Out of the Notebook and into the blog: September 2013

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Perfect Letters

I love sending sweet little notes.  It is such a nice gesture to follow up a meeting with someone by sending a thank you note.  My favorite part though?  Picking out pretty cards!  Target has an amazing selection that I will admit to spending waaaay to much time looking through and fighting urges to purchase them all!

I also think it is so important to send thank you notes when someone gives you a gift or does something special for you. 

How can you resist these?!


'Stop Texting' Cards (Set of 6)Letterpress Note Cards (Set of 6)





Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Place To Do List on Punching Bag. Punch it with every ounce of strength you have.

We fall into little patterns.  Wake up, check our email, eat a bowl of cereal, go to work or school, come home, do the rest of the things that you do every single day or work on the same goal every day - trying to get your new business plan launched, creating the best senior rep program possible for your photography business, working on the perfect cupcake recipe for your dream bakery, etc.  Great, you should be doing these things!  Kudos to you!  

However, you have to be able to recognize when it's time to hustle, meaning you work hard, sweat dripping off your forehead mind crunching hard, but then also be able to recognize the time to PLAY.  

When was the last time that the random thought has popped into your head, a little comment to yourself saying...


"If this isn't perfect, then I don't know what is." 

Read that for a moment.  When was the last time you truly thought and believed that while you were doing something?    

The truth is...you need to be working hard.  You need to have goals.  You need to hustle, because otherwise you won't ever get anything done and your goals just wont happen.  

You just have to remember you can't be hustling 100% of the time.  Don't think "the happiness will come once I finish working my butt off to reach my goal."  It's true - you will be happy once you reach your goal, I mean, you better be ecstatic after all that work!  I would be disappointed for you if you weren't!  However, It won't take long before that happiness wears off and you start chasing after another goal.  

When you start spending more time playing, you will start having more and more "if this isn't perfect, then I don't know what is" moments!  

Play a little bit.  I'm going to yell it so that you don't forget.  STOP WORKING AND PLAY.

Playing is healthy.  It will make you work better.  It will make you happier.  It can cure anxiety, it did for Charlie Hoehn.  

Here's some ideas to play everyday so you can reach your "If this isn't perfect, then I don't know what is" moments:

1) Take a walk if the weather is perfect, and when I say perfect I don't mean the weatherman's version of perfect or the neighbors version of perfect...I mean your version of perfect...if perfect means pouring rain - so do it!  

2) Sit by the river and read a book.  

3) Take more than just a few minutes to do yoga.  

4) Spend the extra money on treating yourself to your favorite place to eat out. 

5) Buy fresh flowers!

Today I caught myself feeling utterly content and happy when I decided to randomly take a walk down to a shaded area by a beautiful waterfall and reading the ever fabulous "Purple Cow " book by Seth Godin...which is brilliant btw and if you want to learn how to differentiate yourself from all the other big shot photog, web design, etc. etc. businesses out there it's a must read.  






Wednesday, September 18, 2013

I have a Love/Hate Relationship with my Mascara


So eyes are pretty important right?  They are pretty...long eye lashes, each one unique like a snowflake..blue, green, brown, I always thought purple eyes would be gorgeous myself!  Ok...so part of that is the mascara...and I have a major issue with mine.

Let me introduce you to...


And oh my goodness this stuff makes my eyelashes beautiful.  Like...va va va vooommm luxurious long, pretty eyelashes with like...3 swipes.  No clumpies, a really light and airy look.  I actually started using this lovely mascara because I had been using...this stuff...


And lets make a quick detour from my Pixi Mascara so I can tell you about this Too Faced Lash Injection Mascara.  This stuff comes off like a dream, really lovely...it wipes right off in little clumpy balls (sounds weird but it's seriously legit) and off!  It's really wonderful.  However...it doesn't make my eyelashes very pretty....it makes them really clumpy and I always feel like I have to brush them out, plus it makes them look super flat, which is so unflattering! 

Anyways...back to the Pixi Mascara.


As I said before, this stuff makes my eyelashes so pretty!  Adds length and no brushing out required!  However, after wearing it for the past week, my eyes, they hurt so badly.  The edges, like the little spot where you would add a cool vintage wing look with liquid eyeliner, stings like a bugger and feels like I've been crying for days.  You know - that really dry stingy feeling that makes you want to cry even more.  On top of that, when I try to wash my face at the end of the night, it is a war.  The mascara smears all across my face no matter how much makeup remover I use, and it just WILL NOT come off.  I scrub and scrub and my eyes hurt from all the scrubbing, and they still have black left in the morning AFTER my shower!

So...I am on a mission.  

I need to find a mascara that looks as pretty as the Pixi mascara looks, but removes as nicely as the Too Faced Lash Injection mascara.  

Let the challenge begin.  Wish me luck Pretties!