Annie Anderson | Blog

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I don’t know about you, but I am picky. Well, with certain things anyway. But as a graphic designer, sometimes that’s a necessary fault. (Being too picky, though, can be more than just annoying to everyone else around you.)

I mean, do you ever *know* exactly what you want and then, you can’t find it? That seems to happen to me on a regular basis with design stuff. I’m thinkin’ that makes me a bit picky. Hopefully not too picky. Just picky enough to be decisive.

With the rising price of gas, groceries and other necessary items, I think we’re at a time in history where it definitely pays to be picky. Whether you’re fortunate enough to be in a spot where money isn’t a huge concern or you’re in a spot where penny pinching means the difference between eating or not eating, being a good steward of your money is important. This means more and more that one must be picky about products and services bought each month.

Because of health (allergies and kids w/ADD) issues, we’ve always been fairly careful with what we purchase but I’ve noticed in the past few months that the those dollars just don’t stretch as far as they used to. I’ve also noticed some manufacturers changing their products. I don’t know if that’s a result of the changing economy, but for someone who has to be careful of allergens, I find myself reading and re-reading labels constantly. Every time I have to change the products I buy as a result, it often ends up costing more.

Now, I try to buy organic products and other items that are all natural, sugar free and the like. (Those items just always seem to cost more anyway.) But in order to be a good steward of my families money, I’m going to have to try some alternatives. Here are things I’m planning to do:

• Plant a vegetable garden
• Buy from local farmers markets
• Buy environmentally safe products that are concentrated (so they last longer)
• Ensure we eat a balanced diet
• Drink plenty of water
• Use coupons (manufacturer and store issued)
• Shop for the best deals overall
• Walk when feasible instead of drive

Are you becoming more conscientious of the products you buy? If so, what are you doing to stretch your dollars? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

In the arena,

Annie

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Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business - just as if it were her own.

I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.

There. I said it. And it’s true.

Now, don’t get me wrong - I love design and writing and coaching and real estate but I still feel like there’s something else - something I’m missing, maybe. I don’t know.

(Yeah, I know - how could I be missing something with my plate so full, right?? Yep, I wonder, too.)

But even as a child, I knew I wanted to be a writer. It truly is my passion. The way words come together on a page is magical for me. But even so, I still don’t really know what I want to be when I grow up.

(Mind you, I’m in my 30’s. With 4 kids.)

It’s just that often, I don’t even feel grown up. Sure, there’s responsibilities and bills to pay and those little people (who are getting so tall, I nearly don’t recognize them) to take care of. A house to take care of, a car to maintain and all those good things and yet, sometimes I think “What do I want to DO with my life?”

There are so many things -

• Travel the world
• Go on a cruise
• Learn to fly helicopters
• Teach
• Build an orphanage
• Live on farm with animals and a huge garden
• Start a non-profit organization to help others in need
• Travel the US in a motorhome
• Learn another language . . . or two or twenty

And stuff like that.

I read Tim Ferriss’ Four Hour Workweek a while back and found I could relate to a lot of the information there, wanting to get to a point that my business runs itself more or less, leaving me free to do other things with my time. And frankly, by this age, I always thought I’d have it all together and be getting ready to do just that. Not so. It’s a little depressing at times.

All of this to say, it’s time to get there and ratchet this gig up to a new level. What do you think? Have you read the Four Hour Workweek? What are your thoughts and plans to achieve the lifestyle you want? Mine is finally beginning to seriously get somewhere.

Hey, I might even grow up soon.

Or not.

In the arena,

PS - Just found a great post by Cath Lawson called “131 Star Bloggers and Their Best Posts” and I’m honored that Cath would include me in the list. What a special way to say thanks to all of her commenters and readers. And so I’d like to say a very heartfelt Thank You to Cath for making my day, being so generous and for all the great things she shares with us on her blog. Do yourself a favor and check out Cath’s blog.

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business - just as if it were her own.

Last week before the 4th of July, I had fully intended to create and post some special Independence Day backgrounds. Obviously, that didn’t happen. See, my husband was home all week on vacation and instead of working on things like I probably should have been, I ended up helping him build gates for our driveway.

