Creative Thursday

Sunday February 28

 

 

 

 
  

7:45 wake-up, shower, clean shower

8:30 coffee, plan weekly food menu, start linen laundry

9:15 bike to farmer's market, buy veggies, my favorite Sunday snack a cheese pretzel from Rockenwagner bakery, and a tiny bouquet of freesia, take my time riding back from the market to enjoy what an absolutely gorgeous Southern California day it is

10:30 put linens back on bed, fold other laundry while chatting with a friend by phone, clean bathroom, start cleaning kitchen

11:45 call Landlord and discuss our options regarding subletting our place for a month in April. Call my uncle in Germany to wish him a happy birthday. Start researching flights and travel possibilities. Finish cleaning kitchen while talking to airline booking agent {here, here for multitasking!}

2:00 blog about the last 3 days, post our house available for rent as a sublet on Craigslist....!!!!

3:13 have a beer to celebrate that we posted our house, moving forward with a dream of ours

3:30 work on setting up the new "Fish Bowl", emailing

6:20 prepare carrots for dinner

6:50 meditate {wohoo!~ 2 days in a row, can you feel my calm coming through the computer}

7:15 finish dinner, eat, and watch the last bit of the Winter Olympics. I have to say I've really enjoyed tuning into the Olympics the last couple of weeks ~ a lot of inspiring people and stories.

10:00 goodnight. and the official end of my "typical" week

....................................................................................................................................

I have to say I woke up this morning and started mentally tracking my day, then realized that my commitment to this project had officially come to a close and I breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing where my week has gone has been enlightening to say the least. Letting you in to almost every hour of my days over the last week, has felt strange, to say the least ~ but also good practice for me to see what it feels like to share more openly on this blog. I hope it has been insightful for you. 

Now it's back to business as usual over here, and today I send you some virtual freesia.

Saturday February 27

 

    
  

7:30 wake-up, shower

8:15 meditate *sigh* {my goal is to incorporate this  into my every day, but since it's a new habit it's taking a little longer to incorporate than I had hoped}

8:40 coffee time visiting with Sean and Riley {napping on his lap}. Had an amazing breakfast of eggs, fried potatoes and bacon {we hardly ever indulge in bacon so it was a treat ~ I would've taken a picture but it was eaten before I could}

11:30 check email, do some more travel research online, argue with Sean about what constitutes integrity

12:45 get ready to paint a big painting for my licensing company, which means I needed to set up the dining room table to paint on

1:00 work on painting and while color coats were drying I also felt inspired to work on a commission, and tweet about it and enjoy our very rainy day

5:00 call it a day on the work front, heat up a Trader Joe's spinach pizza and watch a silly movie with Sean

8:30 read in bed for 30 minutes. goodnight. seriously the earliest I've gone to bed in months

....................................................................................................................................................................

Decided to give myself a blogging break yesterday so I've posted Friday and Saturday today. One more day to go and I'll be back here tomorrow with that post, along with some other news. 

hope you all are having a lovely weekend xoxo

Friday February 26

 

     
   

7:00 wake-up, enjoy my coffee while finishing up some thank you notes for my packages, watch Olympic highlights on the Today Show, some emailing, tweeting, print and pack one more order to ship out, then get ready for an acting audition, including printing out a headshot and resume

10:00 head out to the Post Office and my audition

10:20 return home because I forgot my wallet on my desk

10:30 back at Post Office to pay and mail more packages

10:40 head to my 10:45 scheduled audition

11:05 arrive late to my audition after being misled by my Iphone map

11:30 leave audition and head home

12:00 more emailing, return the call of an e-course student

12:30 creative time! work some more on designs I began yesterday

2:00 Sean and I record a final video for our "Together" e-course

2:15 format and add the new video to class, email a thank you to all the Together students "mwah!"

3:20 prepare blog post for today and tomorrow {yes, this chronicling of days is taking time, but I'm enjoying it so I'm going to take it all the way through to the end of a complete week}

5:00 nap

5:45 start dinner, a new favorite Coq Au Riesling from one of my most favorite Nigella Lawson cookbooks, Nigella Express. My first time purchasing and cooking oyster mushrooms and I have to say they were delicious in this recipe. 

7:00 watch Pan's Labyrinth, eat dinner

9:00 watch women's skiing and  Apolo Ohno race in the Winter Olympics

10:00 goodnight.

