New computer, new month, new approaches

March, the bridge of a month between the icy chill of winter and the first beams of spring's toasty sunlight is here and that point alone has me smiling up a storm. Add to it the fact that my new Dell laptop reached me at long last and I'm one very happy camper at the moment!

There's still some setting up, configuring and file transferring to do, but that will all get taken care of soon enough and the main point is that it's here and I was able to type these very words on it.

Naturally, I have a fair bit to catch up on from the past month and my blogging schedule for the first half of the spring has been thrown for an absolute loop (and then some!) because of the fact that I was computer-less for all of February, but as with most things in life, everything will get straightened out sooner or later and I'm trying not to worry too much about it.

Truth be told, I'm trying to worry less in general. I'm a natural worrier and I've battled various type of anxiety my whole life, so stress - especially unforeseen stress - tends to hit me hard.

During the past few weeks of being sans computer, one might have thought (understandably) that I might have taken a bit of a much needed breather, but instead I was hard at work doing as many non-computer dependent things for my blog and my Etsy shop as I could (from outfit shoots with Tony to sorting recently acquired merchandise).

Yet, in the midst of such things, I was able to find time for some areas of my life that I haven't focused on nearly enough in recent years (such as taking more outdoor walks), cataloging all of my modern books, and most importantly of all, reinforcing the concept that I simply must look at my work (blog, shop, and the other websites, such as Any New Books, that Tony and I run) as more of a 9 - 5 job.

At present, health permitting, I usually put in 40 - 80+ weeks between running this blog and my Etsy shop, plus at least several more hours for our other websites, each week. Each is a labour of love and I certainly won't be retiring off these efforts anytime soon.

When it comes to my blog and shop though, money has never been - and will never be (especially regarding my blog) the sole reason why I launched them in the first place (a love of vintage and desire to share in this passion with other like-minded people was a huge driving force behind both). It doesn't take a rocket scientist to tell you however, that such a heavy pace is not only a recipe for burnout, but ultimately a less than healthy way to approach your work.

We each need and are entitled to down-time and to have clearly distinct lines between what is work and what is personal time. Can, and do, the two sometimes overlap, you bet your bottom dollar they do - especially when, like myself, you're self-employed - but in this ever more digital world, it's important to remember that we (usually) have the ability to set boundaries and to define how we connect with things, our jobs very much included, on our terms.

I know that in order to keep on thriving, and moreover, genuinely enjoying, my time online and the world that I've built here, I must continue to have better defined work and off-time hours and that, at least once in a while, I have to take full days off and not feel almost cripplingly guilty (generally for zero legit reason) about doing so - and if you're in the same boat, too, I truly hope that you'll be able to do so as well.

I don't say all of this to lead up to any sort of announcement about radical changes, retirement plans, or complete overhauls of my life - not in the slightest.

I say it, in no small part, to help hold myself accountable in terms of separating work from off time more frequently. To remind myself that I am less stressed and far happier when I create time to take nature walks with Tony and Annie, curl up with a good book and Stella on my lap, spend a whole day just visiting friends, rearranging my closet, cooking meals to freeze for future dinners, or who knows, maybe even finally crafting again.

{This matters just as much, when all is said and done, as this does...}

{First image source & second image source}

In doing so, I am able to give more of myself - in terms of the quality of the focused, clearly defined work hours that I put in - and to create an ecosystem that, hopefully, holds far more longevity than burning the candle at both ends until there's nothing but a fizzled out wick stump left.

I believe that we work better, smarter, and healthier when we balance the drive and goals of our career with the other passions in our lives, and though I've rarely been a shining example of practising such in the last few years in particular, I'm vowing - even as a natural born workaholic - to work on changing that.

It's not so much that I plan to work considerably less (I don’t), but rather that I will better define when and how I work, and set boundaries. If I need to post slightly less often here to do that, so be it. If I photograph a few less items for my shop each month, so be it. If I take a little longer to reply to never-ending mountain of work related emails in my inbox, so be it.

These things matter, undeniably, but they aren't the only ones that count and when the end comes for each of us as we look back on our lives, it won't be that we didn't have time to post anything on social media on some random Tuesday in August or the fact that we were five minutes late to the office on Friday January 12th that we'll regret. No, it will be the moments with family, pets, loved ones, nature, travel, great books, our spiritual paths, and our passions that we'll wonder, could I have made more time for?

Chances are, the answer is yes and it doesn't have to mean a total 180 of how you live in the slightest. And that is the beauty of it all. We're here now and we can continue to balance the scales, give a better version of ourselves to both areas of our lives, and find, in the process, that we're happier, healthier, and far less stressed.

