merry merry

Here it is ... the first ever photo Christmas card. I paid a visit to the hair salon and promptly came home and shot some selfies. I think it turned out pretty good and have gotten some pretty funny (positive) feedback. I printed via Tiny Prints and think they did a great job. I, of course, wanted to do something different than the standard template (I'm such a designer) but let that go and rolled with it. Maybe next year I will get my sh*t together a little bit earlier and design my own. Put those graphic skills to work!

I hope you are having a wonderful time with friends and family! Happy Christmas (as the Brits would say)!

30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself

When you stop chasing the wrong things you give
the right things a chance to catch you.

As Maria Robinson once said, “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” Nothing could be closer to the truth. But before you can begin this process of transformation you have to stop doing the things that have been holding you back.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

Stop spending time with the wrong people. – Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you. If someone wants you in their life, they’ll make room for you. You shouldn’t have to fight for a spot. Never, ever insist yourself to someone who continuously overlooks your worth. And remember, it’s not the people that stand by your side when you’re at your best, but the ones who stand beside you when you’re at your worst that are your true friends.

Stop running from your problems. – Face them head on. No, it won’t be easy. There is no person in the world capable of flawlessly handling every punch thrown at them. We aren’t supposed to be able to instantly solve problems. That’s not how we’re made. In fact, we’re made to get upset, sad, hurt, stumble and fall. Because that’s the whole purpose of living – to face problems, learn, adapt, and solve them over the course of time. This is what ultimately molds us into the person we become.

Stop lying to yourself. – You can lie to anyone else in the world, but you can’t lie to yourself. Our lives improve only when we take chances, and the first and most difficult chance we can take is to be honest with ourselves. Read The Road Less Traveled.

Stop putting your own needs on the back burner. – The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much, and forgetting that you are special too. Yes, help others; but help yourself too. If there was ever a moment to follow your passion and do something that matters to you, that moment is now.

Stop trying to be someone you’re not. – One of the greatest challenges in life is being yourself in a world that’s trying to make you like everyone else. Someone will always be prettier, someone will always be smarter, someone will always be younger, but they will never be you. Don’t change so people will like you. Be yourself and the right people will love the real you.

Stop trying to hold onto the past. – You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading your last one.

Stop being scared to make a mistake. – Doing something and getting it wrong is at least ten times more productive than doing nothing. Every success has a trail of failures behind it, and every failure is leading towards success. You end up regretting the things you did NOT do far more than the things you did.

Stop berating yourself for old mistakes. – We may love the wrong person and cry about the wrong things, but no matter how things go wrong, one thing is for sure, mistakes help us find the person and things that are right for us. We all make mistakes, have struggles, and even regret things in our past. But you are not your mistakes, you are not your struggles, and you are here NOW with the power to shape your day and your future. Every single thing that has ever happened in your life is preparing you for a moment that is yet to come.

Stop trying to buy happiness. – Many of the things we desire are expensive. But the truth is, the things that really satisfy us are totally free – love, laughter and working on our passions.

Stop exclusively looking to others for happiness. – If you’re not happy with who you are on the inside, you won’t be happy in a long-term relationship with anyone else either. You have to create stability in your own life first before you can share it with someone else. Read Stumbling on Happiness.

Stop being idle. – Don’t think too much or you’ll create a problem that wasn’t even there in the first place. Evaluate situations and take decisive action. You cannot change what you refuse to confront. Making progress involves risk. Period! You can’t make it to second base with your foot on first.

Stop thinking you’re not ready. – Nobody ever feels 100% ready when an opportunity arises. Because most great opportunities in life force us to grow beyond our comfort zones, which means we won’t feel totally comfortable at first.

Stop getting involved in relationships for the wrong reasons. – Relationships must be chosen wisely. It’s better to be alone than to be in bad company. There’s no need to rush. If something is meant to be, it will happen – in the right time, with the right person, and for the best reason. Fall in love when you’re ready, not when you’re lonely.

Stop rejecting new relationships just because old ones didn’t work. – In life you’ll realize that there is a purpose for everyone you meet. Some will test you, some will use you and some will teach you. But most importantly, some will bring out the best in you.

Stop trying to compete against everyone else. – Don’t worry about what others doing better than you. Concentrate on beating your own records every day. Success is a battle between YOU and YOURSELF only.

