Calendars and lists and schedules oh my!

A few weeks ago I was inspired by Cassie over at Back To Her Roots when she shared how she uses a cute little homemade PAPER calendar to help keep her on track for some of her fitness goals and Google Calendar to (micro)manage her day to day tasks. (I should note here that I've never met her, and hope she doesn't mind that I've taken her system and run with it.) Color Coding? Cute little pictures? Technology? How could I NOT be inspired and awed by her system. Especially since my motto is clearly

The N-Boy and I were already using Google Calendar, and I even had it set up to sync to my work calendar and Audrey the iphone. But one of my frustrations had been the lack of ability to color code different types of events. Cassie's solution to simply create different calendars for each category of event was brilliant! Not only is each category color coded, but I can also show or hide each calendar as I wish, so that if I only want to look at my workout schedule, I can!

It's still a work in progress, but I'm starting to feel a lot more organized and able to find a balance between all of the things I want to accomplish each day.

My other struggle lately has been avoiding the inclination to plop down in front of the TV or computer when I get home from work, so that the next thing I know it's past my bedtime, lunch isn't packed, dishes aren't done, and I haven't done anything except for make my way through four episodes of Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior on Netflix. [You'll be pleased to know that I've now finished the first season and have moved on to rewatching Dollhouse.]

I really liked Cassie's idea of also using a paper calendar where accomplishments can be physically checked off. So I used a blank printed calendar (from a app on my printer) and chose eight categories of things that I want to get done each day:

• Get up with my alarm
• Exercise (yoga, run, walk)
• Read at least 30 minutes
• Sew or quilt
• Do some kind of writing, blogging, or engaging in Social Media <---newest obsession! 
• Work on something for our Etsy shop, Prairie Sewn Companion
• Do Kelly's Daily Mission
• And Shine my Sink before I go to bed

Most of these tings take only a few minutes, and the ones that take longer are things that I genuinely WANT to do, but sometimes have a hard time getting the momentum to start. Enter-the happy chart-because sometimes grownups need gold stars, too.

So it's only day four, but so far so good. Now I just need ideas for what I get as a prize when I fill up my chart at the end of the week. Yes, this reminds me of a three year old earning stars for good behavior, but I'm ok with that.

So tell me, what should my prize at the end of the week be? 

Eating Out(side)

At the beginning of every summer I get the urge to create a summer bucket list. All of the things that I should do during the summer to truly enjoy the long days, warm weather and general happiness that comes in stark contrast to the month of February filled with lake effect snow and frigid temperatures (please, ask me how I feel about February). 

I'm still putting the 2012 list together (and possibly writing it down this year so I don't forget!) but I know there is one thing I've already started trying to do more of: eating outside. 

We have a nice patio in the back of the house, with a door leading directly onto it. With a wrought iron table and chairs set that is also quite nice. So there's no reason that when the weather is this gorgeous (look at that sunshine in the background!) that I'm sitting on my butt in front of Netflix eating pizza rolls. Summer calls for sitting outside, with SALAD (I hope the MomCat doesn't pass out when she read that), and with Caprica the Computer so that I can catch up on blogs. Huzzah for Summer!

Huzzah for Summer!

I know I've been lax about posting when BabyBrother starts to send text messages requesting a blog update. Thanks, BabyBrother, I didn't realize you cared so much about my quilting and crafting! You're the best! ;)

Although, to be fair, BabyBrother has a valid point. I got super wrapped up with the rest of the Momcat's visit after our grand Paducah adventure that I didn't even finish posting about that. Top that off with our second craziest time of the year at work (leading up to graduation, second only to the mind numbing chaos that is new student orientation), beautiful weather and lots of travel and I'm just a bloggity blog fail.

Thus we kick off the first full week in June with a(nother) attempt at getting back on the blogging bandwagon. So for all of your faithful readers out there (which seems to consist solely of BabyBrother), thank you for hanging in there.

American Quilter's Society-Day One!

The Momcat and I left South Bend bright and early this morning to head down to Paducah, KY for the American Quilter's Society Annual Quilt Show! This is our fourth time going down to this show, and I think we've FINALLY gotten this whole adventure down to an art form, leaving bright and early and stopping at the Outlet Mall for a few hours for mid-afternoon break. After driving a few more house and checking into our hotel, we headed into Paducah for our first stop at Hancock's of Paducah!

I'll take some pictures of the inside tomorrow (so you get the full idea of the craziness), but needless to say we found a few things! 

These are our happy "we love fabric!" faces. 

After our first shopping adventure we headed to Texas Road House for dinner. It's become one of our traditions to go here each year, and this was the best night in our schedule to do so.

One of my favorite things is how so many of the businesses welcome the quilters with special signs and banners! Yay for quilter love! Last year there was a lot of tension with the local community and the quilt show because of evacuating from the flooding, so I'm hoping we'll see more of a welcome this year.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel where I photographed the damage for the day:

Mondays are for Muggles...or Moms!

Holy smokies that weekend was FAST. Luckily I only have one day of work this week before the Momcat and I head off to Paducah for the AQS show! [insert ridiculously happy and muppet like dance here]

This last week was highly unproductive, in part because I was super busy trying to catch up from being at a meeting last week, and in part because I just had other things to do. Like accompanying friends the Apple store, because clearly my supervision was required.

I did however:
-Work out two times
-Host book club on Monday night
-Have a good time at the craft fair on Saturday with the Momcat

-Feel like we're almost-kinda-sorta ready for our trip

Not bad for a busy week with lots going on.

This week I will:
-Have a great time with the Momcat!

Seriously, that's all I want us to do. Have fun, be safe, and buy lots of fabric! This show always reinvigorates our love for quilting and give us lots of new ideas. Our hotel has wifi, so I'm hoping to post as we go through the week this year with updates from our adventure.

Festive for Friday...Paducah Time!

This Friday is especially festive as the Momcat has now arrived for our fourth annual trip to Paducah, KY for the American Quilter's Society Quilt Show. She decided to drive out this year, so after unpacking the car we headed to Rocco's for pizza and beer!

Needless to say we're both SUPER excited! We have a busy weekend planned before we head down south next week, with a lot to get done here before we go!

On Saturday we're setting up a booth as Prairie Sewn Companion at the Great Cloth Diaper Change event at Concord Mall in Elkhart. Even though we don't have kids yet, the N-boy and I would really like to cloth diaper so I'm really looking forward to being a part of this event. And even more excited that I get to wear the new vendor apron that the Momcat and her friend Christina made! It's a little hard to see in the picture from Audrey the iphone, but Christina embroidered "Prairie Sewn Companion" on the top pocket! It's so festive!

3...2...1..Liftoff!

Houston....our Etsy site has liftoff!

We actually launched it officially a few weeks ago when the first listings went up, but now I've added a few more things and feel like it's possibly on its way to becoming an actual shop. It's also been fun to spend more time on Etsy exploring the site and looking at other people's shops. There are so many cool things to look at, that I'm pretty sure I could waste A LOT of time just browsing around.

The Momcat and I are super SUPER proud of the work we've put into this little adventure, and excited to see where it takes us. I think we're going to get to do a craft show after she arrives this week (for the grand Paducah Pilgrimage-more on that to come!) and I'm excited to have the chance to talk to people about Prairie Sewn Companion when she's actually there, instead of just describing our collaborative efforts to people.

So if you're reading this (which likely means you're related to us or I've cornered you in the office) take a minute to check out our Etsy site! Here are a few of my favorite things that we've posted.

The Momcat has been working super hard on drafting some new patterns, too, so I'm excited to see what she's come up with when she arrives TOMORROW!