As we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence actually liberates others.  ~Marianne Williamson I'm still keeping up with my 52 Weeks from the Heart projects, but I did miss my blog post last week. Life has been a little crazy. And I'm dangerously close to skipping this week's blog post. Rather than allowing myself to slip further behind in my 52 Weeks from the Heart project, I thought I'd still share my projects without an elaborate blog post. I created the light bulb canvas last week and the Heidi Swappe marquee letter this week. Here's to staying open, moving forward, and letting my light shine, even if it's faint. In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.  ~Albert Schweitzer

Love. I have chosen this as the focus of today's 52 Weeks from the Heart project. It seems quite fitting with Valentine's Day tomorrow. And not only is it a good chance to celebrate romantic love and the love of family and friends but also self love. I sometimes struggle with this when I beat myself up for not living up to my often unrealistic expectations or when I fail to take the time to care for myself. I need to remember to share the love with myself. “You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection” ~ Buddha “Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.”~ Lucille Ball “If only you could sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.”~ Fred Rogers “To love oneself is the beginning of a life-...

Magic is believing in yourself. If you can do that you can make anything happen. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Today marks the start of a new month in my 52 Weeks from the Heart project. In January, I chose projects that utilized paper in some way. This month I'm excited to focus on something a bit different--Light. Each project this month will feature light in one way or another as I explore various weekly themes. The theme I chose for this week is "Believe." "Believe" is a big word for me and my family. In fact, it was my younger daughter's first site word when learning to read since I have such a big "believe" collection hanging throughout the house. The reason for this is my relationship with my husband. We have "believe in the magic" engraved in our wedding rings because we first held hands at Disneyland, later got engaged in Disneyland, and then got married at Christmastime. There is nothing more magical for me than Chr...

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.  ~unknown It's time to check in with my health goals for 2015 . I've had my ups and downs this past month, but all in all I'm getting there. I traveled at least 115 miles by foot (I did miss one day with my FitBit ), with 31.5 miles of running. I'm still following a Jeff Galloway running plan as I prepare for the Tinkerbell Half Marathon in May. I've enjoyed the program with it's run/walk approach to training. I am currently running with a 2 minute run/1 minute walk ratio which seems to encourage faster running, since I know I'll quickly have a minute to walk and recover. My 10 year old daughter has decided to run with me once a week, which I really love. I run a lot slower than she can, so she's a bundle of chatty energy as she stays back with me. It's priceless bonding time. I'm about to add a day of yoga with my 7 year old daughter (that's more her speed), so I'll be sure to check...

My Create Word Art (from the Blue Line 30x30 exhibit) & a favorite Create pin/quote by Sandra Magsamen Creating brings me such joy, whether it's baking a cake, cooking a meal, taking a photo, writing a blog post, or painting a canvas.  ~from my article in the Summer 2011 Create With Me magazine. I chose to focus on the theme of "Create" this week because it is a powerful concept. As I mentioned in the opening quote of this post, creativity can be expressed in many ways. When preparing meals or special baked treats for loved ones. When putting pen to paper to write a blog post or a journal entry or a thank you card. When capturing both proud and everyday moments with a camera, etc.. But often "create" or "creative" is only linked to artistic expression. But really "create" means so much more. We create our lives with our choices. We can create our mood with the thoughts we choose to dwell on (easier said than done, but still true...

This week I chose the word "Action" as my theme. Action seems to be big on everyone's mind this time of year as we all continue to tackle our New Year's resolutions. In fact, my beloved Weight Watchers leader, Teresa , chose "Action" as her word this year. Using both the word itself and Teresa as inspiration I decided to create an "Action" word art this week. I know I already started the 52 weeks challenge with my " Open " word art, but it was more collage than typical By Jen word art. Not only that, but I've silently been trying to pick projects that utilize paper as a material for the month of January. So I went to work creating new word art. When laying out my words, I typically place the frames horizontally, but since I was drawing inspiration from Teresa I decided to use a magic wand, which was rather tall, for the "I." Teresa has been known to wave her magic wand from time to time when helping us through our weight...

Two weeks into the year and I'm already feeling overwhelmed. The   2015 miles in 2015   challenge,   resuming Weight Watchers   with the need to really lose 20+ lbs, a new creative project every week, not to mention all the usual stuff that fills our everyday lives. It's exhausting and I am struggling. Somehow I thought starting the new year was going to magically make this all easier. But now that I've started it's proven to be just as challenging as it was last year. But it's still worth the effort. And to help me out a bit, this week I thought I'd focus on the theme "Inspiration."  Inspiration often energizes me as I make changes both big and small, chosen and otherwise. And inspiration will most definitely fuel this   52 Weeks from the Hear t project. For a while now I've been envisioning a book of inspirational quotes using a   pocket scrapbooking/Project Life   style, much like the one created by   Rebecca Cooper . I love qu...

