hello, june

I completely missed May. But it’s fine. May was a mess.

But now it’s June. June is full of newness in my book. I can’t wait to get started.

read/reading // flipping through self help books on the following:

• Adobe Illustrator
• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe InDesign

And to have a real book in there that I’m *trying* to make progress through:

Staying Sharp: 9 Keys for a Youthful Brain through Modern Science and Ageless Wisdom by Henry Emmons, MD, and David Alter, PhD.

Oh, and the Bible. Lol.

writing // THIS post [god bless] and also about trying to rejuvenate, productivity, and staying true to myself and my content [even amongst social media turmoil >.<

learning // Adobe Creative Cloud!! 😀 [I am SO so happy about this.], how to best combine my soft skills with my hard skills, more design related things, and how to make Instagram do my bidding.

doing / working on // 

• all of the babysitting!
• crafting! [insert image]
• OBTAINING DOMAINS [whaaaa???!!! yep, you guessed it– I’m now the proud mom of not one, but TWO new domains, my beloved strictlystephanie.com and stephaniewscribbles.com!
• cleaning out my life before I move back to school!
• working
• running

eating // cereal, oatmeal, pasta, doughnuts, more unhealthy things, sourpatch kids, pork

drinking // water [!] coffee/lattes, adult juice

listening // to THESE RAD TUNES for JUNE! – some new, like Panic! has new songs out! But other stuff I’m re-discovering [:

laughing // at how much coffee I’ve had today

thinking // about all of the possibilities that lie before me. I literally can’t get that one song from The Greatest Showman out of my head either, the “every night I lie in bed // the brightest colors fill my head // a million dreams are keeping me awake”…. and like, it’s super cheesy but I’m trying to think about how what I’m doing fits in with where I am right now and what I’ll be pursuing this fall and I’m so. flipping. excited. [Better than sitting around at my own pity party, eh?] [;

trying // to stay positive. I will find a car that I like that is reasonably priced. I will find a car that I like that is reasonably priced. I will. Find a car. That I like. That is also reasonably priced. This whole thing is f-r-u-s-t-r-a-t-i-n-g. [For those of you who do not know, I am on the quest of my life to find a new [used] car that won’t break the bank. My heart is set on a Volvo wagon, because I’m mildly in love with the aesthetic, there’s a shit ton of space in the back for ALL of my things, and they’re built like tanks. Fingers crossed and prayer hands folded.

hoping // …that I can find a car that I like that is reasonably priced  that I can plan out my goals in a more organized matter. I’m a bit of a hot mess right now.

loving // the recent weather [70 degrees and sunny?! After like, 2 weeks straight of rain?? *gasp*], my personal progress with this blog/other website. OH, and the fact that I just got FALL OUT BOY TIX FOR SEPTEMBER ♥ ♥ ♥ *joyful tear*

praying // for patience, understanding, focus, the motivation to sit my ass down and get real with myself and my summer goals. Oh, and that the Caps take home the cup. [;

My countdown informs me that there’s only 54 days until I move back to school.

xx

//re-boot: how to be *actually* productive

I did it. I can’t deny it.

I think I actually hit rock bottom a day ago.

In one of my last posts I talked about how run-down I felt. I had no energy, I felt disgusting [just in time for #nationaldoughnutday, lol], and I was mentally exhausted. The next morning, I realized something had to change. So I set out on a mission to re-fuel, re-energize, and re-orient myself for the day, taking in all of the “productivity” hacks I’ve collected throughout the years and just try to set out and do what I needed to do.

One of my all-time favourite books, The Productivity Project by Chris Bailey [I can’t praise this book highly enough], notes that productivity is not a measure of how we can get the most done, but rather, how much we can get done that we actually set out to do in the first place. 

So I made a list.

I had to babysit that day, so that would take up a fair amount of my time. But while the amazing baby was sleeping, I sat down and pressed “go” on a bunch of buttons I’d been waiting around to push.

