6 Months of Resolutions

One of my oldest and most wonderful friends goes to school across the country from me, in Vancouver to be exact. We even have a three hour time difference. It makes it hard to connect with each other while she's away. We text and ask for life updates, Facebook message and make numerous promises to Skype but let's face it, life isn't always incredibly interesting and sometimes it's hard to think of "what's new" on the spot. It tends to lead to gaps in our communication.

When she came home for Christmas break we had many long chats over coffee, as we usually do. She's a big health nut and we always tend to get back to talking about being healthy and working out. It was January 8th when we were sitting at Starbucks over our last latte together before she had to go back to Vancouver the next afternoon. We talked about our resolutions and what we were missing in our health routine.

Right there and then we decided to do a one month challenge…which eventually turned into six months of challenges. We wanted to focus on parts of our health where we were slipping, while also making sure we did these things by adding some competition. This also gives us something to connect over while we are so far away.

Like all serious resolutions of health, we decided to start the very next day. Not on a Monday, not at the beginning of a new month. If you're gonna start you need to start now or you'll just start putting it off!

Here is Tessa and Taylor's Ultimate Challenge (Just in case the Starbucks napkin and late night penmanship isn't doing it for yah).

Month One: January 9th- February 9th
- No chocolate, candy, chips, lattes or baked good

Month Two: February 9th- March 9th
- Consume 8 glasses of water each day and one serving go veggies

Month Three: March 9th-April 9th
- Workout 3-4 times a week for a minimum of 30 minutes and consume one protein a day

Month Four: April 9th- May 9th
- No fried food or alcohol

Month Five: May 9th-June 9th
- Run at least 10 kilometres each week and do a 10 day juice cleanse

Month Six: June 9th- July 9th
- No candy, chocolate, chips, lattes, baked goods or fried food, workout 3-4 times a week and drink 8 glasses of water per day

Some months are easier than others but each address some issue we have with being healthy. It has been a good way for us to connect! I text her all the time crying about my chocolate detox and I think about her every time I pass up something delicious (usually thoughts like "I'm gonna kick her ass!" haha!) Truthfully though, when I think of all of the bad food I've passed up so far (and I feel like I remember every dang delicious morsel) it feels good. I'm sure I've saved myself a few thousand…or more…calories. Hooray for healthy competition (get it?).

At the end of each month I'll post a recap of what life has been like. If you want to follow along then start tomorrow!

From the desk of:
Taylor Brown
Currently Deprived Chocolate-Lover

Feels Like Home To Me

Over the holidays I really struggled with my life in Toronto. I was working to the point of exhaustion, I was completely stressed out and all I wanted was to be spending time at home with my family. Working retail didn't really allow me that pleasure so it seemed as if there was no end in sight.

The stress caused me to feel deep unhappiness. I felt like I wasn't enjoying my life in Toronto, but instead had saddled myself with a financial burden (my apartment) that I was breaking my neck to maintain. In reality I was working so much more than I actually needed to pay my bills, which isn't a bad thing but it becomes a problem when it takes a toll on your happiness. I was even considering subletting my apartment for the summer.

Since the holidays have passed and life has slowed down I've found my love for my Toronto life again. I treasure my days off here. I love waking up early, making some delicious food, working out, relaxing and just generally doing whatever the heck I want.

I was just at my parents home for a very short visit and arrived back in Toronto this evening and it feels so good. I'm so content now. I love coming home and just spending time in my room alone doing whatever.

Now comes the problem of having my heartstrings pulled in two directions. I love the people I have in my hometown. It's such a comfort being there. At the same time I'm really excited about what Toronto has in store for me. I have so much I want to do here and it finally feels like home. I guess you could say that I'm pretty lucky. Some people never find a place they feel at home. I have two.

From the desk of:
Taylor Brown
Lucky Lady, Bi-City Traveler

Live Creatively

As someone who has always been more into the arts than the sciences…this has always been something I naturally gravitated towards. I love to read, craft, listen to music, and decorate. It's not what everyone likes to spend their time doing but I think it's important.

Living creatively is what keeps life from being so dang drab and boring. Work is work and it's important…but what are you passionate about outside of work? What keeps you sane? Hobbies. They give you something to smile about and enjoy.

Some ways to live creatively:

- Learn to bake or cook
  This is both fun and delicious.
- Read!
  There are so many different books out there and they are great ways to spark your imagination!
- Listen to music.
  There are tons of music-related hobbies. Get a record player and spend your weekends record hunting
  and building your collection. Learn an instrument. Go to shows.
- Take up a craft
  Scrapbook. Learn to knit. Paint. Do anything to create beauty.
- Decorate
  I love to make the space around me beautiful. There are so many different ways to decorate and so
  many different places to find inspiration.

Find something to take you away from the everyday that will make your life more beautiful. Live creatively!

