After going through my house and compiled a list of problems and solutions. Here are some of the ones I will be working on in the next couple of months:
-Finish painting trim in kitchen and on main living room baseboards
-Add cover panels to kitchen island and adjust legs to be level
-IKEA hack a billy shelf into a coat closet
-organize office closet with clear bins (create/purchase labels etc)
-stick loops onto all hand towels
-sew loops/ties onto top corners of duvet
I know, I know. I haven’t been posting for a while. I blame pinterest. Okay, I blame myself. I have been working on the website for the art store I manage, and trying to create a comprehensive social media presence for us, and that has zapped any and all screen time I have. ( well, except for my pinning addiction). I’ve been drawing a bit as well, but mostly drawing stationary and calendar designs. (paper need alert!). And I confess I’ve been re-reading Game of Thrones before the second season starts on HBO.
I thought I’d best post something to remind myself I still have a web project of my own, and to take a break from obsessing over work things. So, having said all that I can now cross that off my list for today.
Until next time… See you on pinterest.
The last time I posted I was feeling totally overwhelmed with too many ideas, too many things I wanted or needed to get going on, and as a result I was accomplishing exactly none of them. So I have decided to try to strategically, methodically organize myself. It is not exactly the instant gratification approach I usually prefer, but I have proven to myself many times over that when I take the tortoise approach (slow and steady) I am always happier and achieve real, lasting results.
So, I am starting very simply. The first thing is to establish what I want to do, what that looks like in an ideal world, and why I want to do it. Knowing these things will help me to sort out how I am going to get there. Then I will know where to begin, what steps to take and in what order. This is better, no?
I haven’t posted in a while. I’ve been confused and busy. I’m realizing I need to focus more on one or two things rather than trying to start a thousand things at once. So I need to do that. How do you organize yourself when you are outnumbered by your own goals? How do you choose which things to focus on?
This is my challenge right now. Any advice?
Native: Jericho Women'sHummel: Venice Retros
I have been having a shoe problem (an is-shoe? *groan*). I manage a small art and custom framing shop in Vancouver and am on my feet all day. I am certainly not complaining. My job requires me to source, seek, and sell amazing art and to help others frame and display their work. I get to see lots of amazing and unique art and stationary goods everyday, and I get to work with my puppy along side me.
However, the floors in my store are sealed concrete. And there is simply no shoe short of sneakers that will allow me to spend eight hours on my feet without achy legs. As a result I have been searching and searching for cute sneakers that are shock absorbent enough to be comfortable yet cute enough for me to stop hoping no one notices my feet all day.
Behold! The Hummel Venice Retro sneaker (in blue and red) and the Native Jericho (Women’s) in Cordova Red. Both are super cute and comfy enough for me to fully endorse for a full day of working in. I am so happy. And, as a bonus, I got my Hummels on sale ($30 off retail) at the amazing Vancouver shoe boutique Gravity Pope.
Natives are a Canadian born, California warehoused shoe that feel like you are walking on clouds. Perfect for summer and hot destinations, anti-microbial, and unlike some of their rubber competitors, are totally adorable (and look more like shoes than weird rubber cinder blocks). A good friend always ensures her toddler has a pair in rotation and swears by them for kids too. And they come in a variety of colours and styles. Check them out here.
FYI, one of my favorite blogs Cup of Jo, recently did a “Five Best Shoes For Travelling” with great recommendations. I highly recommend you take a peek.
Last night was craft night, as I mentioned before. I realized that I have no crafty direction to go in right now. I don’t feel like finishing the Christmas crafts I had going, (I’m just Christmassed out) and I haven’t really thought about what I want to work on otherwise.
There are some DIY projects I have in mind for this year, but they don’t exactly travel well. The most important consideration for craft night crafts is portability. I am presently brainstorming some useful, portable crafts I can start working on for Spring. That’s all I can think of that I don’t need my sewing machine or other cumbersome tools for.
Here are a few I am considering:
Last year, before Christmas, a small group of girlfriends and I would meet once a week or so to make Christmas crafts. This past Fall we decided to do Craft Night again for Christmas 2010. We added one more friend to the mix, and we have been having so much fun that we have decided to keep the craft night going into the new year.
Beyond it being an opportunity to schedule time to work on crafts, share tools, team up, be inspired by one another’s crafts and ideas and encourage each other, it offers an opportunity to get a couple of hours once a week with some of my best gals.
We get together, eat treats and cheese, drink some wine or tea (depending on the mood), and gab with the girls. There are only five of us, any bigger and it would become too hard on the host I think. We rotate each week and the host provides snacks and crafting space (and has to kick out their spouse and clean up the mess).
I am very excited about craft night tomorrow night. It is the first post Christmas craft. I am thinking about a tea cozy… any ideas for me?
Mabel and I are at the shop ( a little art and custom framing shop in Vancouver) today. Mabel joins me here four days a week and has become easily the most popular staff member. We have customers who arrange to pick up their artwork by her schedule so they don’t miss her. I love her too, but she has really got to stop slacking off so much. She’s just coasting on her good looks.
Back in August I purchased the Simple bed from West Elm. I had searched high and low for a clean, subtle white platform frame and I really liked the Simple bed, plus the under $300.00 price point was a huge bonus. While I still really love the profile and the bed looks great in my bedroom, I had been having some stability issues with the bed shifting and moving too much. The issue was fairly easy to diagnose, because the platform slats and mid section support bar do not connect the headboard and footboard there is nothing bracing the four sides of the frame, so every movement caused it to sway.
After contacting West Elm, I decided not to return the bed, but to fix it myself. Which I did for $10 dollars. That’s right, only ten bucks!
Here is how I fixed my West Elm Simple bedframe.
I used:
4 large sized Ikea Ekby brackets ($2.50 ea.)
Twelve 1 3/4″ wood screws
Eight 1″ wood screws
Cordless drill
Line up the bracket flush with the bottom of the support slats and against the inside of the footboard
Screw two of the 1″ wood screws in to the pre-existing holes in the ekby bracket. I didn’t pre-drill into the frame as the wood of the foot board was soft enough not to split.
Pre-drill 3 holes through the wood slats and into the Ekby bracket. Both woods can split easily so be sure to pre-drill
Insert the 1 3/4″ wood screws into the pre-drilled holes. Attaching the bracket to the slats.
Do this in each of the four corners and you are all done. Ta Da!
image by idea go
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
About 5 years ago in lieu of traditional resolutions for the new year (which too often fall quickly to the wayside) I began choosing to select an overarching theme and some corresponding goals for the year to come. This year’s theme is “inspired action“. I am choosing to focus on two things this year, my creative output and transforming the ideas and goals I have long dreamt about into real life acheivements. As such, I am dubbing 2012 the year of Inspired Action!
Some of my goals this year include finalizing my business plan, testing my line of greeting cards in the store I manage, launching my etsy store and maintaining this blog.
What are some of your goals for the new year?