Weekly Intention: And I am off. As you read this, I will have hopefully just landed in Sydney. This is my work-very-hard-and-make-it-count-that-you’re-without-the-boys week. I try to get as much work as possible in there so I can really make the most of being away and also enjoy my family without guilt when the week is over. So my plan this week is to work hard, journal my trip, sleep a lot, and look forward to seeing my family again.

Things I want to get Done: Here’s the list for his week.

• Work: catch up to email.
• Work: document (unplanned, wrong).
• Work: finish off planning phase one.
• Work: follow up with the team from the class.
• Work: do phase one of fall plan.
• Work: do phase two of data collection
• Work: do posters.
• Personal: start travel journal.
• Personal: meet with Gabrielle.
• Personal: rest as much as i can.
• Family: miss family a lot!!

This month’s intention is:  June: Shine Through: Let yourself be seen this month. Express yourself. Be true to you. Own who you are. This one really resonates with me right now.

Ways to Shine this week:

• One: Bold: Bold and open and really present at work this week.
• Two: Open: open to the possibility that things will go wonderfully for the next three weeks.
• Three: Heal/Nourish: I plan to nourish a lot on the plane and exercise in sydney.

I am looking forward to: a good week at work.

This week’s challenges: working a lot. being without the boys.

Top Goals:

• Work: taking some time to think about my categories.
• Personal: doing my travel journal.
• Family: talking to them daily.

I will focus on my core desires (bold, mindful, nourish, love) by: remembering that the universe is on my side.

This week, I will say yes to: showing up. being present and doing all i can.

This week, I will say no to: worrying about things outside of my control.

I am worried that:  something will go wrong with my trip, my luggage, my hotel, my work, the family arriving, their trip and luggage. with out planes. just in general, i want us to all be healthy, make wonderful memories and have things go as “planned” as possible. 

This week, I want to remember:  just being together is all that matters.

Weekly Intention: This is the first week of summer for Nathaniel. I am still feeling sick and have a full day tomorrow with two client calls, 5 meetings, and a 6-hour trip to David’s school at night. Then I move to an all-day meeting at the school on Tuesday (and then a late meeting at work), a full-day at work Wednesday and then quieter day on Thursday. Friday’s David’s last day which means a half-day party. The weekend comes with a birthday party and a bat-mitzvah. And this is my last weekend in town before I am gone for three weeks. Phew. just writing all that down made me tired. So the intention for this week is going to have to be to be graceful. To be slow. To own my own story. To be intentional. To show up. To notice and appreciate the fulness of my life.

Things I want to get Done: Here’s the list for his week.

• Work: still more documentation (unplanned, wrong), planning, followups, data collection.
• Work: more meetings for planning.
• Work: follow up with last week’s class.
• Work: start organizing for fall work.
• Personal: Exercise twice this week. [almost don’t want to put this here]
• Personal: journal three times this week.
• Personal: do two pieces of art.
• Personal: A vegetable+protein with every meal.
• Family: Family photos.
• Family: Go to David’s culmination.
• School: Spend Tuesday at school. 

This month’s intention is:  June: Shine Through: Let yourself be seen this month. Express yourself. Be true to you. Own who you are. This is fantastically timed. I am all about being true to me at this moment.

Ways to Shine this week:

• One: Bold: Tuesday is when I want to be bold this week.
• Two: Open: Open to feedback this Thursday.
• Three: Heal/Nourish: I want to rest more so I can feel better. 

I am looking forward to: David also being done with school.

This week’s challenges: The first three days of this week promise to be stressful. 

Top Goals:

• Work: making a plan. understanding how to frame.
• Personal: resting and getting better.
• Family: a summer plan.

I will focus on my core desires (bold, mindful, nourish, love) by: working on defining what these mean to me in all the dimensions of my life.

This week, I will say yes to: showing up. even when i am tired. even when it’s hard.

This week, I will say no to: giving up.

I am worried that:  the feedback will be that it’s still not ok. david’s culmination will go badly. tuesday will be a disaster. friday i will be exhausted. i will still be really sick. 

This week, I want to remember:  that journaling really helps.

Weekly Intention: This is a short week since Monday is a national holiday here. Tuesday I have a trip to David’s school and one to the doctor. Wednesday I am at work all day and have meetings all night. Thursday, I am at work in the morning and then at social even for Nathaniel’s class midday. Friday it looks like I might be back at work again. Saturday and Sunday we have one kid event each. Thursday’s also the last day of school for Nathaniel. Hello summer. 

