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Sunday, December 30, 2007

New Stuff to Try


Sigh. It's was a wonderful Christmas with a long, restful, yet unplanned blogging break. The break just happened -- well, that's not really true. I was cleaning my little study, which doubles as a second guest room if needed, and found a paper with a quote on it that really struck home to me. Of course I can't find the paper now -- I think I probably threw it away -- but it said something to the effect that the absolute greatest waste of time was to do something perfectly well and then find that you never had to do at all.

That quote kept popping into my head every time I'd find myself overstretching this holiday season. Normally I have a "Christmas meltdown" sometime before Christmas simply because I try to do too much -- most of my friends have the same problem. This year, however, I kept my focus. I decided it was going to be a smooth, relaxed, enjoyable Christmas, AND that work was going to be smooth, relaxed, and enjoyable, AND that I was going to do what I could to make it smooth, relaxed, and enjoyable for the people that I'm responsible for, too. In other words, I cut out all the unnecessary stuff. We had a good time and did it simply. The shopping was finished early -- packages were wrapped and mailed off in early December rather than at a the last minute. Cooking was kept to a minimum. If there was something that I had planned to do for the holidays but it felt like too much of a push to get it done -- well, we decided whether or not it was essential (usually NOT) and if not, we just DIDN'T DO IT.

As a result, other than missing the family members who were out of town, we had as perfect a Christmas as I had hoped for. We even managed to pull off the First Annual Traditional Christmas Eve Macaroni and Cheese Supper ... although, unfortunately, the Second Annual Traditional All-Girl's Christmas Poker Tournament was cancelled due to shopping and hanging out talking instead of playing cards. That was okay, though. We hung out TOGETHER, which was really the point after all.

Unfortunately, my daily drawing and posting here got slid over onto the list of non-essential items. I simply couldn't fit it in and get the Christmas that I wanted. So I didn't do it. So there. I haven't really checked e-mail too much in about three weeks. I haven't surfed other people's blogs. I haven't surfed the internet much at all.

I've spent the last week "cleaning up 2007" at home and at work. The plan is to have all stacks of paperwork type stuff, magazines, and general junk cleared out and gone by Dec 31 (done! as of last night!). I want to have my painting area cleared up and organized by Dec 31 (yikes! not started yet...). I want my desk at work cleaned and caught up by Dec 31 (about three quarters of they way done, and the plans are to finish Monday!) Hopefully I'll be able to start 2008 with a CLEAN slate. Hopefully! :-)

It was a good break. BUT -- I missed everyone and am ready to come back and get back to art! I feel re-energized by the break. Tomorrow I'll be looking at last year's goals, and how they worked out, or how they fizzled by the wayside and WHY. The day after tomorrow, on New Year's Day, Diahn and I meet for our "2008 Strategic Planning, Goal Setting, Coffee Drinking, and Bagel Eating Workshop" -- or something like that -- and I'll have new goals for 2008 then!!!

Oh, and see what I got (above)? A new set of DaVinci Gouache tube paints -- specifically to use in the Moleskine (which handles it perfectly!) Yep. There are Moleskine plans for 2008 ...

Woo hoo!

I hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday season!

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6 comments:

annie said...

You reported just in time! I was fixing to send out an email bulletin looking for you! I was missing you! I'm glad all went well with Christmas and hope you have a very artful new year!!

Laura Frankstone said...

oh, your Christmas sounds perfectly wonderful!! I feel the same way about mine---there was a long and tranquil period between Thanksgiving and Christmas and I adored every minute of it. My year to that point had been so very full that I really needed the time, as you did, to stretch out and be.
Happy new year, Linda! And, btw, I've been thinking of you today as I did a post on my studio space(s). Remember that new table I talked about a while back, the one you asked to see---it's in the second batch of photos in today's post.
Xoxo,
L

Teri said...

Okay, you are forgiven. Sounds like you had an idyllic vacation, well-planned and well-deserved.

I am anxious to hear about the DaVinci paints and Moleskine.

(The Packers won today! :)

Happy New Year and thanks for being such a support this year-you know what I mean and I so appreciate it.

Linda said...

Annie -- I suspected that any day I might get a few e-mails wondering if I was still kicking!
:-D Laura -- the space looks awesome! Maybe I'll show my space one day ... it's a bit messy ...
Teri -- LOVE THE PACK!! and thanks for YOUR support, too. Happy happy new year to all!
;-)

Unknown said...

I'm so glad your Christmas was simple and peaceful - just the way I like it, too!

Those colors look great - I'm eager to see them in person! I'm trying to finalize my list today, but I'm sure it will grow when we meet...it always does! ;-D

See you tomorrow!

Bonny said...

Happy New Year, Linda!

It really does sound like you had an idyllic Christmas! I'm like you in that I believe we need time to refocus and re-energize after a hectic period. We can't be energizer bunnies all the time, can we? We too, had a Christmas at home. It was great to put up our own tree again.

I wish for you a year of Peace, Health and Happiness. And lots of art projects, too!