Guilty Little Fashion Secrets...

I have a confession to make.

I love fashion blogs.

I read several, I'm always clicking through pins to one fashion blog to another. I get drawn in by pics of great causal outfits, coloured jeans, bright print scarves, funky tights, great shoes, boots - oh the boots get me every time.

I have a few faves too:

Back to life...

After my last post you may be wondering what's happening now? Well, you're not the only one. There are days, I'll admit, that I'd still like to lay in my bed all day and cry and drink tea and watch sad movies and wallow in my loss... but I don't. I've got two wacky busy boys, and a husband who need me, and family and friends who are infinitely supportive, and wonderful, and I couldn't get up every day without them. And so, I've been trying to get back to life, back to "normal" (because, what's normal anyways?!) and part of that is taking pictures.

I LOVE taking pictures. My family actually call me the mamarazzi because my kids are so over-exposed to photos (not IN photos...well, sometimes, but still!) that as soon as I point the camera at them they mug and smile and my 2 year old has a tendency to say 'You takea pichur me, Mom?' and want to see it (thank-you digital!). So, since my brother-in-law and his fiancee wanted some engagement pictures, when they asked me to take them, I was more than happy to! .... then I ended up in the hospital, and my life got turned on its head and everything was craptacular... but part of getting back to life is doing things like this.

So, Thursday, we went out, took LOTS of pictures (like 400 or so) and then Friday and Saturday I sat down to edit out the good ones, and I thought I'd share just a couple of them with you, blog-o-sphere!

Here are some of my favourites from the shoot with my b-i-l and his to-be!

love the almost silhouette quality of this one. :)

Happy List

I'll admit that so far this year, my year of Organization & Happiness - I've posted MOSTLY about organization - and left happiness kind of in the dust. But the other night I really started thinking about it. I mean - really.

A few months ago, I saw this little infographic on a friend's facebook page:

 

It's cute, a little trite maybe, but funny enough to get a little laugh out of people... at which point they carry on with their day mumbling "I wish" or something to that effect.

And yeah - "I wish" it were as simple as that. Just 'change something' and you'll be happy. Well.... happi-ER, I guess.

Incentive...

Just a quick post:
I've discovered an incentive to get the kiddos to clean up their rooms/playrooms.... apparently standing at the door with a garbage bag in my hands is great incentive to get moving and start putting things away....

I wonder if it would work with the hubs?

Ha ha. But seriously. Some incentive is definitely needed to keep them from sabotaging my KTP on a regular basis.

KTP Sabotage!

SO - Saturday evening just past we had a HUGE party at our house for the hubs' 30th birthday. It was a "surprise" and by that I mean - he pretty much figured it out, but was def. surprised at the fact that we fit about 50 people in our little house. Frankly - I was surprised at that. There was some cheeky talk about whether or not the floor would hold... but it turned out to be a pretty great night.

The house was immaculate (for like the first time since we moved there I think), the food was great (done up right by me, my Mom, and the Moms-in-law), the people were awesome (all our friends are, obvs.) and the party was generally considered a success.

And then I had to clean up. Again. Ugh.

It wasn't so bad, really, I mean, it was cleaning up the plates and cups, and the absolute MOUNTAIN of dishes that comes after a party like that, but otherwise, not bad at all. And Monday started the official first day of KTP.

Week of Cleaning Fury

As part of my goal of seeking happiness for 2012 - I've decided that I'd like to live in a clean and organised house. Now - with two kids 3 and under, a husband, a dog and a crazy crazy life - that's more difficult than you might imagine. In the past we've had a tendency to do a major "clean" once every month or so , usually in preparation for having guests over. In fact, the hubs has even gone so far as to comment to me that we "need to host more parties, because then the house will stay clean." Smart alec.

But he has a point. Cleaning up the whole house in one big push over and over again is, frankly, exhausting, and not a great way to function. So here's the concept. One more big push, one big clean - a five-day-fury as we've been calling it this week - and THEN - a scheduled amount of cleaning, every day for the rest of the year, to maintain the cleanliness. Now - cleaning the house does NOT make me happy, but living in a clean house DOES make me happy - so it's a minor trade off.

