Monday Meanderings: The 11 Pound Edition

Hey Everyone! Hope you guys had a great weekend 🙂 We are just steam-rolling through March, aren’t we? And to everyone who will have problems adjusting this week to the lost hour of sleep from last night, solidarity my friends. This week will be tough for all of us 😉

So, I’ve mentioned that I am making changes with my eating habits to feel better. I have also started exercising. Not as often as I would like, but something is always better than nothing right? Well suffice to say, I’ve lost weight! 🙂 Since the last time I weighed myself which was back in the middle of January, I have lost 11 pounds!!! Woo hoo! Heck yeah, baby! I totally am not someone who weighs themselves on a religious basis and I also do not think a scale tells the full story. I always judge my weight loss by how my clothes fit, and I noticed that they have become looser and I can finally fit into a pair of jeans I haven’t worn in over a year. *cue all the happiness emojis you can think of* I am still not at an ideal weight that I would personally like, but that’s okay.  I am just going to keep doing what I have been doing and take it day by day. Slow and steady wins the race, right? 🙂

Easter is this month and I need to figure out what we are doing. At least I got my daughter’s Easter basket taken care of, so that’s good. No last-minute runs to the store to get overpriced stuff!

Speaking of the kiddo, we’ve been playing Chutes and Ladders. One of those weird time warp things that happen when you become a parent and are playing board games with your kid that you yourself played as a child.

On the book front, I am currently reading W is For Wasted by the talented Sue Grafton. This book is the latest in the alphabet mystery series which I really enjoy reading. I am hooked so far!

Super glad that baseball season is back, even if it is only the spring training pre-season games 🙂 I plan on making it to an actual game this summer now that I am back in California. Go Angels!!!

What is going on in your world? I want to know!

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Monday Meanderings: Last Week of February Edition

Happy Monday to everyone! Time for another edition of Monday Meanderings with yours truly.

Anyone else in denial that it is the last full week of February? Anyone else in denial that Downton Abbey is ending for good? *cue all the feelings* I love this show, like seriously love this show and have been enthralled since the very first season. I don’t want the saga of the Crawley family to end and I want to know when they will be back on my screen. Movie theatre or television screen, it doesn’t matter. I want to know what happens!

My family and I made our way to Huntington Beach recently for some lunch and general amusement.

My view from the restaurant where we ate lunch:

My view from the pier:

Huntington Beach is my favorite SoCal beach and I am definitely going to make it a priority to get out there more often 🙂

I know many of you have probably heard Adele’s “Hello” more times than you care to remember. But I still love the song and my daughter and I sing the song together every time it comes on the radio. You should hear us belt out “Hello from the other siiiiiiide. At least I can say that I triiiiiied” 🙂 As I said, I know the song came out months ago and I still love it, but the problem is now I cannot say the word “hello” properly on the phone. When my husband calls me on the phone and I answer and say “hello”, it is hard for me to not continue with “it’s me. I was wondering if after all these years you’d like to meet”. No really, it’s a problem. If I just say “hi” when I answer, than the song can’t immediately leap into my head, so that’s what I’ve been doing. Sigh… #adelefanproblems

Anybody else had it up to here with politics? I think at this point, November can’t come fast enough for this to all be over. Wait, depends on who gets the nomination. And now we’ve come full circle…

Glad that baseball season is around the corner (Go Angels!) But glad my hockey team is currently doing well in the standings (Go Ducks! )

Have a great week ♥

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Monday Meanderings: The Holidays Are Upon Us Edition!

Hey Everyone! Hope you guys had a great Thanksgiving 🙂 And to the readers in other parts of the world, I hope you had a great week!

Well let’s catch up, shall we?

I mentioned last week that I was taking the week off from blogging and it is a good thing I did, because I got sick with a bad head cold. Ugh… Bad timing immune system, bad timing. I made the best of it, because honestly what else can you do, but I am still under the weather. But hey, at least my head doesn’t feel like it is going to explode from all the congestion and sinus pressure, so at least that is a good thing! 😉

Luckily, the worst of my sickness occurred after Thanksgiving, literally the day after, so I was able to make a pumpkin pie with my kiddo. It was almost from scratch because I used a store-bought crust, but I made it, and it was gluten-free! Absolutely delicious, let me tell you! And my 5-year-old helper agreed. She kept asking, “Mommy, is there any more pumpkin pie left?” several times on Friday, but sadly that puppy was all gone. Inhaled by everyone 🙂

We also took the kiddo to see Santa Claus and get her picture taken with him. She was excited and told him what she wants and received a candy cane for coming to see him 🙂 Too cute!

On another note, the whole “Elf on a Shelf” thing freaks me out. The elf seems to always be looking at you no matter where you happen to be standing, and I know if I was a small kid, that thing would terrify me. Isn’t there another way to let your kids know that being good is the preferred option other than resorting to the creepy elf? Just saying…

I am super excited friends, that the holiday season is in full swing! It is truly my favorite time of the year!!

How was your Thanksgiving? Are you creeped out by the “Elf on the Shelf”?

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Monday Meanderings: End of October Edition

End of October…wow, did I really just type that?

