crafty fanny

Asian Superman & My New Bike

Have I told y'all before how Tim is a superhero? He really is. He's like the Asian Superman. Seriously, I think that he might *actually* know how to fly but is just keeping a low profile.

I bring this up now, because, as I mentioned before, he picked me up at work last week (about 36 hours after getting stabbed in his eyeball) with this surprise-early-birthday-present for me on top of his car:

'Cause that really is how he rolls. Tim is one of the most awesomest people I know!

Her name is Dorthea. She's beautiful and I love her.

This bike fits so perfectly into the vision of my life I have for myself. Tim just got me one step closer. And I love him for that.

friday's confession: i'm saying eff the plan

Last week, I posted this confession on friday: I need a plan. I think this is something that resonated with a lot of you out there, since there are so many of us who are struggling with changing our lives, creating a path for ourselves and generally making our own way in this world.

I expected people to comment on this post, but I was not expecting this comment from the lovely Michelle:

Eff the plan. Get all the ideas out in a big brain dump and put 'em someplace safe. Then look at the list and see what calls out to you. What seems funnest? Easiest? Honor that Renaissance Soul lady! You can always switch gears whenever you want.

Can I please take a moment to tell you all how happy this made me?

Here's what I realized after posting last week and thinking all about the comments y'all left: It's okay to not have a "plan" because I can still get done all the things I want to do. I can naturally develop a plan even without spending days, weeks even, coming up with a schedule for myself.

Then the big light bulb that went off for me: Because there are so many things I want to do for myself, it might take a little longer to get them done since I'm collectively doing so much. And...wait for it...that's okay.

It's okay if it takes a while. I don't have to do it all right now. It's okay if it doesn't all happen immediately.

{Exhale}

That's nice to hear, isn't it?

last weekend...ups and downs

Happy Tuesday, Friends!

I'm happy to let you know that I have a whole ton of blog posts lined up for you...in my head! That's right, they're in there, but are just waiting for a big ol' brain dump to get them onto the page. Or screen. Or whatever you want to call it.

However, Tim and I are heading out of town for a couple of days, so you might just have to be a wee bit more patient. Can you handle that? Pretty please? Ok, thanks!

To tide you over, I did want to share with you the story of my weekend, though, and some things that I learned. This post will be without pictures (you'll see why in a minute) but hopefully words will suffice!

The weekend started out like any other. Tim sailed Friday night and I worked late and then spent the rest of the evening relaxing with Maggie. We went to sleep without incident, but Maggie woke up in the middle of the night needing to go out. This happens every once in a while with the puppy and it's really no big deal. Until...

When going to put Maggie back into her crate after taking her out, Tim ran into a metal poke-y part of said crate...WITH HIS EYEBALL. Y'ALL. (Can you now see why there are no pictures in this post?) And, yes, you read that right: eyeball.

Um, can we take a moment to talk about how this is not an ideal thing to have happen at 3am? Or really at ever?

Needless to say, the next 2 hours in the emergency room were not the most fun I'd ever had. Luckily, Tim is going to be fine (he saw a specialist on Monday) and his vision won't be affected, but it was still a less-than-ideal thing to happen. Although, I'm so grateful that he's okay.

What surprised me the most about the whole thing, though, was that I didn't really freak out. Looking back on what happened, I so should have freaked out (grossness, y'all, it was grossness) but as I was driving us to the hospital, I was shockingly calm. Maybe it was my sleepiness, but I think that it might have also been that I realized that my freaking out wasn't going to help the situation. At all. In fact, all it would have done was make things worse.  Whoa. Profound, isn't it?

You're welcome.

And here's the up of the weekend: Tim came to pick me up from work on Sunday with an amazing surprise on his roof rack: a new (to me) adorable super sweet bike! With a basket! And a low center-bar thing so I can ride in a dress!! And it's green! With pretty white fenders!

There's no picture of this because 1. they're painting our house and I'm afraid to interrupt them to open the garage door to pull the bike out to take a picture and 2. my office is a mess and I can't find my camera. But I promise, pics soon!!! 

I love this bike, friends. It's my easy-rider, farmer's market bike. With a basket. It's the bike that I've included in the "vision of my life" that I put out to the Universe sometimes when I feel the need to refocus myself and really envision where I want to be going. And Tim made it happen. I am silly with joy over this!!!

I hope that y'all had FANTASTIC weekends! I'll be back Friday with a good confession (about my grand plan) and will find my camera so I can take some pics of sweet Maggie as she sees Lake Tahoe for the first time!

Oh, and I do have a pic of the eyeball. If you really want to see it, let me know in the comments and I can email it to you.

friday's confession: I need a plan.

I need a plan.

I mean, I have a plan. I have this vision of my life, of where I'm going with myself. I know where I'm heading, what I'm working toward. So I've got that. Goals, visions, etc.

But the plan? I think it's a little lacking.

When I was working with Michelle, I did a Myers-Briggs assessment and found that I am an ENFP. This means, my friends, that I am all about the BIG PICTURE. And I am. Big picture. All the time. I have about 100 big ideas rolling through my head. I'm always thinking about the books I'm going to write, blogs I'm going to start, things I'm going to do, create. Retreats I'm going to lead. All of these big ideas.

