Back from Sweden

I’m back from my wonderful, albeit incredibly exhausting, trip to Sweden. I arrived exactly one week prior to the wedding, and you can bet that we jumped right into full wedding-mode as we hurried to get ready for the big day. It was tremendous to be with my friends again, some of whom I had not seen in five years. It felt as though not a single moment of time had passed. Erika, the bride, and I stayed up late every night, sometimes working on wedding stuff and sometimes just talking, not wanting to miss a second of the brief time we had together. 

The wedding itself was incredible. International, unique, unbelievably fun, and you’d be hard pressed to find a couple who are more in love, despite the fact that they’ve been together for 9 years.  Oh yes, and I ended up as the Maid of Honour, since the bride’s sister was too sick to attend.

Now I am home, totally knackered, recovering from jet lag and the whirlwind that has been the last 6 weeks. I had completely over-committed myself in June and July, which means that on top of the break-up,  dividing up all our possessions (exhausting and challenging beyond words) and two adventurous trips, I somehow also managed to pack in countless appointments and meetings of various kinds in multiple cities.  In hindsight, I wished I’d exercised those three little words: “sorry, I can’t” a little more often, but I somehow made it through.

However, I’ve also spent substantial time alone in airports, and in the air (I spent 10 hours in the air en route to Sweden) which provided plenty of time to read and to reflect. I’ve come to realize that no matter how hard we try to plan and schedule our lives, or think we’ve got things under control or all figured out, life has a way of taking unexpected twists and turns, and putting us in circumstances we’d rather avoid. Everything we have in life is impermanent - people, possessions, our happiness, our sadness, the good feelings and the bad, they are only with us temporarily.  Rather than look at confusing or upsetting periods of loss or disappointment as pathological, or as failures that we should have avoided, it’s helpful to realize that they are in fact an unescapable part of life.

That’s the nutshell version of where I am at the moment. I look forward to taking this weekend to getting back to the activities I enjoy. It’s been a while since I’ve had time to simply rest and enjoy myself. My agenda for the weekend will include old frugal favourites: cooking, garage sales, the market, and the library. I look forward to getting back to blogging and sharing frugal tips and recipes with you all.  As always, thanks for participating in the journey and for sharing your unbelievably supportive comments with me.  They mean the world to me!

Off to Sweden… see you soon!

I’m all packed and just about ready to leave. First stop is Toronto, where I’ll stay overnight with my sister, and then I’m off to Sweden, where I’ll be helping a friend get ready for her wedding.  I haven’t seen my friend for two and a half years! I can’t really believe it has been that long! The last time I saw her was in Kuwait; I was traveling in the Middle East at the time and she was living there temporarily for work purposes. Now she is back in Sweden and getting married next Saturday.  She is a wonderful person, a terrific friend, and I absolutely love her fiancee, too.  I have another close friend in Sweden too, and I can’t wait to see her either! I’ll be returning at the end of the month, so you will find more on Saver Queen at that time.

Thank you everyone for contributing such thoughtful comments on the blog over the last couple of weeks and for sending me supportive emails. Your friendship has been so helpful during these challenging time.

I thought I’d leave you with one quotation from the book, When Things Fall Apart, by Pema Chodren (Gail told me that she likes Pema Chodren too!)

Life is a good teacher and a good friend. Things are always in transition, if we could only realize it.  Nothing ever sums itself up in the way that we like to dream about.  The off-centre, in-between state is an ideal situation, a situation in which we don’t get caught, and in which we can open our hearts and minds beyond limit.”

Update on the potluck in the park with Gail Vaz-Oxlade

Just a quick update - I know that everyone has been interested to hear about how the pot-luck in the park was with Gail Vaz-Oxlade.  I was concerned about the weather, because it was calling for day-long thunderstorms, however shortly before Gail arrived, the weather cleared up and became an absolutely beautiful day!  ”We brought the sun with us,” Gail announced as she arrived with her kids. It was sunny, warm, and just lovely.  I was also concerned about the strike, but it turned out to be a non-issue as well.  We did have to occupy a new space, since the location I had chosen was inhabited by several homeless people, and my permit had been rendered null, but that issue was easily resolved as there was a nearby covered area that was just as suitable.  Furthermore, I had initially been concerned that there would be a huge mass of people, but as it turned out, we had a perfectly sized group - I would estimate we had about 40-50 in total.

