just percolating...
It's a touch dusty around here. I know ... I know ... my stupid New Year's Resolution is totally interfering with my "me time" (i.e. blog time). I need to put in an extra hour of walking in at night to be able to hit those 8,000 to 10,000 steps. And then afterwards, I have a spurt of adrenaline that is nice but not nice enough to provide me with any creative writing juice that will keep me up past my bed time. Yet once I get into bed, I end up … [Read more...]
Stella is my 10-year-old daughter and on Saturdays, I let her rent this space from me because she thinks blogs are cool. It is her hope that her writing will appeal to kids her age as well as to the adults who read here too. For the intro to Saturdays with Stella, click here. source Fredrick Banting and the Great Idea: A Life Story You may have heard of Fredrick Banting, but not necessarily know what he did. You may not have even heard … [Read more...]
Dear readers, I am sharing this post because there has been a tragedy in my home town of Ottawa. The community has been hit hard and like most parents, I've been struggling with how to talk to my children about these three deaths. Krista Gray-Donald, a friend of mine who works with victims of violent crime, offered to put together some tips and resources for me. In speaking with her, she also offered to share this information here on Coffee … [Read more...]
Back in 2010, I received an email that started like this: My name is Brennan and I am a fourth year student at the University of Ottawa and co-founder of a local start-up called Avitu. In a nutshell, Avitu is social and community driven online advertising platform and ad management tool. For the past 4 months myself and my two classmates (both software engineering students at UofO) have been incubating out of Shopify in the Byward Market trying … [Read more...]
My neighbour just popped over with a little gift (have I mentioned before how much I love my neighbourhood? Oh, I do!) for me. She follows this blog and knows that I've been trying to eliminate the number of toxins that my family is exposed to, and brought me over a sweet little package for making my home smell all lovely and Christmas-y -- naturally, without chemicals. She said it is her new "go-to" hostess gift ... but also perfect for … [Read more...]
At this time of year, when every form of media imaginable -- from commercials, movies, and television to magazines and newspapers -- are promoting the "warm glow" of holiday happiness and family togetherness, it might seem like you're alone if you are not feeling the Christmas spirit. Well, you're not. I just thought maybe you might want to hear that. So don't beat yourself up if you're just "not feelin' it." There's a ton a reasons why you … [Read more...]
I am home from work today with a sick child. She just finally fell into a much-needed nap on the sofa, so I thought I'd finally catch up on this series of posts I wanted to do from my trip to the Blissdom Canada conference. You can read the first post here, and this is the second one. There’s no formal training to become a blogger. You teach yourself what you can and you learn from other more experienced members of the blogging community. … [Read more...]
In my quest to learn more about what chemicals are in my cosmetics, I took a second visit to Ottawa's new eco-store Terra20 this past weekend. Gillian Deacon, who wrote Green for Life and There's Lead in Your Lipstick, was scheduled to be in the store to autograph books and to chat with store visitors. As soon as I walked in, I thought: Where have I seen her before? Take a look at this photo and see if you have the same reaction: So, it … [Read more...]
The last time I had the pleasure of being a guest speaker at Algonquin College, I asked you what advice you would give to a student soon to be graduating from the Advertising program. I thought that the comments that came in were really valuable, so I'd like to do a repeat performance. Today, I'll be speaking to a class that is in a business stream (as opposed to a creative stream) in the Advertising and Marketing Communications Management … [Read more...]
There's no formal training to become a blogger. You teach yourself what you can and you learn from other more experienced members of the blogging community. That's why blogging events are such a big deal in our world -- we get to connect with our community in a face-to-face way and we also get to learn more about this crazy craft called blogging. I just attended one of this "big deal" events -- Blissdom Canada -- over the past weekend (I … [Read more...]
On Friday night, I watched a very interesting episode of CBC's Marketplace. In this season premiere, the show examined products that purported to be "green." You know the kind ... you see them everywhere nowadays -- the label includes something green or has been re-branded with a beige colour and includes words such as "natural," "non-toxic," and "biodegradable." I'm sure I've been duped countless times by these products because I want to do my … [Read more...]
Hello loverlies! I am back from my vacation out to Eastern Canada and will collect photos and notes to share with you soon. In the meantime, I was contacted a while back about a guest post sponsored by Projects Abroad, an international volunteer organization. Many young people take "gap years" these days -- I know I certainly did! In fact, in my family, three out of four of the kids chose to travel overseas after graduation: I left with a … [Read more...]
Fellow travel and book lover, Rhonda Carrier, shared this on Facebook and it is so cool that I just need to share it on as well! In Berlin, a program called Forest Books -- tree trunks have been installed in public places and free books are in the plastic enclosures for residents to swap out and exchange. To see some more photos from this awesome program, check out the inhabit website. … [Read more...]
If I'd actually had enough spark left in me at the time, that's precisely what I would have cried out to the world almost ten years ago. But I didn't. Because it was too hard just to get out of bed, let alone care for my new born baby. I'd been smacked hard with a postpartum depression stick and was completely and utterly overwhelmed. I knew other mothers didn't feel like I did. And that made things feel worse. I distinctly recall observing … [Read more...]
Stella, who is almost 10 years old, and I have just returned from Beaches Boscobel in Jamaica, where we were invited to experience the resort. This resort is all about providing a full family experience, so I am sharing Stella's journal -- spelling mistakes and all -- with you so that you can get an older child's perspective, not just an adult's. On Day 3, we had a really special experience because we left the resort and had a visit to a … [Read more...]
Hello my lovely bloggy friends, Stella and I are now in Jamaica (my Jamaica 101 post)! We were invited to come and visit the Beaches Boscobel resort in Jamaica and it's actually our first "girls' trip" together. Beaches Resorts cater specifically to families, so we are here to experience the resort and its activities to the fullest. I will be telling you all about it ... but first, I want to tell you about the trip to get here. To fully … [Read more...]
A little while back, I wrote about David Chilton, author of The Wealthy Barber and The Wealthy Barber Returns. (And did you hear the news that he's going to be one of the "dragons" in the next season of the Dragons' Den? I think he'll be fantastic!) In the most recent book, he details how he came to publish massively popular Looneyspoons cookbook with sisters Janet and Greta Podleski. Published in 1996, Looneyspoons broke publishing … [Read more...]
Growing up, I loved to dance. Most days after school, I grabbed a bus and headed to the studio for a class. Some evenings, I had two classes. I simply couldn’t get enough of them! When I was about 17 years old, I stopped taking classes and then moved away for university, where there were no classes offered. I didn’t realize then how big a loss that was … losing my true love. Since then, I’ve tried rugby (played winger when they let me off the … [Read more...]
It's Sunday, but I've already got the Monday blues. It's not that I don't like my job, it's just that the longer winter goes on, the more I just want to do nothing but curl up with a book and a fresh pressed coffee. A beach sure sounds nice right about now. But I digress ... I'm actually here to write about the taxes. I kid you not. I really am. Specifically, Canada's newly introduced Children's Arts Tax Credit. You've already likely heard … [Read more...]
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