Saturday morning thoughts \\ House Hunting

I like to start my weekend mornings with a cup of coffee in bed, catching up on reading or a few blog posts, before I face the day. When I have the choice, I'm a slow morning girl. I suppose that's a bit funny since I'm also the girl who wakes up before dawn for a spin class, but that's usually a workweek thing - Even a 9 am class on the weekend feels too early for me sometimes.

This morning, I caught up with the fresh exchange and their house hunting story. This post couldn't have come at a better time for me. N & I have started the daunting, albeit exciting, process of becoming homeowners. We've been saving for a few years & living in an inner-city condo that we have a love-hate relationship with. We love the location. We hate a lot of little details about the condo itself (such as the incredibly frustrating laundry situation). It's time to find a place of our own. 

When we first looked at buying a home a few years ago, we saw ourselves in a condo. There are many things I love about the condo lifestyle & it fit our budget for the neighbourhoods we're interested in. As time has gone on though, we've fallen out of love with certain aspects of condo living & since we decided to rent for a couple years, it no longer feels like the type of place we'll still want to be in five years. If we're going to put this much money into something, I'd like to feel comfortable with it for at least five years. 

So now we're looking at houses - houses in inner-city neighbourhoods in this crazy oil & gas town. I know it's going to be a huge challenge to find the right house. For one, many of the houses in the areas we like have been renovated or are infills, bumping them far out of our budget. There are also many that require the kind of structural overhaul that we cannot afford. We're looking for that perfect blend of character home that everyone our age would like, a needle in a haystack if you will. I'm hoping that the fact that we're willing to put some work into any home we buy will help us. While many people want a renovated kitchen, I'm actually hoping for something older. Of course, it needs to be functional since we won't be updating it right away, but I'd prefer it didn't have the granite countertops & new appliances yet. I'd like to be able to update a kitchen to be my kitchen. 

We know this is a tall order & are expecting it will take some time. We'll undoubtedly want to give up. (I'm sure I will throw my hands up at some point & say, alright let's just move out to the suburbs like everyone else our age. Urban sprawl it is!). I hope when I do, I can remember both this post & Megan's. 

That's my main reason for writing this: to remind myself that we'll find it. We're in that rare situation where we can take our time & find the right place & I want to remember that fact. 

Happy Saturday! 

Follow @whoalansi

Craft Beer Party

A couple weeks ago, our friends had a housewarming with an interesting theme. This wasn't the first time they'd hosted this type of party, but it was the first time N & I fully participated.The idea is that everyone brings a six pack (or however much they plan on drinking) of craft beer. All contributions are added to the cooler, with the hope that everyone brings different craft beers so you can try a variety.

I love this idea! It's not often that you get to sample such a variety of craft beers in a single evening. I mean, some of my favourite bars operate on this premise (National, Craft, & Beer Revolution, to name a few), but sometimes it's hard to justify dropping $6-$8 on an unknown beer. This way, you can try at least six different beers for under $20.

I took photos of all the different beers I tasted, but unfortunately I didn't take any tasting notes, so you'll have to take my word for it when I say they were all quite good.

My first beer was my own contribution to the party. Perhaps a little silly to go straight for the beer I had brought, but I love Anchor Brewing & was really excited to try this Liberty Ale. I really enjoyed it. It's definitely not a bargain at the liquor store, but it's also not unreasonably priced. I'll buy it again soon.

Our friends apartment has this great mirror wall. It's pretty distracting, but a fun addition to the space.

 N's contribution was Anchor Steam. This is one of my favourite beers. I order it almost every time I see it on a menu. It's got an interesting flavour, but is easy to drink - delicious & slightly dangerous.

I'm really never sure about IPAs. I find them really hit or miss. Sometimes, they're great & other times, they're just too bitter for me. I liked this one though & I think the label is pretty awesome.

I really like Village beers, so of course this had to end up in my hands at some point in the evening. If you're even remotely into darker beers, the Blacksmith is great. It's definitely a go-to beer for me & their growlers are fun to split with a friend.

