weekend bike ride

Over the weekend, a friend of mine took me for a little bike tour of my hometown. We cycled the seawall from Granville Island, all the way around False Creek to English Bay. You can check out the route on the map below.

It was quite the tour; we talked buildings and history, stopped to check out the Olympic Village, which I had never seen before, and had an ice cream at the beach. Along the way I marveled at how gorgeous Vancouver can be on a sunny day, and dreamt of moving home.

Someday...

Source

from the island

For as long as I can remember, my family have visited one of the small gulf islands off the coast of Vancouver island. Over the years I've been there with my parents, my brother, old boyfriends, and friends, old and new.

Now when I go there, it's to visit my dad who has since made the island his home. But this being a long weekend, it seemed that everyone I knew was there at the same time! It was so wonderful to spend quiet time in the bush (as we would say in Australia), but also to reconnect with old, old friends.

Of course, it was also nice to hang out with my dad at his favourite cafe. He's so Canadian - always wearing some variation of jeans and flannel.

One of my oldest friends is also living on the island right now, with a cat and 4 chickens. This is one of her chickens.

There's something so refreshing about spending time with old friends, hearing their news and sharing yours.

side note: this is my favourite photo that I've taken on this trip home. It just screams pacific northwest to me.

I just read this post on the beautiful blog, Andrew and Carissa, and I kept thinking "yes! that's exactly how I feel about being home." I would have to say that the word grounded perfectly describes how I feel here.

getting outside

The weather has turned, and with it has come a distinct shift. More time spent indoors, rugged up and drinking copious amounts of tea. And much more time spent in the kitchen; this weekend I made enchiladas, bread pudding, peanut butter cookies and veggie pot pie. I love the feeling of puttering around the kitchen and making yummy food.

Despite the cooler weather, I did make it out for a very short bushwalk. I met the cutest cat along the way, and pined for the day I own a pet again.

Getting outside, away from cars and people, makes such a difference to my mood. From now on, I'm going to make it a priority, rain or shine. Hope you all had beautiful weekends!

scenes from easter

(cockatoos)

I think I'm going to be diabetic soon...

This Easter long weekend was wonderful. And maybe it was just in my head, but I feel like Australians really get into the whole Easter thing more than Canadians. Everywhere I went people were saying "Happy Easter!" to me, I got bucket loads of chocolate, and a kind guy at a bakery even gave me free hot cross buns for no reason.

Other than consuming my weight in sugar, the weekend was spent swimming in the ocean, napping, watching 30 Rock and Game of Thrones, and reading (only a teeny tiny bit, truth be told...).

I'm now feeling refreshed, and ready for another week of teaching. Oh, and I may even get around to unpacking those pesky last few boxes littering my room...

living room forts

After an oh so hot Friday, us Sydneysiders woke up to a rainy and grey Saturday. That, coupled with a rather late Friday night, meant that my friends and I stayed in all day. I seriously did not leave the house until 7 pm when I had to go to a dinner party.

We built a fort in the living room using my handmade flannel duvet cover as the cushiest base ever, and piled up pillows all around. Tea time involved a beautiful French tea pot and vegan banana bread made by Sandy, delicious. Oh, and did I mention there was a sweet black bunny to cuddle? Sometimes, laziness is just what the doctor ordered. I hope you all had a restful weekend!

Meet Lola/I need your name advice

Sunday afternoon my husband called me and asked me to come outside to meet him. I started walking when I heard frantic bell ringing and turned around to see husband riding up to me on this brand new pink bicycle. "How do you like my new bike?" he asked before admitting that it was, of course, for me.

I couldn't have been more delighted. I've been pining away for a cute bike for some time now, and this one fits the bill perfectly. Now I just need to strengthen my legs so I can usually use it (I have the weakest legs ever)! Thanks husband, I love it!

One last thing... I was thinking of a name for her and I'm thinking Lola? Thoughts?? She's definitely female, and quite girly.

Laughing Lotus Yoga

This weekend I was blessed to do three 3 hour workshops with Jasmine Tarkeshi, co-founder of Laughing Lotus Yoga. It was, in every way, extraordinary. Jasmine is such a wealth of knowledge, but more than that, she's funny and down to earth. Qualities I value very much in yoga teachers. I learned SO much from her and got to try lots of asanas (poses) that I've never done before.

I can't wait for her to come back, and next time I'm in North America, I'm definitely going to drive down to San Francisco to check out her studio. And if you happen to live in San Francisco or New York, I'm jealous. But what I'm really trying to say is that if you live in either of those cities, you should get yourself to a Laughing Lotus studio as fast as you can!

A little video from the weekend

september weekend from Gabriela on Vimeo.

I loved this weekend so much that I decided to make a little video about it. My apologies for my shaky cinematography; I shot it all with the 8 mm app on my iphone. Oh, and you also get to witness my attempts at channelling David Attenborough and trying to film a lizard. Good times. Hope you enjoy! xx

Spit Bridge to Manly

This weekend husband and I did something we've been meaning to do for ages: the Spit Bridge to Manly Walk. It's a 9 km walk along the coast that ends at the famous Manly beach. The weather was perfect and the scenery breathtaking. I'm so happy we finally got around to it, and can't wait for many more walks to come now that spring is here!