Even though we were just down for a week, the Mexico trip was so much fun it needs two posts. In Part One there were baby sea turtles and lots of SPF 110 in the hopes of keeping my tattoos colourful- in the second half of our trip we went exploring Puerto Vallarta, I got to have a surprise meet up with one of my favourite people on the planet & our sweet friends got married!

Scroll on… :)

So, I did get a sunburn- and of course it was a second degree burn. I was reading a great book and got carried away! While I was wearing SPF 110 & SPF 60 I ended up getting burned while no one else was affected. I didn’t like not being able to hang out with our new friends from the wedding party on the beach, but in the middle of the trip I had two days of time to nap, rest, read and relax in a gorgeous, soft bed.

During the day there were butterflies and pelicans everywhere, strong coffee and sea breezes, and manta rays that would swim beside you in the waves. At night, music would waft up to the balcony and the ocean would send giant waves crashing up and down the beach- just perfect for falling asleep to.

Evidence of my resting & enjoying myself way too much while doing it!

The resort was right outside of Puerto Vallarta, which has a huge boardwalk stretching along its coast. As soon as I was feeling better I got to take advantage of the short cab ride from town so I could explore the markets.  Along the boardwalk there were huge, amazing sandcastles, colourful shops and vendors with little carts selling candy, toys, and food while the sun set.

This was my first time travelling as a young woman with visible tattoos, and honestly I was a little worried. I’ve been to the Mayan Riviera before, and there was always a lot of shouting at women as everyone walked through the towns and I wasn’t sure if PV would be the same, or how people would react to my tattoos. While I was definitely stared at in town and didn’t see any other women with visible tattoos, people were really incredibly nice. I didn’t hear anyone cat calling tourists and I wasn’t approached by shop owners nearly as much as in my previous trips to Mexico. It was a very pleasant surprise!

Close to the end of the trip I got the chance to see my friend Andrea from Kempt Life. Andrea and I have been friends for years and have always kept in close touch since we found each other’s blogs. I knew that she’d slipped away from Canada and moved to Mexico but I only found out that she was living a half hour from my resort right before I left for Mexico! We made last minute plans and were incredibly lucky to be able to connect- especially without the help of cell phones and 3G internet on my part. After years of stories, laughing & tears- while being on opposite ends of Canada, we got our first full day together… in Mexico. Why not!

We slipped out of the city and back to the resort and caught up over two meals, many drinks, a number of restaurants, a couple of beach chairs… and also over a giant iguana who was sunning himself directly under my chair as we ate lunch!

Honestly, if I’d moved my chair at all it would have been a very bad situation. I don’t know if iguana’s attack, and I’m glad that I didn’t have to find out!

The highlight of the trip – and the whole reason for it – was definitely the wedding. It was a short, sweet ceremony with a really fun reception that even included a dance battle. I couldn’t say enough good things about the wedding party or our friends getting married, but I do wish we could go back and do it all again!

By the end of the trip I was completely relaxed & recharged- and getting a little restless. Being away from reliable Internet access, Freckled Nest & my puppies was a great break but it reminded me how incredible it is to have a life built on all of these small pieces of things that make me so happy. The only way I could have stayed in Mexico and had fun was if I brought everything I have in Winnipeg and moved it there- including the restaurants, our tiny house, my family & friends, and all of it. It was a great feeling to know in my bones that I couldn’t wait to get back to real life!

While I loved the getaway, I’ve taken some lessons from the time away and have started stitching them into my daily life.

Seeing the great group of friends in the wedding party, and spending time with Andrea, reminded me that it’s important to be active in my friendships & to invest and make those connections deep. The time away from e-mail and notifications made me realize that I don’t need my e-mail open all the time to be on top of what’s happening, and helped me see that I’m more effective when I only check in during set times. Having a week away from crafts and handmade made me miss it terribly, and dive into my projects with more enthusiasm. And the week of time with Jesse made me fall in love with him again, in a whole other way, which has to be my favourite part of being married to such a sweet man.

