enJOY it

around here!

April 10, 2015

around here things are looking good! My little family is just three weeks away from the trip of a lifetime to Hawaii! This will be our first "real vacation" as three and Ellerie is about to learn a hard lesson in RELAXATION. "I can't wait, Mama!" is what she told me yesterday morning when she woke up at 4:50am and refused to go back to bed. (I admittedly spent too much on that toddler swimsuit but c'mon.)

around here I am so thankful for your kind comments and your helpful thoughts on toddler eating. LOVE the idea to look at a week as opposed to a day. That's a great perspective shift. Throughout a week, we do get some good days of food. Also love the point that all I can do is offer healthy choices. I can't force her to eat. And of course, always appreciate the reminder that this is just a phase. We'll get through it like anything else. Parenthood is about 400% easier when we offer support to each other. Thank you.

around here GET TO WORK BOOK pre-sale is going great (THANK YOU!). Yesterday afternoon I hit 28% of my goal. A few times a day I remember that this is a real thing and get giddy. I got a second sample from my printer this week and it's better than my prototype. We've doubled up the cover, making it more sturdy. We adjusted the coils a bit to be sure that paper turns well and stays held tight. All wonderful changes that you may or may not notice. But worth it for sure. My secret perfectionist has come out in a big way with this project and that's taking some getting used to (but you'll all reap the rewards!).

around here my suitcase is packed. I'm flying to Chicago this morning for a weekend with my college girlfriends. It's going to be like a vacation (the airplane ride by myself!) followed by an even better vacation (seeing my girls without the hassle of a wedding getting in the way of our four hour brunch!). I am so excited to catch up and swap stories and just visit!

It's a really good season. Happy weekend!
MARCH ON FILM.

April 9, 2015

Is it just me or is a little girl coming emerging out of my baby? Film, as always, is magic.

Too many favorites this month to choose, but I think it's that one with her bundle of babies against the white wall (despite the battle wounds) might win. Or actually that one where she's covered in cheese, showing me how she says her prayers. (heart eye emojis.)

These photos are part of my "film project" where I take a roll of film of Ellerie each month. You can see all of these posts here. I shoot with an old film camera similar to this and this lens. I buy my film on amazon and from my local photo shop, Nelson's Photo Supply. I have my photos printed at Nelson's. These images are un-retouched digital scans of the film.
how my work days roll

April 8, 2015

I have been meaning to get a post like this together for ages. It's taken forever because the act of "documenting my days" leaves less time to actually "do the work" of my days.

There is a huge difference between our daycare days (currently T/Th) and my mama days (currently MWF). This is what a "normal" Tuesday work day (yesterday) looks like for me. I've tried to work in some of my "secrets to success" as well (though the real secret is to stay off social media). Later this month I'd love to share a "normal" mama day looks like for me too.

For the most part, I wake up between 6 and 7 with Ellerie these days. Today, I woke up at 7am and she was still asleep (due to the fact that she was awake at 4:50am and Paul got her back to bed). I was able to have some breakfast, scroll Instagram, read the four blogs in my reader that still post and wake up.

She started making noise around 7:30 (again, I cannot stress enough how un-normal this late start was) and when I went in she was already asking for "BOOK?" We diaper changed and grabbed a book and headed out to the kitchen where I drank coffee and she sort of picked at her breakfast of pancake, sausage (both reheated from the weekend) and half a banana.

Sidenote confession : thinking about, prepping, and worrying about toddler food is my least favorite part of parenthood. GIVE ME ALL THE OTHER PARTS (including 4am wake-ups) and take the food back please. I realize it's all a stage and this is a phase, but man, the feeding part stresses me out. What she will and won't eat, how much she will and won't eat, how bizarre it as that just yesterday she could not get enough of something she now despises…it drives me up a wall.

After she eats a few bites we read a few books, watch a bit of Daniel Tiger and read a few more books. In the middle, I'm prepping the house for the robot vacuum which means clearing the floor and moving the furniture. In a perfect world, the robot would clean all the floors every Tuesday and Thursday but only about one out of every four days do I prep the house well enough that it doesn't just get stuck on a toy and beep at me for three hours. (This is pretty much the only good cleaning our house gets on a weekly basis, so I should be better at it.)

Around 8:10 I get Ellerie dressed and we fold her laundry. Then (hooray!) she eats more banana before we load up the car and head to daycare. It takes less than 10 minutes to get there, drop-off goes well and I'm back home at 8:40.

