Category Archives: Discovery

“What if… ?”

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I like asking myself this question often. Just for fun – but this is indeed a very powerful question. I ask myself “what if” not because I am unsatisfied with my life, but because it’s like writing your own Choose-Your-Own-Adventure novel! Just think about all the multiple avenues your life could go!

I think the “what ifs” are sometimes equated with unhappiness, wishful thinking or living an unfulfilled life, but you have the power to turn those “what ifs” into something meaningful – if you want them to!

georgecouros.ca

georgecouros.ca

So… what if… (and this leads to the “Would I?”, of course)

… I moved to Boston instead of New York? Would I like it better? Would I still be there?

… I crossed this street instead of that street? Would I have gotten on the train I needed? Or would I have been hit by a cab?

… I worked under my psychology degree and never went back to school for education? Would I be bored at my job?

… I invented the next app or game that everyone spends their money on? Would I be better off?

… I didn’t become a teacher? Would I have gone back to school?

… I had a kid? Would I live in New York in an apartment?

… Jill and I had gone to Greece to teach English? Would we be drinking ouzo and eating olives in Santorini right now?

… I left 5 minutes earlier this morning? Would my day be different, or the same?

… I decided to move to Paris this summer? Would I eat croissants every day?

… I went to the movies tomorrow instead of work? Well – that’s easy – I don’t have to work!

… I bought those $700 shoes? Would I actually wear them?

… I stayed up all night watching TV? Would it matter?

Hhhhhmmmm. What if… I didn’t write this post? Would you be asking yourself “what if”? Or would you even care?

“Teachers are Gold”

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Those are not my words. Those are the words of one of my eight year boys. He will be a philosopher, no doubt.

And those words of his, made me feel like gold. Love days like this, when I hear words of wisdom from my kids.

ccbreakroom.com

ccbreakroom.com

There are no words of mine that can match his.

Wordless Wednesday #7

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Why Can’t I Read?

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I just can’t read for longer than 15  minutes. Why? Why? Why?

I have huge aspirations for reading all the time, but I can’t do it for long!

tutte-reflectionsonlifecom.blogspot.com

tutte-reflectionsonlifecom.blogspot.com

I even joined two groups on goodreads.com – a non-fiction reading group and a classics group to help inspire me! However, I’m still reading the same non-fiction book I began at the start of January, and have yet to start my classics choice Treasure Island (chosen by recommendation thanks to Monica).

I’m still reading And the Mountains Echoed, the new Khaled Hosseini book, three weeks later. I started to read the book with Jill so we could talk about it. Well, she’s done and I’m still halfway through… I like the book… The story is good, characters interesting. Why can’t I focus?

I can read for entire flights though, nearly completing entire books! Maybe I just need this…

kotaku.com

kotaku.com

If You Think It’s Too Good to be True…

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… maybe it’s actually just that good!

When someone approaches you with a “great deal” or something “free”, what do you do? Dive right in? Run away? Well, Brett and I like to dodge the bullet. We are usually skeptics in these situations because usually there is some fine print.

Well today was the day I bought into an attractive idea. Pay without paying?

See, this really happy girl from PayPal at Ground Central Coffee shared the magic with us.

So here’s the deal: you pay with your phone using the PayPal app instead of your with credit or debit card. It’s kind of like the yelp deals, but those deals show up at the end of your dining and are deductions on the bill. Here’s the beauty of the PayPal app purchase: when you go up to pay, your PayPal photo ID comes up and the transaction is done without doing anything! Awesome. This is something I actually found useful! On the app there are coupons, so you locate a place that uses this PayPal feature and use it in an instant. The promotion at the coffee shop was a $20 coupon, so Brett and I enjoyed our cappuccinos and artisan sandwiches in the cozy upright chairs courtesy of PayPal! Sweet!

Sometimes it’s okay to let your guard down and enjoy something a total stranger is trying to share with you.

Ground Central Coffee coziness

Ground Central Coffee coziness

We’re a Week In… Still Working on That Resolution?

