Announcing Big News: We've got Baby #2 En Route!

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It has been months of silence at Modern Girl Style, but all for good reason! The most exciting reason is that my husband and I found out on New's Year Day that we were pregnant with our second baby! What a way to kick the year off! Talk about Making Plans in 2013! Did I ever mention how much I love baby toes?!

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I'm now in my second trimester and I think I've managed to have every single cold, flu, and illness out there. No Joke! My immune system has been down, but my spirits are up. These little set-backs only serve the purpose to slow me down and enjoy being home with my first beautiful baby girl, Makena, and to consider what the future might look like. Actually, I have no idea what life will be like with two awesome babies-and I try to not think about it too much because I just want it to be what it is.

It's No Secret...I'm Chasing Stars!

It's no secret. I want to share my life with you. I can finally admit, or understand, that I'm a perfectionist. It isn't a good thing and it does show up in my life in strange ways. I'm not nutso-crazy about my clothes being perfectly ironed, but I am nutty about my creative projects being completed close to perfection. This isn't good. I self-sabotage the completion of projects because I can't stand looking at something that isn't done the way I intended it to be. (Sidenote: I made that Fall Jacket! And it came out awful! LOL! So that is why I never posted the final result! I had a really good laugh over it once I was done-and this is real progression on my party) Perfectionism has wrecked havoc on my writing career! I write and hide it away. Do you do this in your life? It's kind of funny a blogger does this! At some point, a girl has to decide to change her life.  In order for me to reach the stars of my destiny, dear readers, I will be in hibernation for the next month as I do NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).

 

I have taken several steps to change and break that perfectionist streak. I have a deadline for my novel-that is big news! I did something else that makes me gasp to see that I'm changing---I hired a babysitter from a sign I found posted at a nearby park. But, the lord works in answering prayers! It turns out that the babysitter that now watches our toddler is AMAZING! She speaks French (tres chic!) and loves to play. I couldn't feel more blessed that life is working with me to accomplish this life dream. I am taking the greatest risk in my life by finally working and being who I am in this moment. I am not limited by memories of the past. I am only in this moment. I might not be perfect, but-heck-who is? I can only be myself and let it shine.

 

 I will try to update occasionally through the month, but that really isn't a promise. Please follow me on twitter where I can post quick notes! Most of all, thanks to every reader that has been at Modern Girl Style and continues to follow all of my misadventures!

Finding Me

Since my last post,  I've been on a soul-searching trek to find my authentic self. It's not that I haven't been true to myself. I had been turning away from my authentic self by not making time for myself, which is easy to do as a new mother. I found that with the little free time I had I would use it to rattle off into totally new adventures and new hobbies. It was fun. I spent much of my summer doing this. But in the end, the fun was short lived because I wasn't stepping into the place that really mattered. I wasn't living my life chasing after what I felt in heart was my life purpose.

Home Renovation Teaches the Soul to Grow

I wish I was could tell you that I was a happy camper like the sweet little girl above, but living in a condo suite for two and half weeks wasn't easy. I didn't have any books, art supplies, sewing projects, time to write, or space to relax. It was just me, my working husband, and my darling ten-month old baby who did remarkably well-no surprise there! The odd thing that I learned after being deprived of all my things, knick-knacks, and projects was that I really don't need all the stuff. That isn't a big surprise. Every guru on the planet tells people to simplify their lives to be happier. Countless magazines, newspapers, and blogs are always offering the same advice packaged in new ways. Real Simple created a hugely successful niche on living without the clutter. Live simply. The idea is almost too simple to understand. But, I got finally it. My life changed after two and half weeks of not being at home. 

Camp NanoWriMo 2012 & Why I Write

Welcome to Second-ever Camp NanoWriMo 2012! I heard about this two days ago via Fiction Notes and decided to take the challenge. I'm not taking the traditional NanoWriMo {which stands for National Novel Writing Month, typically done in November} challenge. I am going to use Camp Nanowrimo to finish connecting all the loose ends in my WIP {work in progress}.  I encourage all newbies or old writers alike to join me in the process. 

For those creatives reading, where do you like to write? Personally, I love writing poolside. The sand on a beach can get messy and then I get distracted wanting to just have fun. Pools work really well for me. I can recall a few years ago that Hollywood screenwriters were being found at the mall in the food courts writing out scripts. So it doesn't have to be a really glamourous place that one writes. One place that I truly avoid is Starbucks and libraries. I always seem to attract people that want to talk and etc. I want to write, not chit-chat! Oh, one book that came out of a NaNoWriMo challenge was The Night Circus:

Why are you talking about Writing at Modern Girl Style? 

So a quick note on the creative craziness of my life as of recent. In January, I started learning how to sew. I totally love the new hobby which can really pull me away from my first passion---writing! The truth is I've been ambitiously working on a novel for like five years. I can recall when I first moved to Toronto, met all these new people, and told them I was a writer. The automatic next question was, "What are you writing?" A novel. Exciting stuff! I wrote the first draft that year. After I completed it, I read what I wrote. From first to the last page, I knew I was in trouble. My book was utter and total crap! 

Afternoon Ideas to Beat the Heat!

Ink My Heart: A Creative Writing Workshop