About Me

12 ways to recharge your creativity

Do you find yourself drained, uninspired, or unable to think? If you said yes, you’re not the only one. I’ve been in Strugglesville in terms of my creativity for some time now. I feel burned out, like the spark just isn’t there to create anything. This is very strange for the girl who used to sketch all through class, scrapbook and craft for fun, and spend hours writing. In light of my recent creativity crisis, I identified what I feel like has been blocking my creative flow. Things I took for granted that seemed to have slipped away quietly through the years. So here’s 12 ways to get back that creative spark.

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1 . Walk away. Get away from your desk right now (okay, well after you’re done reading this 🙂 ). Creative types are always thinking, so even taking 5-10 minutes to yourself will refresh your mind and help prevent a burnout.

2. Go out into the wild. Experience nature. Do something spontaneous. Live in the moment.

3. Watch a funny movie. You probably are not laughing nearly enough. Smiling and laughing release feel-good endorphins into our system. These free us, and allow thoughts to free flow too. I heard some crazy stat the other day – how an average kid smiles over 400 times a day, but adults only smile about 20 times a day! I think we can learn something from the kiddos.

4. Sketch. You don’t have to be an artist. But getting those pretty pictures in your head on paper will help you to visualize your goals and bring those ideas to life.

5. Get lots of sleep. How do you expect your brain to come up with amazing things if it is overworked and tired? Try getting at least 7 hours of shut-eye every night.

6. Surround yourself with people who inspire you. There’s a study out that says you are a mixture of the 5 people you spend the most time with. Spending time with great people will bring out the best in you. If you can’t spend time with someone who motivates you, create a list of what inspires you about them, and try incorporate those traits and values in your life.

7. Reflect and remember. Devote some time just to stop and think. Take the pressure off yourself and clear your head. This will allow thoughts to just come to you. Analyze what worked for you and what didn’t. Remember times when you succeeded and failed, and learn from both.

8. Try something new. New experiences bring on unique reactions. Stimulate your emotions.

9. Do something you absolutely love. Whether its listening to music, reading a book, playing on Pinterest, or going to your favorite restaurant. You must treat yourself every once in a while to keep your spirits up. If you are neglecting yourself, you will become miserable. And an unhappy mind is a sure-fire way to kill creativity.

10. Travel. A flight halfway around the world would be perfect, but if that’s not possible, even hitting the road to explore a neighboring town could provide you with new insight and inspiration.

11. Keep track of your ideas and thoughts. Keep a journal. It could just be a simple notebook. Log your dreams, ideas, goals, and feelings.

12. Believe. In yourself. In your work. In where you’re headed. Attitude is everything. You must believe you can create if you truly want to be creative.

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I want to know – what do you do to help spark your creativity when you’re caught in a creative rut??

Vows, Scenic Drives, and Cheesesteaks

As I mentioned, Nate & I spent Memorial Day weekend in Pennsylvania for his brother’s wedding. The ceremony took place in a little town called New Hope. It’s a cute, quaint riverfront town with an artsy appeal. Picture beautiful winding roads, upscale boutiques, and a lovely historical presence.

We spent Friday and Saturday at the 1740 House, a Bed and Breakfast in neighboring Lumberville. It was a gorgeous property located right on the Delaware River. Although it was cold and rainy Friday, Saturday it cleared up and ended up being beautiful for the wedding.

The wedding was held at the nearby Holly Hedge Estate. Gorgeous landscape, wonderful service, amazing food – I would recommend it to anyone looking for a venue in that area!! The reception was a blast, it was so great to hang out with family and make new friends too!

Hubby & I

On our way out-of-town on Sunday, I saw a sign for Bowman’s Hill Tower. I had no clue what that was, but hey, I like hills and I like towers, so I figured I couldn’t go wrong. So after taking a one lane road up the hill, we came to a stone tower nestled at the top. Come to find out the Tower was built in 1931 and commemorates the spot where George Washington and his soldiers crossed the Delaware during the Revolutionary War, and then went on to fight the Battle of Trenton. I’m not huge into history, but it was really cool. And the view from the top was phenomenal.

Our next stop: Philadelphia.

Our hotel there was awesome. We stayed downtown at the Hotel Palomar. It’s actually LEED certified at the Gold level, so of course this is a freakin big deal to me and I had to document it!

Never thought of mixing the 3×6 tiles with the 6×6 like this. Really pretty!

The view from our window.

We walked around near Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.

And stole a kiss in the park nearby. 😉

We also had the chance to meet up with some of our good friends who live in nearby Jersey and we got to explore South Street with them.

Fat Tuesday's

Since we had 1 day in Philly, I made it my sole mission to get an authentic Philly Cheese Steak. We went to famous rival sandwich shops Geno’s and Pat’s. Yes, I had to try both to see which one was better. The verdict: Pat’s was my fave! Both were great though. Soooo good!

They take this stuff very seriously. There is a whole process for ordering, no joke. I got “Provolone with”.

Geno’s looks like it belongs in Vegas!

Before we knew it, we were on a flight back to SA. I kinda have a fear of flying, but I always have to take pictures while up in the air. There’s something so serene and heavenly about being above the clouds.

I think our little weekend getaway was just what I needed to get inspired and re-motivate myself. Memorial Day Weekend means summer has arrived – this is always my favorite time of the year. 🙂

casa de updates

Hello my readers! Are you still out there? I know I fell off the face of the earth lately. Of course the new house has been consuming my life. I wish I had some other exciting stories or amazing revelations to share with you…but I don’t. So in that case I will now attempt to entertain you with the latest updates at the new casa.

