Healthy, wealthy, and wise

Happy New Year all! I hope you had an excellent Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Festivus and that 2012 brings great things.

I try not to do resolutions per se (not a fan of the word), BUT I do have a few goals for the new year. Well, it's really just one time worn phrase but I think it fits well with the way I envision 2012 - to be healthy, wealthy, and wise.

Healthy

Emotionally, mentally, and physically. This means better foods (unprocessed as much as possible) and continuing with the two activities I really enjoy - swimming and Ukrainian dancing. I'm planning on growing a vegetable garden for the first time ever and can't wait to see what it will yield. I need to take care of me so that I can take care of my family.

This means being content with my lot in life (more on that in the "Wise" portion) and showering the important people in my life with happiness and love.

Wealthy

A. and I do have savings and retirement plans in place but we could be doing better. One of our priorities is to travel and we plan to save more to make that happen. We also need to stick to a budget and spend waaay less on food. Going to the grocery store every day for meal specific ingredients is not a way to save money. With any luck, our vegetable garden will be a big help on this front in the summer. 

Wise

While I may not be going back to school any time soon, I intend to read about and research topics that interest me. I took an International Relations course when I lived in Vancouver and really liked it. Have I done any reading on the subject since then? Not really.

I need to realize my limitations and focus on what I excel at. There are so many incredible and inspiring people doing amazing things that it's difficult not to compare my achievements with theirs. The thing is, those are THEIR achievements and I'm sure there are things I've accomplished that many people haven't (eg. working in Afghanistan!). Am I a good cook? I like to think so. DIY? Maybe not so much. I will continue to try new things (lord knows I have enough projects on Pinterest) but I'm going to try really hard not to beat myself up if I don't get something perfect.

A. and I both have cases of "the grass is greener" and I plan on concentrating on and being happy with what we have RIGHT NOW. We miss Vancouver, want to live in Ontario, our house is too big, our yard is a mud pit. Maybe I can be happy with living in Calgary (close the the majority of both of our families) and the fact that we have a beautiful new home. It may not be magazine worthy but it is ours and it works for our family.

There was a great post on Apartment Therapy about Pinterest fatigue and loving the space you are in and I completely agree. It helps that we are finally starting to personalize the space (after a year!) by hanging art and it was great to get back to our own home after our Christmas holiday. It was a nice feeling, walking in the door and realizing how much I love our home. Absence does make the heart grow fonder.

Do you have any goals for 2012?

2011 Elf Yourself

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

2011 Gift Tag Round-Up

Okay folks, only one week left until the jolly old elf slides down your chimney bearing toys and Christmas joy. That means you only have 8 days to get everything wrapped and under the tree. My favourite part of wrapping gifts is the tag and with so many awesome (and free!) options being offered, there is no need to spend your money on the sticky labels from a big box store.

Here are some of my favourites that I came across in my searches. Any of these can be printed on card stock or full sheet labels and cut out.

Chevron Tags from Marry This

Bookmark gift tag by A House Full of Moxie
{download at Simply Modern Mom}

Blush Printables can always be counted on to have beautiful gift tags.

These traditionally coloured tags are this year's offering.

These round tags using the Skunkling font are also from Blush Printables.

These modern gold and purple tags are another Blush Printables design.

{download at The Sweetest Occasion} 

Modern red and green tags from domestifluff.

Feminine gift tags by Hello!Lucky.
{download at How About Orange}

These tags from Jones Design Company are available
in five different colourways.

Finally, if you are making any gifts or doing any canning, Frugal Living has various canning labels available for download. I particularly like these traditional ones.

Are there any labels you've come across that I missed?

Merry Christmas and happy wrapping!

Making an Advent calendar

Growing up we never had Advent calendars. I don't think it was for any particular reason, they just weren't a part of our Christmas tradition. When A. and I started living together we bought the cheap $3 calendars from Wal-Mart with the waxy chocolates that we stopped eating after day six. As M. gets older and understands more about Christmas I wanted to make something that would be meaningful and that would allow us to track which activities we did over the years. I pinned several different inspiration photos to Pinterest but the one that ultimately stole my heart was this library cards & pockets Advent calendar from Not on the High Street.

Source: notonthehighstreet.com via Courtney on Pinterest

I used this picture as an inspiration for my own project. I used materials that were readily accessible and purchased what I needed (sturdy scrapbooking paper, vinyl stick-on numbers, and mini clothespins) from Michael's. My book pockets have an adhesive back so I cut the scrapbook paper to size and attached the pockets to the paper.

True to my library nerd nature I looked up the Library of Congress call number for Advent calendars (GT 4988.5 if you care) and created a Cutter number (signifies the author) for our last name. My brilliant co-worker (a crafting whiz in her own right) suggested the phrase "On the {number} day of Advent" as the title proper (fancy cataloging term) for each card.

I mapped out our activities on a calendar beforehand (some items had to be placed on weekends) and then wrote them out on the borrower line of the book card. This way we are easily able to see what we did year after year since each year will have its own line on the card.

I strung everything up on a heavy twine and each day we pick out the card as a family. I'm really loving it so far and hope it can turn into an annual tradition!

