Our next stop in Barcelona was at he climbing gym.
The boys climbed while I read.
it was fun to see them in action.
i wanted more Gaudi but the boys were done so they kindly let me do this one on my own.
the inside of this house is breathtaking.
all the glass and light.
all the color.
i loved the blue.
i can’t even imagine living in this house.
i took thousands of photos.
 loved the tiles.
this is the roof.
and one more on my way down.
the boys waited next door and had some juice + chocolate.
so here’s part two of our adventures in Barcelona. more next time 🙂
Stories from 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018here.
Weekly Intention: Ok now we’re down to the last two weeks before a big event at work. These two weeks will be stressful but also really rewarding. My intention is to be really grounded. To do my exercise, eat well, and sleep. I haven’t slept enough in two weeks, I plan to fix that. I really appreciate routine even more during these weeks. I’d like to journal/meditate and practice extra gratitude this week. Let’s bring it on.
This month’s intention is: Love Strong: This month is hard. There are transitions, new schedules and more. Use this month to think about what it would look like to love more. Love yourself more: more self-care and kindness. What boundaries can help you? Love Jake more: what’s something you can do for the two of you? Love your kids more: How can you help them with the transition? ok i would like to do more here. i am going to journal a bit this week on this.
One way I will stretch this week: I am going to try to add the running back in, let’s see if i can do it.
One boundary I will set this week: i will cook at night.
This week, I will focus on pleasing: work. i want to get this right.
One new thing I will learn this week: how to put this offsite together.
One area where I will go deeper this week: 8th grade curriculum for my son. and i have some fun classes too.
What do I need to sit with this week? how to go through the next 3 weeks with grace and joy.
I am looking forward to: the 8th grade tea, i love being at my kids’ school.
This week’s challenges: balancing life depending on how stressful work is.
Top Goals:
- Work: october, planning, december. those are my goals.
- Personal: run for 30 mins 3 times this week, four body pumps, refocus on good nutrition, meditate, journal, art+scrap, stretch, evening routine as much as possible
- Family: cook for jake, help kids with school+routine, figure out plans for the rest of 2018 and some of 2019.
I will focus on my values:
- Love: love and care and grace for my family.
- Learn: how to truly incorporate the running.
- Peace: peace with the churn at work.
- Service: to martha.
- Gratitude: for how good all this is.
This week, I want to remember: this is a marathon and i need to pace myself.
Stronger Than Before is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018 here.
How I got Stronger this week: We started our week with a quick little getaway just the two of us. And then I also took Tuesday off and spent the whole day with my lovely friend Kelly, then I took all of Wednesday off and spent it with my wonderful husband. Thursday and Friday I worked hard. It was a good week despite feeling a bit more stressful than I would have liked. I showed up, I did my best, I tried to support everyone. I am calling it a win.
Top Goals Review:
- Work:
- Work: did one more turn of the crank for october but we need so many more. took two days off. woohoo.
- Personal: i didn’t do any running this week at all. but i did three body pumps and my hiit class. i did’t meditate or journal. i did some lovely scrapping and that was it for the week.
- Family: i cooked very little this week, need to get back on track here. did help the kids. and did celebrate jake.
I celebrate: our weekend away.
I am grateful for: another year around the sun. i am so so grateful to be here, with these people in my life.
Karen’s Points: 3 body pumps, one hiit this week. reasonable with nutrition but not perfect. it was ok.
A Change I embraced: a lot of off time this week which was lovely but messed up all my routines of course.
I let go of: as much as i could.
Core Desired Feelings Check-in:
- Fresh: the getaway, our day in the city, having some time off was all fresh
- Magical: my weekend, my day with kelly and my day with jake were all truly magical
- Lighter: i feel lighter now that i’ve worked a bunch to catch up
- True: my life is still feeling off kilter and there’s a lot more to come in the rest of september and october. i would like to find ways to center myself.
