Monday 14 July 2014

Everything Happens For A Reason

As a child, I always said "Everything happens for a reason" and always told people to think positively because good things will happen to you.  I'm realizing now that although I promoted this ideology, I never fully believed in it myself.  I always wondered why bad things always happened to me and how I had amazing advice for all my friends but could never reciprocate it for myself, or most honestly, could never follow my own advice.  WHY? It's because I didn't believe in it.  More or less, I didn't believe in myself.

It took a lot of struggles and heart ache in my lifetime to sit and ponder why life had chosen to treat me so poorly when I try to be a model citizen.  I treat people the way I want to be treated, I am an honest person, I am not fake to people or talk about them behind their backs.  I think of myself as a decent friend, so why on earth do bad things keep on happening to me.

It wasn't until this recent event in my life that made me realize the truth behind all of my beliefs that I never truly believed in.  Everything really does happen for a reason no matter how big or small it is.  I am not trying to start a debate on whether fate is real or if religion exists etc.  I am merely stating my opinion on a situation I have recently been put in. For those of you who follow me or know me, know that I was recently evicted unjustly three days after moving into an apartment for July 1st.  I had many supporters who tried to give me their advice and words of encouragement to fight for what was rightfully mine.  I agree 100% you should always stand up for what you believe in and never let people walk all over you.  What I learned is that sometimes there is a time and place for everything, and sometimes being the bigger person is truly the best approach in life.  It isn't about winning, it isn't about always being heard and having the last word.  Sometimes, being polite and choosing the right time to say things or not to say them is the better choice.  I will be honest, it's not always as fulfilling as saying your peace and making sure you get heard; however, I feel that Karma is reciprocated back when you are the bigger person.

I didn't understand or even fathom a reason why I had to move.  I saw it as a huge burden and set back.  The real reason was revealed to me when I finally moved into my new home.  I found that I feel more at home, my dog is more relaxed, she's welcomed there and feels it.  The town, even though it is small makes me feel less isolated from the world.  I can picture the nice evening walks I will be taking with Rose.  I am only an hour away from everyone who matters to me in my life.  I realized that moving farther away isn't always a bad thing. When you allow change to happen in your life, as scary as it can be at times, it usually ends on a good note.

I am happy to say that Rose and I have found our haven.  It took a lot of sweat and tears and patience, but it was all worth it.  I am looking forward to what this new chapter will bring us.

Be positive and be open to change.


Wednesday 2 July 2014

What Grinds My Gears

Its been a little while since my last post.  I have been having such a grand ole time and super busy that I just haven't found the time to sit and write.  How quickly that all changed for me.

It all started when I decided it was time to move since the cost of commuting from Ottawa to Kemptville was killing the bank account.  So I did what any person would do, find a new place to live.  This time though, with my fancy new job I wasn't settling for anything less than I wanted.  My checklist was as follows:

1- Must be between Ottawa and Kemptville since I don't want to leave the city but can't afford to stay
2- Must have some sort of green space so that Miss Rose can run around and be a dog finally, no more of this apartment B.S.
3- I want to be happy!

Well I found all of that! With the help of my wonderful friends and boyfriend, I was able to get everything moved in one shot and did it in impeccable timing.  It was a good day had by all.  Two days later, I find out I have to vacate the premises at the request of the landlord because he's not comfortable with my dog. Yes, she is a Pitbull but the sweetest thing alive.  It breaks my heart that people can't open their eyes or even their minds to change.  His reasoning is that hes responsible for the various people that work there and feels that its best if we moved on. Le Sigh.....

Here I am, sitting around wondering how I am going to pull off another move when I went for broke to move this time around. I know that it will all work out in the end as everything always does, but its getting harder and harder to stay positive.  I took a day and let myself blubber like a fool.  Now its time to pick myself back up and fight back with a vengeance.

I always believed everything happens for a reason...I just wish I knew that reason right now.  This opportunity just wasn't meant to be for me I suppose.  Slowly I'm finding that fire in my belly and I will ROAR once again...soon.  I just have to come up with a game plan and fast!

Keep your fingers crossed for Rose and I.  I know we will be ok, its just disappointing that  people are still so ignorant toward one of the most loyal and loving breeds I have ever known.

Here's to moving forward!

Monday 28 April 2014

Raisin River Canoe Race 2014

We started our day off on the right foot.  A great big breakfast, we got our #1 boat sticker, we had our family and friends for support.  But for some reason, when I was on the water, all the wrong songs kept coming to mind.  For example, "Just keep swimming".  Now these are not the songs you want to be thinking of while in a canoe during a race at the end of April after a long ass winter.  No, instead I should have realized it was an omen of what was about to come.

