Current Obsessions

I have a bunch of things that are on my mind right now. Perhaps none of great importance, just random things but here 'ya go - a list of my current obsessions in no particular order:

- what would it feel like to be born on February 29th? I think this would really bug me that I only got a "real" birthday every four years.

- homemade chocolate chip muffins

- TLC's "Baby Story" and "Bringing Baby Home" - although we just cancelled a bunch of extra channel packages to save money on our cable bill so yesterday was my last day of TLC!

- the song "Realize" by Colbie Caillat

- sleeping in

- rediscovering "The Chronicles of Narnia" and loving it

- trying to figure out what I want to do with my life

- budgeting . . . definitely obsessed with saving money right now

- Robin Sharma's book "The Greatness Guide Book 2" - full of great anecdotes and things to ponder

- wondering where our society is headed - what world we are going to be leaving our children with? This one I've been thinking of for awhile and right now I'm 50/50. Half the time I really believe in the inherent goodness of people and think the world will right itself out but the other half of the time I think it's going to be inevitable that the train we're on has just built up too much speed to ever stop and we'll eventually crash.

- homemade chocolate chip muffins (I know I wrote this above but I thought I'd end things on a lighter note, plus - I do looove my chocolate chip muffins)!

But anyhoo - there you have it - a snapshot into my mind right now.

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Which way are we going?

I am deeply saddened by the death of actor Heath Ledger. Not only was he a very talented actor but in the interviews of him I had seen he always came across as a really down to earth, funny and kind person. I thought he had a great career ahead of him and was really looking forward to seeing him portray the "Joker" in the new Batman film and to see what he had in store for us as viewers.

I have also been very saddened, but also very disturbed, by the media coverage I have seen on this. It's one thing to report the passing of someone who is in the public eye, talk about his roles, and I can even understand trying to interview people who had worked with him, etc, to help get across what kind of person he was. What really gets under my skin is not only paparazzi, but news reporters camped out outside Michelle Williams' home in New York in order to try and catch her and her two-year old daughter's reactions as they exit and enter the residence.

As Heath Ledger's ex-girlfriend and the mother of his child, I am sure that Ms.Williams is absolutely distraught at this time and I can't imagine what it feels like to have to deal with all this media attention right now. I think it is despicable and extremely disrespectful. What ever happened to common sense and manners? Have people simply lost a sense of what is right and what is wrong? Can these people camped outside her home hoping to snap a picture not realize that by doing so, they can only be adding to their grief?

This is something that has been bothering me for awhile now - people's fascination with things that are simply none of our business. The rate that people snatch up gossip magazines and log onto the Internet to see which celebrity was caught doing drugs in rehab or snapped by a paparazzi wearing no underwear while getting out of a car is astounding. I can understand the "average Joe" being interested in a celebrities life a little bit, such as watching interviews on TV or reading them in a respected magazine. It just seems that the line has been so far crossed in terms of what is acceptable and not nowadays that the line doesn't even actually exist anymore.

When we can no longer have the sense to realize that having a live stream on the internet outside the home of people who are grieving (something that we have all gone through and know that is one of the hardest things we ever have to process), it truly makes me wonder which way the modern Western society is going. Will we ever have a collective sense that we need to pull back on the reins and realize we are headed to a point where our sensibilites no longer make . . . sense? Or will we let this cancerous behaviour continue to build until we're no longer able to remember what it meant to truly care for each other and only want the best for others?

Something to think about . . .

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Goodbye Christmas, goodbye

I said a sad farewell to Christmas today. Chris said enough is enough so we finally took everything down. The tree - gone. The garland - gone. The wreath - gone. All my cute little Christmas figurines and candles - gone. If I had it my way I'd probably leave everything up until February 1st, but Chris had other plans. I love Christmas and I love having our house full of things that remind me of it and remind me of family. I think I just need something else to look forward too, Easter maybe? My birthday?

