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A brand new year is just around the corner, and with a new year comes a new list of goals and resolutions that people make. It's a good time for starting over or trying something new.

But do people still follow resolutions? One of the most common that I see is to 'lose weight' or 'eat better'. Both are difficult to accomplish without some planning and support.

Personally, I decided to make a list of goals for myself this year (one of them includes learning how to cook rack of lamb!) and will try to accomplish those goals. 

One of my biggest goals is to be better at managing my time. Because really, my time is no longer my own - it primarily belongs to my children and their schedules. Finding a balance between them and the things I need to accomplish can be difficult, but I will work on it. I think I already am off to a good start - I now have a More Time Moms Family Organizer for the wall! It includes a monthly calendar with large spaces for writing and stickers to flag really important days (like show and tell which I really can't forget!)

There are a lot of great calendar options out there, including this one from Wyman publishing for your office:

I know that many people have a Blackberry to help them keep track of their time, I don't yet and I know some people are old fashioned and prefer to write notes done. For those of us who need to carry a small planner around in our purse or car, I like the prettiness of this small monthly planner:

Sometimes I not only need to remember dates but websites, thoughts, ideas or milestones with the kids. To do that, I have note pads lying all over the house, but mostly these notes are on scrap pieces of paper or sticky notes.  What I really need are pretty, neat looking notebooks like these ones from Ecojot:

Are you making any resolutions this year?  And better yet, do you think you can follow them?  How are you ensuring you keep yourself on track?

Image sources: BuyCanadianFirst.ca, Wyman Publishing

The holidays have come to an end, most of us have likely over-indulged in delicious holiday fare, and now it's time for those good old New Year's resolutions. I stopped making those many years ago, because I thought it was a bit ridiculous to come up with new resolutions only once a year. Instead, I give myself small goals throughout the year; that way I feel like I've accomplished so much more, rather than making a resolution at the beginning of the year and likely forgetting about it halfway through.

One of the things I do keep telling myself every year is that I really should go outside and play more in the snow. Seeing as winter is by far my least favorite season, I figure that if I go out and do fun winter activities, I won't find the season so long and dreary. We are very fortunate here in Montreal, as we have a lot of things going on in the city in the winter and many fun activities to do that are mere steps away from home. And if you're making those fitness resolutions, it can make keeping them somewhat easier.

One of Montreal's major attractions is Mount-Royal, or as the locals here call it "The Mountain". You can strap on your warmest La Canadienne boots, made in Canada of course, and take a nice, leisurely winter stroll to Beaver Lake, where you can do some ice skating, sledding or "crazy carpeting". The mountain is a great getaway, because as soon as you start walking up, you completely forget that you're in the middle of the city and it feels like you're hiking in a forest up North!

La CANADIENNE Annabella boots

If you're more of a city slicker like myself, there are many other fun things to do outdoors in the city in the winter that will entertain you and almost make you forget that it's cold outside. For the last few years, we've had a music festival here called Igloofest which usually runs for about 2 weeks (Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays) starting in mid January, at the Old Port of Montreal. It is basically a big music event with outdoor shows, DJ's, and dancing o' plenty. You'll really want to dress warmly for this one, sp take out all your best winter gear, fleece undergarments, your warmest Canada Goose coat and just dance the night away!

Women's Montebello Parka - Canada Goose

Another excellent way to have fun outdoors in the city is the Montreal High Lights Festival, which runs from February 21^st to March 3^rd this year, and has a ton of different activities to please everyone from the kids to the grandparents. It is one of the largest winter festivals in the world, combining both indoor and outdoor activities. It illuminates the city and is a pleasure for the eyes as well as the heart. When the sun goes down, brace yourself for a spectacular event filled with lights, fireworks, acrobats, digital projections and much more. The festival closes with a bang, with its ‘'All-Nighter'' celebrations where you can enjoy hundreds of free activities, shows both onscreen and onstage, all in the great outdoors.

So, as you can see, there is no shortage of fun to be had outside in Montreal in the winter; you just have to be prepared for the weather, which can be very unpredictable, and just go out there and enjoy everything winter has to offer.

What are YOU going to do outdoors this winter?

By Annie Curran

To me, there is little else that smells as wonderful as honey, so when my box of Made in Canada Honey Candles  arrived, I ripped open the package and breathed in that wonderful scent. It was bliss. Over the following week, I found myself stealing moments throughout the day to enjoy the scent of my beeswax candles. I had no idea that this wee bit of bliss was coming from a company with so much heart.

Honey Candles is owned by Roy and Leah Honkanen, a husband and wife team that have been married for over thirty years. The staff  at Honey Candles have been with them for nearly as long as they have owned the company. They share common values and have evolved together. Honey Candles manufactures beautiful candles, but they also do a whole lot more ! Their commitment to each other, the environment , sustainable business practices , the relationships they hold with each other, their suppliers, their customers and of course the bees  are unparalleled. I found it difficult to tear myself away from their website, and as I read through the About  section, I felt evermore fortunate to have had the opportunity to discover Honey Candles and host their products in my home.

