The weekend report

Well, I must tell you that my Thursday night was a lot more exciting then the rest of my weekend.

Toli and I made our way over to Nanaimo to stay with my close friend at her new pad. I feel like I see her more now than I did when she lived in the city (goes to show how 'busy' one can make their life when simple friendship is probably one of the greatest things in the world).


So today, its gonna be a short one. 

One very awesome tidbit- Thursday was Toli's very first ferry ride! We ended up playing at the top of the boat outside the entire time (which left him out cold for a good long 3 hour nap when we arrived- which made for great girl time!). He then awoke and made a cute little new friend whom he loved playing with for the whole of our stay!

** Mommy/ Parent tip** Do something NEW with your toddler every so often! I'm not a big fan of routine but I know its necessary for a child to thrive when they have things that happen everyday- but giving them a little excitement will stimulate their mind, and the side benefit for you (and them) is that they will have a really good sleep! 

He's also adopted a new "Auntie", he only has a couple other's and he's decided that this is what she is to him- so endearing how he chooses his relationships :)

And don't expect too much more from me than that today haha! Saturday I picked up some supplements where my friend works, and brought my son home for nap time. We had a lot to do that day like; grocery shop, clean the house, amongst other boring household chores. 

To my demise that day my son lost my only set of house/ car keys (which are STILL missing!). So we ended up sitting at home all day waiting for his Dada to come back from a fishing trip- UGH! Needless to say, as irritated as I felt I ended up taking some action and upping my liver cleanse by juicing some great vegetables for my liver- check out my Health Cleanse blog here . And yesterday was spent at numerous furniture stores, and Ikea- where we looked for couches, mattress's and other necessities for our new apartment for the end of the week. That was it. Sorry to be so uneventful this weekend, but that's how she goes! 

I'm hoping to stay up to date with my blog this week, but with packing going full tilt as of tomorrow I'm just hoping to have all of my ducks in a row for the move come Saturday.

Please bare with me, as I may be attempting to pull my hair out during this move :) Moving with toddlers is not fun.... but maybe he'll be used to it this round? I can always hope, right?

Recipe of the week: Quinoa Salad

This weeks recipe is by far one of my most favourite new simple recipes. I will say beforehand to cook a batch of quinoa (which can be used for days for salads, or breakfast dishes). I didn't have any quinoa pre-cooked, so before dinner time came, and while I was reading blogs I cooked 

• 1 cup of quinoa
• 2 cups of water
• a splash of coconut oil
• Himalayan salt. 

It cooks just like rice if you've never cooked with it before, so it takes 20 minutes in a pot with a lid. Once its cooked I will take the lid off, and use a fork to fluff up the quinoa before I let it cool a bit with the lid off.

After reading my blogs for the day I took out a nice big salad bowl, and filled it half way with salad greens that I had in my fridge.

                  

Next I took out everything I wanted for the salad

• 4 radishes
• 3 inches of cucumber
• 1 handful of blueberries
• 5 slices of turkey bacon
• 1 cup of cooked quinoa
• Extra virgian olive oil
• Balsalmic vinegar
• Himalayan salt, and my pepper grinder for some fresh pepper 

                  

Mmm, my guilty pleasure- turkey bacon!

                 

Here's my cooled quinoa

                 

                  

Once I chopped up my veggies, and cooked bacon I added it all to the bowl of greens

                  

I don't really measure how much olive oil or balsalmic I use because you either like your salad really saucy, or a bit on the drier side, so I'll leave that to your discretion. 

Salt and pepper to taste.

Here's the final product! It was incredibly yummy, and when I served it to my son he had a great big smile on his face :)

Hope you enjoy! 

                 

Health Cleanse

A couple of posts ago- I mentioned that we are finally going to be setting a date for our long awaited wedding!

As always, things move fast (although, not my wedding plans until just now), I've started this Self Care Series which will run for the next 5 weeks after this week (and also means I'm practicing everything I talk about everyday). We are moving soon, and also buckling in for some great life changes at home for the long haul (I'm talking buying our first home, and expanding our family). So a lot is happening around me as I sit here and blog about it. Oh, did I mention I'm night weaning my toddler? Ah!!

No need for stress, its time for action! I want to feel and look my best not only for my wedding (but yes, it is a major plus to have a date to push towards with some healthy lifestyle goals), but for my life. So what did I do amongst all this chaos? 

I started a liver cleanse.. Was it a great idea for such a busy and hectic time in my life? I'm not so sure about that, but I'm doing it anyways. You know why? Because there's never a time like the present. No, my liver cleanse isn't planned and 100% ready to go (I had such a stressful evening I didn't get around to my tumeric tea- tomorrow is another day!), but I did a little research and instead of perfecting, thinking, dreaming and wishing I would just do it already, I'm doing it.

I've recently been talking to a friend- who is in the nutritional field- about liver function. And it hit me after that conversation that some things needed to change so I could have glowing skin for my walk down the aisle! Because of medication that I used since I was a young child, it has not been good for my poor liver, add in a couple trips to Vegas and free booze in Mexico I think its time I said "hey liver, I love you too!", right? Couldn't we all show some appreciation for such a wonderful organ that is our basic detoxification centre? The skin will usually try and help the liver by expelling toxins through the skin, so its time to give all of my organs the love that they so truly desire.

Amongst other things, here are a couple of links about foods that cleanse the liver, how to boost the functioning of your liver, and release toxins

• 14 Foods that Cleanse the Liver
• 9 Simple Ways to Boost Your Liver
• Get Rid of Toxins

So far, I've started drinking warm water (half boiled, half cold) with half a lemon in the mornings before I do anything (other than make my son gluten free toast with fruit for breakfast), I'll also be adding more liver supportive foods as I go along. I'll be doing more as the days continue, but for now I'm solely focused on my morning routine of lemon water with a tumeric milk tea before bed (yes, sounds a little strange, but the liver absolutely LOVES tumeric- add black pepper for optimal results).

On top of that, from one of the articles above it says to do tumeric milk for 3 months. I plan on doing that, but for at least 21 days I'll be doing a good enough (for my lifestyle, and I'll be doing as well as I can with a toddler, trust me, I'll be happy) liver cleanse.

Here's my recipe with links about tumeric included at the bottom

Tumeric Tea:

1 cup of unsweetened almond milk
1/2 tsp organic tumeric
As much black pepper as you handle (I like my tea a little spicy!)
Honey to taste

Heat milk slowly, add tumeric, black pepper and honey. Once steaming, drink.

Voila!

• Tumeric Milk
• Golden Milk
• Benefits of Tumeric enhanced by Black Pepper

Sorry if this post is a bit lengthy, I think my inner Wellness Geek is coming out to show the world some love :)

This picture is courtesy of Anusorn P nachol/ freedigitalphotos.net

Mental Illness

You must've seen this one coming. I'm sure I won't be the only one who blogs about the passing of Robin Williams. The topic of mental illness is not an easy one for me to talk about, as I have a very close family member who has dealt with this illness since I was a little girl. And when the pain is so close to home, you know your going to be affected by that person, or from the illness yourself for an undetermined amount of time.

It is so sad that Robin Williams may have taken his own life (as stated from the media), because of depression. I didn't know anything about his personal life at all, but from his movies, and his comedy acts he was a bright and shiny star- but maybe he had some demons behind that act. 

There are a few mommy groups online that I am a part of, and they're all talking about the passing of such a great actor, but also that if you have someone who has this illness; to be with them, and take care of them as long as they need it. I personally, cannot agree with that. Even when a person has such an illness they need to want to be helped. Otherwise you are having your energy sapped every time you help, every time you take care and every time you listen. I'm starting my new Self Care Series tomorrow, and I still have at least 1-2 more topics to cover for the 6 weeks that I plan on blogging about it- please join the conversation if you have anything you'd like to add to the list.

