It’s a great reset to take a break from your everyday lifeand escape to the woods. Sean and I had 7 whole days alone before welcoming guests on the last weekend. It was an incredible getaway. After my Portugal trip I felt like I needed some time to reset.
August is always a time where I asses the year so far, look at my goals and make a plan for the final quarter. Fitness, mental clarity, more work I enjoy, travel, and balance are key.
I hit the ground running w/ my trainer this week and after my first weekend of wakeboarding, it was kinda hard. MY ARMS WERE KILLING YESTERDAY. I’m determined to give it another go this weekend and hone in on my skills. I honestly never thought I would be a gym-loving wakeboard chick but here I AM.
Swipe for video of me wakeboarding (Cory Lee is screaming, not me! haha)
Feeling fresh and ready for a great month. Yesterday was my first day back and I’m already moving on a couple exciting things. Next week I have 2 speaking gigs, the public one is at the Apparel Textile Sourcing show and you can register to come here.
Remember, you will never be younger than you are today so make the most of it.
Helloooo and happy Monday Tuesday! It’s a short week and I’m happy to working beside the lake. Tomorrow is Sean’s birthday and each year we spend this week up at the cottage.
The weather this weekend was amazing. Got some good sun on Saturday. Drove the truck with the boat trailer and backed it into the water perfectly. Did dock yoga with coffee. Already finished a book and hope to get through another one or two on my Kindle this week. The lake is so warm and perfect for swimming. Went out on my stand up paddleboard (SUP). We have been out in the boat quite a bit and I’m comfortable taking Sean out wakeboarding. This was ‘relationship goals’ for him!
I love cooking at the cottage but I rarely share what I’m making. To social media all the things I create makes it feel like work. I love spending time prepping for dinner, making marinades, and finding recipes on Pinterest.
I have been working on perfecting bbq cauliflower, there are so many great ways to cook it. Grapefruit is a favourite for breakfast. Meat from Costco has been great for bbq, comes seasoned and these Korean ribs were incredible! I’ve had perfect avocados 3 days in a row. Brought back some incredible olive oil from a winery in Portugal and it’s amazing the difference from what you buy at the grocery store here. Good olive oil is worth the $$!
We made some lake friends this weekend who invited us to a concert. There was a full on band playing covers and heaps of people around our age hanging out. We boated over for a couple beers and it was so fun.
I’m grateful for rainy days just as much as the sunshiney ones to get things done inside or on my computer. It’s so nice to have a break from city life. I know I was just on vacation in Portugal but it was the opposite of relaxing, go-go-go everyday! My next post on visiting Porto will go live later today or tomorrow. Lots of great stuff from there to share.
I’m writing this post using the new WordPress Editor, Gutenberg. It takes some getting used to and I had almost finished my post when I accidentally deleted it so now I am paying more attention. It allows you to add content blocks, ex. a paragraph of text, image, gallery, audio, subheading, columns (beta). It’s similar to how Medium works or LinkedIn work for posts.
Search for a block
Easily add Twitter or IG embed
It’s much easier to move parts of your post around without cut/paste. I think that columns is a neat idea. Wondering how I can use this in a creative way to tell a story. The new format is similar to medium or LinkedIn where you are working with content blocks you add to the post. They’re easily searchable and you can add favs to a quick menu. [Columns didn’t work for me they looked ugly, still in Beta so I’m sure will improve]
WordPress Gutenberg – Columns
Backend
Frontend
One of the really great things is adding Twitter/Youtube/IG/FB embeds from the blocks.
You can also easily add almost any kind of content. I’ve been using WordPress for years and I think this is a real step in the right direction. I wonder if they will add more photos editing options?!
If you want to try the new Gutenberg editor you have to install and activate it as a Plugin while it’s still in Beta [dowload here].
WordPress dashboard has a welcome message for the latest update outlining some feature and benefits (I am using the fully hosted option not wordpress.com). I‘ve been thinking about editing my theme and might do that during my vacation next week.
I’ve decided I like the new editor.Hello Gutenberg, my new friend that I will spend countless hours with.Drop cap is kinda nice. I feel like using the old editor will be like going back in time. This post is not sponsored by WordPress, I just spend some much time using the platform I decided to blog about it while I was using it this morning. I love blogging about blogging. Ha!
A short story about this great card. I ordered it from Dani Kreeft‘s print shop, Dani Press before she shut it down. I loved her cards, the perfect short sentences paired with perfect photos she took herself. This one reminds me of mum, she’s always there slow clapping behind me. I talk to her a lot. She’s the person I ring when something exciting happens and sometimes that’s few in a day. This card is also a reminder for me to be that person for others, to remind them there’s someone in your corner. Even when you feel alone, you are not alone, someone is rooting for you. If you feel like you are all by yourself, reach out.
I went to Sintra, Portugal, the most romantic place!The true romance was really how great this blazer matched the Pena Palace. I bought it just before leaving Toronto knowing full well that it would match perfectly. Ha! Aeroplan was open to me picking the places I wanted to visit for this trip and Sintra was top of my list. It’s a small resort town in the foothills of the Sintra Mountains, about a 20min Uber from Lisbon. It’s amazing how close this is to Lisbon and yet so different than the city. There are a couple beaches nearby, but unfortunately, I didn’t make it there.