My beer choices quickly turned pretty safe as the night continued & I moved to beers I was more familiar with. I think this is kind of inevitable, but it was fun to at least start the night out with some new finds.

All in all, it was a pretty successful evening. We started early in the evening so we all went through quite a lot of beer. Next time I'd probably try to keep it to a six pack per person, so things don't get too rowdy.

Not that there's anything wrong with rowdy - everyone needs a noisy party at least once in a while, right? & you have to break in a new condo at some point. Mission Accomplished.

I'm definitely looking forward to trying this idea again with another group of friends. It's been a hit both times we've done it. If you like craft beer, I highly recommend this idea for your next party.

Follow @whoalansi

Love \\ Happy Valen-times

N -

I feel like a broken record already & it's only February, but this year is going to be a good one. We have some great (big) plans & I can't wait to watch it all unfold with you by my side.

As usual, you're right - we're awesome. Happy Valentines Day, babe! Let's eat something delicious together in true A & N fashion.

Yours,
A

Follow @whoalansi

Life \\ it's only tuesday?

Do you ever just have one of those weeks where you just can't wait for the weekend because it feels like the week is ganging up on you & you're so grumpy even though you know it could be so much worse & then you realize...

it's only tuesday.

Well, I'm having one of those weeks. It started with a spurt of productivity on Saturday. We've been living in our little condo for a year & a half & I've barely hung anything on our walls. I get all nervous about the commitment & chicken out. I know, I know. It's silly.

So we have this floating shelf that I've been carting around from place to place since i lived in Montreal. Nope, that's not a typo. I've been carting a $20 floating ikea shelf for 4 years. Stop judging me.

We hung it on Saturday though. Finally! & I got excited by how good it looked, floating there on the wall. I even bought a canvas & some paint & decided to be a little bit creative over the weekend. I was actually pretty excited about it. Sunday morning, I was arranging things on our little shelf when it came crashing down, breaking the brand new wine decanter we'd gotten as a Christmas gift from N's brother, one of the new canvases, & an elephant - the only souvenir I'd brought back from Thailand for myself. I was pretty upset. See? This is what happens when you make a commitment with Ikea shelving.

Ok, so that's not true. That's just what happens when you don't have a stud finder & you think you've gone far enough into a stud, but you haven't & your drywall screws are pathetic excuses for screws. N fixed it & it's definitely solid now (but just in case, I'm not putting anything that's not already broken on it for a while).

Mom & I went for a drink to talk about some wedding planning afterwards & things were looking up for the week. Maybe you're not so bad, Sunday. (Ha!) We made some delicious slow cooked Roast Beef & headed off to soccer.

Oh indoor soccer, you're such a jerk sometimes. In his effort to avoid smashing into a girl on the opposite team, N wound up buggering up his ankle pretty good. We borrowed some crutches from friends on the way home & figured it was just a sprain. The next morning, as he hobbled to work, he slipped on the ice &landed on his injured leg. Something about how it felt (besides painful) made him think something else was wrong so he went off to the Urgent Care Center downtown.

Long story short: they think it's broken. He's in an air cast right now & in 10 days he'll go back so they can take a look again & maybe have a better idea of whether it's actually broken or just a bad sprain (something about the broken bone not matching up with where he's having pain). We had ski plans for this weekend and a few other weekends in March so it's disappointing, especially considering how much that guy looks forward to ski season.

I went off to work that night at the Y after my regular day at work. I usually dread these long days, but it didn't help that N was at home alone with a broken ankle. This morning I woke up & realized I hadn't double checked when my health & safety training for the Y was scheduled for. So I checked my email to realize it was tonight, right after work, at the other end of the city. Cue very grumpy Alanna.

All in all, none of these things is terrible, but coupled with a few other unfortunate things so far this week, they add up to me wishing for the weekend. On a Tuesday.

We could always run away back to Mexico too. That's been my daydream for a while. I mean look at this place!

