When it comes to punctuation marks, exclamation points are definitely my favorite.

I mean, commas and periods don’t strike me as particularly special. They’re just utilitarian and necessary.

Semi-colons and colons often leave me befuddled.

And while I do deliberately use a lot of question marks (which definitely come in a strong second), I still hope that when the tally is taken upon my final breath that I will have lived a life with far more exclamation points than the average gal.

Now all of us use punctuation marks as we’re creating and living our life stories, but most people limit exclamation points to the Big Moments: graduations, weddings, births, dream jobs, dream houses, long sought-after awards.

Somehow, though, I’ll bet that the guys and gals who go through life with the biggest smiles on their faces are the ones who have figured out how to add exclamation points to all their not-so-special days, too.

I mean, there’s a huge difference between

Off to work.

and

Off to work!

And while you might envy actors who are able to recite lines that have punctuation marks added in all the appropriate spots, don’t you prefer being able to PLACE THE EXCLAMATION POINTS IN YOUR OWN LIFE STORY WHEREVER YOU PLEASE?

One theory suggests that the origin of the exclamation point comes from the Latin word for joy, IO, and that the exclamation point was born when someone wrote the “O” underneath the “I”.

So just think of every exclamation point that you can add to your life story as adding an extra helping of joy.

You can think

Time to do the laundry.

or

Time(!) to do the laundry.

or

Time to do the laundry!

It’s really up to you.

Of course, you can also add quite a few exclamation points quite easily with today’s VPOD, an amazing 1950s dress that is punctuated all over with these joyous symbols.

It’s a fabulous style exclamation for a Vintage Crusader!

Available at Coldfish Vintage.

(To receive the VPOD free via email with detailed size and price information, sign up for the growing email mailing list here. Your information will never be sold or shared and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.)

I’m a firm believer in what Brenda Ueland calls moodling, “long inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering.”

In a weird time-twisting way, I’ve discovered that one secret to getting a lot done is being willing to spend a lot of time alone doing nothing at all!

Gazing out a window with a cup of tea. Soaking in a bath. Sitting still and paying attention to the breath.

And listening. Lots of listening.

But not to the radio or the TV or a favorite selection in iTunes. Listening to the sounds of silence around me.

The hum of a heater. A distant ambulance siren. The rumble of the FedEx truck. The pitter-patter of a squirrel scampering across the roof.

It reminds me of years ago when it was necessary to let my car idle for a few minutes before shifting it out of park. My mechanic insisted that it needed this time to warm-up every morning in order to keep the engine functioning properly.

And so it is with our lives.

We all need to do a little idling to keep our imaginations warmed-up and working smoothly.

And like so many skills in life, if you don’t use it, you lose it.

As kids, we were all fabulous moodlers. Yes, even you.

Maybe you can remember gazing up at the sky and being mesmerized by the shifting shape of the clouds or a twinkling blanket of stars. My nephew once watched a parade of ants at a picnic for half an hour. I could spend an entire morning searching for four-leaf clovers in an empty lot near my house. And I remember once when a bunch of us neighborhood kids dug a hole for two straight days just to see how deep we could make it!

No adult would ever engage in such foolishness, right?

Well, thank goodness some grown-ups still do or we wouldn’t have things like wonderful literature, breathtaking art, ingenious gadgets, toe-tapping music, scientific breakthroughs and inspiring films.

Moodling, without a doubt, is an integral part of the creative process, which means it’s not just for the artists and inventors of the world.

It’s a worthwhile activity for moms and dads, employees, students and business owners, too.

Doodling. Coloring. Humming. Skipping. Daydreaming. Zoning out.

Perhaps more grown-up moodling is just the prescription needed to remedy the boredom, malaise, and routine that has replaced the childlike wonder, excitement and imagination that used to fuel our days.

But, like children, we tend to not want to take our medicine, so we immediately counter with “I don’t have time for that!”

Ah, but remember the time-twisting nature of moodling?

When you make time for moodling, moodling somehow makes time for you.

It gifts you with creative solutions to old problems. It contributes to flashes of insight that help you remember exactly where you left that thing you’re looking for before you have to spend an hour searching. It cuts the time to write your monthly report in half because while you were moodling, there was a subroutine running in the background that was organizing your thoughts without you realizing it.

