Time For Some Organization

 

When I was in high school I remember being very organized. I always showed up on time, I kept track of my daily schedule and obligations... somewhere along the line I lost those skills. I suppose as you grow up life gets more complicated and its harder to keep track of, but I am always running late and much as I try I can't keep myself organized to save my life!

I am a list maker. I constantly have lists going for various things that I need to keep track of. The problem is there are so many different categories of information that I can never remember what is on which list and maybe even where I put that list five minutes ago when I was writing it. So I graduated to keeping different notebooks for different topics. I have my daily task notebook, my planner, (yes I am still a paper planner type of person) my massage business notebook, my pottery business notebook, my keep track of my spending notebook, and more. While this feeds my love of cute little books, it also keeps my bag very heavy and I still have notes scattered between different books if I write things down in a hurry. And then do you think I can find them when I need them? Not so much.

So my exciting news of the day is that Justin found something that I think is going to solve my problem! It's called bullet journaling. At first it seemed a little overwhelming. A lot of little things to remember to make it all work, but at a closer look I've decided that it's brilliant and am a little upset with myself that I wasn't able to come up with it on my own. Essentially, it's a way to organize and KEEP TRACK OF all of the little things you write down for yourself. The brilliance lies in keeping the first page (or pages) as an index. Every time you add an entry, you give it a title and on the index page write down what page that topic is on. If you add another entry 23 pages later, you just add that page number to the topic. For example:

Brilliant! The website suggests a graph paper notebook, but being my artist self I bought a beautiful handmade notebook from Purple Bean Bindery without lines assuming that I could figure out how to function on blank pages. Now every little passing thought, task list, sketch of a new design idea, can be written down and easily found afterwards!

I still have a couple of  books that I use for different things, but I have just this one book that I can carry with me and keep daily reminders and lists in that is nice and organized! Hopefully this is going to keep my head free of worrying about remembering things so that I can be more productive and efficient with my time and cross those tasks off the list!

Rockland Weekend

This weekend I had the Maine Boats Homes and Harbors show with my pots in Rockland… a weekend that financially turned out not so well but a few good things came from it. First I got to spend three awesome nights with my sweet friends the Eichenlaubs, which is always a treat, and second, I got my work in a gallery called Michael Good Gallery in Rockland.

This show was nice, but long and very slow this year, which adds to the unfortunate part of doing shows, which is just that you can never know how they are going to go until you try them. And even then, a show could be great one year and not the next. So it was worth a go, but I’m not sure I will do it again.

In the end the highlight was staying with Jake, Iris, and Sylvan, (Jonas was away at “nerd” camp) and I was so grateful for them as always. So many yummy meals, laughs and good visiting!


And here is Iris’s sweet handwritten recipe of rosemary infused homemade lemonade that is to die for. Check out her blog http://craftingmamalibrarian.wordpress.com/ she is amazing and always shares great things! Yum!

my new love

So my very dear friend Amanda and her sweet husband Adam created the most amazing human being this past year, and I am so in love. Lots and lots of my friends have had babies and they all have been amazing in their own little ways. Aiden was my first baby love, when I was still in college. He was the first of our group to come along and he was my little buddy, and in the 13 years since then there have been many sweet little beings born.

This year however, this baby, is different. He’s AMANDA’s. Amanda, who has known me longer than almost anyone. Amanda, who I met at 6 years old, grew up with on Peaks Island, went through high school with, worked at the ice cream store with, shared so many pieces of my life with that when I look at her, I see myself. Literally. It’s weird. I am incredibly grateful everyday that our friendship is still a strong, no questions relationship that has lasted so many years.

Emmett's arrival completely shifted my world, he is the closest to feeling like my child of any children I know, if that makes any sense, coming from Amanda who feels like an extension of me. I have spent so much time with them, and also he is just an amazing little man. He is complete joy, his face, his smile, is just contagious and enlightening and he just makes you happy. I venture to say that even non children people would think this child is amazing. I’ve honestly doubted whether I will love my own children as much as I do Emmett. (I’m sure I will, but THAT is the kind of love I have for this baby!)

So I might just straight up post series of photos of this amazing child, because he is a huge part of my world now. Don’t think I have had a baby, there will be a HUGE announcement before that happens, and yes we talk about it and yes we will get there someday, but not today. Today we will enjoy Emmett and the other littles around us!

