Mandi Ehman's Blog, page 146

Giveaway: $50 Lisa Leonard Designs Gift Certificate (2 Winners!)

About a year ago, I committed to buying only fair-trade jewelry rather than the cheap, assembly line, disposable stuff you find in big box stores (or even the expensive, assembly line stuff you find in department stores, although I tend to go with the cheap stuff when given a choice!). For me, that means buying jewelry that’s handmade by an artisan in the United States (like the stuff from Lisa Leonard Designs) or that supports entrepreneurs around the world (like the paper bead jewelry from 31 Bits).

Yes, that means that my jewelry is more expensive and I can’t buy as much of it (not that that’s necessarily a bad thing), but it also means that the pieces last and I know I’ve supported someone’s dreams with my purchase.

Lisa Leonard began designing and creating jewelry several years ago after the births of her sons out of her desire to be able to work from home. Today, her signature designs are some of my personal favorites, and I love the simple elegance which makes them perfect with jeans and a t-shirt or your little black dress.

Earlier this year, Lisa sent me a gold wildflower necklace from her brand new gold collection. It’s adorable and sweet, like most of Lisa’s stuff, but I didn’t have any gold earrings to go with it. Luckily, just as I started looking through the collection for a pair of gold earrings, she released these gorgeous gold full circle earrings. They were exactly what I’d been hoping for, and I ordered them right away. This weekend I wore both pieces on a long overdue date with my hubby, the perfect way to christen what may become my favorite pieces over the next few months!

In addition to her inspiring jewelry, Lisa also shares the most amazing inspiration for fashion, family and life on her blog, Instagram and Facebook.

Follow Lisa for more special offers like this one: Use coupon code vday20 to save 20% today only {1/29/13}.

Enter to Win

This week, Lisa Leonard Designs is giving TWO lucky Life Your Way readers a $50 gift certificate each!

To enter, fill out the form below:

This giveaway ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on Monday, 1/4. The winner will be selected randomly and notified by email, and this post will be updated with their name as well. Open to U.S. residents 18 years old and above.

Giveaway: $50 Lisa Leonard Designs Gift Certificate (2 Winners!) is a post from Life Your Way

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Know When to Quit {31 Days to Your Goal}

If you’re just joining us, be sure to start at the beginning of the 31 Days to Your Goal series!

I talked about this a little bit earlier in the month, but I think it’s worth revisiting because we’re all so used to the saying “Winners never quit” that sometimes we stick with something a lot longer than we should.

The truth is that winners quit all the time; they just don’t quit because things get hard or because they’re feeling discouraged. If you truly need to abandon a goal, that’s a decision you should make separate from your emotion — because you’ve realized it’s not moving you closer to your vision, because you’re replacing it with a more realistic or appropriate goal, etc. — and not because you’re discouraged!

Seth Godin’s book The Dip is “a little book that teaches you when to quit (and when to stick)”, and he talks about two types of obstacles on your path to your goal: dips and cul-de-sacs.

A dip is just that, a low place on your journey, where things get harder, where you feel a little overwhelmed and where the only way out is to climb up.

A cul-de-sac, on the other hand, is also known as a dead end, a place where your only option is to turn around and try another route.

Viewing your goals through this lense and evaluating whether you’re at a dip or a cul-de-sac is an important part of goal setting. And being willing to abandon a goal and try something new when you’ve hit a cul-de-sac is just as important as being willing to push through the dips.

This can be true in every area of life — from time management and homekeeping to career goals or business ideas. The key is to step back and wait for the emotion (frustration, overwhelm, stress) to pass and evaluate it objectively before making your decision to quit!

Do you give yourself permission to quit, or do you feel like you must complete a task or meet a goal no matter what?

Mandi Ehman is the founder and publisher behind Life Your Way and the co-author of All in Good Time, as well as a wife and the homeschooling mom to four beautiful girls. She lives with her family on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia and loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Know When to Quit {31 Days to Your Goal} is a post from Life Your Way

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Quilted Northern Ultra Plush Double Rolls $0.45 Each

(219 reviews)


Great deal!

