Leap Year Myths and Superstitions

I don't know what the pictorial equivalent of Leap Day is, but I'm assuming this is close.

Today is Leap Day!

The 29th of February has a feminist history that dates back to the Middle Ages. Historically, Leap Day was the only day when a woman could propose marriage to a man. If the man refused her, he’d have to buy her a substantial gift, like a donkey or a pretty dress (I’m guessing.) Aside from marriage, Leap Days were considered to be a time when gender roles were reversed and women were sexually liberated for 24 hours.

The moral of this story is that Leap Day should really be called “Female Orgasm Day.”

So, why don’t you go celebrate.

NOW.

5 Sites for All Your Procrastination Needs

Aside from I Can Has Cheezburger and Rage Comics, here’s a list of websites that I live on, especially when I can’t sleep (as in now) or need to avoid working:

1. Food Gawker

Food porn. Lots of great meal and entertaining ideas. The photos link through to all different kinds of blogs, so you get new recipes and also new people to follow.

Fave Find: birthday cake cinnamon rolls

2. Craft Gawker

Craft porn. Lots of DIY projects and hair tutorials. Links to free downloads, like printable heart banners, are plentiful.

Fave Find: black and gold lions and this printable compliments banner

3. Dwelling Gawker (as mentioned in my last post)

House Porn. Reeeeeally pretty homes and hideaways.

Fave Find: this Moroccan villa

Pinterest

Virtual pin boards of everything under the sun. Search for something specific or just browse. Sign up and make your own boards!

Fave Find: My Boards

4. Etsy

Online marketplace. Basically, if every craft vendor on the planet assembled in one location, you’d have Etsy. It’s Mecca for crafty people. FYI, my shop is now open!

Fave Finds: White Magick Alchemy 

5. Tastespotting

All recipes, all the time. Beautiful food photography and kitchen innovations.

Fave Find: The most beautiful macarons I’ve ever seen.

If those sites aren’t an epic waste of your time (in the best sense,) I don’t know what is.

Maybe you’ll find some inspiration as well…

Links…

Nova Scotia is pretty...

Or should I say last week?

My weekend was spent watching the entire first season of Spartacus: Blood and Sand because it’s sexy and full of violence.

I’ve also been checking out Nova Scotia real estate because I’d really like to purchase a hundred year-old home on the ocean for roughly the same price as my tiny Ontario condo in the middle of a smoggy city.

What’s Making Me Happy

My brand new tumblr!!!!

I really like the Joy the Baker podcast

This article is one of my very favourite pieces of writing on the planet. The movie Blue Crush was based on this piece.

I could spend all day on Dwelling Gawker. It’s gorgeous house porn for my eyeballs.

This site is full of amazingly helpful letters. Example:

 Dear girls,

 

If your boyfriend wants you for your breasts, legs, and thighs… send him to KFC.

 

Sincerely,

You’re a person, not a value meal.

The Descendants won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay! Yay!

Scouting New York is one of my favourite blogs. An awesome guy who works as a location scout takes you inside spoooooky abandoned buildings in and around New York City. It’s seriously fascinating. He’s pretty much my hero in life.

Adulting is a blog with hilarious and insightful tips on how to be a grown-up.

If you’re interested in astrology, here’s a fun free birth chart calculator.

This is my favourite Youtube channel for makeup ideas. Plus, she owns pomeranians, which is a basic requirement in life.

For those of us without fireplaces, this video should warm you up.

Happy Monday Readers!!!

I Just Made Myself A Tumblr

 

In the immortal words of Liz Lemon, "I want to go to there."

I decided to make a tumblr so that all of my favourite photos/pictures/snuff films were stored in one location.

It’s a work in progress, but you can check it out here if you’re feeling adventurous. A button will soon be added to the sidebar, because we at Bunny Sunday feel strongly about

CONQUERING ALL THE MEDIAS!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

6 Time Management Tips for Writers

Hello Lovely Readers,

Here’s a very for serious article I wrote for someone I don’t remember for a reason I can’t quite pin down that features good advice that I should take but can’t… because Alanis Morissette told me not to in that song about irony. Enjoy:

Do you spend more time procrastinating than you do writing?

Creative people are prone to distraction. Social media, blogs and e-mail zap a writer’s concentration. Chores and errands intrude upon free time and a day job often makes it difficult to maintain writing routine. Due to the precarious nature of the craft, writers have developed a variety of time management strategies. These techniques were developed by writers, for writers.

