{ welcome new year }

New Years Day brings a day of tidying up, finishing little projects, writing holiday thank you notes and then tonight lounging around the house with the glow of anticipation of a new year. Making fires, snuggling, drinking hot tea, reading books and time in the kitchen cooking a celebration dinner. We will get the kids to bed early (fingers crossed) and then a cozy evening will be spent with Will by the fire as we discuss the last decade (getting engaged, cancer diagnosis, surviving Y2K ;), cancer remission, getting a dog, getting married, moving, adopting 2 amazing children, quitting our day jobs, launching 3 businesses, remodeling a house, building a house, raising a family together....and we are just getting started!!), New Years wishes and aspirations, travel plans and more. (And tomorrow morning, a detox flow yoga class). Happy New Year!

I also want to take this opportunity to thank you my dear friends and blog readers for all you have done over the past 2 years to help ME grow LobotoME. I continue to be amazed at how so many of you help spread the word about my products and provide a helping hand or words of encouragement when needed. So, thank you to all of you. I wish you all a year filled with health, happiness and adventure!

{ keep calm + carry on aka i'm not going to freak out }

So, as many of you know, we've got a lot going on around here these days - 2 kids, 3 businesses, 2 work from home parents, etc....We travel a lot for work + play and the other day we sat down to set our 2010 calendar (Adventure Xstream race dates, ZOIK promotional events, LobotoME tradeshows, family reunions, wedding trips, trips to visit family, fun trips, etc). And you would not believe how FULL our calendar is for a year, a decade, that hasn't even begun yet. So my first instinct was to bemoan our crazy lives and freak out like in picture above and wonder how we were to stay sane amidst TWENTY trips/events/festivals/conferences/tradeshows, etc.... But then I took a step back and looked at how FILLED our calendar is with adventure! Moab, New York City, San Francisco, Mexico, etc. With opportunities to travel as a family, grow our businesses, to do what we love. With trips to see loved ones. With amazing educational opportunities for the kids. A calendar filled (to the brim) with LIFE + ADVENTURE. I mean, my calendar will be empty someday when I'm in a grave, right? But, for now, while I'm ALIVE, it is filled with ADVENTURE & OPPORTUNITY. So, that was my big shift in perspective. I'm hoping to hold on to it as I go through yet another Pack ME notepad in one year.

How can you change your perspective to make a daunting thing look like an opportunity instead?


Samme singing "twinkle, twinkle little star" at the finish line of one of the races when she was 3!

{ keep spending + stay in debt }

Holy questions people...I think I have gotten more emails asking personal finance questions than I do about my products since my guest post on Man vs Debt (that may be called bad marketing on my part because I am the organization guru not personal finance!)... ;0 And believe you me, when I say I am no financial guru. I don't think I ever even looked at our bank accounts until about 18 months ago. I was clueless. But not anymore. My husband and I have big plans and that means saving a ton of money, paying off our house in the next 5 years and having a great travel fund so we can travel internationally for 4-6 weeks each year.

Anyway, the question I get most frequently seems to be that you TRY not to spend and do good for a few weeks and then fall off the bandwagon big time...I got one email last week from a mom of one who has over $80,000 in debt - school loans, credit cards, vehicle loans, etc...and still shops for cute designer clothes for her son each week. They struggle to make rent, she isn't working right now and they have no savings or emergency fund. This isn't a good scenario. The bottom line is, you can't get out of debt if you keep spending money. I would encourage her to think about her son's future - does she want him to have to take care of her when she is older, does she want him to wind up with thousands of dollars of school loan debt because she can't help him go to school? And if they want to buy a home someday, they need to pay off the debt and set up a savings account for a down payment (home loans don't come so easy anymore). What advice do you have for her on ways to NOT fall off the spending hiatus wagon?

