Gardening in High Heels

cultivate a beautiful life

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, 13

I sat down to write this and a few hours later, barely churned out anything.  Some weeks are like that; the writing just doesn’t come as easily.  And that’s okay.

What have you been doing lately? Link up and let me know!

Dwelling

I’ve been spending too much time on the Animal Friend’s website.  When I say too much time, I mean any time spent on there is too much.  I love dogs, grew up with a dog mostly always around, work with dogs in the office..  I will eventually adopt again, but I can’t right now and, ugh, it makes my little dog-loving heart hurt.

But I’m going to be a puppy aunt tomorrow!  I’m so excited to meet my best friend’s new dog.  I’m going to spoil him.

Helping

I feel like I’ve been helping for the past month and seeing so little in return.  Blah.  Next topic.

Forgetting

OMG too many things.  Do you ever have weeks like that?  I need to go back to making constant lists of stuff to do.

Switching

It’s time to switch clothes for the season.  I’m like Meghan: I’m not a pastel person.  I have some bright colors in my wardrobe, but I wouldn’t call any of them pastel.  I pretty much just wear summer dresses with tights or plain, dark shirt with some crazy bright necklace.

Relying

On the fact that I’ve run half marathons in the past to get me through running this one with really very little preparation.  I’m starting to get worried.

What have you been up to lately?

Sunday Lately, 12

March has gone by so incredibly quickly.  It feels like there are things that just happened yesterday, like the March Levo Pittsburgh event, though now it’s actually two weeks ago.  Does that happen to anyone else?  Ugh!  Just when I feel caught up, things sneak up and tap me on the shoulder and say, “Ha, thought you had a handle on me, didn’tcha?”

What have you been doing lately? Link up and let me know!

Doing

Last weekend, I spent hours clearing things out of my father’s house.  There’s still more work to be done, but it’s getting cleaner.  It’s a sad and surreal experience.  I’ve lived in different places and grown up in my mom’s house, too, but my first memories are in that house.  It’s hitting me that I’ll probably never read a book on the back porch underneath all the trees or see the really big Christmas tree in the living room…and I’m now going to cry.  So onward with the other things!

Appreciating

Seriously, the small things.  Like the ice cream glacier Jonathan brought me on Tuesday night.  (For those of you who aren’t near a cute little mom-and-pop ice cream stand, a glacier is like a Blizzard – I hope you’re all familiar with DQ.  If you don’t know your ice cream, we can’t be friends.)

Also suuuper appreciating when traffic isn’t that bad in the mornings.  I’ve been leaving my house on the early side, a little after 7am, just so I can avoid traffic.  I get to work about 30 minutes early, but I’d rather do that than sit in rush hour traffic.  I hate traffic.  Boo hiss traffic.

Designing

My blog blah blah blah I say this every week and nothing ever gets done.  Ugh!  I just need someone to tell me how to make the content area wider.  I can probably figure out the other CSS changes myself, but I’m just not figuring out how to make this one (kinda big deal of what I want this to look like) change.

Humming

I have a co-worker who likes to sing one line of popular songs over and over again.  That results in me leaving work with “Uptown Funk” stuck in my head on repeat.  Not cute.

Expecting

Quite honestly, I have no idea what to expect anymore.  I know I wrote about getting back into hyper planning mode last week, but I have no idea how to plan for half of the big things that are looming over me.  I have no idea how to sell a house.  Or help to clear out a house.

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So that’s what I’ve been doing.  I’ve also been reading a lot.  If you missed it, I’m giving away a copy of Hausfrau to a lucky reader.  Check out this post to see a review and enter!

What have you been doing lately?

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?

Let’s Play

           

People Really Dug These

We Belong in the Garden Together