Tuesday Travel Tip: Keep Your Receipts Organized

When you travel, do you keep receipts? Whether you need to turn them in for reimbursement, track them for tax purposes, or want to keep a tally of how much you spend on your trip, receipts can become overwhelming. Keep track of them with a tiny accordion file. This one is only 4x6 so it fits easily into my bag. I labeled it with five categories that correspond to the areas where I generally spend the most money. I can put receipts in there right away at the store or restaurant so that my wallet does not overflow with unorganized, important receipts. This way, I know right where to find them when I need them.

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To truly get organized, you need to start by organizing your thoughts. Examine your expectations about your time, money, space and more in the next round of $59 Online Interactive e-courses which start THIS THURSDAY, April 28, and run for four weeks.

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Your Signature Piece represents Your Personal Brand

These are the aprons that I wear as Marion Cunningham in Happy Days: The Musical. Yes, there are five. Yes, they coordinate to the costumes. She just wouldn't be Marion without the apron. Marion makes meals, works hard, loves and nurtures her family. All of her core values are represented by the aprons.

Do you have a signature piece of clothing or a small item that really captures your core values? Do people see you with that item on a regular basis?

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Take time to define your core values and create a personal mission statement that embodies who you are and how you interact with the world around you. All this and more are available in the next round of $59 Online Interactive e-courses which start THIS THURSDAY, April 28, and run for four weeks.

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Tuesday Travel Tip: Ship It

It is only on very rare occasions that I check a bag. I began this personal policy long before airlines charged to check bags. I value the freedom to switch flights easily and to move quickly without dealing with heavy, bulky bags. I also like to leave the airport after I land, not wait at the baggage claim.

However, sometimes I go away for very long periods of time, even months. I can't get by with just a carry on, especially if the seasons change while I am away. In these cases, I ship my suitcase. I find that the major shipping companies will allow you to ship the bag itself, so you don't even need to pack your things into boxes. Not only is the bag there waiting for you at your destination, in many cases it is cheaper for me to ship the bag than pay for a taxi to the airport plus the fee involved with checking it. Still considering checking a bag? You also loose a bit of freedom as you travel. More than once, I have been allowed to make a last minute switch with my flights, but only after the gate agent made sure that I hadn't checked a bag.

Next time, ship it.

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Explore who you were created to be. Create order in your world inner and outer world. Make a list of goals and learn to actually achieve them. The next round of $59 Online Interactive e-courses start NEXT THURSDAY, April 28 and run for four weeks.

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Tap Shoes, Mary Kay, and Getting Things Done

In my current role as Marion Cunningham in Happy Days: The Musical, the theater provides the shoes that I wear with my costume with one exception: tap shoes. I wear my own tap shoes in the show. (You'll have to come see it to discover why Marion Cunningham is tap dancing). Backstage at each performance, I have to put on a costume piece, pick up a prop, and get the shoes on and off semi-quietly, semi-quickly in semi-darkness. One shoe has a buckle that is very easy to manipulate. The other is a struggle every single time. Sometimes I hear the cue coming up and I don't have it buckled. It creates stress. However, I have found that if I work on the difficult buckle first, I am less stressed and get it to work in plenty of time to do everything else.

I read that Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay cosmetics, made a list of what she needed to do each day, and then started with the hardest thing on the list. Same concept. What do you need to do today? Start with the hardest thing and get it done. If you leave the hard part for last, you add layers of stress that make it even harder.

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Explore who you were created to be. Create order in your world inner and outer world. Make a list of goals and learn to actually achieve them. The next round of $59 Online Interactive e-courses start NEXT THURSDAY, April 28 and run for four weeks.

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Tuesday Travel Tip: Lock It

I have a lock on my storage unit that requires a key. It would be a Very Big Deal to lock the key inside. Not life-changing, but definitely annoying. Thus, whenever I unlock the lock, I open the door and relock the lock with the door open. This makes it impossible to lock the key inside. To close the door, I have to locate the key, unlock the lock again, thread it through the hole in the door, and then shut it. I always have the key in my hand when I close the door, ensuring that I will never accidentally lock the key inside.

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It's a Small World, Episode #786

I love running into people unexpectedly. Fortunately, I have unique opportunities for small world experiences because I am often in places that people do not expect me to be, nor do I always know who might be in the area. For example, I have an unbroken series of running into someone I know at every Lutheran church that I have visited in the United States in the past five years. (No records exist before that, meaning I hadn't really noticed whether it was always happening or not).

Most recently, I was working in Illinois and arranged to meet a friend from Minnesota who was visiting her husband's college friend in a nearby town in Iowa (are you keeping up?). Thus, I was a guest in the home of a friend of a friend (who I'd just met) when she said she'd already invited one of her colleagues over to join us. It turned out that (unbeknownst to the host) we'd gone to grad school with him, and they both were professors with someone from my high school show choir, whose wife was also in that show choir. Sound complicated? One of the professors made this Venn diagram to illustrate the connections.

This one situation brought together so many chapters of my life: I was in Illinois for a musical theater job (for which I'd auditioned in New York) and close enough to see my friend in Iowa, and the connections were through grad school (in Minnesota) and show choir (in North Dakota).

The connections are unexpected, and they're not. We are all part of a larger tribe, just mixing in new ways that allow us to meet in person.

Who is in your larger tribe? With which tribes do you most identify? With which tribes do you no longer often identify?

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Tuesday Travel Tip: Empty Bottles

You can't bring more than three ounces of liquid in a container through security, but you can bring an empty bottle through. I drink my water while I wait in line, go through with an empty bottle, and then fill it up again near the gate area. This saves me having to buy an expensive water bottle within the security area or waiting until an hour into the flight when drinks are served.

Although it would be even better to use a permanent water bottle, at least I am using my plastic one two or three times before I recycle it. Permanent water bottles aren't as practical in my line of work, but that's a whole different story.

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Tools of the Trade

• Assorted Make-up
• Makeup Application Sponges and Brushes
• False Eyelashes and Glue
• Eyelash Curler
• Magnifying Mirror
• Bobby Pins and Wig Pins
• Microphone
• Microphone Tape
• Microphone Pack
• Wig Cap
• Wig
• Costumes
• Costume Plot
• Reading Material
• Throat Lozenges
• Liquids to Drink
• Phone

What are the tools of your trade?

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Don't miss another Urban Nomad blog post! Become a fan of Urban Nomad on Facebook or visit the blog to sign up for email updates in the upper left hand corner.

The next round of $59 Online Interactive e-courses start April 28 and run for four weeks. Plan now to explore who you were created to be, create order in your world, or live your bucket list now.