Holiday Season

I love the Winter Holidays!!
I have been looking forward to this time, and it's finally here!  Although I don't like the cold too much, I can't wait for the snow to come down and shape this Winter Wonderland.

So... What are your theme colors this year?
I'm thinking gold, gold gold!!! With touches of silver and black...

To celebrate in style, I created three Holidays stationeries which I am now selling in my Etsy shop.

A Craft Sanctuary

It's been way too long since I have written any thing on this blog... Ahh... I feel awful.

Since the day my Husband finished his studies, we have been spending a lot of time together, traveled to a few places ~ California for vacation/celebration, France to visit my family and an RV trip from Phoenix to Denver ~, and I just haven't found the time to write.

Grenoble, France

Life In Positudiness Planner for Men

We women love to be organized, don't we?  Well... at least, we aspire to be!
The Life In Positudiness Planner - Hexagons and the Life In Positudiness Planner - Chevrons are both designed to help us stay organized in a colorful and fashionable manner.

Life In Positudiness Planner - Hexagons

Palm Springs, CA ~ Sunrise on our mountains

The view from our balcony was gorgeous.  

Of course, the pictures don't do it a justice, but watching the mountains light up in the morning was spectacular.

Palm Springs, CA

About three weeks ago, Hubby and I went on a little getaway to Palm Springs, CA.  

Here are some of the views of this beautiful area!

Where have I been?!

Hey everybody!!

Sorry, I've been kind of M.I.A. lately, but that's because I've been super busy with different fun things!!! ;)
Altough, I haven't really blogged a lot, I am still active on the social media, so for those of you who don't follow me yet but do have access to them, come join the fun and check out what I've been up to!
I'm kind of crazy about Instagram, so you'll definitely see me and my projects there a lot, and Twitter is for sure a nice little bonus!

And I'll be back soon for some great and exciting news and new projects to share with you!

Until then, remember that

Breaking News!!!

Just a quick post to let you know how thrilled I am to announce that I have just opened my Etsy shop!!

You can now find my super practical Personalized Life Planner on there!

I will be posting more pictures soon!

Washi Tape Labels to Organize my File Box

Washi Tape

I've been seeing a lot of washi tape project lately on the www world, and I just couldn't wait any longer.  I had to get me some washi tape and prettify some stuff!!

Today I went shopping...  Tape shopping that is!

Aren't they so pretty?!

DIY Drawers for Deep Kitchen Cabinets

Organizing Dish and Hand Towels

This is probably the quickest and easiest organizing tip of the year!

I think it is very hard to store any kind of item in a pantry, cabinet, closet or even refrigerator that has pretty deep shelves...  I always find myself forgetting about whatever is hiding in the back and/or having to move things around a lot.  

I came to the conclusion that my best bet was to create pull out "drawers" whenever possible. 

My Very First Canvas Picture ~ Easy Canvas Prints

I love pictures; I love taking them, editing them, sometimes making collages and ultimately displaying them in my home.  Pictures tell a story, they remind you of special events in your life, and they bring life to a room. A great and fancy way to display your favorite pictures is to have them printed out on canvases.  I love the way canvas pictures look, I think they make the images really stand out in a more professional way.

Since we moved into our home, I had been wanting to have some pictures on canvases, and, well... I recently just found the perfect company for it...  

Easy Canvas Prints!

via

DIY Personalized Countdown Flip Calendar

Countdowns

How many of you use a countdown whether it is for a baby's arrival, wedding day, graduation, vacation, or anything else?

There are many apps available for countdown out there, but what if you made a totally completely personalized one?  

One that would include pictures, sayings for encouragement, love and positive thinking phrases...

Liebster Nomination!

I woke up this morning feeling super refreshed after a very relaxing weekend spent at the Jersey Shore.

Love looking at the sunrise when we go to the shore.

Miss Handy Sandie

I consider myself to be quite the handy gal; give me some tools, and I’ll be the happiest person on the block!

For six months now, I have been tasting the world of arts and craft and it has been such a great addition to my life.  Before then, I used to do all kinds of fixings, organizing and creating, but now that I have the time to also make them pretty, I feel complete!

