Birthday Tirade

Today is my birthday!  I'm twenty-seven now, and pretty darn happy about it.  About a month ago, a friend asked me how I felt to be turning this age, and I hadn't really thought about what it meant until that moment.  At first, I admit, I was a little panic stricken.  I thought "holy crap, I'm getting pretty darn close to thirty" and then I freaked out.  I imagined that I needed to cram in a marriage and kids in the next three years because, for some reason, in my mind kids before thirty is the way to go.  I put all this undue pressure on myself to live my life in a way that conforms to what I THINK reality should be like and man, it sure stresses me out.   So I wasted a few days or so in a zombie-like trance where all I could think of was babies and weddings and how I was running out of time.  And then I snapped out of it.

I'm twenty-seven.  I've got a great job, I'm about to get my degree in something that I really love, I have a phenomenal boyfriend and we live in a beautiful house in the country.   I'm able to buy things that I want or need, make great dinners, spend time with friends and family (and all their cute babies), and also spend time on myself.  Since I've been trying hard to take care of my body, I've felt pretty darn great about myself.  I'm proud of my shape and who I've become.  I have confidence in myself at work and in life and damnit, I'm awesome.  Yes, I still have some issues to overcome, such as student loan debt, but in general, my life is pretty fantastic.

Once I sat down and thought about all the things in my life that are great, I realized that it's silly for me to try and fit my life into a strict schedule that I've made up for everyone else, not myself.  Sure, someday I want kids, but I'm not ready now.  I'm having way too much fun to worry about that eventuality.  I can honestly say that I don't think I've ever felt as good as I do right now, twenty-seven years old and all.

For those of you that are nearing the dreaded 'thirty' milestone like I am, don't sweat it.  Age doesn't have to mean what you've been taught to think it means.  As long as you're happy, you'll feel young for as long as you want!

Photo Courtesy of Google Images

Just relax...

Last night I got into a pretty serious discussion with my boyfriend regarding my job and what it actually entails.  I'm an office manager for a small environmental company and, generally, I love it.  I'm free to do whatever I feel is necessary to make the company run better and my boss is a pretty flexible guy.  However, he is also one of the most difficult people I've ever worked for.  He has no concept of patience and his mind goes a mile a minute, which is fine, as long as you're not the one who gets asked to do several different tasks at the same time for a project that he'll forget about starting in about two hours.   

Anyway, I don't really want to rant too much about him, but really, I could go on for hours.  The short story is that he makes me upset pretty often.  I pride myself on doing good work and I'm always out to prove that I'm capable at my job.  My boss, however, asks me questions very frequently, which I can't possibly answer or he asks something that is completely out of left field and has no connection to anything that the company has been doing and I'm left scrambling to try to keep up with his ever-changing erratic thoughts.   Now, I don't like saying "I don't know".  I absolutely hate it.  I want to be able to have the answer he's looking for, every time.   Unfortunately, I don't and he makes me feel pretty stupid for it.  He doesn't mean to, I know this, it's just the way he is and it's not personal.  Anyway, a lot of the time this really gets me down because I do try very hard at work and he makes it kind of seem like I'm never doing the right thing.  His favourite phrase is "here's what I would've done....".

Okay, so that's a part of what upsets me about him and working for this company (and yes, there is a lot more I could go into).    I don't like that I come home frustrated and bring my stress home with me.  Last night we decided that a large part of my job is to DEAL with my boss.  Truly, it is a task in itself that deserves a pretty decent paycheque.  Just thinking of dealing with him as a job I'm paid to do makes me feel better about it all.

It's funny, just now I received an e-mail from him that has now made me pretty upset.  Perfect timing.  It probably upset me more than usual because I'm actually writing about work and bringing up feelings that usually get me pretty angry. 

I need to calm down about this.  I've been trying to focus on positive things in my life, and just treat work as a way to fund my fun.  Though I love what I do, and I'm working towards being a consultant, I still need to be able to shake off the work burden when I get home.  If someone out there has the same work stresses and has found a way to deal with it positively (and I know you're out there!), feel free to give me some advice and some tips on how to unwind.  

Photo courtesy of Google Images

Mother Mother!

Last night I went to see one of my favourite bands, Mother Mother in Victoria.   I had to wait around after work because, since I'm doing the Candida diet thing, I didn't really want to go out for dinner with my co-worker and have that temptation yelling in my face.  Also, I brought a very excellent salmon and quinoa spinach salad.  So, instead of going out for eats, I opted to eat my salad at the beach with a Yerba Mate tea.  I'm quite picky about my teas, so I really wanted a type of lemon ginger Yerba Mate that I get from a local coffee shop chain.  However, every single one of those stupid coffee shops was closed by 5:30pm!  Who closes at 5:30pm?!  Apparently every cafe here in this sleepy-ass city.  So here I was, driving around getting angrier and angrier, just about ready to run over the next person that jaywalked in front of me, and then I found an open coffee shop!  Hallelujah!   Grumbling and probably pretty sour looking, I bought my tea and then drove to the beach where I sat in my truck (it was too chilly to sit outside), ate my dinner, and calmed down.  

