Christmas pix

I had a fabulous time with my family and friends. Love you guys!!

My grandparents:
My mom:
My dad (reading a book he got for Christmas):
My brother Jeff and I:

My cousins and I (Anne, Fanny, me and Nelly):
My aunt Anne:
My grandcousins Yanis and Ugo meeting Santa for the first time (Ugo wasn't totally secure about that weird guy... LOL):
My best friend's son Tristan and I, reading the book I gave him for Christmas:
and having fun together:
My friend's Nora's daughters Zaya...
and Kimi:
My mom's dog Calypso and my grandparents' dog Bagheera having fun in the snow:
And finally a gorgeous circular rainbow I saw with my mom... just stunning!

Hold me accountable

Here are my goals for the end of my vacation (I go back to work on Januray 5th):

• clean up my home office (I've taken before pix but I'll post those only when I'm done... I'm too ashamed of this room right now!),
• decide of my 2009 goals and make plans to reach them,
• clean the remodeled room (previously a garage, soon-to-be a living room) and help DBF put the floor (and take before / after pix),
• get slowly back to a "normal" sleep routine = get to bed by 10:30 and get up around 6:30

I'll soon be back to let you know how I'm doing!

BTW, this will be my "Tips Tuesdays" post: don't make "resolutions", make goals. And, more important, make plans on how to reach them. SparkPeople has great articles about goal setting. I especially like this one, entitled "Do's and Don'ts of Goal Setting". Have a look!

Merry Christmas!!

I know I'm late, but since I was with my family for the holidays since 8 days WITHOUT INTERNET (what was I thinking????), I still wanted to wish you a merry christmas and happy holidays. Hope you and your family are safe and enjoying the season together. Take care!!

Busy, busy, busy

Oh, did I mention BUSY??? I barely had a free minute over the last week. I'm working like a mad woman to try to finish everything before the holidays. Until tonight I thought I wouldn't be able to go to my grandparents' home for the big family party on the 20th, but after talking to my boss, we may find a way... I really hope things will work out!!

On the positive note, I received my late birthday/early christmas gift: a Nikon D60 with a AF-S 18-55 mm VR lense... I'm so excited!! Lookie, lookie:
BTW, I took those pix with another camera (well, obviously) but then I put the memory card back in my camera. I wondered if having the pic of a camera into the said camera could create some space-time loop and destroy earth... or I'm just working too much and should definitely have some rest! Not sure yet! LOL

Here I am, practicing my photographer's pose (in my bathroom):
Talking about photography, I just discovered this great site by Nikon... So many fab infos there! I just had time to have a quick look but I can't wait to watch them more closely...

One last thing: we got our kitty Flamby neutred on Monday, and when he came back he had some ointement on his balls... or rather where they used to be... and this ointement was silver. Not grey, silver. Just perfect for the holidays, so festive! LOL Poor Flamby, we laughed sooooo hard. Guy even whistled "Jingle bells" every time he crossed the cat. We're mean. Oh, and of course I took a pic... Couldn't resist!!
Have a nice weekend, everyone!! Mine will be... guess what... BUSY!!!

Organizing - Where on earth do I start?

Well, this works for organizing as for any other project that seem too overwhelming... This is a tip from Marcia Francois, hope it will help you get started!

First of all, relax and take a deep breath :-)

1. Start with the area of your home or life that bothers you the most.
If you can't bear to choose clothes every morning because your wardrobe is too cluttered, then that's probably a good place to start.

2. Decide what you want to have happen in that space.
Do you only want clothes in your wardrobe, or do you want shoes and handbags in there too?

3. Declutter.
You can't organise clutter. Get rid of everything that shouldn't be there. Some things need to move to other rooms and some need to move right out of your house!

4. Organise what's left according to your personality.
Not everybody is a minimalist. Some of us need to surround ourselves with our treasures and that's okay. Your system works as long as you can find what you're looking for relatively quickly (within a minute).

5. Maintain.
Last but not least, do a quick, 5-minute maintenance session in each major space every week so that your space remains organised.

Marcia Francois is a time management and organising coach who empowers small business owners and other busy professionals who want to make the most of their time. You'll get simple, practical organising and time management secrets to help you work less and enjoy life more! Visit http://takechargesolutions.org for your free Organising Success Pack.

Talking cat

What a better way to start the weekend than with some fun? Here's a little video that is just simply hilarious...

Gratitude...

I've heard so much about being thankful and the power of gratitude, that I really would like to give it a try... ;-)

Let's see... It might be basic, but I'm really thankful to have a good health. Okay, I'm not as healthy as I could, but I can walk, I don't have any disease or disability, and if I manage to treat my body correctly I'm sure it will pay me back with a long and enjoyable life. Thank you, my body, for having been a reliable partner for the last 29 years. Except on very few occasions, you were there when I needed you, you didn't let me down, I could count on you to help me through tough times.













It feels good indeed! LOL

What are you thankful for? Please share and make me happy for you! Have a nice day!

My grandcousin Masha

Ain't she cute? She's 2 months old, she's my cousin Nicolas and his girlfriend Lara's daughter.

30 seconds rule

Here's a great tip from Sandra Felton aka The Organizer Lady: "If it takes 30 seconds or less to do it, do it now!" This can apply to many different little jobs that, when added one after the other, make a great difference in how the house look: putting a dirty plate in the dishwasher, putting things back to where they belong after using them, picking up an item that fell down (or that my lovely cat pushed down the table when playing with it! LOL), etc.

Here's the explanation of this rule by Sandra Felton herself: "Sometimes when I mention that if something takes 30 seconds or less to do that we should determine not to put it off, people object. "If I start doing everything that takes thirty seconds, I will work myself to a nub." And that is true. So let's limit how we apply it. The thirty second rule needs to be applied in two ways only. The first place we should apply it is with what happens in the future. The second place we should apply the thirty second rule is with those that are high priority needs."

I will focus on that today. Do you have any example of 30 seconds jobs that would help you have a more organized and neat home?

A very inspiring site

As I want to post more on my blog(s) but can't seem to find the time during the week to do so, I've decided to prepare my posts on weekends and let Blogger do the work for me! LOL

On Mondays I plan to post some personal things... either a LO I created, something that makes me happy or inspires me... I've entitled this category of posts My Mondays... yeah, so original, I know!! LOL

Today I'd like to share a fabulous site, very inspiring: Amy Atlas Events. Check out their Eye Candy page, they have absolutely gorgeous stuff! I especially like the Candy Shop Dessert Table (starting pic #22): so colorful and fun, plus I love the retro candies!

Have a nice day, everyone!!