enJOY it

around here.

August 8, 2014
HEY! I had a boring block of text written here but I'm changing it up….

I'm sort of in an odd "in-between" zone with work right now. August feels like a lull in the year. Too early to gear up for the excitement that is fall. Too late to be impressed by hot summer days. Starting to wonder "what's next?" while simultaneously wanting to pull the covers over my head for a few more days. It's strange. My brain is quiet but antsy which is the very worst combo.

All of this is a recipe for a classic downward spiral of "meh" but then…THREE THINGS, in rapid succession, helped me beat the blahs at about 4:45PM on Thursday 8/7.
1. Ellerie, doing this. YES!
2. Gavin, drawing this. YES!
3. Erin, sharing this. YES!
Awesome. Let's roll, August.
22-year-old Elise, this is for you.

August 7, 2014

e & p, circa 2007ish. p was 24. e was 22. life was good.

I was asked by my friend Sarah of Yes and Yes (listen to us chat in a podcast episiode about blogging here!) to share some wisdom with my 22-year-old self. Her fun idea for Notes To My Younger Self is helping spread the word about The Post College Survival Kit.

Sarah wondered, what would I tell just-out-of-college Elise? What do I think she needed to know? I went back through the blog archives to do some research and what she really needed was a filter. No, just kidding. But 22-year-old Elise was pretty easily excited. She had stars in her eyes and a bounce in her step. She was pretty thrilled to just be in it and felt ready to roll though she didn't know where she was rolling. It's pretty easy to look back through those posts and feel homesick a bit. I am happy to be here right now, but man, was life fun back when the photos were blurry and the only thing coming through your phone were texts (and on rare occasions, actual calls).

Anyway, younger self, here are some thoughts.

Embrace the free time. YOU HAVE SO MUCH FREE TIME. It doesn't feel like it right now because you're coming off a college schedule and about to start a 40 hour a week job with a two hour round-trip commute but do you understand that that still leaves 118 hours that belong entirely to you? This is absurd. You are so blessed with time. So much time. Do you want to watch all ten seasons of Friends back to back? Please do. Do you want to go on a roadtrip where 18 hours are spent in the car and just 12 hours are spent in the actual location? Please do. Do you want to find and make the most elaborate recipe in the world with 45 steps and 18 bowls to clean? Please do. Do you want to organize a linen closet? Oh, you don't have a linen closet? Okay then. But embrace it. Swim in it. Enjoy every second of this free time, you lucky 22-year-old, you.

Eat real food. For serious. Throw out that bowl of will-never-get-mixed-properly-anyway-sugar-free banana pudding the fridge. What the hell are you doing? Stop eating chemicals. Clear your cupboards of Splenda and 100 calorie packs and low-cal and low-fat and sugar-free. Buy some vegetables. Eat stuff that comes from the ground, not the factory. In the future you will eat real food. You will never be hungry, feel great and weigh ten pounds less. This is not magic. This is real food. Start now, don't wait three years.

Persue passion projects. Now is the time, my friend. All those things that you love to do? Keep doing them. Daily. Never stop. We've clearly established that you have the time. So no excuses. Do them. Do them for the very sake of doing them. You'll get better without thinking about it. You'll work without knowing that you're working. You'll balance your time without realizing it. Keep writing and making. Keep observing and reading. You're learning. You're building a path for future Elise and you don't even understand that yet. I am so grateful for you.

PS…no need to stress; you did indeed find the perfect "E" name for your daughter. And deployments are lame, but they pass and you forget they even happened. And go with the j.crew wedding dress, don't bother trying any others. And get the twitter handle "elisejoy" not "eliseblaha." And, last thing, invent Instagram if you find yourself with the chance. xoxo.
experiments with friendship bracelet weaving.

August 6, 2014

Last week I decided to make a friendship bracelet out of yarn – totally inspired by this. I figured yarn would be easier than fabric and I didn't get complicated with the pattern, just stuck with a traditional knotted bracelet style.

This was my first attempt but then I decided to switch to white and candy colors. I used two different kinds of white and then one rainbow colored yarn (that was quadrupled to make it thick).

I love how it turned out but I would totally want to make it wider. I also couldn't get it to stop curling up on the bottom end, not sure if that was just from pulling too tightly?

This finished "weaving" is 15×4" (which is not counting the knot up top or the tails) and used 12 different lengths of yarn (though some were tripled and quadrupled). I started with pieces of yarn that were nearly two yards (72 inches) long.

Fun to experiment, but now I want to see how I can make it bigger and more interesting…

This week on ELISE GETS CRAFTY, I'm chatting with Marta Dansie about having writers' block. Subscribe on iTunes or stream the episode here.
in the garden : august 4.

August 5, 2014

And as a reminder, this is what the garden looked like at the end of June :

June 29.

The love affair continues.

We are slowly, but surely getting produce out of this garden. Every afternoon there is at least a handful of sungold tomatoes (much to Ellerie's joy – she gets to eat them ALL). And every few days I get a big red tomato to turn into a salad. We've had a few purple peppers (but I wasn't a fan! They were so bitter!). And a few small zucchinis (that we douse in olive oil, salt and pepper and throw on the grill…so good).

