Sunday, January 29, 2012

Pippi Longstockings

When, (and if) I'm a mother to a girl, I will read her Pippi every night. This girl is a true feminist.


My sister bought me this shirt yesterday because she knows how much I love Pippi

This passage sums it all up for me:

“the children came to a perfume shop. In the show window was a large jar of freckle salve, and beside the jar was a sign, which read: DO YOU SUFFER FROM FRECKLES?

What does the sign say?” ask [sic] Pippi. She couldn’t read very well because she didn’t want to go to school as other children did.
It says, ‘Do you suffer from freckles?’” said Annika.
Does it indeed?” said Pippi thoughtfully. “Well, a civil question deserves a civil answer. Let’s go in.”

She opened the door and entered the shop, closely followed by Tommy and Annika. An elderly lady stood back of the counter. Pippi went right up to her. “No!” she said decidedly.

What is it you want?” asked the lady.
No,” said Pippi once more.
I don’t understand what you mean,” said the lady.
No, I don’t suffer from freckles,” said Pippi.

Then the lady understood, but she took one look at Pippi and burst out, “But, my dear child, your whole face is covered with freckles!”

I know it,” said Pippi, “but I don’t suffer from them. I love them. Good morning.”

She turned to leave, but when she got to the door she looked back and cried, “But if you should happen to get in any salve that gives people more freckles, then you can send me seven or eight jars.” 

Astrid Lindgren was a woman after my own heart. She is one of those people that I would meet if I could. She is someone who teaches little girls that they are strong enough, smart enough, and unique enough.

Never forget to tell the young girls in your life how special they are. That it is not because they are cute or beautiful that they are wonderful but because they are smart and interesting. Teach these girls that they too can be as confident as Pippi and they too should be proud of their freckles.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

I just got home from a most amazing weekend. It was full of family, love, good wine, amazing food, and the mountains!






My sister turned 30 years young last week and my dad also celebrated a birthday and so as a family we decided to go away. 30 can be a bit scary and we wanted to make it as easy as possible for a girl we love so much so we took off to Canmore for the weekend and rented a penthouse suite in one of the local condo complexes. It was exceptional. We arrived Friday evening, went out to a local pub for dinner and then back to the condo for wine and scrabble. Saturday consisted of an excellent sleep in, coffee and breaky looking out at the mountains and then an afternoon of window shopping and lunch. Back to the condo for a glass of wine and then out for a late dinner at 8:00pm. If you are local and have the chance to check out Crazy Weed, you must. We had a long, relaxed, drawn out dinner. Started with cocktails and ending with dessert. We didn’t get home until 11:00 or so and it was just simply wonderful. Between their martinis, short ribs and calamari we had an amazing time. After dinner we went back to the condo to enjoy some more wine and relax. Sunday we got ready to check out and head back to Calgary (and my parent’s to Wetaskiwin) but not before a great breakfast at Chez Francois’s and a little bit of a walk around Elbow Falls. It was so lovely out in the mountains it felt like every time I breathed in I was swallowing up space, and love, and  peace, and nature and it was amazing. Every time I looked out the window and saw a big big big mountain I felt humbled and happy. Being with my family I felt sure of everything, sure of myself. It was truly an amazingly relaxing and beautiful weekend. I am now sitting back in Calgary with my sister and my 2 cats and I feel ready for this week.



I am the luckiest girl in all the land. Such a perfect weekend.
XOXO
Selby

Monday, January 16, 2012

This is my Life

A few days ago I stumbled on this:

http://shop.holstee.com/collections/all-items/products/holstee-manifesto-poster
while journeying around the Internet. Everything about this makes sense to me. I swear someone stole my feelings and put them down on paper. It was lovely and I had a moment where breathing was easy and free and happy. A few days later, a friend of mine on facebook posted this:



And there it was staring me in the face again. Holstee is a beautiful company founded by 3 dudes in the middle of the recession and instead of writing a business plan, they wrote a manifesto....novel idea, isn't it? Answering your passion.

I'm not a believer in destiny or fate or "it was meant to happen" so I can't say things like "I was so meant to find this Manifesto at this moment in my life". Nope. What I do believe in is energy. I live a good portion of my life living this already, as long as I can remember my passion has driven me much harder than my brain (or maybe they're so intertwined I can't separate them!) So it is no wonder I stumbled across Holstee and in such a lovely time in my life, when I needed a teensy reminder that I am doing what I should be doing. This universe is certainly remarkable.

Below is the link to their website, go check it out and share their passion. It's quite exciting and intoxicating. A beautiful way to start the week. I love you all and hope you have the most magical Monday.

xo Selby

http://shop.holstee.com/

Saturday, January 14, 2012

The inaugural blog post

Welcome....is that how you start a blog? Do I welcome you, even though there is no you yet? Well this is my blog so I guess I get to make up the rules, so yes that is how I start. Welcome!

So, Miss Q, why did you decide to start a blog? I'm sure you're all dying to know what wisdom I have that I will bestow onto the world. Here's the thing: I don't have any. Well no more than the average person eking their existence out on this big blue marble. What I do have is passion and love and fire and I wanted a place to stick it and share it. So, TA-DA!!!! Here it is.

Now for the disclaimer: You do not have to read my blog just because you're my friend. There is no expectation of that and I am not doing this to see how popular I can get. The opinions expressed on this blog are, at times, going to be very strong. This doesn't mean I'm right. It's just that, my opinion. If something confuses you, challenges you, upsets you, let me know - but please do so in a respectful manner. A lot of the content that I will post is not mine, but something I stumbled upon that I think should be spread further. When possible I will credit the source.

I'm not pretending to be a superamazingwonderfulintelligenttotallyepicprofessionalfamous blogger. This is very new to me (which I'm sure you can tell by my template!) I'm a work in progress and so is this blog so it will change and evolve as I do. And so, my friends, Welcome to my space. Much love to each of you. I believe in you.

xo Selby