A Big Bodacious Day!

Wow! I'm exhausted. We had a customer appreciation day at the store yesterday so we started early getting everything ready and ended late with a celebration of success...including a bit too much champagne:) It's so reassuring when a plan comes together and people actually 'show up'. I mean that in both senses. Showing up to shop is, of course, a huge priority. We need to pay the bills and our staff and ourselves. But the day yesterday was about more than that. Everyone - the customers, staff, passers by, neighbours - showed up in creating that feeling of fun, support and connectedness. That means so much more to me than people shopping. Women were laughing and helping each other out with style advice, dancing around in the clothes like they were having the time of their lives. Our staff were right there, 'showing up' for the customers, each other and us. Believe me, it's not always like that in retail but it happens alot at Bodacious. That was a goal that's been achieved - and I'm so pleased!

tryin' to get back on track

I thought I had become one of those people. You know the ones. They get up effortlessly every morning and go for a run or climb a mountain or swim 50 laps. I'd convinced myself by the end of last year that that was me. I was running pretty regularly, had completed some long running events and was feeling pretty damn good about myself. And then...poof - it was all over. It feels like I just missed a week or two but in reality it was probably a month or two - and I looked down at my body and was surprised by the change - back to where I'd started. I know, I know...I'm the first one to say, 'love your body right now, as it is' and I'm usually pretty good at that but I was feeling so HEALTHY and my clothes were fitting me differently. I don't think I even changed much in size but everything just felt 'right-er'. Anyway, I'm back at it. I want to feel that ease again. Not begrudging the stairs or choosing to stay home on the couch instead of going for a walk or bike ride. I've run/walked twice this week and I have to say it's easier this time than starting all over. I guess I had more in reserve than I thought. I already feel better - getting oxygen into the lungs is always a good thing! I'm choosing for it to not be a chore - my mantra when I'm running is, "with ease" and it makes such a difference than saying, "this is so hard!".
So...here's a picture of me completing a 10k last year just to show myself that it can be done.
And now I'm going to eat some yummy oatmeal with blueberries! Enjoy your day and take the time to smell those beautiful spring flowers:)

Weirdies...

Sorry - still can't find my camera battery charger so no new pix. Today was an interesting day full of meetings and non-meetings with accountants, friends, potential employees, ex-employees, business associates and a bit of strangeness. So...the non-meeting happened (or didn't) this afternoon when we'd set up an interview for a new employee at the store. We were running a few minutes late but the person had come into the store and been asked by our lovely manager to fill out our clever application form (difficult things like, 'what's your name?' 'how do you feel about retail', 'how would you handle a woman who was being negative about her body while shopping in the store?', etc. Well, the woman started to fill in the form and about 1/2 way through, said she had to go to her car for some information that was needed to complete it (references maybe?). That was at 5 minutes to 4pm (4 pm being the time of scheduled interview). At about 4:30pm we had to surmise that she was not coming back. No call, no explanation, no new employee.
Anyway, the sun was shining and 'big momma' got cleaned and we had lots of giggles along the way.

Monday, Monday...

I took a bunch of pictures of all of the gardening we did this weekend but my camera battery is dead and I can't find the charger so here's a pic from a couple of weeks ago. There's way more flower action now. Still nice, I think?
Had a pretty good weekend.
Went to the driving range early Saturday morning and then off to the Trout Lake Farmer's Market for the first time this year. What a beautiful market. If you haven't been, you should definitely check it out. There are so many plants - edible and beautiful - that are so inexpensive compared to the gardening centres. We bought 4 tomato plants, more petunias, nasturtiums, salvias and an air plant. I could have bought so much more! There's also great organic veg, baking, mushrooms, meats...It's a great way to kick start your Saturday and support local!
We watched two french movies over the weekend in preparation for our upcoming trip to Paris. Paris, Je T'Aime and Amelie. Definitely starting to get excited about visiting this beautiful city!
Yesterday Barb invited George and I to Eat! Vancouver at BC Place. Wow! So many foods, so many people, so yummy:) We sampled Mexican, Indian, Westcoast, Okanagan wines and local cheeses. Everywhere you turn, someone has some kind of fig jelly on a cracker or muskoxe jerky ready for you to try. It was pretty cool. We sat through a wine and cheese pairing put on by the Wine Diva which was yummy and I learned a few things too. OMG, that white cheddar was delicious!
I'd say one of the highlights of the weekend was just enjoying our back deck which we finally got cleaned up and comfie. I love it back there - it's usually quite calm and peaceful (except when we get invaded by the neighbours and all the kids:).
Happy Monday everyone!

Some fun for you!

A few years ago, we spent an afternoon in a barbados bar with some interesting characters. This lovely lady was dancing to the music outside the bar. (watch out for that car!) I love her moves! Enjoy...

mmmmm....sleep!

