What’ve you been up to lately? I’ve gotten into the habit of doing these posts every month, where I share snippets of things that have been on my mind or that just don’t neatly fit into normal posts. I like the thought of catching up one-on-one, don’t you? Here are some of my recent thoughts and random mutterings.

1. Getting out of my usual routine is so necessary for me. I’m in Miami right now (leaving today) and next month I’m heading to Salt Lake City, Utah, for a conference. It just feels rejuvenating to experience new places, people, even weather. It’s nice to relieve myself of my usual routines.

2. Speaking of routines, I’m realizing that I kind of hate them. Like, a lot. I am a “starter,” in the sense that I love creating events, projects, workshops, etc, but I tend to get bored when things continue to be the same. I NEED things to constantly be evolving or changing otherwise I just feel very stuck and almost claustrophobic. This doesn’t necessarily mean that I need to be bouncing off the walls everyday, but I enjoy moving to different tasks and focusing on growth. I’ve read that this is part of the INFJ personality. It is absolutely both a blessing and a curse and one that doesn’t seem so bad now, but kind of scares me for when I’m older and still feel the need to constantly be doing something more or different.

3. I taught Monja how to “roll over” the other day. He learns things so quickly and it’s hilarious to watch him do it. I absolutely can’t wait to pick him up from his dog hotel later today. I missed that little fuzzhead more than I expected and have peaked more glances at the hotel’s Doggie Webcam than I’d like to admit.

4. Ever since downsizing my sponsorship program, I’ve felt a renewed energy for blogging. It’s really helped to release some of the “obligation” I felt toward blogging and to be able to focus on a smaller group of people each month.

5. I really believe that we get pangs of intuition from time to time that tell us which decisions we need to make. Those feelings usually creep up suddenly, but avoiding them is debilitating to me. I’ve ended relationships, quit jobs, and made major changes to my life because one day I woke up realizing it was what I need to do. I’m only mentioning this because I felt those pangs regarding my sponsorships, but I think reading our intuition is so important for any important decision.

6. I’m going to Alt Summit in a couple weeks. Alt Summit is a blogging and design conference and though I’ve never been, I’ve heard and read over and over that fashion and creative business cards are a big thing there. Basically, people go nuts. I mean seriously, LOOK at these business cards. I’ve been brainstorming cute and clever ideas that I could try, but it’s hard to pinpoint something that represents who my blog and I are in a creative, meaningful way.

7. By the way, have you seen my new portfolio page? It’s my first step in transferring my graphic design studio over to this site!

8. Would you like to write a book one day? I’d love to! But I find that narrowing down ideas to something I could write 300 pages on feels incredibly daunting. Anyone have suggestions or tips? I often think of little snippets I’d like to include in a book — mostly things I’d like readers to feel or understand, but I haven’t a clue how to weave them together! Like my intuition spiel above, something tells me that one day I’ll just know when I have something that needs to be said. Or maybe I’m just being naive!

9. Recently, I’ve decided to start investing in nicer clothing. I’m used to being able to pop into Forever 21 and leave with ten things for the amount it costs to buy one quality dress somewhere else, but it feels like an investment to purchase better and more timeless clothing items. I still shop at cheap stores sometimes, but I’d like to slowly add more and more quality items to my wardrobe that will last for more than one season.

10. I’ve been trying to communicate more in blogging — as in, I’ve tried to respond to blog comments within a day or two, I’ve been patrolling Twitter more often, and I’ve been trying to read and comment on other blogs more, too. I think this change came after I attended my first blog conference and noticed that so many of the bloggers were friends and I often felt like the odd one out. I’m hoping to change that, eventually!

11. Which places would you most like to visit? I’d love to go to Denmark, Berlin, Paris, Portugal, and Peru, among about 100 others. Since I can work from just about anywhere that has an internet connection, the thought of living abroad for a month is super enticing. I just struggle with what I’d do with Monja, since he probably wouldn’t be able to come with and I wouldn’t want to leave him anywhere he wouldn’t be happy. Has anyone ever traveled for longer periods while leaving their dog behind? What did you do with them? I’d miss him so much!

Well, I’ve blabbed enough for one day…your turn!

Tell me about your month — what have you been up to?

p.s. Random Thoughts, and even more Random Thoughts