Gratitude and happiness

Today I am grateful for being able to sleep in on weekends, wondeful in-laws, and iced cider.

Today was a pretty fantastic day! Ian and I slept in (could've slept until noon, but we had things to do) and watched a couple of TED videos before finally getting up for the day. After a delicious cup of coffee, in which I only indulge on the weekend, we cleaned the house in preparation for a visit from his folks. Janet and David arrrived shortly after noon and after a short visit we headed out for Winterlude. We took them to Jacques Cartier park and I remembered all of the reasons I love Winterlude. It was the snow slides and the maze, the French Canadian folk dancers and the Ice Hogs, "La Tire" on the snow and a Killaloe Sunrise BeaverTail.

After a full day at the park, we hit the SAQ (Quebec's version of the LCBO) for evening provisions, and headed home. We made a delicious meal of tacos and opened the bottle of Iced Cider that we bought earlier at the SAQ.

It was wonderful to see the in-laws, get out to Winterlude and prepare a fantastic meal. I know, tacos don't sound like the fanciest of meals, but I made my own spice recipe for the beef and made a delicious homemade guacamole as a taco topper. I love working in the kitchen.

A great day all around :)

Oops...but LOTS this week

Well...already so much for my New Year's Resolution of posting a minimum of once a week! But I'm not going to let the 2 week delay deter me from picking it back up now.

This has been an extremely busy week and many things made me happy this week and all over the spectrum...of course mostly food related, but other things as well.

Out of left field...Jersey Shore made me happy this week. Strange and yes, maybe I should be embarrased that I watch it, but I make no apologies. I work in a high school and one way to understand the people by whom I'm surrounded all day is to watch what they watch. I also find it a great way to turn off my brain for a little while. Yes, Jersey Shore can be called the downfall of humanity, and our teenagers our watching this. But it made me happy this week because one of the characters, Vinny, suffers from anxiety and the topic became the main point of the show. There is so much depression, suicide and anxiety that our younge people are dealing with today. They are affected by what they watch in both negative and positive ways. I felt like the episode dealt with the topic in a very real way. He begins by telling people about his illness and about being able to talk about his anxiety and how important it is to be able to talk about it. He explains that if he was physically ill or injured everyone would understand but that it's more difficult when you can't see the illness. In an environment where drinking is praised, he talked about choosing not to drink, as it can only make the situation worse. He talked about ways he deals with his anxiety when the problem was only mild and that now that it has gotten worse again that he needs to remove himself from the current situation which is causing more problems and take himeself home to his family where he can work on getting better. Vinny explains that he is making the best decision for himself. I'm glad that a show with a very strong following of impressionable viewers has taken a look at mental illness. I hope that this episode helped a lot of people.

Other things that made me happy this week...food food and food. I made candied orange peel on Saturday, which is a bit of lengthy process but ended up tasting fantastic, although now I have a ton of chocolate dipped candied orange peel...anyone want any?

I also made a wicked broccoli soup. It's much thicker and heartier than any broccoli soup I've made before.

Broccoli Soup
1. Sautee 3 diced shallots and 3 minced garlic cloves in 2 tbsps of butter until softened and your house smells delicious
2. Add 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
3. Add the following root vegetables, peeled & diced - half a sweet potato, one medium yukon gold potato, and one carrot.
4. Add 4 cups of broccoli
5. Add 4 cups of liquid, I used 3 cups of chicken stock and one cup of water and a couple bay leaves.
6. Boil for 10 minutes
7. Turn down heat, remove bay leaves and add a cup of milk.
8. Simmer for a couple minutes to heat the mixture.
9. Blend.
10. Salt and pepper to taste.

Also, we hit the slopes for the first time this year on Tuesday night. We headed out to Camp Fortune for the 2-for-1 Tuesday night pass. It was the perfect weather...aka, perfect temperature only about -2 degrees. I'm a fair weather boarder and like to feel the blood in my extremities. If I'm cold, I'm miserable. It was fantastic to be out on the slopes again, and after this past week's snowfall I can't WAIT to hit the slopes tomorrow night. Wish we could go today...but the minus 30 wind chill is not conducive to my wanting to be outside.

Lastly, this was a fantastic week at work. I've now been in this role for 2 months. This was the first week where I've really felt like I know what I'm doing. Don't get me wrong, there is still a ton of information to learn and process and figure out in this role, but I'm slowly but surely feeling like I belong. I love working in a school office. I am an office manager/administrator but I love being a part of the education system. I believe that everyone who works in a school, no matter their role, is part of the learning process and it makes me feel that I am making a difference every day that I get up and go to work. I feel blessed that I am in this role.

