dancing through life

Smile, Open Your Eyes, Love and Go On

2012-02-24T07:30:00.000-05:00

14 years ago, on February 24, 1998 at about 8:00 in the morning I was sitting next to my mother’s body, begging something bigger and more powerful than me to bring her back to life. I held her and hugged her and hoped and prayed and did everything I could possibly think of to keep her with me. The events of the 24 hours prior played out in my brain repeatedly and I found myself crying out of sadness and despair and guilt for not telling her that I loved her before I went to sleep the night before. No one responded to my wishes and she didn’t wake up. My mum was taken to the hospital and about an hour later my grandmother got the call to say that she was gone.

On February 25, 1998, I went to school. I was in the 8th grade and I went to the office when I arrived to give them a note and inform them that I had been absent on the day prior because my mother had died. While I was sitting in my first period class, I was called down to the principal’s office during homeroom and he asked me what I was doing at school. I told him that I didn’t know where else to be. I didn’t want to be at home, because we were staying with friends and I felt out of place. I didn’t want to be making arrangements for my mother’s funeral and I didn’t want to be left alone anywhere with my thoughts. School gave me a distraction and a great support system. I had a wonderful guidance counsellor, a fabulous homeroom teacher and a great group of friends. I knew where I needed to be, and if it was okay with him, I intended to stay.

It’s been 14 years since my mum died, and I’ve spent the last 5,110 days trying to figure this whole thing out. I am the person I am because my mum took her own life 2 months before my 14th birthday. And somehow, most of the time I manage to be pretty okay.

I think when something tragic happens to a person, you can go one of two ways: you can wallow in it or you can rise above it. I’ve always been one to rise above. In the years that followed my mum’s death, I went to counselling, talked openly about what had happened and in some ways distanced myself from other family members who were stuck in their grief, sadness and blame. I miss her every day and feel sad for all the experiences we won’t share, but I haven’t let it hold me back from the life I have wanted to live. Her death inspired me to live life to its fullest potential and in the last 14 years I’ve done everything in my ability to do just that.

I work really hard to keep that spirit alive in me, but every year come February I watch that strength start to crumble. As the day approaches that sadness builds up and I never really know how it’s going to manifest itself within me. I’ve been coping with my mother’s death for a longer period of time than I got to enjoy her life and I’ve realized that it doesn’t ever get easier. I’ve spent a lot of this week trying to keep my shit together so I could go on with my regular life, but have found myself locked in bathroom stalls sobbing or crying myself to sleep more than once. It’s exhausting. And hard. But I know I’ll get past this too.

“You can shed tears that she is gone,
or you can smile because she has lived.
You can close your eyes and pray that she'll come back,
or you can open your eyes and see all she's left.
Your heart can be empty because you can't see her,
or you can be full of the love you shared.
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,
or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.
You can remember her only that she is gone,
or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.
You can cry and close your mind,
be empty and turn your back.
Or you can do what she'd want:
smile, open your eyes, love and go on.”

~ David Harkins

Today will be tough, but I know that tomorrow I will wake up and I will be finished with February 24th for another year. I have plans in the next 24 hours to see some of my very favourite people and I’m going to allow myself to feel whatever it is that I feel. It’s likely that I will cry, but I’ll probably smile too, because I know that that’s what she would have wanted to see.

Nutball-A-Roos For Family Day

2012-02-23T07:30:00.000-05:00

It was a holiday here in Ontario on Monday and I enjoyed the day by hitting the gym for a run, frolicking and laughing loudly ~~and saying inappropriate things~~ in the sunshine all afternoon with sweet sweet Reggy, and spending some quality time at The Rooster with a tea latte working on content for the blog for this week.

I wanted to make something delicious and relatively easy for dinner and came up with the following:

Nutball-a-Roos with Zucchini Pasta
(I’ve been adding the term “a-roo” onto a lot of things lately… cute-a-roo, hug-a-roo, you get the idea!)

Nutball-a-Roos (vegan, gluten free)
1/2 cup nuts, soaked (I used a mix of pecans & almonds)
2 tbsp sundried tomatoes, soaked
1 tsp mixed dried herbs (I used sage, thyme & basil)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/2 tbsp wheat-free tamari
1 clove garlic, minced

Add all ingredients to a food processor and blitz until combined. You may need to scrape down the sides a couple of times. Make mixture into little ball-a-roos (I made 8 small, but you could make 4 larger)

Serve over spiralized zucchini mixed with basil pesto, cherry tomatoes and sprinkle with pine nuts.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

1 lb brussels sprouts
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400º F
Rinse your brussels sprouts. Trim off the ends, remove any sad looking leaves and cut in half. Toss sprouts with the olive oil, balsamic and add salt and pepper. Transfer sprouts to a pan and roast for 30ish minutes, moving them around every 7-8 minutes to prevent them from sticking or browning past the happy, crispy point. Remove when they are fork tender.

So much deliciousness!

How did you spend your Family Day?

Nourishing My Tummy in St. Lucia

2012-02-21T07:30:00.000-05:00

Travelling to another country with any sort of dietary restriction can be a challenge, but going on a retreat with Meghan meant that I knew I would be taken care of 100%. I could probably go on about every single meal that I ate at Balanbouche, because Tania and Laila (who I went to nutrition school with!) took the most amazing care with every meal that we ate, but instead I’m going to give you the highlights.

Warning: Expect to feel hungry, curious and envious by the end of this post.

Green smoothies that just kept getting greener

Meghan definitely introduced me to the joy that is the green smoothie, and Tania made sure we got our daily dose of greens nearly every morning. The smoothies all week were delicious and filled with unexpected combinations of fresh organic greens and herbs from the nearby farm, coconut, aloe, garlic and many surprises. This incarnation included greens, parsley, cilantro, garlic, avocado and oj. Wonderfully refreshing and the perfect start to our brunches.

Fresh tropical fruit, picked less than 50 meters away

Our mornings always began with wonderful tea and fresh fruit. Bananas, papaya, coconuts, citrus and mangoes that put any fruit that I’ve eaten in Canada to shame. The mangoes were quite possibly one of the most delicious things I’ve ever put in my mouth. Whenever we walked to the nearby beach I would enlist a tall person to pick starfruit for me, which had the most amazing combination of sweet and sour. I could have probably just been a fruitarian all week and have been the happiest girl on the planet.

Okra spinach soup

Have you ever made okra at home? I sure haven’t. I had nothing against this often neglected southern vegetable, I’ve just never really thought much about it nor have I had an epiphanies on what the heck to do with it. This soup changed my mind and I really need to give okra some more love. It was brilliant, made creamy with coconut milk (as many things were) and enhanced with garlic and some simple herbs. Oh so delicious. Going to make and tweak Meghan’s version in the future and show my love for okra…

Laila’s cocoa pancakes

Laila still owes me the recipe for these (hint, hint) but I know that she used a mixture of buckwheat, brown rice and legume flours. Some might be sceptical of a gluten free vegan pancake, but these little guys were out of this world. Paired with a cacao sauce and mango sauce (pureed mango with lime), I couldn’t get enough!! I’m running out of words for delicious, but these absolutely were. Can’t wait to make them at home for an extra special breakfast treat.

Cassava

Prior to St. Lucia I don’t think I had ever heard of cassava, but little did I know I had been eating it for quite some time as tapioca. It’s a root vegetable and in St. Lucia it is often made into this amazing bread that is kind of like naan. It was all kinds of awesome. Tania also made it into a pizza crust for us one day, and it may have been the best gluten free pizza I’ve ever had. I can’t wait to make this and blow other people’s minds with its awesome flavour and texture.

Green banana salad

Similar to potato salad, but much more delicious and not as heavy with green bananas replacing the potatoes and coconut milk adding creaminess. Totally changed my opinion of bananas and reminded me that they don’t just have to be a sweet fruit!

Amazing teas

It’s no secret that I love tea… so it was kind of heaven to experience wonderful, fresh teas from many locally grown ingredients including hibiscus, lemongrass, turmeric, ginger and cacao. Every tea was such a delight, and I brought back a couple cacao sticks so I can make it at home to remind me of St. Lucia.

Cacao Seed Truffles

Cacao, almond butter, chia, maple syrup, vanilla and rum – do I really need to say much more? Bonus points for the presentation in the cacao pods.

Special mention go to: the banana flambé, the spiralized cristophine, the wonderful porridges, the vibrant salads, the plaintain sushi, the chilled cucumber soup and anything seamoss related. Oh. So. Good.

The food at the estate continually blew me away and I’m glad that I’m not committed to picking just one or two favourites! While the objective of the trip was for my soul to be nourished, my tummy was definitely nourished as well! More to come on some of the amazing superfoods that we enjoyed whilst on the island!

If you’re looking for some more travel food porn, be sure to check out Lisa’s blog post discussing the best of the best amid her travels through India, Bali, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii

What’s the best meal or food you’ve experienced while travelling?

I Wanna Be Famous for Falling In Love

2012-02-16T07:30:00.000-05:00

Cue song… I can’t believe I missed seeing Cass McCombs in Toronto when I was away…

It’s felt like summer since I’ve been back from St. Lucia with lots of social events, merriment, debauchery and basically a whole lotta love. Which is fitting since Hallmark just told us that it was Valentine’s Day!

Last Wednesday I was Reggy’s date for the Dr. Marten’s #firstandforever launch party.

It was super squishy, but it was awesome to see some great prints by some very cool bloggers, check out the spring line and dance the night away with my hot date.

In the spirit of love and V Day…

we headed to Love a Heart on Thursday where Reggy and Christine among others were being auctioned off in the name of charity!

I had a blast being a total instigator all night. While I did a lot of bidding, I didn’t actually end up winning a date, but I did manage to help get Reggy to sell for $275, Christine for $300 and this fine man for over $1000. The evening raised more than $11,000 for the Heart & Stroke Foundation, which is pretty amazing.

Congratulations to Miss Shannon for putting together a successful evening. If you missed the event, you missed some pretty great moments, like this one…

Oh dear.

It was great to have quality time with two of my favourite ladies and causing trouble as “Charlie’s Angels”. I’m so thankful for the social media sphere as without it, I likely would have never met these two incredible women along with many of the other awesome folks I hung out with all night. Huge win.

On Sunday I got to sing at a super special event at the Cadillac Lounge. My dear friend Megan (who wrote the musical Breadwinner that I was in a couple years ago) was turning 40, and to celebrate she put on an incredible show and invited some special guests to come perform along with her. Including me!

Wowzers that lady can sing. I had a blast singing a great Ryan Scott Oliver tune called To Do, with the ridiculously talented Ben Foran on guitar. It was such a pleasure to share the stage with some amazingly talented folks and to be a part of Megan’s special day. Happy birthday lovely!!

Finally, I hit up Tweetgasm at the Gladstone on Monday, which was an official Toronto Social Media Week event, where I was interviewed by the stunning Cynthia Loyst from InnerSPACE about flirting in social media and other fun stuff. We also played dirty bingo and laughed a lot. Amazeballs.

And finally Tuesday I hung out with two of my favourite ladies (Dani & Lisa – have you read about her amazing trip!?) for a little lovefest at Fresh. It was so great to connect with such wonderful women and share our love on V Day!

So much awesome. So much love.

10 Things I learned Whilst Nourishing My Soul In St. Lucia

2012-02-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

1. Everything will be just fine

I was so anxious the day before I left for St. Lucia. I woke up around 4:30am, and wasn’t able to get back to sleep and actually found myself crying. I wasn’t worried about the trip, but I was freaking out about all the travel leading up to my arrival in St. Lucia (thanks to my friends at Expedia and Delta, my flight went Toronto – Minneapolis – Atlanta, spent the night in Atlanta before flying to St. Lucia) I led two WW meetings in the morning before having a driver pick me up to take me to the airport. Little did he know, but that man calmed me down. We talked about everything but my trip really, and I arrived at Pearson feeling happy, calmer and excited. I was on my way to St. Lucia, how bad could things really be?

2. It’s a good thing to shut down

There was a big part of me that wasn’t sure how well I was going to deal with being without being connected to my world, but it was truly amazing. No iPhone. No Twitter. No Facebook. No email. Nada. It was incredibly freeing to be without my phone, only using it to blast tunes while I was in the shower in the mornings and to do a little bit of texting towards the end of the week when I was really missing my friends. I loved living in the moment and enjoying every single second that I was in St. Lucia.

3. It doesn’t matter what anyone says, SPF 60 is my friend

I am a pale gal. I did not want to burn on day one in St. Lucia and spend the trip grimacing in pain as my skin turned a lobster shade. I accomplished this goal with the help of some SPF 60 and an amazing roomie who supported me in its application. Win. Don’t bother laughing at my non-tan, because I’m happy about it.

4. Meghan Telpner is one of my heroes

It’s no secret that I’m a huge Meghan fan. I found Meghan’s blog very soon after being diagnosed with Crohn’s, enrolled in her cooking classes and she soon became a huge inspiration in my life. She was the person that I needed to meet and St. Lucia in 2012 was absolutely meant to be. I’m so thankful for her friendship, inspiration, guidance, encouragement and love, not to mention all the giggles that we share. The trip and Meghan’s talks just reinforced for me how far I’ve come from the time that I was really sick. I am that I’ve taken this journey to health over the last 4 years and that I’ve been able to lean on Meghan along the way.

5. Just breathe

Even when there’s a cockroach on your toothbrush. Seriously.

