Perfect Fall Weekend – MIMM

Heyheyhey!  Oh.my.goodness it has literally been forever since I’ve been by to say hi.  Last I shared, we had just moved in to our new place and were starting to get settled.  We have made a lot of progress and this place has quickly become “home” to us.  I absolutely love it.  It didn’t take long at all for me to get used to our new place.  We’re getting into a new routine here, and it’s just great.  🙂

So, it’s been forever since I’ve done one of these posts, but I’m really glad to be able to stop by and share some scenes from the weekend with ya’ll again for Marvelous in My Monday!  So, let’s get this party started!

To start off, I want to share some beautiful sunrises/sunsets we had this week.  I’ve been loving my morning commutes on cloudless days and the sunsets, too, have been just gorgeous.

Friday night was a super relaxed night.  We went out to Panera to get some din-din, which was suggested by Scott.  We were hoping to get him some broccoli and cheddar soup in a bread bowl…but they were OUT OF BREAD BOWLS.  Seriously?!  I think I was more disappointed for Scott than he was.  But, we made the best of it and still had a nice night out together.  Then we came home and spent the evening in, relaxing with each other.  It was the perfect end to the week.

Saturday morning we woke up to SUNSHINE.  Hallelujah!  We were promised a wonderful weekend with sunshine and nice weather and it was off to a great start!  I immediately started some coffee in the pot and went outside in the backyard to throw the ball around with Max in the backyard.  It was perfect.  The sun felt so great.  Scott joined us a little later and he and I took a seat on the deck, and threw the ball to Max from the deck.  It was such a great way to start off the day together, soaking up the sunshine and enjoying the beautiful weather!  So perfect!  Plus, this was my first time carving pumpkins!  I was super stoked!! 🙂

We made a Clemson pumpkin together!

The afternoon went so fast, and we actually found ourselves getting HOT in the sunshine!  Whaaa?  We headed home to drop the pup off at home, and then went to meet up with my brother and sister-in-law, and my parents, to go out to eat at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants.  It was SO good and we had such a great evening together!  Plus, we had some tasty margaritas…and when my dad gets a margarita in him, he’s quite entertaining 😉

Sunday morning I woke up a little earlier than Saturday, but the sun was just coming up and it was another gorgeous fall morning.  I made some coffee and then enjoyed it while I read outside on our deck for a while, while throwing the ball to Max, before Scott got up.  The sunshine felt so amazing and I was so relaxed out there.  Such a great way to start off the day.

 After having a relaxing morning out on the deck, Scott woke up, and we got ourselves ready for church.  We have been trying to get back into a routine of going to church.  Since moving, we are now looking for a new “home” since our old one is about 45 minutes away from where we live now.  Church went fast, and then we headed home, changed, and left to meet up with my friend.  We  had planned to go to a corn maze together!  We both love dorky, fall-themed activities and we had such a good time being out in the gorgeous weather…especially since the last time we went, it was cloudy, windy, and chilly!  I wore a hat, scarf, mittens AND boots!

Our fun, dorky, fall-themed afternoon went far too quickly.  But I had to head on home, meet up with Scott, and then we headed to the grocery store.  We got done our weekly shopping, hurried home to unload, and then tidied up as much as we could since my brother and sister-in-law and parents were coming over for the Packer game.  The Packer game was definitely a let down, but it was still nice having the company.  It was a great end to a really warm fall weekend!

 

finally stopping by to say hi

Man it has been a long, long, looooooonnnnnggggg time since I’ve stopped in to chat.  Life has been so crazy the last month and a half and things are finally starting to settle down a bit!  As some of you may know/remember from my previous posts, we had been packing up like crazy at our place.  This was one of the last scenes I showed at our apartment…

Meanwhile, while we were packing our place up, we were moving Scott’s mom.  Yep, that’s right, two moves in a matter of a month!  Scott and I pretty much did all of the moving all on our own for us AND his mom.  We had help one day with the big furniture items since I’m not that strong, but we did the rest on our own.  That consisted of moving Scott’s mom’s things out of the storage unit (the massive storage unit) that was stuffed FULL of her things, as well as some of ours, too.  It worked out that we both got places in the same town, just a few minutes away from one another.  So making trips out to her place also allowed us to swing by our place, too.  We took some days off of work to get the last of our things out of our apartment, cleaning the place entirely (including wet-vac’ing the floor) and settling ourselves into the new place.

It’s been an exhausting month and a half, but the worst of it is over.  We have the main things put in place at our new townhouse, which we just love.  It’s farther from work for both of us, sadly, but it has so much more space!  It has three “bedrooms”, (one is our bedroom, one is an office, and the third will be a spare bedroom with my old bed and furniture-set), a HUGE BRIGHT kitchen (note my excitement, after our last small cramped dark kitchen) a full basement and two car garage.  We love it.  Here are a few pictures that have been taken…

So weird seeing this place empty!  I’m going to miss it a bit.  This was the first place Scott and I shared together.

A sneak peak of the initial chaos.  Oy, am I glad that we have made a LOT of progress since these pictures.  Phew.

Our first morning after our first night in our new place.  Sunshine, warm weather, coffee, all enjoyed on our new deck.  Absolutely perfect morning!

 

The kitties took a little time to get used to their new surroundings…but now they seem back to their normal, cute, silly selves.  Plus, they have so much more room now, too, to explore.  An upstairs AND main level to explore (although the basement is off-limits)  They are loving it!

Some beautiful views from our new place.  I just love it.  I’m really excited about this place! 😀

That’s all I’ve got for now, just wanted to stop in and say hi and let you know that I’m still here!  I’ll try and get back into a somewhat normal routine of blogging again soon!

❤

 

weekend things and MIMM

Summer is quickly coming to a close now it seems.  August has come and gone, and now September is here, along with shorter days, and crisp mornings and evenings.  We still get the warmth and heat from the day yet which is really nice.  I will enjoy the warm days and cool nights as long as I can.  But there is something nice about welcoming fall now, too.  I just wish our fall lasted much, much longer.  But, I digress.  So let’s get on with the fun link-up with Katie for some Marvelous in my Monday talk.

