2012!

Wow, I can't believe I actually have been blogging for 4 days straight. That's pretty wild considering I've started and subsequently abandoned a countless number of blogs with topics ranging from being snarky with my bff to appreciating wine and everything in between. Lol, I'm really hitting my stride and starting to incorporate this in my daily routine.

2011 was an amazing year for me. I'm still fully coming into realization and acceptance as to how great of a year it was. In no particular order, I got promoted at work where I am now handling larger-sized Enterprise-level accounts in a very interesting industry, got engaged to a great guy, moved to a new house and was able to finally be debt-free (except for mortgages) with a nice lump sum payment on my Subaru. I paid off the financing on my car 2 years in advance! I'm not a car fanatic and picked the most solid car I could find a few years back and I know I'm driving her for at the very least, 7 more years, hehe.

My family is also great with the addition of a little bundle of joy who just (and I always choke up when I say this..) is the most special little person ever. I swear, despite the crankiness that comes with babyhood (new term? lol), she's just so perfect. I love her to bits and I can't give her enough kisses when I'm with her, hehe! Full disclosure, I stalk my sister-in-law's Flickr account multiple times a day, lol!

With that, 2012 is just some hours away and it's time to make new goals! I've given up on setting "New Year's resolutions" because I always break them anyways and hence, goals are more appropriate. I find that my habits are set and resolutions are meant to change them in such a abrupt way just because of the advent of the new year. I'd rather slowly ease myself into a new routine, rationalize as to why, and then move forward. It's the Care way! :)

Goals are EXTREMELY important IMO. I can't imagine doing something without a goal. It's totally necessary and I really believe in it. As Buddha (among other beliefs) has one time stated:

(Photo courtesy of http://thesecret.tv/wallpaper-and-pdfs.html). Side note, if you need a kick in the butt, read "The Secret")

I've divided mine into three different categories and for the most part, follows the S.M.A.R.T. way of setting goals (again, in no particular order).

Personal Development:

1) Go to hot yoga 3x/ week. -- Although I realize hot yoga has its physical benefits, I actually love going because it calms my mind and feeds my soul.

2) Read 6 biographies of inspiring human beings within the year. -- This year, I finished Buffett (Shroeder), Einstein (Isaacson) and Jobs (Isaacson). To be honest, I'm struggling to find non-biased biographies and Isaacson needs to write more, hehe. Just saying! I obviously love his books. If anyone has suggestions, please do share!

3) Be vegetarian 1x/ week.

4) Sweat for at least 45 minutes every single day. -- Running with Ninja, Yoga, WiiFit, Just Dance, whatever! Lol. Fitness is definitely top of mind.

5) Volunteer 1 hour/ week or cumulatively, 52 hours during the year.

6) Talk or FaceTime with family 1 hour/ week. -- They give me strength and keep me grounded.

7) Allocate 1 hour/ day for blogging, taking pictures, creating something. -- I need this to nourish my soul.

Professional:

1) Overachieve every single quarter and be 125% over annual number.

2) Make 20% more of what I made this year $$-wise.

3) Mentor someone deserving of an opportunity and help him/ her succeed.

Daily Affirmations:

1) Don't let toxic people in my life. -- I started practicing this towards the end of this year and it was amazing.

2) Appreciate everything.

3) Do one good thing daily. -- Simple things count.

Financial:

1) No shopping for clothing items until July 1, 2012. Clothing includes shoes, tops, bottoms, dresses, bags, anything to that nature. -- I simply have too much and I can shop in my own closet.

2) Save 45% of my income and put towards savings (RRSPs and TFSA), wedding, and travels.

That's pretty much it! I know that it seems like a long list but most of them are activities I have to do daily in order for me to achieve my goals.

Cheers to the new year!

XO,

Care

Cost: To be determined still.. :)

Tools Used: Started this post in Chrome, ended it in Safari, Blogger, Google to source some pictures lol

Deal Alert: Duracell SD Card 32GB and other SanDisk SD Cards

As Boxing week continues (does it ever end?), FutureShop is putting up 32 GB Duracell SD cards for $39.99 which is a savings of $60 per SD card. Max. 5 per household with free shipping even just with buying 1 SD card.

Now as an amateur photographer, I need SD cards for obvious reasons and this deal seems to be pretty good. You can also price match it with other stores and get the additional 10% off the difference.

