You can help “define” indie travel by voting statements you agree/disagree with up or down. Please sign/share if it resonates with you.

My favs:

• See yourself in the context of a rich and complex world.
• Define your values and explore your beliefs; craft your own meaning for life.
• Pack light and keep things simple.
• Seek pleasure in simple moments and details.

I’m also a little obsessed with this color palette right now. My next project will might not incorporate Tangerine Tango — (Pantone color of the year). :)

I’ll be blogging some days for our work blog, and some days here, so join us! It’s going to be fun!

I also designed the logo/banner for this project, so I’m excited to put all these pretty colors on my blog. :) Join us!

-Tasty n Sons – It’d been a year since I’d had breakfast at Tasty n Sons. I should really go here more often. The cast iron frittata [with roasted squash, caramelized onions, piment d-espelette (of course we all know that is variety of chili pepper that is cultivated in the French commune of Espelette. Hmmm...), feta, and fried sage] is fantastic. I also love the sweet biscuits with berry topping.

-Nuestra Cocina – seriously love this place now. I’ve been on a margarita kick lately (yes, slightly odd for fall), as their house margarita is probably the best in Portland. Cheap and tasty.

-BFF is moving to Hawaii. Le sigh. We decided to go on one last close-to-home overnight getaway to Grand Lodge (McMenamin’s), and from here on out we’ll only be traveling together when we meet up to go on vacation. le sigh

-Fall biking – I love it when the weather cooperates and we have beautiful fall weekends to ride around town with friends. Did a bit of beer cycling last weekend, and tried a new brewery, Cascade Brewing Barrel House in SE.

-Apple Tasting Festival – Apple and pear season alert! I missed the apple tasting festival last year, so I’ve been eagerly awaiting this year’s. Went last weekend and felt like I ate a pallet of apples through the tasting line. Yum.

-Meet, Plan, Go Portland – My big work event finally arrived. For all the time and worry, everything came together in the end and it was an awesome night. We had over 100 people show up and it was super inspiring to talk to so many folks interested in taking a career break. It’s been a few years since I took my career break trip, so it’s fun to see people in the planning and wonderment stage again. I was really pleased with how the panel/speakers turned out too… Chris Guillebeau did our opening keynote, and was inspirational, as usual. Then we had four panelists — I had selected Kim because her and her husband are still in the planning stages of their trip, so I felt like they would be able to relate easily to all the people who are just considering a career break (as after you’ve taken one, sometimes your mindset changes a bit, as to how easy things seem). Next up was Russ and Laura because they’re doing kind of an unconventional career break, by pedaling around North America versus the typical RTW trip which I love because it shows how a career break can be just taking time to focus on something you’re really passionate about, whether that’s biking or international travel. I rounded out the rest of the panel by selecting… myself as the third panelist. :) I felt mildly odd about at it at first, but the one spot I most wanted to fill was someone representing the solo female traveler perspective.  And after a few people fell through, we decided I would fill that spot. And it ended up being awesome, I’m really glad I got the chance to speak at a “conference”, it was a fun challenge.

-Cheapskate signage – I was also thrilled with how the signage turned out at the Ace Hotel space. I didn’t really have a budget for this event (as most of our budget went to paying for the space) so I ended up wrapping a stripe around two sides of the walls of windows by taping up 40 11×17″ black and white papers — alternating quotes, MeetPlanGo.com, and a world/suitcase image. For a grand total of $8! (Picture above by Russ & Laura).

-iOS update – LOVE! Love the camera options from the lock screen, the choice of 3 routes on Google Maps, and the new notifications options. I don’t even care that I don’t have the iPhone 4S.

What are you up to this week?

Step 1: IKEA. Warning: you know those charming IKEA employees who tell you that you can choose any of the tables/legs from the VIKA series and go to town? They’re wrong! VIKA CURRY legs ($4) + VIKA FAGERLID table leg with storage ($40) + VIKA AMON table top ($20) = unbalanced desk. Alas, after all that work, I ended up just taking the “lid” off the FAGERLID piece and putting extra sticker things under the CURRY legs. Voilla!

Step 2: make use of my lovely Target Liberty of London file box.

Step 3: finally unpacking my lime green wooden stacking trays from See Jane Work.

Step 4: Hanging random IKEA magnetic strip and bins.

Step 5: Moving the speakers that I bought for using with my laptop/TV to the desk, since I use the TV about once a month.

Step 5.5: Pandora

Step 6: Hanging my Strawberry Luna bicycle print.

Step 7: Stability ball desk chair, which people continually tell me is in no way, shape or form a desk chair. Whatever, your core is just jealous.

Step 8: Cat grass for kitteh. OK, I just added this one, since she’s always in the window, on the other side of my desk, lounging by her cat grass.