Oh well.

The gates look great, anyway. They’re not entirely finished but they still look good. Hopefully he’ll be able to finish them in the few weekends. At least until then, we don’t have the neighbors visitors using our driveway as a turn around (which was becoming a huge problem, hence the gates). I’ll take a couple pictures of them when they’re finished.

If you’re an American, whether you’re in the US or living or vacationing elsewhere in the world, I hope you enjoyed your celebrations and weekend. We sat outside at my moms house, which overlooks the Puget Sound and Whidbey Island and watched fireworks all around us. It was very loud but my 3 year old managed to fall asleep on his papa’s lap. All in all, it was a good weekend.

In the arena,

Annie

By the way - if this is your first time here, or you haven’t done so yet, please consider subscribing to my RSS feed. You can use any feed reader you wish.

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business - just as if it were her own.

I have a question I’d like to ask you today. And it’s sort of a serious question but before I ask you, let me share a little story.

The last time I wrote here a few weeks ago, I told you about my oldest daughters life threatening experience and how it pushed me into examining a few things in my own life pathway. And as the weeks have passed since then, I’ve sort of let a lot of things just coast - projects I wasn’t into whole-heartedly, books I couldn’t get into fully, tasks that seemed less important. Now, I wouldn’t say I deeply examined each of these areas but I did just sit quietly without distractions at times and just listened to my inner voice.

You know, a lot of people get so caught up in their daily lives - work, commuting, family, Little League, and all those things, that the true meaning of their lives is lost in the fray. Before you know it, life has passed you by and you’re left wondering where it all went.

When I was 18, my niece, with whom I was very close, passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer. She was 8 years old. I remember thinking that all the things I wanted to do life paled in comparison to the importance of family and relationships. I remember thinking that the inner voice was my best guide through life and I should listen to it at all times.

Unfortunately, as they say “life gets in the way” and I haven’t always listened to that inner voice. Periodically throughout the years, I’ve stopped to do so and always instantly felt calmer, happier, healthier and more wealthy. But something always distracted me from that. Or, I should say, I allowed myself to be distracted from that.

So, what’s this all about, Annie? I can hear you asking.

Well, it’s simple. The question I want to ask you today is Do you take the time to listen to your inner voice? Do you take the time to know exactly what you want out of life? And to go after it?

Or are you sitting on the sidelines wondering why things don’t go your way? Wondering why you have not yet reached any of those goals and ambitions you held as a young adult?

Let me tell you - it’s not too late to choose the life you want, beginning now. Remember that NOW is all we have. Yesterday is gone forever and tomorrow has not yet arrived.

Today, right now, I am making a pact with you - I will live each day in fulfillment of my desires, going in the direction of my life purpose and mission.

If you’ve looked at my “About” page, you may have seen my mission stated there. It says,

“To use my compassion, writing and intuitive gifts to inspire others to reach their full potential and discover their Personal Power.”

And that’s it. Yours is likely different. It could be to be the best mom or dad you possibly can be. It might be to the best wife or husband possible. Perhaps it’s to help others in some way. Whatever it is, I encourage you to start living your life from it.

Why? Because when you live from your inner-most purpose, everything else falls into place. I’ve seen this in my own life. And I can pinpoint each time I’ve fallen away from that. Things start getting harder, more complicated, less fun. I can always tell when I need to readjust.

I suspect the problem for most people is one of a couple different things -

1. You think things are too far out of whack to get back on the right track.
2. You have no idea where to start or how to get things back on the right track.
3. You have no idea where you’re going in the first place.

Well, I know from personal experience that it’s never too late to get things back on the right track. And that while it may seem like a daunting task to get things going where you want them to go, it’s truly liberating once you’ve begun. All it takes is getting started. Just one step. Then another. And another. And pretty soon, you’re there! And you feel good!

Start today.

We’ll speak again soon,

Annie

It’s been a while since I posted on this site. Lots of things happening. Some good, some not so good. But all of them have given me a broader perspective and that is a wonderful thing.

You know, I’m generally a pretty private person and even though I have given glimpses of insight into my life, I don’t really discuss myself or my family much publicly. But today, I do want to share something immensely personal that has been a major factor in my changing perspective of late.

And that is something that happened just a couple of days ago on Wednesday.

My 14 year old daughter had a tooth that suddenly became infected a few months ago and as a result, we were referred by our dental clinic to a specialist at the University of Washington Hospital. They have a huge waiting list but thankfully, they managed to get her in last week to begin treatment - a root canal - which they do in 3-4 visits to help lessen the trauma. Her appointment last week went well although she was quite sore for a few days following the treatment.

This week, however, she had a severe reaction shortly afterwards and luckily we were still at the UW Hospital when it occurred. Her blood pressure dropped to a dangerous level and she began convulsing.

The staff at the UW is wonderful. They went quickly and yet discreetly into action and managed to stabilize her very fast but it was all so overwhelming for her that she had a mild anxiety attack, which I’m sure contributed a lot to whole thing and probably actually began before the blood pressure issue.

Much to my relief, the doctors are certain it was a result of how much pain she was in at the time and not a medical condition or anything to worry about. Since she’s not the kind to complain a lot even when in considerable pain, it’s often hard to tell exactly how much she does hurt and it seems they underestimated her pain level. Once they administered some ibuprofen after they got her blood pressure back up, she was fine and we were able to walk out of the hospital and head home.

She’s fine now, albeit still a little embarrassed by what happened and still a little sore from the second phase of the procedure on Wednesday. She’s been resting the past few days and is trying to keep up on the ibuprofen and hopefully by her next appointment next week, she’ll be ready.

Now, thankfully I’m not one to get hysterical in these situations although I will tell you I was scared out of my mind. And even though it was MY daughter, I did keep a level head and managed to stay calm.

Until yesterday. When the magnitude of the whole thing suddenly became clear to me.

And that’s what’s caused a few aha moments for me, maybe brought me back to things that are most important in my life.

So, although I will continue writing (and with any luck, I’ll have some great assignments coming up) and all those things I normally do, I doubt I will be posting on the blog every day as I had been. At least for a couple months here while I sort out some stuff in order to head in the direction I really want to go with my writing and music endeavors.

I do plan to post as often as possible and who knows, maybe it will be every day. But right now, I’m just intent on taking things day by day and see where they lead me.

I hope you enjoy your Memorial Day weekend if you’re in the US and I’ll see you again soon!

Until next time,

What inspires you? Makes you want to write? And when you get that inspired writing urge, how do you satisfy it?

As much as I love computers and all the cool tools available, sometimes what inspires me to write most and what satisfies that familiar burn, is a good ol’ paper and pen!

Give me a notebook, a good writing pen, mug of hot coffee and shove me in a quiet room with a radio and I’m good. I could sit there for hours on end just writing and thinking. Making lists. Creating little jingles and rhymes. Coming up with titles and slogans and stuff. And whole books, even.

But I don’t get that time or freedom nearly often enough. Mostly, I seem to be all but chained to my desk and my laptop. Now, don’t get me wrong - I enjoy working on my Mac. It’s just that sometimes I long for those days when I could sit cross-legged on the bed, lost in a world that only existed on the page.

Actually, I think part of what I miss is the uninterrupted time! LOL. It seems that nowadays, even if I had the gumption to go sit on the bed with my pad and pen, someone would invariably interrupt me. Whether that be a kid or a cat or my husband. I would not be alone. Nor in solitude.

Nope. Not going to happen in this house anytime soon!

So, tell me . . . What inspires you to write? And how do you make it happen? If the world were a perfect place, what would be your special “writing zen?”

I think mine would be in a nice little cabin tucked close in, yet far away, somewhere along an ocean with a cozy nook and gorgeous view. I would sit there in a big, comfy chair with my notebooks and my pens and pencils and a radio playing all my favorites. No phones. No televisions. Maybe my trusty laptop, though. Just me and my writing.

Yeah. That would work.