When I was trying to come up with 24 different activities I searched around and found some great lists like this one from Jordan Ferney and this one from Kim McCrary. I took a few ideas from them and came up some more that suited our family and arrived at the following list. Borrow at will!

• Hang the wreath
• Pick out a book for the Birth & Babies exchange
• Make a tree topper
• Decorate the tree
• Hang stockings
• Make a popcorn garland
• Pick an item from the World Vision catalog
• Listen to Christmas music
• Pancakes for dinner
• Go tobogganing
• Make cookies
• Make a Christmas craft
• Hot chocolate in front of the fire
• Drive around the neighbourhood to look at lights
• Make snow angels
• Hang yearly ornament (Tradition #1: M. gets a new ornament every year. She will then have a starter collection for when she has her own home.)
• Go skating
• Visit Santa
• Pick a Christmas treat
• Watch Mickey's Christmas Carol
• Snowball fight
• Unwrap a new book to read tonight
• Christmas PJs (Tradition #2: New pajamas every year at Christmas)
• Read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" (Tradition #3: We read from the same copy A. had as a child)

Do you have an Advent calendar every year? Have you ever made one?

2012 calendar round-up

It's that time of year again! Your December is full of Christmas parties, cookie exchanges, and family dinners and friends are already sending you invitations for January. Time to find somewhere to collect all of these dates. Enter the 2012 calendar.

Last year I featured a calendar a day but I decided to do things a little different this year. I explored pages and pages of results on Etsy and pinned my favourites to my "calendars" board on Pinterest.

Calendars pin board

The focus this year is on poster calendars; that is, the year at a glance all on one page. There are some really great options out there and these are just a few that caught my eye. To see all 39 calendars, click through to Pinterest.

Source: etsy.com via Courtney on Pinterest

 {Such a unique idea - I love it!}

Source: etsy.com via Courtney on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Courtney on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Courtney on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Courtney on Pinterest

Source: riflepaperco.com via Courtney on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Courtney on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Courtney on Pinterest

I hope you find something that you will love for the whole year!

Are there any that I'm missing? Have you found a calendar that knocks your socks off?

Things I Learned in the US

We just got back from a week in Palm Springs opening up my grandparents’ trailer (which came with its own set of issues) and these are some things I learned in the Unites States.

• Montana doesn’t have sales tax. Woohoo to guilt-free shopping at Target! Check out the Missoni for Target items I picked up on CLEARANCE!! The Target in Great Falls doesn’t carry Dwell Studio though so my mission wasn’t a complete success.

• The ketchup tastes different. Can’t pinpoint it - more sugar or vinegar? - but it was a definite difference.
• Traveling with a two-year-old is not my cup of tea. This past week has been an exercise in patience for everyone (and patience is not something toddler’s excel at). It was nice to get away but man, I am exhausted! M. is a generally charming child and I had people tell me she did quite well (travel is hard on adults too!) but that aside she missed naps, was off her schedule, didn’t have her toys and was cranky. I think future trips - until she stops taking afternoon naps and learns better listening skills - will be road trips. There are lots of places within driving distance that we love to visit (Vancouver! Winnipeg!) so we are good with that. Also, we need a vacation sans kid. It would be nice to not have someone demanding my iPod every 5 minutes and wanting to watch Dora the Explorer. It would be nice to be able to go out in the evening to a show or a nice restaurant where we don’t have to worry about our child throwing a temper tantrum. It would be nice to sit peacefully on an airplane without being hit or scratched by a whiny toddler and embarrassed because we have one of *those* kids. Don’t get me wrong, I love my daughter to pieces and want to show her the world but I think those explorations can wait until she’s a little older.
• When you ask an American how far something is you’ll get an answer in miles not minutes.
• Looking for guaranteed free wifi? Find your nearest Starbucks. The same can be said for Canada but Starbucks was a life-saver this week when I was waiting for an email and the RV park didn’t have internet. One of us would drive in to Desert Hot Springs every morning to pick up coffee (for A. ) and tea (for me) and update our emails.
• It gets dark in the desert FAST! Daylight savings really messed with us this trip because it was dark (pitch black) by 5pm. The desert is also very quite and peaceful. We took a couple walks outside the gates of the RV park and A. is now convinced that he would like to retire in Palm Springs. He was also fascinated by the wind farms.

• Date shakes are delicious! We went out to Shields Date Garden and I was able to cross an item off of my life list.

• Being able to buy wine in a grocery store rocks. I always knew grocery stores sold liquor but when you like some wine with dinner it’s really nice not to have to go to a separate store.
• I would definitely stay at the Ayres Hotel Manhattan Beach again. It’s right off the freeway but not at all noisy, is in a good location to access the sites, the rooms are big and nicely decorated (traditional European? French?), and the service was impeccable.

• The Cheesecake Factory is way fancier than The Cheesecake Cafe here in Calgary, had valet parking, and hosted a wedding reception! These things may only apply to the Redondo Beach location but that's the only one I've been to. 

All in all, it was nice to get away but this is definitely a case of needing a vacation from our vacation. :)

Have you had a vacation end up being not quite what you expected?