how to: snap out of a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

This past weekend was wonderful. It truly felt like summer and I feel like I did so much to enjoy every minute of it. Matthew and I went to the dog beach with Ginger, soaked in some sun, roasted marshmallows on the grill, watched some of our favorite shows and just relaxed. Yet, sometimes these weekends that can seem so perfect can leave you feeling down in the dumps. I don't know how to explain it, and I'm not sure if any of you understand, but last night going to bed I was so sad. I was sad thinking that the weekend was over, that Matthew was going to work and that I was back on my job search, sad that it's already the end of June and the wedding and Italy seem so far away now. A disappointment with the weekend being over turned into so much more and before I knew it I was just a mess. I was in this dejected funk and thankfully Matthew insisted we stay up, watch some of the BBC version of Emma {I love it!} and drink some sleepy time tea. It made me feel a little better and before I knew it I fell asleep. Yet, today I felt like this dark cloud was still over me. I couldn't shake it all morning and afternoon, and I still haven't. This happens every once in a while where I can't help but focus on all these negative things. In case any of you have ever felt this way and know what I mean, I thought I'd share some of my best tips to snap out of terrible, horrible, no good, very bad mood:

1. Take a walk and get some fresh air. Sometimes seeing the sun shining can kick that cloud out of there.
2. Look at your schedule and make lunch/dinner dates with friends. Friends help!
3. Make a list of all the things you are thankful for. Sometimes in this state of mind I can forget. 
3. Do something for you whether it's getting a massage, a manicure or a hair cut. Do something that will give you some extra confidence and make you smile. (I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow..it's been 6 months, can you believe it?)
4. Make a list of things you want to get accomplished each day. I've been so overwhelmed with apartment searching and job hunting that spending more than a couple hours on one or the other can make me lose all energy for other things I need and want to do.  This is kind of silly but I'm trying to put my days in a class format-- Apartment Period, Cleaning Period, Blogging Period, and Job Period. I try to break up the tedious things with something fun, like blogging or emailing a friend. 
5. Listen to upbeat music and hopefully it will make you want to dance :)
6. If it doesn't make you dance, do something active. It's so hot now that working out doesn't sound very appealing but yoga in a cooled studio sounds a little better. Or go on an early morning walk or hike!
7. Do something good. I donated a bag of clothes to the Goodwill for my last week's little resolution. It helped me get outside of myself and remember that there are other people in need. It helped give me some much needed perspective. 
7. Play with an animal. When I was sad last night I picked up Ginger and almost immediately started to smile! Why are dogs so amazing?

If any of your have some suggestions for getting out of a bad/sad mood, I'd love to hear! 

Regular scheduled programming tomorrow, I promise :)

xox

photo

24/52: a year of little resolutions

My little resolution this past week was to plan out my menus for the week on Saturday or Sunday. I found that doing this Saturday morning was the most helpful. I woke up, went through my cookbooks and planned meals for each day. Then, I went through the recipes and made a grocery list based on items we needed but didn't currently have in the kitchen. Then, on Sunday Matthew and I went to the farmers market in the morning, got our fresh produce, and then in the afternoon we went to the store for any pantry-type items, like pasta, bread, spices, etc. By taking a half hour on Saturday planning, and then doing the shopping on Sunday, I ensured that the rest of the week was stress-free when it came to dinner. I knew what I was making well in advance and I also had everything I needed so there weren't any last minute runs to the store. I would definitely recommend doing something like this! It was also fun to include Matthew by asking what he was in the mood for. Most of the time he says it doesn't matter to him, but when he's in the mood for tacos or a certain pasta, I'll include it and it's something to look forward to!

For this next week, I want to go through my room at my parents and majorly clean it up. My brother is home for summer and might/probably will be moving into my room permanently, which yes I'll admit makes me a little sad-it's the room I had when I was a baby and then from 13 years on. :( I also want to donate a big bag of clothes to the local Goodwill. I've been meaning to go through the clothes I don't wear anymore, and it's about time since there's no use for them to just be hanging out while I'm not even around. It's my least favorite thing to do but it has to be done!