It seems fitting that the first product I tried was the beeswax birthday candles, to celebrate my daughter's 6th birthday. I noticed the beautiful colours of the candles as my mom and I clumsily lit them, in no particular order, while attempting not be burned by each other's lit match or by the lit candles. This process always takes a little time and is accompanied by giggles and pools of wax on the cake, except this time all messy drips were absent. Awesome!

Since the day I started using their pillars, I adore the warm comforting glow that these candles produce, as well as their light sweet scent. I am certain they will be my first choice in my future candle purchases, and here are ten reasons why. Take a moment to scroll through their website, I am certain you will be as riveted as I was reading about this home-grown Canadian company. 

What are your favourite candles?

Image source; Honey Candles, Andrea Willowcat

It's been going on for awhile, now,  but I still have to laugh when I see the stores putting out their Hallowe'en candy and costumes...in August. Why? Because they don't stop at candies and costumes anymore!  Now you can also find pet dog and cat costumes, personal fog machines,  inflatable, life-size cemetaries, complete with amusing headstones,  motion-sensitive haunted house sound effects, Hallowe'en lights to drape on the eavestroughs and in the trees, 8 foot tall headless horsemen and their ghostly steeds...Hallowe'en just seems to get more and more popular and elaborate every year!

                            Original Caramels

In Peterborough, Ontario, folks start decking their porches and trees with 'spider webs' and 'crime scene tape' in the last week of September! They have leaf bags that look like pumpkins on their lawns and paper lunch bag ghosts hanging from branches, the moment they rip the page from their calendars for the new month!

 

 

People seem to like Hallowe'en for the same reason that they enjoy movies such as the Twilight series and TV shows like True Blood and Ghost Whisperer. They are all about supernatural creatures like Vampires and Werewolves, being terribly scared and, oddly enough, everlasting love. It's both romantic and Freudian!

                          Hallowe'en Cookie Kit

You don't have to be a kid to enjoy Hallowe'en anymore! I've decided to have fun with it ... why pass up an opportunity to celebrate something AND to make things? Besides, how can I resist a haunted gingerbread house that I can decorate myself!? I LOVE this! It is such a clever idea and would be so much fun to make with some kids or artsy pals! You could make an awesome haunted village! The cookie kit is also irresistable and I want to make a bunch of them and give them to some special friends! Fun!

                            La Caterina + Vampire

Last year, my husband and I dressed up as La Caterina and a Vampire! We joined friends in their backyard, toasted marshmallows over the bonfire and enjoyed the Full Moon.Then we walked home in the lovely Autumn night, to eat more candy! Perhaps this year, I can persuade him to put up a Hallowe'en tree and hang our Hallowe'en stockings by the cauldron!

                          Hallowe'en Kisses 

How do you celebrate Hallowe'en?

:: images courtesy of Buy Canadian First members.

Jovial Jool!

Environmentally-friendly “eco fashion” is a huge trend when it comes to the wonderful world of shopping. Whether organic fabric or sustainable production there are many options in the fashion industry and it's hard not to take notice. This week I reviewed a clothing line called JOOL . The fun name is a play upon the designer’s first name, Julie. This free spirited and fashion focused individual has been running her clothing line while balancing a part time gig styling and wardrobe organizing. Designer Julie is a self-proclaimed “Eco-Fashionista” because she creates all of her designs by giving new life to old clothing. Originally from Brantford, Ontario Julie started her line in 2008 while graduating from the fashion design program at George Brown College . She was off to a great start when she won “Most Promising Designer” of her graduating class.

Every season her collections are built of up-cycled pieces carefully reclaimed and redesigned into modern and unique works of ART! She carefully sources clothing items and then the fun starts with reconstruction, bleaches, dyes, bedazzles, you name it! There isn't anything this talented artist won't do to bring forth her creations to her dedicated customers.

This week we saw five fun looks that showcase fall fashion at its finest. I found that the items Julie designs serve as gorgeous wardrobe accessories. The pieces splash the joy you need when you're heading out in your daily "uniform". All of these pieces can become wardrobe staples all year round. They are functional and provide a true wow factor with their understated details.

Every piece that JOOL designs is different, the designer wants this to be symbolic of the fact that - we are all different. Her love of fashion, the earth and her relentless creativity has led her down this path to reinvent fashion each season for her dedicated customer base! Her goal is for women to find their own unique personal style when wearing her clothing. I cannot agree with this more, fashion is fun and it is necessary but I think the best thing about fashion is being able to express yourself through clothing (especially Canadian-made clothing!). While wearing the JOOL fall collection  this week I felt that each piece is truly reborn from its past life. Designer Julie has a talent for taking an old "muumuu" and turning it into a stunning evening dress, breeding a new history eager to experience life again. She takes on a relationship with each item of clothing literally, taking it by the hand and welcoming it back into the fashion world. It's nice to think of our clothing not sitting in a landfill for the rest of its life, but being saved and nurtured by Julie working her magic for the next wearer!

To read and see more on my review please visit Samantha Stylish  and to dive deeper into the world of JOOL please visit Walk With Jool.

Do you buy "eco-fashion"?

Images courtesy of Samantha Stylish