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Quilted Northern Ultra Plush Double Rolls $0.45 Each is a post from Life Your Way

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Six Simple Steps to Organizing a Family Yearbook Using iPhoto

The following post is from Lauren Rothlisberger of Get Me Geeky

source: Lauren

I have always wanted four kids.  My first baby was born almost six years ago, and I didn’t put together a baby book for her. My perspective was “anything I wouldn’t do for all of my kids, I wouldn’t do for one”. Call it lazy or practical, but I didn’t make a baby book for each of my kids. Instead, I decided to do an annual family yearbook. I’ll admit that I got behind a couple of years because the task was pretty daunting. I would have to sort through so many photos, I’d easily get distracted trying to find the perfect ones, and my project would stall.

This year I decided to do things a little differently.

*Since my column is focused on Mac products this tutorial is done using iPhoto.

I am going to walk you through the steps that will give you an efficient way to create your own family yearbook. First, you need to have a curator’s mindset. View your family yearbook as your own personal photo museum. In order to put together an elite museum you think like a curator.

Step One: Organize.

Perhaps many of you keep your photos organized throughout the year, but experience tells me many of you have tons of photos with no actual organization. No worries! You are among the majority. Between the cameras and cell phones, it is hard to keep track of all those photos. First, you need to put all your photos for 2012 into iPhoto Events. I recommend using iPhoto Events (not albums) for the best organization. While photo organization is personal preference, iPhoto intends the photos to be organized using Events. If you want to learn more about this method, take a look at my iPhoto MacMini. You do not need to organize into Albums.  Albums will come into play further into this process.

Note: Ideally you should do this routinely throughout the year.  If you are just getting started, or have the gift of procrastination, you will have to go back a few months to get organized.

Step Two: Flag your favorites.

The next step to take throughout the year is flagging. Flagging allows you to start sorting out the pictures you think MIGHT be good for your Family Yearbook without committing to them just yet. To flag a photo you simply roll over a picture in an event and you will see the little flag pop up in the upper left-hand corner. Just click on that flag. If you look over in your left-hand column you will notice a category called “flagged”, click on that category and you will see all the photos that you have flagged so far. They should be ordered by date.

source: Lauren

Step Three: Unflag photos.

Now this step may seem like we are undoing what we just did, but this is a filtering process. Sort of like when you go to the fabric store and take samples home, then choose the perfect one. So lets start un-flagging. Go into your ‘flagged’ category to the left, then un-flag photos that just don’t make the cut .  Do this by clicking the flag in the left-hand corner again. Take a look at the photos you chose and see which you don’t love as much as you originally thought. Remember this is your personal museum. You will find this step particularly useful if you have flagged your photos gradually over the year.

source: Lauren

Step Four: Start an album.

Now we need to create an Album. Some of you may be wondering why we wouldn’t just start at this point. As I mentioned before, the flagging step gives us a filter before really bringing everything into the Album. Additionally, it is easier to just flag a photo than to drag it over to an album. To create a new album go up to File>New Album. Under Albums you will see an untitled album show up. Change the name to “Family Yearbook 2012″.

Step Five: Move flagged photos into album.

Once you have flagged, and then un-flagged, it is time to move those photos over into your new album, “Family Yearbook 2012″. Don’t worry, moving your photos into an album will not remove any of the photos from your Events. This is just a copy of those photos. To do this, go back to the flagged set then click on the first photo in your set, then press shift and click on the last photo. This should highlight every flagged photo. Simply drag and drop into the album you just created. If you want you can go ahead and clear all the flagged photos by pressing “clear flagged” in the upper right-hand corner of the flagged set. This way you can get started flagging your 2013 photos.

source: Lauren

Step Six: Start your iPhoto book.

Finally, it is time for the really fun part! Putting together your iPhoto book. First make sure your album title “Family Yearbook 2012″ is clicked on. Then in the lower right-hand corner click on the “Create” button and choose “Book”. This will bring up a whole new screen and should feature a book titled “Family Yearbook 2012″ (or whatever you called your Album). At the top of this screen, you can choose the type of book, hardback, softcover, etc… and then with the drop down menu you can choose a theme. You can always change this theme; you are not locked into it. Click “Create” and you are ready to start working.

