CCCRT – Victoria – I Did It!!!

The day finally came that I can say I completed my Colossal Cross-Canada Road Trip and am now at home in Victoria, BC!  Thank you to Halifax, NS and everywhere in between for making my adventure so incredible.  

• 8 provinces
• 5 sleepovers
• 4 hotels
• 12 days
• 6,530 kilometres
• 14 gas stops
• 20+ pee stops
• 1500 digital photos
• 12 iced coffees
• and one fantastic furry companion

I DID IT!!!!

After returning from my work convention on Wednesday I headed straight back to Nicole’s and actually had to really put my nose down and get some work done. 

I did, however, get the much anticipated email from my lawyer saying my funding was complete…meaning my condo was mine!!  Shortly after that I got the call from my realtor that I could have my keys any time.  Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! 

So he popped on over and I finally got to see my place!! 

I had hoped Tiffaney could be there since she did so much in helping me pick this place but alas she had a prior engagement.  My realtor, Jens, was understandably quite excited to finally show me the place too…we hugged and laughed and damn near jumped up and down when I walked in the door. 

I made him let Nicole take our picture.  :)

I can haz keys?!

Plug:  Victorians:  If you ever need a realtor, call Jens.  Any of you that have followed my condo hunting process know that he went above and beyond to help me out.  I looked at TWENTY units when I came out here in May…and didn’t buy anything.  This was lucky number 21…and upon viewing he knew it was the place for me.  I’m a lucky girl.  :)

Jens left me a thoughtful housewarming gift of yummy Summerhill sparkling wine and a gift certificate for Stage Small Plates Wine Bar that I can’t wait to use (oh ya, he’s a foodie too so we were kind of a match made in heaven…haha).

Funny enough, I basically just had a quick look around then locked the place up and headed back to Nicole’s.  I still had work to do, my furniture wasn’t here yet, and I was exhausted from all of my gallivanting around.

Thursday, I decided I needed to hit up the final photo op for CCCRT and headed on down to ‘Mile 0’ for views of the Pacific Ocean and the quintessential Victoria tourist shot.

I met some Ontario visitors that kindly took my photo and listened to me ramble for a few moments about my trip.  :)  I may have been slightly giddy!

I ate my lunch in the park, drove the seawall and into downtown, and loved every minute of the sun in my home city.

 

I spent the afternoon working at Nicole’s, but come evening it was time to head back to my place (MY place!!!) and do some cleaning and prep for the arrival of my movers the next day.  As I walked down the hall I could see a lovely surprise sitting at my door…

A gorgeous arrangement from Miss Ali!  What a doll that girl is!

The evening entailed enjoying my balcony (evening sun!), scrubbing the bathroom (boys are gross), and visiting with Tiffaney over our first Strongbows in my new home.

Friday morning my movers arrived and I was reunited with my worldly possessions.  Box city…

For lunch I took a trip to the supermarket and did my first real grocery shop for my new pad…

Local produce!!  Crack hummus!  Lookie…Squirrelly BAGELS!  My life is almost back to normal.  Healthy lunch that I made.  Yay!

Another surprise knocked at my door…more beautiful flowers!!

I should buy a condo more often.  I freaking LOVE getting flowers!!!

After working for the rest of the day I came HOME to start unpacking, do a little more cleaning (on the surface it looks clean, but the kitchen is pretty gross…lame-o!), and spent the evening sitting around on MY furniture in MY living room with fabulous friends.  Is it bad that my fridge only contains hummus, fruit and three kinds of beer?

HOME SWEET FREAKING HOME PEOPLE!!!

Thank you to everyone that kept reading, supporting and putting up with me during this incredible journey.  It was really a personal feat and a fabulous time, but knowing that so many people were reading and actually interested in little ol’ me totally helped make it even more worthwhile.  I hope that you will all stick around now while I try to get back to life as per usual.  Bigass salads and talk about exercising my bum shall resume tomorrow!  *giggles*

Conditions are met...

