Don't Let Them Pass You By

I LOVE a new year filled with a fresh start!  Growing up, I remember singing the following hymn.  This week it reached out to my heart. The lyrics ring true to me….

Improve the shining moments; 
Don't let them pass you by. 
Work while the sun is radiant; 
Work, for the night draws nigh. 
We cannot bid the sunbeams 
To lengthen out their stay, 
Nor can we ask the shadow 
To ever stay away.

2. Time flies on wings of lightning; 
We cannot call it back. 
It comes, then passes forward 
Along its onward track. 
And if we are not mindful, 
The chance will fade away, 
For life is quick in passing. 
'Tis as a single day.

3. As wintertime doth follow 
The pleasant summer days, 
So may our joys all vanish 
And pass far from our gaze. 
Then should we not endeavor 
Each day some point to gain, 
That we may here be useful 
And ev'ry wrong disdain?

4. Improve each shining moment. 
In this you are secure, 
For promptness bringeth safety 
And blessings rich and pure. 
Let prudence guide your actions; 
Be honest in your heart; 
And God will love and bless you 
And help to you impart.

Text and music: Robert B. Baird, 1855-1916

As I was looking back on some of my photos from 2016, I see so many cherished memories from the year. I look at pictures feeling like the events were just yesterday, yet see that they were months ago. I am SO grateful for photos and how they can bring a memory back to the mind. We are lucky to live in a day and age to be able to record everything around us. Our phones are attached, which means a camera is always on us.

I’m determined to not let the moments pass me by this year. Like the song says, “life is quick in passing, and if we aren’t mindful and aware the moment will fade away”. We “can’t call back time” but instead MUST take advantage of the here and now!

I’m excited for the new moments and memories of 2017!

Leave The Shore Behind

Staying close to the shoreline has its perks.  There is comfort in the shoreline.  There's safety. Familiarity.  When you stay close to the shoreline, it's easy to get out when the water gets rough, or you get bored.  In the shallow water, you know exactly what to expect.  You can see straight to the bottom and out across the horizon.  Next to the shoreline, you believe that you can see all that there is to see; all life has to offer.  But, you're wrong.

All that life has to offer does not exist at the shoreline.  When you leave the shoreline behind, that's when you come to discover what life really has to offer.  There's beauty, excitement, depth.  When you leave the shoreline behind, you discover things that you would have never dreamed could have existed from your place in the shallow water.  Your eyes are open to a world full of wonder.

But more important than that is what you find within yourself.  You discover bravery.  You discover strength.  You discover passion and desire.  Because when you leave the shore behind, you discover not only a world of endless wonder and possibility, but you discover just what you are capable of.

Life isn't meant to be lived next to the shoreline.  It shouldn't be lived in mediocrity.  Settling and playing it safe are not the way to live.  It's not living at all -- it's merely existing.

Stop playing it safe.  Find passion.  Passion in your work.  Passion in your hobbies.  Passion in love. Passion in life.

There will be days  full of rough water, when you miss the safety of the shoreline.  Days when you wonder why you ever left.  I promise you, though, those days will far be outnumbered by beauty, excitement and depth.

So, leave the shore behind.  Because the moment you do, you will be able to live the exciting, passion-filled, wonderful life you always imagined.

Would You Rather -- Volume 2 (My answers are highlighted in blue)

1. Be transported permanently 500 years into the future or 500 years into the past

2. Never be able to use a touch screen or never be able to use a keyboard & a mouse

3. Be able to control fire or water

4. Have everything you eat be too salty or not salty enough no matter how much salt you add

5. Have hands that kept growing as you got older or feet that kept growing as you got older

6. Have unlimited sushi for life or unlimited tacos for life

7. Be unable to use search engines or unable to use social media

8. Give up bathing for a month or give up the internet for a month

9. Donate your body to science or donate your organs to people who need them

10. Go back to age 5 with everything you know now or know now everything your future self will learn

11. Relive the same day for 365 days or lose a year of your life

12. Would you rather have a golden voice or a silver tongue

13. Would you rather be able to control animals (but not humans) with your mind or control electronics with your mind

14. Suddenly become elected senator or suddenly become a CEO of a major company

15. Sell all of your possessions or sell one of your organs

16. Lose all of your memories from birth to now or lose your ability to make new long term memories

17. Be infamous in history books or be forgotten after your death

18. Never have to work again or never have to sleep again

19.  Would you rather be beautiful/handsome & stupid or ugly and intelligent

20. Get one free round trip international plane ticket every year or be able to fly domestic anytime for free

21. Be balding but fit or overweight with a full head of hair

22. Be free from junk mail or free from email spam for the rest of your life

23. Be fluent in all languages & never be able to travel or be able to travel anywhere for a year but never be able to learn a word of a different language

24. Have an unlimited international first class ticket or never have to pay for food at restaurants

25. See what was behind every closed door or be able to guess the combination of every safe on the first try

Goodbye November - Hello December

Goodbye --

-Tournament free weekends
-Beautiful foliage and mild temperatures
-Getting away with just a hoodie and shoes
-Money (Christmas 'aint cheap)
-Blog schedule I actually tried putting in place (sigh)


Hello --

-Crazy basketball schedules
-Possibly a new job
-Holidays and all the wonderful, fun, family filled, happy moments that they include
-Bitter Cold
-Endless shovelling of sidewalks and brushing off cold cars

Would You Rather...........Volume 1 (My answers are highlighted in blue)

1. Always be 10 minutes late or always be 20 minutes early

2. Lose all of your money & valuables or all of the pictures you have ever taken

3. Be able to see 10 minutes into your own future or 10 minutes into the future of anyone but yourself

4. Be famous when you are alive & forgotten when you die or unknown when you are alive but famous after you die

5. Go to jail for 4 years for something you didn't do or get away with something horrible you did but always live in fear of being caught

6. Accidentally be responsible for the death of a child or accidentally responsible for the deaths of three adults

7. Your shirts be always two sizes too big or one size too small

8. Live in the wilderness far from civilization or live on the streets of a city as a homeless person

9. The general public think you are a horrible person but your family be very proud of you or your family think you are a horrible person but the general public be very proud of you

10. Live your entire life in a virtual reality where all your wishes are granted or in the real world

11. Be alone for the rest of your life or always surrounded by annoying people

12. Never use social media sites/apps again or never watch another movie or TV show

13. Have an easy job working for someone else or work for yourself but work incredibly hard

14. Be the first person to explore a planet or be the inventor of a drug that cures a deadly disease

15. Have a horrible short term memory or a horrible long term memory

16. Be completely invisible for one day or be able to fly for one day

17. Be locked in a room that is constantly dark for a week or a room that is constantly bright for a week

18. Be poor but help people or become incredibly rich by hurting people

19. Live without the internet or live without AC & heating

20. Have a horrible job but be able to retire comfortably in 10 years or have your dream job but have to work until the day you die

21. Find your true love or a suitcase with 5 million dollars inside (spoiler....I already found him)

22. Be able to teleport anywhere or be able to read minds

23. Die in 20 years with no regrets or die in 50 years with many regrets

24. Be feared by all or loved by all

25. Know when you are going to die or how you are going to die (You can't change the time or method of your death)

Election 2016 -- The Morning After

So, it is the morning after the election.  I've thought long and hard about what I wanted to write here. I've written, and rewritten, half a dozen different things, and I hope that what I have to say strikes a chord with you, regardless of which candidate you supported, or which side of the proverbial fence you find yourself standing on.  I am not an American.  But that does not mean that I don't understand how the results of last nights election are going to have not only an impact on America, but a global impact, and that is why I feel that I, too, have a voice in this.

If you followed the election like I did, and saw every debate, every tweet, every ad campaign, all the endless crazy bullshit -- you may feel a sense of satisfaction, or you may feel an overwhelming sense of anxiety and fear.  I have felt many of these things over the last 18 months. I want you to put aside all those things for a minute and focus on what I am about to say.

We're all going to be okay.

We really will.  Because no matter who won or who you voted for (or watched from the sidelines like many of my Canadian friends and family), you will still have the opportunity to fight each day for what you want to see happen in this world.  You can still fight for justice, and love, kindness, and acceptance or equality....whatever you feel is lacking.  You will not fight alone.  You can still make a difference.  In some cases, you can make a bigger difference than the President ever will.  You will be needed every day to promote joy and love and grace.....even if you're tired.  You will be better for it. So will the country, and the world as a whole.

We're all going to be okay.  Even if President Trump ends up being a flaming bag of turd, we will be okay.  We still have our families.  We still have love.  We still have people fighting for what they believe in.  We will have a better understanding of who we are as a people, and how we need to get better.  We will have a better understanding of our capacity for love and for fear.  We will have parties who know that their secrets are never really secret, and that they need to be better.  That benefits all of us.  We have seen disgusting behaviors exposed on both sides, and will be able to teach our children what is, and isn't, okay.  We have seen how easy it is to spread lies.  We have proof for our children that anybody.....and I mean, anybody, can become President (or any great leader for that matter).  We will have hard conversations around the family table where we will change hearts and minds, or have our changed.  We will do it softly or we will do it loudly because, while I myself am not American, I believe that it is the right of ALL people to sometimes be stupid, and sometimes be noble and selfless, and sometimes be a little of both.  We will have a reason to fight harder for what we believe in, and a reason to choose a GOOD fight -- one that makes a difference in positive ways for all of us.  Because that is what America is all about.  That is what humanity is all about.