The reason I bring up the Self Care Series is because there has to be a line of what is 'ok' for you as well. Yes, someone close to us may need our help, our assistance. And maybe we're willing to give it for as long as they need it, but there may come a point when you can't. When the help you're giving is draining you of your own wellness. That's not ok, because it will then affect your life and those around you. Its like a tornado affect if not taken care of properly.

It saddens me to know that he has passed. Like many of us who grew up with his movies; Aladdin, Jumunji, Mrs. Doubtfire (one of my classic favs as a child) to name just a few- he was very talented, and will be sadly missed by a lot of people around the world.


Rest In Peace Robin Williams, your light shined on a lot of people around the world



Please remember to 

Take care of those around you as much as you can, but make sure you look after yourself 1st!

As you will have nothing to give anyone if you are empty yourself.

This picture above was taken from my night last night. I'm not one to really talk about how the moon effects our moods, but I think this super moon really got me. My theory is that I was in a pretty damn good mood during the last super moon. Honestly, I tried to harness some good energy when the super moon was out, but I just didn't' have it in me. Yesterday was crap!

Please, lets all send out some positive energy to those around us who need it, and take a moment of silence for Mr. Robin Williams <3

The weekend edition

This past weekend was once again full of adventure. My fiancee is going to be away more often for work, so we took some time to just be together as a family before he left for the week.

I must let you know I'm sitting here in a little bit of a sad state because the house isn't as full as it usually is with him around. This week its just the two of us- mother and son.

We started off the weekend with a nice little bike ride- we bought our son a balance bike last year, and he is just starting to love it!

On Saturday we drove out to Steveston in Richmond, BC. My fiancee spent some time here growing up before he moved to Vancouver. Its such a quaint little town bustling with tourists at this time of year! We ate some fish and chips from a place called "Pajo's", did some boat watching, played in the sand, tried to teach Toi how to play frisbee, ate watermelon sorbet (my sons absolute favourite fruit at the moment), and ended off our Steveston day on a harbour tour around the water. My son loves boats, he loves water, and he loves the sunshine just like his parents do, so this day was just perfect day!

As you can see, our son had the time of his life! What were you up to over the weekend?

What I'm reading

Well, now that I've let you in on my little world here is what I'm reading. I will let you know that I do judge books by their cover. I don't know why. It's just a thing of mine. I love fantasy/ romance novels but if there is a half naked muscular man on the cover with a half horse body- I'm sorry, I'm not buying it!

1. Get Rich Blogging

Get Rich Blogging By: Zoe Griffin

This book is written by Zoe Griffin. I've recently started this one and it is absolutely inspiring! I almost didn't buy this one just because of the the title name- kinda cheesy but I'm glad I gave it a chance because she talks about all her little blips and moments of growth which I think is great. She's candid about her journey and is very interactive in the way she writes her book. I have a writing journal next to me when I read her book. 

2. Start your own blogging business

Start your own blogging business 3rd edition By: Jason R. Rich

At first glance, this looks like a text book for school. But it really is a great educational read! I'm going through the chapters and taking notes as I go along. I'm excited to get through this book as it's really going to help me become more professional with my blog. I feel like my blog is constantly evolving; I'm moving things around, doing more pre-planning, and learning more and more about social media everyday. I'm still building everything, and its nice to have a book to sort of lead the way as I feel pretty blind most of the time.

3. I love you rituals

I love you rituals By: Becky A. Bailey PH. D.

I'm still getting into this book, but I love the concept. Not only does it have great tools, and games to play with toddlers, but it helps parents to create healthy connections with their children. I realized a little while ago that when I was pregnant, and when my son was a newborn I was into reading about how to raise him, and what his developmental stages were. I'm very confident in how I raise him right now, but I think that there is always room for growth.

I love you rituals helps parents enhance children's self esteem, as well as helping families like mine who are very busy- to stay close.