Before I get too far into this post, I wanted to share a picture of part of the anniversary card that I made for my brother and sister-in-law.  I had recently made a card for a co-worker and had a fun time with it, so I decided to make a card for my brother and seester’s first anniversary!  (First anniversary ALREADY!  It went just so fast!)  Because she is originally from the Philippines and only came to America in July of last year, I kind of went with that as my “theme”.  She is used to the beach and warm, tropical areas, and we, living in Wisconsin, are accustomed to cold and lots of snow!  I have to say, I thought it was a really cute idea.  The inner left side was the picture, with the right side being my long, lengthy ramblings on to my brother and seester about just how much  I love them both 🙂  Maybe I won’t be a professional card maker, but I had a blast doing it and they loved it, which is all that matters.

Friday evening was a designated cleaning/organizing/tidying up night, since the owner of our place and his realtor scheduled an open house for Saturday morning.  Aside from all the chaos with boxes and everything, we still had to make the place look somewhat decent.  We got the place looking really great and I discovered a new love that I will never go without again.  Friday was the first night that I used a Swiffer and my life has forever changed.  Cleaning up all the cat hair in the bathrooms and kitchen had been so laborious before, and now…well now it is SOOOO much easier!  As in, almost enjoyable.  I will never go without one again and am considering investing in a wet jet, since I’ve heard good things about that one too!

Saturday morning was pretty relaxed.  I woke up pretty early which was nice.  Scott was going over to my parents today to work on a threshold for a door in the garage.  So I had the morning to myself for a while.  And of course I snagged a few pictures of my kitties.  What is a post from Little Miss Fit without some pictures of my cats?  Seriously…I call the left one, Dexter’s thriller dance.  He’s a big fan of Michael Jackson… 😉  And that belly…haha I love it.

After a relaxing early morning, I headed over to my parent’s house while the open house was going to take place.  I had a really nice chance to just spend time talking with my mom.  We rarely get a chance to really sit down face-to-face and talk for an extended period of time.  (We talk everyday, just by email mostly)  So that was really nice.  After the open house was done, I headed on over to the house to check on the cats before leaving to meet up with a friend.  We met at Starbucks, but neither one of us were feeling too good and ended up just having water and stealing a seat on their patio 😉  I recently started a new medication and my tummy has NOT been a huge fan of it…My stomach is normally really sensitive to begin with, and coffee is really rough on my stomach (I usually get the lower acidity coffee for that reason, Folgers Simply Smooth) so I knew that stronger coffee would just be a bad idea.  She, too, has had some recent health problems and needs to really work on hydrating, so water it was for us.  But we sat ourselves in the sunshine and had a chance to chat, which was longgg overdue.  It was a really nice time, as always.

I made my way home for a bit before I was expected to meet up with my brother and seester to go to the beach/a state park.  I started feeling really crappy though and just laid on the couch when I got home…I didn’t think I’d be able to meet up with them since my stomach hurt so bad.  I started to get frustrated with my new medication, and still am considering trying to switch/not take it.  But, I emailed my NP and asked her if this would be a long-lasting side effect, or just a result of me starting a new medication and my body not adjusting to it yet.  After laying down for a while, and after thinking about just how absolutely gorgeous the weather was with temperatures in the mid 70s and sunny, knowing that the warm days are not going to last much longer, I decided to still go with my brother and seester.  I was really glad I did, too.

We took a nice hike and then relaxed by the beach.  The pain subsided a bit, and I was able to actually enjoy myself, which was really nice.  I love spending time with my brother and seester so much.  My brother and I are both dealing with some similar struggles/issues right now, although a little different, and he has been a huge support to me lately, and I to him.  We have been talking with each other everyday and sharing a lot with one another and it really helps so much having him.  And I know that the support I’m giving him helps, too, even if it just means listening to him, or having him over in the evening.  Sometimes it’s just nice to have that distraction.

It was really nice having that time with them and being able to be outside to enjoy the weather.  We made our way home, I ran to the store to get a few things, then relaxed the rest of the night. Scott’s mom’s cat is now staying with us, and he is so ravenous.  He will eat and eat and eat non-stop, until he ends up throwing up from eating too much, too quickly.  He doesn’t know his limits…so we really have to watch his food intake.  I thought that by putting the food on top of the fridge, it would be far enough away from him so that he wouldn’t get to it.  But I was clearly wrong.  I caught him climbing on top of the counter and then on top of the fridge…so now, the food is going inside the kitchen cabinets.  If he can find his way to open those, well then he must be the smartest cat ever.

Scott didn’t get home until after 9:30.  After he finished up at my parent’s working on the door in the garage, he went over to a friend of his mom’s (where his mom is now staying until she moves in to her new place) to help work to install the bathroom floor and re-install the toilet.  He was a busy guy, and when he came home we just relaxed together for the evening.  It was a pretty chill night, which was nice.

Sunday I woke up super late, because I stayed up super, super late on Saturday night.  So, waking up so late in the morning, I felt super groggy and out of it after getting up.  Church was at one, and I spent an hour and a half just relaxing and waking up. Meeko came and snuggled with me on the couch, which I always love.  She’s the cutest little thing.

I finally started to feel a bit better and more alive by the time we left the house, thankfully.  After church, we went grocery shopping together.  I got a workout in when I got home after we unpacked the groceries, and then did some cleaning out of our kitchen cabinets, and did some packing.  We did A LOT of cleaning out which was good and we are going to donate a lot of things that we have no need for to Goodwill, which I feel really good about.  We found this bad boy, which clearly came from Scott’s mom and just somehow made it’s way into our cabinets and has stayed there since Scott first moved in.  All I can say is, if we had known that this sucker was in our cabinets, we would have had bacon every.single.day lololol

I did some meal prep for the coming start of the work-week, then my brother and seester came over for the evening to watch Sunday Night Football, Broncos versus Colts.  It was a great end to the weekend.  Ready to tackle another week.  Hope you all had a fabulous weekend and a marvelous Monday!! ❤

 

Weekend come and weekend go…(MIMM)

So, I don’t know where the past three days went, but they just literally FLEW by.  I can’t even believe it’s Monday afternoon already!  This weekend was so busy and over before way too quickly!  I know it’s late, but I can’t help but do a little “catch up” and share some highlights of the weekend and what life has been like lately.  Sharing some goods for Marvelous in my Monday!