And, of course, being away for the first week of The Bachelor made be realize that I’m a hopeless addict with no shame (or pride!) when it comes to those dopey kids and their crazy rose ceremonies. Send help!

Thanks for reading while I was away, and I’m excited to get back to normal around here with more projects, recipes and hands on ways to take the every day and turn it into a creative, beautiful life :)

Last year Jesse was asked to be the best man for his best friend, who was the best man in our wedding. If you’re feeling brave you can find a mini-recap of our wedding here, but it’s from the very beginning of this blog and I just discovered how to round the edges of photos, so consider yourself warned :)

We were so excited for our friend, and got even ore excited when it was decided that the wedding was in Mexico! I’ve been working long weeks for the past year and couldn’t wait for the getaway. At the start January we slipped into a plane at the crack of dawn – with my SPF 110 carefully packed – and made a break for Puerto Vallarta…

Trip highlights: $2 Coronas at a local bar and new Havaianas- the best sandals ever!

The all inclusive resort that we stayed at was beautiful, and the people in the wedding party and attending the ceremony were so much fun! We all adopted each other and spent time playing in the ocean and lying on the beach (and then lying on the beach some more). There was a great gym at the hotel, though I will say that travelling as a vegetarian hasn’t changed much in the past ten years, it’s still hard to get food that isn’t carbs or cheese! It reminded me to be thankful that North American menus have changed so much as I’ve grown up.

Every morning I would wake up, go to breakfast for French Press coffee, and then read or work while the waves crashed in the background. It was a heavenly change of pace.

One of the highlights of the first days was getting a chance to release baby sea turtles into the ocean! Our hotel’s beach has sea turtles that return to lay eggs every season, and if you’re there at the right time a local conservation group gathers the babies after they hatch, and saves them for a supervised evening release so predators are less likely to get them. Before you handled them, everyone had to coat their hands in sand and they need to crawl along the beach and enter the water on their own so they remember the smell of the sand and return. The most amazing part was holding the baby turtles- they would do a swimming motion in mid-air for a while, and then take a rest by dropping their heads and legs and going completely limp as you held their shell. When they had napped for a little while, they would start up with the swimming motion again! It was the cutest thing.

Watching the baby sea turtles go to the water was so dramatic, the turtles would start moving and then get washed back toward you by the waves- it was hard not to jump in and help! Everyone was cheerleading “their turtle” on, and I even broke the rules and hopped in to flip my turtle over when she was upside down. I got shouted at, and felt like a bit of a hero for helping her out.

There was a big group of fast friends, guacamole served at almost every meal, fresh mint in the mojitos, late nights on the beach, free room service and tiny turtle prints in the sand at night. It’s hard to get better than that!

And in case you’re wondering, yes- of course I managed to get a sun burn ;)

Sesame Kale Salad by fresh 365

I’ve written a lot about food here- I adore cooking and baking and often share my veg friendly recipes, I’ve talked about growing up vegetarian & how my husband isn’t vegetarian, I’ve done a 30 Day Vegan experiment and talked about how you can plan a vegetarian or vegan challenge that you can stick with, and shared how I meal plan.

My problem is with consistency- after a couple of weeks I stop making being active and eating well a priority and I backslide. While I love eating healthy food & being active, I don’t consistently set aside time to prepare great healthy at home or to work out. Well, I’ve turned a corner lately, and wanted to share some of the things that have been working for me!

What I’ve been learning & loving about getting healthier:

- I’ll stick with working out daily when there’s a built in reward- beyond endorphins! When I’ve tried to make working out part of my daily routine in the past, it’s just been an item on my check list but for the past month I’ve been making it the highlight of my morning by bringing my iPad with me and watching episodes of TV shows I’m enjoying and reading blogs. It’s meant that I don’t comment on my favourite blogs as much, but it’s getting me working out so I think it’s a fair trade off.

- It’s easier to eat well if I focus on cooking more than on eating. When I’m focused on eating I spend time making sure that I don’t have things that are bad for me, which means my head is in a place of avoiding & self restraint. Not very exciting! When I focus on cooking great food for myself  and making time for that, I get to be focused on creating and possibility which is much more natural and is something I can look forward to every day.

