#WEverb11 - Day 5: Befriend

Day 5: Befriend

Did you meet any new friends this year? How did they impact your 2011?

I'd have to say that the new friends I've met this year haven't been in real life, but in this wonderful online community. It was a goal of mine last year to really connect with the bloggers I had been stalking for over a year. I created this blog and  my own Twitter handle and begin putting myself out there. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to keep up with either social outlet, but a year later I think I  can say that I have accomplished that.

I've connected with these friends over earthquakes and The Bachelor, college football (Pac-12 & the Golden Bears), a love of Giants baseball, a common city we've lived in, engineering outreach,  trying to conceive AND SO MUCH MORE. (Click each link to meet my friends yourself!) Many of them encouraged me to keep up with blogging and helped me along the way. Quickly connecting with many of them on Twitter makes my day so much more interesting and fun! I can't imagine NOT being online  friends with them and hopefully sometime in the near future I can meet those who live near by IN REAL LIFE! :-)

I hope to connect with even more of you in 2012! I'm already meeting so many people through this years #WEverb11. I don't know about you, but I feel like I'm connecting so much more with the #WEverb11 community this year than the #Reverb10 community last year! :-)

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Are you participating in #WEverb11? If not, go here for more info! It's an awesome way to reflect on last year and you'll meet tons of new people in the process! :-)

#WEverb11 - Day 4: Haiku

Let me just say that I was pretty intimidated with the Day 4 prompt. I don't think I have written a haiku since grade school, but I was totally up for the challenge.

I came up with a portion of the haiku below while I was in the shower and I kept repeating it over and over so I wouldn't forget when I got out.:-)

Day 4:Haiku

Sum up your year, via haiku.

Find pride in myself

Power through disappointment
Love BIG, Laugh Often

#WEverb11 - Day 3: Learn

Day 3: Learn

What lesson did you learn in 2011 from “The School of Life” rather than a classroom?

"The School of Life" has taught me much this year, but one of the most important things I learned is that it is ok to be disappointed. To be disappointed in the new role I was put in at work. To be disappointed that I wasn't able to conceive as fast as I would have liked. To be disappointed in how I reacted (or more accurately overreacted) to situations this year, continually letting the stress get to me.

However from this disappointment I was able to...

Work hard in my new role at work. Find my place there and accomplish more than I thought I ever could.

Enjoy this time with my husband while we don't have children. Spontaneously take a trip to Seattle. Have a glass of wine together and watch a movie.

Recognize and learn from my overreactions. Notice when I am getting stressed out and then choose consciously to react in a different way. I've found that yoga has really been helping me in this area, a practice I want to continue to learn from and use to further center myself in 2012.

Life is always going to have its ups and downs, its triumphs and disappointments, but it's still a life that I am privileged to have.

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Are you participating in #WEverb11? If not, go here for more info! It's an awesome way to reflect on last year and you'll meet tons of new people in the process! :-)

#WEverb11 - Day 2:Listen

Day 2: Listen

What song did you listen to in 2011 to completely change your mood?  Think about ways you can you add more music to your life in 2012.

The two songs I listened to in 2011 that really seemed to change my mood were part of a country playlist that I listened to at a couple of pivotal times this year.

Barefoot Blue Jean Night - Jake Owen (I also got to see him LIVE this year!)




God Gave Me You - Blake Shelton

Blake Shelton - God Gave Me You (2011)

The first time I listened to these songs was on the plane ride to and from Seattle. It's no secret I'm afraid to fly and since we were flying Southwest, I didn't have anything else to distract myself. So after take off, I put in my earbuds and BLASTED the music. I felt empowered that I was traveling the furthest from home I'd ever been and that we were about to embark on an adventure!

The second time the songs really changed my mood was after I found out my two best friends were pregnant (see Day 6 for more on that!). I swear I listened to those songs on repeat for hours that night, trying to tell myself our time for baby would come. I can still see myself sitting at the table shredding a bunch of documents and listening to these songs (and a few others) on repeat over and over again. It's a wonder what music can do, because it really made me feel a lot better.

