A New Kind of Craving

In my classroom I've learned that if you are working with first graders, structure is key to staving off chaos. Nothing brings crazytown faster than lulls in the day or a random schedule. Don't believe me? Try coming in on one of our 'safety days' where we have all our safety drills back-to-back in one fell swoop. Efficient, yes. Good for little ones, nope. That one day can throw a wrench into our weekly routine faster than Santa and his little elves. Veering off of our normal schedule happens a lot and it is inevitable. We just brace for impact and try to resume regular programming as quickly as possible. 

What I realized a few years ago was that it is not just a little people thing. Yes, kids need structure. Blah, blah. We know this. But I started seeing this through an adult lens when some things in my life were going sour a few years ago. I realized that we ALL crave routine and structure...it's just that we are {usually} more refined than kids in our expression of that need. Where they run around like banshees when their nighttime routine is off, we grown ones might suffer a distracted mind, insomnia or mild depression symptoms. Or maybe you run around like a banshee too, I dunno.

I'd like to take it a step further than merely routines. I believe children (and therefore, adults) need rituals. It seems to me that rituals take it from the level of routine and kick it up a notch to something more important. Almost spiritual. 

To be honest, I struggle with routines and rituals. I never seem to do the same thing twice when I wake up in the morning and I cringe if I'm made to participate in a liturgical church service (remind me to tell you that story!) I couldn't even listen to some beautiful French monks because their unified singing voice felt like a practiced cult. I had to walk out early...I know, I'm weird. But Katie don't do no cults.

There is a part of me that feels that by joining the ranks of the routine, I'm giving up my individuality and choice. So generally, I rebel and then pay the price. But at least I'm free, darnit! Free to feel WHAT exactly? To feel lost, unsure, tired, achy, lonely, distracted, late, annoyed...sometimes I even mistake some of these feelings for how I see my self in relation to God. What I really think is that I just need some structure. And maybe some sleep.

I've long since introduced rituals in my classroom (Firelight Friday, anyone?) so I decided to tackle my personal life. Therefore, I've been identifying chaotic areas of my life and have started examining the ritual that might fit my style in that area. Examples you say?

I have a friend who takes a bath every night to get ready for bed. I love that! However, I can't stand getting wet (oh, come on! I'm not the only one, surely) so that may not work for me. But turning out the lights at 9:00 and reading a book by candlelight? Yes, please.

I know someone who wakes up 1 hour before her whole house to she can drink a cup of coffee and pray, then she'll go run and shower. So great! I mean, I could stand just to wake up more than 15 minutes from when I have to leave, but you get the idea. I could at least give myself some time to soak in the morning instead of racing out with my makeup bag and a coffee-to-go.

Another ritual I've always connected with was on one of my favorite movies, Lucky Seven. {BTW, if you haven't watched this movie, do it. It is great and Patrick Dempsey is in it. So is a performance by EastMountainSouth. I will not need to twist your arm further. Go! I'll wait while you google it, stream it, or rent it.} 

Like I was saying, in the movie, she has a standing weekly dinner date with her sweet dad where they get out the nice dishes and talk about their week. She goes to this dinner no matter what and no matter how old she gets. ugh.love.it. That ritual resonated with me and my love for family (and food! boo-yah. Mum, I comin' over with a soup tureen.) After you are done looking up Lucky Seven, you can look up soup tureen...don't worry, I had to as well. Better yet, here's a pic:

 I guess I'm still figuring out which rituals I want in my life so I'll keep you updated. But I think that's the key: they need to be rituals I *choose* to put in place, not ones that develop by chance. Like a river carving its winding way through rock, habits form from repeated action over time. Routines (good or bad) will develop regardless of your rebellion. Take it from me, it is better to build in great ones that feed your soul than to succumb to the messiness of chance or apathy deciding your routine.

Any ideas out there for awesome rituals? What is something you consider a great routine in your life?

iStream of Consciousness

Sometimes I like to look back on my iPhone camera roll and take a gander at the things I felt were interesting enough to photograph or document. Occasionally, I like to share them with commentary like I did here.

Happy Friday! Enjoy my randomness in the form of photos:

You ever feel this way? As a teacher who only gets paid once a month, I feel like this EVERY month. "Is it almost Jan. 20th? Oh, crap. It's only Dec. 29." {True holiday words spoken from me} My friend Ashley has this at her house and I chuckle every time I see it. Speaking of Ashley...

Everyone needs a friend like this. Put on a plastic wig-hat in public? Yes. Allow me to take a picture of it and later post it? Yes. (sorry Ash, but you have to agree it was worth sharing.) Who was this costume supposed to be anyway, Donald Trump? Speaking of celebrities...

Have you seen this guy recently? {Yes, I took a screen shot on my iphone. No judging.} You wanna know who it is so your jaw can drop like mine did? It's this guy all grown up!! What.is.up Neville Longbottom!?! Milk does the body good, indeed. Speaking of milk...

I drove 45 minutes this week for my month-and-a-half-ly trip to the dairy farm. If you haven't tried raw milk & cream, you are missing out in this world. It is so yummers. Speaking of yummers...

...or not so yummers. There are just so many questions. Why, oh why did my mom pay for 90's "glamour" shots (and I use the term "glamour" veh-ry loosely here)? What part of teasing up naturally curly hair and brushing on cleavage for a 12 yr old is considered glamorous? But man, I DID feel very VIP when I was getting blush brush illusion boobs. Speaking of airbrushing fakeness...

Here is an action shot of me about to spray tan someone in their house. Just thought it was ridiculous and dorky, so naturally, worth sharing to the world! But hey, the extra money for debt payoff is pretty sweet. Speaking of sweet...

How cute is this pic from my sister's wedding last year? When we took pictures before the ceremony, Sarah's dress got pretty wrinkled in the back. My older brother carefully steamed out all the wrinkles on my sissy's wedding dress before she walked down the aisle. *Wow, did someone just cut an onion?* Tyler is such a sweet and funny guy and we are lucky to have him as a brother. 

Last but not least, speaking of funny family members...

One of my favorite shows is Modern Family and my favorite character on there is Phil Dunphy. I laughed so hard at this scene that I had to re-wind it several times and then record it on my iphone (so excuse the ghetto pirated version of this awesome monologue.) It is on the episode where Phil tries to avoid his whole household because all the girls are PMSing, but then ends up kinda understanding how all the girls feel by the end of the day:

Oh, man. So perfectly delivered. 

On that note, enjoy the weekend!

Project 3-6-5

Sometimes, I get writer's block. Ok, who am I kidding, my LIFE is writer's block. There is something in me that feels like I can't write until I am struck with idea lightning and I can only pen it if the product is going to be earth shattering. I mean, it's not like I'm trying to write the President's inaugural speech or anything. But sadly, it often feels that way for me. 

Most of my blog posts, ideas for books, poems, etc. come into my brain already written out. That's just how I think. In high school and college, I would procrastinate until the night before and then whip out the 10 page paper, all the while thinking it was glorious inspiration that allowed me to do that. I told myself that I work better under pressure. Riiiigghht. Have you ever gone back and re-read some of that procrastinator's gold? Some of it was brill. Most of it was cheese.

As I've grown into my writing a bit, I've wondered, 'What would the finished product have been if I'd written a little bit each day--  re-reading, revising, editing--until the deadline?' It seems like an obvious answer, doesn't it? English teachers everywhere are shouting "A-men!" Of COURSE that is how you are supposed to write. But for someone who loathes doing things twice, this sound advice from my AP English teacher makes me want to throw up in my mouth a little bit. 

I think that's why I like blog posts. Short enough to write in one sitting, but still exercises the writing muscle. Which brings me to the reason for this post: 

I've had a few friends who have done a {365 project} where they choose one thing to do every day for one year. Doesn't just reading that make you feel exhausted? Yeah, me too. 

I must be crazy because I decided to join in this year with my own Project 3-6-5: Writing every single day of 2013. 

"Well, that's probably not that hard for a writer, Katie." I know. But as you read my dilemma above, it is. Many writers are still waiting for the burst of creativity before they can finish that novel or write that screenplay {guilty.} Or the thought of being a 'disciplined writer' somehow cheapens the masterpiece {guilty again.} But think about it this way: do singers wait until they have found the perfect song before they'll sing? No way. They sing in the shower, at parties (I just witnessed this!), and in restaurants (shout out to my brother's operatic ex who once embarrassed me with her white-girl rendition of "No Scrubs" in a NYC fast food joint. Yes, that happened.) Point being, they exercise their voice...the good, the bad, and the ugly. They stretch it and grow it and try new things. They polish and perform, but there is so much behind-the-scenes work that goes into the final product. 

