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Ashlee Craft / Assemblage, Issue 9 Now Available!

Issue 9 of Ashlee Craft’s life-is-a-playground art & poetry zine, Ashlee Craft / Assemblage.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

golden 4 / equals, or not? 5 / friends (maybe she is just as alone as you) 6 / plenty of attitude 7 / skateboard 8 / long term goals 9 / things to buy on the big shopping trip 10 / so damn good to play guitar again 11 / place 12 / fashion inspirations 13 / to thine own self be true 14 / a few songs about friends 15 / neon books 16 / to do today 17 / my name 18 / six months ago 19 / winter tree 20 / how far I’ve come 21 / it is possible to come back from that 22 / eating fruit 23 / things I bought today 24 / partially happy 25 / feeling inspired 26 / more shopping… 27 / listen to some music 28 / determination vs compulsivity 29 / inspiring things to do 30 / internet ideas 31 / words 32 / avalanche 33 / let go of me 34 / there is a fire, illumination 35 / after the storm 36 / I WILL NEVER SELL MY SOUL TO YOU OR ANYONE ELSE 37 / take care of your needs 38 / stone in my shoe 39 / get up & go with it 40 / lack of sleep 41 / compliments to the team 42 / there is a moment when you realize it isn’t the end 43 / so damn tired 44 / what does it mean to have friends? 45

Publish Date // January 29, 2016
Paperback 45 pages
Genre // Magazines

Kindle Edition
Paperback

February 3, 2016
How to Help Yourself Feel Better When You’re Under the Weather

This article was originally written as a list of things to do when you had a cold, as far as vitamins & supplements & things to help you get over having a cold sooner. Unfortunately though, I ended up being sick for two whole weeks, first with the cold which sparked me to write this article, & then just when I starting to feel a little better from that, I caught a nasty flu, which I am finally over. A few days ago, it was so nice because I finally started feeling normal again.

Because of these factors, the point of the article became this : when you’re not feeling at 100% for whatever reason (even if you’re just tired & stressed, & not actually sick), what are some things you can do to support yourself during the healing process? I realized that sometimes the only way out is through; sometimes you have to trudge through the depths of something to get to the other side, & there are no shortcuts. Healing is often one of those things. As much as we would like a quick fix, instant feel-better button, sometimes we just have to let things run their course.

While you are letting things run their course, you might feel powerless. You might feel like there is something more that you should be doing to change your situation. You might feel like you should be doing better than you are, but let me tell you this – you are doing just fine!

Admittedly for me, when I don’t feel well, it makes me uncomfortable mentally because the version of me I display to the world is often focused on being fierce, strong, & flawless ALL THE TIME. It’s just the way I am. When I don’t feel well, I feel like I’m betraying this persona. If you feel like this, you’ll feel better if you recognize that this isn’t a realistic ideal to expect at all times, because literally NO ONE is perfect / healthy / happy / capable / etc all the time – not celebrities, not random strangers you see, leaders, all the cool people you see online, etc (although sometimes this is the version of these people we are presented with). In other words, please try to remember that it’s perfectly okay not to feel 125% awesome every single moment of every day.

Since last year, I’ve been working on being more compassionate towards myself when I don’t feel perfectly fantastic in whatever way. This means I’ve stopped blaming myself or being angry at myself (if my _______ was better, this wouldn’t have happened), trying to figure out “why” (it must be because I didn’t do such & such thing), or in any way implying that it happened because I wasn’t good enough for some reason. When you don’t feel your best, it is especially important to be gentle with yourself.

Here are a few ways that I find helpful as ways of being gentle with yourself, & therefore, allowing yourself to heal.

★ Take care of yourself physically. This may not always feel good when you’re not feeling good, but it really will make you feel so much better. Try to stay hydrated, even if you don’t feel like drinking water. Drink tea & warm broth & organic veggie & fruit juices. Get plenty of sleep. Try to stay nourished by eating healthy things when you feel like eating. Take vitamins (especially Vitamin C & Vitamin D). Eat in a way which feels intuitive to what your body is craving, but try to stay away from extra salt & added sugars. Eat plenty of fruits & veggies, which is hopefully something you try to do normally anyways, because eating well makes your life better.

