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Saturday, December 2, 2017

Festive Movies and Cozy Winter Evenings - Kathleen

Hola!!! I took a quick break over Thanksgiving and it was much needed. School starts again tomorrow, and it's time to get back to work. What better way than to write a blog post?

So the past week it was REALLY warm. I found myself imagining Spring decorations, but considering that it is December second, I need to get myself solidly into the Christmas spirit. The easiest way to do that is get cozy and watch a Christmas movie. Basically have a junk food-y movie night. I have a few top movies for festive feelings, lets get started.


Elf is one of those Christmas movies that a list of Christmas movies would be incomplete without. Will Ferrell is just amazing.


It's a Wonderful Life should really be at the top of this list. It is the coziest Christmas movie I know of and always puts me in a good mood.


A Christmas Story reminds me of Christmas at my Grandma's house. We are going up there for Christmas this year and I can't wait to watch it there.


Muppet Christmas Carol is a classic. Miss Piggy is my favorite; when she and Kermit broke up I got so sad...

Those are my top four Christmas movies. Along with these movies, I really love to do a mix of snacks. Popcorn is an obvious must, but recently, I have also been loving Cara Cara Oranges as a snack. They are super similar to regular oranges, except they are juicier and sweeter. Other than that, a hot cocoa and a Dark Chocolate Noni's Coffee Cookie are absolutely delicious.

Lighting candles just makes things cozier, so I usually light Twisted Peppermint from Bath and Body Works which Emma bought for me, but if I'm REALLY feeling festive, I will light Balsam and Cedar from Yankee Candle.

I have a pair of Peanuts Christmas jammies which I love wearing around this time of year because they are so warm and cozy. I normally slip on a pair of fuzzy socks as well because something about having soft feet makes me so happy. I also don't really like slippers because they always fall off, or they don't cover all of my foot, so I really prefer wearing socks.

That is all for this week! I'm so excited for all the posts I have planned for this month and I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving!!

Kathleen
twodorkswithablog.blogspot.com

Thursday, November 30, 2017

Things are Happening and it's Somewhat Crazy - Kathleen

Hey guys! This is just a quick-ish post to update you on things. I'm going to try and keep this pretty simple and not confusing.

So a few weeks ago I wrote a post about blogging and how I get my inspiration. I mentioned a bit about how blogger is an amazing way to start blogging and get a basic idea for how you want to go about it (what you want to post, who you are targeting, etc.) I talked a little about how Blogger does have a limited amount of freedom for the administrator to design. Emma and I want something that we have more freedom with. We also want to take a the next step for our blog to have more responsibility with it and also, hopefully, reach more readers.

Because of this we are changing platforms. We will be switching over to WordPress. We are having a blog planning "meeting" (I say that so I can sound fancy) this weekend to set up the new site and finalize Christmas designs. If we can't transfer posts from this site to the new site, there will be a link to quickly access all the old posts here, on this site. The link to the new site is in the signature, go check it out. Emma did a little editing and it looks great already! There are, however, no posts up yet.

If you have any questions, leave a comment!! Thank you so much and I really hope you like the new site!!!

Kathleen
twodorkswithablog.blogspot.com
twodorkswithablog.wordpress.com

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Mental Health - Kathleen

Thanksgiving Break is started!!

Hi everyone! It's Kathleen here, and because I live in America, Thanksgiving is this Thursday! I'm so excited, it's one of my favorite holidays. We always have the most delicious array of food; Turkey, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes with brown sugar and marshmallows, green mountain fluff (sprite, marshmallows, pineapple, walnuts) gravy, fresh bread, cranberry sauce, apple stuffing, pumpkin pie, chocolate cream pie, pecan pie, and coconut cream pie. It's a bit much but it's delicious.

Pretty much all year round I'm stressed. This lessens during the summer and heightens right around this time of year. I don't really know why I get more stressed this time of year, but it probably has to do something with school and less time for me to pay attention to my mental state. So I'm going to share a few of my tips for combating stress and improving my daily mental health.

To start out, whenever I'm feeling down, I like to read a few quotes that help me re-focus and evaluate what I need to do to get back to myself.

"Be happy in the moment, that's enough. Each moment is all we need, not more." Mother Teresa

It's okay if every weekend doesn't lead to big moments and campfires and laughter that carries on for hours and hours. Some weekends might be quite, still, with plenty of room to contemplate. And in that contemplation room, there is room to grow. So hold those weekends dear. Don't see them as less or as threats to the more exciting times. There is beauty and truth even in the seemingly mundane." -Morgan Harper Nichols

"I think everything in life is art. What you do. How you dress. The way you love someone, and how you talk. Your smile and your personality. What you believe in, and all your dreams. They way you drink your drinks, How you decorate your home. Or party. The way your write your grocery list. The food you make. How your handwriting looks. And the way you feel." - Unkown (via awwyeahquotes)

"We rise by lifting others." - Unknown to me (hunting louise)

"Don't forget to love the way you want to be loved, listen the way you want to be heard, speak the way you want to be spoken to, give the way you hope others will give, care the way you want others to care because change doesn't start with them. It stars right here." - Madalyn Beck

"You think attention is love, and that's why you suffer so deeply." - The Better Man Project

First up: Self-esteem, because belief it or not, your self-esteem/body-image affects your mental health insanely. If I'm not feeling confident in my body, I think of one thing. If I'm not doing anything to change the way I feel about my body, then I can't complain, because complaining isn't going to do anything. Whenever I'm in a funk, I go on a run. I do try to go to the gym, or even just do a bedroom workout. Besides doing something about the way you feel about your body, exercising gets your endorphins going and that also makes you happier.

My surroundings also change the way I feel. I try and keep my room clean. Usually my to duvet makes me super warm at night, so I've started taking it off before I go to sleep and draping it over my desk chair. I still have 3 layers of blankets so I'm plenty warm. Then when I wake up in the morning, I have to make my bed because I literally can't do anything with this humongous blanket draped over my chair. Then once my bed is made I have to clean everything else up because otherwise everything looks out of place.

The next thing is so important, in fact, my mental state relies on this almost 100%. When I do my school, I make sure that I'm doing what needs to be done that day, and then working on anything extra. When I have a paper due and I would much rather procrastinate, I get to it and completely ignore the fact that I would much rather be on Pinterest. Then when I'm done, I feel so much better and my assignment is turned in. This honestly cures so much stress because the longer you procrastinate on anything, the more stressed you feel. That being said, another rule I have is that I never work past 8 P.M. This prevents me from working too late and getting a headache.

My last important mental health/stress-relief tip is to pamper yourself a little bit. I always take my time to wash my face with a scrub, cleanser, and moisturizer. I always do a lip scrub and swipe on so much chap stick. I use a homemade lip scrub; I made it a really long time ago, but I think it is coconut oil, sugar, and peppermint oil. I then use some Burt's Bees ( Beeswax Lip Balm with Vitamin E and Peppermint) then I use my Body Shop (Born Lippy, Strawberry) Lip Balm. If I have any chill time, I will light a candle and do a facemask. Sometimes I write a blog post, others I just lay down and not do anything. I love using the Yes To Tomatoes Charcoal Sheet Mask. It literally clears my skin SOOO well. It's also very refreshing.

That's it for my relaxing/Mental Health tips. Obviously this wasn't intended to help with anything serious; it's just how I keep my life relatively stress-free.

Tell me what your plans are for Thanksgiving this year, and I will see you next week!

Kathleen
twodorkswithablog.blogspot.com