that I somehow *insist* on cramming entirely too much activity into the average day. Thus, I begin the process of attempting (perhaps in vain) to Streamline things.

Today, I work my ass off to get concepts done (which are almost done anyway - I worked on them last night) for the rush web project I'm doing. Then I do a web presentation on making the most of LinkedIn (look at me, two speaking engagements in one week!).

Somewhere in this, I have to start going through the intense amount of clutter in my office, and get rid of things that I really don't need - which appears to be A Lot.

yep. lots of stuff happening. But that's fairly normal for me, right?

I'll have more later; in the meantime, Productivity awaits.

Last night's networking event led to me having an extensive conversation with someone who needed help with meal planning.

Who's a vegetarian. And needs to maintain weight loss while still getting Enough to Eat.

I can SO do that.

So yeah - it appears that I might actually BE doing that in the near future. For money. Who knew?

Today's meeting with the marketing coach (alas, cutting back our sessions soon, but I'm kicking quite the bit of ass lately), along with Tuesday's networking event has gotten me back into thinking about What I Am, I mean REALLY am, to my clients.

Yes, I'm a designer. And a damn good one. And if a big Financial Company offers me $25K to do their Annual Report, dad-gum I'll do it.

But I'm more - much more. I'm an idea-sparker, a Creative Catalyst. I'm that person you tell your problem to, and I can tell almost immediately what the problem REALLY is, and give you at least a few good ideas on how you can solve it. I brainstorm, I squeeze Silly Putty, I get myself into a zone and that's where the money ideas come in.

Oddly enough, my marketing coach was the SECOND person who heard me say that I want to break into consulting/idea-generation, and said, "well that's a natural outgrowth of what you do already." So obviously, there's a message here that this is what needs a-doing.

So now the challenge is finding the folks who will pay me for this, and communicating to them why I'm the person to help them work through their next big idea.

And in half an hour, work is fun again. Love it when that happens.

In the pike (so's I remember):
• Figure out how to use the Gocco so I can get my notecards printed;
• Start working on a Client Thanksgiving promotion (this one I'm super-psyched about. Nothing too fancy, but I think it'll be a good one). This involves the rubber stamps I just picked up; ooh, crafts!
• Promo collaboration with my bud Jess over at Roughstock is back on deck and the scope has shifted to something Much More Manageable.
• Deal with various financial things; meeting with a planner today was awfully helpful. Joe DiNardo at New York Life in Waltham is a doll; if you need someone, ping me and I'll give you his number.
• Thoughts of a desk calendar, but I don't know about that one.

for raven_laughing, since he elected to interview me at my behest:

1. You devote a lot of energy to self-study and self-improvement. How will you know when you're done? (i.e. do you have a goal in mind?)

I don't know if I'll ever be done with the self-study/improvement, and honestly, I don't know that I should ever be done. I also don't like the idea of self-"improvement," since honestly, there have been very few times in my life where I generally felt I needed improving. In my mind, I know where I want to go, and I also know that I need to learn a lot more, and do a lot of work inwardly and outwardly in order to get there.

In terms of what that goal is, it changes periodically. But ultimately, I know that it's running a thriving 10-person design studio, and it's living in a place where I can have a garden. Am I upset that I'm not there now? No, not really. But I work towards it.

2. What was the best moment of the previous 365 days?

There have been so many, but a few that stand out:

1. moving into this apartment with Nick;
2. seeing him walk across the stage at graduation;
3. learning that making my own butter was dead easy;
4. the moment when my weight first went under 200;
5. the moment I first saw a potato flower shooting up from the dirt. And for that matter, every moment I've spent in my garden this year - even the torturously hot ones.

3. What changed that let you be open to (as you put it) your first healthy relationship ?

I don't know if there was any one thing; I guess it was a combination of being older and less willing to put up with the bullshit I used to in my 20's, and Nick just happening to show up at the right moment, and him being who he is. I had also made a conscious decision to be single after the boyfriend directly previous to Nick for about three months, which wasn't easy, but it did help me move away from the compulsion to couple.

4. If you could send a message back in time to a younger version of yourself, what moment would you pick, and what would you say?

The same thing I said to myself in meditation the other day: "You've got time." I spent a lot of years living like I was going to die tomorrow, and stressing out because I didn't have all the things I was expecting from life already.

5. And one light-hearted question: What is your best-ever ice cream experience? Follow-up question (because I'm curious what my foodiest LJ friend will say: Design an ice-cream (or sorbet or gelato, etc.) flavor that you've not tried, but would like to.

there are two, and both involve sorbet.

The first was discovering Sharon's Coconut Sorbet at Trader Joe's, and serving fresh strawberries and blueberries together with a bit of balsamic vinegar over it one summer evening a couple of June's ago.

The second was adapting a recipe I found in sweets00 ice cream cookbook for lemon-mint sorbet. I used Meyer lemons and some ginger, and maybe some tequila? Either way, it was the best thing I'd ever eaten. One of them. I eat a lot of really good things.

A flavor I've never tried, hmmm??? I think caramelized pear or peach ice cream with Grand Marnier, butter and rosemary would be nice. Certainly makes an amazing topping for vanilla ice cream.

Now, I guess you're all sposed to ask me to interview you and I'll ask you five questions. If you wanna.

It occurs to me that my current restlessness has a lot to do with the fact that I spend so much time IN my business and not so much ON my business - that is, I get stuck in the daily rigors of client work without so much time spent on making my business/day a self-sustaining organism.

What this means is that, if I want to do all the other things I want to do (like write a book and become a yoga teacher), my current way of doing business is actively preventing that, since I spend so much time trying to "flow with my day" (which really means fucking around on Facebook, LJ and others) and not enough time figuring out how I can help my business run itself so that I can shift my focus as needed to other pursuits.

That said, the goals are thus:
1. Strategize around what I need to do to start incorporating the "next thing" into my life, and how I need to re-focus the business to allow for that. This may actually require a paring down; but we'll see. It will definitely require shifting my schedule around to allow myself time for the "next thing."

2. Start making incremental changes.

One thing I notice right away is that I'm much more thoughtful/reflective in the mornings; perhaps if I used that time to write and journal instead of feeling like I need to rush into creative is one solution. I can do work in the afternoons, which I seem to be better at anyway.

I like the idea of this.

I really think that social media as a public relations/self-promotion tool is going to be where I'll find myself shining. Aside from the fact that I'm a fab designer, of course.

This means course materials, etc.

Fun!