For a good time, follow/subscribe/like...
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1. Elan Morgan's Five Star posts. Seriously. THE BEST weekly curation of posts on the internet.
2. The Gender Avenger newsletter.
3. The #FeministPrincessBride hashtag on Twitter.
4. Farrah Braniff on Instagram for her Monday Inspiration posts
5. My favourite Tumblr blog EVER!
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n~
Midway
At the beginning of the month, I had this strong urge to do all the daily things. Writing, picture taking, meditation, yoga-ing.
I signed up for my first official #NaBloPoMo, found a lovely little daily photo challenge on Instagram called #thedailybon and made a promise to myself to get at least one 15-20 minute session of meditation in each day.
So, how's it going you ask? Because I know you're all just sitting around waiting for me to hit publish every day, right. RIGHT??!
Well, it's day 15 of #NaBloPoMo and I missed days 9, 10 and 11. I have to chalk that up to the disappointing cancelled mountain getaway weekend and then frantically trying to make up for it by doing ALL THE THINGS with my family over three days. Movies, dinners out, a trip to Toys R Us.... Oh, yes, the guilt was strong in those few days. I swear I have a couple of heavier pieces in the works and a guest post coming up this week.
I am really enjoying #thedailybon photo challenge over on Instagram. I am pushing myself artistically with my iPhoneography and trying to remember all the things that I learned from @motherbumper at Blissdom Canada this year. I case you are wondering, I take most of my shots with Camera+ and then edit with Snapseed.
Here are my faves so far:
Follow me on Instagram at @StayAtHomeFeminist.
Daily blogging is tough, some days you just really don't want to, others you literally have nothing to write, and sometimes, yes, you get posts that don't have much substance to them. This thing is about more than just churning out words on the screen just because, it's about sifting through the words in our heads and turning them into something with meaning. It's about practice. For me it's about making a conscious effort to carve out my "writing time", and really explore different ideas about writing and actually getting good at this thing.
Thank you for tagging along with me this month.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I haven't meditated yet today.
Namaste,
natasha~
Filling up on and in Victoria, B.C.
Three days. It's not a long time, but three days with no schedule, no place to be except with each other and nothing but our own feet to take us wherever we felt like going was perfection. Downtown Victoria, British Columbia was the backdrop for our mini wanderlust. It was my first trip to this fair Canadian city and our first time away from both kids in a very long time. I fully admit that I almost bailed in the airport security line up on Thursday. I do not like leaving my babies, but there were too many people in the line behind me and I had my new LUG Weekender bag to break in so... on the plane I went.
When we were planning this trip a few weeks ago, I crowdsourced my friends on Facebook for recommended hotel accommodations. They came through like I knew they would, and we decided on the beautiful waterfront Inn at Laurel Point. Our room was huge, we had a nice big balcony overlooking Fisherman's Wharf and could watch the float planes take off and land every morning in the harbour. We ate dinner at Aura, the in-house hotel restaurant Thursday night and it was delicious! Scallops cooked to perfection and a creamy mushroom risotto for me and the pork sampler for The Consort (my new nickname for my husband, which I might shorten to TC in the very near future-see below).
Friday morning we woke up and headed out to explore our surroundings. One of the nice things about downtown Victoria (and there are a lot of nice things) is that you don't have to go far to find a place to eat. And most places in the downtown core are well within walking distance from the major hotels. Our very friendly airport shuttle driver told us that Victoria has the second highest restaurant count per capita in North America (after San Francisco) and after walking a good part of the downtown area for three days, I believe him.
We ate at some very cool and funky places. Breakfast and coffee at Wild Coffee. A place that spoke to my soul with the handmade wood furniture and giant Buddha head greeting you as you walked in. Lunch and chai at the family owned Varsha in Victoria's historic Chinatown district (which is really just one block). A waterfront walk and dinner at the Blue Crab, complete with, you guessed it, ALL THE CRAB!!
But I really want to tell you about Rebar. This restaurant, located downtown in Bastion Square, was recommended to us twice. Once by my friend Sarah, who raved about it and then again by a very friendly Victoria local who, upon seeing our obvious touristy-ness, stopped his morning bike ride, pulled up beside us and proceeded to give us recommendations for breakfast, lunch AND dinner for Saturday.
One block later we walked into Rebar and I swear to God, this place will be forever etched into my palate. I knew I was going to like it immediately because of the floral oilcloth tablecloths and the garage-sale-Elvis-tile-collage art piece on the wall. TC and I both ordered the Smoked Salmon, Dill and Creamcheese omelette and the juice of the day, a Smiling Buddha. I have no other way of describing this gastronomic experience other than this: every bite of this meal, and drink of the juice was like having multiple mini food-gasms in my mouth. I am not kidding, I actually moaned it was so good.
And then our waiter brought over their house-made peach and pear jam to accompany the sourdough toast and their spicy ketchup for the roasted potatoes and I moaned some more and may have thrown in an 'Oh my GOD!" for good measure. It really was that good people and I may have had dreams about it that night as well. Moral of the story, go eat at Rebar whenever you are in Victoria.
Our friendly cyclist recommended two restaurants for dinner. Zambri's for, as he put it, "The best italian food in all of Canada. " or Cafe Brio, a Canadian/Italian/local fusion cuisine, with an awesome wine list. I liked the look of Cafe Brio on their website and TC called and made us a late dinner reservation . The cafe had a wonderful old world ambiance to it and it did not disappoint. I chose one of their featured wines, the Trebella Meritage blend from the local BC winery, Church and State Wines. It was a beautiful wine, deep, fruity and smooth, just the way I like my reds. I may be hitting up their wine shop soon and ordering some online! The other nice option at Cafe Brio was that all of their dishes, from small plates to entrees, are available as half-sizes and half price as well. I ended up having half-orders of the Romaine Hearts salad and the Roast Duck Breast. The Consort had the Mixed Green Salad (with a surprise pickled celery ingredient) and the Seared Rare Albacore Tuna. Having the half orders also ensures that you leave plenty of room for desert, and you HAVE to have the Poached Pear and Chocolate Ganache. Trust me.
The food, the wine and the company was so good at Cafe Brio that I neglected to even think about getting pictures of anything. By the time we were done eating, the rain had stopped outside and we decided to walk the 20 minutes back to our hotel and soak up our last bit of Victoria. It was a bit of a chilly night, but full bellies, a warm hand to hold and loving hearts made for a beautiful walk along the waterfront.
Just so you know, we did do other things besides eat while in Victoria. We shopped at great local stores like Sitka and The Milkman's Daughter. We picked up some tea at Silk Road and a sampling of their new spa line as well. We found little gems like Fan Tan Alley in Chinatown and a local leathersmith who is now making TC a custom leather key holder. On a whim we walked into Miniature World located in the Empress Hotel and were rather blown away by this weird and wonderful attraction. And we took no less than a bajillion photos of all the teeny dioramas.
Victoria really was exactly what The Consort and I needed. A short getaway to fill our buckets right to the brim, to focus on ourselves, talk about how this past year has changed us, and make plans for a future that has four simple rules:
Simple, loving, graceful, and grateful.
n~
Go to blogging conference. Make a list.
I am tired.
Not like, "Oh, the kids didn't sleep well and I may have stayed up too late to watch whatever I had on the PVR" tired. I am 'OH MY GOD, I spent 72 hours with 600 of the most wicked people on the internet this past weekend" tired!
THAT my friends, is exhausting, but in the most amazing way possible.
I am still processing my weekend at the Mom 2.0 Summit in Atlanta, but I did want to write down some of my top moments of the conference. Here they are, in no particular order and so I too don't forget how awesome a weekend it was...
1. Arriving at the hotel and seeing so many beautiful and familiar (Canadian) faces made it feel not so scary being a newbie amongst the 600 attendees at Mom 2.0. Thank you Annie, Elan, Shannon, Jennifer, and Connie for providing me with a that sense of "home" away from home.
2. I REALLY had to pee towards the end of the first keynote session on Friday morning. I was packing up my bag and about to sneak out when Derreck Kayongo took the stage. And then I couldn't move. Maybe it was the bright pink flower he was wearing on his jacket lapel, maybe it was his beautiful Ugandan accent, or it could have been the energy with which he bounded onto the stage. Whatever it was, I was not going anywhere. Watch this and you'll understand why. A simple thing. A bar of soap. And idea. This is the power of story and of being a change maker in our world!
