branching out

I remember having the feeling in December that I needed something different in my life. I was feeling bored, life was monotonous and I needed some personal challenge. It was shortly after these feelings surfaced that I was asked to help plan our Advent series at church. It was perfect timing and added something new to my everyday. Well, life continued on. I wasn't feeling any strong tug in a particular direction, but in the back of my mind I was working on what I needed. What are my goals? What kind of person do I want to be? I was making a list. And a few things kept coming to the surface. I wanted to live a healthy lifestyle. I wanted to do a project just for me that captured who I am right now. I wanted to bring music back into my life. And now here we are. I have managed to integrate all these things into my life. Some just in the past 2 weeks. And I am feeling alive! Sure, I am feeling busy and needing to balance my interests even more. But so far I love what I am doing for myself.

This is what is keeping me busy.

Here is my scrapbooking table and the project that I am trying to complete. It is a snapshot of who I am at age 35. It is kind of like a time capsule all about me. It is intended to be for my children/grandchildren to learn about who I am at this age and what joys and struggles I am experiencing. It is taking a LONG time. I am almost done the writing part and am now trying to collect the pictures that will go into the scrapbook. Then I can start designing each page. My goal is to try and get it done before I turn 36. (I've got a month and 2 days). I love that I am finally doing some scrapbooking about me.

I started taking guitar lessons. This is something that I have always wanted to do. I taught myself the basic chords years ago which allow me to play lots of camp songs for the kids. But I wanted to progress. So, I have taken 2 lessons so far and love that this is allowing me to sit down and sing. (Our new piano is also bringing lots of music into our house too!)

I started running. It has been 2 weeks now and I am honestly shocked that I am loving it. I ran years ago and never particularly enjoyed it. But now, I am excited to run. I plan when I can go next. I miss it when I don't get out on a particular day. I love having a running buddy (who is a new friend) and it gives us a chance to get to know each other and is an extra nudge to get out there. What feels awesome is that I can see a huge improvement in my cardio in just 2 weeks. I went out on Sunday morning and ran 25 minutes straight. This is huge!