Personal Time

Having a little personal time for myself goes a long ways.

A couple Fridays ago, Aaron came home at 2:30 pm.  Eleanor was still napping and I had just gotten Ford to sleep.  I knew that Ford would sleep for an hour and I was itching to have some alone time.  So I left the sleeping babies with Aaron and hopped in the car.  I went to Chesterfields, one of my favorite antique stores to browse, and just wandered around taking pictures of everything I loved.  It was so freeing to not have the huge stroller as I was wandering the aisles.  Antique stores are not set up with strollers in mind!

 ^^If I could just find this rug in a longer version for my hall then I'd be pretty darn happy.

^^Sweet little seascape. It could fit in to so many places (a gallery wall, a bookshelf, paired with a larger piece of art underneath it, leaning on top of a dresser, etc...)

^^This chest is 250 years old and I love it SO much.

Then this past Friday afternoon, I had the itch again to get out.  With both kids still napping, I got in the car again to head out for an hour of alone time.  I went to Home Goods and wandered the aisles aimlessly.  (Side note: I've talked to two friends lately who also say Home Goods is their spot when they need to get away and be alone.  Is this a thing?  It definitely is for me!).

Then I still had a little time left so I went over to Barnes and Noble next door.  At Barnes and Noble, I picked out a couple home decor books and plopped on the ground and starting thumbing through them.  I snapped pictures of images I liked.

 ^^Love the gray/leather combo on the baskets

 ^^Those pillows would be so festive during Christmas time

^^This sofa reminded me a lot of this one that I've always loved (and here's another view of it)

 ^^I love the combination of styles here

 ^^Art and herringbone floors, so much to love.

^^I dream of dining room chairs like this.  Would those straight backs be comfortable though?

And another night, Aaron was exhausted and fell asleep on the couch at 8:30 pm.  I was very much not exhausted so I spent four hours working on blog posts (hence why my blogging has been more consistent as of late).  It felt so good and productive to just sit down and get things done.  This blog is often times more than just a way to document our family.  It can be a creative outlet where I just get to unload my thoughts and share my interests.  I do it more for myself than anyone else and it feels so great to get things down on "paper" so to speak.

And on another night, I stayed up finishing this little water color that I had started earlier that day with Eleanor (I based it on this cross stitch I came across.  The cross stitch is amazing!).  I had gotten about halfway done when Eleanor decided she wanted to play something else and insisted that I come along.  I was wanting to finish the painting all day so it was nice to be able to sit down and have a moment by myself to finish it.  I turned on music and just got to work.

I LOVE spending time with my kids and with Aaron and even with friends but if I haven't had a moment to myself to breathe and do something creative and/or productive then I just feel antsy and irritable.

In the future, I'm hoping to carve out more personal time to attend the temple, move my body, read a book or paint a picture.  I'm just so much happier when I do.