This past weekend, I went home.
Home being the town I grew up in for 18 years, Campbell River. I returned for an unprecedented event in any good students life, the high school reunion. This was our first, the ten year. I even helped organize, despite my natural inclination to run as far and as fast as I can from anything to do with high school.
I hated high school. It was the bane of my existence. All my friends were either a grade behind or ahead of me and therefore not in any of my classes, I was 60 lbs. overweight, I had zero fashion sense and I was utterly and debilitatingly shy (I think I made up a word there…).
Continue reading “Szechuan Noodle Salad” →
A while back, it was Father’s Day. A couple of days before that, it was my daughter’s first birthday. Hard to believe that it has been a whole year since her birth. She is coming along in leaps and bounds. Every day she makes me giggle and smile. Just today she started “kissing” back. Albeit a wide open mouth pressed against my cheek, but nonetheless adorable in every sense of the word. She is a tiny person and her personality is starting to really shine.
Now if she would only stop waking up at 5am and shrieking for everything she needs…
For Father’s Day, we decided to hit our local historical society’s open house. Held every year, the best draw is a ride on the miniature steam/diesel/electric engines. Mini train rides! Besides that, there are many historical artifacts to look at and many beautiful pictures to take.
Continue reading “Double Chocolate Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Strawberry Buttercream” →
I’ve tried to start this post a few times now and just don’t know where to start. The cursor just sits there, blinking at me. A million thoughts go through my head, but I can’t get them ordered the way I want with the intensity and depth that I imagine in my head. I want this post to be the culmination of ten years of health and wellness tracking, of endless hours in gyms and on yoga mats, of sweating buckets onto my floor, of eating only what my body needs and trying not to eat that piece of cake in the fridge, of hearing mostly negatives from people around me, of birthing two beautiful children and wanting my body back, of not giving in when every ounce of me screams to. I want this post to inspire, persuade and enlighten anyone who is willing to slog through it.
So let’s start near the beginning.
 Oops, not that far back…
When I was 13, I was told I needed an x-ray. That x-ray ended up showing a horrible distortion in my spine known as scoliosis. It was very progressive and would need surgery immediately. It was scheduled for three months later. In February of 1997 I received a spinal fusion from the bottom of my neck all the way down to my hips. My spine was attached to rods and hooks and then bone chips from my hip were used to fuse it all together. One vertebrae was left unfused to allow for bending at the hips.
Continue reading “My Insanity Transformation” →
Today is a big day for this excited little girl. Today is her first birthday. One amazingly long year ago, my water broke and within three hours I held her in my arms. She has grown so much since those first few hours of life and I am so glad I could be at home to watch it all. She is days away from walking and her personality is a beacon of light in a sometimes dreary week.
She reminds me every day to take it all in. The simplest things in life are often the most rewarding. Standing in the garden on an early morning last week I stood over our tiny new seedlings and breathed in the scent of newly dampened soil and I thought, “This is what it’s all about.” My children mean the world to me and I live every minute to be the best I can be for them. I’ve now come to realize that being the best parent to them doesn’t mean that I am perfect, far from it.
Continue reading “Fresh Fava Beans” →
As you may have garnered from the tone of my most recent posts, going back to late April, I’ve been a little down. I have been avoiding Twitter and other Social Media time suckers. I haven’t been posting as much as I would like and I haven’t been feeling quite like myself.
I’ve been cleaning my house every day, working out, eating right and playing with the kids whenever I can. I’ve also been drinking a lot of this:
It finally came to me what has me down and I’m sure there are thousands upon thousands of other “stay at home” moms who feel the same way as I do. Because I’m not really a stay at home mom, I’m a work at home mom. I spend the hours between household and child duties attempting to make a name for myself as not one, but two online identities. I’m the heart and soul behind this blog as well as attempting to get a fledgling photography business off the ground.
Continue reading “Strawberry Rhubarb Fool” →
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Hi! I'm Elizabeth. I like fitness, bad ass tattoos, food, bacon, chocolate, taking lots of silly pictures and my spawn. Check out my FAQ for all the usual Qs or send me an e-mail and tell me all about your cat and your Aunt Sally's amazing apple pie. |
