This afternoon, you may have noticed that the blog looks a little different!

I was so tired of how it looked, and I've been in the process of re-desgning my logo and brand all summer. With other projects, house renovations, and work, it's been a slow one! So, I decided to go ahead and make some of the changes now that were a little easier to do, and when I do get my new logo done,  I will update my header here on the blog :)

Also, I made my August recipe of the month last week, as part of my 26 before 26 list! So I should be sharing that later this week. It was a good one!


Reading- About some of the cutest little doggies over at Wit & Whistle, and highlights from the NYNOW Stationary Show over at Oh So Beautiful Paper! Such great inspiration :)

Drinking- Water! So, so much water!

Listening- Nothing really this week. I keep thinking I should put on A Fine Frenzy though! Her music always makes me think of fall :)

Loving- This sweater from Target! I've been (over) wearing it so much lately, but it's definitely my new favorite! I bought it in green, but they have it in several colors and I want to go buy another one. Also, the fact that we started tilling up our backyard this week! We should get to plant in a couple of weeks, which will be super awesome! It's been a weed patch all summer, and having actual grass will be nice.

I've been thinking a lot lately about goals, both personally and for Brightly Done. I don't usually make new year "resolutions," but I do like to use this time of year as a way to step off on the right foot. Most of the goals I have are consistent ones, that I have all the time, but it seemed like a good idea to reevaluate and share them all here!

Personal Goals

Goals for Brightly Done

Ta-da! Welcome to phase one of my new adventure!

Today is my mama's birthday!

She's coming over with my sisters for lunch today, and I'm so excited to give her gift to her! She is one of those people who are so easy to buy for. She always puts everyone else's wants and needs before her own, so I love getting to give her something that I know she's been eyeing for a while.

I also like to go all out with my wrapping too!

This post will be a little bit of a hint as to what I've been working on lately. But just a little!

I don't know if many of you remember the facebook poll I took, asking your thoughts about some new names. Well, I had narrowed it down, and things have been working out great.

Then I started laying out a new blog design, and now I don't love it.

I can't quite put my finger on it, but I know that I definitely need to go back to the drawing board. I'm a little bit stuck, because what I thought I wanted for my color scheme, isn't turning out like I wanted, but I feel like what I do want, won't work with my name. I am determined not to change it, but I hope I can decide on some color soon! But, I think this is a case of getting too focused on something, and I probably need to take a step back for a bit, and it will give me some better perspective (ha ha, see what I did there?).

The good news is, I have decided on a date for my big reveal!

As of right now, November 1st is the day I have set to show you all exactly what I've been working on. That might seem like a long time still, but for me, it feels just right. Long enough to do everything I need to (with room for issues like the one above) while short enough to be a little challenging and keep me moving forward with good progression.

I've discovered that things like this can take a lot of time!

On a completely unrelated note, check out this *crazy beetle!




I don't think I've ever seen one like this, and he was out on my front porch last night. He's totally creepy, but in an awesome way (but not like spiders, those things are NOT awesome), so I had to catch him. I will probably let him go soon, but I also kind of want to wait for him to kick the bucket and use him to start a bug collection!

Too much? Maybe. Either way, he's very cool.




*I looked him up, and I believe he's a California Prionus beetle

You know those fast food chains that are always targeting their late night hours toward stoners? Well, turns out that they also appeal to bored insomniacs!

So now that I've polished off some extremely terrible (but delicious) food, how about some eye candy?

It has just been one of those days!

Well, at least part of the day anyway.

You know that major change to the blog I was talking about the other day? Well, things have been slowly trucking in the right direction, but I've hit a bit of a roadblock!

Now, I'm not spilling the beans just yet. There will be a big reveal (hopefully) in the near future! But, I've hit a wall, and in frustration I just have to vent to someone. With dear husband still at work, I figured a good option would be YOU, my dear readers :)

I'm not super great at techy, computer stuff, and I feel like it takes me forever to learn new programs and such. Unfortunately, this new venture I'm starting requires a lot more in depth knowledge of computers than I realized! Things had been going along pretty well, but today I've come to a halt.

Imagine having a question, about something fairly complicated, and trying to read an article full of technical terms and mumbo jumbo. Imagine trying to decipher all of these new terms and concepts out of this article, and then multiply that article by twenty! Yes, twenty. Meaning that I've read that many (at least!) and still haven't found an answer to my question. In fact, I think my question multiplied into several!

It's enough to make me literally want to scream bloody murder! And maybe pull my hair out too, for good measure.

The funny story is, in an attempt to take a breather and a step back, I thought I'd get out an old knitting project that I haven't worked on since I moved to Idaho. It's been sounding like a lot of fun lately, and with summer drawing nearer to a close, I always get in a cozy, curl-up-and-do-some-knitting, kind of mood.

