Resolved - Taking Care of Business

You might know that I run a little online vintage shop called Animal Head Vintage in my spare time. I really enjoy it, but lately, the problem has been the "in my spare time" part of that sentence, since I don't find myself just sitting around with nothing to do very often.

February's resolution has been to spend a little more time on the shop, figuring out what is working, what needs to change and what I honestly have time/space for in my life. I think some of the goals I made this month while "taking care of business" can be applied to any personal project that you're working on, so I'm listing a few here.


1) Focus

I'm a list-maker by nature, but am not always great at prioritizing my list. I check off the easy ones first because they don't take as much brain power to complete and steer clear of the big stuff that I know needs to get done but that I dread. Or, I allow myself to get distracted by other things (like checking my RSS feeder 17 times a day). And then, at the end of my days, I feel like I've never stopped working but somehow don't have as much to show for it as I'd like.

GOAL THIS MONTH: Choose two essential things every day to finish, and don't do anything else until they are complete.

That means not checking emails first thing in the morning, or keeping Facebook open in the background and keeping one eye on your friend's feeds. This means not just "taking a quick 5 minute break to look at Pinterest" that will probably turn into at least 20. I know. It can be extreme, but its a good exercise in focusing on just doing one thing at a time. I didn't realize how quickly I could become derailed, and how long it takes to mentally get back on track.

Its amazing how much less scattered it can help you feel when you eliminate as many distractions as possible and just focus on being really productive for at least two important tasks a day.


2) Do What You Love

At Alt this year, Sarah of Sarah Jane Studios said "Do what you love. Delegate the rest." I've never had a problem spending time on the shopping portion of keeping up AHV ... but the photographing, listing, shipping, etc can get a little tedious...and honestly I don't have time to do it all by myself. I want to spend more time doing what I actually like to do and am good at, and less time with the tasks that are necessary but time consuming.

GOAL THIS MONTH: Figure out how to delegate at least one time-consuming task (and not just delegate it to a husband who is too nice to say no)

I've started experimenting with outsourcing my photo editing, and I'm already hooked on this idea.


3) Try New Things (and then don't be afraid to get rid of what doesn't work)

It goes without saying that if you keep doing what you've been doing, you can't be surprised when nothing changes. It makes sense to try something new, find out what's actually working, then focus your energy there and cut out the rest.

This meant spending some time doing boring things like tracking visits and page views and sales (which is funny, since any "business" ought to be doing those things all the time anyway, but my hobby didn't ever get the same scrutiny). In truth, this idea ought to apply to everything we spend our time on - we should always be evaluating whether the things we are spending our time on deserve the time we are giving them.

GOAL THIS MONTH: Try 3 new things. Evaluate. Adjust as needed.

I figure that there are a lot of things that I could be doing to take my shop more seriously, but this month I'm looking at:

1) Listing Frequency
I'm experimenting with how often to post new items, and when to list (as well as evaluating search terms, etc)

2) Advertising
I'm giving Etsy advertising a try to see what kind of new eyeballs it might bring, and researching other types of advertising as well.

3) AHV Blog
I keep a AHV blog dealing with shop updates and vintage finds here, so I've been experimenting with more frequent posting, and hopefully producing more content out for the world to find on Pinterest and other internet searchings.


It feels good to spend a little time figuring out how to use my time better.

Now let us all go forth and be more productive.

***
Instead of taking on a whole list of resolutions at once, I'm focusing on one life improvement a month in 2012.

See January's resolution - DO MY HAIR

re: Oh, Canada

We decided to dust off our passports over the long weekend and journey across the border to visit our friendly neighbors to the north in Vancouver, Canada! Everything was green, the people were friendly, and the tourist attractions were exceptionally pretty.



(Capilano Suspension Bridge)

The thing is, aside from the fact that my phone stopped working when we crossed the border, it didn't really feel like we were in a foreign country. Everyone still spoke English, there were McDonald's and Starbucks around, and the currency was in dollars (even if they were referring to Canadian dollars).

I suppose there were hints. They officially referred to soda as "pop" in all the restaurants, hockey jerseys were more prevalent, KM/H took the place or MPH, and the "walk" signs on the street corners displayed a walker with a much more aggressive stride than we encourage in the US.


However, after much research, we figured out that the number one way to know that you were in a foreign country was to visit the candy section of the grocery stores. Your taste buds will immediately recognize the superior chocolate that US chocolate makers must think we'd never miss, and you will know: you are far from home.


We tried to smuggle some malt balls that didn't taste like wax over the border with us, but they were devoured before we even made it back to US soil.

The Future of Camping

For our annual Valentine's Day camping adventure this year, Derek and I headed north of Calistoga for a weekend full of hot springs, sweaty saunas, relaxing massages and hours of yoga. It was the kind of place that made you embarrassed that you'd ever bought anything with a name brand or professed to like refined sugar.

We stayed in this weirdly futuristic looking dome tent cabin in the middle of the woods.



There was a little disconnect, because when you walk inside the dome tent of the future, the first thing you see is a headboard of the 90's.


It still made for a perfect spot to nap.




Happy Valentine's Day!

I Love You To the Moon

Derek and I are headed north for the weekend on our annual Valentines adventure trip (see 2010 and 2011), this time in search of yurts and hot springs. And one day, if all goes as planned, the moon.



Vintage Tintype made at Photobooth SF
Photo credit: Michael Shindler/Photobooth

Personal Portraits: Paper Dolls

I love the idea of non-traditional portraits, and I have a fun collection of images of Derek and I.

Most recently I commissioned these personalized paper dolls by jordan grace owens:



And ... maybe I got a little carried away and commissioned one for everybody in my family for Christmas too. It is pretty uncanny how much each of the dolls looks like the real life people they were modeled after.

My parents (my dad really does love polo shirts with rocket emblems on them):


Dave, Tatum and the weiner dogs (including a very accurate 3-legged Owen):


Jake and Kathryn (who were pretty much wearing these exact outfits when they opened the dolls):


And of course, Derek and I, as perfectly little segmented selves.



I think these make great personalized gifts (Valentines Day, anyone?)

re: Hair Resolved (January)

Okay! January is waaay over, which means it is time to move onto February's goal. But, before I do, I suspect that you are all biting your nails and hoping that I am going to tell you how January's hair resolution went. DON'T WORRY! I'm even posting a few photos to show you my two favorite go-to styles I discovered during the month.

Behold:

The Towering TOPKNOT


(aka a bun on steroids)

I have a decent amount of hair right now, but somehow the high buns I was trying out weren't achieving the kind of Umph that I desired. That's when my sister and friend Grace introduced me to the idea of padding one's hair with loofah sponges. That's right! All you do is hide a plasticy loofah sponge inside your hair, bobby pin your hair to/around it to cover it up, and enjoy Amy Winehouse-ish heights. Somehow admitting that I stuff my bun is less embarrassing than trying to stuff my bra in middle school ... but its basically the same idea.

You can buy special loofahs for buns (that look like little weird donuts) like this one here. Tadah!


The Burgeoning BOUFFANT




I had the talented Rubi Jones give me a lesson on this perfect pouf, and she did such a good job making my hair naturally bump it that I've pretty much kept a version of this hairstyle for the last two weeks.

To achieve this look, you just need some dry shampoo to dirty up your hair, and to master the basics of backcombing. There are a million tutorials out there like this one to help you on your way.