Saturday, 31 January 2015

Weekly Wrap Up

A blog friend of mine, years ago, had a Saturday link up called 'Weekly What'. She eventually cut back on her blogging and the link up came to an end, but I kept doing it...I liked the concept; basically you put all of your Monday-Friday posts in one post on Saturday. It's essentially a summary of the past week on your blog. 

It's been over a year since I stopped doing a 'Weekly What' post but I thought for 2015, I would bring the concept back...so welcome to the second Weekly Wrap-Up!!

MONDAY: I started the week off by sharing some inspiration for the week

TUESDAY: I linked up with Amber for Hey! It's Ok.

WEDNESDAY: I talked about #BellLetsTalk.

THURSDAY: I shared a song that I love.

FRIDAY: I finished the week by reviewing how my Resolution/Goal for 2015 is going so far. 


Friday, 30 January 2015

Friendly Resolution- January

Happy Friday and happy almost last day of January! This month has had some ups and downs, but I have tried really hard to focus on my word for 2015- Happy! It's been challenging at times, but I've been pretty good at noticing when I wasn't happy and doing things to change that.

I'm not big on resolution, because let's be honest, most of us rarely stick to them. I like to set mini goals for myself to accomplish throughout the year. This year, I've decided to focus on two goals- one professional and one personal.

My friends are my world. I try really hard to be a good friend and I try really hard to work on my friendships. It's so easy to let friendships fade if you move, get married, have a baby, start a new job...there are so many reasons/excuses for friendships to fade. I've always tried to maintain my friendships; generally one or two visits a year with texting, phone calls and Facebook messages in between. 

This year, I decided that every month, I would make the point to connect with two friends. How did I do in January?
Pretty well!! I actually ended up connecting with four friends!
D- A friend since high school, even though we lived hours apart. She currently lives about a 5 minutes drive from me and I see her maybe two or three times a year. I met her for coffee one Sunday, followed by some shopping downtown.

R- We used to work together, so I would talk to her every day and see her once a week- at least. She left for another job, lots of texting and phone calls. I was supposed to see her in October, the same day as my car accident. She did offer to come to the hospital with me (what a GREAT friend), which I declined. We met for lunch and then she came over to hang out for a few hours. 

C- Another co-worker. We used to work in the same office, she went on mat leave and when she came back, they put her in a different office. I see her every couple of weeks, but we haven't hung out in MONTHS. We had a nice, long and delicious brunch. Lots of laughs and great to catch up.

G- Yet another co-worker! She left to go to school and do her Masters. I have seen her twice for dinner in the past almost 6 months since she left, which is honestly pretty good. We had an impromptu coffee date one Saturday afternoon.

R- She lives a 5 minute walk from my house. We have both had a lot of changes in our lived over the past several months, and went from hanging out every other weekend to maybe hanging out 3 times in the past 9 months. I went over to her place for leftover lasagna, wine and girl talk. It was so great and exactly what I needed. 

I realize that I likely won't connect with so many friends in the coming months- I think that two is a realistic number- but I'm really happy with the number of friends I've connected with this month. I actually have Saturday adventure already scheduled with a friend for February and I have two friends that I want to touch base with in February.

I'm really hoping this is a 'resolution' I can stick with. Like I said, my friends are my world and I think it's so important to put time and energy to build and maintain friendships.


Thursday, 29 January 2015

Drink A Hope To Happy Years

I am so happy it's Thursday! I had the BUSIEST week last week! I usually work 70 hours in a 14 hour pay period. Last week, I worked over 80 hours in 6 days. It was excessive and exhausting! But, it means I only have to work half a day today and I'm off tomorrow!! 

For the first time all month, I will be heading out of town for the weekend- if the weather cooperates! I'm looking forward to some peace and quit, reading and relaxing...just getting away to clear my head. 

I'll be driving about an hour and half away from the city, and since I recently found my-lost-for-over-two-years Dave Matthews Band CD, you can bet that's what I'll be listening to on my drive. 

I love so many DMB songs, but this is one of my favourites:

 How great is this song? I'll definitely have it on repeat!

Wednesday, 28 January 2015

#BellLetsTalk

Mental health is something that affects us all, on different level and in different ways, but we are all affected at one time or another. Mental health issues include bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, depression and even anxiety.

Sadly, there is still a HUGE stigma around mental health issues. People are not comfortable talking about their situations or people judge others who are dealing with mental health issues. There are a lot of negative stereotypes.

Bell Let's Talk day, which is today, is trying to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health, raise awareness and start a conversation. Plus, Bell will donate $0.05 for text message, mobile and long distance call made by their customers. Not a Bell customer? You can still support the campaign by tweeting #BellLetsTalk
 
 
http://letstalk.bell.ca/static/downloads/toolkit/en/bltd-logo.jpg
 
 
In 2014, Bell Let's Talk Day had over 100 million tweets, phone calls and text message resulting in over $5.4 million raised for mental health initiatives. That's a lot of money for a REALLY great cause! 

More information can be found on the website, Bell Let's Talk, including a toolkit on how you can get the conversation started.

If nothing else, please tweet #BellLetsTalk...you can make a difference and raise awareness simply by tweeting a hashtag.