These mailboxes were one of the first things I fell in love with where I live. There’s something about them that speaks to me.
Today was a quiet day. After yesterday I intended to take it easy and I am glad to say that I did. I read my book, I did workbooks with David, I hugged Nathaniel, I cooked some fresh food for him (mangos, bananas, and made some fresh oat porridge). I knit some and just cleaned up the house a bit.
I realized today that I do much better with routine. Not just accomplishing tasks but living my life. I love December but the lack of routine actually makes my days more stressful. So, amazingly, I’m actually looking forward to tomorrow. To getting back into our routines. We have a bunch of activity coming up in the next few months. Trip down to LA and one possibly up to NAPA, Jake’s parents visiting, my parents visiting. So it’s not going to be 100% quiet but it should be more routine, I hope.
Here are two photos of my boys from today:
Love them so. I am so truly lucky to have them. They each make my heart skip every single day.
Note to Self:
In the last few weeks, I’ve been dreading doing my catalysts. They’ve been going from one daily to-do list to another and they never get accomplished. I am usually several catalysts ahead so it’s frustrating to me that I’ve fallen so behind. Today, I decided to try something new. I will make one night of the week my creative therapy night. On that night, I will set the kitchen timer for one hour and I have that much time to get the piece of art done. I am allowed to plan and print the photo and journaling ahead of time. It’s ok to think about what I want to do as well. But from the moment I sit to do it, to the minute I am done, it won’t be more than one hour. I want to try this. See what happens if I limit myself time-wise. Will it be better or worse? I don’t know but I like the idea and it makes me feel less stressed about how behind I’ve gotten on them. And it’s a good tool to keep in mind that the goal for creative therapy is to get the therapeutic benefit not necessarily to produce the most amazing piece of art there ever was. I’ll let you know if it works.
Three things I’m grateful for today:
1. Super Baby Food: I bought this book when David was born and used it a lot with him. Honestly, I used it to cook fresh veggies and to freeze them so he could eat healthier than I do. I just cracked it open again and made some of the porridge (just oat and water really) and I plan to make a healthier diet for Nathaniel. I’ve been giving him Earth’s Best for two months now and it’s really expensive and if I am going to spend all that money, I want to try to give him fresh food. There will still be many days where he eats jars but I would like to try and this book is a good resource for me. Despite many other things that the author and I disagree on, I like the easy guides on how to cook and store veggies.
2. Good books: There’s nothing like a good book to make my day feel happy and calm and wonderful. I am so thankful for books. I love music, too and movies but books have a special place in my heart.
3. Having a tub: The previous house we lived in didn’t have a tub. Just two showers. This one has a tub both in our bathroom and in the kids’ one. I love filling up the tub a little and watching my kids play it in. David loves playing with all the squirting toys and Nathaniel loves chewing the foam ones. I just love sitting there and watching them play quietly and peacefully.
This is another photo from our walk yesterday. I love the colors in it.
Today was an exceptionally long day. It started all nice and we spent some family time together and then I scrapped some. When Nathaniel woke up, we went to Target to get some groceries. Mostly baby food. After we came home, we decided to tackle the “take down the Christmas tree” project. A few hours just to take the ornaments off. And then as the “cut down the tree so we can get it out of the house” part started, Nathaniel woke up.
Jake had set the pack’n’play in the living room since Nathaniel loves to roam around and sometimes we need him to stay put. He was pleasant enough at first:
But then quickly got mad. That’s David trying to entertain him there.
He would not stop crying and complaining until I picked him up. And then he would not leave my side. It took us hours and hours to cut and clean the tree. It was so dead that just touching the tree made thousands of needles fall. So Jake patiently cut while I bagged.
I know this is a terrible photo but it’s just here for me to remind myself that next year we’re getting a FAKE tree! I know, I am disappointed too but I don’t think I can do this again.
I spent the rest of the night scrapping some more. I made seven layouts with the January A Million Memories Kit. Told so many of Nathaniel’s stories. Finally catching up on his baby book. But I have this incredible headache that will not go away. Tomorrow, I rest all day long.
Note to Self:
Today’s note to self is to NOT get a real tree next year. Yes, the smell is amazing. Yes, I do love having a real tree. But I love having the tree up for a long time and the mess it makes is just not worth it. Maybe a small, real tree for the other room, so I can still enjoy the smell. But a beautiful, fake tree for our living room. I do believe it will even make Christmas more enjoyable.
