Lately

A typical Monday, can't seem to wake up today. Usually running on the treadmill before work gets me going but today I am dragging big time. Had a cup of Starbucks Verona Bold and now drinking green tea. It's not working.

I have not had a spare minute to blog between getting sick with some kind of virus going around, work and life. You know the usual excuses. This week isn't much different but thought I'd check in with a few updates on what I've been up to. But I know most of the people who read this already know :-)

Last weekend (pre-sickness) I went to my first Flywheel class and am now obsessed. I haven't been to a spin class in ages because the LA Fitness I usually go to spin has been under construction so it definitely made me realize how much I'd missed it. The studio is amazing, all new and modern, which it should be for what it costs. (First class is free) It's stadium style and all dark, music blaring, a screen where you can enter your name to see where you rank in the class (I didn't enter my name haha) and they use weights, so an awesome, full body workout for sure. Only complaints: Super pricey, most of the classes are only 45 minutes which is kind of ridic for what you pay and when I was there the mic was out and I had a hard time following what the instructor was saying. But I still loved it and think I'll buy a small package and go to the 1 hour class when I can. And my LA Fitness is back open so I can start spinning there again, yeah!

I went out for my coworker Parker's 25th birthday last Saturday, we went to Der Biergarten downtown, he got his beer in a giant boot shaped glass that cost $30 -

Owning the dance floor at Ri Ra later that night -

Needless to say he had a great time celebrating his birthday haha, what he can remember. Well the next morning I woke up feeling sick and then was MIA for several days, but after a round of antibiotics and Souper Jenny's soups I was all better by midweek.

I highly recommend their eggplant parmesan soup!

In my previous post I listed all the updates I want to do in my condo to make it feel less college'y. I am trying to take each thing at a time to not get overwhelmed or have to take an entire day. A few updates I made to my little bathroom -

New shower curtain from Target, I first spotted it last year and wanted it then -

Let's take a look at past shower curtains, shall we? The one I just replaced (what you can see of it, this is an old pic) -

And one I had in college and used when I first moved in 4 and a half years ago -

Now get ready for real excitement, my bathroom cabinet! Before -

Yeah not embarrassing at all, this is a new blog low. And after -

I should make a trip to the Container Store for some shelves, or do something like this -

In a perfect world (Thanks, Pinterest) -

I also got a new laundry hamper, replaced my yellow one I'd had since high school, and a basket for all my hair appliances. I'll save the pics for my next batch of condo updates so you have something to look forward to, haha ;-)

Just had a great weekend, good mix of productive and fun things. I had an eye checkup Saturday morning and got my car washed then Chrissy and I went to go see Silver Linings Playbook, but didn't quite make it there... We were trying to make a 1 o'clock showing and were very hungry so popped into the Publix beside the Tara theater to get a sub to eat during the movie. Usually we love their Boar's Head turkey subs but as we were standing there waiting for the man to make them we both got a very strong, distinct whiff of what smelled like dog food. There's a pet store next door but still, ew. I had just got over being sick, no thank you. We dropped the subs off in the deli section and booked it out of there. Outside Publix we decided on our next move, go to the movie starving or miss the movie. Everyone reading this knows how I get when I'm hungry, it's not pretty, plus my eyes were dilated which only added to my anxious and confused state. Oh and there were a bunch of caged dogs to adopt outside the pet store that were howling and whining. Basically chaos. What we did next will come as a huge shock to everyone, we headed back to Buckhead and got brunch at Buckhead Bread Company. Then mani/pedi's. All was restored back to order in the world.

