resolutions

hmmm
i wrote an article about this for my website over at about
but that had to do with travel and nothing to do with me

given that i am 5 months pregnant i think that the only important resolution is to take care of myself so that the little kicker is healthy

and the other one is to finally post before and after pics of the house

am missing some big get togethers in toronto this holiday season
but am content to stay here in ottawa
the parents are here
my brother has moved in
and i can walk anywhere i need to go

simple

maybe keeping life simple will be another resolution to tack on

experimental

went to the experimental farm today
it is a working farm in the geographic centre of ottawa
and people wonder why it is so hokey around here!

fun pics, especially with roisin there

reconnecting the bumps

spent several days in toronto and thornhill last week
and what was nice was
a. i passed my acupressure exam so i am now certified in tibetan acupressure
b. i had time to see my family which included a whopping three hour shopping spree with my dad in his search for sweaters and pjs for himself (he bought a stunning pair replete with birds!
c. i saw some of the old air canada gang. my friend samanntha is also pregnant, and is 5wks ahead of me and this is the first time in our nearly 12yrs of friendship that i did not see her with a flat stomach!

it seems that a lot of my long term friends are pregnant for the first time this year...two are ahead of me and two are behind...but none of them live in ottawa! guess i will continue to use my passes to visit the other ladies and their bumps

where is the damn snow already! it just doesn't feel festive without the white stuff

the weird thing...

...about being a massage therapist is you really have no idea of what your work feels like
i mean i can do a lot of acupressure points to myself
and an upper traps release
but i have no idea what my massage really feels like
i know for the most part i do a pretty good job
i never realised you could work at something and receive so much positive feedback
and be constantly reading and learning more about conditions and how they affect the body
how i alter the treatment
how i feel the difference in the muscle...see it flush...feel the heat soar to the surface
and it i suppose part of the human condition is to be validated
i receive it from sometimes embarassingly high praise
clients receive it from having their concerns acknowledged and felt by someone else to know it's all real

and validated too as december ushers its cold breezes in
i receive little presents and cards from my regular clients
its really sweet
and moving
and appreciated
and that i am making my own little difference in the world around me
one can only feel blessed!

big things are coming my way

well now you all know why my blog has been so quiet. i was absolutely knocked down and out by the first trimester of my pregnancy.

now that i am in my 2nd i think i will finally keep this a bit more up to date!

it's been a while

have let the rest of life take over and all of a sudden it has been a month since i posted in this blog!

yikes

so to get it back to the fall season it is time to post a cute photo of roisin...

refix-ing house chronicles

ok so i think the next few months will probably still involve a lot of house topics
less time for blogging as spare time is used up with cleaning, painting, and a lot of waiting

the kitchen is still in progress.
we have one guy doing all the work who is doing a great job but one person=slower progress
after the kitchen and powder room it will be attacking the den and bathroom upstairs
thank god we live to lots of cheap eats
the routine as well of using a fridge and microwave as our main appliances is feeling really old right now!

but we will have appliances this weekend
yay


because we bought a very old house...circa 1902
the floorboards have sagged
and the floor itself can not be brought to a completely level position
so no ceramic floors for us
instead we busted the budget a bit and are going eco friendly with brown and off-white tiles
hmmm let's see if i can find the link here...yep here it is we picked the sandstone and western saddle tiles
thank god it is just the one room we are doing it in as you could see a lot of $ on the floor quickly

my massage room has turned back into a storage room as all of our cabinets have arrived and can't be hung up yet

so steve and i continue to live out of boxes two months later
and we have realized the depth of our patience from this project.

in about 2 weeks we should have finished project photos
but for now
more kitchen ones

our tiles up against the new cabinets

vanity for the powder room

some of the house "progress"

it has occupied our free moments...this house
so a few more of the pics of the place

labour day...hmm don't usually have this day off

so in this past week i have had my first few clients out of my home massage space. before and after pics to come.

it is so gratifying in this mess of a house redo that my massage space is sacred, and set up!

and now that i have been registered for a year, i am understanding what it is like to turn down work. part of it is that when you are booked for a shift it doesn't mean you have appointments the entire time. hence the advantage of working at home at least part of the time. and our location is great for it!


and now a brief photo essay about labour day with roisin taking the swiffer mop and helping with clean up last weekend.

with all of this heat and humidity...

