New Year's Resolution - 2015 Here I come!!

* Write in my blog more often
* Get my art resume updated
* Run your own race. 
* Sign up to NYC and Marine Corps Marathon lotteries and Sign up to Rehoboth Marathon and North Face Endurance again! 
* Don't try to fix everyone's problems, let people live out their choices on their own....
* Be more conscious with money PLEASE!
* Find other ways to give gifts that does not require $, bake for them, help them out, cook them a dinner, listen to them....write them
* Trust your first impressions, they are almost always right on target, stop doubting yourself so much
* More morning runs (Please, catch more sunrises this year)
* Continue to floss EVERY day.....(I have bad teeth, okay!)
* Reach out to all people who matter.....stop wasting precious time thinking you have time....we may not
* When with the kids, live in the moment...soak it in. They are only young once. Cuddle with them as much as possible....soon it will be uncool to even cuddle. 
* Assume the best first, always.....going to the worse conclusion first makes me into a bitter person
* Forgive, forgive, forgive....seriously, let go of those unhelpful thoughts and get over the small stuff....forgiveness heals the forgiver
* Be the best and most supportive great-auntie ever!!! woot woot!
* Pray more, pray with my kids, be open about what you pray for ...encourage them pray too.
* On Facebook: no more than 10 minutes a day...live life, don't spend most of it watching others live theirs. 
* Make art daily....it does not have to be the next solo show.....just make art, it makes more happy thoughts, happy moments. 
* Time to close the thought door to some folks who have caused pain in the past, and are still populating my mind...good bye already! 
* Get rid of clothes you do not wear....donate them....gift them away
* Place all art I make, no matter how small, on Etsy....just a year experiment.....let's see what happens...
* Read some of my blog posts to my kids.....I realize they don't know that side of me. 
* Take more family portraits....stop being the photographer always....kids need to see more of mom in the albums. 
* Help kids with their BIG ideas, no matter how silly they seem at first. Encourage their BIG dreams by providing what they need to make it happen....(but don't become the primary driver of them. )
* Be present with kids...get off the damn computer already and be PRESENT!!! 
* With hubby, don't hang things over his head if something did not really bother me.....be unpredictable for once and just let it go. 
* Water.....drink more water.....maybe get a water bottle that works 
* Continue more art playdates with whomever wants to make art AND deal with my kids at same time
* Run without music once in a while....don't be afraid to hear breathing for an hour.
* Let inspirational people inspire you, and if possible, let them know just how much they affect you
* Volunteer with kids....make it count
* When the kids want to do something, make time to do it.....fully
* Write letters.....and send them
* Leave for work on time.....allows you to drive safer
* Kiss kids and hubby every day before work
* Hug kids more.....lots and lots of hugs a day
* Cook better dinners damn it.....how about COOK dinner?
* LISTEN to what is not said....try to listen to all that is being expressed
* Tell each child what they are good at on a social-emotional/ personal level.....(not academics, or club talents)
* Clean up apt. more often so kids can have friends over more. Come up with a sustainable clean-up system
* Invite more people over to dinner

Times Square NYC on December 30th......

We went to a diner and as always, Luke orders way too much food....he has long stopped ordering from the kids' menu. 

Look at that amazing smile.....I love his smile

Family selfie......Mom's arm is not long enough. 

Dad's selfie skills are no better.....

There are tons of people dressed up as these characters....here is Bart

A silver tin-man.....he was making a killing 

Finally, we ask a total stranger to take our picture....30 degrees....felt like a lot colder. 

The scariest Minie Mouse ladies come after us later for a TIP.....tons of them surround you....Next time I know....no pictures with them....they are like sharks...

The toy store has a ride!!! we had to wait an hour and a quarter...so we did not do the ride....

Luke's dream toys.....this one Chris and I thought would be god if we have guests....we can all break out into a fun Nerf gun shooting frenzy.....

Caught Mrs. Liberty counting her money.....way too funny not to photograph. 

Woody has put on a few pounds.....and seems like he's in an argument with his gal....

Somewhere up there is the ball....the infamous ball.....

Great skylight on the way back to my mom's in Long Island. 

This year's lessons

                                This year has just been full of new lessons for me, I feel like I've gone back to college, but am actually paying attention this time. It's been like a really easy AP course on life, what an adventure. I wanted to share a few of the ideas I am playing with at the moment.

                                 First, there is this idea of spreading your energy. I got this idea from the great book, Notes From the Universe. The book talks about how your thoughts and actions affect every single being on this planet. Mind you, this phenomenon apparently happens even when you are not even attempting to consciously affect others. Imagine then what would happen if we actually consciously generated every thought, every action, every feeling with this idea that it's energy is going to be spread and expanded to the whole earth, heck, the whole universe. Oh yes, the book also urges you to not try to be logical about it. I too was trying to think in logical terms and about the impossibility of such a theory. But just Friday, I was invited to a 4th grade class party and the first mom I introduced myself to told me right off she could not eat the muffins at the party for she was juicing!!! Of all the parents there, me, the juicer ends up talking to another juicer, thoughts do materialize. Absolutely, our thoughts drive our world, every single solid 'thing' we see or experience or touch very much started as a formless thought in someone's head. So now, every time I have a wonderful, loving feeling or thought I imagine it as pure energy and visualize it growing and spreading out to there as a gift to whomever, whatever.... whether anyone knows it or not.

