Chloé's Ramblings

Last week's LOs

2012-01-26T19:22:00.000+01:00

Wow, this has been quite a crazy week at work computer-wise. For several days we had no mails, no internet, no server and sometimes no computer at all. Talk about frustrating. Maybe that's why I forgot to post my weekly scrap recap on Sunday! Yeah, I know, excuses! ;)

Anyway, better late than never! As usual, I start with last week's P366 LO:

Credits

And now some other pages...
Kira playing:

Credits

A page about my everyday life for a challenge @ Tell Your Story Every Day:

Credits

And another one for the same site. Love TYS!

Credits

The next ones feature some new products by Amanda Heimann... and some older ones as well. First the "Storytelling alpha No2":

Credits

Then "Storytelling alpha No1" and a brand new template set called "Storytelling Layers No.1". Love the big journaling space!

Credits

And last but not least, a little all-girl-all-summer page just to cheer you up, also featuring Amanda's products.

Credits

Hope you enjoyed those LOs as much as I enjoyed creating them!

This week's LOs

2012-01-15T18:58:00.005+01:00

This week has be very busy... work busy! But I still managed to find / make time to scrap. And even though my resolutions went a bit out of the window, I'm trying to keep up with my goal to post my LOs more regularly. So here we go, here are this week's LOs.

First my P365 LO

Credits.

And then 4 LOs (single pages for days 1 and 3 and a double page for day 2) about our trip to Paris in 2010.

Credits.

It was about time to get those memories scrapped, right?

Hope this week won't be as busy, see you soon!

Weekend goals update

2012-01-08T22:51:00.002+01:00

As promised, here's how went my various goals for the weekend:

plan next week's menus and go grocery shopping DONE
change cat litter NOT DONE
pick up the house DONE, especially the kitchen 50% DONE
do one or two (depending on how fast it dries) loads of laundry ONEDONE, it's not dry yet so I have no room to do a second one.
finish to unpack (just a couple books left)DONE
clean my deskDONE
unclutter my unread RSS folder 10 out of 45 DONE, still some work left!
pamper myself (I desperately need to wax my legs and give myself a good facial) NOT DONE: we ran out of fuel for our central heater, so the bathroom is way too cold for me to stay in there for more than a quick shower! LOL
take pix for work if the weather gets betterDONE

Except for the cold temperatures that stopped me from doing much (I feel like hibernating!), this weekend was pretty good. I had more troubles completing my resolutions, though, but it's all about progress, not perfection, so I will consider myself satisfied with how it went and keep working on the items I missed this time. On this note, I'm off to bed, see you soon!

My LOs this week

2012-01-08T16:36:00.004+01:00

Besides my OLW LO (see previous post) I've created a couple LOs this week. This first one is for my P365. At first I tried to go for another template but it didn't work so I went back to last year's design. Don't fix what's not broken, right?

Check the credits here

I also created a LO of my friends' son trying his first solid foods... with mixed results!

Check the credits here

And last but not least, a LO to recap my Christmas vacation in Switzerland.

Check the credits here

I'll try to post my pages more regularly... and to post more regularly on this blog, period! :)

First week in 2012

2012-01-07T09:18:00.002+01:00

Well, this first week has been great so far. I truely enjoyed all the fun stuff going on at TDC around OLW and resolutions and PL (even though I'm not participating). Lots of inspiration. The new sister site, Tell Your Story Every Day got launched this week too. I'm really happy about all these new adventures! TDC is definitely my digi-home. I love SSD's new look, but the community there, even if it's sweet and all, is too big for my taste and poor memory. I don't know people that well (or don't remember much about them except for a couple girls) and hence don't feel as comfy as I does @TDC.

But the most exciting part of this week for me was how I kept my OLW in my thoughts all day long, acting on it, following my resolutions for January and (surprise!) enjoying them. My motivation is really high and I don't really see it go down any time soon. *knock on wood* I even created a page to help me remember, and it's already printed (letter size)! Yay!!

Check my gallery for credits.

I also created a 4x6 monthly reminder:

Credits: Transformation by Dawn by Designs @ TDC, Basic Black Alpha by Melissa Bennett @ SSD, The Alpha Files and shadow actions by Krystal Hartley @ SSD, DJB Merry by Darcy Baldwin @ SSD

It really helped me feel focused on this OLW, and I love it. I also created an excel spreadsheet on my phone to hold myself accountable for my daily resolutions. I give myself a note from 0 to 10 for each of them every night and it gives me my average for the day and also how well it goes for each resolutions during the month. Silly as it is, this kind of geeky (or even nerdy) stats makes me happy! ;)

Since I'm focusing on my body this month, the rest is a bit out of control. I'm trying to relax and just maintain my basic routines, reminding myself that taking care of my house in a deeper way will come in its own time... but it's hard. Even the routines are neglected and my house, desk and digital world is too messy for my comfort level! So, this weekend I'll take some time to

~~plan next week's menus and go grocery shopping~~
change cat litter
pick up the house, especially the kitchen
~~do one or two (depending on how fast it dries) loads of laundry~~
~~finish to unpack (just a couple books left)~~
~~clean my desk~~
unclutter my unread RSS folder
pamper myself (I desperately need to wax my legs and give myself a good facial) NOT DONE: we ran out of fuel for our central heater, so the bathroom is way too cold for me to stay in there for more than a quick shower! LOL
~~take pix for work if the weather gets better~~

All of that without forgetting my resolutions. Hope I'm not too ambitious! I'll let you know on Sunday night how that went. Until then, enjoy your weekend!

OLW for 2012, monthly themes and January resolutions

2011-12-31T10:27:00.000+01:00

Every year, around the end of it, the digiscrapping world is buzzing about OLW. The "One Little Word" was created by Ali Edwards. It's an inspiration to help you, thoughout the year, focus on something important to you. Last year, I picked "Perspective", and though it was great for me I didn't work much on it besides a LO I created in January and that stayed up in my office all year long. This year, I want to act more on it and use it better.

My 2012 OLW is RESPECT. To make this OLW more concrete, I'll use Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project as inspiration and have monthly "themes". These will help me set up little, concrete resolutions. I know that when I set up big goals for the year I set myself up for failure because they are too vague, too overwhelming and hence unattainable. One thing at a time is the key to success.

January: Respect my body, treat it well, feed it properly, take care of it.
February: Respect my man and our couple
March: Respect myself, learn to love myself, qualities and flaws.
April: Respect the ones I love and our relationships, take better care of them, show the love
May: Respect people I work with and people I don't really know too
June: Respect our home, keep it in order, declutter
July: Respect our possessions and money, take better care of it, find process to do so peacefully
August: Respect my passions, practice my hobbies, learn new things
September: Respect my time
October: Respect the earth and our environement
November: Respect my values, live accordingly
December: Respect our need for traditions, create new ones

As Gretchen Rubin did in her book (which I just read during the holidays and LOVED!!), I will start in January by working on "respect my body". First, because, since I will have a FET (frozen embryo transfer) during this month, I don't know if I'll be able to do it later in the year if it works. I expect to be afraid to exercise if I get a positive test. I'll probably be a slightly bit paranoid! LOL And second because respecting my body is the foundation of all the other resolutions I will take. It's not possible to work on improving things and yourself (which might be difficult at time!) if you're always tired, feeling bad, in discomfort, etc.

My resolutions for January are:

exercise at least 10 minutes every day (walk, video workout, stretching)
eat at least 2 portions of fruits and 1 of veggies daily
get at least 7 hours of sleep every night
eat mindfully and slowly, put down my fork between bites, don't do anything else while eating
moisturize my body daily

I will create some visual reminders, both for my January resolutions and for my OLW. I'm so excited to get started on this project that I might even not wait until January 1st! LOL

Being sick is no fun!

2011-12-19T21:42:00.001+01:00

That cold threw me off and I spent my sunday vegging on the couch, unable to do anything, not even sleep. I'm still very tired today but at least I could go back to work and pretend to be somewhat productive. Things are slowly getting better. Here's what I need to complete before leaving for my trip on Friday:

Finish wrapping gifts.DONE
Send Christmas cards (including revisiting the contact list). DONE
Prepare packing list. DONE
Pack. DONE
Check my PPW to make sure that nothing requires action before I come back. DONE
Wash 2 loads of laundry, hang them to dry. DONE
Iron the rest of clothing, especially the stuff I need for my trip and the items DBF needs while I'm gone. DONE
Prepare other loads of laundry for DBF to wash while I'm gone. DONE
Enjoy SSD's GGG sale before it's over on December 24th. DONE

Maybe there's more, I'll add as I go.

So much for my plans...

2011-12-17T08:57:00.002+01:00

Well, I still crossed a couple things off my list for this week, but then I had to work extra hours and I had no energy to do anything house-related. I think I'm getting a cold so I don't know what I'll be able to do this weekend besides sleeping, but I'll still list what I have or would like to do:
HAVE TO:

next week's menu, shopping list DONE
grocery and last gifts shopping DONE
pick up Christmas cards from printer company DONE
visit a customer with DBF DONE
wrap last gifts
call customer service for the order I haven't gotten yet DONE
prepare packing list for my trip next week
2 loads of laundry

WOULD LIKE TO:

finish to iron the HUGE pile of remaining clothes
take naps to get rid of that cold before it gets too bad
take pix for P365 and scrap them

As usual, I'll let you know how that goes!

This week's plan + some LOs

2011-12-12T21:04:00.001+01:00

This week will be busy at work with the town magazine to finish and get printed, the Holiday cards to get ready and especially the contact list (400 contacts!) to update. Anyway, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do in the house with all that busy-ness at work, so I'll try to keep it light so that I don't set myself up for failure. Here's what I want to do:

Everyday: morning, midday and evening routines (especially dishes after each meal)
Monday: get back on track with P365 project + wrap Christmas gifts DONE
Tuesday: iron while watching Braquo DONE
Wednesday: digi-organisation: tag recently purchased kits, RSS reader, etc.
Thursday: finish digi-organisation
Friday: plan next week's menus and grocery shopping list

Even though I love having a weekend free of chores and go grocery shopping on Friday night, I'll probably have a couple gifts left to buy in a more distant shop, so I'll have to go there on Saturday.

Oh, and since it's been forever since I shared some LOs, here are a couple of my most recent ones:

I got a couple "Gallery standouts" with this one! Yay!!

As usual, check my gallery for full credits.

Yay, weekend!!

2011-12-09T22:48:00.001+01:00

I'm happy it's the weekend! I have the Christmas party from work this Saturday, and even though the music is usally crappy, at least I hope we'll have some good times with my collegues! And maybe see our boss get drunk, who knows! LOL Anyway, I don't plan to do nothing but party this weekend, here's my plan:
Saturday:

visit DBF's uncle in his elderly home, finish to set up his room DONE!
finish to wrap Christmas gifts, prepare package for SIL
change cat litter DONE!
pamper myself for party DONE!
iron our clothes for the party and more while watching "Love Actually" (my favorite Christmas movie EVER!) DONE, but while watching a new episode of "The Walking Dead"... Yeah, less romantic and Christmas-y! ;)

Sunday:

get up late after the party! DONE!
set up Christmas tree and other decorations DONE!
proofread town's magazine DONE!
pix of Christmas charity concert DONE!
order clothes online DONE!
create digiscrap calendar for collegue Don't need to anymore

My favorite part is that I didn't forget to add fun stuff in the mix. Love this!!

This week's to do's

2011-12-06T19:34:00.001+01:00

Life has been pretty hectic recently, but not as much as it usually is this time of the year. I'll be nice with myself and say it's because I've been more organized and efficient than usual! ;) Anyway, I still have lots to do and here's what I really want to accomplish this week. Well, the rest of it anyway!

