April 3, 2017

INTENTIONS FOR THE WEEK:

This is an experiment.

If I share my list of intentions for the week on my site, will I be more motivated to accomplish them?

I think I will!

Let’s help hold each other accountable for what we intend on accomplishing this week.

I’ve been really dragging my feet on sending out packages, so MARK MY WORDS.

THREE PACKAGES WILL GO OUT THIS WEEK.

INTENTIONS FOR THE WEEK:

invoice food network
return gap order
return library books
send out letters
paint toenails (can’t deal with chipped polish anymore)
put away winter clothes + say hello to spring capsule
make a list of things I take to baseball practice/games
delete 1000 images off my iPhone
work on book project
start mapping out lady portrait wall (make mock up?)
backup photos/delete some/ make space on hard-drive
figure out if I have one eyebrow or two- act accordingly
send out packages to: camden + emma + erin
drink more water. SERIOUSLY DON’T FORGET.
clean out the back of my car
figure out Etsy shop stuff, fall down a CONTACT US rabbit hole.
finish S-town
make a video for Instagram- figure out music
make ziti/edit photos/write a blog post about it
figure out more recipes to add into meal rotation
get caught up on social media stuff
go to yoga at least twice
take a hike
finish laundry
work nights doing tax stuff/get caught up on bookkeeping
rest/regroup/recharge

What do you have to do this week?

TYPE IT OUT in the comments so we can help each other be accountable for this week!

my everyday life, Photography

April 2, 2017

My Everyday Life: Week 13

Here’s what this past week looked like- My Everyday Life Week 13 was a good one!

The Over Easy Book Tour stopped in San Francisco this week. Maj-time!

Thank you for the beautiful photo, Jon!

Pretty eggs….that must have been a pain in the neck to cut.

Blood oranges are so pretty.

Checking out the SF Farmers Market for Joy’s demo.

Cobbler prep.

Joy in action!

We got to taste her strawberry rhubarb breakfast cobbler. It was soo good!

A mother at the baseball game brought an umbrella today.

Note to self: bring an umbrella next week.

SELF PORTRAITS:

Tracy, Age 37 / Tracy, Age 5

March 31, 2017

I LOVE LISTS

Happy Friday!! Let’s celebrate with a list because I LOVE LISTS:

#3 made me snort.
Looking at old photos on Etsy. This one caught my eye.
New podcast I’ve been hooked on: S-Town. Have you listened to it?
Whoa. SCIENCE!!!!!!!
This makes me want to be more organized.
Fun with paper!
If you wanna feel old.
I want to hang this up in my house.
Home decor styling tips from a stylist!
Don’t get kicked off a plane.
Spring look: This dress with these shoes and these earrings.
Hand salad. That’s a thing!
OMG I WANT THIS.
April Fool’s is this weekend. What are you gonna do?
Adult friendships are hard.
Most unique items left in ubers.
All the new emojis being released.
Embroidery amazingness.
I really really need to go to Yosemite.
Breaking composition rules to make your photos better.
You can eat a succulent.
Anthony Bourdain trivia facts.
Apparently, I’m kind….according to how I blow money at Target.
How about adding these pretzel rolls into your weekend plans?

Inspiration

March 29, 2017

Currently: March 2017

Currently March 2017

A few more days before this month comes to a close. This month seemed to fly right by. It was filled with outings and celebrations. We celebrated Casey’s birthday and my brother’s birthday. They both turned 40. We also celebrated our 11th anniversary/18 years of being together! Needless to say, this month was pretty indulgent with all of the celebrations. Can’t wait to start adding more spring vegetables and fruit into the routine. Hopefully, I’ll be able to add more trips to the farmer’s market in my future. Cooper has also started baseball season so our weekends are pretty booked these days. I’ve been sneaking in some time to garden on the weekends. My succulent arrangements on the deck are looking pretty good! I am starting to research ideas for our front yard.

Inspired by:

Volunteering at school during art class. I’ve been going in once a week or so to help out. I absolutely love working with kids on art. Their talent blows me away! We’ve been learning about primary and secondary colors and we’ve been applying the technique to a bowl of fruit. I watched so many kids paint today that I was jonesing to make a bowl of fruit myself. This was a fun way to start the evening.

Watching:

Casey has been deep in a rabbit hole of carpentry videos on Youtube this month and I’ve been catching myself watching some. Our favorites include Samurai Carpenter, Steve Ramsey, and April Wilkerson. Casey put in some shelves in our liquor closet and is scheming on some outdoor furniture for our deck.

I’ve also been watching The Feud. Thanks for the recommendation, Jerry! It’s a show about the feud between Bette Davis & Joan Crawford and I love it. The set design/costume design is pretty epic. Can’t wait to see how their feud unfolds. I’m an episode behind.

I’m sad that This is Us ended. I can’t wait to see what happens next season. I’m not going to spoil anything for anybody, worry not.

Watching Girls. I think this season (the last season!) is actually pretty well written compared to the past few. I thought the episode where she meets the writer guy was fantastic. Did you see it? What a mental game!

And yes…Housewives. Watching the Beverly Hills season while I do laundry on Monday nights. It’s so mindless, I’m absolutely sucked into seeing what Erika Jayne wears/how her glam squad puts her together. Did any of you catch that spiral notebook of her looks? I wanted to see more.

Also watching Billions…having a hard time not falling asleep during it. I think it’s mostly because we’re up late watching it. Gotta be better at going to bed earlier in April.

Reading:

I haven’t had much time to focus on leisure reading this month, but I’ve been turning to two books right now on my nightstand before I go to bed. Do the Work which is motivating me right now (I’m definitely getting in my own way right now). While I was at the library, I picked up Pure Drivel by Steven Martin (one of my favorite writers!). His writing is so playful; I love it.

Thinking About:

I’ve been playing around with the idea of having a subscription service/pen pal experience. Who wants mail???

If you want to send me mail

Tracy Shutterbean
P.O. Box 604
San Anselmo, CA 94979

Listening to:

Angel Olsen (seriously go listen to her and watch all of her videos). I might have to put someone else in the rotation or else I’m gonna get sick of her because I’ve been listening to her non-stop.

Finished the Missing Richard Simmon’s podcast. I really loved Richard Simmons when I was young (I used to sweat to the oldies and I had deal- a-meal!), so I’m so curious to know more about his life. He’s been out of the spotlight for years now and his fans want to know what’s up. He had such a long career (40 years!) of non-stop working. I hope he’s doing OK and I wonder if he’s permanently retired? The weird thing is that he just vanished with no word why.

Dream Life:

Remembering dreams again this month. I’m on the road in them, looking at abandoned buildings. There are a lot of trees and architecture in my dreams lately. Had a really good one about a cabin with this cool fireplace and just as I was asking about it, Cooper came in and woke me up.

Eating/Drinking:

Bought some crumpets from Trader Joe’s this week. Gonna put those back into the rotation. I love how the butter gets into all the nooks and crannies.

I really need to eat salads. More and more of them! I have to remember how good I feel when I eat healthier. Time for a good reset button salad. Pretty excited for grill season soon. That means I can start grilling asparagus and other vegetables.

How was your March?? What’s up with you?

Let me know by leaving your stream of consciousness in the comments.

recipes

March 27, 2017

Creamy Artichoke Pizza

It’s Monday. You’re starving. You head into Trader Joe’s (which is probably a NIGHTMARE because MONDAY) and you think about getting a frozen pizza but you want something different. You know you already have a jar of marinated artichokes at home. Pick up pizza dough, alfredo sauce, cheese and some fresh basil and you’re minutes away from Creamy Artichoke Pizza.

When you get home, let the dough sit on the counter. I remember when Casey and I were first living together, I bought pizza dough from Trader Joe’s and it turned out to be an EPIC FAIL. I couldn’t get the dough to move. It kept springing back into the center and so we had the doughiest/smallest pizza in history. The problem was that I didn’t let the dough sit out long enough. Sometimes you have to let it go away, check on it and then come back later.

Impatience in the kitchen doesn’t get you far.

Not too shabby for coming up with a pizza on the fly with things I already had in my kitchen!

Make this tonight and you’re totally winning Monday. It definitely beats sitting on the couch eating cereal for dinner…well…not if we’re talking about Golden Grahams.