Morning Glory Studio

Ta Da!

 

 

Sunset is nigh. Gretchen Rubin says we should occasionally create a Ta Dah! rather than a To Do list...so, here's mine for today:

• spent most of the day döstädning papers...
• logged onto my weekly Journal Club session ...
• afterwards, went to the hair dresser and ....
• stopped at the grocery store  for a few odds n ends...
• put the groceries away...
•  changed my tax prep appointment so I could attend a farewell luncheon for a quilting friend who's moving to Minnesota...
• answered a few emails...

It's nearly 8 PM and time to relax...and even grab a bite to eat. Tomorrow's the big March. I'm  not marching but I'll be in step all the way!

What's on your Ta Dah! list? Enjoy the weekend

Cheers~

alphabet blog

 

I participate in a year-long project. Every day, via email, a 20-30 seconds video arrives demonstrating a creative activity...something that takes less than 10 minutes of one's time. I don't always do the prompts but I do check them out. Today's was really clever: for each letter of the alphabet, write a sentence for the letter, whatever pops in your mind. Here some from my list:

A

 August Fling: For the past fours years, a friend of mine has had a gathering: good food and  live music in a lovely outdoors' setting. A very pleasant way to enjoy a lovely, nearly perfect August evening ...especially after the torrential rains and thunderstorm we experienced yesterday. This year, my sister joined us because  she and Sharon - my  friend - share nearly the same birthday. They were born ten days apart.

E

Enjoyed Happier Podcast #129, "September is the Other January" on my walk today.

G

Grape tomatoes are good...can't eat just one...

M

Mosquito bite. Damn! I don't usually get bitten...tonight was the exception...and it happened not outside but in the house!

W

Walked 1.5 miles on my daily walk...

Z

ZZZZ -I'm calling it an early night tonight. We were up late last night watching a movie: The Accountant with Ben Affleck. 

C

Cheers~

 

FriYAY | journal club bingo...

 

 

 Today was the last meetup for the summer session of Journal Club - we'll resume again in September. Today, we had a fun and different journaling experience: Ten different prompts and for each one, we made a list of items for the topic that corresponded to the numeral of the prompt - for example: #2 - Two things I'm curious about. One of the items on my list of two: How to create an iPhone photo collage using 25 BINGO squares. I did a google search and have some hits... just need to look at/try the apps...in the meantime, tho' I want to share my BINGO card. I have one BINGO and several near completion... I'll continue playing til I finish. I was a tad excited when I realized I had copper gold deer, found in my Christmas stash, that I used in place of gold stars. Our guiding animal for this session is Deer - talk about serendipity!

The Instagram hashtag is #journalclubbingo. There are about 65 photos - some are mine ( you may recognize me).  Enjoy. We also have a Facebook group but it's private; however, Jamie says she's going to post a slide show (of the photos we shared ) on her website and I'll share, once she does...  And just as soon as I figure out how to make the collage and finish my bingos, I'll share all my photos...

Enjoy your FriYAY!

Cheers~

currently | another list or more...

 

 

 

    We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends; delicious food and great company. Today's been a very quiet day - neither of us has had much energy. In fact, Norman announced about 1 PM that he was going for a walk and then afterward, go back to bed (note: he didn't get up until about 10:30 am) - which he promptly did! ... 

Today, during MSQT, I continued my list of 100+ focus items - first draft. Next, I plan to review for duplicate thoughts and perhaps re-organize...

Today , of course, the madness of Black Friday sales began...not sure how the malls fared but my email box is filled...

Today, I created a mind-map style list for December activities and events and things to do, think about, etc, perhaps even solving whether or not I'll put up the tree this year. I  seem to be of several minds every year: Yes. No. Maybe... and I may have an idea...Next on the list is to try out my idea...

Today was the last Journal Club session til January 2017; this was a Friday afternoon weekly session I really enjoyed. I'm definitely planning on continuing and expanding the practice of an  hourly session on Friday afternoons, until we meet again...

 Today I tried another list-making method, devised by Lynda Barry. It's called a "6 Minutes Diary." Here's a video that walks one through using it. Try it; kinda fun...and different. I'm still racking my brain for a 7th "saw" item...

Today I made a list of things to do that I did not do...perhaps tomorrow...and so now, to this list I shall add that I too may call it an early evening tonight.

Cheers~

 

some thoughts on list-making...

 

 

(starting a list @ Starbucks earlier today) 

        In exactly ten, 10 days, December 1 will be here! Are you ready? Does it matter? Even if you don't celebrate the Christmas holiday it's hard to not get caught up in the frenzy and excitement and planning, doing, creating, shopping, prepping ... already my mail boxes - both analog and digital are packed full daily with all sorts of buying and/or planning opportunities, not only for the holiday season but also 2017. And my calendar is filling up, rapidly. 

For the past nine years I have documented the season, drawing on yesterday's memories while in the process of making today's new ones. I plan to do so again this year.

In preparation for this year's season and the coming of 2017, I have been thinking about list-making. I don't think of myself as a list-maker, a lister -  although I do make lists, you know, the usual: grocery, errand, chores, tasks, tracking expenses and monthly bills, gifts, books to read, monthly goals, birthdays and other special events to remember, etc.  Mostly tho', I carry a lot of stuff around in my head. As David Allen of Getting Things Done says : " A list is equivalent to your external brain...Or, if I do write things down, I neglect to refer to the list nor am I consistent about where and how I keep my lists. Gotta change that...starting now!