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I’m sort of a go-against-the-grain type of person. I really don’t like to conform or be considered a “norm”, so I’m not one to make resolutions. Sure in the past I probably tried to come up with some goal, but really I don’t January 1st  to tell me to be a better person. Every day is an opportunity to do that.

teachergoesbacktoschool.org

teachergoesbacktoschool.org

There is no research that supports making a resolution makes a person more active, healthier, a better friend, a better wife, husband, student or whatever. We already know that resolutions are pretty short lived. Why? Because to be truly successful you need to change either your lifestyle or who you are. When your resolution becomes who you are, you have successfully made a lifestyle change.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for being ambitious and setting goals… I just don’t have the calendar dictate that to me, like I said.

Truthfully, I find the word resolution to have a negative connotation. Like I have this huge gap in my life that lacks any positive energy or flow. Like I offer no benefit to society. Sure we all have improvements to make and goals to set, but I just don’t buy into the resolutions business.

Not only that, resolutions are very overwhelming. We’re talking a year-long “goal” that I would consider normally comes in the form of a lot of sacrifice. How is that going to make me a better person? Thinking too long term about what I should or shouldn’t eat is very daunting. That I can’t have a cappuccino during the week or I need to reduce my intake of chicken fingers? Not going to happen. It’s so restricting and suffocating. Oh man, I think I need a cupcake.

Do I need to make a resolution to work out 5 times a week starting January 1st? Do I need to schedule my gym workouts so I go? No, although I can have an idea that I might go to a yoga class on Mondays, but I’m not going to have it set in stone (because I am sitting here on my cozy couch staying warm instead of walking in the cold to run on a boring treadmill 😉 ). During the week I can stay on a schedule, however on weekends I have a hard time being places at a certain time. I need that unstructured time. I need the flexibility and I feel like resolutions do not have that. Maybe I just don’t know how to make resolutions…

On the other hand, I can handle long-term academic, career-related or running goals. I can handle knowing I will be spending a couple of years in school getting a Master’s, or take some teaching-related trainings throughout the year. I love that stuff. I can register for races months in advance because races aren’t really something I need to work on completing. I just do them. So do I make a resolution to take another course or run more races? I don’t think so because I already know I’m going to do these things… So… I don’t get it.

Anyway, my “resolution” is to stick with no resolutions. Any moment of any day is a chance to grow as individual. To be a better me for me, and for others.

So if you’re a resolution person and need to make one to get you on track to a better you, I wish you all the success and fruitfulness you are looking for. Or you could just try this one:

Oh Walter Mitty

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An NYC snow day yesterday meant my day was open for sleeping, reading, writing, and watching movies. My movie buddy Tina often reads my mind so I was excited when she and I decided to head out into the cold and sloppy mess to watch Ben Stiller’s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

What can I say about Ben Stiller and the movies he directs, produces, and stars in: they are exactly what I want to see. His portrayal of how real people think, respond, and behave is perfect regardless the character portayed: Walter Mitty, Derek Zoolander, Larry Daley or Gaylord Focker. I always learn something about people through his portrayal of his crafted characters.

So here are my lessons learned from Walter Mitty:

  1. It’s okay to daydream
  2. Budgets are important
  3. Risks are hard, but necessary in order to grow as a person
  4. It feels great to do something nice for someone else, especially when they do not expect it
  5. We confuse disappointment in a person with not knowing all the information about a situation
  6. Doing something unexpected and spontaneous makes us frantic and uncomfortable at first
  7. Pushing our limits creates a new level of self-respect
  8. You have more of an impact on people’s lives than you think

Number 8 is particularly my favorite. This idea has copious amounts of potential to make us all ponder our purpose, as well as contemplate the words and actions we send into the world. So thank you Ben Stiller, for your ingenuity in character development and thoughtful representation of real people and their quirks. I look forward to your next piece of work.

Southern Wedding Y’all!

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Me… At a wedding… In Hickory… North Carolina…

I was invited to Candace and Brian’s wedding as my friend Alaa’s date, which was awesome because we always have a good time together. But… I wasn’t sure how I was going to fit into this equation… me at a southern wedding.

Wedding selfie

Pre-wedding selfie

First, I’m not a wedding-y person, but I knew that Brian and Candace were planning a wedding that was very characteristic of them, rather than a wedding that people have been to before.

