This week I’ve spent lots of time with tiny animals. I’ve been wrangling, cuddling, bribing & generally annoying my feral little dogs which always involves equal parts eye rolling and laughter. And then…

A ladybug has turned up, awake and a little confused in my craft room at home. Because I’m an over thinker &  an animal lover (and yes, ladybugs count!) my first thought was that unless I put something out for her, this ladybug was going to die a terrible death from dehydration or starvation. Ignoring this would be like letting a ladybug version of the Saw films play out in the room where I knit & drink tea on the weekends! Obviously, I can’t let that happen.

After some online research I found that a water soaked paper towel would let her drink & a rasin soaked in warm water would help her keep up her nutrition. I placed them on a saucer on top of my typewriter by the window she’s been frequenting and very soon she found her way to it…

Baby bunny, needle felted, l… Ainigmati $74.00	Confetti, 100 Red Hearts – M… LBCpaper $2.25	Vintage Rosenthal Selb Handg… NifticVintage $77.00
Hand Knitting Socks Patterns… SockClub $45.00	box Bunny Rabbit linen Oatme… hoganfe $29.98	Embroidery Hoop Art, Sign. &… merriweatherco… $24.00
grey wolf – miniautre felt w… RoyalMint $32.00	white and red fingerless gl… fatoss $18.00	Wool badger, modern natural … needleandfelt $18.00
3″ Bunny Rabbit with Re… AdoraWools $30.00	Miniature Needle Felted Pock… alishaharms $9.00	Mushroom Love Heart Pincushi… FoxtailCreek $24.00
White Glitter Kitties in Flo… wishdaisy $34.00	Heart Magnet Valentines Day … PowersOfLove $3.00	Brass Kittens thewhitepepper $21.50

I’m happy to report that the ladybug has been resting on her new saucer home since yesterday afternoon, and being able to watch her while I’m at my computer has been making my days a lot sweeter. Here’s hoping the weather changes to Spring soon so I can let her outside!

In the mean time, I’m thinking of naming her Beatrice.

This is part of the series A Creative Start To The New Year- read part one here

image: Lo&

I love January & February because I see them as a time when I can set my intentions for the year. I love feeling energized and inspired after a little time off, and taking the time to lay out plans to make sure I’m doing what I can to have an amazing year.

What’s talked about less at this time of year is that it’s also the perfect time to consider the way we think about our goals & plans for the year, and how that can impact our daily life, and what we decide is worth spending time on. So much of the time our concept of goals or plans have an external or “end results” focus. They’re things that we can physically observe or experience and feel rewarded by. Job changes, hair styles, losing weight, travelling- these aren’t negative things, but they’re only one way of thinking about the coming year and how we can spark change for ourselves.

This year I made a point of shifting my focus from the end result focused changes to changes I wanted to make to my experience of the coming year. These are what I call expansive & experience focused goals, because they allow for more room to breathe and flexibility in how you carry them out.

Some of My Experience Focused Goals for 2012:

• Do what I can to have a rested body & positive mind every day
• Strengthen my relationships with my family & friends
• Get my body stronger and explore healthy savoury foods I can make at home
• Spend more time on handmade & cooking
• Add more personality into my home’s decoration
• Make choices that are stress reducers to decrease my experience of GAD
• Give myself unscheduled time in the evening’s and weekend’s

Moving my focus to goals and priorities that are experience focused has made a huge difference in how I think about the coming days & months. Knowing that I’m an over achiever, when I make goals focusing on end results they can quickly change into rigid schedules that aren’t realistic, but that I’ll still feel guilty about not living up to. We’re taught to goal set in this scheduled, To Do list way during school, and while checking items off a list is effective for some things, ultimately our lives are the sum of our everyday experiences. Thinking about the little choices you can make to have more of a fun, authentic and energizing daily experience can have an incredible impact on your overall happiness- but it does takes a little effort to change the way we usually think about what a goal is.

So far, I’ve felt like my effort has been well spent. Switching the focus of my goals to from end results to experiences means that I’m putting value on how I approach and feel during every day, which helps me make choices that are great for me in the long term but that I’ll also benefit from right away. So far that makes it both a stress reliever, and a fun experiment!

