One Little Word :: January

My word :: T O D A Y

Definition :: 1. adv. on this present day; nowadays, in modern times. 2. n. this present day; modern times.

Thesaurus :: n. this day, the present, our time, this moment ... not yesterday, not tomorrow

I chose this word because :: I'm easily overwhelmed, which leads me to give up easily. This year, although I have lofty goals for myself, I'm hoping that breaking tasks down and taking baby steps will help me accomplish more. Dealing with things one day at a time is manageable, and I believe that focusing my energies (mental, physical, emotional, creative) on incremental change will be beneficial in the long run.

Quote :: "There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow, so today is the right day to love, believe, do and mostly live." -- His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

In what way is this word already a part of my life? Every morning when I wake up the first thing I think is, "What am I going to do today? What's going to happen today? How do I feel about today?" And before I go to bed, there's at a least a moment when I reflect on how today was, whether it was the kind of day that will be motivation for another great day, or whether it's a day to put behind me so I can start over the next morning.

More // Less
More moving forward // Less looking backward
More positive thinking // Less negative thinking
More listening // Less formulating responses
More kindness // Less snarkiness
More patience // Less yelling
More enjoying // Less worrying
More creating // Less hoarding supplies
More reading // Less interneting
More moving // Less lounging
More thanking // Less complaining

What do I most fear in 2014? My biggest fear is that I won't change at all this year; that I'll continue with bad habits and negative thinking.

What am I most excited about in 2014? The possibility of really conquering my negativity is most exciting to me. Living with a more positive attitude will have such a far-reaching effect, not just for me but for the way I treat my family. I know that my negativity has leached out in hurtful ways and it's probably caused Rupert to worry about me sometimes.

Intentions ::
mental :: Positivity. Positivity. Positivity! Not letting the things that are out of my control bring me down. Focus on what I can change/affect and not sweat the small stuff. 
physical :: Move as much as possible, whether it's a 10-minute walk, yoga, or something more intense. Work my way up to running a 5K again. The important thing is that I feel good in my body, regardless of weight.
emotional :: Taking a moment to take a breath before I speak or let my emotions get the better of me. I really want to show my kids (and Rupert) more love. Be cognizant of my moods so I don't let them steer me in the wrong direction.
creative :: Get back into scrapbooking via Project Life and complete some sewing projects (like basic window treatments and cushion covers). Regain the joy in creating something with my own hands.  

Still cold ...

Are you getting tired of my cold weather posts yet?

The weather gods are constantly looking out for the kids: All of our Snow Days have butt up against a weekend or a holiday! This week, the kids had Monday off for MLK Day, Tuesday off for staff development, and today there's no school because of the weather!

Science Olympiad :: Frederick County Invitational

Ian joined the Science Olympiad team at his school and, although he's on the B Team, he's done quite well in the two invitationals they've been to so far. Today he medaled in both events he participated in at the Frederick County Invitational: 1st place in Solar System and 2nd place in Shock Value. Of course, it wasn't a solo effort; he worked hard with his partners to gain the knowledge needed to do well on the tests.

I think the thing that I was most pleased about, though, was seeing him interacting with his schoolmates. Changing schools during middle school is never easy and Rupert and I worried a bit about Ian's transition. It was really reassuring to see him dragged off by his friends to play cards the second he arrived at the invitational venue, and to see him high five-ing his partner after they got their medal. His social well-being is what he'll remember and take away from this experience more than any plastic medal.

The coldest it's been in 20 years

I'm going to feel really bad sending Ian out tomorrow morning (before 7am) when it's 3 degrees out! And it figures that it's going to be a clear day and freezing tomorrow, but warm (relatively speaking) and cloudy later in the week!

Updated January 7, 2014 :: Yup, it was cold this morning! Maybe not 3 degrees, but can you really feel the difference between 3 and 7 degrees?

