On being six

Today is Sophie's sixth birthday. Like every year before this, I have said the same thing "Wow, I can't believe Sophie is ____. Tonight, sitting across from her at The Old Spaghetti Factory, I actually could believe she was another year older. I am amazed and in awe of how grown-up and lovely she is and, am dedicating this blog to some special things that I admire and love about my oldest daughter.

Some wonderful things to know about Sophie

1. Sophie taps her feet or fingers all the time, as though she is always listening to her own happy little song

2. Sophie knows sweet little things about all of her friends, including their full names, the names of their pets, their favourite colours and what colour their eyes are

3. Sophie will rub the top parts of your arm when she is going to sleep to find the "cold spots"

4. You will hear Sophie saying to Bridget almost daily "well done, Bridget, you did a really good job"

5. Sophie dances like no one is watching any time she gets the chance

6. Sophie loves watching hockey games with her daddy

7. Sophie will identify Dido, Madonna, Chris Martin, Michael Blueberry,U2, Fergie, The Beatles and a few others on the first note

8. Sophie asks questions that make everyone think

9. Sophie loves the earth and at six is very interested in what she can do to help "Reduce, Reuse and Recycle"

10. With a twinkle in her eye and an impish grin, Sophie makes everyone laugh


Happy Birthday Sophie, I love you.


Mummy xox

Bonus "Feel-Good"

Strolling the shore of Long Beach on the West Coast of Vancouver Island is heavenly. It has all the elements that inspire poetry and novels. Miles of beach, wind, crashing waves, rocky outcroppings creating swirls and whitewater, diving seagulls and driftwood scattered in random patterns on the sand. It is a scene that I could sit for hours just absorbing. Nothing and everything happens when you are on the beach.
On Saturday, arriving on the beach, preparing for a long walk, one of the first things that both my husband and I noticed was the tangle of the ocean's finery (sea kelp, driftwood, shells, seaweed) on the sand and amongst almost every tangle, an intruding piece of plastic. We couldn't walk four or five steps without passing a bottle, a broken plastic cup, a plastic bag, the skeleton of a coffee machine, plastic food containers, broken plastic plates and the list goes on.
Neither my husband nor I were comfortable "Strolling" and pretending that we weren't stepping around a nasty plastic bag or a plastic Pepsi bottle. It felt wrong. This was where the thoughtlessly "tossed" bucket (yet another plastic item tossed overboard) became, ironically, our container to clean up the beach. A long, strong, stick put through the hole in the container created a makeshift "hobo-bucket" that we quickly filled not once, not twice but three times with garbage.
Our romantic stroll along the beach certainly took on a new look but it became a walk with purpose and I know that we both felt a sense of goodness as we made our way back to the car.
There would be more garbage washed up the next day, this was a certainty, but at least for one afternoon, Long Beach could feel proud for all her natural, unspoiled beauty.

http://www.naturalnews.com/022885.html

Nature's Detox

With all that is going on these days (lay-offs, money concerns etc) I have felt the "pull" to ensure that I am at my fighting best. I have been inspired by friends and family and know that in order to be the best for my family, I need to take care of myself. One of the "pulls" I have been resisting (I have already had one mission abort) is the detox "Get your body working well again" diet. The last detox I tried to do was one that I really thought I could stick with. Sadly $100+ dollars later, I threw in the towel on the evening of day one! What a quitter!

So, I had recently been doing a little research and trying to figure out if and when I might try to do another detox. However, my research had been happening before I went away to Tofino with my husband for 3 days. Upon my return (this evening), I have decided that I have found the best detox available (to me). It is called the "getting-away-from-the-city-and-people-and-my-computer-and-being-in-nature" Detox. It works in all the ways that most of the detox diets I have researched, claim to work. It really does.

My detox includes the following in no particular order:
-sleeping in a cozy little cabin nestled on the shoreline (www.middlebeach.com)
-eating the most delicious, homemade, local foods (www.sobo.ca)
-watching and participating in community events (the Whale Festival Celebration)
-hiking beach trails
-breathing oxygen-rich, salty air
-talking (in full sentences) with ones spouse
-holding hands
-reading magazines and books whenever and wherever
-listening to the wind and the sounds of waves on the rocks


So, my detox of choice, which has turned out to be our annual trip to Tofino (sans children) is one body-purifying act that I know I can complete and not have the slightest sense that I might have to give up after one day. I think I could be on to something...