★ Don’t push yourself to do too much if you don’t feel like it. This one was a challenge for me when I was sick, because I take pride in being highly productive. I had to remind myself that it was perfectly okay if I didn’t feel like doing all the things I normally did, & there was nothing wrong with putting a pause on being productive. I spent a lot of time lying on my back staring at the ceiling, cuddling with my dog, & lying around places. I felt bad at times about the fact that I wasn’t getting stuff done, but I had to remind myself that resting was the thing that would help me heal the soonest, & was the most supportive thing to do

★ Drink lots of tea. Tea is the closest thing to a hug in a food or beverage. Drinking tea makes me feel comforted & relaxed, & as an added bonus, it’s hydrating & helps you feel better. I avoided tea with caffeine, which is something I typically do anyway, & ended up drinking a lot of flavored herbal teas involving chamomile or lemon.

★ Rest as much as possible. I had to go to work some of the days I was sick, but on the days I didn’t work, I went to my room & took long naps. I snuggled with my dog on the floor & slept, & I fell asleep in a variety of cozy, safe places in my house, acknowledging the fact that I was tired & realizing how rest would help me feel better. When I wasn’t sleeping, I tried to take it as easy as possible. I sat on the couch & used my computer, watched television, surfed the internet, & watched YouTube videos. It was very restorative, & I think that in my normal, healthy life I need to devote more time to taking breaks from things & just relaxing.

★ Find your favorite fuzzy blanket. Wrap yourself in your favorite fuzzy blanket & sit around. I spent a lot of time wrapped up in my incredibly soft owl throw blanket, which made me feel better because it is both fuzzy, & is covered in owls. This is something comforting I do for anxiety-related issues as well.

★ Light a white taper candle & focus on directing healing light to your immune system, or whatever part of your body is bothering you. I also lit a tea candle in my Himalayan salt lamp, & when both candles were lit, I put some of my favorite healing crystals (like amethyst) around them. While I was at this, I lit the fairy lights in my room, & the combined effect of both types of lighting was beautiful. (Safety note : make sure all candles are put out before you doze off.)

★ Realize that the most judgmental person regarding you being sick is probably actually yourself, & not anyone you interact with throughout the course of the day. Most people didn’t care (or seem to notice) that my voice was squeaky & weird sounding, or that I maybe didn’t feel like doing everything I normally did. I had to remind myself that it probably wasn’t as noticeable to others as it was to me.

★ Stop blaming yourself. Try to show yourself & your body love + acceptance, & try not to be frustrated with yourself for the fact you don’t feel your best.

★ Taking lots of long, hot showers. These made me feel cozy, & the moisture & warmth helped my sinuses. Even though I am not normally a fan of taking baths, I took one very relaxing bath with Epsom salt & an amethyst crystal.

& for when you start feeling better :

★ Take all the sheets off your bed. Wash them. Wash any blankets that you feel are gross, & your pillow too if you want. Pick up all tissues, dishes, cough drops, & all other grossness from your room & dispose of them. Tumble linens you don’t want to wash in the dryer to hopefully kill some of the germs & to freshen them up. Open the window to your room & let some fresh air in, if the weather is appropriate. Cleanse your crystals in the sunlight or moonlight. Burn incense to cleanse your space, if you don’t think it will bother your sinuses / lungs. Pick up any extra items on the floor that are making your room look messy, & then stand back & admire your fresh, cleansed room.

Let yourself enjoy each milestone of feeling better. When you can finally sleep without propping your pillow up, or when you finally start feeling like yourself again. Remember to take care of yourself, take it slow, & most importantly, allow yourself to heal.

