Huffington Post: My New Home Away From Home?

Hello my friends! I have been sowing and growing my seeds of intention...

Things have been firing off fast and feverishly in my world as of late - so much has been happening that I have again been neglectful in my visits here.  I do hope that you might forgive me when I tell you of a few exciting new developments....

1.  I officially have 2 paying clients for my new business venture MAP Wellness.  Yup!  and YAY!  I have been trying to figure out my new schedule as it serves both them and myself, and have been toiling with the less fun aspects of running a small business: proper budgets, overhead, and legalities!

2. I am also one of the newest contributors for Huffington Post Canada's Living site!!  YES!  This is something that has just come into fruition over the course of the last week and a half, and I am so, so, so excited about it and all that it will allow me to explore in this new world of mine. 

Add to this the fact that I am still playing "catch-up" on many dinner dates and social calls, trying to spend as many minutes as I can poolside here at my home base, and that I can not get enough time outdoors on my bicyle, and life just seems like a blur of wonderful, whimsical happenings!

Oh - so if you missed it, I am blogging recipes for Huffington Post.  

Here is the link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/meghan-pearson/raw-food-recipe_b_1720789.html?utm_hp_ref=canada-living

Love, love, love, love.  

Stuff & Things

Sunday!  The start of another new week full of potential.  I have written about my love of Sunday mornings in the past (see here), and today I woke up feeling even more inspired than usual.  For many, many reasons.  First?  This:

Booth Stars » 08 Scorpio
Scorpio- Sunday, July 15, 2012

Whatever is wrong now will soon be put right. Your quest for a recovery from a harsh turn of events will be achieved. Your prayers will be answered. There is no turning back from where you are going. So, take it all the way. An exciting chapter in your life is now being written.

I mean, come on!  Does it GET any better than that?  All that is wrong will be made right.  Cool.  Quest for recovery from a harsh turn of events?  Hello, harsh 2009 through to 2011.  Prayers?  Oh I have been praying alright.  Exciting chapter?  Oh I got this.

Yup, today I am feeling mighty fine.  I was up with the dawn for a humid run, and have puttered away in my kitchen til now.  Breakfast on my balcony amongst my lush green tropical plants, with coffee, my laptop and my neighbourhood birds singing is a delightful way to really kick off the day.  Later on I am off to meet with the fellow that I have been working with behind the scenes in the design of my new business's logo and colour scheme - all part of my soon-to-launch wellness company, MAP Wellness.  This past week I secured my very first client, and have the promise for two more to sign on in the coming week!  These pre-launch customers will provide valuable "rehearsal" time to get me into the small biz head space, and hopefully will support my goals via some valuable testimonials and the opportunity for some biz-model troubleshooting.

I also have a few meetings set up in the coming weeks - and not to give too much away, but I may have found a niche market to kick off my culinary workshop circuit, and I may also have found my first real (local!) restaurant to do some recipe development for!  Such excitement.

New recipe creation: Carrot Chia Muffins

As for the rest of things - well, let's just say I am feeling quite amorous right now, with a light flutter of butterfly wings twittering away deep in my belly. 

And it is NOT because I am on book #2 of the "Fifty Shades" trilogy.*blush*

I am in the midst of planning a girls' bicycle tour of Niagara-On-The-Lake here in Ontario (knocking yet another item off of my "To Live List!"), and to that end I am excited to be having lunch this week with the charming "Wine Sisters".  They are a delightful duo with mad skills regarding all things vino - hopefully our meeting will help map my route and perhaps net me some insider tips!

I have also signed on for another month of Booty Camp - this time challenging myself with their brand-spanking new "Booty Fit Express" - based on the ever popular HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) notion.  Did I mention these group classes take place in a park?  Like, outdoors?  And they are only 30 minutes long!  Sweetness. 

And now just for a couple of shout-outs to some ladies I love.  If you have a moment, surf on over and check these darling gals out:

Christa is a positive, inspiring, food-loving blogger from Western Canada.  She has only just begun her journey into the bloggersphere, but it's a real treat!  Her blog: http://ediblebalance.wordpress.com/

Sonnet is a holistic health coach based out of Seattle Washington.  I have been reading her whimsical, witty and wonderful food musings for a while now and she never disappoints.  Here recipes, humour and honesty make me smile every time I load up her page in my browser.  Get the goods at http://www.fortheloveoffoodblog.com/p/about.html
  
Well folks that is all for today.  I am grateful for all of you that are reading!

XO


UPDATE:  Check out MONDAY'S 'scope:

Scorpio- Monday, July 16, 2012
Posted: 15 Jul 2012 09:00 PM PDT
Uranus is awakening the innovator within you. An established way of doing things has had its day. The status quo is refusing to loosen its grip, but it cannot hold on to its position for much longer against the winds of change that are now blowing so fiercely. The opportunity you have been looking for to re-write the rulebook is before you.

