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happy monday friends! hope everyone was blessed with laughter, fun and sunshine this weekend. it was a lovely 30th celebration with a family dinner on friday and spa indulgence on saturday. sloane and i spent the better part of sunday painting away, sipping lattes and indulging in the best scones in town courtesy of the drake cafe. this little rainbow seems to have arched itself over my head and i am feeling a sense of relief and excitement as i enter in to this next chapter (which everyone tells me are the best years of your life). the rest of the week has some cottaging in the plans and plenty of down time. enjoy this last week of june and a happy long weekend ahead!
x, m
images meg’s iphone
of a very big birthday, i have nothing to say except that i am happy. i had a wonderful day before holidays kick in tomorrow and i am so very grateful for all that is amazing in my life. most of all i am grateful for my health and the health of my family. something so very important that we often take for granted, yet without it, we truly have nothing! my blogging over the next week may be a little sparse as i take a little time to feed my soul and relax in the abyss that is sleep in’s, sunshine and cocktails. sending each of you bundles of hugs and kisses for sharing in my little journey and taking the next little leap in to my thirties!
x, m
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there was a time when i was a little more adventurous in my cooking. i used to love to get recipes in my email. you know those silly ones from your girlfriends that are like a chain letter where you have to pass them on. they were actually pretty useful. now, i am exhausted at the end of the day and admittedly look to the easiest, fastest way to feed my family. one thing i have not compromised on is health. even if it is a quick meal, i always make sure that it is healthy. the biggest challenge i have with being so rushed is that i tend to stick to a predictable menu. i don’t change it up all that often. i am completely inspired by people who are professional chefs or just naturally incredible in the kitchen. i want nothing more than to wow my family and my guests with dishes that are unique and drool worthy.
i made a decent little investment in to this goal and have committed myself to a few classes at the Calphalon Culinary School. i will be learning about cooking with Sustainable Fish, Mediterranean and French Bistro. i am so excited and cannot wait to share my experience with all of you! wish me luck.
image from my favorite food blog roost
x, m
i walked passed someone today who seemed a little lost in their thoughts. i proceeded to stop and ask what was on their mind and they turned to me and said “time, i cannot believe where time has gone” i smiled back and said, you took the words right out of my mouth.
i dropped tuition cheques off at sloane’s school this morning and took a very deep breath. how did i get here so fast. i can replay the moment she was brought home from the hospital. that cry, the dependency and her sweet baby smell. now, she is an independent little girl always concerned with making sure everyone is having fun.
i have realized lately that life will quickly move on without you if you do not embrace every day and live it to the fullest. so, my goal? find more time to make fun memories. this means travel more often, take time away from work and completely shut down. no more half vacations, checking my iphone every five minutes kind of stuff. it means, going where iphone service is, well let’s just say limited!
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x, m
hip hip hooray! it’s the weekend and a new month. well hello June. and while we are at it, it is also national donut day so please promise me you will go out and indulge in a little glazed treat.
21 days from today marks the big 3.0 i am still dedicated to my 30 to 30, just not sharing all of them :) some are little goals just for me! you know like staying committed to always matching your bra’s and undies. my mom says this must always be a girls goal. she’s pretty spectacular i tell ya. anyway, less of that and more of day 8 goal which is to have my site updated by my birthday. yep! looking to make some subtle changes to M&C as we enter in to the anniversary of year 1! i am depending on others for some support here- hopefully they like me enough to meet my goal with me :)
happy weekend sweet people!
x, m
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today marks day 5! i am going to keep it simple and say my goal is to be passionate and love what i do every day. my heart is so full for the design world and the constant craving for creativity, this work space (including the number 5, perfect i know)  is the studio i will create. that is my commitment to myself!
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x, m
hello lovlies! i spent the greater part of my afternoon on saturday at BlogPodium. as you can see from the juicy details above, BlogPodium was curated by Lindsay and Jen after an immense need for Canadian design bloggers to learn and connect. this is the second BlogPodium event and it did not disappoint. the objective for the second event was to focus on the monetization of your blog. i learned some great insights in to why you should and should not advertise and how to approach it in the best way for YOU!
Nicole from Making It Lovely was a guest speaker and her candid, welcoming tone certainly set the stage for some very open dialogue between guests and panel members.
what i appreciated the most from the day was the ability to meet so many talented individuals, many of which i had “virtually” met. it was nice to finally put a face to the name. i am increasingly impressed with the engagement from Canadian Designers. we sure do live up to our “Canadian’s are nice people” reputation.
of course the icing on the cake was being at the event with my sweet, ever so talented friend Jess. an incredible interior designer who is more than just handy with a hot glue gun :)
x, m
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okey doke! i have been referencing my total cleanse, juice cleanse for about a week or so now since completing it. i promised a full low down so here it goes.
first, in the words of total cleanse, i opted for the purify cleanse which is described below. also, i did the cleanse for 3 days. JUICE ONLY!
