I wish I could remember where I found this picture. This is my current desktop image. A great reminder every time I sit down in front of the screen. Am I doing this? Are you?
One Word 2011 Update
So it’s been a month, okay a little more than a month, well, yes two months since I actually wrote a post if you want to be technical about it – since last month’s post was really just a video – but I already digress…
So in June Alece reminded us that it was half way through the year and that everyone who started out the year with One Word should write a post about how their One Word is going. While I haven’t been very vocal about my word (Discipline) I have actually been more disciplined than I have in a long time.
It started out with me wanting to be more disciplined in my writing. For a while that was reflected here on the blog. There were more posts, more traffic, more comments. But then my writing took a turn. I had a few ideas that needed to be thought out, brainstormed more, before they could be put out there for public consumption. As of now, those ideas are still either in my head or someone on my computer in bits (and bytes). They have not become the cohesive whole that I hoped they would, yet. But I have been writing, most every day, in some form or fashion. And in that regard I have been putting to practice my word.
What I didn’t expect at the beginning of the year was how much it would impact other areas of my life as well. As I mentioned, I figured I would be more disciplined in my writing, continuing to better myself in that area, to the point of doing, well I don’t know exactly what, maybe writing the next best seller? Or just getting the stories out there that I want to tell. But soon other habits began to develop.
I decided it was time to get back in shape. Granted I wasn’t at my heaviest weight – I had actually lost about 10 pounds due to our move & change in eating habits. Having fresher produce and an abundance of good places to shop will do that. But I still wasn’t at my peak either. So taking the discipline a step further, I started working with a trainer and became more conscious of what I was eating and when I was eating. Now two months in to that new discipline and I am down a size, I have lost 7 pounds, and I am feeling a lot better in general. An added bonus is that Amy has noticed, and has become more aware of her eating habits, and is also trying new things (vegetables) that she otherwise wouldn’t normally go out of her way to eat. I still have more to go, but suddenly it’s not so hard anymore. A new habit has been established, and when I don’t get to go to the gym I find that I miss it. Just like when I don’t get to write, I miss that too.
So while at first discipline appears to be a struggle, hard work, and effort, I am proof that it pays off. It’s not such a bad word after all. I will continue to write, I will continue to work out – and yes, I will still indulge in a bowl of ice cream or other treat every now and then. After all a girl has to have chocolate every once in a while too. But I will also continue to pursue discipline, not only this year, but as a life long habit.
Filed under One Word 2011, writing
Witness Protection Program
If you could enter the witness protection program (wpp because it’s shorter to type) and assume a totally new life, would you do it? Keep in mind, it means leaving everything behind. All your friends, family, co-workers, blog friends, twitter friends, facebook, and other social media place you have a presence. All new numbers to remember, social security, phone number, birthdate, address, credit cards, drivers license, library card. But you’d also leave behind all your past hurts, heartaches, mistakes, and any other foolish thing you’ve done in your life. So with all that to consider would you still enter the wpp?
Or perhaps you don’t want an entirely new life, you just want to run away for a while? Where would you go, what would you do? How long would you stay away for? Would you stay in touch with those you left behind?
One of the things I like about writing, and reading good writers, is they allow you to escape your everyday life and live in someone else’s world for a little while. I hope to be able to achieve that in my writing as well.
But for now I am filled with more questions, than answers. So I will return to my writing world and see what I find there.
Bucket List
So Elora, Lauren, and Prudence have created these lists of things they want to do before they are 30, or 40. I wish I had been that focused when I was their age. Instead I was too busy doing other things a lot less grand or dream powered.
… and it got me thinking. I’m 6 years away from 50. My 11 year old thinks 44 is old. My 44 year old brain doesn’t think 44 is old. It doesn’t even think that 70 is old now. But that space between my ears is thinking that there are a lot of things I want to do, and if I don’t write them down and hold myself accountable, they’ll just float away in to the ether, never accomplished, or left for someone else to do.
So here’s my list of oh I don’t know how many things I want to do before 50.
- Spend a month in Paris (France not Texas)
- Spend a long weekend visiting Napa & Michael Chiarello’s restaurant Bottega
- Write the book that is stirring in my minds eye
- Use at least half of the fabric that I have in my stash to complete projects in waiting
- Go for a spa day, not just a massage either, but the entire spa package of pampering
- Visit dear friends who I haven’t seen in years (I’ll be seeing a few this summer – I can’t wait!)
- Meet as many twitter friends in real life
- Attend the Kentucky Derby and wear a grand hat for the occasion
- Go back to school and finish my bachelors degree
- Travel to England and soak up as much history and experiences as I can while I’m there
- Travel by train across Europe
- Visit Italy and learn to cook like the locals
- … to be continued
Travel seems to be a common theme through out the list. Guess that’s just the gypsy in me. But in all seriousness, there is so much out there I want to learn about, and see and experience. I’m thinking I need to cast off the limitation of doing this all by 50, and just set out to do it all in my life time.
Disaster Relief
As many of you know, I used to live in northwest Georgia. My parents currently live in Centre Alabama. Thankfully they were spared from the devastating storms that went through that region yesterday. But many others were not so fortunate. That is why I am announcing that 25% of all sales made through The Luna Tree will go to disaster relief. I have a few more items that I need to get photographed and listed, I hope to do that this weekend. But for now, please stop by and take a look at what is there. And please help in any way you can. Thank you for your support.
Filed under charitable organizations, family, friends
