karenika

A Book a Week – The Body Finder

The Body Finder is a mystery novel for young adults. Not so common in the genre. At least not without a lot of other mystical things going on. And this has some supernatural side to it, too but it’s also more teenager than some of the others I’ve read.

I will admit that even though some parts of it were more gruesome and scary than I’d like, I really enjoyed it. And I know there are sequels. A few. I will likely read at least a few more of them.

If you’re into mysteries and like young adult genre, this one is recommended.

A Month to Celebrate

When I looked back upon 2012, one of my favorite things was all the thoughts-related posts. As I was planning out my year and creating projects, I told myself that I would come up with a way to continue those. And here we are almost at the end of the first month and I’ve written like two posts.

Dismal failure.

The funny thing is, I think about writing stuff all day long. But then I have no ideas. I don’t know what to write about. I don’t have time to write. I am too tired. I have a headache. I’d like to catch up on TV. I want to read. I have art to do. On and on it goes.

I have nothing to share, I think.

I’ve even sat in front of the computer and stared at it for a while a few times. No ideas came and I figured if I don’t have anything interesting to say, I really shouldn’t waste anyone’s time, right?

Well I went back to my intentions and January was all about taking time off. Being quieter. Listening. And, in many ways, it’s been a quieter time than usual. My crazy life is about to get a notch or two crazier in a week when certification process starts and work starts getting more insane and I have to be super-organized to keep it all from falling apart. So taking time off in January makes sense. (At least that’s what I’m telling myself.)

But here comes February. And my intention for February is to be JOYFUL. I could use some more of that in my life. A LOT more actually. Even though my word this year is present, I’ve been trying to do a lot of gratitude and a lot of celebrate. I think those two things keep me in the now. So February is all about celebrating.

Here’s what I wrote on my card: celebrate the joy of life. drink it up. buy a present. spread the joy. how could you celebrate more?

So that’s the plan for February. Celebrate.

I want to remember that, like all things, writing comes with practice. Ideas come with practice. The more I write these posts, the more ideas come to me. And I love having a place to write down what I’m thinking. What’s important in my life right now. What are some of my struggles, my successes, my learnings. This is my little place to celebrate my life. To celebrate my every day.

To celebrate me.

So here’s a good-bye to the quiet January and a welcome to the joyful February. My hope is that even as my life kicks up a notch in its hectic-ness, I will still find a way to show up here and celebrate my life.

If you read this today, I hope you can come by the blog for one minute and tell me something you’re celebrating. Or something you want to celebrate more. I’ve come to believe celebrations are super-important and will write all about that sometime soon, I promise.

I’ll start: I am celebrating starting my certification process even though I am quite scared of it. I am celebrating selling a little art, getting published, and making a lot of art. I am celebrating getting to hug my kids in the morning and at night. Getting to take them to school and getting to pick them up. I am celebrating all my clients and their wanting to take their life to the next level. I am celebrating my quiet-er time at work. I am celebrating my husband and his pursuing his dream. I am celebrating teaching Nathaniel how to read and teaching David a little programming. I am celebrating how much David loves reading. I am celebrating all of our good health. I am celebrating the miracle of getting to go to bed early and getting a full night of sleep.

I can go on, but I will stop. I have to say just writing that all down made me smile. So I hope you’ll take a few moments and share yours with me, too, however small or huge. I will read each one of them, cheer with you and smile that much wider. I would love to celebrate with you.

Here’s to a February full of celebration!

2013 Sketching – Week 5

My goal for 2013 is to make three sketches a week. If I make more, great. If I don’t, that’s ok. Trying to keep the pressure low while still encouraging myself to draw.

Here are the ones for this week:

that’s it for this week.

Sketching is a weekly project for 2013. You can see a detailed post on my sketching journey here.

Gratitude Journal – Week 4

Here’s this week’s gratitudes and celebrations:

Before:

and here’s what the page looks like with all the gratitudes and celebrations:

There we go. Just another excuse to create art and remember the present that is my life.

Gratitude Journal is a weekly project for 2013. You can see a detailed post on my goal other details here.

Nathaniel’s Gratitude Pages – Week 2

Here’s his next page. He was grateful that this boy Tejes gave him a spiderman pencil at school.

there we go. more next time.

Nathaniel’s Gratitude Pages is a weekly project for 2013 with my almost four-year-old son. You can see a detailed post on my goal other details here.

Weekly Diary – January 26 2013

Here are some snapshots from our week:

Nathaniel working on his gratitude journal.

the smiles he gives me when he’s clearly busy doing something else.

like playing games.

his brother does the same.

Nathaniel got this game for the holidays that he loves loves loves.

and I loved playing it with him.

david got this little book as the star of the week where it was full of kind words from each of his classmates. I love it so much.

Nathaniel was extra giggly and wiggly this week.

he wouldn’t stop giggling. It was so cute.

it helped all of us be happier.

and made this week’s photos that much more fun!

and here we go. so grateful for my life. i hope your week was lovely, too.

Weekly Diary is a project for 2013. You can read more about it here.

SixBySix – Week 4

Before this week’s art here’s the important reminder: Please remember, this is personal and hand-made and thus imperfect. If you want perfect art, do not buy mine. Also one more reminder that these are pretty small. 5.5inches by 5.5inches. That’s about 14×14 centimeters). You will just get the original piece of watercolor paper with my art and signature in the back. No mounting, no frame. I don’t want to misrepresent anything. I will put a paypal button under each (you can pay with credit card or paypal.) the button doesn’t update so you will have to click through to see if it’s sold out. I will try to update them as quickly as I can and remove the button if it’s gone, but just in case. Each piece will be $35. That’s US dollars. If you have questions please leave a comment and I will reply as fast as I can.

With that here’s this week’s art:

it reads: your place is here. you are what the world has been waiting for. you time is now.

sold, thank you

SixBySix is a weekly project for 2013. You can see a detailed post on my goal other details here.

The Savor Project 2013 – Week 3

and here’s this week:

I talk about our celebration cupcakes, some activities we’ve done including the birthday, punching, and going to home depot and then two movies we saw.

I am still loving the 8.5×11 size and single page format. love love love. Yet, I still haven’t found a way to fit my art but still thinking on it.

See you next week!

The Savor Project is a weekly project for 2013. You can see a detailed post on my goal and other details here.

Gratitude PostCards – Week 4

Here’s this week’s card:

It says: life is not a movie. you are an active participant. you get to choose what happens.

This card uses the Filmstrips template by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer for The Crafter’s Workshop (as well as a few others.).

Gratitude PostCards is a weekly project for 2013. You can see a detailed post on my goal and the postcards I use here.

A Book a Week – Amber Frost

I had Amber Frost on my list for a long time. I wasn’t sure why but I finally picked it up and I am glad I did. I read it in one sitting. I really liked the characters. Even though the plot was a bit odd, I still really enjoyed it.

When I finished it, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to move on to part two or not. There was a pull to continue with the story, which I don’t feel often, but I still resisted it. I wanted to sit with the characters a bit more and see how I felt in a few weeks.

Still sitting.

But I do know that I will read it at some point.

2013 Sketching – Week 4

My goal for 2013 is to make three sketches a week. If I make more, great. If I don’t, that’s ok. Trying to keep the pressure low while still encouraging myself to draw.

Here are the ones for this week: