We've moving

Well not really.

The Blog is moving. Moving away from Blogger.

I'm still here, in the same place, same city. At least for now ;)

I finally got my professional site up and while the site is still a bit under construction, the blog is officially up and running. (michellereaney.com/blog/)

Starting next week, posts will be going up regularly so head over and check it out (feel free to let me know whatcha think)

Chat with you soon!

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Let's Get #Grexy!

I randomly found this great Australian company on Instagram, called Sustainable Table a non-profit helping people live a more healthy and sustainable lifestyle. You can read more about them here.

What caught my attention was a challenge they were starting up for April. Give a Fork! I mean, come on, how can you resist that catchy name. Now if you've been following along on the thunderpeep blog you've read about how I started to live a more Zero Waste life, and it's been hard, but challenging (in the best possible ways!) so this challenge was right up my alley. Kicking it up a few notches, because I do love a good challenge. Now this is an Australian challenge and I'm here in Canada so it's going to be up to me to find comparable solutions in my city and adjust the what's in season menu...!

Basically there are 3 challenges to Give a Fork about ...

• #GrexyTeaser - giving up your takeaway containers for the month (what you still use takeaway containers?)
• #HalfwayToGrexy - going completely meat free during the week (I'll do another post on why this one wasn't for me)
• #DropDeadGrexy - a crash course in sustainable living. This is my challenge (partly because I love the name) I've been all over the board with simplifying and converting so I'm looking for this challenge to help me create the new patterns to make my lifestyle more organized and effortless (well ok obviously there will need to be some effort - our world still isn't built to easily lead a zero waste friendly lifestyle!) - The Benefit to the Planet with my challenge: Up to 30% of our personal eco-footprint is embodied in the food that we buy, so changing the way you eat, will help change the world. That's a Fact. 

Another note, I hate the term Treehugger. I mean it's catchy and honestly quite true, I have hugged a great number of trees in my life. But it comes with so much negativity around it. These days it's used more as an insult (you know how passive aggressive us Canadians can be) and I've been trying to come up with my own new, fun term. That's still in the WIP pile, but I like this #Grexy label that Sustainable Table has going on.

This what they have to say about the term:

#GREXY - IT'S A REAL WORD... USED TO DESCRIBE A SEXY OR APPEALING PERSON WHO IS ALSO A GREENIE

Well not really, but what else do you call someone who is doing their greenie thing with an extra dose of HOT!

The food we choose to eat contributes more to our eco-footprint than our transport and home energy usage combined. We know that’s not a very sexy statement, but it’s true.

What is sexy is when someone brings the cool back into caring, that’s why we’ve coined the term #grexy (sexy greenie).

#GREXY is that guy you see at your local grocer with the cloth bag swung casually over his shoulder.

#GREXY is the woman in the power suit asking to have her latte-to-go in a keep cup.

#GREXY is asking if the chicken’s free range.

I was trying to get this post up before April 1st - but the work load just wasn't cuttin' me any slack, so since it's already a few days in I'll share my progress so far. - don't worry I won't be posting my progress each day, I'll do weekly round ups!

Days 1 and 2 were mostly about setting up for the challenge. I've set myself up with a jar for my garbage. Yes, the aim is to cut landfill waste even more (I'm down to barely a bag every 2 weeks - in fact in February I only had 1 bag for the whole month) so this is my waste jar. Yep, my goal is to not produce anymore garbage than fits in this jar. My trash jar is for items that can't be re-used, recycled or safely put back into the environment (ie. not biodegradable or compostable).

To Note: I did find the largest jar in my house to use.

Let's get our Grexy on!

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Give a Girl a Journal

those 2 on the right... that's my super secret diary from high school. everything was life altering during those years!

My friend Christine shared this project with me called Give a Girl a Journal, organized by Jamie Ridler of Jamie Ridler Studios. The goal of the project is to get journals to young girls and to really empower them to use them and to chronicle their journeys through words and drawings or really by any form their hearts desire. You can read all about the project here. You can also read all about Christine's journal journey here.