Gold Rush and Other Colors

The office makeover is such a fun process.  I've been inspired by gold anything lately, and for once, I feel like I can do whatever I want, and incorporate cute and fashion designs.  After the gold and blue painted bulletin board, the gold hexagons wall decals came out really great.  Now, I am continuing this new space update with adding some more gold as well as pink and green color statements.

Wall Decals ~ Metallic Gold Hexagon DIY

After seeing gold polka dots wall decals on A Thoughtful Place, I completely fell in love.  I just had to add those gold shapes to my office wall!  

Via: A Thoughtful Place

To save money ~and also because I'm a "right here right now" kind of girl, and couldn't wait to go buy them at the store!~ I decided to DIY my gold polka dots.  

But honestly, my circle cutting skills are not that great, and I knew the dots wouldn't have a smooth circular shape.  However, straight shapes are much easier to cut and to make it as close to a circle as possible... hexagons it was!!

Painting a Bulletin Board

Our bulletin board had been left alone for months...  We really didn't like the look of it, too dull, too boring, too cheap looking...  But when I saw that Wendy from Pretty Well Organized painted her cork board mouse pad, I felt inspired!

I decided to paint our bulletin board.  I wasn't too sure about it, because it was such a large piece compared to the small mouse pad, but I took the risk.....

Before

Dish Organizer

Seems that I am much into kitchen organization lately... :)  After a new kitchen utensils set up and an efficient way to store food containers and their lids, I wanted to share with you how I organized my dessert dishes for better access.

Dish Drainer for Dish Organizer

In a Pile

When the dishes were piled up in the cabinet, I was having a hard time using them the way I wanted because I often had to move the ones on the top to reach the ones on the bottom...  ~yes, it may sound crazy, but depending on the kind of dessert I am having I will want a specific kind of dish... It also depends on my mood!~

French Cooking ~ Crêpes Recipe

In France, we love to have soirées crêpes: that's when we have crêpes for main course and crêpes for dessert.  In the ones for the main course, we usually put anything we desire that has a salty taste to it: ham, cheese, eggs, and my favorite is lying some bechamel ~here is the recipe~ and add other ingredients on top.  As for the dessert crepes, these are the sweet kind!  We put nutella, jam, sugar, butter, whipped cream, fruits, etc.

When making crepes, try and flip them, it's a lot of fun!!!  Have each member of your family make their own crepe, they will enjoy it.  Even the little ones can do it... when done cooking, and once the pan is cooled, have them flip a crepe, it might just gets messy ;)

French Cooking ~ Béchamel Recipe

Recipe yields about 2 cups of Béchamel

Béchamel is a French white sauce, kind of like sausage gravy that is served with biscuits here in the US, without the sausage.  We use it as a base for a lot of meals such as lasagna, shepherds pie, casseroles, and I personally love it in crêpes!
If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen the video already ~it's also at the end of this post~, and today I am finally sharing the recipe...

Home for the BBQ Necessities

Summer time of course rhymes with BBQ!  

As soon as the nice days came along, we got hooked into BBQing.  After living in a condo for four years, and not being able to BBQ, we were so excited to finally be able to grill our meats, fish, vegetables, and host parties and have fancy romantic dinners out in the back yard.  And after a very necessary deck cleaning and a front yard fixing, we were so ready to enjoy the outdoors.

We quickly gathered a few items to use to BBQ ~well that Hubby uses, since he is the pro in this domain!!~ and as for everything else, I like finding a "home" where everybody in the same family stays together! ;)

Organizing Food Storage Containers and Lids

Since I do not have a lot of counter space, I work as much as possible on keeping a clear counter.  Optimizing the kitchen cabinets to the best of their storing and organizing abilities is one of my most important tasks, and the corner carousel is definitely getting there.  On the top shelf, I have my kitchen utensils organized in metal mesh letter tray, and the bottom shelf is filled with food storage containers and their lids as well as the pots and pans lids!

I used to have the containers piled into each other, on top of each other, in a cabinet, with the lids on the side, sometimes if possible staked into a larger container.  

Of course, the one container I needed was the one all the way in the back most of the time, and the lids would fall all over the place, on the floor, etc.  I had enough of that mess, as you can imagine...

Better Organization

Storing Kitchen Utensils in a 3-Tier Letter Tray

How a metal mesh letter tray unwanted in the office becomes super handy in the kitchen...

Upright Utensils

Since I do not have many drawers nor much counter space, I store the cooking tools in a cupboard right by the stove.  I had them standing up in a basket, but this one used to fall over a lot from the weight of all the utensils and/or as it bumped into a metal hook.  It was getting frustrating.

French Friday ~ Une Idee de Rangement et Une Recette Facile et Saine

De retour pour un petit Vendredi en Francais...  

Evidemment, il est deja tard par chez vous et il risque d'etre Samedi quand vous vous mettrez a lire cet article... Oh well...

Besoin de rangement pour rassembler des petits objets eparpilles?

Recyclez une boite a chaussures en jolie boite de rangement.

Envie d'un diner equilibre' et super facile, mais vous n'avez pas d'idees?

Cuisinez des blancs de poulet avec un melange de petites carottes et poireaux.

Sauteed Carrots, Leeks and Chicken a la Francaise

Healthy Recipes

Like with my Quiches or Crock-Pot Veggies and Salmon recipes, this one simply starts with whatever vegetables I may have in the fridge that day.  Then, add some protein, and we have healthy dinner.

Ingredients for 2 persons

6 Carrots          2 or 2 Garlic Cloves              2 Chicken Breasts

2 Leeks            Butter, Olive Oil                    Herbs de Provence, salt, pepper

Directions

1. Peel, wash and slice the carrots.

2. Peel and half the garlic cloves.

3. Place the carrots and garlic cloves in a heated pan with one teaspoon of butter and a tablespoon of O.O.  Sear the carrots on high flame until they become brown.

DIY Storage Box ~ Lonely Shoe Boxes Find New Purpose

Instead of throwing out shoe boxes, you could reuse them and make pretty storage boxes out of them.  

We'll always need a specific place to put special items!

All you need is a shoe box, wrapping paper and glue.

Le Tour de France is Home!

Today Le Tour de France's final destination was Le Grand Bornand: One of the many mountains around my home town Annecy, and one of the ski resort I used to go skiing... ~Oh how I miss that...~

Stage 19 ~ via le.tour.fr

No-Bake Choco Treat 3minute-Recipe

Do you ever have a craving for a chocolate something after dinner, or throughout the day too?! 

I do, and last night, I needed something quick and easy to make, to eat right away!!  This is what I came up with.

*Just as a friendly warning, some of the pictures are not too appetizing, I admit... But trust me, the result will be worth it!

Ingredients:

-1.5 cup Graham crackers

-2 Tablespoons Peanut Butter

-1Tablespoon Nutella

-5 squares Hersey chocolate bar

-Butter

-3 big Marshmallows (or 10 small ones)

-Parchment paper

How to Make Your Own Reusable Stencil

I recently made this Chevron clipboard and wanted to make my own reusable stencil.

Chevron Design Clipboard ~ Tutorial and a Free Template!!

**New today at Life In Positudiness: Opportunities to advertise your products and/or promote your business for a small fee or swap buttons for free!!! Visit the Advertise Page**

Yesterday, I shared with you how to make a two-colored striped clipboard.

Today, let's explore how to make a trendy chevron one!  And if you're good, I'll even give you a Chevron template to make your own stencil for this project!! ;)

1. Clean the clipboard off of any dust particles.

Design Clipboard Tutorial

You may have seen my Organizing Nook which I use to organize the daily material we receive in the mail.

I use 4 cheap clipboards and painted them in 4 different ways to embellish my wall.

Province ~ Restaurant Review

The Province restaurant is in the hotel Westin Downtown in Phoenix, AZ.

The place was beautiful.  I loved the modern yet comfy interior design.

A whole lot of nothing

I got nothing for you today on Life In Positudiness ...

