My Favorite Blogs

I read blogs a lot. As in, every day, multiple times per day, all day long. I use Google Reader to keep up with my subscriptions. Here are a few of my favorites.

Comic - Hyperbole and a Half. She hasn't posted regularly (or at all) in ages, but her work is the epitome of funny to me. Her archives are worth a read for sure.

Cute - My Milk Toof. Follow the adventures of two clay teeth. For some reason that actually sounds kind of scary...but it's quite cute.

Corporate - A Bullseye View. Target's blog is the cream of the crop as far as corporate blogs go. Learn about Target's history, culture, and product design process.

Crafty Contractor - DIY Diva. Kit is my number one role model. This woman can do everything I dream of doing: re-roof a house, sand hardwood floors, build her own furniture, and more. She's amazing. She's also a licensed contractor in her state.

Cooking - ?

I'm still looking out for my favorite Cooking blog. I'm so picky with recipes I usually just come up with my own. I'd love to find a great cooking/baking blog to follow though (with a health conscious/sugar-alternative/vegan angle - see why I can't find one??). What are your favorite blogs?

My Happiness Project

Over my school break I read Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project. It was very inspiring. Everyday I find myself thinking over some her thoughts on how to be happier, and I find myself a little overwhelmed trying to remember them all. I decided to make my own Happiness Resolutions in order to make it easier to remember (and apply) what I learned from her book. Gretchen gives you her own happiness resolutions, so I used hers as a jumping off point. Some of them match hers exactly and others I made up for myself. I thought 10 would be a good number:

1. Eat real food
2. Avoid talking about money
3. Be generous
4. Give energy to my interests
5. Exercise everyday
6. Curate a simple life
7. Listen
8. Say thanks
9. Uplift others
10. Be Lou

I'm keeping a copy of these resolutions in my email inbox so that I can refer to them easily. So far the most difficult resolution is to "Be Lou." The idea behind that one is to be yourself. It sounds easy, but it's really not! I often want to do things because I think that's what I'm Supposed to do, or it's something that I would want to do if I was some perfect idea of myself. But I'm not...I'm just Lou. Do I want to be the kind of person that can bungee jump and ride roller coasters? Yes. Yes! I want to be brave and awesome and do those daring things. BUT, do I want to do those things? No. They terrify me and just thinking about them makes me sick. So why can't I just Be Lou? That's the idea. It's not to say that I shouldn't push myself or try new things, but to understand that what I just plain old don't like is OK. I want to accept myself and accept the idea that I just don't want to ride a roller coaster. And then not worry about it anymore or make myself feel guilty for it.

Get the idea? I'm going to explore some more of my resolutions as I try to follow them in my life.

How to Not Do Your Econ Homework

Have you ever thought about what your friends' talents are? Or just their hobbies? Some people have very distinct interests. When I think of myself though, I just see a whole slew of stuff that I'm trying out without being particularly good at anything. I see my half finished kitchen tiling job, a quarter of a painting I started, a stack of books I started and never finished. That used to make me feel pretty guilty. BUT, not anymore. Recently I read Steven Johnson's Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation, and I feel a lot better.

Why? Well, because he talks about how being into different things can be OK and can actually spark innovation. For example, last night I wanted to start on my economics homework after finishing the econ readings, but instead I read some of the Johnson book for fun. It just so happens that the book was actually talking about economics in a way much different than my econ book itself was, so I learned something new. And that's one of the basic ideas in Johnson's book - different ideas running together from disparate places is a GOOD thing. The act of ideas colliding from separate fields brings new perspective. I really like this idea and I can see it ring true in my own life. At work I can sit at my desk for an hour trying to solve a problem until I want to cry, or I can think about something else for awhile and come back to the problem later. Nine times out of ten I will have a new way of looking at the problem, and I will solve it. So next time you are about to throw something (or cry) try working on something else. Even if it's just an elaborate way to get yourself out of doing your econ homework. It works for me!

I recommend Johnson's book for a quick and interesting read. It provides fascinating history behind many modern day ideas and inventions without being a history book. He provides theories on which environments and interactions help the development of good ideas. It's also inspiring to see his perspective, what I understood to be that good ideas don't just come from pure genius, something in the brain that we can't lock down, they come from a concoction of social interaction and dissemination of existing ideas and theories.

Toothpaste Galore!

Since I've been reading about clearing clutter with feng shui, I've discovered a lot of lovely things that I thought I had lost or had just been missing.

Karen writes a lot in Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui about her clients that have found tons of money, old savings bonds, and other awesome things in all of their junk. I am not the type to lose money-related items, but I did find a pirate's treasure load of something.

