It feels almost like it’s a different person. Guess it will take some time to adjust to this new name as well as new online persona. It feels like a good time to shake things up though.

Before:

After:

Oddly enough, I like to clean and organize. My adventures into living minimally and without clutter have pushed me towards doing the same for other people and enjoying the process. I love tackling a project like this that feels overwhelming (which is why it hasn’t been done already) and leaving the space useable and clean. And it’s so nice when the person appreciates the final result. Perhaps I have a future as a professional organizer?

Which leaves everything for me to do tomorrow, since I’m leaving on Thursday for San Fransisco/Oakland. Really that’s fine because there isn’t much to do in terms of actual physical labor. Because I don’t own much I need to do a single load of laundry and then pack my things up. Easy. But I am procrastinating and leaving that until tomorrow.

Beside my packing, I really have a lot of other things I need to be doing. Last night I made a long list of things that still need to get done either before the roadtrip or before moving to New Zealand. That list is a bit random and includes things like buying travel health insurance, creating a list of business books to read, finding a place to stay for one night in LA, further researching self employment retirement options, and writing blog posts to post while I’m on the road. I’m not sure why I’m procrastinating when I have so much on my list of things to do today.

I’ve always had a problem with procrastination. I’m not the kind of person that gets things done way ahead of time, even though I wish I was that person. I’m most definitely the person that finishes things right before they need to be done. I remember when I was creating my ebook, I was putting finishing touches on it right before I was set to release it (just cosmetic stuff, the content is solid). I remember in college I would write my papers timed perfectly so they would be finished right before needing to be handed in. I always have procrastinated and then stressed myself out trying to finish things before they are do. For some reason I avoid stress in most areas of my life, but still create it for myself when I procrastinate.

But I want to change. I want to stop procrastinating. So I’m going to start making my lists again – my to do list for today is the first in a long time – and then getting them done. Life is too short and I’ve got way too much to do to let procrastination keep winning. I’m turning over a new leaf and no longer procrastinating. I’m going to get things done.. which means I need to stop blogging my declaration of war on procrastination and actually go get things done. So have a good day!

Compared to most people I don’t have much stuff. I have practically nothing. Everything I own will fit nicely into my car and I like it that way, since I’m still on the move until August. But what I keep with me and what I own is only a fraction of what most of my friends and family have in terms of possessions. My constant moving and traveling has forced me to downsize quite often and I’m grateful for that. I’ve spent the last year of my life focusing on experiences instead of collecting things. It’s been worth it. And as I plan on moving to New Zealand soon I’m grateful that I don’t have a ton of stuff to haul across the ocean. It just makes the transition abroad easier.

The 100 things challenge seems to be done differently by ever person who undertakes it. Some count each individual item. Some count groupings. Some count things that are disposable, some don’t. I decided not to strictly count items, but to just photograph and list everything. For me the success is in the fact that I can easily do this and can pinpoint every single thing I own. The number might not be exactly 100, but it’s still quite small.

And now, I present to you, everything I own!

My worldly possessions:

Not photographed:

A small picture frame with a photo of me and my boyfriend. ;)

Five more stuffed animals from places I’ve visited and/or lived. It’s a fun collection that will one day go to my kids.

My luggage, as I only have one piece with me and the rest will be given to my family members.

My Ford mustang, which I am selling to a family member in August.

My yoga mat, because it was in my car. It’s pretty cheap crappy one, so I’m thinking of upgrading it soon if I do more yoga.

A few pairs of jeans at my mom’s house in a different size that will either fit and go to New Zealand, or get donated.

A box of old photos, yearbooks, and scrapbooks. It’s a small box of things kept at my mom’s house because I refuse to get rid of these wonderful, tangible memories. They may or may not stay at my mom’s house forever, but I like knowing they are there if I ever want them.

A bigger box of snowboarding gear including thermal clothes, coats, snowboarding pants, and goggles. I keep this at my mom’s house as well because I tend to go on snowboarding trips once or twice a year.  Most of this stuff will be making the move to NZ with me so I can snowboard there. :)

And that’s it! Everything else is either my roommates, soon to be given to my roommate, or something perishable (food). Not necessarily 100 things, but definitely not many.