Tuesday: change beddings DONE, pick up kitchen 75% DONE, do a load of laundry DONE and go to bed before 10:30 because I need to get up early tomorrow Mmmm, it's 10:24 and I'm still dressed, so I will probably be a bit late, but not too much... night all!.
Wednesday: do another load of laundry DONE, start wrapping the 7 Christmas gifts I already have 4 done and plan the ones I don't have yet DONE, start planning my trip to Switzerland for the holidays message sent to the car-sharing potential partner, have to wait for a response.
Thursday: finish wrapping the Christmas gifts and finish planning for the rest of them DONE for my two best friends and brother, just have to get gifts for my BFF's kids, find the ring and necklace I need to fix (my grandmother's engagement ring, created by my grandfather... I can't believe I misplaced it!!) DARN IT, can't find them back!! Will have to look some more tomorrow, plan next week's menus DONE on Friday.
Friday: errands: grocery DONE and Christmas gifts DONE shopping, the jewelry store irrelevant since I still couldn't find the jewels I need to fix.

Okaaaaaayyyyy, that's quite a plan, isn't it? Better get to work because it's already 7:45 PM and I got a lot to do! I'll let you know how that goes!

Falling off the wagon... or the horse... or whatever the heck it is!

2011-11-22T21:57:00.001+01:00

Well, this weekend didn't go as well as planned. I had absolutely ZERO motivation to accomplish the things I wanted to do. The beginning of this week wasn't much better. I had some not-so-good news on monday morning about our infertility treatement, and feeling sad and helpless about that didn't help my motivation for other things.

Anyway, time to wipe the dust off my knees and get back on the saddle! (BTW, that reminds me that I'd LOVE to ride a horse sometime again! LOL) Tonight I took my friend Anne-Sophie's kids for a walk with my doggie. I was really happy because her 7 years old son was always afraid of Kira but he overcame his fear and was able to take the walk with us today. Still not very comfortable, especially when the dog wasn't on the leash, but still, he didn't run away crying as he used to. This victory and the fact that we spent part of the evening with those kids makes me want to do something again, it re-energizes me.

I won't have much time tomorrow (wednesday) evening because DBF's aunt celebrates her birthday, and I have another exam for our treatement on Thursday morning (not as early as the two previous ones, luckily!) so, instead of trying to do too much and not succeed in anything, I'll focus on getting the house back in shape before the cleaning lady comes on Thursday afternoon. I'll have 2 lunch breaks (tomorrow's and Thursday's) and one evening to do it, which is completely manageable if I start tomorrow already. I'll get back to a more intensive work afterwards, especially if I can finally have some answers about our treatement. Not knowing what to expect is always bad for my mood, my motivation and because I can't plan much I usually don't even try to!

Take care!

Working at it

2011-11-19T08:45:00.001+01:00

So, on the beginning of this workweek, I listed right here all the things I planned on doing to get my life back on track. And it worked pretty well, for most domains at least. Yet, I'm not perfect (Pfew, luckily! that would be boring, right?) and I had some issue. Since posting here helps with holding myself accountable, I'll try to keep track more regularly. Soooo...

weight loss: track food every day: THAT was the domain where I struggled more. I'm definitely not good at keeping track of what I eat, I don't do it right away and when I catch up I always forget the munchies... which is precisely what matters most!
wellness: go to bed 15 minutes earlier every night until I get to 10:30: still working at it, I'm going to bed around 11 PM but I can't sleep until 11:30, so I still gotta improve that part.
routines: practice as much of each routine as I can, but at least do the dishes after each meal: except for Friday, where I was totally unmotivated to do anything because I was very tired (had to get up really early for an exam at the hospital), I did great on that part. Yay!
freetime: be more picky/mindful about what I watch on TV so that I have time for "better" stuff, like reading and scrapbooking: I barely watched TV all week, so I'd consider this a great success!
fertility treatement: collect all informations and papers for my exam on Friday: done! I'll have to write a post someday on how I organize my medical stuff for those treatements, 'cause it's working pretty well! ;)
Goal of the week: preparing Christmas gifts for my family and inlaws: this is 95% done, I'm still waiting on one pic from someone but all the rest is done and even posted to the printing website.

Well, that's it, I'm proud to have been doing really great on some aspects and even though I struggle on some others, I prefer to focus on the successes to build momentum and be stronger to work on the less successful domains! Here's what I'll do this weekend:

weight loss: track food every day (and, especially if it still doesn't work, try to find out if this is really a good goal for me or if being stubborn is a countereffective thing to do!)
wellness: go to bed 15 minutes earlier every night until I get to 10:30, and try to relax/not play with my smartphone in bed so that I can sleep faster once I'm there.
routines: practice as much of each routine as I can, but at least do the dishes after each meal.
freetime: get updated on my 2 fave websites and get caught up on my project 365 (really behind on that one!)
housekeeping: fix the little messes we have going on in the house after my no-motivation Friday and clean the cobwebs in our (very high ceiling) living room.
Goal of the weekend: send pictures to my niece and stalk my other niece for pictures so that I can finish my Christmas gifts.

Once again, I'll let you know on Sunday evening how that went! Until then... take care!

Getting my life back on track... again!

2011-11-14T20:34:00.001+01:00

Once again, I'm trying to get back on track with... well, about everything: weight loss, housekeeping, routines, time management, and it goes on and on. I know myself too well to try to do all at once, though, so I've decided to go slowly and take action on one thing at a time. Here are the things I will work on for each domain:

weight loss: track food every day
wellness: go to bed 15 minutes earlier every night until I get to 10:30
routines: practice as much of each routine as I can, but at least do the dishes after each meal
freetime: be more picky/mindful about what I watch on TV so that I have time for "better" stuff, like reading and scrapbooking
fertility treatement: collect all informations and papers for my exam on Friday.

I also have decided to work on one other goal each week until 2012 (or until I run out because all my goals are accomplished... yeah, right! LOL). This week, I'll focus on preparing Christmas gifts for my family and inlaws. I'm making digiscrap calendars, and so far I'm doing great: the cover and the first 6 months are done for my inlaws. It'll be much faster for my family after that since it's digital scrapbooking: I'll just have to switch the photos and tadaaaaa! I'll be done! LOVE technology!

On that note, I'm off to accomplish my evening routine. See you next weekend to find out how this week went!

My fave android apps

2011-10-04T23:31:00.001+02:00

As you may remember from this post, I now have an Android smartphone and I'm loving it. Being able to have all my PDA's apps + a phone + internet right there, in my pocket... Talk about geekgasm!! LOL Anyway, I thought I'd share my favorite free apps:

Grocery gadget lite: As a geek, it's against my life rules to shop with a paper grocery list... hence this app. It's not perfect but at least I can sort the items by status (to buy, already bought) or by aisle.
Chore checklist lite: I use this to record my daily, weekly, bi-weekly and monthly routines. Good one!
Astrid to do list: I use this one to keep track of my one-time to do's, like pay taxes, call X, pick Y, check Z.
SparkPeople's diet and food tracker: to record at least my weight, and ideally my food and exercise too. Recently I had nothing good to track in those last two domains, maybe that's why my weight log has been really scary!

Those were the useful/serious/productivity apps, and now some fun ones:

All the Angry Birds versions (the original, Rio and Seasons). I've just finished the original one, I'm starting Seasons... Fun but sometimes frustrating too! LOL
Pixlr-o-matic: the Android version of Instagram, love the vintage feel of those pix. Check this one I just made this afternoon, for example:

October already... how did that happen?

2011-10-01T18:03:00.000+02:00

Over the last days or even couple weeks, I've been SHOCKED everytime I see a date somewhere. And with today being the first day of october already, it's even worse. How could time pass so fast? Where have 9 months of this 2011 year gone?

I've been understanding Gretchen Rubin's motto "The days are long but the years are short" WAAAYYYY much better recently, and realizing how incredibly true and powerful this statement is. Now I have to try to enjoy the passing time and all the fun moments and happy events that come and go instead of trying to slow time! Being in the moment, instead of remembering the past (or worse, regretting it!) or anticipating the future (or worse, being afraid of it!) is probably one of the biggest secret of happiness!

Okay, that was me being all philosophical and stuff... What do you think about this topic??

Oils: a new way to clean my face?

2011-09-17T21:18:00.001+02:00

You may (or may not) know that I'm a green-geek: I'm always trying to get rid of the chemicals around me, and infertility hasn't help with this desire for "clean environement" I already had. Anyway, I was running out of my traditional make-up remover and rather than buying a "green" product, I decided to try the oil cleaning method. I was inspired by this post and by one of my FB friends that said it worked great for her. It's always different when someone you know, a "real person", tells about something tested in her real life, right?

So, this afternoon I checked my local supermarket and found some castor oil (huile de ricin in French) and some jojoba oil, about 5€ each 5dl bottle. Castor oil is a good basis and then you add another oil. Jojoba is apparently great for oily/acne-prone skin, so hopefully it'll help my hormonally messed up skin get better. Maybe I'll add some tea tree essential oil later on to make the mix (half castor oil, half jojoba so far) even better against acne.

I was so excited to try it that I cleaned my face at 4 pm and I LOVED it. I was afraid my skin would be greasy and not feel "clean", but WOW. It's soft and moisturized, without excess... Just the perfect balance! I couldn't help but touch my cheek and say "Wow, my skin's so soft... like a baby's butt!" LOL

I will finish my traditional cleaning product and switch to this method, but from this first experience it looks like it's gonna be a good one for me. And since it's green and economical, it's all good. Can't wait to try it for a couple weeks and see how it works on the long term!

Have you tried this method? If you did, did you like it? If not, why??

Busy, busy, busy!

2011-09-14T13:16:00.001+02:00

Autumn, basically september-december, is always the busiest time of the year for me. This year, it's even crazier than usual. In the coming week, for example, I have to organize the sport and association day on Friday, a trip to Luxembourg on Sunday, the inauguration of the town's high school next Tuesday and finally (at least for the moment) the town carnival next weekend. Pfew!

With all this business, trying to keep some sanity in my home and my life is more necessary than ever. I have a couple tips but I'd love to hear yours! Please share!

Recent LOs

2011-09-12T18:25:00.002+02:00

Well, I've been busy recently playing with my new ~~toy~~ phone, but I still found some time to scrap, and here a couple LOs I created in the last weeks:

As usual, check my gallery for full credits.

Technology

2011-09-09T23:20:00.001+02:00

Aaaaah, technology!! I have an Android smartphone since a couple weeks and I simply love it!! It's just fascinating to see all we can do from this little device: facebook, internet, music and podcast, games, and even blogging. BTW, I'm posting this from my phone!

This new "toy" was actually the little push I needed to join twitter and re-unite several of my accounts: e-mails, facebook, twitter and blog. It's so much simpler to manage one single network than various ones!!

Taking action

2011-08-16T19:05:00.000+02:00

As I planned in my last post, I've spent some time recently writing down each and every little thing that I have/want to do. It was a loooooong list, since I've listed quick immediate tasks as well as long term projects. (I've made the same thing at work, and trust me, this list is even longer.) Good news is: some items are already crossed off! Yay!!

I will now try to work on one quick task and 2 projects (for 15 minutes each) per day, except when I have to work in the evening. Starting today, for example, my two projects are editing Lydie's pictures and practicing my evening routine. And my daily tasks until the weekend will be:

tuesday: change beddings
wednesday: new phone's "money back offer"
thursday: go shopping for some good meat
friday: ironing

I will see how this goes and I'll let you know!

Who I am...

2011-08-14T08:31:00.002+02:00

"I love knowing who I am and more importantly, who I’m not." This sentence got posted recently on Marcia François' blog (a very interesting serie about party planning, check it out if you've got a birthday coming!) and it rang a bell with me.

I think this is the exact reason why so much disorganisation occurs in my life (or anyone's, actually). When we try to pretend we're someone else, or when we don't even know ourselves well enough, we end up with disorganisation and all its ugly friends: clutter, wasted time, bad feelings like guilt and low self-esteem, stress.

