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!

Gratitude of the day: Not being a teenager anymore

Sometimes when I’m down I feel compelled to make a list of all the things I’m grateful for. The list is usually quite serious and introspective — filled with thing like “my family” and “having a safe home”. But today I would like to express my gratitude for something far simpler — not being a teenager anymore.
All it took was a gaggle of adolescents getting on the subway next to me to make me realize how grateful I am to be done with that part of my life. Normally when I see a group of teenagers yelling across a streetcar or smoking on the corner of school grounds I roll my eyes and struggle to suppress my irritation. But something about this particular lead me to a revelation of how happy I am not to be in that age bracket anymore. Clawing for attention, desperate to understand who they are, wishing they felt they fit in, questioning each and every decision they make because the whole notion of “just be yourself” makes absolutely no logical sense, feeling they have to buy this electronic or that purse because they can’t possibly be cool without it, pushing to get in a comment so they can establish they have a place in the crazy world that is high school. Man. Did that ever suck!
Lately magazines are filled with celebrities saying they feel better than ever at 30, at 40, at 50 — whatever age it is — my gosh, it has to be better than 13 through 18. You couldn’t pay me to relive that ridiculous insecurity and self doubt. I’m not saying I radiate self love and confidence every second of the day, but I certainly feel a whole lot better about myself than I did five years ago and that is something to be truly grateful for.

Treating yourself to something you really need

You know what’s a beautiful moment? When you finally decide to invest in something that you really really need. Like when you’ve been walking around in a pair of shoes with a hole in them for months and then finally take the plunge and buy yourself a new pair. Or when your hair is getting so long that it’s a tangled, frail mess and you manage to make it to the hairdresser for the cut of a lifetime. For me, the luxurious purchase I made was a brand new bed.

After sleeping on a single-sized half a century old bed for three years I finally took the plunge and bought myself a glorious new one. It’s a double, it’s pillow-top and it’s 100% magnificent. I can’t help but get into it at night and feel a little bit of joy wash over me (and perhaps a note of relief that my years of sleeping on a board are behind me). Granted, I am still in need of a headboard as lacking in one has caused a slight kink in my neck. But still – this is one investment I know I will be reaping the rewards of for years to come. So if there’s something you’ve been meaning to buy but have been putting off – quit it! Get out there and treat yourself!

I’m back!!

I have something to confess.

When I began this blog almost a year ago (tomorrow will be the 11 month anniversary) — I set out with somewhat of a secret goal. My goal was simple: I wanted to never have to write an I-apologize-for-my-absence post. You know the ones… they’re all over the blog-o-sphere. People get busy with work, and life and forget all about their wee old blog and then a week or a month or a year later they return and apologize for the time they’ve been away and plan to refocus on their blog. I never wanted to have to write such a post. However, an even less ideal situation would be to be one of those people that gives 110% to their blog for months and then seems to disappear into thin air. I would far rather be the former than the latter. And so here I am.

Now, it must be explained that my absence was for good reason. I have two big passions in life. Acting and writing. And by some crazy turn of fate, some foolish but amazing people decided I just might be able to take a stab at doing those things professionally. With all the professional writing I was doing, I was spending hours upon hours every day hunched over my computer. I loved the work but the spasm in my neck, carpal tunnel in my wrists and searing back pain were not such fans. However, I continued plowing on, loving every minute of it. But despite my love of the work, I am not strictly speaking, a technology person. I like to go for runs, I like to sew, I like to cook — and when I was making my money writing, I had far less time for all those things. And whenever I finally did have a small crack of time, I plowed into my favorite activities away from the computer for as long as I could. But that didn’t leave much time for this little old blog of mine. But now that I have gotten used to the hours of writing and how to sort my schedule a little better, I think it is high time I return to this wonderful project.

So, in the spirit of positivity, I declare that this is not an I-apologize-for-my-absence post — it is an I-am-so-glad-I-made-it-back post. My posts may not be as frequent as they once were but I’m going to try my darndest to post at least once or twice a week. Because, they are My Happy Happenings and there’s a lot to be happy about.

Glad to be back!

 

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!

My Very First Blogging Award!

I am extremely excited and truly honored to have been nominated for a Versatile Blogger Award. As an actor my friends and family (as well as random acquaintances and the occasional passer-by) have joked about the fact that they wish to be mentioned in my future Oscar/Golden Globe/Emmy speeches. And perhaps one day I will in fact be cramming an over-read, crumpled cue card into the cleavage of my multi-thousand dollar Vera Wang dress so that I don’t make a public spectacle of myself as I accept an award. But that isn’t a goal that I have realistically set for myself. A goal I have set for myself, however, is to entertain and inspire people with my blog. And this award means I have done just that.

