15 Minute Decluttering Part III

So apparently my room was never actually cleaned out and is pretty much a visual record of middle school and high school for me.

Random stuff I found while decluttering includes...
- a nanopet and a gigapet (amazingly i did not find a tomagatchi *insert sad face here*)
- a set of cds backing up my music collection from the days before affordable external hard drives
- 3 1/2" floppy discs containing who knows what (a few were actually games, but 1 - i don't even know if i own an external floppy drive, 2 - computers don't come with those standard anymore, and 3 - even if they did, who really runs DOS or remembers the commands? - if you do, you can have the Looney Toons game i just found, i guess....)

Also, today I reached my goal of getting rid of 365 Things. I still have too much stuff. So.... NEW GOAL! The new goal is to get rid of 1000 Things before the year is out. If by some miracle I manage to get that done before October is over I'll bump it up to 2010 just to be festive. But for now, 1000 Things. This means a new goal thermometer. Maybe I'll change the color, make it say a percentage, we'll see. For now, I'm off to declutter some more. Maybe get through the random stack of papers that seems to keep growing on my desk now that it appears as if I've finally learned the difference between moving papers around and getting rid of them.

So Yeah, About that Trip....

I promised to post a little about the trip to the funeral in SC.

I don't really feel like going step by step so here are a few highlights.
My family is crazy. I know. But really, who's isn't?

- my cousin can read. this was discovered when my uncle had him read every road sign he could from philly till dc. from the back seat of the 12 passenger van. on the driver's side. well, when he wasn't asleep anyways. after all that's the seat with the best view right?

- even though we didn't pack the van, we should not put members of my family in that close of a proximity for that long of a period of time. people will always bother their siblings just because they can. and when they're adults they just know what will push your buttons even better. things get thrown and people get hit when someone won't shut up. the tenth time you tell them. at 4 in the morning.

- a 5 hour energy drink will indeed keep you awake when you get tired. it will also keep you so awake that you can drive from SC to MD without being able to fall asleep. it's not that you're not tired. you just can't fall asleep.

- people do not trust one of my uncles to drive on a road trip. because he was the first on asleep. stretched out on the front seat. and it was still daylight.

- my cousins love to instigate. ask questions to keep people talking when someone wants them to shut up. add another opinion so people can't decide between two choices. turn to a radio station with songs people like but don't know the words to so they sing their own words and you can laugh.

Anyways it was a good trip. Not something we can do everyday. And not something i think i want to do in a van anytime soon. Maybe if we had a bus or RV or at least something with a bit more leg room. Anyways, the mafia had a great few days and then returned in time to rest up before the church had the sunday school picnic on sunday. All in all, a good weekend.

15 Minute Decluttering Part II

So yeah, apparently you CAN do anything in 15 minutes. So far I've dumped 108 things.

Here's some stuff that managed to go away this week using only 15 minutes at a time.

- A bunch of old notebooks from high school and college (stuff I'm never going to read again)
- Tons of random receipts for stuff I ate and therefor can never return (who keeps these?)
- A complete series of little kid books (I can read good now so I don't need tiny word books)
- Computer programs that some of my friends need that I don't use anymore
- Costume jewelry that I never wore that came free with something someone bought
- TONS of random fliers for events that happened already

And this is making my room look sooooo much better. There isn't really a before picture so I can't really show you the difference, but let's just put it this way, if I keep up with this I could kill my goal of getting rid of 365 things in less than a month. And I thought it would take all year. So my new goal is not to list each of the 365 things. I think that was part of why I wasn't getting rid of anything. It's a lot harder to keep track of what I get rid of than it is to just get rid of it. So the new goal is to do a 15 minute declutter session everyday for at least a month. There are 4 full months left before the year is over. If I can do 15 minutes for at least half of those days there is no way I'll get rid of less than 365 things. Even if I only got rid of 5 things every time it wouldn't take me that long. Plus I still have crap from elementary school still sitting around in my room. So 365 things is not going to be an issue. I have one more thing on my good habits list, and I'll end up with a MUCH cleaner space. Now I just have to figure out where to attack next. Maybe in my closet, cause clearly that is still a hopeless space...

I'll be in South Carolina for another family funeral later this week, so it doesn't look like my count is going to jump much before the week is over. I think I may just take a break when I get back and pick up on Monday. If I feel really motivated before I leave I may go at the bookshelves again though. Those are pretty easy since I'm not going to read most of that stuff ever again.
Anyways, Monday will be super update date I guess. Funeral stories and decluttering progress should make for an interesting post or two.

15 Minute Decluttering

To weeks later and I'm up to 7 Habits. It looks like this is going to go a lot better than I thought it would. I found this website called FlyLady.net. Pretty much it's a site dedicated to pulling your life together by cleaning. The general idea is that if you start in any area of your home and get rid of stuff you don't need, clear clutter from the areas that seem to breed it, and create small daily routines and habits you will eventually be able to have a clean, organized house. And by having a clean and organized house, you will be calmer, less stressed, more organized, etc. And all of that will help to clear your brain to think about what super interesting, creative stuff and free your time to do stuff other than clean, worry, and trying to remember stuff you should have written down. I really suggest checking out the site. Even if you don't agree with everything she says, you'll see that the system she uses makes sense.

So i stole an idea that I saw on there and also on a few other productivity websites (funny how these guys all think alike isn't it?) and I started to separate my day into sections and group my habits by what needs to happen in those sections. Now I have a morning routine, an afternoon routine and a night routine. 3 lists of habits that need to be done by a certain point in the day.

So now that I've gotten through some of the basic habits that help me get my morning going and one of the nightly habits that makes my mornings easier I'm going to move onto another habit. One that should help me accomplish one of my other goals. That really was the point of adding new habits in the first place after all. (It's easier to accomplish a goal if you can break it down into a daily habit and just focus on that every day)

Anyways, this week's habit is something I picked up off of the FlyLady website.

I'm not doing everything just yet. I'm mainly taking one of the ideas and adding it to my daily routine. 15 minute decluttering sessions. One of the most used quotes on the FlyLady site is "You can do anything for 15 minutes" So this week me and my trusty timer will be on a quest to see just how many things I can check off of my 365 Things list for this year using only 15 minutes at a time. I'm adding new Goals page to the site so you can follow along with my progress. Even if I don't post I'll be checking off my habits in Joe's Goals and updating my 365 Things progress bar which I'm going to reset to zero for the purposes of this 15 minute experiment. I guess we'll see what happens. Anyways, keep checking the Goals page to see how I do, and look for another post later this week with an update.

Establishing Habits

So this habits thing is getting to me. I've been back to reading blogs again lately and everybody seems to have a list of things you're supposed to do to get yourself together.

Healthy Habit Changes
10 Morning Habits
7 Habits of Highly Happy People
21 Habits of Happy People
50 Habits of Highly Successful People

The best thing that I can think of for me is something that I keep seeing on multiple sites. Having a morning or nightly routine, or both. So this is what I'm going to spend most of my habit real estate on. I'm going to build a morning routine and a night routine, drink water, and exercise. Thank should take care of most of the 20 habits. The only thing left to do is to keep track of how well I do with each habit.

So there are two types of habits I'm trying to track, "yes/no" habits and "how much" habits. Yes/No habits, for example, are either completed or they are not. I either got 6 or more hours of sleep or I didn't. I either worked out or I didn't. How Much habits are a little more interesting. Today I ran 2 miles, yesterday I ran 1 mile, tomorrow I will run 2.5 miles. How you choose to measure your goals depends only on you. When I first started running I only recorded if I ran or not. The more I ran, the more I kept track of other information for each run.

