I was going to a new job and wanted to give my colleagues a little something.

I hawed and hemmed: Gift cards? Candles? Homemade harissa? Chocolates?  I wasn’t sure what to give.  Due to le pandemic¹, my options were limited.    

So I started researching local businesses.  I happened upon Beth & Olivia handmade products.   

Not Amazon² is also a good site to explore local businesses. 

Their Story

The story behind the company is amazing. Annie, fashion designer by trade and training, decided to make sparkly jewelry that her daughters Beth and Olivia could wear.  Annie also created a suitable skincare product for one of her toddler’s eczema. Commercial options weren’t cutting it.  Annie’s bodycare line was born. 

Unboxing

When you unbox, a lovely scent permeates the air.  Crisp sheets of toile tissue, some paper packing and a personal handwritten note from Annie greet you.  ♡ them personal touches!

My orders

I got Missy R: bath squares³ (Peppermint Chamomile, Orange Eggnog & Chai), hand butter (Orange Eggnog) and hand sani spray (Lavendar).  Peppermint squares were her fave.  She loved the idea of the body butter stick: easy for travel, not greasy, will not spill in your handbag! 

I got colleagues: soaps (Earl Gray & Chai), hand butters (Love & Subdued) and lip balms.  They loved everything.  Due to respiratory and skin issues, a couple of these folks are very particular about their products. 

I got my mom: hand sani (Lavender) as well as the foot soak and foot butter (Tea Tree Neem). 

I got multiples of things to give as stocking stuffers… and a couple Squares for me. The Chai bath square is my fave.

Annie has a suite of offerings, including beautiful paper and wedding products. Gift wrapping or local pick up are available.

Recommendation

Yes we absolutely recommend ordering from Beth & Olivia . Also available on Etsy .

(well we had a bit of fun before the epidemic became a global pandemic)

This pandemic nonsense had us out of touch for a wee bit.

Kells has been diligently updating our IG.

Nals has not been doing a whole heckuva lot creatively-speaking. Nals hasn’t been super inspired and TBH was in a rut. When restrictions loosened up last year, the P-N-dubs was knee-deep in summer and there were some muses about town.

So let’s rewind to Feb 2020: before the pandemic closed the borders and restricted our lifestyles.

Miss Kells, Cutie T & I took a jaunt down to Portland for a girl’s weekend. It was Cutie T’s first time! And in true N&K fashion, we ate and drunk up a storm. Here is a brief review of the pubs we visited.

We had been eating all day so we kept it light.

(Plus we had to be able to jump to our exit in case a ghost popped by.)

We had the tasty Pilsner Lager and Stout. To sop up the alky, we knoshed on the made-to-order Garlic Knots and Ghost Pizza.

Lovely drinks and even better charcuterie. Upon request, they custom made our 2nd board! Pickled onions and artisan cheese were da bomb diggedy.

To quench our thirst, we had the following brews: Head of the Table, Wowza and the Neon Daydream. All were delicious.

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To fill our gobs in between sips, we had the Beer Board (chacoots!) – crisp house brined vegetables, smoky dried stout salami, housemade apple walnut bread & rosemary crackers. To. Die. For.

We discovered this pub-club by looking online. They had drag queen trivia night scheduled online, but when we arrived, we realized their socials were not regularly updated. The night wasn’t as exciting as we had hoped, but we had a couple beers after dinner and enjoyed a bit of music.

The 3rd Monday in January is the day where it all comes to a sad peak of the post-holiday blues, credit card bills, dark nights and perhaps health concerns from all the rich food.

There is definitely something to this, we think. 

Everyone is excited about the summer.

Autumn is about getting ready for school, hunkering down for winter.

Winter can be beautiful with snow here in P-N-dubs. But, in the lower mainland, the snow quickly becomes an unpalatable mess of mud, salt, slushy snow and rain.  Yuck! 

So, we look forward to the Christmas festivities.  Takes our mind off of the gross weather and on to the pleasantries of baking, shopping, wrapping, eating & partying.  Of course, this year, Ommi forced us to retreat to our safe bubbles. No work parties, no Secret Sanat, no extravagant dinners with a bunch of fab friends…

Reality sets in… hence Blue Monday.

What can I do about it if it’s reality?

We’re not saying you should ignore reality. What we’re saying is that this is a good time to get reacquainted with self-care & joy.

• Connect with loved ones virtually
• Engage in self care
• Get back to healthy eatingTry exercising – especially walks on the brighter weather days
• Take your medications as prescribed (when feeling blue, it’s easy to forge
• Talk to your health professional about the SAD lamp or other ways to copeKeep a regular sleeping schedule
• Enjoy what you have. Be mindful.
• Put your worries in a box for a few hours. Worrying all day will not help solve anything.
• Talk about it or journal
• Think about fun stuff to do. When was the last time you painted? Sledded? Collaged? Read a novel? Took your pups or kids out for a fun walk? Played a video game? Made a snowperson? Made a slideshow of photos? Snuggled your pet or loved one?

This is by no means an exhaustive list. Some of these suggestions might not even float your boat. And that’s okay.  But you’ve got some other ideas in that noggin of yours.  So get to steppin, you beautiful beast.

This list might be overwhelming.  Pick 1 or 2 things that seem interesting and go from there.

What are Nals & Kells doing?

I’m getting back into writing this blog.  Kells is still recoveringfrom Christmas cheer. & we are both doing another session of burly classes this month.

Cheers to a new year, fresh outlook & new horizons!

Our burly performance classes are back on.  The studio class sizes are small and have requirements to be masked & vaxxed.  Or folks can choose to Zoom in.   

