November 4, 2014 by Mel

Whole Food 3 Day Detox: Day 1 – Insights & Ramblings

Today I started day 1 of a 3 day cleanse/detox. About 2-3 weeks ago I started feeling sick on a regular basis. For about a week I was extremely ill, taking my 2nd sick day in 9 years of employment and cancelling a Halloween party I was really looking forward to.

I’m not normally a sick person so this illness seemed odd. A friend mentioned something about an illness caused by too much sugar that she read about online and I knew I hadn’t been eating well lately, so I gave it some thought. But rather than reading too much into diet/nutrition fads, I decided to just go for a 3 day cleanse (which I’ve never done before) to try and reset/ stabilize my system. I usually find this stuff kind of hoaky, but what harm could it cause if I just eat whole foods and nothing else? And so at the end of day one, I am feeling good.

Although my salad at lunch was incredibly boring, it taught me that pretty much every single salad dressing is filled with chemicals. Even making my own with balsamic vinaigrette was discouraging after I read the label. Turns out balsamic vinegar has both caramel colour and sulphites. If I was going to follow my own rules, I was stuck with olive oil and lemon juice. So delicious, right? (It isn’t.) Doing some research tonight I found this lovely list of recipes, some of which seem to follow my rules like the mustard & vinegar ones, so check them out. I haven’t tried them, but figured I’d share.

I guess what I learned today from this is that a lot of food I normally reach for has crap in it and that’s pretty scary. I also learned how difficult it is for me not to eat temptation foods or unconsciously put food in my mouth. (Halloween mini chocolate bars anyone?) I’m really hoping that after a few days I will feel a difference, and that I might take from this experience and apply what I’ve learned to my regular eating habits after.

I’ll either let you know, or post about something else in 6 months… 😛

September 15, 2014 by Mel

Coding Confidence

I’m no math genius. In fact, I convinced my grade 11 math teacher not to fail me by promising her I would never pursue a career that would put anyone in danger due to being “calculation challenged”. To be fair, I haven’t.

But now I want to learn how to code, so I signed up for Harvard’s CS50 – Introduction to Computer Science via www.edx.org (a wicked and free online learning site).

I mentioned recently to a programmer that I was always curious about how computers work. How could metal and wires “think”? I thought it was freaky. He simply said that all computers work with binary code. Feeling stupid, I asked what that meant. He went quiet (probably because I was being judged, because after all, how could anyone not know what binary code is?) and then he simply said it’s a code made up of 0s and 1s. Knowing this likely involved math (which I continue to both hate and fear), I didn’t pursue the conversation.

Fast forward to CS50, week 0, problem set 0. I had to watch an 8 minute YouTube video explaining binary, then my brain exploded. Feeling a bit hopeless, I watched again. Then, somehow, I understood it. This was followed by a sudden wave of relief (because it turns out I ain’t no dummy). Then, this was followed by a wave of over-inflated confidence and thinking I could math anything (but still won’t Mrs. Tripp, I promise!).

So what does this mean? Well, I have a long way to go before I can say I am a programmer by any stretch, but I definitely feel like this simple first step and ego win put me in the right mindset to learn something I otherwise thought I just wasn’t built for or capable of. I feel so excited to overcome the first of what will likely be 1000000000000000000000000 hurdles. (See what I did there?)

So all I have to say is lookout world, because when I get better at this coding thing you are going to be littered with ugly cat games.

May 19, 2014 by Mel

How Facebook and Pinterest kill dreams, desires and happiness

So the long weekend is over, and rather than feeling relaxed and refreshed the way 3 days off with no obligations should make you feel, instead, I feel sad and unaccomplished.

My weekend routine, long weekend or regular, is often the same. I usually get up before F, put on a pot of coffee and sit at my computer while trying to keep the peace between the cats (one cat in particular) and the dogs, so as not to interrupt my slumbering boyfriend.

Sometimes I play games, but often I end up on Pinterest or Facebook… and the ambition/failure plans for the weekend begin.

I’ve read the articles before about how Facebook and Pinterest are time and soul sucking voids that set you up to fail. I believe every single one of them. For me, they pile on the projects and life changes that will make my life perfectly happy and totally exciting. So on the weekend, instead of turning off and tuning out the way I should, I feel like I have to hurry up and squeeze everything I possibly can out of those 48 hours.

My Facebook barely shows the lives of friends anymore. It’s worse. It’s mostly blogs and sites that I follow, often giving me some form of self-help through articles and pictures. (There are also many videos/pictures of cats, but we won’t pick on those.)

And Pinterest, the “ultimate to do list”, is filled with pretty and perfect everything. Pinterest shows me all the beautiful people, food, places that I can be, eat and go to. It fails to convey that the “pin” is only the first step, and I believe many people never make it beyond that first step anyway.

Then the true failure begins. I get these overblown ideas of everything I can accomplish to make my life better/prettier/happier… and then I just end up miserable when most of it doesn’t happen. Facebook and Pinterest set you up for the ultimate lunch-bag-let-down. Because when I try (and often fail, as most people do when learning something new) instead of getting back up and trying again, I give up and instead feel like I wasted a weekend. When the meal isn’t as beautiful or as delicious as I expected it would be; when I realize the saw I bought can’t cut quite deep enough to complete the project; or when I just didn’t get as much done as I wanted to in general, I sulk and become a miserable bitch because reality sets in that my weekend didn’t make life perfect. It’s also worse, because I didn’t relax either. And thanks to things always having the potential to be “better”, perfect really doesn’t actually exist.

I accomplish a lot in general, and most people who know me know that I don’t sit around for long without some sort of itch. My house is often cleaner than it should be, I cook more often and with fresher ingredients than most people, and I’m very good at being a “busy” person. And that’s sometimes makes me miserable. I don’t know how to cook in a messy kitchen. I don’t think I’m beautiful because I don’t look like a model. I don’t know how to enjoy sex when the sheets are dirty. I don’t know how to see the flowers when there are weeds. The reality that immediate gratification isn’t always possible, and that in turn, the rewards of sweat and real effort are so much sweeter anyway, isn’t something I tend to keep in mind.

I recently watched the Ted talk with Carl Honore, “In Praise of Slowness” (he authored a popular book on the subject). I think it’s time for me to slow down. Pick one project at a time. Don’t let my weekly to do board go beyond the 5 spots. It’s time to learn how to enjoy the mess that is life, because we aren’t here for very long. Being the master of doing what you feel like (and not doing what you feel you should be doing) is a key to my happiness, I think. Taking my time completing one big, slightly imperfect, yet meaningful project over time is something I will remember a lot more than anything I ever pinned. Spending the rest of time soaking up life, and not feeling guilty about every other project I didn’t complete or even get to, could be the key to relaxation and happiness.

Should I pin this? 😉

November 14, 2013 by Mel

The Weekly 7

For the longest time, I have wanted to come up with a crafty and colourful way of achieving a few weekly goals. (Pictures later of what I come up with.)

Now, these weekly goals aren’t the boring exercise, cleaning, extra sleep, etc. goals. No no no. These are more of what I would like to consider personal development goals.

I lost about 40lbs not too long ago and came to realize that the way you look and feel is very important, but it’s just a goal that takes priority over developing the inside. (Whether you like it or not, we’re all vain when it comes to ourselves.) Anyone who has lost a significant amount of weight can likely relate to the “what next?” mentality when the goal is reached.

I spend a large portion of my time making sure my house is clean and that my life is organized. This is important to me because my mood goes south when my house and/or life feels like it’s an out of control mess. (I know I’m nuts.) BUT, something new that I realized quite recently is that sometimes I’m cleaning because I’m not sure what else to do. I also like a visual finished product of any project and I think a clean house gives me the instant satisfaction of achieving something.

Unfortunately, the other side of me allows a mug my dad bought me a few years back to haunt me. The mug says “a clean house is the sign of a wasted life”. And so I’m torn.

That’s why this list offers a good balance for me. I wouldn’t feel like an absolute failure for not completing all of it every week, but the things that I force myself to do will make me happier when I’ve done them. (Again, I know I’m nuts.)

So with no further delay, here is my Weekly 7: