Nothing too smart to share today … Just enjoying the holiday weekend and wanted to send a Happy 4th of July out to the world. What can I say, I’m a sucker for fireworks.

I recently had the opportunity to do some research and writing into the t-shirt industry. One of the things that interested me most was that there are a lot of different ways to alter t-shirts and recycle t-shirts rather than just throwing them away when you don’t want to wear them anymore. Two of the posts that I wrote about this were included in blog carnivals recently.

30 Ways to Recycle Your Cool Graphic Tees was included in the Reduce, ReUse, Recycle Section of the All Things Eco blog carnival. Other posts in this category were on Enviro Produce Bags, Recycling Plastic Bags and Dealing with e-waste.

50 Ways to Alter Cute Tees into Sexier Shirts was included in the Make It From Scratch blog carnival. Some of the other posts included in this blog carnival were on upcycled sweaters, mixed media art education and warming your home.

Lots of good green and DIY posts in all of these carnivals so have a read if you’ve got some free time.

As I mentioned before, I’m one of the lucky 300 bloggers participating in Blog It Forward, an idea launched by SFGirlByBay. We’re all writing about what inspires us personally. We’re each being introduced by the blog before us (thanks to my intro blog, Diary of a Budget Fashionista!!) and we’re making sure that you know to check out the blog after us (definitely check out Dig Under Rocks tomorrow!). I’d really encourage you to check out all of the different posts, though, because they have been so amazing and inspiring in and of themselves!

For my part, I have to say that I really get inspired by everything. I see things and read things and hear things all throughout the day and they inspire me. Some inspire me to write a certain blog post. Some inspire my creative writing or poetry. Some inspire my desire to learn new things. Some inspire me to be kinder to others. Some just give me that wonderful feeling of vague inspiration that doesn’t get channeled into anything specific but makes me feel a little bit brighter about life.

I could go on and on forever about every little thing that inspires me but I’ll keep my list down to 100 inspiring things:

1. Live sketching events where artists gather together, create art as you watch and post it on a wall for sale right there
2. Watching children do anything that reveals that childlike wonder for things that we adults consider normal or mundane
3. Watching people work on computers or consumer electronics because I just can’t do it well myself
4. Hearing about the memories of elderly people
5. Reading books on creativity and artful living
6. Huge libraries filled with floors and floors of so many books that I’ll never be able to read them all
7. Wandering around the city people-watching
8. Indie arts and crafts events where hundreds of crafters gather together to show off their work
9. Browsing through Etsy
10. Watching absolutely any film that’s shown in IMAX 3D
11. Being handed a plate of food that’s almost too beautiful to eat but tastes so good that you can’t help it
12. The smell of coffee
13. Taking walking tours especially through areas I’ve seen a hundred times but want to see in a new way
14. Those grand things that inspire everyone like magnificent sunsets and huge ocean views
15. Finding pictures in the clouds
16. Stop-Motion video
17. People who can take really amazing pictures and then make them even better with photo editing software
18. Listening to auctioneers do their thing
19. Checking out antique stores in small towns in the Midwest
20. Long road trips with just me, myself and the radio
21. Pandora and how well it seems to know what I want to hear!
22. Anyone who can find the silver lining in a tough situation
23. The amazing women who have entered my life over the years
24. Great quotations from authors both known and unknown
25. Magic shows
26. Cirque du Soleil performances
27. Lomography
28. Random links posted on social networking sites for me to click on
29. Vintage postcards
30. Learning new crochet stitches and making something I haven’t made before
31. Scrapbooking the photos taken throughout the month
32. Journaling
33. Reading the published journals/diaries of other people, especially writers and artists
34. Documentaries that are both interesting and informative
35. Reading “strange news” websites and blogs
36. Fingering the fabrics in luxury clothing stores
37. Piecing together outfits from the items bought in second hand clothing stores
38. The changing skyline of San Francisco
39. Everything about my little sister
40. Doing things that scare me at first like riding ATVs
41. Long hikes
42. Long conversations
43. Live theatre events where a single actor plays multiple roles
44. Listening to people beatbox
45. Open mic poetry readings
46. Coloring books
47. Those 3D posters that you had to really stare at to see the picture
48. Crazy competitions like the fastest texters or the fastest Rubik’s cube solvers
49. Elaborate sandcastles
50. Project Runway
51. Women who can walk in six inch heels
52. Elderly people who are trying new things, performing in plays, really out there living life
53. Anything that manages to actually make me laugh out loud
54. Coming across really funny typos
55. Stunning strange shoes like these
56. Seeing videos of people doing free running and parkour
57. Terrific slideshows of beautiful things set to music that just really goes with the images
58. Daydreaming
59. Unique architecture, bionic buildings, upside down houses
60. That moment when you feel like you’re really connecting with a stranger
61. Collage art
62. Watching glass blowers in action
63. The smell of used bookstores
64. Burlesque performance
65. How people come together in a crisis
66. Getting groups of adults together to do things like color Easter eggs or make gingerbread houses
67. Stunning Christmas light displays
68. Seeing people use creative approches to doing the things that we do every day
69. Viewing other people’s random collections - music or salt shakers or aprons or whatever they may love that I didn’t until I saw their passion
70. Children twirling around until they fall down
71. Science museums
72. Car shows and museums filled with vintage cars
73. Articles that show specific changing technology (like how cell phones have changed over the years)
74. Fingerpainting
75. Yoga, pilates, meditation, and hula hoop dancing classes
76. People who speak half a dozen languages or more
77. The Northern Lights
78. Rainbows
79. Conventions for odd interests like the movie The Blob or the merging of sex and technology
80. Weird niche books on topics like pedestrianism or obituary writing
81. Unusual museums like the Liberace Museum in Vegas
82. Stumbling upon unique free events
83. Travel memoirs
84. The fact that scarves can be worn so many different ways
85. People who can make crazy outfits or makeup look good
86. Costumed events
87. Meteor showers
88. When you find the exact word to specifically describe something
89. Keeping a list of “ugly words” with my dad and getting excited about coming across a new one
90. Those moments when I actually feel like I’m really living in the moment
91. Weird hotels
92. Funny signage especially when it’s not intended to be funny
93. Leafy sea dragons
94. Visiting aquariums
95. Trying to cook something new and having it come out exactly right
96. Setting and meeting random goals like trying twenty different sugar-rimmed drinks or watching all of the movies with a particular actor in them
97. Riding on the back of someone else’s motorcycle
98. Collaborative projects with cool creative people
99. Exploring caves and lava tubes and ruins and old mines
100. Falling in love

