Back to School

With March nearing the end, I've been reflecting on the small, but still amazing changes I've experienced this past month. If I had to grade myself, I would get an A-. The nagging task list seems to only be getting bigger, and although I haven't been able to cross many big projects off the list, I've taken some big steps to get the ball rolling. But other than that, I've been a superstar! I'm consistently running 3 days per week, drinking the recommended daily water intake, and taking my vitamins. There have only been a few nights where I didn't quite make the 9 hours of sleep (and that may have had something to do with drinking wine the night before). My basement is amazingly empty... or at least seems that way after I hauled off the majority of it to the dump and even sold some things on Craigslist and made a few extra bones. My mornings are running smoothly thanks to my 10 minute pre-bedtime tidy. My energy has absolutely increased, no doubt about it, and after all, that was the goal for the month. I've even been inspired to go back to school for interior design this year (as opposed to waiting to apply next year). I was worried I couldn't afford to go to school if I was unable to work, but it turns out, when you break it down and ask your self, "What is the problem?" the solution is often staring you in the face. I can start by taking one course per semester and really only works out to about $200/month. One of my nagging tasks was to call Shaw to get my cable down and ended up saving about $140/month. A few more cutbacks and I've got that covered Ta-da! That solves the money part of my worry. I was also concerned I couldn't work as much, but the course times are super flexible and many run on Saturday or evenings, some even run every day for 2 weeks and one course is complete. My new favorite quote is "One year from now you will wish you had started today" and it has truly sparked something inside of me. Having more energy makes it seem less daunting to make some big life changes. I've also realised it's a circle as well... Just thinking about making the changes gives me MORE energy. First month down... next month, Marriage!

YUM-O!

Happy Spring! The first weekend of spring and the sun is out full force. High of 17 today and best part? No hockey, soccer or ballet to be running to. Woohoo! Today some serious yard work will be done and tomorrow the basement is getting a complete overhaul. Two big checks off the list.

Tonight I am getting together with some ladies for our monthly Dress Club. When I read the Happiness Project last October, I was inspired by one of Gretchen's resolutions. In her month to focus on Friendship, she started a book club. It's a great reason to get together with your friends once a month. But, I knew I probably wouldn't be able to entice my friends to start a book club so I put it out into the universe that I would love a great reason to bring some friends together on a monthly basis. A few days later, a client told me about the ladies group she used to belong to, and so the Dress Club was born. Once a month, the same ladies get together and each person takes a turn hosting. Each lady brings $25 for the hostess and the rule is the hostess has to spend that money on herself before the next get-together. The money is mostly spent on clothes (hence "Dress" club) and with 13 people in the group, that's $300 when it's your turn. Genius! Guilt free spending. My prerequisites were you must be committed for as many months as there were members (13 ladies=13 months), if you were unable to attend, your money still had to get to the hostess. I wanted the group to be fun and to bring friends together that may have not met otherwise. I've reconnected with some friends from my past that I had lost touch with, met some people I may have never had the chance to really get to know, and had some new experiences with my close pals. We first got together in November at my home for everyone to meet and since then have done a hip hop dance class, gone pole dancing, made vision boards and tonight a chef is teaching us to make delicious desserts. As Rachel Ray would say, YUM-O! Lol! I can't even explain how much joy it has brought me. I love how my friends have connected with each other as well. And when I bought my riding boots in November, I felt really blessed to have so many wonderful ladies in my life, and everyday when I put them on, I'm reminded how each person has added to my life. Since our Dress Club was born, I've had a few people tell me it has inspired them to do the same and its bringing them the same amount joy it has brought to me. My client that was in the original Dress Club said their group went strong for almost 10 years! She now has a wine club, so instead of money, the hostess gets a bottle of wine from each member. Life gets in the way of living sometimes and I couldn't think of a better way to make time for your friends.

