2011 In Review

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?
Celebrated my 1st Anniversary and bought a house.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn't make any new year's resolutions last year and here are my resolutions for this year: 

2012 resolutions:

1. Start going to the gym 
2. Eat healthier

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
A couple of my coworkers had babies.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.

5. What places/countries did you visit? 
I went to Halifax and Mayan Riviera Mexico

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
A little more savings, a better job, more fun.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
March 13, 2011- Bought our 1st home
July 1, 2011 -1st Wedding Anniversary
June 2011- My sister graduated high school

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Buying a home and doing some major renovations

9. What was your biggest failure?
Staying in the job I'm in now.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nothing other then a cold here and there.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Our new home, new car, new bedroom set, new dining room table, new 55in TV, bigger Xmas tree.

12. Where did most of your money go?
Purchasing a home, home renovations, new car, new furniture, trips.

13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Buying our new home and celebrating our 1st anniversary.

14. What song will always remind you of 2011?
      Pumped up kicks by The Foster People

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier
b) thinner or fatter? Fatter
c) richer or poorer? Richer and poorer

16. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Excercising, eating healthier.

17. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Sitting on the couch, being unhappy with my job.

18. How did you spend Christmas?
Visiting Hubs family, working and by ourselves

19. Did you fall in love in 2011?
I continued to be in love in 2011.

20. What was your favorite TV program?
Glee, Grey's Anatomy, Two and a Half Men, Desperate Housewives, Next Great Cake Baker

21. What was the best book you read?
The Monk DownStairs.

22. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Adelle

23. What did you want and get?
A house

24. What did you want and not get?
A new job

25. What was your favorite film of this year?
Didn't really have a favorite.

26. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 25 and spent the day flying home from visiting family.

27. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Loosing weight

28. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
The same as its always been.

29. What kept you sane?
My Hubs, my family and friends

30. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Adelle

31. What political issue stirred you the most?
Don't keep up to date on political issues, my bad

32. Who did you miss?
My family and best friend who live across the country

33. Who was the best new person you met?
Hubs Auntie

34. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.
You can't always have everything you want, but sometimes you have everything you need without realizing it.

35. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
     You know how the time flies
     Only yesterday was the time of our lives
     We were born and raised in a summer haze
     Bound by the suprise of our glory days

Langos

Every year, our local fall fair has this amazing little Hungarian stand that sells Langos. We tried it the first time we were there and fell in love. Hubs decided he would try to make it himself and after a little google searching he came across this recipe. It's so delicious and not to hard to make, and a great fall/winter treat.

3 or 4 med. potatoes

1/2 envelope of dry yeast

1/2 cup of warm milk for yeast

1/2 tsp. sugar

1 1/2 cups to 1 2/3 cups of flour

1/2 tsp. salt

Lard for frying

- Cook potatoes in boiling salted water
- Peel them and immediately mash them, let cool
- Mix the warm milk with the yeast and sugar (Let the starter sit for 5 or 10 minutes)
- Mix mashed potatoes with flour and the salt. Start with 1 1/2 cups and add more flour to 
  make a kneadable dough. Knead dough well.
- Put dough in a bowl and cover.
- Let dough rise in a warm place until double in bulk. About 1 hour.
- Roll out the dough with a floured rolling pin on a floured board to 1/2 inch thick.
- Cut into rectangles, squares or circles. Prick with a knife to keep big bubbles from
  forming.
- Melt Lard in a frying pan so it is at least 1/2 deep.
- Fry Langos over medium heat. (If lard is too hot they will burn, if lard is to cool the
  Langos will absorb too much lard)
- When they are done, rub each Langos with a cut clove of garlic and sprinkle with salt
  and Paprika or as a treat sprinkle them with sugar and cinnamon.

Serve warm. (Good to accompany Bean or Lentil Soups, or a snack with beer or wine.)
Recipe from http://homepage.interaccess.com/~june4/langospotatocakes.html.

Recap of early days of 2012

I noticed I hadn't blogged since Jan 3rd so I figured I was about due for a new post. Been busy working and keeping house the last 2 weeks. Sounds like nothing really exciting ever goes on around here but I promise it does. Hubs and I have been married 1.5 years as of Jan 10th. Hard to believe we are coming up on 2 years already.
Hubs step-brother also came to stay with us yesterday for an indefinite amount of time while he looks for work. It wont be too hard for him to find something, it will definitly be a lot easier then him looking for work in his small hometown.

I've also been starting to help my best friend plan her wedding. I've given her lots of website info and tips I've learned over the course of planning my own wedding. I've even helped her look for photographers and offer my advice on which one I'd recommend to her (she is getting married in a totally different province so she can't use all my wedding vendors). It's so exciting to be back into wedding planning without the stress of it being my wedding or money.

I've also been dealing since Christmas, with the fact that my mom's quite sick. I know I've mentioned it on here briefly in a post and I promise I'll post more but frankly right now, I just don't feel like talking about it. I hate the fact that I even have to think about it, the fact that its even an issue, and that of all things its happening to my mom. And of course it couldn't be some easy thing to solve, heck it couldn't even be something common and above all it had to be something advanced and aggressively malignant. At this point in time I often go through the days feeling numb at points, feeling frustrated she has to go through and deal with all this and that we as a family have to even use the word Cancer in our family. I hate saying the name, I'm trained to diagnose cancer, but the word is so evil and hated and at times I wish I could just erase it but I can't and so we are going to have to learn to deal with it, deal with Miss Mable (as we call the tumor) and hope as hard as hell that she can get through this. We all remain positive and will continue to remain positive through this difficult journey. 

Bar Service for Our Wedding

I came across E & S Events through a local community site while planning my wedding and searching for a bartender. A bridesmaid however told us she would look after the bartending as her wedding gift to us so we didn't pursue them any further. A couple days before the wedding, the bridesmaid cancelled on finding us a bartender and we were stuck. Where can you find a bartender to work your Sat night wedding just days before the event (I was not a happy bride at this point). I remembered seeing their ad and contacted them in hopes they were available. To my saving grace they were able to bartend our wedding and had a personal meeting with us to get all the details even though it was such short notice. I can't give enough praise to these 2 girls. Their services are extremely affordable (even on such short notice), they are professional and pleasant to work with and I would recommend them to work for any event or function. I keep their contact info handy for friends and for future purposes. Thanks again for saving our special day.

Updated 101 in 1001

This is my second version of 101 in 1001. I finished most of the things on my original list sooner then I had expected and so I decided to make another list.

Not familiar with the 101 Things in 1001 Days project? Check out this website.
The Mission: Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria: Tasks must be specific (i.e. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable, or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (i.e. represent some amount of effort on your part).

Start Date: November 14, 2011
End Date: August 10, 2014

Marriage & Family
1. “Date night” with Hubs once a month (14/33)
2. Have a baby
3. Celebrate 2nd Anniversary
4. Talk to home every weekend (28/132)
5. Visit Halifax for my brother's grad
6. Buy a 2nd house
7. Get pregnant
8. Celebrate our 1st Christmas in our New House (Completed Dec 25, 2011)
9. Go on a vacation with family

Mind, Body & Soul
10. Lose 10 lbs
11. Learn to cook a new healthy meal
12. Complete some form of exercise at least 3 times per week
13. Read at least one book per month (8/33)
14. Give up soda for a week
15. Learn a new recipe and cook it at least once a month (6/33)
16. Get a hobby
17. Have a bubble bath (Completed Dec 21, 2011)
18. Get a library card
19. Spend a day at the ocean
20. Declutter

