Do you plan your meals???

Well do you??

Why do I ask? I have been reading about all these fellow bloggers who plan their meals a week or even a month in advance. I watch TV shows about getting organised and this is something they discuss and have you ever watched the show Til' Dept do us Part?-- well she talks about meal planning and how it helps you stay on track when you budget for the grocery store and you don't end up buying stuff you won't use.

I have never done this... it almost seems foreign, both my daughters are toddlers and never have I preplanned a meal. I buy a meat source and decide that morning or the night before which of the multiple meat items we will chose from and create dinner off of that. But this seems fleeting, not to mention I am feeling bored and uninspired by the whole endeavor.

I wish this was something that I was taught in my household as a youngster... but it never was, there was no rhyme or reason on dinner. I love my mother but she can't cook for the life of her. She has 3 staples and those are all we ate, followed with an array of french fries or plain boiled rice.

I want to eat well, I want to eat on time, I want to love cooking and have fun doing so.... so here come meal plans! So I found a good food chart to go off of, a nice little formatted list something I can set the motions around here with. I hope I can become uberly domestic with this meal plan list... it doesn't the meals though... LOL! -or the grocery list for that matter. So I still have to put the work in.

But getting organised really is exciting--- at least I am feeling excited about the process!

Cheers!~

Another busy week & weekend!

So my baby turned 2 this weekend. I feel funny calling her my baby, when she blatantly isn't one anymore. She's in her full prime of toddlerhood!

We threw a birthday party for her, it was nice there were plenty of people here, but I wish I had felt more up to it--- I wish I had spent days and days decorating and preparing. The blistering heat we had here in the city and the lack of a functioning A/C made me not want to turn on my stove all week. Other than making dinner for my family, there was no way I was turning my gas stove on.

I also been in a slump, a pretty bad slump. To say I sat around and did nothing all week was the reason it wasn't. I went to the beach with my girlfriend and her son and spent one of those squeltering days somewhere far cooler than my place, had a fantastic chat with my mommy friends but for some reason I can't get motivated in any way. I can't begin to work on my happiness project this month, it's a reality I really am struggling with.

But I am going to celebrate the fact that my daughter turned 2 and share a little poem a friend of mine shared on his blog.

When Elmo isn't ticklish,

And Pooh Bear hates honey,

When Tigger stops bouncing,

And Goofy isn't funny,

When Peter Pan can't fly,

And Simba never roars,

When Alice in Wonderland

Can't fit through the small doors,

When Dumbo's ears are small,

And happily ever after isn't true...

That's when I will stop

Loving you

Well I hope you all have a great weekend, hope you enjoy the image of chocolate cupcakes I made with some very colourful sprinkles.

Cheers!~

Family Fun Weekend!

I had a super busy weekend; it was a long weekend here in Canada! We get to celebrate Queen Victoria's Birthday, giving us 3 days of weekend bliss.

It was my only niece's birthday and my dad's on Saturday... which I really love celebrating them both. Then I celebrated my dad the next day at my house with a small impromptu BBQ in my backyard.

And it topped off my weekend with a great Victoria Day full of a rare amount of warm warm sun, a nice little visit to my mother's house with the most awesome firework show in my neighbourhood park. My girls loved it so much, there must have been more than 300 people in the park. It really was a great weekend, I really did enjoy myself!

I can do anything good!!

OMG!!! This little girl has it and I don't! Perhaps she can be a role model to me and all of us not feeling good about ourselves. But I can do anything good, what a great motto! What a proud mother that must be filming her daughter.

Daily affirmations of I can do anything good, and I like my hair... ohhh she has no idea how great that one is for when she hits being a teenager and hair becomes a daily concern. But Wow, do I wish I was this girl!

Conversations on Dr. Oz???

*** I apologise if you find this image offensive, I actually found it quite beautiful. I do apologise if you were offended!***

If you know me personally, if you follow me on Facebook you know I have an infatuation with Dr. Oz.

I feel silly if I miss an episode, what is more important than understanding good physical health for yourself, your spouse and your children. Little things I have learnt and felt compelled to keep in my mind are things like Vitamin D is the greatest vitamin you could need for great health. Vitamin C moves fat into a burn stage, as in if you eat something high in vitamin C it then tells the fat pockets to make their way down the line of fat burning during excercise.

