The Mind of Avie | Where Have I Been?

First off, I want to start this post off with an apology for the lack of posts recently. If you are new, I recently did the blog everyday in May challenge, also known as BEDM, and since then I haven't been posting as frequent. I've actually only posted once week and I try to get that one post out on a Wednesday at the very least. This week I wasn't successful on that one, but nonetheless, the post went up. Again, sorry for the lack of posts since May.

Anyway, on to where have I been. Life basically caught up with me fully loaded with busy-ness. During BEDM I was in between college semesters, so I had a ton of free time, I otherwise wouldn't have. Since BEDM ended (thankfully, just in time) I started summer courses and they have been super time consuming. If you are not familiar with summer courses in college, they are super condensed compared to a regular semester's class. Basically, I have to learn and take the same amount of tests in pretty much half the time of a regular semester. So I have been really busy with that. 

Bath & Body Works Haul

 

Last weekend I decided to stop by Bath and Body Works because I was running low on hand soap. Boy, am I glad I did, they were having one of their semi-annual sales! If you aren't familiar with Bath and Body Works and their semi-annual sales, let me explain a little. :) Basically Bath and Body Works sells smelly good items for your home and body. They sell candles, body wash, hand soap, lotions, hand sanitizers, etc. and can range anywhere from $1.75 to $22. Now the semi-annual sales happens twice a year, mainly after major season transitions. So in the sale all items that were from last season that have been lingering around are 50-75 % off, plus they have sales on the other items! How can you pass that up!  Well once I walked in and saw the sale, I went crazy and bought up some stuff, let's just say my husband and I will have enough hand soap to last a while, considering we still haven't used up all the hand soap I had in back stock! Haha :) 

 

DIY | Canvas Art

I don't know how many times I have looked at DIY projects on Pinterest and "pin" them for later, knowing most of the time I won't have enough guts to actually try one. Maybe I am alone on this one, but I can't help but keep those DIY projects aside for the possibility that I may actually do one. 

So we have below my very first DIY project. I found this on Pinterest from Home and Garden Design Ideas and immediately thought this couldn't be too difficult. Yes it is very easy, but man it took a little bit more time and thought process before hand then I had initial thought. 

So my first step was, head to my local craft store! 

Beauty | Monthly Favorites | May

Alright ladies, its that time of the month again! No, not the dreaded (for some of us, thankful, but can go away) time of the month. hehe ;) It's the monthly favorites time of the month! 

For this month, I didn't have too many new items and a couple of items didn't change either. For most of the month, I stayed pretty neutral and didn't have many days where I used a lot of make up, so this list of makeup favorites is going to be pretty small. 

I Made It!! | #BEDM Day 31

Yay everyone, I have offically made it!! Made it through what some of you are wondering, I made it through BEDM (Blog Everyday in May Challenge)!

Let me start by saying this, the word challenge is an understatement! haha :P Yes, it was truly a challenge. At first, I was off to a great start, getting my posts out at a reasonable time and nothing really going wrong. Then bam, I got hit with the stress train! Not only did I have tons and tons of things to do for work, I was trying to complete quality posts at a reasonable time. One goal I had for myself (other than finish this challenge) was to get the posts out before 10 am. I am late bird, because I work a mid-afternoon to late night job. So I am up late and have tons of time before work to get posts done. Okay, maybe that wasn't a good idea if I was going to complete the post the day before. I quickly realize that wasn't quite reasonable. So at that moment, maybe midway through the challenge, I found myself questioning whether I should call it quits. I am not one to quit anything and this challenge was no exception. Once I started feeling overwhelmed, I really wanted to just say its okay, I can  try it again next time. No, I told myself, that is not going to happen.

Viola! I didn't quit! Thankful I didn't and thankful I found some advice that really started working for me. I quickly turned the my blogging communities and asked some wonderful ladies (that are much much more experienced than I am) for some well needed advice. Most of these women are mommies, work jobs, and blog regularly. So the advice these lovely ladies gave me were taken very seriously.

The number one advice I got was scheduling. OMG, I thought to myself, I have done the scheduling before but for a post I knew I wasn't going to be home at the time I wanted it go out. So why didn't I think of that, I'm not sure. Let me tell any of you struggling with staying on a regular posting schedule, scheduling is key! Also, working on posts little by little when I have time and not focusing on one for hours and hours for one night was another important piece of advice I recieved. These two combined had released all my worries and stress.

I found them to work the best for me because of my schedule. Some times I have tons of time and would be able to complete a post in one night. Other times I have hardly any time at all and is possible to be that way for days. I started to take advantage of the times I had plenty of down time and knocking posts out and scheduling them for days I needed them to go out. The other times when I had hardly any spare time, I just worked on posts little at a time. Boy oh boy this worked wonders. I was able to keep my posts going and had them coming out at the same time every morning. It was completely wonderful and felt so great. And did I mention it was a total relief and weight off my shoulders. I no longer worried about having to quitting. =D

After trying out my first challenge and really getting a real taste of how it can be, I realized how much harder blogging can really be. I give props to all the bloggers out there that work, are mommies, go to school, and blog! I am grateful this challenge ends right before my classes start, because I would probably start stressing again. Lol ;)

I hope you all enjoyed my Blog Everyday in May posts! If there is any topic you thought was amazing and would love to read more on, let me know in the comments below. Any feedback is very much welcomed!