# 31 - Curling

When I was making my list there were a lot of things that got cut from the list that I wanted to do. The reality is there is not a lot of time until thirty. I had to be realistic if I wanted to accomplish the list. I had to be particular about the seasons and I was trying to only pick one new activity per season. For the upcoming winter I chose Skiing for the list.  I have wanted to learn to ski for years but have never really got the nerve to go.  This year I have been chatting with some colleagues who have offered to provide some help and encouragement and are game for some new adventures. I have even made one attempt to go to a local hill for my first lesson only to find it closed since it was a sheet of ice  (So my friend Emily and I drank wine that night instead!) I have a weekend trip planned at a local ski lodge for a couple of nights with some friends. I expect some good stories to come from that weekend- 2 of the 5 of us are new and it can clearly only end in somebody breaking something- hopefully nothing more than a ski or our own egos!

So you are probably thinking this is a post about skiing- but I’m afraid not- I am certain there will be some good stories that come from that when I make it out to the hill… but this is about another winter sport. Curling. It was a toss up for the list between skiing and curling.  I curled for one season in High school and in the last few years I’ve really started to enjoy watching curling events. Last winter my sister and I went to Kingston to watch the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. Its really the only sport I’ve ever really followed. My sister and I have started watching together and have become borderline obsessed when there is a tournament on. We are already talking about how we will manage the time difference when the Olympics start.

Shortly after I published the list a friend, who I had told about the list and knew about my love of curling, invited me to a curling bonspiel. She had expected that curling would make the list but alas it got cut for skiing. But the whole idea of having a list is pushing my self to try new things so I figured why not. I roped in another friend from work just to make it interesting. We curled in a small curling rink in Cobden close to where I live. It was a fundraiser for the Renfrew County branch of the Canadian Cancer Society.  We played 3 games over the weekend and were even given a turkey dinner at the end of the bonspiel. They raised a total $4400 for the Cancer Society and certainly provided some entertainment for what would have been an otherwise mundane weekend.  

I played the position of second, my friend Lindsay played first. Our third and skip had a little more experience curling so I think they wanted to get the bad shots out of the way early. Lindsay and I both struggled with either not getting the rock past the hog line or throwing it right through the house (the house clearly is just not big enough and that hog line is much too far away!) My favorite part of curling is hitting. I am amazed at the shots that get played in the big leagues. The Canadian Team at the Olympics this year, Team Jacobs from Northern Ontario, play these incredibly complex hitting shots. Often the opposing team make assumptions that Jacobs won’t play a shot because it’s too much of a risk but then they play it and often make it. They are a young team and are a little bit cocky but still fun to watch. I had three good hits that weekend. There is a bit of a thrill that comes with making a hit. The first one was a total fluke. It was the shot called but I don’t really know what I’m doing so the fact that I made it was pretty neat. The other two…well the truth is they were meant to be draws…but its still fun to hear the rocks hit. 

Our third and Skip, Steve and Marjorie were super fun to play with.  They taught Lindsay and I a lot and we had a lot of laughs over the weekend. It wasn’t traditional scoring- it was meant just to be fun and so at the end of a game you just spun a wheel to determine the score. The wheel had different options- such as the rock closest to the hog line or the most rocks in the blue ring. It made it feel non competitive but made it really hard to strategize. Out skip did a great job and I think we won one game lost one game and maybe tied the other. In the end it was to support a good cause and have some fun. See some picks below of our team.

The hats Lindsay and I wore were ones my sister had made for our Scotties trip- they didn’t arrive in time for the Scotties so this seemed like a fun time to wear them. People at the bonspiel loved them Lindsay thought we should get Spirit points for each game- no one else had fun caps!

All in all a fun weekend.

Ready for Game 2

Game Faces! note the fun hats. they are supposed to be curling rocks we had a bit of a hard time with the handles getting them to stick up but most people got the idea! 

Team Marjorie! 

#3 Investing Time

Number 3 on my list is “invest more time in friends and family.” Confession time…though I love my friends and family dearly I am a self proclaimed hermit and proud of it. Given the choice to go out or stay at home I often choose to stay at home. People often disagree with me when I say I am an introvert. I’m not shy and I think that’s what people typically think it means. The truth is I’m not overly shy but I love my alone time, I love living on my own and I never mind spending time alone. Often times I dread going out in the evenings after work; once I am out I always have a good time and I manage but I always need my down time. If I have too much socializing in my life I tend to end up sick or just overtired and run down. I need alone time to refresh and regroup. Although I don’t really think there is anything wrong with this, I know that I miss out on stuff or maybe don’t have the depth of friendships I want with some of my friends because I don’t make the effort to get out and see them as often as I should. I know friendships are a two way street but sometimes I might not take part of my share. So as part of the list I wanted to make sure I made some concerted efforts over the next year and a half to reconnect with old friends, and spend more time with my closest friends and family.

I thought this item would be one that I never really knew if I could say it was ‘accomplished’.  Boy was I wrong…I almost think I could check this off the list as ‘completed’  by the end of this week. I have been busier than I have been in a long time.

