Nathalie's Notes

For the love of awesomeness

Happy Crack. Mad awesomeness.

Those are just a few words I’ve used to describe my new passion: Pinterest.

It was one of several things this week I found myself asking: How have I not heard of this before?!

I don’t even know how to describe it, it’s one of those things where you’ll likely do one of these things:

1) Be mildly interested but not curious enough to click on the link and join in the fun.

2) Sure, you’ll look but you will tell the part of you that wants to dive in that the last thing you need is another time suck. And you’ll be right. BUT maybe you could exchange something else that’s sucking your energy and check out something that just might be your daily dose of happy crack. Just sayin’.

3) Or, you might click on the Pinterest link, suck in your breath a bit as you behold the simple genius behind this mad awesomeness and start pinning your happy heart away. (If you fall into this camp and need an invite, email me or leave a message in the comments with your email and I’ll send you one with joy in my heart. p.x. would love it if you follow me and let me know you’re on there so I can follow you too! Too bad the social media lingo is so … sixth-grade please-sit-by-me-in-the-cafeteria sounding!)

But what the hell is it?

Oh, right. It’s a virtual corkboard of coolness. It’s a place where people pin photos that take their breath away like this:

or ideas they want to try like this:

or words to live by like this:

This is the best guide I’ve found about getting started: Pinterest: a beginner’s guide

 

Okay, so the next thing many of you likely know about but I just discovered Pandora – (thank you Paul for helping me with that!) internet radio where you type in an artist you like and “they” customize a radio station with music you can groove to. For free. Sweet.

Bonus: you can click to see the entire lyrics of a song in case you’re one of those people who consistently hears them wrong.

And finally, I accidentally came across a copy of Mental Floss magazine while chasing Jake down at the library. Seriously, how have I never read that? I totally geeked out on an article called:

10 incredible Moments in the History of Editing

By david wanczyk

Can I just tell you how happy it made me to know that there were enough other people on the planet that think it’s cool to care about edits that changed history to justify the cost of producing a magazine? Love that. If you’re one of us, did you know Catch-22 was originally titled Catch-18. Now I’m full of more fun facts like that, FYI.

So, there’s a few of my favorites for this Friday!

Happy Weekend.

-

Suffering is optional

Happy Friday, friends and random haters who Google me … truth be told these last few weeks have given me an opportunity to practice being aware of my participation in my own suffering. More importantly, I’m learning to change long-standing habits (approval-seeking, sugar addiction, expecting my body to take care of me without returning the favor, over-thinking things beyond my control, etc.) It sounds like a lot, but it’s connected. And simple once I realized the root was all in my brain and how I think about a thing. I’ve known that for years. Putting it into practice on a consistent basis, especially when things don’t appear to be going well, is another thing entirely.

Let me tell you what I mean by “not going well.”

In summary: we’ve spent a small fortune on doctor’s copays, pharmacy copays and prescriptions and vet bills. We’re all on one kind of antibiotic or another and very, very slowly recovering. Matt and I both have pink eye in both eyes and have had to cancel plans we’ve been looking forward to like a camping trip at the beach and a writing day for me. It’s disappointing, but that’s life. Trying to find the gift in those disappointments is our challenge.

I think the gift is this: time for reflection and incentive to do better. Nothing like having the whole family down for the count to serve as a kick in the ass to make the changes you’ve been meaning to make.

Right before I got sick, I’d been thinking about my role in my own suffering, how I contribute to it by dwelling on things, not letting go, saying “yes” when I mean “no,” saying “no” when I’d like to say “yes!” I’d made a personal decscion about something I’d been struggling with for the last 7 months and as that was happening several friends suggested I read this book by Laura Munson: This is not the story you think it is – I’m working on a review of it to share but for now, both the book and the experience of reading it at the time in my life that I was reading it was deeply moving, and life-changing.

Another book, also recommended by a friend, called Skinny Bitch made an irreversible impact on both Matt and myself. I can’t recommend this book to anyone unless they’re ready to seriously overhaul their current lifestyle … but more on all that later.

For now – some fun Friday inspiration:

one of my favorite artists, Susan Branch recently started a blog – I love it and think some of you might, too.

A fellow writer-mama, yoga-teacher friend of mine started something called “Breathing Space” where she delivers doses of serenity and balance to your inbox. Check it out and share if it moves you.

jumping in

 

I’m not quite sure where to jump back in … so I’ll start with this picture of everyday life around here … mud, cars … mess. Good stuff.

This has been the longest hiatus I’ve had from blogging in a long while and while I missed this I did not miss being plugged in all the time. I had no idea the extent of my Internet-induced ADD until I dumped coffee all over my computer and was forced to take a little break.

Now, I’m back in business but have no intention of going back to my constantly connected ways. I’m not sure exactly what my new habits will look like but blogging is still high on my priority list.

As I sort through all that and where I want to start on my long list of “things to blog about” here are a few fun links:

Conquering clutter

Organizing, free, adorable downloads – what’s not to love?

Coolest chore chart yet – your kids can check it between tweets.

Picture Fun

I know it’s not Friday, but being my blog and all, I had to share this as soon as I found it. If you take a class with Big Picture Classes –  you get fun little tidbits like this surprise I found this morning – a link to BeFunky.  So cool! I only got to play around for a couple minutes but here are a few I liked:

 

Vintage Jake

 

Stencil Sam

Warhol Jake

And now for something lighter...

And now for something a little less navel-gazey ... here are a few fun links for your Friday afternoon ...

For you readers, folks in the real-estate industry and those chronically checking out houses the way some people kick tires, check out Emily Chadwick's cool karma book giveaway: http://emilychadwick.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/the-thank-you-meghan-daum-giveaway/

You can win a copy of Meghan Daum's "Life Would Be Perfect if I Lived in That House" by requesting your local library and/or independent bookstore carry a copy.

And then for you crafty types ... join the back-to-school sew along - or at least admire the cool idea over at Penny Carnival:

http://pennycarnival.typepad.com/penny_carnival/2010/08/a-backtoschool-sew-along.html

And the post that made me understand {and want to} Twitter: http://www.diaryofanewmom.net/2010/08/twitter-ific.html

I lost track of my Google list, meaning I forgot to cut and paste searches and am not technologically clever enough to figure out the history, and really? Who cares? The few I did track:

X Road transfer station

Psalm 34:8

Williams Sonoma car pan

green chile sauce

The painted lady

Word for the tie off used when shooting drugs

Coleslaw recipes

alliteration

IRS

NPR Meatless Monday

Molly Gloss

Meatless Monday: Yogi Pizza

I'm going to do something I haven't done before, and that is recommend a recipe I haven't tried myself. So you let me know if it worked :) In this case I'm taking my friend Erin's word for it because I wanted to share her lovely blog with you. I got an invitation to become a fan of the Mamastay Yoga Company on Facebook but I had no idea that it was Erin's company - that's how wrapped up I've been in my own world. I checked it out and decided to pass it on to you.

For her pizza recipe, and more importantly her essay comparing and contrasting her experience with making pizza and practicing yoga, click here.

Remember the Meatless Monday campaign site I wrote about? Here are a couple more to check out if you're doing a little web-wandering yourself.

"Still life with a whisk" and "FabFrugalFood"