Hey All. As I sit down to write this, the post vacation blues are rolling in like a storm in the midwest. In short dark, fast and overwhelming. To be honest, the last thing I want to do today is sit down and create. In fact, I have resisted doing this work all day. This is the 200th day of creating. Today, I said to myself "Why am I doing this?" "Why am I spending 2-5 hours a day creating?" Why am I putting it out there everyday?  To be honest, I have never been one to give up. Sunk cost is clearly my achilles heel. 

Today, I am thinking about what life would be like if I had never started this blog 200 days ago. I'd like to think I am proving this Create & Change hypothesis as a hunk of junk. I'd like to say, nope, it's not working and tell you nothing about me has changed. I'd like to say nothing about me is more remarkable than 200 days ago. I would be flat out lying to you.

This week I sat on the 34 floor overlooking a fantastic cityscape with a brilliant friend and classmate I met in the altMBA. He asked me about Create & Change. He asked if I thought it was working. I paused. That's when I realized if it wasn't for Create & Change, I would never have had the opportunity to sit across from him. I would never have gotten into the altMBA. I would never have met any of my altMBA network. I wouldn't have knowledge about social media, photography, styling, illustration and design that I do today. I wouldn't have created hundreds of illustrations, thousands of photographs or hundreds of thousands of stories. Most importantly, I wouldn't be any closer to making a life full of meaning.  

And that is what Create & Change does. By creating everyday, it makes change less intimidating. Creating everyday is like fiddling with the dials on an old machine. Tinker with the dials and you are bound to find the life worth living.

Today's, project is to tinker with the dials. Go create one thing today that will get you one step closer to your meaningful tomorrow. Don't think too much about what you need to create. The first thing that pops in your head, go do that. Don't hold back. Is it a bike ride? Turn the dial! Is it calling an old friend?Turn the dial! Is it making a loaf of bread. Turn the dial! Is saying sorry? Turn the dial. In short, tinker away. 

See you tomorrow tinker thinkers!

Hey guys and gals. Everything is awesome because I'm just getting back from vacation. I have a dirty little secret to confess. I went to Legoland. I have another dirty little secret to confess. I don't like Legos! Well, rather, I didn't like Legos until today. Legos in my book were hard plastic blocks that didn't create much joy. One could say, I never saw the sculpture in the marble. Legos were always a bit of a mystery to me. They just didn't seem interesting.

Today, changed how I look at Legos and the awe that can be created from the simple, plastic blocks. Just look at these cityscapes and sculptures.

Amazing right? Today's project is to create something out of Legos. It doesn't need to be a city scape or take one thousand man hours. Just have fun and try to see the sculpture in the marble. What will you make?

I'm going to get back to looking at photos of these amazing creations and trying my hand at making something awesome out of Legos. Drop me a line and let me know what you create and remember everything is awesome, especially Legos!

Hi. It's that time of year. Vacation time! Who doesn't love to get away? There is something about going some place new to hit the reset button. To keep on creating even when on vacation, today I am trying mobile blogging. I have spent the day photographing the beautiful moments of the day. It's hard to capture all the emotions of the trip. Trying a photography style that is photo journalistic or story driven is a great way to keep creating even when occupied with life.

Today's project is to use photography today to tell a story. It could be about the vacation you are on, the dinner that you created or walk you took around the block. Look at your day from a different perspective and get away from the everyday. What angle, lighting and subject will help create your story?

That's all I have today. Until tomorrow folks! 

Salut! Has anyone noticed the last four posts have been dedicated to beverages? Let's continue the streak today and say cheers to a drink that is near and dear to my heart, champagne. As I sit here and dream of my favorite little bubbly drink, I realized today just happens to be Bastille Day. One second thought, let's talk about Bastille Day.

To be honest, why is Bastille Day important to France? I'm not sure. Yes, I know that the french stormed the Bastille prison and Bastille Day or La fête nationale is the french national holiday. At some point I stood at the square Place de la Bastille and remember learning about the french revolution. Like pieces of a quilt before they are sewn, my memory has bits of french history and cultured stored in the grey wrinkles. My brain, however, has never brought the bits together. Perhaps today I should honor a culture that is interesting and different from my own and patch the information together.

Today's project is to create a few minutes in your day to research, read and brush up on the history of another culture. Maybe Google the history of your favorite egg dish? Look into when and why the ascot was popular? Fill in missing information that you have about a world war? Create memory gain to better understand the world around you.

Well, I have some research to do and champagne to drink. Vive la France and salute to you!

Oh hi! Sweaty summer weather today or what? Whew. When I'm hot and sweaty, I usually grab a talk drink of water but today I'm really jonesing for an Arnold Palmer. Yes, it is a drink named after the super famous fantastic golfer. Do I like golf? No! I, however, do love the mix of slightly sweet ice tea and tart lemonade which is named after Mr. Palmer. 

I started thinking, wouldn't it be fun to create a new drink and name it? Today's project is to become bartender for the day and make up a signature party drink. Why not mix together Orange Fanta, coconut water with a splash of lime? Name it "Vacation Monday?" How about beer with sriracha and pepperoni slices? The name "College Nightmare" sounds right. How about earl grey tea, fresh mint and tequila. Maybe "Aunt Tilly" as a tribute to all those glorious thanksgiving memories of that special Aunt. In short, everyone should have a signature drink. In the meantime here is a video to show to how throw together a round of homemade Arnold Palmers.

I'm headed to make up a drink with Tootsie Pops and lemon lime soda. Wish me luck and drop me a line and fill me in on the latest bartenders!

Hey guys! After yesterdays FREE Slurpee post, let's keep the beverage train moving and create a sweet, summer smoothie that will satisfy any sweet tooth. Hey, this recipe might even be a little more healthy than the Slurpee! I love smoothies. How about you? They are sweet, cool and usually the healthy sister to any slushie type beverage. Nothing says summertime breakfast more than a smoothie. This one has been made especially for celebrating the melon of summer, honeydew. Enjoy it on a hot and humid day and feel the summertime heat melt away.

Summertime Smoothie

Makes approximately 2-8oz smoothies

• 2 cups cut fresh honeydew mellon
• 2 cups frozen pineapple
• 1 cup full fat coconut milk
• 5 fresh mint leaves

Step 1: Wash the outside of the honeydew mellon throughly with soap and water. Cut the flesh of the honeydew melon into 2 inch cubes. 

Step 2: Add 1 cup pineapple, the coconut milk and fresh mint leaves to the blender and blend till smooth. Pour the liquid into 2 glasses.

Step 3: Add the honeydew mellon and 1 cup pineapple to the blender and blend till smooth. Pour the liquid into the 2 glasses over the top to the coconut milk, pineapple and mint leaves mixture. Add a straw and enjoy!

There is nothing like a fresh melon smoothie to make summertime shine from the inside out. Bottoms up and see you tomorrow honey!

Hey Sugar! Today is 7-Eleven Day! That means you can scoot on over to 7-Eleven and pick yourself up a FREE small Slurpee drink from 11am-7pm. Here are the details: 7-Eleven Day. Now go create some fun today and enjoy that Slurpee all the way to the last big gulp. See you tomorrow sugar tooth!

Bonjour! My french ends there but I wish it didn't. I thought today we would escape from the heavy things going on in the world and talk something a little lighter. I thought it might be fun to talk style. When I think of style, I immediately remember the vacations where I wandered around Paris ogling pastry and fashion. In my book, the french have nailed two things: pastry and the word chic. 

What is it about the french? They can take something so simple, such empty store window and make it into a work of art. They can whisk together flour and butter and create a tart so beautiful no one dare eat the perfectly golden beauty. They can take a square scarf and style it into a runway worthy accessory.

Whatever je ne sais quoi magic they possess, they use it to make everything look perfect. Today, I thought we could try our hand at trying to create our own je ne sais quoi. You will need a square scarf. For all you men out, this post is for you too. When you are sweaty and need to tie a bandana around your neck, this is a great way to look stylish even when sweaty. Let's check out this video and see how create simple chic:

How did you do? Is it Oo La La worthy? Well, I have some wine to drink. See you tomorrow mon chéri!

