a peek inside the fishbowl

Energy begets energy. If you have a little bit of extra energy, you can put it to good use. Maybe that tiny bit of extra gas in your tank means that you find yourself taking the dog for an extra long walk, playing with your kids more, or spending 20 minutes on the treadmill every once in awhile. Then, something great starts to happen. You discover you have more energy. You feel happier, and better able to cope with stress. Pushing the grocery cart around the store doesn’t seem so taxing on your mental and physical reserves. Nor does spending a bit of extra time preparing dinner. Then, amazingly, you find yourself wondering if it’s a good day to go skating on the canal or taking up tennis lessons…

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I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how important it is to get a good night’s sleep.

The concept of “a good night’s sleep” really hit home when we first had kids. Suddenly, there was nothing MORE IMPORTANT than a few hours sleep, preferably a few hours in a row.

Sleep deprivation isn’t healthy. It makes us grumpy and slow. Our brains become foggy. We forget things and make bad decisions. We eat badly, and cry at odd times (er, or maybe that’s just me). And that’s just what we see on the outside. What’s happening INSIDE a weary body is a whole other ballgame. Chronic sleep loss can put us at risk of a host of medical issues such as diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. It can also cause premature ageing and depression too.

When I’ve had a good night’s sleep, the effects are immediately obvious. I feel GREAT if I’ve had a solid, uninterrupted sleep; totally refreshed. I have more energy. I’m happier. And I feel more prepared to take on whatever challenges the day throws my direction.

And we all know that if MUMMY IS HAPPY, EVERYONE IS HAPPY.

I’ve done a few things to help myself get a better night’s sleep.

First, I got a new pillow. Pillows are too important, and those ten dollar pillows bought on sale at the grocery store haven’t done me any favours. I bought this pillow at Ikea before Christmas, and although it may not be the solution for everyone, I have found it to be very comfortable. Next up: a new mattress. We need one, bad, but it’s sadly beyond our budget at the moment.

Second, I choose to read books instead of reading something on my iPhone. The light that comes out of it is disruptive to sleep. And reading makes me fall asleep.

Third, I have been sporting one of these to bed every night:

It’s a very lightweight sleep mask. I don’t even know where I got it but it had been kicking around our bedroom for awhile and I decided to try it. IT.WORKS. It’s lightweight, not tight, and doesn’t slide off my face while I’m sleeping.

Have you read about the amount of darkness you need when you sleep? Studies have shown that humans need it to be dark – very dark, like BLACKOUT dark – while we sleep. This degree of darkness is difficult to achieve in urban areas, and it may surprise you to know that it doesn’t take very much light to mess with your body.

“Even dim light can interfere with a person’s circadian rhythm and melatonin secretion. A mere eight lux—a level of brightness exceeded by most table lamps and about twice that of a night light—has an effect, notes Stephen Lockley, a Harvard sleep researcher. Light at night is part of the reason so many people don’t get enough sleep, says Lockley, and researchers have linked short sleep to increased risk for depression, as well as diabetes and cardiovascular problems.” (From www.health.harvard.edu)

Our bedroom is bright at night, especially when there’s a bright moon or snow on the ground. We have blinds on our larger windows (pictured here), but they’re not “black out blinds.” We have smaller windows over our bed, and they are no blinds or curtains on them because they’re higher up and no one can see in.

Hence, the sleep mask. I alternate between feeling like a total dork and a movie starlet with it, but it works. My sleep isn’t as “broken” in the mornings, and when I take it off I’m blinded by the light.

What I haven’t addressed yet is late bedtimes. I should be in bed by 10:30, but often find myself up late watching TV with Mark. Oh well. One thing at a time, right?

What about you? How do you make sure you get a good night’s sleep?

Some of you already know about my #dailylunches project and some of you don’t. If you’d like to find out why I’ve photographed 570 lunches (and counting), you can read this blog post.

Yesterday was a surprise PD day (at least it was for me), so my youngest and I decided to shake things up by going out for lunch together. The destination: The Flying Banzini.

