A while back I ran across a YouTube video on Nature Journals, the one above to be exact. It totally pulled me in and I promised to come back to the idea when I had some more time. I know this isn't something I am going to be able to do everyday or even every week but I'm excited about giving it a try.

natu·ral·ist- noun

1. a person who studies nature, esp. by direct observation of animals and plants
2. a person who believes in or practices naturalism in any form

Anyone can be or become a naturalist and as a pantheist pagan my worldview and spirituality includes the observance of nature.

A nature journal is a journal of writings and drawings of your observations while in nature. There are many "kinds" of nature journals and I haven't yet figured out which I plan to pursue.

Basically, I'm looking more for a spiritual reflection than a scientific one, although the line between the two, for me, is a little blurred. I want to hone my observation skills and relate what I see in nature to my life and how it applies to me.

The natural world is full of wonders and treasures waiting to be found and observed. We just need to stand still long enough to see them.

While I was at the park last week, I had my laptop with me doing some studying. I finally put it down and started to observe the river, the grass, the rock and I noticed a beautiful large bird sitting on the other side of the river. It just seemed to blend in and I probably glanced past it more than five times since I got there. I also doubt anyone else saw it.

The one thing I worry about is the drawing part. I'm no artist but from what I'm reading and learning the drawings don't have to be exact, it's for your reference. You can use photo's but most agree that drawing will help you observe and notice more of what you're looking at.

It is important to help students understand that no one starts out as an expert. Moreover, nature journaling is primarily intended to support the development of observation skills, not artistic creation. The drawings serve the purpose of encouraging close attention and providing visual evidence of what the student has observed and learned, and create a running visual record of their experiences. It is important to let students know that their drawings can be significant and informative even if they "don't look good". The Nature Journal as a Tool for Learning by Karen Matsumoto

I love the journals with color drawings. I'm leaning toward color pencils but I've been watching YouTube videos on watercolor crayons and they look neat. Here's a short clip on it but there are tons of tutorials and demonstrations on YouTube.


Your thoughts and analysis is also as important, if not more so, than your drawings. If you don't know what something is, draw as much as you can remember or describe it in the journal and look it up when you get home. You can also carry a field guide to help with identification. This really helps you learn the names of what is growing and living around you.

Pressed Flowers and leaf rubbings are a easy and fast way to get what you're looking at into your journal.

The basic info most natural journals have are:

• Date
• Time
  
• Weather
• Location
• Observances (both human and non-human)

I'm sure you'll be seeing more about this topic here on my blog and I might even share my ugly drawings with you if I'm feeling extra brave.

While I was trying to figure out what Alanis' opinion was of Beyonce doing her song I saw that she has a "Write Alanis" feature every month. The previous topics looked pretty darn good so I thought I'd give it a shot. I missed Jan so we'll start with Feb.

I had to take some time to think about this one.

After some thought I figured out that most of my relaxing experiences take place in nature. When we go camping, most of the time, I am so relaxed and at peace.

But to choose just one experience as the most relaxing in recent times, I'd have to say it was the Serendipity Cabin weekend for Terri's Birthday last year. It was such a beautiful and peaceful place and the river was just breath-taking and serene. There was no civilaztion to be found. We stay immersed in nature and didn't see a single person while there, except for one family on the hike.

Sitting on the porch eating breakfast, reading a good book, and listening to the sound of the river was just incredibly relaxing. I'm hoping we'll be able to go back this year at some point. It was all the comforts of home surrounded by the tallest mountain on the east coast and a gorgeous river wrapped into one undeniably relaxing package.

I didn't watch the Grammy's this year. We were just too into the X-Games but I did see a lot of the performances on YouTube and here are my thoughts:

Lady G - rocked it out with Elton! I wasn't very interested in Gaga until I saw this amazing old footage of her in college without all the crap. I realized only then just how talented she is. I don't understand all the costumes and stuff. She really doesn't need it. I get creative expression but maybe I just don't get what she's trying to express.


Beyonce - I'll be honest. I'm not a fan. I was glad she did an Alanis song but I didn't think she did it well, just my opinion.

