2012 Projects – Reading with David

Now that our A Book a Week with David project is over, I’ve been thinking about how to continue reading together for 2012.

Here are all the books we read in 2011:

  1. Winnie the Pooh
  2. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
  3. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
  4. The Mouse and the Motorcycle
  5. The Tale of Despereaux
  6. Ralph S. Mouse
  7. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
  8. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
  9. Holes
  10. The Land of Oz
  11. The Cricket in Times Square
  12. The Twenty-One Balloons
  13. Mr. Popper’s Penguins
  14. The Secret of Terror Castle
  15. The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot
  16. The Mystery of the Whispering Mummy
  17. The Mystery of the Green Ghost
  18. The Secret Garden
  19. Encyclopedia Brown Boy Detective
  20. Katie Kazoo Anyone But Me
  21. Katie Kazoo Be Nice to Mice
  22. The Emerald Atlas
  23. Junie B. First Grader, Dumb Bunny
  24. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s Magic
  25. Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine
  26. Charlotte’s Web
  27. Because of Winn-Dixie
  28. The Magician’s Elephant
  29. Stuart Little
  30. The Mystery of the Vanishing Treasure
  31. The Secret of Skeleton Island
  32. The City of Ember
  33. The Tilting House
  34. Harriet the Spy
  35. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s Farm
  36. Babe, the Gallant Pig
  37. Much Ado About Aldo
  38. The World According to Humphrey
  39. Owls in the Family
  40. Pee-Wee’s Tale
  41. My Father’s Dragon
  42. Akimbo and the Elephants
  43. Elmer and the Dragon
  44. The Dragons of Blueland
  45. The Mystery of the Fiery Eye
  46. The Mystery of the Silver Spider
  47. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
  48. Homer Price
  49. The Westing Game
  50. Frindle
  51. Sideways Stories from the Wayside School
  52. The Little House in the Big Woods

Instead of doing another 52 books this year, I decided we would focus on longer, more involved books. These books might take a month to read and that’s ok. The idea is for him to learn to stay connected to a story over a long period and to get a better feeling for the depth of experience a longer novel can provide.

Or so is my hope.

I picked a bunch of books that I thought were on the longer side and a few classics.
Here’s what I have so far:

  1. The Mysterious Benedict Society (and books 2, 3, 4 if he likes it)
  2. Little Women
  3. Black Beauty
  4. Bridge to Terabithia
  5. Peter Pan
  6. The Wind in the Willows
  7. The enchanted castle and five children and it
  8. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

My goal is to incorporate our thoughts and feelings about each finished novel to David’s Book of Good Memories so we can have a record of our progress and continue to write down his thoughts on each book.

Like last year, I would love some more suggestions. David is almost 7 so any age-appropriate books for a 7-8 year old would be excellent. A huge thank you in advance!

Yey, can’t wait to start another year of reading!

December 26, 2011 | Reading with David, Yearly Projects | 20 comments

2012 Projects – Weekly Diary

If you’ve been reading Karenika with any regularity, you know that I like to post photos of my family. I used to do these daily but have recently moved to a Weekly format. I like this format better because it gives me the space to write more reflective posts daily. I plan to continue with this project in 2012 as well.

Here’s my plan for each week:

1. A photo of the four of us
2. Quick updates for each family member from that week
3. Photos + words of highlights from that week
4. A few lines on how my healthy for life journey is going

I’ve moved the daily gratitudes to a column on the left side of the blog. I know this means you can’t read them over RSS/email anymore and I apologize.

I love doing these weekly updates and I really enjoy taking the family photos. So I am looking forward to another year of wonderful photos of all of us and a collection of fantastic memories.

Here’s to hoping 2012 is a year to savor for all of us.

December 22, 2011 | Weekly Diary 2012, Yearly Projects | 20 comments

2012 Projects – Letters with Nathaniel

Since 2012 will be my third year of doing a project with David, I wanted to take the time to do a project with Nathaniel this year, too. He will turn 3 in April and I think he’s ready for some Mommy and Me project.

I wanted the project to be something fun and useful and not super-hard to do. Crafting with David in 2010 was fun but it was also challenging at times and we didn’t end up following it through all year. So for Nathaniel I decided we’d do a project involving the letters of the alphabet each week.

I had an extra Moleskine Volant XLarge Plain Notebook in Blue which is the perfect size for my project.

My plan is to create a spread each week which will have:

– letter of the alphabet in capital and lowercase
– photos of objects, verbs, nouns that start with that letter
– a big letter for him to color
– a simple craft project that starts with the letter

Here are some sites I’ve found in a quick search:

actionalphabet
First School
The Crafty Crow

I will look for more. And here’s an initial list of activities I plan to do that correspond to the alphabet letters:

  • a – apple printing
  • b – blowing bubbles or making beads, boat, or balls
  • c – making cookies or cupcakes, clock
  • d – dancing
  • e – creating a paper envelope
  • f – drawing flowers or fingerprints
  • g – goldfish using glitter (and glue)
  • h – hand prints or hats
  • i – ice cream!
  • j – jumping
  • k – making a mini kite
  • l – collecting leaves
  • m – macaroni art
  • n – making necklaces
  • o – making an owl puppet
  • p – collecting pine cones, potato prints
  • q – some game with quarters or a queen crown
  • r – making a rainbow using ribbons
  • s – sock puppets
  • t – making a tissue paper tree
  • u – making an umbrella
  • v – creating a paper volcano
  • w – creating a windmill or wind chime
  • x – making a map with a X marking the spot
  • y – making a xmas tree using yarn
  • z – drawing a zebra

I might change my mind, add, alter as we go along. I’ve learned that being consistent but flexible is the biggest key to success in yearly projects. My goal is for Nathaniel and I to have some special “just us” time, to do some art/crafts together and for him to be familiar with the letters of the alphabet.

I will post our pages on alternating weeks with David’s Book of Good Memories pages.

If you have ideas on other crafts, things he might like to do, ways to incorporate the alphabet more, I would be very grateful for them.

December 20, 2011 | Letters with Nathaniel, Yearly Projects | 16 comments

2012 Projects – Journey into Collage

Another brand new project I am trying to tackle for 2012 is called Journey into Collage.

I will admit that I am super-scared even at the idea of collage. Especially when I see the works of Teesha Moore. Most of the collage I’ve seen uses magazines and I don’t have any magazines. I mean none. And I have no intention of getting them. I also don’t believe I am creative enough to make something so unique like she does.

So, even though I’ve considered it on and off, I’ve never really tackled collage. I couldn’t even really define it for you. I just decided somewhere along the line that it wasn’t something I could ever really do.

But then Donna Downey started posting her Collage Monday creations and suddenly it looked fun. It looked like something I might want to tackle, play around with, experiment with. Without buying magazines. Maybe using my scrappy and mixed media stash.

I’m not entirely sure how it’s going to work out, to be honest.

And I’ll be even more honest and tell you I might walk away from this one entirely.

But I am going to give it a try. I’ve already started a Pinterest Board with inspiration. I will be using a Moleskine sketchbook and just taking it one step at a time.

The goals are:
1. Experiment with paper-based collage – see if it’s something I enjoy
2. Find a way to make it meaningful for me
3. Create one page a week.
4. Try different mediums, textures and styles
5. Find a collection of artists who inspire me and whose work I might want to emulate as a starting point

There you go. Pretty simple I know but this one scares me quite a bit.

If you know any collage artists that you like I’d love for you to leave a comment so I can compile a list.

December 15, 2011 | Art, Collage, Yearly Projects | 42 comments

2012 Projects – Weekly Sketching

One of my goals for 2011 was to sketch more. I wanted to keep daily sketch journals or be like those people you see sketching everywhere.