I know there’s TONS of productivity tips out there– it’s almost overwhelming, and sometimes it’s almost too easy to get lost in just reading about all this productivity instead of actually doing something about it! So. Without further ado, these, I find, are my favourite tips that I’ve been able to put into practice successfully, and will continue to do today because boyyyy do I have a lot of work to catch up on!

//MAKE A LIST. A realistic one. Before you set out to do what you wanna do, make a list. From what I’ve read, it’s recommended that you only have 5 things on the list– this is so you don’t get overwhelmed by a list that’s longer than your arm. It’s okay to take baby steps. Remember, productivity is all about getting done what you set out to do. And checking off 5 reasonable tasks is a whole lot easier than attempting 10 bigger ones. That being said, if you finish all 5, make another 5-item list, and keep chuggin, man!

// TURN OFF YOUR PHONE. Or at least put it on “Do Not Disturb”. I like to put mine off, or on do not disturb across the room from me, so I’m not tempted. All that buzzing and notification noise for who last liked my Instagram post is just going to derail the productivity train.

//GET COMFORTABLE. This includes settling into a comfortable chair, bed, etc. Also do not forget the importance of good posture and hand position [especially when your work often involves your hands slaving over a keyboard, like mine does!] It’s a lot easier to focus once you know you’re physically well taken care of and you’ll be able to stay at it a lot easier.

//DRINK WATER. All day, preferably. Have it next to you and sip often. Your brain needs it to function. As I type, I’m drinking coffee. You can also drink coffee, don’t get me wrong! I am a coffee lover from way back but always make sure to sandwich the coffee break with a water break!

//SLEEP. I feel a bit like a hypocrite because I only JUST got my sleep back on schedule. I’ve been trying to go to bed between 11:30pm and 12am and wake up at 8:30AM so I know I’ve gotten my 8 hours. Honestly though, it’s such an overlooked part of productivity and general wellness. I used to be that person who bragged about “I was up til 4am finishing this blah blah blah”. Yeah, well I also conveniently forgot to include the part about being so sluggish and down-and-out the next day…

 //MUSIC. This one’s a bit of a hit-or-miss for me– some days I’m feeling it, sometimes I’m not. But when I AM FEELING IT NOW MR. KRABS   am feeling it, I try to stick to something that I can have passively play in the background. Unfortunately, this rules out discovery playlists on Spotify, unfamiliar songs, and stuff that’s super lyric-heavy. I can do classical music [that’s gotten me through MANY finals studying sessions!] and I can do some music with lyrics as long as it’s stuff I’m familiar with and can kind of tune out easily. Don’t get me wrong, I am a HUGE proponent of active listening, especially because I love being mindful about what is going into my ears but sometimes I just need noise. And, if music’s not your thing, no problem! There’s this nifty site called “Coffitivity” that literally just lets you play background noises/buzz from inside a coffee shop. Pretty awesome, right?

//EXERCISE! The first thing I did when I woke up besides getting dressed? I went for a run. After being almost a week out of commission I decided I needed to be active and pronto. I finished about 3.11 miles and felt deliciously sore afterwards, and didn’t feel my usual afternoon-sluggishness later! It’s really true what they say, that baffling mystery about how exercising actually gives you more energy. Weird. Gonna keep doing this one, even if I only go for a brisk walk or do some pushups in my room. Anything that gets the blood pumping is worth it.

//TAKE BREAKS. Oof, I’m low-key the worst at this one because I: A) forget to plan breaks into my work regimen OR B) take my breaks for faaaaaaaaaarrr too long lol this post was supposed to happen during a break and it’s taking me a bit longer than expected but it’s fine cuz this is truth that needs to be SPOKEN amirite? But honestly, it’s a lot easier to sit down and focus your mind when you know you’ve got a break coming up wherein you can satisfy your cravings. My breaks include eating sourpatch, doing personal things [like blogging or educating myself on the importance of SEO, taking a sketch/design break, getting a real food snack, a nap, stretching, etc.] ALSO IMPORTANT: give your hands a break. Right now, I can feel my left wrist is a bit tense from typing this post so intensely! Be kind to your hands and give them a break as well when you take a break.

It’s hard because I’m really stubborn and often have to try things before I realize their value, but these are the things that I find help me the most and my productivity throughout my work day, and I hope they do the same for you! I challenge you to try at least one of these [the water one is definitely probably my recommendation (; ] today and see what happens. Or you could also take a break and go order The Productivity Project off Amazon for like, $12. 

Happy productive-ing!

xx

// that time I tried doing YouTube

So with the “adventure a day” mindset, and having this rare boost of energy I don’t normally have, plus being inspired by one of my favourite vloggers/YouTubers [IamJustOlena] I decided to give doing a YouTube a shot.

So LOL, here’s a really shoddy attempt at a makeup tutorial:

Is this something I’ll do in the future [makeup related or otherwise]? Who knows! All I can say is that I *did* have a ton of fun making it and ESPECIALLY the editing [: Just trying to get my video editing skills to a good level before I start uni back up in the fall.

Thoughts?

xx

// the mosaic district + ignited passions

I couldn’t have asked for better weather today, nor could I have asked for better company. I had the privilege of spending a day with one of my original amigas who now goes to school very far away from me in NY.

But she is here for a breath of summer and I couldn’t wait to go hit up this cool shopping district. She picked me up first and greeted me with a hug and a belated birthday present [she’s got killer taste and should probably be a professional gift giver because I was truly delighted but you know *shrug* (: ]

We combated lunch-hour traffic and finally found ourselves in the parking garage under the Target.

I’ll start by saying they had the most aesthetic Target I think I’ve ever seen, with an escalator for the shopping carts, so many windows for a stunning vista [over the mini cityscape] and a very established Pride apparel sections. It was fantastic.

We realized that we were starving, and decided to hit up the rustic-looking Italian place across the street. They had a great pizza deal going on there so we scored that.

Next was a pit-stop at the gelato place down the street– we mixed some chocolate flavors with lemon and passion fruit and it was surprisingly summery and delectable!

To nurse our food pregnancies we strolled around some more and eventually ended up at a PaperSource store and OH. MY GOD. It was a boutique basically for crafting and paper making related things, and seeing all of the paper and the envelopes and the writing tools and the journals and the ribbon…ETC… it just made me feel like I had to start crafting again. Which sent me on a binge a couple days later, to re-vamp my portfolio website, and create a couple new items in the meantime! So, super pumped a about that.

The sun was pretty high in the sky at this point, on the verge of its descent so we left the district to go home.

It’s so great how, even after being so far away from some people, you can literally just be in the same room, jump in the same car, and then everything just picks up as if no time had passed.

xx

// losing *power*

I tried to do work.

But my work involves a computer and the internet and so when the whole house exhaled with that depressing bzzhhhhuurrr sound that mainly only happens in the movies when a monster is on the loose or something, I was a bit disappointed.

But it was fine.

Being cut off from all that, I sat down with myself and realized “……oh wow.”

I had recently watched a video from one of my favourite vloggers/YouTubers and this one really spoke to me.

Financially? I feel stressed because the one paying my tuition/bills/etc. is me, myself and I. I’ve worked 2 jobs in addition to going to school full time to help offset this, and will be continuing to do so, adding on a TA position this fall. We’ll see how this goes. I’m also

Mentally? I feel exhausted, because I know there’s only so many hours in the day and sometimes I just spend them on the wrong things, or doing something the hard way when there’s an easier way that I didn’t see coming. This blog series has also [not gonna lie] started to cause me stress, as I felt pressure to kind of document *e v a r y t h i n g* and I know that that’s just not realistic. [In case you’ve noticed I’ve removed the day counts from the post titles and such– dream big, then realistically downsize, right?]

Physically? Oh lordy I’m so behind. I think it’s been 2 weeks since I last worked out, my eating habits may have hit rock bottom, and I haven’t been sleeping as well as I should be, I know for sure. I should probably shower after I finish this post.

BUT ANYWAYS.