[youtube]http://youtu.be/sauWSDPBV3g[/youtube]
3. This weekend, I got schooled. We ALL got schooled. I learned the true meaning of 'leaning in' and found myself doing just that. As Kelly Wickham, aka Mocha Momma, read her post "Calling out my sisters", there I was physically leaning forward to truly hear her words. Leaning in to the discomfort that is a conversation about race, about real solidarity and about truly, publicly being there for each other when things get rough. (Please read her post and lean in to this with me.)
4. And then, this one time at Mom 2.0 Summit, I sat down with Heather Armstrong (yes, THAT Heather Dooce Armstrong) for 10 minutes, told her how much I love what she does and how she writes and tells stories and asked her for her advice about how to keep doing just that while the landscape of the blogging world shifts - or as she said, "is completely destroyed" - beneath our feet. It was a good chat. (So good that I did not get any photographic evidence of our time together. Total rookie fangirl mistake.)
5. Mint Julips from the Minted folks. Let me just say this: bourbon is the devil's drink and therefore I can not be held responsible for whatever I said/did after drinking it!
6. Shoe shopping and dinner and thought-provoking and brilliant conversations about blogging and feminism and life. With Annie @PhDinParenting, Shannon @Shasherslife, and Jennifer @HartGalla.
7. Trying to be in two places at the same time on Saturday morning for two amazing sessions. While this in fact did not quite work out, I did find Elizabeth Jayne Lui of FlourishinProgress.com in one of them and for that alone, it may have been all worth the frantic running around the conference centre at the hotel. She is by far the tiniest, and quite possibly one of the funniest bloggers I met this weekend.
8. Front row keenering (totally a word) at the rest of the sessions on Saturday. So much change-maker/writing/story-tellng/hot-topics/sexy beasts blogging goodness!
The panelists (from L to R).
The #sexybeasts are: @laflowers, @schmutzie, @bostonmamas @titaniajordon @justicefergie
The #changemakers are: @mamanongrata @ElenaSonnino @postpartumprog @HeatherBarmore and @morraam (not pictured)
9. When Karen @chookooloonks Walrund, totally Kanye'd Jenny @thebloggess Lawson at The Iris Awards ceremony.
10. And then, 10 minutes later when I stood less than 12 inches from Jenny at the back of the theatre while holding another woman's very adorable baby, I managed to spit out the words, "This is the baby that pooped during your acceptance speech." Cause, you know, WORDS is what I do y'all! #facepalm
11. This photo. And this woman. Outfits totally not planned, I swear. Damn we look good!
12. Having only ONE degree of separation from Amy Poehler because of meeting the amazing Meredith Walker of @smrtgirls!
13. The panels. The painted bellies. The party. The people. MY People! I found them, we talked, we danced, we knew each other before we had even met, and then when we did meet, it was good. It was very, very, good.
Selfies from top to bottom with:
@lifewithroozle, @phdinparenting and @dresdenplaid, @schmutzie, @DebontheRocks and @farrahbrannif.
Bonus #14: Having the best conference roomie = She who takes #365feministselfie shots with a lovely butt bomb from yours truly!
{photo credit: Annie @phdinparenting}
Now, I really do need to catch up on some more sleep.
Goodnight lovelies,
natasha~
Feminist Fare Friday: Edition #13
...took a little break last week.
I apologize, I think it must have been all of the shovelling that I had to do thanks to an early Alberta Snowmageddon! I was TUCKERED out all week long. On top of the snow, I had an on again, off again stomach flu-y, sick kid, which is why, parents of the world, I can not stress enough how important it is to tech your kids how to use a puke bucket EARLY in life!
On that note, here is a little bit of what the femisphere has spit out in the past week or so...