Casa do Valle
I stayed at a beautiful place in Sintra about a 10 min walk from the centre of the tourist area. I booked it almost 2 months ahead and paid $149.42 CAD the garden suite near the pool. When I check to extend my stay there, it was almost double the price. Book early! Get $40 if you use this booking.com link.
My room
Always sit in the hammock
Castle view
Other units
Casa do Valle is owned by a family from Finland, they built it to have family stay with them but they didn’t come so they turned it into a bed and breakfast. We met them they were so incredibly nice. Breakfast was served in our room and we had a few different options to pick from + coffee and tea. Wifi was included and from the pool area, you can see Pena Palace and the Moorish Castle.
Pena Palace
This is the red/yellow castle. I mapped this place out and added it to my itinerary as soon right away. I was told to get there early in the day to avoid crowds but we went around 4:30pm and it was busy, but not ridiculous. I was still able to get great photos without too many people in the background. I was actually quite surprised how patient people were for everyone taking photos. Thanks, Instagram!
I purchased ‘Park & Pena Palace: Skip the Line’ mobile tickets from tiqets.com a couple hours before visiting or 14 Euros. I really didn’t need the ‘Skip the Line’, there was no line.
The hilltop 19th-century Pena National Palace is known for its design and bright colours. You can get a great view from the mountain top and explore the beautiful park before the castle. Make sure you wear comfortable shoes because you have to walk from the park up the hill to the castle and you’ll really feel it in your booty.
When leaving Pena Palace you pass the Castle of The Moors, a medieval castle where you can tour the grounds to a lookout over Sintra. (You’ll need to buy a ticket!)
Sintra
Sintra’s downtown is a cute little area beside The Palace of Sintra is in the heart of the old town. There are cabs, Uber, and tuk-tuks to take you around the tourist areas. I didn’t have any great meals but there’s a pastry you must have a Piriquita, the most famous pastry in Sintra.
I highly recommend going to Sintra. It’s magical!
This vacation was in partnership #withAeroplan. Earn miles and rewards by shopping at your fav spots (ex. Amazon) and redeem for travel almost anywhere in the world. I've been an Aeroplan member since I was 11 years old and love redeeming my miles to visit new & exciting destinations. Check out aeroplan.com!
I went glamping on a farm and it was amazing. Chefs cooked all the food, we did yoga in a barn listening to Tragically Hip, I went in a greenhouse, there was a pond, the outdoor showers were glam, and there were 250 people. I knew this would be cool based on the invite, it was unique. ?????
50 Luxury Tents for us!
The glamping trip was hosted by Up Cannabis at The New Farm. The Tragically Hip are big investors in the company and the band was there the whole day and had dinner with the group. It was the first big cannabis event I have been to. There were plenty of edibles floating around as well. Like the edibles online that people regularly order. Seeing as I was new to it all when they kept referring to their business as a cannabusiness and at the time, I wasn’t too familiar with this term. But the more I spoke to some of the people there, the more of a better understanding I had. I should have read This CBDistillery Review before going then, I would have had so much more knowledge.
There are so many things you have to think about when running a cannabusiness. For example, before this trip, I knew very little about the wide range of cannabis packaging options out there, but now I am something of an expert!
It was also the nicest camping experience I have ever had and would 100% do that again. Up Cannabis can’t actually share their product with us but for the 50 media that stayed over to camp, they infused the same terpenes found in the product into the soaps, drinks, food, and everything around us.
The event was really well done. The tents were like little apartments with electricity, real beds, furniture, lights, and fans. It was reallllly hot those days. In the morning, outside our tents were little baskets with reading material, breakfast snacks and cold brew coffee (that was cold!). They gave us heaps of little things to take home, wool Glerups slippers, snacks, and my favourite item is this soap which you will soon find in the Up Cannabis store soon.
Luxury camping
at its finest!
Welcome to camp!
Cannabis 101
The Upside-down house
Gord Sinclair from The Hip
Band played in the barn
They had alcohol non beverages
A breakfast option!
Dinner is served!
Morning packages w/ cold brew
The New Farm Owners
Up Cannabis Strains
The Up brand has positioned themselves in the ultra-premium segment with a strong connection to music. By having The Tragically Hip as major shareholders and strategic partners, the band weighs into every major marketing decision and infuses their brand music.
Given the upcoming legislation gives event sponsorship the green light, you’ll see more cannabis companies at festivals, events, and consumer touchpoints.
What a time to be alive. Back when social media started, new technology was bringing people with like interests together, all over the world. We were all on Twitter and it was magic. That same energy is floating around right now about the upcoming cannabis legislation. Working with Weed VR has been an eye-opening experience.
We’re on the cusp of a new $20 billion dollar industry with unlimited potential for retail, tech, marketing, education, and medicine. “It’s not like putting a new candy bar on a new shelf, it’s a whole new store” (4:19 Podcast). Great listen about the industry on the 4:19 Episode 1 w/ Shekhar Parmar Founder/CEO, Harvest Medicine Chief Strategy Officer, ABcann (here).
