All there

J U L Y 12th 

I'm blogging everyday for the month of July, sharing what I learn about what it means to be a steward of time. Time is so precious. This series is a personal experiment where I hope to get a better look into where I invest my time, and how I can better shape my life to serve God through my actions, words, and priorities. Look up the tag "July series" to view each post. 

Productivity:

Studying for my upcoming physics tests 

Purchasing new school supplies. We were so excited about our classes that we just couldn't wait.. So really, this was both productivity AND enjoyment. I may have splurged on a Moleskine journal that captivated my heart... 

Rest & Enjoyment:

Going to church with my family 

Spending the afternoon out with my brother. Last year for my birthday, he took me out for coffee and bought a maxi dress for me. It was so much fun so we decided to do it again this year. We had mochas and muffins at our favorite coffee shop, did a little browsing through stores, and capped it off with school supply shopping! After seeing how amazing a white board is, he had to buy one for himself. ;) 

Spending the evening talking with my family 

Take aways:

No matter what activity I'm doing, I want to be ALL there. I've heard a quote similar to this before, but it's wisdom rings so true to me. How often have I been distracted when hanging out with someone, or have other thoughts running through my mind? When my brother and I were out today, I tried my best to fully enjoy our time together and not think about school or other activities. I've noticed that when I commit myself like this to activities, everything seems to have more quality. More quality conversation, for one, since focusing on the person makes you more attuned to when they share something, ask for advice, or tell a story. And really, how awesome is it when someone does this for us?!  

Much love, Vivi 

To play guitar

J U L Y 11th 

I'm blogging everyday for the month of July, sharing what I learn about what it means to be a steward of time. Time is so precious. This series is a personal experiment where I hope to get a better look into where I invest my time, and how I can better shape my life to serve God through my actions, words, and priorities. Look up the tag "July series" to view each post. 

Productivity:

Completing a math assignment 

Writing out key points for the current math chapter on my new white board (this is an AMAZING way to study! I can't believe it's taken two years of university to start this)

Reviewing a physics chapter in preparation for three tests next week. Oh boy!

Hanging my newly framed painting on my wall 

Writing down a few goals for the year of being 20

Rest & Enjoyment:

Starting the day off by reading the book of Malachi

Having a slice (or two) of yesterday's birthday cake with a big mug of chai tea 

Diving deep into my novel Monday Mornings 

Playing my guitar for a solid hour 

Spending time with my family 

Take aways:

1. Today was a very relaxed, mellow day. The sudden change in weather from almost 30 degrees and sunny to grey skies and light rain most definitely helped add to the relaxed feel of the day. Today was an example that some days are much more work than play. I took my birthday off to relax and enjoy time with family, so today I went full force ahead with studies. Although the majority of my day was spent doing something study related, the little bits of time spent doing "non-study" things helped me be even more productive when doing my work. Playing guitar, for example, helped me have a total mental break, and the tunes of each strum were so uplifting. The biggest take away from today is this: some days I've just got to put in the hard work, yet in the midst of busy activities, doing things that make me feel uplifted (like playing guitar or chatting with my family) enables me to be even more productive.  

July 11th, thank you that even though you brought a lot of schoolwork, you also brought a relaxed and peaceful tone to the day. Thank you for teaching me that "sprinkling" my day with uplifting activities positively affects everything else that I do. 

Much love, Vivi 

Goodbye teenage years!

J U L Y 10th 

I'm blogging everyday for the month of July, sharing what I learn about what it means to be a steward of time. Time is so precious. This series is a personal experiment where I hope to get a better look into where I invest my time, and how I can better shape my life to serve God through my actions, words, and priorities. Look up the tag "July series" to view each post. 

Today is my 20th birthday! I have officially breathed the air of Earth for two whole decades. Hearing friends and family congratulate me for "joining the 20's club" is exciting, yet so strange. 20. So many things happen in your 20's. So many things change in your 20's. I thought that I wouldn't feel different, but I do. I feel a sense of newness, the unknown, and it's so exciting. 