House Reminds Me, And I Don’t Mind

I came home this evening and turned on the TV to find the show House. For some strange reason I find this show comforting. It flashes me back in time, 11:00 ish, a little more than four years ago in Atlanta. Every night my sister and I would hunker down on our fold out bed after being kicked out of the hospital, and we would watch at least an hour of House. After a full day of watching and waiting on and for Cruise, surviving on hospital food, and hope that the situation would get better, because it had to, why we chose to watch a hospital show, I’m not sure I can answer. Maybe it’s because it was familiar. Maybe because it is based on severe health situations and at the end, there was always an answer. They always got better. Made up, medical, consciously or not, maybe it gave me hope.

Never have I ever lived my life so in the moment. I left home having no idea what spinal cord injury really meant, or even that SCI was what we were facing. For six months, I lived in the moment, never knowing what was next. And while those days were scary, sad, devastating at moments, they were also some of the best days of my life. Do I wish I could change it all for Cruise, yes. Of course. Do I wish I could change it for my parents? All of his friends who witnessed his injury and endure it with him? Everyone that the ripple effect of this injury effects? Yes. But when you can’t go back, you have to go forward. I am so grateful that we are a family of humor and strength. I laughed more in those first three months in the hospital than I had in years. I felt in a way that I never have. Pain, love, helplessness, hope. I learned, and laughed and loved like never before.
I live far away from my family. I don’t live this injury anymore on a daily basis. I forget sometimes, not that the situation exists, but what it feels like every moment of everyday. I know they are tired, scared, sad, and overwhelmed, as well as hopeful. And that I have the luxury of living my physical life free of their reality. They all handle it amazingly well, considering, but life with spinal cord injury is hard, and there is no understanding until you are living it. So I visit when I can, help when I can, and try to remain grateful for everything in my life. One foot in front of the other. It’s been four years, and I am so proud of how far Cruise has come. It can’t be expressed in words. From this:

to this:

Cruise’s 2012 interview with www.ambitiondaily.com

I love you man. You’ve come a long way.

Tuned in or tuned out?

Today I am traveling to see my family for the holidays. In the aftermath of yesterday’s horrifying event in a Connecticut elementary school, I am feeling muted and heavy, not my usual travelling self. I have been so incredibly busy that I am already exhausted, a little grumpy and not myself these days. I am looking forward to some time off to get back to myself, more compassionate, patient and loving than I have been lately.
On my layover in New York, I am in a small wing of the airport that is filled with bar like desks set up with iPad after iPad free for passengers waiting for their flights. I’ve never seen anything like it. I got a snack and settled in with my laptop to watch a movie during my long layover, acutely aware that this isn’t my usual choice of activity but I am too tired to think too much so I plug in. Like so many people around me. During a heartfelt moment in my movie, I looked around me and paused it, noticing how usually spend my airport time people watching and reflecting on myself and the world around me. Who are all of these people? Where are they going and what is happening for them in this moment? Are the heading to see a loved one? Going to a funeral? For some reason airports invoke this kind of though process for me, I have time to just watch the world go ‘round and consider the humanness of the people around me.
I stopped my movie to talk with my sister and then shut everything down to wait out the last half an hour before boarding. I sat at the high top to wait, an iPad in front of me flashing “Stay Connected, surf the web on us!” As I glanced around me I took notice of the majority of the people plugged into some sort of device. In front of an iPad, laptop, on a phone or Kindle. In some ways these people are staying connected to friends, family and the world around them, and yet at the same time we are disconnecting from the immediate world around us. No one is talking to strangers about their trip. No one is sharing in a mutual experience. We are staying safely in the digital world, private and individual within the masses of people in the airport. We are staying busy and engaged in a strange disconnected world. Where is the time to reflect, disengage, connect to ourselves and the actual PEOPLE around us?
I am fully part of this movement. I have my laptop with me, which I didn’t even own a couple of years ago. I have my iPhone next to me. I spend more time on them than I realize, because it’s easy to be engaged with them and forget what life was like before they were a priority or even existed. But every once in a while I think about what I am missing by devoting myself so fully to “staying connected.” Am I being true to myself, the person that I think I am by rarely disengaging to interact with my surroundings?

The horrifying death of so many children and adults yesterday invokes many thoughts and arguments. I’m not sure sometimes which of them are “right” or “wrong.” But I find myself in the end, being discouraged by all of the chatter and the lack of action. We ask a lot of questions, but do we really have any perspective on how to change this world we have created? How do we really connect with each other to stop such horrible events?
As I type this, I hear a small child singing the ABC’s. I listen and look up to notice other people around me doing the same. Two women who I think are together and a man who seems to be on his own sit near me. When the child is finished one of the women claps and we all look at each other and smile. We make eye contact. And share a real, endearing, human moment. Maybe despite recent tragedy, there is still hope. There is still connection.

