My Saturday

dogsitting Madison

Just call me the Pie Master

Blackberry cheesecake pie- using The Brown Eyed Baker's recipe for Blueberry cheesecake pie

 

 nom nom nom

When I saw blackberries on sale for $1 for 6 oz. I knew I had to make some delicious pie thing.

I had a piece for breakfast this morning- before I even drank my coffee... and I never eat anything before I drink my coffee. I just wanted it so much.

Plans for today : grading tests, wedding invitation stuff, going to the gym, make yams & ? for dinner

Valentine Invitations

A week and a half or so before Valentine's Day I had over several friends to make Valentines with me.
I decided that I ought to send them invitations in the mail for this postal event. Unfortunately some of the invitations weren't received until two weeks or so after I sent them! Not sure why this happened. But I talked to my friends in person, so everybody knew about the event.

Anyway, here are the invitation envelopes!
I had so much fun using the covers from romantic DVDs that I had.

all in a bunch

You might have noticed that there are a lot of double names in our friend group! Two Christines and two Caitlin/Kaitlyns!

The actual Valentine's Day event was lovely fun and I'll post more about that soon.

World's Smallest Post Service

 I had heard of the World's Smallest Post Service before but last year I actually received some post through it! It was ridiculously cute. Our good friend Chris from Boston sent it to us and I couldn't have been happier.

The packaging was so nicely done. It came in a normal sized envelope with a nice sticker...

and then a glassine envelope holding a mini-magnifying glass and the letter itself.

 So many adorable red wax seals!

Hubble Estates, indeed.

:D

Some November incoming

 Yummm... icecream...

Productivity Link Up with Uncustomary

Every month Mary from Uncustomary hosts a link-up and this month it's about Productivity!

This is something I've been thinking a lot about lately and I've really been trying to not feel like I'm on the brink of my life falling apart.

Last semester a few friends and I started what is commonly called a Mastermind group. I came up with the name that we are using now... are you ready for it?

P.L.A.N!     which stands for... Productivity Lovers Assemble Now!

Awesome huh?

We are a small group that gets together every other week to talk about the projects that we are working on. It helps to have people to talk to about the things you want to do that aren't just the getting by daily tasks, like checking emails. It's also nice to have people hold you accountable.

Each meeting we go around the group and give a quick update on our projects and how we are progressing. Some of my projects have been things like: submit a piece to the mail/art/book art call, figure out a budget, and some wedding planning details.  Then there is one person on the hotseat each meeting who gets to go into deeper detail about their projects.

One of the members of the group also gave me a copy of the book Getting Things Done by David Allen.  I haven't finished reading it yet, but I have started implementing the process. Basically you write EVERYTHING down. The idea is that if you have everything written down in a place that you can check frequently then you will be more at peace because your brain will calm down and not feel like it has to remind you about everything. He points out that frequently you remind yourself of (and stress over) things that you can't do at that moment.  I think that after implementing the system I do feel less stress over things.

There is also a big emphasis on next actions. You think in terms of projects (the overall thing) and next actions. What do you have to do next to get this done. This helps me a LOT because I frequently get overwhelmed by things. If I break it down into smaller actions then it seems less overwhelming. I can make progress.

This is just a very general overview, but it's really helped me a lot. I've also started using an app called Todoist. Previously I was just making lists on google docs, but I really like Todoist.

I've also learned that sometimes I really just need to call it quits. This is especially the case with the internet and wedding planning. Most of the time I really enjoy the wedding planning, but if I'm doing things for too long, like I'm looking for something specific online and I just can't find it, then I get stressed out and unhappy.  I've learned that I just need to walk away when I'm ahead, before I start to feel like that.

So, those are my thoughts about productivity. Thanks so much to Mary for hosting these and coming up with interesting topics!

My entry for mail/art/book

So I managed to send something in for the mail/art/book show happening at Ex Postal Facto.

It felt rushed and I wish I had done a bit more, but I'm glad I sent something in!

From September

Trying to go through my backlog of photos and post the ones that slipped by... 

This passport booklet thing came in some sort of junk mail. REPURPOSE!!

California Dreamin' on such a winter's day

Is anyone else green with envy over Ex Postal Facto??

I won't be there, but my mailart will be! I submitted a piece to the art/book/mail call for mailart for a show there.  I sent my last three postcard save-the-dates out in early January- mostly to family to show them where my mailart was going.  Maybe they'll have it again next year... in Chicago!  It should totally move around the country, don't you think?  Where would you want it to come?

a couple outgoing letters:

 This "Kind" heart comes from the Penzey's spice catalogue. 

Their motto is "Love people. Cook them tasty food." 

My kind of people.

Can you guess where this square tan thing came from? 

hint: it's stamp selvage!