enJOY it by Elise Blaha Cripe

how to move.

I have gotten a few emails requesting information or tips on how to move from place to place without losing your mind. Like everything else, what works for me might not work for you, but since I have moved three times in the past three years, I thought I might have some insight to share.

Get your bearings. Your bearings are different than mine, but these are the points on a map that make you feel like you're at home regardless of where you are. Before I move to a new place, I sit at my computer, go to google maps, type in our new address and then figure out where my local post office is and where the nearest Target, hardware and fabric store are. I also figure out our closet grocery store and where there is a Trader Joe's. If I have those six places figured out, I am good to go for a least a few weeks. The other stuff - plant store, hair stylist, speciality shops, favorite restaurants - will come in good time with exploring. But "my bearings" I need to locate right away in order to feel like I am home.

Determine your unpacking priorities. The day you move into a new place you cannot set up every single room and have a fully functioning house, so you have to figure out your number one priority. For me, this is always the kitchen. If I get the dishes unpacked, the pantry stocked and food in the fridge, I feel like my head is above water. The rest of the house can stay in boxes while the kitchen gets completely unpacked. After the kitchen, I move onto my office. The way I like to work, it's difficult for me to sit at my desk and write a coherrent blog post or deal with email if a pile of junk is staring at me from across the room. My bedroom, other than having sheets on the bed, is not a priority. Having the TV set up is not a priority. Obviously, your priorities are going to be different than mine, but you have to know what your unpacking order is to help you stay sane.

Plan on donating a bunch before you move and after you move. About a month before we know we are going to move, I go through every single room and every single closet and purge. I'm ruthless with what stays and what goes and usually end up with a huge donation pile at the end of the month. I know from experience that there is nothing worse than unpacking a box at a new place and seeing junk you don't want. The most difficult part of this is mental and it's about getting over denial. It's hard to give up a dress you spent a lot of money on but that never quite fit right, but I promise it's worth it. I saw a great quote from Jordan Ferney on A Cup of Jo the other day - "When you have a small home, your stuff is worth more to you out of your house than in your house." Regardless of your home's size, I think this is SO TRUE. And I promise that no matter how much you get rid of before you move, you'll want to plan on another run to Goodwill once you get to the new place.

Change your addresses in one swoop. Before we move, I make a list of everyone that we pay each month for the household (gas, electric, insurance, internet, credit card, etc), everyone I pay for the business (typepad, e.junkie, stamp makers, etc) and everyone that pays me (paypal, affiliate programs, freelance projects). These are all the businesses that I have to get in touch with to switch out our addresses. Then, I plan on one long day of email and voicemail jail to get it all done. It takes forever and it's boring work, but if I know that going in, I am so much less frustrated. Obviously there are going to be a million more places that you have to make sure your new address is recorded, but if you have all the money transaction places taken care of, you'll be set for awhile.

Forward your mail. USPS.com makes it super easy to have your mail forwarded for up to a year after you've changed addresses. I go online about a week before we move and get the new address set up so I don't miss a day receiving mail. This is probably the easiest thing to do on this list. ;)

Plan on spending a lot during moving month. Our movers are hired through the military, so we do not spend a dime on actually transporting our household goods. This is a huge blessing and something I am grateful for. However, I have learned that our credit card bill the month of a move is usually way higher than normal. There are always hotel stays, new stuff to buy (last time it was appliances!), handy men to hire (this time it was an electrician and a locksmith), more meals out and more filing up the car with gas. I tend to cut back on spending the month before a move in anticipation of this and make a point to watch spending the month after.

Make the new house yours. I get a lot of questions about how I decorate (hang stuff, paint) in rentals and I don't really know how to answer the question because I just DO IT. I don't ask permission to put holes in the wall. I don't ask permission to paint. I just go for it. This is bad advice - I know. But here's the deal: Paul and I are great tenants. We're quiet, clean and pay our rent early. We don't cause trouble or ask for extras. And when we leave a space, we patch the holes in the wall and repaint where necessary. We also leave a really clean unit and in some cases leave new curtain rods and new shelving that enhances the space. The bottom line is, I don't think the owners or property managers really care what we do while we're there as long as the place looks as good as it did when we moved in. If you really can't do anything then use command hooks which are totally removable to display art. Hang tapestries with tiny nails instead of adding color through paint. Bring in bright rugs and bold accessories. Think outside the box or you will feel like you're living in one.

