My plans for today fell through early in the day but I’d already exercised super-early (for me) and so it would mean that I had the rest of the day to be productive. Instead I was just tired most of the day. The kids did their playing and running around. Nathaniel talked about choo choo of course and held the book close while he watched some Thomas.
Then he tried to master the Google TV remote so he could just put more choo choo on at will.
Then he went to go sit with his brother. When he saw me grab the camera, he made sure to pose.
Briefly, Thomas got his attention.
And then he decided David’s game was much more interesting.
As he often does, he got bored and decided to play with his toys instead.
I spent most of the day on the couch, thinking about my todo list but not accomplishing much. I did make one CHA layout which I am happy about. I still have to do my portrait tonight. David and I are almost done with the Wizard of Oz and he starts school tomorrow. Life will likely go back to schedule in a day or two. I am off tomorrow so my guess is it will take until Thursday or so for it to feel normal again.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I finished a CHA layout. I am always nervous when making those since there are limited supplies and I can’t just go run out and buy more if I mess up. But alas, I try to remind myself to just glue it down and make it work. Which always inevitably happens. (except when it doesn’t but even then it turns out okay.).
2. I am grateful that I have one more day to rest. My whole body is aching and my back is hurting so I think I will plan to lie down and read most of tomorrow.
3. I am grateful that I found a new TV show to watch on reruns while we’re in the off season. I really really miss my TV.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that i played with my legos {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I played on the computer
3. I am grateful that I played with Nathaniel
After I thought about my word and my plans for 2011, I began to think more and more about what the word and the priorities meant. The end of the year is always a contemplative time for me. Likely it’s because I have a larger chunk of free time than usual and each year feels a bit like beginning a new notebook so I try to use the occasion to think and look forward and plan. I’ve learned that planning is tremendously effective. This is very long and mostly for my benefit (I like having a record of my plans and my thoughts) so feel free to skip. I won’t be offended.
About a week ago or so, I was reading Chris’s annual review article. I’ve read this before and have always liked the idea. I’m a technical person at heart and all these specific goals, measurable steps, etc. are right up my alley. Since I have my list of 9 priorities this year, I thought it would be a good exercise to see if I could come up with 3-5 goals for each.
So here we go:
Goals for Each Priority
Family
1. Read and do workbooks with David daily (Project A Book A Week with David).
2. Take photo of full-family and write updates weekly (Project Us Right Now).
3. Write a daily diary of us + gratitude (Project Daily Diary)
4. Start a family night where we all play games or watch movies together (Scheduled for Sunday nights 6pm)
5. Sign up for a mommy/me class with Nathaniel (this still needs to be scheduled)
6. Schedule minimum bimonthly date nights with Jake
Health (Project Healthy For Life)
1. Do a combination of walking and running daily, work your way up to 5K a day
2. Complete the 100 pushups schedule
3. Do strength exercises 3x a week
4. Track exercise+food+sleep+water using the fitbit
5. Get minimum 7hours of sleep every night and 8 on the weekends
6. Eat at least one serving of vegetables daily and chicken/fish 3 times a week
7. Walk at least 8500 steps a day and work your way up to 10,000
8. Walk/Run a 10K
9. I also want to work on the coffee+graham crackers intake but not sure of the plan here yet.
Work
I don’t share much about work on my blog and I won’t here either but I promise you I have 5 specific goals for work for 2011.
Art + Photography
1. Draw and paint a portrait six days a week (Project Six Portraits a Week)
2. Art journal weekly (Project Weekly Art Journal)
3. Sketch something small daily (15-30mins)
4. Go on a Monthly photo excursion alone or with a photo buddy
5. Write weekly extended photo articles on my blog
6. Figure out for once an all if I want an etsy shop and what will go in it
Scrapbooking
1. Create one layout a week just for me
2. Do monthly The Girls’ Paperie layouts
3. Do monthly Pink Paislee layouts
4. Do monthly Creative Therapy layout
5. Do monthly Write.Click.Scrapbook layout + write one more week during 2011
6. Successfully teach all four scheduled 2011 classes at Big Picture Classes and the one I am a part of in Masterful Scrapbook Design
