Favourite Things – Page 6

My Favourite Podcasts

March 24, 2014

I try to surround myself with as much inspiration, positivity and food for thought as I possibly can. I’ve recently begun to realize that consumption is a hugely important part of the creative process, and I think that feeding yourself knowledge and big ideas can make such a difference in how you live your life and what you end up giving back to the world. And podcasts have quickly become one of my absolute favourite ways to learn and to be inspired.

Podcasts aren’t just being made in someone’s basement anymore (although some are, and some of those are awesome too!) – the format is now an outlet for really high quality, well-produced radio content. Maybe the word “podcast” still has amateur connotations for you, but I’d urge you to give it another chance because there’s so much out there now that’s worth discovering. I’m the first to admit I’m still only scratching the surface of this wonderful world of podcasting, and I’m constantly stumbling upon amazing shows that already have hundreds of episodes in the archives.

Here are five of my current favourite shows: some are old faves, some are recently discovered, but they’re all great.

This American Life / In my mind, this show is the gold standard for podcasting. Put simply, in their words: “each week we choose a theme and bring you a series of stories on that theme”. The theme can be anything from strange coincidences to secret identities and everything – and I do mean everything – in between. The stories can be in the form of spoken fiction or interviews basic reporting style, or even voice actors doing a play. No matter what the theme is, the show is always endlessly fascinating. Sometimes I’ll read the description and think it sounds boring or weird, but once I actually listen to what they’ve put together, I am never disappointed. Plus, the host Ira Glass’ voice is so quirky and captivating, and he asks fantastic questions.

The Savage Lovecast / Dan Savage is smart and respectful and unafraid to tell it like it is. On the podcast he answers all kinds of questions from callers about love and sexuality and I’m continually impressed and fascinated by two things: 1) he rarely seems surprised by a question and is hardly ever unkind; and 2) the diverse experiences, relationships and sexualities that callers talk to him about. He is no-nonsense, straight forward (his favourite thing to say is “use your words!”), and practical. His advice is always excellent. The show has broadened my worldview and taught me a ton.

The Joy the Baker Podcast / Joy and Tracy are best friends and they make me want to be their best friend too. They talk about all kinds of “totally important, unimportant things” like TV shows or baking tips, as well as answer questions from listeners, and they do it all in the most hilarious, endearing way. They are smart and accomplished women but they’re also so down to earth and charming. I look forward to this one every week.

TED Radio Hour / This is a new one I’m just getting into, but so far I’ve really enjoyed it. The show weaves together recordings of different TED talks as well as interviews that relate to a chosen topic. The topics are always fascinating: one I listened to was on the simple art of happiness, another about the sense of identity. A recent one I listened to about solutions to various social problems literally brought me to tears. The format is great: they don’t play the entire talk, only the key ideas, and deliver the whole show in a conversational, interesting, and coherent way.

After the Jump / Another recent addition to my podcast arsenal, but it has been informative and interesting thus far. It focuses mostly work and life balance, productivity, and creativity. I’ve been going through the archives and just picking out the episodes that sound the most interesting (“Live the Life You Want to Live”, for example) and so far I’ve really enjoyed them all. Each one has given me lots of things to think about and apply in my own life.

Bonus: Guinea Pigging Green / I just had to throw this one in there! This is a podcast I host with my good friend Laura about all things health + wellness-related: mind, body and soul. We like to talk about everything from peanut butter to meditation, and this week’s episode is about taking risks and tips on making big life decisions.

Happy listening!

Best Travel Carry On Backpack

May 11, 2013

Turns out, my innocent-looking May goals are considerably more difficult to put into practice than I thought. I’m getting ready to leave my apartment of 2 years and also plan a 3-month-long adventure in Europe and it feels like I have a really bad case of crazy brain and yet not much is getting accomplished. “Spinning my wheels” is a phrase that keeps coming to mind. There has been small progress – never did I think I’d be so elated to sell a piece of furniture on Craigslist – on both fronts, but it is still slow-going. There are about a billion unanswered questions that I’m going to need to find answers to in the next 50 days before I leave, but I’ve figured at least one thing out: my bag.

I decided very early on that I wanted to do this trip with only one bag, carry-on sized. I had so many reasons for doing so, but here are a sampling: I never wanted to need help with my bag, I never wanted to pay baggage fees, I never wanted to risk losing my stuff, I didn’t want to have to wait for my bags. If you want more information about carry-on travel, check out Rick Steves’ guide to packing light or One Bag.

So, once that was settled, I just needed to find the right bag. I fell in love almost instantly with Tom Bihn’s Aeronaut, but unfortunately it was just a little too steep for my budget (that didn’t stop me from lusting after it for weeks, however..). Once I wrapped my head around the fact that the bag would cost me as much as an iPad mini, I focused on researching other bags. I wanted a bag without wheels (so I could more easily navigate with my hands free), and that was a “convertible” – in other words, had backpack straps that could be tucked away so it can also be carried like a suitcase. At the risk of exposing just how much of a planner/researcher I really am, I’m showing you my spreadsheet of convertible carry-on sized bags. Maybe it’ll save one of you some researching.

You can access the spreadsheet directly (with clickable links) here. You should know that this list is by no means complete, there are quite a few other contenders that didn’t make it on. Check out some other great bag recommendations at One Bag One World. (I got lost on that site for a couple of days, by the way!)

After a lot of consideration, I decided to go with the LL Bean Quickload Travel Pack. It was the right decision for me: it is an incredibly light bag, it is unassuming and comes in black, it hinges open like a suitcase so I can get at all my stuff without taking everything out and rummaging around, and it has a pretty big capacity.

As you can see, I’m pretty excited about it. As soon as it was delivered (which only took 2 days, which was wonderful), I promptly packed it the way I am planning to for my trip, and started testing the weight by walking around wearing it and holding it above my head. So far, so good. I have a feeling I’ll be doing a lot of that kind of stuff right up until the day I leave.

Now that I have my bag, and my plane tickets to Europe, things are starting to feel very real, and scary and exciting at the same time. I can’t quite imagine what it’s going to be like or how I’m going to feel, but I’m ready to find out. The hardest part about packing my bag so far has been that once I packed it, I was totally ready to go to the airport and leave all my other belongings behind. Realizing that I still had to deal with all the other stuff in my apartment was a bit of a bummer.

Other equipment shown in the above photo: the personal toiletries organizer from LL Bean, which I’ve had for years but is similar to this model, Toms shoe bags that come with your purchase of Toms, and a cube from Eagle Creek’s Pack-It system (I have the regular and half-size cubes).

22

April 7, 2013

Today I turned 22.

I have had such a lovely weekend. I’ve seen so many great people, heard from so many people I care about, and had a few nice surprises. A few: claiming balloons left behind at work, a rose-petalled-covered cake, getting an *adorable* home movie of my sisters singing me “22” and then being hilarious, getting a paper done in a short burst of productivity this afternoon, receiving some sweet cards with sweet words.

If you’re lucky and you know it, clap your hands. (I’m clapping).

It was a wonderfully low-key, perfect birthday filled with all the things one needs.

I realized today that I didn’t make it to the end of my 22 before 22 list, but I’m okay with it. The point of those lists is always to push me to try new things and challenge myself, and I did that a few times over this past year. Most of the things I didn’t get done are things that I sort of chose arbitrarily. But the things I did get done – most of them are really important to me. The book club, the podcast(s), being a penpal, running a race, even making sushi – those were all great experiences that stand out to me from this past year. I haven’t yet decided if I’m going to make a 23 before 23 list (spoiler alert: PROBABLY), but if/when I do it’s going to include more of those kinds of creative projects, more things that bring me closer to other people, more trying new experiences that seem impossible.

I watched this TED Talk today that just perfectly sums up the sort of attitude I’m trying to cultivate in my every day life. Going into 22 I want to be more grateful, and less bitter or angry. I want to complain less. I want to be more generous – not just with money, but with love and patience and understanding. I want to be more clear about what I need, and be more direct with people. I want to pay attention. I want to be better, I always want to be better.

I also want to read more (always) and run more and talk to my family more and take more photos and see new places and be more inspired and laugh a lot. All these things are possible!

Thankful, as always, to have a place to just be myself and share my thoughts. Merci. Je vous aime.

21 Favourite Moments

April 4, 2013

I love love love looking back on the year. At the risk of sounding totally sappy (as per usual), it makes me feel all warm and happy inside to remember all the small, hilarious, lovely moments that make up my life. There are lots of things that didn’t make this list, since 21 is such a small number, really. I was really happy this year. I created habits that I really love, and learned more about what makes me smile. I can’t wait to see what 22 will bring. Here are my 21 fave moments from my 21st year!

driving around the suburbs in Ottawa singing (Livin’ on a Prayer, etc) at the top of our lungs with my best friends

spending oodles of time on the roof

the entire nerve-wracking, stressful, yet confidence-boosting process of becoming a waitress

the day at the market when we befriended Lino the twinkly-eyed, white-haired gardener and brought a tomato plant home

stumbling onto that L’été Corona rooftop hotel party

helping to move my little sister into her new house and getting up to shenanigans with my family

when dusk hit at Diner en Blanc, and the lights were twinkling everywhere

The Christmas Party

eating a kougin amann on a cold, grey day with the windows fogged up around us

the Colour Run

weekly girls/Girls nights

the whole night that I made that boy that cake

each and every time I burst into a grin while running

all those impromptu dance parties with my friends in the living room

having that crazy fruit photoshoot

all the moments of the visits from my Dad, my Mom, and my friends this year

the first time I took that chive X bread out of the oven

the first day this Spring that it was sunny and 8 degrees

that perfect afternoon at Tam Tams in the park

that day we spent flitting from patio to patio, from Old Port to the Plateau, eating and drinking and laughing

going out for bibimbap and on the way home buying an enormous winter melon for no reason

I’m so blessed and happy and lucky. This year contained about a million learning experiences and its fair share of totally sad or scary days, but I get by with a little help from my friends, my family, and me myself and I. xo.