From our pre-Gabe road trip.

I love my husband dearly.

I am lucky, so very lucky, to have such a supportive, helpful, musically-gifted, funny guy to spend my life with.

But our current day-to-day life doesn’t allow for much time to enjoy time together.

He is in school and spends much of his time at home doing research, writing papers, and reading. And I spend many hours each day on the computer working on design projects for Little Leaf. Coupled with our toddler who demands much of our attention when we’re not studying or working, and we’re lucky to spend 30 minutes watching television together before crashing at the end of the day.

Once every few weeks, we spend an hour or two chatting about life and dreams and our future and Big Things. Those are my favorite times. They nourish our relationship and leave my heart content and full.

But here’s the the thing: I know that expressing appreciation doesn’t take much time. That I can do something little every day to show Mike how much I love him, how very glad I am to have him, and to bring some sunshine to his day.

This Lent, that is my focus. I mentioned cutting Twitter and Facebook out for Lent, but I’ve decided instead to focus on being a better, kinder wife. To lose my patience less and express appreciation more. To choose love over nitpicking. To get annoyed less often and be more playful.

I love Lent not just from a religious perspective – preparing for Easter and all that – but for the fact that it is a set period of time set aside for self-improvement (Though many, many high school girls use it as a dieting tool and that is a major pet-peeve but ANYWAY.).

Here’s where you come in, I need ideas. Seriously. I am not a creative, thoughtful person. I want to be, but I am not.

I’ve started by writing things I love about him on our bathroom mirror, something I directly stole from a tweet where Bri mentioned doing this for her husband. (See? I am not thoughtful. I just steal other people’s thoughtful ideas.)

I know every person and every relationship is different, but help me think of little or big things I can do for my husband during the next 40 days and I will be forever grateful.

This isn’t cheating, this is phoning a friend. Lots of beautiful, kind, way-more-thoughtful-than-I-am friends.

See the comments from Lent, Thoughtfulness, and my Guitar-Wielding Husband.

It’s true. I’m still talking about not using shampoo. Only today, I’m doing it over at The Full Moxie: Why I Quit Using Shampoo.

A few updates since I last blogged about being shampoo free:

I use less baking soda.

Once a week, I use baking soda when washing my hair, but the other times, I just use tea tree oil and water and rinse with the apple cider vinegar. I also use less baking soda – just two large pinch with a bit of water. It’s less paste-like, but it also leaves me with less residue.

A low-maintenance, no-heat, no-product styling method.

Instead of straightening my hair or using my flatiron or mousse to create frizz-free waves, I twist my wet hair, after I brush it, into a low bun and secure it with Goody Spin Pins until my hair dries. Then I remove the spin pins and voila! Easy, loose waves that last for a few days. It’s a perfect compliment to my shampoo-free ways.

Winter changes things.

In the winter, my skin is much drier, so I use more olive oil and less castor oil in my oil cleanse for my face. I still sometimes have to use moisturizer, but much less often then when I was using harsh soaps.

Two questions I’ve gotten recently:

“…castor beans and the plants are highly toxic. The people who harvest them often suffer from very harmful effects and it’s for this reason that I would prefer to use something else…Do you think there is anything that you could replace it with that might not work as effectively, but would still (over time) do almost the same thing?”

Yikes! I’ve never heard of that and find it quite troubling. Thanks for bringing it my attention. I have heard of people using just olive oil and having favorable results, as well. The castor oil is use more for oil-prone skin, so if you have normal or drier skin, you should actually be using hardly any castor oil, anyway. Also, I’ve used about two ounces in a year-and-a-half of doing this, so the consumption level is rather low. Of course, I absolutely understand wanting to avoid it completely!

“Do you wash your washcloths separately from other washables since they contain oil or does it not affect your laundry?”

I haven’t noticed any effect on my laundry. I wash in cold water and the amount of oil is rather minimal, I suppose.