7. Aim to do 5-6 guest design spots or classes (that I teach) this year
8. Submit to one magazine a month (maybe, I can’t decide if I want to do this just yet.)
Reading
1. Read a book a week (Project A Book a Week)
2. Read one book with David each week (Project A Book a Week with David)
3. Regularly attend both book clubs
Writing
1. Write at least one long thought/idea oriented blog post a week
2. Write one new class (if you have requests, please share)
3. Write one downloadable pdf for my site or etsy (if you have requests, please share)
4. Write+email a newsletter each month
5. Possibly do NaNoWriMo (not sure of this one…)
Learning
1. Learn to draw and paint portraits (Project Six Portraits a Week)
2. Take 5-6 online classes this year (already signed up for one with: Misty, Stephanie, Ali, and Melody so maybe I should aim for more)
3. Learn to write an iPhone/iPad application (sort of out there but achievable – let me know if you have an app you want)
4. Learn how to make a stop-motion movie
(more coming here)
Community (This is a particularly hard one for me.)
1. Reach out to people I admire more often (leave more comments/send emails)
2. Invite one book club member out to breakfast/lunch once a month
3. Go out to breakfast/lunch once a week (to work or elsewhere)
4. Ask one of the moms in David’s class out to lunch/coffee once a month
5. Do a weekly-open house for Nathaniel’s moms group
6. Invite guests over for dinner at least once a month
7. Stretch: Do a get-together or attend one
There we go. As more creep up over the year, I will likely come here and add/alter as needed.
Schedule for Blog
I’ve also come up with a schedule for my blog for 2011:
Mondays – Weekly Layout
Tuesdays – Art Journal Weekly
Wednesdays – A Book a Week, The Girls’ Paperie
Thursdays – Six Portraits a Week
Fridays – Healthy for Life, Pink Paislee
Saturdays – Us Right Now
Sundays – A Book a Week with David
And then there is Daily Diary and Monthy WCS layout and monthly Creative Therapy
I will also likely do Monthly Digital Downloads
And finally not directly on my blog but I will be doing the monthly newsletter which will also have digital downloads
Thoughts to Cultivate
There are some major focus areas I want to have throughout the year. Things that I want to come back to again and again. These will likely show up in my art journals but I also want to have them here for reference.
1. Let go of worry This is definitely the biggest issue for me. I worry constantly and I worry about the smallest things as well as the big ones. Even though I know worry is a wasted emotion I still can’t help myself. I want to work on this very actively during 2011. I’ve already talked to my husband and asked him to do some very specific things to help me. I’ve also decided to keep a god box. I want to be very mindful about what and who makes me worry more and create tangible solutions to each.
2. Slow down and be mindful I tend to be an over-achiever which is great but because I am so task-oriented and accomplishment-focused, I often rush through things. I am focused on the end and I don’t enjoy the journey. I don’t slow down. I don’t take my time, explore, learn, grow as much as I could. So my plan this year is to slow down considerably. Take my time drawing. Take my time reading and thinking. If some things don’t get done, that’s ok. I think that much more growth happens when we slow down and approach things mindfully.
3. Do not yell This one is self-explanatory. I absolutely hate hearing other people yell. And yet I do it more often than I’d like. This year, it’s a non-negotiable. It will not happen. It’s not a 5-10% thing. It’s all or nothing and the goal is nothing. People I love deserve my respect.
4. Be patient This one sort of goes along with 2 and 3. I need to practice more patience. I don’t need to rush through everything. I have young children. They are good good children. They are kind and generous and sweet. They deserve my patience. So does my husband. And me, too, I deserve being patient with myself.
5. Assume the best This sort of goes with number one. I tend to go to the worst possible outcome. Out of 1000 good comments I will remember the one negative one. I seek the criticism. I assume the person hates me, is mad at me, doesn’t want to talk to me, etc. etc. I assume people do not want me around. I assume I am doing a bad job and secretly people just don’t tell me. I have these amazingly negative theories about what others think/feel/do about me. It’s quite phenomenal and deeply damaging. And this year I want to turn this around. I want to be enough. I want to assume the best. I want to accentuate the positive. I’ve learned that if you repeat something enough to yourself and others, people start believing you. If you ask what’s wrong enough times, people start noticing things. You call negative energy and attention to yourself. I want to do the opposite. There’s so much good in my life and I want to bask in the glory of it. I want to always assume the best and remember and be grateful for the good.
