We didn’t go anywhere during the two-week Holiday break. We were home the whole time and everyone did a decent amount of work and a decent amount of relaxing. But there wasn’t much adventuring.
So when a three day weekend came up right after we got back, we decided it was time for adventure. The night before we left, we made a reservation at a lovely hotel in San Diego and pulled the kids from school a bit early (like 30 mins) to beat traffic.
We still didn’t get there until midnight on Friday but we had two full days before it was time to drive back.
We went to my favorite park: Torrey Pines State Reserve. And we went to our old neighborhood and to the beautiful La Jolla Shores beach and we smiled the whole time of course thinking of all of our memories from when we lived there.
I exercised every morning.
Here’s the view from our hotel room: not too shabby.
We even walked into an amazon store!!
All in all, it was a wonderful two days. So glad to start 2018 with some adventure.
Stories from 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018here.
Weekly Intention: This is a short week for the kids but a normal week for us. As it always is, the first part of the week will be tough and the second part a bit lighter. I have some pampering and some health scheduled. I am going for mani/pedi and to the dentist. We also have parent conferences. So it’s a full week. It’s also my last full week before I leave for Sydney the following mid-week. So I want to make sure to kiss/hug/be with my wonderful family extra hard this week. The intention this week is to love them harder.
This month’s intention is: Strong Silent Type: Your challenge this month is to speak less, listen more. How can you influence with fewer words. At work, at home, even in your own head. Pause one more beat before replying. Mute the VC. Wait six seconds. Do what it takes to give this a try. I think this is a perfect way to start the year. There is a lot I have to get done this month and I like the challenge of learning how to do it more quietly. Can I influence with fewer words?
One way I will stretch this week: I will have some interesting discussions at work on Monday which will require me to broaden my thinking and perspective.
One boundary I will set this week: This week I’ll be guarding family time, especially since I will be away.
This week, I will focus on pleasing: alas Nathaniel didn’t get his turn last week so we’ll give it one more shot.
One new thing I will learn this week: Hmm i didn’t do the hand roller learning either 🙁 but i think what i want to learn this week about is chocolate actually. as i ease off the whole 30 in two weeks i want to see what chocolate i can eat that will be best for insulin moderation.
One area where I will go deeper this week: i did some of the process work last week but i am so not done. Depth this week might come from a work meeting I have on monday. And if not, I think it might be a bit about planning life after January. Art, nutrition, exercise, points, plans, schedule in February.
What do I need to sit with this week? i need to sit with the truth that whole30 doesn’t seem to have been super impactful on me. still tired. better on cravings but really not feeling the energy boost. so what do i do now?
I am looking forward to: my mani/pedi, just because it will be a nice, quiet time.
This week’s challenges: getting through all my email and todo list.
Top Goals:
- Work: do the spreadsheets. get the presos into cycle.
- Personal: keep going with the routine. make plans for Feb.
- Family: find a class for Nathaniel. spend a lot of time with boys+Jake.
I will focus on my values:
- Love: repeat since i didn’t do this: i will make a list of my friends and see if i can sprinkle them into my life more.
- Learn: i need to step back a bit and learn what schedule is best for me now. this will take some time.
- Peace: peace with just one more full week of whole30.
- Service: this week’s service is going to focus on nathaniel. he’s been neglected for a while.
- Gratitude: for being home, for being together. for loving my people like mad.
This week, I want to remember: that i don’t have to decide quickly. it’s ok to think and take time to consider.
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 exercised every day this week and went to two body pump classes. I exercised every day on vacation. I stretched, and rolled and did some form of self-care, too. And still going on the Whole 30 and no caffeine. I do plan to restart sugar and caffeine in February but this is part of starting the year well for me. I also spent a lot of time connecting this week with my friends. Strengthening those bonds. I went on a date night with my husband. At work, I made progress but still paced myself and didn’t let work take over connection, exercise, family, or alone time. I drove 6 hours of the 8 hour trip back from San Diego (which would have been unfathomable just a few years ago.)
