Last time I posted, I asked you to give me your suggestions for what you want me to write about here at The Love Vitamin! And I’m pleased to say there were tons of awesome suggestions, and I feel equipped to write to my heart out now.

But where to start??

Well, I did get quite a few questions asking me about.. well, me. I get these questions a lot, actually. What am I really like away from this little snippet of “me” that you see through this glowing screen?

People want to know – what do I do in my real, day-to-day life? Tell us about your clothes and necklaces, your relationship, your house, the music you like… and, of course, that question I get almost every day – “Did you cut off your dreadlocks?”

Well, I figure answering these questions is as good a place to start as any. After all, who doesn’t like talking about themselves? :p

So without further adieu … please enjoy reading about everything you could possibly ever want to know about my personal life. I will warn you, it’s long and involved. But if by some chance this is actually not enough and you want to know more, feel free to ask whatever you want in the comments below and I’ll answer you. 

1. Did You Cut Off Your Dreadlocks? Why Do You Wear That Hat All The Time Now?

If you’re a long time Love Vitamin follower, or you’ve watched all my old videos, you may remember when I had long flowing dreadlocks, like this:

But if you’re new to the Love Vitamin, you may know me better like this (minus the starfish, I presume):

So what’s the deal? Are the dreads gone, or what?

The answer is NO! They’re still there. I just got sick of having long dreadlocks that took over my little body. I desperately felt like a change. I did *almost* cut them off, but I chickened out, so I just cut them shorter, and brushed out a few of them in the front to make more straight hair.

Now as for the hat business…. well, I like them short, but they aren’t as easy to style. And I just like how the short dreads look with a hat. So between me being too lazy to try and style my hair, and what I think looks good, I just wear hats all the time now. And I’m sure you’ve noticed that I wear that brown hat incessantly….. well, I just love that hat. A lot.

For those of you who prefer the long dreaded me… don’t worry. They’re growing back. Soon the hats will be gone, and the headbands will be back.

[UPDATE]: Later on, I did, in fact, cut off my dreadlocks. Click here to get the story of how it went down.

2. What’s the Story Behind All Your Necklaces?

The one above was a Christmas gift from my ex-boyfriend (but I still wear it cuz it’s pretty). The particular ex boyfriend who gave this to me is the one I complain on the blog about being incompatible with and it causing me so much stress that I broke out in severe acne.

Well, despite our differences, he was actually a good guy, and we’re still friends. The necklace was apparently made by the mother of a friend of his who passed away many years ago. I believe the stone on the bottom is quartz, and the other white ones are rose quartz, and the blue stones are lapis.

The one above I got on a trip to Morocco with my current love, Luke, back in 2009. No story, really. I just liked it.  I don’t have a clue what the stones are… I’m not so sure they are actually stones, as opposed to just painted rocks. Ohh well! The paint hasn’t chipped yet, so I’m happy.

You don’t see the one above anymore because, sadly, it fell apart. It was actually just a cheap bit of costume jewelry that I once bought for a festival (it originally had an oversized pendant on the bottom). But then once the pendant fell off, I just really liked it, so I wore it in seriousness. I got many compliments on it.

I just got a new necklace, which I’m sure you’ll be seeing me wear all the time now. The lady I was getting reiki from also owns a crystal shop. I’m not majorly into crystals or stones for healing (yet?) but this stone just called out to me. It’s called chrysocolla, and the description said it was for “Insecurities and fears. Digestion issues. Menstrual cycle issues”. It just seemed to fit me or whatever I was feeling at the time, so I got her to wrap it in copper wire and voila.

3. Tell Us About Your Clothing Style

Well, my clothing choices are quite intuitive. There’s no rhyme or reason (I don’t follow fashion, or anyone else), it’s just whatever I’ve been drawn to over the years, and my own personal style has emerged from it.

The vast majority of my clothing is from second hand stores like Value Village. Because I’m so tiny (5’0 and barely 90 lbs), I basically choose clothing I like and sew everything afterwards so that it actually fits me. I’d have no clothes if I tried to choose things that fit the first time round.

I like plain basic things without patterns or logos. I like sweaters, tank tops, and the colours brown, green, blue, black, and occasionally maroon. I usually don’t buy things that aren’t those colours, because none of it would go with the rest of my wardrobe! I also like to wear black, stretchy yoga pants that fold over on top, and then wear little skirts underneath it. I like jeans too, but they have to be a certain light shade of blue/grey, and fit me in a very particular way, or I don’t like them. It’s kind of hard to come by the “right” pair.

As you can see, I’m pretty picky about what I like and the way that it fits, so I actually have very few items of clothing that I like and wear, and generally run my clothes into the ground before I give them up. You should have seen the amount of holes in my last pair of jeans before I conceded defeat and threw them away.

