dear year

dearest year gone by:

i have the photographic evidence of the goodness you've given me.
i've been perusing it lately, amazed at how much beauty i've witnessed.

you've been a gentle year. slowly pushing me to take steps towards my dreams
but giving me the space to let myself deal with some growing pains.

mostly i just settled further into figuring out who i am now that i know what i'm not anymore.
it was a bit of a process but worth the work.

and i'm starting this coming year, jumping right into the change i want to make.
i'm ready for a courageous, adventurous, open hearted year.

i'm looking forward to trusting more (trusting my intuition, trusting others, trusting the universe)
to letting go, to living more and more and more.

its time for a little less gentleness and a little more newness.
its time to be more myself and less scared.
its time for less staying put and more dancing through life.
its time to be more open and less worried about the outcome.
its time to let myself be beautiful and not shy away from my uniqueness.
its time to shake it up, to push myself, to risk more for the sake of a full heart.
its time for less shy....more sass! (if i'd have to make a mantra for the coming year...this might have to be it)!

dare i say it, dear year to come....i think you have the potential to be one damn good year!!!

love vivers

december views: xmas

simple. replenishing. quiet.

not really words one would likely relate to christmas holidays, but thats what it has been. i can't remember the last time i've had so much space and time to relax to this degree. often in the morning i'll get up really early to drink coffee and visit with mom and then climb back into bed for a whole lot of reading. before it got all icy there were lots of walks and skiing. we also kept it really simple gift wise this year. just one person to buy for, picked randomly in a draw, a decent amount of money to buy that gift with but far far less than what one would spend on gifts for each family member. though the scene under the tree was sparse, it felt so good to keep things simple. mom still did the stockings but also kept it pretty simple. we don't need a lot. we're lucky in what we do have and are all trying to not overconsume.

speaking of overconsuming...perhaps its time to write about food. while gifts were kept simple, food was plentiful. we're quite a collection...2 celiacs (one of whom is dairy free), 1 Dairy/Sugar/Yeast-Free Eater and a Vegetarian. My mom worked wonders and made a christmas dinner where all of our plates were full. Gluten~free stuffing, the best potatoes ever, turkey, a big salad, squash, a mushroom gravy and a meat gravy. My belly and I are so grateful for having yet another Gluten~free Christmas.

its been a bit wild around here as I've come home accompanied by my two wonder~cats and my brother came home with his bff cat, a kitter like no others (who happens to be the size of my cats put together). after a day of them all hissing like snakes, they've become one big happy feline family (much to our relief).

i hope your holidays have been beautiful!













see other december view participants listed here!

december views: montreal style

montreal highlights thus far:

~brunch at aux vivre with the fam. vegan deliciousness. i especially loved that they served coconut milk with the coffee, all warmed and frothy! i never pondered that as a dairy substitute for coffee and it was just dreamy!

~a visit with old friends. I love the comfort of being around folks that you've known for a while. big hugs and catching up totally hit the spot. also meeting my first blogger pal in real life!!! J of Wonderings and Wanderings was just as lovely in person as you'd think she would be from reading her blog! it was so good to be able to chat with someone and say things like 'shutter sisters' or '50mm 1.4' and not have to explain what you're talking about. I think its mighty rad that we would have probably ended up at the same gathering yesterday even if we hadn't figured out how small the world is and that we have mutual friends, but even better to be able to actually meet someone via blog~land and then in real life!

~inches and inches and inches of snow on the road into where my folks live. especially when combined with snow tires and 4 wheel drive. i haven't seen this much snow in years! i'm loving it, especially admiring the snow from somewhere warm!

~making a much needed stop at a photobooth while waiting for my train. my self portrait journey began years ago by visiting photobooths very regularly until i finally got a camera. i remember finding a black and white photobooth at a metro station years ago....and am hoping they haven't gotten rid of it...seems like a good challenge for a photo~adventure!
any montrealers know where i might find one?

~the pile of movies mom and i are slowly working our way through (and surely we'll restock once we've seen all these). last night watching chocolat was the perfect way to end a snow stormy day!

~putting on the weepies sunday morning and having my parents break out into a full on dance party to the song 'all this beauty'. well, mom was serious and dad was joking (i think)! they are pretty darn lovely people. i'm a lucky kid.

