The Hard Times Put The Shine Into The Diamond

Towards the end of 2015 I declared that my word for 2016 would be RISE. I was all gungho to participate in Ali Edward's One Little Word prompts and spend the entire year rising. I wrote out specific ways I wanted to rise during the during and how I would incorporate the word into every aspect of my life. I wanted to focus on being more successful and more confident. Connecting with nature and rising above. That was in January. Eleven months later I'm starting to find the humour that the vast majority of the rising I did this year was not really about success... 

In the beginning the two things that kept reappearing as I searched for quotes that contained the word rise were this quote:

"Don't carry your mistakes around with you. Instead, place them under your feet and use them as stepping stones to rise above them. Never regret, if it's good it's wonderful, if it's bad it's experience." 

And the song 'Riser' by Dierks Bentley neither of which was what I was looking for, but they kept coming up over and over again. At one point Riser was playing on the radio every time I got into the car. The quote that I officially picked was "If you're going to rise you might as well shine" which my mind had interpreted as "If you're going to get up in the morning you might as well be confident, talented and noticeable." 

It's only in the past few weeks that I've started to accept that Rise did not play out the way I wanted, but the universe was trying to manage my expectations from the very beginning, I just chose to ignore them. I envisioned climbing a staircase, easy and intuitive. Instead, I built the staircase...and I will be the first to tell you that carpentry is not my strength (or of any particular interest). 

The opposite of rise is descend and although rising didn't look the way I wanted it to I don't think I did much descending this year either. 

This year rising looked like birds...

And radishes...

Not a staircase in sight. And maybe it would have been nice to know that a year ago I like to believe that there's a reason I didn't. Things aren't as intuitive or straightforward as I imagined but I chose the word rise for a reason and I'm glad that I did, even if I didn't know what I was getting myself into. 

Linking up with Alyssa's Back to Blogging Non-Challenge//One Thing About Today You Wish You Knew A Year Ago.

Forward to February

My weekend started a little earlier than anticipated. There was a storm forecasted for Friday but it didn't start in time for work to be cancelled, instead 20 minutes after I arrived at work we got an e-mail saying we were closing at five. The roads were far from ideal so it was close to six by the time I got home. I had grand plans to spend the evening catching up with TV and doing some crafting. Unfortunately we lost our power at 9 p.m. Friday night and didn't get it back until Sunday afternoon. Thankfully we have a generator so we had some power, enough to run the heat, water and a few electrical outlets for most of the day. 

I spent most the weekend reading, colouring and eating storm chips. I briefly went outside Saturday to take some photos but the adventure was short lived. We had about 35 cm of snow fall on top of the snow we already had from earlier this month. It was impossible for me to take more than a few steps in the snow without sinking up to my waist. It was also very cold out and I was much happier indoors with a blanket and a book. Except that half way through the book it stopped being interesting. Now I'm halfway through though so I feel obligated to finish. Maybe it will take another turn and I'll be interested again before it ends. 

Sunday afternoon when the power did come back on I took a nice long shower and set to crossing a few things off of my to do list. None of those things were particularly strenuous...I had some things to put in my online shopping cart and leave there until I decide if I want to invest. (Is anyone reading Savor by Shauna Niequist? I'm looking for a daily devotional type book that I has daily readings and ideally I can use year after year. Suggestions welcome!) I also got all of my January Project Life photos organized and ready to print. Ideally I'll get them printed this coming weekend and then craft to my heart's content! 

The snow was the wet and heavy type, perfect for snowman making...not that I made any snowmen but I thought about it a few times. I think this weekend J. and I will try to have some sort of outdoor winter adventure, unless the temperature rises and come next week all the ice is melted and the world is covered in slush. 

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for February. I think Groundhog Day is the best 'holiday' in all the land, my mom's birthday happens in February and regardless of the commercialization aspect I happen to love Valentine's Day. Plus, it's Leap Year! And I really love Leap Years. If you haven't seen the 30 Rock episode with Leap Year William you need to make that a priority this month. And of course the Leap Year movie with Amy Adams. And it just so happens I published my first blog post in these parts in February of 2013. All things considered I think February is going to be a good month.

Sharing my weekend here. 

A New Year's Do Over

I spent January 1st in an excited panic. 

My One Little Word prompts had arrived for the month of January.

My blank Five Year Question Journal was sitting on my bedside table ready to start. 

