Here’s girl five:
Fashion Girls in a Monthly Project for January 2016. You can read more about my projects for 2016 here.
Here’s week one in my sketchbook of all the daily choices I’ve made so far. I started with the second because I did 🙂 I actually drew these sketches a while back when I was on my last trip to Zurich. One is out of the plane’s window and the other is the cheeses they gave on the plane. Before I ate them, I decided to draw them all. To be honest, I didn’t like any of the cheeses so I was glad I got some use out of them by drawing them.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this particular project because getting a page of sketches in each week seems tough some weeks, especially since I seem to hold myself to some invisible high bar. I don’t want to give up on the plan but it’s possible I will do some collage, photos, or even blank pages this year. I really want to make sure I do the daily journaling and don’t give myself excuses to get out of that.
Most of the choices this year so far have centered around eating well, exercising, resting a lot, and being kinder. Not much of a surprise for week one of a year but let’s see how it goes.
Here are closer shots of each side:
Today I Choose is a year-long project for 2016. You can read more about my projects for 2016 here.
Here’s girl four:
Fashion Girls in a Monthly Project for January 2016. You can read more about my projects for 2016 here.
I read The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History for my book club. Yet another book that could have been a long, interesting article. Instead, it’s a long, repetitive book. And a bit alarmist. Even if what you’re saying is true, if you say it in a way where it sounds so extreme, i am more likely to write you off than to listen. It’s better to make your point in a way I can digest and in a way I feel like I can do something about it.
Maybe it’s unnecessarily harsh of me. This book is interesting. It makes some legitimate and scary points. But I would have preferred to read the article version instead.
Here’s girl three:
Fashion Girls in a Monthly Project for January 2016. You can read more about my projects for 2016 here.
Here’s girl two:
Fashion Girls in a Monthly Project for January 2016. You can read more about my projects for 2016 here.
If I had to pick a winner for what took up the most of my time during Christmas vacation, the hands down winner would have to be the Rubik’s Cube.
A few months ago, Nathaniel started saying that he wanted to get a Rubik’s cube. He asked if we could get him one. Then he asked if he can take the little one David had to school. I noted it down in my memory as a Christmas present for him and right when I was buying presents, David mentioned he wanted one, too. So I got a cube for each of the boys. A simpler one with no stickers for Nathaniel and semi-seethrough one for David.
When they opened their presents, I decided I wanted to see if I can solve it. As a kid, I had tried it many times but given up. I figured I could never, ever actually do it. When I opened the instructions for the cube, I almost laughed out loud. The paper said the first step was to make a white cross, and then it said “This step is easy, we have no tips for you.” Well, that was helpful. NOT.
After I spent hours and hours and hours on it, I was finally able to consistently get the white cross and the white corners. (Which are steps 1 and 2) but then, not matter how I tried, I could not get the next step (which is finishing the 3rd and 2nd layers. After another few hours (I literally spent my whole Christmas day on this and now we were on the next day.) David showed me a video he was using to learn.
Which finally did the trick.
I watched it again and again and then after I was able to complete it three times, I wrote down notes so I could remember what to do. I then solved it so many, many times that I can get to the sixth step without having to look at my sheet. Maybe if I keep at it, in a few weeks I can memorize those steps too.
I know this might seem pointless to many people. I was angry with myself on Christmas night for wasting my whole day trying to solve this crazy cube and not being able to. But now I am proud of myself. Not because I can solve this and not because I memorized a bunch of moves. But because I stuck with it. Because I showed myself again that hard work always pays off. Always.
Oh, and, solving the cube is always a neat party trick isn’t it?
For future reference (for me), here are the steps and moves I wrote on my paper:
- The White Cross
- If you have to flip the edge, do: F(CC), U(C), L(C), U(CC)
- The White Corners
- The Sides – (while looking at the yellow side, line up a non-yellow side so it makes a T and then look at the direction you need to move)
- Left to Right: Face left, Bottom Right, Right forward, Middle Right, Right backward, fix the white face
- Right to Left: Face right, Bottom Left, Left forward, Middle Left, Left backward, fix the white face
- The Yellow Cross
- If you have the bar: Clockwise (FRU), Counterclockwise (RUF)
- If you have the hook: Clockwise (FUR), Counterclockwise (URF)
- The Yellow Corners (to get to fully done yellow)
- The fish tail faces to the top right: RU(C), R(CC), UR(C), Up 2x C, R(C)
- Now line up the corners of the top layer:
- R(CC), F(C), R(CC), Back 2x, R(C), F(CC), R(CC), Back (2x), R(2x)
- Final Step:
- Clockwise: R2, URU(C), RURUR(CC), U(C), R(CC)
- Counterclockwise: R(C), U(CC), RURUR(C), URU(CC), R2
Stories from 2016 is a year-long project for 2016. You can read more about my projects for 2016 here.
