Sunday, December 21, 2014

True joy






When I found this I had one of those "oh man, this is soooooooooooo true" moments, and I just felt I had to share.
I am not sure when I lost the "oh I man I can't wait for the weekend" or the "oh I can't wait for THAT party".....it just happened....just as my journey with being okay with myself. It was not just a huge BAM moment...it has slowly happened over time...not that I have not always been a happy go lucky type person to begin with...but lets be honest...we all have issues of some sort....and it's how we deal with them that makes our journey of life is so interesting.
I literally love everyday....even Monday's....I love that at any and every moment there could be a big moment...or that any moment I can MAKE that big moment....how awesome is that really....to be in charge of your life and to enjoy it all, even the bad shit....cause really, I get to decide how I am going to deal with it so it's all good, no one else does it for me!
So happy Sunday, my moments so far today have been pretty darn exceptional. Happy winter solstice too!


Monday, December 15, 2014

Giving feels so goooooooood!

So the hubster and I joined this years craze...which is a thing called Reddit...where you could sign up for an international or just in your own country secret santa gift exchange. The hubster opted for within Canada, and I opted for international. You could also choose to do just gift or do gift and card, each going to different places.
So today, hubster got his gift from somewhere within Canada, and my card exchange buddy (who was in California) got his card today.

Yup, I homemade a Christmas card for a grown ass man lol....but this is what he requested....a unique card, so that's what I was striving for. After all....it's not that often that a Canadian hand makes a Christmas card for some dude in California lol.
Hubster's gift came from Victoria....he got a beer stein, and remote control car thingy that he controls with his cell phone, and some chocolates. It was so cute and totally perfect for him.
I have yet to receive my card or gift as of yet....but I sit in anticipation of them. My gift that I sent out went allllllllll the way to Slovenia. I can hardly wait for that lady to open up her epic Canadian box!
We also sent out a pretty darn epic Germany box the other day too...I can hardly wait to hear about all the giggles and laughter when that special box gets opened by our loved one's over there.

I also handmade a bunch more cards and special treats for some random strangers I have never met or know but who attended the Shambala music festival....I had posted on their facebook page a note saying "hey, it's not too late...who wants to exchange homemade Christmas cards" and the response was awesome....so I crafted away this weekend and sent them out this week to strangers once again.....I just LOVE sending people stuff....cause really....who doesn't like getting stuff in the mail that makes them smile....I just wish people would do this ALL YEAR ROUND!!!

Sunday, December 7, 2014

You tell me this NOW!


Let me start off by telling you about this amazing vegetarian restaurant in Calgary. It's called The Coup and it's completely dedicated to vegetarians and vegans...the other awesome thing is that my son's girlfriend works there! She too is a vegetarian, and so when we went to the city yesterday they took us there and it was FABULOUS. I have never been so excited to be in a place where I could eat EVERYTHING on the menu and the hubster and NOTHING to choose from cause there was no meat...but it was so great for him to experience the roll reversal and feel exactly like how feel ANYTIME we go out to eat...he's able to find something on the menu is 5 seconds and it takes me 5 minutes.

This place is my new favorite!

Three of my favorite humans ever!!!

the full monte

2 pieces of French toast stuffed with smoked tempeh, swiss & 3 year canadian reserve cheese, arugula & roasted pepper, served with a shot of seeded mustard maple syrup and organic hash

So once we got home from the city, I called my Mother back in BC to tell her about this great place and how it was catered to us vegetarians and how when they come out around Christmas we should go there so that Dad may have the same experience I did...cause he's a veg head too.
So out of the blue my Mother some how, for some reason....tells me some information that I have NEVER heard of before in my life.....she tells me that most of the people on her side of the family were VEGETARIAN......so after I picked myself up off the floor and could form words I began scolding my Mom lol.
I said...."did you not think to tell me this a long time ago....or least 2 years ago when I became a vegetarian?"....she just laughed. So her Mother, my Granny grew up in a Doukhobor heritage...now there were two kinds of Doukhobor's...the crazy kind and the normal kind lol....my Granny's were the normal kind...I'd go into further detail of the difference, but if you google search Doukhobor I'm sure you'll find some crazy shit...and that would be the other one's lol...not my relatives kind.
So in this heritage....for religious reasons....they did not eat meat of any kind...so I found it fascinating that all these relatives that I have history with, that I remember visiting as a child in Grand Forks B.C and in the Fraser Valley growing up...were all veg heads....WOW....this just seemed amazing to me for some reason....the the whole veg head reasoning has history...now there were some of those relatives on my Mothers side who "fell away from those beliefs" and chowed down on some good ol meat in their lives, but for the most part...they were fanatical about there belief in not eating animals for self pleasure....my Mom even told me that one of my great Uncles...Uncle Bill...wouldn't even eat at her house because she cooked meat there and he could not be sure if she would use lard or some other form of ingredient that has meat products in it...so only my great Aunty Polly would eat there!  Information like this I think I really should have been told about don't you think!!! So I called my sister immediately after this conversation to make sure I was not the only crazy one that did not know this....but she said she sorta remembered something about that in the history, but not to the extent that my Mother bestowed upon me in last nights conversation.
So...now I have discovered this new amazing history of my family...I have to begin the search of recipes that they had...that are probably all lost and buried some where to see what kind of vegetarian lifestyle they ate!
Feels good to know that there we others in my family before me that probably struggled a hell of a lot more then I ever will with not being able to eat out!!