Pleasure in Planning

There is something special about opening up a blank page in my planner pad. After browsing through a craft magazine, I was inspired to follow suit and recycle some old paper and cardstock. For the month of October, I had cut out some fun paper: some from an upcoming wedding invitation, old stationary, and fancy paper that my friend Esther Seo gave me from her old graphic design job. Instead of looking at your life as a bunch of to-dos, I was able to lay out some colored paper on days that I was looking forward to. It's an inspirational way to take into account your plans for the upcoming month.

October Highlights

So, I never did pen down my october goals until a few days ago. heheheh

My monthly goals with comments as follows:

1. More art studio time- As you may have read in a previous post, I made a couple of pieces of art for two friends. One watercolor painting went towards Rica's fundraising for Team in Training and another mixed media painting for my roommate and good friend Jennifer. What was remarkable about it was I had a pretty work schedule, but I found the value in taking time for my art and knowing how much it re-energizes me.

2. Read Seed/ Sacred Commerce/ Crucial Conversations- I've done a couple of sessions of Crucial Conversations training through work. Unfortunately, I have read just a few pages of Sacred Commerce and no pages on Seed.

3. Run Monster Mash, go to Total Athletic Conditioning Classes and Brian O'Neills Running Club- I have been doing well on the fitness side of things this month. Thus far, I have tried out Lululemon's boot camp, have achieved 8 runs towards my goal of 10 runs at the BON running club, and I have made some positive improvements at the Athletic Conditioning Class at the Rice Rec Center. I plan on running the Halloween running hosted by Lululemon on Wednesday. I plan on dressing up as Minnie Mouse if I can find my tail and ears. ;)

4. Plan and go on some Artist Dates- Now that I have some epsom salts and a cassia candle, I plan on getting in more hot baths. Most of my artist dates have been bookstore browsing and taking some time to create in the studio. Since it's a Monday and I'm off, I think a $4 matinee is in my very near future. There is something luxurious about going to movie by yourself.

5. More blogging and reflecting- I've done four blog entries on this blog and my other blog at http://tastelivecreate.blogspot.com/. I want to say I've done a few morning pages, but this could definitely be an area for more growth.

6. Spiritual/ Alone Time- Being cranky and anxious are definite indicators that I need some alone time just to clear my head and rediscover what I want out of life. Thus the much needed four day weekend that I am enjoying right now.

7. Plan and do some meaningful and fun events at my job- Success! I had a great homecoming weekend of events. We did a great beer tasting with the founder of St. Arnold's Brewery. I launched a frequent flyer card program for attendees which earned them a Young Alumni Beer Mug if they attended three events. I also had a great caterer who did a couple of my events. Thanks Frankie Mandola! I heard a lot of positive feedback from the crazy six events in three days. I am so proud of my volunteers and colleagues for pitching in and making it a great success.

8. Work on skill development and my career- I am working on Crucial Conversations training and I have signed up for a Student/Young Alumni Programs training in Austin for December. I really want to make more headway in yoga training, SEED, and Sacred Commerce. I have also made a commitment to continue looking towards my next step in my career.

How do you continue to manage your time? Are you familiar with Laura Vanderkam's 168 Hours concept? For a couple of weeks, I tracked my time. It will be interesting to take into account how I spent my time. The key things that inspired me were that we all have the same amount of time, what do we find as our priorities, and does our time reflect on those values. I will create a future blog posting on this in the coming weeks.