1 Banana/ handful o’Spinach/ 2 small Cucs/ 1 Orange/ handful o’Strawberries/ E3Live/ almond milk…vitamix’d.

It’s day2 of the FRESH series…FreshlySqueezed, FreshlyBaked, FreshlyFabulous…it makes me feel like an artist in my own sweet way. Like paint on a canvas, my kitchen is a sacred ground for creation…from my vitamix to yours, enjoy

Oven: 350

Mix: 1c brown rice flour/ 2/3c coconut flour/ 2tsp b.powder/ 2tsp b.soda/ dash o’salt/ sprinkle of flax seeds

Vitamix: 1 egg/ 2/3c brown sugar/ 1 heaping tbsp pb/ 1 heaping tbsp coconut oil/ 1/3c almond milk/ 2 ripe bananas/ 1/4c applesauce

Combine wet+dry. Pour into coco’oil’d loaf pan. Bake for ~60min. Slice like a loaf of bread; enjoy it like a lil piece of love!

1 Banana/ handful o’Spinach/ 1 Orange/ 1 Apple/ handful of Penticton Peaches (circa summer 2011..they are almost done!)/ juice o’1 lime/ chunka’ginger/ E3Live, of course/ squirt of almond milk…vitamix’d.

Yesterday I posted this on Facebook:

Life Happens: flat tire before i left the house, suck at changing rear tires – tried to get youtube to help me but my internet connection sucks too, failed to put on those new fenders and blew my nose ring out (+ then flushed it, woops!) all before 9:30AM! 100+km hammer fest later, in the rain, and i remain grateful to ride a bike! #gottalaughoriwillcry

And the truth is, I did cry. It makes me think just how “redonkulous” my everyday life is. I hope that when i look back on this year or tell these stories to my girls on our rides, I will be the cause for laughter; I hope the Ironman finish line will be a sweet victory over flat tires (literally and metaphorically); I hope that i remember to have just a wee mo’compassion for my precious self on this journey.  Off the bike, I need to remember that internet doesn’t really matter, that home is where the heart is and when I’m working like a lunatic, i’m actually not creating space to live a life i love (this results in searching for jungle huts to live in on Maui!).

And most of all, I’m reminded just how powerful it is to tap into what makes me feel alive..and juicy..and stoked! Tomorrow will be the beginning of a truly juicy series from stephcorker.com…i hope you’ll tune in:)

Life happens….let’s get juicy!

Sometimes the car windows are too foggy for the defrost to work effectively; and sometimes while we are trying to defrost the outside of the window, we fail to realize that the precipitation is building inside the car – not outside. Ya know those times? It’s been foggy lately and all i’ve gotta say is Thank Sweet Shiva for Danielle LaPorte.

She rocked the mic at Pecha Kucha this week; best in the house with the biggest laughs and most of all the truest of truthbombs. Just in case you didn’t catch her live (the event sold out in 30hours!), here are some of her bombs that simply must be shared…

  

And just for kicks, she says “the only thing better than this album cover is this album cover 20′ tall!”…

Just before the show, over sashimi she reminded me that you can’t give yourself a 4/10 if you want to live a life that is a ten outta ten. And if you want something to change, you’ve gotta change. Golly, she speaks the truth. #gotit And what is an eleven outta ten is her new book: The Fire Starter Sessions. Pre-order now. This won’t be the last time I plug it…because this book will set your life on fire! Sometimes sparking fires helps to clear the foggy mind. And the mosquitos – those lil nagging noises – they go too when you’ve got a blazing, roaring fire…. Big Friggen Love DLP! xo

“In a pond, koi can reach lengths of 18 inches. Amazingly, when placed in a lake, koi can grow to 3 (THREE!) feet long. The metaphor is obvious. You are limited by how you see the world.” – Vince Poscente, via lululemon’s leadership development team

…it begs the question: where are you living in a pond and where do you swim in a lake? #getouttathepond xo

First things first, I’m getting heaps of notes of gratitude lists…reading them brings tears to my eyes and my lil heart gets chubbier with glee! Thank you, friends. And, as a friendly reminder…you will only be eligible for the gratitude giveaway if your list hits 100! It is gratitude beyond your comfort zone…go there:).

