Month: March 2015

In Love with Letters

Published by

Last month I wrote about waking up with a case of the fuglies, which I define as an emotional and mental state that gets me ‘feeling ugly’ inside and out. Knowing some time and self deprecation needed to transpire before the effects of being hit by the {Fugly Stick} would wear off, I threw a few things in my bag that morning to help me shake it off when I was ready. Before heading out the door I found a piece of heartfelt happy mail from a blog buddy across the country that got lost in our junk mail pile.  It was a well timed note with a tiny string of crocheted hearts so sweet that I had to smile and pack it up with my books and two other caring cards I’d received and kept close at hand at that time. I am big on catch up texting, maintaining a group Viber chat with girlfriends abroad, and a nice meaty email thrown in for good measure, but I do have a special love for hand written correspondence. I am in love with letters. There is nothing as …

The Swag Hag

Published by

Featured photo taken by Kelly Popejoy;  loot thanks to Alt Summit I appreciate a great give away bag.  The first one I remember getting that wasn’t the result of being the token little sister in Big Sis’s social scene, is  the one I received as an invited guest at the sixth birthday party of Dr. Crybaby (she was a smart kid who cried a lot – you get the reference).  A white waxed paper bag with a clown print about the size of an iPhone 5, it lay there, on the left hand of my place setting next to the party blower just waiting to be torn into.  The amount of self-control we all had back then is remarkable.  Like the unspoken rituals practiced over dinner in Downtown Abbey, none of the kids in my first grade class picked up the treat bag nor dared take out a single item.  We all knew the goody bag was for the end of the party and we had plenty to entertain ourselves until then – authentically NY/NJ style greasy pizza, Neapolitan Shop Rite …

Stepping Away

Published by

When we push ourselves beyond comfort, we grow, correct?  When we want to do something better, we practice, persevere, and change our routines in order to develop better habits and mastery, don’t we?  So in trying to improve my blog by reviewing old posts while writing new ones that I edit more closely, am I becoming a sharper writer by focusing so much longer on one post at a time while chained to my chair, or am I becoming stupider because I cannot process nor execute anything substantial within an eight hour work period? The Smarty Pants part of my mind thinks that the list of new ideas sprouting left and right are ingenious,  but the Annie Adderall part sees that these ideas take no root and then I am quickly bored by them.  Is my cognitive processing tearing down old muscle to build newer stronger mental muscle or am I just diminishing any function I have left? Do you ever think, “Hmm… maybe I’m NOT getting better at this?  Maybe I can’t REALLY do everything I have my mind set to?” That’s …

Unpacked

Published by

I spent the weekend away at camp with the Texas Style Council.  Knowing the vibe would be low key with an agenda focused on content, there was no room for frivolity, just creation and planning.  Only the essentials were needed, plus a few back up items, and yet I packed … a lot. Thank goodness we each had our own corners in our cabin rooms.  With three roommates, I thought, Alright, I will keep my shiz in order.  I will not make a mess.  There is no reason to have to throw things here there and everywhere…. and yet… I did. Of course I couldn’t find my flashlight without pulling out all of my t shirts.  Naturally I had all of my toiletries packed in my compartmentalized vanity kit, yet the pot of gloss I wanted was at the bottom of my hand carry: under the jacket, beneath the books, nested between charging cords, next to my Popchips bag that had lost all of its ‘pop’.  It was as if I’d packed breadcrumbs as a snack. At …

Virgo

Published by

I sound slightly controlling and suspicious.  I blame it on the Virgo in me.  I am not a ‘perfectionist’ Virgo.  If I were a perfectionist I’d have better handwriting and probably not walk around town with my fly down like I did over the weekend or with my pants on backwards like I did the month before. I am a ‘particular’ Virgo. I am a Virgo who is  appreciative of order understood in her way, according to her own rules. I am particular with things making sense to me in a specific manner fitting nicely together in a puzzle that I can understand. This doesn’t mean to say I am not spontaneous and often impulsive. Spontaneous with predicted (hopeful) outcomes and impulses that maintain my boundaries are the best kind. So embarrassed but if I can’t admit my quirks to you here and now, dear readers, then when will I? Photo Source: Zelma Rose Zodiac Constellation Necklaces

