Try a Tri(athlon)

In an effort to help create a new habit and lifestyle, I am planning to participate in a novice triathlon. In support of this, I have started a new blog where I will be posting daily progress. You can check it out here: Triathlete or Mathlete.

Anniversary / Birthday - Take Two

My blog turned two on November 27, 2008. I look back on my past year and see that...I blogged less this year than I did last year. Which is ok, really. My life has been very full and really, it wasn't that much less. I asked last year what my focus should be. And you know, I don't know that I really got more focused. But as I said before, that is ok. My husband thinks that Facebook may be the death of personal blogging. It is an interesting theory. If you are microblogging your status on Facebook or using Twitter, what need do you have to expand / expound?

I am still holding relatively steady with the ideas that I don't want to create a lot of stuff and I want to try to eliminate stuff from my life. I did paint 3 pictures this past year. Two were "laundry room art" (who says your laundry room has to be a boring place) for our laundry room. One was a sunflower that I painted for my friend's 40th birthday. I went to her house the other day and she has it hanging in her dining room. That made me happy.

I have been creating more music which to me doesn't fall into the category of "stuff". More exciting news there to come at a later date.

Thanks again for reading my blog. Do you know what my blog wants for its birthday / anniversary? For you to leave more comments please!

Have a good year!

P.S. Here are the blogs that I read on a regular basis (or at least as often as they post):

101 Cookbooks
bite my cookie
Bob's Photo Blog
Cheap Like Me
CityMama
dooce
Eric Magnuson
Farmer Scrub's blog
Gene Ehrbar's [TBD]
Green Options
ikea hacker (1)
SeeingGreen (TM)
The Favorite Aunt
Unclutterer (1)
Will's Thoughtstream

Creative Spaces

I have a note by my desk that says, "I have a comfortable, organized space to do arts and crafts." It has been posted for several months and I haven't made any progress toward it. My artistic endeavors these days are more uncomfortable with boxes precariously perched on my stool while I am trying to lean in awkward angles to actually do the art. Reality is about two extremes. On one hand, you have a space that is comfortable and organized. On the other, you have something disorganized and in a sense, a space that works against trying to create art. I don't like trying to create in a disorganized space but I realized today that the other extreme isn't right for me either. For me, at least in my current creative mindset, art is elusive. It is a muse that comes to call occasionally. In the best of times, I can invite her in and give her a cup of tea while I create. In the worst of times she gets ignored and the creative urge leaves with her. But the thing is, even if she comes, she doesn't always stay until I am finished. Some times she leaves me mid-project. I think I will forever be the type of person that has projects in a variety of stages. And I feel ok with that reality. Now, I still would like to have a more inviting space that lends itself to creativity, but that vision has yet to reveal itself to me.

What about you? What type of space do you create best in? What is your idea space? Do you currently have projects in various states?

Mini Mini Retreat

Friday was the day I planned for my mini retreat. I did not get 4 hours in, only 2 and they were far less productive than I'd hoped. I thought, in 4 hours, I will have everything figured out! Then, I only gave it two hours. The interesting thing was, it was a LOT more complicated than I had anticipated. At first, I was thinking that I was going to figure out what I was going to do with my many blogs. Then, after a conversation with B, it seemed worthwhile to think about my career. When I sat down, I was overwhelmed to say the least. What I realized was that both answers to these questions were related to my personal goals. What kind of life do I want to live? Where do I want to spend my time?

Many years ago I dated someone whose extended family created yearly goals. At that time (can I blame it on my youth?) I found the idea laughable. A few years later, I found myself creating my own goals. In the past few years, I stopped creating goals as I was just trying to survive. The exercise on Friday brought it all back. I can't just look at one area of my life separately because they are all connected. For example, spending time on blogging may positively affect my need for writing and creativity but may negatively affect my time with family and friends. (I am not saying it does I am just trying to show how it is all connected).

On Friday, I found myself going back to the basics of recreating personal goals. In the past I have chosen to create a goal or goals in areas such as career, creativity, health, finance and relationships. What did I accomplish on Friday? I worked only on the finance goal as this topic is something that I have been thinking about quite a bit. Creating the rest of the goals will take some serious time and I think that spending 2-3 hours each session seems both doable. My plan is to set aside 2 -3 hours every other week until I have created all the goals. (Also, this means once I am done creating the goals I will have a continuing appointment with myself to work on the goals).

One thing I have to do with the finance goals is prioritize them and set actionable next steps. What is the point of having a goal if you are not going to work toward it? Right? I will keep you posted.

Guitar makers seek to save trees

I was blown away by an article I found entitled, "Saving Trees Is Music to Guitar Makers’ Ears". Guitar makers are banding together with Greenpeace to save the forests because if they don't they will have no materials to build guitars. Imagine that, no trees or small trees mean no wood or not the right kind of wood to make guitars. I honestly can't imagine a world with no guitars. Can you?

Blogging lessons

My last post did not make much sense. I was trying to get my weekly post published and I rushed it. I wasn't thinking about the fact that I could "save as draft" and go back to it later! It is as hard to find time to blog as it is to find something interesting enough to blog about. Luckily, my man just posted on this topic: "Seven ways to find the time to blog".

I really like what he says in number 3 "get creative". I don't have to be in front of a computer to write a blog post (I just need to get in front of one to publish the blog post). I personally favor plain, blank index cards for jotting down notes. I got my man some fancy index cards personalized with his name and email address on them.

And it is my intention to go back and make some sense of my last blog post. I just need some time to think it through. I suspect there will be several "save as draft" events!

The need for creation

While I started this blog to work on my mixed feelings about creating things, stuff, I still yearn to create. Recently I was invited to participate in a class called SoulCollage. I didn't really know what the class would be about but I had a feeling that it was something I should do. I had received several other invitations to participate but never had the will to make it happen. When I found out that this would be the last class that this particular teacher would be teaching before she moved, I decided I just had to take the class.

Yes, it turns out that I will be creating my own personal deck of SoulCollage cards. But after going to the first class (in a series of five), I am so happy to be getting back to creating. However...the first, and only, card I created scared me! It is very intense. There are four suits in the SoulCollage deck. One suit is called the "Companions" which are animal guides which represent the chakras. In class we did a guided meditation to pick and animal and its related chakra. My animal guide appeared right away...and she was pissed! Don't let the cute mama part of the card fool you, there is a lot of emotion that needs to be released. This card is for my "root" chakra in which the primary functions are instinct and survival. Perhaps a fierce polar bear mama trying to survive in the wild aren't that far off.

On the website you can have a personal reading. This is a fun way to see some of the cards that others have created and possibly gain a little insight along the way.