Category

A Well Crafted Life

Category

Guys, life is interesting. So interesting that I’ve dropped in and out of this blog for a bit now and I just now jumped on the train for 2019. I figured it was high time for a life update and an update on how things are moving forward in this little corner of the interwebs.

Rather see parties? Check out the post I shared earlier this week on Galentine’s Day ideas. Hanging in there for the no-holds-bar update on life in the world of this blogger… read on! It isn’t a short one (over 1,000 words!), but I appreciate you reading!

Some background…

I’ve been blogging here for nearly nine years now. I started this blog well before kids were in the plans and I needed a creative outlet like WHOA. This blog has opened SO many doors for me including my current career in brand development. Blog readers that have stuck around from the beginning have followed me from being a bartender and party enthusiast to full-time blogger, blogger with full-time marketing job, two kids, and three moves. The latest move being from Portland, Oregon to Spokane, Washington.

Our new home…. in Spokane, WA! I said I’d never move from Portland…
here is me eating my words!

So, that is where we are now. I moved to Spokane this past July, all while continuing my career. I’ve been trying to make my house a home, keep my job, make sure the family is surviving, and trying my damnedest to create fulfilling relationships here all while missing my social circle from Portland. January came around and I felt… nothing. I had no goals other than SURVIVE. (Yes, a tad melodramatic.) But, now that we are at the end of January things are looking up. Before I get into PLANS let me share a bit about the past that is influencing these plans.

Health: Fibromyalgia

I always feel slightly uncomfortable sharing my health stuff online. (Though I have dabbled in it to raise awareness for issues such as anorexia and skin cancer.) However, I also feel grateful when others share their experiences with health issues that I share. So…here it goes:

One of many…many doctor’s appointments trying to get to the source of pain.

I’ve been struggling with pain and extreme fatigue for years now. I’ve been diagnosed with PPD and Hashimoto’s Disease in the past. While I don’t doubt those are accurate (especially since my thyroid levels are hard to argue with) I still was dealing with pain even with treatment.

Sometime over the past year or two, I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and began a very long and frustrating path of finding treatments that would work. The most successful treatment of Fibromyalgia (according to my doctor) is frequent aerobic exercise—which sounds easy… but, I was unable to even walk the recommended steps in a day without so much pain that I couldn’t bend down to go to the restroom. There were a few nights I honestly didn’t know if I was going to live until the next day— the pain was so bad.

Self-care and awareness are essential to managing life with fibromyalgia. Stress and overdoing can set me back weeks. I can look at my blog and literally see when my fibromyalgia began messing with my day-to-day, times when I got it under control, and times I’ve over-done it.

August to November change in weight after decreasing carbohydrates for pain management. Weight loss = 26 lbs.

I’ve made a lot of changes to my life over the past five months including cutting out a LOT of carbohydrates. I’ve found that extra sugar in my diet causes inflammation and thereby causes excess pain. Have I been perfect? HECK NO. Pizza is my downfall. 😉 But, it has helped. It has ALSO helped me drop 35 pounds so far (26 pounds pictured above). The weight loss has gone a long way in allowing me more room to exercise which has in turn seriously helped with the pain of fibromyalgia. (BTW– looking for a low-carb pizza alternative… check out Caulipower pizza. SO GOOD.)

New Town, Meet New Girl

Dear lord…moving to a new town is HARD. I came into this move with eyes wide open, knowing that it wasn’t going to be easy. I had spent a LOT of time and effort building the friendships that I had in Portland. However… I had a lot more energy then! I didn’t have two kids (at least not the entire time) or a full-time job and a new house. I also had the benefit of being very similar in beliefs to those around me in Portland.

Enter Spokane… where, literally everyone I’ve met has been lovely. But, at least in the beginning, I was wondering if I’d have any friends that would share the same belief system I did or value the same things I valued. We don’t need to be the SAME, but we needed to have at least one or two things in common to build a friendship.

One thing that Spokane seriously has going for it—and perhaps there are these same resources in Portland but I didn’t need them at the time— are some great meet-up groups for women! I’ve encountered mom’s groups, business groups, and just women’s groups that have introduced me to really fantastic women who make me… I guess the word is HOPEFUL. I’m hopeful that I’ll find people that will eventually become my Spokane peoples.