But today they talked about healthy penis and vaginal health. I didn't use the word Penal, it makes me think of the jail system, not erections. But here they go again, a full conversation about penis length, direction of erection (oooh I made a rhyme) and positive vaginal feelings.

Now I am no sex expert, won't even try and make a joke about being one, even though it really is tempting. But as they decided to talk about the vagina and it's size, what might or might not happen after getting pregnant and having a child come out from the vagina. It compelled me!

I am a total Female Activist. I am not a feminist, will not burn a bra. But positive vaginal feelings, smells, moisture, like it's some growth... why do women hate their lady bits, why do they hate them after giving birth? This is your sexual tool, you don't ever hear men talk about their penises like some unfortunate behaviour of multiple sexual experiences, like foreskin that moves or doesn't gives them a slight advantage or not, that their penises are UGLY, ohhhh would I love to meet the first man who thinks his penis is ugly, they don't! They love their organ, they really do!

So why do women allow this organ be such a sore spot (OMG, sorry for the pun again--- this is a tricky darn post today)?

I gave birth to 2 beautiful girls, both pregnancies were great, both birthing experiences different but ohhh the plethora of people who took a peak at my vagina, luckily all with some sort of medical degree but there were many. After about the 10Th different person who took a stare, poked and prodded--- I came to terms with my bits. It's my Vagina! It's mine, I can't get a refund or exchange it, it probably will only get more wrinkly the older I get--- but it's mine and I will be proud of it. I am about to give birth to a child out of this organ, nothing this little organ will ever do could be bad.

By the time birthing my second child, my Dr. came into the room and politely asked me if I was OK with a student standing and watching me birth my child, I stopped and thought.... ummm do I need one extra person to take a look down there and then I realised, well how else will this person learn if not by example, my Vagina is now educational!

So blame Dr. Oz for today's odd post, but if you are lady--- take note, it's yours and no two are alike, it's your own personal art piece!

GPS??

Is your personal GPS working? Have you let the batteries die?

I was reading a couple of great blogs (Fabbrunette and PinkofPerfection) about your future and where you see it, how to get there and the work involved. And I think with instant gratification that we get with this instant world we live in, I have lost the ability to envision my perfect future.

I feel like here we are, and we need to get somewhere... you don't have to work to get it anymore. Pop in your directions and little GPSs figure out a way for you to get there. But have you ever gotten into the car and not known where you were going at all? Like you have no where to go and you don't know where to go. The internal GPS has no direction for you, because there is no destination.

But here I am working on so much of me, working on being happy, being healthy, being successful.... but I don't have a destination. I don't have a life visual in my head. You daydream? Ohhh come on we all do, it's healthy it's gives you moment of reflections on ways to stop and reroute your personal life vision of your own future even destiny.

Destiny.... HA!!! I hear all these people who claim everything that happens to their life destiny, I am starting to believe this word was once created for one definition and has transpired into some crazy mystical element of the future that you don't play a role in doing. If you go and kill someone than your destiny was decided at that moment that you are a killer... if you sit at home and do nothing, destiny NOTHING much than staying at home. But if you work hard and make something transpire, you are effecting your destiny. You are not sent on this planet in any realm to become something that has been decided for you--- hey you, yeah you are going to be born and you will become a bank robber, OK great! Next!

But now I am in terms with the reality that I have to do and be what I want to be and do. Now, that's great but WTF is that suppose to be. Like I can envision myself living on Fifth Avenue and being some socialite, sending my daughters to a school that costs what some have as an actual annual income. How about a simple life crafting away in my beautiful beach house in a quite yet affluent town in the south of Florida or California... ohhh please being uber cool living in a fantastic little flat in London, having drinks with the parents of other kids that go to school with my daughters and being some crazy work horse that never stops. What about my Australian fantasy???

But I feel like I can't begin to imagine what that perfect fantasy looks like, I use to be so certain of the things that I wanted. I was dead set about having kids, getting married and so on.... I got those goals done, check and check; but somehow I went stagnate. I am not sure what direction to go? I am nervous about making the decision to decide what to chose, what would be the best choice for my family, for my self needs and my career (which really isn't where I need it to be currently).

