Lifestyle Archives ~ Running on Caramel

Why You Should Still Make New Year’s Resolutions

Hot take: I still believe in New Year’s resolutions.

I’m sure we’ve all heard it. What’s the point of making a New Year’s resolution? You’re just going to break it a few days in. Because you have a whole year to do it, you’re going to procrastinate. Most people never actually complete them and then end up being upset about it. Why should I bother?

I’m sure we can all agree that 2020 has been quite the year. As a natural planner, this year has been extremely tough for me. It’s hard to plan ANYTHING when you don’t know when things will open up again or when things will go back to “normal” (especially when you like to plan things like half marathons with lots of people and trips to Disneyworld!). Everything seems so up in the air right now.

That being said, we are starting 2021 in a different position than 2020. at the end of 2019 we didn’t realize how much of an impact COVID would have on the world. But now as we near the end of 2020 we do have an idea what at least the beginning of 2021 will be like. And we can only go up from here, right?

Here are some tips on how to make some New Year’s resolutions that you’ll actually stick to this year:

Take the Time to Brainstorm

A crisp white sheet of paper, a new page in your planner and some coloured pens and markers go a long way. Try and sit in a place with lots of natural light, and really think about the things you want to accomplish this year. We now know how are lives are affected by the pandemic, and we can start to plan things accordingly.

Don’t be Vague

Saying “I want to work out more” or “I want to eat less takeout” is asking for trouble. Technically if you don’t work out at all and then you work out once on January 1st, you’ll have completed your resolution. Will that bring you joy? I like to think of my resolutions as goals – so make sure they are S.M.A.R.T (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound). By giving yourself an end-date (which doesn’t have to be December 31), it gives you something to strive for. For example, one of my running goals this year is to run 700 KM before December 31, 2021.

Write Them Down

When I used to study for exams in university, I found that writing my own notes would help me remember more than just reading the text book. Writing down your resolutions makes them real. You are likely to hold yourself more accountable if you write it down because then you can refer back to it later.

Post Them Where You Can See Them

Once you write down your new year’s resolutions, post them somewhere that you can see them every day. By seeing your resolutions in front of you, you are more likely to hold yourself accountable and keep motivated. This year, on top of my resolutions I decided to create an inspiration board and hung it on the wall where I can see it every day!

Tell a Friend

Having someone cheer you on can help you reach your resolutions if you start to lose sight of the end goal. Have them do regular check-ins to see how you’re doing.

I don’t know about you, but I enjoy using the beginning of every week, month and year as an opportunity to start fresh. If I’ve had a bad day, I know that there’s always a new day tomorrow and a good night’s sleep usually helps.

We have to give ourselves some grace, as none of us have been anything like this before. So let’s start 2021 on a positive note, shall we? What are your New Year’s resolutions and goals for 2021? I’d love to hear them!

Stay safe, and happy holidays from my family to yours.

What it’s Really Like to Work from Home with Young Kids

If you would have told me there was going to be a global pandemic in January I probably wouldn’t have believed you.

66 days ago, most of the major sports leagues all decided to suspend play, which directly affected my job. 64 days ago our government opted to close daycares as cases of COVID-19 in our province slowly started to rise. 63 days ago I began the journey of working at home with our two young kids.

While it seems everyone on social media without kids is taking up new hobbies, deep cleaning their houses, and binge-watching everything on Netflix; I’m here looking at my disaster of a house and wondering how the heck I’m going to keep up. I do appreciate all the extra time with my kids, but man I have never been more exhausted!

Let me give you a glimpse into life right now, and what it’s really like to work from home with young kids…

Days are long

My husband and I are fortunate that we both still have jobs. They are allowing us to be flexible to work around our kids which is really great. My first day working from home while my husband was still at the office did not go well. Every time I needed to take a conference call, the kids acted out. My youngest child didn’t nap well and I got nothing done because one or both of them were stuck to me. My husband came home and I cried. I had no idea how I was going to do this!

Letterboard with the words "Parenting during a pandemic kind of means less time to get more done.

We ended up settling on splitting the days in half – one of us work in the mornings and the other works in the afternoon. Then we spend half the day with the kids. The person who’s with the kids in the afternoon decides on dinner for the evening and prepares it. We all eat dinner together and when we put the kids to bed, we both go back to work. It makes for a long day, but we’ve found our groove and it’s working for us!

The house is a constant disaster

My kids literally empty their toy bins every single day. Even though the living room is littered with toys, there seems to be only one that they fight over. When the kids were at daycare, they wasn’t enough time before breakfast or after dinner to make a big mess. After dinner I’d straighten out the house and make the living room look presentable for the next day. Now that everyone is home 24/7, I rarely have the energy to pick up and put everything away. Yes, I know the kids should be putting it away and sometimes they do! But they take so long that sometimes I feel like it’s easier to just do it myself…but then get too tired to actually do it.

It’s harder to find time for self care

In January I wrote a blog post about a working mom’s guide to work/life balance. Since working from home, I have been finding it a little harder to take my own advice! I was very busy at work between January and March, so I didn’t take any vacation days for me. Now that I’m at home, it’s pretty much impossible to get much alone time. I am having trouble figuring out my priorities and deciding what to get done!

Macbook and planner sitting on a bed — There are many times I bring my laptop and planner into bed with the goal of getting some work done but I just don’t have the energy to do it.

On the weekends, my husband and I have started to discuss what we each want to accomplish, and then give each other the time to do so. This has definitely helped!

The kids are acting out more

It must be hard being a kid during this pandemic. You leave daycare on a Friday and don’t go back. There’s no hugging grandma, your friends, or getting to spend time with anyone other than Mom and Dad. You want to play every second of the day but Mom and Dad are exhausted and/or working and may not be able to always give you one on one attention. And you don’t understand why you can’t go to the playground, the swimming pool, or why your last hockey practice was cancelled.

Thankfully our five year old seems to have a basic understanding. Our two year old however definitely doesn’t understand social distancing. The kids are getting a little stir-crazy and there have been more tantrums than normal. It is mentally draining! My husband and I have really had to focus on the fact that they don’t know how to express our emotions like we do. There are times we want to be grumpy too!

Screen time has gone up

I can’t help it, screen time has gone up. My kids rarely get the iPad but the TV is on cartoons all day. Thank goodness our television provider is letting us go over our internet because we’ve been watching a ton of Netflix and Disney+! My 5 year old also gets an hour or so of video games a week which allows my husband to get his work done and me to have an hour here and there in peace and quiet while my two year old naps. At least the kids like some educational shows like Superwhy!

There is a silver lining…

Don’t worry, there are good things that have come out of being at home more often!

We are still following our routine (mostly)

Our 2 year old still (mostly) naps at the same time as he would normally, and the kids are still going to bed around the same time. We let them sleep as long as they want in the mornings, but they are still usually up before 7. We eat all of our meals together and the kids get a snack between meals like they do at daycare.

We’ve come up with some fun new family activities

Every night we have a dance party in my five year old’s room, and we rotate who gets to pick the song. We’ve even created our own dance moves! On Sundays the kids wear pj’s all day, and we’ve had some movie afternoons complete with popcorn! On Easter Sunday, since we couldn’t get together with family we made a fancy dinner and all wore onesies!

We’ve upped our meal planning/meal prepping game

Before the pandemic happened, we had been doing many small grocery shops to grab stuff for dinners. We had a deep freeze full of items that we weren’t taking a look at because dinners were so rushed. Now that we are trying not to go out when we don’t have to, we keep lists on the fridge for all the places we usually shop, and mark down things we need as we need them. We only go to the grocery store when the list gets full. Daily, we now go into the freezer and take out something for dinner and use what we already have in our fridge. Our kids are trying new dinners (which sometimes goes over well and sometimes doesn’t) and it is easier to go longer without going to the grocery store.