I promise there are more photos coming soon. More photos, less long winded posts about my first world problems. I'm supposed to be choosing happiness this year right? Working on it.

Follow @whoalansi

What If Money Was No Object?

So it's funny when a show like Two Broke Girls gets you thinking about life. I mean, you just don't expect that kind of show to make you stop and think, but this week's episode did just that for me. (Stranger things have happened, but let's talk about this particular strange thing for a minute).

What would you do if you were independently wealthy and didn't have to do anything to earn money? In the show, one of the girls (you can tell I watch this a lot since I know their names) realized that the guy she was dating was a keeper because he never had to do anything, but chose to. He had all the money he could ever need. In his position, she would have never left her bed. Her dreams came from wanting to create a better life for herself. He pursued his interests instead of just comfortably living off his wealth, like she believes she would have in his place.

It got me thinking about what I would do. Would I be that person who just travelled the world for her own selfish reasons? Or sat around at home doing nothing just because I could? Maybe for a time I'd fall into one of those (don't we all need a break like that sometimes?), but I'm doer. I'm rarely content to sit around doing nothing & actually usually feel guilty when I do. We all need lazy days sometimes, but I don't like when they become the every day.

If I could do whatever I wanted I would certainly travel a lot - I'd travel, and read, and write, and eat (especially eat). I'd take photos and be creative every day. I'd probably go back to school and take all the classes that don't combine to lead to a career or degree: photography, cooking, maybe even pastry. Maybe I'd work at a gym or a coffee shop or study nutrition in my spare time. These are things that interest me now, but that I'd never thought about in High School.

It's funny how you think you know everything when you leave High School, but the older you get, the more you realize, there's so much left to learn - about the world, myself, this journey I'm on...

I was chatting with a coworker about this and he showed me this video. It got me thinking so I thought I'd share.

"Better to have a short life, that is full of what you like doing than a long life spent in a miserable way." - Alan Watts

So, what do you desire? Follow @whoalansi

December in Instagram

It's been a bit of a slower month for blog posts, but I think overall I've been more consistent than ever before. It wasn't a real resolution to post more, but I did mention that it was a goal for this year and I think I can successfully check that one off. My other resolutions were a little more hit or mess, but I'll talk about that more when I make this years'.

Like all years, this one has its ups and downs. When I think back though, there were so many great moments. It's hard to trump our engagement, but we also made some great memories in the states, spent lots of time out at the lake and in the mountains, and ate our way around the city. I can't complain. Thanks, 2013. I think 2014 should be a pretty great year too. We're off to Mexico at the end of January, we're getting married this summer, and we've got plans for a pretty fantastic honeymoon. I hope you all can look back on 2013 with a smile and I wish you all the joy and happiness for this brand new year. Here's a little recap of what December looked like for us.

1. N participated in Movember again this year. It was his best mustache showing to date, but he still looked like a bit of a creep at the end.
2. N's family dog, Lucky, celebrated his 15th birthday. They let him lick the icing off a cupcake. When you're 105, you get to do whatever you want.
3. KC & I at the hockey game. It was me & the boys that night. Things got rowdy, as all hockey games should.
4. Fitness at work continued. We did a squat challenge this month & sometimes these types of ridiculous outfits make an appearance. Always need to be prepared for squats.
5. My company Christmas party was a blast. We had the best time and took a lot of great photobooth photos.
6. The snow this December has been pretty great so far. We spent the weekend before Christmas in Banff- skiing, drinking, snowshoeing, and hitting the hot springs.
7. We stayed in Calgary for Christmas this year and spent the holidays with N's family at their house. His mom's fireplace is just adorable.
8. Skating on Christmas Day with family and friends.
9. We skied Panorama after Christmas and then headed out to spend some time with my family in the Columbia Valley. It was beautiful!

See you in 2014, blog friends! Happy New Year!

Follow @whoalansi

November in Instagram

November ended this weekend and took our beautiful chinook weather with it. A storm blew late Sunday night and half the city is stuck in snow drifts this morning. The wind has caused white-out on most highways surrounding our frozen city and we're all bundled up like it's the arctic. Welcome to Calgary. Welcome to winter.

