Social Media Fast - How I stopped comparing and started CREATING

Anyone who follows me on Pinterest or is friends with me on Facebook will surely have noticed a lack of interaction over the past month. This is because I have been on a fast.

It all started with me complaining to my dear Hubby about the lack of time I had to do things that I wanted to do and that were fulfilling. Such as, sewing, crafting, decorating, baking, blogging, etc... Hubby challenged me to give up my "time wasters." He speculated that I was spending way more time than I realized gathering inspiration on Pinterest or catching up *cough*stalking*cough* with friends on Facebook.

I put off the challenge for a while (like months). I really didn't want to give up my addictions. I love looking at all the decorating, food and crafts people make and post on Pinterest. I also like feeling included and in the loop which I get from Facebook.

Truthfully I was doing a lot of "I'm feeling unfulfilled" complaining to my loving Hubs and he kept telling me that I needed to stop complaining and be proactive. I think I had gotten into a rut and was treading water right next to the dock, hoping someone would come along to rescue me when all along all I had to do was reach out to the ladder and pull myself out.

The hubby was pretty insistent that I should take a serious look at my time. He had read about a study on how social media can make people feel left out or like everyone is living awesome and fulfilling lives while we are living in our day to day boring existence. We see everyone's glamorous and fabulous lives and we forget that what we are seeing and reading is edited and Photoshopped. Not to say that our friends are lying to us over Facebook, but who is going to post something that makes them look boring and conventional.

“The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.” 

~Steve Furtick

Turns out the Hubs was right. Like really right. Like really REALLY right. Ugh! Hate it when that happens.

I was spending so much time "being inspired" by things that other people were doing that I didn't have time to create anything of my own. My time was literately being sucked away from me without me even noticing.

One of the stipulations I put in place for myself during this 30 days was that I would be very intentional with my time. I have a limited amount of focused time. That is, time that I am able to actually be working on something without being pulled on, cried at, or just generally distracted. Nap time is pretty much my only time without distractions. That's when I'm not focusing on my kids and can focus on myself for a short hour or two.

I knew that I wanted to used the time, that I was used to wasting, to do the things that I was feeling jipped of. So I made it a goal to be intentional with that nap time. Sometimes that was intentionally taking a nap myself, and sometimes that was blogging or working on a project. It truly is amazing how much better I felt about my life. Whatever it was that I chose to do with that hour or two was fine as long as it was what I was choosing to do. It was my time and I was going to choose  to do with it what I wanted. Making a choice was very important because it made me the owner of my time. I wasn't a slave to it, it was mine to do with as I chose.

I very quickly started getting more done. I get some sewing in. I got art up on the walls. I played with my kids more. My house was cleaner. I was inspired by everything around me. My kids watched less TV. I went to the gym more often. I did more thrifting. I finished a book. I wrote snail mail letters to friends. I was blogging more often. I even did some serious dreaming and soul searching. In essence I found my creativity and soul again. I can't even tell you how liberating this month was for me. I felt so alive! It was an incredible experience.

There have been so many times that I want to scream: "I WAS CREATIVE BEFORE PINTEREST!" and this fast helped me prove to myself the truth of that statement. I am a creative person. I have been given gifts of creativity and I don't want to waist them. I also don't want to compare my creativity or my life to other peoples', I am who I am and I am living the life I chose. I will be free and fulfilled in that life.

I would like to challenge anyone who is feeling like their creativity has been stripped, or is stuck in the mindset that everyone is living a cooler life that you, take some time off. Its just 30 days and you will be so invigorated and feel so alive!

If you take this fast on, I would love to hear about hoe it goes for you. I know it has made a huge difference in my life and I know it could do the same for you.

Xoxo,
Coco


If you need more inspiration:
The Innovation of Loneliness (a video)
Melissa Joy - Stop Comparing Your Behind the Scenes with Everyone Else's Highlight Reel (a great blog post)
The New Rules of Resolutions Part 4  (a sermon by Pastor Steven Furtick)

My Whole 30 Journey - Guacamole Chicken Salad Recipe

Guacamole is one of those things that, up until recently, I was convinced I hated. I had never had any guacamole that I liked and I thought I hated it so much that I was sure I hated avocados in general. Oh how wrong I was! 