P!nk - I love her. She keeps it real. She inspires and empowers me. Most of her music speaks right to my soul. Her performance was by far the best one that night.


Taylor & Stevie - Again, not a fan. I think this chick is highly overrated. I just don't get all the hype. Every time I've heard her live she hasn't sounded as good as she does in the studio. Stevie is a legend and a goddess. It was great watching her perform.

Overall it looked like a great show.

Last week was a great trial run of me being at home and just going to school. Since I can't change my classes to mornings until next semester I'm hoping to be able to get some things done. I want to make up for the lack of money by gaining more time.

We divide our chores up pretty evenly around here and for the most part, neither of us is complaining about that set up. But with me having a little more time I'm hoping to take up some of Terri's chores so we can free up even more time individually and as a couple, both during the week and on the weekends.

There is one thing that I just will not take over and that's the cooking. This is for two main reasons. I hate cooking (except the few times a year when I feel inspired) and Terri really loves it.

Since I'm going to school at night our dinner schedule has been thrown off a bit. Also I feel it's important for Terri to have some extra time to do things she wants to do so I've taken to doing as much prep as possible.

If she's using a recipe, I'll pull out all the ingredients that don't need refrigeration and prep some of the food if it makes sense and doesn't ruin the quality of the ingredients. I'll set out the pots I think she'll use and the knife's. This allows Terri to have some time to herself, which she normally uses to woodwork, workout, or watch a movie she knows I wouldn't like before having to prepare dinner. It makes the prep time so much faster also!

I didn't do it everyday and it's not something that's expected of me, which I appreciate, but it is something I hope to do as often as makes sense. She really loves it. The first time I did it she said she felt like Emeril, lol!

For me it's an easy 10 minute task that brings a smile to her face and time for her to spend doing what she wants. She puts so much love and thought into our food and meal planning. I'll never be able to even stand in her shadow when it comes to cooking. But there is always an abundance of mutual respect and appreciation at my house from both ends. It's rare for me to finish a meal and not give her a kiss and say thank you.

One thing I've learned over the years is you can have time or you can have money but it's very difficult to acquire both. I've also realized that both Terri and I value our time over money. We both enjoy so many hobbies and activities and I'm hoping that even though our income is shrinking our quality of life will expand immeasurably.

Remember that beautiful day on Thursday? Well, water came down, temps got low and we got about a inch of ice the very next day! We didn't get any snow, which made me sad but the ice was beautiful.

We had planned to be holed up in the house anyway, watching the Winter X-Games but this gave us a much better excuse! We played wii, cooked some yumminess, and snuggled. A great weekend!

Sat. January 30th, 2010
1:18 am EST

I'm a little confused this month about the moon. Technically, this is the first full moon of the year but some of my correspondence say this is the second. I've decided to stick with the cold moon because it makes more sense to me.

The Cold Moon of capricorn sails across the southern sky. Her pure light shines on fields white with snow or fields bare and brown, on waters that move slowly with cold or hide beneath an icy covering. The winter world guards its secrets well, but Cold Moon knows them all. This stillness is not death but sleep, in which the world renews itself, awaiting Spring. The Cold Moon knows where every secret seed is resting. This is her wisdom.

The passage above came from the book Grandmother Moon by Z Budapest. I got this one for Christmas and it's very good and extremely informative. The moon has been extremely bright this month and I'm interested to see what kind of energies she throws off tonight. This moon is also known as the Wolf Moon.

Imbolc is fast approaching and it's my least celebrated sabbat. Maybe that's because it comes at such a dormant time of year for me or maybe its because it comes so close to the winding down of the holidays. I don't know. But it's rare I recognize this sabbat in any way special other than noting the day it is.

But let me tell you about Imbolc (IM-bulk). Imbolc literally means "ewes milk". This year it arrives on Feb 2nd. For most pagan and wiccans Imbolc is one of the Celtic festivals. The fire festival to be exact. Most pay homage to the triple goddess Brighid at this time and make candles. The Maiden aspect of the goddess is honored at this time of year and that's reflected in Brighid, who the Catholics latter turned into a saint. Themes of this time include purity, re-newal, and growth. Symbols include candles wheels, and the most popular Brighid's cross.

