Take 10 Tuesday - the lazy-girl summer version where we get to 7 this week

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Crafting the Intention for Your Business - a brief bit about why you may need to figure this thing out


"An intention synchronistically organizes its own fulfillment."
— Deepak Chopra

When I created Olive Bites I never really sat down and took the time to think about my intention for this venture and how this intention (desire without attachment to the outcome) would guide my business decisions.

This is different than goal setting- it's not about earning X amount in X amount of time, numbers and percentages - it's more about your big picture thinking.

The WHY of your business - the inspiration for all of this in the first place.

I knew I wanted to create original work, work with certain materials and show that eco can be beautiful because mostly people do not connect the two things. And because this is my intention - I do these things.

But I didn't give alot of thought about how (and why) I intended for this business to grow and most importantly how I intended for this creative adventure called Olive Bites to fit into my life.

And because I set no big-picture intentions for these things, these are exactly the things that have grown in unintended directions.

As I move into wholesale I had started to question my own intentions with this growth -

- it's not like I have to grow in this particular direction (selling to stores) and hubby is not a big fan of anything that sounds like more work for me -

I did not want the growth to be out of fear and I knew that part of my push to do this now is the culture of copying the internet has fostered.

(more on this some other time, I never have the stomach to talk much about this, it is enough to say that it is totally heart breaking and expensive to have to deal with)

I know I cannot grow out of fear.

I need this growth to be from love; love of my creations, love of the process, love of the sharing with other people (this cannot be done on my own - something I always tend to want to do), love of the change this growth will be creating in my life (and other people's).

So I am taking the time to set some big old intentions for all of this and then releasing my attachment to the outcome (and I am determined to let my day to day decisions be guided by these intentions).

Setting your intention helps you make the right decisions ... for you.

If it is your intention to have your own business so that you can set your own hours, have time with your children, etc then you will make different decisions than someone whose intention for their business is to pay the rent or someone whose intention is to be the number one creator of thingamajigs in the universe.

There is no right way or wrong way, but I am thinking this 24/7 life would be a little bit easier for us if we let our big picture intentions guide our day to day decisions.

Note that often when we set our intentions things will happen to 'test' them.

When you set your intention to not work weekends, you will likely be offered up an opportunity that will require exactly this. It is like the universe is checking in with you to see if this is what you really want.

And when this happens, remember this is not something that is happening to you, it is something that is happening for you.

If you are living an expansive life you always get to decide, there are no wrong decisions here, just decisions that are better ... for you.

(amazing growth illustration - maidenhair fern #3 by gollybard above)
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Friday Finds - Inspiration is Everywhere!

SUCK UK Apron Cooking Guides - the cooking info is on the apron upside down geared to the wearer!

This is reminding me of the baby clothes where the designs were right side up for baby's viewing that I featured a couple weeks ago.

How can we make our own designs more user friendly in a unique way?



Something about the minimalist nature of this amazing piece by Anna Gray and Ryan Wilson Paulsen inspires me so much!

The usefulness, re-use and unlimited opportunities for expression this piece offers speaks so dramatically!

How can we use these lessons of dimension change, functionality and minimalism in our own work?


I absolutely love how these amazing DiCorte chairs share the materials and process of the work.

They also make the consumer think about the tree that birthed these babies

and remind me of the hard earned scars and imperfections that are the soul of hand-made.

How can we make our own materials and processes more apparent in our work - how can we use these to tell a larger story?

This iconic message first appeared on the back cover of the very last issue of the Whole Earth Catalogue in 1974.

stay hungry
stay foolish

Let's live this one!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
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Heating Duct to Amazing Mail Holder DIY Upcycled Tutorial

This is another easy-peasy summer project for an old metal vent.

Why not turn it into an awesome little mail holder?

The plastic diffuser (magnetic) can be picked up at a hardware store for under $5.00.

