Animal rescue of loyal pal in Japan

This video brought tears to my eyes. What loyalty and love this dog shows to his ailing friend.
I'm happy to see the update that both dogs are receiving care in nearby clinics.




I know there are many more animals to be rescued so I pray for them just as I do for the whole of Japan.

I hope you enjoyed seeing some GOOD news this Friday morning! I'll be back later on today!! Chow.

My story 27 years in the making

Happy Tuesday all!!

          Hope you had a great weekend. I was geeking it up this weekend for my exam that was on Sunday. The exam was easier than I thought it was going to be so that was nice:) I feel so free now, a natural high! Just in time for my birthday week:) Ha! Well my birthday is today but I'm celebrating all the rest of the week too! You have to do that when your birthday falls mid-week, right?

I don't have any crazy plans for tonight. Might just go out for dinner and have a couple glasses of wine:) A good friend of mine has his birthday tomorrow so we might be planning a joint venture for the weekend. Should be great times either way!

I've had this tug on my heart that I should tell you my story of where I came from and how I've evolved. Including a huge realization that came to me only yesterday!!!


The beginning

I was born on March 15, 1984 in Vancouver, BC. At 6 months of age my mom packed up her life and moved us to Penticton, BC. This is the place I call home. I was fortunate enough to have many family members close by and that meant oodles of cousins to play with since I didn't have any other siblings at home.

Me with my cuz!

Another cuz! We were very close and always got into trouble played together

I was a beach lover from the start:)

And this was where my love for sugar began....

Give me more!!!

Crash and burn!!

My aunt also ran a daycare so my mom and I would visit often and it was awesome to have a ton of play buddies.Since the cousins close to my age were boys I tended to join in more cops and robbers, tree climbing, and fort building adventures than playing with barbies.

But one thing was clear, I loved animals and would hang out with them any time I got.

I swear I saw an adult version of my dress at Betsy Johnson on Sunday:)

For those of you who don't know my story, I have never met me dad. He doesn't know I exist actually. I never asked about him when I was growing up or wondered why other people had Dads and not me. I was content and was loved by so many family members that I never felt a void.  I do want to find him eventually but I've held off because it's not an easy thing to tell someone straight up that they have a child they never knew about. I don't want anything from him, just for him to know that I'm out there. One day!

My mom, grandma, and me! Three generations:)

As I got older and became more aware of my mom and her struggle with chronic pain, I tried to take on some of the stress that seemed to plague her. I turned my feelings inward and tried everything to make the pain go away for her. Instead of showing love, I tried to be a logical, protective 8 year old. My stress had become so bad that we had to move out of our low-income housing. I had not only taken on the health stress that my mom faced daily, but also the financial. I felt judged on so many levels and saw the whole world pointing its finger at me and seeing me as "poor." It was then that we moved and my mom enrolled me in a program called Big Brothers and Big Sisters. My world was forever changed. I was able to experience things that my mom wasn't able too physically and financially. Annette had a hobby farm with a bunch of horses and a couple bassett hounds. It was heaven visiting her place! She even had some contacts and was able to get me some riding lessons!



It was lots of fun but my trainer was very serious!

Yet being on a horse with the wind in your hair felt amazing!

She took her niece and I to Disneyland too!

Life kept going! I got older and at the same time my self worth declined. I began being hard on myself and comparing my body and looks to other women that I considered prettier than myself. I found one picture in a magazine of this girl who I thought looked amazing in these designer jeans and that was the tipping point.



My last year of high school and the first year of university were some of the saddest times of my life. I totally withdrew from the people are me. I broke the heart of my high school boyfriend, stopped hanging out with friends when it involved food, hid and threw away food, exercised excessively, and stopped going to family dinners. It was a very lonely and exhausting time for me.

I never got dangerously thin but I was getting there. When I finally gave in and started eating something besides dried fruit and wine gums, I became angry. I thought I was failing myself. This led to entering a relationship that was severely controlling yet somehow supportive in my struggle, at least in the beginning.

I went through a hard adjustment period where I went from severe deprivation to overindulging. The same out of control behavior but in the opposite direction. I began to soothe my worries with food and this created a very powerful bad, emotional habit.

I was in my third year of university when I split up with Mr.Controller and he had me so wrapped around his little finger that he basically convinced me to get back together with him. After a month or so I finally came to my senses and left for good. It was very hard as we attended the same small university and even commuted together for awhile after we broke up. Let's just say it was a confusing time for me. He helped me to eat somewhat normally again but in an instant he could tear my self esteem apart with his words.

