Calling all crafters!

Do you like to craft? Are you a fan of True Blood?

If the answers to the above questions are yes, then head on over to the challenge blog Sarabeth and I have started:

Can't we all just get along?

The ladies at Girl Talk Thursday are venting today. Feeling extremely grateful for our recent change of fortune, I cannot in good conscious kvetch about anything personal, but I do have a bone to pick about the Olympics. You're probably just as happy as Hubby that the Olympics, and thus my obsessing, are almost over (though I'm sure I'll find something new to obsess about in no time).



Things like this

image source

make me sad. It's one thing when international competitors trash talk one another, although I still think it's unbecoming and unnecessary, but it's another thing entirely when the athletes are on the same TEAM. What's that saying about there being no I in team? Look, I get that there are egos, and I'm not even doubting what Julia Mancuso said about Lindsey Vonn, but I think airing it to the world via Sports Illustrated is tacky. Especially on an international stage, shouldn't there be some sort of unified front? If Mancuso wants people to start paying attention to what she's doing on the slopes, she should follow her own advice about saving the drama and take a page from Apolo Ohno's Twitter:

Fangirl in the house! ❤

What's irking you today?

Have I mentioned my love affair with YAL?

Meadow and Rain were gracious enough to let me geek out about young adult literature on their blog today.

Head on over and let us know what you think about the Parenting FAIL.

Getting back on track

Yesterday I got an email that said, "Congratulations on your sale at Etsy!" I looked at the computer screen blankly, a "Huh?" forming on my lips. And then I remembered a day not that long ago (which feels like an eternity) when I decided that this was a good idea.

To be fair, it was a good idea. I sold four pieces in one week, and only two of them were to my mother. I closed my shop for Chrismukkah break, excited to reopen in 2010 with a plethora (I love that word) of new items. But then this happened, and rocking yourself in a fetal position in the corner of the room for a month does not for great productivity make. Unless you want to make things out of snotty tissues. I also couldn't justify spending money on craft supplies when I was worried about how we would afford takeout groceries once my paychecks stopped.

I'm happy to announce that I'm not only coming out of my cave, but also getting back on track because I GOT A JOB! Cue happy happy, joy joy dance [video link]. For those of you who are new to the mundane details of my life (lucky you), I've been working as an English-Language Arts/Literacy Curriculum Developer for three years for a national educational publisher. I'm incredibly lucky that another division of the company picked me up to do pretty much the same job. The biggest difference is that instead of print, I'll be working on online curriculum, which greatly excites my inner geek. And yes, my commute from the bed to the desk is the same. ☺

To follow up on my previous promise of a prezzie, and to celebrate both my new job and my mission to Etsy it up, I'm giving away a set of Girlfriend Drink Charms to one of you.

Though the original purpose of these is to mark your wine, iced tea, or martini glass, you can also use these as gift ties. All you have to do to win is leave me a comment on this post before Sunday, February 28, 11:59 pm. Comments submitted after then will not be included in the drawing. On Monday (my first day of the new job), I'll randomly draw and announce the winner. Good luck, and many thanks to everyone for being so supportive. ❤

train track image source

Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in...

...the sunshine iiiin.

The beautiful Kelly brightened my weekend with this lovely, and since Mondays are usually dreary, I thought today would be the perfect time to share some sunshine.

Thank you for thinking of me, Kelly! If you aren't familiar with Kelly's blog, you should go visit. She is both insightful and funny, and her comments always make me smile.

And now for the rules:
1. Put the logo in your post or within your blog.
2. Pass the award onto 12 fellow bloggers.
3. Link the nominees within your post.
4. Let the nominees know they have received this award by leaving a comment on their blogs.
5. Share the love and link to the person who gave you the award.

You have no idea how glad I am that I don't have to share "interesting" facts about me for this one. Actually, yeah, you're probably gladder than I am. ☺

Here are 12 bloggy buddies, in no particular order, who bring sunshine to my days.

