At a recent party, I was talking with a friend when a guy stepped up to chat with her. An intense conversation about software followed. I interrupted to ask him, “What do you do?”

He glanced at me and said, with no small hint of pride, “I’m a Productivity Evangelist.”

I’ll admit it. I almost laughed. I had to bite my lip so as not to spit out my wine.

In spite of the New Media use of the word “Evangelist” to describe anyone who promotes anything, it’s still a word I associate with, well, evangelists. I could see him clad in white robe and sandals marching along city sidewalks carrying a sign painted with the words, “Get More Done.”

So, here’s something I want you to know about me:

I’m not a Productivity Evangelist.

In fact, I’d like you to think about your To-Do List in a whole new light. Not just as a chronicle of crap to get done.

Think of your To-Do List, instead, as a training ground.

Since many of us have become codependents of drug addicted To-Do lists, then this idea may sound a little unproductive. But hear me out.

Your To-Do List can serve two purposes. The first purpose is to guide your actions. The second purpose also happens to be step #2 in the 12-Steps to a Recovered To-Do List. (Step 1 was in the last post.)

To-Do List Recovery Step #2: Make your list a training ground for success

Many of us literally spend our days failing as we try to keep up with an external idea of “productivity.” Even when we do complete every item on our list, we rarely feel satisfied. There’s always more to do.

When your To-Do List becomes a place where you train yourself how to win, you build momentum, rather than always trying to keep up. You train yourself to succeed by asking yourself what’s important to you. You train yourself to succeed by asking less of yourself and actually getting items done. You train your brain to get used to the feeling of accomplishment, rather than the habitual feeling of never enough. Amazingly, you’ll discover that you’re actually energized. You’ll even generate a feeling of self-trust, perhaps for the first time.

To-Do List Recovery Step #3: Let your intentions guide your To-Do List

An intention is not the same thing as a To-Do. An intention guides your To-Do’s. Intention is the big picture. (Like, the word you chose for this year.)

When you create a To-Do list, the first thing to remember is your intention. This will help you recognize the items that contribute to that intention, and those that don’t.

To-Do List Recovery Step #4: Start a Sunday evening ritual

Now, this is not a “Light candles and chant the Moolah-Mantra” ritual. This is just 10 minutes to ask yourself one question:

What are my three top priorities this week?

Limit it to three. More than three just creates Attention Splatter.

To-Do List Recovery Step #5: Make a Brain-Drain List

Some of us have Chronologic Depth Perception Illness, or CDPI. (Yes, I made this up.) CDPI means that you think of something to do, and even if it doesn’t need to be dealt with until, say, Christmas of 2010, it remains at the forefront of your brain, along with all of your other To-Do’s. There it is, needing to be done. Now. So, you put it on your To-Do list because you don’t trust that you’ll get it done unless it occupies your mind.

Enter the Brain-Drain List. A Brain-Drain List is where you simply write down every To-Do that comes to mind. From the big stuff (Write an eBook) to the little stuff (get my oil changed). A brain drain list is a place where you can put every last To-Do so you can empty your brain. You will then be able to think more clearly about your priorities.

This brings me to the Three P’s of To-Do List Creation:

To-Do List Recovery Step #6: Prioritize

This is so simple that it’s easy to forget. What is your first priority? What is most important on your list? (Important isn’t always “urgent.”) Ask yourself how important each item is to you. Let go of the ones that don’t matter (i.e., most of them).

To-Do List Recovery Step #7: Parameterize

Parameters put borders around any item that’s vague. (i.e., a writing project, an organizing project, any creative endeavor.) Assign start times and end times. Or set a goal of how much (i.e., 3 pages, 2 drawers, one verse). This way you’ll know when you’re done for the day. Otherwise, you’ll convince yourself that you haven’t done anything.

To-Do List Recovery Step #8: Pay-off

The best question to ask yourself about each To-Do Item is this: If this were the only thing I accomplished today, would I be happy with that? What is the pay-off if I do this?

To-Do List Recovery Step #9: Busyness is laziness

The Benzedrine To-Do List looks quite impressive to its creator. It lends itself to an inflated sense of self-importance. “Look at all I have to do!” This is actually lazy thinking. It covers up the fact that you don’t have the presence to sit still and define the most important (not necessarily the most urgent) things that you want to do.

