got fruit?

as i am not an official "writer", there are days when my mind is blank...today is one of those days. darn it, what can i write about today? so i googled "quotes of the day".
this was the first thing that came up...

so true...apple and blackberries sometimes equals me being BANANAS....

HA. HA. HA.

i crack myself up. happy wednesday. 

live your best life

i just found out on facebook that an organizing client  passed away this morning. i met karl through erik, the owner of prana del where i have my yoga retreats. i was hired by erik to help karl organize his paper work and his home. karl had cancer. cancer took over his world but in the end karl took his life back in spite of it with his teaching.  karl was kind, funny and way too young to pass away. his passing reminds me once again how important it is to live my best life. rest in peace karl.

no one's looking at me

on occasion i find i get caught up in what people think of me. it never helps. i can understand why in a way that some famous people say that they never read reviews or press about themselves.  being a person of service - as a yoga teacher and a professional organizer i am constantly given feedback from people about how they think of me. then there's also social media...i post something and a comment is given back. i am not sure how to say it correctly but i think the opinions get me off track. i can't say exactly how but i find that on occasion i behave with the thought in mind of "what will so and so think". or "i should do that because so and so said they liked that". in a way it feels like i am seeing myself in the third person.
so...i have a new motto..."what other think of me is none of my business". '

take that leap...it's so worth it.

years ago i decided the corporate world wasn't for me. i quit my job and became a yoga teacher. at the time it seemed like a leap of faith but looking back i was still going to one secure environment to one sort of secure environment. sure my paycheck took a nose dive but i was still working for someone else. the first real leap i took was setting up my organzing business and the second leap happened when i decided to host yoga retreats. in some ways i still feel in mid air but i am beginning to feel that i am not that high off the ground.

helping others

it feels so good to help people in distress. yesterday i was hired by an elderly couple to find lost hearing aids in a bedroom/office/dumping ground. they are a lovely couple and polar opposites. he is a retired minister and very studies theologian. he showed me his sanctuary room where he prays. basically he converted a walk in closet that has a very mystical experience. she is a psycho therapist and let's just say her space is a little all over the place. i could feel his frustration with her clutter and now she had lost her hearing aids so he had to shout in order for him to hear her.
so i was hired with the one goal of systematically taking the room apart and finding the hearing aids. thankfully paula let me do my thing and kept herself busy in another room. not only did i systematically take the room apart, i also cleaned and re-organized it so it has a better flow. i love the process of everything has a place and everything in its place. to say i did a good job is an understatement and...i found the hearing aids. paula was absolutely thrilled. my fee was $130 and they saved $4,000 (the price of new hearing aids). i could feel her relief when she realized she didn't have to pay that.
it really feels good to help others out. i am a lucky girl.

rocking it before noon on friday

i'm having the perfect san francisco friday morning.
started the day with drinking coffee and reading my book in bed. followed that with taking a trx fitness class. i crushed it. ok i didn't crush it but i am improving. and then...a two hour walk along fort mason/marina. so much going over there to see - america's cup festivities, tourists taking in the sights, kids in boot camp bike classes. dogs running wild. s  - i finished off my morning adventure with a cup of clam chowder sitting on a bench and watching the tourists freeze as they rode by.
now i am freshly showered and heading out to do laundry. house is cleaned and soon clothes will be cleaned. love getting chores done before the weekend.
business wise i have a scheduled call with a rep. she has hired me to help move the newly hired cfo and his family san francisco to ny. we need to work out the details - aka paying me! not bad at all. if i had had a resume i think that would be something i would add to it...employed by the CFO of American Express...sounds good to me.
too add to this lovely friday, i am heading over this afternoon to catch a teeny bopper movie at the kabuki - loved the reserved seats component. after that john is meeting for a second movie.
this day rocks.  
sf rocks.
 i rock.
you rock.
we all rock.
happy friday!

i am good

so if you read yesterday's post you know i was hesitant to meet with a new client. well i forgot one important component to the equation, i am good at what i do. sure she was all over the place - hovering over me when i was organizing, asking advice questions about relationships, food and basically her life path. but me being me i was able to do it all. i am like the energizer bunny. i kept working and working and eventually she got tired and let me be. she even left her place to go get "something" from her car. i made her place great! then at about 8:30 last night i was ready to go and she said "what about the kitchen". in my eyes there were so many things on the counters that i thought well she is already living in that part of her new apartment. WRONG! she must have bought new appliances, pots and pans and just never opened them. they were all stuffed in cabinets. and don't get me started on the food cabinets. one hour later and bam - organized, planned out, gorgeous kitchen - inside and out! . of course then my client looked through the cabinets and gave me that "fingernails on a chalkboard feeling". each cabinet door she opened, she left open.  seriously? i think that is officially the last thing i did for her... i closed the kitchen cabinet doors.
so my take away is this...there will always be clients and jobs that are difficult but i am good at what i do and i can pretty much tackle anything. as my client said "you amaze me - for four hours straight you just worked and made apartment amazing and you never stopped - no food, no water, no bathroom break. that's incredible." yep, another satisfied customer.
the energizer bunny hops on!
happy thursday.

