the gong

A few weeks ago my sister told a story about how a woman on Oprah wanted to take a year long sabbatical, but financially couldn’t afford it. Instead, she went to work everyday as usual and as she walked into her house each night she would bang a gong to signify that work was over and she was free to do as she pleased.

To say that I loved that story would be an understatement. I’ve been complaining (too much) about not having time to get everything done that I want to get done or try new things. I felt like I wasted my days away in a windowless office and by the time I get home I was too tired to want to do much. Until I heard the story about the gong.

Instantly I had a new outlook on my time. I don’t have an unlimited amount of time to work with, but I do have time. Since realizing this I have been much more productive. I spent more time being upset about not having time instead of just getting things done. It amazes me how much I can get done in a short amount of time. Whether it’s a quick apartment cleanup, going for a run, running errands, hanging out with friends, or just doing something I enjoy. I no longer dread my commute home because I know it’ll be 45 minutes of uninterrupted reading. While dinner is cooking I make sure to tackle one or two tasks.

And let me tell you… weekends have been SO much more relaxing! I used to be so bummed that I only had 2 days off and then it hit me… I have TWO days to do with as I please. How great is that! I try not to think about work (too much) on the weekends and it has helped me enjoy them and be more productive.

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Tags: Cooking, For Sarah, happyhappy, Life, Life Lesson, Love, Motivation, My job, Reading, Sleep, Time Management, Weekend

passed out

Holy 12 hours of sleep!

Last night I decided to take a quick nap and get to some packing. It was 6:15 and I figured I’d sleep until about 7. Boy was I wrong. I woke up exactly 12 hours later without waking up ONCE.

Normally I wouldn’t tell anyone this because they all respond in the same way. Trust me, I know some of you are saying heck no, I wouldn’t! But generally speaking people tell me that they 1. wish they had the time for that, 2. can’t even take naps, 3. laugh at me for being so lazy. It gets awkward, kids.

But here’s the thing. So what? I was tired so I slept. And now I feel like a million bucks! I can’t wait to go for my run later and possibly a yoga class, too.

Tags: For Sarah, Life, Motivation, Sleep

turning “we should” into “we did”

It never fails that when Corey and I are together we come up with another “should”… we should go to that store down the street… we should go to a play… we should spend a whole day in bed watching movies… we should should should… Yet, we don’t.

Lame, right?

We decided we needed to change that. So, the other day I got a text from the boyfriend asking if I wanted to do a should? Yes, sir, I do! He suggested we go mattress shopping (for him) or to that random clothing store down the street from my house. Personally I had my heart set on mattress shopping, turns out mattress stores close around 6. How stupid is that? How are people who work the 9-5 supposed to go??

Plus, shopping with Corey is one of my all-time favorite things to do. I rarely buy more than I need to and I end up learning something new about him. Win/Win.

After not really coming up with what we should actually do, we decided to settle it the mature way. Rock/Paper/Scissors. The boyfriend won so we headed north and ended up just walking around and poking into stores… a hat shop, a bike shop, almost into a tea shop, and finally we ended up at Dueces, where we ate burgers and lounged on these fabulous outdoor couches and stayed for the next 3 hours.

It was… dare I say it… a perfect night.

Tags: Boyfriend, Chicago, Food, happyhappy, instagram, Love, Shopping, Spring

let’s be happy

i really like to be happy. like, a lot.

this past weekend i had one or two unhappy moments and i took them so personally that it was hard to get over. generally i’m one of those people that can just decide to be happier and bam! just like that i am… give or take a couple hours. i regularly wish i could make others happier. not for my sake, but for theirs. when people are unhappy i want to find a way for them to be happy.

generally speaking, i really like when everyone is happy.

i don’t do well when i voice my concerns to someone and they technically acknowledge that they heard me, but don’t try to assure me that all will be okay. i need to be told all will be okay. 

this is me deciding to be happy. not just pretend like i’m over the unhappiness, just be happy. i think Abe had it right back in the day…

Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.  ~Abraham Lincoln

Tags: happyhappy, Life, Motivation, Pinterest

my cray-cray week in pinterest pins

Do you like my original title up there? Yeah, I came up with that on my own.

Not. 

I wish I was creative like that! But I’m not… which is why pinterest holds my attention… I can stare at other peoples’ creativity and cheer them on

Things have been caraaayyyzeee at work this week. Or, as we like to say in our incredibly hip office: CRAY-CRAY. (Note: I do NOT say this outside of the office, but it seems to fit how we feel and goshdarnit, we feel cray)

So, here is how this week feels in pinterest pins. 

It hasn’t been a bad week by any stretch, but it has definitely been a CRAY-CRAY week

Tags: Life, My job, Pinterest

here’s the thing…

I share a windowless office with one other person. I like my co-worker, but we agree that we’d be much happier if we actually saw the world between the hours of 8-5:30.

I have no roommates. Sometimes it’s lonely to go home to an empty apartment every night.

I’m more tired than I know what to do with most days. Which makes me look like a loser to my friends because all I want to do is stay home in my pjs and watch movies. 

My handwriting sucks. I don’t know what this has to do with anything.

I almost locked myself out of my apartment. Which, if you know my apartment you know that’s nearly impossible. 

I really like this one song about being a housewife. But I don’t want to tell people because I know I’ll instantly be judged.

I want to help people, but don’t know how.

I’m over this cold weather. Spring, where are you?

I like caffeine way more than I should. Free espresso at work? This is dangerous.

I used the f-bomb way more than I should have at dinner with a friend last night. Happy and sad and pissed f-bombs. Something I get so mad at other people for doing. 

I’m working on finishing things I’ve started and it’s a slow process. But feels good at the same time. 

Here’s the thing…

…sometimes a girl just needs to be wrapped up in a hug. Ya know?

Tags: Life

confession: i fell off the horse

What horse? I don’t even know where the horse went.

So. Bottom line… I have stopped running.

It has been so cold/I have been so tired/I haven’t had anyone to push me/Excuse/Excuse/Excuse

I finished Week 1 and was halfway through Week 2 when I stopped… about 2 weeks ago. I know, yikes. Bad. Sad. Silly. Sarah and Corey have both agreed to be my tough love person with the running I surely don’t want to be yelled at from 200 miles away or by my boyfriend, so I best get to it!

I really didn’t want to run Saturday after having gone to see Hunger Games (which was AMAZING btw) and having nachos, chocolate, and coke. Lots of each of those. But then Corey said he’d go home and run too so even though neither of us wanted to we both would. An hour later I was out running the most pathetic run of my whole running life (ya know, a whole 4 weeks). I walked most of the way, but hey, I was back out there!

Not saying that Sarah and Corey can’t/won’t keep me motivated, but I needed something else to light a fire under me. So I signed up for the Torchlight Run, a 5K in JUNE! June 21st to be exact. According to the website that is exactly 66 days. I can run a 5K in 66 days, right?? RIGHT?!

Here’s to getting back on the horse!

Tags: 5K, Boyfriend, Friends, Running