medina peace

I took this photo before heading out to a dance workshop with my girls and dopesauce choreographer Kay-Ann Ward held at the National Ballet. It was a beautiful space for a class, and though I love dancehall and soca, the dance part needs some serious work. 

Sunday was a good day for love. My girls are all hardworking professionals and they took time out from their lives to share with me. We danced it up, laughed a lot, and wrapped up our evening at Spoon and Fork for some mean noshing. Unfortunately I fell ill and spend the next few days in my bed and just sitting upright was a workout in itself. My hubby stayed home to look after me the first day and pups stayed with me (through no choice of his own of course) and snuggled the whole day. I’m pretty sure he helped me with the recovery process.

I took this weekend off to get errands done and spend it with my husband. On my way home from an appointment, I went to Primal Cravings - a paleo take out restaurant catered by Sandi Kay. I picked up a bunch of grain free “bagels” for the freezer and lunch including the shredded chicken (chicken “pad thai”) and the angus beef chili. I’m happy to report that both were delicious.

Of course the next day, to celebrate having a day off and getting to spend it with my hubby, we went to Khao San Road where I got, yup, chicken pad thai. And then treats… and then getting sick. This is what happens when you don’t eat for a few days and then see food and want to eat everything in sight. Greedy tummy.

Pups and me are recovering again, he’s sound asleep on my hubby’s side of the bed cuddled up on his pillow. I’m hoping to catch up on a lot of missed sleep this weekend.

One thing I’ve learned as a health professional over the years, is that many people want something for free as little money as possible. And you can bet your life to never expect anything in return. Out of my heart and my natural reflex to help, I’ve volunteered my skills, time, and money to be of service to someone else and no cost to them. Even in a professional setting, there’s always someone wanting more - more of your time, more of your effort (beyond what the service calls for), a freebie, etc. Now if something is my bad, I am more than happy to go the extra mile for a client and/or offer something complimentary to help their experience be more positive.

I work alongside specialists, and doing their billing really made me think about my profession and what we put ourselves through to earn a living.  If we worked and respected ourselves like physicians and specialists do, the general public would respect us more. Sorry, but if you miss a specialist appointment, there is no way they aren’t billing you for it.

When we give away our services (this is different from gifting, which I do for good friends), it takes the value away from our worth. It says the years and thousands of dollars I’ve spent towards my education to earn 2 diplomas means nothing. The 18 hour days with little to no sleep, 5 to 6 hour daily commutes to and from school, working two jobs, and nearly killing my self from exhaustion means nothing. The thousands we lose in pay for overhead, supplies, and hundreds for yearly licensing, insurance, and association fees are meaningless to us. The thousands we pay over the course of our careers for continuing education and skill enhancement means nothing. It has no value, no worth, because we’re willing to give it away for free.

I had a professor who said to me know know your worth, and I say the same to my students. When I started out, I charged the bare minimum for services, even though it was above and beyond what clients typically receive elsewhere. As I grew professionally, I’ve learned to stand my ground.

It’s okay to say no to someone, even if it means loss of business. If they’re not appreciating what you have to offer, they’re not worth your energy. Put your efforts towards those you know can benefit from your skills. They’ll appreciate it much more than the person who seeks your services because they think they can get something for nothing.

Just as I was excited about having a short work week, I was quickly reminded that it will be regular work week since I also work weekends. It was nice to have today off. I ate a lot of paleo brownies, a small piece for breakkie, another small piece for breakkie part deux, and then another whole piece for my after dinner snack. Somebody take them away from me, NOW. Isn’t eating paleo fun when you’re eating treats? Yum.

We spent time with my nieces today and had Five Guys Burgers and Fries for lunch. I went bunless (and the threw the cashier off her burger flow), ordering a little burger with veggies. The little burger patty is super  small which means their buns are super big. I also think Five Guys missed out on a good business opportunity by not opening up a location in our city, instead another burger place opened their second location just a couple kilometers apart. Boo! I suppose it’s a good thing they’re not near us, otherwise I probably won’t be cooking dinner for my hubby much.

We took the dog out to the park to play fetch and he had bleedy paws again from running and skidding on the ice. Poor guy. He’s gained some weight and his BMI (on a dog’s scale) is still good. He had to pack on 5 lbs because he was underweight and looked like McRib sammich. Now everytime I look at him I think he’s pudgey and keep smacking his squishy tooshy. He’s cuddling up with me right now and we’re watching Brave. We saved this movie to watch with our nieces but they went ahead and watched it without us. The girl reminds me of one of my nieces, but I also think I’m watching How to Train a Dragon. So confuffled.

I don’t think I shared the finished product of his painting from The StarDust Studio. How cute is he? It’s currently sitting on a mini easel and we plan on framing in. But finding a frame to fit this canvas hasn’t been easy. I placed an order through our local art supply store. We also need a glue gun. I think I’ll add that to my birthday wish list.