Believe it's worth it. We lived in San Diego the first time for 18 months. We lived in Oxnard for 15. By many accounts, this is a short amount of time to stay in one place and could be considered not long enough to really decorate or spend money on a space. Once upon a time, it was really frustrating to me that we'd be moving constantly with the military and I would always have to start over. "What's the point?" I remember lamenting to Paul. ELISE. I want to say now, Pull yourself together. The point is that FOR YOU, making a house a home is an important part of feeling like your life has stability. It's about being able to enjoy where you are even if it's for a short while. It's also a chance to experiment with your style and see what works (or doesn't work) for you and your family.

Remember that this move isn't something that's happening to you. This is just a mental framing thing, but it has helped me to remember throughout all of these moves (starting with that first one in 2007 when I moved to Maryland to live with Paul) that WE are moving. The move, even if we don't want to make it, even if it's to a place we don't really want to live, and even if we are leaving a place we really love, is still something WE are doing. A flood is something that happens to you. An earthquake is something that happens to you. A fire that destroys all your personal property is something that happens to you. A move to a different city, state or country? That is something you are doing. You get to make decisions about what furniture goes and what stays. You get to make decisions about where you can afford to live and what sort of neighborhood you want to be in. You get to evaluate the pros and cons of a long commute versus good schools. YOU are in control of this move, not the other way around. Keeping that perspective has helped me immensely, even though I realize we really won't get a final say in where we live until Paul is finished with the military.

I can say with certainty that moving across the country to live with Paul was the best decision I ever made in my personal life (starting the blog was the best I've made in my business life). Our three moves since have strengthened us as a couple and the fact that I have made two with him halfway around the world have empowered me more than I thought they would. Every single time we move it gets easier - not because we avoid setbacks, but because I am better equiped to deal with them now. Practice makes - well, not perfect - but certainly good.

the difference between goals and to-do list items.

I have been getting a few emails about the difference between setting goals and accomplishing the normal day-to-day activities. What do I consider what? How do I stay motivated to do the mundane or routine stuff over and over again? How do I tackle large goals?

I thought it would be a fun topic to blog about, especially at the beginning of the year.

First, it helps to break it all down. At the simplest point, I think you can separate everything you do into one of three layers.

Layer one is the necessities. You breathe. You eat. You sleep. Those are the basics and items that must occur for you to live. Most likely, if you're reading this blog, these are things you do every day without thinking too much about them (unless, of course, they are interrupted by an outside factor and then they are the only thing you think about).

Layer two includes the actions you preform over and over again to sustain a "normal" life. I am totally generalizing here but this would include everything from putting gas in the car to showering to taking out the trash to going to work. I would consider these the "chores" or "routines" that happen over and over again. Many of these things are habits or rituals that you do once a day or when they are needed without thinking about them.

Everything in layers one and two has to be accomplished by me or someone in my household. They are not exciting, but they are for the most part, necessary.

Layer three is where I see the bonus stuff. It's the more creative, more life-enriching (as opposed to life-sustaining) stuff that I make choices to add to layers one and two. For the most part, "goal-setting" and the majority of goals I set fall into the layer three category. I love layer three. It's the exercising, creative experimenting, house decorating, challenging work ventures, saving money, planting a garden "stuff". All of these are things that I choose to do on top of the "normal" stuff because I have found they make my life better. I don't have to do layer the three items and that's what makes them fun goals to work toward.

With that said, I can explain a bit more how I tackle both layers two and three.

Layer two :

About two-thirds the stuff on "layer two" is just habit that over time has ingrained into my routine. The other third gets added to my daily to-do list because I appreciate the reminder. Like some days I'll actually write "LAUNDRY" on my list and make a point to get through five or six loads as I go about my day. I write "mail rent" or "make pizza dough" or "pull chicken from freezer" on my to-do list in case it slips my mind. Personally, I am able to focus better on the "fun stuff" as well as fully commit to a productive work day (remember, I work from home) when I know layer two has been taken care of and the house is relatively clean. I am able to accomplish more goals and explore layer three when layer two isn't nagging at the back of my mind.