- Weekly Intention: My first instinct was to say that I just want to survive this week. I find that the first week back after a few weeks off is always hard so I wanted to let myself off the hook. But I don’t want to think like this. I want to enjoy every one of my days. I am so lucky to get them. I am lucky for my warm, lovely house. My beautiful kids. My kind, generous husband who loves me more than I can dream. I am lucky for my sister, my parents, my nephews, my friends. My job. I have so much already in my life and I want to wake up remembering that and go through my day smiling for the miracle that’s my life. I know it sounds cheesy but it’s also true. So my intention for this week is to make each day count. Not by getting the most done but by being really present to the miracle of it.
- Choices I want to make:
- One: I want to choose to do the better option. Eat better, exercise better. It doesn’t have to be the best. Just better.
- Two: I want to choose kindness and patience with myself and my loved ones this week as we ease back into a new routine.
- Three: I want to choose rest as I add some extra doses of movement into my week. Make sure to rest and repair.
- I am looking forward to: Having the day off tomorrow. I am looking forward to a bit of alone time, a bit of Jake-time and to welcoming the kids from school as they ease back into routine.
- This week’s challenges: The biggest challenge I anticipate is all the early mornings, the exercise I plan to add, and the nutrition changes. Jake has surgery this week and I am hoping that won’t be challenging. Let’s hope that my biggest challenge is indeed the one I chose myself and nothing unanticipated.
- Top Goals:
- Work: My biggest goal here is to clean out all the backlog of email and todo tasks so I can start fresh by end of week.
- Personal: To eat well, exercise, and do art daily. To be strong and brave with my choices.
- Family: To be kind and generous and spend time with them for both playing and teaching.
- I will focus on my core desires (kind, strong, true, generous, brave) by:
- Doing what needs to get done (food, exercise, driving, work)
- Taking time out when I need to remember what matters
- Choosing to give and not resent
- Saying I love you
- Going to bed early
- This week, I want to remember to: Take it one moment at a time and consistently choosing the better thing. I also want to remember this is a marathon and not a sprint. I am in this for the long run.
Here’s to a wonderful first week of 2016!
Living Intentionally is a year-long project for 2016. You can read more about my projects for 2016 here.
My January project is going to be making boot/fashion girls. I did this project a while back but never posted it. I figure starting with this gives me a bit of grace to ensure I can get going on my February project during January. We’ll see how it all works out.
This project was inspired by Christy Tomlinson’s The Boot Series Workshop. I took it a while ago and was so inspired that I loved working on mine.
Fashion Girls in a Monthly Project for January 2016. You can read more about my projects for 2016 here.
I usually spend the first few days of the year talking about and introducing each of my projects. But 2015 was a rough year for me that started with good intentions and then fizzled into lack of progress. After months and months of feeling like I didn’t want to do anything, I could see December looming in the horizon and I knew it was either time to buckle down and figure out my plan for 2016 or to not even bother making a plan.
To figure my way through this, I made three lists: areas to improve, reflection, things that make me happy. I decided these were the only things I wanted to focus on this year. Here’s what’s on each list:
Areas to Improve:
- Sketching
- Lettering
- Health
- Watercolors
Reflection:
- Choose (choices I make)
- Core Desired Feelings – how much I am honoring them
- Daily journaling
Things that Make me Happy:
- painting
- weekly family photos
- telling our stories
- taking photos of our life
- reading
I stared at my lists for a while and tried to see what projects might emerge. I knew I didn’t want to do weekly yearlong projects this year since Summer always goes awry for me and this Fall promises to be eventful with David starting at a new school. So I wanted a structure that was more flexible somehow. Though there were still a few things I wanted to be able to do weekly/daily as much as possible, ideally in a low-cost way. Here’s what I came up with:
- Monday: OLW/Planning-> Living Intentionally: I have personal goals for 2016 but I want to make/share them more as I go along. I want to think purposefully each week and set goals, choices, projects for just that week. Maybe I can do that each Sunday night. We’ll see.
- Tuesday: Stories -> Stories from 2016 I loved doing this project in 2015 even though I stopped halfway. For 2016, I plan to just do a photo and some journaling. I can always copy/paste into scrapbook pages later if I want to.
- Wednesday: Reading -> A Book a Week is already set till 2017. Still reading voraciously. I love reading more than just about anything.
- Thursday: Sketch/Reflection -> Today I Choose is a project just like Everyday Brave where I want to journal that day’s choices. How I want to choose, how I chose, how I’d like to choose next time, etc. I want to sketch as often as possible but I might also glue photos, collage, or do nothing. The goal is to get the reflection in there, the rest is bonus.
- Friday: Family/Life Photos -> Weekly Diary will continue, I will do my best to keep up with it. On weeks we can’t take a photo, I will journal.
These are the only weekly projects I will commit to. And even these I might do more irregularly, we’ll see. These all mean something to me and I’d like to do them and I believe almost all are pretty doable.