Friday night was a chill night.  Scott and I got to relax together while we did our fantasy football draft.  My brother is the manager of the league and it’s been a couple years since I did fantasy football…so I was happy to give it another go.  This is my second time and I think it will be a fun thing to do together as a family, since Scott, my brother and his wife are all a part of it, with a few other friends, too.  After the draft was done, my brother and his wife came over to spend some time together.  It’s their one year anniversary already and they were leaving for the weekend, so it was nice spending a quiet evening in with them.  It was so simple, but such a great time!

Saturday, Scott had made plans to help a friend of his mom’s with some bathroom repairs, so I had a good part of the day pretty much to myself.  I got a good morning workout in, spent some quality time snuggling with the kitties.  They love the balcony!  Meeko used to be so scared being out there, but now she loves it 🙂

then took myself out of the house and down to the lake to get some coffee at my favorite coffee place, Colectivo, which is right by the lake.  I couldn’t have timed it any more perfect, it started to pour within just a couple minutes of me getting inside.  All the people that were sitting outside ran inside but I was able to get a small little table to myself before they got in.  It was so cozy and I had such a nice time just reading.

I then made my way to the mall to try and find some deal my mom had told me about at Bath & Body Works.  Sadly, they didn’t have the deal I was hoping for..but I went in a few other stores while I was there before making my way home.  Since it was Labor Day weekend and since Scott and I are in need of a washer and dryer for our new place, I had the idea to check out the stores to see if they had any deals or sales going on.  The weather was so crazy on Saturday, between raining and sunshine on and off, on our way to Sears, we saw this pretty FULL rainbow…I can’t remember the last time I saw a full rainbow!  So pretty!

We spent the rest of the afternoon at Sears and found a washer and dryer that we liked which was on sale, so bonus 🙂  After our little excursion, we headed back home for an evening in.  I had plans to run to the grocery store to get a couple things and saw how gorgeous the sky/sunset was, so I drove around for quite a while, just enjoying the beautiful views.  It was completely impulsive and I had a blast.

The rest of the evening consisted of Breaking Bad.  Not a bad way to end the day.  Sunday was a lazy morning, followed by a workout, and then lots and lots of packing!  I actually hate to say it, but I kind of like some of the packing/organizing/throwing away of things.  It feels good to get rid of things.  The apartment is a bit of a mess though…which makes me a little anxious (just because it’s so chaotic) but I know that we’re making progress, slowly but surely.

Sunday literally flew by.  Before we knew it, it was time to call it a day with the packing, and get ourselves ready to head out the door.  A friend of mine is in a band and they were playing at a campground pretty close to home, so we decided to go for the show and then stay overnight camping out.  Plus, we decided to bring Max with us.  It was a blast for him.  The show was great

…but sleeping the rest of the night was awful.  As in, I had a hard time falling asleep, I was hot then cold, kept waking up at any noise or passing car’s lights, and Scott woke up sick two times overnight.  So needless to say, after getting about 4.5 hours of sleep, it wasn’t the best night.  We got up early and made our way back home.  Scott was out of commission essentially the whole day, but I don’t know how I got done everything that I did with just 4.5 hours of sleep!  I got a workout in first thing, then start packing and organizing things in the apartment, got laundry done, went grocery shopping, got meal prep done and still had time to snag some pictures of the cats.  🙂

I finally got to relax for the evening and enjoyed my night with Scott.  Luckily, he started to feel better by the afternoon, so it was nice enjoying our last few moments of the long weekend together.

Happy short work week! 😀

 

Scenes from the weekend (MIMM)

Life has been pretty busy the last few weeks, as we have been looking for a new place for both my husband and I as well as his mom.  There’s been a lot going on with that for us, but I’ve still been able to find some down time to do some fun things.  So I’ll do a little update on life lately and share some of the weekend highlights for this weeks Marvelous in my Monday.

 For starters I got a package in the mail from a dear friend I recently made with a lady living on the other side of the country.  It was such a meaningful package…the card was too sweet and the little stuffed animal was really symbolic and also very personal.

I will probably end up bringing this little guy to work with me and keeping it in my desk for “those moments” when it’s needed 🙂  The work weeks have been flying by as a lot of the evenings have been dedicated to finding new places to look at and moving-related things.  We finally found a place that we really like and are hoping to get!  We submitted our rental application and now wait to hear back if we’re chosen to fill the place.  We should hear within a week but I have a feeling we’re going to be a little anxious until we hear for sure one way or the other.  So we’ll see..

Friday night I got the chance to hang out with my brother and my sister-in-law and it was sooo overdue.  I haven’t had much of a chance to really spend a lot of time with them lately so it was really nice to do so again.  Plus the weather was PERFECT!  We went to the Milwaukee County Zoo for their Zoo a la Carte.  It was their 30th year of doing it.  They have different music and food and drink vendors that take over the zoo in the evenings.  It was a really fun time and a great way to spend a gorgeous night at the end of the week!

It was totally a fun evening and just what I needed.  Scott was already asleep by the time I got home since he had an early morning on Saturday.  I got to sleep in a little bit, which for me was 7:30 hah!  But I’ll take whatever I can.  I got a great run/workout in in the morning, and also got some good quality time with my little Meeko.  She is such a crazy, hyper, wild kitty and even when she is snuggly, she can’t sit still.  But I love her to pieces.

I got a chance to read a while, too, which was really nice.  My morning quickly disappeared and I decided to meet up with Scott to help him pack and move some of his mom’s things into storage.  It was a hot, tiring afternoon.  Unfortunately his mom has not found a place to live permanently yet, so her things are all going into storage since she needs to be out of her house by the end of the month.  She will be staying with a friend for a while, but that means that when she does find a place, we will need to move all of her things AGAIN.  She has SOOOO much stuff! 😦  And soon Scott and I will need to pack up all of our things and move, too.  Oy.  It’s going to be an exhausting and super stressful next few months.

After spending a few hours moving, I called it a day and went to a local outdoor mall where they were having a chalk art festival.  I was really excited to check it out!  I had wanted to go last year, but found out about after the fact, so it was nice to be able to go this year!  It was so cool!  Some people did really really amazing work.  The sad thing is that it doesn’t last though   It’s such a shame.  Here were some of my favorites:

These people are so SO talented!  It was such a good end to the day. I also stopped at Bath and Body Works, which I always love doing, and picked up some awesome candles!  (If you don’t know, I LOVE candles!)

I spent the rest of the evening relaxing when I got back home and watched the new 21 Jump Street.  It was actually a better movie than I was expecting and enjoyed rounding out the day with the movie.

Sunday was nearly a pictureless day, yet again!  I had a slower start to the day, got in a GREAT run, ran some errands, went to church, and spent time over at Scott’s mom’s house.  The day went sooo quick and the weekend was over so fast.  I know this next week will be just another crazy whirlwind, too.  Busy, busy, busy.  Hopefully by the end of the week, Scott and I will know if we will have a new place or have to start/keep searching   To end the post on something happy and cute… as always, these little guys do it. Dexter is such a great big brother 🙂

 

Keep those good times comin’ (MIMM)

Oy, I can’t even believe we’re almost half-way through the month of AUGUST.  Where did this summer go?  It seems like we just started to get nice, warm weather here and it won’t be around for much longer!  Boo. 😦  But, I have been trying to spend as much time as I can outside and enjoying the weather.  It’s tough when you work a full-time job that’s in an office and then have other errands to do after work in the evening, but I still try and take advantage of whatever opportunity I can.  So, I thought I’d share some of the highlights of the past week/weekend with you for this weeks Marvelous in my Monday.

The evenings during the week have become really busy and occupied with things relating to finding a place and moving…but Wednesday night Scott and I had made plans to do something fun and get our minds off of house-hunting and moving.  In browsing who was coming to the state fair this year, I saw Peter Frampton’s name as one of the headliners.  Now I have zero knowledge of any of the songs or the music he makes, but I remember that Scott had mentioned liking him.  So when I saw that he was coming, I mentioned it to Scott to see if he’d like to go.  He was SO surprised and happy to hear that he was coming and immediately said ‘YES’!  (This is a rare thing, guys.  Scott is more of a follower of a song versus a follower of an artist, and doesn’t have many artists that he really likes.  But Peter Frampton he does really like and when he jumped at the chance to see him in concert, I knew he meant business! 😉 )

So we purchased some upper track seats for the grandstand earlier on and made our way down to the state fair park Wednesday evening.  The weather was absolutely perfect.  I may have commented on just how perfect the weather was about ohh 10 or more times 😛  But it was the best night temperature-wise and it felt so great to be outside!!  Survivor was opening for Peter Frampton, so we got to hear some of their songs, too.  Again, I’m not at all familiar with them, but I think me and the rest of the world knows the one song that they did, ‘Eye of the Tiger’.  If you’ve ever seen any of the 10+ Rocky movies you know what song this is.  (Ok, I know there aren’t 10, but there are a lotttt)

We had some loud mouths next to us for Survivor, so during the little intermission before Petey (as I jokingly called him to Scott, pretending he was my ‘good pal’) came on, we welcomed the opportunity to get up a bit and walk around.  We were able to find my favorite little place out of the whole fair while enjoying a beautiful sunset.

Yep, as some of you know I am a huge HUGE fan of kettle corn, as in, this is often the only reason why I will make a trip to the fair.  Usually we get at least a couple bags, and tonight was no different!  Mmm.  Nothing like kettle corn made straight from the kettle!  After getting our goods, we made our way back to the grandstand and still had some time before the concert, so we sat a little far off to the side from where our normal seats were.  We were approached by some random guy who said “Is it just you two?”  We kind of looked at each other, and then looked back at him and answered that it was just the two of us.  He then asked if we wanted to upgrade our tickets to the front row.  We were like…what’s the catch here and how much do we have to pay?!  He said he was Petey’s manager and had two extra front row tickets for the show…free of charge! The only thing we had to do was have a crazy fun time, dance during the show, no texting or talking on our phones, and no pictures after the third song.  We agreed, grabbed our front row tickets and made our way down front!  We still couldn’t believe that this was legit, and happening to US, out of nowhere!  Things like this never happen to us!  But sure enough, we had FRONT AND CENTER SEATS!  There were two other couples up there who had the same thing happen to them and couldn’t believe it either.  Even though I’m not familiar with Petey and his music, this was going to be a fun experience! We got a few more instructions from his manager, and then the show started!

The show was actually a lot of fun and my oh my is Petey talented!  WOW!  I had no idea.  For being in his 60s, he sure can still put on a really awesome show.  Definitely a fun night!

I also got this awesome package in the mail this week…I ordered the new tank that just came out last week!  Definitely loving it.

I happily took the day off on Friday, so my week was short which was really nice.  My mom had used some vacation time this week from work, so I asked if they’d want to spend the afternoon together and they jumped at the chance to do so!  I spent the morning slowly waking up, which just felt so nice!  Then I met up with my parents and we went to Cedarburg, a super cutesy town nearby where we live, and got lunch at Cream & Crepe and then walked around the town and checked out some of the shops.

My parents are just the cutest.  I had such a good time with them.  I love my parents to pieces…we just don’t have enough quality time together, but that is something that we all would like to see changed, so I think we’ll have many more of the cute little dates together coming up 🙂  After we got back, I worked out a bit, made some dinner, and finished up a blog that I had started earlier in the day.  Then I decided to pick myself up, and move myself down to the lake since Scott was doing some things at his mom’s house in the evening.  The weather was so nice…and it was just perfect to do some reading.

Saturday morning I woke up relatively early, but had the chance to relax a bit and wake up slowly, which was nice.  Scott and I had two appointments in the morning to go check out a couple places.  Both the places we saw seem like viable options for us! Of course, though, there are a few drawbacks.  1) The first place we saw, which we really loved, was just a little more expensive than we were hoping to spend per month and 2) the second place was a little far away from where we both work and the kitchen was a little cramped (which is one of the things we currently have where we are at now, and said we NEVER wanted to have again!)  So we’ll see.  The first place is a 3 bedroom unit, and we have no need for that much space, and also it’s the reason it’s more costly, so we contacted them after the fact to see if there were any 2 bedroom units left for renting.  We’ll see what we find out, and in the meantime we’ll try discussing our options and see what we think might work best.

My afternoon plans fizzled out but I wanted to make use of the time I had to myself since Scott was again busy.  I went out to read again…which was really nice.  The weather couldn’t have been anymore perfect than it was.  Just beautiful!!  I loved just laying in the grass and reading.  (And I sported my new top, too!)

