Julying...

Hi..

I have been in a very punny mood lately, so when I saw the following, I knew it had to be the title of this post.....

June's over?

Julying...

har..har...har...

Main July news, Red Butte concert shows are in full swing!!!  The Avett Brothers, Counting Crows, Retro Night (which had a ton of bands from the 80's),  TajMo, Chris Isaak, and Toad the Wet Sprocket..  I've moved up the totem pole a bit, so I'm doing a variety of jobs, including ticket taking.  So if you attend a concert, I might scan your ticket.....

I also helped out at Red Butte at a Monday Night event, cause I hadn't been there enough in July.  They are actually really fun events, free to members or with your admission to the Garden.  They are held in the courtyard and feature a local band or cultural group, plus there are crafts......

On the 19th, I took a major step forward in a New Year's Resolution, I took a 4 hour workshop on lettering/calligraphy.  I learned how to correctly work the tip of the brush pen and realized that my work is going to have a slightly different slant than everyone else's.  It's going to set me apart when I get it consistent, so practice, practice, practice is my motto now.

Are you melting yet?  SLC has been roasting this July.  I get very excited when I see a temperature below 95, because it hasn't  happened a whole lot.  ugh.

I had the opportunity to finally see "Phantom of the Opera" when it was here.  WOW was it good!  I really enjoy my season tickets, paying for them always makes me wince, but all throughout the year, I appreciate them.

I am currently in the middle of another Oprah and Deepak Chopra Meditation event.  It's a nice habit former to do it for 21 days straight..and it keeps me on track with my New Year's resolution.

Miss Bacall, or Super B, as she is now known, had a rough patch and went to the vet where her heart and lungs were pronounced clear and she is still good.  It's soooooo hard when your fur-family member is getting up there in years.

I continue to read, go to my art group, knit and row...  I think you would go into shock at this point if I said I wasn't doing one of those things.   :)

a page in my big Art Journal that I did in July..

Hope your July was happy and healthy.....

and I'm not Julying..... har har har

Melissa

What's your Goal?

We are over half way thru 2018?  How did that happen??????????

I thought since I sorta abandoned the New Year's Resolution updates in my monthly (well, sometimes monthly other times quarterly) blogs, I would do it here.....and this is one of those blogs that is really for me to maintain accountability in goals I set.  I hope it's not to boring for the rest of you...

Resolution #1
At least 26 'Something to Think About' Journal entries.

my journal and a page prompt.

I have done 10 and I am completely ok with that number.  I'm not as consistent with them as I thought I would be, but I've noticed a trend in my journaling-from April to August, I don't typically write as often, but from September to February, I'm a writing machine, March can go either way..  I may not get to 26 by the end of the year, but I've definitely done more that any other year.

Resolution #2
Bucket List items

Here's why I think Resolutions are such a good thing to tie with Bucket List items, 3 of my resolutions are actually on my Bucket List.  

Resolution #3
Get outdoors more!  Hiking, snowshoeing, x-country skiing, rowing, camping, etc

It's funny on this one, because sometimes I think nature is against me.  The winds have been blowing this summer and it has kept me off the lake and rowing less than I would prefer, but they are not keeping me off completely.  The other thing I've realize about this goal, you have to plan and make it a priority if you want to get out there, otherwise life will get in the way.  I made a goal for the summer to go out once a week for a small mountain adventure.  I'm now aware of it and look for days to go and make the actual plans...

Resolution #4
See if the idea in my head really is a novel

This is a slower process than I believed it was going to be....  The characters may of been in my head, but the plot had massive holes in it.  I saw a quote in January from a writer that basically said always have an outline of where you want your novel to go otherwise you can write yourself into a dead end faster than you will ever believe.  I have the opening and closing chapters written, but have spent the majority of my time planning in a small notebook plot lines, characteristics of the main and secondary characters.  This matters to me more than I thought and I want to do it right...I don't know what I'll do with the end product, but I will finish this.

Resolution #5
More water

Every month I have set a goal which has increased until June when it hit 80 ounces of water a day.  Somedays I go way over 80, but 80 is a reasonable and healthy number for me.  I have for some crazy reason missed 1 day every month, not by a lot, but every dang month...

Resolution #6
 Work on my lettering/calligraphy

I bought a kit from Crayola and started from there.  I thought I couldn't ruin Crayola markers while I self taught myself pressure and shapes and I think it turned out somewhat ok.  I did a 30 day challenge starting in February where I practiced everyday and made HUGE strides.  I'm still working on creative placements and finding my own style and still learning...  On July 19th, I took a workshop from Melissa Esplin whose work I really admire and is a distant relative. Utah has a ton of well known letterers (who knew), so I got some in person help there.  Being a leftie in this has had its challenges and the hardest is that my natural slant is slightly different from all of the others that I see, but the workshop helped me to embrace my natural style, now I just need to get consistent with it.....

some of my practicing.....

Resolution #7
Try something new every month....a restaurant, activity, etc

This is the list of restaurants I am working from.  All that I have been to have been AMAZING!

I keep a list of what I do in my written journal every month.  It just makes me happy to see my world expanding from new restaurants, classes, museums, etc...

Resolution #8
Find and maintain my Meditation Practice

This is still a work in progress.  I'm finding that once a week I do a formal meditation of 20 minutes or longer and it's not the same day of the week, I just do it when it feels right.  The thing I am noticing the most, is that I am doing mini meditations almost daily, I am taking time to do 5-10 deep breaths and just stop and focus.  This has been a very happy and welcome addition in my day to day life.

Resolution #9
Travel Solo

My plan is still in motion.  I'm not going to say more than that for now, but this is going to happen.

Resolution #10
Penny savings challenge

I have a plan, but I switch up weeks according to whim and knowing how my money is in certain months.  I am on schedule and very happy about this.  Here's to almost $700 by the end of the year for fun stuff during 2019!

my money jar...

Unintended Consequences

So, how have you been?  I hope well and wonderful!!

It's been a while since I've written and checked in with you......
and the reason why is a bit complicated and at the same time unintended.

As you may remember from my post about my 2017 Resolutions, which was just about my last post!!,  I resolved to spend less time on social media and screen time and I have but in doing so I stayed away from here as well.

I have taken a long look at why I am on social media and my blog.  It took just a second to figure out how I wanted to proceed on Facebook and Instagram, but this took me a while to figure out.

For the first 6 months or so, I didn't even think about writing, I was journaling and doing some writing that needed to be private.  However, around August, I started to think, "I should do a blog entry" but it never went past that.  In October, I thought "Write Melissa" but then that little obnoxious voice said "It's been 10 months since you wrote, it's been too long"......and I listened to the second voice.

As you can tell, the voice that said "Write Melissa!" got more insistent and louder, so here I am, but it took me figuring out why before I could get this going again.  Writing for a audience is different for me than my private journaling and I enjoy doing it, regardless of whether anyone reads this or not.  It's the process, the creativity, and the joy of it, not the responses (although I do appreciate them tremendously!!!).  So with this cleared up in my mind, I was able to write again.

I have no idea how often I will write here, but I know that I will write.

So until next time,
Melissa