As it turns out I LOVE avocados and guacamole. It was the onions in guacamole that I hated. I don't like onions, like super don't like them. I pick around them in pretty much anything that contains them. I won't eat anything that has too much of an onion flavor, especially a raw onion flavor. 

Sometimes I get sad if I go to dig into something that I usually really like and I get a huge mouth full of onion flavor. If I'm really hungry and PMSing I have been known to cry over this culinary catastrophe. I just really don't like onions.

Guacamole Chicken Salad

All that said, take the onions out of guacamole and you have one of my favorite dishes of all time! Toss in some fresh cilantro and tomatoes and you've got a flavor explosion!  Add the fact that avocados are packed with healthy fats and I'm totally on board!

My brother makes the best guacamole. He is the one who converted me. His secret? Fresh squeezed orange juice. 

I took his recipe for awesome guac and added some grilled chicken and orange bell peppers and served it over a bed of lettuce and BAM! an awesome Whole 30 approved meal that is packed with good for you foods. Trust me, your body and your taste buds will be thanking you!

One of the things I like to do at the beginning of the week, is grill or boil some chicken that I then chop or shred it and leave it in the fridge for salads or other quick meal options. If you have the chicken already cooked you can toss this meal together in 10 minutes. You can even use store bought guacamole if you want an even easier fix. Whole Foods has fresh guacamole made every day in the produce section.

Guacamole Chicken  Salad

• 2 breasts of chicken, cooked and cut into bite-size pieces or shredded
• 2 ripe avocados
• 1 sweet bell pepper, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 tomato, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1/2 cup packed fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1-2 clove(s) garlic, chopped
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1/4 orange, juiced
• salt and pepper to taste
• optional: chopped onion, chopped jalapeno

Scoop the avocados into a large bowl and add the lime, lemon and orange juices. Smash up the avocado with a potato masher or a fork until smooth. Stir in garlic, salt, pepper and cilantro. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until the everything in well coated with avocado. Serve over a bed of lettuce.

That's it ladies and gentlemen! 

Super simple, quick, delicious, and healthy meal. 

Enjoy this!

Let me know what you think of the recipe.

XOXO,

Coco

P.S. Lucky you! You have stumbled upon two recipes in one! Just leave out the chicken and you have the best guacamole recipe on the face of the planet! You're welcome :)

Little Girl's Reversible Skirt (really quick and easy tutorial)

I really, really love my son and I love my nephew, but I LOVE having a niece! I love having someone to make little pink things for. She likes dolls and to play dress-up, she is a girl after my own heart. I think she would wear her princess dresses to church if her parents would let her. 

For Christmas (and birthdays  I try to give my niece things other than toys (kids -including mine- have waaaaaay too many toys.) While she is young, I want to give her little sweet things, like clothes and other treasures that she can keep forever and give to her kids one day. My mom made me and my sister so many cute clothes that I can't wait to put on my daughters (if I have any) one day. 

This year, I made my niece this darling little reversible skirt using the tutorial from Fashioned by Meg. It was really simple to put together. It only took me about an hour. The tutorial was very easy to understand straight forward. I love the way it turned out!

Paintbrush Roll-Up (tutorial) - DIY Easy Sewing Project

My sister, Annie, is way cooler than me. She is four years younger and ever since she was able to be awesome she was as awesome as awesome is. I mean she had three Halloween costumes this year: Frida Kahlo, Max from Where the Wild Things Are, and Davis Bowie. I mean if thats not awesome, I don't know what is!

 

Annie is an amazing artist. She is an art major and one of her favorite mediums is painting. I have been meaning to make her some art supplies totes and cases. I want to make her a pencil case, a bag, a sketch book cover, a colored pencil roll-up, and so many other things! At the rate I'm going she will be graduated and on to living her awesome life before I get any of it made.

For Christmas I made her this awesome Paintbrush Roll-Up. Its really easy, a perfect beginning sewing project. It doesn't take a lot of fabric and can be put together in an afternoon.

