Completing Revive25 in 2025

I love projects, and especially to plan and start projects, but sometimes, (often?) I don't complete them. Last year, I planned to Revive 25 memories with 25 mini projects. I loved the project and it started great, but then I realized that if I was going to complete the project in the way I started, I wouldn't finish the book I was writing. I chose to prioritize my book and I'm thrilled that I completed it in 2025.

In a way, you could say that I revived at least 25 memories in my book, but I still want to look back at my Revive25 in 2025 Project and close it. Throughout the year, the project was on my mind and I was reviving memories—even if I wasn't writing and sharing about them.

This is my catch up and closing post.

At first, when I was reviving memories, the mini-projects weren't as small as they should have been. For example, I have seen Keane in concert eleven times. My Keane concert memories "mini-project" included: 

• finding concert photos in my photo albums and scanning them
• finding negatives and taking them to a photo lab for reprinting
• finding digital photos in my photos app
• collecting the photos in one place (in my concert album)
• finding and adding concert tickets
• printing and adding blog posts
• completing two highlight videos from concert recordings
• writing the blog post of how the memories connected together 
• recording and editing the vlog to share the story

My Olympic memories mini-project consisted of filling 34 pages (half an album) with my Olympic photos, blog posts, and mementos (it could include a bulleted list as well). Each of those were not "mini" projects. In a way, each of those could have been divided into multiple mini-projects. I couldn't keep this type of reviving up while wanting to complete my book. 

I also realized that I didn't need to write a blog post for all my mini-projects. Some were similar to others, so there wasn't much value in sharing. I revived other concert memories and posted them in my music blog and YouTube channel rather than in my memories ones. I revived other recipes and souvenirs. Sharing takes time though, so I stopped sharing while I kept reviving.

What I also realized was that reviving memories doesn't always require anything more than thinking about moments, looking at photos or videos, or telling the stories. If I wanted to remember the moments that mattered, I didn't have to complete a "mini-project." 

I used nudges throughout the year to revive memories. I find this the easiest way. When I'm reminded of something, I revive it. Reviving a little at a time isn't as daunting as thinking that we have to revive everything.

For example, when I went to see the Blue Jays in the 2025 playoffs, I revived memories by getting my  photo albums out and looking at the photos I had taken at games over the years. I took my mementos folder out to look at the different Jays tickets I had. Some were meaningful and others were not. Reviving the memories in my mind was enough. Maybe someday I'll want to collect all my special sports events in one place, but for now, I was just keeping the memories alive and that's the most important thing.

An important nudge that I hope you'll take by reading this is that many of our memories may be in formats that are becoming obsolete. We should prioritize reviving these memories before they are no longer recoverable.

For example, when I scrapbooked, often I cropped my photos. The extra special ones were sometimes cropped into a circle. When I want to digitize these photos now, it’s difficult to do anything with a circular photo. I always thought I had my negatives in case I ever wanted a copy of those photos. Fortunately, I have a photo lab near me where I can still take my negatives to reprint, but will it be there much longer? 

There are many other types of formats that are becoming obsolete or difficult to digitize, like slides, VHS, CDs, DVDs, miniDV, Hi8, etc. Memories held in these formats should be the top priority of photos and videos we revive.

We also want to prioritize memories that matter most and that add value to our lives in the present. I revived Blue Jays memories while enjoying the Blue Jays in the present. I revived art memories, as I visited art galleries. I revived Italian memories while I returned to Italy.

Reviving memories is a process that I will continue to enjoy, one nudge at a time.

I Published My Book!!

I am very excited to share that I have self-published my book, Present Harmony. If you're interested in reading it, it's available on Amazon worldwide—in paperback and kindle ebook (that you can read on a phone, tablet, or computer using the Kindle app).

It's been an interesting journey to self-edit, design the cover, and self-publish. I have learned a lot but it would be interesting to time travel back and see what the process and result would have been like if I had chosen to hire professionals. 

You may remember that I first wrote my book 18 months ago. It was my first draft and the copy really meant for me, with lots of details and photos. It's the book I hoped to read in the next few decades to remind me of all the detailed stories that I wanted to remember.

For what I call "the peoples' version," I streamlined the stories to focus on the lessons or messages that would be more meaningful for others. This book describes my journey and what I learned during the twenty years I spent researching, teaching, and writing about memories, chasing dreams, and the importance of the present moment. 

I hope the book inspires you to connect your memories with your dreams. I'd love to hear from you if something in the book resonates with you.

Thank you for reading. I really appreciate it.

Revive25 in 2025: Revive Sky Memories

The 5th mini project for my Revive25 in 2025 Project is to revive sky memories. 

With the lunar eclipse on March 21st, I wondered when I began noticing and appreciating beauty in the sky. What were my oldest photos and memories? By looking back, I could then look forward to appreciate more sky moments. Could they be recreated intentionally or did they happen by coincidence or synchronicity?

I thought I had seen a lunar eclipse before and also wanted to remember the story details of the comet I saw in the late 1990's, so I went searching through my photo albums and digital photo collection. The earliest sky photo I found is of a rainbow I took in high school. I think this is perhaps common with everyone that when we had film cameras, we didn't waste photos by taking them of the sky. A rainbow was extra special. 

I have often heard that when we inherit photos, we should get rid of landscapes, places and things. It's the people photos that are most important. That may be true, but I think that photos of places and things also tell the story of who the person was and what they loved.

Many of my earlier sky photos were taken on holiday. Growing up in northern Ontario or living in Toronto, I didn't necessarily notice the sky on a daily basis. I have photos taken from 22nd floor condo view of Lake Ontario when I first moved to Toronto, but not many from just being out.

On our honeymoon, we went down to the beach in the evening with a bottle of champagne. The half moon was so bright and beautiful, we took photos of each other on the beach, zooming out to capture the moon in the background. We also enjoyed the sunsets on that trip. 

On future Caribbean trips, we loved the sunrises and sunsets. I went down to a pier to capture the sunrise every morning on our trip to Jamaica in 2012. Being close to the horizon when the sun is rising or setting, it appears much larger than it does after it has risen above the buildings in Toronto.