There are a bunch of different ways to keep track of habit info. I'm using these ones. They're all digital, so I don't have to worry about where I wrote stuff down. That's always been a problem for me before. Out of sight really does mean out of mind sometimes.

Yes/No Habits
Joes Goals - lets me add individual habits and check them off when you do them each day. it keeps track of how many habits I did in one day and how many days in a row I did (or skipped) a certain habit

How Much Habits
Daytum - lets me add items to do and quantities for each item. also makes graphs for when, how much, or what I did

Nike+ - I could really just use Daytum to keep track of when and how far I run, but this is sooo much more fun. it lets me interact with other people, set goals for myself (miles run, calories burned, speed) and challenge other runners. Things like this are for when you already keep track of basic information and want to try a little something extra (or just like the extra incentive - message boards are a great accountability tool)

You can also make your own checklists and graphs on the computer or by hand and use those to track your progress. Some of my favorite graphs have been ones I colored on graph paper in school. But for now I'm gonna use these. They work. Joe's Goals is programed to come up every time I get on the internet. Can't get much more of a reminder than that now can I?

Setting Goals

So a bunch of months ago I started with this whole rant about how i hated certain parts of my life and really wanted to change them. Then i started a whole set of blog posts about what i wanted to change, and why. But i made a huge mistake. I never really sat down and thought about HOW I was going to change anything. So now several months have gone by, and just by writing my goal ideas down I've made progress. But not nearly as much as I could have.

Time to start over.

No excuses. No trying to fix everything at once. No trying to catch up. I'm just going to start where I am and pick one of my goals to focus on. So from the previous posts that I've made on this topic, here we go.....

Before I pick which of my ten goals to get started on again, there are two types of goals that I want to talk about. Smart goals and dumb goals. Not good goals and bad goals, there is no such thing as a bad goal - unless your goal is to kill someone, then, not so good.

Smart Goals

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Time-bound

Dumb Goals
Dangerously Unattainable, Monstrously Big goals

The point is that there are two things that will push you to accomplish what you want. A plan, and your ego. Smart goals help you by making sure you have a plan. There is a specific thing to accomplish, a measurable way to tell when you're done, you've proved that it's not impossible, you have a reason to do it, and you know when you want to have it done by. This keeps you from not knowing where to start, getting overwhelmed, wasting your time on useless work, dragging your heels, etc.

Dumb Goals on the other had play merely to your ego. Who doesn't want to say they were great enough to triple their income in 6 months all while quitting their day job to start their own business in a new city in a field they knew nothing about before they started. Some would say that's dumb, others would say it's adventurous. These are the goals that push us to our limits and help us strive not to accomplish but to over-achieve.

You can read more about Smart Goals and Dumb Goals here.

So now back to my goals again. I'm going to pick a SMART goal to get started. There are a few DUMB goals that are hanging around on my bucket list, but that's another post entirely.

For now I think I'm going to get back to my goal of starting new habits. Originally the intention was to start 52 good habits by the end of the year. Now that it's almost August that's not so achievable, so I'm gonna make it 20 habits. I have 4 that I do already, so that just leaves 16 more to come up with between now and December. I think that's a bit more doable than still aiming for the 52 with less than half the year left.

If you wanna get on the goal setting bandwagon with me, here are a few sites to help you figure out what goals to go for
Achieve your goals by putting them online
How to stay committed to long term goals
How to choose the right goals for you
How to set deadlines

In one of the next posts I'll get a little deeper into what kind of habits I'm going to be adding as a part of my goal, how I'm keeping track of my progress and why I'm adding habits to my life in the first place. Hopefully I can stay focused this time...

Where in the World is.....

And now I've got the Carmen SanDiego theme song stuck in your head.
Mission Accomplished!!!

The real question is where am I? Or, more or less, where have I been.

I skipped May. In June I let you know that I wasn't dead. And now it's July. The END of July.

I honestly have no idea. I think the theme of this blog finally caught up with me. So here's the whole story, or most of it anyways.



For as long as I can remember, I have always been a person who was easily entertained and just as easily distracted. I've been interested in everything from swimming, track and field hockey, to piano, saxophone and clarinet, to Windows, OSX, and DOS to cats, dogs, and fish, to Spanish, French and Japanese to - well, you get the point. Just about everything. And sometimes all at once. There were very few things I didn't like, and it was very easy to figure out what they were. But the list was super short and still is. I am not a fan of strawberries, tomatoes, scary movies or roller coasters.

Anyways - now I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere. Where nothing ever happens. Without most of my friends. With all of this running through my brain.

So where have I been? I've been trying to figure out what gets to stay and what needs to leave my life. Maybe then I'll be able to make something interesting of this blog, or my life in general. Cause right now, I'm kinda a real Renaissance Polymath. Interested in everything, Good at most things, and as focused as a Goldfish.

I'm Not Dead

Not Dead.


That would be my entire message to people when it looked like maybe i fell off the face of the earth for any given point in time during college. So i guess i'm not through the falling off the earth phase yet.

Anyways. I'm not dead. Not yet at least. I've done little more than color on walls with little kids in Sunday school. But i guess i'm doing something right cause they think i'm responsible enough to be in charge of little kids.

anyways, i'm gonna go be not dead some more... I'll be back eventually.

Focus

So I'm slowly getting my focus back. It's amazing how sometimes having one conversation can change your whole perspective. Even if the conversation isn't about you or specifically to help you, it can. So now I'm off to get some stuff done and get pumped and focused again so I have something to write about again.

April 2010

April is almost over and I have yet to post goals of any kind. Not sure how I feel about that. Anyways, here's what I've been up to lately.

Operation "Get rid of 365 Things" has helped me make a little progress in my closet. I now know that all of the shoes I have fit, are in good condition, and are well loved. They are also all very stylish. I will be very well dressed this summer, if only from the ankle to the floor. I'm hoping that next month I can make a bit more progress. Maybe finally get rid of any pants and skirts that I don't like or don't fit. Then I'll be well dressed from the waist down. Which to me is a good start. In the movies when they show good looking people they always start from the floor up.

I've also been working on a new project with two good friends. Kinda keeping it hush hush right now, but I'm hoping that it will be up and running by the end of the summer. We've all apparently had ideas about it for around a year but didn't really know that the others did too. So three projects became one project and now we're all working together and having a blast doing it.

I now teach the 3-5 year old sunday school class at church. My mom says I got the class because I'm a big little kid. Quite possibly true. This week we colored on the walls. I got chalkboard paint last week and we painted one of the walls in our classroom. It turned out pretty good. I think I may post pics when I finish decorating the rest of the room. The little kids loved it. So did the other teachers. I think we may end up doing a board in some of the other classes next week.

Other than that life has been one big blur. Maybe next month I'll do a lot better with remembering to write about it as it happens.

Happy Spring

In honor of the spring cleaning that I'm doing in my life, I figured I'd do a little makeover on the site. This week everything is getting a simpler, more streamlined look. I will also be setting up a posting schedule that will last through the summer. Hopefully this will be the end of week long gaps between posts and will jump start the summer happiness we all need. Let me know what you think of the changes.

Easter Weekend

Well, after 2 weeks with only one post total, I'm back. April is here and I'm ready to report on my first real spring weekend.

It started with a few hours on YouTube Friday afternoon. The church convention is in July and my friends have managed to get sucked into being on the youth department staff. We just found out that one of our friends won't be going for the whole week, so we had to find someone else to do the job she usually does. Giving the music crazy folks the job of figuring out how to put choir stuff together is not a good idea. We spend too much time listening to music as is... Anyways, two of us had already each had a song get stuck in our head and Friday we got to clue in the third and final part of our little circle. And she loved it, so we got distracted and sat in front of the computer for an hour or so listening to music and laughing about how everybody would be sooo tired of us singing parts of these songs by the time july came around.

Then it was off to the movies. Tyler Perry's "Why Did I Get Married Too?" on opening night. Greatness. I'm not sure it was the movie that made it great so much as who I saw it with. Plus, stereotypical black movie + stereotypical black movie crowd = hilariousness. People talked back to the screen, made loud side comments, the whole theater laughed. And to me, it looked like it was set up so there could be a third movie in the set. I love endings like that. If nothing else happens you're still happy, but there wouldn't be a ridiculous plot jump to deal with if they decide to do another one.

Saturday was even better. A shopping day in Philly with Ms Fabulous was just what I needed. We did what we went to do and then wandered a little. I think the only bad part of the day was when each of us managed to find something we loved that was seriously out of our price range. And I do me seriously. If only we had now what we see ourselves having in the future. I mean, what girl couldn't use a fabulously flashy necklace or strapy heels to bring in the spring season... Oh well. It all got better when we saw LUSH!

As many times as I had heard other girls gush about the store I had seriously never been in one. It was sooo great. If you think shopping should be an experience, beauty doesn't have to hurt, and natural is good, then this is the store for you. As soon as we set foot in the door the salesperson was helping us figure everything out. She explained how everything is made, what the products were, what scents went with what, how everything works, and my favorite part - what products she uses. If the people who work there don't love what they sell, then why should I? She took us through her favorites for bath, haircare, and skincare and in the end we both wanted to buy and come back for more. I ended up getting a solid conditioner and a face mask. Didn't try the mask yet - that's for tonight - but the conditioner was ridiculous!!! I washed my hair that night and couldn't stop touching it the next day. It is soo super soft. And honestly, I'm not even sure I used it the right way - solid conditioner is a little different than liquid conditioner, takes some getting used to.

And to send off the weekend on a high note, yesterday was easter sunday. My mom made me a little easter basket, just cause I'm a big kid. I've been wanting a snickers egg and a peanut butter cup egg since they started selling them again - if i'm lucky they'll have stuff left over on sale for cheap later today. Then it was off to church to teach sunday school. I love my class. Little kids are so funny - although we're gonna have to get past what color is this someday... We learned about easter. "Easter is about Jesus" was as far as we could get with concentration though.

Short sermon for morning service and then family dinner at my aunt's house. It's amazing what happens when you try to get my family together. Ms Fabulous calls us The Mafia since there are so many of us but we're still so close. You have to have a thick skin and a sense of humor to hang out with us. At one point they managed to ask my aunt and uncle 'Why did you get married' which turned into 'why won't you get married' for three of my cousins. Hilarious.

And now it's time to get back to the real world and figure out what I'm going to do with April. There's a few more weekends, my birthday, and then it'll almost be time for graduation in May. Time to get moving I guess...

The Epic Fail that is March

Yeah so epic fail this month. I had such high hopes too. I guess I just have to turn around and make the most of April when it gets here. There is no way I will let April be an epic failure too. It is my birthday month after all. So at least the 22nd will be a good day. I have this thing about letting my birthday be horrible. It just can't happen.

Last year I had senior project presentations all day on my birthday so I delegated party planning and let one of my best friends plan it for me. We partied the night before, sang happy birthday around midnight, and everyone partied while I went to sleep. Presentations were a success and we partied again that weekend after they were over.

No where near the epic production that is JAbram Week, but still, a success. Maybe I'll have a birthday party in DC with all my friends even though I don't technically live there anymore. Something good has to happen. I refuse to let April be an epic failure too. I'll post some of my goals for the month later this week. For now, I'm going to make sure the rest of March is somewhat of a success. Or at least try anyways...

Projects

In the last Focus On: post we dumped our minds and came up with a massive list of stuff. This time, we'll focus on what to do with all of that stuff. This is where the Calendar and To-Do list will eventually come in. But for now we'll just focus on the massive list. First, we get to organize the list. You can rewrite each of these on separate pieces of paper. You can put stickers next to list items, star them or highlight them as we go along. Do whatever works for you.

There are two ways to look at organizing the list.

One way is to think about what you want out of life, your mantra, manifesto or end of life goals and narrow down your focus so that everything you do reflects the type of person you want to be. The other way is to think about everything you do on a daily basis and then work up the chain once you have those under control.

Since you're reading this blog, chances are you're like me and prefer to start with what you want the big picture to look like.

In either case, you'll want to go down your list and put your items into groups. Since most of the things on my list were bothering me because of my thinking that I want my life to look a certain way, my groups are based on things that appear to be a part of some large goal or project. They are areas of my life that I want to change. Here are some examples from my list.

1. Many things on my list focused on things I wanted to get, organize, or get rid of. When I looked at it again I realized that it was all about creating a spacious, organized, inviting place to live and work. So I labeled it "Home". This category has everything that deals with tangible items that I want to do something about, apartment search ideas, chore lists, etc.
   
2. Another category was "Things I Want to Learn". This turned into "Education/Career".
   
3. Other categories were lists of things I want to change about myself. "Personal".
   
4. Some things didn't seem to go with anything so they stayed by themselves

If you notice, some of these are evident in my "10 Things" list from earlier this year. This is how I decide what my goals and projects will be. Categorizing your list should help you see the types of overall goals and projects that you want to work on. Many times the things on our minds are bothering us simply because we didn't take the time to think them through and do something about them. Don't think too much about the categories if you get stuck. They'll become clearer as you work through the list and add more to it each day.

Using the categories on your list you should be able to clarify a few of your projects. Some of mine are

1. Create a clean, organized, open area to live in.
2. Learn Spanish, French, and Japanese
3. Be more organized, productive, and accountable
4. Get in shape

You'll notice that I used the word projects instead of goals. Mostly that's because I haven't yet defined a way to know when I'm done. In my world, projects can go on forever, but goals have to be measurable. I can keep "Improving my cooking skills" but once I "Learn 5 new recipes" I have to move on to something else. In the next post we'll focus on setting new and better goals, but for now we'll just pay attention to the projects you have. This will help us to get started, organized and be productive as quickly as possible.

The most effective way to make progress on your projects is to pick one or two to focus on at a time. I suggest picking the one that needs to be done first or the one that bothers you the most. That way you'll be able to appreciate how the system works and how much progress you're making. For me, I need to make money, so I'll be focusing on my job search. For the rest of your projects, remember, we want to write everything down. You may want to keep a notebook page, or an entire notebook devoted to your future projects. I have a whole notebook filled with things I'll do when I have free time, get bored, finish one of my other projects. For example, I want to learn several foreign languages, build a glass top table over a fish tank (i like pet fish!), and learn to cook a 5 course meal, but now isn't the time. I'll keep the ideas in my notebook until I can use them.

My Current Projects List

1. Blog
2. Career
3. Church
4. Home
5. Money
   
6. Personal

Next time I'll let you know some of the goals I've come up with for each of my project categories.

If you can't quite understand the whole process of getting from a random list to a projects list, I recommend that you read Getting Things Done by David Allen. That's where the whole process is taken from. He explains more in depth how to work from concepts down to tasks, and from tasks up to concepts when planning out your life.

Family Funeral

Wow. I am sooooo behind. I was away this weekend so I guess what I originally wanted to spend this weekend on kinda flew into Monday and Tuesday. Anywho... I'm back. Today is catch-up day. And there should be at least two more posts between today and tomorrow so I can catch up by Friday. And when I get through all this learning about project planning, hopefully it'll never take me a whole week to get back on track after a weekend away.