I hope you all had a great weekend!

xox

23/52: a year of little resolutions

Ok, now that the wedding is over I am getting back into my little resolutions. One of my last goals was to clean up my computer which I really feel like I finished up with this past week. I get way too much email and a lot of it is junk mail, which is the worst.

Here are some tips to keep your computer life happy and un-cluttered:

1. You must unsubscribe to any emails that you delete immediately before opening! Clearly you're not interested in those LinkedIn update emails if you keep deleting them.

2. Evaluate which newsletters you get and which ones you actually benefit from reading. The ones you love keep, the ones you don't hit unsubcribe. Simple, right? I can't tell you how amazing it felt to unsubscribe to dozens of newsletters and now I don't even miss them. 

3. If you're like me you subscribe to a lot of blogs. Consider using Bloglovin' which is a great way to keep track of them all. You can subscribe to get emails when each blogger posts, or once a day, or once a week. I used to get them every time a blogger made a new post but it was a little chaotic so I've since changed that so I receive an email once a day with links to all the new posts. So convenient! {Also you can follow me on there too!}

4. Gmail is amazing and I LOVE their email platform. I love seeing emails in threads; Yahoo doesn't do this and it drives me insane when I reply to an email and see that the person wrote me an email 5 minutes later with something else. I'd rather see it all together in the same thread. Also create folders in Gmail. Mine now include: Blogs, Facebook, Pinterest, Recipes, Twitter and Work- to name a few. Filtering emails so that they go immediately into these folders saves me lots of time and effort. To do that click on the box next to the email, then click More Actions and then Filter Messages Like These. That will bring you to other screens where you can click Skip the Inbox (Archive It) and Apply the Label____. And then Create Filter! Ta Da! So easy and you'll thank me! Any Facebook or Twitter notifications go into their designated folder and I can read them there and then delete. It's just a way of keeping your inbox less cluttered. 

5. My last little tip is definitely the most important. Remember to back up your photos and files onto an external hard drive. I cannot tell you how sad it is to lose years and years of photos because of a computer crash. Been there and cried. Backing files up insures that you'll have them in a safe place. I got my external at Costco and it was pretty affordable. I try to back up every 6 months- although I should probably do it every 3. 

I hope these tips were a little helpful! Do you have any tips of your own? I'd love to hear!

For this next week I am going to try to be more on top of my dinners. A couple times last week I was at a loss as to what to cook and running to the store every couple days for other ingredients. I'd love to get some menus together so that I know what I'm making at least a couple hours ahead of time. Wish me luck friends!

xox

easter sunday

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter Weekend! Mine was filled with family time, yummy food and a silly puppy! I woke up to the smell of my mom'a Portuguese sweet bread. It's a recipe from my Grandma and it's always a special Easter tradition. She also baked this delicious almond pastry! Matthew and I decided to give Ginger a bath because she was starting to smell very doggie! I filled myself up with so much delicious food and candy, and Matthew passed out around 7:30 because of a sugar coma. haha! It hit my mom and me a couple hours later, but only after we caught up with the last two episodes of Vampire Diaries {I have to say that show is getting better and better..Do any of you watch it?}.

Last week my little resolution was to start meditating. It was definitely a little hard to incorporate into my schedule, just because I've been so busy, but when I carved out the time it helped me so much. Those minutes alone really help me really focus during the rest of my day. I've noticed that my stress levels have been pretty good..no wedding meltdowns yet! I'm trying to take it one day at a time and meditating has helped keep me calm.