My work days are WORK DAYS. I work. I don't do chores, I don't run errands, I don't schedule doctors appointments or get the car fixed. It's like going to a "real job" two days a week and I try to treat it as such.

The first thing I do is deal with email. I no longer read email on my phone so my inbox hasn't been touched since around 7pm the night before when Paul was putting Ellerie to sleep. I recently realized that I should only "check email" when I am in the mood to make decisions. Email, if you actually want to get through it, is not about "checking." Instead, it's about making decisions. Tiny decisions and huge decisions. Emails that need a response usually are asking a question and so I want to be in the mood to answer questions. I've found it helps to just knock them out one at a time during a few longer chunks of time each day.

I've talked about this, but I say "No" a lot. Saying "No" is the only reason I am able to stay sane and keep this ship afloat. No regrets, no hard feelings, no guilt, just a realistic understanding that there are only 24 hours in the day and the ones that belong to me without additional commitments are precious.

Email takes me about 20 minutes. I love how gmail sets it up. I have real emails from humans in the front tab, then mass emails (which get a quick skim, possible read and then deleted) and then emails from robots (mostly sales, paypal notifications, electric bills, shipping notifications and notices that my library books are due) on the right tab. Those emails need to be read and processed, but never need a response.

After email I take a look at my list (which is currently just print outs of the GTWB pages that I've adapted – I too, am anxiously waiting for July). I have three blog posts that I'd love to get written today. This one, the DITL that will go live on Wednesday, Ellerie's film photos from March (which will go live Thursday) and then a post about collaborating on GTWB that will go up next week. The Ellerie film post is the easiest so I start there.

I have a podcast call scheduled at 10am and so I make sure to eat something before that. I am like a hobbit (with low blood sugar) and I eat six small meals every day. Today it's ham and cheese on sourdough. While I eat (at my desk) I post a photo to both the @gettoworkbook and @elisejoy accounts. I don't take time to scroll and see what other folks are up to.

While I wait for the podcast I get started on this blog post.

I'm chatting today at 10 am with Jessica Turner who wrote The Fringe Hours for a podcast episode that will go live later this month. Jessica is a pro, she's done a bunch of podcasts already, so the interview is quick and easy. It will take no editing which is my absolute fave. We wrap up the call around 10:45, I turn the robot vacuum back on and I get back to writing this blog post.

It's currently 10:57am and I'm "caught up" for the day… so I check email. (Nothing exciting, obviously.) So I pack a few orders that need to go out, check the real mail and deposit a check. I check IG – to answer questions – not scroll the feed.

My GTWB sticker proof came back. These small circles will be used to fancy up the bubble wrap that protects the books in their cardboard packaging. Getting all the packaging materials secured is on my list for this week.

It's 11:15 and I have to regroup and focus on getting my collaboration post written. This is just the first pass, basically a brain dump of text and it takes exactly 25 minutes to write 930 words. Afterwards, probably after lunch, I'll go through, link and add graphics/photos. On Thursday, I'll read through again and edit for clarity.

It's 11:40, I check email again and magically, not a single person has sent me something. Virtual high-fives, Internet! I grab my phone and go to have lunch – which today is veggie sushi I picked up from the grocery store yesterday afternoon. I try to read a bit during lunch but can't focus today…I'm thinking about this post.

I re-gram a photo from @thecraftedlife who shared my GTWB business card on the GTWB feed. One of the reasons why I created a separate account for the book is to do things like this; I want to be able to share how people are using GTWB in their own lives. I love the idea of a feed full of various handwriting, careers, projects, lists and inspiration. My @elisejoy account will always be a mix of personal photos, Ellerie, plants, food and work. But the planner feed will focus exclusively and un-apologetically on the planner.

It's 12:08 pm and I am going to get back to work pulling photos for the GTWB collaboration post.

It's 1:22 pm and I'm cross-eyed. But the collaboration post is done. You'll see that next week! My eyes need a break in a big way so I'm going to hop in the shower before my next podcast call at 2pm.

I have a few minutes at my desk to read through Allie and Claire's Charge Up Introverts which is what my afternoon podcast is about. Then I'm grabbing water and tidying up my desk before we start.

Annnnd, that was quick and easy. I never schedule two podcasts a day, but I think I might start. It's nice to be in the zone and it will be nice to not have to worry about recording much the next few weeks.

