creative mission statement: update

Oh my goodness, Ijust realized I didn't share my progress on my mission statement on Monday like I said I was going to!

This is what happens when I don't write things down. They cease to exist in my brain.

So, here is what I have so far.

*I am dedicated to bringing vibrant, joyful, and quirky designs and patterns to a variety of different surfaces, to impact people who want to live in happy, inspired environments and want their surroundings to make them feel good.

*To foster and raise up good thoughts and feelings in those who view my work.

* To add positivity and uplifting feelings to the universe through my art and design.

*To celebrate happiness and abundance.

I need help!

I know that mission statements are supposed to be focused and inspiring. They are supposed to be the spine of everything that a company does. How do I make mine more focused? How do I make one inspired sentence?

Here are the things that I want to feel in my work/life:

*connected (to the universe & people in general)
*creative freedom
*loving
*inquisitive
*curious
*abundant/affluent
*celebratory
*appreciated/needed
*full of meaning and purpose

How do I include these desired feelings in my statement?

I want my statement to be RADICALLY INSPIRING.
I want to read it and think "Hell yeah! That's why I'm doing what I'm doing."

I also love the idea of having a MANIFESTO, like Jonathan Adler. I've mentioned this before.
I'm thinking mine will be called my BLISS LIST. I'm working on it.

Do you want to make a bliss list with me? Maybe we should have Blissful Mondays here on the blog, and talk about all the things we believe in and stand for. Read Jonathan's. You'll get the idea.

PLease share your thoughts, and also any tips you might have on inspired writing and creative mission statements! I'd love to hear your thoughts.

creative mission statements...?

Good morning and Happy Monday!
I've been doing lots and lots (and lots) of thinking lately-- about my business, my life, how they intersect, how I want to present myself to the world, and on and on-- and I want to make some changes. I want to get focused. I feel like I'm not really sure why I'm doing all the things I'm doing, or what ties it all together (maybe that's a better way of saying it), which has gotten me thinking about mission statements.

I know, I know, just the sound of those words feels all business-y to me, too, but I'm really in love with the idea of a creative mission statement for my business and my life, to help me focus on what it is that I want to give to the world through what I do and who I am.

What if I could encapsulate the ways I want to be in the world, and what I want the purpose/function of my art to be, in a concise and inspiring statement? What would that statement be?

Do you have a mission statement?

Here are some mission statements that I find particularly inspiring:

Chris Guillebeau: "My mission is to help people live unconventional lives, make their own choices, and change the world."

O, the Oprah Magazine: “With this magazine we have an opportunity to make a real mark. To speak and connect to women in a way no other publication ever has. To help women see every experience and challenge as an opportunity to grow and discover their best self. To convince women that the real goal is becoming more of who they really are. To embrace their life.”

Google: "Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."

Here are some resources that I am finding useful:

- The Five-Step Plan for Creating Personal Mission Statements
- Translating Inner Purpose into an Authentic Mission Statement

Do you all want to join me in writing a personal mission statement? Please do! I'm going to work on mine this week, and then next Monday I'll post what I've come up with so far. Please leave comments! Ask each other questions, give us resources and ideas-- let's help each other! Also, feel free to email me this week, and we can work together, mastermind style.

Let's pinpoint and take charge of what we want to put out into the world!

tagged!

(image by sesame letterpress)

I was tagged twice yesterday (by shelley and stephanie), and since i usually let these things go for waaay too long, i'm going to answer the questions today for a change! here we go.

What is your current obsession?
figuring out how to use Adobe Flash correctly.

What is your weirdest obsession?
reading go fug yourself each and every morning. i'm really not interested in celebrity lives, but I am in love with this blog for some reason!

What are you wearing today?
yoga pants and an ugly brown t-shirt. it's morning and i'm still in my pjs. :)

What's for dinner?
oh gosh, i have no idea! probably salad and roasted potatoes or something like that.

