Blog — "daily life"

I may be a day late to this whole welcoming of fall game, but with good reason. You see, most years my birthday falls on the Autumnal Equinox and yesterday was not an exception. While I worked a little to get some important tasks checked off my list, I also decided to take a day to do a few things for myself.

My birthday, and the Equinox, has often felt like my own New Year celebration. A new season is ushered in, and it also marks the beginning of another year in my life. I get an energy from this time of year that is different than other changes in season. The lazy daze of the summer heat is put behind and a new list of endless ideas and adventures begins to form both in mind and on paper.

It's a time of reflection. Did I fully live the way I had hoped in the past year? How can I make this next year even better? These can be tough questions that make me stare my successes and failures in the face, knowing full well that each outcome was of my own design, effort, and mindset. It's an exercise that reminds me of what I have the ability to accomplish and where I need to push the boundaries of my own comfort zone. I also like to dream. With this reflection comes the opportunity to think about the year ahead, or even five years ahead.

Personally, 31 was not as great of a year as 30. And that's ok. It was a year of change, personal growth, and lifestyle changes. And while each of these things are still a work in progress, they aren't yet where I would have hoped to be by this age. And again, that's ok. Looking into a new year means that I have another opportunity to fine tune those aspects of life that were rough around the edges and forge forward into new endeavors.

My list for 32 is exciting. It's energizing. And I'm anticipating the chance to make this year better than the last.

Does the change in the season mark a fresh start for you? Have you taken time to reflect on your year recently?

As I brainstormed to add new products to my line (yes, there are MORE new products eventually coming), I thought about how I wanted to make this year's calendar. In the past year, I've been fine-tuning my daily routine, and I'm finally at the point where I feel like I usually have my groove figured out. Part of that routine includes intense planning and preparation.

I use a rather dynamic daily planner to map out each and every day before I go to bed, but I was lacking a way to prepare for the full week ahead. I searched high and low for a printable that I could use on the fly in order to prep for the week, but couldn't find quite what I needed. I tend to chunk my week based on various larger focus areas-- design days, errand days, production days, accounting and paperwork days, etc. Then I block out time to complete daily tasks such as email, filling orders, or updating social media. After using a couple weekly printable planners that just weren't quite what I needed, I came up with my own design that could either accompany my daily planner or work on it's own for those who are less obsessive about planning and list making as I am.

This planning note pad has 50 sheets of offset printed paper. When the week has ended, you rip off the top sheet and start fresh. It has been printed on 8.5"x11" paper, so if you need to look back on the previous week (as I often do) you can hole punch it and pop into a binder for reference. There are lots of check boxes for tasks throughout the week, a space to jot down notes, and a weekend list. While working on the final design, I used a printed prototype of the calendar for several weeks, and it passed the test!

I've spoken on the blog before in this post about trying to outsource my products and just not feeling 100% happy with the work someone else did. However, for these notepad planners, I had to take that leap of faith. After gathering samples upon samples, I was able to settle with a printer here in the US that did an outstanding job. I'm impressed with the quality of the paper, the beautifully saturated colors, and outstanding print quality. The final product is something that I can truly feel proud of offering to you all.

The planner is now available both here on the website and in my Etsy shop. I have plans to launch other such products in the near future that will help you stay organized on a weekly basis, so stay tuned for that!

In addition, I'm currently working on a new card line that will soon be available. It's something that I've been having so much fun working on as it's been a bit of collaboration with my husband (maybe I can some day convince him to join me in my endeavors) and focuses on truly honest life moments with plenty of hilarity involved. You may have seen a peek or two over on Instagram if you're following me there.

What do you think of this year's calendar? Are you working on any new products or business endeavors? I'd love to see what you've all been up to!

P.S. Baltimore locals!! If you're in town this weekend, stop by HampdenFest on Saturday from 11-7. I'll be vending and I'd love to see you! :)

We don't watch tv. We had cable for several years, but rarely used it. We watched Orioles games and The Daily Show on occasion, but that wasn't enough to justify the high cost of cable. Additionally, we had nightmarish issues with our cable provider that made the service even less appealing. Finally, we cut the cord and went cable-less and have been that way for quite some time.

When I say we cut the cord, I don't mean that we swapped cable for Netflix or Hulu. Rather, we bought an HD antenna for the rare occasion in which we would want to watch tv, and we stopped watching any tv altogether. The only exception we make is one hour every Sunday evening to watch one episode of The Wire on dvd. That's it. And sometimes, we don't even remember to do that.

