Resolutions

It’s not even January, and I have already been thinking about my new years resolutions for months. I love the ambition of making a goal to last a whole year. There is something about it that leaves me tingling with possibilities. I love a good challenge and an extended project (even if I sometimes only love them in theory).  Recently, I’ve taken to reading a number of books from what I call the “12 month genre.” These books all have a simple plot recipe: pick something crazy, do it for a year, and write about it. I don’t know if it’s the intentionality of it or just the meticulous note keeping that draws me in, but I just LOVE the idea. Colin and I usually write out year long goals in the typical fashion—we pick a few areas of our life, and work on a goal in each one.We generally follow up with smaller goals each week on Sundays.  It’s not to unlike Zig Ziglar’s Wheel of Life:

Generally speaking, we’re not super-awesome at following up on our goals and we have mixed results in keeping out annual resolutions.  I can say with a fair amount of confidence that we live closer to our ambitions than we would without any goals at all, but there is still plenty of room for improvement.

This year I’d like to do something different. Earlier this year I read Dave Ramsey’s EntreLeadership, and it stuck with me when he said, “The difference between a dream and a goal is a plan.”  He also talked about having measurable goals so you can track your progress. If you don’t see any traction in your goals, you quickly get to feeling like a hamster in a hamster wheel and give up. That sounds about right to me. Given my innate love of charting and journaling, I think some sort of recording method would be right up my ally. Here are a few things I am considering doing this year:

1. Start a Happiness Project:
I recently finished reading The Happiness Project by Gretchin Rubin. There are lots of books in that 12 month genre where the authors seek to radically change their world in some way. Some of these include books like Eat, Pray Love—where the author gets divorced and goes off to globe trots and find herself for a year. There is also The Year of Living Biblically, where the author goes to extreme measures to keep every rule or law in the bible for a whole year. What inspired me about this book was that the author sought to “change her life, without changing her life.” In The Happiness Project, the author keeps her same job, lives in the same apartment, keeps the same basic schedule and still changes her life to bring more happiness in. She comes up with a few rules for herself and one area with a few goals to work on each month. She also charts herself every day to see how she’s doing on her resolutions. This appeals to me because a) I love charts and b) it seems more manageable than daily journaling. Also, I like the idea that I could change or add a focus every month.

2. 365 Project
This is an idea where you take a photo every day for a year. Seems like an easy way to document as long as you always have your camera phone in your pocket. A byproduct might be that it would help me take better pictures and make better compositions all together.

3. Nulla dies sine linea:
Or “No day without a line.” This is a Latin saying that I got one of my professors in college. The idea is that you paint or draw something every single day. Most artists need to make a ton of junk before they ever make anything good. The idea here is that if you increase your volume, you’re more likely to make good work. Maybe a simpler version could just be to create something every day. I like this idea because it would force me to focus on what I actively put out, and not just on what I passively receive (service to others is ultimately very creative).

4. Gratitude journal:
Got the idea for this from One Thousand Gifts. Pretty straight forward idea there. Highly considering this notebook if I do a gratitude journal (did I ever mention my intense fondness for all things office supply?)

5. Self directed Young Women’s type program:
In our church, there is a program for young women called Personal Progress. It has eight values and each year you have several goals you complete in each value. The program is designed to go all through high school. I finished my Personal Progress Program as a teenager and loved the experience. I notice, however, there aren’t a lot of programs like that for adults. I think it could be fun to give myself projects based on the aims of Relief Society.

6. Just Blog More:
A blog is really a great format for tracking goal progress. You can include pictures, words, drawings, videos-- and you have the added element of accountability to your readers once you post something. I may or may not think about blogging every day. Once or twice a week might do it for me (it’s a lazier goal).

I think all of these ideas would help me track my progress. Some would be less scientific ways than others. I’ll keep mulling it over and let you know what I decide in January!

Thanksgiving Photos

Just a few photos from Thanksgiving in Washington.

Strolling Around Red Butte Gardens

I heard on the radio that Red Butte Garden was having a Christmas fair this weekend and they said my two favorite words: free admission. Needless to say we had to go. The craft fair was very small, but it was in a lovely orangerie that I would like to turn into my new home.  I really want to go again in the summertime, when all the mazes and flowers are filled out. It was a little disappointing to read so many plant markers that just marked a bare patch of dirt. Still, we had amazing weather for December in Utah, and the garden was quiet and peaceful. Here are a few pictures from the day:

Lights in Draper Park

I saw this from the road and thought, “you gotta be kidding me!” Talk about your tree of life!

Our “new” coffee table

I built our coffee table almost 2 years ago and finished it with a dark stain some previous tenants had left in our apartment (we were cheap).  It looked good at the time.  Since then, I’d come to dislike  the color, so recently, I sanded it off and refinished with a lighter stain. 