Some practical examples of this? Easy, I just have to look at my house and my life:

My craft closet is full of supplies I'll probably never use because I'm a digiscrapper at heart, not a paper scrapper.
My closet is full of clothes that don't fit because I gained a lot of weight, but that I keep nonetheless because I hope that one day, when I finally lose this weight, they'll fit again. The fact that they'll then (if that day ever happens) be totally out of style is another question!
My RSS reader is full of blogs that I follow in hope of being someone I'm not, someone that cooks, that scraps a lot (I have much more inspirational ideas that I'll ever have time to use!), that paper scraps (see above about craft closet), that blogs regularly (see below the date of my last post... yeah, I know!), etc.

Holding on those "someone I'm not" have bad consequences, and yet I can't let go of them. These are not true dreams I have, or things I really want to do/be/have in my life, otherwise I would have taken action on them. For example we really want a baby, and we are doing what's necessary and possible to get pregnant. But being a great cook... mmmm, not so much, since all I keep doing is reading food blogs without doing anything. It all summarize to that: being a doer instead of a thinker, a daydreamer or a reader.

Actually, a little bit of inspiration is great and pushes me to do new things and get out of my comfort zone and grow new (and sometimes unexpected) skills. But too much of it can be overwhelming and depressing rather than uplifting. If you can't take action to bring that inspiration to life, no matter how good the idea is, it'll only bring negative stuff in your life. Right now, what I need in my life isn't more inspiration to grow, it's to create a more solid base to grow from there. You can't build a house without good foundations, and you have to make sure that the first floor is well built before adding another one. That's what I'll try to do in the coming months: secure what I'm doing good, change what's not working and stop wasting my time and energy on trying to pretend I'm someone else.

First step: create a master to do list to make sure that all I have running in circle in my mind is written down and taken care of. I'll do that both at home and at work to keep things where they belong (and because I don't want to think about work when I'm at home!). I'll let you know how that goes! ;)

So much for my plans...

2011-07-16T19:29:00.000+02:00

No matter what I planned to do, my body decided otherwise. I don't know if it's a good news after our FET (frozen embryo transfer) or just a sign that I needed my vacation BIG TIME, but I'm exhausted. Seriously, just cleaning the kitchen took me several sessions split on 2 days. Okay, the kitchen was a terrible mess, but still! So I've decided that I'll do what I can when I can, and enjoy some relaxing time and some much needed rest. I still keep my plan in a corner of my brain, and if I feel better in the coming days I'll get back to it. If not, then I'll try to manage the bare essentials and do the rest when I come back from Normandy, during the last ten days of my vacation.

Today's to do's

2011-07-14T11:24:00.002+02:00

Let's see how I'm doing with my plan:

at least 15' in the office (first to clear the desk, then PPW)
at least 15' on e-mail (26 unread on Thursday morning)
at least 15' on RSS feeds: DONE (60 unread remaining out of 78)
at least 15' on my "dowloads" file: DONE (6.3 Go remaining out of 6.52)
at least one cleaning task (starting with the kitchen, which is a nightmare)
at least one load of laundry or 15' on ironing: DONE(one load hang up already, second one in the washer)
clean the dishes right after every meal so that the mess doesn't come back as soon as I clear it!
get to bet before midnight so that I can "catch up" on some sleep
scrap one LO (hey, gotta add some fun in there too, right? ;)

Well, hello there! Long time no see, uh?

2011-07-14T09:26:00.001+02:00

I know, I know, I've been a bad bad blogger! Life has just be crazy these... ~~days~~ ~~weeks~~ months (had to check when was my last post... yep, months!), first of all because we had a huge event at work to plan: a 5 days long festival that we organized for the first time. Weeks and weeks of planning, 15 hours workdays, and a town magazine to finish in 2 days right after the festival to top it all... Fun times. And as if this wasn't enough, I had a FET (frozen embryo transfer) just after all this craziness. But all in all everything went great, the festival was a huge success, the town magazine is out, we celebrated Bastille Day yesterday evening (despite the pouring rain) and I am now in vacation for 3 whole weeks! YAY!!!

Well, the only thing that went bad during all this was my housekeeping. Our house is a complete mess. So here I am, trying to set up a plan to get things back to normal before leaving to my grandparents next week.

Here's what I'll do daily:

at least 15' in the office (first to clear the desk, then PPW)
at least 15' on e-mail (26 unread on Thursday morning)
at least 15' on RSS feeds (78 unread on Thursday morning)
at least 15' on my "dowloads" file (6.52 Go on Thursday morning)
at least one cleaning task (starting with the kitchen, which is a nightmare)
at least one load of laundry or 15' on ironing
clean the dishes right after every meal so that the mess doesn't come back as soon as I clear it!
get to bet before midnight so that I can "catch up" on some sleep
scrap one LO (hey, gotta add some fun in there too, right? ;)

Looks doable, right? Off to take my breakfast and get started!

Home tour (caution, photo heavy!)

2011-05-22T19:09:00.001+02:00

Okay, as Marcia asked to see my home, here's a quick home tour. I took the pix right after I had finished my weekly cleaning, so this is just the best it can look, it's usually much messier!

Here's the view you have when you enter our property. We are very lucky to have a big garden around our home.

Here's the door. I love the roses, especially the white ones that smell soooooo good.

When you enter the house, there's some sort of "roundabout" in the middle from where you can go to the different rooms. There are 5 rooms in the original part of the house (on the right on the picture above): our bedroom, the kitchen, the bathroom, another spare room/future kids' room/today's dungeon (it's so messy I couldn't bare to take pix of it! LOL) and the office. Then the living room is in the former garage (on the extreme left on the pic above) that we remodeled about 2 years ago. Okay, let's get in!

Here's the entry way, with the "roundabout" in front and the bathroom's door.

The first room on the right when you enter the house is the office. Here's an overall view

DBF's desk, on the left when you enter the office.

The office's storage, on the right of the room. There's also our indoor bike (which is more often used as a very expensive coat hanger) and our cat's boxes on the floor. Having this cat is like having a toddler, he leaves toys all over the place... ;)


My desk, in front of the door

Here's DBF's closet

And here's mine. Yes, my boyfriend has more clothes than me.

In front of the entrance is our tiny, very narrow bathroom. At least it's easier to clean up! It's so tiny we don't even have a bathtub, only a shower. That might be a problem when we have babies, but we'll figure it out then!

Here's an opposite view of the bathroom. It's one of the only room that doesn't have much built in storage, but it's enough for our needs. Once again, this might change when we have babies.

On the right, in the back of the house when you enter, is the kitchen. It's bright yellow and I love how cheerful this look in the morning. If I'm not awake by the time I get in, I am after that! LOL

This is the cooking/fridge/freezer area. I have a very limited working space so everything is hang up, it frees more surface.

The table and the sink, with our dishwasher. The cat's litter is also in there, because we rarely eat in the kitchen. We move it when we eat there. It's not a perfect spot for it, but it's the "least bad" place for us!

The kitchen's HUGE storage space... love it!

Last but not least, the living room. We have to go down a couple steps from the kitchen to get there.

This is the first part of the room when we get down from the kitchen.

Our "big books" and comics bookcase (the paperback/pocket books are in the office)

The entertainement area. Almost all the storage there is empty. Ain't it fabulous, especially for a packrat like me?

Well, this is it, I hope you enjoyed the visit! Let me know what you think!!

Scrappy news

2011-05-16T18:26:00.000+02:00

Okay, even the announcement wasn't public, I hope I can post my big news on my poor neglected blog: I got picked to join Amanda Heimann's CT! I'm so excited!! I already downloaded and played with her fabulous product and I'm feeling so inspired, I can't stop scrapping! Here are the LOs I made so far:

Using Pretty Picnic with Mommyish Designs and Layout Builders #3

Using Fever with Meghan Mullens

Using May Grab Bag (Rainbow Connection and Gray Skies add-on)

Using May Grab bag (Rainbow Connection and Ctrl+Alt+G)

Using Fever with Meghan Mullens

Hey, I told you I was inspired, right? Love it!!! Check out my TDC gallery for more infos!

I'm not a real girl

2011-05-04T20:51:00.000+02:00

At least according to all the machist clichés of womanhood: I don't care about shoes. Like, really really don't care. I have a pair of rain boots and two pair of sport shoes (one for inside, one for outside) for the "utilitarian shoes", and 3 pairs of true everyday shoes: leather boots for winter, sneakers for anytime and flats for summer. And that's it! DBF has about the same amount of shoes, which makes it very easy to maintain. Well, in theory, because in reality we usually have more than our pair of the day out in the entryway!

Here's what my shoes look like most of the time:

This is the floor of my jackets' wardrobe, where the shoes not currently in use are stored. Notice my little helper? LOL

And this is the entryway. How welcoming, uh?

And this is how I would like my shoes to be all the time, or at least how I should put them back every other day:

The entryway with only our pairs of the day, one for DBF and one for me.

The wardrobe's floor. In the boxes are the less used shoes and the more frequently used are stored outside.

Now all I have to do is take pictures of the shoes inside the boxes to find them more quickly and, most of all, maintain this system. My luck, as I said, is that with that few shoes it's very easy to pick up when there's a mess, it takes only 5 minutes!

What's your system to organize your shoes? Do you have any tip for me?

Week one of SYL

2011-05-02T18:44:00.000+02:00

Ooooops, I forgot to post here: the first week of my guest blogging for the Simplify Your Life e-course was posted at Marcia's blog! Go have a look and let me know what you think!

Excuses...

2011-04-26T18:49:00.000+02:00

We're all the same, we all make excuses. Well, normal people do, at least! And since I'm very very VERY normal, I make them very often. Housekeeping and weight loss are the two areas of my life where it's the worst. BUT, I wanted to share with you that tonight I decided to "just do it" and stop making excuses.

I'm in an association where I can practice Tae Bo twice a week. The problem is, the course on Tuesday is at 7:30 pm, which is too late (I get home too late for watching House MD... don't laugh, this stops me from going!!) and too early at the same time (I don't have time to eat before going, or I'm still digesting when I exercise and I'm feeling bad!). Plus I usually go to the town where the course is with people, which means I can't go at my own rythm (even if it's greener, this still bothers me).

Anyway, instead of spending another Tuesday without exercising because I find excuses for not going to this course, tonight I just grabbed my skates and sport pants and went for a 30 minutes ride. I'm so proud of myself!

"Identify the problem"

2011-04-23T21:35:00.000+02:00

One of Gretchen Rubin's Personal commandments is to "identify the problem". I recently followed this advice and it made a huge difference! I had several objects that had no designated spot in my office: my tablet's pen, my headphone, and in my kitchen: my white/magnetic board where the menus and coupons are kept, my dishes gloves and the towel. These items were always lying there, always "on my way", if you know what I mean.

The white board, for example, was on my (very little) working surface, standing against the fridge. It fell regularly, usually when my hands were full and when I couldn't pick it up. The magnets would fall too, usually in the bowls that were on the working area... a true mess!

The white board before. Notice my paper towel and foil roll holder is already vertical...this should have helped me figure out the white board thing!

This was a tiny problem, but a very annoying one, and I had to stop and think to identify it. Once I had figured out what the problem was, it was quickly solved with a couple nooks.

The white board after, on the other side of the fridge.

The dishes area with the towel and the gloves hanging down.

Here's the details of the towel and gloves' nooks. They even are hidden from sight... Just perfect!

Now all those little objects are hung up and have a designated spot to stay. The white board is the first thing we see when we enter the kitchen, which will motivate me to keep it clean and decluttered and will remind DBF to check the menu of the week. The gloves and towel are hung with clips from the Dollar Store. My working surface is free and I (or rather DBF, my personal chef) can cook without having to fear a white board falling on him. Ain't it great?

I did the same thing in my office. I had a rack of nooks that wasn't used anywhere but that I kept "just in case" (yep, I'm THAT kind of girl!). Since I don't need it in our closets, I thought I might as well use it for all those little items. Now even my ruler can hang up there, with a little help from my trusty crop-a-dile.

from left to right: my rulers, tablet's pen, pens and pencils in a container and head phones. The container is from Ikea but I can't find the name anymore!