For 2012, I think that I need to incorporate music more in my commuting life. Currently I listen to talk radio because I like the soothing tone of the voices, but often times all of the bad news or the mention of impending terrible traffic on my route is too much. Do I really need to be exposed to that for my hour commute to and from work.?? I don't think so. I think I would be much better off blasting some country tunes! :-)

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Are you participating in #WEverb11? If not, go here for more info! It's an awesome way to reflect on last year and you'll meet tons of new people in the process! :-)

Holiday Stress

Image Source: Carolyn Anderson, MD

It's no secret that the holidays are one of the most stressful times of the year. And as much as I love them, the stress can be a bit much for me.

There are two areas I've been finding especially stressful thinking about...

First, figuring out how to deal with gift giving. I love my entire family to death and I love giving and receiving presents, but as I've gotten older, I really would like a more structured way to exchange presents (i.e. single gift exchange, spending limit, etc.)  I know a lot of large large families do this already, but since ours isn't super large nothing like that has been implemented yet. One family only gives a couple of gifts per family member, typically under $100 in total gift spending each (Family Size = 4 not including us). The other family goes all out and gives TONS of gifts. This makes The Hubs and I feel like we need to get an equivalent amount of gifts for them as well, typically at least $100 in spending each (Family Size = 3). I guess when you bring family size into the equation it all somewhat equals out, but the feeling that we aren't treating everyone equally is still there. The second family requires the making of Christmas Lists as well. That's fine as it makes it easier to buy gifts, but its intimidating when you see all the things that each person wants. My list was relatively short, as I try to only ask for things that I REALLY need. I still don't want anyone to feel obligated to give me any of these things since really I feel like the stress placed on giving gifts to adults is overrated. If we had kids it would be a totally different story as the focus would be on them and not us. My friends and I have already decided that now that everyone is starting to have kids, we would forgo presents for each other (for b-days and X-mas) and focus on the kids. Make things so much easier!  I know I've talked about this issue before, but it was really bothering me again this holiday season so I had to get it off my chest!

The second area is the planning of activities (holiday or not). For whatever reason, that responsibility has fallen squarely on my shoulders. I need to coordinate with everyone to figure out who wants to go, figure out all of the details of getting there/dinner/snacks, buy the tickets, get reimbursed and make sure that in the end everyone is happy. Typically everyone helps out once I give instructions on what we should do, but coming up with all of the details all the time is exhausting. Lately it has gotten even more complicated as both my family and The Hubs's family want to be involved, but within that some want to participate and some don't, parents want kids who don't want to come to come, etc. Ahhh! It get's SOO complicated! It's a lot to take on, especially when I feel like I'm trying to please everyone. These activities are supposed to be fun, but they end up being so much work! I wish for once I could just attend an activity and not have to think about one single thing except showing up at a designated time and place and not worry about pleasing anyone...

Do you have similar holiday stresses?
How do you deal with them?

#WEverb11 has BEGUN! - Day 1 ~ One Word

A new community has begun! As I mentioned earlier this week, my friend Kim decided to get a bunch of her blogging friends (and friends of friends) together to create a new month long blogging reflection in the spirit of #Reverb10, but something all our own!

You can find out more about #WEverb11 at its website or by following along on Twitter @WEverb11. There you will find the prompts and connect with others who are participating. We really wanted to make it individualized to fit in with your life, so answer the prompts that speak to you in whatever time frame you feel is right. This is all about US and our reflections on the past year and what we want for the coming year. I promise you won't regret participating, even a little bit!

A now for the first prompt...

Choose one word.

Encapsulate the year 2011 in one word. Explain why. Imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2012 for you?

In the spirit of where this all started… this is the same first prompt from 2010.

 

2011 - ACCOMPLISHED

 

In order to come up with the word that best described my 2011, I subconsciously thought about it all last night and the word ACCOMPLISHED just popped into my head. When I went back and looked at my #Reverb10 - Day One, to see what I expected for 2011, I got really really excited. Although the words didn't match up exactly (I chose GROWTH), they definitely complement each other. And after the CHANGE I experienced in 2010, 2011 actually turned out to be an AWESOME year!

I won't go into all of the things I accomplished this year (I'm sure there will be another prompt to reflect on that), but suffice it to say I accomplished pretty much all of the goals I set out for myself in 2011.

 

Professionally, I had some goals that I set out for myself within my new role and I was able to accomplish most of those as well.

I'm pretty proud of myself for that, a feeling I normally don't let myself feel or acknowledge. I think this also means I grew in some way, thus bringing me full circle back to December 1, 2010!

 

Oh and The Universe totally agrees with my word choice as well. This is what showed up in my inbox this morning! :-)

If you only gave yourself credit, Jennifer, for all the things you do that you do not give yourself credit for, you'd be astonished to learn how much you really do accomplish in a single day. Every single day.

That's okay though, because I'm still "counting" all of it.

    The Universe

2012 - ACCEPTANCE

 

As for 2012, I'd like to focus on ACCEPTANCE in all its forms.

 

Acceptance in what life brings whatever it may be, good or bad. To look for the silver lining in all challenges.

 

Acceptance of where our TTC journey bring us. And then to surrender and try my hardest to enjoy the time with The Hubs as a two-some.

 

Acceptance of myself just the way I am. 

 

I know this will take a bit of work on my part since the perfectionist and planner in my always wants things to be "just so", but I think that I would be a whole lot happier if I just accepted the way things are and moved on from there!

 

Are you participating in #WEverb11? 

Let me know so I can follow along with your reflection journey as well! :-)

 

 

 

Thankful Thursday - Photo Challenge Catch Up! :-)

Even more behind in the Gratitude Photo Challenge. I think I may have to finish up next week! :-)

Day 18: Something New

I know you already saw this in a previous post this week, but I still am in LOVE with it so you get to see it again! I'm thankful that we had the means and willpower to actually bite the bullet and buy it (not to mention the fact that both The Hubs and I agreed on it!)! :-)

Day 19: Best Friends

I have three best friends who I couldn't live without. The first two are best friends too, so we're a best friend trio! I don't see my bestie Sarah as much as I would like too. She's the mommy of an almost one year old (my how time flies...) and with another one on the way, she is more than busy! I do get to see my bestie Lisa every.single.day! She started work at my company in May and it is amazing how much better work is with her here. She's also expecting so I only have a few more months before I have to suffer through her maternity leave without her at work! I love them both lots!

My sister is also my best friend. Even though she is 8 years younger than me, we've gotten a lot closer as we've gotten older. It's amazing how that happens! She's the nicer of the two of us, but we both have our quirky anxiety ridden issues.

Day 20: Seasonal
 

The Tree! (fake, but still pretty!)

My new little snow village! The Hubs made "snow" (aka glitter on white paper!)

Improvising!

Again another creation of The Hubs! First time we've done this!

I LOVE Christmas and all the decorations that go with it. The Hubs and I got all of our decorations together over the weekend so the Christmas spirit is in full swing (for the most part - see tomorrow's post for more!). These are a couple of pictures of our fun holiday spread!

Day 21: Where you Sleep

This is a lie of a picture. I made the bed just to snap this shot, but on a regular basis I'm not good about keeping up with it. It was totally one of the things that I was going to try to get better about this year and I did really well for awhile, but then I got lazy... Maybe this will jump start my motivation again!

Day 22:Clothing

My favorite outfit of all time??? Yoga pants and a Cal or Cal Poly shirt (alma mater PRIDE!). In fact, I'm going to take a piece from Michelle's book at See Michelle Blog and sleep in this tonight as I plan on waking up early and doing my new Yoga for Fertility DVD that I borrowed from a friend.

Day 23: In Your Closet

Well, here's a picture of my closet. There in the middle are the four sweaters I wear MOST of the time. I'm thankful that I typically don't have to "dress up" for work much, so it is perfectly acceptable to rotate these sweaters and a couple of pairs of jeans throughout the week. It's no secret I hate shopping, so I'm also grateful for a small closet that is already full!

Day 24: Gratitude

Alas, I know I'm cheating here, but here are two pictures featuring most of The Hubs and I's close family and friends at our wedding. HAPPINESS! So grateful for all of them!

I'll finish up this photo challenge in next week's Thankful Thursday post! :-)

 

Are you participating in the Gratitude Photo Challenge? Are you all caught up??