Recently, we've realized that we are few and far between. When we hang out with friends, usually at one point in the day the conversation often goes like this:

"Have you been watching such and such show? It's so good!"
"No, we don't really watch tv."
"And you know such and such character? I couldn't believe what happened this past episode! Could you?"
"I'm not sure. We don't watch tv."
"Oh. Well, in the last episode x, y, and z happened to such and such character. And it was soooo good!"

At this point in the conversation, the friends tend to ramble on about the show for a while and try to explain something we've never watched and know nothing about, and we tend to zone out because it's just not applicable to us. After hanging out with the friends is over, as we are driving home or when we get home, Andrew and I inevitably go back to the same conversation. We often try to figure out if we are the only people that exist on this planet that have no clue about tv. We wonder if we're the only ones who don't have any interest in sitting in front of a tv for the few hours that we have free in the evenings. We see that the majority of our neighbors have the tv flickering through the window with no other lights on in the house most nights. And we are completely baffled.

So what do we do instead of watching tv? A lot! We usually end our days feeling tired, but full of energy from the day-- a good tired. We don't get bored, and we still have plenty to do to fill the time that could otherwise be spent watching tv. And it's more fun! Here's a look at a few things that we do instead.

We have conversation. I know, how novel, right?! In fact, many of the activities we engage in instead of tv go hand in hand with conversation. Sometimes, we'll just sit in our living room and talk. We'll sit on our stoop with a beer and talk. We'll relax on our roof deck and talk. We'll sit in our patio and talk. You get the point. When was the last time that you had several hours of conversation with your significant other and did absolutely nothing else? Most people have told me that they rarely do that.

We play an instrument. Most recently, this has been the piano. Practicing a musical instrument has so many benefits such as increased memory function, better coordination, and improved concentration, and it even promotes happiness. I'd rather reap the benefits associated with practicing music instead of sitting on the couch staring at the tv.

We organize, clean, and declutter. In the past few months, we've gotten rid of over 100 things in our house. We've rearranged furniture and made our home more appealing to live in. It has been easier for us to stay on top of cleaning and organizing because we spend more time throughout the week doing this even when it could be easier to sit on the couch to watch tv.

We explore local parks and get active. We found out that the tennis courts in a different park in the city are always free unlike the park around the corner from our house, so we've been playing tennis once a week. We also found new hiking trails within city parks that we never knew existed, and as an added bonus, they are dog friendly so we usually enjoy our hikes and walks with Lilah in tow. A couple weeks ago, on one of our hikes, we even spotted deer! In a city park! Surrounded by highways and houses! Awesome.

We make things and work on home improvement projects. Last night we baked muffins for our breakfasts this week. Sunday evening I baked bread, prepped cold brew for the week, and made hummus and pita chips. Last week Andrew installed new bathroom hardware, and last month we swapped out a bunch of light fixtures and faucets. Many people say they don't have the time to do these sorts of things. We used to not have the time when we watched a small amount of tv, but now we do.

We play board games. Maybe that sounds super dorky and nerdy, but it's ridiculously fun. It makes your brain think in different ways as you strategize a way to win. This is definitely quality time that we really enjoy.

We read. Andrew tends to stick to architectural and news magazines or reads up on the latest home improvement project he's working on. I've been checking books out from the library, both in digital and hard copy form. One of our library branches is just a two block walk from our house, so there's really no reason not to go to the library.

We get out of the house. The other night, we decided to walk twenty minutes to an adjacent neighborhood to get gelato at 10pm. Not only did we get to participate in a fun activity (going out for gelato), but we also got exercise. It was definitely an hour of time well spent. We dedicate one night a week to a happy hour drink before heading home to walk the dog and cook dinner. And we do as many free activities in the city that we can-- music events, art shows, you name it.

While we're not anti-tv, we just simply don't have a need for it. We understand that there is a place and role for really good quality film and tv, and we still enjoy that once in a while. However, we're often asked what we do instead of watching tv as if there aren't enough things to fill time. And honestly, that seems a bit strange to me. Every day we are given opportunities to choose all sorts of activities to fill our day or pass time, yet so many times I hear people say that they are bored or have nothing to do. There are so many things to do. It just depends on whether or not you want to take action to do them.

Did you give up tv like us? What are your favorite things to do instead of watching tv? Have you considered giving up tv, but are worried you won't have anything to do? I'm curious to know if there are other people like us out there somewhere!

