Tuesday, December 23, 2014

YEAR IN REVIEW PART II

Onwards,here are the next twenty questions.

twenty-one. My most common mental state was probably nervous, I don't care much for change and this whole year has been change.

twenty-two. I went on a roller-coaster for the first time, which was the first thing listed on my bucket-list.

twenty-three. I don't think I have a favourite moment, nothing really stands out as the best. At the risk of sounding like a broken record all the "firsts" of Bean's first year of life have been incredible so probably one of those moments.

twenty-four. Taking better care of myself has been a major achievement this year, it is definitely still a work in progress but I think I laid a fairly solid foundation for it this year.

twenty-five. My worries regarding getting into Germany, getting a visa and all that jazz but all of that went over without a hitch.

twenty-six. I don't think I have any experience I would like to do over, I mean I would love to sit and watch Bean roll over, crawl, stand and such all over again but I have another eighteen-ish years of "firsts" to see so I don't think I will be missing out.

twenty-seven. The best gift that I received was the Canon S120 I got for my birthday this year, it has been great for capturing all of Bean's little moments even though I don't know how to use it all yet.

twenty-eight. I don't think my overall outlook on life has had an evolution, my outlook varies with each day from hopeful, to hopeless and everything in between.

twenty-nine. The biggest problem that I solved was how to get through to myself. I have always had changes I wanted to make but have never really figured out how to get the motivation needed for that first step but I think I have figured it out, mostly at least.

thirty. Again I will have to refer back to my standard baby answer, Bean would make this face, he would wrinkle his nose up and squint his eyes and then breath really loudly through his nose. He would do that at me when he was in his playpen and I wasn't paying attention to him and my goodness it was the funniest and cutest thing I had ever seen.

thirty-one. The best purchase of this year has probably been my black high-waisted jeans I just recently bought but haven't taken them off since. I don't know why it has taken me so long to own a pair but I am certain that the new year will bring in at least one more new pair.

thirty-two. I hate to think about changing the past, because if I did then I wouldn't be where I am now but I think maybe I would have done my work out on those days that I chose to stuff my face with nutella instead.

thirty-three. I deserve a pat on the back for putting my best face forward every day, even the days when I want nothing more than to lock myself in the bathroom and cry.

thirty-four. Playing with Bean, when we are lost in a game or when I am just watching him play by himself...I can do those for hours.

thirty-five. I think about my future more than anything, which I am trying to change, I need to be better at enjoying the present and not over stressing what hasn't happened yet.

thirty-six. I have really been enjoying learning German, my tutor studied linguistics so she is able to give me background information that I have found very helpful and interesting during our lessons.

thirty-seven. New habits I have cultivated: being more restrictive with my spending, making my bed, working out almost every day, writing in a journal (most days), better sleeping habits, washing my face every day, self-care habits (beauty and mental habits), and better eating habits (though I still crave chocolate like no other).

thirty-eight. I would tell myself to read more, and to not get so caught up in what everyone else was doing around me and to just do things at my own pace.

thirty-nine. I did a complete 180 in regards to my beliefs. Not that what I believed in has changed but rather I now feel like I can and should do something about my beliefs. I guess I went from being passive and apathetic to passionate and maybe a teensy bit more radical.

forty. Again, Bean is the answer. He has changed my life in so many ways, and he has made me into a person who feels worthy to live. He saved my life, there is zero doubt about that but he has also made me want to be a better person.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

YEAR IN REVIEW PART I


I don't know why all my posts end up in list format, but yet they do and I am not going to fight it. Anuschka from Into Mind wrote a blog post "Your Year in Review" with fifty questions and I thought I would answer them here. I've split it up into three parts so here are the first twenty questions, I've tried to keep my responses short and sweet because lord knows I could have written paragraphs for each question.

one. My move to Germany will be the moment I tell my grandchildren about, I have had a lot of changes this year but moving to Germany on my own was one of the biggest risks I have taken and so far it has paid off.

two. Three words to describe 2014: exciting, exhausting and enlightening.

three. I discovered that I am in fact a morning person, and that I am not nearly as apathetic as I thought I was when it comes to my beliefs.

four. My greatest achievement has been motherhood, I feel like people have been surprised at how I have handled that...I'm not sure how I feel about that but I am proud of myself and little family.

five. The best news I received was getting approved for my visa here in Germany.

six. I've visited many beautiful cities this year but my favourite is still Münster, Germany. It is a gorgeous city and I could definitely see myself living there someday.

seven. My most helpful qualities this year aren't my most endearing, my vanity has allowed me to be in the best shape I have ever been and my stubbornness because it has allowed me to speak my mind and raise my son the way I want to.

eight. My sister and I have gotten closer since my pregnancy, she always has been my rock but it has been even clearer to me in the last year.

nine. I've learned how to maintain a schedule, rise early and go to bed before midnight. 

ten. I am most thankful for my beautiful little Bean.

eleven. The book genre that best encompasses my 2014 would probably have to be one of the "finding-yourself" books, you know the ones where the protagonists current situation seems bleak therefore they must go on some big adventure to recapture their joie de vivre.

twelve. The most important lesson that I have learned this year is that perfection does not exist, yes I would like to "have it all" but there are only so many hours of the day and some of that time needs to be used to recharge.

thirteen. I have let go of the notion that things will never change, whether it's my habits or the world around me, I no longer believe anyone or anything is above change and that I should do my best to encourage my own growth and make an impact on the world.

fourteen. I can't choose five people that I have enjoyed spending time with this year, there have been many people who have helped me make this year memorable, I will leave it at that.

fifteen. No career breakthrough this year, seeing as all things career wise are on hold.

sixteen. My relationship with my family has evolved in the sense that I am now their peer, rather than just another one of the little cousins running around.

seventeen. I have read few books this year, I think the book "Bringing Up Bébé" by Pamela Druckerman really influenced me because it really put into words the way I feel about parenting, and it introduced me to a couple other new ideas that I wish to incorporate into mine and my son's life.

eighteen. My favourite compliment that I have received this year was that I look happy, no one has said that to me in a while.

nineteen. Some little things that I enjoy in my day-to-day life are smiles from Bean, his giggles and the moment I finally get to curl up into bed under my warm blankets.

twenty. I'm not sure what I have created this year, I guess I could say this blog has been cool but I am still not so good at it.

