Month: August 2015

August 31, 2015

Week Three Update: Staying Strong and Healthy

It is said it takes twenty-one days to break a bad habit. I have officially reached that point and passed through the worst parts of my journey and I am on the road to committing to making healthier choices for myself and my family. It no longer feels like a chore but it is just part of my normal day. I feel strong, confident and ready to take on more.

Here is how I did:

Last week’s healthy living goals:

~~1-2 pound weight loss~~ I have finally started to lose weight again thankfully! I lost another two pounds and I am at a weight I have not seen in five years so I am beyond happy. I think the walking and added weight training is helping.
Yoga four times this week. I only managed to do this once this week and I truly missed doing my yoga. Yoga always makes me feel refreshed, energized and at ease with life.
Daily evening meditation. My kids did not want to seem to leave me alone but c’est la vie. I am going to devote additional time this week for my ‘quiet’ time to unwind.
~~Daily squat, lunge, push up, crunch and plank challenge~~. I not only completed my personal challenge but also added in extra weight training and ball exercises.
~~Two litres of water a day.~~ Completed! And learning to finish the majority of my water before 4pm so I am not up all night (!).
11,000 steps a day (got to up my goal a bit!). I completed this five out of the seven days and it is slowly becoming second nature to me to just keep moving.
Two 3km walks. I only made it on one walk this week but I completed it without being completely out of breath.

Each day I feel better as I commit to living a healthy lifestyle. I feel as if I have more energy to give not only to myself but to my family.

This week’s goals:

1-2 pound weight loss.
Weight training three times this week.
Yoga three times this week.
Daily squat, lunge, push up and crunch challenge.
11,000 steps a day.
One 3 km walk.
One 4 km walk.

I am hoping each of these little actions will help me out in my goals of walking 10km with my sister in The Great Camp Adventure Walk on September 26th.

Make sure to check out and enter my healthy living giveaway before September 11th. Good luck.

August 31, 2015

Overcoming The First Day of School Fears #StreamTeam

The first day of school is always hard no matter which way you look at it. New teachers, new class rooms, new routines and seeing your friends for the first time in two months can be quite daunting for children. I can still remember to this day the stress of the first day back! It leaves such an impression on you for life.

This was me on my first day of grade one, transitioning from the small kindergarten area into the big fields. Back in the day we had to dress up for the first day of school which usually included dresses, knee highs, tights and fancy shoes. Looking back now I cringe! Fashion was tough in the eighties and nineties eh?!!

Starting two to three weeks before school resumes, we like to help adjust our children back into the school mode. This helps not only ease their fears but helps them return to a routine easier.

Here are some simple tips to get back into the school mode:

Set up an easy schedule that your children can follow. This should include getting up earlier (my kids are now in the routine of sleeping into nine which has to stop!), earlier bed times, reading and workbooks time. If your child is a visual learner, posting a schedule can help or even including a reward chart is always helpful.

Let your child choose their own back to school clothes. Going back to school is tough and kids want to fit in with their friends. Allowing them to choose their own clothes helps this process. It allows them to express their personality and identity, not to mention it is a lot of fun for parents to learn about their child. This year, our youngest took loads of fashion advice from his big brother.

Watch school related television shows that teach about friendship, overcoming fears and being school smart. We all learn a lot from movies and television shows and children are exactly the same. Allowing them to watch children friendly shows that show true friendship and how to rock school is always helpful for them to overcome their fears. Some great picks currently playing on Netflix are Dinotrux, Project Mc2 and Ever After High.

How do you help your child overcome the first day of school jitters?

Disclosure: I am a #StreamTeam member and receive perks with this affiliation. All opinions expressed are my own.

August 27, 2015

Walk and Dream: The Canaccord Genuity Great Camp Adventure Walk #WalkForSickKids

Medicine has always been an important part of my life. When I was younger, I wanted to be a surgeon more than anything else in the world. My life was centred around helping people and trying to make them better. It was what motivated to become a lifeguard, to volunteer in retirement homes as well as at York Central Hospital and later to participate in a research study at Sick Kids Hospital as part of the Aventis Biotech Challenge. The days that I spent not only in the lab but with patients taught me so much. Medicine is all about healing and creating miracles and why my life has always centred around caring for others.

While I may not have become the surgeon I had always wanted to, I did graduate from a Kinesiology program and I am currently working in a teaching Family Medicine unit. Every day I am able to witness little miracles in our patients and share in these moments with them. It is a role that has humbled me and taught me to appreciate every moment in life because nothing in life is ever guaranteed. My work has brought home to me how important it is to give back to others and to support research and providing care for patients. This is a concept that I am continually trying to share with others.

