OLW Catch-up

Let's take a look at what I did the past few months for my OLW. This year's focus is HOME. I got a bit behind and needed to catch-up and focus again.

My monthly intentions:

1. Twins' Room (May) -- I finished putting their room together before they arrived in early June. Done!

2. Twins' Scrapbooks (May) -- I started tackling their scrapbooks in late May and completely caught them up by the end of June. Such a huge task and it's now finished!

3. Summer Bucket List (May) -- Completed and things have been checked off already.

4. Library (June) -- My goal was to update my physical library both physically and digitally. I took a bag of books to HPB and started another one. I also made a spreadsheet of all my in progress and owned series complete with notations as to which volumes I need, which ones have been read, and other info. There's not a ton of picture proof, but I finished a few tasks from my list.

5. Catch Up PL Albums (June) -- I caught up all of our albums in June, but of course now we're not all done. That's okay, I've printed my pictures for June and am planning on finishing those pages next week.

6. Revisit Craft Area (July) -- This goal is next on my list for July. I especially need to organize the kids' crafts cabinet, paper cabinet, and random office supplies cabinet.

7. Closets (July) -- I tackled the black hole of a downstairs hall closet. I guess it's the coat closet, but considering we live in California, we don't use it for that. It's become a giant catch-all place that was out of control. I pulled everything out, filled an entire trash bag for garbage and one for Goodwill, and placed the things were were keeping back. And I even found space for my large Thirty-One box that holds all my party supplies. I call that a success!

Extras:

— I fed my creative side and joined a Design Team in July. Plus, I've been challenging myself with new card techniques, layouts, color combos, and designs. I've really gotten back into my card making this season. So excited!

My OLW Pages:

May - The prompt was "I Am." I chose to explain who I am in nine cards. Pretty simple prompt, but it was still fairly difficult. For the art element, I wanted to make my cards colorful. I inked up my brayer and covered the cards in a variety of ink colors. I added some washi tape as a little embellishment. I had fun making my "I am" cards. They helped to focus me for the coming months.

June - The prompt included a variety of questions. It was sort of a check-in with my word. It took me longer to fill out than I thought it would. The questions helped me recenter my intentions for the second half of the year. I definitely have things to work on...

July - The prompt was focused on music. I adore music and always find that songs speak to me. For this month, I combed through my iTunes library (and a bit of Spotify) to pinpoint nine songs that speak to my work of "Home." I added a small tag and some washi tape to compliment the song lyrics.  This prompt was the most fun one yet. Loved it!

OLW February

Let's take a look at what I did this past month for my OLW. This year's focus is HOME.

My monthly intentions:

1. Arthur's room and play area -- Finally they are finished! I added a reading corner complete with Ikea spice racks for shelves. They are the perfect design for Arthur it get the books in and out himself. I hung the nice navy blue blackout curtains. I put up his new solar system decals and the rest of the framed pictures. Part of his birthday banner went over his book shelves along with his finger painted A. The closet is organized at least for now. Finally I hung some of his preschool artwork above the bookshelf. I plan on changing them out as he makes new projects.

As for his playroom, I mainly wanted containers for the toys. I bought one of the toys organization systems from Ikea to hold the bulk of the toys. Arthur can actually take them in and out by himself. This left room for the tent and tunnel to be permanently set up. I went with back ivory curtain panels to add some privacy. Nothing fancy, but they help the room look finished. The only thing not done is to hang something about the alphabet decals. We will probably just hang something that we already have.

2. Co-op home inspection -- Nope. Didn't get to it. February was so busy with activities and things like the retreat that this just never happened. I'm hoping to get this checked out during our hosting of preschool next week.

3. Alameda parent's group -- After looking at my parent group options up here in East Bay, I've decided to start my own. Most charge ~$20 a year for membership for not much benefit. Others just don't do anything. I want my South Bay group in East Bay!

4. Email clean out -- Success! I got my emails under control. Deleted a ton of emails, archived some others, unsubscribed from a ton of newsletters and coupons. Next step is to officially close my Hotmail account.

Extras:

-- I didn't do much else for my word this month.

My OLW Pages:

This month's prompt was to create a vision board. Initially I was very hesitant to the idea. Vision boards just aren't my thing... But after some thought I decided to attempt it. I went into Target, grabbed three magazines, and started cutting them up. I had a few 8x10 canvases left over from preschool. This seemed the perfect size for me to try.

And this is my completed project. I think it turned out well. I decided to use patterns and colors for my base layer. I stayed away from any recognizable image. On top, I added words and phrases that spoke to me. Most of my words relate directly to my word: Home. I've propped this up in my craft area to kept me focused.

OLW January

Let's take a look at what I did this past month for my OLW. This year's focus is HOME.

My monthly intentions:

1. Project List - Got a master list. Now to start getting those items checked off.

2. Home Management Binder - I wanted to create a place to keep all my to-do lists, coupons, important info, and random bits of whatever that seem to multiple. I checked out a few posts on Pinterest and started formulating my own binder. I have a major projects page, my weekly to-do list, a pocket for coupons, and the rest of my OLW pages.