6. In with love, out with fear

I heard this in a yoga class once and the sentiment has stuck with me and it’s something I often meditate on. It’s incredibly freeing to rid yourself of fear and let love in. I reminded myself of this each morning during meditation and it had a profound impact on my mental state.

7. The only constant is change

I knew that St. Lucia was going to change my perspective on things, but I didn’t anticipate exactly where those changes were going to come into play. After some thinking, dreaming, soul searching and pep talks, I walked out of St. Lucia feeling inspired and armed to make some changes in my life. Not crazy “I’m-quitting-my-job-ending-all-relationships-cutting-people-off-total-180” kinda changes, but ones that make a lot of sense for where I’m at in my life right now. I feel grounded, calm and happy to put these changes into effect as the weeks and months go on. Stay tuned.

8. I have a pretty sweet life

While I’m ready to be making some changes in certain areas of my life (and in some areas have already started to make some shifts), I feel like I’m just doing some fine tuning. I’m in love with the life that I’m living and the people that I’ve chosen to surround myself with. St. Lucia solidified for me how awesome life really is and I came back feeling energized to continue enjoying every single moment. I was also so thankful to be in a place where I could leave my normal day-to-day and enjoy an incredible 8 days of sunshine, beauty, delicious food, new adventures and wonderful people.

9. Make it happen

On our final day at Balanbouche, Meghan did a workshop on making it happen. She guided us through a meditation that asked us to find our ideal day in our ideal life, and through a series of exercises, we determined steps to push past our barriers and harness our greatest and absolute potential. It’s great to have ideas, hopes and dreams, but it really comes down to making them happen and this trip inspired me to keep reaching and working hard to get to exactly where I want to be.

10. Twinkle, sparkle and shine

February is generally a very hard month for me. As I’ve already said, I came home from St. Lucia happy, calm, grounded, excited and loving life. People said I was glowing. While I usually pride myself on having a happy, positive demeanour, it felt so good to be coming back from my trip and starting the month in such a great place. I feel like the best possible me when I’m sparkly.

This is One Sparkly Soul

2012-01-31T07:30:00.000-05:00

I’m back from St. Lucia feeling happier, lighter, calmer, sparkly, inspired and nourished. I can’t wait to share all of my adventures, learnings and excitement with you. I’m still going through the hundreds of photos I took, and jotting down lots of ideas on how to share everything here on the blog. Between the yoga, meditation, beaches, sights, people, inspiration, education and incredible food, it’s a lot to cover.

One of my roommates told me today that I was glowing, and I think it’s because I’m full of sunshine, love, happiness, joy and a whole lot of mangoes, coconut and green stuff. It was life changing and I am so thankful for the experience…

Sorry I can't come to the phone right now, I'm busy nourishing my soul

2012-01-21T13:01:00.000-05:00

I write this from the airport on Saturday afternoon as I'm preparing to board a flight and leave all the snow and cold behind! I'm so excited to be off to St Lucia with Meghan Telpner on her 4th annual Nourish Your Soul retreat! I can't wait to tell you all about it when I'm back. Until then, I'll think of you all when I'm basking in glorious sunshine in the beach

The Random Fact Game

2012-01-17T07:35:00.000-05:00

My sweet friend Ali over at Not Hip Enough to Blog tagged me in this fun this little game and it’s been awhile since I’ve done anything like this so I thought I would play along!

Eleven Random Facts About Moi

1. An experience with a giant albino catfish that lived in our home aquarium when I was 6 years old made me really afraid of fish. Yes, fish. I nearly conquered my fear but then had another really horrible experience when I was in my early 20’s involving the death of an eel. Aquariums and fresh water lakes freak me out big time.

2. I live with 3 dudes. This surprises a lot of people, but with the exception of a few months last year when Nicole lived with us, I hadn’t lived with females since I was 13. We have a great dynamic in our house and I’m really lucky to live with such cool, intelligent, eclectic people.

3. I wish I had kept up with art. I always enjoyed drawing and crafts and being creative when I was a lot younger, but gave up art class for drama and music instead. One of my goals this year is to get back into that my doing more crafts and I’m planning to start an art journal.

4. I read the book Before I Go To Sleep in about 48 hours over Christmas. It was chilling and addictive. Go read it.

5. Before I moved out on my own, I didn’t know how to cook. It’s funny that cooking and baking has become such a big part of my routine. I started off simple and moved on to more complicated things, but I definitely learned. I’m still don’t have awesome knife skills, and I’m definitely more comfortable when I’m using a recipe, but I think I’ve come a long way.

6. I rarely ever wear pants. Usually only at the gym or lazing around the house, and I wear jeans maybe once every couple months. I’m always in a dress or a skirt.

7. Last year I discovered that I was 5’7. I thought I was 5’6 for much of my life, but at my physical last year my doctor told me I was 5’7. I’ll take it.

8. At the end of February I’m going for a colpopscopy after 2 abnormal pap smears in 6 months. I would be lying if I told you I wasn’t freaking out a little bit and have cried more than once over it. After talking with quite a few friends, I’ve realized that it’s rather common (why the f do they call them “abnormal” then?!) but it’s still not fun to have to wait to see a specialist and have an invasive medical procedure done. Think good thoughts for me. I’m planning a blog post about this ‘abnormal’ business.

9. For a long time, I thought twitter was really stupid. Then I got it. And fell in love. And haven’t looked back.

10. My favourite Spice Girl was Ginger Spice. In the eighth grade my nickname was even Ginger or Geri (it also helped that I had red hair and ‘developed’ early) I was disappointed when Geri left the band, but followed her career after her departure. I definitely own more than one of her cd’s, both of her books, her yoga DVD’s and have multiple autographed photos. One of my favourite concerts ever was the (reunited) Spice Girls at the Skydome a few years ago. I danced and sang along to every song, squealed a lot and maybe shed a tear or three. My ~~not-so~~ inner teeny bopper was thrilled.

11. I feel things really intensely. It’s a blessing and a curse.

Ali’s questions for me

1. What is your middle name?
Jacqueline. After my dad’s only sister.

2. What is the best movie you've ever seen?
I love Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I love love and the relationship between Joel and Clementine is so crazy, beautiful, tragic and real. I’m lucky if I don’t start crying at the beginning of the movie, but I’m getting better since I’ve seen it many times now. “I loved you on this day. I love this memory.” I’ve experienced love a few times in my life, and even when it ended badly, I don’t think I would want to go back and erase it all.

3. If you could see any band/artist in concert, who would you choose?
I recently scored tickets to Snow Patrol right after my birthday, which makes me really happy.

I would love to see Bernadette Peters in concert. I think that would be unbelievable.

4. Dog or cat?
We never had dogs growing up and while I do love them now, I’m definitely a cat lady.

5. If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?
That’s such a big question… I think I would want everyone to be more tolerant of one another. Get rid of the bullying, racism, negative stigmas and general judgement. We’d all be a lot happier and the world would be a better place as a result.

6. What do you do to recharge?
It depends. Sometimes recharging means spending time with one or some of my best girlfriends for giggles and dancing and good stories. Other times I prefer to recharge on my own snuggled up with a good book and cup of tea. It depends on how I’m feeling and what it feels like I need.

7. What would an ideal weekend look like for you?
An ideal weekend for me would include time at my Weight Watchers meetings on Saturday morning, followed by a nap in the afternoon and probably some tea. I would then do some shopping at Damzels and Tabula Rasa and some of my other favourite stores in the east end. I would spend time getting ready whilst eating sushi and putting on a dress to head out with my girlfriends for a night of martinis and dancing with probably some live music. I’d have time to sleep in on Sunday morning, maybe snuggle with a cute boy before heading out for a late brunch and enjoy a day walking and talking in the sunshine. Good friends. Good food. Cute boy. Dresses. Sunshine. Win.

8. What is one thing you wish you could blog about but you feel like you can't/shouldn't?
I hesitate to swear on my blog. In everyday conversation I tend to swear a lot more. I keep it pretty PG-13 on the bloggy.

9. How many hours a week do you spend watching tv?
0. I don’t have a tv.

10. If you could do anything with your life to make money, what would you choose?
It sounds really contrived, but just something that made me happy and allowed me to help others in some way. I aspire to keep things simple and keep smiling.

11. What is your favourite smell?
I’m really digging this Vanilla Coconut fragrance by Lavanila I found at Sephora a couple weeks ago. I had been using a coconut body spray for a long time, but this stuff is even better. I also really love the smell of men’s cologne.

I’m totally going to break the rules and not tag anyone… but if you’d like to go ahead and answer Ali’s questions, you’re more than welcome to!

Did you learn something new? Any random facts I should know about you?

nothing happens and nothing happens and then everything happens

2012-01-16T07:30:00.000-05:00

I kinda wish I could go back and tell the gal in the top photo (who at the time was really unhappy, stressed, not really healthy and pretty good at keeping all of that under wraps) that everything would work out just fine.

Keep Calm and Sparkle

2012-01-09T07:30:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity and so far January is whipping right along. I hope everyone had a lovely holiday season. As I mentioned in my last post of 2011, I was ready for the year to be over and the was solidified for me in the last chunk of my “vacation”. I did do some really fun things in December though, like hit up the symphony for the Messiah, sing some carols with my dear friend Lindsay, had some gal pals over for dins and made my first ever gluten free vegan donuts.

The donuts were a pretty big success, and I’m excited to make them again. They were another awesome Babycakes recipe!

New Year’s Eve was a blast. I led 3 Weight Watchers meetings in the morning, decked out in a sparkly dress, sparkly nails and tiara

I had a lot of fun recapping 2011 with my members and looking ahead to the year to come. January brings some pretty kick ass energy to Weight Watchers meetings and I’m excited for everyone’s continued success! I enjoyed a great dinner, some Pure2Raw apple pie parfaits for dessert and a really fun party with bubbly and a kiss at midnight.

So far 2012 has been super busy! I’m going to post a food recap later in the week including some yummy restaurant eats and some recipes I’ve made at home, including the delicious dins I enjoyed with my sweet friend Reggy on Saturday night

Some good things coming up on the bloggy – food and fashion! I’m excited about both. Also excited that in less than two weeks, I’ll be nourishing my soul in St. Lucia. Another good thing? My appearance in Hello! Canada this week talking about Weight Watchers.

So far 2012 is pretty okay.

for good

2011-12-27T08:00:00.000-05:00

I’m really excited to be heading into 2012.

It’s been quite a journey over the last two years, and for the first time since 2009, I feel like I’m starting off a new year standing on solid ground.

Now don’t get me wrong, there have been a lot of good things in 2010 and 2011, but I really feel like they’ve been two really big years of transition. I really started to realize this after a number of conversations in the last couple of weeks coupled with looking at a whole bunch of old pictures (thanks Facebook Timeline)

The pictures from the end of 2009 make me especially sad. I looked sick. And truth be told, I had stopped eating, so this fact isn’t surprising. I was so stressed and sad and lost and heading into a crazy, new life without the partner that I had spent the last 3.5 years growing alongside. Our break up was absolutely the right thing for both of us, but it hurt immensely and meant that 2010 was an even bigger year of change that I had originally anticipated when I quit my job and decided that I was going to go back to school. While I enjoyed many parts of 2010, I also spent a lot of time figuring out who I was, what I wanted and how I wanted to be spending my time.

2011 brought lots of good things, but was really up and down in a lot of ways. I went back to work full time in March, which made me feel like a big fat failure. Isn’t that what I was fighting against? Slowly I began to realize that I had made the right decision and that working full time as an executive assistant was a pretty okay thing, and that it gave me time to do all the things that I loved. I also realized that I didn’t want to be a nutritionist, and that this fact was perfectly fine. I loved nutrition school, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do as a career. Working 9-5 also meant that I was free to perform, and in the last 2 years I’ve had some amazing opportunities to be onstage with some incredibly talented people in musicals, concerts, and cabarets, including 3 Ashleyx2 shows.

Ash bought me Kristen Chenoweth’s book (gosh, I adore Kristen. I think we’d be such good friends. And how wonderful is Ash for getting me such a perfect gift?!) for Christmas, and I couldn’t stop thinking about this song while I finished reading the book on the train home from Belleville.

“Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better, but because I knew you, I have been changed for good”.

The people I’ve met, the experiences I’ve had, the friends I’ve counted on, the places I’ve been, the tears I’ve shed, the mistakes I’ve made, the victories I’ve had – all of these experiences over the last 2 years have absolutely changed me to be the person I am at this very moment.

Who knows what the future brings, but I’m ready for it.

2012, here I come.

This is my Winter Song to You

2011-12-05T07:30:00.000-05:00

The last few weeks have been crazy and awesome and hectic and hilarious. I can hardly believe that it’s December!! This week marked the beginning of what I like to call the Holi-month and I had a blast with a lot of wonderful people at some great events.

On Tuesday I went to Hip and Urban Girl’s Champagne and Cookie Party with my sweet friends Reggy and Christine.

I promise, that if you put 200 women in a room with cookies and booze, there will be madness! There weren’t a ton of gluten free and vegan options aside from the BabyCakes snickerdoodles that I brought

and the delicious cookies that Reggy made (there was almond butter and cranberries involved, they were pretty fantastic) I think my favourite moment in the evening was a toss up between coming upon Christine with a platter of a dozen cookies in front of her, each of which had a single bite taken out of it

or the discussion Reggy and I had with the rep from Ohhh Canada about Tenga eggs making wicked stocking stuffers. Both moments were pretty amazing. Thanks to my Charlie’s Angels for a super fun evening and to Val for hooking me up with the tickets!