Do you have some trouble spots like these that you could fix easily once you identify the problem?

How to know if you're doing ok even when the obvious doesn't show

2011-04-22T22:14:00.001+02:00

This article on SparkPeople made me think. We all know that losing weight and organising have a lot in common: they both demand persistence, self-discipline, goals-setting techniques and baby steps to succeed. Is this another area where these two journeys are similar? Is there signs that your organisation is improving, or at least maintaining, even when the obvious (the look of your house, basically) isn't saying so? For me, the answer is clearly YES! Here are some signs I've seen even when I had the feeling to be stuck:

I'm feeling more peaceful, I don't have the feeling that things are out of control and that a huge wave is right behind me and will drown me anytime soon.
Even if things aren't properly put away, I still can find them quickly enough and I can still function. This sign can be dangerous, though, because the frontier is thin between that moment and the "I can't find anything, argggggh!! *hair pulling*" situation!
The very basic maintenance is done: dishes are cleared regularly (even if it's not done every day), we have clean clothes and underwear (even if we sometimes have to pick them directly from the drying line), the house is picked up.
I have energy and I don't have the feeling that my environement is dragging me down.
I don't freak out when friends show up unannounced, I'm comfortable with my house.
My house isn't only a house, it feels like a home, a cocoon, a retreat, and I look forward to be there.
I don't have "bad surprises", for example bills I forgot to pay or forms I was sure I had send back after filling them.
I can relax without feeling guilty and enjoy a good book or movie without a little voice in my head saying "You should be doing this or that, you lazy!"
I enjoy organising and getting a little further each time, without falling in the "organising for the sake of it and getting lost in the process rather than focusing on the goal" trap.
I see my house differently, I notice things I didn't see anymore, like that pile of clutter here, or that beautiful space there. Suddenly I re-discover my environement with new eyes.

Have you noticed those signs in weight loss or oganisation? And in any other area of your life?

Woohooo, terrific news!

2011-04-22T16:37:00.003+02:00

I'm so proud to announce that I'll be guest blogging at Marcia's blog over the next weeks for her Simplify your Life serie! Look, she already posted a little introduction... I feel like a rockstar! LOL

This course looks so interesting, and a simpler life is exactly what I need and aspire to right now. I've already started with the first week and it's so interesting! Can't wait to keep working towards my goal of a simple life!

Interesting firefox add on

2011-04-16T17:06:00.000+02:00

After my blog post about pinterest and a recent post by Marcia François, I'm starting to see a trend here: internet can be a HUGE timewaster if we let it be. I was going through some old bookmarks and I stumbled upon this one: leechblock. First, I love the name! Second (and more seriously) the goal of this add-on sounds interesting. From the add-on page:

LeechBlock is a simple productivity tool designed to block those time-wasting sites that can suck the life out of your working day. All you need to do is specify which sites to block and when to block them.

What I find interesting here is that it allows you to block certain pages. I'm thinking Facebook, flickr, pinterest, all those fascinating websites where you can easily spend your day mindlessly browsing. It also allows you to block some pages during certain periods of the day: if you want an extra help to avoid timesucking sites during the day yet with freedom to go there during the evening, it sounds great! I think I'll install it and let you know how it goes!

What do you think? Would such an add-on be useful for you?

Fabulous fundraiser kit for La!

2011-04-16T08:54:00.000+02:00

There's a fantastic fundraiser kit on sale since today @ SSD and DSA to help Lauren Grier. Here's the presentation of the kit in the shoppe:

Limited Edition Fundraiser! Lauren Grier is a fun, edgy, uber talented designer here at the Sweet Shoppe, but she shines in so many more ways than that. La is one of the voices that makes our community so open and fun, she is always ready to listen, la is a constant, and she certainly is one of the people that defines us here at SSD. One week ago Lauren fell severely ill and was hospitalized with 3 life-threatening blood clots. Our hearts were broken for her! La works so hard, and struggles each day to be an amazing single mom and designs her heart out as the sole provider for her awesome little son. So our designers, and friends from all over the community have come together to stand behind our la. So we bring you this labor of love, “A Little Help from My Friends.”

This kit HUGE collaborative from nearly 50 designers includes: 85 unique papers. Elements include 2 banners, 26 flowers, 8 labels, 7 borders, 4 flairs, 16 frames, 1 paint splat, 12 wordstrips, 10 stitches, 1 arrow, 4 flourishes, 1 photo corner, 1 tag, 3 chipboard circles, 6 hearts, 2 doodled swirls, 15 ribbons, 3 ricracs, 3 branches, 2 scatters, 2 sequin scatters, 3 strings, 3 butterflies, 1 charm, 9 word art, 7 buttons, 1 staple, 1 stitched circle, 5 journal spots, 1 journal lines, 1 key, 9 leaves, 2 pieces of tape, 4 paint splats, 3 gems, 4 paisleys, 2 doodles, 1 lace, 1 mat. Also includes 4 full alphabets, 2 complete fonts, 1 gorgeous template, and 1 paper stacker, and a coordinating photo action!

Participating designers: Shawna Clingerman, Penny Springmann, Kristin Cronin-Barrow, Misty Cato, Jenn Barrette, Dani Mogstad, Meghan Mullens, Libby Pritchett, Julie Billingsley, Fee Jardine, Eva Kipler, Heather Roselli, Cindy Schneider, Darcy Baldwin, Laura Banasiak, Tracie Stroud, Flergs, Micheline Martin, Crystal Livesay, Jennifer Fox, Valorie Wibbens, Designs by Helly, Jenna Desai, Jacque Larsen, Kaye Winiecki, Becca Bonneville/Tickled Pink Studio, Christy Lyle, Amy Wolff, Lauren Reid, Kate Hadfield, Lyndsay Riches, Captivated Visions, Jamie Seaward, Maaike Amstelveen, Gina Miller, mle Card, Sara Schiller, Juliana Kneipp, Jaclyn Bernardo, Sarah Cornish and Heather Hess.

This special edition kit will only be available through the end of April, so don't miss your chance to get your hands on it, and to make a difference in the lives of this beautiful woman and her son.

Have you read that? 50 designers? Yummy!!! Go to SSD RIGHT NOW and pick it up!!

Lots of new LOs

2011-04-15T09:23:00.000+02:00

I've been uploading lots of new LOs to my slidshows (on the right), including all my P365 weekly LOs. This project has been truly fun to do and I really enjoy looking at those recap.

That reminds me of Gretchen Rubin. She emphasize, especially in this month's resolution, how important past happy memories are in being happy or happier now, and this is totally true for me. For example when I look at this page about our last family Christmas party, I feel happier just by seeing all the love and joyful faces of my cousins, uncle and aunts.

Credits: Winter Wonderland by Zoe Pearn @ SSD

Don't you just love reminding yourself of happy times?

Why I'm not a member of Pinterest

2011-04-14T15:28:00.001+02:00

Pinterest is all the rage right now. It's a community where you can "pin" things that inspire you and follow people that have the same interests as you do (or complete opposite interests, if you want to!). Despite being pretty interested, I've never joined, for several reasons:

first (and probably least importantly) because I don't like the invite system, it has a snobbish taste that isn't my type.
because this site is dangerous: you can find so many fabulous stuff there that you could literally spend days surfing mindlessly. When you're as easily distracted as I am, finding a new timesucker isn't a good idea.
and last because I'm already a member of a site where I can collect pieces of inspiration, label them with keywords and even publish my finds if I feel like it: vi.sualize.us. I love it and if you're interested you can find my pictures here.

Let's make it clear, I don't judge people who love pinterest, I could easily love it too, which is probably why I'm being very cautious with it. The last thing I need in my life is another time sucking hobby that will distract me of truly important things! Gotta remind myself of my 2011 word: PERSPECTIVE. And put it into action! ;)

Things that inspire me

2011-04-13T15:28:00.000+02:00

I've stumbled upon various inspirational stuff recently, and I'd love to share some of them:

First of all, the SSD community got together to support one of her well known designer Lauren Grier, who's going through difficult medical stuff. If you want to do something for La, go ahead ans shop in her store, there are fantastic goodies there and you can get creative and helpful at the same time, what could be better than that? Oh, and if the amount of awsomeness in La's store overwhelms you, have a look here where the SSD members have shared their favorite products.
I'm a huge fan of the TED talks. They publish one (for free) each weekday and those are often incredibly interesting and exciting and mind blowing, like this one, or this one. To make it simpler, I'm getting the daily videos in my RSS feed, the link is at the bottom of the main page.
Talking about being creative, how fabulous is this hybrid project by MamaBee to help her kid count? I just LOVE it!!
I've been trying to be more positive and this awesome blog (pun intended) helped me a lot: every day, it points out something awesome. It's often funny, sometimes very touching, and everyday I get a bright little moment in my RSS reader... How AWESOME is that??? LOL
Last but not least, 2 fun blogs I discovered through one of the SSD challenges: Lovely Package and Lovely Stationery. Pure eyegasm!

Hope you enjoyed, let me know if you have found out something terrific that you want to share!

Last day of vacation

2011-04-12T22:14:00.000+02:00

As I predicted yesterday, my motivation for organizing is slowly disappearing. I guess the spring cleaning fever couldn't last very long, it's just not in my nature to be that way! LOL I decided to not fight my urge to relax and be lazy a little bit. I was very productive last week and I thought that I deserved some down time too. After all, I'm on vacation!

I tried to do the minimum at least: not let the dirty dishes pile up in the sink, get rid of junk mail, do a quick pick up of the house and a quick clean up of the bathroom at night, empty and load the dishwasher ASAP, etc. To be honest, the last 2 days were very lazy and I didn't got this bare minimal maintenance accomplished, but tomorrow is my last day of vacation and I want to get my house back to normal before going back to work and having much less time to take care of it. Soooo, I'm going to bed quite early tonight (it's 10:15 PM) and hopefully I'll feel energized and ready to get all those little tasks accomplished tomorrow. Baby steps, 15 minutes at a time, I can do this! And I gotta remind myself that even if I don't like to do it, I love the end result!

Not so good news... but I'll survive!

2011-04-11T21:37:00.000+02:00

Today I got the news that our IVF didn't work. It was our first attempt and we still have 3 eggs in the fridge, so we still have pretty good chance that it'll work eventually. And my body "warned" me over the last 3 days so the negative blood test didn't caught me by surprise. Anyway, I take this news pretty calmly and peacefully, which is good. I would probably have been more stressed with a positive result, actually! LOL

The positive side of this is that I will be able to end up my vacations (2 days left) being nicely busy in the home, without being afraid to do too much. Now if I only could find more motivation... LOL

Let's try to bring that poor neglected blog back to life!

2011-04-04T14:10:00.000+02:00

Now that I'm on vacation is the perfect time, isn't it?

I've been organizing a lot of things so that I can feel back in control. I truly hate the overwhelmed feeling that I get when things are not properly managed. I started with digital-organizing (because I had to rest after our IVF) and now I'm starting to add some (light) physical work. I also keep a running list of things I want to do, because the more I organize/declutter/clean, the more spaces I find that would need some attention!

So far, here are a couple of my accomplishements:

I completed 4 monthly LOs for 2010 (yeah, it was about time) and wrote the journaling for the whole year, I just have to add pictures and create the pages which is pretty much the fun part of the process! ;)
I got rid of 8.5 Go of digital supplies that I downloaded twice or that weren't my styl at all. And that doesn't include unzipping the files, yet! And I'm only at letter M in my list of downloads... Yeah, I'm a digi-addict!
I cleared my desk and shelves, filed a good chunk of documents that were waiting since 3 months in my "to file" box. I should rename it into a "To file RIGHT NOW, DON'T WAIT!!!" box, that would motivate me!
I started to go through our PPW, especially our medical stuff that I have to check carefully to make sure we get our money back from the insurance.
I started (this morning, that's why it isn't complete yet) to clean our kitchen's drawers and reorganized everything so that I can find what I'm looking for. Which, actually, made me realize that I have about 8 big knives that we don't use on a daily basis, I should donate them.

