Brin D'Amor crew

When my alarm went off at 4:30am on Friday 22 May I knew I was about to embark on adventure that would have a profound and lasting impact on my life. Was I right? Absolutely!

10 days in Costa Rica in the province of Guanacaste with 14 entrepreneurs from all over North America, brought together for a Livin’ Large vacation in the magical setting of the private property of Brin D’Amor (translated means `Share the love’).

Thanks to an invite from my good friend and talented CEO, Mike Tan, I somehow managed to join this incredible crew who between them have challenged conventional education, run one or several successful businesses, are published authors, professional speakers, real estate gurus, investment experts and more – and all while in their 20s!

The days were filled with intelligent and stimulating conversation, visionary discussions, mind expanding conversation, lofty ideals, spiritual awakenings, mastermind group discussions, the Pachamama Alliance Symposium and naturally a whole heap of fun.

When we weren’t discussing how to change the world for the better by inviting the leaders of tomorrow to the Brin D’Amor Academy of the future we were undertaking a variety of activities.

What could be better than jumping from the natural waterfalls, practicing yoga poolside with the talented Jessica, riding horses all over the 160+ acres of land, enduring 2 hours of intense heat in a sweat lodge that bonded us all together, surfing in the warm waters at sunset, flying down a waterslide set in the jungle, covering ourselves in thermal mud at a spa and geting caught in a torrential downpour and thunderstorm whilst out on a boat.

Boat trip around peninsula

Key highlights were definitely:

• Mike getting bitten by a Boa snake hiding in our room on the first night and his super calm response, getting shat on by a bird, and having his horse’s bridle come off as it ran off with him atop into the trees!
• Several of us getting stung by wasps when we disturbed their nest by jumping off the waterfall and side of the cliff including a sting to Darren’s eyelid!
• Adil flying off his horse rodeo style as it ran out of control into the pack, coupled with galloping sessions with saddles coming loose and riders hanging on for dear life
• Smashing my shin up on submerged rocks when running into the sea followed by catching managing to catch my first ever wave and standing up
• A hilarious and intense game of Beach ultimate with the boys who couldn’t necessarily throw or catch but were super competitive
• Salsa dancing with Micah and Aaron who enlisted any local lady who could shake her booty and poolside dancing lessons for the boys
• Falling through a yoga platform to add to my war wounds
• Everyone getting great feedback from their rocks during our rock reading….
• The various jungle life that kept us on our feet including monkeys, snakes, lizards, biting fish, wasps, nasty red ants, butterflies, giant moths and huge toads
• The incredible fresh and sumptuous feasts from breakfast through to dinner provided by the awesome caterers

I can’t really do this trip justice here, or just how lucky I feel to have been art of this journey and make connections with these extraordinary souls. All I know is this was a trip of a lifetime and one that shall never be forgotten.

This is the crummy view I get to look out on each day from our ConnectionPoint office in Gastown.
I know, how unlucky am I! Since spring arrived there’s been a new cruise ship to gaze out onto daily, and with that brings lots of tourists and a hive of activity to Gastown. When we started leasing office space down here in December it was like a ghost town. The financial crisis had killed many tech companies or forced them out of the area. The homeless were tucked away in alcoves and alleys trying not to freeze, and the rain and snow added to the bleak picture.

Not so now. Spring has also bought the cherry blossoms which I haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing before, not with this much magnitude. Arching over streets and raining blossom petals on the ground, paving everything with pink, it was like one long wedding celebration! I’ve been even more appreciative of how beautiful Vancouver becomes when the good weather arrives as I now have a bicycle. My shiny new Brodie (Canadian made) hybrid is built tough and for 6 weeks has been getting my ass in serious shape and transporting me to places I’d never even visited. I love the freedom of cycling, I forgot how much from when I had my bike in London.
It’s less crazy cycling here and the cycle lanes are pretty decent and take you on quieter streets. So it’s allowed me to see some stunning houses and streets that this city has to offer. Thanks to now attending a total of 8 tryouts for 2 women’s ultimate teams I’ve seen far east to far west and beyond and embarked on 5 plus hours of exercise an evening!

So what are the top 3 things to love about Vancouver:

1. The abundance of outdoor activities that exist right on your doorstep and tempt you to partake in each and every one (like 6 of us ladies trying out windsurfing last weekend and rocking at it – even if the mast hit my head and we into the water constantly and collided too)
2. The wonderful friends and networks - this ultimately has been up to me to initiate but there’s more networking events in this city than in the world combined! Plus people have generously invited me into their lives and activities so I now have a wide variety of friends to do anything and everything with
3. The entrepreneurial nature of the city – probably a little bias here as it’s all I’ve immersed myself in since arriving. Taking the route of growing a start up with my fantastic business partner and boss Daryl who I’m too lucky to have in my life, and becoming more entrepreneurial has opened up a new world for me. Work (a dull name for what we do) is a never ending source of fun, stimulation, steep learning curves, excitement, challenges and the thing that keeps me up late and night and the first thing I wake up to in the morning- but in a totally good way!

