Many popular gurus  say that to make your dreams come true all you need to do is glue images of what you want to a vision board, place it somewhere where you will be able to see it often, and wait for the things to show up.  In my opinion, a vision board is a great tool for inspiring yourself to try new things, but it isn’t the means by which you achieve your goals. To get what you want, you have to take action! A vision board is a great way for you to outline action steps and to serve as a visual reminder to go after your dreams.  Here is how I make my vision board. The push pins allow me to change out the pictures and quotes when I have accomplished them or if they no longer inspire me (versus gluing the cut-outs down which is more permanent.)
You will need:

- A stack of magazines and catal0gs

- Push pins

- Scissors

- Cork board squares (You can get these at your local drug store in the school supplies aisle or online at amazon)

- 3M Command Strips  (Available at the drug store or at any office supply store)

Step 1:  Take your magazines and catalogs and cut out things that inspire you. This can be pictures, words, quotes, things you want to buy, etc.  It may take you awhile to amass enough cut-outs for a vision board. I have been building my collection for several years. I store mine in a zip loc bag.

Step 2:  Secure the cork boards to the wall using command strips.  Don’t worry about making it even. Once you have the pictures posted on there you won’t be able to see the gaps.

Step 3: Arrange your cut-outs on the cork board and secure them to the cork using the push pins. This is where you can get creative. I have one board for things that I want to buy, one for places that I want to go, One for inspiring quotes, and one for uplifting pictures. Or you can just arrange them in a way that is visually inspiring to you. My finished product:

My vision board has all kinds of thing on it. Hairstyles I want to try, inspiring quotes, people jogging (because I want to start jogging again), fashion and other random things. I posted it near my desk so that I will see it often. From start to finish it only took me about 20 minutes and it is a great way to add a pop of color to your walls.

Do you have a vision board or do you use another method to set goals? Let me know in the comments below!

I have a passion for healthy eating and I am always on the hunt for simple yet tasty recipes to prepare each day. I came across a variation of this sandwich a few months ago on Youtube, but I added some ingredients to make it more filling for when I eat it for lunch or dinner.  I eat this at least once a week and it takes less than five minutes to prepare if you have all of the ingredients on hand. There are several fun ways to prepare this recipe. See below for variations.

Smoked Salmon Open Faced Sandwich (One serving size)

You Will Need:

1 “Sandwich Thins” Multi-Grain Roll

Smoked Salmon

1/2 of an Avocado, sliced, chopped, or mashed

1 Roma Tomato, sliced

1 teaspoon of Fresh Lemon Juice

Freshly Ground Black Pepper to taste (not pictured)

Recipe:

1. Take one sandwich thin multi-grain roll and split it in half. This will give you two slices.

2.  Take your avocado and distribute it evenly between the two slices of the roll.

3. Take your tomato slices and distribute them evenly on the two slices of the roll.

4. Take out one serving of smoked salmon from the packet and distribute it evenly on the two slices of the roll. (You can freeze the rest in a ziploc bag and use it up later)

5. Drizzle the top of the salmon with lemon juice

6. Grind some fresh black pepper over the top of the completed sandwich.

7. Enjoy!
Variations:

- Make it vegan/vegetarian friendly by omitting the smoked salmon and adding a crumbled meat-substitute patty on top (I like to use Morningstar Farms’ Black Bean Veggie Burger Patty).

- Use a chopped hard boiled egg instead of the smoked salmon (smoked salmon can be high in sodium so a boiled egg is a great substitute).

- Sprinkle on some flax seed or very good quality extra virgin olive oil.

- Jazz up your avocado by adding diced red onions and some cilantro (or guacamole if you have some).

- Lightly toast the sandwich rolls in a toaster to give the sandwich a crunchy texture.

-Add mayonnaise or your favorite sandwich toppings.
Let me know if you try this recipe!

I have been having the longest week ever. I have been super tired from running around non-stop between work and meetings. There was an evening informational session for a program that I am interested in applying to and I decided to go to it even though my gut told me not to. Within 30 minutes of being there my eyes completely glazed over and I was scanning the room for the nearest exit.  I gathered my things and decided to go for a walk. The second I stepped outside I was pleasantly surprised to see that a mini hurricane was occurring. The wind was gusting and rain was coming down in curtains. I absolutely love the rain and I felt instantly energized by being outside. I strolled around for a bit, grabbed dinner and then walked a mile home in the pouring rain. I had lots of time to clear my head and to have some downtime for the first time in a while. By the time I got home, I had received e-mails from the informational session re-capping what they talked about. It turns out that I didn’t miss anything by not being there. Whether you are at work and can’t figure out how to do something or you are feeling a bit overwhelmed, when things get tough, sometimes you just need to take a walk.

I has been a little over two months since my big move (and since I last posted…oops!) and to say that I am thoroughly inspired and in love with my new neighborhood would be an understatement.  It is such a relief to be in a neighborhood where people actually walk around and where I see a diverse set of people.  In my old ‘hood, it was more car and bus oriented so it always felt weird to walk anywhere and in some instances, the sidewalk would just abruptly stop and you would be forced to trudge through foliage to get to your destination.  Now I am surrounded by urban gardens, sidewalk cafes, boutiques, and restaurants galore. The apartment complex across the street from me has a fountain in their courtyard, so anytime the weather is nice, I can open my windows and zen out to the sound of the water. On Friday and Saturday nights, I do have to deal with all of the drunken people and loud motorcycles en route to the local bars, but I don’t mind since pros of the apartment far outweigh the cons. My favorite thing about the apartment is that I have a great view of the city skyline from my bedroom window, and it looks even better at night when the buildings are illuminated in various colors. I will do a series on apartment hunting, living with a roommate, decorating, and how to put together Ikea furniture without losing your mind (you are going to love that one).
P.S. Check out the new blog header! It was designed by MerelyBlogDesign. If you are in need of design services for your blog or website, definitely get in contact with her. I have been admiring her work for a while now and I am excited that I got to work with her.

Packing has also provided me with a lot of time to think. When I first started this site, I intended for it to go in an entirely different direction. I wanted this to be a place where I can explore creativity, be inspired, and hopefully in the process inspire others. I don’t know what it was about July, but everything seemed to be going wrong. I am sure that I will look back one day and understand why all of this was happening, but for now, all I can do is move forward in full belief that tomorrow is a new day full of opportunity and exciting things. I will be back on August 1 with new content, a regular posting schedule, and perhaps a new theme (something about my current theme reminds me of cupcakes…). Off to go pick up my new keys!

But first, let me give you a little bit of background. I completely hate my apartment complex. If you can imagine any problem that you could have with an apartment, I have had it. I’ve had an infestation by a colony of mice, ginormous furry spiders descending on me from my ceiling, flying ants, water leaks,  dinosaur sized roaches, power outages, cabinets falling off of the walls, extremely creepy neighbors, and the icing on the cake: my kitchen ceiling caving in.  I moved to Philly sight unseen (I do NOT recommend that you do this. EVER) because I got a new job and literally had to drop everything and move there within four weeks. The apartment complex had beautiful pictures online, claimed that it was eco-friendly, and that my unit was newly renovated. In reality, they are complete slumlords that make their money off of unsuspecting people moving in that break their leases a few months later at a ridiculously high cost to high tail it out of there because of all of the craziness that occurs there.

So, back to Tuesday night. Around 10 pm I was laying on my couch watching Youtube and drifting into a really nice sleep when I started to hear a sound that was similar to static electric. I had been hearing this sound all week but could not figure out where it was coming from. My apartment is located directly over the boiler room of the apartment complex, so I figured that it was just some machine making a noise. A few minutes later, I heard a noise that was similar to in the movies when they turn an electric chair on. A really high voltage like sound.  This continued for a few seconds. Next, I started hearing popping sounds. Then there was an explosion and the lights went out.  I looked out my window and saw that my building and the building next door did not have power.  I fumbled around in the dark to find my flashlight and my shoes. When I turned on my flashlight, I realized that my apartment was quickly filling with smoke from the basement.  I grabbed my keys and my bag, a folder filled with all of my important documents, unplugged everything and ran out into the hallway. My neighbor was in the hallway as well and said that her apartment was filling with smoke too.

I went to call 911 but of course I forgot to grab my phone so I went outside and asked someone to dial 911 because there was an explosion in the basement.  All of the tenants in the apartment complex started to file outside and were sitting on the steps in front of my apartment in their pajamas and wondering what had happened. They sent five fire trucks, police, an ambulance, and a police helicopter.  I had to let the firefighters into the building to check my apartment, so I was able to go back and get my phone.  It turns out that my landlords/slumlords had all of the power lines in both buildings connected to one solitary power source in the boiler room under my apartment. With everyone running their air conditioners due to the unusually hot weather, the circuits got overloaded and literally spontaneously combusted.

Around 1am, our property owner showed up and let us know that everything was under control and that the power would be restored by morning. In the meantime, they had set up a Red Cross disaster center at a local school with cots and food so that we could go to sleep there and then return in the morning when the power was back on.  Well, we got to this supposed disaster center and all they had for us were some hard metal chairs and some pringles and coffee. No food and no beds. Around 4am they told us that it was safe to go home.

The whole 6 hours that this was happening, I kept saying out loud “This can’t be real life. This can’t be real life.” It was literally like a scene out of a movie. I have never had something that crazy happen to me before.  I will be moving out on Monday. I can’t take anymore of this foolishness. My new apartment is wonderful and I will share more about it when I move. Now, if you will excuse me, I have a scathing google review to write about my apartment complex.

http://www.coursera.org

Remember when you were in undergrad and there were always those one or two really interesting sounding classes that you wanted to take but couldn’t fit into your schedule? Or perhaps you have been out of school for a while and want a refresher on some subjects. Well here’s your chance. Introducing Coursera.org.

I was perusing my Twitter feed a few weeks ago when one of my friends tweeted that she had just signed up for a free finance class on a website. I clicked through to the website and saw that not only were they offering finance, but they were also offering other cool classes like Cryptography, Intro to Pharmacology, and my personal favorite, Intro to Sustainability, among many others. 

The best thing about this site is that the classes are offered through really amazing colleges and universities including Harvard. The classes are interactive and have assignments and even final exams in some cases! I see huge potential in this being a great tool for high school students to use to determine what their career interests are and to get acclimated to the academic rigor of college.

 I signed up for the finance class but I definitely plan on signing up for more once my schedule allows me to. I was really inspired as I read through the course listing. It is admirable that these schools are offering access to these courses for free! The philosophy and management courses look particularly interesting to me.  I am so glad that my friend recommended this website and I knew that I had to pay it forward and share it as well. I’ll keep you posted on my Coursera experience as I go through the course.