STEPH CORKER IRWiN!

After an ah-mazing Sunday, Monday was really special…I had the wonderful opportunity to hold a brand new baby and chat with a buddy who was living a brand new life!

Baby Cole entered this world fast and furious to the most loving, blissed out parents and big brother Ben. It was a quick (read: FAST!) morning delivery and by night, I got to hold the precious lil bundle of joy. He was curled up in a ball, snuggled and swaddled and adored by every retina that witnessed his preciousness. He was brand new to life and oh, so, wonderful! Indeed, the apple fell directly from the tree! Congrats Team Watts!

Perfect & Precious

And then there was Buddy MH who has a joie de vivre like perhaps no one else I know. Admittedly, I never got to know her that well, but well enough that I could give her a hug hello and spot her beaming, glowing smile from a mile away. When she walked into the office today, that same beaming smile greeted me at the door. But instead of running any sort of corporate rat race for the past few years, she has chosen the path extremely less traveled: teaching/living in Africa, supporting not-for-profits, volunteering with her friends of the downtown east side and fighting an ugly battle of breast cancer. Mere weeks after her surgery, she told me that when you don’t know if you have 10 years, it is hard to plan a vision for 10 years from now. *BAM* I can’t even imagine. I suppose all that matters now is that she shines, she glows and she won the battle!

You are Beautiful!

The circle of life, all in one day. It helps keep things in perspective. Life is precious, short, wild and wonderful. XO!

I woke up this morning and was reminded how precious life is. We lost a great aunt and my Mom had sent me text that the Watkins side of the family was reducing. She was sad; I was moved. I didn’t know Great Aunt that well, but she had made a dent in the lives of those i love and that was enough. Enough for me to make it the very best day I could…and so I did!

It started with the most delicious breakfast chez TeamFab: My Man made us lattes, like only he knows how and I whipped up pancakes. (The simplest recipe: 4 egg whites/ 1c oatmeal/ 1c cottage cheese/ 1tbsp brwn sugar/ vanilla/ dash of salt – blend in mixer, pour 1/4c on hot skillet, enjoy!) Love at the Breakfast table is the perfect beginning to a new day!

Then followed what was meant to be a “summer” trail run in Squamish with a new fabulous friend!  She breeds bliss, runs like a deer and didn’t complain once about running thru 2meters of snow with shorts on!

So it wasn't so "summer", but it was the most epic 22km trail run I've done this year!

An hour north of the city and the first day of SUMMAH is tomorrow!

#39 - Run to Elfin Lakes!

We ran to Elfin Lakes which just so happened to be covered in snow, but that wee bit of blue water reminded me of Kona. So I gave it a quick shaka before we had to keep motoring along! Elfin Lakes typically looks like this, but regardless, #39 is crossed off the Bucket List. *BOOM*

And the day ended, literally, with a sweaty hour with the one and only Will. He likes to call himself a life coach and I’m sure to others he serves as their shrink for an hour, but to me he generates 60minutes of smiles, increased heart rate and puddles of sweat. I could never ask for more!

Happy attracts Happy. Awesome invites Awesome. More Bliss is Mo’Bettah! Life is really good. Namaste.

Ohhhh how I love the liquid happiness that shines down on us! June is typically quite rainy in Vancouver and September tends to stay quite sunny, so I figure I surely have a solid 3 months (or 90+days) for 20 awesome days of summer lovin’:

1. Weekend road trip to Portland – Farmer’s Market is a must-do!
2. Stand up paddle board in Deep Cove, wet suit included
3. Coffee in Fort Langley – perhaps on a bike ride or perhaps a rainy day
4. Road trip to Ironman CDA
5. Farm Tour: berries galore – come home with more berries than a girl knows what to do with
6. Canning Party!
7.  G-UNITS’s love-fest-wedding in Merritt *love love*
8. Penticton for IMC, obviously
9. Will Blunderfield’s Album Release Part-ay!
10. Lilith Fair with Sarah & Sheryl
11. Camp Moomba Yogathon + Blissfest
12. Bike ride to San Juan Islands
13.  Hike/Run/ Skip to Elfin Lakes
14. Eat a cookie in Jordan River (perhaps before the hike below…)
15. Juan de Fuca hike
16.  Acro Yoga Class – *manifesting a class in Vancouver, please Universe*
17.  Hang out with brand new baby Cole!
18. *open to possibility – something fabulous*
19. *open to possibility – something sweaty*
20. *open to possibility – something fun*

Bring on the SUNshine! What are you up to for Summah Lovin’?

When you have a tan that looks like this:

In Hilo - missing Kirks!

A day spent in the ocean feels pretty cool (pun totally intended!).

So we picked up our boards and learned to SUP…Loved it.

(insert trembling arms here!)

And I did it! (Don't mind the booties - they were part of the Honu Hunt!)