6. Embrace joy I wrote about choosing joy before. This seems similar to 5 but it’s even bigger. Assuming is after something happens. Embracing is before. I want to seek joy. I want to quit worrying and embrace life and joy and bring forth good things in my life. Joy again and again. This would be so magical if I could do this. Just the idea makes me feel good.
7. Be comfortable in your skin Another big one for me. I have so many issues about who I am and how I look. But I think it’s time to start letting go of that and being free of my misconceptions. I want to get in the picture more so I can make peace with how I look. So I can see myself the way people who love me do. I want to get a new wardrobe, a new haircut, take care of myself a bit more. Not because I am not beautiful just the way I am but because my body deserves to be treated well. With kindness and compassion and it deserves more attention. Only the things you give attention to flourish. I’ve always had the notion that I am boring. I don’t drink or smoke or do drugs. I don’t dance. I don’t enjoy things that are often considered “fun.” But I love deeply. I am loyal and kind and helpful. I am resourceful. I am authentic. I am honest. This is me and instead of yearning to be something else, it’s time to love, accept, be grateful for who I am. I am deserving of friendship and love. And if I don’t believe that how can I expect others to?
8. Don’t criticize, work hard, do your best, let go Simple, obvious but often hard-to-do. This year, I want to focus on giving it all I have and then letting go. Just waking up, doing my best every day and then letting it all go when I lie down to sleep. Each day is a new chance. A do over. Another opportunity to get it right. So it’s best to let go each night and give myself the very best chance to get it right the next day.
And there we are. I am sure more will come up. But these are some of what’s on my mind.
Here’s to hoping 2011 is fantastic for all of us!
David says:
I liked that Pooh saved Piglet because Piglet was in danger and Pooh was being nice. I like that they make good choices. I wish I had friends like that because they are very nice to each other. I like the story of Eeyore’s birthday because it ended happily.
My favorite character is Pooh because he is the nicest of all of them because he does nice things for his friends like he saves Piglet, he finds the North pole, and he found Eeyore’s tail, and he throws Eeyore a birthday party.
My least favorite character is rabbit because he’s makes a bad plan where he tries to steal Kanga’s baby Roo. I also don’t like that Kanga tricks Piglet and gives him the medicine so she grows.
I also liked that Pooh had a good idea when he was trying to save Piglet because he didn’t do that anywhere else in the book.
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.
1.1.11 – here it is. The new year. All this leading up to it and here it is. Just like any other day.
Well I did pretty good on most of my projects today. I made an art journal page, a portrait, exercised, did my pushups, and read with david (and by myself.) but I didn’t do so great on the photos. I took one shot of David playing Wii but it was so so and it’s been so dark here that the ones I took of Nathaniel are very noisy.
He’s watching David play.
He didn’t get to watch much TV today cause it was David’s wii day. So he kept walking around and saying “choo choo.”
Then he found a Thomas book and turned every page and pointed at every single train saying “choo choo” every time. It was so so so very cute. I love him so.
And here we are. The first day is almost over and I still have several things I’d like to get done. But I must admit that all the exercise is definitely getting me tired. Let’s see if I can motivate myself to scrap. I hope your first day of the year was great!!
By the way, if you got my newsletter and have feedback please do send it to me. I’m sort of figuring it all out as I go along so I’d be delighted to get some feedback.
Oh, and, if there are digital downloads you’d like to see in 2011 let me know. I’ll be making one set for each newsletter, and one other one each month here on the blog.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I made an art journal page today. It even almost turned out the way I visualized it in my mind. that’s rare for me.
2. I am grateful that I was able to up my daily exercise to 2.6 miles. My plan is to up by .1 mile a month so that by June I am walking 2 miles and running 1.1 miles which adds up to 5K daily. Let’s see if I can make it work.
3. I am grateful that I have fun, exciting books to read. I’ve noticed that having a page turner really really helps the exercise process.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that Daddy and I watched a lego movie {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I played wii
3. I am grateful that mommy and I read the Wizard of Oz
hello 2011!