On Friday night I headed to the Cameron House with a some of my favourite friends for Graydon James & the Young Novelists’ cd release party.

The show was fantastic. They have some incredible harmonies, heartbreaking lyrics and the whole band is wickedly talented. The crowd at the lovely Cameron House had a stellar energy, which was enhanced for me by the fact that I had one of my besties on either side of me. And did I mention that there were cupcakes and tea goodie bags?? They are a fantastic band to see live and it was a pretty magical evening. Go. Buy. The. Album.

Finally Saturday I had my own chance to be on stage spreading some festive cheer in another Singing Strong cabaret in support of Buddies in Bad Times theatre.

I had a blast singing with some amazing singers (including my dear friend Lindsay), fabulous musicians (including Tara on keys) surrounded by a really fun audience and some great repertoire. There was an eclectic mix of tunes including some musical theatre, pop and jazz along with some holiday favourites that I got to sing lead on including Baby It’s Cold Outside (which is actually a creepy song…) and Baby Please Come Home.

Linz and I also sang Wintersong, which is just such a beautiful song. It’s an amazing thing to be able to take our friendship to the next level by singing in harmony with one another! I also got to sing Christmas Lullaby from Jason Robert Brown’s Songs for World (which is one of my dream roles) And of course the evening was made even better by the fact that there were some really awesome people in the audience to see me AND I was wearing a Damzels dress, which is always a good recipe for a perfect show. It was a brilliant evening and a great way to kick off the holiday season!

My holi-month continues with a party tonight, at least 3 pot lucks in the coming weeks, some more singing engagements and an evening at the symphony for Handel’s Messiah next week!

Do you have any fun plans for the Holi-month? What’s your favourite holiday tune?

PS – did you know I was nominated for a 2011 BroadwayWorld Toronto award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical? If you have a minute, please vote!!

Saying Goodbye to My Tea Club Gals

2011-11-25T08:00:00.001-05:00

When I made the decision to go back to the office world in February, I had no idea that I would:

a) be changing jobs less than a year later
b) have made such an incredible group of friends along the way

It seems that November is a favourite time for change for me and with everything that’s changing, I’m really excited for what’s down the road. The corporate world is a funny place and I’m incredibly thankful for the opportunity that fell into my lap, to return to a company where I spent close to 5 years. No, it’s not nutrition school, nor is it a full time performing gig, but it allows me to do everything that I love and gives me some pretty awesome perks.

When I started at this office 9 months ago, I was immediately welcomed by an amazing group of people who I sat with. We weren’t really in the same department, but our affinity for tea brought me closer to their little circle.

And boy, have we drank a lot of tea.

Oh yes, the tea. After NourishTea sent us their line, we made a really great connection with Dan at Herbal Infusions. Dan let me come in and pick out a wide variety of teas for us to try and we had a lot of fun sampling everything over the next few months. We’ve since gone back into his shop many times and there are certain favourites that have definitely immerged.

Amanda swears Lapacho Orange Vanilla and is convinced that due to its antibacterial properties, it has boosted her immunity. In cleaning out my emails at my job I found some pretty hilarious descriptions of other teas “This tea is like a minty fairy. But fairies can be evil when they sit still too long” – of the mysterious minty tea in a pouch, “It smells like…poached pears. And cinnamon. And HAPPINESS.” of the Snow Love and “Drinking this tea is like kissing a boy who uses anise-flavoured toothpaste. Trust me, I would know” of the coolmint licorice.

Kayla loved the Vanilla Bean Chai (and was excited to find that the tea fairy had left some on her desk last week) and Caileigh loved the fruitier teas and rooibos’ like the goji / pear / melon and green rooibos punch. Alessandra and I have stopped by the shop together more than once and Dan has been awesometown in accommodating us.

If you’re in the Spadina/Queen area, be sure to check out Herbal Infusions and go talk to Dan about tea. His blends are awesome and the shop has a wonderful vibe. If you’re lucky, there will be more events like the tea cocktail workshop which will help take your tea to a whole new level!

Tea time gave us time away from our desks to vent, giggle, yell, laugh, tell silly stories and generally bond. I’m so thankful for this time together and the friendships that I’ve made. These girls have helped me get through a lot this year and it made our work environment that much more fun. I’m going to miss our walks to David’s in the PATH, the weekly tea smell fests whenever any of us bought anything new and our daily tea times in the kitchen. I know that we’ll remain friends and have tea time outside of our cubicles, but it just won’t be the same.

And I have a feeling that my new coworkers are going to think I’m a freak when I show up with half a tea store of my own. But who knows, maybe I’ll turn them on to something new!

Cheers to new beginnings and wonderful friendships. I’m gonna miss you gals xo

What Really Happens When Vegan Bloggers Get Together

2011-11-22T07:30:00.000-05:00

Other than the obvious delicious food…

We have to take pictures of said delicious food

but at least when you’re doing it in a group it looks less weird. Unless you take off to another table to get better light and background…

which is quite normal in our circle.

Thanks to Carol at Belmonte Raw for hosting an amazing lunch for a wonderful group of hungry vegan gals! It was a fantastic evening with great conversation, lots of giggles, general merriment, tweeting and of course incredible raw food. I’m thankful to know Carol, Camille, Marlie, Candice, Nicole and Dani and love our time together!

To My Mother on Her 50th Birthday

2011-11-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

If you were alive, I think you might smack me for announcing that it was your 50th birthday right here on the blog. I wonder if we would have had another surprise party for you, like the one that we had sometime in the early 90’s. I remember playing DJ that night and getting really excited when we played the NKOTB birthday song for you. I think you would have looked good for your age and it would have been a ton of fun to celebrate such a milestone with you.

I posted a picture of us on facebook this week. It was the one taken at Brenda’s wedding when you were wearing that fuchsia taffeta dress and (as someone pointed out) a flower in your hair. People commented on how beautiful you were and how much I look like you. It’s always so flattering when people say that I look like you, because you were stunning, but at the same time it’s hard to hear it too. I wish you were around now so we could compare our resemblance.

I wrote a list this week of all the things I wish I could talk to you about. I’m so lucky to have so many amazing people in my life to talk to, but there is always part of me that wishes I could get that call from you where I could ask your opinion on decisions I need to make or make you laugh with some of my outrageous stories or have you comfort me in the times I need you most. I’ve felt so manic this week due to everything that’s been going on lately, good and bad, and of course today.

Every year I tell myself that I’m going to be fine. November pops up and I decide that the 11th is going to be just another day and that I will reflect on the good memories we had together, rather than your death and continue moving forward. Maybe it would be easier if it wasn’t Remembrance Day because every single poppy reminds me of you and this year it’s even more in my face since it’s 11-11-11. Yah sure it’s “just another day”, but it’s your day and I know that I’ll never forget that.

Ash and I had our third cabaret a few weeks ago, and the theme was people/things that inspire us. While I had sang it at our birthday cabaret, I knew that I needed to sing this song again for you. In our short time together, your existence has inspired me to be the person that I am today and I feel incredibly blessed for the 13 years we had together.

I can’t think of a better gift to give you on your 50th birthday than a song that reminds you of my love. I wish you were here for me to tell you myself.

Happy birthday mum. I love you.

Wanna Win a Spot in Meghan Telpner’s Fab Uplift Detox Program?!

2011-11-07T07:30:00.000-05:00

Update: Congratulations to Nicole for being selected as the winner! Please send me an email and I’ll have Meghan & her team send you your prize!

t’s no big secret that Meghan Telpner is one of my heroes.

She is pretty much the queen of awesometown and I’m always excited to hear about her latest and greatest endeavours. (also thrilled that in less than 3 months we’ll be in St. Lucia together!!) I was super thrilled to read about her latest program – The Fab Uplift Detox program and am looking forward to playing along! Registration opens today and 1 lucky reader of Dancing Through Life is going to have the opportunity to join in for free! Keep reading for more details and all the fun…

Even when we know the right things to do - it is so easy to get derailed by the busyness of everyday. Suddenly that time when we can eat the best food possible, look and feel amazing becomes some foggy lensed vision of the way off magical time in the future when we have all the hours in the world.

You know what I'm talking about, right?

Well, Ms Meghan Telpner, the Toronto-based nutritonista you may know from her blog Making Love In The Kitchen is here to the rescue. She has put together the ultimate detox program.

Now this is not one of those lame, cheesy fad detoxes that requires you to starve yourself while pumping your bod full of supplements and laxatives. No way. Not her style.

Meghan and her team have put together a Food Detox! The ladies over there have named it The Fab Uplift Detox Program. And wouldn't you know - she is giving away a few spots in this program!

If you play your cards right (or in other words, enter), you can win one of the limited number of spots in The Fab Uplift Detox Program. The program is valued at $79, though if you register on Monday, November 7th, the cost is just $69 and you can live anywhere in the world to participate.

This cleansing detox is about rebooting your system and getting a fresh start. It is designed to help identify and eliminate hidden food allergens, boost immunity, shed a little poundage but most importantly, support you in kicking those icky food habits and cravings that tend to derail us.

Included in the program is all of the following:

A full 16-Day Detox Program ebook which you can download immediately upon registration.
- 4 day pre-cleanse coaching tips and recipes.
- 8 Day Cleanse program including meal plan, shopping list and recipes.
- 4-Day Post Cleanse guidelines.
- Loads of info on why you should detox, what it means to detox, what this detox entails, and how to keep it going after the sixteen days have passed.
A daily email offering tips and support, progress, and bonus recipes.
Daily tweet coaching tips throughout the day (follow at #fabdetox)
Group TweetChat on Sunday, November 20th at 9:00pm EST
Live stream video chats with Meghan and her team (Scheduled for Friday November 18th and Friday, November 25th at 11:00am EST)
Email support throughout the main eight days of the detox with Meghan’s resident nutritionists Alexa and Jill
Extra sweet incentive: At the end of the cleanse, send in a before + after on how you feel or a general testimonial and you will be entered to win some of our most fav detox goodies from some of our most fav detox loving brands.

You can get full deets on the program over on Meghan's website. ~~Please leave me a comment below to be entered for a chance to win!~~

~~You can earn extra entries by:~~

~~following me (@ashleydtl) & Meghan (@meghantelpner) on the twitter~~
~~tweeting about the giveaway (hashtag is #fabdetox)~~
~~blogging about the giveaway~~

Be sure to leave a comment letting me you did any or all of the above. Contest closes Thursday November 10th at 11:59pm and I’ll be randomly drawing one winner from all the entries. You can be anywhere in the world to win. Good luck!!

My Favourite Bakery: Babycakes NYC

2011-10-31T08:26:00.001-04:00

It’s no big secret that I adore Babycakes in New York City.

I didn’t get to visit for some strange reason on my first trip, but absolutely made more than one stop on my second go round.

What’s not to love about an adorable retro bakery that serves gluten free and vegan baked goods that are absolutely delicious?! Donuts and cinnamon buns and cupcakes, oh my!

I picked up the newest Babycakes cookbook when I was in New York and have been having fun making my own treats since I’ve been back. From adorable chocolate cupcakes ~~_{that I may or may not have made for a boy because it was his birthday}~~

to sweet snickerdoodles

and oatmeal cookies that my roommates went absolutely bonkers for

So far the book hasn’t steered me wrong and those around me are thrilled at the prospect of delicious baked goods!! It’s a great way to cope until my next trip to NYC.

And I still want to make donuts someday soon. I just need to find an inexpensive donut pan.

Have you been to Babycakes? Do you have any favourite baking recipes?

Belmonte Raw aka My New Love

2011-10-26T07:34:00.001-04:00

A few months ago I heard that there was going to be a new raw food place opening up in my neighborhood and I got pretty excited. Last weekend when I had brunch with Lisa and Carol that anticipation started to build as Carol told us more about the restaurant and then it grew even more so when I saw the Twitter updates of the doors being open.

On Saturday I finally got to visit and was blown away.

Belmonte Raw is everything that I hoped it would be and more, especially since it’s down the street from my house in the heart of Leslieville at 1022 Queen St E. The decor is simple and pretty and our server was positively delightful. The dine-in menu consists of mains that will rotate each week along with 2 daily salads plus an assortment of juices, smoothies and desserts with a commitment to local and organic produce.

I met up with Dani and Lisa by chance when I arrived, and both had opinions on what I should order. My meal got off to a lovely start with a Happiness juice

which was an amazing mix of grapes, grapefruit and pear. It was all kinds of awesome. For my main, I opted for the burrito

It was unbelievably good. A collard wrap with jicama, tomato, veggies and a nut-based taco filling served with dehydrated tortilla chips and 3 dips. The cheezy sauce that came with the chips was out of this world. Why bother eating cheese when you can have sauces that are cashew based and taste just as rich and creamy with so much depth of flavor?! The wrap was amazing too.

I find that sometimes raw food can be way too heavy when it relies heavily on nuts and seeds to make it good. Belmonte Raw has found a great balance between food that is delicious, nutritious and going to keep you full. At the end I found myself dipping the collard wrap in the cheezy sauce because it was just that good.

Dani and Lisa told me that I had to try the chocolate, and who was I to argue?

It was like the best Reese Peanut Butter cup ever without the crap they put in Reese Peanut Butter cups, because it was entirely raw. I loved every single bite.

My meal was the perfect fuel for my crazy Saturday (pictures and video from the Ashleyx2 cabaret to come!) and I even grabbed a beet salad to take with me for later. I didn’t end up eating it for dinner, but the next day, and it was delicious as well.

I told Carol that I’m vying for her best customer award since it’s right down the street and an amazing option for healthy, scrumptious, take away food close to home.

