Resolutions For A New And Exciting Year!

We had a wonderful, family-filled Christmas vacation all the way over in Ontario and are just now settling back into life at home. I've just caught up on reading other people's blog posts about New Year's resolutions, and feel like it's time to put mine out there in the world. Hopefully by sharing them with the vast audience of the internet (ha! more like my 2 regular readers!), I will be more accountable to following through on them. Time will tell!

Resolution #1: Have date nights with my husband once every couple weeks. We're still easing into leaving Ellie alone with a sitter (aka Grandma), but in order to get better at it we have to just do it! So our general plan is to start by renting a movie and watching it in one of the hotel rooms upstairs. Once we get more comfortable with that, we may venture out for the occasional date!

Resolution #2: Try new recipes. I got a cookbook for Christmas with lots of yummy, easy meals in it that I want to try. Not only that, but Adam and I really enjoy cooking together so hopefully this is something else we can do together in addition to date nights. We also really want to learn how to make our own sushi, so that fits in well with this idea!

Resolution #3: Work on my business idea. I'm still not quite ready to share it with the world, but if I can put more time and effort into the idea, I might be ready soon! One thing I was hoping to do was to use a babysitter a couple times a week and devote that time to working on my business plan. I would need to take my laptop and work outside of our suite (but still in the building in case I need to nurse Ellie), but it would probably be the easiest way to make some actual progress.

Resolution #4: Keep our home simple and clutter free. This is a huge challenge, particularly around holidays and events like Christmas and birthdays. Having a baby makes it especially challenging! People are always incredibly generous about giving gifts to babies and children, but what I need to be better at is proactively communicating to our family and friends about what we need/want and what we'd really like to avoid. We're currently in the middle of a big time decluttering of our house, so this is a step in the right direction. We just have to keep it decluttered! Ellie's first birthday might be a challenge!

Resolution #5: Pay off the car loan. Provided we don't have any major changes to our financial situation, this is completely feasible! It definitely means sticking to our budget and might mean forfeiting trips that we had hoped to take, but it would be worth it to have the weight off our shoulders! After the car loan is paid off, we would only have student loans remaining.

Resolution #6: Exercise. This isn't the typical New Year's resolution about losing weight or going to the gym X number of times each week. I simply want the endorphins! I have a hot yoga class coming up this week that I am absolutely DYING to go to. It's not the physical exercise that I care so much about, but the amazing feelings that I can't even do justice by attempting to describe. It's something I can do that makes my soul feel good!

It's always possible to make a million lists of things I want to do or change, but I want to stop there. If I keep it short, it will likely be even more manageable! Next I have to make my goals for January and see if I can work towards some of these resolutions in baby steps starting with this month...

More from Naturally Knocked Up!

A little while ago I shared a post about homemade oil face wash, which I found on the blog, Naturally Knocked Up. Well, it gets even better - if you follow this link to her 'recipe' page - you'll find posts about how to make all sorts of amazing things! And it's not just food related recipes (although who doesn't love those?). My favourites are the last two sections - Natural Living and Natural Health. You can learn to make your own deodorant, fabric softener, and even wood polish (and a handful of other awesome things)! Enjoy!

Homemade Oil Face Wash??

I love when you find a new blog and spend way too much time perusing their archives and then end up completely enamored with them! Umm... so I may have done that over at Naturally Knocked Up.

You see, a month or two ago I posted about using baking soda as shampoo. And while I still haven't run out of my current natural and locally made shampoo, I still plan to try the baking soda technique when I do. (On the plus side - two of my friends have tried it and love it!)

Well, the baking soda shampoo only got me to thinking that there must be other cool alternatives out there... but then I got lazy and didn't look for them. Until I found this post at Naturally Knocked Up. You can wash your face with sunflower oil and castor oil!

Not only is this a super cool natural solution... but it's cheap!! Just like the baking soda shampoo! I'll have to try it when my Burt's Bees face wash runs out (which I now know isn't as natural as it claims... but hey, I bought it so in order to not waste money, I'm finishing it!).

Fluff!

Apparently fluff is slang for cloth diapers. Who knew?

We ventured out to our local baby goods store this past weekend because they were having a potentially awesome sale. I say potentially because you pick a piece of paper out of a basket at the till and only then do you discover how much of a sale it really is! There were discounts between 10 and 50% off in the basket, but, of course we picked the lowest one possible - the 10%. Still, it meant we got our very first two cloth diapers on sale!

Is it weird to be ridiculously excited about diapers? Because I am! I'm also pretty stoked that a friend of mine has ordered these super cheap cloth diapers from CozyKids! If they're good we'll totally load up on some because they're sooooo much cheaper than the usual pocket cloth diapers!

I've also already converted myself from all-in-one diapers to pocket diapers. The difference is that you have to stuff an insert into the pocket diapers. But really, for the price difference, it's silly to even care about that tiny extra step! I'll just try to make a habit of pre-stuffing them when I put the laundry away so that I don't have to do it mid-diaper change.