Hello All. It's Saturday and looking back, yesterday was a great day here. I went to a lovely company picnic, full of great people and beautiful moments. With everything going on this week, this feels like a selfish statement. In short, I can get caught up in all things me. When I pick up my head, it saddens me to realize there is a world that is overwhelmed with anger, disrespect and rage. It can seem like a world full of people trying to hurt others. I tell myself this can't be the world I live in but it is.

In my head, all people are equal. In my head, no one hurts anyone to make a statement. In my head, people are good to each other in every space. In my head, people think more of others than themselves. Everyday the whole world works toward peace. 

But this isn't the case is it? What I have realized is I need to work toward peace everyday. I need to put out in the world what I want to see in the world. I need to create peace around me in hopes that peace will translate to something bigger than me.

Peace Medallion. 

Today, create peace. When you are driving, and someone cuts you off, let the anger go. When a person says something irritating, realize they are human. When you find yourself thinking of yourself, think of others. The only way we are going to get through all this mess is to practice empathy and create peace within every moment of our day. 

Thinking of you until tomorrow!

Hey you. Today's project is in the garbage and I'm feeling salty. Everything about today's post failed. It was a big hot mess, literally. After dreaming of old vacation trips to the ocean, I started to remember salt water taffy. The little chewy, colorful gems always brought such happiness to summer. Today, I decided to make vintage salt water taffy. I thought it might be a great way to create and celebrate summer. Yeah, I was totally wrong.

The recipe failed. No, wait, rather, I failed the recipe. Today's project started out innocent and hopeful as I carefully measured out the sugar. I dutifully watched the candy thermometer go up to 250 degrees. Like a pro, I whisked in drops of flavor. Pouring the liquid candy gently and mindfully into the buttered pan, I smiled at the dreamy blog post ahead. Gloating to my assistant, we were going to make the best salt water taffy ever. The 15 minute timer was set to let the candy cool. I was dreaming of the millions of followers that would subscribe to this blog due to this magnificent project. I might even be asked on a daytime talk show to demo this recipe. Then the timer went off.

At that point, the recipe called for "pulling" the taffy for 20 minutes. The directions said to first push the taffy into a ball. When I touched the warm taffy goop, it became apparent that it wasn't the consistency of salt water taffy. It was sticky slime. Did I give up hope and throw in the towel? No! I kept telling myself, "Maybe if I push it around more it will set up." Oh, no. At this point, I am desperately trying to salvage this project. I call over my assistant and she goes crazy trying to pull the goop together. The mess goes everywhere and I realize I have botched this project. The dreamy vintage salt water taffy is a goopy, fat fail.

After going back through the recipe, it became apparent that I made one stupid mistake. I read the thermometer wrong. More importantly, I learned that sometimes we are going to make stupid mistakes that will cost us time, money and chances. It's just how it is.

Maybe If We Push It Around More It Will Start To Look Like Taffy?

Today's project is to look back on past failures and jot down how you will do things differently in the future. How will you recognize when to say something is a sunk cost? How will you move forward when things fail? Create a strategy to make failures into opportunities. 

As for me, I am going to slow down a bit. More importantly, I am going to tell myself sometimes life is just a big pile of goop. What we create from the goop is key to making better goop in the future. See you tomorrow salty dogs!

Hello Friends. Thank you for reading today. Doesn't it feel like we need to slow down and thank more people in our lives? Especially friends. I'm talking about the old friends we have lost touch with and the new friends that are right around the corner. Both help us get though the day. If our lives are good they cheer us on. If our lives are falling apart, they hold our hand and guide us forward. 

An old friend and I have set up a new routine. We are 3,000 miles away but for the last few weeks we pour ourselves a cup of tea or coffee. We then call each other to talk. She is one of my dearest friends. Wth distance and time, however, we have found ourselves talking only a few times a year. Although, the weekly calls are short, we have created and brought a new sense of support to our long life friendship.