- I’m more likely to stick with planning meals around eating simple, whole foods instead of around recipes I find online. Trying new recipes is a lot of fun, but because I’m trying to change how I eat & think about food, thinking about vegetables that I want to eat and finding simple ways to prepare them is much more sustainable from day to day.

Other changes that I’ve made over the past month include making sure I eat green, leafy veggies and fruits every day, getting at least 30 mins of cardio daily, giving up coffee & espresso in favor of green tea, reducing the sugar I take in, avoiding foods that are overly carby or starchy, and sticking exclusively with whole grains. The funny thing is that these are ideas that my marathon running, everything organic & vegetarian mom raised my sister and I with but I’m starting to see the value much more now than I did when I was younger.

I’m hoping that by adding daily work outs and overall healthier eating into my life that I can permanently lose some of the weight I’ve gained in the past two years, and that I can figure out a way to manage (or skip!) the energy dips & spikes I have during the day. I can dream, right? :)

Green beans with lemon & feta cheese by Two Peas & Their Pod 

The other day on twitter, I asked what your favourite vegetarian friendly resources were and I got some amazing responses that I couldn’t pass up sharing here. And for the record, I follow all of these lovely ladies and you should too!

Reader Recipe Resources

Do you have Veganomicon??
@Hello_Vanny

Sophie Dahl does lots of veggie recipes, and she has two books out [KR: one & two] and an adorable kitchen. :) xx
@LittleMessyLA

I love VeganDad, great recipes, lots of variety and Canadian win/win/win.
@BuildingBeauty_

The latest whole living magazine has a huge recipe section on raw and vegan eating. Can’t wait to try! And I just made My New Roots chocolate shake. Amazing!
@ourcitylights

Any book by Sarah Kramer and of course isa chandra moskiwitz and blogs vegan stoner, your vegan mom & vegan breakfast. And if you go to findingvegan.com you can search recipes and it takes you to their blogs that how I find all mine
@misslarissabree

I think you know mine! @ohsheglows [blog] and @Mama_Pea ‘s [blog] sites are my fave :)?
@Lisasyarns

Anything by Isa Chandra Moskowitz is amazing. I love the recipes in Vegan with a Vengeance!
@Tiny_Nest

Not sure if anyone recommended her or not but the ‘urban housewife‘ has some great recipes. Also your ‘vegan mom‘ :)
@OreoFairy

Have you ever read @EatingBirdFood blog? [link!] She’s my favorite!
@McCatie

Check out @backtoherroots she has an amazing recipe for Mexican lentil stuffed shells
@threadedbyHL

I love browsing through TasteSpotting.com for recipe ideas!
@KWillll

hipsterfood.tumblr.com / chickpea-magazine.tumblr.com :D
@sewindie

I’ve been having so much fun exploring these resources and adding them to my “Fude” folder where I do all my recipe research, and I hope that they’re useful to you too! I would love to hear about any resources that you swear by, or tips for going from healthy choices to a healthy lifestyle.

All the year in review posts that have been floating around blog-land in the past week have been so fun to read that I couldn’t resist going back and doing one myself! It was a year full of so much feeling, doing and being that it was a bit of a whirlwind- these are a few of my favourite moments…

January

I made a custom day planner for myself & shared templates & a tutorial so you could too

My mom married my step dad! We had a party at our cabin & I photographed the day

February

We revealed our studio’s name to our new neighbourhood, and I couldn’t stop smiling for weeks!

Freckled Nest grew to a team of eight designers & I became a partner- it was so exciting!

… so exciting that I started talking about blog design in my sleep :)

March

Ash & I had an impromptu puppy photoshoot where I made him pose like a dinosaur

April

I posted about how I meal plan for every week (every week that I meal plan, that is!)

I shared my favourite wordpress plugins, including my fave: an editorial calendar (still love it!)

