Last year, I recapped my reading with my favorite book each month. This year, because I read so many more books in 2015, I tried to look at the year as a whole and then pick the ones that stood out to me the most. I had several months last year where I read a lot of books I just wasn’t crazy about, but it was still a tough to choice to narrow it down!
Happy birthday, Hello Rigby!
Okay, well technically your actual birthday was back in September, but your real birthday in my eyes is in January. Every year on your birthday, I tell a little tale of how I always wanted to blog, but nothing ever stuck. Finally, I named you Hello Rigby, you were born, had no idea what I was doing for about six months. I then abandoned you. I’m sorry for that, but I did resurrect you back in 2014. That year, I challenged myself to blog every day in January to figure out what I wanted to write about. It took me until the end of the month to get up the courage to post an outfit, and I definitely did not blog every day. I’m pretty sure I had only enough ideas to make it through the first week.
Honestly, 2015 was a big year for us. (Me? You? Is a blog able to be personified? I have no idea at this point. It’s 3am and I’m tired but I found some bugs and my developer fell asleep on me.)
In past years, I’ve celebrated the New Year with goal setting, a look back on the year previous, or a resolution that I’m really excited about. 2016 is going to be different. Instead, I want my resolutions to be about things that I’m going to stop doing, because for whatever reason, they’re not adding anything positive or meaningful to my life.
I think sometimes we start dreaming so big and setting so many goals for ourselves that we can lose sight of some of the smaller things that we shouldn’t be doing and that, in turn, are making us unhappy. For me, that can mean trying to please others or paying too much attention to what others are doing instead of focusing on myself. For 2016, these are the 5 things I’m going to stop doing, hopefully once and for all.
Last weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to host a brunch on behalf of Coors Peak, a new gluten-free beer that’s currently being distributed here in the Seattle metro area as well as in Portland. Because I had wanted to get a bunch of Seattle bloggers together for a brunch anyway, this was the perfect opportunity to through a little pre-holiday get-together. Plus, it’s kind of hard to explain to friends and family why a brand wants to pay for our food and provide free beverages… #BloggerProblems.
I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling the pressure of the holidays. Last weekend I decorated and organized our house, finished up Christmas shopping, ran errands, hosted a brunch on behalf of a brand with some fellow bloggers, met with the brand to give some insights, took a ton of photos for posts this week, and wrote yesterday’s post. I work full time so I only have my weekends to get work done around the house and for the blog now that we’re into winter and natural light photos are hard to achieve.
Now all this to say: I’m not complaining. Not at all. If I didn’t want to be busy, I wouldn’t be. I’m just saying that, like everyone else, I’m feeling the pressure and am starting to get a little frazzled. The end for me is in sight, but I know for some it’s not. So, I wanted to share a few ways I attempt to get a little relaxing at home time in between each of my tasks, and some stress relief tips to help you cope, especially around the holidays.
1. Relax with a Book: Have a bit of downtime? Try curling up with a new book. Even if you only have 10 minutes, reading a chapter or two can be a great way to unwind or get your mind off the stress and into a story. Just a few minutes of distraction can be all you need to refocus and recharge a bit.