I'm also in a process of getting back to my daily routines, because maintenance is tough for me, especially once I go back to normal schedule and back to work. Having simple yet effective routines help me stay on track with all those pesky little to do's that take 30 seconds to do right away, but 5 minutes to complete if you wait: washing the dishes, cleaning the kitchen after meal, cleaning the bathroom daily, etc. So far it's going ok since I'm at home all day, I can "cheat" and do things all day long, but I want to adjust and be back to a normal schedule by next week, when I'll go back to work.

On that note, I'm off to put the said knives in my "to donate" spot and clean the lunch's dishes! Have a nice day!

Great opportunity!

2011-04-03T17:42:00.000+02:00

Marcia François, an organizing and time management coach, is offering a "Simplify your life" e-course to several guest bloggers. I love her philosophy of organizing and the way that she always has very practical tips and down to earth approach to organizing issues. She's also a mom of twins and works full time, so she knows what busy means!

Check it out here!

I am soooooo not into blogging right now!

2011-03-06T18:38:00.001+01:00

It's been more than a month since I last posted. I think my blogging mojo ran away. My scrapping mojo is still here, though, so I've been scrapping regularly and enjoying it a lot! I've also spent quite some time organizing my digital supplies (and physical scrap space too!) and everytime I find something that I love (which is quite often, since I got rid of almost everything I don't really love) I'm tempted to stop organizing and start scrapping! LOL Who said procrastination?? ;) Anyway, in the meantime I'll "go with the flow" and keep doing what makes me happy, I'm sure I'll go back to blogging eventually!

Oh, I almost forgot: I've been faithfully keeping up with P365: both daily photos and weekly LOs are done regularly. Ain't it great?? I'm so proud! LOL

Wow, so inspiring!

2011-01-23T10:21:00.000+01:00

Thanks to PDS I've just discovered this blog about Vivian Maier's photography. She wasn't a professional photographer but her pictures are absolutely amazing. She has "the eye" to take ordinary life and make it art. I love it when I "meet" those kind of artists that make you see life with a whole new perspective. The novels of Daniel Pennac are the same to me: he talks about every day situations but with so much talent that it looks like an extraordinary adventure. Love that!

First P365 LO of the year!

2011-01-08T15:53:00.001+01:00

Click in my flickr slideshow (on the right) for credits!

I can't believe I actually created a LO! I'm so proud for starting my P365 on such good bases!!

My boss...

2011-01-07T22:18:00.000+01:00

Tonight I had a pretty intense discussion with my boss. He's a jerk sometimes - often, even! - but he's intelligent and he has a great ability to understand who people are. He often points out the real facts, even if they aren't always nice ones it's good to have an exterior point of view of how you work. Anyway, it was pretty intense because I was crying like mad (I often have very emotional reactions with him, don't know why) but it gave me the opportunity to reflect on what I want from and for my job, what I don't want, what I expect of it and what I expect of myself. I think, once the drama is over, that this discussion will make me grow and move forward. I especially had the chance to realize two important things, one when we were talking and one when I was home and talked with DBF about it. Despite being hard to go through, I think that kind of event can be positive on the long term.

My word for the year

2011-01-02T15:24:00.000+01:00

I've chosen the word PERSPECTIVE as my inspiration for 2011. I hesitated for a long time between this one, focus, priorities and "let go", but I think that the word I finally picked covers all the other ones. I want to focus on the big picture, keep my priorities in an appropriate order and let go of the unimportant things, and all those concept are included in the word perspective. I want to stop sweating the small stuff and creating drama, and this word seems like a good reminder to me. I want to create a LO/visual reminder that I could have around to help me all year long, I'll work on that as soon as I'm done backing up my EHD. I'll also start preparing my resolutions, even though I don't want to create any pressure on myself and I want to have a positive and doable approach to them this year.

Happy new year!!

2011-01-01T18:50:00.001+01:00

Yep, it's 2011 already! I've had better starts into the new year, I have to admit it: I'm sick and my EHD (where I store ALL my scrap stuff) is acting crazy. Gasp!! Hopefully I can solve this problem before going back to work on Monday (and hopefully I'll get better enough to go back to work!).

Have you worked on your goals/resolutions for this year? Do you take those? Do you keep them? As usual, I'm planning to make some, starting with completing a P365... finally! I've taken my first pic today, so far so good! LOL

I've also started to work on my word of the year and resolutions, even though I'm not sure that I want to make "real" resolutions this year with all the changes that are (hopefully) coming! Maybe I'll just have weekly or monthly goals, we'll see. I'll make a decision before Monday anyway!

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-24T10:00:00.000+01:00

Thanks to computer magic, as this post is published I should be in a car, on my way to Switzerland to celebrate Christmas with my family and friends.

I wish you a very happy Christmas celebration, full of love and warmth.

P365's plan

2010-12-21T10:12:00.000+01:00

As I mentioned before, I really want to complete a P365 this year. Since I've failed twice already, I want to plan a bit more to make sure that I won't have excuses to give up. I've seen two way to do this so far: have weekly or monthly themes or daily prompts that are repeated every month. This year will hopefully be a year of change if we get pregnant, so it's hard for me to plan themes until the end of the year, so I picked the second plan: I listed daily prompts that I will repeat every month.

Some prompts are ones I want to complete every months, the other ones are here "just in case", if (when) I need some extra inspiration. Here are the mandatory ones:

"This month looks like..." (a pic of my garden and house)
Self portrait
portrait of G
G and I
Flamby (our cat)
Kira (our dog)
Something home-related
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Clothes
TV
Books
Something weight-related
And all the colors: black, white, red, yellow, blue, green, orange, purple (one pic for each)

And here are the additional prompts:

Something organized
Something messy
Friends
Family
Something artistic
Our town
Plants
Snack

I've also listed some monthly themes, even though I'm not sure I'll use those:

January: goals/resolutions
February: love/favorites
March: fun
April: spring
May: nature
June: animals
July: vacation
August: summer
September: school/learning
October: fall
November: thankful
December: Christmas

I'm getting ready for Christmas and vacation!!

2010-12-19T21:52:00.000+01:00

Yep, it's about time! I'm leaving very early on the 24th, I'll go to Switzerland for 3 days and then at my grandparents for another 3 days. It'll be an eating marathon with at least 5 different Christmas celebrations in less than a week, but I'm really excited to see my family and friends. My handmade gifts are almost done and I can't wait to give them, hopefully they'll like it! Still have a couple pix to print to finish a mini album and an ingredient to buy, but besides that I should be good.

Oh, and of course, I also have to pack... Woopeedoo! LOL

Preparing for P365

2010-12-15T18:17:00.002+01:00

One of my 101 in 1001 projects is to complete a P365: take one pic a day for a whole year. I've stopped quite early for two years in a row, but hopefully if I plan more I'll be more successful. And since 2011 will likely be an important year for us (10th anniversary, hopefully the year we'll get pregnant), I want to document it.

I've already started to think about it and here are some useful resources:

Discussion at SSD
Discussion at TDC
Heather Greenwood's plan
Week in the life inspiration at WCS (check the following posts as well!)
P365 tips at Photojojo
Photo projects inspiration at WCS (check the following posts as well!)
and last but not least P365 and other alternative @ The daily Digi.

I'll definitely post my plan when I'm done with it!!

3 handmade Christmas gifts done!

2010-12-06T11:35:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I finished my mom's gift. Pfew, it feels great! Now onto batch preparations... and nope, I won't tell more here, some receivers are reading! LOL

Hey, december, what are you doing here??

2010-12-05T15:50:00.000+01:00

What do you mean, "it's that time of year again"??? Already?????

Yeah, I can't believe we've already entered 2010's last month!! I'm trying to get my Christmas gifts done. I've already finished my dad's and Guy's nephew's, I'm working on my mom's and my best friend's kids' are bought. Still have a couple left before I can be done, though, but it feels good to be started at least!

I'm really busy at work but not in panic mode as I usually am at that time of the year, and that feels great too. Learning to keep healthy distances with my job has helped a lot!

We've had our first days of snow and the temperatures have been really low, it definitely feels like winter here. I've taken my little tree out and it's decorated since last weekend, so that puts me in Christmas mood as well.

The only thing I'm not sure of yet is how I'll travel during my vacation. With my divorced parents, my grandparents and huge family and my friends that I want to see too, I'm usually very busy during the couple days I travel. I get headache to plan when to see everybody and all the driving/train trips to go from one place to the other. This year I plan to carpool. I'll use a website that helps you get in touch with stranger that make the same trip as you so that you can travel together. My cousins are fans of this site, I hope it'll work out fine for me too!

Last but not least, I'm already thinking about my 2011 resolutions/goals. I think my theme, my word for the year will be "Let go". 2010 word was "peace" and I think that, even if I didn't complete my monthly goals/mini-resolutions, I'm more peaceful than I was last year. I guess I'm growing up, even when I don't notice it!

Getting back in control...

2010-11-12T13:44:00.015+01:00

If I want to feel more like I'm the driver and not stuck in the trunk of the car aka my life, I first need to know how bad things are, make a plan for making them better and get to work. It's easier when I write it down, so here we go! Here's what I want to do before going back to work on Thursday afternoon:

Exam:

~~study the methodology~~
~~check past years' examples~~ the exam is new so there aren't any past examples!
~~try to make one "fake" exam in real conditions at home~~
~~prepare my stuff to go to the exam~~

Computer stuff:

get rid of all unread e-mails (read, take action, delete or file) and maintain starting with 37 messages, 10 left
~~get rid of all unread RSS posts (read, take action)~~ and maintain
~~clean RSS starred posts~~
~~delete enough RSS feeds to get below 40~~
~~2 x 15 minutes daily on "to dispatch" file~~ This folder is empty and deleted! Woohoooo!

Home:

~~pick up kitchen~~
~~pick up living room~~
~~pick up bathroom~~
~~pick up bedroom~~
~~put away dry laundry~~ ~~from bedroom and from laundry room~~
iron clothes every time I'm watching TV
~~wash, hang up and put away (when dry) 2 loads of laundry~~
wash and hang up 2 new loads of laundry
~~change beddings~~
~~clean cat's litter~~
~~plan next week's menus, write down shopping list, go grocery shopping~~
finish pending PPW~~, incl. mail tax payement~~
~~pick up office~~

Personal stuff:

start planning ~~Christmas gifts and~~ vacation
investigate to make sure if taking a second job would be possible
if it is, prepare application for job opportunity
~~pamper myself~~
scrap a couple LOs (monthly ones, to catch up!)
make Guy's doc appt

Wow, looks like I'm gonna be busy! LOL

A couple days off...

2010-11-12T12:51:00.000+01:00

Man, it feels good! I have an exam on wednesday and I took a few days off to prepare it and pass it. Hopefully I'll be successful, finally (I've already passed it several times), but even if I don't it's good to have some time off. This time of the year is definitely the busiest. It feels like I'm getting one wave after the other, trying not to get drawn but I can barely take a breath of fresh air between each wave... Crazy busy, I tell you!

The worst part of this situation is that I don't feel in control AT ALL, of anything. Very scary and stressful to me (as to anyone else, I guess). I addition to preparing my exam some, I also plan to take some time to get back in touch with my life during this mini-vacation. I desperately need to feel like I can do something about what's going on and not be a victim of it! Those are strong words, but I'm that stressed that I really feel that way.

I need to simplify, focus on the really important stuff, pick my priorities and stick to them, not get distracted by the little things and get focused... Good plan, uh? LOL

Guess who's going to Paris next weekend???

2010-10-25T19:53:00.000+02:00

Guy and me! Woohooo, can't wait!! Very spontanous, definitely not our style of organizing a trip, but I don't know when or even if we would have made such a trip without it! LOL Watch out for tons and tons of pictures!!

As "promised"...