These views helped me appreciate the beauty of the sky but if we see it every day, it can stop being special. There's a full moon every month. Some are closer to the earth and called supermoons, but I think seeing it every month, it can stop being special. I love seeing full moons not too often and not too rarely. It's a fine line of how often we want to experience these events.

It's easier today with social media and the news reporting when upcoming eclipses, supermoons and nothern lights are happening. 

Anticipating the lunar eclipse, I thought I had seen one before. I wanted to connect these past moments that may have been lost in the clutter of photo collections and photo albums. I found my terrible photos taken with my point and shoot camera from the 2008 lunar eclipse on February 20th. Having a better camera now, I hoped to take better photos. 

Knowing the lunar eclipse totality would peak at 3am, my husband set up the camera settings before we went to bed so that I could capture the various phases of the eclipse. (He captured the bottom right photo of the quad at this time). I took the other three after totality. The auto setting captured the orange or "blood" moon we could see, but his manual settings captured the shadow beautifully. 

My plan was to wake at 2:30pm, experience the blood moon during totality then go back to bed at 3:30pm. It was still beautiful at 3:30, the orange was still visible as it appeared three quarter orange as the shadow moved away from totality, and then half orange.

Before going back inside, beautiful spiral clouds appeared. I wondered for quite a while if it was the beginning of Northern Lights. Once when I saw the Northern Lights, it began with rainbow shaped clouds. I was in awe of the clouds and didn't know whether to look at the lunar eclipse or the clouds. 

I stayed up much later than I planned, which helped me capture the phases of totality. 

The next day, I saw on a Northern Lights site that there had been Northern Lights during the lunar eclipse, so perhaps the very light green tinge on some photos were part of a very faint aurora. Either way, the sky was spectacular.

Another pivotal moment I wanted to connect that gave me a love of the night sky was in Sedona in 2015 for my husband's business reward trip. The company organized an astronomy evening where astronomers brought their huge telescopes into a field and gave us a lesson on the night sky. We loved looking at the planets and stars through the telescope; even seeing Jupiter's rings. My husband managed to get an amazing night sky photo including a satellite trails and the milky way.

Sedona has a dark sky designation, meaning they have regulations that limit light pollution so it's an amazing place to see the night sky. Connecting this memory is inspiring me to experience the night sky again in these low light pollution places.

I remember the first partial solar eclipse I witnessed in 2017. The Ontario Science Centre were handing out eclipse glasses that morning. It was chaos with so many people wanting the glasses. The lineup was so long but I was happy I got a pair. We set up a camera on a tripod at the park, but we didn't get a good photo of the eclipse. At least we could see it with our eyes while wearing the protective glasses. That evening we went to see Coldplay in concert. What a coincidence that we were seeing an eclipse on the day that we would hear Coldplay sing "the moon and its eclipse" on the song Something Just Like This. I made sure I captured the lyrics when they came up on the the backdrop and graphics. Connecting these two moments together helped me to remember the eclipse and the concert. Every time the song plays, I remember that day. 

There was another partical eclipse in the fall of 2023. Unlike 2017 when it was 70%, there wasn't as much attention given to this one that was only 39%, especially with the total eclipse expected six months later. It was supposed to be rainy and cloudy. I didn't bother to look for my eclipse glasses. I went out to run an errand that took me longer that I thought it would. Driving home, it was partly sunny and close to the time that the partial eclipse would be at its peak for Toronto. The song, Something Just Like This came on my playlist and I heard "the moon and its eclipse." Hearing it gave me a nudge to try to "see" the eclipse even if I couldn't look at it directly without eclipse glasses.

When I got home, I put the zoom lens on my camera and went out to try to capture it. Barely anything was visible, it was just a big sunburst. I tried to take photos with my sunglasses and polarizing filters in front of the camera, but it didn't look like it worked. In ten minutes, I took twelve photos and gave up.

After lunch, I uploaded the photos to my computer, wondering if I could edit them in order to see something. What a surprise I got when I saw the partial eclipse in one of the photos!! I hadn't noticed it on the small LCD screen of the camera.

It surprised me how happy I was to have captured this one and how close I got to say, "maybe next time." I have often said that it's easy to say no or next time, but often it's worth it to say yes and try. 

This motivated me to be better prepared for the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024 (one year ago today as I publish this post). I ordered solar eclipse glasses (paper and plastic ones that looked like real glasses). I never wanted to be without eclipse glasses again. I was excited that Toronto would have a 99% partial eclipse, but then a friend told me that it would be 100% an hour away. Hearing that a total eclipse is SO much better than a partial eclipse, we drove to Caledonia in order to see the total eclipse and it exceeded our expectations. It was cloudy at times and we worried that we wouldn't see it, but the clouds parted just at the perfect time.

I'm happy I took videos so I hear the excitement in my voice (even if it's a bit embarrassing) and the cheering of the crowd when it went completely dark in the middle of the day (you may want to turn down the volume before playing it). It takes me back to that moment.

I want to connect these moments, the lunar eclipses with the solar eclipses; the sunrises and sunsets; the rainbows and northern lights; the day sky and night sky. By connecting all these sky memories, they become more meaningful by recognizing where the interest and appreciation began and then grew. It reminds me of these happy moments and makes me want to experience more. 

A couple of days after the lunar eclipse, we arrived home from our neighbourhood walk just as it began to pour. I thought we were lucky to have arrived just in time. Ten or fifteen minutes later, the sun started to come out. It was still raining and I wondered if there was a rainbow. I remembered an earlier lesson I learned, if you want to see a rainbow, you sometimes have to be willing to go out in the rain. The rainbow I saw that afternoon reminded me of the rainbows we saw in Hawaii. These were other moments to connect.