Best of all, I’ve learned that paddle boards can be rented only 15min from my home. Only this time instead of having to wear a full outfit (in fear of round 2 of skin-killing-burns), I’m pretty certain I’ll be sportin’ my wet suit. Much better to play with the seals of the Pacific Ocean that way!

And I think that’s a wrap from Kona. You’ve heard all the stories, seen the best pictures I’ve got and are probably as tired of my crazy burns as I am about shedding a layer of dead skin right now. Next Up: Welcome Summer of 2010 – you’ve got nothin’ but fun in store…

As the sun burns fade and I’ve jumped back into the daily joys of life in the YVR, I thought the “Best of Kona” simply needed to be documented. (So 5hr50min of Kona wasn’t all I dreamed it to be…the rest of the time there was really spectac!) Check it out – my recommends on the Big Island:

1. Ride your bike along the Queen K – Lance does it, so do IronHeads – worth the head winds!
2. Swim at the Pier – pretending you are starting Ironman or just dolphin dive and look at the fish – both are awesome.
3. Lava Java – the best coffee and people/pro watching on Ali’i Drive (it’s like Kona’s version of LA!)
4. Hapuna Beach – beauty in a beach (and perhaps the only white sand beach on the volcano) – also the start of Hawaii70.3
5. Fairmont Orchid – more staff than patrons; more sunshine than a girl could dream of. Perfect afternoon of beach time (should you not be running thru a transition or around their beautiful golf course!) – this place is stunning.
6. Bike Works – proud sponsor of Bree Wee, friendly dudes and awesome cruiser bikes!
7. Honu Hunt – under water camera adventure of searching for the turtles was pretty much a perma-smile activity. Those turts are really quite cool.
8. Hilo – it’s kinda like a mini small town in BC! Call Jess Kirkwood ’cause she’s a beautiful soul. And if she’s not around, check out the Boiling Pots of Wailuku River - soo cool!
9. Acai Basik – most delicious breakfast on the rock, fo’sho! Two cool surfer dudes run the joint and will greet you with Aloha while they whip up the most delicious and nutritious breakfast bowl of protein shake/ granola bits/ fresh fruit and a wee drizzle of honey. ummmmGood! pssst: please come to Vancouver.
10. Stand up paddle boards – and this will be the tale of tomorrow…eeeek!

…cause one day Kona, I’m coming back for more!

(This post was titled “The Good, The Bad & The Ugly” until I realized that I was far too dramatic. I have health and love; I’m in Hawaii; I finished what I started. It was a good day after all!)

Today I learned:

* The sun is hot here, all day long. Like really hot. Blistering hot. Hotter than spf50, applied 3 times, hot. And I’ve got the tan err, burn, lines to prove it!

* Hapuna Beach is beautiful – the waves are bodacious, the currents are strong and the sun rises in your retinas. Clearly, chasing Honu’s and not buoys was not effective!

* The winds of Kona really are insane – in fact, the hardest I’ve experienced. (Insert here: more repeats on Iona while climbing Cypress would be perfect training!)

* Relying on a (bike) computer to dictate how “well” you are doing isn’t always worth it. You can lose your (bike) computer and you’ve gotta simply follow heart beats;)

* Sometimes giving up because “I’m not blissed out” is simply not good enough. The bliss was no where to be found at mile50 on the bike, but my conscience wouldn’t let me post a blog that said i DNF’d for no good reason. *darn ego*

* Better yet, giving yourself 56miles of excuses on the bike as to why you shouldn’t start the run is really not the best use of mental energy. *Noted* However, your body will do crazy things if you tell it to – somehow 13miles of the run popped out – totally unexpected! And while it was not fast, it was also not painful and stomach-issue-free! That’s worth celebrating!

* Most importantly, I finished what I started. End of story.

* Meeting rad bloggers offline makes them even radder! Bree was beaming with smiles, Rachel was hot to trot in lulu & Jason just finished FIVE back-to-back Ironmans!

* So it wasn’t the day I was hoping for. I wanted to race the chiquitas in my age group and fight for a slot. Instead, i merely participated and had a good game of “don’t give up” going on in my head. I think that was just the dose of “suck it up” i needed! Setting goals is a beautiful thing. achieving them is equally awesome. Not achieving them keeps my heart and mind in check – next up: Vancouver Half Ironman, baby! After all, these types of races make the good races so much sweeter!

To all of you who followed my not-so-great day and sent messages along the way…Mahalo!

It’s time to sooth the lobster burn and get ready to cross #22 off the bucket list tomorrow:)

The thrill of the day before the race..when nerves escalate and butterflies soar. Because a few flutters remind me that this isn’t just another training day, in the rain, along a route that I know. Nope. This is a new adventure, in a new place with some new elements: Henry the Head Wind, Horton the Humidity & Howie the Honu.

