Gardening in High Heels

cultivate a beautiful life

Sunday Lately, 90

Sunday Lately is a weekly link up brought to you by the Blogger Tribe. Link up and see what's been happening lately!Sunday Lately is a weekly linkup hosted by the Blogger Tribe (which is being fearlessly lead by Meghan, Nicole, Katy, and myself). We e-hang out every Sunday, sharing a small glimpse into the last week of life in our own worlds. We’d love if you could join us!
This week’s themes: Completing, Visiting, Repeating, Writing, Scheduling

 

I feel like I’m really good at Sunday Lately for a week or two and then I skip a week, then I come back. Bad Blogger Tribe Leader.

Completing

Today I’m completing the NOCC (National Ovarian Cancer Coalition) 5k walk at a park here in Pittsburgh. I’ve done it for the past few years in honor of my grandmother.

Visiting

In an effort not to mention Pilates classes for 3 out of the 5 prompts…. Seriously, though, all I do is drive to Shadyside. I did get to meet up with Amanda from North Ave Candles at The Vandal the other day and that was definitely fun to connect. It’s great when you find someone that has a similar flavor and energy.

Yes, we ate all these fries. And it was glorious.

Amazing fries and mac and cheese at The Vandal in Lawrenceville, Pittsburgh, PA

Repeating

Pilates classes. I’m doing a Fall30 Challenge with the studio I go to (Dragonfly Pilates – it’s wonderful!). For 25 days, we’re challenged to attend 30 classes. It runs from September 6 to September 30, though I didn’t start my classes until September 8th. I have everything scheduled out until the end of the month and in my 23 days, I will have attended 35 classes and only missed 3 days. Most days, I’m there for 2 classes (AKA: 2 hours), but the time goes by so fast, you don’t really notice.

I can feel muscles develop, but they’re still being protected by a layer of fat. Of course.

Morning sun coming through the window at Dragonfly Pilates in Shadyside, Pittsburgh, PA

Writing

I’m trying to write some blog posts for my content marketing site, AngelicaRoss.co. I’m definitely falling into the Pinterest trap of “all the topics I want to discuss are already covered.” Does that happen to anyone else? Anyway, I’m thinking short bites that are easy to take action on (not long, verbose posts that take forever + a day to read) that slightly expand on the emails that I’m sending out.

Scheduling

Pilates classes! Ooh a two-fer.

What have you been up to lately? Link up with us and share!


Five things to be happy about

Many experts say that practicing gratitude is a sure-fire way to boost your happiness, highlight your abundance, and generally be a more positive person. When you’re a positive person, it’s easier to be happy. (And happy people don’t shoot their husbands.) It’s a circle, you see. Here are five things to be happy about — even if you aren’t particularly happy today.

Changing of the seasons

Even though I’m a hardXcore summer person and I’m not ready for fall (and subsequently winter), I love when the seasons change. It feels like a fresh start — and anything is possible. Clean slate, yo. It feels good.

Doing at least one thing a day that makes you feel good

Speaking of feeling good… call it self-care or a guilty pleasure, but doing something just because it makes you feel damn good is a great thing. Today, for me, that included cooking myself a good meal, cleaning the counters until they were shiny and not grimy anymore, and treating myself to a glass of wine at a cool bar while I write this. (Spoiler alert: I wrote and scheduled this baby ahead of time.)

Child-like obsession for anything

Anyone who knows me knows I am not a kid person. I am pretty much the un-kidliest person around. But damn if their happiness isn’t infectious. Now, I’m not saying be a creeper at a park or a daycare. But you can harness that happiness.

Have you ever seen Under the Tuscan Sun? Remember when Katherine is drunk and she says, “Never lose your childish enthusiasm”? Kids are all in for whatever occupies their mind at the moment. And they don’t let it go until they get it or figure it out.

Find something akin to that wonder in a child’s eyes, something that is endlessly fascinating to you. Even if it’s just a small tickle deep down. Hold on to that and keep coming back to it. It gets easier to find the more you do it. Learning and growing, or even just laughing, is a wonderful part of the human condition.

Target

Okay, this is kind of a fluffy, give-away point. But Target it the shit. I don’t think I’ve ever walked out of Target unhappy in my grumble-grumble years of going to Target. What is your Target? In other words, what is your “happy place”? That is my point here. Find your happy place and go there often. Be grateful for it.

The fact that you are reading this

You have your eyesight, an internet or cellular connection (and the ability to pay for said connection), and breath to breathe to make it all happen. Trust me, I’m not a “just be thankful you’re alive” kind of person. But I mean…it is something to be grateful for. You woke up today, hopefully in a bed. Or in someone you love’s bed. Or on their couch. Or anywhere that affords eyesight and an internet connection. And you have the ability to choose what you want to read/do/consume.

