First Quarter Review 2019

It’s April, and that means we have moved into the second quarter of 2019. Spring is in the air, and it’s a good time to check how we are tracking on our 2019 goals. I love using my Rituals for Living Dreambook and Planner to plan my year, and it is conveniently formatted by quarters to help break your long-term projects into achievable tasks. You might recall that my focus for the year is ADVENTURE, and I planned to embody that word through three avenues: attitude, activity, and (of course) books. Let’s review each of these and I will give Read More


Adventure 2019!

Do you pick a word or theme for the year? I started this practice several years ago. It is part of an effort to be more intentional and create the life I want to have rather than just letting life happen to me. It started as a casual effort but became a more serious endeavor once I started using the Dragontree Apothecary Rituals for Living Dreambook and Planner (affiliate link.) I love the thought-provoking exercises in the Dreambook section and the practical application of breaking my goals into tasks and scheduling them in my planner. I always feel as though I Read More


2018 Annual Review

Welcome to my year end review of 2018. My first instinct at the end of the year was to go through my journal and make a list of all the cool things I did in 2018. There were so many things! While I was making my list, I received an email from James Clear with his annual review. I decided I liked his format. He got the idea from someone else, and I have seen a few others use it as well. If it works for them, it can work for me, so here goes…. What went well this year? Read More


Audiobooks I Solemnly Swear to Listen to Once Each Year

My first blog post was about some of the books that have changed my life. I have also made it known that I rely on audiobooks to help me reach my reading goals. (BTW, as soon as I finish my current audiobook, I will have met my goal for the year.) I know there are endless podcasts and playlists and other things that I could be listening to… but I often find myself returning to some of my favorite audiobooks time and time again. Naturally, I love fiction audiobooks. Some of my family’s road trip picks have been Mary Shelley’s Read More


Excellence is Not an Act, It’s a Habit

This adage from Aristotle gets kicked around a lot. We all want to be Excellent, right? Then again, some of us want to spend a lot of our time watching Star Trek reruns. I have to believe that there is space in my life for both. At my previous job, I had this quote posted at my desk. I had that job for a long time, so I am not sure when my fascination with habits started, but I began following James Clear and Gretchen Rubin several years ago. I just finished the audiobook of James’s new book Atomic Habits. Read More


Working with Lunar Cycles

Balance I had been working with the lunar cycles for several months when I saw the theme for October’s New Moon: Balance and Harmony with Polarity. This theme was about balancing masculine and feminine. My current state felt as if the masculine was so prevalent that I wanted to do the opposite of balancing – I wanted to squash it. I witnessed my resistance to this theme and took this to mean that I had some work to do in this area. I didn’t commit to earth-shattering change during this cycle. I made the minimal commitment to “Look and Listen” Read More


Girl, Wash Your Face – When Rachel Hollis met Emerson

A spur of the moment selection I know that Rachel Hollis is a blogger and lifestyle guru. Well, I know that now, after reading Girl, Wash Your Face. I don’t remember ever hearing of her before I picked up this book in the airport on my way to my first-ever solo vacation. I tend to be a bit of a worry-wart, and the only book I had was on my phone, and the only boarding pass I had for my connection was on my phone, so I worried about draining the battery and decided to buy an actual paper book. Read More


How I Lost 100 lbs in 500 Days – Bright Line Eating, Part 1

My most personal blog yet… How I Lost 100 lbs in 500 Days The problem… These stories always start with, “I’ve struggled with weight loss all of my life.” I’m not sure that’s true for me. Sometimes it wasn’t a struggle. I lost a lot of weight without trying while I was going through my first divorce. (“It was really easy once I lost the first 200 lbs!”) Then I started to gain weight when I got my first desk job. I didn’t hate myself or struggle with it every day. I was doing pretty well. I just ate out Read More


The Subtle Art of Deciding Which F*cks to Give

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck is my favorite new non-fiction book. I listened to the audiobook twice from the library then bought the hardcover book. This is one self-help book that I find very helpful. And it says the F word a lot, and I’m an overgrown 8th grader, so, yes, I am thrilled. Cussing was SO not allowed in my house growing up. Until a certain age, I thought “fart” was the F-word. Mark Manson’s book is full of actual good advice that feels very relevant to me as I enter a transitionary time. I’m about Read More


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