For this next week I'm going to clean my computer, specifically my email. I desperately need to start unsubscribing to some email newsletters. The thought of coming back from Italy with a massive inbox is enough to make me want to temporarily delete my account. I'm going to go through and see which emails I really want to receive and which ones I always just delete before reading. I started this the other day and but then I kept second guessing my "delete" list. Also I might be little behind on backing up my files. Computer, get ready for some spring cleaning!

xox

12-15/52: a year of little resolutions

Ok, wow I have been a major slacker with my little resolutions. Between Santa Barbara and Miami I totally forgot to post what I've been up to! I've been working on a lot of little things, one major one in particular is drinking more water! Sounds silly but it's one of those things that I just don't do that often. I love water if I go to a restaurant, especially with a slice of lemon, but during the day I normally forget about it. So bad, right? Matthew is always saying, "Water is the life source," and that I need to drink way more, so I've been much more conscious about having a big glass when I wake up, one in the mid-morning, at lunch, in the afternoon, at dinner and before bed. I've actually grown to like it! Kind of :) haha

For this next week I'm going to start meditating again. It's a practice I used to keep in high school and college and it helped me so much during stressful times. I'm going to shoot for 15 minutes a day, preferably in the morning. I've had so much on my mind, I'm breaking out like crazy, the wedding is less than 3 weeks away, ay yi yi you get the idea! Needless to say, I desperately need to quiet my mind. If you have any good mantras or advice I'd love to hear. I'll share how it went next Sunday!

I hope you all had a great weekend and are ready to tackle this Monday! 

Thanks to all of your for entering the Chloé Loves Charlie giveaway. I hope I can have another one for you all very soon!!

The lucky winner  is...Sarah!

xox

illustration on etsy

11/52: A Year of Little Resolutions

This past week was Ginger's birthday! She celebrated her very first birthday! We had such a fun week together. I really tired that girl out. We went on walks,  runs, and had lots of play time. My plan was to take her to the groomer but apparently she needs a special kind of grooming called hand stripping. It sounds weird but Ginger has a lot of excess hair that is super easy to pull out. Matthew thinks it hurts her when I do it but it's supposed to be the healthy thing for them, and they can't even feel it. Terriers, in particular, deal with this a lot and they need their hair stripped out a few times a year. It helps keep them soft and also control the shedding. What could be better?! The groomer has a very busy schedule tending to all these hairy pups so I wasn't able to get an appointment, but I'm planning on going in the next couple weeks. I guess it worked out because with all this rain, she wouldn't have been clean for very long! Besides, I think I liked the idea of Ginger getting a bath and haircut a little more than she did!

 such a cute little sleeper!

For this next week I'm going to try to journal every night. I've had so much on my mind recently, as well as a lot of unnecessary wedding stress {which I'll talk about on Wednesday}. I think journaling will help me relax a little bit, and put things in perspective. I used to write in a diary every single day for years, especially while I was in school. It was one of those things I looked forward to everyday.  So I'm kind of excited about this little resolution. I hope it sticks!

I hope you all had a great weekend! Want to see something funny? My best friend Lizzie sent this to me saying, "Omg it's you and Matthew!!" I think it's absolutely hilarious because it looks so much like Matthew especially. What do you guys think? {see what the heck I'm talking about here}

Happy Monday!

xox

10/52: A Year of Little Resolutions

Last week my plan was to start eating healthier and cut out processed foods and snacks. Most of the time I'm pretty good about that but I'm trying to improve. I'm also really working on having more satisfying lunches. For some reason lunch is a meal I tend to skip over. I eat a huge breakfast and dinner so I feel guilty eating a lot during lunch. That's terrible, though, because by eating something really small I end up being hungry all afternoon, which leads to mindless snacking. I made this tasty pita sandwich for lunch this week and I'm obsessed! It was so simple, just lettuce, feta, tomatoes, kalamata olives and cucumber- dressed in a light olive oil and lemon dressing. It's delicious and so satisfying. If any of you have some good lunch ideas let me know! 

For this week, I'm participating my own Dog Appreciation Week! Little Ginger is turning one year old on Wednesday and I can hardly believe it. We got her last May, eight weeks after her birthday, but this is still an important day to celebrate. Especially since Matthew and I will be honeymooning on her one year adoption day! I'm planning lots of fun activities for us. She's basically going to be spoiled rotten!

