Palm Desert Adventure Part 1: My First Hike!

I had to take a first hike selfie.

I am back in California once again; this is the third year in a row that I have ventured out of the snow and into the sun (it is my fifth trip to California in the last four years). I absolutely love every minute I spend in California, I dream of living here some day. This year’s trip has brought us to a new place on our California adventure map, Palm Desert. 

The little computer inside my Fitbit has been on fire this past week as we tour the area. We actually only arrived last Monday, but it has been nearly a week now. We leave on Thursday and I am already feeling the hunger pains to come back to California again. Next year we have promised ourselves we will finally get to LA, this trip has been all about desert life!

Now there will be a ton to talk about in the blog over the coming days about our stay at our new Cali-home in The Lakes Country Club, but today is all about this fit chick’s first hike!

Yes, today I went on my first hike. I have NEVER been much of an outdoorsy girl so it will come as a huge shock to many who know me that I did not hate hiking. To be clear, I am not in love with hiking. Far from it actually, I had a near meltdown in the 89-degree heat after hour number two today, but it eventually passed when we finally arrived at our halfway destination.

Let’s go back a few steps before we get into my near tear emotional moment. This trip has not exactly been what I expected it to be, I am a routine gal who works two jobs and hauls her ass to the gym at least 5 days a week. I am not great at taking time outs. I usually pump out more blogs while I am on vacation then when I am at home and I usually have a major side project to complete while I am off the clock. This year I have been approached and started a side project but have been off the blog train until now. 

To me, hiking is self-torture. It is walking to walk on land that is unwalkable (or not walkable with ease). Unless there is a truly unique view or purpose I am not down to clown around hiking. Hiking was not my thing before today; it is still not my thing. I did have fun tracking our walk with my new Fitbit Surge (I am very happy I bought it before this trip).

Today’s hike (my first hike ever) took us to Agua Caliente Indian Reserve where we actually did two hikes. The first was very easy (and enjoyable) it took us 30 minutes in the sun to trek around Andreas Canyon. I really did not mind this part of the hike, I even felt like I could get on-board with hiking while doing this walk. Then I saw a family with small children all wearing dresses managing battling the rocks with a stroller and figured out that things were way too easy to get let off the hook with a quick hike.

No, we could not hike where strollers could kind of roll; we needed more of a challenge and for the $9 a person charge to get into the Reserve Hiking Trails I think we all felt we had not gotten our monies worth with a 30 minute stroll. Both of the hikes were surrounded by beautiful desert scenery, but $9 a person is pretty crazy! We were in for a bit more of a challenge on the second part of our hike.

We then went off in search of the Seven Sisters Waterfall and Murray Canyon. After about an hour and two miles we reached the waterfall. Here is where the near meltdown occurred. I was under the impression that we were on a two-mile hike, only doing double what we had already done. I was not really tired; I was kind of just looking forward to being out of the scorching winter heat (yes, it is pretty hot here right now for Canadians) and getting some lunch. We started the day rather late at 10:40am and were now at the afternoon sun’s mercy. When I was informed that we were not at the end of our journey and that we had to go all the way back the way we came I was a little heartbroken. It all worked out though, we shaved over ten minutes off our return trip because we all were so hungry and hot.

I am kind of a baby when it comes to heat; I have had heat stroke far too many times to forget how horrible it feels to get too much sun. I usually get it once a year and I try to ensure I do not lose a day of vacation day for it because I swear it feels twice as bad.  For me the sickness is horrible, my mentality is unbearable and I need to sleep for at least half a day to feel better. I swear it feels the same way the Wicked Witch of the West feels when she is exposed to water….

Anyways, it was a great challenge and an interesting way to spend a day. I would do both hikes again, but maybe earlier in the day and not both at the same time. I would also bring snacks; I’m generally a pretty happy camper when there are snacks to be had. For more on the Murray Canyon and Seven Sisters Waterfall (from a respected hiker) click here.

I have given my Fitbit a break for the rest of the day; I am currently at 15,488 steps for the day and took 11,003 steps on the hikes. Here is my hike break down:

Steps: 11,003

Distance: 8km

Calories Burned: 890

As much as I love my Fitbit I know that is an estimate and not 100% accurate. But, compared to a full day on my feet waitressing that is not too shabby! If you would like to connect as Fitbit motivational buddies click here. 