Where I chose Joy: my wonderful birthday.
I showed up for: my life this week with all the different layers of it.
A Mistake I made this week: i spin a bit more than i’d like. i’d like to be calmer, more centered, talk slower 🙂
What I tolerated this week: lack of routine.
My mood this week was: grateful.
I forgive myself for: how hard some of this is for me. i am learning to embrace myself.
What I love right now: that i can still sit outside in my backyard.
Weekly Reflection is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018 here.
and finally the last week of summer.
i love seeing all the ephemeral bits of our lives.
l added lots of family photos this week.
Moments from this Week 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018 here.
      A bunch of reading this week.
Sweet Little Lies was okay. It didn’t blow me away but I was interested enough to keep going.
Where the Crawdads Sing might be my new favorite of 2018 so far. I love love loved this book.
I kept wanting to put down Inappropriation because it just didn’t feel like my type of novel but i kept going because the satire was so over the top.
Nothing Good Can Come from This was okay in some parts and meh in others. I’ve never been a drinker so maybe this is more about me and not the author.
I’d put off A Place for Us several times so I finally tackled it and it was decidedly a meh.
Then I picked up The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo which I also had put off forever. It was much better than I’d expected but too long imho.
I can’t say it was a bad week because I read one of my favorite 2018 books this week! 🙂
Books I Read this Week 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018 here.
Weekly Intention: This is my birthday week and I will be honest, I need some rest after last week. My only goal this week is to go back to taking care of myself. Exercising, eating well, sleeping a lot. I really need the reset.
This month’s intention is: Love Strong: This month is hard. There are transitions, new schedules and more. Use this month to think about what it would look like to love more. Love yourself more: more self-care and kindness. What boundaries can help you? Love Jake more: what’s something you can do for the two of you? Love your kids more: How can you help them with the transition? Oh this is lovely. I am working on it!!
One way I will stretch this week: The major project for October is stretching me plenty.
One boundary I will set this week: i will guard my exercise and sleep like a hawk.
This week, I will focus on pleasing: my husband. and me.
One new thing I will learn this week: perspective.
One area where I will go deeper this week: the curriculum for 4th grade.
What do I need to sit with this week? how to get back to feeling better.
I am looking forward to: back to school night. my birthday. having a day off.
This week’s challenges: just getting back on track.
Top Goals:
- Work: do one more turn of the crank for october. take day off.
- Personal: run for 30 mins 3 times this week, three body pumps, one hiit, refocus on good nutrition, meditate, journal, art+scrap, stretch, evening routine as much as possible
- Family: cook for jake+celebrate Jake, help kids with school+routine
I will focus on my values:
- Love: love and care and grace for me.
- Learn: how to get back on track.
- Peace: peace with having to reset.
- Service: to myself.
- Gratitude: for everyone who’s being patient with me.
This week, I want to remember: that it’s all going to be ok.
Stronger Than Before is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018 here.
How I got Stronger this week: This was a super tough week, I dropped the ball on a lot and just did the bare minimum. I felt (still feel) exhausted and spent and just overwhelmed much of this week. My head was (and is still) throbbing much of the week and I slept too little and exercised too little all week. I also ate poorly. so net net i’d say this wasn’t a week i particularly got stronger.
Top Goals Review:
- Work: didn’t really do .a full turn of the crank but i was present.
- Personal: only ran once and was for 1.5 miles. did one body pump. no thing else.
- Family: didn’t cook for jake, celebrated a little, helped kids with school+routine a little.
I celebrate: i celebrate a successful summit.
I am grateful for: a little quick getaway with jake.
Karen’s Points: i only did 1 short run and one body pump this week.
A Change I embraced: offsite all week really messed up my routines.
I let go of: everything this week, i am in so much pain.
Core Desired Feelings Check-in:
- Fresh: the offiste while a lot of work was great
- Magical: back to school night is always magical for me.
- Lighter: i feel lighter now that one offsite is done.
