Honest to Blog: Goodbye 2013 Hello 2014

So we are at the end of another year and only a drunken breath away from a new year. I for one am pretty happy to be done with this year. It was a hard one for me. This was one of the hardest years for Richard and I in our 7 year relationship. A lot of that was to due with the fact that I was hit super bad at the beginning of this year with one of the hardest bouts of depression I've had in a long time. I was in the hospital earlier this year with a really bad kidney infection as well. In my defense I was trying to be healthy and took some daily vitamins which ended up giving me the kidney infection. Then being on even more of a 'got to get healthy' attitude I decided to work out and my knee slipped and I've had to deal with that injury. So if this is any kind of lesson it should be to stay unhealthy, but I know that's not the best attitude to walk away with.

But lets talk about some of the amazing things that happened this year. I became an aunt not once but twice to two beautiful girls. Both my brothers had daughters this year: Callie and Sarah. Add those two to my new nephew Caleb that was born last year, we are now up to 7 nephews and nieces.

Left: Simon, Valerie, and Caleb. Top Right: Tyler, Macayla, and Callie. Bottom Right: Sarah

Seriously?!? How beautiful are all these kids. Ridiculous, I know but there you have it.

I joined all the cool kids and signed up for Instagram this year, and it reminded me of how much I love taking photos. So much so that I did a 30-day photo challenge with a Beautiful Mess. I am really proud of the photos I took for the challenge, and tried being creative with how I took them. 

On top of these photos with instagram alone I have taken just shy of 400 photos since May of this year. I have also done Photo Adventures with my friend Hillary and Uncle Chris. All of which you can see here, here, and here. 

I got promoted at my work from Receptionist to a Call-Coordinator. I like that I have a lot more tasks to do and the team I work with is awesome. They really make the days at work more interesting. And I've made new friends at work, but shh don't tell them that. 

These are the girls on the Deskside Team. Our team lead Neil was MIA for this photo.

Speaking of work I was a part of the Social Committee for the second year in a row and we put on two very successful events. A 50's Breakfast and, my ultimate favourite, our Masquerade Holiday Party. You can see all the photos of those here and here. 

I also challenged myself to read more books this year, and ended up reading 27 new books. I wanted to challenge myself to read 30 new books, but fell in love with so many this year that I ended up re-reading the same books over and over. So I guess technically I did read over 30 books. Challenged Accepted- Challenge 'sort of' Completed. And with reading comes wanting to write. I joined Richard's writing group and started writing a novel. Ya that's right I'm writing a book. Pretty awesome if I do say so myself. 

After getting out of my depression in the beginning of the year the rest of the year went pretty darn well. I'm happy with how this year ended and I'm looking forward to next year. This is around that time where people post their goals and talk about how they want to lose weight and stop smoking and learn a new hobby. Well I've done that on here before and let me tell you, those goals where never accomplished. 

But I do want to set myself up with some goals, so here is a list of what I want to do next year:

1.Stay positive.

2. Spend more time with family.

3. Cross off more things on my Bucket List. (You can see what I have on it here.)

4. Finish my book.

5. Throw out my weight scale and never weigh myself again. EVER. My health goal next year is not going to be to lose X amount of pounds but instead get myself to a point health wise where I'm happy. Screw the number on my clothes and the number on the scale. My goal is to be happy with my body and how I feel. 

6. Stick to my passions and complete my home decorating ideas. 

7. Chisel away at our debt. I would really like to be debt free as soon as possible. 

Well, that's all folks. Thanks for reading this little bit of the internet world that I have. Hope you all will stick around next year and see what other crap I get up too. 

Happy New Year Everyone. 

Masquerade

If you are a follower of my Instagram or my Twitter you will know that last Saturday I helped plan this years Holiday Party for my work. This year in particular was special due to it's theme, which by the title of this post you can see was a Masquerade.

It has been on my Bucket List since I was a little girl, and I first experienced the play 'Phantom of the Opera' that going to a Masquerade was a must! Earlier in the year I was looking up on how I could achieve this when I found out that Castle Loma in Toronto actually holds a Masquerade around New Years. However this was an all ages kinda thing and I just wasn't interested. Then the thought acquired to me that if I couldn't attend one then I would help organize one. So I brought the theme idea to the Social Committee and everyone liked the idea so...BAM!