I hope you all had an awesome weekend! Mine was super busy with wedding stuff {I think this will be the norm for the next 6 weeks unfortunately}. Did you all remember to set your clocks back an hour?? juuust kidding! I mean forward :)

xox

9/52: A Year of Little Resolutions

I was really proud of myself this week. My goal was to be more confident and proud of my blog. I started posting on twitter about new blog posts. Yeah, that's it. So little right? But really a big step for me because it was something I've been wanting to do for over a year now and just couldn't get up the guts. I kept thinking about my real life friends that follow me and how they might judge me or think it was silly. It's so ridiculous thinking about it, and especially admitting it to all of you, but it was something that was really holding me back. While it's a little step, it was an important one for me to take. It helped me realize that I need to be more confident in myself. I shouldn't care what other people think, or what they might say behind my back. Because when it comes down to it, it doesn't matter. People will always talk, no matter what do. Sometimes, though, the meanest and nastiest voice is the one inside your head. The one that prevents you from being happy or proud, or celebrating your achievements. So I gave a big punch in the stomach to that terrible critic and I think I won!

Which reminds me..are we twitter friends?

My goal this week is to be more aware of what I'm eating. I'm going to cut out processed foods and only eat things that are natural and healthy. Most of the time I'm pretty good about this but the last week, especially over the weekend, was absolutely terrible. My stomach has been in pain for over 24 hrs {and I blame Matthew!} I'll tell you all about it tm. 

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

xox

 

photo: the coolest light fixture ever {design sponge}

update: I loved reading all of your comments so much!
I'm so glad I'm not the only blogger who has struggled with this.
Thank you all so much for your kindness and support! It means so much!

8/52: A Year of Little Resolutions

yay I'm back!! This week was really REALLY hard! My plan was to take the week off from blogging, twitter, and facebook. I didn’t update, although I wanted to many times. I tried to stay off the internet as much as I could but by the weekend it was a little tough. I really missed you guys!  I’ve decided life without blogging pretty much sucks! The one good thing was that I was super productive during the week. Here’s what I was up to..

Researched florists and I think I found our guy! Tulips have always been one of my faves. 

Scored an amazing tweed Ralph Lauren blazer for $12! And it was in my size! best.find.ever.

With Matthew out of town, and my parents out to a play, I decided to make myself a fancy little dinner. I thought I’d just order pizza but with all the Food Network I watched this week I decided to go all out with aglio e olio pasta, asparagus with lemon zest, grilled garlic bread, salad and lemon water. I even pulled the chair out for myself!

On Saturday it hailed in LA! There was ice all over my car and it was the strangest but coolest thing ever! I'll be honest, I was dreaming about sledding down my street and building snowmen. Unfortunately it didn't last long and the next day blue skies abound.

Ate a copious amount of Girl Scout Cookies. My weaknesses are Samoas and Tagalongs, what about you? I may or may not have scarfed down a whole box in the first day, plastic tray not included.

And of course, I redid my blog design with the help of the amazing and wonderful Kelly Ann! I've been planning on doing this for some time. Kelly  took my ideas and made them into something way more perfect than I could have ever come up with! She is a super talented designer who now works with Freckled Nest. She’s also just one of the loveliest people in the blog-o-sphere! Go check out her blog and get ready to be inspired! Thank you so so much Kelly!

This week my resolution is to be a little more fearless. Sometimes I get so concerned with what other people might think that I let that negatively affect me. Especially when it comes to my blog. When I first started blogging I didn't tell anyone about it, not even close friends and family, because I was worried about what they would think. Of course now they all know and they're super supportive, but there are some people out there, people who I have called friends in the past, who just happen to like putting people down. I see the good in them, but then I also know about their "mean girl" side.  I'm going to try this week to be more confident in myself and not let these worries affect who I am.

I'm so excited to be back and I want you all to know how grateful I am to have you here as readers! 

You've sent me the sweetest emails, and left the kindest comments, and I am more thankful than ever

to be a part of this great blogging community!

xox

 

7/52: A Year of Little Resolutions

I hope you all had a great three day weekend! I've decided to take a little break from blogging this week. I think it's good for me to take a break every once in a while just to refocus and get offline. I've been so busy recently and it's finally catching up to me because now I'm sick! I hate when that happens.  I think I just need to take some time for me. I was really productive over the weekend, though, with wedding crafts. It seems like things are coming together.. yay! I'm going to miss you guys but I'll be back Sunday! 