Toothpaste.

Um, whoopsie! I had no idea that I had six containers of my favorite toothpaste.

Ah hem. Soooo I will not be needing to buy toothpaste in the next year or two.

Feels good minty-fresh to feng shui!

Major Clutter Issues

Last week in a reading frenzy I devoured Karen Kingston's book, Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui. It was amazing and I couldn't stop reading. (Although to be fair it is not a tremendously long book.) I became interested in the book because I was feeling overwhelmed by the messy state of my condo. It's only 650 square feet after all (in case you forgot...), and that is not a lot of room for my stuff. I actually have a history of being a packrat, and I recover and relapse in phases.

Once I kept a goose egg (a real goose egg) from my grandparent's cabin in a tupperware container in my desk for probably close to a year. That is messed up. I'm not bad like that anymore, but I still have a lot of knickknacks (read: garbage) that I keep around along with receipts and other paper junk. Oh, and I have an obsession with keeping cardboard boxes and large envelopes. But that's only because I shipped ebay items for years and years and every ebayer knows the immense value of the perfectly shaped box to fit that strangely shaped Widgetmadiget.

Since I've read the book I filled my garbage container and my neighbor's as well. Don't worry, I hauled the neighbor's garbage can to the curb. But don't tell. I also have a huge stack of odd shaped boxes. I'm trying to de-clutter in phases, the first being getting everything I need to learn how to let go of in a pile. Specific piles, that is. There was a garbage pile (now living at the dump), a box pile (still sittin'), and a sell on ebay pile. For which I might need that box pile. Ugghh! I am drowning in my own bad habits, haha. As you can tell, it's still a work in progress for me.

I don't believe in magic. (Awww, cue the collective sadness.) But I do believe in coincidences. And Karen teaches you how to map your home into different zones that relate to different parts of your life. My worst (most cluttered) zones were my career and friends/support zones. My friend/support zone was my kitchen. That's where the junk drawer(s...) live. I cleaned them up and a few hours later my friend from school last semester texted me and told me she was going to be in my city and did I want to hang out? Very cool. But just a coincidence, I know! My closet just so happens to house my career zone. I've been working on it slowly. This week, three people on my team were promoted to new jobs. (That is VERY unusual.) I don't know what that means for MY career yet, if anything, but it is strange. Wait, does that mean my coworkers live in my closet?! Now I'm confused. I can't wait to see what happens ... COINCIDENTALLY ... when I finish cleaning my closet.

Anyway, reading the book was a lot of fun and very helpful for me in letting go of my bad clutter habits. It never hurts to be reminded that things aren't who you are. But, Karen also explains that things can represent you to others, so it helps to choose them wisely.

Over the next week I'm going to share a few things I learned from the book along with specific examples (and pictures) from the condo. They'll be under the tag Feng Shui!

Definitely Imperfect

I just finished reading Deborah Needleman's The Perfectly Imperfect Home: How to Decorate and Live Well. I enjoyed the book. It's full of illustrations which I found to be an interesting difference from the other decorating books I own. Some of the illustrations are based off of real, inspiring homes.

A few of her tips ended up on my new year's resolutions list. I found that I most enjoyed these five ideas:

1. Employ a bench at the end of the bed. A bench (or stool, or set of ottomans, etc) will become a place to put on shoes or lay clothes. Perfect.

2. Keep side chairs handy for unexpected guests. These chairs can be any style or color, they simply have to be easy to pick up and move around when necessary. I don't have a lot of extra room in my home, but I would like to have one or two more chairs like this to keep up against the living room wall. 

3. Layer tables. Put shorter tables in front of taller tables to create multiple dimensions. I love this idea for next to an armchair, couch, or even putting a small stool in front of a bedside table to stack books upon.

4. Use your imagination when it comes to a coffee table. A coffee table doesn't have to be one big, rectangular table. Try a large, round upholstered ottoman, or maybe two small tables or ottomans side by side. 

5. Create a drink cart. Mix and match interesting pieces on a cart along with a few alcohol bottles. This helps to create an environment that is comfortable and welcoming.

2011 & Resolutions in Review

Every year I make a huge list of resolutions and goals. (You can see my 2012 list here.) For 2011, I set 22 goals. Here's an overview of what I accomplished, and what I didn't. The struck out items are those that I did not complete.

