Bye 2011

Here are the goals that I gave myself for 2011 (ELEVEN GOALS FOR 2011):

Let's see how I did...

1) Continue to live a healthy lifestyle and hopefully reach my goal weight by the beginning of summer. If that's the case, I have about 50lbs to lose. I'm feeling fat just thinking about it haha!

ACCOMPLISHED. Technically failed, but I consider myself successful.
This is a tough one...
The beginning of 2011 was horrible. After completing a 6-week detox program and losing 18lbs, I completely lost myself. I picked up my old habits, and gained back all 18lbs and an additional 7lbs. I was basically back at where I started. I'm not going to create any excuses for the sabotage that I caused to my body, but I have definitely restarted on a better path. As I have blogged before, I now know that you can't expect to change your life through dieting; it just doesn't happen that way. The first thing you have to do is get your mind into gear, and then the body will follow. It's not hard to get up and go to the gym a couple of times a week, that's the easy part. What's difficult is to resist temptation, keep a positive mindset and a controlled plan to achieve your goals. Before I went to Greece I decided to drop all that additional weight I had gained in the six months after my detox program. Before my trip, I lost 15lbs, bringing me down to 205lbs. Coming home, I struggled a little bit to get readjusted to my non-traveler lifestyle and gained about 5lbs. Then it hit me. My life changed from there. Since September, I have lost 26lbs and I am now at my lowest weight since probably the beginning of high school: 189.6lbs. GOOD BYE TWO HUNDREDS!!! I can't wait to see what 2012 brings for me.

2) SCHOOLschoolSCHOOLschool: Put some "B+"s and "A"s on my transcript & Make the switch into BComm (Finance major)

1/2 FAIL.
I am still in BAdmin, but I am taking Finance courses and not setting myself back towards finishing my degree. My grades have definitely improved over the last year and so has my overall outlook on school. Now that I have joined CASA Cares, you would think I would have a lot less time to concentrate on academics since I am constantly organizing events, and I do... BUT, I have found a new love for University and it drives me to do well. I want to leave JMSB feeling proud for what I have accomplished over the years, not only with the letter grades on my transcript but through the lives that I have changed and the people that I have met. I think that's important.

3) Participate in the 'Run for the Cure' (Oct 2, 2011); Run the 5km in under 30mins

ACCOMPLISHED.
This event was definitely one of the highlights of my year. When I first blogged about participating in this charity event, I thought I would be running alone. Little did I know, I got my best friend on board and the entire CASA Cares team. Together, we raised $4519 for the foundation!!! I ran the race on October 2nd, and crossed the finish line at 36mins. I know it's not the 30 minutes that I had originally hoped for but I'll take it. The fact that I got to experience this day with so many amazing people, and raise that much money for a cause I care about is enough for me.

4)Go on a road trip somewhere in the U.S. to see a concert. (I'm sure Mel, Jenia and Jenn would be up for it...Am I right,ladies?)

ACCOMPLISHED.
On June 2nd, I took a mini road-trip to Burlington, Vermont with Melissa, Alex and Chloe to see Jimmy Eat World. Honestly, it was probably one of the best concerts that I have ever been to. There is something about this band's music that pulls at my heart-strings. They are my favorite band. There is just something about their music that puts me in a happy place whether I am relaxing, doing homework or driving.

5) Be spontaneous and book a vacation

ACCOMPLISHED.
Going to Orlando, Florida for Spring Break 2012. Gonna become a wizard with two best friends, and visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios!

6) Save more money! I make approximately $220/week, where is all my money going?!

1/2 ACCOMPLISHED.
I'm really good at saving money and budgeting... but I am even better at spending it on vacations and excursions.

7) Read at least 20 books. (I read 15 books last year) One of the books has to be written in Greek. Also, read newspapers/magazines more often to keep up with what's going on in the (business)world.

FAIL.
I only read 12 books this year
I bought a Greek book while I was in Greece but I haven't read it yet
I have definitely been reading more about current events. Thanks to Twitter, I get the daily Gazette headlines

8) Learn how to play Konstantine on the piano (Thanks for the awesome gift, Mel <3 )

FAIL.

I actually completely forgot about this goal... Wow.

9) Tell people how I feel. Whether it be when I'm upset by something, or to tell them that I love them. I tend to bottle-up my emotions...It's time to pop the cork on this bottle. Remember to smile big, and mean it.

ACCOMPLISHED.