February 2, 2016
airplane, bright magic tree : a manifesto for newness
1. I am thinking about all the things I want to create for myself. It tingles at the ends of my fingers. Power. I am excited for it. All the things I want to bring into existence. That car. That mode of living (away from the fear). I think about my goal list & all the things that are tingling there too, vibrating & waiting with electric levitated energy to be brought out of thought & into my life. Finally traveling. The way I don’t have to wait any longer, to make things real, because all of it is mine, pick & choose, & I realize that I lack nothing that I need.
2. Bright red-orange hair. I think about his face & then I think about the hair. First I feel a twinge of sadness, missing it – & then it makes me excited because I am soaring & it is freeing, to become all the things I couldn’t be before. I associate the hair with the separation of that person & this person. A tangible symbol that I have moved on. Reinvention, once more.
3. I am excited about the upcoming weeks & months. The electricity of it is happy. Thinking about the way it all flowed so damn easily last year, now & before. Keeping it rolling. Flowing, it makes so much sense now. Continual motion.
4. I don’t even know her name.
5. The gold-embossed owl plate sitting under the Christmas tree on top a wooden Tarot card box, reflecting the lights. Mirth incense.
6. Looking with melancholy out the window at the full moon. Selectively brooding.
7. I illuminated the room & nothing bad happened.
8. Honey-dew melon colored water after painting.
9. I am watching it finally becoming a reality. The birth of a dream, finally. I sent off the words today, & then I will be at the helm of the ship, with the ability to make magic happen, & mold the sand upwards to make mountains & sky-high pines. Outer space, to touch the stars like so many before me have done.
10. Now that it doesn’t have to be you, it can be anyone.
11. Email minimalism. Cutting out everything that doesn’t bring me joy. Goodbye, newsletters subscribed to from past selves.
12. Nautical clothing. Five things I need to add to my wardrobe soon. Things to make nautical outfits out of. Suspenders, to wear with bright-toned skater skirts. White t-shirts & sleeveless shirts. Bright yellow. Combat boots.
13. The moment I realized it isn’t worth obsessing over the Fictions told by others or seen on TV or read in magazines; to spend more time worrying about keeping up appearances than working on making magic in your own life.
14. It is pointless trying to read things cutting them down in order to justify your opinion of them. You are entitled to what you like & don’t like. Hate & annoyance is a waste of time. Spend more time loving things.
15. Love is light. Feel the light coming out the ends of your fingers. Feel it in your chest. Stars died & were reborn & universes were created, just so that you could feel. Spend more time leaving behind $5 bills places with messages of good vibrations & send ripples out there so people can feel them. Leave behind messages in books. Write letters to people who you may never know, wishing them good things in their lives. Make it all feel loved. Become your own personal version of Love.
16. His music. I listened to it, lying on my back staring up at the ceiling; it was melancholy, it was hopeful, it was electric, it was truly beautiful, & it spoke to my soul in a way that I hadn’t felt in a long time. They were the anthems for the new person I had become in the time that had passed.
17. Stop wasting your time trying to follow the comings & goings of everyone, & keeping up with what all the Joneses are doing. Focus on your own shit. You’re better off that way.
18. How To Be Happy Single. Realize that it isn’t that important. There are better things.
19. I will order her book soon. & the hair dye, & everything else. Phoenix. Names. I am beginning to write a new narrative for myself.
January 23, 2016
Poem for David Bowie

poem for David Bowie

I remember when I heard :
you disappeared like smoke rising; a phoenix in the open air,
a song drifting in empty through an open window
reminding me of the longing,
oh, beautiful longing,
of driving under bridges at night & through city streets
& of holding people close; oh, the beautiful longing
of reaching out to find things which are no longer there
& still hoping to feel a glimpse of them,
the things that never were but felt alive in their own heartbeats;
you disappeared the way light fades at the end of the day :
still golden even as the dark blankness of night creeps in;
a song playing on a record player on the floor
as the ch-ch-ch-ch-changes bloom inside & out,
I turned to face the music & it was there I found myself;
& the way the music sounded on the floorboards & ceiling
reminded me of why you were my hero :
reinvention, I said, over & over again repeating in the night;
you had a thousand names & a thousand faces
& like the birth & rebirth of a phoenix
you tore down & rebuilt yourself over & over
breathing life & color into the word EVOLUTION
& the flames breathed their life into you
as you became new things & new people
& found homes for all the limitless planets you wanted to become;
to prove that the outsiders were not really alone at all :
to answer your question, yes,
there is life on Mars

…

Poem inspired by this.

January 15, 2016
A Few Goals for 2016

I am in the process of writing & perfecting my New Year’s goals. Every year, the idea of this – the process – excites me, because although I make changes to who I am & what I want constantly throughout the year, New Year’s (or at least the beginning of the year) seems like a good blank slate in which to make new decisions about where I’m heading.

I must note that in my New Year’s goal list that I make every year, the list is a running list. It is never “complete”, & it isn’t supposed to be. I add to it constantly. The list doesn’t JUST contain goals which I intend on completing in that given year – a good portion of them are things I want to do this year, but there’s also lots of long-term goals I put on there to remind myself to work towards the goals so in a future year they can be achieved.

I then break this master list down & choose specific things to work towards each week, which I write down in a notebook & highlight with a highlighter as I accomplish the tasks. Once a goal is completed, I put the date of completion after it on my master list & place it in a separate list at the bottom of my goal list document. At the end of the year, I remove the list of accomplished goals from the document & place it in a new document. I then rewrite the goal list for the new year, so that each list reflects that year alone. There’s no point in leaving the things on my 2015 list, for example, that I didn’t accomplish, so I just move them on to the next year!

The thing is, I like the basic concept of my list, but I decided that this year I wanted to make the goal list more personalized & specific. Sometimes in years prior, I haven’t changed or edited the list very much aside from adding new things to it, so I found quite a few things on the list that I was no longer interested in accomplishing.

Additionally, it wasn’t organized as well as I hoped it could be, so I decided to assign the goals to specific categories : GENERAL, ADVENTURES, BOOKS & WRITING, CREATIVITY & ART, EDUCATION, FASHION, FINANCES, FITNESS & HEALTH, HABITS, HAPPINESS, HOBBIES & RELAXATION, HOME, MUSIC, PETS & FAMILY, & RELATIONSHIPS. This way, it will be easy to find the goals for each week’s goal lists, & easy to keep my ideas organized.

Personally, 2015 ended up being a surprisingly amazing year for me – I could never have guessed how interesting & great it would end up at the start of the year (for more details, read about my New Year’s Day reflections) – & I plan on making 2016 even better. To accomplish this, I need to have a solid plan, which I feel like I have now thanks to my reorganized goal list.

A few goals of mine for 2016 …

★ Organize my entire garage utilizing plastic storage bins. This means cleaning out ALL the clutter, downsizing it, & making sure I only keep things I actually need. I’m tired of having a garage filled with cardboard boxes full of things I haven’t used or thought about in years, & for the most part, if it’s not inside my house, I probably don’t need it. Goal : have a very clean, organized garage that makes it super easy to find holiday decorations & has room for impromptu disco parties.

★ Dye all my hair/part of my hair copper, rose gold, or red-orange. I really love my natural hair color, but in the past year I’ve really taken an interest to experimenting with my hair. I read this article & it provided additional inspiration to take the leap. I might do dip-dyed hair like I did with red hair over the summer, or I might dye all my hair if the effect is more subtle.

★ Learn & become somewhat decent at fencing / kickboxing / archery.

★ Improve at skateboarding. I want to learn how to do some basic jumps, & improve at my skateboarding in general. Time for some more practice, & YouTube!

★ Become at least somewhat fluent in Spanish.

★ Read more. Read through books I own. I own so many books that I have never read. Most of them are collected from the free or $0.25 book bins at the library or thrift stores) that I have never read. This means that I have a lot of hidden gems that I don’t even KNOW that I have, & this year, I want to find them!

★ See & interact with sloths & owls in real life. Sloths are one of my top favorite animals, & owls ARE my favorite. I want to be able to experience these animals in real life, as opposed to just seeing pictures or videos online.

★ Buy a Nutribullet so I can make healthy smoothies & up my intake of fruits & veggies.

★ Do more acts of love for myself. Buy myself fresh flowers at least once a month. Make my bed every day. Make time to read & listen to music more. Take more time for myself. Distance myself from negativity. Drink more tea. Honor & respect & do my best to love my body & myself unconditionally. Start living my life the way I want to, & becoming the person I feel like being. Nourish myself with healthy, wholesome foods, but also eat things less healthy & wholesome when I feel inclined to. Open the windows. Do yoga. Let myself be happy. Realize that I don’t need someone else to make my life complete, or to make my happiness complete or “legitimate”.

What are some of your goals for this year? 2016 is the year for you to finally do all those things you’ve been afraid to. 2016 is the year to start loving yourself, or increase the level of happiness in your life as much as you can, so that your life feels so good & illuminated. I hope you plan it or let it happen or both, so that this year is your most radiant year ever.

January 13, 2016
I Don’t Need You To Feel That Way

(from Ashlee Craft / Assemblage, Issue 8)

I thought that without you, I would be a shadow; that I would go back to being what I used to be before I met you. Sad & incapable. I thought of you as the foundation everything I became was built upon. It would crumble if you weren’t there. That the person I had become was dependent on you being there. I looked at the happy, light, euphoric way I felt because of you (who I became because of how you made me feel) & the sense of belonging & being “good enough” that I finally felt. I thought these feelings couldn’t exist without you being with me, like a constant & repetitive circle that required you feeding the fire to keep it going. Eventually though, I realized that what I had become because of you was mine to keep. The feelings & experiences; the things that now made me feel good about who I was; the way I’d learned to love myself – those were things that could not be taken away or forgotten or repressed. This was who I was now; it wasn’t dependent on you validating me or providing a mirror by which I could see myself. It was thanks to you, showing me how to be this person & motivating me to do so, & it was thanks to me, grabbing up & running with these feelings & discoveries, & then building upon them when I had to, in order to become independently happy. I don’t need you in order to feel that way – I really can do it on my own.

January 8, 2016
2015, How You Changed Me For the Better

As 2015 comes to a close, & a brand new unwritten year begins, I am thinking back on everything which occurred in the past year & to be honest, I am so amazed & impressed by all that has happened, & all that I have become. I have evolved. It was the type of year that started out somewhat rocky, but ended with a more beautiful & gentle sense of closure than I ever expected to find. The kind of year that makes me feel like maybe I need therapy or a long vacation or mere time to deal with all the phases & changes I went through, but simultaneously the kind of year that makes me feel like I have been deeply, vividly healed. It was the kind of year filled such with influential growth & complete reinvention & beautiful epiphanies & gentle, nurturing, startling, surprising change & rebirth, that I can only hope that 2016 will offer similar (or better, even more beautiful & ebullient) opportunities for happiness & becoming myself that this year has.

A brief overview of some highlights from 2015 //

★ Completed my A Thousand Cranes series by publishing the 10th book in the series, & therefore the 1000th poem in the series

★ Published 4 books (Panorama Novelty; Document Your Life : A Journal; Elephants [Wonderful Wildlife, Book 6]; & the aforementioned A Thousand Cranes, Volume 10)

★ Started my awesome zine, Ashlee Craft / Assemblage, & published 8 issues of it ★ Released my 2nd album, Confusion is Over, on YouTube

★ Launched this blog (!!!)

★ Completed many goals that I deemed made me successful, in my eyes

★ I learned an indescribable amount about myself : who I wanted to be, where I wanted to go in life, what I really wanted & really didn’t want, what my goals really were, & that I shouldn’t sacrifice my dreams in order to do all the things I was “supposed” to do. It was a year of stripping away the bullshit until what I was left with was a polished gem glittering with the authentic truth : the reveal was that all along, I’d had what I needed.

★ I finally started feeling comfortable being open with people & letting them see who I really was : ceasing to participate in boring small talk as a form of friendship or present a watered-down version of my personality just to conform to what others expect me to be or what I perceive will make me more similar (therefore “likable”) to them. A refusal to build a wall around myself, hiding in a way so that I am never vulnerable but also never loved or known. Finally becoming myself, & having the courage to do so.

★ Learning to love myself more. Learning to accept & see the greatness (& truth) in all the things that I previously found to be faults in myself. Finally being able to see myself as being good enough : always worthy of love & respect – knowing my thoughts & opinions matter, & that my choices are perfectly okay. Being able to see when I deserve better, & being brave enough to go after Better.

★ Happiness. Learning that happiness isn’t a weird elusive thing meant for someone other than me. Finally being able to say that in the past year, I have almost entirely overcome the depression & anxiety that used to be a constant shroud (although the process of overcoming has been going on for much, much longer); achieving a sort of healing happiness; finally feeling like things really will be okay, & that I am capable of feeling good about myself & my life, long term & so deeply & authentically.

2016, I am looking forward to all the magic you have to offer me; all the good things & bright spunky ebullience awaiting me. Here’s to us all, making this the best year of our lives so far.

★★★

January 2, 2016
Ashlee Craft / Assemblage, Issue 8 Now Available!

Issue 8 of Ashlee Craft’s life-is-a-playground art & poetry zine, Ashlee Craft / Assemblage.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

a letter 4 / a little bit tired 6 / afraid of getting sad again 7 / you know you could do better, right? 8 / forgiveness 9 / raw, beautiful people 10 / dreams 11 / the roar of the lion 12 / so close 13 / lunch food 14 / you thought you had me 15 / frog 17 / you love me & I feel the same way towards you 18 / the first day 19 / you changed too much 20 / light at the end of the tunnel 21 / the purest love 22 / afraid of the future 23 / pay 24 / it was a strange time in my life 25 / I don’t need you to feel that way 26 / space 27 / forgotten 28 / pointless pain 30 / feeling better (maybe I just need to be alone) 31 / looking forward to tomorrow 32 / I will take care of myself though 33 / why do we fall? 34 / questions 35 / happy again 36 / have fun 37 / wow, it’s weird 38 / what says the most about people 39 / I casually destroyed their little plan 40 / I’ll take care of you 41 / being an everyday person 42 / jealous 43 / friends 44 / I know I made the right choice 45 / choosing you 46 / beautiful 47 / people with clouds of a smile behind them 48

Publish Date // December 18, 2015
Paperback 48 pages
Genre // Magazines

Kindle Edition
Paperback

December 28, 2015
December 6, 2015 // Playlist

Listen to playlist on YouTube

1. Love Will Find a Way – Pablo Cruise

2. Call Me – Blondie

3. Safe & Sound – Capitol Cities

4. Break the Walls – Fitz & the Tantrums

5. Confident – Demi Lovato

6. I Am Not a Robot – Marina & the Diamonds

7. I Spy – Mikhael Paskalev

8. Dreams – Fleetwood Mac

9. You Make My Dreams – Hall & Oates

10. Thunder Clatter – Wild Cub

11. Oh No! – Marina & the Diamonds

12. Bulletproof – La Roux

December 8, 2015
My Favorite Things, December 4, 2015

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to products that I recommend. When you click on an affiliate link to a product on an external website, I will recieve compensation if you buy something. If I recommend something though, it is because I really do like it. Thank you for your support.

LISTEN

★ I Spy by Mikhael Paskalev. LET ME SAY HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS SONG. This is one of those songs that just gives you a music epiphany. That makes shivers run down your spine & makes your ears feel bliss. I can’t really even put its brilliance & ebullience & magic into words. I love how it starts out sounding kind of lo-fi like it’s playing on a record in a room in your house. I love how it suddenly gets powerful & passionate when all the other instruments come in. I love the part where everyone is singing the part about “lost at sea” & the reverb at this part. Pure, pure magic.

★ Bulletproof by La Roux. This is the song I am playing on repeat & have been ever since I first heard it. I was creeping on YouTube looking for new music & found this song via the recommended video section of a Marina & The Diamonds song. It’s my go-to feel good song right now. I love everything about it. The bouncing, active, futuristic synth feel of it, the fierce lyrics, don’t-bring-me-down message, & the overall feel of it. Also, the music video is so awesome, & reminds me a little of David Bowie’s work.

★ Blue Moon by Beck. I heard this song on the radio & immediately wanted to know what song it was. It has a driving, dreamy sound to it that made me fall in love with it & all its bittersweet renditions of love.

★ Confident by Demi Lovato. A badass song. Confidence is the key, & if you’re not confident yet, then I am a firm believer in faking it ’till you make it. Great for practicing your confidence walk to, posing in front of the mirror, or dancing to.

★ Safe & Sound by Capitol Cities. “I know that we’ll be safe & sound.” I love the bouncing & warm & synthy sound of this song. I find it a feel-good, comforting song.

EAT

★ Odwalla Superfood Drink. It has apples, peaches, strawberries, bananas, mango, spirulina, & kale. What more can you ask for? KALE. It tastes good, & tastes more fruit-based than greens-based, but it still has that little bit of hearty earthiness that more greens-based drinks provide. Also, it comes in bulk, which saves money. I like veggie smoothies like this because they make it easy for me to get my daily servings of vegetables in even if I’m busy.

★ Better Than Bullion Organic Vegetable Base. A recent major-fave of mine. I make a package of plain ramen noodles & when they’re done, I dissolve some of this in hot water & pour it over the noodles. It tastes exactly like regular ramen noodles, if regular ramen noodles’ flavoring was both organic & vegetarian. I love this stuff.

★ CHEESY PRETZELS. Since I discovered these, they fit into the category of foods that I always want to keep around in my house. They have a great cheese flavor, the right amount of saltiness, & as an added bonus, you get a collection of cheese dust stuck to your fingers to lick off when you’re done eating the pretzels. I love these things.

READ

★ Am I Really Happy Every Single Day? A few great tips on how you can make your life into the awesomeness that it can be.

★ The Importance of Play. Even though you might be busy/stressed/bored/an adult/etc, play is still important.

WATCH

★ 13 Sandwiches From Around the World. These look SO GOOD & made me want to create a whole bunch of new, weird sandwiches, as well as try all the sandwiches in this video.

★ Baby Owls Blinking. That’s all you need to know. They are so fuzzy.

WEAR

★ Flannel Shirts. I own a pink flannel shirt & a red flannel shirt. They look rugged & wintery & woodsy, & I typically roll up the sleeves. Also, flannel shirts are cozy for the winter, as well as very comfortable.

★ Combat Boots. They look badass, & you can wear them with pretty much any outfit to make it look even more awesome. Jeans & a t-shirt? Badass. Rugged pants & flannel? Badass. Frilly pink dress & a hair ribbon? Badass. They go with everything, last a long time if you get good ones, & can be worn at all times of the year. Kind of like good ol’ Converse. Both are essentials, as well as versitle classics.

★ Photo Print Socks. I adore my photo print socks mostly because (a) they look cool, & (b) they look really cool inside my clear glitter jelly shoes. I only own a pair of strawberry-print ones currently, but I would like to own lots of pairs of them, especially ones with pizza, doughnuts, & probably ones with pineapples & animals too.

TO DO

★ Make Perfect Corners On a Bed Sheet. I did this last time I changed my sheets & it looked beautiful. I never used to use a flat sheet but now I do, so with that comes the necessary education of making it look really nice.

★ Unplug From the Internet with Help From Rookie Mag. I love these articles about doing Real Things in Real Life. The Internet is great, but you shouldn’t live there.

THINGS

★ Nothing is worth it if you aren’t happy. Doesn’t matter what accolades or prestige it has, or whether it’s what you’re “supposed” to do. You gotta live life on your own terms, & as long as you aren’t hurting anybody, go full speed ahead towards the things that really make you happy, & shun & push away anything that doesn’t.

NEW AWESOME THINGS

★ Issue 7 of Ashlee Craft / Assemblage has been released!

★ I had a great Thanksgiving. I had the day off, so I sat around the house & worked on my upcoming poetry book & the novel I am currently working on. I ate turkey, vegetarian turkey cutlets, & lots of great side dishes, as well as pecan pie. Then, my family watched The Santa Clause, which is a holiday tradition of ours for us to watch it sometime during the holiday season. It was a fun & relaxing day.

(above) My veggie tray meal as a snack on Thanksgiving afternoon.

Thanksgiving dinner!

★ More Christmas posts will be coming soon! This means coloring pages like the Thanksgiving ones I made, & hopefully soon some lists of cool things to buy for people you know.

December 4, 2015