calm + bright

2008 dec daily collage, originally uploaded by jmk photos.

I'm about ten days away from starting my 2009 holiday daily book. It's ready to go, and all my supplies are assembled in one pile (well, maybe two or three piles to be honest).

I first learned about this idea from Ali. Her idea is this: document each day from December 1-25. Keep it simple. Focus on images and words. Create the book and base pages ahead of time. Gather your supplies. Enjoy the process and the season.

Last year I decided to create one of these albums. A few photos of it are pictured above. I didn't create the foundation or gather my supplies beforehand, however, and I quickly learned a lesson for this year: make the base ahead of time. It equals more fun time thinking about one day at a time.

My 2008 album documented Dec 1-30. I learned another lesson: I'm more interested in the month before Christmas. It will always include my birthday (Nov 25) and most of the time Thanksgiving as well (which is my most favorite holiday).

The most important lesson I learned was how to more fully appreciate and give thanks for this time of year. Although I've dramatically reframed my view of being single over the past few years, I still struggle a bit with being single from Thanksgiving to New Year's. Making time for creativity and reflecting on the gift of each day in December made an incredible difference in holiday experience last year. I realized there are some traditions this family of one would like to keep honoring, and that there is room for new surprises if I am present and open to them. The discipline of really observing each day carried on into the rest of 2009. And I'm grateful for that. I highly recommend a project like this. It can be in any form. . .a blog. . .from re-purposed paper. . . with a lot of glitter. . . with all pictures, or with one. . . from whichever dates you'd like during the season. . .with whatever words you feel like writing. I felt such a sense of accomplishment and creative awe as I read my 2008 pages a week ago. For that alone it was worth taking the time to smear some glue stick over paper.

So, my new 2009 little holiday book is ready to go for November 25. . . and it will help me with another creative project I have in store for the next year of my life. More to come on both next week.

balance

Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won. It exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours.

Ayn Rand

Balance. The mourning doves demonstrate it's importance. And they make it look so effortless.

I've been consciously welcoming balance into my life for over seven years. It started when I joined Weight Watchers in 2001 and lost over 40 pounds in a year. Losing weight is one type of effort; maintaining weight loss is a whole different game. One I haven't really been playing for a while. It's funny, but I don't think I was living in balance while I was losing that weight. This isn't the way it has to be on WW, but now I laugh at all the weird "food" substitutions I came to know through the WW meetings. Like by using Cool Whip Free instead of Cool Whip Lite, I could save 1 point. . . blah, blah, blah. And why was Cool Whip and all the chemicals that create it all of a sudden an integral part of my diet anyway? Perhaps because I didn't want to use 3-4 points on a spoonful or two of real ice cream, even though that's what I really wanted, and what would have likely brought balance into my pleasure of eating. Too bad Cool Whip really isn't food in the nutritional sense, yet I can so remember all the time I spent contemplating sticking to an talking about my 24 daily points. I believe in the ideas WW is created from, but some of the tactics I used to lose the weight were really ridiculous. It's really about moderation and balance.

Last year I started a more conscious journey of inviting balance in my relationships. I let a long-time friendship shift to "inactive" in my life. It was both a wonderful and difficult choice for me. Sometimes people no longer provide the meaning they once did - and worse, sometimes they suck the life right out of you. Stepping away from that friend, and into the lives of people brand new to me took a lot of courage. I think it's difficult to meet new friends as an adult, especially in Minnesota. I tell people not from here all the time that I whole-heartedly believe it's true that Minnesotans typically stick to the tribes they grew up with - friends from grade and high school and college - and find it hard to truly include new friends in their tribes.

But taking that scary step was so worth it. I welcomed more people into my life that have lives that look a bit more like mine does at this point - something I felt was really out of balance for me. Finding that balance has helped me be a better friend, daughter, and sibling overall.

What I've learned from both of these journeys is that balance is so individual. Just as my yoga instructor says every week, our ability to phyically balance our bodies changes each day and it's like a fingerprint - different for everyone. It's up to me to define and honor what balance is for me. Then live it. And enjoy how it ripples goodness from me out into the world.

today

Going to give The Simple Woman's Daybook blog posting ideas a try.

For today
October 18, 2009

Outside my window. . . right now it's dark, but I loved the sunlight streaming through my windows today.
I am thinking. . . about pictures I want to hang on a hallway wall.
I am thankful for. . . a warm home.
From the kitchen. . . chocolate chip cookies just out of the oven. New recipe from a co-worker. Yum!
I am wearing. . . yoga pants and workout tops. I bought a new long-sleeve top for yoga class (for the winter) and love it. I'll get a lot of use from it.
I am creating. . . a fabric mini-album for some autumn photos I took last year. Have plans for another small book for this year's photos.
I am going. . . to visit my sister and her family on Friday for the weekend. Looking forward to seeing them, and I'm considering myself a good aunt because we're going to watch my nephew play football. Watching football = the thrill of watching paint dry for me. Should be a fun weekend!
I am reading. . . between books right now.
I am hoping. . . that a donor I'm calling this week will be open to talking about a gift.
I am hearing. . . a commercial while watching Sunday night TV on ABC. Can't wait for Brothers & Sisters!
Around the house. . . lots of piles in my craft room. Lots.
One of my favorite things. . . dresses. Planning on wearing a few this week.
A few plans for the rest of the week. . . condo board meeting, tutoring, drinks with friends to celebrate a friend who just accepted a job at the U - another lunch buddy! and a four day week. Can't beat that.
Photo above was taken today during a walk at the nature center across the street from my house.