New Ideas for 2015

Welcome to 2015. We made it through the holidays. I love Christmas with its bustle of family activities and mad dash for the finish line of gift buying and wrapping and opening and eating.  Oh, the eating.  So much eating. Anyway, I love it all, but I get to the beginning of the year and I, like almost everyone else, feel the need for a little simplicity and calmness and health living.

I'm a resolutions kind of girl, but it often takes me a bit of time to think what I want to accomplish in a year. Here's what I have come up with for 2015:

1. Try something new every month. It might be a new vegetable, visit a town I haven't explored, a restaurant I haven't been to, or a museum I haven't visited.

2. Work on incorporating my new way of eating into my life to maintain my weight. I lost 10 pounds in the fall through changing the way I ate and I want to work on making it my new normal way to eat (I slip back to old habits at the drop of a hat). More details to come in another post.

3. Experiment with new settings on camera. Sigh! I say this every year and I still don't know how to use my camera, but I really want to learn. Let 2015 be the year!

4. Travel to a new place. So far Peru and Iceland are being considered, but who knows. I get to January 1st every year and like clockwork I begin to pine to travel. I start contemplating where I might go, when, the itinerary, what to see, what to pack. I love all the planning and contemplating as it fills my mind with possibilities. By the way, you can tell that the travelling bug has got me because I spent a good part of today setting up my Travel page (along the header of my blog). Feel free to have a look and let me know what you think.

Do you set goals for a new year? I love that quotation at the top of my blog - a new heart is always a good idea!

New Year's in the Snow

We went to the cottage for a few days over New Year's and ended up staying a day longer because of a snowstorm. It is lovely to be snowed in (or even only semi-snowed in) when you aren't in a rush to get home.

Over the course of three days we went from having only a little bit of snow in the bush

to a lot of snow everywhere.

There were crazy snowsqualls

with wild yetis wandering about on the lake and through the woods. The yetis do look vaguely familiar, I have to admit. They carried sticks for safety on the ice, but then became crazed circle-making machines.

We also had calm, sunny weather as well.

Most days began and ended with gentle sunsets and sunrises.

There were frozen puddles with oak leaves suspended in the ice

and snow dusting the dry oak leaves making them look like Christmas cookies

and shimmery ice crystals in the air

and a warm and cozy cabin to come back to

with the best view to admire while eating.

Our days were spent reading, chatting, and walking through the woods or on the lake.  

  
We welcomed the new year with a meal of Nigerian Curry and an evening playing a murder mystery game and a toast of champagne at midnight.

And after we had eaten every shred of food we brought, we left pulling our bags on the toboggans.

  

  
 The end!

 

2014 in Review

2014 was a different kind of year. My father's death at the end of 2013 meant a lot of firsts for us this year. We managed, but 2014 was a sadder, more reflective, and slower paced year. I didn't have the energy to tackle any major projects. I just puttered along. 

It was a miserable winter with snowstorm after snowstorm. I have endless photos (and memories too) of piles of snow, shoveling snow, sun on snow etc. The snowstorms always seemed to hit on weekends which thankfully meant we didn't have to drive to work in the snow, but did mean we were housebound. We just kind of hibernated and licked our wounds (and shoveled snow).

In the midst of all those snowstorms our dear dog Juno passed away.

At the end of February, we embraced the crazy snow and cold temperatures and went to Niagara Falls to see some of the best ice mounds I have ever seen.

We went to the cottage lots this year - beginning in the March Break; then for Easter; often in the summer; with a friend in September to paint clouds and water; with friends and family for Thanksgiving in October; and with my mom in November. Here's a years worth of cottage photos to scroll through.

    

I never really gave up blogging, but I posted far less often for the first half of 2014 than ever before. By September I had regained my energy and hit my stride and rediscovered the joy of blogging which I wrote a blog post about (here) (By the way, the husband thinks it is one of my best blog posts).

I did get a few things accomplished during the year - even some things that were on my 2014 New Year's resolutions list.  

I painted our dining room chairs navy and still love the colour.

I baked bread.

In the summer, I went on a fantastic trip with the husband and my mother to Newfoundland. We had perfect weather and saw such amazing beautiful sites. We all want to go back.

I painted a large painting (well large for me).

And finally, although I don't have a photo of it, I kept the stairs clear of clutter. all. year. long. (which is a complete first for me).  I decided it would be part of my fitness plan to actually take the items up or down the stairs rather than putting them on a step to wait for me to take them later. I love having the stairs clear and now can't stand having anything on them. Oh and speaking of my fitness plan, I did a little self-improvement and made some changes to my diet and fitness regime and have lost 10 pounds (more about that later).

I also got my crafting on this year - well a little bit anyway.

Kate was off at the University of Bath in England for the spring semester and did lots and lots of traveling (lucky girl). Since she was away for her birthday I made her a set of pop-up cards showing three of the places she had visited by that point.

I made little Hallowe'en treats to send to our son and daughter who were away at university.

I made personalized advent calendars for the same son and daughter (here)

 We made twig Santas at my annual Christmas craft party (here).

I decorated our mantel in a Scandinavian style (here).

We decorated our woodland Christmas tree with owls made from toilet paper rolls (here).

And I sketched and painted some scenes from my daughter's travels as a Christmas present for her (I also did one of the Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal for my son and daughter-in-law for Christmas, but forgot to get a photo of it before they went home).

The husband had a significant birthday at the beginning of December which meant a significant present was in order.

And so we end the year with a new family member - the significant present and presence of Ruggles. 

I'm still pondering what resolutions to make for 2015. I can assure you that they won't be anything too wild, but I'll post about them later (when I know what they are, haha!)

I'm wishing you all a happy and healthy New Year, my friends!


Linked to Best Projects of 2014 party at Southern Hospitality