Things I want to get Done: Here’s the list for his week. Not a really long one this week. I’ll have to brainstorm some more.

• Work: more documentation, planning, followups, data collection.
• Work: schedule the meetings.
• Work: figure out and make plan for fall.
• Personal: Exercise twice this week.
• Personal: keep doing the art to see if it will work.
• Personal: do more of glow homework.
• Personal: OLW June
• Personal: Go to doctor.
• Personal: A vegetable+protein with every meal.
• Family: Family photos.
• Family: Schedule for summer before SYD trip.

This month’s intention is: May: Help others Shine: Ok now it’s others’ turn. It’s time to be the mirror to their light so it can reflect off of you. Think of ways big and small that you can help people in your life see their own light this month. Smile. Show them how amazing they are. Thank them.  I can’t even tell you how amazing I find the fact that I wasn’t able to do this once this whole month. I think it says a lot. Maybe I can sneak in a surprise there for Tuesday and Wednesday? June is: Shine Through: Let yourself be seen this month. Express yourself. Be true to you. Own who you are. I expect to start this on Friday. Let’s see if I can.

Ways to Shine this week:

• One: Bold: I want to step up and make these meetings happen. 
• Two: Open: Open to feedback and guidance this week. 
• Three: Heal/Nourish: More glow, more art, resting. 

I am looking forward to: a 4-day week. summer. 

This week’s challenges: Wednesday will be a bit challenging this week and scheduling these meetings is proving to be tough. Otherwise, it looks like it will be an okay week, hopefully.

Top Goals:

• Work: stepping up.
• Personal: some more work on Glow + August art. Eating clean. A bit of exercise.
• Family: a routine for the kids and some time doing math together.

I will focus on my core desires (bold, mindful, nourish, love) by: remembering what matters most and trying not to lose sight of it.

This week, I will say yes to: stepping up.

This week, I will say no to: doubting myself. taking it personally.

I am worried that:  i will mess up. meetings won’t happen or will without me or will go badly. feedback will be that i am still not actually ok to go. some bad news from somewhere else. david will have a bad last few weeks of school. i am mostly worried that i am not worried enough 🙂

This week, I want to remember: that it will be ok. it really will.

Weekly Intention: Oh man, interesting week this week. I have two relaxing work day where I might be able to actually get work done, two days of summits where I am going to miss a lot of meetings but hopefully connect with my teammates more. My good friend Evelyn’s book is launching. And then David leaves for a week to D.C and Nathaniel and Jake go camping for the weekend. And then I will be taking off super-early Monday to go to Seattle. So quite a lot going on. Physically long days Monday and Wednesday. Emotionally long weekend. My intention this week is to spend a bit of extra time with David since he will be gone all week next week. A bit more time with Jake since he was gone last week. And then make a decision about the weekend and whether I want to go camping with them or not.  Monday is full but not super full so my hope is that I can spend a lot of tomorrow working really hard both on my todos and on writing docs for work. If I can get that done, I will be on a positive cycle. 

Things I want to get Done: Here’s the list for his week.

• Work: more documentation: metrics, roadmaps, modeling
• Work: get closer to three team members i don’t know well.
• Vacation: plan out next weekend a bit.
• Summer: book rowing for david. 
• Summer: find a camp for Nathaniel.
• Personal: Exercise twice this week.
• Personal: 15 minutes of art 4 times.
• Personal: Do OLW May.
• Personal: A vegetable with every meal.
• Family: Family photos on Friday.
• Family: Make a decision on hiking this weekend.
• Family: Make eye doctor appointments. 

This month’s intention is: May: Help others Shine: Ok now it’s others’ turn. It’s time to be the mirror to their light so it can reflect off of you. Think of ways big and small that you can help people in your life see their own light this month. Smile. Show them how amazing they are. Thank them.  I am ashamed i have to write this again but I *still* forgot to write notes!!?! Can I do it this week, you think?

Ways to Shine this week:

• One: Bold: I would like to befriend some people at work. 
• Two: Open: Open to both going or staying this weekend.
• Three: Heal/Nourish: Exercise, art, journaling this week.

I am looking forward to: our two-day summit.

This week’s challenges: long workdays are no fun. But the hardest challenge will be letting David go of course.

Top Goals:

• Work: more documentation. connecting.
• Personal: a tiny bit of journaling this week?!
• Family: some just 4 of us time. some david and me time. 