“The Purify Cleanse is our most extreme cleanse. The Purify Cleanse is designed for people who are health conscious and considerate of what they eat. The Purify Cleanse eliminates most carbohydrates, fruit and sugar from your diet and provides your body with approximately 1200 calories per day. Despite the low calories, the Purify Cleanse provides you with enough energy to get you through the day without feeling light headed or weak. Planning a day or days off is not necessary. You should be able to carry on with most of your normal daily activities; however, taking it easy would not hurt.”
i definitely consider myself a healthy eater so i thought i was making the right decision by going with the most extreme of the juices. this may have been my first no no. i would suggest regardless of how healthy you are, starting at a mid range may be a little easier to handle. and by easier to handle, i am primarily referencing taste. i found the taste of the juice a little hard to take down. with no fruit and all vegetables, it was like eating liquified salad all day long.
Day 1: I WAS STARVING. yes, over the top hungry. i also tried to not have coffee ( which they say is actually fine if it is black only ) i shouldn’t have done that. i am incredibly addicted to coffee and by 11am i felt ill with a headache. ┬áwhen i got over the hump of the afternoon, the evening felt a bit better.
Day 2: LESS STARVING. woke up and had a coffee. yes! this helped a lot. i spent the day fairly relaxed, i did not run and chugged back the juice even though the taste still hadn’t grown on me. i noticed a little something change by 3pm on day 2. i wasn’t tired! no, not one little bit. i definitely felt alert.
Day 3: NOT HUNGRY. at all. in fact i was forcing myself to drink the 6 bottles of green machine because my stomach had clearly shrunk to the size of a pea. i felt highly energized, extremely alert and i best describe it as no foggy brain. i had compliments on how great my skin looked and since finishing it two weeks ago, have many people saying i look refreshed.
so, how much can i chalk up to the cleanse? well, a fair bit i would say. what it did was get me started on an extremely healthy path. i can feel my body craving it already and i will likely try to have one juice a day going forward. the amount of nutrients that it feeds you in one bottle is quite substantial.
the cost? expensive. no other way to put it. it is 60 dollars a day. 6 bottles of juice and they are all delivered directly to your front door. they come in cute little cooler bags with ice packs so they stay fresh if you are not home to receive them.
i do not recommend this cleanse to anyone who really doesn’t have the interest in sustaining a healthy long term lifestyle. if you finish the cleanse and want to dive in to a big mac or slab of cake, don’t waste your money.
x, m
good friday morning friends! this weather is such a dream. i feel like the sun has completely transformed me and left a sweet hop in my step. today is day 2 of my 30 to 30 journey. my commitment on day 2 is to blog often and  always for the right reasons. i referenced a blog post here earlier this week. the thread of posts like this ( things i am afraid to tell you ) has been weaving through the blog world for the last few weeks. this post however resonated the most for me. i can identify with the struggle for time to post, the ability to always write and share images that are truly how you feel and what you want vs what readers or the blog world are dictating.
i am very excited to be attending blogpodium tomorrow. not only to learn but to meet so many people that i chat with in the social space but have yet to meet. if there is one thing that i personally believe is important, it is to network and always engage with others. I WILL NOT BECOME A BLOG SNOB. as much as i love reading leading blog sites, i struggle with the clique-esqe circle that ensues. i find too many top bloggers talk in a limited circle and do not engage with their readers, particularly through twitter.
be gracious..always!
poster available for purchase here
x, m
today marks a pretty special day for me. exactly 30 days from today, i officially leave my twenties. i have to be honest, it scares the hell out of me. i hear so many great things about your thirties but i feel like i have experienced so many amazing things in my twenties, i fear the next decade wont quite measure up. i think my other anxieties come from my innate desire to do more, be better and achieve my goals by a certain period of time. i have been coaching myself that everything comes in time, as long as i continue working hard, things will fall in to place.
with all of that said, i believe in the importance of setting goals and monitoring your progress. some times life will throw you tremendous opportunities. if you are so fortunate to have a door opened for you, embrace it. for the majority of the world, those doors don’t open themselves, you need to work your little tail off to create opportunity and success.
for the next 30 days, i have 30 things that i want to achieve. my hope? that when i blow out the candles on my birthday cake, i have an overwhelming sense of pride and accomplishment. most importantly? that i am happy!
so, for day 1 my goal is HEALTH i will run 3 times per week and continue to eat a gluten free, high vegetable diet. tomorrow i will be sharing my first step towards this goal which was my juice cleanse- stay tuned and i hope you will share in my journey to happiness in my thirties!
x, m
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