TOMATO BASIL SOUP WITH ROASTED GARLIC

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Our church is in the final week of the 21 Day Challenge. This is the fourth time we've embarked on this journey and it has been amazing. Our pastor challenged us to join the challenge by fasting and praying for God to move in 2014. I absolutely love this because it's all about drawing near to God. In the past I've done the Daniel Fast (eating fruits, vegetables and whole grains only), full fasts (juice and water only) and partial fasts (i.e. no sweets).

For personal reasons this year I'm doing a partial fast combined with a few days of full fasting. Already I've sensed a closeness to God that I haven't felt in awhile. Another thing that has helped me draw closer to God is fasting "the scroll". Oh you know the scroll...the "I don't know what to do in this moment so I'll just scroll through instagram, twitter, facebook...oh look thirty minutes have gone by.."  Yeah, I fasted from that and it's been so FREEING. I'm hardcore addicted to my phone so it's nice to break the addiction for a few weeks. I've already noticed two things 1. I'm way more productive 2. my iphone battery lasts almost the whole day! But one thing is for sure, I so miss looking at pretty pictures on instagram and being in the know of all the Christian celebrities I follow, ha. If you have questions on fasting, check out this website or leave a comment below!

So I made some soup for you! Actually that's a lie. James made some soup for you. He's made it the past two Sundays and it is delish. He modified the original recipe to make it vegan. (Just use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth all you Daniel fast peeps….ps…here is the original recipe which we've adapted)

happy wednesday!

xo,

s.s.♥.

WINTER FITNESS

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Winter + fitness usually don't end up in the same sentence for me. I haaaaate being cold. Absolutely, stinking hate it. I grew up being forced to play soccer (as probably all Italian-Canadian children do) from the age of 5 until 13. I switched to baseball as soon as I could. Running around at night and playing games in ice rain didn't really appeal to 13 year old me. 

I picked up running about 7 years ago. There have been times I've been hard core at it and also times where I've been extremely lazy about it. Spring and fall are when I'm usually on my game. In the summer, I'm usually too hot to really push running (did I mention I don't like being too hot either? Diva, I know) and winter, well in winter I like to hibernate and eat. 

This past year has been a bit different though. After coming back from India in late August, I realized I needed to make a change. I had had an emotional year (hello first year being married!) where I partook in much emotional eating and not enough exercising resulting in me gaining weight. I decided right then, that I was going to make some changes. I started running again and watching what I was eating and in a couple months I had lost 10lbs. Winter came and I pushed through. I'm so thankful we live in a city where it doesn't snow (except for the picture above, where I realized that running in -10 is the absolute worst idea ever). I admit, when it's pissing rain outside the last thing I want to do is run but to counteract my laziness, James and I got Y gym passes. 

It's been a dream of mine to run a half marathon and I'm going to do it in May at the Oak Bay Half! With this goal in mind, I know I can't afford to not run this winter. I have no excuses. So I'm vowing to keep up fitness through these winter months! Who is with me? 

stay gold (not cold),

s.s.♥.

DINING ROOM INSPIRATION

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image // style by emily henderson

James and I have been in our place since we got married in August 2012. I absolutely love our place. It did take a little while to find though, as all good gems seem to do. Before we got married, I lived in a basement suite with my sister for two years. It was a super cute place and affordable but I hated how we had hardly any natural lighting. After that, I vowed not to only live in a basement suite with ideal lighting (those places do not exist!)

In the final stages of wedding planning, James and I started looking for places. I searched and searched and searched. We went to a few places, nothing really stood out. Everything seemed overpriced and lacked character. I was getting a wee-bit (ok, majorly) stressed out but had to trust that God would provide. And He did. I found an ad that said "Cook St. Village, 1 bdrm, South facing, d/w, balcony."  There were no pictures, just a name and phone number. I called, got through and the next day, we saw our future suite. 

We live in the top floor of a character apartment building in Cook St. Village. Starbucks is literally a 1 minute walk away and we can see Beacon Hill Park from the balcony off our bedroom! I'm able to run along Dallas Road as much as I want. The suite is quite large for a 1 bedroom and includes a large dining room/ studio space for James....dream. And the natural light...ahhhh, it's south facing, so as long as there's light outside, at least one room is lit in our house. I'm in love and am not planning to move until we buy a house...one day...

