With this motto in mind and positive thoughts I pushed through and made 2012 a great year. Now I want to look back and share the things I learned in 2012.
January 2012.
I had made a list of needs. Things I felt I needed to a) get to work b) do more freelance design work and c) accomplish some goals I had set for myself. In January of 2012 I bought myself a laptop. My G4 desktop had kicked the bucket and I wanted/needed to have a computer.
Most of January was cold, rainy, and we were sick and broke. Kind of a gray start to such a great year.
February 2012
I had an idea to throw a local musicians swap meet/garage sale and the idea became reality in February of 2012. I learned that ideas are awesome when they manifest into something great for the scene. I won a Kindle fire off a survey I took for one of the advertisers on my blog. Hayden calls it "mommy's big phone."
I also started to try some Healthy Eating. That didn't last long but at least I tried.
March 2012
March was a month of change. Some negative sources were eliminated in a big way. I kept my lips sealed about it for the sake of being "a better person" and tried to be positive about the whole thing. Looking back I'm so glad it happened. Negative people who cause drama in our lives are not welcomed in any form; friend or family and things have been great without them all. With that release of negativity came a windfall of positivity in our lives. It pretty much started with my 32nd birthday
I had an amazing 32nd birthday. It was a Quentin Tarrantino themed party.
I learned that my band, my friends, and my husband loved the themed parties and trying to find costumes in the middle of March. I also learned that things were on the right track for us.
Right before the show Hayden and I got sick. A little cold of sorts. I learned not to push myself too hard at shows when sick. That cold turned into walking pneumonia and I was out of commission for five whole days.
April 2012
In April I learned that I had to keep my best foot forward and work on improving things constantly. Things were still rough for us financially, and only having one vehicle was taking it's toll. We got better after being ill for a while. Then tackled one of the big things on my bucket list of making a music video. We started the process with our friend/director Calvin and with the help of some more awesome friends who filled the rest of the shots to make it look like a good time. I learned that the music video process is longer than expected, and that I don't like to watch myself on video that much.
May 2012
We formed a secret band with the same exact band members to play the same exact songs with addition of a few covers for a friends birthday. We tried for weeks to come up with a cool name and ended up using the Rock Band name Hayden and Chris had come up with months prior; Penguin Throwup. I learned that dressing up as penguins and playing a show is a lot of fun. This was also the month that after about 8 months of working at it things were finally fixed in our marriage.
June 2012
In June Hayden graduated from Kindergarten and started losing teeth. My band got a decent review in a local magazine. I learned that the Lake Mead beaches aren't too bad. I also learned that if you work really hard to attain a goal, speak to your bosses to make a change for the better and prove yourself that it sometimes works out to your benefit.
July 2012
We celebrated the 4th of July, then Brian's Birthday, then Hayden's 6th birthday and then our 13th anniversary of meeting each other.
I learned I can handle all of this stuff. And then....I GOT A PROMOTION AND A RAISE which helped start the process of fixing our financial problems. For the record our "problems" weren't as bad as a lot of other peoples problems. We weren't hugely in debt, losing a home or out of work like most. We were just struggling with household bills, only having one vehicle when we really needed two, and picking ourselves up after some other issues. Our problems were an easier fix than most and with the promotion we were able to fix these issues quickly.
August 2012
In August we started recording our sixth album Amor Fati. I learned a lot about how different recording experiences can be from one guitar player, to one producer, to one studio, to the next. I also learned that I was not cursed with getting sick before recording any longer like I had been the last five recording experiences. We took a vacation at the end of August to visit Brian's family in Washington state. It was a hectic trip but we got to spend some quality time together in Portland that was nice. I learned that even in Washington, it can't rain all the time. Visiting the rose gardens in Portland was one of my favorite things we did this year.
September 2012
In September I learned that my approach of being direct is good in business. An unfortunate lesson was that sometimes people suffer silently when they should really reach out to those around them.
