Plenty of new changes are happening with my design studio, HappyTapper. And to go with those changes, I relaunched my site. I have to admit that it looks pretty darn good.

I’m getting set to relaunch Gratitude Journal in a few weeks. I’ve been working on this one for months. It’s taking a lot longer than the original version, but it also has dozen of new features — you can get a sneak peak on my new site.

Also, I’m teaming up with one of the top developers in the northern hemisphere, Jiva DeVoe. He wrote the book on cocoa. No, really. This is it. I’m seriously flattered that a guy with this depth of talent wants to partner. We already have some amazing projects I’m excited to see on iTunes.

It’s taken me a long time to get this far with my business, which started as “just a hobby”. I absolutely love designing for mobile devices and feel lucky to be doing this full time with some truly talented people and for some world class clients. Bring it on 2012!

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” -Howard Thurman

I came across this quote on Maggie Doyne’s website (a super amazing woman) and I’m sharing it with you today because my life once again is drastically changing (remember back in January I said my word for the year is change? How very true that is.)

Today is my last day with NASA and tomorrow will be my first day 100% employed by HappyTapper. Anyone who has ever taken this leap will know just how insanely scary it is. To my great fortune, I already I have some amazing prospects that I can’t wait to turn into clients. Projects that really make my head spin and my heart leap.

Another great blessing is that I’ll be able to share more on my blog and in my tweets with you. Because of the nature of my job with NASA, I was hesitant to discuss certain topics. But now that the only person who can fire me is me (and my clients), I’m taking a bigger leap.

In honor of this change, I redid my blog design again — not that any of you probably noticed. If you’re anything like me, you see all blogs in the same design in your reader. It’s still work in progress, but I’m getting rid of the clutter, the pages, the links.

As for the picture above, it’s a wonderful photograph by Boy Wonder available on Etsy. I purchased a copy for my son’s room – a gift from my husband and me to him to celebrate a personal milestone that happened on June 14th. Life is changing and change is good!

Growing up, it was common to suddenly stop the car as my mom popped out to take a quick picture of the sun setting over a corn field. Or waking up with a camera in your face as you came down the stairs. “Just want to use up my film!” my mom would say.

It’s no surprise that my sister turned out to be a great photographer as well. She has her camera with her everywhere, taking snaps of her daughter playing ball. Or my son making a big yawn. She found these amazing Kelly Moore Bags online and asked me to blog about them so she can snag $30 off this gorgeous green one.

It’s a pretty cool promo their doing. If you are a photographer and need a classy way to carry your equipment, write about them in a blog and save a few bucks.

It wasn’t a “to do” list. But rather a story about how it played out. I began with giving thanks for certain things — a good night’s sleep, my warm home, good health. Then I described my day in a story, writing about going for a run with my body strong, limber and gliding along. All the things I would create, the people who would come into my life, and how my day would end with a incredible night’s sleep.

Then I burned or shredded it. I did this because I believed everything I wrote about would manifest itself just as it was meant to be. I didn’t need to hold on to the idea of it. Rather, I let it go allowing the universe to take care of the rest.

About 80% of what I wrote would happen. I would get the phone call I was hoping for. Or a new opportunity came to my inbox. I was sleeping like a dream, feeling great, and my days were productive and full.

Then I stopped my daily manifestations. And slowly things started to change. My life was all over the place, with my attention pulled in 10 different directions. I didn’t feel grounded and my sleep suffered. Overall I was still rocking and rolling, but not with the song and dance I had before.

So just this week I picked up the pen and paper again and wrote a letter of manifestation. I’ll admit, it feels a bit odd writing these. But when the things I write come to fruition, I know this how I have to tell the universe what I want. Thinking it in my head isn’t enough. I have to spell it out in full detail on paper. Perhaps this helps me visualize it happening. I’m not sure. But it works. And that’s a good feeling well worth five minutes in the morning.

“Well you know my name is Simon,
And the things I draw come true.
Oh, pictures, take me, take me over,
Climb the ladder with you.”

(anyone remember that? maybe this will help…)

My name is Simon

We’re celebrating with a cool TweetBlast and a chance to win a new iPad. We’re also giving away some dandy shirts from Storenvy as well as promo codes for a free copy of the app. Be sure to tweet because I would love for you to win!

Oddly enough, Little Buddha first came into my life exactly one year ago. My favorite artist, Scotty, passed him along saying it was an abandoned iPhone project. The guy who requested the design had disappeared.

I fell in love with our abandoned Buddha straight away. His warm smile and glowing colors made me smile and tickled my heart. A quotes app was the perfect next app. I love quotes. I’m a quotes junkie. So I bugged Scotty about it for months until¬†eventually¬†he agreed to let me create the app.

I spent this year rising at 5am, tweaking the designs and layout pixel by pixel. My super hero developer, David, helped me pull it all together using his special powers to make it just right. Now that he’s finally out in the world, it’s scary but¬†exhilarating. Little Buddha says it best:

The launch was a huge success. With the help of Ryan from Brandle Design I created this amazing email blast. And now I’m just in the beginnings of our TweetBlast, already giving away some great prizes. What an amazing couple of days it’s been!

If you by chance get the app, please take a moment and leave some positive feedback on iTunes. I can’t begin to tell you how golden that is.

