Breaking up is hard to do.

I love love! I always have, probably always will.

There is nothing more exciting than getting to know someone new who you have that *spark* --the undeniable click--with. Everything about them seems just perfect, you get so lost in attraction and lust, life becomes a fun game: will he call or text you? When he does, how long will you wait till you text/call him back? You check your phone hoping you'll have a nice little present in the form of a text message or e-mail from them that makes your heart do somersaults and a puts a goofy grin on your face for the rest of the day.

Thoughts of him make you so elated, you overlook that he spelt to when it should have been too.

Ah! The beginning... it's all sunshine, butterflies and rainbows. A world where you believe that nothing could ever possibly go wrong; nothing could burst this glorious little bubble.

But those things you were willing to overlook in the beginning, when your judgement was clouded by lust, don't go away. The qualities you once thought were adorable and endearing, you now find annoying and infuriating.

When the realization comes, and you know that the person sitting in front of you is not the right one for you, why is it so hard to break it off?? And even if the breakup is amicable, why does it still hurt??

Well, the thing is, breaking off a romance sucks, no matter how mature you are about it. It makes you feel a little bit like a fool to have gotten involved with someone with who, in hindsight you kinda knew it could never have worked out with in the first place. But, if you are anything like me, regardless of how wrong you may have been for each other, you still think back and analyze every moment, wondering if there was something you could have done differently that would have resulted in a not so unplesant outcome.

But living with a heavy heart is tough. How do you get over a heartbreak?? Well here are some quick tips to help in dealing with heartache.

1• Be active-- When you are in a relationship, it is easy to forget about your fitness and get a little squishy. Get back to the gym or yoga, or just go for a long walk! The endorphins released through exercise is exactly what you need to kick you out of your breakup slump.

2• Get back in the game-- I am not saying to jump right into another relationship, but, going on a harmless little date to boost your confidence will help in healing your bruised heart, and remind you that this breakup is not, in fact, the end of the world. For first date tips, click here and here

3•Stay busy-- Idle hands are not good when you are newly single: they can lead to excess facebook creeping and sending of emotional text messages... Keep busy by staying active, reading a book or picking up an old hobby. Spend time with your bffs who have not been seeing very much of you!

-or-

4• Enroll in CreComm- The Creative Communications program is so eff-ing busy, that between chatting with hockey wives at the Moose game, then writing a story about it on a tight deadline, playing director in the creation of a hilarious infomercial, and working on photos and layout for a magazine you are creating, producing and launching, you will no time to even think about your bruised little heart.

Break-up Blues

-2 oz blueberry vodka

-5 mint leaves

-soda water

-1 lime

-5 blueberries

-Squeeze the juice from the lime into a glass with the 5 mint leaves, muddle

-Pour in vodka, add the blueberries, fill glass with ice

-fill glass with soda water, stir

Cheers!!

Some Wise Words

I am a libra, represented in the zodiac by the scales. I am always seeking equality, always weighing things out, believing that things should be fair and just, speaking up and fighting back when they are not.

When I was growing up, I would always compare what I had to what my brothers had: presents, trips, attention, everything. I always had to weigh it out. Even though my parents did their best to treat and spoil us equally, it wasn't always the case, and every time there was an injustice, I would say to my father, "that's not fair!!!" To which he would reply, every single time "life is not fair, get used to it."

This week I was a victim of something I believe wasn't fair, and couldn't help but be upset and angry at my perceived injustice, until I remembered my father's wise words and was able to move on.... Thanks dad!

Instead of a cocktail, I will leave you with a musical treat: some more wise words my father would sing to me: you can't always get what you want, but sometimes, you get what you need.

Cheers!!!

-37... What??

I have been quite fortunate in that my first Winnipeg winter in years had been kind to me. Over my holiday, whilst sitting at the pool bar enjoying my favorite slushy concoctions, people would say "Winnipeg, brrrr.... Sounds cold!!' To which I would reply, "actually it's not so bad." I spoke too soon

After another set of flight delays and yet another stop-over in Toronto, I made it back to Winnipeg after 8 incredible days spent with my old friends frolicking in the sun. I rushed to school, made it in the knick of time for my first class, only 2 minutes late. From class I went straight to work, and not even one day back from my holiday, already I was already too busy to realize that I had been on holiday at all.