Again, because I'm a hobbit, another quick snack break. Greek yogurt and strawberries at my desk while I write the podcast shownotes and edit those two shows. They are super good ones … no major edits aside from music adding. Usually I pull quotes for IG during the show but missed it this time so I'm listening while I edit photos for this post. I'll write the quotes and snap a photo with my phone so the Wednesday the episode is live (and I'm on Mama duty) I have that photo ready to roll for IG.

It's now 3:35 and I'm "done" for now. I'm going to walk up to the grocery store (it's a 15 minute walk) and figure out what dinner will be. This is my "big exercise" for the day and a very valuable re-charge. I listen to podcasts the whole time.

I'm home at about 4:10 (with stuff for fajitas for dinner). Paul texted at 4:05 that he's on his way to pick up Ellerie which gives me awhile to make adjustments and add links to this post, deal with email one final time for the day, wash the dishes that have accumulated in the sink and start dinner prep.

Ellerie and Paul get home at 5pm. I miss the moment they walk through the door on camera but catch it in real life. Dinner is mostly prepped so we finish and Ellerie snacks on cheese. If my child could survive on cheese alone, parenthood would be the easiest gig.

We eat, then do bath and read stories, play with blocks and put stuffed animals down for a nap on repeat for about an hour after dinner and then around 6:40, Paul starts the pre-bed reading, rocking, milk process and I go to the office to upload the week's podcast episode and finish up this post. Usually I try really hard to be "done" with work before P and E get home, but podcast nights are always a little off.

Paul will study until 8pm and then we'll watch an episode of Game of Thrones. We just started season 4 on Netflix discs. We will be in bed around 9:30 and I'll read until 10.

The end! 😉

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REMINDER : Today is the last day to get a free print with your GET TO WORK BOOK pre-order. A few of you wanted updates on sales! As of 7pm Tuesday I am at 21.6% of my 3 month sales goal. Progress for sure, but I've got a long way to go.

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Today on ELISE GETS CRAFTY I'm chatting with Amy Tan about her creative career path. It's pretty twisty with great lessons. Subscribe or stream here!
april book report.

April 7, 2015
I want to say there was one more book read in the last few weeks, but it can't have been great as it's slipped my mind…

One Plus One by Jojo Moyes / I read this after Me Before You and it was cute but not quite as good. Still, an easy, sweet read with great character detail. Add it to your summer list. Or just read Me Before You.

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell / this has been on my library queue forever and it finally made it to me. You might remember I did a pretty intense Rainbow sprint a few months ago. I like this one. The premise was fun and it was told in a creative way multiple points of few, but some shared first-person and some shared via email correspondence. It was interesting for me to finish and then see that this was first novel. I always think you can tell "first novels" because so often the jokes and descriptions are worded in a certain way that you just know the author has been "storing them up" and waiting for that first book to use them.

The Dinner by Herman Koch / I started this last week and IG was like "oh boy…." At the time I didn't really get it and now I'm like "ahhhhhhhh." What a bizarre book. What crazy characters. The whole "dinner" theme was interesting. The details were rich. I can't say I was ever bored, but I can say I ended feeling pretty… ick.

I'm currently reading The Signature of All Things, which I like but I'm having trouble getting through. I'm 900 something in line at the library for The Girl on a Train so I might cave and buy it. What about you?!

ps. so many more book reports.

Other posts you might enjoy:
happy Easter!

April 5, 2015

We had a low-key Easter weekend around here.

My brother, Rob, came took the train down from LA Saturday afternoon. Ellerie has met him just a few times but this was the first time she said "Robbie!" to him, which was all kinds of adorable. Ellerie loves any adults that want to play so having a third in the house was a Big Deal.

We watched March Madness and ate a non-traditional Easter feast of spaghetti and meatballs Saturday night.

On Sunday, I made pancakes and we drank coffee in our PJs. Then I got Ellerie into her Easter outfit (everything is Target, except that dress which is Tea Collection from a few years ago) and we headed outside to hunt for eggs. Thanks to all the practice we'd done (at Target, where else?) she totally understood the concept and loved to throw the eggs in her basket.

After the hunt (which was way too short) we showed her how to open the eggs. She was completely un-interested in the mini-marshmallows and fruit snacks I had tucked inside. Next year, we'll try M&Ms. After the hunt we went to a new service at a local church.

The holidays get better and better and better with a kiddo. The difference between Christmas just a few months ago and Easter was crazy. I cannot believe how much she is starting to understand. It's amazing. I am so thrilled and honored to be a mama to this sweet bug.

Hope you have a great week!

ps. that sweet HOORAY banner is by Lisa Leonard.
weekend links / 60.