Now I have a question for you, we have explored three fitness options so far on this trip I want to know which you would pick.

A)   $9 a day hiking

B)   $10 a day access to a senior’s country club workout room

C)   $15 a day access to a busy full service fitness club

There is lots more to come from our California Adventure 2015!

Another shot from our beautiful hike this morning/afternoon! #outdoors #palmsprings #aguacaliente #California

A photo posted by Kate Bruce (@kategbruce) on Mar 8, 2015 at 6:24pm PDT

Another shot from our beautiful hike this morning/afternoon! #outdoors #palmsprings #aguacaliente #California

A photo posted by Kate Bruce (@kategbruce) on Mar 8, 2015 at 6:24pm PDT

My First Trip To Disney World!

It has been a little over a week since I left the place "where dreams come true" and re-joined the real world. Returning to Nova Scotia in full-fledged fall was a shock to the system, when we left for Florida we had been experiencing unseasonably high temperatures for Canada's Ocean Playground in October. I'm talking a week

long stretch in that had hit 20 degrees every day. I don't think we have had a truly nice day here in the sunny Annapolis Valley since we returned... gross. 

Back to the magic... Our trip to Disney World was amazing! It was my first time visiting Florida and it turns out going at the end of October is the perfect time of year (for me anyways) to go. Everyday was sunny and in the high 20s or low 30s and I don't think I felt a drop of rain after stepping off the plane! 

The entire trip was fabulous; we spent everyday of our seven-day trip exploring the four Disney parks. There really is so much to do we were fully immersed and could have used an extra day. Our longest day was Saturday (the first day we were at the park) we started at the Animal Kingdom when it opened and finished the day off with "Extra Magic Hours" at the Magic Kingdom until about 2am. It was a long day, so we napped after lunch. Taking advantage of the extra hours was key, we felt like we accomplished so much in one day so we did not have to rush as much the rest of the trip. 

So much of the "magic" actually happened before we ever left Nova Scotia. If you are a seasoned Disney Adventurer you may not be a fan of the new "My Disney Experience" app and system for reserving "Fastpasses" and experiences but it was a huge help and a nice guiding hand for our trip. We never waited more than 30 minutes to get on a ride and that only happened once in the Magic Kingdom for the hottest ride at Disney, "The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train". To be fair 30 minutes is a very short wait to get on this red-hot ride; we experienced it at about 1am during the "Extra Magic Hours". The only unfortunate thing about the new "My Disney Experience" app and planning website is that things can be fully booked up (like the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train) before you start planning your trip! This happened to us so we knew that it was do-or-die to get on the ride and we took our one shot when we could in the middle of the night. It turned out that as I was trolling the system the night before our last day of vacation someone else cancelled Fastpasses for the ride so we snagged them and got to ride New Fantasyland's crown jewel a second time. 

Speaking of New Fantasyland lets take a second and talk about the addition to the Magic Kingdom that is bringing the crowds back to Disney World to re-experience the magic. I am so happy that my first visit to Disney World was after the New Fantasyland expansion. We truly experienced New Fantasyland from hanging out in Gaston's Tavern to telling Belle a story as part of "Enchanted Tales With Belle" we did it all! I strongly recommend booking meal Fastpasses and pre-ordering food at "Be Our Guest". We only did quick-service dining in the Magic Kingdom and our meal in the Beast's castle was by far the best quick-service meal we had! (You can check out the Fastpass system for "Be Our Guest" here) 

Well now that the magical part of the trip has been discussed lets travel back to the adult world. As a twenty-five year old woman I would have to select the World Showcase as my favourite part of the trip. We were lucky enough to experience the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival while we visited, making the World Showcase even more interesting. With the added booths it truly made it feel like you were walking around the World. We had the majority of our table service meals at Epcot's World Showcase; it was like dining in a new country every night! For a look at some of the restaurants we visited you can check out my profile on Trip Advisor. 

