The Hardest Month Thus Far

Month three of my Six Months of Resolutions Challenge has been the hardest yet. I'm only in week three and I am struggling!

It's the workouts that are making it so hard.

I'm in a kind of anti-workout funk right now. Winter has a way of making me see anything besides laying in bed as too physically exhausting.

I haven't missed a workout yet though, so there's that!

In better news I've found the juicer I want to purchase for month five when we'll be doing a ten day juice cleanse! It's only $70.00 at Home Depot right now and the reviews I've read so far have been pretty good so I think I'll try to pick it up soon!

Wish me luck in trying to get those workouts in this month!

From the desk of:

Taylor Brown
Human Sloth

The Best Way to See the City

There are a couple days on the tail end of winter that pop up and remind you that spring is coming. Don't be fooled by them…it's not spring yet. There will probably be snow still to come so if you're smart you'll take full advantage of these random and wonderful days.

Last week we had one of those days. It was gorgeous and my roommate and I felt that itch to get outside.

We're both on a budget so we wanted to do something cheap, but fun.

Bixi Bikes were the answer.

If you live near a big city you've probably seen some of these bikes. They are rentable bicycles that anyone can grab and ride around the city. You pay a fee, take your bike, and you can drop it at any other Bixi bike rack.

It's $5.00 to rent a bike for the day but there are limits. You have to bring the bike to a rack every half hour, put it back in, wait two minutes, get a new code, and then be on your way again for the next half hour. If you go over the half hour you get charged more. It sounds like a pain but it's actually pretty easy because there are racks all over the city. Plan ahead by looking up the bike map and you should have no problem.

You can put your bike on a rack and come back whenever within the 24 hour period. We dropped our bikes off and went into the St. Lawrence Market for smoothies at one point.

I was pretty scared about biking in the city. I was afraid of biking near cars and had seen an MTV documentary once about the dangers of biking in Toronto. It was actually incredibly easy. I was always aware of what was going on around me and it seemed like the cyclists, pedestrians, and cars were all sharing the road pretty well.

Honestly, this was my favourite way that I've ever seen the city. Driving causes you to miss a lot and walking can be boring. Cycling was great because we covered so much of the city while still getting to actually see it.

I highly recommend cycling your city this spring. It's a great workout, it's fun, and it's cheap!

From the desk of:

Taylor Brown
Cycling City Slicker

Blogger Spotlight

Today I'd like to introduce you to the lovely Erika of Babbling in Blazers.

She's a Toronto resident, a fashion student, and most importantly my very best friend (and roommate!)

Not only is Ms. Erika hilarious, and wonderful and all of the things a best friend should be, but she's taken to this blog thing like a fish to water. I mean, one day I was helping her think of a blog name and the next day she's posting outfits, commenting on the oscars, and taking photos over dinner while dropping the line "it's for the blog." She's a real natural that one.

Oh, and she dresses well too:

I may never do a blogger spotlight again but I just had to for a best friend who has hair like a mermaid and a heart of gold, honestly, where else are you going to find someone with that wonderful combination again?

You should definitely check out her blog!

From the desk of:

Taylor Brown
Blogger Best Friend

Things Change

A couple weekends ago my roommate Kristina told Erika and I that she was planning on living in B.C for the summer. She was planning to sublet her room but she asked what Erika and I were doing because maybe we could just give up the apartment early.

It was definitely a thought that had crossed my mind a few times. Erika and I talked over the phone and decided that Kristina should email our landlord and just see if that was an option.

My landlord said we could be out by May 15th and then all of a sudden that plan was fully in motion. It was pretty insane.

Erika was in Florida so through limited communication we kept going back and forth with each other asking "Is this what we really want? What are you leaning towards?"

I've never changed my mind so many times in my entire life. Each time I would get set on a decision, I would feel a sort of nostalgia for the other decision. Erika was the same. She would set her decision in stone and question herself. We were both incredibly confused and scared to make the wrong decision, each with it's own pros and cons.

We decided that we had one week to make a decision and my mind and heart were pulled both ways all throughout that week.

By the time Sunday came so many things had changed. Kristina wasn't sure about B.C anymore, Erika had found herself set on one decision, only for us to give her new information and send her back into the decision process, and I was flip-flopping myself.

My decision came down to this: I missed home, which is typical for anyone, but I don't feel like my life really revolves around being in Toronto. I'm here and I'm enjoying it, but I'm also finding myself pulled back home a lot because that's where I love to be, with the people I love. I'm also living a life where I live to work here, something I wouldn't be doing if I were to move home. I'm not happy with working a retail job that I'm miserable at and just scraping by at the end of each month. Furthermore, things have only gotten tighter as the holidays have ended and all my retail shifts have dried up. At this point it just financially makes sense for me to move home.

I want to pay off my school bills and get a car and start saving money. I don't want to scrape by anymore. I want to be able to contribute something to my future home, the one I plan on being able to buy, instead of spending years renting and throwing my money away.

But here is what's great:

I have always said that I wanted to move out and live with my best friend and guess what? I did. And it was an amazing experience. I still love her the same way I did when we moved in. I'm sure I'll miss her like crazy when our bedroom doors aren't down the hall from each other.

Also, I've learned a ridiculous amount about responsibility and being an adult. I think this decision may even be a testament to that. Yes, I'm moving back home, but I'm doing so to further my life in a different way. I don't want to have student debts that I can't pay off and I want to be able to save money and start creating my life.

This was a great year. A great and very hard year, but it was great. I met people, I went out on my own, I learned so many things, and I had fun.

I'm still a child with a chequebook and I'm still going to continue writing about my adult experience. Who knows, there may be countless other people dealing with exactly what I'm dealing with right now as well!

So I am moving on to the next phase in my life without regret. I'm ready for what is coming next and I'll forever look back and smile at every happy, stressful, fun, crazy, and amazing moment that I had in Toronto.

From the desk of:
Taylor Brown
Forever a Child with a Chequebook

A Month of Water and Protien

Another month of my Six Months of Resolutions challenge has come and gone!

Honestly, I don't think anything will ever top the struggle of giving up sweets for a month. Should be smooth sailing from here on out…until the last month when I do that again! (Yikes)

This past month the challenge was to drink 8 glasses of water a day and have at least one serving of protein a day.

I think most people can say that they don't drink enough water. Why would they when there's such a thing as coffee? Amiright?

I'm also notorious for leaving protein out of my diet, especially red meat, which leaves me with low iron levels and lots of dizziness.

The hardest part was drinking the water. You literally have to start at the beginning of the day. If you don't then you'll find yourself too full to drink it glass after glass at the end of the day.

The protein was pretty easy. I ate chicken breasts, eggs, and even bought some salami to make paninis with.  I did have to be conscious of remembering to have protein daily but it wasn't too big of a deal.

As mentioned earlier I lost a point for missing my water intake because I was sick. Tessa lost another point over the month so she's down two right now and I'm down one. #winning.

This month our goal is to workout 3-4 times a week for a minimum of thirty minutes and to eat one serving of vegetables.

The vegetables have been a stretch so far (we're only three days in but I'm already feeling it). The workouts have been easy because it's been SO beautiful lately! I went for a nice, long run yesterday and today I went downtown with my roommate and we rented bikes and biked the city for a couple hours. Perfect way to workout without feeling like you're working out.

From the desk of:

Taylor Brown
Big City Biker

Keeping Busy

*Colours on my desk as I work*

Free time is a wonderful thing. It keeps us sane, but too much of it can drive a person insane.

I work from my apartment and I find that if I let myself get cooped up inside too much that I slowly start losing my mind. For example: I spent ALL of Monday afternoon and night lying around. Seriously, from 2pm to midnight I sat in front of my laptop. While I was enjoying shovelling episode after episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians into my brain, it also left me a little stir crazy.

The next two nights I just had to do something with myself. 

Tuesday I went out with my roommate for a little shopping adventure in the afternoon and then went and saw a movie with a friend at night.

Still on the high of that I ventured out into the city yesterday afternoon and spent time walking around and exploring.

Once I get going I don't want to stop. I guess it's true that an object in motion stays in motion and an object in rest stays at rest because I know that once I've set  myself up on the couch that there's no moving me.

So my advice to you today is to get out there. Do something new and get your body and brain moving. It's good for you!

From the desk of:

Taylor Brown

Explorer, Lazy Woman at Heart