And I could spend my whole life coming up with big ideas. My challenge is actually figuring out the little steps needed to make all of these things happen...without losing steam and moving onto the next big idea.

So, I need a plan. I think I need to go spend some time at a cafe writing down my plan. Really figuring out the steps I need to take to make all this amazing stuff happen for me.

Do you have a plan? When you need a plan, what's your favorite strategy for coming up with one?

wednesday's inspiration: my tweet

Yes, that tweet is true, friends. I've come to realize that I have the vocabulary of a 19 year-old. Is this a problem?

Anyhoozy, after I posted this tweet, I started thinking about how much can be said with just one word (ha!) and a high five and thought that both of those would actually make awesome cards.

So...without further ado, I give you the two newest listings in my shop!

"High Five" greeting card

word. greeting card

If you're interested in picking up one of these little lovelies, you might also want to check out my guest post video (talkin' about baby steps y'all) over on Michelle's When I Grow Up blog cause there's also a discount code good for 20% off! Woot woot!

Happy Wednesday!

how I conquered my Google Reader

Like many of you, my world changed the day I discovered Google Reader. It was like a lightbulb went off in my head when I realized I could have all of my favorite blogs in one place. And when I discovered a new one, I could just subscribe. So easy. And it would just tell me whenever something new was posted. Like magic! Like good old Google-powered magic.

And then one day, I logged on and realized I was subscribed to hundreds (wish I was kidding on this!) of blogs and had 1000+ items in my Reader! 1000+! Google Reader stops counting after 1000 posts 'cause they know you shouldn't try to get through that many.

Since that day, I've been trying constantly to win the battle against my Reader. I've gone through and strategically and unapologetically unsubscribed from blogs that I don't read often. I've attempted to put a module on my home page so that I can try to keep up with things periodically as they come in. But it always gets out of hand. There's just too much good stuff out there to look at, too much pretty on the internets that I want to see.

And just one day away would create a Google Reader monster. And I, being the over-achiever that I am, would feel so guilty, like I had let all of these blog authors down, buy not being able to read everything. But, oh, I would certainly try! I would try and try and then an hour or two would go by. And then I realized that there must be a better way to do this or else I would spent the rest of my life just reading blogs. The rest of my life, y'all.

So, are you dying for my solution? Can't wait to hear what I did to finally keep the Reader under my control?

My secret weapon: I use the "mark all as read" button all the time.

Here's my process:

1. I usually log onto my Reader as a type of reward for getting something useful accomplished. And I always give myself a time limit. Or I'll read things while eating breakfast or taking a quick break. Limits are key, people!
2. I check out how many total new items are waiting for me. Sometimes this is a low number like 7, in which case I'll just click on "all items" and go through the list. But sometimes, this is a crazy number like 347 or 1000+. In these cases, proceed to step 2.
3. When the number is high, I skip reading "all items" and scroll through the listing of individual blogs on the left-hand side. I then only read the ones that are very important to me. Artists I love, real-life friends, people who never fail to inspire me. Those are the ones I give my energy to. If I've been away from my Reader for a few days, this usually will take up most, if not all, of my allotted time.
4. Then I go to the top of the page and "Mark all as read." Yes, this is bold (hehe) and the first time I did it, I found it slightly terrifying, asking myself things like, "Oh, but what if there's something that I'm about to skip that is amazing, life-changing? What if I miss out on the coolest thing in the world?"
5. The key: Once you've gotten rid of everything, or actually right before, realize that your life is complete as is and reading blogs is only an enrichment, not a completion. Right? Don't we all have enough in our lives that missing out on a few blog posts isn't going to be life-altering?
6. Repeat as often as necessary.

Do you have any tips for keeping clear of online clutter? Please share in the comments! I'm sure we could all use them!!!

flying cars...yay or nay?

Tim and I have a bet going. It's a life-long bet on whether or not flying cars will become ubiquitous in our lifetime. I say heck yes. Tim says no way!

I honestly cannot even recall what the stakes are.

Given this bet, you can imagine my excitement when Tim alerted me to this piece on NPR last week talking about a new form of a flying car recently approved by the FAA!!! What!?! High five, y'all! 

So what do you think? Chime in: flying cars in our lifetime: yay or nay?

PS. Oh! I'm also very excited to let you know that the lovely Erin Robinson is offering up a giveaway of one of my affirmation prints this week! Click on over and leave a comment before Friday to win an inspirational print of your choice!

friday's confession: sometimes I need a break

Sorry, folks, I hate to bust your bubble, but it's true: sometimes I need a break.

And that's why I'm heading out of town for the weekend to take my sweet puppy on her first camping trip!

In other news, I'd like to share this:

It's a sneak peek of a new card that will be coming up in the shop next week taken with my new favorite thing -- the Hipstamatic app. Doesn't my kitchen look cool?

{Currently, my camera is MIA, so new cards in the shop are coming soon. As soon as I find the camera. Word.}

Happy 4th my friends!! Have a lovely and safe weekend!

let it be easy

I LOVE this message: Let it be easy.

I'm over on Spring this morning talking about taking things easy and not being so hard on ourselves. Why is this something that is so hard for most of us to grasp?

In the meantime, if you need a reminder, this print is available in the etsy shop.