I’ve been intrigued with this restaurant ever since I first heard about it. The owner is a fabulous writer and I am a fan of his blog.It’s a really interesting behind-the-scenes view of the restaurant business, and I’ve actually recommended it to other small business owners as a good example of A Job Well Done. It’s insightful, personal, honest, and you can’t help but feel a connection to the story. I was especially impressed with this post he wrote after his restaurant got a disappointing review in the Ottawa Citizen. It was that post – and the fact that he even promoted the review on FB and Twitter – that basically RE-solidified my quest to go there.

So off we went!

The décor at Flying Banzini is quite attractive. There’s lots of wood, exposed brick, old-timey photos, and a mix of high and low seating. It’s comfortable and welcoming, a friendly kind of place to meet friends or family. This was my daughter’s view (these are her photos):

It was a busy place on Friday!

The restaurant experience here is a little different, but not off-putting. Instructions are clearly displayed upon entry: order at the counter, pay, sit, and wait to be served. I had to hold back because I had a tough time deciding what to choose (crispy pork belly! shaved beef! roast beet salad! ack!). As an omnivore I would have been happy with anything on the menu but I eventually decided on a vegetarian panini that goes by the name of Easy, Easy, Baby. It had roasted red peppers, oven dried tomatoes, spinach, red onion, black olive tapenade, cucumber, and goat cheese.

As per instructions, we ordered, paid, sat, and our food was delivered in no time.

This is what it looked like:

My sandwich was quite good, but I was secretly hoping for something a leeeettle more on the savoury side. Roasted veggies are naturally sweet as they caramelize, but I found myself wondering if they’d be happier without being saddled with cucumber as it’s not something I’d usually add to this kind of sandwich. Maybe I’d use a slightly more bitter green instead of the spinach? I’m not sure what the answer is, and I certainly don’t want to give the impression that I didn’t like my sandwich, because I did. It was crisp and hot and satisfying… like a panini should be. It disappeared in a flash.

My youngest ordered a meal-sized Caesar salad, which she declared to be “fantastic” despite her initial misgivings about the word “anchovy” in the description. I asked her about it afterwards and she said “the lettuce was fresh and the dressing was really good.” I would agree as I had a side Caesar with my sandwich, but I’d ask for a lighter touch with the dressing next time. But maybe that’s just me.

As we ate our lunch I watched the owner, Dave Scharf, talking with staff, meeting and mingling with customers… basically making sure the stars were aligned in terms of food orders. He was also pouring water and clearing tables and running to and fro with the broom; essentially doing everything that needs to be done in a restaurant.

Will I go back? I certainly will, and I look forward to bringing the rest of the family and trying a few different items on the menu while we’re there, including the cheesecake. :)

What about you? Have you been? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

If you haven’t guessed already, I’m referring to this:

It’s a journal, and I think it’s pretty cool. I bought it sometime last year, and during a cleaning frenzy it got swept into a drawer and it was forgotten. This is what it looks like inside:

The idea is to write one line every day, and, if you are able to keep it up, you have a succinct five year overview when you’re finished.

Five years a rather lofty goal, but not impossible. I figure there are other things in my night-time routine that I’m doing – such as brushing my teeth – so it isn’t too onerous to add this into the mix.

The space for each entry is very short, and allows for only one or two sentences. It’s reminiscent of the journal I wrote about in Canadian Family Magazine awhile back – you can read the online version right here – but this time around I’m not just jotting down my happy moments. (As useful as that was at the time.) For this particular journal I’m simply writing about what happened that day. I have found it to be a fairly useful exercise. Not only does it give me a moment to stop and reflect, but I get to choose how to summarize my day. This may seem kind of obvious. I’m the one holding the pen, of course I get to choose how to summarize my day! But will I let my darker thoughts/anxieties/ worries cloud the rest of my day? And take up space in my journal and become my last waking thoughts? That’s the question.