What would you eat for your last meal?
thai food. something with thick, fresh rice noodles, lots of chili sauce, broccoli, tofu, carrots, and cabbage. YUM. then i would have a big piece of apple pie with vanilla ice cream fro dessert.

What's the last thing you bought?
75 blank DVDs.

What are you listening to right now?
Hard Ball with Chris Matthews

What is your favorite ice-cream flavour?
vanilla

What do you think of the person(s) who tagged you?
both shelley and stephanie are unbelievable talented, and so so friendly! i would love ot meet each of them in person one day.

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?
AMSTERDAM. without a doubt.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Iceland.

Which language do you want to learn?
Spanish.

What's your favorite quote (for now)?
"Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music-- the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls, and interesting people. Forget yourself." -Henry Miller

What is your favorite colour?
orange

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
black dresses that make me look skinny

What is your dream job?
a well-known designer (think Lotta Jansdotter or Orla Kiely) that has surface pattern designs all over the world, with a flagship store, lots of money, and lots of traveling!

What is your favorite tree?
magnolia

If you had £100 now, what would you spend it on?
a Flip video camera

Do you admire any one's style?
i really admire my sister's style. it's so effortless, and she always looks so glamorous. i don't know how she does it!

Describe your personal style?
quirky, colorful, comfortable

What are you going to do after this?
write some more blog posts

What are your favourite movies?
lost in translation, the royal tenenbaums, dirty dancing (FOREVER!), little miss sunshine

What is your favorite fruit?
grapes

What inspires you?
walks in my neighborhood, traveling, design books, nature, unexpected color combinations

Your favorite book ?
eat pray love by elizabeth gilbert. or hotel new hampshire by john irving

Do you collect something ?
not really. nothing in particular, unless you just count stuff in general. i have lots of that. :)
***
and here are the rules:

1. respond and rework; answer the question on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your invention, add more one question of your own.

2. tag eight other people.

so, the 8 people i'm tagging are:

lesley
jan
sarah
sarah
xander
michelle
jennifer
cameron

(or just join in if you want to!)

how do you market and organize yourself?

diana of please sir suggested i write a post about this topic yesterday, and i thought it was a fabulous idea. i was tweeting with some folks yesterday (tweeting... as in twitter.... are you on twitter? if so, you can follow me if you please!) about ways to organize and keep track of clients and marketing efforts. one of my goals for the next couple of months is to really get my marketing system in order, because right now it just is not working for me.

i have about 10 excel spreadsheets, all with different info and different schedules, and they're so confusing to keep track of that i procrastinate and don't use them! i want something easy. intuitive. something i'll use. so my question to you is: how do you organize and keep track? (or do you at all? are you like me, and it just feels like too much?


i downloaded a free trial of bento yesterday and am going to give that a try, and i also downloaded flick, which seems like a great way to keep track of artwork, inventory, and clients. do any of you use either of these?

do you have software or methods that you swear by? i'd love to know! i think this could be a very useful topic for us all, and i'll be sure to share my progress if you are interested...

{images via bpodr}

still not perfect today

ok, my dears, i'm continuing the trend that i started yesterday, and i'm just going to get it all out of me this morning so i can get on with my day. sound good? good.

this drawing is UGLY. and i'm not saying that so you all will leave comments telling me i'm crazy and that it's, in fact, lovely, because plain and simple, it's grossly ugly. it means nothing, and i got so fed up with myself last night that i just had to stop. it will probably go in my computer's recycling bin at some point today.

i know i post a lot of things here that i'm happy with, so i wanted to show you something that is just not good, so you remember that we all make crap sometimes. i had a professor once who told me "you have to make the bad art in order to make the good art." that is something i wholly believe. you have to get the crap out of you before the good can come out sometimes. i think it's like that in life, too. wow, making art is like living life life. hm... something to think about.

last night my wedding photographer cancelled because she got an unexpected job in alaska for the summer. i am beyond disappointed. her work is gorgeous and perfect, and i was so thrilled to have her-- but alas, careers call and things happen. so, now i am in need of a new photographer. the powers of twitter and blogland are hard at work for me-- i've put the feelers out! my ex-photographer also recommended someone else, so perhaps that will work out as well. we shall see. but alas, if you know any spectacular (and inexpensive!) photographers in the los angeles area available on august 1st, i would love to know about them.

ok, i am done moaning for the day. the sun is shining, and it is going to be a great day, right? right.