New girl… plus, new hair! Woot.

Looking forward

It has been difficult for me to look farther than the week ahead while trying to control my pain, manage my home, and not fall into the depths of despair (Anne of Green Gables fans… anyone?). However, after three weekends of…

  1. little to no pain
  2. engaging moments with new friends and
  3. news of old friends visiting my new space

I’ve finally been able to make some decisions and plans. I’ve decided that I’m not quite ready to move away from this blog. I love sharing ideas, stories, and DIY content. I’ve also decided that while I want to strive for regular content, I’m not gonna let that stress me out. I know that regular content will grow my blog to where it used to be or beyond. I know that readers like to know when I’ll be posting. However, I also know that right now… that isn’t super realistic. I’ll aim to hit my goals, but I won’t be fussed if I don’t meet them right now because my focus right now has to be my health and my new life in a new town.

2019 Goals & Blog Plans

My 2019 blogging goals are simple:

  1. Blog at least every Monday and Wednesday— I’ll aim to post a party topic every Monday and a lifestyle topic—including beauty, fashion, parenting, self-development, current reads, podcasts and more!—every Wednesday. If I’m feeling extra frisky I’ll get in a Friday post. 😉
  2. Post more in Instagram/Facebook. Gosh… I work in marketing and social media… I KNOW how important it is. I think sometimes COMPARISON is hard and wanting to SHARE is hard. I don’t really want everyone to know every detail of my life… so, I struggle with WHAT to share and how often. However, I do know that I enjoy other people sharing so I am aiming to share daily on these channels at least throughout the week.
  3. Share my house stuff on my house blog. What!? I can’t keep up this blog yet I started another. Yep. That’s me! Anywho… while I’m sure to share some of the new house updates here, I did start a blog called A Well Crafted House where I plan to update about house projects.
Kids in living room looking at fire in fireplace stars projected on ceiling
Being more present as a mom is a personal goal of mine.

My personal goals are a little more important/ harder:

  1. I’ll continue with my health journey to decrease overall sugars and increase exercise. It’s f***ing hard. But, it is making an overall difference in how I feel, so I gotta keep with it.
  2. I want to be a more present mother. I’m tired of my kids hearing, “Mommy doesn’t feel great.” While true… I want to make the times that I am engaging with them to be fully engaged.
  3. I want to indulge in creative pursuits. I love painting. I love writing. I truly enjoy decorating. I want to intentionally focus my time in these areas.

Enough about me…What about you!?

Okay, so you’ve read about ME, ME, and more ME. I’m pretty much bowing down that you’ve hung on this far to my indulgent update. But, I promise you… that all of this ME isn’t without wondering about YOU. Tell me… what are your goals this year? What are you prioritizing? How can I help? Because, I seriously would love to help!

I don’t know about you, but I will happily be hosting several guests this holiday season and am searching for ideas to help make them feel more comfortable and welcomed in my home. One fun way to make guests feel loved this holiday season is by creating a DIY Holiday Guest Comfort Kit! Use my free printable below to tie your gift together and make it feel extra special.

This is the eleventh post of my 12 Days of Christmas DIYs for 2018. I’ve committed to sharing 12 posts in December where  I share DIY projects, recipes, entertainment, and more, that you can incorporate into your holiday season. 

Put together a guest comfort kit

The great thing about these kits is that you can truly mix it up to fit the needs of your guest. I like making sure that my guests have some of the things I know that they’ll need on-hand so that they don’t have to ask or search for them. 