Note: Your new book will show up under “Projects” in the left-hand column of iPhoto. This makes it easy to work on your album over time.

source: Lauren

Bonus Tip: While I love the integration of iPhoto books, take a look at Blurb. This is a third-party company that allows you to create fabulous, professional looking books. They offer a few more options and flexibility with layout and book types. Blurb has its own software that integrates very well with iPhoto. The first five steps of this process are still completely relevant when using Blurb.

Please let me know what questions you have in the comments. I hope this process helps break down the overwhelming task of sorting and organizing the photos for your Yearbook!

What family memories are you going to include in your yearbook?

Lauren Rothlisberger blogs and consults over at Get Me Geeky. As a military wife and mom of three girls five years old and under, she loves focusing on technology and productivity and finding new ways to simplify her life. She recently started putting together MacMinis, which are easy to follow videos for Mac users, and also wrote an ebook, Evernote for Moms.

Six Simple Steps to Organizing a Family Yearbook Using iPhoto is a post from Life Your Way

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Using Games for Your February Decor

The following post is from Lisa of The Pennington Point:

source: Lisa Pennington

I love Valentine’s Day.  I love playing games with my family.  Why not combine the two and have a Festive, Fun February?! (hey, I should be a poet)

This year I am using games to decorate for the Valentine season.  And the best part is I pulled most of it out of may family game cabinet….Free!

The obvious choice is a deck of cards.  A fourth of the deck has hearts already on it. And what’s the most common thing you think of making when it comes to cards?  Houses of course!  But I’m not the most coordinated person, so I used tape to hold my little house together.  I can set it anywhere and it took less than 5 minutes. Love!

source: Lisa Pennington

AND look how cute the tickets are! I got a roll at the super store for a few dollars and punched hearts in it every 6″ or so (no measuring for this project).  I used it in several ways…..my favorite was just tearing off about 4′ of tickets and winding it along the mantel or shelf.

source: Lisa Pennington

I also used the tickets in a tall glass jar.  Wouldn’t it be cute in a mason jar or coffee mug? Be creative!

source: Lisa Pennington

We had several game boards that I thought would prop perfectly in the back and add height. Always try to add variety in height if you can.

But just the board wasn’t enough of course. It needed some love. I dug into the cabinet and found a deck of cards that had a few missing. That means it’s available for me to cut apart and ruin, right? So I did. I used a heart punch to cut hearts out of the cards and simply taped them to the board.  They’d be easy to cut out too….just trace a heart on the back and cut them out….of let the kids do it!

source: Lisa Pennington

My last little touch was using some Valentine’s Day dice I found at the Target dollar spot. Just drop them in a jar with a few regular dice from the game cabinet and let it spill. I’m crazy about a purposely spilled jar. Someday my husband may understand….or not.

source: Lisa Pennington

This would also be darling with game pieces, Monopoly houses, play money or scrabble letters.

source: Lisa Pennington

I hope you’ll raid the games in your house and find some creative ways to celebrate the season of love in a Fabulous, Friendly Fashion.

What other ways could you use game pieces as part of your February decor?

Lisa winds through her little Texas farm house every night, tucking in her nine homeschooled children and turning off lights. Then she scans the rooms & makes a mental list of what she wants to rearrange, restore or paint. Her husband of 26 years hangs on for the ride while she blogs about it over at The Pennington Point.

Using Games for Your February Decor is a post from Life Your Way

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Weekly Reads {1/28/12}

It was a good reading week here. I really enjoyed all four of these books, and I had a ton of time to read over the weekend, which was good because I’d only gotten through The Mysterious Benedict Society as of Friday morning!

Head here to see Katie’s post for this week.

We also want to know what you’re reading! Add your blog post to the linky below or leave a comment with your favorite reads from this week.

(See the full 2013 list here.)

This Week’s Reads

Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

I wasn’t sure I was going to like this book when I started. Donald Miller has a distinct stream-of-consciousness style that got this book rejected by multiple publishers before it was finally published, and the choppiness was a bit distracting in the beginning. That said, I love the content of the book itself, and it only took me a few chapters to get used to his style, which is actually really easy to read. This is a beautiful story about faith in Jesus — a real, life-changing, not limited to a church building faith — and so much of it has spoken directly to me (almost in an eerie way). I’m definitely looking forward to picking up some of Miller’s other books this year as well.

