Today is all about my intentions for 2019 – intentions that I think will work in concert with my word of the year – focused intentions sound much easier to keep however, deciding what things will be on my list this year has not been easy at all!
Intention One:
Make with more of a focus. This will mean not jumping on every “new” thing that comes along – which might just be the hardest part of all! But my making has been most haphazard in years past – some with great success and some with epic failure! So, this year, my making will have a focus on things that were on my radar – things that the desire to make has not diminished but has grown! I also want to do more gift and charity knitting this year. And, I am off to a good start on the gift knitting! I have had this mini-set for a very long time and have had absolutely no idea what to do with it, and then I saw Sarah Jordan’s Mini-Maximization and knew I had found the perfect project for it! I made some good progress yesterday which is a good thing since this will be a 30th birthday gift for my daughter next month!
Also, this year, I want to continue to do more sewing! Look for a couple of new cold weather things coming soon and I have plans to make a couple of these t-shirts with my serger!
Intention Two:
Move! This quote by Thomas Jefferson is in my planner – “Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far.” It is a very good reminder to me that I need to move my body! I have even added a “check-in” of sorts to my planner. I am hoping this accountability will help me get back to moving – and make it a permanent habit!
Intention Three:
Be a more positive person every.single.day. It is a frustrating world and I cannot change everything, but I can change me by being more positive in all things. I need to focus more on the things I can have an impact on and less on the things I cannot change.
So, there you have my intentions for 2019! My plan is for success and actually make them a part of my everyday life – reminding myself daily of them so that they become a part of me. I think these tie in well with my word for the year.
I am joining with Juliann this year as she hosts us in our Word Study – and, I’d like to thank her for leading us in this journey!
Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life. Eckhart Tolle
In 2016 I chose Gratitude as my word for the year and it was a very good choice and 2017 brought Joy. Both lovely words that I selected – with emphasis on the “I selected” part!! Last year I did not pick a word and…nothing inspired me…Why?? Perhaps, I did not inspire me!
So, I spent considerable time in December “trying on” a word for 2019 – words like “inspire” “kindness” “grace” and “dream.” And despite doing that – one word kept percolating to the top despite me trying to ignore it…Focus! Great word, I thought, but how will I use it? (See that “I” again?)
So I avoided….I kept thinking about words and looking at lists…but focus kept prodding me – asking me to consider, and yes – telling me to focus.
Merriam-Webster says focus can be used as a noun or a verb. It can mean “a center of activity, a point of concentration” or “to cause to be concentrated, to adjust the focus of your eye, to bring into focus.”
However, Eckhart Tolle’s quote was what pushed me over the edge – I am rarely “present in the Now” but instead focused on what comes next – the next project, the next book, the next…whatever!!
It seems I am deeply in need of a year of focus! Please join me in my journey this year as I focus more on the NOW and less on what’s next. Sometimes you choose the word, but occasionally – if you are lucky – the word chooses you.
What about you – did you pick a word this year?
Want to see other wordly inspriation? Head on over to Juliann’s!
I absolutely love Vicki’s posts of her Blog in Review. She shares the first line of the first post of the month, as well as her favorite photo of that month!
I am not sure what I enjoyed more: re-reading the blog posts or looking at all the pictures of the month!!
January:
December 31st, I completed my last stitching, in the last month of my yearlong project.
February:
The February sunshine steeps your boughs and tints the buds and swells the leaves within. William C. Bryant
March:
The weekend was kind of a chaotic blur.
April:
Yellow daffodils
Bring sunshine on fragile stems
On grey, rainy days
May:
… this morning the lilacs are all open!
June:
I am not sure one could pack more into a regular weekend than I did this weekend!
July:
Greetings Unravelers, Summertime and the knitting is varied!
August:
Yes, it’s that time of the year when it seems the weekend is almost all work!
September:
For me, this was truly the Summer of Reading (Thank you, Mary for organizing another amazing Summer Book Bingo!)
October:
Welcome to the Vacation Unraveled where there is not much making of anything but memories going on!
November:
Happy November!! Or should I say NaKniSweMo!?!
December:
This image should be a reminder of how I should start every day – really.
That is all I have for this year! I wish you all a Happy New Year and I will see you back here on tomorrow with my word for 2019!
How is it possible that we find ourselves on the last Friday of the year? Please tell me it is not just me feeling that 2018 had the speed of a Bullet Train! Honestly, it truly seems like last week I was in Michigan visiting my kids enjoying some pretty amazing fall days and it seems so surreal that Christmas is over, and 2019 is almost here! As I scramble through these last days of 2018, the following things are filling my mind…
Thinking About – The past few days I have spent quite a bit of time reviewing 2018 – the good as well as the not so good. I am hoping this honest review will help me set some meaningful intentions for 2019. Yes, intentions – not resolutions! I think I have my word for 2019 as well! And, I am also thinking about goals for 2019 – reading goals, knitting goals, sewing goals, and yes – exercise goals. It seems I need little incentive to fall off the exercise band wagon and once off, it is all too easy to stay off. However, I don’t need incentive to read, or knit, or sew… so I am thinking about a rewards system for myself… stay tuned!
Grateful For – So very much, but this week I am especially grateful for all of you! I do not say this enough – but the fact that you all come here and read the trivial things I share here is profoundly moving. I cannot thank you all enough and I truly love this little community and I love reading your blogs as well – you all make my days fuller and more joyful! Thank you!
Inspired By – The latest newsletter that Courtney from Be More with Less! While I am not ready to do a full-scale Wardrobe Defrag with her Project 333, I am ready to try something different! I am going to try some of her tips on reducing the closet chaos! I am also going to revamp my morning routine – which ties directly in with what I have been thinking about and Courtney has shared some wonderful inspiration with simple little things!
Fun, fun, fun – Steve has Monday and Tuesday off next week, so another nice long weekend is in order! On tap for the weekend…loads of fun starting with Christmas decorations! That’s right by Sunday it will all be carefully packed away for another year to make a clean slate for the New Year! We have no big plans, just a nice quiet evening at home where we will be working on The List of Things that I we want to get done in 2019. This will be amazing, because Steve is not a List Person at all, but in all things – nagging persistence pays off! Haha! So, as you can see it will be all fun, all weekend long around here!
That is all I have for this final Friday in 2018, and I even managed to include a picture of how my Amaryllis Watch is progressing! As you can see, we have growth and then some! Have a great weekend and I will see you all back here on Monday!
Today, in a rare Sunday Post, I am participating again in Sprite’s Virtual Advent Tour! And, with just 8 days until Christmas today is all about Genevieve!
Dear Genevieve,
When your mom was little, she loved Sesame Street!
And, we would all watch The Snowman together – it was one of our favorites!
On a morning when I need to get out the door to finish up some errands, so I can get the Christmas Things in the mail to the kids – your brain goes blank for a blog post, amirite?
So, this morning my things scattered!
Thing One:
If you have not read Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels (they are on my list to read!!) and you have not seen the brilliant adaption on HBO (you should… it is so lovely!) Perhaps you will love the Ferrante-inspired street art in Naples! I love how little the apartment buildings have changed. May we all have a Biblioteca Andreoli in our neighborhoods!
Thing Two:
I love the Man Booker long and short lists! And, Literary Hub posted an excerpt from this year’s winner, Milkman by Anna Burns. (I am on the wait list to read this, but I am intrigued!!)
