Category Archives: Etc.

DIY Storage Boxes

DIY Storage Boxes.
DIY Storage Boxes.

Want a simpler, more beautiful way to create qualitative storage boxes?  Well, I did.  I have been saving up sturdy shoe boxes to create storage in my office, but I needed the right paper to wrap the boxes in.

I headed to the new Paper Source in Rockefeller Center and picked up a few sheets of gift wrap paper.  The key to picking out paper in a sea of many beautiful choices, is to select sturdy paper, not the thin paper.

Make sure the colors match so you don’t have a hodgepodge of different colors that don’t match your decor.  Make sure to stay within the color scheme (or use complimentary colors) of the room where the boxes will be placed.

storage box4
You can see that I chose colors in mint green, turquoise and gold, with an offset pattern of black/white (because black/white stripes with any print outfit seems to go well, apply that  idea to home decor as well).  The patterns don’t necessarily have to match, but the colors should.

One note in doing this project, I don’t recommend using just any kind of gift wrap paper.  I purchased the gift wrap sheets, as well as a tube of gift wrap paper (to be more economical).  There is a major difference!  The gift wrap sheets wrapped around the boxes perfectly, making it easy to assemble.  The gift wrap paper from the tube ended up being a complete disaster!  I had to pull and re-pull the paper.  It bunched up in places it shouldn’t have.  It was much more flimsy to work with and you could definitely see that this paper was made for wrapping gifts, and did not work well for projects.  It was meant to be ripped up, not to have lasting power.  [Keep that in mind while shopping for paper.]

As for the amount of paper you will need for each box, as you can see in the first photo (and below), I used two different types of paper.  That was because I didn’t have enough paper and didn’t realize it until I had cut the paper for the lid.  One sheet fits a thin shoe box like the one pictured above (with a little bit of paper leftover).  You’ll need two sheets for regular sized shoe boxes.

storage box2
As for tape, I used both regular tape and Paper Source’s Super Tacky Tape.  I highly recommend using this super tape.  It is so simple to put on and it really adheres the paper to the box, especially when you’re working with glitter paper.  The ladies at Paper Source swear by this tape, and I can completely understand why.  It is a no fuss double-sided tape that works really well.  Once you go with their Super Tacky Tape, you’ll never go back to any other double-sided tape.

So here’s what you need to do this project:

Sturdy Shoe Boxes
Paper Source Gift Wrap Sheets
Scissors
Tape
Paper Source Super Tacky Tape
Sticker Labels (I used these)

storage box 6

The project is very simple.

  1.  Measure the paper to the lid, making sure you have up to an extra inch of paper to tuck into each side of the lid (depending on the size of your box).  Cut the paper.
  2.  Wind the super tacky tape around the inside of the lid (about 1/4-half an inch from the top).  Remove the film on the tape.
  3.   Wrap the paper around the box like you would as if you were wrapping a gift.
  4. Tuck the extra paper in over the lid on all sides and secure it to the tacky tape already in place.
  5. If there are any open pockets on the outside of the box that needs to be secured, use the tacky tape to secure the paper to the paper (reminder, this is double-sided tape, so you will secure from the inside of the paper, not the outside).
  6. Secure the paper inside the lid with regular tape (this also helps prevent the paper from tearing when you close the box).  Also, make sure to cover up any super tape that may be sticking out from under the paper with regular tape.  USE ONLY REGULAR TAPE ON THE INSIDE, NOT ON THE OUTSIDE.
  7. Repeat the steps above for the box.
  8. After completing, write down what the contents are on a label and secure it to the box.  Voila!  You are done!

NOTE:  The reason why you should use the gift wrap sheets – when you wrap the lid and the box, you won’t need to use tape on the outside because it wraps around the box perfectly.  You will only use tape on the outside for those rare instances when you need to secure an open pocket (using the double-sided super tape).  There should be NO TAPE seen on the outside of the box.  Leave the tape for the inside!

I couldn’t believe how nicely the boxes turned out using the Paper Source gift wrap sheets. I was more amazed at how smoothly the paper just wrapped around the boxes and required so little tape (to no tape) on the outside of the box.  I could tell the difference in using their regular gift wrap paper vs. the specialty gift wrap.  It’s a difference of catastrophe vs. ease and perfection.

A friend of mine said she’s going to try to do this same method with magazine holders.  I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

What I love about Paper Source is that it is a great place for perfectionists who aim to learn more about crafting and perfect their projects with qualitative products.  They’re not too expensive.  I love that they don’t just sell everything under the moon for crafters.  They sell perfect, qualitative products.  Why waste your money trying to save on making the project when you can invest in the right materials from the get go and do the project once and it turn out beautifully?  You have less fails when you focus on buying qualitative from the get go.

How to Declutter Your Life Part Two: Tackling Your Entertainment

scarves3As part of a new series this year, I wanted to share with you how I am decluttering my life. This is a five month series.  For those who want to take the steps to begin decluttering your life, count on this being a six month life plan to commit to this year.  You’ll need the extra month to truly put this plan into effect.

ESSENTIAL MATERIALS: Make sure to pick up a copy of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing.  This is one of the most important books in understanding the points we’ll be covering over these next five months.  Also make sure to have a journal to record your progress.

Step 2. Tackle Your Entertainment

For those who have a rather large entertainment collection (videos, CDs, records, games, books, etc.), today we’re going to focus on how you can downsize your collection.

We are fortunate that we live in an age where we can get rid of our clutter and go digital with almost all of our entertainment needs.  For those who have BluRay players, Smart TVs, XBox Ones and PS4s, (i.e. technology you can connect to the internet) utilize what these devices offer by putting everything up online to access your content through streaming and cloud services.

Take Advantage of Cloud Services – Movies

PART ONE.  You know those pieces of paper you get inside your DVDs and BluRay Discs with a special digital code?  Go online and enter in the codes.  Most use services like Flixster or Ultraviolet.  Those are the two movie cloud services you want to have an account with.  It’s FREE.

What’s great about getting an account with both of these services is that they interlink with each other, so no matter which service you use based on the movie company’s choice provider(s), you can luckily interlink all of the accounts together.  You can do that through the settings on both accounts.

On your Smart TV, Xbox, etc., download a movie app that allows you to access your movie collection.  For me, that app is Cinema Now.

Using that app, link all of your upload libraries (Flixster and Ultraviolet) to the movie app (you can also do this online).  You should be able to access your library of all digital content you entered in codes for through the various upload services.  Movie companies usually decide which service they will use as a digital content service.  You just have to enter in the code, pick which account you have from the list, and then it automatically is added to your cloud library.

When you open up your movie app on your TV, all of the digital content through the various services will be all in one spot to access no matter which TV or device you use.

Going Forward.  Resolve to only purchase all future movies through the streaming service.  You don’t need the actual physical copy to clutter up your home.  By purchasing through the streaming service, you will have access to that movie on any of your devices.  It also saves you a trip to the store or wait time to get it in the mail.

PART TWO.  If you use streaming services like Netflix or Amazon Prime, consider matching your current library with theirs.  If it’s part of their service, consider ditching your actual copy of the movie.

Most people don’t know that part of their Amazon Prime service is a streaming movie service just like Netflix.  It’s part of the Prime membership.  You don’t have to pay extra for it.  All of the videos you order (or have ordered over the years prior to Prime) are available in the Amazon Cloud for you to access, too.  They also have their own shows like Netflix does.

Netflix and Amazon Prime have a lot of the same movies and TV shows.  The only major difference is their own original content like Orange is the New Black (Netflix) and The Man in the High Castle (Amazon Prime).

For your Smart TVs, video consoles and BluRay players…just download the Netflix and Amazon Prime apps to your TV to access the streaming services.

After you’ve completed PART ONE and PART TWO, you can get rid of the physical DVD/BluRay discs.  They are available to you digitally.  You can make a few bucks off that collection by going to a local retailer that buys used DVDs/BluRays.

PART THREE.  After you have entered in all of the codes you found, matched your collection to Netflix or Amazon Prime, sold your collection (or donated it), now you need to focus on maintenance.

Check every now and again to see if there are any movies popping up on Netflix or Amazon Prime that you already own.  If it’s new to their catalog, you can let go of your copy.  Netflix makes it easy by showing what new movies they’ve added.  Amazon Prime is a bit more laborious to check.  Netflix is the easiest to go through and search.  It’s much faster if you search the collection via your computer.

For the new movies you want to purchase, instead of buying a physical copy of it, you can now buy a digital copy through the movie app (Cinema Now) or even through Amazon.  You can even rent movies if you don’t feel like buying.  The prices to purchase are comparable to the actual physical copy.  What’s also nice is that when you purchase, it downloads immediately.  You don’t have to go to the store or wait for it to be delivered.  It saves time and shipping costs.

Keep in mind that if you rent, check the prices between your cable provider, Amazon and the movie app.  One may be cheaper than the other.  Also, if you can wait, most of the popular movies are out on the movie channels a month after it’s released on DVD.  I DVR it if I want to keep it.  It saves from purchasing the movie itself.

Take Advantage of Streaming Services – Music

I use two streaming music services: Amazon Prime and Google Play.  Of the two, I prefer Google Play.  Amazon Prime Music is part of the Amazon Prime membership.  You don’t pay extra for it.  Google Play is a little less than $11 per month (depending on your state taxes).

I prefer Google Play because I am able to access their extremely large music library.  The selling point for me is the classical collection.  There are certain albums I like and Google Play has it.  Amazon Prime does not.  Not everything on Prime is part of the service.  You have to pay for some of the music.  Google Play, on the other hand, has everything.  To me, that’s worth the $10+ each month: access to unlimited music and stations.

I don’t own any CDs thanks to streaming services.  I can download every single album or song I’ve loved throughout my entire life and not pay anything extra beyond that monthly fee.

Keep in mind though that some artists will force you to purchase their music.  If that’s the case, you’ll need Amazon Prime or iTunes to get their music.  They won’t always be available on streaming services.

Either way, it keeps it digital.  It’s less stuff you have to physically take care of.

Less clutter and less stuff to take care of is our mission!

Take Advantage of Reading Apps – Books

There is an ongoing debate among book lovers.  Hard copy or digital?  Most book lovers do both.  For advanced copies of books, I have to have the physical copies.  They don’t send digital copies (although they should…it would save so much in shipping costs).

PART ONE.  For books I have to have now, or something to read while I’m traveling, I order it through my Nook app or Amazon Kindle app.  I try to order all new books that are available digitally through one of the two apps, depending on who is selling the book cheaper or if I want narration added to it.

One service I do love is Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited.  It’s a monthly service ($9.99/month).  If you think about how much you pay per month for one book…and you read a lot…this service may be best for you.  What I love the most about this service is that most of the books have narration.  If I have to stop reading and walk somewhere, then I switch to narration so I can continue the book while I’m walking.  It’s also great if you’re at work and need something to listen to.  I listen to books while I’m working to help kick out my New Year’s Resolution of reading 52+ Books a year.

There is also the Audible service, but for the same price, you get one credit per month for an audio book.  You also can’t switch back and forth between reading and listening to the narration.  I prefer the Kindle Unlimited because like it says…unlimited books from their library.  That includes the books you can switch back and forth between reading and narration.

So for those times you find that incredible book you just can’t put down but you have to because you have to go from point A to B or you are at work…consider the Kindle Unlimited service.  You can listen to the book when you can’t read it.  The narration picks up right where you left off reading.  That’s why I love this service so much.

PART TWO.  For those who have libraries at home…finding a way to declutter your books (when you are a bibliophile) is just impossible.  So I want to focus on storage.  If you’re looking for the perfect library system, try the Billy cases from Ikea.  They are pretty high and can accommodate a rather large book collection.

I keep all of my books in the library.  Unless I am reading that book, it’s the only time a book is allowed out of that room.  People go on and on about styling their bookcases to look pretty.  All of my books are alphabetized by author.  They are all standing up, none are on its side (a KonMari must, everything must be standing up).  If there are more books than shelf space, that means I have to weed out books to get rid of.

For the books I’ve already read, I only keep the books that were so good that I know I may need a passage from it later.  These are the type of books that moved me.  All the rest are either donated or sold at a resale bookstore.

Because I receive a lot of advanced copies, I have to weed every year to make room for the new review copies.  Out of the advanced copies group, I only keep the books that were personally autographed to me.  All the rest are donated after I review them.  You can’t really resell advanced copies of books.

The key thing about having a library is that all of the books be in ONE PLACE.  Do not scatter them throughout your home (with the exception of coffee table books).  Have them all in one place so that when you are looking for a particular book, you will find it in that one room sitting on the shelf where it is supposed to be.  Come up with a system that works for you.  Alphabetizing by author works for me.

I also keep the review copies separate from the main books in the library.  They have their own book shelf so I know which books I’m supposed to review.

The KonMari method teaches that we should stand everything up on its side (folded clothing, books, etc.).  Keep that in mind as you place the books in an order that works for you.

The method of going through the collection and asking yourself if the book ‘sparks joy’ is a bit fruitless to ask of bibliophiles.  All of the books spark joy.

In order to declutter from an overflowing collection, start with the books you’ve already read.  If you have no intention of reading or referencing it again…let it go.  If there are books that were given to you that you have no intention of ever reading because it’s not something that interests you…let it go.  Books that are too damaged to read, recycle them.  College books…come on, you are never going to read them again…let it go.

The most important thing in this process is to make sure you have the correct storage space for your library.  If it’s overflowing, or you can’t stand all the books up on the shelves, you need to pare down or get a book shelf that will work for your budding collection.  Start paring down the groups I mentioned above.  Give those books another chance to let someone else enjoy them.  It served its purpose in your life.  By letting it go, it’s one less thing you have to take care of.

PART THREE.  Maintaining order in your reading apps is very important.  You can order up a storm of books and they will all sit there in your queue waiting to be read.  This is where YOU STOP doing that.  In a way, you are overwhelming yourself by creating a clutter of books you need to read on an app.  Resolve from here on out to buy the book when you plan on reading it.