I attached mine to the side of a desk and love it so much I am going to add a few more!

you will need:

1. metal vent
2. magnetic plastic air diffuser (hardware store about $5.00)
3. spray paint for metal
4. screws and screwdriver
5. drill (camera shy)

1. Clean your vent and spray paint it
2. Measure for placement on the wall, side of desk, etc
3. Mark holes, drill for screws
4. Screw in your vent
5. Add your magnetic plastic cover (note I switched mine to some stronger magnets since I wanted it to hold quite a bit of papers)

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Whining Wednesday - stuff that is stressing me out, will be stressing me out or had been stressing me out

1. The current stress - I am just a few weeks away from my first ever trade shows and I am suddenly realizing that I have a gazillion things to do and no time to do them.

So, if you pop over here and see no posts feel free to envision me in some kind of manic craziness where I am subsisting largely on the kind of cellophane-wrapped mistakes only available at my local Wawa -

deliriously humming the theme song from the Titanic - did I tell you the first said trade show is called Pool - as in someone please throw me a life preserver, you get the picture - and barking orders at my assistant; ie Olive, who is actually the only one around here who can get anything done.

And that these tradeshows, added to my normally massive amount of personal issues and annoyances have created an overdose type of situation where I am either manic or catatonic but either way unable to sign into blogger.

Please forgive me when this happens. I see it coming. I have taken on too much and unwisely used my time watching the Real Housewives of New Jersey and New York and all the other housewives that don't seem to ever have any type of actual homemaking responsibilties, but like car crashes are hard to resist watching.

And yes, the tradeshow design above looks amazing, but nothing like the real thing which is actually still a figment of my imagination, too, but luckily I have always been very good with a deadline.

(I just hope the word dead isn't the word I will be using to explain the final outcome).

2. The old stress - After many weeks The Artisans Collective website is launched!

My brother and I designed this site and even though some of the potential bells and whistles had to be trashed, it keeps the form and function of its intention and can't help but be beautiful with all the amazing artists on this incredible team. I am loving it!

(although I do worry a bit about their sanity for letting me anywhere near this website, no clue why they thought I could do this- I guess because I said I could, silly artists)

3. The future stress - ok, so you may remember the crop circle incident of last month and also my failure to get the documentary evidence that some demanded requested

(my excuse - it happened at dusk, it didn't occur to me and by the time I saw the potential for a Wednesday whine in it - everything was blown around)

but, since we have been fairly convinced this was a squirrel/corn take-down situation I have been on the lookout for any signs of unusual super squirrel activity to try and track down the culprit.


Now, I realize these are not the best images, but I was working through a window which may not have been cleaned in a while due to all my Real Housewives watching the work I've been doing lately.

The squirrel got the lid off the trash can, ripped open the trash bag, grabbed an entire slice of cheese pizza, dragged the pizza across the yard and up a tree (where the cheese likely got stuck on the branch) - a couple hours later it was gone, so I'm sure Super Squirrel got a couple other members of her Super Squirrel posse to give her a hand and they got it unstuck.

I think the Super Squirrel situation here in New Jersey

(which may or may not be connected to the superfund clean up site designation of our local gas station)

is creating crop circle making, pizza stealing, Linda Blair head spinning

(I forgot to mention that when Super Squirrel looked up at me through the window she gave me a freaky Exorcist head twist that had me grabbing a pair of scissors and my neighbor's 12 year old son before I ventured outside)

super rodents (and yes, squirrel lovers, squirrels are rodents, I looked it up) that may be plotting some type of backyard takeover we had better all be ready for.

Also I have poison ivy that hasn't gone away in a month and I guess I have to give up and see a doctor and I can't help but think there is some kind of Super Squirrel connection in this, too. I am sure some research on my part, which I am way too lazy busy to do right now, would tell me that squirrels are impervious to poison ivy

and since these Super Squirrels spend alot of time outside my bedroom window, they have had plenty of opportunities to stuff some poison ivy leaves into the air conditioner or something equally clever ... sigh

Now, there are some positive things about stress, like the kind of endorphins, serotonin and dopamine rush that athletes get and I am sure this will be kicking in for me ... any day now ... in the meantime I better get my head back into my linesheets and my eyes on Super Squirrel ...
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