Top Goals Review: working on the spreadsheets. okrs are close to done. keeping going with my personal routine. didn’t find a class for Nathaniel but will look this week.
I celebrate: our vacation again this week it was wonderful.
I am grateful for: our date night. we went to see The Shape of Water which was magical.
Karen’s Points: I got full points everyday and I’ve been making a concerted effort to keep up with everything. Some of it is getting repetitive but I am sticking with it for now.
A Change I embraced: I had to figure out how to make exercise and vacation work. But I did. (And whole30, too!)
I let go of: getting work done over the 3-day weekend. i let myself enjoy vacation.
Core Desired Feelings Check-in:
- Fresh: trying to have a fresh perspective on vacation and what it means and what needs to be a part of it (togetherness) and wha doesn’t (bad food.)
- Magical: This week’s magical moment is date night with my husband.
- Lighter: a short week is wonderful, especially when monday is the off day.
- True: i’ve stayed true to my goals and honored my values this week on vacation.
Where I chose Joy: I chose to spend more time with connecting this week and work piled up a bit but there’s always a lot of work so i chose joy.
I showed up for: my friend and my son this week.
A Mistake I made this week: I was rushing out the door this week so when one of the managers was trying to tell me something, I made a quick thank you remark and dashed off. I missed an opportunity to have a deeper conversation and possibly came off as rude. I did apologize but the conversation opportunity was still missed.
What I tolerated this week: piling email. i have way way too many now.
My mood this week was: rested after vacation. grateful and still taking it slow.
I forgive myself for: yelling very badly when david lost his phone (which was not lost but on the school bus.). i need to get better at this but in the meantime i need to give myself some (a lot of) grace.
What I love right now: I love how I mostly feel calmer than usual. Mostly.
Weekly Reflection is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018 here.
Here’s this week’s page. It will take me a few weeks to get into the rythym of the new year to I expect a few layouts with not a lot of text, I’m also not fully in the groove of taking photos yet. But it will come. It will all come.
i also have Nathaniel’s school letter this week and i love keeping these. Sometimes I put just the paper but this time I put the envelope with the letter.
And there you go. Week 1 of 2018.
Moments from this Week 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018 here.
    I read four books this week and none of them were amazing.
I picked up The Woman in the Window because nothing on my pile was inspiring me but I should have known better. I am just not into these types of books and I should quit reading them, it’s like I won’t learn.
I read Fire and Fury fast because I didn’t want to read on this topic for a long time. I didn’t think there was anything particularly eye opening in it and net net it was meh.
I tried reading Bernstein before and I have never been successful but Judgement Detox felt like a good topic. I’d say I am not super judgmental but I figured there’s always things I can learn about being more open minded, judging even less, etc. In the end, I think this book was halfway interesting. Her approach to life is just possibly too different than mine (at least in this moment in time) so her words don’t really resonate with me.
I’d had Secret Thoughts of Successful Women on my list a few times so I finally read it. It’s mostly about Impostor Syndrome and this, too, was way way way too long for what it was. I could have read a long, interesting article and it would have been much better.
Here’s to better books next week.
Books I Read this Week 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018 here.
One of my goals for this month has been trying to take things up a notch when working on Nourishing myself. Part of that has been exercise, part of it has been nutrition and then part of it has been kindness to my body like taking care of my skin, flossing, sleeping enough etc.
But then another component was self-care. I wrote that I’d get one bonus point for a Self-Care item. When I wrote that down, I didn’t have a lot of ideas about what that could be, so I made a list for myself. Here’s what I had there:
- face mask
- soaking my feet
- bubble bath
- essential oils
- mani/pedicure
- getting my hair done
- connecting with friends
- massage
- meditate
- nap
So that’s my list. But I would like to expand this list a lot more. I would like to end up with 30 items so I have something different to pick each day and some days I might want to do several to pamper myself. I also want to understand what self-care means to me. Many of these are taking care of my body more but what about my soul and my mind, how do I practice self-care on those? Obviously journaling and art help. And meditation can serve both, but I still want to find others.
That’s what’s on my mind this week. I’d love to hear your ideas if you have some.
On My Mind is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018 here.
I’ve been following Melissa Hartwig on Instagram for a while and I’ve recently read the Food Freedom Forever book, so the idea of doing a Whole30 has been nagging at me for a while. I’ve looked into the Whole30 before and decided it wasn’t my cup of tea for a multitude of reasons but this time I felt like I could do it.
So since January 1, I’ve been doing the Whole30. I’ve also quit caffeine just to make it more fun.
I am traveling to Sydney on January 31 so I figured that gives me exactly 30 days. The way the program works, you’re supposed to slowly introduce foods back after the 30th and see the impact they have on you, so we’ll see how much of that will be possible considering flights and international locations etc. but I am trying not to worry about that too much at the moment.
For now the plan is to keep going the 30 days and see how I feel. On the first two days, I had very strong headaches (likely due to no caffeine) but since then it’s been okay. I don’t find it to be super hard. Unfortunately the cafeteria at work cooks the morning eggs with rice bran oil so I can’t have it, which is a bummer. Other than that, I haven’t had a lot of hiccups. I’ll be on vacation for a weekend so we’ll see how it goes but I have faith that I can keep this going at this point (hopefully I won’t be wrong.)
I miss the coffee the most I think. Mostly for the ritual of it. And chocolate though I’ll say I haven’t craved it. When the kids toast bread, the smell triggers a bit but I don’t miss toast at all. If I cooked it would be a lot easier to have variety but I don’t so I end up making a batch of veggies, chicken and steak and then eat some variety of avocado, veggies, egg/meat for each meal. That makes for a lot of avocados in a day so I do need to curb that a bit.
So far, I don’t have huge benefits. My skin is a bit better, but that’s about it. I’ll report back at the end of the month. If you’ve done a Whole30 and have advice, I’d always love it.
Stories from 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018here.
Weekly Intention: This is a short week. Only four days of work and two of those are lighter. I have a really long and tough Wednesday but otherwise it’s not terrible. My intention this week is to try to soften into the week. Be just a little bit kinder, be just a little bit calmer, not to jump in or interrupt. Also calmer and more patient with my folk at home and with myself, too.
This month’s intention is: Strong Silent Type: Your challenge this month is to speak less, listen more. How can you influence with fewer words. At work, at home, even in your own head. Pause one more beat before replying. Mute the VC. Wait six seconds. Do what it takes to give this a try. I think this is a perfect way to start the year. There is a lot I have to get done this month and I like the challenge of learning how to do it more quietly. Can I influence with fewer words?
One way I will stretch this week: My new client ended up being this week. Let’s see how I can stretch.
One boundary I will set this week: Since it’s a short week, it’s going to be easy for my bedtime to get sacrificed this week, so I will guard it heavily. Same with journaling.
This week, I will focus on pleasing: Maybe it’s Nathaniel’s turn this week, I’d like to spend a bit of extra time with him.
One new thing I will learn this week: I want to learn a bit about how to use the hand-roller this week. I tried to use it this past weekend and didn’t know how to do it right.
One area where I will go deeper this week: I did try working on the hint waters and the pineapple one is amazing! I’ve also had watermelon which is okay. This week’s depth will be getting all the process started for 2018. I’ve been putting it off (at work) and it’s time.
What do I need to sit with this week? I need to sit with all the not-enough feelings I have when it comes to my body and exercise and getting stronger. I have so many beliefs around all this. that I am not strong enough. that i am uncoordinated. that i can’t learn certain things. that i will never be able to do certain things. I need to sit with all of this and remember that they will be the exact reason why I don’t succeed.
I am looking forward to: seeing my friend jess this week, it’s been way way too long since we saw each other.
This week’s challenges: The biggest challenge will be the very long Wednesday. Also getting all the organizational work started. It’s always a lot of work up front.
Top Goals:
- Work: do the spreadsheets. get okrs done.
- Personal: keep going with the routine.
- Family: find a class for Nathaniel.
I will focus on my values:
- Love: Love for my friends this week. i will make a list of my friends and see if i can sprinkle them into my life more.
- Learn: this week is all about learning how to serve my new teams best.
- Peace: Peace during long work days and peace during exercise this week.
- Service: this week’s service is going to focus on nathaniel. he’s been neglected for a while.
- Gratitude: i think making sure i take photos of our special times together will be my gratitude this week.
This week, I want to remember: that I have a way of blowing things off proportion. always over-worrying. and thankfully, things, almost always, work out 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: I exercised every day this week and also went back to the gym at work and did three Body Pump classes even though I was feeling all sore after the first one. I woke up on Monday morning and it was pitch black, pouring rain, but I still did my short cardio, got dressed and drove in for my 7am class just to drive back home at 8am when it was done. I am so proud of myself. I created more boundaries with some of the volunteer work I do at the kids’ school this week. I also tried to show up for work but also for myself. I’ve been working hard on myself. But even at work, I am working on taking things less personally and panicking less in general.
Top Goals Review: ready for the meeting, went back to the gym and sent off david’s round one. woot!
I celebrate: our mini vacation
I am grateful for: a long weekend
Karen’s Points: I did well this week too. I got full points everyday and I’ve been making a concerted effort to keep up with everything.
A Change I embraced: I quit caffeine this month as well and that’s been challenging even with the tea since I usually drink black tea. I’ve been experimenting with several herbal teas, trying to find one that I like the most.
I let go of: working myself into a frenzy at work. I am trying to pace myself better.
Core Desired Feelings Check-in:
- Fresh: I am exploring what it looks like when I drop my assumptions at work and at home. I have so many things churning in my head at all times and I am trying to pay attention to the noise so I can work on clearing it a bit. It starts with paying attention.
- Magical: This week’s magical moment is beautiful Southern California. The sun, the ocean waves, and the palm trees. Makes me wonder why we ever left San Diego.
- Lighter: I will say that the vacation helps me feel lighter too. Just taking a bit of time off.
- True: I’ve been speaking up at work and trying to make sure I am honest with my perspective.
Where I chose Joy: I didn’t want to take a vacation, i am always happier at home. Or so I think. It’s not that I am happier at home, it’s that I am happy enough at home and inertia is always strong with me. So I chose joy by taking my family on vacation.
I showed up for: for Jake this week.
A Mistake I made this week: This is not unique to this week but I made it this week so I am going to document. When I feel like I am disappointing someone or letting them down, it really makes me trigger. So then I go on and on yelling or being upset because this other person put me in a position where I have to let them down. There are two major things here: if i don’t want to do it then this is part of boundary building and I have to teach myself that i am choosing to let this person down and i can apologize but i don’t need to get all wound up. It’s not about them, it’s about me. And secondly, I need to learn that I am going to let people down and it’s part of life. Ideally I’d do it as little as possible and less to people I love but even then it will happen. I don’t need to make it worse by yelling I can apologize and leave it at that and learn to get comfortable with the feeling of discomfort that will bring.
What I tolerated this week: a lot of non-work related meetings. i had clients and school meetings and it took away the little free time I had.
My mood this week was: i felt energized in the beginning of the week after I went to the gym.
I forgive myself for: reading less this week, there wasn’t enough time. also for being difficult.
What I love right now: I the waves hitting the beach, my favorite nature sound.
Weekly Reflection is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018 here.
Since I don’t have this week’s page yet, I thought it would be fun to show you some of my spreads from the last few months and show you how easy and versatile this project is.
On a good week, I put two photos and text for the day. This is my typical and ideal way of doing this project. Journaling and photos daily.
But some weeks are really rushed and I don’t get to the project until the end of the week. And sometimes I only have photos.
