Friendly Resolution- May

I'm not big on New Year Resolution, because let's be honest, most of us rarely stick to them. This year, I decided that every month, I would make the point to connect with two friends that I haven't seen recently (at least 3 months).

How did my resolution turn out for May?

J- A sorority sister that I did see in February, but my goal is to connect with friends I haven't connected with in at least 3 months, so J counts. Plus I had to reach out to her to schedule our visit, so it counts. We did our usual, drinks and appetizers. So great to see her and catch up. She is so genuine, opinionated (in a good way) and the one of the most encouraging and supportive people I know.

Taco Tuesday- This was actually a Young Professionals Networking event. While these people aren't friends, I hadn't been to this Networking group since last year (I skipped the January and March events). Saw some people I knew, met some new people, and had an overall blast.

S- I met her at a speed networking event back in January, where I had 5 minutes to talk to her. We have connected on LinkedIn and seen each other out at other networking events. We actually went for lunch. It was nice to connect with her and get to know her a bit better.

Brock Alumni- 5 of us went out for dinner and haven't been out as a group since December. Always great to connect with Alumni, especially this group. We essentially laugh the entire time. We support each other and are genuinely interested in what is going on in each others lives. Everything with them seems so low key and effortless, plus tons of fun.

K- My psychic friend. I haven't seen her in months! We Facebook and text, but we've both been too busy to actually connect. This month, we were able to meet up. I saw her on the long weekend. We had dinner on the patio. Always great to see her.

My Uncle- Not a friend and I did see him on the long weekend, but the following weekend, we met in our second hometown for lunch. My Uncle will drive 3 hours to have lunch with me and then drive back. Just the two of us go for lunch and we only do it in the summer, although we didn't do it at all last summer. I love spending one-on-one time with my uncle and these lunches mean the world to me.

L- A new friend! I met her at a 2 day workshop. She was from out of town and staying at the hotel. I offered to have dinner with her, which she accepted. Dinner and drinks on the patio. We had the chance to get to know each other on a personal and professional level. I really enjoyed the time we spent together.


I know that some people on this list- new friend, family and networking event- might not technically count as "connecting with two friends I seen recently", and even if you don't count them, I still managed to connect with a number of people this month.

I'm five months in and I've been really great at sticking to this resolution. I have high hopes for the rest of the year!

January // February // March // April 

Life Update- Friends, Time Off & Toronto Raptors

I can't believe it's only Thursday! This has been such a long week and it's only half over! In the midst of the craziness of this month, I realized I didn't do a life update for March! 

March started off with my uncle getting married! I've mentioned this a few time already, including here. It was surprising news, but happy news. My new aunt is great...I really like her and she clearly makes my uncle happy. The Monday after my uncle got married, I had the day off so I saw my psychic friend for a Reiki session. It was nice to see her again and to chat...she's so interesting! 

Work was full of meetings- staff, team and two community partner meetings. I also had an event for work...a whiskey tasting! This was such a fun event and the first time I worked on it! We had a great turn out and everyone really enjoyed themselves!

I also had two sorority meetings and a program themed for St Patrick's day. It was lot of fun, even if my team didn't win the trivia game. I meet a long time friend for coffee and had Girls Night with a friend in the city, where we drank champagne and watched Bridesmaids. 

The highlight of my month, would have to be the Toronto Raptors game! I won tickets through Brock Alumni and was able to go with a friend of mine. We had fantastic seats! It was the first NBA game I had ever been too. It's always fun to go to Toronto and the game was pretty good, even though the Raptors didn't win. After the game, we drove to Guelph where we met my friends brother and her boyfriend for dinner. It was a really fun Sunday. 

Speaking of basketball...I don't follow basketball or do a March Madness bracket, but I randomly picked Kentucky to win, just because they were the only team that I knew was in the tournament. They made it all the way to the final! So that was a pretty good pick on my part.

I actually took a ton of time off this month. I took a day off and had breakfast with a friend from university, who happens to live near me! I saw his brother at a Brock Alumni event in February and he reconnected us. It was great to spend time with him and get caught up. I took a Thursday-Friday off mid-month and didn't do much, just stuff around the city and my apartment. 

