It's Time to Take a Break

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Well I guess the title pretty much says everything. 

But still, it's pretty ironic how my last post was telling you how I'm changing around my schedule + fine-tuning my days to make time for my priorities. But the really funny part is that I've found out that blogging...isn't. At least right now. 

We're all busy. There's nothing especially good or bad about that, it just means that we have to make choices on a daily basis what matters enough to warrant our time and what doesn't. 

So this is just to say that right now, blogging is not how I am choosing to spend my time. I love blogging. I love connecting with my readers. But when I blog on a restricted time-budget, I spread myself too thin + I end up throwing out mediocre posts riddled with grammar mistakes to you. And I respect myself, this blog and the process too much to do that.

I will be back. Soon. 

Please don't leave. Leave me in your feed...I'll show up again soon. It may be a week; it may be a month. But I can't wait for that day. 

I'll be making a (better) effort to comment + connect with all of you. If you're not a blogger, feel free to comment or email me at allie@callmesassafras.com so we can keep in touch during this time. 

I'll see you all soon (figuratively, on the internet)!

Weekly Goals #40

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Y'all. The last few weeks have really been tossing me around. Do you ever have those periods of time--days, weeks, months?--when nothing seems to go right? When you just want to be productive and make great things happen but little problems keep stopping you in your tracks? 

That's how the last two weeks haave been for me. Between overcommitting myself to everything, learning to get in the groove of classes and a horde of technology issues, it seems that I'm behind on most things in my life right now. 

But it's okay. I feel like I'm on the upswing of this funk + I can feel good things coming! And in order to refocus on the things that matter, weekly goals felt appropriate.

This Week's Goals:

+ Practice better time-management strategies. I know this is super vague, but basically, I'm not liking my current routine. Because of my class schedule, I have a bunch of 45-minute chunks scattered throughout my day. I've found that I struggle with making small chunks of time productive.

+ Come up with 10 quality new ideas for posts. When I'm busy, I tend to post routine things like link roundups or whatever. But I really want to focus this week on taking time to write high-quality content. 

+ Look for ways to eat better. Seriously, I'm becoming much too acquainted with the Freshman 15 and that's so not okay with me. I've been exercising super regularly, but it's the food side that I struggle with. 

What are your goals this week?

How Do You Prioritize Your Time?

"You can't commit to anything because you're committing yourself to everything."

Someone told me that a few days ago. She wasn't talking specifically about me, but about people as a whole, especially the Millennial generation. In my small group, we were all complaining that we never have time to call our families or really listen to our friends because there are always events to go to and homework to be completed and exams to study for.

And we were right. We really didn't have time. But so was our leader. As we talked about our days and weeks, I realized that the reason I have to say, "I don't have time for that," isn't really because I don't have time, it's because I don't make it a priority.

This really hit home with me. I don't know about you, but I love complaining about being busy. Seriously, when I'm busy and manage to go to a social event or get to the gym, I look like wonderwoman. But if something pops up that I don't want to do, no worries, "I'm busy."

But when you find yourself too busy to do good things that you should be doing, like I did this week, take a moment to reconsider what you're spending your time on + look at the choices you've made that are making other choices for you.

+ I wanted more time to spend working out and journaling. I realized that I spend at least an hour a day on Netflix or facebook. Now I watch Netflix on the stairstepper and block facebook for most of the day.

+ I wanted to meet more people. Instead of listening to music through headphones on the bus, I looked around, saw an acquaintance and made conversation until my stop.

+ Now, I realize that I want to spend more time on my blog and practicing my creative hobbies (lettering/cross stitching). Throughout the next few weeks, I'll be looking for things to cut out that I don't really want in my life and replace them with the things I do.

It's your life + your time + you are the only one responsible for filling it. If you're looking for more time in your day, consider cutting out TV, unproductive social media, unfocused time, and even unproductive relationships. Because really, how much more fun would life be if we all got to read more blogs and do what we like without worrying about what's going on on Facebook? A lot, that's how much.

What things don't you have time for that you wish you did? What things do you make time for that you don't need to?

Catching My Eye [links I like]

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Hey y'all! Happy Wednesday. If you've had a sucky week, know that it's half over already! If you're having a great week, you've still got half of it left! My week (well, weeks actually) hasn't been sucky, but it's been relentlessly busy. And the funny thing about blogging is that as much as I love it, it is so hard to find time to blog after you've taken a few days off (like I did last week). Maybe it's just me, but all of a sudden, I'm having to remind myself that blogging is a thing that I do, whereas I used to go straight to my blog every chance I got. 

Anyways, I'm easing my way back in with some fun, short posts--like this one! I always love sharing my favorite links and these are my favorite posts to read anyways! 

+ I can sooo identify with this article about keeping thank you notes from being outdated. I'm a big thank you note fan + will always be. 

+ The Hand Drawn Love series on DesignLoveFest inspires me so much to work on my handlettering. Plus, I love how the artist (Maddie Nye in this one) always takes into account the mood and colors of a photo to inspire words.

+ In my Bible study group the other day, we were talking about putting down our phones and intentionally connecting with the people around us in different ways, from conversations to smiles to eye contact. I loved this idea and it made me think of this post from Gina Alyse on how to successfully complete a phone fast.

+ Memobottles are water bottles that are flat, like the shape of a book. I'm so tired of stuffing a water bottle in a bag and having it not quite fit right...so what a genius idea! Seriously, I want one.

+ One of my favorite articles to reference: compliments that aren't about physical appearance. Just think how you'd feel if someone told you, "I wish more people were like you."

+ I love everything that Corina from Cocorrinna designs, but I really love this new bold, chic brand she made for the Transatlantic.