And really, if things were that bad, reading this post would be the least of your concerns. #perspective

What are you happy for today?

Get to know me tag

I usually don’t do this butttt…… I figured it would be helpful for new readers to get to know me a little bit since I’ve been bitching so much about feeling blah (and therefore not really writing like I have been). I stumbled across this post from Thirteen Thoughts and figured I’d throw in my own two cents so y’all can get to know me a bit better. Yup. This one is going to be allllll about me. Deal with it.

I found a Get to Know Me tag and decided to re-introduce myself because it's been a while and we have some new faces around! Today's post is all about me, Angelica from Gardening In High Heels.

1. Are you named after someone?
Not that I know of, but my paternal great-grandmother’s name was Angelina. So maybe that counts? The story I always heard was that I’d be Rebecca or Antoinette, but I looked like an angel when I was a baby. My, how times have changed..

2. When was the last time you cried?
A ha. Ahahaha. Have you seen my recent posts? Actually, it was Sunday when I just wanted to get the cold water to turn on and the pliers I had to use to get the knob to turn were slipping and I. just. couldn’t. make. it. work. It was very un-Tim Gunn of me.

3. Do you have kids?
Nope.

4. If you were another person, would you be a friend of yourself?
I’d be all, “Who is this whiny bitch and why doesn’t she just get over it already?” Kidding. I would. Especially if I also liked Gilmore Girls, beer, and being sarcastically awesome at all times.

5. Do you have a guilty pleasure?
I am behind Nicole Antoinette and her insistence that pleasure shouldn’t be guilty. That said…. I was on a kick of eating Chocolate Special K with almond milk and reading Yes Please in bed.

6. Do you like handwriting?
Yes! I am obsessed with all the hand-lettering Instagram accounts. As a result, I want to re-teach myself how to do proper calligraphy.

7. What is your favorite cereal?
I just bought a box of Reese’s Puffs. It’s probably the furthest thing from cereal (and nutrition) one can get, but it’s damn good. I usually always have Cheerios in my cabinet. It isn’t my favorite, but I always have it just in case I need a midnight snack and my Special K is gone. Guilty pleasures aside, I really don’t buy cereal. It’s expensive, man!

8. What is the first thing you notice about people?
I know there’s this thing about noticing bad eyebrows first and how some people don’t trust other people with bad eyebrows, but that’s just mean. I am that person walking around with bad eyebrows because I go from perfectly fine to cave-woman overnight. I will gladly have monthly gynecological exams if it means I never have to tweeze my eyebrows ever again. That sure took a turn. I’d say their nails.

9. What color are your eyes?
Green. To varying degrees depending on what I’m wearing.

10. Scary movies or happy endings?
Happy endings. Life is scary enough, yo.

11. Favorite TV show?
Gilmore Girls. Parks & Rec. Sex & the City. The Office. HIMYM. I Love Lucy. See — sticking with that happy ending thing.

12. Summer or winter?
Summer.

13. Hugs or kisses?
Both, please. Physical touch is my top “love language.” (Wondering what that is? Here ya go.)

14. What’s the furthest you’ve been from home?
Vegas, baby.

15. Do you have special talents?
Endless sarcasm.

16. Where were you born.
Pittsburgh.

17. What are your hobbies?
Currently: eating everything that isn’t nailed down. Crying. Binging on Netflix. What it normally is: scrapbooking/paper crafting. Writing. Reading. Baking.

18. Do you have any pets?
Not currently. Unless you count plants. Sadface.

19. Favorite movie?
I stop and watch Goodfellas anytime I see it on TV. I can watch Moonrise Kingdom over and over. I can quote Anchorman front to back.

20. What color is your car?
They tell me it’s white, but it’s usually always streaked with dirt so who’s to say.

21. What did you want to be when you grow up?
A writer. Seriously.

Since this is a tag…I guess I have to tag someone now? Anyone who wants to do this…you’re it.

Now I want to know…pick something and answer it in the comments!

