Writing

December 2 – Writing. What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it? (Author: Leo Babauta)

I'm not sure how applicable the "writing" part of this prompt is to me, so I'm changing it to "What do you do each day that doesn't contribute to your creativity?". And perhaps I should be asking myself why do I do those things?

I love being creative. I love creating with my hands, with my computer, with my camera. So why don't I spend more time doing that? Why do I allow things to distract me from my creativity? Honestly, some of it is laziness. It was a lot easier to sit down and watch Grey's Anatomy tonight than finish the Christmas banner that's sitting desolately in the scrap room. (Does it count if I was multitasking and editing pictures while the show was on?) Another aspect of it is perfectionism. I can't stand it when things don't turn out perfect and I have to be in the right frame of mind to even attempt to achieve that unattainable standard that my brain has set for itself. Finally, another portion is a fear of failure. I know I'm creative and talented. And I know other people have noticed. The question is now, what am I going to do with all that talent? Surely it's wasted being spread around from one creative medium to another, but how can I reign in and focus on just one aspect when there's so much more to learn? So much more to do... 

I want to create just because I love creating. Not for anyone else's sake. Not for a potential future business idea. Not because of any expectations that I have placed on myself. Just for the love of creativity. 

One Word

Abundance

So Thankful!

We had such an amazing Thanksgiving weekend with our Families. Thanksgiving day was a low-key feast at our home with Don and Andrea, Mom and Pete, Grandpa, and Amy and Conor.

We ate Poblano and Cilantro Roasted Turkey (from A Southern Fairytale), corn casserole, brie mashed potatoes, Mom's famous green beans, rosemary rolls, butternut squash and cranberry gratin (first time I'd ever made or ate it!), stuffing, spinach with garlic chips (from Pioneer Woman), and winter sangria. Of course we also had a lot of homemade desserts: Mom's upside down pumpkin cake, pumpkin pie, and cranberry apple pie! We worked off the dinner by playing Wii Just Dance 2 and throwing around the football out front with the pups in hot pursuit! After my family left, we capped off the night with a viewing of It's a Wonderful Life, the official kick-off to the Christmas season!

On Friday, we had a quick visit with Daryll's grandparents and Great Aunt and Uncle at our house! Afterward, Andrea and I ventured off in search of Black Friday deals, but our adventure came to a quick end when we found out the wait at Kohl's was 2 hours! Yikes! Instead, we decided to get our Christmas tree and an early jump on the season! We picked out a beauty (but she's still waiting to get decorated...)

It's Up! The New Christmas Blog!

I finally, finally got around to changing up my blog template! My new Christmas-y blog makes me so happy! I've been holding off on decorating the house until after Thanksgiving (I'm a purist and it breaks my own rules for life to decorate any earlier & I wanted to keep the Thanksgiving decor up until after the fam saw it), but I'm glad to get a jump on the blog! I have a few new posts coming up soon, so hopefully you haven't completely given up on Daily Dose of Dorman yet!

I Heart Faces- Orchard Photos

What splendid timing for an Orchard Photos challenge. My in-laws came to visit last week and we ventured to east county for an afternoon of apple picking (and apple pie eating). Here's a shot of my father-in-law enjoying the bountiful harvest.

Do Something New... 1st Update!

The start of October brought along the start of my new challenge: Do Something New...Everyday! My first weekend certainly set the bar high, and I can assure you that the rest of the challenge will probably be not so exciting, but without further ado, I bring you my first 8 days:


10/1: I ate pumpkin hummus for the first time. I liked the taste of it, but overall I've learned that I'm a bigger fan of sweet pumpkin recipes than savory!


10/2: I got to watch USC lose in real life! At the Coliseum! It was a happy day for me!


10/3: I stomped grapes in a barrel, I Love Lucy style! By far the coolest thing ever. 


10/4: I made a new white chicken chili recipe. It was delicious (and even more so the 2nd day)


10/5: I actually watched Daryll play a full softball game, from the sidelines. Not one of my favorites so far. I'd rather be playing! 


10/6: I painted my fingernails dark green per Megan's request


10/7: I used the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to clean EVERYTHING in my house. How have I never used this miracle worker before?


10/8: I made sugar cookies and cut them out into pumpkin shapes. And I made homemade caramel sauce! Yum! 


I'll try to get some pictures up soon! 

Welcome Autumn and a New Challenge!

It's my favorite time of year, as everybody knows! Fall is finally officially here. I had my first pumpkin spice latte a few weeks ago, a brief glimpse into the lovely season that is now upon us! My house is decorated, my mini pumpkin collection has started (thanks for the $.75 pumpkins Albertsons), Ohio State football blares from our TV every Saturday, and I baked pumpkin-banana bread this week (much to the pleasure of my neighbors, co-workers, Megan, and my husband of course)... Really is there any question about why I love fall?

For many the start of fall marks the beginning of their busy school years. My schedule is quite the opposite. I've just started my season of rest. And I'm already restless... what a surprise! Remember my 90 day challenge from last year? Where I didn't repeat a meal from October to New Years... well, I'm not doing that again. I considered it. It was afterall a worthy challenge and one that I immensely enjoyed. But my line of thinking has gotten more complex since then. I thought to myself, what if I didn't just try to cook something new everyday, what if I actually did something new everyday? Thus, my new challenge was born: Do Something New... Everyday! I'm excited for the start of October to start my new challenge. I've been brainstorming ideas for what my "something new" could be everyday. I feel like I need to have a list ahead of time so that I don't run out of ideas or miss a day, but I'd also like to have some flexibility to be spontaneous! I'd love to hear any of your ideas about what new things I should do. I can't promise that I'll do all of them, but I can promise that I'll actually document this journey here on my blog. And you can bet there will be lots of pictures to go along with it. *Also, just to clarify, the something I do doesn't have to be something I've never ever done in my entire life... just something that is out of the ordinary everyday routine. 

I'd also like to throw the challenge out to you guys! Let me know if you'll be coming along on this journey! 

I also wanted to mention that I've been taking a blog design class. Over the next few days I'll be updating the look of my blog, so if it gets a little wonky for a few days, that's the reason why!