Travel : Cresent Beach, White Rock

I love the beach, the ocean and sun. It lives inside of me and I have an instant smile and calmess when my toes feel the sand beneath them.

There's a small town called Cresent Beach which is located in White Rock. White Rock is 40 minutes south from downtown Vancouver. White Rock also borders Washington, US. Cresent Beach a very laid back community with a majority of the residents being weatlhy retired people. The funny thing is that all the new aged hippies flock to Cresent Beach. It's full of yoga studios, unknown amazing restaurants and cute organic cafes. There is one main street which holds them all. At the end of the main street is the beach.

When I took time off during 2011 to venture into different industries in the business world, I would take my dogs along the path that follows Cresent Beach on days I had free. Hearing the waves crash against the shore cleared my mind and allowed me to let go of the stress of the day. I always loved going with my mom to Cresent Beach for a nice long walk and end up grabbing sweet hard ice cream at the end of our journey.

A couple weeks ago my mom and I wandered over to Cresent Beach just to sit by the ocean so we could take in the soft sounds and scents of the ocean. Afterwards we headed down to our favourite organic cafe, Sunflower. They have the best muffins I've ever had and they aren't tiny! We split a moist Blueberry Peach muffin and sipped on their delicious Saltspring Island coffee. Everything is handmade right there in the cafe and everyone who works there is incredibly down to earth. There's no other cafe where you feel like you're at home like Sunflower.

This time I spent with my mom was eye opening to me. It was a time when it really hit me how the chemo is affecting my mom. We used to be able to take long walks but now the walks have turned into strolls. The positive I take from this is that it makes us slow down in life. Appreciate each word spoken to each other. Appreciate the small things around us that we take for granted. Like the grapes we found in the garden patio in the back of a small bistro that we would have never seen before. Although this pains me to see her feel confined by the cancer at the moment, I know this will soon be over and she'll be right back to where she was. There's lessons to be learned right now and then it's time to move on with the positive healthy future.

Never forget to be in the present moment and appreciate the people and things around you.

-Michelle 

Best Choices : How to Eat Healthy at Starbucks

Worst Choice Vs. Best Choice

I'm starting a new series on Best Choices to make when eating out. It will dive into: what is your best choices to eat at different restaurants, events or even when attending a friends BBQ. Sometimes you can be so hungry and overwhelmed with choices that you just give up/surrender and pick what your nagging candy gremlin in you wants (I've got one who loves to come out while I'm grabbing a water at 7-11!).

So the first place I wanted to touch on is a common daily favourite of many people. Starbucks!

Let me begin by making a comment most will want to debate with me about but this is my opinion and what I have found to be healthy choice for myself. I don't believe milk from a cow is healthy for you. There's alternatives to milk now and they ARE offered at Starbucks, we should all take advantage of this. I'll go into full detail regarding milk and dairy in another post.

Coffee
When ordering coffee try to stick to a water based coffee instead of a half dairy or half soy milk choice. This reduces the amount of calories obtained considerably. Stay away from the artificial sweeteners (you are adding chemicals to your coffee - sound appealing?). Instead use honey. If you have been used to sugar and sweeteners, it won't take you too long to get used to honey.

Americano (made with espresso & water) : 15 calories and 0g of fat
Caffe Latte (made with soy milk): 150 calories and 5g of fat
Mocha (made with soy milk) : 230 calories and 7g of fat

Smoothies :
should be used only when you are in need of a meal replacement and have no other choice. I do enjoy the chocolate banana one but it packs 300 calories and has 55g of carbohydrates in which 34 grams is sugar! It may be partially from fruit but that is still a lot of sugar.

Iced Coffee:
Always best to order a straight iced coffee (brewed or americano) and then add some soy milk and honey to taste. If you are in dire need of that blended drink, it's best to go with a light frapp.
Beware: even though it's only 140 calories it still contains 29 grams of sugar and sweeteners.


Food
If it looks like dessert - it is dessert! Those little treats staring at your soul while you stand in line are evil! lol
There's a reason the display case for the food is smack dab in your face, to make you stare at them while you wait and in the mean time you convince yourself "it won't be that bad". On average though, how many times do you really eat dessert during the day? Yes, maybe a birthday at work or special dining out at lunch but not just because you are having a coffee. To give you an example of what you may think is somewhat harmless:
Reduced Fat Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake: 400 calories, 8 grams of fat and 50 grams of sugar!

Luckily, Starbucks does offer healthy food choices.

Here's a list of my GO-TO FOOD choices:

• Spinach, Feta & Egg White Wrap (use as a meal) - 290 calories and 10g of fat.
• KIND Bars - full of protein and low in calories
• Packages of dried fruit - natural source of calories
• Greek Yogurt - try to avoid the bottom part (extra sugar there)
• Fresh Fruit - easy option and natural (of course)
• Package of dried fruit & nuts - avoid the ones covered in a coating (sugar!)

Hope you enjoy this "Best Choices" series and if you would like suggest a subject for Best Choices, please contact me through email, Facebook or Twitter.

-Michelle

Weekend Summary : Seattle & Mariners Baseball Game

That went by way too quickly!

Seattle Adventure

I was going to post this yesterday but had a bit of health scare. I've had this sharp pain in my sternum that started on Sunday evening and yesterday it turned into swelling on my whole right side. I saw the doctors and they are a bit confused. Luckily the swelling went away while sleeping last night. Hopefully all stays well (fingers crossed).

Back to my weekend. We had planned on and were on our way to leave for Seattle from Vancouver at 10am in the morning. Little did we know that plans were going to go hay wire and change quickly. A friend was going to drive with my mom and I was going to drive with the BF down to Seattle. Our friends car sprung a gas leak and only made it 5 blocks from his house. Luckily he noticed and he had to call the fire department to ensure the gas was all soaked up. We eneded up having to pick him up from the side of the road and wait for a tow truck to come. 3 hours later... we were on the road again.

When we arrived at our hotel (Silver Cloud Broadway) we only had 30 minutes to get everything checked in to make it for the first pitch at Safeco Field. Well... that didn't happen. Instead, my shorts ripped (across the butt - no hiding it) and I hadn't brought anything else. I had planned on buying some shorts the next day while shopping. ooops - a quick rush sew job later and we were on our way. We arrived 30 minutes late but the game was moving at a super speed pace. I've never seen a baseball game move so quickly. By the 7th inning we were running to the food stands to grab some snacks but had to be so quick because we could possibly miss a whole inning. The game only lasted 2.5 hours! That was the shortest baseball game I'd ever seen in my life. By the end of it we were laughing uncontrollably. We were all in disbelief on how the whole day unfolded. Then again ... it might have been boring if you we didn't have some challenges lol. We did get to enjoy some of those snacks. We had some spicy nachos that were slathered in pulled pork (I picked some chips out from around it), a little bit of kettle corn popcorn and a couple drinks. All in moderation remember.

After the game we had fun going out to a pool hall that was right beside our hotel. It was really large (20 tables). After that exciting day we were all tired and headed to bed. We woke up around 7am and grabbed a coffee from Tully's. It wasn't my favourite coffee in the world but it did the job. I tried Peet's coffee while I was in Silicon Valley a couple years ago and fell in love. I only wish we could get it closer to us in Vancouver. We made a couple shopping stops along the way home. The weekend was over - where did it go so quickly? All around I had an awesome time filled with so many laughs and unexpected moments.

Oh and in case you want to know: Seattle Mariners WON! against Texas.

How do you deal with unexpected speed bumps in your travel plans? Do you freak out and get nervous? Or do you go with the flow and everything happens for a reason?

-Michelle