1. Ski. I didn't even come close to going skiing in 2011. Although I did visit my dad in Alaska in March, and it was snowing.
2. Try a juice diet. I bought a Breville juice fountain in July and I did successfully try out a juice diet. It was interesting, delicious, and partially disgusting.
3. Sew. I managed to sew a lot last year. I sewed a few upholstery related items as well as a ton of pillows.
4. Complete four commercial websites. Ummm, did not happen.
5. Learn another language. I learned my numbers in French, but other than that, FAIL.
6. Send birthday cards. Fail.
7. Get a massage. Fail again.
8. Visit a new place, or see new parts of an old place. This was a pretty open ended goal and I definitely completed it. 
9. Go on a trip with my boyfriend. We went to Universal Studios at the end of the year!
10. Buy a nice bag for work. I was given a nice bag for work. It isn't Yves Saint Laurent, but it got the job done all year. 
11. Continue to run. By the end of 2010 I could run 2.75 miles without stopping. Now I can run 4.1 miles without stopping (that's a mile over a 5k run). 
12. Move. I certainly did move.
13. Get rid of, sell, or give away all of the stuff I don't need in the attic. Failure to the max!
14. Put up mini-wreaths for seasons and holidays. This has become a weird tradition of mine!
15. Build an iPhone app. Fail.
16. Read at least one book per month. I completely owned this goal. I now read almost as much as I did when I was younger.
17. Cook and bake more for others. I did bake and cook a lot this year. Mostly only for myself and my boyfriend though.
18. Find a new TV show. I found soooo many shows I like. Shameless is my favorite from 2011.
19. See a play. I did see a play this year, the Grinchmas at Universal Studios. It was a Christmas play and I saw it after Christmas, so it wasn't that great. But I still completed the goal, right?
20. Be congenial and flexible. I have no idea if I completed this goal. I guess this year I should try to be more self-reflective?
21. Organized all paper ephemera. I sort of did this. But not really.
22. Buy something by Lauren Moffatt. Whoops. I went a little overboard on this one and now I have a dress, two coats (one was a gift), and a skirt. Heh heh.

Overall I completed 16/22 goals (that's 73%). Not bad. 

New Year, (Some) New Goals

(Not all of these are condo-related! But I bolded the ones that are.)

Whenever I write down a list of goals at the beginning of the year, I usually accomplish way more of them than I think I will. It's pretty cool. So I'm doing it again this year, but this time I'm posting them to this blog!

1. Make decisions that support strong relationships. This might mean that I will do something that I do not want to do because that choice will inconvenience me while at the same it will support a relationship that I wish to improve.
2. Play games that I used to play when I was young. Examples include tag and hide & seek and capture the flag.
3. Make good grades in school.
4. Make new friends (this is a recurring goal for me each year). And one that I am extremely bad at.
5. Read lots of books (this is a freebie goal for me).
6. Make at least one big/scary/probably expensive upgrade to the condo. That might be a new toilet or replacing the rest of the windows.
7. Have a conversation in French (this goal scares me because I think it is very difficult).
8. Be more thoughtful and generous.
9. Keep running and become better at running. I can run a 5k fairly easily, and I think that is quite far enough. But I would like to be a faster and stronger runner.
10. Cook recipes out of the Skinny Dips book that my boyfriend bought me for Christmas.
11. Take the time to style my hair.
12. Maintain a natural household. Last year I fully transitioned to natural toothpaste, dish soap, hand soap, candles, deodorant (I make my own), shampoo, and conditioner. I also use a vinegar/borax mix to clean with. This year I could try natural laundry soap and dishwasher soap. I also stopped using manufactured feminine products last year and I use reusable, hand made, organic cotton products. It has saved me money and there are no health risks involved.
13. Do not fall prey to fashion trends. I am shocked that I don't have a pair of Toms shoes. I do however have gladiator sandals, Uggs, Hunter boots (two pairs!), and countless other trendy shoes. Gladiator sandals don't even look right on me! My somewhat frivolous (it's relative of course) shopping behavior has got to stop.
14. Similar to item 13, unsubscribe from all shop/sale emails. I've already begun and will unsubscribe as I receive emails from the companies.

(Little Subsection of) Furniture Goals:
15. Buy a bench or set of ottomans for the end of my bed.
16. Acquire or buy side chairs for the living room.
17. Employ 'table layering' techniques in the bedroom and living room. This is an approach to side tables that allows you to layer tables with varying heights in front of each other. 
18. Do something about the lack of a coffee table.


19. Paint the kitchen.
20. Decorate the floors (rugs) and the walls (art, shelving).
21. Setup a drink cart. I don't drink often, and I actually realized that I could easily and happily never drink alcohol again in my life, but I think having a drink cart is a welcoming and sweetly old-fashioned way to decorate a home.
22. Use my Delta sky miles to take a trip.
23. Encourage others to visit my new home in my city!
24. Start selling unused items on eBay again. I used to do this all of the time.
25. Get rid of or sell the items in the storage unit. I almost didn't write this goal because I dread it SO MUCH!


Usually my list of goals includes tons of items related to traveling, but since I am choosing to spend my money on grad school for the next three+ years, I have left most travel off the list (except of course item 22, which will be an inexpensive trip). To make up for it, I decided to add item 23 at the last minute. I think 2012 should be the year of others visiting me, or so I hope!

Mobile Version!

I turned on the mobile version of this site. Soooo if you wanna read this blog from your phone, it should be much less painful! Awesome. Now if only kitchen backsplashes were that easy.

Good News, Bad News

The good news is that today, I am going to share with you something that has taken me years to learn. The bad news is that I do not have an update for you on the condo progress today. Feel free to click away so you can find your tissue box at hearing this horrible news. I drove to Miami this weekend (10+ hour drive one way) and back with my boyfriend, so I have been a bit occupied. I guess I could have blogged from my iPhone on the road, but that would not have made me a very good passenger/fellow driver.

Anyway, I wanted to take a quick moment to give you some free advice. This advice has taken me most of my life to cultivate. It is an extremely valuable and awesome nugget of advicey goodness. It is better than Halloween candy. (Haha ha ha, that is obviously a joke. Nothing is better than candy.) Throughout my life I have struggled with a simple question, "What do you want to hear first: the good news or the bad news?" I almost hate that question because it sounds so simple. But how do you know which to choose? Is there some sort of flow chart based on my mood or the time of day that I can follow to decide if I need some good news or bad news first? Well, I am about to tell you how to find out which to choose. And don't worry, you don't need a flowchart.

Here is what to do: always ask for good news first. Because if you hear the bad news first, the good news isn't going to seem as good. And you will be crying and depressed and no amount of good news will be able to console you. That's all there is to it! Just get the good news first. Enjoy it, react happily to it (to the great joy of the messenger), and then hear the bad news and pout and become the spoiled and awful person that bad news brings out of everyone! Let me give you an example to help prove the point.

Scenario One:
Me: Do you want to hear the bad news or the good news first?
You: Bad news.
Me: I just crashed your car into a small concrete structure. It is mostly broken, and if it was a person, it would probably be dead!
You: I hate my life I hate you I hate cars! Everything sucks!
Me: Now for the good news. I am taking you to Disney World!
You: I still hate my life and Disney World sucks!

Scenario Two:
Me: Do you want to hear the bad news or the good news first?
You: Good news!
Me: I am taking you to Disney World!
You: That's amazing. You are so generous and I am so grateful. Sunshine and happiness!
Me: Ok, so now for the bad news. I crashed your car into a small concrete structure. It is mostly broken, and if it was a person, it would probably be dead!
You: It's OK. DisneyWorldSprinklesCandy!

Paint paint paint, paint paint paint

Today I attempted to figure out how my time is spent. Here's a pie chart breakdown:

As you can see, a great deal of my time is spent on work. School is second (that includes class time and homework). I really wish I could expand the Freelance and Renovations categories. However, this look at how I spend my time does not include the weekend, because they vary wildly. Some weekends I will do absolutely nothing, some will be spent on renovations entirely, sometimes I will be working, and others will be spent shopping.

Last night I worked for about four hours painting the condo. I finished one coat on three out of four walls in the living room (Manhattan Mist by Behr), one coat of white on the ceiling of the closet (Behr standard white ceiling paint) - and I am only going to do one coat because I have to maneuver around the HVAC unit and it is a pain, plus you can't really see it anyway, and a second and final coat on the closet walls (Martha Stewart's Powder Puff color matched to Behr). I would rename the closet's paint color to Dead Body, because it seems accurate. I'm hoping it will grow on me. Throughout this process I've learned that I am the world's worst paint color picker. The living room's Manhattan Mist looks decidedly lavender to me as well. Hopefully when the blue painter's tape is pulled away, it won't have that purple tone.

I am decidedly sick of painting! Yay!

(work * 2) + school + condo = busy

Today I have a meeting with a previous employer about some part-time work. I am so excited because I really enjoyed the work we did in the past. It was a lot of web design, book cover design, and editing. I learned loads, and I was able to be graphically artistic - something I am and have been unable to do in most of my jobs. With school, two jobs, and renovating this condo, I am a bit overwhelmed. But I think there is nothing better than staying busy. Plus, how else am I going to pay for all of the things that I'm dreaming of purchasing for this condo (and maybe just myself)?!

Tolix Marais Metal Stool at Design Within Reach $108/each

Mushroom Picking Chemise at Anthropologie $58