April 4, 2015

OOFTA. What a week! A Great Week! Here is some of the stuff I found interesting online during my "free-time." 😉

a fashion analysis of Pretty Woman (the article above is interesting too).

becoming a mother of three, a poem.

for the next time I visit Austin.

this needs to get on our dinner menu for next week.

the best gift for a new mother. (this one will tug at your heart strings.)

have you heard about #the100DayProject? looks cool and starts Monday!

true story.

I might cave and pick this up for my trip to Hawaii.

how to do Disneyland with a baby. (so much of this was new to me! Rider Switch Pass?!!)

this was so well-done. ($23k on succulents sounds about right, btw.)

LOVE this tee for kiddos.

if you missed it, Ann-Marie and I chatted "success" in this week's ELISE GETS CRAFTY podcast episode.

thank you so much for sharing my excitement for GET TO WORK BOOK!

happy 34th wedding anniversary to my parents!
egg salad for the win.

April 3, 2015
Obviously Easter is much bigger than just eggs, but I figured if you're hard-boiling this weekend (or already have colorful eggs sitting in your fridge) I could help you out with our favorite egg salad recipe. I've been making this once a week lately. Even Ellerie is a fan.

This recipe calls for just six hard-boiled eggs because I use this method and they suggest only boiling six eggs in the pan at a time, but of course you could double or triple to feed a whole crew.

You'll need :
- 6 hard-boiled eggs (I go for the "firm yet still creamy eggs")
- 2 T mayonnaise (or substitute greek yogurt + a bit extra salt, but really… I prefer the mayo)
- 1 T deli mustard
- 1 T tangy pickle relish (like the stuff you put on hotdogs!)
- a dash of paprika
- salt and pepper to taste
To make :

Hard-boil six eggs and peel them after they've cooled. Break up eggs and yolks in a bigger bowl than you think you'll need. Mix in the rest of your ingredients. Taste! How is it!?! Need something extra? Toss it in. Otherwise, spread on a piece of toast (or English muffin) and enjoy!
insert celebration emoji here.

April 2, 2015

When I woke up yesterday morning (at 4am after a nightmare that the website had crashed and the Internet was yelling at me on IG) (yikes!) I had no idea what today's blog post would be. Originally, my editorial calendar had said "backyard garden" which would have been a good idea except I can't follow up the GTWB launch with a plant post.

I wasn't exactly sure what felt like writing about. But I did know that I had to make something that wasn't on the computer.

I spent all of Tuesday – like almost every minute of it – prepping for the pre-order launch. Taking photos, filming the video, recording the voice-over, emailing with vimeo customer service, editing photos, designing graphics, drafting sales copy, talking to the PayPal customer service guys, coding all the webpages, beta testing the site and finally (finally!) sending out all the promotion via every channel I have access to.

It was a long day. It was an exhausting day. I was totally fried.

And, of course, totally exhilarated.

Because this? This is my THING. GET TO WORK BOOK™ is my brand to build. I know it might seem odd to long time readers; most of what I do here (and have done here) is seasonal. It's temporary. It tends to wrap up on my birthday. It comes and it goes. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worst.

But like I said on Instagram Tuesday night, I feel like I've been working towards this project launch since my junior year of college. My entire path since age 20 doesn't feel at all random when I realize that after all that, this is where I was headed.

Something you should know about me: I'm not a dreamer. I'm not. I don't like thinking of "the endless possibilities" because it makes me anxious and tired. I actually LIKE ceilings on my plans (and generally floors and walls too) because that way I know where the boundaries are. I like stuff that makes a lot of sense and is easy to explain in jargon that I am already familiar with. I like to think to myself, "let's take it down a notch, Blaha!"

But I'm wondering if for the past 30 years I haven't been a dreamer because I didn't yet have the right idea. I just might have been waiting for the concept that could really click.

And that, I hope, is GET TO WORK BOOK™. (And all the tools and resources I'd love to eventually – key word – build from it.)

I spent bits of Wednesday reading emails and seeing feedback and answering questions and checking sales and texting my parents and sort of glowing. It's so awesome to see that some of you are connecting with this planner. I can't even imagine how cool it will be when it's IN YOUR HANDS and you can show me how you're using it. (Or you can ignore me completely and just use it.)

While Ellerie napped, I took my need to make something turned it into a banner for the emoji that represented my "feeling of the day." (I've always called it the "celebration emoji" but apparently is the "party popper emoji".) I trimmed gray felt into a banner shape, free-hand cut some yellow fabric into the cone and circle and then machine-stitched it all together and added the details using a super tight zig-zig stitch (also called the satin stitch).

