Flip Camera And AXE Gear Giveaway
It was the journey of a lifetime. 6 friends, 1 month and 7 cities. Planned months in advance, with all the excitement and anticipation of frolicking in a foreign land.
It was the journey of a lifetime. 6 friends, 1 month and 7 cities. Planned months in advance, with all the excitement and anticipation of frolicking in a foreign land.
Then from left field, two weeks before our departure date injury occurred. I was unable to walk without crutches and doctor’s insisted on canceling the trip, "It is unsafe. What if something happens while you’re away?” I contemplated the idea of canceling, but it would be heart-breaking. A time in my life where I had money in the bank, no responsibilities and time to spare.
Sulk at home or attempt to backpack Europe? After much deliberation, it was down to the wire. Two days before our departure date, my mind was set. I was going.
"Adventure of a lifetime" is an understatement. Who knew that with wheelchairs and crutches you would get priority treatment in The Louvre, Versailles, The Eiffel Tower and the Coliseum, to name a few.
Gelato in the piazza, wine on the terrace and schnitzels in the castle. Mind you, backpacking means hostels and some hostels don't understand the word 'sanitary'. Anyone backpacking can use some help in the squeaky clean department.
I only wish I caught all this on video!
Gelato in the piazza, wine on the terrace and schnitzels in the castle. Mind you, backpacking means hostels and some hostels don't understand the word 'sanitary'. Anyone backpacking can use some help in the squeaky clean department.
I only wish I caught all this on video!
Lucky for you, I have a Flip XD camera( to capture your next experience!) to give away to one of our readers. Your power anthem might not be as drastic(I really hope it isn’t!) but share something that changed you, and you can win!
Axe has been working hard to keep guys squeaky clean. Their goal is to refresh, revitalize and transform. Axe is continuing their goal and they will be giving away some of their fabulous products and your very own Flip MinoHD camera. A prize pack worth over $250!
Leave us a comment and tell us about your anthem(don't forget to leave an email so I can contact you if you win!) It can be a party, an event or something wild and crazy - an experience that changed who you are. You can always check out the AXE Canada Anthem for a little bit of inspiration. The contest closes on Friday, May 28. We’ll choose one reader’s story at random and the Flip camera and AXE gear is theirs!
(Note: This story is 100% true and was the story of my adventure last year. Thanks to everyone that supported me along the way.)
(Note: This story is 100% true and was the story of my adventure last year. Thanks to everyone that supported me along the way.)
After high school I had no idea what I wanted to go to university for. There were so many options and I really wasn’t sure of my path. I somehow landed on political science. I’m not sure why but that’s what I chose. After 4 years and a degree later I realized it wasn’t what I wanted a career in. I stopped to think that I wasted 4 years of my life. But then I decided to go back to school, I went to George Brown for fashion. I am now interning at an online social site and love it. I am not sure if this is my path but I know I couldn’t find a job that was fulfilling with my political science degree. I am now happy where I am, even if I am just an intern.
ReplyDeleteAlicia
a.greene88@gmail.com
I follow your blog with Alicia
I was planning to meet up with friends but was early so I want to the coffee shop. I was waiting in line and a homeless man comes up to me and asks "can you spare me a dollar for food?" Thinking it was a great day and wanting to be generous, I thought why not? I looked in my wallet and didn't have a loonie but gave him a toonie. I went to go grab my coffee and when I turned around the homeless man was running out of the coffee shop.
ReplyDeleteTo this day, when someone asks me for money, I think of that time and kindly say "do you take debit?