Victoria is a very beautiful place.  I often forget that because I'm usually running errands when I'm there and I rarely take the time to stop and admire the vast expanse of ocean and mountains around me.   While I was sitting and relaxing, I watched people running and walking their dogs, and man, were there ever a lot of runners.  I swear, everyone in James Bay and Cook St. Village (the areas of Victoria that I was sitting in) must have forgotten how to walk and can only run.  Not that I'm complaining, I think it's awesome because I'm a runner as well.  I decided, as I sat there, to most definitely run along the Dallas Road sea wall sometime (maybe many times) soon.  This picture show the grass, the ocean, and then the Olympic Mountains in the US (and also a jogger and my cracked windshield), pretty nice.

Okay, and THEN I got to to see Mother Mother.  Stoked!  They're a local band, I think quite a few of them are from Quadra Island, which is just North of where I am.  They're all fantastic musicians and it's inspiring to watch and listen to them.  The lead singer and guitarist, Ryan Guildemond, has the most amazing on-stage energy.  Wearing suspenders and an extremely puffy front mohawk (a little bit like TinTin), he totally rocks the hot farm boy look.  Plus, he's not too bad looking.  Actually, the whole band is pretty good looking, and very talented.  The bassist, Jeremy Page, busted out a clarinet solo in one song, and a sax solo in another.  I was in the back so it was kind of surprising to hear a clarinet playing all of sudden.  Clarinet from nowhere!

If you've never heard Mother Mother before, I highly suggest taking a listen-loo at a few of their songs.  I quite like "Hayloft" and "O My Heart".  So good.  

Candida Cleanse - Day 6

Yes, I skipped a few days, but it was the weekend and I don't have a computer at my house (weird, I know) so I couldn't post anything.  Not that I would have anyway because I was SO TIRED.  I fell asleep sitting up a total of THREE times this weekend.  I'm not one for falling asleep in uncomfortable positions so this was pretty bizarre.

I'm inclined to say that the cleanse was what was making me so sleepy and lethargic (I didn't even want to get off the couch to go to the bathroom.....but don't worry, I did), but I'm not really sure as my boyfriend was as sleepy as a hibernating bear as well.   We both looked like this:

Perhaps I've got a little cold or something.  Well, whatever it was I'm feeling a heap better today.  Though I didn't sleep too well last night (someone was snoring directly at my head), I wasn't tired this morning when I got up, nor as I went for my run.

My energy, in general, hasn't been very high since I started the cleanse.  I've found that it really picks up when I eat something, but it doesn't last for very long.  I've been trying to eat several little things throughout the day just to keep myself going and that's working out pretty well.   I made a wicked lemon and garlic chicken stirfry on Saturday and the leftovers are my lunch for today.  I had a giant omelette for breakfast (with A LOT of garlic) and I've got a spinach salad with salmon for dinner.

I'm going to see a local band tonight, Mother Mother, so I prepared many snacks in case I pull a 'falling asleep sitting up' stunt at the show.  That would be a little embarrassing.  If you've never heard Mother Mother, I suggest giving them a listen because they are totally fantastic.

I accidentally...

...bought these boots the other day.  I found them online and then kept going back to the site and looking at them.  I did that for about two days and then pulled the trigger and bought the hell out of those little guys.

I'm super stoked for them to get here because it won't be open-toed shoe weather for a while, so I'm in dire need (not really) for some close-toed awesome shoes.

I would like it to be sunny and warm right now.  I have clothing in my closet that is just waiting for the weather to heat up.  Come on come on come on!

Candida Cleanse - Day 3

I'm getting a bit bored of posting what I'm eating, probably because it's been mostly the same stuff for the past few days. Tonight, however, I'm going to try and make baked lemon and dill salmon, so we'll see how that goes.



This morning at the gym I did my usually Friday treadmill workout and then went and hung out in the sauna. After the sauna I stepped into the shower and immediately felt nauseous. It's since gone away, but I'm still feeling a little queasy as I sit here and type this. Hopefully it's nothing too bad, I'd hate to be sick on the weekend!

New skirt!

There's a secondhand store just down the road from where I work, and I have to refrain from going in there every day.  They're very picky about what they bring in and, as a result, they have a ton of great stuff.  Usually when I go in there I end up spending more than I mean to, but it doesn't make me feel too guilty because you get quite a lot of clothing for the price you spend.   The last time I was in there I bought a pair of camel leather slouchy boots with this fantastic stacked heel.  They reminded me of cowboy boots, and they'd definitely be the boots I'd wear to a barn dance.  Not that I'd go to a barn dance.  Or maybe I would, I have no idea.

Anyway, I went my little store two days ago and bought a few things that I deemed necessary at the time. I also bought this skirt.
I love the tortoiseshell buttons, the little belt, and the pockets.
Unfortunately, it was too cold up in here for me to wear a black blouse that would have looked better, but summer's a-coming!
I absolutely love pencil skirts, especially high-wasted ones.  They're an item of clothing that I can wear and not feel like my body just isn't meant to wear it (like some other clothes, not naming any names).