1. Meadow and Rain for their snarky sense of humor and great conversations about YA and FF
2. Jenny for always getting me, no matter how crazy I may sound to others
3. April P for always starting my day with a smile and cheering me up when I'm down
4. Amy P for her generosity and kindness
5. Colleen for her sweet, kindred spirit
6. Sarabeth for being so fun and sharing my excitement about anything and everything
7. Margie for being a supportive cheerleader and always making me laugh
8. Yvette for being incredibly sweet and making me smile with her amazing creations
9. Kristin for daring to do things I wish I had the guts to do
10. Kristen for capturing and sharing the beauty of people and places she loves
11. April for her positive outlook on life
12. Amy C whose pictures and stories always bring a smile to my face

Hope wherever you are, your day is a sunny one!

Set it Sunday: Week 5

Good Sunday morning!

New to Set It Sunday? Click here to read the motivation behind the meme.

Share It
Cheri set a great mix of health and craft goals last week, and Kristin's vacation goals made me ridiculously jealous (PS. happy birthday!). Thanks for joining me again, ladies!

My goal last week was to create three non-digital scrapbook layouts. Since this was the scene of my scrapbook studio this week, thanks to The Great Leak of 2010...

...I had to set up shop elsewhere for the time being.

My friend Meadow even wrote this awesome limerick about my scrapbook studio woes:

The once was a lassie named Cheryl,

Who's scrap things were always in peril,

Buried under ice and snow,

Her patience running low;

Watch out! She's a cat who's gone feral!

Fortunately, that did not prevent me from creating four layouts, which serve as section dividers for my All About Us album in my Library of Memories.

Ah, sweet success! ☺

Set It
This week, I need to focus my attention on two writing works-in-progress and move them to "completed" status.

Want to join me in focusing more time on a personal goal this week? Grab the button, and link up to your blog post using Mr. Linky below.

Copy and Paste Code

<a href="http://secondglantz.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i460.photobucket.com/albums/qq323/g8rgirl79/Blog%20Layout%20Stuff/SIS.jpg" alt="Take a Second Glantz" /></a>

Beautiful Bloggers

Two of my favorite ladies, Jenny and Colleen, were incredibly sweet in giving me this Beautiful Blogger award. Thank you for the warm fuzzies that got me all sniffly. It's so appropriate that they were given this award, because they are incredibly beautiful friends. If you don't know them yet, you should get acquainted.

Like Jenny said, she and I have a real-life connection (we're not going to talk about how many years we've known each other), made stronger by the wonderful world of the Internet. Simply put, Jenny has a heart of gold. She is always at the ready to celebrate my happiness or offer a virtual hug and a word of encouragement when I'm in need. All you need to read is one post to realize that Jenny is incredibly gifted with the written word. I will be first in line at her book signing, something I truly believe will happen for her if she wants it. Always open to trying something new, she's so much fun to share online ventures with, and I seriously can't wait until we one day get to play in real life again.

Colleen put it best: she is a soul sister. First bonding over soap opera hunks, we quickly learned that we have a frightening amount of interests and life experiences in common. Perhaps most crazy and hilarious, we found out that we are connected in real life by only one degree of separation. AND that we lived in the same place at the same time - for years. But it wasn't until a decade later that the Internet gods would bring us together. Colleen is a sweetheart. She is a warm and caring soul, a wonderfully supportive friend, and is incredibly honest and heartfelt in her blogging. I have yet to meet Colleen IRL, but it will happen one day soon.

This is how we play:

1. Thank the person who nominated you for the award (see above).
2. Copy and paste the award on your blog (also see above).
3. Link to the person who nominated you for the award (again, see above).
4. Share seven interesting things about yourself.
5. Nominate your own seven Beautiful Bloggers.

Can we skip Step 4? It's hard to think of one interesting thing right now, let alone seven. Is it cheating to repeat previously posted facts? I guess repetition makes them less interesting, huh? *Sigh.*

1. My mother had a water birth. Ironically, I don't know how to swim. (Before you freak out, shouting about how I should know how to swim being a FL girl, may I remind you that I lived in freezing NH during those formative swimming lesson years.)
2. I earned (and I mean earned) the "Most Dramatic" superlative my senior year of high school. Ever since, I have been trying to prove those "Most Likely to Succeed" people wrong.
3. This un-athletic soul was captain of the kickball team in 2nd (3rd?) grade. It was less about how well I kicked the ball and more about how bossy I was.
4. I leave a trail of hair ties wherever I go. In any given day, I'll put my hair up and take it back down  ten times. It's like a tic.
5. I hoard Cadbury Creme Eggs. It's my goal to have enough in my pantry to eat them at least 6 months out of 12.
6. I'm queen of delayed gratification. Even though I get super excited when my favorite magazines arrive in the mail, I pile them up and wait for a "rainy day" to read them. Maybe there's a connection between this and #5.
7. Even though I'm too far along in life for certain dreams to come true, it doesn't stop me from occasionally (or often) daydreaming about becoming a musical theatre star (or soap opera actress) when I grow up. Okay, so maybe I'm not fighting #2 as hard as I thought.

Perhaps that should've been called "random facts." Oh, well. And now for the fun part. In the past month, I've had the pleasure of getting to know some beautiful new-to-me bloggers. This award is for them.

1. Cheri is not only beautiful, but also makes beautiful things. Between her art journal and her weekly gratitude entries, Cheri sees and captures beauty in the world and shares it with her readers. Moreover, she is an incredibly supportive bloggy friend, and I'm so glad to have met her.
2. I met Sarah through GTT and am really glad to have found her blog. Sarah has a great sense of humor, as is evident by her Tivo post, but she also writes beautifully. I also love that I can tweet with her early in the morning (Twitter insomniacs unite). ☺
3. It has been so fun talking to Erin in the short time I've known her. I can already tell she's a beautiful person. This post is near and dear to my heart, even though I'm not a mom, and I absolutely love Erin's candidness. I also have great respect for her ability to improvise.
4. As co-owner of one of my favorite Etsy stores, Katie is a beautiful sewer. She is also a mom to three beauties (Big Monkey, Little Monkey and Little Monkette... how cute is that?). A great resource for PKU-friendly recipes, I think she's beautiful for helping other parents.
5. Amanda's sense of humor is a beauty. She had me hooked with this post and continued to keep me lurking with hilarities like these tales from the ER, though this Bachelor post might be my favorite. I'm looking forward to future laughs with Amanda and getting to know her better.
6. I've known Angie on Twitter for a while (thanks to Colleen), but I only recently found her blog. Angie provides such beautiful warm fuzzies (I mean, how can you be in a bad mood after reading this?). Her posts, like this one, are a great mix of heartfelt honesty and humor.
7. This one is less of an award presentation and more of a shameless plug. My dear friend Marissa is one of the most beautiful people I know. She's the skip of a curling team, and they are headed to Club Nationals today. They'll be blogging about it here. Please show them some love.

In slightly related news, because my readership has multiplied far beyond my hope of having 10 readers, I would like to reward you, my beautiful bloggy friends, with a little giveaway. Details TBA, so stay tuned. I hope you all have a beautiful weekend!

The fine line

When does confidence become arrogance? Is a certain level of arrogance needed to do some things in life, like become an Olympic champion?

