startoverdarling

  I can't explain to you how many times I have sworn off buying breakable items. And yet, here today I gave in to filling my Goodwill thrift store buggy with delicate, textured, and colorful pottery.  Basically, all that was breakable, went in haha! I've noticed that I am attracted to speckled pottery. Thankfully, I did manage to reason with myself and put back a teapot that would have cost more than it was worth to ship. I've had a few very exhausting shipping experiences lately. One being a model boat that I sent one state away for $130 dollars.  A quote I always say is that "sometimes we pay to learn!"  Speaking of things I am attracted too... I figured I would list a few.  Vintage Scales  Old Hardback Books  Monstera, Tropical, And Rare Plants My Crockpot  Apothecaries  Carved Wood Animals Beaded, Handmade, Geometric Jewelry Self Care & Decorating Books Cats & Dogs  Whimsical & Nature Photography Room Spray  Vanilla & Dessert Candles Very Soft

    Today, was a VERY rainy day.  One of those days where you want to eat warm food and not stray far from your bed. My boyfriend and I listened to church online, as it continued to rain outside. The pastor talked about Joy VS. Happiness . Explaining, that these two words have very different meanings. Hundreds of thousands of people every year search the word "happiness." So many (including myself), are searching for relief from this economy, answers to questions, and their identities that they are convinced they have lost. I've seen a multitude of How To Find  Happiness & Self Fulfillment books at the thrift store. In full transparency, I'm sure some of these books have made it into my buggy.  For some reason, these books that are supposed to give these life altering answers always get donated back. As I listened to the sermon, I learned that happiness is a feeling created from positive events happening around us. While joy, despite what is going on, is created

      My boyfriend and I have discovered this new bins store near us called, Where Ya Bin. Apparently, this store sells only Amazon returns at discounted prices. I wish I had a picture of the entire place but imagine the Goodwill Bins and that is pretty much it! The prices vary by day and decrease as the week goes on. Yesterday, it was $3 day. I picked up a few things like some crochet tools that I'm going to use to work with clay. Can you tell that I like to repurpose stuff haha! Today, everything at this store was $1. I picked up about $8 work of items. One being this wood mallet above. Though it has a big crack down the back of it, I thought aesthetically it was beautiful. As soon as I saw this guy, he literally called to me!       Another very interesting find is this fierce looking werwolf Halloween mask that I found right before I left. Something About the gold & black coloring just really grabbed my attention. This mask, though made of foam, reminds me of a bronze statue

      I continue to believe that a big part of starting over is reconnecting with yourself. It is important to remind yourself things you used to find passion in. I'm the happiest when I am feeling truly authentic. Selling has been a part of my soul for as long as I can remember. Unfortunately, it continues to be an area that I "take a break from" or compromise on when it comes to giving something up.  It's essential to not feel shame about having things in your life that bring you peace.  I took time this weekend to pick out some cute packaging from the Dollar Tree to wrap one of my latest sales in.  As you can see, I have little cactus stickers, adorable rainbow paper, and to die for mini kitty cat card in this picture. I'm hoping that my buyer will smile when they open their package and that this bit of color will add sunshine to their day.      Something about myself that I have observed is that it is really on the day before I go back to work that I get truly

  When I finally hit a breaking point in my marriage in 2022, I realized I had to separate from my husband.  My mental health was crashing and I didn't know who I was anymore. The only thing that I had an answer too was that it was over. The impact of that decision was exhausting, stressful, and defeating. There had been no plan set in place to protect or guide me through the process of completely starting over. Thankfully, I was born incredibly loud and stubborn. Little did I know, this would be my most valuable resource in times of completely restructuring my life.  Could there have been a plan? Or, a large savings account awaiting my departure? Absolutely. But there wasn't. I'm a believer that it is impossible to prepare for everything.  Especially, extremely painful moments & choices. I do not discredit the importance of planning. If I could go back and talk to my younger self, I would have planned around a lot of the experiences I ended up going through. We can on

Yesterday, I quit one of my jobs. Do you ever feel like your life is going up in flames? Literally? I took on two jobs, recently working six days a week, to "change my life." What ultimately happened was that I was so burned out from the stress that I didn't have time to enjoy life. In general. Time is our greatest commodity. I've found that I have gifted countless minutes to businesses that over work and underpay. This has caused me to sacrifice so many moments where I could have been reading in the sun, painting shells, listening to self help vlogs, walking in nature, and just remembering the importance of laughter.      Well, since I no longer have that job, today I remembered to be myself. I walked in the sunshine, mailed packages out, got a over sized Starbucks iced Vanilla Latte, found a stretched glass decor piece at a thrift store for $4.99, got a cord from Best Buy that hopefully will upload my photos for this blog, and put away laundry that was hidden behind