More Awesome: Goal 1.06 Complete

RaeBelle

It’s almost the end of June and I almost forgot to pick a book to read.  I have so many books I want to read, sometimes it’s super hard to actually pick one and read.  Which actually corresponds with the book I did select for June, The Dip by Seth Godin.  I love Seth Godin’s blog and was inspired to pick one of his books to read.

The subtitle for The Dip is “A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)” and that’s exactly what it does. It reminds you that quitting isn’t a bad thing. It’s not the same as failing. In fact, quitting at the right time is one of the best things you can do.  Successfully quitting is a strategic decision, not something you talk yourself into.  The Dip also nicely reinforced the idea of ignoring sunk costs, with a small story about Michael Crichton.

The Dip is a short book, but a very interesting read.  I can see myself rereading it when I need a reminder about quitting and it’s value!

If you’re interested in learning more about The Dip, there’s a great squidoo page on it

New Phone Options

RaeBelle

I’ve been an iPhone user since the original iPhone.  My 3GS is wonderful.  I don’t love everything about it, but it has more pluses than minuses.

Last week the HTC Evo caught my eye, and I’m intrigued.  It speaks to my inner geek.  The HTC Evo runs on Sprint’s 3G & 4G networks and has Android 2.1 for it’s operating system.  It has a 8mp camera (rear facing), 2 LED flashes and records video at 720p at 24 fps.  The Android system, from Google, is very interesting to me.  I’ve played with other Android phones and was not impressed.  But I’ve heard really great things about the Sense UI that HTC uses on their phones, including the Evo.  One of the features that really excites me is the tethering.  With an added option on your contract with the Evo you can connect up to 8 devices for that 4G speed.

To make things that much harder for me, today Apple announced their new iPhone 4.  The new iPhone 4 finally has a decent camera (5mp) and 720p video recording.  I do not understand why these were missing from the iPhone 3GS.  The new screen on the iPhone 4 looks beautiful.  I’ve been using the iPhone for years now and it’s familar and comfortable which is an added plus.

Both phones call to me for rather different reasons.  I’m going to work hard to determine which phone is the right one for me.  With the amount of money involved, I don’t want to pick the wrong one.

More Awesome: Goal 1.05 Complete

RaeBelle

I decided to mix it up for May and read Steps in Time: An Autobiography by Fred Astaire.  I love Fred Astaire.  I have Fred Astaire movies on DVD, recordings on CD and even pictures of him.  He was stylish, an amazing dancer, a great singer and actor.  I found the book fascinating.  Astaire is a very good writer.  I knew a lot about Fred Astaire, and yet I learned so much more.  His early career with his sister Adele on Vaudeville and Broadway were particularly interesting.  I didn’t know that much about his pre-movie career and personally find Vaudeville and Broadway fascinating.  Astaire’s writing took me to the those periods he was describing.  There were almost 50 photos included with the book, which was wonderful.  How could I not love more pictures of Fred Astaire?  I might have to break out some of my DVD collection and enjoy them all over again.

Belen Echandia New Clutch Initial Review

RaeBelle

A few weeks ago I was looking for a new clutch.  I already had a Plum Crash Clutch Me from Belen Echandia.  I love the Plum Crash, but it wasn’t really going to suit my need for the clutch.  I needed something understated enough for an interview.  I work in the technical & financial worlds.  I want them to remember me for my amazing skill set and talent, not because my bag stood out.  I was thinking a Black Crash Clutch Me would suit my needs, so set myself up for a notification in one came back in stock.  This prompted the wonderful Rose from Belen Echandia to contact me.  After a few emails back and froth, she mentioned a new clutch design and I perked up.  Over more emails back and forth, I got a picture, settled on a leather, patiently waited for it to be made and arrive in my hands.

The selected the Aubergine Glossy leather with Silver hardware for my new clutch, and I’m very happy.  It looks great and has that signature Belen Echandia smell.  As I’m writing this review the clutch is nameless, so I’ll call it New Clutch for the review.

