1.20.2010

{projects galore}

i love lists and goals and all sorts of motivational goodness. i love projects. i have a natural tendency to over-commit myself. but i honestly don't know if i'd be happy any other way. i had a list of things i wanted to blog about and realized that a lot of them fall under this "projects" category so i thought i'd just do one post to cover them all. these are all things that i'm doing right now or very soon.



{the journey}
if you refer back to my "looking forward" post, you will see that spending more time with my faith is something i'm *striving* to do in 2010. one of the many blogs that i follow is that of the photographer that did our most recent family photo shoot. in addition to her incredible talent as a photographer, i have come to admire her as a young woman, enjoy reading her blog and respect her musings, particularly in regards to her faith. the timing could not have been more perfect when she announced the journey she was starting. she is hosting a daily devotional that will take us through the entire Bible. the journey began this monday.



{pedometer challenge}
at the end of last year, i learned that a local community was sponsoring a pedometer challenge. i have always wanted to wear a pedometer and i thought it'd be a neat thing to do, particularly in the winter when it's a bit harder to stay active (in my opinion). it only cost $5 and that includes the actual pedometer. it started two weeks ago (the first monday of the year) and lasts for 8 weeks. you are to record your steps for at least five of seven days. at the end, there is a health fair and a chance to win door prizes. goals can be set at 6,000 or 8,000 or 10,000 steps per day.

overall, i was surprised how many steps i take on a 'normal' day. supposedly, the average person only takes 3,000 per day. my average is much higher than that, and i have a boring desk job. after two weeks of involvement, my average seems to be in the range of 7300-7400 steps per day. that is with very little "intentional" walking (in other words - walking for the sole purpose of increasing my step count).

though the challenge hasn't really increased my walking for the sake of exercising, it has increased my awareness. i have found that i am more likely to go do something on my lunch hour (shopping, etc) rather than stay in the office at my desk. when the weather is nice, i'm more motivated to walk to pick up coleman from daycare. and i think twice about lounging in front of the tv all night when i could be doing things around the house. basically, i *strive* to take a few extra steps every day.

you will notice that i'm including challenge updates in my weekly recap posts.


{library of memories}
last year, i paid to participate in the library of memories class, taught by stacy julian and big picture scrapbooking. since i paid once, i am now allowed to participate for free as an alumni member. the class begins in early february. implementing this system is a long-term project. i definitely made strides last year while on maternity leave, but after that (and the class) were over...everything kind of came to a halt. i'm looking forward to participating in the class again this year. this relates directly to one of my goals for the year and *striving* to improve my scrapbooking area and work flow. you can see blog posts from last year, related to this topic here.

on a somewhat related note, i also found out about this blog. throughout 2009, the author hosted weekly organizational challenges to get your scrap area in tip-top shape. i hope to use these archived posts to help with my goal as well. the name of the blog is "my love affair with the label maker"...i mean, seriously??? how awesome is that!?!


{middle school committee}
spencer is currently in 5th grade. when he enters middle school next year, he was supposed to be attending a brand new school. however, the opening has been delayed a year. so, his sixth grade year will be spent in one school and then in seventh, he will move on to this brand new one. in the meantime, they are putting together groups of volunteers to assist with things in regards to the new school. and of course, i had to sign up for something. based on a phone call i received yesterday, i'm pretty sure i'm officially part of the "events and activities" committee. our first event is a mascot revealing pep rally next month.


{homeowners' association}
and of course, there is my neighborhood involvement. as of october of last year (and through at least october of this year), i am the vice president of the board of directors for our neighborhood's homeowners' association (about 190 homes). as a board member, i also have to chair a committee and mine is the social/welcoming/communications committee. this is a pretty big commitment, i have come to realize. on the slow side, it's two meetings a month (one board, one committee). however, we have some issues right now and the board is meeting more frequently. we are also the first board since the neighborhood has actually been turned over to the homeowners. we are starting from scratch on all of the communication and social things. i have developed a newsletter and a blog for the community. it's all very exciting! but also very time-consuming.

1 comment: