Pondering

Apparently all I am capable of lately is just updates that are dumps of my current thoughts. So I figure it might still be better than nothing at all. I hope I am right.

Here’s some of what’s on my mind at the moment. In no particular order:

  1. I’ve been thinking nonstop about my December Daily because I want to do something different this year. Something wildly different. I wanted to do something that involved mixed media or something. But I wrecked my brain day after day and I surfed for ideas all over, but I couldn’t come up with anything. Nothing seemed to really click for me. Finally, today, in the car, on the way to pickup the kids, I came up with an idea I am excited about. I am not sure at all if it will work but at least it feels interesting to me. It will mean a lot of work up front for my prep pages but I’ve decided to give it a try for the next 2-3 weeks and see if I can make it happen. I will judge the idea around November 13. Which is long enough for me to see if it comes to fruition and short enough to have a fallback plan.
  2. What made the December Daily situation even more complicated is that I will be in Zurich the first week of December. I think this might be the only time so far, I’ve been away during December without my family. And the only time I’ve been away right at the beginning of the project. For such a long time. This was freaking me out a bunch. Having to come back and then play catch up right away. But I am not freaked out anymore. It’s all going to work out. I know that if I say it will, it will.
  3. I’ve been reading about Ali’s upcoming Week in the Life plans and I’ve been telling myself I wasn’t going to do it. I’ve done this project a few times but it never really sticks with me. So I wasn’t crazy about doing it. But then I realized that I’ve been taking very very few photos in the last few months and that maybe this project could be a nice kick in the pants for me. I can even couple it with my Savor Project and get it printed in the same book. So now I am considering it. I have to see if I can design some digital format for it over the weekend. I’m still on the fence about it but learning towards doing it ….I think.
  4. I’m in a transition period for the next two weeks and like always, I hate transitions. I just find myself uninspired during this time. Unwilling to jump in the new pool yet but already feeling out of place in the old one. Alas, it’s only two more weeks and then new things begin for me. Here’s to hoping I made the right decisions.
  5. I’m still doing the Whole Life Challenge. As of tonight, I’m 41 days in. I’ve been pretty consistent at keeping to my schedule and commitments. Part of that is due to the relatively consistent schedule I have but a lot of it is just due to my commitment to make it work. I have 14 more days and it ends. I’ve been thinking about what life after the WLC looks like for me. What practices I will continue. What foods I will bring back. How I hope to maintain the wholeness of my diet and the consistency of exercise. Thinking, thinking…
  6. I’ve also been thinking a lot about 2015. What my projects will be. What I want to learn. How I want to feel. I know my word, but I think I want to do the Core Desires exercise again and see what comes up for me this time. I have some ideas of the projects I will do for sure but then others, I am not sure about. Each time I sit to plan it, I feel a bit uninspired which is not the place from where I want to make these decisions. Like December Daily, I am hoping it will just come to me as I let my subconscious ponder it for a while.
  7. It’s been a long week with four extra trips to school and one to work. Everything is good, and I am thankful for that, but I am ready for things to be a bit quieter. I am one of those people who really thrives on routine.
  8. The Mixed Media Studio class I am part of has started. You can still register for six more days. My week starts next Thursday. Not like it’s intimidating coming right after Donna Downey or anything.
  9. I’ve been going to sleep 8-8:30 every night as I find myself completely exhausted each night and I’m making an effort to listen to my body. One wonderful benefit to WLC has been being able to fall asleep almost instantly and wake up completely rested. Quite nice.
  10. I can’t believe there are only 10 weeks left in 2014. How did that happen?

So here’s where I am. I usually go into deep pondering/planning space during October/November and this year is no exception. I hope to feel all organized in the next two weeks so I can start testing out some of my projects for 2015. First, I have to decide what they are.

2 comments to Pondering

  • Best of luck with your transition. It’s almost like you’re in your boat or kayak on a waterway and you’ve entered a “lock” which transitions you from one water level to the next. You can’t go back or forward, you just have to navigate the passage and be patient. So hard!

    I just ordered my album for December Daily yesterday. A couple of years ago I did a 6 x 6 in an American Crafts album — two page spread per day — photo on the left and journaling card on the right, with patterned paper behind each, with bits and pieces to decorate, and I loved it. Simple enough to keep up, but decorated enough to be fun. So, I’m going to do something similar this year.

    I’m also going to do 30 Days of Thankful with Cathy Zielske. I purchased one of her template sets from last year, which is a 6 x 4 overlay with space for a picture and journaling for each day. That one is going to be super simple — all digital, just the 6×4, in a simple “brag book” style album.

    I wanted to go super simple with that because I hope to do National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in November, too. As a former English major, I always have it in the back of my head that I’d like to write books “someday.” This gives me a chance to move that to a front burner.

    Happy Friday! 🙂

  • Alexandra

    I love these types of posts: getting a glimpse into your life seeing so many things that resonate with my life. I also want to do all of Ali’s projects but I have never done a one. I buy the templates but I fall down on the photo-taking part. 30-days of Thankful looks doable and the templates are so lovely. It would be fun if there was a local (Bay Area) DD group, where we could get together and help each other finish up an album. Good luck with your transitions – at first I thought you were changing swim teams [as I am a swimmer and we do occasionally change pools 🙂 ]

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