Morning Glory Studio

ten on tuesday | tips for NaBloPoMo...

 

 

 

        Today, Carole's prompt asks us to share tips for posting every. single. day in November during NaBloPoMo - National Blog Posting Month. Over the years I've joined in  and  have also posted daily, on this blog, a couple other times during the  year. I think March 2015 was the last time I really did post every.single.day this year.

Daily posting is something that can be done and I plan to give it the old college try this November. Here are my tips and suggestions for doing a little advanced preparation and making the challenge more doable:

1. Ask myself: Why am I doing this? In other words, how does this fit with my CHRONICLE* adventure? ...
2. Map out possible topics: those that are one-offs and those that will be repeated during the month ...
3. Create a tentative posting schedule: what will I post on Mon, Tues, Wed, etc ?
4. Write drafts in advance and decide later when to schedule for posting ...
5. Schedule time daily in my planner for creating, editing, my own posts and ...
6. Read other participants' posts ...
7. Use companion apps: Collect and DayOne to prepare first drafts or capture ideas ...
8. Take  daily a great big dose of won't power - as in: I won't allow myself to get otherwise occupied or procrastinate or quit ...
9. Consult NaBloPoMo  and the Ten on Tuesday bloggers' posts for ideas and inspiration ...
10. Have fun!

Join me and the others for NaBloPoMo … coming to you in just 5 days! If you're considering joining NaBloPoMo, be sure to visit this week's Ten on Tuesday for more tips.

Cheers~

 

*CHRONICLE is my 2015 One Little Word...

Week in the Life 2015 | Mon,Tues & Wed ...

 (This week's bouquet of fresh flowers at my favorite Starbucks)

    As part of my year-long focus on CHRONICLING my life stories, I am joining Ali Edwards and a host of others in documenting  a week in the life : WiTL, this week - August 17 - 23, 2015. The first three days of this week, especially Monday and Tuesday,  have been far from routine and/or normal.

My plan was to post the day's stories (words + photos) at the end of each day. So much for plans. Instead, I am sharing several photos from these first three days. Presumably  tomorrow, Thursday, I will succeed in creating  a post about the day on the day…and complete the week in that fashion. Stay tuned!

Monday 17 August

Early morn sunrise - these photenia bushes pretty much block out the sky but I was able to capture the sun peeking through.  

In March, friends Diane, Pat and I signed up for this year-long class. Orientation class  was Mon at 10 am. We're pumped!

 The fabric represents  the color palette  for my Baltinore Album Quilt -  which may hang in this space. I bought the fabric after the orientation class and hung it on the washstand's rod as soon as I got home. I think I'm sold on this piece, at least.

    
Hurry sundown…see what the 'morrow may bring…

 

TUESDAY 18 August

 

The red light on my car's dashboard set the stage for Tuesday! It had been on for several days so I made an appointment to take the car in Tuesday morning. Little did I know that I'd spend the entire day waiting…  I requested a loaner car and  went to IKEA for  lunch and to browse. 

       

 Wall at IKEA; overhead lighting was so intense it precluded my being able to take a selfie - too   much glare. 

 I  treated myself to a cone before heading back to the dealership to get my car.

     

A long, hot day! Glad to return the loaner,  pick up my car and go home! $938 dollars later, I still        have to go back Thurs for about 15 minutes to have a part installed that was out of stock! 

    

   Once I got home & settled, poured a glass of wine and crashed on the bed! Lights out very. early.

 

 Wednesday  19 August

 

Another hot morning/day on the horizon. Norman had a doctor's appointment at 9 am  so I decided to walk to Zeke's for coffee and MSQT. Too hot to sit out so I sat inside.

 We went to the grocery store about mid afternoon. 

 

I saw my image in the monitor and couldn't resist taking a photo; it's kinda hard to see but yep, that's       me up there! Cameras are everywhere!

I thought this week was going to be fairly routine, normal, etc… so far it's been anything but. To be continued...

 

Cheers~

 

stories of me from A - Z | Y...

(second grade, circa 1948)

My favorite color is yellow.

In the above photo, of me, though you cannot tell, my dress is yellow and the little dog buttons are green (not a fave color). I loved this dress, including the buttons - 'cause I loved dogs as a child. I think my mom made the dress; in fact, I'm positive she did. What I most remember about this dress, besides the color and buttons (and others during my early elementary school years) is I had a penchant for sucking my collars. At some point, I stopped…thankfully.

Fast forward to today:  In my house, most of the downstairs walls are yellow. I am immediately attracted to yellow. It makes me happy and secure and comfortable. A day without yellow in my life would be boring if not just plain old depressing. 

On more than one occasion, I've started - and never finished - a compendium of stories about me using the alphabet as a jumpstart…In my efforts/plan to chronicle my story, I decided to share my alphabet stories on Thursdays for the balance of the year - yes, there are  26 weeks left in 2015 (and Christmas is SIX months away from today!). This is the first installment. 

