“There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind” – Thoughts on leaving a job for a new one

Written by Bev. Posted in Musings

There was a quote I came across a few months ago, attributed to C.S. Lewis.

There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.

After I read it, I instantly liked it and felt it resonated with me. I have a tendency to fear the next step and making commitments to things happening in the future has always scared me. Maybe I’m scared of failure or the unknown, but it’s mainly apprehension that makes me want to stick with what I know. But as hokey as this may sound, reading this quote accompanied by the visual really inspired me.

So I sat on this idea for awhile.

Mediterranean Trail June 2012 Part III – Greek Islands

Written by Bev. Posted in Musings, Travel

Continuation of Part 1 – Italy and Part 2 – Greece.

Lastly, the Greek islands! I think this part of the trip would have been 100X better if I hadn’t done it via cruising. We only had three days to visit Mykonos, Kusadasi, Patmos and Santorini and in those three days, majority of it was traveling time. I would one day like to do a re-do of the Greek islands.

Overall, I would say Santorini was one of my favourite places I visited on this trip. I mean, I rode a donkey and drove an ATV (without killing or injuring anyone), that is pretty awesome.

Mediterranean Trail June 2012 Part II – Greece

Written by Bev. Posted in Musings, Travel

Continuation from Part 1 – Italy, next up on the Mediterranean Trail is Greece, more specifically, Corfu and Athens (the Greek islands are in part 3).

While in Italy I learned some phrases (my favourite being ‘scusi’) that to this day, still remember. But the only Greek phrase I remember from this trip? Pretty much just OPA! And I intend to start using it more often in everyday conversation now that I am back home (similar to how I will throw in ‘scusi’ whenever it feels appropriate). So opa!! Let’s go!

 

Mediterranean Trail June 2012 Part I – Italy

Written by Bev. Posted in Musings, Travel

After my trip to Thailand, I have been counting the days until the new vacation calendar at work kicks in so I can book another trip. You can say I’ve been bitten by the travel bug or, some might say, I’m just really on the verge of an Office Space moment and need to step away from everyday life. In any case, I ordered some Contiki and G Adventures brochures in late March/early April and once they arrived, I excitedly scoured through them and bookmarked the places that really appealed to me (so pretty much every page). On my bucket list, I wanted to hit every continent and I really wanted to visit Peru to see Machu Picchu. But when researching airfares, it seemed like it wasn’t really a good time so I decided on Europe because I shamefully have never been. And, this is going to sound really lame, but ever since I saw Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Eat Pray Love, I’ve always wanted to visit Greece and Italy (respectively). And so, I decided on the Mediterranean Trail plus 3 day cruise in the Greek islands with Contiki!

Working on my fitness… still

Written by Bev. Posted in Musings

In continuation of my “fitness journey“.

So here’s an update, almost 3 months later! Well, I did end up signing up for a membership at the gym (yes, after years of always saying “I think I’ll sign up… just not yet”, I actually went through with it) and ended up going with Goodlife Fitness as my gym of choice. I’ve tried smaller gyms but the lack of convenience didn’t work out. I’ve tried Extreme Fitness, which has nicer equipment and facilities, but I’ve heard bad things about their selling tactics (plus, there are less locations than Goodlife). And I’ve tried specialty exercise studios, which have the same issues of lack of convenience and locations near my work/home as well as the higher price point. So Goodlife it was!

When you read about the following classes below, and the names don’t really give you a good indication of what exactly the class is about, you can check out the Les Mills site for further info.

Non-traumatic things that have made me weep uncontrollably

Written by Bev. Posted in Musings

After reading Mindy Kaling’s “Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (And Other Concerns)“, and reading her chapter on this topic, I thought I’d make my own list. Yep, totally stealing her idea.

There are certain obvious non-traumatic things that make me cry like, for example, movies like The Notebook and The Help, songs like Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven and those commercials with the sad abused animals and the Sarah McLachlan song playing in the background. Let’s ignore those because those are just givens (unless you are a robot and have robot emotions).

I be up in the gym just working on my fitness!

Written by Bev. Posted in Musings

Apologies for quoting a lyric from Fergalicious.

For the past year or so, I have had lofty fitness goals. In these lofty fitness goals, I liked to imagine myself as a fitness guru who was awesome at everything. Could I be a yogini (female equivalent of a yogi)? HELL YA! Could I zumba like nobody’s business? You betcha! Could I go to spinning class and not want to collapse and die at the end of it? For sure!

Sadly, none of this is really true but I still have these lofty fitness goals and in 2012, I am determined to keep at it.

Why I’ve discovered that traveling solo ain’t so bad

Written by Bev. Posted in Musings, Travel

As you may have read in my previous posts, I travelled by myself for the first time to somewhere foreign. I’ve been to New York City solo before, once for a business trip and once to take advantage of a really great Expedia deal. But this was the first time I’ve gone an extended period of time and to somewhere far away, and quite different, from home. It was something I had my anxieties about but at the same time, knew it was something I wanted to try. Maybe blame it on Eat Pray Love.

Saying you’re going to travel by yourself, I find, carries a lot of stigmatism. The general reaction from people finding out you’re going somewhere by yourself is generally pity and some form of the following questions: good lord, do you not have any friends? Is there something socially wrong with you to not be able to find travel partners? Are you that pathetic of a person to not be able to find ANYONE to go with you? Aren’t you scared something is going to happen to you going by yourself? Etc. In fact, my own mother had this reaction.

And that’s kind of a shame because from meeting other solo travelers on the tour, this is hardly the case for why we choose to go on our own.

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I enjoy pop culture and traveling so mainly I blog about that.

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