January 22, 2012
Talk about a redesign... I have determined that this year I am getting my website functional again! I have redesigned the logos and layouts and am on my way... I just need more time...and no day job...and no kids... Since none of those things are possible (or even wantable...) I will get to this as time permits.

Stay tuned my friends! Heidi


September 19, 2010
"Having it all" has been know to cause problems. Well, the idea that you can have it all at the same time anyways. Can you really be a superb parent, a work mastermind, a charity/volunteer all-star, loving wife / husband / partner...all at the same time? Nope. You have to give each its own time to shine.

For me, parenting is always number one. But there was a time when I was able to devote a lot of my resource to other things...BEFORE I had children. I had time to do charity work, to work my job extra hours, and have a great relationship with my partner.

Then I had kids and life changed. My priorities changed and my capabilities changed. I re-engineered my job, quit my regular full time job with a child abuse agency and did administrative contract work for some other non-profits. This I could handle... until I couldn't handle it anymore! My son Simon was crawling under the table at board meetings and I was pregnant with number two and knew things must again...change. I quit my non-profit work and started my jewelry business on-line full time. My schedule, my workload, my pressure by my own design. But...as things turned out, I felt guilty about not doing any non-profit work!

To reconcile my guilt, I decided to make a line of jewelry for domestic violence awareness and breast cancer awareness and I donated a portion of my profits to agencies helping those causes. I got involved with a Unitarian Universalist fellowship and started immediately volunteering. I taught a UU parenting class and started facilitating a small discussion group. I was able to incorporate regular exercise into my life, working out at the gym, taking yoga classes, and mountain biking as often as I could.

Then life changed...yet again. Divorce. My husband and I were splitting up and I needed to go back to full time work. This left me with limited (if not non- existent) volunteer time, exercise time, and mental reserves. I had only enough energy and time to work and be a parent. And that was OK. Or so I convinced myself. What option did I have? It was a wake up time for me, that I didn't need to have it all at the same time. I didn't need to volunteer, to do charity work, to be in the best physical shape... what I did need to do was earn a living and take care of my children and those two things I did exceptionally well.

As time has permitted, I have started incorporating the missing components back into my life. Some new things and some tried and true. I am constantly challenging myself at work - the more I learn the more I realize I don't know! [Isn't that always the case?] - but it's OK. Again, I don't need to know it all or do it all at the same time. I'm learning to have a "laser focus" - do few things exceptionally well.

Ask yourself, what do you do well? Do you have time to do it all? Are you focusing on the most important things and people in your life? Are you nurturing yourself? Remember, you CAN have it all - just not at the same time.Take care, Heidi

May 7, 2010
I took an excellent webinar at work today from Hubspot.com - about search engine optimization and how the SEO of today is changing, to include social media searches and links in different ways than had been used in the past. When I first had my Mysticool website, from 2000-2007, I used a lot of great key words and links from other website. I also had fresh content monthly from my Mysticool Moms parenting site. If you Googled for "kids jewelry" I was consistently on the first page.Now that social media is changing our way of life and the way of business, advertising and marketing, there are new components to consider when hoping to make good with the search engines. Key words and links are still important, but links are not just from reciprocal businesses who have a directory - but from all over the web linking your articles, your insight, your value, back to your website. This means you need to be connected. You need to be on Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, and you need to blog. You need avenues to share your content with.

I am excited about this new "Web 2.0" - I just wish I had more time to devote to it, at work at the insurance agency, and at home for Mysticool.com.

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful mom's out there!Heidi

May 4, 2010
Hello all! I am happy be be writing my first blog for Mysticool. Just recently, I started a "Blog Team" at my day job and many years ago I wrote parenting articles for my Mysticool Jewelry site, called Mysticool Moms.Because of my position as Business Development Coordinator at work I have been entrenched in web design, social media, blogging, search engine optimization, graphic design...all of these things I did in my jewelry and graphic design business when I worked at home. Well, I have the bug again, the "put my website back up and be creative" bug.

I just got hitched last month so I "had" to make a lot of jewelry for the ceremony and it was so fun to get my hands in beads again. My family will be moving this month, still staying in Poulsbo, but my new home will have a great space for a workshop. My partner and I will share the space, my beads, her woodworking, and our "Bike Lounge" - a place to work on our bikes and stare at our beauties.

As May marches on (with hail today) I look forward to all that is ahead in my life.

I wish all of you well, Heidi