Life – Page 17 – simplify the chaos

My Fitness Pal = new obsession

Hello hello!

First things first . . . I have seriously been slacking on the blog front. The last few days have been crazy at work and we were out of town this weekend. It was fun whirlwind but I’m so thankful to relax and catch my breath!

At first, I was really stressed about trying to fit some blogging in. As my About Me will tell you, I’m a recovering perfectionist and I don’t like not being able to do something well. However, I came to terms with the fact that the whole point of this blog is to simplify the chaos that life can become. It’s about choosing joy and not perfection. It’s about striking a balance and living a life well. So if the blog itself has to fall by the wayside because life happens, so be it! Squeezing in a blog post is not worth it if it sucks my last drops of energy or takes time away from relaxing and recharging with my family. So here I am, ready for action!

My Fitness Pal

Over the weekend, I went into Target (harmless enough) and started checking out their clothes (typically not harmless . . . on my wallet). I found the cutest pair of skinny jeans and I eagerly headed to the dressing room to try them on. Five agonizing minutes later, I left the dressing room not so eagerly. Let’s just say, the skinny jeans went on after a lot of effort, but they did not look flattering at all. Six months ago they would’ve fit like a glove. What happened?!

On my wedding day, I was in the best shape of my life. Yes, of course, I was motivated by that dress! But more than that, my lifestyle was also different. It was easy for me to make salads, work out every day after school, and still have a life. Justin was away at school, and I lived with roommates (translation: 1/3 of the cleaning, dishes, household chores, etc) so I had more free time to make healthy decisions.

Now that I’m married, I don’t have as much free time. I have a 40 minute commute, so I get home later than before. I cook meals (mostly) every night so I’m eating a lot more. With Justin in med school, most of the household chores fall on me and I also have a puppy to take care of. It’s just busier. I have a friend I work out with a few times a week but it’s clearly not enough. I need a change!

This weekend I discovered an app called MyFitnessPal and I’m already obsessed! It is so simple and really helps keep me accountable. I have done food journals before, but they never last longer than a few weeks because I’ll forget to take the journal with me, or I won’t remember everything I ate, or I just don’t think to write it down, blah, blah, blah. I need something simple and effective, or I won’t be able to stick with it. MyFitnessPal is my solution!

This app is ridiculously awesome. It has so many food pre-programmed in to log in my daily “diary” but it also has a barcode scanner so if I have the package a food comes in (like my breakfast cereal), it will scan it and all of the nutritional info comes up! I can adjust the serving sizes based on what I actually eat to make it a little more accurate. I love that it is on my phone, so it’s always accessible, and it’s simple. I don’t have the time to stick with crazy diet plans (and frankly, I love food too much for diets!) and I don’t have the patience to add something complex to my schedule. This is a quick and easy and I can still eat my normal food.

Even though I’m not convinced the caloric count is super accurate, this app definitely makes me more aware of what I’m eating and has helped me make some better choices. I can also track my exercise and it “negates” those calories from my daily intake. Simple–just the way I like it! Learn more about it here.

Happy Monday!

***

I’ve got some outfits to catch up on!

Thursday:

Shirt: Express, Skirt: Laundry by Shelli Segal, Grey pumps: Bandolino, Necklace: Lia Sophia

(Casual) Friday:

Sweater: Anthropologie, Cami: Target, Jeggings: American Eagle, Boots: CL by Laundry, Necklace: Lia Sophia

Today:

Shirt: Old Navy, Skirt: Target, Tights: Express, Boots: Forever 21, Jewelry: bought in Africa

Macie’s Blog Debut!

I just realized that while I have talked about my puppy a few times on the blog, I haven’t properly introduced you to her.

Meet Macie!

Those pictures are from the first day we got her when she was eight weeks old. I know I know. Cutest puppy you’ve ever seen, right?

**Side note: When we first got Macie, we decided to announce our “new baby” on Facebook with this:

Everyone has a cute pregnancy announcement; why not have a cute puppy announcement? This was a simple and fun way to tell friends about our new family member!

Macie is now a 5 1/2 month old puppy and she is a constant bundle of energy. She flies around the house and is the biggest source of entertainment to Justin and I. Some of her favorite things include:

CAR RIDES. On any given day, a car ride with Macie will either look like this…

Or (more often than not) this…

For whatever reason, Macie loves to sit on top of my shoulders when we are in the car. She wants to be able to see everything and I guess she thinks that is the best viewpoint!