May

I blogged about demystifying “those fashionable girls” & how I was building my wardrobe

I shared progress photos of growing out my pixie cut (with the side of my head shaved) to a bob

June

I gave a video tour of my Diana F+ and talked about using its 35 mm back

I wrote about finding my voice as a blogger & writing my best blog

July

I made no-bake vegan chocolate peanut butter chews that were wildly tasty

I thought about making space for creativity in every day life- even (especially!) if you have a day job

August

Our assistant Amber joined Freckled Nest, and thank goodness for her!

There were pastry stealing dinosaurs in the studio! And I have an animated gif to prove it.

September

I featured my summer blog designs and took a month off blogging… and promptly got bronchitis. Twice!

October

I made miniature doughnuts with caramel ganache & sprinkles- delicious to the point of dangerous.

And I made a crocheted bow headband for myself! It was my favourite accessory for a good long time.

November

I shared a trick for knitting more comfortably by knitting straight in the round

I made amazing cinnamon buns (that I couldn’t stop eating!) and showed off my new ultra-red hair

December

I spent some much needed pre-holiday time with my sweet husband & honed my hockey cheer

And let the world know about my ever-worsening elaborate manicure addiction. Send help! Wait, don’t!

Here’s to 2012! I’m wishing for more adventures, more belly laughs, more tutorials and recipes and more love- even though my heart is bursting at the seams with it these days. Thank you so much for reading,

xo, kr.

Merry Post Christmas! We had a gorgeous Christmas this year, complete with a big family get together in the middle of the snowy prairies and lots of great food. Jesse and I woke up early to exchange stockings and made a delicious (indulgent!) pierogi breakfast, two of my favourite new traditions of ours, and then made our way to our family’s houses when we were feeling ready to get out of our PJ’s.

For the record, on holidays I’m never ready to get out of my PJ’s but I can be tempted by food and promises of champagne.

I had  a great time with the family and in the days since, Jesse and I have been loving catching up on dedicated Us Time and getting into a home bound routine. While we might not be snowed in, it’s been fun pretending with the help of the new Sherlock Holmes, cozy blankets & a stock of tasty teas to dive into.

Between Christmas & New Years is one of my favourite times of year because time seems to loosen up its hold and let everyone just drift until it’s time to celebrate New Years Eve. I’m loving this calm, cozy week, but I can’t wait for New Years to get here! There’s nothing like celebrating what was, along with the possibility of the year to come.

This week has been a big one- I’ve launched three client projects this week (!!) and have been taking time to reflect on the past year and dream about the one to come. I’ve been filling my notebooks with ideas and plans, calculations and dates, and today Leigh-Ann and I are sitting down to look at how the past year went for us and our business.

We’re going through a Creative Review process to make sure that we learn from 2011 and dream even bigger for 2012. Planning is one of my favourite parts of owning a business, and to have all of today dedicated to dreams & plans is my definition of a perfect day. There’s nothing better than camping out and dedicating a day to possibility, while we listen to our favourite music and order in sushi.

Nails: OPI’s Black Onyx, Deborah Lippmann’s Bad Romance (this is the sparkly one!) & Gosh’s Matt Effect

As a little celebration for our creative review day I gave myself  some pretty, new nails, because I’ve been completely obsessed with washi tape manicures lately (why thank you, Pinterest!). They’re half matte black & half “galaxy”- named because of a gorgeous new nail polish I got with all different sizes of purple sparkles. It’s like having my finger tips dipped in a far away galaxy.

Who knows- maybe they’ll inspire me to set expansive goals for next year ;)

I can’t believe that Christmas is right around the corner!  I’ve been planning my last minute gifts that I’ll be picking up locally, and thankfully (miraculously!) everything that I ordered in from Etsy arrived by last week. I’m looking forward to a night of wrapping presents in front of the fireplace channel and/or Breaking Bad, depending on how festive I’m feeling.

I’ve been looking for little ways to infuse this week with more holiday charm, and I thought it would be fun to share some here- from having a cozy PJ robe for Christmas morning (and after new years!) to using simple white candles and star anise as decorations, to painted peanut ornaments and a little sparkle. Most important, I’m making sure that my evenings are free so I don’t too many commitments and can enjoy some quiet, nesting time leading up to the big family dinners that are around the corner. A little reading & wine in a quiet home in the days before everyone gets together strikes the perfect balance for me.