Monday, December 15, 2014

WOW


So just a little recap, because clearly twenty-fourteen hasn't been my year for consistent blogging

one. survived our first household stomach bug
two. decorated for our first Christmas together in Germany (and our first tree together)
three. this little Bean is walking, sometimes
four. and he had his first birthday
five. and finally I am still an aimless bored housewife (house-girlfriend?) who spends all her free time watching bad tv shows and picking up toys around the house

Maybe blogging isn't my thing, but I will keep trying. I have a few posts in my drafts but I keep feeling too self conscious to post because I feel like they sound more intense then I intend it to be... I'm hoping the new year will bring some new changes, I have some very specific goals I wish to achieve so fingers crossed, and hopefully I will keep y'all (my non-existent readers) posted!





D

Sunday, November 02, 2014

NOVEMBER GOALS + OCTOBER RECAP

I feel like every month seems to fly by faster than the previous one, but I guess that's just what happens when you get older. October brought the first bout of cold rainy winter weather here in Germany and let me tell you, even as someone who hails from a city called "Rain-couver", it's depressing. I guess the difference is that living in a small town with no transit system hinder my mobility as it is so that when it's rainy I am definitely not leaving the house. Oh well I just know now I will have to work extra hard to stay positive during these winter months, but I'm sure watching Bean learn and grow will be a great distraction.

Here is how I did last month:

one. Eat Better. Mostly
I still ate a lot of toast with Nutella, but I also began re-introducing sweet potatoes in my diet. We did a bunch of veggie filled soup/stews which were lovely.

two. Read at least one new book. Yes, only one
Yeah I had hoped to do more but one it was. I read #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso which I thoroughly enjoyed and will hopefully be doing a post around my thoughts on the book at some point in the near future.

three. Create something. Not really
I wasn't feeling super creative this past month, so I really didn't do anything in this respect. I think I need to work on some things within myself first before I can put my efforts towards anything external.

four. Establish one new habits. Yes!
Creating habits take time so I was extremely surprised that I realized that started (and stuck with) two new things this month, I began making my bed and I began writing in my journal before going to sleep. I've been following Leo Babauta's advice for changing habits almost religiously.

November Goals:

one. Clean a little bit every day
two. Improve my German
three. Be more in tune with my body
four. Read more to Bean

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

GETTING SETTLED: LANGUAGE


Moving to a new country is definitely an engaging experience, you are thrown completely out of your comfort zone and then you have to work towards creating a new normal in this foreign environment. Three months into my move I feel like Bean and I have settled into a pretty decent routine, our apartment is looking more and more like home and I can walking into the city now without feeling like everyone knows that I am not from here (not that they could before but irrational feelings). Before moving here I had very little exposure to the German language, the only spoken German I had heard before H was in war documentaries, films and the occasional satire on television. In school I studied French and Spanish, German was never even on my radar. I cannot say that I am picking up the language as well as I had hoped but at the same time I really have not been putting in the effort, I am seriously hoping to change that but for now here are a few things I have learned...

one. The Alphabet
The German alphabet is exactly the same as the English one, just add a few extra vowels and weird "S" thing. But my dear friend, the letters do not sound the same, here's a quick (and rough) guide to German pronunciation: F's sound like V's (not all the time though), J's sounds like Y's, W's sound like V's, V's sound like F's and Z's sound like T and S together. Do you feel enlightened, I know I do now!

two. Genau
This is probably the most used word in the German language, it means "right" but is generally used in all situations of consensus. I'm pretty sure in order to join a conversation all I have to do is stand there and say "Ja, ja Genau" and I'll be golden.

three. Just Sound Angry
Seriously everything in German sounds so harsh, what I think is an intense argument over the phone is actually just plans being made about visiting H's parents for coffee over the weekend. Unless someone laughs I genuinely think German people are being indignant with each other.

Okay, okay all joking aside, I really do need to learn German, if anyone has any tips I am all ears. It really is an interesting language and I am really enjoying trying to figure out how it works. I like that is has a lot of rules, and that it doesn't seem to rely too much on irregular verb conjugation (I'm looking at you English). Oh and the best part about German it's compound words.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

FIVE THINGS I CANNOT DO

While I am definitely trying to encourage myself to think more positively about things and to look at my flaws as personal challenges, sometimes I do need to remind myself that I am not perfect and that is okay. I don't have to be good at everything, I don't have to have the healthiest habits, the most productive habits and I don't have to be the best that I can be every second of everyday. These are a few things that I consistently fail at, and for the moment I am just going to accept them and still love myself regardless.

one. Exercise self-control around baked goods
Seriously, chocolate and vanilla beans have like a magnetic pull for me, H's family knows already that if we are having a cake with coffee you can pretty much guarantee I'll be having seconds.

two. Not binge watch The Good Wife during my spare moments
Folding laundry and doing squats is much more enjoyable Mrs. Florrick 

three. Cleaning poopy baby clothes
Shit goes right in the trash, he can get a new shirt I don't care.

four. Cooking simple meals
I cook for a family of four. Only two people eat my meals (Bean gets separate food for the moment) but I cook enough for four plates/bowls because H doesn't eat anything substantial during the day (don't even get me started on that) so he eats approximately three times the amount I do. I like a variety of vegetables and textures in my meals which requires a lot of peeling and chopping but sometimes I wish I could just throw a box into the microwave and call it a day (I can't, I am obsessed with eating fresh food, much to our budgets dismay).

five. Replying to text messages
This is the only one that I actually feel guilty about, I used to be great at this but since Bean came around I now one of those people who reads a message and doesn't look at my phone again for a couple hours.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

ONE HUNDRED DAYS


Four and a half years ago I was given a piece of wisdom that I have held onto to get me through all the difficult times in my life. I was in the hospital at the time and the psychiatrist that was treating me pulled me aside and told me it take a hundred days for things to be okay. He went on to explain how in a hundred days, a new habit (or habits) are formed and that in his experience after a hundred days things seem to hurt less. Maybe its because of new habits but what I took from it was that a hundred days is just the right amount of time to look back on things in a new light. Since then I count the milestones in my life by the hundredth day mark and today marks my hundredth day in Germany. 