Although I still have a long way to go, I feel like I have definitely been a lot more open about my feelings. It's never been easy for me to just talk about what's going on in my life, and I still often need people to make the first move and ask me how I am before I tell them. I remember having many heart-to-hearts with the girls while in Greece, and I have become increasingly open about my weight-loss journey. Baby steps. I still consider myself a bit of a mystery, and to a certain extent I think I'll always keep that way... I am always there to offer my opinion and be the listener in a group of friends, but I've never been the type to openly seek help. There's definitely a select couple of people that I turn to though whenever I need to talk. This year, I definitely smiled and I meant every smile. That's one thing I never held back. When I was unhappy, I didn't put on a mask. I really appreciate the moments that made me smile this year, and I have the friends I got closer to this year to thank for that.

10) Spend a day being a tourist in my own city; Visit a museum, go for dinner at a restaurant I've never been to, stay in a hotel, do things I haven't done before

ACCOMPLISHED.

Although I didn't necessarily feel like a tourist, here are some things that I did this year in Montreal that I've never done before:

- Ice skate at the Quays in the Old Port

- Try some authentic Chinese food at a restaurant that I can't pronounce

- Participate in the Run for the Cure

- See the Lion King on Broadway

- Stay at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel for Halloween

- Get a free bottle of champagne at 737 for my 22nd Birthday

- Go to a club and see a celebrity perform live (Karl Wolf at the JMSB End of Semester Party)

- Parallel park my car perfectly on Ste-Catherine street on a busy afternoon

11) ________ (blank) Let's see what I'll fill this blank with at the end of the year. ACCOMPLISHED.

One word...Greece. <3

FINAL SCORE: Accomplished 8/11

Back From The Dead

Wow, the last time I wrote a blog post, I was in Greece! Not only did I not write about my wonderful times in Santorini but I haven't been keeping you posted on life at all. Shame on me.

I'm not going to go into the nitty-gritty of things, but I will try and summarize what I have been up to lately.
This semester has seriously flown by, and to think that I have less than a month of school left before the Christmas holidays is both exciting and terrifying. I have so much to do in that little time, but I can't wait to be off for three weeks and to just enjoy myself a little.

My life has consisted of four aspects: School, Work, Getting Healthy and Social Life (although minimal).

School has been pretty good! My grades are definitely a lot better than they have been over the last couple of semesters so I am definitely proud of that. What has really made the difference this semester is that I am part of CASA Cares. These people have become amazing friends, and together we are doing something that I love: organizing events for charity. I love going out of my way to give back to the community, so to be part of an association that has a sole purpose to do just that is beyond exciting for me. We have had tons of successful events! Our biggest success so far this semester was participating in the Run for the Cure. We raised $4519 for the cause :) This month we have the Comedy Show, Band Night and Auditions for Concordia's Next Top Model. Tons of planning, and volunteering ahead but I've been loving every minute of it.

Work is work. Some days I just want to hand in my resignation and other days I have so much fun with my Maxi Crew that I can't imagine myself finding another job. It's a weird feeling. It gets overwhelming at times, especially now that I work as a cashier/supervisor/financial technician/human resources administrator (aka slave). I have learned every possible thing that I can possible know as a part-time employee, and although it can get stressful at times, I seize any opportunity to learn more. In addition, I also organize events for our social club too. I have raised almost $250 by organizing activities, and inflating the prices ever so slightly to make a profit. The money that I get from these events will help us buy Christmas presents for the employees at our Christmas party.

Getting healthy has really been a priority for me lately. Ever since I came back from Greece, I have been extra vigilant with my weight loss and I have created concrete goals for myself. I'm just going to mention right now that I am not ashamed to tell you how much I weigh, because I am hoping that someone out there will read this post and get inspired from it too. What people don't realize is that weight is a number, but the way you feel is what should drive you to become a better version of you. Anyway, all this to say, I started my "new" weight loss journey back from Greece at 210lbs. Since then, I have dropped down to 196lbs (HEY ONEderland, nice to see you again!)
My goals:
1) Get under 200lbs (DONE Achieved November 1st)
2) 175lbs by January 3rd 2012 (Start the New Year on the right path)
3) 150lbs by April 3rd 2012 (My 23rd Birthday)
*I realize that those are pretty ambitious goals, but I am striving to get close to them. I don't think I'll hit the 150lb mark, but if I am hovering around 150-160lbs, I think I'll be happy with that. What most of you don't know, I probably weighed that much in the 6th or 7th grade. Mhmm...

