Jennerosity

This is part of annual Blogging series called Reverb. The intention is to reflect on the past and manifest your best intentions for the future. To read my intro post (updated with links as I publish them & time allows) see my post on The Prompts.

Story – If your life were a story, what genre would 2011 have fallen in to?

Looking back on things, this year seems like a nice light and fluffy piece of chick lit. Of course that’s my view of things since I am the heroine of my own life. Though as a story it would be pretty boring to read since there really wasn’t any conflict.

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I’m keeping these posts brief on purpose. If you have questions or want me to go deeper into any of these thoughts, please leave a comment below.

This is part of annual Blogging series called Reverb. The intention is to reflect on the past and manifest your best intentions for the future. To read my intro post (updated with links as I publish them & time allows) see my post on The Prompts.

Wealth – Did you feel wealthy in 2011? How did you go about creating that feeling?

It was hard not to feel wealthy with so many family and friends that spoiled us. It sounds a little corny, but the simpler we try to live, the easier it is to feel wealthy.

But on a more practical note, we cultivate wealth by mindfully using our money. When we indulge we know it’s for something that’s in line with our values or something that we use so much, that we’ll feel a positive impact on a very regular basis. It’s amazing how a little luxury in a few areas can have a big impact.

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I’m keeping these posts brief on purpose. If you have questions or want me to go deeper into any of these thoughts, please leave a comment below.

This is part of annual Blogging series called Reverb. The intention is to reflect on the past and manifest your best intentions for the future. To read my intro post (updated with links as I publish them & time allows) see my post on The Prompts.

Sacred – How did you find the sacred this year?

This year I found the sacred inside me. I remember feeling the flutters, bumps, and kicks inside. It never stopped feeling wonderful.

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I’m keeping these posts brief on purpose. If you have questions or want me to go deeper into any of these thoughts, please leave a comment below.

This is part of annual Blogging series called Reverb. The intention is to reflect on the past and manifest your best intentions for the future. To read my intro post (updated with links as I publish them & time allows) see my post on The Prompts.

Ritual – What rituals marked your life last year?

I love the idea of crafting special rituals to mark our passage through the milestones of life. My execution has been somewhat flawed.

We were blessed to have seven weddings within our extended family and circle of friends this year. We were even luckier to be able to attend four of them. They were each very different and beautiful in their own way. The ritual. Of marriage is one of my favourites and I love how very different it can turn out depending on the couple involved.

None of our close friends or family members passed away this year, which is a blessing.

And of course we got to welcome in quite a few new babies into our circle of extended family, including our own little son Locutus. This is really the first time I’ve sat and thought about what we did & didn’t do to mark the beginning of his life.

Since we aren’t religious we didn’t have any Christening or Baptism ceremonies. There were a few things we did that I can see continuing with for any future children we do have though.

One is engraving their name onto the silver cup that was sent from Germany when my sister was born. The second is Benevolance celebrating with a fine drink. For Locutus he picked up a Grandfather port to share with his father. And the other ritual I’d like to continue is a monthly photo shoot to help illustrate how much each child is growing and changing.

What are some of your favourite rituals that mark the birth, death, or passage of life?

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I’m keeping these posts brief on purpose. If you have questions or want me to go deeper into any of these thoughts, please leave a comment below.

This is part of annual Blogging series called Reverb. The intention is to reflect on the past and manifest your best intentions for the future. To read my intro post (updated with links as I publish them & time allows) see my post on The Prompts.

Discomfort – What did you learn from your discomfort in 2011?

I have this tendency to put everyone’s needs before my own. Even in the most ridiculous ways, I’ll bend over backwards to accommodate others. I need to spend more time thinking about reasonable boundaries and publicly articulate them.

Also, on a more tangible note, I suck at food. Not just preparing it well, but I suck at making it a priority for myself. I find the fact that I have to eat regular meals rather annoying actually. However, it’s something I can’t avoid and it’s going to become increasingly my responsibility as Locutus gets older and starts eating solids.

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I’m keeping these posts brief on purpose. If you have questions or want me to go deeper into any of these thoughts, please leave a comment below.

This is part of annual Blogging series called Reverb. The intention is to reflect on the past and manifest your best intentions for the future. To read my intro post (updated with links as I publish them & time allows) see my post on The Prompts.

What – What were a few of your favourite things in 2011? What things do you want 2012 to bring?

