Mission completed!

Heyo pals!
Every summer, one thing is never a compromise on my "to do list", and it is to go camping at least once. And I can say that I've never did as much of camping as this summer! So, without any wait, here is all about my last weekend!

In early afternoon on Friday, my friend and I left the noisy city to join my brother and three other friends on our favorite camping site, which is the site of the 2008 Quebec's Rainbow Gathering, close to the Megantic Mount.

As soon as we arrived, after the firsts hugs and talks, started the assembly of the tents, the harvesting of dead wood for the firecamp, and the decoration of our spaces to create the good vibe that has tinted our whole weekend. Then we cooked fish and vegetables in papillotes, and played music until we burned all the wood gathered.

The view is beautiful from the hammock, but don't swing too hard,
'cause you'll find the drop very high, and the level of water a way
too low in the river down there (due to this summer drought)!

After a good night of sleep, lulled by the sound of the rapids just a few feet close by, I woke up and had my breakfast, sat on a rock in the middle of the rapids, facing the current and the sunshine, letting myself being bathed in its rays.

My yummy breakfast. Let's talk about it! I prepared myself a mix of yogurt, berries and granola cereals, accompanied with a crescent. But my brother, always taking care of his little sister, jumped across the river to bring me a yummy flat cranberry bread covered with nut butter and with fenugreek and wheat sprouts. MMMmmm! What an awesome breakfast! Now I am ready to go in expedition! Let's stroll down the river and extract some ''Fool's Gold'' (Pyrite, which is as perfect cubes in the rocks) and harvest some more wood for tonight!

What is this low voice, Marie?! Ha! :P
What a nice decoration, right? It was naturally almost all there,
we just defined the outline. Yes, we are tree huggers, and we
like to give back to nature what it gives us -which are
loving and healing good vibrations!

For the second and last night, I didn't participated in the jam session. Inspired by the beautiful moon and by the different vibe, I've massaged my friends' head and shoulders, just as I learned to do so, sat on a beach in Hawaii, and which is so beneficial! Then we went for a long walk in the woods to listen to the coyotes howl. To end this day in a perfect way, I fell asleep hypnotized by the flames of the firecamp.

On sunday, after another breakfast on the same rock and a refreshing swim, we packed our stuff and went on the top of the St-Joseph Mount (the second highest mountain of the Megantic mountain range) to chill, recentering ourselves with the energy of Mother Nature and having great talks.

The mountains that we see in the distance are
the White Mountains of New Hampshire, USA.

The zoom on the height on the other side is made on the Megantic Astronomical Observatory.

Then comes the inevitable return into Babylone and its traffic! Oh well! I have to make part of it for right now, and I am fine with this. Montreal is still a beautiful city, and still has much treasures to share with me.

The important to highlight from this weekend story is that I've found everything I was looking for, and I am glad to say that all has came to me by itself. I could not have hoped for better! I guess I called it loud enough and was listening carefully enough to receive the answers in my heart. I am so lucky to have such good friends whom I can thank for their love, and to have received the gift of this special relationship with dearest Mother Nature, who always has had the knack to enlight and comfort me. I could be seperated from anyone, but never from her beauties without becoming totally insane.

In all my gratefulness for all that is given to me, 'cause I can share it all with you.
MAY YOU ALL FEEL HER LOVE TODAY! ♥

Places I love - Montreal Parks - Part one

Haha! Here finally is the new series of posts I promised you! Let's start it with the most important thing on this planet. I'm sure you already guessed this one: YES! I am talking about Nature!

Nature appeases me. It has always done and has never ducked out. I am not affraid to say that Her and I have a great relationship of trust, and I feel that we are listening to one another. Therefore, it truly is a great gift that we have many parks in Montreal!

Of course, I sometimes need a way more, as for this upcoming weekend : I'll go camping and hiking in the great Megantic Mountain. Can't wait to have a great talk with Her and to feel her energy to heal and confort! Ah, Mother Nature, how I love you!

