the 2017 vision blog

First up.. this! (Posted by FB Friend Stacy last night.) Love it!

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So to that end, the "be healthier" challenges:

• Cut out the sweets I've become addicted to this holiday season (after I finish eating my cookie tin... hey, I'm trying to be realistic here ;)
• Drink more water 
• Go back to the "wake up early and work out on the Wii Fit" routine that helped me so much six years ago. To accomplish that I will need to..
• Go to bed earlier than current midnight-ish.

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I want to do at least one new thing a week. 

• I started today by -- for the first time in 8 years at my house -- walking to Lake Balboa park from my house and walking the entire perimeter of the lake for the first time ever. It was a gorgeous day after all the rain yesterday and I felt so refreshed. I realized I need to spend more time at that lake -- it's so close and very peaceful (when not near the playground ;). Perhaps I will take my beach chair and books there on Saturday afternoons...

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Speaking of books, here's my reading pile for the year.. a little less ambitious than last year (it's actually just what I didn't even start last year). So hopefully I will finish it (although that Nora Ephron book is thick!)

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The hope behind the choices in that book pile is to inspire me to write more. To that end, I am toying with the idea of starting a trendy bullet journal... it's a way to write and be crafty and organized all at the same time. We shall see... I have a hard enough time remembering to write in my normal journal. But this Buzzfeed article makes it look more fun than the official site does :)

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Speaking of crafty, I think I have finally saved enough wine corks the last year to make a small version of this, which I saved off Drew Barrymore's instragram around Valentine's Day last year. I think it's pretty (and it's all recycled!). And it represents Love ... I'd like more of that in my life in 2017 too. :)

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I hope to remember this each day...

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And... the holdovers from last year:

Two weeks split between here....

... and here

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For a certain twosome who love complaining about my crappy front door, I will get a new one, sort of like this...

With that front door, I hope to kickstart other items on my home improvement list too.... anyone know a good handyman? 

the 2016 vision blog

My light reading pile for the year (collected over the last two years). What should I start with?*

*After I finally finish The Interestings... which I've been half reading for 16 months. Oy. 

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A return to this view... which will help me get through the pile above :)

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Two weeks split between here....

... and here

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For a certain twosome who love complaining about my crappy front door, I will get a new one, sort of like this...

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And this....

words of wisdom: whatever's good for your soul..

I need to heed these words of wisdom more often. Note the pen...

Thanks for the reminder Pinteerst :)

truth

Finally! One of those Buzzfeed quizzes gave me an answer I agree with!

where did summer go?

It's September. How did that happen? The summer flew by and I feel like I missed it ... I guess that's what happens when you are re-aclimating to working and getting used to a new job.

I do remember talking about my new job over a lot of breakfasts/lunches/dinners/drinks with friends. I also remember a 4th of July BBQ and hosting some grilling nights complete with super messy s'mores. I hosted my first afternoon tea complete with scones and finger sandwiches. Oh, and I went to a lovely wedding in the garden of the British Consul-General's residence and a fun, internationally-themed baby shower, both with really good food.

I went to some concerts -- Opening Night at the Bowl, Heart, John Williams. I bought a lot of concert tickets for this fall. I did not buy tickets for Bon Jovi at Staples Center in October because Richie Sambora and Jon Bon Giant Ego are still fighting and not on tour together as they should be. That will be the first Los Angeles-area Bon Jovi concert since 1989 I am not at. Sad.

I went to the Arclight Sherman Oaks for a bunch of movies, only a few of which were memorable. Although right now I can't remember which those were.

I went to Pop Physique a LOT and have super-strong calf muscles to prove it.

I did not read past page 22 of Pride and Prejudice... yet. I will do this. I must.

I also did not write a lot. Going back to work has tired me out. This makes also makes me sad. I feel like I've been sucked back into the evil corporate void, where creativity does not exist. I need to start writing more and finding small joys in normal things like I was able to do on my "sabbatical."

I saw this article on twitter a few weeks ago. I have a journal I haven't touched in years. I usually just go to it to vent about things I dare not say to another human being. I think I am going to dig it out and turn it into something positive using that list as a guide.

I am also going to start re-reading some of my creative writing books from college -- Wild Mind, The Artist's Way -- that assign things to write about and get the juices flowing.

The Artist's Way makes you write morning pages... I remember that. I am so not a morning person.

Maybe I'll go read Pride and Prejudice instead.

adorkable overload

What's my fave new show this tv season? If you'd asked me back in October, I would have given some highfalutin answer like Person of Interest. And while I do enjoy that drama from the mind of the awesome JJ Abrams, I have to say the new show I most look forward to each week is the adorkable (yes, I just said that) New Girl, starring queen of the adorkables, Zooey Deschanel. It's not like it's ground-breaking TV. And it's never going to unseat Friends as my fave sitcom of all time. But New Girl makes me happy. From the cute theme song ("Who's that girl?.... Who's that girl?.... It's Jess!") to the totally stereotypical three guy roommates who all secretly crush on Jess in their own adorkable (yes I said it again) ways, the show just makes me smile. Maybe it's because I secretly wish I could be as cute, quirky and carefree as Jess... adorkable (yeah, yeah), if you will. Whatever the reason, I'm glad other people agree with me and love the show too. It's very in sync with my unwritten 2012 goal to surround myself with more positivity, so I'm glad it's not in danger of cancellation anytime soon.

Zooey also is co-founder of a cute, quirky, drowning in positivity blog with an adorkable (last time... I promise.) name, HelloGiggles. And while I think I'm probably not their demo (since I'm old now), I still enjoy checking it out every now and then. The Treats section has some good recipes. And the How To's section is always educational. Take this recent post titled How to Small Talk. I learned things you should make small talk about include BBC Masterpiece Classics and your favorite Goldie Hawn movies, and you should never make small talk about your job. This explains a lot about my social life (or lack thereof) and why I hate going to parties where small talk might be required. ;)

inspired

So for some odd reason, I've been really inspired as of late to be here on my blog. I changed the design and have been posting regularly for like a week (lol). Not that there are a lot of people here with me, but I'm enjoying it anyway. It's been a good creative outlet in a time of utter work craziness and sad pet parenthood. A few coworkers have really great blogs seeping with positive energy they've posted links to on Facebook recently, so I have to thank them for my inspiration. I've also been exposed to a bunch of self-help "list" articles the last few weeks. The most recent one is 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing. Part of item #1 is "Your writing will never chase you — you need to chase your writing." Maybe that's why I am bringing myself back here over and over, writing about little things I like or have seen. I'm chasing my buried creativity and searching for a big idea. I've actually pulled two of my favorite writing exercise books from college off the shelf -- The Artist's Way (which now has a companion blog site) and The Wild Mind. I remember my awesome creative writing professor, my sophomore year of college, leading us through writing exercises... mind dumps where you just put pen to paper and let the thoughts flow, with no roadmap or plan. That's the year I wrote my only printed, personal works... a compilation of poems and short stories titled "From a dusty room... " Now I have housecleaners to dust for me, so maybe its sequel will be shinier.