Winter Weekend

My weekend was a very satisfying mix of adventure & relaxing. Saturday I slept in far later than I intended. When I did wake up I spent the first few hours of my day watching The Pioneer Woman, sipping coffee and reading blogs. Once I motived myself enough to shower I headed to town and ran some errands. I went to Wal-Mart and was deeply disappointed when I couldn't find a single thing I went there to get, once of those things was a new set of dishtowels. Not an item I would expect to have difficulty finding, alas there was none to be found. 

When I was finished my errands I headed to J.'s and then to a hockey game. We chose a good game to go to since our team ended up winning in a shoot out which made for an exciting game to watch. Afterwards we went out to Boston Pizza with J.'s parents. By the time I got home it was after midnight and I was thrilled to climb into bed. 

Sunday I didn't leave the house or put on a drop of make up all day and it was glorious. I don't remember the last time I truly had the whole day to myself and it wasn't because I was sick and felt miserable. I watched Oprah and drank coffee, did meal prep for the week, made myself a delicious lunch, changed my sheets and did a load of laundry. Followed by finally clearing off my old laptop so I can pass it on to my cousin and organizing my planner for the week. All that was done by supper time which allowed me to do the unthinkable and spend the evening working on blog posts for the week while I snacked on chips & dip. By the time 10:30 rolled around I was ready for bed, enjoying my freshly washed sheets and absorbing information from a Netflix documentary. 

It was exactly the weekend I needed. Enough doing to make me feel social and enough just being to ensure I feel refreshed for the week ahead. Balancing those two things is about to become more of a priority in my life because I can really feel the difference it makes!

Linking up my weekend with B Loved Boston!

February Currently

I want to be more intentional about blogging, which has got me thinking about the reasons why I blog. I turn to blogging as a way to process my thoughts, to connect with others, to preserve memories and as an outlet for my introverted tendencies. I was staring at my planner the other day trying to be proactive and plan out a few post ideas for the month when I had a revelation. So often blogging gurus advise to write posts that readers will want to read, and if you're blogging to attract a million followers, gain sponsorship opportunities and make money blogging that advice makes sense. Except, that's not why I blog, I blog for me. I want to write posts that I will find interesting months or years from now. And hopefully by writing about those things I'll make those connections in the blogging community who are in the same stage of life or who have been where I am and can offer their wisdom.

All that to say I've decided the first Saturday of each month will be a 'currently' post. I did a quick Pinterest search for 'Currently' questions and combined a bunch of questions I thought I'd be interested in knowing and might connect me with others who happen to be reading this. 

Making: Valentine's Day Cards/Packages to mail to friends. I never did get around to sending Christmas cards so I'm making Valentine's Day happen. 

Cooking: My work schedule really limits my cooking and I hate that. I'm itching to cook a batch of mac & cheese and some homemade pizzas. 

Eating: My go to meal is chicken breast with cajun seasoning and rice. I make a dipping sauce for the chicken that's just ranch dressing & hot sauce mixed together but it's delicious. 

Drinking:  A lot of water since I've been sick. And treating myself to the occasional glass of pop.

Reading: Not enough. I don't have any books started at the moment all my reading has been online with blogs and various news articles. 

Wishing: The office would close when bad weather starts. I'm tired of driving home in snowstorms. 

Appreciating: Me Time. The past few weeks I've become acutely aware of just how much of an introvert I am and how much I need time by myself to recharge.  

Waiting: I don't feel like I'm waiting for anything in particular right now. I'm definitely waiting for the snow to melt, but that's not something I have much control over. 

Enjoying: Saturday mornings when I can enjoy a cup of coffee, catch up on blogs and watch the Food Network. 

Wondering: What I'm going to get my mom for her birthday. And J. for Valentine's Day. 

Loving: The names Lila/Lilah and Layla. Totally random I know, but I recently had the name 'Lillian' ruined on me so I needed a replacement girl name to love. 

Hoping: The worst of the winter weather is over and the sun will start shining again!

Needing: To make time for me. Not just on weekend mornings but a specific time during the day to be alone. I would love to get back into the habit of reading my Bible and journalling everyday, that may be a goal for March. 

Smelling: I got a great candle in my stocking that smells like currants. I forget the exact name of it, I know mom bought it at Winner's and it was a great find. 

Wearing: My go to work outfit is jeans, a top and a cardigan. 

Following: World events/local news. I used to watch the news every night and then I got out of the habit but I'm getting back into it. I think it's important to know what's going on in the world. 

Noticing: I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but how important me time is to my well being.

Knowing: I need to balance pre-camp preparations with my current job and not letting myself get burnt out. 

Thinking: The above balance is going to be hard to reach. 

Feeling Anxious About: Lately I've been managing my anxiety pretty well, but I've had some bad days where I feel overwhelmed because I have a lot of stuff to do and I feel like I don't have enough time to do it all. 

Watching: I reinstated my Netflix this month so I've been watching lots of Friends and documentaries.

Listening to: Podcasts! Specifically Grown Ups Read Stuff They Wrote As Kids and Vinyl Cafe. 

Obsessing: The first thing that came to mind was Peyton. She really is an awesome cat. 

Celebrating: Valentine's Day! 

Shopping for: I need to buy an external hard drive. 

Learning: I've been learning a lot about people lately. I was reading up on Julia Child's life, I've been watching The Book of Negroes and learning about people in that time period.  

Talking About: A lot of camp related stuff. 

Praying: More than anything I've been praying for peace and calmness in my life and in the lives of those around me. 

Working on: Doing more praying, noticing & appreciating the peaceful moments. 

Looking forward to: Summer!

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.

ISFJ

I know that there are people out there who think "Personality Types" is a bunch of bologna. Everyone is a little bit of everything depending on the circumstances. It may be true that some people are a little bit of everything sometimes, but not me. I'm an ISFJ through & through. 

Pinterest

I relate to being an introvert. I love my friends and really value continuing family traditions but at the end of the day I need alone time. I need to be able to sit alone with my thoughts, doodle in my sketch book and put the day into words in a notebook. If I go too long feeling like I need to be around people I start to feel really overwhelmed, which leads to anxiety and we all know that's a bad scene. I appreciate when people recognize my hand work, but I don't like to be made the centre of attention, which explains my love of warm fuzzies. I'm pretty observant when it comes to how other people are feeling but I don't always let on that I know what's going on with someone because I figure if they wanted to talk to me about it they would. Along the same lines of being observant when it comes to people, I have a really good memory for little details about people. Favourite colours, songs, movies, names of first grade teachers, if you mention it to me once the odds are pretty good that I'll remember. And if I ever have to buy you a present you better believe that I'll use one of those details to craft some sort of thoughtful and personal gift. 

I'm a total rule follower, even if I don't necessarily agree with them. I read somewhere that ISFJs value lists and organization so much because it helps them make sense of all the information they store in their head. I love to-do lists and colour-coded organizational systems but my systems don't always make sense for other people. The way I group things together is rarely logical to anyone other than myself. 

When I believe in something or someone or get involved with something I stick with it, even when it may be best to walk away. That all circles around the responsibility, patient, devoted, dependable, loyal and honouring commitment traits. 

Overall I think it's a pretty good personality to have, there are a lot of downsides to being so attentive and sensitive and introverted but everyday I figure out more ways to use my strengths to my advantage and overcome the hard parts!

What's your personality type? Head over to Brave Love and link up with Bailey Jean to share yours!