Wednesday Confessions

I've only got two confessions for you today but, boy, do they make me look super duper AWESOME.

• Last week, I took my kids to skating (that's not the confession). It's a mad rush to get the kids dressed in an overcrowded dressing room and on the ice within 10 minutes of them getting out of school. But I did it! PHEW. I was very proud of myself, watching my kids skate circles around the other kids on the ice. But as I was standing there in all my glory, so very very very proud of my abilities as a mother, one of the coaches skated up to the glass and announced (very very very loudly) "Ma'am, I need you to meet me at the benches. Your sons skates are on the WRONG FEET." Yes, that's right, in my rush to put their skates on I had mixed up their skates (they're a size apart) and put two right feet on one child and two left feet on the other. Already feeling like a complete moron, I was then joined by my two sons on the benches and not one, not two, but THREE skating coaches and a couple of parents who were standing nearby, all offering to help me change my kids skates. Obviously because I was too dumb to get it right in the first place.

via GIPHY

Is Blogging Really Worth It?

I’ll be honest - having been a blogger since 2009, I was shocked to find out two things:

1) So many people do not have their own blog.

2) So many people question the benefit or “payout” of having a personal blog in this day and age. 

As someone who has put hours and hours of her heart and soul into blogging over the past 6 years, I cannot imagine what my life would be like or where I would be professionally if I had not started a blog. The blogging world has opened up so many doors for me both personally and professionally - I know that I have a life & career that I never would have had if it were not for my blog. But even more, having a personal blog has also introduced me to people that I would now consider to be close friends, in real life!!!! (yes, we don't all just sit behind a screen and type things. Sometimes us bloggers actually see other bloggers in person!)

So is starting and maintaining a personal blog worth it?

I emphatically say YES!!!!!!! It is SO, SO, SO worth it.


I actually wrote about this exact topic in 2011/12 (you can check it out here and here and here). Some of the advice is a bit dated (I mean, I literally wrote "The chances of you becoming an expert on tv, a go-to for newspapers, or writing a column for a magazine are slim. The chances of blogging becoming your full time job are very slim." Fast forward a year or two and that is exactly what happened to me as a result of my blog) but the general idea of why blogging is awesome remains the same.


So yes, I think having a personal blog where you lay it all out (or lay out whatever you are interested in laying out) is worth it.

But don’t just take my word for it. I reached out to a few of my blogging friends to ask them about their personal experience(s) with blogging and why it has been beneficial to them. Here are their answers:




Kate from This Mom Loves:

My blog has changed my life. It began as a way to share my writing with the world - though nothing too personal, as that's not my style. As I became published in print magazines, I was able to share links to my work online and keep them all in one place, for readers and editors to check out. It also gave me a push to learn new tech skills - html, working with videos, Google forms, etc. - things I didn't know when I started in 2009. Blogging has also led to incredible opportunities, like free products and trips for me and my family (while I'm not too heavy on PR, I do love to share things that I think would interest my audience), Momterviews (my name for celebrity mom interviews), and behind-the-scenes visits to news and entertainment shows. I also believe that the brand I built with my blog and social media helped me break into TV, as I go on both local and national shows to share education advice for parents. Plus, I've made some great friends...including Sarah (edited to note: THAT'S ME!) whom I never would have met otherwise!


Alex from I Don't Blog:

I credit my personal blog with launching my writing career! It gave me a place to freely practice writing, and connect with other bloggers and writers. The networking aspect was invaluable, and has lead to so many amazing opportunities. A personal blog is also such a great way to maintain a constantly evolving portfolio of work, giving potential employers a chance to see a wide range of your talent, whether it’s related to your line of work directly or not.




Andrea from Mommy Gearest:

To accommodate a more flexible schedule at work following maternity leave, I moved into a less creative role. For me, starting a blog was almost entirely about having a creative outlet. I wanted to write; and they say “write what you know,” so I created a blog about baby gear. Because I owned hordes of it after two kids. I set out to inform parents about gear purchases while dishing out personal anecdotes and humour along the way.

