Pen and paper just really does it for me

I've found that sitting at a computer screen has become kind of paralyzing for me...something that's not really good for a blogger or a graphic designer. The internet can be sooo overwhelming! That plus the never ending to-do lists I give myself has really started affecting all areas of my life. Literally, all. of. them.

I want to be more dedicated to my freelance and not hit so many creative walls when coming up with designs. Heck, I'd love to be able to re-design my portfolio and client questionnaire without having a brain freeze! I also wanna be able to type freely and really communicate to those of you that stop by my blog, and honestly (oooh I hate admitting this!), I definitely haven't felt that way for some time now. I'm so ready to get back into DIYs and tutorials and it's driving me CRAZY not having motivation and inspiration to do them!

And besides that, I want to be more focused on Jared when I get to see him. I'm always so extremely tied to my work that I'm almost never really giving him 100% of my attention. Talk about being a sucky girlfriend.

I want to treat my body right. This stress has really affected my weight and how I eat. I don't limit eating to only when I'm hungry and sometimes I'm so mentally drained that I don't eat anything at all (which to me is just the worst).

What I've decided to do to fix all of this is actually pretty simple! I'm going to spend more time in nature. Each and every day. And stay really, really committed to it. I wanna walk in it (walking Maddy in it), relax in it, take it in and let all the stressors out. And wouldn't ya know, this is the perfect time of year to start it!

So here's what I've come up with so far:

//start a legit herb garden (I started with a lone, brave rosemary plant and finally added thyme, sage + purple basil to it today!)

//do yoga on my patio

//take more walks with Maddy and J

//run with Caitlin

//build bigger DIYs (think industrial shelving/desk unit and a dining table!) <--with J too! Yayy!

//take pictures of everything outside

//fire up the grill! (mmmm grilled peaches!)

//visit the zoo

//go camping

//go kayaking

//go to outdoor events (Hattiesburg is such a great place for this!)

I'm going to start relying on a good ol' pencil and piece of paper for all my computer-related things (I did this post that way!). I'm including all of my design work too. I want my sketchbook to be full of actual sketches instead of list after list after list.

So today before I started any real work me and Maddy took a walk around my apartment complex. I thought about all the errands I needed to do before my design work and then the direction I wanted to take the design of My Billie (I've got a more solid plan than I've had in a year for MBD!). Gosh you guys. Doing a design for yourself can make a girl feel down right schizophrenic! I will not go crazy ha! And then I took a few moments to take in big gulps of fresh air and notice how incredibly blue the sky is today.

So besides all of that....you've all heard about the death of google reader and friend connect, yeah? You should probably head on over to bloglovin' and import all the blogs you read through google reader (I also hear feedly is really good). It took all of 20 seconds to do...thanks for making that so easy bloglovin'! And thanks to those of you who have already added me on bloglovin'!

And heads up--I'll be doing a little survey soon to see what you guys are most interested in seeing on MBD. I know I'm craving more DIYs, recipes, hair tutorials and crafty goodness, how about you?

Pictures are from this ADORABLE paper pencil DIY. It's the perfect warm-up activity to get you ready for my geo garland DIY (like this one)!