I'm starting a creative adventure for 2015 which I will refer to as 52 Weeks from the Heart. While frantically making  30 art pieces in 30 days   for the   local art gallery   last year, I listened to various music playlists and podcasts, including Tiffany Han's podcast,   Raise Your Hand and Say Yes . In the interview with artist   Jen Hewitt , Jen spoke of having a " passion project ." For the entire year of 2014, she explored and learned about print making by giving herself a weekly project. I was really intrigued by this idea. A passion project seemed like a wonderful way to stay inspired while learning and practicing new and old creative techniques. It seemed like it could provide me the structure I sometimes thrive on, like a training plan for a race. It could encourage me to continue creating throughout the year, giving me an outlet for my emotions. It could give me a regular push to keep creating and being open to life. It sounded l...

It's a new year full of hope and promise. A time of blank pages and fresh starts. There's an energy in the air. I'm going to take advantage of this energy and excitement and start a few things of my own as I   open   myself back up to life. After months of emotional eating and little motivation to move, it's time for me to get serious about my health. And here's my plan and pledge: 1.   This year, 2015, I will travel at least 2015 miles by foot , whether it be the miles I walk daily or the miles I run as I train for race(s). This is inspired by   Run the Edge's virtual race . I know many participating are only counting running miles or are working as teams, but after much consideration this plan is the best for me. 2015 miles would be too many miles for me to run only. There would be too high a risk of injury for me at this point. But 2015 miles, both run and walked, would be an amazing accomplishment. Too often the   Fitbit   that l...

It's crazy to think another year has passed by. I started 2014 with grand plans to attack life and live big. I felt so bold that I chose "Legendary" to be my word for 2014, representing my desire to really live my life. To be active rather than passively let life pass me by. I was filled with excitement for my 40th birthday in March. But then I lost my dad unexpectedly in April. Life suddenly changed. I spent much of the year on a roller coaster of varying emotions. So much emotion that I couldn't really handle it all without retreating and shutting down from life. It's been a tough year to say the least. But I'm back here on my blog today, choosing a word for 2015, because I am hopeful for the new year. I didn't spend a lot of time choosing my word. My word crossed my path when I wasn't searching. It seemed to choose me. My word for 2015 is "Open." It is time to be open. Open to life and to living. Open to possibility. Open to change. ...

Recently, I've started taking brave steps towards living the life of my dreams. Now when I say that, it almost implies I'm unhappy with my life right now. But that couldn't be further from the truth. I'm blessed beyond belief. I have a family I love, friends I cherish, good health, a beautiful home, etc.. It just means there's still more my heart wants to share and there's still more I want to do as I live a life that honors my values. So I'd like to share a few of my first brave steps.... A couple weeks ago, in the early morning, I was checking email and noticed an email from my previous life coach, Tiffany Han . I really loved working with her, so I continue to follow all the amazing and inspiring stuff that she does. This email was announcing the launch of her new program, 100 rejection letters . It's a year long program that encourages action despite the possibility of rejection and in the face of fear. It seemed like just the right thing a...

For the past couple weeks, I've found myself reconnecting with my interest in photography and it's been nice. I've revisited resources I had been collecting and I've found a few new ones. Last week in a random fashion I discovered Rebecca Cooper 's Capture Life Workshop at Big Picture Classes just days before it started, so I jumped at the opportunity. We're now in week two and I'm really enjoying the class. She's shared good photo tips, but also a lot of encouragement to take more everyday moment photos. What better way to notice and appreciate the stuff that makes up our lives. I've also been reading a couple photography books, like Shooting with Soul by Alessandra Cave and Art of Everyday Photography  by Susan Tuttle. Alessandra Cave's book is filled with fun exercises that I hope to try someday, but right now I'm really soaking in all the information that Susan Tuttle has shared in her most recent book. I've been highlighting ...

Our new front room As I mentioned last post, I've been finding some comfort in taking care of creative projects around the house. Art can be quite therapeutic. I know that home decor projects don't typically come to mind when thinking of art, but it's been a great creative outlet for me. It's brought me much satisfaction in the past several months. I hope to eventually share all of our projects, so today I'll start with our most recent completion--our front room makeover.  Our fireplace mantle makeover Our new leather sofa bed and fun throw pillows You might remember that we built a tee pee in our front room over a year ago. We worked on it as a family and it showed all of our personalities. It was made with pink and blue fabric that the girls chose (Becca being my blue girl and Kat being into pink). We hung twinkle lights and threw huge bean bags inside for reading. And it was magical.  The tee pee we built in May 2013 Well, the tee pee...

