28 August 2016

On Stuff

Lately, I've noticed a shift in my decluttering/ shopping attitude.

If it doesn't spark joy or it's not functional, it either gets tossed into the donate box or I don't bring it home.

Sound familiar? No, I didn't read that entire KonMari book, and I sure as hell haven't started folding my underwear, but I have seen enough of it that I was able to take away those most important ideas.

The objects we keep in our homes should be special; not just a bunch of crap crammed into rooms. Instead of a mad dash to clean things out, it's been a slow, organic process. I handle things as I notice them.

So when I took inventory a few months ago and noted that there are several half-sets of stained and warped dollar-store measuring spoons and cups in the drawer, I kept my eyes open for a nice set.

I eventually found a lovely stainless steel set. The oblong spoons are important to me because they fit into spice containers better than the round ones. Right next to them I found stainless steel measuring cups.


That's it. One set each. After having multiples of each size, I was afraid I'd miss having the extra spoons around.

Guess what? I don't. All I need is one gorgeous set. They make me happy every time I use them and it's easier to close the drawer now. Gorgeous AND functional. I'd say that's $20 well-spent.

I think the biggest attitude shift is that I'm waiting until I find the right thing that sparks joy, instead of grabbing the first thing that I see that technically fulfills the purpose. It took me how long to find a new set of measuring spoons? 6 months? I could have ran to Target and grabbed the first set I saw. But the ones at Target are round and I wanted oblong ones. It sounds silly, but the first time I went to measure a spice, I would have been frustrated that the spoon didn't fit inside the jar.

Another big shift in practice is that I've started to upgrade. One nicer item will replace a variety of lesser quality items. If it's old and worn out, or it doesn't meet my needs, it gets replaced with a quality version. I'm not afraid to spend a few extra bucks anymore. It really makes a difference.

One quality coffee mug replaced 5 mugs that were cute but didn't keep coffee hot long enough.
One quality lunch bag replaced 6 (six!) bags that were too small and didn't insulate well enough.

I don't miss the old ones at all because they didn't do what I needed them to do. The initial investment is always paid off in the long run.

I've actually decreased my spending because I'm not bringing home a bunch of random impulse items. Most items are thought out. They either replace something that gets donated, or I buy it with a specific purpose in mind. Since I'm in no hurry, if I see something I like I can usually wait for a sale before buying it.

It's a stark contrast to my historic shopping habits. Maybe I'm getting older and wiser? Or maybe my house is just filling up and there's not room for random things!

27 August 2016

My Fitness Pal

Can we talk about how perfect this picture is? I love everything about it. There's even salami on the snack plate and cracker crumbs in the bed. This artist gets me.



Related:

Realistically, it's probably only about an extra 5 pounds that's making all of my clothes uncomfortably tight. But it feels like so much more. Maybe because it's summer and it's hot and extra weight gets extra sweaty.

Since I've been consciously trying to make my clothes more comfortable, AND trying to lower my cholesterol for a few weeks now with no results, I decided to download an app that my coworker was talking about. My Fitness Pal.

First impressions:

User friendly. You basically enter all your info and it calculates how many calories you should be consuming to reach your goal. Then you enter what you eat, how much water you drink, and how much you exercise. It helps you keep track of things throughout the day and warns you when you're getting too close to a limit.



Cool features:

You enter what you eat several different ways:
  • You can do a search to see if it pulls up. For example, strawberries. 
  • You can scan the barcode on the package of what you're eating and it automatically uploads the nutrition info.
  • There is a recipe tab where you can enter ingredients and calculate the nutritional information. It's a bit time consuming, but necessary since I cook a lot of my own meals.
It breaks your meals down into calories, but the cool part is it also tells you if you exceed daily recommended amounts of fat, sugars, etc. For instance, today I went WAY over on cholesterol and fats, and didn't get enough of calcium or iron. I was so surprised once I saw it broken down. This is important stuff! I figured if I ate enough vegetables I'd be healthy. Wrong.


I'm pretty impressed. With help from this app, now I can identify where I need to make some changes, and also be more aware of what I'm putting into my body. I've already learned a few things.