See the comments from Shampoo Free: Elsewhere & An Update.

I started using reusable coffee sleeves to transport my apples bruise-free in my purse. Mike made fun of me, but I quite like using them for this purpose.

* * *

Friends Lift Your Higher // Whoorl // Oh, Whoorl. Who doesn’t love her? I love this post because I relate to it so very much. I want to lift people higher and surround myself with friends who lift me higher. (This feels like a power ballad moment.)

A Mountain I’m Willing to Die On // Glennon Melton // This letter to her son was so beautiful it made me cry.

Stay Beautiful // Simply Kat // Kat is doing a no-makeup-no-shaving-no-primping challenge and I’m finding her journey and reflections fascinating. It’s got me thinking my own reasons for wearing makeup, as well.

Happy Valentine’s Day! // Michelle Woo // I just love Michelle’s writing. She’s able to say so much with so little. And this is a wonderful glimpse of cozy, boring, perfect married life.

See the comments from Friday Photo & Finds.

I have lots of opinions and feelings about all sorts of current political issues – from Planned Parenthood/Komen Foundation to birth control and the Catholic church to taxes and Occupy Wall Street.

But, I don’t (often) talk about my political opinions publicly online.

Ironically, it makes me sad when people say, “I hate politics.” Politics are important! Maybe you hate the political divisiveness or the political system or how politicians have to spend half their time campaigning or how confusing it can be, but political policies and laws and issues and a presidential candidate’s views? Very, very important.

So. If it’s important, why don’t I blog or tweet about politics?

* I don’t want to alienate. I hate when people I love spout political messages I disagree with, or worse, find offensive. I don’t want to be that person for someone else. Maybe some people can compartmentalize and don’t care hearing about those opinions and write off the people as misguided, but I just can’t separate the views from the person for whatever reason. There is a fine line between being true to my beliefs and not being pushy and alienating folks who don’t agree with me, so I play it safe by being quiet. If I knew everyone reading agreed with me, I’d express my opinions openly and passionately, but I know the people I engage with online have a wide variety of passionate political leanings.

* Things can come across wrong online. People in my offline life – coworkers and friends – are aware of my feelings on various political events and issues. We engage in discussions, even if we don’t agree (except for individuals who are rather hostile and hinder any chance of real dialogue). Online, 140 characters are hardly enough to express myself fully. Besides, people offline know all of me. They don’t see one tweet and start Assuming Things and assigning labels to me. They know that our relationship is bigger than politics or disagreements and that I am more respectful and earnest than to ever aim to hurt someone with my words. When I’m expressing an opinion online, much gets lost in translation. Tone is inferred by the reader, and it might not always be what I intended. Again, playing it safe.

* Practically (and boringly), it’s professional. I run a business and my clients follow me on Twitter and read my blog. I don’t want to say anything that would cause someone to stop doing business with me.

* It can be frustrating and disheartening for me. Some people thrive on disagreement and debate, but I am not one of those people. And the truth is, people rarely change their opinions, anyway.

Sanity Saving Solutions:

* Silence the Offenders. If someone routinely frustrates me with their political commentary, I turn off the offending person’s retweets on Twitter and unsubscribe from their updates on Facebook (or in the cases of acquaintances who are radically offensive, I’ll unfollow or unfriend them). The internet should be a pleasant place to go, not one that fills you with frustration or anxiety. Remove people from it who are contributing to those feelings.

* Quietly comment. If I want to comment on a friend’s online tweet/blog post/Facebook political status, I’ll send them a direct message on Twitter, a message on Facebook, or leave a comment. This way, I can tell them I think they’re awesome and I agree without being public about it. I usually don’t comment if I disagree with something. Downright offensive things do get a response, however. Though never angry, just a cheerful little note. And then an “I’m so frustrated” text to Mike or Kat or my sister.