Chelsea
Chelsea_rulz@hotmail.com
Wow! Great giveaway! Thank you so much for even having a giveaway like this. My anthem of my life is when I graduated from grade 12 and it was graduation night! It was a wonderful, wild party and that was when I realized that I done it. I had survived high school and I was ready to tackle the challenges of university! I will never forget that night of celebration and awesome food. Seriously, you never forget graduation night. :)
ReplyDeleteJess
jess^^^4002 [at] gmail [dot] com
(without the ^^^)
Every year since I was 7 or so, I went skiing at Blue Mountain. It was there in the Blue Mountain village where I dicovered a beading shop called Q Berry. It looked intresing at the time so I decided to go in and see what it has to offer. Before I knew it I was picking out an assortment of beads that would later be used to make earrings. At Q Berry they made the jewelry for you, after you had purchased the beads and decided on what you were to make. After I made the fist pair that I made, which were small purple hearts made out of swarovski crystals. The next day I paid another visit to Q Berry and made more earrings.
ReplyDeleteMy mother saw my intrest in beading and decided to buy me beading tools and a class to learn technique. Now my earrings are always original and I prefer making them to buying them.
Stephanie
stephanie.lam@rogers.com
I always felt that my path had been paved for me somehow by a higher being. This is not to say that my life had been smoothing sailing, far from it. I worked hard, earned and saved, come out the other side with a not so lavish, but an admired and comfortable life.
ReplyDeleteThen from left field, I got "SERVED", "you are a valued and vital employee to our business, unfortunately, your department will be moving to Montreal and currently no position are available to accommodate you", devasted.....off to vacation I go, Mexico in fact, for a week, came back and did a 30 day "HOT YOGA CHALLENGE", cleanse my body and soul.
A year had gone by and guess what? I am still alive and kicking with opportunities that I never know existed. So, being "SERVED and LET GO" was a blessing in disguise, for me anyway. Now, I am onto Chapter 2 of my life, things to do, places to go, no time to reminisce. Reminisce....hmmmm,I will definately slot that in a later chapter in my life, a lot later!!
"I will survive" Aretha Franklin was my power anthem every morning while I was dealing with the most stressful period in my life.
ReplyDeleteI had a tenant/roommate renting out a room in my condo. At first things were cordial and even were close to being good friends. Being the laidback and compromising person that I am, I let go the fact she was late with rent every month, brought her dog with her after she moved out (it had nowhere else to go!), and excused her untidiness. Things quickly became a problem when her loud partying friends woke me up during the night time and time again, her sister moved in with us, and she "borrowed" my black leather jacket without asking then "lost" it. Enough was enough, I tried to be civil and negotiate a date that she would move out, but I was told "I'm gonna drag this out as long as I can". I felt completely helpless and hopeless.. a prisoner in my OWN home! I quickly did some research and found out I could have her removed whenever I wanted since I owned the place. It was the toughest decision of my life, but my peace and mental health was more important. Often the hardest decisions to make are the most significant. So out she went, she even tried to call the police on me when I found something she stole in her bags. Luckily, she became very transparent and they could see right through her fascade.
This taught me many life lessons, and I am so proud at how calm, mature and reasonable I stayed throughout this month-long ordeal. I am thankful for AMAZING friends who were a better that therapy :)
Oh, and two weeks later I ran a 10k for the first time in my life!
Jo
joannaflynch(at)gmail(dot)com
I walked into the convenience store around the corner from my office with a few co-workers one day to grab a popsicle since it was warm out. As I’m paying, a little old lady comes in with her dog. When I finish paying, I stand to the side and wait for the others. One of my colleagues is still deciding between apple juice or a popsicle, and the lady with the dog steps in line and pays for her items. I start petting the dog and as the woman and dog walk past me to the door she says to the dog “say goodbye Carlos”. So I said to the dog “goodbye Carlos.” Then turned to the woman and said “what a cute dog,” the woman answers “she loves attention.” To which I respond “she???”, the woman says “yes, she. Her name is Mogie.” Then I stop and think to myself, who is Carlos?? As the lady walks out of the store, I look over at the cashier and notice a strange look on his face. He is Carlos – not the dog.
ReplyDeleteNever assume, it makes an ass out of you and me.
E-Van
I am half Italian and half Portuguese, so you can imagine the amount of body hair on me. I always manscaped but I thought for my girlfriend and I’s 6 month, I would surprise her with a full body wax among other things. I consulted a friend of mine who happens to be in the know when it comes to aesthetics. She recommended a few places and in the end said “you can go to almost any spa but make sure the prices are reasonable, you get what you pay for”. Having never done this before, I thought it really wouldn’t make a difference where I went. Waxing is waxing right?