Macie also loves finding sticks at the park.

We’re still trying to work with her on proportions. 😉

Other hobbies include running, chewing, fetching, tug-of-war-ing (yup, I made that a word) and invading personal space. The last one is a biggie. Case in point:

Things Macie does NOT love: getting dressed up by Mommy and…baths.

Needless to say, after her first “bath,” we were both more than a little frustrated.

Since coming into our lives, Macie has cemented herself in our hearts—we adore her! She is the most lovable pup ever and I can’t imagine our family without her! I could gush about her all day (and I am known to whip out my cell phone to show anyone who seems even remotely interested at least 10 pictures of her doing cute things) but I think this was sufficient for her first spotlight on the blog. 🙂

Happy “Hump” Day!

***

Who actually follows the “no white after Labor Day” rule? Not this girl! Today’s outfit was perhaps a bit “spring-y” but I really don’t care. I need some bright colors when the weather gets dreary!

Cardigan: Old Navy

Flower tank: Old Navy

White tank underneath: Mossimo (Target)

White dress pants: New York & Co.

Shoes: Fergalicious by Fergie

Sore butt, Happy heart

This weekend, Justin and I had visitors! One of Justin’s best friends from childhood, Caitlin, came to visit us and she brought her boyfriend Ryan. Justin and I both feel like we have been traveling a lot lately so it was nice to get to stay put for a weekend and have people come to us!

Caitlin and Ryan are both active, outdoorsy people like Justin and I so we took advantage of a beautiful (albeit chilly) Saturday to go for a bike ride!

We chose a trail that follows a local river. The river was so calm and still that the golden leaves of the trees reflected clearly off the surface. It was such a fun ride!

Justin and I had to borrow bikes from some friends since we don’t have our own.

We started out really positive and excited but by the end, our butts were HURTING. Our friends are about the same size as us but the bikes weren’t quite adjusted right for us and the seats were not padded at all. By the end of our 7+ mile ride, we were both very sore! We still had a ton of fun though.

We took a break at the halfway point of our ride for a photo shoot. There was a cute little bridge there for us to prop up our camera on and take some pics.

Ever had one of these self-timed jumping picture fails? We had several! They were all pretty hilarious to look back through though.Success!! What a great weekend with some awesome friends!

Happy Monday!

***

We had such a busy weekend that I was exhausted last night. I got to bed early and woke up feeling refreshed! I chose bright, refreshing colors for today’s outfit.

Shirt: Express

Pencil skirt: Express

Shoes: Maurices

Necklace: Premier Designs

Bracelet: Gift from South Africa

Casual Friday Lovin’

I have a new fall obsession. Trader Joe’s Spiced Cider! Oh. My. Goodness.

Normally I am not a warm drink person. I like my drinks to be cold. I don’t drink coffee or tea and when I do have “hot” chocolate, I actually prefer for it to be room temperature. I put tons of ice in all my drinks to make sure they stay cold. I know, I know. I’m weird.

Every fall I look forward to a big glass of apple cider but I always drink it cold. However, the last time I was in Trader Joe’s they had this out for samples and it was served hot. I decided to ignore my freaky-weird cold drink obsession and try it anyways. So thankful I did! It is the perfect blend of delicious spices and one sip warms my whole body! Fabulous! We served it warm at our Halloween party and it was a huge hit. Luckily, I bought enough from TJ’s that we still had a gallon left for Justin and I to enjoy. Perfect warm drink for this chilly evening!

***

This week at school seemed extra long but Casual Friday finally came! Am I the only person who looks forward to wearing jeans at work? There’s something about it that just makes me happy!

Shirt: Express

Black skinny jeans: Maurices

Flats: Fergalicious by Fergie

Necklace: Bluetique

Bangle set: shopruche.com

It’s beginning to look a lot like . . .

Today I opened my mailbox and instantly felt my mood lift!!

My first holiday magazine arrived!

I love all holidays but I have to admit that I have a special place in my heart for Christmas. It’s just so gosh darn jolly! I love the decorations, the lights, the merriment, the food, the festivities . . . I could go on forever! Justin actually told me at the dinner table last night that he is ready to consider putting up decorations! I was shocked. Normally he is not so big on decorating but I think I have rubbed off on him a bit. 🙂 I am still going to wait for decorations but I may start some Christmas music soon!