For books you’ve read, make sure you archive it, return it (Amazon Kindle), or remove it from your active library.  You can always recall the book whenever you need it (if you purchased it).  This clears up your visual library when you open up the device/app.  Your goal is to be a minimalist in this decluttering journey.

If you really want to start decluttering your devices/apps, consider putting most of the books into the archive and leaving only the next 3-5 books you want to read in the queue.  As you finish and archive each book, you can go through the archive and add the next book to the queue or purchase a new book.

Your goal is to declutter your reading apps.  Maybe someday they’ll create reading lists (like they do music playlists) where you can easily drop and categorize your books.  So if you’re in the mood to read a teen book, you can just go to your TEEN BOOKS list you created and pick one from your archived list.  I guess I should email them and request this?

For the Gamers

Gamers technically already know that if they have an internet based game console, they can just order the new game through the console and it is uploaded immediately.  No need to purchase the physical copy.

Buying a physical copy means you have to use that disc each time you want to play the game.  It’s better to just download the game.  This is great especially if you’re at someone else’s house and want to play a game you downloaded.  Just switch to your profile on the other person’s game console and you can play.

You can take games/consoles you no longer want to places like Game Stop to resell.

When you pare down your games, you want to ask yourself if this game brings you joy or not.  If it doesn’t, let it go.  If you are not going to play it again, let it go.  If you beat the game already, let it go.  If you have the next version of the game (like most sports games) and it’s better than the older version, let the older version go.

I know there are collectors out there, so with the older game consoles and games, if they still function properly, keep and maintain them.  I know how it feels to be nostalgic and want to play Atari or Nintendo 64.

For current and new games, consider downloading the games from here on out.  Or use a game renting service like Gamefly.

Keep in mind that the less stuff you have, the less things you have to take care of.  Your goal here is to declutter and get rid of everything that does not bring you joy.  The only things you want to keep in your home are the things that bring you joy.

Does it Spark Joy? 

Remember that throughout this whole process of decluttering your entertainment, your first question is “Does this spark joy?”  If it doesn’t, let it go.  The whole purpose of decluttering the KonMari way is to only keep the things in your home that brings you joy.  You only want to surround yourself with the things that bring you joy.

After you have used this method to pare down everything (sometimes it can take a few tries to declutter one category), what you want to have left from your collection are ‘just enough.’  In other words, you have enough and you don’t need anymore.  You’ve minimized your collection down to where things are not overflowing.  You are content with the amount you have.  For some people it may be nothing.  For others 25, 75, 100, or 500.  Just as long as you have adequate storage and things are not overflowing, you can have as many as you want…but the whole idea to decluttering is to have less things so you can do the things you’d rather be doing without being burdened down by stuff that will suck the energy out of you.

Mission 40 – Week 1 Journal Entry

September 1, Day One.

My high school friend came to NYC to visit me in July. We spent an entire week being tourists.
My high school friend came to NYC to visit me in July. We spent an entire week being tourists.

DIET:  Today, I don’t feel like eating.  This is nothing new to me.  I have days where I just don’t feel like eating.  I downloaded the app “MyFitnessPal” to track my food and water consumption.  I started using it last Friday and after a day of logging in my food, water and fitness, I awoke on Saturday to a note from the app saying that it’s apparent I don’t eat enough and that is my problem.

I’ve always found that when I eat more, I lose weight.  I’m sure there are plenty of people out there that wish they had this problem.  For me, food is a challenge.  I just want a little taste of it, not the whole thing.  I only want to take two or three bites to be satisfied.  I don’t want to consume the whole thing.  Then there’s the whole…when you workout, you need to add additional calories to your diet.  To me, that’s asking a lot!

The issue with not eating enough is that it causes problems in the body.  I’ve had doctors threaten to hospitalize me on several occasions because my blood pressure will spike as a warning sign that something is wrong.  This isn’t one of those…it’s been happening for a few days.  It means it’s been going on for a month or longer.  It is all because I’m not eating enough for the body to work properly.  I’m eating less than the bare minimum (800 calories a day).  This is an issue that goes all the way back to when I was in junior high school trying to be thin.  I barely ate.  I skipped meals and then went to basketball practice.  It really messed up my metabolism.

To this day, people always remark on how it looks like I barely eat anything.  To me, I feel like I ate enough for an entire village.  But the truth is…I only had a few bites.  There are occasions where my appetite catches up with me, but that’s maybe once a week, just like it was when I was a teenager.  But what I think is a lot of food may wind up being only 1200 calories…the amount of calories I’m supposed to be eating.  I always feel like I’m going to explode when I eat that many calories.

For those suffering from anorexia and think it is okay…it’s not.  It will fuck up your metabolism to the point your metabolism will become so sluggish, you’ll pile on the weight.  If you suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, it actually adds to the complication.

I met a girl recently that was starving herself and she thought it was cool to do so.  She was anorexic and had doctors telling her they were going to admit her into the hospital if she didn’t stop doing this to herself.

I finally told her she could end up like me.  That’s why she needed to take care to eat what her body needed and stop starving herself, especially at her age.  Also, for the record, this little 80 pound girl ate three times more than I did and she even remarked how little I ate.  An anorexic telling me I ate less than she did.

She’s currently in the hospital for her eating disorder.

Eating food is a challenge for me.  It’s gone beyond it being just psychological.  The body is used to not eating a lot because it’s what I trained this body to do when I was a teenager.  I did not give it what it truly needed and that later led to complications with my health.  Teaching the body to eat more will be the biggest challenge for me.

CHALLENGE: My biggest challenge is learning how to eat what I need and eating enough food to optimize weight loss and better health.

SOMETHING NEW:  I read from Dr. Oz that having a glass of cold water when you first wake up in the morning kick starts your metabolism into high gear.  I’ve been keeping a bottle of lime water (using the Zing Anything Citrus Zinger I received from PopSugar Must Have) in the refrigerator so that when I wake up, I can pour myself a glass of ice cold water.  It can be tough to drink a whole glass of ice cold water first thing in the morning (because boy, I can feel it), but it’s a good way to get your body to start burning some calories before you even step into the shower!

DOCTOR’S NOTE:  I had to see my doctor last month because I caught a bit of the Legionnaire’s that was going around Manhattan.  It took me three weeks and a week’s worth of antibiotics to kick it.  While I was at the doctor’s office, he ordered blood tests for every single thing I could possibly need a blood test for since I was complaining about extreme fatigue and feeling lightheaded.  My blood pressure had also spiked.  He had to take my blood pressure twice because he didn’t like the results.

The problem was my diet and the fact I was dehydrated.  I drink a lot of water, but apparently not enough.  The doctor told me that the worst thing I could do to myself right now is drink WATER!  Imagine my shock when he said this.  He told me that I needed to start drinking Gatorade every day.  This, of course, does not settle well with the way I live, so I asked around for some alternatives.  [I’m not big on having high sugar drinks or chemicals in my body.]  My friend sent me a recipe for sports drinks using essential oils.  This was a bit of a godsend.  Essential oils are still a new thing to me, but people that use them swear by them and their restorative powers.  [If you’re interested, you can find Essential Oils HERE.  Amber is more than willing to answer any questions you may have about essential oils.]

ON THE SCHEDULE:  Tonight, I get to screen M. Night Shyamalan’s new film “The Visit” (due out in theaters on 9/11).

ON THE SPIRITUAL BRAIN: On the way into the office, Avril Lavigne’s “When You’re Gone” started playing.  I have to say it made me feel really sad.  It made me think of my grandfather (who died in 2007) and my soulmate (who killed himself in 1994).

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G3_kG5FFfQ]

“The pieces of my heart are missing you.”  Those words hit really deep inside those cracks that surround this mended broken heart.  It doesn’t matter how many years pass, the people you miss the most are always the ones you’ll never see again.  They’re the ones you love most of all.  I oftentimes think of my soulmate and remind myself that someone loved me greatly in this lifetime.  I was his first and last love.  It’s the last love that someone has…that’s the love that matters the most.  People have first loves and other loves along their journey in life.  It’s that last love that means everything.  I was lucky to have met him.  I was blessed to have incredible memories of him.  He has taught me about love in ways I never would have imagined, including how a heart in love with someone that’s gone will always be in love with them. That love never stops.  It still grows deeper with each passing moment.

There have been other loves in my life, but not a love quite like his.  That love was the perfect love.  I was blessed to be his last love…the love that meant the most to him.  I miss him every single day.

“To carry them within us – that is our task.  We carry them all inside us, all our dead and shattered loves.  Only they make us whole. If we begin to forget or cast aside those we’ve lost, then…then we are no longer present either. … All the love, all the dead, all the people we’ve known.  They are the rivers that feed our sea of souls.  If we refuse to remember them, that sea will dry up too.”

–The Little Paris Bookshop, Nina George

September 2, Day Two.

matthew4Journal: Last night I saw M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Visit.”  Let’s just say that old people scare me now.  I’ll post up a review on the site later.

I’m now getting back into the swing of hockey and that included my first post of the season, the retirement of Bryce Salvador.  That means more tweeting on my hockey account after taking much of the summer off from social media.  It also means that I have a lot more writing to do.

Something I have been trying to do all summer is get up at 5AM to write and workout.  Matthew Lucifer (pictured here looking annoyed after I took the cup of coffee away from him) wakes me up around 5AM every single morning.  I naturally wake up at that time now thanks to his prodding.  That’s the time he wants breakfast.  [This comes from his days in incarceration (at the shelter).  They fed the animals at 4AM.  When the clocks fall back, it will be a 4AM wakeup call.]

I usually go right back to bed, but he usually follows me and tries to get me back out of bed by biting me until I kick him out of the bedroom and close the door behind him.  Some days he lets me sleep.

This morning though, he did something that made me think he’s not a normal cat (not like I didn’t think this already).  He has an unnatural obsession with water.  I forgot I left my glass on the coffee table last night.  So after I fed him this morning, I laid back down on the couch.  He kept trying to get me to wake up.  I kept grunting, begging him to let me sleep.

After falling back asleep again, I had water thrown in my face.  He had taken the glass of water that was on the far side of the coffee table, moved it across from me, picked it up and threw the water in my face.  A cat did this.

I sat up and wiped the water off of my face.  He just sat across from me looking at me like, “Now you’re awake.”  I want this to sink in for you…A CAT PICKED UP A GLASS OF WATER AND THREW IT IN HIS OWNER’S FACE TO WAKE THEM UP.

Matthew is a pretty good motivator when it comes to getting me to stay awake after 5AM.  He bites, leaves bruises all over my body, scratch marks, and there’s a lot of slapping across the face all in the efforts to get me to stay awake after 5AM.  As much as that little dude is successful with this, I still need to be motivated to write and workout that early in the morning.

CHALLENGE: 5AM wake up calls will now become my 2 hour ME time to write and workout.  I also need to focus on working harder on the things I want to do with my career.  I have so many ideas and goals.  This is the year I’m going to push myself to completing every goal and idea I set forth for myself.

DIET: As for food today, I cheated a little to try and get the caloric intake up so I had 2 candy bars.  Probably not the smartest thing to do after seeing how low I was in minerals and fiber.  I’ll have to change that starting tomorrow.  Also of interest, my sodium intake was 298.  I needed 2300.  Now I understand why the doctor told me I needed to start drinking Gatorade.

TECHNOLOGICAL HELP:  I am using three apps to track what I’m doing: 1. MyFitnessPal, 2. Pact, and 3. Samsung Galaxy Active S Health to track my steps.

My FitnessPal helps me log my food and water consumption.

Pact is a bet you make with yourself that you’ll go to the gym.  You set goals and you get paid for attaining your goals.  If you fail in your goals, you have to pay.  It’s a good way to get paid to workout and to motivate yourself to workout because if you don’t workout, you’ll have to pay into the kitty.

I have the Samsung Galaxy S5 Active phone.  I used apps prior to this phone to track my steps, but it burned up so much of the battery.  The S5 Active takes that issue away.  It also measures and keeps track of my heartbeat and stress levels.  It serves as a compass, barometer and stopwatch.  It’s a good way to keep track of your fitness.  I’m a huge Samsung fan and I highly recommend this phone for those who are active.

CHALLENGE:  My resting heart rate is really high (see yesterday’s entry).  After measuring it 4 times, the median was 100 bpm at a resting rate.  Normal average range for my age is between 66-82 (from ages 20-39 for females) and 57-95 for the total range (bpm).  It’s a little too high for my liking so that will be a major challenge…to get that resting heart rate down to normal.

Also, I took the test from Today.com that calculates your heart’s age.  If it’s 1 year older or more, then you are at risk for cardiovascular disease.  My results said my heart was 43.  That’s a very bad sign.  Healthy hearts are either the same as your age or younger.

CHALLENGE: Diet and exercise is the focus to get the heart back in shape and down to a healthy age.

There are a lot of components to getting healthy.  These three apps really help me see where I need to focus more.  I have to admit, if it weren’t for these apps, I would be so confused and inundated with all of this information.  There’s just so much information out there on how to be healthy.  It’s hard to figure out what you need to do to get this right.  Each person is different and figuring out what is best for you…now that is a challenge in and of itself.

September 3, Day Three.

This is an example of how big Maine Coon cats can get.
This is an example of how big Maine Coon cats can get.

Journal: So waking up at 5AM and staying awake was a fail this morning.  I put down in the original challenge that I wanted to get more sleep.  After one whole year, I finally got Matthew Lucifer to sleep through most of the night.  Although, he’s not really sleeping through the night.  He wakes up around 1AM or 2AM and just lays there waiting for me to wake up when I turn my body.

