maybe... we'll meet on the high street

Happy September dear readers. It's been a while since I've done a lately post... and I do think they are my favorites to read from all of you. Makes me smile to know what everyone else has been doing, reading, thinking about...

Shall we?

reading: nothing, absolutely nothing. I have a work book club book that I should be finishing, for August book club (not a typo).  Maybe I'll finish over the long weekend.

listening: all the podcasts, yes, all of them. I went down the rabbit hole of podcasts this summer. I had to listen to Serial, which lead me to This America Life, and then well I needed more. I've been getting into The Nerdist, and Lady to Lady.

craving: apple picking. I want to pluck apples off the trees this fall, and drink apple cider.

avoiding: pumpkin spice. I am so over pumpkin spice anything - I always think I want it, but it's a very acquired taste for me.

eating: watermelon, got to get the summer fruit in while it's still around.

dreaming: of another vacation... so many places to think about going.

watching: Hart of Dixie on netflix, and totally over relating to all the characters. I am a bit sad I discovered this gem after it was it was cancelled. It also has some Friday Night Lights alums - Scott Porter and Cress Williams.  

loving: the little kitty girl. Adopting a pet has made me a better person. Molly and I are quite the team, plus she likes to eat my leftovers.

lately

February was a bust blog wise. Here's to kicking off March with a post... hopefully I'll be a bit more present this month on my space.

dreaming: of spring – 7 feet of snow and counting, and when it gets warm it will take some time to melt. Summer sun is calling my name.

reading: Us: David Nicholls. So far interesting – a marriage story that doesn’t look like a happy ending, but there’s a ways to go before I’ll know what really happens.

watching: Archer on Netflix. I think I love this primarily for Jessica Water and my love of all things Arrested Development. I definitely love the humor on this show – the snark factor.

smelling: my summertime candle – if you can beat winter, you might as well smell like a day at the beach.

needing: a pedicure – winter’s been tough on the old heels. 

wanting: new workout gear, might be time for an upgrade from the raggedy capri pants I've worn for years - I am not sure, but they might be see through 

listening: Ed Sheeran - I am hooked that that voice, I also think I have a thing for gingers - call me Ron Wesley? 

failing: at getting my steps in on fitbit- tell me March will be better?

lately

Happy Monday dear readers. I hope you had lovely weekends. I am very excited to do a lately update for you all today. Let's get started:

reading: And I Alone Survived by Lauren Elder.  I finished this all in a single day, very interesting true story of Lauren Elder who survived a small plane crash in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and hiked her way to safety despite some crazy challenges including climbing down a 100 foot dry waterfall.  Definitely worth read (and I'd happily send you my copy if you would like, first one to say yes in the comments it's yours, we'll connect and you'll get the via post).

taking advantage of: winter weather walks. I love crunching through the snow. This weekend Boston got a few inches of snow, making the world look magical. The rumor is a bigger storm is starting tonight, that will bring nearly two feet of snow. 

feeling: lots of blog love this week. I saw through Kristen's blog - Why Girls are Weird, about Authentic Bloggers on Facebook. I love getting to link up with some great real ladies out there. I am enjoying reading lots of new blogs, and hoping that people are enjoying my little space a well.

eating: pralines, my mother loves to send me a big box each year, and then I eat the entire box. They are so good. Glad that the pralines are harder to come by in New England.

planning: starting to think about some time off, I'd really like to head to Amelia Island for a few days this spring, or maybe the west coast. The winter blues might be setting in despite liking the snow.

looking forward to: a visit to a favorite city to see a favorite singer in a favorite venue in a few months.

lately

My little space of the internet, I'll say it now - even with the best of intentions I think I am going to suffer through 2015 and admit now that I'll never hit a good blogging schedule. It's not that I don't want to blog, there are just a few other things out in the world that require more of my time and energy.

Anyway a little lately post to keep the creative juices flowing:

Listening: Louisa Wendorff and Devin Dawson's mash up of Taylor Swift's Style and Blank Space - it's so good. I could listen to this all day long. Rumor is Taylor is a fan of this too. It's amazing, do yourself a favor and favorite this now.

Baking: Birthday cupcakes for Mom's birthday. Probably the best looking cupcakes I've ever made, and surprising as I totally had to scrape all the mix out of the cupcake liners back into the bowl because I forgot the water the first round. Truth to paying attention when you are baking, or well...

Reading: Shrinkage by Bryan Bishop. Informative and funny - sometimes you need a little non-fiction in your reading list.

Getting warm fuzzies: from the extra special birthday lunch I had in Connecticut last weekend. I got a nice surprise from some very special friends. Sometimes you feel the love.

Looking forward to: to a weekend in my old stomping grounds, including a concert by my music crush Matt Wertz. As soon as I saw that he was going on tour at one of my favorite small venues, some emails were sent and tickets purchased.

Not minding: 6 AM spin class once in a while during the week. It's refreshing to bang out exercise first thing in the morning and then be free in clear of that the rest of the day.

Keep me up to date on what's going on with you. Also would love some book recommendations for when I finish my current book.

lately

Shall we catch up on some current events in my little world? I'd love to hear what you've been up to recently - so definitely let me know!

reading: The Blood of Olympus - yes, the final Percy Jackson book in the Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan. I've read all of the Percy books and really enjoyed them all. Sad to see this is the last one for maybe ever.

watching: HBO on demand. I watched all of Game of Thrones and now I am on to Girls. I also want to watch the Newsroom. Finally getting HBO means hours upon hours of shear delight in marathon show binge watching.

looking forward to: my weekend guests this week. Some of my lovely ladies from the old neighborhood are venturing north to visit. I am looking forward to catching up and hanging out. I also now have an excuse to make the corn bread muffins I've been eyeballing.

making: vegetables and healthy foods. I've been really bad about food choices since my move. I am super motivated to get back into better eating. Pizza, we are breaking up... we can only have short one night stands once in a while, on special occasions.

planning: dream vacations, or at least a vacation to a warm location. Arizona is hot on my list for a winter getaway. It's bad to have the winter blues before winter starts isn't it?

thinking about: resolutions, new year is not too far away now.

Happy Friday Lovelies - hope you have a fantastic weekend!

December…. Remember Me….

 

It’s the last month of 2014, and I am sure everyone is going wait a gosh darn minute, didn’t we just ring in the New Year like maybe 2 months ago? Alas, I decided in November when I was just not getting to the blog to make myself get some posts ready to go before December started and then just start getting into some regular posting. For me, the end of the year is so busy between work, life, the hustle and the bustle of the holidays – I decided to be kind to me.

In salute to the day that is to give thanks, or in layman’s terms – Thanksgiving. I decided to tell you three things I am thankful for to start the last month of 2014.

1.    Getting to take a 5 day weekend last week. Family, Turkey, Shopping, Reading, the Gym. All good things to relax before the year end work crazy begins (looking forward to you January 23^rd - I see you and I am excited.
2.    Game of Thrones –TV. As you probably remember I read all the books starting around this time last year, but never saw the show. I now have HBO and I love seeing my favorite scenes come to life. Joffery is an a-hole and the actor here is fabulous.
3.     Living closer to the family. It’s sort of strange not to need to save up vacation time for the holidays any more. It’s also nice not to feel like I’ve got to spend every minute of a holiday weekend trying to see friends, family and still manage to feel relaxed. Total win for living 30 minutes away.

daylight savings, you saucy beast

I know, everyone else seems thrilled to have gotten an extra hour of sleep – but I don’t love clock changes in any direction, my brain cannot adjust and then I am always hungry at weird times. I would much rather have a no change schedule, get me up in the dark give me sunset after 5 PM and I am way happier.

Why daylight savings is stupid, according to me.

I forgot that my stove and microwave clocks had not been adjusted. I was roasting potatoes that were not going to hold up if roasting did not occur soon. See that it’s 11:30, sure I ate breakfast at 8:30 (was using the phone when I had cereal), but why not make eggs and eat this with some potatoes. Oh yeah, it’s only really about 90 minutes after breakfast when I realize it after I’ve made the eggs. Yay for second breakfast which is something I only expect of athletes and mothers who get up with their kids at 4:30 AM.

I don’t sleep in anymore, 7.5 hours is what the body needs at most. I can go with less, but once I get past 8 hours I am exhausted. Sundays snoozing I miss you. I am awake now at 4:45 forcing additional sleep to make me more tired.

I wanted to eat lunch at 10:30 today. I was so hungry that I ate all my snacks before noon (two apples, I am not a horrible snacker).

Sunset before 5 PM is just crazy. It was night time at 4:45 which is insane to me

Can we settle on one time for now and forever? Thanks!

lately

Oh two weeks of vacation is glorious. I’ve been back for a week, but getting back into the blogsphere this week.  I thought I’d do one of those lately posts before I start the recap of the vacation weeks.

Watching: Friday Night Lights from the beginning. iTunes had the first three seasons at $10 each, I jumped to be able to watch something while on vacation that I didn’t have to stream. I am back to swooning over Matt Saracen and wanting a marriage like Coach and Tami.  This show also makes me cry like crazy – it was so good.

Reading: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. I devoured two of her other books while on vacation, Eleanor and Park, and Attachments. I may have found a new author to read regularly.

Eating: Lunch from home as much as possible. Oh back to making lunch, mmm turkey on gluten free whole grain.

Buying: a backpack for commuting. My shoulder that carries my bag hurts, time to spread the love to hopefully make this better.

Missing: cooler temperatures that felt like fall while in Belgium. It was magical I tell you, sweaters, jeans, jackets – the only thing missing was a pumpkin spice latte in my hand.

Listening: Stay with Me by Sam Smith. I could sing that baby all day long.

Anticipating: my move. Only 3 weeks to go.

Looking forward to: apple picking. I want to eat fresh apples all fall long.

the morning train, work from 9-5 and then…

Part of my living at home adventures involves about two hours of commuting every day, which when you go from a combined commute of walking 20 minutes and 15 minutes on the subway each way, is a lot of time to be sitting on the train. My commute in New York was easy peasy- because when you are walking you don’t need to entertain yourself much on the commute. I use to pick through my cell phone, maybe read my kindle app or play some game that my sister hooked me on. Now with what I’ll call extended time to be with one’s self and many strangers, it’s a lot of time to occupy.

How I’ve been spending my time on my extended commute:

1.   Read like there’s going to be a test on the book when I get to my destination. I love to read – so this is great, however I don’t want to read before bed anymore.  My current book series is Divergent – I love some young adult fantasy fiction. (Other series to try if you like this one: The Uglies, The Hunger Games, The Giver). 
2.    Look forward to my email box getting The Skimm – I love this daily update on the top news around the world. It feels like your best friend is call you up and dishing some seriously interesting gossip, and well it makes you look like you pay attention when others talk about world events. Items are very topical, and there’s usually something fun in there. I also love Skimm-Birthdays – I’ve seen some seriously famous people on there – Tory Burch, Tina Fey – you know just to name drop a bit. If these high profile ladies read The Skimm, I think you should too. 
3.     Tinder – yes, I’ll admit this publicly – but Tinder is a fantastic way to kill commuting time. I swipe right, left, text people, all while looking over my shoulder to make sure no matches are like right behind me – that would be beyond awkward.
4. Occasionally proofing some work documents – I like to take a break from the work, but it’s good to get a few more things taken care of before getting home.
5. Thinking about the next meal – the train makes me hungry, I don’t know what it is – but I am always famished when I depart.

Anyone have anything I am missing? How do you spend your time on the train if you have a long commute?

(photo from here - and I thought the abandon train was beautiful)