Dear August…

Dear August you connected with me in so many ways. You brought me close to the Ocean and my soul was flying up in the air with joy and pure happiness. The sound and scent of the ocean incredible moving and fulfilling. You have brought me joy and soulfulness. I have no words to describe my love and connection to the ocean with its powerful sounds, fragrance, movement and light reflections. The ocean is a mesmerizing symphony!

Along with the ocean came this incredible road trip that I’m so grateful and blessed to have had the opportunity to do. It was lovely to spend time with family and visit family in the states. My girls really loved it and really enjoyed spending time with their cousins and meeting new cousins for the first time as well.

I really fell in love with new places like Maine, Salem and my absolute favourite Rhode Island.

I tasted incredible food and especially sea food! The people and service truly wonderful.

YUMMY FOOD!

It felt so surreal to go to these places. Magical and unforgettable!

It was way too short. I wanted to stay in each place longer and explore more. I would love to travel more.

August you have taught me to be more patient and also deal with situations in a more calm way. You have taught me to let things go and flow and sometimes situations are not all in my hands. You have taught me to breathe more and also express my self more. Also not to be too serious and to laugh more.

GRATITUDE

Everything was a blessing. I’m so grateful for everything.

August you were truly amazing and unforgettable!

A special thank you to my family and my sis-in-law Susy for the incredible Road Trip and for the lovely BBQ Party she hosted. It was amazing to spend time with her and her beautiful family. I also would like to thank my sis-in-law Lori. She kindly bought me a lovely gift from her travels. It means so much to me. Thank you also to my lovely cousin koumpara Anna for taking us out to a lovely lunch and spending time with us before school starts.

Thank you to my own God Mother who always calls me to see how I’m doing and I love her so much for thinking of me. She’s a special woman in my life. I love her and she inspires me in so many ways.

Thank you also to Joy Mills for buying art from my shop and always supporting me online. Than you to Cat Forsley for always inspiring me and encouraging me with my creativeness. Cat is a beautiful soul inside and out and has a big heart.

There are so many blessings in August that my heart is full of love and joy and its overflowing! All the love and gratitude I feel is so abundant. Thank you for each moment. A gift from the Universe and God. I am so lucky and very grateful. Thank you all!

Inspire and Work Together!

Empowerment and Movement

Growth… development… inspiration!

TRIBE POWER as Belinda describes in her beautiful and amazing newsletter!

Have you read Belinda’s Newsletter? I would like to say a HUGE thank you to her for mentioning me. She is wonderful and It means so much! You should totally subscribe to her powerful blog and inspiring newsletter. (at the bottom of her blog.)

Oh yes and her brilliant YouTube Channel too!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BL6Qw2yAttJ/?taken-by=belindalaurie

From the moment I started blogging I’ve come across beautiful and inspirational people that I love and adore. I’ve mentioned many in my blog posts before and this month on my blog I would like to share more lovely artists and feature them. You can see many of these lovely inspirational people all around me all the time because they are the ones that leave the positive comments and share my posts and interact with me. I’m truly blessed. This emotional and heartfelt blog post is because of all of you! From all the loving and beautiful support you’ve given me. Thank you! A huge thank you to Cat and Belinda. It means so much to me and I appreciate it so much.

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I wanted to thank you all for the comments you left me on the video for the Fashion Magazine Beauty Vlogger Video. Have you seen all the comments in my video? I didn’t win by the way but I WON in a HUGE and different way! MY GOD! All of you made me win inside my heart by the warmth of your comments! Seriously! It’s a true blessing to have you all by my side. I appreciate you all! Thank you so much! By the way thank you to CAT for showing me how to add IG photos in the blog posts! 🙂 woo hoo!

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When I was talking to Cat I mentioned how I want to create connections this year and work together with more artists. Collaborate and Integrate!

I really enjoy working with others!

So Belinda mentioned TRIBES in her newsletter and right away I remembered teachers College and fell in love with the idea all over again. A community where people help people and learn from each other. A place where we can be our true selves and inspire each other. Reminds me a lot of the Canadian Beauty Bloggers. I’m grateful for being a part of the CBB because I’ve gotten to know a lot of strong women in the group that truly inspire me. So thank you to the CBB team for being there for me. This is starting to feel like a huge THANK YOU blog post! Why not! I’m totally GRATEFUL and High on LIFE!! WOO HOO!

THANK YOU TO THE CBB for REPOSTING MY PICTURE! 🙂

SHARE SOME LOVE AND GO DOUBLE TAP ! 🙂

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Sometimes it can be hard to be a blogger and influenster. I’m being honest here. Sometimes I need a little push to move forward. Well lately connecting with bloggers has been that wonderful push forward. I feel so strong and more confident when I work with other lovely bloggers. I love interaction and communication. Working together is so important. That being said I wanted to let you know that starting now until further notice I’m going to pin a tweet on twitter and feature a lovely YouTuber, Vlogger, blogger or artist for each month because I feel we should help each other grow.

