Confessional Friday!

Ahh, another Friday is upon us. Anyone have any big plans for the weekend? I will be on a quest to find Girl Scout cookies, and I think that's about it. I'm embarrassingly excited about that.

Moving on with even more confessions...

// My favorite Easter candies are the Hershey's chocolate covered marshmallow eggs. I have done a pretty good job of not eating every single one I could find, but I tell you what...it's a tough exercise in self-control sometimes. They are just so delicious!

// I bought new candles from Bath and Body Works last week when they were having their sale, and I basically haven't stopped burning candles since I got them. I got the Market Peach, Lemon Mint Leaf, Eucalyptus Mint, and Lilac scents and I love them all.

// I love new office supplies, but hate using them, because I like knowing that I have empty note boks and fresh pens. I also love the look of well used planners and notebooks, but I can never get them to look the way they look in my head, so it's frustrating, and my love/hate relationship with them is ridiculously paradoxical.

// I confess that I gave up Starbucks and (almost) all things related for Lent. That means no Starbucks hot chocolates, no pastries from there, or Dunkin, or D's (another donut shop out here)...no frappucinos, nothing like that at all. I am allowing myself coffee at home, but that's all. And I can't go to another coffee shop or bakery and get stuff...it's basically I've sworn off all things coffee shop/bakery related for Lent. *le sigh* I am of course craving a caramel frap right now, but oh well. None for me. 

// I confess that the sweet tooth I've been blessed cursed with really wants me to go wander the seasonal candy aisle at Target right now, and gift myself with some more marshmallow eggs, or Reese's eggs, or fancy flavored Starburst, or whatever else is available. 

// I confess that I have been loving me some Florida Georgia line this week... Something about them just makes me want to grab some cut offs and a cold beer and go hang out barefoot by a lake somewhere. Weird. Linking up with Whitney for some #backthatazzup action with my current FGL fave: 


// I confess that my brain is kind of checking out of this week right now. I have put in a LOT of time at work already, and I am feeling overloaded. So with that, away I go to try and finish up so I can enjoy some afternoon sunshine! 

What are your confessions this week??

Hump Day Blog Hop!

So excited to be co-hosting this blog hop today! I always enjoy meeting new bloggers, so share your link!

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Hellloooo, Monday (except now it's Tuesday)

I thought about posting this yesterday, and then I chickened out. And then I was encouraged two of my favorite ladies to post it anyway, so here you go...even though it's a day later than originally intended.


Oh Monday, you've struck again.

It's been a rough day, folks.
... a day filled with frustration with work.
... a day where I have felt as though I am completely lost.
... a day that was so frustrating, even the delicious Frappucino that my sister got me didn't fix it.
... a day that has exhausted me, and broken me down.
... a day that has me completely overwhelmed.

I want to do so many things, but I am struggling with figuring out exactly HOW to do them. I get excited about possibilities, and potential opportunities, and then the time comes to work on them, and I have no idea what I'm doing, so I get lost, and feel like a failure, and then I quit out of sheer frustration.

I have recently discovered that I am not great at independent learning. This has been a pretty difficult thing for me to admit, believe it or not. When I was growing up, as a homeschooled kid, pretty much all I did was independent learning. I read the lessons and answered the questions and took the tests and everything else all on my own. Sure, I could ask if I had a question, but one of the main goals my mother had in deciding to homeschool was to teach us how to learn independently.

Unfortunately, however, it seems as though I don't really learn well that way. I need to be shown something first. Once you show me something, I've usually got it. Sure, I may need the occasional reminder, but for the most part, once I see it, it's in there.

So what do I do when I don't have anyone to show me all the things I want to learn, or walk me through them the first time? I've looked up YouTube tutorials, and those can be helpful sometimes, certainly. But it's not always what I need.

I see other bloggers who have figured out design and PhotoShop or LightBox or whatever.. Bloggers who have mastered the art of transferring a Blogger blog to a Wordpress blog in the space of just a couple of hours.. And when I read through posts of theirs, it's evident that they are all self-taught. And then I feel like a complete idiot, because there's all these people who can design beautiful sites, and who understand HTML and CSS coding, and understand how to transfer back links and archives and stuff, and I'm just over here like, "Uhhhh guys, I did something, and I don't know what I did, but now my page is all broken, and it completely looks like a two year old took over, and I'm sorry, but can you help me?"

