California dream'n

I feel very inspired. Its been a hell of a year and we are about to return home after the end of an adventure...but the start of another.

Looking back to before Alex and I left for our first trip together and where we were in our lives....

So where was I then?
Thousands of dollars in debt from school and terrible spending habits I felt down and helpless. I felt like I couldn't leave the comfort of conventional living, full time job, debt payments, I had responsibilities.
But I drempt of travel. My visions were in adventure and living life to the fullest. I will never forget walking along the park path in downtown Oakville - looking at lake Ontario. Looking at my love and thinking how I didn't want to hold us back with this the debt I had incurred.
And that was it, my tipping point. From that point forward I promised myself I would save, hard, for 6 months and make our dreams of travel come true.
I saved and saved, worked four jobs and made it happen. Out of pure determination and fearless dreams - we left for Guatemala in December 2012.
I not only saved enough to travel, but to serve my debt and pay for my darling dog to be well taken care of.
And now...after adventure in Guatemala, living on the beach in El Salvador and building a home in San Diego, California...we are on the move again.
Its homeward bound for Christmas...to visit our friends and family, connect, tell stories, eat turkey, and save again.
2014 calls for another adventure...

These times of gratitude: purpose and the art of manifesting free printing & wine

Its been a wild ride these past few days. The whirlwind of quitting our jobs, giving up our car and having to inventory our refrigerator (meal forecasting) to ensure survival. This is where great stories are born, I continue to tell myself as I recall the events of the past few days.

Going back three days ago during at a catered event from a food truck. (Alex and I have been the directors of operation, providing our culinary and hospitality insights to a busy catering company with a food truck). Everything that could possibly go wrong, did.

I won't bore you with the details of the fryer boiling hot oil out of control, the no lights in the kitchen situation, a grill too hot it burned all of our buns, and the fact that we scalded our hands fishing the bones out of a steaming hot crab risotto that someone clearly dropped the ball on during prep.

So ya....I bored you with the details of one of the worst nights of my 13 years of serving experience. It was crazy. Oh, I also got hot oil flung up into my eye and had to run crying through the party guests into the bathroom.
It was an interesting night to say the least.
(On a side note - with all of those issues the guests had no idea, we were praised for our amazing food and service and each received $100 tip! Bam!)

Fortunately that was our tipping point. We had had enough of being completely underpaid for our expertise and efforts with the company, and that night, in a rather intense showdown in the company parking lot, we walked.
We LITERALLY walked home (as we drove a company car and it was immediately recalled).
Alex with no shirt, as our ex boss had forced it off his back, and me, with the biggest feeling of relief, we had turned in all of our hats of responsibility with the company and were now jobless.
I felt light, grounded and the happiest ever on that walk home.

I never thought being unemployed would feel so good, but it did.
Alex and I have truthfully, been manifesting this change for the last few months, working somewhat shorter hours and balancing our efforts with The Teacup Tour.
We had now created a great open opportunity for ourselves... And although rather broke and eating rice - we have been happier than ever.
The Teacup Tour - our project that has taken us two years to put together...and will take the next year to complete now has our full attention.
More about the teacup tour in the next post.

Now - back to the life of the happiest most unemployed couple!

The reason I wrote this post was to highlight a few things....

1. When the decision is right your body knows and you won't mind walking 10 miles home after a nine hour shift from hell.
2. Don't make crab risotto with bones
And
3. That the universe will provide for you if you know what you need and are open to receive.

A list of things that have happened to us in our 6 days of unemployment:
-we got invited to a free wine and cheese art event
-our yoga studio started giving out Halloween chocolates already!
-we got given three free boxes of cookies at Walmart because of a pricing error on their behalf
-our yoga community invited us to dinner
-i sold my first painting
-the local library opens after being under construction for 3 years

-our friends visit from Canada, take us out for dinner and we run into a #citypig being walked on a leash in the middle of downtown

And the finale...
-We went to print our resumes (gotta get a part time job at least...a girl's gotta eat!) with our last five dollar bill and the copier we chose had $1.69 of credit on it! Thank you FedEx!!