So a great week down and as I enjoy the view of the beautiful, but cold, view through my living room window I look forward to the week ahead. There are so many good things going on that I can't wait to share them with you. And with that enthusiasm I hope to post more short and sweet posts this week about all of it, rather than one lengthy marathon of a post. :)

Have a fantastic week!

~sarah~

New Years Day 2012

Today was a fantastic day filled with friends, fun and sheer laziness.

We had friends in from Toronto who arrived early yesterday. We stayed up until the AMs celebrating the new year. Before we headed to bed last night we all wrote down our new resolutions and intentions for the new year on slips of paper. Today after we'd all woken up and had a bite to eat we burned them in the fireplace, releasing them to the universe.

I love entertaining guests and the past two days have been brilliantly fun. I made so much food and although my kitchen is a bit of a disaster area right now, I couldn't be happier.

I'm exhausted and am ready for bed. I'm off to work tomorrow while the rest of the household continues to sleep in and enjoy their holiday, but I am looking forward to this opportunity to get in to work while it's quiet and start the year off fresh, with no mistakes in it.

I'm happy to be back to blogging, although I'm feeling a little disjointed in my "voice" right now. Hopefully my inner ramblings will sound more me-like shortly (or at least feel more me-like).

I hope all of your New Years's were as MARVELLOUS as mine! I can't wait to see what this 2012 has in store for us! :)

With Love
~sarah~

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Jackson Ct,Kanata,Canada

Happy New Year 2012 - back at it!

So only one resolution this year, followed by three words of intention. My only resolution is one of the same from last year, which started off strong but lagged as the year went on. My resolution once again is to keep up with the blogging. I'm not setting a daily blog goal, but I resolve to blog regularly, with an "at least once a week" (hopefully more) attainable goal. :). So you'll hear from me on here more often again. As for my intentions...I've taken the idea from someone I follow on Twitter and I've chosen three words to shape and focus 2012. My words for 2012 are Family, Security and Joy. These are my focus for the coming twelve months and I look forward to sharing them with you you on here :) :) :) See you soon! With Love ~sarah~ Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Jackson Ct,Kanata,Canada

Upsizing,

I've been using a small purse recently, but like all purses, no matter the size, I pack it full to bursting, usually meaning I can't do it up. We're heading to a cottage this weekend with my family, and since I'm using one of my smaller suitcases, I, of course, need a bigger purse. ;) My big purse has been sitting in my room. When I downsized to the small purse, I only moved out the most important daily purse articles. It's only been a couple of months, but I had to go through my big purse today to use it. (I also plan on using it as my secondary carry-on when we head down to the DR in a couple of weeks, so it's a job that needed to be done). And what should I find in one of the pockets...? A gift card from Starbucks. I left my old job in June, which broke my heart, but I received lots of thank yous and wonderful farewells from staff and students and families alike. It was a sad leaving but it was full of love. This gift card is from one of those co-workers. It just made me smile. It was in a card. I had forgotten it in a side pocket of the large purse when I did the downsize and I found it today. All of the love and gratitude I received from all of those people flooded back to me and back out of me as I fondly remembered working with them and being an important part of that team. I am grateful to be working and to being a member of a new team. Making new friends, setting up new roles and responsibilites, finding where I fit in best. I'm happy and excited and I know so many wonderful and fabulous opportunities lie ahead of me. It's funny how cleaning out a purse can be so rewarding. :) With Love ~sarah~

What motivates you?

I have been feeling unmotivated for a while, in a number of areas. Professionally, weight loss, exercise, life direction. I continue to ask myself what motivates me? How can I get "started"?

Last week our weight watchers meeting was about motivation. Our levels of motivation change as our situation around us changes. When I first started Weight Watchers almost 3 years ago I was extremely motivated. I had just gotten back from a wedding down south and saw the pictures of myself next to 3 beautiful, slim, blond girls and I felt like a troll. My own wedding was 6 months away and all I could picture was that troll in a white dress. I was motivated to be the princess I felt like inside. That motivation pushed me to loose 32lbs in 6 months and I felt fantastic.

I had my motivation, my wedding day. Since my wedding day I've been "maintaining" my weight...although I haven't really maintained, as I have gained 10lbs over those 2.5 years. However, I can't seem to find the motivation to lose that 10lbs. Not even knowing that in a month I'll be spending a week in the DR, in my bikini, with a large group of friends. I'm happy with the way I look, I know I'd look and feel better if I lost 10lbs, but "better" doesn't seem to be enough motivation for me.

