a year of Wooden: week 36 {happy birthday, coach!}

Posted on October 14, 2014 by dallaswoodburn

Hi there, everyone! Today is a very special day in our Year of Wooden challenge because today would have been Coach’s 104th birthday! Happy birthday, Coach Wooden!

My dad is doing a really neat thing today in honor and celebration of Coach’s birthday — he is donating one copy of his book WOODEN & ME to disadvantaged youth for every book bought today through either his website or Amazon! His goal is to give away 100 copies today! Be sure to shoot me an email if you order a copy because I would love to send you a personal note of thanks. {If you’re interested in reading a review of WOODEN & ME, here’s a great one Sarah wrote on her blog The Pajama Chef.}

Now, onto this week’s year of Wooden challenge!

January: Drink deeply from good books
February: Make friendship a fine art
March: Help others
April: Build a shelter against a rainy day {financially}
May: Be true to yourself
June: Give thanks for your blessings every day
July: Love
August: Balance
September: Drink deeply from good poetry
October: Make friendship a fine art {new friends}

Our October challenge is a reprise of our February challenge, from Coach Wooden’s 7-Point Creed: Make friendship a fine art. For October, we’re focusing on nurturing new friendships.

Last week’s challenge was to get together one-on-one with a friend you normally only see in a group type of situation. I was really grateful to get together for dinner with Allyn’s sister Allyson after I taught in Fremont this past Thursday. Not only is she a warm, friendly person, she is also extremely intelligent and knowledgable and I always learn a ton from her. In group situations the two of us often gravitate towards each other — we both are passionate about books, reading, writing and teaching — and on Thursday it was terrific to spend some time just the two of us, chat chat chatting away. We went to a fabulous Thai restaurant and two hours flew by before we finally realized it was probably time to head home! Since I’ll be teaching in Fremont through December, I’m hoping we can make dinner or coffee happen again sometime soon.

A bunch of us celebrating Allyson’s birthday back in April.

Also, yesterday I was able to get together with my church acquaintance Amy for coffee. {I had reached out to her on Facebook as part of week 34’s challenge.} It was lovely to get to know her better and I really felt like we clicked.

This week’s challenge is to reach out to a friend of a friend you have always wanted to get to know better, and invite him or her to do something fun.

Before I head out for the day, in honor of Coach’s birthday I wanted to share a poem he wrote that ties in perfectly to our theme for this month:

On Friendship

At times when I am feeling low,
I hear from a friend and then
My worries start to go away
And I am on the mend
No matter what the doctors say –
And their studies never end
The best cure of all, when spirits fall,
Is a kind word from a friend.

Question for the day:

What new friend will you reach out to this week?

goals + recipes for the week of 5/25

Posted on May 25, 2014 by dallaswoodburn

Happy Sunday, friends! First off, I want to wish a very happy birthday to my beautiful friend Chidelia! Happy birthday, sweets! I love you!

I also want to send love and prayers to everyone in the UCSB and Santa Barbara community… I am heartsick and horrified over the tragedy that happened in Isla Vista on Friday night. It hits very close to home to me personally, as Santa Barbara is just up the 101 from my hometown. Both my parents went to college there {that’s where they met} in addition to my cousin Melissa, a number of my friends and many of my high school classmates.

It’s been a quieter weekend than last weekend around here, which has been nice. Yesterday after teaching I came home and caught up episodes of New Girl before hitting the sack early. This morning, Allyn came to church with me and then we had a lovely lunch together at Lettuce, one of my favorite salad/sandwich eateries in Walnut Creek. It is beautiful and H-O-T here today!

Before I move on to goals, a quick shout-out to my blogger friend Sarah @ The Pajama Chef for her wonderful, insightful review of my dad’s book Wooden & Me. Thank you, Sarah!

