December Favorites

Hello there all,

December has came and gone all too quickly. Really though. Am I the only one that felt like December legitimately flew? The holiday season came and went so fast this year.

I am going to start a little something around here where I talk about monthly favorites. It will be a random mix of things that I have been crushing on in the last month, and there won't be any rhyme nor reason other than I like them.

Photo from this Cupcake calendar from Paper Craft.

Let's get on with the December Favorites shall we!

Pore Strips- Ya'll, I don't know what it is about them, but I am in love. I remember these coming out forever ago and thinking it was weird, but let me tell you; I am hooked. There is something about them that I just love. It is this wonderfully gross entertainment to investigate the strips after you tear them off. Santa even brought me some this year because he knows how much I have been digging them. This is what I have been using.

 Honey Lavender Tea- As every December proves to be, this December was ridic stressful, and I have been looking for anyway to destress. Awhile back, I saw Ingrid Nilsen talk about this tea over on her Youtube channel. This month, I tried it, and it is so delicious. It isn't overly fragrant or old lady-ish (as lavender can be), but it is just the right amount with a splash of the honey. It is just lovely.

Redfin- The Mister and I have been using this site/app pretty non-stop throughout the month. We were using Zillow for awhile, but Redfin has more up to date information and uses MLS listings to develop their list. Their website can be a little frustrating sometimes, but it really has been helping us in this process.

Reading out loud- Now, this might seem a little strange to ya'll, but last month, I thought that it might be nice to read a book out loud to Andrew. We have done random stories in the past, but it really became a bit of a thing this month. I think it was because we have been trying to spend less money and be at home more. It has been a perfect way to spend time together, and it is so fun to be able to talk about the story as we get into the book. We started/finished our first book last month which is another of my December favorites.

Divergent (novel)- I'm a little behind as far as this book goes because I am pretty sure that everybody has already read it. It is just a really interesting, fast paced novel with an adventurous/mysterious plot line. Also, I have a bit of a thing for dystopian books/movies: Hunger Games series, 1984, Maze Runner series, V for Vendetta, etc. So, it isn't a huge surprise that I would like something in this category. I would definitely recommend this series to someone looking for an interesting read.

New laptop- It has been such a blessing to have a laptop again and feel like I can continue doing this. Plus, there is something so wonderful about the tactile nature and clickiness of a laptop that a phone lacks. Please tell me that other people understand what I mean.

What were you loving in December? What thing are you digging that I need to dig, too?

-Autumn 

Goals for 2016

Hello there all,

Happy 2016!!!

Sparkly shoes mean NYE business

It is that time of year again where we all have the opportunity to start with a new chapter. Up until last year, I pretty hated the concept of New Years Resolutions, and I felt like the overall concept was kind of humdrum. However, I now relish in the opportunity to sit down and think about the person that I am currently: to develop an execution plan for the person that I want to be. Never have I had such positive feelings about the year before the year even starts. There is something about 2016. It just seems like it is going to be my year. There are already such wonderful things coming our way this year which I am excited to start talking about on here.

Onto the goals already....

 In case you can't read my writing:

• Being more present and put away distractions more often
• Learn to cook/bake something new
• Drink more water
• More consistent blog posts
• Develop a healthy living routine
• Write more snail mail
• Eat out less often
• Take 3 hikes
• Host a family dinner/event
• Start an Etsy shop
• Make the new place a home
• Nourish my relationships
• Complete the sewing E-Course

Now, I have read several articles that suggest keeping to a few simple resolutions, but I feel like this list is more of a collection of to-dos than a list of lifestyle changes. There are a couple of lifestyle change ones, so I feel like it still aligns to the suggestion. If not, I do what I want.

More about these goals:

• Being more present and put away distractions more often- I have become too dependent on multitasking in so many areas of my life. At the time, it seems like it will help me be more productive, but I feel like this hurts relationships and general experiences. The main proponent of this is playing on my phone and not being as active and present as I would like to be.
• Learn to cook/bake something new- It is always fun to learn something new, and I love noms. I want to be more intentional and purposeful in what I cook, so it would be fun to learn something new.
• Drink more water- Always can improve this because I am just awful!
• More consistent blog posts- I've been lame, and I love this blog. It is such a fun creative outlet for me.
• Develop a healthy living routine- I am overweight and aching constantly, and the only way to improve this is to improve my lifestyle choices in this realm.
• Write more snail mail- Who wants mail? You want it. You got it-just let me know!
• Eat out less often- This is so draining on funds and is also so unhealthy. The Mister and I have relied on this a lot because it is easier, and we also enjoy the fanfare of it. However, the rate we do it is just not practical.