Our first mishap was being nice to other contestants and allowing them to pass.  To our demise, we got pushed up against some rocks and our boat was lodged between some pretty hefty rocks.  With the current running as it was, that boat weighed a million pounds...I swear!  At least it felt that way after paddling for a couple of hours at this point and being waist deep in iceberg water.  After a good 5 minutes, we managed to free our boat, empty it of water and continue walking down stream with it until we found a clear spot to jump back in and continue on with the race.  We still didn't see any all female boats pass us and we didn't waste much time freeing ourselves, so we still stood a chance at placing in top 3.

I remained overly optimistic about the race this year.  My partner, +Robyn Poore kept bringing back to reality saying we have a 50/50 chance of making the dam.  I knew she was right but I was trying to blow her out of the water with my optimistic views of us potentially finishing the race and possibly coming in 3rd place. (our outstanding goal now for the past 3 years) Well, let me tell you this!  I was fine up until I saw the sign that read "DAM" then all that could come out of my mouth was "Oh crap!" "Oh CRAP!" It's like I knew right then and there.  We lined ourselves up properly, we had the perfect set up! We were doing great, people were cheering us on, then I don't know what happened but we flipped! Went completely under water.  The moment I realized we were going under, the only word that came to mind was "F#$*".  Nothing I could do about it but embrace it.  When I finally managed to get up out of the water I looked back to make sure my partner was still alive and well.  The look on her face was of pure shock.  I think she was in shock after inhaling ice cold water haha.  Poor girl!

Being that cold with the shock to the body makes it hard to think straight.  I was running on pure adrenaline and tried to grab our boat that was pleasantly floating away down stream at a somewhat quick pace.  I had the boat in hand but I couldn't feel it..I was numb! My hand was stuck in a somewhat closed position and trying to run in ice cold water....proved to be futile.  I managed to pass off my paddle to one of the cute by standing fire fighters, continued running down stream until I found a clear passage of shore to get up on to and continue my sprint down stream to catch up to our rental canoe.  I managed to gain up on it and had to get back into the water.  Thankfully, a nice old man who was watching the race and no doubt watched me struggle to catch up to our boat went out in the middle of the river in just his jeans and rubber boots and helped me bring back the boat to shore.  If it wasn't for him, I was giving up on the high speed chase.  He was kind enough to bring us in his home so we could call for back up.  Our families were on stand by with towels, blankets and our dry clothing but they had no clue where we were.  At this point, I shook so violently that the house and its contents were shaking with me.  We didn't even get to making the call when our rescue team showed up at the door and guided us back to the vehicle where Robyn and I immediately started to get out of our clothes.  I think I can honestly say I put on the least sexiest strip tease on earth at that moment.  haha But at least the bystanders had a good laugh and it was all in good fun.  I wasn't even disappointed that we were unable to finish the race.  It's all in the adventure, so next year, we try again!

Tuesday 15 April 2014

Self Reflection

When you put your mind to it, you really can accomplish anything.

If you were to ask me 5 years ago if I thought I would be where I am today, I would have told you it was simply a dream that I hoped to have one day.  If you were to ask me 1 year ago if I thought I would be where I am today, I would have said not a chance.  I lost hope back then, I didn't see the possibilities that could have been, instead I allowed negativity to overcome me.

Its truly amazing what can happen to one individual when you change your thought process, your inner thoughts.  When you start to dream big and create goals for yourself and put them on paper and actually think about them.  When you finally say F-U World!! I deserve more than this.  I put myself through college, I paid for it all on my own (With the help of OSAP of course).  I am one of the few in my family who actually finished high school and graduated College with not only one diploma, but three.  The day I sat back and realized, I AM a somebody! That was the day that I decided to BE a somebody.  That's when I stopped making excuses for myself.  That's when I stopped allowing negative thoughts to enter my brain, when I didn't allow others to influence my own personal decisions.  Just because it didn't work for them, didn't mean it wouldn't work for me.

I've realized that there is no helping someone who doesn't want to be helped.  I stopped trying to help those people because all they did was suck the life out of me.  When I finally took the stand to stand alone and think of myself for a change, my life turned for the better.  It's not that I am insensitive now compared to before.  I simply stopped allowing other people to dictate my happiness.  I found happiness in letting go of the past and breathing in the future.  I kept with me the lessons learned from past experiences and used that knowledge for my future choices.

