Go Big Or Go Home – 2010 Goal Setting

As I was preparing to write this post, I found out that a dear member of my theatre company passed away. He was such an amazing man and supporter of the arts and will be greatly missed. It won’t be the same to perform without him in the audience on opening night. My thoughts are with his family and friends.

I led a Weight Watchers meeting this morning and shared the following quote with my members:

The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.
~Michelangelo

2009 was a big year for me filled with self-discover, healing, good friends and food and I’m really proud of all that I’ve accomplished. This year I am committing to living every day to the fullest and working towards big, fat, juicy, positive, inspiring goals including:

• Taking care of myself by eating well, tracking, drinking tea, sleeping, practicing yoga, spending time with friends, singing, writing, dancing and working out
• Taking advantage of my education and being an active participant in my classes
• Helping even more members reach their goals with Weight Watchers, including getting to Lifetime
• Journaling regularly, writing a book, blogging regularly and exploring other writing opportunities
• Raising a minimum $2,500 for the Toronto Heel n Wheel a Thon and continuing to raise awareness of IBD through my role as Honorary Chair and fun initiatives on the blog
• Giving my all in my performing career through my upcoming role in REX, getting new headshots and actively auditioning for awesome roles

When I was in theatre school, we were told that we should either “Go Big or Go Home” and I think that will be my motto for the coming year. I am not going to let the fear of success stand in my way in any aspect of my life. I encourage you to do the same in your life. What have you been aspiring to do in recent years, but haven’t committed yourself to fully? What has been standing in your way? What can you do to change that this year? What are your juicy goals for 2010? What can you do to go big or go home?

If you’re looking to be more active this year, why not print off my latest activity chart and get started?

I’ve been looking forward to 2010 for awhile now and I’m absolutely thrilled that we’re hours away. Wishing each and every one of you health and happiness in the year to come. I look forward to hearing about your goals and watching you achieve them in 2010. Here’s to a great, big beautiful year!

Starting to Say My Goodbyes

Last week I got a calendar invite for lunch today from my boss. He didn’t specify the location and noted that there were going to be “mystery guests”. I like surprises so I was excited.

They took me to Live!!

My boss has been so supportive of my decision to leave my job and over the last two years we have become very close. We talk about food a lot (and he always gets the Buddha bowl when I’m grabbing lunch at Fresh) and has always been interested in Raw food. My mystery guests were 3 guys who work for one of our sister companies up in Vaughan who came down to Live to say farewell. I should tell you now, that none of my lunch companions eat like me. They used to burritos. Pizza. Veal sandwiches. Pulled pork. With that in mind, I thought it was pretty awesome that they would brave the raw food world for me (and was glad that I missed the email train of jokes about the food they were about to eat).

Watching them browse the menu was pretty hilarious and there were lots of questions like…
“How do you get sour cream from cashews?”
“What is tempeh/wakame/Dashi sauce?”
”What’s the worst thing for you on the menu?”

The table started off with some raw nachos (with salsa, guac, sour cream and walnut taco filling) and sweet potato fries The nachos were quite delicious, just like the tacos I had on my birthday. The boys enjoyed them too!! Everyone was munching and the plate was totally clear by the time our mains came. I really loved the kale salad the last time I was there, so it was a bit of a tough call for me. I decided to branch out a bit and got the wild mushroom and walnut stroganoff. I really liked it! The mushrooms were absolutely my favourite part. It felt like a really delicious, varied salad with creamy dressing. I was very happy. Three of the boys got the black bean burrito and really enjoyed it. The president of our company got the Pure Macro bowl and was raving about how delicious it was. Success!!

Since it was a celebration, I had to get dessert. My boss got the pecan pie and I opted for the raw tiramisu. Ah-mazing!!

I think raw desserts are quite possibly the most delightful thing on earth. It was rich and creamy and made me really happy. It was a great lunch and I thought it was really thoughtful that my boss would take me somewhere that really appealed for my going away meal. It waaaaaay more food than I’m used to eating for lunch, so I’m taking it easy tonight with a smoothie for dinner.

Before we left I took some pictures in the washroom because I’m a nerd like that Love this quote.
And I thought that this was just really cute. Kind of like a built in Operation Beautiful note? Sprouts are indeed sexy.

It’s starting to hit me that my new life is really beginning. I started training my replacement yesterday and start school in a week today. I received a bunch of my books in the mail and I’m already starting to get the back-to-school jitters. It feels like so long ago that I gave my notice and I’m so thrilled that the wheels are in motion and that I’m really doing this!!

Pinch me please??

Some of My Favourite Posts In 2009

I don’t know what I did with myself before I started reading blogs.

The blogging community has been incredibly kind to me and with their support, encouragement and inspiration, I have been able to do some pretty awesome things this year. I wanted to highlight nine of my favourite posts from some of my favourite bloggers in 2009.

It seemed like it was a year of change for many bloggers, so posts on the topic of transition and following your dreams by Tina, Angela and Gina really hit home for me. Reading posts of this nature by these incredible women inspired me greatly. It gave me proof of others, just like me, who have followed their dreams and haven’t turned back. Amazing.

Speaking on inspiration, I was so blessed to find Annabel’s blog, In the Hot Spot. She posted a round up of her 2009 posts the other day and I think that pretty much sums it all up for me. I dare you to read any of her articles and not feel inspired to shoot for the stars and change your life.

Andrea’s post on how to get the most out of your Weight Watchers meetings was absolutely stellar. They say that people who attend WW meetings lose 3 times more weight than people who don’t. Andrea goes to meetings and has lost 74 lbs and counting. I think that speaks for itself!

It has been incredible to read the story of Kristen’s journey to pregnancy and I wish her all the best with her little monkey. I bawled my eyes out watching this video. It is just stunning.

Crazy Sexy Life has also become one of my favourite sites this year because of posts like Rory Freedman’s Tips for a Better Life. I am going to post this at my new work station so that I can read it daily in 2010.

I do a lot of cooking and I’m constantly being inspired by the beautiful and delicious foodie blogs I follow. Some of my favourite blogger recipes this year have included Heidi’s asparagus stir fry, Jae’s pear ginger amaranth crumble, Michelle & Lori’s chocolate cream cake and everything from Meghan’s kitchen.

Speaking of Meghan, I have to say that I look forward to her posts every day. Her recipes are staples in my kitchen and I appreciate her outlook on life. Finding her blog this year was such a blessing, taking her cooking classes was wonderful and I am so lucky to have her as a mentor and friend. Everything on her blog rocks, but two of my favourites this year were I’d Rather Be Chubby and My Secret to Healing.

There are days when I can’t keep up with my Google Reader and suddenly I find myself with 300+ posts to read. Rather than click Mark as Read, I do my best to actually catch up and read everything because of amazing bloggers like these ones!! These are just some of the fantastic posts I have read (and starred) this year. Thank you to all the bloggers for your thought-provoking, gutsy and inspiring posts. Keep ‘em coming!! 

Which posts have inspired you this year?

Celebrating the Year That Was – 2009 Edition

My Saturday morning meeting is closed today due to Boxing Day, so I sent my members a video meeting talking about this week’s topic: celebrating. In the video I’ve encouraged my members to celebrate their accomplishments in the year that has passed as well as set some goals for the new year. I’ve decided to take my own advice and celebrate my accomplishments from 2009:

• I quit my job and enrolled in nutrition school
• I received 2 major awards as a Weight Watchers Leader 
  
• I led more than 25 people to Lifetime membership and countless others achieve their goals
• I blogged 4 times as much as I did in 2008 and have increased my readership by leaps and bounds
• I performed leads in two wonderful shows (Silk Stockings & Annie)
• I performed in my first and second belly dance recitals
• I completed an 8 week Boot Camp and saw great changes in my body and felt proud of my accomplishments both mental and physical
• I did a complete overhaul of my eating and am now gluten free and vegan
• I continue to actively do everything I can to heal my body and as a result feel amazing
• I have continued to maintain my weight
• I joined a gym and actually use my membership weekly
• I raised $1,724 for my first Heel n Wheel a Thon in support of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of Canada
• I was asked to be the Honorary Chair for Toronto’s 2010 Heel n Wheel a Thon

I will be following this up with a list of goals for 2010 early next week. This list covers a lot of the big stuff and I have to say it feels wonderful to look back at everything that has happened in 2009. I’ve had a lot of fun with friends (old and new) as well as getting to know so many more people through this blog. Thank you for your continued readership and enthusiasm!! 2010 is going to be a year of change for me, and I’m truly looking forward to everything coming my way.