Gail was the gregarious, funny, warm, and kind-hearted person that you know and love from the show. She was exceptionally gracious and a whole lot of fun.  It was wonderful to meet her and many of the other people I regularly hear from on Gail’s blog, such as psychsarah and h-u-g. Several of the Gail club members were there, including one who came dressed in her work apparel - as a clown!

Gail shared some interesting tidbits from the show, reminding us that we only see “snippets” but the conversations take hours to complete and often involve long arguments.  Gail says, though, that she’s never lost her temper on a couple. She also told me that she keeps the couple in her heart the entire month, so that it’s a very exhausting process.  She also said that meeting her fans and followers is the best part of the job.  One gentleman at the pot-luck said that if it wasn’t for Gail, he wouldn’t be married, and he wouldn’t have his beautiful baby boy.  It just goes to show the kind of impact that Gail has on others’ lives!

It was a lovely group of people and everyone brought delicious and nutritious food.  Thank you everyone for your contribution, and for coming to participate in the day’s events! I hadn’t planned anything exactly like this before, so I was very pleased to see it come together so nicely, and bring forth such a wonderful group.  I hope to make in an annual event!

Product review: Nestle Noir Mousse Delicate

I must apologize to Ginger over at Ginger Won’t Snap for the delay in writing this review.  I have been meaning to review these Nestle Noir Mousse Delicate chocolates for a while now.  

It’s obvious that I’ve been having a bit of a hard time lately, and chocolate is a wonderful thing to have on hand when you’re struggling - especially dark chocolate, which has natural mood-boosting properties.  

I do not have a big sweet tooth, and truth be told, I found the chocolates a little bit too sweet for my taste.  That being said, they probably would have fit the bill for many other chocolate lovers, since I have more particular tastes that the average person. What I did love about these chocolates was the filling.  While I found the outside a bit too sweet, the inside was delectable - it really does taste like chocolate mousse!  The inside was rich and creamy and the air bubbles inside made the chocolate nice and light.  I enjoyed the inside of the chocolates much more than their shell.  

The upside of rich chocolate is that it satisfies you very quickly, so that you can enjoy just a couple of pieces as a desert or a snack and feel satisfied.  You’ll feel better about yourself for having enjoyed a couple of nice pieces, instead of gorging yourself on an entire box of mediocre chocolates. That is how I enjoyed these, although I admit I did come home from a run one day and throw back three or four at a time. 

Would I recommend these? I think I would, particularly the dark chocolate ones.  I tend to prefer very dark chocolate, but many others seem to find it too bitter.  If you shy away from dark chocolate because of its bitterness, I would encourage you to try this dark chocolate selection, because it is still sweet and creamy, and does not taste bitter at all.  It was still less sweet than the milk chocolate though, and gave a better balance of flavours.

Thrifted gems

I haven’t had a whole lot of time to go thrifting or garage sale-ing lately, but I do keep an eye out for bargains. This summer I’ve managed to pop into a few garage sales here or there, snagging a great little item at a fabulous price.  My strategy is to look out for items that either have a practical purpose, or offer a collectable value, and are made of sound quality. 

When buying china or porcelain, be sure to turn it around to check the stamp on the bottom.  You may recognize the name or stamp. If not, you will still be able to venture a guess of its quality by where it was made.  England is a safe bet when looking for quality.

Above, on the left, I scored this beautiful, yet simple, James Sadler vase for $1. I thought it would look beautiful filled with flowers on my kitchen table. Sadlerware dates back to 1882, and is best known for collectable tea pots.  I could not find a trace of this vase anywhere on the internet, but it has the James Sadler stamp on the bottom.  I have no idea whether or not it has value, but it is obviously of good quality and has aesthetic appeal that suits my taste. The two milk glass vases you see there were purchased at $1 each.  They do sell for higher on eBay, but these standard milk glass bud vases are of little value, even though they are vintage (milk glass was made between the early 1900s and 1930s) because it is so common.  There are, however, many milk glass collectables that will fetch a high price.  I just think it’s pretty, and had been hoping to snag a couple of pieces.  Mission accomplished!

I visited a thrift store yesterday and managed to buy exactly what I needed - a pair of denim shorts, a simple black cotton-stretch shirt, and a light sweater, which has a nautical theme - very cute!  They were $6 each, which may be considered on the high end, but all three items were in such great condition, they seemed like new.  

I also broke my rules and took a risk by purchasing a couple of items I didn’t have a lot of personal interest in, but thought they might re-sell profitably. 

This Charles and Diana plate was one of them.

I keep finding pieces that I think might be collectible and I have been considering starting up my own eBay store, so I grabbed this plate just in case.  The store will exchange items up to 7-days after purchase, so I decided to grab it and then think it over.  Think I should keep it, or return it?

Reflections on abundance

After a wonderful trip to Newfoundland, I returned to my apartment with a heavy heart. Unsurprisingly, I am profoundly aware that someone is missing, and I would be lying if I pretended that I am not full of sadness over this loss.  I’ve also realized, though, that a lot of people are going through challenges right now.  The recession has meant that people who have worked long and hard, who have made sensible financial decisions and have attempted to mitigate risk well, are still in troubling circumstances.  And tough economic times strain our relationships, too.  I know I’m not the only one who is facing a difficult time and who is rethinking the future, or questioning the past. The best we can do is to accept that life is not straight-forward; there is no clear cut path to so-called success.  We can do our best to work hard and make good decisions, but rarely does the future appear just as we’ve planned. This is, it seems, both a hard lesson to learn and a fact of life.

I try to stay focused on the present as best I can, and recognize the impermanence of this moment. Life is changing - it changes constantly.  Things we take for granted become but memories, and angst we feel disappears into something new.

I am not trying to stop myself from feeling sadness, but rather I am seeking an opportunity to simultaneously discover abundance. Abundance means, to me, appreciating the brilliance and wonder of our surroundings. Smells, sights, textures, tastes.  Kindness, innocence, forgiveness, authenticity. Diversity, opportunity, freedom, surprise. I think the quest to seek abundance in our lives is a good one to have, particularly during difficult financial times. Instead of seeking a new car, TV or wardrobe to make us feel successful, sexy, or happy, we may come to realize that we are quite capable of experiencing life’s riches without spending a dime.

My trip to Newfoundland was a perfect exploration of all these things. Newfoundland is a place where people epitomize genuineness and random acts of kindness are performed on a daily, if not hourly basis.  A sense of community can be found anywhere, and is extended to outsiders throughout a willingness to share and be open. Most people treated us as though we’d long been best friends.

The land is vast, wild and free.  It’s so wild and raw in some parts it borders on awe-inspiring, almost frightening, untamed wildness.  And yet it produces such a strange juxtoposition of gentle beauty, its wild flowers growing with determination out of a rocky, unforgiving land.  The weather is full of surprises; an early morning of rain and bone-chilling winds quickly turn into a warm and hospitable summer day.  Moose, bald eagles, jelly fish and friendly whales crop up without warning, revealing too the unpredictability of nature, frequently repaying those who pay it respect with the currency of patience.  

The rugged land has charged its inhabitants with years of incomprehensible sacrifice, pain and hard work - drudgery - in return for survival. The pain that its early inhabitants endured only serves to remind me that suffering has always been a part of the universal human condition; that countless people before me have invested much, much more into stakes that never came to fruition, that disappointment and loneliness have accompanied every soul that has ever lived.

And so, a few pictures to share (some of my favourites)

Wild Iris, covered in dew drops on the coast of Cape Spear

Black Horse beer, consumed in St. John’s.

Old fishing shed on the water at Trinity.

Lilacs and a white picket fence at a home in Trinity. (Can’t you just smell them?)

Baby beluga whale near Princeton. I took this picture from the side of the boat as he frolicked and played with us.

Wild flowers on Walker’s Trail in Tickle Cove.

Dock in Trinity

Basement window of a home in Trinity

Puffins, seemingly having a bit of a chat, at the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve

Lobster traps in Trinity

Buttercups against the peeling paint of a house in Trinity

I have many more favourites that will be making their appearance on flickr soon.

Enjoy whatever abundance is in your life today!