So here's my nail drama. You may remember Sarah and I got gel nails for the first time on New Year's Eve -

Loved them the first few weeks but then I needed them off because my nails were growing out and only half the nail was colored. Well we both picked them off -

You would think we'd worked in a coalmine. So yeah love gel nails but will need to get them taken off next time. My nails now after Saturday's mani -

A little better :-)

Saturday night I had dinner at Coast with Chrissy and a couple other girls, had never been there before. I had sangria, the chopped salad and a crab cake, delish. I want to go back when it's warm and can sit out on the patio. After dinner Chrissy and I had a little more drama, we wanted to get dessert at Cafe Intermezzo but it was packed, I'd never seen it so crowded. Nowhere to even sit at the bar. While waiting and feeling all claustrophobic one of the waiters said, "I like your coat, Momma" to Chrissy and we had to leave immediately after that. Then we went to Cheesecake Factory but after waiting for a few minutes for a table decided to call it a night and forgo a thousand calorie piece of cheesecake, it was after 11 at this point and I was exhausted from the day's events.

Sunday I cleaned and did laundry, read, went to a Pure Barre class and church that night. This week is very busy with Junior League commitments and all the usual stuff.

In attempt to cancel out my nasty pics from this post here's a verse that I've come across a couple times in the past day -

If you want positive things to happen think positive thoughts! :-)

Have a great week, friends!

Note to self

:-)

Note to self

Photo by Mindfullness

 "The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new." 

~Pema Chodron

 

Courage

 Photo by Mindfulness

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.” ~Ambrose Redmoon

Happiness

Just some midweek, random happy things :)

Sheena sent me this sweet pic of Austin in cuddle mode last night, he gets to stay with his Auntie Ashley for 5 whole days in just a couple weeks! I mean he might just decide he wants to live with me who knows!

 Love this that author Priscilla Warren posted on her Facebook page -

Got to vote yesterday, reminding myself it is a privilege not to ever be taken for granted.

 Received Shana and Tim's wedding invite yesterday, cannot believe we're under the 2 month mark - 59 days from today!

so

Some of my small group at Cafe Intermezzo for dinner last night (Buckhead location is moving and Chrissy and I do not approve of this), love these girls so much! They are such blessings in my life here in Atlanta, and we all live close to each other. Chrissy and Matt are moving apartments this week to an amazing building and are going to be much closer to me, yay! Lori our other regular member is traipsing around Europe right now, actually I think she's there for work but who can keep up with her, she's the busiest person I've ever known!

Babysat Snarf while his mom went to lunch today, that's a vibrating collar to keep him from barking, it sort of works haha. He's affectionately called the albino squirrel. I took him into a meeting with me and his owner couldn't find him anywhere when she got back (should have let her know, oops) and she thought he'd run off outside and I was out looking for him. Today is my 1 year anniversary here at my job and I said I was just going to steal him and peace out, would be a great career move.

And just because here's a baby lamb I pinned. I scrolled through the animal page pins for an embarrassing amount of time yesterday. I've told people if they walk up on me looking at baby animals pics they should just slowly back away because that's what I do when I'm having a bad day or stressed, haha.

baaaaaaaa!

Got my stitches off this morning and the green light to run and exercise, thank goodness!!! So will probably not need to look at baby animal pics as much now :)

Time

Photo by mindfulness

I occasionally volunteer in the bookstore at Buckhead Church and they have a great library open for volunteers to check out books and cds. I've been picking up some series and listening to them in the car, trying to take advantage of the time I usually just zone out or get extremely annoyed at the lack of rhyme or reason of Atl traffic. I got a 3 part series Andy Stanley did a few years ago called Dealing with Stress thinking it would be a good catch all, especially helpful to listen to on the work commute (not that my commute is bad at all compared to most). I listened to it to and from lunch today and I loved this, If you want God to be there during the stressful times than give him your quality time, too. This really spoke to me because I've been struggling with carving out time during my work week. I work a lot of late nights so I often sleep in as late as I can and then scramble to get ready and get into the office at a decent time. Am definitely going to start making a bigger effort to start the day off better. The Dali Llama recommends practicing meditation in the morning as it sets the tone of the rest of the day. Andy Stanley also said that time is the most valuable asset we have, when we feel like we have no time at all is when it's especially important to carve out the time. I am really going to try and work on this!

The Friday Five

It's been a very busy week, short holiday weeks always are. Looking forward to a fun weekend with friends here in Atlanta.

Now here's some randomness for your Friday!

