Pregame – peace play passion

(originally posted on October 31, 2017)

the next 6 months are inspired by a couple of my life’s mottos: “the world is my oyster” and “yolo”. i will be living this adventure to the absolute fullest, saying “no” to nothing, and frolicking my way across the globe. the plan is to break up my time into 3 main themes (eat pray love style): peace, play, and passion. i have a few commitments that i will for sure be hitting up (cough – Macklemore concert in Melbourne) but other than that, basically down to go wherever the wind takes me!

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Peace – Rwanda

my bestie Tommy lives here with his sister Christine, who is launching a coffee business called goss coffee. they say the lifestyle there is very peaceful, very easy, the people are lovely despite a very recent unpeaceful past. Rwanda is known as the land of a thousand hills and the landscape looks beautiful and lush. i can’t wait to soak it all up, see what Tommy and Christine have been up to, read my book on their hammock, explore, and you better believe i am yoloing on a gorilla trek. i can’t freakin wait.

Play – Southeast Asia & Australia

i have a pet peeve of the cliche se asia trip (wow you went to a full moon party, you are so cultured tell me more) but i figured might as well see what the fuss is about! i don’t have much of a plan but i am thinking of frolicking on the beaches of Thailand, getting my diving license, meeting lots of new friends. Christie is having the world’s most epic bachelorette (aka Borchelorette) in Bali which is #1 on my bucket list, so that will be a BLAST and will wrap up Asia in early-mid Jan.

then it’s off to Melbourne where 2 of my funniest friends live (like, my 2 friends who make me lol to tears), Dan and Andrew. the lols will be a huge contribution to this Play leg, and it will be nice to be in a clean, normal, Vancouver-esque city after a few months of backpacking.

Passion – Paris

my goal has always been to live in Paris before i turn 30. it is my favourite city, as anyone who has been to my apartment will be able to tell you (based off of my Eiffel Tower-shaped cheese grater, soap dispensers x2, Paris pillow, etc etc). i have been to Paris three times but only for short visits, and i really want to experience life as a Parisian and learn the ins and outs of the city. basically i want to live the life of my fave blogger, parisinfourmonths.

the ish with moving to Paris is, i love my life in Vancouver – my family is nearby, i love my job, love my apartment in Kits, love my FiFi. i also have a maj travel bug that i wasn’t sure posting up in one city would fix. so i thought this ppp project would be a nice happy medium between getting to live abroad, but splitting the trip between a few places, scratching that travel itch, and getting away for a decent chunk of time with 6 months.

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why did i decide to do this? 2 main reasons:

guaranteed happiness

on my 28th bday i was pondering the year ahead and how to make it a great one. Raincouver can get a wee bit depressing in the winter especially when you’re single. i’m certainly not getting any younger but instead of spending this year hoping to find happiness through meeting someone (which i have no control over), i have decided to take my happiness into my own hands and make sure this year is a 12/10 on my own terms. which for me, is done through travel!!

getting out of my comfort zone

last summer i went to Rio for the Olympics, but i don’t think i would have made the trip over if it weren’t for Martha swimming. all i heard was Rio was sketchy and Zika-infested – i basically went fully expecting to get mugged. but i ended up having the time of my LIFE, and fell in love with the city. after that everywhere else in the world was calling me with open arms.

when i was first contemplating ppp my bff Tom reminded me of when him and Tommy rented scooters in Hvar, Croatia, but i just wanted to stay back and beach it. this may have had something to do with the last time i was on a scooter, which resulted in me driving into prickle bushes in Puerto Vallarta (lol sorry mom). but they made me come along on a scoot ride and it was the most glorious sunset ride through the cliffs of Croatia, complete with a delicious dinner at a little town called Stari Grad. i was so glad they forced me to come. so it’s settled, stepping out of your comfort zone does pay off!!

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Tom set up this website, so i am going to try keeping a travel journal mainly to have all my memories of the trip in one place instead of burying them down my insta feed. in case anyone cares to follow along and read, i want to send a few shout outs – to my mom for not only tolerating but encouraging me to go on a crazy adventure even though i know she’s scared i will maybe yolo a bit TOO hard; my whole fam including Barney and Keira who i am going to miss sosososo much; to my friends for the love and well wishes; my Talk Shop fam for letting me be a Millennial and come home to a job with all my beloved colleagues; and anyone that has ever yoloed/moved abroad/followed their dreams and stepped out of their comfort zone, for inspiring me to dive headfirst into this adventure.

thanks for reading!! ❤

peace play passion

i couldn’t think a better way to start off the trip than in one of my favourite cities, with one of my favourite people/my work wife/twin/shimmy sister, Carmen aka Kermin.

it actually blows my mind how every New York trip gets better than the last. this one was the first time i’ve really delved into NYC nightlife and we had a freaking BLAST. danced our lil butts off, met so many friends (weirdly like 99% lawyers???) kept it semi budget-friendly due to an alarming amount of free drinks in exchange for zero effort, and were nonstop living our best lives. truly thriving.

my insta stories have basically been a visual documentation of our activities but going to jot down a quick breakdown (which is mostly “had to be there” stuff but like my blog so whatevs):

