Friday, December 31, 2010

Happy New Years!!!

I can't believe today is the last day of 2010.... this year has just flown by so quickly. I married my best friend and love of my life in July, we moved into a new place in September and went on an amazing honeymoon to Mexico in November. We got to spend Christmas with Hub's family and together which is a first since we have been together (we were always working Christmas Day).

I'm super excited for New Years Eve this year. Our first year together we were stuck in an airport in Calgary trying to get home to see my family. Last year was a sad one as New Years Day I was getting on a plane to head to Winnipeg for a new job. This year neither Hubs nor I are going anywhere. We are planning a quiet night in with some good wine to ring in the New Year.

Even though I'm sad to see 2010 pass us by, I'm excited at the thoughts of what 2011 will bring us.... maybe a new house, another trip to mexico or a new exciting job. Hubs starts his new job in February :) A New Years resolution we have both made is to start going to the gym again. Are any of you making New year's resolutions?

Here's to everyone having a safe and fun last day in 2010 and I hope 2011 brings good times, memories and health to everyone. See you all back here in 2011.

Happy New Years!!!!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Updated 101 in 1001

Updated 101 in 1001

I've seen this 101 in 1001 days blog "project" a few times before, but have never really paid much attention to it. I've been meaning to start it for a while now, and finally decided to do it. The only thing was that I underestimated how hard it would be to come up with 101 things! It took a while.

Not familiar with the 101 Things in 1001 Days project? Check out this website.
The Mission: Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria: Tasks must be specific (i.e. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable, or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (i.e. represent some amount of effort on your part).

Start Date: November 1, 2010
End Date: July 28, 2013

Marriage & Family
1. “Date night” with Hubs once a month (2/33)
2. Surprise my husband with a gift just because
3. Get married (Completed July 10, 2010)
4. Talk to home every weekend (8/132)
5. Plan a trip to Halifax
6. Buy a house
7. Have a baby
8. Visit Hubb's family for Christmas (Completed December 23, 2010)9. Celebrate 1st wedding anniversary

Mind, Body & Soul
10. Lose 10 lbs
11. Go a week without weighing myself
12. Complete some form of exercise at least 3 times per week
13. Read at least one book per month (0/33)
14. Give up soda for a week
15. Learn a new recipe and cook it at least once a month (2/33)
16. Get a hobby
17. Get my first massage (Completed Nov 20, 2010)
18. Have another manicure or pedicure
19. See a sunrise and sunset in the same day
20. Hike a really large hill (Completed Nov 2010)
21. Go on our honeymoon (Completed Nov 15, 2010)
22. Do something for myself at least once a month (2/33)
23. No dessert or cookies at work for 2 weeks
24. For one week, go to bed at 9:00 p.m. just to read
25. Clear the dinning room table off to eat dinner there again
26. No tv for one week
27. No eating after 8:00 p.m. for a month (0/30)
28. After baby, get back to pre-pregnancy weight

Home Is Where the Heart Is
29. Decorate our future house
30. Finish our wedding album
31. Buy a new vaccum (Completed December 27, 2010)32. Get a new bedroom set
33. Get a new dining room table
34. Empty entire fridge, clean it, then put everything back in
35. Reorganize kitchen cabinets
36. Defrost freezer twice a year (0/6)
37. Buy a new house
38. Bring in the feeling of Mexico

All Work, No Play
39. Upgrade our camera (Completed Nov 4, 2010)
40. Get a new washer and dryer (Completed Sept 2010)
41. Stay on top of the house cleaning (2/33)
42. Start a wedding planning business
43. Help Hubbs with his business
44. Get my ideal job
45. Get another term at my current job
46. Take 3 courses at work

Hit the Open Road
47. Take a spontaneous road trip (2/3)
48. Travel to a foreign country (Completed Nov 15, 2010)
49. Visit Newfoundland
50. Visit friends in Winnipeg
51. Go camping at least once each summer (0/3)
52. Have a picnic in the park we got married
53. Visit the Buchart gardens in the winter
54. Visit Hubbs friends in Alberta