December is always one of the busiest months and it's no different for us this year. We've got something going on every weekend between family dinners, christmas parties, and trips to the mountains. It's the best kind of busy though as we'll get to see the majority of our friends and family at some point this month. Sadly, if we haven't already made plans, we probably won't have time until January now. I'm very busy and important, you know.

1. I posted this photo to Instagram and it was featured in a Women's Health Fitness Friday roundup. I thought it was pretty cool: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/fitness-friday-november-1
2. My girlfriends and I volunteered at Avenue's Top 40 Under 40 event. It was great meeting all the recipients and we had a great time at the after party.
3. N and I hosted a Halloween party at our place. We dressed up as the Paleo Police.
4. We've been working on headstands and handstands as well as getting back into strength training this month. We've both improved a lot and plan to continue this month.
5. We celebrated H's birthday with bowling, beer, and delicious food at National Bowl. Happy Birthday, H!
6. We bought an eighth of a cow from one of N's coworkers. It's all grass-fed beef. We were obviously very excited.
7. We got our engagement photos back and they are beautiful. I love every single one and am so happy we've booked 3Haus for our wedding as well.
8. Treated outselves to pizza at Famoso before seeign the Hunger Games. Their pizza is just delicious! We hadn't seen a movie together in ages; this one was well worth hitting the theatre on a friday night.
9. Movember is over, which means this lovely stache is just a memory.

Happy December, everyone!
Follow @whoalansi

Living Abroad

I started this blog while living abroad in 2008. I wanted a way to document that time in my life as well as write, be creative, and keep in touch with friends. My time in France was not only one of the inspirations for this blog but also one of the most rewarding and incredible experiences of my life.

I think about France often. Honestly, I think about travel in general a lot, but especially both of my experiences living in France. I've said countless times that I think travel (and especially solitary travel) is one of the best things you can do in your twenties. Those experiences have shaped me in so many ways and I know I'd be a very different person today without them.

I'm grateful I was given the opportunity to live abroad twice. I've been told that I'm brave for having the ability to take these opportunities and run with them. It's hard to always see yourself in that way - a lot of the things I've done in my life were possible because of the support of my family and friends. For them, I am also very grateful. A lot I accomplished because of sheer determination. I'm a stubborn person and I knew I'd regret not taking the chances I did. It took a lot of research, planning, and many missteps along the way, but I made it. 

I've told so many people to go travelling or go live abroad but I realized the other day that I've never really written about the how or the why. I think it's time to change that. I look forward to looking back on my experiences and sharing them in this series and I hope it helps someone who needs that extra push.

Follow @whoalansi

a proposal

Kelowna was the final leg of our vacation. We'd planned to meet up with some friends and run the inaugural Kelowna Wine Country Half Marathon on September 7th.

When we'd first signed up for the half marathon, N's parents, his sister, and her boyfriend booked flights out to Kelowna for that weekend. At the time, I didn't think much of it since N's brother also lives in Kelowna. N explained that they thought it would be nice to spend the weekend together as a family vacation of sorts.

Race morning, I woke up not feeling so great. I'm sure the ridiculous amount of vacation type food had nothing at all to do with it. Planning to run a half marathon after 10 days of wonderfully rich food and drinks was not my most brilliant plan. We'd eaten more wheat in that week than we probably had all year. I'm sorry, tummy. You were understandably upset.

Nonetheless, we grabbed breakfast in the hotel, met up with our friends, and got in line for the bus to the start line. It was a long wait to get on the bus, but we all nervously chatted and jumped around to keep warm. We were the only veteran half marathoners in the group. Their nervous anticipation reminded me of my own before I ran Montreal. We finally got on a bus and made it to the start line with all the other runners. It was by far the smallest race I've ever run but our friends' excitement, coupled with that of it being the inaugural race, was contagious.