I challenge those of you who feel stuck in a rut to stop putting so much emphasis on negativity and finally taking a stand and doing what you believe is the best thing for you.  I challenge you to take chances and make mistakes but learn from them.  I challenge you to be a better you! Be true to yourself and the rest will always fall into place.

Risk always comes with set backs, but its those set backs that bring you forward.

Challenge on to a better and more happier world. Once we can be happy with ourselves, the rest doesn't matter.

Monday 27 January 2014

First Time for Everything

I cannot express the excitement I hold working for Yazdani Family Dentistry.  It was a short two and a half weeks ago when I started in this position as a marketing director.  I've now had the opportunity to travel to Atlanta, GA for a marketing technique workshop that I learned so much from.  Not only did I learn more about marketing, but also about the joys of flying and navigating myself through an airport for the first time.

Let me tell you, when you don't know what to expect or know where to go, things can get a little hairy.  For a first experience though it was a great one and one I will never forget.  It started off with trying to get my dog settled and into her crate before leaving.  The plan was to have my friend +Robyn Poore pick up Rose when she was done work.  I think Rose knew something was up because she would not go in her crate for the life of her and she loves that thing!  I did everything I could from bribery to downright blackmail. Even if she didn't understand my threats, she understood that I was not going to work and that I was going to be leaving her as she noticed she had her own bags packed.  Poor thing, she knows how to play with my heart strings.  It's hard to let your baby go when you're leaving the country, but damn it! I wasn't missing my flight.

Robyn dropped me off at the airport and gave me some detailed instructions on where to go and what I could expect.  Needless to say, I will still a little nervous.  I wasn't so much nervous about the idea of flying, I was nervous because what if I got on the wrong flight, or didn't make it through security.  The most random ideas were going through my mind.  I got to the Air Canada desk and spoke to the agent.  He was quite surprised that it was my first time flying (I'm guessing because of my age, but then again who knows!) He was super helpful and offered me window seating instead of aisle seating which was very exciting to me as I wanted to see the action first hand. Knowing me though, I would have just leaned over some complete strangers lap to see what was going on out of pure excitement :) He gave me very detailed instructions on where to go.  I used the term "first time flyer" quite often and noticed to my benefit that it helped a lot.  Everyone was so informative.  I get to security and I asked the guy a million and one questions on if I have to take my shoes off, where I have to put them, do I need to take my sweater off too? Will my jewelry set off the scanners etc. I think he got a kick out of it but he answered them all calmly and professionally. Picture this, I am in line waiting to go through the security check and I'm waiting on the guy in front of me.  I watch carefully what he does and I mimic what he does so that I look like a pro.  He goes through no problem so I figure I got this! Piece of cake.  I go through the scanner and all goes well.  Then the guy that I mimic gets stopped and security asks to go through the contents of his bag because something questionable came up in the scanner.  HAHA the thoughts that went through my head were priceless.  I immediately think of the movies and am half anticipating a S.W.A.T. team to show up with guns and approach it like its a BOMB. By the way, the thought did cross my mind to yell this at one point or another.

I had a 3.5 hour lay over in Toronto and really what is there to do?


I Facebooked my friends, people watched, scoped out my gates, charged the phone and of course ate some food.  Count on Swiss Chalet to quench that craving though, it was a great lunch spent solo.  Flying surprisingly makes you hungry, or is it that I love food too much?  

Once I got on my plane headed for Atlanta, I knew the real excitement was about to begin.  Its a freaking huge airport! Thank god for the detailed instructions Dr. Yazdani left for me because I am not sure I would have made it to my destination.  There were signs indicating where I should be going, but I swear I was seeing double.  There were two signs and they both were saying the same thing only they were pointing in opposite directions. Maybe I was tired, but I managed to figure it out.


I had to go left, then right, then down an escalator and take a train and stay on it for six stops then go right then up an escalator and go outside and cross the street.  Take an elevator up so the Skytrain.  This thing was kind of cool :) I would say the easiest part of the entire trip haha

Once I arrived, I was in heaven.  Not only did I get to stay in the Marriott hotel, it was all paid for! One lucky girl I am.  The room was beautiful.  Once I walked in I was in awe.  I literally dropped my bags on the floor and did a backwards fall on to the bed.  I could have passed out right then and there!




I met up with Dr. Yazdani and the team for some dinner before hitting the hay for the big day!

Not only did I learn a lot, I never went hungry.  The food they serve there is to die for!  It started off with breakfast, then a break, then lunch, then a break, then one more break and they finished it off with wine and beer for after the seminar! All for free! Can you believe it! I was mentally exhausted by the end of it and could not for the life of me think of eating another bite.  I know right, me not want to eat food? Pfft, ya right! But I simply could not fathom the idea of it.


