Month: July 2018

Update time

Published on by maksu20134 Comments

Hey guys!

First of all I want to say I’m incredibly proud of myself for delivering a post every week for the last 4 weeks!! It’s the little milestones that keep you going you know. Without getting too long winded with this but it’s incredibly helpful for your psyche to celebrate yourself. It helps keep you going! So now to my other goals that I have shared with you over the last two weeks let’s see how I’ve done shall we?

  1. Wake up at 7am: I did relatively well on this in the first week. I woke up at 7am everyday but 1 in the first week I made this goal. This habit gave me a more relaxed start to my day and I was a lot less anxious in general. I felt more productive and happier having successfully woken up when I planned to. In the second week I relapsed into my regular sleeping habits for a little while because old habits really do die hard. I noticed though that my body would stir at 7am and I was making a choice to sleep past it. I’m back on the 7am kick and while it’s not incredibly pleasant rolling out of bed, I’m always happier for it.
  2. Sign up for driving lessons: I didn’t quite follow through with this goal but I made some moves in this direction. I contacted my driving instructor to confirm the process of re-enrolling for driving classes and as I type I have the G2 site open to book my road test. I don’t know why I’m so nervous about booking this because the worst possible thing that could happen is that I fail the test and honestly I wouldn’t be the first or last so I really should just bite the bullet and do it. I’ll keep you posted on this one when I finally work the nerve to book it
  3. Take my braids down: I did this!! Let my curly curls down. I mean I’m thinking of my next protective style but the braids came out anyway.
  4. Take a few minutes at the end of everyday to document moments that I’m thankful for: I really didn’t do this a whole lot unfortunately. I would like to carry this forward because I think its really important to be mindful of the good things that happen in your life
  5. Downsize my closet: I offloaded some items from my closet but I’m sure I could lighten up a little more. I will keep taking the opportunity to refine and pick out things from my wardrobe
  6. Do some career research: I am yet to dive deep into this but I have my to-do list prepared to tackle this goal

So in a nut shell I made progress on a good chunk of my goals but there’s room to do more :). Let me know in the comments any goals you’d like to work on this month.

DIY matching two piece set | Dust and sunshine

Published on by maksu20131 Comment

Matching 2 piece and fleeting moments

Hey guys!

Back at it again 🙂 This time with the third of my summer DIYs. All the cool kids on the gram are wearing matching sets so I would be remiss if I didn’t hop on this band wagon real quick. While I’m not quite at Insta baddie levels, I think this is pretty cool no? Could pass for a romper together and just as cute as separate pieces. Stunt on’em 3 different ways at the minimum!

When I picked out this fabric I thought of dust. I know that’s a strange thing to endear me to a fabric but it reminded me of being about 3 years old, looking at the flecks of dust in the air highlighted by the sunshine on a Saturday morning in Surulere. Saturday morning specifically because all through the week I had school and was more focused on getting out the door and playing with my friends. Saturday mornings however were for cartoons, breakfast and cleaning. Now at the time, I remember being too young to really be of much help with the Saturday morning chores, so my mom or my sister would ask me to sit on the bed in my siblings’ room while someone else swept the floor. I remember sitting facing the window and seeing the dust rise and actually being able to pick apart tiny flecks in air because of the sunshine. I remember closing my eyes and still being able to see tiny dust particles in the darkness of my shut lids. I’m sure there is a more scientific explanation for this but for me shutting my eyes really tight was my way of holding on the the moments of watching the dust in the sunshine.

Fleeting moments have definitely been on my mind lately. It could seem cliché to talk about how life is short or how we should take the time to smell the roses but think about it; this moment, as you read this, this is the last time you will experience these words for the first time in this way. Time is ever advancing and as much as I would love to freeze tiny pieces of happiness, I can’t. Likewise, I can’t make the hurtful times move any faster. All I can do is be present in my moments, take from them what I can because as quickly as they came, thus they will go away.

More recently, I was thinking back to a time in my life when I would have intellectual arguments every weekend (3504-2106 crew! If you know you know). At the time, it was all bants. We would get worked up making a point that was really just adjacent to the real argument. We would challenge each other’s views and refuse to fully capitulate when the other person’s argument had you beat. As simple as those moments were, I miss them so very much. I realized recently that the last argument we had in that apartment was probably the last time we would all be together in that way, the last time we would all be as young, as easy with each other. We will have other conversations and maybe even for a moment revisit those feelings but I think that moment passed and I didn’t realize it until it was gone.

I guess instead of being sad that a moment is gone I think I can be happy that I was ever in it. Which I guess brings me to my point of being present  and be fully there for your moments today. We’re always chasing our next step and our next level. Reminiscing on the past and could have beens and should have beens. Frankly for many of us when we finally stay in our present moment, its to evaluate all of the things wrong with our now. Instead of fussing about the things that you’re unable to do now or the things you never did or even the things you hope to do, take a moment and watch the dust in the sunshine.

