The ChicGeek on July 27 2010

Painted Ceilings

So one of the things I have been looking for in a house is a flat ceiling. It seems so simple but I’m tired of popcorn ceilings! So that is a requirement of my new place. Of course my Realtor keeps telling me that my husband can fix the ceilings but it’s just something I don’t thing would get done for awhile. One of the reasons I want a flat ceiling is so I can experiment with painting them. Does anyone else paint their ceilings? I think it would be nice! I mean look at these rooms!

Images from: 1) Vastu 2 and 3) House to Home 4) LoveHome 5 and 6) Apartment Therapy

Filed under Interior Design 3 Comments

The ChicGeek on July 23 2010

Friday Ramble – July 23, 2010

Hey all!

It feels really nice to be back. I would be lying if I said this was an easy week for me. I had been looking forward to getting a new place for so long but I never thought it would be so hard to say goodbye to my first place. I’m not a huge change person but I am looking forward to finally being able to decorate and paint walls the color I want to. But unfortunately, that is still on hold as we are now living in a small apartment. There are boxes everywhere! Sigh. The apartment is just dark. I go home at lunch and turn on every light and open every blind and I still don’t feel like there is enough light. It’s just strange. So I’m going to have to figure that one out. I can at least put personal pictures out which will be nice! We still haven’t closed on my house yet, and everyday that passes, I get a little more stressed and of course, I hate paying the mortgage for an empty house.

Enough about my house and moving woes! I can’t remember if I mentioned it, but classed started back up last week. Good timing, eh? This quarter’s class is Digital Visualization for Interior Design. I can tell I’m going to like it! So far we’ve used a lot of Photoshop (Okay, which I’m not a big fan of as I don’t know how to use it) and then Google Sketch (Never played with it). This is what I did last night. I didn’t draw the layout, just filled in the colors and textures. It’s suppose to be for a modern couple. So I tried to keep that in mind when I picked my colors. But you know I had to put a pop of pink in there! Don’t mind the shadows if they look odd, I was nodding off when I was doing this last night! Oops.

So I can’t really wait to see what else we learn in class!

I am officially in love with my Nook. I have learned how to check out library books on it, so I have started reading Millennium Trilogy (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, etc) series by Stieg Larsson. I’ve gotten to the third book and they are really good! And of course, I keep downloading all the free books I can. I thought I would never like reading on it, but now that I have it, I think going forward I’m going to think books are too bulky. Lol. And it fits right in my purse, so when I go to the Doc’s office, I throw it in there and read it while I’m waiting. What a great way to kill time. And it never loses your page. It stays on your page when you shut it down and it’s there when you boot up. Check it out!

I’m a little on edge because when I left this morning from the apartment, I saw a yellow lab walking around by himself. I was hoping he would go home. But when I came back for lunch, he was lying in the hot sun. I tried to check for tags but he didn’t have any. I tried to get him to come towards my apartment so I could get him some water at least but once I got him up and walking, he headed towards another building. And I didn’t want to follow him if he was going home. I checked on my way out after lunch and didn’t see him. I’m just worried. He doesn’t need to be left out in the heat with no water and food. :-/ So I’ll check again when I get home this afternoon…

As I mentioned in one of my ‘tweets’ this week, a wise man told me that he knows I know what kind of life I want to live, I just have to let go and grab it. So that’s been on my mind a lot this week. I know I’m not 100% happy in the life I have right now, so there are changes to be made and I think in some steps I am making them. But am I letting go? I love the song from Howie Day, ‘Collide’, and it’s suppose to be a romantic song but the words that always stick in my mind are “Even the best fall down sometimes…Even the wrong words seem to rhyme”. It reminds me that I’m not the only one to let go and fall. Sometimes it might take falling to learn where we actually need to be. Pain only makes us stronger. Scary, though. Something to think about.