What I set out to say is that the lack of power gave me a bit of quiet time. I looked at what’s flowing in [and what’s flooding out *sob*] and then sat down to try to make a realistic budget. This also included me obtaining two new *pretty awesome* financial apps, one is called PocketGuard and the other is Mint. Between trying to scrape up funds for the summer and tuition ALL in the midst of a new [used] car hunt, it’s been driving me crazy. But it was a really good time to just sit down and think on this for a bit, a nice bit of a reality check.

Later, I went on a bit of an outing with one of my friends here and she had a bunch of clothes and stuff that she didn’t need anymore, so we took it to the local Plato’s Closet with hopes to sell it to the store. I love and hate that store. I love it because it’s such a cute selection of clothes at EXTREMELY discounted prices. I hate it also because…it’s such a cute selection of clothes at extremely discounted prices and I could do some serious damage. Luckily, they had a sale going, buy one dress get one for $1 and I walked out of there with 4 dress/things for under $20. A STEAL. It really is one of my guilty pleasures. >.<

But it also made me realize that I honestly will never buy new clothes [for the most part, anyways.] Thrifting for me is so much more fun, at a fraction of the price.

A lot of the grievances against include statements like: “ew, but that’s someone’s old clothes. They’ve like, worn that before,” the disdain oozing out through their words like the clothing is diseased.

People, I own a washer and a drying machine for a reason.

But anyways.

That being said, between scoring this awesome deal [hopefully not completely nullifying my budget in one fell swoop] and taking the time to reflect upon everything, I was able to kind of re-gain that lost power. For me, I know it has to be in my head. The positivity, the hope, the willpower– I have to be mentally psyched to move forward, and I hope I can continue to do so.

xx

adventure a day // kick-off…!

My last post, I think, was a bit jarring—both for me to write, but also to sit down and re-read. Since, I’ve done my best to adjust to the “culture shock” [I’d say] between where I am now and when I’m away from home. I also realized something. Between having a count down on my phone and my over-sized, erasable, magnetic calendar propped against my wall decorated with slashes through every passing day, I noticed that it feels like a race to get back, to get over with, to move on.

I remain conflicted.

Of course, there’s so much to look forward to when I get back to school and I honestly can’t wait for that to happen but on the same token—I don’t want this to be a throwaway summer. By any means. Part of what keeps me going is the game I play over and over with myself, day to day, year to year. The “game” consists of two questions: What do I have right now, and what can I do with it?

Right now, I have time.

Right now, I have jobs.

Right now, I have the desire to improve my design skills, to translate some German.

Right now, I can visit with friends, get some driving practice in, look for a car, visit family, eat great food, craft to my heart’s content, and surf the internet for ways to decorate my new apartment in the fall.

Right now, I have this gift of a blog and the ability to write down all of the amazing aspects of the things listed above.

It’s so tempting at times to feel trapped, lost and wandering in what I don’t have, instead of taking that necessary step back and realizing: look at all of this right here.

So.

In an attempt to shift my perspective, I’ve come up with a make-shift solution that I hope will help/allow me to practice mindfulness in the little adventures that occur every day. And so, I’ve decided to launch a bit of a blogging series of short[ish] blog posts that will *hopefully* get my fingers flying over the keyboard on this space again, get those creative juices flowing, my trains of thoughts, and allow me to share a bit of the beautiful that I have left of this summer time.

I know that I’m a bit behind, [and you can bet to bajeezus that I’m going to have scheduled a ton of things and continue to schedule things but that’s just the way this adventure is gonna work itself out *shrug*] but I’ve been laying the framework for this for the past few weeks and now it’s time to take the plunge and put up all I’ve been saving [so brace yourselves.]

!!!

Needless to say, I’m excited.

There’s an adventure every day, we just have to look for it.

xx

// a quick, midnight escape

…well, a little longer than quick.

I got hardcore SURPRISED, y’all.

It seemed like I was just going to be sitting in front of my computer working all night but nope. Instead, I was whisked away to my second home by a knight in a grey Honda who drove 2 hours to see me [I mean who does that?? that’s awesome??] and spent the weekend relaxing, failing at Dark Souls, eating food, and watching The Office.

