Pura Vida

After what ended up being a stressful year, we've survived the holidays, made it through the January blahs, and I took a wonderfully relaxing vacation last week.

Through the holidays and then my birthday, I struggled when people asked me what I would like for gifts.  I've realized that I don't want things anymore.  Not in the sense that I'll throw out everything I have, but that I'm a good place in life.  I have everything I need, the things that I do buy don't necessarily make my life better.  The things I want now are things with meaning, things that are thoughful, things that show people care and are thinking of me. (Failing that - things I can eat and drink).  What I really want is peace, tranquillity, and happiness, and good feelings.

We just returned from Costa Rica, and they have a phrase there that I discovered perfectly sums up what I want.  PURA VIDA.  Pura Vida literally means "Pure Life" but it is used as a greeting, a farewell, and as an answer. It means life is good, everything is great.  A tour guide there told me it is the Costa Rican version of Hakkunah Mattatah.  I want to feel that sentiment every day.

So that is my goal for this year - to embrace that idea and make that the way I live my life. (Notice I set Birthday goals, not New Year resolutions?  Way less preassure that way.)

So how am I going to do ge there?  I have a few ideas, but this is definately not a final list.

• I'm going to embrace Yoga as an outlet for relaxation and meditation
• I'm going to eat more vegetables, cook at home more, and minimize junk and fried food.  (I'm considering a challenge to see if I can go one year without a french fry, but I'm not totally sold on that yet.)
• I'm going to be more considerate of where I spend my money, and focus on only buying high quality products that I either absolutely love, will make my life better, or will last a long time
• I'm going to spend as much time with my puppy as I can, and see what she has to teach me.
• I'm going to make a consious effort to drink more wine with people over good conversation on hot summer nights.
• I'm going to stop caring that my home doesn't look like an interior designer smiled at it, and instead appreciate that it is a reflection myself, my husband, our travels, and our life together.

Cheers to a happy 2014 everyone!

My New Wheels

It's about time I showed you these.  For Christmas my husband said he was ordering me custom Antiks.  So a few days later we went to Rollerbug to order them. It kind of felt like FOREVER for them to show up (It ended up being 10 weeks). But I knew it would be worth it.

TA DA...

My new skates!  They are pretty freaking sweet. I tell people that I was unable to choose one colour, so I chose them all.  The pink and green are metallic, and what looks like purple in the photo is actually blue.

I love these skates.  They hurt my feet a TINY bit on the very first day, but since then I've had zero problems.  They are super comfy.  The envy wheels might be a little bit too soft for my liking, so I'm going to play around with that for a bit.

Where in the world am I?

Ok I know I've been Mia for a while now.  I had a crazy two weeks consisting of a business trip and then a personal vacation. Got home with a cold that knocked me on my butt for another week.

But now I'm back and I feel like I have so much to share with you! More on that later though. Right now I'm starting in line waiting to get into the L'Oréal spring warehouse sale. Its invitation only and I was lucky enough to be gifted one by a friend who couldn't make it.  I've heard the deals are pretty awesome here. I'll be sure to show you what I get and maybe do swatches!

Follow me!

Just wanted to point out that I've added a section down the right hand side where you can follow me now through your Google reader. Make sure you don't miss a single post :)

Rrrrrrrroll out of winter!

It's here! It's here! My favorite part of Canadian Winter! It's time for Tim Hortons Roll Up The Rim to Win!

For those not familiar, Tim Hortons is a chain of coffee shops across Canada (and now some US states) and every February they hold a contest. You roll up the lip of your coffee cup to find out if you won a prize. The grand prizes are usually cars and BBQs, they have some other prizes like gift cards, but they also give away lots of food items and coffees too. Most times you see the all-to-familiar words "please play again", but I have in my time won lots of coffees and donuts. I think one year I had a 9 day streak of winning a coffee.

My love of this contest isn't actually about the possibility of winning a prize. Because I don't actually know anyone who has won more than a food item. What I love about this is a timing of it all.

The contest starts at the end of February and runs (I think) 6 weeks. And at the end of 6 weeks from now SPRING is usually starting to make its way in! Yes folks, to me, Roll up the rim to win symbolizes the end of winter!

So for the next six weeks, instead of talking about how damn cold we are we can now talk about how many coffees we have or haven't won.

I know this sounds silly but it gets me excited. I will fully admit I do up my coffee intake during th is contest. (I realize that is exactly what Tim Hortons wants me to do...) but it's ok. I'm drinking a decaf right now ;)

Good luck to all my caffeine addicted friends. Good luck fellow Canadians, and congratulations to everyone for surviving another Canadian winter!

 

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It's my party

So I was at this party where the host had invited 250 friends and relatives. There was lots of laughs shared and conversations had and for the most part it was a pretty good time. Except the host kept walking through the room with a megaphone saying a bunch of incredilby offensive things.

They would rant out their extreme opinions on whatever was being talked, much to the surprise of their guests- Opinions so extreme that they usually offended a large group of people who were actually AT THE PARTY.  Politics, religion, guns, even sexuality and race - nothing was taboo for this host.

Quite often the host was just ignored, but ocassionally when something was over the top, one of the offended persons would stand up and be like "I'm sorry but that is really offensive".  And the host would throw a fit, claiming it was their party and they could say what they want.

And technically the host is correct, except it wasn't a party - it was Facebook - which is kinda like a party. 

I have strong opinions on controversial things as well. But I will discuss those opinons with close friends, family, and like-minded individuals.  Sure I rant on my blog, but you aren't going to see me take to here and be down-right offensive to a large segment of the population.  Especially a segment that is apparently close enough to have come to my party!

When you say something offensive on Facebook, everyone at your party can see it. And what's worse, they can see when someone you've offended speaks up. 

Please people, don't be the person on a megaphone.  I do encourage you to always have an opinon, even if it is controversial, but please be cognizant of the fact that your opinion may be offensive.  And to those who feel that "if they don't like what I have to say, they can just unfriend me"... you know what.. I hope they all do.

I do beleive that we should all be able to speak our minds. But we should not be hurtful to each other. I think there is a fine line and people need to recognize where that is.

Finding your happiness

Last night I was in bed reading one of those Chicken Soup For The Soul books. As I finished reading a truly inspiring story about a dying girl with a truly remarkably positive outlook on life, I closed the pages and fell asleep thinking about how I'm going to cherish each day and enjoy living every moment while I still get them.
And then today happened...

1. I slept in
2. I realized I forgot to take chicken out of the freezer for dinner last night
3. The coffee I bought was not right
4. I had a frustrating day at work (I'm not blogging the details)
5. I bought a quilt block ruler on my way home only to get home and discover it was broken
6. The chicken didn't thaw out in the fridge
7. I overcooked the meatballs I cooked instead
8. I realized I didn't have any tomato paste left so my sauce was too runny
9. We are out of decaf coffee

Ok, so I realize that some people in this world have real problems and that mine are so minuscule that they shouldn't even register... But SERIOUSLY... Come ON universe.... Please... Not so much in one day!

I'd like to say that I'm going to start tomorrow off on a more positive note, but I have a dentist appointment. At 8am. I'll start the day after with a smile.

Good night moon.

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