I loved the idea of being able to draw. I started with portraits but then moved on to anything I wanted. I made many many many pinterest boards with ideas and started sketching daily. Here are a few of my favorite sketches from 2011:

I started with black and white but then moved to color. I love both of them in different ways.

I then moved to watercolors which is what I am exploring at this very moment. I love using watercolors and really would like to explore the medium more. I will admit that I haven’t really taken the time to properly learn how to use watercolors but I hope and plan to.

So after sketching for over 8 months, I decided I wanted to focus on illustration style for a while. I became a huge fan of Abigail Halpin’s whimsical style and wanted to emulate it and come up with my own version. I then started taking Jane Davenport’s I heart Drawing class which is more about drawing bodies and body forms. I am hoping that by the end of that class, I will have a slew of ideas on what to practice.

My goal for 2012 is to find my own little sketching voice. Whether it’s drawing illustrations or landscapes or portraits or whatever. I would like to play with different mediums, shapes, sizes, types and get to a place where I can create drawings of my own. My own ideas, my own style.

Let’s see if it works out!

December 13, 2011 | Art, Sketching, Yearly Projects | 23 comments

2012 Projects – David’s Book of Good Memories

Last year, David and I read a book a week. This year, we plan to continue reading but in a different style (more on this later this month) and I decided I wanted to add another project for some David and Mommy time.

One of the things David loves to do is go through my scrapbooks and look at his past memories. He loves reliving the moments, remembering the good things and feeling the happiness all over again.

So we bought a Moleskine Sketchbook for him and started collecting some of the items that have good memories associated with them.

So his project is similar to The Savor Project I’m doing with a few differences:

  • He’s not tied to a calendar timeframe. If he finds something from two years ago that makes him happy, he gets to put it in his book. The pages are not in any time-order. Just a collection of things that make him happy.
  • We don’t prep pages ahead of time and mostly use the sketchbook page as a background.
  • He can put several unrelated memories per page if he likes.
  • The only thing he has to do on every page is write a few words on why that item/photo is special to him.
We plan to use this book to save special items he brings home from school as well as milestones in his life, photos I take that he loves, etc.
We haven’t decorated the cover yet so there’s nothing to see there but here are a few pages we’ve already done just to give you an idea of what we’re doing:
This is the first page. On the left side is his name, a pocket that holds a fortuneteller a friend gave him at school and a few words on why he likes it. On the right side is a ribbon from the local swim school of when he leveled up from one to two. (He is on level 3 now but we couldn’t find that ribbon. More reason to do this project!)

 

And here’s the next page. On the left is a photo of a card he made for Jake’s birthday two years ago and a photo of Jake, David, and Jake’s mom opening presents on Jake’s birthday. Below that is a pocket that holds a lego card he likes and a few words on why he likes it. On the right side is a photo I took during the Polar Express train ride we took last year. Since the photo was really large, we put it sideways and created a pocket on the right side which is where he put the card that has his words on it.

And there you go.

We use a lot of the scraps I have accumulated and anything that makes him happy. As you can see, the pages are simple and putting two together takes us about an hour or so each week.

Our goal is to do 1-2 spreads a week and fill the book up throughout the year. I will be posting photos from his page every other week. (I have a project with Nathaniel this year, too, and he will get the alternate weeks.)

December 8, 2011 | David's Book of Good Memories, Family, Yearly Projects | 16 comments

2012 Projects – A Book A Week

I’ve now done and loved this project for two years. Reading has a special place in my heart. It is and will always be my first love. So for 2012 I decided to continue my “a book a week” goal. Some weeks I won’t get to finish it and that’s ok but I know that I will read a whole lot more if I set this goal.

Here is my current list of 2012 books. They’re not sorted and you’ll see most of them are fiction. Some are young adult. Some are nonfiction. Some are from last year and some are new. I might only read a few on this list or many, it doesn’t matter, the idea is just to have a starting point.