+ And just because I miss home-cooked food, here are a lot of pictures of delicious appetizers from Chelsea at Sea, Field and Tribe.

I hope y'all have a fantastic rest of the week! :) What are some of your favorite blog posts these days?

Catching Up (+ Grateful Heart #3)

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Oh man guys. Classes are kicking my butt. Not just classes, but just the sheer options of things to do that take up my time. I've joined a gymnastics team, been going to mass, joined a Bible study small group, and have been working out all the time. I even tried out playing racquetball with some friends the other day! 

I've had so much fun with lots of new activities, but naturally, life on campus is a totally different ball game when it comes to time management. So this is my official word to you that I'm not going anywhere, but if I miss a post here and there and am quiet on social media for the next few weeks, know that I'm just learning how to plan out my time (so that I don't have pages of calculus to do an hour before it's due). 

So today, just to get back into the swing of things, I'm recapping a couple things that I'm grateful for. I've actually had a sort of stressful/funky day between an exhausting social event, a lot of school work and not feeling too great. But that's all the more reason to focus on the things that I'm grateful for!

+ A thriving community of active people. I didn't realize until I got here that my school is a campus of people that just love to be busy. People are always planning events and get togethers and adventures and there are always things to do (and if not...I've still got more calculus to do). 

+ I can tell I've really been growing in a positive way, away from anxiety. School has pulled me out of my comfort zone in a lot of ways. I moved to a new state, by myself, where I knew not a single person. It's been hard, but I've done it and I'm proud of myself. 

+ A whole host of things that have gone right when they good have gone wrong. All of my classes (except one required class) are really good. I love three out of my four professors (and the other one is still just fine). My roommate and I get along great. I'm finding a community within my Bible study group and the church that I've been going to.

That last one is what gets me. Even when I have a stressful night like tonight, it calms me down to remember that in the grand scheme of things, my life could be so much harder. 

And on that note, I'm going to get back to calculus. What are you grateful for this week?

4 Reasons You Should Get Up Early

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Well it's officially Day 16 of being at college + I'm amazed at how fast it has gone by already. I've been anxious-excited about it for months...it feels like college is all I've been thinking about for a year now! So now that I'm here + settled, it feels so strange that this place almost feels like home. Except for the 100 degree weather. I will never get used to that.

But amid the craziness, I've managed to make one lovely change over the last month or so: I'm getting up early. Not early early, but a comfortable eight o'clock. I'm lucky in that I don't have an 8 am classes (my first is at 10:40! Aww, yeah!) but I've gotten in a smooth routine of productive mornings. And there's nothing that makes me satisfied quite like productive mornings. 

I'm one of those people who just has to share when good things happen--I want you to feel the early morning goodness too! But in case you're just not convinced why the heck you should get up early, let me explain why I do. 

+ I get alone time. As an introvert (granted a fairly social one), I loooove spending some quality time with myself. It makes me so happy to read, cross-stitch, doodle or even watch Netflix by myself. However, living with a roommate generally makes this difficult. Especially with our schedules, we find that we're often at home at the same time. Which is great, don't get me wrong--I love my roommate. But sometimes, I just need a little quiet time. By getting up early, I have at least half an hour to work on stuff or get ready before anyone else is up and doing things.

+ I have time to plan out my day. The other day, I made the mistake of staying in bed until 9:30, which sounds fine, until I realized that I needed an hour to shower and get ready and then 40 minutes to allow for our unreliable bus system to get to class. And to save you from doing the math, I'll tell you that I was almost late to my 10:40am class. When I get up early though, I can easily plan out my morning--and even my whole day! I like to write a list of my classes + to-dos for the day, and then figure out where I can fit tasks in my day. I get so much more done!

+ I feel accomplished. This sound silly, I know. BUT we all know that getting up early is hard. Really hard. But when I get up early, I've already done something awesome. It may just be a simple mind trick, but after getting up early, I feel like the rest of my day will be easy.

+ I make time to do things that I might not otherwise get around to. I know I don't really, but getting early helps me feel like I have a little more time in the day. When I stay up late, I'm rarely productive. But early in the morning, I'm eager to get stuff done. This means I get to write blog posts, read my Bible, read blogs or listen to music. Other days, these things just don't happen + I'm a little less happy because of it.

Do you get up early? Why or why not?

August in Review

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Almost every single month, I think I say something totally cliche about how fast the month went by and how I can't believe it's already the next month. But not August. I feel like August has gone on forever--I hardly even remember July! August has been a huge month for me...I moved back to North Carolina from Michigan, spent time with family and friends for five days, + then moved to Florida and started classes. It's been insane, actually. Some mornings when I wake up, I still have to think for a minute and figure out where I am.

But, August is done + September is going to be so great! I just know it. But before we get too far into September, I want to recap some of my personal favorite posts here on Call Me Sassafras.

1. First, I shared one of my big secrets for keeping my mind entertained while on long walks or jogs--podcasts. My favorite is NPR's All Songs Considered + it's my top favorite place to find new music. If you consider yourself to have a wide-spanning taste in music, you seriously should be listening to ASC.

2. My visual inspiration series is one of my favorites, just because I love looking at pretty things + sharing them. This month's installations was one of my favorites yet, featuring beautiful packaging. 

3. Then, I again shared my favorite TEDTalks that I've been watching lately. Among my favorites: six ways mushrooms can save the world and how we found the giant squid.

4. More recently, I posted about how you can support bloggers. I just want to say that this is one of the most important posts I feel like I've written to date. If you're a regular reader of blogs or a blogger yourself, I reeallyyy think that you should take a moment + read this post.

5. And last but not least, Call Me Sassafras is on Instagram!

What was your month like? What was your favorite post from the month?