Humpday Confessions #2

We've made it to Wednesday which means that by 2pm PST I'll be ready to take a nap done with presenting my numbers I've crunched for March. I'll finally be able to come up for air and can "relax" until the beginning of April.

And to celebrate that, we're going to get mixed up in another session of Humpday Confessions! I'm loving this link-up because I get to share random thoughts and embarrassing stories that hit me week to week. You'll enjoy the 3rd bullet best of all - you're welcome. 

+ When I'm getting ready in the morning I could easily just throw my hair up in a bun, but instead I've been trying to save 2nd and 3rd day hair and wear it down. But not for work or to impress anybody - simply just for snapchats. My hair down is way more photogenic than my hair up in my opinion and probably yours too.

+ I promise that I make an effort to be patient with people, but hectic work-mode head-down me was challenged this week. When I know I'm going to be in the office 10+ hours, all I want is to be shut in a room with an endless supply of water, coffee, gum and good music. So, next time if you need something from me during week 1 of the month, know that time is money, money is power and power is pizza. amen.  

+ I am the worst kind of people. 

Last week was the first lunchtime dance class I've been able to make it to in weeks. I raced out of the office and over to the gym, stripped down, reached into my gym bag and there. was. no. sports. bra. *sigh* What do I do now? I was looking forward to class and I wasn't about to do the walk of shame out of the locker room by the peppy desk attendants. So what did I do? I thought "It's dance, women dance in normal bra's all the time". 

Except for the part where I know I get really sweaty in this class. 

Anyway, the girls stayed in tact through the workout and after my shower I shamefully and covertly put on a sweaty bra for the rest of the day in my normal clothes. 

Judge me, I don't care. I agree it was disgusting. I'll forever have 2 options in the duffel from now on! 

+ I had an amazing weekend, I really did. However, with all the rain and gloom outside my real need more than coffee and down time was a snuggle bunny like this little guy. Hurry up and get here, summer so that I don't feel these feels. Or maybe hurry up snuggle bunny? I'm really not sure which one I prefer here. 

+ Sometimes I'll spend 30 minutes here and there bookmarking GIFs that I'll want to use someday somewhere. This is a good thing right? It's like over-pinning to a style board though and I'll forget all of the things that I've saved. There's also the awkward thing where I'll love a GIF (like this one) but I never ever will know how/where/when I'd use it. This could double as a first world problem. 

1, 2, 3, awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.....

And that's a wrap! Have an amazing hump day!

ASAP Tuesday: Productivity

Yesterday I mentioned that I felt productive for the first time in a long time over the weekend. I didn't do anything monumentally challenging or life-altering, but I did feel like I placed a lot more focus on the ways that I was choosing to use my time than I normally do. Mindfully doing things rather than my usual scatter-brained "how did I just spend my weekend?" feelings. 

Today I'm bringing another AsapSCIENCE video and this time it's all about how to be more productive with your life in this ever changing world. 

Case in point - I packed up my things and headed to my neighborhood coffee shop this Sunday to write and schedule my first three blogs for the week in anticipation of my extra busy schedule. 

Using the tips from this video, here's how I applied productivity to blogging this weekend. 

1. Get started!

Monday I talk about the weekend, Tuesday I throw some knowledge in your face, Wednesday I'm loving Kathy's Wednesday Confessions link-up. 

Cool, I've got my topics, now it's just to start putting thoughts onto the white blank page. 

2. Give yourself a deadline.

Write three posts by end of day Sunday? Not a problem! Write 3 posts before it get's dark outside? Challenge accepted! 

I'm usually a night-time writer and this time I liked putting a time/date limit on my work. It made me less likely to scroll instagram, less likely to stop and snapchat, less likely to bounce around from playlist to playlist on Spotify. Because let's be real, I'm usually a "once I finish this post I can finally turn the lights out" writer and I think you may like me better if I'm not zombie-blogging. 

3. Stop multi-tasking.

Yeesh, I'm the best worst at this. I'm a serial multi-tasker and anyone who knows me will say that I love juggling 10-15 things at once. The truth? I love doing one thing at once. And I love to do it well. 

But spaz brain says, "hey no Jessi look over here at all the shiny things you can be doing instead, there's always room for more people at the party!". 

I'm getting better, but need to separate business and pleasure a little more if I want to be good at life. 

4. Split up tasks into bite-sized ones. 

Blogging tasks can be classified into 3 separate pieces for me. 

Words, GIFs/media, Editing. 

It's tempting to complete an entire thought all at once with all of the components, but I've found organization a little easier if I go grab all of the media for the entire post - then write the words - then polish the entire thing. It's a little less fine-combed than I'm used to, but the random that comes from it is refreshing. 

Enough about the way I applied these steps, watch this 3-minute clip and learn how to add productivity into your daily life! 

Searching for the Sun

Weather fake-outs are the absolute worst. I've lived in Portland my whole life and the sunny weather we had on Friday shouldn't have fooled me, but it did. It was gorgeous. The temperature didn't quite add up to the scene outside, but it had me dreaming of flats and heels. Had me aching to re-introduce corals and mints back into my wardrobe. Had me ready to put the scarves and gloves and jackets into another closet to not be seen until November.

But I know better, don't I? I know the Portland that I've lived in for 26 years. The Portland that makes it perfectly okay to stay in bed until noon on a Sunday and snapchat all your friends about it. A Portland where the local coffee shop is bursting at the seams with people who crave being socially antisocial just like me. Where we're all out in public, but lost in the glow of a laptop or the pages of a book. I know that I'll need a hooded jacket for the next three months and I know I'm crazy to think that one sunny day in February can change the entire season. 

I suppose I just wanted the sun coming out on the last day of February to mean something. I wanted the song that the birds were singing to be just for me. I wanted it to mean that brighter days are coming, that this time around everything is going to be different. I didn't just want it. I needed it. 

I needed this ray of light so much that I decided to be it for myself. 

Rather than lazying about the house I got some great things accomplished this weekend. Like a closet purge, meal prep, workouts, laundry, girl chats over too much wine. Like a trip to Trader Joe's, Walking Dead catch-up, starting House of Cards (um-yeah!) and my favorite of all - several posts scheduled!

Scratch that, my favorite of all was the excuse to wear a hat in public. Because I love hats.  

Even though the sun didn't come out for me this weekend, I've got all the sunlight I need right here in my heart. 

That's all for today. My apologies in advance if I'm quiet this week - the start of the month is always my craziest work schedule. I'll be the busiest bear in my office chair. Wish me luck!