As I was looking for classes on Pinterest today (I do this often), I came across this site. I don’t know anything about it and have only read a few posts. There are many with those 6ways to do this or 18 reasons why.. kinds of posts I mentioned last week. Many good ones. But one post had me thinking.
It’s a post full of thought-provoking questions that are illustrated. Illustrations aside, some of the questions jumped out at me and I wanted to share my thoughts:
1. If you had the opportunity to get a message across to a large group of people, what would your message be?
I like this question. I can think of so many answers. But, for me, it always comes back to two things: being you and being kind. I feel like if we were all willing to be a bit more vulnerable and show our true selves and we were all willing to be kinder to each other (which would help with the vulnerability, too), the world would be a considerably better and more meaningful place.
2. Are you holding onto something that you need to let go of?
This is a big question for me. Being that my word for this year was Free. I have a lot I hold on to. Mostly the bad stuff and things that make me think less of myself. It’s time to let go. In fact, I think it’s time to let go of all of it. No need to carry the stuff around.
3. Have you done anything lately worth remembering?
I like this one. I am not sure of the answer. But I want to keep this at the forefront of my mind. I want to make sure to use those minutes well, remember?
4. Do you celebrate the things you do have?
I work hard to do this one. I find myself so much more aware and thankful ever since I did the Weekly Gratitude Project in 2010. It’s truly changed my life.
5. When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?
This is another good one for me. I am a doer. I want to do. I want to leave the world a better place than I found it. I want to live life fully.
6. When was the last time you tried something new?
I try to do this regularly. Drawing was new for me this year. As I think of 2012, I want to make sure there’s at least one new thing on my list.
7. Which activities make you lose track of time?
While some people might say this should be important for choosing a career, I think this is valuable for happiness. Knowing what you love to do. Knowing what makes you happy. For me this is: reading, doing art, hugging my family, and sometimes programming.
8. If you could do it all over again, would you change anything?
I work hard to live my life with no regrets. I think a lot before I make decisions. A lot. But once the decision comes and goes, I tend to not look back. I also know that we can never tell how the paths we didn’t walk end and how many other aspects of our life they would change. You can’t alter one thing without having side effects. So I tend to prefer the known over the unknown.
Those are some of the questions that spoke to me. I like many of the others, too. Good list to come back to at different times in my life. How about you? Are there any questions that seem exceptionally thought-provoking for you? I’d love to know them even if they are not on this list.
And here’s the next Komtrak page:
The full text reads: Let your star shine bright.
I used acrylics on this page and just did a quick one.
And here’s the next Komtrak page:
The full text reads: Aim higher than what feels comfortable.
I used acrylics on this page and just did a super-quick one.
And here’s the next Komtrak page:
The full text reads: Always go where the peace is for you.
I used acrylics on this page. I wanted to draw a girl dipping her toes in the water because that brings me peace. I saw this photo:
and drew it first:
then I painted and stitched. It didn’t turn out exactly as I had hoped but I still like it.
And here’s the next Komtrak page:
The full text reads: You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true. You may have to work for it however.
The quote is from Richard Bach. I wanted the page to look like a dandelion that you might wish on.
I am creating multiple art journaling pages a week for now. You can read more about it and the book I am using for these pages at the top of this blog post.
Ok, I know I’ve been promising that I would share my notebooks with you for a few weeks, so here it is finally.
Last year, I read this post by Karen which prompted me to get my own journal. (she’s since written more about it and her post is excellent.) I decided to use a squared Moleskine because I love squared paper.
I had some plans for the notebook but my process and what I put in it has evolved and progressed throughout the year. So it’s a constantly-evolving process.
After using my first one for a few weeks, I decided the black was too depressing so I started painting them. I never do a good job but I still love them. So here’s the outside of my second book:
It gets a lot of use and goes everywhere with me, so it gets banged up quite a bit.
The first page has the calendar:
The second page has my personal statement from the Soul Restoration 2 class and then my first todo list page:
I make the todo list pages every Sunday, for the week ahead and then add, cross off, change them throughout the week.
My todo list pages have lists: must-do (for things that have to get done that week), nice-to-do (things I’d like to get done but it’s ok if they don’t), write (ideas for blog posts I might want to write), create (layouts, projects coming up due), blog (art, layouts, books, etc that I’ve already completed that are waiting for me to put up on the blog.)