When he feels me move, he knows I’m awake, so he’ll walk up the length of my body, sit right on my chest and start licking my face.  Before, he used to just bite it.  This is also when he likes to start talking to me about whatever is on his mind.

matthew5Matthew Lucifer is a Maine Coon cat.  That means he’s a really big cat and will continue to grow to a rather large size.  Matthew is only three years old, but he will continue to grow until he’s seven years old.

I talk about Matthew a lot because he does some of the craziest things I’ve ever seen, as in, he’s not a normal cat.  Although, the stuff he does is very normal for the Maine Coon breed.

The reason why I’m not getting sleep is because of Matthew.  Training him to sleep all the way through the night has been a difficult task.  Also teaching him that if he does wake up, he should just leave me alone is another obstacle.  Surita, the other cat, knows to leave me alone if she wakes up.  Sometimes she gets cold and wakes me up to let her curl up under the covers or she wants to snuggle.  You know…the cute stuff.

Matthew…you should see my war wounds from our nightly cat fights.  He is the reason why I haven’t had a good night’s rest in a year.

Last night was the second night in a row he did not purposely wake me up.  He let me sleep.  When I did wake up, I saw him staring at me from across the bed waiting for this moment.  He came over and just started talking to me.  Maine Coons are talkers.  They talk a lot.  They don’t meow.  They have their own little language they use to communicate.  I usually have to really fake sleeping before he believes I’m asleep and will shut up.

Last night though, even though he was letting me sleep, I was awakened to planes flying very low in the middle of the night.  I don’t know why they were flying so low over a residential area (especially in the middle of the night), but the jet engines rattled me awake.  The way it sounded was like Matthew was screaming like he’d been electrocuted or something (which would not surprise me if this were to happen since he has a thing for chewing on cords).

I literally jumped out of bed, hearing the screeching and rushing of the jet, ready to run into the next room when I felt something licking my arm trying to calm me down.  I realized it was Matthew.  Then I realized what the noise really was and thanked God it wasn’t a fried Maine Coon.

Just when I had finally trained Matthew to stop waking me up, something else wakes me up.

In all honesty, I haven’t had a good night’s rest since I adopted Matthew a year ago.  I have probably had only one good night of sleep and that was because he sensed I was really sick.  As my friends say, Matthew is like a child in so many ways.  He does a lot of things a child would do including keeping their parents up all night long.  We sleep when they sleep.

CHALLENGE: Better sleep.

*Have you figured out why his middle name is Lucifer yet?

 

The New Direction for Diary of a Perfectionist Wannabe

pariskids8When I first began this site, it started off as just trying to make myself into a better person by doing things that I had always wanted to do (like figuring out how to make Coq au Vin), and sharing the journey along the way.  Over this last week, the site sort of took a different turn in a new direction.  This is ultimately the direction I wanted the site to go in all along.

There is a life motto I have been telling people since I was a teenager.  Ironically, the first time I ever said it, it was to my grandfather.

I was 16 at the time and had just gotten back from Paris.  I was telling my grandfather about my Parisian adventure.  He said to me after I finished sharing my story that he wished he could do that.  I remember looking at him a little funny…like it was crazy for him to say that.  That’s when I said to him, “Life is short.  Do anything and everything you ever dreamed of doing.”

For years, his kids had told him he should go out and travel during his retirement.  He never did.  But it was those words that day that prompted him to go out and chase every last dream he had for himself.  He spent the last 15 years of his life traveling all over the world.  Over those years, he would share those stories with me in the letters we wrote back and forth to each other.  He was my pen pal from the day I was a kid and could send out a letter on my own, until the day he died.

After he died and I started traveling more, I continued our travel tales.  With each place I visited, I felt like he was near, sharing this adventure with me.  He used to collect coins from every country he ever visited.  This goes all the way back to World War II, when he was in the war.  He had brought back coins and stamps from Nazi Germany.  Those are coins that I ended up inheriting after he passed away.

Every time I visit a country, I make sure to have a handful of coins to add to our collection.  This is a ritual I have kept going since 2007.  That’s why traveling all over the world is so important to me.  It’s about keeping an important memory going by adding to it long after the other person you shared it with is gone.

Those words I told my grandfather that day is the same motto I have repeated to so many people throughout this lifetime (and to myself, because sometimes you have to remind yourself what your life motto is).  Do anything and everything you have ever dreamed of doing.

After the NYCIFF Awards, I was talking with George Pogatsia (director/writer/star of “Family On Board”) about his speech on championing each other.  It takes a village to create success.  We all have to help each other make our dreams come true.  We cannot make a dream come true on our own.  It is absolutely foolhardy to think we can make our dream happen on our own.  It takes many people along the way to help us get to where we are trying to go.  It takes a village to make every single dream come true for each individual.

When you work together to help each other make dreams come true, you’re creating amazing energy together in order to make each and every dream come true for each person involved.  Consider it karma working in everyone’s favor.

Creating this kind of energy helps inspire each person involved to be greater than we were before.  That kind of energy is a really good, positive feeling.

When you help each other, you go into it believing in the other person and their dream.  You help them any which way you can within your own limitations.  You do this without wanting anything in return.  The way the universe works is that when you help others, wanting nothing in return, someone will return the kindness to you.  It may not be the same person you’re helping.  It could be someone else, the right person that can help you get to the next step in the process.

The amount of energy you put into helping someone else’s dream come true, you’ll find that the same energy x7 comes back to you.  It’s just the law of the universe (aka the law of attraction).  Do good for others, and the kindness will be returned somewhere down the line in a variety of different ways from so many different people.

Your vibe attracts your tribe.

That being said, that is the direction this site has gone.  This site is about sharing people’s dreams and how they’re making them come true.  This content will be brought to you through interviews and collaborations.  There will be a lot of repeat offenders here because of the collaborations.  A collaboration means that we are working together to share the story of how one person is making their dream come true.

For instance, we will be documenting Family on Board’s journey to the Oscars.  This will be done in collaboration with George Pogatsia, the film’s director.

In the upcoming days, I’ll also be sharing with you one artist’s journey to creating a new arts festival in the Bahamas.  That artist is no stranger to this site.  He created my Mads Mikkelsen as Hannibal painting.

Journalist friends I’ve made over the years in hockey will also be contributing to the site in their own ways.  Russ Cohen (from Sportsology, author of various books including “100 Ranger Greats”) recently added his first collaborative post to the site.  Russ and I have known each other since the start of my hockey writing career.  He’s been a great friend and mentor over the years, so having him contribute non-sports related content here…I am definitely a very lucky person.

There are other hockey reporters that will be submitting stories, recipes, DIY projects, etc. in the upcoming months.  In a way, this site allows them to have a place to share their other passions that are outside of hockey.  [i.e. There is life outside of hockey for hockey writers.]

This site is about building a trustworthy community of individuals that this site supports in their journey through life.  It is about believing in that person and their dream.  As of now, sharing each person’s journey is a stepping stone.  As time progresses, perhaps this little community we’re building can do more for each other.

That’s what this site is doing on its backend as far as bringing forth content.  The purpose of creating this content is for one simple reason.  It’s to help inspire people out there to go after every single dream they can have for themselves.  Life is about pursuing each and every dream.  You could fail at a dream or get to the end of its path and decide it wasn’t meant for you.  It happens all of the time to every single one of us.  Eventually, you’ll find there are some dreams that were worthwhile and others that weren’t.  That’s what life is all about.

The worst thing anyone could ever do is dream and never pursue it.  You will always ask yourself ‘what if.’  What is the point of asking yourself ‘what if?’  Just go out there and live the dream.  You’ll find that life is more amazing when you are pursuing your passions in life.

If a story is shared here, it’s not a one time deal.  We’ll continue to follow their journey, sharing their story as a way to get people to be more interested and involved in something that is absolutely incredible. The people you’ll find here are people I believe in.  The things they have created or done…they are projects I am passionate about seeing do well.  If you love something…you’ve got to say something.  That’s what this site will be doing.

xxoo,

Michelle Kenneth

Private Designer Sale: This is a Good One

For those who dream in fashion, I have a sale for you to make your Fantasy Wardrobe just a little bit happier.

I will admit that I never announce a major sale until AFTER I’ve shopped it. What can I say?  It’s the New Yorker in me that sees a sale, hopes no one else sees it, peruses the store and then makes a mad dash to the “Checkout” when I realize other people may have stumbled upon the sale.  It’s like that infamous “Will & Grace” episode where everyone is fighting over sale items at a Barney’s sale.

And yes, I am one of those people that protects my cart while shopping because people like to shop your cart in NYC.  [I am not joking when I say that.]

Just as YOOX and Net a Porter have announced their major designer tech merger, YOOX does something just as amazing…they send an email to their subscribers alerting them of a private sale.

A YOOX 90% off clearance sale is very similar to that Will & Grace episode, except if you don’t purchase it fast enough, someone else may buy it…thus meaning it’s SOLD OUT while it is still in your cart.  The Outnet (sister site to Net a Porter) clearance sales are very similar.

What things did I score at the YOOX clearance sale?  A Roberto Cavalli bag for $73, a John Galliano tote for $68, an Alberta Ferretti bag for $53, and a Missoni scarf for $37.

Yes.  All of those prices are real.  Including this Fendi bag for $362.

I’ve been wanting a Missoni scarf for a few years now but every time I went to purchase one at Rue La La or Gilt, I just didn’t feel like that was the price I wanted to spend on a Missoni scarf.  YOOX’s price of $37…no one is twisting my arm.  That was more than just the perfect price.

The Cavalli bag for $73?  I bought a similar bag a few years ago for $550.  I love that bag so much.  I take it with me whenever I travel because it’s light, it can take a punch, and it is like Mary Poppin’s magic carpet bag (you just can’t fill the thing up).  I bought this new one just in case the other one gives out on me one of these days.  At $73, that’s a major deal for me considering I know already what I’ll get out of the bag.

Before you go running off to the site to shop the sale, you need to know a few things first.  You need to know HOW to shop it.

First, it is essential that you REGISTER for the site.  You cannot access the sale unless you are a registered customer.

Second, after you register, a yellow tab called MYOOX will pop up at the top.  Click on that tab.  It will take you to the “Up to 90% off sale.”

Right now, the sale is for subscribers only.  The sale goes public on April 2.

The reason why you want to subscribe and register now for the site: if you wait until April 2, you are basically getting the scraps.

To get a little bit more cash back, make sure to use Ebates to get 2% cash back when you checkout.  Not a user of Ebates? Register HERE.  New subscribers get a $10 gift card to a retailer of their choice.

* * * *

This is a Fantasy Wardrobe post.  Fashionistas dream of having the most amazing wardrobe, but most oftentimes don’t have the bank account to fuel their shopping passions.  Fantasy Wardrobe posts at PerfectionistWannabe.com are designed to help you find ways to make your dream wardrobe come true.  These things don’t happen overnight.  It takes time to make the dream a reality.  This site will show you how.

Fendi For Less

No, this isn’t one of those posts on how to get a fake Fendi.  This is PW pointing you in a new direction…how to buy Fendi below the retail price.

Being a Fendi addict, I’ve found numerous ways to get the Fendi I want.  Whether it’s having patience and waiting for the season to end, or waiting a couple of years for the Fendi I want to come up on a resale site, an outlet site, or a wholesale site.

Take for instance this Fendi sold at Saks Fifth Avenue.


This backpack retails at $1500.  You can get the same bag at Overstock.com for $999.99.  Plus, if you’re a Club O member, you’ll earn $50 in Club O Rewards to go towards the purchase of some other fabulous item.

Shocked?  Well…we’re not done.

This Fendi Roma tote bag comes from Neiman Marcus.


The interesting part about this bag is that it’s currently on pre-order for $1,800. It’s expected to ship no later than April 1, 2015.  But Overstock has it already in stock for $1,299.99.  [O Club Rewards of $65.]

How about my favorite Fendi ombre zucca bag from Neiman Marcus?


Neiman Marcus is selling it for $1,100.  While Overstock is selling theirs for ($799.99). [O Club rewards of $40].

What if you want the Fendi 2Jours?

This one will cost you $2,350 at Nordstrom.  Overstock has it for $1,499.99. [O Club reward is $75.]  That’s almost 1/2 off the regular price.

So just why are you buying these items at the MSRP price when you can get the Overstock price, plus receive O Club rewards to use towards purchasing some other designer item (like a matching pair of Fendi sunglasses)?

Shop smarter, ladies.

PopSugar Must Have February Box

popsugarFebruary’s PopSugar Must Have box arrived last week filled with some very awesome goodies.

Here’s what was in the box:

1. Tarte Cosmetics Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush.

2. U.S. Apothecary Rose Water Bubble Bath.

3. ACME Party Box Company Bamboo Heart Cutting Board and Cheese Knife.

4. BaubleBar Mini Arrow Pendant Necklace [SIMILAR HERE].

5. Lemon Berry Tinted Balm 17 ml by Figs & Rouge.

6. Chuao Chocolatier Ravishing Rocky Road Bar.

7. Sally Beauty FingerPaints Nail color.

I didn’t keep the Tarte Cosmetics Amazonian Clay or the nail polish.  I gave those two items away [due to skin sensitivities].

I loved the cutting board.  I haven’t used it yet because it’s just so cute and looks stylishly good with the other cutting boards in the kitchen.

What I loved most about the box was the BaubleBar necklace.  The necklace I linked to above is similar, but not quite what I received.  The one I received has pavé detailing and retailed at $32.  You can get the similar one for $12.  I’m a huge fan of BaubleBar (almost all of my jewelry is from them), so it’s nice when I receive any jewelry from them.  Always qualitative and beautiful pieces from the company.

I also loved the Figs & Rouge lip balm.  I’m not a big fan of tinted lip balms, so even though this appears tinted, it’s not.  It goes on clear.  Also a good sign that this is truly 100% all natural, Matthew (my new cat) hates anything with a chemical smell.  He always has this look on his face like, “How could you let me smell that?” when he smells any of my beauty products.  With this lip balm, he actually liked it and tries to go in for a lot of kisses when I put it on.  That means…this product is truly chemical free!