Step 9: Trying to find a quicker commute. *Thanks, I’ll be here all week… yeah, actually I will be…

And I finally got a chance to use the sweet as Practika icon set that I’ve been eyeing for awhile.  The Twitter icon is so adorable, I just want to hug it.

1. Set up RSS feeds. Just because you’re unemployed doesn’t mean that you want to spend hours every day combing through the same websites.  First, create a list of sites that you frequent for your job search.  Then, using iGoogle (personalized home) or Netvibes, create an extra tab and start adding RSS feeds and/or bookmarks (if RSS isn’t available).  I use Craigslist.org, Indeed.com, Monster.com, Careerbuilder.com, and a few industry/regional specific websites.  I also have a Note widget on my iGoogle that I use to record the date, company and position I applied for, just for future reference.
2. Template your resume and cover letter. By assembling several resumes and cover letters you can save time when you actually find a job to apply for.  I’m not suggesting you do a “find and replace” on the company’s name, but if you have different cover letters geared towards different industries and highlighting specific skills, it makes it that much easier on you to personalize it further.  Why reinvent the wheel everytime?
3. Put the word out. Assuming you’ve already assembled a killer resume, email it to your network.  While friends and acquaintances are higher in quantity, people who have seen you in action (coworkers/bosses) are usually more valuable, leverage that relationship.
4. Manage your online presence (eg. Sign up for LinkedIn). As much as I loath using internet marketing buzz words,  if you’re on the job hunt it’s imperative that you use it to your advantage.  Not only should you know what the first 10 Google results are for your name, but you should be on LinkedIn (and actually using it).  Also, if your Facebook and MySpace profiles aren’t set to “friends only” or “private”, take a look from a future employer’s perspective.  Even if you’re employed you should be aware of this.  Last year, I had the laughable good time of looking at my assistant’s MySpace page to discover that his “cronic migraines” were instead hangovers (as posted back and forth between himself and a friend).  Thanks for making my job easier buddy!
5. Find ways to stand out from the noise. Seth Godin and Auren Hoffman had good posts about this recently.  Economic downturns flood the job market with “talent.”  However, it’s also a great time to let go of underperformers.  So while you might be an A-player, your resume will blend in with all the C-players out there.  So find a way to stand out.  A few ideas:  make your cover letter content useful, get recommendations on LinkedIn,  leverage your contacts who can attest to your A-playeresque (my new word) qualities as recommendations.

Along with the above tips, I also try to allot a specified amount of time per day for job searching, (almost no exceptions).   By living your life as if you were gainfully employed — including getting up at a reasonable hour and putting clothes on — your job search is just part of your daily routine.  Personally, this puts the “demoralizing” part of being unemployed to a minimum.

Got any job searching tips?  Do share!

Get 25% off sitewide on SeeJaneWork.com

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Expires:  January 31, 2009

Add to your ‘happiness at work’ quotient by surrounding yourself with fun and useful office gear. Here are a few things I love from See Jane Work:

• Knock Knock’s “All Out Of” grocery shopping lists
• Office Basics Letter Trays – in happy colors
• Smencils
• Metal Accessory Tray

The Route:
Feb/March: China/Japan
March-mid April: Australia/New Zealand
Tentative Further Itinerary:
mid April – May: Thailand, Laos, Vietnam
beginning of June: Thailand/Malaysia
mid-June: back to Oregon
the rest of the summer/fall: Europe
Fall/Winter: Central/South America

You may have noticed the nifty little Google Map over there ——–>
It will be a “Where in the World is…” map. Not as cool as GPS, but still pretty cool. The adventure officially begins February 25!

2007 401k Contribution Limit: $15,500
My Contribution: $10,573

I’ll be working on this one a little bit harder next year. :) In the meantime, here’s a few savings tips.

How To Not Be Poor When You’re Old:

• Start saving NOW, yes, seriously, NOW. Check out this 401k Calculator to see how big of a deal starting NOW is.
• Sign up for your 401k plan at work. You don’t have to know anything about stocks and bonds and trading etc. Just sign up, the confusing part is someone else’s job. :)
• If your employer does a match, (don’t they all?) take advantage of it. Also, if you get bonus money, consider dumping 80% of it into your 401k to save on taxes. It’s harder to use the excuse that you need it to live on because it’s “bonus” money, as in “unexpected”.
• Spend less than you make. It’s pretty simple math, so there’s no excuse for the consumer debt statistics. If you raise your “standard” of living every time you get a raise, then you’re never going to get ahead. For example, $400/week – $500 spent = negative $100. $500/week – $625 spent = negative $125. You’re actually farther behind if you keep spending at the same percentage.
• Track your expenses. Your bank account balance should never be a mystery. Check out Mint.com for “refreshing money management”. It’s free and easy, seriously cool. Goodbye, Microsoft Money. The only big thing they’re missing is being able to track assets.