From Coast to Coast!

Oh, Hi! Haven't seen you for a while! Yes I know I've been a bit absent and not very dependable but I have a fairly good excuse and I hope that you understand. I've been a bit busy organizing, packing, moving and settling into my new home in Victoria. Victoria you ask? Yes, VICTORIA!

It all began a couple weeks ago when I applied for a job for a Diet Technician, but I never imagined that I would get contacted about my application since I did not have a couple of the "mandatory qualifications" listed on the website. I applied because I was feeling stuck and a bit too comfortable in my living situation. Yes I had a job I enjoyed very much and I love the people I worked with, and yes, I am a part-time student so working a very flexible and simple part-time serving job was ideal. I love my family and was happy to have them around, but I just felt stuck. I needed to change my routine and look into doing something that I am passionate for, which is nutrition. So when I got a call asking to set up and interview, I was absolutely floored at the idea of actually getting the position. 

Two phone calls and one rather terrible interview later, I somehow got hired as a Diet Technician for both Victoria General and Royal Jubilee Hospitals. It is a Casual position which is less than ideal, but it is my foot in the door, which is what I really need to get started. So I gave my notice at work, packed up my stuff into my trusty little Honda, hugged my family and hit the road with Victoria as my destination. Apart from some snowy passes and the 3:00 pm ferry being cancelled and me having to wait 2.5 hours for the next one, and getting lost for about 45 minutes after getting off of the ferry, the trip was good! I am staying with my cousin Jaime, her 7-year old son Grayson and their new pup Tank. She offered her spare room in the house and it was a no-brainer to accept the invitation. They are on vacation in Mexico for a few more days, so I have had the house to myself to get settled and situated in my new place.

The one problem is that I have no bed. I've been searching around for the best deal on a bed and have been putting off making a final decision on which to buy. It's a pretty big investment. The first night I slept on an air-mattress that they had all ready for me in the room. About half way through the night it slowly deflated and I was left with very little sleep and a sore back to face the day with. The next night I slept on the lower bunk of Grayson's bunk-bed and while it was pretty comfy, I was constantly worried about banging my head on the upper bunk or ladder which was right beside my head. I slept OK. Then last night I bunked in Grayson's bed again, only to be woken up 3 hours into my sleep by a "Ding" sound. Right as I dozed off again, it sounded again. Then again. Then again. I turned on the light, looked around the room to find the source of this sound only to come up empty handed. I'm thinking a toy somewhere is losing battery power and is "dinging" to tell us to replace the batteries. Ugh. So at 2 in the morning I pulled the mattress off of the bunk and dragged it into my bedroom. I needed to buy a bed.

Various flavours of
their macaroons

I drove out today to buy a bed. The place I decided to buy from is close to downtown Victoria so I decided to poke around town and do a little shopping. The thing that sucks about downtown Victoria is that there are so many amazing stores tucked into every crack and crevice that it is nearly impossible to get away without poking your head into every one you pass by. I tired so hard to stick to a schedule (if you've ever paid for parking in downtown Victoria then you will understand the need for swiftness) but was unsuccessful. And I am glad I was because I stumbled into a little gem of a store called Bon Macaron which is a tiny little bakery that makes only macaroons. As soon as I walked through the door I felt happy. The people standing at the counter trying to decide which tasty morsels to buy seemed so joyous for being there. And why shouldn't they? With savoury flavours such as White Truffle & Seat Salt, Goat Cheese & Fig, White Chocolate & Wasabi and Bacon Cream Cheese, plus sweet sensations such as Lemon, Cherry, Blueberry, Pistachio and Chocolate Lavender, how can one not be happy? (and overwhelmed with choice)

I decided to get 3, Goat Cheese & Fig, Salted Caramel and White Chocolate & Wasabi. I told the man at the counter (also the owner) that I had my eye on the empty plate of Chocolate & Lavender macaroons and wish that I had gotten there earlier to get one. He surprised me with one that he had behind the counter that he did not want to sell because of a finger indent in the side of the cookie. I willingly accepted his gift and am stoked to try each and every one. It is taking all of my energy to not gobble down each one, but I want to save them and enjoy them slowly. I ate the Goat Cheese one first and was surprised that it was sweeter then I expected, but still delicious and packed full of flavour. Yum yum yum!