Text Reads:
Jake
Jake is taking a nice amount of downtime this week. A rare vacation and well deserved. Which also means some wonderful downtime for me since he will be around more to help and be with the kids. It’s been so nice to have him around more than usual during the holidays and I am happy to have that continue for a bit.
karen
This week is about new beginnings for me. New projects. New leaps. My word, free, is something I plan to keep in the forefront of my mind every single day this year. I want to be productive but I also want to prioritize. Health and family are first and foremost this year. I also want to compartmentalize my days a bit so I focus better and more purposefully on a task and am not jumping from task to task too often. I also have to get going on my CHA samples. Very excited to be going alone this year so it will be much less stressful.
david
David goes back to school this week. He’s had a long time off and the routines have mostly gone haywire so we’ll see how much adjustment time he will need to get back on track. We have been reading quite a bit during his vacation and we did a lot of activities together but most of it has honestly been spent on the computer but he still writes his gratitude journal and does all of his chores so I let him play as much as he wants.
nathaniel
Nathaniel is all about the choo-choo lately. The first word out of his mouth when he wakes up is choo-choo and same when I go to get him from his nap. If we put anything else on besides Thomas, he throws himself on the ground and cries. He doesn’t even watch it but it must be on. If he’s sitting in his chair to eat, he will watch it and then get really upset during the sadder scenes. I have to calm him down and tell him it’s going to be ok. I am not sure how to handle this just yet but I am going to be patient and work with him. David went through a phase watching Baby Einstein just like this and then it went away so I am not freaking out just yet.
Us Right Now is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.
Happy 2011.
A New Year means a new word for me. In case you haven’t noticed it when I changed my banner, my one little word for 2011 is Free.
Free.
As I do every year, I feel like it’s the most important word I could have chosen. It has meaning on two levels for me:
The first part is about the past. I want to be free of my past. Of the ideas, thoughts, worries in my head of who I am, what I can do, what I deserve, etc. The past has a strong way of influencing who you are. And, of course, who you are affects your dreams, future possibilities and aspirations. The people and thoughts and words in your past shape who you’ve become and they are creating a limited view of the world for you. At least this is what I believe. I have a lot of strong convictions about what I am good at and what I should and should not do.
So a big part of this word (and this year) for me is letting go of the past. Of the hurt I carry around. Of the anger, jealousy, resentment I have for some of the people who broke my spirit. Of the words that were said to me or whispered behind my back. Of the limitations provided by my surroundings. Of the needs I think I have.
I want to be free of the past that’s chained to me. I want to feel like I am an empty vessel waiting to be filled with joy and possibility and dreams that I make up. Anything I want. Completely free. Starting over and not in the way I thought moving to America would help me start over. Not running away. Not trying to fake it. Not burying it all deep down. Not any of those avoiding tactics. I am happy to sit and face everything bad, sad, and ugly and just make my peace with it. Truly, genuinely let it go. I think this will be cathartic and I want to do it.
The other portion of this for me is about the future or maybe even the now. I want to feel free to do anything my heart desires. For example, I really want to learn to draw but I have a lot of voices in my head that tell me I can’t. I am not good at it. I am a computer person not an artistic one. Etc. etc. Same for exercise. I am not in shape. I can’t run. I can’t draw. I can’t can’t can’t. I have a lot of ideas of what I can and cannot do. What’s right and what’s wrong. I want to be free of all of that and feel free to do or be anything. I want to feel all that weight lift off.
I want to be free of worry. I want to let go and see that the world doesn’t stop turning and see that the people who love me still love me. I want to show myself that I can draw. I can run. I can. I can. I can.
So there you go. That’s my goal for 2011.
Since this word is so important to me, I’ve done a millon things to keep myself in this space mentally. I surrounded myself with reminders. I’ve decided birds and butterflies and angels are my symbols for free. And I’ve put them everywhere. Starting with my blog banner. If you look carefully towards the bottom of the flower stem, you’ll see the word “free.”
And then I got a necklace as I seem to yearly now.
Actually my mom brought the necklace. And when she came, she was wearing these two rings with butterflies on them. I begged to have them and of course she graciously agreed. I wear one right now:
I was taking this class from Tam at that time that I was thinking about my word. During the last class, she painted this amazing angel. I fell in love with her during the sneak she posted of the picture. I hadn’t even watched the video yet. And when I watched the whole thing, I felt like the angel was watching me the whole time and to my utter amazement (and joy), Tam wrote “I am free” at the bottom of the painting. I bought the print as soon as I finished watching the video and it hangs above my desk now.
I love love love love this image. I adore it.
My mom also bought me a birdcage and a nest and bird. It sits right next to my desk and the cage is open with the bird sitting on the nest outside the cage. As in, it’s free and not caged.
