BZEN

My third slow experiment is trotting along nicely, and I have come to the realization that these slow experiments are not really doing what I thought they would do. I thought these experiments would lead me to a deeper sense of peace and calm, a more present focus on the moment, a way to really embrace the simplicity of things, but instead I just feel restless and a knowing sense that the year of slow although only three months in is already coming to an end. Instead of being disappointed with this outcome, I'm choosing to be grateful. I'm grateful because everything happens for a reason and the three experiments I have done so far have led me to the realize that this may be the end of slow, but the beginning of something else: Surrender. I have been journaling a lot lately and I find myself often writing 'surrender, surrender, surrender'. Writing those words feels a whole lot like inhaling calm and peace and exhaling anxiety and stress. It is easy to think of ...

February is almost over and spring is on the horizon! Or at least that is what I am telling myself and with the balmy breeze we are experiencing in Southern Ontario today, it is easy to believe. February was my month to pursue slow self care and all in all I think it was a success. I didn't really have much of an agenda for the month except making self care my primary focus, and that allowed me a lot of freedom to pursue whatever self care meant to me on any given day. I tried to listen to my intuition more this month which let me tap into what I actually needed and giving myself the space to just do what I needed to do felt incredibly rewarding; Some nights that meant that I sat around watching YouTube and ignored everything on my to do list. Other nights that meant I took the time to wind down before bed time and pampered myself a little. I allowed myself to be flexible and tried to let go of any limiting beliefs I held regarding self care. Here are some other things...

This year I want to do something a  ~ little~ different. In previous years I've often found myself unhappy with the season I was in: if it was summer, I would want the cold crisp air of winter. If it was winter, I would want the warm gentle breeze of summer, but as 2017 pressed on I learnt to enjoy the season I was in. I learnt to be present in the season (although I have yet to master being present in the moment) and I realized that maybe this was a metaphor for also being comfortable and happy with the season of life I was in. This year I want to take the time to celebrate the seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter and be thankful for the abundance each one brings; It feels important to me to give a little nod to each season - a thank you for what has been and an excited anticipation for what is yet to come. Each Equinox and Solstice I want to dive in deep and really drink in the seasonal goodness. + Cook Something Seasonal BBQ'd salmon and fresh veggies in the Su...

For a long time I hated the reflection I saw staring back at me in the mirror. There were more times than I can count when I would stare back at myself with hot angry tears streaming down my face thinking 'why does this have to be me?' And it wasn't just my appearance that I despised - it was the person inside too. I did not like myself, it was as plain and as simple as that. I am not even too sure where this dislike came from, as with a lot of young girls it started in my teenage years. Maybe it was because some of the girls in school made fun of me, or made comments under their breath to tease me... sticks and stones will break my bones, and words will always hurt me. I was never slim enough. Never pretty enough. Never popular enough. Never confident, or funny, or outgoing enough. Just. Not. Enough. And I was hard on myself too. Really hard on myself. Well maybe if I wasn't so stupid, or lazy, or awkward then maybe people would like me more, and if people liked m...

And just like that my first slow experiment is at an end and the second one is about to begin! It only made sense to me that after slow food comes slow self care so that is what I plan to tackle this month. Plus with February being a bit of gloomy one a little TLC is just what the doctor ordered. Self care means a lot of different things to a lot of different people; For some it means having a detox of social media and processed foods, for others it means the exact opposite and having a cheese burger while taking some time out to scroll through Instagram is what they need. Determining what you need is the biggest first step towards embarking on a self care routine or challenge. As February approaches closer and closer I keep asking myself 'what do I need?' and 'what do I want to achieve?' Neither of these questions are easy to answer for me but what I've realized is that I practise very little self care these days so at this point, anything is better than not...

Somehow we're already 2/3's through January which means I'm 2/3's the way through my slow food experiment. So far I feel like it has been incredibly successful and I plan on continuing this throughout the rest of 2018. It feels so much better to eat at home regularly instead of wasting money on constantly eating out, and I feel healthier for it too. The point of this experiment isn't for me to stop eating out entirely but instead to save eating out for celebrations and special occasions - to make eating out at a favorite restaurant something exciting again instead of the norm. Here are some of the changes I've seen come out of this experiment so far: + I spend less money + I follow a budget for grocery shopping + I've become more aware of how and where I'm spending money + I'm learning to appreciate simpler meals + I'm wasting less food + I'm being more resourceful + I am using less plastic + I feel more in control of my money a...

Something I have realized since pursuing minimalism is the amount of money that has been freed up for experiences instead of stuff. I dubbed 2017 as the 'Year of Adventure' and adventure we did (I'll share more posts of what we got up to in the coming months). Our final trip of the year was a cheeky little weekend getaway to Toronto where we relaxed, played and took some much needed down time before Christmas was upon us. We hopped on a Greyhound bus and were whisked off towards Toronto; We prefer taking the Greyhound to Toronto because it means we don't have to worry about renting a car, navigating the busy streets, and paying for parking. Taking the Greyhound means we get to hop on and hop off which is easy-peasy. We stayed at The Novotel on the Esplanade right in the heart of the Entertainment District. I can't recommend this hotel enough - it isn't anything fancy by any means but it is priced well in an excellent location and is incredibly clean a...

I've decided it kind of fell into place that the month of January is going to be the month where I take on the slow food experiment. Food has been my security blanket, and has been for a long time. Changing the way I interact with food is something I wanted to change in 2017 but it never seemed to happen. Now that I am taking on a year of slow, there has never been a better time to tackle this once and for all. If I am going to focus on slow food this month it is important that I take a look at how I currently interact with food and I quickly realized that I lean heavily on food to self medicate: If I have a bad day I make myself feel better by picking up an iced coffee (or three), a slice of pizza, or better yet a whole pizza. If I have a good day I celebrate by treating myself to a frappucino from Starbucks or Subway for lunch. If I am tired and not in the mood to cook dinner I blindly order Dominos online (you see the pattern here) and it has been happening for far too lo...

With 2017 having come and gone and the new year already here, I want  to take a moment to reflect on what 2017 taught me. I love the  feeling of the new year - a fresh start, a new chapter, a new  beginning - which is almost as satisfying as  crawling into bed with freshly washed sheets and pillow covers, but  there is something to be said for taking a moment of pause to  appreciate the lessons the previous year has gifted me. ~ It feels good to face your fears ~ ...and bloody scary too! 2017 was the first time in a very, very  long time that I chose to step outside of my comfort zone and it was  one of the best things I did for myself. I took a ride on Canada's  Longest Zip-line , I traveled  almost 1000km in one weekend as Ryan and I traveled  around SW Ontario, and I finally booked those  pesky dentist and doctors appointments I've been meaning to book for  far too long. To some people these may not se...

Happy 2018! On this exact day last year I read Cait Flander's post A Year of Slow  where she talks about embracing slow living experiments for 2017. With the new year here I have decided to follow in Cait's footsteps and will be embracing slow for 2018. The word slow is going to become my 2018 mantra and will need to be repeated often but will hopefully lead me to slow down, take more breaths, put my phone away, enjoy the moment, smell the roses, and give myself room and space to just be . 2017 was a great year - probably the best year of my adult life, and that isn't because of the things I did but more so the mindset I adopted. I faced some of my fears, worked on my anxiety, and just became a little more me . Through all of that I have really felt the pull and call of less, and slow, and getting back to basics. I want to ensure that I do not continue to get swept up in the craze that is busyness, eating out constantly, spending too much money, and missing the ...

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 t...

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 becom...

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 fee...