1. Pause before finishing
2. Make things difficult for yourself
3. Be lazy
4. Mix things up
5. Label to changes meanings
6. Do something new in an old way
7. Do something old in a new way
8. Do things backwards
9. Be meta
10. Find connections
11. Simplify
12. Add more, until you can not
13. Be incongruent
14. Be cliché
15. Be honest
16. Find a new way to say goodbye

Narry needs the States. Yes, there are many other countries to explore. I will get to those soon enough, but this year I need a lil bit of Amurrr-kah (America, and no I do not know anyone – including myself – who pronounces it like that).

For a while now I have had a Portland State of Mind.

Portland is the “the city of roses” and a while ago I heard all about Powell’s City of Books, the biggest bookstore – like ever. Biggest? Yes, it fills an entire city block.

There are rivers and bridges, bicycles and streetcars, restaurants with names like Olé Olé and Cha! Cha! Cha! – oh, and in case you did not know, Portland is the home of The Waffle Window.

Photo by suomynona

Yes, it is all about food and cherry blossoms. Portland has cherry blossoms too. I know, right? Can it get any better? Yes it actually can, because Seattle is close enough. Three hours ‘close enough’.

Absolutely love the simplicity of this book, and who would have thought that you could have a book of pasta, the geometry of pasta. Interesting.

And look, the cover folds out – more pasta geometry goodness.

You know how much I love my uncle Karl and one day when I’m big enough to have a coffee table, I would like to have this on it.

Yes, I would love to have this very *expensive* book please.

These are just a few randoms I clicked on today. Not necessarily my favorites and in no particular order, here are a few randoms from The Selby.

















“The Selby is in Your Place.” The book will be out soon. Narry needs this. Please? I do not ask for much, but this is one of the top 5 items on my wishlist.

Wishlist!

My biggest concern was that I would not be able to draw all day long and be able to draw the women who usually featured on the sewing pattern packaging from the 80s and early 90s. Mamas had a box in the closet with all the fabric and it was time well spent going through all the different patterns and styles in the box.

Believe it or not, there are fashion designers who cannot draw (or sew). Not to worry, Penter Yip created Fashionary, a notebook with barely visible templates on each page allowing you to sketch – trouble free.

.via theselby (comes with a warning, you’ll spend hours there)

Thanks to Leo Babauta, Zen Habits and mnmlist – “less is the answer”.

Here are a few things I will start doing and in some cases – change the way I do it. If you want, you can add a few things to the list and let’s do this together – yay!

• Avoid new stuff (possessions)
• Learn to love less (contentedness)
  “The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.” – Socrates
• Clear distractions (doing)
  “Without distractions, you’ll be able to focus. You’ll find peace. You’ll find time for doing what you love.”

Here are a few things that you can do / do less.

“It starts with a decision: I want to be less busy. I don’t want to do this anymore.”

1. Cut back your social networking to network (or two at the most) – including Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, forums, etc. These are hugely distracting.
2. Cut back on your social networking “friends”. Stick to your actual friends and colleagues. Networking with thousands of people you don’t know is superficial and distracting.
3. Limit time on social networking, email to specified periods. Set the times you allow yourself to do these activities – from 1-2 p.m., for example.
4. Do less email. Start by sending less. Check email less often. Use the phone or face-to-face conversations when possible.
5. Shut down the internet to work. Disconnect, and work without distractions.
6. Get away from the computer, spend time with actual people.
7. Single-task and focus.
   Which is why I always recommend “The Art of Power” by Thich Nhat Hahn (one of my all time favorite books).
8. Focus on the most important tasks first, before you get distracted.
   Sometimes it is a good  idea to set time limits. Okay Narry, you have 20 minutes to pack all your clothes back into the closet. Errr, 20 minutes… umn, sure! One hour later.
9. Make two lists: your ideal day, and all the things that fill up your day (all your commitments).
   Get a moley or start with something plain and simple like teuxdeux – it does work, but with some people they have to commit to doing that too. Wink wink.
10. Spend a day in silence. Probably one of the most difficult things to do, but I promise you things happen when you turn it down. Try it, you might just like it.

Daily musts (for myself).

1. Set a limited reading time. When it comes to RSS feeds, set limits and do it at specified times. And the rest of the time? Read books, yeah the ones that you can hold in your hand and have pages – paper pages. Woah.
2. Write. You do not have to be a writer to be good at it. Write about your want to achieve or even how you feel. You will save money, but not having to go to a therapist anymore. Write down your dreams and if you want, you can doodle your dreams too. Note to self.
3. Both Leo and Thich, will tell you to breathe. It works. Now please make a plan to read that book.

Please note: I have quoted Leo a few times in this post. Read all his articles.

.more mnmlist | farbeyondthestars
.books the art of being minimalist | the power of less | the art of power