Recurring Series

A Family-Filled Holiday Weekend

Oh, this weekend! It was such a fun one! What’s not to love about long weekends, especially when they’re filled with family time, fireworks shows, and long naps? Yes, yes. Let’s dive into my weekend, all right?

thursday // I only had to work a half-day, which was such a nice treat! After work, I came home and planned on getting in a workout, but instead fell asleep on the couch for a few hours. Whoops! When I woke up, it was time to get ready! My mom and I were meeting family that was in town (only our favorite Georgia family!) for dinner on the beach. We haven’t seen them since November, so it was nice to catch up and enjoy dinner with a beautiful view (and a delicious mango daiquiri!).

friday // Friday was the Fourth of July! After a morning and afternoon of lounging, my mom and I headed over to my uncle’s house. He lives mere minutes from the beach and we had a great view of the fireworks right from his dock! My uncle grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, there mayyyy have been Jello shots and vodka-spiked soda for the adults, and I spent a lot of time outside on the dock because the view was just incredible! (It’s the third photo from the top.) I also made fast friends with their dog, Finn. Because that’s what I do at parties – befriend the pets. Ha. A little before 9pm, we all headed out to the dock to watch the fireworks show. The fireworks were maybe 200 feet away from us. It’s the closest I’ve ever been! It was so nice and special and awesome.

(Also, we can’t be the only ones who, after 10 minutes of watching the fireworks start saying, “So, this has to be the grand finale!” “No, really, now this is the finale!” “Good God, this is the longest fireworks show everrrrr!” Haha.)

saturday // Saturday began with a nice morning walk with Dutch, then Mom and I hurried up to get ready to catch a matinee of the movie, Tammy. We’re both huge Melissa McCarthy fans and I decided to treat her to the showing for her birthday (which is tomorrow!). The movie was pretty good, very funny, and we both enjoyed it.

Then, I had time to take a quick trip to Target for some toiletries and get some chores done before my brother and nephew arrived. We ordered pizza, watched some episodes of Last Comic Standing, and I baked some blondies for dessert. (And discovered I’m not really a fan of blondies? Gimme brownies any day!)

sunday // Sunday was a very low-key day, which was exactly what I needed. I’d been feeling a bit moody – especially Saturday night, let’s not even get into that! – which I think just had to do with feeling a bit overwhelmed and overstimulated by the weekend festivities. I woke up early to work out, then went to church, came home, and took a long afternoon nap. It was so needed! After the nap, I took Dutch on a long walk, went grocery shopping, and spent the rest of my weekend relaxing, painting my toenails, and catching up on my DVR.

And now it’s Monday and I have a busy week ahead of me! I have something going on just about every night this week, which means I’ll probably hibernate this weekend and do absolutely nothing, ha!

How was your weekend? Any fireworks festivities?

Categories: Recurring Series

June Recap

June was good to me. Looking through the photos I took this month for Project 365, I realize it wasn’t an altogether exciting month, but it was a good one. June was low-key, relaxing, and peaceful. Here in Florida, we’re definitely in full swing into summer and the days are hot, hot, hot. While we’re hovering around the low 90s temperature-wise, with the humidity, we’re easily hitting the triple digits daily. Tank tops, shorts, and blasting the air conditioner will be the MO for the next few months.

Jessica, a blogger I’ve been following for years, was in town for a PR conference and she had some time before the conference started to meet up with me. It was so fun to meet her in person! This was probably the first blogger meet-up where I wasn’t scared out of my mind beforehand. Maybe I’m getting better at meeting bloggers, or maybe I just felt like I was just meeting up with an old friend to catch up. She’s wonderful, though, and we sat outside, sipped delicious margaritas, and chit-chatted about everything – vacations and dating and jobs and blogs. It was incredibly fun! She’s a good soul.

I didn’t always love summer. And I still don’t think summer is my favorite season, but I’m learning to love it. There are so many fun things to do in the summer, and a lot of it is free or very cheap. I don’t exactly have a summer bucket list, but I would like to spend more afternoons at my pool, visit the beach at sunset at least once, take Dutch to the dog beach, and eat as much fresh watermelon as humanly possible.

