A Few of my Favorite Things

I don’t know about you, but this has been a strange week for me and I am happy to know that it’s Friday! I’ve had a whirlwind visit from my father, ups and downs around the house, busy at work, busy at home, and not enough time to just sit down and read. It’s been all of the usual crazy stuff, but here’s a few things that have made this week bearable:

For my heart:

This amazing post written by Lan Samantha Chang on LitHub. Chang talks about the importance of writers holding onto their inner selves. I often joke about my “rich inner life,” and am glad to know that this is something that real people think about as well. It was also a good reminder that this blog is for me and my own development as a writer and reader, and not for the number of followers that I may or may not have.

For my mood:

My new essential oil diffuser, which is a URPOWER Essential Oil diffuser. I have been wanting to buy one for months but was hesitant to actually spend the money. It seemed like a risky purchase when researching on Amazon, but I decided to find one for a reasonable price and just try it out. This company had good reviews and an active customer service account, so it felt like a safe option. This was less than twenty bucks and I’ve been so happy with it! Isn’t it gorgeous? There are two settings: intermittent mist (30 seconds on, 30 seconds off) or continuous. You can also turn on the light and it glides through all of the colors of the rainbow OR you can stop it on your favorite color.

If you’re not familiar with diffusers (and I wasn’t when I ordered this), it’s sort of like a humidifier, but you can drop essential oils into the reservoir of water. When the steam mists through the room, it’s diffused with the lovely smell of whatever oils that you put in. Right now I have two favorites: eucalyptus + peppermint and lemon + lavender. I’ve been turning it on in the mornings while I finish my morning ritual and write for my blog and then in the evenings when I work on the next thing that’s gotten me through this week:

For my mind:

Puzzling! My friend Natalie got me back into the art of puzzling recently and I’m so grateful to her!

I was nervous about starting a puzzle. I’ve never been very good at them and I don’t usually like doing things that I’m not good at! I was also worried about leaving it out with two toddlers and a rambunctious cat running around. I did some pinterest searching and saw that people use regular bulletin boards to lay out their pieces which makes it easy to cart around – brilliant! We had an extra board upstairs and I’ve been able to tuck my puzzle away into the basement when I’m not working on it, so I’ve kept it out of harm’s way!

I’ve actually put more together than what’s in this picture, so I am thrilled! This is the puzzle that I’m working on, if you’re curious. Thomas Kinkade is a bit cheesy, but I love everything that he does! I love the cottages and gardens that he paints, so I’d like to cover my walls in his puzzles!  (Yes, I’m THAT person.)

For my spirit:

I finally had a chance to harvest our sage last weekend. We planted just a little bit of sage when we moved in and it’s grown into a huge patch! It smells amazing. Last year we let it all go to seed but this year I was intent on getting it cut and drying. Look at all of those bundles! It smells amazing and looks even prettier drying on my homemade rack.

I’m looking forward to having some smudge sticks and some homegrown dried sage for our holiday turkeys this year!