All year we have been planning this and it was a huge success. Not only did people like this theme but we had the largest turn out for RSVP's ever. We had performers from Zero Gravity Circus who were walking around in costumes while people arrived, as well as a Juggler during Dinner. All the centerpieces were called for and taken at the end of the night by employees, and we also had a photographer for the evening who provided all the wonderful photos.

Granted this wasn't a mandatory Masquerade, and a lot of people didn't wear masks for the whole event, or even at all but who cares! The point is that it was a success and something our company has never done before.

Below are some pictures from the night to show off all our hard work. All photos were taken by Dennis Duong at MotionD Photography.

List of Vendors 

Venue: Castlefield Event Theatre DJ: James Able Disc Jockeys Photography: MotionD Photography Performers: Zero Gravity Circus

Centerpieces and Decorations

Vase/Lampshade/Birdcages/Candelabras: Home Sense Candles: Ikea Generic Masks and White Masks: Party City Ribbons: Michaels 

Metal Masks Worn by Guests: Elite Crafting

I am so glad I have been apart of the Social Committee at MicroAge for two years and have helped organize and plan 4 events. Its been a fun experience but with my new promotion this year I've decided that I can't handle both. So this was definitely a great way to end it.

If you have any questions about anything from the pictures above or the events in general don't hesitate to ask.

MicroAge Breakfast- 50's Diner

Last week I posted about the social committee breakfast I helped plan at my work. Well it was a complete success and we got a lot of compliments on the event. As I mentioned before this is our third event with all these member on the committee; and to have 3 events with only a couple of negative comments (because you really can't please everyone) is a big deal. So as you can guess, every member of the social committee is really happy. In the past the social committee has done BBQ's and bagel breakfasts but this was the first time where we had a breakfast with waffles, pancakes, and french toast.

MicroAge Social Committee

Katerina, Bianca, Me, and Angela

When we were coming up with ideas for the event one member (Angela) mentioned she has a brother who owns a restaurant called the Sunset Grill. From there we decided to go the breakfast route, and then I suggested 50's Diner as a theme. Well once a theme is introduced Kat and I pretty much go crazy. Both of us love 'themes' and are both pretty nuts for 1950's anything.

MicroAge Partners in Crime

As with any event, whether its one you're planning with your own budget or with a predetermined budget, you're going to run into some restrictions. When it comes to food events and our work we all know that the food has to be our main priority, so our restrictions for the most part with this event came with decorations. Some things we brought from home and used as decorations and other things we purchased to add to the overall atmosphere.

In order to keep the lunch room from getting cramped and to avoid huge lineups we decided to give each department a time slot for the event. We gave the departments twenty minute intervals to get the meals, converse and then leave before the next department came in. We grouped some departments together in order to get everyone through in 2 hours.

   

 

 
We also try to bring in some homemade items to our events but with this being a breakfast we couldn't really do that. However Kat did find this picture on Pinterest and wanted to recreate it herself. She made them using pretzels (for the bacon) melted white chocolate (for the eggs) and a M&M (for the yellow yolk).

 I unfortunately forgot to take a picture of the ones she made, but you can see them a little in this picture below.

All of our decoration were purchased at the Dollar Store, Shoppers Drug Mart, Amazon, and eBay. Here is a breakdown of what we bought and where we bought it from.

Decorations:
Dollar Store: Table Cloths, Cups, Plates, Cutlery, Chalkboard Frames (tutorial here)
Shoppers Drug Mart: Baskets and Checkered Liners 
Amazon: Wall Mural (we searched under Soda Pop Decorations)
eBay: Neon Clock 

Food:
Sunset Grill: Pancakes, Waffles, French Toast
Costco: Maple Syrup, Milk
Metro Grocery Store: Maple Syrup, Coffee Cake, Chocolate Cake, Juice, Fruit Trays
Bulk Barn: Chocolate, Pretzels, M&M's

We are now going to concentrate on the Holiday Party as that does take a long time to plan and organize. I am so looking forward to that as we have also chosen a theme, and its one that I've always wanted to do, but that won't be revealed for a while yet.