  1. Angle of Repose
  2. Moneyball
  3. 1Q84
  4. Enclave
  5. The Adoration of Jenna Fox
  6. The Leftovers
  7. The Serpent’s Coil
  8. The Power of Six
  9. Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand
  10. The War Against the Rull
  11. The Leftovers
  12. After
  13. The Knife of Never Letting Go
  14. Moonwalking with Einstein
  15. History of Love
  16. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
  17. A Visit From the Goon Squad
  18. By Nightfall
  19. The Marriage Plot
  20. Aleph
  21. Birthmarked
  22. Marked
  23. A Minute for Me
  24. The Fault in Our Stars
  25. The Beginner’s Goodbye
  26. In One Person
  27. Crossed
  28. The Descendants
  29. The Legacy
  30. The Solitude of Prime Numbers
  31. Liesl and Po
  32. The Scorpio Races
  33. Wicked Lovely
  34. Gone
  35. Sapphique
  36. Invisible Justice
  37. What I Talk about when I Talk about Running
  38. Predictably Irrational
  39. We Bought a Zoo
  40. All These Things I’ve Done
  41. The Magicians
  42. Falling Together
  43. Insurgent
  44. Pandemonium
  45. Bitterblue
  46. The Rise of Nine
  47. The Art of Fielding
  48. The Night Circus
  49. The Lover’s Dictionary
  50. Daughter of Smoke and Bone
  51. Michael Vey
  52. The Willpower Instinct

By the way, last year I ended up reading over 70 books and since that’s more than 52, some of them are going to be posted in 2012. I put those in the “Books Read in 2011” category just so I can keep track of when I read each book. Feel free to ignore the tags.

Here’s to another year of high quality reading. As always, if you have suggestions please leave comments. I regularly read the suggested books!

December 6, 2011 | Literature, Yearly Projects | 10 comments

2012 Projects – The Savor Project – The Original Plan

Edited to ADD: I changed this project around a bit since this post. You can see my actual 2012 plan here.

During the month of December, I tend to focus on choosing projects for the next year. I’ve been doing this for a few years and it’s been helpful in keeping me focused and centered throughout the year. Throughout the next few weeks, I will share those projects with you and once 2012 starts, I will be tracking them on the blog regularly.

I’m not tied to these projects and over the years, I’ve wandered away from some of them and finished others. I don’t beat myself up if I don’t end up doing them for the full year. They are meant to be guides. Last year, I gave up on the six portraits a week project after a few weeks but then picked up two new projects which were the weeklong art journals and the daily sketching. So all in all, I ended up doing a lot more art than the one project I dropped.

As you will see, many of my projects this year are ones I’ve had last year or even the year before. If something is working (and working well) I like to keep doing it until I’ve either mastered it or I’m bored of it. I do, however, have a few new projects this year. One of them is what I am calling The Savor Project (in honor of my one little word for 2012.)

One of the things I like to do is to test out my projects before I commit to them for a whole year. My first hope was to do a Remains of the Day journal for the full year. After doing one for December, I decided it was too painful. I also originally meant for this project to be collage-related. But, as I started working on it, it morphed into something else and I am very happy with it. I might end up doing a completely separate collage project, too, but The Savor Project is not that.

So here’s what it is. I bought a Moleskine Sketchbook and altered the cover.

I want to take the time for a side-note here. I actually did this a few weeks after I started using the book. It’s always a challenge for me to cover these for some reason and what I ended up with was after quite a few other layers. I got frustrated and dismayed quite a few times. Then I reminded myself that this would likely end up being one of four (or even more) books I would have for this project in 2012 and this particular one’s cover wasn’t nearly as big a deal as I was making it. To be honest, none of the covers matter. Sure, it’s nice to have a pretty cover but, as with most things, it’s what’s inside that counts. So I just gave up fighting with it and let it go.

