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My first experience laying sod

Posted on by Fiona Kelley

I just did my first tasks working for Task Rabbit this morning! I love it. If you are looking for someone to help around the house or anything, let me know! Use my code for $20 off.

Today I woke up and drove from McMinnville to Beaverton for a job laying sod. I know, I’m not the person you’d expect to lay sod or do yard work. However, I was there for 3 hours and had a blast. The two people I was working with were nice and it felt good to get all muddy. Mud is good for the soul. I received a great review from the clients. As mentioned before I was there for 3 hours. I definitely got my workout for the day! Or maybe for the week…. just kidding. But my arms feel like lead jello. And laying the sod was only my first ‘task’ for the day!

Another tip! If you have long hair (like I do) braid it BEFORE starting work. It took my lovely friends (who are a lot more patient with my hair than I am) about half an hour to work their way through the tangles. Do yourself a favor and learn from my mistakes!

I then went to the next town over and cleaned a guest bathroom. I got a great review for that too! Who would have guessed? I guess I’m good at cleaning? But it was fun. The only thing I’d change is actually wearing pants with pockets so can listen to music from my phone while working.

I’d gotten so muddy laying sod that I had to go to Rite Aid to buy a cheap pair of pants because mine were super dirty. PSA: READ THE LABELS! I got a KIDS size small sweatpants. They worked, but they weren’t comfortable and I was really self-conscious. But, at least I was only cleaning a bathroom. So it worked out.

Working with Task Rabbit

Yes, these two were jobs, so I got paid. I also got a tip from each job! Apparently, I’m likable.

“Fiona was incredible. She dove right into a messy yard project and worked non-stop. She is delightful, positive attitude, hard working, attention to detail, and had great communication with us before and after our project. We will be booking her again. She’s new to TR — give her a try. You won’t be disappointed.”

“Fiona did a FANTASTIC job! It looks amazing and in record time. Thanks again Fiona!”

All in all, I’d say I had a successful day! Before I left I also worked on a project for school as well as editing photos for my work with the school newspaper.

I  will post soon a review of my experiences with Task Rabbit! But I am really liking being my own boss. It’s great for me since I’m a college student and have to work around my classes. And I get to do things I enjoy! I’m still waiting for someone to hire me for organizing. Again, I’ve only had two tasks so far, and they were both today. My in-depth review will be after I’ve worked with Task Rabbit for a while.

Comment down below if you want me to do a guide on how I got hired with Task Rabbit!

Have you ever laid sod? Inquiring minds want to know.

Cheers,

Fiona

21 Things I've Learned in 21 Years

21 Things I’ve Learned in 21 Years

Posted on by Fiona Kelley

1) Do things because you love them, not because it’s expected.

For me, this manifested a lot in wearing makeup. It also seemed like I would be liked more if I wore makeup. PSA: If someone only likes you because you started wearing makeup, they are not friends!

2) The sooner you create a personal hygiene routine, the better.

So, up until basically this year (sophomore year in college), I didn’t have a hygiene routine. Or really a routine at all, other than going on the computer. Routines do so much and have given my daily life structure. I do wish, however, that I’d started the process when I was about 13 or so. I wasn’t working, I didn’t have a ton of homework, and my bathroom at the time had a heater! (it is so much easier to take a shower at night with a heater in the bathroom).

3) Water is your friend.

Continue reading “21 Things I’ve Learned in 21 Years” →

Doing things because you love them

Doing things because you love them

Posted on by Fiona Kelley

I think this is an important topic, particularly with the ideas brought up in my Imposter Syndrome post. For me this shows a lot with my photography. Why should I take pictures? It’s not like they’re useful currently in my life. I love photography, but I’m not making money from it.  Every once in a while, I start to doubt why I take pictures. I hardly ever do anything with them, other than sharing them on social media. Eventually, I want to be a paid photographer, but I’m not there yet. I never enter them in photo contests, and I usually take way too many. Continue reading “Doing things because you love them” →

How to keep up with your Routine on Vacation

How to keep up with your Routine on Vacation

Posted on by Fiona Kelley

I have a confession to make. I have not been keeping up with my routines on vacation. When I am at school, routines are so much easier. I know where everything is in my apartment and I know my schedule and when stuff needs to happen. Here at the island house (read my post about that here) my routine has been all screwed up.

Continue reading “How to keep up with your Routine on Vacation” →

Fiona's Guide to Moving

Fiona’s Guide to Moving

Posted on by Fiona Kelley

I have moved several times over the years. The first two moves happened when I was 12. My parents split up and I moved half of my stuff to my dad’s new rented house, and then a few months later when my mom sold her house, I moved the other half of my stuff to her new rented house.

Continue reading “Fiona’s Guide to Moving” →

Living on an Island

Living on an Island

Posted on by Fiona Kelley

Recently (in September, after the easiest person to help move left for school) my dad moved from the city to a small island in the Puget Sound. Where it’s nowhere near as remote as Nim’s Island (comment if you remember that movie), it is still very different than city life. For Thanksgiving break this week (a week off from school! Yay!) I am home and living with my dad in the building we called out cabin when I was growing up. Now it’s apparently the house.

Continue reading “Living on an Island” →

How to be Confident without Makeup

How to be confident without makeup

Posted on by Fiona Kelley

Now I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m confident without makeup (or with makeup), but I’m working on it. I don’t wear makeup often. Occasionally, I decide that I want to put on lipstick or fill in my brows, but it is very occasional. And yet, 4 years ago I wouldn’t be caught dead without makeup. In fact, I even was late for school a few times because I either convinced my parents to turn around or I turned around myself to go back home to put on makeup (sorry mom).

Why I Don’t Wear Makeup

There are many reasons I don’t wear makeup. The main reason is that I’m just lazy. Well, I guess it’s not necessarily being lazy, more selective energy usage. Another reason is that it’s not on my countertop in the bathroom anymore. Although I can’t really say this attributed, as my makeup was on my counter at home and I didn’t use it. Continue reading “How to be confident without makeup” →

My Fantasy Self

My Fantasy Self

Posted on by Fiona Kelley

Do you have things in your living space that you want to use, but never do? This could be something like a coloring book because you’ve read all about the benefits of mindfulness coloring and are someday going to sit down with a cup of tea and color for hours. Or a set of ice skates that you bought because you took one ice skating class and decided you were going to be the next Olympic skater (or just thought you’d be good). Maybe makeup, because you just know that one of these days you will start waking up with a smile on your face and putting on a full face of makeup every day! Yes, these might be (slightly embellished) things I have or used to have that my fantasy self would use.

What is a fantasy self?

Continue reading “My Fantasy Self” →

Grief

Grief

Posted on by Fiona Kelley

Okay. Here we go, another ‘real’ post. I mentally did this whole post last night in my head while trying (unsuccessfully) to sleep. Another tentative title for this was ‘The one thing I hate about having a cat’, but I thought that might be a little long. So, here we go; the one thing I hate about having a cat.

Continue reading “Grief” →

Packing

Packing

Posted on by Fiona Kelley

A few weeks ago, I went to a hotel for a conference with my dad. I left on Friday afternoon after school, and I came back on Sunday afternoon. I didn’t really have to bring anything special. Dobby was traveling with me, but he doesn’t require much. My dad was taking his cat as well, so I didn’t have to bring a litter box! (Although he forgot a water bowl….)

I was only staying for 2 nights, and still, I overpacked. It’s easy to tell when going from your room down to the car takes 3 trips! Why I brought my huge makeup bag, I don’t know. I have this fantasy that I am going to wear makeup all the time and look super good! The reality is that I hardly ever wear makeup. When I do, a little bit of lipstick and filling in my brows goes a long way. Did I touch my makeup bag at all? Nope.

Continue reading “Packing” →

Imposter Syndrome

Imposter Syndrome

Posted on by Fiona Kelley

I’ve been feeling this way for a while. Who am I to be writing a blog when there are so many other bloggers out there writing amazing content? Even if I have a blog post that I really want to make, I feel like it’s already been done before and I would be stealing their ideas. It’s not just with blogging; I feel this way with photography. There are so many great photographers out there and so many things have been photographed. Who wants to view anything by me when they could look at anything by just doing a quick Google search? Yes, I probably do have some unique perspectives, but there are almost 7.5 billion people on this earth (found by doing a quick Google search); I can’t be that different and unique.

Continue reading “Imposter Syndrome” →

My Night Routine in Progress

My Night Routine in Progress

Posted on by Fiona Kelley

For a long time, I’ve been caught up in the idea of making routines. I believe I first encountered a night routine or morning routine mentioned in a book when I was about 7, and I went through that phase of life when I watched seemingly all the morning and night routines on YouTube.

And yet, I never could figure out how to create one for myself that I could stick to. Sure, I could type one up easily right now including on it a timeline of when I want everything to be done by, but sticking to my routine is another story. I always seem to get a big burst of productivity and create a routine that I’m proud of, saying ‘I will start this perfect routine tomorrow’, and when tomorrow comes, all my motivation is gone and I struggle to attend to the basics – getting clothes on and eating breakfast – before meandering out the door (with smudged glasses, might I add).

By the evening, I am way too tired to adhere to my scheduled night routine, and I either stay up late and go to bed without showering or I shower and am so tired that I just fall into bed in whatever pajamas were left out from the night before. Continue reading “My Night Routine in Progress” →

A Few ProductivityTips

A Few Productivity Tips

Posted on by Fiona Kelley

I have a confession to make… (maybe I should start all my posts this way?) I have been a procrastinator since, well, probably since I was 3 years old. I have always liked doing my own thing, in my own time. For example: with homework. If it’s an assignment I am interested in, you can consider it done. However, if it’s not, I will drag my feet until literally the last minute. (I once had an auditory presentation to do in honors biology about ethics and I totally winged it. I thought about it for about 5 minutes the night before. BUT I got an A.) Even if the project is something fun (like blogging), I will procrastinate for forever. I am still trying to figure out the why, but for now, the most important thing is the how – how do I get on with my life and beat procrastination.

