Here’s to Seeing more Magic in 2019.
Moments of Gratitude is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2019 here.
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Very few books this week. It was a long, long week. Here are my goodreads reviews. If you’re on goodreads, add me as a friend so I can see your books too! I’ve also started an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art. The Practicing Mind (4 stars): “Habits are learned. Choose them wisely.” I’ve highlighted so much of this book. I picked this book up because someone at work recommended it to me and even though it’s a tiny book, it took me a while to read it because I knew pretty much right away that this is one of those books that I need to read slowly to keep reminding myself of what I know to be true but can’t seem to remember when it matters. “….life itself is nothing more than one long practice session, an endless effort to refine the motions, both physical and mental, that compose our days.” isn’t that a wonderful perspective? If life were a practice session and there was no end goal, we could focus on the present moment so much more. “… the practicing mind is quiet. It lives in the present and has laser-like, pinpoint focus and accuracy. It obeys our precise directions, and all our energy moves through it. Because of this, we are calm and completely free of anxiety. We are where we should be at that moment, doing what we should be doing and completely aware of what we are experiencing. There is no wasted motion, physically or mentally.” I have experienced this before and it’s magical. Being in the present moment, and focusing on what matters most right now is an incredible feeling. “You cannot control what you are not aware of. Awareness must come first.” This is the biggest truth for me. There’s a whole section in the book about observing yourself. Seeing what you do/think and correcting it. If you don’t pay attention, if you’re not aware, nothing else matters because you’ve missed step 1. “When you focus your mind on the present moment, on the process of what you are doing right now, you are always where you want to be and where you should be. All your energy goes into what you are doing. However, when you focus your mind on where you want to end up, you are never where you are, and you exhaust your energy with unrelated thoughts instead of putting it into what you are doing. In order to focus on the present, we must give up, at least temporarily, our attachment to our desired goal. If we don’t give up our attachment to the goal, we cannot be in the present because we are thinking about something that hasn’t occurred yet: the goal.” I love this. I wish I could do this more and better. Let’s say I am still practicing getting better at this. “The problem with patience and discipline is that developing each of them requires both of them.” Ain’t that the truth. “Regardless of the stage of growth and evolution you are in, in every moment you are perfect at being who you are.” And this is the best part for me. Because it’s also the truth. We are each constantly evolving and growing and changing. And we are also each perfect at being who we are. I love the idea of adopting the practicing mind and being better at observing and correcting myself so I can continue to focus on the practice and not the goal. It’s going to require daily practice and discipline. The Turn of the Key (3 stars): This was a perfectly satisfactory thriller. I have read several books by Ware and haven’t always loved them so I wasn’t jumping to read this one but I was in the mood for a thriller and this was next up in my queue. I ended up really enjoying it. The “haunted” parts of the book were actually more interesting and chilling than the mystery itself and by the time the reveal happened I had guessed a bunch of the book. (Though I hadn’t guessed the killer, even though it was pretty obvious in retrospect.) There also were bits of the story that didn’t wrap up that I wished had. But overall it was a satisfying and quick read. A Bend in the Stars (4 stars): I usually try not to read novels set around WWII but this particular story takes place during WWI-era Russia and the ratings were so high that I decided I had to give it a try. I am so glad I did. It was a great story mixing history with science and feminism and romance and highlights the complexities around being a woman (especially in science) and being Jewish and highlights all the complexity and hatred during this time. It was a beautiful, at times harrowing, at times uplifting story to read. I also really loved that it centered around a real solar eclipse in 1914. I really enjoyed reading this one and recommend it to fans of historical fiction. And there we go, an ok week of reading. Here’s to a great week next week. Books I Read this Week 2019 is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2019 here. I am also tracking my books in real time on Good Reads here. If you’re on Good Reads add me so I can follow you, too! I’ve also started an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art. I’ve wanted to visit the Galapagos Islands for as far back as I can remember. We finally made this dream come true thanks to the Deb at Edge of Wonder Travel. When we came home, I made a travel journal using Ali Edwards’ Travel Collection. Here’s my album and the journaling: (as I put this together, I realized one of the journaling pages hadn’t been printed so I have since fixed that!)   2018 was a rough year for me and as 2019 approached and I started thinking about my word, I looked back on my memories from the last year and quickly realized that all my best moments were when we went on vacation and spent time together as a family, seeing new places, learning, growing, relaxing, and