4. Shadowfever

Shadowfever By: Karen Marie Moning

This is my guilty pleasure! Shadowfever is the 5th and final of a series that I'm completing. The story just drew me in! Its inspired by the HBO series "True Blood"- something else I'm kind of into. Its not so much about vampires, and werewolves- it's similar in a way but it has its own flair which is good because I kind of got sick of reading about vampires. I love a good fantasy novel, but there is only so much of something that you can read about!

Do you have any guilty pleasures that you read, or something that your really into right now? I'm always looking for something new!

Introducing: The Self Care Series

This image is courtesy of artur84/ freedigitalphotos.net

I've been wanting to post about this for quite some time. It just took some 'urgency' to do so.

After this weekend I realized how much more effort I want to put into myself. I don't know if you read my Monday post this week, but I had a moment with my fiancee (check it out here), and in that not so obvious moment of realization I knew it was time to put my foot down- with myself. I say, enough with the mommy look!

Here and there I make time for myself, but its not a routine. I don't make an effort everyday, and its something I'd like to do because I always feel good when I take care of myself. I feel refreshed, and recharged! 

This Self Care series will be split up into a few different posts, and with my new schedule I just posted for blogging yesterday (check it out here) you can come back next Wednesday for another addition. 

This week (after all my rambling), I'd like to start off by introducing you to the topics I have on my mind. I'd also like to ask for input as to what I could write about for self care- ideas are always welcome!!

• Week 1: Meditation
• Week 2: Exercise
• Week 3: Skin Care 
• Week 4: Hair (oh god- THE HAIR! Did I mention I used to be a stylist?)
• Week 5: New make up regime? (mine is about 2 minutes..)
• Week 6: ...help me out here ;)

Please, if there's anything you'd like to see me write about, I'd more than happy to do it! Is there something you've been wanting to do for yourself? Let me be your cheerleader, I can be a good one! I may have fluffy hair at times, but I'm working on it. I think I scared myself when I looked in the mirror this weekend, but that scare was for me to start making leaps and bounds for the woman I want to become. 

Becoming a mother has changed me. Not only is raising a toddler a sometimes hectic experience, but the last few years of life has changed me. In that transitional period I think I lost face- sometimes those moments in life are difficult, and you just forget about yourself, so I'll call this my 'polishing period'. Have you had one of those? This is my terminology, so don't go looking it up ok?

I might even Youtube this.... no promises though, but I'm considering it right now. If I don't Youtube this now, I'll do it at a later date after I write the posts.

Let the brainstorming begin! (please leave comments below this post after you have signed into your google account, or just sign in with "open ID" which is another option. Thank you!

The Weekend Edition

Hey all! How was the weekend?

Before I tell you about mine I have another announcement. I've been thinking about changing up my blogging week. As much as I love doing my Weekend Edition, I think it would be better suited for Mondays. So at this point, I will do

**Mondays- Weekend Edition
**Tuesdays- will be open for review of products if I feel I have something cool to share (if not, this day will remain open until further notice)
Wednesdays- regular Lifestyle posts
Thursdays- Lifestyle 
Fridays- Food Edition

** indicate new post times/ days

I hope this sits with you alright. Tuesdays just feel too far away from the weekend. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am keeping this post short as well. This weekend we spent a lot of time at the lake in Port Moody floating on the water, and tanning. But the biggest part of the weekend was saying good-bye to my future mother in law who is probably in Russia right now with her mother before she makes her way to Bali, Indonesia to live for an indefinite period of time.

We decided to take Roman's parents on a boat ride as a little send off. It didn't hit us that she was going to be gone (for at least a year) until the day came. I was pretty sad by the end of the night, as was my honey. We are planning on spending some time in Bali come January 2015 for a few weeks- so you can stay tuned for those adventures when they come. Next year brings much travel into our lives as we are also indefinitely planning our wedding. Everything is still up in the air on dates, but that's what we're shooting for..


The Burrard Bridge

English Bay- Gay Pride celebrations going on at the beach here

Driving to White Cliff Park

My beautiful mother in law has such a young soul! Very vibrant, and ready for adventure. I'm happy that she took the leap, and is following her heart. She's been to Bali twice, and wanted to live there at first glance. My heart is a little bit heavy as I loved visiting her, and the great talks we had.