                                   Second, I am feeling beyond blessed this season. I made the most difficult choice in years of changing my job situation this past spring and after spending all summer agonizing, crying, staying up all night internally debating if I had, in fact, made a good decision, I look back now and think, 'how could I have even debated!!?' I could not have possibly asked for a better job situation; it's truly a gift from the Universe. In addition, I am also feeling blessed for all my past struggles, for my misfortunes, for the tears, the pain, the tragedies. I have various friends who are right now going through struggles and hope my words will bring some comfort. In my life, every single struggle has later revealed itself to be a wonderful, shining new beginning. You have no idea how amazing this will turn out girlfriend, and all you have to do is be yourself in the most honest, genuine way you could muster.

                                   The awesome power of inspiration as a driver of life is the next big idea I'm toying with. As an art teacher I always teach my little artists that inspiration can come from everywhere, and anywhere....that all artists, even use each others work and ides as inspiration to push forth their own work. What I always forget to mention, in addition to this, is that in regular LIFE people inspire each other all the time as well. Every single change I have ever made in my life has begun from a tiny seed planted via thought and spurred on by personal inspiration. My blind belief in the sheer power of inspiration is so strong that I also feel that negative inspiration, as positive, can be easily spread through this method just as easily. The ideas and thoughts we put in our minds turn to reality soon after, so choose carefully.


                                   So those are just a few things brewing in my world right now as the Holiday approaches. There are a few others I will post later, but this is all I can write in one sitting. This time of year I am busy generating ideas and lists for my New Years resolutions, which I take very seriously every year. Resolutions are great vehicles for setting new habits in motion in our lives and in order to be successful at my goals I need to choose them carefully.  In the meantime, wishing you all some wonderful, loving thoughts.

Personal Goals for the Summer 2010

I just wrote up four personal growth goals for my 2010 summer....I do not want another summer to pass me by and all of the sudden realize it's August and I'm asking myself, "Where has the time gone?"

Here it goes:

1. Travel

2. Learn

3. Create

4. Make Friends

1. After this weekend we realized that we did not need to schedule trips that lasted all summer or were across the country to feel like we are on 'vacation'. We have about 5 more free weekends in which I full plan on scheduling for some more adventures. I think our next adventure will be at Jamestown Settlement on PA.

2. I have learned that I love to be inspired by other artists. I will either take art classes online or simply watch all the instructional artsy videos I can find on YouTube. Life cannot move forward in an exciting way without input from without.....Becoming inspired and allowing oneself to become inspired by others is very exciting.

3. Whether my work sells or not...I will aim to create as much as I can from any materials I feel most in love with at the time. Keep checking in for some upcoming projects in recycled paper landscapes and possibly some insect collages using recycled paper.

4. This last one is one that I will most often think of last. Yet, anytime I get a chance to connect with others on a face-to-face level I come away feeling refreshed and alive.....a total MUST for this summer.

What are YOUR summer goals?

Action Separates One From Each Other

My goal for this year is to act. To stop being afraid of shaking the boat and actually make things happen for me and to trust my ideas and my judgments. If I don't like a situation I have the choice to either try and change it or go elsewhere. If a person makes me upset, I have the choice to try and fix it or move away. If my life is not going where I want it to go, I have a choice to make different choices....or not. But to complain about anything to the wrong people will no longer be an option.

This past week I experienced a situation which cause me to all of the sudden know so clearly what I needed to do with my life next.....we get very few of those inclinations or hints in life. It goes to prove a long held belief that clarity does not come from long hours of mediation or thought. Instead, clarity comes in moments when push comes to shove and it happens in an instant unfettered by fear or nervousness. The moment I came to this truth all worry and fear that had existed around the decision before, was no longer around, it had just simply vanished.

New Year's Resolutions 2010

So I need a place to place these and here seems the most appropriate.....I always love reading others' resolutions....and since my life is an open book, why not!

1. I resolve to be open about how you feel about things. Often, in the face of someone who may be more vocal my own feelings and opinions get lost in the loudness.

2. I resolve to play with my kids without TV, without the phone, without any distractions....

3. I resolve to allow my kids to lead when we play......stop telling them how to play.

4. I resolve to say yes more often and when possible when my kids ask me to start a project.

5. I resolve to assume the best out of most unknown and sketchy situations before jumping to the worse possible assumption.

6. Call home more often

7. Plan 2 trips with family way in advance so that we do not get caught in vacations and not having planned.

8. I resolve to appreciate my husband more.....he is amazing and too often I convince myself of the opposite.....when his deep love is all around me....too long to explain here....but, I know no man more devoted to his family. He reads books about playing, about education, about child rearing and he's constantly trying to be a better parent. He shops, he does all the laundry, he cooks, he gives amazing advice, he makes amazing conversation,......and lots, LOTS more...

9. I resolve to walk every weekday for 1/2 an hour.....

will post more later.....gotta go to work