6 New Steps To My Personal Happiness

Hi all!

I hope everyone is having a nice week leading up to Thanksgiving (for those of us in the USA)!  I love having a nice short week and looking forward to seeing my family and friends.

So I thought I would write a post about what I plan on doing to change my mind set  because I feel like I have been in bit of a rut and I sure others can relate.  Its strange that when you have nothing but time on your hands you do not seem to accomplish as much as you set up for yourself to do (maybe not everyone but I am speaking from my own personal struggles).  Let me explain what I mean.

My husband and I purchased our first home in July which meant moving to a new city where he already had an established job but I did not.  Our plan was to make the move, get us all settled in, unpacked, etc. and then I would begin the job searching process.  Well, I did just that.  Spent the first couple of months like a crazy person cleaning, prepping and getting us out of boxes and finding a new home for everything.  Since that has ended I have nothing but time on my hands (aside from the days I am non stop job hunting).  So I thought I would be growing my blog, getting into an amazing work out routine, eating healthier then ever and all these other goals.  I just feel like with time on my hands I am not nearly as productive as I am when I am crazy busy.  Can anyone else relate to this?!  I mean here I am not working a job and you would think that I would have 20+ new posts on here!  I am kind of frustrated with myself that I have not taken advantage of this.  I love being able to clear my head on here, write about new trends that I love, outfit ideas and our travels.  So why is it that its like pulling teeth to get me to write on here regularly or get into a good overall routine?! Ugh, well I need this to change.

So here are some things I have brain stormed to try and kick my butt into gear.

  1. Make lists each night on what I would like to accomplish the next day.  I feel that writing out goals for myself to achieve each given day will keep me in a better mindset with having a “work” schedule.
  2. First thing I do when I wake up, stretch.  I know that sounds weird but I have started doing this.  I wake up and I do some stretches in bed, then get up and continue to do some floor stretches.  It wakes me up and gets me feeling less achy.
  3. Plan out a schedule for my blog posts.  If I want to continue this blog I need to put some love and attention towards it.  Its not going to grow on its own without me putting effort forth.  So I plan on writing out each week what my content will be and what I plan on covering in each post.  I am going to aim for 4 posts a week to start, which I feel is attainable with the right mindset.
  4. Plan out other activities that I have been putting on the back burner.  I joined the YMCA near us.  Its nice because it has a gym, you can swim, take classes etc and I need variety when I work out.  So I have been wanting to check out some of the classes they offer and you guessed it, still have not done it.  I can see each week what time the classes start and I plan on adding these into my daily goals.  I also LOVE to craft and I plan on setting aside certain time slots for that as well.
  5. Say out loud what you are grateful for each day.  This probably sounds silly but I feel that sometimes we get in ruts that are just so not worth being upset over.  When we step back and look at what we have its amazing.  Your health, your family, a roof over your head, the means to put food on the table each day.  These are things that people all over the world take for granted.  I am depressed to be in my situation but if I take a step back and look at the big picture I am actually blessed beyond words.  I have a husband who can provide for the both of us until I can get back on my feet with a new job, we have an amazing new house that we will grow into and have so many memories in, we have our health, we have the love for one another, amazing families and friends, I could go on and on.  These are the things we take for granted and do not say enough.  I feel personally if I say what I am grateful for each day it will just be one more positive mood booster to start the day.
  6. Finally, setting long term goals for myself.  I am sometimes terrible at sticking to things but on the flip when I really put something into my head that I want to do I will do it.  I just need to be a bit more organized with my goals.  I would love to be a bit more active and be outside more.  I also want my overall health physically and mentally to improve.  I would love to have a meditation routine as well as a work out one.  All these things are so doable its just sometimes putting your mind to it to make it happen.  I feel that with my situation I have been getting a bit stir crazy and putting myself down a bit.  I used to work in the fashion industry in NYC and when we made the move I decided to not continue on with the crazy commute, which was definitely the right choice.  But that puts me in a spot where I now need to go out and explore new industries and find new passions which I am having trouble seeing.  Its easy to dream but hard to put things into reality at times.  I know if I stay positive and keep busy that the time will come for me to figure out what my new purpose will be and what new path I am meant to take.  I need to think real hard about what some of my long term goals will be but I think it could also be a nice mental exercise for myself.

So these are the new steps I am going to try and incorporate into my life.  Do you do something similar?  How do you stay organized and positive?

There is no better place then social media to really reach out to all corners of the world and get different opinions.

I would love to hear your thoughts and things you do, please comment and share 🙂

xoLauren

Holiday gift idea #3

Jewelry!! Okay, I get so excited over jewelry.  If you ask me, I think its a gift that covers a lot of bases.  You can give jewelry to your love, your best friends, your momma, sisters, aunts, cousins.  I mean you can really buy jewelry for almost every occasion and most people love jewelry.  I have been a huge fan of Bauble Bar for a while now.  I love that they have a ton of jewelry that can be personalized (makes the gifts that much cooler!).

Acrylic Script Monogram

here is an example of one of the personalized pieces they sell…super cute and affordable

Love these coordinate necklaces.  You can pick from 10 major cities.  They are only $38.00 each, again, who wouldn’t love this?

 

The Morse Code Cuff.. So cute.  You can pick one letter of the alphabet and have the morse code on your cuff, only $32.00

this is a really thoughtful gift.  You can completely customize the coordinates for this ring.  Can be the place you first met, your old high school (if you and your bestie met there), the options are endless.  These are $72.00 or $10 more for 14k gold plated sterling silver.  I would love to get this as a gift, very thoughtful.

 

So aside from having a ton of customized options they also have really cute ‘simplistic’ items (my current fave).

$42.00 here

Ear crawlers” other current obsession $36.00

Gold orb $28.00

Ring Set $38.00

This is just a little taste of the many pieces they have.  Right now you can get either 20, 25 or 30% off with their Merry Mystery promo.  You type in your email address and they give you a code to use at check out.  Order soon to make sure your gifts arrive before 12/24!!

Happy shopping 🙂

xoLauren

Holiday gift idea #2

Happy Monday lovies!  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  I spent most of mine Christmas shopping.  We need to send the gifts to our family in Denmark this week (so they can arrive in time!) so we made sure to get all the gifts purchased this past weekend.  It was exhausting, but a lot of fun.

I love unique, one of a kind type gifts.  I like to try and think outside the box when gift giving.  I came across this site a few years ago, Uncommon Goods.  It is such a fun site, they really have a bunch of unique gift ideas.  If you have any really hard people to buy for,and you spend most of your time trying to brainstorm what to get them that they would love and do not already have, well, this is the site for you to check out.

Here are some fun ideas that I love on their site:

For him

Ballpark Blueprints $185.00 –awesome gift for those baseball lovers

Whiskey and Rum making kit $75.00- such a fun idea for anyone who enjoys a good drink

Scratch Map $28.95–know a world traveler? This is a fun idea, they can keep track of their travels on this big world map

For her

Succulent Living Wall Planter Kit $110.00–I would totally love this LOL.  Succulents are great too because they do not require a ton of lovin but add that green life you need in some rooms (or if you are like me, in every room!)

Chai Tea Kit $35.00–loose leaf teas-they also have other varieties such as green herbal teas too

Aromatherapy Shower kit $45.00- amazing way to relax in the shower by having essential oils infused into your shower water.  Sounds heavenly.

I could list out so many more fun gift ideas.  I just love this sit.  Hopefully I got to introduce some of you to a new spot if you have never heard of Uncommon Goods before.

What are your top go to site for holiday shopping??

Happy Shopping!

xoLauren