Thursday, April 13, 2017
One-Sentence Journal Entry
I have to say that I'm not a big fan of entropy — that inherent condition of our humanness, the "natural man [or woman]" (Mosiah 3:19) in us — only one difficulty of which is that even if I have a good hair day today, tomorrow can be an entirely different story, and — no matter what — before long I'm back, as I was tonight, at the hairdresser for a cut and color.
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
One-Sentence Journal Entry
My daughter Erin, who is a junior at Brigham Young University studying neuroscience, was featured in an article on the university's website today and also got to take over their Instagram stories for the day — so I had a lot of fun sharing my #MomBrag with a bunch of family members and friends, because I'm so proud of the incredible young woman she is!
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Beauty, the Beast, and Me
I became a mom for the first time in 1990 when my daughter Elisabeth was born. The following year Disney released its animated version of Beauty and the Beast.
As one might suppose, Elisabeth and I — and later my younger daughter Erin as well — watched that film on VHS dozens, if not hundreds of times over the following decade.
We were scared by the wolves.
We despised Gaston.
We wanted Belle's magnificent library for ourselves.
Before long, we knew the words to all the songs, so we sang along and sometimes even danced.
Years later, Elisabeth would play in the orchestra for her high school's production of the show.
Last night I got to revisit all those memories when my husband, our son, and I saw the new live-action adaptation of this "tale as old as time."
I loved every minute of it!
By the way, two retellings of this story that I enjoyed reading are Beauty by Robin McKinley and East by Edith Patton.
As one might suppose, Elisabeth and I — and later my younger daughter Erin as well — watched that film on VHS dozens, if not hundreds of times over the following decade.
We were scared by the wolves.
We despised Gaston.
We wanted Belle's magnificent library for ourselves.
Before long, we knew the words to all the songs, so we sang along and sometimes even danced.
Years later, Elisabeth would play in the orchestra for her high school's production of the show.
Last night I got to revisit all those memories when my husband, our son, and I saw the new live-action adaptation of this "tale as old as time."
I loved every minute of it!
By the way, two retellings of this story that I enjoyed reading are Beauty by Robin McKinley and East by Edith Patton.
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Creativity and Rest
I've been thinking about both creativity and rest for some time, especially since reading Alexandra Kuykendall's book Loving My Actual Life last year, in which Alex makes the case for, among other things, a life with more creating and more resting. (I posted a review here.)
This morning, when I opened the IF: Gathering App on my phone while getting ready for work so I could continue with the Enjoying Jesus study I'm currently doing about spiritual disciplines, creativity and rest came together again for me in the image that went along with today's reading.
I almost had to catch my breathe as I felt (again) the rightness of my desire, as a daughter of God, to be more like Him by both creating and resting.
I long for more time spent both creating and resting — and while I've yet to figure out exactly how to actually make that happen (although The 100 Day Project should help), I will continue longing.
This morning, when I opened the IF: Gathering App on my phone while getting ready for work so I could continue with the Enjoying Jesus study I'm currently doing about spiritual disciplines, creativity and rest came together again for me in the image that went along with today's reading.
I almost had to catch my breathe as I felt (again) the rightness of my desire, as a daughter of God, to be more like Him by both creating and resting.
I long for more time spent both creating and resting — and while I've yet to figure out exactly how to actually make that happen (although The 100 Day Project should help), I will continue longing.
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
One-Sentence Journal Entry
Making the time to write for even just a few minutes every day is going to be hard, but I'm determined to do it — even on a day when I didn't get home from the office until almost 10 o'clock and all I want to do is get some sleep (although, in the interest of full disclosure, I did sleep in a little this morning — if one can call 6am sleeping in — and take my son, who is out of school this week for the last Spring Break of his high school experience, to The Original Pancake House for breakfast before I went to work).
(For information from Gretchen Rubin about one-sentence journals, click here.)
(For information from Gretchen Rubin about one-sentence journals, click here.)
Monday, April 3, 2017
#The100DayProject
The first quarter of 2017 has already passed, and I've still not felt that I've started the year off right. Traveling back from a holiday trip to Japan on New Year's Day, I needed to hit the ground running — but life happened.
Winter storms resulted in complications and delays during the first week of January, and during the second second I spent one day home with food poisoning and another day on pain medication from a diagnosis of sciatica. Throughout January and February I was dealing with a difficult situation at work that was straining both my physical and mental well-being and pretty much sucking the joy out of my life, and now that the difficult person has been fired but not yet replaced, I'm putting in way more hours at the office than I'd like. I'd planned to start a bullet journal in 2017, and I had other big ideas about places to go, people to see, and books to read. Instead, for the most part, I've just been trying to remember to take life one day at a time, one game at a time, one bite at a time — and to "just keep swimming."
Of course, none of this means that the past three months have been without joy, without fun, without accomplishment. It's just that I'm working too much, not sleeping enough, and neglecting many of the things that matter most to me.
With that as backdrop, I've decided that over the next 100 days I'm going to spend a little time writing every day!
Tuesday, April 4 - Wednesday, July 12
#The100DayProject
Winter storms resulted in complications and delays during the first week of January, and during the second second I spent one day home with food poisoning and another day on pain medication from a diagnosis of sciatica. Throughout January and February I was dealing with a difficult situation at work that was straining both my physical and mental well-being and pretty much sucking the joy out of my life, and now that the difficult person has been fired but not yet replaced, I'm putting in way more hours at the office than I'd like. I'd planned to start a bullet journal in 2017, and I had other big ideas about places to go, people to see, and books to read. Instead, for the most part, I've just been trying to remember to take life one day at a time, one game at a time, one bite at a time — and to "just keep swimming."
Of course, none of this means that the past three months have been without joy, without fun, without accomplishment. It's just that I'm working too much, not sleeping enough, and neglecting many of the things that matter most to me.
With that as backdrop, I've decided that over the next 100 days I'm going to spend a little time writing every day!
#The100DayProject
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