Gardening in High Heels

cultivate a beautiful life

Sunday Lately, 23

Man, what a week.  Today is part two of my father’s moving yard sale.  Yesterday went pretty well but the weather wasn’t our friend.  It was cloudy and windy.  Only just as we were wrapping up for the day did the weather get better.  Oh of course.  Thanks to Jonathan, I had company and laughter throughout the day, though.  I’m a lucky gal.

Today is also the end of the first week of Be A Better Blogger with myself, Katy, and Meghan.  Check out next week’s posts and link up with us!

21st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon

Dwelling

Actually, I don’t know what I’ve been dwelling on.  It’s been a busy week and I don’t think I have time to dwell on anything.  It’s been quite a roller coaster this week at work which leaves little time to focus on anything at home aside from eating dinner and sleeping.

Helping

I want to keep up with commenting more on the Be A Better Blogger posts, but damn you guys are just doing so great, I can’t keep up.  But I’m still going to be helping any way I can for supporting and uplifting other bloggers in this community.

I’m also helping with a yard sale.  Yay for helping.

Forgetting

I really need to keep up with my garden better.  Like I was saying before, It’s been quite a ride this week and I’m totally using that as an excuse for not weeding my garden.  Plus, weeding is the worst.  If anyone wants to help me, I’ll gladly share the harvest with you!

Switching

I’m trying to work on rotating my skincare masks.  I have quite a bit of Cupcake (from Lush) that I have to use up, but I want to use my other masks.  One of my favorites, Steep Clean, is getting lonely waiting for me to work through Lush products!  I really have too much makeup.I need to sell off some makeup.RelyingMy family has been relying on me a lot lately and I in turn have been relying on my friends.  I’m very thankful for the group of people I have in my life, especially the ones who stick around through the screwed up moments, the late night freak outs, the wonderful highs, and the general life-ness of everything.

What have you been up to lately?

Be a Better Blogger is a weekly link up dedicated to helping you be a more intentional blogger. Want to be a better blogger but don’t know where to start? Head over to the Be a Better Blogger page for daily prompts and a weekly linkup to help get the creative juices flowing! Oh, and use #beabetterblogger on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook to keep the fun going even after you hit Publish!

Sunday Lately, 20

I can’t believe it’s over halfway through the month and I’ve successfully written something every.single.day.  Huge thanks to Katy for that one!  Today’s Blogger, May I / Sunday Lately topics are…

What have you been up to lately? This is week 14 of Sunday Lately link up with Katy, Meghan, and Nicole!

Completing

Is it, can it be possible…I’m completing a blogging goal of writing every day for a month?  Yes!  I don’t know about you, but I’m loving Blogger, May I.  I want to keep writing every day even after May.  It’s a good habit to be in.

Speaking of habits, I’m almost done with Gretchen Rubin‘s Better Than Before (for a wayyy overdue Birchbloggers review).  She is fantastic, though, and I’m surprised it’s taking me so long to read her book because I ripped through The Happiness Project in about 3 days once I got going with it.

Visiting

Right now, my mom is visiting me.  My/her house is slightly chaotic and my schedule is kind of interrupted, but that’s okay.  It’s been since Thanksgiving when I saw her last, so I’ll take her company over a little schedule discomfort.

Seriously, though, I can be so set in my ways and get grouchy when my routine is thrown off.  I like things a certain way, I can’t help it.

Repeating

Trips to the Apple Store.  I’ve had problems with my iPhone charging, so I brought it into the Apple Store and of course, it worked just fine for them there, so I have to go back with the exact chargers I’m using and show them that I’m not insane, I can’t get it to charge in my house.  I’m about to rip the socket out of the wall and show them that, too.

Applauding

Everyone who is making their goals happen.  It takes a boatload of focus, dedication, and just plain insanity to pick something big and say to the world, This is what I want to do, this is how I want to leave the world having made it a better place.  Huge credit for this inspiration goes to Dale Partridge.  His book, People Over Profit, is so motivating.  Just the quotations that are in there are fantastic.  Go check it out, like, now.

Scheduling

Trying to get as much scheduled as I can before I leave for Virginia next weekend.  I’m very excited to have some time away and not worry about work or anything but enjoying myself.  Which is why I’m trying to get as much scheduled and crossed off my list as I can!  I know I can write all day if I wanted to, though, and my mom’s porch is the best place for reading/drinking beer/writing.

What are you up to lately?


Need the prompts for the Blogger, May I challenge?  Gotcha covered.  Want to use your own prompts?  No problem!  Just grab a button to show that you’re linking up with myself, Katy, and Meghan.  Oh, and use #BloggerMayI on Twitter/Instagram to keep the fun going even after you hit Publish!

Sunday Lately, 17

I really need to stop writing posts when I’m frustrated.  I think that’s why I always start these Sunday Lately posts with “OMG THIS WEEK HAS BEEN AWFUL!”  This weekend, I’m going to Baltimore with Jonathan and very much looking forward do it.  So instead of saying. “ZOMG this week suckeddddd,” I’m going to say, “This weekend is awesome.”

What have you been up to lately? This is week 14 of Sunday Lately link up with Katy, Meghan, and Nicole!

Doing

Packing, buying presents for baby showers and mamas-to-be, figuring out what to get my dad for his birthday, making lists, writing beer blog posts….so much doing.

Appreciating

Sunshine.  Seriously.  There are some times when I crave thunderstorms and to curl up on the back porch listening to the rain on the roof (or curled up in bed), watching a comfort-movie or reading.  But this week, I seriously need a dose of happy that comes from sunshine.

By the way, what was with the snow this week, Mother Nature?  I did not appreciate that.