Now I am concerned you think I might be making a mini pity party for myself... but I am actually come across a moment of clarity as this 29 y.o. who has found some semblance of clarity and isn't going to sit by willy-nilly and wait for life to hit me in the rear; I want to have a choice in the way it might go down, I want to take control and not allow others decisions to sculpt my horizons.

There are 2 ways I have heard about deciding and working on your own future, and I will share them not sure where they came from but these little quotes are what make me realise there is far more out there: 'If someone was to write a Biography about you when you pass away, what will your chapters consist of? What will they have to write about?' and 'I want to be the one who paints my masterpiece! Anyone else doing it, no longer makes it mine!'

So there are few thoughts to muddle over and ponder, sorry for the deep and insightful blog, just thought I would share!

Clothing Show???

This past weekend I went to the Clothing Show here in Toronto with a good friend of mine. Never been to the clothing show. Had heard a ton of advertisements seasons past about the show, wondered in amazement at the splendor of seeing these immaculate pieces of fabric marvelement.

And so when asked to go, I was excited about the prospect of what my eyes would see. We started our walk through the miss-mash of aisle, the place seemed completely disorganised in a particular fashion that must have made sense to the organisers.

Where the disappointment landed at a pivotal point was how, some booths made it feel like you took a wrong turn and ended up in the flea markets of the outer core of Toronto, where the clothing is disrespected and placed haphazardly in a sore to the eye fashion--- this is like pouring salt on the wounds of a clothing connoisseur.

I was pleasantly surprised at the beautiful jewelry and accesories, that took the time to make their booths and the shopping experience worth the time one would come out and spend money to enter the show itself. They should rename it the accessory show.

I left with some fantastic soap and lipbalm all hand made and locally produced and organic matter. I did take pics of a few bracelets because I am a maid of honour with my sister for a wedding,; found these great oversized cuffs. Pictures to follow...

Bah Humbug!

Not sure why I am feeling particularly moody...

I was having the most fantastic weekend, I got myself a nifty new laptop, worked on the front garden of my house, picked fresh Lilacs from my trees, had pink lemonade in my backyard with great company on my fantastically beautiful back table.

I have been sucking at getting to the gym lately, perhaps because with such work and effort, it was becoming increasingly devastating not to be noticing the difference that I should be. Not losing weight wasn't sufficing at just getting out there and going to the gym. I can see a difference but at my weight losing inches isn't acceptable, one needs to lose a ton of weight to be in a normal weight category.

I think I came to terms with my reality perhaps I need more help than a gym requires, I am not going the negative manner; but I am going to go see the Dr, I need the visit. My workouts were becoming seemingly harder with every day that it became bizarre than I wasn't getting hurtful or exhausting... more like I was finding it impossible to get through the workout. With a huge family history of thyroid issues and having had a minor iron deficiency after giving birth to my second child.

I am trying to stay happy and focused, doesn't help when you just couldn't take it anymore and make yourself some chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing, but I do have some beautiful bouquets in my house which I am trying to look at and enjoy.

******* Don't you love the Lily of the Valley flowers in the pic, I don't have a tiny vase, so I used this little milk dispenser with a flower motif and in a great shade of off white. Isn't it great?*****

Gumball 3000

What is this thing I speak of???

Luckily for me, the day after my Husband and I celebrated being together for over 13 years, a motorcade of Millionaires and their fancy shmancy cars came into Toronto. Trendy Yorkville to be exact--- they shut down 2 streets to allow for these cars to park. It became a spectacle of cars, more like a spectacle of people awing and oohing the cars.

All dressed up in my pretty tan studded heels and with the best accessory in town, my husband; we perused the streets and topped off our evening with my favorite place to eat in that neighbourhood. A little known Australian Pub called Hemingway's, where we noshed on Garlic bread, Sweet Potatoe fries, itty-bitty pulled pork sandwiches and a pizza. A glass of Sauvignon for me and a Vodka Cranberry for Husband.

Good food, fantastic cars... and really an affordable and fun date night.

My 3s!

Thanks for the Tag Leesh over at Blarkness Chronicles

Here are the my 3's:

3 names I go by:

• Kiki


• G


• Mama

3 jobs I’ve had:

• Event Coordinator


• Editorial Intern


• Photographer's Assistant

3 places I’ve lived:

• Toronto


• Does Greece count for 3 months... LOL!


• My husband/ then boyfriend's bedroom (never left Toronto)

3 fave drinks:

• Frappé (sweet with milk)


• Mint Chocolate Chip Iced Mochacino (Starbucks)


• Coke--- but I am starting not to love it anymore!

3 TV shows I watch:

• Y&R


• The Biggest Loser followed by Parenthood


• Heroes (when it's on)

3 places I’ve been:

• NYC


• Greece


• Mexico

3 places I’d like to visit:

• Paris, France


• L.A. California


• Berlin!!! enough said!

3 fave old TV shows:

• Sex and the City


• Gilmore Girls


• What about Brian

3 fave dishes:

• Chicken Diane


• Shrimp Platter at Red Lobster


• Steak Medium Rare with Sweet Potato fries or Garlic Mash

3 makeup products I cannot live without:

• Mascara


• Lipgloss


• Blush

3 things I’m looking forward to:

• Losing a significant amount of weight and buying a sexy mini


• Turning 30--- this is my year and I am stupid excited about it.


• Taking my girls to the pool for the first time ever together.

3 people I’m tagging:

• Waiting for Daisies
• FabBrunette
• City Mouse

Marching to the beat of MARCH (in May)!

I feel bad about not posting about this next chapter in my Happiness Project! But I am not sure why I can't get a grip around this subject, but Aiming Higher seems almost fleeting!

So 3 chapters in, dealing with work and being happier within the working world seems so impossible to me. Not that it's not something that I don't want... I am looking forward to being successful and financially happy within the working world--- but I am having a hard time coming to terms with my place and plans to being a thriving entrepreneur!

I am not sure how this month will fare... but here are the tasks at hand.

Launch a Blog- Now for my business and the fact that I have both a jewelry line and a small event planning business I am not really thinking about starting a blog about my event planning business. I am a fanatic about other blogs with events, decor and party planning as a whole. But I don't think I am a place to come to for great ideas as of yet. Perhaps in the future. I have a jewelry blog.... maybe I should start working on that one again!

Enjoy the Fun of Failure- I have a severe fear of failure, I try on a daily basis not to feel poorly about myself. I really can't deal with failure and so don't push ahead or forward when I know I can do more and be more. I am not Happy about my current career situation... I want far more and have the abilities to do more, the connections and the networks; I just am so frozen in my tracks in fear. I don't know how to shake the fear off... I want to so deeply, I read and read about ways to get over it, but enjoying it seems so far fetched. But this is the month to push through even a little, don't believe Happiness will be instant, perhaps this will be a push for future happiness!

Ask for Help!- This gets fuzzy... this falls unto my fear of failure thing all over again! I am the biggest advocate of asking for help, will tell others to do so in a heartbeat, am always willing to help others. But for some reason asking others for help makes me feel SMALL! I would never let anyone feel little for asking me for advice but I have been pushing for myself for so long on my own that getting help seems so fleeting; but I know this to be true, that getting HELP is completely acceptable if not needed to keep thriving in any industry.

Work Smart- I need to do this far more than I do now. I work from home since having kids, I love being at home with my girls, but it takes a huge toll on my work. It's so hard to get things done when you just want to bake, play in the backyard, go on play dates, the park and so on. Gretchen talks about feeling like not having enough time, other than this being something Mother's all over the world feel on a daily basis... there never seems enough time; but this is going to be something I tackle.

Enjoy NOW!--- HA!- The Ha, I added; because I do not suffer from this behaviour. I went to a psychic once and he said to me that my short term goals will always be more successful than my long term goals... and for once I get it. Other than with weight loss... thinking I will be so much happier when I reach a certain number, I am genuinely appreciating the moments I have NOW. I always have and always will... but I am going to make loftier short term goals for myself, that would be encompassing my NOW! Bringing back month 1's do it now, but for work related items. Stop putting stuff on the back burner.