Sometimes I feel that people don’t do this enough. It’s so important to help each other, promote each other and grow together. Sometimes I feel that people lead a self centred life. Life is so much more beautiful when it’s done together. It is more creative, fun and there’s a give and take of positivity and good energy. More can be accomplished and achieved together and it’s so fulfilling!

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I feel very happy and grateful to have a lovely group of people around me that encourage me. You can see all of them in comments that are on my blog posts and videos. All of YOU who leave positive messages is what fuels me to write more, take more photos and explore more with my writing and blog. There are also friends behind the scenes that chat with me and really help me out.

Positive energy and positive vibes!

Thank you!

Like I mentioned in my post New Exciting Additions! Cat is a huge motivator and she seriously needs to become a motivational speaker or write a book or something because she is a GIVER! She is very special. There are GIVERS in this world and there are TAKERS and CAT is a really amazing giver! She has helped me and pushed me to take risks and move forward. Cat, THANK YOU for helping me along. Seriously HUGE THANK YOU!

I believe in what ever you put out in the Universe it will come back to you and it will ripple and grow big. This I believe a lot. Positive vibes and thoughts create positive things in life. I would like to say a huge thank you to Cat and Belinda and a huge thank you to all of you for being by my side. I don’t care if I sound too cheesy or emotional. I LOVE being who I am and I’m not afraid to show it. *thank you Cat for helping me.

FREEDOM! OH YA!

It’s okay not to be “perfect”

It’s okay to be crazy and let my really funny side show.

It’s okay to be who I am and love my self just the way I am.

Thank you all!

I LOVE YA!

WOO HOO!

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Follow your heart and when you do, a smile will form on your face without you knowing.

-Maria Medeiros 🙂

Summer Fresh!

Hello my wonderful friends!

The weather is warming up so nicely and I just feel so inspired by the weather, my garden and everything around me. I wanted to share with you some refreshing cooling and hydrating recipes and creative ideas for the Summer. The recipes in this blog post are fantastic for Summer parties as well. I’ve created a delicious quinoa salad, infused water, fun ice cubes, home made ice tea and a refreshing healthy fruit slushy!

I don’t know about you but if I was served this amazing food at a party I would be one happy person! Well I’m always happy but an extremely happy person!

QUINOA SALAD

I created this lovely quinoa salad which is inspired by all the fresh veggies I truly love and enjoy. This is a very delicious cooling and refreshing salad perfect for Summer!

Ingredients and Measurements

In a bowl add

1 cup cooked quinoa

1/2 cup cubed cucumber

1 Finely chopped green onion

1 tbs Lemon juice

1 tbs finally chopped parsley

4 Kalamata olives chopped up

1/2 cup tomato cubed

2 tbs crumbled feta

2tbs of Kraft Fig Balsamic olive oil (I LOVE THIS DRESSING!)

Mix and refrigerate.

Best enjoyed when cooled.

What a great salad! It’s so delicious and refreshing for a hot day! You can double the recipe if you have family and friends over. This lovely salad is perfect with some homemade ice tea!

BESTDAYBLOGGER’S HOMEMADE ICE TEA

Ice Tea Recipe

4 cups of boiled water

Add 2 tea bags of tetley or other tea of your choice in the water.

Add 1/2 cup of sugar.

Mix until sugar dissolves and let it sit to reach room temperature.

In a jug of your choice fill it with *ice all the way to the top.

(You can use the infused ice with lemon and mint.)

Add the room temperature tea in the jug with the ice and with 1/2 lemon juice.

Serve chilled and enjoy!

You can always serve infused water in various combos of your choice. Here I’ve chosen strawberries and peaches. I also like the flavour of Cucumber and mint.

REFRESHING!
You can also insert mint, cucumber and lemon in your ice trays for some fancy ice cubes! I love the way they look!

On those hot Summer days nothing is better then a slushy that is healthy! This recipe is amazing! My kids love this!

Pineapple & Peaches with Mint and Ginger Slushy

Ingredients

In a blender add

1 cup frozen peaches

1 cup frozen pineapple

1/4 tsp freshly ground ginger

2 mint leaves

2 cups ice tea or water

Blend

You can also add alcohol after the slushy is blended. ( Adults only )

Enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed this refreshing and hydrating post!

Have a wonderful and magical Summer!

The flamingo straws are from the dollar store! They are so cute! Now If I can find pineapple ones that would be so adorable!

I used the app “pic collage” to make the lovely collages. Too much fun! I’m so addicted! This is not a sponsored blog post. I’m just sharing what I like.

Do you have any plans for the Summer? What are some Summer Fresh ideas that you’ll be serving up this summer? How about some Popsicles?

Oh yummy!

Thank you all!

Comments and shares are very much appreciated!

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