In the past hundred days I've gone from excitement at my arrival, to frustration at my alienation, which led to some homesickness and resentment at my situation but now after the landslide of strong emotions I now feel comfort. I have a home here, I have a family here, I'm even getting a hang of the language (understanding how it works at least, I will not be conversing any time soon). I still have my doubts for sure but the hundred days isn't supposed to mean that everything is suddenly peachy-keen it just means that it hurts less. Being away from everyone I know and love hurts less, being a new environment hurts less, and even though I don't know what I am going to do here my feelings are no longer as dour. While this milestone was more of calculated risk then the free-fall I oft find myself in it does not make this experience so far any less impactful on the path my life is headed in, and now a hundred days in there nowhere to go but up or forward, rather to continue my metaphor.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

"SLBS" JAR



I spend too much time on the computer, not only that but I spend too much time on the computer doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. I am a stay at home mom so other than caring for my baby there is not a whole lot I can do during the day, coupled with the fact that I don't speak the language here and I have no friends means I spend a lot of time with myself. Essentially what I am saying is that I often fall (leap excitedly) into the black hole that is the internet in order to escape the feeling that I am doing nothing with my life. Well no longer! I decided to speak to my inner child  and ask myself what I could do to combat my boredom without sacrificing productivity but was also non-committal (baby steps okay), and my inner child simply replied "Stop being a lazy shit!"

So now I present to you my "Stop Being a Lazy Shit" jar (SLBS jar) filled with one hundred ideas of what to do to pass the time. I decided to put a variety of things, some broad, some specifics, others productive, others internet-y. As someone who has an amazing lack of self-control and motivation, a little strip of paper telling me exactly what I should do will hopefully be the push I need to eventually end up on a more productive path. This is meant to help me flex my creative muscles, get me in shape, keep my apartment tidy and help me spend my time doing things, instead of staring at my screen but without being a huge time commitment. Once Bean is older and can be left to his own devices safely I will have to get off my ass  and work but for now this will be a good little activity. Here are a few of my entries, if you are curious:


Tuesday, October 07, 2014

DISPERSED


Two years ago, H and I were driving back from Toronto after doing the big boyfriend introduction to my fathers side of the family over thanksgiving weekend. Two years ago I was living pretty care-fre,e studying at university, partying with my girlfriends, caring for my cat. If you had asked me two years ago where I thought my life would be, I definitely would not have guessed here.

Fast forward to now, Toronto is a few countries and the Atlantic ocean away, university is but a distance memory while my books collect dust in storage, my girlfriends all live in different cities (seriously, I think the most I have is two in any city) and my cat is enjoying his new family with my old roommate and the rest of the clan (one human, three feline) who took up residence in my old place. I guess as you grow up you leave pieces of yourself everywhere you go, within everyone you meet and it is incredible to see how far you can reach as everything keeps changing around you.

Last week a friend from university came to visit, it had been a year and half since we had seen each other (not counting skype) but our relationship felt the same. We went sightseeing, discussed art, drank wine, gossiped and of course, talked about boys but we also talked about life, passions, careers and starting a family (I got a headstart in that department). All the things that seemed so far away while we in school are now suddenly upon us, almost as if adulthood snuck up on us while we weren't paying attention but while we both have had our struggles we both seem to realize that the secret to adulthood is not to actually feel like a grown-up but rather to keep figuring it out each day. My friends all have different lives now, different cities, different jobs and maybe we will lose touch but we will all carry a piece of each other wherever we go and (thanks largely to social media) we can watch ourselves be dispersed far and wide.

Monday, October 06, 2014

OCTOBER GOALS + SEPTEMBER RECAP

September and I just couldn't make it work this year. I think I probably express a similar sentiment each year because I put so much pressure on the month to be great, so that even when it is a great month (lovely weather, lovely birthday) it still was not able to live up to my expectations. Externally everything went pretty well this month, H started school, I began my German class, we got a few more things to make this apartment feel like home but something was off internally. The two weeks of the month I battled stomach problems that seem to be stemming from certain food (foods, which I must mention, I have had no prior difficulty with) which has caused me to completely change my eating habits. The mental stress of that combined with some overhanging loneliness as well as trying to care for a baby with (mild) bronchitis just left me rather drained. October however is here, and the new month brought in a friend from home, whose presence has left me recharged and more motivated than ever...but before I announce my latest goals, let us review the last thirty days.

one. Try another new food. Yes
I introduced butternut squash a bit this month, as a pasta sauce, on pizza and roasted on it's own. I definitely think I'll be using it more often.

two. Excersise every day. Mostly
As mentioned above I was feeling pretty drained for the majority of the month but other than the two days that the elevator wasn't working I usually at least went for a walk with Bean, if not a full workout.

three. Tame my hair. Not even close
My lions mane will never be tamed, I'm slowly accepting that.

four. Read to gain knowledge. Nope
I didn't even open a book this month...but I did order #Girlboss, so I'm pretty stoked to read that.

October Goals:

one. Eat better
two. Read at least one new book
three. Create something
four. Establish one new habit

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

OFF TO THE FAIR






Despite my fear of clowns, rickety metal structures and all things adrenaline inducing I love the feeling of a fair, especially at night. During the day it is loud and sweaty and busy but at night the lights are magical and the crowds are not packed so tight so taking a little walk through the attractions was an evening must. I have lived here in Germany for two months now but this was the first time I had stepped out of our apartment building after dark, having a baby's bedtime at seven p.m. makes for lots of lazy, stay-at-home evenings so this was a nice reprieve from the usual routine.

Tuesday, September 09, 2014

THE SIMPLE LIFE: INTENTION


I am hardly a yogi by any standard, and actually until recently I was never super inclined to participate in the thought process behind yoga especially the idea of setting ones intentions. For me yoga was something physical, I wanted to be flexible and I wanted to lose weight but when I did not see the results I wanted I gave up. I still want to be flexible, I still want to lose weight but I have realized that if I want to achieve that with yoga, I need to participate in all aspects of the practice, it is only as that whole that it will be effective. I feel as though I am going through this, almost, spiritual awakening at this time in my life, where I am realizing and understanding why I am here in this moment, what got me to this point and what I have to do to get my life back on track and one of the biggest aspects of realigning my life is setting my intention. Now setting my intention can be my goal in life, my aspirations but it can also be what I hope to achieve in a single day, for me setting my intention is not just one intention but it is being intentional in every single thing I do. I realize this is super long introduction and that I still haven't gotten to the point of this spiel but alas the wait is over and here is the tie in... When I made the decision to work towards simplifying my life, it was easy to throw out my clothes, to empty my makeup drawer, to leave behind my worldly possessions but if I wanted to maintain it, to keep my life (and closet) clear and simple I was going to have to really figure out why I was doing this, and what it is that I am hoping to achieve.

My intention with simplifying my life is to relieve myself of burdens, financial burdens that come with purchasing disposable commodities, emotional burdens that come with the guilt of purchasing things that harm people, places and animals and the physical burden on carrying around so much stuff all the time. I am person who has too much going on in my head on a daily basis (something I'm sure many other people can understand) so if I cannot temper the chaos inside of me, then I can work on clearing the things outside of me so that at least some aspect of my existence is peaceful.