* Don’t get online so much. If you find that checking Facebook and Twitter leaves you shouting at your computer screen and filled with frustration – you either need to do some unfollowing/unsubscribing/unfriending or stop checking those social media sites constantly all day long. (I KNOW. It’s harder said than done. I’m basically talking to myself here. )

* Read opinions you don’t agree with (but stop when you start to feel angry). I truly think that reading articles and blog posts from the ‘opposition’ and learning how to be gracious and attempting to understand ideas you disagree with is important. That said, you probably shouldn’t read the comments. They’ll just make you lose faith in the goodness of humanity. People are more than their politics, but sometimes things get nasty.

I certainly don’t think abstaining from political expression online is for everyone. I appreciate when people eloquently express opinions I share, as well as opinions I don’t. I’m making the decision that’s right for me and my sanity. Truce?

See the comments from Four Reasons I Don’t Get Political Online and Four Sanity Savers.

- I am training for my first half-marathon at the end of April in Nashville. And by training, I mean, I am running between 3 and 5 miles once a week. Though I’ve run on the snow a few times, once there is no snow on the ground, I’ll run more. I’m partly terrified (13! miles!) and mostly excited to have a goal and a reason to push myself.

- I was reading about a blogger who landed  a huge sponsorship opportunity with a car company and I thought, “Wow. That’d be nice” when I realized, dude, I blog about driving less and walking more. Never gonna happen. In fact, most of the companies that sponsor bloggers are ones that wouldn’t really jive with me – I don’t shop at Wal-Mart, I’m an advocate for buying less, I don’t eat meat, and I wash my hair with baking soda and vinegar. I can see it now, Arm & Hammer wants to give me some products to try. Heh.

- This is a good time to tell you that I did start an Amazon store – which means I have a list of all the baby stuff, books, green living stuff, and photography stuff I recommend. If you happen to buy something (anything!) on Amazon, I’ll get, like 4 cents, for every dollar you spend (so, clearly, not getting rich off of this – just maybe paying for my hosting each month). If that really bothers you, just click to the regular Amazon store or let it sit in your cart for 24 hours. I promise you I’ll never recommend clutter or junk.

- When I found out I was pregnant, I was a bit nervous about the fact that Mike was planning to start his PhD around the same time I was due. Nervous because, well, grad school doesn’t pay much (but it does pay; we’re not going into debt for this, thank God), and I wasn’t sure if I would have to go back to work full-time because of it. Everything has worked out so beautifully I can hardly believe it. First, out of the dozen PhD programs Mike applied to, he got into the one that is 20 minutes away from my parents (aka: Gabe’s Tuesday childcare). Second, since Mike is a full-time student, he is actually home much more often than if he had a full-time job. He and Gabe are developing an amazing relationship, and it’s allowed me to work part-time without paying (much) for childcare (I realize that makes it sound like I pay Mike. I don’t. We pay my mom a nominal amount). Finally, the part-time, super flexible job that fell into my lap allows me to schedule when I want to work, and I can contribute some essential income.

I’m very, very happy that we didn’t hold off on having a child until we were in a stable place with our careers and such. Also, I’m absolutely an advocate of having a baby while the dad is a full-time student. I had a friend try to convince me that Mike shouldn’t go to school once we found out we were pregnant. I am so glad we went forward with our plans. Lesson learned: life might surprise you with how awesome it turns out to be.

- I am failing miserably at my February goal – Do one thing at a time. More like, do twelve things a time. I’m so incredibly distractible and impatient and generally just have the attention span of a squirrel that I can’t even wait for a webpage to load without checking my email or some such nonsense. It’s ineffective and, quite honestly, a gigantic embarrassment how crazy I am. I’ve actually started reading a book about slowing down and just reading it has helped me be a little more mindful and intentional about what I’m doing with myself. Last night, I brushed my teeth while doing nothing else. I know, you’re all amazed with my self-restraint. I usually grab a book and read it while brushing my teeth, but after reading a passage about how we don’t allow ourselves to be alone with our thoughts (True. NPR in the car, Hulu while making dinner, etc etc), I figured I’d live on the edge and just get ready for bed.