- True: it was a terrible idea to drop everything this week but i couldn’t see another way forward.
Where I chose Joy: i was really present even though i had so much pain.
I showed up for: my team.
A Mistake I made this week: i jump the gun a bit too soon. i need to be more patient.
What I tolerated this week: pain.
My mood this week was: in pain.
I forgive myself for: dropping the ball on my personal goals.
What I love right now: not very much at this moment.
Weekly Reflection is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018 here.
this week is a mish mosh of last weeks of summer.
camps, backyard adventures, work, and family 🙂
love looking at these so much.
Moments from this Week 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018 here.
       A bunch of reading this week.
The Last Watchman of Old Cairo was not bad but it didn’t grip me and I just don’t always have the patience for historical novels so they have to be really good for me to like them.
I knew The Shortest Way Home would be a super light and easy read and it was okay but I don’t have the patience for those either especially since I can tell you exactly how they will end at this point, having read so many many books.
I put off reading The House of Broken Angels quite a few times but I finally buckled down and read it and I am glad I did. It was interesting and funny at times, and pithy and sad at other times.
His Favorites was a super short read and really sad for me in how matter-of-factly this terrible story was told. Because it was all how things worked I guess, but it’s still pretty sad.
The next book was going to be my 200th so I decided to read something I knew I would love. I’d read The Tao of Pooh many many years ago and I knew I’d love it so I spent a night rereading it.
Then I picked up Unhinged which didn’t turn out to be as badly written as I thought it would be. It wasn’t life changing or anything. I am not sad I read it but it wasn’t the very best use of my time.
I then moved on to Snap which is a Man Booker long listed mystery. It wasn’t awful. I like when mysteries focus on character and not just plot and this one did but it also wasn’t fantastic.
Net net it was a so-so week. I am so looking forward to October (I know we’re just barely in September.) because it’s going to be an awesome book month. Murakami, Brene, and Lamott together in one month!
Books I Read this Week 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018 here.
After Girona, we drove to Barcelona and quickly realized that we didn’t really want a car in Barcelona so we returned our rental the next morning. Our first trip was to Park Güell. I read on the net that you didn’t need to buy the tickets to the special paid part to see all the Gaudi stuff, which was completely untrue. So that night we bought tickets and went back the next morning. I took hundreds of photos at this tiny section of the park. I will not torture you with all of them but I find Gaudi’s work to be magnificent.
The mosaics are just so so breathtaking.
and the shapes he uses are so curvy and organic.
vines.
doesn’t that take your breath away?
this lizard is quite famous.
i tried not to go overboard but I couldn’t help myself.
i just loved all of his stuff.
i mean look at this house!
and this!
 even the bathrooms were pretty!
We spent a long, long time walking around before it was ok to move on. 
so here’s part one of our adventures in Barcelona. more next time 🙂
Stories from 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018here.
Weekly Intention: This is a crazy week. I feel like I say that often. So today there’s no work or school(yay!) But then tomorrow midday I have a work social event which doesn’t get me home till 6:30pm or so. Wednesday’s even longer with getting home around 8 and it’s Jake’s birthday!! Poor Jake has to pickup the kids from a cross country meet on his birthday. And then Thursday is still my offsite which ends around 3 and I have to run back home to run to the kids’ school for back to school night. Friday I get to go to work for a little bit and then my inlaws come so that Jake and I can go away for the weekend (not really far away but we will not be at home so we can spend time just the two of us during the weekend between his and my birthday.) So a lot going on. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday will be really long, Friday will involve chaos and driving, and while the weekend will be awesome, I usually do a lot of work over the weekend and I will not be able to which will make next week a bit challenging (especially since I plan to take a few days off next week, too.) We’ll see how it all unfolds. On the upside every one of the individual things makes me happy so I will enjoy everything while I experience it and not worry about the next thing before it’s here. LEt’s see how well I can do being present in this moment.
This month’s intention is: Love Strong: This month is hard. There are transitions, new schedules and more. Use this month to think about what it would look like to love more. Love yourself more: more self-care and kindness. What boundaries can help you? Love Jake more: what’s something you can do for the two of you? Love your kids more: How can you help them with the transition? Oh this is lovely. This weekend is something I can do for the two of us and I will be thinking about the other questions, too. I love how serendipitous these feel!
One way I will stretch this week: I am hoping the offsite will stretch me, and possibly the hiking will too because it usually hurts my back :/
One boundary I will set this week: when I am with Jake I will focus 100% on jake.
This week, I will focus on pleasing: my husband. it’s his birthday week!!
One new thing I will learn this week: how to make these offsites even better.
One area where I will go deeper this week: the curriculum for 8th grade.
What do I need to sit with this week? the chaos i know that will ensue when my colleague is back.
I am looking forward to: our weekend together. being by the water.
This week’s challenges: tuesday’s hike. honoring jake on his actual birthday, 3 really long days, transitioning to leaving the kids behind. not getting work done on the weekend.
Top Goals:
- Work: do one more turn of the crank for october. be present.
- Personal: run for 30 mins 3 times this week (maybe sun, mon, fri), one body pump, one hiit, refocus on good nutrition, meditate, journal, art+scrap, stretch, evening routine as much as possible
- Family: cook for jake+celebrate Jake, help kids with school+routine
I will focus on my values:
- Love: love for my one and only husband!
- Learn: i want to focus here to be on eating better this week. i did quite poorly last week.
- Peace: peace with the long days
- Service: to my team, to school, and mostly to JAKE! 🙂
- Gratitude: my inlaws who flew here so we could have this time for ourselves.
This week, I want to remember: that i am super lucky and there are so many things to celebrate in all areas of my life!
Stronger Than Before is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018 here.
How I got Stronger this week: I knew transition week would be hard and it was. Not as hard as I made it in my head, of course, But I gave myself a lot of grace this week while still doing the nonnegotiables and I think that helped a lot. I didn’t want to eat well or exercise this week and yet I tried and I showed up. I am putting this week in the win column.
Top Goals Review:
- Work: focused on september and october offsites as much as possible, closed out strat sessions.
- Personal: finished couch 2 5K woohoo!, did body pump, did hiit, so-so on the nutrition, meditated only once, journaled only once, too, scrapped but did only one art. didn’t do so well on the stretching or evening routine.
- Family: cooked for jake only a handful of times this week, worked on adjusting to school with the kids.
I celebrate: i celebrate the first week of school in the books!
I am grateful for: using the alternate bus stop in the mornings, it’s been a game changer.
Karen’s Points: I did couch 2 5K all 3 days this week which meant I finished the program, I am super proud of that. I also did 3 Body Pump classes and one HIIT class. I journaled and meditated only one of the days and I scrapped. Not perfect but pretty good for how chaotic this week was.
A Change I embraced: school!
I let go of: getting art done with our new schedule. Some days I let go of everything just to get some rest in there.
Core Desired Feelings Check-in:
- Fresh: it was wonderful being at school on Monday and hearing all the inspiring talks
- Magical: i have a 4th and 8th grader now and they both seem happy at school, how can that not be magical?
- Lighter: i feel lighter now that we’re transitioning into the new routine instead of me thinking about it nonstop
- True: i’ve been journaling less and i can definitely see the impact (in a negative way.)
Where I chose Joy: i went to school on the first day and my friend kelly was there too, and it made my whole week!
I showed up for: my friend, my colleague who’s traveling, my kids.
A Mistake I made this week: i made a bunch of small mistakes this week. sometimes jumping the gun too soon.
What I tolerated this week: ambiguity.
My mood this week was: exhausted.
I forgive myself for: not getting it all done.
What I love right now: that the kids are happy at school.
Weekly Reflection is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018 here.
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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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