 The rest of the day was pretty chill and pretty uneventful.  But in the evening Scott and I had a pretty good talk about some things that have been weighing on my mind lately, which actually was really nice.  Sometimes my mind goes 1000 miles an hour and it’s nice to just get those thoughts out and get a more rational approach on things from someone else.

Sunday, I completely failed to take like any pictures of my day.  I had a really really great morning!  I got to see one of my best friends who I haven’t seen in FOREVER and it just felt so good to be reunited with her again (AND she is back to stay in Milwaukee for at least two years!!)  When you find someone who just accepts you for you, and just makes life better, it’s a treasure you can’t simply let go of…and I’m so glad our friendship has stuck through good and bad times.

Sunday afternoon was a bit rough for me, but fortunately I had Scott there to pick me up a bit and I was able to talk to a few other friends about what I was struggling with, which really helped.  After that, my mood definitely improved and I felt a new sense of hope and strength.  I ran errands and got food and meals ready for the start of the new week and the evening was just spent with Scott and my kitties, which is EXACTLY the night I needed.  Ready to tackle a new week and keeping optimistic that it will be a good one!  Much love ❤

 

What Makes You Feel Alive?

I asked a co-worker this question the other day, and he jokingly responded with some sort of comment about hearing his heartbeat, waking up each morning and not being dead, etc. etc.  While that is clearly a true statement, there is more to living then just being alive in a physical sense.  I was talking more about an emotional, mental and spiritual level of being alive.  As part of my recovery, I’ve been trying to establish and get a clear understanding of what it is that I enjoy about life, what types of things I do or enjoy that are more prominent and important than any eating disorder could be.  In order to fully let go of an eating disorder, which is a full-time, all-consuming job, you have to find something(s) to take the place of all your laborious thoughts and anxieties over food, weight, calories, eating, body image, and the like.  Otherwise, there’s this big void of ‘nothing’ that will fill your life.

I think I’ve struggled with finding that thing or things in the past that really make me happy, that I personally enjoy, that take me to a new level of happiness and contentment.  Since I couldn’t find anything that was ‘mine’, I felt lost.  I wanted to be good at something.  I wanted to be a good artist, or a good photographer, or a good writer.  I wanted to find my calling.  But the more that I looked for that calling, the sadder I got.  Why?  Because I was expecting just one thing to be my go-to thing.  Maybe I had a warped sense of what I needed in order to fulfill my life because my eating disorder was one big massive thing and that, and that alone is what took up all of my days.  So perhaps I thought that since my eating disorder was one beast, I had to find just one thing that could replace it and be ‘mine’.  Nevertheless, I drove myself up a wall because I am not a wonderful artist, I’m not an amazing photographer, I’m not a poet or skilled writer.

After searching and looking for the one thing that I could call my own, I gave up and felt like I’d never find it.  But then my approach changed.  Life and people aren’t made up of just one singular thing.  We are a composite of our beliefs, interests, passions, and purposes.  We are three-dimensional, with layers and depths.  How could I look for just ONE thing to fill that void?  It’s simply impossible.  So that’s when I slowly but surely started to peel away those layers of who I am and what I enjoy and love.  I started to find the things that make me feel alive.

I started to do more things and widen out a bit and by doing so I started to be able to tell what things I enjoyed.  But it was more than that, there were some things that made time disappear, hours or minutes flew by and I had no idea.  I would have those moments where I could completely submerse myself in what I was doing and feel completely consumed by what I was doing.  It’s a healthy, natural escape that I never experienced before.  My eating disorder was that escape, only in an unhealthy way.  It allowed me to escape any feelings by restriction or by binging…either numbing the pain by starvation or numbing it by covering over it with food and more food and more food until I felt sick.  So I’ll share a few things that I recently discovered and am still working on implementing and using as my ‘go-to’ instead of resorting to eating disorder behaviors.

1) Photography.  “What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce.” – Karl Lagerfeld

Photography is beautiful.  When I pick up the camera, I have no sense of time or place.  Everything else that is on my mind completely melts away.  It’s almost as if the camera is in a complete world of it’s own and when I pick it up, I become a part of that different world.  Every other thought or concern seems to just melt away.  However, it’s not just the act of taking pictures that I love.  I also love looking at photography.  There is something so magical about a photo.  Just like the quote says, it’s a moment captured in time that can never be duplicated or replaced.  Each picture contains a story of its own.  I find that I can look at a picture and sink myself into it.  I think of the circumstances that may have led up to the picture being taken, what is captured in the picture, the story it tells, the secrets it holds, the mystery it maintains.  There is so much to be deciphered and interpreted by a picture, yet often times it’s something that is viewed differently and understood differently by each person.  I love that.  It is similar to a poem with no clear meaning or intent.  It’s left to be deciphered by the person who reads it.  Much like a picture.  I just love it.

2) Music / Live Music / Concerts.  “There’s nothing better than live music.  It’s raw energy, and raw energy feeds the soul.” – Dhani Jones

This has been a somewhat recent discovery for me.  There is something completely electrifying about being at a concert and listening to live music, especially when the music taps into your emotions in one way or another.  I’ve had the occasion to be at some concerts that are a completely captivating experience and one that leaves you feeling completely out-of-body (but in a really great way!).  When I’m at a concert, it’s like I am a different person.  All my apprehensions, worries or fears disappear.  When I normally am super conscious of how I look and how others perceive me, at a concert, I become concerned with only how I feel in the moment, attuned to the music and how it makes me feel, and the world and everyone else in it fades away.  When prior reservations about dancing or moving to the music would be on my mind, when I let myself become part of the music and be free to move, I have no cares about how I look or what others think of me.  It’s just me and the music and it fills me with an inner peace and solitude.  I can be free.  I can be me.  It is a raw energy that just consumes me.  I feel so alive during and after I leave a concert.  It’s thrilling.