Thursday

2 hours in traffic (welcome to New York) meet Mike Lawyer #1 for keys outside of his office aka the New York Times building. like what is your life, so cool. except he was being summoned back to work at a casual 7pm. work hard play hard i guess.
Uber Pool friend was a wannabe celeb who needs more information about the BET Awards red carpet. our dream for her is to refer her agent by their actual name.
get to Zack’s dream apt in SoHo who had left us a bottle of champs + full booklet of info/recos for our trip. best host award, hands down, we are not worthy
despite Alexa being QUITE stubborn, we have a fab dance party predrink and venture off to Jimmy at the James (the first of many rooftops). random human buys us a $20 drink and we say k if you must, because we are on a budge and also eat arugula for lunch.
Carmen’s gaydar prevents me from meeting some guys in fur vests, but we do make friends with a “suede” (velour) jacket designer and tell him we can help his business take off in Vancouver – trust us, our PR skills are better than your model friend with the dog in the club.
lots of dancing, a genre-ADD dj, meet Parisian Lawyer #1 and #2, off to a speakeasy with a quick stop at Artichoke Pizza, try not to poison our new friends with a whiskey allergy.

Friday

acai bowls at Equinox because we are healthy and we earned it, walk across the bridge to Brooklyn. supes cute shops and restaurants. i got a presh “p” necklace because it was the perfect day, everything is perfect, peace play passion, the pregame, and paxian

weren’t in a bbq state of mind (although thank you Max for the Fette Sau reco) so had lunch at the cutest French bistro rooftop, Juliette.
Prosecco and Aperol Spritz at a patio in Little Italy

quick stop at home and then off to Miss Lily’s for dinner – amazing Caribbean atmosphere, server is basically Rihanna, jerk chicken and corn i have been craving since i went last year. EVERYONE NEEDS TO GO HERE.
couple dranks, meet Parisian Lawyers at the Standard Rooftop where Long Island Brad and his friends are a bit much. but the bathrooms have a view of the Empire State bldg so it was awesome.
then comedy cellar (also a must) – no surprise guests but did see an old Chelsea Lately fave, Dov Davidoff, and Jessica was hilar with her pep talks to the wall. we see her after at the bar and tell her she’s our fave – also Carmen discovers a newfound love for chalk drawings at the bar. her perfect bar has chalkboard tables and bathrooms with a view. and robes. and a pool.
off to our fave part of the trip THE JANE HOTEL THIS PLACE IS THE BESTTTT. our new Uber Pool friend is Nick Depressed Young Lawyer #4 who is being summoned home by his boss at midnight. we hope Nick quits his job and finds his own peace play passion.
Belgian Lawyer #5 invites us to cut the line because it is around the block and the bouncers are power tripping hard. this lawyer was the nicest lawyer!!
The Jane Hotel is a giant old living room and we are THRIIIIVING dancing on couches to the best music with the most fun people. i discover i will likely fall in love with anyone who sings Despacito in his native tongue, Carmy gets me and is the most supportive friend. we never want to leave.

Saturday

grab a bagel, eat it at Washington Square Park where there is live music, a topless photoshoot, and a dog stealthily stealing its human’s lunch (she was supposed to be on a diet). very New York and perfect.
we dance to the street drummers all the way down the block – why isn’t this our everyday life soundtrack??
exploring the cutest West Village/Greenwich – Carrie B-shaw’s steps, Friends building, I FEEL YOU BABY blogger lineup. life-changing hand moisturizing demo.
Flatiron, pasta heaven Eataly, mojitos at rooftop bar 230 Fifth, bundle up in our stylish robes and an igloo atmosphere. Carmy has partnered with Kate Spade for this Insta photo #sponsored #ad
home and then off for whatever the night has in store – which turned out to be cocktails at speakeasy Little Branch, making Uber Pool friends with Shelly and Elly. Elly is v well connected and we are lucky to have met him, we hear.
Amaze dance party at Catch (but no Leo sighting) smeagle over to No8 for bottle service because did i mention Elly says he is well connected? but we just miss Hotel Jane. quick stop at Gansevoort for more dancing and then a swing and a miss at Jane because the bouncers forgot we were regulars. we regret not getting the stamps permanently tattooed on our wrists.
make some more Uber Pool friends because you have to, and then home. even if they are not lawyers, they are probably still lawyers.

Sunday

rainy day, bennies and some shopping
blackberry infused rosé and our server looks like Nick Miller so i am v happy. Zack gets home and says we’ve been doing NYC right and i have never felt so honoured in my life.
dins at Jack’s Wife Freda, then live jazz/ping pong at Fat Cat.
Carmy and I frolic over to Times Square for some more dancing and singing Havana. still absolutely thriving. we facetime Er Bear from the steps and head home. i meet my new Spanish friend for a drink at a kareoke bar and decide 2 hours of sleep is a good way to kick off my 21-hour journey to Rwanda. yolo.

and here i am!! 10 hours in, 11 to go, couple naps/eps of New Girl, just bloggin’ away. The Pregame was unreal, but super excited to take some time off the bender, see Tommy and Christine, and settle into the Peace leg that is Rwanda. Africa here i come!!

Category: Pregame

peace play passion – 3 things we could all use some more of!

but first: the pregame