Last minute visit

Last Sunday I got a very last minute visit from my other half! Not my partner, love of my life other half, but my genetic, part of my soul other half… she looks like this and is almost always either sleeping or eating as shown below.
    
For those of you who don’t have siblings, or who don’t get along with theirs, it is very difficult to explain, but all I can say is that true love and soul mates aren’t just about romance and romantic partners. My sister and I have a connection that I can’t even put into words… every great once in a while I feel like I understand what it is like to have a twin. Not because we are so much alike but because we understand each other in a very intuitive sort of way, and love each other unconditionally no matter what. I never laugh so hard or feel so comfortable in my own skin as I do when I’m with my sister. With my brother it’s a different kind of connection, still that part of my being, some things are just intuitively understood, unconditional love connection (lucky for him!) but he’s a boy so it’s a little different. He does make me laugh more than anyone I know!
We had an awesome few days, speckled with me having to work a little which I was not very happy about! It ended with an afternoon on the island, one of our favorite places!

and I almost got her to stay…

but alas, she had to go home! I love you little sister!

Lola Arts

This year I am putting real effort into making my pottery and crafty things into a business. I have done small craft shows here and there for years, but now I am a bit more focused. I have a website and I’m doing some bigger shows this year! You can find my work at www.lolaarts.com. Custom orders are more than welcome and you can get an idea of what I do from my shop!
Here are a few of my favorite creations this year, new designs, new shapes and loads of cuteness!
    
      My new favorite… Butterdishes!                         The Littles. Tiny bud vases
    
               Shallow salad bowl                                        Large covered dish
    
                        Mugs                                                            Bowls
    
Vases, cups, plates and more! Check out my Lola Arts website to find out where I will be this summer! Thanks for visiting!

Leaving stress behind

Yesterday it was eight bajillion degrees outside and unbelievably humid out so we escaped (after a slow morning) by sailing out to sea. You may or may not know by now that while on the one hand I have a pretty easy going, relaxed, happy nature, I also am a totally wound up stress case. My brain is always buzzing with what I need to get done by when, what I need to prepare for, how much time I have to do it in and stress, stress, STRESS about it all. Even though I know none of this is helpful to me in any way, it still happens. AND there seem to be very few times that I can really be rid of the stress of what I need to do. Even though I know that none of what I stress about is really important. The world isn’t going to end if I don’t worry about this stuff, or even if I don’t get it done. Not the way I want to live my life at all.
So two things. #1, I’m working on this feeling like this more often,

and #2 I realized last night as we were driving home, that the whole time we were sailing I didn’t think for a minute about anything else in my life. Not once did I think about what I needed to do next or what I should be getting done. Just the wind direction, trimming the sails, and our heading. I think I just remembered my happy place.

A Little Burst of Inspiration

My creative side has been showing itself more often over the past six months or so. It’s always there somewhere but often it lies dormant until some random thing inspires it to come out and play. I’ve been making (and selling!) lots of pottery this year so far, made myself and website and am trying to get Lola Arts off the ground as an actual business. I also made a website for my massage business and am working on one for a friend as well, which I’m really enjoying! (I wanted to be a graphic designer in one brief moment in my life, so I think playing with websites feeds that part of me!)
I’ve been working on ideas for my pottery display when I go to shows and have tuned into my love of cute vintage things… not sure they will go together yet, BUT I had my first great find yesterday!

After a lovely outside summer breakfast with Bo and Justin (with my pottery of course!) we decided to go yard sale-ing and each found one little item that we needed/wanted. (Mine was by far the best although I think we were each equally happy!) I got a sideways look from Justin but couldn’t help buying this ADORABLE sea foam blue/green (totally my color) vintage looking fan for ONE DOLLAR!! It was so me I couldn’t believe it and scooped it up like a six year old buying an ice cream cone!

I mean really, how could you pass this up? So cute! I plugged it in when we got home and it works, although Justin asked me not to leave it plugged in because old electrical stuff scares him. I thought about it for the afternoon and after dinner started working… I took the whole thing apart very carefully and cleaned it all up… scrubbed a little rust off of the grills and took the fan part out careful to keep track of all of the parts. I plan on keeping them all so that I can convert it back to a fan someday if I want to but now… she looks like this!!

