Amanda Rose Zampelli | the blog

another blog update | geeky blog talk | & what's next

So remember, like, twenty days ago when I was all like, "Hey, I revamped my blog! New Design! Yaddi yaddi yadda!"  Well, literally, the millisecond the new design went live, I thought to myself: NO. I need to fix it. (deep sigh) Such is the life of a picky graphic designer who's type A and can't make a decision about anything.

On a sort-of-related note: Typepad vs. Squarespace. I've been blogging for 5 years now, and I hope you and I spend many more years together at this fun little internet party I call my blog. I started on Blogger, then transitioned to Typepad, but now - 5 years in - a part of me can't deny the positives of Squarespace. I've been thinking about switching over, or keeping up two personal platforms, or making my Squarespace site more of a website, and this site more of a blog. I've been seeing the Squarespace site vs. the 'bloggy' platform debate popping up all over the web here|here and here|here and here|here. 

Needless to say, it's been on my mind. Decisions decisions. In the meantime I'm happier with this new design moving forward. I feel there's going to be a lot of change on the horizon, so as always, I imagine when my world starts to evolve so will how I blog, what I blog, and where I blog. -- ♥ARZ♥

ode to snippets

Last year, on the last day of every month, I posted some snippets of my life during that particular month. What I tried to include were those images that 'get lost in shuffle' -- the ones that I would probably never include in a full blog post or instagram, but are attached to a fun memory or a highlight of the month nonetheless.

The idea to do this monthly round up came from blogger Manda Townsend when I stumbled across her ode to snippets post about a year ago, and I commented that I would join her last year in 'snippetting'.

So here is my ode to snippets. Here is my round up of all the round ups from last year -- and what a year it was! I plan to continue to post snippets of my month on the last day of every month, and challenge you to do the same. Seeing them collaged at the end as a snippeted summary of all these special moments of your year is definitely a worth while goal.  -- ♥ARZ♥

(see 2014 snippets of Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | June | July | Aug | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec) 

little joys

• waiting in line for a roller-coaster ride at dusk
• having conversations about what weapon you'd use if a zombie apocalypse really happened
• waking up on a Monday feeling rejuvenated and ready for the week
• waking up to find one of your cats left a dingle-berry in the cardboard box next to the bed
• working from home ♥
• anticipating an upcoming trip home
• home, itself
• powder pink christmas trees
• gold foil stickers
• planning my holiday cards and making a list of who'll receive them
• Christmas in New York
• straight hair
• wearing a new sweater
• pecan pie
• new navy nail-polish color, and decently done DIY manicures
• anticipating the arrival of my niece next month
• this song from Christina Perri's christmas album
• cozy pajamas
• a perfectly toasted English Muffin (w/ peanut butter + banana lately)
• noise-cancelling headphones
• spontaneous inspiration

Sometimes what I plan to post about doesn't pan out on time, and I'm left with a blank spot in my editorial calendar and my mind.  When that happens, I peruse my favorite blogs for a few minutes and BAM! Something...something...always spontaniously inspires me - enough to get me amped to publish.

This morning it was this post on Goodnight Little Spoon. After a weekend of equal parts jam-packed fun and rejuventating rest, lots of little joys popped in my head to jot down.  Also, with it being Thanksgiving week and all, a few jots of little joys to be grateful for wasn't so far fetched a topic.

What little joys are on your list?

projects using my IT FACTOR line for We R Memory Keepers

 a Project Life spread found here using It Factor Journaling Cards

a card found here using It Factor paper & Alpha Block Stickers 

a mini book found here using It Factor paper & Wood Stickers 

scrapbook page found here about my friend Danielle's 29th birthday
using It Factor paper, Wood Stickers, & Journaling Cards 

scrapbook page found here

scrapbook page found here

two birthday cards found here 

50th Birthday card found here 

paper bow gift tags from here 

'New Specs' scrapbook page from here 

Project Life page with my pineapple wood sticker from here 

Project Life page with my speech bubbles journaling card from here 

DIY Pocketed Organizer from here

I felt a definite rush when the designs I worked on for weeks were delivered to me in the mail.  It completely blew my mind as I pulled each piece from the delivery box and realized that all of my designs were not just computer files, but actual real-life scrapbook products. Even more thrilling was getting to create pocket pages and scrapbook layouts and mini books and cards with my designed products of my very own, with my mark and my weirdo aesthetic.