These are the questions that floated through my head as I watched Yevgeny Plushenko this week. I bow down to the guy's skating prowess; nothing can take away from the fact that he's one of the best figure skaters, as is evident by his numerous medals and titles. But with quotes like "If the Olympic champion doesn't know how to jump a quad, I don't know. Now it's not men's figure skating, now it's dancing," and "I was positive that I won. But I suppose Evan needs a medal more than I do," it's difficult not to think of the skater as arrogant. Now I'm not saying that being arrogant makes you less deserving of a medal (though we do tend to root for the nice guys, no?), but I genuinely wonder if/how that arrogance serves his performance.


image source

As if those random thoughts weren't enough to make my head ache at the midnight hour, I started thinking about the "defense" of Plushenko's quad comment and, oddly enough, how the athlete compares to Shaun White (bear with me here). At the root of the Plushenko-Lysacek drama is Plushenko's view that the quad means progress in the sport of men's figure skating (and that a gold performance sans quad means a regression in the sport). I admittedly don't know enough about the sport to have an opinion on that, but I was reminded of an interview with Shaun White, in which he discussed how he has furthered the sport of snowboarding. He said [approx. 4:15 of video] that in inventing new tricks, he basically takes ones that are already out there and just does them bigger and better. Perhaps some might see this as a statement of arrogance; I'm not one of those people. But that got me thinking about something else (aren't you glad you're on this ride of my stream of consciousness?). Does personality overshadow arrogance? If Shaun White did say something arrogant, would we forgive it - or even overlook it - because he's so playful?

And here I'll end my rambling to ask what you think. Is confidence sometimes misconstrued as arrogance? Does arrogance have its place? When is arrogance acceptable (if it is)?

PS. Way to go Team McCormick!

The quest for gold

I can't believe I just added a "sports" tag to my blog. And that it's in the same post as "Girl Talk."

Ah-MAZ-ing. That's the only word to describe these two.

Because of Shaun White, I'm now saying things like "amplitude" and "McTwist." Seriously, how awesome is he? In addition to being a superb athlete, his enthusiasm for his sport makes him a blast to watch, and he seems like a genuinely nice and down-to-earth guy.


image source

Speaking of nice... Apolo Ohno. Love him. He makes speed skating so much fun - and exciting - to watch. The way he sits at the back of the pack and then passes in a blink of an eye brings me to the edge of my seat every single time he races.

image source

I just love the Olympics. Can't get enough of them. My Beautiful Stranger told me this past summer that I needed an Olympic intervention (tell Ryan Lochte to stop taking off his shirt, and maybe I'll stop watching). I remember being a kid and pretending that I was an Olympic gymnast in the summer and an Olympic ice skater in the winter (the best part of being an imaginary Olympian is not having to choose just one sport). Since I would never make it through one day of practice - of any sport - I'm content these days to cheer on the amazing men and women who represent us in their quests for Olympic gold (though I'd be lying if I said I don't sometimes still fantasize about what it would be like).

Now, if we're going to look at non-sports Olympics, I know one event that I'd medal in for sure. I'm an Olympic champion of worrying. We're talking gold medal contender here. Coming from a long line of gold medal worriers, I was born a natural. Having over 30 years experience, I can even worry in unfavorable conditions. During a relaxing vacation? No sweat; I can find something to worry about. If you're looking for me in the closing ceremonies, I'll be the one staring at my gold medal, worried that something will happen to it.

And if you're wondering who the next up and coming Olympic nappers are, our house has that covered, too.

You take the good, you take the bad...

Who can name that tune?

No, this isn't a post about how much I love The Facts of Life (though I could write on and on about my girl crush on Nancy McKeon). This is me attempting to achieve balance in my mind for what has felt like an unforgiving year already.

2010. Only two months in, and enough havoc has been wreaked to last the entire year. But for every bad that's gotten me down, there's been good that's worthy of gratitude. Sadly, I tend to be more vocal about the negative, so hopefully this post will begin to make amends for that.



Bad: I lost my job.
Good: The loss of financial security has encouraged me to finally become fiscally responsible and pay off some debt, as well as learn how to stick to a budget (better late than never, right?). The uncertainty of what to do next has me seeking new possibilities, which has resulted in more contacts and a growing number of things I'd like to explore, even if not as my main source of revenue.