First snow of 2014

I stepped out of the supermarket yesterday and was greeted by a flurry of big fat snowflakes (note the melting flakes in my hair). I was a bit surprised despite Maya having told me that morning it was going to snow and the brief precipitation I felt as I was walking toward the market 20 minutes earlier.

Driving home was actually my first time driving in snow, but it was no different than driving in a light drizzle since the snow wasn't sticking. I knew the storm that hit the Midwest and Northeast was pretty bad, but I didn't have any idea it would hit us in the Mid-Atlantic as bad as it did. The temperature plummeted and the snow kept right on falling ...

[After it stopped snowing, the sky and snow made the neighborhood brighter than it usually is late at night. This picture was taken without flash.]

[Waking up this morning, I was greeted by the rising sun made all the brighter by the whiteness of the snow.]

The kids were delighted that it was another Snow Day, making it a three-day weekend. I had intended to get some shopping done today but decided against going out since I'm a bit freaked out about icy roads. Instead, I spent the morning reading in bed. Despite the blue sky and sunny weather, it was a gusty morning and the wind made it "snow" again: accumulated snow from the roof and treetops was blown loose, swirling up and sideways and back again. I could see the tiny flakes in the sunlight and watching it was not only mesmerizing but calming as well.

I managed to drag Ian out of the house for a few minutes in the afternoon to go on a walk to the cemetery behind our house. I've been meaning to go for months to see what it's like on the other side of our backyard, which we can only glimpse from our bedroom window. Although it's right along a major street, it's its own little world with gravestones from the 1800s to early 1900s, some toppled over, some surprisingly new looking. Clearly, it's not visited very often (in fact, I've only seen signs of (live) human life once since we moved in six months ago) and, strange as it sounds, I just wanted to let my "neighbors" know that even though I don't know who they are, they aren't forgotten; even briefly, I think about them everyday.

The snow does that to me. Not to be punny, but seeing even a few inches of snow freezes time for me and makes me rather introspective. No deep thoughts, but it gives me the chance to pause for a moment and think about something other than myself.

One Little Word 2014

My favorite scrapbooker, Ali Edwards, has been leading a year-long workshop called One Little Word (OLW) for several years now. The premise of the project is to choose a word in January that will help guide you through the year, whether it's towards self-improvement or to encourage you through a year that might be difficult. From Ali's blog:

Having a single word to focus on each year has made a difference in my life.

In 2006 I began a tradition of choosing one word for myself each January – a word that I can focus on, mediate on, and reflect upon as I go about my daily life. My words have included play, peace, vitality, nurture, story, light, up and open. These words have each become a part of my life in one way or another. They’ve been imbedded into who I am, and into who I’m becoming. They’ve been what I’ve needed (and didn’t know I needed). They’ve helped me to breathe deeper, to see clearer, and to grow.

What do you do with this one little word?

You live with it. You invite it into you life. You let it speak to you. You might even follow where it leads. There are so many possibilities.

Each January, when she blogs about her word, I think about choosing one too. And, in typical fashion, I don't follow-through and I muddle along for the rest of the year with no guiding principle to help me become a better Me.

2014 is going to be different, my friends. My plan is to find ways to hold myself accountable. So I signed up for the workshop, and I thought about my word and what I want my life in 2014 to be like (or not be like). A lot of the pain I bring upon myself comes from my inability to let things go. I dwell on the past. I focus on the negative. I worry. I know all of these things prevent me from enjoying the Now and just plain being happy. 

I seriously considered choosing "Let It Go" as my word, but if I could change my personality and just let things go, I would've done it a long time ago. Fundamentally re-tweaking the way your mind works and how it deals with things is a process, a long one at that. I feel like choosing "Let It Go" as my OLW would've set me up for failure. I needed to start off with baby steps, and to take this life change one day at a time. In the end, although it's a bit counter-intuitive, I decided on a word that's not a verb: TODAY. 

