Current Favorites!

Current Favorites

Hello Friends!!!

I'm back today and breaking the boundaries of my blog.

We aren't going to stick to a specific section of the blog today, instead we are throwing them all together with my current favorites!

I'm going to talk to y'all a little bit about some items in my life that I've currently been loving, so lets get right into it!

1.) Light Wash Denim Jacket

This light weight, light wash, denim jacket has been a go to for me lately. It's recently been getting a little toastier down here in South Carolina, so it's out with the thick winter coats and in with the light weight jackets. The color and wear of the denim make it a perfect piece for the spring and an easy piece to throw on with almost any outfit!

2.) White Ball Cap 

It's no secret that lately I've been not in the mood to do my hair so baseball caps have definitely been my best friends. I picked this white one up at a thrift shop, and I haven't put it down since. In my opinion a ball cap is the best way to hide the dirty hair and still stay stylish! Hats in general are a super fun way to spice up an outfit.

3.) Funky Coin Purse

Since it has rolled around to the Spring season I wanted to add a little pop of color to my mostly monochromatic looks, and this fun little coin purse is just the way to do it!

This "it's a GOOD DAY" pouch came from my local Marshall's and I'm very pleased with this purchase. The short saying on the front really is effective for a mid-day pick me up!

4.) Renewing Moroccan Argan Oil

Moving right along to hair care! Ever since I got my hair bleached and dyed blue I've been making sure to take extra care of it whenever I wash and style and this hair oil by organix is the prefect thing! I can definitely see a difference in the quality of my hair since I've started using this product! Not to mention the smell is quite lovely. 

5.) The Help

THIS BOOK. I've been absolutely engulfed by the marvelousness that is The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I'm sure many of you have seen this movie, but the book is even better. Set in Jackson Mississippi in 1964 this book takes a look at what it was like for the colored help working for white people and everything that comes along with it. Along with the joy of reading a great book I've also found that reading and taking myself to a different place mentally helps tremendously with my anxiety and everyday worries!

Well folks, that wraps up my current favorites!

I hope you enjoyed and maybe found a few items you'd like to try for yourself.

Let me know in the comments what some of your current favorites are!!!

Thanks for the read!

Paige 

Lifestyle: Admiration #2

lifestyle

admiration



Above is a picture of a man I like to call Papa, others call him Bob McGuire.
This is Caleb's Grandfather. 
The picture above is one of my favorite pictures I have of Papa because it's him standing next to the gate of the mill he used to work in when he was a young boy. 
A while back a wrote a post on here that came to be very popular about Papa's wife Gran. You can find that post linked HERE, but I realized the other day that there are a lot of things I admire about Papa as well. Things I wish to live out in my everyday life and look to him for inspiration, so today I'm here to present you with a post similar to Gran's all about why I admire Mr. Bob McGuire. 
Here we go!

#1. Papa's hard work ethic
Papa's life hasn't always been the easiest, and he's had to work hard to get to where he is. From working in the mill, to being in the Korean war, to taking care of Gran, papa is one of the hardest workers I know. I can only hope that I have the will to work as hard as he does for as long as he has. 

#2. Papa's Cleanliness
Saturday is cleaning day. That's the schedule and there is no straying from that. The house is always clean. His son Mike came in the other day with deer blood all over him and as soon as he walked out of the door papa went everywhere he was with a wet cloth and wiped it clear even if there was nothing to be seen.
Maybe an odd characteristic to admire, but I'd like to be that persistent with cleaning. 

#3. Papa's truthfulness
If there its one thing I admire the most about papa it's that he's going to give it to you straight. It doesn't matter who you are, if you go up to Papa on any given day and you ask him how he's doing he isn't gonna give you that fake "Good, how are you?" thing he'll let you know straight up if he's having a hard time or if he's having a really good day. 
It's really the best quality a person can have in my opinion. 

#4. Papa's ability to stay true to his faith 
With all of the things that papa has gone through in his life-some mentioned above-I can't grasp why he still has faith in God. Papa has it. He gets it. It's so simple for him and I admire that so much. He knows what he believes and will still stand in his faith even when everything else could be wrecking his world. He's such a strong man. 

I really hope that you all found a little love for the great qualities that papa has!
I'm so thankful that you stopped by to read. 
Paige 

Lifestyle: Simplified Planner

lifestyle

Simplified Planner

Welcome back, darlings.

Today we are going to talk about this little life saver I like to call my planner.

