A Weekly Word ~ JOURNEY

A bit late - sorry but I had my boys home for spring break and well.....spending time with them seemed so much more important than anything I had to write!

When I think of this word journey the mental picture that comes to mind is someone loaded up with a backpack, crazy hiking hat, long socks, boots, and a walking stick! Isn't it funny what we think of when we hear a word, smell a familiar scent, or see a sentimental photo we haven't seen in a long time.

Last week was our oldest sons 20th Birthday and wow what a JOURNEY that seems to have gone on in FAST FORWARD! 20 YEARS! The journey getting there has been fun, exciting, filled with laughter, tears, frustration, aggravation, brilliance, disappointment, achievement, and of course LOTS of LOVE. So PROUD of this young man and look forward to watching his journey now that I've had to cut those strings (I still try to hold on and pull them every now and then - sigh!) These are all words that come to mind when you have a journey right? There are great times, there are difficult times. There are times filled with laughter and times filled with great sadness. There are successes and failures. People come into your life and sadly sometimes people leave your life. Life is a journey filled with so many things and what I've tried learning in my 40's is how to deal with all that comes with it and to try and find the JOY in the JOURNEY instead of focusing on the bumps and pot holes along the way.

One of my greatest journeys has been the almost 24 years married to my husband!! What I love most about it is that we have been holding hands the whole way (metaphorically) speaking. We don't always agree, we haven't always wanted to take the same path, but we know that our journey through this life is together and I am blessed beyond words that I'm on this life journey with this amazing man God brought into my life almost 24 years ago.

Another journey that has brought much joy, sadness, aggravation, and so on is my art journey! When I think back to the first things I started creating to now,  I'm amazed some days that I didn't just put up the brushes and get a full time job doing office work that brought in a monthly paycheck, and on the flip side, I've enjoyed the journey that I've been on and the excitement I feel when I've created or designed something. I know that along this journey I will continue to have frustrations and aggravations but I also know there will be exciting, creative and amazing times ahead!

One thing that kept coming up this week when I thought about my weekly word JOURNEY was ~ DECISIONS!!! 
It's the big and little decisions that we make each day that direct our journey!!
Sometimes I will make the wrong decision and sadly have to suffer the consequences of those but other days decisions made make me feel like I'm skipping along the yellow brick road and singing as I go!
Again, trying to remind myself to find the JOY in the JOURNEY!!

Hope you have a great day!! Share with me here or email - sandymctierdesigns@aol.com how this word showed up for you this past week!!

Blessings,
Sandy

Here is my word for this next week JOURNEY!!

Look forward to sharing with you on Friday how this word showed up in my life and ART this week!!


Have a
blessed day!
Sandy

Has been a great word for a wonderful week!!!

It's also been a busy week! First, our oldest turned 20 years old this past week! Where have those 20 years gone?? So proud of this young man and couldn't be more proud of him! Blessed to call him my son!!

Plus our two college boys came home from school for Spring Break!!  Love having them home with us!!

Consistency - when I think of this word it takes me back to having three small baby boys all under the age of 3 years old. I had to introduce some structure, routine and certainly consistency into our lives.  I remember hearing someone say once that after three days of consistently correcting a behavior or habit is the start, after a week you're over the hurdle and after 21 days you've broken the habit or behavior.
Don't think that was always the case but it certainly did keep me on track with issues, behaviors and habits - mostly mine! lol All kidding aside, it did help me and our family and certainly made raising three small boys much easier.

Now, I must confess my husband is consistently consistent and he's trained me well and keeps me on track! At this stage in our lives with two boys in college and another on the way soon I've really started thinking about how I'm so NOT CONSISTENT with many things in my life - mainly with my art! I always think about 10 things I'll get done in a day and might get one and a half done.
I've learned that making lists help and my husband taught me a great trick to get started!!
He said to start all of my to-do lists off with 2-3 things I've just done and cross them off.
He says the crossed off things will motivate you to get started and knock out the other things on the list!!
So....I've written a couple things down that I will put into practice and try to break it down in the 21 days that I mentioned above. Will celebrate the getting started and after three days might treat myself if I remain consistent about doing them with a yummy treat from Starbucks or something. Then after 21 days will hopefully be more consistent with those items written on my list. Will share with you next month what those things were and how consistent I was with them!!

Will post my word for "A Weekly Word" tomorrow and share with you next Friday how it showed up in my life and art!!
Have a blessed day!!
Sandy

Here is my word for the week ~ CONSISTENCY!!
It's a word that I struggle with in so many areas of my life!!

I look forward to sharing with you how this word showed up for me this week in my life and my art!!

Have a blessed day!
Sandy

What a word for this past week!!!

If there was anything that I didn't have this week it was Energy. 

Being around all those creative, talented and amazing artists for the week at the Creative Painting Convention sure does Energize me and I was looking forward to coming home and CREATING!!

Guess my body had different plans when it got this cold. Although I wasn't able to do much I was able to rest, paint a little, catch up on some not so fun busy work, and just sit and BE still which sometimes I get too busy to do.

So, I'm going into this next week feeling a bit better and praying the meds continue to get rid of all these sicky germs. I hope to refocus and have a busy, energized week full of creating!!

Will post my word for this week tomorrow!

Blessings,
Sandy

My word last week for "A Weekly Word 2014" ~ INTENTIONAL

That was my word last week!!! I really wanted to focus on EVERYTHING I did - my actions, my words, my thoughts, etc. and to do them all with INTENTION!   I can't remember where I first heard "intentional living", maybe it was on K-Love radio station but I guess instead of just doing I wanted to be aware of the why and how too!

It was a busy ~ busy week in Vegas at the Creative Painting Convention and I have to admit I didn't write once in my journal about how this word showed up in my life and art so will let this word spill over into this week, will write about it and share it all with you on Friday!

My word for this week funny enough is ENERGIZED! I say funny enough because if there is anytime I need energy it's now! Brought a terrible cold back with me from Vegas and have so much that I need to be doing. However, it's 1:11p.m. and I'm still in my pajamas. Haven't done much of anything today really. I'm hoping the rest will ENERGIZE my tomorrow while I nurse myself back to health today! 

Will write more about Intentional and Energized on Friday!

Have a wonderful day!!
Sandy