With my intention set I am just that much closer to achieving my goal of a simpler life. I do still battle with my materialistic desires on a day to day basis, some days my intention wins, some days my desires but overall  I feel as though I am headed on the right path. And plus with clear intentions it removes an grey area when it comes to decisions and therefore makes it much harder for me to justify that superfluous purchase.

Monday, September 01, 2014

SEPTEMBER GOALS + AUGUST RECAP

Oh August, the month before my favourite month of the year. The problem with August is that it is a month of anticipation for me. anticipation for the end of summer, for the return to school and then of course my birthday. I feel like August is just the means by which I get to September but I am okay with that. Now this year I am not returning to school nor did I partake in many "summer" activities, but nonetheless this month I anxiously awaited for September so maybe the fact that it is my birthday month had a greater pull than I had originally thought. But first, lets see how I did.

one. Read at least one book. Yes
Yes, but I kind of feel like I cheated. I was originally planning on picking up where I left off in the Song of Fire and Ice series, but that felt a little too daunting, so I re-read Go Ask Alice (which I finished in one night). I also read a book I ordered on aromatherapy, but that was mostly skimming.

two. Make a purchase at the farmers market on my own. Yes (yay me!)
I went to the farmers market twice this month on my own, and I got spinach, butternut squash, and parsnips. I didn't really use my German however, I mostly pointed and held up fingers but it was a start.

three. Try (and enjoy) one new food. Mmhm
This one wasn't too hard because I was already working on changing my mindset around food. Basically I was introduced to the idea that ones likes and dislikes in regards to food are more due to habit and expectations rather that the actually make up of the food, and habits and expectations can be changed which has opened up a whole new world to me food-wise. I have now integrated red peppers and zucchini into my daily life.
four. Keep my plants alive. Not even close...
My mother gardens, my father gardens, my eighty-two year old grandmother gardens, and yet I am blessed with the blackest of black thumbs...that and I can never remember to water my poor basil plant.

September Goals:

one. Try another new food
two. Exercise every day
three. Tame my hair
four. Read to gain knowledge

Saturday, August 30, 2014

AN OFF WEEK

(source: pinterest)

It has been an off week. They happen every so often, however lately they have been occurring more and more and I think it is because I have been trying to change too much, too quickly. I have three things that I have been working on trying to do every single day, the first being exercise which was going quite well until this week. The second was writing, I decided to go back to an old unfinished journal (something I had never done before, I tend to just start fresh) and continue on in it's pages and while it hasn't been everyday it has been several times a week...until this week. The last thing, and the most recent one that I added was drawing, and it think this is what tipped the scale. 

My hope was that here in Germany I would be able to pull out my inner creative, who has been largely kept under wraps since my gloomy adolescence, since I was going to be a stay-at-home mom with a lot of spare time on her hands. I figured that since I don't have any friends here and that I don't drive, I would eventually be able to make my time spent at home into productive creative time and hopefully write that book I've always wanted to write, or do those paintings that I've dreamt of painting. What I didn't realize is that while these were all great ideas, and wonderful habits that I wanted to get into, it meant that I would have to learn to break all the bad habits I had accumulated over the last few years. Habits including streaming tv all day as background noise, opening my laptop first thing in the morning instead of reaching for a pen, giving up when an exercise routine gets too hard, reaching for whatever is easy to eat instead of making myself something good... I have this image of myself that I want to make into a reality, I want to be someone who wakes up in the morning and does yoga, someone who eats her breakfast while jotting down ideas for short stories, someone who makes a huge veggie filled rice bowl for lunch and eats it while swirling colours on a paint pallet. These are all things that I enjoy but I've been letting my laziness get the better of me, and allowing my impatience to make me fail, I know I am not perfect, but I also know that I can do better.

So with that affirmation in mind I've decided to start again at the beginning, to choose one habit and work on that single one...then once I feel like I have a gotten settled with that one I will introduce another. This obviously sets back my progress but I think that it is necessary if these are things that I wish to continue in the long run. 

Wish me luck!




D.

Monday, August 25, 2014

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW


When I was a child, my sister and I used to sleep over at my aunt's place a lot. My cousin, who is a year older than me was one of my closest friends growing up and we used to spend hours playing pretend, running around and then stay up all hours of the night watching movies and talking...and in the morning we would walk (hop) along the bunny path to go to Solly's bakery and get freshly baked cinnamon buns. These were some of my favourite childhood memories.

My aunt also introduced me to the world of second-hand belongings. Thrifting has become super trendy in the last few years, and with good reason... it turns out the pre-loved goods can be just as good, if not better than their brand new counter-parts. They have more character, more variety and you will never be scared of ruining them with use. I personally adore getting hand-me-downs from family, friend or just about anyone, spending an afternoon going through someones unwanted clothing is like a dream to me. It has only been in recent years that I have really discovered how great it is that there are so many venues for finding used furniture, clothing, art, dishes etc and now that I am in the process of furnishing my apartment I feel like I missed out on huge opportunities with my previous places.


Here in Germany there is a classified section of Ebay, which is their equivalent to craigslist. We got our kitchen chairs, table and bathroom vanity second-hand. We are currently trying to hunt down a white or wooden cabinet for extra kitchen storage but we have very specific measurements we need it to fit so we haven't had much luck yet. Now that it is summer time though there have been plenty of flea markets to attend on the weekends. Pictured above are my two little pieces I picked up on two different occasions. The white birdcage caught my eye with its fleur-de-lis on it and I hope to maybe suspend it and find a small green plant to keep inside of it. The quartz crystal speaks to my inner geologist, my father always had different rocks displayed throughout his house from various work trips to northern Canada and around the world. Put me on a rocky beach with a magnifying glass over a forest any day, I love to see theses beautiful structures that have been created naturally over so much time, it is really incredible. Anyways, the quartz is currently on a shelf with some of my books where it will probably stay. 

Monday, August 18, 2014

MÜNSTER


Just a few photo's from a recent day trip to my favourite Nordrhein-Westfalen city, Münster. St. Paul's cathedral was what initially drew me to this beautiful city, but it's architecture, busy streets and atmosphere keeps bringing me back for me. This is our closest "big" city to where I am living in Germany so we pop over here on the weekends when I am needing a dose of civilization (okay, a bit of an exaggeration) or when we just want a low-stress day trip.

