Happy Thanksgiving! Things I was thankful for today…

Well, it’s Thanksgiving in Canada — so it only seems right that I share the 10 things I was most thankful for today…

1 My first sip of coffee. Let’s face it, the first is always the best of all of them.

2. That moment where you think you’ve eaten all the homemade bars/cookies in a tin, only to pull up the tinfoil and discover there’s a whole other layer underneath. Here’s to my mom’s unbelievable oat, seed and fruit bars… and the fact I still have a another row of them to eat!

3. I saw a bear and lived to tell the tale. Okay, that makes it sound more serious than it sounds. But on my bike ride today a young bear (I’m thinking teen years, or maybe the terrible tweens) ran away from me and I thought for sure mama bear was going to hunt me down. But I’m still here!

4. The movie Madagascar. Have you watched it lately? I don’t remember what I thought of it the first time I saw it but I just rewatched it and can’t count the amount of times I laughed out loud.

5. That I have family I am genuinely sad not to see at Thanksgiving. It might sound odd to say I’m thankful for being sad during a holiday. But I consider myself very fortunate to have family that I love so much that it makes me sad to not see them every day of my life. I know a lot of people are unbelievably stressed around the holidays to have to see family they don’t like or deal with critical relatives. So I think I’m pretty lucky to have a family I love so much.

6. That my mom went through all the trouble of putting together a whole Thanksgiving dinner just for the two of us. Now that’s commitment!

7. That my cat deigned to look in my direction long enough for me to snap this picture:

8. And the fact I treat myself to a fancy new camera that can take images like this:

9. My job. I am unbelievably grateful that I can choose to take a day off when I need one and that’s okay because I make my own hours. It’s a rare gift to love what you do and I should be thankful every day that I have such a gift in my life.

10. Pumpkin pie. It’s that simple. No Thanksgiving would be complete without it and I am very happy I got to have some today.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

The 30-Day Vegan Challenge

For a couple of years now, the concept of going vegan has been bouncing around in my head. There are many aspects that have always drawn me to the lifestyle. But it always seemed like too much. It was too big, too daunting, too restrictive, too expensive, too time-consuming… and on the list went. Could I live with never eating yogurt again? Could I turn down the plate of turkey at Christmas? I didn’t think so. So I kept putting it off. But over the last few months, every time my vegetarian roommate cooked dinner I thought… “well that looks easy!” And in her warm and inspiring way she would tell me about some of the documentaries she has watched and what she’s learned and things in my head started to shift. I took out books from the library. I looked up facts and recipes on the internet. As I learned about what animals endure to fill the needs of human beings — how cruel the methods are, how wasteful, how unnecessary. I was saddened. I was deeply, deeply saddened to know how much of a role I had played in their suffering. And I felt foolish at having pushed away my concerns or questions about what they go through simply because I didn’t think I could handle the truth. And with that new knowledge, making a change started to seem more doable. And most importantly, more necessary.

But it wasn’t until I came across the book The 30-Day Vegan Challenge that everything clicked. There was suddenly a resource that made it all seem within my grasp. Really, what can’t you do for 30 days? Especially when it’s something you believe in and want to commit to? I’ve commited to countless things for well over 30 days that I’ve had absolutely no interest in simply because I “had” to. So why wouldn’t I commit to something that I’m passionate about? And clearly there is no good answer to that question because I am now on day four of the 30-day challenge!

But despite how excited I am and how easy and fun and invigorating it has been so far, there is still something that has been nagging at me just as it used to over a year ago: what if I can’t stick with it forever? What if I desperately want to enjoy the Christmas dinner I’m used to? What if the dish at a restaurant that I really, really want has cheese, or eggs, or salmon? How will I feel about giving in? Now that I know all that I know about the industry such products come from? Seeing as I have 26 days to go, I can’t answer that question yet. I don’t know how I’ll feel. Maybe 30 days without animal products will make me lose interest in them all together. But it also may be the case that there are certain products I don’t think I can live without. And it may also be the threat of always feeling I am inconveniencing others when I go to their place and can’t eat any of the foods they offer. I truly don’t know what I would do in such a situation because hurting their feelings or inconveniencing them would greatly upset me.

As I’ve been reading The 30-Day Vegan Challenge I have been bouncing these worries around in my head to no end. And then finally, when I reached the very last chapter I was presented with a notion that changed it all:

“Don’t do nothing because you can’t do everything. Do something. Anything.”

Attempting to diminish my footprint on the world doesn’t have to be all or nothing. No one is perfect. No one can do everything. Someone may not eat meat but they may buy grains that have been cultivated by a worker who was paid next to nothing for the task. Another might bike to work rather than drive but buy running shoes that have been made by child workers. I might not be able to live a 100% vegan lifestyle forever, but have I done any harm by trying?

