Just spent the weekend on the island and ran into a couple of people who reminded me that when you live there full time there are times when you want to make a dish and don't have that essential ingredient and there's no one on the island who carries it. Our island is pretty damn good but there are limits. I'm always thinking of a service that I could turn into a business once I live there so it got me thinking. Shopping in the city for foodies on the island. What a great idea. Wonder if it could work. I already go back and forth regularly, I already haunt the foodie stores as much as I can, I'd love to be able to buy more than I already do. Something to think about.
I've realized that like so many rural places, the island if full of amazing people who either have a pension or some kind of income because employment is sparse...a lot of people find a way through their own brand of creativity. There are many art galleries in homes, cottage industries like coffee roasting, web design, photography and so on that bring in extra income. Islands seem to attract people who choose lifestyle over career ambitions so they use their brains to create their own jobs. I've always admired that. Self-employment at a job that is something you love anyway. A dream for most of us. I have some time to make this happen but the wheels are turning. I'd like to not have to come to the city every week for work if I can help it.
Years ago I read Marsha Sinetar's ' Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow'. It was such a great book and now I think it is considered a classic in career counselling circles along with other similar books. I strongly believe in this concept. When you are working in a job which is sort of out of your element, you don't really do your best work because your heart isn't in it. There are lots of people who do this for job security and a good solid income but they are sacrificing something. If it's a job you really hate, you are risking your physical and emotional health as well as your time. You hear about people having some kind of wakeup call only to discover their life has passed them by while they were busy finding security or what they thought was security. How sad. Hopefully the security is worth it. But often it ends up that you spend money on entertainment and vacations to make up for the misery at work which leads to more need for the steady paycheck and on it goes. Locked in.
Wouldn't it be better to find a job that pays that you love and live within your means. A lot easier said than done in our consumer oriented world. I've been really working on this in my own life. Blogs like Get Rich Slowly are sort of about this balance. JD was in a lot of debt and in a job he hated when he had his wakeup call. Now he manages his money very well, on a budget and blogs for a living. It took a lot of research and hard work for him to get to this very enviable place but you know, once you put your mind to something, it's amazing what you can achieve. His wife on the other hand, always managed her money well, is a natural saver and loves her job. Some people manage to get it right the first time. Noooo, not me, I tend to be a person who learns through trial and error. Nothing wrong with that but I am a bit in awe of those who seem to be born with the knowledge of how to live well. They can teach us a lot. On the other hand, as JD has said in his blog, he can't believe he is actually seen as some kind of expert in financial circles these days (and he certainly is!) since he has made many many financial mistakes. But I think that's exactly why people listen to him, he doesn't preach from a place of knowing it all or righteousness, he writes about his own mistakes and what he learned and we don't feel as ashamed of ourselves for the ways we screwed up. Advise is much easier to take from someone like that.
Anyway, I'm still thinking about my own island entrepreneur ideas.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
Cooking
What a blessing it is to love to cook. These days with our focus on construction costs we are not going out as often as we used to. Our favourite places to go out were always the great inexpensive ethnically diverse places that we are so lucky to have here in our city. It is literally the best food for the buck especially compared to the polished trendy restaurants that are fun to go to, granted, but the food is overpriced as far as I'm concerned. When you like to cook as we do, it had better be good for us to pay $100 + for a meal. Many times we have been so disappointed in a much hyped restaurant that was just average. If we had lots of money for eating out we wouldn't mind but when we know how to cook well ourselves and our priorities these days are all about the house on the island, it just isn't worth it. Lately financially its been really tight so we are cooking at home almost exclusively and surprise surprise we have become so much more creative in our shopping and cooking. It cost almost nothing to keep a fresh supply of herbs on hand, cilantro, parsley, mint, basil and so on and when you have fresh herbs in the fridge almost any dish is enhanced incredibly.
On the weekend I often watch the cooking channel to get ideas or my favourite food blog. This weekend I made moussaka which I have never made before. There used to be a restaurant nearby that had terrific moussaka but it changed hands and it is not nearly as good anymore so I gave it a try after watching a show where they followed a greek chef around while he cooked. My own version was just wonderful, if I do say so. It really has been a while since I tried something that I have never made before.
Once you cook a lot at home you find that first of all you always have great leftovers (a la my wonderful frugal grandmother) and you have all the stuff around to whip almost anything without leaving the house. I find these days that we always have prawns, some kind of white fish, and ground meat in the freezer so when we get vegetables and herbs once a week we can make almost anything. We kind of go by what we feel like rather than planning too far ahead. Planning ahead works for a lot of people but not us, we seem to go day by day and see what our imagination brings.
The pleasures of a simple life, it just gets better all the time.
