15 Ways to Get Out of a Funk

I often find myself in a rut. Sometimes it lasts an hour or two, and sometimes it lasts a week or two. If you find yourself down in the dumps, just remember that it will pass. Here are some of the things that I do to help cheer me up and lift my spirits.

1. Have a nice bath before bed. And crawl into clean sheets. It's the best feeling! And you just feel so relaxed.

2. Get dressed up. I'm not saying put on a ball gown here. But do your make up or your hair, put on something other than sweat pants. It'll make you feel like doing more than sitting on the couch all day.

3. Call up a friend! Hang out with someone that you can have fun with. This is probably the best way to make yourself feel better.

4. Write. Get out your journal or, start a journal, and write what you're feeling. It is a great way to release some tension.

5. Have an early night. Go to bed early and get a solid nights sleep! You will feel so much better in the morning.

6. Listen to music. Get out your mp3 player and turn on your favourite song, and dance too!

7. Exercise! This is probably the hardest thing to do when you're feeling down, but one of the most important. Even if it's just a 15 minute walk, it will help.

8. Clean. It's amazing how our environment effects our mood. If you are sitting in a mess of a room than you are not going to be very motivated to do anything. Take 10 or 15 minutes and to a quick tidy. You'll feel a lot better.

9. Read some inspirational quotes. These always help me, here are some of my favourites.

10. Meditate. You'd be amazed at how much meditation can help. Give it a try!

11. Try something new. A change in routine might be exactly what you need to get you out of this rut.

12. Take it one day at a time. Realize that, chances are, nothing is going to come along and magically make you feel better. You have to get yourself out of this one.

13. Stay positive! I know it can be difficult to stay positive in these situations, but if you let yourself become pessimistic you will become even more destructive.

14. Focus on the present. Don't obsess over what you did or didn't do yesterday and don't put things off until tomorrow. There's no time like the present.

15. Laugh! Laughter truly is the best medicine. Start laughing and will feel better in no time!

A Clockwork Orange

A friend of mine told me that his favourite book ever was A Clockwork Orange written by Anthony Burgess, so I decided to give it a shot. I finished it a few weeks ago and I've thought about it a lot. And I still can't decide what I think about it.

It is a dystopian novel, set in future London. It follows the story of a boy, Alex, in three parts. The first part is about him and his "droogs" basically beating people up and what not. He then gets caught by the police. The second part follow his time in jail two year later. Where he finds out about a new therapy that turns felons into good people. He then goes through the extremely unethical therapy and turns "good." The third part is after he has been released into the world a changed man. He ends up running into some old "friends" and things don't go so well for him.

What I liked most about the book was the last chapter. Which, if you've seen the movie, you won't know anything about because they cut it out. But he really does change and grows up.

I really don't know what else to say, it was a very thought provoking book. It makes you think about how important ethics really are.

I would definitely recommend this book. The character of Alex is a very interesting one. Although, the language can be difficult to understand at first, the author uses a lot of slang. However, you do get the hang of it after a while.

Caroline Smith and The Good Night Sleeps

I am absolutely obsessed with Caroline Smith and The Night Sleeps, I'm in love with them right now.

I highly recommend you check them out. Their music is on iTunes, or you can check it out on YouTube. My favourite songs are:
-Tying My Shoes
-She Ain't Got It
-Calliope
-Strong Shoulders

They are a Indie/Folk band from Minneapolis. Here is their Website and MySpace page.

I've been teaching myself how to play Tying My Shoes on today, which what inspired me to write this post.

Undead and Unwed - Mary Janice Davidson

I recently finished a fantasy/romance book by Mary Janice Davidson called Undead and Unwed. It is the first of the Queen Betsy series.

It is about a young woman who was recently attacked by a bunch of people. Month later she loses her job, and is hit by a car. Which kills her. Unfortunately, the car didn't quite get the job done. Her death just doesn't seem to want to stick. She wakes up in the morgue only to realize no matter how hard she tries, she just can't die! She has become a vampire.

The story goes on, she as sex with a few people and to be frank. I just did not find it interesting at all. I didn't realize going into it that it was supposed to be a romance. Well, I knew that there was romance in it, but I thought it would be more in the background. Needless to say, I was wrong.

Personally, I do not find this kind of book interesting. I stuck it out until the end, and now I can say, without a doubt, that I did not like it. I will most definitely not be continuing on with this series.

On the other hand, I can see how people would like this book, it does try to be funny, and succeeds some of the time, but I have higher standards than that. This book would definitely be a guilty pleasure read. Although to me there would be no pleasure, and a lot of guilt!

Suffice to say I do not recommend this book.

New Blog!

I have started a new blog called My 180 Project. It is all about me turning my life around in a positive way. Check it out here.

If you have any comments or thoughts about my new blog please comment on it! I love the feedback!

10 Uses for Wood Pallets - Upcycling!

Pallet

The term "Upcycle" is totally new to me. In fact, I only just discovered what upcycling was about an hour ago. I've always known how to upcycle and been very fond of it, but I didn't know it had it's own term, I would have just called it recycling.

Anyways, for those of you who are unaware - as I was an hour ago - upcycling is taking some kind of material that is junk or something deemed useless and turning it into something awesome!

So here is 10 different ideas to upcycle and help out the planet, while having an awesome and interesting piece of furniture.

Enjoy!

1) Coffee Table 

    

  

2) Garden

3) Chair 

    

4) Coat Rack

5) Shelves

 

6) Sofa

7) Bed

8) Cabinet

9)Shed/Fort

10) Swing

I worked so hard to get all the pictures to align and all be the same size, but for some reason when I publish it to blogger it gets all messed up. So I apologize for that! 

Amazing Little Guitarists!

I'm just a beginner guitar player (I started 3 months ago, with no lessons, so progress is slow). I love going online and finding videos of songs that I can hopefully one day play! It gives me inspiration. And then, I came across this video... It is absolutely insane, and absolutely adorable. These kids are so young and play flawlessly!

Check it out: