Improv Scrapbooking:
I took an intro to Improvisational Comedy class last summer with Toby Martini and while taking the six week class, I had a spark of creativity that went beyond the class, learning the principles of improvisational comedy didn't necessarily make me funny, but it gave me a new way to think about my creative process and applying these principles to my process of scrapbooking has been a revolution for me. I am more prolific than ever, in October I made 40 layouts in 7 days and last month I made 60 layouts. Making a million scrapbook layouts is not the goal. Being more present and authentic in my creative process and product is. Telling better stories is the goal. Spending less time on stuff that doesn't matter is the goal. Spending more time on what makes my heart and soul sing is the goal. I'm there and I want to share.
In Improvisational Comedy, one of the first principles you learn is to be present. To listen to what your scene partner is saying and to respond to that, not to be thinking about what you are going to say next, but to be listening and then just opening your mouth and saying whatever pops into your head. Improv Business Consultant Marcia McGilley of Limelight Presentations says "I've also been a stage actor in plays, infomercials and 'improv' comedy shows. Improv is short for 'improvisational.' That's a fancy word which means thinking on your feet. No scripts or lines to memorize, you just say whatever pops into your head in a given situation. Improv was great training for real-life situations in business and consulting. I know how valuable it is as one of your communication skills."
This principle of being present, listening and saying whatever pops into your head can be applied to the process of scrapbooking. Think of what that little voice in your head is saying or what is on your mind or heart right now. What has you worried or excited or experiencing any heightened emotion right now. Listen. It is there. Scrapbook about that. Don't pre-plan it. Don't write it down in a list of things to scrapbook later. Just scrapbook it right now with what you have available to you right now. Even if that means it won't be as awesome as you think it would be / could be with better photos, better embellishments, or better more thought out writing. Chuck all that planning out the window. Remember the Nike ads? Just do it. Right Now. You have 15 minutes to spill your guts on the page. Don't edit. Be real. Say it (write it down) before you think much about it. Don't worry about grammar. Don't worry about anything that you think it should be, just go with what it is, what is in you that wants to get out. Listen. Listen and then Go!
Here is an example of what I mean by Listening to What Your Heart is Telling You, Being Present, and Being Improv about how you respond to that in a scrapbooking kind of way: (Hey - ppssst - blog reader - You can skip over this part or skim it - as I am a bit "improv" in my description - in other words, I am long winded - I'll highlight some important stuff). Today is Valentine's Day, I intended to make a scrapbook page about Valentine's Day or at least the theme of love. I started the page yesterday in anticipation of today being Valentine's Day - check yesterday's posts for the videos in which I made that and other projects. But, this morning when I woke up, I was thinking about Saturday Night Live and about the Grammy's Music Award Show, about Whitney Houston's death and about how Paul McCartney did the last number at the Grammy's; about how music and certain songs can instantly take us to a time and place and bring back memories; and about how the show Saturday Night Live also does that for me. When I see or think about an SNL sketch, I am also reminded of the time in my life when I first saw it. For example, the Coneheads and Gilda Radner bring me back to the 70s when I used to spend Saturday Nights at my Grandma's house watching the Barbara Mandrell Show, Love Boat and Fantasy Island, and then if I was still awake and Grandma would let us, we'd watch some Saturday Night Live, I don't remember it too specifically, but I knew it was cool. In the 80s I can remember my friends in AP Calculus Class (my most hated class), imitating Dana Carvey as the Church Lady - "Now isn't THAT special?" In college I used to spend the weekends with friends who were married with very young kids and we loved Kevin Nealon "I'll Pump (clap) You Up" and Mike Meyers in Wayne's World - I'm pretty sure Dana Carvey was in both of those sketches too (without googling it I think I'm getting his name right). When I first met my husband and we were dating, we'd often watch SNL after dates and that one night in August 1997 or 1998(?) when we turned to NBC at approximately 11:43 (so we knew SNL had started and we were on the right channel) and we were horrified that they were trying to do a sketch about Princess Diana being in a car accident and then slowly realizing it wasn't SNL, it was real. And now, my kids and I love Andy Samberg and his SNL shorts like Lazer Cats and Space Olympics. The show has been a constant in my life. It is like an old friend who knew me way back when. I am reminded of the different people I watched the show with depending on the sketch and when it aired. There are Deep Thoughts, like the ones Jack Handy used to do (miss those): 1. How powerful it was when Paul Simon sang The Boxer with the FDNY behind him right after 9/11 - I still get a little teary just thinking about how deep the emotion was at that moment; 2. How tender Chris Farley was when he did the awkward interview of Paul McCartney and he asked about whether it was true when McCartney sang "The love you take is equal to the love you make" and how Paul McCartney closed last weekend's Grammy Awards with that line and how the Beatles and Rolling Stones and U2 and Madonna have been musical constants and all have been on SNL (well at least members of the Beatles have been on the show). Music and this long running show of Saturday Night Live have been a constant in my life as I was born in the 70s and that show started in 1975 when my parents got divorced and that show has been the backdrop to my Saturday nights for as long as I can remember. If I never scrapbooked about something as random as seemingly random as Saturday Night Live, my story would be incomplete; but more importantly, if today, when I took time to scrapbook, if I didn't scrapbook about Saturday Night Live because it was on my heart and mind, whatever else I did would have been forced and not as real, it would not make an impression on me; whereas if I scrapbook what I am passionate about right now, chances are in 20 years when I look back at that page, I'll be taken back to today and that page will be a better memory trigger for me of time and place, like when you hear an old song, than if I hadn't been present and listened and then scrapbooked using these improv principles. Improv will make the memories more authentic and real. There will be more of me in what I create. I think this goes beyond scrapbooking; improvisational comedy principles can be applied to any creative process.
