A Word For 2015

Well, hello.

Long time no talk lovely friends. I hope the holidays treated you wonderfully and that 2015 has started off awesome!

I am not sure if I'm back for good, but I just read Helen's Guiding Word For 2015 post and it started so many thoughts rushing around my head I felt like I needed to get them out!

The past few months have been hard, and frustrating. There is no good reason for that, no big issue, personal trial, health problem or drama. No cause. I just fell so far into the rabbit hole that getting out became harder and harder. 

I need a change, I need to make things better. I need to make me better. This poor me, whiny, pathetic attitude has to get lost!

The idea is basically to think of a word to guide your year. I've got a few words bouncing around that might do the trick.

Patience is one that I could certainly use more of. It's funny how something so simple can have such a big impact. I have been running short of patience lately, letting little things get under my skin where a few deep breaths could probably have solved the problems.

Change is another possible word, as 2015 promises to hold big changes for Jay & I. We are about to take a big hairy leap (I'm not sure why the leap is hairy here) into the unknown.

Kindness. I have blogged quite often about kindness, and the more I did the more I became aware of moments where I could be kinder, where I could do more. 

Attitude could probably cover all my goals, if I can control my attitude, patience, kindness and change should come easier. 

I think that's it. Attitude. I'll just add a few asterisks underneath to cover the many layers of to my focus. 

Maybe I'm missing the point? 

Keep Smiling :)

p.s. I considered adding or creating a photo to go with this and then I decided that just wasn't happening today. Maybe my word(s) should have been #rulebreaker or #nophotonofilter. Yup, that just happened. 

A Little Honesty...

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I'm an over-sharer sometimes. Not about myself, but just about random things. I hate awkward silences and I panic, so instead of being a reasonable adult and waiting until I have something relevant to say, I just ramble. 


About the weather. About my family. About someone the people I am talking to have never met. 

It is NEVER malicious in nature, but I think sometimes it can be perceived that way. I just don't filter my thoughts and start speaking so fast that I've said too much before I even realized I was speaking.

During my vacation at home this happened a lot. I'd get with old friends and just start talking and talking. Forgetting to ask about their lives and just rambling on about mostly inappropriate things. 

I hopefully recovered alright by acknowledging it, at one point I said "I'm digging my hole deeper here" another time I said "I literally have no idea what I just said" and it was true.

As this post might indicate, I have no control over my thoughts sometimes and I just say way too much. But my intentions are good. 

Lately I've been trying to be a better person, to be more mindful and kind with my actions and words. These rambling slip-ups where I lost control made me feel pretty insecure and led to a few sleepless nights. 

I'm not sure what I'm looking for by sharing this information with you, but it felt like some honesty was needed around here for a change. If only I could share more here and a little less in real life! 

Have you struggled with talking too much? Are you a rambler? How do you keep your thoughts in check and avoid saying too much? I would love to hear your suggestions- I really need them. 

And in case any of my lovely 'real life' friends are reading this, I promise I will try and ramble less next time we chat!

Keep Smiling :) 

About The Author

I missed out on many of the Blog Everyday In July blogging challenge, so when I saw Bailey Jean's Blog-tember Challenge I had to give it a try. I'm not sure if I'll commit to every day (though I suppose that's the point) but who can't use a little inspiration every once and a while. 

Today's challenge: "Imagine the front sleeve of a hard cover novel. Give us your "About the Author" so we can get to know one another, and for fun tell us what your imaginary novel would be about."

Eeek. Sounds tough. 

With 100 billion copies of her books sold, Kimberley is now a super famous, world-wide sensation. Following the underwhelming success of her blog "Kimberley's Quests" Kimberley decided it was time to try something new. She spent six seasons as the star of her own reality TV show, aptly named, Kimberley's Quests. The cancellation of the show led to the creation of the widely popular Princess Kimberley series of children's books. Inspired by a story her father wrote about TV Dinners, Dragons and the Princess, the stories encourage children to try new things and to practice kindness. The series has been adapted into an animated show for children. Kimberley lives in Ottawa, ON, Canada with her fantastic (but not so funny), husband. 