2010-10-09T08:16:00.000+02:00

...I'm still very busy. I've finally finished the big project at work that I was working on, and I'm starting the next one, so there isn't much time to relax in between! I've also had some time to get all those "little things" done, you know those tasks that can stay there forever because you always think "Oh, I'll do that later, when I have time". Well, guess what, "when I have time" never comes and those pending to-do's keep nagging at me every single day. This situation was starting to affect my mood and my productivity, so I finally took the 2 hours I needed to get those tasks done. Pfew, it feels good!

On a personal level, I've started 2 new activities: I've been taking "body combat" classes, which is a sort of tae bo, for a month, and yesterday I had the first self-defence class. I'm feeling sore this morning but I really liked it. Of course I couldn't get rid of an attacker yet and I've even never been confronted to such a situation (luckily!) but I love the workout and it's useful too, what more can I ask for? And I absolutely love the "body combat" classes, it's so energetic and such a great stress reliever... Perfect for those busy times, I can get all my frustrations out!

Today is the first weekend when I have to take pix for work, but definitely not the last one: I'll have several of those until Christmas break. It may only take an hour, but it's still annoying because it makes me think of work during my free time, so I'm not really free, you know? Good thing is: I know in advance when I have to work like that so I can plan my life around it. And I know when it will be over, it helps when you can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Oh, I almost forgot, I've got another great news: I'm finally caught up with my 2009 monthly LOs!!! It took me a looooooooong time and I still have the 2010 ones to do, but it feels great to have those memories scrapped!

Messti messes with my routines!

2010-09-28T22:15:00.000+02:00

It's messti time in my town. "Messti" is the alsatian word for fair, and it's a big event in our small community. There are roundabouts all over the town, even big carousels (the make-you-puke style... lovely! LOL) Anyway, between that and lots of work to do, I'm so busy I didn't even make my usual weekly plan. I have it in my head, though, I know what I want to accomplish (besides surviving the huge workload, that is): maintain my routines, get back to eating more healthy again, scrap and enjoy some me-time. I don't plan to be more detailed this week... and probably for a more couple weeks too, 'cause the workload isn't going to get lighter anytime soon. I've already scrapped one LO every day since 4 or 5 days... not bad, uh? ;)

Oh, and I've been catching up on the Paperclipping Digi Show, love it!

Thursday

2010-09-23T19:38:00.001+02:00

~~morning, midday and~~ evening routine (especially the dishes!!)
min. 20 minutes workout
~~maintain~~ ~~e-mail and RSS reader to zero unread~~
catch up with TDC, SSD ~~and other scrap site~~
10 minutes on my happiness project
~~iron when/if I watch TV~~
~~15 minutes digi-organizing~~

Wednesday

2010-09-22T18:28:00.001+02:00

~~morning, midday and~~ evening routine (especially the dishes!!)
~~min. 20 minutes workout~~
~~maintain e-mail and RSS reader to zero unread~~
~~catch up with TDC, SSD and other scrap site~~
~~10 minutes on my happiness project~~
iron when/if I watch TV
15 minutes digi-organizing
~~filing (empty my to-file box)~~

Good news of the day: my Tae Bo class isn't cancelled after all!! Yay!!

So, the Tae Bo class was led by a Kick Boxing instructor, not the usual one, and I could notice the difference, this one was much more into the "martial art" part, not so much the fitness part. It was fun, though, but I slightly prefer the usual teacher.

Tuesday

2010-09-21T20:52:00.002+02:00

~~morning, midday and~~ evening routine (especially the dishes!!)
min. 20 minutes workout I was too tired, slept in this morning and didn't feel like it tonight
~~maintain e-mail and RSS reader to zero unread~~
~~catch up with~~ ~~TDC, SSD~~ ~~and other scrap site~~
10 minutes on my happiness project
iron when/if I watch TV I slept instead... no comment!
15 minutes digi-organizing
~~15 minutes PPW~~

Monday

2010-09-20T15:37:00.005+02:00

~~morning~~, midday and ~~evening routine (especially the dishes!!)~~
min. 20 minutes workout
~~maintain e-mail~~ ~~and RSS reader to zero unread~~
~~catch up with TDC, SSD~~ ~~and other scrap site~~
~~10 minutes on my happiness project~~
iron when/if I watch TV
15 minutes digi-organizing
~~pick up kitchen and rest of the house after my lazy weekend~~

The week ahead

2010-09-20T15:36:00.000+02:00

Ugh, it's so hard ot go back to work today. The double workday (15 hours... I'm still in shock!) I had on Friday probably has to do with it, but still, knowing why doesn't help: I'm having a hard time. I have to work, and I have a lot to do, though, so I can't afford being lazy. Here's my plan for this week:
Daily tasks:

morning, midday and evening routine (especially the dishes!!)
min. 20 minutes workout
maintain e-mail and RSS reader to zero unread
catch up with TDC, SSD and other scrap site
10 minutes on my happiness project
iron when/if I watch TV
15 minutes digi-organizing

Specific tasks:

Monday: pick up kitchen and rest of the house after my lazy weekend
Tuesday: 15 minutes PPW
Wednesday: filing (empty my to-file box)
Thursday: go to Tae Bo class (the Wednesday one is cancelled this week)
Friday: plan next week's menus and write down grocery shopping list

I also would like to keep working on my other blog and my "101 in 1001" project and to start studying for my exam in November... So much to do, so little time! And I find it hard to keep those "big goals" in sight when I'm struggling with the day to day to do's. The balance between the big "far away" stuff and the little daily things is hard to find, especially when I'm as busy at work as I am now. It almost looks like my work takes all my mental abilities and energy, and when I get home I feel just like sitting on the couch and doing absolutely nothing. It's energizing to accomplish things, though, I love the "I'm in control, I can do it, go me, yeah!!!" feeling I get when it's done, but getting started is reaaaaaaaaally hard! When I'm that tired, I tend to forget about the delayed gratification and only focus on the immediate inconvenience. Ok, enough rambling, back to work! ;)

What a week!

2010-09-18T14:28:00.005+02:00

Ugh, I'm so glad it's over. I had the busiest week at work since a loooooong time. Lot of planning for yesterday's "associations day", which ended up being a 15 hours workday: 8 AM - 11 PM. No surprise I was absolutely exhausted by the time I came home. My legs were feeling like stones, so heavy and stiff.

Anyway, I'm in recovering mode this weekend and I'll try to do the bare minimum of un-fun stuff. Yeah, I make up words, is that a problem? LOL

Here's my plan:

~~next weeks' menus, grocery shopping list, go shopping~~
~~change beddings~~ ('cause the cat threw up in our bed Friday evening... delightful! I made some emergency clean up so that I could crash asap, but it's only temporary.)
~~change cat litter~~
15 minutes PPW
~~call my brother for his b'day~~
~~2 loads of laundry: wash and hang up~~
~~pick up and put away dry laundry~~
~~dinner out with friend on Saturday~~ I had such a great time. We hadn't seen each other since quite a long time and it was fun to catch up with everyone. And the best part is that we didn't spent all evening talking about work (they are collegues and ex-collegues) and gossiping about people that don't deserve that much of our time... Fun evening!
~~make reservation for next week's family lunch~~
pamper myself
~~scrap some (2009 monthly LOs catch up)~~
~~some digi-organization if I feel like it~~

So far... so bad!

2010-09-14T21:24:00.000+02:00

Okay, forget about my big plan, I'm already guessing that I'll be happy if I can end this week without eating out every meal and without having a whole big mess instead of a liveable house. I'm so stressed and busy at work that I feel totally exhausted by the time I go home. I feel drained and I have absolutely no energy to do anything but zone on the couch or in front of computer. I really don't like feeling this way but sometimes you just have to focus on surviving and not doing great! That being said, I'm off to bed!

Monday

2010-09-13T06:20:00.001+02:00

Ugh, I got up at 5 AM thinking about work! Not dreaming, it was even more weird: I was sleeping and all suddenly I was awake, the transition was really soft and unnoticed but I couldn't go back to sleep, probably precisely because it was so soft. With the long (and no-nap-opportunity) day ahead I don't think it's a good idea! Anyway, here's my plan for today:

morning, midday and evening routine
~~20 minutes workout (indoor bike)~~
maintain e-mail to zero unread
organize party with friends
~~doc appt at 2 pm~~
~~late meeting at work~~

Weekly plan

2010-09-12T21:59:00.001+02:00

Once again, I have a busy week ahead with a big event on Friday night, so I gotta stay focused on my priorities and keep practicing my routines diligently if I want to make it without getting insane!

Here's my plan for the week:
Daily tasks:

morning, midday and evening routine
20 minutes workout (indoor bike or Tae Bo)
maintain e-mail to zero unread

Specific tasks:

Monday: organize party with friends, doc appt at 2 pm, late meeting at work
Tuesday: check scrap sites, maintain RSS feed to zero unread, 15 minutes digi-organizing, organize other party with other friends, change cat litter
Wednesday: 15 minutes digi-organizing, first Tae Bo class, 15 minutes PPW
Thursday: 15 minutes digi-organizing, check scrap sites, maintain RSS feed to zero unread, iron while watching 24 (last season, we're sooooo excited!!)
Friday: work late and survive without killing anyone... Now THAT's a challenge! ;)

Thursday and Friday + weekend plan

2010-09-11T08:59:00.018+02:00

I've been really lazy on Wednesday evening and Thursday, doing nothing but watching TV. BTW, we saw Flashforward's last episodes... So much suspense, I thought I'd die! And the worst part is that there isn't a season #2! Argh!! Okay, TV rant over! ;)

Anyway, I got a phonecall on Friday midday that my cleaning lady couldn't come in the afternoon because she's sick. Don't blame me, I'm sorry for her, but I'm even more sorry for me because I'll have to clean the house and I really REALLY don't like it. I can iron for 2 hours, do the laundry, but cleaning the house... Yuck!!! What make it worse is that I have to take pix for work all day today (saturday) so I don't know when I'll have time to clean. Consequently, my Friday was way less lazy that the 2 other days: I had to write down next week's menus and my grocery list, then go shopping. After that I just sat on the couch and fell asleep around 9:30. I'm so tired already, can't imagine how I'll be when December comes! LOL

Here's what I want to do this weekend:
Saturday:

~~morning, midday and evening routine~~
~~clean house~~
~~take pix for work:~~ ~~morning + afternoon~~
~~2x15 minutes digi organizing~~
call our friends to organise a party in a couple weeks
~~catch up with~~ ~~TDC, SSD~~ ~~and my other scrap site~~
~~e-mail inbox~~ ~~and RSS reader back to zero unread~~
create 2 LOs and post

Sunday:

~~morning, midday and~~ evening routine
~~pampering session~~
clean oven
~~2x15 minutes digi organizing~~
~~15 minutes on PPW~~
~~unload dishwasher~~
~~catch up with FB and do some "FB-decluttering" to have less to catch up on~~
change cat litter
~~wash, hang up outside, hang down when dry and put away 1 load of laundry~~
~~pick up and put away dry laundry~~
~~wash and hang up inside 1 load of laundry~~
~~create 2 LOs~~ april 2009 monthly LO... catching up! :

Credits: Christine Smith (DSO color challenge 08/2009), background pp by Sara Amarie, Andrea Burns' photo action, Century Gothic font

and may 2009:

Credits: background pp by Sara Amarie, red pp by Kimberly Giarrusso, stitching by Zoe Pearn, torn pp template by Steph Krush, Andrea Burns' photo action, Century Gothic font.

