Today’s about Nathaniel finally getting his big boy bed!
and here it is with before and after:
that’s it. more tomorrow.
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Here are the sketches from last week. Not my favorite batch but at least I’m still making them.
that’s it for this week. Daily Sketching is a weekly project for 2012. You can see a detailed post on my sketching journey here.
This time of year tends to be full of reflection and planning for me. I try to think about what I learned and how I want to plan my year to live more fully. I’ve learned a few years ago that having year-long projects focused around my personal goals works for me. It gives me a framework to work with and I still feel creative freedom. So one of the things I pay attention to as I plan my year long projects is my list of “things I want to learn” or “things I want to get better at.” In 2011, I knew I wanted to get better at drawing so I committed to sketching daily. And to make sure I followed through, I also committed to weekly blog posts where I shared my sketches. I created a similar structure for art journaling. And in the two years I’ve been working on these skills, I’ve progressed immensely and found my own little voice in both of these. I went from never knowing how to art journal to being published in the best art journaling magazine. All because I set the structure for myself. The other list I look at when I am trying to decide my yearly projects is the list of “things I want to do more of.” For example, in 2010, I wanted to spend more time with my son and I created “crafting with David” where we created an art project each week. In 2011, I read a book a week to David. In 2012, I created a “Book of Good Memories” with him. This year, I also did Letters with Nathaniel. All of these are creative ways to spend more time with my son while doing something I would love to share with him. I know I want to spend more time with my kids so I create these projects as an excuse to take the time. (This is not to say I don’t spend ‘free’ time with them, it’s just an extra special thing we get to do.) In 2010, I started exercising for the first time, so in 2011, I created a project “Healthy for Life” so I could track the progress of getting and staying in shape. Making healthier choices. I wanted to do more of it so I created a year-long project for myself. Same with books. I’ve had “A Book A Week” for three years now and I’ve read over 150 books thanks to my project. In 2010, I realized I wanted more photos with my kids where I was actually in the photo. Out of that wish came the “Us Right Now” project (which then morphed into Weekly Diary.) I now have over 100 photos of me with my kids and husband. So most of my projects are born out of the “what do i want to learn” and “what do i want to do more of” lists. But, there’s one more important list that I am trying to make sure to honor next year: “what matters most to me” and “what fulfills me the most.” Two years ago, I did the Weekly Gratitude project and it was really profound for me. I learned the value of gratitude. So much so that it’s become one of my core values. This year, I did the Savor Project and it allowed me to enjoy and savor my life as it happened. When I think of my projects for 2013, I’ve been thinking about what fulfills me and gives me the most joy. If I can create a project around something that fulfills me, I get to experience the joy of that on a regular basis. If I can create a project using my values, then I get to honor them regularly. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned from all the coaching classes I’ve taken and the client calls I’ve had, it’s that the trick to life is to align your life with your values and spend time doing what fulfills you. That’s it. That’s all it takes. So, as I spend time contemplating the upcoming year, I am making my three lists and taking a good look at what comes up, so that I can create frameworks around them and make 2013 a wonderful year. Here are the three lists: What about your list? What goes on your three lists? If you’re willing to play along, I’ll share my lists on Wednesday and maybe you can post yours too? I was in an all-day class for three days so I decided to catch up today. Friday was all about the anticipation for my fourth coaching class:
and here it is with before and after:
and then Saturday was about the class itself and a photo of all of us:
and here it is with before and after:
Sunday, I needed to take it easy so I wrote just about our tree and the holiday mood in our house and just made a simple page.
and here it is with before and after:
that’s it. more tomorrow. This is a layout I made for My Mind’s Eye.
And the journaling says: details:
Here are S and T:
Like each time, we talked about each of the words and then differentiated between capitals and lowercase. Then we colored all the letters. Here are some photos of him working on his pages: coloring the glue: and more gluing: and more coloring: Yey! Nathaniel is still loving this project! Letters with Nathaniel is a weekly project for 2012. You can read more about it here.
