It has been forever since I've been around to blog here! Did you know that I am a business owner now and I blog over at PrettyMuchOnlineBlog.com now? It's certainly been a very eventful year. I'd love it if you would join me at my new blog.

One Little Word: Interabang

My decision to use the word “Interabang” as one of my four little words for the year was not made on a whim. I put a lot of thought into what this year needed to be for me. This year needs to be incredible and I have a lot of huge goals to fill it with. My attitude toward this year is very positive, and my expectations are quite lofty. This year is going to reflect my soul 100% and there are no excuses. I needed a word that expressed the passion and fervor in which I plan to attack every aspect of my life. The moment I saw the word Interabang, I fell in love with it. As my list became smaller and smaller, the word continued to stand out, and as was the case with the other three words that I am also using, I just couldn’t imagine crossing it off.

The word Interabang consists of two parts: one part exclamation and one part inquisitive, one part exclamatory, and it embraces everything that is uniquely me. As an artist and designer, I am characteristically curious. I question everything from how things work to why people do the things that they do. At my best, I am immensely passionate about everything that I like to do and about my opinions on so many subjects. I smile; I laugh; I am opinionated as all hell! I strive to live boldly and intentionally. I struggle toward perfection no matter how short I fall and then I ask why I came short and how I can do better next time.

In the past few years, I have noticed a dramatic decline of the intensity in which I live my life. As I have struggled with weight problems related to thyroid issues, depression related to post-traumatic stress, and finding a balance between being financial stable and doing what I love, I have somehow lost touch with my curiosity and my passion. My intentions have remained, but the energy to complete anything has faded to a dim smolder. It pains me greatly when I compare the me that I was and still want to be to the me that I am now. This year I want all of that to change. My aspiration is to get back my passion and excitement for life, and Interabang radiates all of these expectations.

What are your words for this year? Do you have any themes or expectations for this year that you would like to share? I’d love to hear!

Stay tuned for more on my other three words. I will also be blogging more in depth about my plans for this upcoming year, some projects that I am planning, and a book review here shortly.

I hope you all enjoy your week! Loves!!!

One Little Word. Drumroll Please!

 

I absolutely adore the One Little Word concept that has been floating around for several years now. I find that it is a way to focus my intentions for each year. In the past I have found it to be inspiring and useful, but have not really taken it as far as I could. This year is going to be different though. I’m making some changes with my one little word and along with those changes, I’m hoping to make this year way cooler!

As you probably know if you have been following my posts as of lately, I have been struggling with narrowing down my word. This year is going to be huge in so many ways and finding one little word to become the driving force of my year has been tough. I need my word to be a very powerful vehicle for my goals, intentions, ambitions, hopes, dreams, and expectations to all ride in throughout this New Year. The world is full of incredible words, but even as a lover of words, I cannot find one that speaks to me in every way that I need it to for this year. There are far too many aspects of life that are about to change, and far too many new beginnings to be had this year.

After thinking and thinking and thinking, I have come up with a plan for myself. This year I will not be using one little word. I know, this sounds mad, but we are all mad here! I have decided that instead of doing one little word this year, I will be doing four little words this year. Now I know that typically one little word is a focus word to meditate upon and narrow down your expectations for the year with. It is a word that continues to pop up throughout your year. I also know though that for the enormous year I have ahead, no matter how I look at it, one little word just won’t do.

2013 is going to be a very full year, and for that reason I have chosen 4 words that will be my driving force for the year. **Drumroll please** I have chosen Interabang, Meraki, Move, and Novaturient. I will be keeping each of these words very close to my heart through this year, and at certain points through the year I will focus more heavily on one or another. I think this is going to be the best way for me personally to make this year what I desire it to be.

Stay tuned for more on my one little word!

Hope your week starts out with a bang! Loves!!!

One Little Word: Still Narrowing

I told you that I hoped to narrow my one little word down a bit more, and I really have been working on it. This has not been such a hard task in years past, but for some reason this year I am struggling a lot. I think it has a lot to do with my expectations for the year and the fact that I am starting to already feel overwhelmed. The good news is that I have gotten it narrowed down by a lot though!

Here is my current list:

1.      Better- To a greater degree; more completely or thoroughly; more. To increase the good qualities of; improve upon; surpass; succeed.

