Practicing Piano

Last year for my birthday my Hubs executed a very special delivery.  He moved my grandmother's piano from my mom's house to ours.  He even got it tuned up and sounding lovely!

I love having it in our home.  It's a beautiful piece of furniture and it's a family heirloom.  Both Hubs and I have tinkered away over the last few months playing old piano lesson songs, Christmas carols, church hymns, and even learning some new pieces!

Earlier this summer Hubs found me some sheet music online of "Rhapsody in Blue."  I LOVE this song.  I first fell in love with it when I heard it in Fantasia 2000.  The sheet music I have isn't the full song, just a piece of it.  I've been practicing it for awhile now.  I'll keep practicing until I reach near perfect.  "Practice makes perfect."

This will mark the new song that I am teaching myself as part of my 30/30 goals.  Maybe I'll get brave and post a video when I'm feeling like I've achieved this one!

Summer Photo Recap

My last post was in May.  That's 5 months ago!  Time flies when you are having fun!

I've been maintaining my 365 photo-a-day challenge offline.  I plan to upload photos to a tab here on the blog.  The first time I tried uploading photos I had some technical difficulties.  I'll give it another try soon!

These past few months have been so full.  I feel so blessed! Here's a quick photo re-cap:

June

Started running on my lunch break!

Painted our deck

Enjoyed Hubs pancake art

Hosted my family for a weekend

July

Did some hiking

Enjoyed many poolside mojitos

Hosted friends for annual HOUSE PARTY

Saw Weird Al in concert

August

We hiked 3 more mountains in August

Annual Maine beach trip <3

Visited my brothers in NY

Ate lots and lots of fresh veggies from the garden

365 Day Photo Challenge

This year I have challenged myself to take a photo everyday.  I have been doing this offline starting January 1, 2015. 

I have recently learned how to add a new tab to my blog and I will begin uploading these pictures on a regular basis!

6,999 Calories

I set my alarm 40 minutes earlier than usual.  Every workday Monday-Friday I got out of bed and used the elliptical in our basement.  I brought my iPad down with me and I'd stream an episode of Friends  or Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.  I tracked how many calories I burned each morning on a calendar.

I burned 6,999 calories in April!  Had I of done the math earlier, I would have pushed myself for that extra calorie to get to 7k!

Now that it's warming up I want to start running outside again!

Project Sister Appreciation

I love Moleskine notebooks.  Seriously.  I look for this section at every bookstore I wander into.  I love the feel of the cover, the pages in between, and the fun colors and styles these notebooks come in.  I was first introduced to these notebooks in a Creative Writing class in college.  Since then, I've used them for personal projects and I've used them at work.  When I stumbled upon a Moleskine card, I swooned.  I immediately wanted to make something crafty for my sisters, which is exactly what I did.

To complement this project, I recently printed some of my instagram photos using Foxgram.  I was looking for a company that made small cute prints. Check them out if you haven't.  I was impressed with my prints.

For this project I dug into my scrap booking supplies to add the text to the covers and I decorated the inside pages with the instagram pictures.  The remaining pages of the cards were filled with notes to each of my sisters.

I was happy with the results and I'll probably buy more Moleskine cards and Foxgram prints the next chance I get!

Zentangle Garden

Yesterday I took a Zentangle class at a local university to brush up on my doodling.  The class was called "Zentangle Garden" and the instructor taught tangles that had elements of a garden.

The instructor had us tangle on different card stock and introduced a white pencil that can be used on colored card stock for shading.

I left the class inspired to tangle more often.  Below is my latest creation inspired by tangles taught in the class.  

March 2015 Highlights

I've challenged myself to take a photo every day of 2015.  I'm 1/4 of the way through the journey! Here are the highlights from March 2015:

I plan to add full documentation in a separate tab to this blog!

Visiting 4 New States

Confession:  I was mid-way through a business trip when I realized that the state I was in was the 4th new state for this 30/30 list item!  Cheers to Indiana - that trip was a whirlwind!!

One of my 30/30 goals was to visit 4 new states.  To catch up on my progress against all of my goals you can check out the full list here.

In my real-life job I'm fortunate to have the opportunity to travel.  All 4 of the states I have visited on the list below were for business.  For the most part, my business travel is very fast paced.  There isn't really any time for personal exploration of each area.  I do hope to re-visit these states someday for more fun in my personal time.

1.  Michigan - Lansing

Highlights from my travel:

• Successfully juggling events on site with virtual meetings.  Learning to become multi-tasker extraordinaire. 
• Braving the snow to walk to a nearby restaurant.

Things I would do if I were traveling for fun:

• Go to a Spartan football game at Michigan State University

via Google Images

•  Explore the Ann Arbor area

2. Tennessee - Knoxville

Shareable Highlights:

• Racing off the plane to a slow cab driver that introduced me to the timing of things in Tennessee.  His hospitality and kindness re-set my "go-go-go" mentality.
• Calling an emergency number at a large event for someone that fainted and directing emergency responders to the scene at a place I had never been before. 
• Walking downtown to Market Square for dinner.

via this website

Things I would do if I were traveling for fun:

• Check out the Sunsphere
• Spend more time exploring downtown Knoxville
• Visit Nashville to go to a concert

3. Texas - San Antonio

Shareable Highlights:

• Meeting and networking with professionals from all over the USA on my own
• Taking a San Antonio River Cruise

personal pic

• Walking River Walk area to get some sunshine
• Checking out the Alamo and the Tower of the Americas

Things I would do if I were traveling for fun:

• Visit the San Antonio Zoo
• Check out Six Flags Fiesta, TX
• Go to a San Antonio Spurs basketball game

4.  Indiana - South Bend

 Shareable Highlights:

• Received a beautiful surprise bouquet of flowers from Hubs at the start of a very busy trip!

• Cab driver asking if I was a student.
• Lots and lots of ironing.

Things I would do if I were traveling for fun:

• Go to a NASCAR race in Indianapolis

via Google Images

• Explore the Amish area Nappanee
• Visit Abe Lincoln's childhood home

I can't believe I've completed this goal just by working!  Next up on the agenda for work travel - California!  I have my fingers crossed I'll get to go to a conference on the west coast later this year. 

Tech Free Mondays

Lately I've been trying to get better about managing my time.  There are only so many hours in a day, you know? 

Last week we started hosting "Tech Free Mondays" at our house.  "Tech Free" means no phones, tablets, computers, or TV.  It means coming home from work and unplugging from every electronic device that lures us into a mind numbing place.  We are two weeks into this habit and it's one I'm going to try to keep!

Our first "Tech Free" night I wrote a letter to my sister in Africa.  Last night I put in extra time in the kitchen and baked brownies from scratch from a recipe I found in one of my cookbooks. I even sat down at the piano to try to learn a new song.

These last two "tech free" nights were interesting.  If there was a pause in activity or my train of thought my next thought was almost always, where's my phone/tablet?  It's like I am unconsciously searching for something to distract me or grab my attention.

Here's to reclaiming my free time and mindfulness of being present!