I feel the winds of change blowing (and I love it!)

Despite my darling husband sometimes playfully teasing me that the opposite is true, I am not afraid of change in the slightest and rarely shy away from it. However, that doesn't mean I necessarily go out of my way to introduce it into my life 24/7 either.

Like many of us, I have my usual routine. It isn't always perfect, and sometimes (aka, everyday!) there aren't anywhere near hours in the day, but it's mine and I can become rather steadfastly attached to it. Until, that is, I grow weary and restless with with it and certain other elements of my life (not, mind you, my “dedicated days” work schedule - that is life changingly amazing and not budging an inch any time soon!).

Ever since I came back from visiting Calgary in the fall of 2013, which was a profoundly important trip for me (as I delved into in this post), I've been doing an even greater amount of soul searching and introspective thought than ever before. I frequently feel like certain things need be altered, yet they remain exactly as they are because other bigger issues, points of stress, or worries come along and knock them squarely onto the back burner.

At this stage in my life, a few weeks before my 31st birthday, my heart and soul feel very, very open to change, as well as to both embracing new opportunities - whatever they may be - and getting in touch again with certain things that I love doing dearly, but haven't been kind enough to myself to make time for, in many instances, years now.

I realize that such statements sound a touch vague, and that's intentional. This isn't because I don't want to share the details of such with all of you, but rather because in many cases, I don't even know exactly what those changes will be yet myself. I just know, that like a runner bracing themselves on the starting line, I'm ready to burst forward and turn over a lot of new leaves - or so I hope!



{There is a certain almost palpable quality to the air when the winds of change pick up. I feel recharged thanks to it and am so excited to see where it will lead me this year and beyond. Vintage image source.}



That said, here are a few things that I'd really like, and am planning, to change in the coming months:


-Take actual days off. If we exclude days when my health keeps me bedridden and unable to do pretty much anything at all, which I don't feel should count because I have zero choice in the matter, I haven't taken a single day off this year and can (excluding our trip to Victoria last fall, which I did a lot of work related things on all the same) count on one hand the number I took last year.

Not kidding there in the slightest. And I put in long days. I mean like an average of 12 - 20+ hour workdays, which my health pays quite often, I know, but as a lifelong workaholic, it's genuinely hard for to be any other way. That said, I know, I know, I know oh-so-well that I must take days off at least once or twice a month and am going to try even harder to push myself to do so.


-And while I am, I'm going to craft. I love crafting, it's been near and dear to my heart my whole life, but you wouldn't know it from my blog. I have a dedicated craft room in our little basement that in recent times has doubled as my home office + photo studio + where I store inventory for my Etsy shop and I have not actually crafted in it, for all intents, for about 2.5 years. I literally shudder when I stop and reflect on that. I'm all for hard work, being driven, and pushing yourself, but every last one of us needs to stop and enjoy a hobby or two every now and then and I absolutely must get back to creating once more.


-I feel like some of my blog posts series and/or certain topics I cover are getting a bit staid/old (and not "old" in a good, vintage kind of way!) and aren't as popular as they once were, so I may be retiring some and/or introducing others later in the year.


-Speaking of my blog, looking ahead to late 2015 and beyond (aka, after this coming summer), I think that I'm going to scale back just a touch on my posting frequency. I madly adore writing and blogging and could do so almost everyday, but there is a great deal of behind the scenes work that goes into posting - as any frequent blogger who puts a lot of effort into their posts will quickly tell you - and in order to keep my blog and shop both going strong, I need to take a little bit of that time and apply it to other areas of my work and home life alike, as well as to those mythical days off.


-I need to spend more time outside. Sometimes that isn't possible and I fully accept that, but nothing, and I mean nothing, in the whole universe soothes my soul (as discussed in posts such as this one and this one) like connecting with nature and genuinely require that sense of serenity in my life.


-Worry less. Plain and simple. Tony recently reminded me of the importance of just going with life's natural flow and that's something I'm trying to embrace on an even deeper level these days.


-Weed out more "time sucks" from my life, be they online or off (this is something I've been doing for quite a while now, but there's always room to cut down on or entirely remove others still).


-Try a new wig. I love my current wig and it's been a very good friend to me for over 2.5 years (not literally the same wig, but the same model - I go through a new one every 3 to 6 months or so, just depending on the weather/heat and how often I wear it), but I've been jonseing for both darker and, even more so, shorter hair, so I'm planning on purchasing one soon (I hope) that fits this bill.

I've actually tried several other wigs since becoming a wig wearer due to medical hair loss in 2012, but none of them have worked well or looked flatting on me, so that's part of the reason I've stayed with my current one for so long (and why the others that didn't pan out haven't made it onto my blog). Time to at least try another wig - worst case, I'll return or resell it. No biggie - especially since I know that I can rely on my current one so long as its still being produced.

♥ ♥ ♥

Again, these are just a few things. The real key here is somewhat less about specifics and more about being open and ready for change. Hopefully most of it will be positive, but even if some negatives happen, I'll embrace them and hunt down the silver linings that they house, for there is one in very nearly every situation in life (that's been a guiding principle of mine ever since I was a child).

Spring, which we're about 2/3rds of the way through at this point (can that really be?!) is such an important time of rebirth and growth, and I think that is a big part of the reason why, amidst the April showers and May flowers, I've been feeling the winds of change blowing lately.

I'm really glad that they’re out in full (gale) force and hope that they'll continue to propel me forward for a long time to come!

Are you also feeling ready for change in your life this spring? What sorts of things would you like to see happen for you on that front in the weeks and months ahead?

