Wednesday 30 December 2015

Looking Back on 2015

 This year was a lot of fun on the blog.  I completed a year of capsule wardrobes, finished many minimalism projects, did my first attempts at vlogging and made some amazing "bloggy" friends.  It has been a great year!  Here is a look back at some of my favourite posts:

Capsule Wardrobe Posts:

Fall Capsule Wardrobe Recap
Summer Capsule Wardrobe Recap
Spring Wardrobe In Review
Winter Capsule Wardrobe- Likes and Dislikes

Minimalism Projects:

Minimalism Week #19- Command Centre
Minimalism Week # 22- Spare Room Part 2
Minimalism/Organization Project #25
Minimalism/Organization Project #28- The Hall Closet

Peaceful and Simple Posts:

Contentment & Letting Go of Bitterness
10 Free Ways to De-Stress
Tuesday Talk: Handing It On Up
Peaceful Simple Holidays

High Five For Friday:

High Five For Friday- 27.02.15
High Five For Friday- 05.06.15
High Five For Friday- 17.07.15
High Five for Friday- 9.10.15

I have really enjoyed getting to know you all over the past year.  This has been a fun year of blogging and I really cherish all of the blogging friendships I have made over the past year!

Wishing you all the best in 2016!





Thursday 24 December 2015

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of you!  I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season, celebrating with family and friends.  I am so looking forward to all of our Christmas activities this year!  Hubby and I made a list this year of all the things we wanted to do for Christmas.  We have almost completed our list.  I wanted to share this list with you and a few other things that I am looking forward to this Christmas.

2015 Holiday To Do List (Completed):

- Purchase Christmas jammies for Miss. E.
- Bake gingerbread men for bakesale.
- Mail out Christmas cards.
- Put up Nativity.
- Put up Christmas tree.
- Drink Hot Chocolate.
- Make Christmas tree craft for Elizabeth.  (A bit of a Pinterest fail, ha ha.)
- Make salt dough ornaments.
- Purchase and use Advent wreath.

2015 Holiday To Do List (Still to do...)

- Christmas light tour.
- Hang stockings.

If we have enough snow (I can't believe I am writing that...):

- Tobogganing
- Build a snowman

I am so excited to share Christmas with my family.  I am so looking forward to seeing my brother!  We always had such fun together as kids at Christmas.  We still have a lot of fun and I can't wait to hang out with him.  I always enjoy spending time with my parents and I am excited to do that tomorrow!  My in-laws will arrive on Boxing Day and I am looking forward to spending time with them.

I am looking forward to seeing Miss. E experience Christmas this year.  She is just getting over an ear infection (poor girl!).  It seems that she will be back to her regular self for the big day!

I am looking forward to watching White Christmas.  I have never seen it and I am going to watch it this year.

I am looking forward to Mass and celebrating the birth of Jesus.

I hope all of you have a joyous Christmas.  Wishing each of you safe travels.  Merry Christmas!




Friday 18 December 2015

High Five For Friday- 18.12.15

It was a really good week!  Here are my highlights:

1.)  I had a really great time with a friend on Friday night.  We talked and stayed up much too late.  It was fun to have a girl's night.

2.)  On Saturday, we had my Hubby's Christmas party.  It was fun.  It was the same annual Christmas party that we met at 7 years ago.  We danced and had a great meal.  I really enjoyed it!

3.)  Work was really good this week.  It wasn't crazy and I got a lot done.  It was a great few days to work!

4.)  I finished my Christmas cards!  This is super late for me to be sending them, but at least they got done.

5.)  I finished up my Christmas shopping.  We only need to buy a few gifts, so of course I left it to the last minute!  It is all done, now and I hope the recipients enjoy their gifts!

How was your week?  Link up with the lovely ladies below and tell us all about it!


Wednesday 16 December 2015

Fall Capsule Wardrobe Recap

I feel like I blinked and Fall was gone.  We had a beautiful fall this year.  I was quite happy with most of my wardrobe, with a few exceptions.  Here is what I loved and what I disliked about my Fall Capsule Wardrobe.

Fall Capsule Wardrobe Loves:

This dress is so comfortable and looks great, too!  I wore it a TON.

This black and white striped top got a lot of wear.  I also wore the vest a lot.

This leopard top can be dressed up and dressed down.  It is great!

I LIVED in this light chambray top.  It was my thrift store find.  I didn't like chambray when it first came out, but I am converted.   It is awesome.


This outfit was also in heavy rotation.  The sweater is pretty and allows me to wear my leggings.  I could live in leggings.  They are so comfy!

This t-shirt is a great weight and fits me really well.  I wear it often.

Fall Capsule Wardrobe Dislikes:

This oatmeal cape is super itchy and I have sensitive skin.  Unfortunately, I think it will go in the donation bin.  It is super warm so that was a plus.

This plum sweater.  I love the colour and I wore it to death last year, yet I rarely wore it this year.  I am not sure why, but I am not impressed with it anymore.  Another addition to the donation bin.

This red sweater.  I don't know why but it just didn't fit quite right.  I was never sure exactly why, but I never really loved wearing it.

I will be getting rid of my leopard flats, as well.  I really wish that they would have worked, but they were so uncomfortable.  They tore my feet up the first time I wore them.  It took weeks for them to heal.  I will be on the hunt for a more comfortable pair of leopard shoes.


That concludes my year of capsule wardrobes!  It was a fun experience.  I really recommend trying them.  The HUGE benefit to capsule wardrobes is that you learn to shop less and you really get a good sense of your sense of style.  I am going to stop doing capsule wardrobes, for now.  The KonMari method that I plan to try has set rules on how to purge everything, including clothes.  I want to be open to this new method of minimalism, without my capsule wardrobes clouding my judgement.