Stop being jealous of others. – Jealousy is the art of counting someone else’s blessings instead of your own. Ask yourself this: “What’s something I have that everyone wants?”

Stop complaining and feeling sorry for yourself. – Life’s curveballs are thrown for a reason – to shift your path in a direction that is meant for you. You may not see or understand everything the moment it happens, and it may be tough. But reflect back on those negative curveballs thrown at you in the past. You’ll often see that eventually they led you to a better place, person, state of mind, or situation. So smile! Let everyone know that today you are a lot stronger than you were yesterday, and you will be.

Stop holding grudges. – Don’t live your life with hate in your heart. You will end up hurting yourself more than the people you hate. Forgiveness is not saying, “What you did to me is okay.” It is saying, “I’m not going to let what you did to me ruin my happiness forever.” Forgiveness is the answer… let go, find peace, liberate yourself! And remember, forgiveness is not just for other people, it’s for you too. If you must, forgive yourself, move on and try to do better next time.

Stop letting others bring you down to their level. – Refuse to lower your standards to accommodate those who refuse to raise theirs.

Stop wasting time explaining yourself to others. – Your friends don’t need it and your enemies won’t believe it anyway. Just do what you know in your heart is right.

Stop doing the same things over and over without taking a break. – The time to take a deep breath is when you don’t have time for it. If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting. Sometimes you need to distance yourself to see things clearly.

Stop overlooking the beauty of small moments. – Enjoy the little things, because one day you may look back and discover they were the big things. The best portion of your life will be the small, nameless moments you spend smiling with someone who matters to you.

Stop trying to make things perfect. – The real world doesn’t reward perfectionists, it rewards people who get things done. Read Getting Things Done.

Stop following the path of least resistance. – Life is not easy, especially when you plan on achieving something worthwhile. Don’t take the easy way out. Do something extraordinary.

Stop acting like everything is fine if it isn’t. – It’s okay to fall apart for a little while. You don’t always have to pretend to be strong, and there is no need to constantly prove that everything is going well. You shouldn’t be concerned with what other people are thinking either – cry if you need to – it’s healthy to shed your tears. The sooner you do, the sooner you will be able to smile again.

Stop blaming others for your troubles. – The extent to which you can achieve your dreams depends on the extent to which you take responsibility for your life. When you blame others for what you’re going through, you deny responsibility – you give others power over that part of your life.

Stop trying to be everything to everyone. – Doing so is impossible, and trying will only burn you out. But making one person smile CAN change the world. Maybe not the whole world, but their world. So narrow your focus.

Stop worrying so much. – Worry will not strip tomorrow of its burdens, it will strip today of its joy. One way to check if something is worth mulling over is to ask yourself this question: “Will this matter in one year’s time? Three years? Five years?” If not, then it’s not worth worrying about.

Stop focusing on what you don’t want to happen. – Focus on what you do want to happen. Positive thinking is at the forefront of every great success story. If you awake every morning with the thought that something wonderful will happen in your life today, and you pay close attention, you’ll often find that you’re right.

Stop being ungrateful. – No matter how good or bad you have it, wake up each day thankful for your life. Someone somewhere else is desperately fighting for theirs. Instead of thinking about what you’re missing, try thinking about what you have that everyone else is missing.

via marcandangel.com

What a way to begin a new year!

30 days of gratitude : twenty nine & thirty

30 days of gratitude :: Day 29 & 30 :: light & self portrait ... OK, so I'm cheating a tiny little bit on the challenge here. I don't feel bad since most everyone bailed on me, but I have to say that some of the subjects on this one kind of sucked. Why do I want to photograph "nightmare" for a gratitude challenge? You know? So, anyhoo... I decided to combine the last two items into today's photo and wrap this challenge up! I got my hair done today (was way overdue for a cut & color) and came straight home to take selfies for my first every holiday photo card. I figure why not, right? So I'm single. Why can't I send a photo of myself to my friends and family? I have stayed away from this in years past, but people seem to enjoy my self portraits so what the heck ... I did it. And I had to expedite shipping since I realized today that Christmas is only two weeks away! OMG!

sweet thank you :: 30 days of gratitude :: twenty four

Look what I got in the mail today! The cutest thank you note from Elliot!

