New Years Goals Revisited: Learning to Crochet

Wow! Its been a long time since I posted anything. I wish I had a good excuse, but I don't.  BUT I have been busy doing things and one of those things is something that was on my 13 in 2013 list.  

I know! Its April, Kim.  We've all forgotten about our New Years resolutions!  Well... I have not .... at least I am trying not to.

So one of my goals for 2013 was to finally learn how to crochet. I am a knitter and I am decent at it. I have a shop and everything.  BUT I always wanted to expand my talents by learning to crochet.  I've tried over and over and it just never stuck.  I think the issue has been not that its hard but I am such a constant knitter that I would learn the basics in crochet and then get an order or another project and soon forget what I learned.  So I wasn't able to practice or complete the learning.  The slow down of purchases in my shop and the increase in wanting to create certain items using crochet helped me FINALLY learn how.  

This little guy was my first finished project.  

Isn't he cute?  I wasn't a huge fan of the colors but I honestly just grabbed an appropriate weight yarn that i knew i didn't need for a future project.  He's about 3-4 inches tall.  I was pretty proud of him.  I found the pattern here.

My next project was a little more complicated and a big risk.  The daughter of one of my closest friends here in the city was turning 7 and LOVES my little pony.  I was racking my brain, trying to figure out what to get her.  I thought about trying to make a my little pony but I was way too new to crochet to figure it out so i set off on a google search and found a pattern that seemed just the right speed for me.  I spent the next week making this little beauty.  

For one of my first projects, I think she turned out pretty great. I know I have some learning still to do and if i made this again, I'd make some changes but i am pretty proud of her.

After seeing one of my instagrams of the pony, a friend of mine asked me if I could make something for her.  It was something I had never seen before but was able to find some similar patterns online.  

I am proud of myself for finally learning how to crochet.  I see now why people think it is easier than knitting.  Its definitely more versatile when creating items like the above.  I love the look of knitted items but crochet definitely allows you to more easily make more complex looking items with basic stitches.

Thanks for stopping by!

Do you crochet or knit?  If so, I'd love to see what you are working on or some patterns you love.  Link them in the comments below or feel free to email me.

Have a lovely week!

Resolutions in Motion

 At the beginning of the Year (can't believe we are 2 months in) I decided to strive for 13 goals in 2013.  I knew 13 was a lot. Hec, one is alot for me but I figured I had a year and they weren't huge accomplishments.

One of those was to lose 13 pounds and get healthy.  I joined the Resolutions in Motion to help motivate me to actually get it done.  I also created little helpers to help keep me on track.

Weekly Goal Tracker

Fitness Rewards System

MyFitnessPal Calorie Counter and Food Diary

I did great for the first 3 weeks, running 3 times a week and working out 3 days a week.  I lost 5 pounds in the first 2 weeks

Then life happened and the running and work outs became less.  The goal tracker was forgotten. 

As I was reflecting this week, I realized that losing weight isn't really my goal.  Eating better and treating my body better is my goal. So although I would love to lose 13 pounds and I think it will happen this year, I really want my goal to be changing my lifestyle.  I want to eat better. I want to exercise more.  So my goal now is to work hard at changing those things. Using the tools above and a few more.  I didn't lose my 13. But my plan is, over the next 10 weeks, to make running and working out my goal. I think the change in diet will come when those change. I tend to crave healthier foods when I am working out.  I signed up for a half marathon the end of April so running will soon be my reality, whether I like it or not.

Did you have any goals for 2013?  I'd love to read about them. Link your comments in below.

I look forward to sharing with you soon.  Make sure you check out the giveaway happening at Covered In Grace or Shaping Up To Be A Mom.

Practice Makes Better

One of my goals for 2013 is to write more creatively.  More specifically "8) Write at least one creative post a week."  So far I have failed at that but its still January so I am not a total failure yet (wink wink).

Now in processing what this means, I have had to decide what a creative post means? I think originally it was more creative writing style like fiction, poetry, etc.  I want to hone those skills more.  I truly think practicing your art will make you a more rounded artist.  If i wait until perfect inspiration comes I will never write.  

