Gardening in High Heels

cultivate a beautiful life

Dream big

For some reason, I had such a hard time writing this post.  Today’s Blogger, May I prompt is a big dream/goal.  I have no idea why I totally blanked when I started to write.  Then I’d have thoughts flit through my mind that I instantly shut down because it seems impossible/impractical/narcissistic.

I’m so intrigued by bringing people together and I’d love to be known as a connector in Pittsburgh (and elsewhere).  As my internship with Yelp last year unfolded, I realized even more the power of connections.  Rachel is a master at connecting people with businesses who deserve attention.  She’s also a master at connecting people.  I got many emails from her saying, “Check out this job listing!”  She’s always willing to help others and I’m so lucky to have been able to work with her.

Connections are also my intention when blogging.  I don’t think I could say it enough.  I love making connections and I’m working towards making them count daily.  It’s crazy to think that I’ve had similar experience with a few people that I never would have known about had it not been for blogging.

I was talking to Marissa today (she interviewed me for her What I’m Working On feature dropping Saturday!) and I’m pretty sure I overemphasized just how much I’m drawn to making connections, especially using words.  They’re such a powerful tool.

Inspired by one of my favorite blogging ladies, Laura and her “I can’t wait to…” post, I’m making a someday list today.

This one is for dreamers, schemers, doers, and thinkers. Go get it.

In no particular order, someday, I want to:

  •  Make a living off of writing
  • Drink shameless amounts of coffee (in a cute cafe…while writing)
  • Connect lots of people with deserving readers/customers/other cool people
  • Have a book collection that rivals Thomas Jefferson
  • Have a kickass wedding reception
  • Get married to the man who has my heart
  • Continue the Steers and Beers concert tradition (working on year three)
  • Wear those jackets with wolves and snow-covered evergreen trees while sitting on the porch with my best friend complaining about how everything hurts and kids these days suck. Bonus points if there are canes to shake
  • Adopt a dog
  • Have matching furniture
  • Watch my parents (all three of them) meet their grandchild
  • Figure out a way to have my father and my step dad both walk me down the aisle
  • Go skydiving
  • See my best friend get married
  • Rock climb
  • Travel to the west coast, Europe, and Asia

I think that’s a good start.  Gotta get to work!

What’s your dream?

 Need the prompts for the Blogger, May I challenge?  Gotcha covered.  Want to use your own prompts?  No problem!  Just grab a button to show that you’re linking up with myself, Katy, and Meghan.  Oh, and use #BloggerMayI on Twitter/Instagram to keep the fun going even after you hit Publish!

Five goals for May

Ah, a fresh new day and a fresh new month.  So many possibilities.  So many goals just waiting to be made…and completely forgotten halfway through the month til eventually you decide…better just wait until another fresh start new month comes along.

Just me?

Anyway, today is the first day of Blogger, May I with Katy and Meghan.  In case you missed it yesterday, we’re blogging every day this month and we hope you’ll join with us.  And not get sick of hearing from us every.damn.day.

Today is Introduce Yourself.  Since last week, I pretty much just wrote about myself all week and I don’t want to subject you to that too much, I’m going to introduce you to myself through my five goals this month.

(And in case you’re wondering – I’m Angelica, I write, manage social media marketing, love craft beer, can’t live without chocolate, bake when I’m upset, am an accidental gardener, and can quote the entire SATC series.  Many accomplishments, for sure.)

Five goals for May #BloggerMayI

Write a blog post every day

Didn’t see this coming, did ya?  I’ve done this before a long time ago and they weren’t the best quality things around.  I hope I can hit quality and quantity this time around.  I’m so thrilled Katy asked me to join in the fun and help her lead the charge.  And I can’t wait to dig in and really get going with this challenge.

Complete the Pittsburgh Half Marathon

I may be am cheating here.  I know I’m going to complete the marathon.  But people write things on their to-do lists that are already to-done just so they can cross something off, so I can do that here, right?

(Take a look at a few things I’ve written recently with some running tips!)

Get my garden in

I knew I wouldn’t really start to work in the yard until after the marathon, but I can’t put it off any longer.  There probably won’t be many more frosts in Pittsburgh; I’m thinking mid-May will be the good time to get everything in the ground.

I’ll definitely be planting the staples – tomatoes, peppers, green beans, zucchini, peas, eggplant, herbs – but I also want to add some marigolds in to keep critters out.  I never have, but I’m interested in seeing if it’ll do anything to alleviate the groundhog/bunny problem.

Put my office together

I have things thrown in my office because I quite literally have no where to put them.  I don’t have any office furniture in that room, so the supplies I’ve moved into my house are just sitting there.  It’s driving me nuts!  I have to get it off the floor and put away somewhere and have a functional space for my computer, sewing machine, scrapbook supplies, Post-Its, etc.

Stay on top of emails, invoicing, scheduling social updates

Pretty much just the little flotsam and jetsam that accumulates in life.  When things get busy, the first things to go to the wayside are posting on Twitter, replying to emails, cutting coupons.  Doing dishes.  At least I don’t have a problem remembering to grocery shop and eat!

Introduce yourself and link up!  What are your goals for the month?

Do you know what you don’t want?

I have had this Clarity Gem from Clarity on Fire saved to write about for such a long time and I haven’t created it.  It’s talking about taking what you don’t want and transitioning it to what you do want.

Go listen to it.  It’ll only take 8 minutes.

Good?  Okay.  I was initially going to follow up Why Getting Fired Was Good For Me, but now it has more meaning in a different form.  Things come back when we most need them.

Like I wrote last week, I’m a little stuck in planning and not focused enough on doing without Knowing what you don't want is better than knowing what you do.making sure everything is perfect first.  Along with that, I’m not sure where I want to go with SynEr and my career and freelance and such.

As Rachel and Kristen say, when we get stuck in the suckitude of what we don’t like, that’s all we can think about sometimes.  We know really quickly what we don’t want and what we don’t like, but it’s harder to come up with what we do enjoy.

“I would do what I loved if I knew what I wanted to do, but all I know is what sucks.”

Makes perfect sense to me.  It’s hard to turn around and say to myself, “Here’s what I’m so excited about.”  Probably just like it’s easier to forget the good and focus on the bad.

When that happens, they recommend to take a second and think about the bad.  What don’t you want?  Then turn it on its head and figure out what the opposite is.  The example Rachel gave is feeling pressure.  The opposite of that for her is ease, relief, simplicity.  Kristen felt stifled, like she was suffocating.  The opposite for her was feeling spacious, like she had room to be creative and wouldn’t have to hide who she is.

This actually came up for me before I listened to the clarity gem all the way through.  I was having a discussion with Marissa and the same feeling came up for her, too.

My advice?  Figure out what you don’t like first.

Then I was trying to figure out what I want to write about for PCBN because Jason, bless his heart, was like, “Write about anything!”  In a total nonsensical paradox, it seems limiting to figure out what to write since there are so many options.

The easiest way for me to narrow it down was to write down what I don’t want to do and what angle I don’t want to take.  It really helped to put it into perspective and figure out, Okay, this isn’t what will work, so I can cross those off the list.

I’m also going through the Holiday Council with Stratejoy, and creating my plan for next year.  I settled on my “word” a while ago, but I want it to have a little more oomph.  “Focus” is a nice word, but it seems more like a command than a directive.  With this method, I know what I don’t like about it, and instead can find a word that has a little more power.

I’m really quite enjoying this opposite thing.  It’s perfect timing with New Year’s; we’re all trying to figure out our grandiose new direction for 2015.  I’m totally employing it to help unstick whatever’s stuck with me writing-wise.

What do you do when you need to figure out the answer to a big “something”?

Let’s Play

           

People Really Dug These

We Belong in the Garden Together