Christmas Vacation

It's time for my annual two week vacation from the blog. I try to focus on family and fun during Christmas vacation. This break also helps me leisurely prep for the next year. I'll see everyone in 2016 with some great new blog ideas (and potentially another new blog)!

Bloggiesta 2015 Update #3

What I did today:

Prep/draft Sunday Sunset posts through 2015 -- Done
Prep/draft Fashion Friday posts through 2015 -- Done. Outfits have been created. Drafts are finished, but they are close...
Blog-Tember post Day 22
Create Fall into Books Readathon TBR pile, update posts, goal post -- all set for me to start reading next week
Record/trash/write random drafts (here and at craft blog) -- None at the craft blog (woohoo!), 20 here pared down from 76. I got rid of a ton of old useless drafts, moved some to scheduled posts, and kept only a few that I will probably finish in the next two months.
Prep/draft Thursday posts through 2015 -- Ready to be completed

Wow! I am so excited to have such a successful Bloggiesta! I accomplished a majority of my goals and fixed some things that have been bothering me. I feel like I am in a much better position for the least few months of 2015. And the leftover goals will be put onto my to-do list for the next month.

Goals List:

Finish the rest of my Blog-Tember posts (Day 22, 28, 29, 30)
Update reading challenges totals on blog, in notebook, and for RC Update #3 post
Update TBR Pile page
Fix any gaps in Reviews pages
Start 2016 TBR list; prep draft page
Start 2016 TBR jar
Tweak About Me page – here and at craft blog
Update Blogs I Love page — double check Bloglovin’
Update Current Book Wish List (forgot that I got rid of this page...)
Prep/draft Music Monday posts through 2015
Prep/draft Fashion Friday posts through 2015
Prep/draft TTT posts through 2015
Prep/draft Thursday posts through 2015
Prep/draft Sunday Sunset posts through 2015
Create Fall into Books Readathon TBR pile, update posts, goal post
Record/trash/write random drafts — here and at craft blog
Add Holiday Catalog to sidebar
Prep/draft SU News posts through 2015
Prep/draft Sunday Haul posts through 2015
Update Other Crafty People (double check Bloglovin’)
Update/layout Day Zero Projects for rest of 2015
Update Music Monday spreadsheet
Check any broken links
Create a watermark for pictures
Prep review drafts for rest of 2015 scheduled reading
Plan out October SSINK projects
Plan out craft projects for rest of 2015
Update upcoming classes page
Plan out/post craft classes through 2015 (meetup)
Update chalkboard calendar for October
Update Evernote calendars
Create Evernote calendars for 2016
Added: Update perpetual spreadsheet

Bloggiesta 2015 Update #2

What I did today:

Update chalkboard calendar for October -- easy peasy
Create Evernote calendars for 2016 -- Took me a few minutes, but I have my 2016 calendar prepped
Update Evernote calendars -- Synced with blogs and planner
Prep/draft Sunday Haul posts through 2015
Prep/draft SU News posts through 2015 -- Another easy but time consuming task
Prep/draft TTT posts through 2015 -- Not every topic strikes my fancy, but I did prep the topics that I like.
Prep/draft Music Monday posts through 2015 -- Another day completed!

Goals List:

Finish the rest of my Blog-Tember posts (Day 22, 28, 29, 30)
Update reading challenges totals on blog, in notebook, and for RC Update #3 post
Update TBR Pile page
Fix any gaps in Reviews pages
Start 2016 TBR list; prep draft page
Start 2016 TBR jar
Tweak About Me page – here and at craft blog
Update Blogs I Love page — double check Bloglovin’
Update Current Book Wish List (forgot that I got rid of this page...)
Prep/draft Music Monday posts through 2015
Prep/draft Fashion Friday posts through 2015
Prep/draft TTT posts through 2015
Prep/draft Thursday posts through 2015
Prep/draft Sunday Sunset posts through 2015
Create Fall into Books Readathon TBR pile, update posts, goal post
Record/trash/write random drafts — here and at craft blog
Add Holiday Catalog to sidebar
Prep/draft SU News posts through 2015
Prep/draft Sunday Haul posts through 2015
Update Other Crafty People (double check Bloglovin’)
Update/layout Day Zero Projects for rest of 2015
Update Music Monday spreadsheet
Check any broken links
Create a watermark for pictures
Prep review drafts for rest of 2015 scheduled reading
Plan out October SSINK projects
Plan out craft projects for rest of 2015
Update upcoming classes page
Plan out/post craft classes through 2015 (meetup)
Update chalkboard calendar for October
Update Evernote calendars
Create Evernote calendars for 2016
Added: Update perpetual spreadsheet