The new season of the Amazing Race just started. They were in Bora Bora and I was such a jelly belly. Each time I watch this show I tell myself I really need to get swimming. And then I find myself on the website of our local pools, and then remember how gross I find public swimming pools to be. The gross factor outweighs the fun factor. I need a friend with an indoor salt water pool. How cool would it be to have one of those in your own home? Though it wouldn’t do me any good if there wasn’t a life guard on site.

Yesterday was a big day for my dog and the University. As the students and practitioners wrapped up for Reading Week (the dry version of Spring Break in Canadian Post-Secondary), it was quiet enough to have a trial run for the campus therapy dog program. It was also his first forealsies visit to the city, his last being Woofstock 2011 when he was 5 months old. From the clean streets (of the suburbs) to the mean streets of Toronto, he handled the grimey city like a champ. Driving a long Lakeshore, a TTC streetcar pulled up beside us and he observed the funny red vehicle where people piled in, rushing past the cracked open car window. We parked in the underground lot of the building and climbed up the stairwells with the unbearable stench. He was completely bewildered with all the smells. Finally arriving at our squeaky clean office, he ran free, sniffing, and rolling around  trying to remove the halti off his muzzle. I set up a vacant office with his blanket, plushie, antlers (three sizes) and water bowl. When my colleagues rolled in, he went bonkers, bouncing around, licking faces and does what he does best. Being a crazy happy little pup. With his therapy room set up, the notice went out to the school that pups was on campus. Our universities are working on a mental health strategy to help support the needs of growing mental health concerns amongst our student population. Pet therapy is one approach, helping to relieve stress and to connect in a non-judgemental way. A couple of Canadian schools have already implemented programs, where dogs visit the campus to help bring joy to students day and relieve stress. My dog had a busy day himself, despite being the last day of exams and the day before long weekend/reading week. He had two visitors in the morning, and by the afternoon, visitors came steadily streaming through, asking about the dog with excitement. I would call his office to let the social worker know he had a student waiting to see him. At times there would be one student, two students, and at most  four students in his office enjoying cuddles from the furball. A couple students spent an hour with him, hanging out, giving him belly rubs, and just being in awe. It really brightened the work environment, hearing students laugh along with his puppy antics, and gush at how cute he is. When their session was done, they commented on how good he is and how they’re looking forward to regular visits with him. After fourteen visitors for his first day, he was pooped. He slept during his ride home through rush hour traffic, and slept in the next day after his initial breakfast wake up.

I’m happy his presence made such a difference in everyones day. He has certainly come a long way since being adopted as the mischief making puppy that wasn’t “suitable” for a regular home.

Now, this thing about sharing my paycheck with him.. hmmmm….

I’ll be celebrating spring in Chicago. Only a few short weeks away, hooray! Looking for good (healthy) places to nosh. Luckily, I’m staying within walking distance to a Whole Foods and Trader Joes so breakkie is taken care of. Maybe I’ll do some jogging… to the grocery store.

Look at that face.

Each time I see this photo it makes me laugh. He is completely in love with this penguin plushy by Hear Doggy. Our friends gave us this super sweet gift of having a pet portrait painted by The Stardust Studio. I took this photo when he woke up after recovering from Christmas festivities. See his eye gunky? His painting is going in the corner of our room where his bed is. Maybe he’ll learn to recognize his own space and start sleeping there instead of our bed. How long until sleep deprivation becomes detrimental to one’s health?

Just some things that I’m really loving right now

Hart of Dixie - My bestie recommended this show to me. After the busy bee work days, coming home to watch mindless television is what I need. It’s a mixture of The O.C., 90210, and Friday Night Lights rolled into one. I love all the characters, especially Mayor Lavon Hayes. Too bad Bluebell isn’t a real town, don’t you feel like going to the Sweetie Pie Dance?

The Amazing Race - *Spoiler alert* Is this not the best show ever? My favourite team this season is Jaymes and James. You can support the Vaughan family by visiting Forget Cancer Now to help Jayme’s father heal from cancer. I was also very impressed by Natalie and Nadiya, those two girls killed it at each challenge. I wonder how many push ups they can do?

Vitamix Professional 300 - This is my new favourite kitchen gadget. Right now I almost exclusively use it to make green smoothies. It took some adjustment to work with the stubbier 64oz container but I’ve adjusted. My favourite green smoothie combination is the mango-pineapple-banana with greens (romaine lettuce and a dark leafy green like arugula, kale, or spinach). It’s tropical goodness in a glass. I leave the recipe with you below, enjoy!

Am Yum

Ingredients

2 cups coconut water (I use 2 of the Vita Coco tetrapacks)

1 whole head of organic romaine lettuce, washed (dirt and bugs removed)

4 washed leaves of lacinato kale, or 3 cups of arugula or spinach

1/2 of a whole pineapple, peeled and cored

1 whole mango, peeled and pit removed

1 ripe banana, peeled

1 scoop of your favourite greens powder (I used Amazing Grass)

Blend all ingredients in a highspeed blender like a Vitamix and enjoy! <3