Bad: We found out a family member is sick.
Good: He is getting the best treatment possible and is holding his own. As difficult as news like that is to take, I know it's important to remember that it could always be worse.


Bad: Snowmageddon aka The Snowpocalypse. This has led to unwanted snowed-in days, interruption of travel plans, expensive plowing to dig us out, and most recently (and most unpleasant), a leak in (of all places) my scrapbooking studio, which we've been told we have to "wait out."
Good: Snowed-in days mean a lot of guilt-free movie watching. And we caught the leak before it did too much damage to my studio or the supplies it houses.


Bad (the TMI version): I am the unhappy carrier of a bladder infection.
Good (the TMI version): It happened while I am still on my kick-tush insurance, so it cost me nada to diagnose and treat. They gave me an awesome magic pill to numb my bladder (a fun side effect is that it turns your bodily fluids orange). The antibiotics make me tired, so Hubby has taken care of dinner all week (I swear I'm not milking it).


Good: We got to visit with a few of our friends that we hadn't seen in a while.
Better: Our nephew was born. Healthy.
Best: I have an amazing support system - which includes you, my friends - that is always here for me with an encouraging word or a virtual hug during both the good and the bad. Thank you for that.

Set it Sunday: Week 4

Share It

Sorry I'm late with this week's Set It Sunday. Today was a busy one with a trip to the airport, followed by a trip to urgent care (all is okay).

A number of bloggy friends participated in Set it Sunday last week. First, a delayed congratulations to Kristin (who I neglected to mention last week because I got behind on my reader) for meeting her running goal. She's more on the ball than me; she already reflected on last week's goal of "save the drama for your mama" and set her goals for this week. Way to go girl! Thanks to Cheri for joining with some great scrapbooking goals (I need to steal a few of these myself). And The Nutty Brunette returned with another impressive list of both school and personal goals. Thanks to all of you for joining me!

So how did I fare on my goal to spend 15-20 minutes on the Wii fit for four days last week? 100% success! It felt really good to meet my goal and to finally get back in the swing of exercising.

Set It

This week, I'm taking a page from Cheri's book and setting a creative goal. I haven't been able to complete a layout everyday for the LOAD challenge I'm participating in, which I'm totally okay with, because I knew that would be the case going into it (completing half a LOAD will still give me more layouts at the end of this month than I otherwise would have had). But I really wanted to get in my scrap studio and create some non-digital pages. So far, all my layouts have been digi for the sake of time and ease. So this week, I pledge to create three "traditional" layouts.

Want to join me in focusing more time on a personal goal this week? Grab the button below, and leave a comment with the link to your blog post. Copy and Paste Code <a href="http://secondglantz.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i460.photobucket.com/albums/qq323/g8rgirl79/Blog%20Layout%20Stuff/SIS.jpg" alt="Take a Second Glantz" /></a>

And to those of you who celebrate it, happy Valentine's Day!

Friday Fragments

I have finally, slowly been catching up on my blog reader this week. There are so many good posts, I wanted to use these Friday Fragments to brag on a few of my bloggy friends.

• Jenny wrote a great reflection about her writing. While you're there, make sure you get yourself acquainted with Hank. He's a pretty awesome character.
• Kristin teaches in China, and her blog is chockfull of awesome travel stories. I was touched by this post about how her students brought a bit of sunshine to the lives of boys in an orphanage. Be sure you also congratulate her for completing the Couch to 5K program.
• Meadow and Rain have started a fun blog about adolescent literature. Two of my favorite posts are about Happy Endings and Crackfic (a type of fan fiction).
• Cheri is doing an amazing job on her gratitude journal. She also shared some great insight about blogging.
• Colleen wrote a beautiful post in celebration of her anniversary. She is also walking for March of Dimes in April. Here's why.
• Sarabeth started a digital scrapbooking blog, in addition to creating her beautiful cards, like this one.
• Margie has been cranking out the cards. Is this not precious? Scroll down a little here to see another favorite card and an adorable layout of her sons.
• Yvette started a crafting blog less than a year ago and has blossomed as a master crafter. This and this blew me away.
• Kristen is counting down 365 "Daze" to 40. If you're new to Kristen's site, be sure to check out her minibooks. (Her fall journal is one of my faves.)
• Kelly wrote a beautiful post to her sisters. She is also reciting some pretty awesome mantras.
• Amy made me drool with this cookie recipe. And of course she's working hard on these adorable hair clips.