I now encourage all of you to look back on 2009 and celebrate your accomplishments: big, small and everything in between!

Give yourself the credit you deserve and spend some time truly celebrating. Don’t make it about the things you wished you did or things you didn’t do. What’s done is done. I know that each of you have done some remarkable things this year, and now is the time to be proud of yourself. Reflecting on your accomplishments can be incredibly motivating and can be a great source of inspiration when the negative thoughts start to creep in. Positivity is contagious!!

What accomplishments are you celebrating from 2009?

Surviving My Office Holiday Party

As part of my office’s social committee, I’ve been busy planning our holiday parties for quite some time now. We had our kiddie party last weekend (where I was in charge of the cupcake room) and last Thursday we had our adult party at Milagro.

Milagro serves traditional Mexican fare and I wasn’t sure exactly what that would mean for me! I had a late lunch and had a snack before I left the office to ensure that I wasn’t going hungry! I spent the first part of the night greeting everyone as they came in and handed out drink tickets and raffle ballots. It was really fun to mingle with everyone and chat with them as they came in. We had rented out the entire restaurant, so I also had to turn some strangers away.

In between employees coming in, I munched on corn chips with guacamole. Best. Guac. Ever.

It was creamy and tangy and wonderful. I ate a lot of it. Other appetizers came including quesedillas and shrimp ceviche, followed by a veggie one, which my table bestowed upon me, dish and all. It was really yummy, but it had a lot of black pepper in it and I find that I just can’t handle black pepper!! It burns my mouth, so I generally try to avoid it and don’t cook with it at home. Black pepper aside, the ceviche was refreshing and delightful.

Because I don’t drink, I found myself drinking water or cranberry juice all night. The guys behind the bar were laughing at me, so I asked them to make me something fun: A mango-pomegranate smoothie – yum!! It was delicious. My decision to drink has been based on a few different factors:

• I’ve always had a very low alcohol tolerance and that tolerance was dropped down to ZERO once I had gotten to my goal weight
• When I was first diagnosed with Crohn’s, I was put on a medication I was unable to mix with alcohol so I stopped drinking altogether
• Once I was taken off that medication, I wondered what effect alcohol was having on my body and decided that I was probably better off without it.

I’ve come to learn that I can have a great time with people, even if I’m the only one not drinking. I’ve noticed that as long as you have something in your hand (like my giant smoothie or even a glass of juice), people don’t say anything. And if anyone asks, I give them my reasons and they go on their merry way.

When the mains came out there wasn’t a ton of options for me, so one of the other members of the social committee spoke to our server and they brought me out a cactus salad and some rice So at the time, I had no idea it was a cactus salad. I knew that it was green and tasted tangy and veggie-like but wasn’t exactly sure what I was consuming. It was great that they were able to accommodate me and I left with a happy tummy.

The party was a great success and everyone certainly enjoyed themselves (I left when the complimentary tequila was starting to roll out). Lucky for me I did not leave empty handed. We had scored some pretty sweet prizes for our raffle and as a member of the social committee I knew what everything was including a blackberry, Raptors tickets, days off, bottles of wine, sports jerseys and a PVR. Wasn’t my name called first?? Merry Christmas to me! I picked this:

An LG netbook – perfect for school!! I haven’t gotten it going yet (because in the beginning I wasn’t sure I was going to keep it for myself) but after taking it out of the box, I fell in love a little bit. It’s super light, very small and will be perfect for school and blogging.

I had a wonderful night with my coworkers talking, dancing (with the mariachi band) and laughing. While I thought that the food might pose a little bit of a challenge, I had quite a few yummy choices and definitely did not leave hungry! Everyone was interested in hearing my plans for the new year and I was even told that I’m expected to come back as the office’s corporate nutritionist. Everyone was enthusiastic about my new endeavours but also shared that they were sad to see me go. It was a really nice way to end my time at the office as I transition into my new life!!

How did your holiday parties go this month?
Anything exciting coming up this week?
I can’t believe that Christmas is tomorrow!!

