NightLight Journeys

Stream of Consciousness Sunday: Kick Back & Relax

2012-01-29T00:01:00.002-06:00

It's been a two week hiatus away from my routine of 5 minutes of free writing, but I'm back in the Stream of Consciousness Sunday groove. So here we go!

Today’s (Optional) Writing Prompt:

Describe, in detail, the way you like to relax.

Since I rarely have a day off to do absolutely nothing for anyone else but me the rare occasions I have to relax - what I enjoy varies.

Every 8 weeks I go & have my hair done which for me is a relaxer touch-up, or basically - I get my hair straightened. My stylist is usually trying new products on me, so it means I get pampered with extra deep conditioning & someone else gets to blow dry & flat iron my hair. Heaven.

That being said when I do my own hair it takes some time, so some Saturday mornings I shoo my boys - the big & the little & take all the time I need to wash dry & style my hair...including the shower & wash - I can be tied up for 2 peaceful relaxing hours. Bliss.

Late night pinning on Pinterest. Can't live without it.

Polishing my own nails - again a rare event - I don't often have the pleasure of going in to have someone else give me a mani & pedi. Maybe I get to do it once a year.

Waxing appointments - I won't embarrass myself by sharing how often I get to schedule these - not nearly often enough, but when I do, yes even having someone rip wax of your face can be relaxing - whatever... it's solitude.

Shoe Shopping - The ultimate stress reliever & even more so if I can find more than one pair I love.

Snuggling with my Munchkin in the mornings after hubby leaves for the office & before I make his breakfast - one of the best times of my days. Relaxing even when I'm not alone - it's a rare bonding moment we still have in light of our busy work schedules.

And with that my time is up... I know it, mine is probably the only post that didn't mention a glass of wine : )

How does your list compare?

This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.

§ Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.

§ Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.

§ Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.

§ Link up your post at all.things.fadra

§ Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy: Be Still My Spinning Head or Day 17 Of An Unofficial 31 Day Experiment

Why Suddenly Pinterest Is A BIG Deal

2012-01-28T14:27:00.000-06:00

It's no surprise that @Pinterest is capturing the attention of social network users. From Oct 2010 to Oct 2011, Pinterest rose from 40,000 to 3.2 million monthly unique visitors. Then that number skyrocketed to 7,208,409 million unique visitors in December of 2011.

Data from http://siteanalytics.compete.com/pinterest.com/

Here's a great quote from a twitter friend that explains one reason why we are seeing this type of growth on Pinterest:

Agree? While maybe everyone may not agree, the number one draw to this site for me was it's visual appeal. I've grown to the point where is I'm surfing a website, nothing is more frustrating than if I see a photo or a video I want to remember & then I'm unable to pin it! Web Design matters!

I am a very visual person who sometimes has the best intentions of either bookmarking articles or printing them out to read later & then rarely find time to do it. I bought all kinds of supplies to start making scrapbooks, however the most success I've has have been using photo sites to build photo books online. It work for me.

I also have a love for interior design, not to mention fashion & so I'm constantly finding images that I want to catalog & remember to refer to later on. A good part of most nights are spent adding a few treasures to my boards.

Almost immediately I stopped using Diigo - a popular bookmarking site because I found that I wasn't going back there after I bookmarked articles. With Pinterest, my boards are organized so the Type A in me is at home, knowing exactly where I files something. It is my primary visual bookmarking tool.

When I go back to one of my 1st pins it shows 51 weeks ago, so I've been at this almost a year now. Right now I have 19 boards, 1287 pins & 195 likes, 157 followers & I follow 134 people & brands.

Some other draws?

Pinterest shows no favoritism towards extroverts over introverts.
As long as you are limiting how often you do it, it's a great way to pull people back to your blog to a post that you are especially proud of & want to reach a larger audience with.
For Brands it's proving to be a great way to generate traffic to their websites as well as a way to get in touch with their customers & discover what really tickles them & what pushes their buttons.
Pinterest users are forming their own communities, both through twitter chats like #Pinchat & through groups on Facebook like Pinchat ~ Pinterest Chat.
There are Pinterest Linkups & even a new business which sprouted offering consulting for companies on the proper way to reach their audiences via Pinterest.
Real stories are being shared on Pinterest & how that story is told will tell you a lot about the person or brand behind the pinning.

You may also find that others really appreciate your taste & that immediate feedback comes in the form of the amount of re-pin & like traffic on your boards:

So whether you're ready to jump in the waters & become a Pinterest Shark or are content to just observe what others are pinning from a distance, it's hard to ignore what Pinterest has evolved into within a very short time. I am firmly anchored in the water & am really enjoying this wild ride.

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy: Just for fun ~ "Twitterize Me" or Stream of Consciousness Sunday - Through the Eyes of My Child

Links to some of the latest articles on Pinterest:
http://mashable.com/2012/01/29/pinterest-retail-infographic/
http://mashable.com/2012/01/19/pinterest-brands/
http://www.ragan.com/Main/Articles/3_ways_to_use_Pinterest_for_business_right_now__44199.aspx
http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/19/ginterest/
http://gizmodo.com/5878947/pinterest-is-tumblr-for-ladiez
http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/social-networks/pinterest-demographic-data/
http://designshack.net/articles/business-articles/addictive-ux-why-pinterest-is-so-dang-amazing/

Be Still My Spinning Head

2012-01-28T01:12:00.000-06:00

4 weeks into January. We're here already. Only 4 more days & I will have completed my 31 day challenge. I have worked out continuously for the past 17 days and it wasn't a chore. It was enlightening in that I've made good progress doing a relatively limited amount of exercises. So my muscle are enjoying it - remembering that I can do anything I set my mind to.

Munchkin has finally decided to stay in his bed all night without getting up in the wee hours of the morning to visit us. It was like a light bulb went off - just like with potty training & it became his decision to be successful & he has been. Tonight with be the 6th night in a row of totally uninterrupted sleep. Oh the little joys of Motherhood.

Trying to decide on a Kindergarten - well that's not so easy - at least the process is complicated & nerve wrecking. Praying we get in to an all day Kindergarten room. If I live to see March I will be very thankful - doing a jig actually.

I was nominated to run for our parish council. This is the third year in a row & the 1st two years I did not run - too much on my plate. I have no less on my plate this year, but I'm thinking I'd better at least run this time & then pray I don't get enough votes to win a seat. It's a three year commitment. I have just over a week to get my application in to our church.

February is also the month Munchkin becomes a five year old & I still need to plan a party for which time is running out... I need a clone - of myself - to get through all this. I'm so freaked out over this party thing. a dozen kids to invite & a venue to book - activities to plan. Pray for my sanity as I'm not sure I have enough to go around. Thus this post I named "Be Still My Spinning Head."

On the bright side I got lucky tonight! - No, not that kind of lucky...I found out I won something after linking up my "Valentines Anyone" board on Pinterest.

The only problem is I have no button to give her to place on her site, so I offered up my winnings so she could surprise someone else. Anyone who can help me figure out how to make a "button" for the future - leave me a note as it's now on my to-do list.

One of my girlfriends asked me to teach a mini session on how get get set up on a number of social networking platforms the other day & I agreed. Anything to have a Girls Night out where drinking wine might be involved...at least a little.

I had a few minutes to get some good ideas down on paper for a couple upcoming blog posts. Now I just need the time to do the rest of my research. One day at a time I guess.

Everything will get done - it will all come together.

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy: Stream Of Consciousness Sunday: Daily Distractions or Stream Of Conciousness Sunday: The New Car Smell Of 2012

Just for fun ~ "Twitterize Me"

2012-01-23T23:21:00.003-06:00

How cool is this! A twitter friend shared hers & I had to try this out. Looking at the topics it seems that they have a bit of fine tuning left to do ~ @Pinterest should appear somewhere on this thing! Sign up & build your own at: http://visual.ly/labs

Day 17 Of An Unofficial 31 Day Experiment

2012-01-17T23:47:00.000-06:00

Only 4 days to go before I consider myself having re-wired my brain. Just 21 days to form a habit, but I'm not stopping there.

I'm doing daily workouts for 31 days. No one wants to accept that their body isn't that of a 20 something or even a 30 something young woman anymore. And it really sucks. Every day I get up, I remind myself that my stamina is not what it used to be, but I can still change that. The needle can still be moved in the opposite direction. It's just going to take time.