1. Think about the end result focused changes that you’ve been wanting to make, and try to see the experience behind it. Is there a feeling that you’d like to have as a result of achieving that goal? Is your end result goal an attempt to schedule in a bigger experience? (e.g. Reading two books a month could be part of a bigger goal to keep learning or to explore the lives of historical figures you’re curious about)

2. Is there a way you can make that experience your goal, and then schedule different ways to achieve it every month? Separating out the feeling you want to get from how you’ll build that into your life means you can work toward your bigger goals in ways that are flexible and grow with you. You’ll still have that item on your To Do list to cross off, but if your new goal is to keep learning and previously you were going to read two books every month, you could listen to an audio book while walking to get your groceries and go to a free lecture at your local university. This flexibility in approach will help make it enjoyable to stick with throughout the year.

3. Schedule a “check in” reminder every one or two months. I’ve found that digital reminders on my smartphone are the best way for me to remember these maintenance tasks without cluttering up my daytime, and scheduling them to reoccur is extremely easy. When my reminder goes off – mine are always on a Sunday afternoon – I’ll take a detour what I’m doing to make a pot of tea and sit down for 15 – 30 minutes to look at my expansive, experience focused goals and schedule fun ways I can meet them every week of the month.

4. Make a reward system you can love! Using a results focused way to motivate yourself is an amazing way to get moving in the short term. If you were trying to blog more projects like I am, for a month you could “earn” a drink from your favourite coffee shop for every week that you posted a project on your blog, and then you could change the motivator after a month or move it to another goal you want to focus in on.

5. Remember that your life is about experiences, not items on a check list. Even though I’ve married myself to my day planner, sometimes I lose track of what I want my experience of daily life to be as my routines and looming deadlines take over my focus. Creating expansive goals that focus on my experience is a monthly reminder to ground myself in how I’m living every day, and to remind myself that adventure and possibility are always waiting for you to invite them in.

For each post in A Creative Start To The New Year I’ve asked a special blogger I love
 to share her thoughts and today’s post features Diana from Our.City.Lights:

Advice & Insight from Diana of Our.City.Lights:

“2011 was a year for recovery and planting roots. After overhauling my life completely from the people I shared my time with to my diet, I’m ready for 2012 to be a year of growth. I don’t have exact goals, but documenting my vegan and sometimes raw diet through Instagram has been a huge step for me. What I put in my body determines my day & sharing the healthy choices I’m making through photography has made sticking with my new habits something I look forward to”

BLOG // INSTAGRAM // GADCHICK

Thanks for sharing Diana, I love how sharing your vegan diet through Instagram
has added another element of something you love to your day & helps you stay motivated :)

Weekly Weak Knees is a round up post of the “currently loving” section in my sidebar, where every day I pop in an image and link to something I lovely that I can’t help but share. It’s a pretty feature that feels like I’m passing notes to friends & reader who check my blog every day, and I hope you enjoy it enough to make it part of your routine!

These are some of my favourite links from past little while, click on the pictures to explore…

Did you find something beautiful online this week?

Share a link with me in the comments!

I have a not-so-secret to share with you: for the first part of this month I’ve been away from the prairies! You might have guessed because my twitter was quiet while I was gone (aside from sharing posts) but earlier this month Jesse and I slipped away down south to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We had an amazing time in the sun and it was the perfect break- and I have so many pictures to share next week!

Mexican embroidered bag Flor… AidaCoronado $148.00	Muertos Skull Rosary with La… ArtistaMuerta $48.00	Peace White vtg Ethnic embro… AidaCoronado $120.00
60s Mexican Dress Hippie Vin… neonthreadsdes… $36.00	Turquoise coral bracelet, be… MoonsafariBead… $108.00	Vintage Mexican Circle Skirt… TaraMiSioux $96.00
patchwork skirt kekebo $68.00	Red Sugar Skull Mug – hand p… FeistyOwlStudi… $19.95	amor y flores vintage chaqui… elizabethpalme… $350.00
VINTAGE mexican poncho. RunWithTheTrib… $65.00	Owl- Embroidered Felt- Mexic… calaverasYcora… $115.00	FIRE FOR LUNA block print wr… theroyal $75.00
Mexican Blanket Poncho Vinta… sopasse $40.00	Santuario Chimayo Shrine – V… quixole $25.00	Mexican VVARRIORHOOD cloak w… HAWKandBIRCH $75.00

Hurry back on Monday to see the sights with me, okay?

Jordan Clarke is “A mish-mash of artist, illustrator and designer. Fascinated by all things dark, whimsical and vintage her work is characterized by a collision of Victorian vignettes, rockabilly pin-ups, religious iconography, tattooing, 20th century circus and fairground lore, and a slight obsession with El Dia De Los Muertos.”  and  I love her modern, mixed media take on tarot cards.

I’ve had one (sadly underwhelming) tarot card reading but I love the idea that there’s meaning and hidden symbols in every day life, just waiting to be uncovered. No matter what you think about tarot, I think that any deck of cards would be improved if it was designed by Jordan, don’t you?

A few weeks ago I posted about giving myself a washi tape manicure, and I was surprised to hear from readers that when you google that phrase google has no idea what you’re talking about! I’m happy to shed some light…

Nail trends have been fascinating to me this year- there have been amazing ideas from the runway and fashion bloggers making the rounds everywhere I go online. Sometime in the spring the ombre trend jumped off of our clothes and onto our hair and nails- and I stumbled into the parallel universe of girls who blog their nail art.

These are some less traditional, really gorgeous manicures I’ve been admiring recently:

Clockwise: Ombre Nails on Fashionologie, Geninne manicure on Geninne’s Art Blog,
Dot Mani on Kiki9988, Tinsel Mani on Seablanket

One of the ways that you can have a beautiful manicure at home is by painting a base colour, and then using tape to block off areas of your nail and adding a second colour. You have to wait until your first coat is completely & totally dry or the tape will ruin your work, but if you just wait for a while you’ll be set.

You can use normal scotch tape for this too, but I love using washi tape (Japanese masking tape used in paper crafts). Washi tape is available in many widths, including some that are small enough to use for wide stripes in manicures. I love using washi tape because I find that it’s less sticky than the invisible tape I have, which makes for less nail disasters!

How To Do Your Own:

Grab: Two colours of nail polish, top coat, washi tape & scissors (if you’re feeling ambitious & want to cut out shapes from the tape)

1. Paint your nails a base colour, and let the coat dry completely. If your nails are even the least bit wet adding tape will wreck them, so consider yourself warned! Add a piece of washi tape to your nail and press it down firmly, leaving the area that you’ll be painting a second colour exposed.

2. Paint your nails the second colour, up to & over the edge of the washi tape.

3. Pull back the tape immediately, and let your manicure dry before adding a top coat.

Using this as a jumping off point you can easily create lots of different effects, from triangles to stripes and diagonals.

One tip that’s been helpful for me to make sure you have mostly one colour at the tips of your nails so you can easily touch up any chips :)

Weekly Weak Knees is a round up post of the “currently loving” section in my sidebar, where every day I pop in an image and link to something I lovely that I can’t help but share. It’s a pretty feature that feels like I’m passing notes to friends & reader who check my blog every day, and I hope you enjoy it enough to make it part of your routine!

These are some of my favourite links from past little while, click on the pictures to explore…

Did you find something beautiful online this week?

Share a link with me in the comments!

One of my favourite things about the start of the new year is getting inspired and setting intentions- and then turning all my intentions into concrete plans. This year I’m doing all my dreaming and brainstorming this week, so I’ve been up to my elbows in ideas all week- it’s so energizing! Do you have any rituals for starting the year off with inspiration and intention?

Arrow 2012 Pocket Planner by Dozi

2012 Calendar by Linotte
Not a planner, but too beautiful to pass by!

2012 Monthly Planner by Letter C Design

2012 Weekly Planner with Choice of Illustration by Miss Meg Shop

All Year Round Journal by Notbook-Notbuk

This time of year in the Canadian Prairies is usually terribly cold, but we’ve been lucky to have a warm winter so far, and I haven’t had to give up on skirts entirely! My favourite warm(ish) winter accessory is a pair of cozy leg warmers, giant warm socks or printed tights. I love bringing an unexpected pop of colour or pattern into the sea of snow, black coats, grey scarves and black boots that my city can become.

