Little One is a veritable girlie girl.  She loves all things blingy, sparkly and pink.  She goes to the barn to feed the bull in her puffy tutu and rubber boots.

If you recall, I boycotted pink when Little One was born because I didn't want her to be under the whole notion that girls are all about princess, frilly things, and pink.

Despite my protests and not introducing her to all that is girlie, she somehow embraced all of those things anyway.  She loves Disney princesses, fairies, ballerinas, and PINK!

She also loves digging in the dirt and playing with snails and whatever other bugs she finds in the garden.


Little girls and little boys can do anything and everything they want to do when it comes to establishing their preferences in toys, activities or sports.  I think it's great for boys to play house and play with dolls, just like I think it's fabulous for girls to play with dirt or play with toy tools.  I think it's wonderful for boys to do ballet and girls to play hockey.


What do you think?

Link up your Wordless Wednesday posts here.  Sorry mine is a little "wordy"! We'd love to check your posts out!

There was a time when I used to blog for the love of blogging.  I moved to an island in the middle of one of the Great Lakes and needed an outlet to ward off isolation (though I was in love with the Island, I missed my loved ones) and to share my new life with my friends and family far away.

I blogged about my life on an island and in a small rural Northern Ontario town. Did you know that the Island is the world's largest fresh water lake island? The blog also served as a place where I planned my wedding details and asked readers for tips and advice. I asked about things like wedding etiquette, what kinds of bombonieres to give guests at our wedding, what kind of food to serve, music to play, etc. That was back in 2006. I had no idea that people other than my friends and family could read the blog until comments started filtering in.

Why would anyone other than my friends and family want to read a boring blog like mine?

All of a sudden, I had a core group of friends in the blogosphere whose blogs I frequented.  We commented on each other's blogs religiously.  We blogged for the love of blogging.  Things were different back then. I miss the daily banter between Ms.Mamma, JellyJules, Uncivil, Wisconsin Candy Dish, and Curiosity Killer.  The only one from that vintage who still corresponds via the blog regularly is CanineCologne.  Though I keep in touch with my old school bloggy friends, it's outside of the blog. Canine has actually visited us with her family twice in the past few years and is a regular fixture in our loves via email, phone calls, text messages and care packages.

Where was I?  Oh, right...

Then I ended up on complete bed rest for my high risk pregnancy, and to my surprise, blog friends around the world were watching, praying, giving me phone calls from California and New Zealand!  It's hard to describe the amazing friendships the blog brought me.  It was a community family that was built.  Genuine interest and genuine comments.

Little One catapulted herself into existence at 28 weeks gestation.  It the most difficult and the most terrifying time of my life.  Our life in the NICU lasted 72 days.  It was a long and challenging journey for us, yet she proved (and continues to prove) what a fighter she really is.

I had become a Mommy.

I was a Mom with a blog.  I guess by default, that made the blog a "Mom blog".  I blogged about life with a preemie, parenting, and everything under the sun.  The good, the bad, and the ugly.


All of a sudden, the blog morphed into something else.  It turned into a way I could supplement our family income.  I was able to put teaching English on the back burner because I was monetizing the blog.  I was shocked to see how the blog took on a life of its own.

There was a brief time a few years ago (I think Little One was two years old), when I wanted to shut down the blog.  I went on a brief hiatus.  It was turning into something that wasn't me.  I felt like I was losing my voice and losing the reason I started blogging in the first place.  Though the blog had been around since 2006, I didn't really start monetizing until 2009 and wasn't even seriously blogging until 2010.  That's when all the big opportunities started coming in.  The blog also became secondary to all the social media jobs I was getting as an offshoot of the blog.  My main job is with PTPA as their Social Media Community Manager on Twitter.  Had I not started a blog back in 2006, I wouldn't have opened up a Twitter account.  Had I not opened up a Twitter account, I would not have engaged and formed relationships like I did on Twitter.  Had I not done all of that, I wouldn't have been given the amazing jobs I am now happily working at.  It's almost dizzying to think of how one thing led to another and how so much has changed.