See? I never knew how many calories were in wine. Which is why I measured mine tonight. FYI 1/2 c. of this particular Malbec is 80 calories. How do I know? I scanned the barcode on the bottle. 
Cheers!

dishes

I'm so excited.
I got new dishes!

After years of intentionally mismatched dishes, I've finally decided that I dislike the mismatched and I'm ready for a set.

Since January I've been keeping my eyes open for something that makes my heart sing, but so far nothing. Then last week my coworkers told me there was a Corelle, Corningware, and Pyrex outlet store nearby.

So I swung by today. Ok, I didn't swing by. I made a special trip just to check out the store. And I spent an annoying amount of time browsing the different sets before I decided that the pattern I loved was this one:

Corelle, True Blue.
Cue heart singing.


They're beautiful, different, but also coordinated. And durable. I dropped one in the store (on accident) without any cracking or chipping. Nice, slow clap for these dishes.

The bummer? The pattern has been discontinued. WOMP WOMP. So instead of a boxed set I had to purchase individual pieces at a deep discount. I initially picked out a 6-piece set, then made it an 8-piece set because... why not? Since I'd been eying the teal coffee mugs that didn't come with this set, I mixed and matched. Perfect.

Once I got them home and cleared out my cabinets, my heart singing dropped a few notes. Because that turdy brown color on the inside wall of the cabinets is so damn ugly. I felt a little sad that I had to put my pretty new dishes in the turdy cabinet.


Then, a thought occurred.

I have paint. I have plenty of paint. I have so much darn paint. All those little 8 oz test pots that I always buy to paint a swatch before picking a color are sitting in the laundry room.

Speaking of, remember the laundry room? Former reject paint color Aqua Seawind finally got its moment. It took about 30 minutes to slap a fresh coat of paint over the turdy shade.


And it's so pretty. But, to be truthful, any color is an upgrade from Extra Turd Brown.

Now the cabinets are ready to be filled with my beautiful new dishes. Cue heart singing again.


Hey, bowls.

Looking good, plates.

24 August 2016

Delaware

A quick little bit from the trip this week:


I'm now an Advanced Operator and I got a year's worth of CE credits. Ballerrrr.


Overall, SUPER FUN. It's great getting paid to travel.
The training was really entertaining and valuable and I got to do a ton of networking.
Going to do it all over again in a few weeks and I'm looking forward to it!

P.S. TSA Pre-check is the best thing ever. I was randomly selected for it. I guess you can also pay for it? If I traveled a lot it would absolutely be worth it.

20 August 2016

interesting motivation

Well. It turns out all the motivation I need to start eating healthier and exercising is a little bit of catastrophe.

Since the incident at the bar the other night, I don't want to drink. I've tried to enjoy a few glasses of wine after work, but it doesn't sit right. I never make it through a glass and, oddly, I don't like the way I feel.

Maybe I've developed a psychological association of alcohol with unwanted drugs.

Whatever the case, I don't want to drink. And the benefits might be two-fold.

1. Less alcohol consumption = less calories = less drunken snacking. I might be able to drop a few of these lbs around the middle that have made my pants uncomfortable.

2. Without a buzz, I've gotten quite bored. Hence new projects.
I've also got renewed motivation to work out. The other day it was rainy, and therefore cool (re: 85 degrees), so I went for a run. After 30 minutes I was done. It's another start, and every little bit counts.

16 August 2016

bedtime

Rainy day off and I'm feeling creative.

There's a project brewing in the back of my mind lately. While I'm not ready to commit to redoing the kitchen, I think it's time to spruce up the bedroom.

The space is so large and awkward that we painted it beige, plopped the furniture in, hung up a couple things, and left it at that. Now it feels stale and I'm ready for a change. I wish I could get a designer in here to really transform the space. I feel like I'm not equipped to take full advantage of it.

Overall I'm leaning towards fresh and bright combined with a spa or hotel like feel. Rather than get a bunch of mass-produced decor, I want to be a bit more selective and creative. Only get things that I really love.