- I was thinking about getting an iPhone. I don’t have one because data plans are expensive and I am already far, far too addicted to the internet. But, I lost my iPod touch and our GPS broke, so it’d be like killing several birds with one phone (har har). The jury is still out, but I’m incredibly torn. I wonder what my slow down book will have to say about smartphones…

- Mike and I were chatting yesterday and realized we’ve never actually done anything for Valentine’s Day. I tend to think the holiday is better-suited for elementary school students – paper valentines and pink cupcakes and a party at school! – and makes people feel sad about being alone. So, I’ve never really wanted to celebrate it. We usually do something for our anniversary in August, and I mean, really, having a lovey-dovey holiday more than once a year?  Is that necessary? Next thing you know, they’ll be telling me I need to be loving to my husband every day or some craziness like that. Anyway, Valentine’s Day is on a Tuesday this year – which is the day we’re all out of the house for 12 hours. Nothing says romance like crashing in bed and watching some Psych, right? (Seriously, though, I am considering doing fondue. That’s Valentinesy, right?)

- Today, I am going to the dentist for the first time in nearly two years (lack of dental insurance). I’m slightly terrified of what they’ll find, since I know I have at least a few cavities. She’ll probably yell at me for not flossing enough, too. And then make me pay for having my teeth tortured.

What are you thinking about this Monday morning?

See the comments from On My Mind.

10 Stubborn Food Myths that Just Won’t Die  | LifeHacker | Please don’t freeze your coffee beans!

Expensive People  |  Inward/Outward  |  My friend sent me this post and, in turn, saved my mental health.

My Indonesian students’ thoughts on 9/11  |  Danielle and Brandon’s Adventures Indonesia  |  My friends are teaching in Indonesia and their entire blog is fascinating, but I found this post particularly interesting. (Especially in light of the fact I was in Malaysia during 9/11.)

Confessions of a New Mom | Hilary Barnett

Have a lovely weekend!

See the comments from Friday Photo & Finds.

I explained that although he certainly helps around the house, the responsibility of remembering to schedule Gabe’s doctor appointments, which days I need to wash his diapers, to change the load of laundry (we share a washer and dryer with our floor, so it’d be rude and against the rules to leave laundry in the washer too long), dealing with the internet company, paying our bills, and balancing our budget falls on me. Not to mention I cook most nights, even when I work.

He, sweet, understanding husband that he is, said he’d like to establish a chore chart so we have clear boundaries of who does what. We’ve tried in the past, but the only rule we came up with was, “Make the dinner, do the dishes.”

Weeks passed and nothing changed. I made a chore chart of daily, weekly, and monthly chores and slipped it in a clear protective sleeve to use with a whiteboard marker. We didn’t use this chart.

So, I asked Twitter what they did and the answers were fascinating.

Some were super balanced and equal and way more organized than we are:

@ecbuergler: We each made a list of ones that we don’t hate, made sure time wise that it was more or less even and then stuck with it

@AngieBailey13: We’ll go by taste, or we’ll trade. Like I do [chore] this day/week, Jen does ’tis the next! Or we’ll tackle them together, or tackle the same room together.

@LovelyAnomaly: By taste. I hate dusting, but C hates vacuuming. So I vacuum & he dusts. I hate folding laundry, so I wash & he folds.

@tillien: well, we took what we each like/don’t like to do and went from there. meaning – him kitchen, me bathroom (though I dont like then everything else can be up for grabs or rotated.)

@ItsAshleyKoch: We split all the household chores, including groceries, in half, and then switch off every week. Except for dishes. We switch off every day for those.

@deannaogle: I’m not really sure how we decided. Since I cook I took the dishes, and laundry. He took bathroom and trash. And the rest we split depending on who can. It accidentally works!

