Living Intentionally – 50

  • Weekly Intention: And here we are with week 50. We’re down to the last three weeks of the year. How quickly time passes blows my mind. There were many things I wanted to do last week that I didn’t get to and truth be told, I don’t think I will get to them this week either. Such is life. I feel like the 2017 plans are looming over me. I spent some serious time with Core Desires this week and it was worthwhile. I then had a moment of truth yesterday which also helped clarify some soul work I should be doing in 2017. But I still don’t have my projects/plans written out and I like to have it all by now. What I’ve noticed is that when I do have the little down time I have, I am not spending it wisely. Well, I am reading. I am working on my December book, etc. Not that these things aren’t important but I am not sitting with the kids, teaching like I used to. I am not planning my 2017 and what I’d like to work on. I am not journaling to understand how I feel. And these things are more important. These things are how I heal, how I grow, how I nurture. So I need to switch that around. I need to make the time for what I value first and then fill the rest with the things I like.
  • Choices I want to make:
    • One: I will choose to show up at both of the kids’ schools with joy and presence.
    • Two:  I will choose to go to work, be present, work hard when I am there.
    • Three: I will choose to spend some quiet time with myself. Do journaling. Something to ground myself. This will be hard as it’s a busy week but I will take the time to make this happen.
  • I am looking forward to: Friday. Even if I will be on the plane most of the day.
  • This week’s challenges: I have two trips to work, two to Nathaniel’s school, two to David’s school, and a book club this week, all before Friday. I have several things that must be done for work before the week is out. I expect this will be a challenging week.
  • Top Goals:
    • Work: clear emails, finalize okrs, send out newsletters, write interview notes. these are my must-dos this week.
    • Personal:  I would like two hours alone this week. Somewhere to sit and think and journal. Let’s see if I can make it happen.
    • Family: I am hoping we will all feel adventurous this week.
  • I will focus on my core desires (kind, strong, true, generous, brave) by: 
    • I will be kind to Nathaniel’s class this week. I get to volunteer there and I am looking forward to it.
    • I will be strong make it through this week and get everything done so I can take my vacation in peace.
    • I will be generous with my family. with time, effort, kindness.
    • I will be true to myself about my needs. i will make a plan for growth and kindness.
    • I will be brave and take this week one day at a time. make the most of each moment. be present and do what needs to be done then.
  • This week, I want to remember: that my life is rich and joyful and the gratitude i feel deep in my heart is unbounded.

Here’s to a wonderful week.  Happy week 50!

December Daily 2016 – Day Eleven

Today is all about the boys playing music.

I cannot put into words the joy it brings me when I hear my boys play music and sing together.

Weekly Reflection – 49

  • Three Choices I made this week:
    • One: I chose to show up at work and get as much work done as possible. Early part of my week was day and night meetings.  but I showed up. I did my part to the best of my ability.
    • Two: I chose to buy lots of warm clothes. I think we are readier than we were.
    • Three: I chose to do my December Daily. I planned a bit more of 2017 but still nowhere near ready. Oh and I am almost done with Christmas shopping.
  • I read/learned: I finished Hungry Heart, Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares, Salt to the Sea and the sequel to a book that came out this year ( i got to read an early version.) I’m reading This is your Life Harriet Chance! at the moment. I watched the two episodes of This is Us waiting for me on the Tivo and loved them both.
  • I celebrate:  getting cold weather clothes for all of us. Shopping is a big struggle for me.
  • I am grateful for:  my husband. I am just so so grateful for him.
  • I focused on my health by: nothing still. If i were less honest, I’d remove this section but I think it needs to stay.
  • I made art:  december daily baby!
  • I let go of: nothing this week. I have been having a tough time on and off. Sometimes I feel totally fine and other times the smallest thing can set me off. It’s crazy, I tell you.
  • Core Desire Check-in:
    • Kind: I’ve been kind to Nathaniel’s school this week. Went to a parent meeting, listened and made some plans.
    • Strong: I was strong with work still and my meetings and the shopping. that was strong and brave of me!
    • True: I was not true to my wishes around planning for 2017. I am not sure what it means that I just can’t seem to get it together.
    • Generous: I was generous with the boys and Christmas presents.
    • Brave: I was brave to do the shopping. I was brave to go to work so much.

Here’s to another good week! 🙂


Weekly Reflection is a year-long project for 2016. You can read more about my projects for 2016 here.

December Daily 2016 – Day Ten

Day ten has two stories because I’d already made one when the other happened and I knew I had to also add it. The first story is about David being with his friends at Tech Challenge. I printed a few photos and put them in the slot in the page. To the right, is the second story: Two bombs that went off in Istanbul.

On the back, is the story about how I always feel worried having family away.

Thankfully, my family is ok.

December Daily 2016 – Day Nine

I finally got some time to catch up on my pages.Day nine was going to David’s school and watching the arts and electives culmination. I got a copy of the program.

I love adding these into my journals.

David performed two Beatles songs: If I Fell and Here Comes the Sun.

and he made this beautiful lantern which depicts scenes from his short story. I love love loved it.

I was grumpy about going to this culmination after a terribly long Friday and realized I would have missed so much had I not gone!

December Daily 2016 – Day Eight

Here’s day eight! I talked about our Jewish Christmas tree today. I will likely have more pages about our tree but I still wanted to make sure to do this one.

