For my precious Moon Pie :)

She has been living in this warm pink house in the suburbs I grew in and opened her home and heart to me when I was about seven or eight years old. The minute I crossed her threshold, my little kid self would be anticipating one of her signature surprises: New flavors to discover? Soap bubbles in her swimming pool? Plenty of fun arts and crafts that would occupy us for hours on her back patio? A special furry kitty to pet? (I miss that cat...Oh my was she magical).  I have such fond memories of my sweet Moona ( I will call her this way since she would prefer I do not disclose her name on the internet). But the amazing thing is that she is still my Moona, even across all that geographic distance between us. I would have never expected that she would become closer to my heart, especially after I moved from Montreal to the D.C area.

She clearly wasn't just any neighbor. Dear Moona has been and still is a true source of comfort in my life. She entered my life when I was that tiny and has never left my life since. With her, I can remain as small as I want, but she will always see through my full potential and elevate me, like the moon acts on the tide. She is truly a guiding moon in my life, witnessing all miracles, hurdles, bumps and silver linings that come across my path. She is with me no matter where I go, in thoughts and prayers and she'd always know how to keep an appropriate distance when it was time for advice and crisis. Like the moon, she is there, omnipresent, but never overpowering, and I can be certain of one thing: I will never get a moon burn. She is a friend that I cherish and it is such a beautiful friendship that goes beyond race, generations, and life experiences. All those differences make our friendship so rich and magnificent. I hope she knows how much I value her. Hopefully she will know after reading this...

Thank you Moona for being there, and for being there to look over my beloved grandmother every time we were worried about her safety, while she was alone at home.  You rose to the occasion, every single time and showed such care that my entire family was blown away. Your heart is pure and good. I am deeply sorry for all those times in your life you were misunderstood. Moona is a family member that I chose to have in my life. You are truly one of a kind. ♥

An amazing family that I heart and pray for every single day. ♥ ♥ ♥

A Very Special Serving Dish ♥

Gaetan Tyler was a very talented tailor who worked on multiple projects at Les Grands Ballets Canadiens De Montréal. He used to live right next to our convenience store and became very close to our family. My mother would get her traditional Cambodian corsets made by him in exchange for some groceries that they would tally up against the costume construction cost.

Gaetan is the one who made most of my curtains, duvet cover and shower curtains in my entire house. Everywhere I look, I think of him. He was instrumental for helping me build this cozy home. He will be greatly missed. He left this world a couple years ago already and I only found out nearly a year after, since my mother didn't want to upset me. I had no clue he passed away as I moved to the D.C area,

so I never really had full closure on what truly happened to him.

As our wedding anniversary is approaching, my heart and thoughts go to him even more. He also made all of my seven wedding dresses and traditional corsets. (*this post is more difficult to write than I expected....sigh). I miss him. As a wedding gift, he offered me a very valuable serving dish that was passed along for generations in his family. I felt so honored to have received this crystal serving dish, with a silver rim and loaded with symbols for a prosperous mariage. If I recall his words correctly, the fish, olives, the rose and the root represent romance, fertility, prosperity and health. As his life partner and him didn't plan on adopting any children, Gaetan decided to pass along his family tradition to me so I can pass it on to my own children later on.

May your soul rest in peace my dear friend. We all really miss you, but thankfully, we are surrounded by your astounding work all around us, along with many fond memories. :)

This was a song he used to hum to me often while coming to our store...

Deep Fried Crickets and Pierogi ♥♥♥

My childhood would not have been the same without my dear friend Christine. We spent most our innocent years in the outdoors, catching bugs, tadpoles and building tree houses in the field behind her house. Her cocker spaniel Lady would pull us in the winter, while we had our skis on (we were very tiny still, do not worry). It was a lot of fun!

It all started with a marble game in the driveway. Christine and I exchanged marbles, and then later on, toys and stickers, and we have been very close friends since. Twenty-five years of great friendship already, and what's amazing is that our kids are the same age and hopefully will become great friends as well.

Christine was such a crafty kid and used to sew clothes for her dolls, make bracelets and plenty of wonderful salty dough sculptures. I learned a lot from her that's for sure. I loved tasting new Polish dishes at her house and I had my first Pierogi there. I also remember I had my first Brussel Sprout there as well and hated it, but at least I ate most of them. I just wished no one would notice I didn't like them when I left only one in my plate.

Christine has always been pretty adventurous with food. One day, my grandmother came back from a trip to Cambodia and brought back some deep fried crickets, a delicacy as scary to my entire family as it was to Christine. I guess my grandmother felt like shocking us with this exotic souvenir from her trip. Both Christine and I counted till three and popped a hopping critter in our mouths. A memory that is priceless in this long journey of wonderful friendship. I can't wait to have her and her daughter over this summer and watch our toddlers interact with each other. I love you Krysia! ♥ xoxoxo ♥

That hamster...What a ham! ;)

Last week, I caught up with a good old friend from high school. She was that kind of friend who saw magic and created magic wherever she went. She sees people in a way that no one sees and saw me when I wouldn't dare look at myself in the mirror. Being a teenager was hard, but Elyssa made it easier for me to see what was in front of me. Passion. Magic. Dreams.