Here are 3.5 videos that you can find on YouTube about the process of applying improvisational comedy principles to scrapbooking and my actual process:
1. Watch as I use improvisational comedy principles in my scrapbooking creative process:
I use the principles of improvisational comedy for my video making too - I just press record and talk, there is no preparation and I say what is on my heart and mind, I am in the present moment, not thinking about the next thing I'm going to say - this is improv - it isn't always funny or interesting - but it is real and the more real you are, the better it is in an improv way.
1.5 Here's my improv fix for the 20 minute video that wouldn't upload to YouTube - This is The Middle (which is also a great show by the way) - I tried to get it to a point where there isn't too much overlap - but it is not perfect - it is improv! And just ask Seth Godin about how he feels about shipping when it is not completely perfect - I'm pretty sure he'd say ship it. So here's the fix:
2. Here is part 2: (Darn it! There is a gap between #1 and #2 so I'm going to upload a 1.5 to bridge the gap).
3. SNL Mini Book Cover & Applying the Improv Concept of Using What You Have and Getting It Done Now:
If you are interested in learning more about applying the concepts from improvisational comedy to scrapbooking or to any other part of your creative process, please leave a comment and/or email me. I am working on some projects that will expand on this concept and I need some guinea pigs.
Meantime, if you wish to support my blog through the Amazon Affiliate Program, you can check out these books and Paul McCartney's new album, Kisses on the Bottom (which sounds like an improv concept of "taking it the wrong way") that dropped today:
Sing it Paul: "And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make. "
I think you you can substitute the word love for memory keeping or the creative process; in other words, what you get out of your scrapbooking or memory keeping hobby is what you put in to it - so put good stuff in OK?
I've been thinking about what is scrapworthy. Back in the day, we used to say "Now, that's something to write home about." And I actually knew exactly what that meant since most of my childhood summers were spent at sleep away camp and we actually did write home, I would love to see some of those old letters (Mom- do you have any?) to see what was worth writing home about when I was 8 or 9 which is how old my kids are now. I was looking through some pictures on index sheets from Shutterfly from 2010 and was amazed at how many things have changed since I took those pictures despite that we have had no major changes in our lives - everything thing seems "same old - same old" nothing to write home about, but in fact there is a lot to write home about. In other words, there is a lot of life happenings to make scrapbooking pages about, but even though I make lots and lots of scrapbooking pages, there are so many things that don't make it into the scrapbooks just because life happens at the speed of light these days.
For this page I used two index prints and then put numbers on random images and in the journaling I explained what the photo was about. For example #6 is about the kids playing virtual shuffleboard at Epcot - in the context of the fact that virtual anything in my childhood only occurred on re-runs of the original Star Trek and that we recently went to NASA where there was a giant Star Trek display and/or that we live in St. Petersburg, Florida which, I'm pretty sure, is the shuffleboard capital of the world - there's a scrapbook page there right? That is exciting stuff. Lots of possible connections. BUT. I have not made a scrapbook page about virtual shuffleboard and chances are I never will, or maybe I will since I did this blog post - or maybe the blog post is enough on the subject of virtual shuffleboard?
The point being that there are so many stories to tell and so many photos, that as the scrapbooking mom, I decide which stories are scrapworthy and which ones will freeze time and melt hearts. These concepts were part of Stacy Julian's email #2 in the Twelve Class at BPC and are related to Stephanie Medley Rath's theme of Scrapworthy Lives. Both are great creative jumping off points.
It was an easy page to put together. I did the journaling in my word processor before I made the page and I just printed it out on regular copy paper, gasp, but so very easy and then I taped it to some cardstock and voila - scrapbook page done.
Journaling Reads:
Scrapworthy Lives : Back in the day, we used to say "oh that’s something to write home about" long before emails or iphones or video chatting. Long before digital cameras when we might have 24 pictures from the whole year - instead of from one afternoon. These days, I take a lot of photos, I even make scrapbook pages about lots of them. But truth is, I take tens of thousands of photos a year, literally, so what’s scrapworthy is sometimes what I have bothered to print - and sometimes scrapworthy pics don’t get scrapped - and that’s OK. I try to tell as many stories as I can so that one day you both can look at these images and have some context and ultimately have proof that you were loved beyond measure by me and Daddy. Here are 15 random scrapworthy moments from 2010 that chances are didn’t make it on to a scrapbooking page:
1. I picked you up from school on the last day of school and surprised you both with a trip over to Disney World.
2. We stopped at the office so we could kiss Daddy goodbye - he has the "no Disney" pass & I’m the Disney Mom.
3. The trip over to Disney is 1.5 hours and I always get a bit emotional when I pass through the gate - it is the real reason I chose to live in FL.