@stefcia: When we clean the whole house, I clean kitchen, he cleans bathroom, I dust and do surfaces, he vacuums and washes floors. Daily chores – he washes dishes (non-dishwasher items), I dry, I load/unload dishwasher. We each do our own regular laundry, but we split gym laundry and linens – whoever gets around to it first.

(This is a well-oiled machine!)

@smacdo03: I’m the planner/organizer, so I do anything that requires monitoring (laundry, shopping/cooking, finances) while Dave does the ‘it’s here & must be done’ stuff — cleaning, ironing, lawn, snow. Child-care is shared. Almost 8 yrs in, works well.

Some have professional help (I wish!):

@stephcorwin: I do laundry, he does dishes, and the housecleaners do the rest ;)

@tatabex: I know it’s not an option for everyone, but we have a cleaning lady come 2x a month. worth every penny not to fight about it.

Some do more work than others:

@liveloudlyk: I wish I knew! I always grocery shop, meal plan and the rest depends on the week but its mostly my week ;)

@fabbrunette: I do most of it and when he helps I thank him and act grateful so that perhaps he’ll do it again. #chores

@oiler02: I do most of the chores b/c i stay home now but before we each picked disliked the most and the other did them

@srslylisa: He does everything! Well, I shop and cook. He cleans.

And some are as clueless as I am:

@redmudnessa: let me know when you find out….8 years and we haven’t figured it out either.

With this in mind and a list of chores (divided into monthly, weekly, and daily chores) typed up, I sat down with Mike and we talked for a while about the best way to divvy up chores. I tried the, “What chores do we hate?” route, but that got nowhere fast, since neither of particularly hate any chores.

Always wanting turn everything into an! Exciting! Activity! I printed out two copies of the chores and decided we’d each mark who does what chores on our sheet and compare:

Happily, we had very similar lists – although I gave myself a bit more chores than Mike gave me.

I went back and got to flex my organizing muscle (I LOVE EXCEL) by making a complicated chart with squares for daily chores, weekly chores, and monthly chores. It looks cumbersome and overwhelming. I hated it. Instead, I went back to original one, but split it up into two columns. I slipped it into a sheet protector and we can mark off chores as we do them with a dry erase marker.

So far, it’s worked out well. It’s just nice to know what are *my* chores and what are Mike’s chores now. No guessing. No comparing or arguing over who does more. If I have a few minutes while I’m waiting for water to boil, I can glance over at the chore list and remind myself that there’s something I could be doing. AND, I get the satisfaction of seeing a list of checked off chores each week.

UPDATE: Here is our chore list on Google Docs – you can save it and edit it to add or remove chores for your and your spouse/boyfriend/significant other/roommate/cat/etc.

See the comments from Marriage and Chores.

I never liked biscotti. What’s to like? It’s a hard, almost-stale cookie, right?

WRONG, my friends. Biscotti is an awesome giant cookie log that is cut up into awesome slices of amazing chocolatey goodness and is best consumed with a mug of coffee. What’s not to like?

Someone wanted to steal my coffee.

The great part about this recipe is that it’s flexible and easily customizable – so you can add your favorite mix-ins and leave out the ones you don’t like. It’s a perfect recipe for me, since I like variety and don’t always have a fully-stocked pantry. It’s designed for substitution. Chocolate chips instead of dried cranberries? Sure! Why not?

Last week I made a batch of coconut-date-walnut chocolate biscotti and we ate all of it in two days. I’m going to blame Gabe, since he stole several pieces out of my hand each day.

In fact, while taking a few photos of the biscotti, Gabe grabbed up a piece and started dunking it in my (empty) coffee mug. Apparently kids watch what you do, eh?

Gabe will demonstrate the best way to eat this biscotti:

Step 1: Dunk. Step 2: Eat.

