Rain in Montreal

It is raining today in Montreal. A continuous flow of rain... sometime light and sometimes abondant.

Montreal having a very particular climate rain is seen very differently depending on the time of year it comes and how frequent it is.... 
Rain is winter is not appreciated...  sure it means a mild temperature but it also means snow melting and ice everywhere the next morning.
Rain in the spring means grass becoming green, flower blooming...  of course if it is not a week in a row... like we sometimes get...
Rain in automn mean cold and bad weather is coming for several months.. summer is over...  leafs are falling from trees...
Rain in the summer means a cooler day....  or a bad wek.. it all depends!

But today's rain is a break...  a cool down day... a today's time to watch a movie, do some shopping or clean the house!  We had an AMAZING long week end!  Sunny and warm...  our first summer long week end...  This long week end in May usually signifies the beginning of summer and the arrival of nice weather...  althus techinically summer arrives in a month!  We are expecting a very nice week after today's rain... and it is still not cold...  very enjoyable.... you can leave windows open and refresh the house.....

I like the smell and the sound of rain...  waking up in the morning with rain falling is nice...  quiet.. it sets the tone for a ''take it easy'' day!

Needless to say I like rain.... especially in the middle of 10 days or warm sunny weather.. it's a break for the skin... the eyes... it allows me to turn within...  rain has always had this very reflective effect on me... I find it romantic...  soothing... I very rarely take an umbrella... expecially in summer rain...  I like the feel of rain on my bare skin...

I remember when our kids wer younger, we would go gor a walk under a summer rain... and get in our pajamas when getting back home...  we would encourage the kids to play outside in the rain... run, laugh... This is a very good memory of a few years ago...
We would also even go to water park (hey you are getting wet anyway!)  and the zoo (animals are different) under rain... there are much less visitors!

What about you?  How do you enjoy your rainy days?

Moving

I am moving on June 22nd. 

The first 23 years of my life I spent in 1 home.. my parents do not move!  They still live at that same place. 
I like to move...  In 16 years, this will be my 6th place.  I move for many different reasons...  but mostly becasue I want my home to fit my lifestyle...

This time I am moving because my son is off to highschool next year and the school he chosed is too far from where we live now.. and I want him to be able to use public transportation to go to school without having to commute 3 hours for a round trip.
Also, I always wanted to go back to that area... it's more in synch with who I am... but I'll let you know more about that once I move....

Now I am planning my move...  obviously, after a few moves, you learn stuff..  practice makes perfect!  or almost...

So now, when I sign a lease, I am always taking room lay out and measurement upon signature and I also like to take the current occupant email or phone number so I can contact them if I need some extra info... who better to answer them then people who live there?

This week end, in preparation to moving, I was trying to figure out what we bring with us and what we leave behind.. we are moving in yet a somewhat smaller place.. so some stuff may not have room....
So we layed out the rooms and organize furniture how we would like to have it and saw what would fit or not...  so now I am clear for furniture. 

 The next step will be going to the post office to make change of adress so that my mail may follow if I forget to advise anyone... Then make the list of where my adress needs to be change and comunicate this info to all those people.  I also send an email to my friends and family with my new adress and phone number a few days before.

I will also need to reserve my moving truck. Now that I know what I bring with me, I know what size truck I need.  And lastly continue making boxes...  I started them when we had the fire incident as part of cleaning up...  but I am not done...  When I do my boxes, I now clean up as I pack stuff...  instead of when I am unpacking... makes organizing new place faster but it means starting packing boxes earlier..  so I start doing that a month before... and get rid of stuff I have not use since I unpacked them! I label every boxes with the room they go into so we can bring them direclty there...

Another thing I do to make things easier is choose paint color ahead of time...  it save times.. and as I like to paint fearly neutral, it can be done before and I can always add dash of colors afterwards.  I get my keys a week before I move in, on the Friday night.  By then, my cleaning schedule is prepared and my team (my mom, dad, husband and I) are all well advised of our chores (list is made ahead of time acording to each one strenght)...  makes stuff so much easier.. then we'll start painting room by room...  my husband and I are a wonderfull paint team!!! 

I take a vacation day before the move to make sure all cleaning and painting is over with... then I also take the moving day off to make sure everything goes smoothly.  My brother and my husband take care of furniture and my parents and I of boxes..  usually goes smoothly...

By supper time, pizza is there...  and after supper everyone gets to go home... and my husband and I usually finish organizing our bed room so we can sleep comfortably...  The next Saturday, we fix the rest.... and by the time I go get my son at his dad's place, everything will be done...  and we can enjoy Sunday night and Monday as that Monday is a Holiday for us in Quebec!!!

It may seem like a lot... but I assure you that it is not exhausting... we plan this well and use time efficienlty... never working untill late at night...  and relaxing after supper... taking some fresh air and walking around our new neightbourhood!

I have improve a lot over time.. my first few move were horrible.. tiring... but I still iked it!!  However, I do not want to be exhausted for weeks after moving anymore and I do not want it to drag for weeks!!!  I want to enjoy my summer!!!

namaste,
nathalie

Vegan Khichdi

A friend vegan friend of mine who's dad is from India, recommended I try this recipe... as it is her favorite comfort food...  It is healthy, complete...  and has many different flavors to it...  I am not a big fan of Indian cuisine as my taste buds are not particulary used to the spices they put in...  and I am not use to cook with spices!  However, I know that using them is quite healthy and I am try to incorporate more in my cooking. So having a friend recommend something authentic and saying that is was really comforting, I gave it a try!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of basmati rice (rinsed)
1/4 cup of lentils (any colour would do, rinsed)
2 tsp of Garam Masala (or to taste)
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 medium potato diced
1 medium carrot diced
3 cups water
Oil
Salt to taste
you can also add cauliflower, green peas or try any other vegetables that are slow cooking... do not be afraid to experiment!

Directions:

1) heat the oil and fry the onion until it is transludent
2) add Garam Masala and mix with onion and spices
3) add rice and lentils and fry a few more minutes
4) add water, salt, and other vegetables
5) lower heat and let simmer untill rice is cooked

Please note that I had to add more water during cooking... so stay close... texture should be ''runnny'' when serving!

It took about an hour all in all....  inclulding vegetables preparation and cooking....

I was amazingly surprise by this recipe!  It tasted GREAT!  and it was really comforting!!!

I have left over... so I will have that again tonight!  See how it taste when you reheat it without a microwave (which I do not own). 

If anyone tried to freeze some, let me know how it turns out!  I am pretty sure it would still be great!  Next time I make this, I might try cooking a big batch to freeze some and have it ready for ememrgency dinners, I never eat any manufactured frozen meals... so I do bulk cooking and freeze left over for another week when I have less time to cook or simply do not feel like it!!!

namaste,
nathalie 

Perfect timing

There was a fire in my building a week ago... Nobody was hurt which is the most important thing... No human or animal were harmed aside from the few elderly who had to be rushed to the emergency room for panic attack but they are fine...
One appartement which was occupied by 2 children and their parents was completely destroyed!!! They have nothing left (but themselves which is not too bad!)!!! Two other appartments were damaged but not everything is ruined...
Thanks for concrete walls and closeby firemen, the damages were controlled quite well....

However, going back into a building filed with smoke, black walls, broken windows and doors, no electricity is quite devastating...  When you enter your appartment and all you see is your cat crawling on the floor and smoke everywhere, and this horrible smell, no matter how much yoga and meditation you do, you have no more sence of material security!   So we opened the windows even thus it was quite cold and there was no electricity and took time to breathe.. and figure out what our next step should be!

We conclude quite fast, that sleeping there was not a solution for that night.... First we did not know when the power would be back... and it was already 7pm and sun was going down... and smell not going anywhere! So we opted for a hot comfortable hotel room!  Where we took a hot shower, nice meal and tried to sleep!

The next morning, I had organized my thaught and made a plan!!! We would go back home, take all that needed to get cleaned and go do laundry at my mom's (the laundry room was quite dirty still as it was on the same floor as the fire). Then in late afternoon we would come back home, open the windows again and clean the couch and bedroom as well as vacuum all the floors so at least we could sleep there on that night...
And on the monday my mom would come and help me do the rest... It was a good plan... and I was exhausted for a few days after... but all in all it went well...  and boy was I happy I am trying to live in a minimalist way!!! 

We have quite a lot of stuff still for pure minimalist... but we do not have much compared to what we used to have... over the last 5 years we have give away bags and bags of stuff...  if there was a time to get as close as we wanted to  become minimalist, NOW is a GREAT timing!!! And when I was cleaning we took the opportunity to start packing up stuff as we are moving in 7 weeks! 

After the cleaning was done and our place back to normal, then was the time to take care of myself... so I went back to my yoga....and meditation... to redo my roots... and not be so airy anymore!!! As my body really missed only one day of my practice, it got back to normal quite easily...and I would say that on the Thursday ( the fire was on Saturday) I was back to my old calm, centered self....  and happy about how all this went well...

namaste,
nathalie

Project 333

Hello all!

it has been a while... I know...  but I was on to something...  I have a new found interest for savvy living and I did read a few book about that over the last couple of month...  ''Living the savvy life'' and ''Savvy chic: the art of more for less''.  In those 2 books I found countless information on how to live a siple life... not be in debt, be happy...  it's not about being cheap but rather live according to what you make and budget accordingly.
I have done my homework, not that I was far from that since I went banckrupt a few years ago, but it made me stop and look at everything and budget... and STICK to it!!!  after a few months, I can honestly say that this worked out pretty well..  not saying it is always easy.... but I can see where this will ultimately lead me...

I strongly suggest that you look into those book and see what they are about... see if they suit you...  There also is a website and a blog for ''Living the savvy life'' which is awesome!

All this brought me to Project 333 (google it, it is a popular movement on the web).  Project 333 is about having 33 pieces of clothing that you'll wear over the next 3 month!  And those clothes need to fit you well, be the ones you absolutely LOVE and go with each other to create multiple outfit!  This exclude lounge wear, pyjamas, sport wear...  for obvious reasons!

So I have been cleaning up my closet!!!  Believe it or not!!! I went from someone who never had enough room for clothes in a double closet, a chest drawer, 2 shelves in the closet, an extra medium size ''Armoire'' and borrowing a huge amount of space in the entry closet to someone who can actually see all her clothes, dresses easily in the morning, have clothes I LOVE and WANT to wear!!!!
I feel liberated!!!!  And I love that feeling!!!!!!

So back to more cleaning out of my closet... I am almost done by now!!!!
In the meantime I hope you take a look into that Project 333 and try and do some cleaning up!!!

peace,
nathalie

Good bye Carol

Earlier this week, my aunt Carol, 70 passed away.... on the same night spring was getting here she left us...
She was in Florida so I did not get to say Good Bye properly...  this post will serve as my Good Bye to her.

During her trip she went to the hospital because she was not feeling good... and was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease (which I will not go about into detail here) but basically the doctor told her that she would have about a year left (so I was told)...  A few weeks later, on the eve of being transferred back to Montreal, but still in Florida she passed away...

Now this is very difficult for me, since I had seen her a few days before she left for Florida and she was really happy... and doing great! They were leaving soon for their annual trip to Florida (her and my uncle), they had decided to sell their house and buy this wonderfull condo by the water... We lived close so I would randomly ran into her and my uncle at the mall, coffee shop, bank, market...  And those encounters were always the sunshine of my day. We were always happy and smiling!

Now I always had a difficult time dealing with death... it has been present in my life all too early...  Now, with my yogic background, I see things differently... of course it still makes me sad, and angry... but not in the same way...

I now belief in karma and reincarnation (notion present in the yogic philosophy since it is strongly inspired from boudhism and induism)... I believe that people come on this planet to improve their karma... and that we all have a goal to reach in each and every one of our lives... Once this goal is reach, we can leave and wait for our next life...  Obviously it is not always consciously done...  but once it is time to move on, we know it deep down..  somehow... and we accept it...  so we can somehow choose when it is time to let go. This notion may not be easy to accept...  but I truly beleif that this is what it is!

I understand that there are many different beliefs and I wish not to judge any of these.... they are all good...  beliefs are just what makes all this easier to live with... but these are mine.... and this is what helps me deal with the departure of my aunt...

I like to believe that she decided to leave while in Florida.... because she loved that place so much!!!  Because she knew it may be the last time she would be able to go.  Because she wished not to have us see her sick...  and hence keep a good memory of her...

The last time I saw her, she was at the mall with my cousin Kim and we were talking in front of the Bay... and she was smilling and happy and this will forever be the last memory I have of her.

Good bye Carol,
rest in peace,
love,
nathalie

Good by Zoe

Zoe was my cat for the last 6 years and a little more....  she was black, very affectionate, smart and care giver...  She was offered to me by my husband a couple of years after we found out I had MS. As a mean for zoo therapy. And she did her job very well...  between 2005 and 2010, she was there for me whenever I needed her....  wether off work sick at home, just feeling down or anything else, she would be even more affectionate in those time... insisting to be sitting on sleeping ON me...  sharing her love and energy so that I felt better.... she would literaly follow me everyhere in the house...  I called her my ''fake dog''! She did a wonderful job...  that last year or so, I have been feeling great.. and she no longer really had a ''job'' to do with me... so it was retirement time for her!  (let's put it this way...) Over the last few months, she was not feeling so well but nothing to really worry about since it would last a few days and then she would be back to her old self... for many weeks or even months...  then over that last 10 days she was really not doing well...  It worried me....  a lot.... and I kind of knew where she was heading... 

So yesterday, after I had a good talk with her I brought her to the vet...  only to find out that she had liver cancer... and she was so advanced in it that she did not any great chace to survive after probably months of treatment... and suffering!  so I had to take the hardest decision ever... to let her go...  not to  be selfish and absolutely want to keep her... she had a great life and I like to believe that she was ready to go since I was feeling well now... I said my good bye to her and walked away..  in tears...

I did not sleep well at all.... and everytime I close my eyes I can see her... and everytime  I turn around or walk into a room I can still see her at her ususal spot...  and it kills me.. but I try and remind myself that at last she is no longer suffering...

I know to some she may have been ''just a cat''...  but to me she was MY cat, my little ball of fur...  that helped me through many years of pain... 

So long Zoe,
I willl never forget you!