Yesterday I started writing a blog post about how I've coped with the loss of my dad in numerous ways, one of them being emotional eating. I've used other tools to cope, like retreating from the world or binge watching TV shows (like Gilmore Girls or Mad Men) or completing various creative house projects (I hope to share in future posts), but emotional eating has been a big one. Taking comfort in food seemed to numb the pain a bit. My intention with the blog post was to share how I've recently noticed that emotional eating not only dulled the pain, but also the joy.  An interesting juxtaposition. The idea had been introduced to me in the past with Guidepost #3 in Brené Brown 's book, The Gifts of Imperfection , but I didn't truly understand or appreciate it until now.  As I've begun to focus on my health again ( I have an extra 15lbs to lose due to my emotional eating) , I noticed that I've felt much happier like the emotion itself was stronger. But ...

It's unbelievable how fast the summer has flown by. I realize that Fall hasn't truly began, but my daughter's July 26th birthday almost marks the beginning of the anticipation for me. Shortly after her birthday the stores launch into Back-to-school mode and I get excited (like my favorite Staples commercial .... It's the most wonderful time of the year). It marks the start to my favorite time of year, i.e. the last half. Christmas is my absolute favorite, but I also love all the fun leading up to it. I'm a sucker for Fall and all the pumpkin decor and pumpkin spice flavored foods. I love football season, even though I rarely sit long enough to watch an entire game. I just enjoy those crisp, fall days when all the windows can be open and the sound of football on TV can be heard in the background. I love Halloween, especially because it's my first daughter's actual birthday. And thanksgiving, with all the yummy food and time spent feeling grateful with f...

Today is as good as any to start doing the things that I want to do, the things that make me happy and healthy. This message seems to be all around me, especially this morning.  For instance, several weeks ago I decided to go back to using By Jen for my blog, because it feel like it encompasses all of me whereas Running on Inspiration is really just a portion of who I am. So in prep to go back to my By Jen identity, I contacted Etsy and Facebook about changing. After a little bit of processing, today is the day that my Facebook page officially changed from Running on Inspiration to By Jen. And this morning is also my usual Weight Watchers meeting morning. But I hadn't been to meetings for several weeks partially because my leader, Teresa , had gone on vacation, but partially because I had managed to return to meetings all summer, yet still gain weight. So I thought maybe it wasn't the right thing for me now. But something made me check the meeting topic online this...

Magic outside the comfort zone     f/6.3, 1/160 sec, ISO 200 When I chose "Magic" for my next theme, I did it with intention of sharing this photo of my husband. He was about to push outside his comfort zone and participate in his first triathlon (that's his assigned race number written on his arm) and if I've learned anything, magic happens as you push yourself outside your comfort zone. My marathon gave me the chance to experience that kind of magic firsthand. And it was inspiring to witness my husbands own magic moment. I'm so very proud of him. With the theme, "magic" I also intended to share a photo of my girls, especially the magic in their smiles. They are just the most amazing girls and I am grateful everyday that I have the privilege of being their mom. I was also going to share my husband's and my motto, "Believe in the magic," which we even have engraved in our wedding bands. Our motto came out of our love story (b...

A couple weeks ago, my friend Kelly invited me to participate in an ongoing blog tour and I accepted her invitation thinking it would be good for me. I thought it might help get me going again with my blog and photo project. But life has been busy, so I'm not as caught up or prepared as I was hoping. But I'm trying. So here goes. The tour comes with several questions: What am I working on? This is where I should be sharing my creative projects, like my 40 in 40 photo project , but if I'm truly being honest, what I'm really working on right now is taking life one day at a time. My dad recently passed away and needless to say, it's been hard. Each day comes with new challenges. The first couple weeks, I took time off, I cried, I talked, I reflected, I grieved, etc.. I slowed down and paused. But then somehow life started rushing by again and it's been difficult. The world is carrying on around me at a fast and busy pace, yet I'm still standing still, ...

 Silliness   f/9.0, 1/320 sec, ISO 100 Making memories     f/3.5, 1/100 sec, ISO 3200 We enjoyed another fun-filled weekend, this time celebrating friendship. Friends make everything better. Week Eleven's theme, Magic

My rock and my inspiration     f/4.2, 1/320 sec, ISO 400 Nikon Selfie     f/3.5, 1/125 sec, ISO 560 My family and I spent some much needed time together this past Memorial Day weekend. We made tons of wonderful memories. I am forever grateful for my family. Week Ten's theme, Friends