On A Mission

Published by

The eclectic collection at SchatziSF. Photo by BP. I was on a mission.  On the heels of revealing this revamped blog format Sunday, March 8, aptly our day to spring forward, I felt a new found energy, understanding, and excitement for my website.  Though I committed myself to “sticking to it”, I knew I couldn’t be in the corner of my dining area one day longer adding dots, moving things around, editing on the computer, and making more notes with the help of blue tape headers and colored sticky paper squares.  “No no no,” I said to myself,  “you must head out and explore.  It is time to refill the well.” Do you do that often enough?  Refill your well?  Chatting with Oddsauce recently, we referred to it as Inspiration Addiction:  workshops, books, articles, and podcasts. I am particularly hooked on Grace Bonney’s and Jess Lively’s podcasts, and anticipate my weekly Marie Forleo You Tube fix.  Discussions on process, method, and motivation are things I seek out constantly.  I have also been listening to a favorite soundtrack since I was a girl, Hannah and Her …

Spring Forward

Published by

Hanging on to time. Image source here Welcome to the new layout of my blog, Even If Nobody Reads This.  There is still work to be done, but waiting for perfection won’t bring me any closer to it, but I am very happy with it already, especially having done it primarily myself and with the help of course, of Husband.  It’s been time for a redesign.   And it’s time to share it with you. For the past week I have been combing through all of my posts since starting this online journal in 2010,  and have been organizing them into updated categories in order to clarify the tone and unity among some posts.  I finally added an ABOUT ME section holding my picture and name.  I am including my PO Box and email address clearly on the footer of the Home page & within the About page.  This is basic for the elementary blogger, but huge for me. I’ve written semi anonymously for a very long time, so for those who know me and have followed Even If Nobody Reads This, it’s not surprising that this is a …

Monkey Mind

Published by

My busiest thinking comes when I am not supposed to think at all. It begins as soon as the studio becomes quiet, once I take that guided breath, and the moment that first intention goes out. My mental mind dump happens during the worst possible time – during yoga. I have days when I can practice ninety minutes with my mind as clear as spring water, but there are days when I have so much on the brain that Monkey Mind inevitably happens at the onset of Half Forward Fold. It is most inconvenient. Trying to recall if I hit “send” on that private Facebook message I wrote and rewrote for an hour can probably wait one MORE hour. Telling myself I should offer to lead circle time soon in the Teddy Bear Room as I chant OM is not what you’d call being present. Whether or not I should have a carnitas taco on a soft corn tortilla shouldn’t matter at 7:30am doing Triangle Pose. Realizing I didn’t get the best deal for my laundry …

#Instabrunchsf

Published by

Weekends call for brunch, and it doesn’t end with the bottom of a mimosa glass.  To a great majority of the 300 million Instagrammers worldwide, Sunday brunch must be as appetizing to the eye as it is to the palate.  Enter #instabrunchsf, a photo taking & food styling  event hosted by Ana of Fluxi on Tour and Camille of Planning Pretty in cooperation with Feastly. Not to be limited to brunch photos, I’ve been working on my still life  – alright, mainly food-composition game, so to pass up on this workshop held at the bright Feastly office in San Francisco would have been a sorry mistake.  I’d admired Camille’s and Ana’s independent work before our first meeting last summer at Create and Cultivate, and respect them even more now that we have become friends and see up close that their knowledge and talent is true to who they each are.  I was happy to learn applicable tips with the photo happy group while eating some sweetly styled dishes on a Sunday morning. Take a look at my IG …

Posts on Post Its

Published by

It has been a long time coming, but friends, I am redesigning my blog.  The end goal is to have a format that showcases a wider variety of existing content found in Even If Nobody Reads This. I thought about changing the name and about getting an entire suite of new graphics for the blog, but that didn’t feel necessary to me.  It’s like when you reorganize your closet for the season.  It’s not that you are renovating it, you are just moving useful pieces onto more suitable shelves, purging and mending some items that don’t get enough use, and rotating forgotten things onto hangers in front, while picking up little sweaters that have fallen between stored boots and placing them in drawers with the rest of your knitwear. I reread my content.  I made four main categories to start with.  I wrote each post title onto a color coded Post It.  I have space on each paper to write notes like tags,  follow ups, and connections with other categories.  With every little task I …