What's your Style Statement?

About a month ago, I purchased a book from Barnes and Noble.com called Style Statement. I want to tell you guys how neat this book is.

If you haven't heard of the book before, I'll tell you a little bit about it. It is a personal workbook. You go through a series of questions -- an interview of sorts -- and think about things you may not have tought about before... in all areas of your life.  Let me quote from the website for help here: "Style Statement is about simplifying our lives. It’s about looking at our true longings and desires, reassessing our direction, and making choices based only on what we need to be our whole selves. Clothing choices, creativity expressions, communities of friends, relationships, inspirations, and ways of living and working that bring out the best in us and push us to higher levels of fulfillment and presence in the world." Maybe you could call it a personal branding? Whatever your terminology... it is there to simplify and give you clarity in everything you do.

So after working in this book off and on for about a month... I realized my Style Statement last night (and it was definitely one of those Oprah "AHA!" moments)...  I am Comfortable Refined. And after learning that, I thought, "Of course I am! That is so me."

I invite you to go over to the Style Statement website and spend a little time there to be inspired and maybe even pick up the book for yourself.  I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with what you find out about little ol' you..

Five on Friday (A day late... sorry!)

Just a new list of favorite items:

This is gonna be my next compact camera. So sweet.

Get a head start on your handmade Christmas ornaments for next year! Very cute.

This will go with my New Years resolution for working out more:  Just Dance for the Wii (which doesn't require the floor mat like DDR does). Anybody tried this yet? I love it!

This DIY shirt was featured on today's Etsy Finds. Pretty and simple. Definitely my style.

These UGG boots.  I love all the different colors and the pattern is so cute!  Never really thought as UGGs as a necessity until I moved to Ohio...


Feel free to share your favorites this week!

Thought for the day....

From the blog Notebook Doodles. Neat stuff on there. Take a look.

One Week.

Earlier today: throwing snowballs at Layla in the backyard.

Last week this time: celebrating the New Year with friends in Pittsburgh.

Resolutions 2010.

A few days ago I posted about my resolutions for this year. I had a good start going but I needed help with #3. This is what I had:

1. Work out on the Wii Fit three times a week for at least twenty minutes.
2. Pay down my credit card debt a significant amount (I have a certain dollar amount in mind) and stop using it so much. 
3. This one is still a work in progress but it will have something to do with photography and/or my Etsy shop. It needs to be specific so I can hold myself accountable.

 So that was a week ago when I wrote that but now I have figured out the last one. I don't know if it should count as #3 and #4 or maybe just two parts to one resolution. Anyway, here is my #3 resolution: to submit a series of photographs to Capture Cincinnati and have at least one published in the book next year.

It's the second part of that sentence that might be a little tough, but I think I can do it. I'm very excited about this. I just found out about this project in the past few weeks and obviously at that point it's too late to submit anything. But don't worry, I'll keep you guys posted and you can help me figure out which pictures to submit when the time is right.

Take care and Happy New Year!

26 Books Every Photographer Should Own

Quite an interesting list that I came across on the Popular Photography website this morning. I will definitely have to (gradually) add a lot of these to my collection.

26 Books Every Photographer Should Own - Digital Photo Tips and More on PopPhoto.com

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Holiday Things.

Niko on his birthday last week.

As I am writing this, I am looking outside and there is snow on the ground. We didn't have a White Christmas but it's definitely been a White December. We have enjoyed many evenings (and sometimes entire days) by the fire. The dogs love it. Especially Bella. If she could have her own little dog kennel with a mini fireplace she would have asked Santa for that I'm sure.

We had a really nice, relaxing Christmas with just the two of us this year (plus the dogs of course). Nothing too extravagant. Just some things that we really wanted. Tim got me a Wii Fit Plus and the Balance Board which I totally love (and I have already picked a few favorite exercises -- love the Super Hula hoop!) Can't wait to get one or two more games for that in the upcoming months. I got him the new Dan Brown book The Lost Symbol and, like a typical Dan Brown book, he can't seem to put it down. Then we got some other things like Wii games, clothes, dvds, etc. Just nice and simple. The funny part is, I was able to guess all of my presents before I unwrapped them.  I felt so clever! I'm such a sleuth. ;)

So now we are trying to figure out if we want to do anything for New Year's Eve. It's supposed to snow here quite a bit that day, so it's kind of putting a damper on things. I would like us to go out to dinner or something but not too many places are accepting reservations this late so maybe we'll just stay at home to celebrate.

