2016 Year in Review

At the end of last year's year in review, I concluded by saying that I wanted to blog more, but that is actually what I did the very least of. There have been so many times where blog post has been written in my planner on my to-do list, but it's always fallen to the very end. So I'll start by saying that in 2017, I am going to write more. Let's start there.

Oh, 2016.

I know that I'm not alone when I say that 2016 was a tough year. For me personally, it was a doozy and while there were lots of really great things that happened, I'm really looking forward to a fresh start tomorrow.

When I look back on everything individually, I'm happy to report that there were definitely some good things that it's been nice to reflect on as I've sat down to write this post.

Over the course of the year, I got to travel to Nashville and NYC again, and also experienced my very first cruise. All 3 trips were amazing for all different reasons.

The cruise was awesome to take a break, see my Beachbody friends and experience something entirely different. It was so much fun to explore, partake in all sorts of activities, workout at dawn with my favourite trainers, have awesome nights out and of course, meet Stan the dolphin.

Being in Nashville again was just as much fun as the first time around. The energy at Summit is always infectious and I continue to cherish time with my Beachbody family. I loved exploring new parts of the city, getting re-energized about this biz and generally nerding out over all things Beachbody related. I also stayed in the sweetest airbnb on my last night with the most lovely host! It was a really really wonderful trip.

And NYC was exactly what I needed. This second half of the year has been rough, and I decided that a trip on my own would be good for my soul. I saw 5 shows in 3 days, ate all sorts of delicious food, visited with friends and relished the energy of my favourite city. A full recap of that trip is coming in the new year.

I continued my fitness journey, completing a variety of programs that were all very different! With all of the challenges I was facing, I found myself in a place where I wasn't feeling great about my body in this last half. I recently completed my first round of an MMA style program that re-ignited my excitement and gave me some incredible results in 30 days. I'm kicking 2017 off with round two and I'm pretty stoked to jump back in!

My work life has been awesome, but hectic. At MT, we said goodbye to a cherished team member, welcomed two amazing additions to the team, launched a charity cookbook, ran the Culinary Nutrition Expert Program and oh-so-much more. I was recently promoted to Operations Director and I am really looking forward to the things we're going to do in 2017.

Additionally, I've continued to grow my biz as a health and fitness coach and I still absolutely love it. Our groups continue to grow each month and I am looking forward to diving into 2017 with our January group. I'm looking forward to continuing to grow our team, developing myself as a leader and helping even more people feel like their very best selves in the new year.

I also got to celebrate the marriage of my best friend (& adopted little sister) Jessie over the summer. It was a beautiful wedding and I felt so blessed to be a part of her special day.

Amid all of that, I found time to ride Cecily around the city, meet Tony Horton and Shaun T, visit with friends, see incredible shows, share a post on xoJane that sorta went viral, Fringe it up, read some amazing books, create delicious meals and even perform too (videos here, here and here)

And I got another tattoo.

this too shall pass (courtesy of Aaron at Speakeasy Tattoo)

This couldn't have come at a more perfect time and continued to serve as a reminder as the year went on.

Right around the time that I got the tattoo, we went through some scary health stuff with my dad and then 2 months later, my nan suddenly passed away. I kept looking down at my arm and tried to remind myself that things would keep moving forward and that this too would pass.

A hard summer turned into a tough fall and an even more difficult holiday season. Corbin and I went through a hard time this year. After defining what some of the issues were, we went to therapy together and really tried to be a team as we faced our problems. I'm writing this post from my nearly packed up bedroom with empty walls and a handful of hangers still in the closet. We broke up a week before Christmas and I'm getting ready to move into my own place on January 1st.

It's still very raw and very sad. Our relationship was incredibly special and I will have a lot of great memories - many of which have been captured on this blog. I have a lot of love for Corbin and all that we've shared. I've also learned a lot about myself and what I need throughout this process. I didn't think it would end up this way, but I feel confident that we're both going to come out on the other side even stronger as individuals. It's so so hard, but it's the right thing for us at this moment.

So now I'm here on the 31st, feeling very ready to turn the page and begin again.

I'll spend the day finishing up packing and preparing to move into my new place tomorrow. I'm going to be living on my own for the first time and it feels very liberating, whilst also being scary unknown territory for me. I've been spending more time than usual on Pinterest and I'm looking forward to creating a space I can thrive in. Tonight I'll be ringing in the new year with friends and tomorrow I'll start a fresh page in my gratitude journal as we load my belongings onto a truck and into my new apartment.