SO, here's the weekend update, before we get to another weekend...


This weekend was pretty cool for me. I got to see a part of my family that I haven't seen since I was about 2. About a week ago, my mom's dad's sister's husband died. I say it like that because it's sooo much easier to understand when you spell it all out.

Since I hadn't been in a while, I went with my mom and her sister to the funeral in South Carolina. Wadmalaws Island, South Carolina. I don't think many people have ever heard of it. It's right outside of Charleston. And apparently about half the people there are related to me in some way. There's even a road named after the family. Although that's a pretty basic thing in most places. a lot of roads are named after the people who lived there when they were built.


I thought that was kind of weird at first but then I thought about it. My grandpop's family had 10 brothers and sisters. I think 2 died, and the rest had at least 5 kids each. And then almost all of their kids had at least a kid or two. So yeah, there are a lot of us. It's a running joke in the family that you have to ask people who their parents are when you date because there are so many last names.

They like to tell the story of two cousins who had gone on one date with each other and then were at church when they asked everybody in the family to stand. They were both on opposite sides of the church and both stood. I'd hate to have that happen, but I can see how it could. I saw sooo many people at the funeral that I had never seen before. And that was mainly the family of one of my grandfather's sisters. There are still some parts of the family that I've never seen. Hopefully we'll get to have a family reunion soon and I can meet some more people. the ones I met this time were really cool.

We drove down on Friday so we could take our time and enjoy the trip. On the way we stopped at South Of The Border.


It's a rest stop just below the border from NC and SC where they used to stop every time they went down south. Apparently this used to be a big thing. Not so much anymore. I thought it was really cool, but stuff isn't open as long as it used to be. I guess people don't really road trip like that anymore. I could see it being open 24 hours a day if people drove like they used to. I took pictures of all the South of the Border Pedros and got a bumper sticker and some post cards for my collection. With the exception of the fact that we were going because of a funeral, the weekend was pretty nice.

I think I'm going to have to post more about my family from time to time. There will definitely be another post if we have a family reunion. And one when I make the red rice that cousin Rose taught me how to make. And when I see my cousins who live in Philadelphia, that I didn't meet until we were in South Carolina. Go Figure.

Getting Started

If you're anything like me, you always have some kind of project that you're working on. Some kind of great idea floating around in your head. Some kind of super awesome, imagination using, adrenaline pumping, brain flowing idea. And you have no idea where to start. Big ideas never seem to work out exactly the way you want them to. You get lost in a mountain of notes on post-its, calendars get squished and overloaded, and your to-do list grows to a mile long. This month is the end of all of that. I'm going to lay out the basics of why and how we so epically fail, and show you where to look for help and answers.

To get started, I suggest doing what many productivity people call a "mind dump". All you need is a cool looking notebook and a pen or pencil that works. If you have trouble finding either of those or you manage to find 50 or so pens that look exactly the same, don't worry about it. I've been there. Boy have I been there.

The main point of the mind dump is to dump your mind. Write down any and every thing that you can think of. Ballet practice is next tuesday. The football game is saturday at noon. Buy new shoes. I need more applesauce. Whatever you think of. Don't censor yourself or leave anything out. Nothing is unimportant. And don't try to orgainze the list. You'll just get distracted. We'll worry about that later. This may take some time, so don't be afraid if you have to sit there for a few minutes, or hours. If you have other things that you need to do, it's alright to get up and do them, but take your list with you. And write down anything you think of while you're doing what needs to be done. While it's ideal to take a weekend or at least a few hours to do this, life goes on and sometimes you can't. Just keep plugging away and soon you won't be able to think of much more that's on your mind or has been bothering you.

Since we're starting with a clean slate, I think now would be a god time to clear your desk and calendar of those annoying post-it notes. They're great reminders. I use them all the time. But they were not meant to be used by themselves. And they are not helpful if you have 20 of them around your computer screen, 30 on the wall calendar, 6 in a notebook, 3 behind the couch, etc. Take all of these and all other random scraps of paper with notes on them and write them at the bottom of your mind dump list.

Now a lot of people suggest also clearing your calendar and email, but that doesn't really work for most people. After all, most of us still have things that we will have to do and places to be while we're getting organized. And emails come in every two seconds at the peak of the day. I find it works best to just keep these two systems as they are and then tweak them as you go along. This way you'll learn how to keep your calendar organized and your inbox at zero without setting aside an entire week to hit delete over and over again.

Now that your mind is clear it should be much easier to tackle the planning and execution of your major project. This calmness will only be there if you have a clear mind. So take your mind dump list with you and be sure to write things down as soon as you think about them. Duplicates are going to happen at first, but you'll realize that the more you write things down, the less you have to remember. And that frees your mind to think about other, more creative and useful, things.

In the next post we'll tackle the to-do list. Until then, dump all that clutter from your mind, clear all your thoughts, and enjoy your post-it and scrap-paper-free life.

Focus On: Project Organization

This month, I will be focusing on a major project. My Career. While most of the details will be about my job search, the majority of the posts this month will offer tips to help you start, organize, track and finish any major project.

Here's a preview of what I will be writing about:
How To Start - Setting Goals and Establishing Habits
Taming Your Monster of a Calendar
To-Do Lists
Folders, Files, and Notebooks
How, When and Why to Track Your Progress

Throughout the month I will also be writing about books and products that have helped me to redesign my career and organize my projects and my life. Hopefully this month of focus will help you to figure out what you want to do with your precious moments and how you want to affect the world around you. Or at least help to get all the small stuff cleared up so you can think about it.

New Series - Focus On:

Welcome to Focus On: the latest idea to cross my mind. As I've been planning out my year, I've noticed that all of my ideas seem to focus on what I consider to be the basics of building a balanced life. These are the parts of life that every person on the planet worries about, or almost everyone anyway. While it may seem that some of these issues have nothing to do with one another, they are essentially all interconnected.

Over the next few months, I will be taking the time to define these life categories. I will also be examining ways to stay sane while trying to focus on all of the basics while still dealing with the everyday world. The first series entry for each month will introduce the month's topic of focus and open up what I hope will be an enlightening discussion for all involved.

Through this series I hope you will find ways to bring your life into balance, free your mind to think clearer, and open your heart to new ways to love yourself and the world around you.

March 2010 Goals

After seeing the progress that I made with my goals last month, I decided to do this again. Documenting the progress that I make here holds me accountable for my actions. Even if the only person reading has already heard about my plans, or happens to be me.

This month, my focus happens to be on my career, or lack of one. So most of my goals will focus on that. Although, I have included some random goals like last month as well as some of my year long goals.

Career Goals

- Sort through all old papers and files
- Organize paper filing system
- Organize computer filing system

• Keep - File
  
• Trash - Trash and Recycle
  

- Organize school notes

• Keep - organize related subjects, minimize notebooks needed
• Trash - Donate to students still at Howard if in good shape
• Create a Book List - read syllabus for each class to match each notebook with a reading list and get rid of large unneeded books
  

- Read and Review Career books, websites and articles for blog
- Send emails to people I would like to work for or with in DC and virtually
- Review my GTD system
- Send resume to family and friends

Health Goals
- Run/Walk for 20 mins every day (not sundays)
- Set and accomplish 4 Nike+ Goals

• Run 20 Times
• Burn 1000 Calories
• Run 25 Miles
• Run 1 mile in 16 minutes 5 Times

Church Goals
- Create IYPU contacts database
- Plan IYPU dollar-a-day finance sheets

Personal Goals
- Get Rid of 31 Things
- Complete Stuff Inventory
- Update packing and travel list

New Habits
- Weekly Blogging on Monday and Friday
- Setting and Accomplishing 1 Productive Goal Every Day

Good Karma - Part III

So I finally found out exactly which Carolyn was my gift swap buddy!!! Super Awesome!!! In case you weren't paying attention, here's what she sent me. I absolutely loved it. And I've found a new blogger buddy. She's just starting out like me. I read her blog Sweet Caroline completely (awesome name by the way - couldn't get the song out of my head). It's amazing how much you can learn about someone from reading their thoughts over a few months. She is a fan of one of my favorite bloggers Kimberly Wilson and has participated in an ornament swap organized by my giftee Micaela. What a small blogosphere this is...