As always, I want to thank you for your encouragement and kind words over these past couple of years. It’s been quite a journey going from uncertainty to finding purpose, and now running a successful and growing business. Do what you love to help others and you will love what you do. (you can quote that!)

Like going away to a summer home, I plan to be spending the next months writing more on my happytapper blog. So please take a minute and check it out. Some of my posts will be about the app business, but also about my favorite topics of health, wealth, and happiness.

I’m also planning to launch my third app this week. This one has been a labor of love which I’m excited to tell you all about as as soon as we go live. If you want to be the first to hear about it, be sure to sign up for my newsletter.

Before I get ahead of myself, there’s a couple people I dearly want to thank for all their hard work helping me launch my new site. First and foremost, I want to shout out a massive THANK YOU to¬†Chris at TriMutiny. Not only is he great fun to work with, the guy is absolutely brilliant when it comes to both coding and design. He has a wonderful mix of talent and I look forward to working together some more.

I also want to thank Todd and his team at WPfromPSD.com. They helped develop the HappyTapper blog and did an outstanding job. If you ever need a WordPress blog developed, I highly recommend hiring these guys. They’re professional and do great work.

Lastly, I want to thank all of you for all your unending support. It’s been a long winter of early mornings designing and coding to pull this all off. Your encouragement hasn’t fallen on deaf ears. It’s the exact thing I needed to keep me going each day. So thank you, all of your, from the bottom of my heart.

This hour long ceremony is designed to help you attract the life you want through the power of manifestation. It kicked off with a deep breathing exercise and mediation to help us relax and focus. Then we grabbed our pens and started writing our personal manifestations. I poured out every little details of my dream onto that paper, down to the exact penny.

Then we sealed our dreams in an envelope along with a sprinkling of tobacco. We place the envelopes in the center and sat around them and chanted to a beautiful Tibetan crystal singing bowl, pouring our vibes and energy into each one. We passed the envelopes around the circle, holding each one in our hands, giving it our personal blessing and energy. And for a final kicker, we lit up a traditional Indian peace pipe with willow tree bark, commonly used as a remedy for aches and fever.

I left my intention behind to be burned by the woman leading the manifestation. Whether my intentions come true is yet to be seen, but life is certainly unfolding in that direction as I write this.

You don’t need a group meditation to manifest your ideal life. Just spend a couple minutes calming the mind and ask yourself what it is you want. Then write whatever comes to mind. Once you’re done, trust that the universe will provide it in the time and manor that is best for you. It may not come overnight, but believe it will come to fruition and know that you are worthy of it. Lastly, be grateful everyday and establish the habit of positive thoughts.

Manifesting is simply advanced metaphysics. It’s the art and science of how we can bring our desires into the physical world through the natural process of vibration and energy. The energy we are putting out there will come back to us, both good or bad.

What have you manifested lately?

Yesterday I had the opportunity to test this theory. Someone really wanted me to react. Take my power. Then do a little happy dance while I wallowed in my own frustration. But I refused to hand it over. And boy, that was hard.

Instead of reacting to his accusations and insecure behavior, I stayed calm. I complimented. I smiled. I probably annoyed the heck out of him. He kept at it, trying more buttons. I exhaled. Breathed. Counted a few blessings. Walked away.

My New Friend

Like a little reward for good behavior, later in the afternoon this little guy came showed up in the post. He sits on my desk reminding me to hold onto my power. My little green Buddha of peace, love, prosperity. But mostly peace.

While meditating on your intention or question, you shake a cup of sticks — each with a number. One eventually falls out and that is your fortune. The number is tied to a story when interpreted is your fortune.

My mother-in-law goes back every year to ask about the future of everyone in the family. Her report back is spookily accurate. Each year I wait with great anticipation to hear the news. And this year’s was stunning.

My story is about a phoenix that rises from the ashes and flies over the forest. A new beginning. A rebirth. Finding my inner calling.

That’s exactly how I intend 2010 to unfold. My word for this year is “soar”. To fly to new (scary) heights and truly expand my wings. I plan to make it a year where I tap into my deepest creativity, making the most of my talents. This will lead me to adventures and experiences beyond my imagination. This is the year I fly.

I wish you all much prosperity and peace in 2010. You have everything you need right now to make all your wishes come true, so come fly with me, come fly, come fly away… (think Sinatra).

While I was there I met this lovely lady sporting a cool capelet she made herself from an old sweater. She told me she found the instructions on a blog and whipped it together in minutes. This is my kind of lady! She quickly became my new BFF when just two minutes later she offered to loan me a bunch of sweaters for an Ugly Christmas Sweater party. She had just met me and yet was willing to hand over her prize collection — super ugly, these things could go for mucho bucks on eBay.

To thank her I created this necklace which is just like the one I purchased from Stella & Dot that night. The cool thing about the Stella & Dot necklace is that you can change the brooch. It comes with a metal flower, but for $34 you can buy the brooch in the picture below and swap it out. Ingenious.

I discovered how to make the flower brooch from the same blog that had the capelet tutorial. I got a long chain necklace for a couple bucks from the craft store and hot glue gunned it all together. The back of mine needs some work but overall I’m impressed. It only cost a couple bucks and took less than an hour! The tax alone on the one I purchased cost more than that. I’m definitely making one for myself!

Here’s a picture of me modeling the necklace. The length looks great in this dress. I love it when ideas come together, don’t you?