What Ana Does

It's July, the half-way point in the year and a good time to look over where I am in the "Books Read" list. I took a month off from reading around Leah and Alice's B'nai Mitzvah, as I was using all the brain space to plan and work through my introvert-planning-huge-party neurosis that I couldn't fathom digging into a book. Regardless, I'm still on track to hit 100 for the year.   Here's just a few of my favorites:  The Stolen Heir by Holly Black -- part of her Elfhame series that I'm all-in on. I was looking forward to more Oak.  Georgie All Along by Kate Clayborn -- gah, I loved Georgie sooo much. Her messy-and-not-changing-for-you thing was so relatable.  Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood -- so far, she can do no wrong and this one was extra steamy and so fun.  First Comes Marriage by Mary Balogh -- I heard her interview on Fated Mates and decided to reread one of  her family series. This is the Huxtable family and it's been over a deca...

 We've now spent a bit of time the last four months touring colleges with Leah. Either through official visits or swinging by the campus and walk through. And it's such a weird feeling on a few accounts.  First, perspective for me is so different. When I was looking at colleges and making this decision, it was obviously a much different time, a different world, everything. Totally different. And looking back on what I used to decide on college was probably totally wrong. 40-something me would look at so many other things than the things I looked at then.  Mostly, I wouldn't look so hard at the $$. Because regardless, that whole "how to pay for college" sucked and to a point it almost didn't matter what the price tag was. I was going to be applying for loans and repaying it into my 40s no matter what.  What I should have paid attention to was the equipment and who could get me the job at the end of the four years in the field I thought I wanted to do. Experienc...

It was time to paint our bedroom. The flat gray was just too dull and the hue didn't work with our furniture. It's like matching grey pants with brown shoes -- fashion faux pas.  And, sure, I considered replacing all our furniture, it's a decade old and showing a little wear and tear. But quickly realized that it's just cheaper to paint out the gray. Though, I'm committed to switching out our upholstered headboard later this year.  Not to mention, there is a few places where we patched up the wall that needed to be painted over, and we don't have this gray paint from the former owners.  So, I went through all my color chips. Decided on blue. Picked a hue and ... no surprise ... it's about the same as the front room and the back hallway. Clearly, I have a favorite. Here's a few swatches I went through to decide on the blue. Some where too dark, too purple or too much gray in them.  I decided to leave the bottom part white, though I did look at a bunch of ...

Just so good!  I'm so happy with the final result of our back hallway. Removing that wall... just the thing. And I added some fun framed art along the top to bring UP the eye (don't look at all the shoes on the floor) and add a ton of character.  An English boot room? For sure.  Ok, I'd be remiss if I didn't think about the next "phase." Because, as much as I love this, I'll be tempted to add a small cabinet in the corner so I have a countertop to drop keys and mail. But that's likely well down the road.   Even Pepper loves it.  If you missed the evolution of this space ... and it went through several iterations before we got to this ... you can check out this blog tag . 

As mentioned, we found some extra budget and made all my back hallway dreams come true this month.  This is where we started. Note the awful pink "terracotta" floor tile that was cracking in the laundry room. The door to the left is the garage, the powder room is to the right. And that door at the end is the coat closet. And the laundry room door is at the end to the right.  Make sense?  My beef with this poky hallway is this closet and this wall. It cuts the floor space into nothing, and if it was gone, it could be an awesome little back ROOM.  Don't worry, this is one of three closets back here. Remember the coat closet at the end? And the laundry room has a closet, too, and cabinets.  We need to remove this wall. And as much as I teased Dave about doing it ourselves, he wasn't buying it. So I made this little drop zone to make the best of it ( here's the post here, for more details ).  So the simple PLAN: Remove the closet, retile the floor -- all the w...

I love books and read lots and lots. When I tell people how many books I read a week, they think I'm crazy and say "I could never read that many books, no matter how much I love to read." To that, I say, you're probably doing it wrong. ( YDIW series ) First off, some people don't care about reading or they're just not in the "book reading season" in their life ... totally get it. When I had young babies, I didn't read more than a very few books a year ... maybe. Not biggie. I don't judge. But if you're eager to read more, and think it's impossible, it's probably not.  Pick easier books. If your goal is to read three books a month, a pretty attainable goal, don't pick books from a MFA- English program. Skip the Tolstoy or Vonnegut. Sure, they're worthy but "War and Peace" is a damn dense brick! You're not being graded, so pick more "easy" books, than classic that require a comprehension guide. Mix it...

 As someone who makes a living creating social media content I have a lot to say about this subject. But mainly most people are DOING SOCIAL MEDIA WRONG.  Don't get mad at me. We didn't have any of this 10 years ago and we're all not on the same page about how to use it. We've been experimenting. But, yes, there's a right way to do it. And most people do it WRONG.  At its core, social media apps (Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat, TikTok, etc.) are for CONNECTION. And to sell things and gobble up your time. But, at it's best, they are a means to be inspired and connect to people with similar interests or ideas. And even keep up with family and friends. YAY!  But, if you're taking hours to scroll through your feed. If you're not interacting with any posts. If they make you jealous, uncomfortable or angry. All red flags. YOU * ARE * DOING * IT * WRONG.  Curate your feed! Follow only those that ADD to your day, not subtract. Look for influencers and content cr...