I'm continuously amazed at how my blogger friend circle is growing so rapidly. It's great getting to meet new friends who love candles, tea, bubble baths, and stuff like I do. Hopefully I've made a new friend who is special enough to get added to my newly formed Christmas Card List this year.

DC Week and a Weekend Funeral

I got back from my week in DC late Friday night. I had a blast seeing my friends and hanging out. It was nice to have some time to relax and sit and talk and think. I miss being able to talk to my friends like that. It's not the same when you're hours away.

Saturday morning was the funeral for one of my best friend's dad. He died last weekend. It was so unexpected. Yeah he had a few health problems in the past few years, but so do most adults. I honestly can't think of real grown up who hasn't had some sort of health issue. Anyways, they've lived across the street for as long as I can remember, so when I saw her car I just thought that she had come home for the weekend. Then a neighbor left a message with the news. The funeral was really nice. He had been one of the most well known firefighters at the local firehouse, so all the firefighters from his station were there. There were even some from the other local fire companies too. It was kind of amazing to see just how many people can be affected by the loss of one person.

Later that day I went to a youth service at another church. It was their Youth Explosion weekend and the national youth president from our church came to speak.

Sunday was sunday school, and two services at my church. Apparently I'm going to be a sunday school teacher. Not like the adult teachers though. I get to teach the little kids. Which means I get to sing and dance and play games and color. Coloring is definitely my favorite part.

It's been a long week and a long weekend. But it's all over now. I apologize for not having posted anything last week. As you can imagine, there was a lot going on. But now I'm back. Time to refocus and catch up to March. I do want to think about my goals and projects before April gets here.

Snow Again?

It snowed again! Yay! For real this time though. I'm excited. I don't have to did myself out. I wasn't stuck in the house with my parents for a week straight with no escape. It was actually fun.

I spent a decent part of the weekend designing two new post series for the blog. The first "Focus On:" will premier next Monday along with my Weekend Update. The second new series "Setting Goals: A Week In Review" will debut next Friday. If I like the way they turn out each of these will become a recurring post series on the blog. Yay for new things! (Insert Happy Dance Here)

This week I will be in DC focusing on a few career and school things. I can't guarantee that I'll be able to check in every day, but I promise the posts will go up by Friday and I won't leave you wondering if I'm dead for a whole week. Plus, I never go anywhere without my phone and Twitter is quickly becoming one of my best friends. If you're in the DC area and want to meet up or have suggestions of ways to spend my inevitable free time send me a message through email, facebook, twitter, or in the comments.

February 2010 Goals Update

After a very frazzled December and January, I really just needed to regroup and start again. I mean really, I moved two hours away from everything I had gotten used to. And not necessarily because I wanted to. I kind of had to. But that's not the point. The point is, it took me most of January to regroup and figure out just where I was and where I wanted to go. It was time to make a game plan and get moving.

My main goal is to be back in the city I love by the summer. So I'm calling this my semester off even though I'm already done school... But anyways, I want to move into my new apartment by May. All I'm really concerned with right now is having a place to live and being able to pay for it. And maybe some extra money for food and stuff... That means I need to

1)Get a Job - I'm thinking 20k a year would pay for a decent place and not have me starve
2)Find an Apartment - I know I really can't afford to be, but I'm just a tad bit picky. It's my parent's fault.
3)Move

After spending the first week trying to do everything at once I broke each of my main three goals into smaller pieces. Then I made a list of which parts I would tackle first, and those became my February Goals. So here's the progress that I made over the past month.

1) Get a Job

A - Update resume
B - Look for companies to apply to
C - Apply for jobs
D - Follow ups
E - GET HIRED!!!

• Create Career Notebook - DONE - This will help me keep all of my career info in one place. It's really annoying to forget when I applied to what job and who I talked to on what day. So far, it's a black 3-ring binder with sheet protectors that I shoved all of my papers in. Maybe one day I'll upgrade, but for now, it works.
  

2)Find an Apartment

• List areas of the city I would like to live in - DONE - I now have a decent sized list of only where I want to live. This gives me a better idea of how much it will cost to live there (i.e. how much money I need to make) and saves me time that would have been spent searching in the wrong areas
  
• List wanted features of apartment I would like to live in - DONE - This means that I can now ask others to help me look for what I want. Nobody will help you look for "a place without bugs" because they have to get your opinion on each individual place they find (a waste of time and not helpful to anyone involved).
  

3) Move
- Get rid of stuff that doesn't need to get moved and clean out old room

• Get everything that doesn't belong on the floor of my room either out or off of the floor - FAIL - In fact I think that there might be more on the floor now. But at least the pile no longer includes my clothes.
  
• Finish all of my laundry and get all of my clothes into drawers and the closet - DONE - but how does someone who never has anything to wear have so much laundry???
  
• Get rid of 28 things - FAIL - but since this is technically a year long goal it doesn't really matter much
  
• Set up eBay to sell unwanted items with value - DONE - I also set up a store on Etsy to get rid of all the random craft supplies I managed to find
  

- Hire movers
- Pack
- Move

• Pick Move By Date - DONE - I'm going to enjoy my time at home and move to DC on May 1 no matter what. This gives me a bit more incentive to get everything else done.
  

The rest of my goals for the month were some of my habits for the year

Read a book a month

• Finish reading February career book - DONE - It really helped me to focus my thinking and come up with a better plan. There will eventually be a book review posted
  

Exercise and Eat Better

• Do Situps every MWF - EPIC FAIL - I missed the exact days on the first week, but still got all three workouts in, then missed the whole second week, and the third, and the fourth. I think I was trying to do too much. This may have to wait until I get everything else straight.
  
• Run/Walk for 20 mins every TRS - not so epic FAIL - as above missed the whole second week but I did manage to get in a lot of runs
  
• Run/Walk 12+ times this month (Nike+ goal) - FAIL
  
• Run/Walk 15 miles (Nike+ goal) - FAIL
  
• Run 1 mile in under 16 mins 5x (Nike+ goal) - DONE - I actually brought my time down a lot. Apparently all I need to do is run on a consistent basis.
  
• Exercise Daily - FAIL - no where close, but at least I got used to exercising again. And now I kinda miss it when I don't do anything
  
• Eat Breakfast Daily - SUPER EPIC FAIL - This didn't even make it onto my habit sheet this month. I was failing at getting all of the existing habits under control, so I'm taking a break from adding new ones and focusing on the ones I already have on the list
  
• Find and bookmark websites with interesting recipies - DONE - I did one step better and reorganized all of my bookmarks using Delicious. Apparently I already had some excellent sites bookmarked but could never find them because my bookmarks were spread out and stored on my computer, two different email account bookmark lists, and in an online list. Consolidation really helped make everything easier to find.
  

