Christmas of 2012

Here's some of our photos....our holidays were filled with fun times together baking, opening gifts, being together with family and friends, enjoying a real Christmas tree and real SNOW for Christmas!!!  After the tragedy in Connecticut,  this season really became focused on enjoying the moments....SO many times I felt myself thinking about those families and I have prayed for strength and love to be sent their way. SO many things to be grateful for this year...really happy that no one was ill.  It seemed in the weeks leading up to Christmas there were so many around who were sick and I had my fingers crossed:)  also had vitamin C ready in the cupboard as well.

Looking forward to some more days spent with the kids and time at the cottage and the beginning of a new year...here's to a year filled with more moments of joy.

Christmas is coming....

December has flown by...today is my Dad's 70th birthday!!  Wishing him the bestest of days XOXO

Today is the shortest day of the year and finally we have SNOW:)  Now it finally feels a little more like Christmas.

I have my December Daily set up and have been journalling daily...have yet to put pictures in it yet...

I did get Christmas cards made and sent, gifts are wrapped except for 2/3, stocking stuffers are bought, turkey and food for Christmas day is bought.....still to do is watch It's A Wonderful Life...my favourite of all time and just such a part of my Christmas celebrations.

LOVE our real tree this year!!

Not many more days left..hoping the snow sticks around:)

Right Now....

I enjoy reading and being inspired by others through their blogs.....I read (almost) daily ALi Edwards blog and she recently spoke about blogging your right now.  I really would like to use my blog more often as a journalling spot for myself.

praying:  for a friend Danielle, whose Mom is needing triple bypass surgery after suffering a recent heart attack.  She is struggling to help her Dad who is quite helpless as she has done everything around the home and balancing that with her family including 2 little boys.

listening:   as my daughter completes her homework...sometimes singing and other times asking for my help with French

purging:  continuing to go through possessions and divide them into keep or giveaway piles...still much work to be done in the basement:)

wearing:  new skinny jeans in a fall burgundy colour and a necklace I made many years ago

planning:  a weekend getaway with hubby to celebrate our recent 20 year anniversary

counting:  getting back into the daily routine of counting steps taken and need to log daily food again

trying:  to not give in to the bad habit of snacking in the evening before bed..usually I'm tired and I should just drink a bit of water and just go to sleep

and my OLW for 2012...

embracing: the change of season, conversations with my kids, coffee chats with my hubby, phone conversations with my Mum, the challenges of some conversations, the difficult situations, people with challenging attitudes....the fact that I am not in control and giving that up to HIM

photo taken by Victoria at the cottage a few weekends ago....

Weekend Lens

These are a couple of pictures taken by Victoria and then I took one of her as she was talking to me:)  We went for a short walk to Ojibway this past Sunday as the boys were out at hockey.  It was a nice time....just enjoying the sunshine and cooler temperatures.  We made a stop first for coffee for myself and fries and a drink for Victoria.  Our weekend was spent quietly enough at home...cleaning, a sleepover with Lily here Friday night and a slow cooker meal of pulled pork for dinner Sunday.  That was kind of the highlights...LOL  It feels like the kids are just growing so quickly now.  I'm thinking we won't have many times left with just the 4 of us...just need to say thank you and enjoy the present gifts.  

Hello Blog:)

Good Tuesday Morning....I am dripping in sweat..and I love it?!!  Oh what is going on?  I am so happy with the results I have gotten this time around with Weight Watchers..I mean this time I really get it:)  I want to continue feeling good, having energy and fitting into cute clothes.  Yesterday I turned 45 and I think this is the healthiest I have been since my twenties...I had a goal in my mind that because this year is my 20th wedding anniversary and after a health scare of a bit last year, now is the time. I had given myself the whole year to lose 20 pounds...I only needed 5 months.  I have been working hard at it and there are still many days I have conversations in my head to get myself moving, thinking about what I really would like to eat and just enjoying real food.

I'm looking forward to continued success and my hubby got me a Silhouette for my birthday (very lucky me!!)  So today is the day I get to order it...so excited!  I know I'm a geeky girl:)  This cake my Mom and Dad brought out to the cottage yesterday..it was SO good!!

Lately.....

So it's been awhile..what have I been up to???   I have been making changes....

I joined Weight Watchers again on January 9th and last week I received my 10 pound ribbon:)  I have been getting up every morning (except Sundays:) and jumping on the treadmill for anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes.  There have been many times when I had to really push myself up BUT I do have to admit that I have formed a habit...a good one.  A habit that I now enjoy and really enjoy the results I am seeing. My eating habits (again, that word) have changed and I do enjoy food but more of the good stuff and really none of the bad stuff...unless you count red wine and then I must admit, I still indulge in this on occasion LOL I have a pedometer and I ensure I get a minimum of 10, 000 steps a day.   With these changes I now experience more days of energy, I can see physical changes in my body and I have a bag of double digit pants that I will NOT be wearing anymore:)  I am HAPPY :)

Those of you who are familiar with OLW know how it works:)  My One Little Word for this year is EMBRACE and it has been a help in my focus of changes.  I have embraced thankfulness.  I gave some friends a "best of my days" daily list that was found here:  http://ashleyannphotography.com/blog/diy/  and have been using one myself.  There are more reasons I have chosen embrace....perhaps I will share them another day:)  By choosing EMBRACE and putting that word into action I have found myself feeling HAPPY

This month I finally got myself going in the direction of volunteering and have begun the process of helping with  the local Hospice program here.  I went to the meeting on my own and really feel that there is a place and purpose for me there.

In the area of creativity I have begun Project Life (I am behind a bit but that doesn't really matter....right?!) I am enjoying the my365 app on my iPhone and am a continuing addict on Pinterest and have brought some friends over as well.

I continue to work on my daily Bible readings and think I would like to join a Bible study group again...

This is going to be a year of change and celebration...a year of happy...a year of embracing

and just because I need to post a picture..here's one:

New year..new pages!!

Well the holidays are over and the decorations are finally all put away:)  This past week I was able to complete some layouts for the design team at Scrappy Chic and was happy with how they turned out.  I have another one done but no photo yet....I am still learning how to operate my new computer...the kids are trying to help me out with that though:)

I have decided to do Project Life this year!  I have many ideas on how to organize my supplies and hope to have that completed this week:)

We enjoyed a nice visit at my brother and sister-in-law's home yesterday to celebrate Tamara's birthday. It was nice to see their new basement since renovating it due to a flood.  So happy to have family close by and get to see each other often.