 1. Timer Technique

Set a timer for 30 minutes. Write without stopping until the timer goes off. Do not check social media, look at the time, or stare into space. Turn off your internal editor. Type without going back to re-write a sentence or fix mistakes. After 30 minutes, take a five minute break. Use this break to go to the bathroom, drink coffee or respond to e-mail. You can repeat this process several times in one day, depending on the amount of work you need to finish. Most cell phones, MP3 players and computers have a built-in timer or alarm clock component. Free timer apps are available online and in the iTunes App Store. The timer on a digital watch will also work. Even if you complete one 30 minute session per day, you’ll make enormous headway in a week or month. For example, writing one page in each day’s session, adds up to 30 pages in a month. Those 30 pages are enough material for a short story or book chapter.

 2. NaNoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo, is a free annual event. Every November, writers across the world attempt to finish a novel in 30 days. The program is structured to help you complete the first draft of a 50, 000 word manuscript. This breaks down to a daily1667 word quota. The quick pace is great for writers who constantly self-edit. Because of the time constraint, you won’t be able to micro-manage your writing, which means you’ll get more done. You can apply the principles of National Novel Writing Month to your own writing practice. Set a quota and intensify your focus for 30 days. Many respected authors, including Anne Lamont and Stephen King, advocate quick first drafts.

 3. Morning Pages

The idea of morning pages comes from Julia Cameron’s book “The Artist’s Way.” She encourages the practice of completing three pages of non-work related writing every morning. These pages function as a brain clearing exercise. Write down whatever comes to mind. If you can’t think of anything just write, “I don’t know what to write” repeatedly until a thought comes to you. You’re morning pages might include to-do lists, worries or emotional outbursts. The idea is to get rid of all the random thoughts that get in the way of your creative process. This allows you to work at a quick, steady pace later in the day and helps you to focus on your writing instead of mundane issues.

 4. Five Minute Commitment

Sitting down at the computer is the most difficult step of the writing process. Commit to writing for only five minutes. This technique eliminates the stress of having an entire novel looming over you. By making five minutes the goal, you can easily gain a sense of accomplishment and establish a routine. Beginning is a daily challenge but once writers get into their groove, they can write for hours. You may find that you commit to five minutes but end up writing for much longer.

 5. Self Control Applications

If you’re constantly distracted by Twitter feeds and e-mail alerts, you need to enlist the help of an app. There are several free self-control applications available for download online. These applications are simple to use, allowing you to block access to any site that distracts you. Create a list of sites to block and set the timer for five minutes or the whole weekend.

6. Shut the Door

If you can shut out the world, you can focus on your writing. Make sure your writing space is equipped with a locking door. It doesn’t matter if you write at an expensive oak desk or in the bathroom, as long as you can shut the door and escape from everyday life. Your productivity will increase if you can avoid being interrupted by kids, pets or a ringing telephone. Stephen King wrote “Carrie” in the laundry room of a doublewide trailer because it was the one space where he could write uninterrupted.

Pretty good, right?

I’m not as dumb as I look… oh… right…

Stuff I Like

Look! It's my long-lost grandmother!

Hello Lovely Readers!

I found this awesome tumblr!

I got lost in it for a few hours the other night when I should have been sleeping. If you’re a sister of Stevie (as in Nicks) or a wannabe gypsy queen, you’ll definitely enjoy. I don’t know what creature owns this little piece of the interweb, but I’m fairly certain she’s a mermaid.

For serious.

 

Esbats, the New Moon and Adding a Little Witchiness to Your Life

Hello my lovely readers!

I wrote a guest post for Lori-Lyn Hurley’s amazing site DreamLifeWellness.com. The post is titled “Full Moon Esbat Ritual” and it’s an installment of her Essential Spiritual Practice series. You will learn about tuning into the moon’s energy and using it to your advantage.

Go, read, comment and give me loooove!

The timing is perfect because tonight’s the new moon.

Esbats or “celebrations” can be done at new, full, dark or quarter moons. Every phase of the moon has a particular energy that can be tuned into for a particular purpose:

New Moon – beginnings, adding new thing to your life, drawing things toward you

First Quarter – similar to new moon, a great time to start 7-day candle spells for gaining something (as in employment, confidence,  health, etc) that will conclude on the full moon when its energy is strongest

Full – the most magical time in the moon cycle, great for magic of all kinds, an appropriate time to begin banishing magic to get rid of feelings/people/circumstances in your life

Last Quarter – a great time to start a 7-day spell for banishing something and concluding when the moon is dark

Dark – a great time to connect with ancestors or the dead, practice scrying or divination, discover the esoteric or unknown, communicate with dark goddesses (Hecate, Lilith, Kali. etc.)

