Rest & Remembrance

Lately, life has been pretty good. Work is going well. I've been doing some serious de-cluttering and redecorating in my bedroom. Christmas shopping hasn't quite started yet, but I've been brainstorming some gift ideas. Even though life has been good to me lately I've started to feel very busy and in need of a serious day of rest. Thankfully that is exactly what today had in store.

It's Remembrance Day here in Canada so I started the day off at church to honour our veterans and show my thanks for the thousands of people who are still sacrificing things in their own lives so that the rest of us are free to make choices and experience life. 

After church I spent the afternoon visiting and drinking tea. And while the rest of the family had fishcakes for supper I enjoyed chicken strips & french fries. I tackled one more decluttering project and added some books that I don't consider to be favourites and didn't hold any sentimental value to the 'Donate' pile then declared the rest of the evening was for relaxing. 

I took a long, hot shower got into my pyjamas and am happily sipping on hot chocolate while I catch up on blog reading and Criminal Minds. And I already feel better. 

I hate getting so far behind with blogging but I'm still working on cementing a daily routine. I also haven't invested in a new laptop yet so I'm relying on my much less portable desktop for most of my computer use. I know I'm going to buy another Mac but I've had a hard time decided how much internal storage I need. I think I've finally determined that the best option (and the smartest) is to buy the standard MacBook Pro along with an external hard drive to store all of my photos.

Now that I've updated you all on the not so fascinating aspects of my life I'm off to put pen to paper for some old fashion journaling time before snuggling under the covers for what will hopefully be a good nights sleep.

The Week That Was

I'm not sure if it was the time change or the weather transitioning from "crisp fall days" to "winter blah days" but this week was LONG. There were some bright spots among the daily routine (most of which  are related to yesterday's trip to Target).

{One}

Via Target

I bought this sweater yesterday at Target and I can't wait to wear it to work with leggings & boots. Our office is generally about a million degrees though, so I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to wear the sweater without sub coming to heat stroke but I will make it happen. 

{Two}

Via

I am late to party on this one but I was pretty loyal to Soft Lips lip balm so I never did get around to trying EOS. It happened to be on sale yesterday at Target and I've only used it a handful of times but I am hooked. I bought the Honeydew and it so wonderful. My lips have been brutally dry lately, I am constantly applying lip balm and using pure vaseline on them at night hopefully this will be the solution I've been looking for.

{Three}

I cannot stop singing this song! In the car, getting ready for work, at work. I think it's the shout out to Train/Drops of Jupiter that really seals the deal for me. I have a deep love for songs that mention other songs. Plus it's catchy and happy.

{Four}

I've been reading The Kitchen House and at first I couldn't turn the pages fast enough and was totally enthralled with the characters and their story. I'm almost at the end now though and I've gotten a little less interested in the whole thing. I'm a few chapters away from the end and I'm sad that I don't love the characters the same way I loved them in the beginning. I'm leaning towards the thought it would have been a better story if the author had of turned the story into a series and not rushed through seasons and jumped ahead five years all over the place. 

{Five} 

My last though is entirely devoted to how excited I am for bedtime to crawl around. 

I Get That A Lot

"You're very quiet."

"You don't say much."

"Hardly a peep out of you."

"You're pretty quiet."

"Are you always this quiet?"

"I bet you're not this shy/quiet at home!"

Once upon a time if you would have asked me what character trait I liked least about myself I wouldn't have hesitated even a second before answering that I wish I was more outgoing. I would have loved to be that person who thrived on everyone paying attention to them, who flawlessly filled awkward silences with small talk and ensure everyone around them is comfortable and at ease. 

But that isn't me. 

Pinterest

Over the past few months instead of awkwardly and frantically searching for a response to the above comments I've started to respond "I get that a lot." or "Yes, I am.". Because I've come to realize and accept that being quiet isn't a bad thing. I know some people consider "quiet" to be a negative adjective, and up until very recently that mentality was fully engrained in me as well. I'm not sure when the light bulb moment went off and I realized that "quiet" isn't bad. It is perfectly okay not to be the loudest person in the room. 

As it turns out I like not being the loudest person in the room. Sure I can carry on a conversation and enjoy talking to people but I don't need everyone to know who I am. It's a huge relief not to be constantly pressuring myself to "not be the quiet one" and trying to be someone I'm not. 

The lesson in all this is short and simple - embrace your 'flaws' and don't try to mould yourself into something you aren't.

The Week Ahead

I had a pretty great week last week. Which is probably why I didn't blog much. Does anyone else experience the bizarre effect that more happiness = less blogging?

My favourite part of new Taylor Swift albums is choosing a favourite song and listening to that song on repeat. This time around it's Wildest Dreams. T-Swift understands. When I haven't been listening to 1989 I've been singing along to Leave The Night On by Sam Hunt.

More often than not things in my life happen very fast and all at once. So when things don't happen that way, when they unfold slowly it is a pleasant change of pace. And since there are so many seconds to enjoy I'm enjoying everyone of them. That's a pretty cryptic statement but y'all are just going to have to deal with it.

This week is shaping up to pretty fabulous as well. Even if I spent all day Sunday being extremely unproductive rather than my usual Sunday routine of choosing outfits for the week and doing meal prep. The time change had me all sorts of messed up and I found myself showered, PJs on and ready for bed at 8:15. It worked out well though, it was nice to end the weekend and start the week reading a good book. 

I'm not mentally prepared for fewer hours of daylight or snow so I'm trying to focus my attention on enjoying this season opposed to forcing myself to panic over winter driving, cold and never ending snow. I was excited for sweaters, scarfs and boots but it turns out my office is part sauna. I wore my favourite sweater to work one day last week and endured 8 hours of unbearable heat. Of course when I left work it was near freezing and I drove the whole way home with my heated seats on full blast. 

On that note I need to go piece together an outfit that will keep me warm outside and cool inside and maybe justify a second cup of coffee.

November Goals

I'm not sure how I managed to become a weekend blogger, but somehow it has happened. I blame the fact that I'm not a huge Halloween fan and that seems to be what everyone has been focused on this week. Before I get back into (sort of) daily posts it's time to reflect on October's goals and set some new ones for November!

Sadly I did not do so well with October's goals…

• I didn't finish my Smash Book for Camp. I need to get some more prints made and set aside a weekend to immerse myself in the project. 
• Publish 20 Blog Posts. I published 12. 
• Mail Halloween Themed Packages to H. & R.. Nope…I didn't even get around to mailing H.'s birthday card. 
• Read 3 Books. Yes! I highly recommend Start Something That Matters by Blake Mycoskie. He is the founder of TOMS shoes, I've always loved the shoes and reading the story behind how he turned the simplest idea into something that helps people was the perfect mix of interesting & inspiring. 
• Plan for NaNoWriMo. I sort of did this…but it's November 2nd and I haven't written a word so I'm not sure all the planning really helped. 
• Yoga 3 times. I forgot this was even a goal, needless to say it was not accomplished. 

On to November's Goals:

• Read 4 books.
• Publish 15 blog posts.
• Start Christmas Shopping.
• Send mail to H. & R.
• Hang photos on bedroom wall.
• Update my "About Me" page.
• Watch a movie I've never seen before.

October seems to have passed in the blink of an eye. I'm still really happy at my (not so) new job and excited about what the future has in store!