I then put a piece of paper for each week that has my daily tasks on it. Everyday, I cross them out. As of now, the daily tasks I do are: exercise, sketching, journaling, reading to David, art journaling, collage book (new project for 2012), and blogging thoughts at night. At some point, I had more and I might have different ones in a few weeks. I create these on the computer and print them out a few weeks’ worth at a time. I then tape one for each week.
The page in the photo above is colored with pencils but i don’t do that anymore. It was an experiment and I didn’t like it.
I then use the same book to journal in the mornings.
Most days, I only write one page. Sometimes it’s more but one page is my minimum. This is literally the next page in the notebook. I also sketch in the same book right after this page:
when I first switched to watercolors, I started to glue down my paper:
but now I do it on a paper and then slip it in a 4×6 adhesive slip just like Karen mentions in her post. I then glue my art journal page right next to it.
This means my art journal pages are the same size as the Moleskine 5.125×8.25 but I am ok with that (at least for now.)
I put everything in this one little book. Here’s a double-spread of todo lists:
the mind maps I made in Karen’s class:
the visual board I made there, too:
the love list, or any other homework I had in her class. In all the classes I had this year that involved journaling or writing thoughts down:
Here’s my current journal:
It’s much much bulkier than that now and I am only 3 weeks in. I took this photo when I was almost done with number two:
The blue is the first one, then red. Yellow is the one I am on now and green will be my last one for 2011 (assuming the yellow one doesn’t take me to the end of the year.)
I’ve come to love and rely on my notebook. I carry it with me everywhere. I doodle, sketch, write, and keep my lists in it. My kids love looking through it and never read my journaling. I keep the journaling pages facing each other and never put art or todo lists on the facing pages. And I don’t mind that they are all together.
There you go. Now you know how all about my notebook. This is definitely my happiest way to get and stay organized. I love and adore my books and swear by the process. Let me know if you have any questions and I am absolutely happy to answer.
By the way, I will do my best to catch up on all the comments in the next two days. Thank you for your patience with me.
The sketches for this week are varying and I dislike most of them. I actually feel like I’ve hit this spot where I want to find my own sketching voice and see what I want to do for 2012. I like watercolor but I want to think about my subject matter more. See what I like. Explore.
Sunday: ( i like these shoes ok.)
Monday: (I absolutely hated doing this bike. and still hate looking at it)
Tuesday: ( i loved the idea of doing a hummingbird but didn’t like the way it turned out.)
this one has some gold shine that doesn’t show up:
Wednesday: (this was inspired by an ornament. it’s ok. so-so)
Thursday: (this one, too, I feel so-so about.)
Friday: (this is the one that broke the camel’s back. i hate this sketch)
And Saturday: (so I went back to my safe place and drew one of Abigail’s sketches. I adore her.)
And there we go. A yucky week.
Daily Sketching is a weekly project for 2011. You can see a detailed post on my steps here.
Since I am a big fan of Elizabeth Berg, there was no doubt that I would read Once Upon a Time There Was You when it came out. And while I enjoyed her wonderfully detailed characters and soft, deep observations as I usually do, I didn’t like this book as much as some of her others.
I find she’s marvelous at connections, relationships and women and I felt like those topics were less a part of this book than some of her previous ones. Alas, I will read anything she writes because I like the way she writes. Her words have a way of speaking to me.
I just hope the next one is more like the older ones.
2011 has been a good year for me in forward-progress. I’ve spent a lot of time doing some of the things I wanted to do. I’ve focused on sketching, art journaling, exercise, and journaling. More time with my family. More productivity at work. I feel like I’ve moved forward in all those areas. I have visible, tangible proof for most of the changes.
But I still find myself struggling.
I have specific wishes in all these areas that evolve, grow, change as I work on them. For example, this past week, I decided I wanted to be able to draw my own characters in a simple, illustrative style. Like Abigail Halpin whose style just speaks to me. The thing is, I have no desire to be a children’s illustrator and I lack the years of practice (and I am guessing a lot of formal education) she has. As I’ve learned in the last two days, it doesn’t come naturally to me and I have absolutely no idea where to begin learning.
I want to work on my lettering. Even though I’ve signed up for Lori’s amazing class, guess what? It won’t work unless I practice. A lot. So what’s lacking is not my ability to write beautifully but my willingness to put the time in to practice again and again until I can do it.