It has been a while since I did a Monday Meanderings post, where I ramble talk about what is currently going on in this neck of the woods. A break from the norm is always nice 🙂

In “I-didn’t-see-that-coming” news, I don’t know if you guys know this or not but Oregon does not have sales tax, and in the short time I lived there, I got used to that fun fact pretty quickly 😉 So it has been a bit of a “sticker shock” of sorts being back home here in California when I purchase something, and the total is not the same as the subtotal. #notinoregonanymore

My kiddo is in kindergarten and me…well, I am all over the place. I can’t seem to get into a routine or a schedule and she has homework (yes, kindergarteners have homework), and with this, that, and the other… I have just honestly been overwhelmed. Couple all that with all the things/items/tasks that I have been doing since we moved back and I am like Calgon come take me away!! See, I am a person that craves routine. I am not a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of person, and never have been. So I feel like I have been spinning like a tornado and honestly, I just want to land somewhere. I know life will calm down in a manner of speaking and I will get on some semblance of a schedule, but until then, the spinning continues… But I did purchase a planner that will help with not forgetting everything all the time so that is a start. And even though its says 2016 on the front, the planner began with this past summer, so I can use it right away 🙂

We went to the pumpkin patch and I currently have pumpkins in my kitchen waiting to be carved into jack-o-lanterns 🙂

I don’t want to get into politics or anything (no really, I don’t), but can I just say how tired I am of who is running, who is not running, who said what, who didn’t say what…I mean November 2016 is sooooooo far away, and I am already burnt out on it all. And we still have a year to go…sigh…

Hoping to finally go the library this week and get a library card here in my new town. I’ve been so busy, I haven’t even had a chance to do that and for a huge bookworm like me, that is truly a travesty! 😉

Wanted to give a shout-out to my friend Laurie over at Fruclassity. I really liked her post Does Less “Stuff” Equal Less Busy. Good food for thought and also her post mentions Laura Ingalls Wilder, and that is always a good thing!

I am really, really glad that Halloween is finally this weekend and am totally looking forward to taking my girl trick-or-treating 🙂

What is going on with you guys? I want to know! Also, come hang out with me on Instagram Would love to say hi to you!

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Monday Meanderings: The Sequel

Hey Everyone! We are halfway though the month and still battling the summer heat. I bet many a reader is ready for fall and some cooler weather, amiright? 😉

Off to the donation station!

I have been getting rid of clothes. I went though my closet and really looked at each item and really asked myself if I actually do wear the item and if not, it went into the donation pile. Also anything that had holes or was ripped, came off the hanger and into a pile as well. I am someone who hangs onto clothes until they literally shred into pieces people… Like, seriously, that’s how I roll, so some of the things were hard to let go of, but I know it really is for the best. I did end up filling several bags, so that’s a good thing right? Now, all I have in my closet are pieces that I absolutely and truly wear, and there is no more standing in front of my closet, staring at my clothes, wondering what I am going to wear. Now I know! 🙂

The school my daughter will be attending for kindergarten sent out a list of all the things I need to get for her, so I will be officially joining the throngs of parents who have to back-to-school shop for their kids. I am now part of the club 😉 By the way, if you are looking to save money on this particular task, check out my friend Shannon’s post over at The Heavy Purse.

A book I just finished reading that I really loved was Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider, the creator of The Art of Simple. Absolutely great book for anyone to read but especially as a mom, I really enjoyed the parts of the book where she talks about having a homemaking/household binder (which I do) and how to streamline and simplify your life when you have young kiddos. I give the book two thumbs up!

Anyone else counting the days till Trader Joe’s has this in stock? I know I am not the only one!! 😉

My friend Tonya over at Budget and the Beach made a hilarious video about what it is REALLY LIKE to be a freelancer. It is not full of martini lunches and long days at the beach, if that’s what you thought! Go check out her post, I swear you’ll love it!

What’s been going on in your world? I want to know! 🙂

 

 

 

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Monday Meanderings

It’s a new week Random Path readers! Can you believe, I mean truly believe, that we are in the last week of July? I think I speak for all of us when I say that, whoever it is that has their finger on the fast-forward button, can you ease up a bit? K, thanks 😉

So I kinda want to talk to you guys as if we were meeting up for coffee and just chillin’ over some iced cold frappaccinos, specifically mocha because that’s my favorite ♥

So if we were meeting up for coffee, I would tell you that:

The stores already have back-to-school stuff like, pencils, erasers, backpacks, etc… and I almost started bawling in the store because my daughter starts kindergarten in a little over a month and I was FEELING ALL THE FEELINGS. How do I have a soon-to-be kindergartener? How did this happen and where did the time go? Wahhhhhhhh… Just so you know, on her first day of school, I am going to be a wreck and will probably be sobbing. Note to self; do not wear mascara that day. No need to scare everyone looking like some sort of demented raccoon.

I would tell you that I have been reading up on meditation and Gabrielle Bernstein’s Miracles Now is a really good book for dealing with anxiety and stress and she talks a lot about meditation. Even if I can get 5 minutes to just breathe and clear my mind, that would be awesome 🙂

While drinking our iced cold coffee, I would tell you that I have writing ambitions and want to grow my blog and put myself out there more. And if you have any insights or tips on that to share, I would absolutely welcome it!

I would tell you that I think about our move to California every single day and I can’t wait for the day that I am back on my home turf. Don’t have an actual moving date yet, but it will be in the next few months.

As we are thinking about whether we should order another frappaccino because we slurped down the first one so fast, I would tell you that I am excited for fall. I am excited because pre-season football is right around the corner. I am excited for fall because with fall comes pumpkin-themed everything including COFFEE! Because well, coffee. I am excited for fall because my favorite TV shows come back with new seasons.

So Random Path readers, if we were to meet up for coffee, what would you tell me? 🙂

 

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