Thursday, June 16, 2011

A Fun Day Off


The ocean was flat & I had the day off which equals Fishing! DH & I headed out and had an awesome day. It started when we were catching bait & I was able to hand feed a porpoise! There was a feeling of calm and excitement in taking a bait, slapping the water to attract the porpoise's attention and then watching as I let go of the bait when he swam within inches of my hand. He (or she) was so gentle and graceful in the water, as if he had done this millions of times before.

After acquiring sufficient bait, we headed out to sea and found a spot to begin our fishing. Within minutes of putting bait in the water, the lines started goi
ng off & we spent the next 2 hours reeling and reelin
g. We caught a tone of bonito, and I scored a small (40-50 lb) sailfish. The action started to slow again and that's when this guy came along:


He wasn't all that big, but we fed him off of the chum line. You never know what you'll see out in the ocean and it was exciting to see this small hammerhead shark circle the boat (insert Jaws theme music here).

A day off doesn't have to be about consumerism - it's about time spent with those who are important in your life, and DH and I created yet another memorable day.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

My 5 A Day Challenge

My challenge is still happening, although it may not be a daily pursuit. I'm now working in chunks of time (mostly on the weekend) and ending up, on average, 3 things a day. This weekend, I decided to spend 1 hour on my scrapping space. Before I begin, let me give you some background on where we live.

DH & I almost own a 1200 square foot townhome. I don't even think it's 1200 square feet-maybe 1190, or something like that. Two bedroom, 2.5 baths. The 'spare' bedroom serves as his office/fishing storage and my scrapping space. The entire room is a disaster area, in my opinion. We are not naturally neat-freaks, so it tends to be the dumping ground, as I like to call it. When we have company, everything extra from downstairs gets dumped onto every available surface in this room. It actually causes my heart rate to accelerate when I look at it, so I know we have a problem.

As I started tackling a small part of the room, mainly the section of the closet where I store my scrapping space, I really had to take the time to think about what I wanted that space to look like. I know I have too much stuff in there, and I need to weed it out. To begin, I just started pulling things out & asking myself if this item made me happy or not AND was I ever really going to use it. The conversation went something like this:

"C'mon, Jan, you know you've had this for like 10 years & you've never used it before in your scrapping."
"I know, but I may NEED it one day."
"Yeah, like when? You don't even realize you HAVE it!"
"I know. It is starting to get old and not look so good."
"Then maybe someone else can use it - like a preschool or something. Maybe someone else can get some enjoyment out of it."
"Hmmm, that sounds good. Let's dump it!"

And so I grew a little pile and felt a big sense of accomplishment. I also went through my endless pile of paper and made another bag of paper for 2 girls that I work with.

So in my challenge, I ended up finding 4 more books to donate, 1 jar to recycle, about 50 sheets of scrapbook paper to give to friends, 2 tackle boxes with Christmas decorations, ribbons, pearls and sequins in them, 3 pails for decorating, 2 picture frames, the bowdazzler and a brand new 8x8 album.

I think that meets my minimum for the week! What have you decluttered today?

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Looking inward

I haven't posted for a few weeks and I miss doing it! It's interesting to me that I've become so introspective and really trying to evaluate my life and my priorities. What do I want to be when I grow up? I work for a private employer who has a plan to sell her business in X number of years so she can retire. It made me think about what I would do when she sells her business. Would I stay on with a new company? Would I find another HR job? Would this be the time to launch something of my own? If so, what would that look like?

In the meantime, after reading 48 Days To The Work You Love, (www.48days.com), I'm still unsure what I want. I know I love teaching, but I don't want to teach kids, or work in a traditional classroom setting. Could my writing teach others? Possibly. What would I write about? The questions and answers go on and on. I think the important aspect to recognize is where your strengths are and to pursue those attributes.

Until next time - keep it clean and keep it green!

Helping You Create Meaningful Memories