***

I adore maxi dresses and love finding ways to transition them from summer to fall. Today I added boots, a bright scarf, and long sweater to make the look appropriate for cooler weather.

11-07 Bracelets

Maxi dress: Modcloth

Sweater: Express

Scarf: Bought in India

Belt: Bluetique

Bangles: shopruche.com

Operation Stress-Free Christmas Card: Step #2

Last week, I wrote a blog post about my attempt to have a stress-free Christmas card this year. I can officially say that I am getting closer!

I wanted a simple, but cute set-up for our card. Justin and I are fun-loving people so I wanted the picture to reflect that part of our personalities as well.

First, I set the scene. I found an old lace curtain in storage in our basement (we are renting and the crawl space has a ridiculous amount of stuff left over from previous tenants. Sometimes it’s annoying, but in this case, it was very helpful!)

I hung the curtain against a cream colored wall with small push pins. The tacks left very little trace and since the curtain was light, they were strong enough to hold it up. Then I strung two strands of white lights in columns across the lace background. The tacks came in very handy because they also held the light strands up.

I then put our teeny pre-strung fake Christmas tree (I got it for $7 at a yard sale in college!) by the edge of the lace for a little extra festivity. I put a green comforter on the ground and voila! (Pardon the dim picture . . . these were taken on my camera phone which does not adjust to light well)

Our Christmas photo-shoot was set up! It took 15 minutes tops and cost me nothing. I count that as a very successful stress-free step!

The lights in the basement are not super bright, so we kept them on while taking the picture. It kept our faces well illuminated but still showed the lights on the tree and background well. We set up the timer, put our camera on a chair at our eye level, and got into position!

What do you think? I personally love how it turned out! I bought Macie’s puppy hat here and already had the elf hat and antlers from previous years. I think they added a touch of fun, which was perfect for us!

Not gonna lie, taking a picture with a puppy was far from stress-free. She was not a big fan of her hat and it took about 30 takes to get her to pose. In the end, we had about 3 good ones to choose from (most were blurry fails) but the rest were pretty funny to see. We ended up having a lot of fun!

Please mom, are we done now??

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Ahhhhhh I can’t even handle her cuteness sometimes!! She did a good job for a puppy. Proud of my girl!

Step #3 will involve actually putting together a card, but for now, I’m happy with my progress!

***

Today’s outfit was simple with a touch of flair in the jewelry. I love pops of color!

Drape-neck sweater: Express

Lace cami: Express

Casual khaki pants: Maurices

Brown flats: SO* (they are old…possibly bought at Kohl’s?)

Necklace & earrings: Lia Sophia

Candy Corn Overload

I am on candy overload.

We had absolutely NO trick-or-treaters come to our house on Halloween and therefore have an abundance of candy leftover. I took a ton to school today because as you can imagine, it is not a good idea to leave that stuff lying around our house. Too tempting!

I also had a TON of candy corn left over. I didn’t want to bring that to school but I also didn’t want to have it all around the house. Here’s what I came up with.

candles

I have to confess that I saw something similar on Pinterest using votive candles but I tweaked it to use mason jars. We can a lot of food so we have a seemingly endless supply of mason jars. I picked three different sizes (decor looks best in odd numbers), threw some cream candles in the center, and surrounded them with a few handfuls of candy corn. I also had some thin orange ribbon stashed away and I used a few pieces to tie bows for a nice finishing touch. (Don’t judge the bows…I am notoriously bad at tying bows and this is about as good as it gets for me.)

Simple? Check.

Easy? Check.

Budget-friendly? Check

My kind of decoration! And I figure candy corn is”fall” enough that I can leave it up through Thanksgiving. Yes!

I clustered these three together but I still have a ton of candy corn left so I may put a few solo candle jars around the house for a more festive feel.

***

Today’s outfit was based on my energy level. I think I finally caught that extra hour of sleep that we got with Daylight Savings and I woke up feeling energized and ready to go! I wanted a nice bold color to match that energy level and it doesn’t get much more bold than cherry red! However, I was so energized that I left for school early and forgot to take a picture so you’re stuck with a lovely selfie from the teacher bathroom. Classy, huh?

11-05 Outfit

Cardigan: Express

Lace cami: Old Navy

Grey dress pants: Maurices

Shoes: Fergalicious by Fergie

Necklace: Premier Jewelry

Bracelet set: Express

Time to get fancy!

This weekend Justin and I got to attend a formal gala for his medical school. We are so not fancy people and prefer to lounge around the house in our sweatpants (which we may or may not be doing right now as I type this . . .) but it was fun to get dressed up and have a special night out!

Before taking off to the gala, we met up with some friends to take pictures.

My handsome date and I. (Side note: I got my dress from a store called D.E.B. in the spring during prom dress season. As soon as I saw it on the rack, I knew it would be perfect for this evening!)

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Aren’t my friends absolutely gorgeous!? The color-coordinating was totally unplanned by the way. Black and red seemed to be the popular colors at this event!

The event took place at a breathtakingly beautiful luxury resort. After sitting down to a delicious meal (various types of pasta, shrimp, roast turkey, vegetables, fruit, and tons of delicate macaroons and tarts for dessert!), we danced for a while and then took off to explore the resort. The rooms seemed never ending and they were all just so grand! There were luxurious bars, cozy seating areas, marble floors, huge windows, and elegant ballrooms. I felt like a princess roaming her castle. And the place was already decorated for Christmas which just made it even more stunning.

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I love this picture of my friends! They got tired and sat down in these chairs in a hallway and I snapped a picture quick. How cool is the lighting? So warm and cozy!

We also hit up the casino in the basement. Justin and I are not gamblers at all, but we decided to have some fun with it and agreed to spend $20 and just see what happened.

P1040927

We split it and each took $10. Justin lost everything on one bid in roulette, and I decided to try out a slot machine. I ended up winning $82! Technically I only got $62 because we spent $20 but it was so much fun!

We had a GREAT night! Now off to cozy up next to my love (in our comfy sweatpants) and watch The Voice. The gala was fun, but I can’t get enough of special time at home with my hubby–no fancy dress needed!

***

For today’s outfit, I wanted to keep it classic. Black is hard to mess up and I just love the texture of this jacket!

Jacket: Maurices

Cami: Express

Black Dress Pants: Express

Wedge shoes: Target

Necklace: Premier Jewelry

Halloween Party Time!

I have always loved Halloween, and this year was no different!

Justin and I hosted a Halloween party Thursday night and it was so much fun!

I had high hopes of creating some type of “family” costume theme for us, but when we saw a cute bumblebee costume for dogs at a thrift store ($2!!), we just had to get it. So Macie was a bee, I was Little Bo Peep, and Justin was my “lost” sheep. I have to give Justin credit; while I was working on the food preparation, he was slaving away gluing all those cotton balls on his t-shirt. That’s commitment to a costume!

For the party decorations, I wanted to keep it fun and festive without causing too much work. I tend to like more classic, simple decorations and don’t often go for the loud, somewhat cheesy decor. I made a few simple pennant banners to hang around the house.

I just cut out black and orange triangles and created patterns on each orange pennant with an orange marker. I then taped them to a black ribbon and hung them around the house. I also had some scrapbook supplies so I used perforated letters to add a festive “boo” to this banner. The banners were f-r-e-e- since I already had all the supplies.

I also made a “photo booth” using a black tablecloth and a super-stretchy spider web. I already had the tablecloth and the spider web cost $1.97 at Wal-Mart. Simple, easy, and budget-friendly! And it was a huge hit for photos!

How cool are my friends who dressed up as people from Edward Scissorhands!? Their costumes were so awesome!

For the table, I bought a cheap plastic tablecloth ($.97 at Wal-Mart). The “table runner” is actually four black placemats found at the dollar store for $1 each. The paper lanterns and skeleton were also $1 each. The black paper plates were $.97 at Wal-Mart and orange-and-black polka-dot napkins were $.97 a pack. I got two packs of each. Total spent on four placemats, decorations, plates, and napkins = $13. Not bad!

Food was SUPER simple. I made mummy and ghost cookies the night before, and my friend Lindsay brought adorable mummy dogs.

I found an EASY recipe for a “pumpkin” cheeseball here. It was delicious and everyone commented on how cute it looked! It was covered in Doritos and I loved the extra crunch!