I want to build firmer muscles. Not bulky ones but I’d rather exchange my flabby tummy for a firmer, stronger one. This means weights, pilates, sit-ups…Something to work on those muscles. Same goes for the rest of my body. I want to eat healthier. This means committing to learning more about food, finding things that work with my lifestyle.
I want to focus more on self-growth. This means journaling more intentionally. Finding classes, books, resources to help me more.
I’m learning something really obvious: the work is never finished. There’s always more ways in which to grow. There’s always more to learn. And everything requires time. Everything.
That’s the most difficult decision to make: where do I dedicate my precious time? What do i want to do with it? Am I doing what I want to do or what I think I should do? What I liked back then but don’t like anymore (but won’t stop?) Am I spending my time in the way that makes me happiest (most fulfilled)?
My attempts at learning to do “illustrative” sketching are abysmal enough that I wanted to walk away immediately. Just pick something else to do. Anything else. But I told myself that I will give it a month. Even if it’s a month of terrible sketches, I want to see if I can find a way to make it work. After a month of legitimate effort, if I still hate what I produce, I can walk away. I am willing to dedicate 15-30 precious minutes to this every day for a month. In exchange for possibly opening a joyful door for myself. Or maybe just proving to myself that I can.
As for the other things on my list, they will get their due, too.
But as I look forward to 2012 and plan my projects, the biggest thing on my mind is Time. Answering the most difficult question of how I want to spend my minutes.
They are so rare and so fleeting.
Have you made plans for 2012?
for this week, i started with just this tree:
And I added slowly little bits here and there.
here is the left:
here is the right:
And here’s the filled page:
It ended up pretty simple, too, but I like it.
Weekly Art Journal is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here. And you can find out more about the weeklong daily journaling here.
This past weekend Jake went down to San Diego for a meeting. He sits on the board of a nonprofit down there and they had all-day meetings on Saturday. He drove down on Friday and spent the night at a good friend’s house. On Saturday morning, he called me on the way to the meetings and told me that our car had been broken into and two, relatively inexpensive, pieces of equipment were stolen. But of course the window was smashed and needed to be replaced.
My first instinct was to freak out.
My second instinct was to take control and tell him exactly what he needed to do.
My third instinct was to yell at him for leaving the car and going to the meeting anyway.
Thankfully, I did none of the above. I looked over at my kids as a reminder to myself that they were safe and sound. I told my husband, who also was obviously safe and sound, that I loved him and that I was sorry he had to go through this. And then I let him go.
I will admit that a little while later, I felt my anxiety increase. I called him back and asked him if they wouldn’t steal the car now that it had no window. I also told him I thought it was bad that he left to go to the meeting anyway. He was in the car with the woman who started the nonprofit and I could tell he was uncomfortable. I stopped myself and told him he was lucky his friend (with whom he’d stayed the night before) was helping him and to just keep me posted.
I then texted him once and then texted again apologizing and telling him that I was just worried and sad for him. I told him I loved him and hoped that it would work out.
After that, I opened my notebook and journaled for a whole page. I reminded myself to have faith in my husband and that things would get fixed even if I wasn’t the one to fix them. That’s the thing with type-a fixer people like me. We think our way is the only way things will get done.
And it’s not true.
Things can get done many ways. Things often do work out in the end. And if people like me don’t step in and take charge, other people step up and get it done. I reminded myself that I trusted and loved my husband and I truly had faith in him. And I really did feel really sad that he had to go through this alone when he was away. I wrote and wrote until I felt the rage and the worry leave my body.
I decided I was far away and couldn’t fix it personally. So, instead, I would just let it go and have faith things would work out.
And, of course, they did.
My husband’s friend helped him and he had a brand new window before he got back from his meetings. Then, his other friend helped him vacuum out the car so all the glass was out and the car was dry. So before Jake had to drive back North, the car was almost as good as new with relatively minimal loss and aggravation.
I realized that this was the perfect example of how everything that happens to you in life gives you an opportunity to learn and grow. I am grateful that it happened while I wasn’t there so I was forced to take a step back and work on myself and how I handle these situations. I am hoping that I can remember this next time something happens. Not that I hope anything happens but, you know, life always has ups and downs.
If nothing else, it was an exercise in learning to grow.
As promised, I am back to talk about 12 Days of Christmas.
This workshop is taught by 12 Big Picture Classes teachers. We each did a layout about some Christmas activity.
Here is how it works:
For the 12 days leading up to Christmas, you will receive an email from a BPC teacher with a photo prompt and a list of supplies to gather. Preparing specific holiday pictures and products as Christmas approaches will help you focus on the present moments and the joyful anticipation in a more thoughtful way—without feeling any pressure to scrapbook right away! Then, starting on December 25th, you’ll get to “open” a new handout each day, designed to guide and inspire you in pulling together pictures and products to complete a dozen different layouts.
You can see all the twelve teachers and sign up if you click here.
I am giving away one seat in the class today. This time I will just ask for anything you might like to see on this blog. Which of the things I post about do you like the most? What’s something else you might want to see? So just leave a comment. I will leave comments open for a week and announce the recipient next Monday (November 21). If you’ve already signed up for the class, you can still be eligible to win and you’ll just get a refund so don’t worry.
You should know all the links to the class are affiliate links and I might get a tiny cut if you click through my site to sign up.
David says:
I gave this story five stars because I liked all the adventure in the book and how they traveled to a different country.
I liked how the boys were like spies this time and had fancy cameras with strong walkie-talkies in them.
I liked how Rudy and the other Minstrels helped the three investigators escape from the palace and hide in the roof and then go through the sewers so they could get to the embassy (even though they never made it.) I also thought it was super-clever where Bob hid the silver spider of Varania. It was funny how he forgot about it later but Jupiter was able to figure it out.
The best part was when they rang the bell and all the people rallied for the Prince Djaro and then even though they were in jail, they were rescued,too.
Reading a book a week with my six-year-old son David is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.
jake
This week was full of professional ups and downs for Jake and then he had to leave for a trip to San Diego. Even though he stayed with a friend, our car ended up being broken into overnight and he had a few small items stolen. The scariest part, of course, was the broken window. Not the greatest way to end the week but we’re all safe and sound and that’s really what matters, of course.
karen
I spent most of this week feeling sick. I’d like to say that I’m all better but I still feel quite ill and I can’t wait for it to be gone. I ended up taking a sick day on Thursday and a day off on Friday. Work was relatively quiet except for some excitement on Friday. I had book club which was really fun for a change, and also got to watch Sir Ken Robinson earlier this week which was entertaining and interesting. The last few days of the week was all about resting, watching TV and reading a book. Trying to get well as quickly as I can.
david
David had a good week at school. Nothing super-eventful. He read more books about Origami Yoda and and Darth Paper and he now has a spy club at school called Mouse Hole Spy Club. I am not sure what they do but I am grateful he seems to be making more and more friends. He’s been coming home with fortuneteller things, too (not sure what those are called in English) and we have started our 2012 project already so it’s been a fun week. He also got his first desk in his room this week which he loves. I am so proud of my big boy.
nathaniel
Nathaniel’s really enjoying looking through all my notebooks and art journals. He loves looking through the scrapbooks and naming everybody. He’s becoming even more vocal and I love listening to him talk. I love that he likes looking at my art and that he’s interested in the scrapbooks. He no longer sits in the high chair and has to eat at the table off of plates and bowls just like David. I hope this means potty-training will be easy, too.
Here are some of my favorite captured moments from this week:
Nathaniel is still obsessed with trains:
loves having them all over the house:
last week’s family night was smath: scrabble math.
there was also a lot of playing on his own for Nathaniel since I was so sick.
He found many ways to entertain himself.
and, thankfully, he was happy most of the time.
he also spent a lot of time looking through my notebooks.
he begged not to eat the meatballs and veggies (but had to anyway).
David got his first desk this week. He loves it.
He also got some books from the library that he loves (and Nathaniel wanted to read, too, of course).
My super-beautiful boy.
On Friday, I was really sick and had an emergency at work. David was upstairs in his room. So Nathaniel decided to make a bed from all of his diapers so he could sit and read.
Later, David came down to tell me a story.
And I just snapped photos as he talked.
Today, Nathaniel went through my scrapbooks.
and David played Wii.
most of the day was just relaxing since I am still sicker than I’d like.
and there was hugging of course.
I love the way David’s looking at Nathaniel in this picture:
And those are some of the moments from our week. All in all, despite the sickness and break-in, another good week. We’re all healthy and safe. That’s all that matters.
Us Right Now is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.
The recipient of the workshop is: Debra
Debra, if you can email me your Big Picture username, I’ll make sure you’re all settled in.
thanks so so much for your kind words and comments. I really hope to see you all in the class!
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projects for twenty twenty-six
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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