talker vs. doer

Are you a talker or a doer?  Have you said, “Oh, I really want to do this….yada, yada, yada.”  “I’m going to be an incredible designer someday.” “I really want to make a difference through mentoring or charity work.” “It would be really cool to quit my job and spend more time with my growing family.” “I really should be healthier.”

I’m going to be real frank with you: I’m a talker.  At least, I have been for a while.  Also, I’m kinda over it!  You know the craziest thing I tell myself?

“Just wait. Now is not the right time.”  Why not now?  I’m not saying you’ve got to jump in headfirst and burn bridges.  I’m just saying you can start on something TODAY!

You know what made successful people successful?  They took ACTION within thirty days of talking about doing something.  They just DID it.  No hemming and hawing for them!

We all think we’re not enough.  Which is crazy.  You are enough!  And chasing what fires you up is not ridiculous.

What do you really, really, really want?  What fires your heart up?  What makes you jump up and down in sheer giddiness?  What scares the bejeebers out of you?

Guess what?  You should probably do that!

Right now, take some action toward it.  Write that seemingly “scary” email.  Just ask.  Surround yourself with the people you love.  Go for a walk.  Step out of that comfort zone (we talked about it here).

If you think, in fifty years, you might regret not doing it, stop talking about it and start doing!

Be a doer.

And, for those like me who have this niggling tiny worry about what the people will think?

This pretty incredible woman, who learned from her mama, always tells me this: “Never let them see you sweat.”  Just do you.

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Come back next week to see the product of what I’ve been away working on and what’s next for Spunky Sapphire!  I’m SO excited for you to see it.

Mint: budgeting

One of my 2014 purposeful goals is to be more aware of what I save and spend; to be a good steward.  I signed up for mint.com at the beginning of the month for a prettier option than a self-created Excel spreadsheet.  I had heard some great recommendations and I love it.

via

Since Mint is connected to your bank and/or credit cards, it does half the work for you!  Every time you spend using those, it updates your budgets to show it.  If you’re a cash spender like myself, there is an option to input those transactions as well toward your budget.

Once a week, I go through and add the cash transactions and take stock of where I’m at for the month.  Mint also sends you a weekly update to show where you’ve spent and how much you have left, where you went over budget, etc.

example via

You’re able to set specifications on which notifications you prefer to know about and can set as many or as little as you’d like!

I’ll admit, I went over budget because of a car repair, driving a little extra for family things, and caving at Target once or twice.  But, I’ve only spent cash (hooray for tips) and haven’t dipped into the big money.

After this first month, I am even more in love with the organization of it all.  I can see all my accounts, organize everything into it’s own little box, and celebrate the goals like seeing my savings grow and successfully cutting back the grocery bill!

I deem this a goal well on it’s way, and it’s only January!  Success feels great!

This is my personal opinion and I am not getting compensated for my thoughts. I just wanted to show how I make this goal happen!

working it

The good things in life take work.  It can be mind-numbing at times to focus and just DO it.

That workout plan takes work.  You can hate every single second of jumping rope.  But, then, you realize you can actually hold a plank for more than a minute on your first try in forever.  Those abs, baby!

You can be drowning in designing, asking yourself questions and playing around with everything and getting frustrated and THEN you discover how to make glitter on Photoshop.  AMAZING.  It just makes everything better!  Plus, you discover the EXACT raspberry pink color you’ve been dreaming of.  And, it’s called raspberry!

The good things.  Those beautiful, incredible, phenomenal things take so much work are a million times worth it!  Just keep at it.  I promise you: it will be gorgeous and something you’ll always be proud of and grateful for.

a purposeful 2014

One of the best things I did last year was enroll in Molly Mahar’s Holiday Council.  Why?  Because she provides her people with awesome colorful worksheets.  You know I am a write-it-down kind of girl and, when color is involved, too, it’s a total win in my book!  Pretty-looking things make me get things done.

You might be thinking, “oh, it’s just another goal-planning seminar”, but Molly’s fabulous and the three calls over three weeks have a way of making you feel accountable even when it becomes work.  A bonus: there is homework each week and I do really well with structure and lists.

I will admit, I fell behind and didn’t get to all the calls in December.  December was a crazy month for me.  I finished up call three last week (thanks to the recordings she makes!) and finished filling in my worksheets.Purposeful.  That’s going to be 2014 for me.  When I started out brain-dumping, dreaming, scheming, trying to nail down what I was looking for, the idea of coming up with one word was challenging.  There are so many nice words out there.  Everyone began sharing their word-of-the-year, and I kept thinking, “oh, that’s such a good one; yeah, that’s great; totally inspiring!” but nothing was clicking for me.  Sure, I can nurture something (but what?).  I could make joyful my word, but thinking about it wasn’t making me joyful. That was not going to work for me.

I kept having these words hit me: intentional, deliberate, confident, dedicated, committed.  To me, all of those things rolled right into purposeful.  Literally, sticking to something and doing it on purpose.  Boom!

This year is all about committing to what I really want and not wasting time doing what does not matter.  What’s the point?

What does that mean for me?  It means consistent blogging, honing my craft, being creative in some way everyday.  This is what makes my world go ’round, so, of course, I should do more of it!

It means getting back to a workout routine.  Not because I want to look amazing for the summer, but so I get awesome sleep.  When you have to leave at 5:45 in the morning to get to your 6:30 shift, better sleep is so lovely.