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1. Girls like to build things. Last week (and just in time for holiday shopping) the Goldieblox video was everywhere! Amidst all the RA! RA! GIRL POWER!! posts, there were some that brought up deeper issues regarding gendered toy marketing and girls in STEM and it is these reasons that are part of why, while I like the product and the idea behind it, I am still somewhat disillusioned by the flaxen-haired, perfect little Goldie who is the one doing the building. Seems I am not the only one not buying into the hype of this toy and a lot of kids are just not that into it. Not only that, but this week, we learned that the marketing team used the music from the Beastie Boys song "Girls" without permission for the commercial that sparked all this discussion and is now in a legal battle with the band. Either way this goes, I don't think we'll be getting a Goldieblox at the SAHF house - we build lots with Lego and blocks and whatever else the kids find that works around here. And like one parent commented about the toy,
"...it is very unlikely that we will be able to buy our way to equality."
2. #FeministSelfies. Last week the folks at Oxford Dictionary unveiled that "SELFIE" was the 2013 world of the year. And then the fine folks at Jezebel, decided to publish a post examining the phenomenon and the writer concluded that selfies are an insecure lady's cry for help! {Insert collective internet eye-roll here.} And then insert totally awesome #FeministSelfies here.... 'cause when someone writes something particularly asinine on the internet, we feminist types like to respond with a hashtag (thanks to @thewayoftheid and @convergecollide for this one) and TAKE OVER the interwebs! I added my own particular "cry for help" and posted 13 (THIRTEEN!) selfies. We are all beautiful people and it's more than OK to celebrate that! Or to just be silly and post funny faces on the internet --- because we can!
3. How to be a good feminist. This infuriating debate is ever ongoing. Women live in a damned if you do, damned if you don't world and the only common denominator seems to just BE DAMNED! I read Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett's "I'm a half-arsed, accidental feminist.." article in The Guardian this week and while I don't agree with her "Who has time for all of this, it's just all TOO HARD!" kind of thinking, I understand her frustrations with the feminist movement.
"The constant litany of "you're doing it wrong" is dispiriting.
The in-fighting and the vitriol are turnoffs to a new generation."
4. Michelle Obama was called a "feminist nightmare" this week and I had coffee with a friend yesterday who has a hard time telling people that she is a full-time Stay-at-Home Mom. Both of these occurrences have lit my brain on fire and as such, they deserve a whole post all on their own. Stay tuned folks, I'll address these issues and some of #3 as well. It's coming soon and it may not be pretty....
In the mean time...
Have a wonderful weekend everyone. And Happy Chanukah-Thanksgiving-Thanksgivukah to all those celebrating family and friends and love and light!
Cheers,
natasha~
Selfie: An Official Word.
In honour of Selfie becoming the official word of the year according to the smarty-pants peeps over at Oxford Dictionaries, I give you 13 of my very own selfies.
The good, the bad, the 'what the hell was I thinking', and the 'yeah, that's right, I did just post that SELFIE all over the internet, future employers be damned'!
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1. The 'Look I am at the hospital and they made we wear this ugly gown.' selfie.
2. The 'Trapped under a sleeping child.' selfie.
3. The 'Look how artistic I am, I caught myself in a ray of sunshine.' selfie.
4. The 'My kid is the handsomest EVER' selfie.
5. The 'Duckface' selfie. (I am so, so, sorry!)
6. The 'I don't really go to the gym, I swim instead and look like a dork in my swimcap.' selfie.
7. The 'make a funny face and stand sideways so you look slimmer' obligatory, bathroom selfie.
8. The Pet Selfie. (That took 15 takes!)
9. The 'Look at me, I got caught in a torrential rainstorm.' selfie.
10. The 'fresh out of the shower' selfie. What? Cleanliness and Godliness and all that....
11. The 'kissing my little mini-me' selfie.
12. A picture of a POLAROID selfie! (This shit is GOLD people!)
13. And finally, the 'its -30 degrees Celcius and this smile is actually frozen on my face' selfie.
LONG LIVE THE SELFIE!!
natasha~
something I am SO thankful for...
My kids still nap.
THANK GOD, the Goddess, Mother Earth, Allah, Buddha and everyone and everything else that is divine and holy!!!
Because it means I can still nap too.
And I really, REALLY needed one today!
All rested and refreshed,
natasha~
Wordless Wednesday: Aliens from the Sky
An afternoon of play silks and superheros and aliens falling from the sky {AKA, leaves}!
And a Superdog too!