Found this great reminder to “live what you love” in the rest room and took that message to heart as I headed to my show!

Belmonte Raw, it’s official: we’re in love and there’s no turning back!

Guess What I’m Having For Breakfast Tomorrow…

2011-10-24T21:55:00.001-04:00

Canadian vegans rejoice…

Found coconut milk yogurt at the Big Carrot tonight!! Hopefully they’ll be quick in bringing the Greek style one too.

Seriously way too excited about this…

Something Rawlicious to Get Me Through a Crazy Week

2011-10-21T09:26:00.001-04:00

I’ve sorta failed on the Vegan Mofo front this week… but it’s been non-stop rehearsals and a million things going on. Next week I will be better and I promise some SWEET content with NYC details and an ode to a bakery that I lurve. Promise.

One thing I did do this week was stop at Rawlicious before rehearsal on Monday and enjoy their seasonal menu whilst sitting at my favourite solo window seat in the Yorkville location

Holy jeeze yum. Stuffing and cranberries in a green wrap with side salad was the perfect mix of savory and sweet. Who says that raw food can’t be warming??

Ended the meal with raw vanilla cardamom ice cream. It was divine. So divine, the full bowl pic didn’t even make it into my twitter stream

They got the empty bowl while I was proofing the Ashleyx2 program for tomorrow’s cabaret! I hope to see you there! If not, we’ve got a videographer coming and will be posting lots of content from the show on youtube. Exciting!!

Just Your Average Saturday

2011-10-17T07:30:00.000-04:00

Saturday was ~~a crazy day~~ a normal day in my life:

7-12:30 Weight Watchers

We had 3 awesome meetings and talked about Thanksgiving victories and learnings, setting your kitchen up for success and my awesome new (totally vegan) shoes. I think my meetings have a fashion show component to them sometimes…

12:45 – 2 Brunch with two awesome gals at Fresh

Was so happy to meet up with Lisa and Carol for brunch at Fresh. Carol got there early and managed to score us a table, which was amazing because brunch there is INSANE! The two of us started off with almond java smoothies

It was oh-so-delicious and a perfect start to the meal!! I knew it was going to be a crazy day and I was kind of starving, so I opted for the pancake platter

Blueberry almond pancake, scrambled tofu and tempeh bacon made for a whole lot of deliciousness!! The scrambled tofu isn’t my favourite at Fresh, but the tempeh bacon and pancakes are pretty incredible. The gals and I had a great catch up, and Lisa and I expressed our excitement for Belmonte Raw’s restaurant/takeaway opening in Leslieville very very soon! It was the perfect brunch with amazing company and wonderful food.

2:30 – 5:30 Ashleyx2 rehearsal

Our show is just around the corner and we couldn’t be happier! We have a great set list and can’t wait to share our songs with an audience. Be sure to check out our latest promo video. We also just solidified that we’ll be having our after party at The Central which will be a lot of fun! Join us on Saturday!

6:30 onward Party errands, preparation and party…

We had a little party at our house in honour of Thanksgiving and Halloween. I wore this:

And talked in a Minnesota accent all night, proclaiming my desire for world peace. It was all very Drop Dead Gorgeous and very very fun.

How was your weekend?

A New Musical Vegan Friend And Goodies From Louisiana

2011-10-13T08:21:00.001-04:00

Back in September I caught a tweet from Lindsay at Cook Vegan Lover promoting her third annual care package swap. I jumped on board and a little while later received an email with details on my partner.

I was really excited when I checked Tanya’s blog and started to exchange messages with her learning that she was also a musician with a strong appreciation for kale! It was a lot of fun gathering goodies for her with a focus on vegan items that were from Canada. I sent her care package off, so you’ll have to wait and check out her blog to see what I got her! I was giddy when I arrived home to a giant box on Tuesday and then opened it up to find all of this:

Lots of raw treats, some Louisiana goodness including swamp water tea and hot sauce, Tanya’s cd and an adorable music themed apron!! It was like vegan Christmas!

Thank you so much to Lindsay for organizing and Tanya for sending such a thoughtful bunch of goodies! I’m so excited to enjoy all of my treats. I love how many amazing vegans and friends the blog and twitter world have brought into my life!

Eating in the Eaton Centre Just Got A Lot Easier For Us Vegan Types…

2011-10-12T07:30:00.000-04:00

I was really curious to see what the Eaton Centre would do with the sketchy foodcourt at the North end when they said they were renovating. Torontonians were promised the “urban eatery” with 900+ seats and sustainable practices including reusable dinnerware, glasses and cutlery.

I was even more excited when I heard that they were adding an Urban Herbivore. This meant that vegans had a great option right in the midst of the KFC, McDonalds and other random food court picks

I’ve now gone a couple times and I have had amazing service on both occasions.

I checked it out with the lovely Steph Belding (whose appearance in 50/50 I just saw on the weekend!! So awesome to see a familiar face in such a great film) around mid-September. Steph opted for the soup and I grabbed a curry bowl. We both enjoyed our meals and appreciated the reusable bowls (especially once we figured out where to put them once we were done!)

I went again last week with the lovely Lindsay for a lunch date and opted for a make your own bowl concoction. My bowl included brown rice, artichokes, tofu, snow peas, beets, cucumber salad and avocado. Our server was really great about letting me know what was gluten free vs. not (something I had asked less about the first time I had gone) and I found the bowl to be super filling and delicious! As Lindsay said, while all the components would be easy to make on their own, we generally wouldn’t make 6 different veg dishes to put on rice/quinoa, so it was brilliant to have so much variety all in one place.

All together now…

I love having such an easy vegan option right in the heart of the food court. I’m in the Eaton Centre at least once a week (for my Wednesday night Weight Watchers class) so it’s amazing to know that it’s there when I’m in a rush or just hungry! I’ve also found the staff to be more friendly than the location in Kensington and the portions to be more generous (that may change over time…) The price of a bowl is roughly $10 and they’ve also got juices, desserts and a soup of the day.

The new Urban Eatery also has a gelato place, complete with dairy-free gelato options. I chose peach-mango and pineapple

While it’s no SOMA or Ed’s, it was pretty delicious and a perfect treat for a Friday afternoon. I’m pleased with the changes to the food court (although apparently we’re not supposed to be calling it that?) and happy to have such a great, local, vegan option.

Vegans – what do you do when you’re forced to eat in a mall food court?

There’s No Denying It…

2011-10-11T08:00:00.000-04:00

There’s just something about Ashley…

Thank you to the amazing Rich Burdett for the photos and our fabulous make up artist Claire McClelland for making us look so pretty. Our press release went out today and our show is less than 2 weeks away!

There’s Just Something About Ashley
Saturday October 22, 2011
7:30pm

Annex Theatre
730 Bathurst St
Doors at 7pm

We’d love to have you there, and we’d also love for you to take a minute to ‘like’ our Ashleyx2 facebook page where you can stay up to date with everything we’re doing!

It’s so much fun to be an Ashley…

Gluten Free Vegan Thanksgiving, No ToFurkey In Sight

2011-10-11T07:30:00.000-04:00

No offence to the tofurkey lovers out there, but I was never a big fan of turkey to begin with, so why would I want a faux version?

The new Feist album kept me company in the kitchen… (it’s so good!)

mmmm sweet potatoes and pecans = deliciousness

Altogether now:

orange maple tempeh
sweet potato kugel
spinach salad with fennel & cranberries
(with an oil/vinegar/mustard/agave dressing)
steamed broccoli

there was also an unpictured apple / pear crumble

Lots of yumminess courtesy of my favourite nutritionista, Meghan Telpner (who just got a book deal!! So proud of you miss!) My copies of her recipes from her classes 2 years ago are so weathered and loved, I knew I was making great choices with this menu. I shared dinner with a (very happy) roommate who was also home and mention of my menu on the twitter actually garnered me a marriage proposal. It was definitely a little bit different than your traditional Thanksgiving fare, but it was delicious, nutritious and well loved.

It was a delicious meal and I really enjoyed the beautiful weather and the extra long weekend! I’m so thankful for all the wonderful things in my life: amazing friends, family, coworkers and blog readers, the opportunity to do what I love, a great place to live and my health!!

How was your thanksgiving weekend? What are you thankful for?

Because Everything is Better in an Owl Bowl

2011-10-07T07:30:00.000-04:00

Including easy peasy vegan chili

Seriously, isn’t this bowl adorable? The chili is pretty wonderful too…

Easy Vegan Chilli

1 tbsp oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 bell peppers, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 zucchini, chopped
2 tbsp cumin
3 tbsp chili powder
pinch salt
pinch cayenne
2 cans of beans – your choice (I used chickpeas & mixed beans)
1 can diced tomatoes with juice
2 tsp oregano
1 c. corn (thawed if frozen)
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tbsp agave
juice of 1 lime

In a large pot, heat up the oil.

Add garlic, peppers, onion, carrot and zucchini and sauté until veggies are soft and smelling delicious (about 4-5 mins)

Add cumin, chili powder and salt, turn down heat and cook for about 10 minutes.

Add remaining ingredients and mix everything together. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Serves 6

It was good when I first made the recipe 2 years ago, but the owls took it to a new level. I think this is the new coveted bowl in our house – I know it certainly makes me smile a lot!

Sweet Chocolate Cherry Larabar Love

2011-10-06T18:56:00.001-04:00

This morning this happened on the twitter:

and then this happened in real life:

a package arrived at my office from the gorgeous and thoughtful Dani with a chocolate chip cherry torte larabar of my own along with a sweet sweet note. It definitely brought a huge smile to my face!! Holy yummy treat and holy amazing friend. I’m such a lucky gal.

I don’t want to spread any rumours, but she’s been known to recreate larabars in the past…

So much love!! xo

Food, Fitness, Friends and Follies on a Friday

2011-10-05T07:30:00.000-04:00

TGIF took on a whole new meaning on my second day in NYC. I started with a beginner class at Physique 57. I had read about Physique 57 on Gina’s blog and after doing a bit more research before my trip, decided that I really wanted to try it since it’s something that I’ve never seen offered in Toronto.

Based on the Lottie Berk method, Physique 57 is a unique fitness experience that targets all your trouble zones through pilates, ballet and strength based movements. I traveled to the studio on Avenue of the Americas and felt instantly at home and zen in the studio. The class uses a variety of props including ballet barres, playground balls, free weights, bands and mats, and the studios are carpeted in the participants don’t wear shoes.

This class kicked my ass.

I loved the use of all the props and ballet bar. The instructor was motivating and encouraging and did a great job at giving all the gals in the class individualized attention and corrections. Outside of some of the alignment and use of props, the moves are not difficult to learn, but are done in repetition that get your muscles working! I loved the focus on areas that I feel need more work, like my hips, thighs and mid-section.
After climbing the 4 flights of stairs back to the hotel room (remember when I said I knew this would be a bad idea at some point?) I walked down to the 3rd and 14th street to meet up with the lovely Sheryl!!

We had such a blast the last time I was in NYC, I was so looking forward to hanging out again. We hopped on the MTA to make my first ever trip into Brooklyn. Sheryl wanted to take me to a vegan bar called the Pine Box Rock Shop, but when we arrived at 2pm we discovered that they didn’t open until 4 and weren’t even willing to make exceptions for two gorgeous vegan ladies. So, we changed our plans, and headed into Williamsburg to go to Champs.

Champs was awesome. Super cute decor, huge vegan baked goods, and a delectable brunch menu. I opted for scrambled tofu with tempeh bacon, salad and home fries. It was oh so good, especially after such an intense workout! Sheryl grabbed a giant vegan brownie

(she was still riding the high of her birth week) and the vegan french toast. Sheryl’s friend Amanda joined us for a little bit and I have to say that I drooled a bit over her giant cinnamon bun!!

After Champs, we headed back into Manhattan for some shopping adventures at Sephora and Trader Joe’s, although didn’t make it into the store due to the massive pre-Irene insanity. I love our friendship and our hilarious conversations and adventures. I look forward to more to come!! I love that I managed to score a free hug…

I did some wandering and shopping before heading up to Candle 79 for dinner. I’ve heard so much about Candle 79 and was incredibly excited to finally eat there! It was early, so I scored a sweet table by the window. I started with a delicious muddled berry juice to sip on along with some sparkling water. It was really refreshing but was kind of disappointed that they hadn’t perfected their own version of the “hurricane” in honour of the upcoming storm before I ordered.

For my main, I chose the Moroccan spiced chickpea cake.

I wanted more spice/Moroccan flavour from the chickpeas, but everything worked really well together and my body was happy to have the good green stuff. I loved the restaurant had a separate gluten free menu and my server was incredibly cognizant of my gfree needs. I asked for his expertise when deciding on dessert. He advised me to choose the brownie, and said that it was going to be the best brownie ever and it honestly did not disappoint!!

Chewy, dense, chocolaty brownie with ice cream and deliciousness. It was like heaven!! I’m such a dessert gal and this was ah-mazing. I had such a great experience at Candle 79 and can’t wait to go back AND pick up their soon-to-be-released cookbook!

I had been waiting for 8pm on Friday night for weeks, as it meant that I was going to be entering the Marquis theatre to see one of my musical theatre idols, Bernadette Peters, sitting fourth row centre in Follies. I started tearing up while walking into the theatre. No joke.