• kidney stones and hospital trips
• Delta and other crappy airlines
• the tag “PR Friendly”
• bloggers who have no idea what PR actually is
• the words “bloggy” “bloggie” and “tweeties”
• conversations on Generation Y and whether it’s cool or not
• any talk about twitter
• trying to get more twitter follower to appear popular
• social media “experts”
• blogging echo chambers (every niche suffers from it)

Things I’m excited about:

• moving to New Zealand!
• the Memphis Sinkhole.. it’s just funny
• finishing a big project this week
• learning more about affiliate marketing
• affiliate marketing actually paying off
• life, cause, you know, it’s awesome

Sometimes I miss it a lot.

I got rid of mine a few months ago when I was in the process of selling things I didn’t “need.” I also figured since I was spending a month in New Zealand I didn’t really need an iphone that I couldn’t use much anyway. So I sold it and then just used my computer for things like scheduling meetups via Twitter. It worked out well for the experience and I figured when I came back I would buy a new one.

Now I want a new iphone or other smartphone, but I’m not really sure I should buy one.

I remember how much I used the iPhone when I had it (ALL THE TIME). It was convenient and I never had to think. If someone asked me a question I could Google the answer in a few seconds. Instead of forcing myself to remember things I could just store them on the phone. There was no reason to use my brain because the iPhone was available to me at all times. There was also the constant urge to be online reading/updating/playing/learning things.

Since getting rid of my iPhone I’ve been a lot better about ignoring my phone. I don’t have constant internet access so I’m not constantly checking my email or updating Twitter of my Facebook status. I’m not obsessed with what’s going on online when I should be focused on what I’m doing in the real world. I feel like I’m free from the need to check everything. I feel like I’m much better at being in the room and with people. I’ve rid myself of the extremely bad habit of playing with my iPhone when I’m with people and I think I’m better for it.

Colin wrote about a similar dependency and his freedom once the iPhone was gone. It seems that most of us with smartphones give them more attention than they deserve. Or maybe it’s just a few of us. Maybe some of you can own a smartphone and not use it excessively.

I’m not sure if I’m ready to get another phone or not. I’m attending a blogging conference this weekend and desperately wanted to get a new iPhone beforehand. But I know that would only make me more likely to be on Twitter the whole time instead of actively meeting and speaking with the people I’m going to meet (which is the only reason I’m going). The iPhone would just be a distraction from what I really should be doing.

I miss having a smartphone, but I don’t think I need to get a new one yet. I think first I need to spend some more time forcing myself to be social in reality, not just in social media. I think I need to be free a little while longer.

I quit my job. My job wasn’t a bad one, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do with my life.  Spending half my working hours doing data entry in a basement room was not my idea of fun.  So I decided to quit and see what else was out there for me instead of limiting myself to that situation.  That turned out to be a great decision considering all the things that happened after…

I attended a blogging conference. In July I went to Chicago to attend the annual BlogHer conference. Although I had some doubts about the usefulness of a conference like BlogHer where swag and self promotion was out of control, I did enjoy the experience and met some amazing bloggers.  In the end that helped me get a new job related to blogging…

I got a job because of my blog. I was offered a three month job at a health retreat in Vermont because of my own healthy living blog.  I learned a lot in those three months about blogging and using social media for a business as opposed to personal use.  It helped me grow not only my writing skills but also my video skills as I was charged with the task of creating video content for the company.  In three months I gained skills I did not have before, I made some great professional contacts and friends there, and I also worked on my own health…

I lost 30 pounds. My weight got out of control after I moved back home after college.  But I’m happy to say that I was able to lose 30 pounds and am much closer to reaching my health goals than ever.  Related to my own personal development goals…

I moved out of my house. For me living at home was not a good thing and I couldn’t keep living there even though it was a nice situation for saving money.  I moved out in 2009 first to a friend’s apartment (thanks Mike!) and then to Vermont and now to live with other friends.  For me this has been a great step in the right direction for many reasons.  Along with jumping from place to place to live…

I traveled.  For some reason I started this year not expecting to do much traveling.  That was the opposite of what has actually happened.  I went to Puerto Rico for “spring break.”  I took a roatrip to Pennslyvania.  I spent a week with friends in Washington, D.C. I went to Chicago for a weekend.  I went to Cape Cod and Boston.  I lived in Vermont for three months and traveled all over the state.

