Wordless Wednesday is My Favorite New T-shirt

Three Words for the Year

Last year I remember seeing Chris Brogan's "Three words for 2009" and thinking what a good idea that is. Instead of making New Year's Resolutions, Brogan thinks of three words that he uses as beacons or guideposts of his year. They may sound unrelated, and sometimes obscure, but the three you choose should have relevance to you, your life, your work, your path. (Here are his 3 words for 2010. The comments have other examples, with some really inspiring stuff.)

I decided late in 2009 that I was going to do this instead of making resolutions. I rarely follow through with resolutions to the letter (which ends up feeling like failure), and when I occasionally manage to do so before December 31, I feel like I'm cheating if I don't come up with new ones for the rest of the year. Three words are better for me because they will work all year long, and they don't feel as "pass/fail" as resolutions feel. There's wiggle room there.

So instead of a word of the week for this first week of January, here are my three words of the year: Aspire. Prune. Kindness.

1. Aspire: Remember when you were a kid and there was something you really wanted? I can remember really longing for things (mostly toys), and feeling breathless if I thought I'd never have them. As an adult I have often tried to avoid that feeling; I have told myself "that's impractical," or "that's too complicated, I'll never be able to figure out how to do/get/be that."

Aspire means to long, aim, or seek ambitiously; to be eagerly desirous, especially for something great or of high value. The archaic meaning is to rise up or soar. And literally, "aspiration" means breathing. Longing for things that are higher than we are and bigger than we are is as natural as breathing. So this year I'm going to remember to breathe. I'm going to consider ideas and plans that might be too complicated or impractical (a larger work space, perhaps?), and allow myself to long for things that might be just out of my reach. And then I'm going to rein myself in with the next word, which is...

2. Prune: I grow raspberries and some years I pick as many as 11 quarts of fruit from my canes. Late summer, after the canes are spent, I cut the dead wood to make room for new growth the following spring. Pruning allows me to see the new growth clearly and care for the plants properly, making for a bigger harvest.

Sometimes it's tempting to allow personal and business responsibilities to grow wild. More is better, right? But cutting out "dead wood" makes room for new growth outside the garden, too. Unhealthy relationships (with friends or clients), unprofitable product lines, anything that makes you feel negative, unhappy, or unproductive is dead wood and needs to be pruned. So this year I'm also going to remember that there's no room for new until I've removed some of the old.

3. Kindness: I always think that when I see the same message over and over again, someone's trying to tell me something. As I was choosing my three words I considered many, but kindness appeared on every list. Articles I saw online and in magazines kept talking about kindness. And when I tuned in and considered why this word kept appearing, I realized that this has really become the center of my work.

When I give a brief description of my job, I tell people that I "specialize in designing tiny thank-yous in personalized packages." As I work with people every day, I've come to understand that in helping people to say thank you--to make others in their lives feel special and celebrated--I'm helping to spread kindness. (It's actually a pretty cool job.) Kindness is also a perfect word for my personal life because it can remind me to be kind to myself in all of those ways that I tend to forget (eat right, exercise, get more sleep...yes, Mom...).

Those are my words for 2010: Aspire, prune, kindness. Have you chosen words or resolutions for the year? What are your plans for 2010? Please share your thoughts!

New Year Greetings!

Baby steps in the New Year, baby steps with new media...let me know what you think!

Retro: The Old is New in the New Year

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've been interested in retro fashion and design lately. This fall I started following the tweets of businesses with vintage and antique products (lots of them at Etsy). Then I started adding to my collection of retro fonts. After that, of course I had to put together more retro tags and labels (which you can find here and there, most notably in our designs for bachelorette favors). I've even expanded our line of Sweetini Spa products with more options for their retro colors and packaging.

Clearly I'm not alone in my affinity for all things retro. Maybe it's shows like Mad Men that are creating the demand; that kind of eye candy just makes us want more. More bright red lips (how 'bout Cha-Cha cherry from PRIIA Cosmetics?) and the skills to apply them. More clothing, more jewelry, more accessories and décor for the home. If you're planning a wedding, a retro theme (à la Mad Men) is a hot new choice.

In fact, I've seen so many retro-style wedding photos, vintage and up-cycled items in wedding décor, and vintage bridal vendors on Etsy, I'm convinced that retro weddings will be an even bigger trend in 2010. That's my prediction! If retro is part of your plan, here are some resources and sites for inspiration. Some of these are vintage, some retro-inspired:

For vintage beads and ideas for retro jewelry designs, check out The Beadin Path. I love this Bettie Page-inspired necklace. Follow Heather on Twitter.

Vintage shoes by Thrush on Etsy. Find the latest on Twitter.

Can we ever have too many shoes? I think not. AdVintagous has vintage shoes, too, as well as purses, luggage, hats, accessories, and more. And they're on Twitter.

Vintage jewelry and accessories at funretro on Etsy. Stay up to date at Twitter.

Can't you just see a row of bridesmaids, all in cat's eye sunglasses? Love that. You can find them (the glasses, that is) here at Daddy-O's.

Even more vintage jewelry at Purple Daisy Jewelry, also on Etsy, also on Twitter (are we sensing a pattern?).

Hair accessories by Dungaree Dolly's. The dark turquoise feathers are my favorite. Dolly has beautiful purses inspired by old Hollywood, too. Fabulous!

Marla J Designs (at Etsy) has birdcage veils and other vintage bridal accessories, including hairpins, headbands, hair combs and fascinators. Want to follow Marla J on Twitter? Of course you do.

The Ruby Kitten has the retro bride covered for the honeymoon: vintage lingerie, anyone? Keep track of their new items on Twitter.

For the DIY retro bride, SurrenderDorothy's is a great place to pick up some buttons, findings, or vintage fabrics. Twitter link.

This is only the tip of the vintage and retro iceberg. Please let us know about your favorite vintage or retro designers and shops! Share your comments below! And don't hesitate to contact us if you're interested in favors for your retro-theme wedding or event.

Life is like a box of chocolates...

"My momma always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." -Forrest Gump

A few weeks ago I was explaining this quote to my daughter, who hasn't experienced the mystery of chocolates. We realized that most of the chocolate boxes she'd seen had the "map" in the cover (probably to identify the candy with nuts, don't you think?). My husband joined the conversation and this became the quote of our week around here, so I shouldn't have been surprised when a large box under the tree (To Emily, From Forrest) turned out to be a two pound box of chocolates.

As much as I love chocolate, of course I've been sharing with everyone else (because let's face it, 2 pounds is a lot of chocolate...plus, that's just how I roll). Yesterday my husband took a bite of one and exclaimed, "The box of chocolates was good to me this time!" I asked what he meant, and he said, "This time it was a truffle."
"Didn't you look on the map?" I asked him.

"Nah," he said, "I like to be surprised."

I sat with that for a few minutes, realizing that I had looked on the "map" every time I made my selections. I wondered what that said about me. I wondered what that said about him!

Usually at this time of year I reflect on the previous year. I think about the goals and plans I made for myself at the beginning of the year, and consider which things worked and which were unsuccessful. Of course lots of things in life ARE like Forrest's box of chocolates: not everything is mapped, and we can't know what's around every corner. However, like the tragedies that sometimes come, opportunities are as likely to appear in the same way: unplanned and uninvited. Can I deal with tragedy and take advantage of opportunity if I "wing it" a little more? More planning...or more surprise?

If you could know what you were getting every time, would you always look, or would you choose to be surprised? Do you make a lot of plans and resolutions for each New Year, or do you "wing it?" What do you think?

Wordless Wednesday: One More of the Tree

Word of the Week: Downtime

According to the dictionary, downtime is 1 : time during which production is stopped especially during setup for an operation or when making repairs
2 : inactive time (as between periods of work)

I always think of vacation time as downtime for myself. I'd love for downtime to always look like this picture, but vacation often ends up being downtime for my computers, as well. This year I'm upgrading a few things and this rarely happens without glitches, so I'm making sure I can get everything back to "normal" before I start up work again next week. So that's not technically working, since no lip balm is being produced, but...

I know, that's not much of a "vacation." But hey, I DID have a long weekend! And my husband is home all week, too, so I'm sure there will be some fun movies and games with the kids. (If we would get a little snow instead of all this annoying rain, we could even do some goofy skiing like this photo.) But because of our computer downtime, there will not be any of the usual work this week.

If you need something for an event in January, please do email or call me and I will respond as soon as I can. We'll be starting right up again on January 4, so if you placed an order in the past few days--or if you plan to in the coming week--we'll start shipping on Monday.

Hope some of you are enjoying some downtime this week, too. Did you have a nice holiday? Any big New Year's Eve plans? Be working on those resolutions so you can share them with us in a few days!!