It means intentionally paying myself first on payday and really watching where my money is going.  Thanks to mint I now have a pretty way to track it!  Like I said at the beginning, pretty things keep me committed.  Do what works for you!

It means intentionally making time to see my family, get together with friends (even if it’s just for a quick coffee shop visit) and not letting everyone’s busyness be an excuse.

It means eating through everything in my cupboards before going to get more groceries.  On a sidenote, I think that will get interesting in about a week and my culinary creativity will get a workout.  So far, though, it’s been great!  I have only bought milk, eggs, and bagels for work.  I have so much food and want to clear that out like I have with the rest of my house and simplify.

It means saying “no” to wasting time online, “no” to feeling badly about truly relaxing every once in a while, “no” to comparison of everyone else, “no” to fear, and “no” to the things that just plain do not matter.

I’ll be saying “yes” to more blooms, more event design, more throwing parties and having people over, more creating, more spending time here writing and inspiring, more collaborating with other wedding professionals, more getting out there and meeting incredible people, more trying new things, and maybe, just maybe starting a few more fun projects.  Stay tuned!

(Molly doesn’t know who I am, other than a holiday council girl.  These are just my thoughts and I will not be receiving compensation.)

the real deal

Okay, I have to be honest with you–I’m already feeling behind in 2014.  Ack!  I was supposed to have given you my vision for the year four days ago and posted on the glamour of it all and how I’m going to be awesome (and you are, too!).

Instead, it’s now Friday and I still only have brainstorming pages for that post.  However, this first full week of January has been very cool.

I got my newsletter from Jess Lively about feeling behind already this year and she actually titled it exactly what I’ve been telling myself all week in this case:

“Getting it right is better than getting it done.”

You have no idea how much I just want to get going already on my ideas, but I want to do it right.  That means I don’t rush to just put something up here.  That means taking the time to sort through my stuff and find the right home for it so my home is easier to feel inspired in (since I do most of my work here).  That means being patient (yikes) so I only put out the best work.

This mess has been one of the steps I have taken this week toward simplifying, clearing the junk, and streamlining for a purposeful year.  I actually wanted to post a gorgeous image of my planner all washi-taped-out, a pretty bloom, my beautiful editorial calendars and more.

As I was sitting here, though, sorting receipts and looking at this month’s expenses versus income while learning Mint, I realized that this image more adequately shows what my week has looked like.  Just sitting in a productive mess and loving it.  Since Monday, I have watched everything go from an absurd mess to neat little cubbies of organization and prettiness.

I am not saying that it’s perfect, but it’s getting done and the things that matter most are getting plenty of mulling over so I can do them the best way the first time.

Final steps for tonight: finish my goal-planning and vision so I can share with you on Monday!  I’m thrilled to be starting a new year and making it purposeful.  Happy Friday!

hello, 2014!!!

Happy new year!  I hope you all had a marvelous end to 2013, and, check it out!  A bright, new blank slate to fill up with amazing things.  I have one more weekend of wonderful vacation to look forward to and then I’ll be back with what I hope 2014 will look like for me!

What are you going to make happen this year?

If you’re interested (and/or love planning and goal-directing like I do) check out Lara Casey’s Goal-Planning series!  It seriously works.

coffee table style

Ogling coffee table setups has been a problem for me.  I’m a sucker for a good tray and such a sucker for good-looking books.  When I go to a bookstore, I’m intrigued the most by a gorgeous hardcover with a great design.  Frankly, it could be written on how to make a bed and I wouldn’t care.  Would it look good in a stack?  Probably.

So, I have an eclectic mix of cookbooks (that I don’t cook from) on my coffee table.  Most of them I bought very used for three bucks.  Thrift stores are a charm for these things.

I stumbled, actually, across this amazing tray at Target (I have a problem) and knew it was the perfect shape and size and color.  Tossed this great orange vase on top of the books and added some thrift-store bud vases with some stunning fresh daisies and the setup is complete!

Fresh stems are always a good thing.I’m always changing things up in my space and always have.  Lately, though, I’m enjoying finding some staples and really defining my style.  Obviously, I keep it interesting and drop in an odd thing here and there.

What do you think about coffee table trays?  Do they become collect-all’s for you or inspire you to keep it clean for prettiness’ sake?

doubting your reach

I think, as women, we tend to doubt our ability to be awesome.  We think, “Wow, I only have twelve followers”, and play the game of comparing ourselves to, oh, only every other woman we are inspired by.  How in the world can we, with only so “few” watching, be inspiring/helpful/make a difference?  Picture those people in real life: twelve people is a crowd!  A crowd that’s taking in your awesome-ness and wants to see what you’ve got going on!

Maybe the “few” are your kids and family.  Maybe it’s your elderly neighbor who you always wave and chat to.  Maybe it’s that new follower who really looks up to you as an industry leader and eats up everything you create and share!  You may think you’re not being inspiring enough or reaching the “right” people (whoever they are), but you’re actually reaching the right people.

Your right people.

Don’t knock yourself down for not seemingly being the biggest and best.  You touch people.  I promise you, you reach the people who really matter; the ones who believe in you and who LOVE what you do and think you’re awesome because you’re authentic to yourself.

Stick to your guns and to what matters most.  By being authentically yourself, you’re making a difference.  You are enough.