As for the Chuao Chocolatier bar…OMG, it was so good.  The surprise is in all of the extras in the bar…the marshmallows and the salt on the caramelized almonds.  I’m also a big fan of their Spicy Maya bars that have a hint of cayenne in the chocolate.  I imagine that this is the way chocolate would have tasted if we were truly able to taste the chocolate delicacies from the movie Chocolat.

I haven’t tried the rose bubble bath yet, but I’m looking forward to it.

All in all, I liked the February box.  The products may not be up to everyone’s cup of tea, but it had a lot of pluses in my book.  The box is $42.75/month.  Total cost of the items in this box retailed at $149.50.  PopSugar is continuously proving that they are the best subscription box on the market.

Try The World: Paris Box

(c) 2011 Michelle Kenneth

My latest Try the World box is the Paris Box.  Who doesn’t love French food?

This box included La Mère Poulard sablés (cookies), Maison D’Armorine salted butter caramels, Domaine Des Vignes whole grain mustard, Charles Antona Corsican cherries and thyme jam, Clément Faugier chestnut spread, Flagrants Désirs dark chocolate bar with raspberry and two fruit jellies.

The whole grain mustard uses vinegar produced from grapes (similar to dijon) from the Vineyard at Domaine des Vignes.  The difference between whole grain and dijon depends on the vinegar (or wine) used and the fact that the whole grain mustard is not completely grounded down like dijon.

Whole grain mustard is a bit of a staple in any foodie kitchen, especially if you’re cooking up a lot of French food.  When recipes call for dijon, I prefer to use the whole grain mustard in its stead.

The sablés (cookies) are made with only 5 ingredients.  The salted butter comes from Brittany.  La Mère Poulard is a famous restaurant and bakery located in Mont-Saint Michel.  Notables such as Ernest Hemingway and Yves Saint Laurent have visited this restaurant.

All in all, I really liked this box and the Venice Box.  Both curated boxes are spot on for the essentials one needs in their kitchen from these two regions.  They also pick the best sweets to add to the box.

My little guy, Matthew, can attest to that.  He was a little spoiled with his first subscription box from Kitnip.  He assumed this new subscription box belonged to him as well.  He started sorting through it before I could finish taking everything out of the box.  He was pretty determined there was something in this box for him [no, he wasn’t playing in the red filler, he was pulling the food out of the box].

He even tried to open up the mustard thinking that must be where his treats are [he has thumbs, so he knows how to open up jars…at least ones that were previously opened].  We didn’t discover what he could have until I opened up the caramels this morning and took a bite out of one.  It was so buttery and good, I thought he’d like to try it, so I gave him a little piece.  The way his eyes lit up with pleasure…I think his determination was correct…there was indeed something in this box for him, too.

Here’s a look at all of the goodies in the Paris Box:

If you’d like to order your own Try the World box, you can get $15 off your first box by subscribing HERE.

Subscription Box: Try The World

There are a lot of subscription box services out there lately, but nothing that is as close to representing the foodie side of “Perfectionist Wannabe” as the Try The World box service.

I got my first box a couple of weeks ago and I have to say…I am beyond impressed with what you get for $39.

My first curated box had a “Venice” theme.  Included in it were a lot of food items representing the region…and food items that any Italian foodie should already have stocked in their pantry.  But then again, some of this stuff is hard to find unless you get it directly from an Italian food market.

I loved everything about this box, especially the Dark Chocolate Limoncello.  I try to eat dark chocolate for health reasons, but it’s always too bitter and not a pleasant experience.  This Perugina chocolate bar was just right and delightful.

The black truffles and mushrooms were a surprise.  I had ordered the Oeuf Mimosa (truffle and caviar deviled eggs) at Todd English’s Ca Va Brasserie in NYC a couple of weeks ago.  It had a very distinguished taste to it.  Opening up this can of truffles and I found the main ingredient to the Oeuf Mimosa.

I tried this in some couscous to add a little flavor.  Just a little bit can go a very long way.

The Spaghettata mixture of herbs was a delight.  I warmed it up in some oil, added some bell peppers, sweet bell peppers and sun-dried tomatoes (that I picked up in Venice) then tossed in some spaghetti and parmesan cheese for a satisfying meal during the Super Bowl.

The sweet onion pesto included in the box, I put on top of tilapia.  It was so simple and, oh so delicious.

What I like about this box is that it allows you to try out new ingredients from different areas of the world.  It’s also not too expensive and you get qualitative ingredients to experiment with.  Each box comes with a few recipes to try and an informational background on the region.

The box is delivered every two months for $39.  If you’re interested in joining, you can get $15 off of your first box by clicking HERE.  {If you pre-pay, it’s cheaper.}

I’m looking forward to seeing what my next box has in store.

Have you tried “Try the World?”  If so, what did you think?

Resolutions 2015

The Christmas holiday rush is over.  Now is the time to reflect and ponder over how you want to approach the new year.  What changes do you need to make in your life?  What realistic changes do you want in your life?

There are needs and then there are wants.  A need is something that you need to do with your life to set it on the right track like resolving to pay all of your bills on time, or saving enough money for your emergency fund, or going to the doctor to check out that strange condition you have.  A want is to lose 10 pounds before your high school reunion, or to go on a much ‘needed’ vacation to X locale.  Whatever it is you resolve to do, be it a need or a want, create a plan to make it happen.

I’ve been thinking about my resolutions since Thanksgiving.  I’ve already started putting my plan to work.  Here’s my game plan and my resolutions.

1. It starts with a notebook.

ks1 ks2If you want to stick to your resolutions this year, start off by getting a notebook that suits your needs.  I purchased a nice Kate Spade notebook for this year’s resolutions to reflect the journey ahead.  I chose this one because it was pretty to look at from the outside.  I liked the simplicity of the notebook.  It was wire-bound (which makes it easy to flip pages) and pretty.

I also bought a Kate Spade agenda mainly for it’s functionality for what I do.  It will allow me to keep track of this year’s resolutions while making it easier to visually see upcoming events, blogging projects, and schedule games for me and the Devils’ photographers and writers (as well as my NY Rangers assignments).

This agenda was perfect for me because it has a blank monthly calendar at the beginning of each month and then a daily lined calendar following it to write in more detailed info.  I’ll get into why this is important in the following points.

Agenda, $36; Notebook, $14.

2. Write out your resolutions.

There are many things you may want to resolve to do this year to improve yourself or your quality of life.  Try to be realistic in those goals.  Write out each resolution in your journal and then use the journal as a diary to see how you are making those resolutions happen.  It’s okay to admit failure.  As you go along, you may find that the resolution is no longer what you want in life.  That’s okay.  But if you find you still want to make that resolution come true, start finding a different way to make it happen.  If at first you don’t succeed…

Here are my 2015 Resolutions:

  • Focus More. So much time is wasted away by focusing on everything else but the main thing.  I plan on focusing more by taking these steps: 1) Deleting all Game Apps from my phone (with the exception of the Mahjongg strategy game that actually helps develop brain functionality).  2) Focus on the task in front of you so that you can complete it without any distractions (that means, if I’m writing, I need to have the TV turned off as well as the phone and any social media applications).  3. Spend down time on the commute reading books, instead of wasting time on mindless activities.
  • Be more in touch with humanity.  One thing that bothers me is being so connected to technology that I fail to connect with actual human beings.  What happened to the written card or letter in the mail?  What about a phone call instead of a text message?  By putting a device between us and the person we are communicating with, we’ve started to lose touch with humanity.  I want to spend this year reconnecting with people.  I’ve lost touch with good friends over the years.  I plan on reconnecting with them next year.  Everyone loves to get a card in the mail.  I’ll be sending more of those out next year.  Maybe I’ll even visit a few friends this year in person.
  • Read 52 books a year (a book a week).  This resolution has fallen to the wayside in the last 2 years.  In 2015, I plan on correcting that.  If I want to read more youth focused books like Percy Jackson, I’ll read it.  But I have to read at least 5 classics this year.  Those take a little longer to read, but youth books are usually easy to breeze through.  I also want to read “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy as my one BIG book to read throughout the year. [2014’s big read was “The Count of Monte Cristo” by Alexandre Dumas.]  I’m also going back to my rewards program for each book completed.  I’ll reward myself a dollar amount according to the book read and how it was acquired (if purchased, 3x cost of book; if borrowed from the library, $50; if a classic, $100.)
  • Buy what you need. Buy what you want only 2x a year.  To combat having more than enough in the house, I want to bring back what was so special about birthdays and Christmases.  Throughout the year, I’ll be making a list of the things I want and only splurging on them for the two occasions (with the exception of the new fall wardrobe in August).  Throughout the year, I’ll only buy what I need (food, etc.).  [Only exception to the wardrobe rule is life changes like: if I lose weight or become pregnant and need to purchase new clothes.]
  • $500 Emergency Every Day Fund.  I want to have an ongoing $500 emergency fund for every day expenses for the ‘just in case’ I forget my lunch and need to dine out, or need to buy a book for an upcoming event, or whatever happens during the daily course of life that I did not budget for that month.  This is more than enough for those items I didn’t see coming.  Basically, this is the miscellaneous budget that needs to be refilled every month, not the big emergency fund.
  • Make a better Christmas.  Throughout the year, I’ll be planning for Xmas 2015.  Since my brother missed Xmas 2014 because he is deployed, 2015 will be bigger and better than ever.  Throughout the year, I’ll be not only shopping for Xmas but creating a better Advent by buying gift cards for those in need.  This year’s Advent will focus mainly on charity.  Throughout the year, I’ll be preparing for that Advent season and Xmas.  And yes, I plan on being overly generous to those in need.
  • Mission 40.  In a couple of years, I’ll be 40.  I told myself in my 20s that I would have an amazing yogalicious body by the time I was 40.  I got this idea after seeing a photo of a 40-year old woman who practiced yoga.  She had the most amazing body I had ever seen.  I wanted to be like that when I grew up: strong, lean and healthy.  So with that dream just 2 years away (did I procrastinate or what?), 2015 and 2016 will be devoted to that dream.  That means living a better, healthier lifestyle dedicated to being a better yogi and athlete.  That means going to the gym 3 times a week and rewarding myself monetarily with each objective (to go towards the birthday/Xmas wish list).  This also means coming up with a realistic weekly plan (using the agenda).  For each week I’ll state a goal on what I would like to accomplish and work towards doing that each week.  The agenda will also be used to track exercise/food/water intake.
  • Build a better blog.  I’ve actually been working on this for the last two months.  A good blogger develops blogging resolutions.  While I’d like to say I’d like to write every single day, some days I have too much to write about and not enough time to write about it.  In other words, blogging every single day is not realistic to me.  But blogging 3x a week may be more realistic for me.  I want to make sure this site and my other two sites have better, qualitative content.  As I evolve, so too will the blogs.  I am trying to keep in mind that this is a “Diary” so I need to focus on making this more about that journey to being a more perfect me.  {That’s why I’m sharing my resolutions}  It’s not limited to just doing something I love like cooking or sharing journeys I’ve come across…this is also about becoming the person I envision myself to be.  She’s not necessarily a perfectionist, but I want to be that perfect person I see that I have the potential to be.  She is not perfect, but she is striving to be a better human being.  So in the next few days you’ll see a new, revamped site.
  • Pay off all bills; save for down payment on new house; generate a million dollars.  Everyone has some sort of financial goal.  Me?  I’ve got the simple, the difficult and the outrageous.  Simple is paying off all bills.  Difficult is saving for that down payment because I am a spender.  Generating a million this next year?  It’s outrageous, but I created a dream board a couple of months ago.  I keep looking at it thinking I must be nuts that I want those things.  But then I keep looking at that house on the beach, the view of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (from an apartment), that yogalicious body, the qualities in life, love and joy that I want and that million dollars in the making and I start to re-evaluate what I want out of life.  It provides me with a mission to pursue the type of life I want.  If you can dream it, only you can say yes or no to it.  I choose to finally say yes to it.  Every dream has its own time.  Try making your own dream board.  You won’t believe how it can truly change your mind about what you think you can have.  It opens your mind (daily) to the possibility that those things you dream about can become yours.

 3. Keep track of your resolutions.

Using the journal, I like to put down all of my ideals on how I can make those resolutions happen.  I set up rules for myself.  Take for instance the 52 books a year resolution.  I have rules set up for how much I can earn money by reading.  That money goes into a “Fantasy Wardrobe” fund.  I usually throw the money I earned from this resolution towards obscene purchases like a Balmain skirt or a YSL bag.  It’s my treat fund.  Since I’m only buying things for my birthday and for Xmas, that is the money I’m using for whatever designer purchase I have my heart set on at that time.

I’m also setting up rules for fulfilling my Mission 40 goals.  It’s better for me to set up monetary rewards than it is for something like a “spa day” or a “manicure” or whatever floats your boat on things you like.  Setting up a reward I want and will appreciate will help me work towards another goal that is more satisfying than a spa day at Bliss.  Who knows, that money earned could go towards a pre-birthday wardrobe (i.e. if I lost weight and dropped a few sizes, I’d need a new wardrobe…that money earned from the Mission 40 goal could go towards that new wardrobe).

I was watching “When the Game Stands Tall” and saw a neat trick the coach had his players perform.  Each week they had to put their goals on an index card and read it out loud to the team.  The first was their training goal.  The next was their practice goal.  The third was their game goal.  They created weekly realistic goals and went out to accomplish each of those goals on a weekly basis.