OK, first I have to tell you that I just filled up my Starbucks sippy cup from my Lululemon water bottle.  I'm a lame brand whore and I don't even try!  haha.  And I like drinking out of a straw better than a bottle. :)

Anyway, I digress... I suppose I should start with the morning.  I had an appointment first thing this morning so skipped coffee at home and stopped for a misto instead...

I had to explain to the new girl what it was.  LOL.  She was a sweetheart though.  Grande 3/4 coffee vanilla non-fat misto.

Once home I made breakfast...

Protein-loaded 1% cottage cheese with fresh blueberries and blackberries and thawed raspberries...

I swear there's cottage cheese under there!!

You know, I might actually miss those blue rimmed dishes...my plan is to get rid of them for the move and get something swanky and new...but I've had these forever and they've made some nice photos! 

Lunchtime rolled around and I didn't really have a plan...so I opened the fridge and decided a snack plate would be the way to go.

Carrots, cukes, crack hummus, light cheddar and the last of my Mary's crackers...

With a glass of lemonade mixed with the juice from the raspberries...nom!!

After lunch I made the mistake of deciding to have a sweet treat.  But not a good sweet treat.  A packaged sweet treat.

I picked up a box of these Golden Oreo Cakesters the other day because they were only $2 (what a sucker!) and I thought they might be good road snacks. 

They were tasty but holy sugar buzzzzzzz and subsequent crash Batgirl!  I might be donating those to an unsuspecting friend with children...mwahahaha.  :)

Earlier today my chiropractor suggested that my bum muscles are not active enough. haha, say what? 

You know that pain in the bum I've been having...my chiro suggested that in addition to trying to stretch it out I should also strengthen things up back there.  Well, I've been meaning to work on my booty for a couple of months now so I guess now I have a real reason to do it!  So off to the gym I went.

Started out with a 20 minute treadmill session:  15 minutes running intervals, 5 minutes power walking on a steep incline.

Then 3 fast sets x 15 reps:  some exercises learned from Self.com

• pigeon toes
• seated leg raise (which I actually did laying down)
• glute sweeper (LOVE this one!)
• sumo strut (modified into more of a walking sumo squat, minus the arms)
• standing leg lifts
• hamstring curls on a large ball (oh the burn!)

I suspect it might hurt a little tomorrow!

Upon returning home I received the good news that my mortgage hoopla is all done and I'm free and clear to remove my conditions tomorrow!!!  I happy danced straight into the kitchen to construct a seriously BIGASS salad.

I bought a perfectly ripe avocado today so a Mexi-style salad was in order. 

In the big silver bowl tonight:  romaine lettuce, matchstick carrots, radishes, celery, red onion, and tomatoes...

With half the avocado of course!

Salsa and light sour cream for dressing...

And the fun protein-y addition... chick peas tossed with my homemade Mexican seasoning and baked in the oven until warm and toasty.

 

Now that was a mammoth salad.  Can you say fiberific?!

Long day.  My goal is to pack another 4 boxes before bed.  and to eat a dish of Root Beer Float ice cream between boxes 2-3.  NOM!

Return of Mayo

After my Tuesday night beers, I woke up needing vitamins and hydration.  Before even hitting the coffee pot, I hit the blender.  (I know, I'm shocked too!)

Green smoothie time! 

In the KA today:  ice, 1/2 frozen banana, 2 handfuls baby spinach, 1/2 scoop chocolate whey protein powder, 1 tsp maca powder, 2 tsp flax meal, 3/4 cup UCAB...

Combined with water and coffee that kept me going most of the morning.  I nibbled on a few cherries when I wandered through the kitchen at some point too.

Condo news:  Tiffaney subbed in for me (yet again!) for the inspection and it went AWESOME!!  She and my realtor both got a laugh because the inspector was seriously struggling to come up with ANYTHING bad to say!!  How great is that?  The unit and the building are both very well maintained and totally exceeded expectation.  Woooooo!  :)

Come lunch time I was totally looking forward to using up some leftover chicken I had cooked up while making dinner the night before.  For some reason I've been craving chicken salad!  I even bought a little jar of light mayo when I grocery shopped last week in anticipation of this meal coming together. 