This month, I’ve started taking Dutch on a Saturday morning walk at a nearby park. He loves long walks and he keeps up a pretty brisk pace, so it’s a good workout for both of us. The park is beautiful early in the morning, it’s not too hot, and I know Dutch looks forward to it. For an old guy, he’s pretty active and never turns down the chance to run around in the grass.

I’ve been doing a lot of soul-searching about my diet and losing weight this month. I haven’t been weighing myself regularly and I haven’t been following any formal diet plan. I’ve just been… eating okay, trying to implement healthier habits, and trying to worry less about the scale and more about how I feel overall. I have good days and bad days. I have days when I’m happy, and days when I see a photo of myself and want to bawl my eyes out. I’m working on kindness. I’m working on recognizing where I am right now, and trying to give myself props for every little step I take in regaining control over my health.

All in all, I’m happy with June. It was a good month, with more ups than downs. And I’m looking forward to July. I don’t have a ton of big! fun! plans! but I have small things I’d like to do, and I’m leaving my options open to let whatever happens, happen. I want to get outside more and enjoy each and every day I’m given. It’s truly a gift, and I’m realizing more and more to not take any day for granted.

Is summer your favorite season? What do you have planned for July?

Categories: Recurring Series

A Weekend in Pictures

This weekend was pretty fantastic in my world. It’s getting super hot in Florida now (the heat index was 102 on Sunday afternoon. Yikes!), but that’s what pools and beaches and air conditioning are for, right? I don’t mind the heat, but it can get a little too much sometimes.

On Friday night, I headed over to a friend’s house for book club. We ordered pizza, had a good discussion about the book pick for the month, and then chit-chatted about a whole bunch of random stuff. Lots of laughs were had and inside jokes were formed. I love book club!

Saturday kicked off with a walk around a lake with Dutch, to virtually support Becky as she did the Washington, D.C. Walk of Hope to bring awareness and a voice to infertility. Becky is such an awesome lady and it’s been a rough year for her and her husband. I was happy to support them in my very little way!

After that, I headed over to Tampa to meet up with a friend. She lives in the SoHo area of Tampa, which is such a fun area. (It actually feels like a city! I’ve never been a huge fan of Tampa, but she might have convinced me to check this area out when I start looking for a new place to live.) She has the most adorable condo and we spent a few hours soaking up the rays by her pool, then she cooked me a delicious spaghetti lunch! How nice, right? I can’t remember the last time someone cooked for me. (Uh. Aside from family… nobody?! My life is sad.) Then, we walked over to Starbucks (it took less than 5 minutes! DUDE. I can’t walk anywhere in my area that quickly!) and enjoyed a drink before I had to leave.

On Sunday, my mom and I went to church (so happy to be back!), then we took naps and went out to lunch at Tijuana Flats. Then, we visited a local farmer’s market where my. mind. was. blown. Like, I know farmer’s markets are muuuuch cheaper than the grocery store, but I was able to buy one whole watermelon, one whole pineapple, 4 lbs of potatoes, one bunch of green onions, one tomato, and one head of garlic for under $8! I compared the prices at Publix, and it would have cost me almost $18 for all of that. Is that crazy or what?! I will be buying all my produce from them from now on.

The rest of my weekend was quiet. I watched some TV, meal prepped for the week, did laundry and other chores, and caught up on some blogs. A low-key ending to a very great weekend!

***

For the past few months, Kerri’s been doing a post every Monday detailing her “to-do list” for the week. I really love reading her goals for the week, and I thought it couldn’t hurt to make some myself. I think I’ll keep it easy at five goals per week and see how it goes:

1. Make a dentist appointment and call my health insurance company to have them send me a replacement card (I somehow lost mine… so it’s pretty difficult to schedule doctor’s appointments without one, yes?)

2. Work out five times

3. Add two pages to my blog: “Hire Me” and “Contact Me”

4. Write at least 2,000 words in my current WIP and spend at least 1 hour working on my outline for my Camp NaNoWriMo book

5. Drink at least 32 ounces of water each day

How was your weekend? Do you shop at a farmer’s market? Any goals for the upcoming week?

Categories: Recurring Series

Looking Forward

I haven’t done one of these types of posts since October. Most of the time I feel like I don’t have anything coming up that’s interesting enough to talk about. But, nonetheless, since these posts have been popular in the last week or so in the blogosphere, I thought I’d add my own. Enjoy!

