Archive for July, 2010

Urbanic in Venice Beach, CA (Photo courtesy of Urbanic)

I’ve been having a love affair with Urbanic since 2006 when owners Joshua and Audrey Woollen opened their charming boutique down the road from me in the very design conscious Abbot Kinney neighborhood; and not just because they sell cupcakes on Saturdays.

Urbanic is a paper boutique but I’ve personally never categorized the shop that way. However, it is just because I don’t think of their cards as paper – I think of them as art.

I daresay the best cards in the whole city are found there, and by best I mean the most stunning designs. Simple, clean and modern with a touch of whimsy and wisdom.  Urbanic carries other paper goodies such as ribbon in all colors and sizes, from all over the world, and wrapping paper that anyone would reuse. I feel fine pushing paper that I know will be recycled. And don’t get me started on all of the gifts.

What does this have to do with organizing?

The best part for me, and perhaps for you, is that they have all manner of extraterrestrial office accessories and organizational products that I’ve yet to find anywhere else. Audrey explained to me that a good part of Urbanic’s customer base is made up of design-minded individuals in creative fields so she makes sure to keep up with them. It seems I am not alone. Venice loves creative, stylish organization. Just a small example, I recently had to purchase the star shaped paper clips though I have barely any paper to clip together!

They carry the goods but do they have the goods?

I asked Audrey some questions about her organizational instincts, foibles and desires and here’s the bottom line. She is one very together woman. Are we surprised? Urbanic carries amazing products, more all the time, but they also create customized invitations for weddings or parties of any kind. To deal with all of the incoming and outgoing inventory and client information they have to have solid systems.

Audrey uses color-coding and labeling in her email program to manage her inbox. She labels and tabs emails as they come in and this helps with prioritizing. For paper files she created a uniform cover page and packet for each client so they’ll always know if something is missing. As a professional organizer I love this kind of automation.

In the shop, some of her favorite tools are, hinged lid boxes to contain and make daily tools easily accessible, bins, labels to give all things a home, cute file folders because they make filing fun, and last but not least Google online calendar for custom appointments so they can set alarms and store client information in one central place.

Like most organized people Audrey is a list-maker. She says, “It is the #1 priority in my productiveness every single day….When things start to get chaotic I have to manage my time and build into my schedule doing things like re-organzing the priorities that pile up on my desk and around the store.”

Audrey Woollen at Urbanic (Photo courtesy of Urbanic)

The idea that you need to schedule time in to organize is a very key point. Things are bound to get chaotic and if you have padding in your schedule to rework your priorities you can save yourself a lot of time and energy.

For store hours and more information about Urbanic visit them online at www.urbanicdesigns.com or in Venice at 1644 Abbot Kinney Boulevard, Venice, CA 90291. You can also follow Urbanic on Twitter.

This article also published on examiner.com.

Audrey Woollen at Urbanic (Photo courtesy of Urbanic)

Goal Chalkboard (Photo by Mary Kate McDevitt on Etsy.com)

A low tech solution

I saw this goals chalkboard from Mary Kate McDevitt on the weheartthis.com Etsy for Friday review and zeroed in on it immediately. Love at first sight. If one must be organized then why not also have a bit of fun at the same time. Will this goal board sync with your PDA, android, iphone or otherwise? No. Will it handle everyone of your lifelong, or even perhaps daily goals? No. Is it whimsical and will it let you pretend you are being organized? Absolutely.