I'm really feeling good about myself lately, there is just something about hard work that makes me smile. When I leave the gym and I am drenched from sweating or making myself a healthy creative meal, I feel amazing. When I look at myself in the mirror and realize that my "skinny" jeans are are not so skinny and becoming baggy, that is such a big motivator. I want to feel good and unleash this skinny girl inside me. I feel like over the years I have been trapped in my own insecurities... time to feel free.
I've already started compiling goals that I want to achieve in 2012, I can't wait to share them with you!

Although my social life is basically non-existent, I definitely make a point to see my friends and spend time with the family. I really enjoy getting together with James, Jess and Alannah for tea at Jessica's house. We sit for a couple hours and just catch up on life, and laugh A LOT.
I would never pass up a good time with my best friend, Melissa either. She always manages to put me in an amazing mood when I see her. There's something about spending time with your close friends like Mel, Selina or Kate to put you right back on track.
Then there's those special moments with people that you don't see as often as you would like... Jenia is one of those people. We all have a friend that just brings tons of positive care-free energy. She is exactly one of those people. I can always be myself around her, and let my goofiness show.
We have to remember, no matter how busy life can get, we always have to make time for the people that we love.

That's pretty much it for now, I'll try to write more often... promise.

MYKONOS

So the adventure continued and on we went to Mykonos and what an adventure it was.
We knew that we had an early morning ahead of us because we had booked a 7:30am ferry, so we could take advantage of our stay in Mykonos, but we had no idea how early we actually had to be awake.
The alarm on Mel's iPhone woke us up at 4:15am in Athens, and we headed- in the dark- to catch the train at 5:15am. It was so FUN dragging a 50lb suitcase in the dark down a sketchy alley in Athens...good times. Anyway, so we boarded the ferry had no where to sit, so we sat in a cafe for 5 hours, and arrived in Mykonos at 1:30pm. We had arranged to get a lift from the port to the hotel, and after some searching, we realized that they weren't there to get us. I made a quick phone call and three minutes later the nicest man, Andreas, came to get us.
It was once we arrived to the hotel that we realized that we were in for some of the best days of our trip.
The hotel was situated on top of a hill, so we had the most spectacular view from our hotel room. The rooms were perfect too! Our shower, I kid you not, could have fit the four of us in it at once. Besides the amazing rooms and daily breakfasts in the dining room (YUMMY Yogurt & Honey), we quickly became very comfortable with the hotel staff who was constantly there to help us with anything we needed. They were all so friendly, we were all so sad to leave on our last day.

Here are some highlights from the trip

DAY ONE
- Afternoon at the beach (Agios Stefanos). There was sand whipping us in every direction. I was covered in it by the end of the afternoon. Definitely a treat to get it all out of my hair
- Late lunch at an Irish Pub
- Appaloosa's for nachos and drinks at night after exploring some of the shops

DAY TWO
- Paraga Beach (sipping Mythos beer by the ocean)
- Shopping in town for souvenirs
- First Greek Baklava from a local bakery

DAY THREE
- Paradise Beach
- Oven baked pizza & ice cream for lunch at the beach
- 'Verdana' for drinks (Peach daiquiri) for the sunset. We had the opportunity to take tons of pictures of the sunset and the famous five windmills
- Walking around and shopping in Little Venice
- Gyro and fries for dinner at Jimmy's
- Clubbing at 'Down Under' bar; sticky finger shots, tequila, good looking Aussie doorman, dancing, funny pictures and laughing

Random Memories:
- Sitting in the room talking
- Catching up on the Internet (Hooray for free-wifi)
- Amazing hotel staff (If anyone plans on travelling to Mykonos anytime soon, go to Rhenia Bungalows. HIGHLY recommended by the four of us!)
- Their pets! PUPPIES <3 and turtles in the garden
- The walk up the hill to get to the hotel; gotta exercise those glutes haha
- Topless Italian women at the beaches...quite the sight.
- The view of the city from the hotel
- All the hilarious gay men (James, this made Mel and I really miss you!)
- Getting free shots in every restaurant/bar we went to! (Dear Montreal, this never happens back home. Just saying...)
- People thinking that we're Australian ("Oh, you're Canadian! That makes sense, Canadian's read on the beach!" ...Which is all we did.)

As always, here are some pictures for you to look at!
Hope Montreal isn't missing us too much
Love,
Agnes

Kefallonia

After spending the last 8 days (August 9- August 17) in Kefallonia, a small village that my Giagia (grandmother) grew up in. I won't write about each day just yet but here are the highlights from our vacation to Monopolata, Kefallonia and its surrounding villages.

