Wednesday Wisdom

I saw this on Pinterest and it really hit home for me. It's something I've been working on and really helps when looking at the blessings in your life. I highly suggest taking this online quiz {and encouraging family, friends, co-workers, significant others etc} to as well. It really helps you understand each other better, and the was we express/receive love and appreciate best. Especially with the holiday's approaching and spending time with people you love, but don't always see eye-to-eye with!!

The Weekend ~ 30 Days of Thanks

After a crazy week of fast-paced work, learning new software to actually do work, picking up a project that got dropped by one of my fashion show committee members in addition to the non-stop e-mails that come with my own projects, moving offices and working out I could not be looking forward to the weekend. Slow down for a day. Get a blow out. Sleep. My own time and hopefully some actual beautiful fall weather!

Good Coffee -30 Days of Thanks

There is no denying that San Francisco is the land of the gourmet and the land of hipsters (do those things even go together?). Not only does that combination produce new, cutting edge meals but also really good, artisan coffee. I don't consider myself a coffee snob at all. I'll drink whatever, but the stronger the better.

My boyfriend on the other hand is a flat out, 100% coffee snob {he did get pretty excited about a 'peppermint mocha with extra sprinkles' when I told him the Starbucks red cups were coming out, but I didn't tell you that}. When we drives me to work in the morning we stop at a little place near my house that roasts their own beans, but his favorite by far is Ritual Coffee. Hitting up the good places several times a week, I have definitely noticed the difference in quality. There's a lovely 'roasted' taste to the small names like Blue Bottle and Ritual that you just don't find a Starbucks and I'm grateful to have these options right outside my door. On the flip side, these artisan coffee do come with a price. Yes, I appreciate the taste, but I'm also thankful because when I do go slumming it at Starbucks I feel like my $4.00 latte is a steal!

My Smart Phone - 30 Days of Thanks

via weheartit

Like a lot of us, my smart phone is my life. I have the world at my finger tips; family, old friends, new friends, weather, bus schedule, google {the answer to any question you could ever have}, e-mail, blogger...literally everything. I've heard every arguement for and against the constant contact with the world it provides, but I relay on it primarily as my schedule maker, my list keeper and my life organizer. I've very much considered swapping in my phone for an old school nokia and just upgrading to an iPad mini...but it just won't fit in a clutch.  I really don't know how I would make it through my day or life without it.

Days 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 - 30 Days of Thanks

As it's November 5th, I'm a little behind on my 30 Days of Thanks. I decided to kick it off with 5 things in my life I'm thankful for:

Clean Roommates

In addition to liking nice things, I'm also a little OCD about order and cleanliness especially in my living situation. There is nothing more satisfying that coming home to a room in perfect order, folding back the sheets and slipping into a formerly made bed. I have 3 roommates, all found via Craigslist and I cannot tell you how absolutely lucky I feel that everyone a) appreciates and the value of nice things AND b) appreciates the value in keeping those things and the house nice. Even the guests at our raging Halloween House Party refilled our ice trays and moved the fragile Glitter Pumpkin and fragile candle hurricanes to safe place on the bookshelf before starting a rousing came of kings cup on the coffee table! All of us were up bright and early the next day (in our various hungover states, of course) scrubbing, wiping and vaccuming. Especially with this time of year, filled with lots of tiny, delicate decor I trust them completely and am so thankful I can decorate and not worry!

A Home to Holiday in the Snow

The holiday's are truly my favorite time of the year. The weather cools, you get to bundle up in soft sweaters and snow makes venturing outside of your cozy house, for anything, an adventure. Living in California now makes almost all of those things impossible. Except for getting dark at 5pm, nothing is really 'cozy' about it. You have to bring the holiday's in with decorations and scented candles, but that's the only difference between December 5th and October 5th. The majority of my family lives in the midwest, where I'm from, and I'm able to travel back to the snow covered roads and rooftops for a week to really feel Christmas. The family, the food cooking, the coziness and closeness of Christmas all wrapped up in a variety of homes throughout the midwest. I don't know if I could get through the year without looking forward to that.

My Grandma

I'm a fairly independent person in that I don't really talk to my family all that much. Not that I have a horrible family, but I've never really connected with any of them on a really personal level. I never felt that community, that 'team'. I've felt support to blossom and grow into the person I wanted to be, but there was never a 'we'. It was Mom, Dad, Brother and Me. 4 individuals. In my adult life I've seen how growing up like that has affected my life and relationships in both positive and negative ways. Even though I'm content with my independence I think everyone can agree that there is something amazing about someone you can really connect with. My Grandma has been the closest thing I've had to that. Sure, she's a little stuck in her ways like any older person is, but she's always there to listen and offer her 2 cents on her almost 80 years of experience. I talked to her for 2 hours yesterday about various things in my life and got caught up on the rest of the family (or at least the parts they felt they could share with Grandma). After I got off the phone I realized I don't really have another person in my life I can relate to like that and the fact that she's part of my family makes it so much better. 

