New Year's Intentions

• So I didn't say "resolutions" right? I decided not to make any resolutions this year that I'll have already broken half-way through January. That's simply too self-defeating for me. Instead, I've gathered some intentions and some ideas about how to put them into place. First of all, I decided to participate in the "one little word" concept on Alli Edwards' blog. After considering a dozen different words and their implications for my life and what I want in 2009, I have settled on the word "enrich".
  
  Merriam Webster Dictionary:
  Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French enrichir, enricher, from en- + riche rich
  Date: 14th century
  to make rich or richer esp. by the addition or increase of some desirable quality, attribute, or ingredient
  
  American Heritage Dictionary:
  
  To make rich or richer.
  To make fuller, more meaningful, or more rewarding: An appreciation of art will enrich your life.
  To add to the beauty or character of; adorn: "Glittering tears enriched her eyes" (Arnold Bennett).
  
  
  So I want to enrich my life and the lives of others in 2009. And to keep my word in mind throughout the year, I just ordered myself this little gem:
  
  
  You can buy this pretty little piece with ANY word hand-stamped on it here.
  
  
  

The idea of enrichment spans so many areas of my life:

• I intend to enrich my life by making healthy choices about food and exercise - notice I didn't say the "D" word??? so NOT doing that!


• I intend to enrich my life by making time to take care of myself and my needs, making time for activities that bring me joy, making time in my busy life to be more than wife, mother, attorney, family accountant, cook, maid, laundress, and chauffer.


• I intend to enrich my life through continued learning. In 2009 I intend to learn to use Photoshop Elements, do more digital scrapbooking, and (time permitting) maybe even learn to use the manual settings on my Canon Rebel. The photography thing, while an aspiration for 2009 doesn't really fit in the "intention" category as I can take perfectly adequate photos for my purposes with my Canon SD1000 point and shoot and have learned over the past two months to use some of the settings on that other than just "auto" - yeah me!


• I intend to enrich the lives of others by practicing kindness and looking for opportunities to lend a hand or open a door - anything to make someone else's day just a little brighter.

Tall order, those intentions! But here is the secret that I learned just yesterday in my online course A Life Well Crafted at Big Picture Scrapbooking - Baby Steps! I'm not going to know Photoshop in a matter of days, or be thin and trim in a week or two. The idea is make small goals for yourself. My "baby steps" for the first full week of January are to 1) load Photoshop Elements onto my portable hard drive (can't learn the program if you don't even have it loaded!) and 2) sign up for Jessica Sprague's Up and Running with Photoshop. It is a self-paced course and I bought myself the 3 course package last month, so just need to get started.

And, as if that wasn't enough, after debating with myself for weeks, I just today signed up for Organized and Inspired on Big Picture Scrapbooking. I took this course at this time last year, but was so busy travelling and stuck with the post-construction mess that I really wasn't able to follow along and get my scrap space organized. This year I am DETERMINED that it is going to happen. It helps that I'm no longer "in the biz" so I actually have less "stuff" to organize. But I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to get that room painted, cabinets hung, and put together to match the picture I have in my mind! REALLY! The class started yesterday (I'm going to catch up today). Did I mention how much I REALLY want to get this done??? If I stick with my commitment to follow along with the class, by the end of March I'll have a beautiful room!!! Anyone want to come scrap with me in April???