To-Do List Recovery Step #10: Task it Down

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid To-Do List is a fine list of dreams to have. But the part of you that is not hallucinating needs to know how to start. It needs to break those big jobs into small do-able tasks. This is another great way for your To-Do List to become a training ground. You learn how to take a dream and make it into reality. So, if you want to sell your home, the first thing on the To-Do List would be: “Call three Realtors.” Or, “Clean out the crap in the basement for one hour.”

To-Do List Recovery Step #11: Honor your style

Some people can focus on a task and get it done in 3 hours of straight work. Some need more time to putter before they can start a project. Some people need deadlines to propel them into getting something done. Everyone is different. Honoring your style is important. Not everyone can be a Productivity Evangelist. I, for one, am a big proponent of moodling and taking long quiet walks before any act of focused creativity. Everyone has different styles.

To-Do List Recovery Step #12: Know what matters to you

This post was supposed to be up yesterday.

Know why it wasn’t?

Because instead of writing, I spent the day watching the nest by my front door to see if the baby wrens were going to fly away.

I blew off my To-Do list to watch them. I felt a little guilty and overwhelmed at the end of the day. But in the moment, I was completely present and absorbed. (They flew. It was profound.) This kind of thing matters to me more than New Media and yes, more than Productivity Evangelists.

Knowing what matters to you will guide you on those days when Life Happens. Maybe baby birds are taking flight. Maybe your daughter has a cold. Maybe your best friend is having a hard time and you take her to dinner. And maybe your inner Productivity Evangelist is holding up signs that say, “You’re disappointing us all!”

That’s okay. He’s probably on drugs too.

We hold onto things for two reasons: Love or fear. We either love them. Or we fear letting them go.

We cherish them and know they have value to us. Or we fear that we’ll need them someday. We fear that we wasted our money on them. We fear what others will think if we let them go. We even fear making the decision to release our mishaps or mistakes, so we don’t make any decision. Instead we hold onto stuff out of guilt.

Well, guess what?

Love is the only reason to do anything. If you don’t love it, toss it. Give it away. Your abundance and energy will increase when you begin to live by love and not by fear.

Here are 56 things you can toss out (or give away) right now…

Thanks to Julie, Sandra, Lisa, Eva and Sue from last week’s retreat for contributing to this list.

1. All the hotel key cards you’ve brought home with you.

2. The doilies your Aunt Edna crocheted 35 years ago that got handed down to you.

You can fondly remember your Aunt Edna without having her doilies around.
In fact, you’ll probably have more fondness once you let go of the doilies!

3. CD’s you haven’t listened to in three years or more.

4. The boxes of cassettes you’ve been meaning to transfer to CD’s.

5. The bread maker.

Seriously. When was the last time you made bread?

6. Your wedding dress

You can say you’ve been saving it for your daughter, but here are three signs that your daughter doesn’t want to wear it: a] she’s already married and wore her own dress, b] she’s been roommates with a woman named Pat for nine years, or c] you don’t have a daughter.

7. Credit card bills from 1995.

8. The Allen wrenches from every piece of IKEA furniture you ever assembled.

9. The jacket you spent way too much money on and never wore.

C’mon. Keeping it around just to punish yourself for your bad choices is like going to parochial school all over again.

10. Every scratching post or toy your cat doesn’t like.

Your cat didn’t go to parochial school so there’s no sense punishing him.

11. House plants you no longer love.

12. The stacks of O Magazine you swear you’ll re-read

13. Every little zippy bag that came with a Clinique purchase.

14. Every unopened perfume that came with a Clinique purchase.

15. Leftover scrunchies in case you grow your hair long again.

16. The “Cherries Jubilee” flavored lip balm that makes you nauseous.

17. Every single regretful lipstick color you bought on a whim. (And yes, “Cherries Jubilee” is probably there, too.)

18. Your last four cell phones and all their chargers and blue teeth.

19. Single socks.

Face it. Their partners have moved on.

20. The Spode Christmas plates and mugs you don’t like. (Along with the Christmas bath towels and welcome mat.)

These - all given to you by various in-laws - won’t prove your familial devotion. If you can’t stand Spode, then let it go. If you’re not the Christmas towel type - then call the gifter before she visits for the holidays, and tell the truth. “I want to honor our relationship, and I love you, AND here’s the deal. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to let you know…” You might be surprised at how open relationships become when you teach people how to treat you.

