Gardening in High Heels

cultivate a beautiful life

Need some Dolce Vita? Practice Gratitude.

Today’s post comes from the fantastic Audrey Vanim. I had the luck to run into her at a Propelle acupuncture session a few weeks ago where we got to talking about blogging and the Dolce Vita Fall Reset challenge she was organizing. I’ve been shifting my mindset around the challenges in the fall reset and it’s been awesome, so I asked Audrey to share her best tips for infusing a little Dolce Vita into your life this season.

Ah, Thanksgiving—one of my favorite holidays to stuff my belly full of good food, spend time with friends and family, and relax into a tryptophan haze. But it’s also one of my favorite holidays because it’s a whole day devoted to giving thanks—the practice of gratitude.

You might be thinking, why is this girl so excited about practicing gratitude? The short answer would be because it relaxes my brain, energizes my body, and makes my life magical. The long answer starts with a story about Italy.

About 2 years ago, I went on a family trip to Italy during a time when I was really burned out in my life—I hated my job, was out of shape, had constant brain fog, was exhausted all the time, and felt completely stuck in my life.

So when I got to Italy, one of the first things I noticed was just how energetic, upbeat, and relaxed the Italians were. They were healthy, happy, and living a lifestyle that was exactly what I had been craving for myself. I wanted to know the secret to their dolce vita.

What I found was that a big part of la dolce vita is practicing gratitude.

The best way to bring some sweetness into your life is to start by giving thanks for what you have. Gratitude practice really works!

Practicing gratitude has become a bit of a fad in recent years—even Oprah’s doing it. But beyond the hooplah, gratitude practices have some really solid evidence (I am a nurse, after all) behind them for boosting your health and your energy by helping you refocus your mind and decrease stress.

Gratitude has been shown to be one of the most powerful ways to shift your mind from negativity to positivity—from stress and fear to relaxation and love. Studies show that women who use defeatist coping strategies—like restraint, denial, disengagement—have higher levels of cortisol (the stress hormone), more anxiety, depression, and higher levels of stress. Consistent gratitude practices have been shown to increase energy, decrease stress levels, decrease depression, and lead to healthier lifestyle choices like exercising more regularly and eating healthier foods.

The Italians already know how powerful gratitude is for creating a healthy and happy life. They have an amazing way of infusing gratitude into everyday life—they accentuate the positive in conversations, take pleasure in small things, and always find a reason to celebrate. No matter how tough life might be, they pause and say a heartfelt “grazie!” for even the smallest of joys—a glass of wine, a child’s smile, or dinner with a friend.

They live la dolce vita because they make an effort to recognize and accentuate how sweet life truly is.

So do yourself a favor this week and take some time to really give thanks. Here are some ways to make gratitude an easy and powerful practice for you too:

Frame your day with gratitude.

Keep a journal by your bed. When you wake up, take a deep breath and write down 3 things that you are grateful for. For each item, pause and really feel the gratitude. Take another deep breath and then start your day. Do the same thing just before you’re ready to go to bed. This is a great way to start your day off with energy and positivity and end your day feeling relaxed and joyful.

Take a gratitude break!

So many of us take a coffee or snack break at work to decrease stress. But what if we took a gratitude break? Set an alarm or reminder on your phone to go off several times per day. When you see this alarm, it’s time to pause and feel gratitude. Doing this throughout the day will keep your stress levels continuously low, your mind focused and positive, and your body a whole lot lighter.

Use gratitude as a tool to turn any situation around.

When you find yourself stuck, disappointed, unhappy, or stressed, take a moment to pause and find one thing either in that situation or in your life to be grateful for. It’s amazing how quickly this can help your brain switch from a stressed and negative mindset to one that sees positivity and opportunity. When you find something to appreciate in any situation, it redirects you to the positive and helps you to remove yourself from the anxiety.

I have to say that practicing gratitude is one of the most powerful things I’ve ever done in my life—it’s helped me to become more energized, positive, and joyful.

So this Thanksgiving, get a jump-start on creating your own dolce vita by practicing gratitude—it might just become your favorite part of the holiday, too.

How are you doing to bring Dolce Vita and gratitude into your life this week?

