This Week

Yeah. I make to-do lists (which, if I were to type it as I say it would look like "tahdoo lists") for everything. Even the fun stuff. This week, my to-do's are as follows:

- Wake up early. Make time for coffee and a walk or something instead of being rushed.

- Run. All 7 days.

- Make all my own meals (no eating out).

- Read a little every day.

- Learn how to origami cranes. 

- Make a Christmas wreath (inspiration above)

- Take a couple pretty pictures

- Move somewhere with cold weather

Fine, I'm kidding about the last one. But man, it was over 80 degrees today. Vomit. 

It's Fall Y'all

Happy fall, y'all! How was your Thanksgiving? I spent the yummy holiday with the fam in Houston and had such a relaxing time. Ran a bit, walked my sister's new pooch, collected pine cones and proceeded to paint them gold and copper, and ate ate ate. It's the first time Texas looked a bit like autumn.

I'm ready for some serious holidaying and half plan on wearing sparkle tights till the day after New Years. What'dya think? Would the office let it slide?

There's a Turkey Around the Corner

Can you believe the holidays are here?! I, for one, cannot. Oh, I'm glad they are- they're just super sneaky, aren't they?

I'm excited for Thanksgiving and all the family/friend fun that it's going to bring.
I CAN'T WAIT to get a little Christmas tree.
I want to cozy up in that above pictured bed.
I want to do a million crafty things and wear a million holiday dresses to make every minute of the season feel festive.
Oh, I want to see The Nutcracker too. To which I will, of course, wear one of the previously mentioned holiday dresses.

On an update note- I've been trying my damnedest to relax. To honestly take a chill pill and turn my brain off for a bit here and there. It's tough! And while I know I'm taking big steps toward a healthy level of mental check-out, I struggle with turning off my work/life to-do's and just rest in the present.

What works for you? How do you rejuvenate?

Time to Rest

froschkind

I’ve been battling with regular updates here. Thinking I was just distracted or (gasp) lazy, I gave myself a pretty hard time. After a serious exhaustion/dehydration attack (embarrassing) a couple weeks ago I’m coming to terms with the fact that I have just been flat out overwhelmed. And that is something I wasn’t planning on during the laid off - unemployment - employment process.

I actually assumed I would have endless hours in the day and really did my best to fill all that time productively. I took on new projects. I bounced from one contract job to another then from one babysitting gig to another to make ends meet. I took a part time job and still continued to fill my time with to-dos like I had the time to fill.

What I didn’t realize is the amount of mental exhaustion this takes. All the worry, the stress of juggling completely different jobs, the over-commitments all add up to one very crazy life. And the assumption that since a good chunk of your time is spent at home or in coffee shops is rest enough is a bad one to make. Because chances are that time is also full of email writing, web searching, off-hours working, and worrying.

So I’ve fueled up on Gatorade. I'm making myself sleep decent hours. I'm giving this thing called "rested" a try. And I'm really trying to enjoy my life again. If you’re unemployed or going through the damn lay-off process take a word from the now wise – it's a-okay to say "no" sometimes.