SandraSays

the life & times of Sandra Fernandez

Sandra Fernandez

by Leave a Comment

What I did with an hour of downtime

I used to joke that my idea of taking a break is to do work that isn’t on my “critical” list. It was only sort of a joke, because when I needed to recharge my brain I’d end up taking an hour to do something like:

  • “processing” digital photos to choose which to post on social media,
  • clearing out my queued RSS feeds to bookmark new content for reading or sharing,
  • responding to people on social media to thank them for RTs

Today what I did with my hour of downtime was install a new theme onto this website. Isn’t it pretty? (And I won’t even get into the fact that I carved out an hour on which to do anything but work.)

SandraSays.com is the second-oldest online property I own. It’s gone through several redesigns and I’ve reconfigured the content and use several times as well. Since my life has changed significantly over the last few years, I decided it was time to roll out a new look. I also include info about transitioning SandraSays Media into Big Oak Tree Media and I provide more information about the project projects on which I contribute (Hispanic Houston and The Little Radio Show).

There is more to follow, I hope. But I haven’t quite figured out what I’m doing with this site now. Stay tuned!

by 1 Comment

My 3 Words for 2017: Focus. Move. Balance.

My 3 Words for 2017: Focus. Move. Balance. (sandrasays.com)

Happy New Year! For many of us, a new year gives us a great opportunity to wipe the slate clean and start over in different aspects of our lives. Some might approach this through resolutions (which I used to do as well). Some of us pick themes or words to help guide the next year.

I choose three words to represent areas where I want try to improve or in which I would try to make changes. You can see the previous years’ choices through my archives. This year’s words are (once again) a revisit of some I’ve used in previous years.

Focus. For the third year in a row I’m making “Focus” one of the important themes for the year. I’m still letting things distract me from what’s important, from the goals and objectives that I really want to achieve. Focus is something that’s an ongoing challenge for me. Some years I do better at this than others. But I still don’t think I’m doing this well enough to take this off my list of words.

Move. This year I’m going to make an effort to stop overthinking things and just doing them. I have the bad habit of planning things out for a long while and then implementing them. I’m going to adopt the “fail fast” theory and just try new things — if they work, great; if they don’t work, then it’s a lesson learned. Either way, I’ll have actually ticked off items from my lists.

Balance —”Balance” is one of those words that has made an appearance in my yearly choice on more than one occasion. I need to make more time for fun, family, and friends. I need to go out and do things because it’s hard to be creative when you never go out and do creative things. And it’s important to refuel my spirit and mind.

What are your goals, objectives or words for 2017.

by Leave a Comment

Video Pick: 11 Vital Books for First-Time Entrepreneurs

This week we have a video to share, from the Entrepreneur YouTube channel: “11 Vital Books for First-Time Entrepreneurs.” There are a few in the list that I have read and a few that I haven’t read and need to add to my reading list.

I’m a big fan of reading in general. I have learned quite a bit from reading books, blogs, white papers, etc. I’m always on the lookout for more books to add to my list.

Do you have more books to recommend?

Source: https://youtu.be/oVSksfxSj0o.

by Leave a Comment

#BigOakTree Lunch & Learn with Yvonne Guidry

#BigOakTree Lunch & Learn with Yvonne Guidry (sandrasays.com)

Did you miss today’s Lunch & Learn event? You can view the rewind on Facebook (it was livecast on Facebook Live).

For the second Lunch & Learn session of the year, Big Oak Tree Media presented Yvonne Guidry of SpoiledLatina.

Yvonne is the multicultural beauty, fashion, entertainment and mommy influencer behind SpoiledLatina. She has contributed fashion styling projects on Mun2, BET, MTV, and this year was nominated as Best Snapchat Storyteller at the Tecla Awards organized by the annual Hispanicize event.