The Outside & In

Target has been killing it lately with their lighting selections. Whoever is designing the lighting, especially for their Threshold brand, is on the right track. They are using all my favorite materials: brass, marble, gold, warm woods and creamy ceramics.

Besides providing ambient lighting, lamps can also help balance a room if you choose the right one. You will be pleasantly surprised at the impact a simple little lamp can have in updating your decor.

I am a bit embarrassed to say that we currently own 7 Target lamps and I have my eye on a few others. With the ridiculously affordable price points it’s hard not to leave the store without one. I put together a round-up of some of my favorites, along with where you might use them.

8 Great Target Lighting Options:

Crosby Collection Pendant Light – I did a triple take at my local Target the other day when I saw the Crosby Collection on and endcap. I like this collection so much the desk lamp makes an appearance on this list too. This pendant comes in 4 different colors and it is straddling both a modern and retro feel. I can see it in totally changing the vibe of a kid’s room that is a bit too syrupy sweet.
Mid-Century Inspired Metal Desk Lamp -This Nate Berkus brass task lamp is my top contender for my home office lighting needs. It’s sitting at my local Target just waiting to be scooped up. The secret with this one is that it is hiding in the office section, not with the other lamps. Brass is a great way to add some warmth to a room. The fact that it is a metal is also great for a space that has too much wood going on.
Herringbone Ceramic Table Lamp – This ceramic lamp would be the perfect addition to any room that needs a little lightening up. If you have a space with dark wood furniture and dark leather furniture, this little number could be just what the doctor ordered.
Franklin Table Lamp – Wood with Brass Trim – Similar to the Crosby collection, I love the whole series of the Franklin Table Lamps. Brass, marble, wood – what is not to love?? This wood and brass version is your solution if you need to add some warmth to your space.
Crosby Schoolhouse Desk Lamp – You might recognize this lamp from Ben’s room. I absolutely love the shape and brass details. I chose the white version because of the high contrast with the navy walls, but the black one is gorgeous too. If you need a desk lamp in your life, I definitely recommend this one.
Double Gourd Table Lamp Base – A ceramic gourd lamp is a traditional lighting staple. This line comes in great colors and with that touch of brass that keeps it looking updated. I have this one in blue. It’s the perfect lamp that can both update a stuffy room or offset one that is overly trendy.
Brass Task Lamp – Ahhh, my favorite. I absolutely love this lamp. And I am not the only one. It even made the cover of Emily Henderson’s book, “Styled”. I have it in brass in my bedroom, and in black in Max’s room. This little number will give your space the unexpected hit of mid-century modern it’s begging for.
Franklin Table Lamp – Marble – I don’t think you can go wrong with a beautiful marble lamp and this one hits every right note – shape, size, brass accents and those really fun pulls. If I end up not getting the Nate Berkus Metal Desk Lamp, it’s because I got this one instead. Similarly to the Ceramic Herringbone lamp, this lamp will help you lighten up a heavy space.

Have you spotted any lighting options at your local Target lately? Any spaces that could use one of these beauties?

Posted by Ale & filed under Home Decor. This post has 2 comments.

Steal-Like-an-Entrepeneur

The best thing I heard this week was “Steal Like an Entrepreneur with Austin Kleon” on the podcast Unemployable with Brian Clark. I subscribed to the Unemployable podcast a few months ago because I really enjoy the guests that Brian Clark invites, and love the conversations that come from them. As you might have guessed by the title, the podcast is about entrepreneurism and all kinds of people who work for themselves. This week’s episode featured author and artist Austin Kleon, and it ended up being my favorite listen from this week.

Brian invited Austin Kleon to join him to discuss the concept of “stealing” to create new ideas. This is a great topic because Kleon wrote the book “Steal Like an Artist”, which just happens to be on my 2016 reading list. I didn’t know much about it before I put it on my list, other than I had heard a few people recommend it, and of course, I like the cover design which is a key indicator for me. Superficial, but it usually works. Now that I’ve heard this podcast episode with Austin, I am even more convinced that I will enjoy reading “Steal Like an Artist” soon.

The premise of Austin Kleon’s book and the discussion he had with Brian Clark was to uncover what it really means to “steal” from others’ to create new work. It sounds counterintuitive because traditionally the thought is that to be original or creative your idea should be completely original. The discussion dives into the fact that there really are no truly original ideas. Pretty much all ideas are a product of the ideas that came before it. They cover several examples from history of people who took an idea they had been exposed to, and used it as a launching pad to create something new. For example, Henry Ford getting the idea for the assembly line from processes he saw used in a meatpacking factory. Original ideas coming from ideas that came before. Here’s a great list from Kleon’s website to illustrate the concept further and how to do it correctly.

Good Theft vs Bad Theft - Austin Kleon

I really enjoyed how Brian Clark and Austin Kleon covered this topic. To be inspired you have to constantly be seeking inspiration. It’s like filling a well that will be full and fresh when you are ready to dip into it. I definitely recommend taking a listen and let me know what you think!

Posted by Ale & filed under Creativity, Learning. This post has no comments yet.

