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Welcome, 2017! It's only been a couple days and already I'm inspired, challenged, and excited about a few things I've read online. Here's some favourites:

• 10 Cleaning + Simplifying Tips for the New Year. Especially since we're home-bound due to freezing temperatures and ice everywhere here in Montreal, it's as good a time as any to do a little home refresh!
• Do you eat alone? The French don't. Related: One of my hopes for the New Year is to have more dinner parties and go out to eat with others! For my 30th we went out to dinner with two other couples and it was such a rare and pleasurable experience.
• I really believe that magazines across the board that are aimed at a female readership (celebrity, teen, women's, fitness, etc.) are hurting us as women and setting back the cause of feminism. Lena Dunham often makes me smile when talking about feminism and body image, and I absolutely LOVE her un-touched-up legs on the cover of Glamour. Guess what? We all have cellulite. If you don't, you are either a) male b) a child or c) from Mars. It's about time magazine covers represent and respect their readers! Bravo Lena and Glamour. I'm not a magazine reader, but I'm still a woman, so this made my day.

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• I read this moving article during the Holidays and kept thinking about it.  "In his obedience, Joseph demonstrated what his other son would later call “pure and undefiled” religion, the kind that cares for the fatherless and the abandoned (James 1:27)"
• January is usually a month for reigning in spending, so here's 10 restos in Montreal where you can eat for under $10! Now that our kids eat basically adult portions (already!) I've kind of accepted that we'll almost never eat out, but this could be a fun option. 
• I sported this up-do a lot these holidays! With my short, blunt hair I find I don't really love it unless I have the right product (dry shampoo, texture), and my trusty curling iron, both of which I was often without while traveling over the holidays. So pinning it up was easy and fun. 

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• I have a lot of friends who are really into working out, which in and of itself is a great thing. But I'm always a little wary of extreme dieting and working out, especially in our day of social media where you can model your progress or lack thereof for the world to see. I loved this article's cautions as many of us start the New Year with goals of health and fitness in mind. 
• 5 Mindful Habits for a Minimalist Home - check check check check check (at least in theory I agree with them, lol)
• I was sure I already shared this recipe in December but I guess I forgot! Red wine hot chocolate! How could I?!

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