What's Happening in Atlanta This Weekend

What are y'all up to this weekend? Here's my (slightly ambitious) plan:

I noticed during my holiday travels how easy (and pleasant) it was to neaten the bathroom. This was (spoiler alert!) because I only travel with the necessities versus the arsenal of cosmetics, first aid implements, lotions and potions that I store in my bathroom at home. I know, seems rather intuitive. Anywho, I'm spending a little time sorting this weekend, so here's what the bath will look like after:

Source: goodhousekeeping.com via Charlotte on Pinterest

I'm pretty sure. This may be ambitious, too. Let a girl dream.

Since it will be 72 degrees in Atlanta tomorrow (on Jan. 12. What the?? Not complaining!) I might drag some of my people on a little hike. One of my favorite outdoor family activities in Atlanta is to visit the Falls at Roswell Mill. Here's a picture of my nephew from our last hike. I was forced to crop out a "danger" sign. Boys. If it isn't scary, it isn't fun.


I'm only on chapter 5 in this book, and already I love it. Looking forward to curling up with The Fault in our Stars this weekend.

Generally I'd avoid "children" and "cancer" for leisurely weekend reading, but I'm hearing nothing but good things about this book. I'll keep you posted.

I may drag my husband to see Silver Linings Playbook. I've already seen it, and must see it again. Bradley Cooper & Jennifer Lawrence will restore your faith in non-British actors. They are phenomenal, and both better win Oscars or I'll feel sad and will refuse to watch the Academy Awards again until 2014.


On Sunday we're celebrating my sister's birthday at our house. I'm thinking about this Chicken with Southwestern Salsa for lunch. This is a healthier choice (than, say, steak and biscuits and gravy) to balance out the distressing caloric intake of birthday cake.

Since I'm a little weary from typing this, I may have to scale back. Or procrastinate. Both viable options.

What are you up to this weekend?

 

A Salad Dressing That Saves Lives

Okay, saves lives may be a stretch, but it sure has saved me an hour today. And kept me off the streets during lunchtime. Which can be hazardous in Atlanta. So, see? Really, we're all safer thanks to this salad dressing.

I've spoken with y'all before about the importance of having routines. For me, at least. Without a routine, things go to pieces around here quickly. And I don't mean with the girls or my husband. This is pretty specific to me.

As in, I can easily lose a precious hour (or more) from my day trying to hunt up a decent bite to eat. I swear I am worse than my kids about "nothing sounding good."And just as easily, I'll end up eating fast food because it will take too much time to go to the store and/or wait in line at one of the many delightfully crowded delis by my house.

One trick I use to beat the lunch crowd and cater to my particular cravings is to keep fresh salad ingredients on hand. My other trick is to make yummy homemade dressings and keep them in the fridge. Here's one of my favorites:

Lime, Cilantro & Honey Dressing

1/4 medium purple onion
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
2 T. honey
1 1/2 - 2 T. Balsamic vinegar
Juice of 2 limes
1/4 c. olive oil
Salt & Pepper to taste

Fling this into a food processor and pulse until it's a consistency you enjoy. Add more olive oil if you'd like. Frankly, you can add a touch more of any of the ingredients if you like, and take away anything you don't particularly enjoy. This is how I like to cook. Mainly because I'm just working with whatever I can hunt up in my kitchen. Most of the time it works out pretty well.

Toss with salad greens, avocado, tomato and whatever you like for a little protein. Today I added salami and a boiled egg. Don't judge. Again, it's a work-with-what-you-have situation.

This dressing will keep in the fridge up to a week. And will keep me from eating chicken nuggets 5 times in as many days.

Enjoy!

PS -- Please tell me: what's your favorite thing to eat for lunch? 

Independence Day from the Inbox

Does the sheer influx to your email inbox make you want to delete your account and assume a new identity? Maybe that of a 102-year-old lady from Bellville, Texas who hasn't a clue about email? (It's possible I was watching Willard Scott's birthday wishes as I wrote this post.)