With that, here’s what I ended up creating:

I used the image of a clock because savoring is all about savoring my time. Reminding me that time is precious and should be spent on what’s most valuable for me. On the side, I dangled a few crystals and a word from Tim Holtz. Reminding myself to Breathe. I could use that reminder more often.

And here’s the back:

Not my favorite, but we’re letting that go.

So let’s talk about what goes inside. The idea is to create something that’s sort of an amalgamation of Project Life and December Daily. I did Project Life a few years ago and really struggled to keep up with it. Because I already process and post photos here weekly, it felt uneventful and like a chore to have to print them all out and do it again each week for my book. However, I liked the idea of keeping the odds and ends of ephemera that come into our life. I wanted something more creative and the setup I use for December Daily seemed ideal to me. My plan is to create a minimum of four pages a week with photos, stories, ephemera from that week. If I do more, great. But there’s no pressure. For now I am using my Polaroid Printer for all the photos. It’s crappy but quick and convenient. And quality is not my number one concern for this book.

Here are a few sample pages I made in November to illustrate:

Here’s a simple spread from November four. The goal is to tell stories:

That page of journaling comes out and you can read more:

Here’s one from November 7:

And here’s one from November 8:

This one is quite involved as the left page flaps down to tell one more story:

And the right side has a top flap and a tag that comes out from the side and the heart is a journaling tag that also comes out:

this is an extreme example and most of my pages are simpler but it does show how far a spread can be taken:

and here’s an example with ephemera. My jury duty papers:

and our safeway (grocery) receipt from that week:

Those are just some of the pages I’ve done in November. I am guessing that I will take a break during December since I will be doing the December Daily and then resume again in January. So I will share the rest of my November pages with you then and continue to share throughout the year.

This project looks a lot more involved than it is. What I do is sit and prep a bunch of empty pages once a week. Usually takes me about an hour or so. And then I print photos throughout the week when I know I want to tell the stories behind them. Here are some sample prep pages I made and photos I printed:

Then, once a week or so, I sit and match the photos with the pages and write down the stories. I generally add the date and maybe a title. That’s it. If I am really inspired I might add an embellishment. But I don’t mind if it’s super-simple. I then tape the finished page to the Moleskine and I am done! Doing a week’s worth of photos takes me about an hour. (Sometimes two if I get carried away and have too much fun.)

One side note, I generally pick the smaller moments to put in this book. If it’s a big moment or some trend, I save those for my scrap pages. I imagine there will be a few occasions where a story goes here and in a layout but I don’t envision a huge overlap.

The reason this is called The Savor Project is because I choose to write longer stories about little moments in my day where I am filled with gratitude. I think savoring life is all about paying attention to those moments more and more. The greatest thing about this project is that I appreciate my daily life, my simple moments, the “ordinariness” of my life that much more. I cherish these moments more. I am more thankful and aware of everything I have. I get to appreciate my kids, our life, right now. It’s like getting to look back up on the “good old days” while they are still happening. It increases awareness, gratitude, and joy.

Since I process my photos daily, I get to savor the moments as they happen, once again as I process the photos and then a third time when I am putting them in my book. That’s a lot of gratitude!

December 1, 2011 | Savor November 2011, Yearly Projects | 23 comments

2012 – A Year to Savor

I know we’re still over a month away from 2012. However, I generally use the time from Thanksgiving to New Years Day planning for the next year. I am already mentally done with 2011 and ready to think about the new year. And the first thing I like to do is choose a word to represent the theme for my year.

This year, I decided to share my word and my projects with you early in case one of them tickles your fancy and you like to do it, too. It also gives me a chance to get organized earlier. So as we wind down 2011, I will be sharing them with you. (I will also do recaps for my 2011 projects.)