All this was great, without doubt, but words cannot express the dancing-in-the-living-room excitement that comes from seeing how other people are expressing themselves with your designs. That is pretty darn amazing.

So thank you, those who are responding positively to my first designed paper line: It Factor. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for the release of my second line: Love Notes. I'm proud of myself for how they both came out, but feel I have so much more to contribute to the scrapbooking community, and It Factor is just the tip of the iceberg. :)

To read about my inspiration behind It Factor and Love Notes, go here. ♥ Have a a great day!

handling my ( blog ) business

...and the wheels just keep on turning...

Since recapping what I took away from the Alt for Everyone Blog Summit last week, I have spent the last few days planning, writing lists, domain mapping, creating an editorial calendar, coming up with new ideas ...and the wheels just keep on turning... I feel this being a productive and happy season in terms of my virtual headquarters, and I look forward to sharing it with you guys soon.

Here are some things keeping me motivated, focused, and inspired - and therefore productive:

            - going back and re-reading my take-aways from Alt Summit

            - seeing fellow lifestyle blogger Ann-Marie Espinoza in Artful Blogging magazine

            - watching Bri Emery's creative morning talk

            - reading the first part of Elise Joy's buisness story

            - Joy Cho's keynote speech at Alt Summer 2014

           - the fabulousness that is The Alison Show's website

           - managing this blog, and this group of ladies, and being called 'ever artistic' :) 

           - stumbling upon and reading Elise Joy's take-aways from Alt Summit (just now)

           - ABM girls on working from home

           - this blog post featuring Leah Reena Goren for some unknown reason

           - reading how Jen Gotch reset her life

All of the above is why I got so bent out of shape when I spilled a half a can of soda on my laptop - the portal to my virtual headquarters - the other day.  But you know what they say: OBSTACLES ARE PLACED IN OUR WAY TO SEE IF WHAT WE WANT IS REALLY WORTH FIGHTING FOR. My clumsiness and naivety are often my own obstacles, but I combat it by learning from them and moving forward.

I am handling my ( blog ) business, spills or no spills. Here we go, yo.

my take-aways from Alt Summit

I was not actually in Salt Lake City for Alt Summit these past few days. I was at my desk. With headphones on. Listening to conferences and talks online. Technology rocks. ♥

This was able to happen by signing up for Alt For Everyone. The informative classes, a world-class keynote, a social meet-up — and even a goodie bag was delivered straight to my door. Pretty cool. 

Equally as cool is the shift in my attitude toward this blog that resulted from it. To explain in more detail, I highlighted below some of the things that were said in the conferences that resonated with me most. The first thing said that hit me like a ton of bricks was:

I'm a blogger. This December I'll have been blogging for five years. My new job blogging for me & my BIG ideas is my paying, day-to-day, like, actual job. I'm a blogger, and I love it. What I never realized before Monique Malcolm of AntiSparkle said it was "If you're a blogger, you're in business." I'm in business?  What does that even mean to be in business?  Hmmm...I guess if you're in business with something it means you take it seriously, work hard on it, care about what message it sends, have goals for it...gasp!!...HOLY CRAP! I'M IN BUSINESS! That's how my shift in attitude happened.

This is such a true statement said by Chris Gardner of Man Made! If I'm in a business, which I am because I'm a blogger and "If you're a blogger, you're in business" than I have to work on being a trustworthy business/brand. My main goal as a blogger is to create good (good = high quality, authentic, heart felt, useful) content, and create it consistently. Then, once I've nailed down my working formula for this, I need to remember to:

Now that I've estabilished this high quality, authentic, heart felt, useful content on a consistent basis, WHY ON EARTH WOULD I DEVIATE FROM IT?! This gem of an idea came from TheAlisonShow, and I'm going to run with it. I feel that I deviate way too frequently. All in all, though, I want to cut myself some slack and remember that:

Yes, I have this new attitude about this space and that only means better things to come, but in blogging, just as in business, you're experimenting until you find the formula that works. What I've come to realize from listening to speakers like Kelly Beall of DesignCrush at Alt is that they are successful because (1) they put in the time, (2) tried a variety of things, and (3) uncovered their working formula -- in that order! I've been diligently at (1) and (2), and now I feel closer to my working formula than ever. :)

--- ♥ ---

So, thanks, Alt Summit!  Thanks for making it for everyone.

