Gardening in High Heels

cultivate a beautiful life

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?

Sunday Lately, 70

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’ve skipped a few Sunday Lately posts…ahem…but there’s no time like the present to jump back in. Here we go.

Completing

Awkward: I finally did laundry after about 3 weeks…I wasn’t running out of clothes or underwear, but I was running out of the stuff that looks good on me. Maybe a sign to do some cleaning…

Awesome: Thanks to the miracle that is post scheduling, I’ll be probably about 8 miles into my 5th Pittsburgh Marathon half. So I’m completing that today and a beer and a nap. Amen. Yesterday was 5k day.

Pittsburgh Marathon 5k 2016 shirts

Visiting

Awkward: I don’t think any awkward visits have happened this past week. Which is good. Awesome: I’ll be visiting my mom for Mother’s Day. She and my step father were coming back to Pittsburgh just about every other week a few months back, but I haven’t seen her since the end of March.

Repeating

Awkward: I’ve been repeating shows on Netflix. I use it as background noise in my house, but if anyone saw my viewing history, they’d be like “wow this girl does NOTHING but watch bad sitcoms. Awesome: Season two of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. It took me a while to get into it, but I love Tina Fey as the therapist. Tina Fey as anything is just amazing.

Writing

Awkward: My 5,000th comeback post aka: this post.

Awesome: If you don’t know, I write for a beer blog in Pittsburgh (which explains the running) and I have always wanted to do a “style” tasting of sorts — compare and contrast one style of beer from the same brewery. Most times, I can’t do that because…well, when was the last time you saw 5 IPAs on tap in a small, local brewery? Enter: Insurrection. Really excited to get this post going. PS: Have you seen this post about pairing beers and food that I collaborated with Jaelan at Making Mrs. M a few months ago?

Scheduling

Awkward: Well I already spilled the beans about scheduling this post…

Awesome: Time off for a tonsillectomy. Not sure if that’s really awesome, but it’s awesome that my benefits at work let me do that. Especially since I talk on the phone for my job. I’m scared!


What have you been up to lately?

PS: Have you seen Thread and Grain? It’s Katy’s new (like, NEW just launched today!) business. You may see a familiar face….right here!

No One Will be Perfect

I was reading an email from Marie Forleo talking about her website overhaul. She said,

We’ve hit more delays, stumbling blocks and snafus than any of us could have imagined. And while we’re experienced makers in our ever-changing digital world, this process affirmed a few very important principles every modern creator should remember.

And it just hit me. No One is an ideal candidate for a job. No one is 100% flawlessly, perfectly suited for the job. Marie said right there that everyone on her team is qualified and experienced and even they ran into issues. No one is absolutely perfect!

Everyone runs into unforeseen problems. Everyone makes mistakes. If you wait for the ideal candidate to come along, you miss out on the awesome hard worker who will bust his/her ass to do what they can to make you succeed.

Not everyone is an ideal candidate but don't let that stop you from doing your thing and working hard to make magic happen!

 

 

I’d rather work with that person that a robot. What about you?

Also, this bears repeating over and over:

…don’t make yourself crazy trying to get everything perfect. Not only is perfect just not possible, you’ll wind up tinkering away into eternity and never actually launching! Always focus on progress, not perfection.

Instead of worrying about making it perfect, just do the damn thing.

Sunday Lately, 66

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

So I painted my living room this weekend and I totally don’t love it. I’m planning to jazz it up with some new curtains and some art. I already custom-made something with leftover samples. I have one wall that looks dark and sad and I may just take a paintbrush to it and see what I come up with. The rest of the room doesn’t look like an adult lives there, why should my walls be super serious?

Loving

Aside from the fact that I feel like I’m living in an Eiffel 65 song, I really do like what I created as art. I used to have records hung on the wall, but I was worried about the paint peeling off it I put them back, so I’ll find another place for them.

Custom art made from leftover paint samples for the room. Perfectly coordinates!

Reading

All the Better Homes and Gardens. Ever since I was a kid, I loved magazines like that. I used to pour over them at my grandma’s house and dream about the lovely, airy, old-but-packed-with-charm house that I’d live in some day with my 500 dogs.

Wishing

Well it’s April 3 and Mother Nature decided she didn’t like that we were feeling happy and warm and she dumped some snow on us. And I’m wishing for the warm weather to come back!

Feeling

I’m feeling all the frustration about my living room. I affectionately referred to it before as “Mexican Restaurant Yellow” but it was warm and inviting. And all of the colors in my house are warm tones. I have no idea why I thought I could dump a fish tank room into it and it would magically work.


What have you been up to lately?

House Hunters Drinking Game

I came home Tuesday night and I didn’t feel like training for the marathon, so I decided to turn on House Hunters on Netflix for background noise in the house. And I immediately sat my ass down and live-tweeted a drinking game. It just naturally lends itself to a drinking game. So many buzz words. So many ridiculous budgets. So many unreasonable expectations!

So I give you the House Hunters Drinking Game!

Watching people complain about houses you can't afford on House Hunters sucks. Turn it into a drinking game instead!

Take a drink when someone mentions or says…

  • Curb appeal
  • Open concept / open floor plan
  • Counter / cabinet space
  • Granite counter tops (or lackthereof)
  • Character / charm
  • Space for entertaining
  • Vaulted ceilings
  • “I don’t like the carpet.”
  • “Backsplash.”
  • “This closet isn’t big enough!”
  • “I’m disappointed in….”
  • “These ceilings aren’t high enough.” / “The ceilings are just too low.”
  • “It’s too small.”
  • “En suite.”
  • “I always get what I want.” / “S/he gets what s/he wants.”

Take two drinks when…

  • You see double sinks
  • The hunters get into a shower stall together

Chug when…

  • Someone loses their temper with their house hunting partner, i.e.: You can just *paint* it!!
  • Someone has an $1+ million budget

Assign a drink when…

  • Someone harps on an unreasonable expectation, i.e.: I need a 17′ x 17′ bedroom.
  • Someone mentions the budget (either over or under)
  • Someone talks about the renovations they’ll have to do

If you aren’t hammered halfway through an episode, you’re doing it wrong.

Side note: I found a fun House Hunters Drinking Game on BuzzFeed after I wrote this whole damn thing. I didn’t do too bad I guess. Also, the only time I ended up looking up a property after watching an episode was when a couple bought a firehouse. Luckily for me, they started a blog called A Fire Pole in the Dining Room. And I am in love.

What else would you add to the House Hunters Drinking Game?

**This is not sponsored/mentioned/in any way affiliated with House Hunters or HGTV nor do I condone excessive or irresponsible drinking.

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