In just four days I have learned many new things that I feel will contribute to diminishing my impact on animal suffering for the rest of my life. For example, ground cashews can add the creaminess of Parmesan cheese to a pasta dish. And gravy can taste equally divine when made with vegetable broth as with beef or chicken. And tofu, when done right, can taste every bit as savory and decadent as the best cut of meat. And as the days move forward I hope to discover some other great alternatives such as coconut milk based ice cream and soy yogurt. If nothing else, living without animal products for 30 days will open my eyes to all the alternatives that are out there in order to help me reduce my negative impact on the lives of animals. I may never be the perfect vegan. Or the perfect person. But who is? All I can do is open my eyes to what is going around me, absorb the knowledge and do my best to live my life as open-mindedly and compassionately as possible.

Cheers to day four!

Gratitude of the Day: Living in a basement

Now, it must be admitted that I don’t always love the fact I live in a basement. When I wake up and it’s pitched black and there’s no way for me to know whether it’s 2 a.m. or noon. I don’t love living in a basement. When the power goes out and I have to resort to filling a pan up with candles while others could simple draw the curtains, I don’t love living in a basement. But when do I love living in a basement?

When the city has been hovering around 30 degrees C for weeks and my home — air conditioner free, might I add — is at the perfect temperature. This time last year in my second floor apartment I was sleeping on top of my covers, with the door open and the fan propped next to the window — so it could weakly blow some humid air in my direction. And to complete that picture — I was sleeping with my head at the foot of the bed just to get it that little bit closer to the window. It was also so hot that blow drying and/or straightening my hair, or, really, looking presentable in any way, shape or form, was completely out of the question. So that is why today, I give thanks for my glorious basement apartment.

And while I’m at it — that whole power outage thing I mentioned. Not so bad when you have an awesome roommate and wind up spending the entirety of the evening huddled around a collection of tea-lights gabbing away and eating various dairy products and fruit items (because after all — they could have gone bad at any moment for all we knew!)

So here’s to cool basements, awesome roommates and unexpected turns of events that wind up being spectacular!

Gratitude of the Day

I am suddenly very aware of a certain gratitude I don’t celebrate nearly enough:

That moment at the end of the day when you realize you have made it through all your work and what’s left of the day is all yours.

I am in said moment right now and feel it is only right that I take a second to be grateful for it. My day started bright and early, I went straight to work, pulled an 8.5 hour shift with a multitude of ridiculously frustrating situations, ran an errand, went to the gym, lugged a very heavy bag home (from the aforementioned errand) and sat down to work for 4 more hours. But it’s all okay because it may be 11:30 at night and I may conk out in 30 minutes but until my head hits the pillow — the night is all mine!

Random Acts Of Generosity

I started work today at 6am on very little sleep. I was tired and cranky and unable to shake myself awake when one of our regulars came in and ordered his usual. He never really says much – just points at the medium size and says “coffee”. But today he wished us a happy new year in Chinese and handed each of us a little envelope:

Which I thought was cute enough in itself. But then I opened it up to find a crisp 5 dollar bill inside. How incredible is that? Here is a man who I might see every day but in many ways we are strangers. All I know about him is he likes the medium size and all he knows about me is that I pour a mean cup o’ joe. And yet he took it upon himself to include myself and my coworkers into his traditions by giving us gifts that are normally only bestowed upon family. I feel truly honored. And can guarantee that the next time I see him – his medium coffee is 100% on me!

Everyday Heroes

I always try and keep an array of old Ellen episodes on my PVR for when I have some sewing or crafts to do because she’s full of light, funny entertainment. It was in watching a very old such episode that I came across this story of a group of people who lifted a burning car in order to pull out a motorcyclist who was trapped underneath. It’s so easy to get bogged down in all the badness that goes on in the world so it’s really nice to be reminded that when it comes down to it, human beings can get together and do amazing things. For all this random group of people knew, the car could have blown up at any second but they put that fear aside in order to save a man’s life. Wow. I can only hope that if I ever come face to face with such a challenge, my instincts guide me as well as theirs did.

 

10 Days Until Christmas

Well, there’s no denying it – I’m stressed. Not Christmas related stress – I don’t believe in engaging in Christmas related stress. I don’t care how many presents I have to wrap or cookies I have to bake or pounds of turkey I have to defrost in a minimal amount of time – I will not let holiday festivities turn me into a bundle of nerves. However, tomorrow is filled with consecutive stressful activities that I want to have go well and that makes me stressed. Not to mention, I have a tickle in my throat which keeps warning me that I have been pushing myself too hard and if I don’t slow the heck down and rest up, I’m going to wind up sick on the big two-five – which would be absolutely disastrous. So yes, my friends, things could be going better.

