Vancouver Mom » Life

Get Yourself Together Organization Tips: Double Duty Organization

VancouverMom.ca — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:30:11 +0000

Getting organized doesn’t necessarily mean buying out IKEA’s entire stock of magazine racks, shelves and baskets. Everyday items that you thought were only good for one or two things can be transformed into ultimate organizing tools all while saving time and money.

Imagination and an open mind are the keys to converting common household items into tools for organization through out the home. Try on these 10 household item transformations in your own home:

1. Ice Cube Trays

Ice cube trays can be purchased at most dollar stores in an array of colors to suit anyone’s tastes. Use the small, separated compartments to keep jewelry untangled, vitamins separated or even give to the kids for paints and knick knacks.

2. Pizza Boxes

Don’t forget to use clean pizza boxes! Pizza boxes are thin and lightweight and are perfect for storing photos, documents, drawings etc. and are easy to slide under beds or dressers.

3. Nail Polish

Raid your teenage daughter’s colorful nail polish collection! Nail polish can be used to color code items such as keys, toys etc. so every knows what’s what and what belongs to whom.

4. Clipboard

Hang up a clipboard permanently in a busy part of the home like by the front door or in the kitchen and rotate important messages on the board. Remind yourself to sign the kids field trip notice or remind everyone to call Grandma.

5. Rubber bands

Rubber bands are already a useful organization item keeping rolls of papers in place. Take your rubber bands to the closet to keep your clothes from falling off hangers by wrapping rubber bands securely at each end of the hanger.

6. Pack Beer Carton

An excuse to drink beer! Use the empty beer caddy during your next outdoor meal as a condiment or cutlery holder.

7. ‘Jaw’ Hair Clips

These squeezable clips can be used to keep electrical cords from tangling while streamlining them together. Use the clips to hold cords together to create a more streamlined and organized look.

8. Cardboard Boxes

Use a cardboard box beyond the box! Find a drawer that needs some organization. Measure and cut out card board strips to create ‘compartments’ to tame an unruly drawer.

9. Cans and Jars

Cans and jars can be used to hold almost everything from paintbrushes to tools. Make them more ‘display friendly’ by wrapping them in cloth or decorative paper.

10. Cork Boards

Add fabric and pretty pins to your cork board to create a beautiful jewelry holder that keeps necklaces untangled and jewelry easy to see.

Organizing doesn’t need to be difficult or expensive, you just have to be creative. Happy organizing!

Kayleigh Lum is the owner of Get Yourself Together, Professional Organizers in Vancouver, BC. For more information visit www.getyourselftogether.ca.

Get Yourself Together Organization Tips – The Kitchen

VancouverMom.ca — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 15:30:22 +0000

Guest post by Kayleigh Lum.

Dun, dun, dun! The kitchen can be one of the most welcoming – albeit scariest places in the home for organization. If you regularly cook at home (which I encourage!) the kitchen is likely one of the most used rooms in the home, and with frequent usage comes disorganization and mess. Recipe books, utensils, containers and knick knacks fill most kitchens hiding away in random drawers and cupboards.

A kitchen should be warm, welcoming and somewhat relaxing which are hard feelings to holster when you’re scrambling to find that damn spatula! Utilize these ten simple, cheap and cheerful tips for turning your kitchen into a place of peace.

Purge your kitchen of any useless, broken, or duplicate items. For tips on purging your home, click here.
Group items by purpose. Designate cupboards and drawers as “baking”, “pots and pans”, “spices” etc.
Throw out the worn out shoe box! Store recipes the easy way using one of these techniques:

a) Type out your recipes and file them on your computer. That way you don’t have to worry about spillage, they are easy to share and modify.
b) Rolodexes aren’t just for business cards. Use a Rolodex to divide your recipe cards alphabetically.

Hole punch take-out menus and store them in a binder with tabs. The only thing you’ll have to worry about is whether it will be pizza or Chinese.
Reuse plastic grocery bags and store them by putting them into a large facial tissue box. Pull one out when you need them!
Keep track of grocery and to-do lists by either purchasing a magnetic white board for the fridge or painting a cupboard with chalk paint.
Arrange your kitchenware by how often you use it. If you don’t bake muffins more than once a month, put the muffin tin on a higher shelf.
Save counter space by hanging your pots and pans, using a magnetic knife strip or installing a paper towel holder under your cupboards.
Keep pantry items like pasta and flour in clear, reusable, labeled containers.
Skip the bulk store and head to your local farmers market. Buying groceries daily prevents needless overstock of your pantry and fridge.

Put these tips to the test or think of your own additions to the list to keep your kitchen organized. Enjoy creating meals and memories in your freshly organized kitchen. Happy organizing!

Kayleigh Lum is the owner of Get Yourself Together, Professional Organizers in Vancouver, BC. For more information visit www.getyourselftogether.ca.

Get Yourself Together Organization Tips – Purging

VancouverMom.ca — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:30:17 +0000

Guest post by Kayleigh Lum.

Saying a modern mothers life is busy is an understatement – almost an insult! Between your kids’ extracurricular activities, making dinner, keeping your boss happy and all the other craziness, to-do-lists often get buried under all the other things one has to do. In a busy household, a little bit of organization can go a long way in increasing efficiency, simplicity and sanity.

Today’s focus is about purging all the stuff that piles up – old toys, out grown clothes and junk. Sometimes it’s hard to let go of the little things as people often think they are going to find a need for it someday or it may hold sentimental value.

The Big Questions

When purging your home, ask yourself the following questions:

What is the primary use of this object and is it relevant to today?
Does someone in the household regularly use this object?
Does this object have a “home” in my home?
How will my family be effected if this object was no longer in the home

If you had a hard time answering those questions logically, it may be time to purge your home of clutter.

Mission Possible: Make the Time

Sometimes purging your home of clutter can be overwhelming or exhausting, which causes many people to procrastinate, which only leaves time to accumulate more clutter and make the overall process even worse. So, put aside a sufficient amount of time to take on this project or hire a professional organizer. Once you have decide what to keep, donate and throw out you are ready to purge.

De-clutter As You Go

Of course, the best way to de-clutter is to set up systems to help you along the way. Here are some helpful tips to help you eliminate clutter from your home.

Keep a box in the garage and use it as a donation hamper. As you come across old or unused items, put them in the box – when it’s full, donate!
Throw an old fashioned yard sale and use the money to take the family out to a movie.
Utilize classifieds such as craigslist free ads to give items to a new home.
Switch to electronic only! Get your bills, subscriptions even movies online to stop paper waste and build up.
Get the kids involved. Ask them to sort through their old toys into what they use and don’t use.

Those are only a few ideas to get the organization ball rolling. By de-cluttering your home you are also de-stressing your life while keeping your home tidy and functional. Purge your home often and start by not bringing things into your home that you don’t need or wont use in the first place. Happy organizing!

Kayleigh Lum is the owner of Get Yourself Together, Professional Organizers in Vancouver, BC. For more information visit www.getyourselftogether.ca.

The Gourmet Pregnancy: Be a Foodie – Even While You’re Pregnant

Christine — Fri, 07 May 2010 22:06:56 +0000

Who says being pregnant means that you need to sacrifice taste? Certainly not Leah Douglas, author of the recently released book The Gourmet Pregnancy. Leah couldn’t believe that there were no great food options for the pregnant foodie – and sought to create her own. The result? A beautifully laid out volume of tasty recipes sure to delight the senses of any expecting mom.

Now expecting her second child, Leah knows first hand what any pregnant woman craves. Missing your sushi? Try the sushi vegetables with Asian and wasabi Yogurt Dipping Sauces. Looking to eat even though your tummy is feeling a bit full? The book has a great selection of salads, soups and sandwiches from the butternut squash and carrot ginger soup to the sesame cashew red cabbage noodle salad. The book even contains some yummy options for those who are past the morning sickness phase and ready to try some breakfast options.

I love the book’s handy index of cravings – organizing recipes according to whatever craving your pregnant self might have. Feel like salty snacks? Try the cumin pita chips with peanut sweet chili dip. Want some chocolate? Whip up a batch of M&M granola bars.

But my favourite part is the mocktail section: a collection of tasty non-alcoholic concoctions including white peach bellinis and lemon drop cosmopolitans. Pour, shake and serve in fancy glasses and you’re ready for a party.

Even if you’re not pregnant, The Gourmet Pregnancy offers some terrific meal options for everyone.

The Gourmet Pregnancy by Leah Douglas

Available on Indigo and Amazon.

All images provided courtesy of Leah Douglas.

Boudoir Photography Basics: What to Expect from a Boudoir Photography Session

Christine — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 08:00:28 +0000

Guest post by Laura Millin.

Boudoir photography has recently experienced a huge surge in popularity, with women of all sizes and ages wanting beautiful, sensual photos both as a celebration of themselves and as a gift for that special someone. Although the demand for boudoir photography is new, boudoir as an art from has been around for a long time.

The first incarnation of boudoir as an art form can be found in the advertising art of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was these posters of provocative ladies that eventually led to the classic pin-up girl of the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s. Shortly afterwards, the first-ever true boudoir photos of women such as Marilyn Monroe and Bettie Page appeared. From there, Playboy and other similar magazines were born. Take a little piece from all of these sources and you’ll have a perfect idea of how boudoir photography is defined in modern times.

Today a woman can expect her boudoir photos to be fashion-inspired, with an editorial edge, and at the same time playful, sexy, and tasteful. The goal with any boudoir session is to create sensual, evocative images which in turn make the subject feel confident, beautiful and sexy.

A Fabulous Gift – To Yourself!

Often a client will do a boudoir session and subsequent album or prints as a gift for their boyfriend, fiance, or husband – a boudoir session makes a fabulous birthday, wedding, or anniversary gift! However, many clients do the session simply for themselves, perhaps to celebrate a milestone in their lives, or just because!

Picking Your Photographer

When searching for a boudoir photographer, look at their work and ask yourself: Is the subject lit in a flattering way? Are they posed well? Do they look comfortable? Price is of course a consideration as well, but the style of the photos and how comfortable the subjects look should be the main determining factors in your final decision. If you’re still not sure, give the photographer a call; have a chat with them about their approach to boudoir photography. You’ll quickly get an idea of how comfortable you’ll be in front of them in your skivvies! Lastly, find out how much retouching and enhancement will be done to the final images, as this can often be the difference between your images looking “good” as opposed to “great!”

Location, Location

Other important factors for a boudoir session are an excellent location and classy, good-fitting lingerie. The location can be the client’s home, the photographer’s studio, a posh hotel room, or – if you’re feeling bold – the great outdoors! In terms of lingerie, corsets, teddies, bra and panties sets, thigh-highs, and of course heels, work very well. And you can always bring along something of his, such as a shirt and tie or his favourite sports jersey! Typically, most photographers will ask you to bring about three to five outfits, as well as matching shoes and accessories.

Private Sessions vs. Boudoir Marathons

Generally there are two ways of doing a boudoir photo session: either as a private, individual session which can be booked anytime, or during a “boudoir marathon”, which involves several boudoir sessions scheduled on one day, often at a hotel. Usually a session will include a one-hour photo shoot, as well as a private online gallery for viewing your images. A marathon session might also include professional makeup and/or hair styling, and use of accessories, such as feather boas, jewelry, birdcage veils, and more.

A Little Nervous?

Most clients come into a boudoir session feeling somewhat nervous; not to worry! A great photographer will make you feel at ease and demonstrate poses for you, as well as give you tips to look your best. Within a few minutes, you should be feeling like a supermodel!

Bells and Whistles

After the session, many photographers will offer you a variety of products to show off your sexy images – these might include custom-designed albums, pin-up calendars, canvas art prints, and more. Whatever you choose will make for a memorable and unique keepsake to enjoy for many years to come.

Boudoir photos are a fun and sexy way to express your inner and outer beauty. You’ll get a confidence boost and if it’s for your significant other, they’ll get an unforgettable gift. If you’re thinking about doing your own boudoir session – go for it!

The Great Christmas Tree Heist

VancouverMom.ca — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:00:37 +0000

Guest post by Jane Eaton Hamilton.

“No one has ever become poor by giving.”—Anne Frank

“There is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life – happiness, freedom, and peace of mind – are always attained by giving them to someone else.” —Peyton Conway March

Sarah rattles the chain link fence and breaking icicles shatter like bells. I look back at Joy in the driver’s seat of the Micra, drumming mittened fingers on the steering wheel while the car puffs determined smoke rings into a swirl of snow. This is totally not going to work. The tree lot still has lights on, but it’s late on Christmas Eve, the roads are skating rinks, we’re in the middle of a white out, there are no people around anywhere, and it’s locked up tight. Except, maybe, for police trolling up and down Hastings Street looking for burglars.

I blow on my hands and say, “Never mind, let’s check somewhere else.”

Sarah keeps examining the perimeter. It’s so cold the inside of my nostrils freeze.

We’ve just come from delivering a hamper to a sole support mom and her kiddos this Christmas Eve. When Marsha confided that she couldn’t find a taxi willing to deliver a tree to her, and her kids held up homemade popcorn and cranberry strings, their big eyes blinking, well, we were goners.

Sarah finds a spot where the chain doesn’t meet and manages to slide inside, all elfin and thin. I’m a hundred pounds bigger and 23 years older, and when she holds open the gap, for a minute I just pray for a cop, anyone just to stop me from getting stuck. But I’m all charged up and reckless. Breaking and entering, me? It’s such a surreal moment that it seems like we could never get caught. I push my bulk through the gate and sure enough, yup, stick as if the fence is size 10 pants. Can’t go forward, can’t go back. Just for a second, I hate Joy in the safe warmth of the getaway car.

Sarah says, “Mom, come on,” and yanks my coat.

Like that will work.

Suck it in, I tell myself and surprise myself by popping out like an enormous ping pong ball. I am the most graceful thief in all of Vancouver, surely.

Green boughs beat in the wind like weird angel wings, but we soon find out there aren’t actually any trees left. I think, Why lock the place up then? There are needles and wood chips and chunks littering the ground, heaps of string, dangling ropes that once anchored trees. In the debris, I’m cold, shivering. Around Vancouver, no one dresses for the weather, and I’m no exception in a light spring jacket. Sarah finds tops that have been cut off other people’s trees, woebegone trees, and holds them up for my appraisal (which surely I could have offered from the legal side of the fence). Finally, I just nod, because really, they all look the same—like not real trees, just like Charlie Brown trees a pitiful two feet tall.

Still though, lame or not, the tree cries sap as we drag it back to the opening. I tell Sarah we should leave a twenty stuck in the door of the shed, but she says I’m insane. I tell myself the tree was just going to be pulped anyhow. Sarah slides out. She tugs the tree out. I, on the other hand, heave and ho and suck in my gut and finally stumble free ripping the back out of my coat. Joy lifts the sorry little tree into the back of the car. We skid out on the slippery roads with the tree shushing out the back like some demented green mermaid tail and take it to its awaiting family.

At our house, Christmas morning turns out to be a bit of an anti-climax because the hamper was our only gift to each other, and, well, we didn’t get a tree either. But we have our beautiful house, and each other, and before long, the scent of cooking turkey and the sounds of relatives knocking at the door to celebrate with us. And we have this small something else tucked inside us like a little private present just for we three—the memory of our great Christmas tree heist and the knowledge that across town some kiddos are opening presents under their brilliantly decorated little tree.

Jane Eaton Hamilton is the author of six books and the owner of Vancouver’s photo studio Jane Photo, where she photographs mostly the under-ten set. She is the mother of two grown daughters. This year she will deliver another Christmas Eve hamper.

New Vancouver Kindergarten Application Process

Christine — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:22:28 +0000

The Vancouver School Board has changed its application process. Changes include an extended application period – for the 2010/2011 school year as early as November 1, 2009 and applies to all Kindergarten programs, including regular, English, French Immersion, Montessori and Fine Arts. Students living in the schools catchment will be given priority and first consideration over those who apply later. If there are any additional spots available, a lottery will be held.

As always, the student will need to turn 5 years of age before the end of 2010 – that is, they must be born in 2005. Families may defer enrollment until the next school year.

You can register your child for Kindergarten at your neighbourhood catchment school if your child was born in Canada and speaks English at home.

Please refer to the FAQ on the Vancouver School Board’s web site for more information.

Lullaby League: A Speedy Way To Find Your Babysitting Superhero

Christine — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:00:03 +0000

“I started it for selfish reasons… I needed a babysitter!” says Amy van Weelderen, founder of Lullaby League, a service that connects busy families with high-quality babysitters in a way similar to speed dating. ” Amy’s only sitter was out of town during her wedding anniversary. She and her husband had lovely romatic dinner – with 5-year-old son Jasper in tow. Although the evening was great, “I knew then and there that I needed help with childcare and Lullaby League was born!”

Focusing on the part-time or occasional babysitting jobs, Lullaby League hosts hour long “mixers” for parents to meet and interview dozens of fantastic sitters who are mostly university and college students. At each event, parents have dozens of three- to four-minute “mini interviews” with the candidates. “They can chat, ask questions and get a feel for each other…it is one-on-one, face-to-face time and no better way to get to know someone.” When the mixer is over, parents contact the sitters directly.

While Lullaby League doesn’t pre-screen the candidates or complete background checks (parents will have to do that themselves), the service is a great way for parents to meet and interview a batch of sitters all at one time – perfect for busy families. “We all love our kids, but things happen and we need babysitters from time to time,” says Amy. “How else are you going to meet dozens of sitters in an hour?”

Parents pay a $50 fee (+GST) to participate in an event and have access to the candidates resumes, which the parents are to keep confidential. Sitters attend for free. Pre-registration is required – and recommended since events sell out quickly.

Here are some upcoming events:

Tuesday, October 27th at 7:30pm at Caramel Salon, 2342 Granville St, Vancouver
Tuesday, November 10th at 7:00 at Jack and Lola, 135 W 1st St., North Vancouver
Tuesday, November 24th at 7:30pm at Caramel Salon, 2342 Granville St, Vancouver

Lullaby League