Love, Lydia - Notes from a geeky, plus sized artist.: life
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts

Saturday, October 21, 2017

Coming Back to Life

Hey friends,

It's been a really long time, hasn't it?  Sorry about that, but I've been going through a lot this past year and it's left me unable to deal with a lot of things the way I'd like to, or how a normal person would, much less keep up with a rigid schedule of blogs, social media, and videos.  And I've learned a lot from the experience and wanted to share some of what I've gone through and catch up with you all.

So this time last fall I was starting to feel symptoms of anxiety, I didn't know that's what it was at the time, but I did get around to realizing it in the past few months.  Mostly this left me feeling like I couldn't handle much socially whether that be in person, returning messages to many dear friends, or writing blog posts or doing other things I love.  Some of that's depression too, and as Bryan has said to me before, sometimes it's hard to tell where depression stops and another issue like anxiety pops up.  I thought the anxiety was mostly a side effect from depression, and I tried to do the best I could.  However I found it harder to keep up with everything as the holidays came closer and I started retreating more often.

The same time as all this was going on Bryan and I had been trying to have a baby for about 3 and a half years, completely unsuccessfully.  It had been taking a toll on our relationship and how confident I felt about myself after so much of what is perceived by society as failures.  We'd done tests, tried some medications, and more and nothing helped.  We finally got to a point where we talked to family members about it some and started to talk seriously about adopting while we hadn't quite stopped trying either.  To us it makes more sense to adopt than pouring a lot of money into something like in-vitro fertilization or other techniques which disrupt your life and procedures and hormonal nightmares while still offering no guarantees.  4 years of trying leaves you very stressed and discouraged.  It's enough to cause depression by itself, so in some ways I'm not surprised a bit that I was having trouble.

After the new year started Bryan and I finally had a good talk about things, with lots of tears and coming to a better understanding of how we both felt let down, pressured, and unhappy with each other and the silent expectation we thought we had to live up to, but never feeling like we could acknowledge it properly.  After that conversation we knew it was time to stop trying.  I'd dealt with a lot of pain each month from my periods and was very glad to go back on birth control to manage it.  I've looked into it as we had all the tests for fertility done, and there's a decent possibility the pain is caused by endometriosis, but there's no way to know for sure without surgery.  My doctor doesn't want to resort to that without better reasons than we currently have, which were mostly unexplained infertility and enough pain that I had to go on birth control back in college because otherwise I'd miss classes regularly since no pain killers can help on my worst days.

Around the same time I'd had my yearly physical and had my blood glucose test come back in the pre-diabetic range.  I'd not worried about this too much in the past, but with all the was going on I had gained some weight over the holidays and wasn't in a great place.  I was told to try to be more healthy, and come back for follow up tests in a month or two to assess whether the blood glucose reading was an anomaly or something to worry about.  In some ways this was a wake up call since I do have a family history of diabetes.  Somewhere between the two visits I made the decision that I wanted to be healthier, and was serious about it.

That spring proved to be a very hard time though, and while I did get healthier metabolically I also got sick a lot, several times with stomach bugs, plus the normal cold or two, and between it all I threw my back out horribly.  I didn't really recover from it until mid April, but during that time I did start walking more, because that would help with my back some.  I honestly got so little done at home during that time that it left me feeling very guilty, and I backed away further from friends as I found sitting up to use a computer hurt.  I had started back on birth control in February and found it lifted a lot of my depression, though I still have the occasional bad day it's much less often.  And when I went back for follow up testing things were better!  I had started to change how I thought about eating and pay more attention to my eating habits in general so I'd be more sensible and balanced.

The summer was a bit of a mixed bag as I tried to find some balance between the healthy habits I was trying to make, more going on with family, and trying to deal with things around the house again and contemplating art again after depression led me to abandon it for several years.  Often I felt like I'd take two steps forward and one step back, but things were slowly getting better.

As fall has started I've been dipping my toe into a lot of things, remaking habits to create, socialize, and hopefully run my business again.  I've been doing it all with a much different approach than before, where I tried to do too much, imposing perfectionistic ideals that led to cycles of failure, depression, and self sabotage.  Now when I start something I ask myself a lot more questions about the process with the thought of making sustainable habits, and making myself healthier mentally along the way.

You're probably thinking that's a lot of mental health jargon and not a lot of concrete goals.  But it's been helping me.  I've been tackling the Inktober challenge; it's a trend that started for artists to create an ink drawing each day for the month of October.  I've been taking it with a more forgiving attitude, allowing myself to take more time on some pieces, and get caught up on others.  And sharing these pieces has been getting me back into talking and posting on social media, as well as working on refreshing my Etsy shop to include the new pieces and put more polish on what's already there.  Once I get through with Inktober I'll be working on serious pieces more often too.  Right now I've got one watercolor going to get back into practice.  I do have to admit that putting things down for so long has left me rusty.  On the flip side starting over has given me new ideas and left me feeling more refreshed in many ways than I have in a long time.  I kind of wonder now if what made me stop wasn't just depression, but a bit of burnout too.  In any case, it's good to be back.

I'm not quite sure what that means for what I'll be writing here on the blog, but I hope you'll stick with me as I try to find out.  I know two things though, first off I want to work on projects that leave me feeling satisfied, maybe that means I'll write about fashion some, or art more, or subscription boxes sometimes, I'm almost sure I'll write about books, and probably a lot more.  That overall leads me to my number  two...

Coming Back to Life, David Bowie Quote, love lydia, lydia dickson, lydiasdesigns, etsy shop, etsy artist, artist blog, depression blog,coming back to social media

Thanks for reading everyone, and until next time.


Saturday, July 9, 2016

News + My Nerd Origin Story

Hi Friends,


This week has been a crazy one, with lots of good and lots of bad to report.  Honestly it breaks my heart to think about it all too much.  However I'm going to try and write about some of it and we'll see what happens from there!


News

Giveaway


First off I'm pleased to announce a winner to my giveaway (found in this post).  Congratulations to Melissa K!  Her prize will be shipping soon, and if you missed this giveaway please stay tuned to my blog.  I'll be hosting another in the near future!


I'd also like to thank everyone who entered my giveaway.  I loved reading your ideas for what I should be writing about and noted many folks want to see more about plus size fashion and reviews.  I can't wait to bring you more of this!

Liebster Award



Last week I was nominated by my lovely colleague Sadie at Sadie By Design for a Liebster Award!  The Liebster is an way of giving bloggers a better platform to tell their story to the world.  I wanted to acknowledge it in this post even though I haven't had time to fully address all that goes with the nomination yet.  I'm thrilled and flattered to be featured this way and can't wait to write more about it.  Please watch for a more in depth post about this in the next few weeks!

#BlackLivesMatter


This is just exhausting to keep track of, and the more hate that builds as people start to see race as an issue to take sides on the more sick I feel.  I can't think about other people that way.  506 black lives have been lost so far this year, and now more are being added from the police force thanks to a few renegades who are taking things into their own hands.  One of the 506 was my cousin a few months back.

I keep thinking things will change for the better, and then there is only more violence and tragedy.  It leaves me an emotional mess, feeling guilty when good things are happening in my own life and others are experiencing so much loss.  Guilty for being white and having the privilege to go and do what I want without being anxious for my life.  I feel bad that the best I can do most days is simply have dialogue with you, my readers, or the other folks I know in person or online.  It just feels like nothing I do will be enough to help.  And for that I am sorry.

However I try to read and stay educated about what is going on.  I don't just block it out with my own moderately happy life.  If this strikes a chord with you and you'd like to learn more about concrete ways you can help find peace and ensure a better future for everyone in this country please check out this amazing article featuring a list of practical ways to become an ally.

Pokemon Go


This has been the happy thing of my week  I have been enjoying this app I have eagerly awaited the past 8 months.  I'll be writing more on this in the near future, including a full review!  For now I have my Bulbasaur, a gym next door to my house (First to claim!  Though it's already been taken over and....well, I'll come back to that later).

My Nerd Origin Story


My friend and fellow blogger Mickey came up with this writing prompt and opened it up as a bit of a group project within the Geeks & Beauties community I'm a part of.  I think it's a great topic to think about as we get introspective about life because it helps us look on the bright side of things and view our own life as a story that we get the power to write.  Just as some of our favorite superheroes lives were shaped by adversity so are our own at times.  And as with superheroes, sometimes we keep our nerdy identity a secret from the general public.  However, today I'm opening up about it to you all.

My own story starts when I was learning to read.  I was homeschooled and my mom had some curriculum to help that included a series of books with stepped difficulty and little racetrack to move along as you read each.  I remember after the first dozen or so I think I completed the rest in a day, and then started begging my mom to take me to the library.  From then on I loved reading and would get a dozen or more books each visit, multiple times a week.  When I was 10 years old my mom, brother and I spent some time living with my grandmother and great grandmother to help them out.  As soon as we realized we might be there long term the library visits started there too, and in some ways reading became my best friend when there was no one my age to play with.  While I love my brother, when you're cooped up in a house together you get sick of each other eventually.  Books became my escape from that, and later my comfort as I had to figure out how to make friends with kids again when I had left a kid and came back to my hometown a middle schooler.  Fantasy books were my favorite, from retellings of fairy tales to waiting for each new Harry Potter book.

I was the kid who while perhaps 13 walked to the mall on black Friday to buy myself a Game Boy when they were finally cheap enough to be affordable to my family, and then patiently wait to receive it on Christmas day along with a cartridge for Pokemon Blue (my brother got Red!).  We had an old Nintendo we shared and played the first few Super Mario games on, and I vividly remember playing all of the Legend of Zelda on a 6 inch black and white tv.  As he got further into his teens my brother took over most of the gaming systems in our house, deeming me unworthy to play them as a female.  But I was already hooked.

Growing up we had a closet full of board games, stocked by my mom that we used often.  Before she homeschooled my brother and I full time she had been a librarian at a university, and before that a high school biology teacher.  She loved learning and finding us new projects to work on that stimulated our curiosity.  Even when we watched tv with my parents they would often be watching Star Trek or other science fiction shows.  On Saturdays my dad would take us on walks to 7-11 to pick up some small item the family needed and buy me a Barbie or Strawberry Shortcake comic.  I didn't realize how nerdy this all was until much later in life.  I just took joy from reading about gardening and teaching myself to grow roses, or learning to identify birds, trees, and insects.  I never thought of myself as an outdoorsy kid, but I loved nature and the science and beauty of it.  To this day when I'm creating art or decorating my home themes from nature are constantly finding their way into my work.

Later in high school I wanted to run my own website for a church group I was in and learned to code some in HTML.  We didn't even have a computer at the time, just a WebTV unit that allowed us to do very basic web surfing and checking emails.  But I figured out how to make it work, and later when we did have a computer I was the one keeping that up and running for the 5-6 years we owned a desktop the family to shared.  And I almost ended up in the field of graphic design, except I fell in love with darkroom photography and preferred it to sitting in from of a computer for long periods of time.  And now my work involves a computer (or smartphone) all the time!

For most of my life I didn't think about myself as a nerd, I just did the things I loved, which happened to be geeky.  Nowadays when I'm looking for new friends or trying to find my tribe I often go straight for the nerdy girls first.  And most of the time that's exactly what works best.

If you'd like to hear some other great nerd origin stories please go read Mickey's here at the Nerdily blog, Sadie's at Sadie By Design, Andrea's at her YouTube channel Chibi Drea (coming soon), and Evelyn's at Princess Eevee.  I'll update these links to go straight to their stories, but for now you can check out their sites and get to know these lovely ladies.

What's your nerd origin story like?  Let me know more in the comments!  And as always, thanks for reading.  I really appreciate all my visitors.


Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Where am I? And "Sister, Spy" Book Review

Hi friends!


I know I haven't been around much lately, and I wanted to give you an update as to why.  For the first time in what feels like a long time many of the reasons are good.  And I'm happy to share some great things on the horizon too!



Where I've Been...

First of all May kept me busy, I've been in a great group coaching course called the Own It Academy, led by Jessica Rasdall (She's amazing!  Her story is unique and moving; definitely check her out if you want to learn how to convey your stories to folks!).  The class has been a fantastic experience that's had me writing away as I learn more about how to tell my story to you all.  The idea behind the course is boldly owning up to your story for the world to see and telling it effectively, so your audience can be encouraged, learn from what you have to say, and understand what it's like to be you.   We're about 2/3 of the way through the course now and along the way I realized the writing I've been doing there has honestly sapped away at my creative energy for posts.  So I'm sorry I haven't been around as much as I usually am, but I'm happy to be learning a lot, which I'm excited to start sharing with you all.

One of the biggest things I've discovered is how I've been looking for balance in my life and failing to find it.  Mostly because I push myself so hard to reach goals that are unrealistic.  I imagine you all can relate, you set great goals that when you look at each one individually seem quite attainable, but when you look at the big picture you realize you're trying too hard to be superwoman.  Honestly, my goals have been ambitious, and that's not taken into account how I deal with depression or other areas of my life I want to respect.

