The Great GORP Project

hashtag. . .what?

Well here i am. . .tail between my legs. . .full of broken blogging promises:( BUT. . .there has been a change in the tides. . . I have come to a new revelation!! AND I have some great new support staff in the GORP office. . . AND these ladies are pretty good at declaring their opinions about me getting back on the blog schedule! I always felt guilty about taking time to blog. . .like I was doing something non-essential (and heaven forbid fun!) while everyone else is toiling away. . ..I got a good talking to the other day and gave myself permission to do this. .. .it's good for my brain. . .and it will hopefully do some good for our awesome GORP community as well:) 

Anyways. .. here we are. . .this is year 3 of having GORP on the shelves of stores and this adventure keeps getting more intense and rewarding. .. (albeit stressful!). . .we've landed some pretty neat accounts this past year. . .(Hello northern Canada! Thanks Northwest Company!) and with that comes piles of paperwork full of acronyms and retail math terms that set my head spinning and honestly makes me want to find the nearest rock. . .(you know. . .to hurl through a window shouting. . ."I didn't sign up for this!!!". . .). . except that I did. . .and I'm here. .. and despite the shame associated with being a complete rookie in retail. . .I am lucky enough to have something that propels me forward. . .EVERY SINGLE TIME I GET DISCOURAGED AND WONDER IF WHAT I'M DOING IS WORTH IT. . . THIS HAPPENS. .

It's the phone call from some surfer guy in Tofino. . .(Dan?). . .who was losing his mind on the phone because he just bit into a bar and couldn't help but call the number on the back of the package and shout at our office manager Lisa. . .

"I took one bite and almost sh#t myself with delight. . .you guys rock!"

. . .or the phone message from Helen from Collingwood Ontario who just phoned to tell us she is 62 years young and who after getting to her car with her first GORP bar. . .took a bite and got right back out and bought 5 more. .. she continued to crinkle the wrapper into the end of the receiver and thank us for what we are doing. .. .:)

It's humbling and totally makes up for all the dumb questions I find myself asking the "big guys". . .ummmmm so do I calculate that OIC off the OYR from the wholesale price after I divide by pi or should I just run through that window right there?" (lol!) Seriously. . .I'm learning. . .but seriously. . .

So what I'm getting at is this. . .with all the stress and work/life balance becoming a sheer fantasy. . .I lost my way a bit. . .(#what? wine and chips can't be supper?). . .exer-what?. .I found myself so passionate about inspiring an adventure lifestyle in others that I forgot about letting myself take time to do it too. . ..hence the GORP CHALLENGE idea. . .I pitched it to my new office staffer Jen and she's in. . .for the next 30 days we are on it. . .taking all the best advice and recipes we've personally experienced and love and compiling them into an easy to follow program. .. with a daily challenge to get outside and move for just 30 minutes. . .every single day. There is lots of other fun involved. . .but Jen and I are being the guinea pigs for 30 days. . .we will share our ideas and results and then launch a fine tuned plan coupled with a challenge (perhaps some rad prizes!) to our awesome GORP community:)

Lots of fun to come. . .boy does it feel good to get thoughts down on virtual paper. .. #ilovemakingfunofhashtags! Lookout!

. . .adventure on!

Colleen

 

 

2013-08-17

Having an adventurous weekend at the Dirty Donkey Mud Run! A bit of racing, a bit of playing, and some pretty darn awesome employees who kicked some butt today working the GORP booth:)

What next?
Hmmmmm....

Mosey in the morning!

 

I LOVE BEING A MOM. .. a heart full of grateful and a big smile:)

2012-07-28

Nothing beats suppers in the field...:)
It's like we step into another world...

Happy weekending all!

Oh Canada:)

Thank you God for our wonderful country. . ..for every 1 thing we grumble about help us remember there are 1 hundred more things to be grateful for.

I can't keep this under my hat for one more second. This is the very first bit of Gorp advertising ever made:) It will appear in the Winnipeg Free Press on Saturday July 6th in the Manitoba Made BBQ Guide!

Look for it:) Thanks to ClarkHuot/Cocoon for doing an amazing job:) I can hardly wait to see this baby in print!

whoo hoo!

Today our rambling family of 6 will be wandering around the farmyard. . .trying to set up our moody pool for the third time, then going to a backyard Canada Day party:)

. . .I'm also ironing out some details for the Gorp challenge and contacting those of you who kindly offered up your services!

Happy Canada Day everyone!

Gorp out.

