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Reflecting on 2021

Posted on January 27, 2022

Notebook on green background with pen on top

At the end of each year and the beginning of the next, I sit down to reflect on the past year in my business & in my personal life. Click on the year to go back to read the 2018, 2019, & 2020 reflections.

In 2021, I really took a step back from my business temporarily due to some of the big life changes that I’ll discuss below. For that reason, I really want to focus this blog post on my personal life. I still cannot believe it is 2022 already!

Let’s talk about some of the highlights from my personal life this past year.

Photo shows male and female with hands up celebrating in front of their newly purchased house.

Adam and I bought our first house in Alabama. Shortly after, I moved across the country alone (with Tracer) in the midst of teaching during a pandemic and planning a wedding. Yikes.

Photo shows male kissing the cheek of his bride holding her wedding bouquet.

We got married!!! In May, we had a small, intimate wedding in Tennessee surrounded by our closest family & friends. If you haven’t seen our wedding video, I shared it on Instagram and you can click here to watch it. Due to relocation, I had to leave my job. My last day was in May and it was so bittersweet. I decided to take the summer “off” from my business (other than posting on social media) to settle into our new home and unwind after the whirlwind that was the last year and a half.

Photo shows female standing next to male in front of a military aircraft.

At the end of July, Adam graduated from the US Naval Test Pilot School. The first week of August, after a year & a half of long distance (… again lol), we moved Adam down to our home in Alabama.

Photo shows a yellow lab and a small black & white puppy laying together on the couch.

At the very end of 2021, we added four new paws to our family. We brought home Sully!

Thank you for supporting Bossy Brushstrokes!

Thank you, as always, for supporting my business whether it is with a like on social media or a purchase from my online store here or a purchase on my Etsy shop. I can’t wait to see what 2022 holds for me personally and for Bossy Brushstrokes. Until next time, stay bossy y’all.

XOXO Bossy Brushstrokes
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Reflecting on 2020

Posted on December 31, 2020

Reflecting New Year Post

Each year I like to sit down and write a blog post at the end of the year to reflect on my year in my business & in my personal life.

You can find the 2018 reflection here. In my 2019 reflection, I talked about having to accept that I was going to be a bad business owner. As much as I wanted 2019 to be a year of thriving, it needed to be a year of surviving instead. I looked forward to 2020 because the shift that I was making in my career was going to allow me more flexibility to make my business a priority again and to feel like a business owner again. I remember typing that blog post and feeling like I was finally breathing fresh air again.

… And then 2020 happened. HAHA.

As an educator, 2020 has been a wild ride. I don’t have to remind you of that because we are all existing in it. However, 2020 was the year that I did finally feel like a business owner again. I didn’t teach during the summer, so I launched my Etsy shop in July. In August, I thought it would be fun to make custom stickers. By the end of the month, I launched a handful of custom stickers. I had a personal TikTok that I made about them go semi-viral and be seen by 75,000+. I cried a lot of happy tears. I worked all day, but spent lunch, evenings & weekends getting out sticker orders as quickly as possible across the United States. It was the highlight of 2020 as far as my business is concerned.

Photo of Arlena with hands covering mouth shocked while wearing shipping labels like a scarf
This photo was taken the morning I woke up to enough orders to wear the shipping labels like a scarf… it felt like a business milestone! Hahaha.

So, what about my personal life?

In the beginning of the year, we moved Adam across the country for the military. I decided to stay in Kansas to teach since he would only be in that location for roughly a year & a half. I went to visit him while the students were gone for Spring Break. The week that I was there visiting was when Coronavirus was beginning to really unfold nationwide in the United States. I remember the NBA made their announcement and then I received an email that the university I teach at would be extending Spring Break for a week. A few days later, we learned that we were moving to online learning temporarily… and then permanently. When I transitioned to teaching online, I went to quarantine with my parents in Georgia for six weeks. I haven’t been able to spend that much time with them in years, so it was the silver lining of the situation.

