I have recently discovered that I pretty much hate the word "busy".  And it's not just the word.  It's the connotations that go along with it.  I really hate when you're talking to someone and you ask how they are and they answer "busy" and then proceed to tell you all the stuff they have going on.  Great, you're busy and have things you're involved in.  Yeah, me too.  In fact, doesn't everyone?  I'm not sure why you feel the need to clarify that YOU are so busy. If I wanted to, I could say that too.  Sure, I'm busy.  I work full-time, and I'm a part-time MBA student.  On top of that, I run two blogs, additionally write for two more, and help with another one that I'm an editor for.  On top of that, I'm also taking two other classes this summer in addition to my MBA classes.  In addition to that, I still try to find time for homework, socializing, and spending time with my family.  So yeah, you could say I'm busy too.  But I guess I just don't really think about it.  Everything that I'm doing or involved with, I chose and for the most part, enjoy.  So saying I'm busy, to me, amounts to one of two things (or possibly both).  Number one, I see the things I'm involved with as a task list - a list of things I need to get done.  Which, well, really isn't true.  Sure, there are things I need to get done, but for me it's not about a task list.  These are just the things I'm doing because I enjoy them.  I mean, I guess it could be considered a task list that I enjoy... but I don't see it that way.  I just see it as life, and the things that I'm interested in that are a part of my life.  And honestly, if I'm friends with you... I'm not really all that interested in you rattling off your task list to show me how busy you are.  Because that brings me to the second thing.  Number two - "busy" in our society has now come to be an indication of how important a person is.  I feel this a lot.  I don't really go on much about how busy I am.  But I sure do it hear it from others.  And that's usually (not always, but usually) how it comes across to me.  If you go on to me about how busy you are, it really just seems like you are trying to prove to me how important you are by how important all the things you are involved with are.  Either that, or you're trying to justify why you "don't have time" for other things, or people. I've also come to the conclusion that I think a lot of people pack their schedules so tightly full in an effort of avoidance.  If they are always busy with something, they don't have much time to themselves.  They don't have to spend much time thinking... just thinking.  Their focus is always on what's going on, what they are doing, and what is the next thing in their busy schedule.  It seems like these people are practically afraid of themselves, or afraid of being alone.  Which is kind of sad, because if you can't be with yourself, are you really being the best you with other people? Here's the thing.  You're only as busy as you feel and as busy as you make yourself.  As many of the things I listed above that I do, I still don't really feel "busy".  Sure, I'm involved with a lot of things.  Mostly things I love.  I write a travel blog because I love to travel and I love to talk about traveling.  I write for a blog about beer because I like beer.  I'm an MBA student because I enjoy it and it is helping me to grow and to learn more about both myself and things in the world of business.  That's not me being busy.  It's just the interests in my life coming through.  And, I still find time to spend time with people and time to relax and time to go see movies and time to read.  I don't feel "busy".  And I don't answer that way when someone asks me how I am.  Instead, I tell them I'm doing good and if they want to know more about what's going on with me, I tell them what they want to know. Sorry, but if you tell me you're "busy"... that just makes me feel like you think (and want me to know) all those things in your so-called packed schedule are just of more importance than me.  After all, they're all pretty important things you have to get done... right?

...that didn't go too well.  Sorry, folks, but my attempt at NaNoWriMo kind of fell flat.  How far did I get?  Well, no more than that word count over there. --->  I did finish chapter 1.  And kind of got stumped and unmotivated.  Hence the slacker I am.  Honestly, even though maybe I disappointed some of you (those of you that even care, that is) that I didn't finish it, I'm okay with it.  It just wasn't the right timing for me.  I do have chapter 1 of a novel I hope to write/finish at some point.  But just not now. Instead I have other news for you.  If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook at all, you probably know that I am planning a few trips here soon.  One is my vacation in a couple of weeks to Aruba.  The other is a trip I'm taking as a part of a class for school.  I'm going to Russia over my spring break in March.  I signed up for a 3-credit hour class that is a study of emerging economies, of which Russia is one of.  I'm very excited about it, both the class and the trip.  I had been planning on taking another class/trip for school next summer, to China, but once I found out about the Russia class, I think it is a better fit for me.  The China trip lasts for 2 weeks and includes a lot of consulting and project work.  The Russia class is more of a study, which is really what I want.  I'm so excited to learn more about the country and ultimately visit it for a week.  It's going to be great, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity. In light of these upcoming travels, I've decided to start a separate travel blog.  I know, I could just use this space for it, but I'd kind of like to keep it separate for a few reasons.  One, I think having a separate blog just for that *might* (or might not, who knows, knowing me) encourage me to post more about my travels.  Two, I'm using tumblr for my blog platform because it is very easy to post from.  WordPress just doesn't have a very good mobile blogging platform, in my opinion.  Tumblr makes it really easy to upload quotes, text, video, photos, etc. and that will be perfect for posting when I am traveling. I've decided to name the blog "travelatté" to go along with the theme of this blog.  Of course there's my giant coffee cup up there at the top, and then my regular tumblr is, of course, called "Small Bites".   So it seems to fit in perfect with this site as well as my addiction to coffee.  Plus it's a play on the words "travel a lot", which I kind of do. So there you have it.  I hope you'll jump in and decide to follow travelatté as well as this blog so you can join me on my adventures.  Check out travelatté on tumblr and follow @travelatte_blog on Twitter.  Looking forward to having you along!