During my first week for Mission 40, here are the goals I am setting:

1. Go to the gym 3x a week (1 day can be for golf if too sore).

2. Do 100 sit-ups; 75 push ups daily.

3. Do yoga 2x a week.

4. Eat less carbs, more fruits/vegetables, drink more water.

5. Monitor, journal all food/exercise/water.

6. Walk 10,000 steps daily.

While this may look like too much in that first week, let’s look at this realistically…

The main challenge is #1…getting to the gym.  My gym is Chelsea Piers.  A number of conditions can crop up in January like polar vortexes or snow storms.  Those two things could prevent me from getting to the gym.  There are a number of excuses I can come up with on why I can’t go to the gym…but if I make it a goal that week, I have to see to it.  Maybe that first week I can get there once, what’s the back up?  It’s actually everything else you see there.

Doing #2 and #6 daily…that’s still exercise I can do at home or at the office.  I can go outside and walk around my neighborhood (unless there’s a major storm).  In midtown NYC, I can walk underground.  There are ways to stay out of the elements during the week that can net me 10,000 steps a day.

Doing #3 is actually simple for me in the AM.  I just pop in the Yoga for Abs DVD and roll around in bed doing the moves (because the floor is too hard on my back).

The rest is about diet and journaling my food intake and activity.

For each weekly goal that was not accomplished, I have to re-evaluate at the end of the week what I need to change.  If I can’t get to the gym 3x that week, but could make it 1x, then the next week, I will try to match that and get there 1x, but I’ll also try for 2x…and then work my way up to 3x or more.  During the hockey season, more than 3x is unrealistic for me.  But 1-2x is realistic.

Sometimes we set our sights too high and when it doesn’t work out we quit.  Instead, after each week, re-evaluate the goal and change it into a weekly goal that is realistic for you.  You’ll find that the more you work at that goal, the more you’re ready to take the next step towards a bigger goal for yourself.  It takes baby steps to making a resolution work.  Just remember that.  Baby steps to the finish line, not leaps and bounds and then you’re magically there.  It takes a lot of work to make a dream happen.  Anyone that tells you otherwise is lying to you.

Notice I didn’t put “Yoga class” for that first week.  Taking classes takes a lot of courage.  I find that trying to just get myself into shape at the gym, doing some yoga at home, and then working up my self-esteem towards taking a class…like I said, everything takes baby steps.

What you mark out as those baby steps you write down in your journal.  This is where you find your confidence to take the next step in your journey.  Resolutions are really a journey in changing yourself.  You have to look at it as that, or don’t bother making one.

Use your agenda to map out your weekly goals.  This is a way for you to keep track of your daily progress.  Log your feelings, emotions, triumphs, etc. in your journal, as well as your ideas to better yourself and your resolution.  I highly recommend that Kate Spade agenda because it puts your daily/weekly/monthly agendas all in one place.  If you’re like me, you need to see what is going on monthly, but you also do most of the detailed daily stuff in the weekly agenda.  This agenda puts both types of calendars in 1 spot.

Keep in mind that you’re not going to achieve every goal on a weekly basis.  It doesn’t mean you are a failure.  It just means you need to re-evaluate your game plan.  The only way you will find success is in doing what works for you, not what works against you.  So don’t beat yourself up if you didn’t accomplish your goal that week.  Just do better the following week by re-evaluating how you can make the goal work for you. Do you need to take a step back?  Do you need to push yourself more?  Whatever it is, come up with a new game plan if the current week’s game plan didn’t turn out the way you hoped it would.  If you accomplished all of your goals that week, reward yourself.  Don’t reward yourself with something that will work against what you’re working so hard to accomplish (i.e. if you’re trying to lose weight, don’t reward yourself with an ice cream cone).

Reward yourself to a small reward like a manicure, or a new book, or do like I do…pay yourself for accomplishing your goal and save that money up for some luxury purchase you’ve been dreaming about (like a trip to South America).  At least with the monetary goal, you’re using that reward towards another goal/dream in life.  Out of all of the years I’ve instituted a rewards program for achieving my goals, only the monetary reward worked.  As you’re working towards your goal, you can see moneywise how well you are doing by how much money you’ve earned along the journey.

4. Enjoy the ride.

Resolutions are not always a solo journey.  You meet a lot of people along the way when you are working towards achieving a dream.

My 52 books a year, netted me a book club where we can discuss books together.

Mission 40, I meet new people at the gym or at the golf range all of the time.

Making a better Christmas, part of that is meeting people and knowing what their story is.  My plan is to give out $200 gift cards to people I know personally that are in need and could use $200 at Xmas time.  It means visiting the food pantries.  It means talking to a random homeless person and understanding why they are where they are today.  It means reconnecting with the world instead of judging them because of where they found themselves in life.

This Christmas, I found myself overflowing with very expensive gifts.  I had over $520 in gift cards to spend at Target.  I love Target, but I hate shopping there because every time I go, there’s always some family I run into that has only a few dollars to spend on food or no money to spend on a toy a child wants.  They take a look at my overflowing cart and they look away ashamed that they are so poor, while I’m overflowing.

My friend told me today not to be ashamed of that cart.  My heart breaks for those families, but it’s not like I’ve never shared the wealth.  She told me to look at how overly generous I’ve been with so many other families.  Those kids in shelters (and the foster system) that asked for extravagant gifts for Xmas this year, I bought them everything but the Xbox and the bike (I can’t ship the bike and the Xbox…for obvious reasons).  I felt so bad about the bike that I sent her a collapsible scooter instead, because that was easier to ship.  There are so many families I helped over the holiday season that my friend reminded me that I paid it forward well in advance of the holidays and I was overly generous to each and every child.  The universe saw what I did and rewarded me handsomely for it by being overly generous to me during the holidays.

It’s in my character to give.  It’s hard for me to take something for myself without feeling bad about it.  My mother told me I was always like this.  I was always willing to give, but when it came to getting what I wanted, I’d take into account our financial situation and pick the cheapest toy on the shelf, even if I could have the $20 Barbie doll.  I’d stare at that doll longingly, but choose the toy I didn’t want because it was the least expensive item on the shelf.  Even if she said I could have that Barbie doll, I’d profess I didn’t want it and walk away with the other toy.  I’d do this because I take nothing for myself.  When I do, there is a level of guilt there.  It goes along with the Cancerian territory.  It’s a trait of ours.  We give of ourselves freely, but seldom take for ourselves.  When we do, we feel extreme guilt.

That’s me, every single time I shop in Target.  For some reason, while I’m there I always run into one of those families in need.  I watch people complaining about how they can’t afford X, Y and Z bill but walk out with a $60 game or some other frivolous expense.  What it reminds me of is to give freely to those who really are in there with $8 to spend on food for a family of 6, and it also reminds me how to write for people that are still searching for ways to get their lives in order.

That’s what this post is really about in the end.

Moving into 2015…

So as we move into 2015, this site will change.  I’ll keep you posted on my resolutions throughout the year, because this is a diary of a perfectionist wannabe.  I’m keeping the favorite topics you love here.  I’ll be delving into different culinary pastures as we try to keep it in sync with my resolutions.  Yes, I can be a foodie and be on a diet at the same time!  I’ll show you how this year.

I’ll still be doing my arts, entertainment, reading, etc.  Travel…it’s not something I’ve done much of since my surgery.  I’m waiting for my wanderlust to kick back in again (plus, with the latest addition to the family being a little high maintenance, it’s a little difficult to leave him alone because he will trash the house out of anger).  Plus, with saving for a house, spending $10k on travel this year just isn’t on my list of priorities.  I want the house more.

Throughout the year, I’ll also be sharing tips on how I’m decluttering and reorganizing at home.   I’ll also be sharing some financial tips, and sharing with you what I find and what’s working for me.  In other words, this will become an all around lifestyle blog without the sports. 🙂 You’ll have to go to my hockey site for that information.

Looking forward to chatting with all of you in the new year.

xxoo,

Michelle
New Year

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

xmas13This year, I couldn’t wait to get the tree up, so on Thanksgiving Day, while the ham was still roasting in the oven, I put the tree up, decorated it, and began putting together the Advent gifts.

In November, I did all of the Christmas shopping I needed to do.  I was done long before Black Friday hit.

This is the second year I’ve joined in the Frosty’s Friends program.  This program is sponsored by Jersey Cares.  People that sign up get a letter from a child with their Christmas toy wishes.  This year, the kids asked for a lot of expensive gifts from Xboxes to DS2s to bikes, to not 1 Monsters High doll but 5 dolls, plus a Barbie and her car!  I almost had a heart attack when I got the letters because I sponsored five children and they were all demanding really high ticket items including the now sold out Elsa’s Castle from Frozen.

Because I believe that children should have at least one amazing Christmas in their lifetime, I went ahead and bought them what they asked for…except for the Xbox One and the bike.  I can’t ship bikes and the Xbox was out of the question.  He asked for a DS too, so he got that instead.

I know a lot of people say I go above and beyond for these kids, but I believe that every child should have a Christmas, no matter how horrible their circumstances are.  For these kids to be in the Frosty program, it means they wouldn’t have a Christmas if it weren’t for these gifts.

xmas11I will say this, I’m only going to sponsor one child next year.  They are just asking for too much these days.  This year’s gifts topped 4 figures between all 5 kids.  I will say that shopping for all of them the second I got the letters actually helped me to score all of their coveted gifts long before they were sold out, including that now sold out everywhere Elsa Castle.  I just hope the kids get their gifts and love them.

Part of me wishes I was there to see them open up their gifts, just to see their faces light up when they see that Frosty got them what they had been wishing for.  To me, that look of joy and excitement on a child’s face…that’s what makes Christmas a happier day for me.

As for other charitable works this season, I ended up sending a Christmas box for the troops.

My brother is currently deployed, so he’ll be missing Christmas this year.  We usually spend it together.  With him away, that means we’ll both be spending this time without family.

He left Afghanistan a few weeks ago.  I have no idea where he’s stationed now because they’ve been very secretive with each of the locations.  He can’t tell me where he’s stationed until after he’s left each country.

We still stay connected on Skype via text messages.  In those messages, he updates me on what he needs/wants while he’s out serving his country.  His last message to me was that there apparently was no laundry detergent where he’s currently stationed.  He asked me to send him some laundry pods.  It was really fun discussing with the post office lady what was in the box I had to send through customs.  She asked me, “What?  They don’t have laundry detergent in the country he’s stationed in?”

Apparently not, because that was an emergency text he sent me.

The day after I shipped the Tide pods, I shipped out a huge box filled with goodies for him and his squadron.  His only request was Ramen and Sriracha.  He’s a huge gummy lover, so I made sure to fill it up with plenty of candy, too.

xmas8He just by chance mentioned that he didn’t have a bowl for the Ramen, so I ordered a bowl from Crate & Barrel with chopsticks so he could have his Ramen soup.  What’s great is that Dollar Tree was selling all of this food for $1 each. A 5-pack of Ramen is $1.  That beats what you pay at the grocery store these days.

I also found a few Thai microwavable products.  I have no idea what it tastes like, but I’m sure he’s missing some good ole Pad Thai by now.

When I told him I shipped out the boxes and that there was more than enough for him to share with his colleagues, he responded that what I did was a good thing.  I was supporting the troops.

It’s funny how he worded it, because he knows me.  I don’t support war.  I think our troops would be better off protecting us back at home.

This was the first time I’ve ever sent a care package to the troops.  I think I felt more of that Scrooge spirit disappear after I mailed off the box.

xmas6 xmas7 xmas3As for trying to bring the Christmas spirit into my own home, I’ve been opening up a new Advent box every day.

A couple of years ago, I started doing Advent projects.  The first year it was all about connecting to the spirit of Christmas.  I had spent so many years not celebrating the holiday, that I decided to get reacquainted with the true meaning of Christmas.

I made sure to have plenty of Christmaslike activities planned from reading Charles Dickens, “A Christmas Carol,” to watching holiday movies, to learning all about the story of how Santa Claus came into being…that was my first year of Advent.

Last year, I opened up a bag with a new ornament for each day of Advent.

xmas10This year, it’s all about boxes.  Each Advent gift had to be in a box with an activity for the day.  This year, there were a lot of baking moments from cookies to pancakes for dinner.

Tonight, I’m having peppermint hot cocoa while watching a holiday movie.  And yes, when I’m not at a hockey game, I’m watching holiday movies.  On the weekends, ABC Family is on all day as they host their 25 days of Christmas movies.

With my latest addition to the family, Matthew Lucifer, around, I have had to put the tree and presents up on the kitchen table so he he won’t get into them.  He’s super bad.  Here are a few of his outtakes so far this season…

xmas9 xmas5 xmas4 xmas1 xmas2From trying to sneak out with the boxes to the post office, to standing on the charity gifts while I’m wrapping them, to laying on top of the boxes to be shipped out (which happen to be right next to the Christmas stockings), to getting into the decorations, to sitting on the charity presents…he’s been a handful.

That last picture…that gift…he ended up trying to rip open. Trust me, he’s been doing a lot of things he’s not supposed to be doing at Christmas.  He gravitates between the naughty and nice list every single day.  Naughty more times than nice.

This will be our first Christmas together, so I’ve already purchased his itty bitty toys.  I had to give him a new Eeyore, because the other one he had he completely shredded.  I still have to find a new harness for him and a few sweaters.  Although, if worse comes to worse…we may stick to just bow ties because they’re much easier to get on him.  {I learned he is a medium sized dog in clothes.  Small is too small for him. He has a very large chest.}

xmas12All in all, I thought at first I was nuts for putting the tree up on Thanksgiving Day, but it ended up being a smart thing to do.  Ends up Christmas started a little earlier for me this year.  I needed to ship out everyone’s gifts weeks before Christmas.  Thank goodness I finished shopping for everyone back in November.

Since my brother really can’t get any real gifts this Christmas, because he’d have to lug it from country to country for the next however many months, I decided to prepare for a bigger and better Christmas next year since he is missing Christmas this year.

This year is going to be a bit of a dry run.  This is the first year I’ve done a Christmas tree.  I plan on upping the ante for next year, including more incredible gifts than he got last year (because we are making up for a missed Christmas) and prepping the home to make it friendlier for his visits.