A girlfriend of mine shared her new blog with me and as I read, it was bitter sweet to me.  She recently moved to the Island and started her blog for pretty much the same reasons I did back in 2006.  Her blog posts made me smile.  Reading her posts made me wistful and nostalgic. That was me seven years ago.  Holy smokes! Seven years? That's crazy!

As I read my friend's blog, I remember a time when blogging was just blogging.  I remember a time when I blogged because I loved it.  I still love it, but sometimes I feel like the blogging world has turned blogs into something else.  It's not a bad thing - As long as we preserve our voice and continue to write about what we love and are passionate about.

I guess I just miss the older blogs where people used to visit and read each other's posts. I mean really read and comment.  Don't get me wrong.  I love each and every comment I receive and I adore my friends and readers.  There's a kinship I feel with those in my blogging community.  I do feel people who comment on the blog are genuine in their comments.  It's just that somewhere between the reviews and giveaways, and producing posts like you're a machine, I think we've lost something.  We may be gaining readers and followers, but part of me just misses the old school blog.

I love the blog and all it has given me.  It's an extension of me and something to keep for posterity.  It has given me so many incredible opportunities from ambassadorships and conferences, to sponsored posts and making fabulous friends (many of whom are not simply online friends, but in real life friends too). Feeling a little nostalgic and wistful tonight. Kind of miss the old school blogs.

Know what I'm sayin'?

End of rant.

Please show my friend, New Country Mama Manitoulin some love.  She's new around here. :)

Never in a million years would I have ever imagined what it would feel like to be on the receiving end of the kind of  love and support we received over a week ago.  When I think about the tremendous outpour of concern and well wishes, I get so overwhelmed and end up crying.

Giving Thanks

A Huge Thank You to CHEO

Thank You to the Blogging Community

Giving Thanks to Some Very Special People

Giving thanks to all the special people in our lives

I was finishing up some last minute work for a campaign when I looked at the clock on the bottom right hand corner of my computer screen.  All of a sudden an overwhelming sense of sadness washed over me. The date! The date made me burst out in tears. It was a reminder of the saddest day of my life.

My grandmother passed away a year ago tomorrow.

May 15, 2012. I still cry every time I think of her.

Sometimes I feel like I'm going bonkers, because one minute life is amazing and so many fabulous things are  happening for us. The next minute, I'm just so sad. Weepy...and missing her so very much.

My heart hurts so much, I feel like I can't breathe.



Still thinking of you each and every day, Lola.

Tonight we'll celebrate your life by lighting a candle for you, saying a prayer, and cooking some Filipino food like you used to make.

On Mother's Day, I usually give a huge shout out to my Mom for all the love and encouragement she has given us, as well as the sacrifices she has made for us.  My Mom has a heart of gold and would do anything for her loved ones.  She's also a little feisty and I can see a lot of her characteristics in my daughter.

I also give a big shout out to my amazing Grandmother every Mother's Day. She died last May and this is our first Mother's Day without her. So much of who I am is a large part of my grandparents' involvement with us and the values they instilled in their grandchildren. I miss my grandparents dearly.

This year, I want to reflect on what being a Mom means to me. I ended up writing my four year old daughter a letter.


Happy Mother's Day to all the amazing Moms out there!
What does being a Mom mean to you?

Every Spring, I don't just do Spring cleaning. It's more like Spring purging.

I open  up all the windows, get the lighter, brighter bedding out and onto the beds, and I just purge the house of things we do not need or use.

It actually disturbs me that we have so many things. We have too many things.

Every Spring people who need clothing or other items benefit from my crazy upheaval of our household items.

Every Spring I also do this...

This morning, when I read this post on Mashable, I got a little emotional. Yes, I know. A YouTube video about Twitter made me cry. Hey, I'm the girl who cries when I watch Tim Horton's commercials!

In all seriousness, the birthday video for Twitter encapsulated seven years of our history as a group of people  with shared experiences...in a few seconds of video.

Twitter connects people and keeps us in touch with news, thoughts, and opinions in real time. It keeps us connected to the world at large.

It sounds odd to say, but Twitter has definitely changed my life. First and foremost, it has been a place where many friendships with like-minded people were made.

While I was on complete bed rest during pregnancy, Twitter helped me keep in touch with people and offered lots of support from tweeps around the world.

After I gave birth to a preemie, Twitter was a place where I connected with other parents of preemies who knew what it was like to live with a baby in the NICU and to worry about our babies just making it through another day.

Twitter has also given my opportunities to cultivate and maintain relationships that are work-related. I have actually put my teaching job aside in the past two years to work in social media and digital marketing as a community manager for a few brands.



Love,
@chancesmommy
A Self-Proclaimed Twitter Lover

Since today is International Day of Happiness, I was thinking about things that contribute to my happiness and things that I do to make others happy.

Things that make me happy

• Sunshine and blue skies
• My smiley little girl
• Daily walks with my canine baby, Chance
• My husband surprising me by occasionally doing something thoughtful like doing the dishes after supper or making me a cup of tea
• A delicious, healthy meal
• Being with the people I love most
• Seeing my little one with her grandparents
• A good dinner party
• SPRING!

Perhaps this isn't such a "wordless" Wednesday kind of post, but this video was shared by +Natalie Rea on Twitter last night, and I just had to share it.

1. I'm a West Island girl and can't resist sharing posts related to people or things from my old 'hood.
2. I think we need to remember all the many reasons why teachers are so important in our children's lives.

WARNING: Break out the Kleenex! You'll need it!


Link up your Wordless Wednesday posts here! We'd love to check them out!

It's no surprise that children learn from observation.  They watch our every move. They hear our words, despite sometimes having selective hearing.

In essence, we as parents really are our children's role models and their first teachers in life.  This is why how we behave in front of our children is so very important.  How we behave is a large part of what we teach our children is important.

I keep thinking of what kind of person I want to raise.  I hope to do my best to raise Little One as having her own ideas, but also knowing how to interact within society even if others don't agree with her ideas. I want her to be strong, but not pig-headed. I want her to be sensitive, but not a push-over. I want her to be compassionate, empathetic, understanding, loving, and I want her to know how to stand up for herself and what she believes in. I hope we raise someone who is considerate, and most of all, respectful to others.

This sounds a bit lofty, since she's only four years old.

I was just thinking of different scenarios and how to deal with them. For example, when someone slights you or spreads vicious rumours about you (these things happen in everyone's lifetime), do we teach our daughter to take the high road or stand up for herself and say something even if the repercussions may not be positive?

Is being quiet and ignoring other people's idle thoughts or malicious rumours the perfect revenge? One can very well say that just going on with your life and paying no attention to stupidity is the best thing to do. What about putting your foot down and getting your transgressors to tell you to your face what they didn't have the gumption to say to you directly in the first place? Do we teach our daughter to stand up for what is just and right?

I am still undecided on what to teach Little One regarding how to deal with people who have slighted her. For now, she's in Junior Kindergarten, and I'm hoping I have a few more years to figure out how to prepare her for the world around her.

In the meantime, I am reminded of this great quote:

Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” - Dale Carnegie

Right now, Little One is so good. She hasn't been jaded or tainted.  At this age, she's still a blank canvas, if you will. She's full of love and trust...and she believes everyone in the world has a kind heart.

Though I know we cannot protect our children from the world outside the home, we can certainly prepare them.

Wow. I know I've said this before, but parenting really is not for the faint of heart.

Okay, just typing that totally freaked me out. Now I've got the goosebumps and can't get that kid's face out of my head. You know. That kid. The one from the movie Sixth Sense.


I don't want to creep you out, but I here's a random fact about me.

I do believe that some people have a sixth sense. I used to think that this was just me being superstitious, as Filipinos often are. Seriously, have you never heard a Filipina grandmother tell stories about ghosts? It's a very large part of our culture.

I shouldn't really say that I see ghosts. There's a lot more to it than that.

The earliest memory I have of this kind of strange occurrence was when I was just a little girl.  My grandfather on my paternal side died when I was maybe three years old or so.  My parents never said anything to my brother or me, because we were so young and they didn't think we'd understand.  Dad went to the funeral in Trinidad without us. Nothing was explained.

One evening, my Mom was getting us dressed after our bath and I pointed to the corner of the room and said, "Look, Mama! It's Grandpa, and he's smiling at me!"

