Savoring Monday

monday I didn't post a weekly notes blog last week, and I didn't do any journaling. This is a habit and practice I want to change. I want to get back to documenting all parts of my days, reflections, life. Writing is like an extension of me, and it feels so effortless compared to other mediums of expression. So this week I'm going to challenge myself to write, as often as I think to, but also at certain times of the day.  It's currently 5:59 am and I jumped out of bed around 5:30 am this morning. The moon was shining through my window and I wanted to wake up with the world while it was still dark. On that note, I'm moving to the patio to write as the sky is still a glowing, deep, indigo teal and the street lamps are still on. One of my favorite times of day to savor. Birds keep flying over, I hear the crickets and birds are chirping all around. The air feels like a layer of humidity and coolness at the same time. I hear a mourning dove. It's like I'm in a fo...

monday today is day 8 of my 75 days of slowing down challenge. I want to move with ease throughout the day so I'm not going to make a to do list. I'm going to take it easy and slow.  Today's focus seemed to be mostly about getting outside in between all of the rain, and about filming. I started another vlog documenting my journey through 75 days of slowing down and also filmed a one hour long sit down video.  I successfully got outside for 4 walks today and ended the day with 8,000 steps. tuesday One of my goals yesterday was to get some crafting time in, but it just didn't happen, so I want todays focus to be all about that. I also want it to be self care focused and full of analog activities. Some of the things I want to do today: crochet, junk journal, take a bath, watercolor painting, read, possibly a puzzle, making a fruit syrup for my matcha, possibly baking a gluten free pastry, diamond painting, writing, making my summer bucket list, etc. Today I was able to mak...

monday theres many habits i've been wanting to build recently, and some even for years and I'm ready to be more disciplined. So I'm starting a 75 day challenge. I've done 75 hard and 75 soft in the past and this isn't going to be like that. Although it will incorporate some of the core goals like movement, hydration, nutrition, getting outside, and reading, it'll be more customized to my lifestyle as I struggle with autoimmune and chronic illness and there are just some niche things I want to focus on beyond the typical challenge. So today marks day 1 and the 75th day will be july 24, which feels very fitting to wrap this up right before fall. I want to document this journey here through my honest reflections and photos and document more of the actual moments on my youtube channel through long form vlogs. the concepts im thinking of centering the challenge around is analog living and a whimsy reset. or maybe i should just name it 75 days of slowing down. because...

monday  i'm sad my birthday weekend has come to a close. it was truly such a fun weekend and it went by too fast! today i'm starting the process of catching up with content work as this time of the month is always busy with my monthly memories vlog and monthly zine on top of daily content tasks. I created a list of everything I want to get done this week: edit, post, schedule april fragments video, create and post april zine to blog, post birthday weekly notes blog, create and post weekly collage from last week, create and post weekend collage from last week, edit and post birthday weekend vlog, start a youtube shorts channel, post on pinterest, edit april pins, make benable lists for recent favs, add princess diaries pins to pinterest, write a princess diaries birthday blog, write a birthday weekend blog, create a birthday zine, write a birthday weekend junk journal blog, film and post a birthday weekend junk journal video, edit and post walk with me video, create recent food/...

sunday I woke up with a headache (probably due to my period), so it wasn't the best start to the day. I spent the first half of the day relaxing, trying to feel better. We had chipotle for lunch and I honestly think having a satiating meal helped.  We went to Ross because my husband was looking for a few things and I decided to look in the shirt and blouse sections to see if I could find anything for my birthday weekend. I already got my dress for the birthday lunch, but wanted something for our Palm Beach adventure.  I feel like I've been finding some cute pieces that fit right, which is a first for me. It's making me reflect even more on the fashion industry and plus sizes. When I was a size 16-20 I had such a hard time finding cute, stylish clothes that fit correctly. But now that I'm a size 12/14 I have had so much more success. Of course it feels great to finally be able to go to stores that you once wished you could find stuff at and now be able to, but there'...

monday I am feeling really tired this morning. I mean, it makes sense, we had a really busy weekend. I'm starting off the day with some planning for cleaning tasks and to do's I want to accomplish this week. We have a new piece of furniture in our living room that will probably serve as a linens cabinet, and maybe hold some of my tea pot collection, so I'm excited to get that organized.  Now it's 7 pm and I can't believe the day is over. Today was a planning heavy day but I still got some stuff done (mostly creative tasks). A few days ago I had decided to give a second YouTube channel a try. I had posted my first video which was a 45 minute video of me talking about why I quit social media and tied in the content creator side of it all and a little bit of a backstory on my creative journey. I also had 2 other videos filmed, one of which I filmed this morning, and I decided to scratch the entire channel. I feel like I had some great ideas, even episodic, series based...

