My Blogiversary: 3 Years Ignited

Three days ago officially marked my little corner of the blogosphere’s third birthday!! I had no idea when I started my humble little blog 1,098 days ago that I would still be calling this bit of cyberspace my little home away from home, but look at that, here we are! 😀

It’s been such a fun and inspiring three years, and such a large part of that is the fantastic community here on WordPress. You guys are the best. ❤ It’s amazing how you can form such great connections with people you’ve never met face to face, some even living in a completely different hemisphere than the one you live in. The world is crazy and awesome like that sometimes. 🙂 So, a big shout out to all you amazing people who have shared in this experience with me the past three years. There’s no way I would have stuck around this long without such an outstanding community to share in all the fun with. ❤

I originally made this blog as a little hub of creativity. Adulting can make chasing creative pursuits challenging, but I feel like I’m starting to find a good balance now to focus and squeeze in more time for it on a larger scale again. It isn’t much, but I’ve started using my sketchbook again for the first time since the beginning of the year, and I feel like I’ve finally settled down on and committed to a single writing project. As I continue to nurture my creativity again I’d like to start sharing more about that journey here on the blog. I still plan to do reviews and my other random posts, but I think I’d like to make a turn back to focusing on creativity here again, be it mine personally or just the topic in general. 🙂

Well, there are officially only six months remaining in 2019, and I don’t know about you, but knowing that has reignited a fire in me to GET. SHIT. DONE. Both creatively, and here on my blog. Looking forward to sharing the journey with all you wonderful people. ❤ Thanks for making this adventure such a great experience the last three years. 😀

Ignited Birthday Moth!

Woo! It’s my burfdayyyyy! 😀 Time for a birthday-cake-fueled-sugar-high that results in the mass murder of countless Piñatas, opening my presents to discover that I FINALLY got that pony I’ve been asking for all these years, and of course an obnoxious amount of confetti and glitter.

Psh, I wish. 😛 Nah, I’ll actually be going to work today like some lame ass adult. (When you work a Monday through Friday job, partying is reserved for the weekends.) 😉 This past weekend my boyfriend took me out for some birthday adventures including exploring some really cool shops, going to a fantastic Irish pub for dinner and drinks, and spoiling me with prezzies and the most amazing peanut butter cheesecake with dark chocolate ganache. Yum! (Not to mention the birthday dinner and delicious homemade pistachio cake topped with pistachio mousse my family made me on Sunday.) Sooo good! I’m sorry, but eating healthy just isn’t an option when birthdays are involved.

Going into this new year of my life, I’m feeling really good. 🙂 I have so many things to be thankful for and excited about, and I’ve got some truly amazing people in my life. ❤ Here’s to making this year just as good as last year!

 

New Year’s Resolutions: 2018

Daaaaaaaamn, guys. I seriously can’t get over the fact that tomorrow is the final day of the year. It feels like 2017 went by in the blink of an eye. A lot of things happened and a lot of changes were made, all for the better. 🙂 I feel like this was a fantastic and much-needed year for patching up what was once the fast-sinking vessel that is my mental health. I’m happy to report that I accomplished a lot of important goals I’d set for myself this past year, and that I’m not only much happier, but also much stronger, because of it.

I had a lot of things I wanted to work on in an attempt at bettering myself and I conquered the goals set before me. Honestly, it’s probably been my best year ever as far as slaying New Year’s Resolutions goes and it feels pretty damn good. I plan on riding that high right into 2018 by continuing to try and better myself. That’s kind of the thing about life, isn’t it? We’re always pushing ourselves, learning new things, and taking new chances.

So, that said, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of what exactly my goals are for the new year! I’ve got several themes for my various goals concerning different aspects of my life. Things like reading, fitness, writing, etc. (Knowing me, I’ll probably come up with several additional goals throughout the year, but as of right now, here’s what I intend to work on in 2018:)

Reading Goals of 2018:

• Finally read the neglected books that have been sitting on my bookshelves, untouched.
• Venture into reading more poetry.
• Read 50 books/graphic novels (Last year’s goal was 45, so I upped it by 5.)

Creative Goals of 2018:

• Bust my ass to get my writing project ready to start submitting by the end of 2018.
• Start utilizing art tutorials and online courses to learn snazzy new art skills.
• Experiment with watercolors.
• Draw! Draw! Draw! Write! Write! Write!

Fitness Goals of 2018:

• Do more cardio, kickboxing, and dance.
• Drink more water.
• Find more fun and active hobbies like going to the trampoline park.

So, that just about covers my personal goals for the new year. 🙂 How about you? Are you planning on making any new year’s resolutions? Did you complete any this past year? I’d love to hear about them! 😀

Since I don’t know if I’ll have time to hop on tomorrow, let me just wish you all a very Happy New Year! Here’s to what will hopefully be a fantastic 2018! ❤

Celebrate Good Times, Come On: Rise of the Necro Rhino!

Writing challenges can be hard. I suppose that’s why they’re called “challenges” to begin with. This past November I took my first shot at slaying the fearsome beast known in the writing community as NaNoWriMo (aka- National Novel Writing Month or “Nano Rhino” if you’re absurd and silly like my boyfriend and I are). It did not go as planned.

But, hey, instead of letting it getting to me or giving up I took it as a learning experience. I took a hard look at what didn’t work for me and read people’s tips on what led them to their own NaNoWriMo success. One of the best tips I read was: Do not go for perfection. It’s called a rough draft for a reason. 😉

This month I decided to take what I learned and try again at writing 50,000 words over the span of 30 days in a challenge I dubbed The Return of the Necro Rhino. Again, because I am absurd and silly. And also morbid.

I started off strong and then hit a bump in the road earlier in the month when I got sick AND lost power for 48 hours due to some crazy high winds. Luckily I caught back up and have been going strong for the most part and staying right on track. Aaaaand today I finished the challenge by completing just over the 50,000 word goal for the month!! 😀

I still have so much work left to do on this book and the rough draft isn’t even fully finished, but a big chunk of it is, and for that I am pretty damn jazzed. I got over a major writing hurdle I was experiencing and feel liberated because of it. I’m also really, really thankful for all of the wonderful support, advice, and love I’ve gotten from you guys during this challenge (and just overall in general). You guys are seriously awesome, and you make blogging such a joy!