Tag: New Year’s Resolution

Posted on in inspiration

Top ten happy acts of 2019

Girl walking in fall leaves

Welcome to the final happy act of 2019 where I recap the top happy acts of the year. I’ve come to learn my little blog, where I share a piece of inspiration or something we can all do to be happy each week has also become a chronicle of sorts: of my travels, family life, and of current issues on the minds of Canadians. I hope you still enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it each week. Here’s my top 10 happy acts of 2019.

  1. Take the self-care pledge. If you’re looking for a New Year’s resolution to start off 2020 on the right path, this post may inspire you.
  2. Always look on the bright side of life: a tribute to Monty Python
  3. Living in the country has its charms. One of them is Funny country signs.
  4. Plan a red hot date night. Read about my steamy date with one of the last of the red hot lovers.
  5. Harvest the Grape. One of my favourite days this year was spent picking grapes at a local vineyard. Read about the harvest and what goes into making a truly remarkable vintage.
  6. Already missing the crisp cool days of fall? Check out Autumn ablaze, a photo essay with my favourite photos of eastern Ontario this spectacular fall.
  7. In Screams and curtain calls, guest blogger Ray Dorey shares his experience in local theatre.
  8. In Eat from a Dish with one Spoon, I explored native culture and what we can learn from First Nations people.
  9. A discovery of an old box of newspaper clippings of my Dad’s led to this photo essay and tribute to Toronto the good in photos, a must read if you live in the GTA.
  10. If there was one issue that galvanized the world in unity and action in 2019, it was climate change. In #FridaysforFuture and Lessons from Frome, learn about what one town in England is doing to take action.

There you have it. Thanks for continuing to join me each week in this journey. Here’s to many more happy acts in 2020.

Posted on in humour, inspiration

Top 10 Happy Acts of 2017

Happy New Year, from our family to yours

Got the post-holiday blues? Tired of winter already? Why not brighten your day by revisiting some of the best happy acts from 2017.

To inspire you in 2018

  1. Be a child genius: see what Aldous Huxley and Ron Howard have in common
  2. Always see with your heart: a tribute to a very special dog
  3. Swimming in a fish bowl: My eyes filled with tears reading this post again.

Happiness at work

  1. The rise of incivility in the workplace: fight stress and the impulse to snap back when the pressure is on at work
  2. How to be happier at work: learn three simple things you can do to up your happiness quotient in the workplace

Life on the home front

  1. Eight tips for achieving family life balance: struggling to keep up with your to do list at home? Read this post or watch Bad Moms Christmas.
  2. The most important decision you’ll ever make: a must read if you have kids.
  3. Make friends with fearsome creatures: I was surprised at the vociferous reaction to this post on snakes.

Just for giggles

9. What if your best friend was a robot? 2018 may be the year machines take over the world. We might as well make friends with them.

10. Check out my top predictions for 2017—hey at least I got one call right—my dogs did manage to get off the couch once this year before 11 a.m.

Happy New Year everyone! Here’s to more happy acts and the world being a happier place in 2018.

Posted on in Uncategorized

Take Kid President’s Awesome Year Challenge

 I was researching videos for work last week and watched a bunch of the Kid President videos. I found this one from 2013 I hadn’t seen before, Kid President Awesome Year Challenge.

I know it’s the end of January, so I might be a bit late to the party for New Year’s resolutions, but I’m taking his advice and throwing a “Take the Kid President Awesome Year Challenge” party and inviting all of my readers to make 2016 awesome.

Watch the video and then decide what you’ll do to make 2016 awesome. In the video, Kid President asks, “have you watched the news lately?”, then shakes his head. It’s easy to shake our heads and despair about what’s going on in the world. Or, we could do something about it, even if it is just small things like opening the door for the person behind us, giving someone a hug, or a high five. I mean, that’s what this blog is all about. We need to make the world a happier, more humane place, one happy act at a time.

This week’s #HappyAct is take the 2016 Kid President awesome year challenge and choose three things you will do to make 2016 the most awesome year ever, for you, your family and friends, and one for a complete stranger or the world we live in. I’m going to think about mine and maybe do a bit of research first. After all, I don’t even know if you can send a corn dog in the mail, but I’ll find out.

Posted on in Uncategorized

Become a creature of new habits

nuts-seeds-organicNew Years. A time for fresh beginnings and strengthened resolve. My New Year’s resolution for 2015 is the same as last year—to lose some weight and get more fit, but this year I have a specific goal in mind—to lose 20 lbs before I go to Ireland in July with my girlfriends.

I was thinking the other day about what I need to do different ths time to actually succeed for a change and I had a bit of an epiphany. I realized that instead of stopping bad habits, I need to focus on creating new habits. I’m not sure if these new habits are going to make me happy, but I know I will be happy if I achieve my goal.

Here are five new habits I am going to adopt to lose weight:

  1. Fill up my water glass and drink more water every afternoon at work.
  2. Make homemade soups on Sunday for yummy leftover lunches all week.
  3. Have a mid-afternoon snack at work, focusing on mufas. Mufas are monounsaturated fats like avocado, nuts and seeds, oils, olives and dark chocolate and are great for fighting belly fat. I read a book last year on mufas from the editors of Prevention magazine, and it was one of the better nutrition and lifestyle books I’ve read. You can read more about mufas and the flat belly diet here. There are some great recipes on this site too.
  4. Take the stairs when I don’t have a hot coffee or laptop in my hand. If you’ve never read Mireille Guiliano’s book French women don’t get fat, read it. I saw in Indigo the other day she has a new book, French women don’t get facelifts which looks great. Check out her website.
  5. Hop on the exercise bike while I’m watching my weekly reality TV fix every Monday night, The Bachelor (new season starts tomorrow!)

Finally, I’m going to join the weight loss challenge at work that starts January 12.

This week’s #HappyAct is to become a creature of new habits. What new habits will you adopt this year to help you achieve your goals? Good luck everyone!