12/08

#MicroblogMondays // 02

IMG_9097

I survived my first half marathon!!

Not gonna lie…it was ROUGH. I was doing okay until about mile 9 and then I hit my wall. The temperature was dropping, the wind was brutal and my leg muscles were tightening by the minute, but thanks to a new friend, I made it all 13.1 miles! We both wanted to cry when we crossed the finish line, but we held it together. I couldn’t have done it without my accidental running partner and I’m so thankful that fate intervened.

Before the race, I thought, “I just want to get this over with. I’m never signing up for anything longer than a 5k ever again!”

Races are addicting though. I’m proud of myself for finishing, but part of me says, “You did great, but you can do better!”

So, now I’m thinking, “Never say never!” 😉

posted by 1 Comment
Filed Under: Fitness, Inspiration, microblog mondays, My life Tagged: , , ,
12/05

The Boob Rally

On the first Wednesday of the month, our city hosts an Art Walk. It’s a place where local artists set up booths to showcase their work, food and beer vendors come out to fill our tummies and usually some kind of band is playing to set the mood. It’s a great time to check out the local talent, hang out with friends and support our city. We don’t make it to Art Walk nearly often enough, but the teen and I went down this week to hang out for a bit. In addition to seeing what the artists had to offer, my friend, Jaime was going to be out there with her adorable photo booth, The Tin Can, and we also wanted to show our support for our local Museum of Contemporary Art.

DSCF4087You see, our little (big actually) city, has some growing to do. It’s embarassing really so I hate to even say this, but one of our upstanding *insert sarcasm* city councilman decided that he was offended by a certain photograph that was currently on exhibit at MOCA. It was a photograph of a pregnant woman lying on a couch with her breasts exposed.

*warning nudity below*

DSCF4109It’s so scandalicious right? I mean, she’s totally giving that come hither look? Obviously children are going to look at it and commit sin with their mind!  *insert annoyed emoticon that is annoyingly missing from my emoticon library*

It seems if your art has boobs on display, it must be pornography! Because obviously if boobs are in the photo, it’s for sexual reasons. 🙄 This city councilman doesn’t think this photo is family friendly and was so offended by the photograph that he wanted the mayor to pull the museum’s funding. Seriously?! Not take the photograph down…not remove the exhibit…pull.the.funding! Not that any option would have been acceptable, but he really just went straight for the jugular, didn’t he? Thankfully our mayor did not agree with said city councilman, but just in case there was any doubt about what we, the people of the city thought, there was going to be a rally outside of City Hall during Art Walk to show MOCA and our city how we felt about this councilman attacking our art and culture.

My little hippie-in-training was super stoked to be a part of her first rally/protest/demonstration. She was chanting along with the group…

DSCF4094

“I stand with MOCA!”

“I stand with MOCA!”

“I stand with MOCA!”

DSCF4106

and she would have totally been pumping a handmade sign up and down had we thought about making one. We were loving all the signs and homemade boobs people brought out. One chick in particular had a shirt on that looked like she was naked. I’m still kicking myself for not taking her photo.

DSCF4121-2

We did a little chanting and standing in solidarity and then we headed over to MOCA to buy a screen-printed-on-the-spot t-shirt. I’m probably a little partial, but I think my artsy, open minded, feminist girl is pretty rad.

(now for a complete 180 in subject matter)

Speaking of rad…if you live in the Jacksonville area and are having an event, you definitely need to rent the Tin Can Photo Lounge! It’s so adorable and awesome! We, of course, had to try it out. We weren’t properly prepared for our 3rd photo, but it worked out anyway. lol.

10436309_859927487391031_2757003555008966195_n

posted by Leave a Comment
Filed Under: My life Tagged: , , , ,
10/15

Maybe it’s me

In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been blogging less frequently and of those blog posts, few of them have been about fashion.