Although I love the highlight feature of Kindle books, one of my goals this year is to keep a book of quotes, and because I’m actually borrowing the paperback version of this book I had to go ahead and write the quotes in my journal as I read (instead of just highlighting them and hoping to get to it later), which I really enjoyed doing as well.

The Silver Chair and The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

Ah, I am finally done The Chronicles of Narnia! I really enjoyed both of these last two books (although The Silver Chair felt like it ended rather quickly and kind of caught me by surprise), which are exciting and full of beautiful allegory. I think I highlighted pretty much everything Aslan said in The Silver Chair because it was just so beautiful.

I’m excited to have the girls listen to the audiobooks again now that I’ve read all seven books so that we can really talk about the symbolism and the lessons in each of them,

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

I have this (bad? good?) habit of always reading the negative reviews of a book before I buy it. I’m not often swayed by those reviews, but I like to know what the criticisms are and not just what people like. Most of the negative reviews of The Mysterious Benedict Society (at least on Goodreads) seem to criticize it for being too much like a children’s books, which is ironic because it is, in fact, a children’s book. In the end, though, I really enjoyed this story. I loved the adventure, the strength of the children’s friendships, the commitment to doing right (and the glimpse into the times when choosing to do right was a struggle for them), and puzzles and plays on words throughout the story.

We’ll definitely be adding this to our Audible queue, although I’m going to have the girls listen to it in the daytime first rather than at bedtime because there are some scary/tense parts. I probably won’t pick them up right away, but I’m looking forward to reading the rest of this series sometime this year as well.

On My Reading List for This Week

This week I have the opportunity to review a few books before they’re released next week, and I’m looking forward to switching things up this week since I’ve mostly been reading children’s fiction so far this year (ha!):

5 Days to a Clutter-Free House by Sandra Felton and Marsha Sims
Congo Dawn by Jeanette Windle
A New Home for Lily by Mary Ann Kinsinger and Suzanne Woods Fisher
The Moses Quilt by Kathy Macias

Audiobooks

The Fancy Nancy Audio Collection

From Parker (5): “I like that Fancy Nancy speaks fancy and that she’s silly. She has a beautiful crown and lots of stuff in her hair. And it helps me know that you can speak fancy.”

The Henry Huggins Audio Collection

Dylan (6): “Henry Huggins is a boy who found a dog named Ribsy. His name was actually Dizzy but Henry found him and named him Ribsy. There’s different books to go with the stories, like when Ribsy got lost or Henry and the Paper Route or Henry and Beezus. I like that there’s a boy named Robert and a new boy they call Murph, and they made a club.”

Share Your Reading List

Evaluate Your Progress {31 Days to Your Goal}

If you’re just joining us, be sure to start at the beginning of the 31 Days to Your Goal series!

The month is drawing to a close and the shininess has worn off our “New Year’s resolutions”. But it’s the start of a new day, a new week and, soon, a new month — plenty of opportunities for starting fresh and setting new goals!

Before we do that, though, take some time this week to evaluate your progress toward your goal for the month.

If I’m honest, this is where my goal-setting skills are lacking. I tend to set a goal, work towards it and then move on to the next one without really taking time to evaluate whether I hit my goal and what I can learn from the process. This is actually an important part of setting goals that will help you move closer to your dream or vision, though. Even if you decide to walk away from a goal (which we’ll talk about more in a few days), it’s a good idea to debrief so that you can learn from the experience  and do better next time:

Have you accomplished what you set out to accomplish?
Was it easier or harder than you expected?
Did you have trouble staying motivated?
Were there days you had to “just do it“?
Did you learn anything about yourself and the most effective ways for you to set a new goal?
Will your next goal be another related milestone, or will you set a different type of goal?
Looking back, do you think your goal was realistic?

What have you learned about goal-setting this month?

Mandi Ehman is the founder and publisher behind Life Your Way and the co-author of All in Good Time, as well as a wife and the homeschooling mom to four beautiful girls. She lives with her family on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia and loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Evaluate Your Progress {31 Days to Your Goal} is a post from Life Your Way

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Get the Homemaking eBook Bundle for Just $7.40! {BundleoftheWeek.com}

This week’s BundleoftheWeek.com bundle includes my ebook — Easy Homemade: Homemade Pantry Staples for the Busy, Modern Family — plus four other resources to help you run your home more efficiently!