I've got two main challenges.

First challenge: The bed. I'm not paying for a headboard until we are ready to buy a new king-sized mattress. My eyes have been open for a suitable "headboard hack" for years now, but so far I've got nothing. It's time to work around it.

Ideas:
  • I love this idea of one long massive shelf to visually divide the space. Not that I love the idea of placing a bunch of dust-catching nicknacks on said shelf... I'd probably do one large-scale thing on top.


  • As much as I think accent walls are meh, I do like the idea of a stencil or pattern. Combined with a funky piece of art, it might do the trick.

I might want to paint or make something to put above the bed. I even looked at Pinot's Palette and Painting with a Twist, but the only painting that I really liked is on a night that I can't go.

Second challenge: The large space on the other side of the bedroom. I really want the space to be used, and the space should flow instead of seem divided.

Ideas: (or lack of them)
  • The most common suggestion is a sitting area. I loathe sitting areas. They're so cliche and I'd never use it. I've got a living room for that. (Unless I got a fainting couch. Then I could find excuses to be dramatic). 
The ideas have constantly flowed, but none of them I love:
  • A vanity/dressing area? But... There's a vanity in the bathroom and a whole closet right next to it.
  • A yoga/workout space? Potentially a good idea, the one I'm leaning towards most, but I don't want it to look junky and cluttery like most workout areas tend to look. And let's get real; I hardly work out.
  • A cat palace. I laugh at this, but there's already a little area where the kitty toys and scratching pad hang out. But alas, I'm simply not one of those people.
The problem is that the rest of the house provides all the spaces I need, so I don't really need the space to be anything. Maybe I'll put a sex swing in that area and call it a day, haha.

Suggestions are welcome.

12 August 2016

roofied?

The last thing I remember from last night is being buzzed in the bar, playing Jenga with Ash and some random people we met there.

It wasn't until I woke up at 430am in Ashley's guest bedroom shaking, then somehow drove home and had slept on the couch for a few hours, that I was aware that something was not quite right.

I tried to wake up on the couch this morning as Chris got up for work, but  couldn't function.

I wasn't drunk. It felt different than that. More like... drugged. Confused, dizzy, nauseated, no memory of the night, my right hand was completely numb, I had a massive headache, and after a while I realized that at some point, I had actually peed on myself.

I called my sister to see if something had happened, and she said that I seemed really drunk and had actually fallen down as we were leaving the bar. Knowing that it's not characteristic of me to get that drunk, not remembering anything, combined with the strange drugged feeling, I considered going to the ER, suspecting that I'd been slipped something at the bar.

However I couldn't move without great difficulty and couldn't motivate myself to go. So I didn't go to the ER and instead opted to sleep it off.

Several hours later, after several attempts to get up and drink some water, only to fail and fall back asleep, my head began to clear a bit and I talked to my sister again.
She said that I just got really drunk and we had fun. She even snapped a video. Feeling unnerved because I don't remember taking a video OR singing Sweet Caroline, I watched it. Judging from how I felt this morning, I imagined that I would look pretty wasted in the video. Not the case; I looked like I was having a great time. I was standing and dancing with the group and singing without slurring or anything. It looked like a normal fun night out. Nothing extreme. I definitely looked like I should be able to remember the night.

Except I have absolutely no recollection of doing any of it. Do you know how odd it is to see a video of yourself doing something that you don't remember doing? I don't remember it. I don't remember the rest of the night after Jenga. It just cuts off. I don't remember talking to people. I don't remember singing. I don't remember the Uber ride or getting into bed at Ashley's house. I did these things but I have zero recollection of them. There aren't even little blips of memory. There's absolutely nothing.
Do you know how scary that is?

I did consider the idea that maybe I just did get really drunk.

But I don't get super black-out drunk. Like ever. Not at the Christmas party, not in college, not recently. Never.
I value my clarity of mind. I ALWAYS regulate myself and back off if I start to cross a line and get too drunk, especially if I'm in public. I wouldn't get fall-down drunk by accident; I would have had to make a conscious decision to do that, and frankly I don't think I did. Even on my heaviest drinking days, I have never even come close to that level.

