Bento Box Lunches

Hap Hap Happy Friday! I am so glad it's the 'tippy top' (as our 5 yr old would say) of the weekend. I have so many big plans to... clean the house! :P I hope you have bigger, more exciting plans than I do! lol

It's Friday, which means a fantastical post depicting my best finds for the week. This week my find is a no-brainer. We've just finished our first full week of school and already I'm wishing for more lunch ideas for the kids. Bento Box lunch ideas are circulating the web this week, and I'm taking full advantage!

If you're not familiar with bento boxes, they are basically a traditional Japanese home-packed meal.  Japanese style bento usually consists of rice, fish or meat, and vegetables packed into a box with various compartments.  At times they are organized into a theme or faces and caricatures are made by combining foods.  Take a look:

Phot Credit

Photo Credit

Photo Credit

 Of course, in North America, the majority of people won't pack a traditional bento box lunch, but we can make our own version and stock it with bright and delicious food that our kids will love.  And the following sites have done just that.  Take a look at the variety of bento box lunches that some moms pack for their kids - and by the end of this post, I can almost bet you'll be creating bento box lunches and snacks of your own!

Although the photos above are beautiful and show elaborate fixings for a lunch, I'm waaaayy too busy and would never have the patience to make such fancy schmancy lunches for my kids.  But I can see myself making Bentos like these on Monday morning:

Photo Credit: Lunches Fit For a Kid

Photo Credit: Fawn In BC

Photo Credit: Lunch In a Box

 How do you get started?  I would first take a look at   Lunch In a Box for a big list of frequently asked questions about Bento Boxes, which will give you all the information you'll need to get started.

Then visit these sites for North American kid-style Bento Box lunch and snack ideas:

Lunches Fit For a Kid 

Not Exactly Bento 

Bentobloggy

And then visit these sites for eye candy - Bento style:

Happy Little Bento

Ohayo Bento

Bentolicious

And THEN, come back here (or go to our Facebook Page) and tell us what you're planning to feed your kids come Monday for their school (or homeschool!) lunches.

PS - I am happy to be blamed for your newly found addiction!  :D

Fantastic and Safer Alternatives to Bug Sprays Loaded With DEET!

I hate mosquitoes. However, I hate DEET even more. Something about spraying myself and the kids down with DEET every time we step outside the house, to avoid the nasty little blood suckers that seem to be waiting for us, just doesn't sit right with me ya know?

So I've been on this search to find something that is safter and more natural that actually works. Over the years I think I have tried everything I could get my hands on. I don't know about you, but sprays made from citronella and/or cat nip just don't cut it for our family and no matter how much or how often we applied them we still were a walking buffet for the mosquitoes in our neighborhood.

Last month however, I happened to notice a conversation going on on a Yahoo group that I'm a member of and they were all talking about a certain blend of essential oils that apparently were working like a charm. Could it be? A natural alternative to DEET that really, really works?! I was definitely intrigued and I'll admit a little skeptical at the same time.

Later I happened to be our local Community Natural Foods here in Calgary and I stumbled across a book called The Fragrant Pharmacy - A Complete Guide to Aromatherapy and Essential Oils by Valerie Ann Worwood. In there was a section on insect repellents using just a few easy to find essential oils. I grabbed the book and bought the extra oils I needed, excited to get home and mix up this lovely little concoction and put it to the test. The mosquitoes are awful around here and some days a heavy duty DEET based spray doesn't even work. If this blend of essential oils actually worked, I would be totally impressed.

I wasn't sure how to apply the bug repellent that would be easy so I decided to mix it up into a small mason jar with my Green Beaver Sunscreen (which totally rocks btw, I LOVE this sunscreen!) and apply it that way since we are using the sunscreen all the time when we are outside anyway.

You know what? The essential oils work! It really, really worked!

I took the kids to the park and we all had our bug repellent/sunscreen combo on that I had mixed up. We also had a couple of neighbourhood kids tag along and they didn't have any type of bug repellent on. I was sitting there on the grass and noticed that me and my kids weren't getting bitten. The poor neighborhood kids however were being feasted on by all the mosquitoes swarming around. I offered my jar of sunscreen to them explaining it also had a natural 'bug spray' if they wanted to scoop their hands in and put some on, but they weren't interested and seeing that they weren't my kids I obviously couldn't (and would never) force the issue. It was hard watching them get bitten like that though! To say I was impressed with the fact that the kids and I were going home 'bite free' would be an absolute understatement.