Even during the darkest times in history, you can look back and see glimmers of brightness shining through, of the light winning over, of unlikely heroes being made -- of the people becoming sharper and stronger, and more clearly defined by who they are and what they stand for because they had no other choice but to choose.  And that, my friends, in necessary.    It is hard.  It is terrible.  It is scary.   It is beautiful.  It is all of those things at once, but magnified a thousand times.  And that is us.  And no matter what has happened with this election, we will be okay.  We will still be us.  We will still be imperfect and flawed, and good and bad, and scared and brave, and we will have so many more opportunities to become better than we are; to maybe even be better than okay.  To maybe, one day, be great.

But until that time comes, we are all going to be okay.

I promise.

FitFabFun Fall Box Review

So, this is something I've decided to do quarterly here on my blog.  I subscribe to an AWESOME website called, of course, FITFABFUN.  I pay a yearly subscription, and 4 times a year (every season), I get an awesome box full of goodies.  So, I've decided for any of you who are interested, that I would post what fun little treats I get each quarter, and maybe inspire some of you to treat yourselves.

So, upon getting my box for this season, I was thrilled to see that this one was a bit interactive.  I love coloring (yes, I'm a grown up), and so this was a fun little treat.  The exterior and interior of the box was full of fun little pictures that you could color.

The box comes with an awesome Exclusive Offers card.  It's a awesome way to save on future purchases of the fun things you find in the box.  There is also a mini magazine that comes with each box, highlighting the items you receive each season.

So, here are the awesome items that I received this season:

1.  ModCloth Loch and Key Blanket Scarf – Value $34.99

This gigantic (55x55'') scarf is perfect for fall.  You can wear it multiple ways, and it will definitely keep you stylish and warm on those chilly days.  The fabric is awesome (acrylic, so not itchy), and calling it a "blanket" scarf it fitting.  It's massive, but lightweight, so it's not too bulky or heavy.

2.  FabFitFun Colouring Book & Coloured Pencils - Value $14

Coloring books for adults have really taken off.  Research has shown that coloring reduces stress and anxiety, and a great break from endless hours in front of the computer screen.  This fun little book comes with a set of colored pencils.

3.  Fun To-Go Coffee (Tea) Mug -- Value $19

This adorable mug holds 16 ounces of your favorite warm beverage, and is a cute and classy touch to any morning pick-me-up.  I love the gloss black, and gold detail.  (Hand wash only)

4.  Mullein & Sparrow Mini French Lavender Body Oil -- Value $18

This body oil is formulated with the healing and meditative scents of lavender.  You can use it as a daily moisturizer, or put a few drops in your evening bath.  It's really light, and smells wonderful.

5.  The BrowGal Clear Resistant Eyebrow Gel -- Value $20

This gel works with powders and pencils to seal and protect your eyebrows with great staying power. It comes in a clear gel, so it should work with any brow color.

6.  Pure Cosmetics Nude Collection Eye Shadow Pallet -- Value $50

This great pallet features 12 different shades of eye shadow that compliments the ever popular nude makeup trend.  It includes a great selection of both glitter and matte colors.

7.  Spongelle Bulgarian Body Wash Infused Buffer -- Value $16

This sponge is awesome.  It's infused with body wash, and the sponge is a bit more durable than your typical pouf, so cleans and exfoliates in one.  It should last up to 14 washes, but once the wash is gone, you can just add your own body wash and continue to use it.  A great deal.

8.  Toesox Toeless Fitness Socks -- Value $17

These socks are great for any shoeless fitness activity: yoga, pilates, dance.  I wasn't sure how it would feel having space for each individual toe, but they are actually really comfy.  They are fantastic and have non-slippy, grippy dots to keep you from sliding all over the floor.

9.  Skin Laundry Restoring Night Serum -- Value $50

This serum is designed to "help improve the overall appearance of skin brightness, smoothness, tone, texture, and elasticity".  It is really lightweight, goes on smooth, and has no lasting scent to it, which is really nice.  

10.  Sponsored Products -- Secret Clear Gel and Cottonelle Flushable Wipes.

So there you have it.  All these great products have a value of about $240 and I got them all for $49.95.  Signing up for their yearly subscription is a great idea, and every box I get seems better than the last.  I don't know how they do it.......but I'm so glad that they do.  I can't wait to see what they come up with for the winter box.

*NOTE: This review is my own personal opinion.  I do not speak for FitFabFun, nor am I in any way compensated by the company for this review.