Oven Baked Veggies

Ok so this isn't so much of a recipe as it is a delicious idea!! I've been trying to eat clean more often so tonight I made a big batch of oven baked veggies to eat with my quinoa loaf. 

I used - potatoes, asparagus, broccoli, carrots, kale, and fresh parsley. I used a light amount of olive oil and seasoned with real salt, pepper, and dry thyme. I baked the dish at 425F for 25-30 min. 

This is now one of my go-to quick dishes so I can get in my veggie servings on those nights I'm not in a salad mood. 

Stock Pile Step 1

I am always looking for ways to save! It drives my husband crazy, he feels that frugal tips (ie. up-cycling, stock piling, DIY) are for 'people who don't have enough money and have to budget' - his words not mine! He fails to understand the reason why we have money to do the things we want is because I cut money wherever I possibly can! I budget so that we can budget fun activities into our lives. Needless to say I am the money manager and the deal finder.

My next obstacle to saving money is to begin stock piling. I finally have a big enough house (we just moved) that will allow me to stock pile. Right now I am searching to find the best shelving units to use - if you have any favorites please let me know, I am worried to buy flimsy ones that will just break with the weight of cans, rice etc. In the mean time I am beginning to compile all the information that I need to create an efficient, and cost effective stock pile. I rounded up a few of my recent receipts from grocery shopping trips and made a spreadsheet to document the prices that I have paid for various goods.

Here is my spread sheet (when I print this, I will only print columns A-C)

This is what I did:

1) Gathered a few of my recent receipts
2) 3 headers - Item, Shelf Life, and Average Price
2) Listed all the items, alphabetically
3) Under column C (average price) I used a formula: =+AVERAGE(D3: however many cells you need to include)
4) Add in shelf life of dry goods

Pretty simple. This way I can print my list out and bring it with me on my grocery shopping trips, so that I can see what I usually pay. By doing this I can find the best items to stock pile based on price. I do not want to be stock piling items if they are more expensive than I usually pay, where is the money savings in that?

A few more notes - some items I don't care what type they are, for example, apples. I buy whatever kind is cheaper, so I grouped them all together. Other items, like bell peppers, I try to buy different colored peppers, so I separated them out by color. Another thing to remember, is that the prices in the product aisles are priced out per weight. They use the same measurement, so there is no need to write the measurement next to the item, this would be redundant and crowd the spreadsheet. I did not pay $29.90 for chia seeds, I paid around $4 for the amount I took home, however they are priced $29.90 per kg.

Hope this helps! What are your tips for starting a stock pile? Please share.

Eat Better Live Better!

Well today is the day! Today is the day I jump back on the "weight loss" train. I hate to refer it as weight loss, it is more of a lifestyle change - exercising more, eating better, and sleeping better. But lets face it, the main goal is to shed some pounds!

I will post work out video reviews and some of my favorite healthy recipes!

The time is now my friends!

What's YOUR Favorite Accessory?

I love to make my outfit a little more unique by adding accessories. In the corporate world of black suits you will find me in a bright cardigan or blazer sporting at least two accessories. My top accessories include:

 1) scarves

 2) bangles 

 3) necklaces with pendants 

 4) fashion rings (sometimes!) 

This was my accessory for the past week, I sported it with three different outfits. The color is neutral and can work with both the blue and pink color schemes and the infinity scarf allows a more clean look since you don't have two scarf ends flying everywhere. What's your must have accessory? 

Love and peace, 

 Polly 

How to Make Leggings Work, for Work

Im lucky to work in an office where pretty much anything goes. Although I work downtown, and can only wear jeans on Fridays, the rest of the week pretty much has no rules. I wear leggings at least twice a week. The one and only rule with leggings is that they are NOT pants; I always make sure my butt is covered. In winter I pair my leggings with a dress and boots due to the cold. However, the rest of the year it can be difficult to find work appropriate outfits that work with leggings. 

My go to tops for leggings consist of: tunics, high-low blouses, or fishtail blouses. 

Below is an outfit I wore yesterday it consisted of the following:
1) full length black leggings
2) flowy royal blue tunic
3) black belt 
4) light grey blazer
5) grey knitted scarf
6) accessories: bangle, long necklace with pendant 
7) black flats

Peace and love,

 Polly

Start Your Own Business!

I was raised by two working parents, my mom showed how she could be a career woman 9-5 then a mom in the evenings and weekends. She woke up at 5:30 in the morning so she could pack our lunches before heading off to work, when she got home she would cook dinner and we ate as a family around the dinner table, she would then rush us off to soccer or swimming lessons. Our weekends were spent either camping, or going to the theatre or bowling alley for a family outing. She was the perfect example of "having it all". I still have no idea how she was able to work full time and be a mom 24/7.