Welcome back bonus

It's amazing how the sun can give you a huge pick-me-up. I envisioned Spring Break to be chaos... listening to the kids beating each other while I try to create a relaxing environment for my clients (and I stress out). I ended up having my afternoon client cancel their appointment today, so I chose to be grateful for a sunny day off and spent the day with my friend, sitting in the sun and watching the kids ride their bikes. And on the way home, I stopped at another friend's home to drop something off and was invited in for dinner. I love my friends! I was so relaxed, I really didn't want to go to yoga. Today was the first opportunity I've had to go to yoga since I blogged about going (my son has soccer at the same time normally, but no soccer during spring break). But since I did blog about it, it means I'm accountable. I suppose I could have lied about going... Anyway, I went. And I had the most amazing surprise when I got there! I misplaced my pass card (I'm sure a certain 4 year old may have had something to do with that) so I had to get them to look up my account. I bought a 12 punch pass two years ago, went once and that was it. I now have 22 punches on my card when I should only have 11! Talk about a welcome back bonus! Thank you universe (or whoever screwed up). I am truly grateful. My legs may not be tomorrow though, lol! Altogether, I'd say that today was an excellent start to my week!

Baby steps are still steps forward.

I'm always surprised when inspiration strikes. Sometimes it's on a friend's facebook status, a billboard... Today I read the most amazing quote on Pinterest that literally stopped me in my tracks.

 A year from now you will wish you had started today. -Karen Lamb

Pinterest is genious. Period. Sharing an amazing array of things that inspire you. But can you have too much inspiration? My list of DIY projects continues to grow, while the number of items being crossed off has barely taken off. Does this mean I should stop looking for inspiration?

Today my family celebrated my nephew's first birthday! It always amazes me how fast one year passes by... especially when you remember back to where you were on milestone days. I remember exactly where I was when my nephew was born, where I was in my life... If I took a snapshot of my life then and now, to anyone looking would seem almost identical. But one thing has changed. My focus and determination. My life for the past few years has felt like limbo. I'm happy, but could be happier. I love my job, but know it's not what I want to do when I grow up. But my mindset has shifted in a major way. Looking back to a year ago, there are a million things I wish I had started. Which is exactly why that quote struck a chord. Why wait?

Almost two years ago, my mom took me to a workshop to see a motivational speaker/life coach. I was bribed with a weekend away and was truly taken aback by what I took away with me. Tama Kieves' book "This Time I Dance" is about living the life you love. She spoke about listening to your inner voice that so often gets drowned out by our own negativity. What is it that is really holding us back. For many, it's fear. She had us write down 10 things we would do today that we love if money or social judgements were not an issue. I had over 30! My fear at the time? What if I choose to do one of these thing for a living and I'm miserable? So instead of making the wrong choice in life, I often choose nothing. And really, choosing to do nothing is still a choice. Looking back, it was the spark that ignited the change. I realised that most of the things on my list were all small aspects of Interior Design. Photography, painting, you name it! Today, I may not be able to quit work to go back to school, but that doesn't mean I can't paint, or even drool over beautiful photography. Baby steps are still steps forward.

For more information about Tama Kieves click http://www.awakeningartistry.com/thistime.html

To tweet or not to tweet. That is the question.

I did it. Im officially on Twitter. I fought Facebook for a couple of years before I joined, now I don't know what I would have done without it. And so it goes with Twitter. One of my blog followers (Gawd it feels weird/awesome typing that!) suggested I get on Twitter. My answer was, "Maybe I should". I had a basic idea of what I thought Twitter was, a sort of Facebook update, but in actuality, it's a micro blog. I can post links to my blog posts and follow my friends/favorite celebrities and authors. Most of you are probably thinking, Duh! But I'm kind of excited. It's never too late for an old dog to learn new tricks! It took a few minutes to sign up, I clicked on all my peeps I want to follow and then the most amazing thing happened... I got my first follower. So I clicked to see who it was and it was Justin Beiber, lmfao! Seriously made my day. And I'm only half kidding. My first "tweet": Justin Beiber is my first follower, lol! Is it wrong for a 28 year old to have "Baby" as their ringtone?