It's crazy to think that I have literally moved from coat-to-coast across Canada in less than 5 months. Wow.

So my first day of work is on Monday and I am excited to have a couple more days to get settled before my new job begins. Wish me luck for my first day!

Be Mindful To Yourself

If there is anything that you will learn about the Kotyk family within a few hours of spending time with any one of us, it is that we are FAST eaters. Embarrassingly fast. Usually our plates are clean by the time a guest has finished pouring gravy into their mashed potato well. Friends and family who join us at the table are generally always left finishing their meal while we wait and stare at our long-ago emptied plates, wondering "Why is this person taking so long to eat?" It's bad and unhealthy to eat as quickly as we do and even though I have been trying to consciously eat more slowly and take my time in between bites, it's a hard habit to break. I try especially hard when I eat over at other people's houses because I don't want them to think that I was raised by wolves.

Last year I watched The Weight of a Nation on HBO which is a four-part documentary, and really enjoyed the part about Mindful Eating (which is on part 3 of the series). Mindless Eating is basically when you stuff your face and polish off your plate of food without giving it much thought. We don't appreciate, experience or really even truly enjoy the food because it's here and gone so quickly. According to The Center for Mindful Eating, "Mindful eating draws substantially on the use of mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness helps focus our attention and awareness on the present moment, which in turn, helps us disengage from habitual, unsatisfying and unskillful habits and behaviors. Engaging in mindful eating meditation practices on a regular basis can help us discover a far more satisfying relationship to food and eating than we ever imagined or experienced before." 

What the documentary showed was people who worked on trying to connect their brain and their body more by sitting, looking at the food, smelling the food and just being with the food before eating. They would stop and really focus on whether their desire to eat the food was based on hunger and the need to eat for nourishment or if the hunger was just boredom or emotion. Basically it was to pay attention to your internal self and then be able to make the choice of eating or not and not base the decision on past experiences (emotion, habit, routine, thoughts, feelings). And then if the person does decide to eat then it is a very accepting, non-judgmental and positive action full of attention to what is being eaten and appreciating the food and sensory experiences.

After I watched that documentary I really focused on stopping in between bites, chewing what I was eating to focus on the flavour and feel of it in my mouth and wait until I had swallowed until I took another bite. Yes I do forget A LOT of the time and find myself mindlessly shoveling mounds of food in my mouth, but I am so much better then how I used to be and will hopefully get better with time. If you're like me and want to change the way you eat, one meal at a time, try some of these Mindful Eating Strategies:

1) Start by recognizing that you are hungry before you start eating
2) Don't wait until you're famished
3) Choose food that will satisfy both your body and your mind
4) Eat without distractions
5) Eat when you're sitting down
6) Take a few breaths and center yourself before you begin eating
7) Appreciate the appearance and what looks the most appetizing
8) Appreciate the aroma and tastes of the food when you eat it
9) Pause for 2 minutes in the middle of eating
10) Stop eating as soon as you feel satisfied

There are more tips on amihungry.com and lots of other bits of information too. I think that eating like this is a great idea and would solve a lot of people's eating problems. So many digestive issues alone would be helped by people chewing their food properly and not overeating. Stopping and thinking about why you eat and stop obsessing about it and just enjoying it would be helpful in so many ways.

So next time you're loading your plate with a monster helping of Colander spaghetti, stop and think about what you're doing. Whether it be a plate of spaghetti, a crisp apple or piece of chocolate, be more mindful in your actions and appreciate your body and the nutrients that you fuel it with.


References: 

• 2006, The Center for Mindful Eating. http://www.tcme.org/
• 2004-2012 May, Michelle M.D. Mindful Eating: Get Out Of Autopilot. http://amihungry.com/mindful-eating.shtml

Pancake Memories

Growing up, our house always had the best pancakes. Period. Sleepovers were always awesome because the pancake breakfast which would be provided to our friends was always one of excitement and gratitude for serving such delicious pancakes. All of our friends agreed unanimously that they had never had pancakes as tasty as ours, and we knew it because yeah, they were just that good. Whenever I would go over to a friend’s house for a sleepover and pancakes were served for breakfast, I’d lie and say I wasn't hungry because I knew that they would be from a box and I could not ruin my taste buds with that filth.

