Us a year ago, celebrating Gina's birthday

A best friend is a good reason.

Today, my bestie has a birthday. I’d tell you how old she’s turning, but it’s impolite to discuss a lady’s age.

I met Gina when we were 19. I won’t tell you how long ago that was…. but it wasn’t recently.

We were bunk mates in a fifth-floor room of a concrete building in Monterrey Mexico, participants in a missions training course with YWAM. Unfortunately for Gina, I was on the top bunk. I had a penchant for snacking late at night, and putting hard objects (books and picture frames) under my pillow. Gina would wake up to find crumbs and my boyfriend’s face on her pillow. Sorry, G!

The following year, we found ourselves roommates in a nearby apartment. That was probably where our friendship was forged, over taxi rides and grocery-shopping and quesadilla-making. We took those quesadillas with us when we left Mexico. I introduced them to my family, and then my boyfriend, and then his family. Sometime after my strict no-grains, no-cheese, no-beans diet, I hope to introduce them to my boyfriend’s friends, too. My siblings ask for them for their birthday dinners sometimes. Mmmm, melted cheddar and refried beans with salsa in a toasted tortilla!

(Side note: I just had to add “quesadilla” to my WordPress dictionary. Shame.)

We were in Mexico together for about four and a half years, one or two of those years of which she was my boss. And my best friend. Not the easiest relationship, but we made it through. We experienced a lot of life together: traveling through Mexico and the USA several times, gained and lost love, soul-searching, uncertainty, victory. We translated, drove vans, hiked through mud, did skits in the rain, played with kids, cooked, cleaned, sang, and so much more.

One of our birthday gatherings last year

Then, I moved home and then to Hawaii to work on a different project with the same organization, and then home again. She stayed in Mexico for a while, then moved to Maryland.

Every year, we try to get together at least once. Last year we were lucky enough to see each other three times! Each time, it’s as if no time has passed. We spend hours talking about our days in Mexico, reminiscing and catching up on the latest gossip about our former co-workers.

This time last year, another friend and I surprised her by showing up at a work lunch in Maryland. I wish I could be there this today, but G, you’ll just have to accept this blog as a birthday gift instead.

Happy birthday, Gina! Here’s to many more years of happiness and friendship. I love you!

"the last supper"

When I posted yesterday’s blog about starting a fairly strict diet today, it didn’t even dawn on me that today is Ash Wednesday.

For those that are completely ignorant of Christian traditions, Ash Wednesday is the day after Shrove Tuesday (or Fat Tuesday, or Pancake Tuesday). It’s the beginning of Lent, the 40-day season leading up to Easter. A season in which it is traditional for people to give up (refuse to indulge in) something they love for the purpose of prioritizing God or their faith over that thing (food or entertainment, etc.).

I didn’t intend to start my Whole30 diet on the first day of Lent, but here I am, on Ash Wednesday, beginning a 30- or 60-day journey that excludes several of my favourite things: bread, wine, pastry, beer, chocolate, yogurt, cheese. CHEESE!

Last night, true to Pancake Tuesday custom, I ate pancakes as a “last meal” before the “fasting” that starts today.

Is there anything else that you think my About Me page should have on it?

I can’t fit into my jeans anymore, except the stretchiest of my jeggings, which don’t really count.

Dressing each day requires some strategy to cover the “muffin top”, love handles, and the lines from where my too-small underwear dig into my flesh.

NOT me... but you get the picture.

I find myself wanting to buy a new wardrobe consisting of leggings and extra-long, roomy, bulky tops (I know, Stacy & Clinton, I should be wearing structured tops & belts & blazers…).

The Wii Fit says I’m about 25 pounds overweight. It makes a helpful ominous noise after weighing me every day to make sure I’m aware that I’ve crossed over to the dark side.

My bowels are often unhappy with me. Enough said.

Something! Has got! To give!

On a more substantial and long-term note, I want to act preventatively against future cancer, heart disease, and other illnesses, rather than filling my body with what health nuts like to call “poisons” (sugar, flour, etc), and then sometime down the line having to aggressively try to salvage any semblance of health before my body gives out entirely.

So, I made a decision. A resolution, if you will.

I’m not very good with wishy-washy resolutions. I’m part of the 90% of people that would make a resolution to join a gym in January and go for two weeks, but without a set schedule or workout buddy or some sort of goal to work towards, would find myself at home being lazy before the end of the month.

So, when my friend Erica announced that she had lost 18 pounds after doing the Whole30 diet for a month, I looked at the website and started researching.

I’ve spent a few weeks reading everything on the site, looking at recipes, and talking to people that have tried similar diets, and I’m finally ready to start.

I had to wait til after Valentine’s Day, of course – I had to be able to eat the decadent dessert my boyfriend made (chocolatey to-die-for delightfulness)!

But it starts this week, on my Reading Week. They recommend just starting cold turkey, but I kinda wanted to live it up for a while before getting really healthy. So I did. Wine, cheese, cheesecake, tortillas, chocolate, bread, muffins, cream in my coffee… All stuff I will miss, but it will be worth it!