Thus, the Jarry Park, the Maisonneuve Park and the Montreal's Botanical Garden are, together, the right (East) lung of the city, while the Mount Royal and the Lafontaine Park are its left (West) lung. Let me introduce you to the first ones!

A small lake, a soccer field, an interior pool, and the tennis stadium find their place on a 36 hectares of green at the Jarry Park.

Isn't it a peaceful view? This is my favotite spot of the park!

The Maisonneuve Park has a superficy of 63 hectares. It is where the biggest celebrations are organised for the St-Jean Baptiste, the Quebec's nationnal day. Yes, this is also the place where we can find the Olympic Stadium, for which we are still paying, although its structure is getting weak! ;P

And finally, this is our beautiful Botanical Garden. There we can enjoy, among many others, a Japanese and a Chinese gardens, and different conservatories.

The Mount Royal and the Lafontaine Park are both really specials to me, and I will have a lot more to say about, so you'll have to be patient until I can have personal pictures to share with you for those ones!

Enjoy all the beautiful colours that the parks in your town will have to offer you this automn!
NAMASTE

The sound of love - Everybody - Ingrid Michaelson

Another sticky love song, yay!!
She has performed here in Montreal 3 weeks ago, at the Osheaga Festival. Sadly, I have to admit that I missed it...

As Ingrid says it so well, let the LOVE begin, my friends!
:)

Environmental sustainability & Craft breweries

I am an amateur of beers of craft breweries. In my country, we have tons of small craft breweries, so I am well served when I feel like to make my night special and have a sip of a new tasty drink!

What a happy surprise when I stumbled on a jem of an article tonight! I’ve learned a lot concerning the great actions taken by many of the smaller breweries around the world when it comes to environmental sustainability issues. Did you know that some of them use wind and/or solar power and heat exchangers? And that some also participate to massive recycling programs? Can you see that big smile on my face right now? I have one thing to say : Awesome!!

These small breweries are winking at and teaching to the big brewhouses that, in addition to have much less impact on the environment, it is possible to have a solid profit, and even to do it in ranking the level of their employees happiness and the quality of their products!!

Here are some of the Breweries highlighted by the article :

NEW BELGIUM

One of the most eco-friendly brewery is located in Fort Collins, Colorado. This employee-owned business became, not less than 11 years ago, the largest private consumer of wind-powered electricity. New belgium focusses to minimize their environmental impact and to "honor natural resources by closing the loops between waste and input". In addition of their use of evaporative coolers and of the natural light, a benefit that is allowed by the region, I also like the fact that they promote the bicycle as an alternative transport by organising public events such as Tour de Fat, their philanthropic bike festival, for wich they use a solar-powered stage to provide sound for the day.

The brewery prides itself -and rightly!- to be a "model of joyful environmentalism through their commitment to relationships, continuous improvement, and the camaraderie and cheer of beer".

Seriously, I got to try their Frambozen (Rapsberry brown ale)! I just discovered, through my research for the writting of this post, that they brew one with their seasonal product line! I have to tell you: my favorite beer of all was –yes, I have to say WAS, ‘cause it doesn’t exists anymore… sigh!- the Liefmans Frambozen.

BROOKLYN BREWERY

Using wind power to get 100% of its needs in electricity, this brewery located in Brooklyn is the first NYC company to switch to 100% renewable energy. As per the article I’ve read : "This saves the atmosphere from 335,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, 1,500 pounds of sulfur dioxide, and 500 pounds of nitrogen oxide that would otherwise be emitted".

Brooklyn Brewery also uses the complete raw materials by paying local farmers to pick up all the grains that are left over after brewing, so they can feed their cattle (hummm... I will have to dig concerning this: reuse waste IS awesome... but not quite sure it really is a good thing for the animals?).

