Day 31: First Bootstrappers Breakfast Meetup

Last year I said I was going to attend more networking events, but that didn't really happen. Our fellow blog contributor, Mark Franklin, told me about the Bootstrappers Breakfast Meetup. I was hesitant to attend because the meeting is at 7:30 in the morning, and if you know me, I am not a morning person. However, I made the trek up to La Jolla in morning traffic, which was a miracle in itself because I somehow forgot how to drive in traffic!

I actually liked the format of the meetup. It was a mastermind of sorts where we shared challenges we face in our business and the group bounced ideas off each other. It was a relatively large group (about 25 people), so there was alot of conversation. I made a couple connections, so that was a plus.

Day 30: New Point of View

I've lived in San Diego for about 22 years now and for 4 of those years I lived in the downtown area. Just when I thought I've seen every nook and cranny of the city, I discover a pier that I've never walked on before.

Day 29: Lobster Mac and Cheese

I love, love, love, love macaroni and cheese, but not just any mac and cheese. The last time I had yummy mac and cheese was last summer at a place called Local Habit. Not too long ago I was talking with someone about my love for mac and cheese, and they asked me if I had ever tried lobster mac and cheese.

OMG, mac and cheese with LOBSTER? How come I never heard about this before?

Ever since then my mouth has been watering for a taste of this delicacy...and today the dream was finally realized.

My brother and I arrived at an Irish pub called Hooley's just before the lunch time cut off. As you may know, lobster commands lobster prices, so I wanted to pay the lunch price of $10 versus the dinner price of $19. The only disappointing thing about it was that the portion was very small, but oh my, it was delicious!

Day 28: No To Do List

I have a notebook full of lists of things that I think I need to do. Of course there are legitimate things I "need" to do like client work and items that I think will help me get where I want to go with my business. There are also things I write down on my list that would be good or nice to do, but are not really priority. My problem, though, is that sometimes I believe that everything is a priority. As much as this notebook helps me stay somewhat organized and allows me to dump all my ideas on paper, it also stresses me out sometimes.

Day 27: Looking at Beauty In the Mundane

Some artists and photographers have a knack for making regular objects look beautiful. It could be a photo of a door knob, but it draws you in for some reason. I like to take pictures of nature, pets, and other things that catch my eye. As I was drinking my coffee, my lipstick left a very noticeable print. I normally wouldn't think anything of it, but suddenly I felt inspired to take a picture of it. I then thought of an article on my blog that Douglas Clark contributed titled, "Everything Has a Story Behind It". I looked at the lipstick on the coffee lid for a good minute or two and just appreciated it for what it was.

Day 26: First Online Magazine

For awhile now I've been wanting to create a magazine version of my Beauty Is Within blog. Although a print version would be great, I do know that more and more people are using their tablets to read magazines as well.

Of course, if I was to start an online magazine from scratch, that would mean hiring writers, photographers, and editors to put it all together. Not to mention I would have to learn coding (or hire someone) to create this virtual magazine.

Day 25: Sharing My Story

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you." --Maya Angelou

There are very few people that have seen me in my "darkest hour", and even then these friends didn't really know what was going on in my mind. I consider myself a pretty private person and I don't share very much about my story and what I've been through to get where I am today.

Day 24: No Negative Thoughts

Being at home sick isn't exactly a great situation, so I took it as a challenge to spend the day observing my thoughts and to not let negative thoughts in. It's been said that people have thousands of thoughts per day, and as much as I like to think that I'm a very positive person, I know I have negative thinking lurking in the background at times.

Day 23: Discovered Photoshop Alternative

Although I'm sick, it's hard for me to lay around and just rest, which my mind and body needs right now. I did do a tiny bit of work yesterday for a client, and had to find an online photo editor because my Photoshop program is on my other computer that has gone to computer heaven.

A graphic designer's blog pointed me to Pixlr.com, which is an amazing alternative to Photoshop. I played around with it and created a new header in a different font for this blog and added an image.

At times it can be frustrating for me to learn something new because I want to be able to do something right away - especially with techie things. I know that's an unrealistic expectation, so I'm learning to just have fun with the process and not stress myself out because I don't know it right away.

Day 22: Isochronic Tones For Flu and Head Cold

The flu bug hit me like a ton of bricks yesterday. I'm feeling better today, and I think it has to do with these Youtube videos I came across.

In my search for a guided healing meditation, this video titled "Cold and Flu Relief - Isochronic Tones" caught my eye. I started to listen, and after a minute my nasal passages started to clear up and I could breathe again.

The audio can be annoying, and it took awhile to get used to. I've listened to binaural beats before, and I learned that isochronic tones are similar.

You may have to lower the volume a bit if this is the first time listening...

Day 21: Chai Tea Latte

I love, love, love coffee. My favorite drink is a mocha with just 1 1/2 pumps of chocolate. I think Nordstrom has the best mochas, and they also have the Mexican mocha that I absolutely love.

I was at Whole Foods today with a friend and wanted to get a coffee. However, as I looked over the menu, I suddenly decided to try the chai tea latte. Another friend has been raving about chai tea lattes, and as much as I wanted to get a mocha, I figured this would be my "first" for today.

The drink was actually pretty good. It had a bit of a spicy kick to it. After drinking it for awhile I realized it was ginger. To get my chocolate fix, I had a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie to go with the drink :)

Day 20: Take First Action Towards Big Vision

NBA's Dream Big Shirts

“The difference between a dreamer and a visionary is that a dreamer has his eyes closed and a visionary has his eyes open.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

Although I am a writer and often think how great it would be to have a book on a best sellers list, I have a much bigger dream. Actually, it is me and Cory's Big Vision that we often talk about.

Tonight I was watching NBA games, and a campaign they launched today is "Dream Big" in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. day and Black History Month. Many of the teams playing today were wearing "Dream Big" shirts. It set off a reminder in my mind of the Big Vision that I have.

Day 19: Saying "No" to a Furry Friend

I am a sucker when it comes to my friends' and family's dogs. I baby them,  and when they whine or whimper, I give in to what they want. I don't have any pets of my own, so that's how I am. Cory and I even got into a huge fight once because I spoil my parents' dogs.

I often wonder if I would be the same way with my future kids or pets. I hope not because I would not want them to grow to be spoiled brats like some of my friends' kids.

Day 18: Meditate For 1 Hour

It was an unusually busy Saturday with errands and chores, and I found myself feeling drained and losing patience with people. I came home tonight and took a nice warm bath, then decided to meditate for 1 hour. I usually meditate for about 20-30 minutes in the morning when I first wake up, but felt that tonight I needed the 1 hour to fully decompress and let go of some of the negative energy I was feeling.

I came across this 1 hour guided mindfulness meditation on YouTube, which helped me to stay focused on relaxing and diminish the mind chatter...


I started in a sitting position, but after about 15 minutes I felt like lying down. I ended up falling asleep, but then woke up right when the video finished.

Day 17: Work Somewhere New

Humans are creatures of habit, and I am no exception. As much as I thrive off experiencing new things, I go to the same coffee shops when I want to work outside of the house.

This weekend I am house/pet sitting for my best friend, who lives about 15 minutes away in an area that I frequent as well. I've been to just about every Starbucks and mom-and-pop coffee shop by her house, but lo and behold...thanks to Siri I did find one Starbucks I've never been to.

What I did notice from working somewhere different was that my creative energy is much different. I feel a bit more focused, a little more relaxed, and not so much in a rush to complete everything on my To Do list.

Day 16: Send a Handwritten Thank You Card

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. --John F. Kennedy

Years ago when I worked at Nordstrom we were required to send handwritten thank you notes during down times. Customers always remembered me when they came into the store and thanked me for sending the note.

I once wrote about the power of sending a Thank You card to your customers, and although I make cards, I don't think I've ever sent any to my own clients. I thought it was time to take my own advice...

Day 15: Pounding the Chicken

I like to cook, but I tend to cook the same dishes over and over...and over...

While channel surfing last night I came across Sam the Cooking Guy and watched him cook breaded chicken breast. However, instead of cooking the chicken breast as is (which I usually do), he put it in a zip lock bag and flattened it with a bottle.

Day 14: Jogging In a Dress

Ever since I started training for the 5K, I've been doing alot of running, which means more workout clothes being used up. I haven't been able to get any laundry done, and the only thing I had that looked remotely sporty was a simple grey cotton dress I've had for awhile.

It seemed weird to go jogging in a dress and I felt somewhat self-conscious about it. It's not like someone is going to stop and ask me why I'm jogging in a dress, and if they gave me a weird look, then so what? Besides, I didn't know what my first was going to be for today, so why not just do it once?

I did have the dogs with me, so people could have thought that I just decided to start jogging while walking the dogs. I actually liked it because it was airy and I didn't sweat as much!

Day 13: Check Email 2x Only

Hello, my name is Maria Palma and I'm addicted to checking email.

I have a bad habit of checking my email constantly throughout the day. Sometimes I'll roll out of bed first thing in the morning and check email.

Today I challenged myself to check my email only 2 times - once in the morning and once in the evening.

