Dream BIG... it's worth it in the end. A review of 2013

When I take a step back to breathe in the full year all at once, despite a few challenges which threatened to knock me out of the game, the highlights win, hands down!!

I had high expectations for 2013 and in the end… she didn’t disappoint!

January: My daughter and I rang in 2013 with my family in White Rock, BC. We’d flown out to celebrate with my baby sister as she walked down the aisle again on December 30th. This time, she found a real gentleman and I couldn’t be more happy for her. I came home just in time to celebrate my husband’s 46th birthday.

February: I never thought I’d have fun in the snow, I’m built for a warmer climate but Family Day in the Muskokas at Ontario Pioneer Camp changed all that.

March: Our church turned 20!!!

I was given 4 tickets to see P!NK in concert – the most amazing concert I’ve ever been to – and thanks to to the #PGmom program, Emma and I were able to meet her backstage!

While in Dallas for BlissDom’s final conference, I found out that kindness still exists. Met Chris Mann for the 2nd time and former Glee cast-mate, Amber Riley.

April: I was invited by Christine Magee (Sleep Country Canada) to attend, “A Night with Oprah” as one of her guests. One of the perks… meeting O backstage!

Along with the announcement of the date and location for my favourite blogging conference, BlissDom Canada, a change in leadership was revealed. This year was going to be different on all levels! For the first time since coming to Canada in 2010, it was owned and operated by a 100% Canadian team! One hint if you don’t have time to click the link… I helped take it over! 🙂

May: Flew to Calgary for a tweet up for BlissDom Canada and launched our largest client to date. While on our way to Alberta we made our new business, SPLASH media engagement, official.

Dave and I celebrated 17 years of marriage and our Emma officially became a teenager, 13 y’all!!! At the tail end of this month, my parents flew out to spend some time with us in conjunction with our church’s 20th anniversary party.

June: June was a busy month!!

In the short 10 days my parents were with us, my Dad built us a huge deck, they bought me a car and I took my mom to work with me. I organized the first blogger & family weekend away at Ontario Pioneer Camp. We had a great time with archery, rock-climbing, canoeing and more.

Flew to Ottawa and then drove on to Montreal for a BlissDom Canada Tweet Up.

Afterwards, I flew out west with Jacob for a family wedding. One of my nephews married on the Summer Solstice. Jacob is such a momma’s boy and thought it was the best mother/son date ever. My Dad put me to work shortly after arriving, he’d set up a 3 day “Zero to Hero: Social Media 101” course for business owners… which he asked me to lead.

Taught a 3 day Breakfast Workshop for a dozen business owners from the White Rock / South Surrey area.

Had a Tweet Up for BlissDom Canada at my parent’s restaurant, The Roadhouse Grille.

The day before we left BC, Calgary endured one of the worst floods ever. Thankfully we were able to help bring in much needed supplies as we flew home.

July: My kids attended their favourite summer camp, Ontario Pioneer Camp, for 2 full weeks. They had an absolute BLAST! While they learned how to sail, canoe and made a bunch of new friends, I was held up in our vintage trailer just up the road.

August: I spent most of July & August in Muskoka at our trailer, which means I didn’t blog much. It’s easy to not want to work when your view is of a gorgeous lake! Jacob celebrated his 8th birthday and my mom and one of my niece’s flew out to spend a week with us.

September: The kids went back to school; Jake Grade 3, Liam Grade 6, Emma Grade 8, & Quinton Grade 10. Liam and I had our twin birthday, he turned 11 while I tried to forget I was turning 41.

October: One word…. BlissDom Canada. K, it’s two words but it’s ONE BIG MOMENT! 🙂

An entire year of hard work, sleepless nights, blood, sweat and tears went into this one weekend. #Snotbubbles flowed from the stage as we wrapped up an amazing year. It’s easy to talk about what we did, as in, we had an outdoor concert with the amazing Jully Black and cried our eyes out with Glen Canning (Rehtaeh Parsons’ dad) and hugged enough people to fill my Joy Jar to last a lifetime… It’s still not easy to describe all that was felt… The unspoken awesome which took place in those halls.

I also got to meet Matt Dusk, Glennon Doyle Melton (Momastery), and Jesse Labelle.

We had our best Thanksgiving meal of all times – I swear it’s all about the company you keep… 😉

Our oldest turned 15!

I flew to Jamaica to enjoy a week at a tropical yoga & health retreat. It was the perfect way to wrap up an awesome year.

I am extremely proud of my kids who convinced their youth group to collect food for the Food Bank instead of candy for themselves on Halloween night.

November: My parents celebrated their 42nd wedding anniversary at the end of October in Mexico and they flew in their 4 daughters and their spouses to join them in the Mayan Riviera. I had such a great time with my family, I didn’t want the week to end.

In the 18 years I’ve lived away from them in Ontario, this year I’ve seen them the most and I LOVED IT!

Quinton and I were able to attend We Day together which came with a behind the scenes tour (thanks Telus), meet the founder of Free the Children & We Day, Craig Kielburger, and Canadian singer Nelly Furtado. Quinton was able to talk with Craig in which Q said it was the kick in his butt he needed to do more. Remember this is the kid who spent 2 weeks in the summer of 2011 (at 12 yrs old) on a mission’s trip in Peru and turned his 13th birthday party into a fundraiser for a shelter for teens. My Q inspires me to do more!

December: A moment of self-doubt in completing a dream to help others at Christmas turned into a surprise shower of love from the internets. Thanks to all those I’ve met online, Busy Babies Christmas Stockings happened. It exceeded my every expectation. I was able to deliver 40 bags (and extras for their next event) and have lunch with some pretty amazing women, doing the best they can with the little they have.

We spent Christmas in the Smoky Mountains, taking the kids to Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. We saw amazing broadway-like shows and Christmas lights and had a lot of fun on the rides. I never thought I’d ride rollercoasters in 2C weather but I did!! Jacob rode his very first “big boy” coaster – the thrill monster has been born! We’ve booked our timeshare for another two weeks next summer. We love us some Dolly!

A few celebs I had the chance of meeting in 2013…


Top: Matt Dusk \| Center Left: Pink & Jessee Labelle \| Center: Oprah \| Center Right: Jully Black \| Bottom Left: Chris Mann & Amber Riley \| Bottom Right: Glennon Melton aka Momastery