I will focus on my core desires (bold, mindful, nourish, love) by: remembering that life is amazing just as is. i can relax.

This week, I will say yes to: slowing down. being present.

This week, I will say no to: worrying too much.

I am worried that:  something will happen to david. or nathaniel+jake. I want everyone to have fun where they’re going and to really enjoy the experiences they will be having. I want all of it to go well. I am worried i will eat poorly, not exercise, not journal, not do art. something has to change for everything to change.

This week, I want to remember: to kiss and hug and love my people!

Weekly Intention: Happy May!! Rabbit Rabbit! Well, no meetings week is over so the nights will be back to being full this week. And the days appear to be just as full. I have plans to go to work four days this week. That’s relatively uncommon for me but here we are. My intention for this week is to get through the days mindfully, slowly, and intentionally.

My other intention for this week is to figure out how I want to use my time like i mentioned yesterday. So here are some preliminary thoughts:

• Time at work: I’d like to take the time to think about and document my learnings from the last year and then recommend and put in place best practices from what I learned. I’d also like to meet with others and listen to their learnings so I can implement them with my teams. 
• Time at the kids’ school: I’ve learned that committing time to the kids’ school is meaningful to me. It’s a natural and meaningful way for me to meet other parents and faculty.  It shows me a side of the school I don’t otherwise get to see and it allows me to feel more connected to the school on a personal level (and not just through my kids.) I like it and plan to continue doing it. My two areas of passion and reading and math so I’ve already committed to shadowing the middle school STEM Fair lead in order to take over from her the following year. I’ve also committed to organizing snacks for MathCounts (though this is not usually my favorite type of volunteering, I am going to give it a try for a year.) and possibly co-running the Math Circles next year. I enjoyed doing Lit Club this year but it was very time consuming so I will only continue that next year if I can do it for Middle School instead. I will also volunteer at the Book Fair. This list makes me happy so far. I am a tiny bit worried about the snacks but I am sure we’ll be okay. Other than these, my plan to go to school once every two weeks for an event/talk/etc. I know this looks like a lot but I think it’s about the right amount for me, especially considering both my kids will be at the same school next year. I will take a step back and assess as I go, of course.
•  Time with Jake: One thing that slips through the crack more often than anything else is time with Jake. Especially since we support each other so much as we take care of the kids and manage our work schedules. We don’t spend as much time together (just the two of us) as I’d like. We chat throughout the day often and send each other loving emails/notes but I still want more time together. I have two goals here, one is to carve out an hour during the week when the kids are in school so we can have breakfast/coffee together. And the other is to pick an evening where we can go on date nights every other week. If we do those two, I will feel considerable progress here.
• Time with the kids: Time with the kids is twofold for me: fun time and teaching time. I want to spend time with each kid, working on math together. For this, I want one hour a week per kid. And then I want to have fun time with each kid individually for an hour a week, too, doing whatever they want to do. We spend a lot of time during the week doing homework, talking about school/life but these are not necessarily consistent so this is what I want to make sure we do consistently.
• Time as a family: Here, too, I plan to keep it simple. Most of our family time is chores and/or eating and I’d like to change that. Three wishes here: 1. go hiking weekly – saturday mornings, 2. have a family night – every other week when we aren’t going on a date, 3. go back to taking our family photos weekly (consistency plays a big game, if it’s once a month, it’s much less likely to happen than if it’s every week.)
• Time with friends: This one is a bit tricky. Friend-time directly competes with alone-time and much much much of the time alone-time wins. So I need to always remind myself that friend-time is worth it. I’d like to commit to friend time every other week. Either book club, or 1-1 time or some other social event. That’s a pretty good amount for me. Maybe I can even say something a bit more like 2 old friends and one new one each month?
• Personal Time: And finally, me-time. Right now, I spend a lot of my me-time reading and doing puzzles and resting. I don’t want to remove any of those but I do want to reduce them and add more variety. I’d like to go back to adding exercise into my days, even if it means I sleep a tiny bit less. I think it will be a worthwhile compromise. I want to commit to 30 minutes of learning something new each week and 30 minutes to watch TED talks. 

So there we are. No time better than now, so I hope to start implementing all of these starting this week. (Except for next year’s school volunteer commitments of course.) Let’s see how it goes.

Things I want to get Done: I have a long list this week.