Gorp Grandma's

My mom has awesome friends:)

They went on another one of their hiking adventures last weekend and my mom had taken some gorp bars along for the girls to try. I don't know which one of them suggested it, but they figured they would do an impromptu Gorp Ad for me!! I gotta say. . this is the kind of advertising that's in my budget right now:)

Thanks for letting me share ladies. . .you rock!

I can't stop smiling when I look at this picture:) You guys encapsulate exactly what I am trying to promote with Gorp. . .getting outside. . .and having your own customized adventures. . and best of all, doing it with friends!

Thanks for the truly grass roots advertising;) Love it!

kittens, birthdays and bars

So, I hosted my wonderful, hilarious bookclub gals on the last wednesday of May. Of course that's the day Ninja, you might remember her from such posts as. . "I almost birthed my brains out in Colleen's truck while making nasty death noises". . .you can read about that here.

Anyways. . .she decided to give birth during bookclub. . .which made for an eventful night of women randomly wandering through the mudroom checking on the status of the "situation". It was a warm and fuzzy kind of night, I'd never been privy to kittens being birthed and found myself feeling very proud of our NInja and in awe of this amazing gift that is life:) 5 little cats are now huddled in a corner of our house, nursing and growing and mewing. 3 black with white boots, and 2 that are freakishly white, but somehow adorable. The father is from the north side of the yard, we call the wild mammoth cats that live in the north bush, "The Others". . .(ya know, like from Lost?). . .cause they only come out at night, are stupidly large, long haired and so completely wild that they actually gallop. .. I'm not kidding either. .. I'd literally run if confronted. For real. So these kittens are HUGE PAWED and slightly primal looking. .. .should be interesting. . .

Today I'm making 400 bars or BUST. (If Grandpa Snazzy doesn't co-operate I'll be blowing them out at half price again. . so keep an eye open. .. there might be some gorp bars for sale soon. . .and cheap!

Darn moody Snazzy.

At 4:00 sharp Georgia's birthday celebration begins. ..

 

Georgia Kaye Dyck. You are nine years old today. I love you more than you can know. You are obsessed with horses, wood carving, and drawing. Carving? Only you my sweet girl! Happy Birthday to my generous and wonderfully spirited daughter:) I'll always have your back. Always.

Love your momma.

Gorp out!

Time to go Amish. . .I'm not joking:)

 
Soooo, a long blogging hiatus once again? It's cause I'm so stinking busy, and it's ticking me off. . .so much so that when I was offered the chance to review this book called "Amish Values For Your Family" I JUMPED at the chance. Why? Cause I'm sick and tired of having the word BUSY come out of my mouth every time someone asks me how I'm doing. .. it's ridiculous, and there has to be a better way. .. strategies on how to live in the NOW. I'm convinced there's a way to be productive without being stressed out. . .so I figured I'd give the Amish my ear for a spell and see what happened!

When crusing around the internet, I found this article from CNN Entitled "Why Amish Businesses Don't Fail" it's a great read. Did you know the Amish have a 95% business success rate?? That's crazy right?! Food based businesses have a 95% failure rate. . .so I figured I better up my knowledge and do some studying under some folks who obviously have some stuff figured out. .. the Amish also have one tenth the rate of depression, lower cancer rates and lower heart disease than the rest of the population. . .hey, the numbers don't lie. . .I'm not too proud to bend an ear. . it's not like I'm going to go around town sporting a head covering and dress anytime soon (I'm way to fond of my frizzy curls and rubber boots) . but I will take some notes;)

I'm almost done the book, and will be sharing my favourite Amish bit of goodness on August 18th.  .until then, here's a bit about the author, and a guest post from her:)

 

Guest blog from Suzanne Woods Fisher for “Amish Values for Your Family” (Revell)

Five More Things I’ve Learned from the Amish that Have Nothing to Do with being Amish and Have Everything to Do with being a Christian:

Live humbly. This is the basis of the Amish life. They don’t waste, they reuse and recycle, they live simply and without luxury, they provide for each other’s needs. Daily life is embroidered with gratitude for all God has given them. Two prayers bookend every meal—a meal begins with thanks to God for the nourishing food, and ends with gratitude for what was received. 

Amish proverb: “The blessing of sharing outweighs the blessing of having.”

The Lesson: Choose simplicity over clutter. Economy over luxury. And give thanks!