Taco night spread with guacamole, veggies, pico di gallo and ground beef — Taco night is always a hit at our house. The kids always eat a ton of tacos!

We love seeing our kids grow

Our two year old’s vocabulary was always pretty good, but we’ve really seen it flourish in the last couple months. The kid talks non-stop! Our five year old is also a pretty smart cookie. He has a fantastic imagination and he’s definitely getting better at negotiating when he wants something…ha!

Of course, this is only my experience and I can’t speak for everyone. In the end, it’s definitely a challenge but there are some positives to take out of the last two months. Spending more time with our kids is a blessing and they make us laugh every day. Not to mention if you asked them if they were having fun with Mom and Dad, I think they’d say yes! I give major props to teachers, daycare staff and stay at home parents – you guys are all awesome!

If you know a parent that’s been home with their kids for two months, make sure you check in on them! Or drop off some wine at their door, or come over for a social distanced visit when the kids go to bed. I can almost guarantee you they’ll appreciate it! And maybe try not to mention that you’re bored… 🙂

Have you had to work from home with young kids since the pandemic started? How are you managing? Would love to hear your tips for getting through this! We’re all in this together.

Tips & Tricks on Collecting More Air Miles for that Dream Vacation!

Pinterest photo with the blog title and an airplane flying overhead in the background

I LOVE Travelling! My bank account doesn’t always love it…but I do! I also love travelling for less money, don’t you?

Despite being a nervous flyer, I live to travel. I love exploring other cities almost as much as I love living in Edmonton – and that’s a lot!

Now with two kids, it’s going to start getting more expensive to travel. I definitely still want to keep travelling in the budget! It’s so important for the growing mind, and I want my kids to experience as many different places as they can!

It All Starts with a Goal

Disney medal with running bib from the 2012 Tinkerbell Half Marathon — Medal and race bib from my second ever Disney race – the Tinkerbell Half Marathon in 2012 in Disneyland.

One of my long term running goals is to complete a marathon before I’m 40.

I figured I should pick somewhere fun for the big moment – and I decided on DISNEYWORLD! A trip like this can get a bit costly for a family of four, especially when the Canadian dollar isn’t very strong. This is where Air Miles come into the picture. I posted on my Instagram story that I had over 20,000 points, and got an influx of questions on how I’ve been able to collect that many! I thought I’d share some of my best tips to collect Air Miles and help save for that next vacation!

Sign Up for an Air Miles Card

Obviously, to start collecting Air Miles you need to sign up for the card! You can do this on Airmiles.ca.

Get a Second (or Third) Card

If you have a significant other, make sure to get them a card too under your account. My husband didn’t have an Air Miles card so I ordered him one so we could start collecting to the same account! This way we could start collecting Air Miles faster because we’d both be able to collect on purchases! You may as well order an extra card or two as well. When we were aiming for Onyx status my Mom offered to take a card and helped us collect some Air Miles at the end of the year so we could hit our goal!

Do Your Grocery Shopping at Sobeys or Safeway

This is honestly the biggest reason we’ve been able to collect as many Air Miles as we have. Start being strategic with your grocery shopping and meal planning at the start of each week! We try to plan our big grocery shopping trips on Customer Appreciation Day (20x the Air Miles if you spend at least $50) or Blue Friday (mega Air Miles deals all over the store and a spend $100 get 100 Air Miles coupon is always included in the flyer). If you download the Sobeys App, you also get weekly Air Miles offers loaded onto your card! These aren’t advertised in store, and I believe they use your purchase history as most weeks there are items on there that I buy regularly already! I also suggest monitoring the weekly flyer! There are often “spend $100 get 100 Air Miles” coupons that pop up on weekends!

