So far, so good...

Discipline. So far today, I've been able to stick to my plan of action with out wavering, and I'm proud! Now, if I can continue to do this for the next 360 days...

One of the first items on my to do list this morning was to create a "Squidoo" page. It's an assignment from my art marketing group, and it's due by tomorrow's meeting. In a nutshell, Squidoo is an informational portal where users can set up their own "lenses" on any subject they choose. My lens still needs quite a bit of work, but basically it's about how to press flowers, and will include links to my pressed flower tutorials. Apparently you can also link up to appropriate affilliate sites and earn adsense money for yourself, or a charity of your choosing, but at this point I'm just interested in driving more traffic to my blog and website via my own links.

Placing links on Squidoo was tricky, and involved some html coding that I wasn't familiar with. To save you some time and frustration, here is a helpful link I found explaining how to add a link in a Squidoo lens.

Back to my to do list. Next on my list is to get tonight's BBQ beef brisket going in the slow cooker...

You frame it Friday

Wow! I just realized that my previous blog entry was my 200th post! I am amazed. I wish I would have realized that and celebrated in some way! I will have to keep closer track, and be sure to recognize the next big milestone.

This week's unframed pressed flower art creation is called "Golden Flowers." An online friend pointed out that I seem to be stuck on yellow flowers lately. I think I am drawn to the warmth and joyfulness of yellow - yellow seems hopeful, optimistic, and always joyful - like a celebration.

I've been using a Franklin Covy Planner for years, a small compact binder with my calender, daily and monthly "to-do" lists, yearly goals, etc. I can also fill out a small card called a "Weekly Compass," with the key goals I want to focus on. I use it as a "monthly compass" instead, and usually come up with a key word that I want to focus on for the month. In the past, I've focused on kindness, timeliness, humor, reverence, etc.

This month I'm focusing hard on joy...which seems especially appropriate given that this is the month we remember the incredible gift of God Himself coming to be with us. Psalm 8, which I am attempting to memorize says:

"...what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?."

Yes, who are we, really, that we've been given such a gift?
The more I think about this, the more joyfully amazed I am.