Living The Exciting, Charged Life in 2014

You don't need to be rich, beautiful or famous to live the exciting, charged life!
To prove this theory to myself I am conducting yearly experiments called
                                                 52 New Experiences!

For the third year running I made the conscious decision to say YES to anything I've never done before in my life! Even if it gave me shivers, cost more than I would normally spend or it drove me bananas (like finding a free parking spot in downtown Vancouver)!

After I started it was so easy to keep on going, seeking out small challenges on a -nearly- daily basis! Believe it or not, I ended up with over 100 new memories in my life!

Allow me to inspire you with these everyday adventures for bright, shiny, exciting, everyday living!

I loved my vibrant life full of new adventure in 2014 because

It made me sweat during

- SHBam dance -
- Body Flow -
- Yoga - classes.

- I had the opportunity to 'fight' with land developers.
- Listened to School board hearings,
- Fed The homeless on Hastings with Jackie Maclean

- Sold Kics lemonade with my friend Karen Butler Curtis.

- Power walked up the Coquitlam Crunch
- Went White water Rafting not just once, here with Daddy Blogger Ricky Shetty

but twice. This one was a weekend getaway (the Best ever)! Read about it here, it's funny!

- Cycled in sweltering heat to Swan-E Set Golf course
- Sweated more during our One month blogger challenge at Fitwell's

It tasted good:

During visits to
- Joey's Restaurant
East is East during my first ever YVR Foodie event
-  5-Guys
- I ate Snap pea Crisps
- Maple flavoured salmon
- Clams
- Drank rice milk
- Almond milk
- Ate a dragon fruit
- Baked blueberry muffins
- Ventured into a Gluten-free bakery and sampled gluten- and dairy free apple cake.
- Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream at La Casa Gelato, - the place with over 200 flavours!

Proved to myself it is a mind over matter affair during my

- 3- day cleanse in January and
- 21 day cleanse in July

I became more tech-savvy:
 Finally figured out

- How to tag individuals on Facebook.
- How to use Canva.com
- How to use Paint
- How to create a banner for You Tube
- How to create a video in only two takes
- How to become a You Tube partner
- How to use Airb'nB.

It took me places:

- Art gallery cafe in Vancouver
- Fan Expo at Exhibition center
- Waikiki, Honolulu, Oahu

- Business Excellence Seminar
- Vogue Theatre to listen to Oliver Stone.
- Startled by the view of the Wishpond offices in downtown Vancity.
- Explored downtown Chilliwack

- Visited our local Chances Casino.
Check it out here please! Offered opportunities to shine:

- Contributed a chapter to my girl friends e-book!
- Presented Kiss your Excuses Goodbye twice at the YWCA in Vancouver.
- Spoke at the YWCA gala.
- Met my first real TV stars, the crew of " Republic of Doyl'' and had the honour to interview them!!!
- Dazzled during a live radio interview for radio North Carolina.
- Appeared on my 1. google hang-out.
- Got interviewed by Michael Clogs for his Business Expert Show!
- Wrote my first articles for Hello Vancity.
- Started my monthly column Kiss &Tell for Entrepreneurial Mind World (scroll down, you will see me)!
- Presented at the October YVR blogger event.
- Added some sparkle during the Video Mastery course (twice that is).

- Created a video for an audience of 5000 Brazilian parents.
- Shared life tid bits during three presentations at my former high school.

 - Made my parents and guests laugh during their 50 wedding anniversary party!

- Interviewed the mayor of Maple Ridge
- Our youngest son Cruz produced our Family movie.
- Officially launched my book "The Strawberry Lounge Story",

- Got interviewed by PR lady extraordinaire Alice Zhou.

It added adventure during

-  a snowmobile ride at Mt. Baker.
- a Meditation
- a Tide Rope walk at Loon Lake
- a visit to the Aviation museum in Langley
- Started the journey of becoming a kick-ass interviewer for Motherpreneur TV.
-  filming for our son's high school production of Spamalot.

- We skied at Big White and
- autsch, I face planted!
- Cleaned and gutted fish.
- Sat through a whole evening of School of Rock performers (Loud!!!).
- Interviewed my first World Champion record holder, Croix Sather for MP TV
- Visited Tuscan Island Horse Farm in Abbotsford (and went horse back riding for course)

- Watched a roller derby tournament in Cloverdale

- Explored the PNE in Vancouver!
- Filmed during Elaine Tan Comeau's (Mompreneur of the year 2014) calender launch
- Strolled alone along E-Hastings at night!
- Paid taxes for the sale of my coffee shop, Strawberry Lounge (Hurrah, finally free!)

- Cut my hair short!

- Got a new, high tech phone
- Added a different hair colour

- Met two of my virtual connections from LinkedIn in real life, Angie and Sim of the WIISE woman network:

- Bleached our oldest son's hair
- Swam at the Coquitlam Aquatic Center
- Walked the labyrinth in Fleetwood Gardens, Surrey, B.C.
- Participated in ALS Ice bucket challenge
- Splashed down at Splashdown Water Park

- Swam in a different part of Alouette lake
- Kayaked along Belcarra's shoreline
- Went monkeys at Wild Play

- Walked along a Dirt Bike Rd into the big unknown along 256 Street in Maple Ridge

Learnt during: 

- "Change your Habit, change your life"- event.
- Hosted and survived three teenage parties.
- Discovered Dynamic Women in Action - meet-up.
- Went to Valley Women Lunch network.
- Visited the Canadian Marketing Summit.
- Filmed during "Illuminate your Life Retreat".
- Visited the "Sizzling Sales show".
- Visited a Private Art show
- Created an abstract painting.

- Visited a Conscious Divas - event.
- Sorted bottles during a Bottle drive for our soccer team.
- Listened to the presenters at Public Salon

- Witnessed the arrival of the Christmas train.
- Finally figured out how the game of Darts is being played!
- Kim Louise Easterbrook  introduced me to numerology!  WooHoo, what a revelation!

Yes, here is the proof: 
One doesn't need to be rich, famous or beautiful to live the exciting, vibrant, fully charged life!
My new experiences have started for 2015. Will you join me for this fantastic, fun-filled ride? All you need to do and say is YES whenever something new comes along!
Did I hear you say YES? Welcome to the family! 
I look forward to hearing your stories...don't be shy! 

The Year of 2013 in 52 New Experiences

New Years resolutions suck!
At least for me that is.
For 2013 I decided to walk the path of inspiration, conquering fear and climbing heights.
Instead of resolutions I promised myself to live through 52 new experiences. Why?

Because they taste great:

Food I never ate before:

1) Poutine
2) Crab legs
3) Wonton soup
4) A pomegranate

We ate at a
4)  Vietnamese Restaurant

5) Malaysian Restaurant
6) Afghan Restaurant
7) At "Chameleon", a new local joint
8) Amazing, locally grown food during Cooking Demo, presented by my friend Karen Butler-Curtis.

 More food came into my life via a

9) Pampered Chef presentation
10) and a bread machine (Baked my first ever bread)

I was lured into buying knives at my house during a falsely advertised
11) knife-sales demo.

Because they lead high into the sky:

12) Night skiing at Grouse Mountain
13) Skiing in Whistler
14) Making it to the top of Grouse Grind

15) 13 hour round trip to the
of Golden Ears (Golden Ears National Park)

Because they get you out of your house:

16) Twice around the See Wall in Stanley Park on Inliners.

17) Cycling across Vancouver

 

18) Wild water rafting with whole family

They inspire you to help others:

19) As YWCA career mentor with my first mentee
20)  Facilitated a networking event to talk about networking
21) Co-host "Live Life Now" in The Prairies

22) To present "Dream & Dare to make it Happen" at "Ladies Who Lunch" networking event
23) The same talk hit the road and stopped at local library
24) At a neighbouring city!
25) Applied for TED x talk- and got rejected (and went as visitor)

26) Applied to be lecturer at Community College - and got accepted ( the workshop is called: "Kiss your Excuses Goodbye")

They inspire you to personal growth:

27) Finally back dived into a pool - after 40 (!!!!) years of making excuses

28) Kissed my own excuses goodbye and sang Madonna's "Like a Prayer" in Karaoke bar (Yeeehhh, public singing, my GREATEST fear!) Sorry, tape is too dark and can't be rescued- you need to take my word for that one!
29) Published my first ever book "Verry Berry Extraordinary"

 

30) Hosted my first ever book launch party

Because one thing leads to another:

31) The book got me an interview in our local paper
32) And two in The Netherlands
33) It led to a radio interview
34) The book was sold at Haney Market
 I pitched it to two massive strawberry farms:
 35) Krause Farm
36) Driediger Farm

As an author one of my articles was published
37) In local paper
38) Published in Travel Beyond Excuse Magazine

Because they make you cross the border:

39) Watched 4th of July fireworks in USA

 

40) RV'd to Northern California
41) Realised the Pacific is as cold in Oregon is it is in Vancouver

 

They make you get up and go

42) The Vancouver Aquarium
43) Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses
44) The Provincial Court House in Poco
45) Beauty Night @ Shoppers Drugmart
46) Haunted House in Maple Ridge
47) Louis Vuitton Boutique in downtown
48) Tiffany's
49) Small Business Expo (puh, borinnnnngggg!!!)
50) Young Entrepreneurs Award
51) Women's Show in Abbotsford
52) Boulevard Casino

  
and once you are on a roll, there is no stopping you:
53) Salambaca beach in Port Moody


They teach you to get out there and

54) Get yourself a mentor
55) Amazing information is in abundance during 4 day Brenden Burchard event in San Jose
56) For this we distributed our boys to three different families

Because they give you a reason to be creative:

57) Created a hand painted coffee tumbler during Women's night at local art studio

 

Because they make you meet lot's of new people:

58) At Heart to Heart network
59) Women's AM
60) During 6 week stunt as representative of the AVION credit card

61) Chamber of Commerce networking events
62) Fundraiser at local pub

Because they make you

Enter the 21th Century:
63) I figured out Picasa
64) &, How to start a Youtube Video channel


 Make you ask for what you want:

65) Got my bank charges scrapped

Because it's always the small stuff that makes life more groovy:

66) Watched a scene from a movie being filmed
67) Visited a psychic to make sure I am on the right track with

68) MOTHERPRENEUR TV


Please read this as an inspiration- and not as a brag- post.
Living through 52 new experiences beats new years resolutions anytime!

Put this idea on your list for 2014 and a whole new world will open up to you!
New experiences don't need to cost money, they take courage to do, a zest for life and the " let's do it" attitude!

With this I raise my glass and say prost to Happy, adventurous new experiences!

Please let me know how it's going!
A Happy New Year from my house to yours,
Christina


P.S. Oh, and one more, my husband's favourite:
The Double step, Line dance lesson:

Plus the chat with the homeless beggar on the street corner, plus the Love, Laugh Inspire network events, The 14 km walk to Lake Alouette, the practice with our Roller Derby Girls, Watching Martin Short at "The Centre" in VanCity, the drive to Seattle to participate in "Launch your book with a Speech summit".....
Oh, what a great year!

2014, here we all come!