"I Love" Sunday v.36

Hello friends

Happy Sunday! I hope this post finds you well.

** Monday of this week was the 5 year anniversary of my time in the Army. That's both a short time and a long time in the grans scheme of things. This was my first official job. Right out of high school.

** Movie marathons are a great way to pass the time when you spend hours on the computer working  on multiple projects. They're also good when your insomnia kicks in and you can't sleep. Apple TV is my friend

** Been working in my Travelers Notebook and working to create my books for August and September. If you follow my Instagram, then you might have seen the doodles that I've done at the bottoms of my pages. I've even added stickers to make it all pretty.

** Yesterday was a Find Your Voice chat, which was fun. Kristin pointed out that you can find good stories anywhere.... so now I am going to look for them!

** So even though Monday started my 10 days of leave, I was still in the office pretty much every day this week to use the computers and talk to my boss. It's been nice wearing my civilian clothes to work. Haha. I'm actually considering signing in from leave on Monday and saving a couple of days. Any who, I also got my initial MEB results back as well as picking up some medication I needed. Monday I have a doctors appointment and need to see about more medication.

** My chapter of the VFW is putting together a school supplies drive thingy for all the parents E-5 and below on base. We're also making an event out of it and having a BBQ. I get to help set this up! Basically we'll chose a day a week or so before school starts and they can come by our location, pick up some of the basic stuff that they needed, and get to have some free food! I am also the only girl and got a post t-shirt.

** Thanks to a video on Youtube, I finally got around to finishing up my Washi Tape booklet. I'm considering making that my first YouTube video. In my booklet I put all the washi tapes that I own, and I try to remember to write where I got them from.

.: Little Loves :.

|| Finding out who your real friends are | Raspberry Ice Tea | Dr. Pepper | Pull n' Peel Twizzlers | Getting organized | Doodling in my MJdori | Llamas love lettering | Snickers Ice Cream Bars ||

Find Your Voice Lesson 2

Happy Tuesday dear friends.

Yesterday was the first day of my ten day block leave.

I spent it watching tv and working on this here blog as well as my new brand!

Multitasking

I am still struggling with how I want to physically document my stories, so for now I think that I am going to keep the stories in my monthly plan book.

Questions:

Q1: Which of your stories are most important for you to document? I am not entirely sure. I think that they are all important, because they are my story. Big things. Small things. Good things. Bad things. Travel stories, special events, ect. It kind of depends on how I am feeling and what happened.

Q2: What tangible ways are you routinely documenting your stories? I use social media, my blog my monthly plan book, pictures, and written journals to tangibly and routinely document my stories. I have a cruddy memory, so I like to do things as they happen.... to keep everything fresh.

Q3: What ways would you improve your day to day storytelling? I would like to take more photos of my every day life, not just the special events. I also need more pictures with myself in them!

Q4: In what ways would you like to improve your storytelling? What skills would you like to hone? What scares you about storytelling? To document more of my stories and more frequently. DOn't want to wait so long just because I don't have printed pictures or "enough" time to do it. I need to figure out what works best for me and do that. I also need to MAKE TIME to document my stories.

The thing that scares me is that I sometimes feel that my stories just aren't important enough to document, that people aren't really going to care enough to read my stories, or that I am just going to mess it u. I'm afraid I am going to forget the details of the stories.

Q5: Where do you draw inspiration for your own storytelling? I draw inspiration from other bloggers and creative people for my storytelling. People like Kristin, Jen, Mandy, Jenny, and other lovely ladies like them. They inspire me to TRY to document my stories because they show me that it is important to document it all.

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Creative Challenge:

Document the ways you're already telling your stories.

1. Facebook: Status updates, pictures, ect.

2. Instagram: pictures with short stories

3. Blog: Stories and pictures

4. Journal:  I write it all down! Everything that I am thinking, feeling, and planning.

Let's talk about the ways in which you are documenting your story!

Find Your Voice Lesson 1

Hello friends

Happy Tuesday, I hope this post finds you well.

 

Today I wanted to share with you guys my notes from the first lesson of Find Your Voice 2015. Tomorrow starts lesson two. Each lesson starts with some questions to make you think about the project and then Kristin gives you a creative challenge to complete.

 

I am keeping all my notes for my summer projects in the back of my monthly plan book (inspired by Jenn Penton- and I will do a post on the book later on this month- maybe I'll make my first YouTube video!!!)

 

 

Q1. Why do you want to tell your stories? I personally do not have the best memory, people will ask me if I remember doing or saying something and I will spend a few moments struggling to remember some things. I want to tell my story for days when I can't remember things. For instance- my younger brother and I shared a room for many years, and after a while, my parents removed my closet door. I had no idea as to why they removed it until well into my time in the Army. Apparently I locked my brother in the closet twice because he was irritating me- and I have no recollection of doing this! This is something I would like to remember. I also want to document my stories for future generations of my family, so they can see what I was like when I was my current age. To celebrate and remember the big things and the small things. To do something with all the pictures that I take!

 

Q2. What is holding you back from telling your story? I often just feel uninspired to document my story. I see other people doing such beautiful work in documenting their stories and I feel a little....intimidated. I'm not really impressed with the stuff that I do, so if I do anything, I usually just write it all out or share it on a blog post here. I am trying to find a way to creatively document my stories in a way that I will be happy with and want to share with other people. It's hard to document the health stuff, which is currently a huge part of my life because it feels like I am dwelling on the negatives or just complaining, even though it's part of my every day life.

 

Q3. Compare/Contrast two versions of the same story (i.e Snow White- Disney vs. Once Upon A Time). I will use Disney movies and their live action counterparts for this one... because I can't quite make a single choice. I really need to watch the latest season of Once Upon A Time.... I am a little behind after my NCIS and Criminal Minds marathons I had. I like both versions because they are two sides to the same story. They both have characters that can be connected with.

 

The Disney movies are generally happy stories with life lessons in them, bright and colorful, and full of hope. They are made to entertain and teach children. These are animated fairytales about princes' and princessses.

 

Once Upon A Time is the live action, more current version of the stories. I think that Once Upon a Time is a darker version of the fairytales, more modern. In this series, the characters aren't as innocent as they seem in the Disney Version. They seem to be a little more realistic in this version then in the original.

 

Q4. What stories do you read/engage with on a daily basis? For the most part I engage with tv shows more then anything other then blog reading. I like to rewatch my favorite tv shows frequently because I can get lost in the stories that I am familiar with. I also like to read and engage with my favorite bloggers in every day life. I read their blogs, leave comments, and interact with them on social media. I like their  stories because they are real life everyday stories of people just like me across the globe. Isn't that why people go read other people's blogs?

 

Q5. What kind of stories do you binge on? I binge on my favorite crime dramas or fantasy/sci fi stories that catch my attention. One's whose characters hold my attention, characters I can relate too. TV shows for instance, if I like the show- I will binge watch on all available seasons from start to finish because I like seeing it as one continuous story instead of waiting every week for a new episode.

 

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For the creative challenge, Kristin told us to share great stories and focus on why these stories are so meaningful. I haven't figured out exactly how I want to document this yet, so I am just writing notes in my travelers notebook until then.

 

1. Harry Potter- I grew up with these characters as they grew up, I was their same age as I read the books. This series, in my opinion, teaches you about friendship, loyalty, and standing up for what you believe in. It teaches you that people are unique and you need to embrace that uniqueness, that those people should be valued for it, not judged or ridiculed.

 

2. Supernatural- This is all about the importance of family and how family doesn't have to be blood related. Ultimately you get to chose who you cosnider family, including your close friends. They are important because these people will help you get through the hard times, be there for you when you need help, and pick you up when you fall.

 

3. Doctor Who- this show is about one Time Lord's glorious adventures of trying to save a bunch of innocent races (the Earth more often then not). This shows that everyone is important in some way, we're all different, and we can all help. The Doctor has different companions throughout the series and they all help him in different ways. For time's sake, we'll start with the 9th Doctor (I also haven't made it through all the older seasons yet either.) Rose was Bad Wolf, looking into the Time Vortex to help save the world. Martha Jones helped him through many adventures and then chose to go off on her own after she saved the Doctor's life. Donna Nobel was the most important girl in the world, who has forgotten the Doctor so that she could live. Amy Pond-Williams was the girl who waited for the Doctor to come back, and ended up unknowingly becoming his mother-in-law.

