30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 29

We're on Day 29 of this challenge. Wow! I can't believe it's almost over. I've learned so much and have been so incredibly inspired! I'm looking forward to seeing what our dear Natalie Sisson comes up with next.

This is today's prompt:

"What does your blueprint for living the dream look like to you?"

Natalie gave us these three ideas to help us along with our answers to the prompt.

- What do you want in your life beyond all certainty?
- What’s a non-negotiable you are not prepared to give up for anything else?
- What don’t you mind forsaking in return for having more of something else?

Here I concisely answer these questions, thinking back to what I've written these past 28 days of the challenge as I do so.

What do I want in my life beyond all certainty?
My family, friends, health, freedom, and happiness in what I do. I want a complete lack of debt, too!

What's a non-negotiable I'm not prepared to give up for anything else?
All of the above.

What don't I mind forsaking in return for having more of something else?
Pointless material possessions (other than the things I mentioned recently, such as my art supplies and laptop!) and my crushing self-doubt and anxiety.

You are the only person who knows the perfect blueprint to your life. No life coach, nobody can truly know this for you. So what is my blueprint for living the dream life?

Keeping healthy, positive, close to friends and fellow goddesses, and knowing freedom. Feeling free means a lot of things, not just financially. Appreciating the little things, staying in touch with nature, and always being inspired and encouraged by others. Be determined. Listen more. Stay humble.


Love and light,
Mary

Lovely Things 9-2-13

Hello again, lovelies! Since it's technically the end of summer for many people, I thought today's Lovely Things would focus on all the beautiful things we enjoy in the summertime.




Via Inspireuart



Via Pinterest


Via me!


Via MintMarbles
Via


Via Pinterest


Via me!


Via Pinterest


Via me!


Via Pinterest


Via SheKnows

What was your favourite part of summer, lovelies? And if you're in the Southern Hemisphere, what are you looking forward to in the coming spring?


Love and light,
Mary

30 Day Blog Challenge Days 26-28

Happy Labour Day, lovelies! I hope the start of your week is a pleasant one. I'm catching up on three days of the blog challenge!


Day 26's prompt...

"Could you live a minimalist lifestyle? Why or why not? OR What does minimalism mean to you in the context of your ideal lifestyle?"

In the context of my ideal lifestyle, having minimal belongings means NO CLUTTER and having only things that truly mean something to me. Things that can be easily packed and moved without worrying about a big truck or a storage room.

When I first came up here from Virginia, I had to leave 99% of my belongings behind. I arrived with my beads, my drawing materials, some clothing, and a few toiletries. Most of my belongings are still down there, but I've since acquired lots of books, clothes, toiletries, and craft-related things. Because I've lived without my junk for five years, I feel burdened by it, knowing I have to get it all up here at some point. It's hard for me to imagine that I have fourteen boxes of stuff. Before I had to go back to Virginia for those awful 18 months, I had even more than that but I managed to donate a great deal of it to Goodwill. And before I first visited Canada, I had gotten rid of even more.

How on earth had I managed to own that much stuff?

My mom kind of revolved around her belongings. When she was a kid and teenager, her army family was constantly moving, and she never got to keep anything she owned. So as an adult, she tightly grasped everything that came her way and wouldn't get rid of it, even when it stayed in boxes for 20 years and never saw the light of day. She wasn't at hoarder stage, but she just had lots of stuff. It was a pain in the butt to move, because we'd spend months packing and have to rent the largest Ryders or U-Hauls that were available.

It was a nuisance, a burden, a stressful waste of time.

Even now, as Trevor and I make plans to eventually move into our own little apartment, I'm still getting rid of things I don't feel attached to. Old clothes that don't fit me. Books I'll either never read or have read and didn't feel inspired by. Paper clutter and any knick-knacks that I'm not sentimental about. I'm using up my craft stuff instead of hoarding it away in the drawers here under my computer desk.


Day 27's prompt...
"What’s your best travel hacking story to date (where you scored a free upgrade, used miles or just got a bonus perk) OR Name 2 ways in which you’re going to become a savvy travel hacker in the next 6 months"

I've not travelled much, so I have zero hacking stories (which makes me even more pleasantly jealous of Matthew Bailey, adventure traveller and maximalist extraordinaire.

I think that I would save up lots of points on air miles programs, and seeking out awesome deals and upgrades online. Our only problems are our complete lack of travel experience, and our complete lack of substantial income. But nothing is impossible :)


Day 28's prompt...
"What travel tools and services are most important to you when taking your business abroad?"
Since nothing's up and running yet, I don't yet know what will be most important. I think email autoresponders, an accountability friend, perhaps a world clock displaying different time zones, and an external hard drive would all be a great start.



Stay tuned for Lovely Things a little later! :)


Love and light,
Mary

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 25... and New Blog Name!

Happy Friday, lovelies! Before we get to the blog challenge, I want to announce that as of tomorrow (Saturday), I will be changing the name of this blog to better suit the direction it's heading in. Sweet Maple Life will be changing to Goddess Within. I will still be blogging about my life and all the cool stuff I come across, but there will be much more than just that :) I hope you all stick around for this new path of my journey!