At the end of July, Adam asked me to marry him.

That’s obviously the highlight of the year personally. You all sent us so much love via Instagram comments & DMs! We had 48-hours together as fiancés before it was back to long-distance again. In August, the semester began and that consumed the majority of my time.

Photo of Arlena (owner of Bossy Brushstrokes) engagement ring
This is my beautiful engagement ring. We worked with a local jeweler in Maryland to custom design it. I still am in awe every time I look at my left hand!

In October, my very best friend married the love of her life.

One of the highlights of 2019 was getting to be there for her engagement, so I love that I get to share that this year, despite all else, she was still able to have the most beautiful wedding day. I was her Maid-of-Honor (...duh) and got to stand by her side as she married the love of her life. I struggled holding it together for my speech (which was probably way too long… oops), but was so happy to be able to celebrate their marriage with all of their loved ones.

Photo of Kelly & Arlena (owner of Bossy Brushstrokes) walking towards Kelly's wedding arch as Arlena holds her veil
She was the most beautiful bride. It was such an amazing weekend!

So, what’s happening in 2021?

I have a few exciting announcements that I’m going to keep a secret for a little bit longer… hehehe. Don’t worry- I’ll make a blog post when I do announce them. One of the exciting things to look forward to is that in May of 2021, Adam and I will be getting married. I cannot wait to share a blog post recapping the special day & all of our amazing vendors.

Thank you!

Seriously… from the bottom of my heart… THANK YOU! Thank you for supporting my business whether it is with a like on social media or a purchase from my online store here or a purchase on my Etsy shop. Thank you for taking the time to read this blog post and for excitedly looking forward to what 2021 holds for me personally and for Bossy Brushstrokes. Until next time, stay bossy y’all.

XOXO Bossy Brushstrokes
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Reflecting on 2019 + Why I’m a Bad Business Owner

Posted on January 1, 2020

I know that we are all in the same boat when I say that it is CRAZY to say that it is 2020 out loud (… or in my case to type it). 2019 was an emotional, messy year. Between juggling multiple jobs, Adam’s deployment to the Middle East, and everything in between… I had to push my business to the back burner and prioritize just surviving instead of thriving. You know that sometimes cliché saying, “you can’t pour from an empty cup?” PHEW. Y’ALL. I learned that hard in 2019. This blog isn’t going to be a list of goals or a word of the year. It’s just going to be my attempt at reflecting on 2019 and putting it into words. I’m going to sum up each quarter of this year and discuss why I’m a bad business owner. Let’s get into it.

First, let’s talk about a few notable moments from my personal life in 2019…

Close up photo of yellow lab

Q1
Adam left for his nine-month deployment to Syria. Tracer (our dog) and I had a lot of couch dates. I survived planning the largest event of my career for work. I taught a portion of a college course for the first time.

Pointing at best friend's engagement ring

Q2
I watched my best friend get engaged to the love of her life. Almost just as important as that… I kept it as a secret with zero suspicion from her for the months leading up to it (I’m the worst at lying).

Sitting on a large wooden sign in Banff National Park

Q3
I stuck with my goal of a new country each year for the 4th year in a row and traveled to Banff National Park in Canada (which marks my 14th country). I started as an Adjunct Instructor teaching Introduction to Entrepreneurship.

Q4
I accepted an offer for a full-time instructor position to teach Introduction to Entrepreneurship. Adam came home from his deployment (!!!). We traveled thousands of miles and drove all across the East Coast to visit both of our families for the holidays.

Surviving, not thriving…

When I wrote my blog post on NYE of 2018 looking towards 2019, I was excited to be intentional with my business and I was excited to see what I could accomplish… and then life happened. I wrote more about my feelings about this and talked about how I truly believe that, for me, balance is a myth in this blog post from back in May. As much as I wanted 2019 to be a year of thriving, it needed to be a year of surviving instead. I had to prioritize my needs versus my wants and focus on keeping my sanity. I had to accept that I was going to be a bad business owner.

I mentioned above that in Fall of 2019, I was an Adjunct Instructor and teaching Introduction to Entrepreneurship. 2019 had a lot of lows… but three days a week, I was able to look forward to sharing my experiences and educating 91 students about what I love the most. During this time, I made sure to be authentic and vulnerable with my students. I talked about the difficulty of my attempts to stabilize my efforts in each area of my life as an entrepreneur and as a full-time employee. I have plans to expand more on teaching and what I’ve learned, but more to come on that further into the new year. Long story short, my students inspired me daily and allowed me to continue to align my purpose and my passions.

As I look forward to the new year and an entirely new decade, I know that my most important takeaway from reflecting on 2019 is that readjustment and alignment is a daily practice. It isn’t just making lists and blocking time. It isn’t trying to discover the healthy line between busy and productive. It is honest self-reflection and vulnerable conversations. It is learning to say no. It is learning to pace yourself in a world that tells you that hustle is the way to success.

2020 holds a few big changes. Most importantly, the shift that I am making in my career is going to allow me more flexibility to make my business a priority again, to feel like a business owner again. It feels like I am breathing fresh air again as I type this. Thank you for sticking with me. Thank you to those of you who purchased from my shop. Thank you for giving me this platform and being a part of this community. I’m looking forward to another amazing year filled with personal growth. 2020… I am so ready for you.

Until next time, stay bossy y’all.

XOXO Bossy Brushstrokes
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My Hiatus & Why Balance is a Myth

Posted on May 26, 2019

Calligraphy Pens on Table

Let’s talk about my hiatus & why balance is a myth. Back at the end of March, I opened up on Instagram in the caption of this post. I was spread extremely thin and my business got pushed to the back burner. I felt like a failure. I was creatively frustrated. I couldn’t find time and when I found time, I couldn’t find the energy. But, I also randomly got a text from a friend who I hadn’t spoken to in months. This text was filled with everything I didn’t know I needed to hear. Then came April. PHEW. I work in higher education. If you know, you know. April in the world of higher education is no joke. I work at the Entrepreneurship Center on campus. We had our largest event of the year in April. This event is the STATEWIDE entrepreneurship competition that brings students from across the state (high school & university). It was an amazing experience to see the talent these students possess at such a young age. As busy as April was, I finally felt normal again. Now that I’ve had time to unwind in the month of May, I feel like I’m really back in the swing of things. May also marked three months into deployment, which means only half of a year is left! I mention all of this to give you a small glimpse into my “real life” and to let you know that although I was absent, I was empowering & inspiring in a bit of a different way. However, it was also like I had blinked and all of a sudden it had been weeks without creating content for my business.

I gave up the search.

The past year has held a lot of change. Like, big changes. Every time a change happened, I strived to find that balance again. Where are my fellow Type A folks? I needed to find the structure that I was searching for. Sometimes balance works, right? I HAVE DECIDED BALANCE IS NO LONGER FOR ME. There. I said it. I want to mention that what works for me might not work for you. However, the search for balance was leading me down an endless rabbit hole of distress. So, I gave up.

I’ve decided that balance is a myth.

I’ve continued to try and pre-plan or find a balance between business and real-life. I put a lot of pressure on myself for how I was going to “come back” on social media and on the blog. I would say “tonight” or “this weekend” but then I’d sit down to try and make a plan and I’d be overwhelmed with indecision. That’s when it hit me. I was searching for a balance that didn’t exist for me because it turns out that I don’t I think I need balance. I just need to do what I love, which is empower & inspire all of you out there who follow along with Bossy Brushstrokes. Don’t get me wrong… my hiatus was necessary for me. I had worn myself out. I think sometimes entrepreneurship glorifies the hustle and we forget the toll that it can take on us. I’m here to remind you that if you are tired, worn out, and stretched thin… TAKE A BREAK. You deserve it. I’ve decided to stop striving for balance and to instead strive for happiness. The “balance” I have been trying to achieve is going to change with the ebbs & flow of life. My new equation isn’t balance… it’s simplicity… and it is working. For me, balance is a myth right now and ending my search for it has helped me get back to the roots of this business. I’m happy to be back.

