pretty as a picture

This is a bit of an aside, but as I've written about the fact that I office from home and live in a smallish footprint loft, my home and work lives are gorgeously intertwined.  Ok, not always so gorgeous (see piles of paper in the post before this...which I'm still working to banish to their rightful files: dropfile, circular file or recycling pile).  But I'm working on it.

This weekend I was gifted with a beautiful photo - framed and all - and I think it's going to stay right here next to me on my desk.  My fella is taking his photography to very lovely places lately and this particular one just screams spring to me.  Plus, it's pink.  And that's just how I am.

a little spring clean up

Fully 2 1/2 months of the year have passed us by already...how did THAT happen!?  More and more over the past 3 weeks, I've realized how completely disorganized my life has become.  While embarking on serious relationships with both my health and a new fella (old fella, well, it's a long story) - which are both going amazingly well and feeding my spirit - I have completely lost the rest of my way.  Sure, there's an issue of balance going on here but there's also the (wonderful) issue of being busier than ever with Segnavia Creative.  So, this is me not complaining...well, maybe just a bit.

If nothing else, the past few weeks have made me step back, look intently at how I'm spending my time and then hone in on how to be more productive and less frenetic.  Instead of taking things as they come (my natural and slightly procrastinating state of being), I need to find a way to get more proactive.  Gain some semblance of control.  You know, if that's possible.

And there's no denying that spring is the time to consider things such as organization, fresh starts, clean ups, clear outs and generally making life a bit tidier.  And since this is a blog that's about my work/life integration, you can bet my entire world is fair game.  Here's what I'm thinking about:

• Generally detoxing my home.  I wrote about this for Simple, Good, and Tasty (a website about local, sustainable, organic and fair trade food and the people who love it) back in January which you can read here:  kitchen, bath/laundry, rest of the house.  And I'm happy to say, I've taken a lot of these steps including reducing the number of non-homemade cleaners I use around here, adding plants to the house, using up old candles to make a complete switch to all-soy, getting organized (a bit more about that in a second), and re-enlisting many things around the house to serve new & improved purposes instead of just buying new.  There's constantly room for improvement, but I'm feeling good about just getting started.
• Putting better organizing systems in place, which inevitably has to start with some purging, recycling and an honest consideration of what my needs are.  I know there are a bunch of things that either aren't working or weren't well set up when I re-launched my business last year.  And you know, you just feel like, "Eh, I'm not that busy.  I'll figure out a "real" system once I have more to organize."  So many flaws in that logic, I can barely type it without blushing.  So I'm re-dedicating my dining room as my office (no really, this was an intentional decision last year as I realized that I honestly hated working in my office...and quite frankly, everyone gathers around the kitchen island to eat, anyway) and finding better systems for sorting out business operations,  typical home stuff and an awful lot of recipes.  My curse and my joy.
• Being more and more paper-free.  I sit on two boards and, let me tell you, we produce a lot of paper.  As the boards are becoming more dedicated to sending out digital versions of our minutes, agendas, and other materials, I'm just going to haul my laptop in and read through things on screen.  It's not brain surgery, but it does make life a bit less complicated when all of these theories align to keep the paper down.
• Treating my body to a regular cleanse and also a shift in my eating habits.  I started off the year with a month-long detox; I'll probably continue to do that detox once or twice a year because it's my old standby.  I know it works for me, and I know I can choose it without feeling deprived.  Next, I'm test-driving a 3-5 day juice cleanse from Organic Avenue in NYC.  Well, I wish I lived in NYC because you can just buzz over there and pick up your day's worth of juices, shakes and food to line up with whichever cleanse you've chosen.  But from spring thaw-y Minnesota, I'm going to follow the version publicized by Gwyneth Paltrow in her GOOP newsletter.  (Sure.  She's always going to have that air of "my life is infinitely better than yours" but I think that's mostly because her's probably IS better than mine.  And 99% of other humans as well!  But I can't hate her because she's talented, happily partnered and raising beautiful children, fit & healthy, drop-dead gorgeous and connected.  I (*gushes*) sort of love her even more for it.)  Anyway, she was kind enough to use her connections to get a download on the program, the recipes and after I read this NYT piece about another woman who gave it a go, I decided I'd try it too.   I'm only on Day 2 so I'll spare you any half-baked reviews at this point.  If you get real excited, you can follow Organic Avenue on Twitter here.
• Carving out time to write.  This is one of my true passions and is also an area that needs practice and refinement.  I get that - first and foremost - from just sitting down and writing.  This blog, my personal blog, whatever.  I also get it from writing for my clients (Simple, Good, and Tasty being my biggest blogging commitment at the moment).  But I'm also hungry for feedback, so I have a couple of classes in mind from The Loft in Minneapolis.

