The Time Has Come

Hello Everyone.

Most of you know that this blog has been around for some time (roughly 3 years.) I learned so much about blogging through this endeavor and curated quite the loyal following. I’ll be forever grateful for that. This blog was here when my life was uncertain and as I found my path in life. It’s seen ups and downs, highs and lows.

Today I say goodbye.

I’m not leaving the blogging world. That’s not it at all. For well over a year I’ve been running an English/Education blog which you can find at englishnook.wordpress.com

I’m also planning on launching a new blog which you can find at projectsunshineblog.wordpress.com

But the time has come to say goodbye to this blog. It holds quite the jumble of thoughts, and I want my blogging endeavors to be more focused from here on out. I want to know why I’m running a blog and what I want to be saying.

This blog will always hold a special place in my heart, and I hope that you’ll consider coming with my on my new endeavors. But the time has come for me to write my last post here, and this is it.

Thank you for everything.

BrittanyM

The Planning Notebook

It’s no secret that I’ve been at this whole blogging thing for a while. There have been good months and bad months and a lot of learning.

A couple of things I’ve learned:

  • I need to schedule posts in advance because sometimes life gets in the way.
  • I need to have a plan for my posts or I go totally blank.

Having learned these things about myself and my blogging process, I now have a blog notebook. That sounds weird because a blog is, by definition, online. But I have a notebook where I gather ideas and brainstorm and plan out posts for the month.

It’s a slow process because it’s an evolution. I’m working on being better about blogging, and I’m working on planning it all out. At this point I could have walked away from the blog, but something keeps pulling me back. There is a part of my that loves this blog deeply and wants it to succeed. So I’m gonna stick with it.

BrittanyM

Two of My Favorite Things

Anyone who knows me knows that I like notebooks. A lot of people who know me know that I like quotes. And when these two things come together I am a very happy camper.

Mara-Mi makes amazing stationery. Typically I  buy it at Marshalls or at TJ Maxx because those are the only stores near me that sell them. I bought one of their notebooks once because I liked the quote on the cover. (It was a Steve Job’s quote about loving your job.) And then I could never find the notebooks again. I hadn’t bought more when I bought the first one because I wasn’t sure what I would use the notebook for and didn’t want to have too many laying around. Once I started using the notebook for my work journal I couldn’t believe I hadn’t bought more, and I wasn’t sure what to do now that I couldn’t find them.

And then on one of several recent shopping adventures, there were the notebooks. And they kept appearing at TJ Maxx and Marshalls again and again and again. And I kept buying them. (I now own somewhere between eight and ten.) In fact, the only reason I stopped buying them is because my mom asked me “please no more notebooks.”

I love these notebooks. I love the size. I love the covers. I love the paper. I love using them as my work journals. And someday, I’ll pick up some more.

BrittanyM

Creativity

I’ve always been a creative person. When I was little I loved coloring and drawing, doing arts and crafts, writing. Even now that I’ve reached “grown up” status, that hasn’t changed. Some things I’ve been more consistent with than others – writing and coloring for example – but I haven’t given up any of the creative things I loved when I was little.

Lately I’ve rediscovered how much I like to draw. I’m not necessarily creative enough to come up with my own ideas to draw. But if I find an image that I like I can recreate in in my sketchbook (if it’s simple enough). A long time ago I took oil painting lessons, and when we go on vacations to Disney we often go to the animation studios to draw the characters.

I’ve been having a lot of fun drawing, and I can’t wait to see where this adventure takes me. I’m hoping to share some of this adventure with you. I’ll keep you posted.

BrittanyM

It’s OK to Have a Bad Day

If you’re anything like me, you’ve had a bad day. Maybe you’ve had a whole bunch of them lately. Maybe you haven’t had one in a while. Maybe those bad days were because of something you did, or maybe they were completely out of your control.

It’s OK.

It’s OK to have a bad day. Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone has things happen to them that are beyond their control. Having a bad day (or a lot of bad days) isn’t your fault. It’s simply part of being a human.

So go do something nice for yourself. Take a nap. Read a book. Call your best friend. Binge watch your favorite TV show. Bake some cookies. Do something nice for you, because you deserve it.

BrittanyM

New Focus

This year. I’ve determined, is my year to work on being my best self. That means a lot of different things to me. More exercise. Blogging more regularly. Doing what makes me happy. Having fewer regrets. Being of the best mindset that I can.

That’s what I want to talk about today. My brain is a super energetic place. My thoughts are always bouncing around. There are to do lists in my head. There are things I want to do on the blog and pieces of stories and books I want to read and a million other things. I don’t have a quiet mind. I have a loud noisy mind that’s always going. But sometimes one just needs some peace and quiet.

At school some of the teachers I work with use a mindful meditation app with their students. I was certainly skeptical when I first learned this, I’ve never been big on meditation. Remember, I have the noisy brain. But after I experienced using the app a couple of times I came to really love it. It helped me to quiet my brain and focus on being in the moment.

So I downloaded the app for myself (StopBreatheThink) for those of you who are wondering, and I’ve used it every day since February 1. Most of the time I use it right before I go to bed which is nice. It’s a good way to end my day, and it helps to quiet my brain at a time when it tends to get really noisy.

I don’t believe that meditation is for everyone, and the type of meditation that works for me might not work for you. If you haven’t tried meditation, try this app. It’s free. It’s been a great thing in my life. I’d love to hear what your experience with it is.

BrittanyM