Calm before Chaos 8.26.25

I was prompted to make a design that “represents the feeling of calm after chaos.” I did this a little bit backwards, as I wanted to feel escalated. I knew how I wanted the design to go, but I couldn’t get the same feeling with a digital program. Out of the ordinary for me, I decided to do it by hand. This was not a planned design, besides the prompt. I just grabbed some random markers and pens from the bucket and went with how I was feeling. This is basically the opposite of how I typically choose to be creative, but it was fun to try. I know I’m no where close to a physical artist, but maybe I should do it more often. It was fun to just doodle.

Guilty Pleasure Meals 6.4.25

Preface: Anytime anyone cooks for me, I am so grateful. With our circumstances lately, it’s been happening more and more. I’m super thankful for everyone who has brought us any meals, especially something homemade.

In our house, we like varieties of foods. We try to have different meals, so we don’t get sick of the same old stuff. But something that comes into the rotation often is what we call “shiddy dinner.” Shiddy dinner is for the lazy nights where we don’t feel like making something too exciting and we just just toss some crap in the oven. Our usual shiddy dinner is pizza rolls, taquitos and mozzarella sticks. We do change it up now and then. Sometimes we’ll have pizza bagels, corn dogs, or chicken nuggets. What most people would consider “snacks” is what we will have for dinner. Is it healthy? No. Is it easy to make? Yes. Do we have it a lot? No. Do we love it? Yes.

What is your guilty pleasure meal?

Writing Prompt 5.20.25

Daily writing prompt
Have you ever been camping?
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Camping is one of my favorite summer activities! I’ve been camping so many times, I don’t think I could count them all. Here are a few to note:

Poland Springs Campground: When I was little, we used to go here every summer. They had an event called Halloween in August. It’s just like it sounds. All the kids would get dressed up in costumes and go around to all the campsites trick or treating. It was so much fun.

Maine Fiddle Camp: I spent three summers at Camp NEOFA attending the Maine Fiddle Camp. This was time filled with music, friends, nature, and fun! I can’t forget to mention the great food as well. I learned a lot of music and made new friends. My family came with me sometimes, too!

Lake Lahontan: This was the only time I ever camped out in the desert. It’s a lot different than woodsy camping. I’m glad I got the chance to try it out, but I think I prefer the trees and dirt over the sand.

Ossipee Valley Music Festival: If you can’t tell, I love a week of outdoors and music. I started attending this festival as an adult and it has such a different vibe than camping as a kid. My family and I spend the week jamming, grilling, relaxing, and spending quality family time together. I get to watch my little cousins learn music, Tommas gets to kick his feet back and relax. It’s probably my favorite week of the year.

If you’ve never been camping, I highly recommend it! It’s a great way to spend time with family or friends and get connected with nature. It’s so peaceful.

Fun with Halloween 5.13.25

Halloween in May? Let’s do it. Last fall, I was spending most of my time alone. Tommas was out of town, my family was scattered, I needed to get better at doing things by myself. I explored some hobbies that I could do solo. I found a new eye shadow palette with bright colors. Bright colors aren’t usually my thing, but it was Halloween, so I thought I’d find something fun to do with it. Enjoy some silly Halloween photos.

I know that I have a lot of room to improve with makeup. It’s not a skill I’m very good at. However, it’s so much fun and it’s another outlet where I get to be creative. I hope you enjoyed seeing a bit of fall this spring.

Troubles with Crocheting 4.7.25

I’m always trying to find myself new hobbies. My ADHD doesn’t help with this reoccurring task, but I get to try a lot of new things. At the beginning of this year, I decided to try to get back into crocheting. I learned how to crochet when I was young, but I thought it was boring. It’s been at least ten years since I tried it, so I figured I’d give it another go. I purchased yarn, hooks, and other accessories. My reels algorithm has shifted like crazy. This craft has taken over.

Turns out, I still think crocheting is boring. My brain never settles down low enough for me to be able to focus on one thing at a time. Staring at yarn for hours is torture. Working on a single project for hours and still not have a finished product feels like a punishment. I can’t stand having my full attention on one activity drives me nuts. I can’t stand it.

After chatting with my therapist and thinking about this activity, it turns out I don’t actually like crocheting. I like spending money on materials and proving that I can do stuff. Have you ever had a hobby that you’ve tried forcing yourself to like? Also, what hobbies do you actually like? I’m still on a journey to find the right thing.

Thank you for reading!

Why Haven’t I Been Posting?

A few folks have been asking about why I took such a long break from posting on my website. Instead of writing to everyone individually, telling the same story a bunch of times, I figured I’d just write about it and clear the air publicly. There are quite a few reasons I stepped away from posting, so here’s a little list.

  1. Mental health
    • My mental health has been in the toilet. The current living situation that I am in has caused a major decline in the improvement of my mental health. I have had zero motivation to do anything lately. The wave of depression took over and it has been really hard work to climb out of it. The mental health bucket usually holds most of the blame, but it spread into other brackets too.
  2. Ideas
    • I have had a hard time coming up with new ideas. With everything else going on, the creative part of my brain has been pretty empty. I have no idea what to write about. I can’t find any songs I want to sing. It’s been a major roadblock in coming up with things to do.
  3. I’m busy
    • I’ve been watching my grandmother’s house and farm. The animals are wonderful and I enjoy taking care of them. However, usually after doing all of my chores and errands, I’m beat by the end of the day. A lot of times, it is hard to find the energy to work on my portfolio.
  4. Environment
    • I was very fortunate at my previous job to have extra time to work on my website in a quiet, work environment. It’s been hard for me to find the focus at home. There are lots of distractions. It’s easy to let myself be too casual. It’s difficult to keep myself in work mode while in the comfort of home.

There are some other factors that I won’t get into now, but these are the main reasons I have been MIA recently. Thank you to everyone who is still here and I hope y’all enjoy what I’ll be sharing soon.

I’m back!

Hi everyone! It has been a while since I’ve shared anything on this site. Hopefully, that’s going to change. Last year brought a lot of changes that will soon be resolved (I think) and I will be back to a regular posting schedule. It’s taken me a while to get inspired again to starting creating, but there’s a few things I’m really excited to share with you all! Keep an eye out for some new posts over the next few days!

Thanks!