Showcase

Most exciting of all… we’re also going to have a student showcase!  We haven’t performed on stage in a year.  Oh goodness we are looking forward to the hustle & bustle of the time leading up to a performance.  

Androsia

Kells & I are in Androsia Wilde’s Island Gyal Flow.  This is our first progressive with Androsia.  We’re looking forward to flowing and exploring our heritages. 

Cherry on Top

We are also taking Cherry On Top’s Art of Burlesque Starlet Level for intermediate levels.  We’ll be rocking, rolling and perfecting how to give face. 

Stay tuned N&Kers…

The pandemonia has affected us all greatly on a personal level. And if you’ve been working through this time, you know the precautionary measures have been stressful as well. For employees as well as for your customers, clients and gen pop.

For those folks who have lost their jobs or their businesses… it’s more than just losing income. For some, it’s losing part of their identity. Worries and uncertainty have increased. (I’m not a big fan of that B uncertainty.)

Even if you were planning to leave, the pandemic affected your choice. Choice is empowering. But some have chosen to leave out of concern. Not all job sites are following safety protocols. So though it might have been a personal choice to leave, it put a strain on household finances.

Some folks had the opportunity to work from home. This also came with relationship struggles. Kids were out of school with not a whole heck of a lot to do. Students didn’t get the education they were expecting. Graduations didn’t happen or looked radically different.

Pandemonia has challenged those folks who are retired, too. There may not be a loss of income. But there was a huge losses in social lives, activities, recreation, exercising… surgeries and healthcare were put off.

The whole reason for calling COVID-19 a pandemic is that it is highly contagious and deadly. This virus has taken a lot of lives. This virus has changed quality of lives. There is a profound loss for families, friends and communities.

I can remember a day early in the pandemic in March 2020… Trudes had already announced All Canadians must stay at home. I was walking outside on my lunch break, taking advantage of the lovely weather.

I suddenly realized there was no sound around me for those few moments. No cars, no air brakes on trucks, no buses, no people, no pups, no coffee shop lingerers. I don’t even remember chirping birds or puppy barks. That area is typically bustling at lunch. (Well the entire day, really.) The only sound I could hear was paper gently nuzzling the street in the spring wind.

It was amazingly fascinatingly surreal. How could a microscopic thing –and to boot, one that I hadn’t seen myself–impact us on an individual, municipal, federal and global scale? This thing that’s not quite living is changing our health, economy, societal structure, relationships, state of being… It was a particularly a-ha moment for me. I felt like I was viewing a slo-mo video. But nothing visual was really going on.

New virus variants, some Canadian airlines volunteered to remove sunny destinations (temporarily), masking/distancing/vaccine-ing. Living with the new normal.

Kells & I love to be positive. We love to put a smile on people’s faces. We both try to enjoy life and get inspired to write and take fun photos for y’all. This helps both K & I to be mindful of the positives that life has to offer. But it has been a struggle in the past months. So, we wanted to let y’all know that though we’ve been a bit MIA, we still love and appreciate you N&Kers. And we’re going to bring you more content. Stay tuned! xo, N&K

How are you guys managing? Drop a comment below.

Looks like it’s time for the annual Nals and Kells getaway!

The global pandemic has limited life options this year. But since it’s our birthday, we decided to take off to Whistler, BC. (Coincidentally, Dr. Bonnie Henry has rolled out BC’s Restart Plan: Phase 3. )

Stay tuned for reviews and other fun stuff!

We had dinner at Tac/Quila. This restaurant has a nifty story. A lawyer couple decided to change careers. They popped their restauranteur cherry by opening FARM. Then came the second baby Tac/Quila.

Drinks

Kells & I shared a flight of margaritas (Kiwi Mint, Watermelon, Pineapple, Blackberry, Lime). I’m not particularly fond of tequila but I do love cold fruity drinks. And boy these went down smooth. (Good thing we shared or we’d’ve been in trouble with our own flight.) They all had distinct flavours that we loved. Kiwi Mint, Watermelon & Pineapple were our top 3.

Nibbles

Kells ordered Calamari and a couple tacos (al pastor, chicken). I ordered 3 tacos – carne asada, calabacitas & carnitas. The food was delicious.

Each taco had a distinct focus and accoutrements. Truly enjoyable.

Atmosphere

Restaurant had inside and outside seating. However, because of the layout, it seemed like 1 seamless area. There was something to look at everywhere from the ceilings, walls, tables… foliage, people, food or funky carpentry. There was a bustling lively energy in the air. The waitstaff were great.

Recommendation

You must get the flight of margaritas for sharing. Tacos and calamari are bang on. We’d definitely come to Tac/Quila again.

Foots ¹We had access to the larger pre-pandemic menu last year. But this miniaturized menu is a pretty good cross-section.

Gosh Trudes, awesome timing¹.

And the show did go on…

Audience was a bit sparser but the energy was just as awesome.

Knee-deep in Pandemic

Both Kells & I registered for classes before the pandemic precautions. We were waiting with bated breath… will the classes continue or not?

Yes the classes were still on but would be virtual.

Not sure what the final product is going to be like, or even what the format of our final show will be. But it’ll sure be interesting.

Let’s play footsie
¹We’re not making fun or light of the pandemic precautions or our provincial emergency status. The post’s title is merely to point out that our show happened day after the announcement. And it caused a bit of a fuss.
²I kept calling it Corvid because it flows better. (It totally does: covid vs corvid.) The husband corrected me. Covid-19 stands for COrona-VIrus Disease 2019. Technically, corvid isn’t incorrect… and can I point out that #corvid is used more that #covid?