Originally intended to simply focus on book reviews, over time, KaliDesautelsReads has morphed into its own entity.
I write about issues that are near to my heart, be they political, feminist, motherhood, mental health, or, as the title holds, books.
A thirty-something Canadian woman in my mid-thirties, I have been “super married” to my high school sweetheart since 2006, and together we have two crazy, clever, kind, hilarious, wonderful kids.
My first book – How Not To Blog: Finding Myself, One Post at a Time is available on Amazon (in eBook formats for you clever tech readers, and paperback for those of us who love that new book smell!)
I have tried a podcast – it’s still on Apple and Google Podcasts – but writing is where my heart is.
My life changed dramatically when my husband was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer in 2018, and I am now a writer for a leading Canadian Cancer Non-Profit.
I am lucky enough to have a family that loves me and pushes me to be my best, even if it is outside of my cushiony comfort zone. I have a village of friends that nourish me, mentally, and spiritually.
Welcome to my thoughts. Sit down. Stay a while. Enjoy a cup of coffee!
Today is a busy day!! This girl has 2 performances of James and The Giant Peach and KaliDesautelsReads has reached TEN THOUSAND FOLLOWS!!!!! It has lots of work and so much support, but we are super excited!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
Last night was opening night for my daughter’s play, and as I watched her sing and dance and walk around the stage in a myriad of costumes, I kept thinking that’s it was incredible that that young lady was my baby girl. She is tall, and grown up, and animated, and dramatic, and beautiful. Since she was born, I have been told to “enjoy these years because they go by so fast” and I genuinely believed that I was doing my best to enjoy the years between all the daily messes of young motherhood, but as I watched her up there, it made me wish I could go back and start again, knowing that it’s ok for kids to throw temper tantrums, it’s ok for kids to wake you up in the middle of the night. It’s ok for kids to whine and demand that you stop doing whatever you are doing and play with them. I want to go back with all the knowledge and parental wisdom that I “knew” then, but didn’t actually comprehend, and to start over and really, really, REALLY enjoy those years. My baby girl is closer to graduating high school than she is to being a baby. My baby girl is not a baby anymore, and as much as I know I was there, I still feel like I missed it. So, new mamas, when you think we are crazy for telling you to enjoy the years of exhaustion, and diapers, and tantrums, and spilled spaghetti, and biting, and worrying that your “parenting style” is not the right one, or wishing that you had invested in the fancier stroller (stroller envy is real, my friends!!), just bear with us. It’s not condescension, it’s a genuine wistfulness. One day you will watch your 11.5 year old child do something that they enjoy and you will see them tower in height, or bravery, or maturity, and you will realize that we were right. The years went by so fast, and now your baby doesn’t need you to pick them up, your baby is a young woman/man/nonspecific and you will feel just like I do this morning.
Don’t even get me started on my Rachel Hollis crush, you guys. Read. Love. Seriously.
Repost • @msrachelhollis ●● Practice Gratitude Daily ●●
I’m going to ask you to write down ten things you are grateful for. Put it in your phone, write it down in a journal, however you want to do it, but take twelve minutes and list these things out. Don’t list big things, like that you’re grateful for your partner or that you’re grateful for the ability to breathe. Write down things that happened today. Things like how good your cup of coffee was. Or how someone let you in on the freeway when there was heavy traffic. Or that you got to see a friend, or that your five- year-old told you a terrible joke and you laughed even though it wasn’t funny. The idea is, if you know that at the end of the day you’re going to have to list out points of gratitude, you will spend your day looking for blessings. If you spend your day looking for blessings here’s the magic— you’ll find them. OK friends, let’s do a gratitude waterfall! Let’s fill the comment feed with blessings! Comment below with something you are so grateful for today! 👇🏻#MadeForMore
.
🖋: @memoriesbymeyers
.
Check out books by Rachel Hollis in my Amazon Storefront!
What’s for lunch?? Switching to a plant-based diet has been so much easier this time than it was when I tried to do this a few years ago. The options for food that is tasty and sustainable have more than trebled, and the food for those who were not raised vegan has been made more readily available.
.
One of my favourite discoveries is the Beyond Meat Burger, which I can now make at home, thanks to Meridian meats! My husband just BBQs it like any other meal, and we served it with onions, cabbage and sweet potatoes. So easy and delicious.
In the last 24 hours, I have, unintentionally, attended 3 lessons at @oxygenmapleridge. My muscles are a *little* sore… I will now intentionally take 2 days off to avoid killing my poor body… 🤦🏻♀️
When you assume, you make an… exhausted woman out of me…. 🤣
Check out my Amazon storefront for sustainable, low waste workout gear!!
YAY!!!!! I have been granted a Wanderlust scholarship!! Sometimes the universe provides exactly what you need, at the moment you need it! I am overwhelmed with gratitude!!!
.
.
.
Looking for more engagement on your Instagram page?? Join our FREE Telegram app-based Engagement pod!!
Trying to decide if the coffee in my face or on my face is more soothing… the stress rash on my chin has had me ramping up the treatments to my face. Here’s hoping that between the calendula, Coffee o’clock, angels on bare skin, Pacifica Coconut milk, and bacitracin, with a few desperate applications of polysporin, the red chin bumps will soon be a thing of the past.
.
.
.
Are you looking improve your engagement on your Instagram page?? For FREE?!? (No catch. Seriously. ZERO DOLLARS!!) check out our free, Telegram app-based engagement pod!!!
Mother’s Day Brunch with some of my favourite beauties! Mimosas! (Fact – virgin mimosas are the same as virgin screwdrivers; and everything tastes better in a champagne flute!!
Happy Mother’s Day to the moms, stepmoms, grandmothers, great grandmothers, foster moms, surrogate moms, aunties who love like no other, and anyone who loves on kids when they are needed.
Hey, mamas! Are you looking for more engagement on your Instagram page? Check out the FREE Telegram app-based Engagement Pod!!!!
Kali J Desautels 