There were so many others that I wish I had time to share, but I'm due at the airport to pick up my girlfriend (assuming the Snowpacolypse doesn't foil our plans AGAIN). Hope you all have a great weekend!

Un-Valentine's Day

The girls at Girl Talk Thursday are talking about Valentine's Day this week. This is how I feel about the holiday in a nutshell:

Before you cast me off as a heartless grinch, let me explain. First of all, I do often participate in sending cards to my friends, observing it more as a friendship day than anything (maybe this childhood habit is harder to break). And of course Hubby and I went all out for it when we first started dating. But now? It's much more meaningful to me if Hubby gives me a card or chocolate or flowers (*cough* which he's never done in the 8 years we've been together... maybe this public shaming will prompt him to swing into action *cough*) on a day when he doesn't feel obligated to and when I don't expect it. I completely, 100% agree that you should tell the people you love that you love them, but don't expect me to do it when and how Hallmark tells me.

Wordless Wednesday: The Scrappy Edition

I feel like I've been neglecting my scrappy readers, so I thought I'd share a few layouts from my LOAD. All of these layouts were quickly and easily made using digital templates.

Portugal

Digital template by Cathy Zielske (Design Your Life)

You

Digital template by Cathy Zielske (Design Your Life)

Rock On! (this might be my fave)

ScrapSimple Digital Layout Template: Round N Round

Gel Pen Alphabet and Doodles by LetteringDelights

My ABCs

I feel good... DaNaNaNaNaNaNa. It's day 2 of my fitness goal, and I am not only on track, but also enjoying it. Don't get me wrong - I'm not jumping out of bed with a spring in my step or anything. To the contrary, I lay in bed for 30 minutes talking myself into it and then drag myself downstairs at a sloth's pace. But after the second or third yoga pose, my eyes are finally open, and I'm proud of myself for making a good choice.

As I was thinking yesterday about the many things I try to fit in my day and the ever growing list of pastimes I try to juggle, I was reminded of my eighth grade year when my parents made me choose between continuing my dance lessons or taking Spanish class at the high school. Even though the choice was easy (a good dancer I am not), I remember thinking that it was unfair. I was interested in both, so why couldn't I do both? That was the first (but certainly not the last) time I got the "you can't do everything" spiel. I attempted to prove my parents wrong as I got old enough to make the kinds of decisions that would allow me to do so, taking an obscene number of college-level classes my junior and senior years in high school while attempting to participate in numerous extra-curricular activities. I survived it, but it wasn't pretty. I was burning the candle at both ends, as my mother loved to remind me, and as an adult looking back, I can see the toll it took on me both physically (eating Taco Bell at 10:00 at night after drama rehearsal only to fall asleep in your books a few hours later does not make for the healthiest regimen) and emotionally (I think my flare for the dramatic had less to do with me being in drama and more with me being tired and stressed all the time). But I didn't stop and learn my lesson then. No, I continued the frantic behavior through college and well into my career. Only now (we won't count how many years after high school that is), am I starting to learn a new set of ABCs: attitude, balance, and choice.

Attitude

It's bad enough trying to do everything; it's even worse trying to be perfect at everything you're trying to do. When I make the decision to take on a big load, I know now that I have to shift my attitude. For instance, this month I'm participating in three scrapbooking endeavors - two classes at Big Picture Scrapbooking and one Layout a Day challenge. When I'm taking just one class, I can expect myself to keep up with the assignments and fully engage on the message boards. Similarly, if all I'm doing is the LOAD challenge that month, I can expect to make 30 good layouts. But if I want to have it all, I have to change my attitude and accept the fact that I can't comment on every discussion board, nor is every layout I make going to be perfect. If my expectations aren't realistic, I'm setting myself up for disappointment and possibly even a dislike for otherwise enjoyable activities.