It was the perfect day for a half marathon too - overcast and cool with a little rain. N and I generally run together for the first 12 km and then he takes off on his own. He's a faster runner than I am, but I'm better at pacing so I reign him in and he reminds me that it's supposed to be fun, at least that morning. I had some serious doubts that I was going to finish that race. My stomach was angry and my legs didn't feel ready for the constant pounding from the huge amount of downhill in the race. In hindsight, he was probably pretty worried with all my talk of not finishing.

At 12 km, I was still going though and we parted ways. He reminded me that I didn't need to run a best time and also mentioned that I should look for his family near the finish. He said his sister had made signs and his mom would have a surprise for us at the end. I was doubtful that his sister would be awake and slightly confused about what his mom would have for us, but I still didn't think anything was going on.

As soon as he left me, things got much worse for my stomach. I started worrying that I really wasn't going to finish the race and desperately needed to find a washroom. Of course, there were none to be found. I had switched to from 20 min of running and 1 minute of walking to 10 minutes of running. Every time I took a walk break, people encouraged me to keep going. All the people cheering along the half marathon routes are doing such an incredible thing for the runners. I've often wondered if I'd have made it through a lot of my races if it weren't for them! 

At 15 km, I gave in to my upset tummy and made a pit stop. It was definitely something I should have done earlier since I felt so much better afterwards and the rest of the race was a lot of fun. It finished along the boardwalk so for the final kilometer I could hear the announcer naming the finishers. I heard one of our friends finish and got pretty excited, considerably picking up my pace. I still hadn't seen anyone from N's family as I approached the finish line though.

A couple hundred meters out, someone unexpected caught my eye, waving a sign with my name on it - my mom. I had no idea she was going to be there so I waved excitedly and then took off for the finish line as fast as I could. She was standing right before the finish line so I didn't notice much else besides the key to the end of my run.

As soon as I crossed I saw N standing at the finish with a rose. He gave it to me and probably said a few other things. I was pretty out of it from my final all out spring and exhaustion from the race itself so I don't remember exactly what either of us said. I do remember, however, that he asked me if I'd seen the signs. I started telling him that I'd seen my mom holding a sign and had no idea she was going to be there.

N: "So you didn't see the other signs?"

A: "The other signs? No? What?"

N: "Well you need to see the other signs."

So I turn around and our families are holding signs that read: Alanna, will you marry me?

As I turned back around he got down on one knee and pulled out a ring. I can't honestly remember what he said besides "will you marry me?". I'm told I said yes pretty quickly afterwards. Tears, hugs, and laughter followed (on top of a lot of people asking if they could take our picture). It was pretty surreal.

It turns out both our families had been in on it the whole time. My parents and brother stayed in BC after our friend's wedding so they could be a part of the proposal and N's family had planned this weekend trip around it. He'd picked out the ring months earlier and had everything planned out so it would be a total surprise. I'm so impressed that not even a whisper got back to me or any of my friends.

I couldn't have asked for a more thoughful proposal. He totally nailed it. While we waited for another friend to finish, we re-enacted the proposal so the rest of the family could get photos. That's the photo the wound up on instagram and facebook a few hours later. 

There was also a wine tasting for the runners so once everyone had finished up the race, we headed over to that. We enjoyed a few samples of wine, took some more pictures, and then headed back to our room to clean up. Both of our families met up at Earl's for lunch and some drinks. It was nice to talk some more and hear stories from the few months previous: N and his sister picking out the ring, his mom keeping it at their house, N secretly driving out to my parents' house to ask their permission. There were a lot of great stories. 

The rest of the weekend involved a lot of great food with N's family and lots of drinks and toasts and typical Kelowna things. We spent Saturday night celebrating with far too many drinks at Roses' with his siblings and their boyfriend/girlfriend. It was an amazing weekend. 

Follow @whoalansi

Road Tripping: Seattle

I can't believe it's been over two months since we were in Seattle. It was a really quick trip, but we managed to see a lot of the city. We got in late in the afternoon and parked by the pier. We had about an hour until my friend and his wife could meet up with us so we wandered around. 