1.) Old Navy has been my go to spot for warm weather essentials. It's right next door to the LA Fitness I go to on my lunch break so I'm constantly popping in there. They have great prices, lots of sales and I've been pleasantly surprised at how much cute, trendy stuff they have. I went awhile never finding anything there but have gotten very lucky lately. Here's some stuff I've gotten (and should still be there) that I'm sure most of you have seen me wear, haha -

These classic, brown and cream wedges. I'd been on the hunt for some basic everyday wedges and these fit the bill exactly. Comfy, too!

Mixed-Pleated Wedges

And these were on sale and great to throw on with skinnies and a solid basic top

Canvas-Strap Mid-Wedges

I've also gotten a few pairs of their skinny jeans - grey, white and black. Wear them all the time to work and out and about. I got a royal blue pair from the Gap and I really want a green pair, love the mint green color. They said when they get them in they sell out instantly.

The Rock Star Super Skinny Jeans

This black top, they have other colors, too -

Crepe Flutter-Sleeve Blouses

A basic pair of khaki shorts

Linen-Blend Tie-Belt Shorts

This top that is ideal to wear to my office, and I noticed it was on sale online just now so I may be taking my receipt back for a price reduction, haha.

Collarless Chiffon Camp Shirts

Ikat pattern maxi skirt -

Gauze Maxi Skirt

 I'm obsessed with my black jersey maxi skirt I got from Nordstrom last year so I got this one in grey, I love them oh so much. Since it's one of my goals in life to spend as much time as possible in my pj's, this is a much more suitable and acceptable option to throw on when I'm running out. 

Jersey Maxi Skirt

2.) Seeing Snow White & The Huntsman tonight with Allison, we are very excited! Right up our alley, ya know Twilight, Sookie Stackhouse, Harry Potter, etc. It's grey and rainy here so a good movie night.

3.) New flavor I'm obsessed with at Yoforia - almond butter! I love anything almond. Also loving new Luna bar flavor vanilla almond, I eat one just about everyday.

 

4.) While working at home late last night I had on Don't Be Tardy for the Wedding, have I mentioned I'm a fan of Bravo? Kim finally revealed her real hair. Here she is in one of her wigs that she's never seen without -

And her natural hair revealed last night. My thoughts: Burn all your wigs, they make you took old and trashy.

 

5.)  I've been practicing a lot of mindful meditation lately. (No smooth transition from yogurt and reality tv so just went right into it) I think I've mentioned it on here once or twice, and some of you I've been sharing how beneficial it's been.

Some key things about mindful mediation from Jon Kabat-Zinn:

"In order to fully live, you have to be present for it. 

To be present, it helps to purposefully bring awareness to your moments – otherwise you may miss many of them.

You do that by paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and

non-judgmentally to whatever is arising inwardly and outwardly.

This requires a great deal of kindness toward yourself, which you deserve.

 

I'm a beginner so certainly not going to spout off stuff like I know what I'm talking about, haha. But I have been setting aside time everyday in the morning or night to practice for the past of couple months. It's been amazing to see my perspective and views gradually shift towards becoming healthier and more positive. People have been meditating for centuries so it's certainly nothing new. I definitely recommend giving it a try, tons of resources out there like -

Mindful Meditation By Jon Kabat-Zinn

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Weekend Updates

Don't feel like I've been a good blogger lately - Work and life have been very busy! I feel like all I blog about are my weekends, but I know all 5 of you who read this are so interested in how I spent my weekend, so here you go! :)

Friday after work I met Chrissy/Pony at one of regular spots, Phipps :) I got some new sunglasses from Nordstrom that I am very excited about - 

Thought this blue color was fun yet classic and basic

We ate sushi, got candy (or I got candy, Chrissy doesn't get the self-serve candy because of germs...) and then saw Mirror Mirror. It was cute and entertaining but it definitely didn't escape our notice that we were surrounded by little girls. The last movie we saw together was the Lorax, yet another movie where the target audience is at least 15 years our junior, not sure what that says about us, haha. As my mom always says about movies, "There's already so much sadness in the world why would you want to see a sad or scary movie?!" Although I like the occasional sad or scary movie I definitely prefer to leave a movie feeling happy. The last movie I saw before this one was The Iron Lady, Meryl Streep's portrayal of Margaret Thatcher, ugh.