just being together. So as I picked my word of the year, magic, vacation was at the very top of my list. I wanted us to go on adventures together. As is typical for many New Year wishes, this one sat in the backburner and didn’t get much traction, until I was talking to my friend Evelyn and we exchanged bucket list places to visit. She told me she’d just booked a trip to Africa with an agent. I don’t know what made me finally take action but within hours, I’d taken down the woman’s phone number, called her and started the process of planning a vacation for us. Galapagos, Madagascar, Alaska, or Hawaii, I told her. I want to do two, I said. One in June and one in August. Let’s do this! As the process unfolded, I wavered a million times. The complexity, the duration, the prices, the unknown, I could think of a million reasons why this wasn’t the right time, place, or decision for us right now. But I still kept pursuing it because I’d committed to making this year magical, and this was a big part of making that happen. After weeks of back and forth, I finally bit the bullet and bought the plane tickets to Ecuador. Once those were in my hand, I knew I’d committed to the whole thing. My big dream of going to the Galapagos was going to become a reality. Through every part of this process, anxiety was right there with me. Clothes shopping, figuring out the itinerary, packing, getting all the details right, it never stopped nagging me, but it also didn’t manage to stop me. So after all the hours of worrying and stressing, it’s now time. GALAPAGOS here we come. We are making magic happen!   Our first destination was Quito, Ecuador. We left San Francisco at 1:30pm and flew to Mexico City where we waited at the airport for 5 hours. Then we took the second four and a half-hour long flight, and arrived at Quito at 5:50 in the morning. We were completely wiped from being on the road for over 13 hours and flight on the short but overnight flight. A lovely guide picked us up and drove us to La Casa de la Ronda at downtown Quito. It was an hour-long ride and we all struggled to stay awake. Thankfully, the hotel had prepared one of our two rooms so we could immediately take a nap. We said our thank yous and proceeded to take a five-hour nap. Once we all felt a bit more human, we left the hotel to wander the streets of Quito. First order of business was lunch so we walked into a colorful pizza joint which unfortunately turned out to be only mediocre pizza. Our bellies full, we headed downtown. They had just had the equinox celebration so there were many street performers, sales people, and wanderers like us. It took us only a few minutes to realize that none of the stores took credit cards so we managed to find a bank and an ATM machine and then ate some delicious ice cream. With the heat, the travel, and the walking around we were all wiped so we decided to go back to our quiet and beautiful hotel to rest a bit and then enjoy the 4pm tea they served. Before we knew it, it was past 6pm and almost dark outside. So we ventured out once more. This time, the streets were very quiet and empty. We found a lovely little restaurant near the hotel and had one final meal before finishing off our day in Quito. The next morning, we woke up at 5am because another guide, Aldo, was there to pick us up and drive us all the way back to the airport so we could get on the Latam flight to the Galapagos. All of our paperwork was taken care of and we were safely on the flight which stopped in Guayaquil before landing at Baltra airport, on the beautiful Galapagos Islands.       After we landed at the airport, we got off the plane onto the tarmac and slowly started walking. Within moments, we saw two lizards fighting. This was exactly why we’d decided to come here: the magic of nature. Another guide picked us up from the airport and got us on the bus, to the boat, to the minibus so we could arrive at our first adventure of the day. We drove near Rancho Manzanillo and took a meandering walk in the trees where we got to see some awesome finches and other birds. We also got to see a giant sinkhole. We were quite tired from the 5am wake up go I got worried that the hikes would be too much but it was just the right amount. Right after our short hike, we drove to the ranch and had lunch surrounded by little birds and beautiful nature. The food was fresh but not super flavorful. This ranch was home to many, many giant tortoises so the guide first explained all about these tortoises and where there were from and how you can tell age and gender, etc. And then we started walking around the property so we could see these amazing animals ourselves. Jake and I had seen giant tortoises in the Seychelles so we knew a little bit about them but the kids knew nothing. We got to see many of them, in all sizes. Little babies, giant ones, and everything in between. We found out tat they don’t have ears and can’t hear, but that they feel the vibrations when you approach them. After our tour, we took a very short drive to walk through an underground lava tunnel which was dark, cold, and magical. And then it was finally time to go to our hotel. We were all wiped and ready to settle in. One more boat ride later, we were finally at the section of the island where Finch Bay Eco Hotel lived. Even though we were tired, on the way down to the hotel, we couldn’t resist the temptation to stop and observe the marine iguanas that were nesting.    