Christmas Traditions With Charis And Zoe, My Adopted Family

On Saturday afternoon I mentioned that I was on my way to my “Charis & Zoe” Christmas. It was so much fun!

After my mom passed away, my family never made a huge deal out of Christmas. My dad would give my brother and I our gifts on Christmas morning, but we didn’t have any other family over and the celebration was usually fairly low key. I’ve always really enjoyed Christmas, so I usually latched on to the Christmas traditions of friends or boyfriends. It was when I was in musical theatre school that Charis and Zoe invited me to spend Christmas at their house.

I had known them for a couple of years at that point and had started to become fairly close with both of them. I had a wonderful time that year. Being in school, I didn’t have a ton of money to spend so I got them a bunch of little things like socks and chocolates. The following year was kind of funny, thanks to an extra-large gift.

I had just started spending time with a boy a few weeks before the holidays. I was talking with Charis on the phone one day and she asked me what I was getting him. I said that I was thinking about baking him some cookies or something because it wasn’t very serious and I just wanted to get him something small. She called me back later that day to say that I needed to get him something more, because cookies were just not going to cut it. She couldn’t tell me why, but said that I would feel bad if I just went with the cookies. Recognizing that she obviously had insider information, I complied and ended up getting the boy some tickets for a play that was coming up.

I arrived at Charis and Zoe’s house on Christmas morning and noticed that Charis was acting sort of strange and that she wouldn’t let me into the living room to drop off their presents. After a few awkward moments, she finally relented and I saw the cause for her behaviour: a gigantic present sitting in front of the Christmas tree.

Oh dear.

Turns out the boy that I had been spending some time with had gotten in touch with Charis and asked if it would be okay if he dropped off my present at her house so that I could open it on Christmas morning. I had given him his gift the week prior but had not received anything in return and the appearance of the huge box explained why. After fearfully avoiding the present for nearly half an hour, I decided to open it. Inside was a stereo. Yes, a stereo.

Me and the gift giver had been talking for a few weeks and he gave me a stereo. I realized it was because I had mentioned that mine was broken and that I had been using a discman to listen to music. It was incredibly thoughtful, but a little too much, too soon. Charis, Zoe and I coined the term “going stereo” for when someone tries to make a relationship get serious too quickly. Unfortunately for the stereo-riffic boy, I realized that I wasn’t as interested in him as he was in me and I broke things off with him on New Year’s Eve. We’ve had a Christmas gathering every year since then, and I think the stereo is mentioned at least once each year.

Despite there being no stereos at this year’s Christmas celebration, but we did have a wonderful time together!

Charis and I consulted on the menu this week to determine what she and Zoe could make that was “Ashley-friendly”. We’ve always had something non-traditional and this year we ended up with Gado Gado from the Moosewood Cookbook (a favourite of Charis’)

It was so yummy!! It was rice with a mix of steamed and raw veggies, tofu, sprouts and a delightful peanut sauce. I savoured every bite and even went back for seconds! Zoe and I were sceptical about the raw veggies mixed with the steamed ones, but it was actually great because it provided us with a variety of textures within the layers. I made a cranberry-apple crumble for dessert Served warm from the oven with a scoop of vanilla rice-based ice cream, it was absolutely delicious! The cranberries were sweet and tart and paired wonderfully with the apples. Such a comforting dessert, perfect for opening presents! (Zoe scoping out the gift situation)

Prior to our celebration, we send around lists so that the elves know what to buy! We also know one another pretty well by now, so we’re able to choose gifts that are fitting without relying on the lists as well.

I didn’t take pictures of all their gifts, but they included some body care, candles, notebooks and essentials oils for both of them, some pretty eye shadows and a super cool pepper grinder for Charis and some Foxy earrings and Dark Chocolate Dreams for Zoe. I received some amazing presents including:beautiful earrings
incense from Santa (how does he know where to find me?)
a great snack carrying container from Fit & Fresh pretty pens and post-it notes
over the knee stripey socks
and an amazing scarf. They know me so well!

It was such a fun night and I really feel in the Christmas spirit! I am so lucky to have such fantastic friends in Charis and Zoe. It is such a wonderful tradition and look forward to it continuing in the years to come.
Do you have any funny stories about overwhelming Christmas gifts or other mishaps? What are your holiday traditions?

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas…

I’m nearly on holidays and I’m so excited!! Had a really nice day today, which shall continue with my Charis & Zoe Christmas tonight!

Last night as I prepped for my meeting I made my first juice: Beet-apple-pear-ginger (it matches my hair apparently) which was absolutely delicious!! I found my new Breville very easy to use and clean, especially since it comes with it’s own little scrubby brush. Prepare yourself for many juicy photos on the bloggy.

Led three awesome meeting this morning. We were talking about perseverance and persistence, even through the challenging times. I shared this poem with my members:

When things go wrong as they sometimes will;
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill;
When the funds are low, and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but have to sigh;
When care is pressing you down a bit-
Rest if you must, but do not quit.
Success is failure turned inside out;
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt;
And you can never tell how close you are
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit-
It's when things go wrong that you must not quit.
-- Author Unknown

I encourage you to think back to a time in the past when you were demonstrated perseverance. What did you do? What motivated you? How did it feel? Remember that feeling and hold it close this week if you’re facing challenges at Christmas and New Year’s events. You have the strength and determination within yourself to make great choices and keep going in your journey.

This morning was made extra special by some visiting bloggers… (Andrea, Kerry, Kate, Allie & Kat)

because Kate got to Lifetime today!! Such wonderful icing on the cake. Thank you to all of my members for their hard work and dedication this year. Each and every one of you is doing so well and I look forward to helping more of you get to Lifetime this year. Last year I had 23, let’s shoot for the stars for 2010!!!

Some of my members brought me gifts and cards which was super sweet I felt so spoiled!! One of my members even made me latkes made with quinoa flour and homemade apple sauce after I had mentioned last week that I had been craving them – how adorable is that?? I was so surprised and was incredibly touched by their kindness. It was so great to see everyone and hug and head into this busy festive week on such a positive note.

After the meeting I had lunch with Lindsay at Mocha Mocha. It was so lovely to catch up! I had my usual warm brown rice salad and it did not disappoint. We had a wonderful long chat about life and work and Weight Watchers and other goodness that we had been missing out on for a few weeks. We also exchanged Christmas gifts which was fun!!

I received a beautiful set of bamboo utensils and a book of juice recipes (which was a bonus after Lindsay had seen the post about my Breville) So thoughtful and lovely – I can’t wait to use both!! I’ve promised Lindsay that I will have her over for juice very soon.

I love the holiday season, because it means that I get to spend quality time with all my favourite people!! I feel so blessed and couldn’t ask for anything more!! I hope you’re all having a good weekend and I will be back on Monday with details of the rest of the weekend’s festivities including our gluten free vegan Christmas meal from tonight!!

Best Friends, Food and Super Duper Surprises

Melly came over for dinner last night to celebrate Christmas! She has been so busy with school and is heading home to Winnipeg for Christmas so it was fantastic to chat and giggle with her. We’ve been friends since musical theatre school and she has been an amazing source of support for me through everything in the last few years. Love that girl!!

While I don’t believe in seeking comfort from food when it’s other emotions causing the stress, there is something wonderful about preparing a delicious meal and sharing it with people you love.

For dinner I served the broccoli-teriyaki stir fry (from Eat Drink &Be Vegan) over sweet-potato buckwheat soba noodles. Everyone enjoyed the meal and Joey went back for seconds to finish it off. We all enjoyed the soba noodles but agreed that they didn’t remind us of sweet potato at all!!

Dessert was unbelievable

Raw chocolate cream cake (courtesy of the beautiful Lori & Michelle) with a scoop of vanilla non-dairy ice cream. It was really easy to make and absolutely delicious. Mel and I were commenting and mmm-ing after every bite as to how creamy and chocolately and wonderful it was!! It’s quite rich, so a small piece goes a long way. So happy that I made this (so was Melly) and can’t wait to try more of the twins’ recipes!!

I gave Melly a copy of Make it Fast, Cook it Slow for her birthday/ Christmas because she got a slow cooker awhile back and was looking for delicious, easy recipes for it. She loved it and I can’t wait to hear her thoughts about Stephanie’s awesome recipes.

  Joey & I always exchange early since we’re up in Kirkland Lake on Christmas Day and we’re impatient we’re lazy it’s become a tradition for us to exchange gifts before he goes up. I got him a few smaller things including a wallet from Herbivore, some chocolate and a Beatles mug as well as having his amp fixed for him (so he can play more music!) What did he get me?A beautiful new water bottle  (perfect for school!)and in the big box? Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee A Breville Juice Fountain Compact!! I’ve been saying for awhile that I want to get a juicer and Joey made my juicy dreams come true by getting me this little guy. Even Melly exclaimed “That’s amazing!” when she came in the door. I’m so excited to try it! Get ready for lots of juice pictures coming your way!

Any favourite juice combos or tips I should know about? I get carrot-beet-pear-ginger from the Big Carrot and it’s delightful! So lucky to have such a cool fiancé who will buy me appliances for Christmas especially since he does the dishes – I promise I will help keep it clean!

Are you as ready for a holiday as I am?
Have you given or received any gifts that
you’re ultra excited about?

Goodbye Stress, Pass the Sparklers

I had a nice weekend of festive-related events:

• Received a big shipment from Amazon, rounding out my Christmas shopping
• Ushered for (and watched) the musical version of It’s a Wonderful Life
• Baked cupcakes and decorated them with 25 kids at our office’s kids holiday party

Even with all of this is done now, I can’t help but feel overwhelmed rather than excited for Christmas. The next few weeks are going to be incredibly busy for me and I need to find some ways to deal with my stress.

“But Ashley, didn’t you just quit your job so you would be doing what you loved and leave this stress behind?” Ultimately yes, but there are a number of things along the way before I get to calmer waters.

They have yet to hire a replacement at my office, which means I haven’t been able to start training someone. As a result, the beginning of January is going to be a ridiculously busy time for me. In that first week I will be starting rehearsals for my new show, starting school, leading 6 Weight Watchers meetings of my own and filling in at another PLUS training the new person. I thrive on being busy, but at the moment I feel like I’ve bitten off a little more than I can chew.

Let’s add to that my upcoming trip to Kirkland Lake to visit Joey’s family and friends smack dab in the middle of my transition. I have not been stressed about going up there for past holidays and visits, but this will be my first time up there since going gluten free and vegan. The last time I was up there was last Christmas and while I had made some changes in my diet, I made all the big changes a few months later. Kirkland Lake is a small mining town of 8,000 people. Considering that there’s only a handful of restaurants in town, I doubt I’m going to have a ton of choices when I go out, which means that I’m going to need to eat a lot of things at home. Joey’s mom is a wonderful cook, but very old school in her methods – lots of dairy, meat, and other things I don’t eat.

I see myself eating a lot of salad.

I plan to bring some things with me (cereal, almond milk, snacks, steamer basket etc.) and take a trip to the grocery store to stock up on fruits and veggies,  but it’s just not going to be the same as being at home and it feels a little daunting right now.

I also think that I’m just ready for my new life to start. When I first gave my notice at work, I felt a huge sense of relief. Waiting 2 months to go to school seemed much more feasible than waiting an entire year (until September 2010) The problem is that I feel like I’ve already checked out. My patience is wearing thin and it’s showing. I thought the the stress of my role would go away when I delegated some of my duties, but it’s still fairly high pressure and some of the people around me haven’t been on their best behaviour. Being in an open concept office makes this challenging and there have been a few days where I’ve just felt like walking out and/or crying.

So how am I coping?

I’m doing my best to take it day by day and stay positive. Negativity has gotten me nowhere in life and I truly believe in the power of positive thinking and words. January is still 3 weeks away, and projecting how stressed I’m going to be is not going to make anything better. I’ve got a lot of things to enjoy over the next few weeks including a vacation, time with friends and family and learning my part in my upcoming show.

I have to say that as a result of writing this blog post I feel a bit better and less anxious than I felt earlier. I’m also getting back into journaling. I’m reading Julia Cameron’s Artists Way 10th Anniversary Editionand am working up to writing my morning pages. Journaling is a wonderful way to release your emotions and thoughts in a constructive way. I’m also journaling something else: my food intake. I’m working on filling up my tracker each and every day because it’s really easy to make crummy food choices when I’m stressed out. Last but not least, I’ve been doing lots of activity and filling up my December Activity chart. Not only does activity make me feel great, but it also helps me to take my mind off things!