Before I started college, or uni, I never in my life thought I was the person who would use a planner. However, during my first semester of college I thought I was going to loose my brain half the time because I just had a journal I would write my to-do lists in. While that was effective for a while I found myself still really unorganized with everything I had to do. Luckily one day on a shopping trip to the goodwill I found this little gem somebody thought they wouldn't need for the upcoming year! 

I HAVE NEVER GRABBED SOMETHING IN GOODWILL SO FAST!

I was so shocked to see that the planner on the shelf was, first of all, high quality, second of all, in date and ready for use in 2016, and third of all, $1.99!

The simplified planner by Emily Ley was exactly what I needed in my life!

Since I've been finding myself carrying this baby with me everywhere I thought it was necessary for me to show you all the bells and whistles and why I love my planner so much!

I'll be sure to share a link at the end of the post that leads you to were you can get one of these magnificent creations yourself!

Let's get a move on!!!

One of the first things that caught my eye was the fact that the planner had different tabs for each month. This makes it so easy to find the date you need and get straight to it! 

This specific planner even comes with a bonus! On the inside cover there is a pocket that holds a tiny unlined notebook for brainstorming, random thoughts, and anything else you might need it for. I use mine to help me keep track of my blog and write down any new ideas that come to me. 

On the right side of the front page is a short note from the creator of the planner that gives you a quick idea of her life and why she uses a planner!

Since this is "The Simplified Planner", on the next two pages you will find a little blurb about the process of simplifying and also some tips on how to simplify! 

Flipping over to the next two pages you will find a full year calendar so you can get a clear picture of the year ahead. The page right next to that is set up to write down you 2016 Bucket List. To the right of each line is a small bubble for you to place a check mark once you've completed that task!

At the moment mine is empty, but if your little heart desires fill it up to the maximum and check your list off as you go!

 I absolutely love the fact that when I flip open my planner to a month tab the first thing I see is a layout of the whole month. This is where I make sure to mark any important dates, like birthdays, due-dates, and appointments. To the left of the calendar there is also a little section for notes. That's a great place to write down things that apply to the whole month and not just one day. 

Another factor in my love equation for this planner is how each day is set up. As you can see in the above picture there is a page for everyday, and on each page there is a column labeled "Today" with each hour layed out, and a side labeled "To Do" where you can write down the tasks you need to accomplish for that day. At the bottom of each week day page there is a place to write out your plans for dinner, and also any notes that might not fit in the other spaces for that day. 

For the weekends things are set up a little differently. You will find Saturday and Sunday on the same page. Each day has the same columns labeled "Today" and also has a "To Do" column, but Sunday is where the set up changes. Instead of a "To Do" list on Sunday there is a section that is entitled "Weekly Prep". Placed here are a few things for you to do on Sunday that will make the week ahead a little simpler. There are also a few empty slots where you can write down whatever else you may need to tackle on that particular Sunday. I also adore that in between Saturday and Sunday there is a small space that is set aside for you to write down a happy memory from that week, and I think that is a wonderful way to end your weekend and start a new week. 

The last, and probably most simple, part I love about my planner is that on the top of every single page there is an inspirational quote. This, Mrs. Emily, was the most brilliant idea you've ever had! Whenever I feel overwhelmed or like I can't complete everything I have written in my planner all I have to do is take a glance at the top of that day the I will find a little phrase to help me work through it. 

***THE SIMPLIFIED PLANNER AND EMILY LEY'S FULL WEBSITE***

Well we got through it all!

Thanks for sticking around through the whole post! Hopefully this helped you with your busy schedules, and gave you a little inspiration to get your life organized!

Make sure you find some time to slip some fun things into your schedule every now and again!

Much love, 

Paige

Everyday: My Poetry

everyday

my poetry

Hi friends! 

It's something new again today and a little different than usual. 

I used to write all the time. It was my outlet for the longest, and I even entered some contests and a few of my poems ended up being published in some no-name books. Over the past year or two though I have put writing on the back burner, but that has now changed.

I was sent a poem to read last night and my love for poetry came alive once more. The way that a person can take average words and put them together to make something outstandingly beautiful captivated me again, so I've decided to start back up with my poetry.  Take my poems as you will and interpret them however your little heart desires.

Here's my first shot at getting back into it, enjoy. 

silent screams

it's amazing

time stops, tempers flow, nothing happens

silent kids; screaming parents

"I'm ready... I'm ready"

constantly in the living room

constantly in the bed room

"He is the truth, He is so real"

finding things

seeing things

dont expose me to those things

screaming kids; silent parents

lies

fights

mechanisms to help cope

gone

silent kids; silent parents

Thanks for the encouragement to write again. 