i am not going with my gut...uh oh

so after all that talk yesterday about growing my organizing business well, the requests kept coming. i got a call around 6pm by a woman in need of an organizer for her new apartment. she has downsized from a 3 bedroom to a 2 bedroom and sounds like a total mess. just in my brief conversation with her i felt frazzled. first she wanted to know if i could come right over then and start work. then she got caught up in her problems and that went back in forth to "wait which organizer are you"? and before she hung up, one more question "do you have references"? NUTTY.
of course i did not agree to come over but i did agree to come today and if all goes well, start organizing today. that is not how i do business.  typically i meet a potential client for a consultation and then from there we set up a future date to begin work. i am breaking my rules. my gut bells and whistles are going off. this uneasy feeling was even more confirmed when she called my home at 9:45 pm. she had some crazy idea of me looking at the new place and the old place. apparently she has a garage filled with stuff at the old place that needs to be cleaned out in a week. after all of that i can start work. did i mention i can't come over until 4:30. with all of that, i won't be out of there before 9. i am not a nighttime person. yep, my gut is screaming at me but i have agreed to go over there so i am going to stay to my comittment. i need a plan.
ok, first i have not agreed to work. if the situation doesn't work for me than i can leave. i need to keep her on track and just working on her new place. it is not a good use of time to look at both places and then come back to start work. the worst case scenario...i don't think i can work there and i will just need to say that. wonder how this is going to go...

setting intention

amazing, in the last two days i have been thinking and writing about my intentions - organizing and helping others. yep, it's happening...
organizing...just returned calls to three different people that need my services - one guy called on behalf of his elderly wife who has lost "a white box with hearing aids worth $4,000 in a super cluttered room". my conversation with the husband was pretty funny. he told me that if i was wondering about his accent it's because he and his wife are from texas. i told him i liked him immediately. meeting them tomorrow. i think they will be a fun job.
next call was from a woman who works for american express and is being moved from sf to ny - my home state. american express has agreed that in addition to having movers she can also hire a professional organizer.  american express was in touch with me last month and i had two phone interviews to see if i was a match. guess i was.  and the third call was from a young woman who needs help organizing her apartment. we start work saturday. boy oh boy, i am sure glad i set my intention to seek out organizing business. it worked and i needed it.
helping...this one i kind of dragged my heals on. but, i made an agreement today to respond to all the saved messages in my voice mail and this was one. i got an email two weeks ago and a voice mail message four days ago from a woman who wants advice on becoming a professional organizer in the bay area. yes, she's a total stranger. i so didn't want to call her back. i mean, why would i give away my private business information to a total stranger? but this was my opportunity to give back and i did. i gave her the 411 on every thing. i know there are plenty of fish in the sea that need help so i can't worry about one more person in business. she was very appreciative and i can check that off my list.
this setting intentions thing really works.
namaste.

do i give enough to others?

one of my internal struggles is that i find myself 100 percent focused on me - good marriage, quality friendships, setting up my businesses but am i reaching out to help others? sure i give money when they ask but i want to do more to improve the quality of life.
part of my original vision for my organizing business was to reach individuals that could not afford a professional organizer. i have helped a few people in this situation but i know i need to do more. in addition to grow my organizing i need to do more to give back. today's goal...use the power of social media to reach someone who needs my help.
happy monday people.

i loved having saved posts

just taking a shower and thinking about my goals for the week. sunday nights are good for that. my organizing business came to mind and that i need to pay it some love this week. well, i think looked at my blog and noticed - i have blogs not yet posted and the one below is the first one i came across. you will see...yep, my organizing business is on my mind. 

so i am now at a point where i need to start thinking about expanding my organizing business. i am so excited that i am working every day but it is not realistic that i can continue with the current model...everything from marketing my business, to initial meetings and then the actual organizing sessions. i am ready for the next steps. i just don't know what they are.
it is time for me to go back to the drawing board of my mind to see where this takes me.
enlightenment please come.