It is worth noting that the mosquitoes were landing on all of us, but they weren't biting me and the kids. Not once (and we were at the park on the grass for a good 45 minutes or so). The blend of essential oils as well, didn't keep the mosquitoes from buzzing around us, but I can handle that if I'm not going to get feasted on every 5 seconds or having to coat myself in DEET to try and avoid them.

So,without making you wait any longer, here this lovely little blend I found in The Fragrant Pharmacy by Valerie Ann Worwood. :D

Insect Deterrent Synergistic Blend

From The Fragrant Pharmacy, page 60.

Essential Oils of:

Thyme - 4 drops

Lemongrass - 8 drops

Lavender - 4 drops

Peppermint - 4 drops

That's it! Of course double, triple, quadruple etc as you see fit. But that is the proper ratio according to the book and the ratios that I have been using and having success with so far this summer.

I knew I could mix it up in a good carrier oil (sweet almond oil is my go to favourite), but at the same time I didn't want to smother my children in oil during the hot summer days and inadvertently roast them to a crisp in my attempts to keep the bugs away. I didn't have a small enough spray bottle handy to spray it on them sooooooo, I settled on squeezing my sunscreen into one of my trusty little mason jars and mixing it all up together. :Þ

It's the synergistic effect however that works, not just one oil in particular. Like Valerie says in her book, "By mixing together two or more essential oils you are creating a chemical compound that is different to any of the component parts, and these synergistic blends are very particular and powerful." 

Another apparently fabulous safe and natural mosquito repellant is The Insect Defend Patch. It's a transdermal patch that contains 75mgs of vitamin B1. I haven't had a chance to try it simply because I haven't been able to find it anywhere, it's all sold out!

For this great little find I have to thank my friend Nadine who posted about it on Facebook! She lives in an area that has had to deal with ridiculous mosquito populations this summer and it's been soooooo bad that people are staying inside, even on beautiful sunny days. When school was finishing up in June the schools had to keep the kids in during lunch and recess and people have been commenting that any and every bug spray isn't working at all. Nadine happened to mention that her girls wore the Insect Defend Patch patch to day camp and didn't get one single bite, which is absolutey astounding considering the mosquito problems they have been having this year!

We, as a culture, have this complacent way of thinking and believing that if it is on a store shelf it must be safe and that just isn't true. Sunscreens can contain toxic ingredients, bug sprays contain toxic ingredients and what happens every summer is that we coat our skin, one of the most absorbable organs we have, in carcinogenic creams and sprays in our efforts to stay healthy. Rather ironic isn't it?

Now, if you are travelling or live in places where you are at risk of contracting malaria, Lyme Disease and other serious diseases carried by mosquitoes, ticks etc then you need to weigh the pros and cons obviously. But here where I live, running around the park shouldn't require massive amounts of chemicals when there are safer and natural alternatives that actually work. Like anything in life, do your research and make informed decisions. :o)

Click here to read more about the dangers of most sunscreen ingredients and to find a list of safer alternatives. Also, be sure to read about DEET and the long term impacts it can have. DEET has it's place, but it is not something to be taken or used lightly.

There are safer alternatives out there, you just have to look for them. Yes sometimes they cost a little more but sometimes spending the extra few dollars if you can afford to, is worth it in the long run.

Do you have a natural alternative to a commonly used product that is safer and actually works? Let us know!

Better and better ♥,

 

Happy Birthday Canada! It's good to be 144 eh?

Ahhh Canada, you are growing up so fast! It just seems like yesterday I was waving my little maple leaf flag and celebrating your 114th birthday. Where does the time go?