Today's topic is about four key areas to master to truly enjoy being location independent. These key areas are:

- Productivity
- Staying healthy
- Keeping up with clients
- Keeping in touch with your network

"What skills do you need to build or refine to be a happy Suitcase Entrepreneur?"

What I will put into practice to master the key areas:

- Write in bulk and program it so it can be released while I'm away or focusing on other things.
- Exercise every single day, even if it's just for 10-20 minutes.
- Stay offline while working! This will dramatically increase my productivity.
- Be more realistic in the challenges and goals I give myself.


Keeping up with clients and networking doesn't really apply to me yet, as nothing's up and running. But for keeping up with folks, I find HootSuite to be a great social media platform where I can view everything at once and quickly contact people.



See you tomorrow as Goddess Within! I've got to get to making a banner and site button :)

Love and light,
Mary

Thankful Thursday

Good evening, goddesses! It's that time of week again. Here are my gratitudes...


- Getting a little job cleaning a family friend's house. Some income's better than no income!
- Being well enough in my mental health to start seeing joy again.
- Being well enough in my anxiety to do more things on my own, including taking a taxi.
- Getting to swim with my friends again on the weekend. My body had been craving water immersion for a couple weeks, so when I got in that pool, I felt a joy like no other. It was like every cell of my body was singing!
- Receiving an unexpected little package from my biomom. It contained a lovely card showing the beauty of Bedford County, and some craft bits 'n bobs, and two delicately crocheted bookmarks for Elisa and me. It made my day!
- The weather heating back up as an end-of-summer hurrah.
- That my best friend will be flying over from England in 2-3 months' time!!! SO stoked!
- Having fun at the CNE, eating crazy food, laughing into the wind, and getting licked by a Holstein heifer.
- It's almost a long weekend for Trevor, so I get more of him! More late nights :)
- I'm finally starting to accept myself as I am. No more hate. Just pure love and encouragement.


What are you thankful for this week?


Love and light,
Mary

30 Day Blog Challenge - Days 23-24

Hello lovelies! I hope you're having a good week in your corner of the galaxy. We went to the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) last night and it was so much fun. I forgot my camera, so unfortunately there are no pics, but trust me when I say it's always my favourite part of the summer!


Here is Day 23's prompt...

"What’s your level of location independence and your nomadic quotient?"

In today’s post, Natalie outlined these three different “levels of location” for our consideration:

- For some just the ability to work from home or a café close by, on their own schedule, is the perfect form of freedom.

- For others they want just enough location independence to take off to a new country for a month or two each year, and still run their business or work remotely as an employee.

- Then there are people who love to change it up every one to three months in a new city or country and keep exploring but spend enough time to get a real feel for the culture, people and area.

I am definitely that second option. As I said the other day, I wouldn't dream of leaving Canada at this point in my life. My soul wants to be here. I'm a homebody and while I want the freedom to travel and to temporarily live elsewhere if we choose (such as New Zealand or Japan), I usually don't want to stray far from home.



Day 24's prompt:

"What are your travel essentials for your chosen destination(s) ?"

Natalie's Top Tip: You can answer this in two ways: either list out the actual physical packing list of your most essential items you couldn’t live without or you could focus on the destination, and the essential elements you’d want it to have (like history, sunshine, etc.)

For travelling, I would take my laptop, Kobo, iPod, sketchbooks and other art supplies, and obviously the super-important things like clothes and toiletries. A good pair of shoes, especially!

At my destination, I need culture, nature as well as city, good weather, good food, and good people. :) Festivals don't hurt, either!




Love and light,
Mary

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 22

Now we're in Phase 3 of the blog challenge, and here Natalie Sisson will be teaching us how to live homeless. That is, being able to live anywhere while doing your work!

"If you chose to live anywhere in the world, where would that be and why?"

I came to Canada for a reason, and it's the place where my soul has driven me for years. I don't intend on leaving any time soon, not permanently. My heart is gloriously happy here. I know that this is where I'm supposed to be in this stage of my life. If I get a calling to go elsewhere, then I will follow it. But for now, I thoroughly belong to Canada, body and soul. Maybe we would move to coastal British Columbia, or Nova Scotia, or just further away from Toronto. But I can't imagine myself ever leaving this country forever.

That being said, it would be wonderful to travel long-term without worrying about getting home to a job. I would love to make enough income to retire my husband from his job and take exciting vacations every six months to every year. That is true, gorgeous freedom to me.


In North America, I would like to see...
- See all of Canada's provinces and territories.
- Visit all 50 states.
- Spend time in California, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Colorado.

Overseas, I would like to visit or live temporarily in...
- The UK
- Ireland
- Japan
- Hong Kong
- Australia
- New Zealand
- Thailand
- Israel


So there are my travel dreams. Maybe one day, they will become succulent reality.

Love and light,
Mary