G-G-Good News, Folks

I'm taking this blog to a whole new level!

Not right this second, so don't expect any drastic changes. They aren't going to happen right before your eyes. Although that would be nifty. And it would be pretty cool for readership. I could send out an email each day that said "Come Check Out What I Changed Today!". Cool, glad I'm not the only one that thinks that's an awesome publicity stunt.

Anyway, I'm just letting you know that BECAUSE of these big, awesome, exciting, mind blowing changes, I might not be updating as much as possible. Which, really hasn't been that much, but that's one of those changes I'm talking about!

I'm participating in #50WorkDays over at byregina.com, which has been beyond awesome and I'm only four days in. Is it weird that I get super excited about marketing and building a brand? It's not homework to me it's FUNWORK.

Really, I'm writing this long ass post because I have to share something funny with you. I was bouncing around domain name ideas (that might be another change, not sure!) with my friend. I kept coming back to using the word "biblio", and I love the way alliterations sound, so we were trying to use a b-word in front of it.

My friend tossed out "Bitchin' Biblio(phile)". Not bad.

So as with all bright ideas, I Googled it to see if someone else had taken the idea already. And Google decided to be helpful by providing the following suggestion.

Yes, Google, thanks for correcting me. You've now tainted this name for me and I no longer want to use it.

So thanks for that. Back to the drawing board for me.

-M

To Dream Or Not To Freak The Hell Out

Two nights ago I had a crazy dream.

In my dream I woke up, but I couldn't move. And I realized that there were people in my apartment, but they weren't exactly people. I don't know how to really explain them other than they looked human but weren't.

Somehow I knew that these people lived in my apartment during the night, but I wasn't supposed to know. I knew that it was extremely dangerous to know that they existed, and if they found out that I knew they would kill me.

So I lay in my bed, watching these people walk around my room, so terrified that I couldn't fall back asleep, but also terrified because if my brain woke up any more, I knew I'd start to move and they'd kill me.

WHAT THE HELL IS THAT BRAIN?!?!

Needless to say, I wasn't very thrilled with dream. My friend suggested I look up what the dream meant. So I Googled dreaming about sleep paralysis. Then I fell down the Google rabbit hole a bit and ended up looking at sleep paralysis itself.

Oh Google, you foul, foul beast.

Turns out that, according to Google at least, sleep paralysis can cause hallucinations. Many people hear voices, see unwanted people in their rooms, experience someone sitting on their chest.

Yeah, that doesn't make me feel any better.

It's not a fun experience, but because I'm wired the way I am, I'm curious to hear other people's experiences.

So, anyone ever had an experience with sleep paralysis?

-M

Review: Let's Pretend This Never Happened

Photo Taken From Goodreads

Book: Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir)
Author: Jenny Lawson
Series: No

Well. I'll keep this review short and sweet.

A-FUCKING-mazing. If you do not read this book, you will die a thousand horrible deaths.

That's it, that's all the feelings I can express for this book in written word.

-M

Life Slumps And Liquor (minus the liquor)

So this week has been shit.

Well, I mean, I'm still pretty lucky. I'm alive and healthy (kinda) and all, but I'm still going to complain about life. Can we just agree that it's our right as humans?

I started the week sick, so Monday was a write-off. And anyone who knows me knows that Monday is my busiest day at work. So come Tuesday, I had more work than I could handle and I still probably should have stayed home. Which means that by Wednesday my work had snowballed and I was crushed.

On top of the work snowball, I've been stuck in a rut lately. I feel blah, I look blah, everything is blaaaahhhh.

Add this together and this week has made me feel very unsure about my happiness. I've been in this loop of realizing that I'm not happy with the way I'm spending my time (hello, I should be a published author by now ;).

The point of all this is that my friend gave me a good piece of advice She told me to make a list of things that I want to do to make myself feel better and to get me out of this slump. So Thursday, that is what I did. Below is the list.

