Hello from NYC
This is the first time since early Thursday morning that I’ve had the chance to sit and relax and check up on Facebook. And, of course, blog.
The past few days on Manhattan island have been a whirlwind of site-seeing, learning, exploring, eating and absorbing all that this city has to offer.
My mom, sister and I are staying in a great hotel right in Times Square. We’ve mastered the Subway system, and have walked and transited all over the island. We’ve visited the Guggenheim Museum, Central Park, Greenwich Village, SoHo, Little Italy, Canal Street and, possibly my favourite so far, the Met, which had Warhols and Pollocks and Lichtensteins and other phenomal pieces of art, just around the corner from Renaissance statues and Medieval armour.
Now, the only thing that may top the marvellous attractions, is the food.
My god, the food. The food. It is to die for.
Everyone claims to know where to get the best pizza in New York. We found our pick in a true Italian restaurant with ginormous slices covered in ricotta, parmesan and roasted red peppers. We also found the best cannoli, the best burger and a fabulous little street cart that offers delicious cupcakes and shakes.
Now, the only thing that can top my unhealthy and indulgent love for food, is my obsessive and compulsive love for fashion.
I’ve held a Jimmy Choo, a Manolo, a Dolce & Gabbana and a Valentino. I proceeded to walk out of the store in my lowly sandals… (Which are still designers, but are nothing compared to the greats.)
We got caught in an insane thunder storm, and got drenched to the point that waiters in the restaurant we ducked into handed us napkin after napkin so we could wipe mascara off our faces and napkin-dry our hair.
We waited, cameras in hand, backstage to see Daniel Radcliffe exit the Broadway theatre where he’s currently performing. He asked none of us out. Unfortunately…
And now, we’re off to shop, to eat, and to get some sleep before heading to Coney Island and Wall Street tomorrow.
Don’t bother tweeting me, (not that anyone does). I’m too busy loving the Big Apple.
Ciao!
@HayleyWoodin
Prepare to get Flay-ed
It’s been over a year now since @JSaggau and I decided to procrastinate on some final journalism-related assignment by surfing the Internet in search of some cool things we’d like to do, some time in the next decade.
After several hours, both at school and then on our own, we had compiled two similar, yet unique, lists of 101 things we’d like to do/see/visit/eat/accomplish/attempt/survive in the next 10 years.
I don’t know about him, but I thought that this would be a relatively easy long term set of goals to achieve. Logically, I only have to complete an average of 10 items per year. I also reasoned that when I travel, I’d have the opportunity to visit several places on my list, and kill a two birds (or three, or four…) with one big stone.
I’m on track right now, so I’m doing okay. I have 13 things down, and so have only seven more to complete before April next year.
But “being on track” isn’t my problem. It’s that @JSaggau has 16 down. Dinner is on the line here people, and I want to be the first to reach 20.
Now I know that we didn’t create these lists to finish them as quickly as possible. The purpose is to constantly strive to be a better person, whether by trying different things, or gaining new experiences. It’s about setting goals, but not forgetting to live in the moment. It’s about enjoying life.
One could even say that, in a sense, it’s about learning to “win” at life, through achievement and attaining happiness. And if you can’t win at a list you’ve created yourself that comprises entirely of things you want to do, what can you win at?
I’m throwing down like Bobby Flay. It’s time to start accomplishing some things that I’d like to accomplish.
And that’s the reason for this post: A public announcement to @JSaggau that it is ON!
(I am also making an effort to update my site more often, and I really have absolutely nothing else to blog about.)
Tweet me! (Please, please tweet me. Because I also have nothing to tweet about.)
@HayleyWoodin
I’m sure they serve cabbage in Hell…
It is finally beginning to look and feel like summer here in White Rock, which is untruthfully dubbed as the city that is always sunny.
Now normally, people – namely women – will attempt some sort of trendy detox diet to shed pounds before bikini season. But not the ladies in the Woodin household.
Here we are, almost a week into August, and I’ve barely had the time to go to the beach, and hadn’t had a socially commitment-less week so I could lock myself in my house and munch miserably on celery for 168 hours. I know I’m supposed to work my lifestyle around healthy eating habits, and not just squeeze in my daily servings of fruit and veggies in between parties and birthdays and other celebrations that involve cake and eating out. But it’s summer, and I do pilates once a week. And really, it’s all about justification.
But in preparation for our trip to New York, my mom, sister and I decided to go on a seven-day cleanse.
Last Sunday, we began the Cabbage Soup Diet, also known as the Sacred Heart Diet. From what I’ve heard, it’s created for heart surgery patients who need to drop weight fast before an operation.
During the cleanse, you are allowed to eat as much homemade cabbage soup as you’d like, whenever you’d like.
Each of the seven days has a strict list of what you are allowed to eat along with the bland and watery meal. For example, day one allows you to eat all of the fruit you’d like, on day four you can eat three bananas and drink an unlimited amount of skim milk and on day seven, you can indulge in veggies and two cups of brown rice.
Luckily, I’ve made it to day seven, and can honestly say I feel great. That’s not to say, however, that the journey did not put the three of us through hell.
You don’t realize how much you eat in a day until you’re consumption is limited. You don’t realize how many carbs you crave, you’re snacking habits or how much fat and sodium seeps into your daily diet through dipping sauces, cooking oils, butter, seasonings, etc.
What you also don’t realize, is how full a vegetarian diet can make you, and how little fuel you need to make it through the day. The diet forced us to find unique ways to prepare vegetables and how to make the most of limited ingredients.
Tomorrow will be my first day back in the “real world.” I’ll be trying my hardest to not completely undo the work I’ve done when I go to The Keg for a celebratory dinner tomorrow, and for an Indian food buffet the day after for a birthday.
But as long as I keep up my pilates and stay far, far away from McDonald’s, I’m sure I’ll be just fine.
Tweet me!
@HayleyWoodin
(PS: I should probably mention the diet’s effectiveness. Apart from being a dietary eye-opener, each of us has probably lost between five-10 pounds.)
Three generations later
Last night I had the opportunity to co-host the White Rock Youth Ambassador Pageant with Bob Davidson, a distinguished toastmaster and husband to White Rock mayor Catherine Ferguson.
The theme of the evening was “news,” which, as a journalist, I had a lot of fun playing with. The 10 candidates performed a dance number to a song from the film Newsies, and I sported (at one point) an outfit that I thought was the epitome of journalism cool: A tan trench coat, a fedora and an eight dollar cigar, (which was only three-quarters of a cigar by the end of the show due to my over-zealous cigar-chomping skills, or lack thereof).
It was my first time emceeing the gala, but what made the night special was that my sister, @ChloeWoodin, was the outgoing Miss White Rock. Our family has been a pageant family for quite some time now, but my sister and I have seldom shared a stage at the same.
Three years ago, I was crowned Miss White Rock 2008, and spent the most wonderful year with my White Rock Youth Ambassador team. In 2009, I crowned a fellow high school band student and friend as the new queen of White Rock. A year later, she crowned my sister.
Last night, Chloe crowned her successor, officially ending the Woodin sisters’ days as royal ambassadors… At least for the time being. From August 2008 to July 29, 2011, one of us has worn a tiara to city functions, fundraisers and other community pageants, (apart from a couple of weeks in August 2009). There was a short period when we were both ambassadors: She was Miss White Rock, and I was a British Columbia Ambassador.
Besides that, our reigns have been separate. And in a sense, I’m glad they were. We have each had our moments in the spotlight, and had we ever reigned together, neither of us would have grown as much.
Last night was a night to remember, and I am so very proud of her and what she and her team have accomplished this year.
I should also thank my co-host Bob, who let me announce the new Miss White Rock (which was the best part).
Congratulations to Alexandra Barberis, the new queen, and her team. And to the retired sparkleheads…
“Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars. Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait. The grip of your hang, the irresistible surge of will and energy to execute your ideas,” Henry Ford.
Tweet me!
@HayleyWoodin
Catching up
I’ve been wanting to blog for several weeks, but really haven’t had much time. And on the days where I have had an hour or five to spare, I just simply never thought to write. (How journalistic of me…)
The truth is, when I touched down in Vancouver after an exciting couple of weeks in Wainwright, I was raring to continue to write and produce stories, to read news and to tackle my big long list of journalism-related goals.
But to be frank, life here just isn’t anywhere near as exciting, and my energy soon dissolved into a missing-the-military funk.
And then I saw this Buddha quote: “Be where you are; otherwise you will miss your life.” (That is a complete lie. I just found this on wisdomquotes.com. But I really should have seen this quote.)
Anyways, I decided to let things happen, and happen they did. Here is a big long update on everything I have been doing since my last post.
I tweeted not too long ago about my new job: I am a sales associate with a development company called Genex, pre-selling units in a South Surrey apartment building called Gemini. It’s a fantastic job with great hours, and it’s a good opportunity to learn a little about real estate, the market and the process that takes place from construction to home ownership.
At the end of May, I played my first round of golf. I also tweeted about this (see, I’ve at least made a small effort to remain in the social media loop) and about how ridiculously unprepared I was.
I had volunteered to golf for a Kwantlen Eagles’ golf club fundraiser, and was in the only student foursome there. I was grouped with three male golfers, all of whom had their own clubs, and was one of the few women actually golfing. I also wore a dress and cute pink-snakeskin flats because I was under the impression that golf was a classy affair.
Long story short, it rained, my hair was disgusting, and so were my cold grassy feet. But I had a great time, and outshot some of the guys on occasion. Unfortunately, everyone now knows me as the girl who wore the girly shoes.
More recently, I went to see Bruno Mars in concert. He was absolutely phenomenal, and I swear he was singing directly to me the entire time. Janelle Monae was one of the opening acts, and she was very entertaining as well.
Even more recently, I was fortunate enough to receive one of Surrey’s Top 25 under 25 awards through the Surrey Board of Trade. I knew five of the other recipients, and it was nice to see some of my peers be recognized for their achievements in the community.
This past weekend, I attended a Miss White Rock reunion, which was organized by my sister, and current Miss White Rock, @ChloeWoodin and her team of ambassadors. The pageant has been running for over 50 years, and has drastically changed since its days as a beauty competition.
It was nice to meet some of the women from years ago, and swap experiences. The current ambassadors are compiling a scrapbook of all of the years, which I’ve heard may eventually find a home in the soon-to-be newly renovated White Rock Museum.
These have been the highlights of my summer thus far, and I’m sure there will be more to come.
However, I will not vow to blog as they happen, or to update you any more than I have been, because, as Mark Twain always says, “to promise not to do a thing is the surest way in the world to make a body want to go and do that very thing.”
Gotta love quote sites.
Tweet me!
@HayleyWoodin