Well, I got a couple rows in, and realized I had started out wrong, and therefore would have to take out and re-do said rows....

And that, my friends, is how I ended up here. When things get frustrating, I've found a great way to clear my head and calm my nerves is to write about them!

My day hasn't been all bad though. In fact, most of it was great! I woke up to rain and cloudy skies (yay fall-ish weather!) and made a delicious batch of banana bread. Nothing beats the smell of fresh baked, spiced goods, in my opinion. Then my bff came over for a coffee date and we spent all morning and afternoon hanging out. I'm thinking she should have stayed longer, and then I wouldn't have had the chance to spiral into a ball of stress! ;)

What do you know, though? I got to the end of this story, and I'm feeling loads better! The gung-ho side of me wants to jump right back into that stupid technical garbage, but the fact that I'm still referring to it as garbage makes me think it wouldn't be a great idea.

So here I'm off to find something else to settle these nerves with, like maybe a nap!

Happy Hump Day friends!

....since the last time I posted anything to facebook!

I joined the challenge 99 Days of Freedom, which is basically just logging off of facebook for 99 days. Now, I will admit that I have logged on twice since then, once as a favor to a friend, and once to message someone for job info. I didn't check my notifications, or scroll through my feed, so I still feel like I'm holding up to the rules pretty well!

And technically, posting this to my blog's page is also cheating, but for me it was less about the posting, and more about what I was seeing on my newsfeed. Don't get me wrong though! Most of the stuff I saw from my friends was great. I didn't have a problem with "drama" or anything like that, but it was other things.

Before I saw this campaign, I was already feeling like I needed a break. I was way too addicted, and I could tell it was making me unhappy. The first thing I did every day was get online, and I was constantly on it throughout the day. The real clincher though, was all of the trending topics and news articles people shared. I have been avoiding watching the news and going to news sites for a long time now, so when this stuff started showing up more and more on facebook, it was really bringing me down.

I know the obvious thing would be just not to read the kind of stuff that bothers me, but unfortunately I don't seem to have that control. I would get sucked into these articles of politics and controversy, and things that I don't agree with, and I would just keep reading. One article would lead to another and then another, and I would end up mad or irritated or down, just because I couldn't resist. And it got to the point where facebook was just another media hub that I wanted to avoid.

But I have missed sharing things with people! That has been the thing I have wanted to do the most. So, this is how I'm going to continue to do that, without having to see all of the stuff I don't want to. Eventually I will start logging back on again to see what all of my friends and family are up to though, and hopefully I will have the self control not to let my facebook take over my life again!

Because I have to say, I feel like I am happier without it :)

In regards to social media as a whole though, I didn't give up on everything! I'm still on pinterest, and I have an instagram account as well! I couldn't just go cold turkey on it all at once now could I? ;)

Now, what have I just been dying to share lately? Well, just summer as usual!

I have been going to concerts and camping trips, and enjoying the sun and my family! Like I mentioned in my last post, things have changed a lot around these parts. We moved from Southern Oregon to the Boise area of Idaho last spring, which is where I grew up and most of my family lives. I've been having such a great time seeing my parents and sisters whenever I want, plus my best friend and her adorable little boy.

It's most likely just a temporary move, only for a few years, while my husband works over here, but I plan on making the most of it while we're here!

I also bought a small vintage camping trailer to renovate, and while I haven't gotten as far as I had hoped I would by this time, I'm still super excited about it. I want to try to post regular updates as I make some more progress on her, and I will be sure to share lots of pictures as she comes along! (Btw, she is named Gloria)

I'm also in the process of working on a major change to this little old blog of mine......

.....but I'm going to be keeping that secret for a little while longer still ;)

So stick around (and I'll try too as well), and I will be sharing more about that in the future!

Happy Hump Day everyone, and I'll see you next time!


 

Oh man guys....

I can't believe how long it's been since I've written anything on this little ol' blog of mine!

Sometimes, I feel like I've just written it off, and that I probably should just delete it, because who wants to read a blog when it's May and the last post was written in December?

But then, the persistence (and pack rat) in me, refuses to give it up quite yet. So, here I am, checking in after a loooong absence!

I can't promise that I'll be back again soon, but I also can't say that I won't be back in a few days. I do really miss writing, and having this little outlet. But. Honestly, I don't miss the whole "blogging" thing. Those of you who blog will know what I'm talking about.

The advertising, the putting oneself out there on every media platform. Trying to connect with people as a way to gain readership. Most bloggers do this, and I tried my hand at it for a while. The truth is, I just didn't enjoy it! I got so burnt out. I love reading other blogs, but there are so many out there, and trying to keep up, reading and commenting, and posting, and sponsoring.....it just got to be too much.

I was spending too much of my time online, and not enough in my real life, and eventually it caught up to me.

So, from now on, I will write when the urge strikes, or not at all. And I welcome comments and dialogue from my readers! But, it won't be the main reason for my writing. My pictures won't be perfect (if there are any), and I won't spend all of my time trying to cultivate relationships with people online, just to get a huge "fan base."

If you want to talk, and be friends, great! If you like my content, and want to read along, I really appreciate it. But I don't think I'm cut out to be a blogger, the way bloggers are supposed to be these days. I just don't have it in me ;)

Wow, this was not even the way I intended for this post to go when I started writing! I guess I really needed to get that off my chest!

I suppose as a consolation, I will have to be back soon to write about what I meant to in the first place, and that is ALL OF THE CHANGES that have taken place in my life since the last time I was around here. You know, things like a big move, and a new job, and yada yada yada...

Now I'm going to go bake some brownies. I guess I must be more of a blogger than I thought, because everyone knows that any blogger worth her salt is going to be at home baking on a Friday night! ;)

So, thank you to those of you who stuck it out through this ramble-y piece, and I hope you'll be back next time! Goodnight!

Inspiration!

I think that Wordle is such a great and fun tool, and you could use it for so many things!

I highly suggest you check it out, whether you were using it for research, or just as inspiration! There are so many layouts, colors, fonts, and orientations to choose from, so you can make it completely unique and yours. And once you create it, it's yours to save and do whatever you want with!

(FYI, this post wasn't sponsored in any way, shape, or form by Wordle. It's just a fun tool that I wanted to share with you all!)

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you find motivation and inspiration for whatever project you might be working on today :) Happy Monday!

So, instead of finishing up my breakfast this fine, fine morning, I decided to get another cup of coffee, and monopolize this little table of mine for a little bit longer!



Yes, I'm still in the hotel, but today will be our last day. Tomorrow we head home, but we will be stopping and doing some touristy stuff in San Francisco on the way.

Today, I just feel like writing.

It's been a long time since I've felt any real inspiration to write. I'm not sure what happened, but there for a little while I just felt completely zapped!

I couldn't seem to come up with any of my own ideas, and I hated that I was always using other bloggers' prompts and link-ups for the bulk of my content. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love doing them, but I wanted you, my readers, to see more original material from me! That was why I started this blog in the first place, to write, and to share my thoughts. Well, I guess I was still sharing them, but I was sharing my thoughts on other peoples' ideas.

When I tried to stop relying so much on link-ups, and life started to get busy for me, I lost all motivation to keep up with this blog. It made me sad, but I had such a terrible case of writers block, it wasn't even funny!

I realized though, that I really missed it, this whole writing thing, and I've decided not to be so hard on myself. I want to try to write more, even if I feel like what I'm writing about isn't that exciting, or might not be "good enough." If I wrote it, and I like it, then that's good enough for me! I may not lead the most exciting life, but that's why my blog title contains the word ordinary. I guess you know what you're getting right there, ha!

That's my summer plan, to just start writing more. As I've been brainstorming, I've decided that maybe I will host a link-up! Possibly. I've had a couple ideas, but we'll see if anyone wants to join in with little ol' me. Either way, there will start being new posts around here, and some of them may turn into regulars!

For now though, I am going to finish my breakfast and get on with my day. Since Dane is still working, and I've got all day to myself again, I think the beach is calling my name. I think I'm going to head back on down to Santa Cruz for the day, and get my tan on!

Cheers, and happy Wednesday!

I'm baaaack....

But for reals, I'm sorry everybody! Things have just been crazy around here, and it has been weeks (!) since I've been around!

A few weeks ago, I started working a lot of hours, and it just zapped me completely. I was so wore out in the evening, that all I felt like doing was sitting in front of my netflix! Then I got sick. So that bogged me down even more. Then I had to get ready for a camping trip, and my family came to town! So, obviously, the last month or so has been absolutely crazy!

And not only have I been a terrible blogger in terms of writing...but I also didn't take hardly any pictures of all of the fun things I've been doing!

I went on a camping trip.

It was Dane's twenty-eighth birthday!

I went to the coast with my family.

I've had a few of my sisters staying with me for a couple of weeks!

And I have no pictures......

Well, mostly no pictures. The other day, we did go swimming in the most beautiful river, and I was smart enough to bring my camera for that!

Still, though. Bad blogger! Bad!

Anyways, I've missed this little space of mine, and I'm happy to be back! I hope I won't be missing quite as much around here lately, since I'm pretty much on summer break. And here are a few of those pictures that I took from our river jaunt last Friday.