...and thanks to sweet Stephanie Fleming for encouraging me to sign up.

Oprah & Deepak's 21-Day Meditation Experience

At the beginning of August, I saw a post on loveMaegan (one of my favorite blog reads) entitled LET'S MEDITATE! // OPRAH & DEEPAK'S MEDITATION EXPERIENCE. I read the post and thought about my month of May 2013 when I made it a goal to meditate. When I recapped at the end of the month, I noted times when I did meditative-like activities, but felt like I failed at actual meditation overall. 

Then a few days ago, I posted about anxiety, therapy, zen habits, and my initial thoughts on meditation.  The one 20-minute sample meditation exercise I completed with Oprah & Deepak was eye and soul-opening for me and I decided it was the right time and just the kick-in-the-butt I needed to really attempt this.

Enter August 11th, and the start of Oprah & Deepak's 21-Day Meditation Experience.

 

From then until yesterday, every day for the past 21 days, I made sure to sit with one of my apple devices and headphones and listen to that day's 20 minute recording. Every day for the past 21 days, I listened to Oprah and Deepak share their thoughts on happiness, play, peace, kindness, contentment, gratitude, compassion, serenity, and other components of full, happy life.  Every day for the past 21 days, I've set aside time to relax, to be quiet, to focus on a mantra and release my brain from worry a tiny bit.

Oprah said it all in yesterday's meditation when she said, "This is what YOU did for YOU these past three weeks."  It's all been good. Really good stuff.

However, I would have to say most notably: two of meditation's 'really good stuff' has been the best for me. The first thing is that every day for the past 21 days I felt myself become aware of my core state -- that silent, still, safe place inside that knows I am okay.  Secondly, this meditation experience has given me a greater understanding of mindfulness, or registering mindfully what is going on around you at the very moment in which you are, not dwelling on the past or ruminating about the future. 

For someone like me who often worries incessantly and struggles with bouts of anxiety, these two things have been miracle discoveries. When I'm in that anxious state of mind, I have been able to realize through meditation, that that's not at all my core state of being.  Each and every one of us has a core state of being that is one of smiling calm contentedness that -- and here's the most beautiful part -- can always be accessed! Furthermore, through meditation I've learned how to access it -- through a practice of mindfulness: being in a state of being.

Am I talking trippy dippy hippie lingo? Okay, I'll stop.  But stemming from these past 21 days, I've invested in an another 21-Day Meditation Experience with Oprah and Deepak called Finding Your Flow, and starting today, am going to be doing 21 more days of meditation with those crazy guys. Haa haa! 

In addition, I've started reading the book The Mindful Way through Depression.  It sounds dramatic, but it's actually been everything but. It's a straight-forward read that talks about how the mind gets stuck in negative patterns of thinking and how our instictive way to deal with 'getting stuck' doesn't work when dealing in matters of the mind. It's been very interesting and right on point, and I look forward to finishing it and giving a full report.

In conclusion, some final words:

"The spirtual path unfolds a strange journey because you don't travel any distance.  You begin where you started: with yourself.  But the self you knew at the start isn't the self you know at the end.  Your self at the end is fullfilled.  It has learned life requires no struggle, fear, or resistance.  You only need to be." -- Deepak Chopra, in yesterday's Day 21 meditation

NEON PET PORTRAITS

The run down of this project can be found in this post from A Beautiful Mess, and when I saw it on there a few weeks ago, I knew I had to make a portrait each of my kitty boops.  I followed the directions exactly, and 15 minutes later, I had two neon pet portraits:

Alejandro:

Alejandro, oh, Alejandro. To describe this guy's devotion to me would take and awful lot of words that just wouldn't do it justice. This little boy loves me. He's my sidekick, my shadow, my little groupie, the greatest fan of my life. I usually fall asleep to his cuddles, and wake up to his snuggles. He still loves the sticky cellophane balls I roll up and toss after turning something through my stickermaker machine. He talks to me, tells me things. His favorite 'spots' are on his window with the breeze in his face, or out in the backyard under the bush. He loves shrimp, chicken liver, soft cheeses, and turkey cold cuts. He is my boy, and boy, do I love him so.

Carmen:

Carmen is my baby girl, and the sweetest sweetums if ever there was a sweetie-pie sweet monkey! She is our family's comic relief, often pretending to be 'Rose' from Titanic or watching Meerkat Manor on TV from her cardboard box. Lately, I've been calling her a 'meatball hero' because she's round and heavy like one. This summer has also allowed us to see her as Carmen Sandiego, RESCUE RANGER...and whenever we drop something or shout or get hurt and yell "ouch!!", she darts from where ever she is to check and see if everything is okay. It's pretty hilarious, and one of the thousands of reasons why we love her. Her favorite 'spots' are with her face in her food dish, or in the kitchen near her food dish, waitin for food. She'd be happy just eating dry food, and loves her Temptations treats!

Those are some currents about my babies, and some art I made of them. I hope to find a place for these pop art portraits in the new Texas apartment. I guess I'll see when I get there.

♥ ♥ ♥
Happy Tuesday!

august is for MUG SWAPPING!!

Not only is it Sister's Day 'round these parts once the calendar flips July >> August, but it's also MUG SWAP month!! This year will be my third year participating in A CUPPA KIM's annual mug swap.

I found out about this swap (where you buy a mug for someone after reading a bit about them, and you receive a mug from some other person who reads a bit about you) two years ago. Two years ago I gifted my swappee this mug with DIY tea bag tags (we're still instagram friends) and received this sweet Starbucks mug all the way from Florida! It's still one of my favorite mugs.

Last year, I gifted my swappee what I affectionately called a MUG SWAP-topus. It was all kinds of awesome, in my humble opinion, and I don't know how I'm going to top it this year! Haa! (click to see a round up of all the mugs blogged about for A CUPPA KIM's 2013's Mug Swap)

This year, the theme of Kim's mug swap is "blessing others". That's such a sweet concept because thought, time, and consideration is put into finding that mug (or should be) and how often does thought, time, and consideration get put into anything anymore?!?! ...let alone from a complete stranger. So, to me this swap reminds me that it's a blessing to participate. It's a blessing that something so simple as a new mug bought with someone in mind can brighten that person's day.

Check out the post on it, and I would say "go sign up", but turns out she hit MAX CAPACITY on day one. Sorry guys. Check out the posts on social media with the hashtag is #mugswap14, and the handle @CuppaKim. Hooray!

recommended podcast: Sarah R. Bagley

Oh, Sarah R. Bagley, I first came across your podcast beautifully titled "A Recovering Perfectionist's Guide to a B+ Life" from Kyla Roma's post entitled "Burning Down the House That Perfectionism Built." Both of you ladies, by the way, might as well've had tags on your foreheads that read "To: Amanda / From: the Universe" because that wonderful podcast came to me at just the right time and with just the right message.

I've always considered myself a perfectionist, but never viewed it as a bad thing.  I've always striven to make every project, situation, interaction, friendship, relationship, moment (yeah, exahusting) the best it could be. The satisfaction I got in school, sports, from my parents, from myself, etc. after over-achieving became the natural high I needed to know that I was living a 'right' life and doing the 'right' things.

Consequentially, the natural high soon became a crippling low because as an adult, no teachers or coaches are instructing you how to excel anymore, and giving you (as Sarah calls it) "gold stars" of recognition.  As an adult, you are alone. No compass. As an adult, the more you strive to make every project, situation, interaction, friendship, relationship, moment, etc. the best it could be, the more life gets in the way, and the harder you have to try.  It's no longer go home and be the best for that 5 page literature essay. No.  Now it's: be the best for your boss, be the best for your spouse, be the best for your kids, be the best for your kids' school, be the best for your body, be the best for your pet, be the best for your blog, be the best for your friends, be the best for your environment, oh, and by the way, Oprah says 'Go Live Your Best Life'  and read these ten books on her 'Must Read' list.  

WHAT?!?! Yeah. So, while designing from home these past few weeks, and slowly and surely crawling out of an anxiety hole March and April pushed me down, I've tuned into Sarah and her podcasts.  They've helped me tremendously, and I highly recommend you listen. 

Happy Friday, readers and peepers! ♥