We can't plan ahead for rainbows like we can with eclipses or supermoons, so I really want to appreciate when I get the chance to see them now. I want to make plans to experience these moments when we know they will occur. If I'm somewhere close to the horizon I want to see the sunrises, sunsets, moonrises or moonsets that appear more spectacular. I want to notice the sky when there are beautiful clouds, and especially I hope to some day see rainbow clouds (cloud iridescence). I didn't know they existed until a year or two ago. When I'm at my cottage in Northern Ontario, I check the Northern Lights forecast hoping to see the Northern Lights. 

Looking back at what we love, gives us hope to experience more. I hope I encourage you to follow some of your nudges to revive memories, connect moments and dream to experience more of what you love.

When we work on projects we're passionate about, I believe that we attract more of what we pay attention to. While I was working on this mini-project, I went for a walk on a rare warm day this spring and noticed beautiful and unusual clouds. They may not have been magical like rainbow clouds or a heart cloud, but I still took it as a sign that I was on the right path and to keep going and follow my heart.

Revive25 in 2025: 2010 Olympic Memories

I started this post on February 14th. If you would rather watch this post in a vlog, click here to watch it on my YouTube channel.

It was 15 years ago that I took a trip that changed my life. Since I was a child, I dreamed of going to the Olympic Games; first as an athlete and later as a spectator.

I had been on trips before, but this one taught me the magic of synchronicity and the importance of following our dreams. I almost didn't go to the Vancouver Olympics in 2010. I'm so grateful I did. There were challenges to overcome but in the end, the trip could not have been more magical.

For this Revive25 in 2025 mini-project, I will combine the photos and blog posts into a photo album. Leading up to the Vancouver Games, the Canadian Olympic Committee talked about "Owning the Podium". They wanted to win the most medals at the Games. I didn't want thirty silver and bronze medals. I wanted (at least) one gold medal. I didn't want to be known as the country who had not won gold on home soil and we did it twice, in 1976 and 1988.

On February 14th, 2010, I couldn't believe that I was at Cypress Mountain witnessing Alexandre Bilodeau win the first gold medal for Canada at home. So I am using this anniversary as a nudge to revive the photos and blog posts I wrote at that time and preserve them in one place.

Blogger may not always be there, so printing the blog posts is one way that I am preserving them. I am so happy I wrote the stories because there are details I would have forgotten. 

Along with reviving the 2010 memories, I also want to connect them with other Olympic-themed moments I experienced since then. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Vancouver Games, my husband and I went to Vancouver and Whistler. We were thrilled that they lit the cauldron on the anniversary of the Opening Ceremony. 

We then visited Cypress Mountain and went skiing in Whistler where we took photos of many Olympic rings.

Other moments I wanted to connect were visits to Olympic host cities. In the 1990's, I visited Calgary Olympic venues and in 2014, we were coincidentally in Montreal when they lit the cauldron during the 2014 Olympic Games. 

By connecting these moments together, it gives the stories more meaning. It also gives me hope that I will continue to experience more Olympic-themed moments that I can enjoy, capture and preserve.

The Creative Memories albums I make are 60 pages. My 2010 memories took 32 pages, so there is almost half the album to connect my other memories.

It took me longer than I thought to put the photos and blog posts in the album, but I'm happy it's now preserved and can be enjoyed for decades. 

I hope I inspire you to revive memories from on this day. If you're interested in seeing how I plan my albums using the Creative Memories Power Layout, click here to see the video on my YouTube channel. It's part of a co-working session where you can join me in working on a memories project.

Revive25 in 2025: Recipes

I loved baking when I was growing up. When I left home, I wrote recipes in a school notebook, then later on cards I had in a recipe binder. I often made those cookies at Christmas time. 

One of them was for mint patties. I used to love rolling out the dough, cutting them in circles and then dipping them in a waxy chocolate sauce. Years ago, my husband saw me make them and questioned putting wax in the chocolate. Paraffin wax was used in vintage recipes to help set the chocolate and to make it shiny. I used to buy it in the baking aisle but he made fun because the package talked about waxing skis or making candles. There was no mention of it being edible.

I stopped finding the wax in the baking aisle and stopped making the peppermint patties. At Christmas, I researched and found a type of chocolate to use for this type of recipe. I bought the ingredients and meant to make them, but ran out of time.

With Valentine's Day coming, I thought I would revive this recipe, along with my most meaningful recipes we use to celebrate special occasions.

While decluttering years ago, I removed the recipe cards from the book sleeves and threw away the book whose sleeves had yellowed. I kept the cards together with a big paper clip not realizing how long it would take me to find a replacement book. 

Tangent: I have to add that I love black & white and purple. When we renovated our washroom, we got black and white tiles. I purchased black and white towels and added some purple ones as accents. I also had purple flowers in a vase. A few years ago, I bought tissue boxes that were black and white with purple flowers. They were perfect for my washroom. I refilled them keeping the boxes long after they were no longer in stores.

Last year, I couldn't believe my luck when I found a recipe binder that was black & white with purple flowers.

I now have this binder with beautiful paper to write or tape recipes on, so mini-project #3 for my Revive25 in 2025 was to make the peppermint patties and revive recipes from loose papers in order to have them in my binder.

This all sounded easy. I made these patties dozens of times and they were always a success but this time, it was a disaster. The dough ended up too sticky I kept adding icing sugar until I managed to roll it out and cut out the shapes.

The disaster happened with the chocolate couverture I was using. I read that this product would act like a chocolate wax mixture but it didn't. It just ran off the patties. I then thought that I could paint some chocolate on one side of the patties, but that also was terrible. I can't help but laugh looking at the photo.

They tasted like I remembered although too minty without enough chocolate to complement the patty. I managed to get a few to look acceptable, but reviving this recipe was not a culinary success. I made another childhood favourite recipe that turned out better (but still not as great as I used to make them).  

The most important thing was to collect the recipes in my binder so I could easily find them when I wanted to make them on special occasions. 

Where are your favourite recipes? Mine were found in:

• cookbooks
• in my photos app
• in emails
• in my browser bookmarks
• in digital file folders 
• loose papers
• recipe cards

I wanted to revive my favourite recipes so that they were stored in one place. One of our favourite recipes is for fried flying fish that we first tasted on our honeymoon in Barbados. I had the recipes for the fish and seasoning in my bookmarks. Realizing that the black and white paper that came with the binder would work in my printer, I decided to print the recipe directly on the paper, adding a photo I took of the ones I made on our anniversary in 2021.

Although I love the professional look of the printed recipes, handwritten ones are nice as well. I ordered photo sleeves to add to the binder for the old recipe cards I had. I can add photo memories to go with them.

Some of the recipe links I had in my bookmarks didn't work anymore. Luckily they weren't my most favourite, but it's a reminder to revive and preserve meaningful things that can disappear from the internet.

This will become a great keepsake as well. I got the inspiration from the recipe book my mom made for her grandchildren years ago. She included photos of the kids cooking, baking and eating their favourite treats along with the recipes. I actually couldn't find my copy of the mint patties to make and asked my daughter to take a photo of the recipe from her grand-maman recipe book. I'll have to borrow her book to revive more of my favourite recipes.

Add-on story: I originally wrote this blog post and recorded the vlog before Valentine's Day. I ordered a new Ticket To Ride game for Valentine's Day. When we opened it to play, I was surprised that the playing pieces were black, white and purple! 

Reviving Souvenirs

For my second Revive25 in 2025 mini-project, I revived a souvenir. I purchased a painting when we went to Australia in 2017. It was just the canvas and I wanted to put it on proper backing when I came home but never did.

I stored the canvas somewhere special in the last few years and couldn't remember where I put it. A few months ago, I found it and was surprised to be reminded that it was titled "two kanagaroos jumping at sunset". The funny thing is that I didn't see kangaroos at sunset in 2017. I saw them at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney and then my husband's cousin took us to see wild kangaroos at a golf course in Melbourne. They were hopping up and down the side of the fairways. I couldn't imagine golfing and walking by kangaroos. I was amazed! So although I saw kangaroos on that trip, it wasn't at sunset. 

Last fall we returned to Australia to visit another cousin who lives in Perth. Her property is surrounded by a tall fence to keep the kangaroos out because they are destructive when they come on the property. At sunset, we went to the edge of the property by the fence to see the kangaroos because that's when we can see them hopping. At the airport, I purchased a fridge magnet of kangaroos at sunset, not remembering the painting I bought in Sydney.

I love the connection from one trip to the other and the full circle story of the kangaroos at sunset. I'm happy to finally have the painting on display.

Revive25 in 2025: Keane Memories

For the first mini project of my Revive25 in 2025, I reflected on my 2024 memories and which moments were most special for me. One of my favourites was the synchronicity with our trip to Amsterdam. (click the link to read my blog post introducing my Revive25 in 2025 Project)

My husband had a business trip at the same time as our daughter was going to be in Amsterdam. I couldn't believe our luck. The timing wasn't ideal for me. I would only be able to stay for four nights and come back earlier than my husband would. I wondered whether it was worth making the trip. I researched what events were happening, what concerts and the tulip festival events. 

Imagine my surprise when I realized one of my favourite bands was playing the night we would arrive. While looking for the venue on a map I noticed the nearby “Olympic Arena”. I had forgotten that Amsterdam was an Olympic City. Another thing on my bucket list is to visit Olympic host cities, especially if they have venues or Olympic rings to see.

The concert was sold out. Every day I checked for peer to peer ticket sales but it seemed impossible to get a ticket this way. I looked at StubHub that I had never used before. I monitored ticket prices for a couple of weeks. The day before we were leaving, I bought two tickets that were lower priced than they had previously been. 

My favourite number is twenty. When we were in the limo on the way to the airport, I noticed the sign on the window saying our car number was 020, my favourite number. I looked at my husband and gave him a knowing smile. At the airport, I noticed our boarding time was 20:20. Our flight had a delay, but I relaxed. Everything's going to be okay.

When the tickets proved to be legitimate as we entered the venue, I had tears in my eyes. I hadn't wanted to get my hopes too high in case it didn't work out. I went straight to the merchandise counter and couldn't believe the t-shirt they had for this tour. They used the design from their first album that includes music instruments and microphones and rather than surrounding the name of the album like they originally did, they created a number 20 (for 20th anniversary of the album release). Perfect for me!

During my Revive55 Project in 2019, I started a concert album showcasing our concert tickets but then I got overwhelmed trying to include them all. What I realized was that they weren't all special. Some of the concerts, I barely remembered and weren't bands I loved. I organized the ticket stubs but also wanted to include my favourite photos, set lists and paper memorabilia for my favourite bands but never completed it. It's sad that we don't get ticket stubs anymore. I have probably lost some of my tickets with technology changes, but I took this opportunity to screen capture the tickets I had on my phone.

For this mini-project, I wanted to complete the Keane pages in my concert album and create highlight videos of my favourite captured moments from the concerts. These tasks ended up being a lot more involved than I anticipated but it was worth the effort. 

Some of my photos were in my photos app on my computer (synced to my phone) but older ones were on an older computer so I revived them by copying them to my photos app. Some of my photos were not digitized. They were cropped and taped in my photo albums. I revived them by taking the negatives to a photo lab where I received digital files and prints to include in the concert album. Doing this reminded me that I have many photos that I want to revive from my negatives before that technology is obsolete.

I love the chronology of my family photo albums, but combining my memories in my concert album from the eleven Keane concerts I have attended is extra special. I can relive those moments by looking in one place rather than 11 different albums.

While working on the pages, I printed blog posts I wrote about my trip to England to see them in concert in 2018 and more details about the Amsterdam concert. 

I created two highlight videos. For one of them, I combined videos of my favourite songs over the years. I often recorded the same songs, so having them back to back from various years was interesting. The second highlight videos were of special moments I captured, whether they were favourite songs I only witnessed once or when they had changed lyrics. For example, when they performed Fly To Me in 2007, instead of singing "When I'm far away from the places we've grown" I captured him singing "When I'm far away from Lake Ontariiiio". I love when bands refer to the places where they're performing.

I understand why I procrastinated from completing the album, realizing how much time and effort it took to complete for just one artist. I read a quote while I was working on it that one reason we procrastinate is we anticipate the hassle. We think about everything we need to do to complete a task and get discouraged from starting. This was the most involved artist so the others won't be as challenging. I am happy that this mini project motivated me to complete these pages. Loving the completed pages will motivate me to continue to complete more pages.

Revive25 to Thrive in 2025

I love this time of year when we are looking forward to chasing new dreams and also when we reflect back at the past year. I love making New Year's resolutions or choosing my word for the year. This year, I am creating a new project called Revive25 in 2025 which is an extension of my Revive55 Project I did a few years ago where I preserved my memories for 55 weeks.

This time I want to focus on the memories that matter the most to me. I will revive my memories with 25 mini projects throughout the year. I'll share ideas to inspire you (and me) to spend time with our memories. We remember what we think about so by looking at and reliving our memories, we will remember them better. We also attract what we think about and what is in our subconscious so by spending time with the memories we love the most, we can attract similar moments or feelings in the future.

By reviving our memories, we connect them to our dreams in order to create moments and experiences we'll love in the present.  We look back at what we loved most and plan to create more of what we'll love in the future. We revive what adds value to our lives in the present. What can we revive that will inspire us to thrive in 2025 and beyond?

The first mini project is to review 2024 with a lens of looking for what we want to experience more of in 2025 and beyond. What did we love in 2024? What moments of awe did we experience? What moments took our breath away? Brought happy tears to our eyes? Swelled our hearts?

For my mini project, I will start by looking at my photos. What made me grab my phone or my camera to capture in 2024? 

Looking back, we also want to revive activities we love. Did we play pickleball last year and really want to play more in 2025? Did we attend a concert or sporting event? Did we celebrate special occasions? Did we learn anything we want to incorporate into our lives? Do we notice things missing that we love? Perhaps we didn't make time to do things we love in 2024 and we want to make time in 2025.

Revive what we love.

Revive what moves us.

Revive what will help us to thrive in 2025.

Friday the 13th Memories

Today is Friday the 13th, and although I'm not superstitious about Friday the 13th anymore, there was a time when I was a little bit superstitious. I was reminded of that this morning when December 13th many years ago fell on a Friday and I was expecting my first child. Depending on which method you believe, my due date was either December 9th or December 12th. Although 12/12 would have been a date that I would have loved as a birthday for my son, it came and it went. I really did not want to give birth on Friday the 13th. Today that would have been pretty cool with Taylor Swift, Dick Van Dyke and one of my great friends celebrating their birthdays on December 13th. I found out about Dick Van Dyke's birthday when Coldplay released a new video on his 99th birthday filmed with him at his home.

That Friday the 13th, perhaps imagining that we may not have that many date nights left in the near future, my husband and I went to see The English Patient in the theater. We sat in the back row in case we had to make a hasty exit, but luckily I got to see the end of the movie and enjoy our last weekend before kids.

Another little connection which is kind of funny is that last night, I was telling my husband about the video I posted yesterday about 12/12/24 where I was talking about my mastermind group and how my takeaway this past year was to better accept periods of contraction along with periods of expansion or flow. He asked me if I think of going into labour when we talk about periods of contraction. It had never occurred to me so now I can't get that out of my head.

So now, it's kind of funny that today's date is reminding me of going into labour many years ago so that was a funny coincidence or a nudge of a few different things to inspired me to record the video and write this blog.

I think of that with reviving our memories when we are reminded of something or we get a nudge, to tell the story or revive buried memories. I had a nudge like that last week when I saw my son's birthday coming up in the calendar. I recorded another video I haven't posted yet about using the birthday nudge to work on his childhood album that I hadn't completed yet. In the video, that I'll complete and post now, I talked about how to plan an album like that because it's really difficult in the moment to decide what to include because in the moment, everything seems important. In a way, procrastinating on making this type of album is helpful, because in hindsight we get better perspective and it becomes easier to choose what is most meaningful.

I like to use these nudges to spend time with my memories and to revive things that matter. It's not necessarily about having a project or making photo albums. It can also be about telling the stories, looking at other memories like a pregnancy journal or time capsule to be reminded of other moments. Spending time with our memories when we're given reminders helps us to remember them better.

12-12-2024: I Love Numbers

When I wrote the date at the start of a call on December 12th, I realized it was 12-12-24. When I notice numbers or patterns; whether it's my favourite number, 20, or times on the clock like 11:11, 2:22 or 4:44; it makes me pause and gives me hope that whatever I'm working on, I'm going in the right direction. This reminds me that I noticed 10:10 this morning and 11:11 so I thought I'd record a video (and write a blog post) to remind me that I noticed 12-12-24 at the start of our last Mastermind session. I also woke up at 5:55 and took a screenshot when I noticed the time.

I've been a part of a mastermind for three years with yearly programs. Today was our last session for this year's Mastermind group so I'm kind of sad that it's over but grateful that it happened if we think of that famous quote: 

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened"

Dr. Seuss

Part of our meeting today was looking back at our takeaways from the year and for me, what I shared about one of my takeaways was about accepting that along with periods of expansion, there are periods of contraction. I have these amazing moments or ideas and then it seems like there's a period where nothing seems to be flowing. I saw this with relation to memories as well, that we have extraordinary days or moments and they're special because they don't happen all the time. If every day was extraordinary, they would become ordinary.

I've taken a lot of notes over the years of what I've been working on and I notice that there's some periods where it's like an idea flows into another flows into another. I had some blog posts where they just flow into another, then there ccan be months where nothing new is coming up.

I still get discouraged sometimes but I think that's what I've been working on to continue to try to accept that I can't be creative every day or coming up with an idea, composing a melody, writing a blog post or recording a vlog. But when I'm inspired, I want to act. 

Today's date reminds me of February 22, 2022 (22-2-22) when I composed a melody that was in a beat of two. Noticing that number gave me a nudge or an idea to create something fun and it added a little whimsy in my day. 

So today, I just wanted to capture that moment, create a video and share.

As I was editing the video, I wanted to find a world clock with the date and noticed it was 4:44pm. Love it.

Protect Your Memories from Technology Failure

Why am I so passionate about memories? I want to be in control of my memories and not lose them as technology changes, as devices break or get lost or even natural disasters. I want to help people ensure their memories are protected.

The first thing we need to do to preserve our memories is to understand the technology and where our photos are. We need to ensure that our phones, our computers and SD cards are backed up and how that works. I will cover this in more detail in a later post.

My husband and I have had multiple drives fail and it's scary. The first time, our MacBook was getting the blue screen of death. It would work for 10-15 minutes at a time but then would shut down. During the times when it worked, I was frantically copying files and photos to an external hard drive in order to preserve them. I managed to save most of the files that were meaningful, but lost a few. It hurts and is frustrating to lose files.

We then started to do time machine backups on our computers. When our iMac drive failed, we managed to preserve almost everything by recovering files from the Time Machine backup. A computer failing is like a fire destroying photo albums. I wrote in my last post that since I was a child, I knew that if I had time, in case of fire, I would grab the photo albums. It was a fear I often thought about.

It's been a learning process over the years, as one machine breaks, of learning how it worked and staying up to date with technology. A lot of times I didn't understand and when it failed, that's when I learned what I didn't understand.

Last year, I was preparing a presentation for a moms group about preserving memories and I wasn't sure whether I wanted to talk about technology. Everyone doesn't have the same technology and I'm not a technology expert. I have lost memories when technology failed me and I didn't fully understand how it worked. That's how I learned, but I didn't want to learn everyone's technology so I didn't want to bring it up. 

But as I was writing my presentation on my MacBook where all my photos were stored, my MacBook broke, two weeks before my presentation. So I thought, the universe wants me to talk about technology. I can't resist bringing it up. I asked the moms, if your computer failed or you lost your phone, would you be okay? Would your memories be preserved? Many moms' eyes opened wide with fear. I may not be able to teach someone how to preserve or recover their memories, but I hope to inspire them to learn or hire someone to help them.

When it happened to me that time, I was bummed to spend a lot of money on a new computer and because I was in a rush for the replacement, I didn't get the ideal computer for me, I bought something in stock. It was a calm process because this time, I also had a cloud backup. I recently realized that perhaps I didn't save everything once again, because again, I didn't fully understand how icloud worked. But that's a conversation for another day.

The first thing is understanding the technology we're using with our computers, phones and cameras and that is also for our old video cameras and cassettes we used to use and quality settings when we're digitizing. I'll be covering more of these topics in future posts.  The first step is understanding where our memories are so we can preserve our collection as a whole.

Preserving Memories in a Digital World

[Note: I'm transcribing the videos from my YouTube Channel and back dating them to when I posted the videos for those who prefer reading. If you prefer watching, visit my YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/@suzannesewell]

I launched my YouTube channel in order to inspire people to preserve their memories and revive their most meaningful ones. The reason I want to do that is because I want to preserve my memories and revive the most meaningful ones myself. By inspiring others, by sharing ideas, I can also be preserving my memories and reviving what matters the most to me.

This has been something that has been close to my heart my whole life. Since I can remember, I have always known that if there was a fire in our house and everyone was safe, I knew where the photo albums were and I would try to grab them if there was time.

I'm not sure where this started. I don't know if there was a firefighter that came to our school and asked what we would grab in a fire, but it's something I always knew. No matter where I lived even after I moved away from home, I would know where my albums were so I could grab them in case of fire, or in case of evacuation. That was really important to me.

When we started a family, I started scrapbooking and my album collection really started to grow. I ended up with dozens of photo albums, especially after I was also teaching classes and hosting workshops where we would work on our albums together. As my collection grew, I realized that my escape plan didn't really work anymore. I couldn't grab all those albums in case of a fire. If I was given 24 hours to evacuate, perhaps, but in a spur of a moment, those albums would not be saved.

As a backup I used to keep negatives somewhere else, so if something happened to the albums, at least we had negatives to reprint the photos. This all changed when digital photography emerged.

I stopped scrapbooking around 2008 because I became overhwlemed. We had a digital camera for 3 years and as time passed, I felt even more overwhelmed and kept procrastinating. It got worse when we got cellular phones carrying a camera with us all the time. The number of photos we take now in one year is approximately what we used to take in 10 years. Globally we take 1.4 trillion photos every year. This is equivalent to100-200 photos a year on average per person in 2000; and 1200-1500 per year per person in 2020. (My average is much higher, how about you?)

What do we do with them all? Ten years after I stopped scrapbooking, I really felt the weight of the clutter on my shoulders, especially because it was so meaningful to me to keep my memories alive. In 2019, I started a big catch-up project called Revive55 Project, spending 55 weeks, ending on my birthday to get all my memories back in order. I wanted to stop feeling overwhelmed and scared that I would lose my memories. Of course, I had the memories in my head, but photos and memorabilia help us to remember. When we see a photo, we often say "oh right, I remember that". You may have felt that when you saw a Facebook memory pop up on your feed that you had forgotten about.

So much was happening with our kids in their teen years, and without scrapbooking, I felt like I would forget all the moments. Scrapbooking helps us to remember because we are going through and reliving those moments as we scrapbook. 

Some of the things I worked on that year, I realized weren't really time well spent; and other times, I wondered how we could do it more efficiently, and revive our memories in a way that it doesn't take so long. Because really, we don't want to be stuck in the past reliving our old memories. We want to relive them but not all the time. We want to also chase dreams, look to the future as we are living in the moment. We want to capture new memories, not just preserve our old ones. That's where Present Harmony comes in that we look back with gratitude of our memories we loved and we look forward with hope of capturing new memories and all of that happens in the present.

