Hello 2010!

Hi…. *sheepish grin*…. I sure have missed you. *big hug* It feels good to be hanging out with you again!

The plan was to post something each day, then each week… but I ended up not posting at all. It worked out okay on my end. Craft Leftovers is going great and I’m feeling like I fully have my shit together again. It’s been a weird series of events these past few months: I released the new Craft Leftovers Monthly, started work on my first ebook, my MacBook broke down, two relatives died and gave me a quick jolt that I’m not immortal, I’ve been sick off and on, started a non-profit, and in general running around crazy. But this week, despite the macbook going under and the crappy cold, I feel really good.

In the beginning of 2009 I posted about some of the goals I had for the upcoming year. Mainly three if I remember correctly: be more mindful, draw daily, get fit. I really feel that I’ve done well with all three.

1. Be More Mindful - This is a hard one. If you aren’t mindful that you are not being mindful, how do you know? Well, training yourself to think about what you are doing as effecting yourself and others directly is hard. I’ve messed up. I’ve done well. It’s a journey and as long as I stick to it I feel I’m meeting my goal.

2. Draw Daily - I wouldn’t say I “failed” but I am a bit disappointed at how hard this has been. I wanted to post drawings daily here, but that started to be a problem because of the time/effort involved with snapping the photo or scanning and then uploading and whatever. Well, I have my studio all in one place, the lightbox is always set up, the scanner now works with ease.

I have started a drawing group and that has helped. We are all trying to make drawing a daily habit, so we get together every other week, crack open our sketch books and show and tell, then we get down to business drawing what’s around us. And I’ve been creative in a lot of ways I did not even imagine.

Ames C.art has taken off and we will be an official non profit by the second quarter of 2010. We are actually painting a mural – and I’m the creative director! So I would say specifically drawing daily was so so for last year as far as goals met goes, but being more creative and indulging in the studio side of life has succeed.

3. Get Fit - This was a failure and a success all at the same time. I did establish some really great habits of going to the gym and working out on a regular basis, but it’s only in the last week that I really have felt on track. I was eating crap. And overeating. I gained about 10lbs this past year + the 10lbs the year before.

I’m still not “fat” but I’m “overweight”. I know I need to be around 115 – 125 for my size and shape. And at the beginning of the month I was sitting at 145. I know this isn’t horrible. But there is a lot of obesity in my family’s history, so I know that 10lb a year is a bad thing.

I have finally embraced fully the simplest, best, tried and true diet: eat well, eat often, eat less, exercise like a mother f–ker. Seriously. And since over eating is a big problem for me, I’m retraining myself by counting my calories. If I want to eat a lot, it’s going to be a salad so I can stick to that 1275 calories a day.  I’m using LiveStrong.com coupled with their ipod touch/iphone app. Then not only can I write down what I’m eating right after eating it, but I can also look things up on the go before I even put it in my mouth.

Since I started counting calories and eating how much I should be, I’ve lost 4.5lbs! I’m back under 140!  And I’m continually trending down. I know there is a daily and even monthly flux in weight, but it’s on a downward trend as I continue to workout like mad + eat better food.

Goals for 2010

You know, it’s pretty much the same. I made progress last year, but I’m not satisfied with where I am. So I’m going to keep my 2009 goals for 2010 and throw a few more into the mix. I feel like getting fit and being mindful are habits now, so I’m going to place priority on the top of the list and work my way down:

1. Draw Daily – This is broken into two phases. Phase one is to make it a habit to draw daily. Phase two is to post those drawings here daily. I won’t have anything to post about if I don’t draw it first so that’s my primary goal.

2. Post on KroStudio Regularly – Coupled with drawing daily I want to post about the other things I’m doing that aren’t related to Craft Leftovers.  From drawing daily, to mural painting, to getting my first sweater pattern published, I want it to find a home here. And I’m going to share some posts between KroStudio and Craft Leftovers, mainly the Crafty Business series I started back up on Wednesdays. So my plan of action is to post on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule. We will see how it goes, but that’s the plan. Hey, it’s Friday, and I’m posting, go me!

3. Get Financially Sound – continue to pay down my debt, be frugal and creative and thrifty, don’t spend money unless I have to, get an emergency fund. So far so good, but it’s hard. I have some savings built up and I’ve continued to pay more than the minimum on my credit card each month + not use the credit card at all. In fact, I don’t remember the last time I charged something, and that’s a good feeling.

4. Continue the Supply Diet – Craft leftovers has helped me wonderfully in retraining myself to look to the stash first. So much so that I only bought 7 skeins of yarn in all of 2009. 2 skeins of sock yarn (one is now socks, the other is wip), 2 skeins of delicious cotton while in San Francisco (stash), and 3 this christmas to make my mom and dad gifts (wip). And add to that: I used up more yarn than I can count! I made a 1 1/2 pairs of socks, 2 sweaters, a hat, fingerless mittens, mittens, and more random stuff I can’t even remember. Oh a ton of dishcloths, facecloths, and coasters. Hooray! I know I used up at least 20+ skeins of yarn and my stash went from being more than would fit into my closet to fitting comfortably into 2 rubbermaids. I still have a long way to go, but I’m going there!

5. Keep Getting Fit - I’ve been establishing habits to help me get fit and I want to keep solidifying those: going to the gym 5 days a week, eating well, eating snacks, making more homemade meals, making more from scratch, keeping my portions in check.

6. Being Mindful - mindful of myself, of others. Of the little things and the big things. Meditate regularly. I went to my first yoga class last Sunday and I’m going again this Sunday. It’s a small step to daily yoga/meditation practice.

And that leads me to the next part of this post. I really love Zen Habits and the author has started up a new blog called 6 changes. It’s interesting, without even thinking about it, I made 6 goals. So I’m going to go ahead and try his approach to making them habits. I’m going to start with Drawing Daily.

I also came across this great article called “Out of Control (or why balance is overrated)“. I know I have a tendency to focus on balancing – just look at my Crafty Business post on Wednesday – and I tend to tell you how important I feel it is to give it to your urges and go crazy on one thing and leave it all behind.

A good example is Craft Leftovers Monthly. I got an idea. I went nuts and made the first issue start to finish in a 16 hour concentrated session. It was a birth of a wonderful thing. And I had to pull an all nighter the next day to finish my homework for class. Was the imbalance worth it? Absolutely!

I think a lot of my struggle comes from that very impulse. How to make it so I can go with it when I need to and still meet all my obligations. If I can spend 5 hours a day on “have to’s” and 11 on “want to’s” it’s a good day. That’s what all this daily routine and schedule and task lists are all really geared towards. Anyway, read the article. I think you will like it.

And then going back to talking about balance in a good way. The Simple Dollar talks about how being too frugal can be bad too: The Other Side of the Frugality Fence.

And with that I leave you. Enjoy your first day of the year!
Happy Crafting!
Kristin

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Tags: 2010, art, craft, drawing, goals, life, practice, routine, studio