“If you make one of your ideas real each day, you have 365 chances each year that one of them will turn out to be great!” - S.G. Butcher

Yesterday I mentioned finishing and starting projects and it made me think of one of my favorite flow charts, which I thought I’d share. I want to blow it up, frame it, and put it on my bedroom wall whenever I read it, which is often because it’s on the cover of my inspiration binder. It was featured in the September/October 2006 issue of Step Inside Design Magazine and written by a Mr. Stefan G. Bucher. It talks about reaching for greatness, and how it’s completely absurd to wait until you think you have an earth shaking idea to do something. You can’t just dream dream dream, you gotta do stuff. So let’s do stuff! I love it! It’s funny, motivating, and oh so true.

The dreamboat has been in Los Angeles for the past couple days on business. I told myself I would have a plan for getting my life in order by the time he came back. So far I feel like I am making a little bit of progress. Since my 3 hour crying fest last week, (mix being a little depressed with a whole lot of PMS and BANG! You’ve got me in a mess at my desk for hours) I’ve been taking mental notes of the things I need to change to get on the ball. Some things on my mind so far:

1. The “Internets” - I need to seriously cut back on the time I spend on the internet. While it’s a great source of inspiration, getting so into it is keeping me from actually finishing some of my own projects and starting others. Once again it’s time to go through my blogs and weed out the ones that I don’t really need to read every day (do I really need to read any of them every day?). It’s also time and clear out my inbox so that checking my email and responding in a timely manner is easy. I will only allow myself 2 hours of internet “fun time” a day before 7pm from here on out.

2. Finish Things! – I’m good at starting projects. Actually, I am amazing at starting projects. I’ll sit down and plan what I’m going to do, get my materials, joyously start, and by the next day I’m excited about another idea I’ve had and I’m on to that. Meanwhile little abandoned project sits in the same spot for weeks, sometimes months, taking up much valued surface space. That eventually leads to me art and crafting myself all around the house on every flat surface available. Do you see where I’m going with this? There is art and craft everywhere! All cause I don’t finish what I start. Again, no more. For the past week or so I have been going back and finishing my orphaned projects, even if I’m not really excited about them anymore. I feel good finishing them, and I can then put them, and all that went into making them, away.

3. Start new Projects – The reward to finishing? I can start new projects! I plan on having my portfolio complete by the middle of the year, so starting new things is a must. Both digital and “traditional” art. I’m going to put my heart, soul and a lot of extra effort into it.

These seem small, yes, but I think they will help me get in gear with a lot of other things in my life. Having a portfolio would help with the getting internships, which will help with the getting a job. Getting a job would mean catching up on my school loans, and then my crappy not worth going to past college will release my transcripts so I can go to The Academy of Art to finish my BA (and actually fucking learn something!) and move on to CCA (hopefully!) to get my masters. I must remember everything I said before. Maybe I should paint “Just Do It” in huge letters on my wall?

I have decided to cut down on plastics. I threw the idea at the dreamboat a week or two ago and he had been thinking the same thing. Hooray for similar thought patterns!

For the next couple weeks I will be researching alternatives to the many products I use that come packaged in plastic and things that are made out of plastics/petroleum. As I run out of each of these products I will replace them with a more natural, less packaged alternative.

One thing I’ve already started making is an Avocado and Banana deep conditioner. It’s simple, smells good, leaves my hair soft and it’s natural!

Avocado & Banana Deep Conditioner

1 Avocado (minus skin and pit) +
1 Banana +
1-3 Oz. of water

Spin the avocado and the banana in a blender until smooth. The mixture will be really thick. Add water a little at a time until the mixture is thinned enough to pour, but not runny. You want it to stay put when it’s in your hair. Store in a sealed container and use within a couple hours.

It may keep a little longer, but I’ve never let it sit. Avocado exposed to oxygen gets gross looking after a while. To use I put the mixture in my hair like I would any other deep conditioner and let it sit for 15 – 30 minutes. It works even better if you wrap your hair in a hot towel while it does its thing. When times up I rinse, using a bit of shampoo if I feel like it’s not all coming out, and enjoy smelling delicious!

Okay, so I’m taking shorter showers to reduce water wasted in there; what else am I doing? Not using toilet paper! Well at least not all the time.

Instead of using toilet paper when all unwanted liquids have been expelled, I squirt and dab. Haha. It sounds gross but it’s not. I squirt myself clean with a quick squirt from a water bottle that’s hiding out near the toilet, then dab dry with small towelettes made from an old unused towel that was hiding out in the linen closet. I keep the towelettes on the back of the toilet in a little glass cup and I let them dry on a little glass soap dish. They get tossed in the wash with the undergarments and bathroom linens when laundry time comes around (once a week). This keeps the toilet paper usage to a minimum, and allows the dreamboat and I to now adhere to the wonderful mantra of “Yellow is mellow, brown goes down,” which saves water. You can’t do that when you’re worried about wads of toilet paper clogging the pipes.

I originally ran across this idea on Vanessa’s blog Green as a Thistle; post “No tp for pee pee“, and thought it would be an excellent undertaking for myself. I know the thought will probably gross out many a people, but urine is sterile when it first leaves the body and the gents walk away without breaking out the toilet paper all the time. The dreamboat mentioned a week or so ago that he’s noticed we go through far less toilet paper these days, which is both good for the trees, good for the pocket, and good for my conscience. Yay!

After seeing this video on Treehugger via Reuters.com about a guy living in a little self built home on the back of his tricycle in Hong Kong I am even more gung ho about upping the minimalism in my life. When I met the dreamboat I was a huge packrat and he was quite the minimalist, or so I thought. Turns out he too has a lot of unnecessary crap. We’ve done a once over on 176 before, getting rid of things we decided we didn’t really need, but it’s time for another. Hopefully there will be tons to donate when we are finished. I plan on having this project finished by the end of February. A clutter free house is a stress free one.