In celebration of our great nation's special day, I thought I would share some of my favourite Canadianisms! :D

First, just to get you in the mood and up and grooving around - my favourite video and song for Canada Day by Gunnarolla - "Canadian, Please" (also referred to as "I Know That You Wanna Be Canadian")! Even if you aren't Canadian I'm sure you'll appreciate the tongue in cheek humour that pokes a bit of fun at our Canadian culture while celebrating it all at the same time. ;o)

And goodness, we can't forget Joe. Before we had Gunarolla's "Canadian, Please" we had Joe and his infectious patriotic monologue that moved a nation to it's feet faster than a hockey game in overtime. Who can ever forget Joe from the infamous Molson beer commercials, "I am Canadian!" ? I think almost every Canadian had this one memorized verbatim at one point. :D

To end this fabulous day, I will leave you with a bit of weird Canadian trivia that I have collected just for today... :D

~Canada stems from the St. Lawrence-Iroquoian word 'Kanata' which means "village" or "settlement"

~The Canadian/American border spans 8,840 kilometers or 5,525 miles and is thus the longest border in the world

~Canada officially became a country on July 1st 1867 when the British Parliment passed the British North America Act

~The longest running TV show in Canada is Hockey Night in Canda (shocker! :P)

~Canadians consume more Mac and Cheese than any other nation on earth

~In BC it is against the law to kill a Sasquatch

~If you are in Ottawa just a heads up that it is illegal to eat ice cream on a Sunday on Bank Street. That is a good one to know if you ask me...

~The first commercial brewery in Canada was built in Quebec City in 1668

~Even though no city in Canada has ever experienced snow all year round, Calgary is the one Candadian city that has recorded snow at least once during every month of the year at one point and I can personally vouch for this!

And with that my friends, I hope you are having a fabulous Canada Day!

Here's a little pic of Lake Louise and where the kids and I are headed next week for the day. Yes I am glad to be Canadian and thrilled that I live so close to one of the most beautiful places in the world. :D

 

Noshpockets - We Have a Winner!

Laila has been talking about Noshpockets non-stop lately, so I'm not only excited to try them for myself, but I am really excited to announce the winner of our Noshpockets giveaway!

Random.org has selected a winner by the screen name of RBM.

If you are not RBM, then you should head over to the Noshpocket site to buy a set for yourself.  If not for yourself, then start your Christmas shopping early!

Also be sure to stop by the Noshpocket Facebook Page and leave a comment.  Tell 'em we sent ya!

Thank you, Noshpockets for offering amazing quality products that are good for us and the environment!  :D

 

Why My Heart Belongs to Discovery Coffee...

When I was in Victoria last week my cousin's sweet, wonderful hubby realized he had a partner in crime when it came to his addiction love for delectably tasting coffee.

I am a coffee snob, I will admit it (I'm an Italian red wine snob too but that is for another post! :Þ). To me, there is nothing worse than crappy tasting coffee, let alone coffee that is grown with methods that are less than environmentally friendly and harvested under slave labour conditions. I'm a huge believer in 'voting' with my dollar and I make conscious decisions to spend my money with businesses who are honest, ethical and supportive of those who are giving them what they need to actually create the product they want to sell.

There are a lot of great local cafes on Vancouver Island who roast and brew tasty coffee that comes from sustainable and eco friendly sources, but it was Discovery Coffee that caught my eye enough to actually dedicate a post to them and feature them in our Friday Finds. ♥

First of all the coffee at Discovery Coffee is D.I.V.I.N.E. OMG when Dave (my cousin's hubby) gave me my latte I thought I had died and gone to coffee heaven. I had never, ever had a coffee that delicious. Ever.  Not only was it mouthwatering, they also swirled in this sweet little heart on the top out of the foamed milk. Amazing coffee infused with some good juju. Loved that! *happy sigh*

The Family Dinner and Winner of the Butterfly June Giveaway

Let's start with the winner of this gorgeous butterfly necklace from Butterfly June.  Danielle B-K will receive the Purple Hairstreak Butterfly necklace, as shown below!

Are you a family that dines together on a regular basis, or do you come and go at different times for soccer, ball, dance, art lessons, and everything else that is squeezed into your schedule?  I am happy to say that we have always eaten dinner together - sure, there is the odd day it doesn't work, but it's rare.  DH is home around 5:30 which allows us time to eat together before heading out to various activities.  On the days we have to leave before he gets home, the kids and I eat together and leave him a plate.  It works well for us.

If you're a family who has a hard time sitting down together for dinner, I highly recommend this book:

2011 Canadian Election, Winner of Blue Jane's Collection, and a Giveaway by Butterfly June!

(I'm thanking our good friend, Lisa, for giving me the brain-power for today's Friday Finds!)

 My finds this week are of a different nature. Sure, they're websites, but not just any websites.  On May 2, Canadians will vote in a national election. I'm sharing the websites for various polical parties in Canada.