Last year I was spending hours (hours and hours!) perusing fashion blogs, making wish lists, lusting after fashion I’ll never wear.  It was almost like keeping up with the Jones’.  I wanted everything and was obsessed with getting it.

I bought a lot.  More than I should have.  Some things were great purchases that I most certainly do not regret (like this and this…apparently I’m a shoe and purse girl!), but most of it, was stuff that I wore once or not at all.

The tides, they are a-changing.

My focus is shifting and like most of my obsessions, I get hyper focused for a little while, but then lose interest.

I’m not saying I’m not going to post fashion anymore.  Just commenting that it’s not keeping me as entertained as it once was.

I’m not sure if it’s that all the fashion blogs I follow have gotten so commercial-y or if fashion blogs are on their way out or if it’s just me.

A lot of the fashion blogs I used to read are becoming a bore.  They’re filled with clothes I’ll never wear and post after post is a sponsored post or a photo shoot of a fictional life.  They’re jet setting somewhere or showing off items that they were gifted. I don’t fault them for wanting to get paid for this blogging gig, I’m just not interested in reading it anymore.

My bloglovin’ activity goes a little something like this…

“Floral skirt? Not for me.”  *mark as read*

40 Reasons to Love Fall…”eh, another list post. Moving on.” *mark as read*

“Oh look, this chick is in Paris…coolio.” *mark as read*

“Oh…ooooh…um…no…I’d never be caught dead in that. Next!” *mark as read*

“5 coats every girl should have in her closet…I live in FL. I wear a coat about 6 days out of the year. Next!” *mark as read*

And what kind of water have these fashion bloggers been drinking to all get knocked up?!  It seems like every other blogger I click on is preggers!  I think it’s sweet and I’m happy for them, but for the most part, I’m past that stage in my life and I don’t care to reminisce much.  There are a few “real” bloggers that are pregnant and I can totally reminisce and enjoy it.  Maybe it’s because they’re real about it and not just showing their beautifully dressed, perfect bellies and talking about how wonderful it is.

I’ve been gravitating more towards the blogs with real people, just talking about real life.  No fancy photos, no designer clothes, no perfect little lives.

I definitely need to do some cleaning house of the blogs I follow.  The problem is I have such FOMO (fear of missing out) about it that I can’t go all wild west and delete all of them.

*sigh*

I guess in addition to my closet purging, I’ll be doing a bloglovin’ purge as well!

But not today! No, today, I had a bit of a girls day!  As much as I talked about not really being focused as much on fashion lately, it doesn’t mean that I don’t still get excited about a Nordstrom opening up in town!  It opened up a few days ago, but I avoided the craziness and decided to go bright and early with my SIL today to check it out.  The store was beautiful and laid out really nicely.  The whole second floor was women’s clothing, with a small section for kids.  The kids area was adorable!  Let’s just say I’m glad I don’t have a little one anymore or my wallet would be seriously hurting.  There were shoes, purses and accessories galore on the first floor and I could have easily browsed all day long in just those 3 sections.  It was a bit disappointing that I didn’t see a ton of everyday clothing (admittedly I was distracted with chatting and looking at all the pretties so I could have easily missed it!) and there were some designers missing that I was looking forward to perusing…Tory Burch, Louboutin and Jimmy Choo are the ones that immediately come to mind.  Again though, I didn’t look hard core so I know I missed a few things.  Tory Burch was definitely not there though because we talked to an associate about that one.  However, I was stoked to see that DVF and Ted Baker were on display and we were told that they would be getting more designers in the store in the coming months!  There was a long sleeve black DVF jumpsuit that I didn’t dare try on for fear that I may have had to pry it off my cold dead body rather than leave the store without it.  After browsing the store, for a few, it was only 11:15, but we were starving so we headed over to  Nordstrom’s in house restaurant, Bazille.  I had a chicken and goat cheese panini that was delicious, but my SIL didn’t love her roasted chicken.  The fries with aioli sauce were super yum though!  Overall I’d say it was definitely worth the visit.  There was a goat cheese and fig salad that was calling my name so I’ll definitely have to eat there again.

So, I got a little sidetracked with my Nordstrom story, but tell me, what are some real blogs that you love to follow? What draws you to certain blogs…The people? The fashion? The pretty pictures?

Speaking of pictures.  I loathe posting without a photo, but I have nothing to put here and it’s either publish this post without a photo or scrap the whole post.  Obviously I chose to publish it.  😛

 

 

posted by 3 Comments
Filed Under: My life Tagged: ,
10/06

It’s a brand new day!

Yesterday we had some amazing fall temps!  I wasn’t able to enjoy them really because I spent the day prepping for the upcoming week, but nevertheless, we had fall temps!

I’m starting my week off volunteering at the kids school, but I am determined to get back on top of my nutrition.  Today was a bust since I stayed late volunteering at the school and coming home to cook a meal was just NOT gonna happen (seriously, how do you working moms do it!) and then Tuesday will be iffy since I’m meeting up with a friend around lunch time for the grand opening of NORDSTROM (SO excited!) and I have a meeting at school that night.  Grrr.  How am I supposed to eat a good dinner when we’re out of the house half of the week?!

On a side note, have y’all seen Starbucks new bottled iced coffee?!

starbucks 2

I have been experimenting with making my own cold brew, but got off track when I bought this.  I’m one who likes a little milk and sugar with my coffee so I alter it a bit (1/2 of bottle, 1-2 tbsp of half & half, pinch of stevia, dash of vanilla extract), but…

Oh.My.Heavens.

Seriously yummy!

It’s way too much sugar for as much as I’ve been drinking it though.  I can literally down a glass in two minutes flat, that is how yummy it is!  If you have better self control than me or you like more coffee than sugar and cream, you really should try it.  I have tried lots of bottled iced coffee and I hated all of them…until now.  😛

 

posted by Leave a Comment
Filed Under: My life Tagged: ,
09/22

.Can’t.focus.

I’ve had “write blog post” on my to-do list for over a week now, but every time I sit to write…nothing comes out.  I seriously do not know how all you 3-5 blog posts per week bloggers do it!  It takes me forever to write a post.

I feel like I have stuff I want to chat about, but my brain keeps jumping around from one thing to another, without forming a cohesive thought.

I’m gonna try to get through this post and hopefully it will make some kind of sense when I’m done.  Well, hopefully it will make some kind of sense once I edit it for the millionth time.  😛

\\\\\\\\\

It’s Monday! Yay!!

I know…who likes Mondays?!  Technically, I don’t love them, but since I don’t work outside the house, the weekdays are when I get schtuff done and the weekends are spent hanging with the kids (and the hubs of course).  I am fond of the weekends (hello no alarm clocks and no schedule!), but the weekdays (aside from getting up early and making lunches) are my JAM!  Yeah, I just said “jam”.  Does it read as awkward as it sounds when I say it?  lol.

Anywho, like I was saying… yay for Monday!

This week I’m starting week 3 of a new workout program.  Woot woot!!  Look who’s back on the workout wagon!!  I’m excited to have a streak going.  I didn’t want to mention it sooner because I suck at following through on things, but I’m feeling good about this one.  The workouts are challenging, but other than some burpees here and there, I like all the exercises.  It’s only been 2 weeks and I haven’t been nearly good enough with my nutrition, but I can already feel and see my body responding to the workouts.

IMG_8531

P.S. Normally I look like a total schlub at the gym, but I had been out to breakfast that morning so I actually looked decent at the gym.  Until I started sweating.

