Category Archives: Lifestyle

Motivated!

Good evening!

This morning I stumbled across this quote that I haven’t been able to get out of my mind all day.

“What you can do or dream you can do, begin it, boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”
~Johann von Goethe

There are so many odd projects laying around the house that seriously need my attention, and I know that I need to spend time crossing each one off of my list! But, right now, the big project is Jason and I are participating in a large garage sale this Saturday. This is the perfect opportunity to clear out a lot of the miscellaneous stuff that in all honesty Jason and I haven’t seen in years!! We spent a few hours this evening going through boxes, and it was so energizing to let go of all of that old stuff. It is true what they say about stuff literally weighing you down, mentally! I am learning to believe that is true.

Ok, confession time!! I might be just a bit of a shop-a-holic (ok, Jay, stop laughing!!). Ok, I’ve said it!! I don’t think I go too crazy money-wise because I pay myself first, pay all of my bills, I have a nice retirement fund and a savings account, but where I think it is really starting to hurt me is in my living space. We live in such a small condo, and it seems that no matter how much stuff I have leaving this place, I just seem to fill the new space with almost twice as much stuff! (That might be a slight exaggeration, but I am sure not by much!)

My biggest areas I have problems with this is books, and fashion!! I can’t pass up a good book, ESPECIALLY if I can find it for a FABULOUS price! and ANYTIME I find a cute dress, or other clothing item that makes me feel good, I just snatch it up – and sometimes in multiple colors!!! This is really starting to become a problem! I would like to tell you that I could stop anytime I want too, but I find that I use shopping to sometimes fill a void that I can sometimes feel in myself. Like something I am needing and I am hoping a certain book, or a certain top will somehow fill it. Crazy, I know! I hear myself saying it, and just think,

“SNAP OUT OF IT GIRL!!!”

Sad, I know!! I am hoping that our garage sale this weekend will really help me make a serious dent in all of the “STUFF”!! I am a little nervous that I am going to be making my hubbies head spin by how fast and how much stuff is leaving this house! I am being seriously RUTHLESS in what goes and what stays!! If we haven’t even seen in since we moved in here 5 years ago, why the heck do we have it still!! Now, there are some memorabilia that I have a different set of rules for, but for the most part, that only pertains to things like cards, and photos, which don’t take up a lot of room in this house!! Thankfully!!

And, if my sweetie and I are going to stay in this condo a few more years, then I owe it to the both of us to make every effort to turn it into our home, and not just a stopping point – like a sad hotel!! Now, a GLAMOROUS HOTEL??? I am SOOO there for that, but not what we have been living in up to this point!!

Also, I have realized today, that I have so much extra home decor and what nots that I could actually start an online home boutique. Don’t think I am not seriously contemplating that either!! That has always been one of my dreams, and this quote above is making me thinking that I just need to get brave, and open my own boutique!! How cool would that be??!!

Oh to dream out loud!!

That would be BLISS!!!

Anyway, I am going to head up to bed for the night, and dream of my new clutter free home!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

Chunky Dunker Night!

Good evening!

I am the type of person that has always been on the lookout for signs. I am a firm believer that there are signs all over the place telling you what direction to go next, you just have to know how to spot them. Well, today, I have been noticing signs all over the place about not giving up on your goals. I really needed to hear that today! Today I recommit myself to focusing on my top 4 goals, one of which is getting fit and healthy, which is why I bring this up tonight – on Chunky Dunker night!

Chunky Dunker, for those of you who may not know is a weekly weight loss/get fit support group that meet here online every Wednesday evening to get the opportunity to comment, and cheer each other as you each go through your journey to get fit and healthy!!! We will discuss hints, tips, and ideas on losing weight, staying motivated, and achieving your fitness goals, whether that is to lose 5 pounds, to do 10 sit-ups, or just incorporate some healthy habits into your daily life!!

As always, everyone and anyone is welcome to join us, or you may feel free to just quietly follow along. I look forward to hearing about all of your successes!

As for my week, I have done alright – not as good as I did last week, but I have been nursing a slight knee injury that seems to have knocked me for a little bit of a loop. Not to worry, I am going to get back into the swing of things by hitting the pool a couple of more times this week, especially since the thermostat is rising, and ANY way to keep cool, is good enough reason for me!! I haven’t actually lost any more weight, but I am dropping inches; and besides occasionally burning my candle at both ends, so to speak, I am feeling pretty peppy!! 😉

Well, that is enough about me this evening! I can’t wait to hear how all of you are doing! I will meet you in the comments section!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Aaaaaah Hope!