I implore you to take advantage of our right to vote for our democratic government. The voter turnout in our last election in 2008 was the lowest in history (58.8%), aside from the election in 1898 (44.6%) - yep - you read that right - since 1898! *insert jaw-drop here* 

The Winner of Chad LaFarge's Fabulous Book and ANOTHER Amazing Give-Away!

I know I keep saying this, but I really love our website and how we are able to work with and support so many incredibly talented people out there! It feels so good to help others and to give back, in our own small way, each and every week.

Last Friday we reviewed an excellent tech book called What you Need NOW for Search Engine Optimization, by the self published author Chad LaFarge. I've been all over the internet raving about this book, and not because we had a copy to give away this week, but because I think it is truly the best book I have read on SEO and how to have the best website possible. It is when I read through the book and *loved* it that I gushed and gushed to Heather about it and we decided this was too good to keep to ourselves and that we had to share this with our readers (many of whom have their own websites and blogs) and what a better way to do that than with a give away?! :D

So are you all wanting to know who the winners are?

A Book Review and a Give-away All You Fellow Bloggers Out There Will LOVE!

Whew! What a week! I don't know about you, but things have been crazy, crazy, crazy around here the last few days and Friday just seemed to sneak right up on me. :D

I apologize this post is a little delayed today, my Dad got into town last night for a visit, so we've all been hanging out drinking coffee and having fun with the kids. It's been a bit of a gong show around here to say the least, in a good way of course! ♥

I love Friday's and how our Friday Finds have morphed into not only great give aways for our fans, but that at the same time we are able to support and promote talented artisans, fellow WAHM's, authors who pen great books and more!

Speaking of fabulous and successful WAHM's with that entrepreneurial and generous spirit - we are so excited to announce our winner from our contest last week courtesy of Bummers! Congrats go out to Julie M, we know she'll love her new set of the KangaSac Litterless Lunch System!

If this is your first time here well let me fill you in on Julie's great prize and what exactly she won from Bummers...

The Kanga Sac Litterless Lunch System contains one each of the following:

1 KangaSac Reusable Lunch Bag (size 11.4" x 14" - plenty of room in there for all your goodies!)

1 Kanga Sac Reusable Sandwich Bag (size 7" x 7")

1 Kanga Sac Reusable Snack Bag (size 4" x 7")

The best part about the Kanga Sacs, in addition to being totally easy to fold up and store away, and eco-friendly to boot, is that you can pop them in the washing machine and dryer. Yes, that's right, if your little one puts their half eaten yogurt back in the bag without the lid for example (like my kids always do!) and it sits in there for the rest of the day, all is not lost because these can be washed! I LOVE that!

For those of you who are after a set of these handy machine washable and totally affordable re-usable lunch bags Bummers is also an online store in addition to a local cloth diaper service and they offer fantastic rates for shipping. I know this first hand as I just placed an order with them this week! So make sure you head over to Bummers and snap these Kanga Sacs up. We know you'll be glad to you did!

What is this weeks give away you ask?

Well read on to find out because we are very excited to be able to share with our fans a fabulous book by the multi talented self published author, Chad Lafarge!



I don't know about you, but I am a wanna be techie. Having blogged and been online for years I've always been fascinated on how the whole concept of search engine optimization works. Whether you have a personal blog so you can share your journey through the adoption process, a place to share your favourite recipes or a web site set up to sell and share your creative endeavours, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a must for you when it comes to generating more relevant traffic and readers to your site.

Why is SEO so important?

Well, I'll paint you a little picture to hopefully give you a better visual... :o)

We are in the midst of a federal election campaign here in Canada. So let's say you have a blog dedicated to talking politics and sharing information on the current campaign and upcoming election, which for us is May 2, 2011. Search engine optimization is the process that sends the readers looking for election information and tid bits on the various political parties to your site and the people say, looking for cheap airfare and holiday information for the month of May 2011 to the travel sites. Make sense? Awesome!

No matter what your purpose on line is, SEO is important to your site whether you realize it or not.

Unless your blog is set to private, chances are you would be thrilled to have more traffic coming to your site to 'meet' up with others who share your views, who are interested in what you have to say, and well, in the most simplest of terms, enjoy your blog. I mean think about it, where is the first place you go online when you are looking for something....anything? Even if it is just a recipe? You go to a search engine, most likely Google, Bing or Yahoo. If you have a blog dedicated to your favourite recipes and kitchen tips, SEO is what makes your website stand out from the rest and show up in the search results.