Horton was hot and heavy as soon as we got to the beach for a morning swim, However, with a start line that looks like this, I am really not complaining:

Hapuna State Park

Henry on the other hand, handed me the suck-it-up card real fast! As we headed south on the Queen K, I crawled outta myaerobars and was ready to hit the pavement. WTHeck - was I really not gonna be able to hammer thru this? Was I really gonna get knocked around for 90km? Perhaps. And won’t that be a beautiful thing…to experience the head winds (and hopefully tail winds) of Kona seems like a gift. I’ll take it. Henry & I are gonna dance like Lance tomorrow!

And Howie, I didn’t see him or his siblings this morning, but you can see the ocean floor for the entire swim course – all200feet of depth. So if I don’t see ‘em on the course, I’m hoping I will be able to pay them a visit while sippin’ a mai tai at the end of the day on our new favorite beach:

Fairmont Orchid awaits...

Good Night from the land of butterflies and honu’s!

(And safe travels to TeamS & co. travelling to rock-it-like-it’s-hot in Oliver this weekend! POW!)

ALOHA!

As we marched down Alli Drive en route to the pier for a morning swim, I mentioned to my Man: “i feel like this is real offline living! All of the blogs, the stories, the pictures are coming to life right before my eyes.” And as I dolphin dove into the ocean, i felt like i was swimming thru Bree Wee’s under water blog post pics – the fish really are colourful and only mere feet away from you. The salt water is far more buoyant than the chlorine at Ron Andrew’s pool and the sun is kinda (read: reallllllly) nice!

We landed a table at Lava Java for breakfast and coffee. It was equivalent to people watching at 72nd + Amsterdam: Bree Wee ran by and Belinda Granger was doing speed work; race wheels and aero helmets flew by us. This wee lil town is boppin’ with triathletes who are insanely fit, tanned and beautiful. (Not only do they all sport the finest equipment/outfits on the market, but young adorable children seem to be the newest, hippest accessory. Who knew 2 year olds and 6 packs went together so well: Cra-zay!)

Our bikes are now together – we took ‘em for a spin out to the Energy Lab and around town. That beautiful Queen K really is somethin’.

Sweating our heads off...it's HOT on this island!

What I know for sure is that a vacay is a really wonderful thing for the soul. An afternoon of napping/beaching/repeat after a morning of endorphins feels Mo’Bettah. And Kona is a sweet lil place – the people are friendly, the markets are full, the pace is easy, the beaches make it all worth it.

(a douglas james photo!)

Sweet dreams…from the happiest place on earth! XO.

A week ago I was in NYC – feeling pretty certain I was going to need to ask my Husband to relocate back east so I could live in the hub of east coast excitement:

Only to be reminded of the beautiful rain of North Vangroovy and sunny beach days with Willy:

Willy in Stanley Park

Where we have amazing friends who are willing to loan us bike boxes & pack ‘em:

Boys pack Boy bikes (or Dougs pack Doug's bike!)

Girl's pack Girl Bikes:)

So that we can head the other way around the world to the dream of all (my) dreams: KONA. I promise to send updates daily because I’m pretty sure this might just be next place I grow a garden!

Friends – I have so much more to say about NY! Many of you have asked for an update on the blog and I want to tell you that that will not happen. However, what WILL be happening is a Linchpin Meet Up on June 14th. Can’t wait to see you there!

For now, it’s off to the land of luau’s and palm trees, where the triathletes run free…I’ve got a race to start!

What a week! What a whirlwind! What a Dream! Since the real juicy Godin et al wisdom is not for the blog, I’m gonna share my Top10 Favorites of the week. Huge kudos go to Mr.Fab who found, discovered & searched out these gems.

In no particular order, ’cause that’s just how i roll:

1. Good Enough to Eat – best brunch on the Upper West Side. Worth the line up every time.
2. Chelsea Market – kinda like Granville Island with a lil more class and culture.
3. Grand Central Station – the hustle and bustle by morning and night…I could get used to walking with a purpose more often! (It just had somethin’ on the seabus line up and skytrain “trolley”)
4. Soul Cycle – Kelly Ripa approved spin classes! Sick!
5. Nicole Farhi – 202 New York – best brunch in Chelsea! (Note: French Toast soaked in…wait for it, custard.)
6. Aroma Espresso Bar – a wonderful Israeli operation with delicious coffee served with a choco! 3 locations in NY – next stop Florida.
7. 5:30AM in Central Park – no cars, 100′s of cyclists, heaps of runners, perfect trails. Morning Bliss.
8. Isabella’s – the perfect patio in the perfect location: UWS, with amazing food. (Chocolate Shopper is highly recommended!)
9. Magnolia Bakery - so appropro with SATC looming
10. Farmer’s Market – Upper West Side was a delight, but I heard Union Square on Wednesday is even better!

Sigh. I returned west to a 3hr bike ride in the pouring rain and 10degrees. It was green and pretty – the ocean had waves and the mountains had snow. But man-oh-man, do I miss New York, New York.