You saw most of these on my December Daily pages but still…Here are some snapshots from our week: the kids at breakfast with santa. their favorite part was the juice this time.
photos with santa.
nathaniel was scared of him again but wiling to stand next to david.
writing letters to santa.
david took his extra seriously.
then they made ornaments.
and colored.
david liked creating his pattern.
then we took david to swimming where nathaniel played with the umbrella while david swam.
and i just snapped photos.
of my super cute boy.
who had fun with it.
and the swimmer, too, of course.
and then it was advent time.
the boys had forgotten all about it so they were very excited.
both got playmobil this time. David got the knights and Nathaniel the forest animals.
David’s came with a poster which he loved.
Here’s the full photo the babysitter took on our anniversary.
and me volunteering in Nathaniel’s class.
we played with all of his toys.
he loves this magnetic numbers.
and playing outside.
i think he liked having me around.
while i was there, Jake was in David’s class where David presented about The Train of Lights, a Christmas tradition we have.
David had his favorite spelling homework this week.
he got to write the words into puzzle pieces and draw pictures. (then we cut them up and he put them together at school the next day.)
the boys have been playing with legos a lot lately.
this week was unusual for us and I am out of town all weekend so we had to take our shot with no natural light. Still better than no shot.
so grateful for my family.
and here we go. i hope your week was lovely, too. Weekly Diary is a project for 2012. You can read more about it here. Today’s about the kids’ advent calendars. I added a number from each and a photo of some of what they had so far:
and here they are opening them:
and here it is with before and after:
that’s it. more tomorrow.
text reads: do not wait. time is passing. let go of being right. pick up the phone and apologize. Journey into Collage is a project for 2012. You can read more about it here. Today is all about our anniversary. Jake and I celebrated 18 years from the day we started dating. The photo is not great but I still love having it.
and I added another page to hold the poster and tickets for the movie we saw and the menu from the burgers we ate and the receipt of my coffee from the movies:
and here it is with before and after:
that’s it. more tomorrow. And here’s the final page for 2012:
The full text reads: be calm. stress never helps. A year in review coming next week. I am creating art journaling pages each week for now. You can read more about this project here. This set uses the Fabriano Roma papers. Almost a month ago, I registered a new domain. Some people like to collect domains but not me. In the last fourteen years, I’ve only registered four domain names. One for karenika (right here), one for my photography business, one that I let expire after a year and now this one for my coaching business. I registered the domain soon after my last class and then let it sit there. I kept putting off working on it. I wasn’t sure what I wanted it to say. I didn’t know where to begin. I kept thinking it had to be “just right.” I had to have more of a plan before I started. I had to make sure it sounded professional. Or powerful. Exciting. Uplifting. Unique. Amazing. Perfect. I had a lot of ideas about what it had to be. And, of course, I was none of those things, so I just let it sit there and fester. I had several tabs open, waiting for me to update, haunting me day after day. A reminder of how I was slacking. A reminder of how I would never have the right words. So, finally, tonight I decided to take my own advice and start. I decided that instead of being perfect, this new site would be a living, breathing one. In the thirteen years I’ve had it, karenika.com has gone through many, many iterations. It took years for me to find the style, the voice, the tone, and the balance of what I wanted this place to be. And, of course, all of it changed as I changed. This place grew and morphed with my life, interests, passions, etc. There’s no reason to think that my new site has to be anything different. Nothing in life is final. (except maybe death…) After I decided to put all the voices in my head aside. I wrote up a draft, gave it a once over, read for possible grammer and spelling mistakes and then hit publish. I also copied over my blog post about starting since I think it applies to my overall coaching vision. And I was done. Well, I had started. I am confident it’s far from perfect. It reads funny and has holes. But it’s a start. And it allows me to take the first step so that others might follow. Sometimes it’s just about getting unstuck. It all starts with the first step. However tiny. I hope today you’ll take the first step in whatever you’ve been putting off. |
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