My, How Time Flies!

Welcome to another week of the Modern Musings podcast and blog. If you’ve been listening to the podcast, you’ve probably heard us tell the tale of how Amber, Christen, and I had each thought about hosting a blog, vlog, or podcast of some sort, and how we came to the inspiration of doing one together. That was about a year ago, and it feels like a whirlwind came along and swept us off our feet, because here we are, counting down the days until we launch our 50th episode this Wednesday. Yes, you read that right – FIFTY episodes!

Somehow, while we were busy recording, editing, writing, posting, and living our lives, we managed to launch 50 episodes (that’s counting all the bonus ones like Eckhart Tolle and “Excuse Me While I Read My Tarot”), and we are simply amazed at how quickly the time has flown by. For the podcast this week, we thought it might be fun to share a “look” back at some of the hits and misses, laughter, tears, and even snoozes that happened while we were busy having all this fun. We’ve talked about a lot of different topics in that time, and many things have happened and changed since that magical day last November when we launched that less- than-impartial discourse about December Daily. I thought now might be a good time to fill you in on those changes and updates, and maybe talk a little bit about what’s coming up.

To get us started, I want to circle back to where it all began – with December Daily. I told you when we started this thing, I am obsessed with December Daily. I’d have to be, right? Only someone obsessed would talk about a one-month project all year long. But I swear, I am not the only one! A quick search on Facebook reveals 20+ groups, both public and private, before I quit scrolling, the largest of which is the “official” group with upwards of 13,000 members. Likewise, a quick look on Instagram revealed more than 20 hashtags that I know are linked to the project, with likely dozens if not hundreds more that I don’t know about – the most popular among them being the simplest #decemberdaily with 366,000+ posts.

One of the reasons we started with December Daily was because of timing. Christen and I wanted to share our enthusiasm for this project, and it just so happened that a December Daily event was going to occur on November 6 – the Saturday after our first podcast launch. But really, the excitement for December Daily begins for us in August, when Ali Edwards, the creator of this phenomenon, announces the launch date for her line of December Daily products. And that’s one of the reasons why I wanted to talk about it here, today. As of this writing, my cohorts and I are eagerly awaiting the introduction of her new products so that we can jump online on release day (August 31 here) and scramble to grab all the merchandise we want for our album projects before it sells out. It’s a big game of hurry-up and wait because the products won’t even ship until some time in October. Once we receive our orders, we have to wait some more until November, when the classes launch. From then on, we are working on our albums, often setting up pages in advance so that all we have to do is add photos and a bit of journaling when December rolls around. 

That’s the plan, anyway, but I always seem to wind up so busy that I get behind about mid-December, and then it takes several more months to get it finished. In fact, I didn’t finish my 2021 December Daily  album until June (watch for a YouTube flip-through coming soon), and some participants deliberately hold off on finishing, dragging it out all year so as to be “done by December” in time to start again. I admit, December Daily may not be it for everyone, but it definitely is a big deal to a lot of crafters, and it’s something I look forward to all year, which is why you’ll hear me reference it a lot. 

Three other topics that we talk about on the podcast from time to time are our One Little Word projects, Happy Planners, and Cultivate What Matters PowerSheets®. All of these projects also have fall “launch” dates that enable participants to purchase kits and supplies in advance of the new year. I like to get my planners and PowerSheets® set up and ready to go by the end of December so I can get right to work on January 1. I also usually choose my word of the year in the fall, so that I’m ready to start living my word with the new year. I’m already starting to think about my word options for next year, and I’m thinking I may take Christen’s lead in choosing something a little less challenging for 2023. The last few words have been a lot of work for me, and while they’ve brought about a lot of change in my life and my outlook on life, I think it might be time to look at something more fun or easy. Alternatively, I might try something like create or craft, which both have multiple meanings but embrace the idea of digging into my art a little more purposefully. I’m sure we’ll do another reveal sometime in the fall and we hope you’ll share your words with us, too!

Rereading “A New Earth” by Eckhart Tolle was not in my original plans for 2022, but what a powerful book this has been in my life this past year! When I first read it, I felt like so much finally made sense, and I was so excited to share it with Christen and Amber (and with the world) that it was worth reading again, this time with a more studious eye. I often worried that it was just a bit too much because we presented it in such a drawn-out way. There was so much information, so many concepts, and such deep thoughts that it sometimes felt like we were just shoveling it into a big heap on top of our listeners. I can only hope that as you read along with us, you were able to decipher what we felt so challenged to share. I only know that it has been an instrument of profound change in my life, more on which I will share at another time. 

Now, as we head into fall, I am excited and looking forward to all these familiar patterns, routines, and habits, but I am also looking forward to all the fun topics we have coming up in the next 50 episodes and beyond. Amber, Christen, and I sat down a few weeks ago and started brainstorming new ideas for topics in 2023, and I’m really excited about all the conversations we’re going to have about everything from Disney Princesses to menopause, and from horror movies to making your bed. It’s going to be interesting. We hope you’ll hang around to share it with us.

Share your thoughts about our first 50 episodes below or join us on Facebook in our MMC Chat group.