Covering everything from organizing your schedule and household records to meal planning, cleaning and budgeting, this bundle is the perfect collection to help you keep your home resolutions. And this week only, you can get all 5 for just $7.40 (a savings of over 80%)!

With your purchase, you’ll get all five of the following ebooks:

Organizing Life as Mom by Jessica Fisher
Easy. Homemade. by Mandi Ehman
Plan It, Don’t Panic by Stephanie Langford
28 Days to Hope for Your Home by Dana White
Hybrid Homemaker by Melissa Gorzelanczyk

Get yours today!

Even if you’re not interested in this week’s bundle, be sure to sign up for the BundleoftheWeek.com weekly newsletter so you can be the first to know about the latest bundle:

Get the Homemaking eBook Bundle for Just $7.40! {BundleoftheWeek.com} is a post from Life Your Way

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Set Fun Goals {31 Days to Your Goal}

If you’re just joining us, be sure to start at the beginning of the 31 Days to Your Goal series!

As the month draws to an end, I hope you’re starting to think about goals to layer on top of the goal you set to kick off the year. With that in mind, I want to remind you that it’s okay to set fun goals too.

Goal setting is wrought with shoulds as people set goals and resolutions based on what they think they should be doing. This isn’t always a bad thing, and I do want to be kinder to my family, more patient with my children, etc. simply because it’s the right thing to do. But one of my favorite parts about The Happiness Project was Gretchen’s rule: “Be Gretchen.” And this is especially true when it comes to goal setting.

Maybe you’re feeling like you should set a goal to read so many non-fiction books per year, but your heart’s not really in it. Or maybe you think you should train for a half marathon (it’s all the rage these days) even though running’s not really your thing.

There’s nothing wrong with those goals, and it may be that one day you set them, but if your heart really wants to learn Italian this year, then do that instead — even if you don’t have a trip to Italy (or even Little Italy!) planned.

Goals don’t have to be all about what you should do or trying to meet the expectations of other people; they are about pursuing your vision for your life, and you should enjoy the process as well!

What fun goals are on your list for this year?

Mandi Ehman is the founder and publisher behind Life Your Way and the co-author of All in Good Time, as well as a wife and the homeschooling mom to four beautiful girls. She lives with her family on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia and loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Set Fun Goals {31 Days to Your Goal} is a post from Life Your Way

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Use a Goal-Setting App {31 Days to Your Goal}

If you’re just joining us, be sure to start at the beginning of the 31 Days to Your Goal series!

I tend to be pretty low-tech when it comes to setting and working toward goals, but lots of people have more success using technology that can be tailored to their specific goal to track their progress. Today, I’m sharing a few apps and programs so you can find the one that works best for you!

My Fitness Pal

For help meeting your health and fitness goals, keep a food and activity log with My Fitness Pal, which is available on the internet or on your mobile device with both iOS and Android apps!

42 Goals

I love the simplicity of 42 Goals, which offers an easy-to-use interface to let you track your goals on a daily basis.

stickK

If you’re looking for a monetary incentive to help you stay motivated, StickK may be the best option for you. Put your money where your mouth is by choosing a charity or person to receive your money if you don’t meet your goal (don’t worry, you get to choose a referee you trust to make that call for you!). Pretty motivating!

Don’t Break the Chain!

Follow in the footsteps of Jerry Seinfeld with the simple Don’t Break the Chain! app, which lets you mark off each day you complete your goal. As the chain grows, so will your motivation to stick with it!

Lifetick

For more advanced goal tracking, try the Lifetick program, which lets you set dreams, goals, milestones and deadlines with additional journal and report tools so you can record your insights and see your progress.

Do you prefer tracking your goals with an online program or good ol’ fashioned paper and pencil?

Mandi Ehman is the founder and publisher behind Life Your Way and the co-author of All in Good Time, as well as a wife and the homeschooling mom to four beautiful girls. She lives with her family on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia and loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Use a Goal-Setting App {31 Days to Your Goal} is a post from Life Your Way

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Work Your Way subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please send an email to contact@yourway.net to let us know. Thanks.