I have always felt myself to be a two-sided individual.  One side wants to be fashionable and girly.  The other side loves her books and her writing and would love to be a librarian or a book store owner.  (Read: Nerd)  It has always been very hard for me to get those two sides to coexist within myself.  For a very long time, I was of the mentality that it wasn't possible.  I don't know how that way of thinking got embedded in my brain, but it did, and I have virtually had a block going on for years.

Around the first of the year, I took a very hard look at myself and my life.  I didn't look at myself as a mom or a wife, I looked at myself as an individual with dreams, goals, likes, dislikes, and aspirations.  I thought a lot about my life before L and how I had changed since she came along.

Two things became very clear to me:

1.  I was doing my daughter a major disservice by not being my true and authentic self.

2.  All those years I spent in college, being completely in love with my major (the second time around), buying fashionable clothes so I could look decent in the classrooms that I was observing (and eventually teaching in) was two sides coexisting to create one kick ass woman.

So, basically, I discovered at 30 years old that I am a kick ass woman and I've been blind to it this whole time.

Imagine the money I could have saved on therapy! :)

Since discovering that I am, in fact, a kick ass woman-I have made some plans for myself in regards to some more personal goals of mine that are separate from this blog. However, by making these plans and putting them into motion, I'm going to have to do a little pruning and re-planting around here.

With all of that being said, I did say at the beginning of the year that there would be changes coming to the blog.  After many hours of thinking and research, I have decided to re-brand A Plethora of Ponderings.  In the next few months, you will be seeing a new name, design, and focus here at APOP.

I have decided to open up a separate blog for just my writing.  So, for those of you who enjoyed reading things like a letter to a mother I didn't know or about the old man in the parking lot, be watching for that blog because it is coming very soon.

As for this space here, this will become a life and style blog.  This space will become more colorful and lively.  This space will be where I talk about being a mom, sharing recipes, crafts, and DIYs, and how I am finding my way back from the fashion catastrophe I was in with the yoga pants series. I will be letting my hair down, so to speak, with this new focus.

I am excited for the changes that are coming.  You will be learning a lot more about me as a thirty year old woman and how I handle life as me.

Source

With Valentine's Day coming up on Friday, I thought today would be a good day to offer some easy, last minute ideas to make for your Valentine.

Today is National Wear Red Day.  NWRD is is always the first Friday of February and is done to bring awareness of heart disease in women.

Heart disease is the number one killer in women, which is why National Wear Red Day was started.