I have to thank her today. She is an amazing person and my life wouldn't be the same without her. If I haven't said it before Ms. You Know Who, thank you for sticking by me when I couldn't stop complaining about life, supporting the endless crying when I was pregnant and coming to see me when things fell apart. You are brilliant, sweet and hands down one of the best people I know. I'm so lucky and grateful we are friends.

Today, pick someone you have lost touch with or a person you want to know better. Create a weekly time to talk, email or text. Chat about whatever is on the top of mind. Make it a point, however, to thank them for all the good stuff they have brought to your life. Call it a friend specific goodfinding mission today.

I'm going to guess you won't need to look far to say thank you. There are so many people that make our lives feel full and round. See you tomorrow friends!

Morning! I'm going to keep this post quick today as there is never enough time in the day! Speaking of time, my daughter turns a big birthday in just a few weeks. I have mentioned that birthday's are big at our house and this one will be no exception. When I, however, sat down to think about the theme for her birthday, I came up with nothing. Nada. No ideas. My mind was a blank page. That's when I realized I had a creative block. "Well, now what?" I said to myself. How do I get the creative juices flowing?

First, I asked the birthday girl what kind of party she wanted. She wanted a movie party, slip 'n slide party and a candy party. Great! The birthday girl solved my problem. I sat down to create a party that incorporated all three ideas together. Only to realize, together they would create a kid storm so epic, no one would ever attend one of our birthday parties ever again.

Back to the drawing board. I again was drawing a blank. I realized I was having serious creative block. Creative ideas usually work themselves out when I walk, with two kids in tow, we went for an urban hike. When I returned home, the creative juices were flowing and I had ideas! The birthday girl loved the idea of bringing her love of baking and art together or "Tarts & Arts." Whew. 

Today's project is to think of a time when you had a block in creativity. How did you unblock it? How did you solve the problem that needed solving? Create a plan to get your creative juices flowing to solve any idea. Will it be a walk? A trip to see an old friend? Or long drive? What will unblock the right side of the brain?

Well, I have a party to plan but let me know what makes your creativity come alive. See you tomorrow Art Tarts!

Konnichiwa! After the massive amount of indulging I did over the 4th of the July weekend, I need a break from the ribs, fried chicken and cole slaw. Today, I need to lighten up on the heart attack food train. Who's with me? Whenever I need something light and satisfying I turn to sushi. For the record, this isn't a food blog. I promise! Food, however, and creating go hand in hand. Since we all need to eat everyday, I'm finding creating food a great way to practice change everyday.

Let's get back to talking about sushi. For all you sushi novices out there, including me, sushi refers to the sticky rice not the fish in a Maki (roll), Nigiri (sliced fish with molded ball of rice underneath) or Sashimi (sliced fish). Sushi chefs train anywhere from five to ten years to develop their impeccable skills. In short, sushi is considered an art form. You can read more about sushi facts here: Sushi Trivia By The Thrillist. 

For today's project, we are going to try our hand at being a sushi chef and create easy fruit sushi. 

Fruit Sushi

Makes 2 1/2 cups cooked sweet rice

• 1 cup fresh fruit (strawberries, blueberries, mango, kiwi, bananas or any sliceable fruit)
• 1 cup short grain sushi rice 
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 coconut milk (full fat)
• 1/4 sugar 
• shrub syrup (optional for dipping)

Step 1: Sort and rinse the rice before cooking. Combine the rice and 1 1/4 cups water in a pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover with lid and simmer for approximately 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand covered for 10 minutes or until water is absorbed. 

Step 2: Add coconut milk and sugar. Stir till blended. Place cooked rice in refrigerator and let cool for 20 minutes.

Step 3: In the meantime, wash, peel and thoughtfully slice fruit into tiny thin slices.

Step 4: Remove the rice from the refrigerator. Using a spoon form heaping rectangles. Place sliced fruit on top of each rice rectangle. 

Step 5: Place the fruit sushi on a plate. Add a small dish to the plate and add a little shrub syrup to the dish. Dip the sushi into the shrub syrup and enjoy the fruit sushi!

Well, let me know how stepping into a sushi chef's shoes feels. See you later future sushi chefs!