Bloggiesta 2015 Update #1

What I did today:

Fix any gaps in Reviews pages -- Cleaned them up. Looks much nicer now.
Added: Updated Perpetual spreadsheet
Update Music Monday spreadsheet -- Somehow I haven't done this for over a year... Holy cow! Took about 15 minutes and got this updated.
Update TBR Pile page -- So many books on this page, but I did get this updated.
Update reading challenges totals on blog, in notebook, and for RC Update #3 post
Start 2016 TBR list; prep draft page -- I didn't start my TBR list, but I did get my reading challenge page drafted with my perpetual challenges and a few that I know I will be doing next year (picture books, new authors, mount tbr)
Update Blogs I Love page (double check Bloglovin) -- Holy cow that was a big task. So thankful that it is now done. Plus, I weeded out probably 30 nonactive blogs
Update Other Crafty People (double check Bloglovin’) -- Thankfully I could do this along with the task above
Update upcoming classes page -- A lot of copy and pasting, but the page is updated through October
Add Holiday Catalog to sidebar -- Done
Check any broken links -- Done

Goals List:

Finish the rest of my Blog-Tember posts (Day 22, 28, 29, 30)
Update reading challenges totals on blog, in notebook, and for RC Update #3 post
Update TBR Pile page
Fix any gaps in Reviews pages
Start 2016 TBR list; prep draft page
Start 2016 TBR jar
Tweak About Me page – here and at craft blog
Update Blogs I Love page — double check Bloglovin’
Update Current Book Wish List (forgot that I got rid of this page...)
Prep/draft Music Monday posts through 2015
Prep/draft Fashion Friday posts through 2015
Prep/draft TTT posts through 2015
Prep/draft Thursday posts through 2015
Prep/draft Sunday Sunset posts through 2015
Create Fall into Books Readathon TBR pile, update posts, goal post
Record/trash/write random drafts — here and at craft blog
Add Holiday Catalog to sidebar
Prep/draft SU News posts through 2015
Prep/draft Sunday Haul posts through 2015
Update Other Crafty People (double check Bloglovin’)
Update/layout Day Zero Projects for rest of 2015
Update Music Monday spreadsheet
Check any broken links
Create a watermark for pictures
Prep review drafts for rest of 2015 scheduled reading
Plan out October SSINK projects
Plan out craft projects for rest of 2015
Update upcoming classes page
Plan out/post craft classes through 2015 (meetup)
Update chalkboard calendar for October
Update Evernote calendars
Create Evernote calendars for 2016
Added: Update perpetual spreadsheet

Bloggiesta 2015 Goals Post

I'm joining this year to help organize all those nagging blogging tasks. I've been attempting to create my master to-do list. It's a bit long, but I guess that's the point. I need to have a large wish list of tasks to finish out. Here's what I have so far:

Finish the rest of my Blog-Tember posts (Day 18, 22, 28, 29, 30)
Update reading challenges totals on blog, in notebook, and for RC Update #3 post
Update TBR Pile page
Fix any gaps in Reviews pages
Start 2016 TBR list; prep draft page
Start 2016 TBR jar
Tweak About Me page – here and at craft blog
Update Blogs I Love page — double check Bloglovin’
Update Current Book Wish List
Prep/draft Music Monday posts through 2015
Prep/draft Fashion Friday posts through 2015
Prep/draft TTT posts through 2015
Prep/draft Thursday posts through 2015
Prep/draft Sunday Sunset posts through 2015
Create Fall into Books Readathon TBR pile, update posts, goal post
Record/trash/write random drafts — here and at craft blog
Add Holiday Catalog to sidebar
Prep/draft SU News posts through 2015
Prep/draft Sunday Haul posts through 2015
Update Other Crafty People — double check Bloglovin’
Update/layout Day Zero Projects for rest of 2015
Update Music Monday spreadsheet
Check any broken links
Create a watermark for pictures
Prep review drafts for rest of 2014 scheduled reading
Plan out October SSINK projects
Plan out craft projects for rest of 2015
Update upcoming classes page
Plan out/post craft classes through 2015 (meetup)
Update chalkboard calendar for October
Update Evernote calendars
Create Evernote calendars for 2016