Apply for an Air Miles Credit Card

I just recently signed up for the BMO World Elite Air Miles Mastercard, and wish I would have done it sooner! 1000 bonus Air Miles when you make your first purchase, the chance to get another 2000 bonus Air Miles in the first few months of having the card, and you earn 1 Air Mile for every $10 you spend! Including the bonuses, I’ve almost earned 4000 Air Miles within the first month!

Airplane flying through the air — An airplane flying over our heads on the beach in St. Maarten.

Use Air Miles Shops to Buy from your Favourite Retailers!

Did you know you can collect Air Miles just by shopping on Amazon? Well, you can! By using Air Miles Shops, you can shop through a special link and collect Air Miles on your purchase, even if the store isn’t somewhere that you would normally collect Air Miles! Some of the shops I frequently use through here are Sephora, Old Navy, the Gap, and Etsy! Air Miles Shops also has promotions throughout the year (Christmas in July, Black Friday, Boxing Day, etc) where you’ll earn 5-20x the points on your favourite stores so keep your eyes open for good deals.

Sign up for Emails

I get it, we all hate being on email lists. I do too, but usually I’m too lazy to unsubscribe and just hit delete instead because of FOMO (fear of missing out). You never want to miss a good deal! Find the partners you shop at most (for us it’s Sobey’s and Shell) and sign up for their Air Miles emails. Scroll through them when you receive them to see if anything catches your eye! They also often send out coupons and good deals with all of their partners.

Check Your Status!

I recently found out that you can book vacations using Air Miles on redtag.ca. When you log into the Air Miles portion of the website, you’ll see your points in the top left corner. Below it will be the equivalent in travel rewards, and it’s a great way to gage where you’re at and figure out how many points you’ll need for your dream vacation!

We still have a ways to go but I’m aiming to get to Disneyworld in January 2021. My goal is to have our flights and accommodations paid for by Air Miles. Will we get there? Only time will tell!

What’s your favourite way to earn travel points? Are there any tips that I’ve missed? Would love to hear your thoughts!

How Having Kids Turned Me into a bit of an Introvert

When you look up the word “introvert” in the Urban Dictionary you find the following line:

An introvert prefers to spend time alone in order to recharge their inner being.

All my life, I’ve never considered myself an introvert. If you ask anyone who knows me they probably wouldn’t consider me one either. I’m very social and I love to talk (probably too much). I love to host, I love to plan parties, and I love to travel. I can’t pinpoint when it happened, but I think it was around the time when my oldest son Kendrick was about 11 months old that I started feeling like I needed more time for me.

In college and university, I was never one to have many down days. I had multiple promotions jobs, did gymnastics, socialized with friends, and went to the bar. Sick days were brutal as I’d get so incredibly bored at home (of course this was way before Netflix was a thing). Even as I got older and started my full time career, I still worked part time at two other places until about six years ago. Then when I quit, I found myself feeling like I was missing something (and the extra cash) so wanting to save up for more travelling I joined Stella & Dot. I guess you could say I liked being busy.

Even now, there is rarely a day where I stay home with the kids during the week. My preschooler is a busy bee who doesn’t nap anymore (except for rare occasions where happen to be driving after a long day) and my busy infant is constantly crawling or cruising around furniture, so we get out of the house at least once a day so we don’t all go stir crazy.

Maybe I’ve Always Been One and Didn’t Know It

I’ve done a little bit of travelling on my own and truth be told, I love it. My first trip on my own was just over 10 years ago when I headed to Seattle for a weekend. I was down in the dumps after a tough break up and still had flight benefits at my old job at the airport, so I planned a little trip to get away from it all. It was awesome! I love being able to wake up when I want, and deciding what I want to do on the fly. Life can be so organized and planned that it’s nice to do something different. I’d explore all day, then pick up food and head back to my hotel before dark and chill out and watch TV. No alarms to set, no expectations, and no concrete plans – it was heaven!

This also might be why I enjoy running so much! Although I don’t mind running with a friend every once and awhile, I mostly enjoy running on my own. I love outdoor running and I hate running on the treadmill. I love exploring my neighbourhood, running in downtown Edmonton, and running races in other cities!

A few months ago I headed to Vancouver for the weekend to run the 2018 Seawheeze Half Marathon. I started reading a book (for the first time in I can’t even remember how long), did some stretching and yoga with a couple hundred other runners. After the race I took a bath, and relaxed in my room watching football. It was glorious!

Love My Alone Time

When I was pregnant with my second son Easton, I found the combination of working full time, being a Mom, being pregnant and trying to fit in a social life was very exhausting. I was feeling very overwhelmed. I am fortunate that my office has a giant lunch room with sunlights and lots of bright, welcoming, white space. Before my second maternity leave I’d spend some of my free lunch hours cozying myself up in one of the booths with my laptop, day-timer, and a ton of coloured pens and markers, doodling, planning, budgeting and making lists. I enjoyed the solitude and the quiet time as well as catching up on the day’s current events with the good ol’ fashioned news on in the background.

When Daddy takes the kids out for a few hours so I can have some “Me Time“, sometimes I just end up sitting on the couch and watching Netflix. I enjoy the peace and quiet of an empty house during the day. I’m not sure what is about solitude, or why it’s been so important for me in the last couple years, but I feel I really need it to recharge once and awhile.

On occasion, I find being more introverted also leads to sometimes being a little anti-social. Sometimes I turn down activities with friends that maybe I wouldn’t have done before kids. I certainly don’t mean to be rude or offensive – I love spending time with my friends and I love hosting them! But sometimes I’d just prefer to be alone.

Sometimes You Need to be a Little Selfish

In the last couple years I’ve become very aware of my mental health. I don’t just want alone time “just because”, I NEED it. I need it to be a better Mom, a better wife, a better friend, a better coworker, and overall a better person. Honestly, a few hours here and there makes a huge difference.

Do you feel this way? What do you do during your alone time?

Would love to hear your thoughts.

I Give My Kid Processed Food Sometimes…and I’ve Made Peace with it.

Let’s be real here. I know what you’re going to say. Processed food is bad for you. Processed food is terrible for kids. There’s no nutritional value. The ingredients list is usually long and sometimes there’s things on there that you can’t pronounce. Please don’t go all sanctamommy on me. Let me explain.

Believe me, I get it. I stayed away from processed food for a really long time when I didn’t have kids. From time to time it till creeps into my dinner plans, and I’ve made peace with it. Toddlers can get picky no matter what you feed them as babies. Mine ate everything when he was just starting out with food, and now it depends on the day (and the colour of fork he has in his hands) to figure out what he’ll eat.

A Little Background

Before I became a parent, I had a bunch of ideas of how I wanted to raise my children. I knew I was going to limit sugar, make as many meals as possible for them, and make sure they tried a variety of foods so he would learn not to be picky.

When my oldest son, Kendrick, was old enough to eat solids, I used my best effort to make most of his foods and I made about 90% of his purees by steaming and blending fresh vegetables and meats. The other 10% of the time was usually when we were out and about and the Baby Gourmet or President’s Choice Squeeze packs were much easier to carry around.

When he was old enough to transition to milk, I bought him the organic version (even though hubby and I drank the normal milk) until he was two. He also didn’t start having juice until around 2, and even then it was a treat, watered down, and limited. He doesn’t eat cake, cookies, ice cream or chocolate (mind you, it helps that he doesn’t like any of those) and we try to limit treats (although he’s been getting a few more since we’ve been potty training). I make a real effort to make and prepare healthy meals for my family. BUT, as much as I try to be sometimes, I’m not SuperMom and I make something easy or grab something on the way home because I just don’t have the energy to cook anything fancy. This doesn’t happen all the time, so I’ve learned to embrace it and do the best I can to still sneak in those vegetables and not have dinner be a lost cause. Here are some of my favourite family food hacks!