In the present, we're looking back. In the present, we're looking forward. Our future will become our present. That's why I wanted to find a better and more efficient way of preserving our memories so it's not as overwhelming a process as it could be if we tried to continue to preserve our memories in the digital world like we did in the film world. That old way didn't work for me anymore, so I wanted to explore new ways of preserving our memories.

Introducing my new YouTube Channel

[Note: I'm transcribing the videos from my YouTube Channel and back dating them to when I posted the videos for those who prefer reading. If you prefer watching, visit my YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/@suzannesewell]

After writing my book Present Harmony: Connecting Past Memories and Future Dreams, I wanted to share ideas with videos. I didn't want to clutter my original YouTube channel with my Present Harmony posts so I chose to begin a new channel that you can find at www.youtube.com/@suzannesewell. It's ismportant to put the @ before my name in the url. It's YouTube's new(ish) way of having an easy url to remember.

Along with inspiration and instruction on living in present harmony, I will be hosting Revive Hour sessions where I encourage viewers to spend time with their memories and their dreams. We remember our memories better by reliving them and we take action towards our dreams by visualizing them.

To me, Present Harmony means having our memories connected to our dreams. Memories that make us happy; moments of awe; moments that are connected with people we love; and with things we love. We connect our best memories with our dreams, because we still want to chase dreams and improve our lives. In order for us to chase meaningful dreams, we need to know what we really love. By looking back at our past experiences we can see what we really want to embrace in the future and what we want to let go of. 

We look back with gratitude and even if they're memories that we don't love, we can be grateful for the lessons we learned. We can then let go of the unhappy memories and embrace the learning. 

Present harmony occurs when in the present we are grateful for our past memories; and in the present we are hopeful for our future dreams. The present is really where it all matters. We don't want to be stuck in the past or the future. We dream and take action today to make our dreams come true.

In the end, when our dreams come true, it will happen in the present. Our future will become our present. It's why I called my book Present Harmony - we look back and look forward while being present.

Introducing: Present Harmony

When I started my 60T🖤60 Project, I gave myself the goal to hold the book I was writing in my hands on my 60th birthday. My daughter then encouraged me to release some of the pressure by commiting to holding my first draft in my hands rather than what I felt was the perfectly finished book.

In 2019 when I started my Revive55 Project, I thought I might write a book about preserving memories, but what I realized was that I was as passionate about chasing dreams as about memories. I wondered whether to have two separate books. My tagline on my website and my newsletters was "chasing dreams...capturing memories". 

What I found was that in the present, we travel back in time to remember happy moments from the past and travel forward in time to plan future memories we’ll want to capture. Although the moments were in the past, the act of remembering happens in the present. Although we dream of the future, the act of dreaming happens now. The present is when and where the magic happens. When our future dreams become reality, they will happen in the present. Our future will become our present.

Present was my word of the year in 2022 and Harmony was my word of the year for 2023 and 2024. I loved putting them together for my book title. We find harmony in the present moment by looking back at our best moments in the past and dreaming of ideal moments in the future. This balancing of looking back and looking forward brings peace and harmony as we live our lives in a way that values our most meaningful dreams and memories. 

The chapters cover the following topics:

1. Knowing ourselves. Who we were; who we are and who we intend to be.
2. Understanding what and why we remember certain things and not others.
3. Envisioning our dreams and how to make them happen.
4. The power of serendipity, synchronicity, the law of attraction and manifestation.
5. The highlights and what I learned about memories during my Revive55 Project.
6. The importance of creating space and the struggle with letting go.
7. Reviving our most meaningful and treasured memories.
8. Connecting moments that weave together to become more meaningful.
9. Embracing technology as a mindset for memory keeping.
10. The importance of focusing on the present.
11. My focus during my 60T🖤60 Project.

I share my journey and what I have learned over the years of researching, teaching and writing about memories, chasing dreams and the importance of the present moment. My hope is that something will resonate with those who read it; and it will inspire them to balance past memories and future dreams to achieve present harmony.

Total Solar Eclipse

It's two weeks until the total solar eclipse on Monday April 8th. Have you made plans yet? 

It will be the last total solar eclipse that I will see in my lifetime (unless I travel).

Alberta will have one in 2044. 

USA (California to Florida to Caribbean) in 2045. 

Mexico to North Florida in 2052. 

Maritimes in 2079.

There will be others in other parts of the world, but these are the only ones in North America until 2079.

There will be partial solar eclipses (when you see a crescent sun) and annular solar eclipses (the moon is smaller than the sun) and lunar eclipses, but this is the only time in Ontario that we can see the moon fully cover the sun. It will go dark in the middle of the day.

This will not happen in Toronto where it will be a 99.6% eclipse. Click here to check the timing and details of your town or city. All of Canada, Mexico and the US (except Alaska) will at least experience a partial eclipse. 

Although partial eclipses are exciting, they say that witnessing a total eclipse is unforgettable. 

You don't just see a total eclipse, you experience it!

Daylight turns into dusk then night when the sun becomes a black circle surrounded by a halo. Some planets and stars can become visible. The temperature drops by ten degrees or more. 

The colours of sunset will be visible all around you. I can't imagine a 360 degree sunset!!

The total eclipse will end with a sunburst along one edge which is called the "diamond ring effect" because it looks like an engagement ring. This is what the 99% eclipse will look like in Toronto.

Eclipse Glasses

I bought eclipse glasses from Telescopes Canada. I preferred to order from a reputable source even if they charged shipping.  If you live near me, I bought extra ones to save friends from ordering unsafe ones or paying more on shipping than on the glasses themselves. Contact me if you're interested.

If you're purchasing your own, you want to ensure they are from a reputable source and that they meet the international ISO 12312-2 standard. You should not be able to see anything when you look through them. Ensure they cover your whole eyes, that they don't have scratches or holes and that you put them on before looking up at the sun (and to look down before taking them off). If you can see a lamp or light, they are possibly counterfeit. The Toronto Star reported that there were unsafe and counterfeit glasses sold on Amazon in 2017. Click here for a list of suppliers of safe glasses and click here for an article about warnings and reassurances about glasses by the American Astronomical Society.

