Recently in Rambles Category

You know how sometimes you find a product or make a purchase and you just love everything about it? Well, there are some things I am absolutely adoring right now, and I can't keep them to myself. I can't recommend them enough.  Here are 3:

 

The Contigo Extreme Mug . There are many things I love about this mug. The color, the grippy handle, the carabiner on the handle, the fact that it fits in my car cup holder. Yesterday, I made coffee at home at 8:30am before I left for work. I filled it up. I only drank about half of it, and let it sit with the mouth spout open all day. When I left the office at 5:00pm, I poured out the leftover coffee and IT WAS STILL WARM. Amazing. We got ours at Target, but it's also at Amazon.

 

The Aladdin Aqua-to-go Tumbler. Ok ok, another coffee thing. I got a 16 ounce one of these last summer or so, and I used it so much, I had to go get a second one so that I could alternate them and always have a clean one. 99% of the time, I would prefer and iced latte or iced americano over a hot one (the exception--when I make coffee at home. I make mostly hot at home). I LOVE THIS CUP. It is a durable plastic, and double walled, so it doesn't sweat all over your desk or car, and it keeps your drinks cold! [Sidenote: we've recently determined that I like my coffee and tea either super hot or super cold--I can't handle anything in between. Warm, no way. Water, on the other hand, I need to be room temp.] I recently went and bought a 20oz version of it, and I've used it a ton, too, and we picked up some colorful swirly fun straws to go with it (I can't find them online) and that makes my coffee even more fun. We got ours at Target, but it's also on Amazon.

  

This Sweater Maxi Dress from Old Navy.  I don't think it is available online anymore. When this dress was in all its glory, it was $46. When I saw it in clearance, it was $4. So I bought it. I figured, what the heck, if anything I could use it as a lounge dress around the house. But then, I put it on. And Oh. My. God. It is the most amazing dress ever. It is warm and toasty, it is super long (why am I just now discovering maxi dresses?), and it is soft and body hugging and glorious. And now I can't stop wearing it. And I always get complements! I love it so much, I sent Fuzzy down to get me a second one. So I have 2 of the exact same dress, and I probably wear each of them at least once (or twice) a week (this is something you can get away with, not having in-person colleagues). I am wearing it RIGHT NOW. And it was only FOUR FRICKING DOLLARS. Purrrrr..... I am going to be sad when they start to get threadbare and full of holes.

It's the little things in life that make you happy.

 

I am happy to report that I am FINALLY feeling better, thank goodness. I hope that tomorrow I will be back to 100%, so I can start being active again (and eat a cheeseburger...)

I was writing an email to a friend today, and the sentence that came out of my head and fingers made me happy. It might be my new catchphrase:

Just trying to enjoy the now and figure out the next.

I'd say that is pretty damn accurate.

I am still feeling shitty with this gastroenteritis or whatever it is, and I've felt like a slug all weekend. I barely was able to do anything but sleep and watch movies. I had the luxury of having no plans all weekend, so I just stayed in my jammies and rested as much as I could. I have to venture out of the house in a little while, which I am nervous about, and today is my last day that I can really stay home from work, so I need to be better tomorrow no matter what. Since I just dealt with a worse form of this last fall, I know it isn't as bad as it could be, but it still isn't pleasant. I was just looking some things up online on how to make it better, and one website I found said "accept that you're sick" and "give yourself a few days to rest." Which I almost never want to do, cause when I am sick, I just feel like an idiot and want to get past it. Especially since I feel like I am sick all the time, now. When I was really active, I wasn't sick at all, but for the past several months, I've not been able to get back active again, cause I feel like I am always sick. But that site put it into perspective for me--I had a really rough week, losing a close family member among other things, and it is ok that I am not 100% right now. I need to cut myself some slack. Be nice to myself. Be ok with it. So that is what I am working on today. I am just doing the best I can, and I am ok that right now that best is kinda puny.

I didn't get a lot of sleep Wednesday night. I just didn't feel right and couldn't do it. All day Thursday, I felt like I was going to vomit, but I was able to get through the funeral ok. Fuzzy and I thought I was just worn out and stressed, but I couldn't shake the nausea.  At Linda's afterwards, I laid on the couch the whole time and tried to eat a little, but wasn't successful. We left Linda's and I laid on mom's couch a while before we headed to Jackson. I dozed a little there. I slept on the plane almost the whole time, but when we got home, the stomach flu symptoms set in. (Thank goodness I wasn't puking on the plane!) I promptly fell asleep about 10 minutes after getting in last night, and Fuzzy brought me gatorade. My stomach felt so bad that I tried taking more pepto, but I could only take half the dose, so I left the cup of liquid on the nightstand. I knew that was a bad idea, but I didn't have the energy to do anything about it. I was up and down all night sick, so when it came time for work, I knew I had to stay home. I basically slept til 2:00pm, just now, when I decided I should try to eat some crackers since I didn't have dinner last night. Right now, my room is not especially tidy, and there are shoes, socks and magazines all over the floor by the bed. So I get up, grab my bottle of gatorade and the crackers, and...say it with me...drop the crackers onto the open cup of pink pepto, spilling it all over the floor, my socks, some magazines, and the heat dial from our heating pad on the bed. Yep. We all saw that coming.