Sick Kids is a world leader in both patient care and research in order to make sure that every child has the chance to be healthy, happy and dream. It is because of courageous individuals, volunteers and generous donors that these children are given the chance to achieve all they deserve.

The Canaccord Genuity Great Camp Adventure Walk will be held this year on September 26th, 2015 in downtown Toronto. The Great Camp Adventure Walk is a challenge by choice event – you get to choose whether you want to complete a 5km, 10km, 15km or even 20km. Campsites are found along the route every 2.5km, each having its own unique theme and activities. The Main Camp at Fort York will be full of family friendly activities including: entertainment, arts and crafts, Fun Zone, games, Tuck Shop and quiet areas for rest.

The Great Camp Adventure Walk gives families the opportunity to not only support those in their lives that may have been affected by childhood illnesses and cancer but to also teach their children about the importance of fundraising and the miracle of medicine. It gives children a chance to support children.

If you want to be a part of this important day to benefit Sick Kids, head over to the Great Camp Adventure Walk page and sign up to take part in the walk (they are dog friendly too!) or donate to a group or individual participating (if you want to donate to my team, you can do so here). If you are signing up for the Great Camp Adventure Walk, you can use the code: social, to receive a $10 discount off the registration fee.

The 2015 goal is to raise $2 million for Sick Kids and every little bit helps! So head over to the Great Camp Adventure Walk to learn more, donate, volunteer and participate. Every action counts and makes a difference in a child’s life.

Please take a moment to enter to win the following giveaway. Not only do you walk away with $100 but you also win $100 donation to a team of your choosing – a win-win!

The Great Camp Adventure Walk for SickKids Promotion Contest

Disclosure: I am part of the Canaccord Genuity Great Camp Adventure Walk for SickKids campaign with Influence Central and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

August 26, 2015

#X15 #WW with linky

Last week, my son and I attended the #X15 Media showcase in Toronto. The set up was incredible and we were able to test out the newest games coming up. Our two top picks were FIFA 16 and Gears of War.

Here are some highlights of our day:

As well as some of the media pics of the games that I really wanted to share with you:

Make sure you link up below so that I can visit you to! Have a great day 😀

August 25, 2015

Finding Gabriel by Rachel L. Demeter

Sometimes fate has its own plan for us. In Finding Gabriel, Gabriel learns this lesson first hand.

About Finding Gabriel

After a decade of bloodshed fighting in Napoleon’s army, Gabriel returns to Paris a shattered and tortured soul. He is plagued by his inner demons and decides to end his suffering with a pistol. But fate intervenes.

Ariah Larochelle is a survivor; orphaned at twelve and the victim of a terrible crime. Ariah has learned to trust no one and to keep her back to the walls. When she finds a gravely injured soldier on the shores of the River Seine, she is moved by compassion. She rescues him and brings him into her home.

Now scarred on the inside and outside, Gabriel discovers a kindred spirit in Ariah. The feelings he thought he had lost forever are re-awakened in the face of adversity. But when Ariah’s secret past is revealed, the ghosts of her past threaten their new love. Can they find hope or will the pattern of their history repeat itself.

My Thoughts

An extremely exciting novel from start to finish! Not only was it sexy, romantic and exciting but it was full of adventure and raw emotion. Ariah and Gabriel are not your typical main characters. They are battered, broken and as far from perfect as you can imagine but their story is so compelling and real.

I love how Ariah pulls Gabriel out of his belief he is broken. He is lost, hurting on the inside and feels so much pain that he wants it all to end. Like so many of us who are suffering with our past and depression, he is suffering so much on the inside and can’t find a way out of it. It is Ariah and her imperfect past who shows him that we must look past our suffering and learn to live with it. That they are not badges of dishonour or that people look at us with hate but that they are marks of our strength and courage to keep moving forward. Ariah shows him a compassion and love that he has never known. Not even when he reveals the worst parts of him, is she swayed from her belief that he is a good person at heart.

A fantastic, raw and powerful novel from start to finish. I finished this novel in one sitting as I did not want to put it away. I was so engrossed in Ariah and Gabriel’s story, and how they overcame their pain to move forward not happy and blissfully but at peace with all around them and their own personal demons. While it has some sexy and romantic scenes, I love how the focus is on the characters and their personal scars from their past that they must deal with.

The novel is available August 27th, 2015 and you can purchase a copy on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Rating: 5/5

Book Trailer

About the Author

Rachel L. Demeter lives in the beautiful hills of Anaheim, California with Teddy, her goofy lowland sheepdog, and her high school sweetheart of eleven years. She enjoys writing dark, poignant romances that challenge the reader’s emotions and explore the redeeming power of love.

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.