She is such a free spirit and I've always been inspired by her positive and warm energy. I think she was the first kindred soul I have crossed path with. As I was unraveling my current life hurdles and frustrations, and disappointment in certain people, she put a light on my foggy thoughts and gave me those kind words of wisdom: " When you don't understand someone, just think of that person as a hamster. Another entity, or creature so different from you that you cannot have any expectations anymore. They do what they do because they are hamsters. It is in their nature. That is all. " So I now see my world filled with hamsters....and as a wombat, I must sit back and embrace the marvels of Mother Nature....

Maki & Maki Rolls

The first time I ever tried sushi, and more specifically maki rolls, was with my childhood and yet so current friend Marie-Kim, that I call with affection Maki. :)

She took me to this quaint Japanese restaurant in Montreal called Atami and I was in awe in front of that wooden boat-looking board with plenty of colorful pleasing-to-the-eye rolls on it. We shared our lunch together along with great topics and laughter, like we always do for over a decade and a half already.
Maki rolls are so fresh, lean yet so satisfying and they are at their best when shared with someone. Just like my friend Maki, who was able to remain current throughout practically my entire life, so light, without any drama between us, just fun. I share this "brotherhood" type of friendship with her, almost geekish I could say if you heard some of our topics, and we share so many common interests and for some magical reason, our lives always crossed at the most interesting times. I truly love what I have with Maki and I hope we will be able to keep it fresh without any life food cross contamination. :)

Recipe for Unconditional Love

"Whatever they grow up to be, they are still our children, and the one most important of all the things we can give to them is unconditional love. Not a love that depends on anything at all except that they are our children."
- Rosaleen Dickson

Love and unconditional love are emotions that come from within, but also emotions that can be learned. I think when people don't understand how someone can "learn to love", they confuse it with physical attraction. Physical attraction is bred from chemistry, pheromones and instincts. Love can be born from physical attraction but also from empathy, and a deep eager for commitment to a person for many different reasons. In some countries, it doesn't even take love to commit to someone. Just the bind by itself can yield strong attachment, loyalty and feelings of devotion. Just like in the classic book The Little Prince written by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, “ It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important".

Once we consciously make the decision to commit to a relationship, however it started, the key to success is to jump into the relationship with both feet in. From there, it becomes our sense of duty that kicks in. Our duty to make the relationship grow and last. Some people walk into a new relationship filled with entitlement rather than a sense of duty. "What can that person bring to me?" rather than "What can I bring to contribute to this relationship?".

A great example of entering into a relationship of unconditional love are adoption love stories:

My friend Geneviève for instance, she is the radiant mother on this dreamy family picture on the Beach (Isn't it amazing how little Simon looks like his adoptive parents?). After going through some hurdles trying to conceive naturally, Geneviève and her boyfriend weighed all their possible options, and the idea of adoption warmed their hearts. They knew that was where they were headed together. They were headed to a nice, warm journey of parenting and would be blessed later with their little Simon, from Colombia.

Like any scenario welcoming a new baby home, they've encountered their share of challenges, but nothing they could not overcome. Love happened right away and yet, they still had to work on bonding with the child. They all had to learn to adjust to this new change, bond and forge a line of trust. It did not take long to become this magnificent, happy family.

It takes very determined people to pursue the entire adoption process until the end along with fitting a perfect love match. They went through a thorough interview process in order to determine if they would be the perfect parents for little Simon. Not the other way around.
They walked into the relationship with a full commitment to love that kid unconditionally. It doesn't matter how the child is, or what he has to bring. They willingly chose and fought to be blessed with the presence of that child in their lives despite the fear of the unknown. And this is how choosing to love someone unconditionally is all about.

Sweet Treat

My husband called me from his office to tell me this cute story. His coworker is expecting a baby girl in Spring. We are all pretty excited for them. His wife is a nurse and she must be liked a lot. After being discharged from the hospital, one of her patient willingly insisted to stay one or two extra nights so she could crochet a little outfit for the baby. I thought it was such a sweet gesture. Baby stories make me happy in general. ^-^

The Love Tree Ritual

“Love doesn't grow on trees like apples in Eden - it's something you have to make. And you must use your imagination too.”

-Joyce Cary

Love may not grow on trees, but can be witnessed by trees. I have met these adorable love birds who have been taking a photo in front of the same tree since the first year they've been together. This love ritual is such an original and clever idea. They get to capture their love through time and watch their love grow with the tree. How romantic is that?

Popcorn Love

A friend of mine met her love while waiting in line to get some popcorn at the movie theater. Love literally popped out of nowhere like fresh kernels for her. The funny thing is that she normally never orders or eats popcorn. They parted ways to go watch their movies and bumped again into each other afterward and exchanged emails.
I love hearing stories about how people meet and fall in love. It seems like love manifests itself when doing something out of the ordinary, as if the universe wanted us to get outside of our comfort zone in order to be receptive to this other soul. I read somewhere that modifying your daily habits like wearing your watch on your other wrist or taking a different road to get to the same destination has an impact on your IQ. In this case, could it also mean it affects your pheromone's intelligence?