Some things that have worked for me in helping ME not fall off the spending hiatus completely (note: there have been a few slip ups here and there) have been to avoid my personal triggers (Target & Anthropologie in particular). Don't GO shopping. If you put something in an online shopping cart leave it there for a day (unless of course it is a LobotoME notepad!) and see if you still feel that same urge a day later. Find something else to do instead of shopping. Shopping should not be a hobby. And if you do feel the urge, go to the thrift store with $10 in your pocket and that's it. See what treasure you can find (things that I've found recently at the thrift store - new winter boots for Sam ($2), a food dehydrator ($3), a vaporizer for Henry's room ($3), a great piano ($150) - Samme's Christmas present, Christmas craft stuff ($1), vintage Parents Magazine children's books ($.10), Brand new ice-skates for Samme ($5) - another Christmas present, etc.

Many of you have asked if I am going to keep at it with the spending hiatus....after 9 months I can enthusiastically say NO! ;) But I do believe my spending habits are forever altered. I don't anticipate going on a shopping binge anytime soon (although there are a few things on my wish list - this, this and this in particular).

Here are some tips for developing a saving & spending plan for 2010:
- Set specific, realistic goals
- Take control of your finances - know how much is coming in and how much is going out.
- Create a monthly spending plan for you & your family (make sure to include room for unexpected expenses and for some fun!)
- Pay down debt (especially credit card debt).

ps - Here's a great spending hiatus/budgeting article via Amy and another one on the Choosing Voluntary Simplicity blog on knowing WHY you buy. Here is also a great post about 3 little white lies we tell ourselves when spending money.

“The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what you want most for what you want now.” -Zig Zigler

Great print pictured above available here.

{ starting off fresh }

Otherwise known as {Get Your S**T together week} around here. So the week between Christmas & New Years, I am a big dork. I’ll be spending lots of quality time de-cluttering and purging before the ball drops on Jan. 1st. I spend the week getting organized for the new year, purging the heck out of closets, drawers and storage spaces and decluttering & cleaning the entire house. I go room by room and I rope my family into helping as much as I can. I clean out the fridge and chuck all of the leftover cookies and holiday treats. I plan to start 2010 off with a fresh and clean plate. I am also gearing up for the p90x challenge with some of my fellow blogging friends (daily HARD workouts and super clean eating) for 90 days. More on this later but cleaning out the fridge, stocking the pantry with healthy foods and getting my weekly meal plans together will help us stay on track (did I mention, I roped Will into doing this with me)? He jokingly refers to it as {2010 the year of the PULL-up} - because you need a pull-up bar for this exercise routine...please note, I have never (and I do mean never) been able to do a pull-up in my life - I simply dangle from the bar. So yes, 2010 is the year of the pull-up!) Anyway, off to go clean out another closet! Hoping you all had a very happy holiday with your loved ones. Cheers!

Awesome Print Shown from Orange Beautiful

{ happy holidays }

{ new years resolution redux }

A post on Decor8 yesterday reminded me to think about how I did with my 2009 Resolutions. So here is my 2009 resolutions & aspirations redux....

{ ME }
:: Rise early in the morning for daily meditation & yoga practice. [5:30AM] - Success for the most part. Some days more successful than others (sometimes for 1/2 hour, sometimes only 5 minutes). Continue to incorporate this into my daily life.
:: Exercise daily. Healthy heart = healthy mind. Success for the most part. But would like to step it up a notch this year.
:: Less work + more play. [only work 3 days per week while Sam is in preschool - everything else will have to wait.] Still needs improvement (aka will reappear on my 2010 list)
:: Practice Spanish. [forget itunes in the car, listen to my spanish CD's everyday.] (didn't happen.)

{ Family }
:: Simple Family Living...slow down, savor more moments & spend quality time together. Yes! Success!
:: Record our life in our daily journal. [just a few thoughts a day on our days.] Getting better at this.
:: Plan a summer family raft trip and winter trip to Dominican Republic. Lots of raft trips this summer with the kids but our winter trip to the beach was sans kids.
:: Weekly dates & more time alone with Will. Really working on this and taking a trip without the kids this winter was wonderful for our relationship.
:: Plan and prepare healthy meals daily. [no excuses for not feeding our bodies with good food.] Yes, we've been eating healthy meals and having tons of meals together.