Good evening!

You know what I’ve received as a gift today??

HOPE!!!

HOPE that things will get better, HOPE that I am not stuck in my job, HOPE that I am not stuck in my condo, and HOPE that I will get the opportunity to make my dreams come true! Someone gifted that to me today, and she may not even have known it! That someone was my realtor Nicole Shuba!! She was the same person who helped us find out condo, way back when – can you believe that we have been here 5 years????

I met with her after work today to find out if we had any kind of options, housing-wise,  in this market, or if we are just going to have to be a little more patient and wait it out! Her answer surprised me!!! She did say that we may have to just be patient and ride it out, but she also gave me a few ideas on things that I could do in the meantime, which was a breathe of fresh air!!

Not only that, she shared with me some of her goals that she has already accomplished – some goals that I also have on my list, mind you!! She showed me that if I just remain diligent, then I will be able to accomplish some of my goals too!!! Owning my little farm, traveling to Paris, and Italy, owning my own little business on the side, while I am waiting for the market to turn around, or at least for me to get my nest egg to where I want it to be so that I have some breathing room.

My meeting with her just reminded me that I am truly blessed, and that not only is God watching out for both my sweetie and myself, but He has bigger plans for us than we could have ever imagined, and they are on their way to us!!

Thank you, Nicole!! You truly did make my week!! I needed to hear everything you said, and to see your smiling face really put me at ease!! I can’t wait until I am able to have you sell this place, and help us purchase the next place – won’t that be an amazing day???

For all of the rest of us. I challenge us to go out of your way reach out to someone in your circle and share with them some words of encouragement! You may not know it, but maybe you will be making someone’s week too!

Have  a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Taking a Time Out!

Good evening!

I am have given myself a time-out! LITERALLY!! You know, when you are a little kid and your parents ground you to your room, and it might as well be the ABSOLUTE WORST THING POSSIBLE??? Well, I wish my mom were around now to ground me to my room, because that is exactly where I want to be!!

I left my artist date early, brought my tired self home, and have given myself permission to just veg out for the evening! My official plan is that as soon as I am done blogging, I am going to climb up the stairs, get into my pj’s and climb into bed. Is that sad??

NO, I think that there are some times that you just need to know when to say, ok, I have had enough for the night!!

I am sure that after a great night’s rest I will be able to make it all the way through tomorrow! Until then,

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

A Random Sunday!

Good evening!

I have come to the point in my book-loving life that I have too many books, and not enough time to read them all! Not to mention, some of them were given to me and I have NO idea what they are even about. I need to get two comfortable reading chairs and place them in my living room so that I can get some more reading time squeezed into my days! All of my friends and family think that I read all of the time, but really, I only read about 1/2 an hour before bed every evening. I wonder if that fact would surprise any of them??

Well, Jason and I are getting ready for our association’s annual garage sale, which is coming up this weekend, so I am doing my part to help get rid of any miscellaneous things in the house. Apparently Jason is going to be placing a whole TON of his things from his storage unit out for sale, which will be good, I think! When Jason and I lived in the old house, we used to hold 2 or 3 garage sales every Summer, so keep the plethora of belongings at bay was much easier than it is now!!

I have been dreaming about our farm that we hope to have some day. I have made an appointment with my mortgage broker for this Tuesday to find out what kind of options I have for either getting out of our condo, or refinancing so that we can pay a lower mortgage payments every month. I haven’t refinanced for the last three years, and I know my credit score has gone up, and interested rates have gone down. SO, hopefully I will hear SOMETHING good!! just as long as she doesn’t tell me that we will be stuck in this condo for the next 10 years – UGH!!! 😉

As for today? Well, Jason and I started early this morning, with the stereo playing some happy music to make our chores a little more fun!! I just LOVE having a clean house!! Then I had pulled out my mother’s no-bake cookie recipe that I had misplaced, but found this week, and decided to surprise Jason by making him a batch of those. They are so much easier than I remember, and still DELICIOUS!! Needless to say he was PLEASANTLY surprised!!! 😉

So, tonight, I am going to finish going through some of my books, set out an outfit for tomorrow. Oh, on a side note, I have to text Chris (one of my co-workers) every morning to make sure that she and I are not wearing the same thing – it happens a lot!!! 😉 So, I have started to setting out my clothes every evening, so that I am ready at a moments notice if I have to change anything!! LOL!! What we do for our friends!! 😉 and then I am going to climb into my freshly made bed this evening and catch up on a little reading before I fall to sleep!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

PS: By the way, all of these pictures were taken by me while my sweetie and I were having our morning breakfast of steel cut oats – YUM!! 😉

Drive in the Country!

