Wow, what a productive day and  above all I designed The Bird Notecard and Bookmark Magnets in rose petal, sage green and robins blue egg.  A fresh notecard just right for spring, allowing you to show your friends and family just how special they are to you, in style.  Enjoy the fresh air and gorgeous blossoms.

Vana Shipton

Today is “Bring your child to work” day.  I asked my husband if he could do it, after human resources “okayed”  it, we  made it happen.  I  took the youngest for the first half of the day, I had  some simple chores planned out for the day not expecting to get much done.

My daughter and I went through my regular day which consists of making the house look half way decent, then dishwasher and washer/dryer.  Now that everything was more  or less in it’s place  and  all the machines  where  doing the  work, the sound of productivity is music to my ears.  We  could now settle down to money earning work.  We took a ride to the post office and bank and then off to the home office.  My little one logged on for me and check that all the sites and links were working and up to date, we then proceeded outside to the beautiful weather in our back garden and  photographed 2 journals, after she took the photos we  loaded them up on computer, chose the best ones and posted them on the  website.  That was one big chore for me that went smoothly.

I had 200 postcards to mail out so she proceeded to stamp them, after being tired about 10 minutes  later we had  a drink and took a 5 minute break.  She finished her homework and were off again out of the house.

We quickly took the car for a wash as it was starting to grow arms and legs of its own.  Then the surprise if she was a good assistant, which was a simple manicure.  We had lunch with dad and her sister, they received their “paychecks” for the mornings work and we then swapped kids.

In the afternoon, my other daughter photographed 2 other books, posted them on the web and logged on again, to check all is  well, and running smoothly.  I took care of some emails while she worked on her essay.  We finished off the work-day by completing the 200 postcards which are now ready for mailing on Tuesday.

We are going to finish off the day with a surprise visit to Starbucks, she has  been begging me to try coffee.  Not so sure she  will like it.  Let’s go see.

I had 2 wonderful and helpful assistants, the day went by very quickly and easily and by the smiles  on their faces, it looks  like they had  a good time.  It was a good bonding day.  How was my husbands day?  I have no idea yet.

Vana Shipton

It has been months since I have actually sat down with my girlfriends, had a nice meal, a glass of wine and a good ol’ chat.  There were 4 of us this time, the conversation never stopped, in fact there where probably 2 or 3 conversations going on at the same time.  We were having such a good time that we were one of the last few tables to leave.

We were discussing how… hmmm, multitasking is not a good word… how super efficient we were.  Over the first 49 minutes we discussed:  being picked up, war in the middle-east, prescribed medication, having rhinoplasty, not to TEXT while driving, meeting old friends, neurotic tendencies, how to get a seat in the front end of the plane, TEXT messages sent to the wrong folk, age spots, self-medicating, ungrateful university students, gas prices, sugar prices and flour prices, lack of food on national flights, how many peanuts are distributed on national flights depending on the morning or night the flight attendant had, family services and drug addiction.

In 49, minutes…it was definitely time for another glass of wine.  When I went home much later that night, I felt so much lighter, happier and definitely stronger to take on tomorrow’s challenges.

I have mentioned this before, going out with friends just for the sake of it, is terribly important to ones mental health.  To simple dinners, good times and most importantly…good friends.

Vana Shipton

Actual resolutions I am very excited about.  Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean it in a conceited way.  More like, I will try not to rush so much, or take 5 minutes longer to exercise or shower a little longer and breathe deeply while using that special body gel I bought over the holidays.  Exercise, that’s a whole other book, never mind chapter, okay I started walking today again, it actually felt good.  Basically to try and feel better about my work, socially, my family even financially.  To try and be simpler and make life easier and therefore a little more in control in every aspect.

PURGE paper, negative people, unnecessary shoes (NO MORE black shoes till others have been worn and destroyed), NO MORE food I don’t want to eat because I read in some book that it’s good for you, PURGE movies I don’t really want to watch, NO MORE bad service at restaurants (I’m going to take cooking lessons and drink red wine while cooking, I might as well tip myself right?).  I am going to slow down, zoom out, to try and savor and enjoy.  We owe that to ourselves.  As woman we find it so difficult to let ourselves enjoy something and then try to not apologize for it.  We read it almost everyday, but do we actually do it. Well I’m going to.  Now I’m going to try and get a massage out of my husband…sweet dreams, you deserve it.

 by Vana Shipton