BZEN

I've been meaning to write this post for a little while but... I just haven't. Today I hopped over to Cait Flander's blog to see if she had written anything just before Christmas because I'M A HUGE FAN (can you tell?) and in her latest post she mentioned Bianca Bass's post Why It's Time We Removed the Pressure Around Christmas. After reading Bianca's post I realized I was not alone in how I felt about Christmastime and it was the kick up the butt I needed to finally write out my thoughts. How is Christmas meant to feel? Warm, and cozy, and joyous, and special. It's meant to be full of sugar cookies, and gifts, and decorations, and family, and laughter, and good times, and good memories, and Christmas movies, and lights, and hot chocolate. This is what comes to mind when I think of Christmastime and how it should be. When I click on the TV, watch a Christmas movie, flick through the store flyers, or scroll on my Instagram feed this is all reinf

Alignment. That is the word my mind had been searching for, for weeks. Something had felt off, something didn't sit quite right, something felt a little out of place, something felt out of ... alignment . It is amazing how sometimes all it takes is for our minds to think of a single word and suddenly and all at once it allows us to see the truth of a situation. As soon as I found the word alignment something clicked into place; I had a light-bulb moment, and knew exactly why I had been feeling like I was in a funk of sorts: I was out of alignment with myself. For me being in alignment means having my thoughts and beliefs match up with my actions and how I live my life on a day to day basis, and somehow as if it crept up on me out of nowhere I was no longer in alignment with myself. As I began to think of all the ways my thoughts and beliefs didn't match up with what I was doing I understood why I had been carrying around this irritable and weird feeling in the pit of m

"I don't have enough time" "I wish each day had 48 hours instead of only 24" "I'm too busy" "I'm exhausted" We've all heard and probably used the above excuses for not getting more things done. Time is a commodity and there never seems to be enough of it. However truth be told time is usually not the issue but our inability to prioritize what is important that causes us stress and seemingly 'not enough time'. I have been a slow living enthusiast for a little over a year now. Slow living, to me, means having enough time to still stop and smell the roses. Enough time to appreciate the little things, and take part in the little things. Enough time to make my priorities a priority. Enough time to enjoy life instead of rushing through it. Enough time to savour the sweetness. But despite wanting to live a slower paced life, slow can sometimes still feel busy as Krista from A Life In Progress talks about in her pos

I was excited for this post. I was going to share what our bedroom looks like. I was going to show you how few knick-knacks we have, the type of bedding we currently use, and my big fluffy throw pillows. I was going to show you how simple our bedroom has become since de-cluttering it a couple of years ago. I was going to show you how a small master bedroom is all you really need. I was going to do a minimalist bedroom tour because who doesn't like to snoop around someone else's house and see their take on minimalism? I know I do... ...That is until I read this post by Cait Flanders and changed my mind altogether. Her post, A Home is Meant to Be Lived In, Not Looked At really opened my eyes and made me rethink what I would achieve through posting something like a minimalist bedroom tour; after reading what she had to say on the matter I realized the answer was not much. "It doesn’t matter what my home looks like or what your home looks like. It doesn’t matter

I love Jamie Oliver. He is so passionate about his food, and what he cooks. Watching him makes me just want to go to the grocery store, buy a bunch of ingredients and jump around the kitchen like a wizard making magic happen. At Christmas I watch a video of Jamie Oliver cooking Christmas Dinner; It has become a personal little tradition of mine as it gets me in the warm and fuzzy vibes for Christmas, and makes me feel all nostalgic for my home across the sea. I've even named my two owl salt and pepper shakers Jamie and Oliver ... ... Too far? A couple of Christmas' ago my Mum picked up Jamie Oliver's Comfort Food cookbook for me because who doesn't like comfort food + Jamie Oliver + a bright pink cover? I was so excited about getting this new book, and dreamt of how delicious my kitchen would smell once I started tackling the recipes, but as with all new things I get, this book sat on the shelf for quite some time for fear of me ruining it/staining it/bending the

I used to love wearing makeup, and still do, but when I was younger I would really cake my face in all sorts of products and it led me to having some issues with my skin. When I discovered minimalism one of the things I decided to simplify was my makeup collection; I spent far too much time in the morning getting ready, and knew it was important that I stopped putting so many products on my face. I thought it was also important to show myself a little self love and embrace my face how it is, both pretty and flawed, and perfectly imperfect all at once. On most days I wear what you see above. From left to right: hydrating lip balm, mineral face powder, all natural facial primer, mascara, BB cream, and highlighting cover up. I do own more makeup than pictured (some eye shadows, a blush and a highlighter) but I only wear those on rare occasions. As you can see I only have one all-natural product that I currently wear and I will make a post about all-natural vs. drug store makeup so

