Goal 80. Streamline cleaners

The best part of moving house means that you also get to do a huge junk removal process. Before moving we got rid of tons of stuff (boxes of books, huge bags of clothes, furniture and kitchen gadgets) and we are still continuing this process. I have already taken a box to Value Village and have started a second!

While simplifying and minimalism are great ideas it is important not to just focus on reducing but the reasons why we simplify. It is not enough just to get rid of things, but a lot goes into deciding what to keep and what to toss. It's like editing a paper. (Prince Charming has gone back to school so academia is on my mind!)

One of my goals has been to streamline my cleaning products for a long time. I also wanted to keep the most effective and green products I could. Here's how I decided to finish up this goal.

Goal 35. Design a Grown-up, Cozy Living Room

The goal that has been overtaking my life! taking my time this week has been sewing curtains. Since I am still fun-employed I have been working on getting my house set-up and gorgeous during this time.

As part of my goals I had written down the feelings I wanted in each of my rooms, and then to further this intentional decorating I wrote down the functions I wanted each room to play. In my living room I wanted it to be a room to share with others, so I decided to move some things out of it (read: ugly textbooks), and move other things in, such as the board games and DVD's that we would want to share with others. I also am going to be using this room as my "office" space. I haven't figured out how to do this yet, so right now I am just stashing my stuff on a shelf behind doors. Right now it would also be a guest room, as we wait for me to find a job! It is doing a great job of holding all these functions.

Last week I found a great series of posts on the Nesting Place called 31 Days to a Better Dressed Nest. I have been devouring these posts, and trying to use them in my own house. In particular, 2 of her suggestions: Incorporate fabric, and Group it. I decided to hang my curtains and made a grouping of pictures as my focal point. You can see both in the video below and see how I made these curtains.

New Year, New Look!

Today marks the 365th day for my goals!! Which means I am more than a third of the way through my time to complete all these goals, and I am definitely not one-third of the way through the goals. I need to get to work!

In the past few months I have been posting, which has really made me focus on completing my goals more.  That is the primary intention of this blog. However, another intention of the blog was also so that I could communicate the going's-on of my life with friends and family that do not live close enough to actually see what we are doing. One thing I have realized is that since I never post on any type of schedule it would be frustrating to try to follow this blog. So... I have a new plan! Each week I am going to post on Thursday nights the round-up of all goals I have completed that week. This way people can read the posts as they like and don't have to waste time checking to see if a new post is up. Let's see how it goes!

In other news, we made progress on a goal!

Goal 29. Move - Part 2

Well I'm calling it! We have officially moved in. We don't yet have all the boxes unpacked, we still get our mail forwarded and I just got a Jury Summons from Victoria (which I cancelled! Yes!), but we are here permanently. In fact, I did my first grocery shop!


Here are some photos from our trip here and getting settled.

Goal 7: Symphony Splash 2011

This past weekend, in amongst wedding plans for my sisters wedding (in 2 days!!!) we went to Symphony Splash. Symphony Splash is this great free event that happens in Victoria, BC every year on the August Long Weekend.

The Victoria Symphony plays a free show, while set up on a barge. The traditional climatic end is the 1812 Overture complete with real canons and fireworks at the end. It's pretty spectacular. They often feature a local band in the afternoon before the symphony. This year it was the TimeBenders, who played popular music from the 50's right up to Lady Gaga. They were also pretty spectacular.

We had great seats on the Legislature Lawn and a bunch of friends and family around. It was a great afternoon, and a great way to end our time in Victoria. We will miss you!