Living an Intentional Life

I've been really inspired lately by Sara of 2000 Dollar Wedding and Feeding the Soil, and have been doing some serious thinking about what I want my blogging life to look like and how I want to execute it. I feel a bit like I have all these amazing ideas and no ability to execute. I know that's not true. When I want to make something happen, I do, so I'm making this a priority now!

To start, I'm going to make myself a bit more accountable by taking a leaf out of Sara's page and putting up some monthly goals and then reviewing at the end of the month to see how I did at them. At times it will be very disappointing, and other times it will be very encouraging, and hopefully I can use this to see those times that aren't as productive as an area for improvement and really get into what held me back.


So - here goes. It's a little early for March goals, but I am excited and want to get started right away!

1. Discuss with Raphael when he’d like to commit to Swing class (July? August? September?)


2. Make Galas and Gifts a Priority by completing the website update, reviewing and rewriting the business plan and creating a plan for advertising.


3. Read APW book & review with Raphael


4. Read Concierge Humor book – for fun!


5. Get to gym at least x3 per week every week


6. Re organize office: get rid of two projects and materials


7. Complete monogrammed pizza peel project


8. Begin work with Raphael on our family’s “mission statement”


9. Discuss with Raphael the idea of creating chore lists and sticking to them


10. Get items to Guild at least twice (clothing!)


11. Determine Blog Priorities – two blogs? Three? Personal: arts and crafts? Family mission statement? Product reviews, travel, etc; goals, etc Business: Galas and Gifts – what I’m doing to promote it, events that I do, suggestions for brides and grooms wedding: MY wedding only

What I like about these goals is that they really speak to what's been bothering me in my world lately. Feeling helpless about my job / work situation, feeling disspointed in myself with regards to my ability to execute on making a small business work, and feeling generally stiff, tired, and un healthy. They also set me up for goals I will put on the list in April like ramping up the blogging by comitting to create a certain amount of content weekly, and executing pieces of the advertising plan. Other things in there will help me work on bigger yearly goals for 2012, which are outlined below.

1. Keep getting healthy! This is a team goal between R and me


2. Make some money off G&G


3. De clutter (I feel like this is always a goal, and that's GOOD!)


4. Keep improving my relationship with R, in order to build a strong emotional, financial, and physical foundation for our life together

That's where I am right now!

What are your goals for March? What's inspiring you right now?

New Hobby? New Business? New time and money waster?

If you know me, you know I dablle in event planning, in diy crafts and that I have an almost disease-level of addiction to wrapping paper. In the spirit of admitting I have a problem, I've decided to embrace it and combine all my loves together.

You might be asking "how would you do that?" I'll tell you how! By starting a "business."

Yes, business is in quotation marks, because I'm not incorporating or anything crazy like that, but I am investing in a domain, and honing my html/css coding skills. Last night I stayed up WAY past my bedtime playing with templates and crafting taglines and assembling some of my favorite photos of my work.

I've still got a LONG way to go, and this is not at all the "reveal" - I'm trying to keep the whole thing very hush hush until I actually have a website that can go live - but by this time next year I should have a fully developed website, one christmas gift-wrapping season and one wedding season "under my belt." And then... maybe... I'll be ready to incorporate.

Yay for new endavors.

My Review of GEEK POCKET WATCH

Originally submitted at UncommonGoods

An age-old problem that has plagued the mathematical community for years: how can I show off what a genius I am and still look devilishly handsome? Fear not my fellow geeks. With this old-school gold-plated brass pocket watch featuring the equivalent notations of all the numerals, you're sure t...

GEEK POCKET WATCH

Great Novelty, Feels cheep for the Cost

By Emily in Houston from Houston, TX on 7/7/2011

 

3out of 5

Pros: Looks great, Good Watch Mechanics

Cons: Feels Cheap thin

Best Uses: Novelty Gift

Describe Yourself: Practical, Stylish, Classic, Modern

Was this a gift?: Yes

My boyfriend loved the Geek Pocket Watch, but would have prefered it in silver. I thought it was a great idea but was a bit dissappointed with the percieved quality upon receiving it. The watch feels "light" and "cheap" and in retrospect I wouldn't have spend $85.00 on it.

