Setbacks
My rowing coach said some pretty cool stuff on Monday night and it has stuck with me ever since. She was talking about preparing for any kind of event whether it be a game, race, or regatta and how you will most definitely have horrible days, challenging days, good days, great days. But that in the process of pushing yourself physically, you realize that goals are very attainable and the horrible, challenging, good and great days are a gift. Powerful stuff!
I came home after her talk and a particularly hard practice and got to thinking about what she had said and the idea of setbacks. If I look at my life, it is the setbacks that really paved the way. They made me push harder, love more, think about things differently and continue on. My setbacks have led to my greatest achievements.
In lieu of that hard practice (in terrible weather conditions), I feel huge nerves in my stomach at the thought of getting back out on the water tonight. I don’t know what may happen out there. I worry that I can’t keep up. But in those nerves and worry I know there is a challenge – to face my fears, push through them and prove to myself that my goal of being a competitive rower is attainable. And in turn prove to myself that I can do anything.
Bedding S.O.S
I’ve been obsessed with this bedroom since I saw it months back on Secrets of a Stylist.
I love the soft grey walls, yellow modern bedding and ecclectic touches. After months of looking for inspiration for our bedroom renovation- I just keep coming back to this room.
So I attempted to recreate it. I found the bedding on West Elm and started painting the walls. The bedding arrived and much to my dismay, it isn’t yellow but more of a khaki gold. I would have been fine if it was gold but there is very little yellow and I can’t do a khaki bedspread with grey walls and headboard.
Now I am looking for alternatives and asking for your help? Have you seen any lovely yellow bedding or yellow and grey? I have scoured in the Interwebs and am coming up short.
(Photo from HGTV.com)
Art on Globes
We can’t keep globes in stock in our store lately and now I am wishing I had put at least one aside for myself so I could try to do some like ImagineNation. Aren’t these awesome!?!
(via Design Crush)
In the words of Milton Glaser
We were watching a film recently about famed designer and artist Milton Glaser called To Inform and Delight and since then I find myself exponentially inspired by the art of marketing and advertising. It is easy to lose track of the vision of making good useful work when the work you do each day becomes all one thing- all about selling the same widget to the same audience with the same client who fears change. Milton reminded me that there is truly an art to the connection with an audience and the consumer is far more intelligent than you think. They want to see things that aren’t obvious but require them to use their brains and sometimes to get an inside joke. Milton talks about not creating work for the middle of the road but going for the people who will really get it.
Some of Milton’s early work was on branding grocery store chains and his work like all other avenues was spot on. Milton was able to make you look at a jar of pickles and immediately feel like you had purchased them from a local farmer. We want to believe things still come to us like they did in the old days or in the movies even. His work made the items special.
Milton also created the famous I HEART NY logo. No one talks about that and he no royalties for that work but now you see that logo used to peddle everything! He has a calculated way that makes things look effortless. In his 80′s now, he still does it better than anyone in the business.
In the Gloss
I have always had a thing for beauty products and love to know what other cool ladies use to stay beautiful.
So I had to share a new blog I love- In the Gloss- because they profile interesting people about their beauty routines.
What is your favorite beauty product?
Twenty-Eleven
I return to work today with most of America, a bit larger from Holiday treats or in my case pork products and with a dream in my heart. A dream that this will be my year (although I think we can all safely say that if I ever had a YEAR, it was 2009)…so….I woke up this morning and put on TIGHTS and a wrap dress and decided to give this year hell and now at almost 5pm on Day 1, I am reminded that this is a marathon, not a sprint.
I like the idea of the new year because it is a fresh start. And I think fresh starts are brilliant and magical in the way you can wake up and think “it is ok to be different and to change”. I can’t help but get excited by the idea.
I don’t really make resolutions anymore. I just resolve to give myself less of a hard time about everything and each year I do a bit better at that. I do have to say that there are so many great things coming up this year that I can’t help but get a flutter in my stomach with excitement. I am returning to rowing this week which is one my greatest passions and I have resigned myself to pushing myself to be the best rower I can be and to enjoy the silence on the water. I have always known I was an athlete and am so grateful I found this sport. We will see how I do when I am rowing in the pitch black with 30 degree temperatures.
Happy New Year friends.
Make Decisions.
As I see it, one of the things plaguing business these days is indecision. In fact, indecision has quickly taken over every aspect of our lives because we simply have too many choices and the fear of making the wrong one is debilitating. In some areas of my life, I am indecisive as hell. For example, I have been thinking about the configuration of my kitchen remodel for over a year and still have absolutely no idea of the floor plan. I recognize that my indecision has to do with the fact that I don’t have to commit to decisions now, so I don’t but when it comes down to making the actual decisions and moving forward, I know I will be able to step up.
I guess like my kitchen remodel, decisions go from brainstorming and pie in the sky ideas to TIME TO DO THIS FOR REAL and it is vital to separate the two. I know when it is time to make the real decision, I can do it and not prolong the process. I like moving in a direction, I like listening to my gut, I like change, I’ve been proud of my decisions in the past.
I think the process was very similar when I met my husband. I wasn’t looking to date really but the second I met him, I didn’t falter for a second. I knew he was right and that our relationship was right and my gut knew it was one of my finest decisions. I could have been scared or picked it all apart inch by inch but I didn’t and I still don’t do that to our relationship today.
Seth Godin says we worry too much about perfection but I think we worry too much about what other people will think of us, the embarrassment and fear, and that keeps us quietly hoping someone else will make life’s small and large decisions for us.
So I put out this questions- why are you waiting on that decision? why are you waiting to deliver? why are you so afraid?
More later… be well,
Jen
I’ve Got an Agenda
I’m in love with all the goods from VeeKee Workshop- especially their agendas.
The colors and design are perfection!
Vitamin D- To Megadose or Not?
This all started with a conversation I had with my naturopathic doctor after an injury to my shoulder. She worked on a strain to one of my shoulder tendons and told me I could take megadoses of Vitamin D and it would greatly help with inflammation and help me to heal. Then days later I was with my friend Liz in her kitchen when she told me that she had been taking large doses of vitamin D regularly since giving birth and how great she felt. A light turned on in my brain and it occurred to me that I had nothing to lose by trying some Vitamin D supplements. On Liz’s recommendation, I got some Vitamin D drops (I hate taking pills) and started taking them daily and I have felt some interesting changes. I work out regularly but struggle with consistent muscle pain and soreness after a hard workout. I have noticed that since I started the Vitamin D supplements, my recovery time is much faster and my soreness has greatly decreased.
My naturopathic doc said 10,000 IUs was a good amount to take with an injury and now I take 5,000 IUs per day for basic maintenance (still considered a megadose). the U.S. Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences say that you should take 50 to 1000IUs per day.
Just last week, the news was flooded with research that megadoses of Vitamin D don’t work. I found this interesting article about the topic from Huffington Post and it shows that the debate continues.
I’d love to hear your thoughts- are you taking Vitamin D supplements? How much and are you seeing specific benefits?
Be Well!
Jen
Time for a Change
I had a revelation that the reason I have been struggling to write here is because the topics I typically write about are not exactly what has been on my mind in recent months. Between working at a very challenging job, renovating a house, being a newlywed and staying fit; I feel like my life is a constant balancing act. I know this feeling isn’t exclusive to me by any means. I am constantly on the look out for another way to find balance in all aspects of my life, to be more efficient, happy, inspired and of course, healthy. I am not in search of perfection, but balance.
Thus, it is time for a change of pace and content. I have some interesting information to share with you so I hope you will keep reading and let me know what you think.
Be Well,
Jen
