Gardening in High Heels

cultivate a beautiful life

Sunday Lately, 76

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: Planning, Loving, Reading, Wishing, Feeling

 

Planning

Awkward: I thought my garden plan was solid, but something keeps eating the leaves off of certain plants. My eggplant was eaten and now it’s coming back. My broccoli and Brussels sprouts are all gone and part of an heirloom tomato is gone too. Stupid whatever is eating them.

Awesome: I’m planning my last day at work on Tuesday. That’s pretty awesome. I’ll be focusing full time on my content management and copywriting services. Yay!

Loving

Awkward: I’m loving the birds that have been roosting on my windowsills. Not. My windows are split down the center and crank outward, so these birds are getting in enough to sit themselves down, then when I try to get them off the ledge, they can’t get themselves out. Ugh!

Awesome: I’ve been re-watching The Office, spending time organizing my house, and trying to keep up with my Happy Planner decorating. And it’s been awesome.

Reading

Awkward: I haven’t read anything since I had time off for my tonsillectomy.

Awesome: When I was off for my tonsillectomy, I read four books in five or six days: Yes Please, The Amateur’s Guide to the Pursuit of Happiness, Choose Yourself, and Orange is the New Black.

Great books you need to read this summer!

Wishing

Awkward: I can’t say I’ve been wishing for anything awkward recently.

Awesome: I can’t wait for Wednesday to get here. It’s the beginning of something new and I can’t wait.

Feeling

Awkward: I haven’t really done much exercise since my tonsillectomy unless you count endless hours of pulling weeds and I’m starting to feel meh. I need to get back into it big time.

Awesome: I kept the air conditioning on yesterday and it felt pretty damn good. I’ve been trying to keep costs low so I haven’t been running it.  #cheap

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


Sunday Lately, 72

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: Doing, Appreciating, Designing, Humming, Expecting

 

Doing

Awkward: I worked a beerfest yesterday (that isn’t the awkward part) selling boozy cupcakes. After 4+ hours on my feet, my posture was crazy out of whack and I guess I wasn’t sucking in my gut enough because someone pointed to my stomach and said, “Congratulations. Guess you can’t have anything here, huh?” That felt great, let me tell you.

Prohibition Pastries at Beers of the Burgh

Awesome: I’m finally getting back into my garden. It’s a hot mess, but I did it to myself by not spreading leaves last fall. So I’ve been weeding it through the raindrops. Apparently there’s going to be a frost tonight though. In May.

Appreciating

Awkward: It’s hard to think of something awkward to appreciate..

Awesome: The support around my tonsillectomy this Thursday has been pretty awesome.

Designing

Awkward: I have to think of (and photograph) a festival outfit for Wear to Where before this Friday, but really before Thursday and I have no idea what to wear.

Awesome: Hmm that’s a good one. I’m still working on AngelicaRoss.co so does that count?

Humming

Awkward: I was singing and dancing to The Struts during a run this week and definitely got caught by a neighbor. So that’s fun.

Awesome: I’ve had The Struts stuck in my head since last Tuesday’s concert with Caitlin. Today it’s “Young Star” but for the past few days it’s been “Mary Go Round.”

Expecting

Awkward: I’m so expecting lots of pain this week. Yay getting tonsils removed later in life!

Awesome: I’m expecting to make myself ice cream this week for the tonsillectomy recovery. It’s going to be a nice treat.


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

Sunday Lately, 71 — on Thursday

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: Planning, Loving, Reading, Wishing, Feeling

 

Planning

Awkward: A tonsillectomy. Ugh I don’t want to do this. But I have to. I snore like a lumberjack. And I want to reduce my chance of future sinus infections and subsequent bouts of vertigo.

Awesome: My mom will be here to help out while I recover. And I traveled to see her for Mother’s Day (hence why this wasn’t written on Sunday).

Loving

Awkward: Is it weird that I like grocery shopping? Well I do. And I went to the store for the first time in weeks. It’s amazing how having groceries in your fridge makes you feel like an adult again.