We went to the Chicago One of a Kind show this past weekend and she REALLY wanted this four leaf clover pin ... she had enough money, but I thought it was make a great little Christmas gift for her. So I gave her a crisp twenty dollar bill so that she could purchase the pin. She was all grins from ear to ear. Oh how it's the little things...

P.S. I am skipping ahead and making this my 30 days of gratitude :: Day 24 :: gratitude post. Trust me, there is nothing interesting in my closet.

The Four Phases of Design Thinking - BusinessWeek

Question. If you spend any time around designers, you quickly discover this about them: They ask, and raise, a lot of questions. Often this is the starting point in the design process, and it can have a profound influence on everything that follows. Many of the designers I studied, from Bruce Mau to Richard Saul Wurman to Paula Scher, talked about the importance of asking "stupid questions"—the ones that challenge the existing realities and assumptions in a given industry or sector. The persistent tendency of designers to do this is captured in the joke designers tell about themselves. How many designers does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: Does it have to be a light bulb?

In a business setting, asking basic "why" questions can make the questioner seem naïve while putting others on the defensive (as in, "What do you mean 'Why are we doing it this way?' We've been doing it this way for 22 years!"). But by encouraging people to step back and reconsider old problems or entrenched practices, the designer can begin to re-frame the challenge at hand—which can then steer thinking in new directions. For business in today's volatile marketplace, the ability to question and rethink basic fundamentals—What business are we really in? What do today's consumers actually need or expect from us?—has never been more important.

via businessweek.com

Ran across this article on Twitter and could not agree more with the findings. I pulled out the "question" part because it resonates with me. I was a huge pain in the butt student in my collegiate years - always asking questions. I had one professor that would always say "you can't do that" and my response was always "why" while most everyone else just said OK and made the change. I was the only person that actually liked that class too ... maybe I feel like I learned more than they did because I actually got answers. Dunno really. Then cut to my job search. I was connected to my current job by one of my old college professors. I always ask him how he knew I'd be right for the position... he's never answered me specifically, but maybe this is my answer...

one sixty birthday

It was a whirlwind of parties last night ... first a baby shower and then a 40th birthday celebration! We gathered at one sixty blue for a private dinner to celebrate my lovely friend, Kendra's Birthday ... and closed the place down! I've had the pleasure of knowing Jay and Kendra for almost 20 years and consider them family at this point. We have shared many a meal in celebration of weddings, babies, birthdays, holidays and everything in between. I look forward to continuing the journey. Happy Birthday to my smart, beautiful, talented, stylish, and caring friend Kendra!

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hoot of a baby shower

Drove to Chesterton for Holly's baby shower yesterday ... She's got some incredibly talented friends that whipped up paintings, owl pins, prints, yummy sweet treats and etc. We began the evening with coffee and cocktails and a little chit chat. It was nice to meet all of her new friends - I'm kind of the odd man out, coming from out of town, but everyone was very nice and so welcoming. There's just something about a small town isn't there? Anyway, then we made cards - one for each of the baby's upcoming birthdays while dining on bread bowls filled with lintel or squash soup and salads. Followed that up with presents and sweet treats. They also had a really cute game - make a baby out of play dough and have the mom judge which is the best. The interpretation and execution from each woman was so different... so cute and so hard to choose! Baby Sloane will be here sometime in the next thee weeks and I cannot wait to meet her!

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my new friend, Jawbone UP

Meet my new friend, the Jawbone UP bracelet. I had read about the UP over the past few months on the tech blogs and thought it sounded like a pretty cool device. And someone tipped me off that they had hit the stores, so I immediately picked one up. You know I'm a sucker for a new gadget. Especially when it's supposed to make my life better! I have had the UP for just over a week now and have to say... I love it.

The UP is supposed to help you 'move' more - it tracks your steps, distance, pace, intensity level and calories associated with those activities. You can tell it to remind you to move - like when you're sitting in front of the computer working all day, it will give you a gentle reminder to get up and move around a bit. I find this super useful - it's so good to know what calories you're burning on a regular basis and then you can really see when you need to pick it up and get moving more.

