Monday Happies: April 11th 2016

Today is a good day. I've finally completed the first draft of my thesis (minus my conclusion)! I'm basically doing back flips here!

Also, VOMD and I found an adorable cat who is the sweetest, most cuddly dude we've ever met (notwithstanding our current cuddly buddies, of course). We've taken him to the vet and he is not neutered or chipped. So, if nobody calls or emails us to claim him within the next week, he's ours for keeps.

Taking in another furry friend is something I didn't expect to do so soon after losing Toojoh. But, this guy showed up at our doorstep - actually, at our kitchen window - and VOMD immediately fell in love. He's a crazy cat lady at heart.

George and Lego are not too happy to have a new dude in the house. His un-neutered maleness is a lot to handle, I guess. He's in my office for now and has only come out twice. (Both times he's marked.)

If he is not claimed in the next week we are going to take him to get neutered, which should stop the marking behaviour and make the other cats less crazy. Also, he seems like the kind of cat who will likely run outside whenever he has the chance... so neutering it is.


This week I am working on being more positive, more active, and more open.

So far, so good.

Happy Monday!

-J

Monday Happies!

Monday Happies are back!

It snowed. I wrote 7000 words. I drank way too much coffee. I cuddled with my fiance. I started packing to move at the end of the month. And I wore a sun dress to spite the stupid weather. Isn't it spring?

Happy Monday!

-J

Monday Happies: Just Joy

The world is this beautiful, messy, messed up place. The last month seems to have been particularly turbulent.

When bad things happen all lumped together like they have over the last few weeks we start to feel nostalgic for the good old days when things like this didn't happen...when there was no terror, mass shootings, suicide bombers and the like.

But we are romanticizing the past and under-appreciating the present. I am not going to say that these events didn't matter. They matter because every life matters. My heart is certainly with the families of the Beirut and Paris victims. It is also with those involved in the many mass shootings and terror attacks on this continent at Planned Parenthoods and schools and other public places.

But the world is filled with both Dark and Light and both horrific and miraculous things are happening all over the world every day.

I took a brief absence from the blog in order to deal with the negativity and sadness spreading across the internet in the aftermath of these events.  I meditated every day. I struggled to understand why it is that it seemed we are so full of horror in this day and age. And in that week where I didn't look at facebook every day, and didn't look at twitter (because as I pointed out in a previous post, I have deleted my twitter account) and the only news I got was from my daily hour of Democracy Now, the world didn't seem so dark. I spent time with my handsome, amazing VOMD, and cuddled with my cats, and played with Tobi the bunny, and did research for my thesis, and drank lattes from a local coffee shop, and went to a vegan potluck with a bunch of fantastic local folks. I signed a couple email petitions, yes. I still handed out a couple dollars here and there to the homeless people I encountered in downtown Hamilton. But I didn't dwell in the sadness. I didn't dwell in the negativity. I didn't dwell in the horror. I saw the beauty in the world that we miss when we spend all of our time on the internet.

Please, shut off your smart phone for a couple hours. Put it in your sock drawer and go for a walk with someone you love. Close your laptop for a day, and play a board game with some friends. Quit tweeting for an hour and go volunteer as a dog walker at your local animal shelter. Cuddle with your kids (whether they be animal or human), make some art, bake a cake, listen to some joyful music, go dancing. Be happy. Don't let the internet become your life. Don't be part of the spreading terror by sharing ever picture of bombed buildings, sad starving children, emaciated animals, tortured government detainees. Do you really want to beat the terrorists, the animal torturers, the mass shooters? Then be joyful, live your life, do good things for others whenever you can, and have a little fun now and then. Do your part, but don't let it consume you.

Be happy, my friends.

Happy Monday!

-J

Oh, and if you are in the Hamilton area, check out Cowspiracy, streaming at Democracy on Locke St. tonight at 8pm!

Monday Happies: New research contract, VOMD's family, and cold recovery in progress

This weekend VOMD were on the road once again and this time we spent a few days with his parents in Temiskaming, Quebec. His mother is one of the best cooks I have ever met and made us vegan treats a plenty. This time we got chocolate peanut butter crispy rice bars and lemon squares! Both are, oddly enough, gluten free without her even knowing that I no longer eat wheat! I love it when things work out like that. She also made us cucumber and avocado maki!

We got to meet VOMD's cousin's new son, who is only 2 months old. He is so cute it made all the baby crazy feelings I get when seeing my nieces and nephew triple! Unfortunately I had to sit in the corner wearing a mask so that I didn't pass on my shitty gross cold, but still. It was awesome.

Then, on Sunday I checked my emails for the first time since Friday morning and I got a job offer for a research contract with a local non-profit! Wooo!!! The joy of getting a new job definitely made me less frustrated with my cold-related ear ache and my inability to not be a damn mouth breather. I start my new job next Monday, so you can probably predict part of newt week's Monday Happies post.

So this morning I am feeling very happy, especially because my cold is finally going away and I only have a mild cough and a stuffy nose. After a week of feeling like garbage (which, thanks to my shitty luck came right on the tails of a brutal period) I can finally go about 25 minutes without having a coughing fit and emptying half a box of tissues.

I hope you're all having a great Monday as well!

Happy Monday!

-J

Monday Happies: Halloween, the Matadors, and another semester

This weekend was pretty awesome. VOMD and I went to London Saturday to spend Halloween with my awesome vegan sister and her awesome vegan friends. One of her friends/roommates is an insanely talented makeup artist and costumer and she painted my face for my costume!

Awesome, right?! It was not surprisingly a great night. After spending some time listening to some music and playing Cards Against Humanity we decided at about 1 o'clock to go to a bar called Call the Office where I learned that I'm actually weirdly good at pinball. Also, there was a live band playing and I said to my sister, "Oh my gosh, I freaking love this song. It's by the Matadors."....guess what; it was the freaking Matadors. Teen me would have been so jealous because I got to meet the guys from the Matadors and get a signed shirt! 

Sunday was a lazy day to kick off World Vegan Month. It started with vegan brunch at Globally Local in London, and ended with coconut caramels, the Addams Family, and Moshi Mochi (please buy these and put them in your face right now! Mochi filled with coconut milk iced cream) at home, cuddling on the couch with VOMD and one of my favourite kitties. 

Today I have a bit of a cold that I am hoping desperately goes not get much worse, but it is still a good day because I am feeling reassured about my decision to take an extra semester to finish my thesis (I mean, most people take the full two years, so I will still be done 3 months ahead of schedule). 

Happy Monday!

-J