I also took 10 days off at the end of the month, went up to my families second home. I spent the first 3 days with my dad and grandma, it was nice to spend time with them. I spent the rest of the week relaxing, reading and watching tv. I met a friend and former co-worker for breakfast, where I got to hear about some research she's doing and I had dinner with my psychic friend. I had a nice visit with another friend, who owns a holistic centre, where I also had reflexology done. She also did a tarot card reading for me, where I was told that I need to take more time for myself and spend more time relaxing. Unfortunately it was cold and snowy the whole time, so I ended up spending a lot of time inside.

Even with all my time off (10 work days plus weekends), I still had a lot going on in March. The month flew by...but it was great to have so much time for friends this month.

Blogkeeping: Seniors Stars, I Am Canadian & Cash Giveaway

I am SUPER behind with all things blog...I need a break from life just so I ca n get caught up! I just got home from the National finals of Chartwell Senior Star. Super long day, but I had a blast. As always, I have the best intentions to write about this...soon.

My blog crush, Sarah, hosts a monthly feature called I Am Canadian and I'm the featured blogger for November!!! Thanks Sarah =) Click the image below to learn more about the feature AND to see how similar Sarah and I are!

   

Lauren from Pink on the Cheek will be hanging out on my sidebar for the next little bit. Lauren is a newlywed and one of the friendliest bloggers I have ever encountered!  

Everyone know how much I love Smart, Pretty & Awkward...this is a blog that I recommend to everyone. EVERYONE. Who doesn't love getting tips on how to be smarter, prettier and less awkward? Plus, Molly's advice is actually practically and easy to apply to your life. But I also really love The Love List which is essentially a list of people, places and things that the blogger loves. She covers everything from art & culture, decorating, fashion, lifestyle and everything in between- including bedtime must haves.

And finally, if you haven't entered the $1,000 giveaway, you can do so here. If you have entered, GOOD LUCK! If you haven't entered, how come? Who couldn't use an extra $1,000???

Life Update- October Happenings

If you've been reading my blog for any amount of time, you know the best way to describe my life is BUSY! October has not been an exception. While everyone would agree that I'm super busy, I don't think I'd have it any other way...I'm the one who makes my life busy.

So, what have I been to?

Work has probably been the aspect of my life that has kept me the most busy, but it has been pretty rewarding too! I've had the chance to experience some pretty cool things because of work. Here's a point form summary of my October work life:

• Toured a new Family Centre
• Toured local CTV offices- I was in the room when they did the news, saw the new set before the debut and was in the directors booth while they were airing the news!
• Staff meeting
• Meeting with a sister organization
• Preparing and hosting a conference (500+ people)
• Young professionals networking group
• Community partner meetings
• Committee meeting
• Visiting a long term care facility to thank them for making centre pieces for our conference
• Hosting a Southwest Regional meeting

And of course, being nominated for TWO Chamber Awards (Best PR & Marketing Campaign, Best Fundraiser) and exceeding a campaign fundraising goal just over a month into the campaign!

Personally, I have been just as busy. I have gone away every weekend this month, which is typical for me, but I've also:

• Two Sorority meetings and a social
• Two Brock Alumni meetings (one that I hosted) and a Brock Professional Development event
• Two high school Alumni meetings
• High School Homecoming event
• Celebrating a 90th birthday
• Thanksgiving- two days of celebrating
• My parents wedding anniversary
• Co-hosted a surprise baby shower for a friend/co-worker (you can read about part of it here)
• Keeping a friend company as she stripped wallpaper in her new house
• Blogger meetup with Justine and exchanged our Pretty Little Beauty Swap packages
• Pilgrimage- a fundraiser my high school does. I always go back and help with registration and attend mass

This month has flown by, but I had blast...so many fun things happened this month. Pilgrimage is ALWAYS a highlight of my October, as is Thanksgiving. I am incredibly proud to be nominated for two Chamber awards and over the moon for exceeding a fundraising goal so quickly! The surprise baby shower was such a high point this month...my friend/coworker was totally surprised and had no idea; she and I were actually talking about it yesterday. I love seeing how much the shower meant to her and how much she enjoyed it.

November is days away and it will be just as busy; hockey game, spending time with my university roommate, fundraising event, national talent competition finals and hosting a Community Engagement Session- and that's just the first week of November!

Update: Blog, Beer & Beautiful Things

I had a busy, productive, never ending week. Even though I LOVE my job, Friday and this weekend couldn't come quick enough. I've been looking forward to this weekend for WEEKS. 

Tomorrow, I'll be doing a brewery tour with Brock Alumni. The tour will go from 1-6 and will include 3 different breweries. At the last brewery, we're doing a food and beer pairing. This is what's on the menu:

Niagara's Best Blond Ale & Bacon Marmalade with Chipotle Aioli
Taps Red Cream Ale & Roasted Red Pepper Dip with Grilled Pita
Niagara's Logger Lager & Truffle Popcorn with Steak on a Stick
Taps Sinister Sam's India Pale Ale & Rich Chocolate Smore

How good does all of that sound?!?!? Plus it's always nice to meet and spend time with other Alumni. The past Alumni events (Dragon Boats and Sip & Skate) were a lot of fun, so this one should be too. 

On Sunday, I'm going with a long time friend to see the Wizard of Oz in Toronto. She has been talking about going to see this since December and it actually closes on Sunday. I've heard great things about this show, so I'm looking forward to seeing it. I'm sure that we'll also go for dinner, shopping, etc while we're in the city. 

My Lilly Pulitzer agenda came this week! I LOVE Lilly agendas but I wasn't crazy about this years prints, so it took me awhile to decide. While debating this, a co-worker decided she would order a Lilly agenda too- she really liked my agenda, how it was laid out, etc. They finally came this week and we may or may not have done a happy dance when they arrived.(This would be the beautiful things referenced in the title.)

Also this week, I made my first official presentation to a regional sponsor. As everyone knows, I work in non-profit fundraising. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this on my blog or not...but I'm actually in the process of transitioning into a new position at my organization. I currently do special events but am transitioning into a position where I will be specializing in sponsorship. While I knew this sponsor from our events, it was the first time I was the one requesting money from them. It went REALLY well. They were very happy and impressed. I'm exciting for this partnership. 

I also had the opportunity to attend a spa grand opening this week! It was nice to have that opportunity to mingle and network, plus get some pampering. I had a chair massage and a paraffin hand treatment. This also did paraffin feet treatments and mini makeovers. They were serving real iced tea (my favourite) and sangria. They had tons of food out too- creme brulee, mini tarts, fruit, salami bruschetta, smoked salmon on crackers, marinated chicken on a stick...there were more, but those are the ones I saw. It was lot of fun. 

Chelsea from Olive & Ivy added a search function to my blog for me this week...thanks Chelsea. If you are looking for a blog designer- either a full design or just one item- I HIGHLY recommend Chelsea! 

I've also added a Disclosure Policy to my blog, which can be found on my About page. 

I once again signed up for Cara Box, which is hosted by the super sweet mom-to-be Kaitlyn. This month, I've been partnered with LaDawn. I'm almost done putting her package together and can't wait for her to get it!

Finally, if you have a chance....go say hi to Tif, she's been MIA in blogland and is finally back...yea! You should also go say hi to Sarah, she's my blog crush, and Molly, who's blog EVERY girl should be reading.

Hope everyone has a great Friday!

Update: Life, Bloggers & Giveaways

It's been a while since I've done a post with a bunch of updates...so here we go:

First of all, head over to Party of One and wish my sweet friend Jenn a happy birthday! She might also have some pretty great prizes up for grabs...

Speaking of prizes...have you entered this summer giveaway yet?

I recently updated my Likes page.

Everyone know that I'm busy, but what have I been busy doing?

-Work: 'Our Volunteers are Stars' Pizza Party, helped with a support group, AODA Training (so interesting and kind of fun), speed networking event, provincial conference, planning a client social, planning our AGM.

-Social: toured a chocolate factory, play at the Little Theatre, met up with an old co-worker and her husband, competed in my first Dragon Boat races, went to a young professionals networking event, had dinner with young Brock Alumni.

-Personal: decided to join Beta Sigma Phi, coffee and dinner dates with friends, learned to play pickle ball, celebrated my old dance studios 25th anniversary (and watched a close friend's- I met through dance- daughter in her first recital), learned to Dragon Boat/paddle.

-Family: cousins dance recital, celebrated my sister's 18th birthday (twice), watched my sister's soccer team compete at provincials (4th in the province!).

-The rest of June: my sisters prom and graduation, selecting a recipient of the scholarship I give out, the actual Social and AGM, dinner with a friend, meetings, meetings and more meetings, the start of our summer office hours!

And finally, some ladies that you should visit: Tif, Lacey, Sarah and Justine.