Eek! I can't wait to see my little baby-to-be in soft, colourful cloth diapers!

Baking Soda Shampoo

If you're interested in saving money or going chemical-free in the shower, check out this post over at the Green Baby Guide about using bakind soda as shampoo!

Picture Perfect Project

We knew we wanted to do something unique with our wedding photos. We had originally planned on having our favourite photo put on to a large stretched canvas but our budget prevented that from happening.* Somehow we had never really considered the mismatched picture frame idea, even though I love it! Today we decided to head out to our local second-hand stores and see what kind of mismatched frames we could find. We were pretty darn successful, and thus, the mismatched picture wall idea prevailed.

Here's what we did:

Step 1: Scour second-hand stores for cheap frames.

Step 2: Purchase a can of spray paint and some picture hanging hardware (a couple must-have frames didn't have this feature built in).

Step 3: Lay down some newspaper, cardboard or other protective surface wherever you plan to paint.

Step 4: Sand and dust off your frames (it helps the paint adhere better).
 

Step 5: Paint, dry, repeat until each frame is evenly covered. (At this point I also painted the matting that came with 2 of the frames, because dusty rose and maroon just didn't 'go' with our bedroom colours).

Step 6: Attach hardware, put your pictures in your frames and hang them however you like!

We're still working on steps 5 and 6. We're no experts on spray painting techniques, so we ran out of paint with only a tiny bit more painting to do (oops). Then, we also need to have a few more pictures printed to fit the unusual frame sizes we bought. Lastly, we will hang them and enjoy our mismatched picture frame wall!

More pictures to come once the project is completed!

* Note that you can often do this fairly cheaply with web sites such as Shutterfly. They almost always have specials or discounts, especially when you first open a (free) account.

True-to-Self Weddings on CNN

This article came out a couple weeks ago, but it's definitely worth posting the link so as many people can read it as possible!

The only thing I would say is that the title is a bit disappointing. Having a wedding you can afford doesn't have to be because of the economy or your salary at the time. It can be a choice you make based on your values and what you think you should spend on certain aspects of your life. Anyhow, it's still a good read!

Favours!

I guess most people wouldn't post about favours before their wedding as they are sometimes seen as a gift to the guest. Therefore, it would ruin the suprise.

Well, first of all, I don't really like most wedding favours and almost never keep them, so I decided not to think of them as gifts to the guests. Second of all, I wanted a little something for our guests to nibble when they arrive, as we all wait for dinner. Third, I love chocolate. Fourth, did I mention I love chocolate?

So after a lengthy search for just the right little nests... and a trip to the bulk aisle to stock up on chocolate mini eggs. Success! Our favours are ready to go!

Swagbucks

You may have noticed this button on the side of my blog. Well, it's actually my way of paying for some of those great wedding accessories without ever dipping into my wallet! Swagbucks is essentially a search engine (with other features added on to it that you can choose to use, or not use). The great thing about it though is that when you search the internet, you occasionally win 'swagbucks.' Then, when you have a certain amount of them, you redeem them for items in the store. I redeem my swagbucks for Paypal credit. So I earn swagbucks for free just by searching the internet, and then get money in my Paypal account. Then I can use this to buy whatever I want!

My swagbucks helped me purchase quite a few things for our wedding! We got our bridesmaid's gifts, items for our photobooth, and much more on Etsy without ever emptying our bank accounts.

Did I mention Swagbucks is completely free to use and there are no strings attached? Check it out!

Budget Breakdown

It's hard to find people who are willing to share exactly how much they spent on their wedding and where all that money went. My favourite wedding blog, 2000 Dollar Wedding, was the first place I saw a couple willing to share every small detail of their budget. But if you look hard enough and long enough, you will find more and more 'budget' brides willing to share the costly details. I think this is great inspiration for other brides so I'm sharing my wedding budget as it stands so far.

I should add that I use a wonderful web site to keep track of all the spending, payments, etc. It's called Wedding Wire. I also use it to track what I have left to do and to create mock seating plans. It's a pretty handy (and free!) site.

So, here is the budget breakdown:

Accommodation for us & the dog: $600 (this is a big added expense due to our decision to move before the wedding!)

Bar Service: $515

Catering: $1800

Cake: $0 (homemade by the groom's mom!)

Decorations: $370

DJ: Free (we have very talented friends!)

Dress and accessories: $510

Flowers: $90

Groom's suit and accessories: $300

Gifts and Favours: $265

Hair and makeup: Free (hair stylist is a gift from one of my MOH's and makeup will be done by a very talented cousin of mine!)

Invitations: $60

Officiant: $225

Photographers: $952

Rehearsal Dinner: Hmmm... this needs to be figured out. We're planning on pizza at Adam's parent's vacation rental condo... but we definitely haven't budgeted for the actual pizza part of that plan!

