My OLW for 2011 was FINISH. And although my active pursuit of the 12 projects I wanted to finish collapsed in June, I did complete half of them, and got a good start on #7. The truth is I probably wouldn’t have finished any of them if it weren’t for the OLW project. For awhile I was discouraged about the outcome, but considering our travel and remodeling projects in 2011, I’ve decided it was pretty successful after all.
This year my OLW is BALANCE. Two years ago I took a class from BPC called “Reclaiming Your Time” by Karen Grunberg. I had just retired and was finding my days slipping away without doing many of the things I really loved. The class was fantastic and helped me set priorities. I still do a better job of balancing activities than I did before the class, but I feel myself slipping again so “balance” seems to be the word that fits.
Family, social activities, volunteer commitments, and cooking always find a place in my schedule. It’s really fitness and creative pursuits that don’t get balanced. Although I walk regularly, I haven’t been to the gym in months. It’s time (especially with the winter weather) to get back to a regular schedule at the gym.
Scrapbooking always takes a back seat to cardmaking, but I’m hoping to complete at least one layout a week this year.
I’d like to establish a daily practice for photography, so I’m going to try a couple of new photography challenges since I’ve enjoyed Project 64 so much (and it won’t last the year). I’m also determined to finally master Lightroom this year. I’ve signed up for Photo Flow, and Cheri and I are hoping to be class buddies via email.
Reading only seems to happen at bedtime, and I often fall asleep before I’ve read very much. I need to set aside some time during the day to read. Blog reading has also taken up much of my reading time. I recently reorganized my Google Reader and am finding it much easier to keep up with the blogs I want to read regularly.
Not long ago, I read a blog post (by Karen Grunberg again) about how a 15 minute daily practice improved her sketching skills and confidence. So I want to try this technique to improve my coloring skills with Copic markers. I’m hoping to start this next month once we’ve returned from Oregon.
Cardmaking always finds its way into the creative process because I make cards for every birthday and occasion during the year. I had a whole list of challenge sites I checked regularly, but I’ve narrowed it down to just five I enjoy. Whether I participate regularly or not, I’m hoping to incorporate them into the cards I need to create anyway.
I’ve created a new checklist, much like the one I created in Finding My Time to track how I’m doing. Cheri did something very similar last year. I also have a list of techniques, software, and ideas I want to explore this year that I’m posting it on my bulletin board.
Of course, travel to the west coast is in the plans, and I’m hoping to use these times as a creative break . . . a time just to kick back and relax. It’s probably the one thing I don’t do well at all! (Yes, Cheri, I do plan to work on the class a bit while I’m away this time.)
