OLW 2018 - January Completed

I didn't do a lot for my January title page, and in fact I may redo the card at the bottom because I'm not 100% happy with it. I just used some foam dimensional letters and two embellishments. Photo is from when I was wearing a fun pair of exercise pants my husband gave me for Christmas to class. And this was such a great goal for me this month. I really did follow through and only missed two days when I was sick!

I like to have different sized page protectors in my albums, and I don't know if you can tell but the purple water bottle protector is a small 4x6 size holding the 4x4 photo and two small cards at the bottom. You can see another page peeking out behind there.

Here is a closer look at the page on the left. Body Pump class was huge for me in January! In fact, my YMCA membership where I take the class is probably one of the best things I could have done for myself exercise wise. It's one of my favorite places to go these days.

Yoga was also big for me in January! I love yoga all year round, but every January I join in the annual Yoga with Adriene 30 days of yoga challenges. This year it was the 30 Day True Journey.

And here is a closer look at the page on the right. I used a screenshot of one of the workouts and then a self timer photo of myself. Yoga in pj's is now one of my favorite ways to do yoga in the evenings. There were a few nights that it really helped me relax before bed and ended the day just right.

Then I decided to add a monthly reflections page about how my goal went, which I plan on doing each month. As far as exercise, I am still doing pretty well in February. Of course not as many workouts as in January because I was doubling up a lot of days back then just to see if I could. But instead of letting exercise slide if I am too tired, I usually make the choice now to follow through. It has definitely become more of a priority and I really can't seem to let a day pass without some form of exercise. It just doesn't feel right! So I would consider my January goal a huge success!

I'm getting ready to start my pages to document my goal and progress for February, so I will have those to share soon hopefully.

Around Here

Listening  to lots of good music on Spotify and some of my favorite Podcasts

Starting a new to me tv series on Netflix

Only one episode down so the jury is still out. But I am liking it so far.
My husband and I usually watch one or two series together and we are into this one right now...

So weird in so many ways, but it's kind of got us hooked wanting to see what happens next.

Exercising at least six days a week and giving myself the option of one day off if I feel I need the break.
Just finished the Yoga with Adriene...

It was amazing and I made so much progress throughout this series! I highly recommend her yoga channel on YouTube.

Drinking

lots of Hint water. No affiliate links here. I just like to share what I love, and I really do love this water. It's a little pricey, but so good and natural. It's been a great substitute for soda. You can find it at Target, too a little cheaper and on sale sometimes. But normally I just order directly from their site.

Working a little bit more than usual as a substitute teacher at a more regular position. It's a challenge for sure. I have to say that I am in awe of women who work full time. During the weeks I work 4+ days, I am still trying to find a nice balance of working outside of the home and then actually getting things done around the house. I like to have those two or three days off during the week to clean house, run errands and just stay caught up. But oh how I love being back in a classroom again! And I also love that Pinterest is a huge help with lessons.

Last week we were studying Adverbs and it just wasn't clicking. The book we are working out of isn't that great. And on top of that, it's really not the easiest concept for second graders to grasp. But I found this idea on Pinterest...

and they loved it! Anna Adverb was a great supplement to our lesson. So Pinterest for the win!

Wearing these shoes...

my black Palisades slip on sneakers by Roxy. They are so comfortable and remind me of our trip to London this past summer. Definitely love them!

Thinking I can't be the only person on Instagram with two accounts who forgets to switch over before posting. I can name at least four times in the past week or so when I posted a photo to my public account instead of the private family one. At least I caught my mistake pretty quickly each time, but I need to be more mindful of which account I am on before posting. It's kind of like accidentally sending a text meant for someone else to the last person you were texting with. I do that more frequently than I would like as well. Thankfully, it's never been anything too crazy.

And finally...
Feeling sad and shocked at yet another school shooting, this time in Florida. But also feeling angry at how some people continue to come up with the worst solutions possible to the problem. One I keep reading about is the need to arm teachers and support staff in the schools. Worst idea ever and one that avoids the real issue. This should not be the norm. We should not be turning this into something that is just accepted as reality for this day and age. Something needs to be done to prevent this from happening ever again. And arming people who are not comfortable with weapons is a huge mistake. I'm not going to go into the politics of it all right now. At some point I may get on my soapbox and make a lengthy post on my position. But for now, I am encouraged to see students and young adults finally taking a stand and telling our government, this is NOT ok. And I will be watching closely and paying attention to which of our congressmen and women actually work towards making the changes necessary to move us in the right direction. And I will be very active in contacting my senators and state reps. I promise you that.

Let's Talk Music

I found this quote on Pinterest and it clicked with me so much that I added it to a board I created on there called "My Music".

I have been such a music junkie my whole life. In fact, I can't remember a time when I didn't love to listen to music. I have vivid memories of dancing in the living room of my Nana's house to Abba's Dancing Queen when I was a little girl. It was one of my favorite songs!

These days my taste in music can be pretty eclectic. I could probably find at least one song from every genre that I would like. But I do tend to lean more towards rock, classic rock and alternative. 

Now that we have Spotify premium, just like the quote says, I really do have a playlist for everything. Most of my playlists are pretty upbeat but I do have a "One of Those Days" playlist for when I'm feeling not so great. 

One of my current favorite playlists is called "All in One Place" and has music from three of my favorite bands who all just happened to release new albums around the same time recently. I went through and picked my favorite songs from those albums and now I can just shuffle that playlist and listen to them all in a row.

That playlist got me thinking about my favorite bands right now.

I always joke with my husband, that spots one and two will be forever taken by U2 and Radiohead. That never changes. I will love U2 till the end of time. They are my all time favorite band and I explained why in this post, The Road to U2 Joshua Tree 2017. So much history for me as well as my husband with this band.

