Who needs a website? I do! I do! Me too, please!

Last weeked, I visited my friend Anita so I could meet her new baby. She's the one who took the photos at my wedding like the one here (I mean Anita, not the baby).

I'm also working on her new photography website for AnitaZvonar.com.

It's going to be a WordPress site, thank goddess, because frankly that makes it easier for everyone. She gets to update her site without worrying that she's going to wreck something. I get to help her strategize, then set her up with a site and a plan and not think about it again until she decides she's ready to do something new.

I'm cookin'

Cookin' in my kitchen, Jan 2009

Inspired by my friends, Evelyn and Chris, and by the fact that I actually had to increase my bra size this year (due to fat, not due to majikly increased voluptuousness), I've downloaded and signed up for MyFitnessPal.

I'm actually kind of embarassed about it because it's so quintessentially a New Year's Resolution kind of thing to do. When, in fact, it wasn't one of my resolutions (being more active was, I suppose, but this wasn't what I had in mind).

Perhaps I was also motivated by newly-diagnosed reflux condition which should limit my food volume. Honestly, in general, I've been feeling crap and I want to stop feeling like crap. This is just one among a few initiatives I'm undertaking.

Another initiative started with my 2010 list: Cook more.

Something different

Sometimes you need to do things differently

Today I will do something different.

Today I will speak publicly and it kind of terrifies me. I'm not really sure why it terrifies me. Likely because I fear that I will not be as good as I want to be. I want to be the best ever. I want to inspire people. I want to make a difference in someone's life.

So why am I doing it?

The easy answer is that someone asked me to do it. The harder answer is that I secretly wanted to do it. For all those reasons above: I want to make a difference in someone's life. Maybe what really want is to feel special. And being asked to speak did that, all by itself. But now I'm moving on to thinking about the doing. The "what I'll say" part. The "how I'll inspire" aspect. Wondering how I'll be special in my listeners' minds.

But what would happen if I were just special because I was asked in the first place -- or asked because I was already special? Well, then I might just understand that speaking at all will make an impact. Sharing my story with no additional pressure on the outcome will be just exactly right. Because I'm an expert on being me and that's exactly whom they asked to come and speak.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about how my brain works lately. Thinking about how to improve it -- change it so that I can reduce the impact of negative emotions. Be more productive, effective, liked, happy. Be different. Because I've been stuck and I was to change that.

And so I'm committed to doing different things because it's likely that's the only way that I will BE different. And so here I go, trying to remember that this action is as much for ME as it will be for those to whom I'm speaking.

Website update: Implementing a new Blogger template

My first website from February 2002. Aww yeah.

If you read my "2011: The Year in Review" post, you know that I wanted to update my website. Because it's ugly. And I made it in 2002.

Yes, that's right, 10 years ago. It's a wee bit behind the times. (I had a website before that, but while it  used my favourite colour, it wasn't functional. That's it to the right.)

So I was sitting on the couch with my husband and my cat with my computer warming my lap and I thought I'd do some research. If you know me, that's always a bad sign. It never stops there.

2011: The year in review

Cupcake clock at our NYE party

Oh, how time flies.

I could have sworn that I did nothing this year, but upon reflection, I guess there were a few things:

• I got a new boss, a new title and two new employees
• I launched four major projects: The MaRS refresh, MaRS Mobile, Mod Media Makers and the MaRS Commons. A bunch of smaller ones, and another major one ready to launch this month.
• The bathroom renovation was completed (a 3-week project that turned into 6 months)
• We fixed the heating duct that leads up to the bathroom and guest room. By "we" of course I mean my family
• Renovated the master bedroom, moving the closet from one wall to another, changing the layout entirely, finding out the exterior bricks were "melting" and that we had rotten wood and mould. Replaced it all before putting in insulation, drywall, painting, flooring, trimwork and baseboards.

Worlds away

It's been a three weeks.

Funny to think that, this time a few weeks ago, I was floating on the ocean on an inflatable mattress. Gently rocking on the waves. Listening to the splash, the birds, the breeze, my breath.

Today, I'm cozied-up under my wool throw in my window seat with a cup of coffee nestled against my chest, my cat draped across my legs, listening to the wind and rain.

The weeks back at work has my shoulders creeping back up towards my ears. It took me days to relax enough to enjoy the waves crashing on the rocks, salt water cooling down my sun-warmed skin, as I read long-awaited books, stretched out on the sand.

Introducing: The newest addition to our family

If you follow me on any social media (Twitter, Facebook, Google+) you'll know that we've inherited a cat. Murky.

He's come to us from my mother-in-law, who's pretty ill and needs to concentrate on taking care of herself. At first, I thought it would be a short-term fling, but it looks like Murky and I are in for some pretty serious commitment.

We've had our ups and downs. You may know I'm allergic to cats and that my own cat lives with my parents in their farmhouse with their other cat, Harvey. I'd say at some point I've had to acknowledge that he's their cat now. He's happier there.

But what he lacks in the very fact of him being a cat and his catly behavior (shedding, wanting routines, eschewing change, disliking strange smells, including his own litter box, loving food, time on laps, petting, playing string, love from owners in general, and letting you know unequivocally when you're not meeting those needs) he makes up for in cuteness and friendliness.