Beaches that we visited:
- Xi
- Petani
- Makris Gialos
- Skala
Skala was by far my favorite beach (and I think the girls would agree with me when I say that). Unlike the other beaches that we visited, this one was covered in little rocks. Even the sand was composed of small rocks. We spent hours enjoying the sunshine and scavenging the shore for the "pretty ones" to bring back with us.

Kefallonia Bus Tour: On Saturday we spent the whole day touring Kefallonia by bus. We saw:
- Myrtos Beach
- Assos
- Fiskardo (small town that is known as a tourist attraction for celebrities)
- Agia Efimia
- Melisani Lake
- Drogorati Caves
- Agiou Gerassimo Monastery
- Robola Winery
Best part of the day: Taking a boat ride through the Melisani Lake (bluest water ever!) and exploring the caves at Drogorati. We had to climb over 200 stairs to see this sight, but it was definitely worth it.

Things we will remember:
-LAUGHING. It was a daily ritual but happened most when we were exhausted and ready for bed
- Experiencing Panagias holiday at church with Melissa and Giagia
- Reading a lot at night and just relaxing
- The view from the house of the city especially during the full moon
- Evangelia's hugs and her big blue eyes in her glasses
- Chocolate icecream and Robola wine
- Washing our clothes in the bathtub
Food we ate:
- Gyros from the village restaurant (delicious and very affordable)
- Mousaka from Oasis restaurant in Lixouri
- Homemade meals. Both my Giagia and Thia Evangelia are excellent cooks so on the nights that they made us food, we were very thankful
- Homemade meals (part 2): We shopping in Lixouri and bought a week's worth of food and took care of ourselves on most night. We made three meals/day and took turns cleaning up too. Best roommates ever? I think so.

Things we didn't like so much:
- The taxi drivers that my grandmother relied on/ taxis in general
- The winding roads (The girls took turns feeling nauseous and taking Gravol)
- My grandmother's wakeup calls (WAKEUP, turns on light. OR grabbing my hand). Let's just put it this way, we were always on time, and she was convinced that we were always going to be late.
- The lack of things to do. You can't get anywhere by foot, so everything that we did was during the day, leaving us with very little to do at night. It was alright though, we spent tons of time reading.

People that we met:
My grandmother would introduce me to every single person that we saw. At first, it was nice to see how proud she was to introduce me to her friends and family, but by the end of the week, I couldn't remember anyone's names because I had met so many people. That being said, the VIP award goes to Lambros who took us on a roadtrip on Sunday to Makris Gialos and Skala. Not only that, he also gave us a ride to Lixouri yesterday when the bus didn't show up. He was just overall so pleasant to be around! We actually spent over an hour with him last night just talking around our kitchen table. We laughed a lot! He probably thinks that we're a little "coo-coo bananas" (to quote Selina), but that's alright.

Things that we will miss:
- My Giagia: She was just too good to us!
- Thia Evangelia & Dionysis; They are actually so adorable
- The quietness of the beaches (Mykonos and Santorini are touristic hotspots so we're expecting CROWDS)
- The friendliness, love and generosity of family

Words the girls learned:
- Loulouthia = Flowers (Selina's favorite word)
- Kali mera = Good morning/Good day
- Efharisto= Thank You
- Para kalo= You're welcome/Please
- Karpouzi= Watermelon
- Oréo= Nice
- Ne= Yes
- Oxi= No
...Among MANY others! They're awesome.

Books we read this week:
- One Day by David Nicholls (Kate)
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Selina; Agnes is reading it now)
- My Name is Memory by Anne Brashares (Melissa)
- Withering Tights by Louise Rennison (Melissa)
- Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (Halfway done; Melissa)
- The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (Remaining half; Agnes)
- Something Blue by Emily Giffen (Agnes)
- Looking for Alaska by John Green (Agnes; Selina is reading it now)

I am not going to post a lot of pictures, but I wanted to give you a taste of Kefallonia and some of our adventures










I'm upset that this leg of the trip is over... It was so nice to really experience the culture (it wasn't so foreign for me, but the girls have never really been introduced to this kind of thing). I'm going to miss the family I met.
At the same time, I am so excited to see Mykonos and Santorini. My alarm is going off at 4:15am, so we can get ready for our 7:30am ferry. Mykonos, these Montreal girls are coming!

Good night my loves,

S'agapo (I love you)
Agnes xoxo

Hello from Athens

Yiasou! "Hello" in Greek

So, I'm actually writing this blog from Athens! As promised, I said that I would keep in touch as often as I could so here is my first post after my first day of travel.

After a morning of rushing and last minute packing, we departed on a nine hour flight this afternoon from Montreal at 4:20pm. Although I was quite discouraged by the length of time we were about to spend on the plane, I have to admit that it went really fast. Besides the overcooked yet raw pasta for supper, and the fact that I didn't sleep AT ALL on the plane, everything went super well.

We landed in Athens at about 9:10am, got our passports stamped and made our way to the baggage claim. After picking up our luggage (that did make its way to Greece, we were a little worried), we made our way to the exit. There my uncle Elias was waiting for us with a sign "KATSOUROS". It was like a scene out of a movie really. As some of you know, I have never met the family that I am staying with, so it has been quite the experience getting to know people that I have heard of but never met.
There, we proceeded to wait for Vangelis to pick us up, since he is a taxi driver. We all think that Montreal drivers are insane, well, he was driving 160km/hr down the highway... Yeah, it was a joy ride.

We then arrived at Elias and Georgia's house in Athens, where we will be spending our night in Athens. They welcomed us right away with open arms, tons of filakia (kisses) and FOOD. For lunch we had pork chops, rice, greek salad, spanakopita, tsaziki and cheese. We were stuffed. I just want to take a moment and say how DIFFERENT the spanakopita here is from the one at home... Oh God. HEAVEN IN MY MOUTH.

I'm not going to lie, this whole day has been stressful for me. Although I am able to speak Greek and read the language, it has been tough to adjust to ONLY speaking Greek and being the translator for the girls. My relatives don't speak English and the girls don't speak Greek. It's quite the culture shock for them but I have to admit that they have been working hard at picking up some key phrases thanks to Kate's phrase book. (Mel, how do you say Thank You again?)

After having lunch, my cousin Christos and his girlfriend Dimitra along with their friend Nickos, took us around Athens to see the Acropolis. Because it was so hot, we did a lot of the sight seeing by car but we took the time to stop at Dionysis cafe to have an iced coffee and lots of water with the Acropolis and Parthenon in the background.
Afterwards, we spent hours sitting on the living room floor planning our trip to Kefalonia since we are leaving tomorrow and there is a lot to do and know before departing. I'm going to get to see my Giagia (Grandmother) tomorrow, and I am pretty excited about that.

We ended the night with a light supper, Greek salad (all of the ingredients come from Vangelis garden), bread and the neighbours blaring Greek music. The weather was beautiful so we took advantage of it and enjoyed the night on the balcony. I was telling the girls how I feel so spoiled. Everyone has been super nice and helpful, not to mention that we haven't spent any money yet because everyone has been so generous.
So far, our first day has been a big success. I have been awake for the last 32 hours, and I am not even that tired. The girls are currently knocked out (it's 10:37pm here), and our alarms are set for our 6:30am wakeup tomorrow. The adventure continues!

Random funny moments of the day: The last hour of our flight, we were so deliriously tired that everything was funny & Selina getting gum on her jeans and washing the stain out with oil and then scrubbing them in the tub.

Here are some pictures from today:

View of the Acropolis and Parthenon from the Cafe

The girls and I sitting in front of the Acropolis and Parthenon enjoying our coffees

Christos & Dimitra! AMAZING couple and genuine people. We had so much fun with them

The Parthenon! They are doing some construction on it right now

FREDDOCCINO! Coffee and chocolate blended drink :) Delicious on a hot day

Two Words.

A magician waves his wand and says "Abra Kadabra" before pulling a rabbit out of a hat.

A couple says "I do" at the alter to proclaim their love and become husband and wife.

A person responds "You're welcome" after hearing "Thank You."

A girl says "Call me", after having her first date with a boy.

A sign reads "Watch out" when faced with danger.

A friend gets "Carpe Diem" tattooed on his side, reminding himself to seize the day.

A social activist proclaimed "I believe," while seeking equality among people

A daughter wishes to hear "I'm sorry", but knows that she never will.

Tuesday Breakfast

What I'm dealing with...

Dad complains that I am making too much noise in the kitchen while making breakfast. "Why does it have to be such a process?", he says.

I continue to make my breakfast which consists of:

Egg Whites (1/2 cup) 60 calories
Grape Tomatoes (small; 7) 4 calories
La Vache Qui Rit Cheese 22.5 calories
Whole Wheat English Muffin (1/2) 65 calories
Double Fruit 4 Citrus Marmalade (Light; 1 tbsp) 20 calories
Source Vanilla Yogurt (1/2 cup) 43.75 calories
Clementine 35 calories
TOTAL 250.25 calories
Water 650ml

I devour everything. It was delicious, and healthy.

He gets up from the couch, and finishes a bag of chips.
It's 10:08am
Just saying...