Blogmopolitan Quiz 2 and Vegetarianism.

Can you believe tomorrow is March 1st already?!

The lovely Erin over at Two Thirds Hazel made another Blogmopolitan Quiz and I really liked doing the first one, so here it goes!

Also, since it's the last day of February, I should update you all on my 30 Day Challenge: Going vegetarian!

For the most part, it went really well. At first, I was all grumpy because I couldn't eat anything and of course, my parents always forgot that I couldn't eat meat.. And towards the end, this week, I haven't been good at all. One, it's extremely cold outside and with my training, I really really need the protein and energy, which I haven't been getting. So that's that!

Halfie Update: Weeks 1 and 2

Two weeks ago, on February 10, I started training for my first ever half-marathon! I'm following Hal Higdon's Novice program and I'm loving it! It's really been helping me build up my cardio and speed and so far, so good! There's only been one run out of 8 that I had to cut short.

One thing with running, though, is the injuries that come with it. I've been getting horrible shin splints. Like, limping off the treadmill-painful. I've been going to see the Athletic Therapy Centre at the University of Winnipeg, since it's covered by my student health insurance and I am so impressed with them! They have helped me so much! Of course, I still get shin splints, but the exercises they gave me kills the pain instantly.
Honestly, though, I think it's the shoes. I've been running in these old New Balance shoes that I bought like 5 years ago for gym class in high school and that was good enough.

But now that I'm running a lot more, it was time to get new shoes. My mom and I went to Running Room and she got me these beauties:

Nice huh? Bonus: green is my favourite colour! They are soooo comfortable. Right now, I only wear them indoors, and I keep my old shoes for my long runs outside on Sundays.

Speaking of running outside, it's still pretty cold here in Winnipeg! Which means bundling up! I borrowed a pair of wind-cutting pants and face-mask thing from my mom, paired with my octopus sweater (yes, there is a hat on the hoodie! Can you see it?) and touch-screen gloves! The only part of me that was cold were my lungs!

What about the other layers? Well, I only wear two layers: the outer layer and the inner layer which is nice and funky! I absolutely love these leggings, though I wouldn't actually wear them out in public.

Up to now, I've run a little over 24 miles, and I am improving every day! Let's keep it up and kick this halfie's butt!

A Glimpse into the Past

One of the best parts of going to Festival du Voyageur?

The reenactments. Inside the Fort Gibraltar, we have recreated a few of the huts, where people would have worked and did trading.
Every year, I always go check out the blacksmith. I love watching these men work, even if it's basically the same thing every year. It's a lot of fun, every one is in period costumes and you can actually learn a whole lot about the fur trading era of Canada. I learned a lot this year when I went into the Trading post: there was a guy who was talking about the Fort's history, which is interesting simply because it's about where I live, and it's part of our history.
Here are some more things you can visit at Festival du Voyageur!

Blacksmith 

Blacksmith

Woodworking Workshop 

Fur Trading 

Items "for sale" in the Trading Post

A Voyageur's bed in the barracks

A Voyageur sitting by the fire in the barracks

HÉ HO!

HE HO!

It's that time of year again!

Festival du Voyageur started Friday night and I couldn't be more excited! The music lineup is amazing and the weather is incredible! On top of that, this year the Festival celebrates its 45th anniversary!
For those who don't know, Festival du Voyageur "celebrates Canada's fur-trading past and unique French heritage and culture through entertainment, arts and crafts, music, exhibits, and displays." (Wikipedia)
It's basically the big winter event that all us Frenchies wait for impatiently! I've been going there since I can remember, and since last year, I've been working there during the school program.
It's a really great festival where we gather, listen to amazing music, admire beautiful snow sculptures, learn about our fur-trading history and eat maple taffy!
Here are some pictures of my weekend at Festival:

Snow sculpture at the entrance of the park

Snow sculpture

Maple taffy!!! Best thing ever.

Gerald Laroche (my dad! - In case you can't tell - that's a harmonica in his hands)

The Crooked Brothers

 HÉ HO! Bon Festival à tous!

Wait, this isn't Harry Potter!

This past month, I read The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling. This was her first novel for adults after Harry Potter. Of course, being a huge fan of Harry Potter, I needed to read her new stuff! There were so many different reviews about this novel, some very good, some very, very bad, that I needed to see for myself.
Here's the synopsis:
When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock.
Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.
Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils ... Pagford is not what it first seems.
And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

I thought it sounded pretty interesting, even if there weren't any wizards, so I gave it a try and I was really impressed! It's very very very very different from Harry Potter, that's for sure! Rowling wasn't afraid to go all out, with almost too-vivid descriptions of people, using a lot of swears (only when necessary, of course), and just depicting super realistic characters and situations.
In total, there are 34 characters, and we read from each of these characters' point-of-views at least once, and there's quite a range: from a 64 year old delicatessen owner, to a pimple-y teenager, to a 2 year old boy.
Personally, I loved the story because it was just so entertaining! It was like being a fly on the wall, peaking into everyone's lives in this small town where everyone gossips like old women. There are some hard moment in the book, like the scenes when we go to Krystal Weedon's house, which is in the very poor part of the town and her mother is a heroin addict, so the house is a complete mess. Those parts were kind of slap-in-the-face moments, when reality hits hard, though they are usually followed by a hilarious scene, like Ruth, a middle-aged married woman fantasizing about her daughter's favourite boy band.

I think the bad reviews came mostly from people who were expecting another Harry Potter type novel and were disappointed with the lack of magic, because it really was a great novel. Living in a small town type community, this gave me a good laugh because it was so similar to what my life is, while others may look at this and not really think about it too much.

Anyway! They are making a TV show out of it, and I'm sooooo excited about! But definitely read the book! It's really good, entertaining and shows you just how talented J.K. Rowling is: she invented a small town with a whole history, and wrote 34 different point of view characters in one book, all tightly nit together.

Have you read The Casual Vacancy? What did you think of it?

Me? A Vegetarian? No Way!

Source

It's been 10 days and I'm still alive! So I guess you could say it's going well!
Since I'm starting my half-marathon training today, I thought I would go vegetarian for this month's 30 Day Challenge (well... 28 days), rather than do a fitness challenge.

I LOVE meat... I miss it! But hey, I tried peach-mango flavoured tofu, and man, is it ever good! It's definitely been making me think twice about what I eat.

Have YOU ever tried to go vegetarian?

Splits Results!

My 30 Day Challenge for January was the Lunge/Split challenge. Every day, I did the splits a little bit longer until I reached 6 minutes at the end of the month. I definitely feel pretty stretched out!

Here are my before and after pictures: it's not amazing, but hey! It's progress!

The Bachelor Auditions

Last Thursday, The Bachelor Canada came to Winnipeg on their audition tour! They were auditioning girls AND guys to find the candidates and this year's Bachelor. My film prof forwarded an email from the casting director for volunteers to work the auditions.
*I didn't audition... Just volunteered!
I showed up Thursday morning and we got to work! I was set up at a table where the girls would be handed paperwork and then once completed, we would process it. We had a little bit of a rush at around 10 am, when the doors opened, but after that it was pretty slow, so I got to talk with my co-volunteers and have an amazing lunch provided by the hotel where the auditions were held.

Later, the casting director came to talk to me. She told me I had been the only person to drive there (we were all university students, and so everyone took the bus), and if I could maybe drive the DP (director of photography) around to get some shots of Winnipeg. So of course I said yes and we set off to find some nice scenes of Winnipeg!

That was probably my favourite part: it was so much fun to talk to a professional in the business and sneak into the Forks to get some footage of people skating and of the skyline. Even though we froze our butts off, it was a really great day!