I walked away from a month of being computer-less with this concept at the forefront of my mind, and I will embark on life spent with my new laptop better equipped to delegate my time spent on it due in no small part to this unplanned hiatus.

Lessons are everywhere, we just have to keep our hearts and minds open to them.

There's just something about August

...That seems to ensure I fall ill during some part, or all of, the month each year.

The causes and culprits are often different (or at least a bit variable from year-to-year), but after being quite sick with a bad flare-up of one of my GI conditions for nearly two weeks straight now, I woke up this morning and was struck my how many Augusts pasts I've been in a similar boat (which might be a coincidence, but worth noting nevertheless).

Interestingly, my next thought (and please don't read anything morbid or foretelling into this, I'm not implying such) was how, in a roundabout way, that reminds me of an interesting point I discovered quite early on in my life as a family genealogist. It seems, I found, that when adding names and dates of death to my tree, if the person was middle aged or older, and lived prior to about 100 years ago, there was an exceedingly high chance they passed away during the winter.

At first I thought this much just be a bit of a string of coincidental dates of death, but time and time again, with names (from various bloodlines and folks hailing from different areas of Europe and North America) spanning centuries back, it became very obvious that that a much larger percentage of people passed away during the winter than throughout the rest of the year.

I've tried researching this point to see if others have noticed in their own trees, too, but haven't yet found too much out there on the topic. Of course not everyone in my tree perished at the first sign of snow, but if we think back to the world as it was two or three (or more) hundred years ago, it makes sense that those who might have already been weakened by illness or age succumbed during the coldest, roughest months of the year (when, to boot, their diet was often less healthy and/or plentiful than during the warmer seasons).

Extreme temperatures, no matter which side of the scale they fall on, can be hard on even the most rugged, healthy, and able-bodied amongst us, and are certainly trying on many with weak immune systems and/or serious health problems.

For those who are curious, I noticed that the season in which one passes away has become more varied (at least within my own family tree) over the past hundred to a hundred and twenty-five years ago, no doubt a point that coincides with advances in medicine, as well with other improvements (better indoor heating systems, plumbing, etc) that society has undergone in recent years.

There are many, many beautiful elements of summer and August that I adore, some of which you've certainly seen me wax poetically about in posts here over the years, but the fact that August tends to me I'll put out of commission for a hefty chunk of it, is not one I'm keen to sing praises about!




{Beautiful flowers, bright days, outdoor excursions, warm weather fashions – all points to adore about August. It’s odd propensity to make feel ill, not so much! Vintage 1940s Woman and Home magazine cover via totallymystified on Flickr.}


Oh well, it's Friday, and I’m hoping (though I strongly suspect it's a pipedream this week) that I might wake up feeling oodles better tomorrow and be up for some garage saling this weekend. That sure would be great, as I haven't gotten to nearly as many over the last two months as we did throughout May and June, and I’ve have been missing it fiercely.

Today though, I'll just ride out another day of feeling less than stellar, enjoy the sunshine that's flooding through the window, and look forward rather eagerly to September's return!

A very quick post to touch base

Good evening, sweet dears, how are you each on this last day in March? I hope that you’ve all been having marvellous weeks since we last spoke. My deepest and most heartfelt thanks go out to everyone who left comments (and emailed me privately) in regards to the health issue I mentioned in last Saturday’s post.

I had a very thorough doctor’s visit complete with various tests on Monday and also went for an ultrasound that day (which was preformed by the least gentle, most emotionally cold person I’ve ever encountered in the medical field, but I’m honestly trying to block the experience out of my mind, so I won’t be a negative Nancy (so to speak) and go into detail about it – let’s just say Genghis Khan would have been appalled by how viciously unkind and physically rough – for absolutely no reason – this woman was). I’ll be heading back up to the Dr.’s office next week to find out the results of all the tests and further discuss the situation.

In the meantime though I’m *trying* not to worry and am attempting to focus my thoughts on considerable more pleasant topics such as Easter, the inherent beauty of spring (which really has to arrive here any day now!), and my mother’s birthday on Friday. Even though we’re located on different sides of the country, I always get so excited when her special day rolls around – after all, of she wasn’t born, I wouldn’t be here typing this post right now!

Monday’s medical visits zapped my strength rather severely and I’m still recouping, so I’m going to continue resting tomorrow, but (baring anything unforeseen) hope to bring you a new edition of Vintage Friday Fashionista the following day.

Really and truly, thank you again, for your caring, understanding support and lovely comments. I can’t begin to tell you how much they helped lift my spirits over these past few days!