Because, This is how my day went: 

10am - going to my gym which I just joined to take my very 1st class "dance it off": so pumped!

10:30 - class starts! so happy to be here, this is great! I'm finally working out and doing something for myself!! YEAH!

11:00 - sweating, working my butt off and loving it! Woohoo, you go girl!

11:13 - last combination, reminds me of my dance classes: I'm kicking my left leg front and back while jumping on the right leg, now we are turning to do it on the other side. And front and jump and .... My toes kissed the floor and before I could even be aware of what was happening... Bam!! My butt hits the ground.

House Tour and Social Media

I finished posting the pictures of our house.

Take a look on the page called "House Tour" on the top bar, or just click here!

Don't expect anything fancy, our house is very simple, but we love it! We are truly lucky to have it,  and that's all thanks to our wonderful landlord!

J'ai enfin termine' d'ajouter les photos de notre maison, cliquez ici pour faire le Tour!
Ne vous attendez pas a quelques chose de grandiose, notre chez-nous est tres simple, mais on s'y sent bien! On est vraiment chanceux de l'avoir!!

The Roaring Fork - Restaurant Review

Back to our trip in Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ, another of our favorites.

The Roaring Fork... The name itself is pretty appealing, isn't' it?!  It makes you want to know more about it.

This restaurant is situated in Scottsdale, AZ.  It was about 5 minutes away from our resort, The Phoenician. ~They have 2 other locations: Austin Stonelake, TX and Downtown Austin, TX~

My Husband's father had told us to go there for its delicious and cheap appetizers, during the Happy Hour! ~Check out their menu~
We dinned at the Roaring Fork the first night of our vacation... And we loved it so much, we went again our last night!
We ordered the same plates each night, per Dad's recommendation! ;)

From top to bottom: Kettle of Green Chili Pork, Green Chili Mac&Cheese, Fish Tacos, Beef Tenderloin Sliders, Pork Wings

French Friday #2 - Un Coin Organisation

Bonjour, 
Nous revoici pour une edition speciale en francais!!
Cette semaine, je partage avec vous mon petit Coin Organisation.  Le reste de mes articles etaient plutot des photos de notre maison, donc vous pouvez regarder de vous meme!
Ici est l'evolution de notre Salon/Salle a manger et ici le Bureau/Lounge.


Vous etes vous deja retrouve' devant une pile de papiers que vous avez recu par la poste?  Est-ce que vos documents s'empilent sur une table, dans une boite, sur votre bureau... ?Vous etes vous deja sentis surpasses par tout ces papiers a ouvrir, lire, payer les factures, classer les documents importants...
Des fois, on n'a simplement pas le temps de s'en occuper tout de suite, et la pile s'accumule, oublie de payer une facture a temps, d'envoyer une lettre avant la date limite, ou on egare quelques unes.  On espere que ca n'arrive pa souvent, mais avec nos emplois du temps si charges... et bien ca arrive parfois.  Et les consequences peuvent meme devenir stressantes...  

Living Room/Dining Room Transformations

This Winter's setup

Office/Lounge Transformation

On the side of our house are two small connected rooms, and the furthest one in the back gives us access to the deck. 

We needed one to be an office, and ... weren't to sure what to do of the second one!

Oh and by the way... All the furniture you'll see in both of these rooms ~except the Ikea library that I somewhat created myself~ are hand-me-down's from our friends and family.  We can't really afford nice fancy furniture yet, and we are so grateful to have such generous people around us to help out!  Plus, it's a lot of fun to find ways to make something new and practical with something old.

Organizing Nook

Today, I was invited to write a post on an all-about-craft blog, Kreative Creationz. 
In my guest post, I discuss the sorting system I created for Hubby and I.  This Organizing Nook includes a frame which serves as a dry-erase board for our to-do list and the weekly menu  ~write on the glass with a dry-erase marker and swipe it off when you need to!~, as well as 4 clipboards to organize documents.

The Organizing Nool explained

To each board its category: 1. To Read / 2. To File / 3. To Pay / 4. To Mail

Read all about it here!!

