Inspiration for a joyful and creative life

I love pulling out bits and baubles and playing with arrangements that reflect the season.

You don’t need everything to match.  In fact, it can be more fun to go on a treasure hunt in your home to put together an interesting collection.

It was my turn to host my wonderful book club and I wanted to set the table to celebrate the beginning of Spring.  Here in Denver, the new spring growth of leaves is just starting to appear on the trees, the crab apples are blooming and the song of birds is in the air.

I used both a combination of color and theme to begin pulling things from my cupboards to place on the table.  The coral pink quilted runner atop the mint green table cloth helped make the items pop.

Thinking of all the things of spring, I gathered a miniature nest with three blue eggs that I perched in a tall crystal candle holder.  I had a faux moss ball that I placed in the other candle holder.

I used the beautiful basil and lemon thyme herbs in our dinner and placed them in matching mint green pots.  This represented the fresh green of spring.  Using a live plant is a great alternative to fresh flowers.  I threw in a speckled egg in each that reminds me of an Easter egg hunt.

I used three spiky plastic green moss things ( I don’know what to call them) and put them on top of a short crystal candle stick..  A pretty metal brown bird sits atop an upside down crystal glass.

A small box with soft blue green background and a white rooster was placed in the middle.  A bottle with a bird wearing a crown that says bless our home was placed at the far end.

I originally planned to use lots of votive candles to light the table but I didn’t want things to get too busy.  I had so many odds and ends.  I only used one green votive in a wire bird candle holder.

After the party was over and the plates cleared, I kept most of the arrangement in place so we can enjoy it as we pass by for a little bit of spring in the air.

I encourage you to play with your stuff!

I am so excited about my new embellished light fixture that will allow me to transform and change it for every season or occasion.

I was originally inspired by a very cool light fixture I saw in a design house last year made entirely of Bic ballpoint pens and paper clips.  It was really wonderful and it wasn’t until I looked at it very closely that I even realized it was made of pens.  That made me like it even better!

Then later the same week, I saw a wonderful chandelier made with metal rings in 3 graduated sizes with sterling silver spoons dangling from each level.

So I set out to either make or find a simple light fixture that I could make into something special.

My friend and I took a trip to Lamps Plus and when I saw this fixture, it was completely covered with crystals and much too formal for our casual lifestyle.

As I took a closer look, I saw that it had a simple metal frame and that each crystal was hung with what looked like a earring wire.

Basic frame for Winter Wonderland Chandelier

Since I make jewelry , I thought it was a perfect match!

I began to see the possibilities immediately.  It is even better than my original idea because I can hang things with hooks like ear wires rather than attaching them permanently.

The Winter Wonderland version has several gleaming crystals (I used about half of what came with the original fixture), 4 glittered snowflakes that catch the light, 4 white wooden laser cut snowflakes in various shapes, and a pearl white ornament hanging from the center as a final touch.

The snowflakes came from Crate and Barrel along with silver ornament hooks that have a clear white bead.   I bought the ornament hooks in gold and silver and I will be able to use them year round with whatever I hang.

closeup of winter wonderland chandelier

I’ve already starting collecting little bits and pieces that I plan to suspend from this wire cage to create a whimsical, ever changing chandelier.

So, stay tuned.  I plan to share it’s transformations with you!

The other day I enjoyed watching a show on Colorado Public Television called Being Strategic with Erika Andersen.

The show and her book with the same title is about approaching life and business with strategic thought and action.

She is currently on a book tour and graciously agreed to give us a couple of tips.

Sally: In order to begin creating a strategy, you need to have an idea of what direction to start. What do you think is one of the best ways for someone to clarify what they want?

Erika: This is exactly why I encourage folks to begin the process of being strategic by “defining the challenge.”

In my mind, the first step in clarifying what you want is to get clear about what’s not working. For instance, let’s say a small company has a new product that isn’t selling well.

All too often in that situation, people just start proposing solutions: “let’s do a new marketing campaign,” “let’s pump up the sales force,” “let’s make it green instead of blue.”

Instead, we encourage people to ask the simple question, “What’s not working?” The superficial answer might be, “The product’s not selling.”

But if you dig under that a little, ask “what part of the sales process isn’t working?” you might discover that, for instance, that the product’s benefit to the customer isn’t immediately obvious. Ah-ha!

So then you frame that up as a “How can we….?” question: maybe something like “How can we make it drop dead easy for the customer to know how useful the product is?”

Then they know what direction to start: once they know what their challenge is, they can then get as clear as possible on their current state relative to that challenge – where they’re starting from.

Once they’ve done that, they can envision “what they want,” in your words. That is, the future in which their challenge has been addressed: where the customers know exactly what the product is capable of doing, and they’re excited about it!

Sally: I think a lot of people are afraid to “dream big” because it may seem too far out of reach, but then maybe they aren’t thinking big enough. How would you suggest they hold a big enough vision to excite them?

There’s a phrase we use: “reasonable aspiration.” I love it because it so simply describes the “sweet spot” for visioning. One the one hand, you want your vision to be inspirational. That is, you want it to feel like a stretch: it’s not your current reality, and you’re really going to have to focus, work your plan, and be attentive to serendipity in order to achieve it.

But on the other hand, it needs to be reasonable. That is, you have to be able to look at your vision objectively and say there are not any un-overcome-able obstacles to achieving it.

My favorite example of UNreasonable aspiration are the contestants on American Idol who simply cannot sing – they can’t sing, and clearly don’t have the ability to learn to sing – and their vision is to be the next American singing sensation!

So, if you hold a vision that’s a ‘reasonable aspiration’ for you – it will probably feel big enough to be exciting.

Sally: I would add that if it really seems out of reach, to look at what you like about that idea and there still may be aspects of that vision that are a ‘reasonable aspiration’.

Erika, thanks for taking the time to give us these tips on Being Strategic!

Check out her website and get her book for more information.

Erika Andersen is the founding partner of Proteus International, a consulting and training firm that helps client organizations clarify and move toward their hoped-for-future. She serves as coach and advisor to the senior executives of such companies as GE, Time Warner Cable, TJX, NBC Universal, Union Square Hospitality Group, and Cablevision Corporation. Andersen is the author of Growing Great Employees: Turning Ordinary People into Extraordinary Performers (Portfolio, 2006) and Being Strategic: Plan for Success; Outthink Your Competitors; Stay Ahead of Change (St. Martin’s Press, May 2009), and the author and host of Being Strategic with Erika Andersen on Public Television.

You can find out more at www.erikaandersen.com

P.S. If you need help with figuring out a better way or what to do next, email me for an idea session. I’d love to help you!