So, for me, writing at all is a good habit to start. I get so bogged down sometimes by lack of inspiration or the tasks of the day that its just not a priority anymore. So I have decided that writing creatively means writing about anything other than technical things and giveaways or blog hops.  DISCLAIMER - I actually love the technical things, giveaways and blog hops. I seriously enjoy them BUT they are also serious distractions from why i began blogging. I started blogging because I wanted the outlet to write and making it public (though a long process) was necessary for me.  I needed it so that i would no longer be a closet writer and so that i had a community that helped encourage my desires as a writer.  I got caught up in the social politics of blogging but now I want to go back to the reason I started blogging in the first place... to strengthen that writing muscle.  

SO What does that mean?  In our staff meeting yesterday our main administrator posed these three questions when communicating to our parishes. So What? Who Cares? & Why Me?  She stated that we should ask these questions when communicating to our masses.  Bringing this over to my blogging, I want to ask these same questions.  I realize that sometimes when I write, I shouldn't consider these questions because it could stifle the writing process but in the same respect I think they force you to look at what you write about and why and really dig deeper into the why.  So I want to take some time, at least once a week, to write. Just write.  They may be creatively written posts or they may be about life but I will write. 

Brooke from Covered in Grace listed 30 Days of Blogging Prompts this week.  They were realistic yet simple writing prompts.  I hope to use these to help get that writing muscle going.  I won't do them every day but often enough.

Day 1: List 10 random facts about yourself.
Day 2: Describe 3 legitimate fears you have and describe how they became fears.
Day 3: Describe your relationship with your parents.
Day 4: List 5 things you would tell your 16 year-old self if you could.
Day 5: What are the 5 things that make you happiest right now?
Day 6: What is the hardest thing you have ever experienced?
Day 7: What is your dream job, and why?
Day 8: What are 3 passions you have?
Day 9: List 3 people who have influenced you, and how.
Day 10: Describe your most embarrassing moment.
Day 11: Describe a few of your pet peeves.
Day 12: Describe a typical day in your life.
Day 13: Describe 5 weaknesses you have.
Day 14: Describe 5 strengths you have.
Day 15: If you were an animal, what would you be and why?
Day 16: What are your 5 greatest accomplishments?
Day 17: What is the thing you most wish you were great at?
Day 18: What is the most difficult thing you have had to forgive?
Day 19: If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?
Day 20: Describe 3 significant memories from your childhood.
Day 21: If you could have 1 superpower, what would it be and what would be the first thing you did with it?
Day 22: Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? 15 years?
Day 23: List your top 3 hobbies and why you love them.
Day 24: Describe your family dynamic from your childhood vs. your family dynamic now.
Day 25: If you could have dinner with anyone in history, who would it be and what would you eat?
Day 26: What popular notion do you think the world has wrong?
Day 27: What is your favorite part of your body and why?
Day 28: What is your love language?
Day 29: What do you think people misunderstand the most about you?
Day 30: List 5 things you would hope to be remembered for.

Thanks all for taking time out of your day to read my blog!  

Have a lovely weekend!

Getting Organized: Yarn Overhauled

As you know, one of my goals this year is to get organized.  My yarn stash was one of those things that needed an overhaul. 

After seeing how surprised people were with how much yarn I had, I thought I'd show you how worked to get it organized.

I inventoried the yarn I wanted to keep.  I gave the rest to a teacher friend.

I don't have many places to store all the yarn so I have to create space.  Thanks to Courtney from Baxtron{Life} for giving me her Trader Joe's Coffee Canisters. Combined with my own I created this wall system. I got the idea from Pinterest.

I have a shoe organizer that i had used for a long time to store the skeins of yarn but instead this time am using two thirds of the compartments to store in process projects. The bottom two spaces hold my super fine yarn.

I put the most popular yarn I use in two shelves of a bookcase and the rest of the yarn went into an under the bed storage container.  I cut my yarn down by 1/3 which is a big step for this yarn hoarder.  One step at a time, right?