ReplyDeleteWrong. I decided to go to this place around the corner from where I lived. Instead of paying upwards of 40 dollars, this place charged $20 for a full chest wax. I thought, what a steal! So I went in, the lady baby powdered me and started to wax. It was slightly painful but soon it was done. On my way home, I noticed some tingling. I thought this was normal seeing as I never did this before. About an hour later, it was still stinging, I went to go look in the mirror and noticed that I had minor cuts where the wax ripped off my skin!
Two days later, it looked even worse, the open cuts started to heal and I can scabs all over me. It looked like I lost a fight against a cat. So when consulting a friend who is in the know, it might not be a bad idea to listen.
Al
met00@gmail.com
I've always tried to tell myself to listen to my gut feeling. I often ignore them out of sheer doubt, but for once I held back and it turned out for the better.
ReplyDeleteDuring my internship with a few friends, there was an opportunity to get a paid internship with a rather large creative agency. 2 of my friends immediately created a resume and landed the internship, but I held back. At the time I didn't know why, I just didn't feel leaving the current placement was my path yet.
Turns out by listening to that feeling I had, I was able to land a job at the company I interned with. My first job after finishing college too! I am now working with people I can confidently call my friends and am happier than ever here.
Shazzmin@gmail.com
My life changing adventure was a trip across Canada with my family when I was in high school. There were four kids and Mom and Dad piled into a Winnebago, criss crossing North America for over a month.
ReplyDeleteThe experiences were crazy! I was chased by a coyote in Chester, Montana. We became lost in Detroit and ended up driving through the area that had been devastated by riots years earlier. Businesses were still burned out and boarded up. We watched as Winnipeg went from being a tiny speck on the windshield as it grew and grew and grew to become a city.
We checked out the sleeping giant in Thunderbay, Casa Loma in Toronto, and a huge mall in Montreal. In Bismark, South Dakota we survived a hurricane and torrential storm by the grace of God when the car in front of us stopped on a bridge! We were lucky the bridge didn't wash out - the motorhome leaked from every angle possible - we couldn't keep up. After the storm cleared, we drove through along the highway and witnessed trucks strewn about liked they had been tossed by an angry child.
We joked, sang, fought, laughed, cried and prayed our way through the trip, and to this day, we still talk about it fondly.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
My life changing experience was when my musically gifted piano teacher, Martin Humphreys, passed away due to cancer. He moved to Vancouver just two months before he died. He taught my brother and I not only how to improve our piano skills, but how to give ourselves up to the music and let it flow. We never thought that such an animated person such as Martin could be seized by such an tragic death. Everyday I ask myself: "Why him?"
ReplyDeleteAfter his death, we were in shock and had no desire for the time being to carry on playing the piano and let piano lessons drop for some months. Fortunately, a student of Martin's was willing to teach us. He was ver close to Martin and had the opportunity to play the piano at Martin's funeral. He ressembles Martin in so many ways, we feel as though Martin is teaching us through our piano teacher.
Martin's spirit will never be forgotten and will be with us forever.
That was my life changing event.
iambraunful@gmail.com
Four years back I decided to pack my bags and get away. I made my way to Halifax without a job or anything really. I met up with a friend who helped me get in the groove of things.
ReplyDeleteI realized Halifax wasn't for me and moved out west to Vancouver. This is where I realized I found home. The people, the atmosphere and just the scenery was great.
Now I look back and think that I was crazy to do such a thing but it was the best thing I ever did and I don't regret it.
David
david_p25@yahoo.com
In high school a lot of us would write notes to each other. Some of them were boredom notes from not listening in class, others had pictures or were collages.
ReplyDeleteA few months ago I was cleaning my room and came across my notes. I guess I kept them from high school. I went through a few just reading them and thought about those days.
Sometimes I stop and think, where are they(the friends) now? I wonder what they are up to, if they are married or have children. Time flies.
When I was 21, I moved from Thunderbay to Toronto with my boyfriend. He moved for work and I just followed him. Two years later we broke up and I was devastated. I was in the city alone, very few friends(most of my friends were his also) and no family. I thought about moving back but realized that it would be a step backwards. I stayed in Toronto and it was the best decision of my life. Now I am 26, I live and work here and although I am single, I have friends to call my own and couldn’t imagine a life anywhere else.
ReplyDeleteAnita
anya_23@gmail.com
All through my life i have relied on others to make decisions for me. I always tried to make choices that would keep everyone happy even if that meant putting what i wanted on the back burner. it wasn't until all my close friends from high school all moved away for university I started to make decisions on my own. it was like learning to walk on my own. I started making my own choices not always the right ones but i learned from them.I have met incredible people and have done things I would never have before. I've learned who my true friends are and I love living my life for me.
ReplyDeleteMelissa
babysunshine37@hotmail.com
Gay Pride Weekend
ReplyDeleteI am not gay, nor am I a lesbian. I was talked into going out for the Pride parade and thought it didn't really make sense because I wasn't gay. I went out with a few friends and it was a blast! Everyone out there just wanted to have fun. They ddint care if you were gay or straight. This weekend, I think everyone left their judgements at home.
Greg
greg_bb93@yahoo.ca
I follow with Greg
Joe Said..
ReplyDeleteIn high school, I was a super duper nerd. I was an easy target for the athletes, the student council, and the list goes on. Everyday was a battle. No one really respected me as a person. Only as a visual artist.
Around my last year of high school. My so called "friends" pull this stupid prank on me that destroyed my reputation. I thought to myself, there's no point of redeeming myself.
That's when art saved me. One of my art teachers approached me to do the portrait of Lincoln M. Alexander and present it to him at our school's 25th anniversary assembly.
I spent at least an hour and a half on the piece, bought the frame, and things were set. When the day of the assembly came, I was nervous as hell. When present the portrait to him on stage and the whole school, everyone was nuts!! It was the best feeling in the world, when that happened. It was like everyone forgot about all the crap.
Now I've left all that crap in high school behind me, and I'm successfully co-owning a comic book inspired brand called Heroes of the World.
What's good about things now, is that people I remember from high school, would message on Facebook and congratulate me on my success. Funny thing is that these were the same people that used to torment me back in high school.
For months and months, I trained to run a marathon. Throughout those months of training, I had many aches and pains and often had my doubts that I actually could complete one. But despite my doubts, I crossed the finish line of The Marine Corps Marathon in Washington. I was hurting and I was sore, but I'll never ever forget the feeling I had upon reaching the finish line. It was such a strong feeling of pride and accomplishment and it made me feel like I could do anything if I put my mind to it. And that feeling stayed with me for a very long time... dmhaen at gmail dot com
ReplyDeleteI was always a shy one. It was hard for me to make friends because I am not out going. First year of university I moved into res and lived with a girl who I thought was crazy. Six years later, we are still friends and she has brought out the outgoing in me. I might still be shy inside but I now know how to relax and have fun and make friends.
ReplyDeleteDianna2655 at gmail.com
There are certain people that help you get through your lowest lows. It can be your family or friends. I have been lucky and have had the best support group ever. I thank them for everything. They are my power anthem, without then, I wouldn't be who I am and as strong as I am.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was sixteen I had the opportunity to attend a Youth Forum on my own across the country. This was my first time traveling alone and meant a shy small town girl was off to join a group of strangers for one week. We toured Ottawa and I had the chance to shake hands with the PM. One of the highlights of the experience was a formal dinner with various politicians and business people. I remember my amazement when they actually seemed to listen to us and talk to us as though what we said was important. It was the first time in my life where I had the feeling that I could truly make a difference in the world. This trip opened my eyes to the wonders of Canada, its people and the many possibilities and strenghts within.
ReplyDeletectoan72(at)gmail(dot)com