And it grew.

In the 3.5 years I’ve been writing the pages of Mommy Gearest, my site has evolved to include family experiences, food, travel and product reviews for mom and dad, too—not just baby stuff. It’s given my family some incredible opportunities, such as renovating our powder room with The Home Depot and seeing Disney movies before they’re available to the public. We’ve walked the red carpet at TIFF Kids and travelled to some of the most beautiful places on earth, like a recent trip that took us to Turks & Caicos.

We live a pretty charmed life thanks to that little blog that grew. 

Chris from Canadian Dad:

What started as a hobby for me has now turned into an amazing part time job, where I get the chance to attend and speak at conferences, consult with brands and bloggers, speak at events, raise money for charity, start a podcast, interview celebrities, skate with Disney on Ice, appear in TV segments and most importantly, give my kids experiences that I would have never imagined possible. I have been inspired on more than one occasion and I hope that I have inspired a few along the way as well. To say that blogging has changed my life would be a gross understatement and I highly recommend it to anyone. 

Danielle from This Ginger Rose:

Why create a personal blog? Well, after almost seven years of sinking my heart, soul, creative energy, and so much more into what I often consider to be “my baby” more than my blog, the answer seems to obvious to me. I first started my blog as apart of a Theatre Business course in university where we were instructed to create a five-year business plan for one of our final projects. In the midst of a quarter-life-crisis and a case of theatre school burnout, I strayed from the theatre side of the assignment and decided that the goal of my five-year business plan would be to have a show on the Food Network. Step one on the business plan? Start a blog.

Within less than a month I had already found a loyal following of foodies who would eagerly read and comment on each new post with the same enthusiasm as my own mother! My blog took on a whole new life and found new meaning as it became a safe space for me to reflect on life, share my stories, and pour my creative energy into. Suddenly my goal of having a show on the Food Network didn’t seem as important as it once was as I fell more and more in love with writing, cooking, developing recipes, and playing with food styling and photography, all in the name of my blog.

Before I knew it my blog found its way into my social life as I started to get invited to exclusive events all around the city. More than just an opportunity to eat and drink some of the best of the best, these events allowed me to meet and mingle with like-minded individuals who shared my passion, many of which also happened to be cooks, editors, entrepreneurs, sommeliers, TV personalities, and writers who I looked up to and could learn from. It was from these events that I learned how to network and socialize with confidence, something that I had previously always struggled with. These events also allowed me to also gain access to so many new experiences and places that I may never have had the opportunity to explore, as I was welcomed into test kitchens, expensive restaurants, food factories, wineries, private cellars, and more! 

My blog has opened my life up to so many opportunities and experiences that I never would have gotten the privilege to enjoy had I not signed up for Blogger so many years ago. In these seven years my blog, my public diary, has taught me so much about myself and has shaped me into the 28-year old woman I am today.

Natalie from PegCity Lovely:

My blog has been a great catalyst for a passion I always knew I had but never completely explored. I started out with traditional blog posts and have morphed into vlogs, interviews, podcasts and more! I freakin' love it! 

When I wrote about some of my health challenges, when i worte about my mother passing away, when I wrote about auditioning for ET Canada, I was able to really connect with many people and a community that is so supportive and understanding. It's like therapy! At the end of the day, it's for you, by you. You report to yourself, you have full autonomy and can be as open or as crazy as you want to be. It's your own personal space online. Do it because you want to, do it because you have a passion for it, do it because it makes you smile! Know your "why" first and revert to that reasoning often. :)

Catherine from Cameron Communications:

To begin with, a personal blog enables us to get to know ourselves better – our interests, our opinions, our strengths, our weaknesses, and our ambitions. In blogging we become better, more thoughtful communicators, honing both our ability to express ourselves and to listen to others, most often our readers. We so often forget that communication is a two-way street and that listening is an important and vital part of communicating. We expand our vocabularies as we search for and use just the right words. Our grammar and spelling improve, or at least they should.