Love those blue lights.

I then added a photo of my tree in daylights

it’s a little 5×7 insert.

and then in the back, it’s night:

see you tomorrow! 🙂

December Daily 2016 – Day Seven

Day Seven is all about the cookie decorating party we had at work! I added a page with my photo of my decorated cookie.

a shot of some of the awesome decorations for the back:

I like adding these random pages into the album:

and then in the original day seven page, I put a shot of the whole table and did some journaling. We had this one edible stocking where you could write your name so I snagged one and added that to my page, too.

so grateful for my job!

December Daily 2016 – Day Six

I wanted to commemorate our puzzles for Day Six. We’ve been working on this Harry Potter puzzle for over a week and finally finished it!!

Here’s a single page look:

I’ve been trying to keep it simple this year so it’s still doable.

 

December Daily 2016 – Day Five

Here’s day five! Every Sunday I go to the farmer’s market to get the boys’ their berries for the week. It is one of my favorite things to do so I wanted to make sure to put it here.

And the little photo on top is from my friend Evelyn’s party. She’s a parent at my son’s school, an amazing writer and she runs the Young Adult book club I go to. Love her!

That’s it for day five 🙂

 

Living Intentionally – 49

  • Weekly Intention: Wow, week 49. This year is racing to the end. Last week was crazy busy and gave me less than zero personal time. Including the weekend, which means I didn’t do much of what I wanted to do last week (except for work.) So here’s what’s on my mind for this week:
    • I did buy some Christmas presents but I’d like to be done with that 100% this week.
    • I booked us a vacation for a short trip in December I’d like to do a bit of research so we can have a plan for when we’re there.
    • I’d like to spend some time on my 2017 plans, it feels like I might never get this done.
    • I’d also like some downtime this week. Some time to sleep, some time to rest, some time to slow down.
    • Also, we need to buy clothes for our trip to Canada since it will apparently be -20Celcius and living in California, none of us have clothes or shoes for such weather.
  • Choices I want to make:
    • One: I will choose to work enough that I don’t worry about work this week. Do what needs to be done.
    • Two:  I will choose to do my December Daily.
    • Three: I will choose to spend some quiet time with myself. Do journaling. Something to ground myself.
  • I am looking forward to: enjoying the moments of this week.
  • This week’s challenges: not that i want to jinx it but nothing looks too terrifying this week. a trip to work, one trip to N’s school, two trips to D’s school, book club. Which sounds like a lot but it’s a quieter week for me, may it stay so. the biggest challenge will be to finish xmas shopping and to get our clothes+shoes for Canada especially since I hate shopping.
  • Top Goals:
    • Work: stay on top of email + newsletters + asap do lists. let’s make this happen!
    • Personal:  i almost don’t even want to write make the 2017 plan. maybe just journaling this time?
    • Family: presents+shopping+slow down and be nice!
  • I will focus on my core desires (kind, strong, true, generous, brave) by: 
    • I will be kind to Nathaniel this week. I would like to give him a bit extra attention. And help David with math.
    • I will be strong and get xmas done, wrap all the presents, and buy the warm clothes we need.
    • I will be generous with our trip, i will relax.
    • I will be true to myself about my limits. some things will get done, many things won’t. that’s just life.
    • I will be brave with the shopping. i so hate shopping.
  • This week, I want to remember: that adventures are good. they are worthwhile. even the ones that don’t work as expected.

Here’s to a wonderful week.  Happy December!

December Daily 2016 – Day Four

Here’s day four! Today is all about the Google Holiday Party. There were two sets of photobooth shots I loved from this party. So I put my favorite one on top.

and it flips open to the other one and I also glued our ticket from the Tech Museum and the bracelet we wore to get into the party. 

That’s it for day four. I’m already loving this project so much.

 

Weekly Reflection – 48

  • Three Choices I made this week:
    • One: I chose to do a lot of work. At last count, I had 47+ meetings last week. Not to mention the email and todos.
    • Two: I chose to spend almost all of Thursday at David’s school, volunteering for many hours.
    • Three: I chose to do fill my weekend up, too, a bit unintentionally but here we are.
  • I read/learned: I read Crosstalk and Leave Me this week. I have a few books checked out from the library that I don’t want to read but won’t let myself move on which is stupid so I’ve read a lot less than usual this week. I’m almost done with Hungry Heart, too. I watched the last  Stanford Election 2016 class and the final OLW presentation. Almost no TV this week. Too much going on.
  • I celebrate:  finishing the Harry Potter puzzle we were working on for weeks. It was a hard one!
  • I am grateful for:  my manager and how supportive he is of me. And all my workmates.
  • I focused on my health by: nothing. i suck at this.
  • I made art:  december daily is here, yey!
  • I let go of: getting anything personal done this week. it was a busy work, kids’ schools and commitments week.
  • Core Desire Check-in:
    • Kind: I’ve been kind to David’s school this week. I was there for 7+ hours.
    • Strong: I was strong with work and allllllll those hours of meetings.
    • True: I was true to my goals for this week. Connecting back at work.
    • Generous: I was generous with work and David’s school.
    • Brave: I was brave to show up at the Google Party and my friend Evelyn’s party. Small talk is not my favorite.

Here’s to another good week! 🙂


Weekly Reflection is a year-long project for 2016. You can read more about my projects for 2016 here.