Today my family and I celebrated by going out for breakfast, where I got a bowl of greek yogurt and granola so large that I could only eat half at the restaurant, and proceeded to eat the rest for lunch! We also had our favorites of tea, lattes, and coffee. I received beautiful new water color paper, so I eagerly painted a picture to add to my ever growing art wall. Earlier in the morning I opened presents, and I was immensely blessed! The ring pictured below was a very special gift from my dad. :) In the afternoon I had a training session at the local hospital, and trained six new volunteers, giving a tour of the hospital and teaching them the roles of a hospital volunteer. Honestly, I couldn't have spent my afternoon better! I love being a team leader. 

In the evening, we had baked brie cheese with crackers, and chocolate tuxedo cake. I know, my family places great importance on food, haha! We laughed, talked, and spent some quality time together. Birthdays are always such a blessing because my parents take the day off work so we can be together as a family. When it was time to go to bed, I read a chapter of my novel, and here I am now, reflecting on this beautiful day. 

I could've categorized today into "productivity" and "rest and enjoyment," but I decided that today there was far too much overlap. Everything felt so productive, yet everything was so restful and full of enjoyment. In reality, much of our time doesn't fit into nicely labelled categories. Our activities can be productive, restful, fun, all at the same moment, and those are often the best of times.    

Here's to being 20! 

Much love, Vivi 

Giver of all Good Gifts

J U L Y 9th 

I'm blogging everyday for the month of July, sharing what I learn about what it means to be a steward of time. Time is so precious. This series is a personal experiment where I hope to get a better look into where I invest my time, and how I can better shape my life to serve God through my actions, words, and priorities. Look up the tag "July series" to view each post. 

Productivity:

Attending class in the morning and learning all about infinite sequences and sums! Wahooo calculus!

Finishing a math assignment & making summary sheets with key formulas and examples

Running a few errands with my mom in the evening

Rest & Enjoyment:

Smash booking memories. My smash book necessities include textured paper, photos galore, fine tip black pens, and the Bahamas or First Aid Kit playing in the back ground... :) 

Reading Monday Mornings and making it to the half way point in the book

Reading chapters from the book of Hebrews

Having lunch with my brother and watching an episode of 22 minutes. Does anyone else find that show incredibly funny?! 

Take aways: 

1. School is very time consuming. I'm sure this comes as no surprise to my fellow students! Attending class, meeting with professors, driving to and fro, completing assignments.. The list goes on. School may take up a lot of time, but education is one of the best things we can invest our time into. I have always loved learning. And as strange as it feels to say, this summer so far has felt like my favorite summer ever, and it's the first summer that I'm taking full term summer classes. When I'm keeping my brain sharp I actually enjoy life even more. 

2. Today was my last day as a teenager. Tomorrow I will turn the big 20! Wow. I've done some thinking about life on earth for two whole decades. That's a lot of time, a lot of breathing, moving, living, building relationships, making mistakes, forgiving, being forgiven, learning, loving, moving forward. I can say confidently that God has been so faithful for 20 beautiful years. Amidst pain and life's "curveballs" He is there. He is my comforter. He is my healer. He is my provider. And I am beyond excited for more and more decades of time spent focusing on the truth that He is the giver of ALL good gifts.

Much love, Vivi 

Jazz & Earl Grey

J U L Y 8th

 I'm blogging everyday for the month of July, sharing what I learn about what it means to be a steward of time. Time is so precious. This series is a personal experiment where I hope to get a better look into where I invest my time, and how I can better shape my life to serve God through my actions, words, and priorities. Look up the tag "July series" to view each post. 

Productivity:
Spending the morning at camp with the most energetic and wonderful kids on the planet. Watching them paint little canvases is beyond cute. One girl painted a turtle eating spaghetti and my heart melted. 
Working on a math assignment
Booking three physics tests for next week. As my brother and I say: "get stuff doooone!" 
Organizing a couple appointments for next week

Rest & Enjoyment:
Spending time with my family
Reading verses from Hebrews on faith 
Listening to piano jazz music with a mug of earl grey tea and dark chocolate (heavenly, I tell you). 

Take aways: 

1. Looking back at today, it was full of tasks based on the computer, such as homework, emails, music.. Today I learned a simple lesson on time management that I like to call "tab management." Have you ever been trying to focus on something when you see on another tab that you just received an email or a face book message? The notification flashes and I switch tabs to check it out. And then what? I find myself completely off task and it takes me a few minutes to get back into the swing of things after responding to the message. I think tab management is one way we can do better at time management. Instead of having multiple sites open all at once, I'm going to fully commit to whatever I'm doing at the moment. If it's a physics assignment, then the only tabs open will be sites applicable to that task. Removing the distractions of notifications will hopefully enable me to more fully dive into the task at hand, and ultimately, be a better steward of the precious gift of time.