I'm pretty excited that after only 14 days of daily workouts I could already feel the difference in the way my pants fit - for real. I was not imagining it - I promise you.

Tonight I re-introduced myself to an old friend...

He was very happy to see me and hopes I won't neglect him as I've done over the past several months. It was a matter of remembering that it's not that big a a deal. 2 miles is nothing mixed in with a little sweat. I remember having to get in 45 minutes to an hour of Cardio once (sometimes twice) each day to stay on course preparing for contests. Back when I was teaching I'd teach up to 11 classes a week & still do my workouts on top of that. I would run road races without really training & I didn't die afterwards.

What's a little workout done in the comfort of my own home - so easy right? I know it. I can do this & it can't be a resolution thing - it's about change, focus & balance, plus remembering how confident being really fit makes you. I want that feeling back in my life.

So the squats, lunges, kettle bells, tubing work, pushups, boxing & videos will all add up in the end & keep me focused on the prize. Golf season is only a few months away & boy are those skirts short!

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy: Stream Of Consciousness Sunday: Daily Distractions or Stream Of Conciousness Sunday: The New Car Smell Of 2012

Two Strikes

2012-01-12T19:55:00.003-06:00

It's been a day, one where energy was high in anticipation of a successful outcome. Remember about a month ago I wrote a post about a big milestone coming for Munchkin? It was time for his Kindergarten assessment & I just knew that my child who is "a perfect student", "a joy to have" in his teacher's class, who is so eager to be a Kindergartener & who asks to do "homework" in the evenings would have no issues with a silly little assessment.

Yes, well that day didn't go so well. I wrote a post then too. So we said whatever, that was a fluke & promptly reschedule for today - different day of the week, different time of day - no problem, right?! Wrong. Two strikes. Unfortunately, today did not go well either.

I had contacted someone from the district about suggestions to smooth this over for Munchkin, unfortunately she didn't return my call until 2 days ago - which gave us no time to constructively work on some solutions for this ~~anxiety~~ initial distrust for new people when in new situations.

Once the assessor decided to "call the game", she said perhaps we attempted this too quickly, that Munchkin needed time to forget the negative experience from the prior visit & a month wasn't long enough to heal the scars. ~~(Scars, so my kid has scars now too - lovely.)~~ She also suggested to me that Type A children can sometimes have a fear of not doing some things perfectly. They don't want to be disappointed, so they do nothing instead. They reassured me that the end of May would be a good time to try for hopefully the last time. Many parents think the assessment has to be done by Kindergarten class registration, but we theoretically have up until the start of school in the fall.

As a parent, this has been hands down the most difficult thing to deal with - feeling like a failure & not knowing what to do to make things easier for my child. We have golf lessons starting in a few weeks. Swimming & T-ball are on deck. Will a few more months of maturity really help make a difference?!

Once again I'm trying to hide my feelings of failure as a parent from my child, trying not to make him feel bad for being unsuccessful in his second attempt to "do it right" as he told his teacher the last time that he did not do.

On the ride home, I offered a Root Beer float for dessert, probably not the best thing to do, but Munchkin is a rail - a skinny minny - he can use a few extra calories on a special occasion. Munchkin wanted to go to Target. Right - that was a no ; ) Not a battle I wanted to wage. I was not in the mood for a tantrum over NOT getting a new toy on this particular day.

I don't have the answer & praying earlier today didn't help, but all I can do is trust that things will work out in their own time. I should know by now that being Catholic doesn't mean God grants wishes on demand - Father Curt would second that if he knew. As a Type A Mom with a seemingly Type A child, this should all be so easy - except for the 1/2 Type B Munchkin gets from his father. No matter how much I want to see myself in my child at his age, it's not there. He is his own person, carving his own path, with his own distinct personality.

All I can do is have more patience and take things one day at a time. That is about all I know for sure. And now I'm off to make that Root Beer float I promised.

If you enjoyed this story, you might also like:Stream of Consciousness Sunday - Through the Eyes of My Child or Stream of Consciousness Sunday - The Pieces That Make Us Whole