{ Home }
:: Plan and care for a great vegetable garden and plant more fruit trees. Yes!
:: Landscaping projects [pond, trees, wildflowers, etc.] Yes!
:: Plan for emergencies - create emergency kits for home & cars. Completed car kits still need to do home.
:: Continue to declutter and simplify the rooms in our home. [Less is more.] Yes! Sold over $15,000 worth of stuff on ebay and donated tons of stuff! Still more to go though.

{ Financial }
:: Be debt-free (except mortgage) by end of 2009. [pay off school + car loans.] YES! SUCCESS! Paid off $40K! Now to tackle the mortgage!
:: Stick to monthly spending plan & 8 month spending hiatus. YES! SUCCESS! (Although I did just buy this. oops. May carry the spending hiatus forward into 2010 or look at not buying anything NEW for a period of time and test my thrifty ways.
:: Save $ for awesome month of travel this winter. Started separate savings fund and 2010 we will travel for a month together.

{ Business }
:: Successful event production season. Yes, we hung in there despite lower than normal turnout due to the economy.
:: Successful launch of new kayak company. YES! And expanding big time in 2010.
:: Launch iphone apps for LobotoME pads. No- Looked into it but decided I couldn't tackle that project at this time. But launched an affiliate network.
:: Increase # of stores carrying the LobotoME line. Yes! But it saddens me in a way that most of my accounts remain larger stores, a lot of my smaller retailers are struggling. Reminds me the importance of buying locally.

Stay tuned for my 2010 Resolutions & Aspirations.... How did you do with your 2009 Resolutions?

Mantra Poster shown above available here.

{ holiday shipping }

Friday, noon MST is the last day that we can ship and have it arrive by Christmas Eve! Please make sure to select the Priority Mail Shipping Option during checkout! Happy Holidays!

{ hope. love. faith }

Stephanie's amazing life story continues to bring me to tears. Joyful tears. Sad tears. Hopeful tears. Tears reminding me how very lucky I am. Tears to remind me to treasure every single moment of this life. Every moment.

It also reminds me the importance of faith. Because she sure has a lot of it. I don't talk about religion or spirituality or faith here very much, not because I don't have a lot to say on the topic (I do) and not because it can be controversial but because I am still searching for spiritual enlightenment. I have faith. I meditate. I was raised in a family where Sundays were days for family & football but not church. I only go to church on Christmas Eve where Silent Night brings me to tears. I am not a huge fan of organized religion, yet I am awed at its power and its sense of community. I attend Sangha, a buddhist spiritual practice whenever I feel my soul calling for it. I love that the Dalai Lama says his religion is that of kindness. I listen patiently (most of the time) to the Jehovah Witnesses that come to our door. I am inspired my my Mormon friends for their community of faith and commitment to the temple. I love that Zen Buddhists emphasis is on developing one's ability to be present.

But I find myself not praying enough. Not seeking enough. In fact, to be entirely truthful other than prayers while flying that go along the line of "Dear God, please don't let this plane I'm on crash. My children need me. Please keep us all safe," and a heartfelt thank you when we safely land, that's about it for praying. I also pray when I hear of a friend or stranger in need, but not consistently. And still not enough. As my children get older, I want to encourage them to explore all aspects of religion and spirituality and to seek enlightenment wherever they may find that (in a church or on top of a mountain). I want them to have faith. And to have love. And to have kindness for all beings on this planet. And I'd like them to have a spiritual community they can turn to. And that means I have to keep seeking that for myself as well. So that is one of my aspirations for the new year. To continue to seek and learn. { See, I told you her story makes me all sappy & emotional.... ;) }

{ see jane fly }

I'm excited to introduce a new partnership with See Jane Fly, a great travel website! See Jane Fly features the latest in travel tips, great vacation giveaways, style guides, travel tips & more. In addition to blogging for them on organizational topics and family travel tips, I have also created some FREE downloadable travel related checklists in conjunction with their launch! Oh and did I mention you could win a trip for 4 to a Napa Valley SPA!? If you win, you just must promise to take ME! ;) Trek on over to See Jane Fly today!

{ it's beginning to look a lot like christmas }

So, I've been doing a lot of this....


and not quite enough of this....


but am finally getting caught up, so we can do more of this...

