But I also had work to do. I turned into a little recruiting machine and engaged some remarkable young people to sign on to share their wisdom, insights and experience with our Change Inc. E-mentoring Program participants in the coming months. And then I became an accountability coach helping others to understand the importance of the commitments they make to participate in programs I lead.

Last but not least, the first meeting of the new Board of Health was convened last week. True to form, I spent a lot of time preparing myself on the content and assumed I knew enough on the procedural stuff. Wrong. Oh well, we learn from our mistakes as much as we do from our successes. I am happy to say that the combination of new knowledge and connections will make this experience incredibly enriching. And as always, I shall seize any opportunity to contribute.

I am still plugging away at my House In Order (HOI) initiative. Right now, it has a distinct focus on technology.

I would love to show you some of what I have been working on as part of my little HOI project. In fact, this piece goes seamlessly with another post from my Thirty by 30 project – Building a Brand. This past week, I worked tirelessly on getting things MOVING with Inspired Practice’s virtual home. It has been utterly ridiculous to have the site down for so long but I’ll admit, I hit a wall with some of the technical requirements of my vision.

I am self-taught. Hear that? Self-taught. Oh don’t be too impressed. All that really means is that I have taken the long and stupid path to learn, in twice the time, what most people grasp in a couple of comp sci and graphic design classes. Is it frustrating? (You might ask. Although I have no idea what would ever make you think to ask that.) Yes, at times. But not because of my lack of technical know-how. No. Rather, it is because of my vision. If my vision mirrored my abilities, we’d have no problem. So adapt your vision, you might say. Ah but sadly I suffer from an affliction called perfectionism. My definition of perfection is constantly changing. Thus, it takes me that much longer to achieve the desired standard. And when I do, there is no guarantee that I will be satisfied for very long. (This actually happened in the Fall when I thought I was “done” and then realized it still wasn’t quite right!)

Part of what had to happen in order to move things forward was to let go of an old identity and instead create a personality brand. My beloved frog will no longer feature in my brand, on my materials or website. It is one of the few symbols that I cherish but unlike myself, I came to recognize that my company had outgrown it and needed to better reflect the minimalist, creative and brazen qualities that I possess. The symbol itself was too abstract and mysterious to be front and centre. So it’s gone! I’m moving forward and will relaunch the site next week – as a wrap on January and my HOI project.

I love to cook. I admit it.

But I have fallen off the horse in recent months. That isn’t to say I haven’t been cookin’ at all. Just most of what I have been cooking is same old. In an effort to challenge myself this year, I will be diving into the many cookbooks I own and or into my mind (as the case may be) to test out recipes and share them. These recipes will in most cases be ones I have never before attempted. In other cases, such as with this post I will share recipes that over the course of time I have adapted and created. I will post one per week with all the goods.

So let’s begin the Great Recipe Experiment of 2012.

I call this one: the Chew Salad w/Marinated Tofu.

INGREDIENTS

Marinated Tofu

• 1/3 of a package of Sunrise Extra Firm Tofu, rinsed & cubed
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup San-J Tamari Sauce*
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Red pepper flakes, to taste

Salad

• 5-8 leaves of collard greens or kale, stems removed & shredded
• 1 cup red cabbage, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup red pepper, chopped (or julienned if you are fancy)
• 1/2 cup carrot, shredded
• 1/4 cup leek, finely chopped
• 2 tsp fresh curly parsley, finely chopped
• 1/2 a small avocado, chopped (optional)
• 1 tsp toasted hemp seeds
• 1 tbsp sunflower seeds

Dressing

• 1 -2 tbsp of olive oil
• 1/4 of a lemon, squeezed
• Dash of sea salt
• Dash of black pepper

First things first. The TOFU. (Not a tofu-lover, skip it and replace with another vegetarian protein source such as lentils, chickpeas, tempeh, etc…) Mix tofu marinade ingredients in a pyrex or other covered dish. Plunk in your cubed tofu. Add a little bit of water in order to just cover all of the cubes. Stick it in the fridge and forget about it for an hour or 2.

*Why tamari sauce? Tamari is a lower sodium, gluten free alternative to soy sauce. Although soy sauce is cheap and conveniently purchased anywhere, tamari is well worth paying a little more.  You can find it in your health food store or health food section of supermarkets. It’s delish!

Get your salad ingredients in order. Chop, shred, etc… and toss it into a salad or mixing bowl. (I like to layer as you can see.)

Add your toasted hemp seeds, sunflower seeds or any other type of seed you like to eat. Then mix it all up!

Grab your marinated tofu cubes, scoop them out into a frying pan (with a little liquid marinade) and sizzle at medium to high heat. Turn them to brown evenly. You don’t want to make the mistake (like I have for many years) of letting them get too cooked. They shouldn’t be tough when you eat them.