The same thing goes for work. I'm not motivated to go out and do something big or life altering because I'm waiting for something to shift where I am currently. For the past two years I worked my butt off and was motivated at work, but when, due to union boundaries, I had to take a lesser position (in order to eventually get back what I had permanently), I've just been "comfortable" to wait it out. Only I'm not comfortable, I'm restless, but not enough to motivate me to do anything big.

And the exercise, I'm getting more than I was, but not as much as I'd like to want to. In my head I'd love to be working out every day and seeing improvements, but I don't have the motivation to actually do it, and when I do go out and do it, it's not due to motivation but sheer force of will (and believe me...I'm forcing it). I like working out, but I just don't have the motivation to really attack it.

I've been extremely motivated to do all sorts of things in the past, but I am currently missing my muse, my enthusiasm, my motivation.

How does this all make me happy? At our Weight Watchers meeting this evening, a girl behind me talked about her motivation. How she has done the program more than once, successfully, and other times not so successfully. Last week's meeting about motivation did just what it was supposed to do, it motivated her.

When she spoke about her past week about tracking and exercising, about feeling good, feeling motivated she was so happy and excited, I wanted to join in her joy. I did, I was and still am so happy for her. I wish a weekly meeting could do that for me. It has in the past, I hope it will again.

If you read my blog, I'd love to know what motivates you. What motivates you to strive for better? To eat less and eat healthier? To get off your butt and move? To take chances professionally? To go out and take a risk? What motivates you to do that thing you say you want to do but never do? What motivates you to do that thing you have to do but don't want to? How do YOU do it?

With Love
~sarah~

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Jackson Ct,Kanata,Canada

Social Media - For Better or For Worse - Part 2 (or She Made Me Think!)

So....back to the question @fleur_de_lotus asked that made me think...
How Different would your life be without social media? Better? Worse?

And this is the second part of "It Made Me Happy" today, because for the most part, social media makes me happy.

I should let you know, social media for me is Twitter, Facebook, how I get most of my news and a little blogging here and there. I've got a Google+ account but haven't used it since the day I got it. There is much more social media out there, but I don't understand it all, know much about or use it.

I also do not consider myself to be a social media expert or specialist or anything, but I do use social media as part of my life, on a daily basis.

Why does social media make me happy...why do I feel like my life is better because of it? Because I keep in touch with so many friends and family. I see pictures that I would never see. I find out about weddings, and birth announcements as they happen to a wider circle of friends and loved ones. I am able to keep tabs on a wider circle of friends, to support them, be happy for them, and celebrate their lives with them.

Social media gets my news to me faster. When the earthquake happened June 2010 in Ottawa, and I had a scared little boy in the office with me, I was able to tell him within seconds what was going on and that it would be ok. I received information faster and with more clarity than over the school board's emergency information line.

Social media allows me to share. It gives me an outlet. I am able to ask questions, give answers, and express myself in a manner that I enjoy. I feel like a student, an expert, an artist, a writer, and a performer, all at the same time.

However, I believe there are some parts of social media that makes things worse...potentially.

I can easily slip into patterns of not TALKING to my close friends and family as much. I don't need to pick up the phone and call, and have a conversation as much as I would if I didn't have Facebook. It's easy not to have to commit as much time or focus on relationships as much, and still appear to be very involved. Taking the time to maintain personal relationships personally is important to remember. Social media is a tool not a crutch.

Social media sometimes feel like it could overrun my life. NEEDING to know all of the time what's happening on Twitter, on Facebook, in the news. It would be easy to be more involved with my online life than with the world offline. Instead of telling others what's going on in my life, I can just make the information readily available for all to read and see, instead of again, talking with them, making it a conversation rather than a "look at me".

There is also the possibility of opening myself up to all sorts of negative people. Short of keeping top security on everything I do online (which I sort of see as defeating the purpose), a lot of my life is online for others to see, which has the potential to put me at risk. So I try and monitor just how much I share, and how much I allow comments and opinions to affect me.

I know people who avoid social media altogether for privacy and security reasons. I also know I could allow myself to get so carried away with social media that the "real me" could cease to exist. However, social media is another area of life, where In Moderation strikes me as being important. I feel like I'm am learning everyday how to properly balance this fabulous world of information, learning, news and people with my life outside of social media. Keeping social media...social.

Thank you again to @fleur_de_lotus for asking the question this morning and giving me something to ponder.

With Love
~sarah~