With time I gained the confidence to ignore him and not feel guilty. But I did this by drinking and partying a lot more than usual. I wasn't going completely party crazy but I felt free and partying made me forget everything that had happened over the past 6 months.

It was during my 4th year university that I met Ryan right smack in the middle of the party phase. I was getting a better grip on my eating and figuring out how to eat in a balanced way.

Ryan's first visit to Kelowna where I was living and attending UBC Okanagan

I moved to the coast after dating 1.5 years long distance. I finished up the remaining art credits online and finally graduated in 2007 with BSc. in biology.

Life was pretty good after I graduated . I found a descent job, lived near a vibrant downtown, and my relationship was becoming pretty serious.

Then this....

We got engaged on September 1st 2007 and then August 30th 2008 we got hitched

After we got married there was another adjustment period and times were rocky for awhile. Eventually we both adapted and learned a few things about ourselves along the way.

I became vegetarian in October 2008 and found myself withdrawing like I did when I was suffering from my disordered eating. I didn't want the questions or the looks when I had to explain to others that I didn't eat this or that. I basically was afraid to be myself and thought others wouldn't accept me.

I really struggled with my fears and shed a ton of tears because of it. I truly thought I couldn't be different.  Again I slowly came out of my shell and began joining friends in situations that involved food. I learned how to respond kindly to questions or reactions.

I had never felt more free than when I stopped resisting who I was!!

My bestie and me on a lake near Edmonton Alberta in March

We bought a house, Ry went to school, and work chugged on. My confidence levels were pretty high during this time and life was good. Once we returned from the Nelson, BC where Ry went to school, there was this shift that started out slowly but has built. I began focusing on my weight and how I looked in the mirror. I was disappointed and saw every flaw possible.Yet, I knew that going the deprivation route was not going to happen, I wouldn't allow it. So, I ate more to soothe my emotions which has led to where I am now. This vicious cycle where the mirror looks okay one day, another day not so much.

Always telling myself I didn't look good enough.

Then yesterday I received three separate emails that basically said the same thing.

 It was like a slap in the face, an instant wake up call.

"When we tell ourselves that we are a certain way, we synergistically do things to keep ourselves in that box in both negative and positive ways. Our body will believe ANYTHING we tell it. So someone who tells herself: “I cannot lose the fat on my stomach” will also do things to fulfill that prophecy." Jenna Phillips

This is me to a T! When I read Jenna's words it hit home big time.

I had fallen out of love with MYSELF. I had separated my body from my mind and made it seem like that was another person staring back at me in the mirror. I judged like no tomorrow. Yet I kept myself in this place for some reason.

After reading those three emails I felt lighter, like a weight had been lifted off my shoulder and the pressure was off. I had my weight on my mind so often that I wasn't enjoying life like it should be enjoyed. After witnessing the tragedy in Japan I felt embarrassed that I was focused on something so minuscule in this life.

I feel like this was a huge turning point for me! Life changing for sure:) 



So there's my story in a nutshell:) Hope you didn't mind such a long read:)

Have you ever read something or seen something that caused an ah-ha moment? 

 

Have a wonderful day everyone! I'm off to get my sweat on and then it's dinner. I'm thinking Indian:)

Tragedy in Japan

Hello Everyone!

            I'm sure you know by now the devastation that has and is still hitting Japan. If you have not heard, a shocking 8.9 magnitude earthquake rocked this island nation. This in turn cause a tsunami to pound the shorelines and cause enormous destruction. Not only has Japan had to face the tsunami, a tsunami warning was sent out to the entire Pacific Basin. Even in Tofino which is on the west side of Vancouver Island, a weather watch was posted.

I watched a few videos of the tsunami and it's destructive path. The quake and the tsunami so incredibly powerful. Mother nature makes us look so small in comparison to her strengths.

I reach out and pray for Japan and all the nations affected by the tsunami. For those that have family and friends in Japan, I pray they are safe.

Angela mentioned how events such as these put things in perspective for us. The guy who cut you off this morning, your boss pissing you off, the kids making a mess...these are all so small in the scheme of things.

Now I don't usually bring up spirituality on my little blog but I feel the need to say something.