(It really is my ring tone, drives my husband nuts.) But hey! Now that the Beibs is rockin' homegirl Carly Rae, who could have anything bad to say about him? I wants to squeeze his cheeks and talk baby talk to him. Is that maybe mildly creepy?

Anyhoo, I went to the Vitamin Discount Store on 1st Avenue this morning, got some great information on my new vitamins (which she says are excellent) and she also told me I could be taking some extra iron as well on top of the multi. Done. They cost about $1/day but if I was going to try to eat enough spinach every day to fulfill my daily quota, I would be spending a lot more than that. Plus, I'm not Popeye.

1st World Problems

Today I am half way through my first month of my happiness project... which means my Gemini self is ready to move onto next month's projects, lol! But alas, one of my major overall goals is to finish my projects to completion. With the organising well underway, and the nagging tasks being picked at slowly, but surely, I am feeling more energetic every day.

Yesterday was the start to my basement overhaul, nothing major, but finally bought a shelf to get all my paint cans up off the floor. This makes me very happy indeed. I have found the greatest storage shelf at Costco... $30, made of recycled plastic, super durable AND... I put it together in 4 minutes with no help and no tools! I figured on my monthly Costco trip I can grab one of these babies and have the organised basement of my dreams in the next few months (without breaking the bank).

I've been taking my multivitamin daily, which reminds me, I ran out today and forgot to get some more. Damn. Guess I'll be running out in the morning to pick some more up. And I will make sure to get the non-chewable kind this time! I was telling a client yesterday about my horrible vitamins and she said, "Well, that's definitely a 1st world problem". She proceeded to explain how 3rd world problems are having no clean water to drink, no shelter, etc. And here I am complaining about the texture of my vitamins. She told me about how she got called out by her niece for complaining there was no iPod docking station in her 5 star hotel room. Yup. 1st world problems at their best. Time to suck it up in the vitamin department. (And really, wasn't "Be grateful. Always." one of my Commandments?)

It's exactly one month today to the Vancouver Sun Run. Since the end of January, I've been running three days per week and in the last three weeks I've been hitting 10km at least 2 of those days. Maybe it's time to make some longer distance goals! This month's Canadian Running magazine is all about the half-marathon. It even had an article about how iron depletion can affect your endurance. I was absolutely supposed to read that. Women should be getting 18mg/day of iron. So I checked the label of my vitamins to see how they added up and I am actually supposed to be taking 3 (not 1) of those awful pills per day! Oh my god, I am so blonde sometimes. The article also explains why runners are at higher risk of iron depletion as well. Who knew?!?! Progressive Multi are actually a great multi-vitamin specifically for women, and not only contain the vitamins and minerals we need, but also many added ingredients to balance PH and enhance digestion. And while I was looking for a picture to post, I discovered they have a vitamin especially for active women, and it's not a chewable, Yay! So starting tomorrow, I'm upping my daily dose, lol!

PS. If you want to actually pee your pants laughing... Check out www.first-world-problems.com/. It's a blog of random 1st world "problems" like this beauty: "My Porshe is too old to be new, but not old enough to be classic". Seriously. Funny. Shiznit.

Mindfulness

Mindful (adjective): Attentive, aware or careful.

This month's focus is all about boosting energy. And my energy is definitely improving. My pace has picked up throughout the day while I'm working, and my butt isn't dragging anymore in the afternoon. I've cut out my afternoon tea (that I loaded about a tablespoon of sugar into) that I previously could not survive without. Goodbye empty calories!

I had a plumber friend come by today to give me a quote to rough in our ensuite (and he is willing to trade for his services!!!!). Even if it takes a year to complete the project, just getting the ball rolling is extraordinarily exciting for me.

