Woah & First Steps

Great water bottle, right?! Glass too, and I love the cork!

Y'all, this is embarrassing. I've gained twenty pounds over the past five years. The past three at an exponential rate. Ugh!! Not that I want to be rail thin again, but I'd like my clothes to fit better and all around be a healthier person.

So, instead of beating myself up, I'm looking at it as a desire to be a healthier me. No fad diets, nothing like that. I dislike stuff like that because I think it overrides the original intent which should be health.

The first step for me today is water water water water! I have to get in at least 64 ounces of water today. Not tea, not juice, not wine- ahem. JUst delicious crystal clean water.

The second step today will be no wine with dinner or after work. It's not that big of a deal. I'll save that glass of deliciousness for another night.

The third step for me today will be to take my vitamins like a grown-ass woman should. I was doing so good for a few weeks there then gave up the ghost around my pre-Thanksgiving bout with mild food poisoning.

That's it. That's how I'm beginning. It isn't much, but doesn't every little bit count? I surely think so. I'd rather dip my toe into this situation slowly and positively and for the right reasons.

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Better

This just resonated with me today.

I hope we all find some damn good books this week and that you have a truly wonderful day!

Friday Happies!

Betty White. She looks like my grandma when she was young here.

Happy Friday y'all! I surely hope your week has been lovely. Mine started out super slow but got crazy toward the end. I actually have the weekend off too, which feels so amazing. I don't even know where to begin with it! The hubs just finished welding school for the semester so we kind of just stared at each other last night until we remember that Newsroom started back up again! We're old.
Anyway, here are some happies, funs & pretties to kick off your particular weekend of wonder! Enjoy, y'all!!

*Seventeen stunning shots of celebrities when they were younger. It shows how good taste never goes out of style!

*This made me laugh out loud. In the winter, anyone can be a breakdancer!

*How did I not see this when it first came out?! Jimmy Fallon versus the Parks & Rec cast in a Glee-esque sing & dance-off!

*What do y'all think of the new color of 2015, "Marsala"? It's a ruddy burgundy, and other than make me a little hungry, I think it's kinda pretty. I like that Lonny did a "what goes with" article though, because it is an atypical shade to focus on. I still like it.

*I just love bottlebrush trees. They immediately evoke nostalgia for me.

*I thought this guy's story and charities were really cool. They all benefit young girls and women. Really neat stuff, check it out here.

*The side of motherhood we aren't prepared to discuss. I was actually surprised by what that side really was. It's a good read.

*Aw! This lady is so cute!

*Lately I've been really missing Big Pine Key, Florida. We went there for a wedding several years back and loved it. The key deer tried to go home with the hubs. Anywho, I went looking around online to feed my craving and found their home page, for Big Pine Key. And it's awesome and hilarious!! Staghorn ferns for sale and a poem about Bob's barricades? So good. It now just makes me miss it even more!! I can't wait to go back again!

*This winter green soup sounds so delicious!!!

*As if I had anywhere to wear this! I still totally love it.

*Y'all, I really like Sturgill Simpson. 

*I'm not one for sweety sweets, but this recipe sounds really amazing!

*This is something I do in private, but am clearly not clever enough to do anything with. Therefore, I love this "We Never Met" instagram. So charming and wry!

*Bon Appetit, you nailed it! Sometimes you do really just want something shiny! Gimme!

I hope you have a truly wonderful day!

Post A-puzzle-ypse

A funny thing happened while me and my friend worked on our puzzle last night. After spells of chatting and spells of quiet, we both kind of basked in the therapeutic benefits of solving something. She and I have our own issues going on in our lives, our own struggles and have powered through with varying states of grace (her more so than me). However, we both looked up at various points to note that this puzzle-solving (or puzzling as she put it which reminds me of this) was a manifestation of the organization of our own thoughts in a physical form.

It was relaxing and challenging. We laughed and cussed and told stories. We shared trials (she was bit by one of the children she worked with and I think she may end up being patient zero for the zombie apocalypse) and work/friend/life gossip, yadda yadda. As you can see, we didn't finish the puzzle and we didn't expect to. But I think we both walked away feeling a little more peace, a little more clarity and a little more love and appreciation for our friendship.

Yay for puzzles!

I hope you have a truly wonderful day!

Try to keep up!

Awesome New York City jigsaw puzzle!