21. Go on another trip
22. Do something for myself at least once a month (14/33)
23. No dessert or cookies at work for 2 weeks
24. For one week, go to bed at 9:00 p.m. just to read
25. After baby, get back to pre-pregnancy weight
26. Go for a walk with Hubby every night for a week
27. No eating after 8:00 p.m. for a month

Home Is Where the Heart Is

28. Get spare rooms organized
29. Buy a dresser for spare room
30. Hang wedding pictures
31. Cook our first turkey (Completed December 24, 2011)
32. Get a new dresser set
33. Reno the main bathroom
34. Empty entire fridge, clean it, then put everything back in
35. Reorganize kitchen cabinets and paint them
36. Defrost freezer twice a year (1/6)
37. Repaint shed
38. Buy blinds for the house

All Work, No Play
39. Get a new fridge
40. Get a new dishwasher
41. Stay on top of the house cleaning (18/33)
42. Start a wedding planning business
43. Help Hubs achieve his work goals

44. Get a new job, closer to home or clerical
45. Take another course at work
46. Learn to speak Spanish

Hit the Open Road
47. Take a spontaneous road trip
48. Travel to Hawaii
49. Visit Newfoundland
50. Visit friends in Winnipeg
51. Go camping at least once each summer (2/3)
52. Have a picnic in the park we got married
53. Visit the Buchart gardens in the winter
54. Visit Hubbs friends in Alberta

I ♥ Food
55. Update my recipe book with new recipes (At least once a month (11/33)
56. Try a new restaurant (Completed December 19, 2011)
57. Try making a new cultural food
58. Don't eat out for an entire month
59. Make homemade pasta
60. Put new recipe's on the blog (1/3)
61. Make tapas

Friends Are Forever
62. Email my best friend once a week (7/146)
63. Send Christmas cards each Christmas (2/3)
64. E-mail friends at least once per month (1/33)
65. Catch up with an old friend
66. Have a party or dinner party
67. Send birthday cards to all friends/family in 2012

Pinching Pennies
68. Save for another house
69. Set up retirement savings

Cha-Ching
70. Make a budget
71. Put more money on the house
72. Put more money on the car payment
73. Save for a rainy day

Pay It Forward
74. Donate to charity
75. Volunteer for a good cause
76. Buy something from a thrift store that supports a charity
77. Donate money to a children's charity (0/6)

Just for Fun
78. Go skiing
79. Go to a hockey game
80. Go to the fall fair
81. Buy a pumpkin from a pumpkin patch and carve it
82. Rent a hotel room for a night to get away
83. Take more pictures
84. Have a Christmas cookie exchange (1/3)
85. Buy a new Christmas tree and decorations

Hobbies & Skills
86. Blog once a week at least (14/33)
87. Learn to cook more things
88. Get some family tradition recipes
89. Make a scrapbook
90. Read a book a month (8/33)

Capture the Memories
91. Get wedding album (Completed May 2, 2011)
92. Print photoes of each year's events and put in photo album
93. Get photos printed to hang in home
94. Take more pictures
95. Complete 101 in 1001
96. Send more pictures to family

No More Procrastinating
97. Lose some weight
98. Deweed garden
99. Start an excercise routine

101 in 1001
100. Start a new 101 Things in 1001 Days list once this one is completed
101. Get friends in on this project

Soooo Excited!!

I just found out yesterday that my best friend got engaged on New Years Eve. Let the wedding talk and planning begin. Congrats to the both of you on this wonderful journey.

Happy 2012!!

Its officially 2012!
Gone are the memories and days of 2011 and the fresh beginning of 2012 is upon us. 2011 was a good year to Hubs and I. We celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary, bought a house, got a new car, went to Mexico again, and did some major renovations to our home. 2011 also brought many sad times for our families with many family members having had stays in the hospital. Looking ahead, I hope 2012 will be a prosperous year for Hubs and I. We have a few more reno's we would like to do, we both hope to go back to school and I want to get our home a bit more organized. Guess we will find out what the year ahead has in store for us....