I get anywhere from 50 to 150 emails a day. Sometimes it's people hitting the "reply all" button much like children given $100 and a parent-free trip to a candy store -- that is, with wild and manic abandon. (Reply all people slay me. It's very likely that if one day I finally snap, it will be at someone who has written "I'll bring the Capri Suns" and sent it to 160 people. I apologize in advance to the bringer of the Capri Suns.)

But another email issue is one I brought down upon myself like the electronic plague. People will send me links and say "you will love this flash sale/writing/coffee/wine/purse-of-the-month website/newsletter/blog" and then I'd sign up and, 95 percent of the time, delete the emails before I even read them.

This seemed like an appropriate week to declare independence. Independence from a bunch of email that didn't enhance my life even one tiny bit, but did suck up a bunch of time better spent elsewhere. Not to mention the stress of staring down a kazillion emails in your to-do box, and the general sensation I could be missing something important (like a client request or writing assignment or notification I won a generous settlement from a lawsuit in which I wasn't even involved) among the emails from Gilt Group and Daily Candy.

So, I zipped through my list and kept only the subscriptions that I actually use -- a couple of sites that send me coupons for overpriced clothes for my fashion-conscious pre-teens, a few blogs that either make me laugh, give great advice, or tell me something I didn't already know. (Hopefully this blog falls into that category for you, otherwise I've just written the most terrifically self-defeating blog post ever.)

After several days of my new-found independence, I'm proud to be an American ... where at least I know I'm free ... Wait. Sorry. What I meant to say is I no longer try to drown my iPhone because I notice I have 47 new emails.

Join me in the land of unsubscribe, won't you? (Except from this blog. Do not unsubscribe from this blog, please. In fact, encourage all your friends to subscribe by emailing them this link. Then we can all join forces to find the "reply all" people and make them pay. Probably by singing patriotic songs to them.)

Fly Me to the Supermoon ... Or at Least Get My Files on the Cloud

After my recent bout with a dead computer and the freak-out which inevitably ensued as I tried to remember the last time I did a back-up of my computer files (Do I have that 10-page white paper I JUST FINISHED backed up? What about those cute pictures of the kids I took this weekend? Those 72 article ideas I've had over the years and am just waiting for the perfect publication to pitch?), I have some advice.

Back your stuff up. Today. Seriously, do not put this off until later - you will thank me. Do these two things:

Go to Dropbox and back up all your document files to The Cloud. You get a certain number of gigs for free, and if I can upload all my documents without a fee I am certain you can, too. It's completely secure, easy to sign up, and easy to access. In fact, it automatically backs up your files, so once you've signed up ... you don't have to think about it again.

Next, bounce over to Picasa, upload all your photos, and select the "sync to the web" option. You can mark your photos private, so that creepy neighbor can't see your pics from the kids' dance recital unless you invite him to do so. And I recommend you don't.

Now, go do those two things quick.

Don't you feel better already? Yeah, me too.

XO - Amy Mac

What do you mean this isn't covered under my warranty?

You know when you're working on a big project, something you are super-excited about, you've got major momentum, you're getting ready for the big debut, then....

the little wire that connects the adapter jack to your computer snaps in two and you can no longer charge your computer, thus must leave your computer with some rather suspect-looking computer technicians and can no longer access half the things you need because your last back up failed? You know that feeling? No?

Well, suffice it to say I am currently working on my daughter's teeny, tiny notebook computer which is causing finger cramps and potential blindness. And as soon as I get my computer back I will be getting that back up plan that sucks everything off your computer into that magical back up plan in the vast internet universe.

Until then, this is one of the few photos from that project I managed to upload pre-computer-wire-thingy-disaster.

Stay tuned....

The Finisher (A Tip for Getting Things Done)

I am, by nature, a starter. I love concepting, strategizing and assessing big-picture goals. Give me a pen and notebook, and I can sketch out a multi-step plan to take over the world in 45 minutes or less.

