I Quit!

Not really but it seems like it...I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted. To be honest, I think I needed the break. This has definitely been a season of change for me in many areas of my life and I really feel that I needed to do that on my own and privately. One of the biggest changes that I do want to share with you is a career move.

It's been a difficult decision but Friday is my last day as a full time employee at Hope Clinic. I have another opportunity that will allow me to build my own business freelancing graphic design, writing and consulting on marketing and communications. I am actually taking about 40% of my current position at Hope Clinic with me as my first freelancing client so I haven't completely abandoned my pro-life work!

Although this endeavor is risky, I'm excited about this new phase in my life and hope that the changes I'm making will help me be more available in some other things that I've been neglecting. I'm working on a website and business cards but haven't quite gotten there yet so keep an eye out for that.

I have to admit that I'm kind of scared to step out on my own like this. All those years of low self esteem and fear of failure are coming back and the doubt is creeping in. At least with my new job, I have a base income so I'm not completely dependent on my freelancing but it's still a challenge. Thinking about some of the "small business" things I have to figure out are daunting and almost overwhelming. Will I keep my own books, I need a website and business cards, should I buy a new "work only" computer--PC or MAC? One of the main principles behind this move was simplify but somehow it just seems more complicated.

I'm going to hang in there and give this a try though. I may fail, I may fall on my face but I'm tired of not doing things just because I'm scared. There's no better time for me to make this career move and I'm going to have faith that it works out. Even if I end up looking for a job in a year or even six months, it's going to work out. At least that's what I'm going to keep telling myself.

Do you have any tips or advice for someone starting their own business?

Christmas List with a Little Help from Carrie Bradshaw

Hello All and happy Fall! I Can't believe the leaves are already changing but it's beautiful. This is my favorite time of year. Even though I'm enjoying this season, my thoughts are already turning to Christmas. Not in any sort of religious or spiritual sense unfortunately but rather in the form of a Christmas wish list. Some members of my family are asking for my list, in some cases threatening to get me something I don't want if I don't come up with a list soon :)

So, I starting thinking about what new gadgets and toys that I wanted this year and feeling like I was going to totally blow this Christmas on a bunch of crap that I don't even need. I had all this floating in the back of my mind as I was getting in bed this afternoon to take a nap. As I pulled back the sheets, it occurred to me what I should put on my Christmas list. SHEETS!

My sheets are really old and worn but I'm too cheap to get new ones. Then, as I was trying to go to sleep, I thought of an old Carrie Bradshaw moment. The episode where her shoes get stolen at a baby shower and she gets her friend to replace them by registering for them. Really, I only vaguely remember the episode but she says something about all the people she has bought wedding and baby gifts for but what about single people? When do we get loot? That's right, Christmas.

My Christmas list this year is going to look more like a home warming registry than a Christmas list. I'm planning to buy a house in the next year and will need lots of house-y things. Instead of getting DVD's and junk I don't get, I'm asking for flatware, sheets and dinnerware.

When I proposed this idea to my mother and said the phrase, "since I'm obviously not getting married," and she freaked out. I had to amend to, "anytime soon." Despite that, she thought it was a good idea and I'm pretty excited. I think I might actually march myself into target or bed bath and beyond, get one of those scanners and walk around the store zapping stuff. It's like getting married without the dress or cake or groom for that matter ;) So excited!

I'm Not Dead, Just Stuck...

Me doing the "Flamingo Pose." I'm weird, don't ask...

So, you may have noticed that I've been completely out of touch lately. I haven't posted a *real* blog in over a month, sometimes I don't even log into Tweet Deck until the afternoon and I've even gone days without checking my e-mail (GASP)! What's been going on with me? A lot. I'll spare you the details but the short is that I had a staph infection, two allergic reactions to the antibiotics they used to treat the infection, an event I've been planning for four months and another condition that I just found out yesterday will require daily medication and ongoing treatment for at least a year if not more.

Regarding the illnesses, there's not much to say there. They sucked and I complained a lot and was often overwhelmed but c'est la vie. I'd rather not dwell on that and I'm sure you would appreciate that as well.

The event. After all that work and planning, not just by myself but by some awesome volunteers and staff, the event was canceled due to weather the morning of the event. Talk about anti-climactic. The good news is that most of the fundraising was done online and ahead of time so our clients will still benefit. That's what is most important. So far, we think we've raised about $48,000 which compared to the $36,000 raised last year is a miracle--especially for an event that didn't really happen! There are still numbers being crunched (not my strong point) and questions that we're asking ourselves but overall I'm pleased with the outcome.

Speaking of asking ourselves questions, I've been asking myself a lot of questions lately. Many "why" and "what for" questions. I can't say that I've found many answers, or at least ones that I like, but I'm asking anyway. It's confusing and sometimes frustrating but again, c'est la vie.