I've realized that SEO doesn't have to be boring! Who knew?! :D

I don't know about you, but the thing I have found over the years when browsing and looking for information on blogging, website design and (anything else that falls into that "techie category") is that soooooo many sites and books claiming to be the 'go to experts', are well, quite frankly overwhelming, hard to read and often ridiculously long. They could very well be the 'go to experts' on blogging and SEO, but for this busy homeschooling mama with ADHD and 3 crazy kidlets roaming around to keep me on my toes, a huge book or busy site with a lot of fluffy information completely turns me off. 

Like many of you, I don't have the time to flip through 300 pages of a book or dig around a massively cluttered up website to find the information that I need. And then of course the kicker is, because I was (still am) learning about all this, I don't know what it is I need to know! In the past I would never finish a book or go back to a website because I hated that overwhelming, information overloaded feeling so many of them left me with - I couldn't figure out what was relevant and what was fluff and it annoyed me.

Does Heaven have Angels for techie wanna be's like me? Yes, I think they do!

A few weeks ago however, it's like a cluster of Techie Angels heard my pleas for information that I could actually absorb and put to good use. Just like that, I found "What You Need NOW for Search Engine Optimization - None of the fluff, none of the bull: only the details that matter to get the job done." by Chad Lafarge.

Lafarge had me at the Introduction:

"This handbook describes the tasks related to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for a new or existing website. The need addressed by this book is: You have an SEO project, have zero experience and don't have time to read 200 pages of fluff mixed with fact. You may have time for closer to 30 pages of fact and some useful tables. I've made an effort to be as thorough as possible and to provide a solid foundation on which you can build your own SEO successes without burdening you with stacks of padding."

From the personal blogs to the talented WAHM's who want to make a difference in this world with their creations and thus have the need for a retail website, this book is everything and more when it comes to search engine and web site optimization. Don't let the fact that it is less than 40 pages fool you, Lafarge titled his book perfectly because this book is exactly what you need NOW when it comes to your blog/web site and making SEO work in your favour.

Lafarge walks his readers through the whole process by ensuring that his advice is straight to the point. He has brilliantly written it so that it is easy to understand and follow (even for this relatively scatterbrained ADHD mom), and also most importantly, he's designed the book so that it is easy to learn from - the tables and worksheets are some of the best parts of the book in my opinion. The fact that he has a knack for actually making it all interesting is a bonus too (which if you have read any books on technological information and internet algorithms, you'll know that this is no small feat in and of itself because most of them are 300 some odd pages of dry boring information).

We love supporting other writers, especially self published ones so we were very excited that we would be able to let you know about Chad LaFarge's book this week!

I know we have a lot of fellow bloggers and website owners as fans here at SignificantlySimple.com who would absolutely benefit from this book and the golden nuggets of information inside it. Even if you don't have a website now, but plan to in the future, even if it is just a blog to document an upcoming trip, or life event, this book can benefit everyone.

Not only do we highly recommend "What You Need NOW for Search Engine Optimization", but we are also giving a copy away next week to one lucky winner!

Contest entry is easy peasy. Simply reply in the comments here or on our Facebook page with the phrase:

"I wanna know SEO!"

If you are a fellow website owner, then we have a great bonus for you!

If you blog about or mention Chad LaFarge's book, "What You Need NOW for Search Engine Optimization" and the contest we have going on this week, we will give you:

• 4 extra entries to win,
• a link back next week in our next Friday Finds Post and 
• 30 days of free advertising on our site (under "Visit Our Sponsors on the right or left column) 

Like I said, Heather and I love to support those with the talent and the fortitude to create their own path and we truly feel this author is worthy of that support. If you read the book, we know you'll feel the same!

Have a fabulous weekend everyone! ♥


 

 

 

KangaSac Product Review and Giveaway

I'm really excited about today's Friday Find! 

Our latest find is the  KangaSac Litterless Lunch System, which is a fantastic, fantastic product!  The lunch bags are made of 100% Polyester with Water Resistant Polyurethane Laminate Coating, making them a great alternative to plastic bags.  They can be washed in a washer, spot washed by hand, or cleaned in the dishwasher - how fantastic is that?!