A task takes as long as it takes. It seems like such a paradox—the Amish are busy, yet unhurried. They have a deliberateness in their actions—one job isn’t more important than the other. And they don’t have televisions or computers or radios or telephones—which gives them more time to cook, fish at the lake, enjoy a good book, and spend with their children and grandchildren. They have time to slow down a bit—to smell the roses along their path.

Amish proverb: “Every day that dawns brings something to do that can never be done as well again.”

The Lesson: Reduce the time where attention is focused on electronics (computer! Cell phone! Television!) and strive to be more emotionally present when with others.

Success and Size are not related. The Amish have rapidly adopted to the demands of the modern business world. Their self-owned businesses are remarkably successful, but not at the cost of everything else. They view money as a tool, not the goal.

Amish proverb: “Love, peace, and happiness in the home is of infinitely more value than honor, fame and wealth.”

The Lesson: Never let ambition destroy life’s better goals.

They teach us not to seek vengeance but to forgive. The Amish take the Lord’s Prayer seriously—if they are asking God to forgive them their sins, they must be willing to forgive others who have sinned against them. Being a forgiving person is an everyday intention.

Amish proverb: “It is far better to forgive and forget than to resent and remember.”

The Lesson: No doubt you’re familiar with the Nickel Mines tragedy. If the Amish can forgive the killer of their children, can’t we forgive a friend for not inviting us to a party? Or a driver who cuts us off? Make forgiveness your default button. A habit. An everyday intention.
 

God has a plan. To the Amish, everything passes through the hands of God. Everything. Joys and sorrows, both. God is sovereign over all—from weather to illness to births to who’s in the White House. They yield to God’s perfect will, trust Him for what they don’t understand, and thank Him for what they do.

Amish proverb: “God’s hand that holds the ocean’s depth can hold my small affairs. His hand, which guides the universe, can carry all my cares.”

The Lesson: Trusting God isn’t passive—it takes a lot of work! But what peace and joy are available to us when we put our faith in the Almighty God. Everything, ultimately, works out for good.

Suzanne Woods Fisher is a bestselling author of Amish fiction and non-fiction and the host of a weekly radio program called Amish Wisdom. Her most recent book, Amish Values for Your Family released in August. The Waiting is a finalist for a 2011 Christy Award. Amish Peace: Simple and Amish Proverbs were both finalists for the ECPA Book of the Year (2010, 2011). Her interest in the Amish began with her grandfather, W.D. Benedict, who was raised Plain. Suzanne has a great admiration for the Plain people and believes they provide wonderful examples to the world.  When Suzanne isn't writing or bragging to her friends about her first new grandbaby (!), she is raising puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind. To Suzanne's way of thinking, you just can't take life too seriously when a puppy is tearing through your house with someone's underwear in its mouth.

I just love the book so far. . .it's just what I needed coming into fall. . .time to set new priorities, establish some healthier schedules, and link in with God on a daily basis. . .I'm getting inspired to go slow, but go with intent, go with purpose and go groom some down home values into 4 lovely kids who desperately need me to take some quality time with them. . .

Whoop:)

Now go be mighty!

 

. . .loving our french friend:)

 
Well. We broke it to the kids. . .they have a new french brother Honore. .. pronounced Honour + Eh! = our new son. . .except that we would've had to have been 14 when he was conceived. .. so he's more like a brother. . but regardless. . .he's ours now. I'm totally threatening to rip up his passport. . .when I can find where he's hidden it??!! (kidding. . .kind of:)

. . .I had him worried the other night. . .it was late, and I was forcing him to let me practice my franc-ais on him chatting in the kitchen. . I offered him some tea (en franc-ais of course), explaining that I often like to have tea before I go to bed. . .he looked at me kinda weird/worried. . .and declined the tea. . however I continued pressuring him to have some tea with me. . .he finally broke into a kind smile. . .realizing that the silly Canadian lady was obviously making a mistake. . .

Apparently, I explained to him that I always have tea right before I give birth. .. although in translation I have a feeling it was a bit more graphic than that. . oops:)

I've been pleasantly surprised. . that despite the language barrier we can actually communicate some pretty profound concepts back and forth.  . .the other night we were talking about seeing God in nature, living life to it's fullest and staying young at heart. . .This morning Honore handed me this poem that he thought described our conversation. . .I had to share:)

 General Douglas MacArthur: “Youth is not a period of time”

"Youth is not a period of time. It is a state of mind, a result of the will, a quality of the imagination, a victory of courage over timidity, of the taste for adventure over the love of comfort. A man doesn’t grow old because he has lived a certain number of years. A man grows old when he deserts his ideal. the years may wrinkle his skin, but deserting his ideal wrinkles his soul. Preoccupations, fears, doubts, and despair are the enemies which slowly bow us towards earth and turn us to dust before death.