~a walk today with my mom, both in a nearby park and on the trails behind our home. i'm a city dweller but a country kid at heart. I was having a very sensitive morning, but all was put into perspective once i was knee deep in snow, walking through the forest.

~oh reading...i don't know if i've read this much all year. i'm reading Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen and am loving getting lost in tales of the circus. many hours have been spent in bed lost in my book...that what feels most holiday~like right now...having the space and time to do one of the things that makes me the happiest.

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december views 5

happily settled into the relaxed pace of life at my parents home in montreal. its crazy beautiful with snow everywhere and insanely cold (for a wimpy west coastie). i'm aching to break out the cross country skies and get moving. but today i was happy to go to a nice warm yoga class with my mom and try to acclimate to this winter wonderland. hence, so far all my newest additions to 'december views' are indoors...but i've got ideas galore and can't wait to get out into the snow and onto montreal's vibrant downtown streets! i've also loved how many blogs i've seen the ART video on...i love when goodness spreads!

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sigh...vancouver is a bit manic right now. yesterday was so sparkly and spring~like with wide blue brilliant skies. then today i woke to see snow falling (it snows once a year or so) and now it has turned to pounding rain. i just spent the last half hour with a bucket and my rubber boots emptying my flooding front entrance! oh dear. but i'm happy to be now nestled in for a cozy weekend of getting all organized for my upcoming adventures, with two evening breaks full of friends and yummy food! the adventure begins in 4 sleeps when i head out to montreal for two weeks of family goodness. hope your weekend is wonderful!

**update**
as soon as i pressed 'publish' i got off the couch to go make dinner and realized there was an inch of water under my feet. yes, my place was flooding. it's a basement suite and as mentioned i'd just emptied my stairwell of water, but it was back in even fuller force. somehow i managed to keep quite chipper throughout it, especially because of the following things:
a) having two pairs of rubber boots to keep me dry while throwing bucketfulls of water out of my home.
b) that i wasn't the one out front knee deep in cold water in the sump well. grateful for that!
c) that i have tile floors and that although the big rug got really wet, at least i don't have carpets (mold is my enemy).
d) that a task on my to-do list for the next couple days was to mop the floor. done!

art art

oh my gosh...please watch this! caroline (my favourite video maker) sent me this. she didn't make this one, but its actually a video for a song made for a musician i knew years ago. she, tanya davis, is a super talented poet, storyteller and musician and this video is just pure loveliness!

i have a feeling it might speak to you...

december views and beautiful days

only one december view today and its a narcissistic one at that! but i felt really beautiful today and wanted to capture that feeling for days when i'm feeling the opposite way. maybe it was the haircut or the new red dress or an inner love glow but the stars were aligned in my heart today and i just felt radiantly beautiful all day. i love these days when everything just feels so in place!

gosh this feels like a vain post but it also feels important. so much in this media driven world reminds us constantly of why we aren't enough and I for one take on far more of that crap than my feminist ideals would like to confess. so i'm feeling some radical self acceptance and believe in my own beauty, inside and out, right here and right now!

i know we know this, but we need to remember it...we are as beautiful now (likely even more so) than if we changed all of those things that we dislike about our bodies/selves. its all about confidence and an inherent belief in ourselves. and its time. it almost makes me ill to think about how much energy in this lifetime i've put into putting myself down. i wouldn't dream of ever talking to someone else that way. where did i learn that? why did i accept that way of thinking? i'd answer those questions but today i'd rather just feel strong in my own beauty rather than focus on the why and how. i'd rather change than ponder change today.

p.s. i think you're beautiful too! very very much so!

p.p.s. are you up for some radical self acceptance today? you deserve it!

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more december views...

i'm back in vancouver, snuggling kitters till they start a purrfest. i'm laughing at seeing myself in the mirror, looking like clinton and stacey stole me away to new york for a makeover (when in fact it was some seriously good success at the fat fancy store and target). thats what i so love about my trips to portland...i always come back feeling even more rooted in my~self.

most of today was spent on a train to seattle and then a bus to vancouver so i don't actually have many pictures to today so i'm going to share more of the things that have made me visually swoon over these past few days:


did you know the headquarters for bitch magazine are in portland?


my bro in law, me and sis in xmas hats just after putting up the silver~vintage~rotating~xmas~tree!