On this page, Alison Arden writes about deciding to celebrate her birthday in November, because her regularly scheduled September was much too full.  When I first read this I thought "I love my birthday, I don't want to move it", and continued page flipping, not sure what 'unmovable' thing I needed to move. 

And then came February. I love my birthday, it is the day before my sister-in-law's birthday, and I love getting phone calls from my family and extra special mail. It is fun reason to go out, and helps justify buying extra cute socks at Target (they're not for me!). My husband however is not a fan of my birthday being a mere 2 days before the dreaded Valentines Day. 

When we were dating he did such a great job of writing me sweet notes, and buying me lovely potted plants, however I never really responded appropriately... "are those for me?" "I'm going to kill it". While last year's plant is still alive (without any blooms or buds), the damage to his cheesy Valentine's psyche is done. Coming right after another required gift giving day just makes it worse.

So we moved it. We will be celebrating Valentines on Sunday June 14th. A day we both have off (unlike Saturday), safely months away from my birthday. I connect this Doing idea with his less than happy attitude until this week, and while I feel a little left out while everyone talks about love and do you have plans now, come June we'll be celebrating much happier, and in peace (no packed restaurants for us!)

Bookmark this idea in your head, and when something 'unmovable' is bothering you, see what rearranging you can do. The peace and stress relief is worth it. 

Today is my birthday. I spent some time today looking up freebies I could have gotten if I signed up for various clubs weeks or months ago, although there were a few things I can still get. The list made me sad I am working today as I could be drinking free Dutch Bro's and playing a free round of glow in the dark mini golf (I don't even like mini golf, but still). My car dealership service center game me a free car wash coupon, and that is the only way I wash my car, so thats nice. 

It has been a while since I did a book of doing project, and there happens to be one just for birthdays, and that is something I do have time for today.

It is only February, and usually I take this time to review and revive all my resolutions on life support. This year however I am still feeling pretty good. I am not doing youtube yoga once a week, however I am still flossing daily. I haven't missed a week on here yet, and I have 3 posts in photos waiting for me to write them. Even though I am still happy with the way I'm using my time, and with the things I am adding (and trying to add) to my life this year, I took some time to make a short list as the book suggests.

Before we get to that, I want to take a moment for some birthday gratitude and reflection. 
This year was my first year out of school. My first year married. There has been a lot of adjustment. A lot of decision making. I find my self so happy today. The kids I work with respect me, the sun was shining today, and I am able to buy the things I want (with the usual limitations). I am thankful for all the wonderful people in my life who continue to bless me, I am thankful I live in a safe place, and I am thankful I have grown to be who I am. There are paragraphs and paragraphs behind those simple sentences. But I'll keep it simple today.

Three (of the many) things I want to accomplish this year are: 
~ open my Etsy shop
~ go on a trip (not to visit people, but to explore)
~ write more letters 

Only one of those was stolen from my resolutions. I could make a list of at least ten things I want to accomplish this year, but here are three I am concerned wont make it. I have been wanting to do the Etsy thing for a while now, and I am mentally prepping my self for failure / gathering tips for success. I always make trips to visit people I love, but last year we didn't really make time and spend energy going to explore. Even a day or weekend trip will count, and I want to make it happen. The letters, I want to be at least one (or one batch) a month. With a focus on birthday and special event cards. February's batch is in the works, but one is already very late. 

So those are my goals and reflections for today. Even if it isn't your birthday, what do you want to do this year? And how are you making it measurable, and getting it done?

Firstly, this book is beautiful. I am magnetically drawn to yellow objects, and that really is how I found this book, not a your typical bookstore though, at Goodwill, where I find everything. 

Inside are beautifully designed pages full of simple activities to create newness and fun in your life. 

This book has many ideas I've thought about and I'm excited to have an external source of motivation to complete them. The Pizza, Nap, and Quote challenges I found today when I was taking pictures. All of them excite me and give me awesome ideas. 

Attitude is the most important aspect of our happiness. I have been efforting to look forward to my job as opposed to dreading it lately. It is definitely a choice, I have to switch my negative thoughts off, and shove them from my brain, literally. I want to cultivate happiness and contentment in my life, even though all the pieces aren't where I'd like them to be. 

I think this book is a helpful step in the direction I want to go this year. Lots of projects to start.