I ♥ Food
55. Update my recipe book with new recipes (At least once a month (1/33)
56. Go out just for dessert
57. Go out for breakfast (2/5)
58. Don't eat out for an entire month
59. Make homemade pasta
60. Try something new at least 3 times a year (3/9)
61. Make banana bread with all the banana's in the freezer

Friends Are Forever
62. Email my best friend once a week (0/146)
63. Send Christmas cards each Christmas (1/3)
64. E-mail friends at least once per month (1/33)
65. Catch up with an old friend66. Have a party or dinner party
67. Send birthday cards to all friends/family in 2011

Pinching Pennies
68. Save for a house
69. Set up retirement savings

Cha-Ching
70. Pay off all debts
71. Pay off LASIK Surgery
72. Buy a second car
73. Budget for a vacation

Pay It Forward
74. Clean out closet and donate to charity (1/3)
75. Donate to Christmas charity76. Buy something from a thrift store that supports a charity
77. Donate money to a children's charity (1/6)

Just for Fun
78. Go skiing
79. Go to the beach
80. Go to the fall fair
81. Buy a pumpkin from a pumpkin patch and carve it
82. Go to a local museum
83. Take pictures on all our excursions
84. Have a Christmas cookie exchange (1/3)
85. Decorate for ChristmasHobbies & Skills
86. Blog once a week at least (1/33)
87. Learn to cook more things
88. Get some family tradition recipes
89. Make a scrapbook
90. Read a book a month (0/33)

Capture the Memories
91. Print photo's to hang in locker
92. Print photoes of each year's events and put in photo album
93. Get photos printed to hang in home
94. Take more pictures
95. Complete 101 in 1001
96. Send more pictures to family

No More Procrastinating
97. Pick pictures for wedding album
98. Clean out email accounts
99. Start an excercise routine


101 in 1001
100. Start a new 101 Things in 1001 Days list once this one is completed
101. Get friends in on this project

Best Christmas Present Ever....

This year for Christmas we got many great gifts, we had the trip to Mexico, bought a new camera, a few games, 1000 thread count sheets, etc... but our absolute favorite gift is:



Our new Dyson Stowaway Vaccuum. They were finally on sale so we bought one last night and I have to say, wow its an amazing vaccuum. It picks up everything and cleaned our area rug so well it looks new again. Did anyone else get a new Dyson for Christmas? What was your favorite present?

Merry Christmas

I know its a little late but I wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.

This year Hubs and I both got Christmas eve and Christmas Day off work (a first while being together) so we decided to go visit his family up island. The plan was simple, we would leave after I got off work, to catch the 3pm ferry. Well, everything was working out well until we got to the ferry (1 hr and a bit drive later) to find out it was cancelled. We then turned around and drove down to catch the other ferry to take the long route around. In the end instead of the 1 hr drive and a 40 min ferry we ended up driving 2 and a bit hours, a 1.5 hr ferry, a 40min ferry, an hour and 15min drive then another ferry before we finally got there. All in all it was a 12 hr adventure trying to get to the in-laws place but it was totally worth it. Oh and did I mention we did all this in a horrible rainstorm with a crazy amount of wind.

We got in around 12am on the 24th, unpacked and went to bed. When we woke up in the morning we had a quick breakfast and went to see the in-laws new campsite. It had an amazing view of the water. After that we went to visit Hubb's grandparents. His grandmother is in the hospital due to a degenerative spine and an infected bed sore on her back but she is healing and starting to have visits home.  It was so great to see them and spend time with them at Christmas. We also got to see his Aunt, a bunch of uncles and their wives and a few other friends of the family.

At 3pm Hubbs and a couple of his uncle's went to go light the Star. The Star is a family tradition that his family has been doing for almost 30 years. It starts by everyone getting together on Christmas eve, and those who are able, climb up this mountain overlooking the town and place this star with lights up and keep it lit for the next week. It's quite amazing to be able to see thos star from below and was even visible on the ferry ride home.

After putting up the Star and visiting that side of the family, we had to head back and get ready for Christmas dinner. Hubb's step-family are Danish and have Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve. We headed over to his step-grandmother's house for an evening of good food and fun. There were 13 of us having dinner (thats with 8 others unable to make it due to the weather) and boy was it delicious. There was the traditional dinner but with extras added such as red cabbage and rice pudding for dessert. A neat tradition with the rice pudding is that an almond is mixed into the pudding and its dished out to everyone. As everyone eats they look for the almond and whoever finds it gets chocolates. This year no one found the almond (however there was a lot of pudding left). A little later in the evening we took part in another Danish tradition of dancing around the christmas tree while singing Christmas songs and a few Danish songs. Afterwords Christmas gifts were handed out and opened.

On Christmas morning, we woke up and opened a few more Christmas presents with Hubb's family. Then we had a quick bite to eat before getting ready for the Smorge. The Smorge is another Danish tradition which I absolutely love. Everyone gets together and instead of having a huge turkey dinner, its basically a buffet of pickled herring/salmon, buns, brown bread, crackers, various sliced meats/cheeses, treats, pickles/olives, etc. Then the family sits around a big table and for a few hours just shares stories and talk while eating and taking Snapps shots.

We had to leave the party a little early as we had to catch the ferry home :( We hated to leave but had such a great time with family. Once we got home we opened the last of the cards we had gotten, unpacked and got ready for bed as we both worked early the next morning.

Boxing day morning we both worked but after work we went to see Hubbs dad and stepmom. We had some wine, my favorite was the ginger beer that tasted more like a ginger champagne (which they are making) and homemade tarts.

Christmas came and went pretty fast this year, but we were able to visit with family and celebrate Christmas together. Hopefully everyone else had an enjoyable Christmas.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Work... and Work Christmas Party

Woohoo!! Yesterday was my last official day working at my workplace for this year. Every year my workplace closes for 2 weeks at Christmas and we can either take the time off work or work at another location. I decided to work at another location to earn overtime since Hubs works mostly over Christmas.

We had a cookie exchange at work on Wed and it turned out awesome. For those not familiar with a cookie exchange, you basically have a sign up sheet for everyone involved and pick a date to exchange cookies. Each person bakes a dozen cookies for each other person in the change and on the chosen date when you exchange cookies you end up with a few dozen different cookies to take home. Its a great way to try new cookies and not have to bake all the varieties at home.

After work yesterday myself and a few coworkers got together at a pub for a few Christmas drinks. It was great to get together with just those from my workplace and enjoy a little downtime.

 Last night was my work Christmas party. In the past, I haven't gone to work Christmas parties but last night after coworkers saying me and Hubs should go we decided to go. Poor Hubs wasn't feeling very good, but did go to the party for a bit. I'm glad he was able to go even if it was only for a short time. I have to say I enjoyed the party, there was a great turn out and it was nice to see coworkers from all different workplaces within the organizations getting together and having a good time. I also had a little luck last night as well. I won the 50/50 draw (thanks to Hubs buying the tickets before he left) and a bottle of Bailey's. All in all it was a great way to start the Christmas holiday season.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Updated 101 in 1001

I've seen this 101 in 1001 days blog "project" a few times before, but have never really paid much attention to it. I've been meaning to start it for a while now, and finally decided to do it. The only thing was that I underestimated how hard it would be to come up with 101 things! It took a while.

Not familiar with the 101 Things in 1001 Days project? Check out this website.
The Mission: Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria: Tasks must be specific (i.e. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable, or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (i.e. represent some amount of effort on your part).

Start Date: November 1, 2010
End Date: July 28, 2013

Marriage & Family
1. “Date night” with Hubs once a month (2/33)
2. Surprise my husband with a gift just because
3. Get married (Completed July 10, 2010)
4. Talk to home every weekend (4/132)
5. Plan a trip to Halifax
6. Buy a house
7. Have a baby
8. Visit Hubb's family for Christmas
9. Celebrate 1st wedding anniversary

Mind, Body & Soul
10. Lose 10 lbs
11. Go a week without weighing myself
12. Complete some form of exercise at least 3 times per week
13. Read at least one book per month (0/33)
14. Give up soda for a week
15. Learn a new recipe and cook it at least once a month (1/33)
16. Get a hobby
17. Get my first massage (Completed Nov 20, 2010)
18. Have another manicure or pedicure
19. See a sunrise and sunset in the same day
20. Hike a really large hill (Completed Nov 2010)21. Go on our honeymoon (Completed Nov 15, 2010)
22. Do something for myself at least once a month (2/33)
23. No dessert or cookies at work for 2 weeks
24. For one week, go to bed at 9:00 p.m. just to read
25. Clear the dinning room table off to eat dinner there again
26. No tv for one week
27. No eating after 8:00 p.m. for a month (0/30)
28. After baby, get back to pre-pregnancy weight

