friendship

Someone asked me an interesting question the other day: If you took your current circle of friends (who are probably made up of people you've known from high school, university, work, sports, hobbies, via your kids, etc.) - if you met them all today, would you still be friends with each of them? So many of us have nostalgic memories of our friends, shared stories and adventures, but do we still have things in common today?

If history wasn't part of the equation, would you still have the same friendship circle?

It's a tricky question because we have such a deep sentimental love for our friends and they've played such a pivotal role in shaping our lives, but what makes some friendships stand the test of time, while others slowly fade away?

Anyways, toss those thoughts around your noggins, I'm hitting my big pillow! xo goodnight loves.

serenity now

It's 11. We've been trying since 8 to get our baby to sleep, so, as much as I wanted to write tonight, that window has passed. To quote Frank Costanza from Seinfeld, "Serenity Now." 

Goodnight friends! 

Hopefully. 

xo

the joy of food

The view from above....

And the view below....my canine vacuum patiently waiting

Last night we had friends over for fish tacos...click here for the recipe

Tonight I'm meeting up with my crew of girls affectionately known as the bitches for some delicious Italian cuisine. As an adult, my favourite gatherings seem to revolve around food - whether it's a nice dinner out, cooking in with family/friends with a glass of wine in hand, or meeting up with the yayas and watching our gourmet chefs work their magic. I love the weekends because they allow us to dedicate the time, love and attention that food whole heartedly deserves: the meal planning, the shopping for fresh ingredients, and savouring the process of preparing and cooking. When I think of the ultimate dining experience, it would be to whisk my loved ones to Italy, France or Spain and spend our evenings like the photo below. Bon Appetit friends! xo

*image from indoorcyclingassociation.com

Gratitude

A few days ago I wrote this post about cultivating happiness, and one of the biggest contributors is tracking your gratitude daily. Keep a little notepad by your bedside and just think of three things that you are grateful for in your day. Soon you'll see it's easy to list more and more each day because you'll pay attention to the smallest details of your day that bring you joy.

Here's a few of mine from the day.....

Watching these three little friends play this afternoon.

Spending my morning playing with my favourite little gal

My friend returned my container, and filled it with her homemade chocolate chip cookies.

She also surprised me with a Starbucks latte. How amazeballs is she?

Here are a few other things that made my list today:
My hubby putting the little one to bed, giving me time to go out
My friend sending me an awesome video of her sister's wedding in Costa Rica
Planning a dinner for friends tomorrow
Buying a new vegan purse (it's made out of recycled materials, not from real vegans)

What would have made your list today?
Goodnight friends xo

oh yay, another exciting flower photo!

You may see this beautiful flower (grape hyacinth - impressed much?) and think, oh my, that girl has such a green thumb, I'll bet the rest of her garden is Ah-mazing! Spoiler alert, you'd be wrong. Everything is dead except this little cluster of flowers. Friends offer to weed my garden. That's where I'm at. But once you have a little one, it seems that your free time is condensed into this tiny window of time where you have to prioritize with a capital p, and unfortunately, with the hour or so I have, gardening falls way down the list - after things like eating, sleeping and if I'm lucky, exercising. So savour this photo before these little blue balls pack it in.

stay tuned for the next episode of the bachelorette duck!

So, lesson learned. Do not wear flip flops when walking the dog.
I took the little one and the pooch for what I thought would be a lovely evening stroll. As we neared the duck pond, I, in the very clever apparel choice of flip flops, couldn't get a strong enough grip to avoid being dragged into the pond by my aforementioned dog and had to surrender the leash. She leapt in, quite spectacularly might I add, to a rousing crowd of ducks quacking at full pitch what can only be loosely interpreted as, "get the eff out of here, we've got a swimmer!" I proceeded to continue my walk, pushing the stroller and walking my dripping mutt to the playground, trying to look as if nothing was wrong with this image. I tied my dog to the fencepost to let her dry off on the grass while the little one burned off some energy running around the playground. Cue scene with man walking two extremely cantankerous beagles who spot my soggy dog and go batshit crazy, yapping their heads off. My dog proceeds to lunge with such vigour that she snaps her leash and runs at top speed after them. "Are you barking at me!?! You dare to bark at me?!!!" So, here I stand, in my utterly useless footwear, daughter in baby swing, as dog races away. My first thought is, "So this is totally awesome." Thankfully a kind grandmother and grandaughter at the playground stood with Stella as I raced after my hound, flip flops smacking away, punctuating each step I take, as if with a loud exclamation mark.
 Click! Clack! Click! Clack!
Relaxation is soooo overrated. xo

oh hiiiiii....yyyyyacinth!

Happy April friends! Here's an a very entertaining Ted Talk by Shawn Achor that a friend sent to me entitled: The happy secret to better work. Check it out if you get the chance, it clocks in just over 12 minutes. How about making April the month to turn things around? Here's a small list of changes that, if done daily, can lead to huge gains in your happiness levels in 21 days, re-wiring your brain to work more optimistically:

• List three things you are grateful for daily and soon you will see you are scanning your days for the positive instead of the negative
• Journal about one positive experience you've had over the last 24 hours - this will allow your brain to relive it
• Exercise - will teach your brain your behaviour matters
• Meditation will help teach our brains how to focus on the task at hand
• Random or Conscious acts of kindness - can be as simple as writing a quick positive email to a friend

Why don't you give it a whirl with me and we can check in at the end of the month to see the effects?
xo