I didn’t even take nine whole pictures this April—how’s that for busy? Hah. This month has been a little insane, although with all the crazy definitely comes some fun. I managed to unlock my bike from the stairs in the courtyard and went for a ride around Tybee this past weekend. I accidentally threw out the keys to the lock almost a year ago, and kept putting off fixing that issue. It was perfect weather, and a little escape like that was definitely needed, so I’m glad I honkered down and did that. Honkered is a word, right? Ok.

Most of all, I’m still trucking through with thesis and deciding on my future plans. Forget all that mush about things riding steady from last month—the volume has definitely turned up. These next couple weeks I’ll be in crazy working mode, and that means…power tools! Hoping I can hang in there and make it through in one piece—and with a masters degree in tow ;) That still seems weird to think about, honestly. When I check back in again in June, this will all be over. Terrifying and so exciting all at the same time.

I hope you’re all having a wonderful start to your spring. My allergies are finally gone—whoot! Midwest snow havers, I’m so sorry that mother nature has been turning on you. Hang in there friends. I’m sending vibes that sandals and maxi dresses are on their way. Does anyone have any big plans for the rest of this spring, or something you’re looking forward to for this summer? I feel like we can all at least start to see some of those things peeking their head around the corner. I’m excited to sit by a pool and read and galavant to farmer’s markets. That’s what summers are made of in my mind.

February, you’ve been good to little old me. While I didn’t have any huge events taking place, I think this February was just one of those months that was full of exploration. I’ve finally been working on the nitty gritty of my thesis, the typeface that I’m designing is coming together in a really fun way, weekends have been spent doing work/having spontaneous fun time with the man-dude, and I even was able to start doing my first DIY’s—and get that canvas painted. Boy has that been on my list for ages!

On the down-side, I have really been struggling with my health again. With a lot of this new exploration has come a lot of stress, and I definitely turn to comfort foods when I get stressed. Cake at 4PM, ok, sure. Can you guys reach out from the internet and slap my wrist the next time that happens please? I hand-lettered that little saying to hang above my desk that says: “No Excuses. For Serious.” It’s been helping—but my kitchen is on the other side of the apartment from where it’s hung ;) Blah blah, March is a new month, and my main goal is to get back on track. I’ve been starting to interview for jobs and send out some applications for post-grad life—I want to be in the right state health-wise before I start heading down that new avenue. I’ve had some exciting opportunities come my way in the past couple weeks, and I’m crossing my fingers I start to see something come of them. This month has really taken a toll on my mentality towards graduation in a big way, and I’m so full of questions. It will be great to have a little direction and I’m hoping that starts to come soon. I’m such a weirdo planner, so it’s hard. I’m sure many of you can relate to this feeling of not knowing what’s next.

Here’s to trucking on in March—with fun times like St. Patrick’s day to keep us on our toes! How was your February?

If you’re interested in more sneak peaks into my months, follow along on instagram! Oh, and those adorable magnets shown above were sent to me by stickygram! I have them all lined up on my fridge right now. These are such a great was to get your instagram photos into your real life—that’s so nice when most of my photo documentation just stays on my phone or computer now-a-days. And they’re crazy cute to boot.

This month has been a true new start! New blog design, (still) new relationship, new vision for the blog, new career opportunities, and a new sense of boundaries. My saying no has been paying off!! Even though I feel like a huge meanie when I do it, I’ve yet to feel bad for too long and I’ve been much happier over-all getting to focus on fewer things. This January I’ve enjoyed taking the time to escape. I went kayaking and camping one weekend and it was amazing to be in nature and to get away from real life for a bit. Then, when I was off to Alt Summit it was an entirely different kind of escape tactic. I’m filled to the brim with information about this space, my thesis, and new possibilities of where I want to head in the future. This month was also the start of my new quarter, and I’ve really been enjoying my typeface design class. It’s awesome to take the knowledge I’ve been gathering from my lettering studies and put it towards a new facet of typography. By the end of this quarter I’ll have a real-life working typeable typeface! I’m getting crazy giddy just thinking about it. You all know I have issues.

I’ve really missed this. New year, and a new vow to stay on top of my game, right?