On the weekend I often watch the cooking channel to get ideas or my favourite food blog. This weekend I made moussaka which I have never made before. There used to be a restaurant nearby that had terrific moussaka but it changed hands and it is not nearly as good anymore so I gave it a try after watching a show where they followed a greek chef around while he cooked. My own version was just wonderful, if I do say so. It really has been a while since I tried something that I have never made before.
Once you cook a lot at home you find that first of all you always have great leftovers (a la my wonderful frugal grandmother) and you have all the stuff around to whip almost anything without leaving the house. I find these days that we always have prawns, some kind of white fish, and ground meat in the freezer so when we get vegetables and herbs once a week we can make almost anything. We kind of go by what we feel like rather than planning too far ahead. Planning ahead works for a lot of people but not us, we seem to go day by day and see what our imagination brings.
The pleasures of a simple life, it just gets better all the time.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Peace and Plenty
" The money.....it's all gone!"
Sarah Ban Breathnach from 'Peace and Plenty'
I'm still in shock. Just picked up Sarah Ban Breathnach's new book Peace and Plenty and found out all her money is gone, she's starting over. I still can't believe it. Her book Simple Abundance published in 1995 was a favourite of almost every woman that I knew at that time. Obviously we weren't the only ones, it was at the top of the New York Times best sellers list for over 5 months, she made millions from sales. Not to mention that the whole topic of the book was abundance, enjoying what you have and how to encourage more of what you want into your life. I loved it and read it when I was going through my divorce, it really helped me focus on what was important and less on what I had lost which was considerable at the time. How does a person lose millions of dollar? Apparently this happens all the time. As Sarah says now herself, she knew how to create abundance, she just didn't know how to keep it.
It seems that it was a combination of allowing someone else to manage her money without knowing what was going on (her ex-husband) and spending like there's no tomorrow. It's hard to imagine how an ordinary person who was used to just getting by could spend that much money. Makes you think.
Managing money, keeping your money, staying grounded when you have a windfall or even just some success must be a hard thing to do. I don't know, my life has been sort of ordinary in that way, working hard for what I have but no large amounts of money at once. I'd like to think I could handle it but lots of people who have experienced this have said its not easy, particularly when it's public knowledge. I guess relatives come out of the woodwork and lots of financial 'experts' turn up to help you take care of your wealth. What would I do?
Go to my credit union I think and then a vacation to think about it. Then get the advice of someone who knows about windfalls. There must be someone who knows about this stuff. Then I could write a book about it. Ha. Maybe just small windfall...and no one knew... yeah, that would be just right. No harm in dreaming. I haven't finished Sarah's book yet but it seems that she still hasn't lost her zest for life, I'm sure she'll be fine. Wiser in fact.
Sarah Ban Breathnach from 'Peace and Plenty'
I'm still in shock. Just picked up Sarah Ban Breathnach's new book Peace and Plenty and found out all her money is gone, she's starting over. I still can't believe it. Her book Simple Abundance published in 1995 was a favourite of almost every woman that I knew at that time. Obviously we weren't the only ones, it was at the top of the New York Times best sellers list for over 5 months, she made millions from sales. Not to mention that the whole topic of the book was abundance, enjoying what you have and how to encourage more of what you want into your life. I loved it and read it when I was going through my divorce, it really helped me focus on what was important and less on what I had lost which was considerable at the time. How does a person lose millions of dollar? Apparently this happens all the time. As Sarah says now herself, she knew how to create abundance, she just didn't know how to keep it.
It seems that it was a combination of allowing someone else to manage her money without knowing what was going on (her ex-husband) and spending like there's no tomorrow. It's hard to imagine how an ordinary person who was used to just getting by could spend that much money. Makes you think.
Managing money, keeping your money, staying grounded when you have a windfall or even just some success must be a hard thing to do. I don't know, my life has been sort of ordinary in that way, working hard for what I have but no large amounts of money at once. I'd like to think I could handle it but lots of people who have experienced this have said its not easy, particularly when it's public knowledge. I guess relatives come out of the woodwork and lots of financial 'experts' turn up to help you take care of your wealth. What would I do?
Go to my credit union I think and then a vacation to think about it. Then get the advice of someone who knows about windfalls. There must be someone who knows about this stuff. Then I could write a book about it. Ha. Maybe just small windfall...and no one knew... yeah, that would be just right. No harm in dreaming. I haven't finished Sarah's book yet but it seems that she still hasn't lost her zest for life, I'm sure she'll be fine. Wiser in fact.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Happiness
"For the people of Arhus (Denmark), she said, the keys are small-town friendliness and ready access to nature......The Danish path to happiness , after all, isn't about aspiring to scale peaks but rather about the satisfaction that comes from living at a high plateau. It's about thriving in an environment that nudges them away from superficial pleasures and toward lasting - and sometimes counterintuitive- activities that bring lasting happiness."