3) Being out in nature.  “Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.” – Rachel Carson

There is something so inexplicably peaceful and beautiful about being out in nature.  It’s something that can’t be felt in a shady part of a busy street.  It’s the quiet, serene woods where you hear nothing but the wind rustling the tree branches or the soft, quite sound of a stream rushing over the rocks.  It’s the scurry of four-legged creatures as they move about.  It’s the sound of waves crashing on a beach (that isn’t covered with people).  I love to appreciate the natural, raw beauty this world has to offer.  There is so much of it to experience and enjoy and take in.  I feel so at peace when I submerse myself in a natural environment, where you can’t hear cars passing by on a nearby freeway, or the sound of construction work being done down the street.  When I went to Colorado and spent time in the Rocky Mountains, I got to enjoy that kind of serenity and beauty.  There is really nothing quite like it.

4)  Traveling.  “Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” – Miriam Beard

There is something so magical about traveling…about going somewhere new and different.  Traveling is an adventure.  It breaks up the normal everyday monotony.  If I could travel all over the world for the rest of my days, I think that is exactly what I would do.  There is so much beauty that our world holds and I feel like I’ve only experienced such a small, insignificant fraction of it.  And the sad thing?  In my whole life, I will probably only experience a small, insignificant fraction of it…although I hope it will be a greater fraction than it is now, at least.  When a person travels, you get to experience all new surroundings, places, people and things.  It’s such a free feeling and if you do it right, it can also be an experience that allows you to grow as a person.  Each place I’ve traveled to has become a part of who I am, some places become bigger pieces than others.

5) Being with the people and furballs I love.  “Happiness is only real when shared.” – Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild

It doesn’t matter what I do when I’m with my family and closest friends, as long as I’m with them it’s guaranteed to be a wonderful time.  I gain such happiness and personal satisfaction when I am with those I love and who love me back.  There’s a beauty that comes from being completely you, true to who you are, and I am able to be me in the fullest sense when I am with my family and closest friends.  Even my little furballs…I can be completely, unapologetically myself and they will still love me, no matter what.  To be yourself, to be loved for being yourself, there is no greater feeling in the world.  No matter where I go in life, no matter what I experience or face, I know that I will always, always, always have my family and dear friends there to provide me with strength and support.  The times we share together enrich my life.  There is nothing that comes close to being with them.  Even the simplest moments and times shared together become some of my happiest, most enjoyable and memorable times.

As I continue forward, from this moment on, I want to continue to do more of what makes me feel truly at peace with myself and the world.  I want to enjoy life, enjoy the things that I love, and spend more time doing these things, and less time doing the things that take away from me being me, and me being happy.  Realistically, I know I need a job, but do I need the job I’m currently working in?  I don’t know.  I want to be open to entertaining the idea that ‘no, I don’t need to stay where I’m at, just because it’s safe and just because it’s comfortable.’  If there’s something that screams to me, that is calling me, I want to be there to answer that call and not just shoot it down because it’s not the safe route.

I want to seek out opportunities to do the things I really, truly love and not feel guilty for spending my time how I choose.  I also want to explore more things that make me happy and feel a sense of satisfaction and joy.  Because let me tell you what?  I think there are many more things out there for me.  I have never felt more excited about discovering what those things are.  This is my life, this is my time to LIVE my life and I want to start enjoying my days more.  Life is short, and it is fleeting.  We spend too much time doing the things we feel we should or have to do, and so little time doing the things we actually want to do.  I think now is the time for me to choose my wants over my shoulds.  I think now is the time that I let myself feel ALIVE.

 

Trying to keep those spirits up (MIMM)

As much as I love posting each week and checking in with Katie for her Marvelous in My Monday link-up, I haven’t felt too inspired to blog lately and didn’t really feel like doing it this week.  But, I know I’d miss doing it, so I’m going to give a little bit of an update on what’s going on lately.  It will probably be short and sweet, unless I get myself chit-chatting about everything and getting a little too detailed.  But, we’ll see how it plays out 😉

These kitties have been often the only thing that has been able to make me smile lately.  Even on the most frustrating of days, they just make me smile and laugh.  Pets truly are a blessing.  I am forever thankful for these little things ❤

Life has been revolving around our future living arrangements.  It’s been extremely exhausting.  Craigslist has been my best friend these days, I check for new postings multiple times a day.  Not only do we need to try and find a place for Scott and I (with so many specifics as far as what will work for us) but we need to try and find a place for his mom, too, who’s health is getting worse.  It’s exhausting.  We had a place we checked out Thursday, which was something I was feeling optimistic about, only to find that it wouldn’t work.  Another let down.

Saturday we had two places to see.  The first one would have been a pretty decent (not perfect, by any means) place and would have come pretty close to what we were looking for, however it was so far out and really far from where Scott and I both work.  In summer, not such a big deal, but come winter and snowy roads, not at all good.  So, another place that won’t work.  We stopped at Panera to get some grub before hitting our next place.  We sat outside in the sun, and it was one of the most relaxing moments of my week as silly as it sounds.  The temperature was absolutely perfect and the sun felt so great.  I could have stayed there the rest of the day, as the sun melted away all my anxieties and frustrations.  Sadly, that momentary relaxation could only last so long.  But I think Scott really enjoyed those minutes we had, too.  It just seemed to be the perfect moment to unwind a bit together and put a hold on our frustrations.

Then it was on to our next appointment.  This is one place that I was feeling extremely optimistic about, seemed like it would be a really good fit.  A place with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and 2.5 car garage (one of the hardest things to find, but one of the necessities since Scott has so many vehicles…) and a cute little private courtyard (where we were hopeful that we may be able to have Max (his mom’s dog) stay occasionally if she needed a break from the pup for a while if she was feeling particularly bad on any given day).  It was part of a condo community though, and a lot of apartments and condos have breed restrictions…and most have German Shepherds on the list since they’re big dogs and are often assumed to be aggressive.  But, we kept our hopes up.  The lady that showed it to us said that they were on the breed restriction list but since it wasn’t our dog and we wouldn’t be having it often, it may be ok.  She did encourage us to contact the manager of the property though to get confirmation. So I sent an email right after, trying to get all the phrasing down as best as possible to present the idea in the most appealing light.

This is a scene we’re getting used to these days…

After our appointment, we had to head straight to a local playhouse where Scott’s niece was going to be performing in a play.  When we got there, I got the email response from the manager of the last place we checked out.  It was a pretty disappointing response, but one I was pretty much expecting…”You would not be able to have the German Shepherd here at all.  I’m sorry but that is a breed we don’t allow even to babysit.”  I can’t even begin to tell you how dang frustrated I was.  NOTHING has been working out for us.  I have been searching religiously and contacting any options that seemed to be a potential fit, and we have had none work out so far.  I had to suck it up pretty quickly, though, since we were going to be around family and the show was starting soon.  It probably was a really good thing because it was the perfect (albeit momentary) distraction.