I believe that good can come from this suffering Japan is facing. I believe they can come together as a nation and help those in need. I believe they can rebuild and replace the material things that were lost. I believe those that passed away will not be forgotten. I believe it helps the world to be more compassionate. I believe it unites the world and shows love for a nation that we most likely don't even think about.

I know I don't need to say it but this is my little space to say what's on my mind. If you don't agree that's fine and I respect that but please don't hate, okay?


Have a great weekend everyone! I'm off to study and then write my exam on Sunday. Wish me luck:)

To all the ladies plus weekend eats

Happy International Women's Day and Mardi Gras!!

         2011 marks the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day!! This years theme is :

Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women

I am so fortunate to live in a country that respects women and provides us with equal rights. Some would argue that statement but I feel compared to many other countries, women have it pretty good in Canada (for the most part).

I am not afraid to express my religious beliefs
I'm not afraid to disagree with my husband
I can apply for any job that I want to
I can go to school to become anything I want to be
I can express my views publicly as I do on this blog

You forget sometimes how different things could be for you as a women in another country that does not have equal rights. Yet, I'm not naive enough to think that abuses against women don't exist where I live, because they do and it's absolutely terrible.

So, to all my ladies out there I love you all!! You bring such light to the world. You bring strength, beauty, and wisdom. You have so much to give...and you deserve to live a life full of love and respect!

And pass that respect on to other women. Women can be cruel to each other!! We compare ourselves to others, hate others who have more ____ (insert: money, success, sexy body, happiness etc). Then we commit something terrible..we abuse ourselves! We hate on our bodies, we tell ourselves terrible things, we instill fear. I know because I do this myself!

I have no problem respecting and loving all the women in my life yet, I have a hard time building myself up. Ironic wouldn't you say?  I think it's time I buy myself some post-its and start operation beautiful in my house!

Anyone celebrating Mardi Gras? Oh how I would love to be partying it up in New Orleans. One year I will have to make my way down there. I think it would be a blast!

Okay so now onto the weekend! It was pretty good. Hung out with friends Friday night and Sunday. Saturday ran errands and watched a movie. Sunday we also went to the BC Home and Garden Show which was a lot of fun. Lots of dreamy ideas for renovating and styling your home and garden. One of the coolest ideas was a pond pool. It's a pool that looks like a pond but has no added chemicals. Their booth had some pretty impressive designs.

Now looking back at the treats I've indulged over the past couple weeks..eek!

This cake was made by my aunt and it's called blata kuchen or layer cake!

 

Oh my this was so good!!! In between layers of dough is a pudding. Mmm mmm!

 

These were Meghan's crispy brown rice treats. Although basically it is a mix of rice cereal, pumpkin seeds, shredded coconut, chia seeds, almond butter, and honey. I didn't have any chocolate..boo! Still some great crunch. This would have been awesome on banana softserve:)

I served it with some turmeric tea, another Meghan Telpner creation.

I added coconut milk to my tea but any nut milk would be great!

Sprinkled with some cinnamon and you are good to go!

Turmeric is an amazing spice! Check out my post on it here.

 

Then came the homemade apple sauce. That I made in...ooh..a minute! Just take a couple apples, place them in your food processor, blend away adding water as necessary, sprinkle with some lemon juice (prevents browning) and cinnamon, and that my friends is apple sauce! I'm not a huge fan of eating apple sauce on it's own but I love using it in baking as it helps reduce/replace fat in a recipe.

Then I used the apple sauce in Nelly's banana bread recipe! Yum!!! I added chocolate chunks and then had a warm piece with coconut butter. Divine!!

Just to be clear I didn't eat all that this weekend. The goodies have been spread out over a few weeks:)

Shopping! Saturday I ran around to 4 different stores to gather some staples.

The goodies in the green box was from Costco. We recently signed up for a Costco card and are going to try it for a year to see if it's worth it.

This week I picked up Bob's Mill spelt flour, frozen blueberries, and a tub of dates (Thanks Kris)

Some other items I sometimes pick up are packs of sprouted bread, quinoa, organic greens and spinach, organic tofu, frozen veggies, and movie passes)

Do you have a Costco card? Do you think it helps with your food budget?

It's too early to tell for me.

Second stop! Local health food store where I get the best deal on Vega Whole Foods Optimizer.

 I also splurged on some Daiya cheese, miso, and coconut milk:)

Third stop! My favorite grocer, 2 EE's Farm Market. This week it was 4 bags of veggies and fruits!!