It feels good to have this project done. Now I just have to organize the rest of my room/apartment. i am a messy packrat sometimes...

How are your goals coming along this year?

Resolutions in Motion GFC HOP

Hi everyone, and welcome to the Resolutions In Motion GFC Hop! Link up your blog below, hop around and check out some new blogs, and cheer our participants on with their resolutions!

Our lovely co-hosts won their spots, so make sure to visit them and follow, as well as our four hostesses!

This GFC hop is for anyone and everyone, and as a special surprise this week, I'm giving away a February featured ad space on my blog (Shaping Up To Be A Mom), and a pair of earrings of your choice from Cents of Style! This giveaway is open to everyone!

Cents of Style 

(Coupon Code "0512" for 10% off!)

Now on to the hop!

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Some Goals Are Easier Than Others (and a Giveaway)

Good Morning, my sweet Friends! I hope that your Wednesday is treating you well!  

I accidentally slept in this morning. I got swallowed up into my first book of the year and stayed up way too late.  When my alarm went off instead of hitting snooze,  I hit off.  EEK.  So its been a slow morning.

Speaking of slow.  

As you may have read, I have 13 goals for 2013! You might have read about some of them here, here and here.

I still owe you some posts explaining some of them but I just wanted to update you on the 3-4 I have posted about!

I would love to say that my #1 goal "Working on My Spiritual Growth" and "Finish Reading Through the BIble" were going swimmingly but so far its the one I have failed at the most. I even set smaller goals to help bench mark that growth and I have failed at those too."

I am part of a women's bible study and we are reading through part of the old testament, Genesis through Kings.  So i have the built in accountability but I still am barely doing it.  Still I choose to write a blog post, work out or even surf the web over reading the OT.  Now granted, I am in Deuteronomy so its not the easiest, softest reading I could be doing but still. I am just not making it a priority.  I am trying to have grace with myself but when is the point that you stop having grace and start disciplining yourself.  Sometimes I think that's what i need to kick start something I am having trouble with. 

Getting spiritually healthy is to me the same as getting physically healthy.  Its not something I think I should be taking lightly.  Its not that I think God will love me less or even more by doing or not doing these things. I simply think that my soul, my heart and my mind will be better if I make this a priority so why is it that its easier to add workout routines to my day but not 20-30 minutes with my Lord?  

So that's where I am at with #1 in 2013! The others are going well! But this one is waning! 

Here are some of the other thngs I have been doing
1) finished my first book of the year - Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks
2) Signed up for a half-marathon in Allentown, PA in April
3) Started learning how to Crochet (had to stop because I now have 5 orders in the Etsy que)
4) Sorted through my yarn and donated about 30-40% of it
5) Started setting up my studio (check my etsy site later today for proof of that)
6) Complete 6 workouts last week which included 7.5 miles
7) Lost 4 pounds

Its nice listing out the things I have made progress on. Seeing them on the screen makes me feel like less of a failure (wink wink).

Thanks everyone for humoring me today! I hope you are having a great week.  


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13 in 2013: Moving Forward & A giveaway

Good Morning my sweet friends.... I simply love that i can call many of you real friends! I've loved how the blogging world has been such a rich blessing of beautiful friends...

Anyway, today i just want to talk about a couple of my 13 in 2013 goals that I set last week. After that, I have a fabulous giveaway as a part of 9 days of health giveaways. 

2 of my goals for this year are 1) Work on my spiritual growth and 2)  Finish reading through the bible.  They really work together as one goal but i needed to differentiate as they can be two separate challenges.

I've talked about my faith and my growth several times on my blog.  Its something that is very important to who i am and how i function day to day yet its always the first thing that suffers when life happens.  My faith as a priority is the first thing that gets ignored.  Its been very evident to me this last year just how asleep and dry its gotten.  The motivation just has not been there.  I can easily find 10 other things to fill my time, my mental energy.  I had a spell this summer/fall when things started to turn around a little. I was reading through the New Testament (for the first time really) and was gleaning so much from that time.  But then we switched to the old testament (which i was super excited about) and then I lost all interest.  It also corresponded with my mom getting sick.  Life was happening and in the midst my desire to really seek the lord had all but vanished.  I was too focused on my environment and trying to make it all make sense that I couldn't/wouldn't trust and lean on the Lord for help, guidance, support, freedom.  I was getting uber frustrated that I "thought" i had a grand desire to go deeper but nothing was happening. the motivation just wasn't there.  

