An end of January hodgepodge

Ruby Beach, Washington on the Olympic peninsula
Copyright (c) 2008 Wendee Holtcamp

I hope to blog more frequently again (have I said that before?!) but I wanted to post before too much time got away. It's been a crazy January. It never slows down does it? This month I focused on my January resolution of clean-purge-simplify. It started in December, actually, but continued through the month. I focused on donating stuff to charity, and cleaning out drawers and closets (I generally keep the rest of my house pretty clean - thanks to my wonderful kiddos!) I can't say my whole house is spotless and decluttered, but I made huge progress. My bedroom closet is so spacious - I can see the back of it now! Likewise the closet in my office is a completely different space. So yay, I think I met my goal. In a future post, I will mention my February resolution but I have to make this quick as I'm about to head out the door to go to Body Pump at the gym.

With the surrender, clean, purge, I think God had some plans for my life I didn't like at all. I will reveal the details in time, but suffice it to say it is devastating (everyone is fine, don't worry). I am trying to place my trust in God, and work on my relationship with Him, rather than trying to do things on my own power, and I am very good at taking control of things that I should let go and let God!

I'm continuing with the 21-Day Consciousness Cleanse, which has been interesting but I think the most important thing I'm doing I just started this week. I started an Experiencing God Bible Study at my church. I got this book years ago, and tried doing it on my own but it really requires a small group setting. So when I heard my church was offering it, I jumped at the chance. And then I missed the first week. I tried to make it the second week. I decided I had too much on my plate. But then I thought it over and decided I would go. But then the third week, I was all set to go and I came down with a headcold right at the last minute! Excuses, excuses huh. So I went this week - yay me! And I am already being blessed in my walk with the Lord. I have started catching up in the workbook and starting to see synchronity happen again in my life - one way the Lord speaks to me!

For example I came across this story (in a couple forms) not once, but twice in the same week that the "bad thing" happened. When a friend received a promotion, Albert Camus would give his condolences warning that they might get stuck in complacency. When his friend lost his job, he would open a bottle of champagne and celebrate, because it would force them into new experiences they wouldn't have had otherwise. There's another version - it's a Buddhist parable I believe. I'll try to find it.

I am on day 12 of the Master Cleanse, which is part of my January clean-purge mode. I will be finishing it soon and got a couple Vegetarian Times magazines from the library and am uber-excited about trying some amazing recipes!! In fact, and I credit my Montana friend Elissa with this, I have started a list of veggies to use in recipes - everything from kabocha squash to kohlrabi! I was thinking about maybe doing some foodie stuff with this blog, and talking about the recipes I try. I love cooking and it's becoming more and more a passion of mine. I'm an on-again off-again vegetarian and I am going to TRY to minimize meat consumption, especially if it's not organic or humanely raised. I have become much more aware of food issues since doing my Animal Planet blog! Well I better get off to the gym!

turn and face the strange ch-ch-ch-changes

Sunset over Lake Arenal, Costa Rica
Copyright (c) 1999 Wendee Holtcamp

Still don't know what I was waiting for
And my time was runnin wild
A million dead end streets and
Every time I thought I got it made
It seemed the taste was not so sweet
So I turned myself to face me

- David Bowie, Changes

Some changes are going on in my life, and thought I can't yet really talk about them yet I will soon! I am excited about the changes, and can't wait to share more. Of course, much of it is still up in the air, which is why I can't spill any beans. I can share this change, though: Starting this month, I will be writing my Animal Planet "Animals in the News" blog only once per week instead of five times per week now. I'll post every Monday. Please still stop by and read and leave comments - I love comments!

I also have been going through my house and really getting rid of so much stuff! I have donated car-loads full of stuff, and have been going through file cabinets and recycling many scientific papers I had gathered during my many years of grad school, and other old files and papers. I hadn't gone through some of this stuff in decades! I cleaned out my office and my bedroom closets, and some drawers (still more to go) and it feels symbolic. In the process I unearthed my boxes of slides from the pre-digital era of photography and one of these days soon I'd like to buy myself a slide scanner and get some of them online and perhaps start marketing my photography a bit more. Speaking of photography I took that photo in Costa Rica during one of the most exciting times in my professional life, while on assignment for Discovery Channel (Love & Death on Turtle Beach) and writing about leatherback turtles. I remember feeling so very alive! I put a framed copy of that photo in a frame in my bathroom to remind me of that feeling, 'out there under the stars, surf roaring furiously'...

I have tried to think up some New Year's resolutions (other than the standard one for the last couple years which is to love the Lord God with all my heart, soul, strength and mind) but nothing has really stuck yet. I did drag out my gratitude journal again, something I do on an on-again, off-again fashion. When I'm writing in it, I try to write down five things I'm grateful for that day. I also started re-reading Sarah Ban Breathnach's awesome Simple Abundance daybook, which is where I got the idea for a gratitude journal in the first place, years ago! I may try to start meditating for 10 minutes per morning but so far I've only done that once this year, so I'm not quite sure that should be my resolution...

Do any of you have any resolutions? Any in the past you have been able to keep and implement into your life?

As for the rest of my life, I am in the process of tweaking my book chapters with my editor at Beacon, and trying to get caught up on some articles and other things before the ch-ch-ch-changes. As always, it's a bit crazy busy around here! I am staring at my dry and crispy Christmas tree, which desperately begs to be taken down... but I love having my tree up more than anything! It makes the house look so vibrant and festive. My kitties are giving me some company now as I sit on the couch writing this, but I have some other work to do before the night is through, so I'll simply point you to my latest articles!

• My BioScience magazine feature on pikas, the little cute mammals that live on the rocky talus slops in the West and are threatened by climate change, Silence of the Pikas recently came out in their January 2010 issue, just in time for the announcement by the US Fish & Wildlife Service on whether they'll be a federally threatened species.
  
• Mimicking Mother Nature: Scientists and entrepreneurs are increasingly borrowing concepts from the natural world to help them create better, more sustainable products. National Wildlife Magazine. Dec/Jan 2010.
  
• The essay I originally wrote for OnEarth Magazine, My 30 days of Consumer Celibacy, appears as a chapter in the book Consumerism: Opposing Viewpoints