Photo Credit:  Bummers

KangaSacs come in 3 sizes - the small one is perfect for snacks like nuts, crackers, and cookies.  The medium is the perfect size for a large sandwich, while the large sac fits your entire lunch.  The sacs close with high quality zippers, making them a better alternative than velcro, in my humble opinion - AND, the large lunch bag can be attached to a backpack!

Another thing I really love about them, is that they fold nice and small - I can fit them all into a drawer for easy storage - no more large lunchboxes on the counter - yay! I love it!  :)

But the best is yet to come!

Enter:  Bummers Diaper Service!

"Bummers is owned and operated by Amber, a Work-at-Home-Mom. Bummers was created out of love for all of our children and our environment. As a parent and an environmentalist I thought it was only natural to help other parents provide the best for their babies and the environment and make to the best accessible to everyone, no matter their financial standing."

Bummers carries a variety of cloth diapers, swim diapers, training pants, diaper pails, wet bag and pail liners, leggies and accents, detergent, and KangaSacs. If you have a little one in diapers and would like to try cloth, or kids at school who take lunches, you need to head on over to Bummers to check out their stock.  You won't be sorry!

Amber is giving away a set of  all three KangaSacs to one lucky reader! A winner will be selected next Thursday (Apr 14) and the winner will announced on Friday Finds (Apr 15).

You have 3 chances to win:

1. Leave a comment here.
2. Head over to Amber's Facebook Group and leave the comment:  @Significantly Simple Giveaway!
3. Head over to our Facebook Page and leave the comment:  @Bummers Giveaway!

Oh, and if you know of anyone who needs cloth diapers or a fantastic litterless lunch system, share this post with them!  :D

Note:  Contest open to residents of Canada and US.

*****

Photo Credit - Rae of Light Photography

And last but not least, the winner of the 4x6 giveaway from Rae of Light Photography is Kristin!  She has chosen the photo to the left.

You can find Kristen at Sew Technicolor where she writes about books (who doesn't love books?!) and at her Etsy Shop with the same name - she has fabulous stuff!

What have you found this week that you want to share?

Date Ideas, Meandering Thoughts, and a GIVEAWAY!

It's Friday, it's Friday, IT'S FRIDAY! *Insert Happy Dance here!*

Have I got some great stuff to feature today!

Photo Credit:  D Sharon Pruitt

Love comes first! Love Actually is a site devoted to Creative Ideas for Romance on a Budget. Yep, you read that correctly: 'on a budget'! How fabulous is that?! I don't think I'm off the mark, but sometimes romance is tough to come by for all of us. We think that it involves some big display or a night out that costs a small fortune, both of which seem to take a lot of effort up front. But Love Actually tells us it ain't so! Her romance ideas are broken into various categories including: Date Night, Lovey-Dovey Gifts, Day To Day Romance, Couples Group Dates, and more. So head on over there to spice up your life!

Speaking of love, I think you will easily fall in love with a site run by one of our fabulous readers!  Melissa's Meanderings features books (a lot of them!), as well other great stuff.  I'm loving her Thankful Thursday series.  She is thought provoking and deserves a bit of your time.  Head on over to Melissa's Meanderings with a cup of tea and enjoy!

And to keep the love going, we have a GIVEAWAY!  Rachel at Rae of Light Photography is sponsoring a giveaway for our readers.  :)  Here is what she has to say about herself:

"My work pays homage to subjects and life left unseen or forgotten. They demonstrate the passage of time and the beauty of unaltered minimalism. What started as a way to slow down and take pleasure in nature, swiftly turned into a perpetual zeal to capture the unobserved spirit of daily life.

While examining these pieces my aspiration is that individuals take a moment to look at the details and observe the charm and enchantment our world has to offer.

My images are a blend of archival digital photography and film. I have been pursuing the creation art through film for three years and am self-taught."

On to the giveaway! One lucky winner will choose the 4x6 print of her choice. 

You have 2 chances to win. The first thing you need to do is head over to Rae of Light Photography and browse through all of the amazing art. Then decide what piece you would choose, should you win our giveaway.  Then:

1. Leave a comment here on the site telling us what piece you would choose.
2. Head over to our Facebook Page and tell us what piece you would choose.

Happy browsing!  I'm headed over there now!

An Inspirational Challenge That Feeds Your Spirit...