Have a wonderful week!

xox

6/52: A Year of Little Resolutions

Last week my goal was to be a little more crafty and to plan some fun projects. It was perfect timing, given the upcoming holiday. I decided to make Valentines for my family and friends. I had such a great time picking out pretty papers and stamps, and it was even more fun to decorate and get into a creative zone. Next weekend my best friend/maid of honor Lizzie is coming up to do wedding crafts. We love doing this kind of stuff so I'm really looking forward to it!

If you want to make a pretty Valentine's card for a loved one {there's still time!} here are some things I liked using:

- pretty papers {Michael's has a lot of great options}

- a heart stamp

- pink and red markers,

- paper doilies

- scissors

- glue sticks

- felt would be cute to make little hearts

For this week coming up I want to do sweet things for my family to show them how much I love them! I have a couple surprises planned already :)

Are any of you going to do a little resolution this week? If so, tell me about it!

xox

5/52: A Year of Little Resolutions

Well another successful week down! I'd say I was able to get to bed by 10:30 5 out of the 7 nights, which in my book is pretty awesome! One amazing thing I noticed was that I was able to wake up earlier during the week. haha makes sense I guess! By going to bed early, and going on early morning hikes 3 days of the week, I think my body is slowly adjusting. Hopefully I can keep it up but of course, as I'm writing this, it's 10:18pm. The pressure is on! dun dun dun

This week my plan is to get a little crafty! Since a special little holiday is coming up I thought I'd plan some cute things. Do you remember those fun projects in elementary school? I don't know about you but during February I always miss them! Would it be weird to make little paper bag mailboxes for my family and friends?? haha maybe a little. I'll try to think of something more grown up.

Are any of you going to do a little resolution this week? If so, tell me about it!

xox

 

a picture of Audrey because I'm not nearly as pretty sleeping!

4/52: A Year of Little Resolutions

Gosh can you believe today is the last day of January?! I swear this month went by really fast, and I know it's going to continue this way until the wedding. Last week my goal was to get back into the routine of working out. I have to say that it totally helps to make these goals because I really hold myself accountable. My friend Eden and I went hiking three days last week, and we even went this morning! So, in case you're wondering, I'm trying to stick to this workout schedule. Meeting at 8am is definitely a little difficult because it's hard for me to get to bed early, but once I'm up it's great. Doing it with a friend makes it really fun, too, because we can talk the whole time, even though we got out of breath and were huffing and puffing sometimes haha.

So for this week my goal is to get at least 8 hour of sleep a night, especially since I'm working out in the mornings. I consider myself most productive late at night, but I don't think it's very healthy. I'm going to do my best to get to bed at the same time, 10:30pm every night. I also need to work at getting rid of the dark circles under my eyes!

Are any of you going to do a little resolution this week? If so, tell me about it!

xox

I did a guest post for Stacey's blog Love and Photographs today, check it out!!

3/52: A Year of Little Resolutions

So last week my resolution of the week was to work on my organization. I relied heavily on a planner while I was in high school and college, and while I do use my iPhone for appointments, I like being able to see months at a time and write notes down. I got this great little Filofax organizer that I can keep in my purse or on my desk. I love the aquamarine color, too! My biggest messy area is my desk since that's where I spend most of my time. It can be so easy to just let mail stack up and then forget about it, so I bought a desk organizer and some file folders. I made labels like "to do," "bills," "finance," "receipts," "medical," and "wedding." That way, when I get things I can just put them right into the corresponding folder. I know it will make things a lot easier for me and my desk will be so much cleaner! Also, post it notes are becoming my bff.

 ta da! so much more organized!

This week I'm tackling what the majority of people chose as their New Year's Resolution..getting back to the gym! I have a lot of motivation to get fit and toned {hello, wedding in 4 months!} so I'm ready to get back in there! I already have a couple hikes planned for this week and I'm going to do some strength training at the gym with my hot trainer aka the fiance! Wish me luck!

Are any of you going to do a little resolution this week? If so, tell me about it!

xox