Rings: $530

Sound Equipment: $95

Venue Rental Fees: $800

For a grand total of approximately $7,112!

I'll admit, I originally wanted to keep it to $5000. But that would have involved doing away with a few traditional wedding practices that my fiancé wanted us to partake in. So, we compromised and I'm still pretty happy with how the budget turned out!

Mother of the Bride's Dress

 

 

One of the great things about bridesmaid dresses is that you can usually wear them again. Now, I know that's a very cliché thing for a bride to say when picking out bridesmaid dresses, but unless they are completely bizarre and outlandish, it's pretty much true. I was a maid of honour in a wedding this past summer and in my case, it's not me that gets to wear my bridesmaid dress again, but rather my mom! My mom was fretting over what to wear to my wedding when we decided she should try on the dress I wore in my best friend's wedding. Low and behold, it looks fantastic on her! Given that we're the same complexion and a similar build, it fit pretty perfectly! She might just borrow the shoes I wore too! How's that for a budget and eco-friendly choice?

Wedding Etiquette Says....

 A good host always has an open bar. {Begin rant:} Well, tough luck wedding etiquette, I think that's a load of you-know-what. Most bar service companies offer either an open bar, a cash bar or a toonie bar (where guests pay $2 per drink and you foot the bill for the rest). Quite frankly, I'm not willing to pay for people to get overly drunk, messy and annoying at my wedding so an open bar, or toonie bar are out of the question. This is a celebration and I do want my guests to have a good time; however, I believe this can be done with limited or no alcohol. If a particular guest feels alcohol is needed for them to enjoy themselves, then by all means they can foot the bill for their thirst quenching habit.

This is only one of the many services or traditions that wedding etiquette attempts to demand from couples getting married. Don't let wedding etiquette make you feel guilty for a decision that is ultimately personal. It is your wedding and your choice! {End rant!}

Good News!

 
You might remember my post a little while ago about the frustrations we've been having with wedding favours. Well, as it turns out, we've found someone who could make us mini bird nests for a really affordable price! Success!! (The ones we're getting are like the one on the right in the photo).

Invitations

I finally finished our wedding invitations! We had a minor stamp dilemma at first (we didn't end up using the one we bought), but it worked out even nicer in the end. They were printed off on coverstock paper on my own printer. My mom came over with her big, fancy paper cutting machine and cut ALL the invitations. Then I stamped them with a cute little tree stamp, and voila! Now as soon as we get addresses from all our relatives (now there's a challenge!), we'll be able to mail them out. I'm excited!

Favour Frustrations

Wedding favours are driving me mad. I know they are not expected and not really necessary, but there are a couple reasons I'm still determined to do them:

1. Weddings are a busy time for a lot of the guests (bridal party, family, etc.). This often means people forget to eat. I want edible favours so the guests have a little treat to tide them over until dinner is served.
2. I'm also pretty keen on donation favours. I would love to donate to a few of our favourite non-profits and attach little tags to each guests favour to let them know a donation was made on their behalf. The thing is, I feel like this has to be attached to something. This idea also doesn't take into account the edible option and budget won't allow me to do both.

So, I'm struggling. I know I could make a bunch of wedding themed cookies... but that will be tons of work and stress that I was hoping to avoid. And with moving away from my bridesmaids, I'd be all on my own to do the baking and decorating.

I wish I could end this post with a solution, but I'm just plain stuck. I've looked at a million blogs for ideas and it doesn't seem to be helping. We actually got really excited about little bird nests filled with a few mini chocolate eggs. Then we went to the craft store and saw the price on the nests... not happening!

Any suggestions??

A Little Something Extra

I came up with the idea that I wanted to add a little something extra to the tables at our wedding reception. In addition to the centerpieces (or as an extension of them) I created these curled strips of paper. They are aged by dying the paper with tea and each strip when uncurled has a quote about love, friendship or family. I think they'll look cute sprinkled around the centerpieces and will be something nice for guests to read!

They're incredibly easy to make. First you type up all the quotes you want to use and print out as many as you'll need. Next you brew some tea in a rectangular cake pan. I used two bags of orange pekoe tea, but anything dark would work. Dip your paper in one sheet at a time and give it about a minute to soak. Take the sheet out and let it dry flat on a dish towel. 

When it's dry, cut the strips and trim the ends (if you want). Then roll them up tight, uncurling them after you've rolled them to make them a little looser looking.

What do you think? I might add a few to other random tables... where the seating chart will be when people walk in, at the photobooth, etc.

$10 Wedding Dress

Sound unbelievable? Sound too cheap to be true? Well, Threadbanger Projects to the rescue! They have posted a video tutorial on how to sew your own $10 wedding dress. With a little imagination, you could embellish it to your liking or keep it simple for a more classic look.

It could also be done as a dress for other occassions, or it could be done shorter, or in other colours... there are so many options!

Check out the video here: