March 8, 2017Charlotte Graham

Weblog Wednesday: A Family Affair

There are times in life when I’m reminded of just how important family is. Now is one such time.

Of course, ideally, we’d always keep a healthy perspective on what matters most (and least) in life, but when we get caught up in the minutiae of work, school, errands, and bills, it is all too easy to lose sight of those big picture things.

I won’t mince my words here: work (and life in general) are extremely stressful right now. As in, hyperventilating, on-the-verge-of-a-panic-attack-while-driving stressful. 

So this past week, I have been infinitely grateful for time with loved ones, not only because it helps ease my situational (and clinical) anxiety, but also because it reminds me of what is most important at the end of the day.

Last Thursday, instead of doing our normal weekly trivia, we kept it low key with a family game night at home. I’m proud to say that I won Cards Against Humanity for the first time!


A bright spot in my hectic Friday at work was that a coworker brought warm cookies and ice cream for the whole office in the afternoon.


As soon as I got home from work, Dear Husband could see that I needed to de-stress, STAT. So instead of me cooking dinner, he suggested we go out to eat.

I cannot say enough how relaxing and refreshing it felt, so I’m very grateful to him for being so supportive and understanding when my stress and anxiety are through the roof.


On Saturday night we had family come over for a little party. I just love playing hostess, and the evening was absolutely perfect. I made homemade guacamole, homemade kitchen sink queso (recipe coming soon!), and an assortment of cheeses and crackers.



Again, spending time with family was a much needed reminder of what is truly important in life.

On Sunday, we had a big day of furniture shopping. Dear Husband and I got up early to head to Z Gallerie, my favorite furniture store. But not before grabbing a coffee in the Nordstrom cafe!

At Z Gallerie, I picked out a new desk for my Lady Lair. What do you think? 


We also placed an order for this gorgeous Italian leather sectional, and I picked out this nifty swivel seat as well for my Lady Lair.



The week at work so far has been the most stressful I’ve experienced yet, and the fact that my manager told me it will only get worse from here does little to comfort me.

All I can do, though, is remind myself of my loved ones and my health, both of which are infinitely more important than any work project.

Tell me, how has your week been? 

Until next time,

xoxo Charlotte 

26 comments

  2. I love the new furniture! That chair certainly looks perfect to spend a relaxing Sunday afternoon in… 🙂 I hope it gets a bit less stressful for you soon. I have anxiety too, and I sometimes like to remind myself that every day is a new day and to take it an hour at the time. Good luck with your work project!

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    • I definitely envision the chair being a perfect reading and gaming chair!! And thank you — my anxiety gets the best of me sometimes, and I have to find ways to combat it. Taking it an hour at a time is good advice!!

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    • Indeed it is!! Husband wanted a Lazy Boy. I put my foot down. He insisted he needed to be able to recline to a totally horizontal position for potential napping. We came to a compromise with a sectional. 😊

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  5. LOVE what you have picked out!!! I know what you mean about being so incredibly stressed out that you feel like a nervous breakdown is headed your way. I am just now catching up on my blog reading! I am glad that you chose to enjoy what really matters in life-family and your sanity!! HAHA!

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    • Thank you, lady!!! I am sooooooo excited for my new furniture!! Only problem is it’s all custom and will take a couple of months. Oh well, more time to choose accent pieces!

      And stress is a real B, right?? I guess it’s more clinical anxiety than plain vanilla stress, but still.

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  6. Your furniture is perfect!! Your lair is going to be on point (as the kids say)! I will be waiting for that queso recipe 😎 I am terrible for being anxious and stressed, and I really need to get better at taking time for me!

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    • Thank you!! I just can’t wait for the furniture to actually arrive haha. I feel so old and lame trying to use the phrase on point, so I tend to choose other vocabulary lol.

      The queso recipe will come out tomorrow! I am craving it again already.

      And oh my goodness, stress management is my Achilles heel. I almost wrote a post about it the other day. It can honestly be frustrating, because I feel like I do all the typical things right that you tend to hear about (exercise, eat a proper diet, limit caffeine and alcohol, etc). But still, stress really gets to me – and bad. I think I need to focus on reminding myself of what matters most in life; I find that tends to help, even if only a little.

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    • Aw, thank you! Thankfully the rest of the week has gotten a lot better. And I am SO excited for the new desk. Only issue is it will take over a month for it to arrive, since the other pieces we bought were custom. I find that having a beautiful physical space in which to be is so key to my mental wellbeing. 🙂

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  11. My week has been largely forgettable apart from starting a third edit of my novel, Revenge on the Spanish Main. This is the big one. The final edit. This is the bad boy that the eyes of publishers shall peruse. I’d be scared if I wasn’t so eager.

    I’m sorry to hear that work isn’t treating you too kindly. The fact that it’ll apparently only get worse doesn’t fill me with much hope for you. I hope it’s just scaremongering. I’m glad you at least had some good and relaxing times with your family and husband. As you rightly alluded to, those are the things you simply must hold closest to you rather than the less positive of things.

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    • Ooh, that is exciting to begin on the final round of editing of RotSM!! (Is it surreal that your debut novel is already being referred to by your fans as an acronym?) 🙂

      When will you be sending it off? Do you already know who you are sending it to?

      And thank you. I hope it is scaremongering as well. It certainly did nothing to quell my anxiety hearing that…. The older I get, the more grateful I become for the people around me.

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      • Things have changed since typing that very optimistic comment which you might well have seen elsewhere. I think this edit is going to be a lot more intense than previous ones with a lot of details changing to accurately reflect the time period and the nautical theme in general. A look at reducing the word count is in the offing too. So the timescale of this edit looks like it’ll be extended beyond what I initially thought. That said, I’m glad the imperfections are now clear and I can work on fixing them. Had I not then I’d have definitely been frustrated by failure.
        It is weird seeing it as an acronym. I usually refer to it as Revenge in shorthand.
        When the time comes I’ll research who the best publishers are to send nautical adventure manuscript submissions to and put them top of the bill. Then I’ll filter down as appropriate. I’d like somewhere local/regional so there’s scope for face to face meetings rather than conducting everything via email or whatever.
        I definitely hear you on that last statement. As I said in my recent rant post, quality over quantity.

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  12. When work gets stressful, there’s nothing like being able to relax in the company of those we love in order to unwind a little. As for myself, the best day I had this week was the one when I went out with a friend to play pool for the first time in twenty years. We managed to bring joy and laughter to the entire place with our performance.

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