Who inspires you? How do you keep your head up and a smile on your face when all you want to do is hide under the covers and shut the world out? How do you feed the spirit and soul of others for the pure and simple joy of knowing you made someone smile and feel good?

One person who inspires me is my good friend Lisa. Lisa is one of the most beautiful people I know, inside and out. To say that she is inspiring, motivating and uplifting would be a complete understatement. She is amazing and the strength of her spirit never ceases to astound me.

Lisa started off two years ago determined to get back in shape. Like many of us after a couple of kids and days with good intentions but not great food choices and little physical activity, the road ahead was long. I remember her first Facebook post when she started and she was cheering herself for taking a run around the block and how she could really only run, literally, for less than 5 minutes and going around the block was as far as she could go. She was her own cheerleader and she was good at it! :D

Most of us, would feel down on ourselves, thinking that going 5 minutes around the block wasn't good enough to share with the world, because sadly, that is what we are led to believe - we live in a culture that is all about big! and dramatic! 

Lisa was so thrilled with herself and posted every accomplishment on her Facebook status. Her milestones  were small to start off with and eventually over the months they got bigger and led to a status update on completing a Mini Triathalon and starting her own fitness company ("Healthy Way Fitness - Medicine Hat"). Lisa knew and still knows, that it is the little things that add up to something big and wonderful and she has re-inforced that over the last couple of years to hundreds of people. If ever there was a girl with tenacity, determination and patience, it is her.

She is one of those changes people wish to see in the world. ♥

This week, Lisa started a challenge on her blog called "30 Days of Challenges" and that is what we are sharing with our readers today. She is at Day 4 of the challenge, but I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun and no problem catching up! 

So, here are the first 4 days of Lisa's challenge from her site "Healthy-Way-Fitness.com" or if you rather, you can find the challenges on her Facebook Group. But either way, they are a lot of fun, so inspiring and just another reminder for something else I am grateful for - Lisa, her friendship and the way she is truly making a difference in the world with her beautiful spirit and positive outlook. ♥

Here are the challenges thus far:

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30 Days of Challenges

by Lisa Simchison

Founder of Healthy Way Fitness - Medicine Hat, Alberta

Hi everyone! I have been working on something new and exciting!  I am putting together a fantastic 30 day challenge for you all to try!  Every day I will post one new challenge. Some will be physical challenges and some will be things you can do in your day to think and act more positively about yourself and others.

 
Check back every day to see what the challenge of the day is!!  See if you can accomplish them ALL!!

Photo Credit

Day 1:

Smile!  I want you to smile every single time you see your reflection and every time you make eye contact with someone else today.  This is a very powerful thing to do, trust me!!  Most of the time we spend looking at ourselves, we are examining the parts we don't like and making frowny faces at all the things we want to change, but NOT today!  Today you need to smile at yourself and others. You will feel silly at first but it will get easier and it will start to feel natural, so go now and look at yourself and smile!


Day 2:

Get out a pen and some sticky notes for this one!!  Today's challenge is borrowed from the wonderful creators of Operation Beautiful (if you have never checked out their amazing website you need to).

Today you are going to leave random notes or messages for people telling them how beautiful or wonderful or kind they are, including yourself! 

The first one should be on your mirror in your bathroom or somewhere that you will see it.  Write something about yourself that will make you feel great every time you read it and then leave it there ALL day!  Post something on someone's Facebook wall or send them a private message, tell someone you know how great they are.   Then when you are at work or the mall or somewhere public, leave a sticky note somewhere where people will see it!  The note should say something nice like “Smile, you are beautiful” or “you are PERFECT just the way are!” -  those are just a few ideas to get you started!  This is a wonderful way to pay it forward and it will make every person who reads your note feel great all day long (and you will too)!!  If you want I would love to see a picture of your note!  You can email it to me and I will add it to the page!!  What a great way to send out some positivity!! :)

Here is my note that I have on my mirror for the morning:

Photo Courtesy of Lisa Simchison

Day 3: 

I am very excited about day 3!  Today I want you to do something completely random and kind for a stranger.  This is called Random Acts of Kindness.

There are many, many websites out there with wonderful ideas and stories about the great types of Random Acts of Kindness!  A few good ideas are buying a coffee for the person behind you in the drive thru, leaving a little gift certificate (even just for $1) for a coffee on someone's windshield in a parking lot, you can also leave a note for your mail carrier thanking them for their hard work!  The possibilities are literally endless! 