3. Craft Space Organization - I spent a fair amount of money at The Container Store to organize all the cabinets in my new craft space. It's in a great space right now and so very usable.

4. Daily Housekeeping - My intention was to do at least one housekeeping duty per day. I've been very good sticking to this goal.

5. Curate Pinterest Board - I've got a nice collection of pins right now. I can't wait to really dive into those.

Extras:

-- January PL pages: I just completed all of my monthly pages this week. Loving how this new approach is working.

-- Dining room: We've got most of the pieces in place for the dining room. I just need to add some curtains and this room is complete. Very excited. 

-- Arthur's playroom: I started with a completely blank canvas at the start of January. A few weeks later and things are shaping up. I need a few more decorative pieces and to organize the rest of his toys. Plus, I've got to get some curtains up there. One of next month's intentions!

My OLW Pages:

I decided to add in my monthly OLW pages to my home management binder. My first page includes a nice self-portrait, some decorative cards, and the big prompts from January.

The next two pages hold my monthly intentions. While it wasn't a prompt for January, I wanted to lay out my proposed large projects. This should help my keep me on track throughout the year. I may add to these intentions, but this is a good start.

One Little Word 2015

After failing at last year's OLW: Explore (let's just not review that), I have thought long and hard about what I wanted to do this year.  And then it hit me:

The perfect word for 2015. Here's why:

• We moved into a new house in November, but I haven't been there to enjoy it yet.
• We moved to East Bay where I don't know anyone or anything.
• We now have a comfortable family of 5, but we don't always feel like home.
• I crave comfort and stability.

This year will be all about creating a home out of the dwelling we live in. They are a few things that I want to focus on:

• Completing home improvement/decor projects
• Cultivating family traditions
• Taking family photos (not just pics of Arthur)
• Documenting family outings
• Creating a family bucket list
• Carving out personalized spaces for each family member

Look for monthly OLW updates in the future!

2015 New Author and OLW 2015 Reading Challenges

For this year's reading challenges, I decided to do something very different and drastic.  I am going to read women authors.  I feel like I've been neglecting all those wonderful female authors sitting on my shelves.  I will be tailoring my challenge participation to account for this overall goal.  I do have a few exceptions.  I may read a male author if 1) I've already started the series and desperately want to finish it (i.e. Song of Ice and Fire) 2) It is a book club selection (out of my hands) or 3) If it is a male author writing nonfiction specifically about a women subject (e.g. a biography of Kate Chopin).  Other than those three exceptions, I want to discover some wonderful women authors.

From Literary Escapism:

Welcome back to the New Authors reading challenge! I’m hoping everyone is still enjoying this reading challenge as we head into our seventh year.

For those new to the New Author Challenge, the whole idea started when I first started reviewing and I didn’t know that many authors in my favored genre. So I went looking. I gave myself a goal of finding 50 new authors and ended up reading 56 that first year. I loved finding these new characters, worlds and cultures, so I want to help others find new ones as well. Since 2006, I’ve tried over 150 different authors I may not have tried otherwise and I have found some really great authors.

The idea behind this is to find new authors that you’ve never tried before, not necessarily ones that are debuting. They can be in your genre of choice or be brave and try something new. You never know what you’re going to like until you try it. If you’re looking for some suggestions, you can check out the Author page here at Literary Escapism or the 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and2014 Challenge pages. With over 1000 reviews posted, I’m sure there will be something there for everyone.

Here are the guidelines:

1. The challenge will run from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015.
2. Since this is an author challenge, there is no restriction on choosing your novels. They can definitely be from other challenges. However, the authors must be new to you and, preferably from novels. Anthologies are a great way to try someone new, but only a third of your new authors can be from short stories/novellas or anthologies.
3. I want this to be an easy challenge, so you can pick to do either 15, 25 or 50 new authors. It all depends on how fast you read and how adventurous you want to be.  If you reach your goal halfway through the year, don’t stop. Any new author you try can be added to Mr. Linky. We all want to know about your new experience.
4. After reading your new author, write your review and then come back here and add your link to Mr. Linky. Make sure you include your name and the author, but adding the title is completely up to you.
5. Bloggers or Non-Bloggers alike are welcome. You don’t have to have a site to participate. You can link up via Facebook, GoodReads or even Amazon if you’d like.

Once you reach your goal, you don’t have to stop. Any new author you try, go ahead and head back here and add it to the list. Introduce us all to whoever you find. Afterall, there’s no reason to stop trying new authors, right?

I'm joining again this year.  I've decided to go for 15 new fiction authors this year.

OLW 2015: Home

I've joined Ali Edwards for One Little Word 2015.  As part of the class, someone on the message board mentioned the idea of reading books associated with their word.  What a great idea! I decided that I wanted to add this reading challenge onto my others.  My word is HOME, so I've been scouring Amazon for book ideas associated with HOME.  I have a few ideas, but I'm sure I'll find more and more as the year goes on.  I'm aiming for 10 HOME related books this year.