Laugh at Life

You know how sometimes something just makes you so ridiculously happy that even if you're in a room by yourself or walking down the street and you think of this thing, you burst out laughing?

Well, here's my something:

Out of the 42 million + hits - I'd be embarrassed for you to know how many are mine.  Let's just say, at pretty much every party I go to, this video makes its way to the party masses.

Also, if I'm being honest, this one too:

Don't get me wrong, I like wit and irony and a well-crafted joke, but most of all I just love Laugh-at Life humour.  Because laughter truly is the path to a happy life.

Songwriting + free album

It's a glorious Sunday fall morning here in Montreal and I just took my husband to the train station.  He's off to the Toronto International Film Festival for a few days to do the schmooze thing that is such a huge part of the Entertainment Industry.

We sure live in an "It's who you know" world now, don't we? So many talented people out there and nobody noticing.  Success is about one part talent, and 9 parts lucky.  My husband is one of the most talented songwriters I've ever met. In the almost 6 years that I've known him, he's recorded 5 records and produced my EP.  He's probably written about 100 songs. And I don't mean, throw together some lyrics on top of some chords. These are songs with layers and irony and so much authentic sweetness.    I don't know how he does it. I only ever know how to write songs about myself. I have asked him endlessly for advice and the one thing he always tells me is:  "You have to have something to say".
(sounds easy, right?)

He deserves so much more success than he's gotten so far and If by posting this I can get even one more person to fall in love with his music the way I have, then I've done my job.

It would be no different to me if he were a stranger whose album some friend passed to me.

Here is a link to our latest album. We recorded it live in front of an audience at the hotel2tango in Montreal with Howard Bilerman.  It's not perfect, polished, and our voices are pitchy sometimes, but the songs are there.  It's all in the words.

Please enjoy this album

Deciding to Heal: Mega Priority.

I am so new to this blog thing and I have so much to learn! I've been writing for years in various forms,  but aside from my songs, most of my writing has stayed very private. There's something so different about writing for people that I feel it's going to be quite a process for me to find my voice and style for Grace and Janiper. (So, I guess it's a good thing that no one actually knows this exists yet!)

I have been reading some amazing blogs and feeling so inspired by them.  I wonder if, through the numerous blogs I peruse a day, I will find myself?  I hope so. Does that seem silly? Have you seen how much beauty and truth there is blogging? I want to become a really great blogger, I'm not sure why, but more importantly, I want to become my very best self.  one day, one night and one blog post at a time.

A few weeks ago, my friend Nadyne excitedly told me that I should check out 'A Blog About Love' and I did.  And I instantly became a big ol' fan.  today I have a deep crush on this post.  

When I read that post from Mara on A Blog about Love, I experienced first-hand what a good blog does. Like that scene from When Harry Met Sally her post made me think: "I'll have what she's having."

With one tiny little blog post she made me realize something I've been putting off for 10 years.

That if I want to heal emotionally, I need to first allow myself to heal physically. I say allow because over the last 4 years I have struggled with health issues that I created myself and I am so tired of it.  The problem is that I know what I can do to fix it - once I make this one little change, my body will begin to heal.  But I keep choosing the thing that hurts me, because it brings me comfort, because it's what I'm used to, but mostly, because it's easy.

Right here, Right now, starting this very second, I am vowing to you all (well ok, nobody, yet, but let a girl manifest...) that I am going to do the one thing that I've put off far too long.  I am going to Heal. my. body.

This won't be a health blog, I'm pretty sure.  But there may be recipes.
This will be a blog about embarking on a new journey.
This will be a blog about pursuing what scares you most.
This will be a blog about spirituality and the search for understanding.
This will be a blog about love.

so much love,

Tasha

(the photo above was taking somewhere between Idaho and North Dakota on my husband and I's road trip this August. It's usually so hard to capture a sunset, but this one's quite accurate!)

The End of Summer

"summer is ending! summer is ending!"- I want to screech out to anyone and noone.  I don't think I'm alone in the fact that I feel desperately unprepared to say goodbye to summer and embrace autumn.  Maybe it's because it was such an amazing summer.   I got married to my soul love.  I drove across the country with my him in our new, first car.  I played game after game of tennis. (my backhand is downright fancy, yo!) But it just felt so short, didn't it?