Here is a link to some random acts of kindness cards that you can print out and leave with your little act of kindness!  This will help the person understand why they are getting the nice surprise and will hopefully encourage them to keep the kindness going (you can also make your own cards too if you like).  I really hope that you will try this one out.  Just try one random act of kindness today, one will become two and two will become many!  It is kind of addictive, because it feels soooo good to be nice to people and to make someone’s day!  Please let me know how you do with this challenge!! :)

Photo credit

Day 4: 

Today’s challenge is a very hard one!  We all have things that we love about ourselves and things that we really don't love about ourselves. 

Today I want you to get out your camera (or your cell phone camera) and take two pictures. The first picture will be of something that you love about yourself, like your eyes or your hair, whatever it is that you love about yourself.  The second picture will be of something that you dislike about yourself.  No one else has to see the pictures unless you want to share them.  They are for you to look at. 

I want you to really look at them, and write down at least 3 reasons why you love that feature and at least 3 reasons why you dislike the other feature.  This may sound silly but it is very self-reflecting, most of the time the things we don't like are not as bad as we see them.  After you have written down the 3 reasons for each trait, you need to post the picture of the thing you love most about yourself (and the 3 reasons) on your fridge for you to see every day!  Then you need to destroy the picture of the thing you dislike the most about yourself (and the 3 reasons).  You really need to destroy the picture (it is very therapeutic!). Step on it, tear it up, cut it with scissors, or crunch it up and toss it in the garbage, whatever you choose make it dramatic. We often put too much merit on the negative things about ourselves and not nearly enough on the great things about us! 

This exercise will help focus on the positive things and forget the negative ones! 

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And that my friends is just the beginning of Lisa's wonderful and uplifting 30 Days of Challenges! Aren't they great? Just simple things, that can have a significant impact - I love them! Again, this is not a challenge Heather and I are putting on, the above was copied and pasted directly from our friend Lisa's website, Healthy-Way-Fitness.com. To keep up with the daily challenges you must pop over to Lisa's website or join her Facebook Group so you get them in your newsfeed each day. We would love to hear how you are doing and will keep you updated over the next 30 days on how we are doing with them as well!




Have a fabulous weekend everyone!


With love and light ♥,

 

We're Hip, Earthy, and LUSH! (And We Have a Giveaway!)

Happy Friday Everyone! I am so happy it's the weekend! Hubby and I are off for a weekend without the kids and I am almost giddy about it! I am also almost giddy about today's post - we are Hip, Earthy, and LUSH... And we have a giveaway to boot!

First up, is a teriffic site that offers Shopping for Earth Loving Fashionistas!

 Hip to be Green offers stunning jewelry, hip accessories, delicious skincare products, and fine cosmetics - and the best part?  Everything is eco-friendly.  And vegetarian - in fact, over 75% of her items are vegan. And Canadian made. Take a look:

 

Jewelry is one-of-a-kind and never, ever includes leather, suede, or bone.

We are so happy to announce that Hip to be Green is currently offering one of our readers a chance to win a 30% off coupon code for anything in their store.  Enter to win by going to  our Facebook Page AND Hip to be Green's Facebook Page.  Once you become a fan of both of our pages, make sure you comment here or on the facebook pages, and you're set!  We'll announce the winner next Friday (March 25).

Do me a favor - click on over to Hip to be Green and their Facebook Page and enter to win their giveaway.  :)

Our second divine find is Earthly Remedies by Erin. 

 If you are looking for quality hand-made, all natural hand salves, hand creams, baby products, and pet care products, you have got to check her out!

She is incredibly busy making all sorts of goodies, like Basic Salve, which is a protective salves that works wonders on cracked hand and feet.

Her Baby's Butt Balm seems to be a huge hit with her customers, so if you have little ones in diapers, you should really check this out!

And, I'm happy to say that she has a giveaways going on as well at Cranky Cat Studio Baby and Toddler Fashion, so head over there and check it out!

And last but not least, I am happy to announce the winner of our second Great LUSH Giveaway!

Michelle C. will be receiving a $25 LUSH gift card so she can order some pampering to treat herself.

And that wraps up another episode of Friday Finds!  Have a terrific weekend!