Although energy is my main focus for March, I keep coming back to mindfulness. Mindful about what I'm putting into my body, what I'm spending monthly on "things", how I spend my time. Going back to my Vision Board, the centre petal is all about paying off debt, cutting spending to build an emergency fund, etc. I have a fairly good idea where the dollars go each month, but slowly every month, the bills keep creeping up. My husband and I both work from home, so last month we cut back the number of days my daughter goes to daycare and saved a substantial amount of money. Today, I called our cable provider and saved an additional $140 per month. I'm still in shock. Next plan, budget baby! All my bills are sent to me via email and are all due on different days. My email goes to my phone, and I've decided that's not maybe the best idea for me. I check it and forget about it. Last month I forgot to pay my hydro, cable and phone bill. Whoops! Big whoops. At least with a paper bill, I can leave it out and it's a constant reminder for me to pay it. So... identify the problem! To keep it simple, I'm registering all my bills to automatically be paid on my prepaid credit card (best part, no bill at the end of the month!), and then I have only one bill to pay per month. Less time wasted seems to be the emerging theme. I'm streamlining my life and baby, and boy does it feel good!

The 10 Minute Tidy

I'm a firm believer in the power of thought. A sort of "ask and you will receive". My current mission is bargaining. I put it out there and it is amazing what has come my way! Since last Friday, I have traded services for a cooking class, Tupperware, babysitting and even a gift certificate for Spa Utopia! I am stoked. It may be a go for the plumbing to be roughed in for my ensuite as well! Hmmm... maybe I could get someone to clean my house on a regular basis. Any takers?

This morning was day two for my 10 minute tidy before bed. The past two nights I have unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, put away kids toys, set up for my appointment for the morning and made lunches. What a difference ten minutes makes!!! The mornings now involve making toast for myself and the kids and relaxing with my cup of tea. A client lent me a great book a few weeks ago about eco-friendly recipes/lifestyle and I've hardly had time to flip through. I had twenty minutes to read today and learned some amazing things I had always wondered about. The book is called Earth-Bound Cook (250 recipes for Delicious Food and a healthy Planet) by Myra Goodman. Not only does the book have some incredible recipes, it talks about making some simple choices to lessen our carbon footprint. So... I will admit, I'm not always the best when it come to this stuff. I have styro-foam cups for the kids at my children's birthday parties (Gasp!) and I don't insist on buying organic meats and veggies (although we try to buy most of our produce in the organic section). My husband has an amazing garden in the summer, but it doesn't help us much through the winter months. I don't want to bore you with all the details if this isn't your thing, but there is one thing I have to share. Protecting yourself from unhealthy pesticide residues. It's a list (Surprise, surprise! I love lists!), so here goes:

15 Highest in Pesticide Residues

1. Celery
2. Peaches
3. Strawberries
4. Apples
5. Blueberries (domestic)
6. Nectarines
7. Bell Peppers
8. Spinach
9. Kale
10. Cherries
11. Potatoes
12. Grapes (imported)
13. Lettuce
14. Blueberries (imported)
15. Carrots

You can cut your pesticide exposure from fresh produce by up to 90% by choosing to buy these in the organic section. I had always wondered about which ones I should insist on buying organic and which ones maybe don't make that much of a difference. I was surprised about the potatoes... for some reason I just thought about pesticides being sprayed on produce above the soil. Blonde moment, lol! And I might not have discovered this tidbit of information if I hadn't done my ten minute tidy the night before. It's still awhile until my month to focus on mindfulness (December), but it's never too early to make better choices involving your health and being mindful of what you put into your mouth! The book is pretty great, I may just have to go out and get a copy for myself!

Birth Control

All day I was trying to decide what to blog about tonight. The only thing I could think about was, it's not even one week in... How much can one person read about my organising skills? So... I went back and read my first entry. My 10 Commandments. I had already forgotten about them!! A quick recap:

1. Be Alicia.
2. Let it go.
3. It doesn't have to be equal.
4. Fake it till you make it.
5. Do it now.
6. Identify the problem.
7. Lighten up.
8. You are exactly where you are supposed to be.
9. Be grateful. Always.
10. Enjoy the ride.

I got out pen and paper (because I still haven't bought ink for my printer) and wrote them down, and put the list by my Vision Board. My Vision Board is in my bedroom on top of my dresser. It is one of the first things I see when I wake up and last thing before I go to sleep. I'm hoping by focusing on my "rules", I will have an easier time with my resolutions. I just need to say, that some of these are very hard to accomplish when it is a few days till the full moon, I am crazy hormonal and my kids are home because the schools are on strike. Kids screaming around the house playing tag? Rule #2. Let it go. And I'm pretty sure I'm just going to erase #3. It doesn't have to be equal. Well, this week, I think it does. This is going to be one of the hardest rules for me to live by. My husband cooks, I clean up the mess. I get the kids bathed, he brushes teeth and does books. I've even refused to make lunches the night before because it's not fair if he's relaxing and I'm making lunches. How ridiculous. It only means in the morning, I'll be in a rush to get the kids ready, lunches packed, get myself ready and set up for my first appointment so Dylan can rush them out the door. If I could eliminate a task, I would have time to sit and enjoy my tea instead of sipping it cold while I'm doing my makeup. Because that just wouldn't be fair, lol! I am officially a crazy person. Amazing how typing it out can make you look at it from an outside perspective. Done. From now on, lunches will be made the night before. And while I'm at it, I'm stealing one of Gretchen's ideas. The evening tidy-up. Spend 10 minutes before bed tidying up, maybe I'll even set up for my first appointment too!. Genius. How nice will it be to just make toast for myself and the kids, sip my tea and flip through a mag in the morning? Pretty damn nice. Sounds better than my current routine of yelling and scurrying.

PS. I just quickly skimmed over my post before I published and thought, "Damn! This is great birth control"! Funny how two little beings that for the most part bring me so much joy, can reek such havoc on a relationship. I think that's why, in part, grandchildren bring so much joy to grandparents. It means their kids finally know what it took to raise them. My "Aha!" moment for the day. 

PPS. My husband is currently playing XBOX (his guilty pleasure. And for the record, even though I make fun of him for being a massive dork, he is not a lazy bum who games all day. He is one of the most hard working people I know!) and I am about to make lunches and tidy up. But what I really want to do is watch one more episode of Kim and Kourtney take New York. So not fair. But... It doesn't always have to be!

Goodbye holey green socks... goodbye.

I have already learned some important things from my Happiness Project. One: I am AWESOME at throwing unneeded stuff away! Seriously. I have so much extra garbage on garbage days now (my neighbor busted me putting an extra bag in front of her house this morning, no joke)! Two: Bartering may be the answer to my problem.

I've been tackling my daily to-do list like a champ. More sleep, water, vitamins, exercise, toss, organise. Check, check, check. Nagging tasks....... hmmm..... well. Let's see. I cleaned out and organised the fridge and cleaned the stove this weekend . I was so excited to cross them off the list and discovered I hadn't even put them on the list in the first place. So I wrote them both down, just so I could cross them off! Yay! Check, lol! That's better. But these bigger projects are going to take a bit more than that to cross off. I don't have the skills or enough money to get going on some of these extremely LARGE projects, so I'm going to put up a wanted sign. WANTED: people with all sorts of skills that I can become friends with so you can help me finish my nagging task list. Any takers? This is actually a calling to all the friends I already have that are so amazingly talented (and want to trade)! Any plumbers, electricians, generally handy people looking for a pedicure, manicure, waxing gift certificate for your wife? I've put the feelers out to a few peeps and it has been receptive. Well, I wasn't shut down completely, anyway. And maybe I'll call in a few favors. Remember when you offered to help me repaint my furniture because I helped you refinish your kitchen cabinets? You and me baby (you know who you are, lol!), we have a painting date coming up. How's your April looking? I'll supply the wine!

I would also like to add, my fuzzy warm socks were finally put to rest. They weren't actually all that warm anymore with all the holes in them. I'm not going to lie... I feel a void that will only be filled by another pair of fuzzy warm socks. And I found a home for my juicer and my small food processor. They are useful, but just not to me.

Thrilling! Happy Tossing!

Hello yoga! I have missed you.