 

Audrey Vanim is a health coach that helps busy women create more energy so that they can make their mark on the world and create a fulfilling life—their very own dolce vita. Audrey is a registered nurse whose work combines the latest in nutritional science with the best of what the Italian lifestyle has to offer. Learn more about Audrey and her work at audreyvanim.com.

Five Favorite Fall Essentials

I am a summer girl through and through. I can wear ripped jeans, tank tops, and sandals every day of my life and be happy. Wait…as a “fashion” kinda blogger, should I really admit that? Anyway, when I was younger, fall was everything to me. I loved the start of school, the new opportunities, the pretty piles of leaves to jump in, and just about everything else that came with fall.

Since I was a kid, my list of fall essentials has changed a little bit. I still love the slower pace and the fresh feeling a change of seasons can bring, but I’ve embraced some other fantastic fall things.

Favorite essentials that make it easy to fall in love with fall | Gardening In High Heels

Dark Lipstick + Nails

I mean, really, you should have seen this coming. I’m getting more bold with what I wear to work, which means I can experiment with my lipstick a little more than I have in the past, even last year at this time. For my money, it doesn’t get any better than ColourPop’s Bossy Lippie Stix. It’s a rich red that looks great any time of day. Dazed is also a great color that’s a little richer with a berry hue to it. Revlon has some great options, too, and you can see them in yesterday’s Makeup Mix-Up post.

Of course, I also had to add in dark nails. I love OPI Lincoln Park After Dark, OPI Vampsterdam, Essie Chocolate Kisses, and Essie Velvet Voyeur.

All the Fall Coffee

I’ve been experimenting with homemade pumpkin spice syrup and it wasn’t working until I found a recipe that I love on Gimme Some Lovin’. I realized I was missing the syrup step..kind of essential, but for some reason, I figured my kitchen just magically caramelizes things on its own without heating sugar and water first. Her recipe is amazing. I’ve been adding the syrup to plain coffee and it’s lasted me about two weeks in the fridge.

I also love this list of coffee additions (that aren’t creamer) from Chemistry Cachet.

Scarves + Converse Sneakers

To me, fall is all about dressing for fashion and function..as opposed to winter where I don’t care what I look like as long as I’m warm. It’s function all the way once November hits. I mostly look like Ralphie’s little brother from then until May, so I cling to cute scarves, leather jackets, and Converse sneakers for as long as I can.

I’ve been trying to KonMari my clothes and I can’t cut down my embarrassingly large collection of jeans, sneakers, and scarves. They all bring me joy, damnit, and I’m wearing them for as long as I can.

Scented Candles

If you can’t tell, I’m all about making myself a nest in the fall so I can just stay there throughout the winter. I’ll poke my head out somewhere around February and quickly run back inside. I’m very much like Phil that way. My favorite way to make my space cozy with with candles. I absolutely adore Leaves and Pumpkin Latte and Spice. I can burn through those in a week easily. No pun intended.

I’ve had to place a block on myself this year and force myself to go through my candle collection before I buy any more. I mean, Bath & Body Works does their 2 for $22 sale and then send out a coupon for 20% off and I’m not supposed to use it? Come on.

Good Books

You can’t get comfortable at home and not have a book to curl up with. I’ve been loving Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, Yes Please by Amy Poehler, People Over Profit by Dale Partridge, If You Find This Letter by Hannah Brencher. Up on my list next is 700 Sundays by Billy Crystal, Appetite for Life by Noel Riley Fitch, and What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis. It’s quite a mix. I can’t read one genre for long without mixing it up a little.

What do you do to prepare yourself for cold weather with your fall essentials?

 

5 stages of putting together IKEA furniture

I have spent the better part of the summer putting together IKEA furniture and the process is the same no matter what. It’s long and painful and never really gets any easier the more you do it.  It’s almost like the Five Stages of Grief, but with more crying and throwing things.

Putting together IKEA furniture sucks! Five stages everyone goes through when they're putting together IKEA furniture | Gardening In High Heels

Excitement

Yeah, alright, I have new furniture! I’ll refresh my look and it’ll be so affordable. I may even do one of those Apartment Therapy IKEA hacks. And I got this fun organizer, and these plates, and a funky Euro print, too, and it was all in one place. One-stop home furnishings shopping. I love this place and I’m never leaving. I’m so urban and hip, I can’t stand myself.