Blogging Break

It's the Monday before Christmas so that mean's it time for my annual blogging break. I like to take the two weeks around Christmas to recharge away from the blog. I'll be back after the New Year with my 2014 wrap-up posts and new content.

Spark Days 6-10

I signed up for the Spark ecourse about weeks ago with every intention of sticking to it. Basically it's a 30 day course designed to help get the blogging spark back. I've been so overwhelmed with life lately that my blog seems mixed up and about to collapse. Of course it may not seem that way to readers. I've kept the everything looking nice and neat for readers, but behind the scenes, I am a mess. I needed something to help me get back on track. I needed a bit of a push to focus. Enter Spark. Every day I received an email with a bit of discussion and a task. I was supposed to do the tasks daily, but with my life, it just didn't happen. Instead, I created an email folder and just dumped the emails in when I received them. Whenever I got a 30 minute window of quiet, I pulled up the next day's email and went to town. This has resulted in a 30 day course stretching into almost three months, but that's okay. Even with the delays, I feel like I'm getting my blog back on track. Click on the pic to join in the fun!

Here are my thoughts and accomplishments for Days 6-10:

Day 6 - Blog Comments

I spent some time today attempting to write meaningful comments on posts that resonated with me. I managed about 5. I'd say that's pretty good given the time constraints on my days. In the future, I need to make sure and stop and comment if I read a post and it strikes a chord.

Day 7 - Disconnect

I spent some time away from social media today. I didn't check FB or Instagram. I didn't post anything. I didn't even open up my blog. Instead, I pulled out my trusty notebook and jotted down any and all thoughts. I ended up with a fair amount of blogging ideas and even more to-dos. I feel like I can refocus on my blog now. I didn't go that long without social media, but even a few hours of conscious abstinence helped refocus my mind.

Day 8 - Update Your Bios

I spent a few minutes updating some of my biographical information across my platforms. Most were update, but Twitter still said I lived in Fort Wayne. Ha! That was almost four years ago. I really need to put this task on my yearly to-dos.

Day 9 - Identify Your Favorites

In attempting to pick my favorite blog posts from my past, I found that my favorites were rambling writings. They were the brain dumps. I like having a record of book reviews, movie reviews, and fun videos, but I love reading my free writing. For the future, I need to make sure to leave room for these types of posts.

Day 10 - Time to Unsubscribe

As part of Bloggiesta last weekend, I did a complete weed out of the blogs that I follow through Bloglovin'. I got rid of inactive blogs helping to unclutter my feed. I updated my blogrolls on both my blogs. But the best part of the cull was getting rid of those blogs that I just always skip through and never read. Why do I keep those in my feed? I've shed the weight and it feels good.

Spark Days 1-5

I signed up for the Spark ecourse about two weeks with every intention of sticking to it. Basically it's a 30 day course designed to help get the blogging spark back. I've been so overwhelmed with life lately that my blog seems mixed up and about to collapse. Of course it may not seem that way to readers. I've kept the everything looking nice and neat for readers, but behind the scenes, I am a mess. I needed something to help me get back on track. I needed a bit of a push to focus. Enter Spark. Every day I received an email with a bit of discussion and a task. I was supposed to do the tasks daily, but with my life, it just didn't happen. Instead, I created an email folder and just dumped the emails in when I received them. Whenever I got a 30 minute window of quiet, I pulled up the next day's email and went to town. This has resulted in a 30 day course stretching into almost two months, but that's okay. Even with the delays, I feel like I'm getting my blog back on track. Click on the pic to join in the fun!