It's definitely been a roller coaster week this week. I lost a friend, reunited with a long lost one, had a house full of people (including my best friend and 2 new awesome ones), lost my sweet memaw, didn't sleep a lot, laughed a lot, cried even more. I am filled with sadness, joy, anxiety, love, excitement, exhaustion, numbness, and all sorts of other emotions right now. It's making me a little crazy, honestly, but also, it is filling me with so much gratitude and life. These are real emotions and real adult moments that I am so grateful to have. I am alive and well and am so blessed for everything that I have in my life. So blessed.

Chicago has been unseasonably warm lately, and it's been awesome. We haven't REALLY had winter yet, though it is just around the corner (heavy snow and temps in the teens are due this weekend) and I am SCARED TO DEATH about it. My brain has already skipped winter and is headed for spring, partially fueled by the weather and also by the fact that I watched a lot of MTV Hits (the one that plays videos) over the weekend. Music videos are my weakness, and in them, it is (almost) always summer and everything is colorful and you can wear fashionable looks all year round and not have to worry about frostbite. I am SO ready for tank tops and short skirts. Ahh...that is heaven to me.

Anyways, every now and again, a video comes on that makes me hit the record button on my remote control (usually to show Fuzzy, as I do most of my video watching when he is out of town. I can zone out with videos for hours.) A few months ago it was Sexy and I know It by LMFAO, which later became the theme song for December when I was with Christopher and Katie (video probably not suitable for work):

And the other night it was Crash Your Party by Karmin:

I can't get enough of this song. It's my jam for summer 2012. It's my jam now for fake summer 2012, that's for sure. Look at how cute and dorky and adorable that girl is! I later found Karmin's version of Look at Me Now, which is just really impressive. Homegirl's got skillz.

Stay away winter! Spring and summer, take me away!

I can't even begin to tell you how refreshed I am feeling this year. 2012 is kicking ass so far. Fuzzy and I are rocking out our organization and cleaning project, and part of that is putting art on the walls. We've been in our apartment for 4.5 years, and I am just now feeling like we are settling in and the place is feeling homey and cozy. I love it.

I want to share 2 new amazing pieces of art that we have in our apartment. The first one has a little bit of a back story. My uncle Carl (my Dad's next oldest brother--Dad was the oldest of 4) used to have a rubber stamp business back in the day. We used to have Reid Rubber Stamps all over the house, and it used to be that when you would go to the bank drive through (well, when Mom would...I was a kid), you could see all the Reid Rubber Stamps that they used in the window. SO- cut to Christmas Eve, when we were hanging out in the yard at Memaw Reid's house, and Carl, Fuzzy and I went into his old shop, which is now my aunt's husband's "man cave." There on the wall was this big wooden Reid Rubber Stamp sign--the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen. I gasped, pointed and exclaimed "I want that!!!" Carl was like "Really?" and then ripped it off the wall (It was mounted in there) and said "It's yours." Turns out he's been wondering what to do with it for all these years, so he said it was meant to be mine. I love it so much! It is hand carved and hand painted by Carl, which makes it even cooler.  After he gave it to me, he proceeded to then tell Fuzzy and I all sorts of stories about my dad and how he used to prank Carl, etc etc. It was awesome, and so special. We carried it on the plane, and then put it in our hallway so that I can always see it and it can be a focal point of our hallway.

The sign--that's exactly what the stamps used to look like.

Here is a photo of it for scale. It's really big! (sidenote: all of our rooms and walls in our apartment have a theme. The hallway/ entryway's theme is art about Fuzzy and I, or family photos. That's why you'll see in this photos those awesome paintings of Mustapha by Kate, a portrait of Fuzzy by his cousin, and our engagement photos.) (I am also happy to report that all those VHS tapes are not stacked up there anymore. Instead I have awesome framed photos of family and friends. Progress!)

Perhaps my favorite Christmas that I received this year is one that came a few days after Christmas. Fuzzy worked from home the week between Christmas and New Years, so on the 27th, while he was home and I was at work, he crafted up a special amazing gift--a bottle tree for our sunroom!!! I've wanted a bottle tree for YEARS. I love them so much. For those of you who don't know, a bottle tree is a Southern folk art/ folklore tradition--you put colorful bottles on a "tree" (which can be metal, wood, or an actual tree). The bottles are supposed to attract and catch any evil spirits that might be near your house--once they are trapped, they can't get out! Or they are destroyed by the sunlight in the day. Etc etc. You see bottle trees all over the South--Christopher and Katie even had one! So, I get home from work, and Fuzzy hands me a bottle of Reisling with a photo of a smiling sun on it. The bottle was blue, and the sun had a word bubble on it that said something like "I hope you enjoy drinking this wine, but when you are finished, I'd like to go live in MY room." Meaning the sun room. I froze, trying to not get too excited, but Fuzzy told me to check out the sunroom. There, in the corner, was this amazing, wall sized, bottle tree, which he carved and made by hand! He fastened all the dowels and everything! I burst into tears. It is so beautiful!

We've been filling it out right now with mainly old beer and liquor bottles that we like, but we will slowly replace some of those with more colorful bottles as we get them. I can't tell you how happy it makes me! Just more evidence that Fuzzy is the greatest man on earth, and I am so lucky to be married to him. Now all we need is some warm weather so we can really enjoy it!

I've been desperately needing Chicago to feel more like "home" lately. And I am happy to say that with these Southern touches, my new mantra of "slow down," and the organization project, I am feeling like it is again. It feels great.

Well, I was going to try to blog more in the new year, and I've totally failed at that. But! It's been for good reasons! Company in town! Apartment overhaul! Trying to get caught up on my thank you notes! I keep writing these massive To-do lists, cause I keep remembering things to do, but the good news about it all is, I am actually crossing things off of it. So my little blog falls behind. More to come, I promise. You are all amazing.

Hello Friends!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful first day of the year. Fuzzy and I have celebrated it by doing a massive rearranging and cleaning of the house. It is looking good! We are hanging up art, we are getting rid of stuff, and we are trying to get organized.  We still have a lot of rooms and areas to conquer, but we're on track and it's a great way to start the year.

I have decided that my goal for the year is going to be to slow down. To enjoy each day, and to try to not get too stressed out. Slowing down. Being home more often. Cooking more good meals. Appreciating the gifts that we have.

Speaking of, Christopher and Katie made it safely to Africa! I can't imagine the feelings and experiences they must be having right now. If you would like to keep up with their journey, they are blogging about it: Here is Katie's blog, here is Christopher's.

Happy new year, everyone! Here's to good things in 2012.

I decided this week that I am not going to be so hard on myself. I was sitting on the couch the other day, tearing myself up mentally for not being a night person (what a lame thing to be upset about), for not having the drive to do the things on my to-do list, for having a little too much to drink a few times in the last few weeks, for being a bad friend, for having crap/ clutter all over my apartment, when suddenly, I just thought--whoa, whoa, whoa! Ease up! I guess I just got a little overwhelmed with everything going on, but then I remembered my new philosophy of "Don't be stressed!" I am really trying to not be stressed. It comes and goes.

Also, I realize that it is ok to sort of just...be. I don't HAVE to be amazing right now. I don't HAVE to have a plan.  This month is a hard one, with the Dad anniversary a few weeks ago and Christopher's departure in just a few short days (Dec 28th.) So it is ok to grieve right now, and its ok to be struggling. Soon, I'll have my shit back together. And until then, I'll just get through everything the best that I can. All is well.
 
I had a knee appointment this week, and it went better than I expected it to go. I've been in a LOT of pain lately, so I was convinced that he was going to tell me that I could never dance again (something I have heard before, but that clearly didn't stop me) and that I would be destined to a life of pain. Well, that last part might be true, but it's ok! I have my last PT appointment on Monday, a really intense home program, and the doc told me to start spinning 3 times a week for an hour, doing pilates, and swimming. Eventually, I can add 1 run a week in. NOT BAD! Also, I now have a supa-fly phat-ass knee brace with metal hinges and all sorts of things to it. It is fairly small, but very stable, so I can wear it whenever I have pain or am working out. Wooo! I'm looking forward to exercising again--I really think that my stopping is what made it so easy for me to be sick so much this winter.

I head back to MS next week for Christmas and to say goodbye to my brother for several years--so much travel for me lately--and when I return, I am going to focus on the following things:

*Cleaning my apartment!
*Scaling back the clutter!
*Exercising!
*Cleaning out my closet!
*Writing!
*Silly creative projects!
*Meditating!

You know, when I started writing this blog post, I was in kind of a funk-haze, but now that I am writing it out, I am finding myself getting actually EXCITED about the year to come. To getting back on my feet. To starting fresh! So much of this year has been about waiting--waiting to get better, waiting for C&K to leave, etc. But now, soon, the wait will be over and all bets will be off.

And then, I will be unstoppable.