Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Life Lately: Organizing All The Things, Non-Profit, New Business, Creative Craziness


It's been crazy non-stop busy and creative times. I have so many ideas I haven't been able to sleep enough, I want to keep working and working! That's not exactly a good thing, looking back at how I've spent my time I definitely need to take more off-time, but it's been fun to ride the fresh wave of inspiration! Above is one of the few extended "breaks" I've had lately, a shot of the free inn stay I won at the Fernandina Beach Prince Party.


I got to help our non-profit Giving Greens some more hosting events, participating in a sustainability themed cocktail party and spreading the word.


We're still doing as many markets as possible. Right now we're still in front of The Landing for Art Walk and there'll be more coming. It's nice to be at a phase where we're not in production so I can focus on getting the website properly updated, wholesale sheets, PR materials and all the other tons of marketing tasks that need finishing!


Behind-the-scenes on photo-taking for the booth's signage, I change it up at pretty much every market. I've got some tiles there to keep the fabric taut because I was too tired to steam it smooth again! Right now every $10 purchase comes with a free essential oil perfume/massage oil. I can't wait to share more about our completed line as soon as every element is put together, it's been so fun to test it, perfect it, and get the happy reviews back.


Above's a shot of AJ's parent's new RV. They sold their home and have moved into the RV temporarily to pay off their debts before getting into a new home. I'm proud of their commitment to do it! It has me thinking (even more) about my future portable/RV life. I know we'll get there one day, even if it's just for the summers, but there's a lot to enjoy about the chaos and fun of my non-portable life of now, too.


Photos above are of my friend Nicole's art. This has been my least travel filled summer in a while but at least I've been able to catch up with my roomie and other creative friends again. I'll be collaborating on some more creative projects soon too.


I'm now in the closing stages of finally properly doing the KonMari method. I finished it twice before but realized afterwards I never even touched a lot of the things I thought "sparked joy"...because they didn't, turns out I hadn't fully honed that ability to tell yet. Along with other issues like just assuming I should keep every item related to work, I've had to admit I never fully completed the method all along. But it's been amazing to be able to dive into fully completing it correctly this time. Of course, lots more to come on the topic but you can see a lot of my recent advancements with it on Instagram.


And I almost forgot, I did have a pretty awesome fourth of July. My roommate's dad's friend has a condo on the river facing downtown so we had a pool party and were treated to an amazing fireworks show.


From the balcony we watched the sun set and sky change hue. The sky darkened and was illuminated by colorful firework explosions set off from the stately river facing homes. I felt myself losing energy and then...getting really sick! Luckily I managed to keep my food down and made it upstairs (with help) in time for the fireworks show. I don't know if it was swimming on a full stomach or the mix of foods I don't normally eat and a beer (yep, singular) but...never again! It reaffirmed my desire to keep my meals light/healthy, I couldn't get off the floor for a while there!


Right now I'm working on sorting all of my digital files and paperwork and the final steps will be sorting everything related to the body care business, giving my apartment a good scrub, and setting up future prevent-the-chaos routines. I'm excited to share all the steps I'm taking to set up a paper-free life so I don't get a build up again. I have pages of ideas to get to, work forever! But it's exciting. Hopefully there will be a couple of trips squeezed in before summer's end, too. There's a tentative Charleston South Carolina trip and Virginia/DC trips being planned.

* Note: If you sent an e-mail lately and didn't get a reply PLEASE e-mail me again, my inbox was full and I couldn't receive any new messages. Thank you!

What have you been up to this summer? Any fun adventures? Any travel recs or reads for me? Would love to know 'em.
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12 comments:

  1. I just finished reading The Magic Of Tidying yesterday and thought of you :) Enjoy riding that wave of creativity and remember not to push yourself too hard xo

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    1. Thanks, I'm bad about that! Glad you finished the book, it's been so helpful for my too-busy brain!

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  2. Vanessa, you are one busy chica! Where do you get the energy to do all these things? I want to know! :D Really so cool help out Giving Greens, and how you've been doing so awesome with the KonMari method. I've bought the book and it's just been sitting on my bookshelf. I read a few chapters and was so inspired but have lost momentum...sigh...

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    1. Finishing the method gives me a crazy amount of energy! Do eeet one day :D But I don't have kids so it's easy for -me- to say that. Working on my projects day by day keeps me super energized from that forward momentum, I wake up happy to get back to making things happen. BUT if I let the momentum stop it can be hard to get back to it so the trick for me is to stay busy and/or active.

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  3. Wow, you've really been busy this month Vanessa! I love how detail-oriented you are :) I remember living in a high-rise and looking out across the sea from my balcony. I kinda miss that! Looking forward to seeing your completed product line :)

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    1. That sounds like an amazing place to live! Yep, I've always been the details person in any team to the point of driving more pragmatic people crazy. I'm finally embracing it and possibly starting a series on that...

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  4. I love your labels! I hope you do really well with your line, you deserve so much!

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    1. Thank you! I'm doing a -lot- of research and work for it :)

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  5. You've been a busy girl! I'm glad your summer has been filled with both work and play :)

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  6. You are so busy! Being a workaholic too, I completely get it! What a great idea of selling a home and moving into a RV to pay off debts. That is quite a challenge but they will certainly meet their goal sooner this way. I have always been curious about having one to travel across the country in. I hope you get to go on that vacation! We have Charleston, SC on our list of places to see and scout out for a possible retirement location.

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    1. Our vacation is scheduled the week after next, can't wait. It's funny, I lived in Charleston (or near it, Goosecreek perhaps?) for a couple of years but almost never left the Navy base where we lived! I didn't see any of the tourist sights.

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