 

Enjoy the weekend!

Cheers~ 

2015 memorial day weekend...

 

 

Now that I am retired, three day holiday weekends don't have the same import as they did. This Memorial Day weekend, we/I did the following:

1. Last Thursday, my  luncheon date with a friend was cancelled; so, instead, I went to Barnes & Noble and loaded up on 4 new magazines and two new books - one: Four Seconds,  is by Peter Bregman, author of 18 Minutes. The other book I purchased is a coloring book - seems that they are becoming quite popular with adults these days…and I can understand why: the part I like best about my daily seeing/drawing exercise is the coloring. So,I  saw the book and thought : "why not?" I did not crack open a single book or magazine. Go figure
2. I maintained the implementation of my in process habit: extending MSQT in my sewing studio for at least a couple hours, each day.
3. In the studio, I have been working on heart clips - little tchotchkes. My term as president of my quilting association ends June 8 and I'll give  the clips to the board members.
4. Talked to my friend Kathy; we're planning a meet up for Thursday with another friend who lives in Florida but is here for the week. We're all excited because we've not been a threesome in four years!
5. Saturday, I took a longer than usual walk and met a very nice woman who had lovely containers of flowers on her front steps (and also, a great hillside yard garden). One of the magazines I purchased was on container gardens and I was attracted by her containers…so, we started talking.
6. Sunday, we watched the Nationals - Washington's #1 baseball team in the National League - redeem themselves for that miserable loss on Saturday. An embarrassment.
7. I continued to work on the paperclip hearts and did a few other assorted things...
8. Monday, Memorial Day, was very quiet. We were (still are) pretty much out of paper products:  towels, plates, tissue, etc. We have a Costco about 2 miles away that has been open for going on three years and each time I've gone by, I've said : I really should shop there. Years ago, I had a membership  but of course, it had lapsed. So, I decided yesterday was the day to go. Imagine my surprise when I got there and they were closed!
9. So, I wound up at the grocery store and picked up the barest minimum of the paper essentials - saving the trip to Costco for later this week.
10. On Saturday, I received a new planner - the GetToWorkBook - and I've been thinking about how I'll use it. I'm thinking I'll use it with my year-long CHRONICLE - essentially my memoirs - project. Went searching for some books on memoir writing and discovered that William Zinsser had died on May 12. He was 91 years old. I like his writing and I was saddened to learn of his death. I ordered two books on memoir writing (my public library system had neither): his Writing About Your Life  and this one.

We ended the holiday with hot dogs (I had a taste for one) - a few French fries and a salad. And that's the way it was this Memorial Day weekend, 2015.

I hope your holiday and weekend were as restful as mine. Thanks to Carole for this week's timely  Ten on Tuesday prompt; go here to see how others spent their weekend.

Cheers~

this is my story...

 

Sunday 5 April        circa 7:34 am EST

    It's early and even quieter for a Sunday. Top o' my list is to draft and post today's blog, so, here goes:

Every month I have a theme or focus project that is designed to hopefully help me fulfill my word CHRONICLE:

• January: write in DayONE app everyday;
• February: Create a scrapbook layout every day;
• March: Blog and create ta da lists everyday. 

This month, a busy and slightly different one, I am focusing on developing habits , especially those that strengthen my abilities to CHRONICLE the stories - yesterday's and today's - of my life. 

I enjoyed blogging everyday, last month - and I must admit, at times, it was a stretch. I'd look up at the clock and realize the day was nearly done and I'd not posted. One thing I learned - no doubt, already knew - is it helps to have a more solid plan, an editorial calendar so to speak.  I concluded that I wanted to create and post drafts earlier in the day. I  also had to acknowledge, I'd totally neglected another blog - one that is shared with two other friends all month. Not good! And I needed to address that.

So, I decided that in April, in order to solidify the habit of blogging more consistently, (I've had periods of drought) on a schedule, and meeting my own internal commitment, I'd revise my blogging schedule and actions. So, here's the plan:

    Post : Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday of the week and on the 5s: the 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th & 25th of the month. Some times, those dates will fall on a Tu, Wed, or Thurs. I plan to continue the Simply A Moment posts - perhaps my most favorite "slice of my life” and to share the fruits of my quilting labors. I also imagine you'll get to know my family and friends a bit better as I create and share portraits -their stories - of them. For my other blog, I will post on Wednesdays.

When I first started this blog, I didn't want it to be a recap of my day-to-day life but over time, I've come to realize how could it not be? It is my story, Morning Glory. And I so appreciate that you are willing to listen.

Have a great day and I'll touch base on Tuesday!

Cheers~

writing it down...

 

…making it happen

Easily since 1999, I have been using Levenger's Circa System (watch the 30 second video to see how it works). In every size sold, from 2" x 4.5"  to 12" x 12," and beyond. I like them so much that I also provided them to participants in training classes. What do I like about these notebooks? The easy way you can include different sizes of paper within. True, one needs the punch for making holes in the papers if you don't purchase pre-punched. And tho' I do, I also incorporate papers, notes, lists, etc that I need for reference. 