Day 12: Declutter Email

I admit that I'm a digital hoarder. I've had my Yahoo email account for 10 years and have accumulated many, many emails filed in about 100 different folders. I learned that you need to Feng Shui all the digital information you have, and I've been wanting to declutter the email for a couple years now, but it just seemed like a daunting task. 

Day 11: Watched "Breakfast at Tiffany's" For First Time Ever

"Breakfast at Tiffany's" is one of the movies I've been meaning to watch, so what better time to watch it than now during this year of firsts. I never knew what the movie was about, but it exceeded the few expectations I had. I certainly wasn't expecting a movie from the 60's to include subjects like kept men, drunken parties, and strip joints. It was also amusing to see Mickey Rooney play a funny old Chinese man.

Day 10: Play Piano On the Tablet + New Brazilian Restaurant

I'm a purist when it comes to playing music - meaning that I like playing with good old fashioned instruments. I learned to play the piano when I was young, and I also played the flute in the marching band in junior high and high school. I also dabbled with the clarinet and saxophone.

January 9 - Wichita Falls Texas

Today I agreed to advertise my products on a radio station in Wichita Falls, Texas.  It is the first step in a plan to advertise in smaller rural communities located in severe drought areas (and in San Diego).

For several years now I have been searching for a consistent way to get the word out about my products and have had inconsistent results.

But this week I begin my radio adventure with an on air interview Saturday morning on KOGO in San Diego and KWFS in Wichita Falls.

In San Diego the ads will be limited to the Home Improvement Show on Saturday mornings but in Wichita Falls we will have 100 ads per week for the next 3 months that will air all day long as well as on several on-air interviews over the next few months.

This is a leap of faith for me because I have not considered radio before but recently I have met several people from radio stations around the country.  When I am open to new things opportunities always show up.

Day 9: Run a Different Route + Other Firsts

One of the firsts I'm planning for this year is to run the Hot Chocolate 5K run here in San Diego, so for the past couple weeks I've been training so I can run the whole thing as opposed to walking/running it.

I like to run the 5K jogging trail at a nearby park, but sometimes I will run around the neighborhood. I usually follow the same route when I do go running in my neighborhood, but today I had a different motivation for running a different route as I talk about in the video below...

January 8 - Read first book on a Kindle

Nathan (my son) bought me a Kindle for Christmas but it didn't arrive until January 7th.  I love to read books but I am old school in that I love to hold a book and turn the pages.

I probably would not have bought a Kindle for myself but I had chosen not to tell Nathan what I wanted for Christmas to see what he would come up with.

Yesterday I downloaded my first book "The First Phone Call from Heaven", a novel by Mitch Album who is one of my favorite authors.  Throughout a very busy day I would take a break and read a chapter.  I am now on Chapter 6 and have discovered a few things.

The Kindle is limited in what it can do but the feel of holding it while reading is far better than I imagined.  And the ability to change the font size for my not so good eyes is awesome.  The text on the screen is crystal clear and is easy to read both in sunlight and limited light.

Here is a screen shot of the Kindle:

As you can see the text is easily readable.  Another First that has expanded my opportunities to read more often.

Day 8: No Complaining Or Yelling at TV During Celtics Game

For Clippers/Celtics tonight, I will attempt to not bitch or complain about anything. It will be part of my "firsts" http://t.co/Z93sUMMndM

— Maria P. (@teambasketball) January 9, 2014

I'm a big Celtics fan, so I tend to get excited during games, especially when they're playing against good teams like the L.A. Clippers.

January 7 - Painting Class

Tonight I went to a painting class in a bar!  A creative new  business concept is to have people pay to paint in a bar while drinking wine and snacking on food.

Based on the turnout last night at the Uptown Tavern in Hillcrest it mostly appeals to younger women for a girl's night out.  Only 2 guys in the class including me.

Here is a picture of the class before we started:

As you can see we all started with a blank canvas.  We were given 5 different size brushes, 4 blobs of paint (white, yellow, purple and brown), an apron and a glass of water to rinse our brushes.

We were given instructions on how to paint a purple butterfly but were offered the choice of making it any color we wanted.  Here is my painting about half way through:

The further away I stood from the canvas the better it looked.  I should have stopped here because this is what it ended up looking like:

Here are some of the more colorful paintings by my classmates who had been there before:

Based on the paintings at the end of the class we all had our own unique butterfly.  When I mentioned that this was part of our firsts for a year I had several classmates asking to join our blog.  Unfortunately I could not tell them the name of the blog!!

Overall a great time laughing, painting and drinking.  I will do it again just for fun.