Most of all, I'm looking forward to spring.  It's - by far - my favorite season and the continuation of my January 1st fresh start is warmly welcomed.  I can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings.

moleskine madness

I inherited my mother's obsession with paper. Stationery, notebooks, journals, what have you. To this day, we both have bizarre - and extensive - collections of paper products. You'd think that neither of us would need to venture into a stationery store again for as long as both shall live. But, as I said, it's an obsession. Regardless of my love for technology, I nurture a life-long affair with things paper. I love the feel of all sort of paper - heavy weight card stock, filmy vellum, textured writing papers. I adore the tactile sense I get from just the right weight and finish of the paper in a really beautifully bound notebook. I even love the smell of paper. I can't get enough of the Paper Source, Paper Depot and even places like Anchor Paper. And I really can't have too many journals.

Journals or plain notebooks are the epitome of the unwritten story. A pure and pristine place to start. I know, more than anything else, that this is the concept that appeals to me so viscerally. It is the reason I keep buying more notebooks even when there are pages left to be written on in another tome. I feel like I need to stretch my creative muscles and try again. I need to begin anew.

I get this notion that I will use this notebook or that journal for THIS PARTICULAR PURPOSE. One will be for my consulting work. That one over there will be strictly for party planning. This one, I keep on the coffee table to jot down recipes I want to try from the Food Network. And then there's the one that I put my my bed to capture dreams, thoughts that occur to me. Lastly, there's the one I kept for many years - a Tiffany blue leather bound number with a snap closure that I called "the oracle." The concept of the oracle was simple: just write everything in one place. To heck with the idea of having different journals that are never in the right place at the right time. This also lessened the impact of the million and a half Post-It notes that were always strewn around my workspace...but that is another story for another entry. More than anything, that oracle became part of me, part of my own personal brand, if you will. It was faithfully at my side and ready to receive. I switched to a more conservative, more Washington-appropriate version in black but it doesn't really move me the same way. It feels too much like work.

In the end, I simply can't hold the obsessive nature of my notebook lust at bay. And good thing too. Otherwise I'd miss some pretty amazing products out there. Last few years, I've been spending a lot of time in Moleskine journals. Plain kraft paper ones, stiff backed black ones, and now pretty pink, lime green and more. I just bought this lovely red one from Barnes & Noble as a place to capture my blogging ideas.

I go for the simple ruled notebooks but there are also blank pages, pages with grids, and even sketch-weight pages. A little something for everyone; there's just something accessible and lovely about them. Made in Italy - where they know paper - these notebooks are classic. They were first made in France and used by the likes of Hemingway, Van Gogh. After a brief hiatus, a Milanese publisher revived the brand and the gorgeous product. Thank goodness.

I give them away as gifts for others to capture all of their creative thoughts and ideas. Especially the people that have heads so full of thoughts that they can't see a way forward. I feel like maybe, just maybe, the perfect journal will pull those ideas out in a way that can be carefully shaped and gently coaxed into that person's next big thing.

If only to make room to start again new the next time.