**Also, see how to make a chevron clipboard  ~with a reusable stencil~ and a striped design clipboard.**

Restaurant Review - Elements at The Sanctuary

My Husband and I have a few passions in common.  One of them is traveling, another one is eating!  When we go on vacation, we have the best time combining both.  We like to experience the local foods and look up great restaurants in that area.

On our First Mini Honeymoon, we dove in the tasting experience and gave our taste buds a whole new sense and definition of deliciousness.

During this month of July, every Monday, I will take you on a foodie journey to our five favorite restaurants around Phoenix, AZ.

This week, we are going back to Elements, the restaurant in The Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort and Spa.

The restaurant itself was stunning, very modern, high class, a wide open area.  But the best of it was the view.  

French Friday #1

Hey there everyone!!!  Today is my very first post for this new edition of French Friday.  This means, sorry my fellow Americans and other English speaking readers...  This post is intended to be written for my friends and family who do not understand a word of English, and will summarize this past week for them ~it's just a condensed repeat of my Ikea hack, Phoenix trip and the fantastic hotel we stayed at, and my entryway makeover.  It is therefore going to auto-translate itself in French in  3, 2, 1....

Bonjour tout le monde!!! Ca y est!!! C'est Vendredi!  Bienvenu sur ma premiere edition rien que pour vous du Vendredi Francais ~ce que je continuerais a appeler en anglais: French Friday~.  
**Mon clavier d'ordinateur n'a pas les accents, donc desolee si c'est un peu difficile a lire... Je trouverais une autre solution pour la semaine prochaine...**

Alors voila, pour resumer les quatre articles de cette semaine, au menu nous avons:

1. des meubles Ikea reinventes 
2. des photos a gogo de notre Mini Lunes de Miel dans un hotel magnifique en Arizona
3. et des images des environs: Phoenix, Scottsdale et Sedona en Arizona
4. et pour finir, je vous montre l'ammenagement de notre "entree" dans notre petite maisonnette!

Vous etes pret?!  Prenez un petit cafe' ou un apero, suivant l'heure qu'il est, ca risque d'etre long!!

Entryway Makeover

We have been renting and living in this house for almost 6 months.  We must have changed the rooms around at least twice each room!!  Personally, I need change, constantly.  I think I get bored of one way, but sometimes it's also for the area to be more convenient!

I am not a fan of front doors opening right into the living or dining area, but that's how it is in our house.
I had to somehow make a separation, as well as incorporate a space for purses, keys, change, and most importantly our shoes which we must leave by the door.  ~I insist on having a shoe-free house, because I think it's the grossest thing to walk in the streets, get poo and dirt or whatever on our shoes, then bring all those yucky things in our cozy nest...~

I got three Expedit shelving units from Ikea.  One of my friends from Florida had done this exact combination of the shelving units in her condo, and I thought it was a great idea.  It fit perfectly as my entryway separator.  A bit bulky, yet open since the squares were hallow from both sides.  I loved this setting.

Arizona - Wordless Wednesday

Today, I'm trying something new...  I've recently found out about "Wordless Wednesday", a post where bloggers only publish pictures on... you guessed it, Wednesdays!  Sounds pretty cool.

Those of you who follow me have probably already seen a few pictures on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, but here is our First Mini Honeymoon in Arizona, Part 2!

**Most of the pictures where taken while driving, around Phoenix, Scottsdale, and on the way to Sedona, AZ, so some are a little crooked... :)**

Phoenix, AZ - The Phoenician

Saturday, June 15 - Tuesday, June 18, Hubby and I went on our First Mini Honeymoon.  Woohoo!!!!  

** Warning this is a looong post ~ but most of it are pictures! ;) **

This trip was very last minute.  We first wanted to go to San Francisco, CA because we love this town, but when we started talking about what our needs for this first getaway were, we realized that all we needed was to relax, bathe in the sun, lay by a pool, just take it easy for once.
So, San Francisco was not the best, it was not so warm, not really a place to stay by a pool, more like a city to visit and walk a lot.  My In-Laws had told us so much about Arizona we had been dying to go there.  Once Thursday night came, there we were looking for flights to go to Phoenix, AZ.  We had so much to do at home prior to leaving, we did not even bother finding a hotel.

