Sayonara! 2014

The quiet in the house is eery.  The guys left early this morning on a road trip to Southern California for the next five days and I have the house all to myself.  Motherhood nirvana, right?  I have so many things on my to-do list while they're gone.

Watching the PBS documentary on The Roosevelts was at the top of my list, along with catching up with the last disc of Orange is the New Black.  Oh, and Magic Mike.  Yes, lots of important DVD viewing is going to happen over here.

I used to start my new year with a four hour-long yoga class.  The instructor would ask us to write down our intention for the year on an index card and place it under our mat during our practice on New Year's Day.  My yoga instructor has since moved, but I still like to do the exercise of picking a word for the year and think about my intentions for the upcoming 365 days.

Last year's word, Acceptance, was a little vague.  I tried to focus on it, but found that opening myself up to new ways of learning, connecting with new friends and putting myself out into the world creatively did, in fact, help me accept what I am capable of.  But it all feels sort of calculated - like I'm bending my experiences to fit the word for last year.

Needless to say, I'm stuck on what word to pick for this year.  I'm going to let it percolate and see what happens.

I miss my yoga practice.  I should really do something about that.

Once I got home from work on Monday, I slipped into my comfy leggings, slipped off my bra and really hunkered down.  I had so much reading to catch up on - books, old newspapers, magazines, and blog posts written by friends and acquaintances.  

I was asked to contribute an essay to the 28 Days of Play series this coming February.  While I'm super excited about the prospect of writing and sharing my work, I was a little bit daunted in trying to find a head shot that would be appropriate and then writing my own bio.  As I'm sure most moms have experienced, I do not have a lot of photos of just me.  Seriously.  Out of about 4,000 photos, I had about a dozen of just me and only about two of those would possibly work.  

My new year's intention should be get in the frame!  

Where was I?  Oh, yes, the writing.  I was supposed to be writing while the guys were gone, but I often find that when I have deadlines, self-imposed or otherwise, I have to get my house in order.  Does that happen for anyone else?  Like, I have to organize my desk and write in my journal.  The simple act of writing quotes or illustrating a few pages in my journal feels like a mind-dump.  As I'm putting things down on paper, the creative wheels are spinning in my head and I'm having conversations with myself about writing and the project itself.

I finished reading Annie Dillard's book The Writing Life late last night.  So many thoughtful  ruminations on the process of writing in those pages.  Process is so important to me.  I have to enjoy the process of most anything I do or I don't want to do it.  Writing, making art, exercising, decorating, cooking - everything has a process and I'm learning to hone in on what I like about those things and really give myself permission to slough off the chores or acts that I don't enjoy.

Take letterpress printing, for example.  I love the look and feel of letterpressed works.  The craftsmanship and finished product is so good.  I took a workshop a few years ago at a local letterpress co-op and by the end of those four hours I knew I never wanted to step foot into a letterpress workshop again.  Don't get me wrong, I loved all the fonts and presses and thick, rich card stock.  No, where they lost me was with all of the tiny letters and tweezers and exactness of it all.  It's helpful to know what you do and do not like doing.  Admitting it was new to me and quite a revelation.  I loved letterpress as an art form, but not an art form that I would personally make.  Yes, I am a fan and will happily pay the premium for fine, letterpressed artwork made by someone other than me.

Okay, now I've gone off on a tangent.

Process.

Yes, it's all about process for me.  Process and documentation.  Processing it in my head and then verbalizing it and then writing it down somewhere (on my blog, in my notebook, in my art journal or in a Word document saved on my computer).

After a restless night of sleep, I finally decided to get showered (yes!), get dressed and get out of the house on New Year's Day.  I drove up the coast to the seaside town of Jenner and got caught up with a girlfriend.  We took a short walk along the Russian River shoreline and sat on the rocks and soaked up the sunshine during low tide.  She asked for my phone and snapped this picture of me because the light was like honey.

My first picture of the new year was of me.

Miracle of all miracles!

At the end of the five days, I was ready for my husband and son to come home.  I feel like I fed my creative soul while they were gone and had a lot of time to reminisce about all the good that happened over the last year - family adventures, a writing retreat, creative workshops, collaborations with writers and friends.  Our son changed schools this year and we stepped into the roles as parents of a tween.  So much growth happened within our family these last twelve months and I'm really proud of us for muddling through it together.

My house, as well as my mind, felt like it was in order.

Sayonara! to 2014.