{A darling vintage card filled with springtime daisies to wish you the brightest and most lovely of April firsts tomorrow. Image via homanedheart’s Flickr stream.}


I hope that the month ahead is an amazing, sun-kissed, deeply joyful one for you all!

Trying very hard to find the right balance (but I could really use your help)

{Vintage photo via cessnal152towser’s Flickr stream.}

Last night I could not sleep. I tossed and turned (thankfully my husband is a fairly sound sleeper and didn’t hear my stirrings), repeatedly got out of bed only to lay back down moments later. Such an occurrence is by no means entirely uncommon for me, but there are times when something is weighing heavily enough one one’s mind to the point of robbing them of slumber, that it is best to seek advice from those near and dear you. I sincerely value each of your opinions and friendships, and want to talk bluntly to you all about something that has been eating away at me for quite some time now, in the hopes that you could help me out with it.

A recent conversation with a very dear friend (and fellow blogger/photographer) of mine in which I spoke candidly about certain elements relating to my health helped to give me the courage I needed to turn to my readers for their impute on this matter. (Once the flood gates have opened, as they say...)

I’ll spare you the details (trust me, you want to be spared), but in short I am not in a good state of health. I have not been since I was 18 years old (I’m 25.5 now), as that was the age at which I developed almost all of the chronic illnesses that I now have (more recently however, one cropped up about three years ago). I’m not, truly thankfully, dying or facing a massive medical crisis at this moment, so please do not think that I was leading this post in that direction.

One of the by-products of some of my conditions (I have about a dozen different major, chronic illnesses and a small number of lesser, but still chronic, problems) is that they greatly impede on the amount of time I’m able to spend on the computer each day.

On what I’d dub a “fantastic day”, I’m able to devote about 1.5 hours to being at my computer (many days this number is smaller, very occasionally it’s slightly higher). Due largely to one of my conditions in particular, I’m forced to break my computer usage time up into approximately two to ten minute intervals throughout the day. While I wish I could spend hours on my laptop daily, doing so is not possible at this point in my life and I have come to terms with this. I’m grateful for the time that I do have on the computer and try to use it as wisely as I can.

However, it is virtually impossible for me to stay on top of everything I need (let alone “want”) to get done online, because my computer time is so greatly limited. Between emails, writing blog posts, administering and maintaining a website (that I founded in 2004) for people who share one of my conditions, devoting time to my photography, doing research, and a trove of other online activities (which, believe me, I’ve already greatly scaled back over the last few years), I continually feel as though I’m falling further and further behind on almost everything I need to do online and on my desktop (e.g. writing blog posts).

Over the past couple of days I took an earnest stab at trying to catch up on the wonderful comments that have been left for me during the last two weeks here on Chronically Vintage, however I wasn’t able to visit all of your blogs. This bothers me so, so much (I honestly get stomach pains just thinking that I’ve not been able to come visit all those who took the time out of their day to visit my site and share their awesome thoughts with me), yet sometimes in life one has to admit defeat. In this case, I’ve been whopped by the sheer volume of comments I’ve received lately.

As I say that, please know that from the bottom of my soul, I am massively appreciative of each of those comments. I cannot stress enough how much I treasure your visits and the wonderful words you leave beneath my humble posts.

And so in lies the predicament. As many of you know, staying up-to-date with your comments (by which I mean visiting and commenting on the sites of those who stop by your blog) can just about become a full time job – or at the very least, take upwards of several hours a day. I have to be perfectly honest, it is beyond my physical ability at this point in time to spend multiple hours a day on the computer (on any activity, be it writing posts, visiting blogs or otherwise), and so I’m left racked with guilt now because I haven’t been able to catch up with all of your comments.

Up until this point, about 98% of the time I have managed to catch-up sooner or later on your comments, but this time I simply cannot. I’m truly sorry. I fully understand (and am not upset in the least) if some of my readers opt to no longer comment if I’m not able to comment on their sites. Please know that I will always give it my “fighting best” when it comes to staying abreast with your comments, but that sometimes doing so isn’t possible for me.

I need your advice. I will always permit comments on my posts, and I love hearing from you all, but I do not know how to approach the fact that sometimes I’m simply not able to keep up with your comments. What do you suggest I do?

As my readers, will some of you be hurt if, from time to time, I’m not able to comment as frequently on your posts as you may on mine? How to I determine what a good balance of time spent on replying to comments is? Perhaps is there something I can do to make up for not being able visit you on certain days?

Am I, as I know my very level headed husband would likely say, worrying about this perceived issue too much? Please, I implore you, tell me how you would handle this situation if you were in my shoes? (Yes, I do see the irony in asking for comments.)

With every fiber of my being, thank you for reading this post and for your impute, sweet friends.