Life Lately…One Big Update on Life
Heeeeyyyyyy!
I’ve missed blogging. I’ve missed this space.
I have been trying to blog again for a couple of weeks (months?) now and a variety of things have been holding me back from that.
But, enough is enough so I decided to sit down and finally write something.
I thought a “Life Lately” post might be a good place to start.
Alright, I’ve been sitting in front of my laptop for 10 minutes trying to figure out what to say. I really want to write this post and hopefully somehow maybe get back into blogging again because I really love it and it makes me happy. One of the things I told myself when I started blogging is that I would be honest. I’d share real-life stuff. I remember when my cousin gave me the idea for this blog, she said “but you’ll tell people the truth. It’ll be real life stuff.” And I always wanted to make sure that I wasn’t lying on here. That I wasn’t saying that things were great when in reality they really weren’t.
And if I’m being honest, one of the things that has been holding me back from writing and posting on here is that I don’t know how to write this blog post–or any blog post for my first one back in months where I want to explain my absence to a degree–without telling the truth.
Sharing this post and not sharing some things about life lately seems really inauthentic and that is not something I want to do or be.
It’s not that sharing the truth is hard. Find me in person & I’ll tell you allll about it. But sharing it on the Internet for literally anyone to read? That’s much more difficult for me.
So, honestly?
Life Lately has been…all the things. It’s been tiring and stressful mainly with some peace and happiness mixed in.
Work has been a lot. I thought I’d adjust in a couple of weeks, maybe a month or so, but the reality of it is that I am exhausted all the time. I basically spend my weekends recovering from the week. The thought of doing things on the weekend is not even somewhat close to thrilling.
I need to plan things to do on the weekend far in advance so I can mentally prepare myself for it all week. And if you ask me to do something one weekend, my answer is probably going to be no. So sorry. It’s (most likely) not personal. The week just takes a lot out of me, unfortunately.
Continuing with honesty…I was not expecting this from my job. How mentally draining it would be. I thought I’d go to work, come home, still have some pep in my step, and do all of the things on the weekend just like I used to do during the week. Joke was on me.
I don’t have energy to do half the things much less all of the things.
So that’s life lately. And now I feel like I can go on with this blog post and share the other things that have been happening in life lately.
Holidays + Gifting
I love the holidays. The tradition of it, the décor, the Hallmark movies (duh), all of it. I also love gift giving. I used to not love it because I was not very good at it but the last few years, I feel like I’ve gotten better at it and I love it! The process of coming up with gift ideas that I think someone will like can be really fun (though sometimes still stressful–some people are just really hard to shop for!) . It’s not always easy that’s for sure but it is rewarding when you give the gift and see the look on their face. I love that!
With all of the expected shipping delays this year, I started shopping early. Like, over a month ago early so I am done. YAY! I needed to keep track of the ideas I had/everything I had bought/hadn’t yet bought so I turned to this cute little Christmas Gift Tracker that I made last year. It’s so cute and I love it so much! I’m also the person who loves things like this so I guess I’m pretty easy to please. I’ve put a blank one below so you can save it and use it if you’d like to.
Holidays + Reading
Last year I decided to read books set at Christmas which is something that I’ve never done which is super surprising given how much I loooovvvveee Christmas. I really enjoyed it last year but also really struggled to find good books set at Christmas. It seemed like every one that I found was just not up my alley. So I started looking early this year and lo and behold, I found a ton.
I really haven’t done a lot of reading over the last couple of months so I limited myself to just two books set at Christmas hoping that will get me back into the swing of reading.
In case you’re looking for a good Christmas read, I thought I’d link a few that were in my top reads list for you. Warning: they are practically Hallmark in a book, some are a little more sophisticated than that but you get the point. They’re happy.
- A Cross Country Christmas by Courtney Walsh
- The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan (this is one of my two this year!)
- The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss (I read this one last year and LOVED it!!)
- In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren
- The Tourist Attraction by Sarah Morgenthaler
- We Met in December by Rosie Curtis
Thanksgiving
It was a small affair this year with just 6 of us. We went a little rogue and I made a roast chicken instead of making a turkey. Turkey just wasn’t happening this year , we were tired of it and needed a break. I used this recipe, which would be great for anytime of year, and we loved it.
We started laughing this year because we used to get dressed up, nothing fancy, but we looked nice and then this year we were all dressed down. I’m talking leggings & a semi-nice shirt. I made us all take a photo for our own family album just so it could be documented but promised not to share it anywhere so you’ll just have to imagine all of us putting in very little effort this year.
I’d share a few photos but I honestly don’t have many except for the food. Oops! Oh & Zoe, which isn’t that really what we’re here for?! 🙂
2021 Ornament
The last couple of years I have gotten an ornament to represent the year that I had and I’ll be the first to admit that I struggled on what type of ornament I should get this year. The first year I got a stand mixer ornament because I did a lot of baking that year, last year I got a sewing machine because I did a ton of sewing but this year was tripping me up. I went to Hobby Lobby and didn’t find anything that fit and figured this year I just wouldn’t have one. But then I went to Target where all of a sudden I saw it: a yoga mat ornament.
This year has been the year of yoga for me. Strength training and cardio fell by the wayside for the most part. All my body and mind wanted (and still wants) is yoga. Before work, after work, on the weekends: yoga. This year gave me a new love for it and for that I am grateful. So the yoga mat ornament was perfect for 2021.
P.S. Macy & I both grabbed an ornament when we visited the Biltmore this year so it’s a new addition too and I love it! It’s so pretty! (It’s right below the yoga mat ornament.)
If I’m being honest, the main reason I stopped blogging initially is because I was out of creativity. I had no ideas. I was just starting to feel like I was spinning my wheels.
Then I started a new job and well, I still have no ideas, one reason is probably because I’m exhausted from work and there’s no brain space and energy left to be creative. So will this be a consistent thing for me? Probably not. Maybe one day but today isn’t that day.
That being said, I do love this space and I do miss it and I plan on blogging when I feel like blogging and about what I want to blog about.
I would love to know if there’s certain blog topics that you’d like to see me write on. I want this blog to serve you and be a help to you so your input means a lot!
That’s all I’ve got for Life Lately. Now back to my Hallmark Christmas movies! YAY!
Love & Merry Christmas,
P.S. I’ve written two blog posts on Christmas (so far) and you can read the first one here and the second here. Merry Christmas!
