Posts Tagged ‘Happy New Year’

Party Like It’s 2011

Posted on January 18th, 2011 by Tonia 2 Comments

“For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

 Happy New Year!  We got the party started this year by surrounding ourselves with friends and family.  The farm has been full of visitors all month long, and it has been wonderful!  I absolutely love having company in our home.  During the summer months, everyone seems too busy to visit each other for any length of time…but there’s something about the winter that promotes long conversations, long sits by the stove, and long meals together.

So, please excuse the spotty blogging while I:

 1) Cook meals with friends

2) Eat meals with friends

3) Play pond hockey with friends

4) Jam with friends

5) Sauna with friends {no picture of this for obvious reasons}

6) Go out to see this play with friends.

Regular posting will resume shortly…and speaking of that, I’d love to know what you all would like to see on this blog in 2011.  Last year I started doing a mixture of more personal posts, like the wedding series, and the tutorial posts that focus on implementing eco-habits into our lives.  Do you like this mixture?  Do you wish the blog was heavier on tutorials, or heavier on the personal details?

Thank you to everyone who reads Itty Bitty…I’m constantly finding out about new readers, and am suprised at how many of you there actually are.  It means so much to me to have you along on this journey with me, and I want to continue writing useful posts for you all.  I’m always open for suggestions on how to make the blog a more valuable part of your day!  Drop me a note anytime.  toniasimeone {at} gmail {dot} com

Happy New Year – A New Year, A New Opportunity

Posted on January 1st, 2010 by Tonia 3 Comments

Today is about reflecting on 2009 and being thankful about all that has happened in the year.  It was an eventful year for us here at Itty Bitty…for starters, the blog was born!

I can’t tell you how excited I am to grow this blog.  My hope is that it will be a place for readers to see that we’re not alone in the struggle to reduce our impact, while still maintaining a normal life, holding down a job, and providing for a family.  I know better than anyone that it’s nearly impossible to exclaim “I’m never driving my car anywhere ever again!” and POOF, you’re suddenly the green-queen-supreme in your neighborhood.  We need bite-sized, practical ways to cut back on our consumption and waste…and that is exactly what Itty Bitty will focus on:  the small things that add up and make a difference.

We’re all in this together, so I want to hear your stories as well.  Please leave comments {or email me: toniasimeone@gmail.com } if you have something to share- experiments, questions, successes, secrets, challenges, guilty-pleasures, tips, strategies, family practices, motto’s, failures…If it has to do with your journey to becoming more self-sustainable, then please share!  One of my New Years Resolutions is to feature commonly asked questions, tips, etc. from readers on Itty Bitty.  What are your resolutions for 2010?

The Itty Bitty Resolutions list is really anything but itty-bitty…as you can see, we have a lot to work on:

1. Unplug appliances when they’re not in use {i.e. the toaster and coffee maker}

2. Use paper-towel less {major bad habit of mine: wrapping my breakfast in paper-towel and running out the door to work every morning…not cool}

3. Make toys for the dog out of scraps from the already-killed toys instead of buying new ones from the store {does anyone have experience with sewing dog toys that would be tough enough to withstand razor-sharp miniature dachshund teeth?}

4. Make a backyard compost area

5. Talk to our neighbors more often

6. Volunteer around the city more {we’re getting a good start on this one already…more about that soon!}

8. Be more careful about saving paper garbage to burn in the wood-stove {paper-stuff accidentally gets thrown out way too often}

9. Blog more often {and someday be a full-time blogger!}

2010 brings with it a blank slate, a fresh start, and new opportunity.  I am proud of how much more resourceful we’ve become in the last year, and I am really excited to see how far we can go in 2010.