We also enjoyed The Animal Kingdom and Disney's Hollywood Studios. We felt as though The Animal Kingdom was a true half-day park for us but we also felt that it was home to the best roller coaster of any of the parks, Expedition Everest. Yes, we liked it more than the Mine Train! Hollywood Studios also had rides that we loved, but overall had an empty feeling... like there was a lot of space ready to be transformed. The "Rock 'n' Roller Coaster" and "Tower of Terror" were rides that we absolutely loved and had us coming back to Hollywood Studios day after day. We also had one of the BEST meals of our trip at Hollywood Studios at "Hollywood & Vine". Yes, this was a little questionable as the restaurant is the host of the Disney Junior character dining experience and we really did not care to see any of the characters because we are adults without children, but the menu looked amazing! The food selection did not disappoint. Though the kids rain around willy-nilly chasing the characters and mowing down chicken nuggets, I totally recommend this restaurant (and the lobster mac & cheese) to everyone! 

"Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party" was another highlight of the trip, getting to dress-up and run around the Magic Kingdom trick-or-treating made me feel like a giant child! World Showcase may have been my favourite adult part of the trip, but my inner-child loved the Magic Kingdom! We brought a massive haul of candy back to our hotel room and still had a full bag leftover when we arrived home. The photo opportunities were really neat with rarely seen Disney characters and the atmosphere in the park was spooky... It was busier than I expected on a Tuesday night with ten days to go before Halloween, next time I would try to go in late September to beat the crowds. 

Overall we had an awesome time at Disney World. It was the first time in a long time that I have skipped the gym and discarded my healthy eating habits. I was feeling a little sluggish towards the end of the trip after being fuelled by sugar and sweets for an entire week, but that is part of vacation, right? On a side note, everyday we took on average about 30,000 steps! Tracked with the brilliant "Breeze" app it was fun to keep track just how much we were walking and then figure out the distances. 

We celebrated #Halloween last night at the #MagicKingdom. Adult trick or treating, parades, fireworks and very short ride lines. It was so much fun! #disneyworld

A photo posted by Kate Bruce (@kategbruce) on Oct 10, 2014 at 6:33am PDT

San Diego Part Five: The La Jolla Open Aire Market

I love going to the market. This is a big surprise, when I was a kid I absolutely hated markets. The Open Aire Market in La Jolla is my absolute favourite Market. Halifax and Calgary have great markets but they do not really compare to the market held in La Jolla on Sundays.

Today the Market was a lot less busy than our visit last year. With all the rain I guess it was hard to tell if it would be worth setting up for vendors, our trip was dry and it looks as if the afternoon just keeps getting nicer weather wise.

We decided to skip lunch at home and have street food at the Market, Kevin had gyros and I ordered what they called a breakfast pizza with a gluten-free crust. Unfortunately I have yet to find a gluten-free traditional pizza crust that holds up to a traditional pizza crust. This was the best crust I have had so far that was gluten-free; over all the pizza was great! Cooked in a portable wood-fire oven from Cucina Caprese it was a great quick meal (it took about 10 minutes from order to plating).

I should note, before we actually ate our market meal we were lured in by Sugar & Scribe Bakery. We cannot pass by cupcakes! I had the red velvet mini; it was amazing! We were told it was the top red velvet cupcake in San Diego and I believe it. From what I was told (from Elaine) the vanilla was also very good! It was Sugar & Scribe Bakery’s first trip to the market. I hope they had a good reception; we sure enjoyed their offerings!

After the gyros and pizza we had a mocha Rickaroon. For $3 it was a perfect dessert for two very full people to split. I tried a couple different bites; the mocha was definitely my favourite. Like so many of the vendors at the La Jolla Open Aire Market you are able to have these treats shipped out to you. They were really good, filling snacks. Bonus Rickaroons are gluten-free and paleo friendly, right up our (non on vacation) alley!

You can actually walk the market and sample before you buy. It is so nice to check everything out and then make your decision from the different vendors. Be careful, it is hard not to fill up on samples before you buy! 

Last year when we visited there was an amazing collection of vintage posters and artwork. Incredible old ads for designers, the price tags for these items were steep but they are still fun to look at! 