SIERRA NEVADA BREWING COMPANY

Since 2 years, this brewery located in Chico, California, is partly powered by solar panels. The country can count on them to help supplying the power grid during peak power usage periods. In addition of reusing spent vegetable oil from their Taproom & Restaurant to make the biodiesel they are using in their long haul and local route trucks, Sierra Nevada Brewering Co diverts 98.2% of its waste from the landfill!

STEAM WHISTLE BREWING

Combining wind power and low-impact hydro generators to power their brewery located in Brooklyn, Steam Whistle goes greener by using B20 Bio Fuel in their delivery trucks. The brewery makes its beers in using only four -and natural- ingredients (pure spring water, malted barley, hops and yeast), all GMO-free! I will definitely have to find and taste this beer!

What do you think about all this? It seems that a wind of freshness and change is blowing over the beer industry!

This makes me feel so good to think that companies like those mentioned above are saving the atmosphere from the emissions of tons of crap gases by their choices to go with clean and renewable power sources!

I highly encourage you to dig and find out the small companies from your country that are doing the right thing, and to support them the more you can, ‘cause it’s this way that we will end up to see changes to extend on a much bigger scale, like to bigger companies.

Have a great weekend everybody, and have a "green" cool beer to the health of our planet... and of ours through it!
LOVE AND GRATITUDE!

Experiencing high stuff!

You’ve probably come to understand that I’ve started this blog a few months ago because of changes happening in my life, because I started shifting my thoughts and the energy I am vibrating. Thus, I was calling to become a positivity and a love transceiver.

I do believe in the power of the positive thinking, and that we attract what we are vibrating.

But you know what? Even me, at times, I start to kinda forget that I believe. At times, we get to be exceeded by things coming from the exterior, and the situation suddenly brings us into the middle of a mist. And we forget.

But life is wonderfully made, and takes charge of making us to remember.

Life took charge of me today. After I've received some tips and good words from friends during the two last days, the head still on the pillow, unable to kick myself out of the bed, I’ve called out loud to the universe.

And here comes the astonishing: within the next hour, abundance from what I’d just call out was starting to come in. By the end of the day, most of it had been granted. This time, I found myself momentarily happily exceeded! I’ve attracted ten times faster than ever before. Why is that? I was lacking to remember that I AM part of this energy that makes the world in which we live. I - AM - PART - OF - IT! So, it was there just to remember me to have trust, whatever happens.

THANK YOU, LIFE, FOR KEEPING ME ON THE TRACK!

I now feel, more than ever before, that I am the artist creating the picture of my own life: the colors I am throwing out on the grid are coming right back and tint my life.

In trust and positivity,
I LOVE YOU!

The sound of love - Teach Your Children - CSNY

Today, this post of the series will be a little different. I am meditative, and here is the result, hoping you'll enjoy it as much as I am.

Someone gave me a textbook at the Quebec's Rainbow Gathering. It is about rainbows (surprise!) and hapiness. I know why I met this person and received that book. I am reading it right now, and something wants to be shouted out loud:

I think that the happiness of someone should never rest on someone else's shoulders, especially not on his children shoulders. Others may be there to give clues, maybe tips, but each is responsible of his own happiness and health at the end.

So today, as The Sound Of Love, I think that this next song goes well along with my thoughts. This version is played by only three of them, CSN (and is missing the first chords), but it is the one I like the most.

I want to thank the special someone who brought my attention to this beautiful song a few months ago.

I also feel like to share with you a passage from the textbook, written by Joseph Corallo:

"(…) I am learning to give thanks and eat whatever life puts on my plate, even if at times it isn’t very tasty. Believing in something higher than myself gives me the advantage to see the world from the stars. Faith has opened my eyes to greater things and provided me with the necessary tools, to make my life as beautiful as I want it to be. If I were to believe in nothing, I would be no different than those people who once believed that there was nothing past the edge of the sea, afraid that if one would go far enough he would fall off a precipice."

I am not afraid to seek further, since I have faith.
ANICCA

Inspiration of the day

My last weekend has been a little tough. But I am fortunate enough to have friends to help me out. This is how I’ve tumbled upon this story: a friend of mine sent it to me.