4. What About Your Man Friend, There?

My man friend’s name is Luke, and he’s Australian. We’ve been together steady for two years, and have known each other for four. We met when the stars aligned and we both ended up working at a hostel called Suite, in Budapest, Hungary at the end of 2008. We were both backpacking around Europe by ourselves.

Anyway, we got together, and were an item for a couple of months while living and working at Suite, and then we took a three week trip to Morocco together (where I got my blue necklace!)

We got along very well and I liked Luke very much, but I am fickle sometimes, and I wasn’t sure if I was ready to be in a long term committed relationship with him. In fact, because the timing was wrong, I was convinced he was not the right guy for me. It’s all about the timing, ladies. So I left Europe and went home, and that was that. We dated other people (I dated the guy who gave me necklace #1), but we stayed good friends and kept in close contact.

When my skin got bad, he was so supportive and loving, and one of the only people I felt like I could open up to and share what an awful thing I was going through. Later on, he came over to North America for another trip, and won me back in the process. The timing was right, and now we’re in love. And he’s the best guy ever. 🙂

So as I said, we’ve been together a solid two years, and we live together, and yes, just made the step to adopt a dog. We do likely plan to get married soon, but in a very casual it’s-really-no-big-deal kind of way. No official plans yet.

[UPDATE] – we got married in July 2013. Click here for the story and pictures!

Oh, I guess if you want to know more about Luke, he’s 28, he’s a kayak guide, and he enjoys soccer and reading literature.

Luke and I in Hungary, soon after we met in 2008
In the Sahara together

5. What Music Do You Like?

I always find it hard to figure out the right way to describe the music I like. I guess you could say I mostly listen to electronic and indie music. Lol – if that wasn’t vague enough. I generally seem to prefer electronic music on the groovy, funky, melodic, and upbeat breakbeat side, rather than, say, the dark dubstep or hard dance variety (if you don’t know electronic music, you probably don’t know what the heck I’m talkin about right now).

I suppose the best way to describe what I like is to list some of the  artists that I am currently enjoying. Here’s a list, each linked to one of the artist’s songs on youtube: Chinese Man, Emancipator, Four Tet, Gotye, Gramatik, Bonobo, Caravan Palace, Ganga Giri, Mason Jennings, Morcheeba, The Funk Hunters. Oh yeah, I also have been enjoying a compilation album called “Ghetto Funk Allstars – The Icons Vol I & II”. I love this funk remix stuff to dance and jump rope to 🙂

But of course, that’s just a moment in time, and there are many an artist I have enjoyed in the past. I like the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Pretty Lights, and an absolute ton of other stuff I can’t think of right now. I mostly steer clear of gangsta rap, country, and most things that are too poppy mainstream (lol… I guess I’m a bit of a hipster at heart. Although I do love Pink!).

6. Is The Love Vitamin Your Only Job?

Yes, as of just over a year ago, The Love Vitamin has been my full time and only job. Yay! It feels great to be making a living doing something creative and helpful to so many people (and I’m the boss!!). I’d like to thank you for being supportive of me to make my living this way, as without the financial support, I’d have to have a much less satisfying job to pay the bills. And that means I’d have no time or energy for writing and upkeeping this blog! It’s win-win 😀

Before The Love Vitamin, I worked at a kayak shop every summer for five years, and in between, I travelled and did odd jobs like waitressing. I chose not to go to university, but I did one year of an office administration program (not my thing). I’m still in the process of getting my holistic nutrition diploma, which I’m doing as distance education. For those that were interested in this, this is the program that I’m taking. While I’ve finished the majority of the program, I have to admit, I’ve been putting it on hold for more than a year now because I’ve been so busy concentrating on this blog!

7. What Are Your Other Interests Aside From Health/Nutrition?

I am a person who goes through a lot of phases with what she’s interested in and what she does. My constant big ‘thing’ is that I love researching – so I’ll get on a certain topic for a while (whether it’s a week or a few years) and it’ll consume me until I’m satisfied.

For example, travel has been a huge interest of mine in the past. I love travelling, and in the years after I graduated high school, I was travel crazy. I spent hours researching, planning, and daydreaming about travelling all corners of the world. I did manage to go to Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia, Europe, and Morocco, all of which were amazing.

Now, I certainly want to continue going on trips and travelling because I still love it, but it’s not a huge all-consuming interest anymore when I’m not actually travelling.

Other current and past interests and activities of mine include:  Arts and crafts such as painting, sewing and knitting, personal growth and psychology (this is primarily what I read books about), new age spirituality, dog training (as of recently because of my new canine friend), riding my bike, reading about bicycle touring, psychic intuition and paranormal stuff, lucid dreaming, yoga, gardening, reading.

