oh summer, where have you gone?

This happens every year. I find myself staring at the calendar, confused as to how time has mysteriously flown by and left us at the end of August. Summer came, and it's about to go back into hiding for another long, long winter. I'm slightly terrified at the thought of this. In a perfect world, this summer would last forever.

Ryan and I would have the time of our lives enjoying our in-between jobs phase. We wouldn't have to move to separate cities and continue on with our grown up lives and working for a living. The weather would stay warm and snow would be nothing more than a distant memory, never to be seen again.

But alas, we live in the real world and life must go on. Next week Ryan will move to Edmonton to begin his brand new job, while I'll stay home until my own move 2 weeks later. We'll be separated by 3 hours of highway, which certainly beats an entire ocean, but still isn't much fun. The days will get shorter and colder, and we'll brace ourselves for winter.

On the bright side, both of us are moving forward in our careers and are very much looking forward to beginning our new jobs. He'll be working for a much better company than his previous employer, and I'll be hitting the skies again, doing what I love.

September brings beautiful autumn landscapes and the return of pumpkin spiced lattes. It will also bring a brand new city and hopefully some new friends!

It's a bittersweet time, but I'll try my very best to make the most of it. Life is changing, yet again!

bite by bite, step by step.

Since my return from Dubai, Ryan and I have been living like royalty. Or at least we've been eating like it.

Shrugging aside the fact that our wedding date is fast approaching, we opted for a summer of delicious meals regardless of their nutritional content. I re-experienced all of my favourite Canadian foods. I had a birthday party with enough food to feed a family for a month or two. Oh, and then there was the roadtrip. For 4 weeks Ryan and I drove through the United States eating like Americans. We had to get the full cultural experience, and that just happened to include Starbucks and a whole lot of burgers and hot dogs. The west coast was a seafood mecca and we took full advantage of the fresh crab, prawns, mussels and oysters. Every day was filled with glorious food and more treats than we needed or deserved.

All good things must come to an end, and unfortunately for us that meant returning home and facing real life and the end of our long vacation. It also meant returning to our long deserted former hangout... the gym.

We'd discussed it many times during our trip. We'd justify our calories with the fact that we'd go to the gym as soon as we were back home. Time flew by and before we knew it we were forced to accept our fate. The gym awaited and it wasn't going to go easy on us.

Still sore from our hike up a mountain days earlier, we forced ourselves out of bed this morning and reluctantly drove to the gym. We purchased our monthly pass and made our way to the track where we endured a mixture of running, walking, sit-ups and push-ups. We stayed an entire hour and were feeling rather proud of ourselves, but that wasn't the end.

Later in the day we returned, just in time for a circuit training fitness class. Ryan and I may be out of shape at the moment, but there was a time a long time ago when we were fitness junkie, gym addicts. We've been to the classes and at our prime, they were a breeze. Today, however, I thought I just might die. Everything hurt. My legs, my arms, my back, my abs. During one of our ten flights of stairs we were told to run, we contemplated escaping. My genius of a fiance had left the car keys in the other room and we were forced to return to our perky over-energetic instructor, who commanded us to proceed to the next station. Both Ryan and I struggled to get through each station, cheating and taking breaks and feeling rather embarrassed at our state of fitness. We did survive, and the class did eventually end, much to our surprise. Just 2 hours of workouts and I've got to admit, I'm sore and tired but I'm feeling great. Combined with our ridiculously healthy meals, we are well on our way to getting into shape for our wedding. The moral of the story: Nothing great comes without consequences.

That said, if we can do this, anyone can.

I'll leave you now with a tribute to the food that we ate and enjoyed. If I could take it all back I wouldn't, I loved every single gram of fat and calorie.

catching up!

Admittedly, I've been far too lazy to blog lately. Summer has flown by and I'm doing all that I can to soak up the last bit of it before winter settles in for a long, long time. To be honest, I'm not really sure how I'll cope with winter after 2 years living in one of the hottest places on Earth. Maybe a week away for a tropical wedding will help? Speaking of weddings, I have my wedding dress! It's downstairs, in the spare room closet, just waiting to be worn. Each day I take a moment to admire it and look forward to the fast-approaching big day. I'm overcome with wedding fever, but I'm sure none of you want to read about it.

Now back to our regular scheduled blogging....

After our trip to Seattle, Ryan and I enjoyed one last day in the United States before beginning the journey home. We watched airplanes take off, ate far too much greasy food, and went to Wal-Mart. I'm quite certain that I've blogged about my love for Wal-Mart in the past, but let me tell you... Wal-Mart in the USA? Amazing. Ryan and I cruised around the massive store loading up our shopping cart. Everything was so cheap in comparison to Canada, and our strong Canadian dollar made it feel like even more of a bargain. Before reaching the checkout we went through each and every item, trying to convince ourselves that we didn't need to own it. It worked for a few things, but we left with far more than we'd anticipated.

The next day it was finally time to begin the long journey home. We stopped for a couple of nights in Kelowna, where we enjoyed the beautiful weather and went on a 12 km hike... the most physical activity we'd had in weeks. Stocked up on fresh fruit, we set out for a full day of driving, eventually reaching home that evening. Our roadtrip was over, 9,000 kilometres later. We caught up with our parents and enjoyed a night of sleeping in our very own bed.

Our vacation wasn't over quite yet. We spent the weekend camping near beautiful Banff, eating campfire food and freezing in the Alberta weather. On Saturday we set out for a hike, battling exhaustion until we finally reached the summit of Sulphur Mountain. I watched in envy as gondolas full of people climbed the mountain above us. It was no easy task, but we felt proud of ourselves for taking the first step towards getting back into shape. The weekend ended and we returned home. Back to reality and the fact that we both have jobs starting in the near future. I've been a busy bee trying to finish up all of my pre-job requirements. I'm rather excited to start work again... maybe not the training portion, but I can't wait to hit the skies.

Life is busy and crazy and I'm loving every minute of it. I'd take this over summer in Dubai any day.