I legitimately was super impressed!  I often go to the kids’ events and they are what you’d expect kids events to be….not that great, but fun and cute because they’re family. 🙂  But I was actually super impressed with their performance.  The kids were part of a “camp” that met Monday through Friday 9 am to 4 pm each day.  They had 5 days to get the show ready before the weekend performances (one in the morning and one in the afternoon) and it was an hour and a half show!  It was so dang good.  I really enjoyed it a lot.  They even did some singing and dancing.  It was so much better than I expected.  It was a really good distraction.

Afterward, I came back home and worked out for a bit, then continued my search for more places.  Scott took the pup for a run and then afterward we went grocery shopping and relaxed for the rest of the evening, watching none other than our favorite, Breaking Bad.

Sunday morning was a super, super lazy start for me!  But I think it was just what I needed.  A completely relaxing morning, no stress or frustration or anxieties.  When Scott woke up, we spent a while just talking and then went outside on the balcony to talk some more.  It was just a really nice morning.  The kitties joined us too 🙂  (Dexter LOVES to lick Scott’s hair!!)

After lounging around, I squeezed in a run before meeting up with a good friend of mine for coffee.  After our coffee date, I headed to church, ran a few errands and then had my parents over for a movie for the evening, since Scott was spending his evening over by his mom’s place.  It was such a wonderful end to a really great day.  My parents are the best and I always love my time with them.  And to end on a cute note…

 

Summertime is the best time (MIMM)

Hey hey hey ladies and gents!  I am going to keep the intro relatively short (for me!) and get to the meat and potatoes.  Life has been busy, but there have been some really great moments mixed in with the chaos.  As always, I love taking the opportunity to share the highlights, linking up with marvelous Katie, who makes this possible every week.  So, lets get to it!

Thursday night was an evening Scott and I got to spend together, so we decided to do something a little different and to get out and enjoy the absolutely gorgeous weather we had.  I threw a couple different options out to Scott about what to do for the evening and he decided on something that we could do that would allow us to bring Max along with us.  We went to Jazz in the Park, which they have every Thursday night at a park in Milwaukee.  It was CRAZY busy…and so many people brought food, had drinks, and grabbed some blankets and hunkered down in the park to listen to some music for the evening.  Max was the star of the show, though.  He is SUCH a people dog which I am so happy about.  He just loves everyone.  He really is warming up to me so much.  🙂

When we came home and were getting ready for bed for the night, the little boogers were already waiting for us.  Sometimes, they just melt my heart ❤

The work week literally flew by and before I knew it Friday came!  We had made plans to go to one of the county fairs for the evening since a band I love was playing (read: Big and Rich!!!!!)  The day started out rainy and cloudy and they were forecasting rain and storms all day and evening.  I was a bit worried that the concert may get rained out, but the day actually ended up being really nice and it was perfect weather come evening time for heading to the fair!  Scott and I met up with my brother and seester.  Of course, before we parked ourselves down for the show, we made our obligatory stop at my FAVORITE place at the fair…

It doesn’t take much to make this girl happy 🙂  They had a special on 2 bags and of course I would never pass up a deal on kettle corn.  Now that we had our goods, we found a place to plop down to wait for the show to start.  Eventually Travis and Jessa found us and we just hung out a bit…just enjoying the weather and company!

I absolutely love that picture of Travis and Jessa.  🙂  I was getting a teensie bit anxious waiting for the concert to start, plus the caffeine I had made me get a weeee bit energetic by the time they took the stage.  I had such a great time listening to them.  I loved them since they got their start and I will forever be a fan of Big and Rich.  I was SUPER excited to hear that they have a new album coming out in September.  I have all their previous ones and of course I will have to snatch up their new one.  They are so fun, so quirky, and so high-energy and I just loved every bit of it!

After the show ended, we just walked around the fair a bit and enjoyed the pretty lights of all the rides and food vendors.  There’s something about it that is almost magical in a silly kind of way 🙂

We headed out shortly after and relaxed the rest of the evening together.  Saturday morning, I had plans to meet up over at my parent’s house for coffee.  I got to sleep in a bit, woke up early enough to get a morning workout in, the laundry started and a little time to even look at some potential places for Scott and I/his mom before heading over.  Not too bad for before 9 am!  I was in pretty good spirits and was really looking forward to some quality time with my parents.  We had just a wonderful visit, enjoyed some coffee, and their kitty even let me pet him!  He usually walks away when I come over to pet him since he’s pretty shy, but today he let me pet him and fell asleep while I was rubbing his belly.  I am such a huge cat person. 🙂

After our visit, I came home and finished up some laundry and spent some time looking at ideas for my next tattoo.  (I am SO excited about it!)  I’m trying to plan out exactly what I would like to get.  I know the words I want and the area I am going to get it, but I’m trying to incorporate a design with the wording too and that’s the part I’m trying to get the ideas on.  It’s so much fun though.  I definitely LOVE tattoos.  (Little known fact about me :))  I only have one now, but am very excited about getting the next!

I eventually made my way over by my mother-in-law’s place where Scott was spending his day helping her with things around the house and packing.  Scott is such a hard worker.  He busts his butt…just like his mom’s pets…. 😛

We wrapped things up for the day over by his mom’s place, then decided to take Max for a walk.  I am quickly becoming a big fan of him and I think he’s really starting to take a liking to me, too.  The weather was perfect temperature-wise, but super humid.  Max didn’t mind a bit though.  Oh, and he’s also a real champ when it comes to picture time!

The rest of the evening was spent relaxing.  I worked on some blog stuff, looked at more options for tattoos and places to live, and then Scott and I relaxed for the evening together watching some Breaking Bad.  A great end to the day.