Disbelief

Wait a minute, that cost how much?? But I just got some dog-butt hooks and a night stand! Also how do these Swedish people transport this stuff? Are they ridiculously strong and carry it home on their backs? Because this defintely isn’t fitting in my car and aren’t European cars even smaller?

Frustration

Why do I have 50 little screws and only 10 holes? Do I have to make my own? Am I being punked? This can’t be right, can it??

And what’s this diagram showing me? Not to climb on the bookshelf? No kidding! How about I also don’t take my new desk lamp into the bath with me.

I give up. I’m going to lay here like Sadness until Joy drags my away by my foot because I am done and this is stupid and I’m stupid because I can’t figure out why this little line drawing looks so happy and I just want to jump into a bath with my desk lamp plugged in.

Acceptance

Fine. I’ll keep building because it’s better than figuring out how to get it back to the store half-built. Also, I don’t want to go to the 7th circle of hell ever again. So I’ll just stay right here. Pouting.

Begrudging Relief

It is done. Someone get me a coffee the size of my head and follow it up with a stiff drink. I need to forget that experience ever happened. I am never doing that again. Oooh mail’s here, look at the new catalog! I want this..and this..

—

I swear, if you want to get married to someone, put together IKEA furniture first. If you successfully build it will all the parts and don’t want to rip each others’ head off, congrats. You should get married. You could also probably raise kids together as well or at least care for a very large dog.

I think I’m going to lay off the IKEA furniture for a while.

What’s your IKEA experience been like recently? Any fun stories?

Wax…off?

If you don’t like embarrassing personal stories, this post is not for you.  If you don’t like talking/hearing about sensitive subjects, this post is not for you.  If you enjoy laughing at with other people, read on!

But first, don’t forget to enter this ah-mazing giveaway!

I will never go back to  European Wax Center.  Never.  Why?

I went in to get a sensitive area waxed.  Now, I used to work at a spa.  I’ve had hair ripped from all kinds of areas.  I know what I was getting myself into, pain-wise.  That isn’t a problem for me.

But you have to be completely comfortable with the person ripping this hair from you body with molten wax.  I am sorry to say, I wasn’t.  That should have been my first clue.

What can happen when a bad wax goes really bad. Watch out for European Wax Center, and above all, be comfortable.

There I was, laying on a table.  Just hoping the person who’s only been on the job for six months knew what she was doing.  Right off the bat, I was a little more nervous than usual.

I also wasn’t sure if the hair was long enough to be successfully eradicated.  I know if the hair is too long or too short, you’re SOL.  Kinda like Goldilocks.  It has to be juuuust right.

I’ll own it here that I didn’t ask if it was a good length.  But it isn’t my job to assess the situation.  I’m not the pro here!

Step one: make sure the person you’re waxing actually has enough to wax off.

A few strips came off, with a lot more trouble than normal.

“When was the last time you waxed?”  She asked me.  It’s been a while.  I don’t believe in paying money for something I can do myself, like Dwight Schrute says about tipping.  “Well, that can really affect how easily it comes off.”

Hm…  Okay, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt here, but I’ve never heard that one before.

A few more wax strips were laid down and unsuccessfully yanked off.  I was getting sweaty. I was trying not to twitch when she came near me to pull off another strip.  I was almost in tears.

People, I don’t cry in public and I have an unusually high pain tolerance.  I was visibly uncomfortable by anyone’s standards.

And she didn’t stop to ask if I was okay, she wasn’t communicating throughout the service to make sure everything was still kosher, nothing.

Step two: make sure the person who’s being waxed is, oh what’s the word, comfortable.

So I made her stop.  I just couldn’t fathom going any further.  It was painful, it was unpleasant, and the result was unsatisfying.

My waxer walked me up to the front desk and I was trying to make a joke so it wasn’t painfully awkward.  My pain tolerance was maxed out.

She didn’t say anything, so as the receptionist was getting ready to charge me and close my ticket, I mentioned casually to her, “Yeah, the hair was a little too short so she couldn’t really do much.”

“Oh, so you didn’t get the full service?”

I explained that I didn’t, I had to stop, and she went to confer with my waxer about how much to charge.

