Moose Jaw Minute #76: Coming Up...Seven Days, Seven Topics

Over this next week, I will be taking on the challenge of writing about seven topics in seven days.  Yup, one post a day for seven days on topics I find of interest (and, well...hopefully you do too).  Let's learn a little more about one another...shall we?

Happy weekend, everyone!

Moose Jaw Minute #75: Sunday in the City

Confession.  The times I like the city the best, aside from during the holidays when everything is decked out in twinkling lights and the streets are as crowded as a mosh pit and stores are piping in "Jingle Bells" from every speaker is...

Sundays.  After the holidays.  When the loop is quiet and the only thing disturbing the muffled sounds of barely-there-city-noises is the roar of the brown and orange lines on the el tracks above making their daily rounds.  I had to work this fine Sunday and I as I walking toward the office, I genuinely appreciated the chill in the air, the bright blue sky above and the absence of...

Twinkling lights, streets as crowded as a mosh pit and no "Jingle Bells."

My yin and yang.

Happy Sunday, everyone.

Moose Jaw Minute #74: Vision

What better way to ring the new year in than by getting on the road right away?  Last week I was in Kansas City for a conference of the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance.  It was pretty cool and I got to spend Tuesday through Friday with tons of inspired college students who are looking to make their mark in the nonprofit sector.  It was energizing and motivating and, while exhausting (erm, I can't do 2 AM going-to-bed on a regular basis anymore!), I came back ready to tackle things with new perspective.

I've been musing a lot about next steps and what I want my 2012 to look like.  As you may remember from last year, we don't do resolutions.  Instead, the husband and I set goals for the new year.  This year, we took a different approach and wrote things down month by month.  What did we want to accomplish in January, February, March, and so on.  As I came back from the conference, I realized that it's a combination of writing down the goal, but then also having the action plan and mind-set to get it done!

Luckily, I had a Sunday with some girlfriends of mine to help that mind-set process along.  Four of us got together in a cozy apartment with football on in the background to catch up, nibble on food goodness and create...wait for it...vision boards.  Yup, a la Oprah-Vision-Boards.  We had piles of magazines around us, scissors and glue sticks at the ready and we talked, cut, and pasted our way into poster-board-bliss-full-of-wonderful-thoughts.  Did I ever think I would create an official vision board?  Nope.  It turns out to be a good exercise though and at the end of the day, we did some decoding of what our boards might mean.

For example, I had a lot of domestic airy spaces to start...minimalist, clean bedrooms - a spa bathroom - a patio with a hammock.  Erm, clearly I'm looking for some domestic bliss!  That served as the foundation of my board.  I had then cut out tons of words and phrases that meant something to me like:

"I realized today is the day I write my own story."

"The road to inspiration."

"Soul Surfer"

"The Birth of Cool"

I know I want this year to be one of positive thinking and open approaches to my life and work.  I have a framed quote on my desk that these same friends passed on to me that reads:

"Live What You Love"

Well, you know what, on a regular basis...I DO!  And, recognizing that is half the battle.  

So, to start the new year off right, I've taken it upon myself to truly live what I love.  To try to live more in the moment while creating a positive vision for what the future holds.  As I deftly move between the big city and the prairie, I'm going to soak it all in and not only hope for the best, but work and make the best happen for myself.  

It's looking like it's going to be a good year...

Moose Jaw Minute #73: Welcome 2012!

Moose Jaw Minute #72: Bonne Année!

Bonne Année!  Another year has come and gone and I, for one, cannot believe it.  It's been an awesome year that started with Screech in Moose Jaw and will end with tapas in Chicago.  We've been incredibly fortunate this year with people and places and are really looking forward to what 2012 has in store.

BUT, before we move on to 2012, I should give a little update on the past two weeks!  Dave has come back to the city to spend some time with me over the holidays and we've had a blast.  He enjoyed sleeping in, I enjoyed a couple of days off work.  We ate great food, spent time with good friends, and put together our little abode in the city.  We finished a monster puzzle, made and ate lots of cookies, decorated our "tree," and spent some time reflecting and appreciating the goodness that 2011 was.

Not one, but TWO trees!

Lovely Christmas Market...

As I think back on this year, there are so many things we were able to accomplish...among them - a wedding, two fantastic hiking trips, seeing my parents renew their vows in April, a new job, and yet another notch in the old moving-from-one-place-to-another belt.  In short, it's been a great year!

Best wishes for 2012!

Moose Jaw Minute #71: And to All a Good Night

My apologies for not hanging around the blogosphere lately.  It's just, well, a certain guy from a certain Canadian town came to a certain U.S. city to visit a certain gal.  We are grateful for so much this year and just wanted to say to everyone...

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for the New Year!

Cheers!

Moose Jaw Minute #70: Happy Holidays, Love Chicago

The Chriskindlmarket in Chicago is everything good about the holidays.  There are twinkling lights, a giant tree, mulled wine, hot chocolate, awesome German goodies like pretzels, and a sweet castle chock full of every sweet thing you can imagine.  There are vendors from all over the globe selling their wares -- from hand-blown glass ornaments to wooden toys.  It takes me back to high school in Germany when the holidays would come to life in each village square in the form of a market that my family could enjoy together.

That Chicago has a Christkindlmarket makes it that much more of an awesome city to be back in...there is nothing more magical to me than a city during the holidays!

I'll be posting more holiday pics later...have a great week!