• Work: Newsletters. no, really.
• Work: give my presentation.
• Work: document tracking.
• Work: 2 metrics documentation+work.
• Work: Start with YAG.
• Vacation: Figure out Memorial Day Weekend.
• Vacation: Book Sydney hotels (work/personal.)
• Vacation: Book flights to Cairns. 
• Summer: Book camps for David (and third for Nathaniel).
• Personal: Come up with exercise plan.
• Personal: Try out 15 mins of art.
• Personal: Buy sneakers.
• Family: Pickup books back from teachers.
• Family: Take family photos.
• Family: Go hiking.
• Love: book date night.

This month’s intention is: May: Help others Shine: Ok now it’s others’ turn. It’s time to be the mirror to their light so it can reflect off of you. Think of ways big and small that you can help people in your life see their own light this month. Smile. Show them how amazing they are. Thank them.  Oh, I love this one. This week’s intention is to make little notes for Nathaniel’s lunch every day. He always asks for them and I never make them. Let’s see if I can pull it off!

Ways to Shine this week:

• One: Bold: Bold plans at work. Bold plans to help out at the kid’s school. Bold plans all around this week!
• Two: Open: Open to being flexible this week. If things don’t work out, I will come up with new plan. Adjust as needed.
• Three: Heal/Nourish: I’ve been doing a better job eating more nourishing food. I’d like to take the time to ensure it continues. 

I am looking forward to: most of this week for some reason. getting through my todo list above! I can do this!

This week’s challenges: On the upside, no one day looks to be super-stressful this week. On the down side, a lot of trips to work, a trip to David’s school and a lot lot lot of meetings. I have some solid work (and todo list items) I’d like to get done this week and I am not sure when I can do that in between all the crazy meetings but I’d like to see if I can pull it off.

Top Goals:

• Work: let the documentation begin!
• Personal: exercise, can i do it?
• Family: looking forward to setting a few routines here.

I will focus on my core desires (bold, mindful, nourish, love) by: starting some of the practices i outlined above.

This week, I will say yes to: getting stuff done!

This week, I will say no to: inertia. things are getting done this week!

I am worried that:  i won’t get work done. i will do nothing for sydney. i won’t book the camps or come up with a plan for when jake’s parents are visiting. I won’t exercise. None of the things I outlined above will actually happen. I will get tired and give up. 

This week, I want to remember: that life is a marathon and not a sprint. it’s going to be okay.

Weekly Intention: This is a week of easing back into things. I am taking Monday off so it will be a bit shorter than usual and while I have some commitments, I might just do the bare minimum this week and spend my time resting and recovering. I think I’d like to spend this week thinking about all that I learned last week at Life Restoration Camp. I’d like to take a few more courses, retake some of the ones I did, do some journaling and a bunch of thinking. I’d like to do the work to listen to myself. See where I am, see what’s possible from here. I’d also like to rest a lot. The camp was amazing but it was long days and I didn’t sleep well at night. My knees are hurting a lot and I am feeling exhausted.

Things I want to get Done: 

• I’d like to make sure I am done buying Nathaniel’s birthday presents.
• Also all the little gift bags for his party.
• I’d like to write a lot more of my shine cards (maybe a perfect match for the journaling)
• Figure out a plan for our Sydney vacation
• Book the kids’ summer camps
• Deliver the books to the kids’ schools
• Send newsletters
• Check school payments

This month’s intention is:  Shine Quietly: It’s crucial to take time to reflect. Take this month to reflect on how things are going. Is there anything you need to adjust/change/drop or pick up. It’s ok to shift things. It’s also important to acknowledge what’s working. Take the time to shine some light inward and see what’s going on. Here’s to journaling to honor this intention.

Ways to Shine this week:

• One: Bold: Accepting what is, is bold. Here’s to going where the peace is.
• Two: Open: Open to thinking in new ways, changing perspective.
• Three: Heal/Nourish: I plan to spend some quality soul nourishing time this week. 

I am looking forward to: having tomorrow off.

This week’s challenges: Tuesday will be a challenge. I hope it is not. But it likely will be.

Top Goals:

• Work: catching up, stepping back, moving forward.
• Personal: journal, take a new perspective.
• Family: hug, smile, love, repeat.

I will focus on my core desires (bold, mindful, nourish, love) by: being here. listening. working at it.

This week, I will say yes to: slowing down. taking the time I need.

This week, I will say no to: focusing on the wrong things.

I am worried that:  bad news will continue. i won’t get anything done and i won’t journal and my knees will continue to hurt. i will forget the books again. it will be a week of blah.

This week, I want to remember:  that it’s all up to me.