Google Drive

Life, applying for jobs and co-chairing a committee this year has made my life pretty hectic. I'm constantly writing lists, documents, notes etc. I need to be able to access them anywhere! When someone calls, when someone e-mails, when I have an idea or need to reference something... Google drive has, amazingly, allowed me to do that and keep myself sane. 

Scented Candles

I love candles. I love how they set the mood with lighting and scent, they can be relaxing and uplifting at the same time. Like I said re: snow above, its hard to get the Holiday feeling I'm used to out here in California. I've recently indulged in a little more candle shopping than usual and I'm excited to get them 'fired' up for the holiday season.

30 Days of Thanks!

If you've followed me the last few months  year you know that I've been trying to refocus my life/mind on positive things. I gave Thankful Thursday's a go and my monthly goals have tried to push Thankfulness and positivity in my life. Ryann, who blogs on Unspeakable Joy is doing "30 Days of Thanks" for the month of November. With a goal of blogging daily about things in your life you are grateful for to bring more attention to them in your life.
I was trying to think of the words to describe why I've been trying to focus on appreciating the things I do have and bringing light to the positive, but Ryann's post I think put's it perfectly.

"These days I have been so selfish and continually looking towards the "next big thing" without truly living in the present and rejoicing in each day. I'm going to be honest, until these past few months, I really had it easy. Everything was so comfortable surrounded by my friends while I was in college, close to home, sure of the most immediate next steps... graduation, marriage, the move, and my first "big girl job". It was all so exciting! But even then, I was still living for the next thing.....

.....But some days I am really lonely. Some days I wonder if I'll ever move on from here to start a career I love. If I'll find friends here. Some days I just question God. "Why Raleigh?" "Why Martha?" "Why this rejection?" Not good, my friends. This month, I want to embrace the many blessings the Lord has given me. God hasn't guaranteed everything is going to be easy, and it is this hardship and struggle and hurt that draw us closer towards him. For that I am SO thankful. Which is why I am moved to share with you each day of the month of one thing I am thankful for. "

Thankful Thursday!

Getting back into the swing of things, Thankful Thursday is back!

Things I've been Thankful for This Week:

1) iGoogle

I've got about 25 balls in the air right now! Work, Junior League, Personal Life, Theta, Travel Planning.... The last time I was this busy was Senior year of college. I used Microsoft Entourage to manage everything back then. I loved that you could filter email to projects, have separate calendar's and to-dos by project and get reminders. I've been struggling to find a place that does all that, and having converted the majority of my e-mail to gmail it makes it hard to transition out. After a frustrating attempt to convert to entourage, I turned to my roommate and said "I wish there was a place that would combine all my divided e-mail labels, to-do lists and calendar events from Google into 1 page where I can see it all!!" Without looking away from the TV she casually responded with, "You mean, like iGoogle?"  How did I not know about this!? It's changing my life!

2) Long(er) Lunch Breaks

Things at work are getting a little crazy, but on the days I do have time I've been taking a little bit of a longer lunch to work out. Fortunately my office has a full gym and locker room as well so I don't have to go very far. I've also found showering mid-day to be quite refreshing! I am absolutely NOT a morning person. Showering at lunch I can sleep in a little, wash my face, touch up my hair and coast through the morning craziness at work, then start the afternoon put together and ready for battle!

3) My Bus Pass

Last month I made a large effort to stop using by charge card and start using my debit card more. I thought I was pretty successful until my bill came. There was only a very small difference between this month and last month. Shocked and saddened I opened my statement to see where the damage came from. I was semi- surprised to see that all my charges were from  Uber! I say semi because I know I resort to it quite often to avoid the time and patience I have to invest in public transportation, but I didn't realize in was 3 figures worth of resorting! I'm now starting to make a conscious effort to use both my debit card and my bus pass, which is paid for by work. 

4) {college} Football Season Starting

As if a 3 day weekend wasn't enough to look forward to the Badgers take on UMass this Saturday to kick off what is sure to be an amazing college football season! This is really the only time of year I get nostalgic about Mad-Town!!