The UP tracks your sleep too! This is probably my favorite feature of the UP. It tracks hours slept, when you're in deep vs. light sleep, if you wake up in the middle of the night and then gives you an overall picture of the night. Honestly, I have no idea how it does this, but it does. And it sure seems to be right! I program it to wake me at a specific time and it will wake me within a 20-30 min window before that time. It wakes me in light sleep and I feel Sooooooooooooo much better when I wake up. See, I had gotten into this horrible rut of setting my alarm and hitting the snooze a couple of times before I actually drag my butt out of bed. By looking at my sleep patterns, I totally get why this was such a bad thing! When I fall asleep, I fall direct into deep sleep, so if you wake me up 5 min into that I am going to be much more groggy than if I just get up a few minutes earlier but while in light sleep. This has seriously been THE. BEST. FEATURE. for me!!

So the only feature I don't love is the food tracking. You're supposed to take a quick photo of your food and the UP will ask you a little while later in the day how that food makes you feel (via smiley faces). The idea is that you can see what foods energize you and those that make you feel yucky. Well... for me, since it doesn't also track calories and such, I find that I don't really use it. Maybe they will do something to expand on it in the future that will get me a little more interested ... but despite this feature, the UP has been a fabulous addition to my life! Snap one up and let me know how you like it!

an american girl birthday

Bella Barclay turned seven today - 11.11.11. We celebrated at the American Girl Doll store and had lunch with the ladies (and Jeff and Xavier!). It was an explosion of pink and Bella could not have been happier. Maybe a bit overwhelmed by the merchandise surrounding her. See, she's been saving her money and stocking up on Birthday cash to buy a new American Girl Doll and all sorts of accessories. But, what to buy? There's so much! And what girl wouldn't want it all?

The whole experience was pretty seamless. They rang to signal lunch time, we lined up to be seated and stocked up on chairs for all of the dolls and were taken to our table - all set up with crowns and etc. They have a menu of the kid basics plus some adult fare and began bringing beverages and appetizers right away. They took each girl's order and left us with a little box of questions to ask the girls while we waited. The brought out a cake with candles lit and sang happy birthday, passed out little goodie bags and then came back with little slices of cake and flower pots full of ice cream. So cute. Happy Birthday Bella!

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shootin' n drinkin'

Are you a Living Social member? Well, I signed up a while ago and rarely buy any of the deals. But when I saw one for a shooting range, I had to find someone to go with me! I have always wanted to shoot a gun, don't know why, but I have. I talk with my military friends and they always say they will take me to the range, but just hasn't happened yet. So, thankfully, my friend Beth was all in for the "shootin' and drinkin'" deal!

We met in the city to board a bus that drove us to Point Blank Shooting Range in Benton Harbor, MI (9am - that sucked) and the bus was completely full! I knew the deal had sold out, but didn't know they would have such large groups. Our guides were super fun and funny and made a point to get to know everyone. The shooting range was a crazy place with a crazy mix of things to do - a full gym, boxing ring, shooting range, archery and shops. They had a lot of staff helping us with the guns and the three guys that were helping Beth and I were fabulous!

I started shooting the pistol ( a luger or something like that) we had 50 rounds to shoot - way more than I thought it would be. I shot about half of those at the Living Social target - did pretty good - then switched to the AK-47 rifle and the "man" target. So let's just say I'm a handgun girl... I totally sucked at the rifle - I found it very awkward to tilt my head to line up the shot. We only had five rounds for AK - I landed three on the paper, but nowhere on the map. So I switched back to the pistol on the man target. I was doing good - all around the "x" and the guys were watching and telling me how to correct my shot. THEN I HIT THE X!! I was super charged up after that - then got all shaky lost my touch. I think I counted that I landed 37 of the 50 pistol shots. Not bad for a first timer.

Once we were done there, it was off to Round Barn Winery for the "drinkin'" part of the adventure. Round Barn has a winery, distillery and brewery all on the property. We only had an hour there so we decided to stay in the winery. We liked the Cab Sav, Cranberry and the Redel Doux, both on the sweet side - not my usual taste, I tend to lean more toward dry wines. I think everyone on the bus ended up purchasing something to take back with them, so that had to be a big win for the winery!

The bus ride home was insane - party bus! They cranked up the music and people were liquored up... it was like being at a bar toward the end of the night when everyone is drunk and talking super loud to be heard. I could barely hear myself think. I felt very old. And actually think I was the oldest person in our group. Despite that, we had a great day. And I can check another thing off my bucket list. Shoot a gun, check!