Confession: Every once in a while (read: more often than I would like to admit), when I make up my own patterns, I have moments of sheer stupidity. With this project it was that I totally forgot to cut two pieces for the main body of the roll-up. It was a moment of "OMG! Corey, what were you thinking?" Thankfully, this was not a big oops, easy to fix, just cut one more piece of fabric. The only fabric I had that matched the other fabrics was a scrap from another project, so I stitched up the scrap and went with it. The only problem I had with this scrappy fabric was that it had a slight stretch. I would not suggest using anything with stretch.

Paintbrush Roll-Up
What You Will Need:

• two pieces of fabric cut to 22" x 19"
• one piece of fabric cut to 22" x 2.5"
• two pieces of fabric cut to 18" x 2.5"

Fold each 18" x 2.5" (the long skinny pieces) in half right sides together. Stitch up the long sides using a 1/4" seam allowance. Hook a safety pin in one end of one of the tubes, feed the safety pin back through the tube until it comes out the other end. Keep pulling the tube thought itself so that its all right-side-out.

Fold one end of the tubes inside and stitch it up. 

Pin the 22" x 2.5" piece along the right 22" side of the main piece, right sides together. It should be 1" from the edge. Stitch along the right side edge of the 22" x 2.5" piece. Fold and press the 22" x 2.5" over so that the right side of the fabric is on the right side.

Layer the two large pieces of fabric on top of each other with right sides together. Pin the tie strips, with the unfinished ends stitching sticking out and the strips on the inside of the sandwich. Make sure you leave a hole for turning, I make this with thee pins as I did in the picture. Using a 1/2" seal allowance stitch around the outside edge of the sandwich, leaving that hole for turning. Trim the corners. 

Pull the sandwich through itself so its right sides out. Press. Fold the raw edge that was left for turning to the inside and pin. Fold up the bottom (the 18") edge 5", pin in place. This is what will create the pocket for the paintbrushes. Top stitch around the edge of the whole roll-up, using the edge of the presser foot lined up with the edge of the fabric as a seam allowance.

Using chalk or a washable fabric marker marker the stitch lines for the pockets. These lines should run the full length of the roll-up. The lines can be the same width or various. I made the pockets varied from 3/4" to 2" wide. Stitch along these lines from top to bottom. Make sure you don't catch the ties in the process. Brush off the chalk or use a damp cloth to gently rub it off. 

Add paintbrushes (or pens, pencils and markers) and fold over the top edge (should be about 4").  Roll up the case and tie  it off. There you have it! Good to go to art class!

I just LOVE the way this turned out! I can't wait to give it to my sister. She will have many more paintbrushes than I do to fill it with. I am sure she will love this as much as I do. Yay for easy sewing projects that turn out so wonderfully!

Here are some more photos to show how great this project is.

 

P.S. This is perfect for pencils, colored pencils, markers, a highlighter collection, pens, crochet hooks, short knitting needles, etc...

The Savannah Bag

My wonderful niece, Savannah, just started preschool and her mom asked me to make her a bag to put her folders and papers into. I had such a good time picking out the fun fabrics and ribbons. 

The only problem I had while making this bag is that my niece has such a long name that it was had to make it fit. The original plan was to write her name with fabric applique letters diagonally across the bag... Yeah, there was no way that was going to happen. So, I ended up adding a strip of fabric around the bottom of the bag and just painting the letters on. I like the way it turned out.

I used the tutorial  for The Twenty Minute Tote from Molly's Sketchbook over at the Purl Bee. (P.S. I love the Purl Bee Blog, check them out for some great inspiration!) I modified the pattern a little, added some ribbons to the top of the bag, added the fabric stripe to the bottom, and made the straps out of fabric instead of using webbing. Its a super easy and quick pattern, and the tutorial is really clear and simple to follow.

I also made a little pompom flower that can be pinned to the bag or be a hair clip! Just cut out a bunch of little circles of fabric. Fold them into quarters, stick a threaded needle through the corner of each folder circle and bunch them all up at the end of the thread. Loop the needle through the whole bunch a few times to secure and then knot. Add a small circle of felt to the back of  the pompom, stitch a safety pin to the felt and hot glue on a small hair clip. That's it! Easy!

(Jude didn't like having a flower in his hair)