Things to see here:
St.-Paulus-Dom (home to a beautiful sixteenth century astrological clock)
Biking or walking along the Promenade

Thursday, August 07, 2014

ESSEN + I DON'T EVEN LIKE COKE


Last weekend H and I dropped Bean off with his grandparents and went to Essen for the day. I had great plans to document it all with photos and everything but I think I took a total of ten photos, most of which were overexposed and of nothing in particular. I guess I have always maintained the mindset that I would rather focus on enjoying the experience rather than documenting it... that and I greatly dislike looking like a tourist taking photos of landmarks and buildings or whatever. We had a pretty low key day just walking around the city center going into a few shops and taking in the sights (p.s wearing trendy sandals for day long walking on cobblestone streets is a horrible idea for your ankles just fyi). 


We went for lunch at this bar/cafe/resto place that are all over Germany because the vegan restaurant we wanted to try was closed, and the forever indecisive pair that we are just completely copped out of this opportunity to try something new. When our waitress came by to take our drink order I panicked and ordered what H was having, which was coke... the thing about coke is that I don't like it, and I have been liking it less and less over the last year or so but H ALWAYS drinks it, so me being me ALWAYS has a sip too. Whenever we go out to eat and I can't decide what I want to drink I almost always end up ordering a coke  as well and I never enjoy it... add it to the list of weird things I do when I am under pressure. So the point being that I drank a coke and it was the least satisfying beverage. 


Other than that we went into a bio store where I was able to pick up some of my Japanese ingredients (for a much steeper price) that I was missing, miso, udon noodles and some soba noodles. Our last stop was a sports store so that I could get some weights and a yoga mat to encourage me to continue my daily workouts.

Hopefully our next day trip will yield some more photos, seeing as this blog is supposed to be me chronicling my adventures here, but I am still learning so I'll give myself a pass for now.

not pictured:

Pride parade and festival, complete with singers in drag
Cute little merry-go-round 
Little fruit and veggie tent near the train station
Gorgeous weather but with ominous clouds coming in quickly just as we were leaving 
  

Friday, August 01, 2014

AUGUST GOALS + JULY RECAP

July was my first month in my new home country and so much has happened in just a short thirty day period. Bean has gone from unsteadily sitting to pulling himself up to stand and is now sleeping through the night. Our apartment is coming together and it is starting to feel like home which is reassuring for me. H and I have already been talking about our future plans, and where we want to live next which is exciting but our adventure here is still only just beginning and we should take a step back and enjoy the ride rather than get ahead of ourselves and miss out on what is right in front of us. Time to recap last months goals and select a few new ones for the next thirty days.

one. Write a little bit every day. Almost
I unpacked my journal, I have a few blog posts waiting in my drafts and I've come up with a few ideas for some short stories. While I didn't write every single day, I did most days which felt very good.

two. Survive flying with Bean. Check 
This one was nearly impossible for me to fail, but I can truly say I have zero desire to step foot onto another aircraft anytime in the near future.

three. Unpack and organize one small space for me. Mostly yes.
We are completely unpacked and it took me a lot less time than I had expected. As for the space for me, we got a new couch which I have been spending a lot of time on, and I have organized my clothes which makes me happy, so while neither is a space just for me exactly they have still achieved the same desired effect.

four. Appreciate my little family. Absolutely
My mother raised my sister and I as a single parent, and after my almost seven month stint as sole caregiver I have so much more appreciation for everything that she gave to us. Now that I have an extra-pair of hands to help out with Bean and someone to spend my evenings with parenting has become a lot less exhausting and so much more enjoyable. I feel incredibly lucky to have these two (well one big, and the other little) men in my life and I plan on cherishing every day that I get to spend with them.

I think I did quite well last month, so lets keep up the good work... here are my goals for August.

one. Read at least one book.
two. Make a purchase at the farmers market on my own.
three. Try (and enjoy) one new food.
four. Keep my plants alive.




D. 

Monday, July 28, 2014

A NEW WEEK

Last week was a big week for Bean, on Monday he walked all the way around his playpen holding the rails. Wednesday he clapped for first time (and loved the praises he got when he did it) and the Friday, Saturday and Sunday he slept in his room and slept through the night.

It is crazy to think about the rate at which he is learning these new skills, to go from barely being able to open his eyes to lifting himself up onto his knees getting ready to crawl in less than eight months. He is in awe of everything around  him, just our little walks to the grocery stores have him launching himself out of his stroller trying to see everything that is happening. H and I will sit on the couch and watching him play, wishing we could know what is going through his mind and he picks up each toy and contemplates what to do with it. It really is incredible watching him learn and grow as a little human being and I cannot wait to see what he discovers next.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

"ONTSPANNEN" BIJ IKEA


Pardon my Dutch, it was my attempt to play with the heading "Ontspannen winkelen bij IKEA" underneath which there are several images illustrating the ease at which you can get your brand new IKEA products from their warehouse into your empty home. I thought this was funny because if you ask just about anyone who has spent any amount of time at IKEA, "relax" or "relaxing" are probably two of the least used descriptive words to describe the experience.

Over the past four years, I have had at least partially furnish three apartments from IKEA, plus several more trips to help friends find their new bed, table, chair etc. I, like many other twenty-something year old seem to live, eat and breath IKEA when it comes to housewares. So naturally, when I move to a brand new country (where all the apartments come pristinely un-furnished) some adventures to IKEA are in order. 

We purchased the last of our big household items this past weekend, the sofa pictured above, and while we didn't have one of those much feared fall-outs over the building the sofa (in order to fight we both would have had to have been involved in the building... I was making dinner) its was by no means an easy feat getting this couch home. First of all, when we first saw the sofa its price (690 EUR) was within our budget we wanted to hold out for something cheaper if possible. Then we came home after a day of shopping sofa-less so we decided to look at it again online. Online it was a whole 250 EUR cheaper, but it was going to take more than three weeks to be delivered (is there only one IKEA delivery man in all of Germany?) and we are impatient folk so that wasn't going to cut it. Stumped for a few minutes on how were going to get this hunk of wood, fabric and metal into our home H reminded me of one of (to me) the greatest things about Europe... let's just drive to the next country over and see if they have it for cheaper there. Sunday came around and we hoped into the car with Bean in tow and drove to IKEA in the Netherlands and found our sofa not only cheaper than in Germany but also 20 EUR cheaper than if we had ordered it online! With our receipt and cart full of miscellaneous items down we went to the counter to pick up the pieces of our sofa to bring home, everything had ended well...or so we thought. We had one, fairly large oversight, the size of the packaging. The numbers the worker in the store had given us did not quite correspond with the box that was wheeled to us. Luckily for us though, H's father was able to drive up to meet us to help and after almostfour hours at IKEA we finally were able to go home. Super-Opa to the rescue!.


D.

