Monday check up

Here's my weekly plan, and here's what I had to do today:

• 15 minutes indoor bike DONE!
  
• POTD DONE!
• BPOTD (blog post of the day) This one will have to do!! LOL
  
• track expenses of the day DONE!
• 2x15 minutes on PPW 2 DONE!
• catch up on websites and post LOs TDC DONE, will do SSD tomorrow!

Weekly plan

Here's what I plan to do this week:
Monday:

• 15 minutes indoor bike
• POTD
• BPOTD (blog post of the day)
• track expenses of the day
  
• 2x15 minutes on PPW
• catch up on websites and post LOs
  

Tuesday

• 15 minutes indoor bike
• POTD
• BPOTD (blog post of the day)
• track expenses of the day
  
• check last month's bank report
  
• one load of laundry

Wednesday

• 15 minutes indoor bike
• POTD
• BPOTD (blog post of the day)
• track expenses of the day
• 15 minutes filing

Thurdsay

• POTD
• BPOTD (blog post of the day)
• track expenses of the day
• New year's ceremony at work: work late, stress out, try to survive anyway!

Friday

• POTD
• BPOTD (blog post of the day)
• track expenses of the day
• pick up food for dinner
• write down next week's menu and grocery shopping list
• clean oven
• go to bed before midnight
  

Yummy!

Two friends and their 2 years old daughter will come tonight for a board game party. They bring the games and the cute little girl, and I bring the food! LOL I want this to be really casual and relaxed, so I'll only make finger foods: ham/pastry rolls, shrimp butter blinis, stuffed mushrooms (with various sorts of cheese), olives, chips, salami, and as dessert we'll eat "kings' pie". It's a pastry pie with almond paste in the center, and it's eaten around January 6th, to celebrate the kings coming to see Jesus, following the star. There's a little charm hidden in it and the person who gets the charm is declared king or queen for the day. I'll try to take a pic tonight, it'll be clearer than my explanations! LOL As you guess, I'm really looking forward!

Weekend plan

Sounds like the weekend will be really snowy... Perfect to stay home and do stuff, isn't it? I've invited friends over for a board games night on Sunday, it'll be fun! Before the fun, I gotta work a little bit, so here's what I want to do this weekend:

• plan menus, write down grocery shopping list DONE!
• pick up paper at optician's, copy and send to insurance DONE!
• go grocery shopping DONE! That was tricky with all the snow, but I made it back home safe!
  
• exercise 15 minutes per day DONE both days
  
• 2x15 minutes on downstairs' fridge DONE
• 2x15 minutes on laundry room DONE
• 15 minutes on filing
• 4x15 minutes on zips and organizing DONE!
• daily maintenance + 2x15 minutes on e-mails DONE!
• daily maintenance + 2x15 minutes on RSS DONE!
• pampering time DONE
• pick up desk DONE!
• order dessert for Sunday night DONE!
• pick up dessert for Sunday night DONE!
• prepare food for Sunday night DONE
• crafts: wrapping for chocolate that I wanna give started, 4 challenge LOs (for SSD 1 DONE and TDC), P365 week #1 LO started, 2 other birth announcement for Nanie 1 DONE.
• put Christmas decorations away DONE
• change cat litter DONE!
• take starting pic for WL DONE!
• order clothes online DONE

I met the sweetest old lady

I work for our town, and I'm in charge of all the public and press relation. One part of my job is to write articles that we send to the newspapers, especially about the "great birthdays", as we call them... In proper english, when people celebrate a really old birthday. ;) Anyway, this part of my job is pretty cool, even though the old people I meet are basically all the same and don't have had extravagant lives. Except today: I met a cute little old lady who celebrated her 90th birthday at the end of December.

When she was 15 she moved to Paris and was there when the town was liberated during WWII. Then she went to New York as a nanny for a french family and met an American guy there. She married him, lived in New York for 35 years, then in Pittsburgh for 20 years after they retired. When he passed away, she came back in France to be closer to her family, brother, niece and nephews. She was just the cutest because she was talking really fast (and a lot! LOL), mixing french and english, with a great sense of humour, smart and sweet... I don't know how to express how I felt, but she was like sparkling, like a little firework, joyful and bright. I really loved meeting her!

Friday check up... how am I doing?

My weekly plan is here. Let's see how I'm doing today:

• POTD DONE!
• BPOTD DONE!
• work DONE!
• evening doc appt we won't go, DBF is sick!
• plan weekend to do DONE!
• go to watch Avatar in 3D we won't go, DBF is sick!

Thursday's check up... how am I doing?

Here's my weekly plan, and that's my to do for today:

• POTD DONE!
• BPOTD DONE!
  
• AM doc appt DONE!
• work PM DONE!
• 2x15 minutes on downstairs' fridge
• buy bread for dinner DONE!