{ps-- i am not going to start being all negative and serious here every day, i swear!}

this is me in the morning

ok, friends. this is me. this is what i look like in the morning. it's not pretty, but it's REAL.

last night when i was hanging out with my group of pattern-designer friends, i had a conversation with my pal michelle, a fellow freelancer and artist, about how we're feeling sort-of disillusioned with blogland lately. don't get me wrong, i *love* you guys and i love being a part of this incredible community, but it's all starting to feel a bit too...... perfect. do you know what i mean? it seems that much of the time as i'm scrolling blogs i end up feeling "less than" and like i don't look right or have the right stuff, and like everyone else really has it together and figured out, while i, on the other hand, am a MESS.

now, i don't really think i'm a mess (i'm being dramatic!), but i have noticed that i've been comparing myself so much to other artists/blog writers/creative people lately, and then beating myself up for not being perfect, like i assume everyone else is. it's easy for me to forget that it's just real people behind these internet facades, with real lives and real imperfections, just like me. sometimes it's sort-of paralyzing, and stops me from doing something before i even start because i'm sure it won't measure up. that's a lot of pressure to put on myself.

and it seems that i'm sensing this general feeling all over the internet right now. i really started to pay attention to it the other day when i read cindy's post on quaint handmade called ugly lives here, too, where she said our blogs sometimes get "a little bit too antiseptic" i couldn't agree more. also jena's post on modish biz tips called when you feel like you just don't measure up is along these same lines.

so michelle and i made a pact to post on each of our blogs today what we really look like in the morning. not in flattering light, not photoshopped, not anything. just as is. so this is me. (notice my crooked glasses? that's because my kitty knocked them on the floor the other night and then i stepped on them in the morning and had to bend them back to shape. yep.)

it's easy to try to make everything look just so, because of course that's the way we want to be perceived professionally, but sheesh! it feels overwhelming, when i look at all these people that look like they're "really making it" and comparing myself to them, when i'm sure they all have their people they're looking at and thinking the very same thing. not that i don't wish success and satisfaction for people, because of course, i absolutely do! i'm just wondering lately how i can exist and participate in this community, but without the constant comparing and feelings of not being good enough or doing enough?

so, that's all. i don't mean to put a damper on your morning, and i certainly don't expect you all to have the same experience of the blogging world right now. and it definitely doesn't mean i'm not happy, because i am. i just wanted to share, because it was nice to have a real conversation about it with michelle last night, and i thought maybe some of you might be feeling it, too.
ok, on with my morning! :)

2009 goal and intention kit

i couldn't be more excited to share this with you all, my dear inspirational readers. i spent much of yesterday creating this new year 'goal and intention kit' (time i should've been spending getting ready for printsource!), and i'm so pleased with how it turned out! it's sort-of an extension of the take it tuesday download from a couple days ago, but has *much* more included--

the kit contains: 1 sheet of stickers, ready to cut out-- can be stuck on calendars, day planners, or anywhere else you please, a mini notebook with a pretty patterned cover (with one of my patterns as a cover!), blank goals, intentions, wishes,and gratitude sheets, fill-in-the-blank 'be.do.have' and 'personal stuff' sheets, mini positive reminder notes and mini goal notes, a super cute bookmark that says 'read good books, a sparkly pen, and a pretty paper pouch (again, a pattern created by me) to keep it all in!

the new year is a great time to get reorganized, and i know from personal experience that it's hard to keep track of all the goals and intentions i set, so i thought it would be helpful to have one place to do it all. it'll make it easier to keep track of, and hopefully more fun to do because it's cute and colorful!

you can snap one up in my etsy shop and get your 2009 in tip-top shape in the cutest way possible!

happy new year!

2009. my goodness.

it's so good to be back to the blog! i missed you all so. :)
i hope you had fantastic holidays and got everything you wished for.

2008 seems to have flown by.... so many good things and big changes.

at this time last year ryan and i had just gotten engaged (on new year's eve!), and i was not yet working fully for myself. ryan hadn't begun medical school yet, and i had not reached even the 20 etsy sales mark. now at the start of 2009, i am finding myself looking back on how amazing 2008 was (i quit my part-time job, ryan is at the top of his class in med school, i'm now at 728 etsy sales...), and also looking forward with big hopes and dreams and plans for this new year.

i like the idea of giving each year a theme-- for me, 2009 will be
the year of gratitude.
it feels challenging and a bit scary-- how can i be grateful for everything? how can i reframe situations to discover lessons to be learned, to be open and feel thankful for opportunities to grow and learn and change, to be less judgmental of myself and others?

in 2009 i will be getting married. (these are some photos of the beach in california where it will be.) it's very hard to imagine myself being a wife, or calling ryan my husband, but i am elated, honored, grateful, and so so excited to spend the rest of my life with such an incredible person.

with gratitude this year comes the desire to do my best to live in the moment and trust the universe. i worry a lot (like, a lot), and i would like to transform the worry into faith. faith in myself, faith in the universe, faith in the moment.

and being the list-maker that i am, let's put all these intentions into a list form:

1. i intend to be grateful for everything, even when it is hard
2. i intend to transform my worry into faith in the universe
3. i intend to be less judgmental toward myself and others

and some more goal-oriented items:

1. learn how to make animations
2. create a new website for myself
3. sell and/or license patterns/designs to companies for products
4. take more photographs
5. reach 2,500 etsy sales
6. have $100,000 by august 1, 2009 (eek! i said it)
7. get an illustration rep
8. start making monthly zines
9. start volunteering at the homeless shelter in atlanta
10. get a cat
11. exhibit at a 2nd trade show (my first is next week! whoa!)
12. travel to iceland
13. start the scrapbook project i've been meaning to create for years!

***
ok, my dears, here's to a happy, healthy, and smashing 2009! thank you so much for helping to make my 2008 so special. :)

jess goes for a facial and makeover

now, there are times that i just don't feel like a real girl. i am not all that into shopping, i really cannot justify spending a ton of money on clothes or shoes or purses, and my hair routine consists of a quick wash and air dry. i didn't even have my first pedicure just a few months ago. i have certainly never been the type of girl to peruse the makeup counters or shop for the perfect concealer or lipstick shade. in fact, i had never even visited the lovely ladies at the makeup counters at the mall. until yesterday.

while on an errand to pick up some laura mercier creme brulee bubble bath (which is apparently addictive) for someone at the lenox mall in atlanta, i was sucked into the magic of the makeup counters. oh yes. i never thought it would happen. i was sucked in so much so that i scheduled myself for a free facial and makeover with the licensed aestheticians that, i got the impression, are not there very often giving away free services. and i'm excited! i wanted to be one of those girls with perfect hair and nails and makeup and clothes.... and, alas, while my free makeover will probably not end up being this ultimate transformation (which i probably wouldn't actually be all that happy about anyway), perhaps it'll inspire me to do something different with my "look." heaven knows i could use it!

i'll keep you posted, as the makeover will go down tomorrow at 4:00....

ps: this stuff smells *delicious*, and i can see why it could be addictive. although i tend to go for the all-organic, paraben-free type of beauty products, this smells so delicious i think it might counteract all the stuff that's in it that probably isn't the best for you... it also smells so delicious that i feel like i'll be talked into spending $40 on it tomorrow, even though i don't ever take baths.... maybe it's a good excuse to start!!

manifesto

i am loving the idea of creating a manifesto for myself and my work lately. it is brewing in my mind and is beginning to take some sort of form.... perhaps it will become a part of my website, perhaps just a private little motivator, but something is coming......

as for manifestos, ever-inspiring jonathan adler has a *great* one on his website (along with fantastic objects and design delights, of course!)

in his words, here is what his company stands for:

We believe that your home should make you happy.