Today I want to share with you the progress made in my 7-year old’s bedroom in the past couple of months. It was supposed to be my home project focus for February as you might recall from THIS post. For those of you who might wonder why you are just hearing about this room in April if I was supposed to be done by the end of February, well…there was a little battle between perfectionism and progress. In the end, progress won, but it wasn’t easy. Let me show you where we started and what we were able to accomplish.

Shortly before Christmas, the boys decided they were ready to have their own rooms, which meant no more playroom, and that Max would now use the room as his own. Here’s what it looked like after bringing in his bed.

Similar to January’s project, the objective for Max’s room was to help make it more of his own space. I wanted it to reflect more of his personality. Max loves music and his favorite color is red. I knew the most impactful change we could make in the space was by painting it. I was excited about painting it bright white to serve as a backdrop for some pops of red. The other important objective was to get some clothes storage in here. We took the closet out when we moved in 7 years ago, and since then the boys have been sharing the one in Ben’s room.

Although the decision to paint the rest of the walls white was easy, the implementation ended up taking a lot longer than expected. The room was a pretty saturated blue, so I had to prime all of the walls first. Ugh. That took several days, after which I was pretty burnt out on painting. It then took all the initiative I had to spend another weekend painting it white. The only other things I had done throughout the month were pick up the much needed dresser for the room as well as the lamp and red throw pillow.

By then, it was pretty much the end of February and I was supposed to move on to the March focus: the living area. But there was still so much left to be done in here. And I started feeling like it wasn’t the transformation I had wanted for the space. I felt like I lost this round with the 1-month per room challenge.

Then the realization hit me. I didn’t go into this to make over every room in my house each month. I went into it for the purpose of making a little bit of progress in each room in the house and not getting stuck. Which is exactly what was happening.

Once I recognized this, I decided the way I would move forward is give myself the month of March to tie up loose ends, while I made some tweaks to the living room simultaneously. I got a few additional things accomplished, and then just gave myself grace on what was left undone and imperfect. So today, I am showing you the progress made in Max’s room refresh during February and March.

One of my favorite additions to the room is the Aerosmith “Dream On” poster. It’s a song Max loves and it totally fit the music vibe of the room. I designed the poster using Adobe Illustrator, and just sent it to be printed at Office Depot for less than $2. I then had it put on foamcore and framed at Michaels with no glass. I am sure it will fade in a few years, but it will be an easy fix to switch out the art at that point.

Since we were losing a play space, we still needed some of the storage for the toys. We had the IKEA storage shelves already when the room served as a playroom. The tall shelf (also IKEA) got a little makeover and was painted from white to red.

The map wall was something I was very indecisive about. It’s been up for several years. I originally wanted to cover it up with something else interesting, but nothing really inspired me. So I left it as is. In the future, this wall will be where Max’s desk will go. Both boys are asking for a desk in their rooms, so I am thinking next year’s projects will involve adding a desk space.

This side of the room where the new dresser went in was where I ran out of steam, inspiration and money. It feels a bit unfinished. I would like to add a hamper and something fun for shoe storage. The space over the dresser needs to be filled with something (or several somethings) in a larger scale. I knew if I kept going in here, I was going to force it and in the end not love it. So in the spirit of being content with making progress, I decided to come back to this in the future.

Going back to the original goal of the one room per month focus, I remember that the plan was to do the best I could each month with the allotted time and budget. It’s crazy to think how quickly that turned into higher expectations. In the end, I do think we made quite a bit of progress in Max’s room. We have increased the functionality in that he no longer has to go into Ben’s room to get dressed. He has a reading lamp and plenty of place to play. Best of all, it totally reflects his personality and style. Plus, I think this experience will help with setting realistic expectations with future projects. We will see!

Posted by Ale & filed under Home Decor, Our Home. This post has no comments yet.

As I outlined in THIS post, I am an avid podcast listener. I think avid is a nicer way to describe someone rather than obsessive, crazy or junkie, right? Let’s go with avid.

I listen to anywhere from 8-15 hours of podcasts per week. Driving, washing dishes, folding laundry, showering, exercising, cooking, painting, any activity where my mind can focus while my hands do something else is a good time to listen. The topics of my favorite podcasts cover an extremely wide array of subject matters and style.

I am excited to share what I hope is a new weekly series, “Best Thing I’ve Heard All Week“. At the end of each week, I am going to recap my favorite podcast episode from the week. If you are looking for a podcast to listen to on your next walk or laundry session, you will have a source for road-tested episode to try.

Best Podcast Episode This Week:

Balanced Bites Episode #237 – “Adrenal Fatigue, Carbs & Calories“

I am pretty sure Balanced Bites was the first podcast I ever listened to and the one that got me hooked on “learning by listening”. In the years since then, my roster has grown to dozens of other podcasts. But this week, my choice for favorite episode goes to Balanced Bites Episode #237.

