Oh, lookie here, I'm writing a blog post! I should have taken off the month of June in regards to blogging.  I just haven't had the brain capacity to write anything that I had planned.  I'm taking some time today to sit down and just write all this out so I can stop thinking about doing it--hence the title of the post. 

This month has been full of planning L's 3rd birthday party, Father's Day, a weekend getaway (which is happening this weekend), and all the other daily things that come up.  I had tons of blog posts planned for this month and I think I managed to write five posts I really wanted to get out in the world.  I apologize guys!  However, I think you all enjoyed what I did put out this month, so that's a plus.

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Earlier in the year, I had talked about how I had a few projects up my sleeve for 2014 and I think one of those needs to be started ASAP.  I am looking at taking down the Facebook page (don't freak out on me!) and producing a newsletter that would come straight to your inbox once a week from Life & Leopard.  Facebook has completely screwed with their algorithms and has made it almost impossible for bloggers to get our content seen from our pages.  Only ten of you see my posts via Facebook on a daily basis.  There are 92 fans on my page.  That's insane and I feel like I am putting too much time into something that isn't helping me.

However, there is a way that you can all follow me on my personal profile and you can get my blog updates that way.  I'm still working out the details on that portion, but I think a newsletter and having readers follow my personal profile on Facebook would really help out in the long run. 

I've also been thinking a lot about my personal writing lately.  I love writing beauty and style posts.  Surprisingly, I do well with them, but they aren't satisfying my creative writing side.  This tells me that I need to start making time to write creatively and really work on getting those things out into the world.  That is where my heart is at and it's why I started blogging in the first place.  

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I love Life & Leopard.  This blog has helped me in my journey back to myself after L was born.  I went from not caring about anything "me" wise to being able to balance it all pretty well.  There are still some things I'm working on, but I'm much further than I was a year ago.  I have all of you to thank for that.  I really do. If it wouldn't have been for all of you coming here to read what I have to say in regards to beauty and style, I would have quit.  

So, that's what has been on my mind lately.  We are going away for the weekend and I am checking out of the social media world to give my brain a break.  I am going to take some books, a pen, and a journal and remember what it was like to entertain myself with those things.  Have a great weekend everyone!  I'll be back next week! 

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Dear December,

Here we are-the last month of the year.  You are one of the busiest, most stressful times of the year and sometimes December, you get a bad rap.  I know, I know, you didn't choose to host Christmas, Hanukkah, or New Year's Eve.  I know you didn't intend to have your days and weekends filled up with shopping, errand running, or holiday parties.  It's a lot to take on, I know.

You see, the thing is December, I think sometimes we take advantage of you.  Since you mark the end of the year, a lot of us go into overdrive and think we have to cram every single thing that we need to do before the new year gets here.




We find ourselves saying things like:

"Oh man, I haven't reached my goal for all the books I wanted to read this year."

"Well, another year, and I still haven't lost that weight."

"We're still in debt..."

And lastly, and most commonly....

"Oh my!  Where did this year go?!" 

December, just because we crab about you and we stay constantly busy, doesn't mean we don't care about you.  Nooo, see, we love you.  We enjoy this time with our friends and families.  We love the holiday's you bring.  We love watching kids get all excited on Christmas Eve about the Santa Tracker and then, the next morning, when he has arrived and the walk out to the tree and see, yes!  He came!  Santa came and this is the BEST DAY EVER!  Oh man, he ate the cookies!  Oh look-are those his footprints by the fireplace!?

So, you see December, it's all good.  We welcome you with open arms despite the fact that you are so chocked full of things to do and people to see, but we get moments.  We got small moments that remind us of why you are the last month of the year.  You send us out with a bang!  We start the new year so full of love and joy and happiness and you did that, December!  You give us full hearts to start a new year with.

Thank you, December.  I don't know if anyone has ever said that to you, but thank you now.  Thank you for allowing me to have time with my family and my friends.  Thank you for allowing me to have moments with my child that remind me of what it is like to be a child when I desperately need it the most. Thank you for filling my heart so full that I can't help but be optimistic about the next year.

Thank you, December, and may your heart be full now, too.

Sara

I was going to post about our Thanksgiving holiday yesterday and how I managed to roast my first turkey and not screw it up.  I was going to post about how much fun L had with her Uncle Bubby and even show you a picture.  Lastly, I was also going to post my outfit from the day yesterday.

However, none of that will be happening today since I awoke this morning to a message from a personal friend on my personal Facebook about how I was the subject of a blog post from a pretty well-known blogger.

And it wasn't praises that were being sung.

I (apparently), according to the post, made someone mad with my opinion on a Facebook status that I responded to on or around November 17.  I was responding passionately to something that I disagreed with.

I am going to be professional and respectable and not say any names or anything that could point fingers to specific individuals.  I realize that I (and some of my personal friends and family) weren't given that privilege of having our privacy protected, but I wasn't raised to blast people out on social media, blogs, etc. (I'm from the South, we just say, "Oh bless their little heart..." and move on.)

Basically, I commented on a Facebook status and let my opinion be known on a specific issue surrounding children's homemade Christmas ornaments.  Sometime between the time I posted my comment/response and the next morning, my comment was deleted.  I wasn't surprised.  I did, however, share the Facebook status on my personal Facebook page that morning because I wanted to see what others would say about it.

And then I forgot about it.

Well, on Wednesday, November 27, that shared status from my personal Facebook page was posted on a blogger's blog.  They did not cover my name or picture NOR did they cover up any of my friends and family's profile pics or full legal names. The blogger then proceeded to berate me for my opinion that they opened themselves up to when they posted a status about it on their Facebook page. 