My Project Life Album was full of empty pocket page protectors. 

My 52 Things in 52 Weeks list waited for the first thing to get crossed off.

The year had hardly started and already I felt slightly overwhelmed by my imaginary to do list. (I say imaginary to do list because I did have a real to do list. It involved packing, arranging, Sparks things, meal planning...you know things that would actually impact my daily life.)

And then I messed up and my one month old phone met with water which was enough for my mind to grind to a halt and recognize that I was rushing myself to do all the fun things and ruining the fun in the process. 

I am not going to disappoint Ali Edwards if I don't finish all of my OLW prompts by January 2nd.

It will take me approximately 5 minutes to respond to the prompt in my Five Year Journal. 

It's called Project Life not Project January 1st.

52 Weeks...not 52 minutes on January 1st. 

It was like the calendar changed to 2016 and I went coocoo bananas and lost all sight of reality and logical thinking. 

I spent January 2nd in my yoga pants and hoodie. I helped mom tear down Christmas and return it all to the attic. I communicated by landline and e-mail while my cellphone hung out in a baggie full of rice. I sharpened a tupperware container full of pencil crayons left over from my elementary school days to use in my new colouring books. I hit the reset button. 

I'm declaring a do over on January 1st. 

Reminding myself that there is no need to rush into things. There is no prize for finishing things first and nobody is going to hand me an award for starting the most projects on January 1st. I've secretly rolled my eyes a little every time I've read about a blogger committing to being more intentional over the last few weeks. Now I'm about to join the ranks. I still have every intention of completing Project Life this year, following along with my One Little Word, crossing off items on my 52 Things List and responding to the journal prompts every day. I also have every intention to do one thing at a time and enjoy the process. 

So tonight I'm going to ring in January 3rd and remind myself that Rome wasn't built in a day and the year doesn't revolve around crossing items off on my to do list. 

OLW 2016: Rise

I've known for a while that I really wanted to not only choose a word but go all in and sign up for Ali Edward's official class. I didn't want to go all in though unless I had a really good word. Hence, why I started thinking about this months ago. I'm was aware I needed to find a word but I didn't want to force it, luckily enough my word found me. At first it seemed like a weird choice because it's not necessarily a word that is used in my vocabulary but the more I thought about it and the more I read the definition the more I was convinced. And then my word started to find me, in pretty wall hangings on Pinterest, lyrics to songs playing on the radio everywhere I looked I found my word. 

As a verb rise means "to move upwards", "to assume an upright position", "to appear above the horizon". As a noun rise means "to increase in amount, number, level etc.", "the elevation of one point and another", "an upward slope". 

Rise, rising, rose, risen. 

I'm excited to work through the prompts with my word. To continue moving upwards and to appreciate the places when I have risen from. The possibilities seems endless...which is exactly the feel I wanted my word to have! 

Tracks, Snacks and Favourite Words

I'm not sure if it's all the Christmas hustle and bustle, the weather or my shrinking to do lists and countdowns but this week went by fast! 

{one}

I'm cheating a little bit here because there are going to be multiple favourites under this heading. It seemed to me that there was a lot of good stuff in Blogland this week and after a couple of weeks of endless gift guides it was refreshing to read some good old fashion 'this is what's going on in my life' posts. These are just a few of my favourites from the week.

Stephanie's 'You Are A Blogger' post  might just be the best thing I've read in months. 

We often wait until the new year to start reflecting on changes but this week Alex compared this Christmas to Last Christmas and it was a neat way to look at things.

Rachel had some wise words to say about The War on Misery. Not everything has to be a competition.

I loved this reminder from Amy that our work matters.

{two}

Some of you might remember this post from the fall where I shared my developing love of the apple trees that grow in my yard. Well I'm continuing the love into winter because I think that these apples, still on the tree and covered with snow are just the coolest. I spent a couple of hours outside yesterday with my camera, we got a storm on Tuesday night and by the time yesterday afternoon rolled around it had stopped snowing, the temperature had risen a little and the sky was crazy blue. I realized as I happily snapped photos of the snow that it's not the snow I hate when it comes to winter. It's the cold. Yesterday it was hovering around 0 and there wasn't any wind so I was perfectly comfortable wearing my Old Navy trigger mitts (I have no idea what these are actually called, around here we call them trigger mitts, they're the mittens that have flaps to make them into fingerless gloves), lightest winter coat and was not worried about frost bite. Getting back on topic, apples covered in snow are pretty and they earned a spot on my favourites list. 

