friday i'm in love (the restricted edition)...

Oh. That sounded kinda…
inappropriate….heh….
maybe I should have said
the restrictions edition…

It’s Friday night and
I have spend a quiet night
with Iris-the-laptop
editing photos and
going down the
virtual rabbit hole of
heated hair wraps
and drool-worthy artist studios
and listening to
new-to-me music
while eating popcorn
and drinking
caffeine free diet coke
though after today’s debacle
with the amount of sugar
I accidentally ingested,
I realize caffeine may be the
least of my worries. Heh.

Anyway….on to the Friday links of love! ♥

FRIDAY I’M IN LOVE:

• THIS. Partly because I have a dad that texts like this.
  and it makes my heart warm & fuzzy every time I
  get a text that ends with “love you. bye-bye.”

• I know I don’t leave the island much or when I do
  I don’t go too far, but THIS makes me wanna
  pack my suitcase and go exploring.

• THIS adorable artist….

• I know THIS is not a new movie but if you
  haven’t seen it, you totally should. I sobbed
  at one point…or maybe 2 points…it was
  sooooooo good.

• Maybe I’m just feeling a little sappy but
  I feel like I kinda need THIS.

(captain’s log::day three of temporary restrictions complete)

today was....

a scheduled power outage…

being woken up at 5 am
by a loud bang
and jolting up
in bed thinking
”that’s it. this is obviously
when the furnace blows up.”
(even though there is
no reason at all for me to
think that, it’s just immediately
where my brain goes
instead of to whatever
badassery the FOUR cats
of the house may gotten into
which was exactly the case
as they knocked over the cat tree
again.)

a dentist appointment that I
KNEW I was getting a filling at,
which makes it the worst kind of
appointment because I KNOW it means
a needle. But as usual, they were super sweet
and super understanding and I only
cried a little bit…silently…hahahaha….

buying myself the cutest little
bear/owl/fox mugs & plates
as a reward for said dentist appointment…
yeah, ok…I cried…
but I still WENT so that is
worthy of a cute little bear reward
(AND they were only 94 cents…
NOTHING is ever 94 cents anymore!)

an amazing supper supplied
by chef’s plate
and prepared by chef emma
and fully enjoyed by me!
Seriously soooooo good!

This one was
Thai inspired
chicken spring roll bowls….
mmmmmmmmm.
that chicken!
Soooo good!
This one was definitely a hit.

a little bit of yoga…

I hope that your Thursday was super sweet…
we are one day closer to the weekend! ♥

(captain’s log::day two of temporary restrictions complete)

tuesday truths...pollyanna-positivity warning ahead...

in an effort to
look at the bright side
of the bubble,
i was thinking that
if more restrictions
HAVE to happen,
i guess january is
better than july.

(i also realize it’s easier
for me to say this
lightly
because i know that
i am not nearly affected as others…
my kids are older,
my work is not terribly affected,
my family are all on the island…
even if i can’t see them
right now
i have seen them recently…
and as of yet,
we have all been lucky.)

(the truth of what others
are facing or have faced
is not lost on me.)

but also in a fit of my usual
pollyanna-positivity
i made myself a list of what i
could do for the rest of january.

• yoga

• meditate

• go through my clothes & purge

• draw

• read books and books

• paint

• experiment with the art supplies i never even opened

• zoom call a friend or two

• chefs plate meals

• plan a bathroom reno

• find 2 screwdrivers and a hammer & make that damn bookshelf

• go for a solo hike

• go for a solo drive & ramble some country roads

• write a short story

• sort and purge photos

• finish atypical

• start yellowstone

• plan my garden

• read some poetry

• social media detox

• write a letter to someone

• color my hair something new

• take an online course

• focus only on positive things; avoid negativity

• vision board

and blog, of course.

so that’s the plan
for january
in the big orange house…
♥♥♥♥♥

Friday I'm in Love has been hijacked by a post all about goals...cause...2022... :)

Every year, I set goals.
I set SO many goals.
In fact, it’s possible I set
TOO many goals…
I never hit them all…
I carry them over from one year to
another…and I rarely
cross off what I wanna cross off.

So this year
I decided to try something new.

I am picking 4 areas and setting one
blanket goal for each.
Then each month, I will try
to set mini goals
based on the blanket goals…
confuse you yet?

The other thing
that I am going to do that I
am really, really, REALLY
excited about
is setting 30 day
challenges for myself…
I haven’t decided on what they will be yet
but the first one is
intermittent fasting (the light version, haha).

Other ideas include
30 days of
smoothies,
doodles (likely in October),
yoga,
walks/trails,
adventures,
photography…

:)

2022 - RESOLVE (warning::long post ahead....sorry, heh)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Every year, I choose a word
to set the tone for what I want out of
this coming year…
to set the stage, establish the mood,
create the atmosphere…

to start the year off on a right foot…

I have been doing this since 2008 and some years,
it has worked very well for me;
other years have been a bit of a dud.

I have chosen words like
embrace, adventure, happy, risk,
balance, brave, leap, connect, dare and focus..

Last year, I chose glow
and, honestly, it was one of my
best choices ever.

The other years that I can say
worked really, really well
were unfold and adventure.

But glow?
Glow was fan-frigging-tastic.
And possibly because 2021
was a good year for that kind of thing,
for self care and calm,
for being introspective, for spending time
focused on me…
when I chose that word,
I was picturing intrinsic happiness…
happiness from within.
And that’s what I got.

I did things for me and by myself.
I pushed myself out of my comfort zones,
I allowed myself comfort when I needed it.
I adventured and created and rested and
made decisions all based on what I felt
I needed most…not what I thought others
might think, or want, or judge.

I looked after me.
And it was a fantastic year.

Like, seriously, a FANTASTIC year. ♥

This year, I didn’t contemplate my word
for long…it was like it came to me
immediately…no hmming and hawing,
no wondering if it’s the right word…
the word RESOLVE just popped into my head
and left no room for any other words.

I feel like I start a lot of things,
I talk about what I want to do,
what I should do, what I need to do…
but if you know me, you know I often
don’t do any of these things.

The definitions of resolve is
to decide firmly on a course of action…
a firm determination to do something.

And that really spoke to me.
Loudly. With all caps and exclamation marks.

So, hello 2022.
C’mon in. I’m ready for you.

Happy new year to anyone that still
shows up to read this…heehee.
I mostly keep this blog as a bit of a journal
and accountability tool for myself
but I appreciate anyone that takes the
time to stop by my little weird
and random corner of the internet-world.
I hope you have a year of laughter, health and
happiness! ♥