Set a daily/weekly schedule

• Set a weekly blogging schedule - DONE - I have noticed that I like writing a weekend update post and a goals update post. I think I will write these each week and write other posts as I feel inspired
  
• Blog 3x a week every week - DONE - I'm still working on the exact schedule that I'll be using, but I think I'm going to keep this
  
• Update Twitter and Facebook weekly - DONE - Next month I'll be focusing on how to decide what to post where, but updating at all is a plus. Now my friends know I'm not dead.
  
• Create Want/Need list of monthly purchases - DONE - This turned into my Stuff Inventory which I will post about later
  

Take Care of ME

• Take a half hour bath at least 3 times a week - FAIL - Apparently I will make sure that I am clean, but I will not take the time to relax if I don't set aside time. Next month this is going in the calendar. Showers keep me clean. Clean is essential. Therefore, I do not skip showers. Baths help me relax. Relaxing is essential. Why do I not follow through with these?
  
• Washing My Face Every Night - FAIL - Sometimes I did, other times not. I did however notice that I need to adjust my nightly schedule to do this. Splashing water in your face right before getting in bed wakes you up. I do not need to wake up at 11 at night. I need to go to sleep.
  

For the record:
DONE = 13
FAIL = 8
EPIC FAIL = 1
SUPER EPIC FAIL = 1
Total Goals = 23

18/23 isn't bad, but hopefully I'll do better next month

DC Week

OK so maybe posting a 25th post just to do it wasn't really your style. It's mine. I'm not going to apologize. I'm not sorry for being me. Instead I'm going to write yet another post today. But this time something worth reading. Or not.

Next week I'll be in DC. I have a few things to take care of at school to get ready for my upcoming graduation. HOORAY GRADYOOAYSHUN!!! I'm sure they're proud of the learnin I did there and they're ready to get rid of me for good.

Anyways, I'm taking this time to get ready to move back to the city. That means looking for a job and an apartment. I'm not exactly sure of everything I'll be doing while I'm there, but I do know that I'll need to eat. If you know of any good places that I may not have tried, or any DC bloggers you think I would like to meet or would be interested in meeting up with a newbie, feel free to let me know. I can use all the help I can get. Right now my plan is just not to be unemployed or homeless when I get to DC in May. And there are oh so many ways to get to that point.

Post 25!

Yay!!! My 25th Blog Post!

This has been quite an adventure. I didn't really expect much when I started this blog, and I'm not really sure what I expect as I continue. But the journey is most definitely turning into quite an adventure. Hopefully I can keep this up and celebrate more milestones. 50th and 100th posts will get their own special time to shine, and then celebrating 6 months and 1 year of blogging! This is going to be great. Maybe I should plan a party... I do like parties.

Anyways, I hope you guys are enjoying following me on this random journey called life. Maybe one day I'll become entertaining, informative, or helpful. But for now, it's fun being me and watching my world expand. And if you have any ideas on how to celebrate posts 50 and 100 let me know.

Good Karma - Part II

Ok. I just checked my page and in the comments I found out that my Good Karma box got to its lovely owner. Now I can let you guys know what I sent her. After reading her entire blog (I just got stuck. It was soooo awesome and full of such great life stories) I decided to send these.



The box included

Comfort - A pair of teddy bears dressed like a bride and groom - She's getting married soon, and who doesn't like teddy bears anyways?

Creativity - 2 tiny books to write in and a set of colored pencils

Calming - A little bottle of my favorite Bath and Body Works bubble bath - hooray for bubbles

Celebration - A scented candle called Glistening Snow (or something like that) - after moving to VA from Texas and being drowned in Snowpocalypse during her first winter here I thought it was only appropriate

so here's what she said in the comments


Dear Danielle,

I WAS SOOO EXCITED when I saw your little package of goodness waiting for me when we got home from our daytrip out of town. :) YOU COULDN'T HAVE PICKED OUT BETTER GIFTS!!! thank you thank you thank you!!! i love the sweet little bears :) and agree with why they are comforts. They are SO soft and I hope to incorporate them in our wedding somehow. I just LOVE everything. I giggled at your comment about the snow... yes, PLEASE no more of it! bless you having to deal with it too (btw, is your dog a bichon frise too?!)

your note was just as sweet and made the good karma swap THAT much more enjoyable! I promise to blog about it as soon as my person gets hers :)

i hope we stay in touch!

I LOVED EVERYTHING! xoxo
Micaela


I'll put up a link to her post when she writes more. In the mean time, enjoy her blog Dolce Vita

Good Karma - Part I

I posted before about the The Good Karma Gift Swap with Kaileen Elise so here's a little update on how things went.

I know that they were supposed to be mailed by Wednesday, but I just finished mine on Friday. Between all the snow recently, my lack of real money, and my overall inability to make a decision, it took me forever to finally send my box. But it is done. I took pictures and I'll post what I sent in Part II.

Moments before I finished my box, the doorbell rang. I felt kind of bad about not finishing my box yet so I didn't open what came for me until I had finished with and sent my box. Here's what was in it.






Signed Carolyn

So... At first I thought it was Carolyn from Hang On Little Tomato. She's the only Carolyn I saw in the comments of the gift swap page. Which is awesome. I totally love that blog.

I checked and found out. It's not. Still not sure who it is. I'll let you know when I find out who it is. (I DID!!!)

But anyways. She is super awesome!!!
I love that she really payed attention to my little bit about me. There aren't too many posts on here yet, so it's kind of hard to figure out anything about me from this blog so far. I thought it was great that she wrapped one of the presents in aluminum foil (I had mentioned that cat loves to steal the stuff). It was cool. I think I may have to put up a picture later of cat enjoying his new toy.

So this was really awesome. And so much more than I was expecting. Now I'm just thinking. I really hope Micaela likes my box. I thought pretty hard about what to put in it. Trying not to worry about how much money I didn't have to put into things. I tried to be creative. Now I'm wondering if it worked. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Plus, I guess there's always next time. I'm just getting the hang of this whole adult friendships thing.

Black Solidarity at Yale

This weekend I went to Yale. My sister was in charge of the Black Solidarity Conference at Yale, so we all went up to go to the banquet at the end of the conference. So, yes. My sister goes to Yale. And I didn't. Ivy League schools aren't exactly known for having great engineering programs after all. In fact, most don't even have engineering programs. So no Ivy League for me. Instead, I went to Black U. HOWARD UNIVERSITY. The Black Ivy League.



So first, a few things about the differences in our schools and my informal tour of Yale. Then we'll get to all the conference details.

We got into town Saturday afternoon after a 3 hour drive. After checking into the hotel mom gave me the most informal college tour ever. "Ummm, this building has history. There's something significant about this building but I don't remember what." That kind of stuff. The library was cool. Apparently the guy wanted to build a church, but they would only let him build the library. So he built this.



Yup. The guy built a church for them to put the library in. Now that's what I call creativity. Loophole found. I can just see it now. "Fine. I will build you a library. It will hold all of the books you want it to. But you never said it had to look like a library..." I think I might have done the same thing. Although I'm kind of wondering if this is just as bad as throwing a temper tantrum when you don't get your way..



Anyways, after the whole campus tour we went to the bookstore so I could look at all the shiny stuff. I found these two shirts. Two sport we don't have at Black U. I mean we have lacrosse, we even brought the baseball team back. But these are two sports we don't have. I kind of understand crew. Mostly you do that up north. I can't really think of any school that far down south that has a crew team. I guess there's the same kind of idea about hockey too. Not too many inner city schools have an ice hockey team.


So after the bookstore that was pretty much all the excitement I could handle for awhile. So back to the hotel for a nap.


Then came the banquet. First, we met up with my sister. Met the Dean of the Chapel.

He's the one wearing the purple tie. Yeah. To a Black Tie Event. Not a big deal to most people. But if you know me at all, you know I caught on. I go to Black U. The main people to wear purple to a black tie event are...