However, knowing that once I make it through tomorrow I will be surrounding by my loving family is quite the relief inspirer. And so to take my mind off tomorrow’s stress I am going to continue my weekly countdown by being a complete hypocrite and contradict everything I said last week about presents not mattering. Haha I’m kidding…mostly. Because today’s great thing about Christmas is…

Giving Presents!!

Still present related but in a very different realm than the getting of presents, I think. It’s funny because I can still remember when I was little asking my mom or dad what they wanted for Christmas and having them reply “It really doesn’t matter, I just like watching you and your sisters open your gifts”. To which I promptly thought – “Ha! I don’t buy it for a second!” But I will concede now and admit that perhaps my parents weren’t in fact lying as I once thought. Because it really does seem that the further I get from the days of Barbie Dreamhouses and Magic Kits, the less getting presents matters to me – and the more that giving presents starts to take precedence.

I literally dream about what my family member or friend will exclaim when they open the gift that I selected just for them and I do a little seal clap when I finally come up with the perfect present for that really hard-to-buy-for person. The visa bill slowly starts to stack up and the cash keeps flying out of my wallet but that’s okay because I know what will come of it is waaaaay more important.

So getting presents may not matter to me anymore in my wisdomous older years (I refer to myself as old since I was called “mam” twice at work today and can therefore only assume I have crossed the threshold into spinsterdom…I’m not bitter) – but giving presents sure still does. So get excited family and friends reading this because I’ve picked some real winners this year! And I hope anyone else reading this is equally excited for gift giving this season because it’s just 10 days away!!!

Hope for Humanity

Let’s face it – it’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the crap that goes on in the world. Which is why I think it’s so important to take note of those moments where you think – there just might be hope for us after all! Considering my work day ended with me getting yelled at, by a woman wearing sunglasses indoors no less, for not having a sugar-free cinnamon shaker at her immediate disposal – it would be easy to spend my evening stewing about how much people stink. But instead I’m going to pretend that moment never happened and instead focus on an encounter I had at 7 in the morning.

I had been up since 5am and, due to the appearance of a large foreign class trip, I had been toasting dozens of breakfast sandwiches for over an hour. Plus I hadn’t had time yet to grab a coffee jolt. So, needless to say, I was not in the best of moods when one of our regulars came in. Fortunately, she is my absolute favorite regular because she’s so cheery in the morning and eager to make conversation.

My company has a “just say yes” policy so no matter what ridiculous demand a person may have we are expected to make it happen. This is a great idea but it often means that the pushiest and rudest people wind up with free drinks and the best deals. So I decided to change things up and give this wonderful lady a free coffee. I didn’t say anything and figured even if she never noticed, I’d still get to feel like I’d balanced the world out a little bit. But as she went to swipe her debit card she exclaimed “Oh no! It only says 2.05$, I think I’ve been undercharged.”

What a kind and honest person! Considering I’ve experienced people running away with tip jars and money boxes for ailing children, it certainly is refreshing to have someone insist they pay for their coffee. When I told her it was on me today she couldn’t say thank you enough. I really think we both made each others days.

 

Day Zero Project

I have to tell you all about the awesomeness that is Day Zero Project. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s about creating a list of 101 things to do in 1001 days. I love the whole concept because it’s so much better than a bucket list or things to do before you’re thirty. It’s immediate. It gives you just under three years to accomplish 1001 things that you’ve been putting off. I made my list 100 things in 1000 days because I guess I like even numbers better or something. I started knocking things off the list on Halloween day last year so the fact that the anniversary of my project is just around the corner has me a little worried.

I got so excited about working through my list that I never actually finished it. I currently have 19 more items to add to the list, I’ve only completed 7 so far and a year has elapsed. Yikes! So if you have any suggestions of what should be added to the list – please share! I have plenty of things on the list – from baking a souffle to jumping out of an airplane – but I still need lots more ideas!

I really hope you start your own Day Zero Project because it really does help you think of all the things you want to accomplish in the immediate future…now I just have to accomplish them!

Why fall isn’t so bad…

I’m always a little bit saddened when fall starts to arrive because I really dislike being cold. I love that in the summer I can go outside in the same thing I’m wearing inside and not have to worry about anything. But when images like these ones surround me I can’t help but come around to the idea of fall.

Also worth mentioning about that last one – it’s a family of cows and when I stopped to take the picture the little baby one stood up, turned around and looked straight at me as if it was posing. Too cute!!

Fall colours are just so pretty and sunlight jumps off them so beautifully. Next step – get a good quality camera so I can capture them even better!