Until next time, stay bossy y’all.

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How I Use My iPad To Be More Productive In “Real Life”

Posted on February 1, 2018

I ran a poll on my Instagram story and 100% of those who voted said “YES” when I asked if you wanted a blog on how I use my iPad in real life. I’ve touched on this in some other places on my website but having a dedicated blog for people to read about it in one place makes it easier for everybody.

We all know that an iPad Pro is not cheap. It can be really hard to justify the purchase if all you’re wanting to do is play around with Procreate. (Let me stop and say that it would still totally be worth the money because Procreate is magical but I digress.) SOOOOO I’m here to tell you how I use my iPad in real life and why I carry it with me pretty much every place I go. Let me also tell you that the ONLY social media I have on my iPad is Instagram and Pinterest and both only have Bossy Brushstrokes account. None of my personal social media is on my iPad and I feel like that has been really key in it being so helpful. Less distractions. No extra notifications. More productivity.

SCHOOL:

I’m currently a graduate student and I have always been an “old-fashioned” notes girl. Typing notes just is not my preferred way of doing things so the thought of digitizing my notes was a terrifying one but I decided to test it out during a short semester because I figured, why not? My life was changed. Not only was it super convenient to have a small iPad to carry around versus multiple notebooks and a case of 10 pens (I like to color coordinate, sue me) but I finally utilized the Apple magic that is Air Dropping. PAUSE. I feel like I should also add in that I am definitely a believer in Apple. I’ve got an iPhone, an Apple Watch, an iPad, and a MacBook. For those who are not, airdropping is basically where two apple products can “drop” files (documents/photos/etc) to each other quickly and easily. I never realized how great it was until I started using my iPad for school but now I use it all the time and can’t imagine going back to having to e-mail documents to myself to be able to have them in multiple places. BACK TO THE BLOG. The app that I personally use is GoodNotes but I know there are 100 similar ones on the market and I’ve heard good things about lots of them so watch some YouTube comparisons if you’re struggling with deciding. GoodNotes is $7.99 and available on the App store.

Let’s talk organization. I personally make a master category for each class and within that I have just regular categories. For example, a notebook might be set up like this:

  • Organizational Behavior
    • Book
    • Handouts
    • Notes
    • Readings
    • Slides
    • Syllabus

The beauty in this is that everything is nicely organized and clearly labeled. I can airdrop power points to myself and write on top of them as the professor is talking. I can have PDF files of my readings and annotate and highlight with ease. If a professor hands something out in class, I can either use an scanner app to scan it in but I’m way too lazy for that so I just take a picture of it and put it in my notes (which you can do seamlessly in the app). In GoodNotes, there is also a lasso tool so you can grab photos or what you have written and easily move it around. I found this especially helpful because you never have the issue of running out of room or having to erase and start over if the professor changes something because it is all so easy to do. Something that has been ESPECIALLY helpful is having a PDF version of the textbook. I can lasso charts and figures and copy and paste them right into my notes. It’s great because then I’m not having to go between my notes and my book when referring to a chart and I don’t have to waste time drawing it because I can simply insert it and draw arrows to what I am referring to or just take notes off to the side of it. You can switch between colors and size easily which is great as well (again, I like to color coordinate when notes get complicated). The other great thing is being able to back up all my notebooks to the cloud. I know that if something awful happened to my iPad, I wouldn’t lose everything because I could access it still. That’s the other great thing about taking photos of handouts. If a sheet of paper gets lost, you still have a copy. This has helped my productivity so much because I have no excuses. I don’t have to wait to print out a PDF so I can highlight it. I don’t have to wait to go home and get the book because I’ve got the book with me. It has truly made me a better student.