After all that tedious coding it was the perfect mindless, creative task. And it guaranteed that I wasn't simply sitting at my desk and refreshing PayPal for two hours.

I am going to hang it in my office as a reminder that in the first 24 hours of sales I reached 13.5% of my huge "pie-in the sky, it will never happen, but I might as well go big or go home" dream goal for the next three months. It will also serve as a reminder that Wednesday, April 1 was a good day.

Even more importantly, though, it will hang as a reminder that this is just the beginning. My work starts, not ends, when your pre-order is placed. I need to be sure the shipping process and, of course, the book are flawless as possible. As with any annual product, it's not about the first purchase (though seriously, thank you!), it's about making sure the customer enjoys the whole experience enough to make that second purchase.

I've got my work cut out for me.

But first…more celebration emojis!
IT’S HERE!

March 31, 2015

I’m excited to be opening GET TO WORK BOOK™ for pre-order!

This has been BY FAR my longest runway to launch but it’s also miles more legit than anything I’ve done. Even the prototype that I shot for this pre-order is amazing. The real book?! It’s going to be spectacular.

You can head over to gettoworkbook.com to see more photos, watch the 7 minute walk-through video, learn about book specs, see digital page layouts and (if you’re into it) order your copy.

The first version covers July 2015 – June 2016, costs $55 USD and ships worldwide in early June. (There will absolutely be a 2016 version. And a July 2016 – June 2017. And 2017… you get the idea.)

BONUS : if you pre-order in the first week (through April 8), you’ll get a free 5×7 print (shown above) with your book as a special thank you.

I am so grateful for your support and excitement for this project so far. It’s always amazing to turn an idea into reality but this book there is something extra special about this book and my plans for this new brand. If you’re so inclined, I would LOVE it if you shared a link to this post or to gettoworkbook.com with your facebook friends, pinterest followers, twitter audience, linkedin contacts, real life friends(?), plants, pets and family members. The more eyeballs I get on this, the better.

Thank you.

Seriously.

Thank you.

Now GO! GET TO WORK!
kiddo photo memory game

March 31, 2015
Today I'm sharing my last post in collaboration with Canon USA and their photo printers. I have loved working with them. The printers are great and these varied projects have been so fun to dream up and execute.

Since the beginning, I planned to make Ellerie a photo memory game with pictures of our family members. I scheduled it to be the last project, knowing that she'd be "older" then and hopefully more interested. It was sort of wishful thinking though. She's only 21 months so I had no idea if she'd "get it."

Surprisingly (and so happily!) she LOVED it. She doesn't get the actual memory concept of flipping over two at a time to match yet, but she spent 20 minutes (about 48 hours in Toddler Standard Time) turning over the pieces, stacking them and pointing out who is who. It was so awesome for me to see (making stuff is fun…making stuff that people enjoy and use is the dream) and I expect we'll enjoy this game for awhile.

Here's how I made it…

I gathered 10 photos. (me, Paul, both sets of grandparents, Aunt Kristen, Uncle Rob, Teddy and Coco, the beloved cat that lives with Paul's family.) I choose photos that had Ellerie in them. She's just a few days old in one and about 20 months in one.

I cropped them into 3×3 squares using PSE and printed six at a time on 8.5×11 sheets of photo paper on my Canon PIXMA MG7520. Because it was going to be a memory game, I printed two of each photo so there were 20 photos in all.

Using my paper cutter, I cut them down to size.

I really wanted each square to have some heft to it so I decided to mount them on balsa wood. I found some that was already cut into 3 inch strips (at Jo-ann's) and then used a razor blade to score each side. After a few swipes down each side, the balsa wood broke cleanly into 3×3 squares.

I used PVA glue (book binding glue that doesn't warp) to mount the photos on the wood. On the backside, I glued polka dot scrapbook paper (that I cut down to 3×3 from 12×12 sheets).

I stacked all the pieces in between books and let them dry for a few hours.

And then we played! I set things up and called Ellerie over to take photos, thinking I would have to "art direct" my tiny hand-model a bit. But she was way into it. No direction from mama needed.

I'm thrilled with how this turned out. The photos are colorful and fun. The balsa wood is sturdy. And the 3×3 size seems just perfect for her little hands.

This post was brought to you by Canon USA. As always, project idea, words, opinions and photos are my own. Special thanks to my girl for the inspiration.

To see more projects from this collaboration :