Wrapping up 2013

We got to the end of 2013. We made it! That might be a little dramatic on my part because this year wasn’t all that bad, at least not the second half of it. The first six months of the year were tough. I was swamped at work and even though I felt like I was accomplishing a lot, I wasn’t happy with some of the feedback and reviews I got. I had issues with some students which left a sour taste once the academic year came to an end in June. Again, I let the opinion of one or two influence the way I felt, overall. This will change this year, for sure.

The second half of the year was awesome. I took a much needed month off, and flew to Miami with Sophie. I spent a month not thinking about work (for the most part), and really enjoyed the time spent with my parents. Then, when I got back to Chicago I was in excellent shape to dive into writing mode. And I accomplished my goals: I finished the book manuscript and turned it in by the deadline, I attended two conferences, presented at one of those and turned the paper I wrote into an article I submitted to a journal, I got the review back and resubmitted with the modifications. Pretty good, if you ask me.

Travel-wise, this year I went twice to NY and also Miami, for pleasure. I visited Lisbon and DC for work, and got to know more of Illinois and Wisconsin. I got to spend quality time with both Mike’s family and mine, and saw some friends in NY when I visited. I hope to do more of the same next year.

Regarding goals and resolutions, I am declaring 2014 the ME year; the year I put myself first and stop being little-miss-nice-and-agreeable. Not that I’m planning to turn into a self-centered insufferable bitch, but I am going to make a conscious effort to put myself first and to stand up for myself, regardless of what others think I should do. Or better yet, regardless of what I think others think I should do. That makes sense, right? Right. This year I do only what I think is best, first for me, and then for others. No more sacrificing myself.

For 2012 I wanted to believe, to let go and let God, to feel a sense of assurance that the best would happen if I went with the flow and let the plan unfold. In my review of the year, and preparing myself for 2013, I realized I was living much more in the present and enjoying whatever was, not controlling or wanting to control so much, and I think that holds true for 2013 as well. So I’m considering that a win.

For 2013 I wanted to be happy, I wanted to feel happy and realized it was all up to me. But I wasn’t happy the first six months of the year. In fact, by June I was furious and had had it. But that month off and then the five month leave, did the trick! I got myself back to who I am, a smiley, positive, happy person, and felt oh so much better. So I’m guessing that’s a win too.

Now for 2014 I want to focus on me. Continue to be happy and feel good about myself, and what I say and do. I only have two major goals for this new year: lose 25 lbs and write/publish as much as I can. I want to keep these two goals at the forefront and if/when I have to put things aside because of lack of time, I want those things to be anything else but any actions related to these two goals.

Yet goals don’t accomplish themselves, and it is very easy to fall off course, especially if there is no action plan. So my action plan for goal one is to exercise at least three times a week for at least an hour, and cut down significantly on sugar and carbs. For goal two, I plan to write for 4 hours twice a week (most likely Thursdays and Fridays) and finish/send out for review 3 articles and a couple children’s books.

I have other wishes I would love to see materialize in 2014, but they fall under the category of “let go and let God”, so I’m not going to worry about those. I will focus on what I can control: my eating habits, my exercise activity, and my writing productivity. The rest will take care of itself, when and how it’s supposed to. I’m confident of that.

How about you? How did you fair in 2013? What plans do you have for 2014? Goals? Resolutions? Wishes? Whatever your plan is, I hope it all turns out well, and I hope the end of this year lives up to your expectations. May 2014 be the best year yet! Cheers! And here’s to accomplished goals.

Off to Sunny Miami

And we are off! By the time you read this, early (very early) Saturday morning we will have packed the car and started our long drive south. We are leaving this:

For this:

Because who in their right mind wouldn’t, huh?

We will be with family in Miami for two whole weeks. I might post from there, but I make no promises, because I want to soak up as much of summer as I can before coming back to dreary old winter.

Lovely, sunny, warm Miami, here we come!

Chop-Chop

I donated my hair to Locks of Love. I’ve been thinking about doing this for quite some time now. But back in July, the last time I cut my hair, it still wasn’t long enough. They require at least 10 inches of hair in a ponytail, and I didn’t have that much then.

I went in today to get a much needed haircut. One, because my hair was way too long and getting in the way too often, and two, because I’ve been feeling like I need a change, a new look perhaps. While sitting in the chair, thinking about what I wanted done, I remembered I wanted to donate my hair, and asked the stylist if she thought I had enough. She measured, and voila! I had more than 10 inches to spare! 🙂 So chop-chop, and in a few minutes my hair went from super-duper long, to a bob.

Here’s a before shot (with and without bangs):

And then the after shot (excuse the gray hairs, I still need to color it):

And here’s the hair I am mailing to Locks of Hair, 12 inches! I hope it will make some kid very happy.

They accept less than 10 inches as well. They just don’t make wigs out of shorter strands of hair; they sell those. But the profits from selling the shorter strands finance the making of the wigs with the longer ones, so if you just want to chop off 5 or 6 inches and not 10, you can contribute with those too.

I feel weird with short hair. I haven’t had short hair since 1996, when on a limb, I chopped it all off into a bob too. My kindergarten students then complained, especially the girls.

Before that time, I also chopped it off in 1988. I wish I had a photo of that to show you because… the 80s!!!! And before that, this. I guess this was the first time I had short hair in my life, in 1976, when I was 4 years old.

It’s just hair, it will grow back. In the mean time I continue to do a double take every time I catch myself in the mirror… but I am enjoying the bounciness of it, and tomorrow when blow drying takes at least half the time, I’m sure I’ll be happy too.

What do you think? Would you donate your hair to the kiddos?

My Noodles

Do you remember Jason? Well, he just released a children’s digital album entitled  “My Noodles”.  It’s a great bunch of songs, I’m sure all kids will love. He has such a great voice. Check it out here.

Early Christmas

Next weekend, Mike, the boys and I will be loading up the car and heading down, driving, to Miami. Yeah, that will be an interesting road trip; for sure, a very long one. We have one planned stop, to sleep, in Georgia, but the rest is go, go, go. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate.

Since we are driving down to Miami for Christmas, we decided to do our Christmas here early, and give each other our gifts, which this year were quite big  and would take up precious cargo space in the car. It just made sense to give each other the gifts and leave them here, and not drag them down to Miami to have to bring them back up again.

We had bought the gifts some weeks back, and were waiting for a closer to Christmas day to celebrate it. Since we are leaving next weekend at the crack at dawn, this weekend was it, it was gift day for us.

Here’s Mike with his gift to me, and me with my gift to Mike.

And this is Mike wearing his gift (a strapping cashmere herringbone gray overcoat), and me holding mine (a Kitchen Aid mixer) 🙂

We made curry chicken with rice and steamed broccoli for late-lunch and enjoyed it listening to Christmas music.

It was yummy. I hadn’t made curry chicken in a while and I think Mike was missing it, because he was the one who suggested it. And then, because I couldn’t wait to use my gift, I whipped up a key lime pie to have for dessert

The pie turned out beautiful and delicious. The new mixer worked like a charm. I have a black&decker hand-held which has taken me this far, no complaints. But this new mixer is great, it lets me whip white eggs to peaks while I clean up the kitchen and do dishes, all at the same time. Multitasking! I love it!

I think this gift will help me get into baking more again. I miss baking, it’s therapeutic for me. For some reason, I tend to think “when everything else fails, bake!” But then there’s the goods to be consumed… which is why I think I have stopped baking, I definitely don’t need the extra calories. So next time you’re in the neighborhood, do me a favor will you, come eat some cake, cookies, or pie, because I’ll have some to share 🙂

Merry Christmas!

It Snowed

The weather has been crazy in Illinois. Crazy cold that is. Well, actually it has been crazy cold across the country, except for Florida. It always seems to be 80 F degrees in Florida. Lucky them!

