Note: This is the twenty-forth in a month-long exercise called Reverb10, where bloggers reflect on the year before and think towards the year ahead. The idea is to post daily, based on the day’s prompts; let’s see how well I do.

Prompt: Everything’s OK. What was the best moment that could serve as proof that everything is going to be alright? And how will you incorporate that discovery into the year ahead?

Life is full of those moments. Every time I stress out, get depressed, worry about some thing that I supposedly messed up – I get a sign, usually within a week or two, that I actually dodged a bullet.
The trouble is remembering this when I’m in the middle of worrying. This is why I do yoga.

On another note: HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

I hope that wherever you are (whoever’s actually reading this), you’re safe, warm and happy. The last couple of days have been busy with holiday preparations, but I made some time yesterday to make six more notebooks, all of which are for sale in the pretty{functional} Etsy store. Take a look if you like.

NOTE: technically, I made eight books this week; but I just had to keep one of them and give another as a gift. Because I can. The one that I actually kept for myself is right here. LOVE IT!

Note: This is the twenty-third in a month-long exercise called Reverb10, where bloggers reflect on the year before and think towards the year ahead. The idea is to post daily, based on the day’s prompts; let’s see how well I do.

Prompt: New name. Let’s meet again, for the first time. If you could introduce yourself to strangers by another name for just one day, what would it be and why?

To be honest, I’ve always liked my name. Well, not always. I went by my given name, Danielle, for years – mostly because Dani, my childhood nickname, carried some negative baggage for a very long time. In my mid-20′s, almost entirely by accident, I ended up switching to being called Dani most of the time. I had been allowing friends to call me Dani for so long that, at the beginning of a job interview, I introduced myself as Dani – and the interviewer thought it was a great name. So, from then on, I’ve been Dani.

I was 16 when I started refusing the name. In search of a new nickname, I chose Ducky. Not for any particular reason, mind you (no, I hadn’t seen Pretty in Pink), but because I wanted something that was different than what I’d been called almost every day during my childhood. The new name was a rebirth, almost – and although my sister laughed at me for giving myself a nickname, by the end of that year, I was known to everyone as Ducky. Which, by senior year, became The Almighty Duckstress – I even had a logo for it. Because yes, I am a dork.