Tuesday, December 29, 2009

2009 - You Gotta Have Faith

    My birthday (which happens to be tomorrow) falls in that mellow, post-Christmas/pre-New Year group of days that tend to blur together and be less than memorable. I typically get all melancholy, reflecting back on the past year and contemplating the year to come.
     I am not a fan of New Year's resolutions as they tend to be forgotten by mid-January. Honestly, I think the only people who benefit from these resolutions are gym owners, who get a pile of new sign-ups and hope to heck they'll never show up at the gym from February onwards.  I prefer, instead, to set sail into the year with a few intentions which I tweak and adjust throughout the year.
     This past year has been about faith. As I sat on a Mexican beach a year ago tomorrow, contemplating my 40th birthday and my barely pregnant belly, I set the intention to be kind to myself and others throughout the year, but to be especially kind to myself (and not get stressed or ill) during my pregnancy.
     I realized I would have to have faith in myself, others, and God to see me through. It wasn't easy and there were plenty of lapses but somehow, I managed to have faith that it would all work out alright for everyone, during what turned out to be a pretty challenging year.
     I kept the faith through my high-risk, miraculous pregnancy. I leaned on it through downsizings at work, and during times when I wondered about the security of my job. When we had a genetics scare for our unborn baby, I clung to the faith of friends who held steadfast while I was wavering. I survived a high-stakes professional game of "chicken" in the workplace because I had faith that it would be a win-win for everyone, and it was. I had faith in the safety of my brother who did significant business travel around the globe this year, and his trips were successful, interesting experiences, and thankfully safe ones. I had faith that loved ones who passed away this year (and there were quite a few, unfortunately) had gone on to a better place and that somehow, their survivors would find comfort and peace. We are still struggling through these losses, but with faith are managing somehow. I had faith my work would be covered off successfully during my maternity leave and it seems to be going just fine, better than expected, actually.
     The big one for me was having faith in Lauren's safe arrival. I had to believe it was all going to work out, that it was really going to happen for us, despite all kinds of nasty medical situations in the past, some of them quite harrowing. It took quite a bit of faith to be cautiously optimistic rather than pessimistic and scared. As the weeks passed and the danger-zone of 32-33 weeks approached, I braced myself and kept the faith. Those weeks passed without incident. At 38 weeks, Dr. Nick joked with me I'd be begging for induction, and I started to wonder if I'd be able to cope through labour, having had a c-section with Austin. 2 days later I felt the dreaded symptoms of HELLP syndrome and as we headed for the hospital, I held onto my faith that it would all be fine and both Lauren and I would be safe.
     On July 26, at 10:24 a.m., Lauren arrived via c-section, a healthy, gorgeous little girl. It was truly a "moment of being" as Kim would call it and my life changed in that moment. Despite my dangerous medical condition, I did well, recovered, and bounced back surprisingly quickly. All, I believe, because I had faith.
     The balance of the year has been a blur but full of minor faith-testing moments. Helping Austin through little challenges. Getting through the sleep-deprivation phase of post-partum recovery. Dealing with bureaucracies in government and the Catholic church to resolve issues. Staying involved at work without getting too involved. Watching my bank account dwindle but knowing maternity leave is a once-in-a-lifetime-never-to-be-back-again thing. Growing in faith through joining the moms' group at church. Helping friends and family through tough times. Reaching out to others, with the faith of "being a friend to have a friend." Starting my blog. Dear reader, while you've only been along for a short ride with me, I hope 2009 was good to you and during the tough times you managed through it just fine too.
     Next: Looking forward and setting intentions for 2010.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Love The One You're With

     In an effort to shed my honorary title as Queen of Clutter, I've been systematically going through our house and sorting through stuff. I've pulled open drawers, closets, boxes, fridges, and freezers. In the process of discarding, giving away, and reorganizing, I've discovered all kinds of things I'd forgotten about and have received some pretty good insights into my habits and personality.
     In addition to discovering we'd been hanging onto quite a bit of useless stuff (or useless to us but useful to someone else), I've also found there are useable things that we've forgotten about and in a lot of cases, purchased duplicates of. For example, food in the pantry and freezers, a whole range of skincare products in the master bathroom, and a whack of travel-size amenities pilfered from hotels were among the trove of found treasures. The odd duplicates collection includes multiple half-used bags of chocolate chips, several bags of rock-solid brown sugar, and more nail polish than at the local Vietanamese nail palace.
     For the sake of not being wasteful, as well as for saving money and actually using/enjoying what we've got, I'm making an effort not to buy more stuff til I've pretty much depleted our current "inventories". In the Purchasing & Logistics world, that's called "FIFO" (first in, first out) versus our recent "LIFO" (last in, first out) approach.
     In terms of food items, my rifling through the freezers has yielded some interesting meals. Hot Italian sausages  were broiled and tossed with some pasta. That was interesting in a good way. Frozen chopped ham was thrown into a batch of French Canadian pea soup. Unfortunately, this was "interesting" being used as a polite term instead of what Cam and Austin really thought. Sadly, I found numerous packages of expensive but freezer-burnt boneless, skinless chicken breasts. What a waste.
     The chest freezer in the basement is nearly empty, the freezer in the kitchen fridge is less packed, and the freezer in the garage "beer fridge" is still in the early days of exploration. Key learnings from my freezer diving (upscale dumptser diving?) have been:
  1. Have a good look in the fridge, freezer, and pantry before going grocery shopping.
  2. A suggestion from my friend Mimi in Montreal: Keep an inventory list of what's in the freezer, to save yourself from having to rifle in the cold.
  3. Use stuff up. It's a complete waste of money and freezer space to buy food and then let it get freezer burnt.
     As for personal care products, at a recent spa visit, when asked "And how are you for skin care products?", rather than be tempted (or strong-armed as some spas do) to purchase something new, be it a tube or an entire product line, I laughed and politely declined, saying I had pretty much every skin care brand represented in my bathroom cupboard. And so, I am now systematically using, enjoying, and using up the products I've got. Just finished a jar of Yves Rocher night cream and have launched into a collection of travel/trial sized Sothys products given to me by my friend Victoria, who swears by this brand. Next stop will be the collection of Avon skincare products stashed in my drawer.
     I normally stretch my shampoo and conditioner dollar by alternating salon brand (I am keen on the Schwartzkopf brand) with really creamy, oopy-goopy drugstore brands like Pantene and Dove. Having discovered Cam's serious haul of hotel mini bottles of hair products, I am working them into the rotation as well. I draw the line, however, at only using name-brand shampoos and conditioners out of those little bottles, and the shampoos have to be of the creamy variety. Otherwise, you're pretty much washing your hair with dish soap. Steer clear of product that is only labelled with the hotel name, unless it's a high-end hotel. For example, Hyatt has a pretty good ginger shampoo and conditioner, but heaven help you and your bad hair day if you dare to dip into Days, Holiday Inn, or Comfort hotels' "private label" products.
     I've heard it's fun to "shop your own closet" and find new clothing combinations. Haven't tried this yet, and am a bit concerned that it will be the blind leading the blind, considering the wardrobe consultant and the shopper are one in the same person. Will report back on this in future. 

  

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Holiday Outfits - a quest

     It's that time of year again, when there are plenty of social occasions (too many, it seems sometimes) and nothing to wear. Every year I have fantasies of a Christmas social season that resembles the lovely gatherings depicted in magazines and store flyers. You know the ones - women in fabulous cocktail dresses, men in tuxedos, and children in their finest. Champagne is flowing, conversation is witty, and the children are behaving. 
     The kids in Childrens' Place ads are so well-dressed and none of them have food down their fronts nor smeared on their faces. The women in the Vogue holiday editorial spreads are a bit surly looking, perhaps in need of a drink, and their dates are very attentive and not even hammered. Not that I'd wear a $3,000 couture gown to a holiday event. Heck, I wouldn't even shell out for fancy children's clothes for my kids, because I know the realities of how little wear the clothes would get and how destroyed they'd be in one wearing.
     At any rate, the reality is that the events I will attend are more GAP/Old Navy holiday parties than even the ones in the Sears catalogue. I'm not saying we'll have a Griswold Christmas, but I don't foresee strapless gowns, champagne flutes, and Cameron in a tux. I'll be amazed if he even has a suit in his closet that's wearable.
    With visions of holiday insanity kicking off next week, I started thinking about what I'll wear to my company's holiday lunch and Cam's company's Christmas dinner/dance. Keeping in mind they're both corporate events, I rifled my closet and ruled out pretty much everything. Too much skin. Too dressy. Wore it already. And, most importantly, I am at that wacky post-partum stage of "I hate my clothes, nothing fits, and I don't want to buy anything new until the baby-weight is all gone."
     The only solution was to head out to retail. Not wanting to spend a fortune, I figured my best bet was to find something lovely, designer, and second-hand at a consignment store. Stopped in to Consignorita, a local consignment store which I'd not visited yet. Surprisingly, there was very little in terms of consignment items (one rack), and everything else was brand new. It struck me as an odd business plan, to market the store as consignment but try to sell new stuff, especially as the new stuff was high-end and fairly casual. Also, it's a bit of a shock to expect consignment prices and be presented with full-priced designer gear. Maybe a margarita before shopping at Consignorita would reduce sticker shock.
     The sales person was super nice, very helpful and did find me a lovely-yet-funky v-neck, wrap, purple and leopard print  Frank Lyman dress, which looked great on, but I wasn't keen on spending close to $200 for a dress that I probably wouldn't wear very much. Call me cheap, but I was looking more for a dressy blouse or top to get some wear out of.
     I knew it was time to hit up my favourite haunt for treasure hunting. Armed with a sense of humour, a bit of determination, and Lauren as my co-shopper, we headed out.

Ajax Value Village

     Value Village isn't just for kids' clothes, although we warmed up our shopping muscles by looking for dress-pants for Austin,. Scored some for him for $4.99. I decided to rifle through the dresses but only found strapless, summer, outdated, or downright hilarious frocks. I moved on to the blouses and yes! I found a gorgeous sheer black, ruffled, FMX Design Studio blouse which I'll wear with a fabulous micro-fibre camisole I found for $4.99. I can wear these with black pants or a skirt, and a nice pair of heels. And the blouse was only $7.99. Awesome. 

Blouse with cami layered underneath.

     So let's do the math. I could have spent around $200 for the Frank Lyman, but spent only $13.00 plus tax on myself instead. I'm thinking with the savings, I could go nuts and get my hair done, mani/pedi, etc. Or, of course, get some nice bottles of wine and some steaks. I think, however, this time, I'll mentally file the savings for when I get my post-Xmas Visa bill, and be glad I didn't spend the money this time. Of course there are always the January sales to look forward to...