Saturday, July 19, 2014

COOKING WITH A CAKE PAN + A (SORTA) RECIPE

First off I would like to begin with saying I really enjoy cheese, cheese is probably the only real obstacle preventing me from going vegan because even though \I have tried veganism I always succumb to temptation when presented with a cheese plate. Secondly I am also supposed to be cutting down on my cheese intake, something that I find damn near impossible in this wonderful country full of inexpensive, delicious cheesy options because my abnormally high dairy intake may be the cause of several of my body and health related troubles. Now that being said I ignored my latter inclination if favour of the first when cooking dinner last night.

I adapted this veggie baked macaroni recipe from Love & Lemons and I just had a few comments to make on the process. I was quite excited about this recipe because the original recipe calls for a combination of all my favourite things, asparagus, mozzarella cheese, and a cashew based cream but then I remembered that while these ingredients may seem run of the mill to me, I am living in another country now where food availability is also very different. For one, it took me two day and four grocery stores to track down cashews, locating them only (and for a steeper price) at a health food store. Second I subbed broccoli for the asparagus because here asparagus (or spargel) is white usually and twice the size, the green type that I more familiar with is far less common (and more expensive) plus spargel season ended about a month ago. My third challenge with this recipe was that I realized we don't own a casserole dish and the other pan we owned were not deep enough for this dish. However H pointed out that we did have a cake pan and thus that problem was solved. I would like to throw in a word of caution, when removing said cake pan from the over to be extra gentle with handling because the base is not super sturdy and cook possibly end up with piping hot cheese and pasta everywhere...I just barely avoided this disaster.

And just in case anyone is wondering, here was my adaptation of the recipe (measurements are whatever...I just threw it all together)

Cashew cream
Fusilli pasta
Broccoli (chopped)
Pea (blanched quickly)
Mozzarella balls (halved as well)
Basil and Sage (chopped)
Gouda (grated on top)
Paniermehl (closest thing I could find to breadcrumbs)
Olive oil
Red pepper flakes

Toss all together until evenly coated and distribute evenly in your cake pan, bake at 175 degrees for 15-ish minutes. Eat with curry ketchup (because I am pretty sure H is fifty percent ketchup...at least)


D.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

LITTLE GERMAN BABY


I am the proud mama of newly registered German citizen. Yesterday H and I spent the morning down at city hall with an interpreter (for me) signing papers acknowledging his (half) German parentage. Initially I was under the impression that Germany did not allow dual citizenship, and that Bean would have to give up his Canadian passport if he ever wanted his German one but clearly this is not the case.


D.

Monday, July 14, 2014

GETTING SETTLED: FOOD


A picture, finally! I got a snazzy new (compact) camera, however I have no clue how to use it yet so until then I will settle with the auto mode. We are in the process of getting unpacked and settling in to our apartment here but between garbage runs and trips to Ikea sometimes I forget that as a human I need nourishment to compensate for my activity. The first time I visited Germany I had a complete meltdown in a grocery store of H's hometown because I couldn't figure out what anything was and there were no fresh fruits or vegetables. The second visit a few months ago yielded slightly better results since we found a different (and better stocked) grocery store but there are still some very large obstacles for me.

one. Language
This one is quite obvious but also one of the easier ones to work through. As of now I do not have a working cell phone here (or handy as my German boyfriend says) but hopefully it will not be too long until we can jailbreak my current iPhone so that we can program it for Deutschland use. With a working phone and data plan, so long as I have reception I can use my handy translator to find my food.

two. Pre-packaged food/ Instant food
While I may not be the worlds healthiest eater, the bulk of my groceries come from the produce section. I don't know if it like this in bigger German cities but there are aisles filled with boxes of powdered sauces, gravies, and hamburger helper-esque types of meals where all you add is the pasta, water and meat. I am a big fan of making all my food from scratch so it is hard when the grocery stores are fully stocked in this department but are lacking in the produce, grain, spice areas.

three. Exotic ingredients
To me I feel like I have a pretty standard diet, but standard to growing up in a multi-cultural, metropolitan city. To say that I was spoiled in regard to the availability of ethnic food would be an understatement. Products such as  red curry paste, soy sauce, coconut water, chilies are harder to come by here

four. Health food
This one isn't so much a problem of availability (well I'm not sure yet) but rather of location. I am used to giant grocery stores that mostly contain a health food/ organic section but here I have to go to a completely different store. Part of it is a laziness factor, the other part is that I find it super intimidating going into small specialty stores and even more so when I don't speak the language.


D.

Thursday, July 10, 2014

LANDED

The last twenty-four hours in numbers

Fourteen hours door to door
Ten hours carrying Bean
Eight hours flying
Seven old ladies telling me how sweet my baby is
Five countries
Four hours driving
Three other babies flying too
Two hours in Iceland
One mid-flight poopy diaper

Happy to be here, sad to leave all my friends and family behind but more than anything excited for the beginning of this adventure


D.

Monday, July 07, 2014

EN ROUTE

A trans-Atlantic move is a long journey. With a six day pit stop in eastern Canada to say goodbye to relatives we are now repacking our bags and getting ready to jet-off on the last leg of our voyage tomorrow. Bean has really been taking one for the team, despite being exposed suddenly to all these new places and new faces he has really been good, we only had one bad night due to the sudden shock of being on a plane and a new bed but he still wakes up smiling ear to ear.


D.

Tuesday, July 01, 2014

JULY GOALS + JUNE RECAP

First things first, I will go over last months goals and see how I did. June has just flown by, and this month has been hectic to say the least, between packing and saying goodbye along with the full-time job of being a parent I have barely had a moment to breath. That being said I did have some really great baby-free moments with some friends and I was able to feel a little bit normal again which was refreshing. Now onto last months goals

1. Complain less. Ehhh...
I think this goal was a little ambitious, while I definitely am working harder at being more grateful I think I just enjoy the sound of my own voice too much.

2. Be organized and packed BEFORE I leave, and avoid my usual last minute packing frenzy. Mostly
All the big stuff is done, just a few more little things to pack but I still have to clean up my place, and I leave tomorrow...ehhh

3.Say goodbye to Vancouver. Check
I got to say goodbye to almost all my favourite people, places and things here.

4. Blog post 2-3 times each week. No
I have changed my view on this, mostly I wanted to do it in order to get into the habit of blogging but I think if I am going to blog it's going to only be when I feel like I have something to say, maybe that will be several times a week or maybe not.

So overall not that great but I think I needed to reevaluate what kind of goals I want to set for myself, so without further ado here are my July goals.