I love the La Jolla Open Aire Market, you can find everything from Asian-fusion street food to treasure found on scuba diving adventures. You can get a quick massage or have your knives sharpened. There is even live music to entertain you while you shop away your Sunday!

Don't forget to grab a bag of San Diego Kettle Corn before you leave so that you can enjoy the market all day long! 

For more info on the  La Jolla Open Aire Market click here. 

A couple tips to help you enjoy the Market more efficiently:

1.   Bring cash, there is an ATM but it charges you nearly $4 to withdraw money. Add in a cross-border charge if you are Canadian. Many vendors offer the Square for card payments at a much lower cost than withdrawing money, very cool and something you may want to look into if you are a small business.

2.   Bring a bag; we totally forgot to do this! Your arms will fill quickly with items you will pick up.

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Rant: Gym Selfies

I’m not sure what annoys me more constant pictures of babies or gym pics on social media.

If you didn’t enjoy that line, stop reading now. You really won’t like what is to come.

You know what, I actually I have an answer to that. I would much rather see cute photos of your baby or pet then a body shot of you at the gym.

Maybe I am a jerk saying this, but to me it is the most self-centered thing you can post. As a friend, I am so proud of your efforts to get out and work out. Good for you (seriously)! Going to the gym everyday takes dedication. It truly is like having a part-time job taking care of your body to get it to competition level for bodybuilding; or working of extra weight you have been carrying around.

Last year around this time I became a dedicated gym-goer, for no real reason. I love the size and shape I was, I was the smallest I have ever been when I started at the gym but my body was still giggly. Also, I had a lot of time on my hands while I was at radio school. I never got on the on my phone at the gym photo-train, in fact I have stopped going to gyms because of people who do this.

At my gym in Calgary every time I went I had to side step around people taking pictures of themselves and talking on the phone while working out. I think it is so obnoxious and (again) self-centered.

To me, the gym is a sacred place. Gyms are places where make-up melts away from your face like you are the Wicked Witch (if you are doing it right). They are places where fashion is not as important as functionality, who cares what you are wearing! The goal is that no one will want to see that outfit and this may sound harsh, but your face when you’re done working out.

I will admit, as soon as I am back from California I am joining the gym in Castlegar. I was pretty obsessive about working out before I moved to B.C., but once I started working my career became my obsession.

Every time I stop going to the gym or playing sports regularly my mind trips me up. I see that I am losing weight (muscle) and think it is all going to be okay by just eating smart. But, after that drop in weight and fun period that makes you think you never needed to go to the gym in the first place to drop weight, you start to blow up the scale again.

Right now I will gladly post that I am 171lbs on vacation (yup, a little chubby). This is the largest I have been in a while, I have been weighing in about 165lbs but on vacation I have been retaining water and eating pretty poorly (sweets and wine).

I actually really like the routine of going to the gym. For me, it has been really hard to try to get back to working out since I have moved to B.C. I have not really had a routine since I moved to B.C.; at first it was constant trips around to Calgary and Vancouver. Then it shifted to periods co-hosting the morning show and pretty much constant exhaustion (it really was not for me). I am a person who thrives when I am able to have a routine and it looks like now I can finally get back into one.

Right now, I can’t wait to get back to the gym when I get back to B.C. But, I can promise you I won’t be taking daily update photos of my journey to fitness. I won’t even be blogging about it.

Right now I do not have a goal for working out. I always try to set goals for things I do, maybe I will try a natural physique competition next year? I do want to run at least a 5k this summer. Maybe that is my goal…

San Diego Part Three: Balboa Park

Pretty much everything we have done on this trip we have done on previous trips to California. I would go as far as saying has been the greatest hits of trips to California (without Alcatraz).  

Our days here in La Jolla have started the same way they did last year, a trip for coffee to the Brick and


Bell every morning and then walks down to the beach and around town (except for our side trip to Anaheim).  The only real exception is that the weather has been a little wild yesterday and today. We lucked out during our adventure yesterday the sun poked it's head out and the skies cleared if only for a little while. More on out adventure yesterday in a minute... 