Mom was so freaked out. She told me years later (when I was a teenager) that I scared her.

The extra-sensory powers, if you will, were heightened when I turned 13. I was able to do "odd" things like hold someone's hand and accurately tell them what they were thinking or "guess" which number, shape, colour they were thinking of. I was able to accurately depict things that would happen or retell things that happened in the past that no one had ever told me about. These things happened too frequently for them to be pure chance.

When I was in elementary school, my middle brother and I used to go home together after school (back when latch-key kids weren't so much frowned upon). Our baby brother went to my grandparents' house while my parents were at work and they'd pick him up on their way home every evening. My grandparents lived maybe fifteen minutes away by car and you had to cross a bridge to get to their place.

One afternoon, I distinctly heard my baby brother crying. It was more like screaming in pain. How could it be possible that I could hear my brother crying if he was fifteen minutes away by car? The cry sounded as though it were coming from right next to me!

Within minutes, I received a call from my grandmother. My little brother was running and had hit his head on concrete and split his head open.

How uncanny was that?

Then there were other times like when my friend from college called me out of the blue and I told her, "Hey! It's so weird that you called me! I just had a dream about you and [insert name of friend's boyfriend] were getting married!"

I went on to describe to her the wedding. It was so vivid in my dream. I was able to describe to her the wedding dress, flowers, decor, the wedding, the guests...and, all with accuracy. She was quiet and finally said, "Oh, my gosh. I'm calling to tell you that [boyfriend] and I are getting married, and you just described what I want the wedding to be like!"

Sure enough, when I attended the wedding, it was just as I had envisioned it to be.

Once, when I was living and working in Japan in my early-twenties, I was riding my bike back to my apartment at night.  For some reason, something made me look beside me, and I saw an old man riding his bike beside me. He smelled just like my grandfather's cologne. He smiled at me. It was my grandfather.  I blinked, looked again, and the old man was gone.  The thing is, my grandfather had died three months before that incident.

I wasn't really creeped out, because I knew it was my grandfather. I didn't have a bad feeling at all.

I did get scared during my trip to the Philippines last May. My grandmother was dying and I went there to spend her last few weeks with her and to bring my daughter so she could see one of her great-grandchildren one last time.

I had fallen asleep on the couch one afternoon and everyone was at the hospital. I woke up because I felt someone staring at me. It was my aunt who had died a few years prior. She was standing outside, looking in through the iron-clad door. I pinched myself several times to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

Things like this happen to me every now and then.  It used to really scare me when I was younger because I didn't understand it.  I still don't really understand it, but I know that it's something passed down from female to female on my mother's side. My grandmother's relatives had this and so did my grandmother and my mom.

Do you believe in a sixth sense? Has anything "out of the ordinary" happened to you before?

I've got all sorts of stories to share if you want to hear! They might scare the socks off of you though!

This post was inspired by a Twitter conversation I had with my friend, Carol. She shares similar experiences here.

With Little One now in Junior Kindergarten, the Scholastic book order forms are something we get really excited about in this house.  Little One loves books. Loves them.

My friend Manitoulin Key Lime Pie started Little One's obsession with Laura J. Numeroff's adorable collection of books when she gave her If You Give A Moose A Muffin, If You Give A Pig A Pancake, If You Give A Cat A Cupcake for her 2nd birthday. At 4 years old, Little One is determined to own the entire series.  Uh huh. Guess what books we'll be ordering from Scholastic?

Okay, you're probably wondering what a book about giving a moose a muffin has to do with Singapore Noodles, right?

If you've read any of the books in Numeroff's collection, you'll notice a pattern.

If a big hungry moose comes to visit, you might give him a muffin to make him feel at home. If you give him a muffin, he'll want some jam to go with it. When he's eaten all your muffins, he'll want to go to the store to get some more muffin mix. 

The moose initially asks for jam to go with his muffin, and after stream of consciousnes-like events in between, the story ends up with something reminding the moose of a muffin and him asking for jam to go with it.

The stories in Laura Numeroff's collection are entertaining, fun, and follow a similar sequence so that children can have fun predicting what will happen. My four year old has all of her books committed to memory. I don't know why she bothers asking me to read them to her every night...multiple times.