Like all renters, we're faced with the dilemma to either paint the space and make it look amazing or do as minimally as possible and save up for a down payment. I'd like to think that we've met in the middle. Obviously I'm not going to live in a house where we don't make any effort. I like to have people over, so I want them to feel comfortable. But we've only painted one wall (our chalkboard dream wall behind our bed) and don't plan on painting anymore. 

I've tackled quite a few rooms but I'm at a standstill for our dining room. It used to house a small round table and my desk but we sold the table (because hello, i'd like to have the option of having more than 3 people over for dinner!) and moved my office space into the living room. The room now remains bare with a table (James found it for $30 at a garage sale) and two chairs.

As you can see, the lighting is great! But when it's not light outside, our only light fixture that's in the centre of the room (on the other side of the room is James' studio so the light fixture is between the studio and dining room, not ideally above the table) doesn't add much light at all. Because we don't want to install a new fixture, I'm on the hunt for lights or a lamp that will add a warm glow. I want to make the space cozy but not too cluttered. I'd also love to add some plants, a rug under the table, mismatched chairs (maybe tie in a matching colour), a dining bench, and some wall art!

I'm loving the pink chairs and dining bench in the image on the left. The plants and wall art add that perfect touch to the image on the right.

image // apartment 34

So I'm on the hunt to jazz up my dining space. We're hitting ikea up at the end of the month, so hopefully I'll find some treasures there! If you have any suggestions to make my space look pretty, please let me know!

xo,

s.s.♥.

COACHELLA 2014

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The 2014 Coachella line-up was announced yesterday. I'm head over heels in love with the headliners. I can just imagine the dance party during Outkast, HEEEEEYAAAAAAAA-HEEEEYAAAAAAA. I've seen Muse and they're awesome live. Don't even get me started on my favourite band, Arcade Fire. I saw them front row at Pacific Colosseum in 2010  and again at Coachella in 2011, where they ended Saturday night with an incredible set. 

Can't say I'm as stoked on the "smaller" bands as I was last year. We did see Chromeo in 2011 and they were the bomb (honestly, the greatest dance party I've ever been in!!!), so they'll be awesome. I'd also love to see Ellie Goulding, Lorde, Lana Del Rey, Kate Nash & Sleigh Bells.

Even though this year's headliners are insane, it doesn't look like we'll be rocking Coachella this year (mainly because we're hopefully going to EURRRROPPPEEE!!!!)

Here are a few pics from last year's...

 oh the beautiful coachella valley. mountains and palm trees everywhere. 

sunny and hot weather is usually a guarantee!

of monsters & men, safari tent & alt-j.

the beloved h&m tent.

front row at beach house. one of my absolute favourite moments ever.

So what about you? Would you consider a road trip down south to this year's Coachella?

xo,

s.s.♥.

ONE WORD 2014

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Well, we're 8 days into 2014. Some of you may be right on track with your New Years Resolutions (proud of you dad for quitting smoking!!) and some of you may have thrown in the towel. No judgement from here if you're part of the latter.

As you know, I don't really set New Year resolutions. I'm a big fan of dreams and goal setting on a regular basis, NOT just the beginning of the year. BUT what I do like to do at the beginning of the year is pick one word for the year. This will be my third year doing this one word thang and I'm pretty pumped. (2012- here & here. 2013 here & here.) 

God dropped my word for 2014 into my heart on December 27th. I was praying for my husband and writing in my prayer journal and found myself writing out 1 Corinthians 13.

"Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." -1 Corinthians 13:4-7

As I wrote out those verses and read them aloud I realized how much I sucked at loving. I recognized how I can be incredibly selfish a lot of the time and in result, avoid loving people. In that moment, I knew my one word for 2014 was going to be love and the kind of love that God was calling me to was in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. And he wasn't just calling me to love my husband with this kind of love, he was calling me to love EVERYONE.

Loving this way is going to take a lot of stretching. It's going to take a lot of me stepping out of my safe bubble. It's going to take a lot of me getting over myself.

On January 1st, I wrote out this prayer "This year I'm ready to love deeper and wider and higher and greater than ever before. Help me Lord, to love like you love. To believe the best in others. To be selfless and not selfish. To love you Lord and love all those around me."

It may seem simple, but this my friends, is going to be the hardest one yet. But I'm ready (at least I'm telling myself that) to love.

Do you have a word for 2014? If so, I want to hear it (let me know in the comments)! And if you don't, I encourage you to seek one out! (Check out the original one word website for inspiration)

xoxo,

s.s.♥.