Do you watch the Biggest loser?  Jillian is back. She's the simon Cowell of the fitness world. She's super intense and often just MEAN.  THis time around she seems to be on mean steroids she's so harsh.  As she was yelling at one of her team  members who wasn't doing what she thought was enough, she asked her why she was here and she said she wanted to get healthier and Jillian said "no you don't. You don't want it enough"  I think that is similar to where I am spiritually. I cry, I scream for things to change but when it comes down to making the effort, putting in the hard work of getting healthier I don't lift the fingers. So do i really want it? Deep down, probably but I don't want it enough to do something about it... until now.

So since I am a goal person!  I really do get some kind of charge from it. I thought I'd make it a 2013 goal... it should be a life time goal but that mentally wouldn't work for me ;) One year at a time... hec one day at a time.  I don't know how i begin to measure or even task out this goal. I just know that it has to happen.  So here are some ways that I plan to work on my spiritual growth.  

*Side note- If i am being totally honest, until this post I haven't done any of these things... :/

1) Finish reading the covenant history (Genesis - Kings)

(read 20 minutes a day)

2) Journal more (10-15 minutes a day)

3) Read more spiritually focused books.

4) Work fasting in. (this has been on my mind for over a year but fear, pride and procrastination keep getting in my way)

5) Find accountability

These are just some of the tangible goals. I have a few other ideas floating around but those will wait until I can mentally flesh them out.

One way that I will help keep myself accountable is I plan on writing a post every wednesday based on what I am discovering in God's word. I will hopefully join that up with Into the Word Wednesday.  Its the Old testament so we'll see how that goes ;)

Ok so now to the giveaway.  I've joined up with some amazing ladies for the 9 days of healthy giveaways.  If you missed Day 1 and Day 2, its totally not too late.  I am giving away clean green kitchen items.

I hope you're having fun entering these daily giveaways! I know we're having fun sharing them with you! 

What have you been inspired to do this year that will lead to a greener, cleaner and healthier you?

Today we have another awesome gift up for grabs! Andrea over at A Modern Hippie is here today giving away some really nice Lemon Peppermint Cleaning Scrub! I think this stuff looks amazing and am kind of jealous of the person who will win it! :) 

As you can see, this cleaning scrub can be used on almost anything from your sink, to the tub to counters and more...I'm sure the sky is the limit! And how great will your home smell? 

If you haven't "met" Andrea yet, you must get over to her blog and get to know her. She has a very similar view on all things crunchy that I, Kristina, do and I really enjoy her perspective! Please stop by and say hello and thank her for this great giveaway! 

And if you haven't entered the first two days of this fun fun giveaway, here's your chance! And don't forget to spread the word! :)

  

Happy Entering!

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2013 Goals: Lose it

I have never been one for publicly making New Years Resolutions.  I subconsciously always felt like they were cheesy, unrealistic and they set you up for failure... and honestly it just never occurred to me to make any.  But the ironic part to all of that is that I love setting goals and especially in the New Year.  Its a pride thing I think.  I do much better if I have a goal to reach. I tend to work harder when I have them.

I have felt myself getting kind of discontent lately.  I saw some things in my life that I wanted to work on but I didn't have the motivation to work on them.  The New Year has helped mentally prepare for making some healthy changes in my life.  Last week I posted about my 13 goals for 2013.  Each of them are fairly managable. It might be 13 in number but they aren't mountains really. Especially if I remember that 2013 consists of 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days.  I don't have to reach all of these goals in January! 

That's always one of my issues. I set goals and want them completed yesterday.  The process and the time can be my biggest block!  

One of my goals this year is to get healthier. I want to eat better. I want to exercise more consistently. I want to lose the 15 pounds I've gained over the last year. 

So one of my goals this year is to lose that added weight.  I'd love to have this goal be one of the first I achieve and then maintain throughout the year and beyond.

This is one of those goals that I can see myself slacking on so I decided to join up with Resolutions in Motion.  



Having some accountability will help kick my a$$ into gear.  Knowing there might be a person or two checking in on my progress is a whip to my motivation.

So how do I plan on working towards this goal? 

Watch what I eat.

Yup I've become that girl.  I am counting calories!  Its not just about the calories, I know, but the calories help structure my diet throughout the day.  I found this great app MyFitnessPal.  You track not only calories but your fitness, water intake, etc.  It gives you a summary at the end of the day of what percentage of carbs, protein and fat you consumed that day! Its totally free too!

Exercise Routines

I kind of call myself a runner.  Although the the last year or so I haven't been as into it.  One of my goals in dropping the pounds, and in the year, is to run more.  The plan is to run 3 days a week and do other exercise routines 3 days a week.  I have Wii that i got a couple of years ago. The Wii Fit Plus has been nice to track my progress and to find decent workout options.

Also, My roommate and I came up with this "tip jar" that will hopefully help motivate us to exercise.  Each time we complete a 30 minute exercise related activity, we will give each other $.50.  At the end of 3 months we will use that money to do something we wouldn't normally do.  Like go to a show or play tourist, etc. I already have $1.50! WOOT!

We also made ourselves a goal tracker to help us stay on task.  I turned an old photo frame into a dry erase goal tracker.  Isn't it cute?  

So this is one of my 2013 goals!  Check back in to see where I am on this one and the other 13.

What are some of your goals?

How are you doing with them?

Happy New Year my friends!

13 in 2013

Happy New Year!

How's your new year starting out so far?  Mine has been relaxing!

In 2010 some friends and I did a top 10 in 2010.  10 goals we wanted to reach in 2010.  We helped keep each other keep accountable and then reviewed our progress at the end of the year.  In reality I think we, on average, completed 5 or 6 of the 10 but for resolutions that's probably good.  

This year I decided I wanted to do 13 in 2013 but my goals aren't that big... at least not all of them are.  I am not one for resolutions because I am never good at keeping them but I am going to try at least to make some work this year. 

I'd love to have you join in. What are some of your goals for 13? Whether its 1 or 13, let me know. I'll do my best to check in with you on them.  

My plan is to blog about each of these over the next few weeks, giving you goal markers, explanations, etc.  Some might be combined posts but I should cover each one.

So Here We Go!

1) Work on my spiritual growth

2) Lose 13 pounds (or more)

3) Run 4-6 races this year (including a half marathon)

4) Read 5 books 

5) Finish reading through the bible

6) Learn to crochet

7) Get organized

8) Write at least one creative post a week

9) Write my first book

10) Build up my photography business

11) Do more New York type things

12) Get healthy

13) Meet my future husband.

Ok so these aren't in any particular order except the top one. Its my #1 for a reason.

Stay tuned for the how's and why's of these top 13 goals for 2013

Chasing A Pipe Dream

Man, it’s been a while since I posted anything... I guess the holidays and life just got in the way, which is kind of sad since writing (even blogging) is something I love so much.  I think a busy schedule and full brain slowed me down and then being out of the habit just stopped me completely.  What got me back to it, you ask?  A book I am reading with my discipleship group.  

I have gotten pretty lazy lately.  I have had a hard time organizing my time when it comes to the artistic & spiritual sides of who I am. I have become uninterested, unmotivated and uninspired. The only thing that seems to still have steam is my paying job... I think its because I know what I am doing and what's expected of me, but even then, I don't seem to go beyond that... which is not like me.  I often create work for myself which long term can often burn me out. I like finding things that can be improved or are a challenge and making them projects.

Instead, lately, I find myself knitting A LOT and watching TV (while I knit). Now, that does seem to bring in some cash so I am not complaining but I don't want to just knit.  

Even reading has lost its luster. The only thing I read these days is knitting patterns, words with friends and this book I have to read for discipleship....