Every journey begins with a single step

After signing up for WW, I decided to take some good steps to helping me on my journey to becoming a healthier me.

Step #1: rid my cupboards of everything not healthy or could be healthy but WAY too tempting!

Step #2: Tell lots of people to help them hold me accountable.

Step #3: Go grocery shopping with the Points system in mind, but still allowing myself to eat "normal" foods.  I'm not doing this to eliminate carbs from my diet or only eat apples.  I want this to be something that I can follow through with after my one year challenge is up!

Step #4: Challenge myself to try healthy foods that I've never had before.  This week's challenge: bok choy and tofu.  If you have any great ideas for either of those, that would be very much appreciated!

I'm really excited to give this yet another go.  Weight has always been a struggle for me, but I'm hoping that the more people that I tell about this, the more (and longer) motivated I'll be to stick to it!

A necessary life change

That's right!  I signed up for Weight Watchers today and I have two colleagues who are going to do this with me.  Hopefully with this accountability and that of "Kim's Conscience Club", I will start to check off items in the self-improvement part of my bucket list.  My goal is to lose 20 pounds in the first month and if this goes well, hopefully 100 pounds after a year!!!  

Crazy adventures in Quebec

So last week I chaperoned a trip to Quebec City and had a blast - one of the best classes ever!  One of my favourite memories was when I went on the maiden voyage down the stairs to the concrete pad at the bottom of Montmorency Falls.  It was so fun and because of all the rain and melted snow, there were copious quantities of freezing water that would hit wave after wave.  

Other highlights included hanging out at our sweet ski lodges, doing the adventure course from tree to tree in gorgeous weather, ziplining upside down and hands-free at the end, doing the scavenger hunt with the addition of Waldo (or Charles, en francais), having the "date night" at the fancy dinner on the last night and helping to administer the crazy charges and punishments at Kangaroo Court!  Charges and punishments included: 1) Always talking about food - unsalted cracker eating contest, 2) Being boyfriends that did not know how to take care of children - changing poopy (chocolate pudding) diapers, 3) Having a whipped cream fight - doing an elephant fight, 4) Being too proud - painting his mom's toenails, 5) being in the kitchen too much - dressing in female clothes, 6) keeping a secret that one male student loves Taylor Swift too much - singing a duet but have him listen to the iPod so we only heard one half of the duet, 7) excessive singleness - act out the children's book "A Kiss for Little Bear", 8) finger dancing in public - air band contest to "The Cliffs of Dover". Here are some pictures for you to enjoy! :)

Blending into the mural the best

 Leapfrogging in a creative place

 Serenading a maitre d'.  He was really touched! :)

 Finding Waldo! :)

 Trying to board a ferry

 A reflection in a creative spot

 Spelling a French word

 The most creative "I can't believe we all fit in here!"

 Finding the youngest person and taking a picture with him/her

Walking someone else's dog

My bucket list thus far

Have fun

1. Build an igloo
2. Go white water rafting
3. Drink from a coconut that I picked from a tree
4. Swim with dolphins
5. Go snorkeling
6. Ride a camel
7. Ride an elephant
8. Drive a NASCAR car
9. Live like a local for a month
10. Experience zero gravity
11. Try surfing
12. See a Cirque du Soleil show
13. Ride a hot air balloon
14. Skydive
15. Paraglide
16. Parasail
17. Spend a whole night stargazing
18. Ride in a helicopter
19. Ride a motorcyle
20. Ride in a stretch limo
21. Climb a volcano
22. Put my handprint into wet concrete
23. Start a fire without matches
24. Learn to ballroom dance
25. Meet my twin and take a picture with her!
26. Memorize a book of the Bible
27. Wear a  two piece bathing suit
28. Dinner in the dark
29. Be mortgage-free
30. Shake hands with some one who has truly changed a country

Travel

1. Travel to Jerusalum and follow the path of Jesus.
2. Set foot on each of the seven continents.
3. Spend a night in an underwater hotel 
4. SCUBA in the Great Barrier Reef. 
5. Hike the entire Bruce Trail 
6. Visit all the francophone communities that are in my textbooks (Haiti, Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Polynesia, Senegal)
7. See the redwoods in California
8. Cross a country on a bicycle
9. Stay overnight in the Ice Hotel in Quebec
10. Float in the Dead Sea
11. Go on an African Safari
12. Drive through the Rockies
13. See the Undara Lava Tubes in Australia
14. Visit The Grand Canyon via donkey
15. See the Victoria Falls (between Zambia and Zimbabwe)
16. See the Iguassu Falls (between Brazil and Argentina)
17. Travel around the Galapagos Archipelago
18. Witness the Northern Lights (the Aurora Borealis)
19. Kayak in the Fjords of Norway
20. Go ziplining/hiking through the Amazon Rainforest
21. See the Perito Moreno Glacier or any glacier in particular
22. Give a Roman speech from the Acropolis in Greece
23. Climb and go through the catacombs in the Pyramids of Giza, Egypt
24. See Stonehenge, United Kingdom
25. Visit the Parthenon in Greece
26. Run along the Great Wall of China
27. Build a Habitat for Humanity’s home
28. Filet and cook a fish I caught over a campfire
29. See the life-size version of Noah’s ark in Holland

Jobs/Education

1. Learn sign language
2. Learn how to skate backwards

Being creative

1. Finish a 365 day photography project
2. Get up-to-date on my scrapbooks
3. Organize my cards and scrapbook a bunch 
4. Make a creation out of pottery

Self-improvement

1. Run a marathon
2. Be a healthy weight and stay there!
3. Lose 20 pounds
4. Lose 50 pounds
5. Lose 100 pounds!!

Montreal - Vive le français!

The following week was spent in Montreal with my grade 12 class and we had a great time despite all the rain.  We left early Monday morning and came home late afternoon on Thursday.  Events of the week included a walking tour of the old Port, hanging out at the Seafarer's Centre, a sound and light show in the Notre Dame basilica, a tour of St. Joseph's Oratory, a bike tour, shopping in the massive underground mall, and eating a LOT of French cuisine :)  I was disappointed that the Amphi-bus tour was cancelled and then later that same night so was the dinner theatre, but we found ways to enjoy our time there!  Hope you enjoy the pictures!

 On the way there - nice and cozy! :)

 At the Palais des Congres

 The lipstick garden in the Palais des Congres

 Notre-Dame Basilica where the sound and light show was

 Inside the basilica - a little too gaudy in my opinion

 Creme brulee

 Profiteroles

 Place Jacques Cartier

 Part of our wet walking tour

 We love crepes - what more can I say? :)

 At the Seafarer's Centre

The would-have-been epic tourist busses - the Amphi-bus

A great few weekends!

 The sad thing about this score is that our team (the one with 0)

is actually doing better than what the final score ended up being! (6-1).  Ouch!

Janese, Jo, Emily, Mandy

The past few weekends have been filled with quite the variety of activities.  On Friday, April 29, I drove to Fergus to meet up with Emily and then drove with her to Toronto airport to pick up a teacher with the Dutch exchange students.  On the way back we picked up Jo and then headed to Mandy's for a sleepover.  After a sweet pancake brekkie, we headed to Brampton for the CRHL tournament.  Unfortunately, none of our teams seemed to make it into the finals, but we had a fun time cheering everyone on!