Oh hello! It’s 2017 and here’s whats up.

Well, it’s been a long time since I’ve last written. I hope you all have had a happy holiday and new year, now that it’s long gone. As always, cutting straight to the point.

Here are a few things that have changed in the last few months:

• I’m not technically “single” anymore. It’s not a secret really, but you’ll never see me posting lovey dovey pictures of the two of us. I’ve done that with past relationships and look how they turned out. I also respect his privacy. Anyway, life is completely different. I now have to navigate “zero waste” life with another person. In the same house. This may mean that you may see more posts from me trying to navigate this weird thing called ‘relationship.’

  While I still try my best to avoid plastic-packaging, this new addition to the household has made it difficult to avoid the garbage. In another blog, I will share my thoughts on love and zero waste. Some people think you have to be with someone that shares the exact same ideals, values and lifestyle as you. And as I have pointed out many times in my blog, you are your own person no matter who you are with or what you are doing. Your happiness does not depend on anyone else.

  To add to this, the cooking. He is an omnivore. And my son is as well, since when he’s at his Dad’s house or on Grandpa’s watch they all eat meat together. It hasn’t been that hard though. Both of the boys in the house still eat far more vegetables because of me. And to be fair, my partner will cook or order vegan food for me happily.

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• I’ve added the ADLG e-store to this website now. The same e-store that I started with my friend Jodi, the soap maker, last year. With a Shop option now on Facebook (yes, we’re there too) and all of the ways to connect, it’s much more cost efficient to move the e-commerce site to one site. One that is free. Also, we’re competing with huge giants like Amazon, and we just aren’t interested in creating a mass market for our products. We have our small but loyal and local buyers and we are happy.

  To add to this, if you see some new posts coming up, it’s because I’m transferring over our blog from the store site to this blog. I don’t want to lose valuable information! Which means: yay, new content for you!

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• My little man is now in school. I hate it and love it at the same time. Equally. I am still on the fence about it and so this is kind of a trial run. But for now, I can now focus a lot more on my business and my nonprofit. And with the added help, I can actually sleep. And breathe. Sleep and breathe. Being a single Mom while running a business for the last three years drained me and almost killed me. Perhaps I should talk about that?? Anyway, we do litterless lunches. So that’s cool.
  

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• I have been volunteering with Foodsharing Ottawa. This means I no longer have to dumpster dive. I do the thing before the dive. I rescue the food before it goes in the garbage. It’s quite shocking still how much gets tossed. I have done three runs so far. How it works is simple:

  1) Rescue food donations from participating grocery stores and businesses

  2) Sort and divide the food for distribution (ie. go through produce to make sure it’s still good, divide food ready for sharing and yes, keep some for yourself)

  3) Bring food to a charity or food bank of your choice. I have donated to High Jinx, Bethany Hope Centre and St. Joe’s Supper Table.

  4) Post food for sharing in Foodsharing Ottawa group, donate to community and again.. enjoy some for yourself.

  Yesterday Jodi and I rescued 16 boxes of food that would have otherwise been thrown out. 16 BOXES! You can see the video I put together of it here along with a little rant about food waste and garbage waste… which I will write about in a separate post entirely.

  

  16 Boxes full of stuff like this!

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• And lastly, Kassandra of Yoga With Kassandra is going to be interviewing me as part of her year long Lunar Yoga Program. It’s a women’s only community that includes monthly New & Full Moon yoga classes, meditations, journaling exercises. As a bonus we also have a quarterly book club and monthly guest speaker interviews. Each month of the year focuses on a different key area of life, the intention is personal growth, transformation and connection with other women dedicated to nurturing their spiritual side. You have to check out her program. It’s amazing and beautiful.

 

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So there you have it. I have risen from the darkness and am coming back to haunt you all over again. Can you believe it’s almost been TWO YEARS? Two years and counting.