And finally I covered my art journal with a bird and cage, too. And I even put the word free on my daily planner moleskine:
I know I went overboard but, trust me, this word matters to me. What it represents matters to me. I cannot have enough reminders. I’ve also signed up for Ali’s Big Picture class. Depending on what they are, I plan to do the assignments in my art journal.
I also started a new tradition this year. A while back, I was listening to The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and one of the things the author mentions is managing our time and how we spend much of it doing what’s urgent instead of doing what’s important. As in, we’re often reacting instead of thinking ahead and calmly acting in the direction of our dreams and priorities.
So I decided it would beneficial for me to make a “Priority List”. A list of goals and people I want to prioritize during 2011. This way, when an opportunity or request came my way, I could check my list and make sure it is aligned with my priorities before I accepted it. It’s easy to lose sight of things and take on projects that end up eating a lot of my time and not making me fulfilled. If I had my list to look at each time, I could keep what’s important at the forefront of my mind and make sure to prioritize it.
Here’s my Priority List for 2011:
* Family
* Health
* Work
* Art + Photography
* Scrapbooking
* Reading
* Writing
* Learning
* Community
These are not in order. Yes, most of the time my family comes first. However, there are times when work takes higher priority because it has to for a brief time. Or sometimes I might choose to exercise even if my son wants to play at that moment. These priorities are fluid for me. They are all a part of me and I want to make sure I value them and dedicate time to each. I also want to make sure I turn down anything that doesn’t line up with one of these.
I know it looks like it’s all-encompassing and I spose if you wanted to, you could make everything fit into one of these categories but, in my heart, I know what these mean. And I know when something comes along that doesn’t fit. Above everything, I want to stay true to my gut. I’ve made the mistake of doing something that will look good and make others think well of me before and it was a lot of heartache for me and so I want to listen to myself more and trust my gut and know that if I turn down something that feels wrong, other opportunities will still come my way and I will know when the right one is there. So I will have faith in myself and in the universe.
And I will prioritize the important.
Since I like visual reminders. I used a beautiful Maya Road product to remind me of my priorities for 2011. I coincidentally happened to have 9 so it was perfect:
I had a lot of long words so I wrote them all on the computer, printed, cut, inked, colored with copics, and then slightly embellished with mostly butterflies.
And there we are. Here’s to an amazing 2011.
The year I will finally be FREE.
A new month means a new write.click.scrapbook gallery. This month’s challenge is to scrap a black and white photo. You can see the full gallery here!
Journaling Reads:
It’s rare for us to get to go out together all dressed up and I wanted to capture it forever. Thankfully, your dad was around to take this photo. 9.5.2010
Details:
Just in case you’re badge-people I made some badges for some of the projects I’m doing for 2011. If you want more for other ones let me know. If you want different ones with photos or whatever, let me know that too. The badges link to my post explaining the project, under each badge is the code for it.
<a href=”https://www.karenika.com/?p=11513″ target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn127/karenika1/urn_badge2.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”Us RIght Now” /></a>
<a href=”https://www.karenika.com/?p=11493″ target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn127/karenika1/abaw_badge.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”A Book a Week” /></a>
<a href=”https://www.karenika.com/?p=11565″ target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn127/karenika1/hfl_badge.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”Healthy For Life” /></a>
and in case you’re taking either of my classes, here are badges for those, too:
<a href=”http://www.bigpictureclasses.com/imperfection.php”><img src=”http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn127/karenika1/imperfection-1.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”Embrace Imperfection”></a>
<a href=”http://www.bigpictureclasses.com/findyourway.php”><img src=”http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn127/karenika1/fyw_badge3.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”Find Your Way”></a>
I hope you like them ok. If you can’t get them to work, don’t hesitate to let me know.
And here we are! I close each year with a tulip and I wasn’t making an exception this year.
We had a lovely day today. The first two photos are from last night. I put on a pair of jeans I hadn’t worn in years. I was so happy I fit into them that I snapped this shot.
And then this one.
This morning we were all really tired for some reason so we lay around for a long time. The kids played quietly and I read and so did Jake.
After I exercised and Nathaniel napped, we all decided to go to the movies. So we snapped a family shot (as per Mommy’s new rule).
Then went to see Tangled. David loved it and so did we and Nathaniel was very well behaved the whole time. A quick trip to Target for some fruit and we are now home. I felt bad about not snapping enough photos so I asked Nathaniel for one and this is what I got.
