Welcome to the Land of All Things Amazingly Detailed

So, yesterday I landed in Vancouver and today was my first full day here and I have to say it was an extremely pleasant day!  We actually accomplished a lot considering we didn't have a lot to accomplish, but sometimes I feel those are the best days.  You know, when you do a lot without planning, but know that if you had planned to do a lot, you wouldn't.  Anyhow, yah, that was my day.

Traveling has always been a weak spot for me as far as eating goes.  The good news is I usually walk a ton, so it usually keeps it at bay.  The other thing was that when I traveled alone, I was usually backpacking which = carrying an excessively heavy bag full of clothes and products and not a lot of money, so I would have to ration what I ate and therefore avoided restaurants as much as possible.  Now that I am traveling as part of a duo and visiting family members we go to restaurants and enjoy alcoholic beverages and good food in larger quantities.  This trip, however, I have been trying to make as good of choices as I can, while still enjoying myself.  Also, it is easier to justify eating a sandwich with yam fries if you know you are going to go for a 2-3 hour bike ride.

Ps. the chocolate bar in the above picture was literally THE best chocolate ever, it had bits of bacon, rose water, roasted salt, etc.  Amazing.  Did I eat the whole thing?  Nope, I gave an inch to Ryan and an inch to Raylene.  I ate the rest of it!!

I absolutely love it here, though.  Vancouver is a beautiful city with so much to do and see and I think even people who live here may feel this way. I did manage to get my thrifting in today which I was extremely happy about .

When I say that this land is amazingly detailed. I mean it! Everything has to be different to standout from everything else, so every one is extremely creative.  Did I participate in a regular mocha this morning?  Heck no!  I enjoyed a delicious pistachio rosewater mocha.  It was delicious.  Back to the chocolate.  What is it your standard run of the mill chocolate?  Heck no! It had bacon and roasted salt.  Was my hotel shampoo good old Pert Plus in fancy bottles?  Heck no!  It is delicious rosy smelling delightfulness!  I think it is so cool that many of the shops here, instead of competing with each other on the same playing field, seem to have truly understood that you should only compete with yourself and create products that are unique and representative of the brand.  It's just amazing to me because most giant stores are having price wars with each other and seriously downgrading the value of their products, instead of trying to find a creative way to just take their product to a totally different level.  Vancouver, you are on to something!

I feel that Vancouver (downtown Vancouver) is EXTREMELY supportive of the local artists and talent here.  Everywhere you look there is a different cafe, bar, restaurant, shop, etc. and other than Starbucks, you will be hard pressed to find franchises along the main streets.  I absolutely love that.  This means that many of the locals are able to be creative, do what they love, and more importantly, share what they love with the world!

Not only did I get in over 10,000 steps today just bopping around looking at all these little shops, I also went with Ryan & Raylene for a bike ride around Stanley Park.  Literally, AROUND the park.  It took us a good 2 hrs I would say to make it fully around, but that could be in part to me stopping every 5 minutes to take a picture of something else.  I haven't ridden a bike in ages, but when you have dedicated bike lanes beside pedestrian walkways, life is 1000 times easier!  Edit: my bum is bruised from the long bike ride. Ouch!

We topped the evening off by enjoying an excessively large supper at The Cactus Club, where I enjoyed a delicious garden salad with lemon thyme dressing (not just italian, balsamic, or thousand island here!).  But I should say in addition to the salad I also enjoyed a lychee martini, shared yam fries and shared flat bread and shared peanut butter crunch dessert.  The good news after all of that? We were so full and didn't know what to do with the rest of our night....so we went to the hotel gym.  I did about 10 minutes on the elliptical, a bit of shoulder workout with weights and practiced my ballet (I missed it tonight :( )  So I felt a bit better afterwards.  Tomorrow will also be a fabulous day because we are going to Capilano to walk the suspension bridge and hang out in another forest! YAY!  For now I am super tired and will sign off! 

Date: October 17, 2013!
Current weight: dont know

Goal for the day: no goal set, but surpassed steps goal :D
What is your plan for food today? 

                                                                   all the things :D

Planned water intake: 108 oz (5 water bottles full)