You will remain young as long as you are open to what is beautiful, good, and great; receptive to the messages of other men and women, of nature and God. If one day you should become bitter, pessemistic and gnawed by dispair, may God has mercy on your old man’s soul.”

. . and that's fantastical in my opinion. .. love it!

My bass pictures will have to wait. . .Honore has them on his camera and lately I'm falling asleep while reading the kids bedtime stories and keep missing him. . .I totally should have kept it to mount. . .but a man who shall remain nameless made me throw it back:( Boooooo!

. . onward Hooooooo! 

 

Je suis une pamplemousse. . .?

 

Yup. You read correctly. . .I am a grapefruit!

Ahhh. ..the memories of french class of yester year. . the fun we had. . .this was a joke that materialized sometime in those awkward early teen years between my sister and I. . .my recollection of the exact circumstance is somewhat fuzzy and is eluding me, but I suspect it was on a long road trip or something like that. We would often challenge ourselves to converse en francais. . .fun for a while, but then the fighting would begin. . .this insult surfaced when one of us was at the end of our available french vocabulary. . .out of desperation it was blurted out, probably because we didn't know any french curse words. . .grapefruit would have to do. . .what I do remember very clearly is that we ended up bursting into fits of laughter and it became one of those family jokes that we brought up again and again and again. . .(it just kept on getting funnier. .plus there were endless possibilities to insert other various fruits and vegetables into the mix.. .Tu es un pomme de terre etc. )

So naturally when our exchange student from France arrived the other day, it was only a matter of time before the terribly immature grapefruit joke would force it's way out of my mouth. .. it was sitting there in the back of my brain, I could sense it. . .it wanted out. . and bad. I did my best to repress it. . but unfortunately it made it's awkward appearance at the cabin last weekend. . I'll blame it on the sun. . and maybe the G&T I had earlier. . .I'm not sure how it actually went over. .or if Honore (our french guest) was too polite to correct me. . or if his smiling meant he thought I was the wittiest host EVER. . .but I wished I could have taken it back as soon as it came roaring out. . .

This is the thing. .. I've turned into a bumbling idiot? Honore is an awesome guy. . hardworking, great with the kids and he's totally eager to learn English. . .but what he probably didn't anticipate is his hosts equally enthusiastic eagerness to learn french. . .I imagine we are getting pretty annoying while we practice our rusty grade 9 francais out on him. . The worst part is how I transform into a super nerd in the presence of someone who speaks a different language than myself. . .I immediately start speaking poor english, then I start using excessive body language with wide eyed/wild eyed abandon in the hopes that my bulging brown eyes can somehow make my words more understandable???

Grant (because he loves me) gently pulled me aside today and explained that I am talking to our guest like he's 4, plus the sound effects I include in my communication with him might not be necessary! (ie. urrp. .zip.  .zing. . click click. . zoink! That's Colleen-speak for how to load the dishwasher. . ) Also, my tendency to unconsciously yell at Honore in the hopes that increased volume will help with the language barrier might not be all that helpful either. . .why am I acting like such a dolt?? I have to find someone fluent in french to come over so I can explain to him that I'm not a total dork. . I'm just acting like one. . .yeah, that makes sense. . .? Or should I say. .zink zink. .burrrr. .ding dong blich?

Other than my weirdness, having Honore in the house and working on the farm has been awesome. .  .we love him like family already:)

On a side note. . .if you are wondering how Jillian Michaels Yoga Meltdown workout video is. . .IT'S AMAZING. . I give it two thumbs up. . .I am totally sore today in all the right places:) I blew off my 5 am wake up call AGAIN. . .but am biking to pick the kids up from daycare today. . .so there we go:)

I love the idea in the comments yesterday from Kyla to put a sticky note on the alarm clock that reads "CHOOSE". I'm totally doing that! This is reminding me about this rant from a while back, to choose puts you in a postion of control and power. . .to feel like you "have" to do something is almost like a victim mentality. . .don't be a victim of your expectations. . instead rephrase your whole self talk and choose!!

Onwards and upwards. . .

Oh. . .and if you are interested there is a neat on-line community of women at www.toneitup.com. . .they have fantastic workout videos on youtube and diet tips, recipes. . you name it. . .check it out, I promise you will spend 5 minutes on the site and be inspired:)