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December 31st, 2011

2011: The Year That Was (Part 1 of 2)

I’m going to be self-indulgent here and look back at the year that was on Coffee with Julie … perhaps I’ll learn something or perhaps I will learn that I need to learn something in 2012!

January 2011: The new year started on a very high note when I found out that Coffee with Julie had placed 2nd and 3rd in two Canadian Weblog Awards. Then I started a thread of posts on over-consumption (I had so many other posts I wanted to write about on this topic, but never seemed to find the time to piece them together), that included a fabulous guest post by Pam Dillon. By mid-month, I had already faltered on some of my New Year’s resolutions. And finally, I gave up all pretenses of not being a social media geek and instead proudly announced this with a new piece of jewelry. In total, I wrote 12 posts that month.

February 2011: My grandmother turned 87 in this month, and I wrote about the passage of time. The nostalgic themes continued with a post on my first kiss, and a few other ramblings. In total, I wrote 7 posts in February.

March 2011: In this month, I had my first piece published in Parent & Child magazine and it was based on a birthday post from Coffee with Julie. I also shared a really spooky ghost story and jumped on the bandwagon to comment on “The Tiger Mom” concept embraced by Amy Chua. In total, I wrote 9 posts.

April 2011: This was a busy time for our family because we were getting the house that we’d lived in for 14 years ready for sale. I wrote a semi-pathetic sort of rambling letter to my blog explaining my lack of posts. And we were all quite shaken from witnessing our neighbour’s house go up in flames. In total, I wrote 8 posts.

May 2011: This was a fun month because I was given the opportunity to attend Blog World & New Media Expo in New York City for my work. I didn’t write much about it but did manage to share the trip via tweets. But my absolute favourite post from this month was “A conversation about Twitter and DH.” I wrote a total of 5 published posts and 1 still in draft titled “Misery thy name is OUTDOOR bootcamp.” (Related: I quit Bootcamp in May.)

Power outage tweet

June 2011: With the end of the school year came the bi-annual conundrum of what kind of teacher gift is appropriate (if any). I also wrote about QR codes and LinkedIn, but in the background we had sold our home — the first home and the only one our children had known — and I had anxiety about change on the mind. Oh, and Stella got a buckle fracture on her arm from rough-housing around outside. In total, I wrote 9 posts and 2 additional posts are still sitting there in draft format (poor neglected things!).

With each year, time passes more quickly. And that’s why this blog is so special to me … it is a chronicle of my life and looking back through the first 6 months of 2011 has brought back all sorts of great memories. Tomorrow, I’ll look at the final 6 months of 2011. Thanks for joining me on this trip down memory lane! Happy New Year to us All! xox

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December 16th, 2011

Super Sweet Christmas Vignette

With my new found love for vignettes, I couldn’t help but take notice of this gorgeous little vignette that my neighbour had created in her front hall.

It’s unfortunate for you that I only have the camera in my BlackBerry and zero photography skills. But trust me, this vignette is so super sweet. What you can’t really see from the angle on this photograph is that the wooden frame is actually made specifically for hosting vignettes. I love it! Apparently my neighbour found it in Merrickville a number of years ago. It is fantastic, isn’t it? (Yes, I did tell her that she needs to get an electrician in to move the light switch. It is totally interfering with the vignette’s glory!)

Here is a close-up shot, where you can see one of each of the vintage postcards, candles, wooden soldiers, and pinecones.

I was particularly taken with these postcards. They are beautiful little pieces of art. My neighbour’s father used to collect these postcards, and she inherited them when he passed away nine years ago. Each postcard has its own little plastic pocket to protect it and they are dated with postmarks from as far back as 1929, with handwritten messages sending Christmas wishes.

You can see here that this postcard was sent from Algonquin, Ontario:

Don’t you just love looking at handwriting? I find it so expressive and personal.

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December 6th, 2011

It’s December. Christmas is now allowed.

This is how I feel about Christmas when I see all the gaudy decorations and hear those brain-screeching carols before December has even hit:

Seriously. This ornament is just so perfect (with big props to Coffee with Julie reader Giulia for sharing this with me today!). I am a total Grinch about Christmas in October. And November. Only come December do I feel that Christmas is actually allowed. Thank you very much.

But I am not a total Ba-humbug. I just don’t like all the ruckus to start too early. To prove it, I will share what I put up on my door this past weekend.

It’s made from fresh greenery and smells fantastic. I actually bought it ages ago from a neighbourhood kid who was selling them for hockey fundraising. It was $20, which seems like a decent deal actually and it was delivered right to our door this past week. To hang it, I followed the instructions that Michael Penney shared on his blog by using a simple piece of red ribbon that I found at Michaels.

Let the Christmas craziness begin!

