Even though I’m a tulip person I still am awed by a beautiful rose.
It was good to be back into my routine today. Felt right. I tried not to rush through it. Towards the end of the day, it got a bit more hectic than I’d like but overall, it felt good.
I know it’s far from perfect technically and it’s even a bit blurry but what struck me about this photo was how much Nathaniel looks like David in this photo. His face is wider and his eyes bluer. Looks so much like David at that age.
Note to Self:
This is going to sound a bit cryptic and I apologize in advance. But here’s something I learned today: it’s better to join/apply for/try out for something only if I really really want it. And in that case I have to give it 150% of what I have. After that, I might still not get it, but that’s OK. What’s not okay is to try just for the sake of trying. And to try without giving it all I have. Because then, when I don’t get it, it makes me sad when I didn’t necessarily want it in the first place and I also wonder if I didn’t get it cause I didn’t try hard enough.
This applies to all areas of my life, work, personal, friendships, relationships. I need to be more mindful about what I want. Why I want. Create a path to getting it and see if I want to travel that path. If the path is appealing and worth the trouble to get to the destination, then I start walking down it. More mindfully. I do it because I decided I want it. Not cause everyone else is doing it. Not cause it would be cool to have it. Not cause “why not.” It’s not a “why not” it’s a “why so.”
Life is too short and I need to live it more mindfully.
Three things I’m grateful for today:
1. I had the opportunity to help someone whom I believe in today. I am thankful that I had a skill to offer. I am thankful that the person accepted my help (not everyone does). I am thankful for the opportunity to get to feel the joy that comes from having done something nice for someone else without expecting anything in return.
2. I am thankful to be back to our routine. Driving David to school, listening to books on the way, baby napping while I work and coffee with Graham Crackers. These things make me happy. Grateful for my perfectly ordinary life.
3. Grateful for todo lists. I have a lot of little tasks here and there that are piling up and I am thankful for Evernote that keeps all my todo lists in one place and makes sure I don’t drop the ball too much. (Still really behind on email but that’s for another day.)
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.
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!
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.
Today started our badly. I woke up at 3am cause Nathaniel refused to go to sleep after having eaten just a few hours prior. After a while of his wailing, I just gave up, nursed him again and thankfully we both passed out in our own beds. When I woke up, David had already taken his pullup off and put it outside (which he does every morning) but because something is wrong with our back door, it wouldn’t close. So he left it for me to do. And I couldn’t either. So I had to call an emergency line and they came an hour later to close it (not fix it. that won’t happen until after the holidays). While I am thankful that it’s now locked, I am annoyed that I can’t use it until January who knows when. I use this door 16 times a day. What crap.
Since I got so little sleep, I was in a total daze all day, even after two coffees. So finally, in the afternoon, I told David we should go take a walk. We all got bundled up and went out.
Since we were going to walk for about 20 mins, I got the dinky stroller we use for such occasions. I was worried Nathaniel might be too small for it, but it worked out ok.
I tried taking several photos of Nathaniel along the way:
But he either made funny faces or sucked his thumb. But the big one smiled wonderfully.
And then played around.
And then once the kids were down, I wrote some code. It was a long, long day. Hope yours was well.
As the numbers of this month get higher, I get sadder and sadder. I don’t want this year to end yet. Not because it was the most magical year (though it did have some amazing moments) but because I am not ready for 2010 yet. I haven’t finished my 2009 tasks yet (still got three tags to make.) and I need to rest a bit, too. Can time stop for just a tiny bit?
Today I was in an inexplicably grouchy mood. I think it’s cause Nathaniel struggled with all of his naps and hence I didn’t get enough quiet time and when he was awake, he was super-cranky so that didn’t help either. Not that you can tell from the photo.
And David was subject to a lot of my random frustrations. Even though I made up for it a little bit at the end of the day, he spent a lot of today doing workbooks and watching movies and trying to play quietly (though not succeeding a lot.)
I did work on my December Daily tonight and have almost all the pages done. I find that towards the end of the month, I get tired and my table gets really messy which drives me crazy and it all goes a bit wonky. Oh well.
Today I feel wiped. Maybe the laziness begets laziness. I am not motivated to do anything. Ugh.
I played around with Nathaniel’s photo today just for fun.
David’s still playing with his Christmas presents. Today he made a house with the screws. It was fun to watch him.
I am off to read a little while the little one naps. I hope your holiday weekend is full of laughter and joy.
Today was full of entertaining David. Jake and he played cards, made a puzzle, made legos together and then we attempted to decorate the gingerbread houses we made but the attempt was aborted when David was much more interested in eating the M&Ms then putting them on the house.
When Nathaniel woke up David played with him for a while and just hugged him spontaneously. And I just grabbed my camera and snapped.
I love these boys and I love seeing them together.
And then everyone played with their Christmas presents. David played Spongebob Operation and then with his gears and Nathaniel ate his toys.
I spent most of my day relaxing and reading and writing blog posts. And I started a new book. Falling even more behind than usual but I don’t care. I need time to do nothing for a while.
Christmas in our house started last night when David got to open one present.
As it turned out, it was a science toy so, of course, we got to working on it immediately.
While Nathaniel hung out with Daddy and relaxed.
Then, everyone went to bed and Nathaniel decided today was to start at 4:00am which is when he began crying and would not stop. So after we all woke up, he fell right back asleep and slept all the way until 8:30.
While he slept, I set the table.
This year, I’d decided to make some pancakes. The recipe was from the Barefoot Contessa book I have and it’s baked pancakes. I had never tried them before and while they look a bit funny, they actually tasted quite good.
David got “full” immediately because he knew we’d open presents after breakfast. And as soon as he was allowed, he opened everything in his stocking and moved on to his presents.
Since Nathaniel showed no interest in opening his, David kindly opened all of Nathaniel’s presents, too.
Here’s a shot of our room right after all the presents were opened.
After all the present-opening was done, Jake fell into a deep sleep on the living room couch.
While the kids both played with their new toys.
And then while Nathaniel napped, we all watched Mary Poppins and then Jake and David made some of David’s new pirate legos while I relaxed and worked on some upcoming posts.
And we ended the day by making some royal icing and preparing our graham-cracker gingerbread houses so we can decorate them tomorrow.
Baths, nursing, stories, snuggling and the kids were both asleep by 6:30. Now it’s time for us to relax and enjoy the last few hours of Christmas Day.
I hope your day was full of delight and joy like ours. I feel very blessed today.
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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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