Mitt Romney is tearing down his beach house down the street from the condo where we are staying and building a new home three times its size and I understand why, La Jolla is amazing. I could live here and walk the shore everyday. I love watching the seals and sea lions. Yes, sometimes the smell is disgusting, but over all La Jolla is wonderful.

San Diego as a whole is amazing. I think it is my favourite place in California that I have visited so far (apart from Disneyland, but that is not a real place).

One thing that we had not done in San Diego was visiting Balboa Park. We visited San Diego Zoo (which is in Balboa Park) last year while we were here but that was as close as we had come.

Lets just say, I was a Sour Sally when we made plans to walk Balboa Park yesterday. My legs were exhausted from a full day at Disneyland the day before, but as soon as we pulled up to the park I was happy we were there.

We walked around the magnificent park and took it all in, I was in absolute awe over the spectacular architecture. It is so hard to believe you are in the middle of a city when you are in Balboa Park!

We did not go to the Museum of Man, the exhibits looked very interesting, I am kind of hoping to go back. They were showcasing historic exhibits on beer and torture mechanisms, is it weird that I find that really intriguing? They also have Ancient Egypt exhibits; a very interesting mix.

We ended up visiting the Museum of Natural History at Balboa Park and taking in the ‘Real Pirates’ exhibit. It was very cool, we all agreed that we like that they simply focused on the adventures of the Whydah and gave some background information on pirates rather than going all over the place with various ships. If you ever see this travelling exhibit you should check it out, you even get to touch real pirate treasure, very cool!

You can also learn a lot about local natural history at the museum with their typical exhibits. We did not focus too much on the normal exhibits; we went to the Museum of Natural History in New York when we travelled there this summer. It was still a very informative and hands-on, a great place to take children.

I imagine I would spend a lot of time at Balboa Park if I lived in San Diego; it is truly a beautiful place. It is almost as if you are transported to another place while you are visiting.  I don’t think I would mind running daily if I had a place like that to run to!

Now we are off to do a little shopping in this wild weather, grab some In-And-Out Burger and hopefully a scone!

Fingers-crossed tomorrow will at least not be so windy and rainy, right now it feels as if a palm tree could come crashing down through the glass windows of the condo at any minute.

They even had an Albertosaurus!

San Diego Vacation Part One: USS Midway and Coronado

I love California; this is my fourth trip to Cali in the past three years.

The first was after graduating from StFX, we went to Anaheim to visit Disneyland.

The second was to San Fran and Napa and Alcatraz.

The third was at this time last year to San Diego. We also visited Laguna Beach and made a quick trip into Anaheim to check out a Ducks game.

This year we are back in San Diego, we did again go back to Anaheim and visited Disneyland again.

But, lets stop in San Diego first. We did a lot in our first couple of days, we visited Kevin’s favourite stop in San Diego the Midway and then spent the afternoon at one of my favourite places, Coronado.

The USS Midway Museum is very interesting, now that we know Kevin will swearing in to the military in a couple of weeks it makes it even more special. This is the second time we have visited the Midway and some of same Veterans who served on the Midway were there telling the same stories that they were telling last year when we were visiting.  We did see some new parts of the Midway, but we did not spend as long on the ship as we did last time.

I clearly did not learn a key lesson from the Midway last year. If you ever go to the Midway do not wear a free flowing dress or skirt, I imagine something a little tighter fitting would be better than my choice of dresses. But, with all of the vertical latter type staircases it is not prime dress wearing space.

There are a lot of great photo-ops on the Midway and lots to learn. There are free audio tours so you can walk around and pick and choose what you want to listen to depending on the zones. Also, you can take guided tours through different areas of the ship and check out discussions on the deck about varying elements of working on an aircraft carrier.

I think the USS Midway is a great place for everyone to check out at least once; it also has a great view of one of my favourite statues, Unconditional Surrender or “The Kiss” as some people call it. I absolutely love it! Lots of people say it is a must to take a kiss photo at its feet. Unconditional Surrender is a gigantic recreation of the iconic photo taken at Times Square in New York.

After visiting the Midway we took the terrifying bridge over to Coronado. I love Coronado, you may recognize the incredible Hotel del Coronado from the Marilyn Monroe film ‘Some Like It Hot’. You can feel all of the history when you walk through the door to the hotel; the beach is absolutely incredible as well.

If you are a big Marilyn Monroe fan you will love Hotel del Coronado, it is a Mecca of Marilyn (in a classy way).

I love roaming around Coronado; it is like taking a trip back in time. We have taken a little break from keto living over the past couple of weeks in preparation for a big cut coming up when we get back to B.C., so we enjoyed milkshakes at a 50s style Diner (jukeboxes and all)!

Coming up in my next blog all the details on the most expensive night of my life and turning into a five year old at Disneyland.

The Day We Almost Went To Sea World

If you were to have asked me 12 months ago while I was in San Diego if I wanted to go to Sea World I would have without a doubt told you that I would have loved to visit the park. On a student’s budget we had to pick our attractions and we chose to visit the San Diego Zoo with it’s new baby pandas instead of Sea World. For $84 a person it was a little much to do in addition to the Zoo.

A lot can change in a year. Even six months ago I would have been incredibly positive about a place that us 90s kids have incredible memories of, even if only through commercials. Growing up on the East Coast of Canada our regional CTV channel gave away Sea World trips all the time, it was engrained in us that the splash zone was a première family destination.

Imagine this in Little Kate's mind with all the added greatness of the 90s. 

Back in autumn the documentary ‘Blackfish’ had a screening in Nelson and the lovely ladies from 1035 The Bridge told us all about the incredibly emotional experience they had sitting at the theatre watching it. I was a little reluctant to get onboard with their contempt for Sea World, I had just visited the incredible Vancouver Aquarium where I was amazed by the important rehabilitation work the staff there does and found it hard to believe their claims from the doc.

Once we determined we would be vacationing back in San Diego again this winter Sea World started coming up again. I flip-flopped on whether to watch ‘Blackfish’ or not. But, with increasing activity on my Facebook and Twitter feeds about the documentary I knew it would come down to at lease watching ‘Blackfish’.  I was surprised at some of the people I know; people who do not normally vocalize their strong opinions via social media, venting online about their feelings towards Sea World and their sympathy for the killer whales being held in captivity.

So it came down to the wire, I put off watching ‘Blackfish’ because (to be honest) I have not been in the mood to be any sadder than need be in real life. Last night, my boyfriend and I were debating going to SeaWorld; to be honest with you I wanted to go. Forget the price of the day; I wanted to go for the show, for the rides and to see the animals.

Yes, I had been debating going and not posting the pictures online to avoid the ridicule from friends for going after having the resources to watch ‘Blackfish’ on Netflix and choosing not to (or worse, watching the doc and going anyways).  But, late into the night while we were trying to plan our day I put it on anyways.

Taken from Blackfish's Wiki page. 

I must say that I was absolutely horrified; ‘Blackfish’ brought me to tears.  We watched the entire film and had both decided early on that we would not be going to Sea World today. I am trying to take ‘Blackfish’ with a grain of salt, but just seeing the videos of the killer whales looking so unhappy is what made my decision for me.

Yes, there are moments when the killer whales do seem very happy; but they are outweighed (to me) by the moments when the killer whales are sad. What makes it worse is seeing the aggressive nature of the whales in captivity towards each other, I do not question that the Sea World trainers treat the whales well. I believe that they love the animals and respect them, as they should; but I do think that the bigwigs at Sea World are less concerned about the well being of the whales (mentally).

I am not trying to be preachy, I am not saying that you should not go to Sea World; I just wanted to voice my opinion on the whole ‘Blackfish’ saga in light of all of the hoopla that has come out in regards to concerts being cancelled and boycotts of the park.

I am totally for organizations like the Vancouver Aquarium that rehabilitate and learn from the animals in their care. I am against visiting Sea World at the current time until they can find a more humane way to do business.

As a kid who grew up on the Atlantic Ocean I learned about our oceans at an early age and to respect what you do not understand. Our planet’s oceans (and lots of the creatures that live within it) are some of the great mysteries we have left, unfortunately killer whales are a large, majestic mystery that we need to learn more about (apparently) even if it means not having kitschy interactions with them.