Now, by reading some reviews online, it seems that Duracell may not necessarily be the best. However, I do think that most SD cards are created equal but it's just that Duracell may have gotten an unnecessarily high expectation of being the best because of their other products. The no name brands that you can get off eBay which may also be as bad sell, for about $35 bucks without shipping. For $39.99 for 32GB, this deal is a steal!

If you prefer the SanDisk brand, FutureShop is also having them on sale for $12.99 - $17.99 for 8GB and $24.99 for 16GB. Price match it with the local flyers and you should be good to go!

Enjoy!

XO,

Care

Cost: $39.99 + tax for a Duracell 32 GB SD card (Yes, I'm trying it out, lol)

Tools used: Chrome, Blogger, eBay

Vancouver on my mind

I lived in Vancouver (the 604, Vancity) for about 5 years before packing my bags and moving to the big T.dot. My family still remains in Vancouver and it's a gorgeous city. Also, it helped fuel my interest in photography as my brother let me play around with his Sony Alpha!

Since everything at the moment in the GTA is white (a.k.a. covered in snow), I wanted to share some of the photos I took while I was in Van. I love colours, sunsets, sunrises.. anything that has some life to them. Winter is just a little blah at the moment.

Here's to more colour in the new year!

XO,
Care

Cost: Free (I lived with my parents.. lol)

Tools Used: Blogger, Chrome, Flickr (my brother stores his photos there)

Zooey + JGL

I LOVE watching movies. I just do! Although it must be said, that I do have some weird -isms that are somewhat inexplicable. For example, I laugh hysterically when I watch these gory kill-kill movies like "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" whereas I know must people are scared of them. I just find it soooooooo hilarious that I can't help myself.

If there is a specific genre of movies I love, it's these little quirky movies which may be somewhat categorized as 'indie'. Certainly not those that have a stoner plot in them, but those that kinda make you feel good after you watch them. On the top of my list is Amelie!

Not so far below is "500 Days of Summer". It's such an endearing movie and totally something I connected with. If you have not seen it, it's certainly a MUST-SEE in my books.

In the spirit of the holidays, the two stars got together and recorded a nice little video of them singing "What are you doing New Year's Eve?" It is so adorable that I just had to share it. They are both singers with Zooey as part of "She & Him" and Joseph Gordon-Levitt going it at it solo with his covers.

Enjoy!

XO,

Care

Cost: Free

Tools Used: Youtube, Blogger, Chrome

Google user (a.k.a. me hehe) update!

As you folks know, one of my goals for this site is to use Google-related products as much as possible.

So far, I have been kinda successful! Here's why:

1) I've signed up for Adsense. I also signed up for Affiliate Networks, but I'm still learning that (I'm pretty fuzzy as to what it is.). I have a day job and so I've been trying to understand the whole network of solutions Google has to offer to a new website owner like myself on my spare time in addition to creating new things of course :)).

2) This is a nice quick summary of what Google has come up with for Website owners: http://www.google.com/submityourcontent/website-owner/

So far, I have submitted my URL. I've browsed through Rich Snippets and Webmaster Tools, but have yet to commit as I still need to familiarize myself to what they are as well.

3) I have started working on my Google+ account. Stay tuned! :) Just from working on it on a high-level, I certainly have some feedback I'd like to share.

Here is how I have not been successful (I used other platforms, eek!!):

1) I signed up for a Twitter account. I realize the power of Twitter and how it will allow me to reach these other folks around the globe! In addition to running this blog, I am also a tech geek at heart and follow the updates (or so-called updates as some are based on rumors) that Google will be implementing something that is somewhat Twitter-esque (I made this term up, lol). As of now, Twitter is the most 'lightweight' way of connecting with micro-Twittermunities (I also made this term up, hehe) with just the aid of a hashtag (#) and Google+ is a little heavy.

2) I connected Twitter to my personal Facebook account which then connects to this blog. I currently do not have a Facebook page created specifically for the Frugal Hobbyist but perhaps in time. Any updates I have on Twitter will be posted on Facebook with a direct link to the blog. Yes, I know that Google+ serves to compete against Facebook but I have close to 700 personal friends on that platform and I certainly want to share with them my blog and its updates rather than focus solely on my personal Google+ profile which I don't have quite as many 'friends' on. A mass migration needs to occur.. so with that, I say "Vamos!".