Ideas for crafting your guest comfort kit: 

  • Towel and Washcloth
  • Shampoo, Conditioner, Body Wash
  • Lotion
  • Chapstick
  • Earplugs
  • Sleep Mask
  • Water Bottle & Glass
  • Fuzzy Socks or Slippers
  • Travel Hairdryer 
  • Tissues
  • Razor
  • Sweet Snacks
  • Savory Snacks
  • Assortment of Tea
  • Extra blankets/pillows, etc. 
  • And, the most important in my opinion…the WiFi Password!
WiFi Password Sign

For a recent guest I created a small basket filled with:

  • a pair of fuzzy socks tagged with a tag that reads, “Stay Cozy” 
  • a washcloth and towel tagged with a tag that reads “so fresh & so clean”
  • tissues
  • water bottle with a tag that reads, “Stay Hydrated” and a water glass
  • both sweet snacks and savory snacks with tags that read “Something Sweet” and “Something Savory”
  • a sign that has our wifi network name and password. The free printable is a fillable printable so that you can type in your information or just print it off and write in the information. 
Free Printables for your holiday guest comfort kit

To use the free printable download the Holiday Guest Comfort Kit printable, fill in your WiFi information, and print on white cardstock in full color. Then simply cut out following the crop lines on the rectangle items and around the black outer line on the circles. You can then punch a hole in the circle tags or use tape to attach to your comfort items. 

How do you make your guests comfortable when they visit?

There are so many fun options for holiday party favors… ornaments, sugar cookies, chocolates, stocking stuffers, etc. I wanted to do something a tad different for this holiday party. For this party, I wanted to share a holiday survival gift as a party favor! But, then I was stumped… what should I put in a holiday survival kit!? 

This is the tenth post of my 12 Days of Christmas DIYs for 2018. Each day for the next twelve days I share DIY projects, recipes, entertainment, and more, that you can incorporate into your holiday season. 

Holiday Survival Kit Party Favors from A Well Crafted Party
Party Favors!

I had so much fun researching ideas for a holiday survival kit. Many friends were texted, my husband was quizzed, and Pinterest was searched! I didn’t want it to be stuff like a penny or a piece of tape though, I wanted it to be USEFUL, funny, and… most of all, I wanted it to make sense! 

The great thing about creating a holiday survival gift party favor is that you can create your own with any items that you feel would help get your guests through the holiday season. But, because it is helpful to have a guide… here is what I built my kit with:

Everyone needs tape at Christmas, right?

Holiday Survival Kit

(The below links are affiliate links. A small portion of the purchases made through an affiliate link goes to supporting this blog at no additional cost to the shopper. Thank you for supporting A Well Crafted Party!)

  • Popcorn box — I gave my favor in cute little popcorn boxes, but simple muslin or cellophane bags would have done the trick just as well!
  • Tape— “To remind you to stick to your list.” Also, just between you and me, I’m always running out of tape right before finishing my holiday wrapping! 
  • Batteries—”For the energy to get through your 5th ugly sweater party.” Also, because you ALWAYS need batteries over the holidays! 
  • Balance Tea— “To remind you to relax. It is only a season, after all.” Other tea bags that would be great for this is chamomile or a de-stress type tea
  • Chocolate— “Because you deserve a treat!” Also… chocolate. 
  • Lotto Ticket— “So that you have hope!”

Other survival kit ideas

Of course… AFTER I created these kits I got a few other fun ideas.

  • Small donations to a favorite charity to remind your guests the true meaning of the season. 
  • Ear plugs to protect your ears from all of the screaming kids. (Good screaming though, because… Santa!!!) 
  • Mini ice scraper because “sleet happens” (from a super creative friend of mine!)
  • Fillable gift certificate that can be used in case of emergency gift situations
  • Mini bottles of alcohol for some “holiday cheer”
Free Printable Tag for your Holiday Survival Kit from A Well Crafted Party

Holiday Survival Kit Free Printable

Because I’m me and I love a good printable I created a fun little tag to put onto my holiday survival kits. I’ve created a fillable PDF so that you can make your own as well! 

Directions: 

  • Download the free printable holiday survival kit tags and save to your computer. 
  • Fill in the tags using your favorite PDF software (Adobe Acrobat and Google work for this) using the items you are including in your gift. 
  • Print on white cardstock in full color. 
  • Cut out around the outer lines. Then cut into the white lines that are next to the elf’s arms. Fold on the line. Those two little tabs that are left can be taped or set onto your gift. Don’t need them? Cut them off and hole punch through the elf’s hat to make a tag you can use with a ribbon!