Sunday morning I let myself sleep in.  And by “sleep in” I mean til just shy of 8 am.  WHOA.  That really is sleeping in for this lady.  It did feel really nice, though.  I had a suuuuuper lazy start to the day.  I decided on the tattoo idea I want and found tattoo artists in the area who’s work I was super impressed with and contacted both of them regarding my idea.  (Can’t wait to hear back!)  The lazy start of the day rolled into mid-morning…I decided to start a paint-by-numbers picture!  I bought it SO long ago, but never took the time to start it.  So, I just went with it.  I ditched the whole ‘follow the numbers thing’ and kind of did my own thing.  It was actually really fun.  Hours went by (I was that into it)  I didn’t end up finishing because, well, I had other things I had to do and couldn’t justify letting them go to paint all day.  Although, that would have been really fun.  This is what I have so far…

 

(Thank you, cell phone, for editing the photo to make it look even better. ;))  I know it’s not much to really feel great about, but I had fun working on it.  I picked up a few smaller brushes to see if I can try and get the bottom done pretty close to plan.  So, we’ll see how it turns out.  Scott spent the majority of the day working on replacing the screen door of our balcony since the kitties have had their fair share of clawing at it and caused quite a few holes.  It rained on and off, quick bursts of rain, a good part of the day.  We finally had to tough it out and went out to run some errands together.

We were pretty busy all afternoon, but I was able to still manage to snag some cute pictures of the kitties.  Sometimes, they are too cute for their own good.

We had an early evening appointment to check out a condo that I found on Craigslist.  It was a bit farther out than we were looking for, but we weren’t having any luck in the areas we have been searching, so I tried to expand our search area a bit.  WOW, we absolutely loved the place.  It had absolutely everything we have been looking for in our next place.  We literally were so shocked and overwhelmingly happy about it.  However, there were a couple negatives.  1) The fact that it is farther out = longer commutes for us both to work and 2) we would need to find a place close by for Scott’s mom…which may be a smidge harder to do.  So, lots of thinking to do and discussing.

After that, Scott headed over to his moms since he was going to stay the night over there (and I’m sure discussing future living arrangements/scenarios, too) and I got a few other errands done for the evening..then headed home to spend the rest of the evening relaxing.  The sky was just too gorgeous this evening after all the rain and storms that popped up throughout the day.

Hope you all had a marvelous weekend and are off to a wonderful start to your Monday and week!  xoxo ❤

 

Life and things like that…

I just wanted to take some time to share some thoughts that have been on my mind a lot lately. So here goes…

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about my life and what it is I’m looking for. I really don’t have a clear idea of what I want from life, in a full sense. I was thinking about my recovery and what helps motivate me. I find that when I’m able to get excited about life, I lose focus on the eating disorder, on the food and the binging, and what I should or shouldn’t eat and focus on something else, something that provides me with a sense of happiness or satisfaction. I don’t have many hobbies or things that I can do that I get really, truly excited about. Work is work. It’s a job, and nothing more to me. Yes, it’s a good job, a great job even..but it doesn’t provide me with any real personal satisfaction or enjoyment. I feel the most alive when I experience life. I have never felt so alive before, than on the trip I took out to Colorado. There was something magical about being out there, something I’ve never experienced before and something I can’t quite put into words. I felt so happy, I fully enjoyed myself and I felt submersed into a “new world” that I haven’t experienced before. I miss that feeling so much.

I go to work Monday through Friday each week. I get up in the morning, get dressed, go to work, come home, do things around the house, eat dinner, relax for the evening, go to bed, then begin the process again the next day. Weekends allow a little more time for enjoyment and being able to do things, but even then there are the errands that need to be done which cuts into being able to do much. Granted, I have a great job and I am forever thankful for that, but I know there is more that I need and crave. I love traveling. I love going somewhere new and experiencing new things and areas. I love taking photos and being outside and in nature and just enjoying life.

I feel like I play it so safe all of the time. And while that is good and safe, it leaves me feeling like I’m missing out. After coming back from our trip to Colorado, the desire to pick up our things and move out there was so dang appealing to me. I’m not 100% sure why. I think a lot of it had to do with me just falling in love with the beauty out there. I felt something truly magical there and it felt so good. I think I’m used to always playing things “safe” and I worry about not taking risks or chances in life. I worry that I’ll stay here in Wisconsin, in this job for the next 30+ years until I retire. I don’t want that. I know it would be easy, I know it would be safe. But I don’t know if that is what I want for my life.

While that may just not be plausible now, to up and leave, I want it to be plausible in my future. The only thing really keeping me here is my parents. They are my strongest anchors here. I know it may not make sense but there is something just so amazing and exciting and awesome about experiencing life and being able to see what this world has to offer. There is so much beauty that this country alone has and I have seen so little of it. All I want to do is take it all in and experience as much of it as possible. That is what truly makes me feel free. That is what provides me with happiness and excitement and that itch to live. In recovery, we’re instructed to try and find what we’d like our life to be like, sans eating disorder. I want to explore. I want to not always make the safe choice, just because it is…well, safe. I want to be afraid of the risks, but still take those risks anyway. I want to get excited about things in life and not just get through each day feeling ‘pretty good’. I want to have that fire burn inside of me, waiting for the next adventure to begin. I just don’t want to live with regrets…wishing I would have done more or seen more while I was young and in good health. You can always have the excuse “I’ll just do that later” and keep pushing it off until the “time is right”. My thought is, why can’t the time be ‘right’ now? Will the time ever be ideal or perfect? Most likely not. If you’re waiting for the ‘right’ or ‘perfect moment’ before doing something, it will never happen. I’ll sit by and watch year after year pass me by…just getting older and older.

So I’m not sure what that fully means for me. Maybe Scott and I will try and travel more together. But, he doesn’t have much vacation time to really accommodate that idea. So I think I may entertain the idea of traveling on my own a bit. I did it for the first time when I went to Philadelphia. I loved it. Also, I won’t always travel by plane either, and will try and find things in WI or closer to WI that I could drive to and do short, overnight trips to as well. Maybe I could even bring some friends along, too. I’m not really sure yet. I don’t have it all ironed out or worked out yet. I just know that I need a change and I need to start doing more of what provides me with happiness and excitement. Otherwise, I’ll go through my life never truly living or experiencing life. I’ll stay at my current job and be a claims adjuster for the next 30 years, with no outside life other than what I have right now. I know that that is not what I want for my life. So, we’ll see what this means and how the future unfolds for me. All I can say is that I’m excited to see what happens next!