So now that I've probably told a little bit of a depressing story, please help to lighten me up a little. 

How was your weekend? What were you up to?

Feelin Good

I was watching Kris Carr's Crazy Sexy Cancer trailer today. She is an incredibly resilient survivor of an apparent incurable stage 4 cancer. Most people will know someone who has either dealt with it, IS dealing with it, or may encounter it in the future. Apparently 45% of men and 41% of women will deal with this sometimes life threatening disease in their lives. 
(Stats here at Cancer.ca)

This is something I believe that with the right diet, lifestyle and mindset can either be completely bypassed, or overcome. I really want to see Kris Carr's documentary- just the trailer itself drew me in. I am not personally dealing with cancer, but I know, have known and will know someone who is dealing with it. Her mindset got her through and above any other method of treatment- she decided that she was going to live. I love that! 

But why does it take disease for some of us to begin to wake up to life? I don't want to have to wait for something detrimental to happen to me for my eyes to open. Why do I bring this up? Because how many of us have that unwritten or unspoken bucket list we've always dreamt about? Or that hobby that we just love to do that we "just don't have the time for"? 

Why wait? I've watched more than my share of her inspiring videos on YouTube (more of her that I will share in the future). Why wait until tomorrow to live your life? Why is "another day" just better than right NOW? 

I say, let's stop. Breath, and do it. Just do it! That's what I'm all about. 

What if we don't have tomorrow? In a way, it's a blessing to think like this, because if we're always waiting for tomorrow, when will our lives ever be fully lived?

You may think what I'm about to say is a bit silly- but I LOVE dancing! That's all I want to do. And from the Crazy Sexy Cancer trailer it has inspired me to make time to just dance, even if it's to ONE song daily! That's it! That's my goal right now is to get back in touch with that ultra creative, physical side of me and just let loose- even if it's just with my son. He's much more entertaining to dance with then bumping into drunk people at a club anyways :)

What is it that you've been wanting to do, but just haven't given yourself permission, or simply just the time to do?

This is the life

Yes, it's that time of week again!

What did you do over the weekend?

On Friday evening we made our way to my grandparents once again- I think I told you before how much we enjoy visiting them. We have been busy all week showing our place to potential new tenants... oh ya! Have I told you that 

WE'RE MOVING AGAIN

Yikes, right? Didn't I tell you that I would rather stay put for a while since it was rather hellish moving to my current dream apartment in downtown Vancouver not even 2 months ago? We haven't had a chance to fully move into my dream apartment because we know we'll be leaving soon. Its sad, but at the same time exciting as this time we'll be getting super cozy (which means shopping for comfortable furniture and accessories!) as a means to stay put for longer than a year in one apartment. 

My Uncle offered us his larger apartment for a really good price that we just couldn't say 'no' to. It is far from the downtown life, but it is something that we are so grateful for! Not only is it bigger, but we'll be able to really save up for this darn wedding that feels like will never happen! Finally! So over the next couple of years I'll have plenty to write about :) This next little while is a bit of a sacrifice in location and lifestyle (oh God, how we love the downtown life! But the downtown life is expensive!). 

So get ready for some home decoration blogs in the very near future! I'll take you along on the trips we make, and ask for some advice on what I should buy. I'm not an interior decorator by any means so let me know what you think works, and what are just weird quirky mismatches ok? 

So, this is what we did- RELAX and we couldn't feel more recharged for the week!

Daddy and I started our Saturday at the lake, sadly leaving our baby at home with the grandparents as he caught a strange little cold (remind me to get him back on his probiotics!)- he is better now though thankfully.

I spent a lot of time in the 30+C weather with my Gramma reading a really great book for my blogging career while jotting down a LOT of notes! I'm immersed, and half done the book now! Once again I mixed a wonderful 

Wine spritzer 

1/3 c wine
1/3 c coconut water (hey, I needed hydration somehow!)
1/3 c club soda
4 ice cubes

Let me tell you it was much better with a touch of coconut water for sweetness :)

Do you think I'm a bit insane for moving again? Sometimes I feel like this life of mine is a never ending adventure! 

