Challenge Post 8: What are 5 passions you have?

1. My Family: My family includes those that are bound to me by blood, by love, or by friendship. For some it's all three. I have a passion for them. I love them all abundantly, without any limitations. They are my lifeline. They make me laugh and cry, happy and elated. They make me feel things that I never knew I always wanted to feel. In good or in bad, I can't exist without them.
2. Music: It's funny that my second passion was brought about by my 1st passion. I grew up in a musical home. Musical instruments, singing, records, the works. My taste in music is so eclectic that any time anyone asks me what I like to hear - the answer is different. I define moments in my life by the music I was hearing at the time. to me, Music is like scent, it brings up memories. I love hearing it, watching it, and making it. 
3. Life: I have a passion for life. Sometimes I feel like I would like to live forever. Sometimes I just want to live 500 years. This is probably a good explanation to my fascination to all things vampire (the Anne Rice kind - the ones that don't sparkle). 
4. Travel: Right along with life, and music - I love to absorb it all around the world. I haven't been to very many places just yet - but I have many more years of travel ahead of me. And I can't wait!
5. Art: This passion is very similar to my passion for music. I've always had it in some form in my life. I love creating it, as well as watching it, or hearing it. I love travelling to it, and I love sharing it with my family.

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Challenge Post 7: What is your dream job, and why?

My dream job is to be a mentor or a muse.
I can see that you have furrowed your brow on the other side of this screen.
Maybe you even snorted a little at this fantasy job of mine.
By all means, this is not the typical job you would find on job listings around the internet.
When someone comes up to you at a party and asks "What do you do?" you can't exactly answer "I am a muse".
But if I could only choose one thing to do for the rest of my life, I would strike the match to inspiration for others and bring the electricity to that proverbial light-bulb.
A girl can dream..

What is your dream?
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A week's summery

This week has been showing off some real weather tricks. We've seen hot, scorching, wet, monsoon, vertical rain, and just plain mild. All in less then 7 days.
My darling husband showed off some hotdog chef tricks that would put Gordon Ramsey to shame (or at least I like to think so). It's a maximum mustard preservation method.

I visited Starbucks for a lovely evening meeting with a friend. My Cherry Walnut biscotti came with irresistible instructions.

I followed them accurately!

Saturday was hot.
Mama and I went to a local shoe sale. Unsurprisingly, the crowd was a mob. Mama and I looked at each other, and backed away slowly. Shoes are fun, but battle wounds are fierce.
Lucky for us, outside the shoe sale, there was a book sale [read: options!].
The universe was trying to tell me something.
I happily obliged.

Yes, you are seeing right: that sign says $4.60/book.
I bought, got home and reorganized my library on Sunday.

That same Saturday we had a lovely afternoon celebrating hubby's Nonna's 75th birthday with lots of BBQ food and her favorite lemon poppy seed cake.

A week of sweet, salty, sour, and wild tricks completed.
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Challenge post 6: What is the hardest thing you have ever experienced?

Loss.
Hence it's #1 in my list of fears.
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Challenge post 5: What are the 5 things that make you most happy right now?

1. My husband who makes me laugh at the most inappropriate places and times, even when I think all is lost
2. My family & friends and all their amazing support which I couldn't repay in 3 lifetimes
3. How warm this summer has been 
4. Those peaches
5. What my future holds

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Challenge post 4: List 10 things you would tell your 16 year-old self, if you could

1. Going to Canada will not end your world. It will open a window to a life you've never even known you could dream of. 
2. Keep running, you'll wish you did.
3. Keep reading, you will always love it.
4. People that feel wrong for you, are wrong for you.
5. Those little accomplishments will pay off, and will feel like big ones in years to come.
6. Those friends you always had, they'll always be there as sisters.
7. Your family will always be there for you, and they will always be the most important thing in your life.
8. Don't wish to skip ahead, even those tough moments were important to experience.
9. Keep being honest and candid. Those who deserve your company will always appreciate this.
10. Have fun. Life goes by quickly. You only live ones, but if you do it right, once is enough. 

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Challenge post 3: Describe your relationship with your parents

Honestly?
It's fabulous!
I love them, they love me.
I enjoy spending time with them, and it is reciprocated.
There is nothing complicated about it, or hidden.
Plain and simple.
And this applies to my in-laws too. How lucky am I!
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Challenge post 2: Describe 3 legitimate fears you have and explain how they became fears

By order of intensity

1. Loss: of my family
• I guess this is a pretty common fear. This year it has become stronger and more prevalent in my life, but it has always been a first place sort of fear. Dear universe, I have faced this fear enough for 1 year, I would like a long meaningful break. Thank you. 
2. Losing Control
• Yes, I am what some people call, a control freak. The truth is, I always have been. It's intoxicating for me to be in complete control when it comes to most of life. Losing control, is a real fear for someone like me. I can let go of it, but I have to be willingly giving it up.
3. Needles in my back / head
• My mother theorizes that because I had many such needles when I was a newborn due to jaundice that I am traumatized from it all. I can't really identify the source, but this particular fear has been so strong that I endured through root canals as a 10 year old without anaesthesia. I also walked out on a dentist when I was 15 because he wouldn't treat me without the shot.

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A Saturday of leisure

It's July.
Going out to the city makes my skin tingle with anticipation. The sun warms the air up in the early morning hours, and by the time I decided to get out it was well over sweaty level weather.
There is this magical air about July. The summer is in full swing. The warmth of the summer wraps you like a blanket.
The evenings are balmy and inviting. Love is in the air, even if you're single.
You get to sneak a peek at how people respond to this lovely heat. As they sit near a fountain, soaking it all in.

I love Toronto's quirky unexpected park features. Today it was a graffiti spray painted piano, with the irresistible invitation: Play me, I'm yours.

Best if all, on this leisurely Saturday I got to go to the market. I got some baked goodies, and peaches. 

Those beautiful peaches. They represent summer in every way. Sweet, juice of life, with the taste of summer packaged in that golden flesh.

Dear summer: Play me, I'm yours!

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