The show was amazing. Bernadette was unbelievable. She embodied the most magnificent performance of everything I’ve been taught about musical theatre and crushed my expectations and hopes for seeing her onstage. Seeing her sing Losing My Mind was breathtaking. The rest of the cast were phenomenal and I really enjoyed the story and of course all of Sondheim’s music. I knew many of the songs and was enthralled from start to finish. I can’t wait until the cast recording comes out so I can re-live all of the wonderfulness.

As if I needed to top the whole night off, I managed to discover the stage door and had the chance to briefly meet Bernadette and have her sign my program. There were many people around so I didn’t accost her for a photo. In real life she’s a teeny tiny person, but has such a wonderful presence onstage. It was unforgettable and worth the wait.

Seriously, delicious vegan eats, a great class, adventures with a gorgeous friend and seeing my musical theatre idol in a brilliant show - What more could you ask for in a Friday?!

How about a photo opp with a group of sailors ~~with a combined age of about 29~~ in Times Square?

Oh yes, that happened.

So Much Green Deliciousness

2011-10-04T20:14:00.001-04:00

I heart the Pure2Raw gals.

Not only are they generally all kinds of awesome, salads like this one make me heart them even more.

What’s not to love? Greens, broccoli, hemp seeds, and creamy dressing. I even bought sauerkraut for the first time for the salad. (And now that I’ve affirmed my enjoyment of the kraut, I think next time I’ll make my own) I loved all the greens, the volume, the mix of steamed/raw veg and the opportunity to use my spiralizer. Green = good. Thanks Lori and Michelle for another winner!!

What’s your fav green food?

Psssstttt – check out who else is doing Vegan Mofo and said that I was part of her inspiration.

Vegan Mofo 2011

2011-10-03T07:30:00.000-04:00

It is once again Vegan Mofo (Vegan Month of Food)! I participated in 2009 and had a ton of fun and discovered some wonderful new bloggers and was inspired to cook and post more. There are many many blogs participating and I’m so excited to be a part of such a great group. I’ll be aiming to post on all weekdays, so stay tuned! Coming up this month:

the rest of my NYC recap, including my NYC vegan restaurant spreadsheet
more cooking, recipes and cookbook reviews
some daily food recaps and treats
links to other awesome vegan bloggers and fun
lots of vegan goodness!

I’ll also be tweeting lots, especially with 1 of my fav hastags #whatveganseat. Let me know if there’s anything you’d like to see this month and be sure to share any kick ass mofo posts you find!

If 2 women named Ashley tell you something, believe it, no matter how far fetched it may seem

2011-09-27T07:30:00.000-04:00

Trust us on this one

I had so much fun with my Ashley on Sunday shooting new promo photos for our upcoming cabaret on October 22 (mark your calendars!)

There were balloons

And smilesAnd little black dresses

And lots more goodness that you’ll just have to wait for… Kudos to Rich Burdett and Claire McClelland for being a stellar team to work with. we ended the day with a great meal at Fresh

We got there just as brunch was ending, so I asked them to squeeze in my pancake order at 2:55. Did you know that their new pancakes are gluten free? Not to mention delicious. The perfect high note to end off on following the amazing shoot. I can’t wait to see the photos.

Other fun stuff coming up: more NYC goodness and Vegan Mofo! And of course more details on the next instalment of the Ashleyx2 cabaret series

The S Word

2011-09-15T08:04:00.001-04:00

Whenever I’m getting to know someone new, the subject of my mum’s death inevitably comes up. Soon after the conversation begins I know that I’m going to be asked the question “how did your mum die?” There’s always a split second where I hold my breath and wonder how they’re going to respond to my answer. People are curious and caring, but I think they expect me to respond with “cancer” or “car accident” and not “she committed suicide”.

My mum battled with mental illness for much of her life. Whether this was genetic predisposition or solely due to the events in her life, I’ll never know. I’ve mentioned before that she was the type of person to listen to everyone else’s problems for hours on end, yet bottled up her own feelings inside. It’s been one of my biggest takeaways from her death – I’ve always been an open person, but when I’m struggling I know to call on others to listen, to hold me when I cry or just give me a hug.

I learned about my mum’s previous suicide attempts the day before her death. There were events on that day which led her to take me aside and confide in me. Months prior I had been told that she had gone to the hospital due to a kidney infection, but as it turned out the “kidney infection” was an attempt to take her own life.

So begs the question, why would a beautiful woman, with 2 children, a man, family and friends who loved her deeply try to end it all? I chose not to ask her that question, but instead listened and held her while she was upset and gave her a hug. I wasn’t angry, just thankful that it had only been an ‘attempt’ and that my mother was there to tell me the story herself. That wouldn’t be the case the following day.

I’ve never been a religious person, but I remember sitting next to my mum’s body on the morning of February 24th, crying and begging for a force bigger than me to wake her up. The conversation of the previous day played over and over again and I couldn’t help but beat myself up for not telling my mum that I loved her before I went to bed. I know that my mum knew that I loved her, but there was something about the act of telling her that I felt horrible for missing out on that night.

I felt compelled to write this after quietly sobbing at my computer whilst reading Michael Landsberg’s piece on his own battle with depression and former Maple Leaf, Wade Belak’s suicide. Michael’s own experience with depression gave him unique perspective and empathy for Wade’s death and I was incredibly moved by his writing.

“I don't expect you to understand why Wade made the choice he made. It's tough for me to understand. But I do expect you to accept the seriousness of his disease. If you were saddened by Wade's death then here's what you owe him; you owe him the belief in his pain.

We can't see depression. We cant biopsy it. Blood tests don't show it. Neither do x-rays. Believing in depression takes faith, and surveys show that more than half of us are depressive atheists still believing somehow that depression is not a disease, but a sign of weakness. Wade wasn't weak. Neither was Churchill or Lincoln or Hemingway or your cousin or your neighbor or your son.

Depression is a disease. It's not an issue or a demon, although it may act like one. And if you want to honor Wade's memory, do it this way; never ever tell someone to snap out of it. And never ask anyone, what do you have to be depressed about? Start accepting depression as a serious and sometimes fatal illness.”

In the years since my mum’s death I’ve had few conversations with others who I felt really understood anything close to my own experience. Mental illness touches so many people’s lives, yet it can still be a taboo subject in our society. There are members of my own family who do not believe that we had a history of mental illness in our family.

I’ve had arguments with people throughout my life who felt those who committed suicide were “selfish” and thinking of nothing but themselves. It’s tough for me to listen to those who complain about their delay on the subway because there was a “jumper”. Well maybe your day was ruined, but think about how awful that person would have needed to feel to leave behind everything in this life; that for a moment in their life they had to choose between life and death and couldn’t see anything outside of that choice, including all the good in their life, or the fact that things could ultimately get better.That jumper was a person. A person who had family, friends and probably many people who cared for them who they were leaving behind because they couldn’t see outside the depths of their sadness, grief and despair. Let’s leave the negative stigma behind and work towards creating awareness and helping those who need it.

I was never angry at my mum for her actions, nor did I view her actions as selfish. I’ve wondered how my life would have been different if she had been around and I’ve missed her every day for the last 13 years. I’ve often felt sad that she couldn’t see the light in her life and all of the love that surrounded her but I know there are things that she was feeling that night that I’ll never understand. Mental illness and suicide affects so many people, and I’m hopeful that articles like Michael’s and this one can help people gain empathy and understanding for those people suffering and the people around them who care.

For my mum, Wade and all of the others out there, take that extra moment to tell someone you care. Or that you’re proud of them. Give hugs. Find joy in every moment. Listen to the words that people are saying and pay extra attention to the ones they aren’t saying. Live boldly. Cherish your time here. Love.

Veg Food Fair Fun and a Road Trip to Stratford (Biebs, Sweets and Swans Included)

2011-09-13T07:30:00.000-04:00

For the first time since I’ve been back from New York I was genuinely excited about being in the city. (More on my trip later in the week…) I knew that I was going to be surrounded by sunshine, delicious food and special people all weekend and that seemed to make up for the fact that Toronto has been feeling strangely foreign these days.

This was my third year at the fair and I was looking forward to once again hanging out with my sweet nutritionista friend Meghan Telpner and the awesome folks at Sweets from the Earth. (You can read about the 2009 and 2010 fairs too).

On Friday night and all day Sunday, I donned a pink apron and chatted to peeps about gluten free treats, irish moss, Meghan’s amazing life loving totes and our upcoming trip to St. Lucia while enjoying treats from Bunner’s and APieCalypseNow! and relishing in what felt like vegan Christmas / one big vegan tweetup. Desserts were definitely covered, but once again there wasn’t a ton of awesome “real” food at the fair. ~~I had something from a raw vendor that shall remain nameless on Friday which left me seriously underwhelmed and hungry.~~ I had a blast in the sunshine with lots of friends, new and old!

Sandwiched between two sweet days at the Fair, I enjoyed a road trip with Jessie (aka my little sister) to Stratford to see Camelot!

Way back in the spring I was invited to be a part of the Stratford Tweeter club, which gave me access to free tickets to various shows playing at the festival. Being the musical theatre geek I am, I jumped at the chance and with everything that went on this summer, Saturday was the first time we could escape the city.

A little research showed me that Stratford had one official vegetarian restaurant called Alpha Beet Soup. After our 2 hour drive to Stratford, we arrived to learn it had closed at 4pm. Being two very hungry veg girls, we scrambled to make alternate plans and found ourselves sharing salad, a tofu/veg curry and wine at Down the Street. My foodie pics didn’t turn out well due to the lighting, but the food was yummy and we were fuelled and ready to check in with King Arthur, Guenevere and the knights of the round table in Camelot.

Not before I took innumerable pictures of swans… I was yearbook editor in high school, and whenever we went to Stratford, our photographers would waste ROLLS of film on the swans. I would always be so irritated going through the photos of swans in every single pose imaginable. Apparently this weekend I turned into one of those people… Jessie finally confiscated my camera…

and off we went to the theatre.

The show was fantastic. I was forced to sing the Simple Joys of Maidenhood in my first year of theatre school, and was familiar with the story, but had never seen the show onstage. It was wonderful. The set, costumes and lighting were beautiful. I loved the relationship of Arthur and Guenevere. The story played out like a Disney movie for adults and the music was fantastic. Guenevere is absolutely a dream role and so is a role at the Stratford festival. We left feeling happy and giddy and silly.

Which meant a trip to Shoppers Drug Mart before we drove back to Toronto was a great idea

It was a fantastic way to end the evening and definitely fuelled our spirits for the trip back into the city. So lucky to have Jess in my life (I think I’m actually going to write a blog post about her soon…) I’m so thankful for such a fun weekend surrounded by wonderful people and so many great memories.

Did you visit the Vegetarian Food Fair? What was the highlight for you? Have you seen anything at Stratford this season?

10 Things I Learned Whilst Frolicking In New York

2011-08-31T11:52:00.001-04:00

1. I make really great company
Some people (including my grandmother) were shocked that I was going to NYC by myself. While Nan was concerned for my safety, it seemed like others weren’t sure I would know what to do with myself. Being on my own was so freeing. I had some amazing time with friends and have made some new ones along the way, but being on my own meant total freedom.

Not a single one of my friends would love doing everything I’ve done as much as I have. My vegan friends would love the restaurants, but may not dig the show lottery lines. My musical theatre friends would be first in line with me for shows but would hate all the shopping in Soho. When I came with someone last time, while he said he didn’t mind, I felt bad for leaving him as I ran off for trips to Whole Foods or to meet up with friends. It’s been so freeing to do whatever I want, when I want, and make my plan up as I go along.

2. Be careful what you wish for
After Irene shut down a lot of the city, my plans to visit some restaurants and see Sleep No More were cancelled and I was pretty bummed out, especially about the show. I contemplated getting on the phone with Porter to see if I could change my flight to Tuesday in order to see the show Monday night. After spending 20 minutes on hold early Monday morning, I resigned myself to the fact that I was going home on Monday night as planned and would just have to make another trip back to see the show before it was scheduled to close on October 8.

Around 10am I got a phone call from Porter saying that my flight had been cancelled due to plane shortages and issues as a result of Irene, and that the earliest flight they could get me on would be Wednesday morning at 8:55. I think the customer service rep was shocked by my fairly happy reaction and said that not everyone was as excited by this news. A Wednesday morning flight gave me 2 extra nights in the city and more time to soak it all up and bask in every moment. I managed to score a ticket to Sleep No More, try more restaurants and enjoy a stellar bonus 48 hours in the city I love so much. And I was perfectly ok with that.

3. Things will not work out as you planned. Go with it.
Irene definitely ruined my plans.
So I made new ones.

On Saturday I wandered in my neighbourhood. I spent some quality time picking out some new books at The Strand and enjoying a sweet chai latte while using the interweb at The Bean. I found amazing gluten free vegan pizza. I went for a mani/pedi. And had sushi. After the storm everything started opening up and I had a lovely afternoon frolicking in Soho, eating some of the most amazing vegan ice cream ever and spending the night in Williamsburg checking out a raw vegan restaurant and sipping drinks at a cute bar. Without the storm I wouldn’t have had these experiences and somehow they were highlights of my trip.

4. I love performing
Seeing brilliant theatre reminds me why I love to do what I do. I was so blessed to be able to see 3 great shows including seeing iconic musical theatre star, Bernadette Peters, in Follies AND experiencing probably the best piece of theatre I’ve ever seen (Sleep No More). Being in the audience for great theatre inspires me to sing better, act better and work harder. I love that.

5. There’s no need to be afraid of the dark
Either in a hurricane called named Irene or in a while pulled into a closet with a witch in Sleep No More. Just breathe. The light will shine on the other side.