My brother is a gamer, so I ordered a new video game system, got a bigger, smarter TV, and now he can’t ask me about why I don’t do Blu Ray.  In other words, this should be a big surprise for him.  The last time I got a new flat screen, he showed up and looked at it and said, “Who got this for you?”  I responded, “I did.”

“I mean…who helped you with this?”

“No one.  I bought it by myself.”

I’m known to play dumb when it comes to technology, that’s why he gets all of my electronics for me.  So doing this without him…I’m hoping he’ll be surprised when he shows up next Christmas.

As for this Christmas, I plan on keeping it low key, opening up gifts and then watching movies at home with some take out Thai food.  Technically, that’s what my brother and I would have done anyway if he was home for Christmas.

I still have the Food Pantry to drop off items to before Christmas so my days of charitable giving are not yet complete.  That means, more shopping to do.

I just want to end this with one last note on giving…for me, I don’t really need presents for myself because I buy what I want when I want it.  I’m never truly in want of anything.  But I realize that God gave me such an amazing life, career, and has taken care of me very well over the years.  I have to share the wealth of what God has given to me.  That means I donate to charities every month (St. Jude’s, Soles for Souls, World Wildlife Foundation and ASPCA).  Once a year, I donate gifts to children in need.  Every season I donate clothes and other items to the Vietnam Veterans of America.  When I do a food order, I order extra items to donate to the food pantry.  It’s an ongoing cycle of giving, because when you give to those who need, the universe returns the favor and provides you with the things you need.  That is why I share the wealth God has given to me.

Giving is not just a one time deal around Christmas, it’s an ongoing thing.  Yes, I am used to donating all of the time.  It’s not a big deal anymore like it was when I first started donating.  It’s part of the life I live.  I know there are people looking for ways to get involved or to be giving during the holidays.  Don’t just think of donating one time a year, do it all of the time.  You’ll find that when you share your wealth with those who need help like children with cancer, animals that need protecting, or families that are hungry, you’ll find that your wealth ultimately grows substantially.

Every great financial adviser in the world will tell you that (and if they don’t, find a new one).  It’s probably the smartest thing you could ever invest in…helping others.  I go above and beyond because that’s what my heart demands.  It has nothing to do with growing my own money.  It’s just what my heart tells me to do.  When you follow your heart, that is what makes this life worth living, because our universe becomes a much more magical place on this journey we are on when we give back.

If you are constantly depleting the bank account of good fortune in life, you’ll end up using it all.  You have to constantly keep making good karmic deposits into that bank account if you want to continue living an incredible life.  It’s just the way it works.

This may be my only post this month, because I’m working on upgrading this site for 2015 and working on new and improved content.  I want to wish each and every one of you a Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!  Many, many blessings to you and your loved ones.

xxoo,

Michelle

Giving Thanks C-Z

The days just start to get away with you and before you know it…the holiday is already here, so I’m going to put together the rest of my list…

Giving Thanks from C to Z….

C- Charlie.  Little brothers, no matter where in the world they are, are always important.  Charlie is deployed overseas right now.  He just left Afghanistan.  Who knows where he is now.  I am thankful I’ve had such a supportive brother.  He’s stood by my side through thick and thin because he believes in me.  I’m thankful for him.  {A little sneak peek into next month’s feature…I’m putting together his military Xmas package.}

D- Dorothy.  She’s one of my closest friends.  One thing she said to me that left a strong impact on me was: “Your family is not normal.”  When she said that, I had to take a step back and look at my family from outside of the box.  She’s right.  This family is completely dysfunctional, so why do I even care if I don’t agree with the values they are choosing to embrace?  She introduced me to her family & made me a part of it.  From them, I’ve learned what it means to be a family.  Before her mother died, her mother was teaching me how to raise children.  I’ll never forget her for that.  I’m just thankful Dorothy came into my life when she did.  She showed up when I needed someone like her the most.  She showed me what a family was.

E- Ethel.  She’s a new friend, but she is constantly making me think of ways to be more creative.  Whether it’s a DIY project or a home cooked meal, we are constantly looking for ways to make our projects more amazing.  It helps that she’s a foodie just like me.  It makes for a lot of interesting conversations.

F- Friends.  I’ve been blessed with some great friends.  They’ve made me part of their families. They’ve taught me many things about love, laughter, friendship and families.  At this age, it’s about going through life together.

G- God.  Through him all things are possible.  He’s a father.  He’s a best friend.  He’s a companion.  He’s the best thing that ever happened to me.

Mads MikkelsenH- Hannibal.  If it weren’t for the TV show, this site would probably not exist.  Hannibal awakened my fascination into the beauty of perfectionism.  There is something to learning more about culture, music and becoming a culinary artist.  These days I can pick out a classical tune in 3 notes thanks to the world of Dr. Hannibal Lecter.  Of all the things this man does, it’s the perfectionist in him that draws me in.

I- Inside Hockey.  I’ve been with IH for 7 years now.  They weren’t the first publication I wrote for, but they were the first to push me into the press box.  That moment made me go down in the NHL history books as the first 100% internet based website to be credentialed into the NHL.  IH has given me so many amazing opportunities over the years.  For the first few years, I was the one that was traveling all over the world to cover the game.  Now, I’m trying to focus on less, but more qualitative work.  I have a team of people I work with now.  Before, it was just me.  Now, instead of covering every single game, I’m focusing on just feature stories, which ironically requires much more work and research.  It’s harder work, but it’s more of who I am now.

I’m also thankful for Itty Bittys.  They’re Matthew’s favorite toy.  Instead of chewing on me at 3AM, I hand him his Itty Bitty and he starts chomping away.  My hands thank whoever makes Itty Bittys.

J- Joseph Delaney.  If there is one name that is repeated again and again on my books I’ve read this year list, it’s Joseph Delaney.  His Spook series (“The Last Apprentice”) has kept me entertained all year long.  I’ve read every single one of his books.  I just can’t get enough.

K- KitchenAid Mixer.  Who knew that this old school mixer would not just be the most beautiful thing in my kitchen but also the most important appliance?

L- Love.  There is no greater thing in the universe.  When you love and feel loved, it is everything.

matthew2M- Matthew Lucifer.  The latest edition to my family may be the cutest little guy on the face of the earth, but he can also be Lucifer himself reincarnated into a cat.  Either way, as much money as this Maine Coon has cost me over the last 3 months, he has been worth every single penny.  He’s learning to tame his Lucifer side as the days go by.  He has been a little godsend because he makes me laugh.  He’s still a little kid inside, and that’s what makes him so much fun.

N- New York City. God, I love this place.  I have enjoyed every single second here.  NYC is not a place I regret.  It’s a place I fall in love with every single day.

O- Oprah.  While this may be funny to some, Oprah (and her magazine “O”) has really made me think a lot about life.  She puts out there thoughts to consider on how to live your best life possible.  She’s found the secret to happiness and she’s trying to help the world discover it for themselves.  While I know what that secret is, I’ve learned that there is so much more to learn and understand.  Life is more fulfilling when you realize what the secret to happiness is and how to make it grow.  Oprah is constantly pointing us in that direction.  I always love hearing from the people she’s found.  Knowledge is a wonderful thing.  I’m thankful for the knowledge she is sharing with all of us.

P- Pinterest.  Pinterest is a wonderful place.  It’s filled with so many ideas, so much food, and it pushes me in the direction of discovering a new blogger that I may enjoy.  I love sharing pins with friends and even trying out a few pins here and there.  It’s become my filing system for recipes galore.  Gotta love it.

Q- Queens.  You either love it or you hate it.  Queens hosts Flushing, NY, my favorite Chinatown.  I hate going there because people are so rude, but it has what I need and the food there is AMAZING.  The food outweighs the bad behavior.

R- Red Basil. This is my favorite Thai restaurant.  What makes me love the restaurant so much is that the food tastes just like Mom’s home cooking.  But it’s not just the food there, it’s the people.

S- Surita.  My other cat in my life.  She’s been with me for 14 years.  She is the one that loves me most.  I can’t imagine going to bed without her by my side.  Sure, she’s been mad at me for bringing home a Maine Coon, but I think she likes him.  She just doesn’t like to share me.  She’s still boss.  She never let’s any of us forget that.

T- Todd English’s Ca Va. This is my favorite restaurant in all of NYC.  They make food the way I love food…with flavors that just burst on your tongue with every single bite you take.  Before my surgery, I was a regular there.  Post-op, not so much because my taste buds weren’t there.  In 2015, I plan on going back to my weekly haunt.  Why?  Because they treat me so well there.  I’m thankful to them for making food just the way I love it.

U- The Universe.  The Universe is a wonderful thing.  When you learn how to tap into what the universe can offer, you’re in for one amazing ride in life.

V- Vinegar.  Vinegar is a wonderful thing.  You can add it to your food when you need something a little tart.  It is your cure all for cleaning in a non-toxic way.  That heat stain on my brand new black table?  Applied vinegar onto it, soaked a towel in vinegar and put it over it (reapplied)…heat stain is gone in a couple of days.  Vinegar is my miracle juice.

W- Willy Wonka.  Everyone has their favorite childhood candies.  Mine come in the form of Willy Wonka.  From Nerds to Laffy Taffy to the good ole pixie sticks.  Willy Wonka has been providing me with my sugar highs for the majority of my life.  Where would I be without him?

X- X-Men.  Because who knew you could look so hot in your mid-40s?  Hugh Jackman’s definition of what he does for his character Wolverine can put anyone’s diet and workout regimen to shame.  That is dedication.  I’m thankful for X-Men for making Hugh Jackman work so hard at being hot.

Y- Yoga.  I’m thankful for yoga because it has helped me in so many ways, including rolling out those aches I get in my lower back.

Z- Zen.  Being ‘zen’ is probably the biggest challenge for everyone on this planet, but it’s a meditative thought process we should all learn to achieve.  Knowledge is power.  Applying those principles to our daily lives is the challenge.  Once it ceases to be a challenge, you are an enlightened being.  I am thankful that there are principles like these out there to help human beings evolve into better human beings.

All in all the thing I’m most thankful for is this amazing life.  I’ve been very fortunate over the years to have a good job, good friends, a dream career, amazing health insurance, more than enough, and an amazing adventure.  It’s the adventure I’m on that I’m most thankful for.  I thank God for giving me the amazing adventure in life every single day.  It’s a charmed life.  It’s not luck.  It’s about being on your path in life.  When you’re on your path in life everything works out more magically than you can ever imagine your life to be.  If you’re not on your path, nothing works out.  I’m just thankful that life, the good and the bad, happened the way it happened.  If it hadn’t, it wouldn’t have made me who I am today.  I’ve enjoyed the ride.

Giving Thanks: B

b

There are a lot of things I can think of this year under the letter B that I’m thankful for.

1. Borbay.  One of my favorite painters based in NYC created Mads as Hannibal for me as part of his Antihero series.  Mads is done.  He’s an expensive Christmas present to myself, so I’m making sure Borbay holds onto it for me so that my new cat (Matthew Lucifer) doesn’t get into the presents and decide to rip it apart before it is hung up on the wall.  I’m really thankful that Borbay suggested doing this painting for me back a few months ago.  It now allows me to own one of his works after admiring his artwork for so many years.

2.  Books.  I love to read.  I love to write, too.  Books have been able to help me understand life as a whole, allowed me to escape into an adventurous story, feel an angel’s kiss on the lips, and dive into the stories of an entire village.  From Cassandra Clare’s books to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s stories to The Count of Monte Cristo to One Hundred Years of Solitude, I’ve grown as a human being because of books.  As the hockey season came underway, I usually never read hockey books, but this season, a bunch of hockey books came out that demanded my attention.  They even allowed me to meet the writers, and even uncover the story of one player’s childhood that had me gasping in disbelief…”If this is what it took for him to make it into the NHL, I feel so sorry for him and heartbroken.”  Those are the stories I read.  One thing I’ve learned by reading and meeting these authors…it makes writing my own book as real as ever as I listen to their pointers and learn what is so great about the stories they’re telling beyond it just being a good book.

3. Bauble Bar.  Bauble Bar is my favorite jeweler.  The majority of my jewelry collection is from this young company.  They’ve grown dramatically since I first discovered them a few years ago.  The famous peacock cuff I purchased from them for the NHL Awards just a few weeks after they launched their site was the cuff that skyrocketed them to stardom.  If you don’t believe me, just ask their staff and owners about that hockey writer and the peacock cuff.  It was that cuff I wore to the NHL Awards that gained them a huge and very loyal following.  This month, American Horror Story: Freak Show’s Emma Roberts is their guest bartender.  I think it’s awesome that they’ve now gone Hollywood.  I highly recommend them if you’re trying to build your jewelry wardrobe.  Their prices are reasonable.  They have sales.  But most of all, their jewelry is qualitative and beautiful.  Check them out.  After all, Christmas is next month.  You’ll not only find fabulous gifts, but you may even find a few things you’ll want for yourself.

*****ETC.*****

This weekend I’ll be cooking up some Thanksgiving meals to share here.  Thanksgiving can be one of the most difficult days of the year to put together a meal.  I’m starting the tradition a little earlier to give you a chance to pick up some ideas on what to make on the big Turkey Day.

One of the key things about making TDay successful is to also have a good enough meal that will allow you to reinvent amazing dishes with the leftovers.  I have one special turkey recipe that without fail turns each dish I create afterward into something any foodie will sing over.  It’s all in the details of how the turkey comes out.

So if you’re a foodie that’s thankful for amazing food…stay tuned.  Details to follow next week!

Giving Thanks: A

From Pinterest.
From Pinterest.

Today, we’re starting off with things to be thankful for starting with the letter A. So let’s get started…

ANGELS

From Pinterest. DesertUSA.com
From Pinterest. DesertUSA.com

Throughout my life I’ve researched the stories of angels.  From cultures in the most remote areas of the world to the folklores each religion tells, they all speak of angels appearing to humanity since the beginning of time.

