40 days?

I am a completely lapsed Catholic – I attend mass only on high holidays with my mother if I am home. For some reason though, I feel the urge every Lenten season to figure out something or somethings to try to absolve from. I think I view this as another chance to take on a resolution from the new year, or something to that affect. Anyway I’ve contemplated a few ideas:

Alcohol:  I actually really want to do this, it’s one of my 15 before 2015, but this is not the year. I have a weekend girls trip to Florida – and I already want a drink while I am in the pool. I also have a coworker from another office coming to town and we want to get drinks and catch up. I clearly have my Irish Catholic priorities in place.

Soda: I love me some coke zero at lunch time, and seltzer should pretty much be a food group as far as I am concerned.  So far today, I skipped my lunch time beverage and stuck to water and tea at my desk. This could be reasonable, but then what do I mix the alcohol I am not giving up with? I mean a nice straight up drink is good for one, wine is not a pool drink…  can we make it week day soda?

Shopping: I love to online shop (who doesn’t?). Nothing makes me feel better than a nice new piece of clothing to wear and enjoy. My fear with this one is that it’s going to go from 20 degrees to 80 degrees and I am going to feel like I need something to refresh . However, I do think I could keep myself on track.

Sweets: Chocolate… oh so good, this would actually be a bit of a challenge as I’d include a trail mix that has chocolate chips in it, which is one of my current vices. I also will just crave something sweet and indulge myself. This is definitely a strong contender.

Right now I am thinking of going with the sweets and shopping and holding myself to it. I’d also like to spend the next 40 days cleaning out the clutter around my apartment and start minimizing again. 

(photo via pinterest via someecards)

Twosday || Yellow

I recently discovered Twentieth Street, a blog by  Stephanie Court. She takes amazing pictures and I’ve been really loving her Twosday posts. The rules are  share two photos based on a pre-determined theme and link up with the rest of the group. This is my first time attempting this link up, and I couldn’t be more excited. This week’s photo challenge was Yellow:

glad you came

I just wanted to take the time to extend a little thank you to my readers and followers. For the longest time I had two followers, myself and one of my good friends (thank you Ali! – always so supportive of me), and that was mighty fine as I blog for my own enjoyment. In the past few months though my followers through a few sites has grown to approximately 15 people, some of you who’ve found yourself here on your own. This touches me deeply, and in a way I am surprised about.  Thank you for visiting, I do hope you stay for a long while.

Paris: Part One

Oh Paris – you were top on my list of places to visit, and finally I was able to make my dreams come true. I spent three full days exploring the city of love, on valentine’s weekend no less. Granted I was sans valentine, however I do feel like spending a few days in Paris constitutes “winning” the holiday.  I took the Eurostar over from London, which was super quick and really easy to do, plus it put me at a major train spot that brought me to a metro that dropped me off a block from my hotel. As a non-French speaker, I never had trouble navigating the metro ( I swear the States are the worse for clear public transit instructions).

The first night I was super tried, as I was out way too late the night before – oops. I haven’t seen 3 am in about 3 years until then – I guess there are worse things though then having a good time on a Friday night. I just got settled and made my way to a bistro for dinner before heading to an early bed time so I could take full advantage of my day on Sunday.