Seriously, y’all should probably start hoping I will use my planning skills for good and not evil.

The problems start when it’s time to wrap a project. I snap my fingers and call for my assistant. Alas, no one appears. This is probably because I don’t actually have an assistant, unless you count my dog. He does not respond to snapping but will appear on cue for a dog treat.

So I hem, haw and procrastinate, and projects languish indefinitely, nested in my inbox like a snowdrift in Antarctica. That is -- eternally.

Obviously this calls for drastic measure. I needed a finisher, someone to push through the last couple of steps in a project that was complete all but for the fat lady singing. (Why does the lady have to be fat? I think I want my singing lady to be skinny, but I’d like her to bring me fattening snacks.)

Now, once a week The Finisher comes to my office. She’s amazing. She scans my to-do list, prioritizes the nearly-finished projects, and completes them with astonishing proficiency.

She knows she has only a few hours to knock out these projects, and it keeps her so very focused. Her job isn’t to concept a new branding campaign, her job is to edit the web site copy and send it to the client. She’s here to cross things off the list, not add to it.

Here’s a secret: I’m The Finisher.

I was forced to become The Finisher, and only slightly against my will. Because, you see, as much as I love concocting a new idea, I loathe in equal measure leaving tasks undone. Incompletes nibble at my conscience like squirrels on a carpet of acorns. They distract, leaving me feeling a bit frayed at the seams, and hemming things up is the only cure.

So I set aside one day a week and treat my task-oriented personality to a day of getting things done. I start with a plan, and refuse to be distracted. And while the creative process is one that delights, there is no comparison to the feeling of scratching a big to-do off one’s list.

Tell me, if you’re a starter, what are your tricks for balancing starting a project with completing it? If you’re a natural-born finisher, where do you draw inspiration to get a project started?

The Real Secret to Staying Sane During Back to School Chaos

In the rush to get school supplies (and complete the ten million other necessary tasks to get ready for a new school year), I feel it would be helpful to have a back-to-school list to keep mothers sane. I write about it here, and would love to hear ideas from you – real and imagined – that might help moms through the first few weeks of school without losing our minds.

And, hey – who says the kids should be the only ones with the cute notebooks, folders and writing pads? The folks at Carolina Pad make some of the cutest school and office supplies around, and they’re going to give a little bundle away to Amy Mac readers! Leave a comment by August 31 to be entered.

The photo in this blog entry was taken with my iPhone with a very groovy application called Hipstamatic which allows you to create retro photographs with your iPhone camera – check it out!

XO-Amy Mac

Creativity, Cape Cod, and Clean Clothes

A good friend emails me and asks “do you have any organizational tips for creative people?”

What she really means is “when I am working on a critical task with a deadline, how do I resist the urge to pick up my knitting needles and knit a sweater, particularly when I have just purchased the most beautiful Angora sage green yarn – and there are people in my house who want to eat and wear clean clothes?”

It’s the bane of every creative person I know – how do we achieve focus during our day when there are a thousand things to do, and we’d much rather be making something pretty? I certainly do not claim to be a time management or organizational expert. In fact, the only reason I am organized at all is if I weren’t, I would accomplish precisely zero tasks. Ever. I swear I’d just watch re-runs of Friends and eat Cape Cod Salt and Vinegar chips while my house fell down around my ankles.

Obviously that existence is unacceptable on many different levels (though I am not opposed to living off those chips for the rest of my days.) So I’ve come up with a system that helps me scratch items off my to-do list, and arrive at appointments on time - without squashing my creativity. Maybe one or two will work for you.

Mix the fun-to-do with the have-to-do. If I am staring at a list of mundane tasks from dawn until dusk, I know I will procrastinate and get essentially nothing accomplished. Therefore, I inject fun tasks (shop for new shoes, lunch with friends, purchase mums for porch) with the tedious (doctor’s appointments, grocery shopping, throwing out the mums I killed because they were never watered because that was boring.)