Some feedback:

1) Does Google have a main 'information integrator'? Can I just set up ONE main Google account and then they can have a checklist of some sort of the products I want to participate in. The information I then provide in that ONE main Google account is then passed on to the subsequent platforms? Kinda like the SSO (single sign-on) concept in Enterprise solutions but on Google.

I just feel that Google can definitely be more 'intuitive' and take this whole experience to the next level without having bloggers do redundant but admittedly, necessary tasks. Automation is the key on this one.

2) Maybe this is just my style but Google can certainly benefit from some sort of a visual map out of their solutions. I find the website to be very page-based. Can Google not have one giant main page with the main logo in the middle and have little arms labelled as Blogger, GMail, Youtube, etc. on each arm? Sort of like an interactive Mind Map of the Google solutions! I would LOVEEEE that.

3) This does not make sense from a business case perspective for Google, but since I am currently using Twitter and Facebook, it would be PHENOMENAL if Google can come up with a little plug-in that will allow me to automatically post an update on Twitter which then updates my Facebook which then directs my readers back to this site whenever I post up an entry. An infinite loop of social media giving, I love it. Alas, I know that this is just a pipe dream (for now). :)

All for now! Will update as I go!

XO,

Care

Cost: Free

Tools Used: Blogger, Google, Chrome

The Power of Simple Good Deeds

Perhaps it's the Christmas season, or maybe people are finally getting out of their own bubble.. who knows?

I've been a receiver and giver of good deeds lately! Damn, it feels amazing. Amazing in a sense that you realize that the world has an ultimate flow and that it is best to live life being helpful to others as what goes around, comes around.

One cold fall day, I was preparing to go about my daily routine of bringing Ninja to the dog park so he can go about playing with his friends. As I was starting up the car, I realized that I had forgotten my coat so I stepped out with the intent of quickly grabbing it. In haste, I accidentally locked my car doors, while it was running and while Ninja was in it too. :(

In a sense of panic, I went to my computer and started Googling tow trucks in the area. There must be one right? Fail. I literally called about 10 different companies in the area and none were open. Mind you, it was before 7AM. I also tried CAA but again, as I was not thinking straight, I mistakenly pressed the wrong buttons and got forwarded to a local line instead of their emergency hotline and got their voicemail.

I finally reached this one company that just opened and she said that the driver was on his way. Unfortunately, the driver was about 1 hour away from where I lived but I took what I could get and asked them to send him my way. Because I was such a wreck with the thought that I may have potentially harmed my dog (:((((!), I was doing this little routine where I would tap on the glass to ensure he's okay, blitz to the front door to flag down the tow truck/ service person while also bawling my eyes out. I was pretty upset.

I didn't notice anyone else within that time frame when this construction worker who was working on these houses nearby approached me and asked if I was okay. I swear, just having someone reach out to me like that made me feel so much better. His name is Victor and he literally within a few minutes, rallied a couple of the other guys and they pooled their collective random pieces of paper that had a tow truck or CAA number on it.

I was so surprised. These are people I did not even know and they were all willing to help me out.

After I finally got the dog out and he was safe and sound, I went about my day and started being more conscious about people around me. If these strangers could stop what they were doing and help a random person like me out, I can certainly do the same. I should. I must. After that incident, I was overwhelmed with a feeling that despite the initial heartache, the moment was such a gift, that I had to do my best to share the wealth of that experience with others.

So, I did! And I continuously do so. The lesson of that incident will remain with me forever and I hope that the people I touch will do the same too. Doing a good deed is one of these hobbies that is free to do but has lasting impacts.

The video above is a great summary of the power of simple good deeds and its cascading effect. It's aptly called the "Kindness Boomerang".

Have yourself a wonderful day!

XO,

Care

Cost: Free

Tools Used: Youtube, Chrome, Blogger

What a difference a day makes..

(Insert Dinah Washington's tune..)

Woh!! The greater Toronto area had its first major snowstorm yesterday and boy, it came with a bang. From no snow to the ground a couple of days ago to at least a couple of inches yesterday!