Sunday's have slowly become my favorite day of the week. I love Sunday's because they are the day Ryan and I have our Sunday Rally's and it is also they day of the week that I want to try to embrace self care. Self care can, at times, feel a little overly self indulgent especially when there are other things to get done on my seemingly never ending to-do list. But putting some time aside each week for self care ensures that I am giving myself the attention and love I deserve so that I can be the best version of myself possible. Is self care overly indulgent? Maybe a little, but it's for a good cause! Pursuing minimalism has led me to be more conscious of how my time is spent so finding a simple and easy, yet meaningful routine that makes me feel refreshed and energized matters. Here are 10 simple ways I am going to embrace a more minimalist self care routine, and slow my Sunday's this Spring. Eat your greens I think Sunday's are going to become my

I first came across the concept of simple eating over on Jennifer's blog, Simply Fiercely . She talked about how she completely re-evaluated how she ate, shopped, and cooked and it sounded oh so wonderful. I found this post accidentally at a time when I really needed it (don't you love it when that happens?). I love cooking and experimenting with food, but I find that I spend far too much time in the kitchen in the evenings trying to make delicious meals. I spend too much time (and feeling stressed out!) making meal plans and shopping lists. If that isn't enough, a lot of the foods I purchase don't get used up because I only need them for one meal on a given week and because you can only purchase certain items in bigger quantities the food often ends up in the garbage. Something has to give; I feel guilty about throwing food away, frustrated about how much time the planning, shopping and cooking took, and sad that something I once enjoyed now causes me to feel s

Do you remember this blog post where I said I was going to say good-bye to new years resolutions, and instead was replacing them with 12 challenges for the new year instead? Well this month was the first month of the year, and the first challenge of the year: 31 Days of Self Care. Let me start by saying that this challenge did not go to plan. Not even a little bit. In fact, it kind of derailed. What I had planned to do each day was to take a little time out for myself and mindfully practise some good old TLC whether it was by going for a walk by myself, doing some yoga, reading a book, or doing a facemask, that was the plan. Instead, the days have somehow flown by, I have somehow wasted most of my month watching YouTube and feeling down (more on this in my next post) and many of the little ideas I jotted down in my journal for this challenge were left undone. That being said there is always a silver lining to every dark rain cloud, and I do feel like this month still h

Hygge hype. Have you seen the word Hygge floating around the internet lately? I saw it again just the other day and thought 'enough is enough', and was determined to find out what all the hype was around hygge. Hygge (pronounced “heu-gah”) is a Danish word and according to hygge.co is "the art of building sanctuary and community, of inviting closeness and paying attention to what makes us feel open hearted and alive. To create well-being, connection and warmth. A feeling of belonging to the moment and to each other. Celebrating the everyday" and it can be found "around a table for a shared meal, beside a fire on a wet night, making coffee together at work, in the bath with a single candle, wrapped in blankets at the end of a day on the beach, sheltering from the rain at a bus stop, lying spoons, baking in a warm kitchen, alone in bed with a hot water bottle and a good book". Essentially hygge is taking pleasure in the simple things, being pres

I've been a long time believer in less is more, and the new year is no different. I keep seeing article after article about new years goals and resolutions that entice us to do more: more work, make more money, buy more stuff, and be more productive. As if we aren't all busy enough already these articles whisper to us that we could be doing better, we could be doing more. But what would happen if we simply said no and chose to do less? What if instead of thinking about all of the things we want to start doing in the new year, we thought about the things we wanted to stop doing? Besides, endings are often times new beginnings in disguise anyway ;) Here are 10 things I want to stop doing in 2017... 1. Stop worrying I am seriously such a worrier, to the point that I actually think it is unhealthy. I feel anxious and nervous a lot of the time, and begin to obsess about all the things that could go wrong and I feel defeated and heartbroken in the end even though noth

I still have some books on my bookshelf that I didn't get around to reading this year, and after Christmas I now have several more books to add to my list. I am so excited to read all of these books in 2017! Here's what is on my 2017 reading list... The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan The Taming of The Queen by Phillipa Gregory The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate Dicamillo The Ice Twins by S. K. Tremayne The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom A Knight of The Seven Kingdoms by George R. R. Martin The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben The World of Ice & Fire by Elio M. Garcia Jr. and Linda Antonsson Complete Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Anderson What's on your 2017 reading list? M&M

Late last year I decided to delete my Facebook and Pinterest accounts. I had already deleted my Snapchat, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts but these two were the toughies. I thought about it a lot, and couldn't believe what a seemingly difficult decision this was turning into. I'd often say to myself 'It's only Facebook!' as if to egg myself on to actually take the leap and delete it. Then I watched this video and made this post, and decided enough was enough. I deleted both accounts and you know what? I haven't missed them at all, not even a little bit. Now all I have left is this blog and Instagram. Instagram has to be by far my favorite social media platform; I've found some truly inspirational people through Instagram and get to follow along on their journeys, and their posts inspire me to make changes, challenge myself, appreciate the little things, and grow. With that said there is a darker side to Instagram for me and that is the side where secon