food for thought | the new canned soup

Ok, hold your horses!  I know that typically thinking of canned soup leads us health freaks to negative associations.  Yes, traditionally they're packed full of preservatives, modified food starches, sugars, sodium and plenty of other reasons not to go near them, but I have just discovered a canned soup that is sooooo unlike that!

Introducing The Soup, La Courtisane!  A lunch-time revolution with at least four reasons to try it:
- Firstly, this soup is more of a juice and the can it comes in is are more of a metal bottle!
- Secondly, it's made in France using only 100% fresh and natural ingredients, like vegetables, fruits, berries, herbs, salt and pepper for spice.
- Third, the entire range is completely free of complex carbohydrates and refined sugars!
- Lastly, the above reasons combined make this soup guilt-free, nutritious and soooo convenient for you!  Without needing a can opener or spoon, you can throw it into a handbag and drink it straight from the container at your office table or on the go!

Some of the flavours - like cucumber & mint - actually taste better chilled, so the only thing that makes this soup in fact a soup and not a juice, is that the ingredients have been cooked before hand!  Personally, with the calorie count per can (or bottle?) ranging between 12 - 109 (average of 40 calories per can): I prefer to drink mine as a juice with my lunch, or have the one that's always in my handbag now as a pick-me-up between meals.  

celebrate the small things | Aug 8

Once again, this week I am joining the blog-hop gang in celebrating all the small things!  As July came to an end, I hit a period of contemplation which sparked the need within for accountability, led to several reflective posts and ultimately to this week - which has been one of inner peace, gratitude and, well, celebrating!

The best way I know of to celebrate is by implementing the four F's: friends, food, fruity-cocktails and flowers!  All these combined equal FUN and there's been a lot of that this week:

I owe most of my new-found inner peace to a fabulous book I've begun reading, called 'Sacred Contracts' by Caroline Myss.  I often feel that in my quest for spirituality, the right messages find me and this has been no exception.  At a time when I felt somewhat lost - my friend Susanna recommended it to me and it's truly filled the void, so thank you Susanna and thank you universe!  

There's nothing like getting out of a little rutt to gain new perspective, motivation and a lease on life.  This week I'm back to feeling young, rich, free and very grateful!  Thank you to all of VikLit's crew for sharing in my celebration and I wish you all much happiness as we commence a new week and look for new reasons to celebrate!

this week's tip | how to avoid the 'petty purchases' conflict

Whether you're a young couple that's starting out in life like Will and I, or a couple that's on a budget; chances are, one member of the relationship wants pretty, new things more often than the other and feels the need to justify certain purchases from time to time.  In fact, this petty purchases conflict seems to be inevitable in most households no matter the relationship phase!

In our home, I'm usually the culprit or purchaser (surprised? I think not...) and my weakness and compulsion is things that make the house smell good, which are harder to hide than, say... a top (oh honey, I've had this for ages, you never notice! - sound familiar?).  I like to have a candle burning beside me whenever I write, read or have a bath and I light one at least once a week inside our wardrobe to keep our clothes smelling fresh.  Basically, Will knows the moment he steps a foot through the front door whenever I've spent money on fragranced candles, satchels or wax for the burners (especially if I change the scent!) and this is followed by a nice, lengthy conversation that goes a little like: "LENA!! Do we really need this right now? This is a rental for heaven's sake.  We're buying a house soon, you need to stop these petty purchases!"   :)

**My usual justifications include 'it's still cheaper than if I was a smoker,' 'studies have shown that clean smelling air is cleaner, period' and 'the place is old and smells bad without it.' **  - NB: I do not condone arguing!  Just saying.

I have found that his negative reaction is heightened when the house smells 'girly,' 'fuity,' or 'cakey.'  I also discovered, when I purchased a masculine-scented reed diffuser for his bathroom, that he didn't say a word about it!  Being a loving, caring wife, I decided to see if I could make him happier by switching out my favourite home scents for spicier, woodier, more masculine ones and, wouldn't you know it, I had positive results!  He definitely stopped complaining about me 'wasting money on things that smell like sh-' well bad!  And now he only grumbles when he notices a new (or different) candle standing on the coffee table or in my office - not the smell!

Now I've come to believe that you can avoid the petty purchases conflict (or decrease it at least!) by finding a balance between what you both like!  I'm lucky in the home scents department because there are so many fragrances available these days to please both male and female alike, but I believe with a little thought and experimentation, you can apply this to just about anything!  Maybe think about how the purchase is a good thing (does it increase your confidence etc) and convey that to your other half who may not understand.  Good luck!  I'd love to hear how it works out!  And I'd love to know what are some of your 'petty purchases?'      

celebrate the small things | Aug 1

Happy August everyone!  This Friday I'm not only celebrating things that happened this week, but looking back over the entire month of July that rushed by in a haze!  I've been pretty terrible at celebrating the small things every Friday (although in my defense I've been in somewhat of a tailspin, as my posts keep saying!) and so I'd really like to breathe in and out (ommmm), bow my head and show some gratitude now:

July celebrations:

- getting to know Denese
We have been blessed time and again with real estate agents and our current one is no exception.  It has been such a pleasure working with, and getting to know, Denese // who's super patient with us and our constant time restraints due to Will's travelling.

- looking at (what feels like) a hundred different houses 
Despite not finding the right one for us yet - I'm really enjoying the process!  Looking at different houses and suburbs is always so, so fun to me

- Dorothy got over her vet-phobia 
This one is huge in our family!!  Just last week little D had to go to the vet for a check up // usually this is a horrible experience that stresses her out and makes her sick - she foams at the mouth, shakes, vomits and breaks out in dandruff instantly... but this time she didn't do any of that!  Of course there was still a little crying, complaining and desperation to leave // but thanks to the continued effort of the entire vet staff (who spoiled her with cuddles and treats), she did marvelously in comparison.  I can now safely say that her full-blown phobia is gone! Now it seems to be no more than the usual dread dogs feel at the vet! YAY Thank you so much to the Nrth Austin Banfield - the best vet ever!

- spontaneous trip to Atlanta 
It's always nice going home and this was my first trip back in nine months!  I enjoyed seeing (some of) the people and places I love // in truth, it blew me away a little because by the time Will and I left we'd become desensitized to the beauty and uniqueness of Georgia, which I got to appreciate all over again on this trip and I'm very thankful for that :)

- finding a house/ pet sitter
Somehow everyone I meet in Austin turns out to be amazing!  I'm super grateful that I met my new friend Susanna, who loves the pups and whom I trust to watch them and our house while we are out of town // this will come in super handy!  Thank you universe for sending me such amazing friends <3

This week's celebrations:

- changing seasons
Now that we're firmly in summer, I'm grateful to experience the infamous Austin heat for myself // which truly is as unbearable as everyone says.  I can hardly walk outside without getting a tension headache // but at least I can now bitch about it with everyone else and feel like I'm becoming a local :)

- kitchen experiments
Being super hot means we're inside a lot more and I've taken to experimenting in the kitchen with various meals, drinks and salads :) this makes me very happy - I feel like a regular Hannah-housewife!

It's actually scary to think how fast the past seven months have gone by.  Here we are in August, (pinch and a punch for the first day of the month! No returns! :P) with only four months to go until we're in 2015!  Should I be celebrating?  Perhaps so... but I'm so happy in life right now that I want it to drag on and on!  Does anyone know of a pause button on time?