...i can't help but think of the beautiful hot, yet dry climate of lanzarote
with its cool evenings and ocean breezes
seductive!
a few quick pics of this island oasis with an unbelievable array of landscapes in one small place.

rina gets married!

in toronto for rina's wedding on august 5th
she is in from new zealand for most of the summer
so a pic of the happy couple, some high school friend shots
and one or two of roisin...



Rina and Tim...

Janet and Tania...

Luisa, Paul and Steve...

Roisin just walking around...

And off for a nap...

the house reno continues

so our pad downtown needs extensive work on our side
the other two units are in decent shape but ours is a house that needs a lot of repairs
so we are trying to bring back this dirtied, cracked, mal-treated house to a refreshed, clean state

it is a lot of work
the previous tenants chose to destroy much of the interior of the house
so much so that steve and i are documenting it in photos
and trying to learn about fix-ups

here are a few of the before and afters...not tonnes of them yet, mostly befores, but more afters to come...


THE HOUSE...the 3rd unit we own is at the back...Italianate style

YUCK...one of the many layers of dirt on the banister

...and lots of elbow grease later...

...sanded down the floors, scrubbed the walls, and the repainting begins...

more repainting of the master bedroom...

yes...there will be many more photos, to hopefully document our progress!

a veritable powder-keg of excitement

so i am finishing my shift at ottawa airport
and look out to see a flood of emergency vehicles
bags on one of the cargo lifts
and white powder everywhere
and everything around that aircraft was stopped
happened to have the camera with me
so here it is...the most excitement i have ever witnessed at sleepy YOW

roisin is 1...let there be chocolate on our faces!

k
missed her birthday
since she was in ireland for her 1st birthday
definitely part of the family
already a jet setter!

back from vacation hiatus

am literally just back from vacation and have had some powerful things happen.
i was in toronto for the day on saturday as a follow up for my tibetan acupressure course.

i have read and now continue to meditate over several passages in rinpoche's book "the tibetan book of living and dying" and was rereading a passage about near death experiences and the universal links between them, i then repeated the mantra of compassion - om mani padme hum for several minutes and walked over to loblaws, bought some cherries, and sat down as i had some time before the follow up class began.

well, this woman who works at loblaws literally came right up to me and started talking about her near death experience and how it has changed her life and we sat for a few minutes together.

it just blew me away that i had read about this only 10min before and she came and opened up to me. i have had several amazing and strange things happen since shifting careers, but this one was so strongly connected to what i was putting out into the universe that i am still thinking about it.

buh bye mercury

i have completed the process of having the mercury sawed, pulled and chipped out of my mouth
it is all gone

i knew that i needed to replace the fillings i had which, according to my naturopathic doctor, all fell along my thyroid lines. so i had them all taken out
and the metal is gone

now i am in the process of detoxing
not only in an effort to remove the mercury that may still be present from the mercury amalgam fillings, but also from the countless immunizations that almost all have had a mercury-ethyl base
none of this is meant to be in the body let alone my mouth

if you are interested in mercury and detoxing...well i am linking to my dentist's website who uses the least toxic materials available and is also well versed in craniosacral work, and trigger points too (speaking my massage therapist language!)

the pad to be

steve and i move at the end of july
psyched...hell ya
went out and feted at a french resto in the market...champagne and all...so had to put a few more pics of the place up. sweet that we will own all of this!

so who is this cutie...

no i don't mean me...this is me and andrew, my friend sue's 2 month old. steve and i paid a visit on sunday afternoon. he snored on my shoulder while we all caught up on the week's events.

a walk by the beach

mom was up for the ottawa race weekend and did well in the 1/2...4th in her age group. we took it easy the day after her race by going for a long walk by the beach on petrie island, and then along the ecological preserve. it's a 5min drive from my home.

it's the weird but amazing thing about ottawa...the country in the city.

tulip fest with friends

dragging on

i guess i didn't know how long house sales could drag on
such is the case with our townhouse
we are still waiting for the closing of it
to finally put up the sold sign
when the offer came in 2 weeks ago
slow slow
but looking forward to moving on

am slowly catching up with friends that i haven't seen in a while
and also those who came for a visit
sue and tad were up over this past weekend
infused with cold, rainy bouts
but we filled it with great food, good wine and lots of tulip festivities
sue and i scored a free 15$ razor...who would have expected that at a tulip festival
so i am going to post a photo summary of the weekend among friends and tulips

our new house

after an exhausting series of hours..
back forth back again
scratching and refining an signing and resigning
it is almost here
signing on to our next home on lorne avenue in west centretown
close to everything
private
needs lots of work and love
but the right fit
we think
and hope
this is our new home to be!
and once the conditions are met
and the inspections are done
the work and move will begin
summer of relocation
and finally downtown again!

potential
scary exciting work
but all this hardwood and brick and a view with no rear neighbours are great seductors!

moving into may

hmmm
you can tell that steve and i are trying to sell our house from the lack of blog posts
the cleaning and organising are taxing

i have just completed a course in tibetan acupressure
and now to get certified i need a lot of case studies

i took a short term leave of absence from air canada
yep the 430 and 530 am shift starts are not for me and this is the first time i wasn't able to get myself an evening bid
yuck
back at the beginning of july

but i have been filling the time with building my own business which is scary and challenging and exciting and fun
sometimes it amazes me how you can keep changing your life
if you want to

this one already knows something about her origins

the stereotypes...could they be true...here my niece and god-daughter shows her already advanced understanding of her roots.

here's to my dad...

who is now 75! if you see billy wish him a happy belated (4/4) birthday

i woke up

in my 30s
i started listening to my intuition
and now here i am
turning down work
receiving job offers without even asking for them
it is so odd
guess those years of study to become a massage therapist opened a lot of doors
and left them open
now that i am here
i think i may need to do some re-prioritizing

the universe works in strange and amazing ways

so here i am
a few days ago i blog about making friends during my trip to thailand
and
in an absolutely unbelievable moment of chance
i ran into chaiya and lua
the subjects of my previous blog
i ran into them at the airport and they were arriving in ontario to bring lua to chaiya's hometown for lua's 1st birthday
it is funny because here we are after becoming fast friends in thailand
and meet again at an airport in ottawa
bizarre and fantastic
i could only surmise that the universe was loudly proclaiming
that we are meant to be friends!

Friends made in thailand

and somehow i always find the other canadian in the room
chaiya is in the middle with her gorgeous girl lua
and after much time in different places
is moving back to canada
just heard from her this week so guess this photo is a shout out

sawadee ka!

neuralgia neuritis or one of those electrical things

yep
been overdoing it
woke up this week with the tell-tale nerve compression, muscle tension caca
shooting electrical pain up into the base of the occiput and travelling inferomedially along the scapula with intermittent paresthesia travelling along the lateral aspect of my arm and to the tips of my fingers
and i thought wow
some nerve compression
and some nasty trigger points in traps and scalenes
pain is easing but it really sucked to have pain with movement
enough of the self diagnosis
and doing orthopaedic tests on myself
i need a massage!

The Picasso of the First Nations

...is often the way that Norval Morrisseau is mentioned and described
as a child, my parents infused me with a love of native Canadian art which I know I've talked about before
I have a silk screen on burlap circa late 50's early 60's of this master's work
all of the other art are products of the current generation of Native Ojibwa, Blood and Salish artists
If you happen to make it
there is an incredible exhibition of Norval Morrisseau's work until the end of April at the National Art Gallery of Canada

It is hard to ignore the work of someone who paints this...



The exhibit

oh the caca continues

well let's see
i have devoted too many weekends to prepping a house to sell it
and i remember the pitfalls of moving
it is unbelievably time consuming
and tiring and caca
and am feeling caged in!

sue had a lovely baby shower yesterday
the baby was bumping around and showing up for the event in waves
it was a nice break from the painting and cleaning
yuck

the woman of the games!

love the winter olympics
think i watched a bit of almost every sport showcased
canada has some amazing athletes
and this one may inspire me to skate faster along the canal than my usual snail pace!

winterlude ou bal de neige si vous voulez

february isn't so bad in ottawa
it is a "mild" winter meaning you can get snow freezing rain sun or rain at any moment
winterlude...bal de neige is a fun fest here
and working part of my time in the market means being able to take in a lot of the festivities

the photos show how busy the canal can get when it is actually cold enough to be safe to skate on

beavertails are a winter institution here and you can skate to one of the shacks or walk to one in the market


and the sculptures are one of the beautiful highlights of the festival

sometimes all you need is a push in the right direction

or hopefully...
lots of packing up
looking for space
trying to get my clinic up and running this year
just need to keep pushing myself
and hopefully get the nudge when i am too tired