I really struggled with my word for next year. As I thought about my projects and what I wanted next year to represent, here are a list of words that I considered:

  • mindful
  • grateful
  • slow
  • calm
  • enjoy
  • present
  • joy
  • thrive
  • pay attention
  • appreciate

Gratitude has been a big theme for me since 2009 and I loved the idea of putting it upfront and center. But it wasn’t enough. I felt like I really embraced my word for 2011 and I wanted the one for 2012 to be just as powerful. While gratitude is a powerful concept, I felt like I was already embracing it and I wanted to challenge myself more. The second theme in my words was about being in the present more. Being more aware, noticing things, slowing down, paying attention. If you read my blog regularly, it’s easy to guess that this is a big challenge for me. I am pretty type-a and I am result-focused. So I don’t always pay as much attention to the process as I would like to. I liked the idea of challenging myself to purposefully slow down. And the last theme I noticed was one of embracing joy. Thriving, appreciating happiness. This is another challenge for my usually self-critical and worrying self. I am often anxious and tend to focus on the negative. So, seeking joy would be a welcome improvement.

I liked all three themes of gratitude, mindfulness, and joy. I didn’t want to give any of them up. So I kept searching and searching.

And I finally settled upon: savor.

Savor.

I like that the one word somehow combines all of my themes. Savoring something often implies slowness and calm. It implies joy and appreciation. And even gratitude. I considered other words like bask that didn’t have heavy food-implications. But savor felt just right.

So savor it is.

To keep my word upfront and center this year, I already changed my blog banner. (If you’re reading this in email or on an RSS feed, come take a look.) I also started a new project called The Savor Project (more on this on Thursday) and I ordered two little rings.

They are both from the Cinnamon Sticks shop. It’s the heart stacking ring and the silver stacking ring. I ordered two the silver ones a few years ago. One of them says “Karen & Jake” and the other one says “David & Nathaniel” and I wear them on my left index finger all the time. I will now add the heart and the new silver (which will say “savor”) on top of the two I have. I haven’t received them yet but will take a photo and add it here when I do.

Following on my tradition from last year, I also made my Priority List for 2012. Just to remind the idea behind this is:

I was listening to The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and one of the things the author mentions is managing our time and how we spend much of it doing what’s urgent instead of doing what’s important. As in, we’re often reacting instead of thinking ahead and calmly acting in the direction of our dreams and priorities.

So I decided it would beneficial for me to make a “Priority List”. A list of goals and people I want to prioritize during the year. This way, when an opportunity or request came my way, I could check my list and make sure it is aligned with my priorities before I accepted it. It’s easy to lose sight of things and take on projects that end up eating a lot of my time and not making me fulfilled. If I had my list to look at each time, I could keep what’s important at the forefront of my mind and make sure to prioritize it.

Here’s my Priority List for 2012:
* Family
* Health
* Work
* Art
* Storytelling
* Reading
* Self-Reflection
* Learning
* Community

Like last year, these are not in order. Yes, most of the time my family comes first. However, there are times when work takes higher priority because it has to for a brief time. Or sometimes I might choose to exercise even if my son wants to play at that moment. These priorities are fluid for me. They are all a part of me and I want to make sure I value them and dedicate time to each. I also want to make sure I turn down anything that doesn’t line up with one of these.

The list is similar to last year but not exactly the same. And like last time, I know you could make everything fit into one of these categories but, in my heart, I know what these mean. And I know when something comes along that doesn’t fit. Above everything, I want to stay true to my gut. I’ve made the mistake of doing something that will look good and make others think well of me before and it was a lot of heartache for me and so I want to listen to myself more and trust my gut and know that if I turn down something that feels wrong, other opportunities will still come my way and I will know when the right one is there. So I will have faith in myself and in the universe.

And I will prioritize the important.

And there we are.

Here’s to an amazing 2012: The year I will SAVOR each moment.

November 29, 2011 | Personal, Yearly Projects | 19 comments

Online Classes I took in 2011

Thank you for your comments yesterday. I had a much better day today. Sleep always helps me get some perspective, too.