In this latest instalment Princess Kimberley embarks on the first day of Kindergarten. She's located missing dragon eggs, become a big sister, and saved the royal tiara from pirates, but.... she's never gone to school before. What if the other kids don't like caviar? What if they laugh at her Princess shoes? What if she has no one to play baby llamas with on the playground? Sir Swanson tries to calm Kimberley down, but she's scared. Can she survive the adventures of Kindergarten? 

My author-y photo (Can authors make up words?) 

Ok, I'll admit I am breaking the rules already. This is clearly not from a novel. It's from a series of children's books. It just seemed like a more realistic thing for me to write, since I teach Kindergarten and all. Yes, I wrote that I was a reality TV star and now I'm trying to say I was being realistic. 

I would really like to have my own show though. E! have you got my number? Fox? Lifetime? Any takers?? 

Keep Smiling :) 

Being Accountable

This post was inspired by the hilarious and informative series Erin (ok, Sallie & Perkins) have over at Love, Fun & Football. Sure, theirs is focused on finances but after re-reading a years worth of posts I suddenly had an idea to cure my lack of content lately. 

They have been working steadily over the past year to pay down student debt, and they're doing it, in part by being accountable both on paper and on the blog. Tracking purchases and budgeting, but accepting sometimes things don't go exactly as planned. 

In a year they have paid down over half of their debt, read all about their amazing success here.
Luckily Jay & I have very little in student debt, a story I might tell another time, so that's not what I wanted to talk about. I was inspired by the way Sallie & Perkins kept themselves accountable and I want to apply it to something different. 

Eating. 

After the wedding Jay & I started working really hard towards cleaner eating and just being more mindful of what we were putting into our bodies. For two months we tracked everything we ate and the exercise we did that day, every day. Then we stopped. 

Our goal wasn't weight loss as much as just working on being healthy. Sure, there were perks of weight loss- but we really just wanted to get healthy. 

 We had been using an App to track our eating/exercise and when we stopped I thought I could keep being accountable without the App so I just stopped recording daily. The first couple of weeks 'winging it' weren't so bad, but now a month after stopping I have to admit in the last week I've eaten two bags of cheezies, a bag of chips, two bags of gummy worms and a bag of bridge mixture. Oh, and a huge bowl of ice cream every night and cake, cupcakes and Oreos at work. It was a fun week! 

Self control around the kitchen I just don't have. 

It's a new week and I'm ready to start fresh and make better choices. I mean looking at that list of crap that I ate in just a week I am ashamed and worried. I mean the occasional treat is one thing, but so much so often can't be good. I mean what are gummy worms and cheezies even made of? I'm sure I don't want to know. 

But I do want to try harder. 

So, this morning I got out the measuring scoop and had an appropriate serving of cereal and supplemented it with some fruit! For lunch, I'm skipping the white rice and having a delicious salad. Most importantly, for the time being, I'm going to enter all the information into my trusty App and hopefully start taking better care of myself again. 

I need to. 

When I was sticking with the App, I felt better. Jay and I were walking every night, eating tons of vegetables and drinking water by the jug. I want to catch that feeling again. 

I'm not sure if or how often I'll update on how it's going but I feel better just putting the idea out there. Hopefully now that it's out in the world I'll be more motivated to keep pushing. 

Thanks again Erin for the inspiration! Linking up with the lovely Meg for Mingle Monday!

Any advice for a recently-reformed candy and cheezie addict? 

Keep Smiling :) 

The Bucket List

Back in the summer of 2012 I blogged every day for the month of June, in preparation for my (then) upcoming 24th birthday. I called it my "Quest for Happiness" and shared little tidbits from my life that made me happy. 

During that month of blogging I shared my bucket list, something I had been working on for many years. I can now admit I added a few things that had never been goals to the list, that I had mostly by accident already accomplished so I could cross them off the list and have some sense of success.  

A little sidewalk art from an early morning walk to work last summer.
Maybe this should be a guiding thought in my life?

Yesterday's post alluded to this idea of living a more exciting life, making every day count so in theory a bucket list should be a great way to manage some of these wild and crazy goals and of course make for many great blog posts. 

Plus, who doesn't love a good list?!?! 

Usually I can't stop from making compulsive lists, yet I find myself completely disinterested in the idea of a bucket list. I found the last one put pressure on me to live up to crazy ideals that I may not actually care for in a few months time. 

A bucket list feels too unfocused enough for me at this point in my life. I am going to take some time and come up with some serious goals, and more importantly a plan for how to actually achieve those goals. 