Kitchen Sink Chocolate Biscotti 

from Vegan Cookies Invades your Cookie Jar

makes 18 biscotti

Ingredients:

½ cup milk (nondairy or dairy)
2 T ground flax seeds (I have a jar of ground flax seed in my freezer. Perhaps that makes me odd).
½ cup canola oil
1 cup sugar
2 t vanilla extract
1 ½ cups flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour, but all-purpose is fine)
½ cup cocoa powder
1 ¼ t baking powder
¼ t salt
up to 1 cup of 2-3 mix-ins: coconut, chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit, etc (Dates are my favorite!)

1- Preheat oven to 350F. Beat together milk and flax seeds until smooth. Mix in oil, sugar, and vanilla.

2- Add the dry ingredients (except mix-ins) and stir to form a smooth dough. Knead in up to 1 cup of mix-ins.

3 – Form a 10 x 4 inch log on a Silpat or parchment paper on a baking sheet, using a rubber spatula to smooth edges and flatten ends. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove, turn off oven, and allow to cook for 45 minutes.

4- Preheat oven to 325F. Slide the log off the baking sheet and onto a cutting board. With a sharp, heavy knife, cut the log into half inch slices. Pressing down with the knife firmly and quickly works best. Transfer the slices back to the baking sheet and bake for 26-28 minutes. Allow to cool and store in a loosely covered container.

See the comments from Recipe: Eat-the-Whole-Batch-48-Hours Biscotti.

Check out what I’ve been working on in the past few months:

Catholic Drinkie

Platform: WordPress

Sarah, the founder and blogger behind the blog Catholic Drinkie wanted a new look for her blog and coordinating social media pages. She liked a vintage poster feel and didn’t want it overly feminine (boys drink beer, too!). With a brown and maroon color palette, creating an embossed look with a few elements , and using a poster-like texture, I think we’re both excited about the way it turned out. Check it out here.

Bite Buff

Platform: Blogger

Katrina wanted to take her food blog and make it bright and colorful. Well, bright it is! She is a Cleveland-based blogger, so I wanted to anchor her header with a photo of a map of Cleveland. I also designed coordinating business cards and an about page with a sweet graphic indicating her recent move from New York to Cleveland. Check out her blog here.

Aditi and I go way back. As in, we both lived in Bangkok, Thailand in middle school in the late 90s. True story. She also introduced me to the TV show Friends, for which I am forever grateful. I love working with people I know in real life and it’s even more wonderful when the internet and blogs bring old friends back into my life! I got to see Aditi for the first time in, oh, 14? years this May when we went to New York. It was fun. Aditi and Ben are fun. Aditi and Ben are celebrating their marriage with friends and family and wanted a fun save the date. This makes me want to go find a carnival! (Aditi has a blog. You can stalk her and her exciting NYC life here.)

Cleveland’s A Plum

Platform: Blogger

I mean, who doesn’t know Alexa from Cleveland’s A Plum, amiright? The girl has been voted best blog in Cleveland for several years in a row and is über popular. Alexa wanted to move away from the super-pink to something a little more mature. With a linen texture background and a simple Ohio with a plum (literal, but not too cheesy), it’s sleek and professional, but still fun. Like Alexa. Check it out here.

The Dawg’s Dish

Platform: WordPress

When Alana contacted me, I was so excited to do another Cleveland blogger’s design! I used a photo of her and her dog in the header, typography in the post titles, a wood texture for the background, and sparse use of her color palette with plenty of white space to create a clean and simple, yet unique, look for The Dawg’s Dish. Check it out here.

What Bex Loves

Platform: Blogger

Becky was starting a new blog and wanted something airy and light, with a pop of navy. She even made a Pinterest board for her tastes, which was incredibly helpful. In fact, Becky was also THE easiest client ever in the history of anyone. She responded to email with actual decisions in, like, 30 minutes. And she liked everything I did. It was awesome. Dream client. And I actually adore the blog design and it’s something I’d love on my own blog! Check it out here

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

It’s been six months since I started Little Leaf, and about three years since my first blog design gig for someone else. As it happens when we grow in any skill, I am now amazed at how absolutely awful some of my very first designs were.