Friday 11 December 2015

High Five For Friday- 11.12.15

Woo hoo!  Hello weekend!  It was a pretty good week.   Here are the highlights:

1.)  Work went fairly well this week.  We were busy, but I had enough time to get everything done.  I am starting to get back on to the paperwork side of things, as it is my responsibility once again.

2.)  Hubby had a busy week at work.  We are grateful that things seem to be picking up again because work was so slow over the past year!

3.)  I had a fun day with some friends.  A friend invited us over with our kids and we made salt dough ornaments.  We also decorated cookies.  It was a fun day.  The kids enjoyed it and so did the Moms!  

4.) After we were done making ornaments, we walked down to see the "CP Christmas Train".  Every year the CP Christmas train stops in different communities.  They help the local food bank collect donations and CP gives a cheque to each local food bank.  The train is decorated with a bunch of lights and has a car set up as a stage.  There were two singers and a band performing Christmas songs.  It was really wonderful.  Miss. E's eyes light up and she really enjoyed the music.

5.)  I started reading The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing  by Marie Kondo.  I know that I am way behind other bloggers in reading this book.  So far I am really enjoying it and I have decided to try out her method.  I will be basing a Minimalism Series on my efforts to implement the KonMari method in my own life, starting in January.

How was your week?  Link up with the lovely ladies below to tell us all about it!


Wednesday 9 December 2015

Peaceful Simple Holidays

For a long time, Christmas lost it's shine for me.  I found it so disheartening that people seemed to focus on "getting stuff", rather than focusing on family, friendship and the birth of Jesus.  A few years ago, I decided to pursue a peaceful and simple holiday season.  Here are some of the ways we keep our holiday season stress free:

1.)  We have ceased all gift giving on my side of the family, with the exception of Miss. E. Any gifts that we give on my husband's side of the family are heartfelt or consumable.  Hubby and I keep our gift giving in check for our daughter.  We choose a few small items and Santa brings one gift.  We don't want gifts to be the focus in our family.  Things are just things.  The important parts of Christmas can't be bought in a store.

2.)  Our decor is minimal.  We decorate our tree, set up our nativity and I usually put together a Christmas centerpiece.  Hubby strings lights along our house.  It can all be put up (and taken down!) in a couple of hours.  I don't worry about making it look perfect, but rather try to use the decor that is meaningful to our family.

3.)  I send cards.  This might seem unnecessary, but I think that letter writing is a dying art.  I love to receive cards and letters in the mail ,so I always make sure that I send out holiday cards.  They brighten everyone's day and help us feel connected to family and friends.

4.)  We use our Advent wreath.  We bought our Advent wreath this year.  I looked for one last year, but was unable to find one.  We light the candles at supper time and pray Advent prayers, preparing our hearts for the birth of Jesus.

5.)  We watch the original "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" on Christmas Eve.  We started this tradition because we didn't know where we would be on Christmas Eve, be it at home or away visiting family.  We thought that this would be a great tradition that we could do virtually anywhere.  We really enjoy it.

6.)  We attend Mass.  Hubby and I are very aware that Christ is the reason for our Christmas celebrations.  We always go to Christmas Mass and enjoy celebrating His birth with other members of our church.  We usually sing "Joy to The World" at the end of Mass and it always makes me joyful and a little teary.

7.)  I don't break the bank.  I make a small list and purchase the few gifts that we need.  I don't spend crazy amounts of money of gifts.  I choose to give small, thoughtful gifts that fall within our family's budget.

8.)  I don't bake (much).  I generally don't bake any treats for my family at Christmas time.  My Mom always makes our family's favourites and my Mother-In-Law makes their family favourites.  Hubby and I always look forward to eating the treats our Moms prepare and we indulge for the holidays.  I don't feel the need to add to the baking.  I often bring a dish for Christmas dinner, if I am not making the dinner myself.  I leave the baking to the experts.  I do have to bake a few treats at this time of year for my workplace's Bake Sale.  The proceeds go to purchasing things that our Long Term Care residents need.  A very worthy cause and definitely a good reason to bake.

How does your family enjoy the holidays?  What are your tricks for remaining stress free?

Thursday 3 December 2015

High Five For Friday- 4.12.15

Hello Everyone!  This blog has been on the back burner lately and I have decided that, for the next little bit, it is okay to cut back on posting.  I plan to put out 2 posts a week, including my High Five For Friday post.  I am still working on the ever elusive "balance" and I am also in a bit of a rut with my posts.  It will be nice to try a slower schedule when it comes to the blog.  I hope that it yields better posts and helps me find a routine in my personal life.  I am working on catching up on my blog reading, as well.  I can not wait to dive into all of the posts that I have missed.  Here are the five things that made my week wonderful:

1.)  I read a book out of a series recommended by Katie at Cup Of Tea .  It was the first book in the Mitford series and LOVED it!  I have "ordered" the second book in the series from my library and I can't wait to read it!

2.)  I had a wonderful play date with a friend and her son.  I really enjoy our dates and the kiddos have a blast.  It is nice to connect with other moms who are supportive.

3.)  We had a fantastic appointment with our daughter's new pediatrician.  I LOVE the new doctor!  Our last pediatrician was rude and wouldn't explain anything to us, so I requested a referral to a different doctor.  I am so glad that I did!

4.)  I ordered a new cookbook.  It is a vegan cookbook.  With my daughters allergies, I was looking for some ideas for dinner and baking.  The cookbook looks fantastic and I am excited to try some of the recipes.  I will let you know what I think after I have tried a few!

5.)  My hubby's work is finally picking up.  He is getting pretty much full time hours again, which is amazing!  We feel so relieved that he has work again.

How was your week?  Link up with the lovely ladies below to join in!