4. We take a picture of where we park so we can find our minivan later.
5. Mac used to hate God’s golfball but this trip you were brave & loved it.
6. You played virtual shuffleboard.
7. Daddy always reads the morning news paper & its best to let him finish.
8. Every 6 months I go on a cleaning binge & clean the entire house.
9. Dukey Boy is no longer with us.
10. That table is no longer with us but Allison and I still use the sewing machine almost every day.
11. We have tadpoles & other random creatures in our house at any given time, I think this is a snail.
12. Ally in her bathroom before the kid room switch & rocking long hair & a pony tail - shortly after you switched rooms & Ally cut off her hair.
13. Ally wanted a craft caddy tote just like mine. $12.
14. Ally uses the pouty face to get practically anything especially useful on Daddy & less so on me.
15. Allison was riding her bike w/ training wheels and just this past Christmas Eve took them off!
It amazes me that I try to capture so much and still there is so much happening and changing all the time. I just want to freeze time & melt hearts with these scrapbooks; chances are I’ll melt my future’s self’s heart - and hopefully the two of your hearts too.
I love you. - Notes from Mommy / Katie 1/5/12.
I could make so many scrapbooking pages about any one of those 15 items and bazillion more; but I won't, there isn't enough time. But there is time for me to do a little something everyday which is what I do try to do. How do you determine what is scrapworthy and how do you fit scrapbooking into your daily / weekly / monthly routine?
I am taking Stacy Julian's Twelve Class at Big Picture Scrapbooking and I think we are still in set up mode and that the first assignment will be creating a layout about "YOU" meaning each of ourselves, or for me meaning ME. I wanted to look back and see if I created 12 scrapbook layouts about me in the 2011, let's see:
1. Muther's Day. Ok, technically this is a holiday but this is May last year and it doesn't look like any layouts in the first 4 months of the year were specifically about me, so I'm going to use it for these purposes.
2. Top of Mountain Caution Sign. Ok, technically another one not specifically about me, it is more about how I found that caution sign so funny since they put it at the top of the mountain instead of the bottom - so by the time you read it - you've already done all the dangerous stuff - I'm actually kind of glad it was at the top and not the bottom because we went up somewhat fearlessly thinking it was a do-able trail when in fact it was a higher skills level trail; but I am the only one in the picture so I'm using it.
3. Guiding Principles. This one is all about me, it has no photo, but it is all about my guiding principles. I did this as part of Ella Publishing's Boot Camp and it is a scraplift of an Elizabeth Dillow page. I love it and I could make 12 more like this one.
4. Kayaking With Dolphins. Here is another one that could really go under "Things We Do" but since I am primarily the kayker in this family and it is something about me, I'm using it for the "All About Me" category. This page didn't actually go into any of my Library of Memories Albums - it went into my BOOK OF AWESOME!
5. Pursue Your Passion. I made this page as part of Stephanie Medley Rath's Scrapworthy Lives The Happiness Project Blog Hop. Yesterday's post was the last in that series but I really enjoyed the concept and the monthly accountability; I'm hoping she will recreate another blog hop like this one. (P.S. Stephanie just in case you are reading - your blog hop was much appreciated!)
6. Weight Loss Goal of 2011. The photos in this layout are from 2010 but the page was made and the journaling was done in February 2011 (I double checked). In July 2010 I decided to lose 50 pounds. I have never revealed my starting weight but here it is - dun dun dun daaaa - 180. This was a low point for me to see that number on the scale and not be pregnant. My daughter was five years old in the summer of 2010 and I was ashamed of myself that I hadn't managed to lose the weight I put on having her. I've moved past the shame and I am now very proud of myself that I haven't given up my goal. During this journey, my lowest weight has been somewhere around 149 but most steadily at 155 but recently - since Halloween and through the festivities of Christmas - I put on 10 pounds. This is the wrong direction so I have corrected that and I started this year, 2012 at 165 and this morning I was 163. I am going to do Bikram Yoga hardcore (everyday) until I get back down to 155. I'd like to accomplish that before our ski trip which is coming up soon. Seeing this layout reminds me, however, that I haven't bought a new awesome pair of sneakers in a long, long time, maybe today I will do that. The goal is 130.
7. Story Time: Prom 1988. My daughter loves to hear stories about when I was little, she also doesn't see my actual sister very much but we do meet up with my best friend from highschool on pretty much of an annual basis at Disney World - Nancy has a daughter who is about Allison's age so it is always a fun girl's weekend. So, I checked, and this page was made in February 2011 right after we got back from one of these Disney Trips and it was prompted by a conversation I had with my daughter about Nancy - even though the title of this page is Prom. And the picture is fuzzy - we didn't have many back then - so know that I was sticking my tongue out and I was wearing Converse All Star Hightops to my prom and my prom dress was a mini - which wasn't done a lot back then even though it was the age of the mini skirt - and my teacher made me this dress after I drew it for her on a napkin - Thank you Mrs. Siroux.
