Tag: Think Kit

Brain Candy

Keeping the mind sharp is an admirable pursuit. While it’s easy to set a self-learning goal, it can be even easier to let the year pass without acting on it. Posting my goals online gives at least a little extra accountability. So here goes nothing: two new skills I’d like to gain in 2013, and a bonus baking skill for good measure.

Culture Consulting Toolkit.
In 2012, I had the great fortune to work with a couple of SmallBox clients on what we call culture-powered marketing. It was a relatively new line of thinking for us internally, but something we’d be testing on ourselves. With one client, it evolved organically from asking questions and working with them on content strategy. It’s incredibly rewarding to help a company connect the dots, uncover their own culture-starters and begin to blend organizational health, marketing and HR. I’m very much looking forward to adding some new collaborative techniques to my toolkit and sharing these ideas with more people.

florence

Working conversational Italian.
This one goes a long nicely with my “extracurriculum” project, la dolce vita. Once upon a time, I learned songs in Italian from my voice teacher. It’s a beautiful language to sing in, even when I had no idea exactly what I was saying. When my husband-to-be and I traveled to Italy in 2006, I tried to learn a bit of the language. I could order coffee like a champ, or let someone know if I was on fire, but that’s about it. Louie proposed to me in Florence, steps away from where the above photo was taken, adding to the magic of this place for me. I may only be so lucky as to return once or twice more in this lifetime, but I’d like to learn nonetheless.

macarons

Perfecting macarons. (Or, at least, coming close!)
I tried my hand at an almond version sandwiched with a bitter ganache for a shower once before. They tasted wonderful, but were crackly, all different sizes and otherwise not-pâtisserie-worthy. The picture above features the best of the bunch – I didn’t photograph the lot of them in all their various states and sizes. Since then, I’ve read up and learned after piping the macarons, you must let them rest for 15 minutes before baking. Another tip: trace circles onto a sheet of parchment paper to help with consistent sizing – genius!

When all else fails, there’s always baking.

This post is part of Think Kit by SmallBox
Today’s prompt: “What new skill do you want to add to your repertoire in 2013?”

Family Recipes

Every year during the holidays we pull out my mom’s old recipe book, full of her hand-written recipes, the stuff my family has been making for ages.

The cards are well-used and loved, with kitschy antique stove art, straight from the seventies. We’ve been using this recipe card for our annual Christmas morning breakfast of bubble bread for as long as I can remember.

This is the stuff that makes the holiday, what I look forward to each year.

20121224-130218.jpg

bubble bread
This post is part of Think Kit by SmallBox
Today’s prompt: “Share a photo from your year that highlights giving, thankfulness, traditions or finding peace.”

Make Goodness

In any given year for nearly twenty years, if asked, ‘What is my purpose in life?’ I would have said: create, create, create.

Just one simple word. I’m incredibly driven by the magical process of thinking > idea! > making. For me, it’s not always clear from whence ideas come, but there they are, begging to be reckoned with, this thing that is uniquely mine.

About six months ago, I had the opportunity to think pretty deeply on my own purpose as part of Factory Week and landed on something close to create, but a little more me: make goodness. It sounds a little silly, but sort of like how I talk.

In thinking on it again, make goodness just sticks as my personal mantra. I think it applies to much of what I value, representing both the grand and simple pursuits of my life:

Writing. A lot. I hope.
Building something really amazing for my favorite nonprofit: Indy Film Fest.
Painting.
Gardening. (I will pickle this year, I will pickle this year, I will pickle… maybe I have a gardening mantra, too?)
Baking.
(you get the idea!)

There were some other words I considered:
I love bringing people together, so I liked connect or convene.

Whether connecting the dots for people when I can tell they don’t get something, or bringing people together that ought to meet, connecting is rewarding stuff. For example, one of my new missions is to match-make co-workers with nonprofits. Finding a good fit does transfer some goodness into the world, so, I’m going to say this is loosely covered by my mantra already.

I love the idea of inspiring others to create, so I considered words like ignite or spark.

I ruled this out because I feel I have a lot of personal making to do before I could really inspire others. Maybe one day.

This post is part of Think Kit by SmallBox
Today’s prompt: “Write a mantra for the year ahead – how you’ll approach it, what you wish it to be. How’d you arrive at the mantra?”

Lesser Excuses

This morning I ran. After a full day, I braved the madness of holiday traffic to buy one last gift for my husband. By the time I made it home at 8, I was ravenous and tired. And then I remembered my promise to buy two twin bedding sets for my workplace United Way adopt-a-family. To go, or not to go?

After twenty minutes of inner battle, I pumped myself up to run my errand. And you know what? Walking out of that store, carrying new warm blankets for two boys who need it was worth it.