Finally, we’d made it to Finch Bay Eco Hotel. What a magnificent and quiet place. Each of our rooms had an outdoor hammock (which I used extensively.) There were ponds filled with ducks and finches and many other Galapagos birds. The ducks also shared the pool with us. Within minutes of arriving, we were welcomed by hotel personnel who explained that all of our meals were included and then gave us the details of the following day. We thanked her and headed to the pool. After swimming and resting and eating, we headed off to bed since the following day had an 8:15 start time. We all woke up at 7:15 with panic, realizing the wake up call had never come. We quickly got dressed and went down to breakfast, only to realize that there’s a one-hour time difference between Quito and the Galapagos, so it was 6:30am and not 7:30am. Our first day was a trip to South Plaza Island with two other families, one couple and three women traveling together. We got on the boar and rode for about an hour where we stopped to snorkel. We had cleverly rented wet suits so the water was cold but not unbearable. We got to see many different sharks, schools of fish, and even an eel. When the snorkeling was over, we rode a little bit more and finally arrived at the island where we took a hike and got to see land iguanas (even a hybrid one!), lots of crabs, sea lions, and many many birds including my favorite frigate birds. Many of the birds were nesting so we got to see a lot of tiny, tiny babies, too. When we got back to the boat, there was lunch waiting for us so we got to relax and enjoy ourselves. The ride back was windy and rocky,. David ended up feeling really seasick and threw up. Despite that, our first full day was a huge success. Everyone was happy and felt like we were on an adventure. Even the dinner worked out as the awesome staff kindly let the kids eat burgers and hotdogs instead of the fixed menu. We were one happy family.      Day two was a bit more relaxing. We started out earlier (8am) and once again we had Soto as our guide. This time we were paired with one other family and they had a young son, so we replaced the planned long hike with a boat ride to Tortuga Bay. which meant we got there a lot earlier than planned and we could spend our time really enjoying the marine iguanas. After which we had a wonderful swim in the sandy beaches of Tortuga Bay. After a leisurely swim and fun sandcastles, we got back on the boat and headed back to our hotel. We then had a break for several hours so we could have lunch, rest, etc. It was really nice to have a break in the day In the afternoon, Soto came back to take us to the Charles Darwin Research Station where we got to see newborn turtles and more iguanas and Lonesome George’s taxidermy. On the way out, we got Nathaniel a stuffed sea turtle and then headed back to the hotel. That evening was the first of the two Democratic Debates so we ended up watching that over dinner and then headed to bed to rest for our last full day. On our final day, we had Soto once more. This time we had two of the three women, one of the two families and a new couple. We took a long and rocky boat ride to Santa Fe island where we started a walk on the beach full of sea lions and then a hike through the island to see iguanas and blue footed boobies and more. It was quite hot so we were ready to snorkel by the time the hike was done. The sea was much, much colder in this area so we didn’t end up snorkeling for as long, but we still got to see the beautiful spotted damselfish and the highlight of my trip was watching a sea lion catch a fish underwater with his mouth. After the snorkeling, we had lunch ready for us and got to relax for quite some time. The ride back was a lot less rocky and several of us fell asleep. That night was the second of the Democratic Debates which we also watched over dinner. Some packing, drying all our clothes and a bit of relaxing is how we closed out our last day on the island.      And finally it was the last morning on the island. We woke up, had one final delicious breakfast and then took the boat from the hotel to the main island where someone picked us up and drove us all the way to the main boat dock for the airport. We took the boat and then the bus again and finally we were at the airport. Another Latam flight that stopped at Guayaquil first and we were back in Quito around 5pm or so. We took the shuttle to the Wyndham Airport hotel where we found out that our rooms were at the Club Level. We munched on some goodies and headed off to bed since we were going to have another early morning for our flight back home. The flight home was the same Aeromexico pattern where we flew 4+ hours to Mexico City, had lunch at the same restaurant where we’d had dinner on the way over, waited 5 hours, tried to connect to infinitum movil a million times and then took the final 4+ hour flight back to SFO. We got home around 10pm at night and pretty much headed right to bed. Even though I had hemmed and hawed so much before we went on this expensive, far away, complicated journey, it turned out to be every bit as magical as I had hoped it would be and then some. We were pampered and guided and taken care of in all the possible ways. Every hotel we stayed at was absolutely magnificent. The service was unparalleled. Every item was included and with the exception of meals in Quito, tips, and wetsuits we didn’t spend a penny. It was way more luxurious than anything we’d ever done before. But the very best part, of course, was being there with all these animals and all this nature. Being together. Remembering what matters most. Taking time to be together and taking time to rest and taking time to go on adventures. Taking time to give hugs. Taking time to have wonderful conversations. Taking time to see the wonders of the world. To see the beauty. It was all so much more than I could have imagined. I will never, ever forget this incredible holiday. So grateful for all the magic.  