I believe this is the first in what is going to be a multi-episode coverage of adrenal fatigue, which they say they get hundreds of questions about. Adrenal fatigue is a condition that affects the adrenal glands which are responsible for producing some pretty important hormones. Even if you have never heard of adrenal fatigue, I think the episode was super interesting. What I loved about it is that they spent the majority of it addressing something that I think most of us often forget. There is no “golden ticket” solution to fixing a health problem. If the health issue you are dealing with took years to creep in, then most likely it will take years to creep out. That is hard to accept in our instant-gratification culture. They also address your “constitution”, which I think people do not take into consideration enough. Everyone’s threshold for chronic stress is different and what works for one will not necessarily work for someone else. The conversation was very enlightening.

I highly recommend taking a listen if you are interested in hearing a very holistic and multi-sided discussion on health that does not focus on medication or a laundry list of solutions to try. Diane and Liz were really on point with their approach to the topic on this episode.

PS: If this is your first time listening to Balanced Bites, please know that the first 10 minutes is usually banter before they jump into the episode topic.

Posted by Ale & filed under Learning, Podcasts. This post has 2 comments.

Although I saw it on the bestseller list for years before I picked it up, I finally read Mindset by Carol Dweck a couple months back. I think the clinical look of the cover made me think it was going to be boring and perhaps over my head. After coming to the realization that there had to be some pretty valuable content for the book to have the longevity it is having, I finally started reading it. I’m so glad I got over myself and my preconceptions. Since picking it up, I have not stopped thinking about it and seeing examples in my daily life.

So here’s the gist. The book’s author, Carol Dweck, is a Stanford University psychologist who has done decades of research on on motivation and fulfilling potential. In Mindset, she shares her findings and conclusions. Dweck proposes that there are two different types of mindsets that people adopt – a growth mindset or a fixed mindset. A fixed mindset is a belief that we are all born with finite abilities and talents. Whether it be athletic ability, artistic ability, or academic ability, this mindset believes you either have it or you don’t. You believe you are either good at math, or not a math person. Creative or not creative. Graceful or not. Sound familiar? Does to me. It’s a very common way for us to paint a picture about ourselves or others. A fixed mindset can be characterized by lots of comparison, wanting others not to do as well as you, or being a perfectionist. Why? Because as soon as you are no longer the best at something, you want to give up. What reason do you have to continue?

A growth mindset is the belief that we are able to change our abilities through time, effort and practice. Growth mindsets believe that even though we may not excel at something now, it doesn’t mean we can’t improve. A growth mindset sees setbacks as challenges to be overcome. As you meet the challenge, confidence grows. A fixed mindset sees setbacks as a flaw in who you are as a person. Dweck dedicates entire chapters to different areas where both of these mindsets often prevail: academic, sports, business and relationships.

Below is a fantastic graphic that really helps illustrate the difference between the two mindsets as Dweck outlines them in the book:

The best part about this book has been sharing the concept with my kids. They always ask me about the books I read. And sometimes they regret asking, because I love to share 🙂 In the case of Mindset, they totally got it. In fact, the book has given us a great new lens for us to frame discussions around. Now that they are very familiar with the two mindsets, I have been able to take a different approach.

Here’s how we talk about mindset to our kids:

If telling me about how someone in their class is annoying/misbehaving/not smart…

In the past, I might have said, “Why are you talking bad about X?” OR, “How would you like it if someone else was talking bad about you?”
I now say something like, “What kind of mindset likes to see others struggling?” Or, “Do you remember why a fixed mindset likes to point out other’s mistakes?”

If they are resisting doing something because they are not good at it…

In the past I might have said, “Why are you feeling sorry for yourself?” (in the case of one child who gets sad when they are not good at something). Or, “You don’t have to be the best at something to enjoy participating” (in the case of my other child who is more a perfectionist).
I now say something like, “What kind of mindset likes doing challenging things?” or “How are you going to bring a growth mindset to this activity?

If a friend or peer is making fun of them or excluding others...

In the past I might have said something like, “Just ignore them” or “That’s not very nice.”
I know say something like, “Why kind of mindset do you think X has? Why do you think that might be?” “What do you think X would do if he had a growth mindset?”

I am nowhere near a parenting expert and perhaps this is not the perfect method, but I can tell you it has been a very positive approach for talking to my kids. Instead of shutting them down, it turns into a conversation. It’s also changed the way I review their graded work that comes home from school. While I still review the work, I no longer point out when they got something wrong. If they get 100%, I rarely mention it unless I have something specific to praise – not the grade. I do this let them know I am not judging them by their scores, but by their effort.

Below is an animated video that does a phenomenal job of illustrating the concepts. I highly recommend watching it!

Despite the fact that I’ve outlined ways that the book has really helped me with parenting, it would be just as helpful for teachers, coaches, managers, and really anyone who could use better insight into themselves. So don’t let that cover or the title deter you like it did me. You might just find yourself opening up to a whole new way of thinking.

Have you read Mindset? What parts of it resonated most with you?

Posted by Ale & filed under Books. This post has no comments yet.

Drooling Over: Target Lighting

8 Great Target Lighting Options:

Best Thing I’ve Heard All Week – Austin Kleon on Unemployable

February Project: Max’s Bedroom Refresh

Best Thing I’ve Heard All Week – Favorite Podcast Episode

Best Podcast Episode This Week:

Recent Read: Mindset by Carol Dweck

Here’s how we talk about mindset to our kids:

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