It also helps that I recently got accepted for the BC Provincial nominee program – essentially a fast track to permanent residency, a big relief as it means I can stay on and continue to enjoy this city and discover Canada.

And one more thing, networking is the best thing in the world, you just never know who you’ll meet, how they’ll effect you and vice versa and what opportunities that may bring. Such as the opportunity I get to embark on tomorrow morning at 5am as I head to Costa Rica. Yes I’ve somehow managed to get an invite to hang out with up to 10 over achieving young entrepreneurs for 10 days and discuss how to change the world for the better. Their bios were outstanding and I paled in comparison but I do get to teach them Ultimate Frisbee!  They won’t know what hit them – literally…..

MGM in lights

The limo pulled up outside my suite on April 3, my  birthday. I strode out with a small suitcase and more importantly a bottle of Veuve Cliquot in my hand ready to head to Las Vegas and party for 60 hours straight.

It was by far and away the best trip I’ve had in some time. From start to finish we laughed so much, had too much fun and provided each other with an eclectic mix of entertaining stories and moments of hilarity experienced during the weekend. Topping this off was the perfect timing of so many great Flight of the Condors quotes & songs and ‘What what in the butt’ and Spongmonkey references

The MGM Grand was indeed a grand place to stay, each morning we opened the curtains in our hung over state to see the huge gold letters on the side of the green glass of the hotel. Our two queen beds were pushed together so we could all spread out like soldiers in a row each night – or more rather the wee hours of the morning. Great idea Malcolm!

One of the most memorable moments was the dissection of the previous night out whilst we all lay together in bed, this was when the saucy secrets came out, who had done what was revealed, what we’d drunk, who we’d snogged, how badly we’d danced, which VIP line we’d jumped, random conversations we’d had and more importantly who came home at what hour of the morning what happened in between!

Luckily what goes on in Vegas stays in Vegas but key highlights include:

• Friday night venture to Hooters – 1st stop,  for free drinks, where the lady dancing on the bar announced over the mic “Who here wants to f#ck bitches and hoes” to which all the women shouted out `Wohoo’ and we stood there dumbfounded and realised we did not belong there
• Being denied entrance to a lame private party at the Mandalay Bay club so creating an even better party by dancing on the seats of our intimate horseshoe shaped area and throwing back Jaeger bombs. Apparently when we left I was classy with a capital K when I yelled out “Your party f#cken sucks!” and doing ghetto style hand movements to hammer my point home to some shocked people behind the glass
• Sipping a yard long daquiri through giant straws whilst wandering through the amazing Luxor (pyramid shaped) hotel and then posing with the Sphynx and Al getting caught by the guard for getting too initimate with the lion
• Owning the Studio 54 dance floor – on 3 levels and partying til it shut and there was no-one else left! This included Al’s brilliant answer to the man’s question of “Are you on the VIP list?”, “Yes”, “What’s your name?” ” Mr VIP” – too funny and it got Elizabeth and I in!
• Finding a huge bruise on Elizabeth’s mysteriously injured leg  the next day and that I had glass in my foot from when I decided to bounce around shoeless….
• Walking down the strip in the sunshine wearing the tackiest coloured plastic poker visors and checking out the beautiful Bellagio fountain and foyer, getting on the guest list of the best clubs, and being handed cards with naked ladies and being asked “You want whores?”, to which I replied “Why would I want that?”, his simple answer “Titties and vaginas” – of course, how silly of me.
• Seeing the outrageously sexy and boundary pushing Cirque de Soleis show – Zumanity – highly recommended!
• Being on the guest list and partying at Tao – the largest club revenue wise in the world with 6000sqft spread over 4 floors including a rooftop pool. Amazing interior, beautifully designed, and lots of ladies hired to look bored whilst stroking each other…I was the last one of our group out of there, leaving at closing time.
• Spending the final day poolside with the rafting river, yard long alcoholic slushies, spa pool and listening to the pumping sounds of Wet Republic (the outdoor daytime club) that I would definitely visit next time
• Gambling for just 20 minutes over the entire weekend and losing $50 very quickly on Black Jack and Roulette so that we could leave to the airport, where we were actually paged for our flight even though we’d been sitting in ‘Klassy’ Burger King for ages reliving the weekend with stories, laughter and memories that will forever be imprinted in our minds and hearts

Yes all that and more folks, it was truly a memorable way to spend a birthday, with great friends and body worse for wear. So much so I gave up drinking for 3 weeks after it!