We believe that when it comes to decorating, the wife is always right. Unless the husband is gay.

We believe in carbohydrates and to hell with the puffy consequences.

We believe minimalism is a bummer.

We believe handcrafted tchotchkes are life-enhancing.

We believe tassels are the earrings of the home.

We believe in our muses: David Hicks, Alexander Girard, Bonnie Cashin. Hans Coper, Gio Ponti, Andy Warhol, Leroy Neiman, Yves Saint Laurent, and Madonna.

We believe in the innate chicness of red with brown.

We believe in being underdressed or overdressed always.

We believe in infantile, happy emblems like butterflies and hearts.

We believe celebrities should pay full price.

We believe in rustic modernism: Big Sur, A-Frame beach houses, raw beams, and geodesic dome homes.

We believe in Palm Beach style: Louis chairs, chinoiserie, Lilly Pulitzer, The Breakers circa '72.

We believe our designs are award winning even though they've never actually won any.

We believe in Aid to Artisans.

We believe dogs should be allowed in stores and restaurants.

We believe in mantiques - suits of armour, worn chesterfield sofas, heraldic tapestries.

We believe you should throw out your Blackberry and go pick some actual blackberries.

We believe colors can't clash.

We believe in blowing your nest egg on our pots.

We believe our lamps will make you look younger and thinner.

We believe in irreverent luxury.

i love that it is fun and humorous, but really true for his own life, and really focused on making work that is connected with the world and will make our homes and lives better, happier places.

here are some faves from his website:

writing about life

(tree carving on flickr)

sometimes i forget that life is more than work, and "getting somewhere," and being productive and financially successful. i think every self-respecting and ambitious 20-something may feel that way at times. sometimes i feel like i may be a little more neurotic than most, but that's a story for another day!

i was reading the sweet juniper blog this morning, and i had a little awakening. my life is RIGHT NOW. Not yesterday, not tomorrow, not 10 years from now (my favorite thing to fixate my thoughts on), but right now. So simple. So why is it so easy to forget? reading this blog also mad eme feel like i want to have a kid, but that is also a story for another day! i won't tell ryan about this little dream this morning. :) he's busy studying for the mcat . med school awaits.

it's a rainy morning here, and it feels like a real spring day. it's nice to feel an actual change of seasons-- it seems the last few years we have jumped straight from winter to summer in boulder, and i am loving the delicate spring days as of late. tulips, rain, longer days, sitting in the backyard in a tanktop for the first time, peeking at the garden everyday for signs of sprouting...

life is truly amazing, and i have no idea why we're here, but that doesn't mean i shouldn't make the most of it. life is not about making money. it is not about getting the most things done in a day that you can. it is about having love and giving love, and creating a memorable experience for yourself. maybe not even memorable, but an experience nonetheless. feeling the full range of feelings. profound joy and then deep sadness, letting it all go. this is what i would like to aspire to. and realizing that it all passes. nothing is permanent.

what i would like to aspire to, in order to deepen my experience of being alive and being a human being:

1. writing in my journal instead of watching tv. tv feels like a brain drain to me lately.
2. spending more time with family and friends
3. doing one thing at a time
4. let go of expectations of other people and myself
5. start writing my morning pages again (see julia cameron's the artist's way)
6. be gentle with myself
7. write more on my blog ; create a balance between product posts. these just get me into the more more more mentality. i want my life!

cheers to you all on my rainy little morning.

(alaskan tree carving on flickr)

happy birthday to the love of my life!

it's ryan's 29th birthday today, and i just had to tell the world how much i adore him. :)

happy birthday honey!

[ryan is in the lovely pink hat]