Good Morning America! Great to see that you are up and ready to enjoy America's 240th birthday. Since you most likely have lots of BBQ prep and parades to watch, I'll keep today's project simple and fun. Who doesn't love fireworks? Firecrackers are the most extravagant and dangerous thing I can think of besides eating ice cream at a tanning bed. What I am trying to say is fireworks are cool but when they light on fire, who knows what could happen. To lessen the danger but still celebrate the 4th, let's create a firecracker that everyone can enjoy. Here is what you will need:

• empty toilet paper roll
• 1 balloon (red, white or blue) 
• firecracker paper and fringe artwork (Free artwork PDF here)
• confetti
• scissors
• 1/4 inch masking tape 

Step 1: Tie off the end of the ballon. Now, cut off the bottom of the balloon.

Step 2: Place the ballon end on the bottom of the toilet paper roll.

Step 3: Cut out the fringe from the artwork template and tape to the top of the toilet paper roll.

Step 4: Tape the festive 4th of July paper to the outside of the toilet paper roll. Now, add the confetti inside.

Now pull gently back on the balloon and let the firecracker go!

That's it! Have fun celebrating and Happy Birthday America!

Hey you all American gals out there! Today we are going to glam it up for our 4th of July BBQs and parades. Well, ok maybe the phrase "glam it up" might be an overstatement but I have a style project today for us. Let's create fireworks inspired nail art that will add a touch of glory to any July 4th extravaganza. This is a simple, fast and easy project to get us ready to celebrate America's birthday. You will need three different colors of nail polish. Specifically, red, white and blue nail polish and a clear fast drying top coat. I used these fun colors from Zoya brand: April (cream), Dory (blue) and Haley (red).

Step 1: Prep nails. Clean and file. 

Step 2: With the blue polish, make heavy dots at the top of the nail and smaller dots as you make your way down to the cuticle.

Step 3: Repeat with the red polish and then the cream. Let dry for a 5 minutes and then add the top coat. Now, let the nails dry for 20 minutes or until the polish is set.

That's it! Firecracker nails. What do you think America? Did we nail it? Are we 4th of July glamorous? Well, either way, see you tomorrow good old U.S.A!

Good day everyone! This is going to be a short, fast project today because it's a holiday weekend and who wants to be reading this blog or any blog for that matter? I bet we all want to be outside soaking up the endless summer rays and celebrating the 4th of July holiday.

Today, in celebration of America, let's do a "blind state" drawing. That is to say we are going to draw the outline of the state where you live with your eyes closed. Grab a piece of paper and a pen. With a pen in hand and paper right in front of you, find a comfortable spot. Now close your eyes. Visualize the shape of the state where you live and draw it. It's harder than it seems. My mind couldn't remember what California looked like on either the left or right side. Notice how my drawing could be California, New Jersey or Florida?

This Might Be New Jersey.

Let me know how it feels to draw in a blind state and get a jump on that celebrating. Have a hot dog or three for me. See you tomorrow great Americans!

This post contains an affiliate link.

Well, hello! The July 4th holiday weekend is almost upon us. Some of us will be visiting county fairs, going to the lake or enjoying delicious backyard BBQs. Hosting a BBQ made me dream of cool, crisp watermelon. July 4th weekend always provides plenty of hot sun and humid weather. It could be said, nothing beats the heat and celebrates July 4th better than a slice of sweet, crunchy watermelon. To kick off America's birthday, let's create a summer celebration worthy drink to toast in the 240th birthday of the good old U.S.A.

Let's get this party started! Today's project is to create a watermelon boba fruit smoothie. Who doesn't love a boba or bubble drink? Let's check out how to incorporate these tapioca balls into this luscious 4th of July smoothie and make a party worth beverage without the alcohol.

If you want to check out the exact recipe, you can find it here on the "Daily Burn." I made a big batch of boba ahead of time and stored them in simple syrup. For the record, not all boba are created equal. The original bag of boba I purchase never fully hydrated. They were crunchy and awful. However, the black boba used in the video are super delicious. They can be purchased on Amazon {affiliate link}. Just remember chew your boba. They are slippery than snot!

Let the July 4th celebration begin. Cheers to you America and all you sweet watermelons out there!