Steamed and Chopped Veggies

Frozen vegetables are a parent’s best friend. I do buy fresh when I can but I find if I buy too much in inevitably goes bad before I have time to actually use it. I buy frozen veggie mixes (usually the Asian style or Italian style Sobey’s brand frozen vegetable mixes), steam the veggies in my handy Epicure steamer, and then finely chop them in my Kitchenaid food chopper. Then I add to EVERYTHING! I actually read somewhere that in frozen veggie mixes they only use “perfect” veggies so that optically it looks good when you open the bag, so that makes me happy!

This particular mix is carrots, corn, beans and peas!

Meatballs

Kendrick doesn’t eat a ton of meat but he LOVES meatballs. My favourite thing to add steamed veggies to is actually meatballs! It’s a great way to inject some greens into a toddler favourite! For these particular meatballs I used Epicure’s Meatball & Meatloaf mix (and the recipe on the back of the package) ground turkey, ground Italian sausage and one cup of steamed & chopped mixed vegetables.

Meatballs filled with steamed veggies, ground turkey & ground Italian sausage

Mac & Cheese & Everything

This is the name I give my meal when I make Mac & Cheese, as I never just make it plain. I buy Annie’s Organic Mac & Cheese as it tastes delicious and you can buy it at Costco! My son LOVES broccoli and corn so I tend to add those more often than not. I also add ground beef/turkey/italian sausage sometimes so I can get all the food groups in there! The Epicure Pizza Oven Fries spice is also a favourite to spice things up a bit! I also get these amazing Catelli macaroni noodles that have servings of veggies in them and add an extra cup. Double bonus!

Hamburger Meal (aka Hamburger Helper)

I make my own pasta sauce 95% of the time becauseI refuse to buy store bought sauces with sugar in them (and I can’t understand why you’d put sugar in pasta sauce). Yet, I usually have a box or two of lasagna hamburger meal (Sobey’s brand that’s soy free) in the pantry for the nights where I don’t have the energy to cook. Because I know Hamburger Helper in itself isn’t exactly healthy, I do my best to make it a little more healthy for my family. I use ground turkey or chicken instead of ground beef and I add broccoli or other veggies. It’s also a one pot meal which means less dishes to do when the kids go to bed. Still delicious!

Good Ol’ Pizza

Although this isn’t made at home, sometimes when we’ve needed something quick for dinner we pick up one of Sobey’s in-store made pizzas. They have multiple different kinds and it’s much healthier, cheaper and faster than ordering pizza. They make them in store fresh that day, and they are delicious! Sometimes I’ll raid the fridge and add some extra toppings too!

What I’m Trying To Say Is…

…it’s ok! It’s ok to not make fancy or extremely healthy meals every day. In the long run it will all balance out. What kid hasn’t ever had Hamburger Helper or Kraft Dinner? Sometimes you’ll order pizza. Other times you’ll go to McDonald’s. Everyone will survive.

Speaking of McDonald’s, the first time that Kendrick had McDonald’s I ordered him a McNugget Happy Meal. At that point he wasn’t eating much meat, but he ate all the chicken nuggets! Since then I’ve gone out and bought healthier versions of chicken nuggets and chicken fingers and now it’s one of his favourite meals! Even though chicken nuggets are processed food, at least I know it’s a way to get some chicken in him!

I’ve accepted the fact that sometimes you just need to get something on the table. Parenting is harder some days than others; I’m learning this even more now with an almost three month old at home on top of my toddler. Don’t let the Mom Guilt creep in. Your kid is going to be ok if he has something unhealthy once and awhile. I promise. You’re doing a great job!

I’ll leave you with some food for thought below. Are there any food hacks you’d like to share that work of your family?

Please note this post includes affiliate links. This means if you click through and buy through a link on my page, I may get a small commission.

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