Let me know what you were up to! I'd love to hear! 
Comment below the post by either signing into your gmail account, or use the openID :) 

Thanks for stopping by!

Just do it!

This photo is courtesy of thinkforphotop/ freedigitalimages.net

Today I'd like to share with you a little part of my life. I like to read- did you know that? I'm a major geek at heart, and its something my sweetie loves about me. Apparently he's 

"the cool one" 

and I'm 

"the geek"

My way of enjoying life is singing, dancing, reading and writing. All of which require me to never have to leave the confines of my cozy little home. I love my home. Its not like I stay home a lot, as living in the city makes for such a busy lifestyle. 

I'm out and about with my son constantly. But as an introvert my way of recharging is being at home- its something I've recently accepted about myself 

I am me 

Big revelation, right? Not really. I can't change me. 

This was taken on a road trip with a friend along the Oregon coast

Accepting this has given me more opportunity to figure out what works for me. I love writing. And apparently it shows. I've been approached for the third time to write a book. Its nerve racking! Its nerve racking because fear gets in the way. But if I really think about it, I blog. I share myself with people all over the world every week. So I'm negotiating with myself on a daily basis 

"If I can do this, I can write a book!". 

My goal is to sit down and make a game plan. I have no idea where to start. But I'm just gonna do it. That's what I live by 

"Just do it" 

If you've been reading my blog for a little while, you must know this about me by now.

I went to Mexico recently and in the spur of the moment I decided to jump in- literally. I have a severe fear of dark water. I have an issue with not having control over situations around me. But an opportunity came up where I was able to go snorkelling. I said "why not?". If I even thought about it for a moment I wouldn't have done it. What I'm doing with my writing career is I'm thinking too much about it- wondering how I'll "make it perfect", and where I'll find the time to do it. Not only did I snorkel once in Mexico, I did twice more after that, and my last trip before leaving was with sea turtles- the most magical experience of my life! If I had reached my arm out I could've touched that big, beautiful majestic creature in front of me. Its something I will remember for the rest of my life, and its because I took the leap. I will now jump into the sea of writing where I feel happy, and content. I love connecting with people through my writing, and I love talking to you. 

I guess this is also a thank you. Thank you for reading. Please follow me on Bloglovin'. There is a button on the left side of the page, right under "All about me". You can receive emails right to your inbox anytime I write new content. I'll keep you posted on the book writing too! With such a little ball of energy (aka: my son) I'm going to assume that my book will take some time to get through. I'm already working on my blog on a daily basis, and its not something I'm willing to put on the back burner, as blogging is my fuel for creativity.

Please keep reading, and I will keep writing. You have no idea how wonderful it is to have such a great, supportive audience. Thank you!

A day out with my toddler

Bah! Another one of those days. I was so bored I felt like I was going bonkers! Usually my son and I are set up daily with classes, or dates with friends, but because our summer schedule consists of a lot of family time we are sort of at wits end when left to our own devices. I should say I'm at my wits end. I felt isolated, and bored yesterday. But that's all about to change. I saw boredom as a great opportunity to change things up, so here we go on another adventure!

To shake things up, today we left the lacklustre routine of ours to take a ferry across the water to Granville Island and take a stroll through the Kids Market. I've been looking into activities to do in Vancouver, and my son loves boats so I thought he would just be thrilled! 

Even though we both felt the pinch of boredom yesterday, he still managed to make me smile.

Here he is in his Dada's stylish sunglasses :)

It was about time this duo got their groove back! 

Even though it was a rainy day, we still made the best of it.

If your looking for some activities to do in the Vancouver area check these out!

• Toddler orientated activiities
• All ages events

Now I'm ready to tackle the rest of the summer with my son- even if we hit another slump in activities.