Six

Six children.
Aged six years or under.

It was surprisingly wonderful.

* Pictures courtesy of Brandy's iPhone

Lovely

Tired

I have been missing my morning workout sessions recently with Jillian.

I can feel the difference.

I just can't help staying up late.

It is to hard to resist the hilarity of Conan.

It is so good to have the old Conan back

....only to say goodbye.

Not for long, I hope.

Decision

I swear every where I turn,

every conversation I have,

every blog I read

everything

feels like sunshine and water

feeding the seed of regret.

*image from here

Sign?

I came across this image today....and it took me about 3 seconds to come up with an answer.

That has to be a good sign.

What about you?

*image via superhero journal

Food

I am not particularly a “trend follower” or someone who tends to jump on the band wagon. However, this being said I am going to have to second the flow of information and blog posting on the movie Food, Inc. It has been life changing to our little family.

It is so different when you see visuals of the truth, it becomes so much harder to deny it. The movie reveals the truth about the food industry within the country and it was extremely disturbing and exhilarating at the same time. We watched it a couple of months ago and it has been wonderful to focus some of our resolutions and new beginnings around our health and what we eat.

It is true...you are what you eat. Our family has felt so much better in the last couple of months. We are eating meat very sparingly, at the most only once or twice a week. We made a family decision that we did not want to be vegetarian (not yet anyway!) , but we did want to know where our meat was coming from. We wanted to make sure that the animals we were consuming, were humanely treated and raised, before they provided us with nourishment.

This means we have adjusted our food budget a little but it has been worth it. The meal plans have been much more fun to put together too and it is fun trying new recipes!

For the time being we have only been purchasing our meat from Wholefood markets. However, this still worries me a little. I am much more interested in purchasing our meat directly through local farmers, maybe buying our meat in bulk. I recently came across this local farm and I am very interested in pursuing more information. I will let you know how it goes.

No fast food. From personal experience I have seen how fast food has been detrimental to my life. Coming from the country side in England, where the closest fast food restaurant was a good 20 minute drive away, to living with it on every corner for the past 9 years in the US....trust me I have seen the change!

I would highly recommend everyone to watch this movie, it is great. There are disturbing images and I found myself nauseated and crying at times.

I could not sleep that night either!(I can be a little sensitive when watching shows)

However, it is well worth a watch. As I said it has been life changing for us, and we are more dedicated to what we feel is right for our little family.

p.s - you can watch it instantly if you have Netflix.

Happy New Year

It is hard to come back to reality and work after a wonderful and extremely relaxing Christmas holiday. I loved spending every hour of every day with the the three people I love more then anything in this world.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday and New Year. I can’t believe another year has gone by. Time seems to pass faster as you get older, it is a strange sensation.

I wonder what 2010 has in store for us. I believe and feel that 2008 and 2009 were good to us so I tread into the new decade with a little trepidation.

The New Year Resolutions have been written, divided into categories of health, spirituality, education, family and finances.

A direction has been put forth and slowly we move forward step by step.

Though it is interesting, no matter what direction you head in, it seems that life just seems to turn you around. Sometimes you head in a different direction, sometimes you turn around and go back, sometimes you just feel a little disoriented but no matter what you just keep walking the path of life.

Last night I cuddled with Amira and Cleo and we read “Oh, the Places You'll Go” by Dr Seuss. I have read it before but last night I was so enthralled,touched and inspired by this wonderful story of encouragement and direction.

A story of success and failure, winning and losing, experiencing and learning, holding strong and moving forward.

It came to me that the most important resolution I can make for every year is to continue and to try harder in being an example to my beautiful children.

To show that you walk the path of life with courage, strength and with your head held high.

To teach them that there will be laughter and there will be tears.

There will be joy and there will be pain. They will win and they will lose.

To teach them that there is a purpose for it all.

To love, learn and experience.

Everyone has their own unique journey.

Warm

Every morning the big coat is put on and the feet are slipped into the wellington boots.

The hat is placed over the head.

The door is opened and the dog runs out first.

The first footprint of snow is laid onto the blanket.

A pattern follows all the way to the chicken coop.

The ladies are fed, loved and their daily gifts are collected.

The wellington boots plod back and are slipped off at the door.

The sound of bare feet come across the hardwood floor and a cup of tea is put on the bedside table.

I awake from my bed, where I am keeping warm, and I smile at my husband,

whom I love.

'Tis the Season

This season should not be so overwhelming. Every year I plan to be more organized, I plan to keep it simple and not get sucked in to the stress and busy feeling.

Every year I fail!

I am so busy and the time keeps ticking!!

Update

I apologize for my lack of posting. Time seemed to just run away with me over the last week. I have decided to round up all the things I wanted to say:

1) An update on how I am doing in regards to my 30/30 project:

- The weight is coming off. The 30 Day Shred has definitely been working. I feel great too!

- I am accomplishing the reading. I have read this extremely amusing and clever novel and I am nearly finished with this wonderful story.

- I am struggling a little with the 30 items a week. I am not an overly organized human being, so this one is definitely a little harder!

- This leads into the 30 things that I am grateful for. I have also not completed this yet...but I will!

- I have corresponded with 4 friends so I am on track with this. Woo Hoo!

2) Impressionable items this week:

- I am so impressed with the strength and courage of my beautiful friend Lisa. I hope everything went well, you are constantly in my thoughts.

- I was impressed with this idea and speech from Steve Berra.

- I was extremely moved and inspired last week when I attended a preview to this school, that my dear friend Amanda is attending.

3) Items that make me smile:

I love this clock.

- Though I am not a city girl, I have fallen in love with this shower curtain. I have redesigned, my yet to be remodeled, bathroom! I found it here.

- These vintage Christmas cards are absolutely gorgeous. They would be perfect for my little family to send out! See others here

I love this necklace.

Found at one of my favourite Etsy stores.

And I love three day work weeks!