I was totally in love with the idea. I LOVE journalling and have since I was a young little thing. Most of my journalling is written, just putting thoughts, ideas, dreams and frustrations to paper. I have at least 4 notebooks on the go at the moment. I carry a bit notebook in my pack with me during the day that is my go to thoughts journal - I usually write out frustrations or maybe thoughts I need to work through. I have a journal for all my ideas, be it things I want to do in life or creative project ideas. I usually work out the idea behind a piece before I ever start sketching. This is my favourite stage really, it's where the ideas truly come to life because they all have some sort of story behind them. I have my doodle book, where I usually spend about 10 minutes just random doodling as an ice breaker between day job work day and me + thunderpeep time. Then I have a notebook for stories. Yes, I write my stories by hand first, they go through editing when I type them into the ol' laptop. I love physically writing stories out. Usually in pencil so I don't feel like I have to commit to anything just yet. I also loving planning anything and everything. My daytimer is more of a journal than a traditional daytimer. I use it to plan out projects for thunderpeep, my freelance work, travelling, meal planning, yoga schedule, blog planner etc... for the month and each week.

I'm also a super nerdy trip planner - this is my giant journal from my trip to Finland in 2010

Journalling can mean so many different things, even to one person. It's an incredible resource for self-exploration and creative expression, and giving girls the opportunity to tune into themselves is truly an amazing gift.

When I started thinking about the post I went digging for the old journal I knew I still had (the one you can see in the top image). The one from my most tragic teenage years. Oh my goodness. Re-reading some of those pages was kind of embarrassing, but I'm never one to turn down the opportunity to laugh at myself!

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why?

Whenever you say that to people they tend to come back with well I want to do {insert whatever} but I have responsibilities. It's called being an adult.

What?

I call bullshit.

So does this guy. Ben Saunders. Because he answers the question "Why bother leaving the house?" Or at least he tells you why he leaves the house for adventure.




I don't think I'll ever grow out of my need to be constantly evolving and experiencing. At least I hope not. There's way too much of this world to explore for one lifetime! And maybe one day I'll make a grand trek like Ben's, it is kind of intriguing. But I'd opt for the dog sled not the skis ;)

Maybe arctic adventures, or travel adventures of any sort, aren't what makes you truly happy. But whatever it is, do it.

And then tell your story.

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now that the cat's outta the bag...

Most people I know in real life are now pretty aware of a real life plan to just take off (eh!) in 2017. I wasn't sure at first how or if I would tell a lot of people. What if it doesn't work out?

Um, no. That is not an option (although I realize life has a way of happening, but you can't plan around that shit)

And I kind of like everyone knowing. It holds me responsible in a way. Planning is going to be hard and a lot of work. All for a good cause, but it's easy to get bogged down in it all and lose focus on how great this is going to be. And why I need to do it. But getting to talk about makes me happy. And excited. And the support has been kind of surprising. No one has looked at me like I'm crazy. Well I mean I haven't talked about finding Trolls in Norway to anyone yet. So we'll see how long that lasts.

And now speaking of the planning... where the hell to even start. I'm not quite ready to start thinking about the budget, because that'll be the hardest part to figure out, and better suited to quiet times after the Holiday madness. Right now I have a temporary map on my wall with pins to mark all the places I want to visit. There will be a ton of stuff in between each pin and I'm sure pins will move as the planning moves forward. But it's a start. That and all the awesome travel books, and new travel blogs I've discovered recently. So many awesome travellers out there.

Here's the loose starting point. There are 2 main areas of focus for this trip. To explore the Arctic and help share those experiences to bring attention to this beautiful landscape and WHY we need to be doing more to help protect it from ourselves. Secondly, of coarse, is to absorb all that scandinavian, nordic, eastern european folklore and design and culture and meet all the wonderful people that make up these countries. And I'm sure you'll be shocked to learn I'm NOT going during winter. Well, not really. It'll start sometime in March.

The must-see countries on the list right now:

Greenland

Iceland

Faroe Islands

Denmark

Norway

Sweden

Finland

Russia 

Estonia

Lithuania

Latvia

Poland

Netherlands

And then who knows where ;)

What countries are on your must-see list?

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the adventure starts here

this blog. it's a bit of a new home.

this past year has been one of change and soul searching.

all about following your dreams.
the adventure starts here.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

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