I mean, really.  LOVE.

6 hours of YOGA

Hello all!  Just an update here:  I have decided NOT to continue on my social media free month after all.  Yes, I only lasted 6 days.  But I am choosing to go back online because I can. I am a consenting adult and have the power to make that decision.  After writing the below posting about yoga and extremes, I realized that I was again acting out in my particular way - with my all or nothing mentality - and it had gotten the better of me.  So I have concluded that I need not withdrawal completely online to prove to myself that I can tame my addiction there; all I need to do is cope differently.  So that is what I plan to do.  Limits, time frames, checkpoints and all.  So there.

When you think yoga, you don't usually associate it with the word challenge. At least I don't - anymore.  There was a time that yes, I truly fought against myself on the mat, pushed myself too far, drove my limbs to do things that they sometimes just didn't want to do.  I went so far as to injure my knee so badly that I had to take a break not only from class, but also from my daily run.  That is serious. Granted, even though I was putting my body under a ton of undue stress, it still was very healing for me in many ways.  I turned to Bikram yoga at a time in my life that I needed not only a distraction, but also an avenue to exert excess stresses, work out my body, and have some time just for me.  And I am grateful for all it gave me then.  It was only when I found myself becoming obsessive about those 26 postures; when I was starting to go beyond the parameters of regular practice; did I realize that I needed to ease off of my 43 degree "torture chamber" (Bikram's words, not mine) addiction.  And so I did.  Now, I feel much more at peace with my practice, and choose more variety in my yogic classes to include everything from standard hatha, to restorative, Yin, Vinyasa, and the odd hot one.

This is why, when I discovered that the ALS society was developing its first annual ALS Yoga Challenge, I was a tad hesitant to sign up.  But after reading the websites introductory sentence yet again, I had to put my name on the roster:

Most people diagnosed with ALS lose the ability to use their arms and legs in the first two years of the disease. What would you do, while you still could?

So I am doing it.  On August 18, 2012 myself and hundreds of others will attend a fun-filled day of yoga as we move our bodies for those who no longer can.

I am doing it for my father, an athlete who was active in sport into his late fifties and early sixties; slow-pitch, volleyball, golf and hockey his activities of choice.  He was a runner, a biker, and a dancer, with a regular bedside routine of push-ups and crunches every morning.  He revelled in his body's strength, honoured all his muscles could do for him, and never took advantage.

Go figure it would be a debilitating disease like ALS that would eventually steal his life, after quickly rendering many of his muscles virtually useless.  Had it not been for my fathers paralleling fight with FTD (frontotemporal dementia) I am sure he would have been frustratingly distraught over his quickly atrophying limbs.  The transition from him walking, to walker, to wheelchair happened in a blink of an eye.

And so I will bend and sway in memory of him, to show my love for him, and in the hope that one day there may be a cure for the disease that took my daddy away far too soon. 

If you would like to sponsor me in my day of yoga, you can do so here:

ALS yoga Challenge!

Namaste.

Canada Day Weekend: In Pictures

Reminder:  I am not on my social media websites for the month of July!  Why?  Find out here.  In the meantime, check out my new "Contact Me" tab if you'd like to get a hold of me pre-August!

Ah, summer-time long weekends.  A chance to get away from the city, breathe clean air, and unwind with the warm breeze, backyard BBQs, and family. 

This past Friday, after an extraordinarily busy week at work, I welcomed my 2 hour bus ride that would whisk me off from Toronto to London, the nearest transit terminal to my hometown in South Western Ontario.  With backpack, snacks, and book in hand, I travelled the long stretch of highway 401 with the anticipation of a child, eager to settle in for some real, sweet, chill-time.

Us Pearson's have many a tradition when it comes to Canada Day celebrations, and it was bitter sweet to replay many of them this year with the entire family...minus one. 

Here, a glimpse into the goings on...(taken with my Android phone; apologies for the lack-luster image quality!)

 Shady fun away from the sun...

Scenes from my morning run - very different from the views and routes I get in Toronto!  That pretty home there, is my old farmhouse...the place I grew up.  Six and a half acres in the country, and I even got to see my old horse Kokomo grazing in the hayfield! (We sold him with the land when mom & dad moved into town)

  More amazing sights discovered on my 5K dash - flowers, fields, and fresh country air!

All decked out in red! My brother-in-law, niece and nephews all ready for the firemens' pancake breakfast!

 

Mom, myself & sister B.  Post-bite, it was outside to explore the antique car displays.  Dad used to LOVE this annual event!

  Balloon swords & glow necklaces - does it get ANY better? 

And one more - me at the park in my patriotic colours.  Thanks to big sis S for instagram-ming!