Pro tip for Apple users: if you’re reading an article on the Internet, go to print the article and when that pops up, you should see an option that says something along the lines of “View print preview as PDF.” If you click that, it’ll pull up a preview of just the article (no ads, no webpage nonsense, just what you need to read) and then you can airdrop that right into GoodNotes!! Voila. 

PERSONAL LIFE:

Alright. We’re still talking about the GoodNotes app but this time, we’re discussing personal life. There’s this great brand called Passion Planner. They offer a FREE, yes I said, FREE PDF version of their agenda. (Beyond that, they’ve donated over 150,000 planners and continue to implement ways for people to get free ones and how amazing is that?!) Anyway, so I downloaded the PDF version of their agenda and imported it into GoodNotes under my master category of Planner, duh. Because all the pages look the same when you’re just looking at the little previews, I went into Procreate and wrote each month all pretty and imported those so that I could easily see which month was which so I can scroll between them and quickly get to the month I’m looking for. Passion Planner comes with a monthly view which has a place to write down a personal and work focus, people to see, places to go, a not to-do list, personal projects, work projects, and a place to create a mind map of this month’s game-changer and then a weekly view which breaks down each day by hours and has to-do lists (separated again by personal and work) and a place to list focuses for the week or good things that happened each week.  for both as well as the space of infinite possibility which is just a blank space for some doodles or whatever you’d like to fill it with. ALL FOR FREE Y’ALL. How generous is that company?!?! This has been great because I carry my iPad in my purse (again, pretty much everywhere I go) and so I can easily add in anything at any time. One less thing to carry with you.

(I’ve also heard really great things about the app Planner Pro if you’re more of an electronic planner person. I have it downloaded but haven’t used it all because I just prefer to have a regular agenda versus notifications on my phone. Personal preference. The app syncs with iOS calendars, has tasks, notes, etc and again, it is all for free. There is a paid version that has more features and no ads for $4.99. Follow the link if you want to read more about it.)

WORK LIFE: 

I work in a part-time marketing position as a social media coordinator. I could talk about my job for probably hours because I work for the best people on this Earth. They have been so supportive of me and let me tell y’all, loving what you do is important but caring about who you work for and who you work with is even more important. At least for me it is. Anyway, again, with GoodNotes. I have a master category for work, too! I have a yearly marketing plan that I’ve made and plenty of to-do lists and ideas or things I need to get done by certain dates. It’s just, again, so easy to have it all in one place.

SIGNING DOCUMENTS:

The company I work for kept me on board when I moved to pursue my masters degree so I currently work from home. This means whenever things need to get signed that I had to print them out, sign them, scan them in, convert it to a PDF, and then e-mail it back. Not anymore! I can just import the document into GoodNotes and sign my name and save it as a PDF and then e-mail it right back. It has saved me so much time! Same thing with school. Whenever documents need to get signed, you can sign them right there on the iPad and easily shoot them back to whoever needed them.

READING:

One of my personal 2018 goals was to read more for enjoyment. When you’re a student, all of the fun can really get sucked out of reading and I had almost forgotten that you get to pick books to read versus being told what to read. Oops. Insert the Kindle app. I’m an Amazon Prime member and did you know that we get access to FREE books? Yep. That’s right. There’s a “Prime Reading” section in the Kindle app where you’ll find a selection of books, magazines, and everything in between. I’ve downloaded my share of free ones and I’ve also purchased books and I’ve been really enjoying it. The one downside is that you’ve got to purchase the books using your preferred internet browser. You can’t buy through the Kindle app on your iPad (because it isn’t a Kindle and Amazon is smart) but all you have to do is purchase it on Google Chrome or Safari, for example, and it’ll deliver to your Kindle app on your iPad and then you’re all set! Again, since I carry my iPad everywhere with me, it’s nice to be able to just pull it out if I’m waiting somewhere and get some reading in.

This has been a novel of a blog post so I hope it helps give you some ideas on how you could use your iPad more in your personal life or can help you justify saving up and taking the plunge by realizing that you’ll be able to use it in many ways. Until next time. Stay bossy, y’all!

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