Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Big Plans for This Little Blog

3 more days. 3 more days. 3 MORE DAYS!!!


I have 3 more days left of work before a nice 2 week holiday. Can you tell I am excited!!!! 

As much as I am counting down the days, I still can't believe how quickly the time has gone. It seems like yesterday I was just starting work and moving to Toronto, but it has been almost 6 months already. Crazy. 

What is even crazier, is that in January I will mark my 1 year blog-a-versery and I am planning to "relaunch" the pink hard hat for that occasion. I started this blog as something to do so I wouldn't get bored. I had no idea about blogging, or even what I was going to blog about. To be honest I didn't even read very many blogs. It was completely foreign territory to me. 

In a year though, I have started reading blogs, I figured out what I like to read about, what I like to blog about and what other people like to read about. As much as it is easy to write the "Here is what I did on the weekend" posts, and as much as it is a great way for me to journal, I feel weird expecting people to continue to pay attention to my completely normal life. 

I like blogging about food and fitness, as demonstrated by my Totally Typical Weight loss challenge side project. I also like venting on my blog...posts like my letter to FB and one of my first ones about Sidewalk etiquette got good feedback, and even made some people laugh. I have learned I love reading about what people eat in a day, but not necessarily recipes, and I like reading about people's day to day lives retold with some humor. 

So where does that leave me?

For one, I think I need to blog more. It is hard to actually write what I want when I feel the need to fill everyone in with what I have been up to. For example, this blog post could have been all about my fun-filled weekend, but I just wasn't feeling it. Sometimes when I write about what I have been up to I am writing it with a big fake smile on my face, just because what I am writing about was fun, but how I am feeling that day isn't as fun. That is not keeping it realz yo. 

I also want to get a little more organized, have some focus to this bloggity blog. I really like the blogs that have a specific day for a specific topic, so I may follow that trend. 

I think I actually have to do something to make this blog exciting and fresh. The TTWLC worked because I was blogging about cooking, and going to the gym. It was easy to write because it was focused. Because of the limitless options with this blog, I often have writer's block. 

Soooo in January, I am kicking off year two of blogging with a fresh look of the page, more focus, and more posts. I still want to keep people updated on my life, but that will be a once a week post, not the only posts I do. I am going to spend some time on my Christmas Vacation thinking about this and planning ahead to figure out how I want this blog to go forward.

It is kind of silly actually that I started this blog with no plan and it makes sense that I'm not completely satisfied with my end product. As someone who is typically oober organized, and is obsessed with planning things out, doing something willy-nilly (bonus points for throwing that phrase in there) just isn't going to keep me blogging. 

I may not be blogging much between now and January with Christmas Craziness settling in, but stay tuned for January...because this is when this blog gets legit!


Saturday, December 3, 2011

Christmas Decorating

I made possibly the best rib sauce in the world tonight for supper. I loosely followed this recipe from Epicurious, but I didn't really measure, and made half of it following a similar recipe earlier this week. Whatever happened it was AMAZING, sweet and spicy and garlicy! Sooo good!

But that is just a side note to my actual purpose of blogging...which is that IT IS CHRISTMAS TIME!!!
This is my first offical on-my-own christmas where I wasn't worrying about exams. I am taking full advantage of this.

The "mantle" is decorated
Christmas!!!

The mini tree is up!!!
It is shorter than me!!!

Straight No Chaser's 12 days of Christmas was listened to whilst decorating the tree!

I love that I get to do this all again when I go home closer to Christmas. 

I really wanted to share with you all a nifty little Christmas idea:
Awww homemadeness

I know I totally read this idea somewhere, but I can't remember where (probably a blog). The people got an ornament to represent something new in their lives that year. I think that idea is fantabulous so I stole it. 

At first I was just going to buy a 2011 one, but they were all red and green and expensive, so since I went with a blue and silver theme (to match my normal decor) I decided to make my own. 

I started with a cheap plain silver ball. I bought some scrapbooking letters and numbers and put 2011 on the front, and a M + K on the back (for Mike and Kaylee, if you didn't figure it out). This is our 4th Christmas together, but our first actually being in the same place!

Next I took a pencil and traced the CN tower and city skyline to represent moving to Toronto. I then added silly "Welcome to Toronto" lettering. I then traced over the whole thing with a black pen to keep it simple. 


It probably cost me a total of 50 cents, and is way more personal than a wal-mart 2011 one. I like that anyone could do this and totally personalize it. Yes it looks homemade and kinda thrown together, but I like that about it! I also like that it has the potential to become a tradition, which is awesome!

Christmas decorations make me happy!

Anyone else have cool holiday traditions?