Paige

Everyday: Depression

everyday

My Life: Brought To You By Depression

Hi friends, 

I've been struggling a lot lately with my emotions so I decided to make this post for you and me. I just recently got done with an art project I was assigned by my lovely art professor and I thought I would share it will you all because I'm rather proud.

A movie poster. Simple. A movie poster representing our life. 

That's what we had to create, and as soon as I heard the words uttered from his lips I knew exactly what my little hands would be working on.

So let me just get into it. 

Confused? I thought you might be. 

Some of you might remember the painting I did that was a complete outpour of my emotions from depression and what I thought it had done to my head. -If you want a full explanation of the painting itself you can check out my post on instagram,which I'll link below, where I told it all.- Well when I heard Mr. Morgan introduce this assignment my painting popped into my head immediately. I knew I wanted my poster to focus on my depression because it had made a huge impact on my life. Both for better and for the worse. This project mostly represents the bad parts. I started thinking about what I thought the worst part of my depression is and came to the conclusion that it was definitely the negative thoughts. I have hardly any positives floating through my head anymore. It's quite dark in there; some might even say black, but in all reality I'm giving those thoughts to myself I'm feeding them to become huge monsters that take over my life. That's what my black handprints represent, the blackness of my negative thoughts that have taken over my whole body. The words that can faintly be seen behind my original painting are all words of positivity or things of happiness I feel I can't reach anymore. That's precisely the reason those words are faded and covered in some spots. I can see them there but they refuse to come to the surface. Since the assignment called for this to be a movie poster it needed a name and some credits. 

I named this piece of art 

MY LIFE: BROUGHT TO YOU BY DEPRESSION

And that is exactly what this poster represents; how I feel my life has been changed by this monster. In the credits I added all of the things that I think contribute to my depression. I thought it might be necessary to give them credit for their work. lol 

All of the words are typed in the same faded green of the background of the work and the font is in a style that isn't so clear. I decided on this feature because of the symbolism.

It's hard to get down to the core of my depression and figure out everything about it. 

I have to search and learn about my self, so I wanted the views of my poster to have to search and learn as well.

Keep on trucking, 

Paige <3

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Health: MENTAL HEALTH

Mental Health 

For me mental health is a huge part, and really the beginning to, my overall well being. Mental health is something that I struggle with and something I think everybody has at least been exposed to it. I struggle with depression and anxiety, and I will get into that more maybe if anybody asks me to. I really just want to be able to bring it to peoples attention that it is real and I want to be able to help people that are struggling as well. When it comes to my depression a lot of the time my breakdowns will just happen out of no where or because of something small. You can't always know when it's coming and that is one of the worst parts of it. You feel so out of control. My depression is the biggest reason I didn't blog over the weekend. I haven't been able to do much to help keep it at bay, but I am trying some things and thought I would share them with you. 

Fighting Depression and Anxiety

Like I said, recently I've been struggling a lot with my depression and today my anxiety has been acting a little funny, so I thought i would share some of what I've been doing to help a little. The first thing that has helped is keeping my environment clean. Even if the rest of the house isn't in the best shape as long as my room is clean then I have a space I can go to to calm down and not feel overwhelmed. With that being said, alone time has also helped. I never would have thought this because I always feel like if I'm trying to be happy with people I will feel better, but in all reality sometimes you just need a break. The best tip I have to help with calming down is to take a bath and allowing for quiet time. I can't even explain what it does. Give yourself an evening or day of pampering and relaxation and you'll be sure to feel better. There are even some DIY recipes for bath bombs on youtube. I'll link one of my favorite youtube videos showing a great Pamper Routine. 

If you have any questions leave them down below or if you just want to talk leave a comment and I will definitely reply! If i get enough questions I might film a question and answer video/tips and trick for fighting depression and anxiety.

With all good wishes,

Paige

                                              

Lifestyle

Essentially a persons lifestyle is everything from how you wake up, fall asleep, and everything you do in between. Lifestyle has a lot to do not only with what happens in the world around us, but what happens within us. The things you put in your life and the things that you give out to the world help define your specific lifestyle. I'm here, on a quest to locate anything that may help me come closer to defining my lifestyle. I want to try new things and make my life what I want it to be. It's time for me to be happy and locating MY lifestyle is a great place to start. So after all that is said; Welcome to my journey of locating lifestyle through my surroundings, photography, and maybe even some food. I'm not promising a smooth ride, but it should be interesting. Hopefully. 

Gotta boogie, 

Paige