Twenty Seventeen Yearly

December Daily – 18

Today’s story is about brunch that my YA book club hosted.

I love this book club because it’s all writers. They all write YA Fiction or other fiction and I get to be there an hear all their stories.

so so lucky!

December Daily – 17

Day 17 is about the Tech Challenge and David and his friends working.

This is one of my favorites because I’ve had this story in the book for four years now and I love being able to see how it changes.

Little bits of embellishments. Not much.

Living Intentionally 2017 – 51

Weekly Intention: Hello to what will hopefully be my first week of holiday vacation. My intention this week is to make some plans for 2018, to read a bunch, to really really relax with my family. That’s it.

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

Work: matching
Personal: see if I can exercise a bit?
Personal: do December Daily
Personal: do advent of light
Personal: make 2018 plans iteration 3 + journal
Personal: Continue with the new scrapping/storytelling system.
Family: take photos!
Family: Math with D and Python with N
Family: Make a plan for the next two weeks.

This month’s intention is: Shine Slowly: And here it is. The end of one more year. You made it through. Tough times, joyful times. Celebrations and trials. Changes and all. You did it. Time to slow down. Time to make space for the next year. Growth comes after downtime for you. Take this time to store some energy so you can hit the ground running in 2018.

Ways to Shine this week:

One: Bold: prepping for 2018 but honestly resting would be bold this year.
Two: Open: open to the possibility of going somewhere.
Three: Heal/Nourish: some serious self-care this week.

I am looking forward to: resting. nothing. reading.

This week’s challenges: not getting antsy and bored.

Top Goals:

Work: matching. and not working 🙂
Personal: sleep+exercise+food+journaling. december daily.
Family: loving my kids and husband

I will focus on my core desires (bold, mindful, nourish, love) by: really focusing on my family wholly.

This week, I will say yes to: self-care.

This week, I will say no to: ennui.

I am worried that: we will waste these two weeks. i really really don’t want to.

This week, I want to remember: that it’s a major luxury to get this time off and i really want to make the most of it.

Weekly Reflection 2017 – 50

How I shone this week: This week I shone at work by helping planning come together for all of my organization and closing many of the loops that needed to be closed. I am officially out starting this week hopefully. I also supported my kids by doing work with them and going to David’s culmination. I showed up for my friend Leslie. It was a good week.

Things I wanted to get Done:

Work: planning done! (for now). emails done, posters done. matching still underway.
Personal: exercised four times, did conway, didn’t quit coffee, ate so so. did december daily and most of advent of light. scrapped.
Family: did math, python and calc. Took photos. did shopping round three. went to D’s culmination and Google party. made no plans though.

I celebrate: a good, solid week.

I am grateful for: a fun holiday party.

I nourished myself by: not super much this week.

Reflecting on my worries: exercised but didn’t eat great. planning is mostly done. i will hopefully have the two weeks off. tried not to disappoint anyone.

I let go of: anything being perfect. perfection is a myth.

Core Desire Check-in (bold, mindful, nourish, love):

bold: bold with moving planning forward this week.
mindful: mindful that the next two weeks can be really hard if we let it be.
nourish: i need to do some strong push here.
love: i love the holiday season, slowing down!

What made me laugh this week: lovely laughter at holiday party with Jake.

What I tolerated this week: a lot of chaos around planning and two interviews.

My mood this week was: driven.
I forgive myself for: feeling exhausted. i need rest.
What I love right now: that i am finally finally taking some time off!

Here’s to a great week 51. We’re so close to the end of 2017.

December Daily – 16

Day 15 is another simple story: Nathaniel having a playdate here.

playdates are so hard for me and I am so proud of how well I’ve been doing with Nathaniel this year!

December Daily – 15

The next page is the back of the 9 12 pocket page and for this one, I decided to focus on books.

Here are some of my favorite reads from 2017. To be honest, there were 20 more but I wasn’t going to be able to fit them all.

