Aqua Earrings

Summer is almost at an end, but while there are still a few gorgeous sunny swimsuit days left, aqua is my accent color of choice.

Aqua looks beautiful with silver and amethyst jewelry, and black and white clothing. Here are a pair of earrings, handmade by a friend of mine, a designer in Amsterdam, who also runs his own small jewelry shop on the Leilegracht. These earrings are fashioned from solid silver and adorned with a bevel cut teardrop aqua blue gem. Available also in silver and pink quartz!

€69 ($98) - Global Shipping/Gift Wrapping included. Shopping with us is a breeze. Not only is our motto: "Return it if you don't LOVE it.", we also have a variety of payment options to choose from, including credit/debit cards, bank transfers and PayPal. Cash with local pick-up or delivery is also encouraged if you'd like to receive a substantial discount. The Gown Rack delivers free of charge to the Köln metro area.

To order, click on the "Pay now" button found on the left-hand side of our home page, and enter the item description (Aqua earrings) and the price in U.S. dollar format. (98.00)

Lunch

Behold, the homemade bacon and cream cheese sandwich on sliced ciabatta bread. When there is no motivation to do anything else, whip up something deliciously fattening and enjoy every bite.

Getting things done

Quick and (Almost) Painless Ways to Kill Distractions

Are you spending more time dealing with emails, IMs, phone calls, and random stray files than actually working? Here are ten actions you can do right now to kill distractions and get back to work:

Put headphones on

Wearing headphones is the universal sign for “do not disturb.” To make it obvious, choose big clunky ones instead of those tiny invisible earbuds. Even if you’re not listening to music, blocking out ambient noise will help you focus and stay on task.

Check email twice a day

If your email program checks for new email automatically and periodically, make it stop. Instead, manually check your email twice a day.

Tell everyone

To cut down the deluge of office emails, tell everyone in the office via email that you’re only checking email twice a day. This will train your coworkers to reconsider before sending you trivial messages.

Turn spam filtering on

Even with legislation, spam is never going away. You can eliminate this major distraction by turning on spam filtering.

Banish Growl

System-wide notification systems such as Growl are tiny distractions forcing you to log and consider each alert in your mind. You don’t need random reminders to plague your mind while you’re trying to concentrate.

Create IM office hours

Instant messenger programs are a distraction, but it has useful benefits for collaboration and keeping in touch with faraway loved ones. Create IM office hours -- short blocks of time where you’re available for chats.

Silence your phone

Your phone is an electronic dog leash. Release yourself from phone slavery and turn off the sound AND vibrate when you’re working. Your phone is only convenient if you’re in control of it.

Eat lunch out of the office

Eating lunch in the office makes you wide open to interruptions. Let yourself enjoy lunch away from work.

Become an early bird

No one likes to come in to work extra early in the morning. Use this trend to your advantage, and arrive at work before everyone else. Since no one is around, you’ll have fewer disruptions like phone calls and morning chatter.

Clear your desktop

Having tons of icons and files littering your desktop is like having a million squawking baby birds begging for your attention all the time. Clear your desktop now. While you’re at it, tidy up your real desk too.

A big thanks to Joe Mercola's website for this motivating article.

Green Gummy Boots

I know, this is the 4th blog I've done on rain boots, but I obviously love them. They provide a certain freedom. I can work in the garden, stomp through mud, walk through thorny rosebush patches, run out to the car in the sleet and snow, or go out in public for some shopping. The great thing is, the more scratched up and dirty they are, the more authentic and cool I find it. I just got a new pair, green.

Rolling Up My Pants

Today, a Sunday, I was doing some spring cleaning, and while doing windows (using recycled newspapers) I was thinking a lot about 2 old friends, Mary Beth and Sue. Before I knew it, I was tight-rolling my pants with jumbo paperclips. I spent the rest of the afternoon that way, and added some Bronze patent leather pumps. Thanks for the memories, girls!

Click here to watch a funny video.

Image credits go to: J. Crew, Stella McCartney & Google Images

How to fold a shirt, awesome.

Ok, this takes a few attempts to get the hang of it, but it is totally awesome and fun to do. It also takes up less space in the closet than any other folding style I've used before. TGR loves saving space! Let me know if you've tried this, and what you think.

ORIGINAL BLOG POST

Absolutely Amazing Glacier Footage

Perito Moreno Glacier in southern Argentina .

This is an every-four-year event that has gone on for centuries.
This clip is of the spectacular South American glacier, The
Perito Moreno Glacier, which breaks up every four years like clockwork, give or
take a week.

There are photographers from all corners of the earth that come to
southern Argentina and literally camp out at the glacier site in order to
get the actual breakup on film.