8. Us. Here is another page that is not all about me, its about my husband too and our different personalities. But he has been a big part of my life since I met him in October of 1995 and today is the 13th anniversary of our wedding in 1999, so I thought it qualifies as an All About Me page - I wouldn't be me today without him. I love you honey. And your Mom just called to wish us a happy annversary - and I wished her one back - we have the same anniversary as his parents and they got married right before WWII so I think it was maybe 1942? So that would make them married 70 years today? Is that right? If it is we probably should have done something special - I need to check my dates on that right away.
9. ALL ABOUT ME 2011! Ok I found one scrapbook layout that is All About Me in 2011. Those were all self timer photos - the big headshot one was taken in my shower because the light seemed good! Note to Self: Wear that red dress more often. I love wearing red.
10. Secret Me. Here is a little secret most people don't know about me - but if they read my blog, I guess they will now. I cry in the car. Not all the time or anything. But after my Grandpa died in 1999 and again when my Dad died in 2003, it was the place I most often cried; I think it is because it is private and quiet and the songs on the radio seem to speak to me. I haven't actually cried in the car in a long time, but chances are, when something sad happens or something is bothering me, I'll know it because the tears will start flowing in the car. I also think it is a place where my feelings come out since I am still, even though I'm driving, and otherwise in most of my home and work life, I'm racing around doing stuff so I don't have the stillness space available to cry. Just a little secret thing I thought I'd share. On this particular day in the photo, I was crying happy tears because I had just dropped Allison off for her last day of pre-school and the song "Sunrise-Sunset" swelled if only in my head - quickly fly the days, the years. Life is beautiful and goes by so quickly, so fast.
11. Bikram Yoga Me. Yoga has been a much needed quiet place for me and has strengthened me inside and out. The most challenging part of yoga for me is often the lay on the mat resting time - it is challenging for me to quiet my mind and just be, but I have improved this ability so much over the past year, it is amazing. This page is about how much I love Bikram Yoga and the benefits it has given me in my life since I started in April 2011. The quote is one I heard on the Paperclipping Roundtable Podcast, Noell Hyman mentioned it and I love it so much, it goes something like this: "Everything you want {in life} is just outside your comfort zone." I LOVE that quote and it has given me so much strength over the past year.
12. Big Idea Me. We have had the same financial planner since 1997 and he comes and meets with us a few times a year. He has commented that I'm the Big Idea Girl and that Charlie is the Detail Man. I have paid attention and realized that he is absolutely right. I have discovered about myself, that I do love the big picture - and get annoyed with nitty gritty details. So my husband and I make a pretty good team because we are different. Knowing that about myself is a good thing because I know my strengths and weaknesses, so I pay extra attention to details when I'm at work but I also know that I'm happiest when I'm exploring big concepts or learning new things. I made this page about an Improvisational Comedy class I took last summer. And NO. I am not funny - just ask my kids. And YES! This class opened up the creative side of my brain and I realized that learning new things - anything really - is a crucial part of my happiness and creativity and life. I know that I need to be what they taught us to be at Eckerd College - a lifetime learner. There really is happiness and vitality and creativity - and it flows like crazy - when you are learning something new and are standing just outside your comfort zone. Here's to more of that in 2012.
I encourage you to take a look back at the scrapbooking you did last year and see if you can come up with 12 pages about you. If you did, take a look at them and check in with your 2011 self and think about what you want for yourself in 2012 - what is the same - what do you want to be different. If you didn't make 12 pages about yourself in 2012 - come join the Twelve Class at Big Picture Classes, I am certain is it going to be awesome.
Click Here to Sign Up For Free Big Picture Classes Membership there are several free classes and I'm pretty sure they give me some kind of points if I refer a friend - so thank you in advance for clicking through to BPC.
This month's SCRAPWORTHYLIVES "The HappinessProject" blog hop post starts here. I am to show you 12 Happy Scrapbook Layouts for 2012 and I'll add some of Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Tips in there for Boot Camp Perfect which is the theme this month {basically put all the concepts together to have a completely blissed out 2012}. Ready? Here Goes:
1. Exercise Better. "There's a staggering amount of evidence to show that exercise is good for you. Among other benefits, people who exercise are healthier, think more clearly, sleep better, and have delayed onset of dementia. Regular exercise boots energy levels!"
2. Give Proofs of Love. "There is no love, there are only proofs of love" - Pierre Reverdy. The best gift of Christmas this year was the one I gave to my father-in-law, it was a "This Is Your Life" scrapbook and he completely loved it and declared me the best daughter-in-law in the world. This was indeed a time when it was better to give than receive and giving it and seeing how delighted he was made me so happy. t
The majority of the book was his autobiography which I illustrated using photos from his life and from google searches to illustrate what he was talking about. The second part of the book was a 10 page summary of the last 10 years with photo collages one for each year with 12 photos on each page with the date stamped (text over photo) on each page from 2001-2011 :
3. Work Smart. "Happiness is a critical factor for work, and work is a critical factor for happiness. In one of those life-isn't-fair results, it turns out that the happy outperform the less happy. Happy people work more hours each week - and they work more in their free time too."
