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Working on some pocket sized inserts for one of my lovely customers! Just gotta punch and then they'll be off to their new home :) check out my Etsy shop to get some of your own!! #GUG ✒️ http://ift.tt/1sO03eD ✨ #planner #planneraddicts #planonit #philofaxy #filofax #fauxfilofax #ff #fflove #malden #filofaxmalden #plannernerds #filofaxlove #filofaxaddicts #journal #organized #organization #organize #daytimer #malibu #daytimermalibu #pocket #pocketmalden #pocketfilofax #printable #printables http://ift.tt/1Cl1BVH

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Check out the new options for my handmade notebooks! I think the dark covers with ivory paper are SO sleek and attractive. :) http://ift.tt/1x9vY0a

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2014 - My Year in Music

Good morning, everyone!

This year, I started making a playlist on Spotify for every month. I noticed I only listened to certain songs for a while, so it was easiest to just compile all of my favorite songs into one playlist - and then every month, it was a perfect time to go through the playlist, pick out the ones I'm still jamming to, add some new ones, and enjoy a new playlist! Over the past month or so I've been looking at all of the music I've been listening to and decided I wanted to compile a list of all of the music I've loved most this year. Most of it is pretty current; however, there are some older songs that have just not gotten out of my head this year! I finally was able to get them into a playlist and I wanted to share it with you all.

Enjoy!

It's already Thanksgiving?

Y'all have to forgive me for my lack of posts... 2014 has disappeared on me! It feels like just yesterday I was preparing for my first holiday season at the mall - but apparently, and entire year has passed by.

Let's recap real quick:

• Family: Doing good. My dad has accepted a position as the president of a moving company in Pennsylvania and I am so proud of him! It's a new season of life for our whole family: my little brother is about to graduate high school, my dad is starting this incredible new job, my mother is working full-time around all of the changes the aforementioned bring, and I'm fighting my way into adulthood. I haven't seen a lot of them this year - I hate Jacksonville, my dad was in Maryland for most of the first half of the year, and everyone is just really busy. I was going to fly up to Pennsylvania after Christmas to visit because I have four days off after Christmas, but it turns out my whole family is LEAVING Pennsylvania the day I wanted to fly up... ha. Still, I'm super proud of my whole family for how well they've done for themselves this year.
• Identity crisis: my anxiety has turned to complete apathy. At first I was thankful for the lack of panic, but then I started forgetting about homework assignments and I'm probably never graduating so the panic is coming back.
• Ryan: Very good. Kicking ass at both aerospace engineering and being a security officer. My best friend. More mush, etc.
• My new apartment: I have reached roommate & apartment nirvana. Who knew it'd include a blanket fort, Christmas lights, and a Craigslist couch?
• Work: Busy, fun, satisfying, wonderful, sometimes stressful, still an awesome job.

I've been up to my usual stuff over the past few months: crafting, playing with my rats, marathoning TV shows with Ryan... you know, the usual.

I recently revamped my Etsy store and it's been doing well. I really enjoy it! It's a fun little hobby. You can check it out here.

The ladies are adorable as usual.

I'm 21 now - I may be able to drink wine, but I'm still doing it in my pajamas.

Roommate and I like to try delicious drinks together.

Ryan and I are still adorable, as usual.

I still have a face. My hair has gotten so long.

I got a custom leather traveler's notebook from ChicSparrow on Etsy. Good decision. Very good decision.

Ryan and I dressed up at Burt Macklin & Janet Snakehole from Parks & Rec for Halloween.

Hope you all are doing well. :)

Summer Sweetness (and work and school and packing and moving and big changes and little changes and stress and overwhelm and relaxation and hobbies and everything in between)

Good morning! This morning I dropped off my roommate at her doctor's appointment at 6:30am (she's getting a routine procedure done, but it requires anesthesia) and decided to spend some time at Einstein's Bagels afterward. I just moved close to an Einstein's, but since mornings are my productive time, I haven't gone! So I'm chilling out at Einstein's, observing the hustle and bustle of Friday morning, reading the news, and writing this blog post. As an introvert who finds comfort in sometimes going out for a simple meal alone, it's a great morning.

This summer has been wildly busy. Life has been absolutely nonstop. I've worked a lot, which has been fun, though overwhelming at times. I packed and packed and packed, then moved into my new apartment, and now I'm working on unpacking. I've taken four classes for fourteen credit hours this summer. I had my wisdom teeth removed on July 1 and dealt with a less-than-pleasant healing process.