My second top pick is Radiohead. In my opinion, they are musical geniuses. I have been following them ever since Pablo Honey came out back in 1993 and continue to love them to this day. Unfortunately, they rarely come close to here for concerts. But I was able to surprise my husband with tickets to see them as a birthday gift many years ago. They weren't the best seats, but we still say it was one of the best concerts ever! 

As for my number three spot, that is always up for grabs. I have rotated quite a few bands through it over the years. Since 2013, it has been The National. My husband is definitely even more of a music junkie than I am and he has introduced me to a lot of amazing bands over the years! The National is one of them. And frankly, though I don't like to share a lot of personal info here, I credit some of the National's music with helping us in a not so easy time in our marriage. We had one year or so that was just awful. I was struggling with depression and he was having to travel so much for work at the same time. It was pretty hard on both of us, and we just weren't talking at all. But The National have a song called "About Today", and the lyrics really caught my attention. 

We both realized we had a lot of talking to do and thankfully in the process, we also both realized we really missed and love each other and that all we wanted was to be happy again. We had just kind of gotten lost for a bit. It's funny what you can learn from lyrics when they are just right. And we learned that successful, happy marriages need lots of good communication! It has really made all the difference! Like I said, I believe talk about my marriage is personal and private. But I am so proud of how we overcame a major obstacle and came together instead of growing apart. We even say as hard as it was, it's something we had to go through to get to where we are now!

So the National have a special place in my heart. And with the release of their new album, "Sleep Well Beast", it doesn't look like they will be leaving third place. I absolutely love them!

But for the first time ever, I am having to let two bands/musicians have the number three position. I can't let go of The National, but I am also totally loving Noel Gallagher!

Can't stand his brother, but I think Noel is brilliant. And when he opened for U2 in Amsterdam and Brussels this summer, I started listening to him again. I absolutely loved almost every song on his album Chasing Yesterday - especially Riverman, The Dying of the Light, and You Know We Can't Go Back.
So as of right now Noel and The National hold that special third spot in my top three favorite bands of all time.

Now I will admit, that my husband is usually the one who finds the good new music. I tend to listen to old favorites. I have playlists for classic rock, the 80's, alternative music from the 90's and soundtracks. But recently I shared a band with him that I've been listening to called...

Highly Suspect. I heard their song "Little One" on a local alternative radio station here and it caught my attention. They are more of a harder post grunge rock, but my husband admitted tonight that he's kind of liking them. Lol.

It's always fun to play songs for each other. We like to talk to each other through music quite a bit.

I even have a playlist of songs he sends me. That one is private though ;)

So what type of music do you like?
Do you have a top three list as well?
I'm thinking now that I typed out this post, that I probably should document my favorites in a layout. :)

One Little Word - February

In my last post I shared photos of my introduction pages for my One Little Word album.
I haven't quite finished my January Self Care goal pages, but since it is now February I did want to at least share the next goal and project I will be creating for February.

In my One Little Word class with Ali Edwards, she is encouraging us to make a vision board to help us connect visually with our word. I have a head start because being the Pinterest junkie I am, I had already started a OLW board there. So I am going to design a collage of some of the pins I want to use and put it in my album.

Here are a few ideas I am thinking of adding to my vision board:

This is so true for me! In the past I have simply run myself into the ground trying to get everything done and care for everyone else! I got smart this time around when I was sick two weeks ago. I took time off work and pretty much rested for two days. As a result, I got better quicker than I ever have before.

I want to include this pin because I truly feel as if 2018 is going to be amazing. I have such great plans for this year, and I feel energized about every single one of them.

I know these two pins are really similar and I will probably just end up picking one for my vision board. But they both resonate with me. It has taken me a while, in fact probably the whole fifteen years I have been a mother, to realize that taking care of myself is not selfish. It's necessary!

 Oh how my anxiety fights me on this one. But I'm learning.

I saw an article yesterday with a quote that basically said, don't compare your own beginning to someone else's middle. And it made me think, we all have to start somewhere, right? For example, by comparing my progress and where I am at in my Body Pump class to that of my teacher would just be crazy. She has been doing this type of workout for years, and I am just a newbie. It wouldn't make sense to feel down on myself because I don't have her abilities yet! But I'm making progress for sure!

This is the secret! I have heard that to really make a change and develop new habits, you need to give it at least 21 days. I am hoping that my monthly self care goal plan will help me do just that. Change one thing in my daily routine each month that will improve my physical, mental and emotional health! And that those changes will stick as I see how much better I feel at the end of each month.

And I love this! Such a positive perspective, which is what 2018 is about for me. Look for the positive and don't dwell on the negatives.

So I know this might sound like the the opposite of Self Care, but in February my goal is Relationships. Namely nurturing my relationships. I am surrounded by so many supportive people, that I feel very lucky. I know by building up my relationships with the people I love and care about, that I am going to be doing something to help myself as well. I want to put more positive energy into the way I interact with my friends, family, co workers and students.

One way I am trying to do this is by practicing active listening. When someone talks to me, I am making an effort to give all of my attention and avoiding distractions. I am really wanting to engage in meaningful conversations to learn more about what matters the most to the people who matter the most. My husband is seriously into cycling right now and I have learned so much about his interest this past year. It feels good to be supportive and gain knowledge about something he is so passionate about!

I am also planning on putting together some Self Care baskets for friends and family throughout the month. Nothing big. Just a little something to say I am thinking of you. I found the idea on Pinterest. Have I mentioned how much I love Pinterest? lol

And even though January is over, I am still planning on exercising six times per week with one rest day. Whether it's yoga, strength training or cardio at home, the YMCA or walking outdoors, I am going to keep that good habit going strong!

Hopefully coming up next post, my completed January goal pages for my album!