A beautiful late summer day, the weather was gorgeous, so a couple friends and I decided to go for a nice long hike up Cypress Mountain. The hike starts at Cypress Mountain's downhill ski area and then up the side of Black Mountain. Which is a new trail that was  developed in 2004 that is very well maintained, but really steep in some places. There are dozens of beautiful ponds and smaller lakes, as well […]

        Martin Seligman, the father of positive psychology, theorizes that while 60 percent of happiness is determined by our genetics and environment, the remaining 40 percent is up to us.     In his 2004 Ted Talk, Seligman describes three different kinds of happy lives: the pleasant life: in which you fill your life with as many pleasures as you can the life of engagement: where you find a life in your […]

1. Say “I love you” more often...to yourself! 2. Take the time to explore and write down 10 things that you like about yourself. It can be anything, big or small. 3. Say “No” when you want to. Say it in a confident manner. Be firm, polite, respectful and do not be overly apologetic. This gives the signal that you are sympathetic, but will not easily change your mind if pressured. 4. Do something nice […]

  This past weekend was my puppy DeeOgee's 1st race. We attended the 2013 Wiener Dog Races at Hastings Race Track here in Vancouver. So much fun! There were 64 dogs racing in 8 different heats. It was awesome to see so many different variations of the breed. Lots of different sizes, colours and coats. I am a proud Mommy --my little guy came out of the gate first and straight for me, but stumbled […]

  In her new movie Help, the actress plays Skeeter Phelan, an ambitious young writer who suffers from low self-esteem in the beginning of the film. Emma says the role made her question how she defines attractiveness. “I think at the beginning, understandably, [Skeeter] is deeply affected by her appearance and her mother’s disapproval of it,” she said. “[Skeeter] was lucky enough to have [her maid] Constantine, who reminded her that she was beautiful and […]