Day 7: Hand Drawn Illustration For Blog Post

In a previous post I talked about how I read Website Magazine from front to back. Now that I've finished writing up the article, I decided to create my first illustration for a blog post.

If you do any business online, I recommend reading the article because it has website tips and trends for 2014.

I usually create graphics via Photoshop, apps, or I find free photos for my blog posts. I forgot how much I like doodling and drawing. When I was young I used to have fun drawing out different fonts, and in college I almost took a typography class.

I may have to start doing this more often! Thanks to Rosa Say for the inspiration :)

January 6 - spoken word poetry

I admit that today almost ended without a First.  But as luck would have it Rachel exposed me to the Open Word Poetry of Andrea Gibson.

After listening to several of her YouTube videos I realize she is a young woman with an important message.  I hope that in real life she is not as angry as she appears to be on stage.

Here is a link to the one I liked best:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3NHrDu-O4s

I am going to add going to a live Open Word Poetry event in San Diego to my list of Firsts.

Day 6: First Video Using an App (VidEditorFree)

I have quite a few video clips I recorded on my iPhone during my vacation to the Philippines and have been meaning to put together one full video to share with others on Facebook.

My friend's 9-year-old daughter has a knack for putting videos together and seems to know all the really good video editing apps. I was impressed by the video she put together today from their vacation and she recommended I try VidEditorFree (Available free on iTunes).

VidEditorFree was very easy to use, and it only took about 10 minutes to create a video montage of all the different clips I had. If you want custom audio or music, you just pay 99 cents for this feature.

Now I just need a better mobile data connection so I can upload it...I'll update this page once I post it to Facebook or YouTube.

Update Jan. 7: I posted the video to Facebook! Watch it below...

Post by Maria Palma.

January 5 - Random Acts of Kindness planning session

In December I discovered a Meetup group that actively goes out to do Random Acts of Kindness (RAK).  Here is a link to their website:

http://www.meetup.com/Random-Acts-of-Kindness-in-San-Diego/

Last night I meet with the organizer of the group (Kim) and a couple of her friends (Maricela and David) to plan events for 2014.

It sounds counter intuitive to plan to do Random things but opportunities don't always show up in our lives when we are paying attention.  They are probably always there but we don't always notice them.

It is challenging to create an event where RAK can occur.  In my definition of RAK volunteering doesn't really count.  Many people volunteer at food banks, fundraisers and senior homes but there is nothing Random about the things to be accomplished.

An interesting observation that came out of the meeting is that creating an opportunity for others to do a RAK may be as powerful as doing a RAK ourselves.

What I mean by that is that the act of doing a RAK feels great to many people.  For many of us that are capable of doing all of the things that we need to do every day the chance to step up for someone else can make our day.

As I mentioned above it is a challenge to create Random activities but the seeds of a few interesting ideas were planted.  One idea was to build a large canvas with a mobile support so we can setup in a park or on the boardwalk and let people randomly paint whatever they want.  Another idea was to give people a chance to feel what it would be like to be a drummer in a band.

One event that the group had last year before I joined was to offer free hugs.  This is way outside my comfort zone but isn't that the point of doing a new First every day for a year.

Day 5: "Ok, I'll Wait Until Next Time"

I wanted today's first to happen spontaneously. I did have something in mind in case nothing happened, but I had a feeling something would come up.

Cory and I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things, and there was a little boy about 4-years-old with his mother next to us in the deli aisle. The boy was eyeing those Lunchables. He asked his mom if he could buy them. The mom had started to walk away, so I didn't hear what she said, but I did hear the boy's reply...

January 4 - Korean barbecue

Today I expanded my very limited range of foods that I am willing to try.  Several friends had suggested Korean barbecue.  As it turns out there are a number of Korean restaurants located in the Kearny Mesa area.

I went to the Korean House restaurant where we were seated at a table with a built in grill where we cooked or own meal. here is a couple of pictures of the food and the grill:

The food was good but not great.  It included beef and pork chops that was 

decent with a variety of side dishes such as sea weed, potatoes and a couple of spicy dishes I did not recognize.

However the best part of the meal was the excellent supersized Korean beer Hite. 

Day 4: Read a Magazine From Front to Back

"May The Force be with you always..." -- A line from the original Star Wars movie

I certainly felt like The Force was with me today as I experienced many firsts besides the one I planned, which was to read Website Magazine from front to back. I've been a subscriber for 7 years now, but have never read the entire magazine. It doesn't have alot of pages (January 2014 issue is 40 pages), so it didn't seem like a daunting task.

I actually learned many new things from reading the entire magazine. I took many notes and will turn it into a post that I will soon share on my blog, OnlineBizResources.biz.