Even though Sea World is down the road for us right now, I think I will wait to see killer whales in their habitat, in their communities and take in their “culture”. Better for me to suffer on a cold boat than for them to suffer indefinitely in what sounds like killer whale prison.

Again, I will revisit the idea of going to Sea World in the future if their practices change or new unbiased information comes to light but right now my opinion leans towards staying away and taking the chance to see them in the wild.

Jimmy Kimmel Shocks with 'Greetings From Sunny LA'

I’ll take being fully clothed with a little snow around. I feel weirdly bad for these people who really just wanted to wish us the best from warm, sunny LA; mixing bare skin and snow anywhere is a shock to your system wherever you are.

Although, a full vacation from the snow would be nice! This morning I parked in a different spot in Trail and had to dig myself out, get the car to street parking and then change my outfit because I was so snowy. Sometimes I really miss being a kid, decked out in a snow suit; ready for anything winter could bring. I do not miss forcing my body into a snow suit and that weird sweaty phase between getting the layers on and actually being outside.

One last thing I don’t miss about childhood winters, the smell of wet mittens.

There you have it, my thought process in a blog post:

LA-> Late Night TV sketch-> Snowballs -> Vacation-> Winter Worries -> Wishing for Childhood -> Being Thankful to Be an Adult

The circle seems complete.

DIY Creepy Family Calenders

This month my goal is to crank out all of my mandatory blogs, because I tend to forget about them when I get busy at work.

This blog is a nice little reminder that I am kind of obsessed with going to Disneyworld (someday I will stop talking about it) and a cute/creepy idea for an upcoming Christmas present if you are on a tight budget.

My family has only ever had one real family photo (and as mentioned in previous blogs no real family vacations), so instead of trying to wrangle everyone into a photo shoot or even a family vacation, I decided to do something much more creepy… both!

So if you are trying to convince your family members to finally go to Disneyworld with you or maybe you just want a calendar with your family photos jazzed up a little bit to help you get through the year take a moment and Photoshop your family in various locations, you can even go back in time!

Okay, I may have stopped after two months on the attempt to Photoshop an entire creepy family calender like this. Please, feel free to out-do me and email me your results!

I just spent a good half-hour perusing the internet to attempt to find the original photo; I am pretty shocked at how easy it was to find these bad boys but not the original… 

Kate's Bucket List: Visiting Salem, Massachusetts on Halloween

I set weird goals for my life.

I have a notebook jam packed with the things that I want to do before I die. Some of them are admittedly crazy lame, some are tests of will power and strength that I just do not have at age twenty-four, but most of them relate to travel. Most of them, like the subject of this blog are total clichés.

Growing up my family never traveled, when I was in the second grade I went on a ‘vacation’ (with my aunt, grandmother, brother, cousin and a strange pseudo relative  teenage boy I would never see again)  to Prince Edward Island and I thought it was the best place on earth . Mostly because of Rainbow Valley, a place I visited again as a teenager and realized was ghetto Disneyland (in the best possible way) and Anne of Green Gables.

Back to the point, my family never travelled growing up. During all of our non-travel time I took in a whole bunch of TV time with my Grandfather, he is all about watching television judge programs on FOX Rochester. Halloween was my favourite time of year; I got to see all the crazy happenings and poorly produced commercials in an area of the world obsessed with Halloween. Most 90s TV sitcoms referenced Salem and I fell in love with the idea of spending the spookiest night of the year in the Halloween Capital of the world; Salem, Massachusetts.

I am now twenty-four years old and every time Halloween passes I am reminded of my goal to experience Salem, Massachusetts on Halloween. Yeah, I get a little sad that I haven’t made the trip to what I consider the spookiest place in America for Halloween specifically; and that it is even harder now that I live on the west coast. While in university I constantly tried to coax people into a weekend road trip to Salem.  I have been to Salem twice though now and I must admit I absolutely love that town. When I was sixteen I forced my family through a day in Salem, doing all the typical tourist things like the witches museum. The most horrifying thing I could force my boyfriend to do when we visited Salem at the ripe age of twenty-three was eat at Olive Garden (other thing I became minorly obsessed with growing up watching American feeds of TV) and walk around town looking for the iconic witch statue.