Here are my thoughts and accomplishments for Days 1-5:

Day 1 - Cleaning

The first day was all about cleaning your work space to help focus on writing. Unfortunately I don't have a dedicated blogging area. I alternate between using the craft desk and the living room chair. I would love to have a dedicated space, but life just doesn't allow for one right now. Actually my most productive place to blog is the coffeehouse. If I can steal 2 or 3 hours, I run down to the coffeehouse (it's two blocks away), buy a mocha, and plant myself at a table. Once I put my earphones in, there are no distractions. I stay off FB and Bloglovin' and I get down to writing. It's hard to find the time to escape from house and family obligations, but when I can, it's glorious. For this day's task, I did make an effort to clean off the craft desk (which recluttered itself in about two days) and cleaned out the ottoman in the living room. I rediscovered some blogging ideas and notes shoved into the ottoman and grabbed an empty notebook to help with my thoughts. Even though I blog and am constantly connected with technology, I still love a clean notebook. I don't have my dedicated space, but cleaning did give me a bit of a clean slate. And I started thinking about potentially scheduling coffeehouse time every other week. I wonder if I put it on the family calendar, if I could actually commit to time?

Day 2 - Make a Playlist

There was a time (years ago) that i absolutely adored making playlists. We had ones for road trips, ones for rocking out, ones for reading, and ones for any other random occasion that popped up. Lately I have relied on Pandora or iTunes to make the playlist for me. Today was a great opportunity to explore my own music again. Here's my blogging playlist, 538 songs (I like variety!):

Adele 19
Alexa Wilkinson Lullaby Appetite
Alexi Murdoch "Orange Sky"
Anna Nalick Shine EP
Arcade Fire "Abraham's Daughter"
The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Ben Folds Live
Birdy "Just a Game"
Birdy and Mumford & Sons "Learn Me Right"
Bonnie Somerville "Winding Road"
Brandi Carlile The Story
Broken Bells "The Ghost Inside"
Caedmon's Call Selections from multiple albums
Christina Perri "Jar of Hearts"
Christina Perri "A Thousand Years"
The Civil Wars Barton Hollow
The Civil Wars The Civil Wars
Coldplay "Atlas"
Colin Hay "I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You"
Damien Rice -- Selections from multiple albums
Dave Matthews Band -- Selections from multiple albums
Dixie Chicks "The Rainbow Connection"
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros "Home"
Ellie Goulding "Mirror"
Fiction Family "When She's Near"
Fiction Family "Betrayal"
Finley Quaye and William Orbit "Dice"
Fiona Apple -- Selections from multiple albums
Florence + the Machine -- Selections from multiple albums
Frou Frou "Let Go"
Goo Goo Dolls "Name"
Goo Goo Dolls "Iris"
Guster "Satellite"
Guster "May Parada"
Guster "Fa Fa Fa"
Howie Day -- Selections from multiple albums
Inara George "Fools in Love"
Indigo Girls "Water is Wide"
Iron and Wine "Flightless Bird"
Iron and Wine "Such Great Heights"
Jamie Cullum -- Selections from multiple albums
Jars of Clay -- Selections from multiple albums
John Mayer -- Selections from multiple albums
Josh Groban -- Selections from multiple albums
Joshua Radin "Star Mile"
Joshua Radin "They Bring Me to You"
Kate Voegele -- Selections from multiple albums
KT Tunstall -- Selections from multiple albums
Lady Antebellum -- Selections from multiple albums
Lifehouse "Breathing"
Lifehouse "Hanging by a Moment"
Lifehouse "Everything"
Lisa Loeb "Stay"
Lisa Loeb "Falling in Love"
Lorde "Everybody Wants to Rule the World"
The Lumineers The Lumineers
M83 "Oblivion"
Maroon 5 "Pure Imagination"
Maroon 5 "Come Away to the Water"
Mikky Ekko "Place for Us"
Mumford & Sons -- Selections from multiple albums
Nada Surf "If You Leave"
Nada Surf "Always Love"
NeedtoBreathe -- Selections from multiple albums
Neko Case "Nothing to Remember"
Nickel Creek -- Selections from multiple albums
Norah Jones "Sunrise"
OAR -- Selections from multiple albums
Of Monsters and Men My Head is an Animal
OneRepublic -- Selections from multiple albums
Phantogram "Lights"
Punch Brothers "Dark Days"
Rachael Yamagata "Reason Why"
Ray LaMontagne "Hold You in My Arms"
Red "Ordinary World"
Regina Spektor "Real Love"
Ryan Adams "Wonderwall"
Santigold "Shooting Arrows at the Sky"
Sara Bareilles -- Selections from multiple albums
Sarah Brightman -- Selections from multiple albums
Sarah McLachlan Mirrorball
The Secret Sisters "Tomorrow Will Be Kinder"
The Shins "Caring is Creepy"
The Shins "New Slang"
Simon and Garfunkel -- Selections from multiple albums
Sister Hazel "Your Winter"
Sixpence None the Richer "Don't Dream It's Over"
Smashing Pumpkins "Landslide"
Snow Patrol -- Selections from multiple albums
Suzanne Vega "Tom's Diner"
Taylor Swift "Safe and Sound"
Third Day "Blackbird"
Third Day "She Sings in Riddles"
Tori Amos -- Selections from multiple albums
Tyler Hilton -- Selections from multiple albums
The Weeknd "Devil May Cry"