 

4. Criminal Minds- This show is about a group of vastly different people who are all trained in human behavior, working together to stop the worst kind of people in the US. They solve the crimes of serial killers, rapists, and help rescue kidnapped or lost children.

 

Let's talk- do you document your stories? If you do, why? If not, why not?

 

Lesson 2 starts tomorrow!

 



"I Love" Sunday's v.34

Hello dear friends and happy Sunday
I hope you all have a good weekend!

** I started my trip back to Germany yesterday and will arrive early this morning and get back into my normal routine. It was nice to find out that my boss is letting me have tomorrow off due to the jet lag. Lord knows I am going to need it after the traveling I am about to do.

** I have made some good friends from this two week trip. Several of who actually live kinda close to me. We've made plans to hang out again after this trip. We went to Moe's Southwestern Grill on Tuesday after my VA appointment with the general medical appointment, which was my only appointment this whole week. My friend Country, a guy stationed in Belgium, and I ate there while some others ate at Smokey Bones, which was in the same plaza. My order was easy, a Joey Bag of Donuts with fried rice, black beans, chicken, and regular tomatoes- this is what I used to order when I would go at Bragg. I love Moe's, definitely better then Chipotle in my opinion (less spicy food and more options for food)

** The flight from Norfolk to Atlanta was quite uneventful and I even had time to work on my Travelers notebook. After watching this video by Jenny from Pretty Planners, I have found an idea of how I want to set up my "planner" insert for July to coordinate with my journal and sketchbook. I spent most of the flight to Atlanta, and again on my miserable flight from Atlanta to Frankfurt (more on that disaster tomorrow) setting up my notebook. I absolutely LOVE what Jenny does with her inserts! She even has a shop where she sells inserts that she makes in this same style. She shared a picture in one of the planner groups that I follow about how she sets up the front of her plan book, how she details her days, and then what she does with the leftover pages.

She is such an inspiration to me and I can't wait to finish my own version of this plan book this month! She is also supposed to post a new video here soon specifically about these plan books, I'll share a post about that once I watch it! <-- please excuse the minor fan girl moment that just happened in this above paragraph. lol

This is a picture that Jenny posted to a Travelers Notebook Facebook Group. This is partly what inspired me for my planner for this coming month. The other inspiration came from the YouTube video posted above.

** Although I am supposed to be talking about this past week, I'm going to talk about this coming week for a second. I've been setting my notebook up for Kristin's Find Your Voice workshop and the #LittleSummerJOY Project by Jen Lake and Julie Gagen. I like planning and getting things all set up. Besides, it gave me more time to work in my travelers notebook. You should also read this post from Julie about using a Travelers Notebook to document #LittleSummerJOY project. 

** Been watching a lot of set-up videos and art journaling videos on Youtube having to do with my travelers notebook. I love this community and seeing all the creative people that share their stuff on Facebook. 

** Watched The Book of Life, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, and Penguins of Madagascar on the airplane last night/today. It was the highlight of the airplane ride. Like I said, post on that tomorrow.

** I downloaded some new games on my tablet for the trip. I don't know if these are in the iPad, I have a Samsung Galaxy tablet (this is the only android product I have) There is an Inside Out: Bubble Thoughts (which is like that old bubble blaster game we used to play when we were younger), Home Boov Pop (matching colored bubbles), and Big Hero Six Bot Fight (a bejeweled type game where once you make gems match then they do damage to an opponent- Mo plays a Marvel version of this game). They were a fun way to pass the time.

** I got to see a childhood friend on Friday. We met when I moved to Florida in 5th grade, she was in 4th grade, and we had the same bus stop to school. I hadn't seen her since my coming home party post deployment in 2012, but we've kept in touch through Facebook. She lived about 3 hours north of where I was staying in Virginia, and she and her family drove down to see me. I got to meet her husband and 9 month old daughter for the first time. We played in the hotel pool thanks to the weather, they were nice enough to take me to Target (although they refused to let me pay for my own Moleskine notebooks and animal crackers), we had dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings (again where her husband insisted on paying for my food), and walked around Barnes and Nobels. It was a nice afternoon hanging out with an old friend and her family. I really like her husband (they've only been married for a year or two) and am happy to have met him. 