Yes, we the Kotyks are a bit snobbish when it comes to pancakes. The recipe came down from my grandma, my dad’s mom, and when we were all young kids, every Sunday my dad would make a big bowl of pancake batter and fry up some flap-jacks for his hungry family. As we got older he passed the pancake baton onto us and we became the Sunday breakfast chefs, the family recipe stored forever in our memories.

I was out walking a few days ago and met up with a neighbour who is the father of a woman that my sister grew up with.  Megan shared many pancake breakfasts with us and he was telling me that as a Christmas gift this year, she received a package containing the ingredients (some of them anyway) and the recipe for Kotyk’s Pancakes from another girlfriend that my sister and his daughter grew up with who also loved our pancakes. I guess the two of them had been talking about memories of those magical breakfasts so the one sent the recipe over (which she must have stolen somehow;) as a gift.

When I heard this story I found it amazing. Even though my sister and these two women haven’t really spoken in years and years, their memories of Saturday night sleepovers and Sunday morning pancakes is still a topic for discussion and now our family recipe will be shared through at least two different families who will make pancakes for their kids, friends and family and be able to tell stories of where this recipe came from. If I hadn’t spoken with my neighbour that day I would not have known this story and I am glad that I do. We never know whose lives have been touched and whose fond memories are about your family. There are so many people that I have lost touch with but every now and then will smile thinking about due to a shared experience, and I wonder if they smile thinking about it too. 

Want a copy of my family's famous pancake recipe? Please send a money order of $10,000 to my email address and I will see what I can do. 

A Gutsy Resolution

Happy New Year!

For so many people, January 1st is a new beginning. Weight loss goals, diets, decisions to be more outgoing, drink less, be more happy, procrastinate less, make more time for yourself and everything else that you may want to change about yourself begins on the first day of the new year. Unfortunately for most people it generally ends about 7 days into the same new year with a large pizza, bottle of wine and several inappropriate text messages to an ex. I never started making resolutions until a few years ago. The one I made last year was somewhat successful with me trying to mumble less and speak more clearly. I am finding myself slipping back into bad habits so I need to be more conscientious about last year's resolution.

I was sort of thinking about whether or not I wanted to make a resolution for myself this year and until this morning I didn't think that I was going to make one. I was out hiking through the woods with the dog this morning, thinking about my life and the choices that I have made, and I decided that this year will be my year to be more gutsy. The dictionary defines gutsy as:

1) Having a great deal of courage, determination or nerve
2) Robust, vigorous, or earth; lusty

Now I'm not too sure about the second definition there but the first one is what I am hoping to achieve. Now being gutsy doesn't mean jumping off a cliff, swimming in a shark tank or eating leftovers which have been in the fridge for 3 weeks. In my head, gutsy is having the courage to step up and do something even though you might fail. It's not letting people walk all over you and standing up for yourself. It's also worrying less about what society expects of you, doing things for yourself and not settling for mediocrity.

This is going to be a big challenge for me and I will need to work in baby steps. I am a very scheduled kind of person who is a bit of a control freak and has a very hard time dealing with failure. I just completed the Myer-Briggs Type Indicator tool to assess my personality and it placed me as a fairly dramatic introvert which I am not hugely surprised at. I have always envied those who are incredibly outgoing and it would be nice to be able to change myself a bit in that sense. Is it doable to alter a personality in this way or are we genetically doomed with our personalities until the day we die? And where do I begin? Should I just do the opposite of what I usually do and hope for the best?

I think I will start by saying "yes" more often. That seems like a good start.

Oh yeah, and my other resolution is to have rock hard designer abs by the summer.

Yes I Can!

So the weather here has been nuts! In the past 48 hours we have gotten roughly 2 feet of snow and it's still coming down as we speak. I love snow and it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside, however it makes life a bit more difficult when it dumps down continuously. First of all, the snow plows can't keep up so the roads have been less-than ideal to drive on. I'm not a nervous winter driver so I will go out and drive around, but I'll go 60 in a 90 zone with no damage to my conscience for the drivers behind me. Shake and wave your fists at me all you want but I'm happy not dying today and I think you should be too. Second of all, the snow shovellers can't keep up either (aka, me!). I shoveled the driveway twice today and am saddened to see what has accumulated out there since the last clearing.