Plus what's left from yesterday's list:

• 2x15 minutes on laundry room
• 15 minutes on filing

Well, I think I'll postpone all the chores on this weekend since we have another doc appt tomorrow. Tonight I built the new indoor bike we got. Now I'm ready to get back to working out! Woohoooooo!

Doc appt

So, we just came back from our doc appt. We're TTC since August 2008 and we've discover we both have issues. Long story short, we won't have babies naturally (except for a miracle), so we've started a medical procedure. It was long (about 6 months), sometimes painful, stressful, nerveracking, but it's coming to an end, and a fairly happy end! Today was our last appointement before we start our first AI cycle. No, not "artificial intelligence"... "Artificial insemination"!! LOL We met the biologist that explained us once again what will happen exactly, we got the chance to ask the 132'654'795'198'474 questions we had (especially me!) and we set up a date to start the procedure!

At first we wanted to start in February, but this first cycle of procedure would happen exactly when I have a HUGE professional even to organize. Considering that stress and TTC don't work well together, the doc told us that it was better to postpone. We've been waiting for almost 2 years, we can wait 1 month more, can't we? So, we decided to start the first cycle in March. I cannot wait, as you can imagine!

Why I feel lucky

On Monday I got back to work. I was feeling really happy, optimistic, energize, enthusiastic. I know, it might be weird for a first day of work after Christmas break, but I just was. Everyone was surprised to see me in such a good mood, even though I'm not the grumpy kind usually, and I explained to them that I feel lucky: I have a family, a boyfriend and wonderful friends that I love dearly, I have a house that I can make into a home, I have a job that I don't hate too much most days, I'm fairly healthy... Why on earth would I be grumpy?? It was fun to see how telling all that made people happier and smiling more, though!!

Okay, that was my moment of zen, you can now go back to your normal life! LOL

Wednesday check up... how am I doing?

Here's my weekly plan, and that's my to do for today:

• 15 minutes on health PPW (from yesterday's list) DONE!
• 15 minutes on laundry room (from yesterday's list)
• POTD DONE!
• BPOTD DONE!
• work DONE!
  
• buy bread for dinner Oooops, I forgot! Nevermind, I'll make another dinner instead!
  
• 15 minutes on laundry room
• 15 minutes on filing

Tuesday check up... how am I doing?

Here's my weekly plan, and that's my to do for today:

• POTD DONE!
  
• BPOTD (blog post of the day) Hehehe, at least I got one with this one! LOL
  
• work DONE!
• 15 minutes on health PPW
• 15 minutes on laundry room

After all, today was a not-much-done day. I met a friend when I got out of work and we decided to have a drink and impromptu chat. Our personal new year celebration! LOL I had a great time catching up on our lives, playing with her a-do-ra-ble daughter and enjoying our time together. It's good to have a plan and a to do list, but sometimes you have to remember to live too! Anyway, I'm glad I didn't manage to do all I had planned for a good cause. I still got one load of laundry done, so that's good too, and I still have many "serious" days coming to make all the not-so-fun stuff!

Hope you enjoyed your day too!!

Got the cutest love note EVAH!!!

This is what I saw when I got out of the house this morning... "Love U - smooches" written in the snow. Awwwwwww!

I was running late but I HAD to go back and take a quick pic! Hey, I'm a scrapbooker after all! LOL

Monday check up... how am I doing?

My weekly plan is here. Let's see how I'm doing today:

• POTD (picture of the day) Done!
  
• back to work Done!
• go to doctor's office to pick up papers Done!
• 15 minutes on home office
• send b'day card to Camille

Project 365

Yep, despite getting about 130 pix out of 365 last year, I'm back at it again this year! Hopefully I'll do better and, more important, enjoy the process! I don't want to take pix because I "have" to, I want to take them because I love to and because I want to remember those moments.

I'm not naive, though, I know there'll be days when I'll fail or be clueless about what pic I could take. That's why I've already bookmarked some useful pages or blog posts, like this one, this one or this one @ SSD. Still need to set up a plan, but I guess I'll get to it when I get stuck, as usual! Who said "procrastinator"?? LOL

My first pix are posted in the slideshow on the right.

This week's plan

Okay, since this system makes wonders for me, I'll keep posting my plan / to do for the week and update what gets done and what doesn't.

Monday:

• POTD (picture of the day)
• back to work
• go to doctor's office to pick up papers
• 15 minutes on home office
• send b'day card to Camille

Tuesday:

• POTD
• BPOTD (blog post of the day)
  
• work
• 15 minutes on health PPW
• 15 minutes on laundry room

Wednesday

• POTD
• BPOTD
• work
• buy bread for dinner
• 15 minutes on laundry room
• 15 minutes on filing

Thursday

• POTD
• BPOTD
• AM doc appt
  
• work
  
• 2x15 minutes on downstairs' fridge

Friday

• POTD
• BPOTD
• work
• evening doc appt
  
• plan weekend to do
• go to watch Avatar in 3D
  

Pfew, can't wait for this first back-to-work week to be over. I love my daily routine but it's hard to get back to it after (only) 10 days of vacation!

