how to: get creative juices flowing.

There are a lot of things that boost my creativity whether I'm going through a drought of inspiration or if I'm stuffed full of ideas in my head, planner, and phone. I find that my creative juices very much burst out of the glass at times and at other times I'm cramming the straw into the bottom of the glass to slurp up whatever is left. When I feel like that straw is coming up air-only, I turn to a few different sources to restore faith in my creative tendencies.

Books. Cookbooks, idea books, books of photography, DIY/handmade books, basically anything bound together with flipping pages. Even novels inspire me from time to time. When I can't think of a single creative thought I turn to a book to inspire me and get me creating/baking/thinking. Cookbooks are good when I feel like I need to get into the kitchen and relieve some stress. In creating foods in the kitchen created by others, I always either add my own twist on things or get inspired to create a spin off dish. ABM's photo idea book did wonders for my creativity, even just in terms of my life in general and photographing the every day.

Coffee + an empty desktop. When I flip open my computer and there aren't any unfinished projects popping up in photoshop or a half finished blog post looming over my internet pages, I feel like I can conquer the world. While I sip my coffee I check out the blogs I read on the regular (see a few in the blogroll on the bottom right of this blog), and pinterest for whatever new and exciting my favorite followers are pinning. Usually just by doing that the creativity starts coming in like a wave and my blank sticky notes don't know what hit them.

Surroundings. Sometimes when I know I have a lot of blogging to do I head over to a Barnes & Noble or a Starbucks just to get a nice coffee and a change of scenery. I get a lot done in these types of places for whatever reason, and it's nice to get away from the house sometimes so that I can come back feeling accomplished. On the flip side of that, sometimes I get the most inspiration from my desk. If I give it a good clean, put some new stuff on the shelves or pin something new to the corkboard at my eye level, I find that I can get a sh*t ton done in no time and feel really inspired to jot down some new ideas while I'm at it.

Shopping. I know, I know, this seems like a scam, but I promise, it's not! After a good walk around Michael's or Paper Source I could have a week's worth of ideas in my head and a fresh new creative mindset. Even taking a trip to lush or sephora inspires me because I do like to post about beauty and makeup from time to time. It half gives me an excuse to try new makeup (it's for the blog, wallet...get on board!) or buy a bath bomb or seven so I can read a book or scour pinterest on my ipad for an hour in the steamy water and clear my head. Hey, whatever works psychologically, I can sell it myself with ease.

There are definitely a few other random things that get me going creatively, but these are my go-to's and they haven't failed me yet!

how to: get down to business & blog efficiently.

Though a large part of blogging is channeling creativity and making or doing things that are fun and exciting to blog about, the actual blogging part can be a little daunting. I love writing, and find it easy to find my voice and my words, but sometimes it's just easier to write a post in my head than to sit at my computer and do it. When this happens, (I can't be alone here) everything seems to be worded perfectly and I am sure I will remember exactly how I articulated myself, until I'm sitting in front of a blinking cursor - then I forget all of it.

Though I'm sure there are plenty of successful bloggers that do all of the following things, I'm positive that there must be a few people out there who are like me and need a little bit of help with the execution of writing a blog post, or honestly, sitting down to do any type of work.

Make sure you are mentally ready. There are deadlines and goals to meet, but when there isn't much time left to waste and you are really and truly uninspired or not into doing what you have to, you may need to take a few minutes to do something fun or creative (maybe snapping some shots of the flowers outside or doodling on a piece of paper), refocus your mind, then sit down to get it done. A lot of times for me this step requires making a huge cup of coffee and flicking through my instagram feed before settling down with my computer to work.

Organize everything you need before you begin writing. For me, this step is key. If I am posting something that  I have taken a lot of pictures for, I need to make sure that I've edited my photos (which for me is usually "smart fix" or a bit of brightening), sized them to fit my column, and decided which ones are going where in my post. Sometimes, if I'm away from my computer I'll doodle the post on a piece of paper and decide which pictures go after certain types of text, but a lot of times I do have a routine of sorts for how I organize and format posts, for example my recipes. Along with pictures being ready, make sure you have information at hand (directions, instructions, materials list, etc.) so that you do not need to conduct a search for a recipe or DIY you were following in the middle of the flow of your post. In addition to having everything organized as you sit down to work, it helps to organize posts a week in advanced or so so that you have all of the materials and information you need before you start doing something that's lined up to post about (i.e. making sure you have flour in the house before you go to the grocery store for everything else and set up your camera and workspace to bake a cake. I could be speaking from experience here.)

Edit after you get your words out. I always reread my posts and change things around after I've written one, but if I ever start reading paragraphs as soon as I've written them, I start to get a little bit crazy with myself and rearrange text order, or change words or phrases around to the point where I've forgotten what I really wanted to say or what to say next. Another thing is if you reread your work too many times, you will probably get uninterested in what you are saying, skip over reading it again at the end, and overlook a possible error. I have found it monumentally helpful to just write, write, write to my heart's content so that I'm saying what I need to say in the moment and while my thought process is chugging along, and then I can fine tune later and make sure everything is the way I want it before hitting publish. If you have a good flow going on, don't stop! Obviously we run into distracting situations or loss of creative flow, or other scheduled things get in the way, but if you can keep going, go.Make a checklist. I am a very visual person and I experience a certain euphoria every time I cross an item off a list (call me crazy, but I know I can't be alone in that). Even when I'm doing something I know how to do, sometimes I make a checklist anyway and every time I cross something off it feels like a huge accomplishment, which pushes me to cross the rest of the things off of my list. Sometimes these checklists are huge, sometimes they're tiny, but they always help me to remember what needs to get done most importantly. If spending an hour on #whatshouldwecallme isn't on the list, I'll usually stay away from it. Though I really can't make any promises.

Figure out what works best for you. Though these tips and tricks work for me specifically, they may not be what you need in order to get something like a blog post or a school paper finished. With that being said, try to jot down the things that do work for you so that you can make your own checklist of things to do in order to engrain those habits into your working routine. For me, sitting at a desk or a table works best for me in terms of how much I get done in a short amount of time. I am capable of sitting on a couch in front of the television and getting a post done, but it probably takes two to three times longer or I end up getting discouraged completely. If you're the opposite, so be it, just make sure you make a note of that so the next time you are getting ready to work you can get straight to the most conductive environment.

I'm no expert, but these are things that I discovered work for me through trial and error. It's just a fact that if I sit with some music at my desk or dining room table, I'm going to get ten times more done than if I am on my couch catching up with my DVR. I get my to do list, a giant mug of coffee, and I fly through what I need to do most of the time. It's all about finding what works for you, execution, repeat. Let me know if any of these things work for you or if I gave you an idea of something to keep you motivated and on track. I know this isn't groundbreaking stuff, but you don't always need to reinvent the wheel to do great things.

how to: stay motivated while running.

Running is a hard thing. Unless you've been running for your whole life and you're like some crazy marathon runner (and maybe even then) it's not an easy thing to do. When I was younger I played soccer, and looking back I really can't believe how easy running was for me. With a team around you there's a network of support, inspiration from competition, and two coaches blowing whistles at you making sure your tush keeps moving at a bionic pace. But in the real world, when you've worked an 11 hour day and all you want to do when you get home is go to sleep, running is not easy at all.

While I'm running, I will try to make any excuse to justify cutting the run short or to just stop all together and walk the rest of the way home. I'm sure I'm not the only one, but I really get into my head and it's always very early on. Since I've been running more and more and really enjoying the way that I feel afterward, I've had to force myself to stay motivated so that I can continue to remember why I am running in the first place. These are a couple of things to stay motivated while running that work for me.

1// make a killer playlist. Music is everything for me while I'm running. If I'm on a playlist that has a bunch of slower songs, I really lose my groove while I'm focusing on changing the song to something that will pump me up a little more. Once a fast paced song with a great beat comes on I find myself running a little bit faster and even enjoying it more. Also, if you download the nike+ app, or have it on your ipod like me, you can set a "power song" which can be played when you need pumping up. My power song right now is set to "can't hold us" by macklemore, and when I know I'm about four minutes from finished, I play it so that I can end my run on a good note (no pun intended). Some other good songs that get me running a little faster are this, this, and this.

2// change up your route every time. At first when I started running I would run the same course around my neighborhood every day, and once I tried to extend my time, I realized I would have to run past my original route, which was hard because it felt like I should be done when I wasn't. By changing up my route from then on, it became a lot easier to keep going. Also, I usually run as far away from my house as possible once I first start because I know full well that I will have to run farther to get back and won't have a choice.

3// run a little bit further every day. Even if it's .01 miles more than the day before, it's a bit farther and makes your body a bit stronger. If you try and run the same amount every day, you end up settling and you become used to that distance. You have to keep pushing yourself otherwise it'll get old like any other routine.

That's about all I've figured out so far. I haven't got it all figured out yet, but I know that this whole running thing is getting easier for me, so I must be doing something right. What do you do to stay motivated during a workout?

how to: stay active in an LDR.

It should be old news by now that I hate being in a long distance relationship. It's not fun, exciting, or ideal. It's miserable. With that said, if you're in love with the person you're in this type of relationship with, which you probably are if you're putting yourself through it, then it's reality and you have to make it work somehow. R and I have figured out a few simple ways to keep our time apart as normal as it could possibly feel.1// couple. Couple is an app that let's you connect with your significant other. It comes up looking like a regular text messaging screen between the both of you, and allows you to not only message, but also add dates to a personal calendar, send pictures, create drawings separately or together, record a voice message, 'thumb kiss' (you place your thumb on the screen and your partner matches theirs with yours on their own screen), and tell the person you're thinking of them. It's a pretty cool app, we actually don't use it that often anymore so I'll have to get us reinvolved, but when we were active on it, it was kind of fun to use. We iMessage all the time, but this was a little more exciting.

2// skype and facetime dates. Even though R is five hours ahead, we still try to make time every couple days for facetime. Usually I'm at work when he can talk so he also gets some Max time, but it's nice to know that I'll be able to see his face for a little bit. We don't use skype much anymore, even though it got us through most of my college years, but skype is great if you don't have an iphone or if you want to plan a 'date' that won't tie up your phone. Sometimes we pick a movie to watch and we'll start it at the same time so we can talk and watch and feel like we're kind of in the same place. It's a nice little thing to do when we get the chance.

3// snail mail. Everyone loves a bit of snail mail whether it's your favorite magazine, a great fall catalogue, or a letter from a friend. My bookstore in college had the best 99 cent cards and I used to get a bunch of them at a time to send to R whenever I missed him too much or if there was a special occasion that we unfortunately would have to miss. I'm still looking for a good card store that isn't too expensive now that I'm back at home, but I love paper source cards and rifle paper co. ones (even though I can only get them at anthro around here). These next couple months of time apart we have decided to send more cards so that getting home from work to mail can be something to look forward to.

4// make plans for the next time you'll see each other. When R and I know that we're going to see each other, we always try to plan a few fun things to do, even if it's just watching an entire season of a show that we like on the couch. Earlier this year we went to Paris when I visited him, so planning that was a lot of fun and made everything about the waiting seem more worth it. It's exciting to see each other either way, but who doesn't love a vacation or spending twenty hours straight on the couch? Instead of filling the empty space with endless chit chat, talking about plans is much more fun.

5// tell each other everything. Even if you've done nothing all day, think of something to talk about. Frequent communication is so important in the days apart. When R and I haven't gotten a chance to talk in a day or two it makes me really upset and sometimes it's easy to take the frustration of that out on him in another way, and then a fight could start up over nothing. It sounds kind of silly, but it happens to us a lot so we can't be the only ones.

That's all I really have for now. There are so many things that you can do with time apart from your loved one, these are just some of the main ones that help me and Rich get through our weeks and months apart. If you are in an LDR, what do you do to stay in touch and keep things exciting until the next time you're together?