The third way the snow makes life a bit more difficult is that the trail that we walk every day to walk the dogs is covered with 2 feet of snow. I blazed the trail yesterday to begin the formation of the snow-trail but when I went back this morning I realized that no one else had been on the trail since so it was severely covered once again. I decided to not walk the trail and do a different walk (I was also pressed for time to make it to an early am dentist appointment) but decided that once I got back from town that I would strap on the snowshoes and get out there to make the path easier for my fellow dog-walkers.

So I started off my trek full of excitement and vigor. It was snowing profusely and while most people were hiding in their homes sipping hot cocoa and watching TV, I was going to face the snowfall, get a little exercise and take my dog for a much needed walk. I was full of determination of breaking the trail to prove that there are people out there brave enough to face the hard work ahead and that snow should not stop us from getting outside.

Now I am not highly experienced with snowshoes. I have used them a handful of times in the past, mostly when I was very young, but I had it in my head that using snowshoes makes it easier to walk in snow since they spread the weight of the person over a larger surface area. Right? Isn't this supposed to make it so that you don't sink so much in the snow? Not today! Well, if I wasn't sinking as much then that means that I was only sinking 1.5 feet vs. the 2 feet accumulated. Maybe the snow is too soft so sinking was inevitable, I'm really not all that sure, but what I do know is that about 15 minutes in I realized that I was way overdressed and I should not have attempted this journey on such a full stomach.

This walk that I was planning on completing usually takes me about 40 minutes if I don't stop to play with the dog or talk to a neighbour. About 20 minutes in I wasn't even remotely half way and I had to stop multiple times to catch my breath or remove an article of clothing to prevent overheating. I'll admit that I stopped on several occasions and contemplated turning back. This quick little jaunt in the snow was neither quick nor a jaunt. It was a slow and meticulous trudge in which every step had to be calculated to keep from losing my balance in the uneven terrain.

I almost admitted defeat. Almost! But not quite. Every time I stopped and looked at how far I still had to go, my heart would sink a little (even though it was beating ferociously but then I would think about how much my fellow trail walkers would appreciate the trail being beaten down and widened, and also how good it would feel to finish what I set out to do that morning. My mantra for the remainder of that hike was "Yes I Can" (and in the voice of Eddie Murphy) and onward I went.

As much as I thought I might die while snowshoeing today, there's a good chance I'll do it again tomorrow. Why you might ask? Because I survived and tomorrow I'll be able to do it a bit better since some awesome person already blazed the trail!

Plus I really want to do this someday.

These Are A Few

Rain drops on roses, whiskers on kittens....these are a few of my favourite things right now.

1) First of all, I want to give a HUGE shout out to whoever invented the dog harness that claps on the front of the chest. I have been working hard with Axel to get him to heel while walking but he's a stubborn creature who wants to meet and greet every person and every thing that is around him. I finally got so frustrated at his pulling that I threw him in the car and we drove to the pet store to try on harnesses for him. I decided on the Premier Easy Walk Harness and it has changed our walking experience dramatically. From the second I put it on him he never pulled on the leash again and he walks perfectly beside me. AMAZING! Sure he is incredibly grumpy and sulking for having to wear it and turns away when I try to slip it over his head, but it is a game changer for me. If you have any problems with your dog pulling while on the leash, go and buy one for instant relief.

2) Am I the only person who didn't realize that Lindt makes peanut butter truffles? You know those packages of Lindt truffles that has several flavours with several coloured wrappers? Well I got one of those and pulled out an orange one thinking that it was chocolate orange. After I bit into it and realized that it was actually chocolate peanut butter and my mind was blown. If there is a heaven and I end up there somehow, I'd imagine that it would involve oceans full of those things with me swimming through with a huge grin on my face and waterfalls of milk falling gently in the background.

3) The other day I was walking by Hanna Creek and saw that the icy water had formed gorgeous icicles around the thick ferns which overhang into the creek. I wish that I had my camera on me because it was so beautiful I know that I could have sold copies of that scene. The simple beauty of Mother Nature is most definitely one of my favourite things.

4) SPA Resource Coconut Hand Cream. I love this hand cream. I have a tube of it on my nightstand and lather the hands up before I turn out the lamp. My hands feel so soft and rejuvenated in the morning and for a chronic hand-washer at work, this is a major relief. It's a fairly cheap product too which gives it an extra bonus of greatness.

5) One of my favourite things right now is actually a person. One of the guys who works at the restaurant with me who is one of the dishwashers there, he always has one earphone in and sings along to his music while he works. The thing that makes him so great is that he a flat and incredibly tone deaf singer but still sings quite loudly along to mostly new and old-school rap music. He doesn't care that we all hear him and that he sucks. He just sings along while doing his less-than-glamourous job and entertains us all while doing it. Yesterday he was singing "Baby Got Back" so I did all of the back-up singing as I wrapped cutlery.

6) Free shipping. Gotta love it! Buying your stuff online and finding out that you get free shipping is just awesome. Unfortunately it makes you feel the need to buy more.

Uncle Frank

Frank and Danaya, 1986

On Sunday, December 9th, I was working at the restaurant in Castlegar and it was about 8:30pm when I clocked out and got ready to head home. As I put on my coat, a man sitting at the bar who had been talking on his cell, closed his phone and told myself and the bartender that the highway to Trail was closed due a 2-car accident involving a fatality. He said it would be a couple hours until they allowed vehicles through and I was frustrated at the idea of being stuck in Castlegar for some time. I found out that I could make it to Genelle before reaching the crash scene (where my sister lives) so I drove there, hung out and watched Dexter until the road opened up. As I approached the site of the accident, my heart was beating furiously and I allowed only a brief glance at the broken cars and numerous emergency vehicles taking up the majority of the highway. When I passed by and got back onto the open road, I thought to myself, "Some poor family's life is about to change in a terrible way." What I did not know is that it would be my family facing an inconceivable tragedy that night.

My dad's brother, my Uncle Frank, was heading to Castlegar that night when, whether it be the slick snowy roads or another reason we may never know, his car went into the other lane and was struck by an oncoming vehicle. In the short time it took me to drive from my sister's house to my house (about 6-7 minutes) my dad got the phone call telling him that his younger brother, the youngest child in the Kotyk family, had been killed that night. The unthinkable news hit us like a wrecking-ball to the stomach. How could such an amazing and devoted man like Frank be suddenly taken from his wife, children, family and friends? How could this be real?

Unfortunately it was real.

Frank and Dad

When you're a kid and the relatives come to visit, there's little real conversation between adult and child apart from trivial chatter about topics such as school or toys. As you get a bit older, you begin to sit with the adults and listen a bit to what they're saying, but never really become part of the conversation or know the inside jokes or back-story behind their words. But when you become an adult, you all of a sudden start to interact with your aunts, uncles and grandparents as adults and get to know them as the people they really are. You can begin to put yourself in their shoes and relate to their experiences and point-of-view and appreciate them in a way that you could never do as a kid. I have spend the majority of the past 5 years away from my family but whenever I would run into Uncle Frank on the street or sit and talk with him at a family gathering, I always enjoyed our easy-going conversations. The last 3 days, my sisters have spoken to me about their experiences with him and agreed at what a genuine, agreeable and good-hearted man he was. Pam's office at work is right next to his so she spoke to him nearly every day and laughed over how he liked to burn his toast. Amy told me that she appreciated that she got to know him more the past year since they became neighbours when he bought a property just up the street from her and dropped by her place from time to time.

Grandma and all the Kotyk kids

I've been enjoying sitting with my family listening to funny stories about him in his younger years and getting to know him through their experiences. If there is one thing that I know about my uncle is that he made my dad happy. Whenever Frank arrived to a Christmas Eve party or any family function, my dad became jovial and their conversation always became loud and full of infectious laughter. Then if you add the two sisters into the mix, you'd might as well get them their own room because the four of them together entered their own noisy world of jesting, laughter and shared stories.

My grandfather was lost to a car accident many decades ago, so having another car accident take the life of another family member is just overwhelmingly unfair. Especially during the holiday season. No time of year is appropriate to lose a loved one, but it's hard to get in the Christmas spirit right now.

So how do you say goodbye to a loved one? Is this even possible? They say only time heals all wounds but it's hard to believe that my family will ever be able to heal from a wound this big. The funeral is in 2 days and even though no one ever wants to attend a funeral, they are helpful for those who are grieving and there will be so many stories about Frank given by his family, friends, members of his church and everyone else whose life he has touched.

Frank and Dad again

Rest in Peace. You were taken far too soon but your memories will be kept and shared by us all. You'll be greatly missed.