I’m so excited – I might get to see Andy Roddick tomorrow night! He’s in town playing at the Atlanta Tennis Championship! So if he makes it through the Quarters today (which he should) and if he’s slotted to play at night (which I hope so since he’s the main draw!), then I’ll get to see him! One of my friends and I went on Sunday to see the qualifying and it was pretty fun. Of course the weather was horrid. It started raining as soon as we got there. But we decided it wasn’t too bad, so we still went it figuring it would pass over. Wrong. We got drenched! So we left and went and got some frozen yogurt (yum!) and then headed back since it had slacked off and it finally passed. We waited for them to dry off the courts and then watched some tennis. The main court wasn’t as good as the side courts were. We did see one of the players get badly injured. I’m not sure how he did it, I think he got caught on the scoreboard, but he had a huge slice in his thigh (pretty much the whole thigh) and you can just tell it would require surgery. Poor guy! I hope he gets better soon. He’s at the level were he needs to be playing to get the money/sponsorship. I was happy to see a few of the guys we saw on Sunday in the Quarters today.

And to send you off in a good mood –

Hope you all have a great weekend!!!

Image from: ICanHasCheezBurger

Filed under Rambling 4 Comments

The ChicGeek on July 19 2010

And the Winner is ……

Before I post the winner I want to apologize for being MIA! I got back from a wonderful vacation and got sick with bronchitis right away. And of course I had to pack my house and we moved to our temporary housing this weekend. But I don’t have Internet/Cable yet! I think I might die!!! So posts might be spotty this week too… Sorry!

Ok…. drumroll please……

The winner is…..

Lauren E!!!

And she loved the Bull Terrior Print. “Well, as a Bull Terrier owner, I naturally love anything with a Bull Terrier on it. I found the quote funny because Bullies do everything THEY want to do. If they want to do something, nothing is going to stop them. If they don’t want to do something, the brakes go on. They are a very stubborn breed so the quote suits them well.”

Congrats Lauren!!! I will email you later with the details.

Thank you all for reading and thank you even more to Ginger for offering up one of her delightful prints for this Giveaway!

Image from: GoingPlaces2

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The ChicGeek on July 8 2010

{Interview} GoingPlaces2 and Giveaway!!

Hello all!

As promised, I have a great interview with Ginger from GoingPlaces2, who creates Inspirational Dog Prints. I stumbled across her Etsy shop while I was looking for a gift for a friend. I loved the combination of dogs and inspiration quotes! It wasn’t something I’ve seen before and her quotes and pictures were so good! Once I contacted her, we hit it off immediately. Not only did I end up making a custom print for my friend, I created one for myself too! And there are still more that I would love to buy. ;-) For example, isn’t this one darling? If she had this one for sale, when I was purchasing…

Ginger was so sweet and offered a free Inspiration Dog Print for one of my readers! That is so kind! So here are the rules:

1. Look through her Etsy shop and comment below on your favorite print

2. Twitter about this giveaway and mention @GoingPlacesToo. Also comment below so I can keep track.

3. Blog about this giveaway. Again, please comment below.

So you have three chances to win! Please submit all comments by July 16th and I will select a winner on the 19th!

Now, onto the interview with Ginger!

You had mentioned to me that you graduated with a Fashion Merchandising Degree. How/Why did you transfer to Graphic Design?

I had been a stay at home mom for 3 years when a friend approached me about working with them as their graphic designer for their start up screen printing business. This was something I could do at home while the kids were napping or in bed for the night. I taught myself the art program CorelDraw and have used it ever since. Once the boys were in school full time, I was able to increase my hours and work onsite. It’s been a wonderful job and has allowed me to use the things I have learned for my own creative endeavors like GoingPlaces2.

How did you get started in Etsy?

I’ve been a buyer for years. I loved the idea of supporting creative people – whether artists, craftspeople, vintage or supply shops –each represents an individual who has a creative mind, hopes and dreams of using their creativity in a purposeful way and a passion for what they enjoy doing. Just like me! A blessing in disguise caused me to actually have the time to open my own shop. The downturn in the economy has reduced my working hours. I’ve used those lost hours to spend time on my computer to create the Inspirational Dog Print Series and open my own Etsy shop in March of this year.

Now Dogs and Inspirational quotes isn’t something that I would have put together normally. But you make it work perfectly! How did you come up with that combination?

I don’t really know how I came up with it! I was just playing around one day. But I do know that they are a combination of things I love as a person as well as an artist. I’ve been privileged to know and love many dogs in my lifetime. As I look around our home, that love has influenced the way I decorate. I am also a collector of fonts as well as inspirational quotes and have always enjoyed finding just the right one(s) for my projects. As you can see by the photos, I have used an eclectic mixture of all kinds of dogs in my home décor, bright colors and even a quote in my kitchen. I guess at some point, all of those things came together!

Do you have a favorite dog?

I can’t pick one favorite. But here’s my list: Miniature Schnauzer, Boxer, Lab and Wire Hair Fox Terrier.

Quote?

Yes’m, old friends is always best, ‘less you can catch a new one that’s fit to make an old one out of. ~Sarah Orne Jewett

Do you have any dogs at home?

Currently, my husband and I have two grand dogs – a black lab named Lofa and a yellow lab named Locker. We get to pet sit every once in a while. We don’t have any grandchildren, but the same can be said of them – “All of the privileges and none of the mess.”

Now, I have a small struggling Etsy shop, do you have any advice for me or my readers on how to start up a shop and promote it get sales?

I have spent a lot of time reading the blogs and forums on Etsy which are filled with fantastic advice. Think of what kind of brick and mortar gift shops you like to go to. Try and make your Etsy shop the same. Attractive Sign (avatar & banner), a variety of gift items (large inventory), enticing displays (attractive photo props), bright lighting (color adjusted photos). You can still have all of that and no visitors. The most important thing you can do is market – drive visitors to your online shop by Social Marketing – Facebook, Twitter, etc., add your store link to your personal email, leave your business card wherever you can. The more people you have in your shop viewing your products each day, the more chances you will have a sale. There are many ways to promote and most are free! I use www.craftopolis.com to watch my page views and shop “hearts” each day. That site is filled with information about how well you are promoting your store.

Do you have any parting words or inspiration you’d like to leave with my readers?

Read blogs like ChickGeekDesigns and others. They are filled with wonderful information, ideas, thoughts, inspiration, photography and insight. They are written by women (men too) who are sharing their creative gifts with us – freely and willingly. If you feel you aren’t creative, become creative – it just takes a little research and practice!

Thanks for sharing this information with us Ginger! I really do appreciate it.

Filed under Etsy 8 Comments

The ChicGeek on July 8 2010

Checking in from Los Cabos

Hola amigos!

I’m just checking in from Cabo! So far I am having a blast in the sun. The weather has been perfect and the view is beautiful. We had a rough time getting here thanks to Delta. :-/ We almost missed our flight and if they weren’t having mechanical problems with the flight, we would have. But you gotta love running through the Atlanta airport after the Delta lady tells you to ‘hurry, you may still make it’. I still wanted to tell them I won’t be in this position if it wasn’t for you to start with. And there’s only one flight per day, so who knows when we would have gotten here next. But anyways, we made it!

We’ve been enjoying laying at the pools enjoying the sun and shade! Today we went to downtown Cabo San Lucas and around the Marina and it was really nice. Of course there was a Starbucks there, so my day was made. We did a lot of walking around and exploring. Got a few souvenirs. Tomorrow I am planning on spending the day laying on the beach. What a great way to spend the vacation. I have read three books already. I only have one more non-fiction to go and then my non-profit book. So good thing I have my Nook with me with a few books on it!

I hope you enjoyed Anna’s Guest Post yesterday! I know I sure did. Speaking of guest posts, I did a guest post over at Covet Chicago yesterday. So please check it out!

Tomorrow, I will have a great interview for you with Ginger from GoingPlacesToo on Etsy. Also, she has offered a giveaway from her dog prints! So start looking through her prints and find your favorite! I personally love them all and am jealous for the winner! I have to admit I already have one custom one.

Here are a few pictures from Cabo I have taken with my iPhone 4. I haven’t uploaded pictures from my camera yet but I think my iPhone is taking great pictures! Hope you are having a great evening.

Images taken by me and cannot be used without permission.

Filed under Travel 3 Comments

The ChicGeek on July 6 2010

{Guest Post} Self-Care

Hello Chic Geek readers. It is Anna from Be Healthy, Be Well, Be Inspired. Lori asked me to write a guest post about self-care and stress management while she and her husband are off on vacation. I happily obliged since I absolutely love writing and being a guest blogger. Today’s topic is about self-care.

“Stressed souls need the reassuring rhythm of self-nurturing rituals.”

-Sarah Ban Breathnach

Self-care is best described as self-love. If you love yourself, you will honor your body and your well-being like a temple. Many people think self-care is selfish. How can you take care of your family, your children, your elderly parents, or your patients if you do not take care of yourself? On each airplane trip, flight attendants are required to demonstrate how to retrieve the oxygen mask. The flight attendants emphasize to put on your oxygen mask first before you help others. This analogy is similar to self-care: in order to help others, you must first help yourself.