21. The framed posters you had in your college dorm room.

Really. You get to move on to something nicer.

22. Old stereo wires.

Husbands refuse to let go of any of these mysterious wires. Try this: Put them in a bin and label it “Random Cables and Wires.” After two years, bring it out of storage and kindly note that no one has thought about it in two years. Ask if it would be okay to let go of half of them. Repeat process until all mysterious cables and wires are gone.

23. The nails, screws, anchors, and cup hooks rusting in the bottom of your tool chest.

24. Remote controls that don’t remotely control anything you still own.

25. Lamps, toasters, blenders, coffeemakers that no longer work.

26. The notion that you will ever be one of those moms that makes beautiful scrapbooks.

Put your photos in boxes. No one will judge you.

27. Old blankets and linens you keep in case you suddenly have 27 sleepover guests.

28. College text books

29. Any boring decorative item that does little more than fill space.

30. Vases you don’t love or use.

31. Candle holders you don’t love or use.

32. Picture frames you don’t love or use.

33. All your class notes from college.

34. The idea that you have to save every piece of your children’s artwork and school work because it might mean you don’t love them if you don’t.

35. The “good silver” you don’t use that was passed down to you.

36. Old VHS movies

If they’re really that important to you, get them in DVD. If you haven’t watched them in 2 years, you can rent them when you need them next.

37. Unlabeled VHS tapes.

And don’t waste your time watching them just in case.

38. The stationary bike that got even more stationary after you got it

39. The fabric pieces you’ve been collecting in case you ever become a quilter.

Sandra wrote: I have bought many odds and ends of materials to try and
use in different craft projects. Do I sew? Nope! Have I started any
projects with these materials? Nope!

40. Flashlights that dimly light up only after you bang them over and over on your thigh.

41. Old keys that open some door somewhere in the past.

42. Suitcases you don’t use.

43. Old computers.

44. Old stereos.

45. Promotional duffel bags with ugly logos and bad acronyms stitched all over them.

46. Anything that makes you say, “But I got such a good price on it!”

47. Anything that makes you say, “But I paid so much for it!”

48. Half-full cans of paint

(Take these to Lowe’s and leave them in the paint department - they’ll either re-sell them or give them away.)

49. Extra baby items/Old baby items

50. Record albums.

And don’t spend your extra hours in a day trying to figure out if someone will buy them. Really. They won’t.

51. Gifts you never liked.

52. All the cross-stitch, knitting, or sewing projects you never finished.

Just THINK of all the extra creative energy you’ll have once you’ve let those go.

53. Any glassware or dinnerware that is a “memorabilia” item from proms or sororities or sports events.

I have to quote Julie on this: “I have, on a shelf but will now throw out, some of my sorority formal glassware I had kept to remember that occasion. Upon looking back… do I really want to remember that I threw up in the parking lot that night?”

54. Old information packets you no longer need or that you can easily find on line.

Lisa writes, “I’ve thrown out a whole 2 drawer filing cabinet full of out-dated nutrition booklets, and information about breastfeeding (which I finished doing about six years ago) that ‘I might need someday.’”

55. All the hotel soaps that you took with you.

(And stop taking them. You’ve got plenty of soap!)

56. The belief that you only have to go through the de-cluttering process once and won’t ever have to do it again.

Need some motivation? Here’s some articles from my favorite Organization Bloggers:

The Power of the Purge by Organizing Junkie

The Why of Clutter by It’s Not About Your Stuff

Purging e-Waste at Clutter Control Freak

How to Start Getting Rid of Stuff at De-Clutter It!

tags: de-clutter, organizing, clutter, cleaning, organization, music, christine kane

Time management is tricky.

And I don’t think it’s because we lack self-discipline or because we’re unfocused.

I think it’s because of the many types of mindsets it takes to do the varied things in our days.

It’s one mindset, for instance, to write a blog. It’s another to create piece of art - a painting, a song, a poem, or a recipe. It’s still another to make a cold call, approach a gallery, submit our poems, or review our finances. Many of us are constantly walking the line between our creative selves and our business selves. And by the time we get through the high-priority items, it’s hard to determine which of our random leftover to-do’s will take precedence.

It’s true that there are some great time management techniques out there. Lots of them work well. When you discipline yourself - even a little bit - you’ll see results. Like the benefits of organization and de-cluttering, there are many rewards that come from managing your time well.

