On Self Care

What do you do when when you wake up and feel a little out of sorts, a bit sad, and can’t quite put your finger on it? It doesn’t happen to me often, but when it does, I try my best to shake myself out of my funk as quick as possible. I can’t keep going through my day feeling blue, especially not when I’m bringing positivity into my life!

So what to do? A little self-care is in order. Self-care is an important part of life. I find if I go too long without showing myself a little love, I can get pretty funky. Taking time to take care of yourself is important… if you don’t already do it – start now!

Here are a few of my favourite self-care routines…

First things first, I make a killer breakfast and drink some tea. Or coffee if I can be bothered making it. Making good coffee at home is always a chore when I know I can get some great coffee at work in couple hours. The process of making breakfast is really therapeutic. I’m standing at the stove, stomach grumbling, ready to nom on whatever I have planned. It’s tantalising, anticipating the fruits of my labour. Today, I made some vegan sausages with sauteed spinach, red pepper, and onion, and drank two big mugs of lemon green tea. 

This might be one of the prettiest food pictures I’ve ever taken.

Next step, today anyways, was turning my phone off and watching an episode of my favourite “turn your brain off” show. (Although, as there’s some sad stuff going on in Pretty Little Liars at the minute, it didn’t do too much to perk my mood up!) But usually this, or something like this is part of the solution!

Proper self-care has to have something to do with caring for my body as well. My absolutely, hands down, favourite beauty tip? Coconut oil. I know it’s a bit of a hot topic right now, but there is something really soothing about slathering it all over my face for an hour or so. The longer it stays on my skin, the better it feels. I love it. I use an extra virgin coconut oil that I bought at a cheapy shop and it does a great job. I’m sure higher end oils would be even nicer… one day I’ll have to splurge!

I also love taking care of my nails. As a former (and relapse prone) nail biter, giving them some TLC is still a novel experience for me. Sitting and filing them is satisfying, and then taking the polisher to them and seeing them shine up… major heart eyes going on. And when I can, I give them a lick of polish and feel like a new woman. But that’s about as girly as I get in the beauty routine. Sure I pluck the old eyebrows, but no one wants to read about that!

Putting on some music. This could be incredibly good, soulful, heartfelt music that chills me out, makes me think, and I come out the other end happy and introspective. Today is not that day. Today is a cheesy pop, gangsta rap, Miley Cyrus, dance and sing to your cat kind of day. He was not amused.

And my top tip for self-care: writing. Write it out. Write your feelings. Tell everyone, tell just yourself. Writing is incredibly therapeutic and I always feel better once I get my thoughts down. Today I didn’t write about my feelings because other than this sense of unease and just feeling funky, I have no idea what’s got me down. Today I wrote about self-care.

What are your favourite ways to show yourself some love? Share with me!

Happy Thursday, lovelies!
Cef

Quest for Passion

Passion.

What is passion? And how do you determine what yours is? I’m 31 years old and I don’t know what my passion is anymore. How did that happen? I remember I used to be passionate about a lot of things. Sure, they changed over the years, but I always had something to direct a tonne of my energy towards.

Let’s recap.

In high school, back when I lived in Canada, I loved to learn. I worked hard and I got excellent grades. And while I was in high school, I was also in sea cadets, where I spent 5-7 nights a week having incredible adventures with them. I was always busy and I was always happy.

In university, I was always crazy busy. I studied, worked on campus in a job that I actually loved, joined the campus gay club, and then joined a Toronto based marching band. I was busy, and I loved every gosh darn second of it! I thrived on the routine, the structure, the time commitments.

While I was at university, my passion changed to moving to Scotland. It was all that I wanted, so I did it. Though I realised that it wasn’t where I was meant to be, I learned a lot about myself and that I loved to travel.

When I returned back to Canada, although I was probably the  happiest I’ve ever been, there wasn’t anything I was overly passionate about anymore. That was 10 years ago and I haven’t found that thing that makes my heart burst since. Sure, I’ve tried plenty: I have been backpacking, moved to Northern Ireland, bought a house, joined (and since left) the sea cadets, travelled through Southeast Asia, opened a business, failed at the business, and have had a plethora of other jobs in between all this.

I’m finding myself a bit directionless, and it’s time that changed. When my boyfriend, Thom, asked me the other day what I was passionate about, I just looked at him.

I like to crochet, I like coffee, I like to cook, I like to game, I like to write, I like to travel. Now it’s just finding how to make all these likes into a love and a passion and a dream.

Will you join me on this quest? Is there something you want to focus on? Let’s do this together!

Cef

Tarifa’s Tales pt 2

Tarifa rumbled with pleasure as she lay in the grass. Her long Worgen legs stretched out in front of her, Hati and Stompy curled at her sides. It had been a long night and she was thankful for the reprieve.

Overhead the azure sky beat down, warming her to her bones. Hati lazily flicked his ears, softly tickling the side of her face. This moment of pleasure; this was the life.

She let her thoughts slide to the night before. She had been in Human form, which was an extra level of stealth. The dark sky was broken only by a few twinkling stars, the moon was long gone. Black Rook Hold was a silhouette in front of her.