Yup. He's them. It's almost funny how since I met so many in DC now I can never go anywhere without finding one. Although I guess it's just like finding Howard Alumni. The girl sitting across from me at the banquet table lives down the street from where I did when I was last in DC. I love HU.


The speaker for the night was Michael Eric Dyson. He was pretty cool. His speech was all about progress. Pretty much he was trying to explain that after the conference was over, we all needed to go back to where ever we came from and help the people who aren't at the level we're at. People without the opportunities or education that we have. The main idea is that the only way everybody gets better is if the people who get better turn around and help other people get better. He's a really good speaker. It takes a lot to make politics and social commentary go together. I think everyone left feeling like they had more to give to the world and wanting to come up with a way to give it.

All in all, I think my weekend went pretty well. And now, back to the regularly scheduled week.

Early Mornings

So at 10 AM I have already eaten, run, gotten dressed and read some of my favorite blogs. I think I'm getting back into the hang of getting up in the mornings. The end of December through January threw me off with my morning routine. It is rather difficult to keep your routine when you move, especially when you move into someone elses space.

But now I'm back. Spent most of yesterday getting ready for the next two months. My morning schedule is in my computer and is fixed so that every week it starts 30 minutes earlier. This should give me more time to workout and not rush in the morning and still be ready for the day. Eventually my whole routine will end at 8 AM, but for now, I'm fine with it starting later. I don't technically have anywhere to be before noon these days.

Getting ready yesterday also helped me realize how important it is to take the time to regroup every so many days. I got time to think through how much is really necessary and how much in my life is just excess. For instance, over the past few weeks I've realized that it is hard for me to focus sometimes because I have so much stuff and it is all in random places. Having no real system to anything keeps me from being able to find things when I need them. So I made a few lists (i love lists. index cards make the best lists keepers too). I figured two things that I need to keep track of are my stuff (tangible items) and my data (lists, computer files, internet bookmarks). Having only two categories made it seem like I could actually conquer the amount I had. After all, who wants to tackle 600 categories at once?

Anyways. I broke the stuff down into the types of stuff that I have, need and want based on when and where I use the stuff (kitchen stuff has nothing to do with bathroom stuff or hobby stuff). Then I made a spreadsheet (I know, I'm a real geek. I even know excel formulas to make it add on its own). Now I have a list of all of my stuff in one place. It includes how many of each thing I have and need to buy or get rid of. This should make getting rid of things easier. If I only need one or two of something and I have 50, it goes. No questions asked. It's like an automated donate/shopping list. I absolutely love it. I think I might make it prettier in the future, but for now it does the job.

The data is something I'm still working on. I think the real problem started when I first got an email address. We all had that little kid email name that we ditched as soon as we realized it wasn't professional and we needed another one with our name in it. Only problem was that I still have that first email address. And both of my email accounts had a bookmarks list, with different bookmarks, that I still use. Dilemma. And it only gets worse when you add the other bookmarks that are stored in my web browser. So I put them all in one place. It took forever (watching the olympics helped pass the time) but now they're all in one place so I don't have to keep trying to remember when and where I bookmarked that one page about the thing.

Today will be more spreadsheeting and getting rid of stuff. But at least now I have a plan. That helps so much. Maybe when I finish I'll post my lovely spreadsheet, to-do list, and bookmarks list. We'll see.

Happy Valentine's Day To Me!

Not really the best of weeks here. I fell off the exercise and habit wagon with all the snow and cabin fever. I think not being able to go outside made me sleepy, and bored. But the weekend was pretty good.

Went to The Cheesecake Factory with a friend for Valentine's Day. We caught up on each others non-existent love lives and laughed at the fact that all of our friends are madly in love with being single right now. The two hour wait for a table was passed in the nearby Barnes and Noble looking at random books and magazines. The only way it could have been better would be to include the missing part of our trio (The Three Hebrew Girls will rise again!!! - Inside Joke). There's always next year. And every gathering we have planned for later this year. :)

Anyways, now it's time to move on to the next week. I have laundry to do, Olympics to watch, and jobs to apply for. Adios.

Happy I Love Me Day!!!

I think people put too much emphasis on going out and spending money for Valentine's Day. Don't get me wrong. I'm going out for Valentine's Day, but that's mainly because I'm going out with one of my best friends. And we like to celebrate everything. To us, a birthday is a week-long sometimes month-long event; it's always the right time to use the good plates; and a chandelier is perfect for decorating a tiny apartment with no furniture, and even better in the bathroom. So this is just a chance for us to go to a favorite restaurant and catch up.

That being said, Valentine's Day is not the extent of our celebration this weekend. We are also celebrating I Love Me Day. While most single girls sit around making themselves feel bad because nobody is treating them like they're special this weekend, we're treating ourselves like we're special. Why? Because we are. In my world, I don't need someone to say "I love you", pretend that taking me to dinner was their idea when it wasn't, or buy me flowers. Why? Because I love me, I can take myself out to dinner when I want to go out (eating by yourself is sometimes more fun anyway), and I buy myself flowers all the time (my birthday, valentine's day, wednesday). Plus, I like getting to do what I want to do. No bargaining or compromising needed.

As a single girl I can
- have a pet cat, a pet dog, and fake fish
- decorate my apartment for any and every reason
- watch chick flicks during baseball and basketball games (on the big tv not my laptop!)
- leave all of my stuff on the bathroom counter (not that i do, that's kinda messy)
- sleep in the middle of the bed
- have all storage containers be purple
- treat myself like a princess without explaining that "I'm not spoiled, I'm well loved" (that one's thanks to grandmom)

So in the spirit of I Love Me Day, here are some things to keep in mind and a few links to enjoy.


Enjoy adding girly stuff to your place while you still can...

The History of Valentine's Day

Madly In Love With Me Day - Self Love Toolkit

Self-care is Not Selfish

Unconditional Self-Love and Self-Acceptance

Purchase the Picture in the Post

My lack of skills, or Why I still have no job

OK. The snow was fun. But I need to do something else now. You can only say so much about snow in two week period. Especially if all that' new about the snow is that it got deeper. All this time inside has given me time to think about my goal of getting a job, or career, or whatever you want to call it. I'm not even sure it counts as actual productive thinking though. Most of it was random things I thought while reading blogs this week.

First was What Do You Do on Tranquility du Jour. I have no idea how this happens, but it seems as if lately everything that Kimberly writes about is either something I have read about recently or something that I'm thinking about. Anyways, its about all of the things that she does, and how it's super hard for her to do that 1 minute elevator pitch that most career people say you need to be able to do. As I was reading through the list, all I could think about was, "Wow. This sure is a lot of stuff. How would you put that on a resume?" Which got me thinking again. "Boy I hate resumes." For the life of me, I could never figure out what exactly to put on a resume. Here's why.

They tell you to put the following things on your resume. places you worked - what you did - how long you worked there - what's your major - what's your GPA - where do you live - how do we contact you - what are your skills - what do you do with your time besides go to school (extra curricular activities for students) - references - when will you graduate. I don't think most of that ever made sense to me. Especially since if ask different people they will tell you to leave out different things on the list. Which is also why I hate career centers. They say they'll help you get a job, but it doesn't always end up that way. It made me laugh to find a post about college educations and career centers by Penelope Trunk. It appears as if she dislikes them more than I do. But in any case here is what they tell you to put on/leave off your resume.


If your GPA is crap leave it off so they don't know.
-but what if i don't care what they think. i chose my major because it was difficult and the best way to learn how to do it was to get other people to teach me. isn't that what school is for anyways? if i could teach myself easily why would i pay others to help me learn?