It's made me re-think my plans and goals for the future.  I'm prioritizing being happier and not being down on myself because I've set a course that's impossible to follow and be healthy.  It means that instead of trying to post 3 times a week I'll try for 1-2 really great quality posts that will help you, my wonderful readers, much more.  I love spending the time to research topics, creating great images, and fully writing out my ideas to give you the best I can.  I'm looking forward to doing more of that.  Right now my biggest problem is that I have loads of great ideas to write about, and have learn to put some of those ideas on the back burner!

Other than that I've been doing a lot with family, like having my parents visit, attending my brother in law Davey's wedding, and spending time with my husband.  I've dealt with a nasty cold, and some other health issues, which are thankfully getting better, though I'll touch on them more in a future post.  And in the past month my husband, Bryan, had been waiting for and finally received notice that the job he'd been contracting for the past 6 months is hiring him as a permanent employee.  We're super thrilled about that and starting to think ahead for some new developments in our personal life related to the increased stability we'll be so lucky to have.


Sister, Spy - Book Review




I love finding new books in a variety of genres, and while normally spy stories aren't my thing the premise of this one captured my interest.  And luckily I was given a copy of it to review by the publisher.  "Sister, Spy" by Menahem Misgav is about a pair of siblings who survived WWII living in monasteries and were recruited by the Soviets to spy for them in the fledgling country of Israel.

The first third of the book starts with a situation where the brother is killed, then we learn more about his family and how they lived the war.  A good amount of the next third of the book is about how he and his sister came to be spies. (Including a chapter on the sister's sexual awakening and subsequent relationships, which was a little graphic for my tastes, with all the parts of the story before it being focused on the family it was a little jarring.)  Finally in the last third of the book we get to see why the brother was killed and what his sister and father will do now that he's gone.

Overall I enjoyed the author's writing style quite a bit and found a fast and engaging read.  Other than the sexual content the only other fault I might have would be with some light mistakes in editing, all homonyms that snuck through the editing process.  I feel like this happens with many recently published books I read, since publishing now relies so heavily on spellcheck as an editing tool.  Perhaps this means I should take up editing?  In any case such a common issue it's hardly worth mentioning if I weren't such a grammar nerd.  I think most people with an interest in Holocaust survivors, spies, or Cold War fiction will enjoy this novel.  Please check it out here on Amazon through this affiliate link.



Coming Soon

More book reviews!

A follow up article with more reviews of LuLaRoe clothing than the popular original post (found here).

About a dozen videos, including lots of unboxings of beauty, geek, craftsy, and food boxes, plus my first fashion review on film!

And last but not least here's a brand new giveaway if you scroll down, because it's been too long since I've had some fun with you all!  Thanks and I'll see you all again very soon.



This giveaway includes a pair of LuLaRoe leggings in size TC (Tall & Curvy, fits sizes 12-24) 3 pairs of owl socks, and 2 pairs of "invisible" or "floating" style cat socks.  The owl and cat socks can be found here (owls) and here (cats) through my Amazon affiliate links.  LuLaRoe clothing is sold through local or online consultants, you can buy leggings through my consultant, Nicole's Facebook group here.  None of the companies involved paid me in any way, I just wanted to share some fun clothing with you all in this month's giveaway, which runs until July 4th!






LuLaRoe Leggings and Cute Sock Giveaway

Monday, February 15, 2016

Valentine's Day Celebrations, Beauty Swap, and Card Exchange

Hi Folks,


Update

I've been busy this past week and fighting off a cold.  This winter is just a tough one for my body apparently.  But there are lots of good things to appreciate as well.  I've been filming a bunch of videos, mostly unboxings of fun beauty and lifestyle boxes.  I also have that darn winter capsule wardrobe post nearly ready to post.  I know I keep saying it's coming, but I keep running into snags while putting it together.  It'll be here soon, promise!  (Maybe today!?)

MuteMath

Friday I headed out with my brother in law Michael to see MuteMath at The Cat's Cradle.  The last time I saw them live was back in 2006...the last time they were at the venue with Switchfoot actually.  While I don't think they allowed SLR cameras at the show I did take some reasonable phone shots and a little video I thought I'd share.  The show was just amazing, MuteMath is one of my favorite live bands hands down!



02-12-2016 Mute Math


Hopefully you can get a feel for their energy!  I think I was dancing almost the whole time!

