February:
March:
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Go somewhere/do something new each month:
January:
Brazilian wax
February:
Ghost hunting in Anoka
Eyelash extensions (Link will probably only send you to the info page on these during February)
Keratin Complex application
March:
Dance 101 (Adult Dance Class)
April
Alexis Mateo @ Basix, Cedar Rapids, IA
Sharon Needles @ The Garden, Des Moines, IA
May
Family vacation to Omaha, NE & Henry Doorly Zoo
June
Aerosmith concert @ Target Center, Minneapolis, MN
July
Zero Gravity Trampoline Park
August
September
October
Family vacation to The House on the Rock, Spring Green, WI)
Joined LA Fitness & committed to training twice a week w/personal trainer
Run a 5k (Monster Dash)
November
December
Boudoir photo shoot @ Pixie's Photography
February:
March:
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
2012 Goals & Resolutions
- Get a minimum of 8 1/2 hours of sleep per night
- Be absent from the house for a minimum of 24 hours at least once a month
Plan meals monthly and do not repeat a dish more than twiceCreate a master chore checklist
- Meditate at least once a week for a minimum of 30 minutes
- Journal (pen & paper) at least once a week
- Plan one fun/educational outing per month (Aim to have it be previously unknown)
- Complete annual photo books for each child
Re-evaluate 2012 budget so one of the outstanding debts is paid off (credit card/windows)Try one month cash only
- Plan monthly meet ups (families & kids/adults only)
Practice honest & direct communicationDon't settle- Keep in touch with long distance friends (with the internet, there is NO excuse)
Go somewhere/Do something new at least once a monthBegin Jobs People Have- Monthly drag night
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
2011 Tattoo recap
I started this in late December and am just now completing it. Oops! Guess it got lost in the shuffle of the holidays and college enrollment. Better late than never?)
Based on my (assisted) discovery of the book The Word Made Flesh: Literary Tattoos from Bookworms Worldwide, I've become motivated to discuss the reasoning behind the two pieces I had done in 2011. (That and a couple people have asked to know more about them on Facebook and this is a good way to do that in one fell swoop.)
The first piece I had done this year was on July 18th and was an improvement on the only tattoo I had at the time:
The original part of this piece was the ankh and, initially, it was a hollow shape in black and white. Since I first had it done with I was about 20 (Over a decade ago! How can this BE?), I've felt like it wasn't quite finished but wasn't sure what to do with it. One day I got it into my head that I wanted to get something to commemorate my children, who are my DNA immortality, and started thinking about different ways in which to do that artistically.
Finally, after discarding a parade of "not quite it" options, I came up with the idea to use the flowers of their birth months. Ada was born in September so the aster in the middle is for her. Mina & Eli were born in February so they are the violets on either side. The ankh itself got a makeover because it had faded over time and did not look very nice next to the new work. It didn't turn out exactly as I'd pictured it in my head when the artist described what she wanted to do with it but, hey, it's on my back so I'm not the one who sees it! Honestly, I do like it and the kids have a good time pointing themselves out on a regular basis.
The second piece I had done this year (December 2nd) was both more personal in meaning and well thought out than the back piece:
Close up:
The basis for this tattoo extends back to 1997 when I was a post secondary option student in high school. One of my literature classes had the required poetry section, which I am not always a fan of. We had to find and present poems we liked in class and, in my online research (Netscape Navigator FTW!) I stumbled on this poem:
It struck me at the time, as it still does today, that this is one of the shortest poems I've ever read but also the most affecting. I marvel over the fact that there isn't a word in it that doesn't improve on the feeling and image that the work creates. Needless to say, I was instantly won over. As those of you who have been seventeen are aware, it can be a very drama filled age and I was no exception. When I came across this poem, I was experiencing an absence which is probably part of the reason that I immediately committed it to memory.
The absence that I was experiencing then is one that comes and goes even now, fifteen years later. A relationship of that duration and importance is worth committing to skin (in my opinion anyway) and I've spent a lot of time rolling around ideas all these years but nothing ever coalesced into the perfect storm of excellence. That is, not until one night, several months ago, when I was letting my mind wander and the design surfaced whole and complete. Like naming a child, it was immediately clear that it was perfect and captured the relationship as well as my personality perfectly. Not convinced? Here's my reasoning:
I like to sew and used to do quite a bit of cross stitch and embroidery
I love to read and one of my favorite books is The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. (Sparknotes here if you need a recap of the plot.) This relationship has had some similar elements and that's all I care to elaborate there.
I wanted the piece to look like it hurt because, let me assure you, there's been plenty of that over the past fifteen years. (Not blaming, just saying.) What could be more painful than stitching in the skin over your heart? Branding I suppose, but that would have been kind of ugly and hurt a LOT more.
My first name is Anna and it's an 'A'! Clever!
The whole idea of the tattoo applies to both one specific relationship as well as all of the people who have been important to me over the course of my life who are now absent in some way, be it through personal choice (theirs and/or mine), death, or geography. I do have to admit though that it was this one specific relationship that initially inspired the piece. Credit where it's due and all that.
So, there you have it. A fairly detailed of why I've had someone indelibly mark my body. There are two more pieces I would like to have done in 2012 and a third that would be ongoing as it would involve commemorating all of my cats past, present, and future. Yes, I really am that crazy. Whoo!
Based on my (assisted) discovery of the book The Word Made Flesh: Literary Tattoos from Bookworms Worldwide, I've become motivated to discuss the reasoning behind the two pieces I had done in 2011. (That and a couple people have asked to know more about them on Facebook and this is a good way to do that in one fell swoop.)
The first piece I had done this year was on July 18th and was an improvement on the only tattoo I had at the time:
The original part of this piece was the ankh and, initially, it was a hollow shape in black and white. Since I first had it done with I was about 20 (Over a decade ago! How can this BE?), I've felt like it wasn't quite finished but wasn't sure what to do with it. One day I got it into my head that I wanted to get something to commemorate my children, who are my DNA immortality, and started thinking about different ways in which to do that artistically.Finally, after discarding a parade of "not quite it" options, I came up with the idea to use the flowers of their birth months. Ada was born in September so the aster in the middle is for her. Mina & Eli were born in February so they are the violets on either side. The ankh itself got a makeover because it had faded over time and did not look very nice next to the new work. It didn't turn out exactly as I'd pictured it in my head when the artist described what she wanted to do with it but, hey, it's on my back so I'm not the one who sees it! Honestly, I do like it and the kids have a good time pointing themselves out on a regular basis.
The second piece I had done this year (December 2nd) was both more personal in meaning and well thought out than the back piece:
Close up:
The basis for this tattoo extends back to 1997 when I was a post secondary option student in high school. One of my literature classes had the required poetry section, which I am not always a fan of. We had to find and present poems we liked in class and, in my online research (Netscape Navigator FTW!) I stumbled on this poem:
"Your absence has gone through me
Like thread through a needle.
Everything I do is stitched with its color."
W.S. Merwin
It struck me at the time, as it still does today, that this is one of the shortest poems I've ever read but also the most affecting. I marvel over the fact that there isn't a word in it that doesn't improve on the feeling and image that the work creates. Needless to say, I was instantly won over. As those of you who have been seventeen are aware, it can be a very drama filled age and I was no exception. When I came across this poem, I was experiencing an absence which is probably part of the reason that I immediately committed it to memory.
The absence that I was experiencing then is one that comes and goes even now, fifteen years later. A relationship of that duration and importance is worth committing to skin (in my opinion anyway) and I've spent a lot of time rolling around ideas all these years but nothing ever coalesced into the perfect storm of excellence. That is, not until one night, several months ago, when I was letting my mind wander and the design surfaced whole and complete. Like naming a child, it was immediately clear that it was perfect and captured the relationship as well as my personality perfectly. Not convinced? Here's my reasoning:
The whole idea of the tattoo applies to both one specific relationship as well as all of the people who have been important to me over the course of my life who are now absent in some way, be it through personal choice (theirs and/or mine), death, or geography. I do have to admit though that it was this one specific relationship that initially inspired the piece. Credit where it's due and all that.
So, there you have it. A fairly detailed of why I've had someone indelibly mark my body. There are two more pieces I would like to have done in 2012 and a third that would be ongoing as it would involve commemorating all of my cats past, present, and future. Yes, I really am that crazy. Whoo!
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Resolution Recap
So, here we are again. It's the end of another year and that always leaves me (and most people I would imagine) looking back over the previous months, as well as ahead to the next twelve. If you look through the posting history here, you can see that December is the month I'm most motivated to get organized and make change. I like to plan and day dream about how things could be in the new year. The idea of twelve pages of emptiness makes me giddy from the potential. Unfortunately, I've come to realize they aren't actually as blank as I imagine them.
For some reason, I conveniently forget that the schedule I'm already keeping carries over into all that blank space even if it's not recorded there in pen yet. Thanks to my electronic calendar (which Google is good enough to sync across different devices), I'm hoping to be a bit more realistic about setting my goals for 2012. Not that I'd say that the goals I set for 2011 were unrealistic. Looking back on them this evening I feel they were fair and well considered. Did I meet them all? Heavens no! In some categories, I didn't manage a single one (Marriage, Spirituality), which was a disappointment to be sure. I plan to reevaluate the goals that I set last December to see if they're still valuable in the coming year since I obviously didn't act on them as they're written. Some categories are very nearly complete and that was rewarding to discover. Overall, I'd say that this year had some definite high points but also some very ugly lows. As a Libra, I'm comfortable with that (for the most part) since I'm inclined to believe both need to be present so things are balanced.
I plan to post my resolutions as I compose them and will also be making more of an effort to use my blog again on a regular basis as I prepare to return to college for a degree in Communication Studies. What better way to practice communicating than to post about random topics on the internet? That's right. There isn't one.
For some reason, I conveniently forget that the schedule I'm already keeping carries over into all that blank space even if it's not recorded there in pen yet. Thanks to my electronic calendar (which Google is good enough to sync across different devices), I'm hoping to be a bit more realistic about setting my goals for 2012. Not that I'd say that the goals I set for 2011 were unrealistic. Looking back on them this evening I feel they were fair and well considered. Did I meet them all? Heavens no! In some categories, I didn't manage a single one (Marriage, Spirituality), which was a disappointment to be sure. I plan to reevaluate the goals that I set last December to see if they're still valuable in the coming year since I obviously didn't act on them as they're written. Some categories are very nearly complete and that was rewarding to discover. Overall, I'd say that this year had some definite high points but also some very ugly lows. As a Libra, I'm comfortable with that (for the most part) since I'm inclined to believe both need to be present so things are balanced.
I plan to post my resolutions as I compose them and will also be making more of an effort to use my blog again on a regular basis as I prepare to return to college for a degree in Communication Studies. What better way to practice communicating than to post about random topics on the internet? That's right. There isn't one.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Photo Card
Wrapped With Color Christmas
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