Miss Modish- Mojo Maker

CAR-MA: Get Out There

{photo by drsmoothdeath}

Be brave, be adventurous, face your fears- get out there!

Kitty Photo Friday!

Skinny mini kitty, catching some rays!

Have kitty photos to share? Find me on instagram @missmodish and add your photos to #kittyphotofriday! The more the merrier!

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And a peek behind the scenes of what I've been up to lately...

...working on delivering my Doses of Mojo, via video! Eeek!

It's been a crazy transition trying to go from writing my thoughts, which I feel totally comfortable with, to speaking my thoughts, all by myself, out loud, to YOU, which I feel totally freaked out by!

So it's taken a while to build up my nerve and re-learn how to edit videos (I got a minor in Videography so may as well use it for somethin!) but I gotta quit the stalling and just start somewhere- eh?

So look for your first video Dose of Mojo, next Wednesday! I'll be sharing a super simple thing you can do for instant stress relief- it works wonders in a minute or less, seriously. I use it all the time!

Sign up to get the next dose delivered straight to your inbox!

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And speaking of videos, Jen & I have a new one up at The Maven Circle chatting about a different way to look at self-doubt- it can actually be helpful, and healthy in some ways!

It's funny, I have no problems doing videos with her by my side- and she does the editing on those, so I don't have to obsess over the strange looks on my face and weird things coming out of my mouth- editing videos of yourself is hard!

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Well hope you have a wonderful, long weekend! I won't be taking Monday off as there's just too much to do around here, so I'll be here with some Monday CAR-MA. See you next week!

<3 jena

May Flowers

Well we certainly had enough April showers to bring on the May flowers around here! Here's what's popping up in my garden lately. I can't get enough of them!

Lupine

A purple poppy! My favorite backyard flower of the moment :)

Snapdragons (and a stick bug- can you see it?)

Columbine

Iris- so far, only my white/peach ones have bloomed- I love them!

Peony, about to pop (I can't wait!)

I had some pretty white ranunculus too, but didn't catch a pic- more bulbs I planted a couple months ago seem to be popping up tho, yay!

What's blooming in your neck of the woods right now?

Gettin' Truthy

It's Truthy Tuesday over at The Maven Circle! We're talking about self-doubt, where it comes from, our struggles with it and how we deal- I'd love for you to check it out! 

What are your struggles with self-doubt? How do you deal? We'd love to have you join the conversation!

CAR-MA: Keep on Truckin'

Introducing a new series my mister and I created to help brighten your Monday mornings. We're pairing some "words to live by" and motivation with the mister's awesome car pics, to create CAR-MA. Get it? :)

Hope you enjoy the pics! And if you like them, we'd be stoked to have you share on your social media hangout of choice!

And if you're having a hard day (like I am) or a case of the Mondays (like I am too) don't let yourself settle into the ick, just keep on truckin'.

Happy Monday!

Kitty Photo Friday!

Buds. These two love each other!

Have kitty photos to share? Find me on instagram @missmodish and add your photos to #kittyphotofriday! The more the merrier!

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Oowee! It's been a heckuva week and I for one am glad it's coming to an end! I can't wait to get out in the garden this weekend and catch up on some house stuff!

I have been busy busy all week, building the new blog over at The Maven Circle. Check 'er out! We'll be doing a new series over there called
And we'd LOVE to have you participate!

We want to keep up the openness going on here around blogland and talk about the stuff we don't always feel comfortable talking about. So, next Tuesday we'll be sharing our experiences with self-doubt, and would love to have you share too!

Post about your own struggles with doubt and we'll link up to it, and talk with each other about it! More details ova yonder.

Annnd, my sweet mister and I came up with a collaborative project this week pairing his AWESOME car photos with some mojo! (a sample of his pics are above- follow him on instgram @drsmoothdeath!)

We think it's pretty rad and can't wait to share with you! The new series will happen every Monday here to kick your week of right :)

Hope you've had a good week, ya'll! I've missed you, but will be around lots next week to make up for it. Happy Weekend!

<3 Jena

Kitty Photo Friday

Cats are weirdos. Especially this one.

Have kitty photos to share? Find me on instagram @missmodish and add your photos to #kittyphotofriday! The more the merrier!