2.      Climb- to rise slowly by or as if by continued effort. To ascend or rise. To rise to a higher point or intensity.

3.      Develop- To bring out the capabilities or possibilities of; bring to a more advanced or effective state. To cause to grow or expand. To bring into being or activity.

4.      Evolution- Any process of formation or growth; development. A gradual development especially to a more complex form.

5.      Interabang- A printed punctuation mark designed to combine the question mark and the exclamation point, indicating a mixture of query and interjection.

6.      Meraki- Greek for doing something with soul, creativity, or love – when you put “something of yourself” into what you are doing, whatever it may be.

7.      Move- To advance or progress. To change from one place or position to another. To prompt, actuate, or impel to some action. To arouse or excite the feelings or passions of; effect with emotion. An action toward an objective or goal. Busy; active.

8.      Novaturient- Desiring or seeking powerful change in one’s life, behavior, or situation. Desiring changes or alterations.

Can you see where I am going with this? I am hoping for a year full of energy and motivation. I am hoping for a year where all I want is to act and do. I want a year of busyness, fun, and creativity. I want to inspire myself and keep moving forward no matter how tired I am. I want to push my limits this year!

 I guess what I really need to do though is begin! I am starting to think that beginning might be the scariest part of my whole year. Once I've begun, I am inviting possibility into my life. With possibility comes so many things: the possibility to succeed, the possibility to fail, to stumble, to fall, to get going, to make things happen, to discover new things, to be happy, to be hurt...etc, etc.! 

Alright, alright! No more excuses! It's time to get going. I will have my One Little Word tomorrow!

Loves!!!

Setting Goals for the Great Year Ahead

I have found that setting goals is very important. In grade school I can remember setting three types of goals. We used to set monthly, quarterly, yearly, and lifetime goals. I remember thinking how silly the concept was and how goals didn't really matter. In fact, a lot of the time I would set goals that I thought the teachers would like and after that not give much thought to them at all. Looking back now, I think it was a really great exercise in life planning, and I no longer set goals that someone else will like, but I instead set goals that matter to me. This year will be no different.

My goals last year were not in the front of my mind as they should have been. I let myself get very distracted and unfocused. It was a very difficult year with Dakota leaving, struggling to learn how to manage on my own, stressing over school, and then deploying myself. I made a lot of excuses as to why achieving my goals was not important, and I put them on the back burner. Although I met some of them, I wish I had been more proactive in achieving more, if not all of them.

This year, I have decided that nobody can accomplish my goals for me. If I sit around and do nothing, this time next year I will again be disappointed with myself, and I will not get to enjoy a sense of accomplishment. I have decided to be proactive and begin the life I really imagine that I am capable of living. I am going to be proud of myself come January.

Here is a list my year long goals and projects that I want to achieve:

•  Grow my garden and be able to eat from it all summer and fall.
• Continue my “What I did today” journal each day
• Strive for no more than 23 hours of sedentary activity each day 
•  Blog at least once per week
• Embrace raw veganism again and continue the lifestyle. Be at least 90% raw
• Work really hard to get birthday and holiday cards out on time
• Learn a special dance for our wedding
• Project life
• Project 365
• The Happiness Project
• Art Journal each week
• Make bread at least twice per month­­­

Do you have any year long goals? Any resolutions that you would love to share? Leave me a comment and let me know what you are planning to do this year to make the year better than the last.

If we are not striving constantly to become better, then what are we doing? If you have not yet come up with any goals for the year but want to give it a try, I have some guidelines that can help you in setting goals that you can actually achieve. I find them to be really helpful for my own goals. Goals should be SMART! Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. 

A specific goal will be more accomplish-able. It gives you a known direction to go and states exactly what you will accomplish, when you will accomplish it, and how. By setting a goal to weigh 175 pounds you will be more likely to achieve highly than if you only state that you want to get healthy or that you want to loose some weight. A measurable goal has certain criteria to tell you if and when you have accomplished it. With this goal you will know the exact point in which it has been accomplished. Reading more books would be an alright goal, but reading 10 books this year is a better goal. Attainable is fairly simple. Can you actually accomplish it? A goal to have a bachelor degree by the time you are 25 may not be accomplish-able if you are 24 and have not even begun school yet. A better goal would be to have a bachelor degree by the time you are 28 or maybe 29. A realistic goal should be something within your capabilities. If you don't know how to knit, you should not set a goal to knit 10 blankets this year. Instead make your goal to learn how to knit and make one blanket. Lastly, a timely goal will be easier to achieve as well. Set a goal and tell yourself when you want to accomplish it by. If you are setting a goal for the year, the time-frame you have to reach the goal is December 31.

Go ahead and give it a try. Let me know how it goes!

Begin Where You Are.

Sometimes all we really need to do more than anything else is begin! We can set all the goals in the world, but until we decide to simply begin, nothing will happen. 2013 is going to be a year of beginning. I am planning to begin a lot of things this year, and I am hoping that the first step is what I need most to prove to myself that I can do so much more than I have done before.

This year I am working on a lot of personal goals. I have a lot of projects that I want to begin. Most importantly, Mr. Fantastic and I will begin our life together as a married couple. There is so much potential wrapped up with a pretty bow and presenting itself to me as 2013 begins, I just need to remind myself that I have the strength to do anything. I must step up to the plate and begin.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about years past and the current year ahead. I've noticed that although I always say I want to do this or that, I often fall short. It's okay to fall short, but I must continue to strive toward the goals that I set no matter how big or how small and no matter how daunting they may seem. Nothing will change without me changing it, and I can only change it if I begin.

I have decided that this year I am going to go about my goals in a bit of a different way. I will of course keep up my tradition of setting some major goals for the year, but I have also decided to take a cue from Elise over at Enjoy It and try making some smaller goals each month. I will be striving for goals that help me to enjoy life more completely and document life as it happens. I don't want to forget all the wonderful things that happen in life, but I also don't want to get too busy remembering everything that I forget to be present in each moment as well.

What are you planning to begin this year? This month? This week? What are you planning to begin today?
Leave me a comment and let me know where you are beginning and what you hope to accomplish. I love to hear new ideas!

Have a lovely day!
Loves!!!

One Little Word

As I have done for the past two years, I am working on picking my One Little Word. In my experience, having one little word has enriched my life with purpose. This year I am having a little trouble deciding on my word. I know exactly what I want to work toward this year, what achievements I want to make, and how I want to live, but I am still struggling to pick one word to become my driving force through the year.

Last year my word was curious. I tried to be curious in all that I did. I explored new things - new possibilities and was open to change. I think curious will always have a role in my life as a person and as a graphic artist. It is a means of growth. The year did not go as I had planned at all, but I would not change it for anything. Instead of following the road map I had planned out in my head, life took a million different roads. The destination even changed. I guess you don't always know what you want or where you want to go until you get it or until you arrive. That's the most beautiful thing about life - it is unpredictable. In that unpredictability, it is perfect.

My original list of possible guiding word choices was over 100 words long. I continued to read through them - out loud - and narrow down the list. Saying the words out loud really helped me to feel them more fully and dissect their true meaning to me. Although the list shrank dramatically, it also grew larger again on several occasions.  Currently I have a list of 33 words. The crazy thing is that at its smallest my list had 6 words. I'm so indecisive and this year is going to be a huge year for me on so many levels that I want this One Little Word to be very special.

Here are the 33 words that I have on my list:

Action,  amazing,   authentic,  balance,  begin,  better,  blossom,  breath,  build, celebrate, change, climb, create,  develop, discover, do, elysian, enjoy, enthusiasm, explore, everyday, focus, intentional, interabang, light, meraki, move, novaturient, open, revolution, save, start, strong

  I have started a pinterest board in order to collect ideas. I think this is why my list has gotten so large again. I started pinning new quotes that talked about the things I wanted to accomplish this year, and before I knew it my word list had grown out of control. I hope that by tomorrow, I can make the list much smaller. You will have to cross your fingers for me!

Are any of you participating in the One Little Word Challenge? Anyone enrolled in the Ali Edwards One Little Word class? I would love to know what your word is. Leave me a comment if you would like to share. If you are not participating in this challenge, I still encourage you to to follow along throughout this year as I post updates on my one little word challenge.

Have a great weekend!
Loves!!!