While my post-Alt post will be up next week, one of the main things I’ve taken from my time away is that I need time to reflect. I’m so go-go-go all the time that I rarely take the time to sit back and digest everything that’s going on around me. Along with my monthly reviews, I’m going to be making this space into a more reflective spot—forcing myself to take the time and really take into account everything that I’m learning day by day. I’m always amazed at the ideas and the insight I find from taking that time (and also when I get your input on top of it all!), so why does it always get pushed to the side to fit in an extra hour of the Beverly Hills Housewives? Yeah, yeah, I know—tell me about it!  I’d love to know: how do you reflect? I’m sure any tactics you can share would be amazing to tuck away for future use!

Here’s a big cheers to a great start to the year and to keeping it all going into the second month! And, as always, you can find more behind-the-scenes happenings by following pinegateroad on instagram!

ONE—I’m on track to graduate in June, and I’ll be writing my thesis this quarter. After a little over two years in grad school, I’m finally ready to put all this new-found knowledge and practice into full gear and find me a big-girl job. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been working in the field for years now, but it’s always been simultaneously done while working on one of my degrees. My goal is to rock these last couple months with school, find a job where I’ll be doing something that will make me happy, and get to living life post-school.

TWO—I feel like it’s ok to write this since it’s something I’ve been constantly working towards for about six months now. I think I munched on one [or fifty] too many cookies over the holidays, so now I’m back to losing about 15-20 pounds to reach my goal weight. Is this weird to talk about on the blog? Maybe. But I think putting this out there helps me be accountable for my actions. I want to go into my job search and graduation feeling like the best version of myself. Maybe this means losing the weight, but maybe it just means that I continue to take care of my body with healthy food, exercise, and a better state of mind. I don’t want the quick fix, I’m in this for the long haul. This year I want to keep my health a priority.

THREE—This is my big one. Over the past couple months I’ve been steadily taking on more and more freelance, which has been an overwhelmingly wonderful experience. I’m learning so much, and I’m getting to practice design that fits within my aesthetics on a regular basis. I also have a tendency to say yes to every opportunity that comes my way. So, when I finally do get some ‘free time,’ rather than really relaxing, I’m filling this time with little projects or things that I said I’d do for people. I love helping people out, really I do, but when I say yes to everything it really starts to pile up and I become resentful, stressed out, and just a terrible version of myself. I need my me time to binge-watch netflix, or experiment in the kitchen—it keeps me happy and sane. This year I’m going to start practicing saying no and setting boundaries.  I need my free time to make the rest of my working time function sufficiently. Starting this  year I’m taking a break from freelance to focus on writing my thesis and starting the job search. There’s no doubt that I’ll get back at it in a couple months, but for now I need to set my priorities straight and focus on the big picture items.

FOUR—After more than a year of consistent blogging, I now know that this is something that I really want to continue with for quite some time. I’ve been all over the place with blogging over the past year, and this year is for forming a solid foundation based on consistent variables. Soon I’ll be launching a refined re-brand for the blog and my personal identity. It will keep along the same aesthetics that I have, but will just help with building consistency throughout the Pinegate Road brand. I’m hoping to consistently post about three times a week, and make these posts special. While I love my columns, and they will most certainly pop up once in a while, I don’t want to be confined to a certain something having to go up on a certain day. I’ll be attending ALT in a couple weeks, and I think this will be a great place for me to start to define where I want to head this year with the blog as well. I want to make this little space the best it can be, and a place that consistently inspires—not something that has a few good posts muddled around with more ho-hum ones. I know it’s a journey, but I’m committed to making Pinegate Road a much more consistent and inspiring place this year.

FIVE—I think this kind of gathers up all the rest of my goals and over-arches them. With everything that I do, I hope that the end goal of those actions ends in happiness. What I’ve learned this past year is that, while not everything you do will actually make you happy, I need to focus on being more happy on my journey towards my goals rather than hoping I’ll be happy when I get there. The majority of time you have is the time you spend working towards your goals, the making of the goal is only a fraction—why make that your entire happy? I want to put my happiness on a pedestal, and really work towards making those moments pop up in my day-to-day life. I want to make sure that where I work this next year is a place where I know I’ll be happy, at least most of the time. The Lentement project was one way I started putting this mind-set into action this last year, and I hope this can continue in the future.

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