(if you love this pic. check out this website for more of this luscious lovely!)
Do you ever have one of those perfect nights of sleep when the stars line up, the bed linens are fresh, the pillows are perfectly plumped, and you sleep like you're floating on clouds? I'm so happy to say that was me last night! I haven't been sleeping well lately, and not sleeping well makes me, ummm...I have to admit, a bit grumpy. So I'm happy to report that I'm refreshed and ready for the day. I'm actually finding it hard to let go of that floating feeling but I must as the day is calling - house to be tidied, hills to be climbed, lawns to be mowed. My favourite bird is singing outside my window which always warms my heart. Happy day to you!

It's Wednesday and that's that

I got back on the exercise horse this morning and walked/ran (2/3) for half an hour. It felt pretty good - not as hard as I thought it would be after taking a month (or two) off. Trying not to feel bad about missing time and just going day by day and moving forward. Last night I mowed the lawn which was a huge workout in itself as we have one of those push mowers, which I love - but not when the blades are dull and the grass is thick and high! I have bruises on my tummy today from using it to push the mower when my arms got tired:)
I picked a bunch of lilacs from our tree this morning and that's all I can smell in the house. When they're done, I'll be sad but until then, I'll just breathe in that delicioius scent! Hope you're all having a fantastic week so far. It sure smells fresh out there...

We Did It!!! The Holly Mist Inaugural Sail!

WOW! It's taken me two days to even begin to formulate the exultation of our first ever sail on our 27ft Sloop, the 'Holly Mist'. We headed out on Friday night and had our first sleep on the boat at Thunderbird Marina. It took awhile to figure out how to get comfie in this new space (there are a few options) but eventually had a pretty good night's sleep. First thing in the morning, after a quick coffee and a chocolate chip cookie (or two:), we checked over the boat to see that all was where it needed to be, and crept slowly and quietly out of the sleepy harbour around 8:30am.

Less than 15 minutes out of the harbour, we put up the sails and were literally swept away by some pretty big winds! We were cruising at 7 1/2 knots with the genoa full and feeling a bit out of control. (We'd never gone faster than 5 knots in our training last year) The side windows were getting splashed and the sails were wet! Nothing like trial by fire:) Finally I called to George that maybe we should try to slow it down a bit so we let the sails out to a broad reach (lessening the winds' pull on the boat) and got a little more control. What an adrenaline rush! It was such a beautiful day. Once we'd slowed it down a bit, we just practiced tacking and gybeing for about an hour and then eventually the wind died down altogether. We had to start the motor up once to get out of the way of the Horseshoe Bay/Nanaimo ferry (phew - so glad that worked!) and had some cold beers and munchies and watched the fish jump while trying to make our way around Passage Island with very little wind.
About 3/4 of the way around the island, George finally gave in and started the motor, as we really weren't making any progress, and headed back into the marina. What a pleasant surprise when two seals met us at the entrance to our dock and guided us in, looking back to see if we were following, right into our berth!!! Magical:) We were pretty exhilarated and glad to have that first sail under our belt.

Today at the Park - It was snowing cherry blossoms!

Not much to say except...enjoy the pix and happy sunny day!

I sold my car! (& welcome to the new site)

I think I'll be using this site from now on since I get to incorporate more photos. Thanks for joining me!

I went to a WOW workshop recently (women of worth) and the speaker talked about how you can create a life where things are easy. That life doesn't need to be hard. Well, I do believe that life fluctuates - sometimes easier, sometimes more difficult - and I appreciate those peaks and valleys but here's an example of pretty EEEAAAASSSSYYYY!!! This past weekend, George and I had discussed buying my brother's car (a honda civic) and selling the one we have. We'd agreed to get the bcaa test done on the civic and see if we wanted to proceed from there. In the meantime, I took our precidia in for it's overdue check-up/oil change, etc. Shortly after, I got a call saying there were some repairs (muffler) that needed to be done. The dilemna then became, should we invest more into the car if we're going to sell it, or not? We decided to sell without the repairs and I posted it on craig's list yesterday afternoon @ 1:03 pm. At 4:01 pm I received an email from an interested buyer. At 6:00, they came to look at the car and decided to buy it and came back with the cash at 8:00!!! They would have taken it at 6 but I needed the car to pick George up from the airport! It all happened so quickly, it seemed unreal. Now, we're carless until tomorrow when we go to get the new (to us) civic. It's weird how so many times in my life, I've had these experiences. I like to think that clear intention leads to 'with ease' but who knows why sometimes things just click? (when i picked George up at the airport, he said he'd just, a couple of minutes before said to his co-worker, "she's probably already sold the car!" :)