On the web there are any number of websites, blogs, videos, etc with ideas, tips, suggestions, for making and using lists...lists are also great tools for celebrating the here-n-now. A site I found that has an extensive library of ideas, information and inspiration is lifehack.org. I found this article to have some useful tips and ideas... Earlier this year I wrote about the Daily Meeze app and I did use it...ran into a few technical problems so I stopped, mainly because I am definitely a paper and pen person. 

As we transition into December, I plan to spend the next few days this week thinking more about lists, listing and how I can most effectively use them. I'd appreciate your sharing your experiences and suggestions, too. 

Cheers~

 

 

currently on 11/11...

        Lists are such easy ways to begin/write/draft a blog post. In many ways, a list acts as a jump-starter/flour sifter (flour sifter? well, that was the first image that came to my mind; what can I say?)... but just making a list isn't all there is to it. My next thought - and  I hope it's more  substantive - what's the purpose of said list?

• Documenting the day so far?
• Sharing the thoughts, feelings, observations on my mind?
• Writing a minimum 300 words for this post?
• Meeting a deadline?
• Stirring my creative juices?
• Remembering things to do...Including those not done?

and then I 

• Heard church bells pealing in the background and wondered if from the National Shrine in honor of Veteran's Day? (and to all our veterans: we are forever grateful for your service and in some cases, supreme sacrifice. Peace.)
• Took a sip of  lukewarm tea, looked at clock and noted less than an hour 'til today's 1 PM Journal Club session...

 

 

• Drummed my fingers on the desk top, waiting for more, any inspiration to strike...
• Snapped  a picture or two and made a mental note to clear up storage space on my iPhone...
• Selected and edited a couple photos to use with this post!
• Notes that I'd only typed 200 words with this post...

So, with that in mind and again, looking at the clock, noting that it is now 12:38 pm, I decided to call it good, read for editing purposes,  hit publish and get ready for Journal Club. The clock's ticking...

Are you a lister?

Cheers~

 

 

 

 

and counting...

 on my way out for a walk, podcast on

    I started this month with the idea  that I'd focus on lists and blog everyday, as a part of that focus. I have to admit that my list-making/keeping has been sporadic at best - like today, I realize I haven't made a written -down list of things to attend to today! All in my head - not a good place to keep it! So, I stopped as I was drafting this post and made a list:

• FOCUS on habit creation/building: start with spending at least two hours in my sewing room - Morning Glory Studio - at minimum. Today was my second day and I made some progress but also got frustrated with what I was doing (I'm mitered-corner challenged, temporarily) so I quit - I mean, put the project aside and moved onto another activity;
• BLOG daily. During this month, I have kept up with a daily post but I don't think I can or want to sustain that type of schedule plus I want to publish earlier in the day and have a few in the queue. So, I'm going to revise my plan and schedule, starting April 1.
• CHRONICLE a life-story/snippet daily - this is happening but I'm still working through the process.
• End MSQT within  two hours after I have my first sip of tea!

That last item is going to be quite a challenge; I so enjoy MSQT and could easily spend  3-4 hours in that mode…but, it can't be done 'cause there are everyday habits/routines I have to embrace in order to function; you know, things like do the laundry; fix meals; other household chores; attend to expenses; etc.

Today, Mother Nature gave us a treat: Temperature in the 70s (F) and sunshine. A great day to take a long walk without a coat, hat, gloves…and that I did, while listening to podcasts.

I hope your day has been good and filled with sunshine.

Cheers~

simply a moment | march 2015...

  

 This quilt was part of the vendor The-Sampler.com display

    My Friday trip to Lancaster for the quilt show and expo was nice and a different change of pace.One of the highlights was seeing the above  Flower Garden quilt all made up and quilted. I really like how the quilter made hers and if I were just starting mine, I'd probably use two colors for the background and borders…I did use different colors: blue, green, pink and lavender  as backgrounds for some  flower blocks with the primary color a soft, mottled pale yellow. Next time! I do intend however to have my quilt quilted using the same technique …but that's a  l-o-n-g way off. A long way ...  

Today, I had grand plans to spend most of the day working on finishing , or at least, moving along, a few projects that have been in the works for a while. For the last several days, I've forwarded them from the current to the next day's list. Well, today, that was going to change. It didn't.

• As I mentioned earlier, my quilting association's quilt show is a month away. I needed to do several things to register my quilts  - mainly fill out paperwork . Oops, forgot about that until about 3:45 pm.  today! Not even on the list.
• At the Lancaster Quilt Expo and Show, I bought a new rotary cutter and ruler; I tried them today; I think I will like them both but I am definitely going to have to re-learn how to use a rotary cutter.
• One of the items I plan to put in the show requires grommets…today I learned that I am grommet -challenged. And it's not that I've not used grommets before…but today, I just could not get my brain to do it right…reminding myself that the brain likes novelty but takes a while to grasp and understand…yeah!
• I did get out for my mileaday+ walk ! It's a really bright and blustery March day, just the best kind of weather that's invigorating, keeps one moving and the heart pumping. Yay me!

And that's the way the moments have been for this Ides of March  afternoon. Now, onto completing that paperwork!

 

 

 

 

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~