THAT is how I'm going to approach writing from now on. Writing every day doesn't mean that every piece will be seen (though I'm obviously shooting for a blog post week-daily...I realize my previous once-a-season posting made this blog a snorefest.) And just like Dave Ramsey's Debt Snowball picks up steam little by little, I think my writing projects will as well. I'm sure my style will look more like a random tornado than a perfect snowball when it comes to my creative side, but the end result is the same. Action breeds action.

And seeing as how I'm 4 days in, I'm already feeling the positive effects of Project 3-6-5. I guess this project's nickname will now be 'the tornado.' Anybody else crazy enough to do their own Project 3-6-5?

WIWIW: Scarf-Tastic

You may have heard about the What I Wore Wednesdays around the web; the basic premise is that some mommy bloggers take pics of their wardrobe to inspire them to dress up a bit. I think it's a cute idea but I'd probably scare off the 11 of you who are faithful readers if I posted mirror shots of my 2004 Ann Taylor top or my 8 pairs of Toms in rotation. I'm not even sure how many ways you can wear your hair in a bun, but I've been doin' it successfully for 10 years. {Wow, maybe WIW Wednesdays WOULD be good for me after all!}

Well, anyway, until I get up the courage to pose for WIW, I decided to post about  What I Wish I Wore (WIWIW)! I come across some great blogs and people with fashion sense that I really love, so these posts are a shout out to them. 

Because of the colder weather and my complete adoration of scarves, I decided to post about Wendy's Lookbook and her amazeballs scarf tutorial. 
Yes, she's gotten famous because of this video.
Yes, it's already circulated the interwebz. 
Yes, I just used interwebz with a z. 

Regardless, I *heart* this video and I'd like to try out each one of these styles. I think I might need more scarves though!

Isn't it incredible? The video landed her national fame & her boyfriend a sweet film job as a bonus. And of course, more important than her well being & happiness, it taught me not to be afraid of styling scarves. 

My only question for you guys is this: Does anyone else feel like they've just taken off one of these after an evening in a scarf? 

No? Just me, then?

Werd

Hey there 2013, nice to meet ya. My feelings toward you: so far, so good.

I had a very low key NYEve, but it was a productive one. Let's cross our fingers that it will be a sign of life to come for me. I have so much swirling around in my head and rarely the energy (a polite way of saying discipline, let's be honest) to carry it out.

In my last post, I mentioned having to break it to my dog that we would be re-starting our running plan to more of snail in slow-mo pace, and I think she took it well. Here is her reaction:

Expectant but not too disappointed, I'd say.

On another 'unrelated to my dog but more to the point of this post' note, it seems that every blogger and their g-ma is introducing their 'Word of the Year' at the moment. I was planning on doing this for the last month or so, but I'll have you know that now I'm bothered that it's a 'thing'. I know, it's a good thing to be a thing. But, I kinda get annoyed by bloggy 'things.' I will set aside my snooty pride, however, and continue as planned.

The word of the year started out as a very cool idea I got from my best friend, Amanda. I'll be introducing her formally in the coming weeks {and it involves a precious pink purse. Get excited.} She is so fun and girly and innovative...but because she doesn't blog (yet!), you'd never know it. That's what I love the most about her. She's a trendsetter without even being aware of it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not afraid of popular trends and such, but if I hear one more "oh, is that from Pinterest?"...so help me. But I digress.

Amanda has been doing a word of the year for a while now, and she encouraged me to think of one these last couple of years. I've really loved doing this, as I think choosing a focus helps you steer in the right direction, regardless of what resolution/goal/project you are working with.

Last year in 2012,  my word was Freedom and boy was it apropos. I've loved looking at the areas of my life that needed the Freedom of the Lord to invade. I've loved seeing how my fear has been crumbling and I've been resting on that new-found Freedom for a while now. But freedom is only the beginning. What do you do when you are free? I'd say new fear grows in the place where your broken shackles rest.

A few weeks ago, Amanda texted and asked for a word and it ended up becoming my WORD word. In a sense, Amanda used my 'gut reaction' to help my word choose me. So, my new word is:

Amanda's X-mas present to me--so precious!

The story/significance behind this word originally came from here, but I've loved what this word represents for a while now. And isn't my bestie the best-y? From the bag the bracelet came in, it looks like it came from here in case you want your own personalized cuff.

Back to Twirl: I've taken it and privately written out a few guideposts of what I am twirling toward in the New Year, as well as the things I'm turning away from. In general, it stands for embracing Freedom but not just stopping there. It means moving forward with style, a flourish, personality, uniqueness, joy. Twirl continues where Freedom left off. So that's where I'm starting in 2013. Werd.