My goal for this blog is to try to post three times per week. I like to stick to loose schedules and to keep the commitments I’ve made to myself. But I’m a little bit delayed in getting posts up here this week.

There have been some good reasons, though … 10 of them in fact …

1. I recently took on 3 new clients. The first few weeks of working with a new client are always time-consuming because you’re fleshing out the details, figuring out the right formatting, etc. More time was eaten up than I expected.
2. I caught a cold. I did everything I could to fight it off and to get healthy again as quickly as possible. That included resting a lot when I could’ve been working on blog posts instead.
3. My body didn’t want to cooperate. In addition to being sick, I somehow managed to hurt my wrist. It’s tough to type all day with a wrist that isn’t working right. I had to call it a half day that day and let it rest.
4. There was so much sunshine this week. I admit it, I played a little bit of hooky while the sun was shining. I knew we’d be back to rainy days soon and I couldn’t help but want to get outside to do some hiking.
5. I started playing around more with Google Buzz and sharing things in Google Reader. I’ve eased back to a normal level of social networking now but I spent a bit more time on those things at first than I probably had to spend.
6. I had overworked last week. Usually I stick to a good schedule but sometimes I just never get off of my computer. I realize it once I’m cranky and frustrated and feel like I’m always online. I needed time away from the computer.
7. I was finishing up some books I’m planning to review on the blog. I’m still mulling over what I want to write about them so the reviews aren’t ready yet.
8. I started a new class. It’s a wonderful hula hoop dancing class that I’ll tell you more about later. Even adding one new class to my schedule forces me to rearrange some of the things I do and when I can do them.
9. I was back and forth between here and Berkeley a lot. That commute time can be conducive to blog writing … or not.
10. I didn’t have anything that I really wanted to say. One of the things about living a smart life is that you know that sometimes it’s best not to say anything until you’re ready. Otherwise a bunch of dumb drivel just comes out. Safer to wait.

I was just reading through an old article that I wrote a couple of years back about lowering your risk of cancer. As I was reading it, I couldn’t help but think that the information I’d shared there seemed so incredibly obvious. Only then it occurred to me that sometimes we need to have the obvious stuff shoved in our faces again and again so that we remember to do it.

