2018 Year In Review

Wayne Lapasa
Wayne Lapasa

Wow, this year has now come to a close.  Another one is in the books!   It’s time to look back on what 2018 was for me.   I wanted to take the time to recap three highlights in the last 12 months that really stood out for myself.

Dirty selfie from Shake Shack
Dirty selfie from Shake Shack mid-summer 😅💪🏻

Excercise

If you recall from my 2017 year in review post, I mentioned that I struggled to find my footing for hitting the gym.   I was in school at the time, I was working two jobs and lacked the passion.  Thankfully towards the last quarter of the year, I literally just sharpened my mindset and rededicated myself.

I took that same mindset into this past year and set a personal goal: go to the gym five times a week for 365 days.  That’s right…52 weeks!  Are you insane!?  Wayne…you’ve never done that before lol.  The process started in the third week of September 2017 and I’m proud to say that I achieved this for all of 2018.  This was no easy task given a few weeks out of the year I was travelling, with the odd week or two I also caught the seasonal sick bug. 

What does it take to do some sort of physical activity 294 times in one year like I did?   Consistency and lifestyle.  As I have said in the past, they are married to each other and you can’t have one without the other.   Pushing through the calendar year beyond the September 2018 target date also allowed me to extend my goal even further.  As of this writing, I am still going five days a week strong!

GQ for the night.

Hosting

Most of my friends know that I once used to moonlight regularly as a club MC/host.  I’m talking hosting everything from nightlife parties, to stags, weddings etc.   In early November, I was asked by my employer to be the master of ceremonies for our annual Christmas party.  I constantly refer to this evening as “prom,” the one night of the year where everyone in the company literally dresses up in formal attire lol. 

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Dear Summer ’18 Part 2

Old Port Crew
Old Port Crew

The second half of my summer adventures picked up pretty quickly from the previous blog post.   Now in the month of August, I continued to travel and took a few more trips to some familiar places.

Montreal – August 10-12

One of my all time favourite cities to visit is Montreal, Quebec.  It is roughly a six hour drive and me and my friends make the trek for a number of reasons.  Primarily we love to go for the food, the fashion and all the cultural elements that make the 514 unique.   It was my 11th time visiting and it never disappoints.

Basilique Notre-Dame
Basilique Notre-Dame

We rented this Airbnb loft that could sleep our crew of 11 in Old Port.   It was a very nice place, formerly situated in a business building with very modern touches inside the unit.  What was pretty cool about the location was that it was within walking distance of the historic Notre-Dame Basilica.  This cathedral has been around since the 17th century!  I was able to wake up early on the Sunday morning and attend 8 am mass.

The architecture inside is immaculate, so well crafted and visually astonishing.  Heck, I only knew the place because Celine Dion famously wed there in 1994 lol.  It was my first time going there and even if you are not roman catholic, I recommend you stop by and explore this magnificent church.

Le Bremner Chef Sample Dinner
One of the main dishes served at the Le Bremner chef sample dinner, mango with steak

I also had a chance to take in the fine dining that Old Port has to offer.   The first night we dined at the Vieux-Port Steakhouse and surprisingly to my friends, I elected not to order a steak (you’ll find out why later in the blog post).  Instead I had lobster linguine and it was alright, nothing special but nothing bad either.

The next night, four of us attended a chef sampler dinner at Le Bremner, operated by chef, TV personality and restaurateur Chuck Hughes.  It was my first time experiencing a chef sampler dinner and it was nothing short of amazing.   All of the food presented to our table was fresh with the menu being unique for that particular day.

The size portions were not grand, but there was more than enough food to feed our group.   After attending this dinner, you learn to have a greater appreciation for culinary chefs and the reasons why they use certain spices and ingredients in their cooking.  You can literally taste it in your mouth!  Click here to view my Montreal gallery.

MTL Boyz
MTL Boyz

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