Good afternoon!

My sweetie and I had the very fun excursion out today!

Well, where to begin? I woke up early this morning, and I spent some quiet time reading my favorite blogger magazine. It got me inspired to go out and take some pictures, and so I talked to my sweetie and we rounded up the girls, and we all went out for a ride out through the countryside.

I thought it would be fun to share some pictures of our outing with you!

The first thing we did was that we decided to head out towards farmland so that we could day dream about our little farm that we hope to have someday!! I think Jason is thinking actual farm, and I am thinking a large cottage with a small plot of land to go with it, but this drive helped use verbalize some of each of our dreams and wishes for our dream home!

This farm was my absolute FAVORITE of the day! I could completely see us refurbishing this one and moving right in. Well, minus the two bulls that were in the front yard – EEK!! 😉 If we ever have any animals, besides dogs, we agree that we could handle chickens – WE THINK! 😉

One of my favorite things about the country is all of the different textures that nature has to offer! It is like an amazingly intricate quilt! I am just in awe of God’s amazing-ness!!

I love that these homes are all tucked far from the road, and a distance from each other! I bet you could run around naked outside here in the evening, and no one would even know it. Ok, maybe not me, I am neon white after all. I am sure that I would look like a crazy, fat beacon running like a crazy-person in the night!!! Wouldn’t that be a sight??? LOL! 😉

Isn’t this vineyard just lovely? The Pacific Northwest is becoming known for their wineries!! and even though this isn’t the berry orchard that Jason and I dream of, there is a small part of us that think a little vineyard would be very romantic too!! 😉

Aren’t the cherries just picture perfect??? I picked these up at a little farmer’s market while we were out on our drive!

Here is one of those bulls I was telling you about earlier. My sweetie was brave enough to take a picture of for me. (I ran back and locked myself into the car!!) I was sure that if I got too close to the fence that it would somehow break through the fence and bite me or something!! LOL!! Jason and I both got a good laugh over that one!!! (but secretly I’m still a little sacred!) 😉 I didn’t want the bulls to get angry, thinking we were stalker-paparazzi or something!! 😉

This wheat wasn’t swaying in the breeze AT ALL!! I have never seen wheat hold SO STILL before!! I had a moment of, “Wouldn’t it be fun to run through this wheat field?” Until Jason reminded me of snakes. “Hmmmmm….no thank you!!” (How exactly am I going to make it out in the country??? 😉

The day was hot, clear, and absolutely BEAUTIFUL! 😉 These small purple flowers practically sparkled under the noon-day sky! I just HAD to stop and snap a picture!! 🙂

Here was my second favorite farm house of the day!! It looks like it needs some love, and I am sure it is haunted!! My friend, Chris, swears that all old buildings are haunted, and I am SURE she MUST be right about this one!!! 😉 Even though, it is still a very pretty haunted house!!! 😉

These colors are just so vivid, this rich, lush green against this deep blue sky. It was quite spectacular!!

Oh, and to top of our lovely drive, Jason took me to this little farmer’s market, that I had never been to before, and they had the most delectable strawberry shortcakes! They were sinfully delicious, made with ice cream. I had never had a strawberry shortcake made with ice cream before! and the fresh strawberries just finished this perfect desert off! They were pure goodness!! YUM!!

Man, what a GREAT day!! I had so much fun visiting with my sweetie, seeing the great outdoors, all while hanging with my girls!! I can’t wait to see what we do tomorrow to beat the heat!! I will keep you posted!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

So Long Borders!

Part of the LOOOONG line at Borders!

Good evening!

Well, it is official! Jason and I went to Borders this evening, and it already is nothing like the safe haven that we had come to know and love. The coffee shop, Seattle’s Best, is already closed, the chairs are all stacked and put away, and the books are just an ever-loving mess!!! You had better have known what you were looking for and where in the general area you were going to find it, because staff people were hard to come by. Then when it was time to finally check out, the line wrapped all through the store  it was QUITE INSANE!!! You would think that people would NEVER be able to purchase a book again!! The “sale” prices that we thought would be coming out today, really never materialized. Most everything had a mere 10% off, which meant that I am going to be doing some waiting before I go there looking for some great end of business deals. The staff did say that they were hoping that they would be open through September, but really, whenever the merchandise runs out, that’s about it!

