September Blue: One Little Word

MY ONE LITTLE WORD 2015: COMPLETE

This year I am participating in Ali Edwards' One Little Word year-long workshop. For those of you who are not familiar with the concept, you can read about it on Ali's website here. It's the second time I am taking this class. The first was in 2013. My word then was "plan." I was very dedicated to the class and connected to my word from January through June, but then my "plan" of completing the class kinda went to hell and I didn't finish (I blame it on the Marine Corps and the unexpected move they had for us that summer). This brings me to my word for 2015: complete.

When it comes to finding the "right" word to bring into one's life, some people choose it themselves. But for others, like in my case, the word chooses them. I know it sounds strange and you're wondering, "How can a word choose you?," but toward the end of 2014 "complete" kept making an appearance in my day:

Complete one project before moving onto another.

Having a complete dental exam (first one in about two years).

Completing the task of sending Christmas cards to friends and family for the first time in 4 years.

Feeling completely content in our new home.

I felt like the word was trying to tell me something.

And although the dictionary first defines the word as adjective:

com·plete kəm’plēt/ adjective

1. having all parts or elements; lacking nothing; whole; entire; full:
"a complete set of Mark Twain's writings."

2. finished; ended; concluded:
"a complete orbit."

3. having all the required or customary characteristics, skills, or the
like;consummate; perfect in kind or quality:
"a complete scholar"

4. thorough; entire; total; undivided, uncompromised, or unmodified:
"a complete victory; a complete mess."

It is also defined as a verb when used with an object:

verb (used with object), completed, completing.

1. to make whole or entire:
"I need three more words to complete the puzzle."

2. to make perfect:
"His parting look of impotent rage completed my revenge."

3. to bring to an end; finish:
"Has he completed his new novel yet?"

4. Football. to execute (a forward pass) successfully:
"He completed 17 passes in 33 attempts."

As a verb the word is like a call to action for me. I feel as though it is telling me to take 2015 by the horns and own it:

Complete those various lists of things to do.

Complete those unfinished projects.

I got the dental exam, now it's time for a complete physical exam.

Maybe when I start to complete these things, I will feel complete.

I'll be documenting this relationship with my word in the same manner Ali is with hers. I don't want to focus on elaborately designed pages, but rather the word itself. I'm using an 8.5x11 binder with solid and divided page protectors. My pages are below:

I'm starting of this album with the page you see above. I really liked this quote have been repeating it to myself over the past to days.

The first page is this blog post printed out. It's the same thing that Ali did in her album. Why re-invent the wheel?

The left side of this next spread details my intentions with my word this year. I will probably come back and revisit this page. I trimmed down the page protector on the right side and filled the pockets with the printed cards outlining the definition of my word, what I am inviting into my life this year in order to connect with my word and the quote from the earlier page. The black filler card is from the Project Life Midnight Edition Core Kit. The pocket in the middle has the word "dreamer" stamped on a piece of acetate inside.

And finally the left side of the spread has a few more filler cards stating what I am letting go of this year and the reason why I chose my word. The cards are again from the Project Life Midnight Edition Core Kit. The pieces of wood veneer are from Studio Calico. The right hand side of the spread are some other prompts including how my owrd is already making an appearance in my life, what I fear most in 2015, what I want more/less of this year and what I am most excited about this year.

You may not be able to read all of the details on my pages. I will be sharing them a bit more intimately throughout the year. For now I just wanted to tell you about my word and how it came to choose me. You can expect to see updates on my OLW once a month.

If you had a word to live by in 2015, what would it be?

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ONE LITTLE WORD | MONTHLY BLOG HOP | JUNE 1

How fitting is that piece of paper for this workshop??? While working on this month's prompt I found this on a patterned piece of paper by My Mind's Eye. Just had to share!

By the way, welcome to this month's hop! You've arrived at the last stop and I hope you have been enjoying all of the inspiration and creativity that everyone has shared. If you arrived at September Blue through a blog reader and want to start back at the beginning of the hop go to Lee's site The Linar Studio. Lee is awesome and is our organizer for the hop. Thanks Lee! On to what I did in May:

If you recall last month I wasn't able to complete the prompt that Ali gave us because my computer crashed (the prompt was to use photos to define our word). For May, Ali wanted us to focus on listening–what people are saying to you, what words or phrases are going over and over in our heads, and document them in our albums. Now that I have my computer back, I thought I would combine the two months into a two-page spread as seen above.

Close up of left side.

Close up of right side.

I really didn't have any words or phrases that were enlightening or gave me an "ah-ha epiphany" moment in May. But I do have several quotes and phrases that do go through my head almost on a daily basis. And after printing them out and combining them with the photos from April's prompt, I found it to be a pretty powerful spread!

One of my favorite quotes in the layout is the one above by Ali herself. I think I read it on her blog a year or two ago and honestly, repeat it to myself on a daily basis. I love it. It's like my mantra.

Another one of my absolute favorite quotes of all time is the one above–"You can have it all. Just not all at once." There are some variations of that quote and I'm not exactly sure who said it, but think about it. It's so true, isn't it? I tell that to myself whenever things aren't going my way or feel I "need to have this, this and this right now." It's an awesome quote and it keeps me grounded. Things are going to start to get crazy here in the next few weeks with our time winding down here in Europe. Moving overseas isn't easy and I know I'm going to want things done and fall into place perfectly. But I know that is not going to happen. You can count on this quote to help me get through this transition.

One of the things that I love about this layout is that I didn't plan for the photos to coordinate with the quotes/phrases. When I put everything together I thought it was awesome how the many of the photos enhanced the meanings of the words.

I am loving this journey into "word studies."

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ONE LITTLE WORD | MONTHLY BLOG HOP : APRIL 1

Hello April!

Welcome to the One Little Word Monthly Blog Hop!

Thank goodness that March flew by! It is not one of my favorite months and I am sooooo ready for spring! However, looking back on the month, there were things that happened that were directly related to my One Little Word March Intention:

Plan to Design.

And in order to do this one must take action.

I found it such a coincidence that Ali's prompt for March was to take action. It fit so well with my intention for March and I really didn't realize it until the second half of the month when I enrolled in Jessica Sprague's online class, "Bloom Your Blog." I've been wanting to do a serious re-design of September Blue for quite some time now. Sure last fall I added a new banner and some social media icons in my sidebar, but I still feel that it doesn't reflect my style. I want a change. But it's not going to change itself. It needs me to do something about it. It needed me to take action.

So with Ali's encouragement through her prompt and Jessica's awesome online class, I finally got my act together and planned out a redesign of September Blue. No, it is not live yet, but I am giving myself a deadline of April 12 to change the design. It is almost done, so hopefully I'll unveil it sooner than the 12th!

I have really enjoyed the process of redesigning the blog. It has helped me really identify my style and focus on what I want and don't want to include on the blog. It's encouraged me to take chances in playing around with HTML codes and Cascading Style Sheets. And the quote above that Ali used in her video presentation is amazing. It screams "Just Do It" (to quote Nike)! It's okay if every little detail isn't perfect the first time around. It's okay to change things as you go. There is time. The first step in reaching your goal is to take action.

Not only did I buckle down and redesign the blog this month, I also released some new product in my shoppe! Background Basics is a series of simple, clean 12x12 digital scrapbook papers that are the perfect compliment to the Seafoam Edition of Project Life. You can see the product by clicking on this link.

And finally, one more item that is related to my intention. I got an email from the Public Affairs Office at the U.S. Embassy here asking if I could create a social media sticker for them that promotes the Embassy's Facebook page and various Twitter accounts. They pass these out at different events that the Public Affairs Office participates in throughout the year. I created one for them about 15 months ago and now they are looking to update some things. I'll post photos when they are printed!

I hope you are taking some sort of action to reach a goal you have set for yourself. Thanks for reading! The next stop on the Blog Hop is:

Veronica

If you want to start at the beginning of the Hop, go to Lee's blog at:

The Linar Studio

See you next month!

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ONE LITTLE WORD | MONTHLY INTENTION UPDATE

I realized today that I totally forgot to give a monthly Intention update in last Friday's OLW Blog Hop post, so here is a quick post on my February Intention:

This is an intention that will be a work in progress all year long. While I did connect with a few friends that I have lost touch with over the past few years, there is one–a family member in particular–that I am still trying to reach out to but have yet to hear back from her (it's really only been since last summer since we've talked) But I'm not going to stop trying. I'm sending messages on facebook and calling weekly, leaving a voicemail. She'll come around when she is ready. I just want her to know that I am thinking about her and I miss her!

On a happy note, I did make an unexpected connection with my youngest son, Ryley. Early in February, I got a text message from him stating that he is now listening to country music.

O...M...G!!!

This is the child that listened to Linkin Park, Green Day & Blink 182 while in high school. This is the child who had a neighborhood band that practiced in our basement, covering music by those groups. This is the child who then "progressed" to some crazy rap stuff that had lyrics that were too strong for my virgin ears (virgin ears, yeah, right-but what he was listening to wasn't nice). This is the child that pooh-poohed my love for country music for years. For several days we were texting back and forth asking if we've heard this or that song. I asked him exactly what kind of country music he was listening to. His response was Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldeen, Florida Georgia Line. So with that in mind I told him to listen to a few songs by Tim McGraw. His response?: "Oh, I know all the Tim McGraw." As if he has been listening to it for years. It totally cracked me up! Needless to say I was stunned and pretty happy that we have now this common interest! I'm not sure what brought on this change, but I like it!

So there is my quick update! My intention for March is "Plan to Learn." I've got several things I'll be doing to work on that intention. See you back here on April 1st for another update! Have a GREAT March!

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One Little Word | Monthly Blog Hop | March 1

Hello March!

(This post was originally supposed to be part of the One Little Word Monthly Blog Hop. There was a misunderstanding and September Blue was not on the list for this month. But never fear! If you would like to see what others are doing with their boards you can start at the beginning of the hop by visiting Lee's blog . I also wanted to give a big THANK YOU to Melanie Ritchie from MellyBird Designs! When she heard September Blue wasn't on this month's hop, she was so sweet and said she would mention SB in her post. Thank you Melanie!)

I hope you are enjoying all of the creativity you are seeing in everyone's Vision Boards! When we received Ali's One Little Word prompt for the month of February, I was really excited! I see vision boards all the time. They appear on Pinterest, blogs I follow, stationary and fashion websites. They are everywhere. And while many of the boards I've seen have photos of objects, people and places, I knew from the moment we received the prompt, my board was going to be made up mostly of words and phrases.

My Vision Board is approximately 12x24 made from foam core

The whole process of creating this board was one that I really enjoyed. Flipping through magazines, clipping out words and the occasional photo reminded me so much of being in high school. I would sit for hours doing the same thing–searching for quirky phrases and photos of hearthrobs to decorate the inside of my locker with. It also felt good to get away from the computer. There is something theraputic about getting back to crafting basics–paper,scissors & glue. In the words of Martha: It's a good thing!

I thought it would be fun to give you a "tour" of my board and explain how different areas of the board relate to my one little word for 2013, "plan," or why I wanted to include it. As I was figuring out how to lay out all of my clippings, I realized that if I placed certain ones together, they tell can be inspiring when read together. The numbers on the photos

Close up of left side

1. Empowerment ~ I liked the message these phrases had. They made me feel confident and encourages a positive outlook!

2. Move More Eat Well 2.0 ~ I'm participating in Cathy Zielske's Move More Eat Well 2.0 Workshop this year. I thought the "New Fit Me" was perfect to show that this is part of my life in 2013!

3. One Little Word 2013 "Plan" ~ Referring back to a synonym of "plan," "Do Your Prep" serves as a reminder for me to make sure I plan or prepare when tackling a new project, taking a trip, etc.

4. Intention: Plan to Learn ~ I thought several of the phrases in this area resonated with this particular intention of mine. I especially like the little fish that is different from all the rest and has the "courage" to do something that's out of it's comfort zone!

5. "K" ~ for Kelly!

I love how the word "everyday" stands out in this section of my board. I look at it and read it in combination with many of the other phrases present:

"Live Radient," everyday.

"Experience the Art of Life," everyday.

"Make Time For Life," everyday.

Close up of right side

6. Plan Together ~ Last month I mentioned that my OLW for this year has taken on even greater meaning because Chris will be retiring from the Marine Corps a year earlier than expected. It's so nice that my OLW "plan" is broad enough that it can be shared with him. I love the caption on the photo of the couple "it's even better when it's on us." It seems so fitting for the circumstances!

7. Intention: Plan to Succeed ~ There are several places on my board where I brought in the word "blue" for September Blue and my Blueprints Shoppe. The "Have Great Expectations" phrase reminds me to think big and have big dreams when it comes to a design career.

8. "Plan" ~ I thought it would be fun to include a small printout of my OLW card that is on the title page of my album

9. Intentions: Plan to Retire, Plan to Explore ~ This area really defines what lies ahead for me and Chris! "Strategies," "somewhere a place for us," "new horizons..." I mean seriously, I couldn't find better phrases to represent these intentions if I tried!

10. A Little Dream of Mine ~ To live in Italy. I only spent two weeks there years ago, but I've been dying to go back. I love everything about Italy–the food, the wine, the people, the landscape. I'll keep on dreamin'...

You may have noticed that there are two eyes on my board. I put them there as a reminder to stay focused. Stick to the plan and good things will come!

Thank you for stopping by and checking out my OLW Vision Board! I'm looking forward to Ali's prompt for March! See you next month!