In(tentional) 2015

One of my favorite pictures in my folk's home, that my mom made. She's such an inspiration to me as an artist; their home is gorgeous, and has artwork everywhere! I love thinking about choosing joy in the new year. It's also a reminder that I have choices in what I hope to see in 2015. I ask myself the important question: "What does {THE DEEPEST PLACE} of my soul desire, need, and wish for?"

Beautiful words from Rachel.

For the past four years, I've been using Susannah Conway's lovely free workbook called "Unravelling the Year Ahead" to think through the past year and set intentions for the next year. I love that she calls them "intentions", because the term "goals" feels too solid, and it would be disappointing if I didn't completely accomplish them! With an intention, I can adapt it, do just part of it, or make it suit my needs and still feel like I've succeeded. Yeah, goals and intentions are pretty much the same thing, but it's the thought behind each of them that makes my mind feel like they're different ;-)

Here are a few of the intentions I've set for 2015:

~ Edit my novel, "The Naming of Fio Re", and have a few folks read it and give feedback. 

~ Meditate on Scripture every day, at least one verse. Learn more about Scripture meditation, too.

~ Deliberately make time to be face to face with friends and build relationships.

~ Go outside every single day. Every day. No exceptions. Even if it's just for a five minute walk or to sit in my yard on the grass. 365 Days of Nature, commence! More on that below.

~ Plan a creative retreat again similar to the one my lovely friend Heather and I had this December. Maybe it could be an entire weekend instead of one day? Maybe we could invite more friends? Do more art together? Cook meals? There are so many possibilities! 

~ Finish memorizing Romans 8. I got super close to accomplishing this last year, but it just didn't happen. Now of course it's only vaguely in my memory. I want to have the entire chapter down!

~ Record a CD of my favorite guitar pieces that I've learned in the last twenty years. Sheesh... I am OLD. I have been playing guitar for a freakin' long time!!! I might as well sum it up with some kind of recording after all these years. That will require practicing. If there were only a few extra hours each day...

~ Read all the books in my house that I have not yet read. There are actually a decent number of books that fall under this category. I may or may not make an exception for the Dostoevsky novel that even Chris hasn't been able to finish... *sigh*. This past year I tried to read one book a week, and considering that I forgot to log any of the books I read in November or December on my book list page here on the blog, I'm fairly certain that I hit that goal! Yay!

~ Fresh flowers every week. My mood and attitude are so brightened when flowers are present in my home! I don't need to buy new flowers every week; they last about two weeks if I take care of them, and it would be just five dollars or so from my grocery budget every other week. How about yes :-)

~ Go back to Lambert's Restaurant, the home of the "throwed rolls"! I was there during my senior year of college: it was AWESOME. Gotta go again, even though it's a bit of a road trip!

~ Read aloud with Chris more. We're mired in the weirdness of the "Arabian Nights" right now. It seriously seems never-ending. We may end up just reading it separately so that we can finish it and move on to something a little more manageable!

~ Give another shot to writing down 1,000 gifts. I got really close, over the last two years (even though you're supposed to write down a thousand gratitudes in only one year, not two), but made it to about eight hundred and faded out. It's always worth another try! This time I'm tracking it on my smartphone. I hate putting important things in my phone, which is why I still have a paper notebook and calendar, but my phone is almost always on hand to quickly jot something down, so hopefully this method will help keep me more on track. I love that Ann Voskamp has the "Joy Dares" available for free download in each month so that you have a bit of direction when looking for blessings in your everyday life!

~ Send more postcards. I love letters, but with the busyness of life, sending a postcard is going to be more doable than sending a full-blown letter, I'm thinking. Plus, postcards are art-in-the-mail! Win!

~ Get a perfume I really like. I've had only two perfumes, both of which I liked, but haven't yet found a perfume that I truly LOVE. I'm not gonna push this one too much; perfume is expensive! If it happens miraculously, it happens. If not, hey, I can wait.

~ Explore HONOR as my One Word. "The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be." - Socrates

~ Watch the entire series of "Avatar: the Last Airbender". OH NO NOW EVERYONE KNOWS HOW MUCH OF A NERD I AM. One of my best friends just introduced it to me last week (read: basically held me down and forced me to watch the opening episode because they knew I'd like it even though I was all "noooo I don't want to watch anything new") and I was instantly hooked. It's just the right kind of show for a girl who has watched almost all of the Naruto Shippuden... um, I mean, *cough cough* I totally have never watched anime before. 

I can't wait to see what growth and change this year will bring for Harmony. She is so verbal for a two and a half year old. The other day she and I ran errands all morning, so I made sure that our last stop was at a coffee shop where we could share a fruit smoothie. We sat at a table together, sipping the smoothie, people-watching and talking about the decor of the shop and noticing what folks were eating and discussing the day. That was the first time I realized, "hey, my daughter and I can have conversations now! There's finally someone in our family who talks just as much as me!" and I had a good laugh. My daughter is awesome.

Yes, I truly do want to go outside every day. So far, for the first four days of this new year, I've succeeded in getting outdoors for a few minutes, despite a sick toddler, a messy house, a busy schedule, and frigid weather (with snow today). Each time I made myself get my act together enough to go out, I was always grateful that I had! Being in nature, even on our little dead-end street or sitting in our yard, is grounding, refreshing, clarifying, relaxing, calming, energizing, and so many more things for my physical and mental health. I come back inside renewed and ready to face anything. There must be magic in a breath of fresh air ;-) I'm recording this journey on Instagram with a picture every day under the tag #365daysofnature.

I can tell that even though there will be more days where it will be difficult to get myself out the door, it will be for the best. Many thanks to my sweet husband and sister who have either sat with Harmony or just kept an ear out for her while she slept so that I could escape for a little while! I am SO very blessed to have my supportive family around me. 

Love these daily prompts from Write Alm!

I definitely want to continue to write often, here on the blog, in my personal journal, in postcards and the occasional letter to friends and family, and on Instagram. I've very much enjoyed the little snippets of life I can share on Instagram to accompany a picture, and even more have loved seeing others' lives through their own lens on IG too!

Facebook was de-activated yesterday, as planned. It feels weird not to check it, but I am already appreciating the social media silence that it is allowing. Yes, I'm still part of social media here and on Instagram, but it feels more manageable, if that makes any sense. 

The picture above was taken after I was awake for almost forty-eight hours straight. On new year's eve, half an hour before midnight, Harmony suddenly and violently came down with the stomach flu while we were at my folk's home. She had been sleeping in their guest bedroom as we got ready to celebrate the new year's arrival. Instead of ringing in 2015, we spent the rest of the night caring for her, with barely any sleep. When we finally got her home the next day, I fuzzily remembered that one of my intentions was to get outside every day, so Chris sat with her for a few minutes while I laid in the grass of our front yard, which was all I had the energy to do. It was a good reminder that "the best laid plans of mice and men..."

If all my intentions are not realized in 2015, IT WILL BE FINE. I will be okay. Nobody/nothing will explode, my dreams won't be shattered. Sometimes we have hard times; sometimes our lives are rocked to the core by terrible news. With that in mind, I'm trying to hold my plans loosely, knowing that only God sees the future. I hope that no matter what the coming days hold I will be able to trust in His plans for me even if it means that mine go out the window. My favorite Bible verse from year to year continues to be from Micah 6:8: "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" That is what I truly want to be the desire of the deepest place in my heart!

So here we go, 2015! What do YOU wish that 2015 might hold for you? Let me know in the comments! Did you choose a Word? Do you have goals, or intentions?

{Writing prompt THE DEEPEST PLACE from Write Alm's January prompts}

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DIY Moleskine Daily Planner

This year I finally realized/admitted that I can't keep track of everything that I have on my schedule just by remembering it, plus my husband, sister, and parents have their own schedules as well, meaning that it is useful for me to keep track of everyone so that we can make sure we're all on the same page. Family meals, baby-sitting, days off of work, etc. are much easier to plan when we all know each other's calendar! 

For the longest time I used a calendar that I hung on the wall. Everyone would write their schedule on it. But sometimes we (mostly me) would forget to write something crucial down, simply because we weren't within easy reach of the calendar when making plans, and that was no good! Also, if I was out and about, I had no idea what was on the calendar. I realized that the calendar was mostly for my sake since I was the main coordinator for my family's plans (my folks have their own online calendars that work really well for them). So I decided to get a planner to keep in my purse instead.

By the time I realized this, though, it was almost September. The vast majority of planners had been sold in the stores already! There were one or two available but nothing that came close to what I was looking for. 

In the end, I decided to buy a Moleskine and create my own planner. It is a soft-cover, blank page (non-lined) notebook. My inspiration and initial ideas were taken from Mike Rohd's Moleskine Planner Hack.