And everybody seems to have some kind of niche. They write about marriage, or design, or organization, or baking, or sports... And I don't know enough about anything to even begin to figure out what sort of niche I'm supposed to have. Sure, I'd love to blog about baking.. I would have a blast learning more about it, and trying out new recipes and writing about it. But then I'd have a bunch of baked goods sitting around my house........and I wouldn't want to eat them all, because uhhh, weight gain, so they'd end up just going to waste.

I just feel like an idiot. I feel like a loser who doesn't have any idea what she wants to do with her life, doesn't have anything even remotely resembling a "career", and lives in constant fear of all of her many, many faults and failings being discovered.

And today I just feel like that a lot.

Sunday Social!

1.) Biggest middle school fashion mistake?
UMMMM....pretty much every single thing I wore for the entire time frame. I looked and felt awful pretty much every day. There was the occasional outfit that made me feel cute, but mostly I was just a mess. Tapered jeans, huge shirts, big round glasses.. Thank goodness I don't have a picture, or I'd probably feel obligated to share it, and that would just be embarrassing. 

2.) Who were your best friends in high school?
Liz, Kristen, Caleb, and Daniel

3.) What was a typical weekend like for you in high school?
Pretty boring. On Saturdays, we did deep cleaning stuff around the house, and then I would read (which was fun) or catch up on school. Sundays were made up of church in the morning, reading/school in the afternoon, and then drama and Bible quizzing practice on Sunday nights...or at least on the nights when I wasn't grounded. Every once in a while I would go to Culver's after quizzing with the rest of the team, but I usually wasn't allowed. 

4.) Did you have any boyfriends? 
Well there was E, right after my missions trip the summer between sophomore and junior year.. that was strictly a pen-pal/phone relationship that lasted about two months before I was like, "uhh, this is stupid", and that was that. Also, C, my senior year. He was wonderful. 

5.) Did you have any secret codes with your friends? 
No, none that I can remember. 

6.) If you could relive one day/moment/experience from middle school or high school, what would it be?
Uh... Thanks, but I think I'll pass on that. It was a pretty awkward and difficult time for me, so I'd rather not go back and do it again. 

Sunny Saturdays make me smile

Oh hey. So it's been a crazy week over here in my neck of the woods...This is pretty much what my schedule has been like: WORK. WORK. WORK. Lather, rinse, repeat. It's definitely a good problem to have, but sometimes, it still feels more like a problem than anything else. I'm catching up on things though, so that's good.

I know I'm late and the linkup closed, but I wanted to join in on the Pits and Peaks with Allie and Jen. I've actually wanted to do it a bunch of times before, and just never gotten around to it. And then I put in all the work to get the post ready, and realized the link up had already closed for this week... I'm bummed about that, but I'm still posting anyway. So there.

PITS

1 // I feel like work has taken over my life. Part of that is due to the fact that there is just a lot to get done, and part of it is because I don't have a whole lot else to do right now. But it pays the bills, so for that, I am grateful.

2 // I miss my boyfriend. Long distance relationships suck.

3 // I bought some Bailey's French Vanilla coffee creamer and I don't really like it. But I feel bad wasting it, so I'm going to use up the whole thing before I buy more. So my coffee isn't as delicious as I know it could be. #firstworldproblems

4 // I had a brief 3 hour moment of panic one day when I tried to upgrade the software on my phone, and it somehow crashed the whole thing, and then I had to restore my phone just to get it to turn on again. (I know, I know....#firstworldproblems again.) I was freaking out thinking I had lost all of my pictures and videos and text messages, but somehow I had set my backup properly, because when it FINALLY turned back on, everything was there, just as it was supposed to be. Maybe that should be on the "Peaks" list, too...??

PEAKS

1 // I got to start the week out by having Boyfriend here! It was wonderful. We went out to dinner at Firefly (one of my favorite places ever), walked the Strip and watched the fountains at the Bellagio and the volcano at the Mirage, spent an afternoon wandering around the ghost town that is Lake Las Vegas, spent an evening babysitting my nephews together, played games, went to Container Park, and just had an all-around great time. He even came to Zumba with me on Monday night...he didn't participate, but he did sit in the hot, stinky studio for an hour so I could get my dance workout on. That's love, people.

2 // Speaking of nephews....they definitely make the good part of this list. Just look at them. TOO CUTE (even though the picture of ZJ is blurry).

3 // I got a whole box of stuff from Erin Condren! Anyone who knows me knows that I LOOOOOOVE me some fancified planners and office stuff from her, so when I saw that they had an awesome sale on notebooks and desk pads last week, I knew I needed to take advantage.

Also (shameless plug): I have sponsorship opportunities available! My in-post ad space is currently open, plus I have button swaps available! I'd love to work with you!