• Take 3 hikes- I did not go on a single hike last Spring/Summer, and this makes my soul cry. I need this boost to get out in nature because I love it so much!
• Host a family dinner/event- My home has never been the scene of a family event, and I plan to change it this year. My home has never been ideal for entertaining large groups, but this is going to change soon (More on this on a later blog post).
• Start an Etsy shop- I love to create, and I love having money. This just seems like a natural step :). Hoping to have this up and going in the next couple of months.
• Make the new place a home- A new place is coming our way in 2016 (like I said more on this soon), and I want to make the house feel like a real home. Something that we have both really lacked since we moved out of our parent's homes.

• Nourish my relationships- Relationships are important, so I want to make the people that I love know that I love them!
• Complete the sewing E-Course- I signed up for a sewing E-Course awhile back, and I never really did anything with it. This year though, I will be a sewing machine!

Here's to fulfilling goals and being amazing!

What are your goals for 2016?

-Autumn

PS Here is what I said about goals last year.

Revisited: Goals for 2015

Hello there all,

I once again apologize for my intermittent posts, but I was without a functioning laptop for quite some time. Yes, I could have blogged on my phone, and I did a couple of blogs like that. It. was. awful. Anywho, for Christmas this year, The Mister got me a refurbished laptop, so I can get back to this thing that I love.

At the beginning of 2015, I posted my goals for 2015 here. Soon, I will post what my goals are for 2016, but today, I am going to look back and talk about how I have done with my goals.

Here are the goals:

• Sew a skirt
• Improve my Spanish skills
• Figure out health issues
• Work on getting in shape by exercising and healthy eating
• Increase blog readership
• Hide 100 rocks
• Go to a Meetup
• Read 12 books
• Milk a cow
• Work on organizing the house
• Send more mail
• Drink more water

How did it go?

• Sew a skirt- It didn't go. I made headway in getting to that point by getting necessary materials like rotary cutter and all that, but I haven't done it yet :(.

 

• Improve my Spanish Skills- I made real headway on this one for awhile where I used this great app called Duolingo. What is great is that it enabled me to practice some skills that I had been losing without application.
• Figure out health issues-I have visited a lot of doctors, dentists and a physical therapists within this last year to get things in order. Am I all the way there? No, but I have really tackled it, and my bank account is evidence of this.
• Work on getting in shape by exercising and healthy eating- Everyone tries to do this at the new year, and we lose ambition after awhile. Unfortunately, I gained the ambition again later, and I have lost it again. I was doing well, but life is hectic. This will definitely be on my list for 2016.
• Increase blog readership-Well, it was doing well, and when I posted, people responded which was great. But I lost momentum. 2016 is my year ya'll. Just wait and see!
• Hide 100 rocks-I am sure of it, and I have also hidden other random things like money and toys.
• Go to a meetup- Check! It was a book club meetup, and it was a great time!
• Read 12 books- I surpassed this in the first couple of months of 2015! Cha-ching! I've talked about some of the books that I was reading on here.

 

• Milk a cow- Noper, not even close....
• Work on organizing the house- Definitely have organized bits and pieces to make things more functional and me more sane.
• Send more mail- I'd say my mail sending is about equal to what it has been. I love sending mail, but I also feel so awkward in letters. It can be really difficult sending letters to someone that you already see so much information about over social media. Letters are so much more personal and meaningful than a text or a message, but it is really hard to chat about things in a letter when you know they probably already know about it because of social media. Is this just me?
• Drink more water- I am doing better than this time last year, but I am unfortunately still doing awful.

All in all, I have had some great successes, and I have definitely bombed on some of them. Instead of getting down on myself that I didn't succeed (which I so often do), I am going to use this as a jumping off point for improvement for the future. I got this.

-Autumn

DIY: Acorn Garland

Hello there all,

I don't know if it is just me, but fall seems to inspire me so much. I'm not sure if it has to do with the fact that I need to be indoors more often, the fact that I am finally comfy heat wise, or the colors just inspire me. Ultimately, I have no idea what it is, but I have been over here creating like crazy.

On a walk recently, I found a bunch of acorns tops without the acorns attached (the squirrels have been very hungry). Being the forager that I am, I grabbed them because I knew that I could make something with them: a garland. I am always making garlands. What is it about them? They bring a sense of whimsy and celebration to everyday life.

Here's What You'll Need (Amounts and lengths are dependent on length of garland you want):

• String or twine
• Scissors
• Acorn tops
• Pom poms
• Strong adhesive (I used E6000)

Here's What To Do:

1.) Glue the pom poms to the acorn tops. At this step, I also kind of pinched the pom poms to make more of an acorn shape.

2) Soon you'll have a cute little fluffy/furry guy like this.

3.) Do this to many pom poms and acorns. Let the glue dry fully. I waited overnight to make sure that the bond was strong.

 4.) Next, Put glue on top of the acorn and place the string on top of the glue. After letting the glue dry a bit (does not have to be fully), put more glue on top of the string to seal the string to the acorn.  Let this dry over night.

