What I Do When I'm Completely Overwhelmed by My To-Do List.

Alternate title: What I've been doing every day lately because my to-do list is trying to straight up murder me. 
Anyone else have those days (Weeks? Months?) where you want to be productive, you have every intention of being a champion and blasting your way through your list and getting ish done...only to end the day frazzled and overwhelmed? And somehow, even though you worked your butt off the whole day, a good 80% off your list wasn't even touched? 
This has been me the last few weeks. I've been so motivated and so excited to take my days on...and then every night, I'm so confused at how I got so little done that day. So I started doing this one little thing that has been a tremendous help. What is it? 
Simple: I write down every. single. thing. Everything on my list, everything I need to get done, everything I'm expecting myself to do that day. I mean everything. If I'm expecting myself to deep clean the kitchen, I don't just write down "clean kitchen." I write mop kitchen, clean kitchen baseboards, clean out the refrigerator. Every. Little. Thing. 
This is incredibly helpful for two reasons: First, it gets everything in the forefront of my mind and puts me in the headspace to get stuff done. But most importantly, it helps me be realistic. Looking at a page full of tasks and knowing how many hours I have to do them, logically I know they aren't all getting done. What may have seemed doable in my brain now is clearly impossible, because there are only 24 hours in a day. 
Having everything written down in front of me helps to quickly see and sort through what has to get done that day and what can wait until tomorrow, or the weekend. This may seem like a no-brainer, but before I wrote everything down, (you know, in the delusional times when I just knew I'd get it all done), I would just pick a random task to start with, spend two hours on it, only to realize it was the least of my priorities that day. Make sense? 
If you're like me and your to-do list seems to be drowning you every day, give this a try this week. Take a few minutes when you wake up, get a cup of coffee, and write it all down. Then be realistic and move the not-as-important-things to a different day. Set yourself up for success by starting with a list that is actually doable instead of a list that you would have to be able to freeze time to even have a chance at completing. But also, let me know if you figure out that whole freezing time thing. 
What are some things you do to deal with overwhelming to-do lists?

Little Joys.

I'm writing this outside, on a blanket, soaking up the first warm and sunny day we've had in a long time. The grass is still brown and crunchy, but the sun is hot and bright and a reminder that Florida is about to come back to life. I'm writing with a pen and paper, because lately I'm more inspired by a blank page than by a glowing computer screen. 
Jack is running around butt naked. I've gotten him dressed three times today, he's gotten himself undressed three times today, so we're at an impasse here. He thinks it's the funniest thing in the whole entire world to be naked in the yard and is just running in circles laughing-a deep belly, infectious kind of laugh. 
It is, so simply, a joyous moment. A small moment, sure. But joyous. A little joy. 
I've been working really hard lately on a lot of things, and I've been really tired as a result. The things I'm working on are all good things, all important things. They all have happiness as the end goal. But I can't help but notice the fact that I feel happier right now, sitting on a blanket in the sun, than I've felt in a long time. 
It took me two hours to write this post that I normally would've knocked out in twenty minutes. I stopped and played football with Jack, stopped and made a smoothie, stopped and just closed my eyes and enjoyed the sun. It was slow and simple and made my to-do list for tomorrow much longer, but what's it really matter? Because where's the good in marking off another step on the way to those big joys we're planning for ourselves if we don't stop and enjoy the little joys along the way?
Little joys. Yeah. More of those. 

ATLANTA.

I've taken a lot of trips this year, but this one was one of my favorites. I got to go see my random-college-roommate-turned-best-friend in Atlanta, and we got to see a band we'd wanted to see live forever now.

We ate all of the food and walked all over Atlanta and took all of the pictures, ever.

You know those times where you aren't really expecting anything big to happen, but somehow your perspective changes, your heart gets filled up? Like when you see a movie you're not expecting to touch you so much, or you have lunch with a friend and you're not expecting to open up and talk about everything? Unexpectedly, you leave feeling different. This was one of those times for me. 

I'm so thankful for weekends like this. Weekends where you can eat the unhealthy food, just for today. Where you can lay in bed and talk about everything and nothing and be reminded of how precious of a gift human connection is. Weekends where life seems to wave at you, saying, "hey, remember me? I'm actually kind of beautiful."

Life is short, and sometimes hard. But it's also just so beautiful and full of things like friendships and ramen, sunsets and rainstorms, live music and late nights. Cheers to more of the beautiful.

Happy Monday, friends!  

The Bright Ones.

You know those days (or sometimes weeks, or sometimes months) where life just seems like it's dark? Like the bad news is never going to stop, like evil is always going to prevail? 

Yeah, me too. 

But then, do you know those other moments? The pure goodness, the genuine happiness, the special, little, simple, extraordinary moments that make you stop and breath and say thank you and be happy to be alive?

Yeah, me too.

May your life be so filled with bright spots that you can create enough light to see through the dark. And if you need some help with those bright spots, I suggest taking a babe to a pumpkin patch and setting them loose to pick out their own pumpkin.

The bright ones.  I never want to stop looking at those. 

Vacation, I Love You.

Before too much time passes and I become that annoying person who won't shut up about their vacation (just kidding, that's already me), I wanted to share some pictures from our trip! 

We went to Hammock Beach Resort, and if you're looking for a relaxing beach trip, I seriously cannot recommend it highly enough. It was perfect. First of all, that picture up there was the view from our room. I feel like I could just stop there and it'd be enough, but I have approximately 43,392 pictures on my phone, so let us journey on.

The best part of this place were the pools. They had the gradual slope beach entrances, so Jack could just walk in, which made him love the pool way more. 

Speaking of how great the pool was...someone brought me a drink and giant plate of nachos every day, which I got to eat with this view. 

If you were wondering what my definition of magic is, now you know. 

There was a second pool on the upper deck that had an actual beach, so Jack could play in the sand while we laid by the pool.

See? Win-win.

The resort was right on the beach and came with free chairs and umbrellas, which is a close runner-up to my definition of magic. Jack loved the beach. The first day we took him, he just took off running down the beach. It was hilarious and adorable. 

We wrapped up our stay at the resort but decided to keep the beach trip going, so we went to our hometown and stayed for a few days in a condo right on the beach. Which means I drank my coffee with this view every morning. I love love love the ocean. 

We spent a few days just hanging out with Jack on the beach and it was the best. We got to see family and friends and just spend a few days in the sun. Magic. 

We got Jack a little pack of beach toys and that little red shovel quickly became the new love of his life. He carried it everywhere. 

Pro-tip: If you're taking a toddler to the beach, get a blow-up pool. He could splash around and cool off without one of us having to take him into the ocean.

See? Love of his life. 

It was the best. It was relaxing and refreshing and worth every single cent and minute we spent on it. If you're on the fence about taking a vacation, DO IT. You'll never regret taking a few deep breaths and making some good memories. So, so worth it. 

Are you taking a trip this summer?

My Heart is Full.

My birthday was Friday and Chris had to work (BOO), so my friend Sam spent the day with me. We laid by the pool and drank entirely too many LaCroixs and went out for some really good pad thai. Then I let my blogger freak flag fly and pulled out my tripod because we actually looked presentable and wanted a picture together. (I use this tripod and this remote. Highly recommend!)

Side note: If you are in a situation similar to me when it comes to having a partner in residency, the absolute best advice I can give you is to find someone else in that situation too. I hope you're lucky like me and have friends and family who will try their best to understand, but there's something to be said for someone who understands because it's their life, too. It is such a gift. 

After dinner, we went for ice cream and there was a baby-sized bench. If it happens to go missing, I definitely did not steal it because of how cute Jack looks sitting on it. Why would you ask me that?

I spent the entirety of Saturday in the sunshine by the pool. If you've been around me any period of time, you know this is my ideal day. The water is finally not completely freezing warm enough to swim if 1) you let yourself get hot enough, or 2) you're a one-year-old with no fear of cold water. 

We need to talk about this kid's side-eye. 

Jack adds joy to my life on a daily basis, but there are just no words for how much joy he adds to things like Easter. Watching him dig into his Easter basket and throw his eggs all around just filled my heart to the brim. 

Jack really surprised me with how much he understood! I thought we'd get some cute pictures of him, but he was really into picking the eggs up and putting them in his basket. It was adorable.

It was a really great weekend with all my favorite people and my heart is full. The perfect kick-off to a new year of life. 

How was your weekend?