I also ordered a camera filter that will hopefully give us better photography and protection than it did for the partial eclipse in 2017. We were lucky that we didn't damage the camera. I have since learned that cameras and phone cameras can get damaged if exposed to the sun's rays during an eclipse without eclipse glasses or filters protecting them (sunglasses are not enough). 

It would still be cool to see the partial eclipse if I stayed home, but I'll get other chances for that in the future. I plan on driving to experience the total eclipse.

Here's the map of the general path (not completely accurate as this seems to show Toronto in the path):

Golden Horseshoe and Northern New York State:

The closer we are to the blue line, the longer the moon will cover the sun. In Buffalo, it will be for 3 minutes 45 seconds. In Brantford it will be one minute 15 seconds.

Other times of darkness to give perspective:

Burlington: 44 seconds

Hamilton: 1min 47sec

Beamsville: 2m59s

Smithville: 3m6s

Cayuga: 3m10

Niagara Falls: 3m32s

Welland: 3m34s

Fort Erie: 3m43s

In the Golden Horseshoe, the partial eclipse will start at around 2:05pm. The total eclipse will be at around 3:18pm and the partial will end at 4:30pm.

In 2017, traffic congestion in the path of the total eclipse in the U.S. lasted for 13 hours after the eclipse. Hopefully our road systems will better handle the traffic here.

I may try to avoid the QEW from Hamilton to Niagara. 

Seeing all the open space on the map below, I may go as far as possible on the QEW and then exit and drive into open space to find a spot.

In 2017, Toronto experienced a 70% partial eclipse. I was super excited and remember the craziness of the crowds at the Science Centre when I went to get eclipse glasses that morning. Thousands of people lined up in organized chaos to get a pair of eclipse glasses before they ran out.

We went to our local park to view the partial eclipse. We had a camera set up on a tripod, but we didn't get a good photo of the eclipse. At least we could see it with our eyes while wearing the protective glasses.

We also prepared a simple viewer with two pieces of white cardboard. We punched a pinhole in one piece of cardboard and let the sunlight fall through that hole onto the second piece of cardboard held below it to see an inverted image of the sun. You can use a colander for a similar experiment. 

I was luckier last fall for the annular eclipse and got a photo of the 39% partial eclipse when I put my purple tinged sunglasses in front of the lens. I didn't look at it with my eyes this time because I didn't have eclipse glasses.

It surprised me how happy I was to have captured this one and how close I got to say: "maybe next time". It was a last second decision for me to go outside to "see" it. It's so easy to make excuses to not do things. I try to remind myself that it's normally worth the effort. I wrote a blog post last fall with more detail about these past events and synchronicities that occurred (including a Coldplay concert). Click here to read it.

I hope you enjoy this rare event. I'd love to hear about your experience.

Leap Day CN Tower Memories

Leap Day 2024 was more memorable than I could have imagined. In a previous post, I wrote I wanted to experience my second memorable Leap Day after only having memories of Leap Day 2020. You can read it here.

I made plans to celebrate with a CN Tower theme, since I wouldn't be travelling like I did on Leap Day 2020. Sometimes, we can make plans for something special that doesn't work out like we hoped.

I booked dinner at the Writers Room Bar at the Park Hyatt Hotel which completely exceeded my expectations. I had a seat with a view of the CN Tower and the sunset. The food and the service were exceptional. A woman sitting a couple of tables from us shared a photo she took of me taking a photo of my husband with the CN Tower in the background.

It surprised me that the patio doors were open in the winter so we could go outside and take better photos.

I especially love this Toronto Skyline photo with the beautiful sunset coloured clouds.

This was a perfect prelude to our evening painting of the Toronto skyline at Pinot's Palette. I didn't think I'd be able to paint anything that resembled the Toronto skyline, but the instructor was amazing in walking us through and showing each step. We were in a roomful of beautiful Toronto skylines. Every painting I saw looked beautiful, whether a beginner or an experienced artist made it.

Earlier in the day, I completed the CN Tower gingerbread "house" that I had purchased at Christmas time and had frozen when we didn't do it during the holidays. Unfortunately, I should have trimmed two of the cookies for the base of the tower since one was shorter, but I only thought of it once I saw the challenge of putting it together. It ended up a little lopsided, but I still enjoyed doing it. I took a time-lapse of the process. I started by melting sugar to make the glue that would hold things together.

A few days before Leap Day, I started a Toronto Skyline 4D puzzle. I hoped to complete it by Leap Day, but it took a lot longer than I expected. 

This is a time-lapse of the puzzle making up to Toronto in 1989. 

I paused at this point to enjoy seeing Toronto as it was when we first moved here. I especially loved adding the condo building we lived in then. It's all by itself on The Esplanade near Front and Yonge. 

It no longer has the view it did and is now surrounded by many buildings I still need to add to the puzzle. I'll continue the puzzle in the next few weeks to complete it by April 16 or 4/16 to reflect Toronto's original area code (416). I'll also finish the photo book I started that was focusing on the CN Tower, but recognizing that the view from the CN Tower is Toronto, so it will be a perfect time to finish the album.

I love looking at the changes over the years which goes along with the 4D puzzle of placing the buildings in chronological order. I like looking at the same view from different times. This photo on the left is the building I lived in when I first moved here. It's one of my favourite buildings in Toronto being flat-ironed shape. I could see our unit window from the CN Tower when we took this photo in 2005. I can't imagine living there now; having lost the view of the CN Tower and Lake Ontario.

Other comparisons make for happier memories, like seeing a parking lot in the 1970s become the Roy Thompson Hall in later photos. It's interesting to see how much Toronto has changed in the last few decades, especially in comparison with the CN Tower and its views. My photo book will include photos I have taken from 1978 to Leap Day 2024 adding to my Leap Day memories.

If you read my original post about planning a special Leap Day, I hope I inspired you to experience a memorable Leap Day. If you're reading this at another time, I hope I inspire you to make what could be an ordinary day, like April 16th, into one that is a little more extraordinary.