What are y'all up to tonight? I've got a very exciting dinner date planned with a girlfriend and we're going to...wait for it...DO A PUZZLE! The hubs and I will often play dominoes until the wee hours, but my lady friend and I were sitting around a few weeks ago exclaiming how we just never do puzzles anymore like we did when we were kids. That we really liked doing them back in the day and why the heck don't we do them anymore? We made a date for it and here it is!

 I had so much fun picking our puzzle out (I got this one) and I've been looking forward to this quiet little friend night for two weeks now!

We may not get very far on it (it's 1000 pieces and there will be wine involved), but still- it's so wonderfully simple and pleasant and lovely. Lovely company too.

Do you ever have quiet little nights like that with your friends? I'd love to know! It used to be a regular thing with my girlfriends (maybe not puzzles, but quiet dinner and Q-time) but everyone seems to have scattered the the winds of matrimony or kids or different cities or just plain busy-ness.

I plan on enjoying every second tonight.

I truly hope you have a wonderful day (and night), y'all!

Thoughts on waste...

Cornucopia

I don't know about y'all, but I seriously had a few moments over the past week where I was a little stunned at the amount of food I had to throw out because of surplus and it going bad. I can't stand the idea of wasting food. It makes me mad, not only because I've been in a "can't afford to waste it" place before and never want to go there again. I feel, quite honestly, that there should be no reason, without planning and vigilance, that one could not save a tremendous amount of money on not wasting food.

I spring for the organic, free-range products. It's important to me and after sacrificing that value out of sheer necessity in years past, I celebrate that privilege whenever I can. Some people place value on quantity, some on brands, some on gourmet items etc. Whatever is right for you and your family is what is right for you and yours. I'm already spending the dough though, so there is no reason why I should throw anything away without consuming it. There is no reason that its happening other than laziness and disorganization! Humbling admission, y'all.

Do you have any tricks to preventing food waste? It just hurt my heart and my conscience knowing that I was not only wasting money and food, but I was wasting it while there are people in my own town that would have loved that food (or the equivalent in money- SERIOUSLY!), you know? Ugh.

Anyway, I found a few resources I wanted to share with you guys. I already do some of the things on this list, like plan meals and have even done the pantry surprise aka "use it up" nights every now and then. I still feel like I could do better. Could you? I feel that with a little diligence a lot could be spared. Check out these links and see for yourself!

*6 habits to prevent food waste.

*How to store leafy greens (so they don't turn into that icky green slimy cess pool by the end of the week *shudder*).

*12 ways to prevent food waste at home.

*How to maximize your freezer's potential and prevent freezer burn/food waste.

*34 ways to waste less food (did you know breaking apart your bananas increases their life exponentially? I sure didn't!)


Have a truly wonderful  (and non-wasteful) day! P.S. I'm a total nerd.

Here we go!

Rabbit Rabbit wishes you good luck for the whole month if you say it on the first day! Bunny in a hat.

Rabbit Rabbit! It's the first day of the month. Can you believe the year is almost over? It seems like it flew by- like January was three weeks ago or something. Anyway, I like to treat the first of each month like a little New Year. I make little goals for myself and my hopes for the end of December/end of 2014 is to be more organized. We've been doing great on the house, but we could still be doing better (especially since we're looking for a new, smaller place). So here is my list for the month:

*Donate two more boxes of "stuff" by the end of the month. We've steadily been taking at least a box a month all year. I'm thrilled with how much unnecessary stuff we've gotten out of the house. I can breathe better.

*Stick to the meal plan. It's there for a reason. I usually stick to it pretty well half of the month and the other half I'm derailed and ordering pizza I don't even like because I don't feel like cooking. It's the meal plan + a few fun nights = staying in the 2015 debt reduction plan!

*Finish my jewelry holders from this post. We're at 80%, and I can't wait to get them hung and to arrange then rearrange my jewelry ten times!

*Get all my holiday shopping done before the 15th, that includes shipping off the stuff that needs to be shipped off.

*Stay on top of my recycling. We don't have a service here at my apartment so we save it up and walk it over to the industrial recycling bin- in theory. We get kinda lazy about it. I'd like to remedy that so my kitchen can look pretty and doesn't look like the room where legends die.

Have you started thinking about your new year? Is getting organized on your list? I think it's always been on mine, but this year we made some major impact and I'm crazy motivated to keep that up. I'd love to hear what's on your mind today, friends!

I hope you have a truly wonderful day!