\\\\\\\\\

IMG_8484

Remember when I mentioned that I wanted to purge my closet and try to do a capsule wardrobe?  Well, I started planning and got off to a great start, but then I got kinda stuck.  I realized that 80-90% of the time, I’m wearing some kind of combination of jeans/tee/shoes.  Here’s what a weeks worth of clothes would look like if I wasn’t going anywhere special (i.e. lunch with friend, date night, etc)

Monday: workout clothes + jeans/tee/tennies (visited family member in hospital)

Tuesday: workout clothes

Wednesday: jeans, t-shirt, flip flops or TOMS (house chores + errands)

Thursday: workout clothes

Friday: workout clothes

Saturday: jeans, t-shirt, Sperry’s

Sunday: jeans, t-shirt, flops

Ugh.  Seriously?  How am I supposed to plan a capsule wardrobe around THAT?!  That’s why I’m concentrating on honing my “style” and recognizing what I feel most comfortable in while purging my closet of items that don’t fit into that style.

Speaking of style, can I just have one of everything from Madewell?

No?

Okay, what about just these 4 items?

madewell_wants
1 // 2 // 3 // 4

Unfortunately, along with my new workout program, not only did I cut my added sugar intake, but I also put myself on a bit of a spending freeze.  Yes, I’ve gone completely and utterly…MAD!!  It’s for a good cause though.  The teen and I have the opportunity to go to Italy with her vocal class in March so I’m doing my part by curbing the excess spending.  I have stayed away from the mall and the non-grocery side of Target for a few weeks now so that I’m not tempted, but over the weekend I took the kids to the mall so the teen could spend some of her birthday money.  Surprisingly I didn’t find a ton that I would have bought, but if I was buying, this purse might have come home with me!  You know, because I neeeeeed another purse.  😛

jessicasimpson

Seriously though, how cute is this Jessica Simpson purse?!  Plus, it was on sale for $73ish and then 40% off on top of that.  And look at the leopard print insert that it came with!  Ahhhh!  It was difficult, but I did actually refrain from purchasing.

\\\\\\\\\

K, I think that might be all I have to babble about today.  Sorry about the rambling Monday post.  Hopefully my brain will get it together soon and I can actually write a non-rambling post.

Hope everyone has a great week!

posted by Leave a Comment
Filed Under: My life
09/03

Spring Cleaning (in the Fall)

So, I read about this thing the other day called, a life audit.  Have ya’ll heard of this?!  I don’t think it’s a new phenomenon, I think I just live in a bubble because I’m always late to hear about these things.

lifeaudit

Um, hello, I SO need this!

Upon first reading it (How and Why to Do a Life Audit), it looked hella complicated, but after further inspection, it seems pretty straight forward, albeit time consuming.

Basically, it’s an activity that helps you take stock of where you are in life, where you want to be and whether or not you are working towards your goals.

Even though the task seems daunting, I really need to take the time and effort to do it.

I think I’m having a mid-thirties crisis.  I got married and had babies young and now I’m kinda like, “what’s next?”

I’m pretty much cruising through life on auto-pilot.

Only stopping to pay attention when life demands it.

Focusing on the day to day tasks without looking at the bigger picture.

I’m naturally more of a watcher, than a doer, a think-it-till-it’s-dead kinda person

and I don’t necessarily want to change who I am, but I also know that I don’t want to get to the end of my life only to wish I had gotten off auto-pilot

I need to stop thinking and start doing

Jump off that cliff (with a bungee cord attached of course)

even if I end up climbing back up to the top and leaping off into another direction later

So, yeah…I’m pretty convinced I’m in need of a life audit.

Now to just do it!