This week has been... something. Going room by room in the entire house, over the span of 5 days I have tidied, organised, purged, scrubbed, and reset virtually every spot in my house. And if you want to do it - this is what you can do.

First I started with some lists. And as you all know - I love lists, so that works for me.
An example looked like this:

Organized Misery? Or Happy Chaos?

So - as part of my goals for 2012, and in my search for happiness - I've decided that I'm going to get organized... and stay that way. Now - I love organizing. Actually - mostly I love lists. Seriously - I love a good list. I like sitting down with a clean, fresh piece of paper, writing that sucker out. I love looking at it to keep on track, I love crossing things off (with or without vehemence depending on the item). I do not function well without my dayplanner - which to be honest, is really just a book where I can make lists according to day of the week. I list when I'm going to sleep (which usually results in me saying "SHUT UP BRAIN" a few times) and I list in my head when I'm going through my day.

For example - this morning, I was up, brushing my hair and while I was doing that in my head I was thinking: Get dressed, wake up the boys, make tea, get breakfast, get the boys dressed, do your morning bus run. And then while I was on the bus I was thinking Get home, check email, write blog post, finish cleaning dining room (canning boxes under the stairs, laundry to the laundry room, toys back in the playroom), start on basement and both bathrooms today. (Even my lists have lists.)  Now I'm writing this post and I'm thinking: This afternoon if I have time, put spaghetti sauce on in the crockpot while I work on the other rooms.

To-Dos!

Okay - so I've been thinking about the whole "resolutions" thing... and how I never ever really do them. And while I'm sticking with "seeking happiness" for 2012, I think I need to make a list of To-Dos.

If you know me at all in "real life" - you'll know that I'm big on lists. In fact, I actually LIKE organising things... I just hate having to do it over and over and over. And let's be honest, with an almost 2 year old and an almost 4 year old in the house, I do a lot of things over and over.

But I'm thinking that if I give myself a list of things to do, then maybe it won't feel as daunting as saying 2012 RESOLUTIONS (please imagine RESOLUTIONS being said in the deepest, slightly scary, booming, movie announcer type voice - because that's how it sounds in my head).

And because - dear blog readers - I just love you so much, I've decided that I will share my list.... and my very likely failures to actually complete said list, and my not-so-likely-but-at-least-remotely-possible successes as well!

To start!

Well 2012 - let's see what'cha got!

SO.... I took a little break from blogging - mostly because I was crafting my lil' fingers right down to the bones trying to get everything done for Christmas. It was a hard slog - but we made it. The grand total?

• MANY jars of jam, pickles, sauces, etc. Too many to really count
• 1 pair of knit socks, men's size 12 for my brother-in-law - the FIRST socks I have ever knit, especially considering I just learned to knit in the round this past year. They fit - hallelujah!
• 3 freezer paper t-shirts - 2 for my other brother in law: a Star Trek inspired red t-shirt that says "Expendable" and a blue shirt that says "I'd agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong". (If you know my b-i-l, you'd understand). And one black on black tee with the batman symbol and the words "I'm Batman" in batman font in the middle (batman/big bang theory fans) for my hubby
• A gaming pillow for my sister's boyfriend. He has a bad back and needs something a little bit more supportive to lean on when hanging out at home. He called it a torso pillow because I made it out of a sweatshirt - hey - as long as he likes/uses it - he can call it whatever he wants!
• 2 super hero capes, personalised with freezer paper, and 2 super-hero utility belts with flashlights, noise stick thingies, and pouches for my two lil'heroes 
• knit infinity cowl for my super-fash sister who works downtown (and knew what it was right away - thank goodness - since my Mother looked at it said "What IS that")
• 1 knit slouchy hat (by request) for baby sis plus a huge vinyl purple flower pin, hand sewn
• 1 pair of knit mittens for my sister-in-law
• A knitting loom - made by hubby for my mother-in-law
• A rain stick, made out of abs pipe, filled with kidney beans, and modge-podged like crazy for my Dad
• A knit cardigan for my Mom (my first ever real garment)

PLUS I made all of our Christmas cards
PLUS I did the requisite amount of Christmas baking

I. Was. Exhausted.