I'll wrap this up with a few rules I think might help me on my way. 

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What are your thoughts on bucket lists? Do they help you achieve your goals or place too many expectations on you? 

Keep Smiling :) 

Being Good?

In school last year my professors cautioned us against using the phrase "Good Job" to praise children. They suggested being more specific, more like, "Wow! You put your lunch away so fast!" Focusing on the action rather than just a generic statement. It is something I do try and avoid with my kiddos at work, but in my own life I am constantly judging my own choices and actions to determine if they are "good" enough. 

It's such a hard concept to avoid, in all aspects of life. As an adult I find there is pressure to "be good" at something, or to make "good choices" or "do the right thing." Some of this pressure is from outside sources, and some is of course coming from me. It can be hard to trust my own choices. I'm a people pleaser and I feel like the pressure can come from all sides. 

This idea of being "good" also creates a feeling that if you aren't being good you must be being "bad." This leads to the creation entirely unnecessary negative feelings towards ourselves. Feelings of failure, of guilt, of shame. These feelings can have so many unwanted and terrible effects on our self-esteem and confidence. 

Here are just a few of the many pressures I sometimes feel squashed by: 

Pressure to eat well & exercise. I like candy. I like ice cream. I like white rice, chicken nuggets and nachos. I enjoy tacos, fajitas, meatloaf, stir-fry, etc. Eating is one of my favourite hobbies, and yet I am often laying feelings of guilt on myself for making "bad choices." Equally as awful is making excuses for being "bad." 

Running is fun, when it's not out of guilt! Though it might be more fun if Spring was here! 

Pressure to save money, to buy a car/house/dog/etc. Basically pressure to meet the societal expectations placed upon us. Get married, buy a house, get a dog, have a baby, etc. There is always another expectation and pressure to do all these things well, and judgement if you take a different path. The message is very "be your own person, but accomplish all these things at the same time." 

Pressure to recycle. This is of course important, I love the earth and realize maybe we aren't taking care of it. However, if I slip up and use plastic bags for my groceries once a month it's probably ok. (I know this seems out of place with all the others, but I really feel bad if I don't recycle something). 

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Maybe recycling just isn't fun enough? I'll be painting my garbage can & recycling bins pronto! 

Pressure to be a "good friend." Really what other kind of friend is there? You either are a friend, or you aren't but it's not like you get a friendship report card every six months. Sure, there are times you could do more to stay in touch or set up a hang-out but sometimes life happens, and it can be made up for later with coffee, a nice card in the mail or a skype date. 

Pressure to be a "good blogger." This is definitely pressure that comes from within. I've never judged another blog as harshly as I judge my own. Especially over the little things like posting daily or not having photos in a post. When I don't blog for a couple of weeks I feel like such a "bad blogger" and giving in to those feelings makes me feel discouraged from continuing. 

Pressure to be a "good teacher." This is the absolute worst one for me. I have unreal expectations of how to be a "good teacher" and I am so hard on myself when I feel like I haven't lived up to them. I forget that I am one person, and that I am human and sometimes I might be tired or get frustrated easily. I am striving for this imaginary idea of being this perfect teacher and it is having the opposite effect, causing me to be a stressed out grumpy teacher sometimes. 

The list could go on and on, there are so many ways we pressure ourselves. So many ways our families and society pressures us, and so many ways we pressure each other. 

I'm tired of striving to "be good" or worrying about being "bad." At a risk of sounding like a worn-out hallmark card, I just want to be the best me I can be. 

Source
New motto for life? 

I am trying to not put the pressure on my kiddos at school to "be good" or do a "good job" so why should I be putting the pressure on myself? It's time to stop worrying about everything else and just do me. This isn't to say I'm not in favour of self-improvement, just that the motivation needs to be positive.

I'd love to know what you think about today's rambling, leave your thoughts in the comments! 

Keep Smiling :) 

In 2014...

It's that time of year again, time to make promises to ourselves that we don't remember two weeks later. I am one of those people who always writes resolutions, along with lists in my diary of all my favourite memories from the past year. I am going to try a different approach this year which will hopefully be easier to manage and stick to. 

Rather than a list of resolutions I am going to write myself some goals, and amend a few I wrote a while back. Although their clothing is overpriced and has gone downhill in quality over the past few years, I have found the Lululemon website a great resource for  goal setting. 