Now. What I’d like to do for all the other items on my list is to create Monthly Projects. This has worked well for me in the past. I am not sure if it will again but I’d like to try. My goal is to do up to 20 items a month. Almost every month has 20-23 weekdays. I figure if I have 20 pieces, I am posting something almost every single work day and I have 20 pieces of art/craft each month. That’s 240 this year. Not too shabby. Not as much as I’ve produced some years, of course. But not a number to laugh at either. And even if I do only half of that, that’s pretty lovely, too. My plan is to start January with something I’ve already done and then see if I can get a bit ahead of myself. Also to keep my projects small and contained. To be kind to myself with whatever unfolds. Here are some preliminary ideas of what I plan to tackle.
- January: Fashion Girls
- February: Truth Cards
- March: Life Book catchup
- April: Collage
- May: Daily Sketching
- June: Handlettering
- July: Doodling/Zentangle
- August: Art Journaling
- September: Today I know
- October: Honoring my Word
- November: words/quotes
- December: December Daily
All of these might happen, none of them might happen. I might repeat projects. I might do wildly different things. I commit to doing something but I reserve the right to change my mind.
Here’s to a wonderful 2016. Here’s to being kinder. Here’s to doing more art. Here’s to making time to enjoy art. Here’s to learning new things. Here’s to practicing more. Here’s to creating a positive cycle.
I started the practice of picking my Core Desired Feelings thanks to Zewa, in 2014. I really liked the concept and if you’re curious I recommend you go to Danielle’s site and/or buy the book so you can do the exercises.
I usually think about my core desired feelings towards September/October but like with most things, I put this one off for months and months this year, too. I finally sat down on December 22 and decided I’d better get to it if I wanted to have ones at all. These reflective posts help me set the tone for my year and allow me to think about how I like to move forward. Intention setting is a part of how I live my life and I am not ready to stop that, yet. So I made myself sit down and start doing the process.
As I’ve come to expect, I was still quite attached to my four words from 2015 and I wasn’t sure if any new words would come my way. Each year, I feel like I’ve picked the four perfect words and I really can’t do any better. But then, each year, I’m surprised by what comes out of the exercises. So I’ve come to expect the resistance and the surprise. This year was no different.
Like last year, I did all the writing exercises furiously. I didn’t stop and think. I just wrote and wrote. And then I stepped back to see what patterns emerged so I could circle them.
This year’s words surprised me mostly because they sort of felt different and also felt kind of simple. I spent some time looking around for more “perfect” words. Ones that were more complicated, more sophisticated, more layered. Or whatever. But after a while, I just gave up and went back to my original list. It was simple and it was right. I decided to stop resisting. I also gave myself permission to change them midyear (or anytime) if I so desired. Which helped me let go of the drive to get them to be “perfect.”
So, here are my words for 2016:
- true
- kind
- generous
- strong
- brave
I love them.
Here’s what each of them mean to me:
true: being true is about being who i am. doing things because they feel true to me. not doing things that don’t feel true to me. embracing myself just as i am. fully accepting me. when things come up and i need to make decisions, i want to check in with myself and see if it feels true to me. if i am saying yes because i truly want to do this and it feels true in my heart and in my gut. feeling true is about honoring who i am. honoring the best parts of me.
kind: being kind is who i want to be. i love being kind. i want to be kind. it’s the feeling i seek more than anything i can remember in a long time. i want to be kind to myself. i want to be kind to my kids. i want to be kind to jake. i want to be kind to my parents, my sister, my family, my friends, strangers. i want to always be the kindest i can be. it’s what i value the most in others. it’s what i want the most for myself. i feel like i am the best version of myself when i am kind.
generous: feeling generous is somewhat like kind but not fully. it’s hard for me to feel generous when i am not kind but i am not always generous when i am kind. being generous is sort of like ‘abundance’ which was one of my words last year. i want to feel like there’s plenty to go around. plenty of time, plenty of money, plenty more decisions, plenty of opportunities…and on and on. i want to be generous with my life. with myself. with everyone around me. i want to feel spacious, abundant, giving. when i am generous, it puts me on a cycle of positivity. i also believe what you put out there is what comes back to you.
strong: this word came up in so many places when i did my exercises. i want to be physically strong, emotionally strong, mentally strong. i want to feel my strength. my strong willpower. i want to feel strong at work. strong with my health. i want to be strong when tough things happen. i want to be strong when i feel anxious over nothing. i want to feel strong when i’m working on the kind voice inside me. i want to be strong when i am hard on myself for not learning/improving fast enough. i want to feel strong when i feel like giving up.
brave: even though this word didn’t come up specifically, it’s been my word for 2015 and it’s been the best word i ever chose, bar none. it’s served me so well. thanks to this word, i’ve made incredible progress in some of the most dormant areas of my life. it’s been an incredible reminder of what i am capable of. it’s been my favorite companion and i want to keep it around with me throughout 2016.
So here we are. Feelings I want to remember to come back to again and again. My core desires. What makes me live my life fully, as the best version of myself, while honoring my values.
Here’s to a year of brave strength and generous kindness while being true to myself.
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projects for twenty twenty-five
projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
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