1. Write a little bit every day.
2. Survive flying with Bean
3. Unpack and organize one small space for me
4. Appreciate my little family



D.

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

SLEEP

I am pretty sure the topic of sleep will be something I will discuss on here frequently, especially the topic of lack of sleep. Sleeping is something that I have struggled with my entire life, as a child I had major FOMO when I was put to bed even though I was constantly assured that nothing really happens at night time. Now it seems my son has picked up this habit from me, though his sleeping difficulties are hopefully stemming from teething but either way we are on week two of sleepless and tear-filled (mostly mine) nights. Even if he does settle down in the next couple days, we begin our traverse towards the European continent in a wees, with a week spent on the eastern side of Canada before crossing the Atlantic so sleep will irregular, disrupted and greatly missed in the coming weeks. All I can say is soon it won't just be me any more so I'll let Bean and H get some father son time and hopefully at last I'll be able to catch some z's.



D.

Monday, June 23, 2014

GOING CRUELTY FREE

THE GOOD:
Nourish serum, Herbivore Botanicals// Matte Bronzer. NYX// 
Ultrabland, Lush// Rounded Bronzer Brush, EcoTools// 
Soothing Night Cream, Yes to Cucumbers// CC Cream, Marcelle

As I have mentioned before, since becoming a mom I have tried to be a lot more mindful of the the products I consume and use for both myself and Bean. I think this was probably born out of needing to read labels in order to determine if the product is pregnancy/baby-safe and truth be told there is a lot of things that are not. In regard to baby products I started putting things back that were heavily frangranced or contained the ingredient "frangrance (parfum)" and from there I just really started to question a lot of the ingredients in a lot of things, not only for Bean but for me as well. While I can't say I buy into the whole concept the "natural = better" I do believe that a lot of the major players in the beauty industry (read: l'oreal, johnson & johnson, shiseido etc) do not necessarily have our best interests in mind, just their interest in our money. There is a lot of information out there and a lot of it is extremely biased so I don't really concern myself with the pronouncability of ingredients (except in food) I decided to pick on thing that would be my deal-breaker when it came to my purchases and it was that the product needed to not be tested on animals. 

THE BAD:
Tea Tree Mask, The Body Shop// Aloe Soothing Day Cream, The Body 
Shop// Almond Hand & Nail Cream, The Body Shop// 
Soap Bark & Chamomile Deep Cleansing Cream, Burt's Bees

I find it extremely disturbing how easy it is for so many people (including myself) to turn a blind eye to the suffering of others just so we don't have to sacrifice any of our personal comforts. This is applicable in so many facets of our consumerist society in regards to fast fashion, cheap beauty products, meat-eating, fur-wearing and just the general disparity in the distribution of wealth worldwide but I'm not here to preach (okay maybe a little) I just want to explain my decision to try to go cruelty-free. Basically I used to be in my happy la-la land where I just told myself that animal testing just meant rubbing shampoo into a mouse's fur while some scientist stood there with a notepad to see if that gave the mouse a rash, well as you could probably guess that's not even close to being true. Once I started reading about that it made me sick to my stomach, who are we to value our expensive face wash over the life of another creature, this isn't even just humans being at the top of the food chain, this is humans place a negligible value on another living breathing (feeling) creature. I used to think PETA overreacted to everything, and that their practices and protests were just obnoxious and attention-seeking, I still think that but I also understand now why they need to be. One little tidbit of information that really bothered me was brands that make their profits on being "natural", "environmentally friendly" or companies that try to ethically source their ingredients have been bought buy the mega-corporations that run the beauty industry in order to capitalize on these companies "good" ethos even though these parent companies pour your toner in a little bunny's eye for the other brands they own. A few examples of this would be brands that are touted as cruelty-free or vegan like The Body Shop, Burt's Bees and Urban Decay which are owned by L'Oreal, Clorox and L'Oreal respectively all of which conduct testing on animals.

THE UGLY:
Colorburst Matte Balm, Revlon// Voluminous Mascara, L'Oreal// 
Double Wear Concealer, Estee Lauder// Kate Moss lipstick, 
Rimmel// Studio Fix powder foundation, MAC.

Now a lot of this information isn't really that new to me but I guess for the first time I really feel the guilt of what I am supporting when I purchase these products, I am supporting their practices which include animal testing as well as financing multi-billion dollar corporations that profit from telling people that they are incomplete or unattractive without their products. As someone who has generally felt pretty apathetic my entire life about everything I can say even though I feel very strongly about going cruelty-free I still have an internal debate over products that I really want even though I find out they're tested on animals. So far I have always put it back on the shelf and walked away but who knows. All I know is that is that there are several very successful brands who have developed amazing products without needing to test on animals so not only is animal-testing unnecessary it is cruel and inhumane and I will not turn a blind eye to it any longer.


D.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

ON BEING FEARLESS

As a child you could not keep on the ground. I had this overwhelming urge to climb everything in sight, be it trees, rocks, play gyms, stop signs, if it protruded vertically, there was a very high chance I would be mentally working out how I could get to the top of it. At my sister's soccer games I would climb trees all the way to the top, at school I showed off my prowess on the monkey bars and hanging rings, swinging around on them and then climbing to sit on top, I guess I thought myself a little daredevil.
We treat children as these inferior beings, ones that don't have the capacity to make sound decisions or offer good opinion and yet we are the ones that often have a hard time enjoying our lives. Our predisposition to be cautious, to being safe limits so many opportunities and so often it seems that those who play by the rule get left behind. The children, their naivety allows them to run wild, dreaming of the endless possibilities of where their lives could lead them and enjoying each and every day. They may not have have the burden of everyday responsibilities nor are they usually have other little lives depending on them but they do have this sense of fearlessness about them, believing they can do anything. I have a few little siblings ranging from three to ten years younger then me and from watching them grow up I have learned one huge thing, instead of explaining why you cannot do something, figure out at least one way that you possibly can.