So… What the heck is Paleo? The term “Paleo” is actually short for paleolithic. The diet is also called the Caveman Diet, the Stone Age Diet, and more. Basically, it’s an ancient diet that people would have had in the age known as the “paleolithic era.” I don’t think I believe in cavemen, but I think there’s something to this diet anyway.

A Whole30-friendly dish: Pistachio Pesto Chicken Pasta

A caveman on the Whole30 version of the Paleo diet (it’s stricter than regular Paleo) would not eat the following foods: grains or any derivative of any kind (including alcohol), dairy, sugars, or legumes. They would eat meat, nuts (except peanuts and cashews), vegetables, fruits, and healthy fats like coconut oil. At first glance, this seems extreme. But when you start looking at the pages and pages of amazingly delicious-looking recipes (like the ones on this site) that you can make with fruit and vegetables and meats and eggs, and even things like almond or coconut flour, your mouth would be watering!

I should mention that the creators of the Whole30 diet advocate choosing high-quality, organic, free-range, non-processed meats. Since I will be doing the Starving Student version, I will not often be able to choose the best meats, but am confident this diet will serve me well anyway.

The Whole9 people believe that “real food” and “healthy nutritional habits” are the foundation to a healthy, balanced, and sane life. I am inclined to agree that there’s something to it.