While I realize that I'm getting around to this somewhat obligatory post quite a bit later than most of you, I still needed to write it. You see, it's been quite an interesting start to 2015 already in my world, and that's led to a whole lot of that "holy shit I'm getting old and need to get it together" type of thinking. So for me, even though I may be late to the game, I still find value in writing about a new start for the year. And for what it's worth, in my book, it's never too late to start something, so it's quite alright by me if I'm straggling behind in writing down my yearly hopes and goals.

After visiting a whole lot of family both in Cleveland and in Indiana over the holidays, I felt a tad bit overwhelmed by some things that occurred. Two situations arose both three days before I arrived and three days after I left Indiana in which family members essentially escaped death. In addition, nothing was how I remembered it to be from my previous visits. As I told my mom on the phone shortly after our visit, "I spent an afternoon with my 90 year old grandmother, another afternoon with my 83 year old grandparents, one who is dealing with dementia. My 13 year old childhood cat is so old that he's like a boney curmudgeon, yet he refused to leave my lap, and my other cat died a month before I got to see her one last time. And the town is NOTHING like it used to be, and feels like a foreign place. It's as if EVERYTHING is dying!"

While my "everything is dying" freak out moment is probably not the most optimistic way of starting the year, I can say that it left me thinking about what is important to me and how I want to continue building my life. Some things are new items of my list, and others are things that I want to continue working toward. All of them sort of revolve around the idea of being more intentional about how I do things and how my time is being spent throughout the day.

1 // Continue learning new things. Over the past two years, I've taught myself two new printing techniques-- both with my foil press and starting to print at the letterpress studio. I've learned new information, new recipes, new techniques for doing things, new things about my city. Lifelong learning is so important to me, and I want to continue that learning this year. I'm starting to brush up and practice my French, and I hope to be back to a conversational level. I'm learning to play the piano, very slowly, but surely. I put new strings on my guitars and hope to play regularly again. I want to learn something new as part of my paper business as well-- maybe try screenprinting. Most of these things also have to do with turning the tv off, disconnecting, and focusing on something a lot more fulfilling.

2 // Get out of the house a least once a week. Andrew and I have a plan for this. We're getting back to a weekly habit we'd developed after returning from Australia over a year ago. Wednesday night will be our night out. It's nothing fancy. The plan consists of us trying a new bar or restaurant for one drink, and nothing more. We get out of the house for an hour or so, expose ourselves to a new place we've never been, and enjoy doing nothing but having conversation during that time, and all at a reasonable cost that doesn't break the bank. Week one was already a success.

3 // Make more local art connections. In Baltimore, there is a fantastic arts and handmade community. The only problem is that if you're not already part of that community, it's hard to be accepted by it. I've struggled with this for several years now and it really started to bring me down. Being denied by that existing community made me feel as though what I create wasn't good enough. I'm done feeling that way, and I'd rather seek out my own art community instead. I'm already part of the way there. I have a small group of other artists that I'll soon hopefully be meeting with on a monthly basis. And I'm hoping to also connect with another printer to do a local event this summer. Baby steps, but I'll get there.

4 // Find community within my personal life. Along the same lines, we tend to feel a bit out of the loop in most situations. We've lived in Baltimore for eight years, but we don't have a lot of friends. We aren't religious, so we don't go to a church thus there are no instant connections with other people in that regard. We're not always into the events that are put on in our neighborhood as a lot of them revolve around large parties and drinking. Let's face it, we're not trying to act like we're in college anymore or party our faces off. We'd rather have meaningful conversation and community. It was finally decided that if we can't find the kinds of community events we'd like to be a part of, then we can create our own, and if people come, they come. And if they don't come, then they don't, and neither is a bad thing. We're having a successful start with this as well.

5 // Be more organized and follow through. This is a continuation from last year. I'm making small progress here and there. I purchased what I would call the most intense planner I've ever seen in my life. I've continued planning out my days the night before, so that I'm able to unwind from work, and focus on new tasks ahead. We got rid of quite a lot of stuff in our house, and the idea is to continue on that trend. I still need to work on following through on things that I set my mind to, but I'm getting better with that as well, which is why I've already made progress on some of the above goals.

6 // Find affordable studio space of my own. This is more of a hope than a goal, but at the same time I feel very driven to get to this point. While I'm really enjoying sharing a small production studio at the moment, I ultimately would love to have my own space in which I can do all aspects of my work-- the designing, production, and shipping. My home studio is simply too small. It's a daily struggle. I cut card stock while sitting on the floor because it's the only space I have available to do that task. It's extremely cramped quarters and just not practical. It's the kind of space that is so small that as soon as you clean it, you begin a new task and it's instantly cluttered again. When I receive my card stock and envelope orders from my suppliers, my studio becomes nothing but boxes stacked on boxes. So yes, this is a huge hope for me this year.

7 // Send more snail mail. I started doing this last year when I got my my PO box, and I'd like to do even more letter writing this year. It gives me a chance to stop for a few minutes and think about what's happening in my daily life and how I relate to others in this world. I didn't take time out of my busy holiday schedule to write my own Christmas cards, and that really bothered me. If you have a similar goal, or would like to try getting back to letter writing, I'd be happy for another snail mail friend. You can write to:

Heidi Shenk
PO Box 12396
Baltimore, MD 21281

While these goals are big ticket items, I feel good about them this year. They leave room for growth on both a personal and business level, and make me hopeful of new experiences and creative energy.

Did you make goals for the new year? I'd love to hear about your hopes and dreams so that we can encourage each other throughout the year!

A little over a year ago, we returned from our epic adventure in Australia. At that time, I wrote about perspective. Spending three and a half days in the desert surrounded by red rock and enveloped in heat was perhaps an almost spiritual experience as it was juxtaposed with the hustle and bustle of life we had just experienced in Sydney. When we returned, we had been refreshed from our travels and were ready for a new start. I wanted to stay on the positive side of things, as the positivity that we encountered in Australia was almost contagious. And to stay positive, I needed to cut out the negative aspects that were infiltrating my life.

1 // I thought about the people that brought negativity to my life, and if they weren't positive influences in my daily life, I cut the ties without looking back. I evaluated these situations in both my personal and business life. Some of the situations were one-sided relationships, where I contributed too much with little respect back, people that put me down or dismissed the validity of me or my business on a regular basis, friendships that weren't really friendships to begin with, or other people who just generally never had a positive outlook on life. I worried that I would offend people by cutting these ties, but I ultimately decided that keeping my life positive was more important than the possibility of offending people.

2 // I introduced new activities into my daily life that made me feel good about myself. I started exercising more frequently, waking up earlier, spending time for myself, eating lunch outside, partaking in other activities in the evening that didn't involve tv. Changing my daily habits made me feel more positive because I was getting more out of each day.

3 // I pursued product ideas for my business without worrying about whether or not I'd be stepping on others' toes. Over the past few years, I had a lot of ideas stewing around in my brain, but I always worried that people would think that I was copying or piggybacking off of an already used idea even though I had began developing a similar concept months before. In fact, I even had some strange scenarios, where other people in my business network would elude to me doing so in a very passive aggressive way. A lot of times, this caused me to not follow through with an idea that I'd been perfecting in my idea book, for fear that I'd offend someone. As a result, I was feeling creatively stifled and extremely negative about myself. I was allowing others to dictate what I did or did not do with my business, and that wasn't okay.

I realized that I should still be able to follow through with the ideas that I had thought of even if others produced something similar before I had had the chance to make my idea public. Letting others dictate what I was or was not doing with my business was making me feel horrible, so I let go of the fear of being perceived as a bad person and dove head first into some really fantastic projects I'd been brainstorming for months and months. My printed pencils were one of those things, and I'm so glad that I just went for it!

4 // I started being spontaneous. Meet up for drinks on a random Monday night with neighbors? Sure, why not! Take up a last minute offer for complimentary tickets for a dinner cruise? Absolutely! Take Lilah for a walk along the water after dinner, even though she already went on a walk in the park? Most definitely! Decide to try out a new corner bar at 9:00 on a week night? Yup! Decide to share a studio space with a letterpress printer? Heck yes!

Being spontaneous is something that would give me a fit of anxiety previously because I didn't have a plan. While I'm still not entirely over that, I've learned to let go and just do things because I feel like it, not because I need to follow some societal rule that you can't get out of your house on a weeknight. And doing so has made me a much happier and positive person.

While I still have days where I like to wallow a little (but don't we all!), after making these changes in my life, I have spent the last year feeling much more free as an individual. As my favorite set of pencils say, I do what I want!

Have you had to cut ties with negativity in your life? What sorts of things did you do to bring more positivity to your daily life?