Wednesday

2010-09-08T10:27:00.001+02:00

~~morning,~~ midday and evening routines
~~20 minutes indoor bike~~
~~clean downstairs fridge (finally... I've been postponing this forever!)~~
~~maintain e-mail and RSS reader to zero unread~~
~~catch up with TDC and SSD daily~~ ~~+ other websites if needed~~
15 minutes digi decluttering
10 minutes working on my happiness project
~~track spending~~
iron when/if I watch TV
go to bed at 10:30, lights off at 10:45

Tuesday

2010-09-07T21:28:00.002+02:00

~~morning, midday and~~ evening routines
~~20 minutes indoor bike~~
~~maintain~~ ~~e-mail and RSS reader to zero unread~~
~~catch up with~~ ~~TDC and SSD daily~~ ~~+ other websites if needed~~
15 minutes digi decluttering
10 minutes working on my happiness project
~~track spending~~
~~iron when/if I watch TV~~
go to bed at 10:30, lights off at 10:45
~~hair salon appt~~ feels good to look human again! ;)

Monday

2010-09-06T14:41:00.008+02:00

Let's see how I'm doing today:

~~morning, midday and evening routines~~
~~maintain e-mail~~ ~~and RSS reader to zero unread~~
~~catch up with TDC and SSD daily + other websites if needed~~
~~15 minutes digi decluttering~~
~~10 minutes working on my happiness projec~~t
~~20 minutes indoor bike~~
~~run dishwasher and unload it~~
~~track spending~~
iron when watching The Pacific
~~pick up kitchen~~
~~clean cat litter~~
~~wash and hang up one load of laundry, hang down when dry and put it away~~
~~go to bed at 10:30, lights off at 10:45~~

Woohooo, got everything done!!!

Weekly plan

2010-09-05T22:35:00.001+02:00

A lot to do this week again, as usual. I'd better get used to it 'cause it will stay the same until Christmas... at least! Yeepeeee! LOL

Here's what I want to accomplish this week:
Daily tasks:

morning, midday and evening routines
20 minutes indoor bike
maintain e-mail and RSS reader to zero unread
catch up with TDC and SSD daily + other websites if needed
15 minutes digi decluttering
10 minutes working on my happiness project
track spending
iron when/if I watch TV
go to bed at 10:30, lights off at 10:45

Specific tasks:

Monday: run dishwasher and unload it, pick up kitchen, clean cat litter, first episodes of The Pacific
Tuesday: hair salon appt... finally getting my hair done, it was about time!
Wednesday: clean downstairs fridge
Thursday: pick up house if needed, 15 minutes PPW, Flasforward's last episodes!!!
Friday: write down next week's menus and grocery shopping list, go shopping (because I have to work on Saturday and I won't be able to go shopping).

Finally the weekend!

2010-09-04T15:35:00.008+02:00

I feel like this week wasn't ending! Yeepeee for weekend!! I've already done the most boring task of the day (grocery shopping) and I'm really excited about that! Let's see what else I'm planning for the weekend:

~~menu planning + grocery shopping~~
~~tidy up purse and wallet~~
~~20 minutes workout every day~~ not done on Saturday, but I caught up on Sunday
~~take pix for work on Sunday morning~~
~~give his meds to the cat~~
~~change beddings~~
~~wash and hang up 2 loads of laundry~~
~~pampering time~~
15 minutes on PPW
4x15 minutes on digi-organizing 1 done (RSS starred posts cleaned)
~~track spendings every day~~
create 4 LOs and post them 2 done
clean downstairs fridge
clean cat's litter
~~check monthly bank report~~

That's it for now... See ya!

Friday... lazy!

2010-09-03T21:33:00.001+02:00

Mmmm, I didn't do a lot today. I had a busy and stressful day at work. Even though I felt like I was running everywhere, I didn't get a lot accomplished. I hate that kind of days. And the worst part is that there's not much I can do about it: those unexpected tasks are usually added by my bosses, and they are definitely very important to them, so I can't say no. But I still know that there are other tasks that I should be doing and I know that my bosses will ask about those tasks in a couple days or week, and saying "I couldn't do X because you asked me to do Y" won't be accepted. Paradoxical and oh so frustrating. Anyway, all that to say that I don't feel great after such a day.

Okay, back to my to do list:

~~morning, midday and~~ evening routines
~~maintain e-mail and RSS reader to zero unread~~
~~catch up with TDC and SSD daily + other websites if needed~~
~~15 minutes digi decluttering~~
~~10 minutes working on my happiness project~~
20 minutes indoor bike
next week's menu + grocery shopping list + maybe go shopping?
~~track spending~~
go to bed at 10:30, lights off at 10:45

Thursday

2010-09-02T11:47:00.003+02:00

It's back to school day here in France... I just can't believe it!!
Let's see how I'm doing with my to-do list

~~morning, midday and~~ evening routines
~~maintain e-mail and RSS reader to zero unread~~
~~catch up with TDC and SSD daily + other websites if needed~~
15 minutes digi decluttering
~~10 minutes working on my happiness project~~
20 minutes indoor bike
~~track spending~~
clean downstair's fridge (not done yesterday)
~~iron while watching episode #1 of Flashforward and manicure during episode #2~~
go to bed at 10:30, lights off at 10:45

The cutest ad ever!

2010-09-01T18:25:00.000+02:00

I just love this ad for the "soccer channel", who shows all french, british and spanish soccer matches. The kid cries for his "ballon" (ball) and it says "don't cry, football season is back at last". The end is just so cute!

Wednesday

2010-09-01T10:37:00.001+02:00

Can you believe it's the first day of september already?? I'm in shock! Good news is: I managed to get 30 points in SSD challenges, which mean I'll get a 40% discount... Mmmmm, I see some shopping coming! LOL

Let's see how I'm doing with today's to do's:

~~20 minutes indoor bike~~
~~morning,~~ midday and evening routines
~~maintain e-mail and RSS reader to zero unread~~
~~catch up with TDC and SSD daily + other websites if needed~~
15 minutes digi decluttering
10 minutes working on my happiness project
~~meeting at fertility center~~
clean downstairs fridge
~~track spending~~
go to bed at 10:30, lights off at 10:45

I've started on a good note for my September goals: I did a 20 minutes workout this morning. Tomorrow is the first day of school so I have to be at work earlier, so I'm not sure I'll be able to do it in the morning. I'll try to do it later in the day, though, but it's usually harder.

Seriously, people, what were you thinking??

2010-08-31T20:22:00.000+02:00

As you can see in my to do list for today, I wanted to try a Zumba class. It is new, and they had a free trial session today. So far, so good, right? Yeah, except it's free, it's back to school time (and people may be making more resolution now than in January!) and consequently the class was jam-packed. There were at least 150 people, no space left in this huuuuuge room... awful! As I arrived "only" 5 minutes early I had a place in the back, and I couldn't see anything because of the 12 ranks before me. It wouldn't be a problem if the teacher would explain what was going on... Yeah, right, in your dreams! This was probably the less teaching teacher ever, she didn't say anything but counting the steps. I felt like I was at a show to watch her shake her (terribly firm... nope, I'm not jealous) butt, not to shake my (not as firm) own. Anyway, I stayed there for about 5 minutes, did the warm up, and when I saw how terrible the instructor was, I left right away. This was really a shame.

Okay, all that ranting is pretty negative, but I'm really amazed at how bad people are at marketing. If you have a trial session, it's to make people want to join (and pay for) the real class, right? Not make them feel like idiots because they can't understand, even less make, a single step. Okay, with all the people that was there, she will probably have enough paying clients, but still... Is that really smart to be that bad of a teacher for the first (and probably the only) contact you'll ever have with some of them?? After all, I'm glad I went there because I might not have a butt as firm as her and I don't rock the Zumba steps as she does, but at least my brain looks fitter! LOL

Tuesday

2010-08-31T13:18:00.003+02:00

Let's see how I'm doing on my to-do list...

~~morning, midday and evening routines~~
~~maintain e-mail~~ ~~and RSS reader to zero unread~~
~~catch up with~~ ~~TDC and SSD~~ ~~+ other websites if needed~~
~~15 minutes digi decluttering~~
10 minutes working on my happiness project
~~create one LO and post it~~
~~try Zumba class with Chantal~~
go to bed at 10:30, lights off at 10:45

I'm not sure if I'll try the Zumba class with Chantal because I have a torticollis starting. Hopefully the heat pad will help, and if it doesn't I'll go to the class another day.

Monday

2010-08-30T18:10:00.006+02:00

Okay, hopefully I'll be able to do all I planned, since I just finished planning and it's 6:00 PM already!

~~morning, midday and evening routines~~
~~maintain e-mail and RSS reader to zero unread~~
~~catch up with TDC and SSD daily + other websites if needed~~
~~15 minutes digi decluttering~~
~~10 minutes working on my happiness project~~
~~clean microwave~~
~~create one LO, post this LO + the one I did yesterday~~
go to bed at 10:30, lights off at 10:45

Weekly plan

2010-08-30T18:04:00.001+02:00

Back to work this morning, I feel way more in control than last week, this whole back-to-work time was quite rushed and stressful! Anyway, I still have lots of things to do this week, so here we go again!

Daily tasks:

morning, midday and evening routines
maintain e-mail and RSS reader to zero unread
catch up with TDC and SSD daily + other websites if needed
15 minutes digi decluttering
10 minutes working on my happiness project
20 minutes indoor bike (starting Wednesday)
track spending (starting Wednesday)
go to bed at 10:30, lights off at 10:45

Specific tasks:

Monday: clean microwave, create one LO, post this LO + the one I did yesterday
Tuesday: create one LO and post it, try Zumba class with Chantal
Wednesday: meeting at fertility center, clean downstairs fridge
Thursday: iron while watching episode #1 of Flashforward and manicure during episode #2
Friday: next week's menu + grocery shopping list + maybe go shopping?

Weekend plan

2010-08-28T10:33:00.020+02:00

Since this week wasn't really productive, I have to get back on track and get some things crossed off my list this weekend. I want to catch up on the organizing I planned to do last week and I also want to get some scrapping done. SSD's challenges must be done this week, so I have to get working if I want to get the 40% discount (30 points). And there's a CT call I absolutely want to apply to!

So, without further addo, here's my to do list for this weekend:
Saturday:

~~make appt for hair salon~~
~~morning, midday and evening routines~~
~~write down menus for next week and grocery shopping list~~
~~go grocery shopping~~
filing: empty my "to file" box
3x15 minutes on digi-organizing 1 done
~~finish hybrid album, print it and assemble it, take pix and~~ post
create 3 BOM (book of me) LOs 1 done and post
start organizing my studying for the November exam.
maintain RSS reader and e-mail inbox to zero unread
~~catch up on my fave websites~~
give the cat his treatement
mend clothes if/when I watch TV
~~call Nanie~~ spent 1:15 on the phone... so good to catch up with my BFF!
~~2 loads of laundry: wash and hang up to dry~~

Sunday:

~~morning, midday and~~ evening routines
~~pampering time~~
~~change cat litter~~
create ~~2 BOM LOs +~~ all additional LOs to get 30 points and post them BOM LOs posted
~~post hybrid album~~
~~3x15 minutes on digi-organizing~~
~~filing: empty my "to file" box~~
give the cat his treatement
start working on my happiness project: review the website's "basics"
~~send CT application~~
~~maintain RSS reader and e-mail inbox to zero unread~~
~~catch up on my fave websites + youtube~~
clean downstairs fridge
iron if/when I watch TV
clean microwave
keep organizing my studying for the November exam.

Our friday...

2010-08-28T09:39:00.000+02:00

... was so fun! Well, first of all, it was Friday, which is already great. And my cleaning lady comes on Friday, so I came home after work to a clean, smelling fresh, orderly home. And in addition to those already freaking cool two things, our friends Anne and Christian called to see if they could come over impromptu and we spent the evening together. It was great to see them and we had a lovely time. Of course, as I told them, an half an hour notice is great on a Friday (after the cleaning lady) but on a Thursday they should have given us a 2 hours notice! LOL I love it when good things add up like that to create even better things!! Yeepee for the good maths!