please excuse this crappy iPhone picture. It was getting dark and for some reason, my phone doesn't always like taking selfies

** So my next love from this week is the whole thing on Marriage Equality, also from Friday. I don't care about your opinion on Marriage Equality, so if you don't like it please keep your opinions to yourself. If you are for it, please let me know so we can celebrate together. I like that this happened because I think everyone could get married. I've made the joke that they should all be able to be as miserable as straight couples. That is my joke. Honestly, I think that everyone should be able to get married, no matter their sexual orientation, because I think everyone should be able to be happy and share the same rights as straight couples. It also made me happy that this picture came across my feed, I just had to save it and now share it with you guys. #lovewins

.: Little Loves :.

|| Sweet Tea | Cherry Coke | Skittles | Animal Crackers | Chex Mix Muddy Buddys | Atlanta has free wifi where as Norfolk makes you pay for wifi | comfort food | new friends | BBQ Pringles ||

What are you loving from this past week?

"I Love" Sunday's v.33

Hello friends.

Happy Sunday! I hope you're all having a good weekend

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

** I shared with you guys my trip so far on Thursday. My room is pretty awesome and the people I am here with aren't half bad. It's nice to be with a group of people going through the same thing to make this process easier. I'm usually on my own in my broken-ness.... but now there are 14 other people going through the same thing. They all understand what I am going through and they all understand that when I say I'm ok, that it means that the term ok is relative to my life, that I am in some kind of pain.  I got asked all on Friday why I was carrying a backpack if I have back pain and someone else with a  cane understood that no matter how bad my back hurts, I have to carry a backpack because with the cane I only have one hand to carry everything I need for that day- which includes my paperwork, my drink, my medication, cellphone, wallet, and tablet (because I've been waiting over 2 hours for my appointment since we go in groups). It's nice to have someone else understand.

** The Hampton VA is a nice hospital and the people that work there are really nice. I've gotten to meet quite a few awesome veterans from different conflicts while I've been sitting around waiting for my appointments. I spent most of Thursday and Friday there for a hearing appointment for my Tinnitus and then for my General Medical examination. My Tinnitus appointment literally took 5 minutes, because there isn't really a way to test for tinnitus. She just asked me about my tinnitus, how often it occurs, if it hurts, or anything like that. My gen med appointment took about 2.5 hours. The doctor asked me a bunch of questions about the things that I am claiming, looked over pst X-Rays/MRI's for supporting evidence, and then worked her best to connect a bunch of issues to my Fibromyalgia and why I am disqualified for my job in the Army, to try to get me a higher percentage. I'll share my adventures next week before I head back to Germany.

** I found these awesome articles on the good of selfies, since people talk a lot of trash about them. Liz from Being Geek Chic shares an article called So I Selfie, So what? and Stephanie from Tottums and her article called In Defense of Selfies. They are both great articles about why selfies are important to both women, and I love what they had to say. They make important points- "So, in defense of my selfies - well, no. I don't feel the need to defend my selfies. My selfies are a constant reminder to me (and to my loved ones) that I'm not just seeing our life together, that I am part of it too." - Stephanie.

** So every night that we're here in the states, we have the option to go out to eat if we want (we get paid per diem for food since this is TDY (temporary duty) and we get a select amount of money each day- I've only eaten out twice so far since we've been here). Friday night myself, a girl named Kim, and a guy who told us to call him Country (his last name is hard to pronounce) went to Olive Garden and we had a great time. We all love their breadsticks! We agreed that the Italian food in Europe tastes different then what we get at Olive Garden, and although we've all been there almost 2 years, we all still prefer Olive Garden (which isn't abnormal). It just has a different taste... and it's home to us! We talked a lot about deployments.

** I don't usually watch TV, I haven't since I lived in my parent's house. I watch Netflix or Apple TV now, but being on this trip, I get to watch TV. I've been introduced to Castle and Rizzoli & Isles! I love both shows and I need to find the shows from the beginning. I've been watching Law and Order in the mornings. This weekend I've also watched Clash of the Titans, Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest, and Olympus Has Fallen as well. 

** I love being able to go to stores like Michaels and Walmart, where I can get the things that I need when I need them. I don't have to wait on shipping. There is a much bigger selection at these stores then any store I have found in Germany yet! It means I get to play with my new watercolor paints, Tim Holtz Distress Markers, and Copic Markers! I am trying new mediums for my crafting.