Cups

When you were a child, did you fill your glass to the brim so that it was too full and you couldn’t move it without spilling? Did it seem terribly important to get those extra few sips into the cup, as if you might not have another glass of milk for a long time? Do you still do that today?  I do.

 

I can close my eyes and reflect on how many times I’ve tiptoed from the kitchen to my desk with a full cup of coffee sloshing against the brim, feeling the dribbles of sweet, creamy deliciousness trickling over my fingers, which I then lick off when I get back to my seat.  Once I’m settled in, I take a big sip and savor the rich, warm mouthful, and I feel like it’s worth the extra effort I took just to get it here. 

Sometimes I walk just a little too fast, or I turn the corner into my studio too jerkily, and a splash of that sumptuous goodness will slosh over the side, splatting on the floor, or even my clothes and shoes. I’m in such a hurry to get back to my routine, that I forget how precious each little drop is, and instead waste it on a floor that has to be mopped or clothes that now have to be changed and washed. I’m always disappointed when that happens, and it takes me away from both my planned work and the fulfillment of that first heavenly sip because not only have you lost one precious sip, but, by the time the mess is cleaned, the coffee is no longer at the ideal temperature to evaporate on your tongue. That moment of sweet and savory satisfaction is gone.

 

I’ve tried different things to combat the problem, but it always ends up the same. I’ve used a bigger cup, in the mistaken belief that I will be satisfied with the same amount of coffee, but no, the cup just gets fuller and fuller, as if that extra inch or two of space below the rim is just begging to be filled, either with more coffee, or more likely, with more creamer. Pretty soon, I have the same problem, but with a bigger cup. It’s as if the liquid delight magically expands to fill the space it’s in.

 

I think we sometimes have that same mentality in other areas of our lives. Our cups are full to overflowing, filled with activities, wants, needs, and whatever we can use to fill the space; we can’t enjoy our pursuits without a little bit spilling out the sides and being wasted now and then. My daughter and I were discussing this very thing a few days ago.  She had read an article about people who are perpetually late, which, of course, we both are.  The report postulated that being late wasn’t a symptom of someone with poor time management skills, but rather, a personality trait of someone who can’t be bothered to wait. Late people can’t stand to do nothing or to kill time. Rather than waste that little bit of extra time waiting for the meeting to start or the doctor’s office to open, we fill the available space with as much activity as we can, and sometimes (well, okay, most of the time), it backfires on us by overflowing into other activities, disrupting our plans and throwing everything off.

 

I’m completely guilty of this. I schedule so many must do’s into each day that there is no possible way to get them all done.  I arrive at every appointment at least 5 minutes late, and I can never seem to get where I’m going without running back into the house to pick up this, that, or the other that I left behind.  I do it with my budget, seeing an extra $5 on my spreadsheet and thinking to myself, “Oh, now I can get that…” whatever-it-is that I think I need that winds up overdrawing my bank account because I forgot about that auto-charge that hadn’t gone through yet. I even do it with food; I’ll order too much, or fill my plate too full, just in case what I want doesn’t fill me up.  I’m so blinded by the potential of what I could put in my cup that I forget to stop and ask myself if I should.  And honestly, most of the time, I shouldn’t.

 

Selecting “simplify” as my One Little Word this year has been both a blessing and a curse.  It’s definitely an area I need to work on, and it has proven to be quite the challenge. The only way I can truly simplify is to stop putting so much in the cup.  To let there be empty spaces in my activities, in my time, in my heart. Only then can I begin to embrace the idea that less is more, that I don’t have to fill all the available space, and that what I have is truly enough.

The essay above was one I wrote several years ago while taking a writing workshop with Ali Edwards. If you have a comment or would like to share your perspective, please share in the comments below, or start a post in our MMC Chat group.

One Word - 365 Days of Change

 One little word. Sometimes one little word is all it takes to change the course of history. Yes. No. Maybe. Stop. Go. Attack. Retreat. Or change an attitude. Live. Laugh. Love. Dream. Be. One little word can even change your life. Forgive. Believe. Learn. Begin. Heal. So much is carried in those words. Such power. Such potential for change. I’ve witnessed the power of words in many ways, and have seen the results – in myself and others.

My personal experience using a power word started with a 365 art journaling project inspired by a crafty friend. You can read more about it on my Crafty Neighbor Blog. Christen and I decided to try a word of the year project, but turn it into a 365 project to work in our art journals. 365. I’ll let you think about that for a moment. We wanted to do an art journal project EVERY DAY for 365 days. We came up with 365 prompts, then started making pages that tied our word of the year to those prompts. It was hard work, and I can bet you already know how it turned out. I made it through about May, or maybe June, and then it just fizzled. 

Was it a failure? Oh, heck no! I feel like it was a great success. My word for that year was heal and through daily art journaling, I did a lot of healing. And even though I wasn’t working on that project every day, I was still working on it – I am still working on it, and will continue to do so. I’ve tried to keep up with posting the pages from that art journal on my Flickr.com account. Feel free to browse the album, or check out the CraftyNeighbor365 group to see what others have done with this project.