The importance of scheduling "this and that" days

Way back in the fledgling days of the year, when one could still see scraggly, browning Christmas trees being sheepishly dragged to the trash by their owners, I spent some time talking about how I had decided to structure my days/weeks for this year (and beyond) in a post called A Woman of Emails. In truth I'd already been taking the approach that I outlined in that post to a degree for years, if not my whole life, but by truly dedicating days to one set task, my productivity - not to mention my state of mind/happiness - levels have not only picked up, they've exceeded my expectations in certain areas.

One topic that I didn't really touch on in that post however and which the longer that I take this approach, the more I find to be immensely important, is that of scheduling days in which you don't focus on one main task (say, writing future blog posts). Instead you devote the day as a whole to catching up on the little things that you might have been putting on the back burner so as to concentrate on larger jobs and/or that have snowballed suddenly and run the risk of throwing your whole schedule/work plan of course as a result.

Naturally, even if some of us have relatively similar work/passion/hobby/etc schedules, no two people will find their "this and that" days, as I like to call the days that I specifically set aside for this purpose, to be the same. The little things for me may be the big things/jobs for you and vice versa. As well, you may have elements of your life that don't even enter the picture in mine, just as there will be some in my daily life that rarely, if ever, factor into your own.

That said, here are some of the work related things that I often focus on when I'm having an intentional "this and that" day (I'll usually do some personal things, too, such as straighten up my closet or bookshelves if they need it, pen snail mail letters, wrap gifts, cook or bake and freeze meals for the coming month, etc). This is by no means a complete list and it certainly changes, to a degree at least, as time goes on, the seasons, if we're nearing a big holiday, my health, etc, but it is a good snapshot of some of things I've been focusing on during my "this and that" days so far this year.


-Catch up on blog feeds if I haven't been able to stay on top of them each day during a given week (I use Bloglovin' for the bulk of sites that I follow on a regular basis and can't recommend it highly enough if you're also a fan of following sites via RSS).

-Source and bookmark or pin(on Pinterest) images to use for future blog posts. I also keep a dedicated Word document with lists of online images that might work well for a huge variety of future posts stored on my desktop (right along side my list of future post ideas themselves). I often find, especially after nearly six year of frequent blogging that finding the right image(s) for a post can be time consuming or even challenging (if the image I want is highly specific, for example), so having these lists available to pull from is hugely useful to my productivity as a blogger.

-Do research/fact checking that may be required for posts that I plan to write in the near future.

-Reply to Facebook and Instagram comments. I find that I get more of these than I (currently) do Twitter and Pinterest ones (which I try to reply to as they arrive or at least within a day or two of such happening), but if they've built up there, too, they're apt to get tackled on these kinds of days.

-Brainstorm ideas for future posts and/or plan out my blog schedule for the coming months.

-Play dress up with my own wardrobe to design new outfits that I might one day share here on my blog. This is especially important with garments or accessories that I've received from companies for review, as I always want to highlight such pieces as best I can in the context of my outfit as a whole.

-Do post office runs.

-File recent business related paperwork and/or do business tax related tasks.

-Sort and edit photos for outfit posts (sometimes I devote a dedicated day to this, sometimes if happens on days like this or on others when I'm writing said posts; it really comes down to the volume of such photos I have at any given point in time).

-Clean/wash, repair/mend, store, etc new items that I've recently acquired for the shop.

-Sometimes, when a full day isn't needed for such, shop for said items themselves.

-Update my Evernote, adding and checking off tasks as needed (I keep lists of countless things I need to do there; in fact, since hopping on the Evernote bandwagon last year, it's been my main computer based do-to list and I really like this handy service).



{One way to look at "this and that" days is like spring cleaning for your work and/or personal life schedule. You focus on doing all those important little jobs that can easily fall to the wayside in the course of a busy week, month or even year, and it usually feel like a big weight has been lifted from your shoulders once you've completed them. Image source.}


These days are not what I'd call days off - quite the opposite actually! They stand to be very productive and can really, really be beneficial in terms of helping to rid your mind of many of those nagging thoughts pertaining to small tasks/jobs you should do, but haven't for whatever reason had a chance to accomplish yet. Though I do find that the number of such days that I need in a given month varies, I usually aim for at least two, but sometimes find I require four, five or even six and that's totally okay.

The emphasis on the kind of work schedule that I'm following this year is, to a degree, less about what fills a given day (per se) and more about the fact that I've consciously set aside said day specifically for a given purpose (or purposes), instead of flitting around between tasks, feeling so overworked/tired/stressed that I don't actually get much done, or worse, pushing myself so hard that my health (physical, mental and emotional all alike) run the risk of serious trouble.

Interestingly, though I don't assign given days of the week to most tasks (for reasons covered in my post from January), I do often find that "this and "that days" tend to fall on either Wednesday or Sunday for me (so far at least - who knows where they may land as time goes on).

This time management tip isn't epically earth shattering, if you will, to most folks, I'm sure, but it is important and it's been a very integral part of my work-life balance this year. As such, I wanted to share it here today for those who may find themselves in need of such a schedule and/or frequently feel like you're getting buried under an avalanche of small tasks. If this describes you, then setting aside intentional "this and that" days may be exactly what, if not the doctor than at least (and more importantly), your own life ordered.

Are you a fan of this approach? Have you tried it as part of your own schedule already? I'd love to hear about your feelings on "this and that" days, as well as any other time management techniques that have proved success for you - in exchange, I'll continue to share those here with you that really make a positive difference in my world.