1. Nora Lea’s exceptional phrasing and diction at 4:30am as compared with the rest of the day, “Bab ba bah dablah.”
2. The last day of March. Man, March has been really hard. It has been really, really good, but it has been hard. I had lots of tough conversations and made lots of tough decisions. Good, but hard.
3. Playing the “my future house” game in the face of having no rent money this month. Take that imagination! (Barn, guest house, room for a clothesline and bocce court)
4. Signing the bottom of completed paintings.
5. Flowers in the downstairs bathroom.
Monthly Archives: March 2009
Grace in Small Things 89
1. Plant shopping at Forni Brown
2. The fact that James laughs at my fake accents.
3. Steak dinner leftovers that will turn into my Vietnamese beef salad tomorrow.
4. Spring cleaning that leaves cabinets and cupboards clean and oiled.
5. The sound of Pinot lapping up water after returning from the warmth outside.
Grace in Small Things 88
1. A night to myself when James goes to the Lobster Feed.
2. New stacks of blocks to crash down with my daughter.
3. An Irish Pub adventure with my old roommate.
4. A “San Francisco Personality” adventure while waiting for her to show up.
5. New backyard mulch.
SXSW Thoughts
So in the comments I was asked what was different about SXSW this year.
Why did I come back from it so different?
Why did I have an entirely changed outlook on my business, my priorities, my brain?
It may have been the fact that James wasn’t there and I was able to choose without consulting someone else.
It may have been my first trip anywhere alone since the baby was born.
It may have been the panels I saw. I enjoyed the panel from Behance thoroughly. Their lovely little Action Method has lots of sound project management tips. And although I shifted in my seat, Zeldman’s panel had me pumping my fist in the air, saying, “MY WORK IS WORTH MORE.”
And although I originally went to the panel called Quitter to support internet friends and heroes Freitas, Mason, Sacca and Mayes, I learned from Chris to define success for myself.
“Ask yourself what success is to you.”
Right up until this trip, I worked every awake minute, taking every job that crossed my path.
I worked endlessly, billing hours at all hours of the day and night, continually falling apart.
I completed tasks way outside the scope, allowing project scope creep to take time from my daughter, my husband and my sanity.
Thanks to that simple direction, I have a more realistic framework for what I want.
And since quality of daughter-time factors into my definition of success, it is important to work that into my plan.
Same with
money
house
love
time alone and
free time.
I’ve turned down three projects this week. There are people I really, really want to help out, but quite frankly, helping them gets me no closer to my goals. All it does is get my time to them indebted, in a way that just pisses them off, pisses ME off. This helpfulness gets me no closer to what’s really important to me. I’ve angered more people in the past three years by undercharging and over promising than even I’m aware of.
So instead, I’m saying
No.
I’m saying
I’m full up until June.
Because
1. I am.
2. It’s time.
What? This seems like such an easy decision to make. But I’ve really struggled with just wanting to help my friends out. I mean, they need a web site, right? They could use email newsletter design, a presence on Facebook, a logo, a…
That’s exactly it.
It never ends.
There’s always something else I could do for you.
But online, it’s never a second. It’s always.
And now it’s “Not until June.”
I’m finally valuing my time.
It feels great.
It’s entirely different over here.
Grace in Small Things 87
1. Green-striped knee-socks
2. The way the promo before the commercial breaks say “Dollhouse will return in 30 seconds,” so you know exactly how many times to press the “skip forward” button.
3. Parsley for days.
4. Croccante, these awesome almond cookies from the A16 cookbook.
5. Having the chance to drink that giant bottle of 2002 St. Clement Oroppas with our friends during lasagna dinner.
