Learning Spanish

I'm learning Spanish. It's a super slow process, but extraordinary. I'm blown away by the beauty of the words. I've started and stopped several times throughout the last five years because life got in the way.

This summer as I restarted practicing again, it came easier for me. I recognized many of the words and phrases. I still have a long way to go to get to fluent. I can only speak Spanish like a very young child, but I'm excited about the prospect of getting better.

We live in a Hispanic community and I desperately want to be able to communicate. I work at a high school and would love to freely talk to our Spanish speaking students and teachers. I don't like being singularly lingual. It feels uncomfortably elite. 

Spanish is such a beautiful language. I attempted to learn it in high school, but learning it conversationally is much different than shuffling through all the grammatical lingo.

I'm hoping that in the next few years I will be at the point of fluency. I know it will take tons of hours and practice to get there but I get giddy about the possibilities it could bring.

12 Skills in 12 Months: February Round-Up

For February, my focus was organizing. Multiple bags of clothes, shoes, jewelry and even some craft supplies were given away.  The bathroom, jewelry box, closet, studio and part of the kitchen are all more orderly. I didn't get many before shots because I kept starting projects at night without good lighting. But here are a few places that were transformed.

Now I feel ready for Spring!

Next up, the skill for March is drawing. I'm looking forward to this!
Related Posts: January's Round-Up

So . . . Organizing?

For my 12 for 12 challenge, this month's skill is organization.

Ehew boy.

I've said before (approximately 232,365 times), I'm not organized.  At least not in a normal way. Sure my sock drawer is color-coded, but that's a tiny manageable place. The big important places, as in places people actually see, nada, no organization there. Piles of art stuff all over my art table and desk. My family may not know there's a top to the table or that there even IS a desk.

On to February--my focus is organization and I came prepared. I've got all kinds of organization books. I collect, just don't commit. I've been browsing them and getting my mind ready for what my hands need to do. One of my first books is Flylady's Sink Reflections. She says you can't organize clutter you must get rid of it. So my first order of business is getting rid of stuff. How many art supplies should one keep on hand? Nevermind, don't answer that. Maybe I'll start in the kitchen.

I'm also pouring over Confessions of an Organized Homemaker and Use What You Have Decorating to inspire me to see what things could be (as well as Pinterest, but getting online is dangerous). I'll admit, even though I don't like to organize, I like when things are organized. My heart leaps at the thought of knowing where everything is and everything having a place.

Please pass on tips if you're the organized brand. I have a feeling that "pick-up-as-you-go" and "never-handle-a-piece-of-paper-twice" will be among them. Mom has been telling me those two since childhood. For the record, she's very organized. *wishful sigh*

I'll be posting updates soon. Hopefully some fun Before and After pics! *bites nails* This could be revealing.

12 Skills in 12 Months: January Round-Up

One of my goals for the new year was to stop talking about things I want to learn and just LEARN them. It's part of my quest to become more creative, so each month I'm delving into one skill. Some of them I already know but need improvement on, others I don't know at all. I'm not pressuring myself to master any of these, but I'd like to have a working knowledge of them by the end of the designated month. If you have book recommendations or classes you've taken in any of these skills (or if you know how to do them and would want to give some tips), please pass them on!! I'll be sharing my process at the end of each month.

Since January's skill was photography, I'll share a little of my journey. Exposing myself by showing more of me and my life has been somewhat rattling. But I want to be more vulnerable and willing to be honest about my world so this is a step in doing that. I also knew that putting myself in front of the camera with the In the Picture project would be hard but stretching, and it has been. I've noticed I tend to take wide shots instead of honing in on details; I'll be changing that. Hopefully taking pictures will get easier to do as I continue through this year. I've shared my photos here along the way so I'll just spotlight a sampling in case you've missed them:

I console myself that these beginning photos will show me how far I've journeyed by the end of the year. You know, like the Before and After shots of people losing weight? Only this will be the photo kind.