I start 30 days (or possibly 60 or more) of this diet tomorrow. Please accept my apology if I bring my own food to your house or ask you what you’re serving ahead of time: I am not trying to be haughty or rude, but I am making an investment in my lifelong health by taking a stand now.

~~~

Slightly off-topic but interesting side note: the National Post recently posted an article about MDs wanting to put junk food in the same category as E. Coli: http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/15/french-fries/

And I’m glad.

This is Family Day weekend in Ontario, a relatively new long weekend in February. I have no idea why we needed another long weekend in the year, but here we are.

Funny thing is, every Family Day Weekend for me ends up being about, get this, family!!

Most of this weekend has been spent with my boyfriend’s family, and my family is hanging out tomorrow, on the actual day.

So, I apologize for neglecting to provide you with new, entertaining, informative, or thoughtful reading material today. But I don’t regret choosing my family over my blog.

Enjoy your family holiday, if it’s a holiday for you. Either way, I’ll be back on Tuesday. Cheers!

Red!

You may remember from my Valentine’s Day post that Johnathan and I were celebrating Valentine’s last night instead of Tuesday because of my midterms. Hence the “secret” colour: I had to wait to reveal it to John before I could share it with the blog-o-sphere.

When we met, I had red hair. Of all the colours I’ve had in the last few years, red was Johnathan’s favourite, and more than once he has asked me about going red again. I always protested, arguing that it’s too finicky to maintain and tends to be expensive as well. But I always secretly wanted to go red again, too.

Red 7-778

So, I gave us both a surprise gift for Valentine’s: flaming copper locks.

Under the Granny dryer

Expressions is a charming combination of the unexpected and the vintage.

There’s nothing quite like sitting in a small local hair salon, as the stylist talks about children and parents and pets with the client seated in her chair. You get absorbed in the pretty people on the pages of Vanity Fair or House & Home as your hair colour steeps above your cape-clad shoulders and music plays just loud enough to prevent silence from reigning, and the conversation blends with the music to become a pleasant background buzz. Beautification is happening.

Natali at work: Beautification is happening

Beautification is essential for the modern woman, but a local, small-town salon where you know your stylist and there are no huge corporate endorsements hanging on the walls does something for the soul as well as the follicles.

Here at Expressions Hair Design in Bayfield, Ontario, the smell of peroxide and hair dye mingles with that warm breeze aroma of freshly blow-dried hair as owner and stylist Natali Tarnowski goes busily about her business of washing, cutting, drying, curling, and chatting.

Expressions is a gem hidden away in the side of one of the buildings on the heritage Main Street of Bayfield, and Natali is a gem of a proprietor. None of her clients, old or young, seem fazed by the young stylist’s close-cropped bright cherry red hair, the rose tattooed on her throat, her other tattoos and piercings, or her fantastically individual style: pastel tie-dyed t-shirt with the sleeves rolled up a-la-5o’s-greaser, and skinny dark grey jeans tucked into beige leather lace-up, pointy-toed boots.

Vintage cash register

Natali is the heart and soul of Expressions, but seated in her chair and listening to her talk, you’d think you were. I went in for a much-needed haircut (and surprise colour) today. It was only my second visit, but I now know why my friends from miles around head to Bayfield to get Natali to cut their hair: she’s sweet. And she’s good!

You can find Expressions Hair Design on Facebook, or call Natali at 519-565-5800 to make an appointment. Make sure to let her know that you read my blog.

I think perhaps only the girls with naturally curly hair will get this post. Though we envy those with sleek, shiny, “perfect” hair, we always secretly wish we could sock it back to ‘em with smooth, voluminous waves and corkscrews, preferably ones that we did not spend a lot of time and money on.

If you’re anything like me, you’ve tried every product you have ever heard of: serums, creams, masques, oils, mousses, gels, leave-in conditioners, or even goopy natural things like avocado or honey.

The cycle of frustration when a product eliminates only 50% of the frizz inevitably leads us back to the oh-so-wicked straighteners and blow-dryers, or even chemical straightening agents that make our own follicles unrecognizable to us for months or years at a time. Yikes.

Every now and then, you feel confident enough to go “natural”, but it rarely lasts long, at least not if you’re trying to look nice on a regular basis. If you don’t care, you just throw it up in a bun and hope it doesn’t make you look either adolescent or elderly.

A previous installment of naturally "curly"

When I was about 22, a person I cared about nicknamed me Olive Oyl because of my perpetually-present topknot. One day, while flying from Canada through the States to Mexico, Ihad a layover at an American airport. I had left my hair down that day, and was very surprised at the difference in the attention I got from the waiter and the barista, etc. They smiled at me! I took note. And felt empowered. There was something in this whole hair-down thing, I realized!

That awareness didn’t come with any miraculous frizz-busters, though, so I renewed my efforts to find something that would allow me to appreciate my curl in a way that didn’t involve getting up two hours early or spending hundreds of dollars on chemical treatments.

Another attempt at curly

It wasn’t until this past December before I stumbled across what I think is the be-all, end-all for me and my curly-girl problems.

My magic solution? One word: conditioner.

A friend named Susan posted this article on Facebook a few months ago, and, after commenting about it a few times, thought, “what the heck?” and decided to try it.

The thing that continues to stand out to me about this article is the photograph of its author, Dahlia Kurtz:

Unforgettable, right?

Perhaps it’s those “spring-lets” that inspired me, I can’t say. Either way, I tried it and haven’t gone back.

Sepia-toned Success!

If you haven’t read the article yet, here’s what you need to know:

a) Skip the shampoo. You heard me. No more shampoo. Apparently it’s bad for your hair and bubbles ruin our water. If you’re weirded out about skipping shampoo, so some research into the healthy stuff.

b) Take a little dish of brown sugar into the shower with you, and mix it up with some conditioner in your palm to give your scalp a wee scrub in place of the shampoo.

c) Let the sugar & conditioner mix soak in while you finish your shower.

d) I do the application and rinsing of the sugar & conditioner with my head hung forward, hair flipped over it. It seems to encourage my curl.

e) Rinse, if you haven’t gotten that bit already.

f) Wrap in either a micro-fibre towel or an old t-shirt to soak up the water. Don’t rub it with the towel. Be gentle!

g) While still wet, mix some more conditioner and some of your hair goop (my favourite is a curl cream, but I also use curl mousse), flip your hair forward again, and apply liberally. The more coarse your hair, the more goop you will need. It might take some trial and error to get a feel for how much you need, but you’ll get it!

h) For best results, blow-dry with a diffuser. If you don’t have a diffuser, not to worry: flip your hair forward and make sure your roots are good and dry. If your hair is heavy like mine, you might want to dry up some of the bulk of the wet hair, to encourage height and volume. I also try to use the “cool shot” feature on my hairdryer as much as possible – cool air does a great job of setting the hair and does less damage to it.

i) Enjoy!

A particularly fresh & voluminous curly

Easy as pie!

If you decide to adopt this method, I wanna hear about it! Meanwhile, pass this on to all the curly girls you know – start a naturally curly revolution!

Seen in the custodial office of a local high school

]]> http://atransparentlife.com/2012/02/15/wordless-wednesday-hukt-on-foniks/feed/ 2 IMG_0960 FashionSnob "Warshed rags and towels..." http://atransparentlife.com/2012/02/14/v-is-for/ http://atransparentlife.com/2012/02/14/v-is-for/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:12:53 +0000 Sarah K http://atransparentlife.com/?p=751 Continue reading »]]> It’s here – that day when candy stores and florists and jewellers have booming business and all kinds of cutesy things are said and sweethearts everywhere do their best to be nice to each other long enough to make it through dinner…

Okay, that’s cynical. Especially since I really am a romantic at heart, and I love the grand gestures and being made to feel special and all that stuff that makes a girl feel “all warm and fuzzy inside.” If my man didn’t want to celebrate Valentine’s Day, I’d be disappointed.

The adorable part of Johnathan's gift to me last Valentine's.

But you have to admit the day is a bit more hyped than it’s worth, really. All that awful candy in the dollar stores? All those sub-par chocolates in heart-shaped boxes? All those gushy mushy sappy cards?

All that when, really, all you have to do is something special. I love the premise of a day set aside to do something special, something sweet for the person or people you love. A day to celebrate love and friendship, to be grateful for what you have.

Since I have two midterms to write today and one on Thursday, me and the man that I am grateful for are celebrating the day of love on Friday. I’m hoping to cook some delicious (and hopefully not completely non-nutritious) food, and maybe convince him to make the to-die-for dessert me made last year (seriously, seriously amazing!), and we’ll probably curl up on my couch and watch a movie. Ahh.

::smooch::

Happy Valentine’s Day!