A Word for 2013

I think my word of 2013 will be "fluid." I will flow through tasks and work toward the "mind like water" mentality saving my energy and excitement for the things I love!

Lessons from Babies

When was the last time you heard of someone who became too frustrated learning to walk as a child, and decided to crawl for the rest of their life?

-Linda Proctor

In other words, never give up on what is really important!  You fell down a lot before you learned how to walk or run or roll or however you now get around as an adult. But you learned eventually. Keep at it!

♥

Doodle Calendar-Mental Breaks (the good kind)

Along with trying to keep up with my crazy schedule this month, I made a goal to doodle for just a couple minutes a day on my calendar. I wanted something fun and creative to do as a mental break each day, and I really started to look forward to me "doodle minutes" after the first couple weeks.
I'm going to do it again in August, but after that, I'm trying to go completely digital with my calendar. Maybe I will get a little sketchbook and write the date on each page? Maybe I can get one of those 1 year journals and keep it on my desk?


What would you suggest? Leave me a comment! Do you have daily "get away" activities? What do you do for a mental break?


♥

Doodle Calendar for July 2012

Organization Exploration

One of my goals in my new organized lifestyle is to plan my meals every week. I think this practice has many benefits, but the two biggest benefits I am looking for are a intentional, healthy diet and reducing the number of restaurant/fast food meals and therefore helping my budget. Also, if I meal plan and only buy groceries I need, I will lose less money on spoiled, unused food.
So today I made my first official meal plan. I created a new calendar in my Google Calendar and created the events "BREAKFAST:" & "LUNCH:" & "DINNER:" for each day. These will sync to my phone calendar so I will alway have access to them. I found a few new, easy recipes to try and filled every meal for Monday through Friday. (Maybe I'll post and share the best recipes.)
Then I made a grocery list based on my recipes and the ingredients I need or have in my pantry.
And just for bonus points, I went to my favorite coupon match-up website (http://www.savingwellspendingless.com/) to see what is on sale this week and what coupons I should bring for extra savings.

I think today's meal planning took more time than it will in the future because I created/set up my system and went back and forth a few times about what would be the best solution for me and my routines. I spent about 1 hour setting up, planning, and making my grocery list, but I think it could take as little as 10-15 minutes. Having access to my meal planning online and on my phone is great because I can work on my meal planning at home or in a waiting room or at my boyfriend's house.

Do you meal plan? Do you have any go-to recipes? Leave me a comment or a meal planning tip below!!

♥

Let's get ORGANIZED!!

I can remember my Monnie (great grandmother) saying, "We need to get you organized!" or "Let's get organized before we go" and I didn't know exactly what that word "organized" meant. But I knew I liked it.

Organizing is actually what led me to a career in Interior Design. I had forgotten until very recently that in high school I wanted to become a Professional Organizer before I decided to study Interior Design. I wanted to be like Peter Walsh on Clean Sweep. 

 

Well, my passion for organization has returned with a ... a passion. 

And I need it more than ever these days! I have felt so incredibly flustered, unfocused, and vague. I feel like I am always in the wrong place trying to accomplish the less important task. When I am at work, I think about all the things I want to do or accomplish at home. When I am at home, I think about all the things I need to accomplish at the office. 

 Most of the time, I feel so overwhelmed by my ever-growing to-do list that I just veg out or do busy work that doesn't really address the big important tasks.

So while in high school, I loved organizing my pens and books and school papers and wardrobe, now I have a huge need to organize my thoughts and my time. I want to create systems or routines that make my life easier and give me a focus point so I have laser beam precise productivity! 

Pew! Pew! Pew-Pew!!

I completely believe that an organized space helps create an organized mind. If my mind is organized instead of cluttered, I have more space to be creative, spontaneous, and fun! 

This is not about "managing my life" like some people want. Life is an experience not a mutual fund! I do not want a home organizing binder with emergency phone numbers and take out menus at my finger tips. I do not want every moment of my day planned out days or weeks in advance. I want to have clear objectives everyday so I can get the critical items done and move on to the fun things. 

I want to identify my vegetable so I know I will be able to have 

DESSERT! 

 

I've been watching a lot of videos by Alejandra from Color-Coded. She's super cute, and she has a lot of good advice for FREE on her YouTube channel and her website.

ClutterDiet has a ton of good tips, too.

So here are a few of my goals

Organizing Time Power & Thought Power Goals!  

Pew! Pew!

Cleaning-

*Keep apartment consistently clean. Make a chore chart for all the maintenance cleaning I need to do weekly/monthly. Use stickers to reward myself when I complete my cleaning. . . Or maybe use chocolate rewards instead. Either way, I will make the chart and start the system by the end of July. (You know you are supposed to put dates on your goals right?)