I planted some green onion (purchased from the grocery story) and we'll see how they do, so far, I have just been trimming the tops when we need some for meals. My cucumbers are not too impressive and my butternut squash and pumpkin plants have lots of flowers, but no successful fruit. Things are looking a little yellow which I am learning means not enough nutrients. I think I need to make another trip to pick up worm tea…

My herbs have all died. They never really took off to begin with and are in full sun in the old fountain. Next year (or maybe this fall) I'll move them so they are shaded.

My compost bin is doing well! It's sort of addicting, saving kitchen scraps and leaves for the bin. I hope we get some really great dirt to use next season.

I'm still out there, fussing a few times a day. And I just love it.
my digital photo storage is a mess.

August 4, 2014

I get questions often about how I organize my digital photos. I always respond that I really don't.

This is what I do: I plug in my phone or my camera into my laptop. iPhoto pops up. I transfer all the photos there. I name the event something classy and super specific like like "mid-July random." I flag the photos that I need to use for a blog post. Ideally, every few months I back up to an external harddrive.

THAT IS IT.

It's saved. But totally disorganized. Totally cluttered with junk images. And I could not care less.

I thought a lot about this. Why do I not care about keeping my digital files "clean and organized"? I have my business books kept down to every last penny. I am frantic about getting my blog archives set. My email inbox is empty more often than not. Perhaps most insane, I organized Ellerie's books by color!

But my digital photos? Eh. Ain't nobody got time for that.

This is what I have realized: I take photos to share them. Share them currently, with family, friends and blogland. And share them in the future with myself, Paul and Ellerie.

Photos, to me, are a form of communication. "Look how rad this sunset looks!" "Remember how happy we were here?" "Check out what Ellerie learned to do today!" "OMG, look at this mini tomato I am absurdly proud of!" "Do you see how I executed step one?" "I am selling this item for $18."

So the point of them is to use them. Share them online or via text. Show them to Paul when he gets home from work. Scroll through them myself in my only digital album that matters (iPhone). Print them and display them in our home. Get them into books and albums. Resize them for my blog or website. Those are my goals. The digital archives are just sort of a by-product of the actual purpose.

Because really… Tens of thousands of digital photos? I am so bored just thinking about those and I took all of them. Who is going to go through all of those? Hopefully no one! My parents have 4 big albums of 4×6 photos from our childhood (about 1200 photos) and I feel like they tell an awesome story.

I would so much rather spend my time making the memories and doing something with my images instead of archiving and cataloging them.

This was hugely freeing for me to realize. It encourages me to work on getting my memories off the computer and into real life. I hang love letters and photos my family in every room. I am in the process of covering our fridge in instagram magnets. I print books of the places we have lived and the things I love doing.

I don't organize my photos and it's okay.
project life 2014 : july.

August 3, 2014

As mentioned at the end of 2013, I am no longer completing my Project Life album on a weekly basis. I did that for two years. I enjoyed the process and I love my albums. This year I am taking a much more relaxed approach and playing more with this project. I don't have much of a plan other than to complete at least one (and sometimes many more) spread a month.

The big win is that I can never be "behind" on this album. I also like that I don't have to worry about having seven horizontal 4×6 photos each week and can group photos by subject instead of date. I love that I will be under no "weekly deadlines" and will be blogging just once a month about my album.

click to enlarge.

Another one spread month for me!

SUPER SIMPLE. Photos from our Portland trip…

…and then a big photo croppe to 12×6 and then printed as 3 4x6s.

2014 is the year of the 3×4 card, for sure. It's just to easy to make a graphic looking page by alternating photos and journaling cards.

Thank you so much for following along. See my title page for this album here and 2014 album progress here.

product sources: Studio Calico Sandlot kit, Design A & Design C pocket page, black sharpie.
weekend links / 29.

August 2, 2014

As part of my word WHOLE this year, I want celebrate the work of others by sharing links to my friends, possible friends and complete strangers who are doing great things on the Internet. This is some of the rad stuff I recently saw online…

great article with iPhone photo tips.

obsessed with the income transparency this food blog provides.

(also, highest of high fives on a $30k month.)

wonderful sentiment.

an argument for the three day work week.

a little less "mom guilt" sounds just right.

how to write.

last week I mentioned these shoes; they came and they are awesome.

"brainwriting" > brainstorming.

I wonder if I could DIY something like this.

friendly reminder that I am offering free worldwide shipping in the shop this weekend (no coupon code necessary).

and just for fun… Ellerie doing impressions.
around here.

August 1, 2014

I'm excited to share that the MAKE29 print pack is in the shop. To celebrate, I am offering free worldwide shipping on everything (click here to see what's available) this weekend only. Use code SHIPITFREE JUST KIDDING, my checkout system is having errors, so I have manually removed the shipping cost. No need for a coupon code. Free shipping will end at 11:59 PM PST on 8/3. Thank you, as always, for your support.

