this is ina

I can hardly believe it, but I’m caught up on my Project 365! I couldn’t have done it if my mom hadn’t been willing to watch Dylan while I tried to catch up. So, we did it!

Here’s the link. I had to catch up from September, but I was determined to get it done. It took several days and working on it a bit at a time, but I’m caught up!

Sorry, I keep saying that, I am still so excited about it. Only 7 weeks left to go. That means pretty soon, my baby Dylan will be a one-year old! Imagine that!

I’ve been meaning to change the title and header image in my blog for a while. Finally found a few minutes today to sit down and do it. (You won’t see it if you read my blog via Multiply, just at the actual blog.)

For me, it’s not just a new look, but a new outlook. This year I will focus on taking joy from the ordinary things in life. Will you join me on this journey?

Does anyone else ever feel that sometimes life is just one never-ending To Do list? You would think by now I would be soaking in the extra family time and getting into the Christmas spirit. Instead, I find myself constantly thinking of the next thing I have to get done, and the million other things I have to get done. And instead of Christmas being something to look forward to, Christmas is the deadline looming over my head. Already I know there are some things that are not going to make it. Maybe I should start a new tradition and give gifts for New Year’s instead. Bah humbug.

I’m hoping that venting this gets it out of my system so I can feel more Christmassy. Hoping.

I’ve stopped posting my 5 things since I’ve been so busy, but I liked my outlook in life better when I was posting them, so I’m doing them again.

Today, I am grateful for:
1. My mom watching Dylan while I was still groggy from Benadryl
2. Quiet time spent reading while Dylan played beside me
3. How snuggly and soft my baby boy is
4. The ability to buy groceries for my family
5. A toasty cheesy crust on the macaroni and cheese with leeks I made for dinner

I was just thinking that another side benefit of posting this is that it’s easier to remember what happens each day. Especially since I’ll remember all the little good things that happened and not the bad.

I have a ton of updates to catch up on (Halloween, etc), but we just saw the Michael Jackson movie/documentary and I just had to blog about it.

Even if you’re only halfway a fan of Michael Jackson, go see it. It was like watching an almost-concert of the King of Pop with a behind the scenes look at what goes into a concert like that. Every song number was a huge production number, with movie footage and outlandish props and crazy lighting and moving stage parts. The bits we saw made us go wow, I can only imagine how much MORE everything would be had MJ actually been able to perform in concert. You could see Michael Jackson was a true artist, from his perfectionism with the music to his flair for entertainment and bringing drama into his performance. Oh, and the dancing! He was a 50 year old dancing with 20-something year old dancers, and he was matching them with stamina. I can imagine his concerts would have been equivalent to 2-hour workouts!

As a child of the 80’s, it feels like Michael’s music is part of the soundtrack of our lives. I had forgotten that some of the songs were his, even though they were all instantly familiar. And I appreciated Michael’s effort in making his concert songs as close to the records as possible, so even after hearing the first few bars of music, you were instantly taken back in time. One of my favorites was the Thriller number, with all new footage of zombies coming out of the ground. I loved their plan to have ghosts floating in the aisles in the actual concert. I also enjoyed the choreography of They Don’t Care About Us, the black and white movie in Smooth Criminal, and the save the planet footage and stage props of Earth Song.

And even if he was a huge star, you could also see Michael’s humility. You could see how much his dancers and staff loved Michael, as fans and as family. You could see that he was willing to share the limelight with his guitarists and his band and giving them time to shine.

One thing we also noted was that Michael Jackson didn’t really have any guest stars at his concert (at least none that we were shown), but he really didn’t need any. He could carry the entire concert by himself, and you would be entertained every minute of it. The King of Pop was truly in his element on stage, performing. Go see it. Just go and see his final curtain call. It is totally worth it.

Today I am grateful for:

1. Chocolate chip cookies
2. Getting lots of laundry done
3. Freshly uncluttered surfaces
4. Photos from the LA county fair (coming soon!)
5. Dylan’s laughter before bedtime

I am grateful for:

Yesterday:
1. Sleeping in
2. Long naps (Dylan, not me)
3. Target
4. Hanging out with my sister
5. Delicious dinner

Today:
1. Chocolate chip cookies
2. the Getty Center
3. the cutest matching sweater and beanie
4. Holding hands
5. Peekaboo Barn

Yesterday I was thinking about a word for the month that I would focus on. I picked Acceptance, but I got over that quickly. I’m thinking about a phrase instead, and this definitely fits what I want to do in this month. So for October, the phrase is:

Action vs. Reaction.

I want to act on the things I want in my life, not just react to whatever happens to me. I want to take the reins, not just let life take me where it may. So that is my phrase for the month.