There's a really great blog I follow called Conscious Transitions and this week's post started with this:

“The crickets sang in the grasses. They sang the song of summer’s ending, a sad, monotonous song. ‘Summer is over and gone,’ they sang. ‘Over and gone, over and gone. Summer is dying, dying.’

“The crickets felt it was their duty to warn everybody that summertime cannot last forever. Even on the most beautiful days in the whole year – the days when summer is changing into fall – the crickets spread the rumor of sadness and change.”

- Charlotte’s Web

Isn't that so beautiful? and so sadly true? (you can read the whole blog post here). The End of Summer for me is about preparing to go into the cave of self.  How clean can I make my cave before I spend the winter there?  The next few months are going to be spent trying to detox my body.  Fun, huh?  I'm going off of alcohol, and will attempt to cut out dairy and gluten as much as possible.  Trying to clean up your life can be really fun and exciting once you've begun.. but I'm only at the beginning and honestly, I feel a bit scared.  Lucky for me, I came across a very helpful quote yesterday.  

The air is getting much cooler outside and when my husband and I went on long walk the other day on the mountain, we noticed some of the maple trees were turning orange and red.  It was nice to see such a vibrant colour.  A final display of miraculousness before a long winter rest.

Maybe the best thing, as always, is to breathe into what is.  No need for resistance.  No need for struggle.  Just an awareness of what is true and present and an acceptance of how beautiful it all is.  Even the sadness.  Even the death of summer is something to be celebrated.

Summertime Sadness by Lana Del Rey

reflections on a Sunday morning about food + my aim for this blog

It's Sunday morning and I'm wildly excited to wake up my husband in 27 minutes.  I made us a reservation at one of my favourite local brunch spots, Le Chien Fumant, this morning.  It's a hop, skip and death-defying bike lane away from our little apartment in the Plateau, on a quiet, tree-lined street called Gilford.

I know most of you don't know me very well yet (who am I kidding? I have three readers so far, and two of those are my cats), but I am obbbbsessed with food.  I guess most of us are obsessed with food. When I was in high school, my best friend, whose mother was a hippie and only let her eat tofu and kale, came over the my house and went nuts over the Kraft singles slices in the fridge.  She couldn't believe we had Kraft singles slices.  She devoured at least 4 Kraft singles slices.  Didn't even want crackers.  Just tore off that plastic film like it was a christmas box filled with gold.  

Anyhoos, I love all types of food, and will admit, that If I make grilled cheese, Kraft is the way to go,  (I sense a sponsorship in my future, don't you???), but mostly, I love fresh, seasonal, local, organic treats that are grown with love.   Cooking is a huge passion of mine and I love putting ingredients together with a pair of loving hands, for food prepared with love is a must in cooking.  The amount of deliciousness in a meal is often directly related to how much love the chef handles the food with.  

It's officially September 1st today, which means Fall is right around the corner and I can feel the itch to cook - and eat and eat and eat -  creeping in.

What I love about Le Chien Fumant is that everything is local, fresh (they have a changing brunch menu to ensure that only the most seasonal foods be served), and did I mention delicious?  Every single time I've gone there, when I put the ingredients in my mouth, I put my fists to my head, contort my face and screech "this is the most amazing thing I've ever tasted!", so I'm hoping for one of those type of brunch experiences this morning.  Not too much to ask, right?

I just want to say I'm still getting a feel for this blog thing.  I'm not completely sure who I am as a blogger yet, and I realize things may feel a little disjointed thus far.  I'm aiming for an inspirational lifestyle blog, for sure, but not a fluffy, "isn't my life perfect????!" one.  One that can tackle the personal and often difficult realities of life, but in a positive, creative, and hopefully inspiring way.  This is a challenge for me, because as my father once told me I've never really been a "happy-prone" person.  In some ways, it's true, but in other ways not.  I've tended to be a "reality-prone" person who takes things a bit too seriously sometimes.  So, that being said, sometimes I will post recipes or pictures of the winter coat on my wish list, but sometimes I will talk about the death of my brother, or my struggles with anxiety. I'm going to stay open to what wants to be told. My goal is to face reality and the truth authentically, with love, compassion, honesty and, yes, the most difficult of all for me:  with happiness.  

We are alive, right? What better thing is there?