TGIF

2010-08-27T17:49:00.000+02:00

Pfew, it's been a long week. Considering how painful it is to go back to work, I'm starting to think I should not leave for vacation ever again! LOL Seriously, though, it's not that hard, I had a lot to do but I was productive and I'm 95% caught up, so this is great! Let's see how today was to-do-wise:
Daily tasks:

~~morning, midday and~~ evening routines
15 minutes digi organizing
15 minutes filing (my "to file" box is overflowing!)
maintain e-mail and RSS reader to zero unread, catch up at least once a day with my fave websites and FB
go to bed at 22:30 max, lights off at 22:45

Specifics tasks for today:

Friday: plan next week's menus and grocery shopping list

Mmmm, considering how much I'm in the "TGIF let's relax" mood, I'm not sure I'll get much accomplished! LOL

Thursday's to do... how am I doing?

2010-08-26T11:54:00.002+02:00

Daily tasks:

~~morning, midday and evening routines~~
15 minutes digi organizing
15 minutes filing (my "to file" box is overflowing!)
maintain e-mail and RSS reader to zero unread, catch up at least once a day with my fave websites and FB
~~go to bed at 22:30 max, lights off at 22:45~~

Specifics tasks for today:

call back health insurance,
~~tidy up house if needed,~~
iron while watching first episode of Flashforward
~~and then give myself a manicure during second episode~~.

Wednesday's to do's: how am I doing?

2010-08-25T19:11:00.002+02:00

Daily tasks:

~~morning,~~ ~~midday and evening routines~~
15 minutes digi organizing
15 minutes filing (my "to file" box is overflowing!)
~~maintain e-mail and RSS reader to zero unread, catch up at least once a day with my fave websites~~ ~~and FB~~
go to bed at 22:30 max, lights off at 22:45

Specifics tasks for today:

~~tidy up kitchen, 15 minutes PPW,~~ ~~call back health insurance~~ tried again, busy again, ~~call Nanie~~

Tuesday

2010-08-24T22:51:00.001+02:00

Well, that's not what I call a productive day...

Daily tasks:

~~morning~~, midday and evening routines
15 minutes digi organizing
15 minutes filing (my "to file" box is overflowing!)
~~maintain e-mail and RSS reader to zero unread, catch up at least once a day with my fave websites and FB~~
go to bed at 22:30 max, lights off at 22:45

Specifics tasks:

Tuesday: ~~get in touch with Lydie to see how she will prepare her exam and get inspired, call back health insurance~~ still busy every time I try

Monday to do's... how am I doing?

2010-08-23T16:38:00.002+02:00

Pfew, it's tough going back to work! I'm been running non stop all day, even though I started 30 minutes earlier than usual. I had 150 e-mails in my inbox (plus 460 spams), a huge pile of newspapers to read, tons of things to go through, plus a meeting tonight to prepare. Next time I will give me a couple "free" days when coming back from vacation so that it's not that hectic. I'm surviving, though! ;) Of course, with all that busy-ness I had nothing else in mind than work and I'm afraid my to do list will suffer of this. Let's see...
Daily tasks:

~~morning~~, midday and ~~evening routines~~
~~15 minutes digi organizing~~
~~15 minutes filing (my "to file" box is overflowing!)~~
~~maintain e-mail and RSS reader to zero unread,~~ ~~catch up at least once a day with my fave websites and FB~~
go to bed at 22:30 max, lights off at 22:45 Uh oh, considering I came home at 10:30, this isn't going to happen!

Specifics tasks:

Monday: call back health insurance it's ringing busy every time I try!, ~~give book back to Max~~, ~~late meeting~~

Weekly plan

2010-08-22T22:44:00.000+02:00

I'm going back to work, and after a 2.5 weeks vacation, I'll be busy catching up. I already have a meeting Monday at 7:30 PM, that gives the tone of the week: it's work time! LOL

Here's what I want to do this week:
Daily:

morning, midday and evening routines
15 minutes digi organizing
15 minutes filing (my "to file" box is overflowing!)
maintain e-mail and RSS reader to zero unread, catch up at least once a day with my fave websites and FB
go to bed at 22:30 max, lights off at 22:45

Specifics tasks:

Monday: call back health insurance, give book back to Max, late meeting
Tuesday: get in touch with Lydie to see how she will prepare her exam and get inspired
Wednesday: 15 minutes PPW
Thursday: tidy up house if needed, iron while watching first episode of Flashforward and then give myself a manicure during second episode.
Friday: plan next week's menus and grocery shopping list

333th blog post!

2010-08-22T22:35:00.000+02:00

Ha... That's something, isn't it?? To celebrate, let me share Inception's trailer. I just saw the movie tonight and I absolutely loved it!

The visual effects are especially great, and as many of them as possible were done "for real", like when the world is "spinning", they were in a big set that was actually spinning, so that they were really walking on the ceiling. I really liked Di Caprio and Ellen Page (who played the leading role of Juno, another movie I loved) and the relationship between those two characters is interesting. It's directed by Christopher Nolan, who also made the fabulous "The Dark Knight". With so many good "ingredients", the results couldn't be anything but a great movie!

If you saw it, what did you think?

August and september goals

2010-08-22T15:20:00.001+02:00

I really want to get back to my resolutions, and the back to school period is great for that, I find it really motivating. It's like a second New Year's Eve for me! So, my word for the year was PEACE, and here are my goals for (the remaining of) August:

Personal: happiness project
Job: plan the study for my exam
Organizing: digi

And here are my goals for September:

Personal: happiness project + start preparing IVF (appt, tests, ...)
Health: 20 minutes/day indoor bike
Job: create procedures and study for my exam
Finances: track all my spendings
Organizing: digi

I will create a card for september's goals and print it, it really helps when I have a visual reminder: no "I forgot about my goals" excuse!! LOL

Sunday

2010-08-22T07:31:00.012+02:00

Last day before going back to work, still a lot to enjoy and do today. Here's my plan:

~~Get up quite early (7:30 max) to get used to it again and be able to get up early enough for work~~
~~morning, midday and~~ evening routines
~~4x15 minutes on digi-decluttering~~
~~3x15 minutes on office storage and organisation~~
~~15 minutes on planning for my exam~~
~~empty my e-mail inbox and unread RSS reader and~~ maintain
~~goals: create my september reminder, send it at work to print next week~~ ~~and post my goals here~~
~~change cat's litter~~
iron when/if I watch TV
~~2x30 minutes on DBF's logo~~
Finish the digital part of my hybrid album (photos and journaling pages) and get it printed.
Create 3 more monthly LOs 1 done ~~and finish journaling for 2009~~
Create one LO for SSD's portfolio
~~Have a BBQ with inlaws for lunch~~
~~Go to see Inception with DBF~~

Saturday

2010-08-21T10:02:00.015+02:00

Okay, last weekend before going back to work! I know I will be busy for the next weeks or even months at work, so I gotta get productive now to start the last 4 months of the year on a good tone! Here's what I want to accomplish today:

~~morning, midday and evening routines~~
~~15 minutes on my goals/resolutions~~
~~4x15 minutes on digi organizing~~
~~get rid of 2 things on my "to do someday" pile~~
~~post on my green blog and plan 3 more posts~~
~~2x30 minutes on DBF's blog design~~
~~4x15 minutes on our office storage~~
~~maintain new e-mails~~ ~~and get 4 old ones done~~
~~maintain RSS reader to zero unread~~
~~laundry:~~ ~~wash and hang up one load, hang down dry laundry and put it away~~
finish the digital part of my hybrid album and print
~~finish the monthly LO I already started~~, get 2 more done 1 done ~~and write down journaling for 2 more months~~
get to bed at 11:00 max, lights off at 11:15 I'll be a bit late since I'm turning the computer off at 11:15, but it's not that bad!

Friday

2010-08-20T15:39:00.006+02:00

Ugh, today we have to go to the dentist... EEEeeeeeek! He's very gentle and it usually doesn't hurt, but I'm not looking forward to it anyway! My cleaning lady is back, and that's something to be happy about, I really hate housework! Here's what I want to accomplish today:

~~morning and~~ evening routines
~~Chantal's b'day lunch (don't forget to take card!!!)~~
~~paint window shutters~~
~~dentist appt~~ no cavities... Yahooo!!!
~~next week's menus and grocery shopping list~~
~~grocery shopping~~
2x15 minutes on my goals/resolutions
2x15 minutes on digi organizing
get rid of 1 thing on my "to do someday" pile
keep working on my hybrid album
finish one 2009 monthly LO (yes, catching up!)

Okay, it wasn't a very productive day, I didn't get all I planned done, obviously. I'll try to go to bed at a decent time (gotta get back to work schedule) and be more effective tomorrow!

Thursday

2010-08-19T13:16:00.009+02:00

As I said, I've been busy this morning helping DBF today. He's putting down a floor for one of his customer and I had to help with all the little things like pick up tools while he's down on the floor, go up and down the stairs to bring things, etc. I got a pretty good workout, actually. I'm so used to working hard! LOL

DBF doesn't need me this afternoon, so here are the things I want to accomplish today:

~~tidy up kitchen~~
~~call insurance~~
~~back up pix and LOs on DVD~~
~~finish health PPW, I don't know how long it will take but I want to get rid of it!~~ It's not completely done, some things are on stand by and I have to call again for other things, but at least I have a clear vision of what's going on there! Pfew!!!
~~4x15 minutes on digi-organizing~~
~~catch up on websites and~~ ~~RSS~~
~~maintain new e-mails + catch up on at least 3 old ones~~
keep working on hybrid album
create 2 montly LOs (gotta catch up on 2009 first) ~~+ write down journaling for 2 more months~~
~~evening routine~~ one LO started, journaling done for all 4 months
~~iron clothes for one episode~~ and then give myself a manicure while watching Flashforward

Wednesday already

2010-08-18T10:48:00.008+02:00

I'll have to work with DBF tomorrow and be his assistant, so I have to be productive today and get a lot done! Here's my to do list for today:

~~morning~~, midday and evening routines
~~call insurance about glasses~~
~~keep working on window shutters~~
~~PPW:~~ ~~print letter and send it~~
~~2x15 minutes on "to do someday" pile~~
~~4x15 minutes on digi-organizing~~
~~prepare lunch~~
~~call beauty salon to postpone tomorrow's appointement~~
prepare dinner
~~post yesterday's LO~~
~~work on my hybrid album~~
~~get the insurance paper and mail it~~

Tuesday's to do's

2010-08-17T13:33:00.006+02:00

My plan for today:

~~Morning routine~~
~~Midday routine~~
Evening routine partly done
~~Run some errands~~
~~Check my bank account report for July~~
~~Pull some weed if the weather allows it~~
~~Post my last 3 LOs including the hybrid one~~
~~Make dentist appt~~
~~2x15 minutes on digi-decluttering~~
~~15 minutes on PPW~~
~~2x15 minutes on my "to do someday" pile~~
~~Start working on the shutters: sanding~~
~~Create one LO~~

My hybrid LO

2010-08-17T13:27:00.000+02:00

I'm so proud of it!!

The LO

And now a couple details:

upper left corner with ribbon, buttons and misting

I used silver glimmer mist and masking techniques.

Cute ribbon and flowers

stamped and embossed flower

stitched photo corner

my greatgrandma's vintage buttons

The bottom with distress ink and masking

The title, white gel pen and sticker alphas

another vintage button, this one is in silk... how chic!!

The journaling box and some more masking technique.

So, what do you think? Am I right to be proud of it??

30 minutes!

2010-08-16T23:36:00.001+02:00

I can't believe it. I actually scrapped a LO in 30 minutes, not one second more! Wow!!! I'm usually a slow scrapper, and some LOs take me hours, if not days. Anyway, one of this month's challenge @ SSD is to scrap a LO in half an hour, and I did it tonight! Didn't believe it was possible for me, and I even love the result:

Credits: You Make Me Intensely Happy by Lauren Grier @ SSD,

B&W photo action by Andrea Burns,

DJB Merry font by Darcy Baldwin.

So, what do you think? Pretty good for a LO that took me half the usual time, uh?

Oh, BTW that's my crazy cousin Anne and I being silly on the beach at my grandparents.