Heather sent me a great “message from the universe” last week,

Life isn't supposed to be all 'cakewalk' and no 'baking'.  Especially not for those who like to experiment, take risks, and be surprised.
Please pass the sparklers,
The Universe

So very, very true.

How are you coping with the stress of this season? What do you do to manage your stress? Any tips for me as I wait for my new beginnings?

Christmas Shopping? Oh Yeah! Gift Ideas to Make Your Life Easier

Do you like my attempt at making my desk at work more festive?

I felt like I was really ahead of the game when I started my Christmas shopping way back in August when Joey and I were in Niagara Falls. After that I forgot that Christmas was coming. It didn’t dawn on me again until I was in a card shop 2 weeks ago, buying a birthday card and heard “O Holy Night” playing in the background.

Oh crap.

Since then I’ve gotten caught up and am happy to report that I’m nearly 95% complete. Hooray! I know that for some of you reading this post might be your “O Holy Night” playing in the background, so I thought I would pass along some gift ideas for the loved ones in your life.

Every year I have a mini-Christmas with my friends Charis and Zoe. Our tradition started 4 or 5 years ago when I was back in musical theatre school. I didn’t have a ton of money so I bought them a whole bunch of little things like festive socks and candles. Since then our tradition has continued and each year I am always on the look out for really cool ideas that might not be on our elf lists.

Last year I found some incredibly unique items on Etsy that were absolutely perfect. The first were these great book stamps from Terbearco. Both of the gals are big readers and I thought personalized stamps to make their libraries complete would be lovely! I also got them each a fun coloured ink pad to use with the stamps. One of my other favourite finds for the girls last year were these coffee corsets from Jenn Gee. I even bought one for myself and still use it (although I couldn’t seem to find a picture of it!) It’s a great gift for those that you know drink coffee or tea on a regular basis and it’s nice because she has all different styles. Mine is leopard print with a pink ribbon, Zoe’s was beautiful blues & greens and Charis’s had a gardening theme.

There are thousands of amazing vendors on Etsy, each with tonnes of  great gift ideas. Some of my other favourite shops include Seagoddess Jewellery for beautiful handcrafted bellybutton rings, Heather’s super fun tote bags, and beautiful jewellery and fascinators (like the one I won back in the spring) from Ten Things.

Books are always one of my favourite things to give and I’m a big fan of Amazon’s Super Saver Shipping option! I would highly recommend any of the cookbooks I’ve reviewed on the blog this year for the gluten free folk or vegans in your life. Some of my other picks for the people in your life would be Make it Fast Cook, it Slow (amazing slow cooker recipes from Stephanie O’Dea), Gluten Free Girl (Shauna’s wonderful memoir) or Julie & Julia (for a good giggle).

I recently discovered Herbivore Clothing after winning this super cute wallet during Lazy Smurf’s awesome Vegan MoFo giveaway. They’ve got tonnes of great t-shirts, books and accessories for the plant eaters in your life and their shipping is very inexpensive (even to Canada!), which is always a plus when you’re ordering online. A wallet very similar to mine is currently in transit for a special guy I know (because he can’t stop raving about how awesome and small mine is! Shhhhhh don’t tell!! )

As much as online shopping is convenient, I love shopping in my neighbourhood and supporting the local businesses. Some of my favourite shops include El Pipil at 267 Danforth (wonderful housewares, accessories and clothing), iQ Living (amazing kitchen and house stuff), The Big Carrot (natural food and bodycare), Grassroots (green products)and Red Tent Sisters (women-friendly workshops, books and sexy products)

I’m always a big fan of homemade gifts and every year I always do some baking for my friends. Cookies, squares or truffles make lovely gifts especially when wrapped pretty boxes with a heartfelt card. Hannah over at Bittersweet has some awesome ideas for sweet treats to give. I will definitely be making some gluten free vegan treats this year for friends and co-workers as I’m doing my very best to save as much money as possible for school (which starts in 26 days! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee) I will show you what I come up with in the coming weeks.

How is your Christmas shopping coming along? Are you always ahead of the game or are you a last-minute Lola?