*Make my bed everyday! Starting now!

*Develop a routine for laundry (difficult because I use the laundromat, but not impossible.) This will go on the chore chart.

 Work-

*Break down projects into small chunks and assign a time limit to each chunk. Put this timeline on the calendar leading up to project deadline. New project phase starting next week. I will have my project objectives and tasks laid out by next Thursday.

*Schedule 1 hour a week to be inspired. Take a break from projects and from the computer to browse magazines, books, resource library, or a showroom for inspiration.

Personal-

*Meal Plan! Start today!

*Wake up with extra time in the AM. Start today!

*Schedule and limit time to veg out on Pinterest and YouTube. Otherwise I just get stuck for hours accomplishing nothing much at all.

Also, I want to make to-do lists like my friend RamandaB. When we lived together, I remember her making 1st and 2nd drafts of her to-do lists and the final edition was always beautiful. 

Probably not a bad idea to have several rounds. Helps you weed out the unnecessary busy work.

What tips do you have for time and thought organizing?? Comment below!

I know your Holiness. I know. 

*sigh* 

I'm working on it.

♥

The Age Gap

I've noticed a very interesting dynamic at my office the past few weeks. There is this gap between the
younger designers (making entry level dollars) and the more experienced designers (making experienced level dollars). It appears that the side of the gap you are on determines the ability and time requirement for accomplishing tasks that involve a computer program. Example: I can whip something up in Photoshop in an hour that might take 2 days for someone with 20+ years of design experience to create and they still would need help to print it correctly or turn it into a PDF.

On the other hand, the designers with more experience have skills that I envy like free-hand sketching, hand rendering, and, of course, the advantage of experience and seniority. I respect these designers for these FABULOUS talents that I want to acquire because I know they take A LOT of practice. The down side is we do not use these skills on a daily basis on projects.

This isn't something I'm angry about, and so far, it has not kept me from completing my tasks. But it has been intriguing to observe. I wonder what will take the place of the work tools I am familiar with. Will I keep up with the times and the technology? Or will I be asking someone half my age for help? I'd better be nice, or Karma will bite me back one day!

♥ G

So silly, but so serious....

This probably will sound very silly, and it is most definitely a #thirdworldproblem, but it is a big dilemma in my head.

I have used Mozilla Firefox as my primary browser for close to 5 years, and I have been very happy with it. At the beginning of the new year, we got brand new computers at work, and our IT guy recommended I try Google Chrome if I enjoy using Firefox and since I already have a Gmail/IGoogle account. So, I tried it.
And I love it.
I still use Firefox on my home computer,

but I am thinking about switching,

and (here comes the silly part)

I have this terrible feeling that I am betraying Mozilla Firefox!
Then I stop and say to myself,

"How ridiculous! It's a browser, not a person or fuzzy animal!"

But Firefox rescued me from the frustrating Internet Explorer (multiple tabs. enough said.). Firefox encouraged my creativity by giving me tools to personalize my browser like pinned bookmarks and fun skins. Firefox was with me through college projects and finals, what felt like endless job searches, and learning how to coupon.

Chrome is so sleek and even more user friendly. While there is a level of personalization in the form of your iGoogle Dashboard, that is one area where I still prefer Firefox.

I remember my reaction the first time I used Internet Explorer after switching to Firefox. It was very similar to the first time I drove an automatic after falling in love with driving a manual.

Ugh!!
How/Why did I ever use this?!
Where's the search bar?!
How do I save a bookmark again?!
Gah, it's so {negative trait}, and it's just too {negative trait}.
That's it! I'm putting Firefox on this computer!

And I just cannot image speaking that way about my beloved Firefox in a few months.

And it didn't help at all that I updated Firefox a couple weeks ago, and a video describing Mozilla as a "by the people, for the people" browser, AND THEY THANKED ME FOR USING FIREFOX!!!

Ok, maybe not me personally, but they thanked the users, and I am a user.

Maybe this is just growing pains, and I need to move to the next best thing. Maybe I really should stick to what has worked so well for me in the past. Probably, it's not that big of a deal, but I honestly could not click the "Download Google Chrome" even with all this convincing propaganda:
It's free and installs in seconds (I love free things almost as much as I love things that do not waste my time. Win-Win!)

For Windows XP, Vista, and 7 (Compatibility is great!)

Fast start-up
Google Chrome launches in a snap.

Fast loading
Google Chrome loads web pages quickly.

Fast search
Search the web right from the address bar. (All of which save me time and energy. Great!)

But I just couldn't click the button. What. a. dork.

What do you think? What browser do you use? Have you ever felt an irrational, emotional connection to an inanimate object like a browser, or am I just affirming my weirdness?

Also, Gotye is one of my new faves! Click to hear one. It's great!