Some January projects…

Well, we’ve made it 1/12th of the way through the year…doesn’t it sound like a lot when you put it that way?!  The month has been pretty busy as usual and I’ve been at work on several projects over here.

On and off for the last several years, I’ve set an intention for the year through choosing a word as kind of a touchstone of sorts.  I have never been one for resolutions, recognizing many of them never make it past mid-month but a word has been something I could get behind… My words have been:  Prosper, Brave,  Passion (twice) and Complete, and this year

Forward

A few of the years I have participated in Ali Edwards workshop called One Little Word. Ali didn’t come up with the idea of a guiding word but she has developed a year long workshop with monthly prompts to help remind you of your word and to Make It Visible. You can learn more about her take on the project here on her site. I’ve signed on the the fun this year as it’s going to be a big year around here and I’m excited to see what the next season moving FORWARD is going to look like. I am also participating in a year long workshop called Fit which is an offering from Cathy Zielske who keeps it very very real, you can read more about that here. Seriously, sometimes I feel like Cathy and I could be best buds…we have sooooo much in common right now. I am formulating a number of goals around what Fit means, and I find the community around this workshop very helpful and inspiring.

Of course there is documenting off all this involved and this year I’m combining both efforts into one 6×8 album that I am going to just dip in and out of during the month as I work on various prompts and ideas. I’ve finished up my work for January (go me!) so I thought I’d share a very crummy video overview of my book so far… definitely can put learn better videography skills on the list ha ha…just keeping it real!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyzmGrMKJgQ&feature=youtu.be

So for some reason, I can’t embed a video here but if you click on the link above, it will take you to the You Tube Channel where I posted my video… WordPress changed up some things so it’s all about learning the new editor! Thanks for stopping by and let me know what you’re working on!

Goals for 2014 …. the lists

Goals for 2014

IMG_3948Oh boy is there a lot of stuff I want to accomplish this year!  Holy Moly Guacamole… But it’s a good thing I love lists, I live by my list that I make for the week, lists for shopping, errands, to-do, books to read…you name it, I have a list for it.   So I thought I’d start the year by making a List of the Lists for 2014 and break it down into manageable parts. I may even post this to a separate section on the blog here so I can keep track and cross things off as I go. We’ll see…the important part for me is to get the process started and add to it as I go along.

IMG_4129General Thoughts

-Start working on ‘life list’ – I resisted this for a very long time for a variety of reasons but I am now coming around to the idea that making a list doesn’t mean it’s the last life list I”ll ever make (far from it if history is any indication) but there is a power in words and in writing things down and I”m seeking to manifest that for the good

-Family Time-We have a good time playing games together and doing projects together, I’d like to do more of that in 2014, even if it’s just a movie night!

-Date night- we’ve never really formally had a standing date night but this year may be the year to start, it’s nice to spend a little time just us, without the kids…it’s a pre-cursor to what it will be like around here in 6 years when the girls are off to (*gasp) college.

IMG_1949Adventures & Travel – I’d like to travel more this year, even if it’s just locally to see things we just have not gotten around to seeing  (soccer, basketball, and social obligations not withstanding!) The girls are at a great age to do things with and are terrific travelers.  Even things as simple as going to the ICA with my girlfriends (or dragging my family there on mother’s day) qualifies as an adventure in my book!

-Getting the gang back together for Homecoming 2014 at Syracuse….I had an awesome time last year and want to go back again with my sisters from the class of 2014. Going to put that in the works as soon as the dates are announced!

-Connecting with some of my like minded kindreds who I’ve become very close with through the “Be Present” retreats.  I visited my friend Kimberly last month and we had a blast…. scheming to get a group of us together this year.

-Family vacation…we don’t take a big vacation every year but would like to maybe do some smaller get-aways this year, we’ll see…I’m sure we will spend some time on the ‘Cape with Charlie’s family this summer which will be fun in the sun!

IMG_2799Homekeeping…

-Being that my chief position these days is “Domestic Goddess” (yes, that is what it says on my tax return), this year I want to keep adding to my routines that work and re-evaluate what doesn’t and simplify as much as possible.  This also includes my position as the “Queen of Finance” and re-evaluating how I handle our day to day finances and make sure we are doing what needs to be done.

-Make a list of projects we are going to tackle (or have tackled) this year and make them happen.  We are fortunate that this house has not required quite as much intensive hands-on work as our previous home but as always, there is always much to do!

IMG_1248Family History

-Continue to work on the family photo archives from all branches of the family, organizing, scanning, printing and getting things annotated and in albums for people to enjoy

IMG_0100Memory keeping

-Finish the online classes I have started and abandoned OR not even started at all

-Make progress on the girls school albums starting from last year and working backwards, also tucking away things from this year that have already been delegated to go “in the book mama”

-Continue with a fourth year of Project Life documentation…although I suppose we should call it “Project CSLG” around here

-Map out other album projects I’ve been thinking about

-Switch out old post bound albums for new ring binder albums and possibly re-arrange the pages…still thinking about that

IMG_2142Fiber Arts & Sewing

-I want to get back to my roots so to speak and really start some serious sewing, I did a number of projects in 2013 but I want to up my game in 2014

-Play … whatever form that takes

Professional 

-There are a number of different professional options/ideas I’ve been tossing around the last two years and I have to say, dithering about which one is the best path to take has just meant nothing has gotten done, this year I”m going to pick one and pursue it and if it works out, great!  If not, on to the next one.  Onward.

IMG_3014Connection and Personal / Creative Growth (the big journey)

-These have been something I’ve been working on the last few years a little at a time and I’m really excited to see where this takes me in 2014!

The scary thing is that this is just a few off-the-top-of-my-head ideas, the more I type, the more I think of so must. stop. now 😉

OK now…. GO !