2016 Guiding Words

Over the last few years I gave up making resolutions for the New Year and instead adopted an idea from #GetGutsy's Jessica Lawlor to select 3 word to focus on and guide me through the year. I have found that I hold myself accountable to those words more than I ever did to resolutions. I use them as a gut check to be sure I am still on the right track. I ask myself regularly if I am being honest to those words. As it turns out some years are better than others.

My words for 2015 were strength, simplify, and focus. Admittedly, I have done some of these well and others not so well. When I looked back on the reasons I chose those words I feel confident saying I hit 1 out of 3. I was successful in simplifying my life this year. The new house, the new job and an effort to really honestly consider what I gave my energy to absolutely simplified the chaos. The good news is that the other words don't judge me for not living up to their importance, they still support and encourage me every day. I am grateful for all the help in 2015, even if it wasn't one of those years where I feel I gave them my all.

The time is here though to leave them behind and head into my 2016 words.

Without further ado, here they are: Mindfulness, Follow Through (2 words but you can't have one without the other right) and Aloha.

Mindfulness
The world is such a busy place. I feel distracted and a little scatter brained many days. I want to listen more and talk less (oh hush, I know you are all thinking this will be a challenge for me but hey I need to try right). Lately I find when it is quiet I need to make noise. I no longer take comfort in moments of silence. This year I will search out moments of silence daily.

Follow Through 
I am fairly good at doing this for work and on commitments I make to others however I am not so good for myself. I want to make this year the year I follow through on things I have been talking about for years. I want to follow through my commitment to my health, steps I have started but let go to the wayside. Follow through to learning Spanish, something I have said I wanted to do since the Hubby and I got married. Follow through on becoming a better writer, it is a professional skill I have identified as a weakness years ago and I need to stop making excuses and just do it. Finally, investing time and energy into planning for the future. The Hubby and I talk a lot about how we want that to look, but talk only gets you so far and I am Type A, I need a plan. I find that it is easy for me to make excuses to not follow through on these things because I am only accountable to me and previously I have been alright with that, 2016 will be different.

Aloha
While it is no surprise to many that something Hawaiian influenced has shown up on my list, this one has more to do with simply my love of the place or desire to go back there. This one has to do with how to live life on a daily basis. The aloha spirit is one of living life with love, kindness, respect and compassion. There is so much in this world I can't control, but what I can control is how I treat the people around me. A little bit of love and kindness, respect and understanding, from each of us makes such a difference in the world today and I want to do my part with a conscious effort this year.

There you have it, my 3 words for 2016.

So, what are your New Year's traditions? Do you make a to-do list, set goals, or make resolutions? If you had to pick three words to define your year, what would they be?

A Departure From the Norm

Normally my blog posts, infrequent as they are, are inspired by funny things that I have experienced during my time in the south.  Just a heads up, tonight I am taking a slight departure from that trend so bare with me.

My job requires me to be online, A LOT, and unfortunately this means I unwillingly see my fair share of trash, sadness and just plain shitty ass stories about people who do terrible things. How the people who deal with these situations on a daily basis stay positive I will never know. You all have my utmost respect! For me, days filled with seeing all of it can really have a negative effect on my generally sunshine filled outlook on life. It weighs on my mind, it fills up precious brain space I would like open for more positive happy messages and frankly it saps my energy.

Often I take refuge in fluffy books, British baking shows and the Pentatonix Christmas album on repeat. The last few weeks though, I have been reminded once again even those can't compare to spending time with loved ones.

When I look around and try to define the term "loved ones" it means a lot of people. Yes I know "a lot" isn't a very descriptive word, but tonight that is all I have. So let's look briefly at these peeps.

I have an amazing family who I don't see near often enough just due to the shear distance and countries that separate us. It never ceases to amaze me though how a smile crosses my face when I hear from one of them in a day just to say hi.

Then there those who aren't actually family but have become family. They are near and far away but they all have welcomed the Hubby and I as family. We celebrate everything and I love that. We hug and cry and laugh and love life every time we can.

The last few years something special has happened in life. Ed and I have been surrounded by amazing and beautiful children. We have made the choice not to have our own, but my heart overflows every moment we spend with the ones in our life. From short visits to the NICU, to Skype calls to Oregon, cooking baking dates with my favorite elf, movie dates with a not so little guy anymore, texts from mini me and her brother, or the one who loves her Sophia, there is seriously no better way to find a smile than to see the world through the eyes of a little one.

So why do I say all of this? I say it because sometimes we all just need a reminder to shut out all the shit around us and take a minute to enjoy those who we call our loved ones.

Johnsville Comes to Alabama

Photo from Johnsonville Website

Major news update, the Johnsonville Brat 65-foot grill is coming to Huntsville this weekend! As a Midwesterner making it here in the south, it makes me feel like a piece of home is coming just to visit me. Now I just need to pick up a Leinenkugel's (limited selection in stores but beggars can't be choosers) and cheese curds (not squeaky but see previous statement) from my local Publix because they are awesome and head downtown. #IHeartHSV but I am a #Cheesehead at my core!

The End of an Era

This Friday, February 6, 2015 marks the end of an era in my life. It will be my last day of work at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. The USSRC has been a part of my life since 1997 when I first attended as high school student who had a passion for space exploration. I was privileged to join the team in January of 2004 and in the last 11 years I met my husband there and have made countless friends that have become an extension of my family!

I am looking forward to Friday and dreading Friday all at the same time. What we do at the Rocket Center changes lives every single day and I am honored and humbled to have played just a tiny role in that. It has changed my life in ways I could have never imagined. At the same time, I have a new challenge on the horizon and I am so excited to start that journey. I will be sad, and I am sure there will be tears, but I will walk away knowing this: I am inspired every day to dream big and achieve those goals because of my time there. That is what we do at the USSRC, we INSPIRE everyone who walks through our doors to explore!

I am so incredibly grateful for my time at the Center. It has truly been life changing. I look forward to my new roles in life and I am certain it will include new ways to be connected the place I love, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center!

And the winners are...

For the last 12 months this LibbyDoodle has been hanging in our kitchen. It represents the three words I selected as my focus for 2014. The words were: courage (to try something new), commitment (to checking a few important things off my to do list) and adventure (go have them!). This was the first year I went the words list rather than making a new "to-do" this year list. Now don't get me wrong, I still made to do lists because that is who I am, but these words meant so much more to me than just checking a box. They really helped guide me in some of the decisions I made this year. The idea to select words came from the #GetGutsy community founder, Jessica Lawlor. I am so grateful to have come across the idea along with the #GetGutsy community and am excited to repeat it again this year. 

The task of choosing three words to help set course for your year is not an easy one. The words have to feel right and really speak to you. What a word means to you may not be the same as it does to someone else so careful consideration is important. Last year the words just came to me as I was talking with the hubby and a few friends about my new plans. They just fit right off the bat. This year was a bit more of a struggle to find the right ones. I made a brainstorming list (ok more like 3 or 4), scratched them up, rewrote them, and just looked at them for about a month now. A lot of brain power went in to this decision. I think that is part of the reason I enjoy this activity as much as I do. I feel very invested in the time it took me to come up with just three words to reflect on for the next 365 days.

Without any further delay, the words that I spent so much time coming up with are: Strength, Simplify, and Focus. The last few years I have felt not as emotionally or mentally strong as I would like. I have been just dealing with it as those days happen when I am feeling week but this year I am ready to conquer that head on. I am not sure yet just how that will happen but I have some ideas and I think just telling myself I am ready for it is a huge step in the right direction. Simplify is my second word. Oh my goodness I am so excited about this word. Everything around me feels like chaos lately. My stuff, my work, my work and life balance and the list goes on. I am ready to simplify and just keep what really matters around me and get rid of the rest. I have days of anxiousness that comes from the chaos and I can't wait for the calm that will come with this word. Lastly I chose focus. For a while I was struggling to decide between simplify and focus, however I finally realized the reason it was so hard for me to choose between them is that this year I really need them both. So I embraced them both. Focus for me this year is going to be about checking some boxes but I need to focus on those boxes that are important to me and that I have put on my own list rather than allowing distractions to take my time and energy away from them. It is an ambitious list I have under this word so it is going to take strength and a simplified life to stay focused on the goals ahead of me this year. See what I did there? I sure do love it when it all comes together like it was meant to be!

So, what are your New Year's traditions? Do you make a to-do list,  set goals, or make resolutions? If you had to pick three words to define your year, what would they be?  

Happy New Year friends and family!