I feel it's a great idea, and great piece, but is not worth $85.

(legalese)

From the Vault : Grown - up boys.

I pulled this from old notes on FB. I hope you enjoy!

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**QUICK Disclaimer** This is long. I’m in a weird head place right now. Enjoy!

For the last few months I've been "single Emily." Its been fun. I've met a lot of new people, reconnected with some really old friends, and visited folks I hadn't seen in months, or even years. I've also missed out on some things, and had my fair share of frustration / drama / confusion. This latter part is MOSTLY what my note (re: blog) is about.

I'm at work today, and there are maybe a total of 4 people in the entire office, one of which being me, and the other three being the receptionist, and two other people at the other end of the hall. So I've basically been sitting here alone and in silence interrupted by my random needs for music since 8 AM. That's lead to a lot of thinking on my part.

It took a few months for me to realize that dating would be fun again, and meeting new people would be enjoyable, and that it's really one of my favorite things to do. I love the me that I am when I'm interested in someone new. I love that I have such a startling ability to hide my neuroses. All that being said, I’m really beginning to feel frustrated with guys, and I’m trying to be more introspective about what it is I’m actually looking for. I’m also ready now to talk with / date someone I actually might develop feelings for, but those months where I was picking you guys who I knew would never be a “problem” in this area… that was nice. That being said… the following is a brief outline of my frustrations and desires.

I’ve said it to many of you; I really genuinely want a guy who is slightly homosexual. Please don’t take this to mean that I hope you have butt sex from time to time… that’s really not attractive. Mostly what I mean is that you enjoy looking good. You take pride in your appearance, and when I take you to a restaurant that doesn’t give you condiments in little plastic packages you look like a human being, not like you’re still in college, or even high school. *Shudder* Also, I’m really looking for a guy that has a decent place to go home to at night. Seriously guys, if you’re going to be dating and bringing a girl home – get a fucking trash can in your bathroom. I mean, come on. It’s just something we girls need. Also, have BOTTLED WATER and CLEAN TOWELS. Girls like this. I swear. After you’ve taken us out to drink heavily the night before, when we wake up at 7 AM because the light from your uncovered window is giving us a massive headache, we’d really like to re-hydrate and shower. I’m really not into the whole “college bachelor” apartment anymore. I’ve moved past that stage in my life. If you have roommates, have a bathroom attached to your room so that I don’t have to get dressed in my sluttly club / bar clothes to wash my face or pee.

I think my biggest turn-on would have to be intelligence. This proves to be a problem, because I don’t regularly meet people who I feel it’s a challenge to talk to. Now, I meet people all the time that seem fun, or that I would like to spend some time with, but rarely do I feel like sparring with them intellectually. This is disappointing. I know I’m not a genius. I just like to learn things. So when I’m speaking with a guy who is not only teaching me things, but keeping up a “chess-game-like” conversation, I pretty much would like to make out with you right then. That being said, being with guys like this make me feel more insecure and uncomfortable, because I am SURE they are more intelligent than me, and my own failings will be more apparent to them than any of my other friends.

Now we’re going to talk about post-making out. I promise you that this does not mean that I am or that I want to be your girlfriend. If we have very tentative plans, and somehow you don’t show up, I’m sure I’ll survive, because I’m probably out doing something else, or catching up on some much needed me time. It’s really ok. But when you do it consistently, don’t get all surprised when I stop trying to get in contact with you.

Post making-out also includes the possibility of sex, or other sexual actions. This is OK too. I’m grown, liberated, single, and I genuinely enjoy sex. It doesn’t always mean that I want to have sex with you again, or to the other extreme, that all I want to do is have sex with you. Now, don’t get me wrong, I know that is exactly what I want from some of you… but others leave me feeling really frustrated.

From the best of craigslist: this is what I want. Pretty much exactly
http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/chi/363233143.html

Me... and my addictive personality

My roommate used the words "addictive personality" at some point in our recent past and they keep coming up in my head on a regular basis. At first this disturbed me, but now I realized it's just true, and I have one.