Since the Clutch Me has been around for a while.  I thought some comparison shots could be helpful.

Bottom (Aubergine Glossy bottom, Plum Crash top)

Side (Aubergine Glossy left, Plum Crash right)

Top (Aubergine Glossy top, Plum Crash bottom)

The Clutch Me is shaped like an elongated hexagon.  The New Clutch is shaped like an isosceles trapezoid.  The New Clutch also has a wider base, which means I can carry a little more in it.

There is some amazing detailing on the New Clutch.  The threading on the flap is one of my absolutely favorite features!  The clutch looks much darker here than in real life.

Here’s another great view of the New Clutch from above.  You can really see the detailing of the threading and the shape of the bag.

Inside the New Clutch, there is a key strap, zipper pocket and the mobile and PDA pockets.  I was very happily surprised that the mobile & PDA pockets were added.  The larger one is perfect for my iPhone.  The pocket should make it a bit easier to grab my iPhone when I’m out.

The New Clutch holds my necessities and looks great while doing it!  I can get everything I need for an interview or a night out inside it with some extra room.  While holding my all of my kit, the profile of the bag stays slim and neat.

What I put inside the New Clutch

Here’s the New Clutch holding my kit.  All I have to do is close the bag and the New Clutch is slim and streamlined.

I’m going try the New Clutch for the next few days.  I’ll be sure to post my further thoughts on it after some usage.

More Awesome: Goal 1.04 Complete

RaeBelle

For April’s book I read Hershey by Michael D’Antonio. My husband purchased the book last year and I stumbled across it when I was selecting my book to read for April.

I grew up near Hershey PA and I moved back to Central PA a few years ago.  I’ve been to Hershey more times than I can count.  So I’m relatively familiar with some of the history of the town and Milton Snavely Hershey himself.

I found this book very interesting.  It confirmed many things I believed to be true, some of which weren’t overly positive.  An example is M.S. Hershey’s temper.  It’s not something that’s commonly known, but I always rather suspected he had a temper and the book confirmed that.  I could have lived without the rumours about Kitty Hershey and her life before marrying Mr Hershey, but that’s my personal preference.  Since I’m a bit of a history buff, I was a bit annoyed by the attempts to place the story in a historical concept.  If it wasn’t connected to M.S. Hershey or the history of the company, I didn’t really need it.  An example would be mentioning Lincoln speaking in Lancaster.  I’m not sure what that really had to do with the story, but again that’s personal preference.  I’m sure those pieces of information were useful to someone not as well versed in history.

The majority of the book is devoted to MS Hershey’s life.  I found the portions on Milton’s early life extremely interesting.  These are some of the very important events that helped shape the man.  I’ve always found these portions of his life to be breezed over in most of the other Milton Hershey information I’ve read.

The information about his early businesses and failures he faced were eye opening.  I’d known he’d tried and failed before finally succeeding with the Lancaster Caramel Company, but never heard the actual extent of those previous businesses.  I really enjoyed reading about the Lancaster Caramel Company’s creation and later sale.  That sale allowed Milton Hershey to have to time and money to create the town of Hershey, the milk chocolate recipe, and the Hershey company.  There was a lot of history to the company of Hershey I had a only slightly familiar with, like the Cuban sugar plantation & refinery, and they were covered in the book.

The last 2 chapters about his legacy and lasting impact on the people and town of Hershey.  They even cover some of the recent history of the legal battles of the Milton Hershey School Trust.

If you want to learn more, the good and the bad, about Milton Hershey, the Hershey Company, the town of Hershey or the Milton Hershey School, this is a good book to pick up.  I’m happy I read it even with the negatives I mentioned earlier.