Last Friday night I got together with one of my favorite group of ladies. About a year ago, 4 other girls from work and I started going out for dinner one Friday night a month. At the time a few of us were going through some significant changes in our lives and the other two were helping cheer us up and cheering us on. Since our first dinner out we have shared many laughs and they were there to pick me up post university drop out.  We did this last Friday night and had a great night.  We tried a new restaurant in town and had many laughs.

On Saturday night I met up with another old friend who I hadn’t had a good visit with in almost year. It was a night out and away from the kids for her and we checked out another great restaurant in town. We even splurged with desert.  

On Sunday night a past colleague invited me over for dinner with his wife and young son…I have cute nieces and nephews but this kid might be one of the cutest kids I have ever met. He kept us entertained all night.

Monday night I went snowshoeing with my sister and a friend at a women’s group in Petawawa. It was a nice warm clear evening and was a lot of fun. I had never been snowshoeing at night- there were about 20 women all with head lamps tracking across the fields at the civic centre. Its an 8 week group that hits all the trails in Petawawa.

Tuesday night I had a long overdue visit with another good friend. This is a friend that I don’t see near enough but whenever we get together we stay up way too late because we have so much to catch up on. She has been such a special friend to me. We met one summer when we were both students at the agency I am now employed at. We hit it off instantly and have remained friends ever since.  She has had a rough summer and fall and I am glad to see her slowly but surely getting back to herself and love our late night catch ups.

Thursday night I was planning to go skiing with a new colleague at work and got all the way out to the hill only to find out the hill was closed. So we came back to my place and had a glass of wine instead.

I’m not going to lie- I loved every moment of each time with all of those friends but I am beyond exhausted. I often envy people that can keep a busy social calendar and still feel rested each day.  Clearly I’m not really checking this off the list already but hope that over the year I get to spend more times like this with my friends and family... I just need to learn to spread it out a bit. I have some other fun things planned with friends in the next few months so stay tuned for those adventures. 

    

#4 - Quality vs Quantity

So the next part of my list for immediate attention is quality time with Dustin and Emma, my niece and nephew. My niece and nephew are such a huge part of my life. Ever since I moved to Ontario I have felt torn about returning to the east coast or staying here.  Nova Scotia will always be home. Every now and then my heart longs for the simplicity of east coast living, the beauty of the ocean being so close by, the fresh salt air, the friendliness of everyone and the comfort of ‘home’. The problem is, anytime I even consider the thought of moving home I can’t imagine a time where I would only see Emma and Dustin once or twice a year. 

Over the last few years there I times where I have seen Emma and Dustin everyday. I have lived with them in their basement on 2 different occasions. Once when Emma was 1 for about 6 months and then a second time when Dustin was 6 months until he was about a year.  I would not trade that time for anything… My sister and brother in law may not feel differently J  but I seriously feel so blessed to have had that time with Emma and Dustin. The second time around was especially fun with Emma she was developing her own personality and loved hanging out in aunties room.

Since finding my own place and settling in I have much less time to see them and more and more I am finding that the time I do see them isn’t quality time. I used to be part of their daily routine but now it is usually a meal or occasion I see them for and the kids play and the adults visit. I was starting to feel a disconnect so I had to put it on the list.  

That brings me to number 4…I got started last weekend with our first snowshoe of the season. Last Friday night Emma called me to tell me she had been snowshoeing. I was impressed since the last time I was visiting and suggested we try it she declared “NO WAY! I’m not putting those on my feet” In her defense I think she was still in “overtired, hyped up on sugar, overwhelmed by Christmas” mode and wasn’t her usual sweet self.  During the phone call she explained that her and mommy went snowshoeing and they went up the hill and down the hill and then up the hill and down the hill and then up the hill and down the hill again. Then she said- “you want to bring your snowshoes and try Auntie” ah yeah- like I’d say no to that!

So Saturday morning I got up and headed out to the farm where we all got ready and went snowshoeing. My sister and Brother in law own a beef farm so there is plenty of pasture to walk in, we packed some hot chocolate and loaded into the ranger and drove down to the river that runs through the field.  Dustin was tagging a long as well and we brought the sleigh to pull him in.

We got strapped into our shoes and headed out. Dustin was not impressed and did not want to sit in the sleigh but he is too heavy to carry and the snow was too deep for him to walk. So we took turns staying with him. Emma did impressively well…actually she logged more miles then Elizabeth and I.  I took her for a few circles and then she went with mom to the bridge. When we were done we had some hot chocolate and then drove back to the house.  I was so glad to see them and actually do something while I was there. I have an extra long weekend coming up and am hoping to have Emma into the apartment for an overnight stay…I think a spa night is in order.

 

Here are a few pictures of our snowshoeing adventure.

  

Dustin is clearly not impressed! 

 I'll have some hot cocoa now. Luckily I recently purchased new snow pants- these ones were not waterproof which I learned the hard way. My news ones are bright turquoise…watch for them in a post soon when I tackle number 13. 

  

#25 no more coffee to go

Today I wanted to share a bit on one of the first efforts on my list…Number 25 - No ‘coffee to go’ for one year (this by default also includes tea, ice caps, smoothies etc). It seems like a fairly typical new years resolution and so I started on January 1^st . I’m not a huge coffee drinker –I always have one cup of coffee in the morning and then usually a tea in the afternoon.

I lowered my morning coffee spending last year when I moved to our main office at work.  We have a company coffee fund you pay into and then you can drink the office coffee and it is usually decent coffee. I still bought the occasional coffee in the morning but certainly not everyday. So you might ask ”why would that be hard to give up?” The problem came last Spring when I discovered CHAI tea.  How I had never had it and how I lived without it is beyond me now. It became a new vice and I found myself heading out at lunch or mid afternoon to buy a chai tea at Tims almost everyday.  That starts to add up at $1.60 a cup 5 times a week.  That’s 8 bucks a week on tea. If you count the odd time I’d buy coffee in the morning too - I was easily spending 500 bucks a year on “to go” coffee and tea. That seemed RIDICULOUS

When I started planning my list and all the things I wanted to do I thought one thing to do would be to cut something out. Coffee and Tea seemed like the logical choice. (believe me the irony of living on a budget (#27) while doing all these fun things is not lost on me!)

I’m allowing myself two exceptions:

If I am visiting the city I’m allowed to treat myself to a specialty coffee. We don’t have Starbucks or Second Cup where I live so it is always a treat when I’m in the city.  You can’t make that stuff at home and its not often I get to the city so this will be pretty minimal over the course of a year.

If I have to be on the road early for work I’m allowed to grab coffee- The better choice would be to make one at home but sometimes the logistics of that don’t fall into place. (ie: I rarely have milk in the house and why brew a pot for one coffee- even if it’s a small pot a lot gets wasted)

I’ll put the $10 I save each week into savings and it can go toward something on “the list.”

I’m about a week in and it has been too cold and snowy to go out at lunch thus making it easy to forgo the afternoon treat. The real challenge will come on days when I’m already out and heading back to the office or on nice cool fall days. I’ll make a tea at the office but it is just not the same. Wish me luck!

What are your New Year resolution’s?  

the List

So I'm ready to publish the list. I started coming up with the list back in October. My mom was visiting my sister and I at the time and we had many laughs over what the list might include. My sister was the most vocal about my list…she had lots of ideas and I often had to remind her that it was my list. But who am I kidding my sister will be my biggest cheer leader in this and will likely do a lot of the things with me.  

I’ve titled my blog “Be Happy” It seemed fitting given some recent choices I have made that were directly related to me being happy. Not always easy choices…but in the end the right ones. I am a firm believer in the idea of happiness being a choice. It is not to say that sad times won’t come and that tragedy won’t strike. It is more about finding a way to find joy and happiness during and after those difficult times so that at the end of the day, the week, the year or however long it takes happiness always, eventually, outweighs sadness. I also think when choosing to be happy it means making sure you invest in your own life. It means taking time to do things that make you happy when there are other things in life that you can’t always control that might make you unhappy.  I guess that’s what the list is about…taking time to do things that will make me happy. I know there will be things that occur in life that could lead to unhappiness but at the end of the day I want to take control of what I can and be sure it leads to good things. 

I’ve put lots of thought into what the list might include.  There were many things that were on the list but got cut. I needed to keep the budget and timeline in mind. If I had started this list 5 years ago it would have looked different. I would have had time to save and plan etc. but alas I have about a year and 3 months. I wanted it to include things that prepared me for my future but also wanted to spend the time learning things that I’ve wanted to learn for some time. Some of the things I’ve said I would do for years, some even take me back to things I said I would do as a child. Some will be easy to measure, I will know if I have accomplished them or not. Others will be a bit more of a journey and won’t necessarily have an end date. Some are not even entirely in my control. At the end of this all I hope for is that I’ll look back and know that I said I would do something and I tried. Maybe I’ll accomplish it or maybe I’ll fail…but I will have given it a good effort and hopefully had some laughs along the way.

So here it is….

1. Run a Marathon
2. Volunteer
3. Invest more time in friends and family
4. Spend quality time with Emma and Dustin (niece and nephew)
5. Send thirty women who have been an influence in my life a letter describing why they mean so much to me!!
6. Watch the sun set and rise at the ocean
7. Discover 12 new things in my own back yard.
8. Sleep outside under the stars
9. Go on a Cycling Trip
10. Go on a Solo- Spontaneous Road trip
11. Go on a trip with Mom, Aunt Margie, my Cousin Emily, and my Sister Elizabeth
12. Read 12 thought provoking books
13. Learn to Ski
14. Learn more about Photography
15. Learn about wine
16. Take Golf lessons
17. Learn to sew
18. Learn my way around the kitchen
19. Refinish a piece of furniture
20. Do a Boudoir photo session
21. Buy and wear a bikini to the beach
22. Do a 365 Photo project of my year before 30.
23. Go on 10 dates with 10 new people or find true love – whichever comes first :) 
24. Buy a new little black dress (no budget!)
25. Go without ‘coffee to go’ for one year
26. Go one month with no shopping
27. Learn to live on a strict budget (Using Gail Vazoxlade’s Jar Method)
28. Begin planning for retirement
29. Start saving for a home
30. Throw a kick ass 30^th birthday party