A blog post about blogging.  Novel idea, right?  I've been blogging since - well, according to my Xanga page - October 2001.  Next Tuesday is apparently my 8-year bloggiversary.  Yay me!  So yes, I started blogging on Xanga, and later eventually moved to my own site, which you see before you now.  The look of it has changed some over the years, but I am still here.  Where else would I be?  I'm pretty sure there is no other Sheryl Hugill out there to try to steal this domain name from me... Besides my own personal blog, I have also been a blogger for other websites as well.  In 2006 and 2007, I was a blogger for a local magazine that used to be called INtake Weekly.  INtake has since become Indy.com (sadly leaving behind their Blog Squad), and now is a part of Metromix.  And now, I'm excited to add another entry to my blog portfolio... you're looking at the newest "BizBlogger" for the Kelley School of Business at IUPUI! The Kelley School of Business showcases their newest blog entries on their main page, found at kelley.iupui.edu.  The link to the "BizBlog" itself can be found at bizblog.kelley.iupui.edu or by clicking on "More Entries" from the BizBlog section on the main Kelley page.  Found here are blogs by several different types of people involved with Kelley, including undergraduate students, alumni, advisors, and of course (like me) graduate students.  If you go to the main BizBlog page and click on Graduate Students, you'll see my name listed there on the left.  No posts yet, but I currently have one waiting for moderation. I'm very excited to be blogging for the Kelley School of Business.  I know the MBA program will be a challenge, and I'm looking forward to sharing my experience there.  Interestingly enough, my blog here is what got me the job... someone from Kelley contacted me while I was in the process of preparing for the GMAT and applying to the program, after having seen my post here about that process.  She wanted to talk to me to find out about my experience with the application process, and this later led to my invitation to blog for the school. What a great opportunity, and a great way to celebrate my "bloggiversary"... with a new blogging challenge. UPDATE: My first blog at Kelley has been posted/moderated now.  I think they have changed around the graduate students blogs, as mine is listed right now under "Evening MBA Experience".  Here's a link to my first post.

I've had an account on Tumblr for quite a while, but I've never quite figured out what to do with it, exactly. Tumblr is basically another blogging service with a slightly different feel to it. It makes it easy to post other types of media, such as photos, quotes, links, videos, etc. Well, I finally got the idea to use it as something of a "daily blog". My current blog here has become a place to share mostly insights, and I haven't really wanted to include a lot of day-to-day updates here (unless they are major, perhaps) but sometimes I do want to blog about what's going on with me day by day. So I've decided to incorporate these kinds of things into my Tumblr blog, calling it "Life in small bites". Up until now I haven't really shared my Tumblr with anyone, but I am changing that as of now! I may add it as a subdomain to my sherylhugill.com domain, but for now it can be found at http://sherylh96.tumblr.com. I will also be working on tweeting my new Tumblr posts automatically for those of you that follow my Twitter feed as well as adding an icon for it to my social media links over in the sidebar --> As of right now, I'm planning on including a "Photo of the Day" (today's photo is already up!), but I have no set plans for what else this will include, other than generally some insight in my daily life. I'm open to ideas on what you think I should possibly include, so please leave me comments!

Besides being a social event and a chance for good conversation and connection with people, Mo*Con also made me think. Standing outside of the building on Saturday of the event, I found myself in a conversation with Kelli Dunlap. The panel happening at the time was about the writing business, and I had decided to skip it and use the time to head home to let my dog out and go get my copy of Orgy of Souls (to be signed by Maurice and Wrath). Upon telling Kelli this, she asked me, "are you a writer?" I wasn't sure what to say... I mean, at this point the whole convention had made me actually consider writing more. But how do I answer that question? I blog. I journal. I do like to write. And I never seem to have trouble having the words flow pretty freely. And it is something I enjoy. But had I ever tried to get a story published? Not even close. So I didn't know what to say. Kelli termed me a "hobby writer" and told me that that was perfectly okay and not to let anyone tell me any different. She's right, at this point. But even my "hobby writing" hasn't been much of a focus lately. But maybe it should be. One thing I took away from Mo*Con was the feeling that I'm lacking something. I've heard that to be happy in life, you need a good balance of all your "life areas". One of those life areas is spirituality. And to me right now - I believe that connection and creativity are a big part of what spirituality is in my life... two things that I found in abundance at Mo*Con. As far as creativity goes - I'm not much of an artist, but I DO like to write. So I've decided. In an effort to increase creativity and gain some spiritual balance in my life, I'm going to write more. There's no rhyme or reason to it, and no publishing of stories will be sought after any time soon. Heck, I don't even know if stories will be written. But something will be. Right now, my focus is just doing it. It's easy to get caught up in the things in life that it feels like have to be done, and to not do the things that really are necessary for fulfillment that just don't seem as pressing. But I need the creative outlet. I need the channel for paying more attention to the world around me and the wonder it contains. So be it blog post, journal entry, or whatever may flow out... write I will. I guess I am a writer.

Ok, blog readers - this post is all about your opinion as opposed to mine this time. As you can see (well, if you're reading this from my page as opposed to Facebook or an RSS reader), I've been making some changes around here. I'm working on a different look for my site, and honestly kind of deciding where I want to go with my blog. So here's the first question: What are you interested in seeing me blog about? What topics should I cover here? Which blog posts are the most interesting to you? Usually when something has crossed my mind, and I feel it's worthy of people hearing it - that's when I blog. But there are probably a million other random things that I don't blog about that I could. So my question to you is - what you would like to read about from me? Now, here's what my next question is about. See that "About" link in the navigation links there to the left? Yeah, I know - it doesn't work. I'm working on that. I'm thinking about making my About page into sort of a FAQ about me. But really, what questions do people have about me? Are there any? Or what do you think people need to know about me. So tell me: What questions would you like to see answered on my "About" page? I may or may not pick your question... I know most of my readers, I think, and I know some of you are completely capable of coming up with questions that, well, I either wouldn't want to answer and/or post on my website. ;) So there you go. There's your homework, now get to it! Leave your answers in the comments, please. Thanks!