Victoria Love

SHOP THE LOOK

Suited up and out the door, we began feeling much better once we stopped by Habit Coffee on Pandora. Amazing coffee and equally incredible space! An Americano misto later and it was off to one of our favourite go-to’s during all of our hungover university brunches – Floyd’s! This place is famous for a reason – it’s amazing. One time I won the Mahoney (chef’s special, you win your breakfast or pay double!) and it was pretty much the best day of my life. If you want to play it safe though and just order something off the menu, you could literally close your eyes, point anywhere and be happy with your choice. The potatoes are some of the best in the world and believe me, being the hobbit types we are, Matt and I know our potatoes (on a side note, watch this – sorry in advance).

Alive and revived finally with our bellies full and our caffeine buzz on, we hopped on the old double decker bus to our campus! It was so trippy and surreal walking around the caf, going to my old dorm (I lived on the top floor and had no cell phone in first year so everyone had to stand below my window and scream my name – my dorm building hated me), stopping by all the buildings I used to take my classes in. It really wasn’t that long ago in the large scheme of things but I think when a place is the site of so many transitions, so much change and so much growth, its significance is so much greater – taking years away from it and coming back is such an emotional experience, in a really cool and amazing way though.

We took a break from our campus tour to walk down the hill to Cadboro Bay, the site of many beach parties in the summer, intrepid boat expeditions and retreats from skipped classes (bonus of living by the ocean while in school: spontaneous surfing, boating and swimming, often at all hours of the day/night though PSA don’t do any of these things inebriated and at night, which we awful kids sometimes did). Stopped by Olive Olio‘s where one of my best friends and I held a three year running Wednesday lunch date after Behavioural Psych and then back to the school we went!

One thing you might not know about me is that when it comes to a subject I’m really into (and I loved Psychology, particularly social and motivational psychology, which I specialized in in my last year), I am that person who sits in the library for hours, reorganizing notes and reading bonus material. Aka a huge dork. I even forced Matt to go to my “special” desk in the library, though some clueless girl was sitting in it! What a moron! Clearly my desk. Anyway, Matt wasn’t particularly enthused about walking around the library, but for me it was really special. Once I’d had my typical first year (or two) of “figuring things out” and not really trying, I found my groove and just loved studying, loved the material and loved being in school. I always had plans of going back to school and while I did for a post-grad journalism program, I really always wanted to pursue a master’s. It certainly wouldn’t be in psych – I loved studying it for my BA, but I don’t want a career in it. But being back on campus and remembering how very much I loved being a student has kind of inspired me to not entirely release the dream of going back and doing something – what, I don’t know, but I do know that I’d really love to be a student again at some point in my life, even if my career hasn’t required me to get additional education other than what I currently have.

Anyway, back to this day – we went to the Victoria Public Market afterwards which I would highly recommend. We stocked up on some Salt Spring Island Cheese goat cheese (just finished it last night with My New Roots’ Life Changing Loaf of Bread, soooo good) and The French Oven pastries before we took off back home with Harbour Air, touching down a mere 30 minutes after taking off back home in beautiful Vancouver!

I honestly couldn’t have asked for a more perfect way to celebrate our 7 years together and to have a different and super special experience of the city. A big thank you to the lovely people at Hotel Grand Pacific and Harbour Air for making our weekend such a wonderful experience – could not recommend either of them enough!

I’m taking off to another coastal treasure and special place of mine tomorrow with two of my favourite girls – the cabin! Make sure you follow along on Instagram and add me on Snapchat (tovogueorbust) as I share the journey up the Sunshine Coast and of course, laid-back life on the cabin, complete with canoe adventures, local must-visits and probably me eating a lot of amazing food because a) that’s what I always do b) especially on any trip and c) my little sister aka Chef Extraordinaire is manning the kitchen.