For the past month, I have finally got my butt back in gear. The treadmill is my new best friend and we have been seeing each other three times per week on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. So this morning (Friday), day 2 of my happiness project, I was in danger of not receiving my "check" for exercise regularly. On my "off" days, I would still like to do something light, a walk, swim (actually, maybe not... unless I get my own pool). And then it dawned on me! Yoga! Where have you been?!? I checked out the schedules of the local spots and realised there is a yoga class at the Leisure Centre on Monday nights (one of my nights off work) and I already have a 12 punch pass (I bought almost 2 years ago)! Woohoo! Yoga here I come. Mind and body. Love it.

Cleared my Facebook friend clutter. Haven't talked to you in person in over 2 years? Delete. Sick of hearing about how awesome your husband is? (Probably means he's a total jerk anyway, lol!) Delete. Keeping you on because you are entertainment? Delete. Much better!

I really do feel like I have more energy. So much in fact, that it took me an hour to fall asleep last night. Ugh. Maybe I'll pick up some sleepy tea today!

Have a great weekend!!!

Day One

Day one:

Sleep more
Exercise
Toss, restore, organise
Tackle nagging task
Water, vitamins

Let's start with the easy ones for a quick ego boost. Went to bed at a decent time last night, got my 9 hours. Check. Went for a run. Check. Got my water bottle ready, took my vitamin. Choke. What the hell was I thinking? Chewable vitamins? I think I almost threw up in my mouth. Also, in the future, wait to take my vitamin till AFTER my run. I was belching the entire time (Too much information?). On the plus side, I threw out all the expired medication and vitamins while I was digging out my multi-vitamins and organised them to keep the vitamins separate from the meds. Toss, restore, organise. Check. My nagging task list needs some prioritising. For example, get printer ink so I can print off my resolution charts. It's 11:30am, not too bad! 

I'm rereading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin as I go along. She has some great ideas that I had completely forgotten about. Also, I signed up for her newsletter which has a ton of info to help you along (and some fun things to do for encouragement)!

I know some of these resolutions will be easier than others. I bought a magazine holder for beside to bed to collect all my husband's gardening mags. Say hello to a clean dresser top! It was the first thing you saw when you walked in our room, and now it's not. :) Moved the "to read" pile of books on my bedside table to the shelf in the living room. Instant gratification. I love organising (my cupboards are seriously labelled), drinking water is easy if I'm being reminded by carrying around my lime green bottle. But a lot of my projects cost some serious coin. Time to get creative.

Types of clutter: Visible and Mental

Visible clutter:

Nostalgic: Keeping it just because someone gave it to you.
Conservation: Things you keep that are useful, but not to you (6 serving platters, really?)
Crutch: Things you use but shouldn't (holey socks, but they are so warm!)
Aspirational: Left over material I'm going to turn into pillow covers. Gone!
Outgrown: The old coffee pot we don't use anymore, even though we have a new one.
Buyer's remorse: But I never even wore it! (Probably means I never will.)

Mental:

The Nagging Tasks: I will not bore you with all the details, although it may make you feel better! I have two pages jam packed with tasks just on house maintenance. I also need to break down some of the bigger projects. Like... Complete our master ensuite. The plumbing hasn't even been roughed in. Not at the top of my priority list right now. But getting the plumbing roughed in seems a lot more manageable than looking at the project as a whole. Especially when I know an amazing plumber who might be willing to trade some services for his girlfriend, hint, hint! (I know she would love to have regular manicures and pedicures!)

Email clutter: I wake up, turn on my phone and wait for the bling, bling, bling, bling, bling notifications of emails of  newsletters I don't read, and seriously how many groupon, wagjag, etc deals do I need to see. I have only ever bought one and every morning I get bombarded with all the deals I'm missing out on. I unsubscribed to every one! Does my phone need to bling everytime someone comments on facebook? Nope. I'll check my facebook at the end of the day. Change email preferences. Check.

I feel like I'm off to a pretty great start. I'm feeling more energetic already!