Ninja loves the snow. Well, he loves everything. Inside, outside, cold, hot, whatever. He just loves going for a "walk-walk" and also loves giving "hugabugawuggy". OMG, what am I evolving into? Why am I baby-talking with my dog?! LOL.

Anyways, I took the camera out with us for the afternoon stroll. It was FREEZING and I chose to not put gloves on so I can have a better grip of the camera. I know right? Silly me! I will not do that again as I risk my fingers getting amputated from frostbite. No joke, it was cold!! Needless to say, the sun was putting on a little explosion in the sky which was a nice contrast to the sparkle of the snow. It was breathtaking and despite the cold fingers, I had to stop and take some photos so I can immortalize nature's present.

I'm thinking of getting a Picasa account but on my own laptop (please just arrive ASAP!) and will give you an update as to how it goes. I'm currently using my work laptop which is not ideal but I just can't wait to share these pictures, hehe. My day job is pretty intense and this blog is proving to be a mighty distraction. In a good way I think. More on that later.

Enjoy and keep warm!

XO,

Care

Cost: Free

Tools Used: Blogger, Chrome

Snowflakes

Ninja watching snowflakes fall on his face. Happy Snow Day!

Cost: Free
Tools Used: Blogger, Chrome

Sunny pockets

As I wait for my brand new spanking laptop which can help me further customize this blog (hooray!), I will be uploading unedited photos taken by moi. :)

I initially wanted to start a blog that was sort of like a gratitude journal but I really couldn't commit to that concept of a blog and hence, the Frugal Hobbyist came about.

Needless to say though, I am certainly grateful of life's everyday miracle. I'm just so fortunate that I'm able to actually capture them on a specific medium at that specific time which allows me to share the moment with the rest of the world.

A couple of days ago, the sun was blazing and the sky was just gorgeous despite the nippy December weather. I went out with Ninja for his afternoon walk and captured IMO, amazing scenery. I don't even know how to describe some of the photos below so I'll just let the photos speak for itself!

Location:  By the local water reservoir in Stouffville, ON


Wasn't the sky just so amazing? I truly enjoy capturing sunrises and sunsets and is something I look forward to everyday. I just love it. Definitely something I'm grateful for.

Again, I need to reiterate that these images have not been edited and were directly transferred from my camera to this computer.

XO,
Care

Cost: Free 
Tools used: Blogger, Chrome

Greetings!

Hi everyone! Thanks for visiting my blog.

I'm a woman of many hobbies. Sometimes it's photography, maybe on some days, painting! I also like to write, knit, do crafts, and basically anything that allows me to express myself creatively.

These are the three purposes of this blog:

1) I wish to document my hobbies, the little creations I'm oh-so-proud of and also perhaps the process. I usually feel a specific emotion which comes about a certain hobby and I wish to be able to put that down in words or a photograph. It is my fervent desire that my future spawns will be able to look at this blog and say, "Oh wow, my mom was pretty cool back then..", LOL. I'm just kidding!

2) Let's face it! Hobbies are pretty darn expensive. There are obvious investment pieces that needs to be purchased in order to further oneself into a hobby but I do believe in finding the best deals for them. I also would like to be able to share deals and the different resources I use to help others further along. In short, I'm striving to build a mini-community of some sort where ideas are shared for the greater good. 

3) Third reason.. this is a pretty interesting one. I'm a huge Google fan and feel that the different platforms they've come out with (along with the acquisitions) have really helped me out in my daily life (Um.. GMail? Chrome?). I've had blogs on other platforms before (WordPress, Tumblr, etc.) but it's never a 'full' solution where it is just within one organization. I realize the cons of investing my whole blog within one company and I'm sure as I delve further into my hobbies that perhaps, a more specific solution may be more appropriate. However, as I am just a beginner, I'm sure that Google or one of its entity will be able to help me out! 

As the tagline on the "Dear Sophie" commercial (so heartwarming and amazing!) states, "the web is what you make of it". I truly believe that and this blog serves as my own experiment to see if Google could indeed provide me with all of the resources I need at a minimal cost. 

The photograph above is of my beloved Ninja. He's an almost 2-year old puppy mill survivor and you'll see him often as my trusty sidekick and my breathtaking muse. He brings me so much joy everyday and definitely helps me put things in perspective. 

I can't wait to start! 

XO,

Care

Cost: Free 

Tools used: Blogger, Chrome, GMail