I saw this on the Nanowrimo forums and I thought I would make one of my own here, so I have a place to keep it. My BIG, FUN, SCARY List of thing to do. Now, I know it's getting on towards 2014, but I don't want this to be a list of resolutions. I don't want this to be just one more list of things that I will "try" to do, but a list of things I plan on actually doing, things I can set in motion, make plans for, make a goal for and just.. you know.. be awesome at! Nanowrimo is sort of the end of the year for me and the beginning of being motivated. If I can write 50,000 words in one month on one story (and not even finish it, but it is there, in a file, waiting to be opened on Martin Luther King Jr. Day where my Writing Monster can cry out "Free at Last" since I have put her away for 6 weeks to let my writing ideas simmer and see what comes to fruition), I can do just about anything I really set my mind to, as long as I break it into smaller chunks.
See, that's the nice thing about Nanowrimo. I took it day by day. I didn't look at 50,000 words and have a panic attack. I looked at 1667 words a day for 30 days. So I can't look at the nearly 200 pounds I have to lose as 200 pounds (and believe me, that's a lot of butter!), I can just take it a pound at a time (probably by not eating pounds of butter).
However, this list, this BFS list, is the beginning of the lists, the start, the "Where do I go from here" of lists that may look BIG and SCARY, but will also, ultimately be FUN too! So, while this list may be a list of BIG things, (though maybe not quite yet a BIG list, I do plan on adding stuff to it), all of these can be broken into smaller, achievable, day by day every day I try this and it works for me goal list. A list of "I can do it" not.. "I want to do it!"
So, here's my list (in no particular order)
1. Finish my pink and brown quilt that I've been working on since before my divorce.
2. Track my calories and exercise daily.
3. Exercise daily.
4. Record weight, blood pressure, blood sugar and exercise in a chart so I can see my progress.
5. Write an outline for each of the three (so far) books that are in my San Francisco Friends novels.
6. Rewrite/Edit one novel into a publishable draft by August.
7. Work hard and be an awesome teacher!
8. Help my district and my school transition to Common Core Standards and be a great on-campus leader!
9. Help my adorable, loving, wonderful husband get through the next year of college!
10. Complete the next 12 weeks cycle of Julia Cameron's 'The Artist's Way'.
11. Meditate every day.
So, those are things I can do! Let's get crackin'!
Love and Lollipops,
ToryLynn
Showing posts with label yayness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yayness. Show all posts
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Episode 83: My tools
My school year has finished up. The grading and the reading and the meetings that have kept me from blogging and writing and just finding my place in the world are over and I can be selfish... at least for a little while.
For the next two weeks, I will covet my time, since little of it will be mine. The little bit of time I get to myself, such as now, in the early morning hours, I will cherish. I will use this time to clean up my office (which badly needs it), work on some craft projects and read and rest and reflect and hopefully do a lot more writing. I want to do morning pages. I want to read Sophie's World. I want to get healthy, not just physically, but also mentally. I want to be able to dance at my wedding, play with my eventual children and live a good long, healthy and happy life. And I can do it, with the help of some tools that I need to pick up again.
Tools are good things. They help you maintain, reflect, become better. I am a a huge supporter of tools, and I use a few on a semi-regular basis. Well.. anybody who really knows me knows that I do very little out of habit or on a regular basis. I can't even really seem to remember to take my meds every day. Hmmm
Anyway, here are a few of my tools that I have picked up as I go along my merry way...
Tool One: My big pink notebook. AM calls it my "bible" and it's sort of an apt description. I keep everything in there. It has 5 sections right now. The first is my planner, second is food stuffs, third is blog ideas and random writings, fourth is wedding stuffs, and fifth is financial stuffs. If I lose the thing, I won't be able to remember anything. It has a nice loop for my pink fountain pen and it is wonderful. I carry it with me nearly everywhere, though it does need to get cleaned out and replaced sooner or later... probably sooner.
Tool Two: My pen. I have a hot pink Levenger True Writer fountain pen with Hope Pink ink in it. (you may be noticing a trend.. it is my favorite color). I almost put Morning Pages as my second tool, but I don't really write them as habitually as I am supposed to. One of my summer goals that I will be writing about in a later post (probably tomorrow). My pink pen, like my pink notebook, goes with me everywhere. It is a reminder that I am supposed to write. It is a reminder that I can jot down a note and my weird kinesthetic brain will remember it more readily than just reading it or asking someone else to remind me.
Tool Three: Our big freakin' white boards. We have two in the house. One of them is our calendar, which we write up every month and our To Do List for that month. It hangs next to our front door in a prominent place near the table in the kitchen. The other, much more neglected one, is in my office, full of project ideas that never really get done. I have to work on this this summer.
Took Four: My phone. In this day and age, I couldn't live without my phone. AM is constantly saying that I am always on my phone and I'm afraid he's right. I use my phone to help track everything. It is my backup calendar which I coordinate with the planner in my pink notebook. It my food tracker, my mood tracker, my link to other people through Facebook. I use a few fitness apps, and am trying out new ones all the time (most of them are free).
My final and Fifth (and best) tool: AM and my friends circle. I cannot say how much these people have helped me. From my online big brother, RO, to our Stockton Writer's Group, I have so much support. Having a live in personal trainer and personal chef helps, as AM is constantly helping me be a better person and reminding me that I am so much more than I think I am and I can do so much more than I think can. These people have helped me and made my life amazing. They are supportive and give me great suggestions and kudos and high fives and big hugs and I appreciate and love them all for it.
Anywaysssss.... before I get too sappy... I am going back to bed. I walked 3.74 miles yesterday and I am SO feeling it right now. Now that I'm off for the summer, I plan on making writing part of my regime, as well as some reading, some exercising and a lot of snuggling from my wonderful AM! :)
Love and Lollipops,
ToryLynn
For the next two weeks, I will covet my time, since little of it will be mine. The little bit of time I get to myself, such as now, in the early morning hours, I will cherish. I will use this time to clean up my office (which badly needs it), work on some craft projects and read and rest and reflect and hopefully do a lot more writing. I want to do morning pages. I want to read Sophie's World. I want to get healthy, not just physically, but also mentally. I want to be able to dance at my wedding, play with my eventual children and live a good long, healthy and happy life. And I can do it, with the help of some tools that I need to pick up again.
Tools are good things. They help you maintain, reflect, become better. I am a a huge supporter of tools, and I use a few on a semi-regular basis. Well.. anybody who really knows me knows that I do very little out of habit or on a regular basis. I can't even really seem to remember to take my meds every day. Hmmm
Anyway, here are a few of my tools that I have picked up as I go along my merry way...
Tool One: My big pink notebook. AM calls it my "bible" and it's sort of an apt description. I keep everything in there. It has 5 sections right now. The first is my planner, second is food stuffs, third is blog ideas and random writings, fourth is wedding stuffs, and fifth is financial stuffs. If I lose the thing, I won't be able to remember anything. It has a nice loop for my pink fountain pen and it is wonderful. I carry it with me nearly everywhere, though it does need to get cleaned out and replaced sooner or later... probably sooner.
Tool Two: My pen. I have a hot pink Levenger True Writer fountain pen with Hope Pink ink in it. (you may be noticing a trend.. it is my favorite color). I almost put Morning Pages as my second tool, but I don't really write them as habitually as I am supposed to. One of my summer goals that I will be writing about in a later post (probably tomorrow). My pink pen, like my pink notebook, goes with me everywhere. It is a reminder that I am supposed to write. It is a reminder that I can jot down a note and my weird kinesthetic brain will remember it more readily than just reading it or asking someone else to remind me.
Tool Three: Our big freakin' white boards. We have two in the house. One of them is our calendar, which we write up every month and our To Do List for that month. It hangs next to our front door in a prominent place near the table in the kitchen. The other, much more neglected one, is in my office, full of project ideas that never really get done. I have to work on this this summer.
Took Four: My phone. In this day and age, I couldn't live without my phone. AM is constantly saying that I am always on my phone and I'm afraid he's right. I use my phone to help track everything. It is my backup calendar which I coordinate with the planner in my pink notebook. It my food tracker, my mood tracker, my link to other people through Facebook. I use a few fitness apps, and am trying out new ones all the time (most of them are free).
My final and Fifth (and best) tool: AM and my friends circle. I cannot say how much these people have helped me. From my online big brother, RO, to our Stockton Writer's Group, I have so much support. Having a live in personal trainer and personal chef helps, as AM is constantly helping me be a better person and reminding me that I am so much more than I think I am and I can do so much more than I think can. These people have helped me and made my life amazing. They are supportive and give me great suggestions and kudos and high fives and big hugs and I appreciate and love them all for it.
Anywaysssss.... before I get too sappy... I am going back to bed. I walked 3.74 miles yesterday and I am SO feeling it right now. Now that I'm off for the summer, I plan on making writing part of my regime, as well as some reading, some exercising and a lot of snuggling from my wonderful AM! :)
Love and Lollipops,
ToryLynn
Monday, May 6, 2013
Episode 76: Happy!!
We've been doing this since around February. Originally the thought had been to start January 1st, but we are slow to get organized. The jar in the picture is our happy jar, with our happy thoughts color coded to suit us. We put the day's triumphs, the happy little things that we did for each other, or that we talked about, or even just what we ate for the day. They can be any thought, as long as they are happy and not negative.
The plan is to open the jar at the end of the year as a New Year's ritual and see all of the happy thoughts that we have created over the year. Ideally, if we had started on January first, we would have 730 happy thoughts in it by the end of the year. 730 happy memories, 730 meals, 730 joys that we could share. I am not sure what we will do with them as we review them. Perhaps we will create a scrapbook, putting them in order and gluing them to pages as a reminder of all the happiness that we had the year we got engaged and then got married. Maybe we will let the jar fill (though it is already getting pretty full and we have to pack the slips down well) until our first anniversary, so we can have a record of our first year together and the time that we were engaged. Maybe we will just tear them into smaller pieces and throw them over ourselves and our friends at our New Year's celebration. We have a while to go until we pick out those pieces of paper and find out all of our happiness throughout the year. I'm excited to see what he wrote, since our happy thoughts are private until the end of the year, locked up in our little jar on little pieces of blue and pink paper.
I hope that you all have your happy thoughts and that you share them with the ones that you love, today and every day. Keep them somewhere safe, even if it is a journal or notebook, a planner or just in your memory, but my hope is that everybody has at least one happy thought a day, even if it is as simple as "the cute guy on the bus smiled at me" or "I ate all my vegetables" or even "I am still alive and my heart is still pumping blood through my body", everybody should be happy, every single day.
Here is to all of your happy thoughts!
Love and Lollipops,
ToryLynn
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Episode 66: Putting Color Into Life
Today we went to the Farmer's Market behind the Weberstown Mall. We got up, even before breakfast, put on clothes, braved the cold, crisp morning (at 8:45) and went out to see what sort of fresh produce they had for us today. What you see in the picture is what we bought.
Fresh veggies, raspberry jams and some pomegranates. They are all glorious (and barely fit in our tiny tiny apartment fridge). The plan is to make some really awesome veggie soup, since we're on a type of Weight Watchers.
In fact, I'm sort of cheating. I have no money and very little resources to rejoin Weight Watchers at this time, but I have all of my old book and all of my old program stuff, so we're using these as resources, with some help from some web sources, to create our own version of Weight Watchers. I haven't given up on the whole milk or the whole fat yogurt, as they seem to be better for my digestion than the low fat stuff (I don't get nearly as may ucky tummies), but we are adding many more veggies and things to our diet. I feel healthier. According to my Wii, I have lost about 5 pounds in the last two weeks.
Just looking at that picture makes me happy! The colors, the vibrancy, and I've noticed that since we have been eating better, cleaning our apartment more often and working out a bit more, my whole life seems to be coated in this new vibrant color. A year or more ago, I was feeling kind of in the doldrums. I lived in a beautiful place, I had everything I ever wanted, but it wasn't satisfying. I was unhappy. I was overweight. I was lazy and in pain and everything seemed like crap. I was taking medication for bipolar disorder and it wasn't helping much. And the food I was eating was awful! Looking back at my Weight Watcher's books from a year ago, I was eating fast food daily. One day was Wendys. One day was Subway. One day was Taco Bell. Fried foods, foods full of fat, foods full of fillers. These were the things that I was putting into my body, and my body fought back with depression, acne and weight gain.
Now I eat what you see on the table. Fresh fruits, fresh veggies. I make my own breads sometimes.
I take a vitamin daily, and I cook my own food. I have even, on occasion, made my own butter (which is absolutely delicious!) I know exactly what goes in my food. If I write down a recipe, or a list of ingredients, I can pronounce every single one of them. I still eat meat, though we do have our Wegitarian Wednesdays, and Pizza Fridays (our one little concession to the "how do you pronounce that?" foods). We will eat out, but we go places where we can eat healthfully. We found this great little sushi place (at Sherwood Mall, no less) that makes great rolls and you can watch them make them, so we know exactly what goes into them. All of these things have greatly improved the quality of my life.
I plan on keeping up with this blog some more. I want to write and keep track. I want to post about how I organize my life, how I make it can make it better, and how I have learned to enjoy a life lived in less space and fewer calories but much more enriched. I'll post some of my recipes that we have found particularly yummy, some ideas for keeping life organized, and my adventures of jumping off the high dive of life and just, well... Weighting in the Deep End!
Keeping happy and healthy!
ToryLynn
Just looking at that picture makes me happy! The colors, the vibrancy, and I've noticed that since we have been eating better, cleaning our apartment more often and working out a bit more, my whole life seems to be coated in this new vibrant color. A year or more ago, I was feeling kind of in the doldrums. I lived in a beautiful place, I had everything I ever wanted, but it wasn't satisfying. I was unhappy. I was overweight. I was lazy and in pain and everything seemed like crap. I was taking medication for bipolar disorder and it wasn't helping much. And the food I was eating was awful! Looking back at my Weight Watcher's books from a year ago, I was eating fast food daily. One day was Wendys. One day was Subway. One day was Taco Bell. Fried foods, foods full of fat, foods full of fillers. These were the things that I was putting into my body, and my body fought back with depression, acne and weight gain.
Now I eat what you see on the table. Fresh fruits, fresh veggies. I make my own breads sometimes.
I plan on keeping up with this blog some more. I want to write and keep track. I want to post about how I organize my life, how I make it can make it better, and how I have learned to enjoy a life lived in less space and fewer calories but much more enriched. I'll post some of my recipes that we have found particularly yummy, some ideas for keeping life organized, and my adventures of jumping off the high dive of life and just, well... Weighting in the Deep End!
Keeping happy and healthy!
ToryLynn
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Episode 60: Nature
I was up at 6am going to the grocery store to buy milk. As I walked back to my apartment in the cool morning air, my bag laden with milk, butter, brown sugar, bread and apples, I stopped for a moment and looked around me. The air was crisp and there was dew hanging from a spider's web on a nearby rose bush. The grass was lush and green and sparkling. The sky was blue, as it is often here in California, and everything seemed to be at peace. Even the birds seemed happier. And I've noticed... I've been having more and more of these moments. I will stop and think and wonder at the beauty of nature, the brilliance of everything around me, and I will be happy.
Lately, AM and I have been eating healthier. Less processed foods, less junk. We watch the sugars on foods that we buy like yogurt, and we don't buy diet foods (except Lo-Carb Monsters... because caffeine is essential). More often than not, we will make things at home, using natural and fresher ingredients, and I am finally finally learning to cook in a way that is healthy. I'm not losing weight, but I am not gaining weight either and my body feels a lot healthier and trimmer. We use whole milk, full fat yogurts, real butter, real eggs, lean cuts of meat and vegetables. Every meal must have some sort of vegetables or fruit... or at least we try to make that happen.
Yesterday's lunch was tortillas with tomato basil hummus and feta cheese. Very yummy. This morning we are going German with some German puffed pancakes and apple slices. I haven't made German pancakes in ages, and they used to be my sister and my favorite food when we were kids. I'm using the half recipe here German Pancakes, and slicing up some apples and mixing them with brown sugar and baking them down a little bit until they are tender. Should be great! I'll let you know how they turn out.
I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday morning and stay happy and healthy!
Love and lollipops,
ToryLynn
Lately, AM and I have been eating healthier. Less processed foods, less junk. We watch the sugars on foods that we buy like yogurt, and we don't buy diet foods (except Lo-Carb Monsters... because caffeine is essential). More often than not, we will make things at home, using natural and fresher ingredients, and I am finally finally learning to cook in a way that is healthy. I'm not losing weight, but I am not gaining weight either and my body feels a lot healthier and trimmer. We use whole milk, full fat yogurts, real butter, real eggs, lean cuts of meat and vegetables. Every meal must have some sort of vegetables or fruit... or at least we try to make that happen.
Yesterday's lunch was tortillas with tomato basil hummus and feta cheese. Very yummy. This morning we are going German with some German puffed pancakes and apple slices. I haven't made German pancakes in ages, and they used to be my sister and my favorite food when we were kids. I'm using the half recipe here German Pancakes, and slicing up some apples and mixing them with brown sugar and baking them down a little bit until they are tender. Should be great! I'll let you know how they turn out.
I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday morning and stay happy and healthy!
Love and lollipops,
ToryLynn
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Episode 51: Ugh!
Holidays are over! Officially. I'm back at work, life is... going... and I have nearly finished unpacking what I'm going to unpack for now. It's nice to finally be in a place of my own, but it's also very hard to be alone in a place of my own. Fortunately... I have things keeping me from feeling TOO lonely. (Oh, and I started to watch "How I Met Your Mother". Cute show!
So.. yeah.. the Holidays are over, which means that it is time for me to stop eating like an idiot. I admit, during the move, I kind of became addicted to fast food, as I couldn't really find much of my dishware. Now, most of it unpacked (I have about 2 boxes of kitchen stuff left to unpack) and then I'm done with that. All of my cooking gear is out. Not living with a dishwasher is an interesting thing, but it means that I can do dishes and have them put away in 20 minutes instead of the 2 hour dishwashing cycle. So... yay!
Holidays being over means that I also need to start getting back into my routines. I need to start going for walks again, need to start doing yoga again (I got to day 12, and stalled for 2 weeks. I think I'm going to start over) and start just moving around more. My Wii is for more than just watching Netflix! :) I have Wii Sports (who doesn't?) and Wii Fit Plus.. and both of those are going in my "let's have fun and not just sit around and do nothing in your new apartment" regime.
Now, I'm not saying that any of these is a resolution. I don't do that.. I don't make resolutions, especially when it comes to life changing things because resolutions NEVER work! I have made many many resolutions in the past and I have resolved to make myself better looking, take better care of myself (and those around me) and be a better teacher. Each year, I will do pretty well, until the middle of January and then I fall back on old stupid habits. Well NOT THIS YEAR!!
I am not resolving to lose weight. I am not resolving to cook better. I am not resolving to work out more. I am just going to do it, and make myself a better lifestyle than the one I had, because the one I had had me dying at an early age of some sort of heart or lung condition.
Oh, while I'm talking about food.. and other great stuff.. Check out what I got for Christmas! http://www.amazon.com/Nostalgia-Electrics-PIE-400-Electric-Bakery/dp/B005QSI5JO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325774741&sr=8-1 Now, when I want pie, it will take me 10 minutes, and I won't have the *entire* pie sitting there waiting for me to eat it... I can make tiny little mini pies of low point goodness. Yay for healthy little pies!
Anyway.. work beckons. I hope you all have a wonderful everything, and I promise to post here more often. I don't resolve to.. I just will!
Hugs and love...
ToryLynn
So.. yeah.. the Holidays are over, which means that it is time for me to stop eating like an idiot. I admit, during the move, I kind of became addicted to fast food, as I couldn't really find much of my dishware. Now, most of it unpacked (I have about 2 boxes of kitchen stuff left to unpack) and then I'm done with that. All of my cooking gear is out. Not living with a dishwasher is an interesting thing, but it means that I can do dishes and have them put away in 20 minutes instead of the 2 hour dishwashing cycle. So... yay!
Holidays being over means that I also need to start getting back into my routines. I need to start going for walks again, need to start doing yoga again (I got to day 12, and stalled for 2 weeks. I think I'm going to start over) and start just moving around more. My Wii is for more than just watching Netflix! :) I have Wii Sports (who doesn't?) and Wii Fit Plus.. and both of those are going in my "let's have fun and not just sit around and do nothing in your new apartment" regime.
Now, I'm not saying that any of these is a resolution. I don't do that.. I don't make resolutions, especially when it comes to life changing things because resolutions NEVER work! I have made many many resolutions in the past and I have resolved to make myself better looking, take better care of myself (and those around me) and be a better teacher. Each year, I will do pretty well, until the middle of January and then I fall back on old stupid habits. Well NOT THIS YEAR!!
I am not resolving to lose weight. I am not resolving to cook better. I am not resolving to work out more. I am just going to do it, and make myself a better lifestyle than the one I had, because the one I had had me dying at an early age of some sort of heart or lung condition.
Oh, while I'm talking about food.. and other great stuff.. Check out what I got for Christmas! http://www.amazon.com/Nostalgia-Electrics-PIE-400-Electric-Bakery/dp/B005QSI5JO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325774741&sr=8-1 Now, when I want pie, it will take me 10 minutes, and I won't have the *entire* pie sitting there waiting for me to eat it... I can make tiny little mini pies of low point goodness. Yay for healthy little pies!
Anyway.. work beckons. I hope you all have a wonderful everything, and I promise to post here more often. I don't resolve to.. I just will!
Hugs and love...
ToryLynn
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