In the past I've picked a word that would be the theme for the coming year but I'm not exactly sure what that should be for 2017 just yet. I think I need to sit with it before I make a choice (I may have just signed up for this email series to help as well). I haven't set goals or intentions either, though perhaps I need to get clearer on that, especially if I aspire to blog more in 2017. On that topic, writing this post has been cathartic - take note, future Ashley!

I feel very lucky to have had an incredible group of friends to support me through all of this. I know that I wouldn't be standing without their love and support.

While 2016 has not been my favourite year, I hope that in time I can reflect on all of the good and the fun that also happened in a year filled with tragedy, sadness and anxiety. I also now have a permanent reminder of some sage wisdom, and can look down at my arm in case I need a reminder.

Here's to new beginnings. Happy New Year, friends xo

Happy New Year!!

So far 2014 is off to a great start. I woke up next to the man I love, ate a delicious breakfast complete with mimosas and have been wearing a Happy New Year tiara. I've also been smiling about this photo.

Hugging a Lovebot along with my favourite person was a super way to end 2013. Wishing you all sorts of fun, adventures and love in 2014!

for good

I’m really excited to be heading into 2012.

It’s been quite a journey over the last two years, and for the first time since 2009, I feel like I’m starting off a new year standing on solid ground.

Now don’t get me wrong, there have been a lot of good things in 2010 and 2011, but I really feel like they’ve been two really big years of transition. I really started to realize this after a number of conversations in the last couple of weeks coupled with looking at a whole bunch of old pictures (thanks Facebook Timeline)

The pictures from the end of 2009 make me especially sad. I looked sick. And truth be told, I had stopped eating, so this fact isn’t surprising. I was so stressed and sad and lost and heading into a crazy, new life without the partner that I had spent the last 3.5 years growing alongside. Our break up was absolutely the right thing for both of us, but it hurt immensely and meant that 2010 was an even bigger year of change that I had originally anticipated when I quit my job and decided that I was going to go back to school. While I enjoyed many parts of 2010, I also spent a lot of time figuring out who I was, what I wanted and how I wanted to be spending my time.

2011 brought lots of good things, but was really up and down in a lot of ways. I went back to work full time in March, which made me feel like a big fat failure. Isn’t that what I was fighting against? Slowly I began to realize that I had made the right decision and that working full time as an executive assistant was a pretty okay thing, and that it gave me time to do all the things that I loved. I also realized that I didn’t want to be a nutritionist, and that this fact was perfectly fine. I loved nutrition school, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do as a career. Working 9-5 also meant that I was free to perform, and in the last 2 years I’ve had some amazing opportunities to be onstage with some incredibly talented people in musicals, concerts, and cabarets, including 3 Ashleyx2 shows.

Ash bought me Kristen Chenoweth’s book (gosh, I adore Kristen. I think we’d be such good friends. And how wonderful is Ash for getting me such a perfect gift?!) for Christmas, and I couldn’t stop thinking about this song while I finished reading the book on the train home from Belleville.

“Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better, but because I knew you, I have been changed for good”.

The people I’ve met, the experiences I’ve had, the friends I’ve counted on, the places I’ve been, the tears I’ve shed, the mistakes I’ve made, the victories I’ve had – all of these experiences over the last 2 years have absolutely changed me to be the person I am at this very moment.

Who knows what the future brings, but I’m ready for it.

2012, here I come.

Much Fun With Holidays & Vegetables in a Fuchsia Dress

Happy New Year!

The last couple weeks of December flew by in such a whirlwind, I can hardly believe that it’s already January 4th!

I didn’t have the crunch of Christmas parties like many people, but did have fun attending the Biz Media holiday party with the lovely Jessie.
It was a really fun night. I especially liked meeting a variety of Twitter friends and posing with the doughnut tree. And having way too much fun taking picturesOne year to the day of last year’s event, Nicole, Meghan and I had our annual holiday dinner. Despite living with Nicole and interacting with Meghan quite regularly, it is nearly impossible for the 3 of us to coordinate our schedules. I didn’t get a picture of the three of us, but I did manage to snap some of the food!

Nicole and I were a bit disorganized in planning the menu, but managed to whip something up. We started off with a delicious butternut squash soup that Nicole made. Roast a butternut squash with 2 heads of garlic. Chop and sauté one onion. Add some ginger. Once the squash is roasted, puree with the garlic, onion, ginger and however much water you need in a Vitamix. Add water to achieve your desired consistency and voila! Nicole said that sometimes she adds roasted red pepper and it is also delicious. We topped the soup with some baked squash seeds.