6. Food is amazing
NYC is kinda vegan paradise. I ate so much delicious food on my trip from unexpected ice cream on a Sunday afternoon to hickory smoked tempeh in a dark cafe to scrambled tofu at a diner to pizza in the rain or enormous salads with sangria on a sunshine-filled garden patio. So. Much. Goodness. Excuse me while I run for days and probably do a juice cleanse.

7. Sometimes it’s the things you see along the way

I’m terrible for tweeting, emailing, facebooking, texting, bbm-ing and being generally connected. This trip reminded me to look at the world instead of a screen. With your head down you might miss something incredible. Look up.

8. A smile goes a long way
I’m generally a pretty smiley person, but this past week you couldn’t wipe the grin off my face. I laughed. I giggled. I experienced moments of joy everywhere I went. Even in silly moments like when I sneezed on the subway and a huge ghetto-looking dude told me it was quite the sneeze and laughed about it. Or the man who told me he loved my shoes. And the flower in my hair. And the whole “production”. Moments like that are infectious and just keep the smiles going.

9. Vacations are necessary
I haven’t had a true vacation (outside of a weekend or two away) in a long time. It was refreshing. I feel rejuvenated for the fall and ready to accomplish a lot in the next few months. And if ever I’m feeling burnt out, I know that a weekend in NYC is super easy and that St. Lucia keeps getting closer and closer.

10. Live to the point of tears
I am a huge advocate of living every moment fully and without abandon; This trip was a reflection of that. I cried on my way to the airport this morning because I was heartbroken to leave the city I feel so at home in. I know it certainly won’t be the last time I’m here and I’m over-the-moon thrilled for what’s to come.

Dear Irene,

2011-08-29T16:08:00.001-04:00

Thanks for trying to ruin my plans, but you’ve failed.

Thank you to everyone who has messaged, emailed, tweeted or facebooked me. Yes, I was here throughout the storm, but I’m a-ok. Irene definitely put a bit of a change in my plans, but I’m having a ball. I’m writing this blog post as I sit in the garden at Pure and couldn’t be happier.There will be many posts about my NYC experience, and I’ll be updating my NYC restaurant spreadsheet when I’m back, but for now let’s start on Thursday with my arrival, before Irene showed up.

Thursday was my first ever experience with Porter, and I have to say that it was brilliant from the start. I loved the fact that I didn’t have to travel up to Pearson, and that I had a beautiful view of the water and the city skyline. The complimentary snacks and wifi were pretty sweet too. My roommates had recommended the Carlton Arms hotel to me and upon arrival it absolutely felt like home. I will post more pictures of all the common areas, but for anyone who has ever visited my apartment, you’ll understand why this felt like home. I chose a room on the 4th floor and loved how feminine and pretty it felt and thought the extra flights of stairs would be a good idea…

I immediately headed over to One Lucky Duck for lunchy I opted for the taco salad. There were no seats when I arrived, but managed to grab one just before my food was ready. The salad was delish with the guac and sour cream being my favourite parts.

My afternoon happened on a whim and I was delighted by everything that I discovered. I HAD to go to babycakes and was not disappointed. That, my friends, is a gluten free vegan samoa donut. Caramel, coconut, and chocolate. Apparently it’s a Girl Scout cookie flavour? I’ll call it heaven. There’s been a lot of vegan donuts floating around in Toronto,but not many gluten free ones. I was never a huge donut eater, but this was like a party in my mouth that I never wanted to end. I also grabbed a vanilla cupcake to go. Holy amaze-balls.

I stopped at Moo Shoes, which is an awesome vegan shoe store and picked up some fab brown boots for $30. Perfect for fall and I can’t wait to wear them.

Next stop was Harney & Sons for some tea goodness! I had promised my tea club gals some of the amazing cinnamon “sparkle” tea and wanted something delicious and new to try as well. Emeric (Harney) was so helpful once again and I can’t wait to share details of the amazing teas I purchased.After shopping and wandering I tried my luck at the Mormon lottery again and failed. I then tried to win the RENT lottery and failed at that too. Luckily they had “lottery loser” tickets and got to see the new Off-Broadway production.

I was sandwiched between two other people who were singing all the words so I felt right at home. I also cried. A lot. I’ve come to really enjoy RENT and the exploration of the relationships within it. The new production has some stellar performances, amazing set/lighting and the music sounded awesome. Was really excited to see Will Van Dyke leading the band, as I was recently listening to his tunes as potential choices for the next Ashleyx2 cabaret (in the fall!)

I took a cab home, smiling all the way, excited for the days ahead! I can’t wait to continue sharing my NYC adventures with all of you…

Pure Food And Wine

2011-08-25T07:30:00.000-04:00

I almost started writing this post at 3am

I was like a little kid at Christmas last night. I woke up probably 4 times in the night, but woke up this morning feeling rested and excited and didn’t bat an eyelash at hopping out of bed at 6am.

Why you ask?

Well, my plane takes off for NYC at 8:45!! I couldn’t be happier about my second trip to the Big Apple and my vacation couldn’t be better timed. The one thing I haven’t written about from my last trip is my trip to Pure Food and Wine.

Pure was at the top of my list of places I wanted to eat at in NYC. Sarma is quite the celebrity in the raw food world, and I wanted to experience what I had seen on so many people’s blogs over and over again. It’s a fine dining raw food restaurant that has a location in New York, along with 2 takeaways. Sarma has penned two books (one alongside her ex, Matthew Kenney) with amazing recipes and photos.

I had scoured the menu before arriving but was thrown of course when our server told us about the specials and had to change my mind! I started off with a selection of nut cheeses and raw crackersThey were all so good! My favourite was the dill cheese, but the others were amazing too. Paired with the crispy crackers, they were an absolute hit.

My main is what threw me off, as I had to opt for the special when I heard about “Moroccan stuffed squash blossoms”. Having never eaten a squash blossom before, it sounded like quite the experience

My camera had already died at this point, so this was taken on a mobile camera, but let me tell you it was amazing. I’m usually a sweet kinda gal, and the dessert will always win my heart, but I think that this was actually my favourite part of the meal. The squash blossoms were kick ass and the green beans on the side were delicious. I challenge anyone who questions raw, vegan or gluten free cuisine to go to Pure and still walk away feeling sceptical.

Dessert didn’t disappoint. After seeing it on many blogs, I had to get the Indian spiced ice cream trio.

Holy yum.

It was like a party of chocolate and spices in my mouth. My favourite was the cone, which I believe was flavoured with cardamom. It was amazing!!

Our server was knowledgeable and friendly, we had delicious organic red wine, and I even got to briefly meet Sarma when we stopped in at One Lucky Duck to pick me up a salad and a juice for the flight home. I’m staying in the east part of the city on this trip and my hotel is just a 10 minute walk from Pure… so you can bet that there will be more pictures and tales of this awesome restaurant when I’m back.

If you wanna hear about my NYC adventures in real time, be sure to follow me on Twitter… otherwise I will be blogging about everything when I’m back on Tuesday!

Have a wonderful weekend. I’m off to squeal all the way to the airport…

Holy Yum at Hogtown Vegan

2011-08-24T07:30:00.000-04:00

On Saturday night I had a couple of hours to kill between shows, so I invited a couple of my lovely castmates to accompany me to The Hogtown Vegan

I had stopped by quickly about a month ago, but was dying to visit again!

The first time around I had the taco salad which was absolutely delicious, but this time I was looking forward to trying out the chickpea salad sandwich

Not a whole lot of colour going on, but this was remedied by the fact that Michelle and I had agreed to do a fry/collard greens combo

Holy yum. I looooooved the chickpea salad sandwich. The filling had lots of dill and the flatbread was spicy, soft and very pancake/dosa-like, making for a stellar combination. The fries were crispy and delish and the collard greens were fantastically garlicky. The gals loved their food too

Michelle was excited for labelled gluten free options and was really happy with the chickpea salad. The sweet potato chips were divine.

Stefne was all over the reuben when she saw it on the menu and said that it did not disappoint!

And of course we had to have dessert

We couldn’t decide so we shared the chocolate mousse with coconut cream and flourless chocolate cake. I think all three of us had foodgasms upon first bite and then had a deep discussion about why people seem to think they need flour or other ingredients to make baked goods delicious.

These were both heavenly.

The chocolate cake was rich, moist, chewy and delicious while the mousse wasn’t too sweet, had an amazing chocolately flavour and the coconut cream was the perfect touch.

We were in vegan foodie heaven and were sufficiently fuelled to do another show!! The Hogtown Vegan has great vegan comfort food. Probably not somewhere I would eat all the time, but definitely hit the spot for a big day. Great service, especially when answering questions about gluten free stuff. I totally want to recreate the chickpea salad!!

That would be me: happy, full of delicious eats and ready to head back Into the Woods. I will definitely be going back!

1 more sleep til NYC!!!

Here Comes (Ashleyx2) Trouble

2011-08-23T07:30:00.000-04:00

Was so happy to spend this past weekend back up at Ashley’s cottage for a quicky getaway before a week of insanity with Into the Woods opening. Here’s what happened, via photos and tweets:

Cottage bound!! #squeeee
Packed @herbalinfusions minty syrup to make some stellar @tipicularfixin-inspired mojitos for the girls. Cocktail workshop post next week!
Niagara Falls, why is it raining? Not cool
I squeal when I go down waterslides #funfactfriday
Truestory RT @jonkane: @ashleydtl You squealing is not a rare occurrence, waterslides or no #justsayin
Super fun cottage afternoon/ evening. Can’t wait til tomorrow
Sleep in / brekkie / nap / beach / mojitos / mini golf. Holy amazing #girlsweekend
Mmmm mojitos @herbalinfusions @tipicularfixin
We’re about to watch @johnstamos in the wedding episodes of Full House season 4. Perfect cottage time. Cue squealing.Maybe crying.
Fireworks = all kinds of awesome
Ash & I are on our 4th costume… erm… outfit change of the day
Headin’ out to see a random band and drag the gals on some sketchy midway rides #cottagelife
Absolutely RT @JosephRanseth: “Nothing is worth more than this day” Goethe #BestDayEver
I don’t wanna come back to Toronto #pouts #sadface
There’s going to be a whole lot of nap action on the way back to Toronto
Hello Toronto

Such a fun weekend away and exactly what I needed before a big show week! Thanks to everyone who came out to Into the Woods!

Only 2 sleeps til NYC!!

Into the Woods then out of the Woods...

2011-08-18T09:12:00.004-04:00

And home before dark! I make this face once or twice in the show...

Watch for some epic sobs around :31 and :42...

We are sold out for tonight and tomorrow, but have shows on Saturday at 2pm and 8pm as well as Sunday at 2pm. Into the Woods is one of my favourite shows ever and I'm having a blast playing Rapunzel. Also excited to have some amazing friends in the audience all weekend.

Grab your tickets on the Stageworks website

I'm also squealing because as of today I only have 7 more sleeps til NYC part 2... Is there anything you think I should do while I'm there? I'm already seeing this and this (starring Bernadette Peters who has also starred in Into the Woods -- see the connection there?).

Tea + Cocktail = Love

2011-08-15T08:34:00.001-04:00

Especially when you add a Friday night and awesome people into the mix!

Herbal Infusions is an adorable tea shop at Spadina and Adelaide that is actually sponsoring our second tea club round! (Tea reviews coming soon!) The owner Dan is fantastic at what he does, has a wealth of knowledge about tea and is incredibly sweet. Last week, Kayla and I were super stoked for a workshop focused around using syrups made from teas to form amazing cocktails.

The teas used in the workshop were all blends from Herbal Infusions including Orange Blossom Oolong, Lomi Lomi, Peppermint Dream and Toasted Almond. Dan had gone through process of boiling the teas down to create simple syrups that were going to be used in our cocktails.

Upon arrival, we were treated to a sweet orange blossom made with an orange blossom oolong. The fun part about the workshop was the integration of tea facts with cocktail info. Dan knows his tea like nobody’s business and Trevor was amazing with his cocktail knowledge.

We discussed the origins of oolong tea and the process by which it is created before getting the low down on how to create the drink. The orange blossom was made with 2 parts of the orange oolong simple syrup, 1 part lemon juice, 1 part vodka and topped with soda. It was the perfect drink for summer. The syrup added a great sweetness but wasn’t overly sweet and the citrus added a nice tang.

Next up was a foam made with Herbal Infusions Roasted Almond tea. I love the idea of using such delectable teas in such creative ways. The roasted almond tea on is delightful on its own or in latte form, so I imagine that the syrup would have been that much better. I wasn’t able to try this one since it was made with gelatine and dairy, but Kayla assured me that it was delicious!

The peppermint mojito was absolutely my fav and I definitely recreated this drink for this past weekend for quality girls’ cottage time (post on Wednesday!) Dan’s peppermint blend is second to none with an amazing mix of Washington peppermint and Egyptian lavender. While slightly untraditional, our mojito was shaken (rather than stirred) as it was made with the peppermint syrup, and the shaking helps to break everything down, dilute the cocktail slightly and mix everything together in the best possible way. It was made with 2 parts syrup, equal parts fresh lime juice and rum, and topped up with soda.