New year, new resolutions

As almost everyone, a new year makes me feel hopeful and ready for change. As almost everyone again, my motivation doesn't last very long and (logically) my resolutions sometimes stay wishes and don't get real!

In 2009, I wanted to

• Thighten my relationship with the ones I love and develop my "internal life" (creativity, personal interests, culture). I will consider this a success: I took care of my loved ones, said "I love you" to many of them for the first time, sent b'day cards and little gifts for b'days as a way to say "I'm thinking of you", I started hybrid crafting and developped new skills.
  
• Get to a healthy BMI, that is below 72 kg (158 lbs). Definitely not a success, but thanks to the horrible weight gain, I discovered my medical condition and got "armed" to improve my health in 2010 (new doctor, amongst other things!)
  
• Decide where I want my career to move forward and take at least 2 steps in that direction. I'd say a half success: I managed to learn what I DON'T want to do and that's already a big step. I also learned to take my distance and balance my personal and professionnal lives, which is a huge improvement too. Finally, I took one exam that might help me move forward if I passed it!
  
• Get educated about finance managing, define a budget, stick to it and adapt it to big changes in my life. Success, even though I didn't define a budget until the end of the year. 2010 will be a test year to practice my new skills! LOL
  
• Create order, beauty and peace in my home and be able to maintain neatness without too much effort Half success again: even though my house never was (and never will be) picture perfect, it's getting easier and easier to maintain a liveable space and the right amount of organisation.

Well, after all it's not that bad!! LOL Despite some hard times (especially when we discovered we couldn't have babies on our own... tough moment!), 2009 was a good year and I'm really looking forward to 2010.

The word/theme I picked for 2010 is PEACE, and here are my "resolutions":

• Personnal: grow, wise, serenity
• Health: feel good, feel comfortable and at peace with my body, feel healthy
  
• Job: peaceful relationships, distance (it's just a job!!), evolve and grow.
• Money: manage it better so that I feel "secure"
• Organisation: have a home, not just a house, and create a peaceful nest for our family

As every professional organizer will explain, resolutions that are just wishes will never become reality, that's why it's much useful to turn them into goals, which should always me SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant (to my larger goals) and Time-framed.

I will hence create monthly goals (or plans) to achieve those resolutions, and hopefully create the peace I'm craving for.

Here are my goals for January:

Credits: Cherry Snap by Fee Jardine, torn paper template by Steph Krush, stamped alphas by Valerie Fowler (peace) and by Michelle Coleman (various categories of goals), fonts are CK Kimono and Century Gothic.

I'll post regularly to let you know how I'm doing!

What are your resolutions/goals/theme for 2010?

Avatar, here we come!

I just discovered that our favorite theater has Avatar in 3D! I was certain they didn't have the 3D! Good thing I checked, uh? We were planning on going there tomorrow but I can't stay awake until midnight when I'm working on the next morning, so I'll ask DBF if he wants to see it this afternoon.

ETA: we'll see it Friday evening, since I don't work on Saturday!

Have you seen it? Was it in 3D? Did you like it?

On another note, I just ordered an indoor bike... hopefully we'll finally get healthy this year. That's a first step already!

That girl is a pure genius!!!

I just discovered Color Me Katie thanks to SSD's challenges (the new system is terrific, BTW!), she's just A. MA. ZING!!!

Weekend plan

Here's my list for the rest of the week (I was in a trip on the first days and just came back yesterday):

• 2 loads of laundry: wash, unload and hang up DONE!
• change cat litter DONE!
• download and tag pix from the trip DONE!
• create watermark for 365 pix DONE!
• finish my 2010 resolutions DONE! and monthly plan for 1st trimester DONE!
• create LO for january plan DONE!
  
• create template for weekly P365 LOs DONE!
• take pic everyday and edit for P365: 01/01 DONE! - 01/02 DONE! - 01/03 DONE!
• post pix for P365: 01/01 DONE! - 01/02 DONE! - 01/03 DONE!
• prepare plan for next week DONE!
• catch up on e-mails DONE! + 3x15 minutes DONE!
• catch up on RSS DONE! + 3x15 minutes DONE!
• 6x15 minutes on zips and organizing DONE!
• create 1 birth announcement's project for Nanie DONE!
• create menu plan for next week DONE!
• go grocery shopping DONE!
• pick up house: living room DONE!, kitchen DONE!, bathroom DONE!, bedroom DONE!, office
  
• unload dishwasher DONE!
• back up pix DONE! and LOs DONE!

Wooohoooo, what a productive weekend, love it!!

Happy new year!!

I wish you and your loved ones all the best for 2010!!