The following day, I woke up to a beautiful Winnipeg day: minus 37 degrees with the windchill. For my friends from tropical lands who cannot comprehend what that feels like, (or do not believe me when I say that people actually live in a city where it gets that cold) it is a cold, harsh slap in the face. Your cheeks freeze almost immediately, running from your car to school/home/work, sometimes backwards as to not face the wind head-on, is necessary . It is terrible... beyond terrible, unbearable!!

Only 2 days before I was swimming in the sea, and skipping along the beach in the sand.

Like the Aussies and Caymanians who will read this (it was so great to hear you've been enjoying my blog, please keep reading) I also wonder, why the hell does anyone live here?? Sure, it's cheap... but what about the extra money spent on heating bills, a dependable car that will survive the cold, winter tires, and the sun getaway necessary to cope with the frigid temperatures? Yeah, the people are great, and good family and friends are here, but the city never changes nor do the people who live here (well, very seldomly), so why not live somewhere with a more temperate climate and come back and enjoy the city for it's benefits, the friendly Manitobans, in the summer??

Hmmmmmm...... I believe that was my life once upon a time, and must be again someday.

For our journalism class today we are traveling within Manitoba and writing a travel article about a city/town in our "beautiful" province. My group has the pleasure of traveling to Gimli, in the Icelandic language, Gimli means "paradise," however, I don't know that I'll agree with what anyone from the land-of-ice deems to be idyllic. Stay tuned for the article. Maybe it'll entice you to visit if this post hasn't turned you off of the idea of Manitoba forever.

Have a happy Friday, stay warm with my favourtie hot cocktail

Brrrrrrrr
-2oz baileys
-5 oz hot chocolate (made with milk and choco power)
-whipped cream
-chocolate shavings

-pretty self-explanitory, simplistic and delicious.

Au Revoir

After a rough 48 hours of delays, cancelled flights, and more delays, I finally made it to my island in the sun!

I have changed quite a bit in this last year since leaving the island. I left to pursue personal growth in my prairie hometown, to study Creative Communications, working hard to get good grades and become a better writer. All with the hopes of someday achieving success: being happy in a creative and dynamic career.

For those of you unfamiliar with GCM, well, I'll just say that for most of the great people that inhabit the island, Grand Cayman is a place focused on the pursuit of pleasure, not personal growth.



In this year I have been away I have changed drastically whereas the island has not. Sure a few of the restaurants are called by a new name, and there are some new face who have run away from home to la-la-land and pursue the beach life. But all in all, it's the same.


I am able to see it clearly now... this is not the place for me. I want more than this... Yes, the boat parties, sunset sails, island tours, beach walks and slushy cocktails with friends are great, but it is not the life for me.



Time to set off and pursue pleasure for my last 48 hours on-island, before I return home, off to bigger things.



Bye Bye Cayman. I don't think I'll be back. For the great friends I have that remain on-island... let's live it up!



This little treat was created by my Cayman sister, Michelle. Cheers!


Shell-Berry

-2oz Stoli Vodka

-4 oz Limeade juice

-3 frozen strawberries

-mix all ingredients in a plastic cup with ice. Enjoy with great friends while watching the sun set over the Caribbean Sea.



xo

Heartbreak

Years ago I made a decision to no longer fall deeply or passionately in love with anyone, leaving myself open to my one and only ever true love: Travel. I'd figured this would keep me safe from heart break.

I love everything about traveling: people watching in the airport cafés; killing time browsing in book stores; the random conversations with characters whose name you never catch; the thump of the customs stamp permanently imprinting the country in my passport; waking up in a foreign land, with endless possibilities outside your door.

AhhH! *Swoon*

After a five-year courtshipsgalavanting around the world, exploring fifteen countries across four continents, our relationship had to be put on hold while I returned home to study. I thought he'd understand.

In the months leading up to my spring break Caribbean getaway, I would fantasize of our getting back together. I bought magazines and novels for the trip. I wondered what movies the in-flght entertainment system would have waiting for me. I was excited to use the self-serve kiosks, to go through security, to spark up a conversation with a stranger sitting next to me at the airport bar. I was looking forward to the trip just as much as I looked forward to the tropical destination.