After the seminar, I had to take full advantage of the nice weather.  The sun was shining, there wasn't any snow on the ground and I had two hours to kill before our dinner reservation.  I maybe wanted to rub it in everyone's faces a little bit that it was so nice out and everyone back home was stuck in the middle of a winter wonderland...oops ;)


Unfortunately, as I quickly realized, the Marriott is the nicest thing that was around.  I took a walk and tried to make the most of it but really, there isn't anything that was nice enough to really look at.  It was kind of sad to be honest, how poor it really is.  Buildings were abandoned or taken over by the bank.  Even the dirt looked dirty. But still, I enjoyed the fresh air and the exercise.








On the way home, I was less stressed about traveling as Dr. Yazdani and I travelled back together.  I had to commit to memory what I had to do though because I am on my own when I go back for the Marketing Masters Program in February.  We were up super early and I was amazed at how quiet an airport can be at 6:00 in the morning.  It was a peaceful trip home :) 



I was quite happy when I finally got home but was NOT happy about how cold it was.  Everyone kept telling me how it was more mild then when I was away.  Its truly amazing how quickly your body adapts to warmer weather.  I couldn't shake the cold all day.  All I wanted was to curl up into a ball with my little pup and fall into dream land.  



Thank you to +Audrey Poore for taking care of my little rascal while I was away.  I think she enjoyed her time because she slept from 4:00PM until 7:00AM the next morning.  Snoring and all :) 








Tuesday 21 January 2014

Reaching for the stars

When you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything. 

Starting a new year always makes me reflect on the previous.  2013 had its ups and downs for me, sometimes it felt like more downs than ups but I learned a lot from it all.  Never give up because you never know whats around the corner.  For those of you who have followed my progress, you know that I went from job to job and seemed to be all over the place.  I encountered people who were all wrong for me but at the same time each person that came into my life and stayed and those that didn't make the cut have all taught me something.  They all brought something positive into my life that I can still cherish and hold dear to me.  I realized that it's very important to hold on to the good and look for the positive outlook in every situation instead of letting it bring you down.  That's one hard task to do on a regular basis.  

In December, I scored the job of my dreams.  I became a marketing director for Yazdani Family Dentistry in Kemptville.  I started in January and am loving it all so far.  Only three weeks in and already he is sending me to Atlanta for training :) In February and June, I get to go back for a Marketing Masters program.  I can't express how excited I am to be involved in such a great working environment.  I was losing hope for awhile that I wouldn't be able to find a job in the field I wanted.  I felt the longer I waited to get it, the more outdated I was becoming.  Dr. Yazdani is definitely making sure that I stay up-to-date.  In just a few short weeks I already know that I am going to love working here.  The staff are super friendly, everyone is easy going and willing to take the time to explain things that I don't know about.  They even invited me out to their Christmas party in December just so I could get to know the team.  How awesome is that :) 

I must say, I am particularly excited for this trip to Atlanta this weekend as I have never really been outside of the country except for one trip to Disney Land.  I've never flown before and I get to for the first time this weekend.  I am a little scared to be honest but I love adventure.  Let's just hope I make it to Atlanta and don't end up somewhere else...but then again, I don't think I would mind that so much either. It's like a mini vacation even though I have to work.  

Stay tuned and I'll let everyone know how it all went.  

This could get interesting...

Wednesday 11 September 2013

Time Flies

It's amazing what can happen in two months.

Now that I've had time to find some clarity, everything seems to be falling into place.  It honestly feels like 4-5 months have passed since I've sat down to write.  When I started this blog, the intent was to write about my experiences on becoming an entrepreneur with bookkeeping and social media.  To depict the obstacles and challenges that I would come across or even talk about my random canoe races at the beginning of Spring.  What I have learned is that life gets in the way of everything. Its up to us to not allow it to distract us from what the ultimate goal is.  Ultimately, I wanted to find better employment.  I wanted to be happy when I went to work and not dread the idea of it. Now, I'm working for EZ HVAC as a bookkeeper and I just got a job as a manager at Za Za Za Pizza, its "pizza with pizazz" haha I'm looking forward to seeing how this all plays out in the end. I always hated the first day at a new job..but I'm really looking forward to it this time. The uniform is different also.  I get to wear jeans, Converse shoes and a funky tie.

This should be interesting!

Even though the original idea was to be self employed, I still get to do everything I originally planned on doing anyway.  Win, Win!