As you can see, all the images have a lot of noise. It’s been dark here. I just got to talk to my sister where it’s already 4am new year’s day and it was so wonderful to hear her voice. Nathaniel is already in bed and David is going soon. We then get to read, relax, watch movies and play video games. We like to play video games on New Year’s eve. Some of our best memories are filled with video games. So it will be a quiet one here.
I hope wherever you are, you’re happy, healthy, safe, and sound. And warm. And with the people you love.
Thank you for being here with me in 2010, I am truly blessed with each and every one of you and I hope 2011 brings you everything you’ve ever wanted and more.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that we all went to the movies together. I was worried about Nathaniel but it was something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. When we got there the theater was really full and we got frustrated for a second. But then it worked out much better than any alternative (as it always does).
2. I am grateful that I got to talk to my sister. I love talking to her every day but especially on New Year’s eve. We’ve always called each other and I was worried I missed her because I was at the movies but I didn’t!
3. I am grateful for an amazing year. Birthdays are nice but not a big moment for me. The new year always is. And I feel so wonderful, content, thankful, optimistic, and loved at this very moment. I am deeply grateful.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that we watched a movie {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful for mommy and daddy
3. I am grateful that I got Harry Potter silly bands and gummi bears and a cookie today! (yes it was one of those rare days)
Good-bye 2010!
Well here we are.
It’s the last day of 2010 and tomorrow a fresh, new year starts. And despite how I feel, I know that I am totally ready! Since I spend the last few weeks of the year thinking about my projects, I also begin working on them slowly so that it’s not a harsh cutoff as the year begins. So I’ve already been drawing and painting faces and reading to david and reading books from my 2011 list, and sketching, and exercising of course. this way when tomorrow comes it’s not like I am beginning 17 new things. or so I hope 🙂
The first thing I wanted to do when I look back was to review the projects I’d picked for 2010, so here we go in no particular order:
Weekly Gratitude
I think this one was a huge personal success. Not only did I fulfill the intent of posting thoughts once a week and art once a week but I also wrote down 3 things every day. And then in a wonderful spin-off, so did my son David. And then he started keeping a gratitude journal. This project is easily one of my all-time favorite things I did. Ever. You can find all of my weekly gratitude posts here.
Daily Diary
This, too, was successful. I managed to post diary entires for every day in 2010 (assuming I manage to post one tonight.) And I had a non-family photo for every day as well. According to my computer that’s 2,247 photos for this year for this project. I did do my gratitudes but I originally had also intended on writing some thoughts for each day and that got dropped somewhere along the way and I was all-too-happy not to pick it up again. It was hard for me to think of things to write and instead this year I decided to do longer, thought-out posts once a week. Let’s see if that works out.
Here’s a favorite shot from 2010 (it won’t come as a surprise of course)
and here’s a favorite shot for nathaniel (though I have many many):
and one for david:
and one for the love of my life:
As for me, I took this photo of me last night as I got dressed for company. It’s nothing special but just a visual reminder of all the hard work I’ve been doing lately:
You can find all of the daily diary posts here.
Crafting with David
This was one of those projects that got abandoned somewhere in the middle of the year. To be fair, we made quite a few projects together and we abandoned it because I started to teach David how to read. We did workbooks. And then we read together. And then he started the gratitude journal. So we did continue to spend time together but we didn’t craft as much. I do hope to make sure I do at least a few crafting projects with David all throughout 2011 because I still love the fact that he enjoys crafting. You can see all of crafting with David posts here.
A Book a Week
This one worked out perfectly. I read a lot. I read different genres. I went outside my list a lot but also read quite a few of the ones on my list. I made a new list for 2011. Transferred some over and I am still reading like crazy. I joined three different book clubs and my love of reading is going strong and possibly even flourishing. I’ve considered writing longer, more thought out reviews in 2011 but it’s just not interesting to me for some reason. I am more interested in reading the books. You can see all the books I read in 2010 here.
52 Things
I loved making this list and I loved even more that I worked on so many of these. Somewhere in November, I stopped working as hard. Partly because the things that were left didn’t inspire me and partly because I got tired. I am still very happy with what I did finish, especially since I would likely not have done most of those if it weren’t for my list. You can read all of the things I did here.
Then there were those things that I didn’t originally plan for 2010 but they happened and they were wonderful:
Layout a Day in May
This project was done without any planning and it completely changed my life. It helped me find my personal, unique voice. And I truly believe it brought me the amazing opportunities I have like designing for The Girls’ Paperie, Tim Holtz, and Pink Paislee. It made scrapping hugely fun for me and brought my hobby to another level. It also encouraged me write a brand new workshop so I could help others discover their own voice. I also got published in a wonderful Swedish magazine (more detail with photos coming soon.) You can see all my layouts from that month here.
I also did a few other projects and realized that focusing on something for a month works really well. (Except for the happiness one I did which didn’t work well and I had to abandon it.) Even the ones I did only halfway were worth it very very much. I can go on and on but to be honest I am pretty much done with this year.
My word for 2010 was loved. And I must say it was a good one. I feel very loved. Doing the gratitude project has allowed me to see how amazing my life is. How I get to be loved by my husband, children, sister, nephews, parents, good friends online and offline. I am a very very blessed person.
and now ready for 2011!
onward and upward!
Journaling Reads:
I think it’s perfectly apt that on this very last day of the year and on my very last gratitude art for 2010, I should make it about my favorite place in the world.
New York City.
I spent all of my twenties in New York. I moved there at 22 and moved away at 29. And I loved every single moment of it. I love New York with all my heart. It feels more like home than anywhere else I’ve ever lived and anywhere I will live.
To me, it embodies everything I love. Authenticity, culture, arts, literature, working hard, and, most of all, amazingly interesting people. It has the best bookstores I’ve ever seen. The best opera. The most amazing museums. I even love the dirt and the subway. And while I think it’s not the best place to live with kids, I do hope that one day I’ll get to live there again.
I am grateful for my time in the city. For all the opportunities it gave me. For everything I learned while I lived there. For the friends I made and the jobs I had. For me, NYC is unparalleled in its magnificence.
In 2009, I watched as Donna Downey slowly (or quickly in some cases) lost an amazing amount of weight. At the time, I told myself that she was doing a diet where you had to eat prepackaged food and those diets never worked for me. She was boxing in her garage and I didn’t even have a garage. She was running regularly and I am completely incapable of running at all. So 2009 came and went and I watched Donna get healthier and happier.
Then, in 2010, Cathy Zielske decided to tackle her health and body as well. She was simply eating less and moving more. She began running too. She shed weight and became healthier and healthier.
And I stopped reading her blog.
I couldn’t watch it anymore. It was a glaring reminder of the fact that I wanted to do this exact same thing and I had no excuse whatsoever for not doing it. I kept saying next week, next month, next year.
And then one day, on October 1, I decided I’d had enough. I decided that this was my life now. Every minute that passed was too late. If I was putting my health first then I best get started doing so. I didn’t want to wait another year. Or even another day. On October 2, 2010, I got up and started walking.
I have walked/run every single day since. Every. Day.
I’m writing this post on December 17, 2010. So far, I’ve lost 18lbs. And here’s what my nike+ chart looks like:
77 consecutive days of exercise. 136 (actually 137 cause it was off one day) miles of exercise. The calories are meaningless to me cause until recently I didn’t have the right weight in the tool and I don’t keep updating it.
This is the biggest portion of this project for me. I’ve done diets my whole life. I can stop eating almost anything for almost any amount of time. But I have never exercised this much before in my life.
Ever.
And i am not just exercising of course. I am also watching what I eat and I am parking away from my destination so I walk more, etc. I am not super-active since I work from home and my job is mostly done sitting on the couch. I do have a little boy so I am a bit more active than I usually am but I would not put me in an active category. So the exercise is super-important.
For me, what really made it all work is the nike+. I had bought it on a whim when I saw Cathy write about it but it sat on my desk for months. When I finally started walking, I used it from day one. And having the visual representation of my walks really helped me. I just love logging in every day and seeing another bar. No matter how high or low. Just proof that I worked out.
I went through a patch during mid-November where my left knee hurt a lot so I started walking only 1 mile a day and I went to the doctor (it was runner’s knee) and just slowed down. It was hard to go back to working out longer than 1 mile after that and I struggled for a while. Then I bought a new pair of shoes. The ones I’d been wearing were from years ago and they were never professionally fitted. I went to a running store around where I live and the saleswoman took her time, measured me several times, watched me walk, had me try several pairs and I came home with a new pair. My knee hasn’t hurt since. And as of November 30, I started a new routine where I walk 2.0 miles and I run for 0.5 miles.