D.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

CHANGING MY WAYS

Now that I spend the majority of my day taking care of a tiny human, it has really made me reevaluate how I have lived my entire life up to this point, if each of my actions (or inactions) effect this one person so profoundly then maybe I should start being more mindful of each and everything I do. This is a process that I will probably chronicle in a few separate posts because really I am giving myself a lifestyle overhaul in order to really decide what the important things are in my life. 
Here is a little overview of some of the things I am re-examining, and some of the resources I am turning to to help me get myself going into the right direction.
I've been thinking about my future, specifically my future financial independence. Going hand in hand with that is trying to learn how to live comfortably with less and how to determine what to spend on and assess their quality.
A more immediate change I have been making is being more conscious of myself, and my habits and my effect on the world. A lot of this information isn't new to me but for the first time in my life I am really driven to change, whether its looking closer at the labels on beauty products or deciding what to put into my body. One thing that I have been fairly militant about implementing is switching out all my products for cruelty-free alternatives, mostly I just use google to check out brands before purchasing but I refer to this list frequently and a friend of mine just introduced me to this app which I've already gotten a lot of use out of.
Other things, revolving more around my appearance, I've been adopting a more natural approach to certain aspects of my life, especially in regards to my beauty regime. I pull a lot of my inspiration from reading about other's daily routines but I do have to credit Caroline Hirons for teaching me the importance of daily cleansing as well as just those little everyday things I should be doing for my skin. My wardrobe (or rather lack of) is something that I have touched on before, and I am looking forward to rebuilding mine with a new mindset. 
Lastly I want to think about how I want to raise my child, which kind of values I want to try to instill in him. First and foremost I want to lead by example, so I really need to be aware of my bad habits but also I want him to learn respect for all living things as well as encouraging a varied diet and fostering good manners
This is my rather ambitious outline for the life I am hoping to lead, but even if I have all these ideas of what I want to do nothing is going to change unless I put in the effort and start trying to live that life now.

D.

Saturday, June 14, 2014

PERKS OF BEING A MOM

Not having to pay even if my bus ticket is expired. I just get a smile and sometimes a new ticket which  I think is really sweet. It makes up for all the times that I was eight-nine months pregnant and no one gave up their seat for me when I was busing to work.

D.

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

7 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY INSTEAD OF PACKING

I figured this would be a nice follow up to yesterday's post, Bean has a two and half hour nap in the afternoon and usually that is my productive time but instead I just had a meltdown and avoided all my responsibilities.
One.
I told everyone else how much stuff I had to do, not really complaining more in a panicky way. I called my mother, texted my friend, spoke to my sister and essentially just listed off all the things that I was supposed to be doing.

Two.
I caught up on all my unread bloglovin posts, which took all of maybe ten minutes as I had just read a bunch of them before Bean went to sleep.

Three.
I went in and stared at Bean while he slept, he makes the funniest face with his tongue sticking out.

Four.
Wrote a blog post about all the stuff I was supposed to be doing.

Five.
Laid in bed and debated whether or not I wanted to put make up on just so that I could feel pretty in order to offset my self-pity but then eventually decided it was too much work.

Six.
Cooked up a nice  big lunch of sauteed kale and bok choy on brown rice

Seven.
Decided that it was okay that I didn't get anything done, and that I would try again tomorrow.

D.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

SOME THOUGHTS

I am feeling very uninspired right now. I decided to start this blog before my big move in order to try to get myself into the habit of blogging but the point of this blog is supposed to be my adventures and as of late my only "adventure" has been my almost daily walks to the nearby drugstore so that I can say I have left my house today. So in order to get myself back into this I am just going to blog about the mundane and everyday aspects of my life. It will be boring, it will likely be repetitive and there won't likely be any nice pictures but whatever.
So today I am just going to talk about the fact that I haven't done anything to get ready for my move. Yes I have packed two of the three suitcases that I am bringing (even though I have to unpack them now and re-pack it), I have gotten rid of the majority of my clothing and books and mostly figured out exactly what it is that I will be bringing. But even with all that done my room still feels pack to the brim with tons of other things that are in the miscellaneous category of crap that I don't really know what to do with. Nearly every surface is pilled with random pieces of paper, and objects that I know aren't coming with me but I can't figure out if they are worth storing or if they should just be thrown out. I don't know I am just rambling because I also haven't figured out how I am going to say goodbye to everyone and to most of the comforts that I have grown used to so I am projecting my anxiety onto something superficial like packing.
 
D.

Friday, June 06, 2014

TWO THINGS I'VE LEARNED SINCE BECOMING A MOM

I've been a parent for all of six months now. and it has been an incredibly eye opening experience. I have several younger siblings so a lot of the things that babies do weren't new to me, I knew about the crying, the pooping, the lack of sleep etc, those were the things that I felt somewhat prepared for. Overall I thought that I had a pretty good grasp of what it took to parent a newborn but there were two things that I've learned that I never thought that I needed to know, and that I could not imagine not knowing now.
Number One: Sticking to a routine
I cannot remember a single point in my life that I have stuck to routine for chunk of time longer then say a week. I wouldn't say that I'm a easy going person, but I have also never been the one to have a set bedtime (or wake up either). Meals have always been whenever I felt like it or had time, days would go by that I would forget to eat (or be too lazy to get out of bed) until four in the evening. I would go to bed at two, three, or four in the morning and get up around twenty minutes before my classes started. Probably the only two things that I've ever been able to do consistently was shower and brushing my teeth, washing my face and removing my make up however had always been optional. 
Fast forward to now, having a baby has taught me a lot about the importance of a routine, when your options are to do things at a certain time of day (and keep doing it) or  having baby cry and fuss constantly you learn how to adapt to a routine pretty quickly. Now we wake up, eat (him first, then me), nap, play, eat again, nap (I eat here), play, eat, play, bath, eat and sleep (and my dinner follows). I have my designated shower times and for the first time I'm even getting in washing my face in the mornings and evenings Our routine is easy especially because it only revolves around us two but I know that if Bean is getting difficult in the evening that it is because of disruptions in our routine...which brings me to my second thing.
Number Two: How to be more adaptable
Routines are great, they provide consistency and comfort, but since they are so great it means most people have one, and chances are it does not line up exactly with yours. At first when I was getting Bean first settled into a routine I kept trying to force us both into routines that didn't work for us, the first was the "no routine" routine of feeding on demand, staying up until we both fell asleep, carrying him around constantly and that was exhausting for me to say the least. As the weeks went by though I started to learn more about my baby and myself which helped with establishing a routine...but then he got sick and we were back to square one. Within the last six months, Bean has had two colds, I've had one, we traveled internationally, we've had out of town guests, a few parties, he started teething as well as many other little bumps and disruptions to our daily lives and guess what, we have survived. It is frustrating when things change unexpectedly, but as my mother enjoys reminding me this is all still new, and we are only human so sometimes you have to throw your routine out the window and just work with what life has handed you in this moment.

D.

Tuesday, June 03, 2014

THINGS I AM GOING TO MISS: TREE TUNNELS



One of the most beautiful things about Vancouver is it's tree-lined streets. Several residential streets in my neighbourhood have these beautiful, lush, green canopies overhead and I just adore them.

D.