Create a system and segment your day. If I have to figure out what to do when every single day, I’ll spend an hour vacillating on whether or not to exercise, or write that proposal, or vacuum the baseboards. So, I exercise first thing in the morning. Then I work for a few hours. Then I do a couple of household tasks or run errands. Then I get the kids…..you get the picture.

Pleasing environments encourage task completion. My planner is cute and organized. My desk is relatively clear. I listen to upbeat music when I’m writing. I try to keep pretty flowers, or a favorite picture of the girls, or a bulletin board full of tear sheets I love. For me, if my surroundings are pretty, I’ll stick with the task longer and be distracted less.

Make “I’ll do that when I’m done with this” your new mantra. On days when I am running in a million different directions and trying to get a thousand things done, I keep paper and pen with me at all times. That way, when I’m, say, folding a load of laundry and I think of a unique idea for this year’s Christmas cards, I jot the idea down and keep folding the laundry. This keeps me from jumping from task to task and never actually getting any one thing finished.

So there you have it. The reasons I am able to walk around every day as an apparently fully functional human, showered, dressed and ready to go most days by 9 a.m. Of course, I’ve created a little list while I’ve been writing.

Since I’m done here, I’ll get to that next task.

XO – Amy Mac

No Comment

In my last post I wrote about being “published” in Peter Bowerman’s Well-Fed Writer book. Peter sent me a nice thank you note via email for plugging the book on my blog, and mentioned trying to post the thank you as a comment under the blog post. He gave up when he was asked to set up an account or “sign in.” Emailing ensued, and the ever-helpful Peter suggested I check the settings for commenting on my blog.


Lo and behold, the settings (which I’d never considered until the very moment Peter emailed me) are extremely stringent. To comment on this blog you essentially had to provide me with your PIN number, your bank account number and carte blanche to purchase whatever I wanted at Sephora. (Which I encourage you to do anyway if you are so inclined.)


Perhaps it wasn’t that bad, but it was pretty ridiculous - completely by accident, I assure you. So if any of you have avoided commenting because it was going to take too much time, I have unchained the shackles and hope you’ll write, suggest, question… delight me with your creative commentary.


However, I recommend you send your bank account and pin numbers directly to my email. We wouldn’t want just anyone having that information.

School's Out For Summer

Today is the last day of school before summer break for my girls. Boy, are we ready for some summer fun around here – sleeping in, endless days at the pool, annual visit to the beach, to Tennessee for visits to aunts and grandparents for a month (just kidding, Mim – a week at most).

The lazy days of summer require some interesting scheduling for the work-from-home mom. I’ll have a sitter come in a couple of days a week, schedule playdates when I have meetings, and I’ll be looking for some sort of water-protecting shield for my laptop so I can hit my deadlines while my kids are swimming practice laps in the pool preparing for their weekly meets.

I’m always ready for the change of scenery (and schedule) when summer vacation rolls around. I’m also ready to change back in August. In the meantime, have a safe, enjoyable, and preferably lazy Memorial Day weekend! I know that’s my plan.

Amy Mac

Sunday Evening Storms

Sunday evening, just as I was drifting off to sleep after an active, productive weekend, the tornado sirens began to blare – a funnel cloud was spotted on the ground one county over, and it was headed our way. Let me tell you, nothing gets the local weather forecasters in a lather quite like a funnel cloud, especially one late at night.

I’ve lived the path of the tornado-laden south long enough to have a solid evacuation plan not only for my family, but also for our neighbors across the street who don’t have basements in which to seek shelter. Seriously, I can have my entire family, dog included, safely in the basement in 90 seconds or less. My kids may have to seek counseling for post-traumatic stress syndrome after being snatched from their beds while still asleep and dumped into the basement bed with quick reassurances from mom and dad while listening to the blaring sirens, but hey, at least they’re safe.

It brings to mind the need for every business, large and small, to have a crisis plan in place. When I worked for a huge Fortune 500 conglomerate, we had written crisis communications plans in place for everything from who was the best media spokesperson for certain catastrophic events to what to do if there was an earthquake.

If you have a small business, you don’t need anything quite so large in scope. For example, my crisis plan is to back up my computer regularly and to keep important numbers on my cell (like those for a computer technician and a couple of writers if I need help hacking away at my workload.)

Take a minute today and think through what you’ll do if the worst happens. Then relax, because it probably won’t, but you’ll be relieved you’ve thought through things just in case. Jot down your plan and communicate it to your team. Even if your team is just your babysitter and your dog.

Get Me A Ticket for an Airplane, Ain't Got Time to Take the Fast Train

I think I am one of the few people on earth who actually enjoy the driving part of a road trip. My kids are all about the destination, and my husband would probably prefer to fly (he is a graduate of the Air Force Academy, after all), but for me there’s something fun, simplistic and adventurous about hitting the open road.

There are a few pre-requisites for the perfect road trip. Here’s my list, in no particular order:
· Great music, with the perfect playlist uploaded to my Ipod
· Snacks and cool beverages
· A mindless, entertaining book on CD
· My Blackberry
· A camera (you just never know when you might want to snap a photo)
· A general idea of where I’m going

Those items, along with a full tank of gas (which is what I was doing when I snapped this photo), will make the trip fly (pun intended) – Happy Trails!

Loving This Living: California Dreaming Edition

Amy Mac’s first LOVING THIS LIVING profile is all about the big business of fashion. I am a true believer that loving (or hating) what you are wearing can make or break your day, but let’s face it - everyone doesn’t have a knack for pulling together outfits that work.

That’s where a personal stylist like Sutton Stracke (and her fabulous blog) comes into play.
Sutton Stracke, of Laguna Beach, California, is a stylist and the founder of Bespoke Trunk, a lifestyle and fashion consulting company that caters to the individual fashion needs of women around the world. In addition to personally styling clients that live in her region, she writes a splendid blog where she gives advice to women on looking fabulous – whether you spend your days presenting in the boardroom or cleaning in the playroom.

Check out the transcript of my interview with Sutton:

Tell us what you do to Love your Living: The company I founded, Bespoke Trunk, helps style women no matter what their budget using pieces from mainstream stores, high-end designer boutiques and vintage pieces.

What is the best part about your job? The worst? What makes your job interesting and unique? I love chatting with clients about their likes and dislikes of fashion, and I love the hunt of shopping based on those likes and dislikes. The idea of helping someone look and feel better is fascinating to me. The worst part is resisting buying for yourself during the hunt!

Is there any special training required to perform your job? A good eye for putting looks together and good people-listening skills are all that it takes.

If someone was thinking of pursuing a career in your industry, what would be the first steps they'd need to take? If I could do it all again, I would probably get my BA in fashion merchandising from an established school such as the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC. Living in New York is almost be a prerequisite for a job like this. Street style in NYC is the inspiration of many designers, and seeing those styles on a daily basis becomes your own inspiration.

Tell us something fun you’ve done recently because of your job. I loved doing the closet makeover with my sister-in-law. Though it was a long process, and perhaps painful for her, it gave such a sense of accomplishment to us both. I loved watching her face when I showed her multiple ways she could use one dress or one pair of trousers. Giving people a sense of power over their own closet is a remarkable experience.

How do you keep a good balance between your work life and your home life? I am still working on this part. Because I am new to the Orange County area and have just realized this business, I need to spend a lot more time on it than I do. But having a good nanny helps, and supportive husbands are the whole key – luckily I have both.

Any parting words of advice for our readers about balancing work and life? The one thing that has come to me this year is to do what you love. Once you have that, then the work is no longer a chore. If work isn't a chore, but something you really desire to do, then the stress of a job disappears. But when you work at home you must be disciplined to work only in the constraints of the hours that you have decided on, or otherwise it all blends together, and you do neither well.

AMY MAC LOVING THIS LIVING CONTEST: Subscribe to the Amy Mac Blog (on the right side of the blog under "Get Email Updates for Amy Mac) and you’ll be entered to receive a FREE two-outfit consultation with Sutton via e-mail! A winner will be chosen randomly from the list of Amy Mac subscribers (if you’re already a subscriber you’ll automatically be entered) on Feb. 6!

Taking Stock

The first day of the last month of the year seems like a good day to review goals accomplished for 2008, the ones pushed to the backburner, and the ones that just didn’t get done.

So my question of the day is: of the goals not accomplished, why not?

As I take a look at the things I wanted to accomplish this year, the ones that didn’t happen fall into one of three categories:

1. I didn’t give it a high-priority time slot in my chocked-full calendar. If I don’t schedule something, in stone, and block out a time where I know I’ll be firing on all cylinders (which generally requires a high-protein snack and a bottled water, if you’re interested) then my efforts will never gain enough momentum to come to fruition as a completed goal.

2. I doubt my ability to make it happen. Generally not a problem as I am just deluded enough to believe I can accomplish most things (or recruit someone who can to help me), but if there are obstacles that I cannot figure my way around, and I can come up with 8 zillion reasons to procrastinate, or just scratch the goal off my list.

3. It wasn’t really my goal. Sometimes I talk myself into thinking I want something, when deep down, I really don’t. At least not right now. There’s definitely an art to knowing that sometimes the things you want just are not possible that minute, and trusting that it will come in the right time.

As I review my 2008, I have lots of accomplishments for which to be thankful. I’ve accomplished much more than I thought possible (web site launched, this blog having lots of readers – thank you!, getting a few articles published). For those goals on my list that didn’t happen (sending a direct mail piece to potential clients, cleaning and organizing the hazardous waste dump known as my storage room), I’ll be taking a hard look at whether they are worthy of carry-over as 2009 goals. And if they are, what I need to do differently in the coming months to make them happen.

I encourage you to take an hour or two from your crazy holiday schedule to assess your ’08, both professionally and personally – so your happy work and the good life intersect in 2009!

Winter Wear

As is typical of Atlanta, the temperature has gone from 85 degrees to 35 degrees in the span of about three hours. The onset of chilly temperatures mandates many changes, like making sure your furnace is running, sealing up little cracks in window seals, and making sure hands and noggins big and small have mittens and warm wooly hats at the ready.

I noticed this time last year that my productivity dropped a little, and I realized it was indirectly caused by the colder temps. I was jumping up about every twelve seconds to remedy something – everything from a too-cold beverage to chapped lips. I am going to save you a bundle of time with one little tip: outfit your office for the cold weather just like you do your home. That’s right, no matter where you work, whether a cubicle or your cute, new, environmentally-friendly smart car while you make sales calls – you’ll be tons more productive if you’re comfy.

Here’s a peek at my must-haves to keep me chugging along when it comes to working when the heater’s been cranked and it’s cold outside:

A bottle of creamy lotion I can smear liberally on my hands or face. AHAs and anti-aging components optional, but preferred.

A tube of Victoria’s Secret lip gloss. I love it, and may be addicted. There, I’ve said it. Seriously, it smells great, it’s shiny and it doesn’t make you gag if you accidentally ingest it. It comes in lots of pretty colors. It is heaven in a .46 ounce tube is all I’m saying. Feel free to get your own, but my children have learned the hard way it’s a very bad thing to take my lip gloss away from my desk.

Cough drops. Strangely, a sore throat seems to crop up whenever it is time to buckle down and work, much like a first grader with a tummy ache when it’s time to go to school.

Kleenex tissues. See above.

A carafe of coffee mixed with cream and sugar to my specifications. Keeps me from running to and from the microwave. A genius invention, the Thermos carafe.

Another fun tip, from a friend who is a mom and a teacher: stick a tube of lip balm, a trial size of antibacterial hand sanitizer and lotion and a few cough drops into a pocket of every family members’ coat. A loud whistle to demand the attention of others optional but preferable. Teachers are geniuses.

Now, bundle up, stay moisturized and be careful out there!