Falling for Pewter Crash

RaeBelle

Since my post, Taking a Chance on BE ….. Pewter, I’ve really fallen for Pewter Crash.  I’ve carried my Rock Me Midi with everything.  Dressed up or dressed down, it always looks good.  I’ve also added a beautiful Pewter Crash Kiss Me Clutch and an adorable Pewter Crash Angel Purse to my collection.  I bought them both from a wonderful person who sold them on Bonanzle.

Pewter Crash is really a great leather as it changes its appearance with the colours that are around it.  It’s this wonderful chameleon that always looks good.  I feel glamorous and attention grabbing when I wear Pewter Crash.  It’s definitely not the leather for the wallflower who wants to blend in.  I’m so very happy I listened to all the encouragement I received to try to Pewter!  It’s been a great addition to my collection and I really like how I feel when I carry it.

Here are some action shots of my new Pewter Crash additions.  You can click on the pictures to view them in large versions.

My Angel Purse

My Kiss Me Clutch

More Awesome: Goal 1.03 Complete

RaeBelle

I recently participated in a Random Act of Kindness (ROAK) for the Belen Echandia Sub Forum in the Purse Forum. My wonderful buddy sent me Drive by Daniel H Pink, a book I’ve been looking forward to since I saw Kathy Sierra mention it on Twitter.  Once I received Drive, I knew it had to be the book I read for March!

Drive’s subtitle is The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.  The book explores a type of motivation beyond the normal reward/punishment system (Motivation 2.0), a Motivation 3.0.  Pink points out that if basic needs are met, Motivation 2.0 can actually harm instead of help the very things it’s trying to accomplish.

Motivation 2.0 worked when it was created because of the type of work being done.  People needed to comply and Motivation 2.0 excels in that situation.  Now, a lot of work requires problem solving, creativity and willingness to experiment.  Motivation 3.0 seeks and allows for engagement, which fits the current environment.

Pink provides examples from some companies that are embracing Motivation 3.0.  Three of the big names are Zappos, Best Buy, and 3M.  Zappos empowers their employees to provide make the customer happy.  Best Buy operates a Results Oriented Work Environment (ROWE) in some areas that allows their employees to determine where and when they work best.  3M provides their technical staff with time to work on a project of their choosing.  One of these projects resulted in Post-In Notes, one of my favorite products!

Motivation 3.0 is 3 basic elements: autonomy, mastery and purpose.  Pink dedicates a chapter to each and discusses them at length.  The end of the book a toolkit for Type I (his type of Motivation 3.0 person).  The toolkit provides 9 strategies for finding your motivation.

I really loved the book.  It’s one of those books you don’t want to put down, but you know you have to let it sit so you can absorb the information.  I took me almost 3 weeks to read the content of the book, and I’m still reading through the toolkit and thinking about it.  A lot of the Motivation 2.0 not working and Motivation 3.0 recommendations made sense to me.  I don’t work at a company that embraces Motivation 3.0, but I can see some ways my management has implemented portions of it (and I’m sure without having read this book).  If you want to learn more about motivation, I suggest getting Drive!

More Awesome: Goal 2 Update

RaeBelle

This month I decided to perform a complete overhaul of my resume.  I’m in the rather unique situation of having almost all of my professional career with a single company.  To properly showcase my growth here, I decided to break each of my positions in this company out.  Each of my titles is now listed as a separate job.  I really feel this lets me show how I’ve grown and my responsibilities have changed in my career.  Of course this was not a simple change to make.  It’s taken a few days of work.  I still need to ask some of my contacts in HR to review the resume and get their feedback.  I’m really happier with the flow of the resume and feel it showcases my skills in a brighter light.

Taking a Chance on BE ….. Pewter

RaeBelle

“If you change your mind, I’m the first in line.  Honey I’m still free.  Take a chance on me”
Those great opening lyrics from ABBA came to mind when I took a chance and ordered the Pewter Rock Me Midi from the BE 3 day sale in January 2010.  Frankly, Pewter scares me.  It looks so blingy and bright.  How is it going to work in my wardrobe?  Rather than completely freaking out and running away, I took advice from some great ladies on twitter (MommyMentor, Moonfancy and of course JackieCawthra).  I’m taking a chance on BE … Pewter!

Jackie said that it takes a week or so of use for the shine to wear in and softens up.  This post is a diary of 13 days of using the bag. The pictures are thumbnails, click on them for a full size version.

Thanks to all the snow the Mid Atlantic of the United States received in the beginning of February (Snowmageddon), my Rock Me Midi was delayed arriving.  I was getting impatient to receive the bag, but knew that it was no one’s fault and I’d get it soon enough.

…

Day 1
My Pewter Rock Me Midi arrived today.  Holy Moly is the pewter bright & blingy!  What on earth was I thinking?!  Can really carry something that attracts this much attention?

Refocus.  Everyone said that I can pull this off.  I just need to try it out.  So I fill the new bag up with my items and snap a few pictures.  Now that I’m looking at the pictures, it really doesn’t look that bad.  I can totally do this.  Major plus, the Rock Me Midi comfortably holds all my stuff!

Without Flash

With Flash

A close up of the tags

…

Day 2
Today in the filtered sunlight the pewter isn’t quite so shocking and rather pretty.  In the direct sunlight it looks more silver than I’ve seen before.  So maybe my first step is to avoid direct sunlight.

My husband surprised me with a trip to the mall to get a new iPod Touch.  I took my Pewter Rock Me Midi with me.  With my leather winter coat on, the Midi doesn’t comfortably fit on my shoulder.  Wonderfully the midi came with a messenger strap.  I was able to carry the bag on my shoulder with the strap and it worked great!  Wonderfully I didn’t feel like people were staring at me like “look at the freak with the shiny bag”.  Rather the looks my bag received were appreciative like “nice bag!”  This really helped me feel a little better about the pewter.

A plus, my new iPod Touch matches my bag.  It has a purple case 🙂

…

Day 3
I’m starting to appreciate the shimmer to the leather.  It looks really pretty in many lights.  I’m still a bit shocked by the intensity of the leather in direct sunlight.  But in the filtered sunlight or indoor lighting it’s not as bad.

Direct Sunlight

Filtered Sunlight

Natural Light

…

Day 4
I’m getting more accustomed to the pewter, though it still shocks me quite a bit.  Tonight while I was watching hockey, I saw the fairy lights reflecting on the bag and was stunned by it’s beauty.  All of the colours reflected on it, but it wasn’t pure reflection.  The leather took the colours and made them it’s own.  It was a stunning effect, and sadly impossible to accurately capture with my camera.

…

Day 5
A full day planned today and my Pewter Rock Me Midi is going to be by my side for most of the day.

Up first, lunch!  My husband and I went to one of our favorite restaurants, Fennici’s of Hershey.  Since Italian food can sometimes get a little messy, I covered by bag with my leather jacket.  I highly doubt marinara matches well with pewter leather, and I’d rather not learn.  Lunch was very filling and delicious (as it always is at Fennici’s) and neither my Rock Me Midi or leather jacket met marinara.

Next, a very short drive over to Zoo America. Zoo America features animals found in North America, so no tigers or monkeys here.  The Rock Me Midi with the messenger strap (worn on my shoulder) was great for walking around the zoo and carrying everything I needed, including my camera so I could grab some great pictures.  Visiting the zoo in the winter is such an experience.  A lot of the animals are more active in the winter, which does make for a more enjoyable time.  On this trip I saw a prairie dog alerting it’s colony to a predator, a hawk.  I’ve never heard a prairie dog issue a danger alert before.  It was rather fascinating.  I’m happy to report that after the alert, all of the prairie dogs hid and the hawk didn’t make off with any!

After a lovely time at Zoo America, we were off to the Hershey Lodge to check into our hotel room for the night.  We live near Hershey, but it’s always fun to have a night away from home.  It was a very Belen Echandia trip!  I fit everything we needed for the weekend in my wonderful Port Take Me Away Weekender.  I had to snap a picture of my bags together.  The pewter is starting to grow on me.  It’s looking a bit more muted now.