Balance

Some people are content to have one hobby; I wish I was one of them, but I'm not (all the blame for that one goes to my "renaissance man" dad). As is evident by my all-over-the-place blog, I like to spend my time doing a myriad of things. Admittedly, some things I try for a time and am content not to adopt on a lifelong basis. But as I get older, I find more and more that I like - and want - to do. Though it took me decades, I finally get what Mom told me all those years ago. I might be able to do it all, but definitely not at the same time. So I have to find a balance. I can no longer scrapbook every minute between dinner and bedtime every day if I also hope to crank out another chapter. In fact, that's one of the reasons I'm no longer trying to blog everyday right now: I decided to focus this month on scrapbooking because all of these fun things are happening in that world right now, and I'll turn my focus back to blogging when that calms down. In order to achieve balance, I have to be willing (there's that attitude thing again) to make choices.

Choice

I realized yesterday, that I was really missing my piano playing (when I say piano, I mean keyboard, and when I say playing, I mean tinkering). But I also had a blog post brewing. And I wanted to create a layout for the day because I had skipped Sunday (which I was okay with thanks to an attitude adjustment). (And I might have also wanted to watch The Bachelor... don't judge.) So I made a choice. I spent the hour I would have blogged playing the piano, and I made a quick, not-so-great (but I was okay with that, too) digital layout while watching The Bachelor. My attitude and choice achieved balance. And in turn, the balance affected my attitude, making me super happy that I progressed in learning a new song.

So what if it took me more than a decade to learn? Now I know my ABCs...

Set it Sunday: Week 3

New to Set It Sunday? Click here to read the motivation behind the meme.

Share It

Thanks to The Nutty Brunette for joining me last week. She was super ambitious - I was tired just reading her list! ☺ (PS. Nutty Brunette, if you're reading this, how do we leave comments on your blog?)

I came to a hopefully-helpful realization yesterday as I was thinking about my Set It Sunday goal: I'm not very realistic when it comes to estimating how much time I have in my week to devote to my personal goal and how much time it will take to achieve that goal. While I am much further along in my quest to achieve last week's goal of finishing my 2009 Month-at-a-Glance photo book, the design process is taking more time than anticipated, the kind of time I didn't have in the midst of everything else that was going on last week. Instead of just thinking about what I want to accomplish, I need to start paying attention to the steps that need to be completed to get there and how long those steps will take.

Set It

Certainly, I am rolling over my goal from last week. I'm so close to being done, I should realistically be able to finish the photo book with a few more hours of work. If you had asked me yesterday, I would have told you that I'm also adding a small writing goal, and while I do think I probably will devote some time to writing this week (I'm itching to write after yesterday's reflection), I found this morning that I have a more urgent goal that needs attention. I stepped on my Wii Fit... after 263 days of neglect (so it was very quick to tell me). My weight gain - which was amplified by that obnoxious, animated balance board shaking its head, telling me that I had failed my goal of maintaining my weight ("Cheryl," it says, "maybe you should choose a slightly easier goal, yes?" Bastard.) - reinforces the fact that my life has become ridiculously (and unhealthily) sedentary. I know I'm going to need to ease back into it and set a realistic goal that I can actually meet. So this week, I'm committing to 15-20 minutes on the Wii Fit for 4 days.

Want to join me in focusing more time on a personal goal this week? Grab the button below, and leave a comment with the link to your blog post.

Copy and Paste Code <a href="http://secondglantz.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i460.photobucket.com/albums/qq323/g8rgirl79/Blog%20Layout%20Stuff/SIS.jpg" alt="Take a Second Glantz" /></a>