Anyhow, this morning we woke up to snow, a boat load of snow. Just take a look at what it looked like during our morning Saturday walk with the boys.

It was a short walk, 45 minutes or so, instead of our usual hour and a half. Too cold to dilly-dally. But quite pretty, wouldn’t you agree?

Thankful

So December is here, can you believe it? I forgot to post a Happy December post on Sunday, so here it is:

Happy December!!! I hope it’s great!

But before we get into all the December madness, let’s talk about Thanksgiving, shall we? Before all the baking, cooking, prepping, and eating craziness, I started to think about what I am grateful for, all that is worthy in my life, and with which I probably would be quite miserable. It started on the trip to DC and NY. I had some time to think, and talking to inspiring ones always helps too.

My sister, for example, shared something she had heard recently, and which had hit home with her. “If today you only had in your life, that for which you were grateful yesterday, what would that be?” It got her thinking, and then me as she shared it with me, about all the things we take for granted and all the things we tend to forget to be thankful for, like: breathing, being able to support ourselves, being able to be self-sufficient physically, waking up every morning with health, food, roofs, jobs, and love.

I know I tend to let the little stuff get to me. Not finding a quick parking spot, having to run bothersome errands, having to get up early some days, having to go see doctors, paying for everything (money in general stresses me out), the never ending story of grooming and cleaning EVERYTHING, running out of time to complete the ever pending to-do list… day-to-day life. But all those things are meaningless, and I am trying to find ways for them not to get to me. Because the real important stuff, the stuff that really merits worrying after is not that. The important things I am most grateful for and for which I wouldn’t mind losing sleep over are my family and my loved ones, the people I care about.

This thanksgiving we spent it with Mike’s family, up in Wisconsin. We had a yummy meal and time to chit-chat. I baked a gluten free pumpkin pie (not that great tasting) and a really good key lime pie (a tried and true recipe). Mike’s mom made everything else, and it was truly delicious. I think we were all thankful for that. I’m sure Mike is thankful for Football (me, not so much) and he got to watch a LOT of that this past weekend. But what I am most thankful for, is being surrounded by what makes me feel safe and happy: my people. At the end that is what is most important to me, the relationships we nurture and which nourish us.

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. Here’s hoping this coming month of December, there will be lots to be thankful for as well.

Travel Updates

Well, hello there! I have been MIA for a while, sorry. Since I finished the manuscript and turned it in to the editor a lot has happened. I flew to DC for the NAEYC conference, which was really worth while. I meet an interest forum group on Young Children’s Spirituality and rapidly joined them. I was thrilled to find out there was a group at NAEYC interested in spirituality. I volunteered to create a FB group for the forum, so if you’re interested you can join us here.

After my brief stay at DC, I flew to NYC to spend the weekend. I stayed at my sister’s place, so I got to spend some quality time with Nick and Soph. Liz and I chatted it up and got to spend time roaming Central Park, eating our favorite cookies at Levain Bakery and just hanging out. We took Sophie to the Natural History Museum, her favorite, and got to spend some time among the animals, the bones, and the rocks. Our favorites were the gems, there are some huge ones there, particularly a necklace with 90 carats worth of diamonds!

I also got to see my good friend Ina, Joan and their little girl Greta. They came over to Liz’s place on Sunday, and we chatted it up. I left with them and spent the night at their place on Sunday. Ina and I stayed up chatting like the old days. In the morning Ina and Greta drove me to the airport and it was off back to Chicago. The trip was over and since I was coming down with what felt like a cold, I was glad to be flying back home to my own bed.

It’s nice to go on trips and see loved ones. But it’s so comforting to be home when we are not feeling all that great. I was glad to come back. That short trip was a good reminder of all I miss daily (the city, my family and my friends), but it was also a good way to help me appreciate what I have here, and with great timing too, right before Thanksgiving.