Thursday February 25

 

 

 

 
 
 

7:15 morning begins ~ shower and head straight to the computer

8:00 Open registration for e-course!! email new students, enjoy coffee

9:30 talk with my mom by phone, more emailing, and tweeting

11:30 time to be Creative. It was Creative Thursday after all. Worked on designing an entirely new print for the shop 

3:30 break to thank Sean for the beautiful tulips he brought home and snack on some Salt & Pepper Pistachios that he also brought to me as a gift {he's a gem} ~ then back to creating

5:00 fulfillment ~ preparing orders for shipping

7:00 work on yesterday's blog post while tweeting

8:00 have a glass of Cline Zinfandel ~ a favorite red wine in this house

10:00 another early night for us. I've been run down for a week so getting these longer nights of sleep has been a very nice, necessity

...............................................................................................................................

This was my first time making the mac & cheese above. I saw it on the Today Show and the ingredients are extremely loose. It's very good and very light for mac & cheese, so I thought I'd share it with you.

Basically you've got the following ingredients in this order. Use your own judgement on quantities.  After making it once, mine needs some tweaking on quantities but I think I'll definitely be making it again. Also, for those of us managing our time...ahem... a very quick dinner!

Macaroni noodles {I used small penne pasta this time, but I think macaroni would be best}

Boil  noodles, strain and add 1 raw egg to the hot noodles. This is like a carbonara effect.

Add parmesan cheese, quantity to your liking, and toss together

Spread plain Greek yogurt on a plate, quantity to your liking

Add noodles on top of yogurt, add a little salt and pepper if you like and ENJOY!

Wednesday February 24

    

7:45 wake-up ~ the usual morning routine, emails, coffee, a little Today Show

10:00 talk to my health insurance agent

10:30 catch up by phone with a friend who lives in Colorado while I sit in my new favorite chair, wearing my favorite chocolate brown Ugg slippers. Do a load of clothes laundry. Make some tea and keep on talking

1:00 catch up on emails

3:30 review licensing contract

4:00 rest

5:30 work on email announcing the new session of "In the Fish Bowl: Life as an Artist Online"

6:00 blog post for yesterday

6:45 visit with another friend by phone while Sean makes dinner, and Riley the cat observes the dinner making ~ Taco Wednesday

7:45 dinner time, watch some Oprah, be totally annoyed, outraged and in awe to learn of the extent of the John Edwards scandal, and then some more Winter Olympics

10:00 another early night

This would be one of those more boring days for an outside observer, mostly because I can't share my phone conversations with you here in the blog ~ but actually it was a nice easy and inspiring day. I spoke at length with my friend about teaching both online and in person and I left the conversation full of new ideas. This often happens when I talk with my friends. We inspire each other ~to new ideas and adventures.

Tuesday February 23

      

6:30 wake-up and go straight to the computer. I felt particularly excited about life yesterday morning, couldn't sleep and got up earlier than usual. Also started tweeting

7:20 feed the kitties {the photo above is how they look at us when they are not so patiently waiting for food}, take my morning shower

8:15 give Garbo a bath. Always an adventure, giving a cat a bath. Although today she was particularly calm. Calm enough for me to take pictures of her with the Iphone during the bath, have my morning coffee

9:30 leave to take Garbo to the Vet

11:00 leave the vet, stop for a chai latte and a croissant at the Coffee Bean, make some phone calls and head to Outi's studio 

12:00 visit with Outi and paint a custom mug for a client

2:45 drive back home

3:20 visit with Sean's brother Kerry and nephew Nicolas, while I give Garbo a second bath {because the visit to the vet stressed her out enough to pee in her cat carrier ~ poor girl}

3:30 visit with Sean and process some personal news I got that wasn't the best. I add this in here because so often we have our day planned out and then life happens unexpectedly and this very thing can really throw you off sometimes. I feel that the more I sort this time/balance effort out the more I learn to leave space for the moments when you just have to give in and go with the flow. I also tried to take a little afternoon rest, but to no avail because my mind was spinning and I needed to post to the blog

5:30 work on yesterday's blog post while also watching John Oliver's Stand-Up special on Comedy Central

7:30 tweeting time

7:50 cook dinner ~ chicken and vegetable stir fry with brown rice. YUM! 

