I know Valentine’s Day is still more than a month away. But in the age of online shopping it’s good to start early to account for shipping time. So I am pleased to present to you my second list of gift ideas. This time it’s gifts for the coffee fanatic in your life! {You can read my previous list for Geeks here.}

Do you love coffee? Which of these gifts would you most want to get or give, and to whom? My top choice would be the “I Love You, Blogs, and Coffee” print!

I’ve come to some decisions regarding my life and some things I’ve been thinking about. And here’s what I’ve decided:

I need to simplify my life. It’s time to:

1. Identify what’s most important to [me].
2. Eliminate everything else. {from Zen Habits}

And I’m starting by dropping out of Body After Baby. Samantha put together a really great program for support and accountability (and prizes too!) but right now I want to focus on

1. Time with my family.
2. My writing.
3. Time for art {and crafts}.
4. My blogs.

That means I’m also closing Coffee {for now}. Anyone who is currently a client, or has already contacted me about a project needn’t worry. They’ll still be taken care of. But at least until NaNoWriMo is over I won’t be taking any new clients. I may still post pre-made graphics as well as freebies. And I’ve got some neat ideas for some Christmas products that I’ll get to if I have time.

I love blogging far too much to shut down my sites. But you may notice that posting seems slightly more sporadic. I still aim to post every day {or close to every day}. But I’ve been wanting to post more often on my other blog and find that it’s difficult to post daily here and still have time to write high quality content there. So on days I post there I may or may not post here. If you need your “Holly fix” and I haven’t posted on Domestic Dork then check out my other site {but, as way of warning, the other site is much snarkier}.

I’m feeling really good about these decisions. I feel as if a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I’m really looking forward to NaNoWriMo, especially now that I know I won’t have Body After Baby and Coffee pulling my attention away from my writing. Thank you for your advice and support. I love you guys. Really, I do. I would write for my blogs even if I had zero readers because, well…I love to hear {or read} myself talk. But you make it a million times more fun, and you make it more challenging because I’m determined to give you worthwhile content. So, again, thank you.

I’ve been feeling like my brain is broken lately. I’m swamped with Coffee clients (and even had to turn a potential client down). I’ve been trying to get some things around the house taken care of. I’ve had a lot of errands to run. I’ve been trying to get some holiday projects and shopping done early. I’ve also got Mama Note’s Body After Baby challenge going on. And I’ve been combating my ADD and the blues for a little while which definitely makes even the little things much more difficult.

I did so-so on the Body After Baby mini-challenge to drink water. I definitely started strong. But I haven’t done a single minute of exercise thus far. I’ve been stretched so thin lately between my blogs and my graphic design projects that fitness has been left by the wayside. I’m not sure how much that bothers me. Something’s got to give and maybe this should be that something. However I don’t want to be completely inactive. I want to at least be training for my running goals.

I’ve got a lot of clients right now, which is great but stressful. I have a pro-bono client that I really want to work on to return a big favor she did for me last year. But my paying clients obviously take the priority, especially since some are in a bit of a time crunch. I also have a few of my own projects I’d like to work on and can’t right now. Plus I’m always unsure if my prices are fair {to me}. I like being affordable because I know a lot of my clients are SAHMs like me and can’t afford to spend a small fortune on graphic design. But, depending on the project my wages are as low as a dollar an hour. So yeah, it’s a bit frustrating at times.

I have one more post about bullying I’d like to write. And I’ve got a list of posts I want to write for my other blog. Plus NaNoWriMo is coming up and I know that is going to take a lot of my free time. I also have some reading I’d like to do. And of course there’s a long list of random to-do items that need to be taken care of {e.g. open a RESP account for Lucy, return some borrowed items, sort out all the clothes Lucy has outgrown, etc.}. With so much to keep track of I think even if I didn’t have ADD I’d feel overwhelmed. But I do have ADD and it’s been bad lately. I feel like I’m in such a fog. I’ve started taking fish oil supplements again because the Omega 3’s are supposed to help. But I don’t know if it’s enough. I may have to ask the doctor about using antidepressants {which can be used to treat ADD} since I can’t take the normal ADHD meds while breastfeeding.