Turns out I was wrong and that even Travel can break your heart.

I had a bad feeling right form the moment I got to the airport to catch my 6:30 flight to Toronto, just waiting for something to go wrong, but I got through check-in in a breeze, even avoiding charges for my surplus or over-weight bags. I wasn't randomly selected in security for a laptop-swab-test (something that I have never understood anyway) or a pat-down, all was going a bit-too-smoothy... I had one of those feelings that it was too good to be true, and to my chagin, I was right.

It took six hours from our initial departure time for the flight to eventually be canceled due to the snowy weather conditions. Two hours spent on the plane waiting on the tarmak, the rest waiting in a desolate airport lobby with not a single store open.

I would miss my connection to my tropical paradise, and airline staff informed me there were no available seats for five days. I felt my heart break into tiny little pieces upon realizing that the trip I had been working and saving for the last 5 months may not get to happen. My heart sunk, and I blamed myself for allowing myself to love something so deeply in the first place. All because of a blizzard.

Have a ever mentioned how much I hate winter??

I have learnt that in this life who you know matters just as much as what you know, and well, a boy I know with super-elite aeroplan status made a call for me, and got me my own little airline assistant working through the night to find me a flight to my island paradise. I may be getting there a day late and a buck short, but, my I will get to my island in the sun. And as far as my #1 love, I'm going to give him a second shot.

Have a great reading week to my fellow CreCommers!!! Want to live through my Caribbean adventures, mix one of these bad boys up! The obstacles I've faced are going to make taste so much better when I finally get there!!

Cayman Lemonade

1 oz Vodka
1 oz Triple Sec
1 oz peach schnapps
Cranberry juice
Club soda

Mix the vodka, triple sec and peach schnapps in a shaker and pour over ice. Add a squeeze of lime and a splash each of cranberry juice and soda. Stir and enjoy. Yah Mon!

Inspired

One of the great things about being a bartender at hip and cool bars is having the opportunity to meet some really cool and inspiring people.

Throughout my bartending carreer, I have: schmoozed famous actors, gotten great tips from former teenage-boy-band idols; served cosmopolitans to the writer that started the Sex and the City revolution; taken shots with a Cocktail King and world famous mixologist; and drink Grey Goose on ice on a yacht in Caribbean while having a chat with the French maitre-de-chai who came up with the recipe.

Being in the presence of success simply inspires me. I ask myself (and if I have the chance, I ask them,) how did this person get to this position?

Being inspired doesn't only happen while rubbing elbows with big names. This week, as a lowly starving student, inspiration found me.

Julie Wilson was our weekly guest speaker, she is creator of Seen Reading, a blog she writes about people she sees reading on public transit. With a brief description of the person, the book they were reading, and the approximate page/passage of the book they were reading when "seen" Wilson creates a micro-fiction story of that person. She has done this over 700 times and hopes that Seen Reading inspires people to buy books.

It worked, I was at Chapters that very night spending some time with my long lost companion, the book.

Seen Reading is going to be published into a book. Wilson accredits this to her self-promotion through social media. What resonated with me was her 9:1 rule about new media. For every 1 self-promoting tweet/facebook status, you have to put out 9 engaging and entertaining ones.

Since CreComm has taken over, I hadn't taken the time to snuggle up with a good book. Thank you Julie.

Inspired -

A great cocktail to enjoy with your favorite book

1 oz bailey

1/2 oz kaluah

1/2 oz frangelico

coffee.

Mix all ingredients together in your favorite coffee mug. Get cozy. Enjoy some well-deserved "me time"

Happy Friday Indeed!

Oh what a gorgeous day: handed in two assignments, it's sunny & 5 degrees above in February (for all the non-Peggers out there, that is pretty incredible)!!! It is impossible to not crack a smile. Also pretty hard not to want a delicious happy hour treat...

When you were a kid, today is the kind of day that would make you want some kool-aid... Here's the grown-up version. Cheers!

Koolaid for Grownups (of versions thereof)

• 1oz Amaretto
• 1 oz Melon liqueur
• .5 oz Grenadine
• Pineapple Juice
• 1/2 of a lime

-pour liqueurs and grenadine into a shaker glass full of ice. Top with the lime juice and stir well. Enjoy!