{My Humbly Offered} Eight Things to Keep Sane at Home

1. Eat breakfast you guys. Really. It's the best way to start a day. If you can, eat real food. Plan for it. Carve out time for it. Lunch, Dinner, yeah whatever. Breakfast is where it's at. Today we rocked the baked oatmeal. Vanilla, eggs, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, milk, steel cut oats. Yes and amen.
2. I have a bad habit of hitting the ground running. It's not healthy. It's good to have routine, but in that routine, build in time to take it slow. As soon as you start moving fast, it's really hard to slow down again. Listen to the dreams your kids had while they slept. Journal. Spend some time in the Bible and listen. Pray out loud. Sip coffee slowly.
3. Start the day with fun. Madeleine rode her bike around the living room before breakfast. My first reaction was to beg her to stop and DEAR LORD WHY NOW. But then I realized she was already laughing. Laughing before 9 a.m.? Dang you guys. Can't beat that.
4. I have a place. A mental time-out if you will. A place that, once I sit, I breathe. It might change every day. (But maybe, likely, not.) I think everyone should have a place.
5. I (try to) only keep things that I find to be beautiful. Dried flowers from my aunt's 50th wedding anniversary still sit in the sunlight on my window sill. I look at them and remember that weekend. The mountains. That some things preserve and stay and don't lose beauty even after the bloom.

6. Keep good memories around. In 2002, I traveled to some remote village in Northern Alaska north of the Arctic Circle. One of the locals took me out on a dogsled ride. One of the best memories of my life so far. In 1999 and 2003, my mom and I traveled to Ireland. I snapped this shot of the Cliffs of Moher, and it hangs on my fridge. I may not be traveling right now but it's still a part of me, my story, my future and I don't want to forget that part of me when life feels mundane and slow and feels like it's going nowhere.
7. I list, all the time. To-do items. Things I'm stressed about. Things I'm praying for. Items to buy when we have more money in the budget. Sometimes it's just to empty my brain. Clear it out for the important thoughts.
8. More and more, I'm seeing that the process of design, of life, of parenting, of growth, of faith... it's the real story part. The happy ending is not as beautiful without realizing that the mess in between and before is what makes the beauty and redemption worth recognizing. So, yes, it's hard. It's messy. It's exhausting. And it's part of it. And I need to learn to be content in that place. So..this last one? I'm still working on it.

What are some things you do to keep steady and sane when life seems to unravel on all its crazy edges?

Working Girl: Three Tips to Finish All the Things

I work from home, and figured I'd share some insights into my days here with you. The days are hard and long sometimes, and chaotic with a 3.5 year old running around and under and through this home. Between business and home and parenting and life, I'm doing my best to stay afloat. And somehow, by the Grace of God, it's happening.

So, here are my top three suggestions for getting stuff done during the day if you work from home:

1. Make a list. This is how a conversation with a friend went recently:

friend: Do you make a to-do list every day?
me: Yup.
friend: Oh good.
me: Why?
friend: It just comforts me to know that at least someone in this world has their life together.
me: If I'm a gauge of having things together, this world is in trouble.

But really. Make a list. Then pick three things on that list that you know you have to do. Then choose one.

2. Have some semblance of office hours. I realize one of the perks of working from home is the flexibility and ease of setting your own hours and such. But if you're anything like me this "flexibility" turns into one day of working from 7am to midnight, and the next day of working sporadically from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

So I have "general" hours. Hours I know I plan on working, and I use those primarily for my business. Sometimes I use personal hours. But mostly, I stick to my game plan. Saying "I'll call you on Monday when I open up my office" is so freeing on a Saturday afternoon. Saying to myself, "I'll reply to this email now because it's 4:42 p.m. and I'm 'leaving' my office in 20 minutes" will help me force productivity. But, don't start working while you're drinking your first morning coffee. Have a time set for when you'll "turn off" work (exceptions occasionally allowed). Take lunch breaks. Take "water cooler" breaks. Take weekends. Your job should not be your life. It may take up parts of your story. It may consume some hours, days, weekends, weeks, months, but it is not who you are.

3. Do 5-10 minute home bursts. It's hard for me to work at home and feel like while I work, I'm neglecting home and the M-Bird. So I use at-home bursts. A five minute dishwashing session. A 10 minute game of Chutes and Ladders. A 10 minute put-away-laundry burst. A five minute "watch my puppet show" attendance. These little bursts always, always save my day, and heart, and sanity.

Got any other work-at-home tips? Share below!

monday mornings

This is my Monday morning, post e-mails, schedules made, to-do list written out. It's not even 8:30 and I'm on my second cup. I bolted out of bed this morning, and I'm not sure why.

Maybe it was the weekend. 
Friday — moving me.
Saturday — moving a friend.
My legs feel a bit like jello after going up and down several flights of stairs...many times. Now I want to just go hiking, because when you're done beating your lower body into submission you at least get the reward of a view and a peak. We had the reward of Saranac Root Beer. Almost as good. Nearly. Almost.

Or maybe it was yesterday. Yesterday, I sat by my computer and listened to Emergency Personnel radio scanners as they evacuated people in my hometown area in upstate NY. Streets I knew. Families I love. The school I went to. The waters continued to rise, the dam an ominous silent threat, Hurricane Irene stalling and sitting and pouring.

"Get them out of the valley as fast as you can," I heard. And I waited to hear more — see more — pray more. This morning, I see their photos. I hear their stories. Devastation. Complete devastation. Please pray for the ones I love and all of the residents of Schoharie Valley. 

Maybe it's this morning. This week feels like a ticking time-bomb. I told a friend last night that my work week looked relatively light and slow. A few projects I can wrap up, but mostly quiet. I said, "Maybe I have forgotten something." It's not like I *forgot*. I just didn't realize that the first of September was this week. Note to self: Always check the calendar before proclaiming "It should be an easy week!"

So this is my Monday morning.

Heavy heart,
long to-do list,
two cups of coffee down,
and the cool winds of fall are breezing through my open windows.

And yet, we continue counting (198-209) —
:: clean hardwood floors.
:: hot, homemade bread just out of the oven
:: the early morning light coming through the kitchen curtains.
:: a flowering fuchsia.
:: thrift store bag sales.
:: madeleine's early morning hugs.
:: good friends in a new town.
:: provision.
:: mason jars filled with niece's jam.
:: a chance of luck to have breakfast with a friend who travels at the whim of the wind.
:: the smell of autumn on the wind.
:: late night peace with candles and music.

How to be Self-Employed and Not Hate Life

officing from my mom's breakfast table this morning.

The office is super mobile these days. And the to-do list is long. I'm trying to figure out how to get work done before I enter into a couple week craze of moving, road-tripping, driving, and nesting. I know it will get done, even if it's by moonlight in a passenger seat.

But all of this is on the list of reasons I took the leap from 9 to 5 to self-employed. The hard things are hard, but the benefits make it all worth it.

A more open schedule. Flexibility. Opportunities to travel. Oodles and oodles of time to be with my daughter ... just to name a few.

So if you're considering taking the leap from office desk to home desk, these might be for you!  For this Working Girl Wednesday, whether you're just venturing out on your own or considering it, I'm giving you my top 5 tips for making it through the scary leap and the first few months of getting traction under your feet. Every story is different, so take 'em for what you will from a girl who has been somehow, sometimes not by myself, staying afloat. (I'll also add a few things I wish I had known before I started.)

1. Love what you do. I'm really convinced more and more that anyone can come up with an idea. You and I could probably brainstorm at least 10 new business ideas for a way to make money from home. So why am I not doing any of those things? Well, honestly, because I don't want to. I don't want to offer pet care and catering services to elite dogs. I don't want to crunch numbers and work as an assistant to people who are busy. I don't really want to come into your home and organize your pantry. But if you want to do any of those things, do them because you love doing them. It will take about three months for the initial "I work for myself" high to wear off. So if you don't love what you do, you'll still be hating life even without the bossman looking over your shoulder.

2. Respect the people you encounter. Do your best to build healthy, honest, good relationships every where you go and leave. Life is a giant web of relationships, and I'm never quite sure who I'm going to meet who might know so-and-so who knows so-and-so. Sometimes it just blows my mind how small the circles of creative people actually are. Everyone knows someone who knows someone who probably knows you. Leaving a job you hate? Even if you hate your job today and are scratching at the doors to get out, be sure to leave as well as you can. Let their memory of you be positive and try to maintain good relationships with colleagues wherever you go. Get to know the people who are in your field. Designers. Photographers. Crafters. Writers. Don't be afraid of them. Learn from them. Ask questions. Encourage them. Dream big for them. Trust me, there is enough work to go around for us all to have fun and be successful.

3. Execute your work well and quickly. At first, I was not always the best at this. There were times the stress of responding quickly made me delay, and I probably lost jobs. But, these days, I'm finding there is nothing better than fast responses, good work and great communication. When you are working for yourself, there is no one to blame for your lack of productivity except yourself. Distracted? Then make the necessary adjustments. Tired? Get more sleep. Too much work? Stop over-committing yourself. Afraid of failing? Sounds like a great learning opportunity. 

4. Be you. Be the you that you imagine you are when no one is watching. Don't sell yourself short. Dr. Seuss said it - Today you are you. That is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than you. This means from your blog to your coffee appointments, Twitter to Facebook, phone consultations to e-mails. Be you. Stay inspired. Educate yourself on what's new in your field. Then find your voice again. Refresh your "brand" every so often. Stay on top of who you are, what you do and why someone should pay you for it. Know what you can't do. If you don't believe in the product you're marketing, no one else will. 

5. Have patience and be diligent about your craft. I'm still in this boat. For me, working in a creative field means I can never just say "I know what I'm doing." The field is constantly changing with trends, focus, styles, etc. This forces me to always be a student of my career. And it means working longer hours, sometimes when it's most inconvenient. It means working extra on a project because I want to figure it out, learn more, and give my client the best product I can. Sometimes it means unpredictable paychecks, believing the best in people when I get frustrated, conceding to clients when I want to argue, allowing opportunities for correction and criticism. And pray. I pray a lot while I'm working.

The road is fun, long, hard, freeing and adventurous. Turn up some jams and make a list... What are you waiting for?

I wish someone had told me.... 

that somedays I'd be working just as much, if not more, than a "regular" job.

to give myself a day off, and to stop working when I should be resting.

to get a good CPA. (I did end up finding one, but just down to the wire!)

that it's scary.

that there is a whole community of people who are doing the same thing, and they are friends.

To sum up, I read this article yesterday from The High-Calling and it was so encouraging. So I'll leave you with this: "Not Your Ordinary Team"