Our days have been filled with gratitude and as cliche as it sounds - we are richer than ever. (Though I really miss the late night car rides to buy our favourite $3 gourmet cookies!)

But our house is filled with love, library books and an even greater intention to live our purpose and make our dreams a reality.

Ashley xo

A love affair at thirty five thousand feet.

And so here I go; back in time. I gain 3 hours...but my body is too sleep deprived to comprehend.
It is approaching my 30th hour of travel as I sit awake in the 11th row, middle seat B, of Spirit Airlines flight 339 direct from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles.
An escape of sorts. Escape in the untraditional sense of the word...it was more of a strategic exit; our departure from El Salvador.
We left yesterday and now I am awake on this flight. Writing live from 35 000 feet.
I began to write after many attempts at sleep...each failed attempt left my mind spinning, my senses heightened as every bump of turbulence jolting my body and heart...ugh. Flying.

The end of three months in 2 third world nations. Adventuring in lands scarred by war, on unfinished roads as rickety chicken busses whip around corners faster than bats outta hell, armed guards with shot guns casually stroll about; a general degree of unsafe conditions...just typical daily occurrences that fuel great stories.

And now, here I am, high in the sky listening to the sweet familiar sounds of Matthew de Zoete albums to ease my mind. iPod's help drown out airplane noises. Ugh. Flying. My heart jumps again.

"...seriously Ash?" is all I can think to myself..."are you really that scared right now??"
"You just spent three months in rather unfavorable conditions and now you are freaking out!?"
"Really?"

Apparently this little global adventurer has a serious fear of flying!!

I love the airport. Customs lines. Baggage check. Waiting around. Watching people. Watching planes. Anticipation of the next destination. All that exciting stuff.
...but when I strap myself willingly into the seat, give myself up to the whim of the captain and copilot and we leave the comfort of solid ground...m*ther f*cker I have a hell of a hard time.

Breathe. Write. Listen to the music. Turn left...Alex is sleeping. Head turns right...sleepy random dude.
Breathe. Write. Write. Write.

And the serious expression on my face gradually softens as I write. I take deeper breaths with ease as my words flow onto the page.

Okay. "We're cool", as I talk myself out of my flying fear spiral.
Just write.
And with no prior intention, I find myself having the most wonderful time. Completely at ease as I share my words to the page.
"Ah, this is nice." As I settle in contentment.
And then in a moment of awakening I realize that writing = flight therapy.
"This is fabulous!" My eyes light up.
"Why is no one else awake?!" Thinking to myself as I scan the rows of sleeping passengers.
"Common guys, this is the best flight ever!!"

The thesis of this little midnight posting:

Flying = Scary.
Central America = not so Scary.
Doing what I love = not scary at all.

It was a nice moment when I found my mind and body in a meditative calm, an awakened vibrance.
A realization of one the greatest love affairs in my life:
Putting words to a page.
More than ever I know that this journey is not a vacation...but a step in the direction of the statement I make with my life.

And so I conclude...
Do just that. What you love.
The thing that lights you up and calms you down.
And with no compromise in your dreams;
Always let your "being" affect your "doing".

Beauty. Yoga. Adventure! Guatemala 2013; an April retreat to uplift & inspire

April 5th-14th 2013

Click here for retreat description:
www.villasumaya.com

Join us...the great Canadian Duo;
Amazingly Attuned Ashley & Ambitious Adventurer Alexander

Email us for pricing info and to sign up!
ashley.lord.yoga@gmail.com

The beauty, the beasts...and the black tongue.

She shimmers with the sun rays reflecting, dazzling off her surface. Atitlan's beauty is bold and breathtaking, captivating, it curiously lures your senses. Beyond the magnetic beauty lies another side of the coin. Flipped over uncovers the darker side of the moon. The lurking beasts of poverty and poisonous creatures that call her home, dwell unattended.

Living on Atitlan has its charm...but beneath the surface...a startling reality. Unfortunately the lake most often sits stagnant, as it was created thousands of years ago from a volcanic eruption, leaving it without any water flowing to and from.
Each year water levels rise, but as does the pollution. Alex and I both were sick and found it hard to get well. The little beasts were running ramped in our bodies... the parasitic herbal remedies were not even strong enough to fight them off.

And then a very obscure phenomenon hit us one morning as I brushed my teeth getting ready for work, Alex still half asleep in bed across the room.
After not feeling right for a couple of weeks now I had decided today was the day I should visit the doctor and we had this conversation:
"Hey darling"
(As he barely stirs from beneath the covers) "ya..."
"Do you think you could come into work a little early for me?"
...unimpressed he looks at me.
"Why" he questions.
"I think I need to go to the doctor, my tongue is black." I reply simply.
Alex then shoots up out of bed "WHAT??"

So yes, it was true my tongue had turned black. Like scary black. Not like eat a candy and it colours your tongue...but like death black. Black as night. Black like the fear in your mind that is all consuming because you think you are dying because your tongue is black!

Truthfully I was quite calm about the whole thing, felt somewhat normal, even though it was quite apparent I could have doubled for a creature in a horror film. I was good as far as black tongues go.

Alex in a frantic scurry: "omg let's go, we are going to the hospital right now, we are calling into work sick, hurry up let's go now, we need to get you to a doctor!"
"Are you okay, how do you feel?" He nervously asks me.

Me, now shaking with the adrenalin from his reaction:
"Well, I thought I was okay until you freaked me out!!"

So now we are off down to the doc en route to the doctor.
A boat ride to San Pedro. A poop test. An ultra sound. =
It was Parasites.
A very common occurrence on the lake due to pollution, poor filtration and water systems. But nonetheless...
The little beasts were taking over, my tongue was still black and I couldn't drink coffee or have ice cream anymore.

The doc really never went back into great detail about the black tongue thing...but more or less blamed it on all the vitamins I had been taking the past 5 days when I couldn't poo getting backed up in my system.
(On a side note, the amount of conversations about bowel movements i have had with fellow travelers in the past two months should break some kind of record! Everyone was having some type of popping or stomach issue and sharing it liberally to friends and strangers alike.)

That was our exit. Over worked, underpaid...and now my tongue was black! We had only one mission to remedy the situation.
BEACH.
and of course that was preceded with 10 days of wretched, feels like you are constantly eating pennies, antibiotics.
Then a short vacation in Antigua...where Alex started his meds (of course he had the little beasts too).
We were having a little antibiotic party to get ourselves healthy.

The great silver lining to the Black Tongue incident of 2013...it pushed us to reevaluate our current circumstances, our current contentment levels and our paths to our dreams.
Running away is most often not the answer but I believe firmly in meeting current circumstances with an open mind and heart. We looked at our higher objectives to see what was serving us, what was not and what we should do to continue on our higher paths...
And so we now find ourselves exactly where we need to be...doing what we need to do.
Thank you beauty.
Thank you beast.
Thank you black tongue.

This new chapters story to come.
I am off to go live it. One day at a time. From our new house...on the beach in El Salvador.

Passing trees

Looking out the window of a shuttle...trees, fields...passing by, we pass by. A familiar scene, reminiscent of my up-bring in Ontario...road trips north, trees and farms.
Looking out I catch myself time traveling back to those moments as I set my eyes on this landscape. I look the other direction and see the shanti shacks of reality in this third world nation.
Its such an interesting experience to call this soil home. Vastly differing from all my other travel experiences of simply visiting places, coming and going.
I am not sure if the passing trees remind me of home, or if this home has become that much more familiar.
Probably a bit of both. It really is beautiful here.

I was homesick for the first time yesterday...my body is trying harder than usual to balance itself...as I have a slight sickness at present. I am patient with my body, but I miss the comfort of my mom, her home and a nice bath. :-)
I am grateful for Alex and our wonderful home we have created together...wherever we go we have each other and that's the comfort of home in the best way.

Days and time pass as we continue to live our lives here...but the passing is different. As trees pass in the landscape its as if to say...stay here. Time is slow, life is rich, and trees are trees.