In an effort to blog more, I wanted to breakdown my monthly Hayley Lately posts into weekly segments. Each week I will share some happy moments: what I’ve been blogging, reading, watching and doing in beautiful Vancouver. Let’s just call it my weekly gratitude journal.

♥ Yesterday I got to visit White Rock for the first time. It is very small seaside town south of Vancouver, and from where the food truck was parked we could see across the ocean to America. That seems crazy to this girl from an island nation. It was very pretty and peaceful, and I would love to go back in spring for a walk and some ice-cream by the seaside.

♥ I did my final Bali post on the blog for a little while last week. Check out my packing list, which was the first one I have done on the blog. Should I post more? Let me know!

♥ In a writing victory last week, I got a nice little payout from a couple of different companies. It is always exciting to me when I get paid for my writing, and it is that thrill that makes me continue to pitch and apply for writing jobs daily.

♥ I finished reading two books last week. Empire of Storms, which is book #5 in the Throne of Glass series. I love this series and would LOVE for them to be turned into movies. They include such an interesting mix of fantasy characters, with a very strong female protagonist.

I also read The Beach Cafe, which I would label a quintessential summer beach read. It was your usual chick lit, but sometimes that’s just what you need.

♥ Speaking of writing victories, I got published on the travel website, She’s Wanderful. Click here to view my post, all about my experience travelling solo across the United States.

♥ My friends and I visited Bon’s Off Broadway for Saturday brunch. The interior kind of reminds me of a dive bar you see on TV, but breakfast starts at just $2.95. It isn’t going to win presentation awards, but for the price it is a great feed.

♥ Last night, I visited Fright Night with friends. It is something fun to do to celebrate Halloween, as there are 7 haunted houses and 15 rides to choose from. However, I was a little underwhelmed as although we had to wait on average about 30 minutes to go into each haunted house, we were easily catching up to groups in front of us. I think this made it a little less scary. But we still had fun swinging and spinning on rides in the rain.

♥ I also got a third job, ha! I’ll be working for about six weeks over Christmas at the Vancouver Christmas Market. I’ll be working behind the bar, but I cannot wait to be surrounded by Christmas all.the.time. You know it is my favourite time of year.

For a pretty slow work week, I still seemed to fill it with a lot of fun. This week I have family and friends visiting, so there will be plenty of activities highlighted next week. Have a great week, everyone!

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