If you want to lower your risk of cancer, you need to use common sense to take care of yourself. Eight obvious things that you should be doing to lower your risk of cancer are:

1. Eat right. Don’t eat too much red meat or drink too much alcohol. Do drink enough water. Eat moderately. We know these things but are we doing them.
2. Exercise. Regularly. Even though you don’t want to.
3. Avoid smoking. C’mon, you know this one.
4. Make sure you get preventative shots. Reducing your likelihood of getting such other diseases as HPV is going to reduce the likelihood that you’ll get certain types of cancer.
5. Get outside. Spend time in nature so that you’re not just sitting inside the toxic chemicals of home and work.
6. Green your home. Speaking of toxic chemicals, stop using them in your own home.
7. Get preventative health screening. You need to know early on if there are signs of cancer so you can combat them.
8. Talk to your doctor about cancer. The more you know, the more likely it is that you’ll be able to prevent it.

One of the things that I love about writing on this blog is that I don’t limit myself to a specific topic. Diary of a Smart Chick is just about all of the random things that tend to capture my interest. I think that’s how real people are - we get intrigued by tons of different stuff that doesn’t fit neatly into a box. That’s what makes us unique; it’s what makes us who we are.

Because I like so many different things, I tend to read a lot of different blogs. I don’t stick to one topic. I like stuff that’s kind of off the wall. Here’s a glimpse into some of the stuff I read regularly just to keep myself interested in the world around me:

1. Weburbanist. I love to check out the weird and interesting things that are collected on this blog. This stuff is creative, weird, eye-catching and compiled in a way that makes it even more compelling. This is the site that introduced me to steampunk and to storage container housing. I loved the recent post on patching buildings with Legos.
2. Live Science Strange News. I love reading about advances that are being made in science. From nanotechnology to crazy medical discoveries, this stuff is interesting. I particularly love the “strange news” channel of this site which gives you all kinds of info on stuff that is almost unbelievable and yet apparently true.
3. Retro to Go. This great little blog collects information on all stuff retro. I love checking out the furniture, fashion and other fun stuff that they highlight on this blog.
4. Weird Asia News. This blog shares all of the odd news that is printed in Asian newspaper. I just get a huge kick out of some of the things that are shared here.
5. SF Girl By Bay. I used to be a big fan of Apartment Therapy until I discovered this San Francisco-based design and style blog. It’s got a funky edge to it that I adore and yet offers info on so much pretty stuff.
6. Lomography Blog. This is a photo topic that I’ve recently started to take an interest in so I’m enjoying learning more about it from the blog. Cool stuff.
7. Fail Blog. I’ll admit that I don’t check this site out daily but I always get a kick out of it when I do. I think I love this blog for the same reason that I love typos. I love the mistakes that people make that show off our humanity and provide humor for our lives.

I think one of the most important things that you can do to keep yourself happy is to keep learning new things. This inspires you. It motivates you. It gives you a reason to wake up in the morning. It stretches your boundaries and makes life more interesting.

I try to learn new things all of the time. Most of what I learn comes from random experiences and ends up being about stuff I never planned on learning. However I do think it’s good to think about the things that you want to learn more about.

10 things I plan to learn more about in 2010 are:

1. Crochet. I just barely learned how to crochet over Thanksgiving weekend and have completely fallen in love with it. It’s the first craft that I absolutely can not get enough of. I want to learn new stitches, new projects, new use of yarns and fabrics. (The photo above was made from an old sweater and some black cotton yarn.)
2. Lomography. I recently learned about this interesting type of photography. I want to know more about it.
3. Photoshop. I FINALLY took a photoshop class late last year and started to learn the basics. I really want to actually start using this program and learning how to do stuff with it which I haven’t really done yet.
4. Pilates machines. I really like my pilates mat class but I want to branch out and learn more about how to do pilates using machines. Haven’t tried that yet but will have tried it by this time next year!
5. Celebrity fashion. This isn’t a topic that I thought I’d ever be interested in. However I’ve started exploring it for a new blog I’m helping out with (the blog for super cool Bay Area clothing company Edgi). I’m actually taking a keen interesting in this and want to learn more.
6. Pandora. I just started using this online radio program (behind the times, I know) and think it’s something I’ll be exploring a lot in 2010. Any suggestions from people who already like it?
7. Various types of dance. There are a couple of workout-style dance classes that I want to take this year. I want to learn fire dancing. I want to learn hula hoop dancing. We’ll see if that leads to any other dance interests.
8. Snow and Water Sports. This is a hands-on goal. I know a bit about things like skiing and tubing down rivers but I want to learn to actually do them.
9. Buenos Aires. I’ve read a lot about this city and have wanted to visit for awhile. I don’t know if I’ll actually get the chance to explore it in person this year or not but it’s definitely a 2010 goal to aim for.
10. San Francisco. I know a lot about this city that I live in and love but there is always more to learn here. I definitely plan to keep exploring and learning more about it!

