Update: August 20, 2015 – Zero Texts attempt has been a fail, but I’ve greatly limited text time.
Hi lovelies. First things first, to all of you Mom’s in the world, to all of the moms at heart – Happy Mother’s Day. I hope your day was as beautiful as everything that makes you, you. And before I get on to what my day was like and how I experienced my first Mother’s Day “zero waste”, I just want to say thank you for reading this.
Secondly, I haven’t been on the blogging/internet game as hard. I’ve been changing. In a week and a half things can change quickly, and for me, I’ve been fortunate to say that it’s all for the better and I’ve been feeling so good.
One thing that is different is my desire to text less. An Auto-Reply gets sent out to anyone who texts me saying in short, call me. And in texting less, I feel I spend less time on social media and more focused on art and Life. In a week or so I feel like I will be eliminating data from my cell phone and hopefully in time the only reason why I’ll come on to the internet is to share with you my art, photography and writing. These days I feel like I need to disconnect and reconnect. While I know that I feel connected through my blogs and pages, I also know I am of something else that needs nature, solitude and adventure.
Basically – I just want to focus on my craft and work hard so I can put away money to travel across Canada and down to the states (to meet you Zero Wasters!!) and write and be an artist.
The second thing that is different is that in this short time I have accepted a partner and lifelong friend back into my Life. We are working through barriers within ourselves, practicing communication and open dialogue with the intention of love, building family and discovering what it means to grow together and separate at the same time.
I love every minute of everything that is my Life and I want to truly experience it and feel it so the internet world has not been a thing as much.
Anyway, now that I’ve gotten deep with you and shared that, here is how I experienced Mother’s Day as “zero waste” for the first time and what I learned.
Summerhay’s Bar and Grill – A great spot in the west end of Ottawa to go for breakfast.
This place has just awesome memories from back in college. It’s different now to go with zero waste in mind.
Now I know that when eating at this restaurant (and most larger ones), you should plan and remember the following:
- a cloth napkin – for now I just use a tea towel
- You could go as far as bring utensils since most have cutlery wrapped in napkins
- If I want coffee: milk and sugar in jars – today I ordered OJ and asked for an extra cup to share with my son
- Ask for no straws – and specify for both myself AND my son – it’s just a thing servers do is bring kids straws
- Bring my own drinks, like our own water bottles – because it’s happened many times that I say no straw and they bring one anyway. You also save money.
- bring my own colouring books and pencil crayons for Nathen – he likes to rip off the paper on the crayons and take the pictures home – not sure if you remember but I’ve been trying not to keep all of his art in an effort to stay minimal
- If they offer wet naps, you’re good to say no because you have a cloth napkin that you can pour water from your water bottle on and use to wipe down sticky fingers. If you have no cloth, just wash your kids hands with water.
- Bring your own condiments, avoid them or be creative – I ordered a waffle with my son and said no icing sugar and no maple syrup. He also loves jam and toast. Today I put the fruit from his meal on the bread, squished it and told him it was jam. He ate it and loved it.
Parkside Florist – Because I know my Mom here in Canada likes small gestures and actually needs it, I stopped in this florist store and took a peek into the freezer. They offered single flowers so I chose an Iris for my son to give to his Lola. She asked me if I wanted a water tube and I said no, I will take it as is. It cost $4+HST
It’s the flower in the picture.
My son gave me a flowers he picked from outside and as a minimalist, I try not to bring in anything that may end up in storage even if cards are sweet and tangible gifts are usually given to me with thought. A few boxes is my goal and for things, only that which I can be myself and be an artist with.
Family Time – the most important of Mother’s Day. I just want to share these two pictures of what my Dad cooked and baked today.
Luncht: Double chocolate crêpes with fruit and whipped cream.
Dessert:
A “runner’s cake”, a recipe my Dad read in the Ottawa Citizen and wanted to try. The best chocolate cake I ever had and I swear, it’s because my Dad made it with soooo much Love. It helps I like beets and chocolate.
We only ate home-cooked meals but my parents aren’t zero wasters and neither are my brothers. They know about it but change for anyone is hard so I don’t bug them. I do think of ways I can maybe introduce it into their lives in small ways.
We had beer and wine as well so those will be recycled.
I napped, had nice conversations, observed love and ate good food with my family. What could be better, it was an amazing day and I am feeling so thankful right now.
So I’ll say goodnight and end this day off by sharing a video I made with my son and our friends last year:
Love, love and more love.
Zero Waste Ottawa 