Music

For this week´s music post, I picked a video of a young guitar player prodigy called Sungha Jung.
I was introduced to Jung´s videos by my daughter. The first song I heard him perform was Michel Jackson´s Billy Jean and I went Wow!
I was pleasantly surprised with his talent and the musics he chooses to perform. It seems he really adds something to the music itself.
For today´s post, I selected his performance of U2 song "With or Without You" but he´s got so many good videos that this was a difficult pick.



Trough Jung´s videos I learned about Emily Bear, the young pianist prodigy and other talented kid´s stories.
When I was a kid, I used to watch the Portuguese version of "Lo Zecchino d'Oro", a show which introduces talented kids, mostly musicians.
The thing is, being a prodigy or not, kids are really amazing!
See you soon :)

Blogging Projects

As I wrote in my PF blog, I´m facing some issues with my current full time job.
I think that after being out of this job, I´ll return to my blogging hobby like I did before.
In the past 17 months, my blogging has been reduced to a minimum. I focused on my PF blog and closed my first domain before it´s web hosting plan had to be renovated.
Once this is my current state of affairs, my future blogging plans include following the same path I was before I started working outside my home. I intend to split the surplus of free time to be online in a wise manner. My plans are:
1) keep working to increase ad revenue of my Portuguese blogs, a task in in which I´ve been successful and I´m already collecting the fruits of the labor;
2) starting a new domain blog for my MMO activities and keep my current blogs updated.
Add this to my other offline chores and you can see I already have a handful and that my winter will be full of fun blogging things to do. I think I´d better start thinking about a good url for my new domain name and read the latest webhosting reviews. Will keep you updated of any progresses in my current blogging projects.

Nina: The Shoe Lover








My daughter lost my digital camera :(
I´m not in the mood to make a big drama out of it so I´ll just make a small one: It was the first decent digital camera I ever had and it was bought a few years ago with my own hard earned money as a Christmas present for myself.
I wonder how my blogging experience will be like without my own pictures... although the majority of them just "suck", they do give some color to my blogging journey :)
I don´t know when I´ll be able to buy a new camera but when I´m ready to buy one I´ll look for Canon deals. Meanwhile, I have no remedy but to post older unpublished photos and take new (even lower quality) pictures with my cell phone.

So, back to today´s post. I was going trough my photo files when I came across the above pictures of Nina. I then realized it´s been a while since I last wrote a Nina update post in any of my blogs. At the same time, I had a good laugh thinking about this post´s title:
Nina is really is a shoe lover!
You should see her when she catches any of our shoes. My daughter´s sandals are her favorites... we laughed a lot when we discovered Nina likes our shoes. My daughter joked that Nina acts like this because she likes our "shoe smell", ha ha!
My daughter is so comic, she caught her mother´s good humor vein, he he!
At the same time, you can check how grown and fat Nina is now :)

As being without a camera wasn´t bad enough, last time I saved photos I somehow messed the date settings and ended with all July and August 2010 pictures dated as January 2007. In January 2007 Nina wasn´t even born! Ha!
Tech stuff is really not my forte, then there´s something between me and machines. I guess it´s got something to do with my energy :)
See you soon :)

Selling Some Books




I have always been an avid reader. As far as I can remember, reading has always been one of my favorite "hobbies". I remember the first books I ever bought: Disney and "Turma da Mónica" comics, my favorites were definitely the Almanacs.
As I grew up, my readings improved from comics to science books and became more diversified. From early to my late 20´s, the books became my favorite learning paradise. Even my motherhood knowledge was explored in books long before it happened in real life.
Although I never read any of my books more than twice, I never sold any because I saw them with a precious collection sort of feeling. Call it sentimental value, attachment or something alike. I also gather stamps...so I guess I have a strong stuff collector´s personality trait :)
Now that I´m almost reaching 40´s, and some of my reading interests changed, I feel different about my books. I no longer regard them as precious. I still like most of them but I feel like I should let go of some to find space for new reading adventures.
So, I´m a newbie seller looking for websites in which I can sell my Portuguese books. I already have envelopes and found a way to create personalized address labels online. Now, all I need is patience to list the books and wait for buyer´s interest in my books. I haven´t told you yet but this is part of major decluttering party I´m organizing at my home. I need some fun for the cold winter months ahead. I´m keen that I will feel lighter and relieved when the whole process ends.
Note to Self: This is the result of many hours reading inspiring Zen, Minimalism, Frugality, Downsizing & Simple Living blogs :)

In The Shell



My two weeks vacation is ending and I spent most of it "In The Shell".
This time I can´t complain much about work overload during vacations, I had plenty of rest, or perhaps, too much of it.
Most days, I literally did nothing but withdraw in my "Own Shell". Doing what? Well...thinking about my "The Life" and the "Big Picture".
It was a time to read and to think a lot. Some days, when going to bed, I felt like my brain was frying, ready to be served in a hot plate.
This is so me...when something´s is really bothering me, I tend to withdraw. Even if I don´t find immediate answers, I meditate. I find myself in the same process, whenever I need to make decisions or come up with a plan of action.
During these days, I assessed my current life and path. I realized there are a few things I´d like to be doing but I´m not. The difference between what I´m doing and what I´d like to be doing is my major source of distress.
When I think about change, there´s a bunch of possibilities on the horizon. I do need to change a few things in my life but, before taking any step, I need a plan, a good one in this case. So, that´s why I´ve been in the Shell.
In my Shell, there´s no TV, no phones ringing and the only distraction is the Internet, music, a good book or a homemade meal done with much love. In my Shell, it´s cozy and warm. It´s a place where no one disturbs me while I´m brainstorming ideas, researching, thinking of possibilities, etc.
Did anything came out yet? Not really...I need to rehearse and investigate more each course of action.
And you? Do you have a Shell?