I was not the only one that had a differing opinion on the original status.  Several people weighed in.  Several people agreed with my comment by "liking" it.  There were some who agreed with what the post was about, too!  I didn't say anything to them.  I directed my comment to the writer.  I thought I was respectable.  I thought I made myself clear.  I don't believe I threatened their parenting skills in any way.

I hit a nerve and now my name is being circulated throughout the internet.  The post, at the
time of this writing, has been shared 532 times on Facebook alone.  Wow.  At least 532 people have seen my face and are all forming opinions of me and my friends and family.  They are all judging me and my friends and family by one post.  One.

The comments on the blog post are very hard to read.  I keep reading the word judgmental and, at first, I was angry. Oh I was so angry!  I am not a judgmental person!  And then, after several conversations this morning with friends and family, their words started to sink in....

Today's post is pretty fun since I get to talk about any outfit from one time in my life that I felt comfortable in.

This was actually a no-brainer for me. I didn't think twice, I didn't try and think of something else, I just went with my first instinct.

I am thirty years old, so therefore, I have worn countless outfits. From the handmade Christmas outfits my mom used to make for my brother and I, to the prom dresses, to the plaid school girl skirts and black mesh shirts in my early 20s: this is the one outfit that I felt the most beautiful, secure, and capable in my life....

Yesterday was a hard day.  I'm not talking from a parenting standpoint, I'm speaking from a personal standpoint.

Hello everyone! If you're a blogger, then you know what I mean when I say Happy NaBloPoMo! In honor of NaBloPoMo, I decided to take Friday's of this month to do a little prompt writing.  BlogHer has a pretty good list of prompts for this month, so I'll be choosing from there.




*looking up first blog post*.......

*cringing*

*taking a deep breath*....

Okay, so, my first blog post was written May 9, 2012 and you can find it here for your viewing pleasure.

It's kind of an interesting read now almost a year and a half later.  I was freaking out over something that is now what I have come to know.  I didn't get the teaching job that I dreamed of and I became a stay-at-home mom.

I'm just going to say it:  That was the biggest 180 my life had ever taken.

For the first time in eleven years, I had to stop everything that I had known. There were no jobs to apply for, there were no papers to write, and there were no lesson plans to fine tune for the next days lesson.  It was just me, my degree on the wall, and a baby.

It was a very hard smack in the face that came with a very painful transition period.  There were days that were so hard I didn't know how I was going to do it all again the next day without breaking down.

Some days, I did breakdown.

It took a lot of growing pains to get to where I am today.  While the days are still hard sometimes (because that's just called parenting) and there are nights that I fall into bed and don't move until the next morning, I am better at this stay at home mom thing now.

So, while my days still consist of dirty diapers and cartoons, there's more now.  L is becoming her own person.  She's learning things and she is starting to communicate better.  We are communicating better.  I learn a lot about her by watching her play and how she interacts with things.

There is a reason that I am home with L.  I may not know why and I may never know why, but I am where I am supposed to be for the time.  The job has its perks and it has its pitfalls, but I'm paid in hugs, kisses, and stickers.  I can't get that kind of compensation in a classroom.

I've been thinking about those reader surveys again.  I got less than ten responses, but those that responded gave some good feedback and quite a bit to mull over this last week or so.

When asked what they wanted to see more of on the blog, they responded with pictures, series, recipes, and more uplifting posts.  I see all of those requests as things that I can use to grow this blog....and myself.

You see, here's the thing, all of those listed above are things that I would like to improve on in my life.  Example:  I've always wanted to be a great cook. As it stands now, I am an okay cook in my book.

My husband will read that statement and roll his eyes, but I am a "room for improvement" kind of person.  Room for improvement means you have things to work on in your life.  When you have things to work on in your life, you are a productive person.  When you are a productive person, you are happy.

You know you want to pin this. Go ahead, pin it.

I could take the areas in my life that I want to work on, such as cooking better dinners for my family, hold myself accountable on the blog, and voila! I will have content that will probably even produce some blog series along the way. I would be benefiting from it, my family would benefit from it, and my readers would, too!

I'm not sure how I'm going to put all of this in motion, but I am going to take this weekend to think some more on it and try to come up with a plan.

Here's the bottom line:  When I am creating, I am happy.  I enjoy gathering supplies for a craft and putting it together.  I enjoy writing words until my head is empty.  I enjoy the process of making food for my family.  When I am creating, I am at peace with myself.

I need more creating in my life.
I need more peace.

After I put the kiddo down for a nap today, I stepped outside to do something that I hadn't done in quite some time.

I took a walk around our yard and took in the scenery. It was refreshing to stroll along all of the plant life that had been planted by the previous owner; the sun beaming warm on my face.  The air was clean smelling from the rain we had had a couple of days prior and it was quiet.


Here in the Midwest, we are in that cusp between the end of summer and the beginnings of fall.  The sun is warm on your face, yet the breeze has the smell of fall on its end.  The nights are chilly, but the days still warm.  This is the time right before my favorite time of the season.


Currently in our yard, we have remnants from spring and summer mixed in with fall colors.  It's quite an amazing site.  I found it calming how they were content living within the same space as another.  None trying to take over the other; just existing in perfect harmony.

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So, today, I am blogging from my sun porch. When we came to look at this house in our house search, I envisioned me setting up this space as a writer's nook.  Well, it's not heated or cooled.  So, I can only write out here when the weather is perfect.  Today, the weather is perfect.  I am a happy camper.

Today's prompt is to write about a time when I screwed up or made a mistake.  

Today's prompt is to write a review over a book, place, or product.  Well, this is easy!  Ya'll know I'm going to pick a book right? 

Well, today's Blogtember prompt is all about life lately and, let me tell you, this probably couldn't have come at a better time.

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L at about five days old.

L-1 year

L-2 years Where does the time go?