We are three months into the Alabama experience and there are a few things that I have learned since I have been living in Huntsville. Beer is a serious thing down here I always thought that Buffalo was a big drinking town, and it certainly is as the last call is still at 4 am, but if you are looking… Read more →
Category: positivity
Blogging Community
Hello dear readers – I have recently joined Bloglovin and wanted to give you the opportunity to follow me over there. My content will not change, but being affiliated with a larger community of bloggers is always good for the circulation stats. As you may know, Hippiegrrl Explains It All got its start on Backwash.com and the community we cultivated… Read more →
2018 Reading Habits
It’s a new year and this year I am determined to read more books than I did in 2017. My totals from last year were actually pretty good compared to previous years, but they still felt bleak. I had hoped to read 24 books and only ended up reading 11. This year I am setting my reading challenge total at… Read more →
A New Way Forward
Since 1997, I have been working in the customer service industry. Twenty years of working in banking, retail, tech support, middle management, and project management have taught me a few things about the dynamics of workers and leaders in the workplace. There have been a few bright spots in my career, but overall I have witnessed a great deal of… Read more →
Sociology, Libraries, and Life
In 2009, I made the decision to return to school and obtain a second Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology. This time I would apply myself. I would study and try my best not to procrastinate. I would work as a volunteer and devote myself to causes within the major. I would work on a research project and continue on… Read more →
Priorities
It is a new year and, as so many others do during the month of January, I am assessing my life and habits and looking toward making changes. These changes will not come in the form of resolutions. We all know what happens when we make those. No, instead, I will be making long term changes over the course of… Read more →
Trying New Things aka Letting Go of the Past to Create a Better Future
Throughout my life I have been skeptical of pretty much everything. I have been highly attracted to the mystical and spiritual side of life, but I have never fully bought into any of it. Each time I go to the bookstore, I end up in one of three sections; Sociology, Cultural Studies, or New Age/Spirituality. Self improvement has been something… Read more →
Vote!
What Is Success?
Throughout my life I have had many different understandings of what success should look like. I have been able to see success through the lens of how other people achieve things, but never really see that in myself. When I was a teenager, I thought success was connected to fame. I wanted to sing and dance on Broadway and I… Read more →
Looking Inward
This is the year of 40. Although it does not happen until nearly the end, it is colouring all my decisions. It sounds like a sad occasion, but it is not. 40 has given me a clarity I did not realize I could have. My experiences leading up to this milestone birthday are helping me make key decisions for life… Read more →
Happiness
This week, at the office, we had a gentleman from the Wellness Institute of Greater Buffalo come in to do a seminar on happiness in the workplace and the home. It was slightly dry, at times, but still motivational. The thing that struck me the most was that the answer to almost any question about happiness is positivity. If you… Read more →
Being Bohemian
While walking through our favourite neighbourhood in Toronto, the writer and I strike up a conversation about bohemianism. I contend that he could “never be truly bohemian. Never just get up one morning, pack two bags, and leave.” By which he responds – “I could if there was a list and a plan” (presumably written before bed the night before… Read more →
Things I Learned at the Caffe
The scent of coffee lures you in, while the camaraderie you experience from the patrons makes you want to return and, perhaps, become a regular. In all public spaces, there are annoyances to be had, but in the caffe these annoyances become quirks. In this environment, all people are equal, and we co-exist in a space where improvement is inevitable.… Read more →
You Can’t Get Off, So Pitch In!
A few months back, the CEO of the Nestle corporation announced that it is his belief that “access to water is not a human right”. On the surface this is sad and awful, but if you think about it, obvious for him to believe. After all, how can you run a company that makes a bulk of its profits from… Read more →
Find Your Calling
For 24 years, I have worked in customer service, in one capacity or another. With that many years under my belt, I can say that I have become pretty damn good at it. I am excellent at smiling through the bullshit of unreasonable requests. I am a master of making the people on the other side of the counter or… Read more →
Quick post: Oregon
Within this world of coffee and eggs, the people sitting next to me are, in years, younger, but in attitude quite a bit older than me. They had their sandwiches, no coffee, and discussed where their next stop would be. First the Verizon store, then groceries, then the beer merchant. Oy. Yuppies in training. It isn’t the places, but the… Read more →
Finally
Five years. That is how long it has been since GBSB officially closed its doors. Even though First Niagara took over the GBSB customers, the culture and time of GBSB was over. Since February 2008, many things have changed in my life. Looking back now, I can see that I have been stuck in a haze that I have been… Read more →
De-cluttering
In an attempt to simplify my life, I have decided to better organize my surroundings. This begins at home, with my apartment. The writer and I have quite a bit of stuff from 11 years of living in the same place. When we moved back to Buffalo, from Rochester, we had few items that we brought along, but over the… Read more →
Positivity
It is the last day of 2012. The year has had great ups and downs for the writer and me, but we have persevered. Now that we are at the end, it is good to look back, reflect on the previous experiences, and move on. The moving on part is the thing that I most look forward to. Taking stock… Read more →
Welcome
Hello and welcome to the new space for Hippiegrrl Explains It All! This space will hold the archives of my backwash.com column as well as new writing. Please return often to see what is new! Hope to see you back here soon. Peace, Chantale aka hippiegrrl Read more →
New Year New You
I never attempt to make resolutions. I feel they are a waste of time. Something to dwell on that usually disappoints in the end. Instead, I prefer to make goals. I suppose goals are resolutions cloaked in the costume of positivity, but they always seem more attainable. Resolutions have the pressure of one year, while goals have a forward motion.… Read more →
Keep Your Mouth Shut and Work On
A series of revelations have come to me over the past few weeks. I used to think that looking at a job as being “beneath me” was something that I should never do. That I could never be too good for anything. While this is most certainly true for most things in life, it is not necessarily true about work.… Read more →
Positivity aka Ways to Piss People Off
There have been days, over the past few months, that I want to crawl up into a ball and forget that I have a job. I do not want to get out of bed in the morning. I do not want to take a shower, get in my car and drive to that place, punch in and start my day.… Read more →