Simplify 10/103

Today’s tip to simplify your life is:

10. Turn off your cellphone. A ringing cell-phone is not conducive to intimate conversation or a dreamy first date. Be present.

I don’t know about you, but my cell phone is my lifeline basically.  I don’t have a land line so it’s my only phone source.  I have a Droid X smartphone, so it is also my internet/tv/games/gps source as well.  I have learned to turn it on vibrate/silent when I’m going to bed, since I have blogging buddies all over the globe who post at different times, sending an email alert to my phone.  Also, if I am on a “dreamy first date”, or any date, I also turn it on silent.  Same with work, so I”m not disturbing my co-workers.  The only time my phone is actually turned off is when I’m flying and the pilot tells you to turn your phones off during the flight.  I am never without my phone, with 3 exceptions, when I was in Ukraine, England, and Africa.  Obviously, I had no service there, so I left my phone at home.

Do you turn your phone off?  Are you ever without it?

Simplify 9/103

9. Treat everything as an end in itself. Do something because you enjoy it, or because it’s important to you.

Things I like to do:

cook

decorate

photography

write/blog

read

go out to eat

spend time with friends

work out

get massages

get a facial

get a pedicure

watch sports games (preferably live)

work on crossing things off my Bucket List

travel

 

Those are some of the things that I enjoy doing, and try to do often.  With that being said, I’ll be going to the Angels baseball game as soon as I get out of work today, meeting up with some of my friends from church.  After the game, there will be a fireworks show,  my FAVORITE!!!    hope you all have a fabulous Friday and get to do something you enjoy!

Simplify 8/103

8. Appreciate art in many forms. Not just paintings and music. But teacher’s lessons, and blogs posts, and crisp, fall mornings.

This year has taught me to really appreciate art through written word, cooking, and photography, mostly.  I have developed several blogging friendships and blog buddies, I enjoy reading the many blogs I am subscribed to, which has also given me inspiration for some of my posts (including this simplify series), and I have been working on improving my own writing skills (see my Poetry In Motion tab).  I have been cooking a lot more and experimenting with my recipes.  My main form of artistic expression is usually through my photography. I still haven’t been able to find any classes to take for photography, but keep trying to challenge myself with the composition and with editing.   A couple days ago, I also got to view art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and was exposed to so many various types of art.  I am hoping that when I go back to NY in October, I will arrive with the change of seasons, my most favorite time of year there, and be surrounded by an amazing canvas of color and texture and smell with the trees and the crisp, fall air. Life in LA is always so busy and seems to be the same routine over and over, that I often can miss the beauty and art surrounding us.

 

What is your favorite kind of art or way to express yourself artistically?

Simplify 7/103

Today’s simplify topic is:

7. Wash your dishes mindfully. Chores don’t have to be so bad. Put a smile on and enjoy the rhythms of the job.

Yesterday, I talked about laundry, one of the chores I dislike.  Today is the other, DISHES.  I don’t have any particular reason for not liking this chore, I just don’t.  But I now have a dishwasher in my apartment, and so I don’t mind doing dishes as much.  Yet since I have been without a dishwasher for 5 years, I guess you could say I got in the habit of hand washing the dishes, so I haven’t used my dishwasher much since moving here.  Maybe I need to have a dinner party so that there are lots of dishes to load in the dishwasher…hmm.

How do you feel about doing dishes?  What is your most disliked chore around the house?

Simplify 6/103

Want to simplify your life?  Here is step #6:

6. Wear it twice (or thrice). Apparently, this rule doesn’t apply to underwear.

Laundry is one of my least favorite tasks (the other is dishes).  So I am happy to follow this step, to some degree.  I think it’s totally fine to wear your jeans a few times before washing them.  And sometimes other clothes, like a sweater, that you had something else underneath, that is fine too, as well as something only worn for a couple of hours.  But my workout clothes…not a good idea to wear more than once, especially after a really good workout where there was a lot of sweating involved….yes, girls can sweat.  But now that I live in an apartment and have to find a laundry facility to do all my wash, I might try wearing things twice, to help cut down on the amount of laundry and the loads of laundry.  And, it will help conserve water, right??

Do you wear things more than once?  Or do you wash everything as soon as it’s worn?  Any laundry secrets you care to share?

Simplify 5/103

Simplify your life….here is idea #5 of 103:

5. Check your email once a day, at most. Compulsive email checking is an epidemic. Quit cold turkey.

I just had to laugh at this one…it will never happen for me.  Well I guess I can’t say NEVER, because it has happened, but only when I was in another country on a missions trip and we were NO WHERE near a computer or internet connection.  But as soon as we were, and the electricity was working, you can be assured that I checked my email.

The reason I say this will never (well mostly never) happen is because I have multiple email accounts AND my phone is synced to at least 3 of them.  I have my main email, my work email, another mail email with another server, and then 3 additional minor email accounts.  Each were set up for different purposes…for example one of the minor email accounts was set up specifically for when I had my jewelry business.  Even if I wasn’t compulsive about checking my 3 main accounts when I’m on the computer, I still get the automatic notifications sent to my phone.  And I hate having a blinking light on my phone alerting me of the notification, so of course, I have to check it.

How often do you check your email?

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• Compulsive Email checker! (alookintomymind.wordpress.com)