Today, I am looking forward to… taking my usual Friday afternoon nap and later on, a book club pizza party!

I always feel like I should be more productive with my Friday afternoons. Maybe do chores, or work on my novel, or take Dutch to a dog park or something. But I look forward to those naps every week! (And so does Dutch. Heh.) I’m also majorly excited to hang out with my friends for pizza, book club chatter, and all other types of girl talk. I look forward to book club every month, and I’m excited to hear everyone’s thoughts on our book pick!

This weekend, I am looking forward to… hanging out with a new friend and going back to church.

My friend and I plan on kicking back and watching Frozen. I’ve never seen it (but I really want to!) and she’s a mega fan, so we made plans to watch it together. (She’s new in town, and we’ve bonded over our love for Vera Bradley, funky eyeglasses, and cute lunch bags, so, it’s a good match, I think!) If I don’t know how to be a cool twenty-something… whaaaat. Ha. Also, church. Yes! I am so pumped to go back to church. I really miss it!

This month, I am looking forward to… my soon-to-be stepdad coming home.

He’s been on the road since early May (he’s a truck driver) and it’s funny, I used to dread the weeks he would be home because things were super awkward between us. But now they are pretty great and he’s awesome company to have around! Plus, I think we’re all heading over to the dog beach while he’s here, which I think he will get a kick out of! (Dutch was rather unimpressed by it – especially the water – but maybe the second time’s the charm?)

This year, I am looking forward to… a Miami road trip and meeting Nora.

In September, two fun things will be happening: my brother and I are driving down to attend a Miami Dolphins football game and Nora will be in Orlando for work. We’re planning to have a fun girl’s day for one of the days she is here. I am stupid, stupid excited!

What are you looking forward to in the coming days, weeks, or months?

Categories: Recurring Series

Currently…

Feeling: A little melancholy. I really, really miss my dad. Father’s Day is probably the hardest day of the year for me to get through, so I tried to take it easy yesterday. I started my day off with a long walk with Dutch, had a yummy lunch with my mom, took a delightful afternoon nap, and finished off the day grocery shopping, doing laundry, and watching episodes of Shark Tank.

Reading: Hot Pursuit by my all-time favorite author, Suzanne Brockmann. It’s the 15th book in the series so, needless to say, I am totally invested in these characters – they feel like family to me!

Thinking: About trying my hand at Camp NaNoWriMo in July. It’s basically like NaNoWriMo (which takes place in November), but you can choose the word count you want to shoot for (from 10,000 to 999,000!). It seems like it would be a fun challenge to take on!

Anticipating: A day trip to Miami with my brother in the fall! We’re going to drive down to see a Dolphins game, and I’m just really excited to spend some solid one-on-one time with him. My brother is one of my most favorite people, and we rarely get time alone with one another anymore. It should be fun! (As long as the ‘Phins win, of course!)

Watching: Last Comic Standing. Oh, my goodness, I love this show so much! It’s one of the few shows I actually watch live because I can’t handle waiting for the new shows.

Wishing: It was easier for me to open up to people in real life. It sounds funny because I have no problem opening up and being vulnerable on my blog, but it’s so hard to do the same to the people in my life. I think this is why I had such a problem with therapy. It just doesn’t feel normal for me to talk about my feelings out loud. In writing? Sure! But in real life? So hard. I’m working on it.

Learning: More about my highly sensitive nature. Being sensitive is a trait I’ve always understood about myself, but recent events have made me more interested in learning about what being a highly sensitive person means and how it has affected my life. Perhaps a blog post to come on this?

Hoping: To schedule more pool days this summer. People always ask me if I spend every weekend at the pool since I have two beautiful pools in my apartment community. And the truth is? Last summer, I probably spent less than five days at the pool! Isn’t that sad? I need to change that this year!

Loving: Cereal. The fact that I’ve kept up with Project 365 (even if it is a pain in the neck some days!). Dutch sleeping on my chest. Writing dates. Accountability check-ins with Nora. Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Shark Tank. My new cube at work. Sleeping in on the weekend.

What are you currently reading, anticipating, and watching?