 I don't shy away from buying reduced veggies and fruits. I got a full bag of apples for $1.60 that I used for apple sauce and juicing. I make a judgement call if it's worth it or not. Bananas are always a great deal when they are over-ripe. I bought a bag, took the peel off, and placed them in the freezer for softserve. It probably costs me $ 0.50 to make softserve. I don't think Ben and Jerry's can compete with that:)

The fourth stop was to pick up kitty litter and food so nothing exciting to show you there.

Speaking of kitties, the boys wanted to say hi!

Oddie's getting big, big, big

Oddie is going to approach at lightening speeds..soon. Hence the yoda ears!

Such a little monkey!!

I also wanted to share a little about what my better half does for work. He works with a lot of wood and metal creating beautiful staircases like the one below. This was his first spiral work and I think it's so stunning I just needed to share|

This has taken weeks as he had to measure every angle in order to make it fit perfectly. No pressure, hey?

I'm so proud of him for conquering his fears and taking on such a tricky project!

Have a wonderful Tuesday everyone!! I'm off for a train run then it's study time for me.

PS My girl Nelly is having a CSN stores giveaway so be sure to check it out!

Fueling up!

Happy Friday everyone!

 Long time no see, hey? This week was intense for me. So much going on!!

Doctor visit (it had been two years since I had a date with the blue paper robe..eek!)
Blood testing/skin testing for school ( Serious testing including TB, HIV, Hep C, and Hep B)
Travelling to the US for work
study, study, study

Deep down I do kind of like the craziness but only for a little while:)

Yesterday I made a commitment to myself to leave the house and go to the library to study where there would be no distractions. I'm finding myself giving in to watching TV with the hubby or cook or do anything else BUT study. Library to the rescue!

I managed to get in 3 1/2 hours of solid book time. I left with a bounce in my step! It felt great to really grind through some of the dry material. Plus after 7pm I was pretty much the only person in the library.

But before I took off to the library I had to get my nutrition in! I made a quick stop for some dates and then got down to business.

Remember my wheatgrass babies?

All grown up:)

I used one whole tray of wheat grass (not as thick as the stuff in the pict), carrots, celery, cucumber, parsley, apple, and ginger. Awesome!! I'm very obsessed with juices lately.

My juicer doesn't do a great job juicing the wheatgrass so I think it's time I invest in a separate juicer specialized for wheatgrass, Any suggestions?

Chia pudding with 1/2 banana, a few cashews, chocolate hemp protein powder, splash of mylk, and cinnamon

And these chocolate covered carrot cake protein bars. Recipe to come! I just need to tweak it a bit.

Out the door with delicious food in hand in under 30 minutes:)

This morning I switched schedules and started at 9am instead of 7am. So I took advantage of the extra time and snuck in a workout. First I had a date with Jillian and then ventured outside to the beautiful, but frosty morning. I walked to the nearby elementary school and ran intervals on the crispy field. The sun came out for a brief visit too which I LOVED.

Oh morning workouts how I love thee! It was a great way to start a Friday.

Have a great weekend everyone! One more week of craziness and then I can relax a little. I sure hope to increase my 1 post record from this week though:(

XOXO



Digging a little Deeper

Howdy folks!! Happy Friday. I do not remember Mon, Tues, or Wednesday...it's all a blur. It is fun when the end of the week feels like a Tuesday:)

I'm not just crazy at work, I've got my organic chem final in two weeks. Eek!! I'm trying to start early and avoid the major cram sessions that I usually ended up doing in university. It's good practice as I will not be cramming for ND school.

Being organized is a big help too!! I took a couple of hours and organized everything into this binder for easy access. I love it already! I'm not done "tabbing" everything yet but once I'm through it's going to be perfecto!! Hopefully this will lead to a near "perfecto" final:)


This is a whole different ball game. People's HEALTH are at stake and so I really need to get into a habit and a studying flow that works for me. I have a few things in mind already and so once it gets closer ( only 193 days!!! Yes, I checked:) to the start I'll lay out my plan!

Alrighty so today I wanted to share some food goodies with you and have a chat about my blog content.

Wa-bam!! Yes, this thing is actually edible! It's a breakfast cookie from the lovely fitnessista. This breakfast rocked my world. You're probably thinking, that big blob got your all riled up? Why yes, it's true.