I spent 4 years at University working my butt off to get my degree, then another 3 years training specifically for accounting. I love my job. I work downtown, I have my own office with a window. I'm definitely a career woman by day. In hopes of taking after my mother, I imagine my life to be filled with swim meets and PTA meetings, and somehow making time to spend 8 hours a day at the office. There are days however, that I think to myself "wouldn't it be nice to be a stay at home wife/mom, where I can just focus on making a home and driving my kids to school every morning". That's all fine and dandy, but I am not comfortable pushing my husband out the door each morning to drive to work while I stay home in yoga pants (no offence to stay at home moms, I know that it really is a full time job). Coming from very forward thinking parents, I still believe that it is important for me, as a woman, to maintain my independence and be able to contribute to the family financially. Because of this, I have spent countless hours wondering how I too, can have it all. How can I be able to focus on my family, stay home during the day, but still make money?

1) Start a blog! - When I first started this blog I had no idea that you could actually make money from a blog. Money was not my motive in starting my blogging life, however, it is a nice perk!

2) Become a photographer - You will need to invest in some good equipment, however, people require photographers at all stages of their life (newborn photos, graduation photos, wedding photos etc). This is a business that will always be in demand.

3) Become a mortgage broker - After taking a few required courses, you will be able to work out of the comfort of your own home. Since you get paid per mortgage, you will need to work your schedule around your clients (not as much freedom as some of the other options), however, you won't have to leave your house!

4) Nail Esthetician/ Eyelash extensions - Once again, you will be required to complete certain courses to be able to work in these fields. However, you will be able to work from your own home. Once again, you will need to work around your clients schedules, you should expect to be busier in the evenings and weekends.

5) Open a daycare - Not the best option for everyone, however, there are some people who genuinely love not only their kids, but everyone else's little munchkins too. I don't know about you, but a day filled with making healthy snacks and crafting sounds pretty good to me.

Note: for any of the above, you should check the requirements for your specific area to see what certification, if any, you must obtain to legally operate your business

Please share any ideas you have!

Mortgage Free!

Mortgage free - how many of us will be able to say those words before our 30 year mortgage term is up?

I don't know about you, but I hate debt! Of course most of us have some sort of debt, especially if you own a house. Unfortunately, debt is a common thing in our society. We buy everything from our daily coffee to vacations on credit.

I used to be one of those people. I had the mentality "I'm always going to have some form of debt, so it's no big deal to carry a credit card balance too". WRONG! It is a big deal. However, this post is not about me lecturing you on why you shouldn't be using credit cards (except when used responsibly, to build credit).

This post is about trying to become mortgage free, faster! First of all, you have to remember that banks/lenders are all businesses; they are lending you money *hoping* and *praying* you don't pay it back any faster than you have to. The faster you pay it off, the less interest you're paying and the less money their making off you.

My husband and I bought our first house 2 years ago, shortly after we got married. Back then I wasn't good with money, I wasn't awful either. The best way I can describe it is that I spent the money I had while saving "enough". I saved bare minimum. Needless to say, I have not paid any extra on my mortgage, I have simply followed my pre-determined payment amount, twice a month. Now that we are looking to start a family, we have decided to move into our final-house-until-we-cant-do-stairs-anymore home.  We live in an area where the average house price is $540,000 - I do not want to be paying a couple thousand dollars every month, for 25 years. Since I am more financially responsible, I am determined to pay off this mortgage faster! I know when you're mortgage is in the couple of hundred thousands (especially when it's upwards of half a million *cringe*) it is hard to remember that every dollar counts. When you want to give up, just keep reminding yourself every buck will save you a few bucks in interest! The average person's mortgage will have doubled by the end of the term, due to interest. Here are some tips to become mortgage free faster:

Note: if you have any credit card debt, you should focus on paying that off first!

First and foremost you need an emergency account. You need to have 3-12 months (really, it is whatever YOU are comfortable having) worth of expenses sitting in an account. Don't ever ever ever touch this account. This account is for "I'm going to lose my house tomorrow" type of situations. Once your emergency account is completed, you should start saving for retirement and start a 'discretionary' savings account. This discretionary account will have a few thousand (again, whatever you are comfortable with) in it for things like new tires, your fridge broke and now you need a new one etc. Once both these savings account have a balance you're comfortable with, instead of saving more into these two accounts, you will take the money you used to put into these accounts and pool it into yet another account. This account will now act as your "mortgage lump sum payment" account. Below are a few more suggestions on how to add extra funds to this account:

~ Your tax refund!
~ Bonus from work - it is essentially free money, you shouldn't be relying on this to pay the bills, so throw it into your mortgage lump sum payment account
~ Did you get a nice raise at work? Take that extra pay each paycheque and put that into the mortgage lump sum payment account. You were living without it before, you can still do it!
~ At the end of each pay period, if you have a few dollars left in your spending category, put that towards your mortgage.