I won't bore you with all my goals for the next few years, but in the short-term I do have a few challenges for myself. 

1. Be Mindful
I want to be more mindful of every aspect of my life. Taking more time to consider what I am putting into my body and how I am taking care of it. I also want to apply this approach to my interactions with everyone from Jay to my co-workers, and to remember the importance of a kind word or smile. I want to consider the benefits and luxuries afforded to me, and find a way to give back.  

2. Take Pictures
Between us Jay and I own three "real" cameras, all of which still work and take great pictures. Yet, rather than pull them out to capture special moments we very often reach for the low quality cell phones in our pockets. I want to get back into taking photos with a quality camera and then taking the time to get the best ones printed off and added to our scrapbook. I want to be able to look back at years of quality photos, rather than blurry, grainy selfies! 

I mean, I know we're cute- but how many selfies does one person need? 

3. Remember The Little Details
I realized as we were relaxing watching TV last night, that I remember very few of the little moments over the past year. Sure big events like parties and trips stick out, but those late night phone calls, little jokes or surprise dates slip my mind. To ensure I remember more of the magic of 2014 I am going to start writing down those little memories and putting them in a jar to read on NYE 2015. It's an idea that's been floating around the internet for many years but it finally feels like it's time to start it up. 

4. Stay In Touch
When we first moved I was on Skype more often than not, and then as Ottawa has become a home base for us, we stopped making as considerable an effort to stay in touch. As a result I feel more out of touch than I'd like with some of our nearest and dearest. In 2014 I am going to make more time to skype, even just for a few minutes with the people we love. That's not a goal, but a promise- feel free to hold me to it! 

5. Save Money 
With a wedding on the horizon and hopefully house shopping looming in the not too distant future I am hopeful we can continue to save for the future. The challenge is making those tough choices between another dinner out or putting that $50 in the savings account. We're trying but sometimes it's tough. 

I have many more ideas of things I'd like to improve on, or start doing but these are my short-term focuses at least. I really just want 2014 to be the year I laugh often, connect more and savour the moment. Lots of big stuff is happening and I want to remember and enjoy it all. 

Do you have any goals or resolutions? Do you think I'll be able to make these happen? 

Keep Smiling :) 

oh and HAPPY 2014!

(Pre) Spring Clean Out

We cleaned and reorganized our apartment from top to bottom this past weekend. I was also eager to try the Throw Out 100 Things challenge that I read about over at Secondhand Sundays earlier this year. 

One thing I was excited to get rid of was our dehumidifier which broke last summer.  We finally took it to a waste depot, along with an old laptop battery and broken printer. It was nice to finally get the dehumidifier out of our apartment after all this time. 

I wanted to make sure we managed to clear out at least 100 things so we kept an inventory:

Donated: 

1-9 Coffee Mugs

10-11 Travel Mugs

12 Fish Bowl

13 Creamer

14 Sugar Dish

15 Knife Block

16 Blackberry Case

17-18 Laundry Baskets

19-20 High-Efficiency Shower Heads (Unused) 

21 Wii Remote Dock

22 Electric Skillet

23-24 Computer Games

25-30 Wii Games 

31-39 Assorted DVDs

40 Boots 

41 Water Bottle

42 Cordless Phone

43 Blanket

44 Slow Cooker (We already have one!) 

45-52  Assorted Jewelry 

53-60 Books and Magazines

61-92 Clothes (jeans, sweaters, shirts we don't wear enough etc) 

Trash and Recycling: 

93 Pyrex Dish (Grease Stains)

94 Plastic Container (Stained and No Lid)

95 Rain Boot Socks (Worn out)

96-97 Two Pairs of Slippers (Worn Out)

98 PJ Pants (Ripped)

99 Jeans (Ripped)

100 Hand Mixer (Broken) 

101 iPod Charger (Broken)

102 Dehumidifier

103 Laptop Battery (Broken)

104 Printer (Broken) 

105 Empty DVD Case

106 Laminator Box

107+ Miscellaneous Papers, Plastics, Expired food, etc. 

Just some of the stuff we cleared out! 

It felt great to clear out so much of the clutter from our apartment. The worst part is that despite the fact we got rid of 107+ things it hardly feels like we got rid of anything! I guess that means we should find some more stuff to clear out! 

If you are feeling overwhelmed by the clutter I definitely suggest undertaking your own 100 Things challenge. Having a target number gave us the push we needed to keep going when our motivation started to wane. 

Pinterest also has a lot of great ideas for clearing up the clutter. One that I love is tagging clothes you don't frequently wear with the date and if the tag is still on them in six months you donate them. It's a great way to keep track of what you do or don't wear. 

My new goal is to buy less, so that we aren't replacing old clutter with new clutter. Hopefully we can be as successful. 

Have you done any (pre) Spring cleaning or re-organizing? Do you have any tips to share? I'm always open to new ideas and challenges so please share any ideas you might have! 

Keep Smiling :) 

Life Musings

"Life is the toughest teacher, because it gives the test before the lesson" -Unknown

This is one of my favourite quotes of all time. I feel it perfectly captures my feelings on life and it's challenges. 

Unrelated, but here we are at the Rideau Canal from last summer.

I love being prepared. I spend countless hours studying for tests, preparing for a new job, or planning my next life step. Despite my endless preparations life always has a surprise in store, challenging whatever plans I've made. 

This quote reminds me that despite the challenges I may face, there is always a lesson to learn. The events in my life, thus far, that have seemed most difficult are those that I have learned the most from. 

Luckily, today was lacking in serious life challenges. The last day of our long weekend was spent in the air conditioned glory of the movie theatre, watching The Avengers. 

Normally I am not a big comic book/action movie fan but this was a pretty fantastic movie. Ok, I'll be honest I did nap briefly in the middle but I don't think I missed much! Captain America is my favorite superhero, he is fierce and lacks the superhero gadgets the other guys have, which makes his talents all the more impressive.

It is back to babysitting tomorrow, I am looking forward to doing crafts and hanging out in the summer sun with two awesome kids! I hope this week holds nothing but laughter and happiness for you, and if a challenge presents itself remember there is a lesson to be learned.

Keep Smiling :)

Quest for Happiness [Day 30]

It has been thirty days since I started my Happiness Quest. Aside from my brief four day tech break I have blogged every day this month, something that I find shocking, and didn't expect.

Since I started this blog ten months ago there have been two months where I've written absolutely nothing. During the other eight months I posted an average of four blogs a month. Strangely enough I found it easier to blog daily than to do it on such a sporadic basis.

Over the past month I have focused in on what makes me happy and what brings a smile to my face. I didn't change how I lived my life on a daily basis, but took the time to appreciate what was already right in front of me. 

I can't lie there were still days where acknowledging happiness took a back seat to allow time for complaining, being grouchy, frustrated, etc. Having this outlet made me  feel more able to bounce back from those miserable moments, as I was forced to look at the positive parts of each day. 

Although I enjoyed focusing on moments of happiness, I feel like the simple pleasures are getting redundant as subject matter. I am more aware of them now (and hopefully you are too!) but I think it is time to start something different for July at least. 

What's my new plan? I have always loved words, and used to spend hours filling notebooks with quotes that inspired me. This has led me to the decision that for July (at least) I am going to include a different quote in every blog that somehow relates to my day. 

I've also decided that I won't promise a blog everyday, because sometimes it just isn't possible, but I will blog at least every two days and a minimum of fifteen posts for the month. That you can count on! 

The dairy cows. They are huge beautiful beasts!

Since it is still June I do have one final happiness story for you. Today we went to the Experimental Farm museum. It has all kinds of farm animals and displays as part of the larger Experimental Farm that tests different species of plants and crops, etc. 

I love barn animals so it was the perfect way to spend a sunny day. I haven't been near a live cow in a while, I had forgotten how huge they can be! Sadly no milking opportunies presented themselves. But we did get to talk to some horses, and sheep! I had quite a lovely conversation with a brown eyed horse, and another with a donkey named Eeyore. Jay says they think I'm crazy, but I think they know I'm just friendly! 

We also saw a pig with its piglets and a couple of brand new baby goats! It was awesome, nature is  magical. The reason for the trip was to scout it out for an adventure with my babysitting kids, and I think they will love it!

To wrap up this blog and this lovely month of happiness, I want to thank you for sticking by me.  I truly appreciate all the feedback and support. 

Keep Smiling :)