Ryan and I celebrated six years together on July 21. We both worked that day, so we just took it easy and had Taco Bell. We had planned on having Taco Night and making our own tacos, but the one damn walmart we went to somehow did not have taco kits. I don't even think they had tortillas. This week we went to the Florida Aquarium, which is something we've been wanting to do since our fourth anniversary. We raised $92 on a crowd funding website - we were amazed when someone donated $5, so it's unreal that we raised so much - and on Tuesday we drove down to Tampa for an amazing day together. I feel so lucky to have such an amazing best friend by my side, especially being so young. We've been together since I was fourteen! Completely unreal. Lately lots of people have been asking if we're engaged, when we're getting married, and some even think somehow that we already are married, which is awkward. I just respond by telling them that we celebrated our anniversary with Taco Bell and crowd funding a trip to an aquarium; how on earth are we supposed to afford joining our finances and paying for life together yet?! After all, I'm not even 21 yet (20 days!!!!!) - what's the rush?

My new apartment and new roommate are both wonderful. The apartment is fifteen minutes from both work and school and in an area of town that I'm having a blast exploring. It's a completely not-college-at-all apartment, so our neighbors are quiet and our apartment really feels like a home. My roommate is a lot like me in personality, including being laid back about most things while still expecting a livable home, so my home life has been simple and peaceful and I am so thankful for that.

In an expected yet stil unbelievable turn of events, my father moved back to Florida from Maryland and is now adjusting to a completely different life from the one he's been living for over twenty years. His company let him go, and while this is a stressful and upsetting time for the whole family, the conversations I've had with my father since have revealed that he is happier and more relaxed now than he's ever been. He and I may not see eye to eye very often anymore, but his job had obviously been taking its toll on him over the last few years and it's comforting to see him finally let go and be happy. He deserves it.

Unfortunately I'm still recovering from my 19th year, the one in which I got my own credit cards, but I have plans to recover and hopefully be able to contribute more to things like my rent and living expenses.

Being an adult is weird.

Ryan now works as a security officer at the mall I work at and I'm still getting used to seeing him around. We work very closely with security, so we both deal with the same stuff. I told Ryan that it's nice that he can finally understand what I'm talking about when I talk about work! On another note, he's really enjoying it. He's a natural and he's shown a dedication and pleasure in the job that's refreshing to see in anyone. I'm really happy for him.

I feel like there's more to say, but I think I've covered the main points of an adequate summer round up. I'll post a picture post when I'm home, but until then - have a lovely weekend!

Cogito ergo sum

One year ago today, one of the most important people in my life passed away: my grandfather. It was my first experience dealing with the death of someone so close and I wasn't sure how I was going to handle it. I was so filled with emotions: the grief of losing a loved one, the relief that came with his years-long battle with Alzheimer's finally ending, the happiness of learning his history and remembering our history together. I wanted everyone to understand how important this man was to me and I did so in the only way I knew how: by creating. I felt compelled to write his obituary and took on that responsibility before anyone else had even thought of it. I spent hours searching for the perfect song to sing at his funeral; I do not consider myself the greatest public speaker, but singing for my Poppa B one last time is something I felt passionate about and couldn’t not do. I coped with and expressed my emotions regarding my grandfather’s death by creating and performing. And while this was easily one of the most heartbreaking weeks of my life, I was not without comfort and I still felt whole.

Lately, I have found myself thinking and saying "I want to be a writer" too often. I don't care if I have an infinite audience or if I am my only reader - I write because I feel, and I feel because I write. I am inspired and I create. The quality of my work is relative and inconsequential. I am passionate and I believe in it. I am constantly working, constantly practicing, and constantly improving. The desire to improve and my passion for creation inspire me to continue creating.

One of the greatest things about the arts is that there are no prerequisites. Saying "I want to be a writer" puts you only a few words away from saying "I am a writer." You can sing a song and your voice may crack, but now you're a singer - if you want to be. Throw some colors on a canvas and if it inspires you, I would call you an artist. The only thing that the arts ever require of anyone is passion: to be enthusiastic and deeply emotional about what you are doing. The emotions don't even matter, which is something so beautiful: art can move a person to tears. Art can move its own creators to tears. There can be a million different emotions behind these tears, but it's still art, and it's still evoking emotion. 

Cogito ergo sum. I think, therefore I am. I am a writer and I am a musician. I create, therefore I am an artist.

So are you.

In loving memory of Paul Wentroth Brandenburger

August 13, 1934 - June 17, 2013

Six Year Otterversary!

