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Today I leave for Hope, British Columbia to attend a 10 day conference in the middle of nowhere. I’ve been going since I was three and unlike all my other trips, this one is uniquely different in the way that it is the closest I ever come to camping. Or the wilderness. Or a combination of both.

(Of course, I’m staying in a trailer, not a tent, and I’ll probably bring those hot pair of heels I picked up in California, but the lack of a hotel, city and internet and the possibility of bears and mountain lions makes this trip camping in the wilderness, Chanel-style.)

Despite the obvious setbacks of being in a location where there is no internet, I am terribly excited about leaving. We’re even bringing the boat up, and while I can assure you there will be no waketubing, I will sit on the bow, dangle my feet in the water and try not to tan. And it will be lovely.

Have double the fun for me, internet!

For the past week or so, I have woken up to bright sunny days, clear blue skies, warm weather and a perfect summer breeze. It’s hard to come up with the right words to explain just how lovely it is to be outside under the shade, a gentle breeze tussling my hair and tickling my skin while I sip tea and relax to sounds of my favorite old records and the dull hum of distant traffic. Nothing can accurately describe the experience, suffice to say I would glad live this moment a million times through.

It’s remarkably easy to live a busy life.

It’s remarkably less easy to slow down, unwind and just be.

No distractions. No phones. No work. No people. No problems. No drama. No worries. Nothing to do. Nothing to say. Nothing to be. I enjoy a good day filled with productivity as much as the next workaholic, but sometimes the soul just craves a solitude that only comes from leaving the world and creating a whole new one for just you and yourself.

Just you and yourself.

Try it sometime.

Some of you may remember that just over a month ago, I set out a challenge for myself: to get in shape and lose weight. To keep myself to that, I promised that by the end of June, I would update with the results of my one month challenge. (And maybe include pictures.)

This is the update.

Before I go any further, I need to make a confession: I am a brat. When I want something, I get it. When it comes to material things, I have rarely ever wanted something I couldn’t rationally justify, so my brattish ways were never really a problem—but unfortunately, the same cannot be said for eatable things. Keep that in mind.

Knowing that I was embarking on a journey that was destined to fail if I tried the typical diet approach to achieve my goal, I decided to try something completely radical: the un-diet approach. No starvation. No carrot sticks for dinner. No denying myself anything. I was going to eat whatever I wanted, because dammit, I deserve to eat whatever I want.

Continue Reading →

In my neighborhood, a couple blocks from where I live, there is a little brown house that sits on the corner of two streets.

Long before I ever moved to this neighborhood, I used to know a girl who lived in that house. Her name was Lauren. She was in my first grade class. She wasn’t very popular. I remember that occasionally, some of the meaner girls in our class would tease her. I can’t remember why. We were friends.

I still know where some of those mean girls are at, today.

First grade was, according to most of my former classmates’ account, a great year. (I say “according to”, because unlike my classmates, I was still recovering from The Worst Year Of My Life.) We wrote and illustrated a school newspaper, had a class store, studied way too many insects (Madame Yvonne was exceptionally fond of them) and sang a whole lot of French songs, songs like C’est L’Halloween.

Before the school year was over, Lauren’s mother died from a brain tumor.

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“When I’m in Canada, I feel like this is what the world should be like.”

- Jane Fonda

“Canada is one of the planet’s most comfortable, and caring, societies. The United Nations Human Development Index cited the country as the most desirable place in the world to live. This year a World Bank study named Canada the globe’s second wealthiest society after Australia.”

- Time Magazine

It is wonderful to feel the grandness of Canada in the raw, not because she is Canada but because she’s something sublime that you were born into, some great rugged power that you are a part of.

- Emily Carr

In only a century and a quarter since Confederation, Canadians have shaped out of the North American wilderness one of the most privileged societies on the face of the earth. Ranking among the seven most prosperous nations in the world, Canada is rich not only in the abundance of our resources and the magnificence of our land, but also in the diversity and the character of our people. We have long been known as one of the most tolerant, progressive, innovative, caring and peaceful societies in existence.

- The Will of a Nation: Awakening the Canadian Spirit by George Radwanski & Julia Luttrell

Happy birthday, Canada.