Each age has spoken of the contributions angels have made to humanity.  From fire to farming to medicine, they have been credited as giving direction to mankind on how to survive.

These days, their roles have evolved even more as they continue to be our saviors…helping us in our most dire need.  It doesn’t matter which religion or background you come from, angels (in their spirit form) seem to still be aiding us and continue to be a large part of our lives and culture.

You can see their mark.  They protect the one doctor at the Boston Marathon just a few yards from the bomb as it goes off.  Why?  So that doctor can help save as many people as possible after the bomb has gone off.  Sure, you could ask why they didn’t just stop the bomb to begin with…in my experience, evil will happen, regardless.  They just find a way where even though the evil act will happen, they need to find the one soul that can contribute the most good during that tragedy.  One angel chose that doctor to help the survivors that day, because at that very moment, that is what the survivors needed more than anything.

While I have yet to see angels stop evil from taking its toll on humanity, I’ve seen them tap the shoulder of certain human beings that will end up helping those who need help the most when the time comes.

One of the first memories I had return to me after I lost so many of them after my surgery last year was the angel of death himself paying me a visit.  While most cower at the thought of that, I view him a little differently.  He’s helped me in so many ways over the years, including forcing me to deal with something that lay hidden within my soul that needed to be dealt with. These are the things you can’t take with you when you die.  If you do, it will keep you out of heaven.

He forced me to deal with the last guy that broke my heart.  I thought I was over it, but his focus was on forgiveness.  Forgiving him for hurting me worse than anyone had ever hurt me before, and forgiving myself for hurting him by leaving.  It was the latter part that was the most difficult…forgiving myself for hurting someone I loved by leaving.

Since our first encounter in Vatican City, I see him a little more frequently and I’m not that scared of him like I used to be.  I understand his role in the grander scheme of the universe.  Death and rebirth is a natural part of the universe.  We see it in the seasons.  Without fail, the leaves fall.  In the spring, they are reborn.  We see the constant wheel of life spin as things die and then the most beautiful things emerge.

I’ve watched in one family as they lost a mother to cancer, a year later a baby arrives.  {In this family’s case, two babies arrived.}  This is the circle of life.  Within loss and great sorrow, new life will emerge and bring joy.

Back to the surgery, one of the last things I remember before the anesthesia took effect was the angel of death visiting me while I was being prepped for surgery.  He told me I didn’t need to worry.  He wasn’t there for me that day.  He was there for someone else down the hall.  He wished me luck and let me know I was going to survive this…for a good reason.

In the few months leading up to the surgery, the doctors told me to prepare for the worst from the second we discovered the tumor.  The worst is death.  I was told to get my house in order because I may not survive this.  I spent those few months preparing myself and everyone for what was to come.  And then Death visited me to tell me I was going to live right before the surgery.  Believe me when I say that a weight of worry had definitely been lifted and at the right time.

When I was in the recovery room dreaming I was floating on a river watching the world go by, I could hear a nurse yelling at me to wake up and breathe.  I wasn’t breathing.  She needed me to concentrate on breathing.  I realized I was dreaming, which meant I was alive, so I opened my eyes to see people around me trying to wake me up.

I started focusing on my breathing to get the machine next to me to shut up.  I laid back and realized that I was floating on that river of life I always see in my meditations, the never-ending sea of God’s love, and I felt drunk on that love.  That’s when I realized that there was a good reason why I was given another chance at life.

The events of what happened last year changed the course of my life.  There’s my life before the surgery, and then there’s life after the surgery.  It’s focusing on that ‘good reason’ that I am shaping my future.

Angels, no matter what their ultimate role is, are here to help us in our journey in life.  I am thankful that they’re always helping us, because God knows, I need a lot of help navigating this adventure.  It’s also nice to see their mark on humanity.  It reminds me every single day that we’re not alone.  We are never alone.

Other A Things…

Other things I’m thankful for…Asian culture and food, apples, Anne Rice, Amy Tan, artichokes, Anthropologie and ART.  And probably a whole hell of a lot more stuff… 😉

It’s Autumn!

I’m going to do things a little differently this month.  While I try to focus on a certain region on this planet, I seem to be lacking the time to do posts and create the delicacies lately.  So I’m going to make this easier upon myself (especially since the new hockey season has begun which means I’m much busier than the summer months).

This month, we’re going to be talking about all things autumn and October.  In other words, I’m going to be sharing with you some of the things I love about this time of year.

FOOD

Matthew Lucifer's autumn pic.
Matthew Lucifer’s autumn pic.

While I was shopping around at the local farmer’s market for mini pumpkins to use to decorate at home, I came across some interesting looking squash varieties and decided to pick them up.  They were called carnival squash and sweet dumpling squash.  While the mini pumpkins can’t be eaten, the carnival and sweet dumpling squash can.

The farmer told me how his wife had made them for him.  He exclaimed that it turned out so good.  Just treat it like a baked potato in the microwave, add butter, salt and pepper.  It tastes a lot like sweet potatoes or butternut squash.

Since this recipe was so simple, I decided to cut them up in half and roast them.  The results…the aroma alone smelled so good I couldn’t wait to dive in.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Meanwhile, cut carnival/sweet dumpling squash in half.

3. Remove the seeds and put to the side.

4. Place squash on baking sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil.  Add salt and pepper, sprinkle grated Romano or Parmesan cheese on top.

5. Bake for 20-30 minutes.  At the 20 minute mark, remove from oven.  Test to see if there are any hard spots left.  If so, return to the oven and bake for another 5-10 minutes until done.

BONUS

If you like roasted pumpkin seeds this time of year, take the seeds you put aside from the squash (you don’t have to remove the guts from the seeds) and place them on a section of the same baking sheet as the squash. Drizzle olive oil over the seeds.  Add salt, pepper and the grated cheese.  You can remove the seeds from the tray at the 20 minute mark when you pull out the squash to test it.

The seeds taste amazing with the squash or with a salad.

Reading Material

During this time of year I like to pick up a gothic classic to read.  Last year, I read Frankenstein and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  In previous years, it was Dracula, Rebecca, The Raven and The Picture of Dorian Gray.

This year, I’ll be reading Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The House of Seven Gables and the works of H.P. Lovecraft.  It’s important to read Hawthorne’s book first, because it is the book that inspired H.P. Lovecraft’s stories.

One of the reasons why I like to choose gothic classics this time of year is because I walk away with a better understanding of myself and the world.  Last year, I read Frankenstein because I was feeling a little bit like Frankenstein after receiving a cut across my neck from a surgery I had just 9 days before Halloween.  Usually you never think much about a cut, but when it appears in places like the neck or the face, it can unsettle you.

They say that reading classical literature will make you smarter.  It is true because you walk away with a greater appreciation and understanding of humanity and yourself.  These stories have survived centuries, not because they were good, but because they had an everlasting effect on your mind and your soul.  These are the stories that made you a different person after you read the tale.

For those who have been watching the series Penny Dreadful, reading these classic horror tales lays the groundwork for the series.  As they weave together the stories of Dr. Frankenstein, Dorian Gray, Dracula, and even the tales of Jack the Ripper, you begin to understand what is happening…and what to expect next.  As many hockey fans were watching the series this summer, I was surprised at how many had never read any of these gothic classics.  These classics were genius.  Hollywood leaves out the stuff that leaves you the smarter person…they leave that for the book itself.

People didn’t understand how I knew what was going to happen in Frankenstein’s part of the story.  Did I read a spoiler?  I sure did.  I read the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.  After I read the book, I had to ask myself why I hadn’t read it earlier on in life.  It was brilliant.  But I guess like all things in life…everything has a time and a purpose.

{Other books I’m reading this month are: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Book Club Choice), Boy On Ice: The Life and Death of Derek Boogaard by John Branch (hockey research), and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (New Year’s Resolution).}

The Things That Make You Fall In Love With Autumn

For me, autumn begins in August.  Why August?  Because when I was a kid, that’s when we would get ready for the end of summer and the start of school.  School began 2-3 weeks earlier than they do out in the East.  We were usually in school by the second week of August (which meant we got out in May).

I could tell myself all summer long that I have more than enough Fall/Winter clothing that I don’t need to buy anything.  But when August finally hits, I get that inkling…I have to go shopping for new clothes and school supplies.

These days, the latter part either goes to charity or to my home office.  I upgrade my electronics, stock up on journals and pens, and prepare for the hockey season in September.

By September, I have a new fall wardrobe, new gadgets in tow, while I’m sitting in a cold ice hockey rink with a pumpkin spiced latte in hand watching training camp.  At the New York Rangers games, I grab a cup of coffee and some M&Ms as I await the start of the game.  In New Jersey Devils territory, it’s Twizzlers and Starburst candies that I share with my press buddies.  I prep the calendar, the credentials and the content for the hockey sites with my team of writers and photographers and we begin our coverage.

By October, my friends and I are planning what cool things to do for Halloween.  It’s not just a day for us.  It’s an entire month.  The decorations go up, both autumnal and Halloween.  The candy and baked sweets come aplenty.  The planning for costumes and parties start to overtake our days.  We start to go through lists of scary flicks to decide what to see.  Top of our list this month is Dracula Untold for our movie club.

By November, we start to consume as many Halloween candies as we can find lurking around the office and home.  We start to plan our Thanksgiving feasts both home and away.  The turkeys are bought. The invitations are out. We try to maintain a peaceful setting at our bountiful tables without World War III breaking out.  Chances are, the latter eventually breaks out at some point during the course of the meal.  By Friday morning, Christmas shopping has been completed (or just starting) and leftovers start to pile up in every meal we consume for the next two weeks.  We start to say goodbye to fall, and welcome in the winter.

September is Mediterranean Month!

Oia, Santorini, Greece (c) Michelle Kenneth
Oia, Santorini, Greece (c) 2009 Michelle Kenneth

We’re switching gears now for the month of September.  This month, we’ll be diving into the Mediterranean culture.  No, we’re not just talking Greek, here.  We’re going to be exploring several countries that surround the Mediterranean Sea.

The countries bordering the sea all lend their own hand in what has developed into the Mediterranean cuisine.  But keep in mind that there are many cultures that sit along the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea.  Each one has its own unique cuisine, but many of them share in the development of various dishes and culture around the Mediterranean.

For instance, couscous (Morocco) finds itself in various cuisines across Spain, Greece, African/Arab countries, and France.  The Moroccan chicken citron tagine can even be found in variations in Greece and Italy.  The point is that no one single country can put a claim to the cuisine of the Mediterranean Sea.  It’s all shared and shared alike.

Lately, the Mediterranean diet has been purported as being the best and healthiest diet out there.  But what exactly is the Mediterranean diet?

 

From Pinterest. Originally from the Cleveland Clinic.
From Pinterest. SOURCE: ClevelandClinic.org

Looks simple enough, right?  The most important part of this diet is how it makes you feel.  Believe me when I say that a simple dish can make you feel lighter and healthier.

Here are a few things I started off with this month: feta and lemon dip, tzatziki, flat bread pizzas and lentil soup.

Feta and Lemon Dip/Flat Bread Pizzas

Feta & Lemon Dip
Feta & Lemon Dip

If you make only one thing this month, let it be this.

This is a very simple recipe to make.  No cooking is involved.  You just throw the ingredients into a blender.  You only need five ingredients to make it: a lemon (you’ll use the peel and the juice), olive oil, 7 oz. of feta cheese, 1 garlic clove, and red pepper flakes.

What’s great about this dip is that it’s good as a dip for crudites and crackers, but also good as a base for flat bread pizzas.  Did I mention how good this was?  [It was soooo good.]

Flat bread pizzas are a wonder in itself.  You can use so many different toppings from hummus to fresh veggies, artichoke hearts, olives, etc.  You can also use flat bread or pita bread for the crust.  It also makes for a light version of pizza on a weeknight when you just need to throw something together.  You can microwave it, bake it, or just eat it cold.  You can come up with a variety of ways to create your own flat bread pizza using ingredients popular in the Mediterranean.

Try these on for size:

Mediterranean Tacos

Mediterranean Hummus Pizza

Mediterranean Vegetable Flat bread with Goat’s Cheese

[Photo: West Elm textured dipping bowl, salad plate from Marshall’s]

Tzatziki Sauce

Tzatziki Sauce.
Tzatziki Sauce.

Another staple I like to make is Tzatziki sauce.  I am a bit of a cheat when it comes to this, because I have all of the spices pre-mixed.  Granted, this was the spice I picked up while I was in Santorini, Greece a few years ago.  It was the best thing I brought back with me (besides the honey).

But since I don’t expect you to have this special batch of ingredients direct from Greece, here’s how you make it from scratch.

I forgot to add the dill when I made my batch, but it turned out just as good, dipped with flat bread.  It really made for a nice afternoon snack.  I was going to save some for a Greek sandwich, but it didn’t make it that far because it was just so good.

What else can you do with Tzatziki sauce?  Serve it up on a lamb burger, on the side of a grilled chicken dish, use as a marinade for kebabs, or use it in chicken salad (instead of mayo)…I mean the list goes on and on.

What makes this such a great, healthy condiment is that it uses fresh cucumber, dill, lemon, garlic and Greek yogurt…all ingredients that are healthy for you.  So skip the barbecue sauce, mayonnaise and ketchup and try this on for size.  It will definitely add a zing to your meal.

[PHOTO: Japanese dipping bowl was a gift, salad plate from Marshall’s]

Lentil Soup

Another base to the Mediterranean diet are lentils.  You can find a variety of ways to prepare lentils from one country to the next.  I made this Halal recipe of Mediterranean lentil soup in the crock pot over the weekend.  In her recipe, everything is stove top, requiring you to soak the beans overnight.  If you don’t have the patience, just make the soup in a crock pot.

In order to do this, the only thing I did on the stove was sauté the garlic and onions with olive oil.  Everything else, I put into the crock pot.  After the onions/garlic were ready, I added them into the crock pot, stirred, put the crock pot on high and left it alone, occasionally stirring the batch once an hour.