And the other Big News around here this week is that Ellerie has found her footing. It was a slow process and then suddenly it was quick. She still drops to a crawl on occasion but for the most part she's making her way around the house on foot and it's just hilarious and adorable.

This weekend we're got a work party for Paul and then NOTHING else planned. Feels just right.

Have a good one & happy August.
playing with paint.

July 31, 2014

I've been experimenting with painting abstracts for the past few months. Peeks have been showing up in "around here" posts or on Instagram (one, two, three, four, five). If I get 29 that I absolutely love painted and I get up the guts to list them, my plan is for these to be one of the MAKE29 projects. We'll see. Right now, both of those feel like big IFs.

I had a request to share "in progress shots" and so I took 26 photos (with my iPhone) while painting this past week. It took about six active painting sessions to finish this one. I still don't know if I love it or not but at least you can see my process. It's lots of layers. I change brush sizes a few times. I keep my strokes mostly on the horizontal or the vertical because after some failures, I've learned that's what I tend to like.

I start by getting a base, a mix of cream and white paint. Then I use color to determine my main shape. This one is sort of a diagonal.

More of the main color and then the introduction of the second color. I always absolutely hate it at this stage.

Still HATE it, so I start to cover the pink. Hate it even more. Finally in the 6th photo I am starting to come back around to liking it.

These photos should look different, I flipped the canvas 180 degrees. Starting to like it…

Give it two days. Hmmm, more pink? Yes, much more.

…annnnd, after staring at it for another three days and adding a bit more light blue and a bit more pink… it's done(ish). I realize that this is not a tutorial (nor is this canvas anything spectacular), but sometimes it's fun to see a project break-down. 🙂
how I keep my daily tasks organized.

July 30, 2014
I have gotten a few questions about how I keep my to-do list organized on a daily basis. I've talked about this a bit (check out this post for the difference between goals & to-do list items), but not since having Ellerie so I figured an update was due. EDIT : you can see how I work through project ideas in this post.

These are my organization tools:

Gmail – if it's in my inbox it needs to be dealt with (demands a response, bill that should be paid/recorded, order that needs to be shipped out, etc.). So my email inbox is a to-do list and I work to get through it daily. (Here are some tips for dealing with email.) Other than shop orders, I don't spend a lot of time filling or labeling my email, but I archive everything except promotions.

Editorial calendar – I have a bulletin board with post-its and I use this to keep track of upcoming blog posts. (More on this here.)

Monthly to-do list – I write a to-do list in sharpie on paper at the beginning of every month. It hangs above my desk and includes the "big tasks" outside of normal day to day life (blog posts, email, shipping) that I have to do. July looks like this:
- summer newsletter
- archive 2014 and 2013
- WDS slides
- WDS recap
- Podcast recordings (with guest names)
- July project life update
- July make29 launch
- Aug make29 prep
- September make29?
- make29 print pack?
- Dear Ellerie book
Daily to-do list – I have a paper planner (from this etsy shop) where I schedule actual to-do list items. Based on my email, ed cal & monthly to do list, I break things down into actual tasks. For example: the big monthly item "July make29 launch" really involves a bunch of smaller tasks like:
- Product photos
- Write web copy
- Prep web page
- Edit web page
- Prep graphics
- Update site
- Draft newsletter
- Set blog post
- Create listing
- Shop update (this has to be done at a precise time)
- Tweet, pin, Instagram promo
- Package prints
- Prep envelopes
- Pack orders
Some of those activities take minutes. Some take hours. All of them have to be done. Most are done over the course of a few weeks.

I use a paper planner so I can see a week at a time. When tasks are completed they get "crossed-out" in highlighter. The color highlighter means nothing. 🙂 My goal is to be moving through the week a bit ahead. So on Monday I know what I have to do and I also know that if I have extra time I can start working on Tuesday. I schedule the bulk of my work (and all of my podcast recordings) for Monday and Wednesday mornings when I have child care. (Remember we have a nanny for 9 hours a week. These scheduled hours are game changers for me and absolutely necessary for the health of my family and business.)

I have no idea if this sounds complicated or not. I have been doing things like this for so long that I don't even think about it. I think a successful method HAS to be second nature to you. If you are worrying too much about HOW you're staying organized it's hard to just BE organized.

My advice is to recognize your time management strengths and weaknesses. It's the most joked about interview question – "my greatest weakness is I work too hard" (ugh). But being realistic about how you get things done is so important – especially when you are in the process developing work habits. None of what I do may work for you. But something WILL work for you. Don't fight for it. Keeping track of your list needs to be the easy part. DOING the actual work should be the difficult part.

This week on ELISE GETS CRAFTY, I'm chatting with Ashlee Gadd about – what else?! – the work and life juggle. Subscribe on iTunes or stream the episode here.

Since writing this post, I created Get To Work Book! It's a day planner + goal setting workbook that is designed to help you take your big goals turn them into something real. Learn more and shop the brand here.

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