On my tip-toes I’m close… AlexandraWysoc… $25.00	SALE White Tribe leggings QooQooFashion $55.00	1980s Yves Saint Laurent Hee… SpanoVintage $38.00
FLAM LEGS QooQooFashion $60.00	Mini Bow Shoe Clips – Mustar… No144 $20.00	womens wool leggings in inte… sandmaiden $98.00
Womens leggings pants leath… cuteandbroke $69.00	Crochet PATTERN for socks (p… monpetitviolon $3.99	Up-Cycled Black Glitter Peep… raggedandwreck… $50.00
Houndstooth Boot topper sweetlittlelux… $20.00	Black Leather Chain Ankle Cu… jdotdesigns $59.00	Upcycled Recycled Repurposed… Saxiib $22.00
Glow in the Dark Solar Syste… makeitgoodpdx $52.00	Tights / Leggings Extra Long… duende74 $49.00	NEW— Galaxy, gold on grey … galstern $39.00

Do you have a favourite way to keep cute & stay cozy in the winter time?

One of my favourites is to start the day with a bubble bath in our giant claw foot tub. Love!

 I’m in love with the idea of intentionally creating a unique life- hearing the stories of people who are in the process of creating inspired lives for themselves is fascinating, and always a learning experience for me. I’m excited to share those stories here through my Creative Life interviews

Dear Golden Vintage is one of the most exquisitely curated etsy shops & blogs that I know, and its owner, Lauren Naimola, has been an inspiration to me since I started blogging. Her shop is consistent and fresh, and always topped up with the most gorgeous hand picked garments from the 1920s through the 1980s “for modern girls who aspire to stand out from the crowd in the very best way”. In my mind, Lauren is their perfect role model…

Do you remember one of the first vintage pieces that you really fell in love with?

Sadly, I cannot! I have been collecting and wearing vintage since I was 15. So actually the answer might be this 1940s pale pink gabradine wool suit with trapunto detail that I got in high school, I ended up wearing it for my senior pictures and lord knows I won’t be sharing THAT photo with the internet!

How did you become a vintage seller? Did it start by selling your extras finds, or did you have a vision for Dear Golden would look like from the beginning?

I have been going to estate sales for what seems like all my life. I would buy up entire estate lots of vintage, bring the garments home, clean them, mend them, press them and then since I couldn’t fit in all of them I would just give the clothing away to friends. It just made sense to start a business doing such a thing.

What does a normal working day in your life look like?

As anyone who has their own business knows a normal work day isn’t very “normal”, you never really stop working. I get up early, make a nice coffee and basically start working. I check my shop sales, pack orders, and answer emails for the first part of the morning, then I usually list new pieces in the shop. No two days are the same, some days I go out hunting for vintage, some days I spend just cleaning & restoring garments, some days I am shooting photos…

Finding the beautiful pieces that make it into your shop must be a big time commitment! Do you have any tricks that help you balance between everything Dear Golden requires from day to day and having a full, happy personal life?

Since I love what I do so much it really is just part of my life in general, it’s hard work most days, but loving it makes it easier. I am still pretty bad at finding a balance between Dear Golden and my personal life, but I can say I seem to etch out more “free time” as each year passes.

Did you have an ah-ha moment when you knew that working for yourself was right for you?

It sounds trite, but honestly, the day I started doing this is the day I had the ah-ha moment!

Small business owners can sometimes end up spending a lot of time on their own while they’re working- do you have any favourite things to do while you’re working on Dear Golden?

I listen to a lot of music. Usually classical before noon and then jazz later. I can’t do anything that takes too much of my attention away from working so listening music is about the extent of what I do while I wrok.

It must be at least a little difficult to sell so many beautiful things. Are there any pieces you wish you hadn’t sold, or that you could call back for a night on the town?

Or there are so many. I refrain from looking at my sold items just because it’s sometimes heartbreaking. I really wish I had not sold these shoes…oh boy do I wish…

As a result I now probably keep too many pieces, just to be “safe”!

Thanks so much Lauren!

If you’d like to get more of Lauren head over to her blog, visit her gorgeous etsy shop,
follow her on Twitter or see what she’s loving on Pinterest

{images: Dear Golden blog & etsy shop}