Things I'm Thinking About

Exploring how structure takes shape in everyday experiences and quiet realizations

Our original name for the blog was Can I Just Build a Spreadsheet First because that is how I organize my thoughts. It is something of a personal mantra, and because I actually hear myself say it out loud when I need to make sense of something, it became the natural starting point for capturing ideas that needed a place to land.

 

With time, I realized the spreadsheet is not the structure itself. It is the foundation that lets structure take shape. It is where ideas begin to sort and stretch, connecting and reshaping until they start to build on one another. What grew from that process, the space where those connections continue to evolve into something larger and more layered, was always present. Now it simply has its place at the front.

Welcome to Things I Am Thinking About.

Open planner with to-do list, colorful tabs, pen, coffee cup, and globe — illustrating communicating with different learning styles
Why I Send the Same Information Three Different Ways
I learned a hard lesson during a cancer fundraiser years ago about sending information in a way people can actually use: having a plan is not enough if no one can see it. I was tracking everything in a...
Hands holding an open envelope with a blank invitation card, symbolizing thoughtful planning and human connection.
Planning as Invitation: Structure, Care, and Shared Freedom
This isn’t a single story. It’s a layered one, stitched together from a second-grade envelope notebook, Rainbow Girl cookbooks, college credit charts, Thanksgiving spreadsheets, and itinerary-filled...
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AI in Plain Clothes: The Work Beneath the Work
We are in the messy middle. That has been the undercurrent through every piece in this AI in Plain Clothes series. We are past the first shock of arrival, past the novelty phase where everything felt like...
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Comfort in the Familiar: Why Structure Frees Curiosity
Part of the Origins of a Planner series. I am, unapologetically, an app junkie. I love discovering new tools and imagining they will be the magic fix that finally brings every system in my world into one...
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AI in Practice: AI That Evolves With You
Sometimes I want to shake my laptop and say, “You were just helping me. What happened? Why did you shift?” That moment captures something deeper than inconvenience. When the model I had been...
Colorful puzzle pieces scattered on a wooden surface, symbolizing organizing a scattered mind
The Chaos of Organizing a Scattered Mind
Why My Brain Explodes When I Try to Find Calm I sat down today to get organized, or at least to start organizing a scattered mind. That was the plan. What actually happened was something closer to setting...
A group of people seated around a circular table, each holding a cup of coffee, symbolizing connection and shared understanding
The Power of Being Understood
Part of the series: Why and How I Started a Blog I have always been someone who thinks best by hearing my own ideas out loud. Sometimes that is through conversation, sometimes through dictation, and sometimes...
A wheelbarrow on a stone path between garden plots in a community garden, surrounded by soil beds and spring plants.
How a Community Garden Plot Helped Me Understand the Value of Temporary Structure
A Garden Meant for the In-Between Year I have always been the kind of person who plants a garden before the last moving box is unpacked. It is my way of learning a place, a small act of settling before...
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Defining Wins in the Age of AI: The Quiet Metrics of Real Value
I have always been a little obsessed with automation, not because I love robots or code for their own sake, but because I am a self-proclaimed gadget girl who loves how the right tools make our actions...
Family itinerary planning with themed welcome bags, reflecting structured hospitality in action
Structured Hospitality: Why the Best Plans Feel Like Invitations
Part Five of the Planning as Invitation series — stories that trace how structure evolved from instinct to intention to care. The Politeness Loop There’s a funny thing that happens when you...
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A Planner's Guide to the Age of AI Overwhelm
I’m a planner. A systems thinker. My mind works in terms of process. In the age of AI overwhelm, this is both a strength and a new challenge. While a task may send my thoughts in a lot of different...
Abstract illustration of a human head formed by flowing, web-like neural strands, symbolizing ideas connecting and branching.
Making Space for Ideas: How to Capture Ideas with Dictation
You know those moments when an idea, a solution, or a perfectly worded phrase just hits you? Maybe you’re on a walk, driving, or in the shower. Your mind, freed from the confines of a screen or keyboard,...
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