A few other tips to paying off your mortgage faster:

~Change your payments to accelerated biweekly; this will add 2 extra payments a year and in turn will knock a few years off your mortgage just on it's own!
~Round up those payments! If your payment is 815 biweekly, round it up to 820. Chances are you won't miss that extra $5.

Note: Most mortgages will allow a certain percentage as a lump sum payment each year on the anniversary date. If your mortgage does not allow this, you will be able to pay the lump sum when your term is up. When you meet with your bank after the 5 year (or 10) year term is up, pay your lump sum then, prior to renegotiating.

I follow almost all these tips. I do not round up my payments. My husband works on a bonus system, and therefore his paycheques fluctuate massively (usually by a couple thousand dollars each paycheque). Therefore, I like to keep our monthly payables as low as possible to ensure we can always pay our bills without drawing from savings. After we decided to move into our new house, I wanted to see exactly how much I needed to have in my 'mortgage lump sum payment' account each year to pay off our mortgage in a time frame that I was comfortable with. With a little help from Scotia Bank's mortgage free faster calculator (http://cgi.scotiabank.com/mortgage/mffc/en/Scotiabank-LTSB-English.html) I found out how much extra I need to put on every year, to pay off my mortgage in 7 years. Great!!! I cannot wait to scream "MORTGAGE FREE" from the mountain tops! My husband and I will be mortgage free by 32 (unless unforeseen circumstances affect either one of us, or the economy). Not to mention, we will have saved almost $200,000 in interest! WOAH!

If we can do it, so can you! All it takes is a few hours of organizing your finances to get started, and a tight belt on where you will spend your money!

Love and peace,
  Polly

Life and Chronicles of the Modern Day Hippie Pt 1

As I sit here in my office writing part 1 of what I hope to be a realistic and relatable mini series of my life, I wonder - why on Earth did I think I was interesting enough to write a blog? I'm not a socialite, witty, or overly funny. I first decided to write a blog after reading so many fantastic blogs - one was about budgeting, another about cooking, another for DIY projects. Having to switch between all of these topics made me think "hey, I can write a blog and include all these topics so my readers can access everything through one source". Let me be honest, the initial excitement has worn off, and now I just think this is such a daunting task trying to up my viewers while always writing "excellent content"! Well, all I can do is be real to myself and hope and pray that there are others out there 'like me' who will find just as much pleasure in reading my blog as I do in preparing and writing it.  What does that mean, 'like me'? Well, I have been told numerous times that I am a hippie, or a granola. After some deep self reflection (and I mean deep, you know, trying to see myself through someone else's eyes), I realized holy crap, I am a hippie!

 I will start part 1 of Life and Chronicles of the Modern Day Hippie describing how and why I have come to realize that I am, in every facet possible, a modern day hippie. The first time someone implied that I was a hippie was my boss when he was describing Victoria, BC Canada. He said to me:

"You would love it there. When you go to coffee shops, on the side of the coffee mug they have like twenty things written there 'organic, free trade, we pay our farmers X amount for their coffee, recycled etc'. Everything is vegan and organic. It's a place where hippies and old people ride their bikes everywhere, you would love it."

At first I thought, okay, does he not have anything else to talk to me about? As I started telling other coworkers the story, they would laugh and say that sounds just like me. So now, I was on a mission. Why does the world think I am a hippie? What does it mean to be a hippie? I am, like I hope a lot of you are, totally and completely against "boxes". I do not like or appreciate these "boxes" that we as a society put traits and attributes into and then seal a big old label on them. For example - label: hippie, traits: poncho, long hair, wacky tabacky, vegetarian, braids, gypsy, recycle, tree hugger, free spirit etc.

I do fit some of those traits, my hair is down to my butt, I am vegetarian, I love to braid my hair. Other traits no one would ever associate with a hippie. I am a corporate woman. I work 9-5 in a high rise smack in the middle of downtown. I drive my SUV to work everyday wearing my blazers and go home to my house nestled away in a lake community. My husband (and parents) work in the oilfield. So I started thinking of the word hippie in other ways, ways that do not describe the way a person dresses or what they do in their spare time (puff puff pass). I started to think of it as a lifestyle, an energy. Now you get it right? Now you understand why everyone thinks I'm a hippie. As soon as I mention the word energy everyone's light bulbs just turned on. To me, a hippie means love and freedom and truth. I love everyone and everything (hence why I am vegetarian and pro everything); I try to always be kind despite my perma B-face. I am free to be who I am and I will always maintain that freedom throughout all aspects of my life. I will not let others define who I am supposed to be.

If you read on the home page what this blog (not just this post) is about, I ended it with saying I hope to bring out the inner hippie in all of you. By this I meant, I hope that by reading my blog whether I post about cooking, tea, crafts, or sewing, that somewhere in you a little voice not only says "I am going to try that" but follows it with "but I am going to change this part..". I want you to be creative, to find the gypsy in you and make your own way. Perhaps add a new fruit to my recipe, or change the paint color. Just do anything to make it unique to you! That's what it means to be free. Love yourself and let your inner hippie out to play!

Camping! (Potato Salad recipe)

Well it's that time of year again - camping season! We're getting all our food, drinks, lawn chairs and puppies packed up to go get the trailer and head out to the campground.

As you know, I'm vegetarian. This always makes meal planning a bit more complicated, especially when I have to remember to make healthy, vegetarian friendly, loaded with iron and protein meals that can be cooked over the campfire. Along with veggie dogs & veggie burgers I like to make salads at home to bring along. Store bought potato and macaroni salads are ridiculously overpriced and very unhealthy! Tonight I will make a batch of potato salad. Pictures to follow, in the mean time check out my recipe listed here, as well as in the recipes page.

Potato Salad

6 boiled potatoes, diced
2 hard boiled eggs, diced
1 cup diced veggies (I use celery and radish!)
1/8 cup diced red onion
3 dill pickles, diced
1tbsp sweet relish
Mayonnaise and mustard to your taste (I prefer to use low/no fat mayonnaise)

Tips:
1) Add  dill and parsley to make your potato salad a little more delicious
2) Modify the veggies, we like A LOT of vegetables in ours, our potato salad tends to be 50% potatoes 50% other veggies

Smoothie On the Go!

No matter how many times you shove 'you must eat a good breakfast' down my throat, I will NEVER be able to drag myself out of bed half an hour earlier before work to make myself a good, whole hearted breakfast. However, in my quest to become healthier, I decided that maybe just maybe I will have 5 minutes to whip up a quick smoothie in the morning. Well, when you take into account taking out the blender, slicing and dicing up fruit, cleaning up afterwards my 5 minute window is shot. As you will find out within the next few weeks, I have a deeply unhealthy love for my chest freezer. I freeze anything and everything. I decided there has to be a way to freeze my smoothies, that way I can make a months worth of smoothies in advance. In fear of having my already-blended-now-frozen smoothie separating as it was thawing, I decided I would freeze all the ingredients in one simple Ziploc bag without blending. So last night, I did my usual once-a-month-grocery-shop trip, I bought a HUGE bag of frozen fruit (where we live, frozen fruit is always much cheaper than fresh, unfortunately), bananas, a few containers of yogurt, oats, chia seeds, and a tub of spinach. I threw one-smoothie-quantities of the ingredients into Ziploc bags and froze them. This morning was my first smoothie made from my make-ahead baggies. It was DELICIOUS!  Super quick too! I grabbed the baggie out of the freezer, dumped it into my blender, added 1 cup of water and voila! Finished! Threw it into my water bottle and ran out of the door.

Now you may ask - oats in a smoothie?? Gross! But no! It's delicious, I will admit that they make the smoothie a tad grainy. If you can overcome the graininess, then they are a great addition to a breakfast smoothie. The oats help make you feel fuller longer, which is always a great thing. Not to mention the chia seeds which are always wonderful.

To make things easier, I use a Hamilton Beach single serving blender, it makes it super easy to clean since its not so big. I also found the best water bottle for the smoothie, it is Rubbermaid's 'chugging' water bottle. The opening on the lid is large enough so that the smoothie can flow through easily (unlike some with straws), and the lid clasps shut which is great. When I am running into the office with my purse, lunch bag, my tea, and now a water bottle full of smoothie, I do not have the time or patience to worry about something spilling all over me due to the lack of a tight fitting lid.



Tips
1) Blend the oats on their own before adding them to the Ziploc bag. By blending the oats, it will cut down on the graininess
2) Add flax!
3) Sub water for coconut water