Dan Buettner from 'Thrive. Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way.'
February! The winter blues. This time of year really gets to me and I know it gets to most people. The quote above was from a book featured on Oprah last week. This time of year lots of people talk about happiness and the explosion of happiness research which has taught us a lot I think. It's so interesting to have the research confirm what we mostly already know, that money doesn't make us happy, commuting makes us unhappy, not having enough money makes us unhappy but having lots doesn't make us happier and so on. It's so interesting to read about what happy people have in common. The bottom line seems to be social connection and proximity to nature. That's certainly true for me. That is one of the main reason behind our decision to go to the island. A small community and nature right outside the front door. I feel the change as soon as I arrive. I hear the birds, hear the wind in the trees, we walk on the beach and watch the ocean waves...I am immediately aware that we are small beings on a big earth and that we aren't here for that long really. That thought helps me feel more grounded in the decisions I make as opposed to superficial concerns like career aspirations or material wealth. Somehow its so much easier there to stay focused on what really matters...time with loved ones, helping each other, just enjoying life and other living things. Being at one with the earth.
I discovered this about my own experience while I lived in Alaska. I have lived in many places which gives me the distinct advantage of comparing how I function in varied environments. Inexplicably I was immediately happy in Alaska. I figured it out over the years I spent there. First of all, friendly people. I loved the Alaskan people. The first week we were there a neighbour came over and invited us to a street barbeque, no need to bring anything, someone had just caught a salmon so just come on over. We met almost all our neighbours that day and they were very happy people. Even in the middle of winter, they were out skiing and hiking, it didn't slow them down. We had get togethers and had such a great time. Then there were those mountains that we could see from our window everyday and the weather that reminded us that we are so powerless and insignificant compared to the power of nature. It instilled an awe and respect for the earth I have never lost since. I realized that I have to have this in my life from now on and I have. It's why I chose the west coast of Canada as a final, maybe, place to live out my life. Winters are much easier here but the nature is just as awesome. Best of both worlds.
That's what we all need to do...figure out what makes us happy, we are all unique that way, each of us has a list of what inexplicably brings up that happy feeling in us, we must pay attention to what our feelings are telling us. There's a valuable message there, a guide to finding our bliss.
Dan Buettner from 'Thrive. Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way.'
February! The winter blues. This time of year really gets to me and I know it gets to most people. The quote above was from a book featured on Oprah last week. This time of year lots of people talk about happiness and the explosion of happiness research which has taught us a lot I think. It's so interesting to have the research confirm what we mostly already know, that money doesn't make us happy, commuting makes us unhappy, not having enough money makes us unhappy but having lots doesn't make us happier and so on. It's so interesting to read about what happy people have in common. The bottom line seems to be social connection and proximity to nature. That's certainly true for me. That is one of the main reason behind our decision to go to the island. A small community and nature right outside the front door. I feel the change as soon as I arrive. I hear the birds, hear the wind in the trees, we walk on the beach and watch the ocean waves...I am immediately aware that we are small beings on a big earth and that we aren't here for that long really. That thought helps me feel more grounded in the decisions I make as opposed to superficial concerns like career aspirations or material wealth. Somehow its so much easier there to stay focused on what really matters...time with loved ones, helping each other, just enjoying life and other living things. Being at one with the earth.
I discovered this about my own experience while I lived in Alaska. I have lived in many places which gives me the distinct advantage of comparing how I function in varied environments. Inexplicably I was immediately happy in Alaska. I figured it out over the years I spent there. First of all, friendly people. I loved the Alaskan people. The first week we were there a neighbour came over and invited us to a street barbeque, no need to bring anything, someone had just caught a salmon so just come on over. We met almost all our neighbours that day and they were very happy people. Even in the middle of winter, they were out skiing and hiking, it didn't slow them down. We had get togethers and had such a great time. Then there were those mountains that we could see from our window everyday and the weather that reminded us that we are so powerless and insignificant compared to the power of nature. It instilled an awe and respect for the earth I have never lost since. I realized that I have to have this in my life from now on and I have. It's why I chose the west coast of Canada as a final, maybe, place to live out my life. Winters are much easier here but the nature is just as awesome. Best of both worlds.
That's what we all need to do...figure out what makes us happy, we are all unique that way, each of us has a list of what inexplicably brings up that happy feeling in us, we must pay attention to what our feelings are telling us. There's a valuable message there, a guide to finding our bliss.
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