However, I’ve learned that balance is crucial. It’s possible to go overboard when it comes to Getting Things Done. After all, I’m not a CEO. I’m an artist. I do myself a disservice by ignoring my natural inclinations and creative approaches to Getting Things Done. If I push myself to “stay on task” for too long, I can become bored and uninspired.

So, as an experiment, I created “Sniggly Days.”

What’s a Sniggly Day?

A Sniggly Day is to Getting Things Done what the Junk Drawer is to Personal Organization. It’s a designated catch-all day for batching all the random stuff you have to do - and then doing that stuff in a way that feels fun and good to you. The stuff itself doesn’t matter. It’s how you let yourself do it that matters. (Details on that below.)

What’s a Sniggly?

Just as the contents of your junk drawer probably differ from the contents of my junk drawer, your Snigglies will be different from mine.

A Sniggly is anything random that sits on your virtual to-do list and keeps tapping you on the shoulder to remind you that it needs to get done. Sometimes, it’s an odd thing - like checking the air pressure on your tires - and there’s nothing else to batch with it. In the same way the junk in your junk drawer doesn’t have a “home,” Snigglies are often the activities that we don’t like to do, or we don’t know how to match them with any other activities on our lists, so we put them off.

How to Have a Sniggly Day in 5 (or 6) Easy Steps

#1 - Designate a Sniggly Day in advance.

This is important. You don’t have to schedule it far in advance. But you do have to declare it. Otherwise, it’s tempting to just drift in and out of the day not really committed to anything you’re doing. This is worse than getting nothing done, and wrecks the spirit of the day. Claim your Sniggly Day!

#2(a) - Write a brain-drain list.

Make a list of your Snigglies. Bathing the dog. Doing your nails. Buying bird seed. Getting your new jeans hemmed. Ordering that book from amazon. Looking into the yoga class. Cleaning off your computer desktop. No item is too insignificant for this list. That’s the whole point of a Sniggly Day. In fact, I never allow myself to write songs or blogs on a Sniggly Day. It’s strictly reserved for Snigglies.

#2(b) - DON’T write a Brain-Drain list.

If you really want to have a Sniggly Day in the most decadent way possible, then don’t make a list at all. (This is like adding glitter and old postcards to your junk drawer.) Start wherever you feel like it. Fold the clothes, then write a thank you, and then wash the dog, etc.

#3 - Go at your own pace and revel in your randomness until you’re on a roll.

This is the main thing about Sniggly Day. This is why I love it.

It’s not so much what you do, but how you do it. It’s a full day of unscheduled getting-things-done bliss.

So you begin with cleaning out the refrigerator. In the middle of that, you realize that you need soy milk. You go to the store to get soy milk. While you’re out, you pick up your mail. This reminds you to pay a few bills when you get home. You pay the bills. Then while you’re at the computer, you feel like cleaning up your computer desk top. This makes you hungry for lunch, which reminds you to go back to the refrigerator and finish cleaning it out.

Let your intuition guide you from one thing you feel like doing to the next thing you feel like doing. It’s like having a conversation with your best friend - the kind that drifts all over the place, but eventually returns to the point.

#4 - Make your day a Ridicule-Free Zone.

Those of us who can Get Things Done in this way rarely allow ourselves to do it with abandon. We’re so accustomed to conforming to everyone else’s schedules and figuring out the most efficient way of doing things, that we don’t delight in the wisdom and natural order in our creative approach. Certainly, if you read most of the uber Zen time management blogs out there, you’ll find this random way of doing things is abhorred by many. Don’t play this game. Not on a Sniggly Day!

#5 - Get a sense of accomplishment.

Cross things off your list as you do them. OR, if you didn’t make a To-Do list, create a “Ta-Dah!” List. A “Ta-Dah!” List (a la Julia Cameron) is a list you create after you’ve gotten things done.

#6 - [optional] Save one tough thing for later in the day.

Sometimes I do a Sniggly Day just so I can create the momentum to complete something big I’m resisting. This is purely an optional step, and I don’t recommend that you try it on your first Sniggly Day.

I know this step is counter to all the typical time-management advice that tells you to get the biggest scariest thing done first. However, on a Sniggly Day, there’s a reason for saving the big thing for last. When you’ve set aside a day to do things in the way you intuitively and naturally do them, you’ll generate happiness, rather than fatigue. At some point, you can ask yourself, “Are you ready to head upstairs and pay the bills and reconcile your accounts?” It might take a little discipline, but if you’re anything like me, the self-acceptance will foster a lighter heart, and the challenging activity will most likely become less challenging.

Why Sniggly Days Work

The idea of a Sniggly Day might sound a little stupid. If it does, I certainly understand. Lots of what I write about here is the stuff I’ve invented to teach myself to love the things I used to hate: Business, Marketing, Discipline, Thinking Clearly, etc. Sometimes I think it’s all about tricking the ego into taking action it would ordinarily resist.

However, Sniggly Days work for me for three reasons:

1. A Sniggly Day is a vacation day.

It’s a vacation from your own brain. By defining the day in advance, you give your perfectionist brain a day off. You can then enjoy getting things done in an easy and relaxed manner. You’re delighting in your process, not just in a list of to-do’s. You’re also giving yourself a day just to get things done - not to get things done AND work on your novel, write a song, be a great mother or throw a pot. It’s all about the Snigglies.

2. A Sniggly Day is a permission slip.

Now that we’re adults, it’s up to us to give ourselves permission slips to have a day off or give ourselves a break. In this case, it’s a permission slip for your Taskmaster Productive Self to chill out and let things get done slowly. And it’s a permission slip for your Creative Self to recognize that Getting Things Done doesn’t have to be an awful boring terrible day.

3. A Sniggly Day is about delight.

It’s about loving yourself and how you do things. It also gives you a sense of accomplishment.

Can’t Everyday be a Sniggly Day?

So, why not live like this every day? After all, if you’re naturally like this, wouldn’t it be better to just let your life flow in this way?

Fair question.

In my experience, this is not a fulfilling way to live or work. My creative self does better in the long run with a schedule. Otherwise, I can convince myself that I don’t “feel” like doing anything. And over time, I get very little done and never feel complete.

For instance, I rarely “feel” like working out. But my wise self knows that working out makes me emotionally stronger throughout the day and in the long run. And sometimes I don’t “feel” like writing a blog. But my wise self knows that if I just sit down and write, eventually the flow will begin. Finding the balance between these two places is the reward.

A Sniggly Day keeps my productive self happy. And it also keeps the creative side of me happy. It’s like giving her a Learner’s Permit. She’s not allowed to drive the bus all the time. But when there’s Adult Supervision and lots of space, she can take a spin.

My house is spacious, orderly and almost Zen-like. (On most days.) Over the years, I’ve taught myself to live simply. I use the “If it’s not an Absolute Yes, it’s a No” rule when I’m debating a purchase or considering tossing something out. I’m sometimes mesmerized that I’ve become organized and clutter-free after years of living in total chaos.

However, I’m not stupid.

Changing behavior doesn’t mean you’ve changed your essence. I know myself too well to forget that my artist, wild, chaotic self is alive and well. I couldn’t write songs - or anything, for that matter - without her. She is my muse and my ferocity. So, she has to have a place in my life.

For instance, she gets to have her way with the kitchen when I prepare meals. She’s masterful at intuitive cooking and “whipping things up” - as long as she gets to bitch-slap the kitchen until there’s not a single unsoiled surface, mixing bowl or spatula in sight.

I also allow certain spaces for her unique style of chaos. I reserve one shelf in my office for her messes.

And, she is why I still keep a Junk Drawer.

Most professional organizers agree. If you’re not an orderly person by nature, you have to work with this part of you, even after you get organized and clutter-free. You have to allow for those times when you don’t (or can’t, or won’t) think clearly.

The Junk Drawer is for those times. And, if you schedule defined times to clean it out when you are clear and orderly, your Junk Drawer can actually contribute to your organizing success because it acknowledges that you don’t always have to get it right! Our Junk Drawers teach us that allowing imperfection - not repressing it - is one of the keys to sustained success.

I call this the Junk Drawer Philosophy. And I’ve expanded it way beyond the realm of organization. I use it with health, and travel and and also with Getting Things Done.

The next post will reveal my own proven method for Getting Things Done and being productive by working with - not against - this wild creative playful side of yourself. Stay tuned!

p.s. Happy Valentine’s Day!

What’s in a meme?

A meme is when one blogger writes about a particular topic and then “tags” other bloggers to get them to write about the same topic.

What’s this meme?

This meme is about being paper-less. It’s about generating ideas so that we can all use a little less paper and create a tree-friendly world.

Who started this meme?

Motivational speaker Debra Moorhead began this meme. She’s becoming “paperless” in 2008 and wants some ideas as she embarks on this path. She tagged me.

So, here are six (mostly) paper-less things I do in my daily rounds:

1. Paint Rags in the Pantry

I regularly congratulate myself for thinking of this. It’s tree-friendly and unbelievably convenient.

In the paint section at Lowe’s, they stock a package of white terry cloth paint rags. It’s cheap. My husband bought them when I was in the middle of painting something. I never used them.

So I washed and folded them in orderly stacks on a shelf in the pantry. I use them for spills. I use them with Citra-Solv to do a final clean on the counters each night. I use them instead of napkins. I also take some in the car on road trips.

Typically, I use them once and then toss them in the washer. They get washed with the white stuff. (With big spills - like the unfortunate “olive oil incident” - you can just toss the rag because there’s plenty more.)

In five years, we haven’t had to buy any extras - and we’ve saved untold amounts of trees because we almost never use paper towels. (And the pretty rust colored dish-rags only get used only for the most dish-rag-y things - not for all the spills.)

2 - Canvas Bag at the Grocery

I know. I know. This is supposed to be a paper meme. But paper comes from trees. I love trees. And I cringe when I see roadside trees with plastic grocery bags hanging all over them. It’s such a symbol of our consumer culture where we just assume we should get a bag with every single thing we purchase. (Yes, I’m moving my Complaint-Free bracelet over to the other wrist.)

So, I carry my own canvas bags. (I don’t always remember to take them with me. But I do try to keep them in my car for those surprise trips to the grocery.) I use the canvas shwag-bags I get at conferences where I perform. My husband bought some cool bags at the local organic grocery store. (I even carry them with me to Target and Office Depot. I don’t mind looking like a geek when it comes to the environment.)

[One other cool idea: This under the sink cheap trash bag holder. It’s designed so you can re-use your plastic grocery bags as trash bags. (Rather than the “matching” plastic bags they try to sell you.) Our kitchen is small. I didn’t want to have a trashcan taking up more space. So I got one of these, and this is the only way we bag trash now. It puts those extra plastic grocery bags to use.]

3 - Living Tree Paper CD’s

My CD’s were printed on Living Tree paper. It was more expensive, yes. But I wanted to do it. Living Tree Paper is made from a combination of chlorine-free agricultural resources (hemp, flax straw) and post-consumer waste. The quality of their paper is superb.

4 - Starbucks on the Road

When I’m on the road and I go to Starbucks - or any local coffeehouse - I save the cup. I rinse it out and keep it in the cup holder of my rental car. I use that single cup over and over again. I used to travel with my favorite chunky metal cup - but the lid popped off in an airport, never to be seen again. This made me sad.

So, now I just reuse one paper cup, rather than continue to get new cups. Some baristas are so pleased that I’m doing this, that they automatically give me the refill price on the coffee - even though it’s not technically a refill. (We also save the occasional coffeehouse cup in a drawer at my house in case we ever need a paper cup.)

5 - Loose paper recycling

I don’t use the city recycling service that comes through the neighborhood once a week. You know why? They don’t pick up loose paper. They only take aluminum and glass.

Instead, I drive to the recycling bins in our city. They have big dumpsters for “loose paper” - junk mail, catalogs, etc. ANY random paper. So, every two weeks, when I’m on my way to somewhere else, I toss the recycling in the back of my car (aluminum, glass, corrugated and paper) and take it myself.

6 - If you must use paper…

The Dogwood Alliance has successfully lobbied Staples, Office Depot, and Office Max to increase their in-store supply of recycled paper, as well as reduce (and eliminate) the amount of paper that comes from virgin forests. You can now find 100% recycled office paper at all of these stores. This is all I use in the office.

————

The final part of a meme is that you tag other bloggers and encourage them to join in. So, with the full understanding that bloggers get meme-tagged all the time and may not have time to respond to this meme (I myself have dropped the ball on many a meme!) - I tag the following uber-bloggers…

Patti Digh at 37 Days

Alyson Stanfield at Art Biz Blog

Leo Babauta at Zen Habits