Ryan and I are desperate to see some otters this year for our anniversary, and so we are attempting to crowd-fund our anniversary date. Worth a shot, right?! Plus, there are prizes if you donate certain amounts :)

It sure has been a while!

Goodness. Everyone's read A Wrinkle In Time, right? It feels like someone wrinkled the time-space continuum to completely skip over the month of May. It went by so quickly that I don't even know what happened. I'm going to try to give a nice little recap (with the help of my planner, of course, because lawd knows that's where my brain is) so that the internet can be adequately caught up on my life.

• The identity crisis over my major and schooling gave way to dispassionate apathy. I chose the path of least resistance to my main goal: get the hell out of college. Since no major can grant me the pleasure of being the creative, writing, laundry-doing, crock-pot-cookin' domestic goddess that we all know I was meant to be, I went ahead and continued on with the major that would take the least time: psychology. I am, however, completing a sociology minor of some sort (I'm still undecided as to whether I want to do general sociology or crime, law, & deviance, but it will probably be the latter) and I am so thankful, because I really love sociology.
• My classes for the spring semester ended up grading me worse than I had expected, and so I am re-taking statistical methods for psychology right now. It's all good.
• Fun fact: before I PTFO last night and got a solid 11 hours of sleep last night, I would have told you I was dying.
• On April 22, Ryan found out he was not going to be going to Field Training, and after three years of busting ass, working hard, waking up at 6am, shaving twice a day, and dedicating himself to AFROTC, it was all over. His GPA had just missed the cut to be in Field Training Prep last year, and this year was his last chance. It really was heartbreaking. We both cried, and we both entered a mega ultra supreme infinite world of uncertainty as we both tried to figure out our identity crises. Everything is still up in the air for now, but I am so proud of Ryan for his hard work and everything he's done and he's just a really wonderful man and no matter what, I know he's going to make a positive impact on the world.
• Ryan took me to a number of family reunions and dinners and holidays with his extended family and I actually had a little bit of fun. Aside from the fact that I constantly ended up there way later than I wanted to be (I live by early bedtimes and early alarms and morning shifts - his family, not so much, hehe), it's a nice experience to be surrounded by a large family who all have nothing but friendship and love with each other. I still don't really want a wedding, much less a big wedding, but since we'll probably have to have one: at least I know the large amounts of people will be nice!
• Work is going well. Simon Property Group has recently completely changed its brand and so we're doing a lot of work with that at the moment, but overall it's been quite the same. This week hasn't been very good, but that's more because I've been malnourished and without adequate rest and overwhelmed. But like I said earlier, I finally got some quality sleep last night and I feel great.
• Got a haircut for the first time since December 2012. As you can probably imagine, I needed a trim. I went to the best hair salon in Orlando and was able to tell the stylist "listen, it's been over a year since a blade has touched this hair. I've taken good care of it, and I am still growing it out, but you know what to do. I don't want bangs and I don't want to lose more than two inches of length. Have fun" and he knew exactly what to do. It was awesome. I'm super happy with my hair now, and that's making the whole process of growing it out really easy.
• I'm hilariously broke/in debt. Things generally were going well until I needed groceries and gas and this and that - but I had zero cash. So I had to put it on my credit card and now, well, yeah, my life is a joke. I don't get paid enough and I'm not scheduled enough and so now I spend my days stressing about all the money I owe.
• Fortunately, however, my credit score is still ballin' because I always make payments on time and such, and I was approved for an apartment with a coworker from the mall in May! It's going to be closer to work, it's super quiet, it's a laid back community, it is in no way affiliated with college, and it is way cheaper than where I am now. I'm moving in July.
• Ryan got his security license and he's going to be starting work as a security officer later this month! Which is awesome!
• Over the summer I'm taking four classes: humanities, patterns of domestic violence, statistical methods for psychology, and perception. I can't even remember what I signed up for the fall semester.
• My rats have been free-ranging a LOT lately, and it's been really awesome. I've been able to clean a lot so I was able to rat-proof my bedroom and I think all of us are really loving it. It's fun to watch them explore and play and catch them asleep in a funny place. :)
• As for planners, I recently acquired a Filofax Dark Aqua Original in the Personal Size, and I have completely switched into that as my one and only planner. I look at my Malibu every day and basically cry because it's beautiful and I love it, but I fell in love with the Filofax the second I got it and I haven't been able to go back!
• I've been looking into getting my concealed weapons license since my 21st birthday is soon, anddddd yeah it's been cool!

I'm sure there's something I'm missing, but my brain is just all over the place, so I'll just end it there. Let's hope I can keep updating!

Hope you all have a lovely week :)