Overcoming Blogger's Block: Step 1

So yesterday I hopped on twitter and made a confession: I've been having a horrible case of the dreaded bloggers block lately. You've probably experienced the feeling too in one way or another (even if you're not a blogger)...maybe you were stuck while trying to write an important paper, needed to draw something brilliant and could only muster a half-hearted stick figure, or just stared in the fridge listlessly and realized that you have no idea what you're looking for in there (err...I mean, no idea what to cook for supper). Whatever the type of block may be, when it parks itself in your brain, it's no fun. Am I right, or am I right?

In any case, I received some incredibly lovely supportive tweets and several suggestions for breaking through the block. The main ones were:

1. get away from the computer
2. go outside
3. take some photos

Excellent advice...so I did all three. To be honest I really just decided to leave the house so that I'd be doing something other than staring at a blank screen and fighting off tears of frustration, but you know what...after the first couple photos I started to feel world's better. So my blogger's block isn't completely gone, but at least I had a lovely evening and can share a little bit of that with you here today. Step 1: Get a change of scenery - completed!

Next up, Overcoming Blogger's Block: Step 2 - not sure what that is yet, but I'll keep you posted. xo Ez

Printable Action Plan Sheets - Let's Do This Thang

A few weeks ago I was chatting with a dear friend of mine and inevitably our conversation wound around to a familiar place...what do I really want to achieve and accomplish both in the short term and long term for my business and life. I have a lot of ideas, but find myself easily overwhelmed when at the end of the day I look back and feel as though I've gotten nowhere closer to achieving any of them.

But then it occurred to me that I have actually not been seeing things correctly. Because honestly there are small ways that I am working towards my dreams every day. They might not be news-worthy or groundbreaking, but they are something...and I have decided that instead of berating myself for not making it all in one giant leap (how silly is that anyhow), that I am going to instead focus on treating myself positively as I work towards accomplishing my goals...even if it's just one tiny accomplishment at a time. It reminds me of that lovely quote: "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." - Lao-tzu

So to help me keep this positive outlook in mind I created an little action plan sheet (and a card for my wallet too) with a motivating reminder attached. The reminder is simple: That today I will only worry about doing at least one thing that brings me closer to achieving my dreams. I'm going to use the blank portion to write down what I did each day that supports a dream of mine. It could be something tiny like: "created a new painting," or something larger like: "paid for new logo design." Then at the end of each month I will look back and be able to see all the little steps I took in the right direction. A cause to celebrate for sure!

Do you want to join me?! My guess it that you have goals and dreams too...maybe some so large that they feel almost impossible. But let's commit to working towards them one step at a time together (while being nice to ourselves in the process). Shall we? I don't mean that you have to share your dreams openly here, but if you want to print out your own action plan sheets I've made them available for you to download and print as you'd like (downloads will begin immediately when you click the buttons below). I hope they will be useful to you. Now let's do this thang! xo Ez

The wallet sized action plans below are perfect for remembering your goals as you go about your busy day. These are an especially useful reminder for me to save my money for the things that matter most to me, instead of impulse buying so often. They print three (one of each color) to a page.

Painting With Light - My Daughter's Photos

Last Saturday I decided to try to capture the huge display of holiday lights at our local outdoor shopping center. I had all sorts of sparkly visions of the photos I'd take twinkling around in my head, but was frustrated when the ones I began snapping were nothing close to what I'd been dreaming of. I tried a few more times, but then finally (bummed out), I put my camera back into the car and was ready to leave when my daughter asked if she could try to take a few photos. I told her that the low-light conditions made everything blurry and that she might have a hard time getting a clear shot of anything, but I welcomed her to try anyhow.

Immediately she started snapping away and each photo that the she took was more beautiful than the last. They weren't crisp and clear...they were far better than that! Since we were outside in extremely low-light the shutter was staying open for several seconds per shot and so any movement resulted in blurred streaks of light. She noticed this right away and began experimented with different types of movement: side to side, up and down, fast and slow, and came up with some truly gorgeous shots. The fun continued as we drove home and she captured images of the light displays on the homes we drove past.

Beyond loving what she came up with, the evening served as an important reminder for me to clear my head of that inner perfectionist's voice that says I'm not doing things "right," and to just play around and have fun! We'll definitely be doing more "light paintings" over the holiday weekend...a few might even end up on our New Years' cards. xo Ez

All images by Miss K. (my daughter)

Little Lessons

It's been a tad hectic in the Creature Comforts "studio" lately as I've been working on the holiday gift guide, trying to get my shop in order for its launch, and jostling around other projects that I can't talk about yet. I'll admit that over the weekend it got to me. I had a mini meltdown, complete with tearful sobs and followed by the baking of a molten chocolate cake (chocolate is magic). Even after a face full of cake I was still down in the dumps so I decided that drastic measures were needed and I pulled out my watercolor paints and paper (everything in my head argued that painting was the last thing in the world that I had time for, but I refused to listen).