Again I tend to mainly celebrate the seasonal cycle but I note these sabbats as the special and historic days of the year that they are.

I had a really great day today. First I went to the coffee shop and got some things done. Then I went home, picked up my favorite furry guy, and headed to the park. We walked around the park with me thinking and him sniffing enjoying a beautiful day.

Latter we ran an errand, picked up lunch and headed back to another park where we ate and settled down to study. Rascal really enjoyed the one-on-one time and all the smells. I really enjoyed being outside. I really want my days to be like today when I stop working. I little fun, a little spirit, a little family, and a little studying. Good times.



I feel relaxed, refreshed, and peaceful. It's a great feeling. Now it's time for class and probably a quiz tonight. Wish me luck!

Today I am coming to you live from a local coffee/sammie place. I needed to get out of the house and get some stuff done.

Last night my marketing instructor talked about Mission Statements for businesses and the role they play in Marketing. He also encouraged us to create our own personal mission statement.

Maybe it's the Capricorn in me but this really appealed to me. Businesses use a mission statement to clearly define their purpose and to (hopefully) guide their goals and decisions. So why not have a personal mission statement defining your purpose.

After doing some looking around online I found out that most effective personal mission statements are simple, clear, and brief. They are personal, for obvious reasons, meaningful, and positive.

A personal mission statement is a brief description of what you want to focus on, what you want to accomplish and who you want to become in a particular area of your life over the next one to three years. It is a way to focus your energy, actions, behaviors and decisions towards the things that are most important to you. Source

So I did some journalling about what I want to focus on, become, and accomplish in the next one to three years and here's what I came up with. This is my personal mission statement:

My mission is a focus on education, family, and personal development. I will achieve personal and intellectual growth in order to become a productive and prosperous student, member of my family, and citizen of the earth.

I really enjoyed both the process and the resulting mission statement. I'd encourage all of you to think about your personal mission statement and, if you're comfortable, I'd love to hear what you come up with!

I wrote and drew my mission statement on a single page in my journal. I also plan to put it other places where I'll see it daily. Creating a mission statement is a great way to stay focused on what truly matters most to you.

Because my classes can last pretty late, that normally means a late dinner. Every week since starting school I've created some custom trail mix and I love it. Read more on our food blog, Williams Kitchen - Made with love.

Over the last month or so Terri and I have been preparing for my exodus from the working world. We planned for that to happen after my first semester but I'm just done. I'm done trying to convince myself to get out of bed one more day and go to a place I don't want to be. Now that I've had a taste of student life again, and what it feels like to enjoy doing something, it makes work leave an even more bitter taste in my mouth.

So what does this mean? This means huge changes which I alluded to in my new years posts. We've worked out the financials and it's going to be an adjustment but it's completely doable. We're actually moving to one income right now so as to have as much in savings as possible.

I'm over the moon happy about this and Terri is 100% behind me and supportive. I figure I'll be out of work for two years. Once I transfer to University I'll probably start back working part-time, hopefully in the accounting field. Starting next semester I'll move my classes from nights to days and up them from 3 classes to 4 or 5 classes. School will be my full time job!

This has left me with some vacation time that I want to use before I lose. This week I'm using the first of my three weeks vacation. I don't think I'll get in all my vacation before I resign but I'll use as much as I think I can get away with.

The plan is to turn in my resignation at the end of Feb!

I'm excited about the future and I know I'm making the right decision. I've thought about it long and hard and Terri and I have been having conversations for the past three months about it. We've looked at it from all angles and feel like we have our bases covered and this is a good decision.

Some one asked me what I would do if my work offered me more money to stay. I had to really think about that before I answered. First, I don't think they would but after some thought I quickly came to the conclusion that it's not really about the money, it's about my happiness. I haven't been happy with my career for the last three years. It's time to do something different, something fearless!