On a completely unrelated note - I have a new pet peeve. I've discovered that it really bothers me when people I don't know call me "hon" or "sweetie". Example - If you're at the checkout counter at a store and when the clerk hands you the bag they say "here 'ya go sweetie!" or "thanks hon!" What is that? I'm in my late twenties, I'm not 4 years old! I wouldn't mind it if it was an elderly person referring to me in that manner - when that happens it's more of a motherly thing coming across and I do think it's quite endearing. But when someone who is not that older than me or someone who is younger talks to me like I'm either a) their best friend or b) their cute little cousin, it really turns me off. I know some people probably think it's fine and that I'm being a stickler but I think it shows a lack of respect. I would much rather be referred to as "miss" or "ma'am", is that too much to ask?

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Live your Best Life - Week 1

Yours truly has successfully just completed day #7 with NO CAFFEINE! You heard it right, I am finally kicking my caffeine habit! I was never a huge caffeine addict - I've never been a coffee drinker and although I love tea I've only ever drank herbal non-caffeinated tea. But I do have a bit of a thing for soda (in particular good 'ole Diet Pepsi), and it had gotten to the point where I was drinking about 4 a day. Now some people may say that four a day is nothing, but for someone who once suffered from pretty bad stomach problems, for me four is four too many and it was about time to give myself a kick in the pants and stop, so day number 7 is almost over and I haven't had a drop of anything with caffeine in it. For now I have switched over to caffeine-free Diet Pepsi and then once I get used to that I'll just stop drinking that as well. I found that after around day 4 or 5 I wasn't really craving it anymore and actually preferred water to anything else so that's kinda cool. I did have major headaches days 2-4 but I knew it would be worth it to stick with it!

All this is a part of a decision I made at the beginning of this year. I decided that this year I would live my best life and become the best possible version of myself. This is a bit of an ode to Oprah (I am a big fan of Oprah) - she's always saying on her show how it is every person's responsibility to live their best life and that no one is ever going to change you - only you can change yourself and make that decision for your life. She's right and I know there are changes I have wanted to make in my life for awhile now and it's about time I make them happen!

So first on the list was to become the healthiest I've ever been. I figured the new no caffeine rule would be a good place to start as that little addiction was bothering me quite a bit. As I continue that I'm also going to go ahead and move to the next thing on my "let's get healthy!" list - exercise. It starts tomorrow! I'm gonna' give yoga another try as it's easy to do during the winter in the house and it also has the meditative aspect of it which interests me. I'm going to promise myself that I will exercise at least four times a week for at least half an hour, then I'll move up from there.

I'll keep posting on my progress as getting the word out on what I'm doing will help keep my from slacking off. Here's to living your best life!

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You know you're a Grown-Up when . . .

You know you're a grown-up when you pass the magazine section at Shoppers Drug Mart and instead of automatically reaching for the "Cosmo" or "Vogue" magazine, you found yourself gravitating towards "Redbook".

Redbook?! Redbook is what my mother reads!! How come when I was younger and still living at home, whenever I flipped through this magazine I found it extremely boring and full of pointless articles about parenting, marriage and anti-aging that I would never be able to relate too, when now I see that it is actually full of useful and relatable articles for the modern woman?

Could it be? Have I already passed over that invisible line of aging? Am I truly ready to leave my "Allures" and "Glamours" behind and embrace the . . . MOM Magazine?? I'm not even a mom yet! How can it be that I find articles about how to treat childhood chicken pox and how to switch your toddler from 3 naps a day to 2 so darn interesting?

If I keep this up, by the time I'm 35 I'll be ready to graduate to magazines my Grandma used to read, the "Women's Weekly" and the "Family Circle" knitting magazines. Come to think of it, I have been wanting to learn how to knit lately. Maybe I should pick up a copy of that at work tomorrow. Hmmm . . .

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New Year, New Blog

So I've decided to rejoin the blogging community. I deleted my old blog months ago, but two of my friends have blogs that I love reading and it made me realize how much I've missed it so here we go!
There's been some big changes in my life since I left - Chris (my hubby) got a new job as a Youth Pastor at a church in Thornhill, we moved from our little house on the lake to a big house in the country, we celebrated our one year wedding anniversary, and have decided that this is going to be the year we start trying to make a baby!
Lots of changes, but they've all been good ones! This is going to be an exciting year for us, so hop on board and read away as I post my innermost thoughts, impart my pearls of wisdom on the world, or (more likely) share in the mundane (but fabulous) moments of a regular day from a regular gal whose quite happy with her regular life. Enjoy!

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