Tonight, I arrived home later than usual . . . stumbled in the door, hastily dropped my gym bag, yoga mat, and purse in the hallway, before bending down to kiss Daisy.

Usually, our “honey I’m home” greetings last a couple of minutes but tonight I was tired and let her kiss me only once before dragging my feet towards the bedroom. Quickly I yanked off my suit jacket and kicked off my shoes before collapsing on the bed in a not so delicate fashion.

I felt exhausted. Not because today had been a particularly hard day but rather because I had been neglecting me and was reaching my burn out point.

You see, I’m the kind of girl that often puts other people and my work ahead of myself. Take the last week for instance, sure I have been dealing with particularly involved files but did that really justify not eating at all on several days? The short answer is NO.

The world would not have fallen apart if I had eaten an apple or downed a yogurt. My submissions would not have been weaker because I took 10 minutes out to nourish my body – quite the contrary. And yet there I was, working non-stop. Arriving early. Leaving late. And taking work home.

Sure, my career is important but so am I. And so are YOU!

For me, this week it was about work taking a toll. But for you it might be running yourself ragged dealing with the little ones. Or even tending to a dear one in a crisis.

What I realized tonight was that it all boils down to this: If I’ve neglected myself and I’m running on empty, how can I possibly have anything left over to give my career or those I love!?!?

And so I’m making it a point to take that extra time every day for me. To wake up early and get in a work out before anything else has a chance to get in the way. To eat healthy and fuel my body. To pray a little bit more each day. To move myself to the front of the line.

If you’d like to join me in making this commitment to yourself, tweet about your recommitment to yourself with the hashtag #PutYourselfFirst

As for my first attempt to put myself first? I’m taking this Friday off and turning my three day long weekend into a four day one! Because let’s face it, work will still be there come Tuesday!

Question: Do you have a problem with remembering to put yourself first? How do you carve out time for yourself?

Once in a while I like to share with you guys a feature I call the Saturday Funnies (or in this case Sunday) but let’s face it, I might as well call it “a peek into things that bring Karen ridiculous amounts of joy and laughter,” because that’s exactly what this is!

Since January of this year we no longer have cable but thank goodness there is YouTube to keep me entertained – particularly in the form of Ellen videos – which by the way is where I discovered this particular beauty!

Allow me to set the scene, it starts with Kristen Bell talking about her sloth obsession and related meltdown during a recent birthday party:

Too funny, right!??! Well it gets even better when a viewer turns the sloth meltdown video into a ridiculously catchy auto-tune song!

Cue the hilarity:

And there you have it – yet another peek into things that make me clutch my belly amidst roaring laugher!

Have a good rest of the weekend friends and I’ll see you soon!

Question: Do you have any hilarious YouTube video recommendations for me? I just know there have to be some real gems out there!!

A few weeks ago, before the full weight of the flu symptoms hit me, I headed out to take pictures of Vancouver’s Sun Run.

The Sun Run is a huge deal in this city and features 50,000 participants!!!! It’s no surprise that it’s the largest race in Canada.

As I stood there taking pictures early that Sunday morning, I realized it had been over a year since I last ran. What began as a stress fracture induced hiatus turned into plantar fasciitis and an undetermined leave of absence from the sport.

And while I can admit that at first I was sad not to be able to run it soon became a fact of life and I found myself embracing other forms of cardio (Zumba anyone?!?).

Which is all to say I was alright with my status as a non-runner. Those days were behind me, I told myself. Surely I was better off without the stress of running on my body.

All lies.

During the Sun Run 2012, each time a new wave of runners started I would feel those old undeniable emotions. That mixture of excitement, nerves, and adrenaline that told me I had to be out there!

So for the past few weeks, a couple of co-workers and I have been following a learn to run a 10k program. I’m starting from scratch but that’s okay – it feels absolutely glorious to be back pounding the pavement!!!

Because the next time 50,000 people run the streets of Vancouver – I intend to be out there!!!

Question: Have you ever taken an extended break from a sport you used to love? Did you ever go back? How did it feel?

Yours truly has been sidelined by a horrendous flu. I daresay, I haven’t been this sick since I had H1N1 – which is saying a lot.

The never ending fevers, chills, and Nyquil fuelled bouts of sleep have kept me from blogging. I will be back as soon as possible but in the meantime enjoy this uber cute photo of Daisy before she got her haircut this Saturday. Hopefully her little doggy nose will make up for my lack of posting.