Avoiding Facebook almost entirely, not caving to "in-active" TV watching time and severely cutting down the number of blogs I read has given me more time to accomplish daily tasks. Having a place for everything in our house has helped me stay organized and not feel like I am drowning in "stuff". Having one day a week for tackling laundry (obviously I'll need more than that when we add a little one and cloth diapers into the mix) or grocery shopping has helped me feel like I am not spinning my wheels and getting no where. Turning on music and setting a timer in the kitchen (by literally punching 10 minutes into the microwave) then twirling around like the tasmanian devil and washing dishes, unloading the dishwasher and wiping down counters has really helped me feel like I am moving quickly through my least favorite chore.

Layer two, for me, is about finding the right time in my day and little tricks that help me move through mundane tasks. Finding the right balance is totally a personal preference, but something that I think is important to experiment with and allow to develop so I don't dread the "normal" and just embrace it so I can move on with my day.

Layer three :

A lot of what I share here is layer three. The crafts. The projects. The running. The bread baking. The gardening. The books I read. Even all these thoughts about goal setting. Layer three tends to make for more interesting blog content, that is for sure. Often these things are inspiring and flashy and look great in a photo grid, but really, layer three projects get broken down into manageable bites in the form of to-do list items just like layer two.

When I was running mile a day, I went through my calendar and wrote "mileaday" on each page and then diligently crossed it off. When I am working on something more long-term and intense, like decorating our bedroom, I break the project down into steps (paint walls, move dresser, sew pillow, buy plants, reorganize drawers, hang art, etc) so instead of looking at one giant and overwhelming task, I am looking at 10-15 small and manageable ones.

The lesson, of course, is that at the end of the day, layer three is really just made up of to-do list items (that can be relatively fun). If you don't break big goals up into actionable items they serve as nothing more than wishes and will not be accomplished. It all comes down to scheduling and then following through. I have spent a lot of time the past few years getting a handle on layer two so I can actively devote time to more "enriching" projects. I know I'll have to work hard to re-gain the handle I have when we add a new family member. I am nervous but incredibly excited for the challenge and the joy the baby (and then child!) will add to our lives.

Goal-setting can be SO overwhelming. Long to-do lists can make me want to give up and mindlessly scroll through Pinterest. But ultimately that's boring and ineffective. So I schedule. And plan. And write. And edit. And simplify. And remember how good it feels to accomplish something and cross stuff off. And I practice, practice, practice.

Related reading from previous posts :

• on expertise & tips for making it work
• tips for staying inspired
• on motivation
• how I get from idea to reality quickly

Since writing this post, I created Get To Work Book! It's a day planner + goal setting workbook that is designed to help you take your big goals turn them into something real. Learn more and shop the brand here.

Other posts you might enjoy:

• how I tackle huge projects.
• time spent consuming vs. creating.
• how I keep my daily tasks organized.
• why I set goals
• the difference between goals and to-do list items.
• tips for success with long-term projects
• more thoughts on "balance."
• creative books I always return to. 

reader question : sharing the personal stuff.

I often get questions about how I work my personal life into my blog posts - where I draw the line, how I deal with privacy concerns, if I think sharing has helped grow my business, etc. This is a huge topic, and a great one for a reader question post.

To start, I want to recognize two things :

First, despite all the craft projects, I consider this blog a personal blog. That's how it started and that's how it will end. Everything in this space - the projects, the photos, the editing, the scrapbooks, the recipes, the coding, the design, the writing - is done by me. Everything is crafted and written about because at best I'm passionate about the topic and at the worst, it seemed like something fun to try. I blog because I want to share. But obviously, when I share details about life events (our wedding, trips we take, etc) I provide more personal information. I sometimes share much more than that too and would consider the posts where I share my thoughts and feelings (on marriage, on running my business, on deployment, etc) to be the most "personal."

Second, I think I am lucky in that I started blogging in 2005 when almost every blog was a personal blog. Like most people at the time, I shared anecdotes from my life every few days and included the good, the bad and the ugly. I had no idea that this space would gain an audience or become a career tool. I saw it as a creative outlet where I could share my inspirations, be tastefully self-depreciating and nothing more. I consider it a huge blessing that I learned how to be authentically personal first and authentically business-focused second. It seems much more difficult to try and work backwards. (Though if that's you - I would recommend starting with "around here" & "currently" posts.)

I know that there is a lot about me (and Paul) on this blog. I do my best to keep specifics about where we live to a minimum, but in reality, I recognize it's not top secret information. I am not too concerned about it. Right now, I feel very comfortable, but this is something that Paul and I will look into more carefully once we have kids and their safety and privacy to consider.

What I share has changed over the years and I have become more thoughtful about what I post. I guess some readers might consider this a bad thing, but I think for me it's just been part of growing up as a writer. I have been blogging for almost seven years. I am (thankfully!) a different person than I was as a junior in college. Going back and adapting my original writing style again would be as impossible as it would to move back into my sorority house and attend classes again (not that I haven't considered it).

When you share your life online, you open yourself up for a stream of opinions from strangers. This is awesome and terrible depending on the topic. There is a lot of room for assumption on the Internet (though it does no one any good whatsoever). Unlike in the real world, where you can rely on body language, facial expression and tone to help you get your message across, in Blogland, your words float forever, to be interpreted in any way, by anyone. I'll admit that stresses me out a bit.

But, as I have been mulling over this post, I've realized I really need to let go of that stress. In my years of blogging, I received probably 20 rude comments and only a handful of those were mean-spirited enough to really hurt my feelings. On the flip side, I have made some great friendships, built a business, shared helpful insight and most importantly, documented my life. I have worked out many problems and thoughts in this little text box (sometimes I don't really know how I am feeling about something until I start typing) and I know for sure writing has helped me develop emotionally, creatively and professionally.

While I can schedule posts about craft projects or life events (you can read more about how I do that here), I cannot "plan in advance" personal posts because I have two hard and fast rules :

1. When a personal post doesn't come easy, I don't think it's the post that needs to be written...yet. Usually it means the topic doesn't fully make sense for me and I am still working on it. I have started and stopped many posts over the past few years, not because I worry about how they'll be received, but because I don't know how to write them. As a blogger, I am willing to share my thoughts on difficult topics, but I never fight for posts when they are not ready. I trust that the words will come eventually, and they always do.

2. And completely the opposite, when I have a "personal" or emotional post working though itself in my head, I write it. Immediately. My greatest posts are the ones that take me by surprise and pour out of my fingers. The posts where I cannot do anything but write usually become my favorite. Middle of the night? I get up and sit at my computer. Driving home from the grocery store? I pull over to jot down notes. One hundred other things on my to do list? I push them aside and type. These posts are the magic posts and written quickly, usually after I have just realized something monumental.

Other than that, I draw simple boundaries -

I don't blog (or tweet) mad. And have never once regretted it. This doesn't mean I don't get mad. I get very mad. But I like to work though that anger (or sadness) a bit first before I share here (if I share at all). That's not called "hiding my feelings" it's called, "dealing with my feelings the old-fashioned way."

I don't present Paul in a bad light. Again, this doesn't mean that I always think my husband is the most amazing person on the planet who can do no wrong. It just means that our dirty laundry stays ours.

I try not to take myself too seriously. At the end of the day - this is an online journal. That's it. It is not worth all the stress that I could so easily place onto it and it certainly isn't life or death. There are real problems and there are blog problems and never are those two things the same.

Blogging is so bizarre and amazing. I love the friendships and connections that I have made while writing here, and for me the good that has come out of sharing bits of my life vastly outweighs the bad. I have had a few ups and downs while finding "my voice", but after almost seven years, it's still a joy to write.

And please know that I am honored my words are read by you.

reader question : taking creative work seriously.

Over the past few years, I have gotten a few questions about how to "go for it" with a creative job. Very recently, I got a question that seemed to sum it all up...

How can I start taking my blogging and creative work more seriously?

First, congratulations on wanting to take that next step. Transitioning from hobby to career is not easy (or quick!), but it's unbelievably rewarding. I have done my best to formulate an answer and please check the related reading at the bottom of this post for more of my thoughts on self-employment.

print from ugmonk.

Create something great that makes you proud and others will take notice. A concern that I hear often is that family and friends are not supportive of non-traditional career paths. More than likely, these folks think they are looking out for you and do not fully understand what you are trying to accomplish. I recommend that you communicate with them. Talk through your goals and business plan (having to put it into words will help you too!). If I had, out of the blue, turned to Paul and announced a plan to quit my job and start some random venture, he probably would have been confused and un-supportive. Instead, I built a business by stringing small projects together. After each step I took, I had something to show for my work and build upon. Now, when I have a new idea (which always come with risk and up front cost), I have a good track record to back it up to myself, prospective partners & my family.

