Over this holiday week, I had a chance to do something really fun: fused glass jewelry art. We started at a glass studio (thanks, Teresa!) and ended up at home working with my very talented sister, Rebecca Hull, to finish off the designs. These feature the motifs that are common in my doodles.

This first one uses transluscent glass with bits of colored glass (amusingly called "frit") and some copper wire that oxidized into a rich deep purple color. It was Becca's idea (surprise, surprise) to put two mounts on the pendant. Very interesting!

The second looked like a tree with graphic flowers and leaves before it fused, but afterwards it looked very "under the sea" with crackled glass elements catching the light and little bubbles under the glass. Becca finished it off with curly-cue wire - just my style!

I have stacks-and-stacks of cartoons to post, but until I get them scanned, I can post doodles around my neck!

I have been obsessed lately with the idea of designing clothes. It is strange really, because I really lack the patience and meticulousness (is that even a word?) to be a seamstress or tailor. But still I dream of the designing. Of effortless creation (like you see when you watch Project Runway or the shows on HGTV).

Then I saw this post from Seth and was really stuck by this quote:

"Tweaking, making and building are human acts, ones that are very easy to forget about as we sign up to become cogs in the giant machinery of consumption and production."

How true! I get to build a bit at work, if you count PowerPoint presentations, but nothing really beats making and building something that is real. It is a very human desire and capability - and one that, in my impatience, I should make sure I don't lose.

A colleague of mine said this the other day (in the context of some technical issue he was dealing with) and I thought it good advice for other areas of life as well. Sometimes you have to pick your battles and some are just not worth fighting. Other ones, are worth overcoming the impossible for.

This quote, along with so many other great ones, can be found a Chris Guillebeau's blog.

Another phrase I have never really understood was "gung-ho attitude," but that didn't keep me from loving this line from one of my son's Star Wars, The Clone Wars books.

You can use this cartoon for non-commercial purposes. Link back to http://jenniferbdavis.blogspot.com and credit Jennifer Davis.

I heard the following at Carrie Bugbee's session at WebVisions 2009 and couldn't resist turning into into a cartoon. Enjoy!

This is a great multi-purpose invitation. It could work for so many things, all of them good. Who do you want to bloom with? Send them this graphic (with a link to http://jenniferbdavis.blogspot.com, of course).

A LinkedIn contact reached out to me the other day to schedule lunch (which we did). She told me that she was trying to meet with every local contact among her connections on LinkedIn, which struck me as a very ambitious task, but one that is really valuable. Our lunch resulted in a new, deepened connection, some shared information, and a referral.

You can connect with me on LinkedIN here or we could meet for lunch and be LinkedOUT-and-ABOUT.

For more thoughts on midlife crisis, see Craig Damrauer's excellent drawing on the subject (which inspired mine above) or my friend, Lisa's post which says something powerful about possibilities yet to come.

Okay, in fairness, I have some years to go before I can have a full-blown midlife crisis, but my husband will tell you that I have been talking about convertible sportscars, exotic vacations, and the restless ambition that I always have has sprouted out in a bunch of new activities, like drawing doodles, writing songs (and other related endeavors that I'll tell you about later), and scheming about yard improvements. Maybe these are the energy field fluxuations before the big earthquake of creativity to come.

I find myself using made up words and one my recent favorites is "retwizzled." I use it to mean when I need to tweak, edit, or change something (usually a document) to reflect the latest thoughts or direction that it needs to go. I retwizzle it and then we are good to move forward.

When a colleague teased me about it, I began to think that the word has broader applications. It is not only documents, plans, or decisions that get retwizzled from time to time, but often it is our entire life. If something is no longer working. If the circumstances have been altered. If changes need to be made. It is your chance to retwizzle.

The doodle above reflects my renewed interest in drawing. You are free to use the image for any non-commercial purpose, as long as you give me credit and link back to http://jenniferbdavis.blogspot.com.

A colleague of mine recently used the word "consolidarity" in a conversation the other day (never minding that it is actually not a word). I thought it was worthy of a submission to Webster's. The definition I proposed when I tweeted about it was the following:

The quintessential example of the word would be when parents both agree to have their kids share a room. Where else could you use the word?

Some of you may recall that in 2008 I made a personal resolution to draw some one-frame cartoons and post them to this blog. I have renewed my interest in drawing, turning some of my recent doodles, thoughts, and overheard conversations into little cartoons. After all, creating is another way of thinking. I'll be posting them here over the coming weeks. Enjoy!

These drawings borrow heavily from the style of Hugh at GapingVoid, who pioneered the drawing on the back of business cards and for whom I am no substitute (definitely check out).

Feel free to use these cartoons for your own non-commercial purposes, if one strikes your fancy. On your website, in your newsletters, in your presentations, or even on a t-shirt. Just make sure to give me credit and link back here to http://jenniferbdavis.blogspot.com. Thanks!

Apparently when Oprah joined Twitter on her show, the number of accounts grew by 43%. So to sort out the wanna-bes from the hard-core Twitter users, a new application was developed (which I learned about from TechCrunch) called HereBeforeOprah.

Type in your twitter handle in to the website and you can find out if you are a poser or not. Good to know that @jenniferdavis and @remarkabletweet were both here before Oprah.

Whew!

Looking for a way to diversify yourself during challenging economic times? Looking for a fun business to start? Here are a few ideas that I offer for no charge at all. Enjoy!

• Someone should start a candle company called "Brazilian Wax."
• Or perhaps a surfboard wax company called "Back Wax."
• What about a line of garden pest control products called "Snail Mail"? Your tagline could be "Send snails and slugs a message!"
• Someone should invent a line of retail price or garmet tags that include a website or text number that you can access via your cell phone and call the business "Phone Tag."
• "Sticky Business" would be the fun name of a tape or sticker company.
• Start a real estate brokerage firm focused on selling parking spots and storage units and call it "Garage Sale."
• Open a private investigation business called "Name Tag."
• Create a line of clothing feature Disney characters (like the little bunny in Bambi) and funny phrases that they might have posted on Twitter. You could call the clothing line "Twitterpated."
• You can buy candles that smell like fresh baked cookies or berries, but not bacon, BBQ, or other non-sweet scents. Start a candle company with a name like "Savory" that offers unique scents like "grilled onions" or "rosemary."

Now, I never did say they were good ideas. Maybe you can improve on them!