Pike Place Market was just down the street so we headed there right away. I'm not sure what is up with this gum wall, but it's huge. N thought it was pretty gross and I kind of do too. Interesting to photograph, but I don't think I could bring myself to touch it and add my own piece to the wall.

We wandered the market a bit and then went in search of parking to meet up with my friend and his wife. I hadn't see Lucas since he came to Calgary for Stampede Week in 2006. We originally met in France while studying in Rennes in 2005. He played tour guide and showed up some of the main sites downtown. We eventually decided on Ivar's for some seafood on the pier. It was great catching up and hearing about everything they'd been up to since I'd last seen him (there's a lot. They're pretty worldly and impressive people!) They were generously putting us up at their home just outside Seattle so after dinner we headed back to their house to rest up for the next day.

Our first stops after breakfast the next day were the Ballard Locks and Fish Ladder. They were built to link the freshwater of Lake Washington to the saltwater of Puget Sound. There is also a fish ladder built to allow easier passage for salmon to return to Lake Washington and navigate the locks. There are glass panels below the waterline so you can watch the fish swim up the ladders if you're lucky. We waited and waited, hoping to see a salmon swim up the ladder, but it was wasn't until we were just walking out that one finally made an appearance. It swam so fast that we didn't get to see much. It'd be really cool to be there when a lot of salmon are making their way to Lake Washington.

We had visited Pike Place Market briefly the day before but wanted a little more time to see it and try some seafood so we headed back there. The rain held off and gave us the opportunity to wander the market. We tried some fresh crab and marvelled at the amazing seafood. The rest of the market was great too, but that scale of seafood isn't something we see at home so we were spent most of our time in awe of the seafood.

We tried to visit the first Starbucks, but the line outside was insane so we took dumb pictures outside instead. It was possibly the most touristy moment of our trip. I worked at Starbucks long enough to grow an intense appreciation for good coffee and small roasters, of which there are plenty in both Seattle and Portland. I appreciate what Starbucks has done for this industry. It really wouldn't exist if someone hadn't come up with the idea to open this little italian style cafe and try to sell the idea of lattes, americanos, and cappuccinos to North Americans. Thank you, Starbucks. 

Lucas had mentioned we should check out the library. It's a pretty cool building and definitely well worth a wander if you're looking for something to do downtown and are interested in architecture. We didn't stay long, but we wandered all the way up to the top. This is the top floor of the library.

Afterwards, we decided we'd seen enough of downtown Seattle and headed up to Capitol Hill. This is such a cool area of Seattle. We were ready for a break, some beer, and a snack so we wandered the area looking for a good spot. We stumbled on Oddfellows and decided it looked like a good choice. We shared some charcuterie and a couple drinks. I absolutely loved the space and was sad to have to head back to the car. I would have loved to have had more time to explore Capitol Hill. I guess that means we'll have to make another trip out to Seattle.

 We headed to the Walrus and the Carpenter for dinner that night. The restaurant is in Ballard, which is another really cool neighbourhood. They don't take reservations and it is a pretty popular spot so we showed up and had a two hour wait ahead of us. Luckily this gave us a chance to wander around the area and grab a drink on a patio. Again, another neighbourhood I'd love to have more time to explore.

The Walrus and the Carpenter is a little Oyster Bar in a beautiful old restored building. They also have a lot of small plates and a beautiful wine and beer selection. We ordered a bunch of delightful things along with both fresh oysters and fried ones. It was a delicious meal and the perfect end to our food tour of the Pacific Northwest. Unfortunately, it seemed too cramped a space to pull out my SLR so I only have grainy iPhone photos of the meal. Trust me, these don't do it justice.

We woke up "early"the next morning, grabbed coffee in the beautiful town of Edmonds (Lucas picked a beautiful spot to call home!), and hit the Interstate. We stopped for some quick outlet shopping before crossing the border back into Canada; it was time for Kelowna and a very exciting half marathon!

Follow @whoalansi