Singapore Noodles. Right.

The other day, I posted my Curried Egg Sandwich recipe. Immediately after posting. the idea of curry made me crave Singapore Noodles. I had to laugh, because this totally reminded me of my daughter's books! These books also remind me of how Mommies can oftentimes start off at one point, get distracted by everything that goes on in the day (with work, with home, with kids, with activities, etc), only to end up right where they began. With curry. You know. Curried Egg Sandwich? Singapore Noodles? If You Give A Moose A Muffin? I can't believe you missed that connection.

Without further ado, here is my Singapore Noodles recipe.

Ingredients
5.5 ounces dried rice vermicelli
4 oz chicken, cut into thin strips
2 teaspoon soy sauce
2 tsp rice wine
2 Tbsp curry powder
2 Tbps fish sauce (optional - I often forget to use it and I only use it if I'm using shrimp instead of chicken or pork)
1 Tbps oyster sauce
3/4 cup chicken stock
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Tbps ginger, minced
1/2 medium onion, sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
4 ounces bean sprouts (if you have them)
3 green onions, sliced thin
oil for stir-frying

Instructions
Soak the dried rice noodles in very hot water for 3 minutes. Do not over-soak them or they will stick together and get mushy when you cook them.

Pull noodles apart as soon as they start softening. Rinse in cold water several times to prevent the noodles from absorbing too much water. This also gets rid of any extra starch.

Chicken to a bowl and season with the soy sauce and rice wine.

Add curry powder into a small bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the fish sauce, oyster sauce and chicken stock.

Make sure to have all your prep done ahead of time, because everything will cook very quickly.

Heat a wok over high until very hot then add a Tbps of oil, swirl to coat inside of wok, then add the egg, swirling then scrambling. Put the egg on a plate and set aside.

Add 2 Tbsp of oil, then add the garlic and ginger, and then fry until the fragrances come alive. Oh,  you'll know it when it happens! Add chicken, holding aside the marinade and fry until the chicken just loses its pink color. At this point, it doesn’t have to be all the way cooked.

Add the onion, red and green bell peppers, and bean sprouts. Fry while stirring vigorously. Until the vegetables are a bright color. Add the curry powder and stir-fry until fragrant, then pour in the chicken stock and fish sauce mixture. Stir, to combine, then add the noodles and return the egg to the pan.

 If the noodles start sticking, add some water.

Top with scallions, then serve your Singapore Noodles immediately.You can switch things  up by substituting pork or shrimp for chicken. I've even done this recipe with tofu for a vegetarian option. Add some spicy chili pepper for kick if you wish!

The funny thing is that I wanted to begin this post with something like:

• "Singapore Noodles: Memories of Lunch Dates with My Dad at Le Faubourg Ste-Catherine in Montreal during my university days"
• "Yes, I traveled to Singapore just to sample some real Singapore Noodles and a real Singapore Sling!"

Yes, both of those headers are indeed true.

 Merlion - Most likely the most photographed subject in Singapore! Photo from here via Google Images.

P.S. I know many will think I am crazy, but I wish I loved Singapore more than I do! All I remember was that Singapore was super hot (like please don't let me go outside because I'm going to melt & I NEED A/C kind of hot!), expensive, insanely clean (I was scared something might fall out of my pocket and I'd get caned to death for littering), and the cockroaches were the size of small cats. Maybe not that big, but they were huge! Being so close to the equator, I guess the climate is conducive to roaches? Anyway, Singapore is a beautiful place and there was a lot to see. Love the culture and chatting up with all the ex-pats from all over the world! Fun! Wow. I totally miss my carefree jet-setting days sometimes.

**One more thing. I used this for my Singapore Noodles recipe this time. Hubby and Little One did the groceries and this is what they picked up.

Disclosure - This is not a sponsored post. Janes Family Food gets a mention today because Hubby and Little One love their Janes Chicken. All the thoughts and opinions expressed on this blog are honest and my own.

One of my favourite sandwiches is the Curried Egg Sandwich.  Surprisingly enough, the first time I had ever eaten a curried egg sandwich was when I was in Japan!

There was this delightful little cafe my friends and I used to ride our bicycles to on our days off. Usually on a Sunday morning, we'd have brunch at this quaint little place. They specialized in an assortment of "different" bagels and sandwiches. The place also doubled as a shop that sold really cool items like the funkiest lighters and even Swiss Army knives. The menu, the ambiance, and the venue itself were all really unique and not what I would expect to find in the outskirts of Hiroshima.

How I wish I could remember the name of that place! *Edited to add: Thanks to Facebook, I was able to ask my former co-workers from Japan what the name of that place was! It's Darren Almond! Wonder if it's named after this Darren Almond? Must be!

Whenever I have a curried egg sandwich, I am transported to that special time in my life. Hard to believe my days teaching and living in Japan are so far away. Like fifteen years ago! Wow!

The original Curried Egg sandwich I had was served on a toasted whole wheat bagel and it had capers. Here's my version of the sandwich:

Ingredients

• 4 extra large hard boiled eggs
• 2 Tbsp of mayonnaise
• 1 tsp of curry powder
• 1/2 tsp of sea salt
• 2 Tbsp of chopped fresh chives (if you want to switch things up, you can use 2 Tbsp chopped parsley)
•  alfalfa sprouts or chopped baby spinach or watercress
• a few slices of cucumber (just because my 4 year old's favourite vegetable is cucumber)
• Slices of Dempster's wholegrain bread or Dempster's bagel of your choice. This time we used Dempster's Villaggio, because that's Hubby's new fave.

Instructions
Enjoy!

Disclosure - This is not a sponsored post. We just really like Dempster's bread! All the thoughts and opinions expressed on this blog are honest and my own.

Was philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche correct in saying "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger"?

This article says yes.

Scientists have found that although traumatic experiences such as losing a loved one can be psychologically damaging, small amounts of trauma can make us more resilient.

In the past year, like most families, our family has had to deal with adversity. I suppose it's hit me because I've never really had to deal with situations like these before and it has brought us all closer together and has made us stronger.  One of the most difficult experiences for me has been losing my grandmother last May. Even now that we are a few months away from the one year anniversary of her death, I still wake up thinking "How are we going to go on without her?"

Life keeps going. We do keep going on. Some days are easier than others.

Then there are all the other challenging and frustrating events that get thrown in.

I've been learning that when it comes to seemingly insurmountable odds, we can, and do recover. Oftentimes, we come out stronger.

It's true. What doesn't kill us really does make us stronger.

I guess I should remind myself of that whenever I have to swig back my friend's "Kick the @#$% out of Your Cold" concoction. Trust me. It really works. Oh, and it hasn't killed me yet.

Here's the recipe that will get rid of any nasty cough!

Ingredients:
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp ginger (powder)
1 tsp honey
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp warm/hot water

Mix all ingredients together. Pass through a strainer if you want a smooth texture (no cayenne or ginger clumps). Consume by the tbsp as you would cough syrup...or if you're forgetful like me, chug the entire mixture in one gulp.
If you've got a cold or a cough, this has worked for us. Either it works and your cough totally disappears or your head explodes. If you try this, let me know how it works for you! Provided that your head doesn't explode, that is!

If there's one thing I learned in 2012, it's that harmony and balance cannot be achieved by trying to do it all. All the time. Right away.

As women, wives, and moms, daughters, and friends, we often strive to do everything for everyone and be everything for everyone. Working full-time jobs, being full-time parents, handling all things household and domestic and then some just isn't always realistic. We do it, but with a cost. We pay the price mentally, physically, and emotionally.  At least this is what I've experienced in the past year.

In 2013, I am not going to try to be Super Mom. Instead, I will do the best I can for my family, but not kill myself trying to be perfect. I'm not perfect. I'm only human. I can only do so much in a 24 hour period.

If the living room isn't spotless before bedtime, it can wait until the morning. If laundry is folded but not put away, it will still be there the next day to put away. I don't want Little one's earliest memories of me being obsessed and overwhelmed with household chores and work.

I want Little One 's memories to be of the time we spend together as a family.

This year, I resolve to not resolve. Instead, I am making some goals to be the best I can be...without being too hard on myself.

New Year's Goals for 2013 :

• Be more patient 
• Be kinder to those who test my patience 
• Before responding to something I don't agree with or something that angers me, sleep on it or revisit the situation later on 
• Listen more and speak less 
• Make more time for myself 
• Learn that it's okay to say NO to people 
• Establish a routine with Hubby and Little One for putting things in their proper places once we're done using them. This way, nothing gets piled up in a big mess for me to clean up later.
• Make sure we get in as much family time as possible. This may mean making Sunday (or at least part of Sunday) "Family Day"

Here are a few quotes I'd like to share:

 In between goals is a thing called life, that has to be lived and enjoyed.” - Sid Caesar

 Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination.” - Roy Goodman

 Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” - Vince Lombardi

 A mind is like a parachute, it doesn’t work if it isn’t open.” - Frank Zappa

 Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” - Dale Carnegie

This post was inspired by a phone conversation I had with my lovely friend, Laurel. If you don't already follow @optimom on Twitter, you'll definitely want to do so now :) Great to interact with and so inspiring. Visit her blog here http://opti-mom.ca/

When I was a teenager, 30 seemed "old" to me. I couldn't even fathom being 30. That just seemed so far away.

When I was in my 20s, I was scared to turn 30.

When I entered my 30s, I realized that 30s were the best years of my life. Wiser (one would hope!), stronger (experience makes us so), more stable (financially), and more experienced. Truth be told, I love my 30s. I keep joking about how turning 37 brings me that much closer to 40. 40 is close to 50. 50 is close to 60. After 60, things all go downhill and then you die. I'm just kidding!!! I don't really feel that way. My husband is 42 and reminds me that you're as young as you feel.

{37 wacky things about me}

1. Coffee makes me sleepy. A shot of espresso or cappuccino, and I'm out like a light in minutes.
2. I don't sleep nearly enough as I ought to.
3. Whiny kids drive me batty.
4. I have a very low tolerance for stupidity.
5. Ignorant, inconsiderate, rude jerks really tick me off.
6. I like listening to 80s pop and classic rock when I drive.
7. I sing Christmas songs as soon as Halloween is over.
8. I love my little girl more than she will ever know.
9. I am a crier. Me + sappy movies = a horrible mess! 
10. I even cry during Tim Horton's commercials.
11. When I need a pick me up, I watch America's Funniest Home Videos.
12. I can't stand the sight of blood or open wounds. 
13. My gag reflex is like none other. Just the thought of something gross sends me into dry heaving.
14. I hate all things poopy.  I live on a farm. Go figure.
15. My favourite Christmas movie is A Christmas Story.
16. Every Christmas, I watch The Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz, A Charlie Brown Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (original version), Rudolph, and Frosty the Snowman.
17. I'm a great baker of desserts.
18. I don't really like eating desserts.
19. I can't make jello.
20. Homemade pie crusts are not my forte!
21. I've been teaching ESL since 1998!
22. I put teaching ESL on hold last Summer to work in social media full time.
23. I miss my teenage years. The 90s rocked.
24. Growing up, my idol was David Suzuki.
25. I belonged to various environmental and recycling committees when I was in college and university.
26. When I was a student at Concordia University, our enviro group used to congregate in the lower level parking lot and sort worms. Yes, we were big into vermicomposting!
27. I always root for the underdog.
28. I support local & Canadian.
29. I've always wanted to learn how to play acoustic guitar.
30. New Zealand and Australia are on my bucket list.
31. I'd like to travel across Canada from coast to coast with my husband and daughter.
32. I am blessed with a fabulous family.
33. I've got great friends.
34. I lived and taught in Japan for two years.
35. I sometimes wonder what my life would have been like had I stayed in Japan.
36. Give me a latke or a knish and I'm your best friend.
37. I always thought I'd end up marrying Jordan Knight from NKOTB.

She's excited and thrilled to be going to school.  She talks about her teacher and classmates ALL the time.

Me?

Still clinging onto what remains of the Summer.


Summer, please don't go.

All you mamas (and papas!) with kids starting kindergarten this week, I'll need you to hold my hand.