The Voodoo Beginnings...
"To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance". Oscar Wilde
As I am sitting here at Joey's Restaurants, with my chamomile tea steaming and my mind on ordering a Sashimi Tuna Salad, I wonder: "Why didn't I start loving myself earlier..." and, more importantly "Why was I afraid of sharing my talents, love and passion?" Is it because most people around cannot accept me for who I am: energetic, bubbly and full of life? Maybe...
*I thought I would share this with you before I start the fun stuff. Ask yourself: Why aren't I starting now? What's holding me back? Acknowledge the WHY, and start working on it!*
ANYWAYS...
Hello world! Dina here! :)
I am so excited for my first Dina Around the World video. Just last night I staid up until 3 AM to finish editing the video, and I have to tell you that now I know how it feels like to work until early AM and not be tired or bored or stressed out your mind. I love every second of last night, every minute I kept pressing play, and replaying the same scene, cutting and pasting, adding music and transitioning between scenes. Yeah, I know, I will most likely end up becoming a narcissist from editing my videos, to which I say:" GREAT SUCCESS! I don't care if I become a narcissist! I will be the happiest, most fulfilled and balanced narcissist in the world. I will be the kind of narcissist who looks in the mirror and wants to kiss it - before she disinfects it with sanitary alcohol, who loves herself in her velvety skin and who sees her imperfections as the most authentic piece of a contemporary sculptor. The type of narcissist who doesn't take selfies in the bathroom mirror, but catches her gaze while looking at the metal teapot. I will be the narcissist who sinks her teeth in the almond croissant and sips from her freshly made cappuccino without feeling guilty about NOT counting calories.
As a matter of fact, this little narcissist did just that this week. She travelled 30 km, parked her car, took her camera out, and started filming herself while eating brunch and sipping on freshly grind espresso beverages at the Voodoo Child Cafe, located at 388 College St, Toronto. Allow me to share some insight on how I came across this place.
My love for coffee started with meeting great baristas and NEVER. LETTING. GO. I think that no matter what you do, if you do it with passion and love, people will notice. Therefore, I found that passionate baristas make out-of-this-world espresso beverages that you can actually fall in love with. You see, when go into your favourite cafe and grab a coffee to go, there are a few things that can go wrong: 1) the coffee is not fresh, 2) the quality of the beans = garbage (to quote my favourite iisuperwomanii), 3) you are in too much of a rush to actually taste your coffee. I don't know about you, but when I took my first sip of that cappuccino - within the first 5 seconds after it's poured into the cup- my knees melted. It felt better than love at first sight! The texture of it, the way your taste buds react to the creamy, slightly foamy consistency, the way it makes you close your eyes and exhale - it's LOVE! I fell in love with espresso.
About 2 years after I discovered that coffee shop, tragedy occurred: my favourite barista decided to move to another espresso bar... 30 km away. Then I started singing :" If you should leave this country, You know I'd come to you" (Serena Ryder - What I wouldn't do) HAHA! I'm joking... I think.
Anyways, I ended up making excuses to travel 30 km and see where is this new place he calls 'home' now. And that's when the Voodoo beginnings begun unfolding. I planned to head over to the Kensington Market every weekend, or as often as I could, and allow myself the small pleasures of life; in this case, an artful cup of espresso with steam milk. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the less crazy and 10 being UFO crazy, how crazy can one person be in order to drive 30 km back and forth for a cup of coffee? I won't answer that... but I will tell you this: if the object of desire is worth it, no distance is too far.