With Flash

Without Flash

Our last big adventure of the day was a trip to the Hershey Bears vs the Lake Erie Monsters game.  My Pewter Rock Me Midi got to spend that part back at the hotel room.  New bag and nachos are not a combo I want to risk.  I emptied the Rock Me Midi out and transferred everything to my Hershey Bears bag.  The Bears game was unbelievably fun and I’m very glad I didn’t have my Rock Me Midi with me.  The nacho cheese was very messy!

After the Bears game (they won!) we went back to the Hershey Lodge to grab a little dinner at the Forebay.  Dinner was excellent and I was able to catch a little Olympic hockey on the TV at the bar.  While I was without my Rock Me Midi, I had my Red Glossy Protect Me was safely tucked into my bag all night to keep a little BE with me.

…

Day 6
The Pewter really isn’t scaring me as much today.  I didn’t feel out of place yesterday and this morning the shine didn’t shock me as much.  This is great!

I switch everything back to the Rock Me Midi, which is really a great size.  I have some extra room so it drapes nicely, but it’s also so easy to find everything in the bag.  And we’re off to check out and grab some breakfast.  In the lobby I spot some of the Hershey characters.  I wish I had the courage to have my picture taken with the Hershey Kiss.  It would have gone so lovely with the pewter!  Another time perhaps.

As we were getting into the car to head home, I spilled hot chocolate.  My coat took the hit of hot chocolate, and my bag was saved.  I do know that some Belen Echandia leathers stand up quite nicely to hot chocolate, but I’d rather not test out the pewter.

I noticed today that the messenger strap is starting to mold nicely to my shoulder.  Since it looks like it will be chilly here for quite a while, it’s lovely to see this happening.  It makes carrying the bag on my shoulder that much more comfortable

After we get home, I settle my Rock Me Midi beside me for a long day of cupcakes and hockey (3 of each).  It makes quite a pleasant companion and I do find myself looking over to admire it.  YAY!

…

Days 7 – 11
I’m still using my bag every day.  I’m really getting used to the leather.  I haven’t found that it clashes with anything I’ve worn it with yet, including my newly highlighted hair.  Unfortunately with the snow and feeling sick I haven’t been able to get out as much as I’d like with my lovely bag.

…

Day 12
Today was a busy day of chores and my Pewter Rock Me Midi was by my side all day.

We had to make a trip to the Post Office, where I had all of the paperwork I needed in my Rock Me Midi.  This was super handy as I was also carrying 3 packages to mail.  Unfortunately the post office was so crazy busy, it was almost scary.  We decided to come back later.

Off to the local ice arena to sign up for some lessons.  The pewter did look nice with all of the shiny skate blades, though I think next time I go I’m leaving this bag at home.  It looked much too dangerous for a lovely bag like this.

Next up was a lunch, it’s becoming habit for me to cover up my bag with my jacket when there is a food danger around.  I don’t want anything to happen to one of my beautiful Belen Echandia bags.

After a very filling lunch of eggplant parmigiana, we went to Dicks Sporting Goods so I could buy a tool to help me lace skates.  Last time I tried to lace my skates, my fingers hurt for days.  This small, inexpensive tool will save my fingers and help ensure a good fit.  And it fit perfectly in my Rock Me Midi.

We were off to Best Buy to browse.  I found a movie I’ve wanted for a while on sale!  Which was great.  After checking out I popped my it into my bag so I didn’t have to worry about it further.

Back to the post office to send the package and finally home!  I really didn’t think about the pewter part of the Rock Me Midi other than to think how nice it looked.  So I really think I’m less scared of the leather.  It’s still very shiny, but I have learned to appreciate it.

…
I’m very happy I took the wonderful advice and went for it. Some final pictures from my learning experience