One  DIY Washi Tape Star by Papernstitch at Creature Comforts / Two  Furry Wreath DIY at The Nester / Three  Santa Peanuts at RawBoneStudio / Four  Gingerbread House Tutorial at Not Martha / Five  Ribbon Bow at Lichen and Lychee / Six  Simple Star Anise & White Candle Setting at Hus & Hem via Kelly Ann / Seven  Opal Sparks Pouch at Anthropologie / Eight  Stripped PJ Robe at Top Shop

Do you have any tricks that help you stay balanced at this time of year?

I come from a blended family that gets really along well & we’ve recently decided to get everyone together for the holidays instead of having multiple pieces of our family getting together at different times on the same day. It’s been a lovely change that simplifies the holidays!

Oh hi there! :)

Things have been quiet around here because I’ve been working super hard on getting my current design clients as far along as I can before Christmas & New Years- it’s been a lot of fun, especially because I’ve spent more time talking live with clients than any week before. I’m missing my blog & my sweet friends, though! I’m going to be back on Monday & can’t wait.

How is your December going so far- are you ready for the holidays?

One of the things that I’ve been working on recently is setting aside dedicated time to hang out with Jesse. Owning Freckled Nest is my passion and the work that I do makes me so happy it’s hard to describe- but in day to day life, it’s like my business partner Leigh-Ann and I have a child together who we need to take care of from the moment she wakes up until she goes to sleep. It’s not really possible to balance that with the rest of my life- so instead I try to shape when I work around my life in a way that makes me as happy & energized as possible, and part of that means making sure I have lots of time to catch up with Jesse.

One of the best things for getting me away from the laptop has been going to Winnipeg Jets games this winter. We were lucky to get in on the public sale and split season tickets with friends. I’m not a big sports girl but I love live games, and being season ticket holders has helped me give more evenings to  hanging out with Jesse, along with Jesse’s best friend and his fiance. We’re going to Mexico for their wedding next month, and it’s been to hang out on a weekly basis and as a lead up to the trip!

This week Jesse left for Ontario on work & then returns for a night before heading out on a trip to his best friend’s bachelor party in Vegas, and all last week I was working really hard on launching client projects. We decided to make this weekend a time to catch up, so we spent Friday night on the couch watching our favourite show, chatting and goofing around, went to the hockey game on Saturday and ventured out early on Sunday for a big tasty brunch before his flight left.

With Jesse’s work meaning he has to travel to Ontario more frequently than before it was nice to have dedicated together time in the days before this trip. While I might not travel for my work, because I can work from the studio or home at any time, sometimes without realizing it I can slip into living in the Land of Online which might as well be across the country. When that happens, it’s good to know that simple things like brunch can be the perfect answer for bringing me back to earth.

And it doesn’t hurt that it’s a lovely excuse for yummy weekend meals made by someone else! ;)

This December, I want to savour.

I want to slow down my thoughts so I’m not out of the moment before it’s started, and slow down my pace when I’m at home so I really feel every ounce of sweet moments with my husband or the success of a great work out instead of just rushing to the next thing. I want to be wrapped in the safety of friendship by catching up over wine and the fireplace channel (the best invention ever) and sharing the early morning ritual of warming cold hands on thin cups of hot coffee while car seat warmers (the second best invention ever) heat up before the rest of the car does. I want packages of beautiful things from small businesses all over north america to arrive every day, so I can give pieces of someone’s dream to my friends and family over the holiday. I want to memorize exactly how my puppies wiggle in mid-air when they start jumping as I open the door at the end of a long day.

December can be easy to be swept away in, but for me, taking a moment to savour the little moments that knit everything together can slow down time to a stand still.

They’re beautiful when you can find them – and I hope you do – so I’ll keep an eye out for you between the big stuff :)

Cozy Finds to Assist Your December Savouring: Vintage Crochet Blanket by Rusty Vintage; Chunky Neckwarmer by Pip Robins; Mod Fondue Set by Gallivanting Girls