Here’s how I did on my goals from this past week:
– ~~write ten pages~~
– ~~send out three query letters/submissions~~
– ~~send acceptances for new young writers project~~
– ~~read up to page 400 in Wolf Hall~~
– go to two yoga classes
– ~~connect with two friends~~

And here are my goals for this upcoming week:
– write ten pages
– send out two query letters/submissions
– complete final students evals + certificates
– finish reading Wolf Hall
– go to the gym twice
– complete my 27 random acts of kindness for my 27th birthday!

And here are some recipes I’m drooling over this week:
– coconut brownies via Two Peas & Their Pod
– italian tortilla roll-ups via The Pajama Chef
– crockpot freezer meals for the summer via Money-Saving Mom
– sugarless homemade granola via Recipes Happen
– rhubarb walnut muffins via It’s Progression
– funfetti cookies or cake {my current birthday front-runner}

Questions of the day:

What are your goals for this upcoming week?
What recipes are you drooling over lately?

This post is featured on Menu Plan Monday!

a year of Wooden: week 2

Posted on January 13, 2014 by dallaswoodburn

Happy Monday, everyone! Hope your weekend was filled with good things.

As announced in a post last week, this year I am doing “a year of Wooden” following the teachings of Coach John Wooden, and in particular his 7-Point Creed. I’m beginning the year with the Creed’s first item:

January: Drink deeply from good books.

This month, I’m going to focus on reading books by Wooden and about him, a new one each week. This past week I reread my dad’s wonderful new book Wooden & Me: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach & Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece.”

Rereading my dad’s book was the perfect way to start off this new year. Not only is the book a testament to John Wooden and a beautiful portrayal of his friendship with my father, it is in many ways a history of my family: from the early days of my parents’ marriage to the births of me and my brother to many milestones and memories we have shared as a family over the years. John Wooden’s teachings of love, kindness, balance, discipline, integrity, perseverance, and faith have been woven into the tapestry of my life since I was a baby. To be sure, I feel very fortunate for the loving and supportive family I have been blessed with!

For this next week, I’ll be reading Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court, written by Coach Wooden with Steve Jamison. Here’s a little about the book:

In honest and telling passages about virtually every aspect of life, Coach shares his personal philosophy on family, achievement, success, and excellence. Raised on a small farm in south-central Indiana, he offers lessons and wisdom learned throughout his career at UCLA, and life as a dedicated husband, father, and teacher.

Looking forward to hearing your comments about it next week!

Question of the day:

What are some of your favorite family memories?

a year of Wooden

Posted on January 7, 2014 by dallaswoodburn

I gained so much from doing my year of kindness challenge this past year, that I decided I wanted to take on a new year-long project in 2014. When I was brainstorming ideas I kept coming back to my blog’s title, Day-by-Day Masterpiece. It was inspired by one of my favorite sayings, “Make each day your masterpiece” from the late great basketball coach John Wooden. The saying is part of Coach Wooden’s 7 Point Creed, which was given to him by his father Joshua Wooden upon his graduation from high school.

My dad gave my brother and me copies of the 7 Point Creed, which we both carry around in our wallets. As I was reading over the creed an idea began to form. The more I thought about it, the more excited I became. The past couple days I have been on the edge of my seat to share this with you!

This year {and perfect timing, in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of Coach Wooden’s first NCAA basketball championship title} I present to you …

This year I am going to focus month-by-month on a different item from Coach Wooden’s 7 Point creed, rounding out the other months with his “two sets of three.” The goal will be to add on a new trait each month while continuing to do the items from the previous months … so that by December 2014, I’ll be doing all the items, bringing everything together to “make each day a masterpiece”! I’m going to start off with the first item on Wooden’s 7 Point Creed:

January: Drink deeply from good books.

This month, I’m going to focus on reading books by Wooden and about him, a new one each week. I’m kicking things off this week by rereading my dad’s wonderful new book Wooden & Me: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach & Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece.”

If you’d like to follow along with me, you can pick up a copy of Wooden & Me here or on Amazon — both print and ebooks are available!

Have a masterful week!

Day-By-Day Masterpiece

Tag Archives: Wooden & Me