What makes you happy?

This morning I crashed a workout with BDHQ's Biggest Winner bootcamp and it was amazing. Although quite a few people weren't there, it felt great to be working out alongside friends again! And what a brutal workout too! The thing I loved about being in BWs... you never knew what they were going to throw at you. You just showed up and knew that you'd be sweating a lot.

The other thing I love about Sunday BW workouts is the weekly check ins. Today topic: What makes you happy? Michele asked us to come up with a list and here was mine:

-sunshine
-swimming in the middle of a lake
-sitting at the beach looking out at the water
-hiking
-laughing with friends
-seeing my family
-playing card or board games
-drinking tea
-being physically capable of doing the things I want to do
-working out
-reading
-the feeling I get after eating a green smoothie
-having a clean kitchen/room
-blogging/writing
-learning about nutrition
-having all of my meals planned for the week
-trips to the root cellar
-hugs
-falling in love with a new TV show
-hearing a live band, especially jazz

The best thing about this list, they're pretty much all free and the only thing that stops me from doing them is me overbooking myself. So this week I am committed to doing the things that make me happy.

My kitchen is clean, my laundry is done, my meals and workouts are planned, and I've made plans to see my friends this week. Looking forward to a week full of HAPPY! :)

The other thing that makes me happy - accomplishing a goal! Like graduating university, that's a pretty big one! Here are some pictures from my grad..

Me and my proud parents!

The women who helped shape who I am today! <3 my role models 

Nothing in this world compares with love from grandparents 

Besties <3 We've seen each other through some pretty intense challenges these last three years. I wouldn't have graduated without this girl!

Oh man, so much love for this picture!

It's been a privilege to learn along side these ladies!

Roomie love!

It all started with cookie dough study sessions for Math 161! <3 <3 <3 I'll never forget our late night chats/rants, you braving the various meals I attempted to create, practicum prep on the grass and our many, many TV show marathons!

More roomie love! 

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The dish that made me like tofu

A year ago if you tried to make me eat tofu I'd either laugh in your face or roll my eyes. The only person that I've ever ate tofu for was Karen. And that was because I was so happy to have her and Ben come visit/help me move/make me dinner I felt it would be rude to admit how much I hated tofu.  (Side apology: Karen/Ben, I'm sorry I didn't like your food two years ago and didn't tell you. I bet you if I ate it now I'd love it!)

Then one day while grocery shopping with Karin a few months back, we decided to be brave for some reason. We looked up tofu recipes on allrecipes.com, found one that sounded not horrible and bought the supplies. And my palate has been forever changed.

Tofu + Onions + Mangos + Cilantro + Spices =

Throw it together over a salad and it's AMAZING!

The reason I will now eat plain baked tofu is because of delicious Mango Tofu Tacos. There are multiple ways to enjoy this dish, these are the ways we've tried:

1) In a wrap with a green salad on the side with tortilla chips and guac as an appetizer

2) In hard tortilla shells, with homemade salsa, and guacamole

3) Over spinach as a salad with homemade salsa, homemade guacamole, baked tortilla shells crunched on the top and a bit of sour cream (as pictured above, except ours is sans the guacamole and more sour cream than usual because it was extremely spicy last night) This tends to be my favourite because you can load up on veggies.

4) Leftovers straight from the container, with a spoon :)

5) Not tested yet, but we want to try this with fish instead of tofu.

It is super easy to make and everyone we've made it for absolutely loves it. If you do decide to try it for yourself.. here is the recipe and here are a few tips:

1) It's easier to buy and cut canned mangos that cut fresh ones. Make sure the ones you buy are canned in water, not juice.

2) If you're using homemade taco seasonings (like we did with last night's dish) add a little at a time and then taste it as you go. It was WAY too spicy for me yesterday, although perfect for Karin, so just spice to taste. We got our homemade taco seasoning recipe here.

3) Firm tofu is best. We started off using the medium, but we found it does get a little more mushy.

4) Do not make if you plan to have Emily Gage over the next day. The mango juices get everywhere and we don't want Emily dead any time soon! :)

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Coming Alive

I had every reason to be excited about today and sure enough it's been another great day! My hours got cut at work again, but instead of letting that fill me with the usual anger and anxiety, I simply went on with my day. I went to the gym to sweat out my anger, I started looking into other resources for income, and I jump started this whole career exploring mindset again.

Sweating it out was "fun" this morning. I haven't done bootcamp in two months and what did I chose to be my first class back? Killer Drills and Skills with Alex. KDS being the class that killed me even when I was doing bootcamp five times a week. Where was my head at?

First off) Ow!2nd) If it was possible to sweat off weight, I'm sure I'd be 10 pounds thinner after that workout.3rd) I hope I can move tomorrow.And 4th) Man it's good to be back! I missed this feeling!