So I am weary of this month, I am concerned about ticking off the items needed to complete this month... but as all my months are always work in progress, I work hard on my goals and make sure that if I never put the utmost effort into the goal that I continue to do so the months to follow.

Ohhh Busy Bee week!!

I had a bit of a busy week last week... I have so much to share and feel real guilty about the facet that I haven't posted in over a week.

Posts to come this week (in no specific order):

1. March of the Happiness Project, this is a work in process big time and so writing it out has been difficult, but it's coming.
2. The Great 13, I have been with my Husband for over 13 years, good, bad and even Ugly, triumphant and tear-jerking fantastic.
3. Gumball 3000... a little out of the ordinary post but a great outing I had a ton of fun on.
4. plus some fun other stuff.......

I have been working out, I have been doing wedding planning stuff for a friends upcoming wedding and well I have been Mom! So Mother's Day came and went... didn't get spoiled if you are going to ask. But I was with my family and that was all that mattered!

Cheers!

10 Little Things!

I like to share, I divulge with all honesty the big yucky feelings I am tackling, the most taboo of subjects my weight and well if I am happy, obsessed or defeated. Here I am sharing such grand things and honest items.

But at the core, I am a fun loving girl who is still the girl I have always been pre-marriage, pre-baby... pre-mortgage at that.

So I thought today I would share 10 little silly facts about me for well just something FUN:

1. My favorite colour is Pink, but hands down my most favorite colour to wear is white-- even though sometimes I think I am not small enough to wear it.


2. I love HOUSE MUSIC, I am a junkie... am mad when the radio doesn't play anything good during the day other than top 40.


3. I drive a Wagon... my father drove a wagon when I was a kid, I was mortified by it, but I love my wagon.


4. How do I describe my fashion sense... oh wow! I am a lot Betsey John, sexy like Gabanna and classic like Coco Chanel- not Karl Lagerfeld.


5. I could careless for Popcorn or Chips, I am sickly addicted to chocolate and icing!


6. I love High Heels--- don't know how many I have? But I don't own a pair that is 3.5" or lower. I suffer from Stiletto Envy!


7. I don't wear make-up daily--- I also like to live in my jogging pants if I don't have to leave the house.


8. I love to cook! I have never made anything that someone couldn't eat or didn't like... I think I would die if I ever did! I take crazy pride in my abilities in the kitchen, cooking and baking!


9. I cry at every kind of movie... almost! Dog dies at the beginning of Gladiator-- I cried, the Little Mermaid lived happily ever after--- I cried, if I watch the Notebook again, I start crying from the first scene with the old people.


10. I buy a silly amount of Gossip rags... there are no Star Magazines, National Enquirer... but I love my Life&Style and InTouch... so much so that my friends know they'll find a magazine in my living room like I was some kind of Dr's waiting room!

Well that's me! Do we share any similar quirks?

Ahhhh and then I smile!

Sometimes I get overwhelmed... at least I remember I do at moments where I wonder how did this day end this way.

With being sick, a daughter who also was sick, another who might be under the weather at least that might be the reason for the clingy behaviour I feel some time exacerbated by all the pulling from direction... mostly I am a serious cranky wench without sleep. And well sick people allows for a lot of NON-SLEEPING nights!

But then little things happen, little happy things that might be so silly or so simple. That make the fact that you haven't been able to go to the gym all week, that your short temper is really short or that you cheated like crazy on what was suppose to be your Tim Horton's free diet.

I had 2 such moments yesterday... I went shopping something I don't get to do much lately. We had gotten some cash for birthday gifts and I had promised my daughter that it would actually get spent this time on her. Went to The Children's Place and got to the cash with 6 items- tutus, sandals, a great t-shirt and some shorts-- the till rung through and a mere $23, I nearly fell over myself with glee.

But the best part of my day was actually by fluke, haven't been to the gym, haven't worked out even at home... cheated on my health kick and ate extremely poorly. But I got on my scale and with the 3 pounds gained the week I was working out, I actually have lost another 6. Yeah 6 pound weight loss!!!

And then I smile... it's so simple... so easy!! A girl easily pleased with life's simple perfections and little perks.