Over the years, I’ve picked other words, done other projects, and found ways to incorporate the word into my life. I chose words like organize, simplify, and heal (I’ve used that one several times over). The words helped me focus on what I wanted to create in my life, where I wanted my focus to be. Mostly I just worked on my own. I found projects that were symbolic of the word or that helped me through the process of living that word. Then a friend introduced me to Ali Edwards and her “One Little Word” project, and the real magic started to happen.

Yes, I know I’m starting to sound like a total fan-girl for all things Ali Edwards, but sometimes a designer just speaks your language, and Ali surely speaks to me. The video introduction on the One Little Word page is powerful, and says far more eloquently what this project means to me each year. It is profound, complicated, and intense, and it has brought me so much acceptance and peace. 

I do the project a little differently each year. Some years I buy the class, some years I buy the kit, sometimes I’m in a 6” x 8” album, or (this year) the softcover journal. The process is part art and part journaling, but there are really no hard and fast rules about how to do it. You could approach it from a completely photo-journalistic perspective, a serious written journal, or all art and collage. My work tends to be a combination of all three. Is it good art? Good writing? Good photography? Does it have to be? NO! This is a project for me and really no one else. This is for my growth, my benefit, and no one else’s.

If you'd like to see a flip-through video of my 2020 One Little Word project, visit my YouTube account here. So whether you take on a 365 project, join Ali’s “One Little Word” workshop, chant your word in a unity circle, or use it in some other imaginative and resourceful way, consider what your word might be. What word could take you from where you are now to the person you want to become – the person you are meant to be? What word could propel you, sustain you, and empower you? What is your “one little word”, and what will you do with it next? Leave us a comment…we’d like to know!

A Little Christmas in November? Oh My!

Hi! It’s Cindy Murray again, and I’m here with our first official blog post to discuss one of my favorite topics – December Daily®. Why, you may ask, are we talking about December in our very first blog post when it's only November? Well, it’s sort of a long story, but if you’ve got a few minutes, I’d love to share it!

I have long been a “Christmas Purist”. I love the holidays, but I feel like Halloween should be celebrated in October, Thanksgiving in November, and Christmas in December. I don’t listen to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving, and I get really annoyed at Hobby Lobby and other retailers who start pushing Christmas decorations in June, but then only offer Thanksgiving décor for a few short weeks in November. What’s the deal with that? Either offer it all year long, or only at the appropriate time…but I digress….

 

I know this makes me sound like a total scrooge, but really I’m not. I love Christmas. I love everything about it, and I like to go all-out from the Friday after Thanksgiving until January 1^st. We have family activities all month long, and my kids sort of move-in with me again for a couple of weeks while we celebrate. We decorate the tree together, bake cookies, make crafts, and just about every other cliché Christmas activity you can name. On top of that, my birthday falls in December, and who doesn’t want to celebrate their “birthday month” in grand style? As far as I’m concerned, December truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

 

I’m also a scrapbooker, shutter-bug, and burgeoning genealogist, so it’s always been important to me to document our family history, recording as many details about our family exploits as I can possibly capture. So when a friend told me about December Daily® (also sometimes called “December Documented”), I was fascinated. The idea is simple…December is about so much more than just Christmas day, and by only focusing on December 25, we miss out on all the other things that happen in December. I can totally relate to that, because, as just about anyone with a December birthday can attest, our special day tends to get overlooked in all that merry making. Rather than make a scrapbook or photo album that only includes Christmas, December Daily® prompts us to capture the spirit of the holidays by telling one story every day for the entire month.

 

I started my first December Daily® album in 2019, and I loved it so much I did it again in 2020. You can see flip-through videos on my Crafty Neighbor YouTube channel. My daughter, and co-host, Christen has joined me both years, and we’ve even coaxed my 10-year-old granddaughter into participating. We enjoyed the process so much that we quickly adopted it as one of our favorite holiday traditions. We even have a tradition of going to Starbuck’s on December 1^st to kick off our documenting with a tasty beverage before heading home to get crafty. But the fun of December Daily® really starts long before December 1^st.

The creator of December Daily®, Ali Edwards, has been facilitating this fun project since 2007, and through her company, Ali Edwards Designs, she offers high quality memory-keeping supplies geared towards this project, including stamps, papers, and a wide assortment of ephemera and embellishments. She also offers online courses to help inspire participants with new tips and techniques. Her products and classes are wildly popular, and many of her fans make a whole production of getting ready, prompting Ali to begin a December Daily® Prep Day tradition where participants join in live streams with Ali and her design team. 

 

The 2021 Prep Day is scheduled for Saturday, November 6, and I, for one, am super excited to spend a day in November doing something that I once would have refused to do until December. Does that knock me out of my membership in the Christmas Purist club? I’ll let you decide…I’ll be too busy crafting Christmas layouts for my December album while I snack on all the leftover Halloween candy.

For more information about Ali Edwards Design, Inc. or December Daily®, visit AliEdwards.com

To see a flip-through video of my 2020 December Daily album, click here:

2020 December Daily Flip-Through