Focusing on Me

It's the 12th of the month and that means my blog post is about, you guessed it, me. I'm focusing on all the ways I can feel better about myself which is not always so easy. I invite you to photograph yourself each month and love yourself.

It's been 10 days since I started my new job and it's going great. Ethan is having a harder time. He went from being chauffeured in the lap of luxury every day to taking the subway and walking 3, very long city blocks to get to his school. Me? I love the change of pace. I'm not especially thrilled about taking the subway, but I do appreciate the fact that my commute doesn't require me to pay much attention to my fellow commuters or red lights. I don't have to worry about road rage, tolls, running on E, or obnoxious drivers.

I do appreciate that I walk 20 blocks roundtrip every day as a result of my commute. I'm starting to feel really good and while I haven't lost weight, yet, I know this is a good start to moving more. I'm actually wearing makeup and blowing up my fro more often - more put together. I was in a rut and that's over. Thank God!

Are you in a rut? Are you down on yourself? Don't be! Take a picture of yourelf and admire your best feature. Just like we have a feature we hate on our bodies, we all have a favorite feature. Focus on that for starters. We'll work on the other body parts later. I focused on my face with these pics with a little creative cropping. I actually like my face. It has it's flaws but they don't drive me too crazy. It's the neck down on I'm working hard on. The 2nd layout is a group of photos that my 4 year old took with my camera or iphone. He always cuts off a piece but overall, not bad!

Bring It 2012!

2:22 pm on Saturday, December 31st and I have absolutely nothing to do. I LOVE THAT. Ethan is fighting a fever and just lying down, quietly. Ron is working. I have a ton of errands to run (laundry, food shopping, staples, stockings....so I guess I do have a lot to do) but alas I can't very well leave my son all alone to battle his 101 degree temperature. So I have nothing to do.

I have done a lot of thinking about what 2012 is going to mean for me. I made a couple of resolutions for 2011, none of which I even remember but it was probably the usual fare - save money, lose weight, do more community service. I had a word for 2011 too - de-clutter - which I worked really hard at but was unable to accomplish fully. The fact of the matter is that my home is cluttered because it's too small. And until the renovations are complete, the clutter will continue.  My office was cluttered because I had not a moment in the day to just do some basic filing. So while de-cluttering as a goal is not going anywhere, I have moved on to a new word for the year - FOCUS. It will indirectly include de-cluttering, saving money, losing weight, blah, blah, blah. But yes, FOCUS is my word of the year. The common denominator is ME. I am going to FOCUS on ME, inside and out. I am well on my way.

1. New job - CHECK

2. New beauty regiment - CHECK

3. New exercise routine - CHECK

So while I will continue my 40 and Fabulous blog posts on the 17th of each month, I am adding a new component to my blog. On the 12th of each of month, from January to December 2012, I will be FOCUSing on ME and I invite you to join me and focus on yourself. On the 12th of each month I will be taking a photo of myself, or having someone else do it. No matter what state I am in, I am going to take that picture. I am going to look at that picture and appreciate myself for who I am regardless of what my hair is doing or where I am going. Focusing on myself will make me a better worker, a better mom, wife, daughter, sister, friend and a better person overall. I hope you will be inspired to join me on this journey and do the same for yourself.

So like the title of this post says, bring it, 2012! Because it's all about me.