 

Can't wait to see Snow White and the Huntsman, out June 1st.

When I woke up Saturday morning I had texts from Chrissy that her husband, Matt/baby bwown beayah saw True Blood filming in New Orleans!!! He was there for a bachelor weekend and got to see Eric up close - I would DIE!!! I told Chrissy to tell Matt to give him my phone number, looove him!

I'm super into making smoothies, make one almost everyday. This one has frozen mixed berries, Greek yogurt, apples, OJ and spinach in it. Yet another thing Pinterest provides me endless options and ideas for.

 

Rachel was in town - YAY! I hung out with her at the pool on Saturday. Looks like I was trying to take a pic of that guy, haha.

Albino legs :(

 That night at a housewarming party, that oh, was filmed for a Bravo reality show!!! Okay let me fill you in: So one of their good friend's brother is going to be on a show called Eligible in Atlanta, he came to the housewarming party along with two girls who are going to be on the show, too. There was one man filming and my exchange with him went something like this -

Me, "So do you just love working for Bravo?"

Him, "I don't work for Bravo, I own my own production company and Bravo hires me"

Me, "Oh! Cool! Do you like it?"

Him, "No."

Then he went on to tell me he works lots of long, random hours. Fun!

 

K so more on the filming, of the two girls on the show that were there one girl is a chef and lives in Marietta and Rachel and I loved her, so sweet and pretty. The other girl we were not so much a fan of, she showed up with girls who looked like they were straight out of a rap music video (Not that we were judging ;) and she took herself way too seriously. Apparently she owns a jeans store. Anyways she was kinda snotty and not nice. At one point the camera man told me to "Get everyone going" on the dance floor and when I attempted this she just gave me a "You're stupid and annoying" look. I just wanted to be like "Um you are no Bethany or NeNe so get over yourself, and your white cutoff jean shorts and purple bra hanging out looks trashy."

Lotus lives at the apartment where the party was, he had to be shut in a room during the party and cried the whole time :*(

Blurry Instagram pic of Rach and I later that night out in Buckhead

 

And confession: On my way home that night I stopped through the Wendy's drive-thru and got chicken nuggets and fries with ranch. My first fast food in forev, was delish. Oh and the lady at the drive-thru definitely pretended like my credit card had been declined, when I had a horrified reaction she just cackled and said, "Hey I gotta have fun somehow!" (And she had like 3 teeth) I mean if I was working the Wendy's drive-thru at 2am I would probably do the same thing. Speaking of funny/weird drive-thru experiences, this may be the best thing I have ever seen.

I slept suuuper late on Sunday and it was amazing.

Officially iced coffee weather. I made Starbucks VIA instant coffee a lot last year but don't like all the sugar it has in it, am on the lookout for a healthier option if anyone has any recommendations. As much as I'd love to go through the Sbux drive-thru every morning for a grande nonfat, 1 Splenda iced coffee...

Church and volunteered in the bookstore Sunday evening, they are doing a new series called Climate Change and it was the 2nd week, Jeff Henderson spoke and it was so good to have him there in person. His sermons always speak to me (His series @Work is one of my favs).  The main things I got out of last night were: 

If you want to change the "forecast" of a relationship than you have to change the climate.

Myth: Self-esteem is the cure to insecurities.

The world's perception of beauty and success is just ridic, and if you don't agree you can email Jeff and he will meet you at Chick-Fil-A and discuss with you :)

When God looks down on me He thinks, "That's my daughter, she is so beautiful, look at her go!"

You can listen to the series here

After church made a much needed Trader Joe's run and picked up a few items I'd never tried before -

In this morning's breakfast smoothie

A good dessert for those of us who must have something sweet after every meal

Finished my weekend with the new Mad Men episode, Chrissy and I were discussing how we want Joan to be in it more so glad she was in last night's. Wonder who she is going to be with next. And I officially don't like Megan. Only 3 episodes left this season :(