Last week, we finally finished painting! Okay that was a lie. We are not done thanks to the knotty pine bonus room from hell. I’m in one more coat denial so of course I believe this is the last coat. We shall see…

Our final paint palette ended up looking like this:

For our fun sized powder room, I decided to do an accent wall of wallpaper in the pattern below. My hope is that it will make it seem a little bigger. You know like maybe 4 x 5 feet instead of 3.5 x 4!

Perhaps the mack daddy news of all is that we just had the wood floors last week. For the first time I actually felt like this whole thing is finally starting to come together!

I love how they turned out! It’s crazy to think just the floors and paint can make this much of a difference!

PS. We just moved everything in on Saturday! I’m not going to lie – it’s a little strange. It doesn’t quite feel like it’s our home yet, but I’m sure that will come with time. Kinda hard to feel homey when there are boxes everywhere I guess. 🙂

PPS. I am the proud new owner of this new clearance mirror at target. $19.99 . Come into my lovely home!

That’s all for now! I promise to get back to the regular posts. I’ll be back sooner than later 🙂 xo.

thursday thoughts: the greatest gift you can give

Warning: This isn’t your conventional Thursday Thoughts post from me. It’s a little personal, but from the heart.

I woke up yesterday morning thinking of my Grandma in the last few years of her life. (A little back story: I was raised by my Grandparents. My Grandpa passed away when I was 18, and my Grandma passed away 3 years ago when I was 25. I miss them dearly, but I’ve taken so many life lessons away from them. In my memories, they still continue to teach me so much.) Flashbacks of visiting her in her independent living apartment (or senior dorm as we jokingly called it) ran through my head. I’d stop over for lunch on my days off, come by every Sunday to take her to church and fill her pill-box up, and other various times out of the week to help with laundry, doctor’s appts, and other household tasks. As her primary caretaker, it was very hard at times to balance my life and hers, but I thought of how happy she always was to see me. Each time I walked through the door, it was like the best day of her life. Although she never wanted me to leave, she was always so appreciative of the time I did spend with her.

In a blog post on my 28^th birthday, I came up with a list of 28 things I had learned in life thus far. One of the things on that list was “Take your time and give it to others. It is the best gift you can give”. Remembering all my Grandma’s joy has just solidified how true that statement is. Is there a greater gift? I really don’t think so. In time, there are memories made, relationships founded, love shared. I think in the end this is greater than any amount of money or any material possession.

It seems like as life goes on we are always having a time struggle. When you’re a kid, you have so much time you are bored. When you’re in school (if you were like me) you procrastinate and you’re up at the last second trying to finish a 5 page paper. When you hit the real world, there isn’t enough time in the day to do things around the house AND work your 8 hour job. But then at some point after retirement, I’ve watched some older people feel like they have so much time on their hands alone, they get so lonely.

Ironically now I find myself complaining more and more that I don’t have time to blog, time for myself, volunteering, working out – the list goes on forever. As we get older, our priorities change. Truthfully, there aren’t more hours in the day then there were back then. We gain responsibilities, and sadly the things we should make time for get pushed to the side. I think we forget that we aren’t promised tomorrow. So really we should me making the most of today, right?

The little moments I spent with Grandma I can never get back, and I’m so happy and thankful I made the time for her when she was around. I encourage everyone to give time to someone you love today, or this weekend. Whether it’s a phone call to friend, dinner with a family member, volunteering in the community. I think we should all pay it forward because one day we will be 83 and be hoping someone walks through that door to see us.

home renovation: before pics

I’ve soon realized that our new home is turning into quite the project! We began ripping things up this weekend. Saying goodbye to all the outdated and somewhat generic features is very exciting, but also a little unsettling. Watching our home turn into a construction site makes me realize just how much blood, sweat, tears, money, & wine that will go into this home, not just now, but in the years to come! This has been a life long dream that is now becoming a reality.

So let me give you the grand tour. Here is a pic of the exterior. (You may have seen this on Instagram/Facebook – if so sorry for the repeat 🙂 )

When you first walk in, you come into the Living Room area. For an older home, it has a pretty open layout, which I’m totally a fan of. You can see the lovely laminate floor – it actually doesn’t look too bad and was in decent condition, but we want to put in hardwood before we move in. So adios.

Then you walk right into the Dining area.

The Dining area flows into the Kitchen. The kitchen was updated in the recent past. Aside from the hole in the vinyl floor, it is definitely very photogenic. Up close, it’s another story. Honestly, the previous owners kinda half-assed their updating efforts. The countertops, cabinets, backsplash – all items that I want to replace, but the kitchen project is years down the road. I’m sure the new hardwood will warm it up, and we will make little additions to make it more presentable. (first purchase: A FRIDGE!!)

That doorway you see in between the Kitchen and Dining Area leads to the 2nd Living Area/Bonus Room. Lots of wood paneling you see!

Here’s the hallway that leads to the bedrooms.

In that hallway is the smallest Powder Bath of life! I kid you not – all 3.5 x 4ft of it!

Then you come to the Master Bedroom. (Awesome shot isn’t it?? Can’t see anything – we clearly need better lighting)

A cute little bath suite is attached to the Master. Pineapple frame mirrors – oh boy.

I love the fact that it has a jacuzzi tub, but eventually we will be tearing this up too. Some have told us this is cray cray, but there is no shower in the Master or a shower/tub combo in the whole house, and we want to put one in for functionality and resale value.

Bedroom #2… complete with built-in drawers and desk!

…And Bedroom #3

(There’s a jack-and-jill bath that connects to Bed #2 & #3 that I didn’t take a picture of!)

Can’t wait to see how it all progresses! Anybody out there have any advice or past experiences with remodeling their home??? I’m welcome to your opinions 🙂

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