Kayla helped Trevor make the last drink, which was a lomi lomi pina colada. Trevor talked about his love of tiki culture and showed us his collection of awesome tiki cups. Kayla was a fab bartender (except when she had a bit of a spill with the coconut milk – we’ll blame the fact that we were on cocktail #4 at this point) The lomi lomi tea is a tropical blend that includes aloe and pineapple; I think it would make a stellar iced tea. The cocktail included 2 parts of the syrup, 1 part pineapple juice, 2 parts rum and 1 part coconut milk. And everything is better in a tiki cup

We were given our cups based on personality. I think mine looked a little angry for me…It was such a stellar evening! Thanks to Herbal Infusions and Tipicular Fixin’s for all the goodness. Dan plans to run more workshops like this in the future and at $15, you really can’t go wrong! We were able to purchase the syrups for $6 at the shop, and if you’re interested, connect with Dan on Facebook or Twitter to get some of your own to shake shake shake some delicious tea-inspired cocktails to celebrate the last few weeks of summer.

Do you use teas in any untraditional ways? What is your favourite summer drink?

It’s Too Hot For Anything But Love

2011-08-03T07:30:00.000-04:00

Found written in my kitchen and I can’t help but agree…

With that in mind – things I’m loving from the long weekend:

My new crush, Zyz

We totally fell in love over the weekend while I was housesitting for my lovely friends Stefne & John. He is just the cutest thing on the planet.

Multiple meals at Fresh

including their new gluten free vegan banana nut pancakes with tempeh bacon for brunchy on Sunday

I don’t eat pancakes often enough. These were stellar.

Round two involved a delicious cherry blossom smoothie, a baby beach bowl and many giggles with Dani. That girl is all kinds of awesome. Love some things on the new menu. Don’t love the new prices.

Other yummy eats…
including delectable Ontario strawberries

sweet treats from even sweeter neighbours

salads with sweet potato hummus on the run

and dins with a lychee martini at Insomnia.

Also had a ball dancing with my besties at Chronologic, calling out obscenities at Rocky Horror, getting my butt kicked with the new RPM release at Goodlife and loving my hair as Rapunzel in Into the Woods

Okay so maybe Rapunzel’s love of her hair is a little more manic… but you get the idea.

Annnnnd only 22 more sleeps til NYC #squeal

How was your long weekend? What are you loving?

Remember that time I was in the Fringe?

2011-07-27T07:30:00.000-04:00

I can't believe Fringe ended over a week ago. Between seeing 13 shows, performing in 7 of my own and spending a whole lot of time frolicking in the sunshine and mingling in the beer tent, I was one busy gal. While I may not have been posting on my blog, I was popping up in various places on the internet, including a piece on Fringe on Photojunkie's blog

and my beautiful & creative friend Stefne’s tumblr

(unrelated -- I've been reading lots of fashionista blogs lately and I want to add a weekly outfit post to my blog. Stay tuned!)

I feel so lucky to have seen some pretty fantastic shows and performances. Standouts included Kim's Convenience, Tiki Bikini Beach Paradise Party-a-go-go, 5th Element, Mickey & Judy, Ellamentary, Infinitum and Hypnogogic Logic. I saw 3 shows on both Fridays and managed to squeeze the others in amid the craziness. Between 2 performer passes, some advance purchases and some comps, I was a very happy theatre-goer. It was really amazing to see so much talent and ended up feeling very inspired by the fantastic work around me. If you missed Fringe or didn’t get to see all the shows you wanted, The Best of Fringe Uptown is happening until August 5th.

Cellar Hotel went well. We had a sold out show on the first Saturday and a nearly sold out house for closing. I received some sweet compliments on my performance and it was an honour to be onstage with such a talented group of people.

But to be honest, I was really thankful when it was over.

Working 2 jobs and doing 2 shows was really taking a toll on me. I developed a cold just before opening and I just found myself exhausted. As per usual when I'm doing a show, I didn't have much time for myself or groceries or sleep or working out. It was really nice to get back to all of those things once the show had its final curtain call.

I'm now only working 2 jobs and rehearsing for ONE show.

From August 18-21 I'll be playing Rapunzel in Into the Woods. I would love for you to come out and see this show, it is absolutely one of my favourites. And playing Rapunzel means I basically stand in a tower and scream as a blonde for much of the show. Why would you want to miss that!? You can get tickets here.

Summer seems to be about seeing shows, which is totally fine by me. I was lucky enough to see Next to Normal last week as it opened at the Four Seasons. What an incredible show with some ridiculously talented performers. I knew a few tunes from the show and the basic plotline before going in, but had no idea how close to home it was really going to be. I did a lot of crying and was lucky enough to be sitting between two of my best friends. It runs until Saturday and I would highly recommend nabbing tickets if you can. I was also really thrilled to see Ashley in A Chorus Line out in Brampton, have been trying to map out some plans to catch some Summerworks shows and need to get to Stratford ASAP.

That should tide me over till I'm seeing Bernadette Peters onstage on August 25?

Oh yes, I'm back in New York City in less than a month. The squeals have already begun...

Coming up on the bloggy -- my final NYC post and some fun summertime frolicking! Also really excited to have a new digital camera (mine died in NYC), which means there will be some foodie goodness pictures coming up.

How is your summer? Did you Fringe? Have you seen any good shows of late?

Ashley Takes Manhattan–Part Deux

2011-07-12T07:22:00.001-04:00

After less than 24 hours, I was already in love with the city.

I woke up bright and early on Saturday morning to take a little solo adventure. I threw on a dress and some sunscreen, did a little google-mapping and headed to Chelsea Market to visit One Lucky Duck. While I knew that I was going to be having dinner at Pure (squeal!!), I was still looking forward to visiting One Lucky Duck for some yummy breakfast and some treats. While everything looked AMAZING I opted for some cinnamon crispies, macaroons and raw granola in a sweet pink tote. And a spanking of the smoothie variety of course!! Fresh coconut, blueberry, banana, cashew milk, cinnamon and vanilla blended together to make sweet sweet love in my mouth. It was stellar. Feeling giddy and full of deliciousness, I was fuelled up for some shopping in Chelsea which included a stop at Anthropologie where I found an amazing dress and skirt on sale for so much less than it would have been at the Canadian location.

I was thrilled for the next stop on my adventure, which was a tea date with the beautiful Sheryl!I can’t even remember how I found Sheryl’s blog, but it was certainly one of the first Weight Watchers blogs I started reading back in 2007-2008. It has been incredible to follow her weight loss journey and I think I cried when she reached her goal weight. It sounds so corny, but it was a dream come true to finally meet her in person and I loved how easily our conversation flowed and how much we had in common. We stopped off for iced tea and coffee at Starbucks before wandering around, ogling sailors and taking a speedy trip into Trader Joe’s because I had never experienced one! The two of us received lots of compliments on our outfits and Sheryl’s awesome Hello Kitty bike garnered lots of attention too.

Our time together also included a trip to Lula’s Sweet Apothecary. Oh. My. Gawd.

It was like I had died and gone to heaven in a sea of vegan ice cream. They had a huge selection of vegan ice cream, including soft serve! It was so hard to choose, but I opted for the cashew based peanut butter chip over a gluten free vegan brownie. I wish I had words to describe just how amazing this was, but it really made me long for something similar in Toronto.

I met back up with Jer and spent the afternoon wandering around Soho doing some shopping. My favourite stops included Cafe Kristall / Swarovski store where I purchased an amazing Swarovski ring (on sale, no less) and the Harney and Sons tea shop.

Jer and I had been texting when I was out with Sheryl and he let me know that he had found “tea heaven” for me and the Harney and Sons store did not disappoint! After falling in love with some of the Harney teas, I didn’t even know where to begin once we were in the store. They were sampling a variety of iced teas, which was a great place to start. I absolutely fell in love with the decaf hot cinnamon tea, which has taken on the title of the sparkle tea amongst my Tea Club gals. I also picked up some Paris tea and Peach Ginger, both of which I love. The person who was helping us at the counter was incredibly knowledgeable and obliged my many requests to smell and sample many teas. After I told him about my love of tea and about our little tea club he let me know that he was actually Emeric Harney, grandson of Mr. John Harney. How cool is that?!? Cue more skipping and squealing.

Stay tuned for part three… which will include my visit to Pure Food and Wine!!

Fringe 2011 - Join me at Cellar Hotel

2011-07-06T10:00:00.000-04:00

Oh Toronto Fringe, I love you Last year was my first time doing Fringe and I had so much fun with my cast performing our show, promoting, mingling and networking in the beer tent and seeing lots of other great shows (11 in total!) This year I'm performing in Cellar Hotel with 20 other incredibly talented performers. Last night we had our final dress rehearsal and everyone was on their game, the energy was high and all that was missing was an audienceWe open on Thursday and have shows on the following dates at the Bathurst Street Theatre (736 Bathurst)

Thursday July 7, 8:45pm
Saturday July 9, 5:15pm
Monday July 11, 12:45pm
Tuesday July 12, 6:45pm
Wednesday July 13, 3:30pm
Thursday July 14, 5:15pm
Saturday July 16, 11:00pm

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased in advance on the Fringe site or by coming to the box office one hour before each showtime.

I'm being optimistic and aiming to beat last year's record by seeing 15 shows - yikes! Wanna see some shows (other than mine) but don't know where to start?

Pick up a Fringe program or check out the website and read the descriptions for the shows. With 145 shows in the Fringe, there's bound to be something to interest everyone

Check out Derrick Chua's list of recommendations. Derrick is a superstar at seeing pretty much every show in the Fringe and is a huge supporter of the Toronto theatre community

Check out Now Magazine, BlogTO, Torontoist, Mooney on Theatre or some of the other local newspapers/websites for their picks and reviews

Follow the #FringeTO hashtag on Twitter. It's been really awesome to see how much more engaged the theatre community has been this year and I'm sure it will just continue as more people see shows and check in along the way

Take a risk and just see something! Fringe is meant to be an exciting, fun avenue for people to perform their work. Don't be like this grumpy-pants and start judging shows before you get there. You never know what you might miss if you take on that kind of bad attitude.

I'm going to try and blog about the shows that I see throughout the week and hopefully that will be of some assistance as well! And if you're hanging around the Fringe tent or catching a show, chances are I'll be somewhere in the vicinity so send me a message on Twitter (@ashleydtl) and let's hang out!

Summer of Love

2011-07-05T07:30:00.000-04:00

I’m so lucky to be surrounded by so many amazing people

Last weekend I hosted a yoga class and pot luck to celebrate the end of the 52 Days til Summer challenge and subsequently the beginning of summer! The lovely Ashley taught the class in beautiful Withrow ParkThe sun decided to hide away but that did not stop us from enjoying a fantastic class surrounded by an amazing group of women. It was really cool to bring Ash, Lindsay, Reggy, Val, Christine, Katie and Tara together for yoga and foodie goodness. I made Mexican cauliflower “rice” and roasted veggie pasta salad, Val brought a fabulous berry arugula walnut salad, Christine made a yummy quinoa salad, Katie supplied us with veggies, Linz made Meghan-inspired muffins and Reggy made almond-chocolatey muffins that everyone adored! It was such an incredible afternoon and I was so happy to bring together such a cool group of gals. I think I’m going to organize another outdoor yoga class and pot luck at the end of July – details to follow.

This week included more social time and more amazing peeps as I attended Rannie (aka Photo Junkie’s) 10x10 exhibit opening in Kensington. I met Rannie a few months ago at #loserkaraoke and it’s been a joy to get to know him and see his amazing work. Whether it be candids (like the one above) or more structured photos (like those at the exhibit) he captures something really special in his photos and his work makes me really happy. (Especially when it selfishly can involve a new profile pic – like the one below that was snapped at Code Your Art Out)Saturday brought even more fun and vegan goodness with an awesome vegan pot luck in Trinity Bellwoods, organized by the lovely Dani. Rockin’ the veggie diva button I got in NYC

Similar to Dani, when I went vegan I didn’t know many vegans outside of the blogworld or those I read about in cookbooks. The blogsphere and Twitter community has connected me to so many amazing people and I’m truly thankful for that. I had such a great time chatting and giggling with Lisa, Steph, Camille, Marlie, Cassandra, Lisa and Dani. The dessert-heavy meal was delightful and I can’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

I’ve had a lot of stuff going on in my personal life over the past couple weeks and I can’t emphasize how blessed I feel to be surrounded by such an amazing support network. I generally like to keep busy, but life is that much more fun when “busy” means frolicking in the sunshine, wearing dresses and flowers, eating delicious food and spending time with wonderful people. Here’s to much much more of that as the summer goes on!

Ashley Takes Manhattan–Part One

2011-06-27T08:00:00.000-04:00

I studied all the pictures in magazines and books
I memorized the subway map too
It's one block north to Macy's and two to Brothers Brooks
Manhattan, I prepared for you

~Thoroughly Modern Millie

You know those moments in life when you wait a long time for something and in that time you build it up in your head to be breathtaking, brilliant and wonderful? With every passing day, the experience or place gets better and more special and you can’t help but have butterflies when you think about it or can’t sleep the night before it happens? After years of waiting and a month of anticipation, that is exactly how I felt about finally getting to New York City.

I was just a little bit excited when I arrived.

Yes, that would be me skipping out of the airport.

My travelling companion was determined to make my first trip to NYC extra special which included booking us at the James Hotel in Soho. The staff at the James were incredible. Not only were they genuinely excited that it was my first time in the city, they made sure we had the best room available to us, provided me with directions, made reservations for us, let us use their driver whenever possible and even found me a blackberry charger when I realized I had forgotten mine; they really went above and beyond our expectations and made our stay absolutely wonderful. The hotel itself was stunning and our room was beautiful. I was in awe when we got into our room and then was blown away by the gorgeous flowers that arrived. There was contemporary art throughout the hotelwhich made exploring super fun. The James is also home to David Burke Kitchen, where we ate following our arrival. I enjoyed some refreshing iced tea and a really fun salad which had me fuelled up and ready to explore the city.