My siblings and I have been kicking around the idea of starting a business together for a few years now. We’ve talked about it. We’ve mentioned it in passing. Every now and then we’ll actually start to make some plans to do it. However we’ve never really committed to it before because we weren’t all in the right stage of life at the right time to make that kind of commitment. I think we might be there now.

I’m excited about the possibility of doing something crafty and entrepreneurial with my siblings. Smart people love to work for themselves and I’m not sure if I could imagine ever working any other way again. Being able to do that with my smart siblings would be even better.

However I do know that there are pros and cons to working with your family members. On the positive side you have a built-in support system within your small business, a willingness to stick things out together because you know you’ll still be family when it’s all over and a lot of different potentially-compatible traits that can be assets in a group endeavor. On the other hand you have various conflicts, issues because of sibling birth order and a desire to do your own individual things away from the family.

I think what is going to make this business work for us is that none of us are overly invested in it. We’re launching slowly, starting to plan and aiming to make this a side project to the other things that we’re each doing on our own. This approach feels like it will maximize the benefits of working together while minimizing the problems that can come up as a result of working with your family.

Does anyone here have experience working in a family business? What were the most outstanding pros and cons for you?

After having ceased personal blogging for several months I am about to resume all three of my blogs. There will be once weekly posts on my writing blog (Real Words) and my San Francisco blog (San Francisco is Sexy). There will also be fresh new regular posts here on Diary of a Smart Chick. I’ve set some new rules for myself about the new posts here on this site. Those rules include:

• I will post at least three times per week. I was posting here multiple times per day but that is just a bit too much. Ideally I’d like to post her five times per week but I’m committing to at least three.
• I will only link to the articles I’ve written that most interested me. One of the purposes of this blog is to share information about the other topics I write about on various blogs. However in the past I was linking to almost every article I wrote around the web. Instead I’m just going to be highlighting the topics that were truly interesting to me and elaborating on them here on this blog.
• I’ll be posting on smart stuff that captures my interest. One of the points of this blog is that I am a smart chick who likes a diverse range of different random smart stuff. I’ll be linking to more of that stuff and sharing my opinion on it.
• I’ll be resuming some regular posts but I’m not sure which ones yet. I had been doing a question of the week, a book of the day and a photo of the day. I’ll be resuming some of those things but probably less often and I haven’t made a final decision on the schedule for doing that yet. It’s something that you’ll see incorporated into the blog over the next month or so.
• Photos on all posts will be taken by me or attributed to the photographer via a link. I had been using a lot of my own photos on the blog but I was also using random images from Flickr and Google Images. I’ll be primarily using my own photos on the blog posts now or else I’ll include a photo that I like but will link you back to its source so you can learn more about it if you’d like to.

Most people agree that global warming is a serious problem (although some people do say that it doesn’t exist at all. However, people seem to be divided into two major camps regarding this issue. One camp says that it’s a major issue of concern and that we must each devote time and energy to resolving it. The other camp says that science and technology experts are going to find a solution to global warming so the rest of us really don’t need to concern ourselves with it. And of course there’s actually a third camp that believes there’s nothing we can do about it anyway - that we’re just doomed.

So today’s question of the week is:

What should we do about global warming?

Do you think that individuals should be doing anything at all? Do you think we should leave it to the experts? Do you believe that nobody should bother doing anything at all?

To be honest, I don’t have a fully formed opinion on this question yet. I think that global warming appears to be a serious problem and that it’s the responsibility of each individual to do their part to help deal with serious problems on this planet. However, I’m not sure that I have an opinion yet as to what extent we should have to go to as individuals in this area. And there is part of me that believes that we’ll find a scientific solution to the issue even though I worry a little bit that I’m being ignorant or naive in thinking this.

I’d love to hear your thoughts so please do participate in the conversation by leaving your comments answering the question!