well hello gorgeous (said in the voice of barbara streisand)

i have to make an apology to my beautiful san francisco. i have been a bit whiny these past few days about the cold, wind and fog.  while the rest of the country sweats, we shiver. but i am reminded today, on this friday, that we got it good here in sf.
i started the day with my 8:30 am kick your ass trx class. for the first time i was able to do a side plank in the suspension trainer while raising my arm to the sky. to most this seems nothing but to me i felt like a professional athlete. when i started at trx 3 months ago i could barely able to do a side plank with both feet on the floor.  it was a super challenging class with lots of guys grunting and sweating equally as much as me. we shared the pain and got through it together. super cool. i love the variety of fitness things you can do in this city.  with that thought i headed out the door and prepared for the next task of the day - work.
woo hoo - client cancelled. ok, not woo hooo but heck it's friday and i have some free time. what to do? 10,000 steps out to the bridge and back. thankfully being a local i was already dressed appropriately - down jacket, hood, sunglasses. it is here that i was really reminded how cool this city is. of course tons of tourists out, all wearing recently purchased sf sweatshirts, jackets, windbreakers, taking photos of the magnificent views. yes there was fog but with my cozy layers i felt perfect. how cool to walk along the beach, dog walkers out with every kind of dog possible while watching ocean liners head out to sea. ah-may-zing! on the way back from the bridge i stopped in to check out the various businesses that have opened in the huge hangar buildings - indoor pool for children (damn kids, i want to swim in the warm pool), the tramploine business and a climbing gym...oh yes, and a "warming hut. of course i had to support the local business and purchased a steaming cup of coffee.
this city ROCKS. i just need to figure out a way to invite the sun to join us for the weekend.
happy friday.

5:06

crap. it is 5:06 pm and i have nothing for today's blog. absolutely nothing. daily i put on my calendar - walk 10,000 steps, exercise (either in the form of yoga class or trx class), and blog. now i have to admit when i first started this blog i would stock up on future posts. yes, it is exactly what you think. i would have a variety of ideas, write about them all at once and then save each post so as to publish one a day. yes, you are also correct that i like to complete my daily tasks. and for as much as i like the completion i hate hate hate not completing a task.. if i set my mind to something, well you can pretty much guarantee i am going to get it done. some say that is consistent with my zodiac sign of taurus the bull. my brother adam just called it stubborn. regardless,m it can be a big pain in the you know what. did i also say that i haven't completed my 10,000 steps for today and it is foggy and windy out? maybe i can walk back and forth in my apartment. how did i get this way? sometimes it is just exhausting to have goals but i know in my heart of hearts that the annoyingness of this is outweighed by the great feeling i get from checking it off my list.
oh well would you look at that...blogging today? check.

the merge!

so i am going back and forth in my mind as to how to merge my businesses into one home spot.
i think the first step is to start on a name. sure everyone says make it easy and just be andreawait.com but that just doesn't click with me. of course from there i can have offshoots to my various businesses - organizing, teaching yoga, yoga retreats, wedding officiant.
my friend tom suggested "really andrea". hmmm. that kind of works but at second thought i think that just applies to my blog. i want a word or a couple of words that brings all of what i am doing together. yep, that is my next step. what is it?

it is 6:13 pm

i have made a goal for myself to walk 10,000 steps a day...in addition to my regular work out routine of alternating yoga days with trx days.
it is now 6:13 and i have not completed my goal.
it is also now foggy, windy and grey out.
i don't want to go outside.
but of course i have a fancy tracking bracelet on, an app on my phone and an icon on my computer - all telling me "you have not met your goal for today".
be careful of what you wish for.
ok, i am now getting up...

clarity

whenever i seem to be at a crossroads someone comes into my life to give me a little clarity. in this particular case it was an old friend who has come back into my life and in catching up with me has been offering me some advice. today's advice came through a simple question - what is my blog address.

this was my response.

this is my organizing page on fb

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Organize-with-Andrea/177824563866

this is my yoga page on fb

https://www.facebook.com/yogretreatawithandrea

at one point i had three blogs going but this is my most consistent one.

www.awaitgirl.blogspot.com

this my organizing website

www.andreawait.com

this is my yoga retreat website

www.yogawithandreainmexico.com

really andrea? 

now i have been saying for a while that i would like to bring all of this together into one place but i could never articulate what i was wanting to bring together. in four words...ALL OF THE ABOVE.

oh my gosh, all of these pages and websites and blogs (i didn't even list the other two) clearly shows that i have been attempting to do a little bit of everything. clearly that road does not lead to success. so i am thankful for my friends simple question. time for me to figure this out and pull it together.

happy monday people. 

checking back in

i returned from mexico june 29th and well no excuses, just delayed my re-entry to the blogging world. i of course have had many things i wanted to write about - the retreat, loss of my friend, coming back to sf, pride weekend, relationships and the ending of some of them. the lazy mind got ahead of me and well as you can see, nothing happened. no writing. zilch. nada.
thankfully at the prodding of my friend tom, who is an official writer, i was reminded of the nike slogan...just do it. sure i have posted to fb and sort of thought in mind that was enough but we both know...one sentence does not count as writing.
so today, sunday, while i wait for my laundry to dry i pull up my boot straps and get back on that horse.  today i recommit to my daily writing. unedited, uncensored!
thank you tom.