Friday all day, we both were off, so we rearranged the house...again... We switched the office and lounge which I started talking about in yesterday's post.

And Saturday very early morning, we flew to Phoenix.

IKEA Hack

When we bought our bed frame from Ikea, MALM bed frame, we had in mind to eventually add the side tables from the same series.  I really liked the set which included 2 shelving units ~with 3 shelves, a 2-in drawer and a glass top~ and a long hollow piece, as long as the bed frame, which would go between the wall and the bed.  The shelving units were on wheels, and you could bring them in and out of the long piece, therefore hiding the shelves behind the bed. 

Here is the set.  This was taken in our bedroom, before the bed frame went in front of it.

However, at $150 for this three-part set, we could not afford it right away.

A month later, we went back to Ikea to look for lights and, oh what a surprise, the MALM bedside sets were on sale for $50!!! ~yes a $100 discount~  Now, that was a good deal!  

~They must have been discontinued because I can't even find them in their catalog anymore...~

Summer Challenge // Defi de l'Ete

I've spent hours trying to write this post, looking for the right words to use, trying to talk about some of my feelings, and open up, and finally I was done, happy about it... Then, somehow, it all disappeared... How I don't like when this happens!... :(

Now, it's getting late, and I don't have the courage to try rewriting it all, so to keep it quick and simple, I've been tired of not putting myself and my project first.  I always do things that have to be done, and keep the things that matter to me the most for last, sometimes not having the energy or time to do them anymore.  It has made me pretty unhappy, I need change...

Salmon Quiche

Ingredients:

- Salmon in a can ~or fresh would be fine ;)~

- 1 zucchini

- 1 tomato

- 1 pie crust

- 3 eggs

- salt, pepper, herbs ~I use either Italian Seasoning or Herbes de Provence~

- a 8 or 9 in. pan ~ square or circle, it doesn't matter~

Pimp My Jar

A simple way to make a glass jar more attractive

Here was a simple sauce jar I had and wanted to use to store rice away.

Phoenix, Arizona

Hubby and I are on a little vacation ~or what we call it our first mini honeymoon~ in Phoenix, Arizona. 
We landed Saturday, June 15 and are leaving Tuesday night.  We are staying in the most beautiful resort in the area, The Phoenician. 
Here is a sneak pick... 
To view more pictures follow me on Instagram or go on LIP's Facebook Page and "like" the page! (You can also click on the widgets in the column on the right to find the links to network accounts!)

Remodeled Pitcher

When we moved in, our super awesome landlord let us keep a few items that she had left here.  Among them, this pitcher.  

I really liked it for some reason, but definitely not a fan of the J&B Scotch Whisky advertisement!! 

I wanted to update it, change it, paint it, but I liked the yellow/green color of it ~it doesn't look so appealing in these pictures, but it's actually one of my favorite greens~.  I decided to make something else of what was inside of the white frame, only.

Attention Lovely Readers!

Hello everybody!

Just a quick post here on technical issues.

It's been brought to my attention over the weekend that Life In Positudiness runs very slowly on some web browsers (i.e., Internet Explorer).  If that's the case for you too, I suggest using Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome, which are much quicker browsers.  As for Apple users, I am sure Safari works great!

Source

TGIF!!!

Finally taking the time to have a ...

Jersey Shore ~ Update

Back in February, I went down to the Jersey Shore to see what Hurricane Sandy had done there...

{You can read about it HERE}

It was pretty sad, but it did not compare to the damages I saw in the beginning of this month.

Words can't explain how saddening this was.

Here are some photos...

Storage Bags Extravaganza

Here in the U.S., storage bags ~ziploc~ are a must in a household.  Whether it is to pack a sandwich, put some leftover away, or store chips and crackers in a resealable bag, I probably use them on a daily basis, and I am sure I'm not the only one!! 

So of course when we moved into the house, I had to buy a bunch of them ~4 different sizes~ which I had tucked away in a drawer next to the rolls of aluminium foil, etc.