Awesome: I went for a run today. It was the first one after the marathon. It was hot. It was super humid. I was sweating like a truck driver in August. But I did it and it was good.

Reading

Awesome: Orange is the New Black. Yes, kids, it was a memoir first.

Awkward: My aunt passed that book along to me. And there’s some racy stuff there. It’s always weird to think that a family member read that before you.

Wishing

Awkward: I got nothing here, guys.

Awesome: For summer. Because summer parties are the best.

Feeling

Awkward: I’ve been battling with some depressive tendencies and I’m finally admitting it to myself and seeing what I need to do to stop this. I’m sure you can’t tell because I’m always a ray of sunshine on here (insert eye roll emoji here).

Awesome: Now that I know that things aren’t right, I’m working to identify what’s wrong and how I can get myself back on a healthy and happy track.


What have you been up to lately?

Rebelling

I am rebelling today. I just want to write and publish something. I don’t want to have a perfect picture or a meta description or even a strong, compelling title.

So I’m just gonna write and hit publish and damnit, that’s that. I may come back and edit it. I may just let this sit here until I convert this blog into something else. Who’s to say.

I used to love blogging for it’s simple way to have a record of what I was thinking that I could update anywhere. I didn’t need a journal or my special pens, I just needed something connected to WordPress. Now, it’s more of a chore. You need to make sure you have keyword-rich posts, beautiful images with alt tags, meta descriptions, and suck the joy out of putting fingers to keys.

So. After my great body realization yesterday, I came to a great mental realization:

I’m stuck in a “should” loop. You know, when you say, “I should do x, y, and z…” and the inevitable “buuuut….” creeps in.

I should be making client calls but…………..

I should be writing a blog post but…………..

I should weed the flower beds but…………..

I should…………..ad naseum.

I don’t know about you, but I should be am getting really sick of that nonsense. Why do we do this to ourselves? Where is the line where you say, “Clearly this isn’t a priority for me. Instead of feeling bad about it, let me drop it off my list”?

For me, the but………. phase takes over. Instead of making a plan and sticking to it for the day, I get apathetic and don’t want to do anything. So I know there’s adulting to be done, but I don’t want to have anything to do with it.

Does it happen to you, too? How do you shake the shoulds off?

PS: Looking for some other musings about “shoulding” on yourself? Check out this and this.

You are strong

I’m not one for body love. My body just kind of…is what it is. Growing up, my mom was always focused on trying to keep pounds off, not embracing what she has, so it’s been programmed into me that “This is what I have, make it something it’s not,” instead of, “This is what I have, be proud of it.”

I will always have baby fat that I can’t get rid of. And I know I look better in person than in pictures. And I have dark circles and crooked teeth and my calves are huge.

But I was looking at a picture from the Pittsburgh Marathon yesterday and I have to say… I am insanely proud of what my little 5-foot-massive-calf-muscle body can accomplish. I ran 5k on Saturday and then 13.1 miles on Sunday (and not for the first time. This was my 5th Pittsburgh half and 6th half marathon overall). This is what that looks like…

Angelica Half Marathon

I don’t give enough credit to this body that carried me over the finish line in about 2 hours and 25 minutes. Sure, I’ve run faster and my body is kinda like, “WTF mate??” right now, but damn, I want to savor this accomplishment. And not brush off the fact that THIS IS F’ING INCREDIBLE.

I am proud of what I can accomplish. And I want you to be proud of what you can accomplish, too. It doesn’t matter if you run, lift, or just make a choice to eat an apple instead of Oreos (because really when faced with that choice, I will always pick Oreos.)

And it isn’t just fitness. You’re mentally strong. You go on day after day, trying to make each one better than the last. Probably with little praise, help, or time spent celebrating your wins.

I mean, I can’t be the only one who doesn’t savor the moment..

So this one’s for those who need to take the time to stop and think about what you can do. What your body, mind, and soul can do. We are fucking awesome. And we all deserve to sit back and say, “Hell yeah, I rock.”

You are strong, damnit. Don't forget that.

What have you done this past week that proves you’re strong?

Let’s Play

           

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We Belong in the Garden Together