EPISODE #1 - HIDDEN MONEY???

MILLION DOLLAR NEIGHBOURHOOD - EPISODE #1 HIDDEN MONEY

Did you know that money falls from the sky in Aldergrove???

Well, neither did we, but it is OPRAH you know...anything is possible! :)

Well, here we are...100 families all living in the same community and did we know anyone??? NO! That was sad and shocking. We really had no idea what to expect but we made the commitment so here we go....

Week one - Find HIDDEN MONEY in your home. Max and I had fun with this one and searched high and low, under cushions and in pockets. We took the bottles in and rolled up our pennies! $275.00 worth of hidden money was found in our home. $275.00 which Max and I spent quality time together rolling, rolling and rolling, just to have Mike and Laurel unroll it all to go into the coin counters!!!! (Lucky I worked this day!!)

And just in case you missed it, they saved the best for last,

here we are near the end of the program.

Week one - Live CASH ONLY! Yes, we really did hand in our credit cards, but that was alright with us as we try to live cash only anyways with the exception of business.

Our family watched the first episode of Million Dollar Neighbourhood with our new friends that we met through the show, The Penner Family! Our families get along wonderfully and this friendship was truly one of the unexpected "gifts" from the show!



Our families gathered together early to make cake pops for after the show!!

Teresa had made special STAR cookies with every one's name on them!

After all...we are ALL stars!!

The BIG screen was up and ready for an early showing of the Million Dollar Neighbourhood...

this way we could watch it again at 8pm! (hehe)

We even dined with Million Dollar Money all around us!!!

Oh look...here we are again!!!

Week one - The HIDDEN MONEY MARKET was a very hot day and I was at work this day, so Mike and Laurel spent the whole day in the park learning to save money. Sadly, H&R Block could not find us any "Hidden Money" but they sure did an amazing job for some of the families and we were all so excited for them!

The biggest thing we learned from this first week was that no matter how organized you think your financial paperwork is in...it can always be better! Mike and I are always looking for ways to save money and we always try to keep our paperwork in some kind of order but yet when in comes time to creating a net worth statement, it seemed like nothing was where it was supposed to be! Gathering our paperwork was not easy and only the first of many challenges to come!

AND THE CHALLENGES CONTINUE!

Tune in for a Sneak Peek at Episode #2 here!

See you Sunday!

Carrie

A MILLION DOLLAR OPPORTUNITY??

Some of you may or may not know that last year I was offered the opportunity to be a part of a "social experiment" reality type TV show called the MILLION DOLLAR NEIGHBOURHOOD. After much discussion of the pros and cons of doing something that you have never done before and not really knowing what it all entails, my husband Mike and I made the decision to have faith and to embrace this opportunity.

So, let me tell you a bit about the Million Dollar Neighbourhood. The idea of the show is to increase the net worth of Aldergrove by one million dollars in 10 weeks. Now, when I say Aldergrove, I mean the 100 families that participated in the show. So, through a series of challenges, as a group we worked together in hope towards achieving this unbelievable goal!

Sworn to secrecy, I can not share details, but as the air day quickly approaches, I felt that I need to share how I am feeling. It started off as excitement, then it turned to nervousness and then yesterday, I saw an interview on the news with one of the hosts of the show talking about the upcoming premier and that is when I got scared! This is really happening, this is really real! When you are a part of something so big and so encompassing, you are not thinking about the fact that (possibly) millions of people will be watching. Well, now it is sinking in and I am realizing that this is HUGE!


It will be interesting to see how it all comes together and I hope you watch. These are real people. Really great people. We can all learn from this, it's family friendly and it is inspiring!

After each episode, my plan is to do a short post about my thoughts on what is happening and how it affected my family and what we learned from each challenge.


MILLION DOLLAR NEIGHBOURHOOD premier...Sunday January 22 on OWN.



Sneak Peak Trailer....

http://ownca.oprah.com/videos.aspx?vid=1323832461001


I hope you join us on this amazing journey!

ANNIE SLOAN CHALK PAINT WORKSHOP

On Saturday January 14th we held our second Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Workshop, but it was the first time we held it in the store. The first workshop was in our old location which is know being renovated to expand the neighbouring kitchen store. This forced us to clean up the back of the store and ready it as initially planned to use as a workshop space. A space for ASCP workshops, upholstery, paint demo days and whatever other opportunities come our way. It is now a place like minded people can gather to learn, to have fun and to share!

I have found that there is always a level of excitement in the air
when like minded people gather!

Decision, decision...the options are limitless!

Happiness is a women being creative!

WOW, did we get some unique ideas and colour combinations!

Our group spent the day "hands on" learning, painting, distressing and waxing!

It was a GREAT way to spend the day!

Well...what do you think?

Does this look like fun to you??

OH YES it does!!

Way too much fun!

Thank you everyone for showing off your favorite colour combinations! Thank you for sharing and allowing us to help you along your road to creativity. Now...lets see those first projects!!

DOES ASCP INSPIRE YOU?????

A great way to start of the New Year is with a bit of inspiration. I am pleased to say that some of the ladies who took our first Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Workshop were kind enough to share photos of their first projects....

so here we go!

Claudine had some fun and mixed Aubusson Blue with Cream for her first coat. Her second coat was Cream and topped it with Dark Wax. She liked the "beachy" look and is ready to start her second project using just the Aubusoon. Thanks Claudine!

Claudine was also our winner of the ANNIE SLOAN CHALK PAINT AMERICAN TOUR GIVEAWAY! Congratulations Claudine!!!

This is Sarah's project piece.

Sarah sanded down the top of this dresser and rubbed it down with dark wax. She then painted one coat of Graphite followed by 2 coats of Emperor's Silk and after distressing, finished up with dark wax. I just love Emperor's Silk....Great job Sarah!

Dani...your desk looks very rustic and wonderful!!


Ladies, thank you so much for sharing your photos and for the positive feedback on our ASCP workshop. There is nothing like the feeling in a room when everyone is so excited and passionate about the same things! We loved having you!

Carrie and Elinor