Late May Garden
Originally uploaded by kerner

Around New Year's, I wrote a post about how I was not going to make resolutions this year. Instead, I was going to pick a theme for the year and try to live it out to the fullest. My theme is also my Style Statement, Cultivating Joy.

I also chose this snippet of Kerouac that encapsulated the theme: "to be in a state of beatitude, like st. francis, trying to love all life, trying to be utterly sincere with everyone, practicing endurance, kindness, cultivating joy of heart."

So, now that we're well into the year, how am I doing? I made a list of small steps that I thought would go along with the theme for the year.

Read more fiction. I discovered the local used book store and I am having great fun selling old books for store credit and discovering what they have on the shelves that day. Very rarely is there a new book I just "have to have," and I've been a real slacker in the reading department for about 5 years, so there are lots of older books that are still new to me. I have learned by lesson though – if you see a book and you want it, don't assume it will be there when you come back!

Take better care of my veggie garden and our native plant gardens. I'd say I'm doing pretty well at this if I do say so myself. My peas and lettuce, which I'm growing for the first time, are doing great. I need to weed the flower gardens and put new mulch down, but hey, I'm still a work in progress, right?

Spend more time studying the Bible and in prayer. I always have room for improvement in this area, but I have joined a weekly study with some other people by age at church, so that helps keep me on track, at least on a weekly basis. We're getting ready to take a hiatus for the summer though, so I need to find a daily devotional or something to read. I don't do very well just winging it on my own.

Knit more gifts for others; less for myself. I've been doing pretty well with crafting for others at least as much as myself. I even made an embellished tee for my sister to wear this summer after she's no longer "great" with child.

I have a couple more Russian dolls left to cut out of the fabric, so I will reward those of you who managed to read this far into this ridiculously navel-gazing post. If you would like a tank top with a Russian doll on it, leave me a comment saying so, and what shirt size you wear at Old Navy (S, M, L, XL etc.) First three commenters get shirts!

Third Time's a Charm
Originally uploaded by kerner