This whole thing is extra bizarre because in my last memory, I wasn't drunk. I had only a light buzz that I had planned to maintain. Then I woke up a few hours later utterly annihilated and wearing pee pants? It doesn't add up.

I can't remember the night's events so I can't be 100%, but logically, I don't think that I just got too drunk. My intuition and the distinctive way I felt this morning tells me it was something else.

It tells me I got drugged at a bar.
Which is shocking and humiliating and unnerving and makes me feel violated. I'm not sure of any possible motive. But I am sure that it happened.

It happened even though I always make sure I keep an eye on my drink, never leave it unattended. It happened with my sister sitting right next to me. Thank GOD I was there with her and not simply meeting up with a friend who may have unknowingly left me drugged in a bar.

I did a bit of research on roofies, and like most google searches, feel like my experience was consistent. I thought this was interesting and terrifying.


In my research I found out that roofies still happen a lot more often than you'd think. I thought the practice had kind of faded out. Why is this even a thing?? Who enjoys incapacitating people?

Meeting strangers in bars is fun and all, but you can be damn sure I'll be drinking even lighter in bars, and watching my drink like a hawk from now on.

08 August 2016

Coin toss


 ...on a much kick assier note, this weekend I was in Bed Bath and Beyond with mom and some lady thought I was buying stuff to go to COLLEGE.

Yep, most days I don't get carded for booze and some days I get mistaken for a college student.

*flips hair* Thanks, random lady.

07 August 2016

mirror, mirror

You know what my most recent favorite purchase is?

This little mirror.


I've always wanted a little mirror on the way out, near the door, so that I can easily apply lipstick, tuck a bobby pin in my hair, make sure I don't look crazy, etc before I leave the house.

This one was on sale and has fulfilled all my expectations. My mornings are that much smoother because I'm not backtracking.

Sometimes the littlest things can make a big difference.

06 August 2016

lose-lose

So that plant with the bird's nest in it.

It occurred to me late one night as I was laying in bed, thinking about the random things that we do when we're falling asleep, that once the baby birds learn how to fly they might not make it past the dog. I told myself that I'd move the plant to a different spot, perhaps the front yard. Give them a fighting chance.

The very next evening I walked outside to find three little feathery bodies on the porch, slightly mauled. I was too late!

At first, I was pissed. Then, I really couldn't blame the dog. She's a DOG. And to her, the flailing baby birds were something to play with. It's mother nature's way sometimes.

So with a sad sigh, I gathered the dead baby birds in the shovel and tossed them over the fence. Sorry, birds. Then, with another sad sigh, I looked at my once pretty plant, now withered and dead.

No plant, no birds.

What a shitty situation.

04 August 2016

Setback

Icing my knee. For the second time this week. No, I have not worked out.

I think being on my feet and moving all day has started to affect my knee as if I've been exercising. I wore the compression sleeve thingy for a bit at work, but it got on my nerves.

How am I supposed to train for this 5k if I can't train?? How am I supposed to be fit and healthy if my knee is cranky all the time?

*Noms alfredo*


01 August 2016

quick workout videos rock

Duuude.

I've started doing quick 5-10 minute workout videos, because my knee has been bothering me when I run but I still need to get in shape, and the longer videos bore me. I usually do a few videos in succession (arms, abs, etc) and wind up with a quick full-body exercise.

I did this 5-minute booty video yesterday. Not too bad. Pretty medium level, not some crazy kill you in 5 minutes video. Followed up with a core video that automatically came up after it. I think I was active for about 15-20 minutes, and that's a stretch.

All was grand, except for when I went to climb out of bed this morning.

Ohh Gawwwd. My ass and my thighs are screaming. I hobbled around the lab all day, cringing every time I had to sit down. The sneaky booty video really works! Apparently I need to do it more often, because one, I repeat: ONE time was enough to halfway cripple me. My booty muscles apparently need more attention.

Try it and get back with me the next day lol.

P.S. Cute.
https://www.scribbler.com/new-arrivals/real-unicorns