• Get hair cut
• Get a mani/pedi
• Figure out glasses/contacts (which I want to wear)
• Go for a massage
• Try acupuncture
• Make gym schedule
• Don't bail on it for an entire month
• Organize closet
• Get rid of unused clothes
• Get pants hemmed (bought these before christmas, still not done)
• Buy two new shirts (until Summer)
• Redecorate bedroom
• Get new blinds
• Get side tables
• Redecorate living room
• Get new blinds
• Get some snazzy pillows
• Rearrange furniture
• Pay off credit card
• Build savings account
• Do taxes
• Greek Texan date with Alana
• Set a writing schedule

Since I created the list, I've already crossed off two things. It feels kind of nice to prioritize things. Some of the list is necessary (aka boring) but make you feel accomplished after you get them out of the way.

I'll add to the list if I think of any others. And feel free to share your thoughts/lists!

-M

Review: A Study In Silks

Alright. After reflecting on my last post, I decided to try posting my book reviews here and see how that goes! If not, I'll rethink bringing back my other blog and doing them exclusively there. Obviously these won't be in the same format, but they might evolve that way. By all means, share your critiques.

Novel: A Study In Silks

Author: Emma Jane Holloway

Series: Yes

So I finished A Study In Silks last night, and right off the bat, I am quite disappointed.

I loved the cover of this book, loved the idea of the book, but ultimately I found it confusing. Which I am sad about because I'm not a steampunk fan, but I picked this one up hoping it would help me transition into the genre. 

Alas, it was not meant to be. I found the characters hard to grasp. I don't know if it was because it was told from multiple view points, but I didn't get a sense of WHO they were. Not a single one. And they all seemed really weak, like they couldn't stand behind their decisions - especially Tobias near the end.

I also felt like I had come in through the middle of the book and had missed all relationship building between the characters. And some "relationship building" throughout the book was needed. Two people falling in love within a week without barely speaking to each other? Come on.

Two big questions that still plague my mind:

• How did Nick know where to find Evelina?
• Is there really a point to having Sherlock Holmes in the story?

I really wanted to like this series, but I don't know if I will be continuing on with it or not.

Have you read it? What did you think?

-M

Motivation Frustration

I'm a little...deflated this week.

I have a notebook (the black Moleskine Evernote) that I keep all my blog ideas in. From what widgets I should add, to idea posts, to things I need to think about updating. The problem I am finding is that no matter how much I write in that notebook, I don't seem to be doing very much of it.

I will admit that part of the reason is because I'm a little torn. I have this blog, and a book review blog that I previously ran on wordpress but didn't end up keeping up with (lack of motivation all in itself). The book review blog was fun and I thought it was a great idea, but I started it on a whim and couldn't keep up. The issue I had with it is that it is very limiting. I can't necessarily start posting about the soaps I made last week.

With this blog, I have a lot more free reign. I can post whatever the hell I choose to share (like my lack of motivation!) and it's a great way to let the creative juices flow. The downside to this blog is, I don't have a clear focus of where I want it to go. What is the point of this blog?

So my lack of motivation comes from not knowing where to start. Do I continue this blog, or switch back to my review blog? And if I continue with this blog, what is my plan for it?

All great questions that I need to seriously start thinking about. I should start working more on this and less on watching Grey's Anatomy.

Has anyone struggled with this conundrum when they first started out?

-M

This Week's Addiction

I am the very first to admit that I tend to become obsessed with things very easily. From paper, to shoes, to bands to fashion, if I find something I love I can spend a good two weeks Googling/ purchasing / fantasizing about it.

So this week I thought I would share my current addiction, which even I admit is a weird one: Planners.

That's right, planners. I've been watching videos, following blogs, looking up different planners on the internet. Anything I can do to look at a planner, I am doing. Thankfully I know myself well enough to stay away from any stores that sell planners right now.

I currently have two planners; one for work and one for personal. Both are moleskine. My work one is a bright yellow graph notebook (which I can not find at Chapters anymore except in black) and one is the Evernote notebook. I love the moleskine, although I am starting to wonder if I could find something a little better.

Since this addiction has started, I've seen a lot of people with Filofax types of planners, and I am wondering if that might be a bit better. The moleskine is great for having at work, but I often find my personal one gets left out. I've started to wonder if it would be easier to combine them into one, which I would prefer a ring binder for.

So, those of you have a planner addiction, which types of binders/notebooks do you tend to gravitate towards? And how do you set them up?

-M