It then became my secret place that I would share with those friends who really deserve it, you know? Be it after a hotel sleep over post girls' night out, a visit to the University of Toronto, or an excuse to head downtown, I started dragging all my friends there for coffee. I literally made all possible excuses to bring all my worthy friends there and have them meet my secret barista. I've never been selfish that way; if I knew of something, be it information or a cafe, I would share it with everyone. I think knowledge is power. And espresso is LOVE! (or addiction, or both, I can't decide right now)
This leads me to the up and coming Dina Around the World staple, the Philo Thought, which is short for the philosophical thought: "Sharing is caring"
I know that this phrase is so clicheic, people don't really take it seriously, but I am about to break it down for ya! Just like diabetes, there is type I and type II of sharing - okay, maybe this was not the best example, but you gotta admit it's kind of sick funny. There is material sharing and spiritual sharing. The material sharing, is easy to spot because everyone does it: sharing popcorn, sharing your favourite restaurant on your blog, sharing your time with a friend in need, or sharing your European car's engine to jumpstart an american muscle. The latter one brings to life the imagine of a Fiat 500 jumpstarting a Buick Enclave. Let's bring even more colour to this mental picture, let's make the Fiat yellow and the Buick mat black. HAHA! There you have it, I just shared a mental picture with you! I used my spirituality to create a more or less material picture in your mind.
Spiritual sharing on the other side is another dish in itself. I define spiritual sharing as the fearless act of showing the world who you really are, in other words choosing who you want to be and standing your ground. Spiritual sharing is allowing yourself to let go of all defences. It's about being in tune to how you feel each second. Accepting fear for what it is, just an emotion. Getting excited about your ideas, dreams and aspirations, and share them with the world. It's opening your heart and mind to the idea that people are these unique paintings where no two canvases are the same. Spiritual sharing is accepting your passion for life, which will ultimately allow us to see each other in a kinder light, where there is no right path or wrong path, just YOUR PATH.
Ultimately, the purpose of this blog and the YouTube channel is to share... thoughts, ideas, places, philosophies, moments, emotions, and encourage you to do the same for yourself first, because you deserve it, and for others as well.
So share this blog,share this video and most importantly, share yourself with the world.
P.S. Direct link to my YouTube channel : https://www.youtube.com/ZumbaWithDina/
"To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance". Oscar Wilde
As I am sitting here at Joey's Restaurants, with my chamomile tea steaming and my mind on ordering a Sashimi Tuna Salad, I wonder: "Why didn't I start loving myself earlier..." and, more importantly "Why was I afraid of sharing my talents, love and passion?" Is it because most people around cannot accept me for who I am: energetic, bubbly and full of life? Maybe...
*I thought I would share this with you before I start the fun stuff. Ask yourself: Why aren't I starting now? What's holding me back? Acknowledge the WHY, and start working on it!*
ANYWAYS...
Hello world! Dina here! :)
I am so excited for my first Dina Around the World video. Just last night I staid up until 3 AM to finish editing the video, and I have to tell you that now I know how it feels like to work until early AM and not be tired or bored or stressed out your mind. I love every second of last night, every minute I kept pressing play, and replaying the same scene, cutting and pasting, adding music and transitioning between scenes. Yeah, I know, I will most likely end up becoming a narcissist from editing my videos, to which I say:" GREAT SUCCESS! I don't care if I become a narcissist! I will be the happiest, most fulfilled and balanced narcissist in the world. I will be the kind of narcissist who looks in the mirror and wants to kiss it - before she disinfects it with sanitary alcohol, who loves herself in her velvety skin and who sees her imperfections as the most authentic piece of a contemporary sculptor. The type of narcissist who doesn't take selfies in the bathroom mirror, but catches her gaze while looking at the metal teapot. I will be the narcissist who sinks her teeth in the almond croissant and sips from her freshly made cappuccino without feeling guilty about NOT counting calories.
As a matter of fact, this little narcissist did just that this week. She travelled 30 km, parked her car, took her camera out, and started filming herself while eating brunch and sipping on freshly grind espresso beverages at the Voodoo Child Cafe, located at 388 College St, Toronto. Allow me to share some insight on how I came across this place.
