#love2011: the love project mash up ...

(about the love project - over here on the blog of the wonderful mastermind (yvette) of this project and my blurb over here.)

mash-up ... of the love project + operation beautiful. but first, just a wee bit ssp|potb (aka shameless self-promotion | pat on the back). i'm catching up slowly on the weekly love project assignments. my most recent post is over here and was mentioned on the love project (over here). (thanks yvette!)

while i was doing my love project assignment, i came across operation beautiful (over here). and i decided that the love project and operation beautiful go so well together. so in addition to beginning my random placements of happy operation beautiful-themed messages via post-its around the bay area, i decided a little self-acknowledgment is a good thing.

home & hair makeover ... my take on the week 3 assignment on beauty and getting a makeover - a makeover for a tiny part of my home and a haircut. and for the tiny part of my home, i realized this is a little bit of kit's clean your closet change your life!

my uncluttered bedroom entrance
for which i no longer feel droopy when i enter sleep mode!
what a different feel!

my BEFORE longer, straightened hair
among my friend's talking tim gunn and my little fez buddy!

my AFTER shorter, layered, and more movement hair
with my post-nuclear war squirrel t-shirt
and go figure ... i may go shorter in 2-months!
what a difference a haircut makes
and sanjay at visual images (on yelp and their website) makes it fun!

(joanne was right!)

k|kick: jewelry's friends

last wednesday, oct 20 ... i attended the maiden voyage of kit's clean your closet, change your life (CYCCYL) the basics 101. later this evening at 6:00, oct 28, is kind of like the (re)voyage - similar principles and according to kit, ...

"... material on this call WILL BE DIFFERENT - more refined, less swearing (although i will likely say "crap" a lot), more focused and may give you additional insight."

i'm looking forward to this evening's call EVEN THOUGH it is game 2 of the world series here in SF. (by the way, kit didn't swear that much - and if/when she did, it was the petite, lady-like swearing.)

my cyccyl prelude ... meanwhile, the little area i tackled before last week's call as part of my SHEDn was what i thought would be a relatively effortless - my jewelry.

my game plan ... pretty straightforward - SEE, SEPARATE, SORT, and STYLE. to start off, i collected jewelry related items by placing them in not more than 3 areas for actually SEEING what i have - placed them on a leather trunk trunk, dresser surface, and night stand surface. here is where i collected items that i placed on top of my trunk.
SEE what i have ... jewelry organizers, gift boxes, containers, loose jewelry (found in other places of my home and purses!) ... and while seeing what i had (or at least knew i had), it became VERY OBVIOUS that what i thought was going to be fairly quick to handle - maybe spanning not more than 3 hour - was involving a little more than i'd planned. i envisioned i'd collect my jewelry and organize them on my dresser and in my drawers/organizers. not so.

jewelry's friends ... turns out, in my life, jewelry hangs out with other non-jewelry items - in the same area or general vicinity of where i stored jewelry. i came across fragrances, souvenirs, cards, and STUFF stored along with necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and rings. there were non-jewelry items i have called ...

• pretty-me-up non-jewelry - fragrances, hair accessories, some make-up, small containers, gift boxes, etc.
• why is this here? non-jewelry - small household items, buttons, coupons, pictures, paper clips, ziploc bags, etc.

SEPARATING and SORTING ... i combined these two activities to streamline (ha!) my figuring out what groups to place my jewelry and non-jewelry. i started separating and found myself sorting at the same time - considering groups of items such as chokers, pendants, pins, brooches, macrame bracelets ... THEN i started considering the material - pearls, gems, semi-precious, stones, gold, fossils, silver, plastic, brass ... THEN whether faux/costume or not ... THEN organizers, containers, displays ... THEN earring backs, solo earrings, broken clasps ... and THEN shoe clips (shoe clips??? yes, shoe clips! what the ... ?) ... THEN i finally ended up with 3 areas to begin figuring out what/where/how to store my jewelry.

jewelry brought back memories ... i didn't think it would happen, but silly me. of course it would. jewelry from my parents for my college graduation, gifts from friends i love, vintage finds while vacationing, ... and that gold cross i received as a christmas gift in 1984 from my college boyfriend at the time. really?! that last one survived more than 25 years and 6 different places since college? yes, it did. (donate.)

next up?
STYLING
(and mashing up CYCCYLn and SHEDn)

k|kick: testimonial for kit of clean your closet change your life ...

singularly focused and a force of nature ... your (Kit) creative energy results in a whirlwind of change - guaranteed. and i'm looking for another whirlwind with clean your closet change your life (click here).

(pic from 2007 - with my special wooden pencil holder)

remember back in the late '90s ... when you and i uncluttered my home office with your promise that i would later feel renewed? i thought, "hmmm ... renewed? whatever. BUT then again ... why not? a friend offering free labor and willing to hold me while i shudder amongst my paper squalor? i'm in!"

the result ... renewed was an understatement! after tossing out stuff, what i thought would feel like a major loss quickly turned into amazing opportunities that seemed just to pop up around every corner - new clients, more follow-on projects with existing clients, and invites to travel, speak and write articles. my business grew just as we had been talking about what i wanted during our tossing cleaning renewing event - a quick couple of hours with you, no pressure (well, except for the pencil holder incident - heehee), lots of fun chatting, and great company. i became a believer in your "watch out what you wish for" words of encouragement.

the best part of all this ... throughout the years, i've done smatterings of cleaning and renewing, although, not necessarily resulting in that same level of excitement i experienced with you from more than a decade ago ... however, wonderful things did manifest, of course!

fast-forward to NOW ... i'm excited that you are sharing this wonderful inherent talent and system you have with everyone. i am not only a friend and a supporter of what you are creating, but i am a lifetime client!

you, kit, are THE newest force of nature -
the whirlwind of change!

k|kick: simply stated, me likey! ...

girl nutkin likes

Clean Your Closet Change Your Life

Create your Like Badge

you go likey, too, eh?
(hence, my kitkick!)

k|kick: journals specific for KitKick and a little advanced riskology ...

2 new cahiers
pronunciation: kä-yay'
a fancy/french word for notebook (or journal)

this afternoon i bought two journals - both 3.5" x 5.5" - portable enough for my k|kick moments. these two journals will be used rather than adding to my current in-my-head oil leather foiled slim journal (shown in this post). (i changed my mind from this morning.)

a new leaf/action cahier ... from new leaf paper using action method, dot matrix pages coupled with action steps pages. action method is about project management stuff (over here). i don't have an iphone, so i'm not using an app. and at least for now, i have not signed up for the free/introductory use of the action method.

i'm strictly using the paper product version, along with consolidating what i've been doing in the past. (more about the consolidating in a later post) by the way, i did purposely choose this over product for the "capturing action steps" and the unlined pages. also, new leaf products use 100% post-consumer waste, etc.

moleskine cahier ... plain journal, the same size as my new leaf journal for my SHED'n and CYCCYL'n related activities. similar to the new leaf journal, i purposely chose the plain pages. i was starting to pick up the lined journals but something was telling me ... doodles, drawings, mindmapping, etc.

crazy papers ... interestingly enough, i was refining my mission|vision|value statements this early september. i was also revisiting my "crazy papers" from '94. my crazy papers are words and doodles on tracing paper, intended to represent my creative ideas to answer a question that was BLARING in my head and sounded something like - what do i believe in and how can i shape the future? the result? i left corporate america to figure out how to create my ideas in the world. well ... here i am again - in a tracing paper/doodle mode.

a sprinkle of advanced riskology ... speaking of doodles, drawings, and mindmapping - i have enjoyed tyler tervooren's advanced riskology. (more about advanced riskology in a later post) a friend told me about tyler's ebook, take this job & shove it (read the ebook). it really resonated with me because it reminded me of 1994, the year when i left a conventional corporate structure after my early morning (~ 5:30 AM) may '94 epiphany (more on the epiphany in a later post). fast-forward to now - having re-entered another bureaucratic structure, i am experiencing what i recollect to be the excitement i felt during my '94 transition.

how does this relate to advanced riskology? he wrote a fabulous post about his answering his own question "What do I really want to do with my life and how can I do it?" and here is his article capturing how he answered this question - how to write your biography 40 years early. (READ IT!) it's oddly exciting how similar his weekend question answering is reminiscent of what i did through the years of my business, as i was further refining (and changing) my direction. just LOVED his sharing his experience. and now ... i'm incorporating tyler's ideas into my current undo-looping.

looks like i'll probably buy more cahiers.
oh well. no harm in that.

k|kick: the beginning of my Kit Kick!

today, i am celebrating life with kit.