5.) Hang your creation. Yes, it is a bit silly, but I love how it mixes nature with a bit of silliness of the colorful pom poms. They kind of remind me of what truffula acorns would look like.

 Also, it is such a fun thing for kids to do on a nature walk: scavenge acorn tops and bring them home to make this. I'm basically a child, so this is perfect for me.

Happy Fall Crafting,
Autumn

Real Talk: My Relationship With Food

Hello there all,

I'm going to open up and talk about something that is kind of nerve wracking to talk about.  It is kind of silly that it makes me nervous because it is something that you can all tell by looking at me or watching me as I am an overweight women. What am I talking about? I'm talking about my relationship with food. I overeat.

We all have a relationship swith food whether we want to or not,  but food and I are real tight.  I consume and consume and consume.  Do I hate it?  Of course I do!  Do I stop?  Sometimes.  I want to at least.  Here's the thing: food is my comfort measure,  and I turn to it all the time. If I'm sad "well,  I'll just eat to make me happy." If I'm stressed, "Well,  if I eat,  it will take my mind off of it for awhile." If I am happy,  "let's eat to celebrate!"  Ugh,  it is awful,  and I know it. 

To add onto that emotional attachment,  I also overeat due to not wanting to waste.  It kills me when people waste anything or trash anything that doesn't need to be disposed of.  So,  I will eat the food,  so it doesn't get thrown away.  The habit is terrible, but I still practice it eating too much constantly.  Want an example?  Sneaking into the kitchen to eat the last little bit of something because I know it will just get thrown away

Over the years,  I've tried myself to fight this battle and train my body to interact with food differently.  I trained myself to dislike food and only eat things that are healthy.  Last time I went through this mindset change,  I lost 70 pounds.  It was a wonderful feeling and accomplishment.  However,  life happened and shit just got a lot more complicated.  So,  I again turned to food.  The best friend that is always around.

Right now,  I am trying so hard to train my mind to realize that I can love food and interact with it in a healthy way. I can eat things that are healthy and view food as a good thing- not the enemy.  Whenever I try to shift towards being healthy,  I always hide from food and don't embrace it for this delectable art that it ism  ALTHOUGH,  it doesn't mean that I have to eat all of it.  By saving the last bit, I can even save some for later to savor those last little bits.   Food is not the enemy.  It is how you interact with food that can be the enemy.

I'll keep you updated with how I am doing on this battle.  Right now,  I am happy to say that I am eating healthier (and loving the food) ,  signed up for a gym,  and I feel amazing. However,  I know that I still have more work on my relationship with food,  and I am terrified that I will fall off the slope again.

-Autumn

Politics: I Side With

Hello there all,

For those of you that are not aware, I am pretty into politics, and I am passionate about the voting process. *This is NOT going to be a post about who I think you should vote for (Although, I do hope you vote for who I want :)). It IS a post about how you can make the voting process easier for yourself.*

Image from ISideWith

 With the impending US presidential election, there are a lot of people with headaches and feel overwhelmed with the various candidates. Does this sound familiar? There is a wonderful website called ISideWith which allows you to answer questions on various topics to figure out who you should probably vote for.

Image from ISideWith

What I love about ISideWith is that it streamlines the decision making process in a non-partisan setting, and you don't have to investigate each of the candidates separately. The website gives you a platform to just say what you believe and then the results tell you who aligns best with that. It even shows your alignment with other candidates and data for comparisons. The website really is a wonderful tool to help the average person make an informed decision.

No, I am NOT paid by this side. I just think it is a wonderfully helpful tool to be a better citizen, and I hope that you do check it out.

If you take the test, what did you think? Did it change your perspective on who you should vote for? If you want, share away who you are voting for? SHARE ALL THE THINGS!

-Autumn

Travel: South Carolina Part 5

Hello there all,

Here is the last set of pictures from South Carolina, and how wonderful that it is happening right before the Mister and I are about to go on another mini vacation. I've learned that having just a little vacation gives you an adventure to actively look forward to. It doesn't matter if it is just a weekend trip. It really helps to have that to look forward to! The reason might be because I just love getting out of town for a bit. I am a firm believer in the therapeutic qualities of leaving everything behind for awhile.

ANYWAYS, this last part is dedicated to our visit to Folly Beach, heading back to Lancaster, SC, and our trip home.

The Mister and I at the beach.

This was my first time at the actual Atlantic Ocean. In the past, I have been to the Gulf of Mexico, but it isn't quite the same.

Feet picture because...feet.

Aren't the bright colors swoon worthy?

Also, you can find MANY full shells which to this Oregon girl is kind of a crazy concept.

While in Charleston, we stayed at The Mister's sister's house, and we watched after their animals. Their puppy, Thor, pretty stole my heart.

The sky on our drive to Lancaster was just so beautiful.

Homeward bound

And that is it!

The blog will be getting back to its normal thing soon.

-Autumn