She came back and explained, “We’ll only charge you for a bikini, it’s going to be a much better deal!”

I wanted to laugh in her face and not pay at all.  I’m sorry, basically only two strips were removed with any success.  I had less than a bikini wax.  And what about the poor customer service?

Sadly, I’m the kind of person who knows exactly what to say after the moment.  I paid my “bargain” bikini rate plus a tip (I shouldn’t have given her anything, but I know what it’s like to work for tips..) and left.  Inflamed and enraged.

That’s my experience with European Wax Center.  I have had successful waxes so I know what this should have been like.  The experience I was given was just terrible.

Ladies, a wax can be done successfully and mostly comfortably.  I’ve had three experience at EWC and only one of them was anything positive.  And that was only because the waxer had been doing this for years.

Pro tips:

  • Speak up
  • Be an advocate for your safety
  • Find someone experienced
  • Be reallllly wary of EWC

Have you ever had a bad experience at a salon? What did you do?

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!

TV Time

There’s something so fantastic about a good show.  You get sucked in.  The characters are dynamic.  The story lines are captivating.  The scenery is vibrant.  You want to live in the show.

I’m going to preface this by saying I don’t watch a lot of TV.  My set is from college and I’m pretty sure I have purses bigger than the screen.  So when I live for a TV show, you know it has something magic about it.

A lot of these shows are from years past when I did have more time and the luxury of a bigger screen.  They’re still favorites and shows I’d love to live in.  Do we have any favorites in common?

The five best TV shows I wish I could be a part of

Sex and the City

When I was younger, I would watch SATC on HBO until my mom came home from work.  I thought I was being so slick and she had no idea that I was developing a deep attachment with this show.

Well, she knew.  She’s a mom – she always knows.  And she started to watch it with me.

This is my number one if I could live in a TV show, it would be this one pick.  Everything about it from the friends and clothes to the themes and the Of course, I’m a Carrie.  Hello, I love writing and shoes.

Gilmore Girls

I slightly based my decision to attend Penn State based on Rory and her beautiful, old, ivy-covered campus.  I was no Rory in terms of books smarts, but I could have my own, less trust-fund version!

I love that while Gilmore Girls is mostly happy, fun, and upbeat, there’s a real dynamic with the characters.  It isn’t all sunshine and roses, even though Lorelei and Rory are basically inseparable (expect for that one season that was just a waste of our time.)  There is a real view of relationships here.

And Stars Hollow is just so dang cute.  Many thanks to Meghan for sharing that link!

Parks and Recreation

Back when I was working at Sharp Edge, I had the idea of hosting a Waffle-Off (like a bake-off but with waffles).  I even pitched it as a possible Yelp Pittsburgh event idea.  No further proof needed that I am Leslie Knope in spirit.

What I love about this show is that it all seems plausible.  I know, it’s a caricature of a small-town governmental agency, but it seems really real.  The relationships, the characters, the whole thing is very identifiable.

Plus, Ron Swanson has the best lines ever.

On giving your all: “Give 100%.  110% is impossible.  Only idiots recommend that.”  On crying: “Crying: acceptable at funerals and the Grand Canyon.”  On small dogs: “Anything under 50 pounds is basically a cat and cats are useless.”

Imagine what he’d say when cameras aren’t around?

Royal Pains

This for me is all about living in the Hamptons.  If I could live in this show, I would want to be Paige.  She has the best clothes/hair/makeup.  And she’s living her dream job as an artist.  I mean, what could you want more of?

Oh, so you think you want more?  How about beautiful shots of summery beaches and brilliant-blue Hamptons water?  Yeah.

The Office

I think I’d like to be a fly on the wall of this show and not so much in the show itself.  It isn’t anything against the hijinx that everyone gets into, it’s just fun to watch everyone interact.

I think more than anything, I’d want to know what’s happening in the background.  They got a little into this in the later seasons with more of a personal look at the characters, but I want more.  What Dwight is like when he gets drunk?  What do Pam and Jim do on Saturday morning?  That kind of thing.

It’s no wonder that Parks and Rec and The Office are both on my list.

What TV show are you just so obsessed with, you wish you could live in it?

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!

Let’s Play

           

People Really Dug These

We Belong in the Garden Together