Be kind

Just a few words for you on a Saturday. Have a wonderful weekend! 

Stress relief

This weekend I take the biggest exam of my life. Like, it's huge. Like, all weekend long huge. Like, all on the line. Like, woah. 

Okay I won't say "like" anymore.

To sum up, WREB is my license examination wherein I show my clinical competency in dentistry. Holy tomatoes.

As you can imagine, my stress level is off le charts. It is like a chaotic fiesta in my head. Throughout my education, stress has been my constant companion. We wear BFF necklaces. How I handle stress has changed and evolved throughout the years, so I won't bore you with all the deets, but here are a few things that help me de-stress and provide much needed stress relief as of late. 

Fake it 'til you make it.

When I am feeling particularly frazzled, there is something about a long, hot shower, a fresh face of makeup, a pretty hair-do, and my nice jeans that make the craziness on the inside feel more ordered. My brain may be cluttered and crazy, but when I feel put together on the outside I can focus on the task at hand. The same thing goes for an uncluttered space around me. When my home is clean and not messy, I can also work on the things that elevate my stress and deal with them accordingly.

Enjoy a beverage.

In the morning, I like to start with a cup of coffee or a nice cappuccino. The warmth of the sweet and creamy goodness help me start the day off with a bang and get s*** done. I also try to drink as much water as possible throughout the day. Dehydration makes me cranky, so NOTHANKS. And after a stressful day (like every day lately), I enjoy a nice glass of red wine and have some girl talk. There is something cathartic and stress relieving about a nice vent sesh...and some EtOH.

Curl up with a book.

I am a book worm, ya'll know that. Whether I can carve out an hour or just five minutes, an escape into a good book can do wonders for my soul. Try it, I swear you'll love it.

Date night.

Ew, I know I said it, date night. Sounds cheesy right? Well I'll say it again, DATE NIGHT. Or day or afternoon or morning or Tuesday... You know what I mean. Paul and I specifically carve out time to spend with one another. We watch a movie, make a meal, or do some activity that is not on the to-do list or required of us. He eases my stress more than he knows. 

Slobbery baby kisses.

My life as a mother has drastically changed...in the best way possible. Although motherhood is stressful enough, gazing into the eyes of my sweet girl just melts the world away. As I watch her play and discover, I feel one zillion times better. The crazy, stress-ball, frenzied side of me gets to put her feet up and smother an angel in kisses. Ain'tnothingbetta.

My stress is great, but the rewards are greater.

Isn't she the greatest?

Mixtape vol. 1

When I am not up to my eyeballs in diapers or bottles, I listen to a lot of music...olé! The music industry and the way music is digested now-a-days is much different than when I was a wide-eyed high school freshman listening to my CD player in my childhood bedroom. No matter how much time passes, I still like to create mixes for my moods. I have rainy day mixes, road trip mixes, singing in the shower mixes, and a mix for every occasion.

I've decided to create a little hump day playlist for you and I hope you enjoy it. Wee!

Riptide - Vance Joy 
Send me on my way - Rusted Root
All you had to do was stay - Taylor Swift
Chandelier - Sia 
Let her go - Passenger 
From this valley - The Civil Wars
Young and beautiful - Lana Del Rey 
What I wouldn't do - A Fine Frenzy
Hopeless wanderer - Mumford & Sons
Anchor - Mindy Gledhill

Happy listening, mmm. 

Perfectly imperfect

Call it dental student/motherhood/wife angsty stress, but occasionally (read, frequently) I feel at my whit's end and start to question myself. I know, so weird. But like many of you folks (especially new parents) out there on the interwebs, I sometimes feel inadequate in my various duties and responsibilities as future dentist, wife, and mother. I do not feel like I have my sh*t together and I definitely feel like I am failing on many fronts (and backs and sides for that matter). But when I finally pull my head out of my pint of pity party, I realize the truth of it all.

I am not the highest producer at school, I am not winning any mother-of-the-year awards, and Mrs. Snaps-at-her-husband rears her ugly head at times. But I am my whole perfectly imperfect self, cracks and all. And hey, that's good enough.

So I've been thinking...

Did I scare you?

New ideas on the horizon. See what I did there?

Here is some heavy coming at your face. I have hit a wall. You know, the blogging content wall. I am feeling a little less than inspired lately and could use a little nudge on the shoulder. A tip on the chin. A pinch in the arm. 

I have been thinking about taking the blog in a new direction. But not even that new, more like in an old direction. The direction from before in the old days. Tale as old as tiiiiime. 

Wait where was I?

I was thinking about putting some more life into this lifestyle blog of mine. I tend to think and mull and ruminate on content so long that I am feeling a little tired of it. I want to bring this space back to its roots - my life. I would love to share more of the every day things - the good and the bad, the clean and the dirty, the freshest and the stalest. Wait. You know what I mean. I would like to be more transparent in the every day things.

I want to be jazzed about my content and I want you to be jazzed too. JAZZ HANDS. 

What kind of content would you like to see here? More Emma? Less Emma? More dental school? More recipes? More everyday life? Less questions? Okay.

So what do you think - shall I inject more life in this lifestyle blog? Infuse? Simmer? Marinate?

I think so.