At the age of 34, Ed Stafford has just become the first man to walk the length of the Amazon river, in South America, from the source (the summit of Nevado Mismi, in Peru) to the sea. This makes a total of 6500 km, that he started to walk on 2nd April 2008. He reached its ultimate goal, the mouth of the river in Brazi, on 9th August 2010, after 859 days of walking. "It's amazing to be here, it proves we can do anything!", he was pleased to say on his arrival.
Attacked by scorpions, locked in tribes and even accused of murder: his journey has not been easy. Carrying a satellite phone and a laptop in his luggage, he kept reporting his adventures on his blog and on Twitter, with the aim of using his expedition to educate its readers about the dangers that threaten the Amazon rainforest and its inhabitants.

Stafford now uses his experience to inspire and motivate people to achieve their own personal goals, and to show that it is possible to succeed, no matter which seemingly insurmountable hardship we are faced to. “My aim is to inspire others and to make people feel that they have a connection to the Amazon, its wonders and its problems. I also hope to motivate others to believe they can achieve their dreams, by listening to my story of what it took to strive to become the first man ever to walk the entire length of the Amazon River.”

He will not benefit of a return to normal life for very long, since he already planned to conduct another expedition in September 2011. Good luck, Ed Stafford!

It has a number of people that nothing can stop them when it concerns their deepest convictions! I now have a lot to meditate, and batteries of positivity to recharge!

Thank you, Eric. Maybe I am throwing you some strings, but you just thrown me a whole skein right there! ;)
Thank you Hana, for shining and for sending me your good vibes!
Thank you SuperForest, ‘cause I can always count on you to make me see things clearer!

IN STRENGHT AND HOPE,
Marie-Eve

An amazing summer!

Happy Wednesday, my dear friends!

You probably noticed that I’ve been off from writing for a bit more than two weeks… My month of July has been super but happily busy! By the way, I am definitely having the greatest summer ever! And I do really hope that you are enjoying yours as much!

You must be asking "But what is she doing that is so great?" Ha! I’m happy you asked! ;) Let me tell you…

It all started with my move back to Montreal city in last May. Then I did much with my new roomate and best friend Claude-Emilie: a lot of very long walks in town...

and a few pic-nics and frisbee-football-soccer playing in parks.

Where all became even much more thrilling, is when I travelled to Kauai, learned a bit about permaculture and connected with new friends, feeling like I'd just found back, accross the ocean, the family that I had lost sight of at the end of a previous life. My heart suddenly began to feel much lighter.

When I came back here, a gift was waiting for me: I spent a wonderful time with an angel. Her name is Olivia, she is my little niece and she will be 1 year-old next weekend! I babysat her for the first time, and this has been for four amazing days! She brings me a lot of peace and she radically brings me into the "NOW".

This leads us to the month of July. I celebrated my 31st anniversary on the 1st and, spreaded onto a couple of weeks, I attended to many festivals, as the latest: the Osheaga Music and Art Festival, where I’ve saw, among others, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros performing on stage. AWESOME! You can read my report of the event on SuperForest.org by clicking HERE.

Finally, I closed this very hot month in attending to two huge, but REALLY HUGE, events of camping. The first one was the Space Gathering and, the latest, the Rainbow Gathering. This last activity is the one that has contributed the most -beside my trip to Zero One, of course- to my ongoing transformation process. It has been another wonderful surprise, and I felt just like if I had found another, a third, family! See, I now feel like I have family members all over the world! YAY! To my eyes, it is coming true now : ONE BIG FAMILY. THE ONENESS (it is kinda the subtitle of my blog, it’s time to refer to it!). This sounds so sweet to my ears!

Now, I am just waiting to get pictures taken by friends (who probably still are in the woods there, or still on their raft, if it didn't sink!) to share more of this event with you guys.

Until I get those, let’s go play outside! Have an incredible month of August everyone!
MUCH LOVE TO ALL OF LOVE YOU!