I am excited about some shows that are on or back on TV now. Not that I have a TV but who needs one when you have hulu, right? I'm in love...with Glee and excited that Grey's is back on. I was a little disappointed in the season premiere of Dollhouse but I'm sticking it out because it was awesome last season! Of course we also have my crime shows: CSI, Bones, Numbers and I have to track down The Closer since TNT won't play on my MAC (Ted Turner is a loser!). I'm too far behind on the Office, Samantha Who and 30 Rock to watch this season but they're wonderful anyway. What shows are you excited about this season?

Losing My Web Video Virginity!

Click here to visit my fundraising page!

Failure to Launch

My nephew and I taking a nap when he was a baby

As you may have noticed, my Etsy store is NOT open yet. I had hoped to launch last weekend but was not able to do so. Although I'm disappointed, I can see some key steps that I needed to take in order for this to happen.

1.) Don't over commit. Although I knew I had a lot of deadlines at work last week and was pretty certain that I would be working some overtime, I still set the deadline for last weekend. I even knew that Sunday I would be at church and then work until in the evening. I ignored these facts because I really wanted to launch but I should have realized that it just wasn't feasible.

2.) Eat an elephant one bite at a time. I had a list of all the things that needed to be done: policies written, pieces designed, photographs taken and descriptions written. but I didn't really have a plan for getting all those done except for, "I'll do them this weekend"--A weekend I already knew was going to be busy. Now, I have a step by step plan to get those things done that doesn't involve pawning it off on the weekend. Just manageable pieces each day so that maybe I can still enjoy my weekend and not stress.

3.) You still come first. I was so exhausted from my stressful week that I could hardly hold my eyes open Saturday afternoon or Sunday evening and those were the main times I had available to work on my store. In the end, I still had to choose health over getting my store up. I needed to get some serious rest this weekend instead of running myself further into the ground.

I'll start posting more updates on the store but thank you for being patient as I get everything situated. Trust, it will be worth the wait!!!!

Grand Opening??

So this is my workspace. I'm busy trying to get some pieces together for the grand opening of my Etsy store, Where You Live! I'm still hoping to launch it this weekend but we'll see. There's still a lot of work to be done. I'll try to post some pics of actual pieces as I go along. Wish me luck!

MAC-5 | PC-0

There was a snowstorm somewhere really hot last weekend as my father made ANOTHER big conversion. This time to a MAC. Yes, my father ordered his first Apple computer this weekend.
Years ago, when I was the first in my family to convert, I never thought that anyone else in my family would ever own one. To be honest, I thought this might be my own little unique attribute (as the middle child, I'm always trying to stand out). Apparently not now. After I got my beautiful 17 inch G4 (that's what we had back then), my younger sister got one followed by my brother-in-law the pilot, my other sister and now my father. I never thought I'd see the day...

I am not in the MAC evangelism group. I love them but I don't look down on people who don't have one and I don't really say a whole lot about it. In other words, I don't try to make people want to get one. There are some really hard core Apple people out there who will list off 20 reasons why you're an idiot and completely uncool if you don't have a MAC but I'm not that hardcore. I will, however, share why I switched purely to communicate my reasons not to convert people.

1.) I was so sick and tired of my Dell crashing. My first two years of college, I went through at least four Dell laptops. One actually pretty much caught on fire and had smoke coming out of it. I spent more time on the phone with tech support than I did in class. They made me take it apart and do all this stuff to it. I was like, if I wanted to be a computer technician, I probably wouldn't be at college studying theatre. Any call that requires multiple screwdrivers, at least 2 hours and a translator is just NOT worth it!

2.) They just don't have as many problems. Most viruses aimed at PC's and don't even effect MAC's. The only problems I've ever had were getting a printer to work with my MAC (user error, didn't understand the whole "driver" thing) and a mother board went out. Neither one of those issues ever involved me getting a screwdriver or having a two hour phone call to India.

3.) Let's face it, MAC's are pretty! I don't mean to be completely shallow here but I have impeccable taste and they're just beautiful pieces of art. Even the boxes and packaging is pretty. More than that, they can make pretty things too. I was at art school in Atlanta when I bought my first MAC and that's what serious creative people use. It just makes sense that if you want to make pretty stuff then you use something pretty that is kind of the expert of pretty things. Now, that being said, I think that you can be an artist or film maker or whatever and use a PC. This doesn't make you any less creative. These are just reasons why I have one.

4.) Steve Jobs is a genious. I love inovative people and inovative things. Apple encompasses both. End of story.

5.) This is why you shouldn't send a PC to do a MAC's job:

My parents with their three PC laptops, none of which do what they want (thus the new MAC)