20121219-221325.jpgI came home and collapsed on my couch. In my coat. Seriously. I’m actually still laying here, blogging via iPhone, wearing my thick wool coat (photo evidence even… Can you tell how exhausted I am?)

Stretched out on my couch, I was about to give up on blogging for the night and ruin my Think Kit streak. Tired. That’s a lesser excuse.

I never want to say being tired got in the way of life. One could go on living half of a life in various states of tired. If I could remove any one obstacle it would be wearing out; my super power would be limitless energy.

But for now, I’ll just keeping pushing past tired. I’ll let myself back down when I have a better excuse.

This post is part of Think Kit by SmallBox
Today’s prompt: “No limits: If money, time or other commitments were no obstacle in 2013, what would you do?”

Random Nicing

All morning I plotted ways to nice people, thinking I could easily weave random acts of kindness into my whole day. It isn’t as easy as it sounds. Being nice can take a little work.

I got started with the nicing early by tucking a note and Reese’s Tree into my husbands lunch bag. My mom used to randomly surprise me with a note when I was very young. Those were always good days.

I treated someone to breakfast. But she was doing me a favor, so that doesn’t really count.

And then I went to work and got busy. I was actually working on gift bags for clients, one big ol’ nicing. But I meant to nice my co-workers. Fail.

After work, I decided to try the drive-through surprise at Starbucks. Idling in the road, I kept checking in my rearview mirror, watching for someone to come for me to cover their tab. No one came. At seven o’clock in the biggest shopping week of the year, this Starbucks of my choosing was woefully dead. I finally stopped waiting. Another big fail.

It was time to take matters into my own hands. I needed to level up on my nicing plans.

In that brief moment of defeat at Starbucks, I remembered the leftover iris bulbs. I’d bought a big batch, planted most of them, but had run out of ground for a good handful or two. To take it up a notch, I made a Target run for some supplies.

My shopping list:
Cellophane Bags,
My Little Pony Figurines,
Gift Tags.

Behold: Sparkle Pony Iris Nicing

random nicing

In each cellophane packet, I placed a few bulbs, a couple of tiny My Little Ponies and a note: “You’ve been NICED!” With the bags peeking out of my pockets, I left the house on a mission to nice my neighborhood. You’d think there was gold in my pockets. Or that I was carrying out a secret but very important mission that just might lead to world peace if I could get it right.

I may never know if anyone found them, or if the bulbs got planted, but no matter. The simple act of doing this felt amazing. I’m already wondering what little surprises I can distribute next.

For now, look out, South Broad Ripple. You might stumble upon a Sparkle Pony Iris Nicing on a corner near you.

This post is part of Think Kit by SmallBox
Today’s prompt: “Nice someone. Write about what you did. (What is nicing?)

A Hello Away

At SXSW earlier this year, I couldn’t get over how many amazing people were just a hello away:

I want to meet all of you tweet

I had similar responses at local events like TedxIndianapolis and We are City Summit, in which I got overwhelmed and a bit awe-struck by all of the great minds gathered in one room. I go to these things in part for the presentations, but more so for the interaction and meeting new people, the good stuff that happens in the hallways between sessions.

I go because I never know who I might meet. It could be that the most interesting person I meet in 2013 isn’t on my radar yet. It might be that it’s someone I already know a little, but don’t really know.

It’s hard to pick just one. Like I said, I want to meet all of you.

This post is part of Think Kit by SmallBox
Today’s prompt:“If you could meet someone new in 2013, who would it be? Or would you rather spend more time with someone you already know?”

Home Work

In the days of apartment living, I bought this tiny desk. It serves more as a storage place for mail piles, knitting needles and other supplies. I tend to only work here if I want to use my Wacom drawing tablet. The desk is just wide enough to house my 17” laptop, the tablet and a cup of coffee.

desk

Mostly, if I’m working from home, it happens right here:

on the couch

This post is part of Think Kit 2011.

 

On Repeat

Much of this year, I dipped into old flames musically – I fan-girled it, front row style for Sebadoh in a tiny venue, 15 years after first seeing them in Bloomington. Another icon of my youth, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks played Earth House (I saw him around ’96 as Pavement). These rockers releasing new music and touring unleashed a memory lane that led me deep down a path to Archers of Loaf. I probably listened to All the Nation’s Airports 3 times as much this year that I did when it was first released in 1996.

Alongside this weird revisit of late 1996, a few records, all female vocalists, really grabbed me and hung on for dear life. Apparently the theme of the year is ethereal vocal with a side of noise. I’d be hard pressed to choose which of these I’ve repeated most.

Asobi Seksu:


St. Vincent:

In the end, I might give the edge to Mr. Gnome. As much as I reach back for the stuff of my youth, I love exploring too. This two piece out of Ohio hit me by surprise with some seriously unexpected song architecture.

Mr Gnome

Listen on bandcamp.

This post is part of Think Kit, a blogging project by SmallBox.