To start off, I really have to thank The Rubbe for nominating my little old blog for such a lovely award. It really means a lot! I must also thank my family and friends for constantly allowing me to pause the serving of appetizers and sparkling beverages so that I can snap pictures of my creations. I also owe them many thanks for always inspiring me with a new post when I feel like I have hit a writer’s block. And finally, I send a huge thank you out to each and every reader who has stumbled across my blog. Whether you came for a witty comment or healthy recipe, or even if you typed “nudist at work and at play” and wound up coming across little old me (yes my friends, wordpress does let us know that) I send you a big thank you for your many visits and wonderful comments.

The award involves 4 simple steps:

1.  Thank the award-giver and link back to them in your post.
2.  Share 7 things about yourself.
3.  Pass this award along to seven others.
4.  Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know about the award.

Well, item #1 has already been accomplished so let’s move on to item #2, 7 things about me.

1. It would be an absolute dream to me to make my living entirely off acting, writing and any other creative endeavors.

2. I LOVE buffets more than it is natural for any human to love. I mean – why would I want to scan a menu for a quarter of an hour trying to pick out the thing I want the most when I can just try EVERYTHING!!??

3. I want to travel to every continent and as many countries as humanly possible.

4. When someone introduces me to a new TV show that I like, I have a tendency to fall off the face of the earth as I attempt to watch the whole series in as little time as I can.

5. I will eat absolutely anything with sugar in it. Some of my favorite places in the world are Sugar Mountain and the candy section of the bulk food store. Chocolate makes everything better. One time I even ate an entire Betty Crocker cake mix raw, directly from the bowl – it was quite the accomplishment – not advisable – but an accomplishment none the less.

6. I have been admitted to the hospital twice. Once to get my appendix removed and once because my grandmother put rat poison in my easy bake oven dish and I thought it was candy. It wasn’t. This revelation was disappointing on many levels.

7. I love exercising with friends and family. It is so much fun to stay active and get to know people at the same time.

 

And now for my chosen nominations! Here they are in no particular order:

• Brunch For Every Meal – So witty and clever that I will in fact be baffled if she hasn’t already been nominated several times.
• The Pursuit of Hippieness – Great recipes, wonderful inspirational advice and even some creative DIYs. There really is something for everyone!
• Check My Pulse – A really honest and fun blog about a talented writer’s thoughts on fitness and nutrition.
• The Confidence Chronicles – Such an honest portrayal of one girl’s journey to becoming a more confident and self assured woman. Always entertaining and inspirational.
• Being Zhenya – A great exploration of fashion, style and DIYs. Lots of great tips and tricks!
• Frugal Feeding – So many great recipes that are delicious and affordable!
• Candicepeak – Lots of great advice on staying active and leading a healthy and happy life.

Thanks again to The Rubbe and all y’all. This award really has made my day!

Well it’s official…

I am in family withdrawal.

With the holidays being over, my family members have returned to their various homes that are scattered over the North American continent. I spent two weeks addicted to hanging out with them and now I won’t see them again until May – which is a bummer to say the least.

There really is nothing quite like family. Only with family can you get out of bed with hair that hasn’t been washed in days and pyjamas that you’ve been wearing for a week straight and not care in the least. Only with family can you act like a total goof and have it be celebrated (or at the very east – put up with). And only with your family can you debate, fight, yell, give each other the silent treatment and have everything be back to how it was the next day – because no matter how much you squabble – you all know the love is still there.

So, yes, I am in withdrawal. Yes, I wish I could be sitting around sipping coffee my papa made fresh instead of serving it at 6 in the morning at work. And yes, I wish I could be playing Wii Fit and Just Dance with my sister and her fiancee for hours on end. And it would certainly be nice to look down the hall and see my niece and nephew playing with my sister and her husband instead of seeing the mess of clothes I have yet to unpack. And as much as I love cooking, it really is nice to have a home cooked meal at the end of the night instead of spending over an hour doing it myself.

But I guess the important thing to take away from this sad feeling I am experiencing right now is how fortunate I am to have a family that I miss. Not everyone in the world is so blessed as to have a safe haven every time they head home and that is something to be celebrated. So even though I may not see my whole family for another five months – I’m just going to have to shrug off these silly withdrawal feelings and focus on the positive – that I have a family – and a darn good one at that!