tales of an underachieving overachiever
happy sunday and mother’s day!
i’m hanging at home after spending time with friends and got a million things going including trying to get in some down time and blogging.
i started a bunch of projects including pulling out boxes of documents from 2007 that should be shredded. just want to pare down to the bare necessities.
it got me thinking that if this is my m.o. then i’m never going to find time to sit down and write a post. so here i am, just stopping in with a note to self that says, don’t edit yourself, enjoy your blog for what it can be for you now. a creative place to share thoughts. it doesn’t have to be an essay. why have i been feeling like the blog has to have some kind standard i can’t meet? it’s my blog!
i do want to share what the day brought and remember it for what it was. to that end, one of the things i thought i did was cancel the email subscription that went out whenever a post was published. but it seemed like the last time i posted it went straight into some of your inboxes. can you let me know if you get this via email or if you just came by? i haven’t wanted to post cause i don’t want to pop up in personal emails and just want to be able to use this to post my own thoughts more often. it is a WEB-LOG after all. where does all this lead? just a check-in to basically start to feel comfortable using this as a journal. so if you’re here please say hi. i’ll randomly post things i’m working on and coming across and will keep the laptop on throughout the day for inspiration.
first up, one of my top 5 on the To Do list. gathering info for a retreat/shopping/sourcing/shipping trip to the south of france.
saintremy-de-provence.com-fashion-and-designers
well that’s it for now, bonne nuit~
weekend warrior
hi gang, hope you’re in the throes of a great saturday. i’m starting to remember why weekeknds were invented and have spent a peaceful few hours absolutely no agenda. that said, i’m ready to rock and roll after a bit of a respite. i’ve been trying to refine what i can control and actually noticed changes right away in all areas. what surprised me was that i was in a rut and had no idea. it wasn’t till my friends rearranged the apartment last night that i realized that i have a tendency to keep things status quo. once something was in place i was hesitant to change it around. i’ve been moving things around since i could slide an armoire so it was a bit of a shock. the decor is not perfect but i’m inspired with my bed now facing east and my head is not against windows (mom’s pet peve) which now can open!
now that the chi is flowing, i’m noticing what’s been blocked. the first is that i miss ye ol’ pen and paper. have you stopped writing as much since we got smart phones? it’s rare to even find a pen half the time. with pen and pad i’ll make and take notes, jot down phrases, ideas, designs and great things people say. in my quest for refinement in things i have control over, i’m boycotting the multi-task feature in my brain. focusing on one thing and doing it well has been an interesting struggle but it’s paying off by forcing me to double check my work and stop rushing (what is all the rushing about anyway)?, work with precision and be more conscientious on all levels. everything can be done if we make time for it. i just came across this from live and love richly:
Write out a weekly list. We overestimate what we can accomplish in a day and understimate what we can accomplish in a week. However, for me I still overestimate what I can accomplish in a week. Now when I write out my weekly to do list I identify the top three most important things that I want to accomplish at work that week. Before I would list 9 or 10. I wasn’t completing tasks. Then I identify things that need to get done that week, or projects that I want to work on. Keep it simple. Just six major things in your business. Some of these tasks may take time each day and may have several mini action steps in them.
Integrate work-life balance into your weekly list. Include the rest of your life in your to do list. The reason many of us never get to the rest of our life is because we give priority to planning our work lives.We have to bring the same discipline into planning our fun time and free time. If we don’t I guarantee it will be taken up by something else.Often because we haven’t decided what we want to do, and because we tend to value our work more than we do our free time. Include household projects. Make a list of the important areas in your life. Health, Finances, Spiritual, Friends Family, community- Include lifestyle prosperity in your list. Now think about what would really make your heart sing this week. What would be fun? Maybe you need to relax, maybe you don’t need any more fun and stimulation. Would fun involve getting together with friends, or having an evening out with your spouse? Or would it involve having some alone time and just being quite, sipping tea, journaling, watching a movie. Give this some thought when you write out your weekly to do list and decide when you will do it and what you want to do.
- Transfer your weekly list to your daily list. Don’t feel like you have to accomplish all your personal goals that are listed on your weekly list, maybe it will take you two weeks. It doesn’t mean that every week you have to accomplish something regarding heath, spiritual, fun or relationships. The important thing is that there is balance overall, not perfection.
- Be willing to be flexible and give yourself breathing room. Give yourself permission to be inspired. To take breaks. Go for a walk, take a nap. Make the process more important than the end result. Make it your goal to end up with energy by the end of the day. Our goal is to check off a certain amount on the list. Make it a goal to choose the things on your list that you feel pulled toward doing.
well i’m going to make time while the sky is blue to conquer this weekend by doing all of the above, mostly number 5…enjoy whatever you’re working on!
in with the old
hello and happy monday! is the summer in full swing for you? i love the middle of august, it feels like we still have lots of time for friends and barbecues and all the good things that summertime brings.
i don’t feel quite ready to blog about my place yet but mom and dad want to see it and if i wait for perfection the day may never come.
so i’ll show it little by little, flaws and all. there’s a lot to do but it will be a work in progress.
overall it’s been pretty hectic making the move to transfer the office and apartment all at once.
no matter how much stuff i got rid of it seemed to be an endless process.
now that i’m out of the old and into the new it was worth the work. the old grand dame is somewhere right between ghetto and glamour.
an actress lived here for many years before me and it has that faded glory kind of vibe. it’s totally old school with great accents like the diamonds on the doors, a tiny knocker, and jalousie windows with cranks.
it’s all i could do to clean and get the place in working order, i haven’t touched the office or even my clothes but just being here feels like home. my friends are coming by and they say it feels like home, like we’ve always been here. they brought flowers and have been helping to make it cozy.
not that it’s set up quite right but having the tv and internet working is making it feel like home. when will we have a wireless world?!
i’m taking down the blinds to put up curtains, changing little things like the faucets and sprucing up the grout.
it’s more of a restoration than a renovation but if i’m going to stay here awhile i’d like to make a place my own even if i do it myself. in fact i’m going to attempt one DIY project a week.
the kitchen is pretty much hopeless but at least the doors leading in have potential!
of course it’s been fun to hit home depot, i wanted to rescue all the topiaries they had!
for now it’s cleaning the windows, attempting the bathroom grout and see what i can accomplish today. i do have to get something on the windows right away. that should probably be my first DIY. i’ll let you know how it goes. till then have a great august monday!
the paris apartment 