5) Pepcid Complete

A little odd, I know, but for some reason I've been CRAZY sensitive to spicy foods lately. I had chips with mild salsa last week and woke up in the middle of the night with ridiculous heartburn. Then Monday this week I had a big bowl of tomato based soup and my tummy was not happy. I chewed all the Tums in the world, considered eating chalk...and when I finally thought I was dying, around 3AM I googled the best heartburn reliever. Pepcid Complete came highly recommended as it stops the production of stomach acid AND soothes!! Google was right, yet again and I was back to work the next day!

Thankful Thursday

Now that the season of giving {and receiving} is over it's time to be thankful....aka write thank you notes! With all these new fangled forms of technology, you might wonder what is the most appropriate way to go about thanking someone for a gift.  Emily Post's most recent etiquette guide says a phone call or e-mail is completely acceptable now and, if you open your gift in the presence of the giver a verbal "Thank You!" suffices.

In my personal opinion you can never go wrong with a hand-written note. Especially since it's even more appreciated as hand-written correspondence is  becoming an antiquity.

Mrs. Post says you should write thank-you notes for holiday gifts as soon as possible and suggests a good standard is to do so before New Year's day. .....Well, I've officially failed at that so I'm hoping to get them out by this weekend!

Now come's the tough part....with so many darling Thank-You cards out there, which one do you choose?

Sugar Paper - Delicate Thank You in Pool

Sugar Paper - So Sweet of You

Kate Spade - Letterpress Check-it-off Fold Over Card

Minted.com - Chic Graffiti Thank You Cards

last, but not least (sorry I just couldn't resist)

Etsy "Creatively Engaged" Funny Christmas Story Inspired Cards

Thankful Thursday

This week has really demonstrated that my goal to try and be more positive about things is a lot harder than just saying that I am going to be. You actually have to change your perspective and, especially if you don't know anything else, it's hard! Trying is what counts though, right??

#1 People that Put Up with Me
As I said in my previous post, one of the reasons I chose to start being more optimistic is because I can be pretty negative sometimes. Yes, it makes me sassy and yes, sometimes I'm hilarious and yes, some times I'm a huge B and I can't even control it. Believe me I know it and believe me I get just as frustrated with myself about it as I'm sure people around me do. I'm slowly learning (and working on admitting) that this comes from sensitivity, maybe even an over sensitivity, but meanwhile there are few who have managed to weather the storm that is ever so often my personality. This week was a tough one and there is no way I could have gotten through without them. I don't tell them enough how thankful I am that they're there to put up with me, even more than I'm willing to put up with myself.


#2 Zicam
Superficial? Yes. Lifesaving? Also yes. Everyone at work has been battling a super cold and I woke up Tuesday with a hint of a sniffle. My ever so wise self, popped a Zicam and haven't sniffled (for cold related reasons) since. A former roommate and now close friend told me about it. I rolled my eyes and brushed it off as some crazy "california hippie thing". A few weeks and tissue boxes later, I was still struggling to breathe. So I sucked it up, tried one and have been hooked ever since. Take it at your first incling of a cold and you'll be golden!


#3 My Roommates
For those of you that actually know me on a daily basis, you are going to think this is a sign of the apocalypse  but it's true. I have been crazy busy lately with work,  Junior League, Theta, drinks with friends etc and my house has become a safe place of rest. Away from muggles and cold weather and things other than sweatpants and netflix. I've really needed to know that I have that place lately and, after going through a lot of craigslist crazies I feel like I'm FINALLY in place where it 110% is that place for me.

#4 My Old School Pajama Set
Yes, I'm talking cotton, button up top with matching pants. It's been chilly here at night and they keep me nice and warm. I've loved them so much I'm considering upgrading from my VS pair to J.Crew, monogrammed of course :)

#5 Christmas suggestion e-mails/texts from my Mom
Okay so maybe this one is a little greedy, but I'm allowed to cheat once right? Even though I don't want a "knock off keurig thats on sale for $39.99" it means she's looking for suggestions and it's time to start compiling my list!!

Thankful Thursday

Happy almost Friday! Being that its November, the month of Thanksgiving, and I'm making a conserted effort to be more positive about my life I thought I'd start doing Thankful Thursday!

Things I'm most thankful for this week:

1) People with everyday manners.
 Please and thank you go a long way and I think our generation forgets that a lot, especially with each other.

2) The right to vote! 
Duh.

3) Fall weather. 
Finally getting to bust out my sweaters!

4) Amazing San Francisco restaurants
Never ever cease to amaze, transport and satisfy me!

5) Holiday Spiced Teas 
Mostly Winter Solstice from Peets :)

6) Visits from Out of Town Friends
1 last weekend and 1 coming up this Weekend!!