Self-care allows you to:

· Work well

· Be happy

· Stay healthy

· Revive your enthusiasm

· Avoid burnout or illness

We live in a doing, going society. I think many people are competitive with their to-do lists. I overheard a conversation on the subway between two women. It sounded like they were two high-powered, adrenaline focused women. They were competing who was the busiest and who had the longest to-do lists. I was exhausted just hearing both of them talk. Being busy does not necessarily mean being productive. Sometimes, you do need to slow down and think for a minute why you are so busy. To me, being busy signifies you do not want to be alone with yourself and with your thoughts.

“In solitude we give passionate attention to our lives, to our memories, to the details around us.”

-Virginia Woolf

Some way to take care of yourself is to practice simple relaxation.

1.) Deep breathing

· Increases vitality

· Promotes relaxation

· Lungs expand fully

· More oxygen in and more carbon dioxide out

· Deep breathing allows oxygen to be carried to our internal organs

2.) Meditation

· Provides mental and emotional recovery

· Builds spiritual life

· Improves energy and focus

· Decreases stress, anxiety, and fatigue

· Increases love, joy, and happiness

3.) Find silence

· Spend time by yourself

· Go to the park or your backyard and be one with nature

4.) Music/sound therapy

5.) Journal

· Write down all of your emotions

· Start writing about what is bothering you

· Start a gratitude journal and write what you are thankful for everyday

6.) Build support systems

· Friends and family

· Religious groups

· Support groups

· Colleagues

· Professional associations

· Counselors, therapists

· Life coaches

7.) Use healing therapies

· Body work such as massages

· Energy work such as reiki

· Acupuncture

· Aromatherapy

· Spa treatments

8.) Seek diversions

· Walk a different route

· Walk/run outside instead of on the treadmill

· Take a walk during lunch

· Nurture your artistic side

· Seek a change of scenery

· Find comic relief

· Do something fun!

9.) Daily/weekly renewal strategies

· 7-8 hours of sleep

· 5-6 small meals

· Regular exercise

· Maintain personal relationships

· Drink 6-8 glasses of water daily

· Take recovery breaks every 90-120 minutes

10.) Sleep strategies

· Develop a bedtime routine

· Create a comfortable environment by de-cluttering your bedroom

· Eliminate all light from your bedroom (dark shades)

· Reduce noise in your bedroom

· Take the television, phone, computer out of the bedroom

· Create a serene environment (soothing colors, pillows, soft blankets)

These are just some of the ways I practice relaxation. It took me a few years to incorporate them in my life. I used to work two jobs, 80 hours a week. Slowly, I lightened up my load, quit my one job, and started enjoying life.

Are there other ways you practice simple relaxation?

Image from: Kind over Matter, originally uploaded by Lenoirr.catching up

Filed under Miscellaneous 4 Comments

The ChicGeek on July 3 2010

Friday Rambling – July 2nd

Is it really Friday already? And is it really July? What happened to this week and where in the world did June go? I have a very busy weekend ahead of me before vacation. I’ll be up early tomorrow to play tennis and then come home, shower and then go out house hunting with my Realtor! Yay! And then I’m going to see Phantom of the Opera that evening. Very exciting because I’m taking a few girls that haven’t seen it before. So I can’t wait to go see it with them. :-)

Sunday after church, we have a small break and then off to a Forth of July party. But in any free time we have, we’ll be packing the house and/or packing for Mexico!

What are your plans for this weekend?

On the house news side, I leased us a temporary living space today. So at least that is done. Inspection is done. Terminate inspection is done. Check, check, check! Wow. Tomorrow, looking at houses will make it even more real.

I got a nook last night to take to Mexico with me. It’s so fun! I got an awesome Jonathan Adler cover for it.

I’m starting to make a little progress on my non-profit. More about learning about forming it but also making connections with people to get it up and running. Had a free discussion with a lawyer this morning to find out how much it costs just to fill out all the paperwork. It’s quite a small investment! But I know another lawyer personally and he’s willing to talk to me and help me out. So we are going to talk this weekend. I need names for my foundation now!!! Suggestions??? I got a book last night at Barnes and Noble about starting one, so I’ll have plenty of time to read it next week!