Very soon after, a couple furry and feathered friends emerged from the paper (possibly making an appearance in my shop soon), and with each stroke of the paintbrush I felt my heavy heart lighten. Lessons I learned:

1. It's okay to cry every once in a while, but it's nicer when they are happy tears.
2. Chocolate cake will fix a lot, but not everything.
3. Allowing yourself the time to enjoy a simple pleasure (like watercolor painting) when it seems like that's the last thing in the world that you have time for, just might be worth more than a week full of Saturdays.

I hope your day is bright today. Thanks for stopping by. xo Ez

Camping in Colorado

My daughter happy to finally be in Colorado after a very long car ride.

Well it took me the whole week, but I finally managed to make it through all my Colorado vacation photos so that I could share a handful of my favorites with you all today.

Our trip started with a 14 hour drive in two parts (broken by a stay at a very questionable motel). Thank goodness for an air-conditioned car and the yummy snack foods we had packed to keep us going! After all those hours on the road (and my little sister asking "are we there yet" about a zillion times — no joke), we couldn't have been more delighted when the mountains of Colorado finally appeared in the distance. As soon as we turned off the main road and headed towards our campground I had my Mom stop the car so that I could get out and take this panoramic shot of the gorgeous scenery:

Click the image for a larger view (will open in a pop-up window).

An abandoned schoolhouse down another stretch of road.

Once at the campground we were eager to get set up. Unfortunately after pulling up to our reserved site, we immediately discovered that the ground was swarming with biting red ants (ouch...so painful). That's also about the same time that I began to feel the effects of elevation sickness (something I had no idea existed until that moment). For the next two hours I nauseously dozed in and out of consciousness as my Mom drove around inspecting every last remaining campsite to see if any of them fared better in the venomous ant department than our original one. At last we settled on a spot at the far end of the campground, set up our tents, and got ourselves settled in for the evening.

The next day was a whole lot more fun and relaxing (other than the water that made us feel not so great).

Yum...noodles for breakfast! My littlest sister, Mom, and daughter.

I honestly can't remember what we did all day long, but I did capture a few photos of an adorable hummingbird who was certain that the clothespins my mom had strung up on a wash line were filled with nectar.

It was equal parts sweet and sad to see it working so hard to extract a meal out of the hard plastic. At one point it even laid down on the rope to rest (I have never seen a bird do that before)! 

Then on Thursday (my Mom's birthday) we had an adventure-filled day: white water rafting in the morning (ridiculously fun) and then a trip to a nearby hot spring afterwards. The whole day was blissful until we arrived back to our campsite that night and discovered that my Mom's enormous food cooler was gone (the thing is at least 4 feet long and with food weighed around 100 pounds). It seemed that somebody had stolen it in our absence...that is until we came across my little cooler with it's handle ripped off and 2 huge puncture marks through the hard plastic top. Yes...we had been visited by a bear!!! I couldn't shove my daughter in the car fast enough, and we all drove over to report the incident to the owners of the campground. It turns out they knew there was a bear around and had been chasing it through the park in broad daylight when they saw it grab my Mom's cooler rip it open and then run off. So the good news is that we got the cooler back. The bad news is that this is what it looked like:

Mind you this is just one quick grab and bite from the bear's claws and mouth (the long lines near my fingers are each from one claw - to the right of my hand is where it bit through the plastic)! There was no way were were about to stay in our tents that night. Thankfully there was a teeny-tiny empty cabin available, so we stayed there Thursday night. The next morning we went back to our campsite to pack our remaining things up and discovered this:

I have no idea if this was from the same bear or a different one (we heard that there was also a mother bear and her two cubs in the area as well), but I didn't really care to wait around and find out. We said our farewells to the campground and decided to spend our last night in relative tranquility at a nearby rental cabin. It turned out to be the loveliest place possible...with nature (not the scary type) all around us, a babbling brook to stroll beside, and ample opportunity to snap a few final vacation photos.

And my favorite photo of all:My wonderful daughter in the most exquisite evening light.

So there you have it. We had a great trip filled with all sorts of memorable moments, however I learned that I'm not as tough as I used to be (or at least imagine that I was). I mean I can paddle a raft through rapids (I didn't even flinch when my fingernail got ripped off mid-paddle) and can set up a tent easy-peezy...but at the nibble of malicious bugs or hint of a hungry bear I want out. I guess there's a reason why my blog is called "Creature Comforts" after all! Oh, and my mom did love her surprise S'mores Kit! Yay!

All photos taken by Ez Pudewa (me).