friday focus: week 9 healthy eating

i thought i had a photo of last night's dinner, maybe it's on andrew's phone :-(, here's one of the leftovers.
anyway, one of my long standing goals is to eat healthy as often as possible.  last night's shrimp pasta dinner was yumy and healthy.

sauteed shrimp in garlic, onion, olive oil and white wine, i added this to a bowl of uncooked spinach, then i made a sauce (using the same saute pan) of fresh chopped tomatoes and capers. this got added to the shrimp and spinach along with some grated Parmesan cheese.  then a final toss of whole wheat penne. i'm always looking for ways to incorporate fiber, protein and veggies without sacrificing taste.  tonight's pizza will include spinach, mushrooms and maybe i'll try a few shrimp!  here's to healthy eat-what's on your plate?

p.s. i've got swatches done-yea!!! will be casting on and off (dark and stormy) this weekend!!!!!

friday focus: week 8 FOs

i'm real excited about this week's focus-FINISHED OBJECTS!!!! first up-be my valentine socks-i can't believe how fast these knit up-love them, even kitchnered the toes without instructions. ends woven-in-just need to block.

next-crocus-i ran out of yarn for the edge, and decided to get crazy and use some left over liberty wool for the last 3 rows and the cast off- i think it did okay-again, the ends are woven-in, so just need to block-yea!

purple passion-aka moch cardi- like the fit, but might do something different with the closure, and will definitely take better photos. you can't really go wrong with merino and cashmere.

i'm glad i've got these projects finished, cause i have a serious case of startitus.  so hopefully i'll be able to swatch this weekend.  the rose quartz by swan island will be for current by Cecily Glowik MacDonald.  the taupe yarn cascade 220 tweed, will be graham also by Cecily.  finally the green will be overdyed (this weekend i hope) to a spruce for the new york cardigan for erin harper.  yarn for summer flies is wound and waiting too. 

so what are you FOCUSING on right now?

(forced) relaxing.

this was my position from about 1:00 until 8:00 pm on sunday.  i spent the day recovering from horrible muscle spasms in my foot that required a trip to after hours care. fortuantely we had a care center close by, and i didn't have to sit in a hospital emergency room. the pain subsided fairly quickly once the meds kicked in, then i spent sunday morning in bed.  luckily after lunch i was cognizant enough to do some knitting. i watched lots of food network and big bang theory, and i finished the 1st of the "be my valentine" socks, and cast on the 2nd.  i guess this is one way to FOCUS on the task at hand?!  however, sophie managed to get into my knitting and really mess up 2 of my signature dpns (grrrrrr). 

friday focus. week 6

fo•cus


1. A point at which rays of light or other radiation converge or from which they appear to diverge, as after refraction or reflection in an optical system:
~~ The distinctness or clarity of an image rendered by an optical system.
~~ A center of interest or activity
~~ Close or narrow attention; concentration:

my OLW defined above with the emphasis on the other definitions-i love how it includes the words clarity, center of interest, narrow attention and concentration. that's really what i want to get out of this project (process) this year.  reflecting on this week, i was able to evaluated an important relationship (for the good!), it was the week that my Psalm Bible study met so the focus on faith can be added.  we had great conversation last night about Psalms 1, 15 and 133.  i'm really enjoying the group of people who are in this study with me.  most of them i know from other Bible studies or Sunday school, and there are a few that i'm having the chance to get to know better.  tonight sophie and i have a play date with kathy and anna at the park, so not only will i have a chance to get an extra walk in, we'll have a chance to get caught up without too much interruption.  i'm giving myself the "day off" from my normal saturday morning power walk since i'll be getting this extra exercise in-so yea me!  i've had a pretty clear calendar the last few saturdays-which i'm loving.  i enjoy making plans with friends, but after being at work all week it's nice to just take it easy, get caught up, enjoy my coffee, and wear yoga pants ALL DAY LONG!  hopefully this weekend will be a bit more productive as i've got some sewing deadlines to meet, and i'd LOVE LOVE to get my moch cardi finished.  i might even get my sock done, as i'm well into the foot. my formula for focus (F=F+F+F(K+S) is working pretty good right now, but i also know that if i need to make shifts to keep myself focused, and i'm open to that as well. am liking the opportunity to keep myself accountable through my blog. here's to a focused weekend, hope your's is everything you want it to be too.

maintaining focus.

i figure if i'm going to be successful this year with my OLW for 2012 it'll require me to give examples and check in every now and then. i've gone back and pulled the january information from ali's class, and had a chance to get better in touch with my word. i hope to post in february a recap of both months. the photo is my desk in the office (basement) and i try to keep my laptop here, so that the distractions are minimnal when i want to get "things" done. being sorta secluded helps me to monitor how much time spend on-line-pinterest, facebook, blog reading/writing, flickr-you know what i mean!.  no matter where i go somehow sophie manages to find me and wants some mommy-puppy time, but that's OKAY.  i'm learing that some things that are "focus important" and require me to purposefully setting aside time and give X my full attention.  steve and i had great together time in new orleans-no agenda, no distrations, just whatever-those times are very few and far between, something i hope to remedy.  i've also found that by sticking to (focusing!) my week day routine (housecleaning, laundry, exercise, etc), i can plan and better enjoy the times i set aside to spend with family and friends on the weekends.  friday night pizza has become one of those habits which i really enjoy-andrew and i move through the kitchen as if we were in a ballet. while he still refuses to embrace the mushroom (a pizza requirement) we manage to get hot pies out of the oven in time to watch episodes of the office and the big bang theory while we munch on gooey cheese and crispy crust, if i'm lucky there'll be frozen margarita's too! while i haven't gotten as much sewing done as i'd like, i am managing to get more knitting time in-completed 2 socks and am making progress on the sweaters.  i also managed to queue only 2 projects since the beginning of the year.  i think i'm doing pretty good so far.

friday focus.

so i'm 2 for 2 so far. last week was about my ravelry queue which i have to say has NOT grown at all.  i also have not done much knitting this week, but plan to make up for it tomorrow when mary and karen and i get together. with a long weekend coming up i hope to focus on getting my 2011 photos edited and ready for uploading to blurb for photobooks. the photo shows a "contact" sheet of the photos from rosemary beach.  i had gotten started on cropping the photos, but somethign happened and i lost track of what i'd edited, so now i have to figure out my duplicates.  that's a project i hope to knock out this weekend.  i need to do the same with the photos from paris and my 2011 photos in general.  also on my "to do" list are printing certain photos, i have a photo printer so it needs to be used right?  i've moved my laptop back downstairs on my desk hoping that it'll force me to focus on the task at hand, so we'll see.