If you’ve been following my blog for any time, you know I love taking (and teaching) online classes. I had decided to focus on taking more this year and I thought it would be good to keep a list of all the classes I’ve taken this year so far. My plan is to add to this so I know what I took when. I will only tell you the general area of the class and refrain from giving too much of my opinion because each person experiences a class differently and I think it’s best for you to make your own decisions on what works for you. If you have specific questions, leave me a comment and I will answer truthfully as long as you realize that I only have my own personal experience and perspective.

With that here’s what I’ve taken (and have already signed up for) so far in 2011:

January
Stretching Within with Misty Mawn (mixed media, drawing, collage, journaling and photography)
Shifting Ground with Stephanie Lee (journaling, personal-growth)
One Little Word with Ali Edwards (scrapbooking, journaling, photography)
Soul Restoration I with Melody Ross (personal-growth, journaling, art journaling)

February
Sketchbook Delight with Alisa Burke (sketching)
Recycled Journal Pages by Pam Carriker (art journaling)
She Art by Christy Tomlinson (art journaling, mixed media)

I taught classes through February to mid-April so I didn’t take anything then.

May
She Had Three Hearts by Christy Tomlinson (art journaling)

June
Watercolor Bliss by Alisa Burke (sketching and watercolor)
Soul Restoration II by Melody Ross (personal-growth, journaling, art journaling)
Pan Pastel 101 & 102 by Donna Downey (mixed media, art journaling)
Remains of the Day by Mary Ann Moss (scrapbooking, art journaling)

July
21 Secrets by Dirty Footprints Studio (art journaling, mixed media)

August
Creative Color: Art Redefined by Christy Tomlinson (art journaling, mixed media)
Art Journaling by Dina Wakley (art journaling, mixed media)

September
Uber Media: Pan Pastels by Nathalie Kalbach (mixed media, art journaling, scrapbooking)
The Pathfinder by Karen Walrond (personal-growth, journaling)

October
Ordinary Courage by Brene Brown and Jen Lemen (personal-growth, journaling)
Watercolor Pencils Miniclass by Cathy Johnson (sketching, watercolor)

November
She Art 2 by Christy Tomlinson (art journaling, mixed media, sewing?)
letterLAB by Lori Vliegen (calligraphy, art journaling)

That’s it so far. I will be teaching a class in December and likely doing December Daily so I don’t think I will be taking anything then but you never know!

I’ve learned that my favorite classes are either technique-based art journaling or personal growth so I tend to favor those. If you have any questions about any of these feel free to ask. Also I keep track of online classes I find interesting on a pinterest board so you might be able to find a few other ideas there, too.

October 11, 2011 | Art, Learning & Education, Thoughts, Yearly Projects | 10 comments

2011 Priority List and Goals – September Check-in

Here’s the check-in for September. Almost a week late, but still. You can see the original goals for 2011 here.

Family
I have still been reading regularly to David and we’re both enjoying it a lot. I’m still keeping up with weekly family shoots, daily diary, and gratitudes. I’ve changed things up for October but even then I am still taking daily photos, just posting them weekly. We’ve done so-so on family night in September and Jake and I had not enough date nights in September but we’ll rectify that in October. September was hectic with new schools, new routines, back to school, etc etc.

Health
Going strong on the running and walking. I did 5K a day all September. I will admit I totally flaked on the crunches or situps or leg lifts. I did well with the food. No coffee and no graham crackers so I am proud of that. I did start seeing a weight loss trend in September so it was a sign things are moving in the right direction.

Art + Photography
Still Sketching daily every day. I did find a solution out of the rut but didn’t start that until October either. And also still doing weeklong art journaling and the daily art journaling. The art journal pages are getting a bit old for me and I think I need to change things up a bit again but I am not sure how yet so that’s an October goal. Let’s see if I can figure something out.

Scrapbooking
Not too much scrapping in September. I did a few pages and have begun preparing for winter CHA as well so I am not feeling bad about this category.