I’m also considering shutting down Coffee for the duration of NaNoWriMo, or maybe for the month of December. But I can’t decide if I want to do that. I’ve even considered retiring this blog but I know I would regret that in about 24 hours. If I were rich I’d just hire a personal assistant/maid. Yeah, that would be perfect.

Anyway…that’s just some random stuff I wanted to put out there.

I am pleased to announce the opening of Coffee Graphic Design!

I’ve been making art and doing graphic design for years. My first graphic design project was a playbill for a production of Children of Eden. From there I did more playbills, as well as t-shirt designs. I started doing graphic design for the web when I was tired of my boring, pre-made Blogger template. After much encouragement from friends and family I’ve decided to make my services available to the public. And I can’t do that without offering a fabulous giveaway, now can I?

Here’s WHAT you can win:

• 1 of 5 “Iced Coffees” (buttons)
• 1 of 3 “Cappuccinos” (headers)
• 1 Ultimate Prize Pack (header, button, and signature, with 2 extra seasonal versions)

Here’s HOW you can win {sorry, family members are not eligible}:

1. Leave a comment on THIS post. Tell me how awesome I am, tell me how much you love or hate coffee (the drink, not my new website), whatever! Just leave any comment. You must do this for other entries to count.
2. Go to Coffee and grab a button to put on your blog. Then leave a comment with the link to your site.
3. Blog about this giveaway (leave comment with link to the post).
4. Follow this blog or Coffee (current followers count) and leave a comment telling me you’re a follower.
5. Follow me on Twitter (again, current followers count) and leave a comment telling me you’re a follower.
6. Tweet about this giveaway and leave a comment with the link to the tweet (not your profile). You can tweet daily, just be sure to leave me a comment for each tweet.

MAKE SURE YOU PROVIDE A WAY FOR ME TO CONTACT YOU! If your e-mail is not available through your Blogger profile you MUST leave it in each comment.

Winners will be announced {and contacted} on August 20. That gives you plenty of time to get lots of entries and to daydream about what you’ll do if you win! Winners have 72 hours to claim their prize before it’s given away to someone else. That’s it, and GOOD LUCK!

Winners are announced here!

Ahhhh…I’m feeling much better after yesterday. Bear switched his Saturday shift to today so he could take over Lucy duty. Then he sent me out into the world for a few hours. I stopped at the arts and crafts store where I purchased a sketchbook (because I left mine at home) and some new oil pastels (haven’t used those in years). Then I parked myself in a chair at Starbuck’s with an iced coffee and drew and drew and drew and drew! Can you say “cheap therapy?” It was awesome! And I can’t wait to do it again. I’ve always been an art geek but it had been a while since I enjoyed drawing. I disliked my BFA program so much that I not only quit the program I quit making art all together. It’s so nice to be getting back into my creative groove (even if my skills are a bit incredibly rusty). In fact you may be seeing more of my work very soon. Stay tuned!

Speaking of getting back into a creative groove. Fellow blogger The Masked Mommy is painting again. And she’s giving away an incredible purple van Gogh reproduction. I looooooove Vincent van Gogh! And purple is my favorite color! So if I win the painting I may very well pee my pants in excitement!

The Masked Mommy’s giveaway is actually one of the things that finally pushed me over the edge and got me making art again. Bear has been bugging me to start painting again too. And I want to, really, I do. But every time the mood strikes I know Lu just isn’t going to let me get very far. So, for a little while at least, I’ll stick with drawing and digital design; less mess, and less time spent setting up and cleaning up.

Do you have a skill you haven’t utilized in a while?

I have loved Starbucks frappuccino since I was a teen. It's just really, really yummy. It's also really, really bad for you (lots and lots of sugar).

Well, I've found an alternative that works for me! It's got NO added sugar (NONE!) but it still tastes sweet. It's got protein, vitamins and minerals, calcium, almost 50% less caffeine than regular coffee, and no preservatives (click the picture for nutritional details). It's the "Perfectly Protein Mocha Cappuccino" drink made by Bolthouse Farms. We sold Bolthouse products at the health food store I used to work at in Utah (their "Green Goodness" juice is pretty awesome). But now you can even find their products at Wal-Mart (which is where I picked up my bottle of cappuccino drink). The flavor isn't quite as good as a Starbucks frappuccino (almost, but not quite). However, like I said, it's less expensive and it's WAY better for you.