I felt so invigorated after that workout that I went to Ingredients, a local raw/vegan/gluten free restaurant, for breakfast. I wanted to fill my body with good foods since I'd just put it through hell! While there I discovered they had a workshop on at noon with this guy coming to talk about super foods.

Since my shift was cancelled at work, it meant I could attend. I LOVED it, every minute. He talked faster than Rory and Lorelai on Gilmore Girls and some of the scientific language was way over my head but I just sat there, soaking it all in. I'm really starting to accept and relish in my passion for nutrition. I used to feel slightly guilty about it, feeling like I'm already so in debt for my B.Ed that I need to do something with it and use it somehow. I didn't (and don't) want to write off teaching entirely. But the thing is, I come alive when I start talking about food. I know the difference in my body when I'm feeding it the foods it needs, and I love sharing that information. The fact that we as humans have the ability to heal our bodies with our minds and the foods that we eat fascinates me. It's like these past few years, I was being introduced to this new way of living and I've been going into the water slowly but surely.

The more I discover about it, the more information I crave. I know flaxseed and omega 3s are good to have in your diet, pretty much everyone knows that. But finding out exactly what it does for your body makes it really hard to deny eating it. Yes, it costs more in the short run, but what's the cost of health? Of vitality? Of fulfillment?

When you have a healthy mind, a healthy body, healthy relationships... You're an unstoppable force. Imagine being able to be the person that supports others in doing that... Helping people come alive in their own lives so that they can fulfill on their own passions. Believe in yourself. Believe in others. Believe in the world. It gives me the shivers just thinking about it! I have no idea what my career will look like or what my life will look like as I dive further into this. But I'm ready to jump into the ocean now. I will do whatever it takes to keep this feeling of aliveness with me. Because I know it won't be easy. I can sense fear and doubt lurking around the corner, ready to strike when they'd be most effective. I'm stepping up to the plate saying "I'm here to find out my passion in life and inspire others find theirs." That's not a small statement from me and it will require a lot of work. And comes with even less job and financial security than an elementary teacher! But I am committed to having a life full of love, happiness, and inspiration. And I am doing that by being and doing all of those things now. This is how I felt at the end of last summer. I don't know how I lost it along the way, but I just want to run outside shouting "I'm back!!" Gosh it feels good to feel excited about life again! And it all comes down to food for me. It really is a gateway for me to how I view my life at any particular time. I'm stoked to see where this particular roller coaster will take me to next! 

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Good Days

Today was just an all around amazing day. It all started with me being determined that I would get called into work today. Three people had called in sick the past two days, so I figured my chances were pretty good. We get called around 7:05am if they want us in for the day, but unfortunately if I want to get there for the 8am start time, my bus would leave at 7:02am. Today I took a gamble and got on the bus anyway, I was that sure that I'd have hours today. Then at 7:05, I got the call! Saying... no work for me today. (I did get another call at 5pm and ended up going in for 2 hours, but that's a different story).

So now it was 7am, I was dressed and headed downtown with nothing to do. I wasn't able to let my $2.50 go to waste though. I got downtown, walked to Beacon Hill Park and just bathed in the beauty of the morning while planning my to-do list once the stores opened. Once my day got started, it kept on getting better and better!

I discovered a chunk of money in an old bank account from years back, and it was enough to cover my Landmark Advanced Course Funds, pay for a 3 month membership to BDHQ (Can't WAIT to be back working out there!!!), and enough left over to cover the cost of the insurance deductible from my fender bender last week. I went into Chapters to buy a celebratory book (Yup, nerd and proud of it!!) and met a potential new friend as well! I picked up a FANTASTIC book called "Mind Over Medicine: Scientific Proof That You Can Heal Yourself" by Lissa Rankin and had a great chat with the Manager who helped me at the till. We got to chatting about alternative health, juicing, uses of coconut oil and a bunch of other things. She ended up giving me her card and said to stop in any time. I love making random connections like that!

My awesome day continued with me discovering free podcasts on iTunes (I don't know why I never thought to look them up before, I assumed you had to pay for them all). My morning commutes to work just got a whole lot more exciting! I also recently discovered an app called Omvana, which has guided meditation files on it, lots of them for free! I can't wait to start it.

SO! The moral of today's story: even if you don't know what your day is going to look like.. get up, get dressed, and get going! When you are committed to doing something with your life, you will find a way to make that happen.

I doubt I'll ever find a sudden lump of money like that again, but I tell ya, it came at the perfect time for me! Now I can do all these things I want with my life, and still be able to pay rent and eat. It is a GOOD DAY! The customer service agent at Scotiabank said I had the funniest grin on my face after she told me the good news. I think it was something like this:

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