Day 3: First Time Wearing Green Eyeliner

I'm pretty conservative when it comes to wearing makeup, so wearing green eyeliner was definitely out of my comfort zone. I wrote details of the experience and what I learned about myself over at my beauty and fashion blog. To sum up: I still have insecurities about my looks, but I do like green eyeliner now...

January 3rd - first time to comment on public video

I love TED Talks because they showcase people who are not willing to live with the status quo and are pushing the envelope in their particular fields.  This year in at TEDx San Diego a speaker offered his opinion that TED talks are a waste of time and cynical and instead we need to jump into the mud (not sure what he meant by this comment because he did not offer an alternative choice other than to not have TED Talks).

Here is a link to the talk by Benjamin Bratton:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo5cKRmJaf0#action=share

Benjamin Bratton is an Associate Professor of Visual Arts (among other things) at UC San Diego.  Here are my comments on his talk:

"So according to Benjamin Bratton TED is a placebo, TED is cynical and we all need to get into the mud.  Through the years I have encountered numerous cynics such as Benjamin Bratton who write about all that is wrong but offers solutions like we all need to get in the mud.  Choosing to stay above the fray as an intellectual writing and talking about why everyone's effort at TED is a waste of our time isn't particularly useful. 

Leaves me wondering why if TED is such a waste of time Benjamin Bratton found the need to participate.  In this I agree with him - he has wasted my time."

So far I have 7 thumbs up and no thumbs down.  I will comment more often on stories or videos.

I just did a search for "Benjamin Bratton" in Google and my comment showed up in the number 2 slot on the first page:

Not what I intended but pretty powerful result.  Was not my intention to disparage him - I just wanted to join in the conversation about the video.  I hope it will go away in a short period of time.

January 2nd - The jigsaw

It has been many years since I experienced the joy of assembling  a jigsaw puzzle.  As a kid I hid in my dad's truck and built the puzzles 1/4th at a time.  When I had all 4 pieces completed I would take the puzzle into our house and put everything completely together for the first and only time.

After about 10 minutes I would break it down and put it back in its box.  It was about the journey not the goal.

Today I enjoyed working on a 1,000 piece puzzle.  I'll finish it over the next week.  Tomorrow I will post pictures of the progress.

Day 2: First Time As a "Journalist" at the San Diego Auto Show

I've been to the San Diego Auto Show, but never as a journalist. I sometimes forget that I am considered a "member of the press" because I'm a blogger - specifically, a car blogger at Audiblog.info.

Firsts that happened before the new year

I want to document a few Firsts that have happened over the last 2 weeks as I have been thinking about what I am going to do in 2014.

Of course none of these Firsts count but just contemplating taking on this challenge has led me to do a couple things I had either not done before or haven't done in at least 10 years.

• Archery class - I attended and archer class with an instructor that had tried out for the US Olympic team for the last summer games.  She did not make the team but she was a great instructor keeping it fun for everybody.
• Hang with a homeless person for a few hours - this was on my list to do but ended up doing it before January 1st so it doesn't count.  Met John at the La Mesa Starbucks that I work out of quite often.  John has been homeless for less than a year after getting sick and being hospitalized for several months.  Not sure what he was in for (not a mental illness) but John was considerably overweight and walked with a cane.
• Attended the "Winter Tea Party at the Tea Gallerie" - learned about some of the health benefits of drinking tea and how popular it is in San Diego.  Over 300 people attended the event.  I met the owner John who is from England where he owns a large tea business.

 Even though these Firsts don't count for my year of Firsts it got the ball rolling.

January 1 - 2014: Mark's first First

My first First of the new year was to try a bike ride that I have been thinking about doing for the last couple of years.

As you head west on Mission Gorge Road out of Santee heading toward San Diego the road seemed quite steep whenever I drove it in my car.  The few people who I have seen riding their bike up the pass looked like they were working very hard so it was a challenge I set for myself to try someday.

Today was the day.  And I can now say from personnel experience it was harder than I expected.  Here is a screen capture of the route from a phone app called "Map My Ride" I use to chart my rides:

The total ride was 9.5 miles with the highest elevation at 640 ft and the lowest at 263 ft.  and an average speed of 10.6 mph.

Since I have not been riding much over the last 60 to 90 days I think I will ride it again in a few months to see how much better I can do when I get back in shape.

Game on.  I am looking forward to my next First.

First Travel Diary

As part of my initial list of firsts, I've included visiting a few places in the U.S. My top 3 places are New Orleans, New York, and Boston. These are places I've been wanting to visit for a long time. I think by starting this travel book it will get the energy in motion for it to really happen this year.