{three}

I'm not sure if I've really made it clear that I really do live in the country. After the snow there were lots of deer tracks in the snow, which were cool but deer tend to walk in a straight line, these tracks however are clearly not in a straight line. I'm pretty sure these ones were made by a furry little squirrel friend. And squirrels always make me happy. 

{four}

Avocados make me happy. First off all I love their green colour, secondly they are delicious and rounding out the top three reasons I love avocados is because they're healthy. This week my favourite way to eat avocado is creating a copy cat cajun chicken sandwich based on one I order all the time at a local restaurant. Cajun seasoned chicken breast, red onion, cheddar cheese, chipotle mayo and avocado on a ciabatta bun. I may or may not have eaten the same thing for both lunch and supper one day this week. And a honourable mention to the homemade oven fries that I've finally perfected after months of playing around with seasons and oven temperatures. 

{five}

I officially registered for Ali Edwards One Little Word class and declared my word of the year! I'll be sharing more next week about what my word is and how I'm planning to document my word through the year. I'll leave you with a hint that it starts with the letter 'R', has four letters and can be used in a lot of different contexts. 

I have a weekend jammed full of Christmas beginning with 'midnight madness' at the mall tonight with my mom to finish up the last of my shopping. Tomorrow night is J.'s Christmas dinner for work and Sunday J.'s parents are having their annual Christmas party. 

Linking up here and here.

OLW, Treats and Disney

 Usually my weekends consist of one main event, a low key night at home and some odds and ends. This weekend it's all about the odds and ends. 

Friday night I went to Winner's with mom and even though I didn't buy it I fell in love with this wall hanging. I've unofficially participated in Ali Edward's One Little Word for a few years in 2014 I made  "Show Love" a phrase of the year and partnered it with "Brave". Last year, although I didn't blog about it, I dabbled in 'Peace'. This year I've decided to go all in with my word and following along with the months prompts. I'm not 100% of my word yet but the wall hanging holds a clue to what word I'm thinking about! 

Saturday afternoon I went to a Christmas craft show and invested in some amazing Reese's fudge. It was a layer of chocolate fudge on top of a layer of peanut butter fudge and it was every bit as delicious as it sounds. For my evening entertainment I headed to Chase the Ace, which is a fundraising phenomenon card game of sorts that has taken my corner of the world by storm over the last few months. I didn't win any prizes but I was fully entertaining for an hour and a half. I was home by 9:30 and in bed by 10.   

Sunday afternoon was Disney dedicated to Disney planning. After doing a lot of math and reading too many "Disney World Insider Advice" blog posts we decided that our best course of action is to visit two parks and forgo staying at any of the Disney resorts and make use of the condo we already have. The deals just weren't good enough to justify spending more money on a hotel room when we're already staying at a perfectly good condo. We're going to visit EPCOT and Animal Kingdom, I know there's a lot of people who claim that you can't do Disney without doing Magic Kingdom...but neither of us like rides, we have no small children who need to meet the princesses and there's no huge attractions that we are dying to visit. We know that we can easily and happily spend two days exploring EPCOT and Animal Kingdom and I don't think we'll have any regrets about not having the quintessential photo in front of Cinderella's castle. It's also worth noting that Pocahontas is my favourite princess and the internet tells me she hangs out in Animal Kingdom (although I'm not sure I'm willing to stand in line for 45 minutes to "meet" her). Chip & Dale also hang out in Animal Kingdom and if you've been around these parts for any length of time you know how much I love chipmunks/squirrels. We ordered pizza and garlic fingers to make the whole process a little less overwhelming. There's just SO much to consider and it feels like everyone has very strong opinions about everything Disney related. 

This week I need to get my snow tires put on and buckle down and get Christmas shopping out of the way. Apparently the mall is doing a fake Black Friday which sounds like torture so I'll be avoiding that...although I might be tempted to make a trip to Michael's. I'm anticipating blogland being pretty quiet this week since most people seem to be on a weeklong Thanksgiving break. Here in Canada Thanksgiving is a weekend thing and most people have the Monday off but based on blogland most American's have the whole week off? Enlighten me blog friends!

Linking up with B Loved Boston.