Valentine's Day Celebrations

Next up is the real reason for this post - I wanted to share a pair of videos I made for Valentine's Day!   I did a card exchange with some fellow bloggers and YouTubers from the Geeks & Beauties Community.  And I also participated in a beauty swap challenge where Zainey Laney and I bought each other the makeup for a Valentine's Day date look for under $10!  These were both loads of fun and if you hop over to the videos on YouTube you can see links to other folks from the group joined in as well.  Part 1 has the cards and me opening the items for the beauty look.  Part 2 is putting on the makeup and chatting about life!




The cold I've had also made me have to take off the makeup almost immediately after putting it on....my eyes were just so itchy.  It made me sad.  And things stayed that way for our actual Valentine's Day date as well.  So I went with some extra bright lipstick and a couple doses of medication to help me make it to our double date with Bryan's parents.  We decided to see The Force Awakens again, and went out to lunch once we realized we'd have to catch a slightly later show than planned because the show we wanted was sold out.  It gave us a chance to go eat at Chili's together, and do a bit of shopping before the movie as well.  We oogled some board games at Game Theory, a great local gaming shop.  There may need to be some board game review posts here in the future!  We also discovered once we arrived at the theater that it was newly renovated and had super nice reclining seats.  We had a wonderful time watching Star Wars a second time and came up with more fan theories (you can hear some of my initial ones in this post) and discussed what we'd observed since we listened to the Hello Internet podcast on The Force Awakens this past week as well.  Here's a parting shot of us!



Thanks for reading, I'll see you all again soon.

www.lydiadickson.com

Monday, January 4, 2016

New Years Resolutions or All The Lists

Hi friends!


It's a brand new year and I'm excited to hit the ground running now that the last Christmas celebrations are completed (The first weekend of January we had an extended family shindig).  In past years I haven't done much in the way of making resolutions, I've never believed in diets or going cold turkey to change your life.  But this year I'm going to try at a couple that I know will make my life better in healthy incremental ways that I wait to keep up for the rest of my life.

New Years Resolutions


  1. Make smaller attainable goals for my life each month, to improve my motivation levels.
  2. Not be discouraged by my failures, but learn from them.  Mostly the not be discouraged part though, 'cause seriously...I fail at my goals so often because life and mental health issues just happen.
  3. Celebrate the good stuff no matter how small, to cultivate gratitude and boost my positive thinking.
  4. Exercise daily, which is a habit I will build gradually.  But eventually I want to have at least 5 minutes and ideally 30 minutes spent doing something that's not sitting on my butt.
  5. Do some of the things I've had my list forever, and by this I mean fun things like that book I've meant to read, tackling Steam games I've had for over a year without trying, and new foods or travel experiences.
To get things started off I'm going to go over some of my January goals here, because writing about them makes me feel more motivated to take them on.

January Goals

  1. Write or post videos here 3 times a week.
  2. Get in exercise 2-3 times a week consistently this month.  Learn to love it along the way.
  3. Play 2 new Steam games, read 5 new books, listen to new music every week.
  4. Do one of those new things every day, because they're fun!
  5. Try cleaning my house for 15 minutes each day.

January Blog Related Goals

I almost didn't share this with you guys, but I feel like it's a really important part of what I'm doing that needs to be seen.  Bloggers work hard too, especially when we're making it our job.  And that's my main goal these days, which is hard sometimes, but all my successes get me excited.  I really want to share that with you all!

  1. Meet my new monthly goal of over 5,000 visitors here.  Last month I was down a bit at 2134, but in November I had 3630.  I can do this!
  2. Post to social media daily and increase followers to the specified numbers - Facebook page 125, Twitter 350, Tsu, empowr, and Instagram 500), and post to YouTube weekly to work my way to 50 subscribers.
  3. Blog about the cool new things I'm trying out.  Seriously, this is the fun part that I get to share with you guys!  Also I want stick with my planned post schedule at least 60% this month.
  4. Contact some companies that I love or want to try out and review them here in partnership posts.
  5. Give my blog a beautiful facelift with the help of some great branding advisors.
Here's a peek at some of the font tests, a bit of which I'm already starting to implement!


This Week's "Menu"

  1. Start the cleaning and exercise routines mentioned above.
  2. Start the post routines on social media.
  3. Plan time for fun new things daily and make it happen.
  4. Write a book review post Wednesday.  (Let's see how I did on my 2015 reading challenge!)
  5. Finish creating my Winter 2016 Capsule Wardrobe. (So excited about this one!)
  6. Prep for and then talk to my branding advisors.
As you can see things are looking good, and I'm hoping for a fantastic year of growth in many areas of my life.  And to top things off, this past week Bryan and I had our third anniversary.  We have yet to really sit down and celebrate it, but we're going to try to do something special soon.  This week we're opting for a normal date night, which I don't mind since we're just getting back into the swing of things after all the busyness of the holidays.