I love the consistency (you know that's a big deal) and how customizable it is. Oh and it's delish too:)

My cookie :

1/3 cup buckwheat groats, ground into a flour
1 full scoop chocolate hemp protein powder
cinnamon
1/4 cup almond milk
1/2 banana
1 tbl raisins
1 tbl chia seeds
Vanilla
unsweetened coconut

I'm excited to try out different combos! Have you ever made Gina's breakfast cookie?

These beauties were made on Valentine's attempt #2!! As you can see I was impatient and didn't wait until it was completely frozen. Yum!!

The filling had almond butter, chia seeds, bee pollen, half scoop protein powder, unsweetened coconut. These were divine.

I know Nelly made some chocolate love too. Hi doll!!

Brain food!! I love mixing my foods together. I'm the one at the table on thanksgiving mixing the corn, peas, sweet potatoes, and whatever there is into one big mess..amazing!

The above has kale, cucumber, peppers, peas, avo, chickpeas, pickled beets, sauerkraut, and left over roasted veggies. I topped it off with an interesting dressing, if you want to call it that.

Trust me it's delicious! Just mix a tablespoon tahini with 1/2 cup salsa. I love it with salads (plus a dash of balsamic!) and with roasted veggies.

Dessert was protein pudding! 1 avocado, 1/2 cup blueberries ( I used frozen), carob or cacao to your liking, 1/2 scoop protein powder, stevia, water, and a touch of Cinnamon. Topped with shredded coconut and cacao nibs:)

There you have it, a sugar-free dessert to try out this weekend!! I guarantee you will love it:)

Now for some green!!

What's that under those paper towels?

Or under the grow light at work:)

 I work in the horticulture industry just in case you were wondering!

Wheatgrass babies!!! I am so ready for some fresh wheatgrass juice.

I did a post on the easy process to grow your own wheatgrass..no grow light required! Check it out!

PS I am quite amazed at the difference in growth between the wheatgrass grown under natural light (sunlight) versus the grow lamps. The wheatgrass under the grow lamps is double the size to that of the natural light babies. Interesting hey?

Watching these sprouts take off has me itching to start gardening again!  Or maybe it's all the seeds we just received for the garden at work.

All organic or heirloom seeds...sigh:)

This Weeks Goal

I've been bodyrockin' this week and it's been fun. Yet I feel sometimes that it's not enough. I don't have the strength that Zuzana and so I can't get in a ton of reps. I know it is still rocking my body pretty hard but I think the workouts need to be included along with a resistance program that uses some weights. That's my opinion, anyways. Also I'm a little nervous during her workouts as there is a lot of jumping and it's a lot of impact on my knees. I've been pretty good lately but a couple months back when I was only doing bodyrock workouts consistently for weeks my left knee starting going out again. When I was doing resistance training with weights along with HIIT, I rarely had an incident. So, I think the bodyrock workouts aren't a good workout for me to do everyday. But they definitely will be in my workout arsenal.

Besides that I've been enjoying my week and have discovered one of my favorite exercise combos to date:

Rollover Comando pushups

I'm amazed at how much stronger I am now compared to a few months ago. Progress, baby!!

Blog Content

Okay I want to be completely honest, I feel like I've been just going with the motions and have not really pushed my little blog to the place where I envisioned it to go. I'm not talking about being "famous" on the sphere, I'm talking about creating content that is more than my weekend or endless salad combos. I want conversation, I want to share new things with you that I learn, talk more about issues that I'm truly passionate about (besides food that is:). I know right now it's a crazy busy time for me but in a few weeks my exam will be over and work will have settled down into a more manageable pace.

So watch out folks, I'm going to be digging a little deeper in regards to content and getting my creative juices flowing again. It will always be fun though because that's the way I want it to be!

PS Katie shared this super cool website today on her blog..so much fun! It's called Wordle. Seriously..you have to check it out. I've been looking for something like this as wall art using my wedding vows:)

Here's mine after I entered in my blog URL:

Fun hey? I used "organic carrot" for the colors and "grilled cheese BTN" for the font! I see myself spending some quality time on this site for sure:) Yes, it's free folks!

Love you guys!!

Hope you have a rocking weekend and do tons of fun stuff.

I'm off to visit my grams and some other family. Then Saturday is all business, chemistry business that is. Sunday I have a baby shower to go to but I'm sure I'll be fitting in some fun stuff in between:)

It's March next week...yay!!!