Chaos is the Story of My Life

Dear bloggies,

Oh how I’ve missed you! Thank you for your amazing comments and emails of the post about my mum last week. I love that I am able to honour her memory here on the blog. I am forever indebted to you for your love and support. I am so blessed to have this medium to connect with each and every one of you.

The show is going so well. I couldn’t be happier and I can’t believe that we’re in the final week. We received a great review and audiences have been loving the show. I’ve been so excited to have some sweet guests in the audience! 2 weeks ago, Laura and Kristy made the trip down from Ottawa and Hamilton to have lunch and see the show. We headed to Fresh where I feasted on a singer’s saving grace, delightful soup and sweet potato fries – yum! I couldn’t help but snap a photo of Laura’s adorable cupcake Like Hostess, only vegan and a million times better I’m sure! After an afternoon stroll in Kensingston, I headed up to the theatre where the lovely ladies graced me with their patronage the following dayThey loved it! Laura and I have been friends since the sixth grade and it was absolutely wonderful that she was able to make the trip down and see me perform for the first time in this role. I’ve happily adopted Kristy as well and I only wish that the two of them lived closer so that I could spend more time with both of them.

Some of my gorgeous bellydancing ladies made it out last Friday as well! So amazing to have dancers and friends that I admire so much come see me on stage in another capacity!

My eats have been fairly simple of late due to my hectic show/school/work schedule so there have been a lot of bowls with quinoa or rice with veggies like this green goddess inspired bowl from the Fresh at Home cookbook or this quinoa-broccoli-tempeh-hummus mix My fridge has also been fairly bare because I moved this past Sunday! Remind me next time that moving at 6pm, after doing a show while Canada is winning gold in hockey is probably not the best idea on Earth… It was challenging to consolidate a whole house of stuff into one room but everything went fairly smoothly. It was a pretty emotional day, but I’m loving my new space and starting to settle in now that most of the boxes are unpacked.

My roommates are lovely (3 guys + 2 cats) and I am happily in the heart of my favourite neighbourhood. Proper pictures of my new girly room to follow once EVERYTHING is unpacked, but here is a sneak peek… My amazing bedding from Liloo. I fell in love a few weeks ago and I knew I had to have it! The picture doesn’t really do it justice… I will have to try and snap one in the daytime. Makes me feel like a queen!Poäng chairs from our dear friends at Ikea. Special thanks to Lori for making the trek out to Etobicoke to get the cushions I wanted! The closet of Ashley… it has a light! See the Weight Watchers program materials peeking out? And the fun Expedit bookshelf courtesy of Ikea. A good mix of nutrition, acting, cookbooks, great novels and mindless fluff.

Iris will be joining us once the dust has settled a bit next week and I hope she’s as happy here as I am. I am looking forward to settling in during March and enjoying the end of my run, getting back to activity (fun stuff coming in March, stay tuned!) and yummy cooking. The boys are impressed with my canisters in the kitchen so I think I have some impressing to do.

Hope to see some of you at the theatre this weekend!! I have lots of visitors coming, so expect some more pictures. I do have pictures of the production as well, but I’m having issues with my Dell, so those will be coming down the road.

How is March shaping up for all of you??

Finding a Grounded Place

Between a full time job, part time job, 2-3 shows/year, choir, Joey, friends, family, cooking, eating, sleeping, dancing, yoga, exercising and blogging, it’s a huge understatement to say that I’m a busy gal. And I’m not going to lie – it’s not always easy.

I always feel like I’m on the go, checking my calendar and figuring out where I can ‘squeeze’ in time to see Joey or friends or have a nap. Last weekend before having brunch with Lori & Joey, I had a bit of a mental breakdown because I had brunch, zumba, grocery shopping, and cooking on my to-do list before rehearsal, but realized I didn’t have enough time for everything, yet didn’t know what to cut out. There were tears before I decided that I wanted to hang out with Joey & Lori, that I needed to grab some food and make some dinner and that unfortunately my favourite classes (zumba and BodyFlow) were just not going to make the cut.

Time management has a lot to do with prioritization – what is going to be best for you in this moment? This question has been seemingly challenging for me to answer lately because I feel like I’m running around like around in circles. For example, here’s this week:

This weekend was super busy so I feel like I’ve been going non-stop since Monday October 19. As a result, there are things that are definitely slipping, like housework, laundry and Joey time. So what is right for me now??

Rehearsal ended up being cancelled tonight which has meant some extra ME TIME!! I’m hanging out with the kitties, watching So You Think You Can Dance and plan to do a little journaling before going to bed early.

On the days when I feel like it’s never going to end I’m taking time to smell the flowers and enjoy the beautiful sights of fall….laughing with these beautiful gals who I’m spending a lot of time with as we gear up for our big show….

and talking to Joey who tells me that it’s all going to be okay. I love that. 

I feel like my posts are following a pattern of time management, balance and taking care of yourself – but it’s a huge focus for me right now! I’m sorry if I seem like I’m repeating myself. Writing this blog is something that I do because I love to connect with all of you and reading your comments brings me down to a grounded place.

Sorry...

I've been MIA on my usual weekly menu post and recap this week. My show opens tonight and rehearsal has consumed my whole life. We didn't even go grocery shopping this week (luckily the house was fairly stocked) Joey was incredibly understanding but I've told him that I will be getting my act together this weekend! I have big plans for grocery shopping and some yummy things to make next week.

I have a lot to tell you about but don't have the time right now but in the next couple weeks there will be:

• Weekly menu recap for the last two weeks
• Weekly Menu Plans
• Book reviews (for this, this and this)
• Culinary experiments including making my own tortillas (I can't wait to try this!)

And much more. Life will be a bit easier once the show is open. Rehearsals are a pretty hectic time, especially once we're up at the theatre, but I'm confident that I'll be able to get my act together soon. I also start back at belly dancing class next week which makes me really happy because I feel like I've been lacking a whole lotta shimmying in my life as of late. You'll note that I've updated my Daily Reads and Links to include the things I've been reading lately. Check them out!

And if you're one of my members, I'm sorry that I wasn't there last week! I missed you guys a lot, but was physically unable to be in two places at once. I hope you had fun with Lindsay and you learned a lot about SetPoints. I'll be back on Saturday!

Until then, I hope to see you at the theatre!! The show begins tonight and runs until March 7. (For those of you who can't make it, I'll be sure to post some pictures very soon!!)