For a long time I genuinely thought something was wrong with me. Flash back to 1990. I'm 8 years old and I can't get enough of Chicken-in-a-Biscut. It's a type of cracker that's "chicken" flavored (much like Chicken Ramen) and is super yummy. It comes in a blue box. I could identify that blue box everywhere. this is probably one of the primary reasons that particular shade of blue is one of my favorites. Lets call it "cerulean." (theres also a whole thing about the "new" Crayola crayon colors, but that's a whole different blog post). As a young impressionable red-head I can remember eating boxes and boxes of these crackers. I was addicted. I've discovered that I can't buy a box of these at this point in my life or I will immediately eat THE ENTIRE BOX.

Flash forward a couplde of years to 1994. At 12 years old I my addiction had encompassed a person and when they decided I was little to ... ahem... intense for them I was crushed. Sadness.

I've extended this particular "flaw" to video games (Dragon Warrior III, Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario Kart, Ever Quest, Final Fantasy III, and most recently Professor Layton and the Curious Village), books (usually series - the Baby Sitters Club, Harry Potter, Twilight), bands (after the Anthology came out - the Beatles, the Goo Goo Dolls, the Decemberists, Death Cab), people, food, drinks, TV shows, authors, etc etc etc. The usual pattern is as follows: something random introduces me to a new thing. I do a little reasearch and experience some of the new thing. The new thing becomes all consuming and I spend hours of work and play time searching out new forms of stimulus containting the thing that I can consume. CONSUME CONSUME CONSUME. I spend a lot of time going back and reviewing all the things that happened with the new thing before I became aware of it. Earlier bolg posts, earlier albums, earlier years of life...

It's sort of a problem for people who don't also work this way because it's all I'll talk about for the next three weeks, or until another all consuming, addiction worthy "thing" comes along.


Currently addicted to: homemade Chicken Enchiladas (thank you, Nicole); Wil Wheaton, the idea of redoing my kitchen

Shopping, London, Shopping in London!

So I booked my ticket to London in April on Monday night. It's official, and I'm so excited!!

And now I have to deal with the vacation connundrum that every woman paying off massive amounts of student debt has to deal with... shop for the trip before hand so you can have fabulous new clothes or save as much as possible so you can shop while on the trip?!?!

Decisions, decisions.

Then Rue La La became the bane of my existance when I saw the DVF Outlet on sale today. I saw this:

... and fell in love! After looking at the DVF site: http://www.dvf.com/dvf/browse/productDetailWithPicker.jsp?productId=D7405004N8 I'm now back at Rue La La contemplating my options.

Love this dress! I need to own it! But it's too cold in London in April to wear it. Sometimes fashion hurts. =)

Have a great day everyone!

Universal remotes anyone???

Recently Wired News updated their Gadget Reviews section with a review of their fave Universal Remote. See it here http://www.wired.com/reviews/product/universal_R50.






I'm going to follow their lead and review MY fave - the Logitech Harmony Advanced Universal Remote for the XBOX 360 (my video game platform of choice).



The good: Better shape than previous Harmony remotes; strong backlight; choice between device or activity usage; intuitive, Web-based programming.

Setting up this is shockingly easy, if you're comfortable with your computer and a USB cable. You can personalize the screens, rearrange orders of items, and set up as many 'activities' as any one could possibly need. It easily recognized all of my components and was ready to go in about twenty minutes.


The bad: No rechargeable battery option; numeric keypad buttons are too small for people with bigger hands than I, which is most of the population; Web interface might intimidate nontechie users.

I can't say many negative comments. I *heart* this remote. I've had it for 3 years, and just purchased a replacement for the last one. 3 years for $99 - can't beat it!

The bottom line: A sleek design, an impressive feature set, and a manageable price point (~$99) make this an excellent (and long lasting!) choice for Xbox 360 owners who don't like to have 16 remotes to turn on / off recievers, TV's XBOX's, CD changers, etc etc etc