One side of Warehouse 18

Ceremony side of Warehouse 18

Eeek!

Eeek!

And second, I may be from small town Alberta where the people have a different kind of accent, the weather is unsuitable for humans about 6 months of the year and people drink Molson, but I don’t have a southern accent, I don’t wear my hair in a bouffant and I don’t drink moonshine (yes, I know – huge stereotyping).

But I have to tell you – Candace and Brian put together such a comfortable and charming wedding.

They held it at a former textile warehouse in Candace’s hometown of Hickory. This warehouse was converted by a talented artist lady into an art/living space and event venue. I could try to describe the coolness and the eclectic nature of the space, but I can’t. It was that awesome.

On the living space/event venue of the warehouse. Love!

On the living space/event venue of the warehouse. Love!

Popcorn!

Popcorn!

HOPE

HOPE

After exploring the space and getting to know Candace and Brian’s families, I felt like I was hanging out with people I’d known for much longer than a few hours. It was great to meet people from different places and walks of life in this cozy and unique setting. Who wouldn’t bond in a candle-lit room with soft music playing or in a living room where there are giant tubs of popcorn where people you know are there to join together as a new family unit?

Small-town southern United States does have a homey feel, once you get to know it and you’re in the right space with the right people. So thank you Candace and Brian, for introducing me to the real south 🙂

Love this shot I got of the first dance.

First dance ❤

Brrrrr…

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It’s not officially winter quite yet, but it definitely felt like it here today.

This week I saw on some website that Alberta is the coldest place on Earth, and is apparently as cold as Mars. So, spending 30 winters in Alberta should make me immune to NYC winters right? New York doesn’t get that cold! Come on! Ummm, wrong.

Although the temps may not dip to -40F/C here, I’m finding my Albertan blood and skin have not adapted to these damp frigid winters. Would I rather freeze my butt on a dry -40F/C day or a damp 16F/-8C day like today? I’m not sure.

Living in Edmonton all those years, you know what to expect. You expect the temps to drop in September, the snow to fall before Halloween and for it to remain on the ground until at least the end of March. As a community of drivers, you make sure your car-starter works and your block heater cord is out. You equip your car with your winter items, antifreeze, the extension cord to plug in at work, and sand in case you get stuck. You drive in the worst conditions: ice, ruts, blizzard white-out visibility, slush puddles that melt and refreeze, and think nothing of it.

macblaze.ca

macblaze.ca

Living here for the last several winters, my experience has been … different. I have no car to worry about and no winter driving to prepare for (and I don’t miss the car or the driving).  I do have to bundle up for the walk to the subway, bus, to wherever or whatever festivity I’m headed to. I don’t miss being surrounded by snow for 6 months of the year, but now I do get excited when those big fluffy flakes fall… and leave only moisture on the ground.

So what am I trying to say? Winters vary from place to place and when you think you can handle one in one place, maybe you can’t in another (or vice versa)… or maybe you just have a new appreciation for it in a different time and place.

Oh Jeez, What Have I Become?

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I joined the New York Health & Racquet Club a couple of weeks ago. When I visited the club on 50th Street in the spring I liked the cozy feeling of the club. It didn’t feel like the other gyms I’ve tried in the city. Unpretentious, homey.

I waited to join knowing that summer would get me outside, however I was looking for a closer, cheaper spot to get back into my yoga practice too.

So I decided to bite the bullet and join a couple of weeks ago since the weather was getting unpredictable … Great class schedule and facilities that I want to use.

Soooooo, I went to the gym tonight and tried something new… I even got a new outfit for it… and joined all the others… in the pool… for… aquacise. Oh my gaud, did I just say that out loud? YES – OKAY! I said aquacise! Holy crap – what has happened to me?! I thought it would be a good idea to do some non-impact exercise! Turns out was right. In fact, little old Judy pretty much kicked my butt. I didn’t know that pool noodles and foam pieces would make my arms quiver. I’m pretty sure I will have a hard time moving my poor limbs tomorrow.

Who knew splashing around with people double my age would be kind of fun, even the conversation in the sauna afterward. Oh my gaauuud, in the sauna? I feel like I belong in an episode of Seinfeld.