Hello 🙂 I hope you all had a lovely weekend and aren’t dreading being back at work today too much. And if you are one of those lucky few that isn’t sitting at a desk reading this right now, I envy you greatly 😉 This was a different weekend for me than most, but not necessarily in a bad way. It made me think a lot about a couple of things going on in my life right now and helped me to develop a deeper perspective, so that’s good I suppose. I also really love the fact that it rained most of the last few days – there is nothing I love more in life than a big storm while I am at home and can read while I drink tea and listen to the rain hit the skylights.
Anyway, on Friday night my parents were extra adorable and went to a nearby bed-and-breakfast with some couple friends of theirs for the night, so Chris and I hung out with my 14 year old sister so she didn’t have to be alone with the dog all night. We took her to Target (our second trip in one day….) so she could get a gift for a birthday party she had the next day, and then we all went to Boston’s (a pretty fun sports bar) for dinner. They have this florentine pizza that I really love and get every time – I think it has artichokes, spinach, basil, sundried tomatoes, and some other random stuff on it that somehow all works together. Once we got home we took Maizy (the dog) for a walk since it was still super nice out and then just played games and watched Food Network for the rest of the night.
My sister came to the gym with us in the morning, and after that we went to Costco and like always, bought way too many things that weren’t on our list but we inevitably needed 😉 The rest of the afternoon was spent finally reorganizing the living room (including adding in some new furniture) and the kitchen. It took way longer than I anticipated, but the makeshift mimosas we made (with some of our Costco ingredients) to drink while we were working definitely helped out.
Probably my favorite thing we did was make sort of a little bar area in the living room. It was simply a shelf that used to hold a TV on top, my pretty but not so practical glasses that rarely get used, some liquor/wine bottles, a bunch of cookbooks, and a few decorations. I love it and cleared up so much space in my kitchen cupboards and on the counters, too. Do you find that the randomly shaped objects in your kitchen take up 75% of the space, simply because there is really no where else to put them? It drives me crazy!
We also replaced the old TV stand with a similar one to the photo above, which the cats were just obsessed with playing in. They especially loved the boxes that we are using to store our records in for some reason?
Later in the day on Saturday I got ready to go meet my friend for a wine tasting in a nearby city to me called Royal Oak. It took place at the local farmers market (which was thankfully indoors) and had a ton of vendors passing out wine samples and a huge appetizer table in the center of the space. There were also a few vendors that you could buy things from (jewelry, signs, desserts, etc.) and a band playing awesome covers. We had such a good time trying tons of new wines and doing some of the best people watching of my life, mainly keeping an eye on all the people on the dance floor. They also had a photo booth, but those pictures came out pretty rough, so this is all you get 😉
Sunday was the usual – church, gym, laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning, a little more clothes organization, watching a new documentary-show called Chef’s Table (AMAZING WATCH IT NOW) on Netflix, and having dinner at my parents house. It was a super productive day, but those busy days always seem to fly by even faster. I wish for once I could just forego my responsibilities on a Sunday and literally lay on the couch all day long doing nothing that I am supposed to be doing. Maybe one day?
Thought for the Week
This is so, so important and something I know that I want to keep at the front of my mind this week. All too often we get into this comfortable state of believing that we are supposed to be a certain way or else people will think less of us. I believe that one of the most admirable things you can do in this world is forget what everyone else is saying or thinking and do what you know is meant for you. It might not be obvious right away, but there is absolutely something for everyone that brings them great passion and excitement. When you love something so much, it makes you want to be great at it and be the best possible version of yourself. It’s really hard to be great at something you don’t love. I’m not sure the exact amount of time, but there is a certain time allowance that is supposedly the right amount to become a “master” at something. And it breaks my heart to think of how many of us are out there becoming “masters” at things we hate, just because we think we have to do them, and pushing what we really love and want to pursue to the side.
So this week I promise to take my own steps closer to what makes me come alive, not what I think is necessary. Sure, people face hardships when they quit something that is stable to pursue something maybe erratic, but that they love, but in my experience, it always works out in the end and is more than worth it. The risks that we take in the name of things (or people) we love are the most important ones, because they are scary, require big commitments, and cannot come alive without extremely hard work. But these are the things that make us grow as people and allow us to be strong throughout all aspects of our life.
Any good quotes to share today? I could use a lot for this week!
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