** Also since being here, I have been more active in my journaling in my Midori! I've written every day about what has been going on and what's been on my mind. I've even been decorating the pages with washi tape and stickers. :) This makes me happy since I haven't had much motivation to craft lately.

**  Starting to put together a better plan of what I want to do when I get out of the military and where I want to go! I am working on plans for my art again, my photography, and where I want to live.

** Been working with Caitlin of Caitlin Powell Designs for a new brand that I am working on launching in the coming months! I am pretty excited and I can't wait to share with you guys!

** Kristin's Find Your Voice workshop opened for pre-registration on Monday! My course kit has shipped and I can't wait to get back to Germany to play with it and prep for this course! I will be guest instagramming for the course in July, which I am also pretty excited about!

.: Little Loves :.

|| Mountain Dew Baja Blast | Reese's Peanut Butter Cups | TNT (the tv channel) | Papa Johns pizza | Sweet tarts | Dr. Pepper | Time Off ||

What are you loving from this past week?

New plans

Hello friends and happy Tuesday!

I hope this post finds you all well.

I am just dropping in real quick to give you guys and gals a heads up!

 

I have been considering a new avenue for this brand along with my photography business and I have some plans in the works! This means there will be changes around here put into effect in the upcoming months and hopefully will be done by the start of August! I'll m ake sure to keep you all updated, and make sure you check out the rest of my social media as well for sneak peaks and special information.

 

Relay for Life went quite well. It was ridiculously hot, which we were not counting on. We luckily had a tent from the Boy Scouts secured for us. Mo had to go get some sunscreen and bug spray because we were being eaten alive! My team rasied $70 and 70 Euro in cash, which we turned in before we left Saturday night. Although there were only 4 people that showed up for my team that day, we still had a pretty good time. We went around the track quite a few times, Mo helped me create a cool banner for our team, and we had fun at the games. We didn't stay the whole time, lefts hortly after 8 pm due to the bugs as well as Mo's allergies and my need to lay down after all the traveling.

 

Also! Next monday starts registration for RUKristin's Find Your Voice workshop which opens on 01 July! Remember that this is a free workshop, but you still need to register for it! This is going to be a fun six-week course on learning to find your storytelling voice, no matter if you're a scrapbooker, photographer, blogger, writer... it doesn't matter! I am looking forward to this workshop! I hope you guys and girls will join me!

 

 

Make sure you stick around and see all the good things coming up here in the near future. I am going to be a busy busy bee!

 

 

 

Find Your Voice 2015

So anyone who has ever heard of Currently Lists, #Thursday3, or The Awesome Ladies Project has pretty much heard of Kristin from RUKristin! She is known for her bright colorful layouts, awesome mini books, and fun classes on encouraging women and creating! Well, she's at it again!

Kristin is hosting a free six-week creative story telling workshop called Find Your Voice starting on 01 July. This course is for anyone who is looking to find their story telling voice, whether you're a crafter, scrapbooker, art journalist, photographer, or a writer!

Throughout the course, some things we'll be working on are:

* Figuring out who you are as a story teller

* Determining the types of stories you want to tell

* Figuring out what you want these stories to look and feel like

* Establishing who your audience is and learning to tailor your stories for them (or you)

* Embracing your role as s storyteller, both for your stories, and as stewards of other's stories

* Creating a plan of action and building your story telling arsenal with tips and techniques to bring out your unique voice.

Does this sound interesting to you? if so, make sure you sign up for the course starting 15 June!

I signed up to be a sponsor of this workshop and I am pretty stoked about it! Stay tuned for more details as we get closer to this awesome free workshop!

I am packing up to fly back to Germany today. My brother graduated this morning fro high school, but now I need to get back to Germany because Relay for Life is this Saturday! Make sure to check back in on Sunday for my "I Love" Sunday's series to see what's been going on this week, or check out my Instagram for pictures!

There will be some changes coming to this blog again in the next couple of weeks as I work on building up and expanding my brand. I want to move into Social Media Coordination outside of just my Relay for Life work and my own social media, as well as more crafts, and just being more organized!

Let's talk soon!!!