In our house, we have been trying to help our children learn that homework can be fun (we are still trying to embrace this concept ourselves) because it will help them be better students and have a better life. We often help or check homework and I expect that homework will be a big part of our lives for the next ten years, so we all better find it fun, right?
This is a pocket page with actual homework in the pocket.
4. Parenthood. "In many ways, the happiness of having children falls into the kind of happiness that could be called fog happiness. Fog is elusive. Fog surrounds you and transforms the atmosphere, but when you try to examine it, it vanishes. Fog happiness is the kind of happiness you get from activities that, closely examined, don't really seem to bring much happiness at all - yet somehow they do."
Trips to the dentist are not normally fun - not for me personally and not for me when my kids have cavities - but having a very successful zero cavity trip after having a not so successful prior trip that did involve cavities - was a very happy thing.
5. Be Serious About Play. "One way to feel good is to make time for play - which researchers define as an activity that's very satisfying, has no economic significance, doesn't create social harm, and doesn't necessarily lead to praise or recognition. Research shows that regularly having fun is a key factor in having a happy life; people who have fun are twenty times as likely to feel happy."
We aren't particularly good at sewing, but we use the sewing machine almost everyday and it is FUN!
6. Make Time for Friends."One conclusion was blatantly clear from my [Gretchen Rubin's] happiness research: everyone from contemporary scientists to ancient philosophers agrees that having strong social bonds is probably the most meaningful contributor to happiness. The positive-psychology superstars Ed Diener and Martin Seligman cite studies demonstrating that "of 24 character strengths, those that best predict life satisfaction are the interpersonal ones." Epicurus agreed, albeit in slightly more poetic phraseology: "Of all the things that wisdom provides for living one's entire life in happiness, the greatest by far is the possession of friendship."
7. Buy Some Happiness: Indulge in a Modest Splurge."Everyone has to make up their mind and if money is money or money isn't money, and sooner or later they always do decide that money is money." - Gertrude Stein. "Money satisfies basic material needs. It's a means and an end. It's a way to keep score, win security, exercise generosity, and earn recognition."
Here is a $25 splurge on a boat that didn't last very long - despite that I would not recommend this little inflatable boat, it was FUN and it did make us HAPPY.
8. Contemplate the Heavens. Keep a Gratitude Notebook. Gretchen Rubin writes "Reading catastrophe memoirs made me extremely grateful for the fact that I wasn't experiencing a catastrophe. Research shows that because we measure ourselves relative to others, our happiness is influenced by whether we compare ourselves to people who are better or worse off. " "Gratitude is important to happiness. Studies show consistently grateful people are happier and more satisfied with their lives; they even feel more physically healthy and spend more time exercising."
Here's a page I made about our trip to Maine which combines contemplating the heavens, exercising and then, later, scrapbooking about it - I think scrapbooking counts as a gratitude notebook.
And while I am so thankful for this photo - it doesn't even come close to the awesomeness that this moment was for us AND for how far out from the mountain that piece of granite is and how far the drop is - I was scared and exhilarated when I was a child sitting on it with my Dad and again at 41 with my son. It was pure awesome-ness. That climb up the mountain was easily my favorite day of 2011. It was a full circle moment and moving forward and just completely awesome, I felt like God and my Dad in heaven were watching us the whole time and that they made sure that guy showed up just at the precisely right time to take that picture of us - because there was barely anyone else on the mountain that early morning. Seriously. Awesome.
9. Pursue a Passion. Write a Novel. Make Time. Forget About Results. Master a New Technology. Gretchen Rubin writes "Long ago, I read the writer Dorothea Brande's warning that writers are too inclined to spend their time on wordy occupations like reading, talking, and watching TV, movies, and plays. Instead, she suggested, writers should recharge themselves with language-free occupations like listening to music, visiting museums, playing solitaire, or taking long walks alone."
Our family loves to go for a bike ride - I love getting outside and feeling the fresh air and I usually come back inspired.
10. Pay Attention. "Mindfulness brings many benefits: scientists point out that it calms the mind and elevates brain function, it gives clarity and vividness to present experience, it may help people break unhealthy habits, and it can soothe troubled spirits and lift people's moods. It reduces stress and chronic pain. It makes people happier, less defensive, and more engaged with others."
11. Keep a Contented Heart. "This day by God's mercy I am 29 years of age, in very good health, and like to live and get an estate and if I have a heart to be contented, I think I may reckon myself as happy a man as any in the world, for which God be praised. So to say prayers and to bed." - Samuel Pepys 2/23/1662.
This was me with a contented heart in 2008, I love this picture. It still makes me happy 4 years later.
