Happy Procrastination Season!

I only decided to blog because I have been in love with a few great ones for a while now - mostly food blogs. I love reading about people's creativity, and how they fit things like exercise and cooking delicious food  and crafting beautiful things into their regular lives. People got some serious talents ....

So in honour of all the time that will be wasted during this final exam and final assignment season, here are some sites to at least get you off facebook  ....

________________FOOD_______________

(Neverhome)maker is one of my go-to's, ... great photos of great food. A lot of my favourite recipes are from them, including the around the world black bean burgers (which are so good I don't let people put ketchup on them) and sweet potato ravioli.  They are both really active and their running and recovery strategies are good to read about. Right now they're also running another blog about their newest adventure - their new baby!

I have since bought 2 of this awesome cook's cookbooks - and will probably get her Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World cookbook later. Lots of flavour, lots of zest - the ppk is seriously a haven for vegan cooks and bakers. You can search recipes by ingredient or course, and there's a recipe to suit any craving! Some are kind of complicated but I just avoid those and stick to ingredients I have already! So fun.

A family decided to only eat REAL food (nothing really processed, refined, etc. Whole foods and awesome body and soul friendly food only!) for 100 days, which astounds me. They have two young kids and I'm impressed by their effort to make themselves and their family as healthy as they can be! Lots of great recipes and tips, and you can sign up for mini pledges to help yourself eat better!

____________HAPPINESS_____________

Lots of lovely motivational articles and whatnot. Sometimes you need a jumpstart, and you'll find it here! 

(Her title is off to the side of her header, I do realize that it doesn't look centered...) Apart from this lady's awesome name (yes, apparently her actual name IS Gala Darling) and killer style, she has an amazing "Radical Self Love" project and you get good energy just from LOOKING at her site. Enjoy, then look at this list and go out and buy yourself some sequinned knickers 

_____________DIY___________

This lovely lady posts about all sorts of crazy cool crafts and diy stuff she makes - including the instructions to what will become glasses for my new kitchen - this post about how to easily cut beer bottles using yarn, nail polish remover and a lighter! 

also 

This site is overflowing with crazy cute ideas for everything. If you like DIY, good luck passing exams this year because you won't be able to get off this blog after you see things like the sewing kit in a jar (I might be biased by my irrational love for all things in the mason jar genre) and the coffee filter pom poms. 

Sort of DIY, sort of everything that was ever fabulous that was placed on the internet. I just didn't know where else to categorize it. I only discovered this one two days ago and oh dear. My girlfriends have already been the victim of too much inspiration in the form of incessant emails with links to great stuff. 

_____Daily News and "News"______

I don't usually go the day without checking these sites for new headlines or interesting articles:

A feminist supplier of gossipy type headlines but also has lots of interesting articles including "Sisterhood is Easier in the Winter: Short Skirts Magically Turn Women into B*tches" 

                                                       

I don't need to explain this one right?

This one has a really left, Canadian perspective on Canadian news. I really enjoy their Book Lounge!

________Real Life_________

I also love to surf the blogs of friends and local (well, Lethbridge local) blogs! 

My friend Chris has a great blog where he blogs about daily life stuff and also about the great books he reads! This man is one of the most well read people I know, I would highly suggest taking his book recommendations.

Lethbian Love hooks me up with all sorts of great stuff (or kind of weird) stuff that Lethbridge has going on! From his About section: 

"Lethbian Love features the people and things that I find interesting or great about Lethbridge, Alberta. But sometimes it's also Lethbian Loathe because, well, the whole Deathbridge thing. Anyway, in case you were wondering,Lethbians are those of us who are native to or residing in Lethbridge."

Lethbridge Veg  : Vegetarian Living, gardening and urban foraging in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. It has been really interesting to read, and makes me want to make my own veg garden for my new apartment in the Bridge! Cool to read about people doing great things right in your town. 

__________And I'm Done!__________

Now go be productive. Good luck ;) 

A Thanksgiving Blessing

A prayer/blessing/wish for you and your kitchens on this weekend of food, family and friends:

May this kitchen be so filled with peace
That all who eat food prepared here receive peace
May this kitchen be so filled with happiness
That all who eat food prepared here receive happiness
May this kitchen be so filled with good will
That working here is a joy
Bless this kitchen
Bless all work work here
Bless the food that is prepared here
May this kitchen and the work done here be a blessing to all who live.

From May All Be Fed by John Robbins

Happy Thanksgiving everyone - remember to carry this feeling of gratitude for your friends, family, health and food with you throughout the year. We are blessed to have delicious, healthy food to nourish us and to share with people we love and who love us. Enjoy it today, and enjoy it every day <3 

Hope You're Ready, World!

Because there is a very powerful force just starting to come your way: GIRLS!

When I was young, my sister and I had these great posters in our playroom  - they said

Playing like a girl doesn't mean what it used to 

A girl's place... is anywhere she wants to be

I grew up with, and maintain, the staunch belief that being female should not and will not hold me back or prevent me from doing any single thing I want to do. I could be a teacher, a contractor, a mother, a doctor, an physicist, a ballerina. I could play any single sport I wanted to ... for goodness sake I did karate and synchronized swimming in the same season, for years. I still get incensed when I hear "female athlete" - she's an athlete, period. Whatever I wanted to do, as long as I was a hard worker, honest and stuck to it - I could do it. I have female and male role models and friends who taught me and continue to prove to me that there are no opportunities that can be dictated by whatever genitalia you happen to have. I have found this, in my world, to be true. I was one of the lucky few in this world. 