I hope all you readers had a great holiday season, let me know what your resolutions are in comments.  Or better yet tell me how you've been able to keep up with the resolutions you've made in the past!  Tips are always welcome when you're just starting out in any new endeavor.


Happy New Year,


Thursday, December 24, 2015

My First Vlog, The Force Awakens, and A Dressember Update.

Hey friends,


I'm pleased to announce the winner of my giveaway is Angelica S.  Congratulations on winning the lovely Tigerwood necklace seen in my Holiday Gift Guide.

This week I'm trying something new!

So without further ado here's my first vlog:



Please note the volume starts out a bit louder and gets softer after the first couple minutes as I test equipment.

My Dressember Outfits

If you want to find out more about my Dressember participation check out my donation page here and go here to read stories about the lives changed through International Justice Mission.  Affiliate links are marked with a ◊ symbol, so if you happen to follow a link and buy something you help support my site.

Day 1, Dress - LuLaRoe, Leggings - Victoria's Secret, Ballet Flats - American Eagle by Payless

Day 2, Sweater Dress - Style & Co for Macy's, Leggings - Target, Boots - Trendsetter for Hushpuppies

Day 3, Cardigan - LuLaRoe, Dress - Her Universe◊, Leggings - Modcloth◊, Flats - American Eagle by Payless

Day 4, Dress - Cherry Velvet, Leggings - ASOS, Flats - American Eagle by Payless

Day 5, Flannel Shirt - Faded Glory, Dress - Her Universe◊, Leggings - Target, Flats American Eagle by Payless

Day 6, Jacket - Maurice's, Dress - ModCloth◊, Leggings - ASOS, Boots - Trendsetter by Hushpuppies

Day 7, Dress - Style & Co by Macy's, Bracelet - Old Navy, Leggings - Target, Socks - Gold Toe


Day 8, Shirt - Switchfoot, Dress - City Chic, Watch - Pick Your Plum, Leggings - ASOS, Flats - American Eagle by Payless

Day 9, a dress...not sure which, and Leggings by Bombsheller (get a discount with my affiliate code GEEKMEUP)

Day 11 (Day 10 was a pajama day, because I dyed my hair finally), Flannel Shirt - Faded Glory, Dress - Her Universe◊, Leggings - LuLaRoe, Flats - American Eagle for Payless

Day 12, Bag - Red Bubble, Necklace - Marsha Elliott Designs, Dress - Torrid, Leggings - Victoria's Secret, Flats - American Eagle by Payless

Day 13, Locket - Forever 21, Dress - Cherry Velvet, Leggings - Target, Flats - American Eagle by Payless

Day 14, Dress - LuLaRoe, Leggings - Target, Flats - American Eagle by Payless

Day 15,  Dress - Her Universe◊, Leggings - LuLaRoe, Flats - American Eagle for Payless

Day 16, Dress - Style & Co by Macy's, Leggings - Target, Boots - Trendsetter by Hushpuppies

Day 17, Cardigan - Anthropologie, Dress - ModCloth◊, Leggings - ModCloth◊, Boots - Trendsetter by Hushpuppies

Day 18, Cardigan - LuLaRoe, Dress - Her Universe◊, Leggings - Bombsheller, Boots - Trendsetter by Hushpuppies

Day 19, Cardigan - Anthropologie, Dress - Cherry Velvet, Leggings - ASOS, Boots - Trendsetter by Hushpuppies

Day 20, Cardigan - LuLaRoe, Dress - Her Universe◊, Leggings - ModCloth◊, Boots - Trendsetter for Hushpuppies
If my wardrobe choices look limited it's because I've been using a 24 piece capsule wardrobe for the month of December.  One of the pairs of shoes (new ones I ordered in a Cyber Monday sale) didn't fit right, so I'm just wearing 2 pairs of shoes!

Thanks for stopping by and if you liked the new multimedia format let me know in the comments and subscribe on YouTube!

Love,
Lydia


Friday, December 4, 2015

Reflections on November & What I'm Looking Forward to in December

Hi folks,

November

So, I had another topic I wanted to post about today, however sometimes life happens.  Instead I spent my morning waiting for Bryan, my husband to get out of surgery.  He had a growth on his tongue that showed up almost two months ago.  Our family medical practice thought it was a boil or other bothersome skin condition and tried (wrongfully because it's not supposed to be used orally!) putting silver nitrate on it near the end of October.  It did nothing but give my husband chemical burns in about a quarter of his mouth.  They decided it must not be a boil and said they'd refer him to a specialist.  After a month of waiting (in which Bryan lost his job and was told his health insurance would run out at the end of November) he kept bugging the office, and was finally contacted Tuesday of last week.  The oral surgeon saw him the day before Thanksgiving and scheduled him for surgery Monday, the last day of November.

We'd been looking into insurance options, but until the holiday thought it wasn't quite as urgent since we didn't really expect to need the insurance so much in December.  So yeah...I spent pretty much all afternoon on the phone with the government health exchange and my insurance company to come up with some sad sounding answers that might work.  Bryan's dad helped me out too thank goodness.  Bryan was asleep with a swollen tongue until around dinner time.  It was right around that point that I decided to call his insurance company that I assumed was dropping him from insurance and research COBRA options.  After all the long hold times on the other calls I spoke with a fantastic lady who in 15 minutes including wait found that Bryan's insurance was actually paid for until the end of the year!  I just about cried when I heard that, I can't say enough how much of a blessing it is that it worked out that way.

Hopefully this along with some of my other posts explains why I've been absent more than I'd like this past month.  November was hard!  However there was good stuff too with family at Thanksgiving and Word Balloons comics reading group.  Overall though I'm glad that November's chapter in my book is ending and December is fresh and new.



December

So I know we still have some financial issues to work through connected to the change in jobs, but I already feel like December is going to be a spectacular month.  I have a really exciting fashion post to share with you all at the end of this week as I show off my December mini capsule wardrobe and along with some fantastic sponsored content that will be a big first for me!  (hint: if you want a sneak peek of my new friends check out http://shop.bombsheller.com/)

Other great things I'm looking forward to this month include:


  1. Making new traditions as we decorate our new house for the holidays.
  2. The Boylan Heights Artwalk in Raleigh, one of my favorite places to find gifts ever as well as meeting fantastic artists.
  3. Making my blog more beautiful as I create new, better graphics.
  4. Baking things in my kitchen and drinking hot cocoa.
  5. Finally hosting our housewarming party!
  6. Spending time with friends and family at the end of the month.
  7. Tackling a great new Monthly Instagram Challenge with the Geeks & Beauties Community.
  8. Finishing some long overdue art projects that I'd normally be more passionate about, but life and a bit of procrastination have made a bigger burden of than they should be.
  9. Going to the Raleigh Ringers concert (an incredible handbell choir that is not to be missed, and a Dickson family tradition).
  10. Finding the perfect gifts for everyone on my list, I might put way too much thought into it, but I really enjoy finding a present that will make the receiver smile.
  11. Feeling that things are finally calming down after the past months' turbulence.
  12. Participating in Dressember!

Dressember

I'm thrilled to be able to share about Dressember with you all.  To explain further Dressember is an event that lasts the whole month of December and it's purpose is to raise awareness for human trafficking and help put an end to it.  Participants ONLY wear dresses for the whole month, no pants or skirts, some folks even limit themselves to one the whole time.  And similarly to a walk for charity or event like Extra Life where gaming is what's done to raise awareness you can help support this endeavor with the Dressember Foundation at any time over the course of this month.

But let me guess, you're also wondering, Lydia, why dresses?  Here's what the Dressember Foundation has to say about why they selected this as their challenge:


          "Dressember uses fashion to advocate for women who've been exploited for their

          femininity.  As women take on the creative challenge of wearing a dress for the 31 days of

          December, they are advocating for the inherent dignity of all women."


I love this idea, and the challenge too.  I'm building a small capsule wardrobe for just this month, which I'll share with you all later this week.  Plus if you want to see what I'm wearing each day just come follow me over here on Instagram.  And, if you want to join in it's not too late, it's quick and easy to sign up at the Dressember site, we'd be happy to have you!

Day 1


Please check out my donation page here for more information on the project.  Additionally, I'm not alone, there are several other ladies from the Rising Tide Society dressing it up with me for the next month.  I've joined some of them on team Grace Belle to do good for some of those least able to help themselves in the world.  You can read a bit on their takes on the project here at GraceBelle.com and here at Phylicia Nicole.  They've really said things much more eloquently than I have here.

85% of proceeds go to International Justice Mission and A21, of the rest 5% is used to process credit card fees and the other 10% for the foundation's admin, tech, and marketing.  All of these organizations are 501 c3 tax deductible, and you can read more about them here.  Even a tiny bit can help, and my goal is to raise $200 for them, since it's my first time.  I'm a little nervous about it because I honestly feel bad asking for anyone's money, but this is it, I'm asking that you join me in helping to end human trafficking.

Thanks so much for reading.  I'll see you all again very soon.

Love,
Lydia

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Crazy Times are When I Drink Tea and Make Origami Turkeys

Hello friends,

Crazy Times

Sorry for the absences in the past week.  Things have been a bit rough as my husband lost his job a little over a week ago, went on a job search, found a new job, and is now waiting to start that job on Monday.  He's back to working in Raleigh again, though this time the commute is a tolerable half hour rather than something more crazy.  We thought he'd be working in Durham for a long time when we decided to move here, but we at least moved to an area that's close to the research triangle and not too bad for getting to north Raleigh, where his new job is at.

We've been through the wringer emotionally this past week and in some ways are glad he'll have some time off.  But we're using a lot of the time to take care of doctor's visits and things before we have to figure out what we'll do for health care next year since we'll have to buy our own plan under the contract position Bryan has landed.  But I won't bore you with the details, on to the fun!


Matcha Green Tea

Culinary Grade

So I tried cooking with matcha green tea powder for the first time about a month ago.  I'd had pastries and other great green tea items at restaurants, but hadn't really found a great green tea to enjoy at home until then.  I used a recipe for making a matcha glaze, which was intended for use on brownies, but I used on cinnamon rolls instead.  The results were a bit ugly, but tasted wonderful.

Drinking Matcha

The logical next step after using culinary grade matcha powder in cooking was to try the better ceremonial grade varieties that are the type made for drinking.  I got a little help from Midori Spring and Kenko brands (affiliate link) who let me try some of their products for free in exchange for an honest review.  I even bought a little whisk and scoop set made for making the matcha with.  Here's what I did:


I heated up a mixture of milk and water knowing the tea might be a little bitter at first, but the milk would help with that.  While I had the liquid heating up in the microwave I took one scoop of the powder and added it to my little tea bowl.  Once the water and milk was hot I added a teacup amount, with a touch of space for the whisk to move.  Here are photographs of both brands:

The Midori Spring was more finely sifted, but they both performed about as well as the other.  I really enjoyed them both.  I think I ended up with a slight preference for the Kenko tea, but they were both fantastic.

A peek at the powder inside the tins.


The Kenko looks a bit darker, but it's really not, between the photo's exposure and the slight difference in heat since my first cup was probably not as hot as it needed to be I had to stir it a little more after the picture was taken.  The trick is you pour the for water over the scoop of powder and whisk it until it froths.  I found that with the milk added in I didn't even need to add sugar.  But if you're more sensitive to bitter tastes you might want to try that too.  Overall I find tea is one of my favorite things about cooler weather.  I'm really glad to add green tea as a new option.   At this point I have a whole drawer dedicated to tea, plus a bunch more looseleaf teas I keep in a section of the cupboards.  Here's a shot of my tea drawer, just because.



As you can see I really enjoy Stash brand teas too.  If you'd like to try them out they make a really great herbal sampler box you can find here, which has the Cinnamon Apple Chamomile Tea or their Breakfast in Paris blend if you'd like a more traditional black tea that's similar to earl grey with a hint of lavender (both links are affiliates).

Origami

Another fun thing I was given to try by a company was this origami paper by Orchid.  With a value pack this size I don't think I'm going to run out anytime soon.  There are 10 fun colors, which work well for most projects.  You can buy a pack here (affiliate link).  I found it to be a pretty great deal for a 500 pack, and the paper itself it pretty good quality, holding up well to what I put it through for each of the three projects I tried.


I had fun creating some fun seasonal things, and plan to work on some more to make things festive.  I might even make some Christmas ornaments!


I tried my hand at a pumpkin, turkey, and Christmas tree.  The links go to instructions for each so you can try making them too.  I think the pumpkin is actually a really versatile shape.  You could turn it into an apple or a beach ball easily for various occasions.  It was really fun to make because once all the folds were done you have to blow into the hole on top to inflate it!  None of these were too hard, though the turkey and perhaps the pumpkin could be frustrating for younger kids.  The tree is a really easy one that it would be simple to make a large set of for decorating.
Well, here's hoping I'll be around more this week than last week.  Thanks for reading!

Love,
Lydia