Sunday Lately, 88

Sunday Lately is a weekly link up brought to you by the Blogger Tribe. Link up and see what's been happening lately!Sunday Lately is a weekly linkup hosted by the Blogger Tribe (which is being fearlessly lead by Meghan, Nicole, Katy, and myself). We e-hang out every Sunday, sharing a small glimpse into the last week of life in our own worlds. We’d love if you could join us!
This week’s themes: Creating, Finding, Switching, Forgetting, Craving

Creating

The other day, I decided to tear my office apart and rearrange it. I call it procrastidecorating. It’s my favorite, after procaffeinating and procrastibaking. So I decided to create new landing places for to-do lists and art prints with some old, ugly-ass clip boards because really, I could not just donate them or throw them away. I mean, not when I had spray paint burning a hole in my garage! (*Not literally. That would be terrifying.)

A little taste of the before and after..

Spray paint is magical. Transform old and dated clipboards into the perfect backing for art prints and to-do lists!

Finding

Finally (finally) I’m finding my groove again. I blame part of it on the medication I’m taking, but I also was in a super-funky, dark mood and it sucked. I have to say, even though working for and by myself has been a challenge (I really do like people–and talking to people–despite my best efforts to fool y’all), I’m so glad I escaped my office job when I did. I was miserable with a capital I Will Cut Your Face Off If You Look At Me The Wrong Way.

Switching

I am switching back to good coffee. I tried coffee from Aldi (it was the dark roast if you’re wondering) and my god. Did. It. Suck. It was made slightly better with the use of a French press, but ain’t nobody got time for that. Gotta wait for water to boil and shit. No. I’m like Lorelai Gilmore. I need it strong, I need it good, I need it now.

Number 4 was basically me when I tried that mud that Aldi packaged and sold for $3.50. Thank you, BuzzFeed, for the Lorelai gifs.

Lorelai Gilmore is my spirit animalThe WB / CW / Via goldenstories.tumblr.com / Buzzfeed

Forgetting

I am a hard-core summer person. I love summer. I claw at it for as long as I can. I wear bright nail polish and sandals way past the fashionally acceptable time. However, we’ve had a few days of cooler weather here (read: not suffocatingly humid) and I forgot how nice it is to stand outside and not begin to sweat immediately. I swear, I have purchased so much deodorant this summer, Dove and Secret need to give me a kick-back. #ItalianProblems

Craving

All. The. Things. Here’s what’s happening. In an effort to save money, I have been trying to work from home without as many frequent trips to coffee shops/bars to work. And every day, the siren song of the Oreos in my cabinet grows louder and louder. Same with the chips. And the chocolate. Basically anything that isn’t healthy (although since I treated my body like a garbage can last weekend, I did eat a salad the size of a mixing bowl in an effort to make my body like me again.) I even went so far as to buy a grapefruit in the hopes that I would eat it and magically want fruit. Guess what? Grapefruit sucks. I’m sorry for anyone that likes it, but blech..!

What have you been up to lately? Link up with us and share!

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Freeing the funk

After writing about my epic Gilmore-Girl-style breakdown, I’ve been trying to pull myself out of another funk. I said in that post that I didn’t have any answers for you if you’re going through it as well, but guess what? I have answers. They may not be full answers, but at least they’re getting somewhere.

Here are two things that helped me.

Magic spells

The idea of magic spells comes from Molly Mahar. She has a section each year in her Holiday Council sheets that asks you to figure out magic spells for when something isn’t going right. This isn’t the first time I’m hearing this. Nicole Antoinette has mentioned in her podcasts that she wrote a “Care and Keeping of Nicole” guide as a way to help pull her out of a depression. You can also think about it like an IFTTT (If This Then That) recipe if you prefer a more digital example.

No matter how you look at it, it’s important to recognize where things go wrong before you get into a bad headspace because only you truly know what support you need. It seems like something you should just know, but when you get into that funk, sometimes we’re blind to what’s right in front of us. Having a guide, spell, or recipe to follow is a natural step when you just don’t know what to do: when I feel like Y, do Z. It’s written down. So do it. Because there’s nothing else to do. And you know it helps.

Strength in numbers

#squadgoals exists for a reason. Trust me, working from home can make it harder to pull yourself out of a funk because you can retreat so far inward and no one is really there to notice, so long as you’re maintaining day-to-day status. I have to send out a huge thank you to my gang for pulling me up.

If you can, find the ass-kicker, the practical one, the nurturer, the comic. All of these roles are so helpful when you need a mirror to reflect your good qualities and get you back on track. You may not have four people to surround you. Maybe these roles are filled by one person at different times. Or maybe you have an army of ass-kickers with their own unique flavor. Whatever works for you, just don’t retreat.

The biggest thing I can say is to try your very hardest to see when you’re spiraling down and catch yourself or, even more important, tell someone that it’s happening and let them help you.

What helps you recover when you’re feeling funky?

What if today, we were just grateful for everything_ - Charles Schulz

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