{ E News! }

LobotoME goods were featured tonight on E News! in Giuliana Rancic's Holiday Gift Guide! Thanks E News! & Giuliana!

{ simple holidays...revisited + revised }

What I want for this month is simplicity not stress. Letting go of my expectations seems to be the way to make that happen. Gasp, this means I'm not decorating the trees outside with white lights, not doing the kids advent calendar like I usually do (although I have fun family activities written in for most days this month, they just happen to occur at home instead of out and about), not buying anymore gifts but baking some bread instead for friends & family, not stepping foot into a Walmart or other box store the rest of this month, not buying stupid stocking stuffers but filling the kids stockings with fresh fruit & art supplies, volunteering & giving to those who need it the most this holiday, having Sam choose only 2 playdates for winter break, saying NO (gracefully) to pretty much every holiday party we get invited to (this is a hard one for a social person like me) but after having almost 8 straight weeks of company & travel I just want to be home with my sweet little family....

I've got a smaller to do list now than when I started....I hacked about 25 things off of it (things like make homemade organic salt scrubs for family & friends, bake 12 different kinds of cookies, make Gram's Swedish coffee cake and mail to family, etc.! Here is what I'm left with and it seems manageable now...

- Put up tree - done
- Decorate mantle - done
- Freeze huge batch of veggie chili for nights I don't feel like cooking - done * recipe in comments section of this post
- Order Newspaper GC for Jason (done)
- Pick up Spa Shop GC for Mom (done)
- Food Bank donation & Project Merry Christmas with Samme (done)
- Return book (done)
- Send holiday e-card (done)
- Burn CD for M - done
- Make crayons for Jayden with Sam (done)
- Finish wrapping gifts (Next week)
- Bake vegan pumpkin bread (done)
- Bake cookies with Sam & Mom (next weekend)
- Plan Christmas Day Brunch (keep it simple - blueberry coffee cake (make ahead), coffee, mimosas, veggie quiche (make ahead), homemade granola (make ahead) and fresh fruit).
- Finish mailing gifts to remote family (we send grandparents a shutterfly book of photos from the previous year & a framed family pic). (done)
- Get healthy & crafty stocking stuffer items together (check to see what I have on hand first) (done)
- Get gifts together for teachers & neighbors (LobotoME notepads & homemade bread) (done, deliver next week)
- Have items on hand for impromptu drinks with friends (cranberry margaritas, crackers & goat cheese & olives; chips & salsa & guacamole). And did I mention CRANBERRY margaritas? :) (done)
- Go to YOGA.

What are you doing to keep it simple this year or are you running around like a chicken with your head cut off?

quote image via Ink+Wit

{ good for the planet + soul gift ideas }

Here are some of my favorite {not made in China, plastic crap gift ideas}.... I meant to post this before our trip but forgot!


1. Feed Bags (buy a bag and feed a family in Africa).
2. Lovely Ink + Wit Calendar
3. Custom Initial Letterpress Stationary from Bird Dog Press
4. Eco-friendly notepads from LobotoME


5. Hand-stamped Jewelry from Hot Mama Designs
6. Handmade wood toys & teethers from Little Aloutte
7. Simple Song's I Heart Lists letterpress sheets
8. Vegan Tote from Delight.com

{ the sweet life }

We got back last night from an amazing week in Tulum and arrived home to SNOW! ;) Basically all we did was eat, sleep & relax. I had all sorts of plans to run every morning on the beach but instead we lounged in the hammock drinking coconut smoothies. I had all sorts of plans to visit tons of archeological sites and cenotes but we couldn't bring ourselves to leave the comfortable chairs on the beach. Only when I got really hot did I even get out of the chair to go swim or surf. It was perfect. And it was so great for Will & I to have some time alone together.

So, I'm trying to get my head back on straight and transition as smoothly as possible back into working mom role (who is also notably behind in all holiday things). Note to self: Must get tree up asap.

More on our trip soon once I get resettled and more on how I am super simplifying Christmas this year (even more than usual since I'm so behind!).... Have a great Monday!