I continually take gigs that stretch me just a little bit. Where I don’t 100% know how to do every aspect. Where I learn on the job. And it’s helped me grow incredibly. Oh, yes, I still spend hours wrestling with code. But, fewer hours. And my work is finally, finally matching my tastes. Every time I’ve made something, ever, I’ve been proud of it. But sometimes, I’d look at it later and think, “It’s not as good as I know I can be.” And now, that gap between what I want to do and what I’m doing is shrinking. Much I like I mused about last September.

Anyway. Thanks for always being my biggest fans and supporters, friends. It means a lot.

xo

See the comments from Recent Designs.

[January Goals Revisited]

Fix all 500 broken links and reorganize my blog  |  Done! Some links were broken from moving over, but a lot were old blog posts with links to now-defunct blogs and such. And I’ve added some pages and changed up the navigation in the side and top bar to help direct new readers who want to explore my blog. I’m still working on finishing the frugal living page, but I’m really pleased with the way it all came together by using similar font faces and a color palette, along with some of my own photography. I hope it’s easier to explore and for visitors to find what they’re looking for!

Move all Disqus comments over | IMPOSSIBLE. I have many feelings about this, but I am mostly mad at Disqus for being stupid (how eloquent of me). If you wan to get into the boring details – I could move them all over if I wanted to install the Disqus commenting system on this blog, but I do not, so I will not. Now that Blogger has threaded comments, I urge you not to install Disqus.

Figure out how to pay taxes for my business  |  Paperwork has been mail to register my business name, get my vendor’s license, and register as a sole proprietorship. Yay?

Buy nothing this month | While we did go out to eat for a few meals this month, we only when it was part of a social outing with friends, not just by ourselves. And our grocery bill was way more than usual ($420!) this month. But the only things we bought were some needs – a modem for our new cable internet and a headlight for our car. No clothing and no trips to Target (AT ALL. This is the first month in ages where I haven’t been to Target!). Some days, I’d feel an itch to just go somewhere, and I’d have a hard time thinking of what to do that didn’t involve Target. Gabe and I went to the library a few times to remedy my ‘must get out of this hoooouuse’ issues without spending money. In sum, it was a good exercise in realizing how retail therapy has snuck back into my life.

[February Intention]

Do one thing at a time | In the spirit of single-tasking, this will be my only goal this month. I am the queen of starting twenty different things and getting distracted constantly. A typical afternoon goes something like this: throw in a load of laundry, start a batch of cookies, check my email, start to respond, open Google Reader, start to read a blog post, check Twitter, click on a link, start to read the article, click back to the email inbox, Gabe demands attention, leave the computer, play with Gabe, go back to the computer and pull up a TV show on Hulu, while I’m waiting for the video to load, click on Google Reader again…and that’s just ten minutes.

It’s better for my productivity and sanity to start something, focus on it, and finish it. To check my email and respond three times a day, instead of constantly monitoring my inbox and getting distracted. To sit down and write an entire blog post without clicking around on the internet and getting discouraged about my own blog.

This doesn’t mean I won’t multitask in harmless ways – I’ll still watch The View while I’m cleaning the kitchen. I’ll still read my book while I’m brushing my teeth. I’ll still listen to podcasts while I go for a run. These types of multitasking are enjoyable, and don’t detract from my ability to focus.

Also, I’ll be deactivating my Facebook account and staying off Twitter for 7.5 weeks starting February 22 (aka: during Lent), which will help with the crazy-distracted-internet-browsing. I did it with Twitter last year and it was wonderful, but I’ll be honest, I’m a little terrified. But more about that later this month.

Here’s to a mindful February.

What are your goals or intentions for the month? Do you find that multitasking is good or bad for you personally?

See the comments from January Update & A February Intention.