My Three Lists for 2013

As promised on Monday, here are my three lists for 2013 so far. They are not in any order and they are still work in progress. I will likely update them in the next two weeks as I brainstorm more and figure out some patterns.

What do I want to learn?

  1. How to write nicely, I want to improve my handwriting
  2. How to draw people (a goal for a long time now)
  3. Art supplies I want to learn better: neocolors, oils
  4. Strength exercises that are simple but powerful
  5. Simple but healthy meals for all times of day (Learning what eating well looks like for me.)
  6. Self-compassion
  7. Setting up my etsy shop and a system for scanning and selling
  8. Driving on the freeway
  9. Learning to ride a bike

What do I want to do more of?

  1. Drawing
  2. Art journaling
  3. Meditation
  4. Reading books
  5. Writing thoughts posts on my blog
  6. Taking photos of my kids and photos of nature
  7. Being in the pictures with my family
  8. Quality time with my kids – doing what they want
  9. Exercise
  10. Seeing/emailing/spending time with friends
  11. Date nights

What fulfills me (or honors a value I have)?

  1. Gratitude
  2. Time with my family
  3. Being present
  4. Taking time for myself
  5. Learning
  6. Writing down my thoughts/feelings and learning from them
  7. Coaching
  8. Being there for people I love
  9. Savoring, reliving memories in real-time
  10. Mindfulness

How about you? What’s on your list?

December 12, 2012 | Thoughts | 6 comments

December Daily 2012 – Day Eleven

Today’s about the Google holiday party Jake and I went to at the deYoung museum. The first photo is one the babysitter took before we left. You can see I am wearing the same dress from our anniversary. Jake likes it so I wore it again.

and in the second page, I put the two photos that were taken there and some journaling:

and here it is with before and after spreads:

that’s it. more tomorrow.

December 12, 2012 | December Daily 2012 | 3 comments

A Book a Week – The Alchemist

Last time I’d read The Alchemist was in 1994. I remember being blown away. It was my first Paulo Coelho book and I’ve since read many more. And I love them all. So when my book club picked it, I was looking forward to reading it once more.

And it was an odd experience.

There were parts I loved and overall, I still liked the book. But it was not nearly as awe-inducing as it had been the first time.

Part of me thinks that it’s important to read this book in your late teens, early twenties. At a turning point in your life. At a time when anything seems possible.

Alas, I guess it’s also important to read it if you think anything is not possible.

Either way, if you have never read this book, it’s a must read. must.

December 12, 2012 | Books Read in 2012, Literature | 4 comments

Moment of Choice

As I was talking to my coach last week, I was telling her about a recurring behavior I’ve noticed in myself that drove me crazy. I complained about how disappointed I was in myself for being unable to stop it. After we talked for a while, just as I was about to get off the phone, she mentioned this idea of Choice Points and how sometimes we can take a moment and choose to do something differently. She didn’t talk about it at length, but I got it. At least I now have my own interpretation of it.

It’s about how life is a collection choices we make. Each time something happens, consciously or subconsciously, we make a choice about what to do next. And whether we realize it or not, we have the option to make a different choice. Which will likely result in a different outcome. The trick is realizing at that split second, you do actually have choice and you don’t have to react immediately and you don’t have to react in the same way you always have.

This is something Tara Brach talks about during her podcasts, too. The moment of choice. The split second that otherwise goes unnoticed. The sliver of time between action and reaction. Sometimes it’s not even a tiny amount of time but it’s stopping your thoughts long enough to realize there’s a moment of choice here. I had one of those last week. I have been worried about getting Nathaniel’s baby furniture out of his room for five months. He was still sleeping in his crib and I wasn’t sure if he would be ok moving to the big boy bed. The pieces in his room were huge and hard for me and Jake to move. We couldn’t donate them for several logistical reasons and I just kept worrying about finding the right solution. I worried about how we would get the furniture out of there, how we would move the queen sized bed to David’s room, etc. etc. Last week, I was lying in bed, worrying about all this once again when the answer dawned on me.

I realized I had a completely different option available to me. I could call a company to move all the furniture out, donate it on my behalf, and move the beds around for me. It would cost a little money but it would be done perfectly and super-fast. The next morning, I called them up, set up the appointment and two days later, all of my problems were solved in 34 minutes. They came, they fixed, and they left.

All because I was able to change the way I looked at the problem. All because I slowed down and realized I had options. I could make different choices.

This made me think about one of my favorite scenes in Dead Poet’s Society where the teacher makes the kids stand at the table and look at the room from that perspective and shows them how important it is to be able to have different points of view.

To me, the ability to change my point of view came from the moment of choice. Realizing that I had the option to make a different choice.

Now that I saw one, I see them all over the place. I am paying attention and it’s showing up everywhere. That, to me, is the key to life.

Paying attention so I can see the moments of choice.

December 11, 2012 | Thoughts | 3 comments

December Daily 2012 – Day Ten

Today’s about Nathaniel finally getting his big boy bed!

and here it is with before and after:

that’s it. more tomorrow.

December 11, 2012 | December Daily 2012 | 2 comments

Daily Sketching – Week 87

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.

December 11, 2012 | Sketching, Watercolor | One comment

Planning for 2013 and Making Three Lists

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:
1. What do I want to learn/get better at?
2. What do I want to do more of?
3. What value do I want to honor and what fulfills me?

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?

December 10, 2012 | Thoughts | 5 comments

December Daily 2012 – Day Seven, Eight and Nine

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.

December 10, 2012 | December Daily 2012 | One comment

My wish for you: Make Love of Yourself Perfect

This is a layout I made for My Mind’s Eye.

And the journaling says:
If there’s only one thing you get to have or be, my wish is for you (and me) to know that all you need is already within. Deny yourself nothing. Give yourself inifinity and eternity and discover that you don’t need them, you are beyond. I love the the two of you with all my soul and I wish you endless peace and contentment. May you make love of yourself perfect.

details:

December 10, 2012 | Layouts, My Mind's Eye, Scrapbooking | Leave a comment

Letters with Nathaniel – S and T

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.

December 9, 2012 | Letters with Nathaniel | Leave a comment

Weekly Diary – December 8 2012

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.

December 8, 2012 | Family, Weekly Diary 2012 | One comment

December Daily 2012 – Day Six

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.

December 7, 2012 | December Daily 2012 | Leave a comment

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