort, the yoga retreat, the INCREDIBLE food, activities, new friends, the circle (I’ll explain), the treehouse, and a style guide to packing light for jungle living.
One things is, Anamaya is an incredibly amazing place to go alone, with a family member, partner, or when you really need to hit the reset button on your life. After 7 days of gluten, dairy, and mostly sugar free free, with no red meat, heaps of fresh juice, tons of water, sunshine, and fresh warm air, I feel alive, and calm.
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Picked up groceries today and loaded up on healthy grains, coconut milk (instead of my usual lactose free), heaps of veggies, fruits (papaya and plantain too), and I’m going try and keep this way of life going. Made a new BFF and am hopefully going back to stay with her in Costa Rica in October.
Today has been a great day, the whole week! Really taking a break from my phone. I’m sitting in this hammock right now blogging via WordPress Mobile. Have yoga shortly, then dinner, and a circus performance at Anamaya Resort. This trip is incredible. Have so many photos to process and share when I get back home.
Hope you’re having a great day! PURA VIDA!
During fashion week I worked with Denim & Supply Ralph Lauren to celebrate spring style with Hudson’s Bay and Fashion Magazine. The event was in the contemporary department on the 3rd floor and there was no shortage of activations including a Sandro sponsored photo booth, Maje sponsored nail bar (gold nails!), BCBG sponsored gelato bar (chocolate coconut? yes, yum), an amazing fashion illustrator, candy bar, and mojito bar.
Here’s some of my fav ? from the night. Most are from Snapchat & iPhone 6s but the pro ones are by David A Pike.
Before the event I stopped by the Denim & Supply section at HBC to check out key trends for Spring/Summer 16 season. Things to note – cropped denim (cute for tall and perfect for short peeps like moi), dresses (top I’m wearing is a dress), wovens, anything white, and shredded denim. I really love white denim for summer, and picked a pair of the cropped whites for myself.
I was really torn between this white dress and the military jacket. There are a bunch of great jeans and tops as well. I think I’ll go back for the cropped denim jacket. Gotta have at least one of those in the wardrobe.
Good morning from Anamaya Retreats in Costa Rica! Yesterday was our first full day here and it was magnificent. I’m really making an effort to take a digital detox on this trip but documenting is something I love. I’m running on wifi and often not able to connect with the online world. I’ve been taking photos, making notes, voice recordings, I wanna remember all my thoughts and feeling on this journey. It’s absolutely beautiful, photos don’t do it justice!
Feels good to be back on the yoga mat too, I’ve been a bit slack this winter and this trip is like hitting the reset button. Our menu this week is all gluten free and local, Anamaya has a farm that we’re visiting Wednesday to see where a lot of our food comes from.
We are staying in a treehouse that is 50ft up with a yoga/hammock deck, and a loft bedroom. It’s the most beautiful treehouse I’ve ever been into, it’s fully equipped a king size bed, drinkable running water, and AC. It’s giving us some good inspiration to build one at the cottage.
A couple years ago Lauren and I were show by Becca Lemire for Pink Mafia with Anna Von. Mica styled us up in this RAD vintage gear, overalls, florals, Versace, bomber jackets, all pared with big glasses and bandanas. It was super fun! I hardly had any tattoos back then, the big one on the inside of my arm is fake.
I found one of these photos in a search for pix Loz and I yesterday and wanted to re-live them all. We rolled up this this old school barber shop on Dundas and snapped a few shots in there. The old Pink Mafia office is in a super old building at Bay & Dundas with a cool old elevator and fire escape. The Converse I’m wearing were customized to say ‘Casie’ at a Marcus Troy MMVA event in 2011.
I love searching the archives. Can you believe next month is 11 years blogging? DAMNNNN. Time flies when you’re having fun. that’s why you need t document, so you don’t forget.
I find taking vacation or ‘staycations’ essential to my sanity. If you’re following my Twitter or Snapchat you’ll know that I’m always on the go doing something, events, speaking, dinner, travel. I love it, but tbh it’s pretty exhausting. Putting heaps of energy out (friends, work, or social) can take a lot out of you. In a recent TD survey, they found that us millennials have a hard time finding balance between financial and work commitments, and taking time to relax is a challenge. I can totally relate to this.
TD found that 46% of millennials don’t take their allotted vacation days, mostly due to heavy workload (31%) and lack of travel funds (29%). Back when I was working in an agency, I hardly ever took vacation, felt pressure to work late, and when I did take vacation, found myself constantly checking my phone and responding to emails. I know I’m not alone here!
The survey found, 90% of Canadian millennials agree that vacation time, even mini-vacations or “staycations”, are essential to keeping them happy. Taking time to recharge doesn’t have to be expensive, I find a good binge weekend with some cooking, takeout, and a nap (or two!) boosts me up. Having a financial plan and a budget will help you get that ROE – Return on Enjoyment. ?
This weekend we opened the cottage, going there, even for a 24 hour getaway gives me leaps and bounds of energy. Don’t have a cottage? Make friends with someone who does (heh heh) or check out options like Airbnb or Glamping Hub for affordable getaways.
Millennials like us can save for activities by creating a financial plan to account for funding life’s pleasures (or unexpected moments). We could all use a little more vitamin SEA, amiright? ? Other activities with good ROE – concerts, a spa day, beach day, a trip to Toronto Island, a picnic in the park with your BFFs, or a nice long bike ride in the sun. (Spring will be here soon!)
Getting to a happy work-life balance can be a bit of a challenge, Hellen Buttigieg, life coach and founder of We Organize U has a few tips we can all use. I personally like her mention of ‘relaxing’ looks different to everyone, sometimes blogging is a really relaxing things for me since I started it as a hobby and I love writing. Other times, it feels like work and I’d rather do take a yoga class, nap, or go out for dinner.
Next time you’re feeling overwhelmed or like you can’t afford a vacation, remember it all starts with a plan. Write down your goals, where you want to go, what you want to achieve, and set a budget to help you get there. If you need a hand getting that in order, stop into your local TD branch for helpful advice.
You 100% can get there. ?
* this post is sponsored by TD in my ongoing partnership, all stories and opinions my own, see other posts in this series below!
Word on the street is that the new Instagram timeline is dropping tomorrow. Here’s what you need to know! Apparently 70% of us are missing posts we actually wanna see, this new algorithm will hopefully make it better. For advertisers, this means you really need to pay to play Hopefully, the changed algorithm will result in more likes for us all. Although, I haven’t been in need of many more links since finding the best powerlikes service on the internet.
If your favorite musician shares a video from last night’s concert, it will be waiting for you when you wake up, no matter how many accounts you follow or what time zone you live in. And when your best friend posts a photo of her new puppy, you won’t miss it. – Instagram blog
If you’ve been on IG the last 24 hours you might have noticed a ton of posts tagged #turnmeon or #turnonnotifications, this is people asking for you to make a slight change so you don’t miss their posts. It’s kinda annoying and tbh, I don’t want to notifications from everyone, there’s a bunch of people I follow that I should probably just unfollow. BUT, if you want to turn on notifications for your fav peeps, it’s v easy.
Over the last decade, one thing I’ve learned about the internet and content creation is if you make great stuff and tell good stories, people will want to read it. This is where CONTENT IS KING comes from. If you want to build a following or grow a brand, you need think about what you’re posting and where. The platform it’s posted on today might not be there in 6 months or it might totally change functionality. It doesn’t just stop with posting good content though. Instagram is changing so much now that you can even directly message people from your computer using things like igdm, which is helping people stay connected to one another as well. So it’s certainly an improvement!
If you share content that gets a lot of likes, comments and shares, based on the new algorithm, your content will be seen by even more people. Good photos and lots of natural lighting are a great way to get likes. Buying an instagram likes booster is also a good way to get likes. It could be a good method of actually getting some recognition on the platform in lieu of natural engagement, springboarding your Instagram to allow for building up popularity.
To be honest, I feel like Instagram is on it’s way down. I like the idea of a curated stream, I think the algorithm will be good. How many posts do you see now that are from Snapchat? Once a platform stars being the secondary place content is posted, I feel it’s the decline. I’ve seen a bunch of apps rise to popularity then quickly decline when users hop over to the latest thing. Social is ALWAYS CHANGING.
Only time will tell if my prediction is true! Until then, make sure you visit my profile, and turn on notifications if you want. I’m heading to Costa Rica this weekend and I assure you, you don’t wanna miss it’s beauty!