Designing

Say it with me, folks….an update to this site!  Did you say it with me?  Was it with a game-show level of enthusiasm?  Good.

But seriously, I’m trying to design some organization for my office using things I already have.  I can do it, but the problem is that I don’t have the materials all in the room I need them.  Some are still in my father’s house.  Others are upstairs in my house and it’s only me, so getting a desk downstairs is a little tricky.

Humming

Remember last time when I was like, “OMG my coworker sings bits of songs and when I finally get them out of my head, she starts up again?”  Wellllll, it’s happening again!

“Sug-ah.  Yes, please.”  Ugh.  Make.it.stop.

Expecting

A visit from my mom in two weeks!  And the Pittsburgh Half Marathon in one.  (Shameless plug: have you seen my recent posts about running here and here?)

I’m expecting to finish this half marathon because I know I can.  Usually by now, I’ve had a few rough runs and I’m totally and completely in the mindset of, “How the EFF am I supposed to do run 13.1 miles when I can barely cover three?!” but I’m not feeling like that this year and it’s a very good feeling.

What were you up to lately this week?

Sunday Lately, 11

Let there be sun!  Finally, the weather is turning the corner and it doesn’t feel so depressing anymore.  I’m not going to lie, I’d still like the solid excuse a snowstorm gives you for sitting around inside all day not doing anything.  BUT I have tons to do and I’m digging the above-30 degree weather.

What have you been doing lately?

Planning

I’ve been trying not to plan things out and go with the flow a little bit more, but it’s competing with who I am.  I am a planner.  I plan things.  I like to know what I have to do and how long I have to do it.  That said, if I’m having a relaxing weekend day with Jonathan, I just need to know when it’s going to start and have a general idea of what will happen.

That said, if it’s a work day and I have tasks to do after work, I need to list them all out.  The long and short of this is that I need to start planning again.  Time to break out my trusty Moleskine planner that I made for myself this year!

Loving

The “Upper Strip Amble” that Jonathan and I did on Wednesday.  Wigle Whiskey organized it, so you started at their distillery with a complimentary cocktail (I had a Nimbus made with local coffee-flavored yogurt and vanilla mole and it was like drinking delicious, boozy, melted ice cream and a I-Can’t-Remember-The-Clever-Cloud-Name but it had ginger beer and was like a Dark & Stormy).

Then you moved to appetizers and more drinks at Savoy (I skipped the drink as I already had two).  I hate to say it, I wasn’t impressed with the service – the bartender totally forgot about us!  And we were sitting in the middle of the bar.  The quesadilla was tasty, but it was also 7pm and I was starving, so anything would be good.

And you ended at Klavon’s, an old-fashioned ice cream shop, with Wigle-infused milkshakes made with….Penn State Creamery Ice Cream.  My favorite.

Reading

Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum.  I’ll be sharing a review next Friday.  It’s a little…darker..than I thought it would be.

Wishing

For a burger, wings, and/or Chinese.  Oh, and maybe a pizza!  I didn’t go grocery shopping this week and I had a lot of after-work events, so I haven’t really been cooking a lot at home and I’m going nuts with my food desires.

Feeling

Slightly stuck.  I’ve been looking at some new blog themes that I like, but I don’t want to give up on this one.  I know I can modify the CSS, but I can’t figure out how to modify the big thing I want to change.  I’d like the content width to be wider than it is and no one has guides for changing that.  Color?  Sure.  Padding?  You bet.  Content width?  Nada.

I have cute new photos and patterns and ideas I want to implement but I don’t want to do it and then have to re-do it all over again with a new theme.  #FirstWorldBloggingProblems #AmIRight?

Shameless plus: take a look at what I’ve been writing this week, especially about Dessange hair care (free from Influenster) and the Creative Soul Connection Weeknight Retreat!

What have you been up to lately?

Sunday Lately, 8

Man what a week.  I ended up taking a day off on Friday to recharge myself.  I get 17 days of paid time off per year, and while most of it will be spent going to other people’s weddings later this year, I will fully enjoy each of my 17 days.

I’m not usually the person who just takes time off, but working in customer service is draining.  You need to charge your batteries so you can fully give to others again.  I was running on empty for a while between going back and forth to the hospital, shoveling, etc.

What's happening lately?

This week is a continuation of the themes from Sunday Lately 3.  I’m not sure if anything is still the same or matches up, but here’s what we’ve got this week…

Dwelling

I’ve been thinking a lot about my father’s upcoming surgery a lot.  It’s his fourth in under two years.

Helping

I’ve been lucky to have neighbors who are helping me this week.  There’s been a lot of snow during the day and I have been coming home to a freshly cleared driveway.  Bless the snow angels who are helping me out.  I’ll pay back the acts of kindness with cookies and Oreo biscotti.

Forgetting

To get my tax stuff together.  I really have to get on that.  I hate having to get that together because I always think that I’m forgetting something.  I try to keep my receipts separate during the year, but without fail, I end up running around and printing things out, leaaving things in the wrong place, etc.

Switching

From coffee to tea.  Some days.  Not always.  But I try.

I know I should drink more water, but I just don’t want to drink something cold in the winter, so I end up drinking a lot of coffee because that is my go-to.  I get up, walk around at work, and just naturally find myself by the Keurig.

Relying

I’m still relying on Jonathan.  He’s been fantastic.  It was wonderful to spend an extra day together this week.  I’ve been relying on phone calls to my mom a lot this week.  They’re long and there are a few deep conversations, but it’s mostly a distraction from the suckiness of everything, which is so necessary.

And my aunts, too.  They have been so helpful with my father in the hospital.  It’s unfortunate that he’s surrounded entirely by women with no manly break in the action.

What have you been up to lately?

Let’s Play

           

People Really Dug These

We Belong in the Garden Together