A Few Things for Spring

I don’t care how much snow falls between now and May, it’s officially Spring in our house. I’m checking my weather app three times a day looking for the next sunshiney weekend day and Ben and I are taking every chance to get outside - freezing the whole time because we refuse to wear our heavy winter coats anymore. So since the rain is pouring and I’m going to have to focus on bringing the springtime spirit inside this week, here are some discoveries and new loves that are kicking off my March!

1. Brain.fm

I heard about this as the Awesome of the Week on the Sorta Awesome podcast and I LOVE it. When I’m working, I need to be surrounded by productive sound. Here’s what I mean by that: if there is someone chatting with me, or a song with gorgeous lyrics in my earbuds, I can’t focus and the sound makes my work unproductive. But silence is hugely draining to me so I have been known to waste an hour driving to and from my favorite coffee shop because I know I’ll be surrounded with the ambient noise that helps me stay focused while appeasing my extroverted self. This habit though, has become pretty time consuming.
But then in comes Brain.fm! These geniuses formulate music that will be the perfect motivator for whatever you're trying to accomplish, whether that’s deep work, falling quickly to sleep, or meditating well. I definitely recommend that you try it out! But if more traditional music is your thing and electronic sounds don’t sound beautiful to you - look up Tsh Oxenrider’s Schoolhouse playlists on Spotify! All of that magic is linked below.

Brain.fm

Tsh Oxenrider

2. Blackberry Coffee Syrup

I could do a whole other post on Ashley Brooke’s Design’s overall aesthetic that I am just obsessed with, but I could actually rave even harder about her blog! Just a few days ago she shared a recipe from her sister for blackberry coffee syrup that was SUPER fun to make and SUPER delicious. We bottled it up in this pretty jar from the Target Spot and now it literally brightens up my morning coffee with pinky spring color and a welcome yummy change to my go to Thin Mint creamer routine.

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Blackberry Coffee Syrup

3. Designing Your Life + Journaling

I got the most inspiring email ever from Taste of Beauty based out of Columbus with advice on a little journaling session to help you design your day as a strategy for designing your life. I made myself sit down and run through the exercise wholeheartedly. I mapped out every detail of the perfect (normal) day and it was so enlightening to notice the places my priorities have shifted since college and in which places they are as consistent as ever. I was inspired to pick up Bill Burnett’s Design Your Life to do a deep dive on how intentional long term goal setting looks. If you get any energy from planning, this is for you.

designing your life

Flowers & Bread

This one is local to Columbus. Flowers & Bread just opened up on North High street and is as simple and perfect as it sounds with all the white marble, unfinished wood, and gold accents you could ever want plus stunning flower arrangements everywhere, to-die-for lattes, and freshly baked mini loaves of the tastiest bread. I would happily just move right in if they would have me. If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, you have to add this one to your list. ​

flowers & bread

Quotable truths: “You can’t have quality output without quality input.” ​

I heard this one on Jamie Ivey’s podcast, The Happy Hour, and I’ve been mulling it over ever since. I love input. I believe you have to be a good listener to be listened to. You have to watch the perfect lesson to improve yours. You have to be prayed over to pray well and unselfconsciously. You have to input wisdom to output quality content. I’m living by this as I choose the TV, books, and apps that are getting to be part of my input this year.