Here’s my full plan for 2011 (most of it is continuing what I’ve been doing so far):
1. Work out everyday. No matter what. Even if just 1 mile. Minimum 1 mile.
2. Keep doing 2+0.5 and eventually work your way to 2(walk)+1.1(run) and ideally maybe even get to 3.1 miles (5K) of running a day if I can do it.
3. Eat at least 2-3 servings of veggies every day.
4. Eat some protein every day (even if a little)
5. Minimize the amount of processed food you eat as much as possible
6. Drink water
7. No more than 3 (ideally 2) coffees a day (there’s a long story here but I am not quitting the coffee yet.)
8. Introduce weight training (light) 3 times a week
9. Work your way to 10 pushups a day 3 times a week
So those are some of my goals. Ideally, I’ll end up running 5K a day and doing weights or pushups 6 days of the week. If this seems a lot please know that running is not fast running, it means going right above the speed where I can’t really walk so i have to run. So it’s super-slow running. And same with weights, we’re talking 1-3lbs weights. I am just trying to keep my body active. I am not trying to obtain huge muscles or become a runner.
Food is a weird issue for me because I don’t eat much of it. I never have. I don’t cook and so I often just eat whatever is super simple. Ever since I made this shift, I have not snacked, sneaked, or cheated at all. I have no desire to. I don’t think of this as a diet and so I crave nothing. This is a life plan for me. I am determined to make it. So McDonalds or Taco Bell has nothing on me. I don’t drink anything but water and this pre-made coffee I love. The coffee is not great for me but it’s filling and it helps me in other comforting ways. So for now, it stays.
Since I don’t cook, I wanted to find a plausible solution to eating more veggies and protein. I cook for my kids but I knew if I relied on coking for myself I wouldn’t do a good job most days. I found this frozen bag of mixed veggies: corn, peas, lima beans, green beans, carrots. I eat half a bag each day. It’s not the very best veggies since corn is starchy and peas too but it’s oodles better than graham crackers for nutrition. I also cook fresh veggies at least 1-2 times a week and have leftovers. Generally zucchini because both Nathaniel and I love it.
For protein, I either buy fresh sole and cook it (which again both of us love) or I am getting roasted chicken, tearing it apart and eating it all week long. A little bit each day. It’s cheap, healthy because it has no additives or sauces or anything, and it’s already cooked.
Some days I also eat high-fiber veggie soups. And I always have fresh fruit washed and ready in the fridge so if I need a snack, I get fruit.
Maybe eventually I will cook more and things will change. But for now, this is the plan. It’s relatively fresh and healthy. I still have my coffee and now I eat a few graham crackers each day, I plan to reduce those and replace with fruit or yogurt eventually. But I am not sweating it for now.
I drink a ton of water most days so I am not sweating that either.
One other thing I decided a few months ago is that I wanted to get a reward for each month I worked out. Not for losing weight or working out long or fast. Just doing it day after day for 30 (or 31) consecutive days. Since I am trying to lose weight, I didn’t want to make it food related. So I am buying a piece of clothing each month. Mostly from anthropologie so far. I started with things like jackets and blouses which I expect will still fit me at the end of the year. Eventually, I hope to move to pants/skirts/dresses. I love getting to go shop (even though I normally hate shopping) knowing that it’s my reward for a lot of hard work.
The way I track exercise progress is the nike+. When I add the other exercises, I will have to find another system for that. For food, I don’t track too closely right now but in the new year I will. I will likely use google docs and I have a new weight watchers calculator that uses their new system. And, finally, I weigh myself on the Wii Fit every Wednesday. I don’t have a scale and I trust the computer more than my eyes. The wii fit tells me the change in my BMI and the change in my weight which is all I need to know. In the beginning of 2011, I will also take measurements for my hips, arms, and waist so I can track those once a month.
I made a little template to fill each week (ignore the text, it’s pasted from a weekly gratitude post.):
In case you want one too, you can download my template here.
I bought a little colorful album from target and will be putting my weekly cards in there:
That’s the plan.
To me, this is the most important project for 2011. I will let go of everything else before I let this one go.
Here’s to getting healthy for life.
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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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