I have decided to take shimelle‘s Journal
Your Christmas class. More about the why in the next post. But I am
looking forward to a little bit of creation everyday. I hope this will
be the encouragement I need to get back in the groove of things.
I wanted to keep the cover very simple and I might go back to it at the
end and go crazy with it, but for now it’s just plain and subdued. For
the first few days (at least) I will be using the Scenic Route papers I
received as part of being on the A Million Memories DT. Big
thanks to both Scenic Route and AMM.
Let’s see if I can do this for the next thirty five days.
Another layout I made using the Cosmo Cricket line they sent to
wonderful AMM.
Journaling Reads:
David, since all these layouts and books I’m making are for you and any
siblings you might one day have, I wanted to make sure you had not just
your stories recorded but you also knew the stories behind your mom and
dad and all the wonderful memories we have between us.
It’s 2007, and in a few weeks, your dad and I will celebrate our dating
anniversary of thirteen years. I’ve been in this country for fifteen
years and have spend thirteen of those with your dad. Over these years,
we’ve collected an amazing number of memories. Our lives changed
considerably, and our personalities as well.
But one of the few things that didn’t change much from our first few
days together is the fact that your dad is my very best friend. A few
days after we met, he and I started hanging out 24/7. Especially since
we were in college and it was during finals, there were no classes and
we had nothing that stopped us from staying up all night and chatting.
Which we did. We talked about anything and everything. We laughed all
the time.
He became my closest friend within a few short days and all these years
later, I still prefer to share every little detail with him over anyone
else. We have a million little inside jokes and single words that
conjure joyful memories.
I don’t know how I got lucky enough to find your dad when I did and I am
so thankful that we both had the foresight to see there was something
magical there. Over the years, we’ve had tough times, and even tougher
times but we stuck together and through it all, we stayed best friends.
Today, I cannot imagine my life without him. He’s a part of the air I
breathe.
When something bad happens to me, I run to him for comfort. When
something good happens to me, I know his joy will be genuine. I want you
to know that what we have is magical and doesn’t happen to everyone.
More importantly, I want you to know that I know that and appreciate
what I have every moment of every day.
First of a bunch of layouts I made using the Cosmo Cricket line they
sent to wonderful AMM.
Journaling Reads:
The week I met your Dad, he did something amazing. He was on the phone
with his own father and at the end of the conversation, he said, “I love
you, Dad.” I remember thinking, at the time, that there was something
special about him.
Not all men are good at showing their emotions. Many men don’t hug their
kids, especially their sons. Many men believe it’s a sign of weakness.
This must be a sore point for me because I always feel good when I see
men with their sons.
Not that I was ever worried about your Dad, but watching the two of you
play and bond and laugh and horse around fills me with joy. Watching
your Dad hug you, seeing how much you love him, and how neither of you
feels shy about showing it, makes my day.
Little boy, I hope you always stay that way. I hope you always lean on
your dad, show him your love, hold his hand, hug him tight, and tell him
you love him.
Remember this: Men who can show emotion are far superior to those who
stifle it.
Another layout I made using the Cosmo Cricket line they sent to
wonderful AMM.
I am so glad I captured these wonderful photos while my family is here.
First of a bunch of layouts I made using the Cosmo Cricket line they
sent to wonderful AMM.
This didn’t turn out the way I liked. I had all these Halloween photos
and didn’t really want to give them up. So I double-sided them and made
them minibooks on the LO so you could flip each side. It looks kinda
neat in person but looks so plain in the photos!
One of the biggest challenges of work in general is balancing the work,
the deadlines, and the politics. One of the main reasons I quit Wall
Street was the fact that I wanted to spend my time doing something
worthwhile. Until last year, I could easily say that my changes were
such. I did Teach For America and regardless of how it turned out, it
was definitely a worthwhile way to spend my life. After TFA, I worked
for home and did something small and not too relevant but I was still
supporting two worthwhile causes: my husband’s business and growing our
family by one magical person.
Then, last year, I changed course and went back to work. Full time.
Albeit, it wasn’t Wall Street but still, I often wonder if I am still
pursuing the original goal of living a more purposeful life. What I
realized today was that if I put aside politics and the need to move
ahead or be recognized, I can easily make my life purposeful and
regularly try to do the right thing. Which will in return make my life
more purposeful and make me feel more proud of myself.
Politics, to me, is the worst side of any company, even for a nonprofit.
Good people, doing the right thing, should be rewarded. Period. If this
were consistently the case, the only goal people had would be to do the
right thing. However, often times, it’s much more about who you are, who
you know, etc. And I have so little interest in being part of that game.
I don’t know what that means for my future in the corporate world, but I
know that now that I’ve found a way to make my life purposeful again, no
one is taking it away from me.
Get excited!
Back when I read Now,
Discover Your Strengths, the one idea that stuck with me was that
working with one’s strengths is a faster road to success than fixating
on your weaknesses. Not only do I agree with that sentiment, but I also
think it applies when dealing with others.
Instead of trying to make other people different than what they are or
getting frustrated by their weaknesses, I think it’s best to concentrate
on their strengths and to work with what you have. Even in the personal
context. You get one Mom and one Dad. Learn to work with what you have,
find a way to make it work for you.
I think if we all spent our energy on optimizing our strengths, while
slowly but steadily improving our weaknesses and learned to take people
as they are and work with them, life would be considerably easier. Often
times, people disappoint us so much more because of our expectations of
them as opposed to anything they actually do.
Imagine if we stopped expecting and just took what we got.
I guess I’m going to have to cheat tonight since I’ve had a wonderful,
but long day. I need to go to sleep and give my brain a much-needed
break. So here’s the photo of the very first pumpkin I’ve ever carved.
As an interesting side bit, while I was carving this, we had the first
earthquake I’ve felt since moving to San Fran area.
So David’s finally begun to talk. A lot. He’s funny. Today he even
responded when someone asked his name. He then told me “You Mommy, I
David.” This is big progress for us. I am so glad to see it happening.
And he’s so very entertaining, it’s amazing to watch. You can’t help but
get caught up in it.
He truly is the best thing I ever did.
It’s interesting how life works out where a small, tiny thing can
completely turn my day/week/life around. An inkling of something good is
all I need for all aspects of my life to get affected by that. And it
goes both ways, so it works for an idea of something bad too. It colors
everything else I do and everything I feel. It even colors how I feel
about future possibilities.
This reminds me about the dual
self post I had made a long time ago. I think I am now feeling my
centered and happy self. I feel like I am at my best. There’s still a
tiny nag deep within, the part that won’t let go but I’ve been kicking
it regularly and telling it to fuck off.
The best part is, I am happier at home, nicer to Jake, more patient with
David, more relaxed about my other commitments, just in general more
pleasant to be around. Which then makes the people around me happier and
then they go home and affect the people in their lives. And next thing
you know, it’s a snowball effect.
And all it takes is a tiny idea. A change in perception. A change in
perspective. The possibility of a good thing and not the promise or
guarantee of one. I think that’s phenomenal. A tiny stirring in one
person results in tons of happier people.
If that’s not magic, I don’t know what is.
Today was a really good day. Really good.
It reminded me why I am here to begin with and what I was thinking when
I decided to leave my little boy and go back to work full-time.
Sometimes it’s good to remember these things and remember why you did
what you did and keep a record of them. So when the days are like
yesterday, I can come back and read this post and feel good. And
remember that there were days like this one.
I can feel the beginning of something big here. And I hope, hope, hope
that I am not wrong.
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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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