8:30 eat dinner and wind down for the day

10:00 go to sleep early

I know many of you are thinking of doing this for yourself and aside from the time it takes to keep track of your almost every minute, it is worth seeing just where the day goes and as I mentioned in the comments yesterday ~ if anything, it is a really good opportunity to get a more accurate idea about what you can actually accomplish on any given day. I find it helped me be way more realistic about my to do lists. So, if you feel like it, you can play along with me this week either  by sharing your day on your own blog, or keep it more personal. If you do share it on your blog, let me know. I'd love to come visit and see what your typical day is like. 

Monday February 22

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here we go ~ welcome to my day! Photos, brought to you by the Iphone and are arranged in order of their appearance during the day.

7:12 Wake-up {morning light is my favorite}

7:12 - 10:10 what I like to call the present day morning routine give or take some of the activities: 

shower {A couple of years ago, I made a habit of taking a shower first thing in the morning, before I do anything else, as a way of always being "ready" for my day. And I do this even when I know I'm not leaving the house that day. As much as working from home allows you to work in pajamas, and the luxury of that is fun to do every once in a while~ I found that it doesn't really work for me. It's too important to me to feel together and ready for the day as it evolves.}

spend way too long choosing an outfit for the day

coffee

check emails, and answer some

emailed out a daily painting and posted it on the blog

move my car so Sean could head out to teach class ~ L.A. and it's street parking. You don't even want me to go there.

laundry ~ and by laundry I mean linen laundry,  Monday is usually our cleaning day, however this week in anticipation for creating some uninterrupted working time, I actually did some cleaning ahead of time on Sunday this week

10:10 ~ 10:55 Finished my cleaning duty for the day by cleaning the kitchen

10:55 ~ 11:15 Finish getting ready for my "artist's date" with Christine and Swirly or as I like to call them the Christines

11:15 ~ 12:00 Drive to meet the Christines and get lost

12:00 ~ 3:30 Artist date visiting an amazing creative store called The French General, have lunch and coffee {once again}, sweet baby Henry was also there, walk along Sunset Blvd on the east side of L.A. in Silverlake and finally visit the store Reform School. Remind myself that even though I always have so much "work" to do. These kinds of meetings are also part of my "work", as they are vital for inspiration, perspective and new knowledge as a creative business owner and let's not forget some of the best parts of life, quite frankly.

3:30 ~ 4:45 drive home, stop to photograph the Hollywood sign and tweet about it: something like "keep following your dreams people" also took a quick stop to pick up a cupcake treat for me and for Sean

4:45 ~ 5:15 visit with Sean and catch up on our day

5:15 ~ 5:45 cat nap

5:45 ~ 6:30 write and post this very blog experiment as well as sort through Iphone photos to share in this very blog post 

6:30 ~ 7:15 change into yoga clothes, drive to class and stop by the bank to make a deposit

7:15 catch my breath for a moment and take notes of the day for this very blog post :)

7:30 ~ 9:00 yoga class

9:00 ~ 9:20 visit with my yoga teacher and friend Leslie to talk about inspiring moments of the Winter Olympics and tell her about this very blog experiement ~ hi Leslie!

9:30 ~ 10:00 stop by Walgreens and drive home

10:00 ~ 12:00 time with Sean including watching the end of the Ice Dancing competition

a week in the life of Marisa and Creative Thursday

 

Inspired by my most recent, wonderful, group of e-course students~ A question I have been asked countless times:

"What does a typical day and/or week look like for you?"

Ok. So here's what I've got planned for this week: I thought it might be fun if I just go ahead and answer this question right here on the blog for all of you, and also for me. 

Honestly, sometimes I wonder exactly where my days and weeks go. 

My thought is that I will post a short record of each day and it's events the day after. So, for example today's events Monday, February 22 will post here tomorrow and so on for the entire week unless 

a) we all get bored of this little activity sooner than that.

b) the recording of daily events begins to take up way too much time ;)

I have to say, I've put together a collection of images for you from today, and so far I'm enjoying this. Then again, today was an especially fun day ~ the rest of the week, might well be boring. Either way you'll get to see how it goes down here at Creative Thursday ~ and hopefully it will inspire you a little, as well as give us both an honest look at how much of my time goes to creativity, versus business, versus personal time and so on...

I know I've often wondered and do wonder the very same thing about people out in the world whose work and lives I follow. What does their typical day really and truly look like?

So I hope you'll enjoy this experiment on this last week of February!