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Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! It's supposed to be hot and sunny here and I'm gonna soak, soak, soak it up! Thanks so much for stopping by and for all your comments over the past week- they've touched me so much!

And Happy Mother's Day to all you fantastic mommies out there, including mine!

<3 jena

Why vulnerability is good for business

I've had a hard time figuring out what to say now after my last post, unleashing some (not all mind you!) of the things I might not normally be keen to share to a world full of people with opinions.

I think it's also especially scary to put that stuff out there to potential clients, as I want to be seen as the person who has the answers, not the person who has the problems- right?

But the reality is, we all have problems, struggles, and secrets we'd rather not share with the world at large...

And in sharing some of those with you last week, and reading all of your AMAZING responses that really touched me (and in some cases made me tear up!) And reading all the other AMAZING honest and open posts that everyone contributed, it's becoming clearer and clearer to me that vulnerability can actually be an asset to your business.

When the walls come down, when the curtain is pulled back and you allow people to see you not only as "a brand", but as a real live human person with lots of ups and downs, struggles, and past experiences that have led you to where you are, it creates a deeper connection. A truer connection. A HUMAN connection.

And no matter how well someone may already seem to connect with your brand, your story, what you offer, what you sell- if they can connect to YOU as a person too? The potential for growth in your business becomes exponential.

Because underneath the branding and marketing and pretty pictures, we're all just a person talking to another person, hoping to find a connection with one another.

Allowing yourself to be vulnerable in your business is like opening up an expressway to direct connection with your customers. They feel vulnerable, too. They have their guard up, too. They don't want to buy the wrong thing, make a bad decision, hire the wrong helper-outer.

So, if you can let your guard down to show bits of your true flawed and well-rounded self, your customers/readers/clients just might feel comfortable enough to let their guards down too, and that's where the real communication can begin.

People may admire the perfectly polished professionals who seem to have it all, but they want to talk to, learn from and buy from people who are like them- who understand their needs and struggles inherently.

So where can you be more vulnerable in your business? How can you let people see "behind the curtain" a bit and reveal more? Put yourself "out there" more?

Think about your about page, product descriptions, marketing, blog posts, pitches, social interactions, etc- is there room for more openness and truth in there? I bet so.

Don't be afraid to show it! (I'm working on the same.)

Much mojo to you!
Jena

ps: If you're looking for more clarity, direction and enthusiasm for your indie business, you might like a mojo-session with me! We'll chat one-on-one about the steps you need to take to get your biz where you want it to go. It's fun, fiery and according to my clients, pretty dang helpful!

Things I'm Afraid to Tell You

We interrupt this Kitty Photo Friday for a round of juicy secrets instead!

Last night I read this post by Erin, of Design for Mankind, about the "Things I'm Afraid to Tell You" and immediately felt the need to write a post of my own. I think I'm kind of getting more of a thrill out of doing things that scare me these days.

Her post is part of an awesome challenge started by Ez, of Creature Comforts, (inspired by this awesome post by Jess LC) in an effort to combat the perfection-laden land that the blogosphere inhabits, and perpetuates!

I think it's natural to only want to share the good stuff, the brighter side of our lives. It's not easy to put out there, for literally all the world to see, our struggles, our failures, our flaws, our fears.

But that leads to most blogs becoming only one side of the story. I think they are true representations of a blogger's life, but they're only a few chapters from our entire book. Only the stuff we want to share. And feel comfortable sharing to a world full of strangers, judgement and opinion.

I've been really trying to open up over the past year about the realities of my not so good stuff, tho, because I think it's important. I've shared issues I've had around competition and stress & anxiety, about getting super overwhelmed, facing a huge fear...

It's awfully scary at first to put that stuff out there, but it has felt liberating to be more open and real and honest in this space here.

So, I'm all over this challenge. Here are a few things I feel sceered to tell you!

• I doubt myself
  I doubt pretty much every decision I make right before I make it, and then again right after. And then some more. If I don't have scads of positive feedback about something, I think it sucks. I've put up posts that I thought were cool but didn't get any comments on and felt like no one liked them and deleted them. Which brings up another doubt that anyone is out there listening at all, or liking what I'm saying at all?
  FUCK DOUBT.

• I'm an out of control perfectionist with my work
  (...and some other stuff) I check, and double check, and change, and triple check, and change some more, and check again. I read over everything I write til my eyes cross before I'll publish it and then FREAK OUT if I notice a typo or something later. It's annoying and paralyzing and makes everything take a long ass time.
  FUCK PERFECTIONISM.

• I'm in debt
  Credit card debt. Much of which is from not paying any quarterly taxes all year long and ending up owing $XXXX come tax time and having only $XX in my savings- I paid my taxes on a credit card 3 years in a row and am still paying them off. Which means I'm also a bad bookkeeper. (I paid in quarterly finally this past year- 3 lessons learned later!) We also have some mega emergency vet bills that went on a CC, and if we were to have another pricey emergency we'd have to use a CC. I worry about being able to ever get out from under it.
  FUCK CREDIT CARDS.

• I'm procrastination station
  I seriously can't seem to get anything done unless it's at the last possible minute. I start most projects on the day they're DUE. On the one hand, it almost feels like I need the pressure in order to perform at my best, but I think I only say that as an excuse to keep doing it. Mostly, it stresses me out, makes things harder, makes me late for everything, makes me push deadlines. I've been doing it since little kiddom, it feels so ingrained that it's gonna be a hell of a habit to break.
  FUCK "I'LL DO IT LATER."

• I feel pangs of jealousy...
  ...whenever a blogger publishes a book. I wanna publish a book! And I will! Someday. Problem is, I wish I had already published one. I want to already be doing book tours and speaking and have all my dreams come true, like now, when I see other people doing what I want to be doing. I know everything happens at it's own pace and have gotten better at getting distance from those jealous thoughts when they creep in, but creep they do. I also don't hang out on social media much, or read other blogs much (I mostly read during research for clients, actually!) for the same reason.
  FUCK COMPARISON.

• I like to cuss in real life
  FUCK YES.

• I worry about what you think of me
  Yes, you. I'm worried about if you think my writing is interesing, if you think I'm interesting. I'm worried about your criticism, your judgement. I'm worried about offending you, of you never coming back. I'm worried about coming off as too "life is perfect", as blogs tend to do, or that I might sound preachy and annoying. I'm worried about whether or not you'd want to work with me, or if you think I'm doing a good job. I'm worried that I've scared some of you off with the changes here. I'm worried that I come off as a flake, because I change things up so much and am very slowly honing in on exactly what I'm meant to do. I'm worried about you not understanding me, or what I'm putting out there.
  FUCK WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK OF YOU.

Well, that's about all the secrets I can share in one post- phew!

I think the more we all open up with one another, the more we'll find we're not so different, afterall.

Are you going to participate in the challenge? I have to say, writing this felt pretty dang good! Hitting publish on the otherhand... (bracing for it!)

<3 jena

Pasta Monsta Recipe: Glamour Queen

I'm trying to cook dinner a little more around here- we tend to get take-out most nights, but I've cooked dinner two whole days in a row this week so far, wow! (which means we'll probably end up hitting the taco truck tonight ;)

Anyway, last night we had one of my pasta-monsta favorite go-to easy dinners- a Glamour Queen!

That's what it was called at Deux Gro Nez, a long since closed veggie restaurant that I used to frequent in Reno- this was my favorite dish there and after they closed, I've been making it at home ever since!

It's super simple! You'll need:

• 8-12oz pasta- I like Thin Spaghetti or Capellini for this one- a little thinner keeps the whole taste light and fresh!
• pesto sauce (we bought it jarred this time but when basil is in season, fresh pesto is yummiest!)
• 1 tomato
• 1 red onion
• 2 cups fresh spinach
• feta crumbles

1. Salt & boil water. Cook pasta according to package instructions.
2. While the pasta is cooking, dice tomato and onions, wash spinach.
3. When pasta is al dente perfecto, drain and return to pot. Mix in pesto sauce. Let cool a bit so that spinach doesn't wilt when you serve it.
4. Serve pasta in hefty piles. Layer bed of spinach on top first, sprinkle on tomatoes, onions and feta to taste (lots is better :) Add some fresh ground pepper, if you'd like. 
5. Dig in!

It's super fresh tasting, healthy and delicious! We love it in spring & summer. And it's a good way to get your veggies if you're a pasta monsta like me! 

Whatcha been cookin up lately?