The message from Dalaran had been clear: Tarifa was to eliminate Araxxus swiftly with little detection from the other minions inside. This was the reason she had gone Human. This was the reason she was dressed in blacks and purples. This was the reason she’d reached into her pack and pulled out an invisibility potion.

She didn’t like it. The Worgen didn’t care for all this stealth, but her orders had been clear. With a look of distaste, she’d uncorked the bottle and drank deeply.

Her form immediately changed, she blended in with the walls, the night. Tarifa was like a mirage. She gazed down at the pets at her side; the potion didn’t extend to them. The Essence Swapper wouldn’t even help, Stompy was too big. Regretfully, she asked him to wait; this was a mission for the swift.

Together, they ran towards the Hold, unseen… unheard. The Council of Dalaran had tipped her to a broken gate in the wall, it was to be her entrance point. In her tiny Human form, Tarifa slunk through the gates and was in. She breathed a sigh of relief, so far she was undetected. This was not the guns blazing mission she was used to. They crept forward into the blackness.

He was to be a message. Araxxus was not a big player, all things considered, but his death would show the Burning Legion the power of the Alliance. Twists and turns in the tunnels led Tarifa closer to her prey.

Tingling skin meant her potion was wearing off. “So be it,” came the Worgen’s purr, as she transformed into a beast. It was easier to move this way, easier to smell. Tarifa lifted her snout into the air, breathing in the musk and decay. “This way.”

Araxxus’ chamber was off a corridor deep inside Black Rook Hold. She had been lucky so far, the only movement had been from two Risen Scouts who had no fight left in them after a pull of Titanstrike. She held outside the oak door. He was inside, she could sense his life being.

Quietly, gently, she unlatched the door and ghosted into the room. The man was standing at an Alchemy table, looking out the window in front of him. His words were intoning quietly and thankfully he did not hear her enter.

Tarifa stood silently and drew Titanstrike, aiming at her intended prey. Ever so silently her arrow sunk deep into Araxxus and he spun to face her. She was already at his side, small dagger appearing in her hand. She smiled as she drew the blade across his throat.

“For the Alliance,” the Worgen purred, as Araxxus’ limp form dropped to the floor.

We are all the same

The current world politics are scary. It is so important to remember that everyone around us, people of different religions, skin colours, nationalities, creeds… we are all the same. And we have to band together in these turbulent times lest they become even darker; even scarier. In light of recent events, I was reminded of a journal entry I  made back in December 2008. I was sitting in the airport waiting for my first ever flight to Sri Lanka. I would like to share this with you today:

I don’t sit back here because I’m afraid. At first I felt like one lone white person amongst a sea of Middle Eastern and Asian people… but right now, I feel like one of many.

I don’t sit back here because I’m different. I sit back here and watch. I am watching everybody; we aren’t that different. It’s moments like this when I can’t even begin to comprehend where racism and superiority come from. We are all the same.

I am the same, a single, white, lone female, travelling to the same destination as the South East Asian man next to me, as the family travelling home to India in front of me, as the Qatar nationals in full religious attire. I am the same as the awkward old man eating a sandwich, as the white woman with the Arab husband. We are all the same.

Sitting in an airport has a moment of clarity for me. And I wonder if everybody feels this way? Everyone in departure lounge 32 is headed to Doha, at least for the time being. And I feel comfort, right now, knowing how similar we all are.

These are people going exploring, hiking boots strapped to backs of packs. There are people headed home, holding close to young children prone to wander. I can’t help but wonder what everyone’s purpose right now is; what their story is. If I could turn to the person next to me and begin a conversation I would:

What’s your story?

 

 

Don’t call me Nomi

Food. We all love food. Some, more than others.

It’s funny because when I was a teenager back in Canada, I could not cook to save my life. At least that’s what I told people. I proclaimed that I could burn water given the chance! It wasn’t until I was at university that I started to learn to cook. I worked in a healthy fast food place and cooked meat, and I fell in deep love with stirfrys. Stirfry is life, guys, did you know that? Since these early days, I have become a pretty decent cook, if I do say so myself! I am Nomi no longer! (Unless you get me cooking beef burgers on the stove – those things give off a lot of smoke!)

Since living on my own, and now with my boyfriend, I have gotten pretty creative in the kitchen! Big family/friends meals, batch cooking, little romantic dinners. Hell, I even opened up my own restaurant for awhile! I love it; I love cooking. Absolutely everything about it. Change one thing, you can change the whole flavour of the recipe! Did you know there’s only a subtle spice difference between a curry and a chilli?

The great thing about food is how versatile it is. Personally, I don’t eat animal products, but I won’t ever write about my reasons for not eating them. What I will write about is how to veganise recipes and I will definitely be sharing some of my favourite recipes with you!

In the next couple weeks I’m going to reveal a big idea I have for this blog! And the great thing is that it won’t end here… it will be going live on Twitch and hopefully YouTube videos! I’m pretty excited about this, cannot wait to tell you all about it.

Stay connected with me to keep up to date!

Cef