From the desk of:
Taylor Brown
Lover of All Things Beautiful

Putting Yourself Out There

I'm one of those people who talks and talks and talks about the kind of career that they want but when an opportunity comes my way I tend to let it pass me by.

I've decided that this year that will be no more.

One of my New Years Resolutions, if you believe in those kinds of things, was to put myself out there. I was talking to a friend about a girl who had an amazing job. I asked "how the heck did she get that?" And my friend told me "I think she just puts herself out there a lot. I know she was always going all over town to drop off resumes and for interviews."

It's so simple. All you have to do is keep putting yourself out there and eventually you'll find something.

It's like when you see those giveaways and you think that you'll never win them so you don't bother putting your name in the draw…but of course you won't win if you never put your name in.

So I'm making it my mission this year to keep putting myself out there and getting my name in front of people. If I'm not happy with something then I will change it because being happy takes hard work, if it didn't it probably wouldn't be worth it.

From the desk of Taylor Brown
Go-Getter

New Years Eve on a Broke Girls Budget

This past New Years Eve was the cheapest one that I've ever experienced. I spent exactly zero dollars, which I think is pretty impressive.

I'm not going to lie…this was kind of a fluke, but it's a fluke that I'm very happy with.

The week before New Years Eve I did go through the mall searching for a beautifully sequinned dress or a big, glitzy headband or necklace to try to make the night feel special but nothing seemed up to par. I decided instead to use things that I already had and I felt every bit as fancy!

If you want to make it through New Years without breaking the bank follow these commandments:

THOU SHALT NOT BUY A NEW OUTFIT
I wore a dress that my mom bought me as a gift last year, a necklace that I got as a Secret Santa gift in high school and a feather headband that I've had for a few years. It didn't bother me one bit that my outfit had already seen the light of day. I actually felt better that I wasn't going into the New Year wearing something I wish I hadn't bought!

THOU SHALT DRINK WITHIN THEIR BUDGET
All of my alcohol had been given to me as a gift during Christmas so I was able to get through the night without spending a single cent to drink! I find this pretty awesome seeing as I actually had champagne on a beer budget (har dee har har)

THOU SHALT NOT PAY TO GET INTO AN ESTABLISHMENT
We ended up going to a friends house party so we were able to forgo paying cover to get into a bar or club and got to skip the temptation of buying drinks while we were there. I'm personally a fan of house parties over bars or clubs anyways and we were able to see more people we knew and not have to worry about the possibility of not getting in or waiting to get in in the cold.

THOU SHALT TAKE ADVANTAGE OF FREE PUBLIC TRANSPO
The boys wanted to take a cab but we convinced them to take public transportation because it was FREE. It may take longer but you can't argue with that. We also may have gotten a little lost thanks to me but we figured it out eventually! We did end up taking a cab home but the boys offered to pay for that so we made out alright.

Follow these commandments to the best of your ability and next year you can start your year off on the right foot.

Sidenote: these rules may also apply any time you go out.

From the desk of:

Taylor Brown
Champagne Drinker (If It's Free)

Christmas on a Broke Girls Budget

Christmas has to be one of the most expensive holidays. It drives me nuts thinking of all of the things that people waste money on when I think deep down that everyone knows that they would all just rather spend time together than race around a mall for a month.

I didn't let myself stress this year because I knew that I could do everything on a budget and could avoid all of that lousy pre-christmas chaos (I work in the mall so that was enough for me!)

When buying gifts I:
- Tried to go in with other family members to give more bang for our buck
- Always bought all my wrappings at the dollar store
- Baked instead of giving small and meaningless gifts
- Shopped ahead of time so that I could stretch my money out more

My most expensive gift (besides the gift for my parents) was the one I was getting for my boyfriend. The boy definitely didn't need any material gifts and we had talked about seeing a play in Toronto before. The Evil Dead was made into a musical and we had commented before on seeing it. The tickets were pretty expensive ($165.00 for both of us) but I was willing to buy them to get a gift he'd enjoy. When December hit he started stressing about what to get me. He would send me ideas and they usually had price tags I was uncomfortable with for something I didn't really care about. After thinking I approached him with the idea that we should both just buy our own ticket to the musical. We've never been a couple who cares about giving gifts to each other (last year we even decided to forgo the gifts because we were going on vacation) so we decided that instead of wasting our time stressing over gifts every year we should use our money to do something together. I love this idea and suggest it to couples!

Not only was I smart about what I got others, but I was smart about what I asked for.

When asking for gifts I:
- Asked for things I wanted but wouldn't usually spare the cash to buy for myself (like a gift certificate to get a manicure or clothes)
- Asked for things I needed but hated to buy (like laundry detergent and things like that)

All of these little moves left me with a stress-free Christmas. Keep these in mind next year and you can actually enjoy the holiday the way that it should be enjoyed!

And don't worry: I've got a NYE on a Broke Girl's Budget coming soon!

From the desk of:

Taylor Brown
Stress-free Shopper