Reading
Still reading my weekly book regularly. Reading to David, too. I did return back to my old book club in the beginning of October so there are changes coming here, too.

Writing
I journaled almost every single day in September. I am proud of that. I also wrote my newsletter. I didn’t do so great on the thoughts-posts but I came up with a plan for those and I am implementing it now in October. So hopefully I will put more focus in this area soon.

Learning
September was Uber Media: Pan Pastels and The Pathfinder class. I have already signed up for three for October. Taking Brene’s Ordinary Courage class and Christy’s She Art 2 class and Cathy Johnson’s watercolor pencils class. Nothing on the iPad front yet or the stop motion movie.

Community
Mom’s group appears to be kaput. I’ll have to think about whether I want to implement it again. We did have dinner guests. I also had a really nice breakfast with a friend and have two more scheduled for October as well as a mom’s night out for David’s class. So making progress here.

And that’s it for September. Overall, I think I did okay especially considering all the schedule changes. Lots of good goals met and new routines established. Let’s bring on October! I have already made some tangible changes for October and I am hoping they last the month and serve me well.

October 7, 2011 | Personal, Yearly Projects | One comment

2011 Priority List and Goals – August Check-in

Here’s the check-in for August. I know I am a bit late but it’s not too bad, right? You can see the original goals for 2011 here.

Family
I have still been reading regularly to David and recently it’s been books from the library which has been extra fun. I’m still keeping up with weekly family shoots, daily diary, and gratitudes. We’ve done so-so on family night in August but we did quite a few full-day family trips and mini-vacations instead. I failed on the music class thing cause it was just terrible timing. Jake and I had a few date nights in August and they were a lot of fun.

Health
Going strong on the running and walking. Did 3.12 miles a day every day in August with one of those being on a slight incline and did 60 leg lifts and 30 crunches a day. The food has been so much better, too. I quit my coffee and the graham crackers. I am eating almost all whole foods, now and eating a lot more protein. Sleep’s been a consistent 7 hours or so. I’m getting up several times a night to make sure David goes to the bathroom but other than that I have so much enjoyed the summer rule of not having to set the alarm. We’re also taking daily walks still and averaging more than 75,000 steps a week. So far, so good. As promised last month, I focused on food this month and feel really good about it.

Art + Photography
Still Sketching daily every day. I feel like I am in a bit of a rut for that because I want and need more ideas. I plan to focus on coming up with a strategy for that in September. And also still doing weeklong art journaling. I still love this project. I have not grown bored of it one bit. I’ve continued with the daily art journaling in August and loved every moment of it. I am trying to keep it low pressure and tell myself it doesn’t have to be daily but it’s one of the few things that keeps my soul happy so I end up doing it every day. No movement on photo excursions or etsy shop however.

Scrapbooking
August was a lot of scrapping for future projects, trying to get ahead of the curve. I did quite a few pages but I am more than caught up now.

Reading
Still reading my weekly book regularly. Reading to David, too. We didn’t have book club this month either.

Writing
I am still neglecting the thoughts-posts however I still think about them all the time and even jot down ideas. I just don’t seem to feel like sitting and writing them out. Feels like I’d rather spend the time to do art. Newsletters are all the writing that I’ve been doing for now. And August was dismal in journaling but I have a commitment (and even a class that promises to be of help) for September.

Learning
August was 21 Secrets, Christy’s Color class and Dina’s art journaling classes. I have already signed up for two for September. Nothing on the iPad front yet or the stop motion movie.

Community (This is a particularly hard one for me.)
Mom’s group is on hold for now but we did have dinner guests. I also went to work for lunch and breakfast. This area is moving slowly but it is moving.

And that’s it for August. Overall, I think I did okay. Lots of good goals met. Let’s bring on September! It will be interesting to see what stays and what goes with the new fall schedule.

September 3, 2011 | Personal, Yearly Projects | 8 comments

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