Favourites of 2011

• my iPod touch
• Urban Decay Naked Palette
• nursing pillow
• Ergo carrier & ring sling

Things I want in 2012

• an iPhone (probably not going to happen)
• book book iPhone case (if it works with an iPod I might actually save up & splurge)
• vitamix blender
• Logitech Harmony Link Remotes
• soldering kit

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I’m keeping these posts brief on purpose. If you have questions or want me to go deeper into any of these thoughts, please leave a comment below.

This is part of annual Blogging series called Reverb. The intention is to reflect on the past and manifest your best intentions for the future. To read my intro post (updated with links as I publish them & time allows) see my post on The Prompts.

Play – How and what did you play this year? What would you like to play next year?

This last year I mainly played tabletop role playing games. I’ve really been enjoying one character and campaign in particular. I feel like my role playing chops have improved a lot¹. And we’ve been managing to keep gaming even with Locutus around. Hopefully as he gets older, it’ll get easier.

In other games, we played a small variety of board games. I’d like to expand that repertoire a bit more next year, as there are a bunch of good games out there that I’ve yet to play. And I’d also like to break out a couple of the classics this year, like scrabble and yahtzee.

I also find play time doing creative things, like playing with art journaling and cosmetics. These are the areas that are most difficult to pursue with Locutus here. Hopefully as he gets older, I’ll be able to start spending more time in these areas again.

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I’m keeping these posts brief on purpose. If you have questions or want me to go deeper into any of these thoughts, please leave a comment below.

1. though I still don’t tend to spin together complex characters like Benevolance does [↩]

This is part of annual Blogging series called Reverb. The intention is to reflect on the past and manifest your best intentions for the future. To read my intro post (updated with links as I publish them & time allows) see my post on The Prompts.

Community – What communities are you a member of? How do you feel about your role in those communities?

This year I have left the local NaNoWriMo community. It started out as just a temporary break from the ML duties. But looking at how things are shaping up for next year, I might make it a permanent change instead.

I’ve also been granted automatic membership in the sorority of mothers. It’s a little strange how this community kind of just absorbs you into it, whether you like it or not.

I feel a little uneasy with my new status in each community still. The moves and changes were a little out of my hands in both situations.¹ But, given time, I’m sure I’ll settle in.

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I’m keeping these posts brief on purpose. If you have questions or want me to go deeper into any of these thoughts, please leave a comment below.

1. Which is not to imply Locutus was unplanned. It’s just that you can’t opt-out of being part of the larger mommy community when you become a mother. [↩]

This is part of annual Blogging series called Reverb. The intention is to reflect on the past and manifest your best intentions for the future. To read my intro post (updated with links as I publish them & time allows) see my post on The Prompts.

Project – What projects do you want to tackle the most in 2012? Which were your favourite projects of 2011?

The two projects I’m looking forward to the most next year. Both of them have been a long time coming and require me to exercise some creativity in the execution.

First is our custom drink menu. I’m looking forward to finishing that up this year. (Though we may need to change which standard drinks are on it now?)

Second is an upcycling project from one of my all time favourite shirts. I’m not even certain what form the project will take, though I’m leaning towards a scarf.

Some of my favourite projects last year were: creating a bracelet out of ribbon & hex nuts, carving a ‘confidential’ stamp, and hand sewing a stuffed D12. I don’t think I had enough fun with spray paint though. So I’m looking forward to some fun with that too.

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I’m keeping these posts brief on purpose. If you have questions or want me to go deeper into any of these thoughts, please leave a comment below.

This is part of annual Blogging series called Reverb. The intention is to reflect on the past and manifest your best intentions for the future. To read my intro post (updated with links as I publish them & time allows) see my post on The Prompts.

Where – Where did you go in 2011? Where will you go next year?

We didn’t do as much traveling in 2011 as we had originally hoped to. We did make it down to Mexico to surprise some friends for their wedding. And we went to Seattle for a weekend to attend the Penny Arcade Expo. The other trips we had been hoping to do never really materialized.

We still aren’t sure if or when we’ll go anywhere in 2012. We’ll probably visit Seattle in fall a gain. And we’ve also talked about traveling to Japan, Hawaii, or France.

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I’m keeping these posts brief on purpose. If you have questions or want me to go deeper into any of these thoughts, please leave a comment below.