Day 3 - Write a letter to your blog

I won't reproduce my letter here; it's a bit personal and rambling. But I did realize a few things while free writing the letter:

I want to get back to writing for me (no offense to readers, but this was meant to be a place to collect my thoughts)
I want to focus on quality instead of quantity
I need to take a critical look at my memes and weekly features
I need to do a bit of clean out
I need to write more substantial posts (not just memes)
I need to overhaul my reading challenges/reading progress sections

Day 4 - Get dressed

Today was about creating a routine for my writing. Thinking about how I approach blogging. Trying to decide how to be more productive. And i realized that I do my best writing at the coffeehouse. I need to escape the distraction from home. I don't do my best writing at home (written while at home, but oh well). I want to create a schedule for my blogging. No that's not right. I want to schedule time for my blogging. So I went to our family calendar and scheduled a few hours at the coffeehouse every other Sunday. Now to stick to it!

Day 5 - Write a task list

Whew! This one was a biggie. I made a blog goal list, a blog task list, and a house task list. Pages of action items, but this does make me feel so much better. I love my lists! They help me organize my thoughts. And I tend to get more things done with my lists than without. I already crossed an action item off of my blog task list: TBR piles for through December. Already making progress!

New Resolutions...

The last couple of days have seen a few changes with my blog... I've decided to make a few blogging resolutions (Yes, I know, late, but I've never believed in New Year's Resolutions anyway. So blog resolutions in February aren't weird or late to me).

Set up a more definite schedule - I have Music Mondays and Quote Wednesdays, but need to either commit to or drop Weekly Highlights, Booking Through Thursdays, and Top Ten Tuesdays. I really like the idea of the Wordless Wednesday (pictures instead of writing) and the Mailbox Mondays, but don't know if I want to commit yet. I'll get back to you on that. Plus, I want to start writing (fiction pieces) more and feel like I need to commit it day or a day every other week to that.
Connect with other bloggers - In the past week, I've had 10 people I don't know comment on my blog. Very excited about this turn of events. But I need to do better at commenting on and supporting other bloggers. So every day I'm going to focus on one of those commentors by reading their blogs, commenting, and adding them to my GoogleReader. One down, nine to go!
Get my reading list set for the end of the month - Too many library books (~60) sitting on my closet floor and too many new purchases (~30 since beginning of year) sitting under the window. I want to create a TBR list to carry me through the next two weeks. Next up...?
Take more pictures to add - I feel very pictureless on my blog. I need to add pics of me and my family, activities throughout the week, book purchases, and just pretty pics. So far, the only picture taken by me is my gravatar photo. The others are all from freedigitalphoto.net. Great pictures, but I need ownership here.
Get my boys involved - They wrote a Thanksgiving post, but that's it. They really need to work on their writing anyway and little blog entry every once in a while would be awesome. C's daughter has her own blog now and my boys are really interested in reading it. Hopefully I can get them interested in writing their own.
Encourage my friends and families to read - I think the only person that I actually know know that reads my blog is C. (Thanks for the support!) It really would be awesome to have more support from friends and family. I'll try to talk it up.

Over the next week, I'm really going to focus on these resolutions. I'll probably add an update entry soon. Wish me luck!