I have already started thinking about my resolutions for 2010. I need to keep it around three, otherwise I'll lose focus and get too overwhelmed with everything I'm trying to accomplish.

Here's what I'm thinking for my resolutions:

1. Work out on the Wii Fit three times a week for at least twenty minutes.
2. Pay down my credit card debt a significant amount (I have a certain dollar amount in mind) and stop using it so much.
3. This one is still a work in progress but it will have something to do with photography and/or my Etsy shop. It needs to be specific so I can hold myself accountable.

I feel like #3 just needs a little inspiration and then I'll have it all done. My mom got me a beautiful Ansel Adams day planner for Christmas so I think that will really help me to not procrastinate prioritize (I sometimes still do procrastinate but have gotten much better at prioritzing) all of my goals. I'll let you know when I get the third one figured out.

I hope you guys have a great week and please feel free to share your New Years resolutions! You never know who you might inspire. ;)

Food and Festivities

Last Thursday we had Tim's managers over for a nice little holiday dinner. He put so much work (and love) into this little shindig. I don't think they really understood all the preparation that went into it but if they did, they would know they got the most thoughtful boss holiday party ever.

Here are a few food highlights:

• handmade truffles*
• caramel-glazed creme puffs (Tim calls them "croquem"-something... can't remember)*
• prime rib
• baked mashed potatoes
• baked dijon asparagus

 

*Desserts pictured above.

 

We had all sorts of scrumptious food and drinks. The pomegranate margaritas seemed to be the drink of choice for the evening. Best of all, the house stayed so pretty and clean for a whole 24 hours (except for the kitchen).

Tomorrow I'll be posting about Niko's birthday and the recent snow activities.

Over the (Ohio) River and Through the Woods!

This little package of Christmas goodies (weighing no less than 8lbs and 7oz. ... much like a little baby Jesus I would presume) found its way to the post office today and is officially on its way to Clemmons, NC to see my family! Niko's little nose did the final inspection and everything was OK by him, so off it went.

Now I am off to work at Cincinnati Tan for the evening and then tomorrow we will be getting everything ready for our little holiday dinner party!

Cheers!

Frustrated...please help!

When we first moved to Cincinnati this summer I looked around at several area gyms and fitness clubs to see which one I wanted to join. Group fitnesses classes are a huge factor in this decision. I love spinning and yoga classes especially. It's a good combination for me to stay in shape. That being said, I ended up joining Urban Active because they were less than five minutes from our house, offered spinning classes just about every day of the week (only about one yoga class a week but that's doable) and Tim already had a membership there and really liked it, so I joined for $40 a month.

Fast forward to November when I learned that they cut ALL classes at our location (and our location only) indefinitely to keep costs down. Now, I would understand maybe if they did this at other locations also, or maybe just cut down on a few of the unpopular classes at our location, but it wasn't that way. (There were several times I attempted to go to spinning class on a Monday night and couldn't get in because the class was already full at least 10 minutes before the class even started!) Frustrated, I fill out a "member concern form" after I learn about the situation with the classes, and wait to hear from someone at Urban Active so we can talk about this.

A week later I talk to a UA representative. I tell her my frustrations, why I joined the gym in the first place, and how I don't want to drive twenty minutes to the other locations to take a class that should be offered at my location, especially if I am driving to take a spinning class and I am not even guaranteed a seat when I get there! She listens and does not waiver in her stance. She tells me my options:  I can have my rate lowered to $20 a month but only stay at our "home" location, without an option to take a class at other UA locations; if I am really dissatisfied I can cancel my membership for a $100 cancellation fee; or wait to see if they bring the classes back closer to summer (with no guarantee of that happening of course). I told her that I didn't really like any of those options and I would have to think about it.

I feel like my whole conversation with her was pointless. I knew all of those options already and she didn't offer to do anything really.  I have been looking at local yoga classes but there aren't very many studios that have flexible schedules plus I would still want to do spinning/cardio somewhere. Then I started thinking about getting a WiiFit for the yoga option but I'm not sure about that whole thing.

 I feel like Urban Active did nothing in the way of customer service and now I just don't even want to go in there to work out. It makes me angry to go over there but I need some cardio in my life. What do you guys think? Are these people crazy? Do you think they should have offered more options to me or am I just being silly?

Please comment with any sort of recommendation or resolution that you think would help. :)  I would greatly appreciate it.