December Daily – 14

The next page was Nathaniel’s tag. I love this photo of him!

I love that he says he is into programming.

And finally for day 15, I put photos of all our new ornaments for this year. I love this new batch a lot!

December Daily – 13

Day 13 is telling the story of Nathaniel and Dad going to archery class. I love love love these photos.

this year’s proving to be pretty simple but i love all the stories i get to capture 🙂

Books I Read This Week 2017 – 50

I skipped Erdrich’s previous novel but I loved the one before that (Round House) so I was excited to tackle her new dystopian novel: Future Home of the Living God. And while it was hard to read (because let’s admit it, none of her novels are easy to read – subject-matter wise) I enjoyed this book. I connect with her writing style even if I’ve had enough of dystopian for a while.

I picked up The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue for my Young Adult book club and I wanted to like it because everyone seems to have. But alas, it wasn’t for me. I don’t seem to connect with characters that go frolicking around regardless of what century they are in.

Your Best Year 2018: Life Edition was my new reflection/planning purchase for this year. I did 14 pages of journaling thanks to it on the plane to Sydney. I am enjoying using this book so far and look forward to continue using it. I’ve read all the pages up until the planner part starts which I will use in January.

I also finally got to read The Heart’s Invisible Furies which I’d checked out twice before. I made a list of books I want to make sure to read before 2017 is over and this one was on my list, so I decided I was going to tackle it for once and all. I am so so glad I did. I love love love loved this book. Even though I find Irish literature so difficult most of the time, this was a fantastic book. It was touching and funny. Some of the best dialogue I’ve read in a while. Loved this one.

The Deal of a Lifetime is a short story by the wonderful Backman. I figured he wouldn’t disappoint me and of course he didn’t. It’s super fast read and I read it twice.

Fewer books this week since the Boyne book was so long. But so so worth it.

Books I Read this Week 2017 is a year-long project for 2017. You can read more about my projects for 2017 here.

December Daily – 12

Day 12 is telling a story that actually happened last Friday but I haven’t managed to tell it yet. This is about my visit to Nathaniel’s class during Choice time to do some crafts together.

I added the photo of the kids working on it and then the sample Nathaniel and I made together.

Nourish Me – 50

Mind:

I read: Only books this week, too. Maybe after next week I can browse a bit.
I learned: Calculus and Python classes for the kids took up all my empty moments this week.
I watched: This one movie about whether to write or type 🙂 I also watched Lady Bird which was wonderful.

Body:

Exercise: I exercised every day this week despite crazy jet lag and major sciatica pain.
- Monday: Body Pump
- Tuesday: Body Pump Express
- Wednesday: Tabata (for 18 mins only as I had to rush to a meeting.)
- Thursday: Yoga and Body Pump Express with Jake
- Friday: Body Pump Express
Food: Food was so so. Still no soda. Too much coffee which I have to quit. Ok on the meals but poor job on chocolate.
Body Care: I’ve done nothing here still. Will use the holiday season to get back on track.

Soul:

I rested: Sleep was not good this week because I was super super busy at work and had two evenings of meetings and two evenings of social commitments. So I really need more sleep.
I connected: I got to see a lot of work friends this week, too due to a summit we had. I had a date night with Jake. And got to see my friend Leslie. I also went to Nathaniel’s class. Not a bad week.
I journaled: I journaled thanks to the advent of light course but I am behind. still, i did some journaling!
I made art: December Daily baby!
Flowers: still filling my life and home with these and still loving it.

I think this might be the week I quit coffee again.

Nourish Me Week 2017 is a year-long project for 2017. You can read more about my projects for 2017 here.

2017 Stories – 50 – The Sleepover Birthday Party

I know all the faces here are blurred except Nathaniel but I wanted to capture this story mostly for how wonderful it feels to see that Nathaniel’s already made some great friends at his new school. He was recently invited to a sleepover birthday party and even though he didn’t spend the night, he had an absolute blast. These photos make me so so happy and grateful.