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November 12th, 2011

Impractical Purchasing, NYC edition, part 1

As of late, it has come to my attention that I am an impractical girl. I have been stubbornly resisting this label. I like to consider myself a practical person — getting what needs to get done done, leaving the rest; buying sensible, well-priced things; leaving the rest.

Sadly, I think this might have been a case of living in suspended disbelief. My first hint should have been the fact that Hubby does not let me do the grocery shopping. His chief complaint is that I come home with nicely designed cleaning products, expensive granola, and black licorice but not enough ingredients to make a meal with. He is so picky.

Anyhow, I digress. I went to New York City and I have yet to tell you about the shopping. The Shopping! In New York City!

One of the first places where I made a purchase was in a store called Bird. Kerry had these groovy pocket-sized cards for different neighbourhoods all around New York and on this day, her card told us to check out Bird. So we did. We’re obedient that way.

Bird is one of Brooklyn’s first fashion destinations and also the very first LEED-certified retail store in New York City. It was recently voted Best Women’s Boutique in New York City by New York Magazine and Top Visionary Boutique in the United States by Lucky Magazine.

As soon as I stepped in, I couldn’t believe my eyes! Just that morning I had whined to Kerry about how I had always wanted a pair of glasses but the frames were always too expensive to justify for clear lenses. (You see, I don’t actually need glasses, I just covet them. I never needed braces as a kid either, and I wanted those too.) And yet here were a whole slew of frames to choose from — all priced at $99! Okay, I hear you … a hundred bucks is still a lot of money to spend on an accessory, but for glasses, these were a good price.

I was ridiculously excited and started jumping up and down. Kerry did her quiet shaking-of-the-head-thing-while- being-secretly-amused-but-not-enough-to-warrant-being-associated-with-me and immediately wandered to the other end of the store.

I was in heaven. Here’s me in the store, sporting the glasses that I chose:

Trying to do my best sexy librarian look.

After the thrill of this find, I immediately set off to see what other wares the store had. I picked up a great looking pair of boots. $720? Ouch, no thanks. So I went smaller and looked at the scarves. I found a beauty, which looked to be of standard material but with a bit if flair. I took a gander at the price tag: $185. I think I may have laughed out loud. Kerry insisted she’d seen the same scarf on her trip to Vietnam for $1.50. Maybe less. The store didn’t hold much appeal for us so we didn’t stay long. But I was still just as pleased as punch with finding the glasses.

Then, just this week, long after the NYC trip was over, I learned that Kerry is actually going in to have laser surgery on her eyes so she won’t have to wear glasses ever again. For her, they’ve been a necessity since age 5. For me, a frivolous joy at age 40.

Don't tell anyone that I don't actually need glasses, k?

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November 9th, 2011

Multi-tasking is the bane of my existence and also my life bread

It’s all the rage these days to talk about how multi-tasking isn’t really a good skill to apply anymore. That you are better off focusing all your attention on one task and in doing so, you will actually get it done quicker. In other words, you’ll save more time and get more done if you just line all your tasks up in row and knock them down one by one.

That, my friends, is not how multi-tasking works. As any mother knows, multi-tasking is not about getting things done quickly or more effectively by doing more than one thing at once. In fact, we’d love — more than anything! — to be able to devote all of our focus on one thing at a time.

Multi-tasking is not a choice. It is something that one must do, if one expects to actually get anything done at all.

As Exhibit A: My work day is now done and this is how my evening is going to play out …

Supervise a short homework period with one child (nagging as needed)
Drive over with above noted child to my Gram’s residence and pick her up for dinner
Drive over to Swiss Chalet, because both Gram and child will eat there
Drive over to Chapter’s where I have a meeting scheduled with out daycare provider at 7pm
Deposit Gram and child into Chapter’s. Let them browse for an hour.
Discuss other child for one hour with daycare provider to share tips and sync-up
Re-group with Gram and child and drive Gram back to her residence
On the way home, stop at drugstore to pick up some face cream and toothpaste
Arrive home, usher child into bedtime routine (nagging as needed)

Now, why am I doing all this at once? Well, because I had scheduled a meeting with my daycare provider for this evening. But I am also long overdue in taking my Gram out for dinner and she is in the same neighbourhood. I also promised child to a new book, and this is in the same neighbourhood too. And I also promised my face that I would finally get a refill on skin cream since the last one has been sitting empty for too long.

And if I didn’t multi-task all of this into one evening, then I would still be feeling terrible for not taking Gram out in ages and not fulfilling my book promise to child and having dry, uncomfortable skin! There is simply not enough time to not multi-task.

Please tell me this is normal. In the meantime, I will try to get a half-dozen things done ineffectively and check back for your answer.

p.s. Despite all the practice I get at multi-tasking, I still fail at it. Frequently. Case in point: The day got so busy that I forgot to do the draw for the $50 Mark’s gift certificate. So you now have until 10 am tomorrow to enter!