Simple Saturday

Fall is one of my favorite times of year. The sad thing about fall in Utah is that it lasts about two seconds. It’s a brief sigh of relief between the frying-bacon-on-the-sidewalk temperatures of the summer and the wool-socks-aren’t-enough temperatures of the winter.  This Saturday, we made a point to get out and enjoy it while we could. It was just the perfect weather where  it was just nippy enough to be comfortable walking around in a sweater, but not cold enough to feel like your fingers and nose are falling off.

How can you resist going outside when it looks like this:

We headed down to Draper Park for our walk. It was one of those days that sharply reminded me of my long standing pet envy. I’ve picked up a little park habit that I like to call “puppy mooching,” where I shamelessly try to pet as many of other people’s pets as possible. Yes, I think “shameless” is the right word for that. In Draper, I can sometimes even scrounge up the odd horse (I’m assuming the number of horses in this area is what contributes to the famous “Draper Vapor” that can often be smelled from the highway).

I feel like I only want a dog on days like this. When it gets cold and snowy, I’m a cat lady all the way. I like cats. I’m used to cats. At one point growing up, we had almost the entire cast of Giligan’s island represented in kittens. It turned out to be a good thing there was room in the cast when we discovered that Mary Ann was really The Professor. Two Christmases ago Colin bought me an electronic cat, to try to fill the cat shaped hole in my life. While it’s a lovely thought, but it still can’t replace a real animal. Our conversations around robo-kitty usually go something like this:

Katie: (usually after seeing some furry object of affection) “Awe! Colin, can we get a kitty?”

Colin: “I got you a kitty”

Katie: “I mean a real kitty”

Colin: “that is a real kitty”

Katie: “It has no soul”

Colin: “It might if you loved it enough”

Much to my disappointment, we currently live in a no-pets rental—so he does have a good point. We have house plants, and they’re great, but they don’t keep your feet warm or bring you mice for a present.

Here’s some of how the park looked that day:

The beautiful thing about Draper City park is that it’s located right next to Draper City Library. We spend a lot of our time in the Salt Lake City library system these days. My favorite thing? You can check out from one and return to another. It’s great. Colin wanted to get them before we walked back to the car so I would only take what I could carry instead of trying to take the whole library home with me. With library books, my eyes are always bigger than my stomach. Besides, the snow will come soon, and I will need to have my winter supply ready.

Conference Time!

This year for General Conference, Colin and I decided to do something a little different while listening to the Saturday sessions. Instead of sitting on the couch in our pajamas, we decided to listen to it while we drove the scenic Nebo Loop, and do a little hike and picnic in between. It’s something that had been on our Utah bucket list for a while. I’ve heard of some families camping before General Conference (outside or in their living room) and telling their kids the story of King Benjamin from the Book of Mormon where the people pitched their tents around the temple to hear the prophet. I’ve heard of other people hiking up the mountains (lots of scripture references there too) and listening by radio. I love the idea incorporating nature into spiritual activities. There’s hardly any place better to feel the peace and stillness that so easily connects us to God.

Colin in front of the changing colors

I couldn’t believe how much wildlife we saw. Say hello to Bambi!

Pretty sure these aren’t “wild” cows. But still, I don’t think I’ve ever seen them free to roam the trees like this before.

I cant quite remember what this part was called but it was something like “Little Bryce Canyon” or “Devil’s Kitchen.” Both very appropriate.

The loop had lost of these one-off picnic tables just tucked into the leaves. We turned the car off and let the radio play through the window. It was such a perfect quiet place to stop, though it was a little cold. We ended up wearing that blanket by the end.

This shot is because every blog and facebook post should really be about what you ate right? Beside this picture we had an oh so lovely thermos of fresh milled apple cider from Farnsworth Farms (who also has some u-pick things that they do. We got small pumpkins there that turned into a disastrously ugly fall wreath. I’d include a picture, but the lopsided eyesore decided to go for broke and grow mold, so it went straight to the dumpster). When fall comes around we hunt for fresh cider and then portion it out gold. We can easily spend ten minutes just smelling the stuff before we ever take a sip. I can also highly recommend cider from Allred Orchards in Provo.

All in all, it was a peaceful relaxing day. It was one of those days where every memory conjures up one of the senses: crisp fall air,  light coming through the multicolored trees like a stained glass window, crunching and scuffling as you walk, wrapping up an a big wool blanket, the smell of cider, and of course, listening to general conference. Here are some of my favorite sound bites:

“Acting on even a twig of faith allows god to grow it” Henry B Eyring
“Family time is sacred and should be protected and respected” Boyd K. Packer
“We are not diminished when someone else is added upon” Jeffrey R. Holland
“To those that judge others, I offer simple prophetic advice, ‘Stop it!’” Dieter F. Uchtdorf

You can also watch some of the highlights here.