I’m so in love!! So that was my creative project yesterday… I wonder what else I can find!!

New Year’s Resolutions

We had a very (welcomed) mellow New Year’s Eve which gave me the time to actually reflect on the past year and begin to form some goals about the coming year. Goal setting is new for me. It’s such an obvious and simple task in some ways, but for many reasons I have just never really done it. I’ve always struggled with the idea of having new year’s resolutions as I tend to just avoid or break any trend that I try to set for myself, but I have learned to take an idea, tweak it with my own guidelines, and allow that to be ok.
I’ve done a pretty good job of passively manifesting things in my life but it’s time to stop being passive about it.
This year I have several goals which I am hesitant to write here in case I DON”T follow through, but here is a brief preview. I will preface this (as I do most things in my life) with the disclaimer that they might not all happen but I am going to try and what doesn’t happen, well, I’m ok with that. (Also as part of my own guidelines I allow for these to grow and evolve and maybe even become something else entirely… I’m also sure some will get added.)
My goals for this year include but are not limited to:
~ become a better cook. I mean, I make things that are edible, but they are often not amazing…
~ exercise Lola (our pup) more. Off leash exercise is better for her and me so that is going to be more of a priority!
~ exercise myself more (this works well with the previous goal… already killing two birds with one stone!)
~watch less TV. I’m doing well with this one so far and it allows much more time for following through on other goals and doing other things that make me happy! I’ve gotten on a roll with creating my own pottery… goal #1 there is creating my palate. 10 years later I finally feel like I’m getting there! This picture doesn’t really do it justice…

~take action and do the things there is “never enough time for.” Because if you don’t do them now, when will you do them? I’m learning that there is enough time I just have to choose wisely, keep my priorities in check and my mind focused on what I truly want out of my days. So far I’ve been quite productive, happy and feeling good this year! It started with butter dishes…

~ be on time. I have this memory of being really good at being on time for things that were important… the reality is that was when I was a teenager and I’ve deluded myself for many. many years into thinking that wasn’t so long ago. Time to change that. At least a little. Being on time will mean less stress which is always good.
~identify future life goals. As previously stated I am not so good at this. I have lots of grand dreams but not very many concrete, make them happen, goals… So I’m taking this year to figure some out.
~And the biggest, hardest goal which in turn involves lots of little goals to get there is to make more money this year. I have always had enough, but just barely. I have always had dreams, but no real means to make them happen… luckily some don’t require a ton of money, but some do, and I am tired of struggling. SO you are going to be hearing more from me about massage, pottery, aprons and other crafts as I attempt to really improve my life! Time to focus on my mad skills and make myself a decent living!
So this is me putting these things out into the world… we’ll see how I do with them, but I will say, for some reason this year they are really sticking so far. It turns out goals seem to snowball and reproduce on their own. So by setting a couple of goals I have in turn been eating better, planning ahead, sleeping more, and doing good things for myself all as a side note to say, not watching so much TV and wanting to do things I love. I think the older I get the more I realize it’s time to make the most out of life. It passes too quickly to take it for granted.

What I love about Gifting

I absolutely love the holidays! I don’t love the overdone commercials, the holiday displays up the day after Thanksgiving, or the crazy crowds and commercialism, but I do as a whole, despite all of these things in our culture, love the holidays. I love the energy of the season, of gifting and giving, spending time with loved ones, being a little more kind and connected, and the expression of love. I wish it could be year round but I do love that overall this time of year allows for a little more patience and kindness. (Except maybe in the shopping lines.)
One of our highlights this Christmas was that our last minute-ness payed off with a surprisingly quiet grocery store on Christmas Eve and a $1 tree from Lowe’s! We usually support the local Rotary Club, but we were too late, so a last minute stop at Lowe’s may have started a new tradition for us! (We can donate to the Rotary separately)
My only struggle with this time of year is the extensive buying and spending and accumulating of stuff. Every year I get a bit more committed to trying to do Christmas differently. I have already switched to mostly doing homemade gifts. I do purchase some things, but in general, I try to make things from the goodness of my heart. This proves challenging, but I know the best gifts that I give are one’s that I have put a lot of thought and energy into, and that really came from ME. At the same time, the gifts that I love the most are not necessarily handmade, but that show how someone really knows me. I received some very extravigant gift this year, but almost all of them were incredibly personal and right or target for who I am and what I like and need.

(Lola loves her new squeeky mallard.)

What is important to me about gifting:
1) I love giving handmade gifts. There is so much love and all of the other things that I am about to mention in homemade gifts. I also know that not everyone feels capable of making gifts which is completely fine as well, but for those who can, including myself, I love it.  I always seem to cram them all in at the last minute in December, and never do all that I intend to.  This coming year I am going to be more proactive and start making things all throughout the year so a) I am doing the creating that I love more often, and b) I really have time to figure out and create some great gifts with less stress and more (see below) meaning.
2) Meaning. I want the gifts that I give and receive to have some meaning, not just be a gift for the sake of giving a gift. It can be loving, a reflection of who I am, a personal joke, whatever, I just want everything to have some meaning, even if it’s goofy. This year Justin handed me a gift and said this is the least expensive and smallest gift but I think it might end up being your favorite. It was a DVD of the Glee Concert. (And yes I loved it, even more than I thought I would because I am a giant Glee DORK.)
3) LOCAL. I am incredibly into supporting local. Spending money is actually important in the world around us and what is most important to me is that my money goes to local businesses and people. Not only do I want to support local crafters and business people, I also really love having a connection to where something came from. I love hearing about who made it or the sweet local shop it came from, knowing that the purchase means you are allowing someone to continue doing something that they love. Some of my gifts included Canopy Coffee, which was created by some dear friends of mine. They spent two years in Panama with the Peace Corp, ended up buying a small bit of land and are buying coffee grown with sustainable and organic techniques directly from the farmers in Panama. Not only have they been there to know who and what kind of practices they are supporting, they also are paying the farmers a fair and higher rate because there is no middle man. (www.canopycoffee.com to learn more) I realize Panama isn’t local but it’s one example of supporting friends I love and a great business they are starting!
4) Intention. This is along the lines of meaning. They say that it’s the thought that counts and really in the end it is. (That being said sometimes there isn’t enough thought and then it doesn’t seem to count because no or little thought = bad) But truly, the smallest and most tiny of gifts can be the most amazing because of their intention. I think we have gotten lost in getting THINGS, when really it’s about the love and intention of what someone is giving, not the actual thing itself. In fact, I would rather be given an experience sometimes, instead of just more stuff. (Not that I don’t appreciate the things that I received as well!)
5) Time well spent. This is an odd ball one. My family lives in Florida so the holidays for me means traveling at some point to have a week with my family. This year I went early and actually had the week I wanted. Usually we end up spending the days before Christmas running our separate ways trying to buy our last minute presents, stressing out, hiding in separate rooms wrapping them at the last minute… it’s crazy. Exactly the opposite of why I am there. This year we just spent time together and it was perfect. More than anything I want to have time with loved ones to enjoy the holidays together!
I want to keep a smaller footprint, I don’t want to collect a ton of things that I don’t need, but I also love giving gifts, so I don’t want that tradition to be lost completely. There is something lovely about sharing how special someone is to you through a gift. This season is all about love, kindness, sharing and being grateful. I’m sure I have left out some other important points that I can’t think of right now… What makes the holidays special for you?

Letting Go (Probably Again)

This sounds like something that I have maybe titled a blog post before, but this is my November 2011 edition of Letting Go.
While I do a whole lot of talking and thinking about letting go, I’m not as good at it as you might think. But I am getting better and for some reason it’s been easier lately. In my head, I am a very organized, neat person. Justin will argue that there is no way that this could be true based on the state of my car and our house, but truthfully, clutter and mess makes me crazy. I spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to tidy things up and SIMPLIFY. Justin being a collector and not a tidy things up kind of person makes this battle even harder for me.
I have slowly been trying to purge things that (we) own, and while Justin feels often that it’s mostly his stuff, I have been paring down mine as well. (Which is much harder than purging someone else’s!)
This past weekend I did my biggest letting go yet and drove my to-die-for, grey, polka dot, cozy, snuggly couch to her new home in New York. Despite the fact and Lola and I are equally in love with her, she was very large, took up lots of space and didn’t really belong in our dining room… It took me a year of thinking about it, but now our dining room is so lovely and my sweet friends have a new couch! AND I was finally ready, so truthfully, it wasn’t that hard to let her go. Sometimes it just takes time to realize stuff is only stuff.

So there Justin, that is my grand gesture for purging my own part of our house. See, I DO get rid of my stuff too! No more complaints when your things go missing… I’ll just say they must have been stuck in the couch.