I haven’t gotten a House Beautiful Magazine lately. Has anyone else? :-/

Anyways, I hope you all have a great weekend and holiday! Make sure you check in for a guest blogger, a great interview and a giveaway!

Images:

1) Taken by me and cannot be used without permission

2) Barnes and Noble

Filed under Rambling 4 Comments

The ChicGeek on July 2 2010

The Child Within …

This past weekend was a lot of fun for me. It was so nice to hang out with my brother and we all went to the Stockyards on Friday. Needless to say my brother and I got bored and started to playing around in the stores with all the fun hats and kids toys. And of course my brother had my camera, so we got pictures! It was actually fun to feel like a kid again with him. Lol, after my mom accused us later of hogging all the toys from the kids, I said, without thinking ‘There weren’t any other kids around!’. Lol. What can I say? Kid at heart sometimes. It’s good for all of us. Here are some of our ‘kid’ shots.

Haha, yes that is my attempt at a scary face! Lol, now aren’t you scared to run into me in a dark alley with a pink toy gun?

And just to end this out, here’s a happy family picture from the weekend.

All images taken by me or my brother, S, and cannot be used without permission.

Filed under Travel 4 Comments

The ChicGeek on June 30 2010

Quick Update

Hello all!

I didn’t want you to think I disappeared. It’s just been a few busy weeks. But i did want to tell you the good news – we got an offer on our house! We accepted it after some negotiation and looks like they want they want the keys on July 22nd. So less than 3 weeks to pack the house and of course we are out of town next week!! So only two weeks basically. Needless to say, it’s starting to get a little hectic around here moreso than usual! I am excited but I think all the other stuff is starting to weigh me down. We need to find an immediate place to stay, pack, finish all the closing stuff, start house hunting, etc. Fun! Any suggestions? One good thing is half our stuff is in storage already, so only half the house to pack up.

Other than that, we had a quick weekend trip in Fort Worth, TX to visit my brother. It was really nice to see him. I’ll put up pictures later. And next week, Hubby and I are going to Los Cabos, Mexico. I need a real beach vacation! I can’t wait. I have some posts lined up for you along with a great giveaway!!!

Since I have been doing a lot of research for starting that non-profit I mentioned last week and have a lot of other things on my mind, I thought I would share this quote as the closing thought for tonight. I hope you all are doing well!

Photo taken by me and cannot be used without permission.

Filed under Miscellaneous 1 Comment

The ChicGeek on June 21 2010

A Trip to the Zoo

I can’t tell you how long it has been since I’ve been to the zoo. And I can’t tell you have long it’s been since I’ve been to the zoo in 100 degree weather! I was actually pretty concerned that since it was so hot, most of the animals wouldn’t be out and about but I was surprised. Most of them were out so we could see them. This was my favorite:

Isn’t he the most precious thing? I really wanted to take him home! For some reason my husband wouldn’t let me. :-/ He’s so unreasonable sometimes!

Here’s one of the baby’s family. They allowed feeding of the giraffes, so that’s how I got so close. It was pretty cool.

Well now that I have gotten distracted with my baby giraffe, I need to start at the beginning. This was the first stop – the elephants. I think he was playing ‘Peek-a-boo’ with me.

Next was the giraffes but I already showed you those. So onto the most frightening thing I saw all day:

Needless to say, I didn’t hang around there very long!

Okay, so I wanted my picture with the llama, because it always reminds me of this song. The song makes no sense whatsoever but it cracks me up every time I hear it. My husband thinks I’m crazy. So here’s the picture I got of the llama and though, ‘Great! The Llama and I will have a great picture together!’

Well, he apparently had other ideas:

Well by this time we finally caught up with the rest of the family (the in-laws and six nieces!) so the day got a little more interesting, as you can imagine with six girls running around. For their privacy sake, I’m not going to put their pictures up here expect this one since it’s their backs. It’s just the cutest picture ever. Here are two of the younger ones (cousins) showing my husband where they are going next on the map. Yes, neither one of them can read but good thing there are pictures on there.

So after this, I’m carrying the youngest niece which makes it hotter than 100 degrees. And my hubby has the camera. You have to get a picture of the Flamingos!

My niece I was holding liked the monkeys. She could do their ‘sound’ quite well for someone who didn’t say much. It was cute. These monkeys liked to show off running up and down those ropes. It was entertaining!