As I have been focused this year on chronicling (capturing and recording ) my life's stories, I am capturing these story sparks using the DayONE app and also, writing in my Circa Journal Planner (CJP). A memory or story can  pop into my mind at any time…and does. 

Now, I do have a brand new iPhone6+ plus an iPad mini, so I'm not really without a digital toy, er uh tool. But, I am finding that when I write the idea or memory down, I am likely to include a few more details, if not a full page, here and there. Some, I transfer to DayONE (and vice versa: I sometimes flesh out a digital note in my CJP).

Over the years, I  have purchased a variety of planners and notebooks , used them for a few days  and returned to my CJP. What's your go-to system for chronicling (capturing and recording ) your life's stories?

 

Cheers~

Staples has a similar ring system; it's called Arc

LOAD 215...

 

     This is my photo collage of the 28 scrapbook stories I created in February. Since 2010, I've participated in this annual event, fondly known as LOAD - Layout A Day - to participants. Each day, we receive a prompt and the challenge to tell a story; one can follow the prompt or not. Layouts are uploaded to a private FLICKR gallery. A great place to share and be inspired.

This year's theme was "Once Upon a Story." Prompts were inspired by children's books and memories of the impact  books and reading had on our lives.

Each day of the week , prompts had a different focus, e.g,  

• Thursday was color - LOAD 12 , - we were challenged to use the colors green, yellow and orange as in Green Eggs and Ham 
• Tuesday - LOAD 3  - was a design principle: mixing up typeface  
• Friday - LOAD 6 was a play on words and takeoff on the book Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day
• Sunday - LOAD 15 was "Quotes" 
• LOAD 25 - tell the story in conversation or dialogue. 

And there were also days where I went "off prompt," as LOAD 11 about the bébé, instead. I created the collage using the COLLECT app - easy peasy!

I have several favorites among the 28 and it is my intention to share them with you over this month. It's on my list! So, watch this space.

What are your  favorite children's books or memories of reading as a child?

Cheers~

 Click on the photo for a  larger image of the collage.

"snow" days and mondays...

 

monday is meeting day for my quilting association...

every two years, we have our biennial quilt show; this is the year...

during jan-mar, we have quilt show registration: for insurance purposes, members have their pictures taken with the quilt/s they intend to display...

during jan-mar, we also have two mon holidays ~ so we don't meet...

and this year, we have also had snow days (i.e., when the school system (in the county where we meet) closes, we don't meet...

so far, we have had three snow days - one each per month; today was one...

instead of snow, tho', we had ice! it was gorgeous and treacherous...

we did not meet! 

by noon,  the sun had come out - it was lovely to see the ice droplets melting...

currently, it is  43 degrees...

tomorrow, we may have rain…or snow!

 

I hope the weather wherever you are is pleasant and sunny.

 

Cheers~

on making lists...

 

…and well, actually - I don't. I have written about (lamented?) on this blog before that I don't consider myself a list maker. Oh, I jot down

• things to do and 
• ideas and
• grocery lists and
• errand/shopping lists and
• someday/maybe lists and
• PiPs (projects in progress) lists and
• packing lists and
• ta da done lists and, and, and…

But I really don't consider myself a lister.

• I have all sorts of journals and notepads and fun sticky-type notes for making and keeping lists.
• I have identified all sorts of websites and blogs with ideas for making/keeping lists.
• I even have a few apps on my iPad/iPhone.
• I even have a list maker mentor!

I  actually don't get a thrill from crossing off items on the list…but I am fascinated by list-making and listers and all things list.

So, all of this preamble is to share with you that for the month of March, LISTS are my CHRONICLE focus. I have created A LIST that currently  lists 31 things I hope to:

• do, e.g., blog 31 days
• see
• accomplish
• experience
• complete this month 
• share on this blog

By no means is this list all inclusive and I expect it will expand. Some items will be executed; others, rescheduled, postponed or abandoned as life gets in the way of one's plans, wishes, dreams...

So, tell me: are you a lister? Any tips to share?

Cheers~

 

Happy Valentine's Day | 2015

 

    Today is my friend AJ's birthday! It isn't surprising that she has an incredible collection of hearts, amassed over the years…and I'm sure, there are wonderful, heartwarming stories for each. One that I know and remember involves a heart pin:

We worked together for many years and one evening, about  6:30 pm-ish  I went  to her office to chit-chat, for a few minutes. As I was leaving, I noticed she had a heart pinned  on the  left sleeve of her jacket, just a tad above her wrist. I clearly remember saying to her: "Why are you wearing that heart on your sleeve?"  She looked at me with a sheepish grin and we both fell  out in laughter! I don't know that I've ever laughed so hard.

Valentine's Day is a great day to celebrate a great person! Happy birthday, AJ!

And to all,  I wish you a Happy Valentine's Day too! 

Cheers~