8. What Do You Do in Your Day to Day Life?

Well, my life is always changing, but this is how things have been over the last 6 months or so and gives a good general picture.

Since I work from home, I spend the majority of my time home by myself, or home with Luke if he’s off work. During that time, I will spend a good part of the day blogging and working on The Love Vitamin. I might also spend time reading on the internet or in a book about whatever other interests are taking my fancy at that time. There’s plenty of procrastinating in there too (facebook, blech).

I try to start my day by doing some jump rope and a half hour of yoga. Doesn’t always happen, but lately that’s what I’ve been enjoying. I take breaks from work to make breakfast; I make lunch, and I make dinner for Luke and I after he gets off work (he does the dishes!). Sometimes it’s just basic “cuz-I-have-to” cooking, but on top of that I’m often doing fun kitchen experiments or trying new recipes, in more of a hobby-ish way.

If I need a food ingredient I don’t have, or need to do other errands, I hop on my bike and ride to the store or the farmer’s market and fill up my bike basket. I would also sometimes ride to the lake to go swimming if I felt like it, or spend a bit of time in the garden, playing with or doing some training with the dog, or doing some other activity related to my interests at the time.

When Luke’s home, we just hang out. We’re mostly happy doing our own things at home, and usually spend lots of time sitting on the couch together being consumed in our own books or computers or activities. Sometimes we’ll watch a documentary together, although we rarely, if ever, watch movies. We also don’t have a TV. On Luke’s days off, we’ll often go for hikes in the woods.

As for our social life, we’re both fairly introverted most of the time so we choose not to have a ton of structured extracurricular activities outside the home, but we do have a few really close friends that we hang out with all the time. With them, we do all sorts of things – we make a lot of dinners together, bbqs at the beach, playing boardgames, watching sunsets, going camping, hiking, going to outdoor festivals, swimming at the lake, and going out to party events or other community events in our town.

Me and Luke and some of our best buds. And one of our favourite board games.

9. Tell Us About Your Family

Well, my immediate family consists of my mom, Barb, my dad, Ken (yes, my parents are “Barbie and Ken”), and my brother, Aaron, who is two years older than me. My mom works as a kitchen supervisor at the local hospital, my dad is a stone mason, and my brother lives in Vancouver and installs security systems. Luke and I go over and have dinner and BBQs with my parents fairly often, as we live in the same town.

Here is a family photo with me and Luke, my parents, and the family dog, Tess. I donno where Aaron was. I guess he missed the photoshoot.

10. What Does Your House Look Like?

Luke and I live in British Columbia, Canada, in a town called Powell River (it’s kinda sorta near Vancouver). This is also where I grew up.

We live in a small, one bedroom detached rental house on the back of a property. I like it because it’s not right on the road, and there’s lots of trees and bushes surrounding us. And you can’t see into any of our neighbours’ houses.

Here it is from the outside:

The outside
Would be cute, if it weren’t for us being so messy. And that ugly linoleum floor.
Living room
Kitchen
Bedroom
Bears come to visit the backyard fairly often

11. Tell Us About Your New Dog!

Well, his name is Sharkie. He’s just over a year old. We don’t know what he is – we suspect he’s some kind of chihuahua/dachscund mix (officially called a Chiweenie). Other people think there’s corgi there, and others think there’s some jack russel. I guess he’s just a mutt. He’s small, and weighs about 10 lbs.

Anyway, Luke and I have wanted a dog for a while now because we both love dogs and grew up with dogs in our family homes. And I’ve especially wanted one ever since I babysat my brother’s little dog for a week last year – I totally got attached and didn’t want to give her back! We finally decided we are at the point where we are settled down enough now to care and commit to having one of our own – we wanted a dog to share some love with, take on walks, and keep me company while I work at home.

We finally made the plunge, and we rescued him from an animal shelter in Seattle, after finding him on petfinder.com. I’M SO IN LOVE! Oh wow, he’s just the funniest thing, and so cute and cuddly. And very well behaved – he doesn’t growl, bite, or bark like many other small dogs. I’m so happy we got him. Although I can tell I’m turning into one of those dorky “dog moms” who fawns over my dog like he’s my baby. It’s so different having your own pet vs a family pet!

Me n’ my baby
Sharkie having a cuddle with our friend Lorenzo

[UPDATE] – I loved Sharkie so much, that a few months later, we got him a friend! So now we have two pups, and I have found that two is not twice the work, but definitely double the fun! The new one is Huckleberry, or Huck for short.

The Adventures of Sharkie and Huck

Okay! That’s it! I hope you feel like you know me a little better now. If you want to know more, ask away in the comments.