Around the world girls of all ages continue to be held back from school, from gainful and meaningful employment, continue to be oppressed through sexual violence, disproportionate levels of poverty and hunger, and through plain old discrimination. But it's starting to change. The wave is catching and people are working hard to make this world better for everyone, by making it better for girls ... it's 

THE GIRL EFFECT! 

Today marks the beginning of this year's Girl Effect Blogging Campaign! If you're a blogger, please participate and spread the word about The Girl Effect.

What is this 'Girl Effect' you ask? Basically it's this. Right now, girls around the world are just starting to become the powerhouses they should have the opportunity to be. They're just starting to have equal opportunities, just starting to become educated, to have fair, paying jobs and just starting to show the world what they're made of. And as a result, family sizes are getting smaller, allowing more children to go to school, allowing parents to have more food and water security for their children and themselves, allowing communities  to become more prosperous and increase the quality of living, allowing countries to run more effectively and fairly... you get the idea.

Here's what happens:

Ps, for you Girl Effect veterans, and people who like THAT video, they have lots of new videos, check em out.

I hear lots of you saying, what, and forget about the boys? NO. The point is to forget no one. Create institutions, traditions and rules that recognize the rights of all humans, not just those typically favoured.

Support organizations that address the issues that keep girls off the fast track. For example, microfinance organizations that give loans to women (and men) with business plans so they can have their own financial independence and provide for their families rather than depend on a man or parents. Like a love of my life: Kiva. Or organizations that address the ridiculous price girls and women pay for society's neglect of their basic health - death during childbirth (this is 2011, get with the program - that shouldn't be happening) or the fact that many girls around the world have to miss a week of school every month when they menstruate. No wonder they don't get ahead.

As an educator, obviously I want to see more girls in school around the world, and in higher levels of school. I have been blessed to be able to work with and support great organizations that believe in this goal too, such as Roots & Wings International in Guatemala and Malawi Girls on the Move. I believe if we can remove the barriers children around the world face when coming to school, the world will be a better place. Both girls and boys face a lot of issues such as the distances they must travel to school, the supplies they must bring (water, food, not to mention books, pencils and uniforms), the easily preventable illnesses such as worms and diarrhea that make them fall behind... so many. The thing is girls face all that PLUS a second rate standing in the eyes of many societies and families. In many places they become brides and mothers at ages when girls in Canada are still celebrating birthdays with single digit candles on their cakes.  In others, they become the only mother their siblings will know when parents are taken by HIV/AIDS. Or maybe they're simply left behind when parents can't afford to send all the kids to school. Whatever the case may be, we have to help countries, including our own - get girls into schools, staying in schools and succeeding in schools.

Girls are powerful, strong and deserve to have their rights taken seriously. Boys are powerful, strong and deserve to have their rights taken seriously. All we're asking for is that we make sure to pay attention to ALL people so that we can all work together to not just survive, but thrive.

And just in case I haven't convinced you let, I'll let these girls give it a shot. Here is the first graduating class of the first school built by Malawi Girls on the Move (which the University of Lethbridge Rotaract Club is so grateful to have been a part of!) performing a song they wrote, on their graduation day.

This IS the Girl Effect.

 

What do you need to live?

One thing I ADORE about traveling (among other things) is meeting other travelers. In my apartment building, 3 Japanese volunteers live upstairs. I have been hanging out with one of them, and the other night we went out for a drumming/open mic style evening at a local bar. She brought her guitar and harmonica and I brought my excited-ness to hear her play them!

Gomi & her project

She also brought her art project. She has been here for a year already and will be here another year, and she is making this great project. She has a big blank shirt she embroidered with the question "What do you need to live?" (in English and in Japanese).  She asks people to write down their answer and then embroiders that onto the shirt later.

First of all, I love the idea of having an art project for a trip. Am brainstorming about what I could do.

Second, I love her question. It's the kind of question you should be able to answer right away. The answer is whatever pops into your head first. There is no smart or silly response, it just is.

Another person's answer:
Real Food. Sharing the Love.
Active Connection with the Divine Spirit

Before I tell you mine, what is your answer? 

[An interesting thing she mentioned is that when she asks travelers, she gets answers like love, hope, God, peace...and when she asks, most locals say things like food, shelter, water. An interesting point about how privileged I and We are to be able to travel, to look for good experiences, rather than worrying about basic needs.]


Mine?

To be in Awe. 

There are so many great and wonderful people, things and ideas in the world. I like to feel the power of them, to feel blessed to experience something, to be in those moments where you are just amazed at how the world works or what it looks like and what it can create! Sunrises, sunsets, great friends, good food, warm breezes, giant mountains, expansive oceans, never ending forests, huge skies... I soak that stuff up!

So really, what is your answer! I want to know!

No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should

This poem, Desiderata by Max Ehrmann, is one of my favourites.

Someone posted my favourite line today and reminded me about it!

In times when I am confused about what I am doing, what I should decide, or those days I ponder life, this poem is a good grounder. I have my favourite line, the one in the post title, written on my mirror.

To those of you who haven't read it before, may it bring you come calm and reassurance like it does for me. For those who do know it, may reading it today make you smile!

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1952.