Three things I’m grateful for today:
1. My husband for letting me sleep in an extra TWO hours this morning. I haven’t slept in this late in months.
2. The beautiful January Kit from AMM that was full of Webster’s pages and that inspired me to create so many layouts.
3. My husband for spending hours and hours cutting the tree so we could get it out of the house without making an even bigger mess than we did. Yes, he’s amazing.
Happy New Year. Rabbit rabbit. Welcome to 2010!
I hope you welcomed the new year in a way that makes you happy. We relaxed, watched movies together and fell asleep shortly before 11pm. My back’s been in exceptional pain lately and since I’m nursing, I can’t really take anything stronger than Advil which makes life a bit more painful than I’d like.
We took a nice, short walk this morning (for one of my 52 Things project items). I snapped the photo above and these 3 of my boys while we were out:
Then I spent most of the day scrapbooking but it was all slow progress due to my back. Oh well, this, too, shall pass. I am happy to welcome 2010. I am confident this is going to be a most fantastic year.
Note to Self:
I need to slow down more. When I stress, my body tenses and then I injure my weakest muscles (my jaw and my back) which then causes me pain and forces me to slow down but I can’t enjoy it because I am in pain. I need to realize that I have two kids (one of which is a baby) who need and deserve attention and not as much is going to get done in this particular phase of my life. That’s ok. It’s time to slow down and enjoy my kids. Soon they will be gone and I will wish they were here to distract me. So, note to self: slow down. Breathe. Enjoy the kids. Be patient with and kind to self and family.
Three things I’m grateful for today:
1. Really good scissors. I did a lot of detailed cutting today and the little cutter bee scissors I have were fantastic.
2. My husband carrying Nathaniel up and down the stairs instead of me so my back wouldn’t hurt more.
3. YouTube for teaching me how to knit in the round.
As I explained last year, I am choosing to have focus areas for my year instead of resolutions. This way, I can spend my energy focused on something that’s important to me and apply it to all areas of my life. Last year’s words were Peace and Bloom. While this has been a relatively rough year, I think I’ve made some considerable progress. (Though I still have a long way to go.)
This year’s word chose me before I had time to think about what I wanted it to be. I found this necklace a few weeks before I had Nathaniel and couldn’t stop thinking about it. So I finally bought it and have been wearing it since.
Loved.
That’s my word for 2010. For the longest time, I’ve held on to the notion that I am not worthy of love. I can tell you many reasons why and I’ve always claimed it’s because I’ve had some cruel friends in my formative years. But I know none of those excuses are true. (This is the revelation that led me to start creative therapy.) The fact is, there’s no reason for me to feel this way. I’ve been blessed with an amazing husband who’s been by my side for 15 years. A family like no other. Sons who love and adore me. And great friends. It’s time I let go of this lack of self-worth. It’s time.
So this year. I plan to devote to honor those who love me and remember daily that I am loved. And cherish that.
Loved.
And we bid farewell to 2009.
This was a long year for me. We had some huge events: we bought our first house, we had our second baby (with no medication thank you very much), we moved, and I moved positions and started working from home. And then a million little good and bad ones. I normally like to reflect on the year but this year I’m not feeling it so we’re not going to do that.
Instead we look forward. Here’s to a fantastic 2010. May it be absolutely amazing in every way!
And here’s the end of my book.
and the back:
I am ready to take the decorations down this year. Last year, they stayed up all the way to mid-January but this year, I am ready for some reason.
and the back is following a tradition from last year. Tulips.
This year’s album was a lot harder. But I still love it to bits.
This week’s question is: “What magical thing happened to you this year?”
It was a great year with a new house, working from home etc but the most magical thing this year ever was Nathaniel hands down. Love you, my angel.
I now sell some of these tags in my etsy store. If there’s a tag you like and are interested in, email me or leave a comment and I’ll be happy to add it.
I am combining Emily Falconbridge’s art journal questions with trying a new technique each week. You can see the full list: here.
This week’s question is: “What was the best gift you ever gave?”
I did this for creative therapy a few weeks ago. I became an American citizen. Best gift I could give my children.
I used tape to cover the tag and did the stripes with red ink. The blue side has some clear embossing for the stars which then does the resist over blue ink. Not perfect but I was playing around.
I now sell some of these tags in my etsy store. If there’s a tag you like and are interested in, email me or leave a comment and I’ll be happy to add it.
I am combining Emily Falconbridge’s art journal questions with trying a new technique each week. You can see the full list: here.
This week’s question is: “What do you love most about where you live?”
Well since I am in sunny California I decided to make it about the sun.
I painted the tag blue for sky, rolled up a ribbon for the sun and then glued sequins for the rays.
I now sell some of these tags in my etsy store. If there’s a tag you like and are interested in, email me or leave a comment and I’ll be happy to add it.
I am combining Emily Falconbridge’s art journal questions with trying a new technique each week. You can see the full list: here.
I’ve written about importance of a routine before. I am a firm believer of setting schedules and organizing tasks ahead of time as much as possible. I’ve learned that if I do that, I am considerably more likely to get the task accomplished.
That’s why I list the books I will read, the projects I will do, etc. etc. I know that if I’ve already made the list, I am halfway there.
Since August 1, I’ve been posting on my blog every single day. Some days several times a day but every day at least once. And I love that. I love seeing all these posts later and I love reading them later so I am really enjoying having them here. And I want to continue this.
One of the things I did in September to make this easy on myself was to come up with a schedule for the week. And I’ve mostly kept to it. So I am now making one for 2010. Here’s the current plan (always subject to change of course):
Daily – Photos, 3 Things I’m Thankful For, Thoughts of the Day and mindfulness
Mondays – Crafting with David
Tuesdays – Thoughts on Gratitude & other topics
Wednesday – Creative Therapy
Thursdays – A book a week & Digital Downloads
Fridays – Weekly gratitude
Saturdays – 52 things in 2010
Sundays – Weekly Layout
The Tuesday and Thursday posts will be cross-posted on the Weekly Gratitude blog and the Wednesday post will be cross-posted at Creative Therapy blog. Sundays will likely be full of layouts I make for A Million Memories.
I set the digital downloads for the same day as the book a week because I know that I won’t get to finish a book every single week so I will still have a post on that day either way.
I like to balance my site so it has both words and art so I tried to create a schedule where they either alternate or there’s both every day.
At least, this is the plan. Better than not having a plan. Let’s see how it all works out. I plan to start the schedule on January 4 since that’s the first Monday of the year.
Today was a long day and a bad-photo day. It was actually quite productive. This morning, I was sitting on the floor and David was watching a movie on his iPod and Nathaniel walked over to him and stood up on his table so he could watch it with David. I tried to capture it but it’s crappy but I still love it so much cause it was such a cute moment.
I love seeing how David reads to Nathaniel. I really love having two kids. It’s significantly harder but so much fun at the same time.
Nathaniel would NOT take a nap today. He has been more active and more rebellious about going to bed. I understand it but he’s still so tired and needs his naps. He’s even more clingy than usual. So it’s been a rough few days. But despite all that, I got some stuff done today, did some more coding, some crafting with David, and finished all my tags. (Too late to take photos, I will post them all tomorrow.)
I can’t believe there’s one more day left. I am really looking forward to 2010. I am determined to make it rock!
There are days when I don’t do any art. Days when I don’t read any words from a book. Days when I don’t write a word in my journal. When I don’t scrap anything. When I don’t work. I need a break from almost everything I do every now and then.
Except taking photos.
I take photos every day. Every single day. Actually I take like 100 photos a day. On average.
I love taking photos. I love documenting my family, my life, visually. I love looking at the photos. They make me smile every single time.
In 2008 and 2009, I took daily photos of some kind or another and when it came to 2010, there was no doubt in my mind that I was continuing this project. Even though processing photos is the single most time consuming thing in my week, I don’t mind it one bit.
One of the things I regret not having more of is “other photos.” Not photos of my kids or me but of things in my life, places, people, things that are in my daily life. Right when I got my first SLR (during the years we lived in San Diego and before David was born) I was taking a lot of photos and those are still some of my favorite photos so I want to do more of that. I want to go on excursions (even if only once a month) and capture nature, city, people, just anything. I still want to capture my family, too of course.
So the plan for 2010 is that the photos may not be actually taken on that specific day (Nathaniel’s will be since I am still continuing with documenting his first year with photos.) but they will all be taken this year. And I will post at least one photo a day.
Like I mentioned in the weekly gratitude post, I will also post three things I am grateful for, each day.
And I want to do a short journal entry, too. Something to remember the day by. I want to practice mindfulness and choosing joy. Some days it might be super-short and other days longer. Let’s see.
Since it’s going to be not just photos, I decided to call it Daily Posts. Boring name, I know. Feel free to suggest others.
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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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