For our mains, we asked Meghan to bring a salad and we decided to test out a lentil dish that we found online. After adding some more garam masala and tomato paste to the dish we ending up liking it more, but I’m not sure that it was something that we would make again. Meghan brought a raw pad thai inspired salad with zucchini noodles and a creamy sauce. It was a yummy combination of flavours with lots of variety! I think dessert was everyone’s favourite. I made Michelle & Lori’s apple pie parfaits. Holy amazing!! To save on some time I used plain Coconut Bliss along with the delicious apple filling, but overall the flavour was incredible. It was so easy to make (less than 5 minutes) and easy to prep parfait style to serve to the ladies. Just awesome. I don’t think the Pure2Raw girls can go wrong!! Meghan brought Nicole and I glass straws (so perfect for those green smoothie days) and Nicole made us body butter and lip balm from Meghan’s Natural Body Care tutorial. I love my girls, so happy to have met them in Meghan’s cooking classes!

I went to Belleville for Christmas to visit my grandmother (and if you follow me on Twitter you probably caught a few tweets about my bus debacle) I brought some food with me and asked my grandmother to stock the fridge up with fruits and veggies. I ate leftover butternut squash soup, made hot cereal in the mornings, ate giant salads and snacked on fruit between meals. For Christmas dinner I made Meghan’s orange maple tempeh and used some apricot jam in place of some of the orange juice. My uncle made sure I had lots of veggies and made me a special stir fry too. So yummy!I came back to Toronto feeling rested and rejuvenated after getting lots of sleep and relaxing. Caught up with lots of friends over the holidays and rang in the New Year with Melly. Speaking of the New Year… post on goals still to come!! 

How were your holidays? Are you feeling recharged for January?

2008 - Year in Review

I'm sitting here and I can hardly believe that it's December 26, 2008. I feel like it was just 2007 and that this year has slipped by.

I hope that everyone had an amazing holiday and a wonderful Christmas with their family and friends. I've been surrounded by wonderful treats up here in the North with my fiance's family, but I've been tracking and I know that we're going home Sunday and I plan to get things back to normal. How is everyone doing on their exercise in December? I was doing great until I got up here. We've gone for a few walks, but a lot of time has been spent napping or watching The Wire or The Tudors. (I was also reading The Memory Keeper's Daughter, but my book was missing 30+ pages right in the middle!) I'm still happy with the number of stickers that I put on my chart and I plan to do the 30 Day Shred at least once before January 1st.

2008 has been a pretty good year, despite it passing by very quickly. This year I started leading meetings for other Weight Watchers. members. I started a brand new meeting in January 2008 and was able to grow it to over 20 people. It was so wonderful to get to know the members and help them achieve their goals. I have been at my new location since June and I absolutely adore it!!! I'm so happy to talk about WW each week, inspire my members and teach everyone about Momentum in the last few weeks. I hope you are all enjoying the new program and I look forward to helping you reach your goals in 2009.

This year I maintained my weight each month and felt good about being on maintenance. I'm also happy that I tried some new physical activities (softball and bellydancing) and quit my gym membership!! (Very liberating)

In the last few weeks I've been very thankful for Weight Watchers and all that it has taught me about eating well and taking care of myself. In November I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease, and it has really opened my eyes. I'm thankful for the good habits that I've already made courtesy of WW and I'm confident that through what I've learned and proper medical attention that I'm going to be able to keep my disease in check.

I can't say that I have any resolutions for 2009 at this point... I want to continue to maintain my weight and health... I want to continue to eat more organic produce and cook as much as I can... I want to continue with belly dancing classes and maybe try another sport this summer or play some more softball. In 2009 I want to stick with the great balance of things that I have in my life right now -- amazing fiance, family and friends, great jobs, opportunity to be on stage (Silk Stockings is coming up!) and a lot of happiness. I really can't complain and I hope that I am lucky enough to continue with all of it in the New Year.

If you haven't already, take some time to think about 2008 and what you've already accomplished. Learn from everything this year and try to think of some things that you would like to have happen in 2009.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank all of my readers. I can't believe this blog has reached more than 4000 views. Thank you for reading and I look forward to writing more and hearing all of your stories in 2009.

Lots of Love,

Ashley