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 Last year, I told myself I was going to bone up on my American History, learn French (above and beyond my limited Grade 9 education), drop 10 pounds and run another marathon. Guess how many of those I did—NONE!
In reality, I did the following: I read an article from Khan Academy about the Battle of Bunker Hill to never go back to learning more about U.S. History, downloaded Rosetta Stone and have yet to log on and for my finale, I have yet to run over 12 miles or lose any considerable weight—so there’s that! My point, Resolutions are ridiculous. They are always over-the-top, unreasonable and unrealistic. At least they are for me. So this year, I’m focusing on habits over Resolutions and as always, as I pondered what was to come in 2017, I came across a great article in Maclean’s magazine that had my back.
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 Gallery walls (or, Salon-style walls) have been all the rage for quite some time and in fact, it’s one of the main reasons why we design the way we do! We love impact and character and having the ability to show off your unique personality, or to inspire a little one who will begin to figure out theirs.
At mavisBLUE.com, we design all our children’s prints with the gallery wall in mind. Our prints are colorful, playful and of course fun. Our color palette is simple and complimentary to any nursery or children’s room color scheme. And did you know? All of our digital prints are bundled into 4in. x 6 in., 5in. x 7in. and 8in. x 10in. sizes so you can print at home and always have the perfect sized print for any space. We’ve done our part—now it’s your turn to explore our print collection and create your own gallery wall that will put a smile on your little ones face. Go for it! And, in case you’re still a little hesitant, here are a few great tips on how to make your gallery wall shine!  I’ve been listening (shout out Audible.com!) to Sebastian Junger’s most recent novel titled Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging. A powerful read that combines historical, psychological and anthropological studies to explore tribal societies and how they can teach the modern world about loyalty, trust and power. Big themes aside, it also offers many observations about the differences among families and family structure in the West.
 We’ve all heard the phrase ‘Cry It Out’. And for my family, it’s worked but not in the traditional sense—and not in the stage you most associate it with.
Now, before we go too far, let’s define ‘Cry It Out’ when it comes to a baby. ‘Crying It Out’ is not depriving your baby of a feeding when he/she cannot comfortably sleep or when your baby is sick, in pain, hungry or wet. It is not putting your baby in his crib and closing the door forever, and it certainly isn’t replacing parenting when your baby needs it most. ‘Crying It Out’ is a parenting term for a basic sleep training method used to break poor sleeping associations. You know, when you’ve had to find baby’s pacifier 12 times in 2 hours, or when baby relies solely on being rocked to sleep for an unusually lengthy amount of time.  One evening, a good friend’s mother softly squeezed my arm after overhearing me lament to another mother my recent challenges in getting my girls to just ‘play’. She tenderly tugged my arm as she passed by and whispered, “I’ve got a great trick, come talk to me later…”
 I'm not one for posting recipes but I've also learned you never, say never!
Here's one of my favorite recipes for Fall; it's easy (which is right up my alley as a non-baker), it's great to make and freeze (for lunches, get-togethers, etc.) and, it's relatively healthy in the grand scheme of dessert breads! Give it a try. My girls LOVE this in their lunches and I don't mind a slice with a cup of Harney Paris Tea!  Last night was not my best parenting moment. My husband was away and I had tuck in with two little ones after a long day and a long week and of course, to add to the chaos, a later-than-usual tuck-in. My youngest went quietly down but, my oldest was still unbelievably ramped up. I'm sure you can imagine how things went down... picture: voice on the rise, patience waining and Mom LOSING. IT!
I failed my kids tonight because when they acted their age, I didn't act mine. I let their whining, nagging and pushing get to me but, even though that's not how I typically operate, I was still able to regroup and end the night off with a WIN...and, it only took a re-do--TAKE TWO!  Photo albums have been on my list of things to do since my girls were born and when I made this proclamation, I though "Oh yeah, I'll just pump out a book each year". I know, you’re all secretly saying “Yeah Right” in your heads. We’ll okay, you win! Until I started taking advantage of my Mac Computer and all the riches of Apple’s PHOTOS application, I was sunk. I didn’t know where to start and I felt like my photos were piling up on top of me (metaphorically speaking…I really just bought another external hard-drive). But, I took some time and figured out a method and now I seemingly have a solid lock on my digital photos! I’ve produced a few (I still am playing catch-up…) gorgeous books for my girls and I’ve been able to take advantage of promo codes so that I can order multiple books—one for each of my daughters and one for us (my husband and me). I think, they will be the best gift I’ll give my girls down the road.
So here goes—try it out. Follow along if you own a Mac and Apple products or are able to sync your non-Apple products with a Mac. We have a Canon D60, our iPhones and an iPad and we haven’t encountered any issues.  I work and live amongst many amazing women. They are educated and smart and opinionated and lovely. I know, I keep harping on ‘women power’, about building each other up but I honestly believe women are great and we need to back each other up!
 This summer we have two weddings, last July and August we had six and the summer before that--one every weekend! One thing I can say for certain is that the summer is 'wedding season' and now that our generation is getting older--summer is for celebrating anniversaries! At mavisBLUE.com, we love searching out great and clever gift ideas to one-up ourselves each year and after seven go-arounds, we thought we would share our favorites!
 I'm not sure if I've always had a slightly disproportionate competitive streak or if it was honed on the soccer field over the years but, for me, everything gets better when there's something on the line.
A few years ago, I was a guest at an unbelievably cool penthouse apartment downtown (for real--Harvey Spector's apartment in Suits) for a wine tasting. I was nervous that I'd be underdressed or clueless about the wine that would be served yet, upon arriving, I was quickly put at ease to see that things were going to get a little cut-throat. I was all in!  (I really love running...NOW! I played soccer in College and if you asked me to do additional miles, I'd groan. Even as an outsider midfielder...if I wasn't chasing a ball, it was a struggle to put in the training. I begrudgingly did but man, there were days when I thought I was doubling for a cross-country runner and hated it! I digress...
Then I stopped playing soccer and for some bizarre reason I became obsessed with running. I'm not sure if I was looking for that 'intensity' that I no longer had in my life or, if it helped me transition from College to the real world--offered me time to think through next steps, job challenges, relationships. In short, running helped me figure my s&%* out! BUT, here's the rub! As Canadians (alright, pretty much anyone living in the North East too...), running isn't a sport that is optimally done year-round. Runners suffer though the weather changes and winter months and as a result, look for alternatives--expensive alternatives: gym memberships, treadmills or thermal running gear. Segway, to the point of my blog post--THE TREADMILL!  Let's do a quick run down of the things we prepare for in any given day or week--I know you're already forming your list! For every family and I'm sure yours is comparable if not more extensive--the basics:
 When I woke up early a few weeks ago, I was overjoyed! The birds were tweeting and for the first time in four months, I didn't feel like I was stepping outside into darkness...SPRING WAS HERE!
I was elated. I broke out my open-toed shoes, swapped my Winter sweaters for my Spring dresses. Logged onto JCrew.com and ordered a pair of new leather flip flops. It was all happening! I couldn't wait to ditch my boots for cuter footwear. I was already planning our first BBQ in my head... We're pretty giddy this weekend! Why you ask? Well, we were nominated for an award!
mavisBLUE.com is a 2016 LIEBSTER AWARD NOMINEE We've been working pretty hard to create a full line-up of fun, playful and creative prints for kids and in the process, we've started sharing our opinions, ideas and musings in the form of a blog. We've seen an increasingly positive responses to our posts and then, the icing on the cake, we were nominated by IslaPearl.com as a 2016 Liebster Award Nominee.  Jump, wiggle, jump, jump, hands-in-the-air, jump, jump....HIGH-FIVE!!! No, this is not a Wiggles interlude, this is the 'happy dance' my husband and I did after our youngest finished with potty training. NO MORE DIAPERS! Bottles are done. We're completely HOME FREE!
But, after four years, two girls and enough Toys 'R' Us Rewards points, I've learned what baby things I absolutely adore and couldn't have lived without. SO here's my TOP 10 Mommy-Must Haves:  I am grumpy. Grumpy beyond belief yet, I feel AWESOME! Then again, I'm only a quick quip away from a retaliative neck-punch! My neck-punches are lethal :) If you haven't figured it out, I've been cleansing for 6 days now.
BUT, my body feels like it's re-set on many levels. I feel lighter and less lethargic. The big thing is the clarity I feel. I feel like I'm carrying around less weight, craving less and ultimately, finding that my mood (other than the grumpiness) is more consistent.  More recently, I received my United States greencard which, for anyone attempting to live and work in the U.S. is a pretty big deal! For many years, I've been working through a business plan to create mavisBLUE.com but unfortunately, due to visa restrictions, I've had some impressive limits to what I was able to do and sell. And, for someone who's a rule follower (I'm proud to say I've only purchased music on iTunes), I felt at times that I had very tight, creative and entrepreneurial, handcuffs on.
This past October, with greencard in hand, I'm excited to say I now have professional autonomy which, for someone trying to grow their own small business, is exciting! I HAVE BIG PLANS yet, I feel like I'm playing catch-up. BUT...each day, I continue to remind myself that this is a journey and that I need to TRUST THE PROCESS.  On-line shopping is on the rise, especially when you live in rural Connecticut. We order just about everything through the mail. Boxes flock to our house in different sizes and shapes and as you know, these big box companies seem to love to put small things in ridiculously large boxes--thank you AMAZON for giving me a reason to blog!
 Full disclosure, Florida is my nightmare. I loath the droves of people that flock there each March to find refuge from the never-ending winter months. But, never say never! Now, with two kids, day care tuition and everything in between, Florida sounds unbelievably palatial--sign me up! Actually, anywhere warm sounds like a breath of fresh air after enduring the snow, wind and bitter cold of New England for the past four months. Are you with me?
Pack up that car, charge up the technology and schedule that trip to see your 'snowbirding' parents, grandparents or basically anyone with a plot of swamp land in the sunny south! The GRISWALD's are coming to town!  Adam and Eve had no chance against a simple apple. Michael J. Fox tried with all his might, with no luck, to resist his hairy teen wolf transformation. Cinderella's impeccable MAC make-up and lip gloss couldn't sway her fairy godmother's spell from dissipating come the strike of midnight...
That brings me to ask, how in the world are we suppose to fend off the 3pm munchies if our idols fall short of seemingly easier tasks? We haven't got a chance? Or do we? If there is a cracker to be found in my pantry at 3pm, it's over for me :) So how do I help myself? Easy...read up!  Need a break from the daily routine? Need to spice things up? Ever reminisce about those 'single' days when you didn't realize how much spare time you actually had on your hands...
Between diapers changes, early bedtimes, runny noses and getting the girls to gymnastics and swimming lessons each week, let's just say there isn't much time for us--my husband and me! So, this summer, WE CAME UP WITH A FANTASTIC PLAN with our friends and this plan has been AMAZING! I challenge you to try it out--KICK START YOUR NEW YEAR!! |