Photo: http://www. photosearch.com

Life & Clocks



I´ve always liked antique stylish clocks. I don´t own an howard miller clock like the one above but wouldn´t mind having this particular one hanged in my kitchen. I sure need to replace my bird´s clock batteries, school will start next Monday at 8.30 am and I must make sure my daughter´s there on time, everyday.
I don´t use any wrist watch. I enjoy looking at watches but not wearing them. I have a sort of time war thing going on for decades and when I´m not at home, I prefer using my cellphone to check time. When I´m at home, I know what time it is trough my kitchen or notebook´s clock, this last option only when the notebook is on.
The picture above can also describe what´s in my thoughts today: Time flies, gotta use it wisely. Changes, new beginnings and the need to regain my time to do the things I enjoy most in my life. Shh.. sounds like an old woman talking :)
With unemployment at sight, the compass means I need a new direction in my life. If you´re curious why I´m facing this situation, you can read the details in my other personal blog, Mizé Journey. And you? How do you feel about clocks?

First School Day

My daughter´s school started today with a "new students reception". She´s starting 5th grade in a new school, closer to our apartment. The reception went smoothly and my daughter was very happy to encounter old classmates.
In this transition everything is new for us, the school, most classmates, some subjects and all the teachers. From now on, our life will be very different. School starts everyday at 8.30 am so early schedules will be our major challenge as we´re both Garfield´s type :)
I´m an assumed night owl suffering from insomnia and my daughter enjoys staying up late. Humm...I already envision many flying alarm clocks, specially in cold winter mornings. Things definitely won´t get easier for us.
Today, we started our back to school shopping. I already ordered all books and will pick them next week so the first item we bought was a pair of sneakers for sports. My daughter is thrilled because this year there´s sports and a music class. Along with arts, music is her favorite hobby.
Now comes the not so funny part: back to school means decluttering. I took a couple days to focus on this as her bedroom is not in a good shape to start a new school year. I´ve been struggling to find space in her room for all the school stuff we´ve been keeping since... preschool. I´ve been thinking about this and I found there´s no way out. If I don´t start throwing some things out, I´ll live in this stuff hell forever. Shhh...something´s gotta change... soon :)

Business Cards Online

If you have a business or product to sell, you should consider all the different ways available to put the word out. Good marketing can really help a business, and the old proved methods should not be discarded.
The other day, I went to a coffee shop for a quick snack. Once I didn´t want to spend much time there, I placed my order while standing next to the register´s machine. While waiting, I noticed there were a few business cards and fliers on the counter.
There was one particular card that caught my attention, a blinds fixing service. I needed to fix one blind in my apartment but had been avoiding doing it because I thought I had to replace the whole blind and that´s expensive. A few days before I found this business card, my room´s blind decided to break too so I finally had to do something about it. I enjoy sleeping in the dark so a broken blind which lets the daylight pass trough it becomes an annoying problem.
I didn´t know any reliable and cheap service so I decided to give it a try. I called the number on the card and asked for a quote. For my surprise, the quote was lower than I´d thought so I hired the service.
Next Saturday, an old gentleman showed up at my flat at the exact scheduled hour. He told me he had just retired from a long career in the blinds business and now was doing small fixing jobs as a part-time.
In a glimpse of an eye he fixed both blinds and charged me twenty euros. Good business for me, plus now I have a reference for future blind problems.
My point is business cards are still a valid marketing method. Nowadays, you can print business cards free online. You can choose the business card template that suits you best and enhance your business card for a professional look, and all this modern tools are available online at a very low price.
Another way is putting your business card in mail boxes, I already found a few in my own mail box. Got a blog to promote? Print a few cards, spread them around a see what happens. Maybe you can gain more frequent readers :)

Night Clicks 100 Follower is...

Ladies & Gents,
Drum rolls...
Night Clicks 100 Follower is...



Grampys World


Grampy is a retired grandfather from Vernon Ct. USA. He loves kids, has a Doll House building hobby and enjoys Vintage.
I just love pink Doll Houses!
A bit of regression here... I´m just a child in an adult´s body :)
I imagine Grandpas as specialists in spoiling kids, hehe.
As Grampy wrote in his "About" page, the blog is all about fun and sharing.
So...Go on and check his blog out!
Thanks! This a was a fun blogging game to play! :)

Music

Enjoy the Silence...



The other night, while browsing Within Temptation songs, I came across this band I´ve never heard of called "Lacuna Coil".
In the video above they´re performing my favorite Depeache Mode song, Enjoy the Silence.
I enjoy Evanescence, Mortal Love, Within Temptation and Skin voices so finding Lacuna Coil was cool. Been hearing their repertoire and thought about sharing.
Vacations are passing so fast...been in a lazy sort of "do nothing" mood and it feels good. Contrasts with my usual busy days and job stress.
Weather is changing here, torrid summer days were replaced by cloudy, humid afternoons but still good beach days. Gotta force me out of this laziness to go out and catch some sun :)
See you soon xx