The night turned into morning and more coffee and good weather and spontaneous food trips.

I’m getting better about leaving but before we did, we celebrated the break in the rain streak and hit the university arboretum. It was gorgeous. There were turtles. It was also hot, and we ran out of water.

But what a lovely end to the day. My heart felt so full– I do love walking along in nature as is, but to walk along in nature with the people close to you and just talk honestly, unabashedly about life, about love, about skepticism… that’s what makes it for me.

I know I often like to be alone but this is one thing I know I thrive with.

xx

// a run between the raindrops

Today felt yucky.

I was putting in lots of hours and I was basically at my computer all day, stressing myself out, so I decided. I decided enough was enough and I just got up in the middle of what I was doing and got ready.

Tennis shoes. T-shirt. Jacket. Headphones.

And before I knew it, I was out the door, embarking on a run for the first time in weeks, in cool [finally!] temperatures.

Thing was, it was still raining. It had been raining like, all week, in fact. But at this point I didn’t care. I just needed to be OUT, to move my body.

I opted for my favourite running trail and ugh. Watching the trees unite in a canopy above me, their new-leaf green radiating even as the leaking clouds blocked the sun…

Something about using nature to escape [as I often do], something about coming home slightly drenched, legs sore… Something about hearing the trickling of raindrops through levels of leaves but leaving the pavement dry below you… it’s really flipping hypnotizing.

I’d love to do it again soon.

xx

// downtown, round 2 [sans tornado]

I woke up after the first best sleep I’d had since I was home, to a house of Traci, a pupper, and a grumpy cat.

Plan was to wake up, get ready on the swift side, and then go kinda nearby to pick up my other roommate from her house so we could go to breakfast.

Once we kidnapped acquired aforementioned roommate, we headed to the downtown that was now bathed in sunlight, as if nothing had happened the day before. The only traces of the torrential downpour were the filled-to-the-brim-with-water recycling bins outside of some storefronts.

We hit the diner for some MUCH needed breakfast, and chocolate chip pancakes hit the spot. We walked off our food pregnancies on a trip to a nearby coffee shop that embraced origins of a once-upon-a-time shoe shop in a really cute, funky, hipster-y way. There were piles of board games lining the bookshelves [yes bookshelves!] and some of the tables had wooden benches that were pulled up to table tops with painted checkerboard/chess board grids.

The one guy behind the counter was getting all fancy with the industrial, artisan espresso machine and once we had gotten our caffeine, we ventured around to the back where there was a “secret garden” of dainty furniture for outdoor seating + caffeine enjoyment and flowers galore.

I had to go home eventually, though, as I had some children to watch. But it was nice to escape to that little nook of a downtown, if only for a little while.

xx

 

 

 

// just a downtown tornado

I was so excited to see my roommate again, even though it had only been a week or so since we’d last seen each other. She was dog-sitting nearby and we made plans for lunch in a cute downtown. We scored free parking, and were in the middle of deliberating where we would get food when we noticed the dark clouds closing in on us.

One thing about me– I absolutely LOVE the drama of the sky. All day every day, but ESPECIALLY before a storm happens. So we took advantage of it with some pictures.

Right after these pics, however, heavy droplets started to fall and we knew we had to pick somewhere to dine, and fast.

So we ducked into the Delirium and shortly after, sheets were cascading from the sky. We had a nice window view, so we were able to see everything get blown, drenched, and obscured by the walls of water. Moments later, people’s phones started going off with Tornado Warnings– I got one for my home address and decided to call to make sure everyone was okay/preparing accordingly.

A cocktail and a meatball sub later, we took our time eating dessert as the rain subsided, hoping we could sneak out and into the garage parking before it started again.

We managed to do just that, and I rode with Traci back to the house she was dog-sitting in {close family friends of hers) where an anxious Labrador pupper was waiting there for us. She could barely contain her excitement and when we let her outside, we were greeted with the most vibrant violet sky + rainbow combo I’ve seen in a while.

xx