I made big plans for next year. I will be writing another post about my goals for next year, but I just wanted to say that I finally thought about the great things that are going to be happening in 2010.  I’m starting the year off with a trip to Gatlinburg, TN and then spending a month in New Zealand.  Beyond that I’ve got a lot of blogging and business goals that I’m sure I will hit and I’m pretty excited about the upcoming year.

2009 was a great year for me and hopefully for a lot of other people.  I can’t wait for 2010 because I know it will only get better!

What I noticed is that although we are all college graduates now, not one of us has a clear direction about where we are headed.  None of us have 5 or 10 year plans.  None of us have concrete career goals, except the one who knows what he wants to do just not how to get a job.  Transitioning from the college experience to life as a “responsible adult” is fascinating to me, especially now that there seems to be a step in between these two stages.

The step in between carefree college student and responsible bill-paying adult generally involves the individual living at home with their parents again.  Sometimes they are unemployed.  Sometimes they have a part-time job.  Sometimes they even have a full time job, which seems a lot more rare.  Whatever the case they are living at home because making it on their own seems too hard or not worth (or possible with) the money they are making.

Too be honest it isn’t a bad idea to go back home after college.  In college I swore I would never do it but then I ended up living at home again for a year after I graduated.  It wasn’t my favorite experience and it wasn’t the best thing for me in some ways, but it did help me save money and get some things paid off before I moved out to be more or less on my own.  Though I went into it feeling like I had somehow failed, I left realizing I had done the smart thing in my situation.

Because of my own experiences I’m a lot more positive and supportive of friends who choose this same path instead of immediately moving out after college.  It’s not for everyone but it does seem to be happening a lot more these days.  My younger brother who just graduated is planning on moving home, and the two friends I met last night are both currently living at home.  It seems like the question is – why not?

PROJECT A: WEIGHT LOSS BLOG

I’ve been working on A Merry Life, my healthy living blog. I posted a list of 13 Christmas gift ideas for weight loss, which made me some money from Amazon commissions (yay spare change!).  And I hit my 500th blog post over there and talked a little bit about being dedicated to a healthier lifestyle.  I mentioned a few weeks ago that before I left Vermont I wanted 500 subscribers to that blog.  I hit that goal and I’m now almost 100 past it.  Things are going really well with both my own weight loss efforts and growing my blog in that particular niche.

Oh, and I also wrote a post about how to create a weight loss blog since many of my readers had asked me that question.  Although it’s for a weight loss blog, it can be used to create any kind of self-hosted wordpress blog, even a travel blog.   *update* I went ahead and edited it a bit for a page on how to start a travel blog. Get to work!

PROJECT B: MEMPHIS PHOTOGRAPHERS WEBSITE

I’ve also decided to turn something that was previously a personal project of mine into a more useful site.  I previously was using shootmemphis.com as a site for my personal goal of documenting Memphis through pictures.  It has a long way to go, but I just recently decided to change the site to more of a Memphis photographers directory and resource.  It will be a lot more fun if the site isn’t just about me, so I’m going to start working towards making that happen.  It’s a nice project for my time off from real work.

PROJECT C: SUPER AWESOME TRIP ABROAD (YAY TRAVEL!)

I’ve got a few other web things happening, but even cooler than those – I’m also starting to figure out the details and plan things for my upcoming trip abroad!  I haven’t done much travel planning yet, and though I’ve known about this trip for a while it is still over  a month away.  Up until now I haven’t been able to get really excited about it.  Once it hits the 30 day countdown next week, I will tell you more about it because it is really exciting. Really, really exciting!!!

Seems like enough to keep me busy for the rest of the month once I add in exercising, my project 365 and lots and lots of holiday fun!

“Health Insurance Valentine,” a laser-cut piece from Owly Shadow Puppets. ($12)