a week of good news, glimmers and choosing the slow path monday I woke up early this morning with the anticipation of a possible walk. Last night I intentionally gathered all of my books, journals, laptop, ipad, and athleisure and set it out for my morning routine today. I was up early enough to see the sky turn from a deep indigo purple blue to a grey. Once I saw those pink clouds, it swayed me from a maybe to a yes for a morning walk. It was a short one, but totally worth it. It was in the sixties this morning and it was quite chilly with the wind. I even made it out for a second walk before the busy morning began.  This morning felt a bit chaotic with my reading routine, but there is just so much I want to prioritize. I read my devotional, some poetry by Mary Oliver, some of my fiction book, and took book notes on the Artists Way book. Maybe it would be easier to break it all up throughout the day and just do longer sessions of one thing at a time. But it also feels good to know...

Monday It's a new week! And I'm feeling really excited for it. I'm also feeling inspired to do some organizing or work on some of my bigger projects, whether home related or passion project related. I also want to get into some kind of rhythm with all of my habit goals. Some I've already gotten good at like my morning routine, but there are definitely things I want to add to it, along with creating other rhythms throughout the day. It's mostly because I have so many things I want to make time for, pairing it with a certain time frame will help me make whatever task I'm focusing on into a habit. ONE OF WHICH NEEDS TO BE READING! I cannot believe how long I've been in this reading rut. But it kind of makes sense. At the beginning of the year I was more focused on self help and educational style books and taking book notes. I was in more of a learning mood than a get lost in another world mood. But I have been craving a good fictional story. So hopefully I'...

Monday  I'm really excited for this week because it is Holy Week. Yesterday was Palm Sunday and I watched a beautiful church service online. This upcoming Sunday is Easter and I'm so excited for that and the holiday weekend. I've still got to pick up a few things for Easter like candy and eggs for our home egg hunt tradition we do every year, some fun breakfast and meal foods, maybe some ingredients to make a festive dessert and then our typical groceries. Between that and planning out the week ahead, today is going to be a planning heavy day. I typically use Mondays as the day to fill out my planner, write my master to do list, figure out what days I'm going to do certain cleaning tasks, write down what events are going on in the community that week, etc. It's been nearly a week since I picked up a ton of library books, and although I started on one of my poetry books, I haven't read any of the fiction books yet. I want today to be a starting point for hobbies ...

Monday I didn't sleep the best over the weekend so I took it easy today. It is the last day I have to wear my heart monitor and I'm excited to celebrate tomorrow. We went to Whole Foods to pick up some groceries and I restocked on some of my favs: vans gluten free waffles, produce, forager yogurt, califia almond milk and gluten free cupcakes for a tea party with my daughter tomorrow.  Tuesday I returned my heart monitor this morning. I didn't expect to have so many emotions around it. Looking back on the week, it makes sense. I had to navigate: my doctor office, the heart monitor company, wearing the monitor around the clock as much as possible, the uncomfortableness of it, sleep with it, the awareness of it, the trying to ignore it, and then the weird experience of returning it and it no longer being a part of my daily routine. Although the hassle of it and the experience of wearing it nearly 24/7 for a week is something I hope I don't have to experience again, it felt...

  Monday Today was unexpectedly an errands heavy day. I decided to run to CVS in the morning to check out their Easter basket stuffers selection. We went to Five Below over the weekend to look but nothing stuck out to me. From there I got some candy and from CVS I got some candy and some cute stuffed animals. One is a gray bunny ballerina and the other was a lamb that wraps around your wrist. I also went to Publix last minute because I decided I wanted to get some fun treats for St Patricks Day. Because I'm on a low iron diet, we didn't get corned beef this year. I found a gluten free mushroom soup and plan to make potatoes in the crockpot. I also got the rest of the ingredients I needed to make Oreo cream cheese cake pops and a cream soda Poppi. Tuesday This morning was all about my doctor appointment. I got a heart monitor that I'll be wearing for 7 days. It's mostly to try to catch any palpitations I may have, but also to get a big picture of my heart health. I have ...