Mappy October
Free DALL-E 3 / Allulose Lowers Blood Sugar / the Fallacy of Time Management / My Dream Home / Happiest Moments / 21-day Trip for $300 / Gonzo Capitalism / Mindfulness / Last Minute Halloween Ideas
New on MappyEverAfter: Play with the Free DALL-E 3 AI image creator
From the Archive: Time Management for the rest of us
AI Shenanigans: This is what My Dream Home looks like, apparently
Experiment: We Captured the Happiest Moment of each day
Travel: I just booked a 21-day, 5-destination trip for $300pp + Credit Card Points
Health: Is Allulose the best sweetener?
Read: Chris Guillebeau’s Gonzo Capitalism
Mental Hack: Swimming vs Drowning
Just because: Last Minute Halloween Ideas
Note: I will always tell you if I’m getting any referral bonuses and how much they are. There aren’t any in this letter
New on MappyEverAfter.com - Play with the Free DALL-E 3 AI image creator
DALL-E 3 is insane – and free (at least currently)! Up until now, if you wanted quality AI-generated images, you had to pay for them. A Midjourney Image Creator subscription, for example, costs $10 – $120 per month, depending on how much time you want to spend with it. And believe me, time spend you will.
Have a look at what I’ve made, how I access it, and how I use one AI to craft better instructions to give to another AI. This link will take you there:
Use DALL-E 3 for Free to Create Stunning Images
From the Mappy Archive - Time Management for the Rest of Us
Do you think your life will be fulfilled if you squeeze more into your days, get on top of your to-do list, and become omnipotent through careful planning and discipline? We’ve all tried and failed, over and over again.
Have a look at these thoughts on productivity, goals, and finding joy in a world that pushes us to rush through life: Time Management for the Rest of Us
AI Shenanigans - This is my Dream Home, apparently
I love AI image creators. I spent way too much time playing with DALL-E 3 (see the New on Mappy section above) and even had it design my ideal home. It generated 4 images. I put them together in a GIF, complete with the prompt I gave it. I have to say, it did a great job, I’d happily live in any of these!
Experiment - We Captured the Happiest Moment of Each Day for 30 days
Here are the rules:
For 30 days, take a few photos or short videos a day when you feel happy
At the end of the day, pick the happiest one
At the end of the month, make a compilation of your 30 happiest moments
Our October was unassuming and ordinary, no grand adventures. Well, except for that visit to the Las Vegas Sphere (videos coming soon), which was mind-blowing!
This experiment made me notice the tiny, happy things that happen on any normal day.
As I compiled my clips, I realized my happiest moments featured water, food, a stray cat, and time shared with Mark (not necessarily in that order). There were days when the happiest moment was as simple as a hot shower.
Try it, it’s fun finding the little nooks where happiness likes to hide!
If you want to see ours,
Here’s my 30 seconds:
And here’s the hubby’s mashup:
Travel - 21-day, 5-destination trip for $300pp + Credit Card Points
I just booked a 21-day, 5-destination getaway - 5 hotels and 3 flights, all for a sweet $300 per person plus those credit card points I’m always telling you to collect!
If you want to see the hotels, click the links.
We're starting off in style at the Alila Ventana in Big Sur, California, known for its stunning coastlines and redwood forests. It’s an extravagant, all-inclusive resort where a night would typically cost a jaw-dropping $1700 (!!!). But fear not, my frugal friends, I didn't sell my kidney or win the lottery. Nope, I used a mere 45k points per night that I snagged from a credit card sign-up bonus.
This is the most points we've ever spent on a hotel room but it’s for a special birthday (don’t ask!) so a splurge was in order. My expectations are so high, they need an oxygen mask! I’ll report back in November’s Mappy Monday.
This is the beauty of travel hacking. It allows you to have adventures way beyond your budget's reach.
Then it's off to our beloved Manchester Hyatt, right on the San Diego Bay for a few nights at 12,000 points per. A few days after that, we're off to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico City, and the Yucatan Peninsula, where we've got cozy stays in 3 Hyatt hotels lined up along the way, for 3.500-15,000 points per night.
All the hotel reservations are cancellable so if our plans change, we'll get our points back.
I could have used points for flights as well, but $300pp for 3 flights was just too good to pass up. Sometimes cash just makes more sense. Momondo is my go-to for finding bargain flights.
If you've been hoarding points, use them for something special!
The Points Guy has a good write-up on how to use Chase points to book Hyatt hotels.
Health - Allulose Might Just Be the Best Sweetener
If you want the full version with my 4-day-finger-pricking experiment, pictures, graphs, studies, and explanations, I wrote about allulose here: mappyeverafter.com/is-allulose-the-best-sweetener-ever/
Here’s the short version: I can’t stand sweeteners but allulose is a total game-changer. It tastes, dissolves, and browns like sugar. You can cook and bake with it. It may have health benefits other than just helping you reduce your sugar intake - it actively lowers blood glucose (which my N=1 experiment confirms) and, according to some early studies, it packs some anti-inflammatory and gut-friendly perks.
Read - Chris Guillebeau’s Gonzo Capitalism
Chris is a non-conformist, constantly conducting convention-braking experiments. I started following him over a decade ago when he was travel-hacking his way to all 193 countries of the world. He’s worn many hats since.
His latest book, Gonzo Capitalism, is a guide to the “new economy” and making money (often a lot!) in ways you didn’t even know existed. You can raise virtual chickens, become a Microsoft Office influencer, bet on how many people will go through airport security on any given day, or sell your imaginary friend on E-bay. Chis likes to test his theories which makes for an entertaining read.
One of Chris Guillebeau’s Amazon reviewers echoes my thoughts:
“I’ve always appreciated the seeds of possibilities he plants in my mind. I can’t wait to see what it means to me in a few years as I continuously evaluate and pivot the direction of my life.”
Mental Hack - Drowning vs Swimming
“There's something paradoxical about mindfulness. It can be hard to say how or why it changes one's life.
It's not a matter of directly changing experience or of blocking certain thoughts or emotions, and yet there can be a radical transformation of one's life even while ordinary experiences persist.
Consider by analogy the difference between drowning and swimming. The difference is extraordinary, but it is pretty subtle when you consider what a person is actually doing with his arms and legs. It is a bit of a mystery why furiously kicking and grabbing at the water isn't sufficient to keep a drowning person afloat, especially when it's possible to tread water or swim in a very relaxed way.
In the same way, there is a difference between just experiencing your experience and truly recognizing it, free of distraction. It's a very subtle shift, but it makes all the difference.”
Sam Harris, a Moment in WakingUp app
Just Because - Last Minute Halloween Ideas
So there you have it. Hope your October was filled with more treats than tricks and that hour Halloween is wickedly fun!
Be Mappy,
Mags
Hey Mags,
Just got my Mappy Monday and it says, "Draft" on the top. Have I been allowed a privileged glimpse behind the curtain or did you F%&# up!? 😅