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• The dying man’s last summer: tons of delicious food to eat at The Fair at the PNE.
• Extremely cute lumberjacks.
• The stomach-dropping feeling of certain amusement park rides, like the wooden rollercoaster or the pirate ship.
• The Elvis impersonator concert.
• Running into a total of 6 different social circles at The Fair at the PNE.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• Accomplishing this week’s goal.
• Dinner at the Naam.
• Walking in upscale, west end neighborhoods.
• Sunsets on the ocean.
• Still floating on a cloud.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• The light feeling of stomach flopping and butterflies—oh how I missed thee!
• How eye contact can be made with a certain person several times over the course of the night in a room full of people.
• The exchange of smiles, and that very moment where you realize, he actually knows I exist! (In other words, indulging the girlish eighth grader in you.)
• Watching two of the greatest ballroom dancers (all the way from Italy) dance within 5 feet of me, and being part of their last show in Canada.
• A night of carefree dancing.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

This photo was taken several weeks ago when we were on vacation and mistakenly ordered two of the hugest ice creams known to man of which the four of us combined couldn’t finish. All I can really say about what happened afterwards: Not much, except that this dog really, really knows how to get his way. Pulling off puppy eyes with ice cream on your lower lip should be outlawed.

• Being able to revisit the challenges of yesterday with a fresh perspective, and being able to conquer them with much less effort.
• The great feeling I get from tinkering with a design.
• Having a plan for the future, and knowing exactly what I need to do for today.
• Indulging my creative side.
• Learning how to the start the day right.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

About two months ago, the best friend had to go to the dentist to have a sealant put on her wisdom teeth—a two visit procedure that was, according to her, a nightmare that included pain, tears, more pain and ended with her physically pushing her dentist away from her mouth.

Sometime between those two appointments, we got talking about wisdom teeth. I had always assumed that because I’m old and have relatively straight teeth, my wisdom teeth must have come in (unbeknown to me) and caused zero problems, and look how lucky I am! But when she mentioned I should check just to be sure, I got a little nervous. So I went to the mirror and started counting my sets of molars.

“Unnnnn, Oooooh, Thh—ONGDDDD, WERRRSSS DA THRRRD?!!”

(In case you aren’t fluent in The English Language Spoken With A Wide Open Mouth, that was: “One, Two Th—OH MY GOD, WHERE IS THE THIRD?!”)

That was the day my nightmare began.

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• Being able to get up and share my X51 testimonial in front of 30+ people without any notice.
• Learning when to stop (not give up, but stop) in order to not run myself into the ground, but at the same time, not stopping to early.
• Music that dramatically puts a 360° on your bad mood.
• Understanding the truth behind “bad days”, and being able to control them.
• Romans 8:31.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• Dinner with Kaiti, Merissa, Kirstin, Greg and Morgan at The Templeton (a super cute 50’s diner on Granville and Helmeken).
• Finally trying the deep fried chocolate bar! (For the record: delicious.)
• Hanging out on the Vancouver Art Gallery steps, talking about everything from wolf spiders and hookers to photography and “rpattz”. And not seeing a single pot smoker in sight.
• Being creepy. A refreshing change from being the one creeped on.
• Overcoming temptation.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• Seeing Merissa for the first time in over a month.
• Making dream boards at Cristin and Lynda’s house.
• Lynda’s weight watcher’s cheesecake on lime green plates SHE MADE HERSELF.
• The darling people we work with.
• Video blogging what we do for a living.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• True Blood Mondays.
• Doing things I don’t necessarily want to do but need to do, and having them be not that bad after all.
• Trying out the new body fat, bone mass, muscle mass, and water weight scale.
• The extremely clean feeling you get after flossing.
• Writing silly messages to your friends.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• Watching family home videos of our recent trip on the big screen together.
• This new pink thing called a bucky comfort creature that now sits on my bed and sleeps with me. It always looks so sleepy, and makes me want to go to sleep with it. From her description: “There’s nothing in the world that makes Vimm happier than taking a nap. If she’s missing, you’ll find her curled up someplace cozy. Her favorite food is cotton candy.” Adoraaable.
• Freshly laundered bed sheets that smell like gardenia.
• Spending time to reflect on all the blessings in life.
• The silly rush I get from jaywalking when a car is coming, but still incredibly far away.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• Asserting my independence.
• Riding the new Canada line.
• Having the perfect balance between two options fall right into place, eliminating the need for a hard decision.
• Feeling in the mood to dress up.
• Sabbath. Thank God for a day of no work and lots of very much needed rest and recharging!

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• Modifying the jive to fit the westcoast swing. (Truth be told, I much prefer the jive that way.)
• Things that bring back fond memories from years ago.
• This city, and everything about it. I am in love.
• The rush I get from thinking about school. Nerdy, but true – it makes my stomach flip, in a good way!
• Feeling like it’s way past my bedtime, at 10:10PM. (What this means: my body has corrected my bad sleeping habits, all by itself. Lights are off by 12-12:30 (or earlier!) almost every night these days!)

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• Live theater under the stars. It doesn’t get much better than that.
• Hot chocolate to warm you up.
• Faint 40’s music wafting through the park and across the courtyard.
• Summer traditions; things you do every summer that make summer feel like summer.
• The feeling of being cultured.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• Getting to know the people you only know casually.
• Marble slab ice cream. Do I need to say anymore?
• Accidental, yet surprisingly pleasant conversations with perfect strangers in the ice cream line.
• The heart of Vancouver at night.
• “So I was reading that article you wrote on your blog to [redacted]” … Whenever I find out someone I know “offline” reads this.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• Making plans for a south-of-the-border trip in two months. America, XanGo, my favorite Salt Lake City eats and conservative Mormon boys – eep!
• Discussing the latest episode of True Blood with the best friend.
• Making breakthroughs with the piano piece I’m trying to learn and expecting to master within, oh, the next six years.
• Safe neighborhoods.
• The hours between 6pm and 8pm – evening sun to dusk.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• The incredibly satisfying feeling of completing something you’ve been working on for two years and crossing it off your list.
• Tylenol.
• Fresh whole fruit orange and strawberry bubble tea.
• The feeling you get after preserving through something and seeing it through to the end, knowing you didn’t give up, even when you really, really wanted to.
• Do I really need to say any more? I LOVE MONDAYS.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

If you suddenly found yourself pregnant, not married, not dating anyone, and ready to give birth, what would your first thoughts be? Perhaps, who is the father? Or maybe, what is going to happen to my future? Something sensible, certainly.

Apparently, my first thoughts would be: “Natural birth or epidural?”

Last night, I found myself in a rather tricky situation. I was suddenly pregnant and ready to deliver, with no recollection of how it happened or who the father was. Furthermore, since I was quite literally ready to deliver (I was already in the hospital), I was panicking, because why hadn’t I done my research on this sooner? Where were the people who could give me information about my options? What on earth is going on? Why don’t I know anything? And seriously, WHERE IS MY IPHONE SO I CAN RESEARCH THIS?

I woke up extremely disturbed, as you can probably imagine. I also woke up with the strangest resolve to do more research on natural births, because I hate going into things without first doing my research.

I wish I could tell you this was the strangest dream I’ve ever had, but I can’t. However, it begs the question: What is the strangest dream you’ve ever had, and did it involve babies falling out of your uterus?

• Living 15 minutes from the ocean, 30 minutes from the mountains and a stone’s throw from forests—yet still living in the city.
• Beautiful architecture.
• Our family’s little “thing” of eating at IKEA for under $25. We’re obsessed with their food and how ridiculously cheap/good it is.
• Walking by the ocean.
• Spending quality time with the family. One can never appreciate this too much.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• Spontaneously feeling like dressing up and looking good (for church, and really in general) for the first time in ages. As soon as the family saw me, they commented on how it made them realize how little effort I’ve been putting into my appearance in the last couple months and how much of a change it was to see me like this. I wore a plum satin dress with a black cardigan, black zebra patterned nylons and black 4″ nine west heels—and I felt fabulous. I felt like myself again. It was good.
• My own homemade sauteed tofu sushi. Seriously delicious.
• Doing 100 crunches on the Ab Buster.
• Small efforts of tidying to keep the bedroom consistent clean (and clothes-on-the-floor free).
• Getting along well with the people you live with.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• Learning how to mentally switch between work and school mindsets.
• Deciding on a grad plan.
• Tackling Shakespeare.
• Restful Friday evenings.
• How I can get lost in a whole other world when I play piano, and how it melts away the stresses.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• Realizing the amount of bullshit required in English assignments. I dislike it. I would prefer not to do it, but they practically set you up for it. (So, you roll with the punches and make the best of it – it can be rather amusing to see how far you can push it.)
• Summer evening walks with the dog.
• Making progress with the six page piano piece I’m trying to learn.
• The familiar freedom and security in routine.
• The extremely satisfying feeling of simply getting things done.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• Finishing something that has been taking up a chunk of my subconscious units by being a work-in-progress for four and a half years.
• Catching up with technology and avenues of communication and social media, freeing up more subconscious units.
• Laying in bed, talking on the phone. I missed that.
• Consistently putting in a good day’s work, making my free time “guilt free”.
• Re-reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. Absolutely fascinating book by an extremely interesting and talented writer.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• The extremely satisfying feeling of getting every single thing on my list of daily things to do crossed off.
• Knowing there is always someone to turn to when things become too much to handle.
• Catching up with the best friend
• Successfully making Chinese-style green beans in black bean sauce.
• Catching up on True Blood. Love love love that show!

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• A relaxing bubble bath after a day of hard work.
• Family movie nights. They make me feel so normal.
• The extremely satisfying feeling of working within the frameset of a plan and a very specific, calculated goal.
• Sleeping in a bed full of freshly laundered bed linens.
• Meeting people in our neighborhood.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• Waking up at 8:30 by myself, and being able to afford an hour in bed reading—in the morning.
• Going for Sunday morning run in the rain. First run in months!
• Tofu scramble with sauteed vegetables and toast for breakfast. Mmmm.
• Spending about 6 hours doing math and getting massive amounts of work done because of that.
• Talking to the best friend, and getting the postcard she sent in the mail from all the way across the country while I was away, knowing I’d get it when I came back. <3

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• Family breakfast by the lake.
• That motherly feeling I get whenever I look over at my dog and think, how did I get so lucky.
• Massive 6 inch ice creams for only $2.50.
• Being in the middle of the ocean – with no land in sight – on a ferry.
• Going through vacation photos and videos as a family – something we never do, even though we certainly take enough of it!

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• Seeing the Martin Mars Water Bombers up close. Very up close.
• When rough water turns smooth as glass.
• Exceedingly delicious food that is healthy and pulsing with vibrant life (i.e., nothing dead, nothing processed, fresh vegetables) … Basically good food in general. It makes like so much worth living.
• Not being in a rush to be anywhere.
• The time you spend together as a family. I hope to never take this for granted.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• Non-threatening mini disasters; leaking battery acid, blood on the boat deck, waketube overboard on open ocean, hard launch, etc.
• Be able to take some nice photos of beautiful surroundings. I missed taking photos!
• Not having internet or cellphone reception for two days.
• Grilling on the propane stove and sleeping in tents (for real) – actually doing “the camping thing”!
• Family walks & watching the sunset go down together.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

I have always struggled with the issue of age.

Like most people, my preteen to early teen years were spent trying to be older. Having always been very mature and much older looking than I actually was, it was an almost natural thing to do. You act older and you look older, so why not be older?

This carried on for several years. It was a mostly superficial thing; it felt real to me, but life hadn’t dealt me those cards—yet. Then one day, I hit 16 and it was like the dam broke—I started my own business, met a person who changed my life, traveled to three countries, started ballroom dancing, started running, ended a relationship, completely destroyed the one with my parents and rebuilt it from the ground up.

Within the span of a year, life had aged and grown me at the speed of sound.

After that, though, things kind of… plateaued. Year 17 paled in comparison. Nothing profound or groundbreaking happened, but the things that began in Year 16 developed and cultivated—I improved in my dancing and running, my business grew, my skills developed, I started traveling on a regular basis, our family got closer, and I managed to break everyone’s record in “who can stay single the longest?” (For the record: 3 years and some months.)

Hell, I even stopped growing. Even physically, things were plateauing.

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• Not having to worry about looking decent or wearing makeup because you know you won’t run into anyone on an island of 2,700 people.
• Playing chess on a lifesized board at twilight. And winning.
• Bruchetta, fresh vegetables and delicious ceasar salad.
• Blood red sunsets.
• The moon over the ocean.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• Ferry rides.
• Cubed cheddar cheese.
• Waiting for the ferry at the terminal; same thing goes for flights—must be something about terminals that I love so much!
• Steamed soy with hazelnut from Starbucks. Delicious.
• Being in (and far, far from shore) of another lake.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• Being productive.
• Mom on X51. All i’ll say: she pretty much tore through the whole main floor and cleaned it from top to bottom and didn’t want to go to sleep.
• Spontaneous boating trips.
• Being able to cook in my own kitchen again. (Surprisingly enough, the size/state of a kitchen influences what I want to make, how much effort i’ll put into it and how enjoyable the experience will be.)
• Reading through sheet music and making notation. I find it so therapeutic, much like actually playing the music!

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• Afternoon naps that energize you, not make you more sleepy.
• Not having the cleaning/packing rush we usually do every year.
• Goodbyes that don’t make you sad because they’re not *really* goodbyes.
• Being home after 10 days of not being home.
• HAVING MY SHIPMENT OF X51 COME FINALLY, OMG.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.

• Hair straighteners.
• Pillow talks.
• Catching up with old friends.
• Having a good, intellectually-stimulating conversation about personal development, life planning, post-secondary education, religion, spirituality (not the same thing!), beliefs, society, and how to appeal to generation x.
• Knowing I still have social ladder climbing skills, should they ever be needed again.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.