As a business professional however, blogging also enables me to build and amplify my personal brand; to give people a sense of the individual they hope to hire; and to get a first-hand look at the caliber of my written work. In getting to know me, and in understanding my point of view on a range of topics (in my case, healthy lifestyle), readers and clients understand that when it comes to my work, I truly walk the talk. I live the healthy lifestyle I write about; I am connected to the research and voices that matter; and I can tactfully, but firmly share my point of view or perspective on any number of relevant topics. 

Impactful, right? 

Blogging opens up a whole world that is fascinating and, in a lot of cases, life changing. When you dedicate yourself to writing (and promoting yourself) in an open space, it is amazing what doors open, what people come into your life, and how you see yourself grow and develop. 

I can't imagine my life without this (small but mighty) space, so now I ask you:

Is blogging really worth it? What doors has it opened for you? Where has it taken you?

Leave me a comment with your thoughts!

Moments of warm sunshine

Today I watched my oldest son attempt to pitch a baseball.

The sun shone brightly, warm on my face.

The breeze was light and warm.

Quiet cheers and yells of delight emanated from the nearby park.

I felt still and calm and totally right in the moment.

It was quite a difference from the news that was filling my news feeds the night before.

My kids aren't quite old enough to grasp what is going on in the world right now, nor do I want them to.  I really just want to bottle up their innocence and hold onto their naive worldview for as long as I can.  I don't really want them to grow up much past where they are right now...

As selfish as it is, I want to just stay in these moments.

Warm November days, baseball in the sunshine, squeals of joy at the park.

Safety and security.

Blissful innocence.

The search for thankfulness

It seems fitting to write about Thanksgiving (which is happening right now in Canada) as I sit in my pjs, still full from Thanksgiving dinner #2 (one more to go, and I ain't mad!), sipping coffee, watching a rerun of Will & Grace while my kids eat waffles and apple sauce and fight about playing video games.

I have a lot to be thankful for.

That could probably be the end of the post but I'll go on.

Thankfulness is such a relative term. What I am thankful for, may not be valued in the same way by someone else. In fact, my thankful items many not even be seen as important or relevant to you- but that's what makes them all the more essential to my life.

The mere idea of thankfulness- where we step away from ourself for a few minutes and see the things that may feel mundane or run-of-the-mill but really bring us the most centred, consistent, joyful interactions- is foreign and uncomfortable to me in a lot of ways. I tend to get bogged down in the details of life and go straight to the negatives. I cry a lot, I worry a lot and I get wrapped up in the "what ifs" and "why didn't I's". There have been dark moments in my life where I have completely forgotten the opportunities for "thank you's" that sit in front of me every single day. The small things that enrich my life even when they seem like a chore often end up being the most important. So I have started looking for daily thankfulness opportunities, like these:

The school drop-off - I get to kiss my kids and remind them how important they are to me. I get to set the tone for their daily interactions.
The grocery shopping - I get to choose what food I will feed my family so that they are never hungry. I can afford the food I need and the food I want without worry.
Cleaning bathrooms - I have 3 bathrooms in my beautiful home, which is more than I ever could have hoped for growing up. I have a family that gets to use those bathrooms every day and enjoy clean, safe water and privacy. 
Work- I have a job. It pays me money!!! What I do makes a difference in the lives of kids and I have the opportunity to go to my job every day.
Technology- How often have you heard that technology is killing the social interaction? For me, it has been the complete opposite. Every job offer I have received in the past 4 years - big and small -  has been because of a social media connection: someone saw my writing and asked me to write for them; someone connected with me on Twitter and asked me to be a guest on their show; someone liked my voice and asked me to create content for their business. The list could go on but suffice it to say that all of my 'successes' have been connected to being online in a real, authentic way. 
My commute- I have a short commute relatively speaking but, while commuting, I am ALONE. As a parent of two busy and loud boys, having a few minutes alone in my car to be alone with my thoughts is HUGE!!! (and truthfully, the fact that I can blast music I love without worrying about little ears picking up on swear words or asking me what sex is- that's the icing on the cake right there!).
The selfie stick- I know. But when I realize how many awesome pictures my kids will have to look back on once they are grown or once I have left this earth, I am thankful for all the times I forced my family to take a selfie. 
My sore back- Seems weird to be thankful for this, but I am. I recently hurt my back and, while the pain has been unrelenting, it has made me realize how thankful I am for my good health and how lucky I am to so rarely experience pain or illness.

