In All Directions

I was reading a book this morning about life management by Elizabeth George, and I came upon a sentence that said there are three kinds of people in this life. There are people that pull you up, people that pull you down, and those who pull you along. Kindle had this passage underlined as a favorite of other readers of this book, and I thought...wow...those are some powerful words. How are people in my life pulling me? What categories do my people fall in?

As I thought about this more, I finally realized that these words were giving too much power to people in our lives. Yes, we are influenced by others...but ultimately it is up to us to be pulled down, up, or along.

For instance, I've had friends from every walk of life...and quite a few who could be called the type to pull you down. They were involved in things that were sure to limit their future, but I never got involved in those things at all. Instead, I created friendships with these people while choosing not to get involved in their kind of lifestyle.

Also, you can be given every chance in the world to improve yourself. You can be surrounded by those who want nothing more to pull you up, but if you don't do it yourself...then you don't stand a chance. You have to make the choice to change yourself for the positive!

So, am I pushing myself in the right direction. I would hope so, but it is definitely something I need to be more aware of...and when I meet those people who want to pull me up...I need to make sure that I'm not weighing myself down!

My 28th Birthday

I have officially lived another year on this planet. A whole 28 of them now. I had a phone call from a family member, and he said...well that sucks that you are getting closer to 30! hahaha. I laughed at the comment and then thought about it a little bit more. In fact, I am not even phased that I have lived another year, I am thankful for it. I am so grateful for making it another year closer to 30. My birthday isn't a time to sob and think about losing my youth, because let's admit it...we are never going to be any younger than we are today...plain and simple. Instead, I am loving the fact that I have been able to experience 28 years of living, laughing, loving, learning, and so much more. I also see my birthday as a time when I can make goals and plans for this coming year!


So, for my 28th year on this Earth...here is what I hope to do:


1. Focus on the Practical - In all honesty, at this time in our lives we are just swamped with daily tasks. We are consumed right now with settling in to a new place (and actually finding a new home) and trying to figure out how the next few years will play out while we are in America. So, I am trying to dedicate myself to making sure we are meeting deadlines and doing this with as little stress as possible.


2. Focusing on Myself -  I would say that last year wasn't a big year that I could focus on myself as much as I would have liked. My pregnancy saw that I was not allowed to exercise for the first 15 weeks of it and then I got to add in a sprained ankle for the next few months...followed by a stay in the Maternal/Fetal Intensive Care Unit on bed rest....and then living in the NICU essentially...followed by not being able to take small preemie baby outside...it's really not an excuse..in the beginning I wasn't allowed to exercise and then after I had no time...but now that Mia has hit the 3 month mark and things are getting to a new normal...I definitely want to spend sometime working on me! 


3. Focusing on Marriage - I will admit that this has not been a big priority for Ten and myself for the last long while, and I really want to change this. We need to spend more time together...away from Smartphones and distractions and just be with each other...I may talk him into seeing if we can have a date night once a month to start with...I think that weekly isn't really practical for us right now...but something is better than nothing.


4. Focusing on Kids - I need to make sure that I am spending time with Mia to help develop her little character, mind, and heart. I want to make sure that I am parenting intentionally and not just getting through the day! Also, we will be having a new addition to our family very soon :) ... No, I am not pregnant. Our nephew and my sister are coming to live with us...and I will get to have the best job of taking care of him while she is at work...so same treatment goes for him... intentional care giving...not just getting through the day.


5. Focusing on Building a Family - I want to make sure that we aren't just a group of people who are living together...I want us to have quality time together at meals and on the evenings/weekends. I am looking forward to celebrating holidays, birthdays, etc...


6. Focusing on the Funds - With so much going on this year for us, I really want to take a more active role in our $ituation....haha. We haven't ever really made a budget, but this is something that we should probably start...I also want to find ways where we can continue to scrimp and save (homemade laundry detergent here I come!)


7. Focusing on Studying - I want to make sure that I am spending enough time this year learning new things. This includes from both daily experiences and from a lot of the readings that I do.


8. Focusing on Community - In Japan, we severely lacked a since of community. So, this is something we both really wanted to work on when moving to the US. We are looking forward to settling in at a new place so that we can get involved in where we live. We are also going to do our absolute best to be involved with nearby Japanese communities since that is obviously a big part of our family. We would like to hopefully go to community events, volunteer, and whatever else we can to put down roots a little bit more.


So, these are some areas that I would like to dedicate my time to in my 28th year. I know that a lot of it is rather vague, but these are the principles that I plan to live by. 


How about you? What are things that we should look forward to improving and living for?

Have-tos and Want-tos

I was listening to the radio the other day, and a program came on about organization. It said there are two types of things that we are required to do in life, and they can be divided in to "have-tos" and "want-tos." There are things that we have to do in order to get to the things that we want to do. It is a really simple and logical explanation.


As I was washing dishes, I was thinking about how I need to manage my have-tos better to get to the want-tos. So, I was mentally making a list of my have-tos and want-tos. I soon realized that I had about a million have-tos and only a tiny amount of want-tos. In fact, I had turned a good amount of my want-tos into have-tos. This is a really sad thing in my opinion. How have I turned fun things into obligations?


I mean sometimes I feel like I have to finish the book that I'm reading. I have to watch these movies that I've gotten. I have to go to this or that event. I have to upload these pictures or make this photo album. All of these things I should be enjoying doing....but instead I feel like I have to! How did I do this? I think that I have become so obsessed with getting things done that I have forgotten how to actually enjoy the things that I am doing.


So, now I have decided that I am going to try to keep my want-tos as want-tos and try to turn more of my have-tos into want-tos.


I am going to enjoy my time reading books and watching movies. I will enjoy going out and visiting with people. I am going to look forward to organizing and preparing for a new baby. I will also try to enjoy the time I spend planning menus and cooking meals. I will put on a smile when I clean and do laundry because it will make a less stressful environment for us. The list continues. 


As I have been practicing keeping these thoughts in mind I have found that my days are less stressful. I actually get more accomplished, and I am overall happier. So, I am going to continue to work on eliminating have-to from my vocabulary.

Internet Addiction??

Sometimes I would love to throw my phone and computer out the window. Not because I'm frustrated with them, but because I feel that they are glued to me and drain me of all energy.


Well, that may be a little dramatic. Today, I got a message from my sister saying that she would be phoneless/Internetless for the next two weeks. I'll admit that in the back of my mind I was thinking....wow...I may actually get a lot more stuff done now. I mean we spend so much time texting each other and using Skype (not that this is necessarily a bad thing).


So, I rolled out of bed and started cooking breakfast and making Ten's lunch...when...my mom got on Skype. Okay, we do have some things we need to talk about before she leaves for Japan...so fair enough. After talking with her for a good 40 minutes or so, I was able to hop in the shower. Almost as soon as I got out, I was back on Skype talking to my grandma for at least an hour. Whew. 


I looked at the clock and realized that it was after 10:30. Now, I had been up since 7:30 and had spent half of that time on the phone....crazy! This was followed with two messages on Facebook to a cousin who needed some addresses and catching up on my emails. 


So, here is the dilemma. I would love to try to spend 24 hours (or more) without touching a computer or smartphone; however, I'm not sure that that is possible. I mean if I didn't use my PC, then how would I find recipes, work on course work, etc? Also, if I didn't use the old phone, then I wouldn't be able to talk to family or friends (though for 24 hours...may not be that big of a deal).


Anyway, I feel slightly addicted to being connected through technology these days. I'm thinking there could be a possible New Year's Resolution in all of this.

Chipping Away....

My To Do List is shrinking and has been shrinking quickly over the past few days....though it is still way to ginormous!! I never thought that I would actually be making progress on this horrible nightmare of ever growing tasks.


In the past few days I have started cleaning different sections of my apartment, finished grading 48 pages of accounting work, ordered Christmas presents for our nephew, made significant progress in sorting through our Santorini pictures, almost finished up my wrapping course, started organizing my new planner, caught up on reading some of that baby book stuff, and put up our Christmas decorations! Whew.


How have I motivated myself to get this done? Very, very simple.


First, I try to keep this quote in mind every day. "Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task" ~ William James. This is so true. It is quite stressful to look at a long list of things to do and have to think about where to start and how you will finish it all. So, I try to keep this in mind when the list feels overwhelming and just start chipping away at it.


Next, Ten actually gave me some good advice on time management. We were talking about how useful it is to make lists. However, you should only put half of what you think you can get done on the list. This has helped me tons!! I can't say how much this has helped me. Each day I write down one big task that I want to finish up along with the small ones that I need to finish up. This has really kept me on track. Before I would write down enough to keep me busy for a month and try to squeeze it into a single day in my planner....bad, bad idea...haha.


This may be the first time that I am able to whittle this thing down for good!!

Renewed Sense of Energy

Well I hope that this random streak of motivation will continue, but who knows. So, I have decided to take on a few projects right now, and I might be over committing myself. However, I'm highly confident that everything will get done....


So, where is this energy coming from, and what are these projects you might be wondering....fair enough.


I think that I now feel super organized with my iPhone. I was always a stickler for pen and paper. My planner was my best friend, but now I'm wondering if I was just wasting a lot of time organizing my planner and making it look pretty...?? Anywho, so the iPhone has organized me and made everything feel manageable....Thank you so much to Ten for convincing me to get one!!


Secondly, what is it that I'm taking on...well I'll touch on a few topics here but not go into too much detail...because well I will post on them later.


1. Helping the needy during the holiday season...I am trying to coral my massive family together in order to help out others this season. So far I've been so impressed with how quickly some have responded...such an important thing to do.


2. Small (read huge...and could take years) family project with my mom and grandma...still waiting on my grandma to finish the first part....hmmm...better remind her...she's been known to slack....hahaha


3. Planning my mom's trip this winter....slowly making progress.


4. Blog stuff in the works...have some good ideas of what I want to post...including a giant list of goals....have seen this on several blogs and will link up where appropriate.


5. Me and Ten also have several private family goals...many are in the works...and hopefully when we get some good news I will be able to share them openly...wouldn't want to jinx anything...hahaha...


6. Also, some mandatory, boring things that I must finish...will post on those too I'm sure.


Anyway, I'm so looking forward to spending the rest of the year working on worthwhile projects!!

Pressures of a Perfectionist

All or nothing....that would describe me to a tee....and it isn't a good thing because recently it has been on the nothing side. 

I am such a perfectionist that it is absolutely annoying. I can't stand it when things are done "wrong," and I can't seem to get up the energy to tackle any project unless I can give it 110%. This character flaw has been on my mind a lot recently, and I'm racking my brain to try to figure out how to accept the imperfect....please help if you have advice....

Anyway, so here are the list of things that I've left on the nothing side recently, and I'm hoping that I can change my state of mind to get something done:

Relationships: I'm a wife, granddaughter, daughter, sister, aunt, cousin, niece, and friend. I'm hoping to be able to step up in all of these areas somehow...even if it just means to be more open to talking or making time for people.

Studying: Haven't touched some of my courses recently because of my perfectionist thinking....goes something like this....ugh...can't find all of the resources I need because don't have access to proper library....essays won't be great....ugh..can't be bothered....Same goes for my Japanese...ugh will never be able to speak fluently...never have to use it (though I know this is a terrible excuse)...so can't be bothered.

Home: My apartment has no space....in mind thinking....can't decorate it how I would imagine my dream home...so result is...it is very sparse.

Anyway, some of this springs from laziness I will admit, but a lot of it has to do with the fact that I can't have things done exactly the way I want....sigh...

So new goal: Start what I finish and be happy with the things that I achieve and ignore the small imperfections since those are what make life....life...after all.

The Best Beauty Advice....Ever

Time Tested Beauty Tips

by Sam Levenson

For attractive lips,

Speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes,

Seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure,

Share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair,

Let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.

For poise,

Walk with the knowledge you will never walk alone.

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived,

reclaimed and redeemed; 

Never throw out anybody.

Remember, if you need a helping hand,

you'll find one at the end of your arm.

As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands,

one for helping yourself,

the other for helping others.

These beauty tips are more long lasting and effective than what you will ever find in a fashion magazine. I for one and am going to try to follow these tips even more closely. They will brighten up my days...and apparently my looks...for years to come. ..Who can complain about that? : )