Now I can sit down every day and make sure that I'm on top of my schedule, and it comes with me everywhere! Confession: twice I have written down an event IN THE WRONG PLACE, resulting in missing a fun lunch with a friend and almost missing a performance I was supposed to play guitar in, which is proof that having a planner is not foolproof for people like me who are terrible with numbers. I am now being extra cautious to write down the correct dates for everything!

There are large sections for each day, with smaller ones for the weekend; the space below is completely free for notes. It will last until July 2015.

I didn't feel the need to have a full page showing the entire month like a regular calendar, but I did want to have a page just for notes for each month. That's been a valuable addition.

Quite a bit of the notebook is dedicated just to blank pages for notes. I've been writing down song lists from rehearsals, knitting notes, tips from friends, ideas, cooking recipes, and many other things.

Of course there is a specific page just for books that I want to read eventually ; )

The built-in folder on the back cover has been invaluable for storing receipts, sticky notes, and business cards that would otherwise be lost in the recesses of my wallet!

I love the built-in bookmark and band to keep the notebook closed. The paper is strong, and my pen (I use Sharpie fine and medium point pens) does not run through the pages.

All in all, this has been the best planner I've ever had, and I'm loving how much space there is to write down everything I need to keep track of!

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Currently, Loving Life

Resting:: from the full weekend. Trick-or-treating with my crazy cat lady, a Halloween party with friends where I took a trip back to my younger days and traded candy with some kids, a home-school group meeting with lovely ladies, an awesome concert by a fellow guitarist, a dinner with a sweet friend, and a road trip to Illinois for two concerts with a guitar ensemble where I filled in for a missing member and acted as co-leader for the group. Oh, and that's my sister in the picture above, being Steve from Minecraft ; )

Loving:: this chilly weather! I love everything about autumn and winter, including the cold. The frost on the grass in the morning, the bundling up in our coats, the sweaters indoors, the knitted garments, the warm tea at all hours, the early darkness in the evening, the cozy lamp light.

Feeling:: disappointed in the mistakes I inevitably make, like thinking we were supposed to go over to a friend's house for lunch next Saturday when it was actually this Saturday (I wrote it on the wrong date on my calendar), failing to play the correct notes in an entrance on one of our pieces yesterday during a concert (that's what can happen when you have to fill in on someone's voice with less than a week of preparation), and STILL not being able to find a new teacher for children's worship at our church after asking quite a few people (is it me? is it the way I'm asking? is everyone just too busy?).

Reminding:: myself that you need to learn from your mistakes, change for next time, and then move on.

Hoping:: that I'll be able to accomplish all the knitting projects I have planned before the end of the year!

Savoring:: soups galore for the season: zuppa tuscana, potato-leek soup, beef stew, and egg drop soup were all on the menu last week.

Planning:: the Christmas music that will be handed out this week to my forty students and the seven-member ensemble.

Seeing:: if I can memorize these five solo guitar pieces all at the same time, because I'm insane. "Usher Waltz" by Nikita Koshkin, the first of "Trois Gymnopedies" by Eric Satie, "Prelude" and "Allegro" by Bach from PFA, "Unruhe" by Johann Mertz, and "Allegro Solemnis" from La Catedral by Augustin Barrios. Oh wait, that was six pieces. I'm insane.

Playing:: "school" with Harmony. I'll be writing about that later in more detail!

Lingering:: in my robe in the mornings because it's warm and fluffy, despite being a hand-me-down with a huge hole in one sleeve.

Hearing:: Harmony listening to the My Little Pony soundtrack on the iPad. She loves to sing along to the songs now; it's pretty cute to watch!

Eating:: cold pizza for breakfast. Soooo yummy! Left-overs from our dinner yesterday with the guitar ensemble group.

Noticing:: for the hundredth time the beauty of the golden light streaming through the many windows of our home. I will never get tired of it after living for four years in our dark, cave-like apartment that faced the north!

Anticipating:: the Turkish coffee I'm going to make very soon this morning. I'll add steamed milk frothed with my French press, vanilla, and a little caramel syrup to make a delicious wake-me-up drink! I need it after getting home very late from the concerts last night, waking up with Harmony at 2 a.m. when she suddenly had a coughing fit (she's in that stage of a cold where she doesn't cough or feel sick during the day, but when she lies down at night she coughs and it's so sad), and being woken up too early by Harmony as she demanded "cheerios and milk, mama" the way she does every morning.

Keeping:: Harmony's nap time as my breathing space, for resting, reading, writing. That's how I'm keeping my sanity.

Writing:: my novel for NaNoWriMo, "The Naming of Fio Re", and documenting progress over on this other page of my blog! This weekend wasn't a very good start, but I know I'll catch up quickly over the next few days. Woohoo! I'll be working much more on my novel this month rather than keeping up with blogging, except for adding to my NaNoWriMo page, so do stick around until next month when I'll be back with lots of Christmas posts here : )

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7 Ways for Mamas to Find Time to Be Creative

Sometimes I have so many creative ideas running through my head that I think I'll explode if I don't get some of them out! As a mother of a toddler, and a music teacher, my time is fairly well booked, and then when I do have some freedom I have to decide whether I should play one of my musical instruments or write. Or knit. Or edit my book. Or make some postcards.

Here are the seven ways I've found work best for a busy mama to get in some creative time!

~ Get up early!

By early, I mean as early as you need to get done what you want. If your family wakes up around 7:00, get up at 6:00. Last year I woke up at 5 a.m. every day so that I could have an hour and a half to write my book for NaNoWriMo before my one year old would get out of bed to ask for breakfast. It worked well! And I'm pleased to say that I did it mostly without any kind of caffeine, just copious amounts of herbal tea.

The downside: You have to go to bed early, too, or risk being a sleep-walking zombie all day long, or have an i.v. drip of coffee constantly running through your veins. Anyone can adjust their sleep schedule to make this work, even if you don't consider yourself to be a "morning" person, but it does take effort and adjustment. 

~ Stay up late!

Your usual bedtime is 10:00? Try staying up an extra hour just to work on a creative project. Or stay up until midnight, if you're really gung-ho. The house is peaceful and quiet! That's what I've been doing lately.

The downside: You have to sleep in late, or risk being a sleep-walking zombie all day long, or have an i.v. drip of coffee constantly running through your veins. Also, you have to be super quiet because everyone else is trying to sleep, so that pretty much rules out any project involving music, unless you have a sound-proof room (I don't). 

~ Schedule half hour quiet times for everybody!

Either in the morning or the early afternoon, have everyone in the house take a mandatory "quiet time". You go to your own room (or a designated space) and each person, no matter what age, gets to entertain themselves quietly for half an hour. Even toddlers can learn to do this! Have a special box of games, or special books, or special toys or puzzles, available just for these times. Then you can have that half hour to get out some creative ideas.

The downside: It's not a long time, even if you extend it to forty minutes or an hour (most kids won't last longer than that on their own) so you have to do things in little bits and can't get into a groove. Just when your fingers are warmed up to your instrument or you're feeling like the words are starting to flow onto paper or your painting is going somewhere, the timer goes off and the quiet is gone.

~ Have "Creative Family Time" as part of your weekly or daily routine!

If you home-school, this can be part of your regular day! For a designated period of time (forty-five minutes, an hour, etc.) everyone works on a creative project of their own choosing, together or separately. Toddlers can be glueing or cutting paper to make artwork while older children sew or craft or build something while mama gets to work on something creative too. It's encouraging for everyone to participate in this kind of thing, because you ALL get to benefit from exploring what it means to create! If your kids are in school, maybe you can have Creative Family Time on a Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon together.

The downside: Mama doesn't have a lot of attention for her own project because she is constantly assisting or helping with everyone else's projects. This may or may not be an issue for you, depending on what you're trying to accomplish and the age of your children, but you definitely can't get into a groove very easily this way


~ Just DO it!

In the midst of the chaos around you, children playing, housework calling, phone ringing, just sit down at whatever crafty/artistic project you're on and do it! Five minutes, ten minutes, however long you can, keep at it. Those moments at your work will build up if you have a few of them every day.

The downside: It's unpredictable, messy, and frantic. No groove, probably a lot of interruptions.

~ Schedule an "Artist's Date" with yourself!

Weekly or monthly (I'm more a fan of weekly, because monthly doesn't give much consistency) you schedule a deliberate time to work on your creative ideas, by yourself. Try to go somewhere where you can have the freedom to do your stuff, but won't get too distracted by what's going on around you. Some people love coffee shops, others don't like the loud environment. The library, an outdoor area, or a local hang-out like a bookstore would be a good place to start. Many libraries often have rooms that you can rent or reserve for cheap or free, if you'd like extra privacy! 

The downside: You have to go out of your way to lug all your stuff to wherever you want to go. And find a babysitter. And find a good time for yourself to get away for a few hours. There's a lot of coordination that needs to happen. And if you play something like the drums, or want to work on your gigantic quilt, then it may not even be feasible to go out of your home to do these things. Hence the next option...

~ Exchange "Artist's Dates" with a friend!

Bi-weekly or monthly, you and a fellow mama exchange times where one of you watches all the kids while the other goes on an Artist's Date by themselves. Better yet, your kids all play at one house while the creative mama gets her time at her own house! The kids have fun, you have hours of uninhibited time to create, your friend knows that her time to create is coming soon, and everyone's happy.

The downside: You're at your own house, where the stacks of bills, unanswered emails, piles of laundry, dirty floors, and unmade beds can silently taunt you. The temptation to just get your house clean while the kids are gone may be too strong to ignore. But don't give in!!!! 

There you have it! All of these ways require some kind of sacrifice on your part, and most need the cooperation of others as well, usually your family. It all boils down to how much you truly feel that your creative endeavors are worthwhile, and if you're questioning that, I can tell you right now, "YES, YOUR CREATIVITY IS WORTH IT"!

Yes, mamas can be very busy. Yes, your family and home and friends and job have needs to be met. But as I wrote before, it's very important that you care for yourself so that you can properly care for the other priorities in your life, and if one of your deepest loves and desires is to CREATE, then surely you can find a way to make it happen!

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How Many Books Can You Buy for $33?

 The Greater St. Louis Book Sale was this weekend! I always try to go on the free opening morning, standing in line early so that I can be one of the first to peruse the book tables and find gems tucked away for extremely low prices ; )  I saved up and took with me thirty-five dollars in cash, gave myself an hour and fifteen minutes from the time they opened the gates, and wheeled one of the available shopping carts provided.

My policy is to grab any book that looks good, and if after a ten-second evaluation it still looks good, put it in the cart! If you second-guess yourself, someone else will probably grab the book, so there's not a good chance you could come back later to get something you're not sure about. After an hour, I pull off to the side, choose which books I want and can afford, and put the rest in re-stock bins. It's a good system! I'm thankful that I can speed-read so that I can scan as many books as possible.

In the end, I only needed $33 this year. If I'd had more time, I'm SURE there would have been more to find, but there's a reason I set myself a time limit! Almost all of these books are only very lightly used, almost new, or have minor damage (one of the children's books has a small crayon mark on one page). Totally worth it!

This is what I purchased in 2013.

Here's what I nabbed this year!

Several favorites from my own childhood. Harmony is now a fan!

More books for Harmony that I thought she'd like.

A few books that I KNOW Harmony will like.

A replacement for my original copy of "Ballet Shoes" that was so worn it was missing the last
pages (a well-loved novel in our home), and a book by one of my favorite childhood authors.
I'm hoping to collect all the books by Kenneth Thomasma for Harmony and I
to read when she's older!

A book for Harmony and her Irish daddy to read together in a few years.

A book that several of my older students read and highly recommended. Also, a book by Louisa May Alcott
that I had no idea existed! Harmony can read them much later down the road, but I'll enjoy
them for now. 

I've always wanted to read stories by George MacDonald, so here we go!

Never pass up any C.S. Lewis books when you find them for a dollar each!

A novel/almost-autobiography by Rilke that looked interesting, and a "Skeptics Adventures
in Narnia", also quite intriguing.

I squealed out loud when I found this! Standing in line for an hour to get in right away paid off.
Most of the highly desirable books like this get picked up right away on opening morning, which is why
I made a beeline for the poetry/novel table as soon as they let me in to the sale.
 So thankful to find this one that I've been hoping to purchase for over a year! Hooray!

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Harmony's First Music CDs

When we ride in the car, the classical station is usually turned on, us being classical musicians and all since we were eight years old. Side note: YIKES I AM OLD. Moving on. Harmony can take about ten or fifteen minutes of this. The classical music, I mean. Soon she starts to whine. There's something about being strapped into a car seat, I guess, that makes her uninterested in listening to non-vocal music for long periods of time (a captive audience?). At home we generally keep the local classical station (or a similar Pandora channel) playing quite a bit, and she seems fine with it then. So I end up either singing to her or trying to find a station playing a (not inappropriate) song I can sing along to. If I sing, she's happy.

Or I'll put on a CD. But she doesn't like super loud music, hard rock, super fast music, or anything opera-like for more than about forty minutes. Yes, forty. I timed it on our last road trip. Chris and I like to sing along to the first half of Handel's Messiah or other things like that, in English or Latin, and Harmony will only stand it for a set amount of time. Heh.

Soooooo our CD choices are limited, considering that 90% of them are of classical music.

We have a few kid's CDs with nursery rhymes, but I tried those and almost went bonkers. I also vetoed any kid's stations on Pandora after trying that out. The only musical groups specifically for children that I have enjoyed so far are G.T. and the Halo Express and Rain for Roots, which we currently do not own (they are going on the wish list for Harmony's birthday!), so yeah. Oh, and the Wee Sing albums are great, but they're also going on the wish list.

Do you have any suggestions for other non-annoying, non-nasally-sounding, non-pull-your-hair-out-this-is-so-boring music for kids? I know there has to be more out there!

It was time to make mixed CDs of adult AND child acceptable songs where we can ALL sing along : )


Happy Harmony Mixed CD

The Wall ~ Kansas {Because epicness.}

Tom Sawyer ~ Rush {Because double epicness.}

The Fox ~ Nickel Creek {All kids love this fun folk song!}

Go Home, Girl! ~ Gaelic Storm {Chris likes singing this and playing his bodhran.}

I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) ~ The Proclaimers {An old favorite of ours.}

Brave ~ Sarah Bareilles {I appreciate the message in the lyrics.}

This Good Day ~ Fernando Ortega {One of my favorite singers, and he's a great person! I knew him when I was a kid. This song never fails to put me in a better mood.}

Green and Blue Lady's Song* ~ ? {See below... help! It came on a mixed soundtrack from one of Chris's friends years ago, and we have no idea who it is.}

Wild Child ~ Enya {Who doesn't love Enya? Harmony is our wild child!}

Creation Song ~ Fernando Ortega {Another favorite.}

When You Come Back Down ~ Nickel Creek {I always melt when I hear this sweet song. I will be singing it to all my children as they grow up!}

The Neglected Garden ~ Cecile Corbel {The gorgeous theme song from the Miyazaki movie "The Secret World of Arrietty". Someday I'd love to have the entire soundtrack from this movie.}



Chillin' Harmony Mixed CD

Kisses from the Sky ~ The Green Children {My current favorite band.}

Sailor ~ The Green Children {Harmony's current favorite song; we sing it every day.}

Mourning Into Dancing ~ The Crossing (Celtic band)  {Beautiful Celtic melody and lyrics.}

Dream a Little Dream of Me ~ ? (not sure who the artist is here) {An old favorite first sung to me by a friend and musician at a concert years ago.}

Friendly Jas ~ Cool Hand Luke (band, not movie)  {A favorite since I was sixteen years old!}

Lord of Eternity ~ Fernando Ortega {One of my favorites that he performed in concert.}

Kite ~ Copeland {A special favorite that I used to sing to my sister when she was little.}

Staring Down the Stars ~ Nickel Creek {Beautiful melody, sweet words.}

Pilgrim ~ Enya {Love this one! Just have to finish memorizing all the words.}

Hide and Seek ~ Imogen Heap {Weird lyrics, but one of my favorite pop pieces of all time.}

Throwback to almost a year ago! Craziness!

*Please help me find out what song this is! Haven't had any success looking up lyrics on Google. Here are the lyrics of the first few verses and the chorus:

My cousin and his young bride left home a year ago
they sailed to Regal, England, for the little town of Norfolk
and found a thatched-roof home
now I get a post-card every month or so

They tell me it's endearing though it rains most every day
they're attending a cathedral built in 1528
and afternoons at three
they take a cup of tea or two

They write, "dear cousin, how are you,
is life exciting? what is new?"
"Well, last night I baked a cake."
What more can I say?

We're doin' fine here in lovely scenic Springfield, USA
Having quite a time here, in lovely scenic Springfield, USA

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Goodbye November, Hello December

Making:: this habit of getting up early permanent. Between six o'clock and six thirty is the best time for me, as long as I'm asleep by 10:45 or 11:00 at night. It's so peaceful and centering to have time to myself every morning before the day begins. Thank you, NaNoWriMo, for helping me cement a new habit!

Riding:: the carousel during free hour at the St. Louis zoo! Got there just in time. You wouldn't think it to see Harmony's expression, but she really does love it!

Celebrating:: my 50,000 word goal for NaNoWriMo! I've been so busy writing 1,667 words per day that the rest of the blog here had to take a little break. Technically, I'm a "winner" because I succeeded in writing that many words during November, but in actuality, my novel is not quite done... more on that in a later post....

Planning:: my musical calendar in December, full of endeavors on guitar and mandolin, solo and in collaboration with other musicians, playing an instrument myself and conducting an ensemble!

Playing:: outdoors in the autumn weather as much as possible with the Bug, walks on every day above forty degrees, exploring nature. Fall in Missouri is the bomb.

Baking:: the best pumpkin pies ever, with the help of the Bug and her dada. We have eaten pumpkin pie every week during November! It's just so tasty.

Enjoying:: our first time trick-or-treating together exactly one month ago! Harmony dressed up as the adorable Bug she truly is ; )  Her dada wore his mad scientist rainbow lab coat, because why not?

Spending:: lots of playdates with grandma and grandpa, who like nothing better than to have an afternoon or evening or morning with their first grandchild. 

Reading:: books that we find in the local Little Free Library just down the road, planted in somebody's yard! SUCH a cool idea!

Lingering:: in the pages of Kindred, the magazine where my poem made it into the autumn edition. One more goal on my Life List down : D  The poetry and stories and photographs in it are enthralling!

Setting:: a Guinness world record for the most somersaults rolled at the same time, on Art Hill in St. Louis' iconic Forest Park! TOTALLY AWESOME!!! I've always wanted to do something that would get into the Guinness book, but never had the confidence to put it on my Life List (you can find it on my About Me page at the bottom), because it just seemed too far fetched. Now I know the truth: always put down ANY goal you have, because you never know when it might come true!

Watching:: my baby grow into a more independent, capable, curious, interactive, let-me-do-it-myself toddler. With pigtails! I almost died from the cuteness.

Learning:: the holiday dance with my flashmob group. Hopefully I'll be dancing at a few great events with them during this season!

Anticipating:: the beginning of Advent tomorrow! Time to get out our Advent wreath and candles. Might as well get out the Christmas decorations too, right?

Wondering:: whether we'll get a Christmas tree or not this year. There just isn't a good space for it in our tiny apartment. Time to have a family council and make the decision. Perhaps a small tree, just a wee one for the corner? It would feel so strange to not hang any ornaments. 

Boosting:: our immune systems with fresh-squeezed lemon and raw honey in our tea, elderberry syrup, garlic chunks (cut 'em up and swallow whole), vitamin-rich vegetables and fruits, and bone broth. Echinacea-goldenseal tincture, cold-steam humidifiers, hot showers, and lots of rest for those currently ill.

Deciding:: to participate in the December Prompt-A-Day over at Write Alm. Last year I did the December Photo Project, and I'm going to try to continue that tradition again this year along with the daily writing. Maybe the photo can even be inspired by the day's prompt! For me, writing and taking photographs helps keep me in the moment by relishing what I am doing in the present and then remembering the good later that happens every day. 

Hoping:: to hit the halfway mark on my list of 1,000 gifts written in my journal by the end of 2013. Yes, it's been a year and a half since I started naming gratitudes. Yes, you're supposed to write down 1,000 blessings in one year. Yes, I am still feeling so thankful for this project that I'm going to continue it to the end even if it takes me twice as long as it was supposed to!

Repeating:: the first twenty-one verses of Romans 8 to myself over and over, writing them down over and over, silently quoting them and out-loud saying them and forgetting and re-re-re-remembering. The goal of several women in my Bible study is to have the whole chapter memorized by the end of our time together in April, but right now it's going to be a push to polish down just this much through December. 

Plotting:: hand-made or locally made Christmas gifts. We don't have a lot of money, and we really want to make Christmas not all about materialistic gifts, so we're trying to keep the actual gift-giving simple and meaningful. Stay tuned for a post tomorrow with plenty of links for gift ideas, both home-made and bought! 

Loving:: all the days and sweet moments from November, and looking forward to sharing more of them with you in December!

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Keep on Going, Keep on Going...

If you've been wondering where I've disappeared to recently, well... I'm over here. Going a little crazy, writing like a maniac, and hoping that this last week of November will bring me that magical number of 50,000. There are lots of posts that I want to write, many fun events and photos that I haven't shared, but right now all my energy is going into these people, who are turning real under my fingertips.

Fio ran into Able as he suddenly stopped and turned to face her, staring at her intently. “Look, Aiofe. I already let you go twice before, when you first decided to make a choice that separated us, and when I thought you had died. You're going to be leaving again soon either for the capitol to work under Dr. Emeth's supervision or to stay with Realis in some secret hideaway. I've made a life for myself here, out in these woods. No matter what you do, I am just going to have to deal with it..."


Want to stay updated with my final week of insanity? Click on the NaNoWriMo '13 tab at the top of the page! And don't worry, I'll be back with the regular posts pretty soon : )

I wish we had snow here, but this is just a wishful-thinking picture!

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Sister, Sister

Vacation is done. Great weekend to finish it off: Shakespeare in the Park (free! hilarious! talented actors! picnic! did I mention free?), beautiful weather for lots of walks, and a guitar master class (auditing) and banquet dinner for me. The only downside was that Harmony caught a cold; she's been coughing, but seems to be feeling better today.

Now my younger sister is moving in with us! She completed her degree in Kansas City, so she's moving here to be with her family. We're very excited! That's what we'll be up to this week. Back to our original busy summer schedule!

This picture taken at the top of the St. Louis Arch is probably five years old;
we look more like twins now. It's kinda scary. 

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Catching Up

It's been a lovely week so far, folks. So lovely, in fact, that I've done no writing.

Navy-friend Nick just left (sad face), but we had a great time with him! I re-learned how to play the card game Munchkin, we visited a local national landmark called Cahokia Mounds, watched the mini-series Tin Man (based on the Wizard of Oz) and Neverland (based on Peter Pan), listened to music, hung out with other friends, stayed up way too late, and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

We were also treated to a SUPER dinner at the Melting Pot by Nick. The food was so amazing that I only thought to take a picture to remember it by at the very end, when the dessert came. All the rest of the food was devoured/savored/enjoyed before any camera could make an appearance. By far one of the best meals I've ever had!

I also had the opportunity to attend a mandolin workshop given by Roland White at a local music store. Ever since I began playing the mandolin almost two summers ago, I've been wishing for lessons, but it just couldn't happen. Youtube videos and a book have been my teachers so far. When I heard about the workshop, I excitedly checked out the information.... and knew that the cost was too expensive.

And then I miraculously found a gift certificate for the music store in a forgotten bag, given by a student's family for Christmas almost four years ago. The gift certificate covered almost the ENTIRE COST of the workshop! I was elated. Happy early birthday to me!

The four hours of mandolin instruction, stories, tips, and music were invaluable for me as a beginner. It was so inspiring to hear the other incredibly talented mandolinists playing, too. Most of the time I just stayed quiet, hoping that my stumbling pick wouldn't be heard ; )

Awesome.

I'm also planning a benefit concert! I haven't done any performing for quite a while, so it feels strange to be preparing my fingers again. We are raising funds for Compassion International, a group which helps release children from poverty by providing food and clean water, educational opportunities, medical care, and important life skills through sponsorship programs. I'll be playing with several other musicians. It'll be great!

Still continuing this week of vacation with my love and our daughter. It's so rare that Chris and I both have a day off work together, let alone several days in a row!

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Navy friend + Beginning of Summer + Staycation = Yay!

June is always going to be a busy month. Wedding anniversary, Harmony's birthday, vacation time (usually), end of the year performances, summer scheduling begins... it's easy to let my calendar fill up! But I still want to take time for the peaceful moments like last night, when Harmony and I went on a sunset walk around our apartment complex, or yesterday afternoon when my family sat down to a delicious Sunday dinner together.

Blogging may not happen on a perfect schedule, just to warn you : )  If I can write a Monday post, put together a few links on Wednesday, and get a picture up on Friday, then that will be awesome, but if not... please bear with me!

Today being Memorial Day, we've been thinking of everyone who serves in the military, including our close friends. Chris's best friend, Nick, who met Chris during Boy Scouts when they were young and was the best man in our wedding three years ago, is arriving on Wednesday to visit for a week before his next deployment begins. He's in the navy, so we are lucky if we get to see him once a year. Harmony's special camel stuffed animal, which she takes with her everywhere, was Nick's gift to her last year when he was able to meet her for the first time.

We're looking forward to having a lovely staycation with Nick, my family, and other friends here in St. Louis! In the plans are visits to the Botanical Gardens, Cahokia Mounds across the river, Shakespeare in the Park, movie nights, long conversations, and shared meals. I'm hoping for a little time to get back into playing my guitar and mandolin, too!

Thank you to everyone in the military for protecting our country. To my friends who serve, we think of you often and pray for your safety, especially when you are away.

Picture from our wedding, taken by the talented Jim Larson

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