“Reasons I procrastinate and don’t get shit done.”  That’s a blog post for another day!  😛

• • • • • • • • • • •

In continuation of the fall cleaning mood I’m in, on the same blog post I read about the life audit, I also read about a capsule wardrobe.  From what I gather, this is the “in” thing to do right now, but I refuse to believe that is why it’s so fascinating to me.  (Me, jump on a trend bandwagon? Never!)  Anywho, the idea is to minimize your wardrobe to several staple items that you can mix and match to make an outfit for every occasion.  After a year long, trend chasing, over spending, finding my style, shopping spree, I’ve come to the realization that I feel most comfortable and beautiful in classic neutral staples.  I think this is something that I pretty much knew, but I got sucked into the glam of all the fashion blogs and wanted to try something different.  While I’m quite certain I won’t be creating a capsule quite as sparse as some, I do think it will be beneficial to pare it down and get more creative with accessories to spice up my outfits.   After doing some research, the idea of a capsule wardrobe has been around for awhile (1970!) and there are plenty of blog posts out there about it (Project 333 is a blog ONLY about capsule wardrobes! It looks like a great resource and there’s even a Facebook group), but this is where I read about it first and she has a handy dandy wardrobe planner you can download here.

So tell me, do you need to spring (fall) clean your closet, your life, both or neither?!  If you have it even somewhat figured out, please tell me your secrets.  I’m in dire need of a little direction.

 

 

posted by 1 Comment
Filed Under: Inspiration, My life Tagged: ,
08/25

Do-over

Last week the kids went back to school…I wanted to do a little jig and bask in my free time, but

Instead, we started our week off with a personal tragedy and a grey cloud followed us around all week long

We’re still healing and sorting through feelings about that and I might have thrown myself a little pity party last week, but this week I’m screaming…

Do Over!

Even though my mouth has been over run with canker sores (stress, hormones, diet??? UGH!),  and all I want to do is eat my feelings (even though it hurts to eat!), I’m gonna stop eating junk and get my booty back to the gym!  My shoulder had been giving me a hard time and last week my neck decided to join the party, so in addition to not running/weight lifting, I haven’t even been to yoga.  🙁  No wonder I’ve been such a cranky pants!

I’m determined that this week WILL be better though.  A crappy week is not an option dangit!

Guidelines for a non-crappy week

Be prepared – start thinking about lunch items and what’s for dinner way in advance so I’m not rushing around at the last minute

Get up early – I’m such a nicer mommy in the morning when I’m awake before the kids.  Even if it’s only 10 min.

Plan workouts – preparing for workouts makes it more likely that I’ll get them done

Eat breakfast – hangry is not a good look for me

Do a load of laundry a day – stay ahead of the monster so it doesn’t feel like it’s about to swallow me!

Ditto the above except substitute dishes for laundry

and finally…

Think positive, happy thoughts! – negativity breeds negativity

P.S. I really need to go to the grocery. I just ate chicken salad for breakfast. 😛

Happy Monday! I hope everyone has a great week!

Btw, I have no idea what product this video is for. I just thought it was cute. 🙂

posted by Leave a Comment
Filed Under: My life
07/24

Lucy girl

Just a little before and after grooming pic of our pup because she’s cute

lucy_beforeafter

I love her being fluffy, but we just don’t brush/wash her enough to keep her long all the time.  Her fur mats like crazy and she gets stinky really easily when her hair is longer.  It’s crazy how different she looks after she gets groomed.

posted by Leave a Comment
Filed Under: My life Tagged: , , ,
07/21

Happy Monday, party people!

All of the days are kind of running together now and instead of eagerly awaiting the weekend, I can’t wait for the weekend to be over.

Hubby works from home so he’s here most of the time and I’d rather do errands/fun stuff with the kids/workout, during the week when a majority of the rest of the world has to work.

I did however try out SUP yoga on Saturday!  I was ecstatic to finally try it out, but nervous at the same time and then about halfway through the session, I got seasick.  UGHHHHH!  As much as yoga is about accepting where you are right now, in that moment I seriously hated my body.  When I think about it now, I can absolutely see how I would get motion sick.  The flowing between poses, the shaking of the board in the water, the sun beating down on me.  I was pretty disappointed though that something I looked forward to so much, made me sick.  I spent the second half of the class in and out of the water, in and out of poses, trying to continue, but also trying to keep the sickness at bay.  Then I spent the car ride home, trying to recover.  I came home, took a shower and napped it off for a couple of hours.  🙁  While I still want to take just a SUP class, I think I’ll stick to doing yoga on solid ground.  It’s not relaxing if I have to take a pill before I go out and hope that it works.  I’m still holding out hope that paddle boarding without the yoga won’t be as bad.  I might take a dramamine beforehand just in case.  😛

We have exactly 4 weeks of summer left here.  *sad face*

Well, mostly a sad face.  The kids are getting tired of each other, they’re getting restless, they need more to do, but they also just want to be lazy bums.