Now like I did last week, I want to lay out some of my goals for this week and I’ll summarize how I’ve done so far on all the things I set out to do this month in a future post.

  1. Be intentional about my present. Take a few minutes at the end of everyday to document moments that I’m thankful for
  2. Downsize my closet
  3. Do some career research

Photos by Willyverse

Its a discipline | Linen drop waist dress

Published on by maksu20131 Comment

Simplicity for productivity

DIY boat neck linen drop waist dress

Hey guys!

So I’m on a path to simplify my life and my time. Sometimes I really just be doing too much and then end up feeling all burnt out and frazzled, squirreling away productivity pins to my “Do Better” board on Pinterest instead of actually doing the work. I think the key is to do less and do it better. I was just about to go on a tangent on how important it is to say less as well but that’s a topic for another day.

Key hole closure

 

I have seen a bunch of posts and articles lately on why you should NOT multitask which strikes me as odd because I can remember “ability to multitask” being a valued skill to have on your resume. It’s all terribly confusing how the productivity trends ebb and flow. Anyhow I’m on board with the multitasking less team. I wouldn’t say cut it out all together because there is definitely a place and time to multitask but I see how overloading your plate with activities to juggle will just result in doing more stuff but doing them really crappily.

That being said, here’s my game plan:

  1. Plan 3 key activities to accomplish per week.
  2. Actually achieve the 3 activities for the week and not everything else besides what I set out to do
  3. Reward myself for achieving my goals

This week I think I am going to try to wake up at the same time everyday, sign up for additional driving classes and take my braids out. I’ll let you know how this goes but I want to start with small attainable tasks so I hit some quick wins upfront. Future goals will include applying for my Masters, applying for my PMP and actually taking my G2 Test so I can finally drive.

Gathered skirt

Maybe I should start a little series where I update you all on my mini goals for the next three months…hmmm. Let me know if you would like to see that. I’ll probably still do it anyway but definitely let me know if you are interested

photos by Willyverse

Ebb and flow | DIY gingham tiered dress

Published on by maksu20132 Comments

Summer dresses and growing pains

Hi guys!

It’s been too long since I’ve been here but I’m so glad to be back. Thank you to those who reached out to me and to say they missed my writing 🙂 It really warmed my heart to know that there are people who actually care what I have to say! So I’m coming to you with part 1 of 3 summer outfits I have made in recent times; a gingham tiered dress because we’re picnic blanket chic this summer.

To make this dress, you would need to cut out a couple of rectangles

  • Chest band – long enough to comfortably wrap around your chest (right under your arms) and some seam allowance
  • Straps to hang on and off your shoulders
  • Tiers – each one ~10″ wider than the layer above it. You can do more than 10″ if you want a more pronounced gathered effect.

I decided to create a key hole closure for this dress as I have really been enjoying that look lately but you could easily switch to buttons or a zipper depending on how you feel. 

Madebyaya on YouTube has a great tutorial  on how to create a tiered dress.

Now to get real for a second on why I haven’t really been blogging, I suppose I have really just felt uninspired and creatively drained. I think I’m working my way out of those feelings now but some days are definitely harder than others. I have spoken to a few people about this and it seems oddly common. Yet another quirk of adulting that was conveniently omitted when I was sold the growing up dream. It’s a feeling of giving so much of your time and yourself to your career or responsibilities or things outside of yourself to the point where you feel you have nothing left over. Nothing for you to hold on to that’s just yours, and just about you.

Straps up
Off shoulder

Now what do you do if you find yourself in this rut?

  1. Lock your support system down: It’s very likely that someone close to you has dealt with this before and can help! I have had my family and closest friends pouring into my life in the past few weeks. Uplifting me, encouraging me and allowing me space to slow down.
  2. Reclaim your time: Maxine Waters plays no games with her time and neither should you! Your time is valuable and you deserve to use it in a way that truly benefits you. This means setting boundaries on work requests, declining social engagements if you need to recharge mentally and giving yourself more hours in the day to do the things that give you joy. For me, I have been trying to wake up earlier for a while. Still struggling with this actively but I have found that even if I give my self just an extra half hour in the morning to read my Bible and just stretch in bed before getting ready for work, I’m a lot less grouchy.
  3. Rediscover you: Find who you are without your job and social connections. What do you like and dislike irrespective of popular opinion. What makes you happy? What makes you calm? What makes you mad? Spend some quiet time with your thoughts and make the decision to know you better so you can love you better.

Making this dress was one of those moments of rediscovery for me. I was so glad to have a moment for myself to just be and create something that made me happy. 

I’d love to hear from you; what activities or things make you happy?

photos by Willyverse