Looking Back

June is over. Half the year already history. Time flies so fast.

So what have I done in my personal life to make the first semester so worthwhile? Well, I promised myself at the start of 2006 that I’d get a move on the projects I slacked off in 2005. Here’s what I can check off my To Do list:

Family Newsletter
I had been planning this for ages and I could never seem to get this going. A year and a couple of months had passed before Project Newsletter finally saw first print. Despite the delay, I took it as a good sign that it pushed through in 2006. First issue covering first quarter of the year. An omen, a good omen. The 2nd quarter issue is still in the works, though. T’will be ready pretty soon, my clan, just you wait. Details on the first issue in the entry above.

Isaac’s Footprints Frame
When I was still pregnant, I spotted a memory frame of a baby’s footprints in a pregnancy mag. So pretty and so touching, it documented important milestones: size of baby’s feet at newborn, six months and one year. I knew I had to make one too! So when Isaac was born, I dutifully took his footprints. Yaya Rose was a big help. It is not simple to take good, clean prints! When 2006 rolled in and my boy turned 1, I got his prints too but alas, I set them all aside until I forgot they needed to be framed. I only had this done sometime April. It’s beautiful, don’t you think?

Preparations for Isaac’s 1st Birthday Party
Being the big dreamer that I am, I plan in advance and I build grand and wonderful castles in the air. I literally started cooking up concepts for Isaac’s first birthday party while giving birth. Ok, so I’m fibbing. I did that when he was 3 months old, just after the Thanksgiving luncheon Tots and I hosted for his baptism.

But being the slacker that I am, I only get moving at the 11th hour. January is Isaac’s birth month and by the time December rolled by, all my plans were still in total disarray. I had a jumble of ideas and concepts that definitely wouldn’t work when put together so I really needed to choose. I didn’t know what I wanted exactly and Isaac’s birthday was barely 60 days away. I always did this, always. I was a mess.

And yet, being the master magician that I can be, I managed to concoct a fantasy party that would make Martha S. proud. Read about what I did in the entry above.

Hmmm, writing all of this down suddenly makes me realize I’ve actually accomplished a lot. I could have done more, I suppose, only I’ve also got a day job. But not bad, not bad at all. For the rest of the year, I plan to:

- Complete the one year Newsletter collection. That means 4 issues. Hopefully by the end of the year, it will have a proper name. Family Newsletter will actually be an ongoing project for as long as the clan will want to receive family tidbits.

Second quarter issue to be released very soon. I need to beef up my meetings with my newsletter team to discuss what to cover for July to September, October to December and issues of beyond.

- Scrapbook. The “scraps” and memories and things I’ve jotted just keep piling up. Wedding, vacations, Isaac, other miscellaneous stuff. If I slack on it some more, I’ll be looking at a mountain of memories that will take eons to sort through. Then I’ll tire off from getting it done. That doesn’t sound like the fun it’s meant to be.

- Lifecast molds. My new and favorite hobby! Probably why I slacked off on my scrapbooks. I just started a couple of months back and I’m ever so excited! I have to get a really good cast of Isaac’s hands and feet. That’s the most important for now. He grows so fast! After I polish and frame a good pair, hmmm lemme see, I'd love to make a cast of mine and Tots' hands entwined. That'll be oh so special.

And on a serious note, I got to pay off some debts. And discuss further with hubby our plans for the business we had in mind. :P