Ten Ways I’m Going to Kick Ass in 2011

So it’s already mid-March and I’ve just realized that I never posted my list of goals for the year!

Last year I set ten goals for myself to help me break my bad habit of procrastinating my life away. Today I am very pleased (and maybe just a little surprised) to say that I actually achieved a lot of them and in the midst of accomplishing those personal goals, I ended up creating a habit out of living life!

Of course, filling all my free time with fun activities has one downside and that is that I haven’t been left with a lot of time to focus on starting Live Love Life Now™.

And since I have fully acknowledged that self-motivation is not one of my greatest talents, this year’s To Do List will incorporate a lot of business goals to help me break the meddlesome procrastination that lingers when it comes to pursuing my business dreams.

1. Finalize Trademarks
2. Open an Etsy store
3. Sell my first Live Love Life Now™ product!
4. Collaborate with at least two artists
5. Go on a road trip
6. Interview people who inspire me
7. Experience new cities
8. Sign up for a dance class
9. Do more volunteer work
10. Partner with Rikki’s Refuge and give back thru Live Love Life Now™

What's on your To Do list for 2011?

Petition for Cats in the Workplace

Even though our home has played host to a revolving number of guests over the past week, I have enjoyed the company so much!

You see my boyfriend has started the last year of filming for his documentary and after returning home from a trip to Mexico and Texas, he and his crew spent the weekend filming in Baltimore County.

We hosted everyone at our place and I was happy to have him back home and to be around the production again. Even though the days were long with driving and lots of filming in the cold, it was exciting to get back in the swing of things and to spend time with his uber creative friends!

Most of all, I enjoyed the added bonus of the cats bunking with us at night in the bedroom.

Of course after five nights of restless cat syndrome, I was kind of looking forward to today…and getting the house (and bed) back to ourselves.

I will miss their fuzzy warmth tonight but I am looking forward to sleeping straight through the night! And I think Wylie and Sami are happy to have the apartment (and us) back to themselves.

fluffy Wylie

soft Sami

Cats Do the Darndest Things!

Thanks to Ellen DeGeneres and her love of cute animal videos, I discovered a new hilarious cat video!

I hope it puts a smile on your face like it did for me – enjoy!

For Me? You I Shouldn’t Have!

Sometimes you just have to treat yourself to something special. For me, that day was today!!

Now I just have to patiently wait for them to get here...

Ninja Bunny Necklace by Crywolf
Too awesome for words - this has been on my wish list for months!

Color Wheel Pendant by Yellow Owl Workshop
I just discovered this today but it spoke to my inner artist and I just had to have it!

What’s the last thing you treated yourself to on a whim…just because?

Petition for Cats in the Workplace

After a tremendously productive weekend chock full of redecorating, it was hard to sit still at work all day when I wanted to keep designing away at home!

But I got my fix tonight by helping my sister start a salon gallery wall in her apartment. We spent so much of the evening reconfiguring her artwork on the carpet - to make sure we got the arrangement just right - that we ran out of time to hang it all up! But what we did manage to hang looks amazing and I can’t wait to get started on my own wall!!

Alas, that will have to wait till the boyfriend is back home because I need to reframe a few things first. But I am partway through the redesign of our bedroom and I am really excited to surprise him with the new, serene space.

Don’t worry – there will be plenty of ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures to share once everything is done!

Until then, I am going to take a load off and relax for a little bit with the fuzzy ones. I hope your Monday was just as wonderful and filled with art!

wonderful Wylie

sweet Sami

Home Alone and Inspired!

It’s Friday, I have the whole weekend ahead of me…and I feel a To Do list coming on!

My boyfriend is out of town for a week shooting footage for his documentary and the thought of him working and pursuing his dreams has inspired me to get seriously productive.

I have felt a bit unmotivated the past few weeks and have avoided posting any To Do lists for that very reason. But tonight I am feeling energized and motivated and therefore have decided to post my goals for this weekend…to ensure that I take action!

1. Try out idea for upcycling vintage bottles
2. Go to Ikea in search of new frames to spice up old artwork
3. Start redecorating apartment (specifically bedroom and living room)
4. Begin writing entry on the Happiness Project (most amazing book ever!)
5. Design and post Blog Love section

Wow, those are five meaty tasks to undertake but I’m excited to get going – especially the trip to Ikea (which happens to be one of my favorite stores in the world!!).

What are your goals for this weekend? And how do you keep yourself motivated and on task??

Treasure Hunt Finds

Having driven a fair distance for the ‘barn crawl’ this past weekend, I was pretty adamant about making it worth my while…which meant I wanted to find treasures everywhere we stopped.

Of course, finding things I want is always easy. The challenge is to find things I can a) afford and b) fit into my apartment.

Fortunately, I found a few treasures at each stop that fit into both categories! On the flip side, I think I may have started two new collections – oops!

Following is a photo diary of our shopping excursion and a list of the stores we searched!

First stop
Ekster Antiques
38532 Pheasant Hill Lane
Hamilton, VA 20158

Second stop
Baileywyck Shoppes
21197 St. Louis Road
Middleburg, VA 20117

Third stop
Victoria’s Past Tyme
760 East Main Street
Purcellville, VA 20132

The barn at Ekster

The barn surprised us with extra rooms of more goodies!

The interior was chock full of treasures!

There was so much to look at that I had to keep revisiting rooms

>My first purchase of the day! I think it will make a gorgeous terrarium

The mint condition vintage Coca-Cola machine at Baileywyck Shoppes was amazing!

I have always wanted a printer’s cabinet like this one!! Alas, it has to remain on my dream list…for now!

Detail of an incredible vintage pinball game – and yet another piece I couldn’t afford to take home!

My second purchase of the day…and the first piece of my new tin collection!

My third purchase was a Hagerstown Dairy container to add to my milk bottle collection

We noticed Victoria's Past Tyme along the road and had a feeling it would have lots of treasures to look at inside – and we were right!

I don’t know why but I have a thing for roosters…and I fell in love with this guy!

My fourth and last purchase of the day is a multi-utility grater...and the first piece of another new collection!