At the end of September I learned not to be scared of buying stuff on eBay. Like a car. I purchased a vehicle from an eBay motors auction and ended up getting an awesome deal for half of blue book value. I celebrated with a fancy manicure and white wine. Then we took a road trip to California to pick up the new car whom I think I will name Green Disco. On that trip we reconnected with our always amazing friends Heather and Steve, parents of Hayden's BFF Julian.
October 2012
We learned how amazing the Springs Preserve is. We learned that 1st grade homework is no joke. We celebrated our 13th anniversary together. We had a blast on Halloween.
November 2012
I learned that I valued the opportunity to vote more than I expected.
Hayden learned that snow tastes like ice.
We played some amazing shows and attended an amazing Deftones show. We celebrated Hanksgiving with good friends. Hayden learned to mix foods to get great tastes like carrots and onion dip. He also won his first electric guitar from a great locally owned music store.
December 2012
This month has been a month of gratitude for such a great year. We celebrated an amazing Christmas together and reminded ourselves that our lives together are pretty amazing.
I really feel like I use the words amazing and awesome a lot. I'm not worried about it though cause I'm HAPPY and GRATEFUL for every little bit of this life I get to have.
This year we tackled some problems and knocked them right out of our lives.
We upgraded some material things, visited family, taught a lot of valuable lessons to our child, worked hard to push forward with progress in the band, and cultivated important friendships with valuable amazing people.
July 2012
We celebrated the 4th of July, then Brian's Birthday, then Hayden's 6th birthday and then our 13th anniversary of meeting each other.
I learned I can handle all of this stuff. And then....I GOT A PROMOTION AND A RAISE which helped start the process of fixing our financial problems. For the record our "problems" weren't as bad as a lot of other peoples problems. We weren't hugely in debt, losing a home or out of work like most. We were just struggling with household bills, only having one vehicle when we really needed two, and picking ourselves up after some other issues. Our problems were an easier fix than most and with the promotion we were able to fix these issues quickly.
August 2012
In August we started recording our sixth album Amor Fati. I learned a lot about how different recording experiences can be from one guitar player, to one producer, to one studio, to the next. I also learned that I was not cursed with getting sick before recording any longer like I had been the last five recording experiences. We took a vacation at the end of August to visit Brian's family in Washington state. It was a hectic trip but we got to spend some quality time together in Portland that was nice. I learned that even in Washington, it can't rain all the time. Visiting the rose gardens in Portland was one of my favorite things we did this year.
September 2012
In September I learned that my approach of being direct is good in business. An unfortunate lesson was that sometimes people suffer silently when they should really reach out to those around them.
At the end of September I learned not to be scared of buying stuff on eBay. Like a car. I purchased a vehicle from an eBay motors auction and ended up getting an awesome deal for half of blue book value. I celebrated with a fancy manicure and white wine. Then we took a road trip to California to pick up the new car whom I think I will name Green Disco. On that trip we reconnected with our always amazing friends Heather and Steve, parents of Hayden's BFF Julian.
October 2012
We learned how amazing the Springs Preserve is. We learned that 1st grade homework is no joke. We celebrated our 13th anniversary together. We had a blast on Halloween.
November 2012
I learned that I valued the opportunity to vote more than I expected.
Hayden learned that snow tastes like ice.
We played some amazing shows and attended an amazing Deftones show. We celebrated Hanksgiving with good friends. Hayden learned to mix foods to get great tastes like carrots and onion dip. He also won his first electric guitar from a great locally owned music store.
December 2012
This month has been a month of gratitude for such a great year. We celebrated an amazing Christmas together and reminded ourselves that our lives together are pretty amazing.
I really feel like I use the words amazing and awesome a lot. I'm not worried about it though cause I'm HAPPY and GRATEFUL for every little bit of this life I get to have.
This year we tackled some problems and knocked them right out of our lives.
We upgraded some material things, visited family, taught a lot of valuable lessons to our child, worked hard to push forward with progress in the band, and cultivated important friendships with valuable amazing people.
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