12. Boot Camp Perfect {Steven Covey Translation Habit #7: Sharpen the Saw}.
"I have now spent 55 years in resolving; having, from the earliest time almost that I can remember, been forming schemes of a better life. I have done nothing. The need of doing, therefore, is pressing, since the time of doing is short. O GOD, grant me to resolve aright, and to keep my resolutions." - Samuel Johnson 1764.
Gretchen Rubin writes "Did I have even one single perfect day during December? Nope. But I kept trying. One helpful consequence of my happiness project was that even when I had a bad day, it was a good bad day."
I think the act of writing down resolutions makes me happy.
Here's to a HAPPY HOPEFUL 2012! Thank you for visiting my blog - please leave a comment to let me know what happy plans you have for 2012.
Here is the list of January's Happiness Blog hop participants:
1. http://kissandtellscrapbooking.typepad.com (you are here)
3. http://scrapsandsass.blogspot.com
4. http://www.scrapworthylives.com
5. http://mahsliceoflife.blogspot.com
6. www.MichelleRoycroft.blogspot.com
7. http://www.kimberlykalil.com
After all the Christmas morning hullabaloo, the water was calm so I decided to go for a kayak ride, my son and his cousin came along. While the boys were having wild adventure in the jungle, I thought about what I was going to do to decide on my "one little word" for next year. I had been thinking about using my word from last year "awesome" again, but I wanted something new; I even thought about using the word new or start, but neither of them really stuck with me. I also thought about the word light, but that didn't seem exactly perfect either. I was undecided. So, while walking down the beach alone, I decided that the next printed word I saw would be my word, no take backs, that I'd just go with it. And then I quickly hoped that it would NOT be "Coke" or "Pepsi" in case I saw an old bottle or can on the island. I came to a mangrove tree with a basket hanging from it, next to it I saw the word that I thought was "top" and then it looked like it might be "open" but as I got closer, I could see clearly that the word was
HOPE
I'll go back to the island soon to get a photo of the tree.
I just googled the definition of hope and this is the first definition I found:
__________________________________________________________
hope (h
p)
2. Archaic To have confidence; trust.
2. To expect and desire. See Synonyms at expect.
2. Something that is hoped for or desired: Success is our hope.3. One that is a source of or reason for hope: the team's only hope for victory.4. often Hope Christianity The theological virtue defined as the desire and search for a future good, difficult but not impossible to attain with God's help.5. Archaic Trust; confidence.Idiom:
[Middle English hopen, from Old English hopian.]
hop
er n.
December Daily: Day 12:
No Photo Collage in Picasa today - not even a single photo!
The left side of this is from the 11th - we had a big weekend with lots of activity and photos.
But today was Monday and December 12th was all about words - specifically the Christmas carol lyric "Let Your Heart Be Light" since I started the day with a post about The Happiness Project for the December Scrapworthy Lives Blog Hop; and since we had "One of Those Days" (which is the title of one of our favorite books by Amy Krouse Rosenthal - see below for a link to this and other awesome books for you and your family):
"December 12, 2011. Monday. Today was sort of One of Those Days, but it started out with the December Scrapworthy Lives Blog Hop for the Happiness Project and of course I did my post at the last minute. The song lyric "Let Your Heart Be Light" was the subject of my post and it played in my head the rest of the day through involved meetings, a business lunch, and the phone ringing all afternoon. Then the kids were uncooperative and unfriendly and I decided to lay down the law and we had a family meeting with the point being that to have a Merry Christmas, we need light hearts."
RECOMMENDED READING:
Welcome Scrapbookers!
You should have arrived from Scrapworthy Lives Blog Hop Fun Mama Blog.
The theme for the December hop is Keep a Contented Heart. Gretchen Rubin's Chapter titled "Keep a Contented Heart" in her "The Happiness Project" has four strategies to achieving a contented heart: 1. Laugh Out Loud; 2. Use Good Manners; 3. Give Positive Reviews; and 4. Find an Area of Refuge.
Because I have been busy this month with December things including Christmas preparations, a big party, and my December Daily and Project Life albums - both of these scrapbooking projects are helping to keep my heart light; so to keep things simple and easy and light, I am going to respond to these 4 happiness strategies in pictures and scrapbook pages:
1. LAUGH OUT LOUD
2. USE GOOD MANNERS
3. GIVE POSITIVE REVIEWS
4. FIND AN AREA OF REFUGE
Your next stop on the Blog Hop is Melissa's Blog, who is, by the way, doing a podcast about inspiration for December Daily which you can see here: December Daily Podcast.
Here is a full list of the blog hop participants:
2. Kiss and Tell Scrapbooking (You Are Here).
5. Our Life with Spiky Potatoes
9. Take a Picture and Remember This
10. This Kalil Life
11. Your Memory Connection
Let your heart be light!
Hello Scrapbooking Blogging Friends!
This month the Scrapworthy Lives - The Happiness Project - focuses on the concept of "PAY ATTENTION!"
Author Gretchen Rubin's "Pay Attention" month in the "The Happiness Project" included meditation, examining true rules, stimulating the mind in new ways, and keeping a food diary. For me, when I think about paying attention, I can't help but think about how scrapbooking helps me to pay attention to the good things in life.
I also can't help but think about my son's issue with paying attention. He has ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. In our family, we have spent a lot of time and attention on his ADHD issues. As a result, I think maybe we are sometimes guilty of paying less attention to my daughter. I made these two scrapbook layouts about paying attention to my daughter:
Journaling: "Mom! Look! Look how high I can swing!" Allison called out across the playground. "Come Here! Come Here! And bring your camera!" Said my 7 year old daughter who normally does not want me snapping her picture all the time. "Did you get it?" She commanded with a smile. "Lay down so I’m on top of the bar!" "Got it" I called back. "I know you think Mac is the only one who has the super-powers to swing high, but I can swing higher!" Allison declared with what seemed like a lot of forethought. Later, when we got home, I came across the scrapbook I had made for my son, Mac, called "Super Mac" which included pictures of him swinging high. I created that book for my son after reading a book called "The Gift of ADHD" which depicts a boy swinging high on a tire swing. Then I realized that maybe Allison was feeling a bit jealous of the attention we give to Mac and his special needs because of his ADHD. Charlie and I are constantly trying to figure out the best way to address the ever changing special needs associated with Mac’s ADHD; and so it must feel to Allison like all of our attention is on her big brother. Allison, the little sister, has generally been so well behaved and is quieter by comparison, so she tends to get a little less attention. This exchange and these pictures of my daughter remind me that she also needs lots of attention and that she too has special gifts and needs. Now I make extra special sure that I am giving my full attention to Allison every day for a part of the day and we have special "Girl Dates" which we have always had but now take on a deeper meaning. Allison: I love you my girl. Mommy (photos January 2011 / journaling October 2011).
Journaling: Allison, My Sweet Girl, You are always saying: "Look at Me!" "Find Me!" "Play With Me!" "Chase Me!" "Watch Me!" "Listen to Me!" I was recently talking to your friend Aspen’s Mom and she declared "Oh! Your Daughter is an EXTROVERT!" after only talking to you for a few minutes - and I realized she was so right! You love being the CENTER OF ATTENTION and you love having company no matter what you are doing Yes, my girl, I’m not sure how this didn’t occur to me much sooner, You are a charming, friendly, and authoritative little extrovert! After realizing this, I did a Myers Briggs Test for kids and your personality type is EFJ - Extraverted-Feeling-Judging; the test results are on the back of this page. They say that you are well suited to becoming a CAREGIVER which is interesting since you have always said you’d like to be a doctor or dentist or animal doctor, those professions will suit your personality type perfectly. I LOVE YOU and your type and I love it when you ask me to take your picture like you did this day on the slide! Love, Mommy 10/2011
On both layouts, I created circles {with nesting die cut circles on one layout and with brads and the naturally framed circle of the slide in the other layout} around my daughter so that she would be the center of attention:
Ok, now go pay attention to the other Scrapworthy Lives Happiness Project Blogs!
Here is the Blog Roll List:
2. http://kissandtellscrapbooking.typepad.com
5. http://adriennefalzon.blogspot.com
6. http://nickylamarche.typepad.com
7. http://www.valerieserfozo.com
8. http://scrapsandsass.blogspot.com
9. http://www.scrapworthylives.com
11. http://mahsliceoflife.blogspot.com
12. www.MichelleRoycroft.blogspot.com
13. http://www.kimberlykalil.com
14. http://www.1200somemiles.com
15. www.scrappingmojo.blogspot.com
16. http://www.yourmemoryconnection.com
Enjoy the Blog Hop & Pay Attention!
Welcome to this month's Scrapworthy Lives - The Happiness Project Blog Hop!
You should have arrived from "My Creative Days in Beijing" (see below for a complete blog list with links).
This month's theme for the Happiness Project was "Pursue A Passion" - sounds like fun right?
It seems like it should be because I pride myself on pursing things (passions) that make me happy - scrapbooking, picture taking, having adventures with my family, kayaking, practicing Bikram Yoga, taking Improv Classes, and whatever else strikes me at any given time as something fun to do. I'm also proud of the fact that I am able to have balance as a working mom and still take this "me" time.
Do I get it right all the time? Heck no! I have to tweak and re-tweak the routine and how everything fits together and there are some weeks when things fall off the radar. But generally I feel like if I'm juggling 100 balls - I'm keeping the important one ones from dropping - that I'm keeping all the plates spinning (to switch cliche metaphors).
So this month's blog theme of Pursing a Passion should be super fun for me, right? Um sure, but for whatever reason, this topic seems to bring out the angst in me.
Apparently I'm not alone in this reaction. Gretchen Rubin writes "Some people feel overwhelmed by the question "What's Your Passion?" It seems so large and unanswerable that they feel paralyzed." in the chapter titled "Pursue a Passion" in the The Happiness Project book. This is not exactly my reaction, however. Mine is a response from a perspective of being a bit hard on myself for not having already started on the action part of pursing passions - and my brain goes to the goal setting / resolution brain with strict rules. I started writing out my feelings and then wrote a list of those nagging goals:
I printed the journaling out and it goes through all my angst ridden feelings. I pulled a piece of red cardstock - maybe I subconsciously picked the one with the skunk because of how I was feeling a bit stinky about this. I decided to hide the goals and include a page from the actual book - yes I did rip it out. I did some machine stitching on the page but otherwise, it didn't feel like it needed any embellishments, that I wanted it to be straightforward even through some of the writing - and that skunk - were hidden. Here is the finished layout:
So I'm happy to get all that angst out and get back to my happy place. I'm happy with the layout and I'm happy that I wrote the goals down, but also that I put them in an envelope. I've often found that when I do this, I tend to find the list again in a few months or years, and then I feel happy when I see that some of the goals have been accomplished. I am going to schedule some time in to get working on those goals and passions.
In the meantime, I do think I already do a very good job of pursuing passions on a daily basis - take a look at these scrapbook layouts that evidence that:
Proof of Pursuing My Passions In the Layouts: Mountain Climbing; Kayaking with Dolphins; Bikram Yoga; Throwing Parties; Taking Pictures; Seeing the Space Center; Tampa Bay Rays Baseball; Growing Flowers and Vegetables; Day Tripping to Orlando; Researching Our Ancestry; Taking Kids to the Beach; Hula-Hooping; Summer Fun; Road Trips; Playing on the iPhone; Work; Kite Flying; Hanging Out With the Hubby; Traveling to All 50 States; Winter Ski Trips; Girlfriends; Improv Classes: Girl Time with my Girl.
I really do think its important to pursue your passions and I have many; I don't have trouble identifying them; and I do still love to do the same types of things I loved to do when I was 10 years old and I have no trouble at all filling up Saturday afternoons (and the wee hours of most every night). Gretchen Rubin suggests that if you are having trouble identifying your passions ask yourself "What you enjoyed doing as a ten year old or choose to do on a free Saturday afternoon is a strong indication of your passion."
I hope that you are making time for pursuing your passions and that you don't get too tough on yourself when goal setting. I also hope that you enjoyed this post and will enjoy the rest of the blog hop.
Here is a full list of the Happiness Project Scrapworthy Lives Blog Hop sites:
1. My Creative Days in Beijing
2. Kiss and Tell Scrapbooking by Katie Scott
5. Take a Picture and Remember This
Your next stop on the Scrapworthy Lives Happiness Blog Hop is #3 Your Memory Connection.
The final frontier ...
No I'm not a trekkie, but yes the show does bring back some specific memories for me.
We took a family trip to the Space Coast for the 4th of July weekend. My husband Charlie is a space geek - he watches Ancient Aliens and the NASA channel (which insanely boring btw) all the time. So going to Kennedy Space Center a week before the final launch was a good quick and close getaway for us. We thought maybe that the kids would then be more interested in watching the actual launch on tv and/or from our backyard - where we have actually seen the space shuttle take off in the past - this last time it was too cloudy here in St. Pete and we didn't get to see anything - not even the clouds lighting up. Anyway, there was a Star Trek exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center - and for all the space stuff Charlie loves - he is not a fan of science fiction so he never really watched Captain Kirk like I did.
I watched Star Trek almost every night for a long time during dinner with my Dad, it was just the two of us, me and my Dad, from 1982-1988 - my teen years, and we didn't always get along, but we did always watch Star Trek - reruns of the show came on every week night around dinner time in Bangor, Maine; we watched in the living room and ate dinner on metal tv trays. Sometimes he'd have a Pabst Blue Ribbon and then he'd laugh a bit more. I can remember back then him telling me that someday we'd be able to tell our tvs whatever show we wanted to watch and then we'd be able to instantly watch it, I remember being extremely skeptical about that ever happening. He died in 2003 right before my daughter was born, he never got to see her and he only got to see Mac once when he was a baby. Mac came in and took a look at my page before going to bed and I'm pretty sure he got a little tear when I told him about how me and my Dad used to watch Star Trek together and how I wished he could have known my Dad / his Grandpa.
It seems like technology has gotten even more amazing since he died; I'm sure he would have been impressed with my iphone - which I took a picture of along side the actual Star Trek Commuinicators, (Mac & Ally are bottom right of the photo but you can't really tell its them from the picture). And then I kind of got all sappy and nostalgic for my Dad while we were at the Space Center. And so, I made a the scrapbook page shown at top, here's another view:
Journaling: "Did my Dad go with us to the Space Center? Um. No. But he was there. There was a big Star Trek exhibit + seeing it brought a flood of memories of my Dad back to me. In the 1980s watching Star Trek while we ate dinner on metal tv trays in the living room & all those years that he and I lived together. It made me miss him to see all that stuff. Wonder if maybe he was giving me a wink."
The photo of my Dad and I was probably taken around 1998 or 1999 and we were in a boat and under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. It was the first photo I found in my hunt for one of he and I together - I originally planned to find one of that living room and/or one from the 80s, but the one under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge seemed appropriate.
The photo of the rainy day in the collage above is what I saw from my backyard when the last space shuttle went off - just clouds. And the upper right is Mac with his space shuttle Lego creation - he is very proud.
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