Home Is Where the Heart Is
29. Decorate our future house
30. Finish our wedding album
31. Buy a new vaccum
32. Get a new bedroom set
33. Get a new dining room table
34. Empty entire fridge, clean it, then put everything back in
35. Reorganize kitchen cabinets
36. Defrost freezer twice a year (0/6)
37. Buy a new house
38. Bring in the feeling of Mexico

All Work, No Play
39. Upgrade our camera (Completed Nov 4, 2010)
40. Get a new washer and dryer (Completed Sept 2010)
41. Stay on top of the house cleaning (2/33)
42. Start a wedding planning business
43. Help Hubbs with his business44. Get my ideal job
45. Get another term at my current job
46. Take 3 courses at work

Hit the Open Road
47. Take a spontaneous road trip (2/3)
48. Travel to a foreign country (Completed Nov 15, 2010)
49. Visit Newfoundland
50. Visit friends in Winnipeg
51. Go camping at least once each summer (0/3)
52. Have a picnic in the park we got married
53. Visit the Buchart gardens in the winter
54. Visit Hubbs friends in Alberta

I ♥ Food
55. Update my recipe book with new recipes (At least once a month (0/33)
56. Go out just for dessert
57. Go out for breakfast (2/5)
58. Don't eat out for an entire month
59. Make homemade pasta
60. Try something new at least 3 times a year (1/9)
61. Make banana bread with all the banana's in the freezer

Friends Are Forever
62. Email my best friend once a week (0/146)
63. Send Christmas cards each Christmas (1/3)
64. E-mail friends at least once per month (1/33)
65. Catch up with an old friend
66. Have a party or dinner party
67. Send birthday cards to all friends/family in 2011

Pinching Pennies
68. Save for a house
69. Set up retirement savings

Cha-Ching
70. Pay off all debts
71. Pay off LASIK Surgery
72. Buy a second car
73. Budget for a vacation

Pay It Forward
74. Clean out closet and donate to charity (0/3)
75. Donate to Christmas charity
76. Buy something from a thrift store that supports a charity
77. Donate money to a children's charity (1/6)

Just for Fun
78. Go skiing
79. Go to the beach
80. Go to the fall fair
81. Buy a pumpkin from a pumpkin patch and carve it
82. Go to a local museum
83. Take pictures on all our excursions
84. Have a Christmas cookie exchange (1/3)
85. Decorate for Christmas
Hobbies & Skills
86. Blog once a week at least (1/33)
87. Learn to cook more things
88. Get some family tradition recipes
89. Make a scrapbook
90. Read a book a month (0/33)

Capture the Memories
91. Print photo's to hang in locker
92. Print photoes of each year's events and put in photo album
93. Get photos printed to hang in home
94. Take more pictures
95. Complete 101 in 1001
96. Send more pictures to family

No More Procrastinating
97. Pick pictures for wedding album
98. Clean out email accounts
99. Start an excercise routine


101 in 1001
100. Start a new 101 Things in 1001 Days list once this one is completed
101. Get friends in on this project

Thursday, December 9, 2010

It's December, finally....

Well, it has been December for almost 10 days now but i've been a little behind in posting.... again. We are just about ready for Christmas. We have our decorations, lights and tree up. Most of our Christmas cards are ready to be mailed out and a few have already been sent. We aren't going crazy with gifts this year as we just went on our honeymoon and bought a new digital camera before the trip. Since we have been back, we bought new silverware to replace the stuff that isn't working out so well. Hubs and I are planning on just getting some things to go in each other's Socks. In other exciting news Hubs and I have been married for 5 months tomorrow!! I can't believe how quickly time is flying by, soon it will be 6 months and before you know it, it will be our first Anniversary. How is everyone else's Christmas preparations going?