When I wake up in the morning I can ready myself to deal with one day. When I go to bed at night, I can rest assured that I either made a positive step toward my goal, or I can start over the next morning if I've had a bad day. TODAY is manageable. And that's what I need: realistic expectations based on my past actions, incremental change, and permission to mess up sometimes.

Let's see how this goes, shall we?

Happy Holidays!

What a year it's been for us! I knew change was coming when Rupert finished his PhD in 2012, but you can never be 100% ready for a huge change like moving across the country. The last six months have seen some highs and lows for me personally, but that's not surprising. The good thing is that I'm ending the year feeling positive about where I am at the moment, and that as a whole 2013 wasn't too shabby of a year.

[photo collage made by Rupert]

Row 1 (L to R): Maya & a butterfly (MD); Alisal Ranch (CA); Alisal Ranch; Museum of Play (Rochester, NY); softball (CA); C&O Canal (MD)

Row 2: baseball (CA); Alisal Ranch; first day of school (MD); Cornell University (Ithaca, NY); Thanksgiving (Keuka Lake, NY); Manhattan Beach (CA)

Row 3: end of the fall ball season (MD); keeping cool indoors (Arlington, VA); in our old backyard (Hawthorne, CA); Manhattan Beach; Mt. Vernon (VA); pool time (Rancho Mirage, CA)

Row 4: pedal boating in the Tidal Basin (DC); Manhattan Beach; fall leaves (MD); hanging out at home (MD); Andy Warhol's Silver Clouds at the Artisphere (Arlington, VA); on our old porch

Row 5: Little League World Series field (South Williamsport, PA); pumpkin carving (MD); C&O Canal; Ian as Han Solo at Halloween (MD); our old master bedroom; fall in MD

Row 6: pedal boating in the Tidal Basin; C&O Canal; hanging out at home (MD); afternoon in DC; riding the Metro (DC); summertime Maya (CA)

Getting used to the cold

Ian and I were walking to a classmate's house this morning, chatting about how we're getting used to the colder weather. It was a beautiful sunny morning and Ian thought it must be in the 50s. A quick look at my weather app told us otherwise:

I'm finding that temperatures in the mid-30s are actually tolerable, especially when the sun's out. This would've been unthinkable when we lived in LA. In the first place, when is it ever in the mid-30s in LA?? What passed as "freezing" for us back then were temps in the low- to mid-50s, which is pleasant, warm weather here. 

Just goes to show, you get used to most things!

Snow Day

Second Snow Day in a row (although, officially, yesterday was an Emergency Weather Day because of icy conditions). It's not even officially winter yet and we've already used up two of the four Snow Days we can have before the district starts tacking on days to the end of the school year. 

My brother-in-law and his wife live in Rochester, New York and we were talking about snow over Thanksgiving, and it came up that DC-area "Snowmageddon" was a regular occurrence in their area. Which makes me wonder how bad it has to get in places like Rochester, Minnesota, or Canada before they declare a Snow Day. 

The kids are, obviously, enjoying this unexpected long weekend. I actually am too. I've decided not to venture out and I'm taking advantage of the serenity (minus the kids' voices) to catch up on some reading. Luckily, we have enough food in the house so I don't have to go out. 

7:45ish

8:45ish

9:45ish

10:45ish

11:45ish

OK, so most of the pictures look the same, but it's been snowing consistently for several hours so it's piling up more than it did on Sunday. 

By 3:00 the scene was already changing ...

There was just enough snow for me to build a snow penguin:

First real snow fall!

[photo collage by Rupert]

Day 30 :: Thankful for ...

... the chance to be thankful everyday. 

What follows is a cheesy cliché-fest but it has to be said, especially on this last day of publicly sharing what I'm thankful for. 

