Easing Into 2013

I am called to rest and putter, stepping away from creative work and play to sink into quiet time, books, hearth & home.

I'm tidying up my physical spaces, enjoying movies and documentaries like this one (if you're an artist, you'll love this insight into a painter's mind and process), this one and this one. I'm sleeping, reading, and doing a lot of research for a certain trip to PARIS. <giddy>

post-Christmas goodies from Amazon

It hasn't been all idle though.

I've been crafting a new website, feeling the time has come for a fresh look. Stay tuned for that and a bloggiversary giveaway (seven years!), the latter later this month.

a fresh new look for my website in progress - coming soon!

I also wrote this article for Scoutie Girl, about claiming our path into 2013 and honouring our transition pace into the new year. No one's keeping score on how quickly we make the switch.

My part time work is keeping me preoccupied and heading into a busy, challenging-to-me period.

All the while I'm reflecting on last year's accomplishments and lessons, dreaming of work and projects for 2013, still unsure of how I will convert my dreams to action and let it all unfold.

Life is uncertain. Life is good. Life is full.

~~~

How about you? What've you been up to?

Happy 2013!

From Solstice to New Year, happy wishes to you!

My heart is swelling with possibility and my head swirling with ideas and projects for the year to come. Words dance a million, and gratitude expands as I reflect on the year past.

2012 was rich, rich, rich. Blissful, heartbreaking, enlightening, it was full.

2013 promises to be just as rich, with a trip to Paris and London on the horizon (oh yeah!), plans to find a house we can call our own, and the gentle beauty that comes with every day living.

I've many blog posts forming themselves as I type, but none ready quite yet. For now, following the rhythm of the recent holidays, I am allowing the space for words to come together, slowly.

In the meantime, I wish you a 2013 filled with all that makes your heart sing, and leave you with a few favourite snapshots that capture the holidays at their best...

candlelight, early Solstice morn

a Solstice breakfast outing at our favourite diner

it was storming outside, but perfectly cozy inside

Cassie, resting up before the clan joins us for Christmas dinner the next day

the holiday table, ready for feast and clan

(note Cindy Lou Who at the piano!)

I went back to the art table for the first time in two months. It felt good.

D. and I spent a quiet New Year's Eve with a sumptuous meal for two.

I wish you could smell the beefy, red wine, shalloty goodness that was simmering.

The highlight of my holidays, no doubt: the gift of a trip to Paris, from D.

It's a dream come true.

A Year Worth Celebrating

Warning: Due to the celebratory nature of this blog post there will be an abnormal amount of exclamation points (!). Punctuation police be warned.

A few people in my family will be hitting milestones this year - significant milestones that are cause for significant celebration thus making 2012 a happy year to come!

This got me thinking, what else would be worth celebrating in 2012? Why stop at these two milestones?

So I started a list.

Working quickly I wrote down real events like birthdays and anniversaries, but then, without setting out to, I started listing events I wanted to manifest that would be cause to celebrate.

a work in progress that didn't quite make it to the finish line

I like the message

All of a sudden my list became a mixture of affirmations, visualization and already-existing events worth celebrating. It's visioning and party-planning all wrapped into one! How cool is that?

Here's what I came up with:

• Mom & Dad's 50th wedding anniversary
• Mom's birthday - she's hitting a major milestone this year, whoop whoop!
• my birthday - this is the year, I want a party!
• my blogging anniversary - 6 years baby!
• my online shop's first sale
• my first workshop given
• my dating, "going steady" and wedding anniversaries with D.
• Summer
• other family birthdays
• my first $1000 earned outside the government
• my first $10000 earned outside the government
• D.'s birthday - the big 3-5 (hee!)
• a family gathering
• the arrival of our new niece
• the 5th Squam Art Workshops in New Hampshire and the friendships I've made because of it during the past four years
• friends and family meeting goals or setting off on new adventures - Cheers to that!
• the loss of the 12 extra pounds I've been carrying for the past year
• losing my first 3 lbs
• Cassie's birthday
• Sis' first marathon - NYC or not Sis, I think this is the year
• taking a plane for the first time in nearly 10 years - New Brunswick? New York? Paris?
• booking my first consultation client
• the launch of my e-book
• seeing an article of mine published in a magazine
• the Winter Solstice
• Christmas
• New Year's Eve

Wow. So many potential parties!

~~~

What are YOU going to celebrate in 2012? In addition to what's already on the schedule, are there any events you'd like to manifest that would be cause to celebrate?

A Lesson in Presence, Patience and Honouring My Own Pace

It's the new year. Lists, words and resolutions abound and I'm not ready. I have nothing, zilch, nada.

Before Christmas I garnered what felt like tremendous momentum in writing and brainstorming on business and creative projects. I was on and anxious to get to it and make things happen.

Then we left on a 10-day trip down east for the holidays.

Yes, I printed out some reading material and I even packed it in the consignment shop leather briefcase my sister keeps bugging me to use (you were right Sis, it does look nice). But the briefcase stayed unopened, along with the shoe bag containing more I'm-bringing-them-just-in-case footwear than I care to admit.

tattered corner of a really funky leather briefcase

A few days into the trip, feeling frustrated by the incongruent pull of wanting to work on my business while knowing I probably wouldn't, I chose to put my creative and business pursuits aside and focus on being present where I was - at Mom & Dad's.

I won't lie, it did affect the pre-Christmas momentum I had and I was a little disappointed; year-end reflection and new year visioning is one of my favourite activities for the week between Christmas and New Year's, I look forward to it.

But oh the evenings by the fireplace, walks in the woods and gleeful reminiscing as I pulled my childhood toys out of the storage nook (Fisher-Price Little People!) were all so good. I probably needed the break.

little people out for a drive

Momentum will return and there is no rush. My words and intentions will come, they always do. I just have to stop comparing myself to others, practice patience, and honour my own pace.

~~~

What about you? Are there areas in your life where you could give yourself permission to honour your own pace?

Happy New Year!

calendar is Peel It Design Birds in Flight by Masayo Anton-Ozawa

~~~

2012 is going to be a great one. I just know it.

Are you with me?

~~~