Weekly Intention: This week I am traveling for work. I have a crazy trip planned where I will be in Zurich for about 34 hours and then in London for about 36 hours and then I come back home to leave for Tahoe. So a lot of time on the road. And then a lot of working at work, at airports, on airplanes, etc. So my intention this week is: work hard, be present, sleep as much as I can, and take time for myself where I can. This month’s intention is: Magical Thinking: Time to let go. This is a hard month for you. Transitions are rough. But you also turn 45. It’s magical to get to have another year. It’s magical to have a high schooler and a middle schooler. Life is magical. Let the small things go and have faith that it will all work out. It always does. This week is a perfect example of how I am going to have to let go. It’s going to be hectic and I am not going to be on top of things the way I wish I were. And yet. It’s going to be okay. One way I will show up this week: curious. One magic I will make this week: If I am really lucky I might get to see my friend from high school while in London. It really would be magical. This week, I will pay attention to: our teams in both of these locations. This week, I will be kinder to: myself since i will be jetlagged likely. This week, I will focus on pleasing: work, to ensure the trip ends up being worthwhile. One new thing I will learn this week: how these teams are doing. I am looking forward to: visiting london office for the first time This week’s challenges: lots of airplane time, lots of meetings, lots of jet lag. Top Goals:
I will focus on my values:
This week, I want to remember: it’s fun to be in these offices. Everyday Magic is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2019 here.  Magic I Saw this Week: This was one of those wonderful combination weeks. I did a lot of work over the weekend, got my hair done and rested on Sunday and then worked hard until Wednesday. Thursday was my birthday so Jake and I went on adventures and then to back to school night. Friday I climbed, worked hard, and then met my friend Kelly which was a huge treat, then worked again, and then went out on date night to the movies. It was a full and magical week. Magic I Made this Week: Date night, meeting my friend, celebrating my birthday! lots of magic this week. Magic of Me that I explored Week: hmm i did some journaling and it was great. Top Goals Review:
I celebrate: my birthday! I am grateful for: another wonderful trip around the sun. may there be many mor. This week, I exercised: went to body pump twice, went on a hike on my birthday and went climbing. Self-care this week: it’s been a full week which sometimes makes things tougher. getting my hair done was lovely and so was taking the day off for my birthday. I showed up for: The kids by going to school twice for coffee and back to school night. I said yes to: i continue to keep saying yes as often as i can. I said no to: working on my birthday! Core Desired Feelings Check-in:
What I tolerated this week: just a lot going on still. My mood this week was: tired. I am proud of: working really hard to support people the best i can I forgive myself for: not being perfect. Here’s what I learned this week: i want to keep showing up and keep trying What I love right now: how much my kids are growing up and learning to navigate new stages of their lives. Weekly Reflection is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2019 here.    Here’s to Seeing more Magic in 2019. Moments of Gratitude is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2019 here.     
Here are my goodreads reviews. If you’re on goodreads, add me as a friend so I can see your books too! I’ve also started an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art. We Are All Good People Here (3 stars): So much happens in this book. It is the story of two women who meet in college in the early 1960s. It follows their lives all the way to when they have kids of their own, and the kids’ lives, too. There are a lot of issues the book addresses including racism, anti-semitism, anti-war (Vietnam) and feminism. The women weave in an out of each others’ lives for a while but then end up back together like when they were young, though not close in the same way. I enjoyed the wide range of historical times covered in this book and liked the characters but didn’t connect with it as much as I usually do with stories that go over such a long period of time like this one did. Liked it but didn’t love it. Say Say Say (3 stars): Say Say Say is the story of a caregiver named Ella. While the book has many musings about relationships and grief and loss. Overall, I didn’t feel like the novel was long or deep enough for me to connect with it the way I usually like to. But I really loved the parts that revolved around her caregiving. The small bits of deeply intimate life you glimpse into as a caregiver, the ways in which you care and also struggle with how/when to care all felt really realistic and touching to me. Because You’re Mine (3.5 stars): I don’t usually like twists in my mystery novels. They often feel like the author assumed the reader was stupid and came up with a completely implausible twist. Or it was so easy to tell that I could guess the twist. Or the characters are so dislikable that I don’t even care about the twist. This book, however, did none of those for me. The characters were each flawed but also likable in their own ways. The twists (and there were several) were not easy to guess, for me, and yet reasonably believable. I didn’t care for any of these characters all that much but I really enjoyed the story. If mystery and twists are your thing, you will like this one. No Happy Endings (3 stars): This author was new to me. I haven’t read her previous books, i don’t follow her on instagram, nor have i listened to her podcast. I wasn’t sure how to rate this book. I felt like