(pic from 1998(!) after brunch at las brisas in laguna beach, ca)

i love my friend kit.*

i decided yesterday that the activities i am taking on that seem to have a bit of a kit-inspired flair will be termed KitKick, aka k|kick.

pronunciation: `kĭt´ kĭk (or `kā´kĭk)

multi-dimensional and multi-faceted as she always will be, here is kit as CYCCYL guru - clean your closet, change your life kit.

though kit lives many miles away, we have very recently been using the phone, facebook, texting, blogging, and emails to get (re)connected. meanwhile, both of us are well aware (and often reminded) that even without the encumbering computer/laptop/phone devices, we are connected - and we both know that everyone is connected in some form.

for now, here is just a quick post about my perception of my reality today as i am celebrating having kit in my life. here is the wild ride i've been on in just the past couple of weeks -

• visiting with girlfriends ... i have been visiting with girlfriends where we've checked-in on/off throughout life - friendships that developed at very interesting times of my life. i've come to realize that life is just damn interesting all the time! who's next?! bring 'em on!

• blogging and visiting blogs ... finally started to blog a bit. (goes without saying, i s'pose.) i am ALSO checking in on several blogs i've enjoyed in the past - and one i have loved from way back is spinning girl. (yippee, she's kinda blogging again. this creative post of hers made me a spinning girl convert!)granted, it's something as simple as posting this morning's animated clip with an awesome rahm depiction as a fiber break and blips of reposting old sh**. nevertheless, it's words on a screen. (yes, i'll be reposting former blog posts with the intent of filing the old blogs away.)
  
  
• journal writing ... have pen and imagination, will write. i always carry two journals; now they are getting a little more action. one is a reporter's notebook for daily jots of $s spent, nifty quotes, restaurant tips, wine (thumbs up and thumbs down), and random ideas. the other journal is an "in-my-head" notebook where i tend to jot down some of the emotional/spiritual/intellectual thoughts coupled with notes from events and with notes about books/stories that somehow speak to me in a deeper sense.
  
  
• ideas that have been a bit on-hold are being reawakened ... i'm a bit of an idea generator - silly, real, imaginative, boring, clever, nonsensical, creative, etc. - imagination is good. so a few that have been swirling around to k|kick-start ...
  
  • apprentern ... = apprentice + intern. really start blog on my thoughts about internships in memory of jengyee (over here and here).
    
  • zagat-ish blurbs about government air agencies ... this has been an idea to get me to visit the air agencies throughout california, which means that i would visit california cities here/there. vacation time.
    
  • philosophies around tolerance, ignorance, knowledge ... continue to evolve my thoughts and express my perspective about ignorance; time to get the race and epistemologies of ignorance book.
  • p2p (or peer-to-peer) at work ... refine p2p for use anywhere, a peer-based support system at work that focuses on mutual objectives of and a support system for meeting not only work-related performance expectations but also integrating one's values for achieving life objectives - part coaching, part sounding board, part mentoring, part buddy. have been doing this with a co-worker / friend since 2009; it's based on an internship program i had at my consulting practice.
    
  • POE's corner ... "people, organizations, events" - have a POE's corner up here in the bay area. back in 1995, i organized a "happy hour" style event (with a little twist to it) called POE's corner at the now-defunct Banzai Cantina in San Diego. VERY FUN!
  • (something to be determined) conversations ... i follow design observer tweets and saw a glass house conversation that i loved about having only one tool from which to choose - pencil, knife, hammer (conversation here). then another conversation on transparency or clarity over here. so i've wondered, who would be interested in such weekly conversations related to what topics - yet to be determined.
    
  • writing ... writing about - right. about ...? writing to write, for now. still swirling.

• sharing business start-up ideas ... after having started a business practice back in 1994 (and putting it a bit in sleep-mode in 2007), i will be sharing my lessons learned, tips, and pitfalls with other friends who are starting a business or flirting with the idea of starting a business.
  
  
• connecting friends ... a little like match-making, i am introducing friends of mine to each other to help move along each other's goals and objectives.
  

with whom are you celebrating life today?

*pencil holder kit

p.s. k|kick will be part of my in-my-head journal.

hipmtfn: un-do-looping with my pencil holder ...

last sunday i declared that i am moving past the do-loops. i've been SHED'n and CYCCYL'n ... and having crazy fun with renewing myself, reconnecting with others, and seeing what pops up around the corner.

meanwhile, i'll soon post* about my pencil holder
(which currently sits in cubeopolis).

my little, wooden, square,
more than 15 years old, 4-inch-ish tall pencil holder.
MINE.
the one i fished out of a box-o-stuff the
day after a CYCCYL moment with kit.
(shhhh. our secret, for now ... of course, kit didn't know that back then.)
MINE.

* thanks, kit, for the inspiration!