I put the left-over Doritos from the cheeseball coating in a tiered serving bowl with orange-and-black drizzled yogurt-covered pretzels and candy corn.

Since many of our guests were in med school, I figured I should also have a healthy snack so I threw together a quick and easy veggie jack-o-lantern. I wish the picture turned out a little better but several people told me how cute it was and it was super easy so I count it as a win.

Overall, the party cost me around $50 and was SO much fun!! My biggest tips on throwing a successful Halloween party would be:

1-Use white plates/serveware to display food. It makes the presentation so much nicer and matching is SO easy so it all looks put together.

2-Keep decorations simple. A nicely presented table and a few key decorated locations are all you really need to make the atmosphere fun and festive!

3-Try to do as much ahead of time as possible so you can be in a calm, relaxed mood for the actual party! I loved that once people showed up, I could just enjoy hanging out and not rush around trying to finish things.

4- When it comes to food, find easy, budget-friendly recipes. Don’t feel like you need to have super extravagant dishes or decorate like a Cake Boss.

5-HAVE FUN! That’s what the Holidays are all about!!

***

Friday was a Jeans day at school and I was pretty tired from the Halloween party so I kept it casual and easy!

Sweater: Takeout

Cami: Maurices

Jeans: American Eagle

Flats: Fergalicious by Fergie

Necklace: Lia Sophia

Halloween Procrastination

I am way late on yesterday’s blog post! After school, I hit the ground running with preparations for the Halloween party Justin and I are throwing tonight. After several trips to the dollar store (and, I confess, I even caved and went to Wal-Mart), I had plenty of decorations and ingredients for everything I needed!

Two things I love are the holidays and hosting people at my house. Put them together and I am one happy girl; however, the night before the hosted holiday party, I’m typically one stressed-out girl. This is mostly because I tend to procrastinate. One way I tried to cut out the most stress this time was with food preparation. Our party is after dinner so I knew I just wanted finger food and treats. My requirements for the food were: quick (due to procrastination), easy, budget-friendly, and able to be made ahead of time! I’m a bit of a procrastinator, so waiting until the day before limited my options, but I’m happy with the results!

Let’s be honest. As much as I love things to look cute and festive, I also know my limits as far as time and skill. Decorated cupcakes and cookies look so great (and relatively simple) in pictures, but I know I just do not have six hours to figure how how to decorate them and then actually do the decorating. As as for the intricate decorations, my skill level would fall embarrassingly short. The simple process with making these treats was much more my speed.

I started with Oreo “mummies.” If you are an Oreo freak like me, these are going to be right up your alley.

Step 1: I purchased a package of Oreos (double-stuf of course!) and vanilla candy coating.

Step 2: Follow the directions on the package to melt the candy coating. For me, this meant heating for one minute, stirring, and heating for 15 more seconds. Then I dropped an Oreo in the goo and used a spoon to cover it with the coating.

Step 3: I lifted the Oreos out with a toothpick (to let the extra coating drip off) and placed them on parchment paper to cool and harden.

Step 4: I used white cookie icing and drew it back and forth to make the “mummy” wrap. I then put mini chocolate chips on each cookie for the eyes.

Step 5: Let the mummies completely cool and harden before storing.

See? Quick and easy!

I also employed a similar tactic to make super simple “ghost” cookies.

This time I did the same thing, but with Nutter Butter cookies. I added the mini chocolate chips to make eyes and a mouth. I think this could also be easily adjusted to make snowmen cookies at Christmastime!

From start to finish, this whole project took about an hour to make tons of cookies. The candy coating cools quickly and once they were cooled, I just put them all in an airtight container so they’re ready to go for tonight! I’m so excited! And the whole thing cost under $15. Yes!

Have a happy Halloween!

***

Yesterday was so chaotic I had to just snap a quick photo at school. It was an Express kind of day 🙂

Sweater: Express

Ruffle Tank: Express

Cream Pencil Skirt: Express

Peep-toe Pumps: Lulu Townsend

Necklace: New York & Co.

I may as well post today’s outfit too since tonight will be party time! Since it’s Halloween, we were allowed to dress up. Comfy scrubs all day? Yes please!

Label-less scrubs: From my husband’s closet 🙂