Here & Now

Goals Update

It is nearing the end of January and I am reviewing a month of work on my resolutions.  Maybe the fact that I am still thinking of resolutions 28 days into January is achievement enough?  Nonetheless, I am keeping an eye on the goals I set for myself.  In two examples I can entirely sum up the month: last night, I ate a piece of chocolate cake.  For no good reason but that I wanted it.  This morning, I woke up early to work out at the hotel gym.  So basically, there have been lows and there have been highs.  I was seriously proud of myself for going to the gym this morning - travel is no longer an excuse not to exercise!  Now I need to realize it's not an excuse to eat either.  One step at a time! 

This month, I started taking yoga.  I have plans to return for February.  I exercised 4 days a week after 1/7/08.  I bought some extra fruit...and ate it.  I tried to stop eating 2 hours before going to bed.  I cut back on glasses of wine here and there.  I read up on healthy lifestyles.  I am not quite running yet in the direction of my goals, I have at least started walking.  And just in time.

An item to remember (as this blog is often an archive of events for me) - not a goal or resolution but something kind of exciting as a side note.  This weekend, I reached silver elite status with Northwest Airlines.  This means early check-in and the option to wait list for first class.  I think I will always be wait-listed, rather than actually sitting in first class, but hey it's an exciting advancement.  Oh yeah, this expires at the end of February but still.  Silver Elite for a few trips is nice enough for me (for now).  I was also awarded today the "Frequent Flier" award within our department.  Sitting in an Atlanta hotel, I'm happy with both new "titles."

In the heart of January

In the midst of January, I have to admit I am feeling a bit of the winter blues.  Nothing too strong, but there is definitely the part of me that is so ready to feel some spring.  Especially when it gets so ugly out, with the snow melting and the slop on the roads taking over what's white and making it brown. 

This weekend, though, we tried to make the most of what's here & now with winter.  We went to the Festival of the Lakes in Center City with John's parents, where we enjoyed watching hot balloons take off from the lake (a really cool process up close and personal).  We warmed up with Michael Buble DVDs in front of the fire...I am so in love with MB!  His voice, his songs, his style and now, his DVDs of his shows!  We wrapped up the day with my family, eating pizza and watching "Live Free and Die Hard" (all of us watched a movie together and no one fell asleep - unheard of in the Walsh household!).

In more hopes of avoiding deep winter blues, I've begun taking yoga classes.  This is also a great part of my "be healthy" mentality for 2008.  I made it twice this week, feeling out the vibe and the proctol at the studio I've chosen.  Jeni is joining me for the adventure and I have left yoga each time feeling so loose and relaxed (the amazing thing about yoga is that you leave relaxed while you have worked hard).  The studio specializes in hot yoga and the room hovers at 80 degrees for the intro class...the sweat this induces is part of the draw and part of its invigoration.  It is very stimulating.  Add in a sherbert orange yoga mat and things are happy...even in the midst of January in Minnesota.

With a good weekend wrapped up and a promising week ahead of me in Atlanta (where 50-60 degrees feels like spring has sprung!), I am okay with it being January ... but glad February is just ahead. 

One Year Anniversary

of living on Summit.  An important reminder today that time flies...

(P.S. I've rearranged since this photo...and am very happy with the results lately!)

Resolution Update

After testing a week of my resolutions in the new year...a few victories celebrated...a few changes already in place. 

My horoscope today reminds me to be strong, with the financial piece of my resolutions:

Looking at your financial situation in a new way can help you move into unexplored territory. Although the balance of your bank account won't change as your perspective is altered, it still can make a big difference on how you evaluate your choices. Don't confuse spending money with happiness. Saving a few dollars now may be the wisest thing you can do.

Reinventing the Wheel

I am generally an early-morning person.  This stems from the fact (yes, Mom, I am going to completely blame you) that my parents are very much early risers and my mother could never well tolerate Jenna nor I sleeping in much past 8am (when we were very young) and 9am (nowadays).  This upbringing makes me feel that the morning is always the best time to accomplish things.  It is meant not to be wasted, but put to good use - it is a time to rise and get things done.

I perhaps had an ephiphany yesterday, though, that may lead me to give up my early morning ways.  I was telling a co-worker how frantic I feel at the end of every work day - I am meetings constantly and by the time the calendar clears up, it is 5pm.  At 5pm, I have a clear idea as to all of the things I need to do.  I often am overwhelmed...and end up working back at home.  Then I wake up early, as usual, to come in and try to get ahead of all of the work that may rise from meetings.  But in reality, this is hard work to predict. 

So what if I change the way I approach my days?  I wondered as I got in my car to go home last night.

What if I rise a little later?  And go into work a little later?  What if I work a little later and let the last part of the day be worktime - worktime that stays in its contained timeframe and does not make me worry all night about the next morning?  The payoff?  Perhaps I wouldn't create excuses as to why I cannot work out.  Maybe I would not feel bad when the night fills up and it is midnight before I know it -- because this would mean that a 5.30am alarm isn't around the corner.  Perhaps I'll get more sleep, while still perserving the quality of my days.

This idea, of reinventing my personal time table, has circled in my head for 24 hours now.  I was even so curious that I tried a form of it today.  Alarm: 7am.  Into work: 8.30am.  First meeting: 9am.  Last meeting: 5pm.  Leaving work: 5.30pm.  Gym time: 6pm - 7pm.  Dinner: 8pm. 