while there were several touching parts to it, and some gold as well, but overall I didn’t come away with that much. She has endured unspeakable grief between losing a baby and her husband weeks away from each other. The book did a great job of showing both the deep grief and the incredible joy life can bring. Life is complicated, you should make sure to make the most of your days, we don’t get happy endings but complicated, beautiful and textured lives. I admire the courage of the author and her honesty and I am truly happy for her. Maybe I just read this book at the wrong time and didn’t connect with it as much as I could have. If you’re a fan of her work, I am sure you will love this book. All the Water in the World (2.5 stars): I should have DNF’ed this book. I could tell at around 10% in that I wasn’t connecting with the book and neither of the characters were resonating with me. And yet I kept reading to see if something would make me change my mind. Alas, it wasn’t so. Sometimes it’s the wrong time for a book and I can’t tell if this was one of those. Either way, this book didn’t really work for me unfortunately. If you’ve read it and liked it, I’d love to hear what made you love it that maybe I just missed. And there we go, an ok week of reading. Here’s to a great week next week. Books I Read this Week 2019 is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2019 here. I am also tracking my books in real time on Good Reads here. If you’re on Good Reads add me so I can follow you, too! I’ve also started an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.      Here are more stories from my 2019 album. The content for these comes from Ali Edwards Story Kits. Stories from 2019 is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2019 here. Everything on the pages is from Ali’s Story Kits unless mentioned otherwise.  Weekly Intention: This is another short week at work because I am taking Thursday off for my birthday and I am planning to have no-meeting Friday. Which puts all the stress on the other three days. Like last week, I also have two trips to the kids’ schools. Back to school night for high school and 5th grade tea. I then will leave for Europe for work at the end of the week. So my intention this week is to spend the evenings with my kids. Helping, being present. To focus hard on staying on top of work for the days I am there. And trying to use all my Friday to catch up so I leave for Zurich without too long of a list. This month’s intention is: Magical Thinking: Time to let go. This is a hard month for you. Transitions are rough. But you also turn 45. It’s magical to get to have another year. It’s magical to have a high schooler and a middle schooler. Life is magical. Let the small things go and have faith that it will all work out. It always does. I turn 45 this week. I am going to stop and breathe in all the magic in my life. One way I will show up this week: full. One magic I will make this week: I am going to be taking Thursday off to celebrate and possibly spend some time with a friend on Friday. I am very excited. This week, I will pay attention to: how to grow. This week, I will be kinder to: david still. also nathaniel. This week, I will focus on pleasing: myself. It’s my birthday week! One new thing I will learn this week: hmmm. some skills i can develop and how. I am looking forward to: my birthday! and back to school night! This week’s challenges: long days, short week, needing to get too much done, two trips to school. [same as last week!] Top Goals:
I will focus on my values:
This week, I want to remember: i am so incredibly lucky!! Everyday Magic is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2019 here.  Magic I Saw this Week: So much magic this week. We went to Yosemite National Park and Mammoth Falls for Labor Day weekend and we saw a wide variety of incredible nature. It was truly magical. So many lakes, so many trees and so much beauty. Magic I Made this Week: Well I climbed big mountains and took trips to my kids’ school and showed up again and again. Magic of Me that I explored Week: nothing new here still…I know I need to work on this one. Top Goals Review:
I celebrate: hiking to the top of Mt. Dana. 13,000feet and a steep steep insane hike! I am grateful for: all the different layers of my life. I am really tipping over at this point but I love all the different aspects of my life. I love all the work I have, Love my kids and where they are in their lives, Love my husband and all the things he is exploring and bringing into my life, love getting to draw and exercise and I wish I had twice as many (or maybe three times as many!) hours in the day/week so I could do them each more. This week, I exercised: i did several hikes in Yosemite, especially Mt. Dana, then I went to yoga, and went outdoor rock climbing with jake which included a 1hour hike. It was plenty of exercise for a week. Self-care this week: doing a great job on hiking and being outdoors, not as good on the diet though. I showed up for: Jake this week. We celebrated his 45th birthday by going climbing at Castle Rock where I climbed and I learned how to belay. I said yes to: as many things as i could this week. I said no to: working at night when I was exhausted. Core Desired Feelings Check-in:
What I tolerated this week: an extra work day, it helps so much. My mood this week was: full. I am proud of: hiking Mt. Dana and going outdoor rock climbing this week I forgive myself for: never ever fully catching up. Here’s what I learned this week: i can do anything I put my mind to What I love right now: how hard i am working at so many aspects of my life Weekly Reflection is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2019 here. |
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