There’s been WAY too much movie watching and game playing for my taste. They started sleeping in a lot and then just lounging in their rooms until lunchtime.  I know it’s summer time and all, but being that lazy was just not gonna cut it.  So last week, hubby gave the kids morning chores to do.  And by chores I mean…come downstairs, EAT breakfast (yes they were skipping because they were sleeping late and then lounging around upstairs), get dressed, make their bed, feed/water the dog, take dog for a short walk.

The first few days were done without complaint.  The teen, who’s trying to show responsibility because she wants a guinea pig, was happily up early and doing ALL the chores (even ones her brother was supposed to be helping on).

Over the weekend she asked if they could slack off on their chores for the weekend and we let them sleep a little later.

Today though, neither of them wanted to get up and the teen was all, “it’s so hot and humid out there…do I have to take Lucy for a walk?!”.   *sigh*  It’s no hotter than it’s been the last few days and the longer you complain, the hotter it gets outside!

When she realized I wasn’t letting her out of the walk, she came downstairs dressed…

in black skinny jeans…

Seriously?

Teens are weird

Or maybe it’s just mine

and because a blog post without a picture is against my religion, here are my Jamberry nails I’ve been rocking for the past few days…aren’t they purdy?!

IMG_8128

 How was your weekend?

posted by 2 Comments
Filed Under: My life Tagged: , ,
07/17

But first, lemme take a selfie!

Last year, “selfie” was named word of the year by Oxford.  I’m not sure if that’s something to be proud of or not, but it is what it is.

There are numerous articles about selfies.

Some are pretty judgemental, like this one.

Some are just having a little fun with how ridiculous selfies are getting.  I have to admit, I’ve seen a lot of “worst type of selfie” lists, but these are pretty bad and these…most are in bad taste or just plain not safe!

I don’t agree with all of the ones on this list though….gym selfie, pet selfie, car selfie (as long as you’re not moving!  Don’t do that!), pregnant belly selfie (c’mon!  I thought she looked gorgeous!).  Who cares?!

Some are defending them.  Some are saying they are they are a cry for help…a mental disorder (seriously?)

I don’t know why people have a problem with someone taking a photo of themselves.  Sure, some probably overdo it (are multiple selfies a day actually necessary?), but who am I to judge?  If someone is posting too many selfies and this annoys me, why am I following them?  Why do I care?  Maybe there’s something wrong with you that you care so much about what other people are doing?

So I say,

#loveyourselfie

IMG_4143

If you want to take a photo of yourself (in the bathroom, at the gym, with your dog)…DO IT!  And don’t give a rats fanny what anyone else thinks!

I was rarely in photos because I was always the picture taker and apparently as I got older I felt more awkward about asking for someone to take my photo.  I even fussed at my husband one time because I was so upset that we’d gone on a trip and there were a ton of pictures of he and the kids, but only one of me.  *warning* I don’t recommend doing this as you may be assaulted with a camera on your next vacay and have a plethora of photos of yourself that may or may not be flattering…usually the latter.  😛

But now that selfies have become more commonplace, I have a ton of photos of myself…that I actually like!  And seeing as photos are one of the few things that your family will have to remember you by when you are no longer around, I say…the more the merrier!

Take my advice though and print some of your favorites, because technology fails and those photos aren’t doing you any good on your phone or computer!

posted by Leave a Comment
Filed Under: My life Tagged: , , , ,