On high, it can take 4-5 hours to cook.  If you set it on low, it will take 6-8 hours to cook.  You can set it depending on your schedule and when you want it to be done.

After four and a half hours, my soup was ready.  I served up a bowl with some bread on the side.  It was definitely good.

Since the beans soak up the majority of the liquid, you’ll need to add water (or broth) if you want to continue to eat it as a soup during the week.  Or don’t add water and use it as a side dish.

What I like about this Halal recipe is that it is very flavorful, and not boring at all (like beans usually are).  If you’ve never tried a Halal recipe, you are missing out.  Halal food is very flavorful and is always pleasing to the tongue.

***

So that’s it for this past weekend’s recipes.  These recipes are what I started with as a base for the week as I continue to make Mediterranean recipes throughout the month.  What I like is that everything is fresh, simple and easy to make.  The food is also rich with flavor, and always feels light, and not heavy.

This month, I’ll also have a few guest contributions as we make our way through the countries of the Mediterranean.  These guests have been dying to share their recipes and knowledge since I told them I was going to do a Mediterranean month. Of course, they’ve known about this since June!

 

August: Use What You Have

This month as I try to get control over the chaos around me, I decided to take a one month break from sharing the things I’ve learned about a certain country or culture.  Instead, for the month of August, we’ll be going through the motions of organization, decluttering, and the concept of ‘using what you have.’  Basically, these are all tips anyone can use.  I know both men and women read this site, so this month still applies to EVERYONE.

This month is not turning into a hobby homemaker month.  There will still be food, book, art, chaos, photos…I did say CHAOS, right?  This site is called the Perfectionist Wannabe, so I’ll be taking you through the element of learning how to get control of your chaos at home with your things, focusing on the food in your kitchen and working with what you have and using it before going shopping, decluttering and donating the things you don’t need anymore so you can get your over-consumerized life under control.

The good news is that September is going to be Mediterranean month.  I will let you in on that secret.

As far as cooking and recipes, this month means I’ll be sharing a few NEW recipes based on the items that I have in my refrigerator, freezer and pantry.  There is an exception to the ‘using what you have’ rule this month.  Those exceptions are dairy products (almond milk, eggs, butter), meat and fresh fruits/vegetables.

I’m going to start the month off by sharing what I did yesterday.

Organizing the Chaos, Part One

For those who have a collection of scarves, neckties, or fabrics (for the crafters), I found a solution for getting these items under control.  I was searching ‘scarves organization’ on Pinterest trying to get a general ideal of how I wanted things to be organized.  Many wanted to display their scarves.  An ongoing theme were shower hooks on a hanger and looping the scarves through.  Some even suggested using trouser hangers to hang scarves.

I didn’t like those ideas.

From Pinterest
From Pinterest

To me, that was too cheap.  I didn’t want a temporary solution I was going to end up hating later.  I wanted a real, genuine solution that I would love for the rest of my life.  Besides putting in an order for a new closet (which almost happened…just so I could organize my scarves), I came across ONE SIMPLE PIN that made me exit out of the website I was getting ready to order a new wardrobe from.

This pin was the ultimate solution.  FOLD THE SCARVES BETTER!  I have a similar piece of furniture at home where the drawers pull out like this picture.

Before, the chaos was in how I was storing the scarves: laying each scarf folded one on top of the other.  I never could find anything.  The scarves would always end up messed up in my mad rush to find something to wear.  The culmination of all of these things made the drawers start to overflow.

I took one look at this photo and had to laugh at myself.  This is how I fold everything else.  Why didn’t I do that with my scarves?  {For the gents: you can do the same with your own winter scarves and ties}

My collection of couture scarves lined up and folded neatly. Pictured: Valentino, Burberry, Salvatore Ferragamo, Gorjana, Tiffany & Co. and Hockey Fights Cancer.
My collection of couture scarves lined up and folded neatly. Pictured: Valentino, Burberry, Salvatore Ferragamo, Gorjana, Tiffany & Co. and Hockey Fights Cancer.

So last night I emptied out the drawers and folded the couture scarves together and put them in one drawer because they are thinner and more delicate.  In the bottom drawer, I put the thicker, warmer scarves together.

What did this process net me?  I saved over $1200 (cost of the new wardrobe addition) and more room for more scarves (which will come in handy when I pull out the winter scarves).

All in all, trying to get control of our chaos at home sometimes only requires approaching how we store things and learning how to store them differently. I literally had no room for scarves prior to folding them and lining them up this way.

What’s also great about folding them this way is that I can now see what I have displayed nicely.  I don’t have to go digging under piles that all of a sudden turn into forgotten pieces.  I pulled at least three Valentino scarves from that pile and had no recollection of owning them because the blues and the yellows were on top.  Now, I can see every single scarf I own without digging through piles.

I literally dreaded the upcoming fall/winter when I’d have to pull out the seasonal scarves to add to the drawers.  Last winter my scarves were all over the place because I didn’t have any room at all.  Now, I do.  Now, I don’t have to force myself to go through and donate a drawer full of scarves.  I use them all.

The bottom drawer for the bigger, thicker and warmer scarves. Still room for more.
The bottom drawer for the bigger, thicker and warmer scarves. Still room for more.

Also, the reason why organizational kings/queens love this folding/organization method is because you can pull what you need and not disrupt the other items next to it.  It’s worked wonders for my basic t-shirts, sweaters, tanks, pj bottoms, under garments, and exercise pants.

If you’re like most people…you probably own about 100 t-shirts, 100 pairs of jeans, or whatever else you can’t get enough of and it lies in complete chaos.  Using this method to fold your clothes actually creates more room to store your ‘collection.’

You’re probably asking…how does one fold?  There’s a Youtube video for that.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS9Pa81vuvo]

While this next one, she uses one of those folding devices…don’t go out and purchase one. It just adds to your clutter. The reason why I’m sharing it is because of how she organizes the shirts in the drawer. Technically, you would take the video above, do exactly the same thing, but fold the shirt in half again to place it in the drawer.

If you display your shirts openly, then you don’t need this next step.  It’s only for those who are storing clothes in a drawer.  You can apply this concept to all clothes you can store in a drawer.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/vRtwq_XZEZM]

So that’s how you fold.

Turning it Into ART

I ordered a Lanvin scarf, which should arrive sometime next week.  I am not going to wear this scarf.  I bought it specifically to display as art.

From Pinterest. BuzzFeed.com.
From Pinterest. BuzzFeed.com.

What I liked about this photo is the concept that you can take a frame and display colorful scarves as artwork.  For those who collect couture scarves, those pieces are literally pieces of artwork.

I’ve been putting together a wall gallery for my home office and my bedroom, so I thought this Lanvin scarf would be a nice little addition to the group that is reflective more of my style.  I considered framing one of the ones I already own, but I wear them all…

If you come across something that you no longer have use for, think of a way you could use it differently.  I’ve seen pictures of couture shopping bags framed as artwork.  Cost was only the picture frames, because the bags come free with purchase.

I’ve used a blanket I picked up in Morocco as a slipcover for my chair.  It’s all about using the things that you have already.  If it’s not serving the purpose you’d like it to serve, find a more unique way to use it.  It doesn’t always have to be exactly the way the product was designed.  You could take a nice rug and hang it up on the wall.  If a pillow doesn’t serve its purpose in one room, it may look better in a different room.

There are a multitude of ways you can re-organize your life a little better.  For me, I got my scarves in order and now I’m happier because of it.  I didn’t need to go and buy a whole new wardrobe unit just to fix this problem.  I just had to do things a little differently.

Many times when we start organizing, we end up running to the store to pick up a multitude of organizational do-hickeys just to get ourselves organized.  I’m going to let you in on a secret…many of those do-hickeys are a temporary solution.  Your goal in organization should be how you can make this a permanent solution.  {We’ll go through the steps on how to tackle your organization in a later post.}

The key with folding things correctly is that it doesn’t matter where you go or what new furniture you may come into during your lifetime, folding your clothes correctly in an organized fashion will stay with you.  You just have to learn how to do it right.

You can apply these folding techniques to just about everything.  For linens…that’s for a later post.

Ciao Bella!

italianWith the beginning of a new month, we are switching topics to Italy and all things Italian.  Of course, one of the things I love most about Italy (beyond its rich and ancient culture) is the food!  Italian food is probably the easiest to prepare and make.  Granted, some of the recipes I found in a recipe book I picked up in Florence, Italy (pictured) have you making the pasta from scratch!  Yeah…like who has time for that?!?!

I have an Italian market at the corner of my block…I can just buy the ingredients!

If you’re like most people, a plate of pasta is complete comfort food!  Believe it or not, nothing says comfort food to me like a plate of spaghetti with meat sauce.  In Italy, I discovered a different way of enjoying spaghetti with meat sauce.  I was introduced to tagliatelle alla bolognese.  It was a different kind of pasta noodle with the meat sauce I loved.  I scoured Florence for the noodles so I could bring them home.  I tried to conserve them as much as I could because I had no idea where I could find them.  Three months after my trip to Italy, an Italian market opened up and they carried every single ingredient I could possibly need in order to make all of the Italian dishes I fell in love with while I was in Italy.  All of the products were direct from Italy, so major score on my part.  {Thank you Roman gods!}

To start off this month’s topic, I made a plate of Spaghetti Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino (simply: spaghetti with garlic, olive oil and red pepper flakes).  It’s a very tasty and easy dish to make.  I don’t think you get any more basic than this dish.

I like to make a huge pot of this dish as a basic meal.  During the week, I’ll add different things to it to complement a dish or make it a little heartier.

For last night’s dinner, I added shaved parmesan, peas and spinach (technically to sneak in some veggies).  It was so delicious!

One thing I learned after I came back from Italy: how to make pasta.  As in, read the directions on the side of the box to see how many minutes you should boil the pasta.  Don’t guess.  Just time it.  I’ve found that the time on the side of the box makes perfect pasta every single time.

As for what’s up for this weekend, I plan on making hamburgers for the 4th of July (something I never make) and then for dinner having a plate of Spaghetti alla puttanesca (another favorite delicious and easy dish to make).  Later this weekend, I’ll hit up the farmer’s market to pick up some eggplant, tomatoes and basil for another very simple recipe that one of the local farmers gave to me (his family recipe for eggplant parmesan).

Also on the menu (and to prep for meals for the week), I’ll be making zuppa toscana, linguine with clams (although, I may have that for dinner on the 4th instead of the puttanesca) and a crockpot version of pasta with ragu.  Recipes will be forthcoming on Monday.

This weekend, I’ll also be sharing pictures from my trek across Italy, as well as little tidbits about each city I visited.  My trek began in Venice and went as far south as Positano and then back up to Milan and Verona.  I have to say I learned a lot of things on this venture.  It became a bit of a spiritual journey, but we won’t be discussing any of that.

So stay tuned for this month’s adventure through the Italian culture.

xxoo,

Michelle

Video Post Format

Caramels pie candy canes croissant cookie soufflé jelly-o pudding unerdwear.com. Chocolate cake cupcake dessert. Tiramisu jelly-o bear claw tart. Chupa chups pudding gummies tiramisu donut pastry gingerbread dragée. Cookie gummies candy fruitcake. Tiramisu macaroon biscuit. Sweet ice cream jelly bonbon gummi bears gummi bears. Dragée sesame snaps sweet roll chocolate bar toffee bonbon unerdwear.com soufflé. Candy dragée fruitcake sweet roll. Jelly beans marzipan dessert powder chocolate bar cake lollipop. Halvah bonbon sweet roll tiramisu muffin. Ice cream tart tart cupcake candy canes cake cotton candy.
Wafer gummies icing chupa chups fruitcake. Chocolate pudding cheesecake gingerbread halvah croissant cheesecake jelly-o. Chupa chups tart tiramisu ice cream. Candy pudding caramels ice cream bear claw applicake pastry pastry soufflé. Liquorice halvah marshmallow carrot cake cupcake marzipan jelly. Caramels muffin powder pie biscuit applicake ice cream. Cookie cheesecake bonbon apple pie oat cake unerdwear.com tootsie roll gingerbread. Sugar plum tiramisu unerdwear.com brownie. Caramels pastry carrot cake danish sweet roll jelly beans pastry bonbon. Unerdwear.com tart caramels halvah croissant croissant toffee. Icing

Hello and Welcome!

Santorini, Greece (c) 2009 Michelle Kenneth
Santorini, Greece (c) 2009 Michelle Kenneth

Generally, a person starting off their first post would do the whole blubbering mess of why they started this blog…blah blah blah.

Instead, I’m just going to welcome you and explain what this site is. This site is designed to explore the great things life has to offer from food, travel, fashion, music, art, and so on.  I called this “The Diary of a Perfectionist Wannabe” as a bit of a reminder of what the TV show Hannibal makes me want to be…a perfectionist.

But since I’m not a psychopathic cannibal, and it’s not truly healthy to work towards being a complete perfectionist, I’m just going to share the things in life I discover that’s worth sharing.

One month, I could be covering the whole French lifestyle.  Another month, it could be completely about art.  Another month, I could write about the best literature pieces that we should all be reading.  All in all, I’m sharing with you a topic that I’ve decided to delve into in order to enrich my life.  In turn, you may find a picture you love, or a story you admire, or a recipe or restaurant you want to try out.  Whatever you find here, it’s designed to also enrich your life.

The whole reason for calling this the Diary of a Perfectionist Wannabe…it’s because I do want to be a perfectionist…it will just never happen, but I’m at least going to try to live a qualitative life: one that is always learning and enriching life for the better.

I hope you’ll enjoy this site.  I look forward to sharing with all of you the things I’ve learned along this journey.

xxoo,
Michelle

(c) 2009 Michelle Kenneth
Santorini (c) 2009 Michelle Kenneth