Times Square took my breath away. I probably stood there with my mouth agape and I think I was actually speechless (!) for the first couple minutes. It was just so alive and absolutely more spectacular than I ever could have imagined.

Being a musical theatre gal meant that seeing a Broadway show was a top priority on my trip. After hearing such amazing things, I was dying to see Book of Mormon. Tickets were not available for us to purchase prior to the trip so we tried our luck at the lottery. Well, us and probably 200 other people. We didn’t win. #sadface

With tonnes of other fantastic shows playing, we opted for Catch Me if You Can and scored wicked orchestra seats. I love Norbert Leo Butz and was just stupidly happy to be seeing a Broadway show #ridiculoushappyface

After the lottery fiasco, we needed to grab dinner fairly quickly before the show started. I was open to suggestion as I knew I had some amazing things planned for the following day, so we headed to Mr. Robata for sushi.

I’m still new at the whole sushi thing, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I certainly wasn’t anticipating being blown away by the cocktail menu even before beginning our meal. I chose the nashi spice (vodka, fresh ginger, green tea, pear puree, garnished with fresh pear) which was unbelievable. There weren’t a ton of gluten free and vegan options on the dinner menu, but I was so happy with the cocktail, that it didn’t bother me that I was eating a pretty basic salad for dinner.

Especially after my dessert arrived.

Our delightful server (who was so helpful, sweet and extra careful about my gluten sensitivity) was adamant that I try the Eggplant Compote when I told her that it was something I was considering and it seriously did not disappoint. It was pure #foodgasmic bliss! Cardamom scented eggplant over lychee sorbet with sesame coulee and pink peppercorns made for a party in my mouth with every single bite. And not only was the vegan happy, but Jer said it was some of (if not the) best sushi he had ever had. Amazing.

Catch Me If You Can was fantastic. Amazing performances from Norbert as well Aaron Tveit. The premise was similar to the movie, the music was stellar and overall I was thoroughly entertained. It felt surreal to be finally watching a Broadway show and headed back to the hotel feeling absolutely giddy and intoxicated by the city.

[source]

Part two to include some amazing foodie and shopping adventures and a dream date with one of my favourite bloggers!

The End of the 52 Days til Summer

2011-06-21T08:42:00.008-04:00

I feel like it was just yesterday that I started this little challenge and it’s been a lot of fun to coordinate and check in with ya’ll as we go through it together. Can you believe summer is already upon us?

Rather than issue a challenge for the week, I think it’s time for a little self reflection... Here’s what I’ve learned in the past 52 days:

·The scale truly is nothing but a number. Feeling good comes from the inside
· If you’re not feeling good, don’t just sit there – do something about it
· A little bit of green juice goes a long way
· I will say yes to pretty much anything at least once (sometimes thanks to Groupon and peer pressure and guarantees of giggles)
· When something small is bothering me, my inclination is to eat. When something really big is bothering me, I don’t want to eat anything. Interesting measurement of how I feel, but neither are a good idea
· I can work out in the morning and feel great all day
· I make better choices during the day when I work out in the morning
· Sometimes spin instructors say things to be motivating, but they really sound inappropriate... especially when you’re with your BFF at 7am in the morning
· Community support is integral to my success (which is why Weight Watchers worked so well for me in the first place)
· Being able to take a compliment is an important skill. Even when they’re from naked people

(And if some of these learnings seem a little bit random... follow me on Twitter and it will all come together...)

To celebrate the end of the challenge, I’m hosting outdoor yoga and a pot luck on Sunday June 26. You can check out the event invitation for details. It would be so lovely to see you there! So far there are 7 of us doing the class and potlucking afterward.

Yesterday my little sister and I enjoyed a belated birthday celebration and congratulated ourselves for all our morning workouts of late with a date at Body Blitz spa. Ladies, if you’ve never been, I suggest you get on that. ASAP. You’ll leave feeling blessed out and zen and you’ll probably have an amazing time with your gal pals. Such a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

This morning I started summer off with a bang with a 7am Attack class. Not for the faint at heart, but I was definitely still smiling when it was over.

I'm excited for the summer and to continue all the good stuff I've been doing over the last 52 days: listening to my body, positive self talk, eating well, exercising and smiling. I've also got a lot to look forward to Toronto Fringe right around the corner (with tickets for Cellar Hotel on sale now), Into the Woods coming up in August. I'm also heading back to NYC August 25-29 (I promise there's a blog post or two about my trip in the works) and heading back to Ashley's cottage for the August long weekend.

And then it'll be fall.

Thank you to those of you who participated in the challenge. I would love to hear about your learnings and what you're going to take forward into the summer. And if you haven't already, you should go check out my Nourishtea giveaway which ends on Thursday night!!

Tea Club Round One–Nourishtea

2011-06-16T07:34:00.001-04:00

I started at my new office 3 months ago. It was weird getting back to the 9-5 grind after being away for more than a year. I had ONE whirlwind day of training with the girl who had been in the job before me (for 7 years) and then I was on my own.

At my old office, I had sat in a cube with my bosses to my right and directly across from me, with the VP on marketing to my left and the President right behind me. I often felt segregated from the rest of the office, but usually I was okay with that! I got along really well with my bosses and it just became normal to me. In my new office I was seated with a group of awesome gals and on day 1 I knew I was going to fit in, thanks to a gift from my super special friend Becki.

I learned really quickly that my cubemates were obsessed with tea. And they all had matching tea mugs and I had one too. #winning

At least once a day we all gather in the kitchen for tea time, sharing our various teas and raiding one another stashes. There all had lots of teas from David’s, Tea Emporium, Herbal Infusions plus a whole lot of chocolatey chai. The girls were also really excited when I received an extra special David’s tea gift from a cute boy for my birthday.

One day I made a joke about having tea companies sponsor us and the gals started talking about their dream tea list. We talked some more and somehow my blog came up and then BAM

Tea Club was born.The idea is that each month we’ll feature and review teas from one company and in some cases (like this one!!) do a super fun giveaway so that you can try the tea goodness too!! The tea testing is very serious and scientific around here; There may or may not have even been a spreadsheet created!! There’s 5 of us testing the teas pretty seriously and a few others in our office who join in sometimes. We’ve all got different tastes so between us you’ll get a pretty diverse group of opinions.

NourishTea was amazing for being the first tea company to get on board.

We were so excited when they sent us a HUGE variety of their teas including ones we had requested and others that they surprised us with including: Midnight Campfire, Canadian Breakfast, Cresting Cranes of Legend, Sky Flies the Bird, Minty Igloo, Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearls, Warming Camomile, Emerald Path, and Rose Pink.

We were all really excited for Midnight Campfire when we read the description on the website. We were less excited when we opened the tea and took a whiff – it really smelt like a campfire!!

Amanda (who is also blogging about tea club on her amazing illustrated blog from time to time): Woah bonfire. It smells like the title says… and it is so pungent that it has stayed in my nose and made me paranoid that I smell like smoke. It's like drinking a pot of burnt rice. Which is fine. I do voluntarily do that on occasion.

Luckily things got better after the campfire.

Many of us loved the Canadian Breakfast tea. It’s a really classic black tea with a lot of warmth and body.

Kayla said: Smooth and very flavourful! Tastes as inviting as it smells. I love English breakfast teas, and I think this one is going to be a favourite.

Amanda’s tea descriptions started to get more ridiculous as we went along but this one was probably one of my favs: It's like wearing a tea cozy as a hat and cuddling with a good book by a fire after a terrible day.

We came to love the simplicity of the NourishTea brand. Many of teas in our collections are fancy-pants with lots of components, but NourishTea sticks to the basics and does them well. Minty Igloo is a lovely, refreshing mint blend (that we decided should have been our next choice after the campfire disaster) Alessandra said: It's like a fantastically amazing winter storm is in my mouth!! I feel my insides are being cleansed! I like that it's a simple peppermint. Not peppermint mixed with pears, or chocolate, or nuts. Just simple peppermint. I'm totally on board.

The green teas were pretty awesome. We all really enjoyed Sky Flies the Bird (a genmaicha green tea with such a fabulous name) and the Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearls (we’ve become a little bit obsessed with Harney & Sons Jasmine Pearls around here after I received some as a gift). We lovingly refer to the jasmine pearls as the jungle tea.

Tea is not only delicious, but it can also be really pretty.

Overall we were fans of NourishTea! Yummy, accessible teas that are pretty and delicious. Love that they’re Canadian and it makes me excited that I’m seeing them in more and more stores in Toronto including the Big Carrot, Whole Foods, Sobeys Urban Markets and Fortino’s. They also donate 5% of their proceeds to Actions Against Hunger which is an “international network committed to saving the lives of malnourished children and their families, while ensuring access to safe water and sustainable solutions to hunger”. All kinds of awesome.

Would you like to be a part of our Nourishtea tea club?

I’ve got 4 Nourishtea prize packs to give away!

I’ll be giving away 2 via the giveaway blog and another 2 for my Twitter followers today and tomorrow. Be sure to check it out so you can enjoy the NourishTea goodness too!!

Nourishtea giveaway

Get Moving!

2011-06-13T07:30:00.000-04:00

Summer is just around the corner and so far we’ve done a lot:

Week 1 – Reasons & Commitments
Week 2 – Do something that scares you
Week 3 – Eating tune up
Week 4 – More self love
Week 5 – Getting back to good habits
Week 6 – More water

This week’s challenge is inspired by the 2nd annual Walk It Challenge that I got to participate in on Sunday. I didn’t get a picture of my whole group because everyone was spread out AND my digital camera has died sadly but I think I saw about 30-35 of my members? There were about 150-175 of us in total doing the walk in the beachesI wandered around handing out Bravo stickers to my members and the awesome staff at the Running RoomLoved crossing the measuring tape finish line! Congratulations to everyone who participated and thanks for coming out!! It was such a gorgeous morning and I had a lot of fun chatting with my members in the sunshine. Watch Snap Beaches/Danforth for pictures from the event and maybe even a little video hello from yours truly?

Week 7 – Move More

This week I want to hear about your plan for activity! I’ve been seeing lots of great results on Twitter with people using the #52dts hashtag and feel really inspired!

My week:

Sunday: 5k Walk It Challenge + at least another 5k walk home
Monday: early morning spin
Wednesday: early morning class
Thursday: 2x bellydance class
Friday: early morning spin
Saturday: zumba + flow

What’s your plan? How are you going to kick things up this week?

Keep on Chuggin' - Week 6

2011-06-08T12:00:00.001-04:00

It is no secret that I love me some green juice...

(Romaine - apple - celery - cucumber - mint - lime inspired by One Lucky Duck)

And after last week's challenge, I felt great after juicing every day again! I feel so great when I juice every morning. My hair and my nails thrive and I love starting my day with a healthy dose of green stuff.

While it's not officially summer yet, the temperature is certainly rising, hitting 34 degrees in Toronto today, feeling like 40 with the humidity. And while I'm a fan of beating the heat with gelato... I've also been striving to get in lots of water! Green juice definitely has its place, but sometimes we just need to go back to basics, y'know? That's why this week we're talking about oh-so-refreshing...

WATER!

While water is not a magical substance, it is definitely important. Our bodies are composed of up to 70% water and your water needs depend on how much you're losing through your life and day-to-day activities and with this heat it's even more important to stay hydrated. I personally like to go for a minimum of 2L (8 glasses) each day and challenge you to do the same this week.

"But Ashley, I hate drinking water"

Here are my top 5 tips to make water consumption easy-peasy:

Start early - have a glass of water first thing in the morning (add some lemon and cayenne for some extra cleansing love)

Take it with you - bring your water bottle everywhere you go! Make it a super pretty one and you'll be even more likely to tote it along. Leave it out on your desk or workspace so you can see it

Change it up - I've become a big fan of sparkling water lately (VOSS is my fav, with grapefruit Perrier a close second) or try adding lemon, lime, cucumber or something fun to your usual glass

Make it tea-rrific - homemade herbal iced tea is delish. I became obsessed when I was doing my Fringe show last year and we had to drink "sangria" daily. Make a big batch and keep it in your fridge. You'll feel extra fancy (and possibly very Southern) when you can offer your guests iced tea when they visit

Use a straw - I leave a glass straw in the drawer at my office and I swear I drink water faster when I use it! Check out Meghan's super pretty signature straws - I picked one up at ReBoot and love it!

Do you have any tips to get in those 8 glasses a day?

Week 4 Update: There have been a couple of great posts in the blog world since our positive self talk challenge in week 4. Loved Ali's post on setting yourself free through choosing to love yourself and Sheryl's body image reality check post on Monday (can't wait to share with you guys how awesome Sheryl is in real life - NYC post is coming!!) I went back to bellydancing last week and for the first time in a long time I felt really great physically. So excited to be dancing again and so excited to be feeling the self love as well as thinking it.

In other fun news...

The Weight Watchers 2nd annual Walk It Challenge is taking place this Sunday June 12th at Running Room locations across Canada! I'll be doing it at the Beach location (1977 Queen Street East) alongside a lot of my members from my groups at Carrot & Trinity. We had a ton of fun last year and I can't wait to do it again! The walk starts at 8:30 and it's totally free to sign up. I didn't make a group this year as it didn't really do much last year (the Running Room wouldn't even tell me who was in my group) so sign up as an individual and come walk with us on Sunday! If you're heading to the beach location be sure to come say hello!