My love for coffee started with meeting great baristas and NEVER. LETTING. GO. I think that no matter what you do, if you do it with passion and love, people will notice. Therefore, I found that passionate baristas make out-of-this-world espresso beverages that you can actually fall in love with. You see, when go into your favourite cafe and grab a coffee to go, there are a few things that can go wrong: 1) the coffee is not fresh, 2) the quality of the beans = garbage (to quote my favourite iisuperwomanii), 3) you are in too much of a rush to actually taste your coffee. I don't know about you, but when I took my first sip of that cappuccino - within the first 5 seconds after it's poured into the cup- my knees melted. It felt better than love at first sight! The texture of it, the way your taste buds react to the creamy, slightly foamy consistency, the way it makes you close your eyes and exhale - it's LOVE! I fell in love with espresso.
About 2 years after I discovered that coffee shop, tragedy occurred: my favourite barista decided to move to another espresso bar... 30 km away. Then I started singing :" If you should leave this country, You know I'd come to you" (Serena Ryder - What I wouldn't do) HAHA! I'm joking... I think.
Anyways, I ended up making excuses to travel 30 km and see where is this new place he calls 'home' now. And that's when the Voodoo beginnings begun unfolding. I planned to head over to the Kensington Market every weekend, or as often as I could, and allow myself the small pleasures of life; in this case, an artful cup of espresso with steam milk. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the less crazy and 10 being UFO crazy, how crazy can one person be in order to drive 30 km back and forth for a cup of coffee? I won't answer that... but I will tell you this: if the object of desire is worth it, no distance is too far.
It then became my secret place that I would share with those friends who really deserve it, you know? Be it after a hotel sleep over post girls' night out, a visit to the University of Toronto, or an excuse to head downtown, I started dragging all my friends there for coffee. I literally made all possible excuses to bring all my worthy friends there and have them meet my secret barista. I've never been selfish that way; if I knew of something, be it information or a cafe, I would share it with everyone. I think knowledge is power. And espresso is LOVE! (or addiction, or both, I can't decide right now)
This leads me to the up and coming Dina Around the World staple, the Philo Thought, which is short for the philosophical thought: "Sharing is caring"
I know that this phrase is so clicheic, people don't really take it seriously, but I am about to break it down for ya! Just like diabetes, there is type I and type II of sharing - okay, maybe this was not the best example, but you gotta admit it's kind of sick funny. There is material sharing and spiritual sharing. The material sharing, is easy to spot because everyone does it: sharing popcorn, sharing your favourite restaurant on your blog, sharing your time with a friend in need, or sharing your European car's engine to jumpstart an american muscle. The latter one brings to life the imagine of a Fiat 500 jumpstarting a Buick Enclave. Let's bring even more colour to this mental picture, let's make the Fiat yellow and the Buick mat black. HAHA! There you have it, I just shared a mental picture with you! I used my spirituality to create a more or less material picture in your mind.
Spiritual sharing on the other side is another dish in itself. I define spiritual sharing as the fearless act of showing the world who you really are, in other words choosing who you want to be and standing your ground. Spiritual sharing is allowing yourself to let go of all defences. It's about being in tune to how you feel each second. Accepting fear for what it is, just an emotion. Getting excited about your ideas, dreams and aspirations, and share them with the world. It's opening your heart and mind to the idea that people are these unique paintings where no two canvases are the same. Spiritual sharing is accepting your passion for life, which will ultimately allow us to see each other in a kinder light, where there is no right path or wrong path, just YOUR PATH.
Ultimately, the purpose of this blog and the YouTube channel is to share... thoughts, ideas, places, philosophies, moments, emotions, and encourage you to do the same for yourself first, because you deserve it, and for others as well.
So share this blog,share this video and most importantly, share yourself with the world.
P.S. Direct link to my YouTube channel : https://www.youtube.com/ZumbaWithDina/
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That....cake....looks....de.....wait for it...licious!!!!
ReplyDeleteBring me some !!
Awesome editing skills :))
I will bring you to thy 'cake' a.k.a. french toast! Thanks copa'! XO
Delete