Another Halloween has passed and I am feeling a little disappointed in myself for letting this one go off the bucket list for another year. Maybe in 2014?

Sorry, it is a slow blog day and I am really trying to pump out two a day as required for work.

Here are some pre-weight loss photos from my second trip to Salem. If I can find some OG photos from my first trip when I get home I will add them. Also, apparently the sun was super bright that day so my eyes are squinty. 

Adulting With Kate: An Unexpected Stop Over

I set really high expectations for pretty much everything in life. I personally think it all stems from learning

how to read those stupid classroom signs with inspirational quotes on them. I may have taken them to heart a little too much.

It is kind of strange. I had never really thought about it until right now. When I was a child I thought I would be a world travelling professional (specifically a lawyer or a journalist) that would not have to settle down and still manage to wrangle my four or five kids into bed every night after a lovely homemade supper. I have grown out of that fantasy, the one where I was a serious adult with very serious career and demanding personal life. That being said I do take my career very seriously, I absolutely am in love with my job and my adventure working in radio so far, but I still expect to take the world by storm some day when I have gotten the practice and developed the patience it takes to be a real adult. I love my career tract enough to let my personal life suffer a bit, moving across the country away from any friends and family I have ever had to start my career off working independently was a choice I made and that until recently had not really bothered me.

The real adult part is the struggle. Sometimes I set the bar so high on my expectations that I end up a little heartbroken when they don’t work out the way I see them in my head. I am a very visual person and have always embraced visualizing and willing myself to win. I was the kid who always cried on Christmas Day when the magic had worn off and the sugar had set in (and DisneyWorld was still not in the card for the upcoming year). My parents were thrilled when I became able to drive myself to hockey games, I never thought I had played very well and usually was a huge ball of nerves before and after every game. 

I could continue this list of setting relatively high bars to hurdle and uber competitiveness mashed with a side of temper flare ups but I think two examples is enough. I never really was a very whimsical child, I obsessed over music and sports until I went to university and then went on to obsess about getting out of university on time and onto something I would enjoy a lot more. If you haven’t read my previous blogs I was not the best student at university, I freely admit it.

I have always been super passionate about the things I have become involved in, from cutting carbs to travelling there are things that are always on my mind. My attention span may dwindle, but the passion never really has been drained. Let’s just say I can be a little intense.

But, as being part of an adult today’s lesson is that I need to stop reading those damn quotes and taking them so seriously. It is amazing to have aspirations, huge plans, and incredible dreams and to live the fantasy but at some point you have got to get your head out of the clouds and take a breath. Yes, shoot for the stars, but be okay with an extended stopover flight. Sometimes that is what life is, life is a massive journey full of experiences that won’t wait for you to experience them yourself sometimes. These situations thrust themselves on you and though they may not be welcome, or what you expected they are a reality that should be greeted with warmth or at least curiosity.

Sidenote: When I was twenty-one I did end up going to Disneyland (I know it’s not quite Disneyworld) with my boyfriend and I must say it was a trip beyond all of my expectations, even though everyone had informed me after a lifetime of dreaming of a Disney vacation that I would be disappointed, I was not. 

Remember That Time Jenny Went Away? Kate Does...

I absolutely love my job.

But, the last two days have been tough. Moving and filling in for the amazing Jenny Fines, Mountain FM’s drive host has been a deadly combination. But, it is over now (thank goodness). I liked doing Jenny’s show, but I LOVE my own show. All you listeners from 10am to 2pm I think of you like my children, I am so excited to be giving you my full attention again starting Tuesday. I think you can tell just how tired I am by the bags under my eyes in that photo.

One cool perk of taking over Jenny’s show while she was away was getting to do her ‘Paws and Claws’ segment with our local SPCA. Boy was it fun! Thank goodness I do not do it every week; I would have a house full of animals. Today’s feature was on Rocky a two year old cat who has suffered from head trauma; it was hard to see him leave after only knowing him for about half an hour. He is such a nice, unique cat; I hope he finds an amazing home. From the moment he was let out he was cuddling me, it was such an amazing feeling!

As much fun as it was, I am so happy to be back on the four hour show track starting tomorrow. I much prefer a sprint over a marathon!