So, this is it. No more Borders. There seem to have been a lot of people running around feeling a lot like I am:

“Now what?”

“What do I do now?”

“I can’t believe this place is closing!”

You see, in Salem, Borders is more like a community center. People stop there, of course, to read and purchase books, magazines, music, and DVDS, but there are also groups that meet there every evening, and to come enjoy the live music during the weekends. People stop by to grab a coffee and catch up with friends, do some studying, spend some time people watching, or to come practice some sign language with other like-minded individuals, not to mention some of our most memorable times of midnight release parties of special books like and of the books from the Harry Potter series, or the Twilight Saga DVD releases.

Good times!! 😉

I heard one woman say,

“Now what am I supposed to do with my weekends?”

That was pretty sad, but she is kind of right. Besides going out to eat, or going to the movie theater there really isn’t much in the way of entertainment in this community. It is going to take this small city some time to recover. Who ever thought that the one and only true book store in Salem would EVER close???

It might be time to look for a new stomping ground. It’s something I am going to have to seriously consider.

Anyway, I am going to go spend some quiet time with my sweetie!! Until tomorrow…

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

An Evening of Organizing!

Good evening!

I am going to try and make this a quick post this evening! I am in the middle of getting some organizing done and I don’t want to take too long, but I thought I would just quickly stop and tell you how my day has gone.

Work? Well, it was alright! I am doing some research right now, and every time I think I am getting close to figuring out what I am looking for, I realize I am stumped again, and almost feeling as if I am back to square one!! So, tomorrow, I will just roll up my sleeves and start again, and if I don’t figure it out by lunch, I will put this assignment away and work on something else for a while!! 😉

I had another Zumba class today, and it is official, I love Zumba, I don’t love this class. I know myself, and if I feel like I am not having fun then I don’t want to do it, and it makes it harder to get to the next class. Well, this instructor, although a fabulously nice person, doesn’t know anything about being plus-size. So, I am trying to do stuff that God had never meant for a body of this size to be doing just yet!!! If we could just stick to all of the fun-crazy dancing, and skip all of the crunches, squats, and yoga/pilate moves, that would be cool – at least for now!! My knees, ankes, elbows, and wrists just aren’t faring so well. Even with two days between classes, I am finding that I am still hurting so badly!! So, with all of that said, I am not sure if I am going to quit yet, or if I am going to stick it out and just modify more!! We will see, and I will keep you posted!!

Oh, I wanted to give a shout out to my sweetie this evening! When I got home, I had the most pleasant surprise, not only did he wash my car today, but I was completely amazed that the house had been cleaned while I was at work too!! Isn’t that just the sweetest thing??? Well, let’s just say that his brownie points meter was busy racking up points tonight!! Thank you, Love! I appreciate all you do for us!! 😉

Anyway, one last thing before I get back to what I was doing. I just received this letter in my e-mail from the Borders CEO, Mike Edwards. Borders happens to be my husband’s and my favorite bookstore and we have spent many hours there reading books, magazines, enjoying a coffee, people watching, visiting with each other, and with all of their stores closing it is going to be quite the culture shock in Jason’s and my world – truly. I thought this letter was sweet, and I wanted to make sure to keep it, kind of as a memento of this great company who I have been a loyal, and frequent customer of for so long.

 

With that, I bid you good night, and…

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Chunky Dunker’s Night!

Good evening!

Tonight is Chunky Dunker night, and I have been looking forward to this night all week!! I post a new Chunky Dunker’s post every Wednesday evening, and you will have the opportunity to comment, and cheer each other as you each go through your journey to get fit and healthy!!! We will discuss hints, tips, and ideas on losing weight, staying motivated, and achieving your fitness goals, whether that is to lose 5 pounds, to do 10 sit-ups, or just incorporate some healthy habits into your daily life!!

I am happy to report that I have been working out, eating MOSTLY healthy, drinking my water, and am working on getting my sleeping back in check again! I did hit a small patch of roughness today, when I had a pretty stressful day at work, so I had asked my sweetie to make me some comfort food this evening, but IT WAS SO WORTH IT!!! Yum! 😉

I am just plugging along on my posts, and I even have an idea on putting up some random tutorials on how to do all different kinds of things like beauty, fashion, gardening, decorating, and other miscellaneous hints to help you, and me, turn your house into a home! I would love to hear your thoughts on that, in the comments section above!!

Anyway, let’s get this show on the road, and I will see you in the comments section for Chunky Dunker’s night!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