Truthfully, thankfulness is work for me and learning to be thankful isn't easy. It's a daily work in progress, but I'm willing to put in the work that true thankfulness requires, because without it my life seems to lose that spark and sparkle that make it worthwhile. 

And, in the end, when I look at the world and the sacrifices and challenges others face, I know that thankfulness cannot just be lip service- I honestly and truly am thankful for the abundance of goodness in my life. 

My ridiculously good looking family's Thanksgiving selfie, care of the selfie stick.
They'll thank me, I'm sure. 

Eating Raw(ish) - A 5 day experiment

I have been fascinated by the idea of eating "raw" for a long time. Once upon a time I had a plethora of starts and stops on the vegan/raw eating train- it was hard to follow, and it got my roommate in a pretty nasty situation.

To be fair, I think information regarding raw eating was lacking 13 years ago, when my then-roommate adopted a raw food lifestyle which I would classify (after educating myself) as "fruititarian". She ate fruit all day long and a big salad every day; however, she didn't consume protein of any sort and after a year of the "lifestyle" she ended up in the hospital with awful stomach pains and massive digestion problems.

That being said, for the first few months my roommate was on a raw/vegan 80:10:10 plan, she had beautiful skin, improved digestion, better sleep and a ton of energy. What I discovered through her experience is that a raw food lifestyle might not be a beneficial long-term lifestyle, but its short-term benefits were plentiful. 

Recently, I have let my diet slip (significantly) and consistently feel sluggish and heavy (gaining about 7 pounds!); my skin has also been breaking out and just looking tired. I'm kind of fed up with eating the scraps of whatever is leftover from the kids' meals and I'm incredibly sick of complaining about never having time to do anything. My stress has been crazy high, I feel like I am busy 24/7 and never have time to do the things I enjoy (which, shockingly, includes preparing food).

In an effort to gain back some control over my life, I have decided to adopt a modified version of a vegan/raw lifestyle for 5 days. If you're interested this video will give you an overview of a 80/10/10 raw/vegan day. 

Of course, you may be familiar with this diet based on the hubbub over a pregnant blogger's admission that she is following this lifestyle- the backlash has been crazy (and perhaps with good reason).

But I am not pregnant, nor will I subject my kids (or husband) to this style of eating- I am merely interested in how it makes me feel, how it improves (or not) my digestion and skin issues, and if I can actually follow through with it!

I have modified the 80/10/10 diet slightly to suit my purposes (remember I am doing this for the alleged health benefits, not based on my beliefs surrounding food, etc.- I have no issues with eating cooked food or meat, generally), following a variety of online plans, including Tone It Up's suggestions for "bouncing back". Each day, I'll update on what I have eaten (honestly! If I "cheat", you'll know!) and wrap up at the end of the day with how I'm feeling overall and what my plan for the next day is. I will not be working out any more than I have been - walking, playing with kids, etc.


Day 1- Sunday

Breakfast
-One banana (sliced) mixed with a huge handful of red grapes.

-Apple

-Coffee (this is not raw, but I'm modifying the diet to meet my needs and at this point coffee meets my needs!)







Snack


-One banana (sliced)

-Handful of raw walnuts (these are eaten throughout the day, when feeling like I need something that isn't fruit!)





Lunch

-Half a container of raspberries

-Sliced pear

-Peppermint tea

- Handful of raw walnuts







Dinner

Massive salad- variety of organic lettuce, half a head broccoli, whole carrot, three mini cucumbers and a scoop of homemade coleslaw on top (made of red and green cabbage and kale, shredded carrots, with a vinegar-based dressing)

RECAP: