My photo-a-day challenge for 2016

One of my 2016 goals is to work on taking one photo a day as part of a photo journal. Well, that seems pretty daunting to figure out how to take 365 photos, especially since I'm a novice and not a photographer of any sort... well, actually it'll be 366 photos in 2016 because LEAP YEAR! So I decided to take some help from the wonderful world wide web (throwback!) and find monthly challenges on Pinterest to make this a little easier.

January's challenge comes from PosterJack Blog. I don't plan to use the hashtag that's in the image, but I did create an Instagram account to post my photos to. Follow along @kim.guernsey and I'll be using #kgphotos2016 for my monthly challenges.

PS) Other hashtags I'll be using with my photos are:

• #kgchitown - Chicago, where I live, work, and play!
• #kgfatkid - Any and all food related photos! Please don't be offended by the tag, it's an homage to an inside joke from college.
• #kgmomlife - Life is a little different now, with a wonderful child in the picture.
• #kgbookwork - Books are so important to me, that I need to take pictures of them.
• #kglove - This is probably going to be my catchall for photos of family, friends, books, pretty scenery, and anything else that doesn't meet the criteria of the other hashtags or my photo challenge.

Merry Christmas...

Happy holidays, and have a happy new year!

FINISH IT!!

(You have to read the post title like you're playing the game "Mortal Kombat" and the voiceover yells "FINISH HIM/HER!")

Even though #simplify2016 isn't officially underway, I've been trying to live according to this new theme to get into some better habits. Well, one of my overarching goals with #simplify2016 is to purge things I don't use. I've been trying to sell or give away or donate items that I realize we've had around the house for far too long but aren't being utilized.

One newer angle of this theme that I've always done but am only now becoming more aware of is the  goal of finishing items and products I've started using. The thing is, most of my purging has been centered around things I've never used or used less than a handful of times. The idea of finishing things is more related to stuff I've opened and used partway and then abandoned.

For example, how many of us buy new bottles of lotions or other skincare types of products, try them out, and then fall out of love with them? Maybe we don't like the scents anymore, or maybe we were gifted something and feel guilty and use that instead, or maybe we were just on a sales kick and overdid it at the store. Whatever the reason, I know I personally have an assortment of bath and beauty products that need to be finished, none of which I have a very good reason for throwing away. I don't dislike any of them. I just stopped using them. Who knows why?

Nothing feels as satisfying for me than when I get down to the last bit of ink in a pen or the last drop of mouthwash or whatever it is that I've just finished. It sounds odd, but I get a personal thrill and sense of accomplishment when I don't waste something and use it all up.

I'm challenging myself to finish products I've already bought and make sure not to buy more until absolutely necessary. We're almost out of toothpaste, and knowing that it's almost done makes me happy. Now, normally I'd go buy 2 or 3 more tubes to make sure we're all set for awhile. Well, except I also have about 6 travel size tubes and no trips planned anytime soon. So the new idea will be to use all of those tiny tubes of paste before I go out and buy more of the normal sized ones. Maybe that's excessive, but you know...

Waste not, want not.

Baby G moments from 12/15/15

My little girl took her first real steps on her 14-month birthday! We are so proud and excited for this new milestone!! And quite rightly, terrified!

Baby G moments from 12/12/15

My toddler can't walk yet but on Saturday night, she stood up on her own for the first time. No helping hands, no furniture or walls to clutch, nothing. Just her own little 30-inch tall frame pushing into downward dog pose, and then fully extending into mountain pose... well, not quite mountain pose. It was more like a starfish - feet spread beyond shoulder-width apart, head held high, arms to the side. Ok, more like arms flailing rapidly as she gave herself enthusiastic rounds of applause and smiled with pride. She held her balance for several seconds, but collapsed to the floor, only to push back up as soon as possible to stand again and again... and beam with more pride. We were cheering like lunatics for this milestone. Our baby is growing up!

How reading LESS will make this bookworm happier

In the spirit of #simplify2016 and #connect2016, I'm tackling one of my most beloved but all too often neglected hobbies: reading.

In any given year, I attempt to read numerous books for several reasons or occasions.

I am part of an online book club called Eclectic Readers so there is at least 12 books that I try to go through in a year. I'm not always successful. If I can't finish a book and/or make it to a group discussion, I make up for it by listening to our nifty podcast.

I also participate in a "book bingo", which if you don't know what it is, I highly recommend a Google search on the topic. The bingo card usually covers 24 books of varying genres, some spots taken care of through my book club selections, but the rest are picks of my own.

On top of that, I try to set a Goodreads challenge for myself so if I'm feeling ambitious and want to read more than 24 books, I have to make up the difference for the challenge.

In case you missed it in my first post, "The Inspiration", I happened to have a baby in 2014. She is in full on toddler mode now so there seems to be little time, if any, to sit down and crack open a nice, cold beer book. That means for most of 2015, I struggled to keep up with something that I deeply love and NEED in order to keep my peace of mind and my imagination strong.

So, let's do this, 2016! I am setting out to simplify life by cutting out book bingo (*sad face emoji with tears*) and focusing mainly on my Eclectic Readers book club picks. This in turn will help me connect again with the amazing members of this group. I'll also be able to keep my challenge count reasonable.

I haven't been in this book club for as long as some other members, but in the time I've been a member and the few times I've been able to join discussions, I've been privileged enough to learn A LOT from some amazing people. I've been exposed to genres I wouldn't normally choose for myself, and I've listened to opinions and insight that I couldn't have possibly come up with myself. This book club covers quite a few things that I love about life: reading, friends, and meaningful conversations.

Seriously, I think I felt my heart grow bigger just thinking about being able to be more connected and engaged with my ER friends. I can't wait!

Baby G moments 12/4/15

Baby G's vocabulary currently includes:

Hi/Hey
Bye/Bye-Bye
Baby
Dog = Doh
Woof Woof = whoo whoo (hard H sound)
Elmo = Emmo
Elmo's world = Emmo whoa
La la la
Good girl = goo gur
Car = Cah
Ball or Bear = Bah

She knows how to point to her nose and belly when you ask her where are they.

If you ask her "How big are you?", Baby G will throw her arms up to show "SO BIG!".

If you ask "where are you?!", she will cover her eyes or hide behind a blanket and then reveal herself. "There you are!"

Baby G has a little singing teapot toy. If you ask her to pour tea, she will tip it over like she's pouring.

She puts everything on her head like a hat.

I love this wonderful daughter of mine.

Baby G moments 12/2/15

I have to post this or I'll forget Baby G did these things. Note to self - she is 13.5 months right now.

Yesterday, Hubs and I asked Baby G to bring us her stuffed Elmo toy. She went to her toy bin, pushed aside some items, and pulled Elmo out! She showed him to us and then cuddled him. We were stunned that she knew which toy Elmo was!

Today, Baby G learned where her belly was. She already knew a few other body parts. The conversation went like so:

Me: Where's your nose?
BG: *points at nose*
Hubs: Where's your belly?
BG: *points at belly*
Me: Where's your mouth?
BG: *points at mouth*
Both of us: GOOD GIRL!
BG: "gooo girrr"
Both of us: *jaws drop*

I'm calling these kinds of posts "Baby G moments".

My One Word for 2016

ETA 2/2/16: I did decide on one word. My theme this year is Simplify.

Well, I couldn't decide on one word... so I have two words for 2016.

Simplify. Connect.

The first word I immediately thought of for my theme was simplify. I've been on a clean and purge mission the last couple of months of 2015 and I wanted to continue that, but it goes beyond the physical act of simplifying our belongings. I wanted to simplify the things I do and find ways to make life easier. I want to work smarter, not harder. I want to keep things to the basics and fundamentals. It's too easy to take on more or to find complicated ways of going about things. Sometimes the best things in life are the simplest tasks and pleasures. I want that... no, I need that. Life is hard enough on us, why make it harder?

As soon as I thought of simplify, I quickly thought of the next word, connect. In this sense, I mean relationships. I knew that efforts to simplify other aspects of my life would potentially give me time to build up my connections. My main priority is to be better about keeping in touch with my family in Florida and to make face-to-face plans with my friends in Chicago or to plan calls or video chats with my long-distance friends. I want to connect with people, the ones who mean something to me. A secondary look at connecting is of course, technology. I can utilize technology to connect to the people I love, but also, this blogs is a form of connecting to the internet and to whoever is reading it. I want to keep the technology aspect of connecting to a reasonable level. I don't want it to consume my time and take away from other more important things, but I do appreciate that technology will assist me in realizing my two themes for 2016.

I'm not one for making resolutions, but I look forward to sharing how I achieve these themes in my everyday life.

#simplify2016
#connect2016

The Inspiration

I used to keep an online journal back in college and it was one of my most treasured "possessions" - something just for me. After I graduated and settled into the "real world", I still craved the therapy and expression that my journal afforded me, but I wanted something less informal and something more structured. I've played with blogging on and off for the past several years but never found a theme or unifying idea to base my blogs on. They were all reincarnations of my old online journal and never felt quite right, not quite what I wanted to achieve and maintain. I needed a focus. I needed a foundation. I needed inspiration.

Now I have it.

One of my newest addictions is listening to podcasts. The most recent one I've been listening to is "Happier" hosted by Gretchen Rubin and Elizabeth Craft. I love that this podcast offers real, achievable tips for living a happier life. One of the tips that resonated with me became the basis for this blog.

Pick a one-word theme for the year. The idea is very simple - pick a word that will describe the kind of life you want to live for the year.

I actually read about this tip a few years back - there was something about it in a magazine (of which the title I can't recall) that Gretchen Rubin wrote. At the time, a blog wasn't something I was considering as a personal project but nonetheless, I wanted to find a way to incorporate the one-word theme into my life.

I actually remember this more vividly than I should. It was the tail-end of 2013 and I decided that "happy" was going to be my theme for 2014. I wanted to make decisions and do things that would contribute to me being happy. For that particular point in my life, that meant I was going to cut back on commitments that gave me anxiety or displeasure and that I would spend more time with my husband.

2014 ended up being a banner year in our house. We were settling into our first purchased home, and we decided it was the right time to start our family. I got pregnant pretty much right away (possibly due to my new happy mindset??) and we welcomed a beautiful baby girl in October 2014.

Fast forward a year and I am now reconnecting to this happiness tip that made a difference in my life. It hit me that this was how I would create a focus for a blog. The best part to me is that every year, I can start fresh with a new word, and I don't have to feel bored or constrained to one idea indefinitely that might not matter to me in the future. This blog will also be a vehicle for me to record ways I follow other happiness tips and things in life in general, all of which will hopefully tie into my one-word theme.

Stay tuned for the next post when I reveal what my one word will be for 2016!