And there’s no better time to give moodling a try than right now in the middle of winter.

Cozy up to a fire in a comfy, lambswool sweater like today’s VPOD.

Allow yourself to get recharged by plugging in to nothing at all.

Remember what it’s like to take two hours to do a crossword puzzle, or to slowly cross-stitch a few rows of your sampler, or to sketch horrendously but gloriously, or to get lost in reminiscing.

It’s just one more way to unleash creativity, in fashion and in life, for any Vintage Crusader!

Available at Twin Hearts Vintage.

(To receive the VPOD free via email with detailed size and price information, sign up for the growing email mailing list here. Your information will never be sold or shared and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.)

Going, Going, GONE!

CLICK IMAGE TO GO TO EBAY AUCTION

(Auctions all end within the next 5 days.)

Vintage 1970s Lace Mini Dress (hellhoundvintageclothing) | Vintage Hattie Carnegie Elephant Brooch (vtg_treasure_hunters) | Vintage 1950s Beaded Sweater (paris.vintage) | Vintage 1960s Fringe Cropped Pants (thriftwares) | Vintage 1950s Ostrich Handbag (badger201143) | Vintage 1970s Icelandic Wool Sweater Coat (ttlg2quit) | Vintage 1950s Rhinestone Belt (badger201143) | Vintage 1950s Silk Dress (weatitsatvintage) | Vintage 1950s Lace Cocktail Dress (peeweekatz) | Vintage Italian Figural Tomato Purse (just-a-dab) | Vintage 1950s Romper (nhal6856) | Vintage 1960s Malcolm Starr Evening Gown (divinefinds) | Antique Petit Point Purse (2c2bid) | Vintage 1950s Brocade Evening Coat (thriftwares) | Vintage 1970s Trifari Lucite Necklace (sugapea) | Vintage 1970s Tooled Leather Handbag (vintage317) | Vintage Trifari Matsumoto Lucite Bracelet (getreadygo2) | Vintage 1940s Crochet Clutch (stencilwoman) | Vintage 1970s Alfred Shaheen Jumpsuit (thekissingtreevintage) | Vintage 1960s Leather and Brass Belt (beltsandbling) | (Disclosure: Editorial selections are made by Zuburbia without direct promotional consideration from Bay sellers. Zuburbia is an affiliate member of the eBay Partner Network).

PLEASE NOTE that Zuburbia does not endorse the use of fur, feathers, leather or animal skins in fashion. These selections are offered only as more thoughtful and eco-friendly alternatives for contemporary fashionistas who have not yet eliminated animal products from their wardrobes.

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We’ve all heard the expression “Put on your Thinking Cap” but do you actually have one?

A Thinking Cap, I mean. And preferably, a vintage one.

No? Then it’s time to get one!

I think we all need a very special Thinking Cap to sit down and set our goals for 2012.

You don’t need it for your SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely). You can write those out just like you’ve been taught.

Bu then it’s time to put on your Thinking Cap.

Its magical powers allow you to think big…

and then think Bigger…

and then think even BIGGER…

until you’re brave enough to write down one ginormous, radical goal that, if you were to share it with someone, would have them thinking you were wearing a Crazy Cap, not a Thinking Cap.

Why?

Why is it so important to set this one goal with your Thinking Cap on?

Well, I think the idea is explained beautifully by Douglas Edwards in his book, I Feel Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59. In it, Edwards quotes another Google employee, Urs Holzle, who said:

Starting with something that’s more ambitious will get you something that’s reasonable. But if you don’t put the goal post way out there, people are already taking fewer risks and are less ambitious about how big the idea should be.

It’s this attitude, of always striving to hit it out of the ballpark, and not caring that someone would characterize their ambitious goals as “crazy talk,” that allowed Google to index a BILLION web pages when all of its competitors were merely crawling a 100 million pages or so.

You see, more often than not, we are limited not by our resources—the time, money, education or support we have access to—but by our THINKING.

Think small and you’ll get small results. Think BIG and, though you may fall short, you stand a better chance of landing far, far ahead of those folks who can only think small.