 

Time of Our Sign (and a quick lesson in astrology)

from etsy.com

Today is February 20th, meaning the Sun has entered Pisces!

Because I am a proud and stereotypical Pisces, I thought I’d share a few links with you. Chances are, you have a Pisces in your life that you’d like to better understand. Or, even better, you are a Pisces yourself!

We are also the sign of the water lily.

Here’s a really accurate overview of the Pisces Sun sign. (You can find great articles about other astrological signs on this site as well. Just type it into the search box.)

Pisces Correspondences:

Planet: Neptune

Plants:

• Aloe
• Bay
• Cotton
• Eucalyptus
• Lavender
• Rue

Tree: willow

Flowers: lilac, lavender, water lily, daffodil (jonquil,) any water plant or early bloomer, like tulips.

Element: water, obviously

Animals: fish, starfish and various other aquatic animals. Also, water birds (storks, swans) and mammals (otters, whales, dolphin)

Stones: amethyst, pearl, coral, aquamarine

Colours: purple, aqua, sea foam, navy, any watery colour

Anatomy: blood, veins, lymphatic system, feet

Gods/Goddesses: Neptune, Venus, and Crone Goddesses like Hecate.

Chakra: 7th, crown chakra

Mythical Creatures: mermaids, sirens, sea monsters

A Quick Note on Astrological Correspondences

It’s pretty easy to see the connections between the correspondences. Pisces is the last sign in the zodiac, occurs during February/March and is represented by the fish. Therefore, every correspondence has to do with water (aqua, Neptune, blood, pearl, etc) or being “last” (Crone Goddesses, feet, 7th chakra) or seasonal occurrences (early flowers, purple – February’s colour)

You can easily apply this to your own zodiac sign. Aries, for example is the first sign in the zodiac so it is symbolic of:

The Top: as in the first of everything, cardinal numbers, best, strongest, etc

The Head: as in headstrong, opinionated, thoughtful and wisdom as embodied by owls and other associated creatures.

It is also a fire sign, so you’ll find lots of red correspondences (root chakra which is also the 1st chakra, red stones, colour red)

That’s how correspondences work. SO, why don’t you take your own Sun Sign and think about:

a. the time of year and seasonal occurrences

b. the animal association or the element

c. your birthstone

See if you can make the connections yourself. It’s actually pretty easy and, once you get the hang of it, you’ll begin to see that there is a beautiful symbolic language that has existed throughout time and permeates every aspect of every culture.

Pretty amazing, right?

This is Awesome

Me and my ex-boyfriend.

Hello everybody!

This article from the Huffington Post is amazing.

It covers the “quirky girl” through the decades, from Hepburn to Deschanel.

I think it’s pretty great but that could be the margaritas talking…

P.S. That photo has NOTHING to do with the article. I just thought is was funny. Because I have a questionable sense of humour.

The Extreme Lengths I Go To: Good Night’s Sleep Edition

this is my dream in life

this is my reality (from Laughingsquid.com)

I’m a chronic insomniac (read more here and here.) I have a reeeeeeally hard time falling asleep. I have an even harder time staying asleep. I’m also an extremely light sleeper. A squeaky door hinge or the thump of a cat jumping on the counter (because he’s bad) will wake me up.

Because of this, I have developed an elaborate nighttime routine which involves:

Nitey Nite Spray

Sleepy Time Tea

The iPhone app version of a sleep machine.

I must have a fan blowing at the highest setting but NOT on me. The window must be open a crack, even in the middle of the Canadian winter. My Hello Kitty blanket has to be within reach (in case I get cold from the window being open.) I use lavender pillow spray when I’m not out of it (which I currently am and it’s driving me craaaaaaaazy.) I take both melatonin pills and valerian pills. I banish Fiancé to the couch. The lights must be turned off for at least an hour before bed and my laptop brightness has to be at the lowest possible setting. Then I meditate for half an hour to an hour with “deep relaxation” or “deep sleep” guided meditations.

This happens every night.

I still don’t sleep all that well.

So, because you’re so smart, I thought I’d ask you for your opinion on sleep aids. What works? What doesn’t? What should I eat? What should I drink? Who should I sleep with?

Here are some things I’d like to try:

An awesome sleep mask and fancy earplugs, a la Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s:

This bird tweet alarm clock (available here):

What else should I try? Sometimes I do yoga. I try to get outside everyday too, because fresh air is supposed to help you sleep.

Any advice????