See you on the flip side friends!

It’s Saturday morning friends! So it’s time to get honest about the last time you really went to the gym! HA!!!

I’m sure it’s not really the truth but it’s still hilarious because we all have those naughty streaks. And then we go and pretend like we only missed one workout. Oh the white lies we tell ourselves!

Anywho, it’s the weekend and I do hope you go out there and enjoy it to the fullest. Make every moment of it count! And then come back here when it’s all over for a new fitness related post!

Question: What are you up to this weekend? The Husband is sick so I’ll be taking care of him but also grocery shopping, spectating the Sun Run (a massive 10K), working out, and hopefully enjoying the great weather!

Something has happened in the last little while.

It started subtle at first. A stirring within me that told me that the status quo was no longer good enough. That something . . . scratch that . . . a lot needed to change.

After all, I’m the girl who worked her butt off while in law school and right after graduation to go from this:

To this:

Only to end up somewhere in the middle, by the time I moved to Vancouver:

I would like to pretend that I know entirely how I got from B to C but the truth is I don’t. For the rest of my days, I will remember watching the number on the scale go up overnight. Every night. And not small amounts either – most days it was pounds.

I wasn’t eating enough calories to justify that change and I certainly wasn’t a sloth but sure enough the change happened. My hunch is that my body was having a hard time dealing with the stress of our life in the Rockies . . .

But that’s not where the story ends.

Since moving to Vancouver three months ago, I feel more alive. Happier certainly. And definitely more in love with the Husband. I guess you call that being joyful.

And amidst that joy my body has reacted. I’ve noticed my shape start to change and the pounds slowly begin to melt away.

If I had to hazard a guess, I would say I’m making my way towards my happy weight. But I’m not content to let my body slowly get there – I’m determined to help it along. Because I don’t want to be the girl who used to run . . . used to train like it was her job . . . used to eat like a saint . . . used to be thinner.

I want to be that girl again! In fact, I want to be that girl NOW!

So although you can still expect to read restaurant reviews and blog posts about travel, you should expect to see a whole lot more about health, wellness, clean eating, and fitness. Because that’s where my head is at right now.

It’s where it needs to be.

I do hope you’ll join me in this journey because let’s face it, I count on all of you for support!

Question: Do you think you’ve reached your happy weight? Do you even believe there’s such a thing?

Hello Friends!

I hope you had an absolutely lovely long weekend and a blessed Easter!

Here in the Coastal Casa, we had a low key four days off involving loads of walks along the Ocean, good eats, many laughs, and cuddles with the puppy. After some decidedly busy times at work, this time off was just what I needed. In fact, it completely felt like a mini-vacation.

Now admittedly, this Easter was different than past ones in that we didn’t run away and explore somewhere new. But the truth is that the novelty of our new city has yet to wear off so we’ve no current inclinations to take a trip elsewhere. We’re still absolutely delighted to explore Vancouver and marvel (okay gush really) that we don’t have to take a vacation to explore a place as beautiful as this one.

Near Death in Idaho

Having said all of that, I thought it would be fun today to share with you a bit of one of our past Easter trips. This one happened probably about two years ago, when we still lived in the Southern British Columbia Rockies. Back then the Husband and I didn’t have many days off together so when we did we could be found on the open road. On that particular long weekend we decided to head South to Boise, Idaho.

Boise turned out to be an absolutely beautiful small city. And honestly, I was relieved to discover that we loved it as much as we did because we almost didn’t make it. Our drive down south took a turn for the INSANELY scary when we got stuck in a white out. We’re talking white knuckles, couldn’t see a thing kind of white out. Since then I’ve been in my share of white outs but that still counts as the worst one. Ever.

At one point, as we were driving through a canyon, I managed to see a sign beside my passenger side window that said there was a chain up area ahead. Of course that told me the road was going to get worse so I begged the Husband to stop. We had to turn around and did so having absolutely no idea where the precipice was or if there were any cars. We drove back praying and scanning through the snow for lights. Eventually we saw some off in the distance and headed that way.

We ended up pulling off into a tiny little downtown of a village. I could have cried out of relief when we finally parked the car and walked into the only establishment with the lights on. A sketchy bar deep in the heart of Southern Idaho redneck country. On Good Friday no less.

For as long as I live, I will never forget how much my knees knocked together as we walked into the warmth and comfort of the bar. God worked in mysterious ways that Easter because He seriously saved our butts!!!

Those were some seriously crazy times!!!!

Question: Have you ever had a vacation where the weather took an unexpected turn for the horrible?

Lately, the Husband and I have started to make a point of heading out to beautiful locations around sunset. This is the kind of thing we used to do when we were first dating and it’s fantastic to get back to our old habits.

Thankfully, we live in a city that is incredibly blessed in the scenery department. Just when I think I love this place as much as possible, I experience something else that makes me even more giddy that I live in Vancouver!

So what am I Thankful for this Thursday?

Spectacular Sunsets on the Pacific Ocean

Question: What are you thankful for today?

Hola Friends!

I know it has been a while since I last blogged but I thought it was high time I have a return! And guess what? My blogging hiatus is basically over!!

You’re probably wondering where I’ve been and what I’ve been up to. The truth is that for about a month now, I have been hard at work on a big trial. Most of you know that I practice criminal law so I’m sure you can imagine what the trial entails.

The last time I worked on a trial of this magnitude, I ended up sick with H1N1 and severely anemic. It was bad times indeed! Which is why this time around I was determined to make sure my health didn’t falter.

Thankfully, I’ve been mostly successful but it did entail some disconnecting. After spending my days pouring through some crazy heady stuff I just couldn’t bring myself to sit in front of my laptop and write a blog post. I’m sure you know how it goes . . .

But all of that is behind me and I’m back to writing and comment! Happy times!!!

Zuzana Light Kicks my Butt

One of my goals for Spring is to start doing Zuzana Light’s ZWOWs on a regular basis. And while I’m sure there are many of you who know exactly who Zuzana is, there are likely lots amongst you that are wondering what a ZWOW could possibly be.

ZWOW is short of Zuzana’s Workout of the Week. Zuzana in this case, refers to the girl originally behind the Bodyrock.tv workouts. What started out as Freddy and Zuzana Light (married at the time) filming workout videos in their Kingston, Ontario living room soon became a bonafide internet sensation.

Back in the day, Zuzana used to host all the Bodyrock.tv workouts. That is until her and Freddy split up and Zuzana disappeared for a while. Thankfully, she recently came back with a fury and has now taken to posting weekly kick butt workouts on YouTube.

Want your butt handed to you? Start with ZWOW #1:

And yes, there’s no point avoiding the obvious – Zuzana is a beautiful girl with some well-endowed assets. But that’s not what the videos are about. If you can get past her skimpy clothing you’ll discover a sweet girl that will motivate you to get going and workout like you never have before!

I did ZWOW #1 this morning and the results looked something like this:

I won’t lie, I nearly threw up at the end of the workout but it felt fantastic to push myself and achieve some great results!

So how about it, why not give Zuzana’s ZWOWs a try!!!

Question: What is the hardest workout you’ve ever done? I will always remember the first time I worked out with my trainer in Victoria – I was so out of shape, I honestly felt like I was going to have a heart attack!

Last night at about 1am, I was awaken by the Husband in sheer agony. He kept clutching his stomach saying he was in intense pain and didn’t know what was going on.

In a half-awake stupor I pulled on my coat, grabbed my car keys, and took the Husband to the car. We had never been to the hospital in Vancouver before but eventually we managed to get there.

Driving through the city at night with a sick loved one, while trying to keep it together, is a task I wouldn’t wish on anyone.

We met with the nurse at triage and were promptly ushered in to the treatment area for tests. The Husband had been violently ill for days by that point but the excruciating pain was new.

As we waited for the Doctor to arrive, I drifted in an out of what I hoped was a bad dream. It’s crazy just how quickly things can change. One moment you’re healthy and the next you’re in the emergency room looking for answers.

The Husband was diagnosed with a very bad virus. Nothing too serious. But there was nothing the Doctor could do to make him more comfortable – so we were sent home with instructions to avoid dehydration at all costs.

Today, the Husband has taken a turn for the better. With a lot of prayer and care it looks like we’ve turned a corner.

Which is all to say that coming up with something for Thankful Thursday was easy:

I’m thankful that those warm hazel eyes look a little less sad today

Question: What are you thankful for today?