Don't quit your day job...yet. I am a firm believer that while you are getting your business (or blog, or creative venture, or whatever) off the ground it is good to hold a "real" job. After college, I worked for almost three years out of the house (full time for two years and part time for one) while blogging, teaching online workshops and running my etsy shop. It was chaotic, but an absolutely necessary step. Juggling the two meant that I had to learn time management skills. I know that cramming in all the "extra" tasks while working for someone else is why I am now efficient & productive while working for myself. There are of course many other advantages (like a steady paycheck!) that make sense for many people. I learned so much about my current field though my retail job at a paper store and I am grateful for that experience every day.

Schedule time for your creative goals. You must make making time for your creative ventures a priority. If you can't yet dedicate 40 hours a week then dedicate five. But be sure that those five hours are the most productive hours you can give. It's easy to say, "If only I had more time..." but it's difficult to buckle down and just use the time that you've got. Remember that the people who have carved out their own careers did it by taking the harder, not easier path.

Set financial goals. If you are determined to get serious and turn your creative work into a career you have to consider the money.* At the beginning of each calendar year, I pick a dollar amount that I would like to hit by year's end. I evaluate the past year, think it over for a few days, then commit to it and say outloud, "This is the number to beat!" to Paul, my parents and some close friends. Then, I ceremoniously create a new "Ins & Outs" Excel spreadsheet for the upcoming year and type in The Number. 2011 was my first year of full-time self employment and my goal was to make as much as I had at my salaried job (remember, this was was a retail job so the figure was not mind-blowing). I hit my 2011 goal on December 23rd and I was overjoyed. In 2012, I increased The Number by 25% and I am on track to reach it. I love a goal that makes my stomach flip-flop but is not so outrageous that I get discouraged before I start. 

Check in on your financial goal. Setting a goal is great. Achieving that goal is better. Figure out a schedule that works for you and once a month (or week, or quarter, or whatever) take a look at your goal. Be sure to celebrate how far you have come, not just lament over how far you have to go. What can you do to increase your income? What is working? What is not working? As mentioned, I keep a giant Excel spreadsheet that tracks income and expenses. At any given moment, I have a good idea of how much I have made and how much I have yet to make. I also always have a rough estimate of how much I need to bring in a month to wind up in the green at the end of December. Please note, I do this because it works for me! If I was terrified of money, I would not use it as a motivational tool. But at the same time, I don't think I would have had as much success transitioning from "hobby" to "career" if I was scared to talk, set & ambitiously work towards financial goals.

Don't wait for permission. No one is going to tell you what to do or where to go or what that first step needs to be. No one will hand you a road map... and if they did, it wouldn't work for YOU and YOUR business anyway. Remember that you are the only one who can allow yourself to go for it.

And seriously, you've got to take pride in your work. I've been asked before if I recommend making your blog private while you're on a job search. My answer is this: pretend you are walking into an interview and the first thing the interviewer says when you sit down is, "So, I read your blog yesterday." Is your first thought, "Sweet!" or "Shoot!"? If it's "Sweet!" Awesome - you're set. But if it's "Shoot!" you've got some work to do. It's time to turn your online space into something you're proud of.

Related reading...

• how I get from idea to reality quickly
• on self-employment
• on motivation
• Q & A on the shop and small business
• elise talks college

Want more reader questions and answers? Here you go!

*Sidenote - we have an accountant (Paul's mom!) that helps us figure out our owed income taxes each year. Because I am self-employed, I pay estimated taxes quarterly to avoid a big surprise in April. I can't say enough good stuff about the peace of mind that comes from turning over taxes to a professional.

reader question : blog content generation.

I frequently get questions about how I organize my blog post ideas and generate new content. I've hemmed and hawed over how to answer them because, although it's not a big trade secret, it's somewhat awkward to share. This is absolutely going to remove the mystery of how a post pops up every weekday at 5am.

I don't think I can say this enough - this is blog is a big part of my job. I have different expectations (on myself) and standards (for myself) than I would if this was just a place where I wrote for a hobby.

Six and a half years ago I started writing for fun. I had a voice, but I didn't yet have my footing for who I was or what I wanted from this space. The archives are quite random, but I keep them because I appreciate the record. I like many of them and I LOVE a few of them. I am thankful that back then I was practicing my writing and getting thoughts down. For no reason really. There was no grade. There was hardly an audience. I wrote because I loved it.

Today, I still write because I love it. I love it so much. I love talking the empty text box and filling it with words & photos. It's a honor to have this site and I work so hard on it.

But over the years, as blogging has become an aspect of my job (mostly as a vehicle to share other ventures), it's important to me to have a new post up every weekday. To make this more cohesive, and less of a jumbled, forced mess... I plan out the month on a large Stendig calendar that hangs on the wall by my computer.

I write all my post ideas on post-its and move them around throughout the month. I don't stick exactly to the calendar. New ideas pop up and have to be shared so things are always moving around. This is why the post-its work so well.

Because you can't read the big calendar in the photo, I've created a generic, sample month to show you in more detail how I break it all down.

Towards the end of each month, I start thinking about the next month. Some of the squares fill themselves in (that's the black handwriting). Sundays are covered with Project Life updates. Saturdays, I usually don't run a post. Fridays, I plan on "around here" posts as sort of catch-alls. In those posts, I share photos, links, and text about the past week & future weekend. If something else comes up (like a project I can't wait to share) I'll cut the "around here" post.

I do photo walk posts every other Monday. I can easily count on having four pizza posts a month, but those don't fall on a certain day and will often get pushed to the next month if something else (read : A Good Idea) comes along. This summer, I have been sharing garden updates towards the end of each month, so I schedule one of those in. I like to do one product focused "I LOVE _____" post each month to share fun stuff.

In this sample month, after I fill in the topics I can count on, I am left with nine days that need Original Ideas.

Where do I get those? From a few areas :

1. Reader questions. Recently, I have been able to count on a question that can spark a blog post about once a month.
2. 27 materials project. To stay on track and finish by my birthday, I have to create and share 2-3 projects each month. I sometimes have these planned ahead of time, but often I'll decide the project is lame or attempt it and have it fail. I have learned that the best projects are the ones I don't think about for too long so I don't do much advance scheduling for these.
3. Various updates. Book reports, green skincare, goals... I could always do an update.
4. Sharing stuff we actually do. Like vacations, hikes, weddings, the Chemex, dinners...whatever. These posts are 100x more fun to write when I take tons of rad photos - like Palm Springs.
5. Personal* posts. Posts like the "currently" ones are always fun to share. Whenever something big is happening in our lives (moves, deployments, homecomings, etc.), I always have oodles to say. (I starred "personal" because truly everything here is personal. Even the craft projects & recipes because they are things I make to hang in our house or eat at our table.)
6. Random strokes of inspiration. Last week, while driving to pick up Paul from work, I thought up a post idea that as I started to flush out, became a week-long feature. I'm excited to share it starting Monday.

And that's "it." It's about half science, half art. I have given up completely on guessing what's going to get a lot of comments or tweeted about or pinned or whatever. It's a horrible game that makes me feel like a dog chasing its tail. So instead, I just do what I like and share what I love. My blog absolutely goes through seasons where I am incredibly personal or incredibly crafty. After six years, I understand and respect the waves, and don't force either when it's not flowing.

I guess you could say that by placing an expectation on myself to post everyday I am "forcing" it. But I don't really look at it that way. Sure, some days I am not motivated to write. But that's totally normal. It would only become a concern if I went a few days or a week with no motivation. Because this is my job (not a hobby), I would have to take a hard look at what I am doing with this space and re-evaluate. My recommendation if you've lost interest in your blog (and you genuinely want to get back into it), is to do a complete re-shift. Take what you normally do on your blog and turn it upside down. Spend a month posting only photos. Spend a month taking a break and re-reading what you wrote in the beginning. Spend a month writing about objects in your house. Spend a month writing about childhood memories. Whatever - the point is to try something completely different. Don't keep posting on the same topics and expect to love writing again.

Sometimes I panic a bit over the future. I have created something that is the opposite of self-sufficient. Yes, I start each month with a framework of posts, but I still have to write & edit, take photos & process and obviously DO the stuff that I plan on sharing each month. Without the aid of guest posters or contributors, this is all on me. It will be interesting to see how things change as our family grows in the next few years. (That's not a hint - we're going to get Paul deployed and home safely again before a Baby Cripe crash lands into our lives.) But when the panic starts to set in, I remind myself that everything and everyone evolves. This space is no exception.

So far, that (and a stack of post-it notes) help keep me (relatively) sane.

Whenever I write about blogging, I get questions on how I make money from all this. I make very little money from the actual blog through sidebar advertisers and affiliate programs. But it fuels all other aspects of my job (like workshops & product sales) plus it serves as a sort of resume and job application that has led to other opportunities. You can read more about my job here.