Much love, Vivi 

Worthy of Celebration

I'm blogging everyday for the month of July, sharing what I learn about what it means to be a steward of time. Time is so precious. This series is a personal experiment where I hope to get a better look into where I invest my time, and how I can better shape my life to serve God through my actions, words, and priorities. Look up the tag "July series" to view each post.

Today was a beautiful day.

Productivity:

Calculus class and reviewing notes

Preparing to train volunteers this Friday at the local hospital

Teaching myself a chapter from the textbook

Rest & Enjoyment:

Spending the afternoon with a dear friend for an early birthday celebration. (Thank you Shelby, you are wonderful!!) We had a picnic in the sunshine with carrot cake, a sticky bun, and iced drinks. We took instant photos on Shelby's pink Polaroid style camera, and some digital ones too. :) 

Reading Monday Mornings

Having lunch and a great conversation with my brother 

Take aways:

1. How do we be good stewards of time spent with friends and family? My thought is this: to simply be there. Sometimes it doesn't matter what you say. It doesn't matter if you're studying together, baking cookies, going for coffee, or driving somewhere. If anything is the most important lesson I've learned it is to simply be there. To take the time to listen. To take the time to ask questions. To take the time to be genuinely interested in another's life, concerns, joys, moments worthy of celebration, moments worthy of streaming tears.

2. Lunch breaks are awesome. Did you know I never used to like taking a break to eat lunch? My thoughts would go something like this: "I could be doing some productive. Ugh!" I would take my lunch to my desk and study as I ate. And you know what? I would get so into my food (haha!) that I wasn't productive at anything but eating my lunch. Taking a solid break to eat lunch enables me to spend time with someone (my brother, today), and to fully commit to my activities when I'm doing them. Try doing calculus while eating fried eggs on toast. I dare you. 

July 7th, you were really, really wonderful. Thank you for the fun filled photo taking, for friendship and family, and for plenty of ice cubes to make cold drinks. Thank you for marking one week of my personal experiment into how I spend my time. Who knows what I'll learn in the days to come?! :) 

Much love, Vivi 

Five minutes vs. Six hours

J U L Y 6th 

I'm blogging everyday for the month of July, sharing what I learn about what it means to be a steward of time. Time is so precious. This series is a personal experiment where I hope to get a better look into where I invest my time, and how I can better shape my life to serve God through my actions, words, and priorities. Look up the tag "July series" to view each post.

Productivity: 

Six energetic and incredibly fun hours leading a team of grade 3 and 4 kids at camp. There was painting, baking, water balloon tosses, dancing, music... :) Endless fun. 

A full shift of work in the evening. Needless to say, after ten hours on my feet I was exhausted! 

Finishing a math assignment 

Rest & Enjoyment:

Starting the day off with some early morning Bible reading in Isaiah 

This very minute. A big mug of earl grey vanilla tea beside me and music playing for some relaxation

A ten minute break that called for cherry & chocolate fro-yo 

Camp definitely counts as enjoyment as well (but not rest... Haha) 

Take aways:

1. The pictures I took today do a really poor job of summarizing how I spent my time. For example, it took me five minutes to devour the cucumbers, while I didn't take a single picture at camp today during the six hours I was there. What this makes me realize is how easy it is to portray a completely different picture of our lives to others. Think about instagram. It's filled with beautiful pictures of adventures and joy, yet everyone has struggles. We all go through painful situations that aren't often shared on social media. From these pictures, it looks like I had a relaxing day, when in reality is was a non-stop day packed with activities, with these pictures representing the few moments that I had time to pull out my phone. A goal that rises up in me is this: I want to spend my time on what matters, not on what necessarily looks good in a picture. Having a tough but needed conversation with a loved one may not be "instagram worthy," but truly worthy of my time? Yes!  

So, thank you, July 6th, for instilling in me a profound truth. What matters in life doesn't always look good and can't always be summarized by a photo. Sometimes the very best way I can spend my time is on moments that can only be experienced, not summarized in a photo. 

Much love, Vivi