Friday was a really rad day in the “office”. We had a sneak peak preview of some of the cool work the Leadership Development team is up to. And I wanted to share a wee lil portion of it because it relates to how we spend our days + our energy…

They spoke about strengths + weaknesses. Your STRENGTHS are the things you do that make you feel STRONG. Therefore, the obvious statement is also true that your weaknesses are the things you do that make you feel weak. And did you know that only 1.7/10 people spend their days doing something that makes them feel strong; doing something that they love?? That feels almost like a crime to me. Like, it just shouldn’t be allowed.

After thinking about all I do each week, every activity, I came to the conclusion that I feel strong when I’m creating + sweating.

I feel strong when I’m creating …new ideas, the space for remarkable people to be great, relationships, something that hasn’t yet been created (or a future that has yet to exist), something that will fuel my body + soul (usually of the green variety, in my kitchen!)

I feel strong when I’m sweating (and I don’t mean the small stuff)….swim bike running are the obvious, a yoga class, endless attempts to kick up on the wall into hand stand, my heart rate is typically elevated and my blood is pumping faster thru my body. I love how I feel while sweating and I especially love how I feel upon the completion of sweating.

And what is so clear to me is that I always feel so strong on Sundays! I wake up to run and feel powerful, I have a chat with my Bro that has me laughing or crying or both, I usually have 1 if not 2 kitchen-creation-sessions which make me feel like an artist (jackson pollack styles with my vitamix!), I hammer thru work in preparation for the week ahead and always attend an evening yoga class with Mike Nichols, who I adore and reminds me how rad it is to be a beginner in life (+ on the mat). This week, I’m committing my my Wednesday feeling like a Sunday!

What wakes you up in the morning? What gives you energy? What makes you come alive? Or better yet, how many of you fall into the special 17% of human beings who love how they spend their days?

I’m feeling blessed. Blessed for the love and the hammer fests; blessed for the thrill of feeling fit and the reminder of the contrary; blessed for knowing pure, raw happiness and the guts to admit when it isn’t so happy. Blessed for delicious home-made food and beautiful human beings to share this love-fuel with. These feelings..these experiences…these moments make my heart explode with gratitude. I’m certain gratitude generates a chemical reaction in our brains that causes smiles to occur on our face and hearts to beat a lil faster; it must be true.

I spent this beautiful Sunday sweating with my girlfriend, skyping with loved ones, sending love notes + post cards and running about collecting treats for a small token of my huge gratitude to our hosts in Paia. It looks a lil somethin’ like this but isn’t quite complete yet…apparently meditation CDs, a ukulele book and most likely some tea to follow…

And I find myself daily wanting to share heaps of gratitude with each of YOU precious blog readers. Your notes, your replies, your thoughtfulness remind me in the power of being remarkable and kind and just so darn nice. So in a second attempt to demonstrate my huge gratitude with a small token of love, I have a Gratitude Giveaway!

Here’s the deal: I have a gratitude list that is hovering at 60 en route to 100. I’m looking for some inspiration…
YOU: send me a list of 100 things you are grateful for. By When: Feb 29^th – it’s a leap year and my sister-in-law’s birthday…it feels like a very special day! (Email – iamstephcorker at gmail dot com)
I: will pick the juiciest list and send you a package of goodness, of all things I’m grateful for. (Similar in nature to the above, but of course not the same…it will be made for YOU, with love. Contents will be a surprise, most likely of the organic-Canadian-variety!)

Because I’m grateful for YOU, for surprises, for lists, for love notes and just-becauses, for snail mail and for the abundance of love that exists in this cyber space. Warning: Serious happiness might occur while writing your juicy list!

Ready…Go…XO!

PS – if you feel inspired to start your own Gratitude Giveaway, you’ll let me know, right? The attitude of gratitude is an attitude worth sharing!

Maui was Magical. It was epic, it was mind blowing; it was whales and dolphins and hippies and happy and avocados and papayas and surf and swim and… quite simply, a really simple way of a beautiful life. I’ve been putting off telling you all about it because i didn’t know where to begin. Do you want to know about the weekend in Kipahulu? Or the whales? Or a random half marathon win? What about the spontaneous weekend in LA with best friends + Jason Mraz. Man oh Man, last week was a glimpse into the dream – the life where every second blows your mind. This week has felt like a hammer fest. And somewhere in between would be a beautiful place to reside…

At any rate, the Magic of Maui can be effectively summed up with the recap of the Summit that was Haleakala. I thought everyone who rides bikes rides this creator; apparently not everyone. I didn’t think it was that big of a climb; but it is. I didn’t think i’d ever do a ride like this; yet i did! Let me tell you about what i learned looking back on the bike ride of the year…

1. I rented a bike. It was really freakin’ heavy (no cervelo!) and i didn’t bring my own pedals. The morning of the ride, in the dark, i lowered the seat as much as i could and decided to clip in. The seat was probably too high, the bike was too big and my cleats didn’t clip in. Awesome. At 6AM, when you wanna get to the top before your skin will burn off, there isn’t much you can do but suck it up. I took my bike shoes off and (gasp!) wore my new Zoot runners; I stretched my arms out really long and repeated the mantra of “i’m comfortable”. What i know for sure: mantras work; your brain is stronger than you think it is.

2. I rode the first 90min at a casual pace. I rode the rest as “fast” as i could in running shoes. I made it to the top in approx 4hr30min, which is certainly not fast. It was the reminder to not take anything too seriously. To enjoy the climb, solo. To really experience the feeling of riding thru the clouds to the sun, thru the rain pockets and blazing heat, to the top of a creator…it was a powerful feeling and I don’t think I stop to appreciate the feelings often enough. I let the good feelings come and go and I beat myself up over the not-so-great feelings. All of them are juicy!

3. I did stop every few miles after 7,000′ of elevation gain as i was getting kinda light headed. Why you ask? Well, elevation is new to me. And i went the route of the camel with no water. Woops! I stopped at the rangers station after 28miles of climbing for a few slurps from a fountain. Perhaps not the smartest idea – 38mile climb with no water? It means I can ride to Whistler with no water, no problem!

4. I got to the top, covered in ice and snow, freezing cold. It’s lonely at the top. The view is amazing. It was worth the climb up! No other cyclists were in sight; perhaps not everyone does climb this bad boy?

5. I proceeded to fly down…thinking the way down is what makes it all worth it. Not always true. My hands were frozen, even in my woolen socks as gloves. And, my front brake levers weren’t down – no wonder my biceps were shaking and my bike wasn’t stopping. It’s not always about the climb or the descent…it really is the journey.  It doesn’t matter what you wear. It does matter who is along for the ride. And nothing beats a celebratory coffee mid mountain!

It was a perfect day. It was a reminder to stay silly; to have fun; to go fast when the road allows you and hang on when the going gets tough. That you will always find water and you will actually be fine without water. I have never climbed for 4hrs, ever. I’m actually not certain i’ve ever gone on a 6hr bike ride in February – that i could get used to.

The metaphors for life in climbing a creator were remarkable; the journey of life is precious and the views aren’t the only things worth stopping off – gasping for air at crazy elevation is also pretty sweet.

Hope you are enjoying the climb….hang on! xo

PS – and climb on with gratitude…check out my new list of things I’m great,full for. The goal is 100!

I knew I’d love this place….but what I didn’t know was just how muuuuuuch I’d love this place! It feels like Salt Spring Island meets HotHotSunshine meets HippieHappiness; basically my most favorite places and feelings on one lil rock.

It was about this point in the flight where I felt like I was landing “home”…

…and this lil snack that made me feel just a lil mo’alive…

Not to mention, the kayak adventure of the morning. And by Kayak Adventure i mean float-along-until-the-whales-swim-to-you. Whales under the boat, tails flopping and spouts spitting. Followed by coconuts at the Farmer’s Market, gelato in town + a SUP board waiting to be surfed. It is a Whale of a Good Time!

Tomorrow is a half marathon…it might be a race or it might be 21.1km of WhaleGawking, either way, it’s a beautiful thing that nothing else matters. Aloha!