New Year, New Mantra- old things.

I'm one of those people. You know, one of the ones who makes resolutions & actually tries to stick with them. Who will remind people in June of what they said they were going to do in January.

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Last year, I resolved to spend less money & to have moved out of my parents' house by the end of August. The first one was far too vague to actually stick to, & I'm still working on the second one (as some of you know).

This year is going to be a wild one for me- I'm going to move to the city, get at least one job, try to actually support myself for the first time ever while also being a functional adult & maybe even having some fun once in a while; so I'm thinking it will be better for me to set a new mantra rather than "goals."
I think I'll have enough on my plate without also deciding to read 30 books or make sure I learn a new monologue every month.

My mantra, as previously mentioned, is "I can do it with what I already have."

How many times have I looked in my closet, & thought "oh, I could make the perfect outfit if I only had x."
Or cast about for a new knitting project to involve myself in & said "Well, this would be a great time to buy that silk blend I really wanted."
Or even just gotten bored with what I was reading & thought "If I go to the libraray, I can find lots of fun things I will want to read!", checked out 20 new books, & let them languish on the shelf.

Enough is enough. Or, as my clown teacher would say, "I am enough."

In 2011, I will gently remind myself that I already have the talents I need to begin to live my life. I am only doing a disservice to my creativity if I feel the need to fill an outfit with things I don't have. Instead of this pizza shop right here, I have many fresh vegetables in my house to fill my belly with.

Are you the kind of person that sets goals & resolutions for a New Year (calendar or religious)? Or do you set new goals on your birthday, perhaps? Or do you think goals are for big fattie stupids?

Manual Labor

It's that time of year again: the time to sit back, page through my planner from last year & decide if I want the same sort again for next year.

in 2010, I used an at-a-glance my father gave me for Christmas. The size of a beach novel, it had the date at the top of the page with lots of lines underneath for writing whatever I wanted. I liked it because it wasn't trying to control what I was doing with the space: I was free to write the details of assignments, to-do lists, & my schedule for the day in whatever order I pleased.

However, I stopped using it soon after graduation. Since I no longer carried my backpack, I didn't have the space in my purse to devote to a glorified list-keeper, & it became an item I would use to plan out my day when I wouldn't be leaving the house.

Which makes me wonder if I have a planner problem, or a purse problem. At any given moment, I am trying to carry my
-planner
-sketchbook
-NYC Moleskine
-Novel to read
...in addition to my wallet/phone/headshots/detritus that I "need" to live my city-centric life.

I have been considering converting to a filofax, since it's essentially a glorified binder. I can keep my lists, some drawing paper, & my pages of addresses/things to visit all in one place if I just buy the hole punch.

The problem I see with the Filofax is... that it's a glorified binder. Why should I pay $55 for some cardboard wrapped in fake leather when I'm not going to use ANY of the papers they provide?

Which leaves me with the new mantra I've decided to live by in the coming year: "I can do it with what I already have." I can organize myself, I can put together an outfit, I can make somebody a card with all of the crap I have already accumulated.