Just put that you will graduate 4 years from when you started. Until you get to 4 years from when you started and realize you don't know when you'll finish, then just keep putting next year.
- i'm convinced that this shouldn't even be on there until you are applying for a full time job for which you need a degree. it's just depressing to those who don't graduate on time and makes all freshman feel like getting out on time is better than taking the time to actually learn everything they will need to know when they get out.

Put your current school address, even if you move every year. Just change it on your resume when you move.
- but what if i want them to be able to find me? i have had over 5 different addresses since i started college. three on campus, one off campus, and my parents house in nj. even if they wanted to hire me they probably couldn't.

Then there's the part about leadership positions and skills. I hate this part. Mainly because most of my leadership positions have nothing to do with my major. They never quite look like they belong on my resume. How do you explain to a hiring manager that you are one of the vice presidents of a dance group and that is a reason to look deeper into hiring you? The worst for me is unnamed positions. I tend to have unnamed positions a lot. I don't like it when things obviously need to be done but nobody is doing them, or when meetings are unproductive because nobody knows what its going to be about before they get there, and i can count. I end up being an unofficial secretary, meeting coordinator, or treasurer sometimes. But unofficial positions aren't really traditional resume material.

And skills. What are my skills. I have about 100 of them. But most of what I do on a daily basis isn't really work worthy. Not unless you completely reword what I say that I do. For instance, since I have been home I have,

Started a blog = learning html coding,
Written posts for my blog = Researched topics
Taken pictures for my blog =
Gotten rid of 40 or so things that were no longer needed = simplified work processes
Updated my Twitter and Facebook statuses = social media guru
Checked my email about 50 times a day = easily reachable
Read 2 self-help books =

I don't even know how you would turn those into marketable skills. Maybe I just need to figure out how to use words better. If I can turn what I do into something that needs to be done, maybe then they'll hire me. Until then, can anybody suggest any skills that I either have now, or can work on without having a real job?

Snowpocalypse 2.0

So apparently all this snow isn't over yet. When I went to sleep last night, it had already started snowing again. The lovely path that I had helped dig to the front door was starting to fill in already. Which of course would mean that I would go to sleep only to have to wake up and dig us out again...

When I woke up, the back yard still looked like a winter wonderland. Which I guess is pretty cool. Especially since we don't have to dig out the back yard...


I'm the scientific type so of course I had to measure how much snow we got. And tell mom that she measured in the wrong spot. You see, you have to measure in the spot you already cleared so you know how much fell to the ground. You can't measure where there was already snow. So the now non-existent path to the front door was measured to find that we had 6 inches or so just over night. And that was before it started snowing harder around noon.


Then came clearing out my car. again. This time I got to use the snowblower. There would be a picture of that since I obviously took the camera outside, but apparently mom isn't as into taking random pictures of things that don't really need to be captured on film as I am. Too bad. Snow blowers are fun. Even made a few friends jealous cause I got to use one and they didn't. Maybe one day I'll live somewhere with snow and get one of my own to play with. Of course, my friends would turn it into a 'snow blower/go cart/lawnmower of doom' type object. Mechanical engineers are really fond of souping up machines that already do their jobs just fine.


So to make a long story short. In a matter of hours, my back yard turned from nice, bright, winter scene, to white out blizzard conditions. Oh how I love winter storms. The National Weather Service says that this is the biggest set of winter storms to hit this area ever since they started measuring. So apparently, if you add all the snow so far this winter, we have a heck of a lot of snow and could completely bury a small dog, small child, a stack of all of the books i needed for college, the mailbox, my car, your choice really.




*** On an unrelated note. Thanks to whoever got #vanessasmith started as a trending topic on twitter. Howard University reunion. I did get tired of dumb people who follow everything asking what HU was though. My question - if you don't know, why are you following? Clearly HU rules the web. HU is the best. That is all.

Snowmageddon/Snowpocalypse 2010

This was one of the most interesting weekends since I've been home. I am loving this month so far. Last weekend it snowed and I had a great day shopping and at the movies with a friend to escape it all. This weekend, escape was not an option. With what was being dubbed Snowmageddon or Snowpocalypse was on the way and bringing some record snow. So I did what any sane person would do. I stayed in my room and watched the snow fall from my bed. Then I moved downstairs and watched the snow fall from the couch. It was great. I think that sometimes snow is best appreciated from inside with a scented candle and a hot cup of tea.

Since it hadn't started snowing yet, I used Friday to make sure I had a good stock of apple sauce, apple juice, milk, eggs, and cereal. Then I worked on my February goals and watched it start snowing. It was actually kind of fun to be away from my friends this time. Between twitter and text messages I got to know exactly what kind of a storm to expect since I'm currently two hours north of everybody else.

Saturday the texting and twittering continued as my friends let me know about DC shutting things down and Friday night panicking in grocery stores. I read part of my February book, watched it snow. all. day.

I mean, I took a five hour nap and it was still going. How does that happen? I guess maybe that's why we got the most snow ever since the Blizzard of '96. I counted 17 inches, and I'm still not sure that I actually hit the ground. And they say it's supposed to snow again later this week. So we might just end up breaking that record when you add up all of the winter snow.


When I tried to take the dog outside he wouldn't go out past the edge of the garage without being carried. He's such a spoiled little thing. Normally I'd say that was the reason, but he's all of 7 inches off the ground. And that's when he's fuzzy. Even when we made him a path in the back yard he wouldn't follow if you went too far ahead of him because he couldn't see over the snow.














Then we had to dig out my car and the house. My mom even took a shot at using the snowblower. Of course by this time the dog had gotten tired of trying to figure out how to get anywhere and sat down in the garage to watch. He's not very helpful.

Sunday we skipped church. Since we live in NJ and go to church in Philly we decided it might not be a good idea to try and brave the roads and bridge just yet. I mean, if we got stuck, who was going to come and get us? Getting stuck in the snow in the middle of nowhere is not a good look. Instead everybody watched church on TV. There's some good stuff on TV on Sunday mornings. Mom and dog fell asleep and I told them sleeping in church was against the rules. Dad told me that I had to wait till the commercials to get up or talk. No talking or walking during the sermon. I guess that's what I get for making fun of everybody else.

Then it was time for a nap and.....

Super Bowl XLIV

Some of my friends back at school were having a Super Bowl party. I was really considering driving back down just to go to it. And then it snowed. So I had my own party. Me, dog, cat, mom and dad. And yes that is me and dog with the TV on and the laptop on Twitter and NFL.com. I had the play by play up on the screen in case I missed something. Afterall, game time is when you do stuff if you really need to. The commercials are supposed to be the best of the year. Nobody wants to miss those.

Too bad the colts didn't win. I was cheering for Antoine Bethea to win his second Super Bowl since he's a Howard University alumnae and all. But I suppose I'm not too disappointed that the Saints won. It's their first Super Bowl EVER... And really, we all want to cheer for the underdog. Plus, if the Cowboys aren't in the game, and the Ravens aren't in the game, I just pick my team by using random criteria anyway.

After the game was over I tried to catch up on my workouts. Since Saturday was such a random day I never got around to doing my weekend run or the last of the situps. The run I did after the Super Bowl ended. Hopefully I can just do the situps today and then start this week's tomorrow to catch up.

Oh and remember my Valentine's Day plans? My lovely friend from last weekend decided that we need to go to The Cheesecake Factory together on Valentine's Day. I love my friends. They know me oh so well.

But now it's time to get back to the real world and enjoy my Monday. Lots more reading, job searching, and room cleaning to do. Not to mention a little running.