Sometimes I have a little extra text throughout the week and then mostly photos. I try to make sure to include our family photos each weekend. And then if I have extra weekend photos they might go on that week’s spread or the next.
I am not super worried about lining up the days exactly right. If the photo is from this or last week, it qualifies for any of the days unless it’s really important for me to remember that it was on a particular day.
And very rarely, I have so so many, that I have to add an extra page. I try not to overdo that because it will make my album very bulky.
Having said that I definitely add ephemera from the week. Nathaniel’s letters home, David’s infographic, they all make it into my book!
 
And there you go, some examples for you until I get the first week down. (This one will likely be high on photos and low on text!)
Moments from this Week 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018 here.
       
So I ended 2017 with 305 books, not bad.
I had Improvement on my library list and wasn’t sure I was going to like it but once I started reading it, I didn’t want to stop. So net-net good read, though not fantastic.
I’d checked out Britt-Marie Was Here at least six times from the library but was never in the mood. I finally read it and I love love loved it of course.
I ended the year with Food Freedom Forever because I’ve been following Hartwig on Instagram and her strength is inspiring to me. I’d never done a Whole30 before the book but I’ve done other similar things. I like the idea of eliminating mostly to pay closer attention to how food affects my body+mood+skin etc. So I am doing a Whole30 this January to test it out. We’ll see how it works.
I started 2018 with To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before because I’d never heard of it and apparently it’s being made into a movie in 2018 so I thought it would be fun to read it and it was so much fun that I read the rest of the series: P.S. I still love you and Always and Forever, Lara Jean. I can’t say they were amazing, but they were like candy. Sweet. And since I am not having actual candy this month, I figured it was okay to substitute 🙂
An Appeal to the World was a super-quick read that I am glad I took a side tour for.
And finally The Music Shop was the first book of 2018 that I love love loved. I really like Rachel Joyce so I wasn’t surprised that her book would be amazing but since it was about a record shop, I wasn’t sure how I would like it. In the end, I loved it. So much heart.
Here’s to another week of wonderful reading.
Books I Read this Week 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018 here.
I haven’t felt like doing art lately. I still find myself going to the websites of different art courses and looking wistfully. There is a big part of me that wants to jump in and take all the classes. Watercolors, sketching, art journaling, give me all of them.
But here’s the truth: there’s almost no magic to learning something new. Sure, there’s proper technique and there are materials that make it easier than others and there’s perspective, etc etc. But the biggest trick in learning something is putting in the hard work. It’s not the shiny beginning but the boring, long, dull, windy, and frustrating middle that matters most. You don’t just start. You have to show up again and again and again. Day after day. Even when you think you suck. Especially when you think you suck. When you’re tired. When you are frustrated, when you want to give up. When you believe there’s no way you can ever get this right. When you are convinced you have no talent whatsoever (and then remember that you believe in growth mindset.)
If you want to see results, you have to show up again and again. This isn’t just true for art, of course. It’s true for music. For eating well. For exercising. For work. For school. For anything where you want to achieve consistent and positive results, you have to do the work.
There are times when the work feels like fun. Some people love running. The endorphins, the joy of the fresh air on their face, and their feet hitting the dirt road is all they seek. To them, exercise is not hard work. Some people love cooking. Preparing nutritious meals is not their boring middle. There are things that we love to do so we make time for them. Like I do with books.
But then there are things that don’t come naturally. That require discipline and planning to do. Art is like that for me. (So is exercising and eating well!) And even though I’ve loved doing the monthly art pieces, I just haven’t been feeling it. And because I am not feeling it, I am not showing up regularly. And because I am not showing up regularly, I am really out of shape. So it’s that much more frustrating when I do show up because I’ve rusted.
So that’s what on my mind this week. How do I get myself to fall in love with art again? How do I make room for it in my daily life? How do I continue to foster this because I know that when I do do art regularly, I am always happier. Always.
It’s just a matter of finding my way back.
On My Mind 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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