Hi, Creative Friends-

Happy New Year! The start of any new year brings the opportunity to evaluate goals and tap into new ideas. If you are a bit like me, getting started on planning a tiny or huge project can be overwhelming. I gave myself two weeks to define my 2023-year goals. Do you know what accomplished in two weeks? I baked a cake, played games with my kids, went for very long walks, and downright avoided planning anything for 2023. With a herculean effort, I did finally focus on the planning for 2023 but it took life hacks and fresh creative thinking. No matter the goal or procrastination level, here are 3 creative ideas to…

Make Wonderful Progress On Your New Year’s Goals.

1. Make The Goals S.M.A.R.T: When thinking about goals, it can be easy to get lost. A great way to make progress on a goal is to make it S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, And Time-bound.) More can be read about S.M.A.R.T. goals and why they matter on the Asana Blog.

2. Sketch The Situation: Not everyone is good with words. Sitting down with a pen and a journal to write down big ideas can turn productive time into a pause. If words overwhelm you, try sketching out what the goals might look like and read this article from Time magazine from the designer Ayse Birsel, “How To Sketch A Life Plan.”

3. Kale. Exhale. Repeat: Even if you hate eating anything green, just adding a few salads a week can help prioritize any health goals. Kale: some people hate it and some people love it. For what it’s worth, I’m on the fence about kale but this favorite salad from Marathon runner’s Shalane Flanagan “Run Fast Eat Slow” blog looks delicious. I have the “Run Fast Eat Slow” cookbook and it’s full of great recipes to pump up the energy and help us make progress on any 2023 health goals!

Drop me a message and let me know what you are working on and share your new year’s resolutions.

Also, thanks for reading along. This newsletter takes some time to pull together. Consider showing your support by forwarding it to someone who might need some inspiration or buying some of my artwork at INPRNT or Society 6.

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Keep going, creative friends!

xoxo,

Andra

Hey Beautiful Friends, 

Today is Day 1 of the FREE 5-Day “Love Your Mind” challenge on Instagram!

If you haven’t heard my yogi friend Renee Gauthier and I have created a FREE 5-Day “Love Your Mind” Instagram challenge that gives tips on how to use creativity and self-care to find calm in the mind.

The Day 1 Challenge includes the below fun “Fill-In-The-Blank” download. Download The FREE Love Your Mind sheet HERE.

Join us this week, Monday, February 15th - Friday, February 19th to learn tips on how to destress and get creative.

Here’s how it works:

• Follow us on Instagram @andrawebercreative and @renee_gauthier 

• Tag a friend who needs this too

• Check-in every day to find FREE downloads and tips on how to calm, destress and be creative.

Jump on Instagram and tag a friend who needs this today!

See you on Instagram!

xoxo,

Andra

P.S. Check out Renee’s fabulous Live Yoga Class schedule this week and my Skillshare Class “How To Unlock Creative Magic Everyday!” get started on creating Love In Your Mind this week.

Day 140 - Hey! This morning, the moment my eye lids fluttered open, I said "What's next?" It's the end of the altMBA workshop and I realized I need to tackle something more. The stretching was big in the class and I am thrilled to think of all the hard work that was done in the last four weeks. However, I missed my family. Last night I was able to take a walk with them after dinner. It was the first walk we had taken together in weeks.

It was a lovely evening and I was strolling along with the kids but my mind was still on the work done in the altMBA. It was a strange sensation to be outside in the golden sunset versus making power plans for the future. As I slowed behind my family, a sense of calm gather over me. Just ahead, under the train tracks, was a wide field of glowing daisies with their faces gleaming in the the evening light. I was stuck by how much I had missed my family, our walks and our lives during the four intense weeks. I was so grateful to be outside. 

In the spirt of stretching myself, as the altMBA taught me, and the beautiful moment last night, I decided to write a Haiku. If you don't know what a Haiku entails, you can read more about it here: Haiku Poetry. The general idea is that a Haiku is three lines containing 5/7/5 syllables. It was uncomfortable to write because I felt out of my element. It's not going to win any awards but here is my first Haiku poem.

Today's project is to take a five minute walk. Then come home and create a Haiku. I had trouble understanding the number of syllables in each word. If you need help, here is a great site to help. "How Many Syllables"

Send me your Haiku and let me know how you felt creating your poem. See you tomorrow!

Day 137 - Hey Monday. Whew. What a great weekend. How about you? I'm going to keep this short and sweet because it's the last day of my altMBA class and things are still crazy. As I was fast and furious going through the class, I didn't have much time to enjoy anything. I stood and ate, barely had time to bath and ignored my loved ones for weeks. Today, I am going to take time out to play with my kids and enjoy the sweetness of life. Like a bowl of cherries, life goes way too fast. 

Today's project is to find five minutes in your day and simple create joy. Try slowing down for just a few moment by looking around and taking it all in. In other words,  enjoy your bowl of cherries to the fullest. That's all I have today. Keep creating and see you tomorrow!

Day 98 - Hey! Who else is having a stress filled week? There are so many things to do and never enough time to do them. Also, my kids are off from school for spring break this week. Before having kids, I imagined spring break would always be like college, one endless party on crowed beach somewhere in Florida.

While the kids and I are having a great time together, it isn't the spring break of my early 20's. It's stressful. Instead of drinking Mike's Hard Lemonade on Miami's South beach, I'm packing lunches, finding swim gear and generally wrangling cats, I mean kids. This is on top of building a business, creating a thoughtful blog post and getting general life needed activities done like shopping for groceries and lawn care. 

Meditation At Work.

It's time for a break. Since there is no time for sipping a cold one on hot sand for a round of relaxation, I decided to try meditation. Also, I hear all the cool kids are doing meditation these days like Jerry Seinfeld and Oprah. So I fired up the smart phone in search for some help from technology. I downloaded a meditation app Headspace to my phone. It has a great looking interface and hippest graphics. The first session only took 10 minutes. It was a lovely 10 minutes. It was like a spring cleaning for my brain. I felt refreshed, renewed and calm.

Meditation At Work.

Today's project is to create a relaxing moment for yourself. Maybe try a meditation practice or simply take a few deep breaths. Carve out space for kindness for yourself today and find some time to just relax.

Check in and let me know how you feel after your chill out session. I'm going to try to dig up a Mike's Hard Lemonade, fold the 8 piles of laundry sitting in my living room and dream of a white sandy beach somewhere. See you tomorrow!