When I Instagrammed the photo above, part of my caption read, "Purposefully chose #nofilter to remind myself how beautiful life is just the way it is." Could I be any cheesier? But I find that it's the truth. Is my life "perfect?" Of course not. But it's pretty darn close, and it really requires no embellishment or improvement to be a beautiful life. I occasionally find that I'm preoccupied with trying to make my life "better" by wanting things to be just right, or I make my life overly complicated for no good reason; the result is that I don't see what's already so good.

It's easy to complain about what's not right in my life, but in the grand scheme of things those problems are so minor they're laughable. Instead, I really should be thankful that I have so much to be thankful for. And remembering that will lead to a happier, more positive way of life, which I really need right now. 

Basically, I have the power and choice to make each day better and happier than the day before. To simply have the chance every time I wake up in the morning to focus on my happiness (instead of on sheer survival) is a luxury I should never take for granted ... or squander. 

I probably won't continue to share what I'm thankful for everyday, but I resolve to remind myself, as often as possible, of the many things that make my life a wondrous thing.

Day 29 :: Thankful for ...

... the chance to go back to Cornell for the first time in 15 years. 

Day 28 :: Thankful for ...

... Thanksgiving and Hanukkah falling on the same day, and that we got to spend it with Rupert's family. Happy Thanksgivukkah!

Day 27 :: Thankful for ...

... arriving safely at our destination after driving through some snow in the dark. (This picture was taken during the nice flurrying snow; we ran into some "can't really see where we're going" snow later in the drive.)

Day 26 :: Thankful for ...

... the mild craziness of getting ready for Thanksgivukkah. It means we have family to celebrate with and much to be thankful for. 

Day 25 :: Thankful for ...

... a little disposable income so I can occasionally treat myself to lunch (or a new shirt, or a book, or stationery).

Day 24 :: Thankful for ...

... our cozy home. 

Day 23 :: Thankful for ...

... my kids' new friends. 

Day 22 :: Thankful for ...

... my children's good health. I took them to their first check-up here and everything's A-OK. And we liked their new pediatrician, a youngish guy (a first for us and probably a good thing for Ian).

Day 21 :: Thankful for ...

... a few quiet moments staring outside at the birds and squirrels fattening up for the winter. 

Day 20 :: Thankful for ...

... libraries. (Left: Ian's middle school library where I volunteer; Right: my local public library's children's graphic novels/comics section)

Day 19 :: Thankful for ...

... my kind & loving/lovable husband, Rupert. (And, just to be clear, his real name isn't Rupert. It's kind of a long-standing joke that stuck on the blog.) We have a special thing going, mostly because he is extremely tolerant of me. (This photo was taken at Thanksgiving; we really need to take more pictures of just the two of us.)

Day 18 :: Thankful for ...

... sunshine.

Day 17 :: Thankful for ...

... family game nights. And an understanding family who lets me just be a spectator. ;)

(They're playing Takenoko, if you're wondering.)

Day 16 :: Thankful for ...

... former colleagues who are visiting DC and invited me to join them on a night tour of the monuments.

Day 15 :: Thankful for ...

... the children's literature community. I attended my second Capitol Choices meeting today and, like last time, it reinforced the importance of the work these people do. On a personal level, I've been encouraged and buoyed by people involved in children's literature who I've met online and in person. 

Day 14 :: Thankful for ...

... supportive friends around the country. In my time of emotional need, my friends never fail to come through for me. Whether it's a virtual hug through Facebook, a phone call, or a handwritten letter, my friends always show me that they've got my back. 

Day 13 :: Thankful for ...

... my son. Happy 13th birthday, Ian! You are a great kid and you've certainly made being your parents a pretty easy job.

(Guess what his favorite food is!)

Day 12 :: Thankful for ...

... my mom. Need I say more? (Happy birthday, Mommy!)

Day 11 :: Thankful for ...

... time spent in the kitchen with my parents, learning how to make food that's familiar to my taste buds, and passing that knowledge/skill down to Maya. 

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention on Veterans Day how thankful I am for our veterans and their families.