And most of us have a habit of thinking small. It’s built into our culture, which is why we’re taught SMART goal-setting (which I think should stand for Safe, Mediocre, Average, Responsible and Tame).

Why not set yourself a unique, radical, I-don’t-think-I-can-achieve-this-but-why-not-try-it-goal? You don’t even need to share it with anyone if you don’t want to. Let it be your secret.

But be prepared. You just may discover that with BIG thinking and BABY steps, amazing things can happen.

So if you don’t have a personal Thinking Cap yet, go find one fast. And I’d like to suggest that you seek out a unique vintage version like today’s VPOD.

This vintage 1950s plastic and rhinestone hair crown would definitely set your thoughts soaring, but it’s just one option. Perhaps you prefer a 1920s cloche. Or maybe a vintage aviator cap is more your style.

In fact, ANY vintage Thinking Cap that encourages BIG thinking is the right choice for a Vintage Crusader.

Available at Chez Vous.

(To receive the VPOD free via email with detailed size and price information, sign up for the growing email mailing list here. Your information will never be sold or shared and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.)

Right around now is when parents start pulling out a pretty strong behavior card: Santa’s Naughty and Nice list.

Think about it.

You don’t hear parents out in public with unruly kids in June sternly admonishing them, “Behave! You don’t want to end up on Santa’s Naughty List or he won’t bring you any presents!” But it’s a common occurrence during these last few weeks before Christmas.

And putting aside my feelings about the whole Santa myth for a moment, I have to ask why there has to be a Naughty OR Nice List and why there can’t be a Naughty AND Nice List. After all, sometimes it pays to be Naughty.

For instance, we all learned that we should respect our elders and not talk back, right? That’s playing NICE.

But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use your voice and speak up for yourself if someone is taking advantage of you. No, go ahead, SPEAK UP! Even if it means that you’ll receive one big black mark on that person’s Naughty List for doing so.

Or, here’s another example.

We all learned that we should try not to hurt other people’s feelings, right? NICE people don’t do that.

But don’t you most respect the friends and loved ones in your life who can be brutally honest with you? Who can call you on the excuses and rationalizations that work with everybody else but don’t work with them because they hold you to a higher standard? The people who aren’t afraid to bruise your feelings if it means helping you see a truth that’s in your blind spot and holding you back?

And where do these people live? I know I have them on my Nice List.

Or let’s take the example of a hassled, frazzled mom juggling a bunch of kids and a job. Or a single person juggling her career and caring for a sick or elderly loved one.

What’s NICE is to unselfishly give and give and give until you can’t give any more.

What’s NAUGHTY is to say NO once in a while. To selfishly say I NEED A BREAK and this next hour is for ME. And then to take that time to re-charge so you can return to your challenges conscious and refreshed.

Now, is there anyone out there who would put you on a Naughty List for doing that? If so, I say THEY’RE the ones who should go on the Naughty List! Don’t you agree?

Debbie Ford, author of The Dark Side of the Light Chasers among other bestsellers, has spent her career teaching about our Shadow. It’s that part of ourselves that we bury, that we don’t want to acknowledge, that we try to suppress or hide. It’s the NAUGHTY side. The part of us that we identify as lazy, critical, controlling, selfish, angry or weak.

But rather than trying to tame this beast and making sure every one of our actions shows up on somebody’s NICE List, we need to integrate and reclaim these Naughty aspects of ourselves and use them to serve our purposes.

Just as there are often gifts hidden in our greatest challenges, there are also gifts hidden in our greatest weaknesses. And by shifting our perception of what’s NAUGHTY and NICE about ourselves, we are empowered to live out lives that are so much more whole and authentic.

So don’t feel like you have to choose between today’s Naughty and Nice VPODS.

It’s quite all right to admit that you find both of them appealing whether you’re more drawn to the sleek, wicked, attention-grabbing vintage 1990s Jean-Paul Gaultier catsuit or the more innocent and demure vintage 1950s beaded circle skirt.

They’re both naughty AND nice choices for a Vintage Crusader!

Available at Chi Chi and the Greek.

(To receive the VPOD free via email with detailed size and price information, sign up for the growing email mailing list here. Your information will never be sold or shared and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.)