The results?  Between 8.30am and 9am, I rolled through all necessary emails, with more intention than I am used to.  I had an hour at lunch to do the mid-day catch up and then after an afternoon of meetings, I used 5-5.30pm to catch up on the day (it was a slower day - I do have to take this into account).  It felt purposeful...and, at least for today, it worked.  I am going home without the intention of catching up from the day after dinner.  I am still going to workout.  I am still going to be social later on in the evening.  I am going to go to bed later than I normally would prefer and I will still be able to wake up refreshed.  All because of a little different thinking.  It comes down to the fact that if I come in at 6am, I'll still leave at 6pm due to the build up of work at the end of the day.  Similiarly, if I wake up at 6am vs. 8am, latley I am still going to sleep at the same time -- creating a huge need for additional sleep (I am an 8-hours-a-night-is-ideal kind of gal).  This reinvention builds in a cushion of time to take care of that work, while not affecting the time I go to bed later on in the evening (or the worry that can accompany going to bed!).  It also allows for a better concept of "crunch time" - when I get busy, I'll be able to add hours in the morning.

So, for right now, I'm sold enough on this idea that I will try it.  I will give it a shot and see how it works.  We'll see what makes me more productive and helps with that work/life balance thing.

Fresh Start. Fresh Intentions.

While 2008 started days ago, I feel as though my true fresh start was the beginning of this week, starting with my first day back into my routine after two weeks of (fabulous) vacation.  Vacation is not - I repeat, not - the time to really accomplish "fresh starts".  Especially when your intentions are in the monetary and health realms.  But the days back after vacation are good ones to start off on the right foot. 

My routine in 2008 has some new features, such as a constant workout time and intentional time with others.  I have been brewing some new ideas in my head since before January 1, 2008.  As I mentioned last week, I still feel that I am lacking some of the energy and focus necessary to accomplish my intentions for the new year.  Yet at the same time, I'm not sure I will have this energy until I begin working on my intentions.  So I am starting small - identifying the smalle things that will enhance my life.  In 2008, I want to focus on these key things: money, relationships, health.  In 2007, I created the life I wanted.  I took each of my intentions to the extreme, it seems, looking back.  This year, I am looking for a more balanced exisistence. 

While the ideas as to how to improve these things formed, I have had many thoughts of my word of 2008.  I have had a hard time finding a word that fit my three key areas of improvement and intention.  What could encompass all that?  And what would not limit all that?  This is a big decision: it is the word that will lead me and remind me and inspire me in 2008.  I chose "create" as my word in 2007.  To me, this was the act of bringing my life into existence.  It was about living on my own, being in a relationship, developing a career.  2008 seems a little more difficult to pinpoint.  I have ideas...thrive, maximize, integrate....but none of them quite seem to totally click.

This being the case, it is now 11 days into January and I am without a word.  Still.  And maybe, I've come to the realization, I won't have one.  But nonetheless, it is possible to live a life of intention.  And I'll still be changing things up here and there to refine things as 2008 gets undreway.   My goal (while not in one word): to bring together the life I want and "real life" (as I think of it)

Daphne Rose Kingma : Language does have the power to change reality. Therefore, treat your words as the mighty instruments they are - to heal, to bring into being, to remove, as if by magic, the terrible violations of childhood, to nurture, to cherish, to bless, to forgive - to create from the whole cloth of your soul, true love.

Memories of Greece

Two Januaries ago, I made a prediction: that there would be some not-so-distant day when I would sit in an office building in icy Minnesota and think of a distance land.  While I am not in an office building on this Saturday, I have had that moment.  Today, visiting the Science Museum of Minnesota to specifically see the 'Secrets of Greece' Omnifilm, I thought of the trip I made two Januaries ago, a trip to the country of Greece.  Quite a different experience to be sitting at the base of the Acropolis versus the base of a two-story high film screen.  What a difference two years can make. 

The Omnifilm was about the ancient civilizations of Greece, specifically the cultures of the Bronze Age Greeks (those who lived on Santorini and were lost in the greatest volcanic eruption of the modern world) and Ancient Athens, a city that was then and still is the centerpiece of Greece.  A part from being able to point out most of the shots and whisper to John "I've been there!", my favorite thing of the film was its focus on the intellect of ancient Greece.  This was a time and a place where knowledge was prized.  New ideas were glorified and other cultures were embraced.  What an awesome legacy and footprint to leave on the world.

Following the film, I rushed home to open up the photographs of my time in Greece.  Samantha Brown's Santorini episode happened to tape yesterday and I played it while flipping through the pictures.  I read my old blog entries and remembered.  My first glimpse of the Acropolis.  Clementine oranges.  Greek men.  Kalispera.  Kalinichta.  The light.  The market.  Varlaam.  Cold showers.  Baklava.  Gyros.  Ancient ruins - everywhere.  Tonight made for a good excuse to take a few minutes to reminisce about a time long past.

At the end of the film, the narrator spoke of the brilliance of the Ancient Greek civilizations - a light that shined briefly (for the arrogence of the ancient Greek civilizations led ultimately to the downfall of these powerful leaders) but the impact of which is still reflected upon the world today.  Two years after my own first-hand experience with Greece, I feel that my brief three weeks in the country had a similiar impact: a short time in this special place still reflects upon my life today.  Even so far away.

Epidarous, a city of ancient Greece.

Almost Famous

While I did not make the featured item below -- credit for that to Colleen -- I do carry this beautiful wallet in my purse!  And it is published now!  On Adorn Magazine's website!