In the bowl:  chopped cooked boneless skinless chicken breast, celery, green onion, Sultana raisins, salt & pepper...

Mixed with mayo and served open face on a toasted sandwich thin...and sprinkled with a smidge of dill...

Sometimes I put grapes IN my chicken salad...this time I served them alongside...with a few light cheddar cubes...

My afternoon went part way to h3ll in a hand basket.  My bank decided they wanted something fixed on my condo paperwork...which is a gigantic pain in the behind because I have to receive everything by email and then print it out and take it to Staples to fax back.  I have now spent so much on faxing, I could have purchased a scanner...argh.  Hopefully that's the last of it...*cross your fingers*.

Because of all that hoopla and the 4 hour time difference, I ended up missing yoga.  It was supposed to be my last class, so I'm going to try my damndest to get there next Wednesday night instead.

Instead I made a late dinner (more freezer finds!) and finally got a good start on some packing.

Perogies!  Fried up in a tiny knob of real butter with onions and garlic...

Served with steamed broccoli and light sour cream for dipping.

 

Carby perogies made a good substitute for wanting stress foods like Cheeeetos.  :)  It was a good thing I didn't have any of those glowing orange munchies on hand...they wouldn't have stood a chance.

I did however have some yummy new ice cream in the freezer.  I have still been toting a craving for Coldstone around this last week, but in an effort to save a few bucks and not get into fast food/take out just yet (the road trip is going to be chock full of it!) I opted to try one of SuperStore's new ice cream shop flavours...Root Beer Float!

 

Super creamy!  Vanilla and root beer flavoured ice creams swirled together.  The flavour was perfect!  I did not like the crunchy candy bits in there though...crushed up pop flavoured Life Saver type things...I could have done without those.  But it did hit the spot while I packed up 4 boxes of kitchen ware. :)

Twas a long day and I actually slept like the dead.  Here's hoping today is a little lighter. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Home Free!

Soooo...as any of you that follow me on Twitter or Facebook know...I got the condo!!!  I am no longer going to be homeless when I arrive in Victoria next month!  Weeeeeeeee!!!

Friday was a day of excitement and anticipation.  Because of the four hour time difference between here and Victoria, my realtor was up at the crack of dawn to call me and start the offer process.  Thankfully the unit was appropriately priced so we were fairly confident we wouldn't need to do a lot of haggling.

We were right!  I made an offer...which they countered with exactly what I wanted to pay...so I was able to accept without any red tape!  :)  And being that it's just an apartment (as opposed to a house with lots of bells & whistles) my conditions are very few...mostly just needs to pass inspection...which we are certain won't be an issue at all. 

Other good news is that part of the reason the guy is selling is because his tenant gave notice and the place will be vacant at the end of the month, so I was able to get a great closing date. 

July 15th!!

If you all remember my schedule, I arrive in Victoria (after my work conference) on July 13th.  Yay for fan-freaking-tastic timing!

I told y'all it Twas Fate!!  :)

Good location (I already mentioned this is the same building my friend Nicole lives in).  Remember I just stayed here on my trip in May...  Nicely landscaped, well kept, well managed. 

Third floor end unit so up high enough to actually have somewhat of a view...plus the extra window in the dining room so it has tons of natural light.

Good size dining and living rooms (please ignore the bachelor pad furniture...but notice the incredibly well kept and clean neutral walls and floors)...

Reasonable size kitchen with simple but recent updates....and lots of light!  Plenty of counter space for cooking up a storm!

Also includes a decent size bedroom, lots of closet space, a clean and well maintained bathroom, and a few options for placement of my little home office area.  Oh, and a great strata with allowance for my kitty and future doggie! 

A HUGE thank you to Tiffaney for being my eyes on this!  These are only a few of the zillions of pictures she took for me...she inspected the bathtub grout, the window sills, the floorboards...hehe, you name it.  Her endorsement totally made my new little abode a reality!  (and to top it off she's accompanying the inspector this week too!)  What a friend!  :)

And thank you to all of your for incredible support along the way.  I heart you fabulous bloggie friends!  :)