Continue reading “A Few Productivity Tips” →

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I want to be a Renaissance Woman

Posted on by Fiona Kelley

Otherwise titled ‘I have a problem…’ I want to do everything! Okay, so maybe it isn’t as ‘problematic’ as we usually attach to that word, but it’s kind of a big deal to me and has been exhausting trying to figure it out. A renaissance woman is someone who has many talents and wants to have a lot of hobbies and not just focus on one thing. Emma Watson mentioned it in one of her recent interviews (I believe it was for Beauty and the Beast, probably on the special features) that she wants to do it all. My dad also had ‘being a renaissance man’ as the tagline to his website when I was growing up, so I first learned the term when I was really young. This was originally called ‘I have a problem….’, but I changed it after I finished (probably also to save that title for any number of posts that may come after this one – lots of areas in my life could be considered problematic.

So what are the problems with this? Why is this titled I want to be a renaissance woman instead of I am a renaissance woman? Continue reading “I want to be a Renaissance Woman” →

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What college students (really) do when the internet goes out

Posted on by Fiona Kelley

Or maybe it’s just me. This happened a few months ago (because it’s summer). In the small town where I go to school, the internet went entirely out. Well, I’m not sure if it went entirely out (big stores probably still had their internet for checkout and stuff – I assume that uses the internet), but the internet was entirely gone on my campus. So was EVERYBODY’S cell phone service. Data AND talk/text. Continue reading “What college students (really) do when the internet goes out” →

I failed at Minimalism-1

I failed at minimalism?

Posted on by Fiona Kelley

Phase 1 – Minimalism

February through August 2016 was a whirlwind of self-help books, trash bags, and trips to the GoodWill. I had heard a lot about minimalism on YouTube (the ever growing new Google), read a few books (most notably The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up), and threw myself into minimalism. I’m sure my dad thought I was crazy. I was at a point in my life where I needed a change, so I decided to get rid of almost everything. When I say almost everything, I mean almost everything. Sure, I kept a few things that, by the words of Marie Kondo, ‘sparked joy’, but those things that I kept were few and far between.

The largest areas of decluttering were my bathroom and my wardrobe. So many bottles of lotions and body washes were thrown in the trash, along with my multitude of impulse-buy makeup palettes. With my wardrobe, I really wanted the 10-item wardrobe (that I read about in Lessons Learned from Madame Chic), so skirts, shirts, and even jeans went into the boxes and boxes that I donated to GoodWill. Now, this was a mistake, as I wear jeans almost exclusively at my jobs. I got down to 2 pairs of jeans, about 10 shirts (not including my work shirts), 1 pair of leggings, 7 pairs of underwear, and 5 pairs of socks. You can imagine, I was doing laundry several times a week. Now, this wardrobe did make it easy to move to college, however, it was not at all practical for my lifestyle.

I learned my first mistake with the 10-item wardrobe around then, when I wanted to explore my personal style and leave behind the style I had in high school: I was trying to be someone I was not. Yes, a chic life of all monochrome colors and only 10 items in the closet is great for some people, but it was not practical for me, and it did not spark joy in me every time I went to get dressed. Continue reading “I failed at minimalism?” →

I have a confession to make....

I have a confession to make… About Perfectionism

Posted on by Fiona Kelley

Okay. So I’ve been absent on this blog for a few months. Spring semester of school was very busy. I kept telling myself that I would work on my blog, and I never got around to it. Mostly because I was afraid to post something that wasn’t perfect, and the fear of imperfection stopped me from even trying to work on my blog. Continue reading “I have a confession to make… About Perfectionism” →

Laundry Tipsfor College Dorms

Laundry Tips for College Dorms

Posted on by Fiona Kelley

I have been living in a relatively large co-ed college dorm now for about 5 months now. I live on the third floor, so many of these tips might be different if you are on the floor with the laundry room. For example, you could walk into the hall to see if the machines are empty or not. Continue reading “Laundry Tips for College Dorms” →

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Perfection

Posted on by Fiona Kelley

I haven’t blogged in over a month. I have a lot of ideas, however, my mind goes crazy with the thought that it has to be perfect. I have to find the perfect cover photo and the perfect caption. Yes, it is hard to overcome the need to have everything perfect before I post anything, but if I wait for perfection, I will never post anything. There will be a time when I can put an amazing cover photo on every post that I write and include lots of content in my posts that support my ideas. But for now, I just need to get my ideas out and just do it. Continue reading “Perfection” →

Do you really need a New Year's Resolution

Do you really need a New Year’s resolution?

Posted on by Fiona Kelley

Nowadays it seems as though New Year’s resolutions are a bit of a joke. They never work, and just lead to people being disappointed in themselves. Also, why do we need the start of a new calendar year to start working towards a new goal? Continue reading “Do you really need a New Year’s resolution?” →