Now chew. And chew again. This is a great meal to eat for lunch when you have just sat down after a flurry of activity and need to focus on something basic. Chew and enjoy!

In time-honoured tradition, I set goals for each new calendar year. For 2012, I decided to create a hybrid of both monthly and yearly goals.  This month is all about getting my house in order. I know that I drive my hubby nuts with all of the furniture moving and reorganizing but doesn’t it make you feel productive just looking at it?

More good things have been added to make life beautiful around here. Althea, my new mini orchid, has a spot front and centre on my desk. Her sister, Eudora, will find her new home on my desk downtown. (I find it helps to name my plants so that I actually remember to take care of them. Who would have thought it would be harder to keep a plant alive than a puppy? )

I also finally got my act together and created my own 2012 desk blotter calendar inspired by one Kyla Roma created last year.

As part of my own House In Order initiative this January, you will begin noticing structural and design changes to my blog here at www.kristlect.com and very soon the re-launch of www.inspiredpractice.com.  Woot!

Today marks the start of another year of marriage for K + M. We kicked the year off with FIREWORKS at Nathan Phillips and a 5km walk home after midnight. I have come to really dig this whole “world celebrates with you” element of our anniversary.

For our 2nd anniversary, we pledged to give gifts of cotton. I picked up this gorgeous new duvet set at West Elm. (I heart stripes.) As part of our travel games during our honeymoon in East Africa, we filled out our Sweetie Stats and came up with our own list of Wedding Gifts By Year.

We kept some of the traditional gifts but ivory and coral had to go. Also, I just couldn’t imagine Mike wearing a ruby ring so we went with something more open-ended that could fuel a bit more creativity in our gift giving. Check it.

ONE Paper
TWO Cotton
THREE Leather Buttons
FOUR Fruit or Flowers
FIVE Wood
SIX Candy or Iron Technology
SEVEN Wool or Copper Light
EIGHT Bronze
NINE Pottery
TEN Tin Earth
ELEVEN  Steel Motion
TWELVE Silk or Linen Image
THIRTEEN Lace Water
FOURTEEN Ivory Music
FIFTEEN Crystal
TWENTY China Place
TWENTY-FIVE Silver
THIRTY Pearls White
THIRTY-FIVE Coral Space
FORTY Ruby Red
FORTY-FIVE Sapphire Blue
FIFTY Gold
FIFTY-FIVE Emerald Time

Although it isn’t our wedding song, I’m dedicating this to my husband today. (He knows why.) Happy Anniversary!

Alien Like You performed by Sebastian Pigott of The Pigott Brothers (Being Erica)

Best Detour.

Best Hair Do.

Best Self Portrait.

Best Tea.

Best Shoe Shot.

Best Thirty by 30.

Best Friends.

Best Title.

Best Visit.

Best iPhone Moment.

Best Location.

Best Thrill.

Best Wine.

Adios 2011. Bring on 2012!

A LITTLE MARTHA.

My first task was to create a stocking for my pup’s first Christmas. I found a lovely faux raw silk fabric at Designer Fabrics in blush. My original plan was to cut out the stocking (using an existing stocking as the pattern) and sew it together at The Workroom. However, the timing was never quite right for me to get there and so I ended up stitching it by hand. I included a bit of batting and a lining so that it would be more substantial. I fussed a long time with the trim, unsure of what I wanted to add. Down to the wire, 48 hours before Christmas, I picked up a chocolate brown feather boa from the dollar store and sewed that on as trim on the cuff.

Among the most challenging gifts I made this year were paintings of two well-loved furry quadrupeds – Shadoe and Lassie. I am often a consumer of art for gift-giving purposes. But this year, I persuaded myself to stop buying other people’s art, and instead, create my own. Don’t get me wrong. I love to support my favourite artists but after awhile you realize that hundreds of people have the same print on their walls. I was inspired by Martha Stewart’s glitter art. These two canvases were painted from recent photos of the dogs using acrylics with the addition of a little glitter. Although imperfect in so many respects, I believe they capture the spirit of these two canines. Furthermore, this was a great opportunity for me to realize how much I still have to learn. (So as part of my 2012 goals, I will be taking a painting course through an indie art studio.)

For my hubby, I wanted to give him something inspired by his bear dog a.k.a. Khailee but not a literal representation. This painting is of my favourite constellation – Ursa Major or Great Bear. Ever a fan of astronomy (his own Heart2Heart painting featured a comet), this turned out to be a perfect gift for Mike.

A LITTLE BETTY.

There are not too many things that I can successfully bake but I have mastered one recipe. I shared the secret to my magical chocolate chip banana bread here in 2008. Since it has never steered me wrong before, I took to my kitchen to bake 5 batches of this good stuff for the holidays.

I am a huge fan of a young woman named Hannah Kaminsky. She has several amazing vegan cookbooks and a couple of years ago, I was gifted one called My Sweet Vegan. Amongst the many delicious recipes of cakes, cookies, tarts and pies, she includes a sugar-free cake perfect for our four-legged friends. Since this Christmas was most definitely all about the puppies, I made treats for them too.

CANINE CAKE by Hannah Kaminsky (My Sweet Vegan)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup shredded carrots

2 tbsp peanut butter

2 tbsp canola or vegetable oil

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

Preheat oven to 350F and grease a medium sized ramekin or any 8oz oven-safe bowl.

Combine the flour and baking soda in a medium bowl. Stir in the carrot bits. Add the remaining wet ingredients, and mix well. The batter will be very thick, similar to cookie dough. Drop the batter into your prepared ramekin and bake for 25-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Let cool completely before serving.

Makes 1 small cake

A LITTLE ROSIE.

For whatever reason, when I think of Rosie the Riveter, I think of the hardware store. I found this très cool DIY for a wrap bracelet and headed to my local Home Hardware for a chain and hex nuts. These beauties took me about 10 minutes to put together and then were sent away as gifts. I like them so much that I plan to make a couple for myself to wear in 2012.

I love mail. Cards. Letters. Packages. I love them all. I love mail so much that in order to keep it happy (and less economically and ecologically burdensome), I actually receive NO bills via mail. (Everything has been switched over to e-bills.) Of course, at Christmas time I receive a flood of cards and goodies – overflowing with blessings and sweet messages.

One of my favourite things EVER is our return address stamp. I got it back in 2008 from these awesome people – largely to use on our wedding invites. Because it is so beautiful, it has encouraged me to send more letters, cards and packages in the mail.

Normally I buy some sparkling politically correct holiday card to distribute to family and friends. But this year I had access to my very own model – Little K.  Uber-adorable. Very photogenic. It was a no-brainer.

We shot about 30 photos, in only two of which she was looking at the camera.  Since I have only the camera on my iPhone as a functional option, I took advantage of Instagram and used a filter for the pic. Then I amped up the dpi to 600 in Photoshop to increase the resolution for printing purposes.  I came up with a design, got the cards printed at Staples and voila!

Tomorrow – once everyone has opened their goodies – I will share 3 posts featuring handmade gifts, edibles and decorations I pulled together for the holidays.

Until then, wishing you and yours a very Happy Christmas!

Brown paper packages tied up with string. These are a few of my favourite things.

I have a strange love of kraft paper. It might be a poor man’s wrapping paper but I absolutely LOVE it.

Ink pads, sharpies, tags, twine, stamps and glitter. Such simple supplies but they made it possible for me to create my own packaging for the holidays.  Admittedly, it’s not for everyone. This morning when Mike asked me if we had any wrapping paper, I answered: “No. We have kraft paper. You can make your own wrapping paper.” He said nothing but his expression suggested that he wasn’t prepared to put that much effort into the whole thing. (And based on what I saw under the tree, he didn’t.)

That’s ok. He still gets the good stuff.

My plan to share my handmade holiday adventures via this blog will have to wait. But I am writing this quickly before I leave the house in an effort to spare others from a similar fate. It’s not about the can or the cut as much as it is about SLOWING DOWN.  There is often a lot of craziness that surfaces leading up to the holidays. Everyone’s running around trying to find that last perfect gift or pick up ingredients for family dinners. People are working round the clock so that they can tie up loose ends before a couple weeks of vacation. Rush, rush, rush.

Take a deep breath and slow down.

#12 Build a Brand

For this goal, I sought to clarify the image and essence of Inspired Practice but also to decide how my two separate yet related sites would be used. It got a little silly after awhile to be posting on two sites – compartmentalizing the personal and professional. Forget it! Who’s got time for that?

In the Fall, I took a leap and transitioned what was “prairie girl by day” to www.kristlect.com I wanted to build a brand around my name – since I am in everything that I do. It isn’t as easy as you might think. My first and last name combined are crazy long and impossible to remember (that is, for other people to remember). Since my Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts all appear as kristlect, it seemed reason enough for the website to be the same. Well that and to purchase the domain name www.kristle.com would cost me $1,200 per year. Yes. For REAL.

I am thrilled to have a space to continue writing and sharing my thoughts on inspired living but without it having to house every little bit about my work.

This decision has allowed me to keep www.inspiredpractice.com as a static site focusing on my professional image and offerings. It will become a hub of information and inspiration for anyone who really wants to know about inspired practice.

And by end of January, I will finally be able to share my new virtual digs and brand. #12 is done!